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389967 No. 389967 ID: d97a61

GUNS FOR HIRE: Pilot
Armas has been up to quite a bit the last few months-along with flagrantly insulting people in power, trolling those he shouldn't and all around being a childish ass when he can get away with it, he's killed people, hidden corpses, fought monsters with fist knife, gun and artillery alike, fallen to and resisted rampant paranoia, travelled the world and made all the wrong sorts of friends. In short: he's doing fine. But the recent change with the biggest impact by a large margin-was pluralizing his job description. Armas Laine, Gun for Hire-and founder of a only slightly less-than-legal mercenary company, staffed by officially dead soldiers from a pedophiliac general with a penchant for squashing magic with the weight of bodies, and a fiery tongued, abrasive slider that surprisingly didn't rise to Armas' bait when most recently taunted. Oh, and don't forget the veteran mercs unnofficially pressed into service after they ended up owing Armas their lives-or Armas' soul brothers, a Kamaitachi spirit triumvirate possessing a Ramidreju, and his own shadow.
Things aren't all guns and roses though-despite having greedily collected an impressive amount of weapons, Armas has been accidentally overfeeding his minions on magical munchies. Times for the Company of Laine are a'changing-and Armas finds himself, once again, with large amounts of personal free time while his minions try rather hard to not pop like overripe plums, spraying their delicious soul bits all over. ...Hypothetically tasty-Armas hasn't had a taste just yet. Being a cannibalistic godling swinging between sociopathic disregard for the nebulous forces trying to play him and nigh-crippling paranoia, he's simply kept trucking-which is what he'll do now. Let's watch!


I can't help but smirk as I finish talking with Hilja while her little brother makes faces from behind her shoulder, having spent much of the skype chat with the wards of the Valkonen clan entertaining them with my observations of the Russians stumbling through Camella's and in general having fun making kids laugh while I surreptitiously sip on some sacharrine arsenic, courtesy of Amen. I fiddle with my epithelial manipulation to stay a few scant steps ahead of the massive amounts of poison I'm cavalierly consuming, and only head out once I can no longer laugh about the desperately struggling Russians. I mosey on through the city with my Soul Guise set to 'normal dude' and wallow in the dissonance of my flashy suit and drab-looking soul.

But what do I do with this fine, fine day? ...Well, besides claiming the Doony's now-partitioned corpseparts and blood from SM to safely store in my mansion? Why, I take a walk with my ward Hillevi-and pay a certain Inquisitor a visit.

Karma, the fur-swaddled pile of muscle, is decidedly distracted when I meet with him-in fact, he doesn't ask me a single question beyond asking me to repeat parts of my story, studiously scribbling away-and getting his notes mixed up. On a whim I start making the tale more complex-and rather swiftly have him apologizing for mixing up his notes. After several hours of this, I mention I do have a meeting to attend-and get shooed out the door by a clearly frazzled Inquisitor. I walk away from the meeting with the rough opinion that Duke could be a poster boy for the mentally deficient and unorganized-I almost felt bad about toying with him so easily. ME, feeling bad about manipulating! Ridiculous.

KARMA MEETING COMPLETED: INQUISITOR CONFUZZLED!

The training session with Lo Fang, however, is not so relaxing as the preceding part of my day. I get worked-hard. To say he's disappointed I can't replicate the dual Orientation I'd showed earlier without my Spirit Animal's assistance would be an understatement: he goes so far as to take me over to a massive chart he has mounted on his wall with a Y axis marked with numerical values-and grabs an orange pin. He moves it down a scant few inches like an executioner tying a noose, 'favoring' me with a piercing look, before I finally eat some of my pride and actually ask for the bird's help. The lesson ends with my bird-focus assisted overlap lasting up to three seconds-and me being given the homework of figuring out how to achieve overlap all on my lonesome. I don't really notice how tired I am from the session until after I've left, and my brain's started to cycle down from the incredibly complex considerations needed to even get a Dual Orientation to exist in the first place, let alone stabilize it. Just like last time, I barely have the presence of mind to snag a few plates of food from the kitchen and wolf down a meal-deploringly mundane-before I slap my ass in bed.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 25th, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $321,015.22
BUSINESS FUNDS: $189,347.00
CASH: $9,170.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 30%
WINTER ENERGY: 72/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 22/50

Tuesday's a bit more titillating than yesterday. I get calls from quite a few people, and managing those calls while I continue to appraise the struggling Russians as they try to tough out a spartan schedule fills more of my day than I might like-or so would be my comment were the calls not so enlightening. In no particular order:

THE BOOZY FLOOZY-SM called me to notify me that a Japanese Wizard has put a ban-on pain of death-on all trading in his homelands Divine Beings, Youkai, Ayakashi and assorted other random names for magical beasties-which means my deal for a Kameosa, prepaid, is on backorder until the issue's resolved. As compensation for the impending issue over our existing agreement, he tells me the Wizard's name, Hyougo Hanmaki and informs me she's the eldest daughter of one of Japan's largest magic fox breeding farms. The implied personal interest in her declaration's a juicy bit of info-and I wonder how I could leverage that into getting the ban lifted WITHOUT getting a Wizard pissed at me.
THE GREEDY GUN-Hamlet Hanson called to tell me his research has been a bit delayed-as the one round he tested was able to impact a barrier with roughly three times as much force as the math had estimated-and he still can't find a reason for the discrepancy-after redoing the numbers no less than eight times and conferring with several colleagues (at this point he assured me he phrased them as hypotheticals to known gun nuts in the engineering department to avoid suspicion) is now requesting a consult. Hitting on an idea, I tell him to check with Jagda about possible explanations, and call ahead to ask the Professor in question to break to his student the concept of less-than-normal things in the world, before I bother trying to give him the nitty gritty. I'm assuming it worked just fine, as later that day I get a call back saying he'll have some initial findings by the end of the week, and at that time would like some more bullets to work with.
THE MODERN MAFIOSO-Gianni calls me to say, buried within the shameless flirting, that there's going to be something of an informal fleshcrafter's gathering on Thursday. He then goes on to say how my current skill-or lack thereof-strictly speaking disqualifies me from attending-as does my lack of any clan to call my own. Despite his cautions, everything about his tone rubs the idea that I can talk my way in all over my brain-and the idea takes solid root when he 'accidentally' tells me the meeting will be at midnight at the Asitane, of all places. He does tell me to not get my hopes up-the Owner's hosting the meeting, but he won't be contributing. All the same I wonder how to leverage this.
THE CRANKY CAMELLA-Ito calls me to ask if anything had happened between me and Camella-seems she's not quite been herself at the gym, and has been decidedly more distracted and spacey than he's ever seen her before. Given the man of few words himself was the one to worry about her, I mull over how to interpret this-I haven't noticed a single thing different about how she's acted around me, and I'd like to think I can read her pretty well by this point.
THE SWEARING SWEDE-Old Ironhead calls to rather vocally bitch about me not having completed the job yet. Despite his vociferous rambling and his bluster-filled clamor, I can't really pick up any anger in his words, and get the distinct feeling he just likes to loudly bitch at people. Since he didn't even imply going to someone else for the job, I have to assume it's still open. All the same-I have to wonder how long I'm willing to put up with a shouting Swede calling me and demanding I get off my ass.
THE GUILTY GO-This one's a wierdy-Go Ping calls me to ask if I've seen Labombard, and almost sounds worried. Trying to get the story out of him is like pulling teeth, so I don't get the context of WHY the Loup Garou is missing-but my prying does net something even more curious than the news my fellow merc's MIA: Go Ping, just before hanging up, apologizes to me-and I get the distinct feeling it wasn't about Labombard. What's up with that?
THE HARRIED HAFAZ-So, seems that Hafaz has finally gotten his crew into Baki's good graces, and is prepping for a mission. The way he so meticulously avoided details makes me wonder if he's trying to keep me in the dark to prevent security leaks-and so I cut him some slack and decide to badger him about it later. He does tell me the charms helped-as now it's assumed they're either talented enough to sack a german warehouse, or are affiliated with them anyway. My attempt to sneak them some protection seems to be misfiring in a positive manner. I'll take it. All the same, he says I probably won't hear from him this week again-he only now had a chance to grab a payphone to reach me. Still, good to hear from him. Reminds me I really should look into Gyaketsuote again.
THE COURTEOUS CORNELIUS-Seems my decision to have Amen mail him a wire-wrapped glass bottle of the Doony's blood was a pretty classy way to inform the Vamp I won our bet-he sent me back an invitation to his home, to be redeemed at any time, complete with a premade promise to not only accept me as a Guest in his house for the duration of the visit, but also carries a Blood-Rune derived oath I get Amen (and, to be safe, Einrik Duke, Sake and Iron Trick) to verify as legitimate that shows he's already sworn his whole damn clan to the promise too-if I accept, they will be required to defend and protect me while I'm a guest under penalty of having their blood freeze then sublimate out of their flesh in the space of a heartbeat. I'll go ahead and assume that's a pretty damned solid promise there. Officially, the meeting's noted as being so he can congratulate me-but if I read between the lines, I think he wants to check on Amen. He can't be too happy I've got the monster under my thumb, tenuous as that position may be. Meh, ride the tiger-it's what I do.


After an early evening spent seeing just how far behind the indomitable Duke in terms of Alcohol Tolerance when I throttle up my liver to max, I forcibly sober myself, dose (twice, for a headache with real kick) on Brain Coffee while tailing the Russians to their night lessons. There, I play the observer, and get a solid sense of how they're settling into their new routines. I see the early signs of sleep deprivation, and make a mental note that it'd probably be a good idea if I suggested-or forced-them to sleep more. A rested minion's a healthy one, after all. I watch them get their butts handed to them by Camella and the Vampires alike-and see them keep getting back up for more. Ah, the threat of death-what a great motivator. I end the observation with the personal feeling that honestly, they're doing pretty good. So after I play the mouthpiece to some of the Hummingbird's critical comments about the footwork and movement of some of the trainers and failing to get even a single weird look, I follow them as they all eventually head back to the mansion-and catch a few hours sleep.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26th, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $321,016.78
BUSINESS FUNDS: $189,347.00
CASH: $9,170.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 23%
WINTER ENERGY: 92/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 34/50

I'm woken up by Amen a bit after three A.M., with a question.

>[Amen]"This one seeks direction-a member of the Turkish Law Enforcement has been noted attempting to gain covert entry to this location-what action should this one take?"
After a brain coffee, I ask the question most relevant to my decision.
"Is it someone I know?"
>[Amen]"This one believes so. The would-be intruder seems to carry cards identifying her as 'Adelat.' What should be done with her?"
"What HAS been done with her?"
>[Amen]"Nothing yet-this one has prevented her attempts to enter, but she does not seem inclined to leave."
Hm. I might want to make a decision about that. But beyond that-










My company's pretty damn tied up just now-what oh what will I do with all this 'me' time?
Expand all images
>>
No. 389978 ID: fcf88e

My my, that police chick is just not giving up. The simple(and boring) way to do this is to simply keep everything sealed so she has no means to enter. However, she'll likely show up again and try something else.
The better solution in my opinion is to both troll her AND likely get her in trouble. She may be a cop, but she needs a warrant to search the place. No warrant, no reason. Which means with a bit of proof, we can put her in a bad position.
One way to do so? Make controlled spots she can enter. Not easy 'unguarded' paths, but ones where the locks are tough, but doable if you have the right skill and that they lead to places that are rather mundane. Anything incriminating, keep locked tight. If she takes the bait, she'll likely try and find clues. This is where we can have fun.

Simply grab a camera, use your goblin foot training and other skills to remain undetected. Quietly walk in with out her noticing, take a few pictures of her doing some incriminating stuff, then send the camera back some place safe via shadowbro and simply turn on the lights.

Make sure to look the part of a guy who's still up so bloody early. Perhaps have a bright orange bed robe with some fuzzy slippers just because. If she tries to ask how you managed to find her, simply tell her silent alarms(which would make sense.) and nonchalantly ask why she showed up so early in the morning without knocking. Maybe somehow find a way to video tape this to show the Russians later for the lols.

For actual future plans? I'll leave that to the pros.
>>
No. 389979 ID: 1a53a7

>>389978
Take pictures and have Amen hide them somewhere she can find them. Should be suitable freaky to search a house at night and find pictures of yourself searching.
>>
No. 389981 ID: b83c65

>>389978
Fuzzy Weasel Slippers.
Also, if we want her gone and dead, I am going to suggest also offering her breakfast - magical, but don't tell her that. Because we know that too much magical food will pop her like a grape, so we should get back in her good books and start feeding her.

"So, Ad-" Pause, 'remembering' name. "let? No, right Adelat. So, I know we had a rocky relationship, but did you really need to break into my house to see me again?
"Oh. Then Why are you here?"
"No, really, why are you here."
"Huh. Ok, but at least allow me to get you breakfast. I'm a pretty good cook, and you must have gotten up insanely early."
Cooking, and then gently having her exit.
"I am so sorry, I really have a lot of work do today. Maybe I can break into your house later and bring you breakfast?" Laugh.

>Andrei Orders
>Hate the world, or at least Boss's Evil Italian Bitch. Take comfort in caffeine to stay awake/alive.
>Woop in joy that the Laserdisc and the Floppy Disc reader have arrived! Get them set up on The Compter, and start reading the Floppy Disc and the Laserdisc. Check to make sure they're encrypted, and if they are start to decrypt them.
>Also woop in joy when computers arrive. Give them out! Feel like Santa! Feel like a bit of an ass when giving one to Lyubov. Also give her iPods filled with music and books.
>>
No. 389987 ID: cf49fc

>>389967
We should also figure out some passage to that MYSTERIOUS ISLAND the Owner told us about. I suggest a dynamic entry be arranged.

>>389981
I agree on the neon orange bathrobe, fuzzy green weasel slippers, and going out to chat with Adelat. However, I really don't feel like murdering any more law enforcement officers. She's not really worth it, hasn't done anything particularly annoying, killing her turns one woman's fanaticism into a crusade, and I just like the idea of having our own Inspector Javere.

Let's sneak up behind her and politely inquire as to her actions.
>>
No. 389999 ID: 252e1b

ARMAS ORDERS

Adelat! If she's here without a warrant, she's probably been suspended or outright fired for losing control of seized chemical weapons. Oops. She'll be on the edge. The best thing to do is push her over it, and catch her in our web of contracts and words.

THE MERRY MAZE OF MISHAPS - Have Amen allow her inside, into a room dark enough that she would not be able to see. Have her entry be right next to the pool, on a little island right against the wall where she will have no way of exploring the rest of the room without getting into the pool. Have the window just disappear when she isn’t looking, so that she has to press on, somehow. Let her sputter for a little. Keep her away from anything that's sensitive by having Amen dynamically shape the house to lead her on a merry series of misadventures
The only obvious exit to the pool room should lead to a little cubicle that has a set of buttons. There should be obvious places next to the buttons for labels, and all the labels should be on the floor so that it looks like they fell off on their own. The labels should say things like [Breakfast], [Swedish Massage], [Shave and a Haircut], [I <3 Me], [Weasel Rubdown], [Execute], [Abort]. The first few buttons she picks won’t do anything, and then she’ll get run through a process where robot-looking hands in white gloves run her through a “wake up, get ready for the day” routine like in a cartoon. They’ll feed her oatmeal, undress her, give her a haircut, bathe her, rub her down with a stuffed animal that looks a little like Sake, and dump her into a room full of mirrors (where she gets a generic sounding pep-talk about what a great man she is). At the end of whatever option she picked, she’ll be dressed in a pimping outfit that’s sized for Armas.

After that the door will open into a hallway that’s covered in “Rub Your Weasel” posters. She’ll have to walk down that to get anywhere else. As she starts to walk, have the floor start moving like a giant treadmill. Push her to her top speed, let her get close to the end of the hall where there is a Wall of Fame (but the words “Most Creative Kill” will be replaced with “Most Creative Invention”). Put a couple of doors at the end that say “EXIT” over them in bright green. Speed up the treadmill and don’t let her actually reach them, instead have her lose ground until she reaches the back wall of the hallway. At that point she gets dumped down a chute or a secret door or something into another little hallway where her options are to enter a door labeled “Moon Room” or a door labeled “Amen’s Gallery.”

The Moon Room is just a room with a bouncy floor and pictures of Armas and friends mooning the viewer. The Gallery is a room filled with mannequins all dressed up in various suits Amen has made. Whichever room she picks first, the only exit will lead to the other. Once she’s seen both rooms, the exit will lead to another cubicle with buttons, but this time they’ll be different costume options. This time only most of the labels are missing. All the labels for acceptable choices (like [Business Casual]) will be on the floor, mixed with labels for really unacceptable options like [Bodybuilder Speedo and Babyoil]. Slightly less horrible options will be presented on the console like [Aztec Jaguar Costume] and [Harvey Bunny]. If she doesn’t pick a labeled one, just put her into a tuxedo sized for Armas.

She’ll then be dumped into a Ballroom where she’ll have her feet guided in a waltz. She’ll be leading, and her dance partner will be a mannequin dressed in the outfit she entered the house wearing. Once she’s done dancing, the mannequin will be whisked away. The next room she enters will just have a single braided cord hanging from the ceiling. When she pulls the cord (and she will, because the door will have vanished again), the ceiling will dump plastic balls and plastic dummy hand grenades into the room.

When she pulls the cord again, the balls will be funneled out of the room, and she’ll be able to leave for another changing room. This one will have just options related to swimsuits like [Board Shorts], [Speedo], [Trunks], [Tanning Oil] and so on. After picking an option she’ll be released into the pool room again, dumped right into the pool in fact.

The exit from the pool will lead directly to the Weasel Hallway, where she’ll be made to run again. This time she’ll be allowed to reach to end of the hallway, where she’ll meet Armas (who will be wearing silk pajamas and weasel slippers).

At that point, open with, "I thought I heard the machine running. Are you injured? No? Good, come with me to my office. I’d normally be more upset about someone breaking into my home, but it’s you."

Lead her to Armas’ office (which will be located by the sewer entrance in the alley that we favor for getting to SM) and keep her standing while you take a seat.

She’s not going to quit. At this point, she’s broken in without a warrant and likely has already lost her job. But we can be polite anyway and pump her for information while we make a show of deciding to call the police or not.

“I saw you working the other day, you looked really busy. How’s work?”

”It is not a funhouse, it is a prototype. Now, let’s be civil. I’m really trying to be polite here. How’s work?”

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that. Are they going to press charges or are they just going to cut you loose?”

“Well, it sounds like you’ve had a pretty bad week. Still, that doesn’t quite explain why you broke into my home, and looked at a bunch of industrial secrets. There’s a huge market for machines like what I’ve got here. Multi-billion dollar business, after all. I’d normally not even be debating about if I should call the police, but I don’t really want to get you in more trouble. So, can you explain why you thought you’d find information that would exonerate you in here?”

“Adelat that doesn’t make a lick of sense. I called in a favor because I heard the place got all shot up. Figured I could get it for some promises and handshakes. Figured right, too.”

“They’re just businessmen. Even if they’re into stuff I don’t know anything about, questionably legal or no, my dealings with them have nothing to do with their other funding sources.”

“I waved at you because I was trying to be friendly!”

“Of course I have guests staying with me. They’re helping me with other projects, most of which involve industrial secrets.”

“You’re not even here in your official capacity, so no, I’m not going to show you their paperwork.”

“Speaking of which, I really can’t let you blab to people about how far along I am with my designs. I don’t want to call the cops on you, but I also want some insurance that you’re not going to cost me a lot of money accidentally. How about if you sign a non-disclosure agreement? I could have my guys write up an ironclad one. I’d feel secure about letting you go on your way if we had one.”

Get her to agree to an NDA, and then let her go get dressed in the attached bathroom (it’s your office, of course it has a private bathroom). While she’s doing that, call up Sometimes Merchant. Speak Finnish (he knows it, Adelat almost certainly doesn’t).

“Good morning, I happen to need a contract written up in German that has a mortal agreeing to the contract holder that she will forfeit her body and soul to him if she says anything about what she saw in his home. It should include other penalties as well, multiple monetary awards in compensation for various clauses, all of which amount to the same violation of talking about what she shouldn’t, and an agreement that all mechanisms to execute the contract be automatically carried out in lieu of a court case. While it should sound a little deranged and eccentric, it needs to be able to actually hold up if the dragons or anyone else with enough authority questions it. Oh, and could there be a clause in it about needing blood for a DNA sample to positively identify the signer?”

“Great, can you just have that handed up to me through Amen? A pleasure.”

And then we let her read the contract, we convince her that if she doesn’t sign it we’re going to call the cops on her and get her into far more trouble than she wants. If she calls us on it being crazy sounding we say “Well if those clauses are as unenforceable as you say, then there’s no problem is there? Look, I’ll even make sure the diagnostic footage of you going through the machine is deleted, if you stop wasting my time and just sign the damn NDA.”

As soon as she has signed it and the magic takes effect, have Amen take the agreed-on blood sample from her, and then let her go. Have Amen monitor her through her blood until she slips up and tells someone anything that breaks the NDA.

At that point, have Amen force her to gracefully tell whoever she spoke to she’s got something else to take care of, send them home or away or whatever, and then have her come back to the mansion where we can deal with our new professional investigator.
>>
No. 390001 ID: 6616f3

Invite her in. Then trap her with polite conversation and don't let her leave. "Hi Adelat. How're things?" "You never call, you never write... Police work keeping you busy?" "Boris (or Amen, if Boris is busy training or you feel like freaking her out), make some scones or something, will you?" Then sit back and chatter, give her the runaround, never mention you suspect she's got it in for you - in fact, feel free to make it seem you think she's having trouble letting go. I mean, who wouldn't want... well, all of this? *points to self* "I'm sorry Adelat, things just didn't work out. These things happen. Life goes on. [size=1]-though apparently not for you-[/size=1]"

Once she's safely turned about and out of the house, do a little research on that sword job of Lo Fang's and the lockup where the Swede's guns are. In both cases, we'll need the inverted blood-illusion charm/realistic mask setup I suggested last-thread.

Also, we may want to try and work out how to get that 'notice me not' thing down. Have we tried making a soul guise that mimicks the world around it seamlessly? I think this chameleon-type trick is just what we need to get it working.
>>
No. 390002 ID: 048990

>>389999
Upvoting this, since I helped work it out.

THE CRANKY CAMELLA
Before we talk to Adelat, consider something. Camella hasn't really had a place, a setting, friends, hell, even a world she could call home. She's literally displaced, mentally and physically. I suspect that her recent distraction has to do with our calling her out, in this manner:
Fact 1- She's considered herself more serious than us, and she is, mostly
Fact 2- She's doesn't 'belong' here, for a given value of belonging
Not Fact, but Guess 3- It's likely that consciously and subconsciously, she's been resisting the idea of staying here, of settling down, of building connections...because to her, that would mean she's given up on going home.

Despite all this, I believe the point with the Russians was sufficient enough to drive home something important: that reticence? It's actually harming the Russians. It's likely that if she'd been training them on chakras already, they wouldn't have nearly as much issue with oversaturation. And while she doesn't want to give up on the idea of going home, she's also not willing to let her own confusion on the matter harm others.

Which brings me to my next point. While she started with no friends or connections, Armas is now her closest friend and ally. And when someone who's your closest friend and ally (AND generally a massive troll, completely unserious almost all the time) tells you you're not being serious enough...and he's right...that has to shake your worldview a lot. Enough, perhaps, to focus massively on what he asked you to do, and enough to distract you from other matters.
>>
No. 390011 ID: 35c902

>>389999
THIS
>>
No. 390012 ID: 07eaf7

Rostislav orders Realize the danger inherent in not training Chakra, focus on that intently. Maintain practice in other endeavors, but Chakra takes priority, even over (temporarily) the Best Beer Hunt.

>>389999
Upvoting, definitely. We don't get many chances to troll anyone this extensively.
>>
No. 390015 ID: cf49fc

>>389999
This is... completely fucking insane. What kind of warped mind came up with this?

I need to know so I can mass produce it and make a mint in the surrealist film industry.
Upvoting ALL THE WAY.
>>
No. 390018 ID: f70e5e

>>389999
upvoteing this plan. I know its not the most effective thing we could do, but we may never get a chance to do something this over the top again. we just need to be ready to improvise if she breaks the script and does something we are not ready for, such as forcing open a door(brick wall or room full of the kind of stuff that would be required to do what she had already seen) or refusing to continue(more or less the same as if she had gone though the course only we walk into her room from what seems to be a well hidden service door). also we should make sure it won't drain amens resources too much to do something like this.
>>
No. 390061 ID: 68bc1e

To remove temptation from the Russians, we should make sure that we eat all the magical meat that our magical guests leave. Grin broadly at the Russians as you do so, telling them they should consider this extra incentive to do better.

With the company busy training, someone needs to be keeping Duke in beer money. Armas hasn't had a chance to truly exploit his abilities against some hapless mortals for quite a while now, so he should look into taking a couple of missions against non-supernatural opposition, given how lethal he can be against them.

Ogrimmir told us we need to get serious about improving our soul manipulation, and we should take his advice. There are a few routes we should try, we should start them all off.
First try, summon Abloec again. He has experience with a divine Winter bloodline that manipulates one's own soul, so we can ask him if he has any ideas.
The Japanese hag-kami may be interested in tasting a small piece of Doonegeas meat - she may have contacts she can introduce us to.
The Sami worshippers of Liab Olmai promised to teach us. We should talk to Einrik about how we can get in touch with them to call them on this.
Someone had a Lurk they were willing to sell in return for Mammon's device. Whilst we probably can't afford to buy it, renting its services as a teacher or example may be possible.
If not, the Lurk based bloodline may be able to teach us something. Ask Einrik if he knows how to get in touch with them, and if there is anything they may accept in payment.

We should also keep up with our flesh manipulation. Compare what we are being taught by the Mafiosi, the knowledge SB grafted to you and what the Redcaps taught. Whaitiri's method is the one most likely to be appropriate to a godling such as yourself. As SB also has the same summer bloodline as you, discuss it with him, and with Sake if he has anything to offer based on his healing.

We also need to finish our practice in basic Gyaketsuote so we're ready to try to adapt it to other purposes. Visit Ito's night class and try using it on the people there - also try using it when we have our spirit sensing chakra orientation active, and examine both our own and our target's soul when performing Gyaketsuote. We should also try manipulating our soul guise in combat so that it is consistent with the lie we project.

Finally, given all the cryptic hints that we've been receiving from the Triads, it makes sense not to disappoint Lo Fang. Ask both Einrik and Camella to examine you when performing bird assisted Dual orientation, and when failing to do so on your own. See what they think.
>>
No. 390093 ID: 252e1b

>>389999

LYUBOV ORDERS

[Monday]
*Boss says we’ll all die if we don’t learn charka. That’s some strong incentive. Focus on it, push to learn it hard. Don’t get distracted.
*Jog with Camella again. Out-do everyone but Camella again. Wonder why Camella’s acting strangely.
*Get Zhenya to help get everyone to fill out their paperwork and remind them they need to get their passport photos ready.
*Decide the safest thing to do for her mother will be to get her out of Russia entirely.
*After getting the iPod to Sake and showing him how it works, ask if Armas is as disorganized as he seems. Feel out if the boss needs a personal assistant of some sort.
*Go to daily vespers in the evening. Donate $400. Confess to Father Nikolai, talk almost exclusively being a crappy daughter, mention being on the run tangentially.
*Spend at least two hours taking a nap.
*Keep working on trying to keep a blank mind when sparring with that older vampire.

[Tuesday]
*Jog with Camella again. Put in good effort. If the paperwork and photos still aren’t all done, ask Camella to please remind everyone that they need to do it.
*Collect paperwork and photos. Collect Andrei and bribe money. With Andrei’s help, bribe the notaries, get them to sign off on identities (6 or 7 each) with the recorded dates of signing being spread out over the course of the week. Let Andrei handle most of the bribery, but if the notaries prove very reticent, point out “We made political enemies in our home country. You’ve heard of all the turmoil lately. We just want to make a life in a safe place.”
*After getting the paperwork done, do a list of all the government offices it can be filed at that are within an hour’s drive. Make a sign-up sheet with no more than two people per location, per day. Make everyone sign and agree to use that address and date to turn in their applications for replacement IDs and birth certificates. This way no one office sees more than one or two people a day. Make sure date of visit and dates on the notarized forms match. Make sure Hillevi goes with Lyubov to file their paperwork.
*After Night Lessons, grab guitar and play a little in the sound-proofed music room. No more than a half-hour of just solo fooling around.
>>
No. 390098 ID: d97a61

>[Rostislav has been queued to do the following:]
>Feel like an epiphany was experienced, allowing him to realize the danger inherent in not training Chakra. Make grim, sober determination to focus on that intently. Decide to maintain practice in other endeavors, but Chakra takes priority, even over (temporarily) the Best Beer Hunt. Then wake up from that dream to the fact he and every other Russian arehave already abandoned all their personal pursuits that are noncritical just to keep up, all of them being forced to adhere to decidedly spartan training practices by Camella, sleeping midnight to four am every day and grabbing afternoon naps where possible because twelve hours a day are spent being trained and sometimes giving training. Wish dreams would catch up with reality-decide to rate dream a 2/10. Grumble and try to get back to nap-realize rhythm is broken, somehow be too tired to nap. Curse, seek out Vodka.
Lyubov has already done the following:
*Boss says we’ll all die if we don’t learn chakra. That’s some strong incentive. Focus on it, push to learn it hard. Don’t get distracted.
*Jog with Camella again. Out-do everyone but Camella again. Wonder why Camella’s acting strangely. Feel like there's not a chance in hell you could out and ask her about it.
*Get Zhenya to help get everyone to fill out their paperwork and remind them they need to get their passport photos ready. Realize this will probably take more than a couple days as everyone's schedules are adjusted.
*Decide the safest thing to do for her mother will be to get her out of Russia entirely.
*After getting the iPod to Sake and showing him how it works, ask if Armas is as disorganized as he seems. Feel out if the boss needs a personal assistant of some sort. Be unsure how to react to Sake's response of simply laughing.
*Go to daily vespers in the evening. Donate $400. Confess to Father Nikolai, talk almost exclusively being a crappy daughter, mention being on the run tangentially. Feel a little worried you might have made a mistake, but squash the worry.
*Spend at least two hours taking a nap. Still feel bone weary.
*Keep working on trying to keep a blank mind when sparring with that older vampire. Continue to get ass kicked.

Lyubov has been queued to do the following:
*Jog with Camella again. Put in good effort. If the paperwork and photos still aren’t all done, ask Camella to please remind everyone that they need to do it. Get all papers back within one hour of making this comment to Camella.
*Collect paperwork and photos. Collect Andrei and bribe money.

BUSINESS FUNDS: -$37,000 $152,347.00 *With Andrei’s help, bribe the notaries, get them to sign off on identities (6 or 7 each) with the recorded dates of signing being spread out over the course of the week. Let Andrei handle most of the bribery, but if the notaries prove very reticent, point out “We made political enemies in our home country. You’ve heard of all the turmoil lately. We just want to make a life in a safe place.” *After getting the paperwork done, do a list of all the government offices it can be filed at that are within an hour’s drive. Make a sign-up sheet with no more than two people per location, per day. Make everyone sign and agree to use that address and date to turn in their applications for replacement IDs and birth certificates. This way no one office sees more than one or two people a day. Make sure date of visit and dates on the notarized forms match. Make sure Hillevi goes with Lyubov to file their paperwork. *After Night Lessons, grab guitar and play a little in the sound-proofed music room. No more than a half-hour of just solo fooling around. Stop even earlier when she realizes her hands are shaking from exhaustion, and she's playing like crap. >>389978 >>389981 I swing my feet out of bed before grabbing a plush neon orange robe and a pair of lurid green weasel shaped slippers, not bothering to question Amen's ever eclectic taste in provided attire. I stretch as I put the question of what to do up for consideration. >"Following her around and taking incriminating pictures of her illegal trespassing could do wonders." >[Sake]"[code]I guess. Feels rather... flat to me, I have to say.
>>389999 Four of a kind bonus
>>390002
>>390011
>>390012
>>390015
>>390018
I... have an idea of my own. At the crystalization of it, I smile wide enough I feel a few muscles tear, and almost absentmindedly rub my cheeks against Sake, for once not out on the town at this twilight hour.
>[Sake]"I don't even know WHAT the plan is that made him smile like that-but I already like it more than yours, Kuvy."
Kuvy?
>"I suppose there's nothing for it then-no matter how extreme, there isn't much room for worst case scenarios to truly have import here-what is it?"

I explain over the course of five seconds of real time, all in accelerated thought, ignoring the throbbing headache. I win them over easily-even the recalcitrant SB is eagerly on board, as is the Hummingbird himself for a surprise. Trick has been uncharacteristically silent about the whole affair-but then, I doubt he'd have contributed anything meaningful. Smug, secretive prick.

What I tell Amen, I tell him in accelerated thought, simply because if I took the time to verbalize all the specific requests and permutations with the proper phrasing it'd likely be midday. Given my mental communication, furious enough that after both spats of it I can feel the simple brooch on my lurk skin eyepatch faintly heating from the heavy use, slightly strained in its passive efforts to shield my mind from harm wrought by my own efforts. What makes this a bit more impressive to me is the fact that while I'm accomplishing this-I'm placing a call with the Sometimes Merchant, and my request goes a little something like this:

“Good morning, I happen to need a contract written up in German that has a mortal agreeing to the contract holder that she will forfeit her body and soul to him if she says anything about what she saw in his home. It should include other penalties as well, multiple monetary awards in compensation for various clauses, all of which amount to the same violation of talking about what she shouldn’t, and an agreement that all mechanisms to execute the contract be automatically carried out in lieu of a court case. While it should sound a little deranged and eccentric, it needs to be able to actually hold up if the dragons or anyone else with enough authority questions it. Oh, and could there be a clause in it about needing blood for a DNA sample to positively identify the signer?”
>[SM]"Absolutely. Understand that this will finish clearing the remaining onus we have to you for the unforeseen delay in the Kameosa acquisition."
“Great, can you just have that handed up to me through Amen? A pleasure.”


So it is, ten seconds (maybe more, I stopped counting) after I got dressed, such as I am, and began to really ponder the situation, I've made my choice and traded Amen the rights to add two more square feet of coverage to the flowerbed he manages, sidestepping adding a new slew of bindings to get him to do what I want. While Amen sets up-largely verifying he's performed each step to my specifications, clearly eager to earn those two extra square feet, I get to waking Andrei, and briefly getting him to stumble to the computer and set the house security cams, such as they are, to record. He's almost back to bed when he finally starts to grasp what I intend-and I shortly have a buddy to watch the madness with, who happily pounds a bevy of energy drinks to properly enjoy the chaos.

I seat myself before a decidedly fleshy screen next to Andrei, and watch as discreetly placed eyes and appropriated kitchen surveillance cams let me watch Adelat as she finally finds the window submitting before her determined efforts, softly swinging it open and slipping inside the darkened mansion. SB snickers as she blindly gropes around the decidedly over-dark room, seeking some means of orientation. The moment she takes her first step, Sake bursts into a fit of sniggering as she steps off the tiny island and into the abruptly well illuminated pool-complete with what look very much like fish cheerfully swimming along. Andrei snorts as the window she came in through-and the island itself-vanishes before she can get her bearing-leaving her in the middle of an olympic sized pool after taking a single step from a window.

All six of us watching, Andrei, Sake, SB, the Hummingbird, Iron Trick and yours truly all thoroughly bust out in uproarious laughter as she splutters and twitches, clearly trying and only somewhat succeeding in controlling an immensely confused panic. Finally though, she begins to calm down when she sees no one, the cameras Amen placed too discreet for her to detect, and appears to assume the lights automatic. If I could soul sense her I could be sure, but I'd be she's trying to rationalize away that impossible entry. She finally spots the one and only door Amen was supposed to leave within the pool, and spends some time swimming over to the pool's edge, stepping out and briefly wringing her jacket and pants dry, or at least enough she won't leave a particularly massive drip trail. Good, she's trying to apply logic to this situation she's found herself in. I smirk at this notion as she softly opens the door.

Let's stretch that.

She hesitates on the room's entrance, clearly confused-after all, all she can see within is a simple room, an eight foot cube with completely bare, nearly sterile looking walls-the only things of note a handle-less sealed door, and a single row of seven circular buttons next to it, each next to a slot that's clearly meant to hold a label-complete with seven labels scattered on the ground.

She spends a long moment peering back into the pool, searching for some other path to take. Once she's accepted there really aren't any other paths, she tentatively steps into the room, clearly ready to dart out if the door attempts to shut. When nothing happens, she finally makes her way over to the wall, picking up the labels. She spends a solid minute staring at the seven little placards-and I have to wonder how she takes seeing that the options are [Breakfast], [Swedish Massage], [Shave and a Haircut], [I <3 Me], [Weasel Rubdown], [Execute] and [Abort]. In point of fact, she goes so far as to walk back into the pool room and look around one more time, desperately looking for another option. When yet again, nothing presents itself, she steels herself to the inevitability of the situation, and hesitantly presses the second button from the bottom, ready to bolt. She continues to stand there rigid with tension while... nothing happens. After half a minute, she presses the second button from the top. Again, nothing. This time only waiting ten seconds, she presses a third button, the third from the bottom-

To promptly have arms (I'd tried for robotic arms, but the best Amen could offer that I liked were prehensile, tentacle like furry monkey arms that have skin nearly identical to glove leather, visibly died and sporting translucent fiber-like fur. At least I got him to make sure they wear gloves). A hand wraps about each ankle and wrist as more arms bring a chair she's seated in and a small table, complete with a single bowl of oatmeal. At this point clearly somewhat insensate from the insanity of the situation she hardly thinks to resist as she's spoon fed the oatmeal in a hurry.

When the hands start stripping her she seems to snap back into it-but she can't resist a dozen arms squirming over her form, and in seconds the still sopping garments are removed, a pair of hands secure her head as a trio of arms assault her head of hair with scissors, clipping away madly under Amen's direction before she's dropped in a heated tub that simply comes into existence with bath salts, immediately picked back up, and rubbed down with a special combination loofah/towel that has Sake wiggling with mirth at my side.

At this moment, Adelat is being assaulted by a bevy of plushy Sake replicas as she's wiped down, then dressed in the very same suit she spotted me in outside Mr. Jung's old setup. Once more losing her groundedness as the situation continues full bore with the surrealism, she's unceremoniously shoved through the door-and, clad in oversized clothes half falling off her with a far more mannish haircut, she's subjected to a room walled with mirrors-as I speak into the microphone-like device Amen provided for me, eager to hear how my voice is modulated.

[In Turkish]"You... are important. You... are desirable. You are a successful man, and will continue being successful. You are irresistably attractive, and no one is above you. You.... are a man."

Andrei has to be muffled by Sake so his laughter doesn't give me away, as my voice pipes out in the room she finds herself in sounding like some prissy grandfather just flounced his way through the script. Still utterly lost as to what's going on, she walks forward almost on autopilot as the foremost mirrors withdraw, revealing a long hallway, the walls lined with posters-all of them featuring caricatures of Sake in dynamic poses, ranging from looking decidedly like homages to old '50's US recruiting posters as well as modern movie posters-all of them bearing the caption: 'Rub Your Weasel'. I'm almost disappointed when she hardly looks at the posters twice-I suppose they are a bit lackluster compared to torrents of unnaturally monkey butler arms running her through a morning process. Once she starts walking down the hall though, things get interesting. I have Amen slowly set the floor to moving, so subtly shifting in speed that she's nearly halfway across before she even realizes something's amiss-and the moment she pauses to look around she's pulled back several feet. By the time she's begun to try and outstrip the abruptly whirling floor and reach the hallway's end, she has to run just to break even, and is clearly putting her all into inching towards the end, clearly striving for the doors with the glowing 'EXIT' sign above them. Sadly-she can only run so fast, and the hallway soon enough is beyond her ability to beat. She's a third of the way back when she starts scrabbling for ways to grip the wall, slips and falls to the floor, promptly swept back to the start-and dropped down a conveniently present chute that slopes into a spiraling slide.

She's promptly deposited all a-jumble within yet another eight foot cube of a room-this time lacking buttons, and having not one, but two doors, each sporting a license plate sized label above them. To the left of the slipper slide's exit, there is a door labeled Moon Room, and to the slide's right is a door titled Amen's Gallery. She longingly looks back at the slide, but this time doesn't bother trying to back track. She looks back and forth between the doors, then proceeds with a modest determination towards the moon room. Upon opening the door and seeing it's a giant bouncy room, she slowly shuts the door and enters Amen's Gallery. Here she gawks and gapes, stares and gazes at the myriad of outfits, the hundreds of mannequins sporting all manner of garb, ranging from vintage to cutting edge. In her wandering she doesn't notice the door she entered through vanishing-but she most certainly does notice the next door being titled Moon Room, and spends two minutes meticulously going over the room, looking for an alternative exit that simply isn't there. With a now visible amount of trepidation and dread about her features, she opens the door, and does her best to simply walk across the bouncy room immediately gravitating to the only other door present, thankfully lacking a label. She opens the door-and the bouncy room behind her abruptly ruptures, a wall of wind throwing her through the door and slamming it shut behind her. She tumbles to the ground and comes up in a roll-but not before Amen conveniently erased the door.

Andrei's nearly asphyxiating himself, laughing so hard as he watches the insane obstacle course I'm subjecting the intruder to.

Adelat displays far less adaptability than Camella, and freezes up as she sees she's once more in an eight foot cube-this one nearly identical to the first, the only difference being that three of the seven labels are still properly beside buttons. The fact they read: [Aztec Jaguar Costume], [French Clown] and [Harvey Bunny] makes her pick up the four labels on the ground. I can see her outlook on what the future holds for her brighten as she reads one titled [Business Casual] then immediately plummet as she sees the last three are [Thongs and Thong], [Speedo + Coat of Oil] and [Birthday Suit]. Eventually, she presses all four of the empty buttons, pulling out her gun-and is rather startled when a single pair of arms drops down, holding a clothes hanger with a simple suit (still oversized) on it. In that moment where she relaxed just a hair, Amen blacks out the room, SB abuses the incumbent mass of shadow to shadowport off all the clothes she's wearing-and the lights come back on. I time her-eleven seconds to get dressed again. Fast, that.

She's practically stomping, having long since forgotten about stealth as she marches through the opening door-and skids to a halt as she comes into a ballroom. I'm a bit disappointed Amen couldn't quite provide a suitably generic faceless crowd of dancers, but decide the invisible force that compels Adelat to dance with a mannequin dressed in the very same clothes she first wore on entering this building, abruptly clean and dry, as she cuts a swaying waltz across the massive, pillar-strewn room. Without being given even time to adjust to this bizarre situation the waltz ends, the lights again go out-and this time Amen reshapes the entire room around her, keeping only the marble floor as the light returns-and she finds herself in an eight by eight cube, with nothing visible but a single braided rope of cloth-of-gold, it's tassel festooned with a gilded card reading 'Pull Me'. Clearly learning, she doesn't bother looking around for an alternative this time, and simply pulls the cord-to be showered with hand grenades. Or, if she'd looked a little longer before trying in desperation to duck and cover, she'd have noticed they were plastic replicas. A full minute passes before she takes the only real action she can in the room filled with cheap toy grenades-once more pulling on the rope.

I take that as my cue, and exit the room while SB continues to show me what the picture displays.

The floor falls away, dumping her and the balls down-into yet another eight by eight cube before promptly sealing shut. She hardly even notices the fact the toy grenades just phased right through the floor-or at least, she doesn't react to it. It's a good thing she's almost done-she nearly looks to be adapting. She exits the single door in the room-to the exact same hallway she ran down before, the same posters, the same well-lit exit. At this point she breaks immediately into a run, hoping to reach the end before its too late-and slams the door open, knocking it off it's hinges as the floor stays inert beneath her. She rolls to her feet-and finds herself face to crotch with me, still sporting my robe and weasel slippers, smiling (not Smiling) down at her. I immediately spring into my spiel, rather certain I don't want to let her get any momentum going.
>[M7 Trait has gained it's SEVENTH word, becoming: MASTERFUL MAESTRO the MEANDERING, MILITARISTIC MACHIAVELLIAN MANIPULATIVE METHUSELAH. This trait can now effect magical beings that are oriented around social manipulation-there is no guarantee of success, however.]
"I thought I heard the machine running. Are you injured? No? Good, come with me to my office. I’d normally be more upset about someone breaking into my home, but it’s you."
I promptly turn about and begin walking up the stairs, happy to note she's following me, warily or not. Once we've entered the room I arbitrarily am calling my office for the moment-I turn about and continue.
“I saw you working the other day, you looked really busy. How’s work?”
At this-she finally seems to fully exit autopilot, her face working through a melange of conflicting expressions before she indignantly replies.
>[Adelat]"What-what the hell IS this mad funhouse!?"
I effect the air of a man deeply offended by trying hard to be polite.
”It is not a funhouse, it is a prototype. Now, let’s be civil. I’m really trying to be polite here. How’s work?”
She narrows her eyes at me.
>[Adelat]"Indefinite suspension as they 'investigate' something."
“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that. Are they going to press charges or are they just going to cut you loose?”
>[Adelat]"I don't know-does it matter? You think any department worth it's name will want to risk taking me now?"
“Well, it sounds like you’ve had a pretty bad week. Still, that doesn’t quite explain why you broke into my home, and looked at a bunch of industrial secrets. There’s a huge market for machines like what I’ve got here. Multi-billion dollar business, after all. I’d normally not even be debating about if I should call the police, but I don’t really want to get you in more trouble. So, can you explain why you thought you’d find information that would exonerate you in here?”
Oh, I am so happy I had Amen relocate the cameras to this room to continue the show, and got Andrei to record this-I'm going to need a print of that look, that gaping, fish out of water mixed with a pissed off tiger look of hers. It's delicious.
>[Adelat]"...YOU!"
"Me?"
>[Adelat]"You did it, I KNOW it! I don't know how, but you stole from those vans, didn't you!"
I put on a vaguely disapproving look, as if I were her mildly disappointed parent.
“Vans? Oh, something about the job you were on when I spotted you? Adelat that doesn’t make a lick of sense. I called in a favor because I heard the place got all shot up. Figured I could get it for some promises and handshakes. Figured right, too.”
>[Adelat]"That's impossible-there's no way they could have cleared out the red tape fast enough to 'sell' the place after we shut it down!"
“Ad what about before, hm? They’re just businessmen. Even if they’re into stuff I don’t know anything about, questionably legal or no, my dealings with them have nothing to do with their other funding sources.”
Clearly starting to get her bearing, she tries her hand at lateral thinking-
>[Adelat]"Why'd you wave at me?"
I sigh exasperatedly as I respond without missing a beat.
“I waved at you because I was trying to be friendly! It's now sounding like that was a wasted effort.”
At this point, plans go slightly arwy-as several sets of feet can be heard walking down the hallway. Camella and the few brave souls willing to jog with her, I'm betting.
>[Adelat]"Who's that-'guests'?"
“Of course I have guests staying with me. They’re helping me with other projects, most of which involve industrial secrets.”
>[Adelat]"You're going to show me their identification, or-"
“You’re not even here in your official capacity, so no, I’m not going to show you their paperwork and I find it offensive you're demanding it after breaking in."
I briefly stroke my chin before continuing just as she's about to speak, relentlessly riding right over her.
"Speaking of which, I really can’t let you blab to people about how far along I am with my designs. I don’t want to call the cops on you, but I also want some insurance that you’re not going to cost me a lot of money accidentally. How about if you sign a non-disclosure agreement? I could have my guys write up an ironclad one. I’d feel secure about letting you go on your way if we had one.”
She's about to speak when I slide SM's contract, handily deposited in the desk's drawer, into her hands. She begins a decidedly manic bit of off-kilter giggling, as she reads the verbage.
>[Adelat]"Is this a joke?"
"I'll have you know I've had excellent relations with this company and put a great deal of trust in their contracts, eccentric wording or no. Now-if you'd just make a blood thumbprint over here and sign, you-"
>[Adelat]"What makes you think I'll sign this bit of nonsense?"
"I suppose I COULD call the police and wash my hands of this affair-tell me, do you think they'll like your explanation as to why you are here?"
>[Adelat]"..But this contract talks about pure fantasy-half of this could never be enforced!"
“Well if those clauses are as unenforceable as you say, then there’s no problem is there? Look, I’ll even make sure the diagnostic footage of you going through the machine is deleted, if you stop wasting my time and just sign the damn NDA.”

It's one of the hardest things I've ever done, not grinning when she finally hunkers down and signs the thing.


As soon as she has signed it and I watch the magic taking root with the aid of my Soul Brothers, I have Amen show her to the door. The moment it shuts behind her-
>[Amen]"Was this one's services satisfactory?"
Man, Amen's REALLY keen on that flower bed.
"As agreed, you may expand the flowerbed the agreed two square feet."

I swagger back to the viewing room, where Sake and SB are both chatting with the now too-jovial to care Andrei, clearly interested in what he thinks he can do with the footage, the man looking more than passing intrigued by both's ability to imitate voices, clearly pondering how to dub in the audio. I remind him he's got an hour before Camella gets back from her jog-maybe less-and he groans before shuffling off to do his thing.

.....Yeah, that felt reeeeeaaaaal good.

Amen, let me know the MOMENT you sense her violating a clause of the contract, okay?
>[Amen]"This one hears, and obeys."

A solid start to the day-and it's not even four twenty AM yet.










How can I possibly keep the rest of the day from being a let-down from this amazing start?
>>
No. 390101 ID: a05c2d

You have the recording - you should share it with other people. Abolec seems like the kind of guy who would enjoy it, as do Einrik and Duke.

Set up a joint viewing session for them, and ask the questions from >>390061 about learning soul manipulation.
>>
No. 390150 ID: f70e5e

minor nit pick, we told Adelat that we would delete the footage, so we should keep our word and do so. after making a copy of course, but the important thing is we keep our word.
>>
No. 390184 ID: b83c65

>Andrei Orders
>Today - Wensday - (DAY OF LAUGHTER)
>Bro the fuck out with Shadow Boss and Weasel. Demonstrate microphone and get that file saved so we can start making edited copies with Shadow and Weasel voices. Laugh ass off.
>Continue to laugh ass off. Continue to do so. Be unable to do much for the whole day, laughing, falling onto ass, and suggesting we should make additions to the machine. 'Highlights of Your Life' or 'The Third Reich Attacking the Neo-Nazis' or 'The Smile Room' would be good additions.
>When asked why laughing ass off, be cagey or lie. When Camella asks...ask Shadow Boss and Weasel if we can run the Machine again.
>Cackle madly through the night, staying up late to get the best editing, including the best dubbing of Shadow Boss and Weasel's lines - also editing in Camella, if we get her to run The Machine. Also, make sure the 'Killing Doony' footage is good.

>Tomorrow - Thursday - (Day of Movies)
>Hate the garish sun. Indulge in Caffeine.
>Act as if everything is normal. Spend as much break time in computer room as possible, putting the finishing touches on both videos. Try so hard not to laugh. See if Armas, Shadowboss or Weasel has any ideas to make Kill Doony or THE MACHINE footage better. Idly comment during video editing about something watching us drink caffeine.
>When not in the break room, be convincing and bribing and lying smooth talking mouth off for Lyubov.
>Have Boss call a Companywide meeting to view the Kill Doony footage to revel in the killing of a foe and to notice anything that could be improved. Troll everyone with Boss by showing both Doony and THE MACHINE - Best Edit.
>Go to bed dead tied, early, and happier than ever.

>Day After Tomorrow - Friday - (Day of Pretending To Be Santa)
>Wake up. Giggle. Watch choice clips of The Machine Footage. Guffaw.
>Fuckhate the Camella Training and the running and the how the -fuck- does Satai and Lyubov do this?
>Remember stuff delivery! Distribute Laptops to every Russian not already having one or that will break it.
>Also, with new disc readers, check floppy disk, and laserdisc.
>See Hillevi on a crappy, crappy, crappy notebook. Fuck that shit! Spend one of the precious hours training her on computer games, computer usage, and convincing boss to get you a bitching computer. Realize she doesn't need to convince boss to do this. Go computer shopping with Hillevi and her money. $70 1TB Hard Drive, $50 4GB DDR Ram, a $75 case, Sea Sonic S12II 520 520w PSU for $60, a graphics card for $185, a Phenom II X4 956 BE CPU for 160 and a Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H Motherboard for 135 dollars. Total of $679. Bring parts back home, and put computer for Hillevi. Tell her: "This is a good computer, but if you really want to know computers, you will craft it when you understand computers."
>>
No. 390190 ID: 2391c9

Armas, you should get some chakra practice in today,in fact you should get it in every day.

THE CRANKY CAMELLA- You need to ask Camella what's up, if Ito is worried there is good reason. Check out her soul, if the eyes look unfocused or anything, then this a pretty damn serious. Otherwise it might just be something on her mind.

THE GUILTY GO- When last we met, Ping left us with kind of an ominous message about wishing he could be our friend and not competitor. I almost got used to the guy being a pal, but the reality is he really has no reason to now that you all have taken revenge on Doony, plus, he works for Lo Fang, a man that most certainly gives no shits about taking you out. Him sounding so sorry might indicate that the triads are about to make a move on you.
Even so it would be strange that you were not attacked back during your last chakra session. Did you notice any strange behavior from the guards when you last went for chakra training? Anything strange with their souls? In any case, you should get the place set up in case the Triads decide to make a move.

THE COURTEOUS CORNELIUS - Cash that shit in.

Check on all the russians and the gear you all used in the doony fight. It was a short encounter, a slaughter really, but it would be worthwhile to see if any of them made soulgains or if any of the gear shows signs of developing magic, or in the case of the season guns, have their enchantments strengthen.

Have a talk with Silja, keep her company.

Look into what Whaitari is up to. For a divine benefactor, she sure hasn't been doing much giving, she really is milking you for all you are worth without giving much in return, you need to address that.

Lastly, check on Einrik, he has fulfilled his end of the deal with doony; He might be hanging around some more to deal with personal issues, but you should find out what he intends to do.

Zhenya orders.
-Help Lyubov and the others when they ask.
-Dedicate yourself fully to Cammela's training, dying won't do you any good here and you might as well get her teaching like you wanted out of it. Grab sleep and naps when they present themselves.
-Get into a rhythm. You are musically talented, getting a beat should be simple for you. Find a natural beat, something like your heartbeat, and form everything around it, weather on the main beat or off or staggered, make a song out of it; your steps, your breathing, your training in chakra, your playing everything. Songs have a tendency to focus actions and improve recall and indeed, initial performance in things you do, especially for those naturally gifted in music. Get to it, the song of your life.
-In your off time, when you have nothing else to do (including sleep as it is now a high priority action), grab a map and work on memorizing the roads and routes of Istanbul and work your way out, simulating escape and moving combat scenarios on foot and in various vehicles. It's something you seem good at and will no doubt be helpful in times to come. Ask Armas and Camella what their reach is and start memorizing routes from the docks and any triad or mafia controlled territories.
-Boss was talking about wood taking magic easier back before the Doonages fight, seems like a good idea to get yourself some and swap out synthetic grips on your guns for wood ones. Hey, might as well go all the way and get some instruments made out of some good old wood too. Some ancient Kauri should do the trick(http://www.ancientwood.com/), this beaut here should work wonders for anything you want(http://www.ancientwood.com/catalog/new-shipment/slab-1002). In fact this is something the entire company could benefit from. Talk to Satai about getting some of this for the company to switch grips and in general make useful items from.
>>
No. 390214 ID: 42c08a

Armas Orders
Try to catch some of the chakra training. See if anyone in particular is making progress, and try to see what's up with Camella.

Get in as much practice at multi-orientations as you can keep your mind on without the bird's help, then ask Einrik to observe you trying it both on your own and with hummingbro. Try out different combinations, you never know, it might be easier with ones that don't share an area of effect.

Head down to the bazaar and handle getting more booze. Buy from at least a few places, and set up at least one recurring purchase. Make sure everything gets delivered.

Have a look at Amen's flowers. Compliment them, even if they're horrifying. It's nice to have a hobby.

Check on Andrei's work with the film.



Feodor Orders
*Join Camella's Jog. Don't be stupid enough to try to win, since you've spent most of the last fortnight drinking and doing little else, but put in as much effort as you can handle. Order a 140lb(adjustable) weighted vest online, to make it even harder. Budget: $400
*At chakra training, be as focused as possible, as an example to the others - the health of their souls is worth even more than that of their bodies
*Demand that Armas use his spirit-sense to hold a stance so you can speak to all the men you lost to supernatural causes in Chugainov's army. If you see Einrik, badger him with questions about how you could have saved them.
*Ask Camella and Armas if they know any less-than-legal doctors you could ask to mentor you, to improve your skills. When told about Dr Finnigan, get his contact details and call him about working as a free assistant in exchange for mentoring. If he's still reticent, offer up to $5000.
*Ask Lev if he could spare an hour or so on the weekend to teach you some more advanced hand-to-hand fighting. Ask Zhenya the same about pistols.
>>
No. 390216 ID: 42c08a

>>390214
>stance
Should say seance, but my phone is stupid.
>>
No. 390226 ID: e3f546

Grisha Orders:
-Chakra training is something that you will see gains out of, at least in the department of spiritual wholeness, so be paying attention.
-Note that Andrei has not stopped laughing since the this morning, ponder what horrible thing he has witnessed this time, going from the record of things Armas has done. Considering the firestorm at the Nazi warehouse and his reticence to say, probably something terrible.
-Fail to sleep after lunch, instead think while pretending to sleep, think of homeland, your father, deliberate over chakra training.
-Also, considering the likelyhood of encountering more... robust foes in this business, it may be worth getting something more powerful than modern assault weapons, inflicting shock may end up more important than wounding or killing efficiently... not that the AN is unsuited for simple human combat.
>>
No. 390254 ID: 3947e9

>SM introduction
SM owes us introduction to other goblins... we need to claim those already. That would allow us to "shop around" for things a bit and thus improve the prices we can get.

>Hummingbird Magic Poisoning:
We should buy (from SM for now, potentially from other contacts in future) disposable charms to filter the excess energy on our link with the hummingbird.
We should buy enough such charms to last a month. As armas gets more precise at manipulating his chakra he can reduce the amount of energy bleedout over that link which makes the charms last longer (reducing ongoing cost) until eventually we no longer need them at all.

>Russian Magic Food Poisoning
We could get in contact with the chakra master who taught einrik. If we could convince her to teach us, we could ask her if she could teach us a chakra config that lets us drain magic from a willing subject... the food magic food poisoning turns into an emergency magic battery for us.
Alternatively, such a configuration might be in the 7777 uses of chakra book we intend to buy.

>Godling
Isn't sake a Kami? We should ask sake to clarify the definitions of god, godling, kami, and name other in betweens he knows of. Oh, also if he knows what is the definition of a devil, what is it the makes a devil a devil?

>Prisoners
I think it is time we met/examined the various prisoners amen has. Also lets reexamine the mangled reaper soul (now that we have improved soul detection).

>Chakra Practice
Armas should focus practicing holding multiple simultaneous chakra alignments with hummingbirds assistance. Keep at it until he increases assisted duration by a second and then try by himself. Repeat it until he can do it by himself for a second.
Ideally we want to be able to have an array of multiple detection alignments running concurrently (although I guess we could also cycle between them)... speaking of, I want to learn all the different detection configurations lo fang could teach us for that purpose.

>Chugniov
Lets approach SM with the idea of ordering jidovka to steal and deliver to us a sample of chuginov's blood.
We offer SM to sell him non exclusive access to chuginov same as we did to jidovka.
SM will help us phrase the order for amen, to order jidovka to steal the blood.
In exchance SM gets a discount on his purchase of chuginov ordering rights.

>Boris
Decides to join the morning jogs in earnest to get good enough to make up for what happened last time.
Also, to combat his kelpie krisps cravings (aka, to completely eliminate them from diet) decides to go for cookie baking training with our dear cookie lady every day around 1pm (can shift it around if she wants to). As per >>/questdis/359707
>>
No. 390267 ID: ac6c03

Orders for Ivan
*Continue training hard in Chakra but, be sure to take a day off of other training to catch up on sleep.
*Join Satai's marksman training group on its regular meetings.
*Decide that Boss Weasel could use a bit of bling.
*Settle on idea of using gold leaf to let him decorate himself.
*Dub plan "Operation: Pimp Your Weasel"
*Seek Lyubov's assistance in the afformented plan.
*Purchase one 25 leaf book of gold leaf and one 25 leaf book of silver leaf Budget: $100
[ http://goldenleafproducts.com/order_GLP237.html ] [ http://goldenleafproducts.com/order_GLPSILVER.html ]
*Reluctantly realize that gold/silver-covered fur might interfere with weasel rubdowns.
*Settle on decorating Boss Weasel's claws instead along with a few small wind and musical note themed highlights on his fur.
*Create wax paper stencils of patterns with Lyubov's help
*Approach Boss Weasel alongside Lyubov to pitch the idea of GILDED CLAWS AND FUR to him.
*If he accepts, commence the the decoration with his choice of gold, silver, or combination. Jokingly ask him how it felt to have his nails done for the first time once finished.
*Feel moderately silly when you realize that what you have been referring to as an L129A1 Sharpshooter is actually an MSG90-A2
>>
No. 390276 ID: 2391c9

>>390190
Zhenya also gets her ass down to the Government office to turn in her forms.
>>
No. 390300 ID: 6616f3

How to top that morning? Well, how about cashing in on Doony parts? SM won't keep them for us forever, after all.

Offering Gianni the opportunity to study the organs of the beast would be an immense boon to the man, enough to get him to agree to... well, likely all sorts of conditions. For one, we'd like him to coordinate on a plan we're hashing together for the barely-alive Nazinaut ('studying our body back at my house' is also particularly valuable study material for GiaGia; between the two of them, we could probably get all sorts of mutually beneficial agreements vis a vis information sources and what the mafia is up to, or even poach him from the Mafia entirely). For another... well, I'm not sure I trust GiaGia enough to have him put things inside us, but wouldn't it be neat to have a system of organs giving us poison like the Doonongaes?

Mention it to Duke and Einrik, too, while we're on the subject of the Nazinaut. We have an engine of mindless destruction, complete with plate armor and gas jets. We have a sentient shadow that can control the body, or an einher that expressed an interest in taking it over. We have Doony poison. We have that crime against God Duke commits in the bathroom. I think between all of these things, we could come up with something truly horrifying to unleash on our enemies.

With a multiton beast, I'd put the usable meat cuts at no more than 2000 pounds, and that's before SM's 1/20th cut. Deliver, say, 200 pounds of the best cuts to the Owner with a request to meet to discuss various topics related to 'Corn' at his leisure. Hopefully he won't accomodate us immediately, since we haven't checked out the island yet, but if he does, I'd like to learn more about what I think was a job offer. Try and angle in the fact that his little present proves that we have the chops to acquire magical beasts for the discerning palate if anyone had such a desire, and that we'd actually like to learn more about the restaraunt business and Turkish cuisine in particular - we enjoy cooking (and eating) but we are, at best, a gifted amateur. We can either pay for lessons in more of our gift, or by the job.

The blood, I think Amen could safely handle and keep fresh and potent in the mansion stores? Ask. Then have him calculate how much blood is available. That's good for one free Dunter training voucher, or immensely valuable in its own right, or maybe even an interesting potential component of the proposed Blood Heart plan.

The 'materials' we can add to the Amazon cache for messing about with later.

Speaking of blood, we have Adelat's bloody thumbprint. If we needed a way in to the police station, that might do very well when put in a blood-illusion charm. Pair it with an immensely realistic mask of - oh, I don't know, Prime Minister Tayyip, for the cameras.

When the Smiling One gets back in touch with us, also gently broach the subject of the Japanese magical animal ban. Advantageous outsider trading in the witch's magical foxes (say, through Wyld Goblins and Smiling One) may convince her to re-open the issue, if indeed the issue is one of money.
>>
No. 390338 ID: 283cd8

Ask Amen if he can non-destructively reverse engineer any and all magic the Doonegeas used from his brain, corpse and residual magic, and truthfully explain any she can potentially make use of to Whaitiri via SB, in the same fashion he's answering her questions, to the degree that she's interested in learning. This will hopefully give us more cred for boons, and SB may be able to transfer pieces of it to us, or use it himself.

Allso discuss with him the price for a luck charm designed to maximise our chances of acquiring a trait that improves our Divine Summer bloodline by eating the Doonegeas' heart or other randomly selected organ.
>>
No. 390354 ID: 431fa8

>Satai orders for Tuesday-Wednesday+
-Be exhausted and overworked. Begin to raid Andrei's energy drinks. After a moment of consideration, abort that plan. Instead find Andrei and tell him that he needs to go buy enough energy drinks for all the Russians to be awake in spite of horrible sleep-deprivation all the time and it goes on the company dime. He can manage the selection and distribution personally, of course, as long as he makes sure that Satai gets as many as he needs.
-At sniping practice and in transit to/from, make an effort to talk with Hillevi. Start with sniping-related things, like different types of mundane long-range weapons (rifles, mortars, rockets, missiles, grenade launchers, artillery, etc.) and what she has in terms of magic to fulfill the same basic combat roles. Try to segue from there into a more general information exchange about magical and mundane methods of combat, and from there into all kinds of related topics- enchantments on weapons and items and how those work, chakra, general mundane technologies particularly those with military application, common magical whatevers, mundane force organizations, types of magical creatures, whatever. She's spending four hours a day in Satai's company, and that of the others in the marksmanship group; this is a golden opportunity to have a lot of useful information exchange- and as long as we keep to topics where Hillevi is knowledgeable hopefully she won't feel awkward and clam up.
-Upon seeing the video of Adelat and Armas, be highly amused but also somewhat disturbed, because one solid measure of someone's character is what they do when they have total power over someone- and apparently Armas chooses to toy with people for his amusement and then trick them into slavery. Adelat might not realize that any contract, no matter how ridiculous it sounds, can be enforced- but the Russians most certainly do.


>>390098
We have secure internet access, and have had it for a while- it would be a good time to log on to The Smiling One's website and see what she's got. She said she "has some following amongst gourmands of certain interests", which sounds rather promising. Silja needs to devour rather specific things to grow properly into a human form again, and thus could certainly be termed a gourmand- as can Armas, of course. It was also mentioned that she makes wonderful preserves and spirits, which would also be looking into on principle- Duke seems to be guzzling ours at a prodigious rate. Take a careful look at what the website's got, and leave Nikoyaka Youkai a message that we have an interest in acquiring certain foods more specialized than we have easy access to, and would be interested in discussing availability and cost with her if she has an opportunity.

This morning, go to the arena the goblins showed us and enter a match as a competitor. Make sure that we can being Shadowbro and the hummingbird, and that the arena understands that we are nowhere near Einrik/Duke's weight class even if we are associated with them and our opponents should be something we can more realistically handle. Bet heavily on ourselves if we can get anything remotely resembling decent odds, because we're awesome. Ask what the arena accepts in terms of non-cash bets, because we've got some fantastically valuable things to put up as collateral- magical weapons, nonmagical but impressive weapons, barrels of blood, expensive paintings, all kinds of fun stuff. Since we're strong enough that the odds on us will probably get really bad really quickly- hopefully the word hasn't spread about us being in the Doonongaes fight, since the goblins can't talk about us being the one who did it- don't make the mistake of betting small at first; seize fleeting the opportunity to really make bank. Nothing like a victory and a solid profit to keep a day moving right.


Call our parents and say hi before this next one. See how they're doing, chat for a while. It's a doozy and might warp that relationship a tad, so best to talk to them first (though not about this, just in general).

One of the most important issues before us, although we haven't thought about it much, is establishing a good relationship with Whaitiri. Our soul is inextricably tied to her, so she will probably never stop being important to us; that makes it important to make sure that our dealings with her are properly arranged so that we have a positive relationship in the long term. What we have with her right now is total crap, to be blunt. Whaitiri is selfish, touchy, and incredibly prideful, looking down on us as a mortal and her lesser that she doesn't have to respect and will never owe anything to. We just want her to give us power, and don't feel that we have to respect her to get it- we're treating her as a mark to be manipulated, or if that fails, hopefully bribed into compliance with just enough subservience and offerings to make her do what we want. This state of affairs is neither desirable nor sustainable.

Fortunately, it doesn't have to be. We are no mortal, but a godling, blessed scion of the divine. Of Whaitiri in particular, even; in certain ways we have a closer tie to her than it's likely anyone else will ever have, which can serve as a very solid foundation for the formalization of a mutually beneficial relationship where both sides know what to expect from the other and can interact in structured ways to provide one another with useful assistance, with no jockeying for position or advantage required.

Of the available types of relationship that we could attempt to define, the most beneficial for us and easiest to work with in the long term is likely to convince Whaitiri that we are her son. Twin sons, in fact, with Shadowbro. This might initially sound ridiculous, but it's not- because Whaitiri is a god, a creature of Belief, and we are very, very good at believing things about ourselves and making them true- the Splintered Intent trick proves that. We believe ourselves to be sons of Whaitiri, that by exchanging part of our soul with hers we were adopted and spiritually reborn/reformed so that she is our respected soul-mother, and we are her beloved sons. This means that both of us naturally delight in helping one another and seeing one another grow strong and be happy, because we're family.

The fact that part of our soul is made of her should make this Belief begin to affect her, but it might not be enough. We can supplement it with the fact that every time we eat we're feeding her energy- and that energy is passing through us to get to her, giving us a chance to affect it. If we believe hard enough that the reason Whaitiri is able to gain strength from our eating is because we're her son, then every time she gains energy from our eating she should also be affected by that Belief as her being shifts just a little more so that it's true- and she is still relatively weak right now; the amount of magic that we're able to feed her might not be totally lost in a static mindset as it would be with a stronger god. To cement our decision, therefore, once we're sure we have the Belief that we want fixed in our mind and heart- Shadowbro's as well if possible, since he has part of Whaitiri's soul- we should spend some time gorging. Find the most powerful meats available that we can safely consume- all the hearts in our refrigerator, the Doonongaes' heart and some of its other organs, whatever else we've got on hand that's as magical as possible- and devour them while focusing on the appropriate belief. If done right, this should lay a very solid groundwork for making Whaitiri think of us as her son that we can shore up with future meals and interactions, as well as continuing to believe that regarding our own nature.

Talk about this plan with Sake and Iron Trick, as our resident Divine magic types, to confirm that it would function as expected before implementing it. Also confirm that Shadowbro is cool with it (it does affect him rather strongly, after all) and generally sanity check with headvoices. If they say it would work out then fire all cylinders and full steam ahead.


Since we'll be giving Sometimes Merchant a call to acquire the relevant Doonongaes parts anyway, we should also seek to get Silja appropriate meals from him unless the Smiling One's website was exceptionally useful. "I am interested in acquiring magically Winter-aligned, physically attractive humanoid female bodies; intact is preferred but parts are also acceptable as long as they came from an appropriate source. Yuki onna, valkyries, female einher or Contractors, frost giants, kumiho, winter elves or nymphs, bloodliners, vampires, or weres of the appropriate clans, that sort of thing. What do you have available?" Several bargaining points on this: the selection of possibilities is so broad that we can't be expected to pay the same price as for a request for a specific species, if he tries to sell us something still alive we're not going to pay much extra for it since we only need the body, if he needs time to acquire more of course there's a reduction in price due to the delay. Unless he has overwhelming quantities, this can be a standing order where he contacts us as more supplies become available. And one other thing to get: "There's one other thing I'm interested in. I would like to secure the use of a nevernever pocket sometime soon, designed to be ideal for training purposes and last for a subjective five years." This will likely be expensive- but we might as well ask. For payment, the information that the Triads are currently down their heavy hitter- they don't seem to even know where Labombard is- should be worth a bit. There's also this: "You are familiar with my current guests, of course. Duke's battle in the arena should have given you a good sense of what he can do- and I can offer you my services in directing him against specific targets. I'm sure you have a few matters where a man of his capabilities could solve problems or simplify matters to your advantage, preferably through fights that he would appreciate. As a further payment and to prove my abilities in this, I maneuvered him into killing Mammon's Knight some days ago, and he thanked me for it afterward." We can supplement that with money- hopefully we'll have quite a bit after managing a win or two in the arena this morning.

If we manage to acquire some of the desired food types for Silja, talk with her for a while and feed her whatever we get- although should have Amen keep small blood samples first, just in case we want one of those specific types of blood for something one day, and we should eat tiny bits of everything Silja gets ourselves because taking meals together is a bonding experience. If Sometimes Merchant sold us anything alive, don't feed it to Silja just yet, that demands special handling based upon what it is.

We need to get moving on the Swede's job- there's no telling how long everything will remain in police lockup. Gathering intelligence and figuring out where exactly it all is so that we can prepare for the theft is step one here; Shadowbro can get on that since he's mobile and stealthy- since they know that the warded van was the only one which didn't have the goods stolen from it, it's a fair bet that they'll be keeping the rest of the stuff in a warded building. Since Adelat was in charge of the operation, it's a good bet that her organization will be the ones storing the stuff. Armas should be able to find buildings they control easily enough- public organization, after all- and Shadowbro can go out and find out which ones are warded, do some more detailed scouting of the area. That should narrow down our search nicely and let us start planning for recovery operations.

Call Arkvad. "Arkvad! How's it going? I've got some great news- care to come by for dinner, talk about things?" When he comes over, personally grill up a few slabs of (middling-quality) Doonongaes meat cooked up, serve them to him. "So, heard anything about Flinder's Range? You said someone would be checking it out- anything promising?" "I also wanted to ask, did you do anything about Otso? Thought I should give him a call and dispense some advice, but you're closer to the family than I am and I wasn't sure how you'd be moving on the issue." Get Otso's phone number (not his families', but his personal cell phone) if Arkvad has it and will give it to us. Once the meal is well underway, use the line "So, that news I mentioned- guess what you're eating?" Smirk at his expected wariness. "Doonongaes. Claimed by me as spoils after we killed it on Sunday." "Ask anyone in the group, they'll all confirm. Better- its scales, bones, cartilage, scales, fangs- do you think your company would be interested in such things?" "Thought so. I'm not willing to sell it all, but if there are any particular projects- I've made arrangements so that it's all clean of poison and won't be going bad. And you can add this to our resume for working acquisitions." "I'd be interested in making some kind of support arrangement, if possible- have you got people who would be interested in working with a company like mine? We could pull in two or three on a subcontractor basis to do weapons work for us and offer useful advice, do some acquisitions or provide some components we've acquired on other jobs to Holland & Holland in return- everyone wins."

Once that conversation is done, give Otso a call. Bear what Arkvad told us in mind, of course, but here are some starting points. Try to strike a more helpful tone than last time- we shouldn't run into any problems with our Ogrimir contract as long as we only talk over the phone instead of actually encountering him, and he is kin- that demands that we assist him as best we can. "Evening, Otso. Thought I should ask how you're getting on. Starting out cold is never easy- I should know." "I'd rather not share too much over the phone- unless you happen to have a much more secure phone than I would expect- but I can answer a few questions if you have them. No overly personal details, of course." Try to be helpful, and don't deceive him- just shut him down with a polite 'I'd rather not get into that, sorry' if he asks about anything touching on the nature of our bloodline or Contract, then talk about other things. There must be tons of questions he's got and it's not often someone offers information freely. "I did manage to have another conversation with someone who would be rather well versed in your power's nature. More important than any single ability that it grants is the fact that it is a seed, meant to grow. Experiment with it, do what comes naturally, and you may end up with something unique to you." Make sure we get a cell phone number for him and he gets our phone number in case he wants to call us.

As a last item for the day, we should see what's bothering Camella. Go by Ito's a bit before we expect night training to start; maybe we'll be able to catch her waking up. "Hey, Camella. You want to talk?" (expected answer 'no') "Okay, saw that one coming. How about this: Word is you're acting troubled, and talking about it might make you feel better. I would be happy to take a stab at the good-friend thing and listen. I'll even avoid saying anything rude for the entire conversation." Say the last line in the tones of one offering an irresistible bribe. If she turns us down or says not right now, "Well, I won't press. Offer stands if you want it later."
>>
No. 390379 ID: a0e17b

Nikifor Orders
-Igor should have finished your arm-armor. Wear them allday erryday to get used to them. Test them out on today's sparring sessions. Block blows with them.
-So much training! Try to relax in-between the extreme spartan schedule by drinking.
-Everyone's so busy-increase the amount of bottles you add to the Booze Stash everyday.
-Weasel Boss is getting so many stuffs...wonder if she ordered the Russians to get them for her, or if they're gifts. Wonder if you should get her something too.
-Last time you tried to communicate with ShadowBoss, your own shadow ended up waving at you. Become curious-while drunk, talk to it. Tell him how awesome Big Boss Armas is, even with his...eccentric orders and love for self-amusement, compared to that shit-eating bastard Chugainov. Attempt to wrestle with your shadow (rolling on the ground), then stomp it to submission.
-See what the other Russians are doing in their free time, checking on them, hanging out general.
>>
No. 390386 ID: 81f32a

ORDERS FOR IOSEF:

>Be a bit nervous about this whole you-are-going-to-explode thing but at the same time relieved that Boss really means to hold his promises and take care of their well-being. Certainly nothing like when working under previous boss, even the normal Russian military wouldn't give rat's ass about regular soldiers.
>Besides that, Armas went really out of his way to make new workplace comfortable. Luxurious Mansion, top of the line food with no restrictions on rations, a lot of free time to devote as you want. Well, sure, the last 2 points don't apply as much at this moment, but you cannot blame Armas about it. Also, throws bitching parties.
>And the equipment is great too. Armas certainly doesn't spare any expenses to make sure everyone is outfitted as best as possible. Doesn't put lock on high-quality, expensive armament and is even willing to issue his personal arms. Hell, the disposable charms are worth more than all of the gear that Russian black ops issued. Even went out of his way to acquire expensive antidote that wasn't even necessary.
>So, no matter the weird eccentricities that he has (which are hilarious btws), Armas is pretty much the best boss one could hope for.
>Raise a quiet toast for The Boss.
>Think about all the comrades from black ops still held captive under Chuganov back home. Feel sorry for them.
>Drink for their well-being too

>If Iosef ever cathces Boris sneakily eating more Kelpie Crisps. Smack him around and tell him to have more discipline. He wouldn't want his favorite chef (seriously, he makes the BEST borsch, even without magical ingredients) to go boom just because he didn't have enough willpower to stop eating literally poison for couple of weeks.

>Armas seemed serious about this training and Camella even more so.
>Decide to stop all other projects and pursuits on hold and focus only on training [just in case if Iosef was still spending time on other stuff]
>His schedule should be like this: wake up at 3:30, go through morning routine and have a breakfast. 4:00-10:00, Camella Jog and Chakra training. 11:00-11:30, Lunch (losing half and hour of working as instructor in favor of being well-fed). 12:00, Instructor at Ito's. 13:00 Chakra training with Ito. 14:00-19:00, Sleep. 19:05-20:00, dinner and relaxing/socializing. 21:00, Chakra at Ito's. 22:00-24:00, Night lessons at Ito's. 00:00-3:30, Sleep

>This way Iosef sleeps 9:30 hours every day and is well-fed entire day (seriously, the schedule on disc-thread had only 2 meals per day)

>Seek out Sake and ask him use his healing magic on Iosef right before sleeping at mifnight. This way, Iosef only needs to sleep to relieve mental fatigue and training will be much easier. Do this every day. Analyze the effects it has on the body: does it hamper the training progress or improve it? Will find out in few days.

>If Ivan >>390267 agrees, make that a joint project. Drop another 1,200$ for equal amount of Gold and Silver leafs. Use them to construct a cozy nest for Sake. Present it together with Ivan to Sake

>>390357
>>Aware that he is not the best socially, he tries to get Isoef's help into talking with people and appearing not too annoying, continuing his goal of trying to make contacts.
>Sure, Iosef doesn't mind talking to people. While he is not known to be a good talker, he is not bad at it either. Iosef is a good listener, appears interested when others talk to him, can patiently wait before interjecting (although he wont stand and listed for hours either), appears friendly, doesn't break eye-contact and even if others break his personal space, he doesn't appear bothered by it.
>Ask Igor what metals other than lead and copper we should inquire about.
>Ask whoever will be answering our questions about whole-sale purchases. Ask what the minimum purchase is, ask if there are discounts for big purchases, for repeat purchases and/or partners. Ask how long does the delivery take. Get their contact numbers for ordering metals and a price-list we can refer to.
>>
No. 390389 ID: 81f32a

>>390386
>Drop another 1,200$ for equal amount of Gold and Silver leafs.

Fuck me and not sleeping properly. Do not spend 1,200$. Just add equal amount as Ivan is doing (that being 100$), so that Iosef doesn't take more of the claim or doesn't look like he is putting much heart into it.
>>
No. 390433 ID: 252e1b

LYUBOV ORDERS
[Wednesday]
*Wake up. Go on jog (in the cold and the snow and the dark) with Camella and others. Push hard. Slip and land hard on butt literally at the very end. Get up with bruised butt and injured pride.
*Go inside, shower, dress. Go to Sake’s room to check on the phone minutes and help him into his backpack for the day. Find him in a good mood. No straight answers on why. Request a rubdown, resolve to make more time to play with Sake later.
*During break ask Ito about Camella’s favorite ice cream flavors.
*After classes look up directions for a good gelato shop and buy a half pint of rum raisin and a half pint of pistachio. Store them in a six-pack cooler with ice. On same shopping trip, buy hair spiking glue and styling combs and brushes. ($80 estimated bill)
*Come home, check Camella’s room. If she’s there and not asleep, give her the gelato in person, say, “This is for you. Thank you so much for what you’ve been doing for us. I appreciate it. If you want my help or anything at all just let me know. I’ll make time.” If she’s not in her room, leave the cooler there with a note saying, “For Camella: Thank you for the advice and help. One hand washes the other. Just ask. -Lyubov.”
*If she’s asleep, sneak it into her room, just inside the door. Make sure the lid is secure so that if tipped over accidentally, it doesn’t spill all over.
*If Camella wants time, give it to her. Listen and be helpful. If she doesn’t, then go do other things.
*Like cutting out wax-paper templates to go with the gold leaf Ivan got. Pick designs Sake would like.
*Collect Ivan, Sake, and tools. Spend an hour doing little gold and silver highlights on Sake. Don’t completely cover him, the goal is glam, not garish. Promise to help Sake wash it all off when he gets bored with it or when it starts to flake off in a couple of days.
*Once Sake’s all set up, go visit Andrei. Spoke to Troy about this already: Explain problem, accept his offer of help with getting mom out of Russia. Offer to help him with his family. Watch rough draft of the Adelat film. Laugh, be troubled about what could possibly be in that contract that he had her sign. Decide to not worry about it too much, as Adelat could have gotten everyone in the house deported if Armas hadn’t dealt with her. Still kinda curious though. Remind Andrei he should be carrying a concealed weapon, get belt size to make holster for him.
*If Camella didn’t want to talk, use extra hour to ask Hillevi how her brother liked the audio books. If Einrik is present, ask him if the selections were ok. If they weren’t, ask what genres he prefers. Talk and socialize about books and whatever else seems interesting. Ask what she can do to help her charka along besides what Camella and Ito are teaching.
*Eat dinner. Night lessons. Try brief moments of thoughtlessness against the older vampire.
*Come home, play guitar solo in sound-proofed music room if Sake isn't around. Play with him if it is.
*If the Boss is up and around ask him about that training he promised.
>>
No. 390477 ID: 612dcf

>>390354
Upvote
>Arena:
Grab a few sword charms, this will help if a melee focused monster manages to get close. Prioritize easy fights over large earnings. We do not want to have to use Romanov resurrection. If the fight is easy, do not reveal more of your abilities then necessary.
>Whaitiri:
Armas might be a descendant of Whaitiri since in maori mythology Whaitiri had children with a human. This might help by making it ”more true” that Armas is Whaitirs son.
>SM:
Sell the rituals learned from Amen. Amen might have lied when he told us about them, so make sure to verify them by ordering Amen to tell the truth about them.
>>
No. 390483 ID: 9718f3

>>390477
>sell Amen rituals to SM
SUST. No one gets to know we have blood rituals for destroying souls/killing all of some one's descendants.

>Whaitiri
I agree with shifting focus from "Whaitiri's son" to "descendant of Whaitiri" though. Maybe we could shoot for grandchild? I dunno.
>Arena
While we're betting stuff, see if we can bet the title to our house too. Old Man Rabbit might enjoy us betting IT as well.
>>
No. 390490 ID: 252e1b

ARMAS ORDERS
Today is a good day and it will only get better. But you need to share the joy with the people in your life! Go get Silja and tickle her. She can feel things now, and you know she's ticklish, so give her something to laugh about. See if Iron Trick is tickling too.

Arrange a nice lunch for the Russians and Camella, even if you don't have time to make the food yourself you can get catered food.

The Russians are training hard, so you should too. Practice your chakra today, so that you don't have to lean on Hummingbird so much.

If Adelat is going to have all the value she can for you, you'll need to save her job. There's no reason you can't plant evidence incriminating some OTHER officer while you perform the Old Ironhead's job. That should be enough to get her her job back. Ask Amen to let you know when she learns that she has been cleared of suspicion, and then call her RIGHT after. It will be hilarious.

Make sure when you negotiate with people today that you [Won't Take No]. You could learn something. If you get into a fight, put everything you've learned to good use. And if you're in good shape at the end of the day, it would not be a bad idea to conduct more pain training. You want your [Gamber's Grim Guts] to llet you take any sort of abuse and keep on trucking.
>>
No. 390499 ID: b83c65

>>390498

>"You... are important. You... are desirable. You are a successful man, and will continue being successful. You are irresistably attractive, and no one is above you. You.... are a man."
I agree with this being our Motto 150%
>>
No. 390524 ID: 580b7c

On the constructive side, as we've made such a great start to the day, and Einrik is presumably heading on his way, surely now is the time to give Ghannem a ring and have us introduced to his contacts. Our notoriety amongst Istanbul's supernatural underground will be at a peak in the wake of the Doonegeas' death, and so he will be at his most cautious, so we can exploit that to extract the most out of his introductions that we possibly can.

Now, as Armas isn't competent to do anything without cheating, to help learning the dual chakra orientation, and learning in general, including us for shooting and the Russians, he should investigate this:

http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2012/02/09/better-living-through-electrochemistry/

The US military seem to have been using it without side effects for a while, essentially it seems to be a technical way of replicating the hummingbird's focus technique, that lasts for about three days per application. Even better, we have supernatural healing to watch for any long term side effects, and people who can check our thought processes. We can even try to use flesh crafting to replicate the effects. The removal of all internal distractions seems exactly what Armas needs, and even for normal people who aren't afflicted by this to the degree they seem mentally retarded, it doubles learning speed for many tasks. Imagine what it could do for him! He should probably try riatalin and adderall as well.

>>390254
We shouldn't buy charms until we know we really need to. Do talk to HummingBro and ask him how his project to pirate chakra manipulation by observing people using it is going, is he getting enough exposure to it to keep him satisfied? GO on to ask if he can replicate/adapt the energy flushing technique we use before we practice flesh manipulation?

>>390300
SUST attempting to poach him. Magical bindings of loyalty/oaths are quite possible, and with Savoy's betrayal, on top of the apparent treachery of their previous representative in Istanbul, the Mafia hierarchy would be crazy not to have taken countermeasures. Even attempting to steal his services could be enough to trigger a war. Triad soldiers are already feeling forced to take pity on us and drop multiple hints that we're only hired hands, not friends, as we clearly don't get quite how disposable mercenaries are to criminal gangs. We should watch Leon, or Hitman, or any one of the classic films on the subject one day, to remind ourselves of the place we occupy in their affections. For the same reason, we shouldn't give him access to the Doonegeas' corpse, as it might strengthen the Mafia to the degree they don't need us. It also runs the risk of offending the Triads, as they are not friends with the Mafia, and using the fruits of their labour to help their enemies may kick off hostilities with them even earlier.

On grafts from the Doonegeas, the speak all languages brain graft sounds the most unique, as the poison doesn't need to be inside us. More useful to hook the glands up to a cow and have Amen milk it, that way we can produce it more easily, and we don't run the risk of killing people around us when we're injured.

On disposing of the Corpse, we should keep the heart for ourselves, as that may have some great synergies with our own abilities. We should ask SB if there are any parts he thinks Whaitiri would appreciate, like perhaps the liver, based on what he's translated between her and Amen. Remember, we still need to give her adequate sacrifices to fix/upgrade the mere.

Don't approach the Owner, until we've followed up on the business card he gave us, anything else is presumptuous. Certainly don't bother him for mundane business advice.

>>390354
SUST the Whaitiri plan. It's a disaster waiting to happen in all sorts of ways. To start with, you don't get to choose your parents, and getting new ones requires that you don't have any to start off with. Do you plan to have our parents killed, or have them renounce us? Neither precedent is exactly one that would endear us to Whaitiri in her suggested role as replacement parent. Secondly, there are plenty of relationships that would not permanently put us under her absolute authority, which seems to be the general level of control that the supernatural community grants its members over their children. Thirdly, SB does not want to become a godling, and, in any case, we should never do anything to reinforce that he is in any way a separate person to us, rather than just another aspect of our greater self, another facet of our one soul.
>>
No. 390525 ID: 323292

IGOR
>[Igor has been queued to do the following:]
>Get off ass and respond to Iosef about going to Kardemir. Plan to go tomorrow while others attend to the Jung jobs.
>At Kardemir, be turned away without an appointment-make an appointment for one week for JANUARY 24th
Igor make sure to go to Kardemir meeting on MONDAY, JANUARY 24TH, 2011. Aware that he is not the best socially, he tries to get Isoef's help into talking with people and appearing not too annoying, continuing his goal of trying to make contacts.
For the other days, Igor soon realizes that the current routine is really exhausting, and he may need something to throw his mind of Chakra training. Patient he may be, but doing the same thing every day isn't so great, so he decides to spice up his routine by using what free time he has left sharing other Russian's antics- he has noticed that there has been an effort from his fellow countrymen to get into the good grace of his boss' guests. He will diminish hours spent smithing if needed to keep his mental fortitude going.
Igor Should nag satai about Ironhead, and his possible contacts to blacksmith.


>>390354
>Smiling One message
Upvote.
>Arena
Upvote, different things we have to do:
+SB and HB with us. It would be great if Sake was with us, too.
+We NEED good weaponry to fight though. Don't hesitate to take Silja with us, as well as Buntline.
+Remember how HB helped show how to use his momentum better. It's been a while since you tried to improve your gyaketsuote, too, and you know you need diverse opponents to improve on it, so this could be really useful. You managed it with Sake, which means it's possible with magical being- just harder. Having the soul sensing orientation might help with that.
+Speaking of orientations, it's highly likely many Arena fighters use chakra, and this could be a great time to see how they are using it, and maybe learn one thing or two. Hell, with a bit of luck we could not only get hints as to how to make that damn multi-orientation working, but also learn a few new ones, or beginning too.
+We might also find many people, from now on, who have their own system of stealths. Armas should try to observe souls of people who try to stealth as much as possible, in order to create a very complex “no one is here” soul-guise as a project. Armas should also think about having a Soul-guise where he looks to have a damaged bloodline when he first enters (basically the usually default form but where the bloodline looks even weaker and damaged. Hell, if it is possible to flat out “include” SB in our Soul-guise or make it seem Armas only has a single damaged bloodline so that Armas “threat Rating” is as low as possible, it would be even better. Make sure that SB and Sake can come with you in the Arena, though. ) in order to maybe begin with even weaker opponents.
+Using charms might help, but this means we can't wear them from the beginning of the fight, as an enemy who uses very fast attacks would cost many, many charms if it just cancel one. This mean we would have to put them on mid-fight.
+Armas should aim to win with showing only as much of his ability as necessary, both for practice and getting good odds on people we can reliably beat. This mean manipulating people into looking weaker then we are. Soulg-guise to show us 'struggling' as well as body language and improving our game slowly is needed. Hummingbro might even be considered a panic button. Considering our excellent in with the arena, we should be able to talk our way into a very beneficial match with decent enough odds on us. Those points are where our M trait should shine.
+Even beyond that, Armas should aim to NOT show his hummingbird is Assault, and WE SHOULD NOT DIE, WHATEVER HAPPENS.
+For the bets, Writing down large but finite bets using the assets we've listed so far- nothing we can't afford to lose, of course- is desirable. Example: "$300,000, a hundred barrels of mundane blood, the three most valuable mundane paintings I own, four javelin launchers with two missiles each" might work. I'm not sure if the arena accepts non-cash bets, unfortunately, but if they don't we could try to liquidate something before fighting so that we have more available cash to turn a profit with. We should definitely aim to end the day several million dollars richers.
DISCUSS ALL OF THIS WITH YOUR SOULBROTHERS, HB, AND TRICK FIRST. FOR EXAMPLE, IT IS POSSIBLE THE DIFFICULTY OF FIRST CHALLENGER INCREASES THE MORE WE BET, AND IF IT DOES ARMAS MAY NOT WISH TO BET, SAY, HUNDREDS OF BLOOD BARRELS.
>Becoming Whaitiri's son
Upvote. Try to discuss with SB whether she could create NN bubbles for training purposes. Maybe if we get some soul-sculpting training, we could heal her eyes?
>SM trade.
Upvote. Another argument we could make to SM is if we won some money in the Arena before: “Well, this type of NN bubble will really help me to have a weird curve of new abilities. Just think of the money you could make if each time I reappear in the Arenas I have changed my fighting style- and that in 'days'.” Also, Armas may want to precise he needs that Bubble to prevent Aging- it would be good if Hummingbird doesn't die.
>>390254
>Getting Battery charms that flush the overbleed and store it.
This isn't a bad idea if Armas doesn't decide to learn those battery charms. Even if he does, Hummingbird may need the help urgently. Talk about the feasability of the idea with Einrik, Duke, and our mental council first.
>Calling our cousin
Upvote.

>"You... are important. You... are desirable. You are a successful man, and will continue being successful. You are irresistably attractive, and no one is above you. You.... are a man."
Armas should prep himself up using those lines from time to time from now on. Might also think of making it the motto of Laine.

>Taking Gianni in the company.
This should be possible soon, but we first should stabilise our power base a bit more before that. Still, this should be done by the time Davgon is here.
>>
No. 390527 ID: 81f32a

>>390490
>And if you're in good shape at the end of the day, it would not be a bad idea to conduct more pain training. You want your [Gamber's Grim Guts] to llet you take any sort of abuse and keep on trucking.

Second.
We can use Sake instead of hybrid healing so that we don't waste too much energy.

>Today is a good day and it will only get better. But you need to share the joy with the people in your life! Go get Silja and tickle her. She can feel things now, and you know she's ticklish, so give her something to laugh about.
Second. We don't spend much time with Silja lately.

>>390254
>Getting Battery charms that flush the overbleed and store it.
Seconding.
I think we should also ask Eintik for suggestion. He will give us more specific advice on what type charms to buy.
We really do want to keep HummingBird's body alive.
>>
No. 390529 ID: 76c597

>Buy charm for Hummingbro
Since I want Armas to learn a wide range of battery charms (by which I define as 'charms which block, absorb, redirect or otherwise shift energy'), I'd rather that just be our first stop. Sink a small handful of hours each night (when normal people are asleep) into goblin charms. Buying an NN bubble for what amounts to 500 hours of training is unnecessary.

>>390490
I'm gonna downvote the pain training thing. We got plenty of stuff to do today.

>>390477
We won't be making much money if we're burning through 30-40k-apiece charms.
>>
No. 390558 ID: 3af16b

>>390254
>Getting Battery charms that flush the overbleed and store it.

I think we should make sure this will work first. Talk to Einrik before speaking to SM.

>>390527

I think we should talk to Einrik about the charm training, sure. Get a better feel for our options.
>>
No. 390580 ID: c6ce12

On the plan to establish a new, more beneficial and solid basis for our relationship with Whaitiri I would like cite a relevant bit of mythology that Armas likely knows and should take into account and perhaps clear up some misconceptions. In her most widely know myth Whaitiri did marry Kai-tangata and ultimately did take foolish actions, but more important than this myth is that which comes after. The child Whaitiri had with Kaitangata was named Hemā and while she wasn't the greatest mother while he was growing up she guided him through life so that eventually he could marry a woman of higher status and make his lineage stronger and more respectable. That was just the first step in her plan, because out of Hemā's union there she saw two grandchildren. One of these children was named Tawhaki and Whaitiri marked him to be a great leader and made sure he achieved the design she set out for him. Once he did she arranged significant events in his to test him, make him grow stronger, and ultimately decide to reunite with his grandmother and restore her sight. He was of course rewarded with fantastic powers and taught that with appreciation for one's skills they can do great things. This I believe would be a strong point in favor of shooting for grandchild, as it forms a basis for which to attempt a recreation of the act and potentially repeating the same rewards or something similar. We are treading some ancient and slippery ground here so be careful.

On the actual consumption of the food I would try to view it as the traditional act of feeding those of high tapu, those so holy they may not feed themselves. That is what we're essentially doing in our relationship now, extending to a familial relationship makes it that much easier.

When we start dealing with Sometimes Merchant again we need to clear up a longstanding issue. The way our current teaching deal is worked out means that the Wyld goblins aren't obligated to compensate us for other instructors we bring in or the hours they spend. With things the way they are neither of us profit from this, they're not going to scrap free training out of us from it, we're aware of the hole and we won't provide any other instructors until it's rectified.

Matvey

Saturday
Call ahead to the ranch and get a lesson for a couple hours. Take out the van with the peeling paint rather than the one with the suspicious bullet holes.

Go out hiking again, but this time a new location, Belgrade forest. It's a nice little forest, named after a historical battle and more importantly it's probably inhabited by some lower level magical critters which would make it an excellent place to scout for a proper brownie stane. Look around for Gloom to invite him along, because he is a fellow hiker and frankly you're worried about him. Try not to spend hours looking for him in the labyrinthine maze that is your new home. Realize you have no earthly idea how to identify anything of a magic nature, let alone rocks, decide to ask Hillevi if she can help by explaining some indicators and start jotting down notes. A dozen pages start to think that this is not exactly effective, ask her if she'll come along. Pack for a couple hour hike, but bring smore ingredients, because you know Hillevi hasn't even had any of them individually and you'll be damned if Gloom can be ... well gloomy eating a smore.

Try to find out what you did wrong with the tea. Approach Camella and see if she knows why or tell you what type of tea Ito finds acceptable enough to drink. He didn't seem to have issue with the other tea and you thought matcha was the most common and widely drank, hopefully it's just a personal preference thing. Thank her for any help she can offer.

Stick around after the night lessons again. Get to talking with the others and generally trying to be good company.

Sunday
Grow grave at the revelation you are slowly dying from magical saturation. Resolve to work through the issue just as you have with dozens of other near death encounters. Be confident this isn't a charging, snarling, beast that's the source, this is lunch and you'll be damned if you let your lunch kill you where three horrible years under General Chugainov didn't. Cut out any horseback riding lessons, hour long drives and training sessions are no longer justifiable.

Be ecstatic you got to use a magic gun and how effective it was. Find the desire to own such a gun one day still going strong.

Find yourself pleased you are not being regularly subjected to Camella's 'jogging' sessions, but begrudgingly admit that by not attending them every morning you're falling behind and decide to amp up the hiking sessions to compensate, just not today, fuck you're beat.

Feel sorry for Boris after he is mocked by the boss man. Take Boris aside and show him the new Brownie stane, tell him to just refill it once a week since the tasty treats only get delivered once a week anyway. Then just leave immediately and never once think of what you're doing as a payment or worse refer to it as such. If he really wants to try making up for trying to see them then leave some cream out.


Monday
Go hiking again and see if additional weight added to the packs provides the same workout. Incrementally add weight over the next few days if not successful on the first go. Contemplate that such hikes could be valuable and opportune time for further teamwork exercises, but put the idea on the back burner due to the already spartan training regimes the men are being subjected to.
>>
No. 390601 ID: d97a61

>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>Bro the fuck out with Shadow Boss and Weasel while Bossman does his personal bit in 'THE MACHINE' video. Demonstrate microphone and get that file saved so we can start making edited copies with Shadow and Weasel voices as dubbing. Never stop laughing ass off-to the point ribs become bruised. Give zero shits.
>Continue to laugh ass off. Continue and continue ever more to do so. Be unable to do much for the whole day, laughing, falling onto ass, and suggesting we should make additions to the machine. 'Highlights of Your Life' or 'The Third Reich Attacking the Neo-Nazis' or 'The Smile Room' would be good additions. Be disappointed when SB is continually rejecting, citing unnecessary resource expenditure. Due to level of personal joviality, be unable to properly argue point, give it up.
>When asked why laughing ass off, be cagey or lie. When Camella asks...ask Shadow Boss and Weasel if we can run the Machine again. Be told no by both-but distinctly notice Sake looks hesitant as opposed to SB's adamant stance.
>Cackle madly through the night, staying up late to get the best editing, including the best dubbing of Shadow Boss and Weasel's lines - also editing in Camella, if we get her to run The Machine. Also, make sure the 'Killing Doony' footage is good. Hardly notice exhaustion from continued chakra trainings with the excitement of this new project.
>Hate the garish sun with that dull, bitter disgust that comes from forgetting that the new wakeup call goes out at four-and effectively getting zero sleep. Indulge in Caffeine to dangerous levels to finally kick self into something resembling a functioning state.
>Act as if everything is normal. Spend as much break time in computer room as possible, putting the finishing touches on both videos. Try so hard not to laugh. See if Armas, Shadowboss or Weasel has any ideas to make Kill Doony or THE MACHINE footage better. Be given several conflicting demands that all boil down to wanting it to look as funny as possible. Idly comment during video editing about something watching us drink caffeine. Sake and SB offer no thoughts on this.
>When not in the break room, be convincing and bribing and lying smooth talking mouth off for Lyubov. Or at least think you are: be too caffeinated and sleep deprived to really notice that you're acting a bit off.
>Ask Boss to call a Companywide meeting to view the Kill Doony footage to revel in the killing of a foe and to notice anything that could be improved. Be shot down until initial dubbing can be provided.
>Go to bed dead tied, early, and happier than ever, stymied or no.
>Next day wake up. Giggle. Watch choice clips of The Machine Footage. Guffaw.
>Remember stuff delivery! Distribute Laptops to every Russian not already having one or that will break it. Be given a decidedly ambivalent response by most. Grumble about no respect.
>With new disc readers, check floppy disk, and laserdisc. Find Laserdisc has nothing but boring security footage the whole way, and only get a total of six faces you earmark to try and get high res images of, out of the whole thing. Initial check of the floppy disk fails-the data is not reading, but is also not registering as corrupted, encrypted or missing. Be unsure what's up with that.
>See Hillevi on a rather nice laptop, and assume she either got it herself or was helped by her brother. Move on.
[Zhenya has been queued to do the following:
-Help Lyubov and the others when they ask.
-Grab sleep and naps when they present themselves while staying focused on new schedule, same as everyone else.
-Attempt to get into a pervasive rhythm. Due to limited musical talent, assume getting a beat should be simple for you. Try to find a natural beat, something like a heartbeat, and form everything around it, whether on the main beat or off or staggered, make a song out of it; your steps, your breathing, your training in chakra, your playing everything. Songs have a tendency to focus actions and improve recall and indeed, initial performance in things you do, especially for those naturally gifted in music. Get to it, the song of your life. Then wake up from nap and realize you aren't a fairy princess that discovers self-enlightening ways to radically improve what you do-if you were, you wouldn't be here to begin with. Be sad about perpetually unrealistic dreams constantly plaguing self.
-In off time, intend to study city maps for more back roads and such. Fail due to not having free time, as sleep is too delicious to give up in the scant break time.
-Recall Boss talking about wood taking magic easier back before the Doonages fight, seems like a good idea to get some and swap out synthetic grips on guns for wood ones. Decide that one might as well go all the way and get some instruments made out of some good old wood too. After some cursory internet searching, decide some ancient Kauri should do the trick. Attempt to get Satai to fund some company purchases of the material, despite lacking any personal carving skills of note, or any solid plan on how this might be done, beyond 'get Kauri wood, it's probably a good idea'.

>[Feodor has been queued to do the following:]
>*Join Camella's jog. Don't be stupid enough to try to win, since you've spent most of the last fortnight drinking and doing little else, but put in as much effort as you can handle. Order a 140lb(adjustable) weighted vest online, to make it even harder. Spend $385. After run, in which you finished third to last and had to vomit twice, decide you probably won't need the vest for a while.
>*At chakra training, be as focused as possible, as an example to the others - the health of their souls is worth even more than that of their bodies. MOTIVATION SUCCESS +1 hour of Ito Chakra training.
>*Demand that Armas use his spirit-sense to hold a séance so you can speak to all the men you lost to supernatural causes in Chugainov's army. Be smirked at, and told souls don't sit around forever, waiting to be called. On spotting Einrik, badger him with questions about how you could have saved those you feel you failed-get contextually specific responses based on the assumption you are a chakra Expert with access to a wide supply of magical items and consumables-nevertheless try to write down as much as possible. Afterwords have trouble deciphering chickenscratch notes.
>*Ask Camella and Armas if they know any less-than-legal doctors you could ask to mentor you, to improve your skills. When told about Dr Finnigan, get his contact details and call him about working as a free assistant in exchange for mentoring. When he's still reticent even at the offer of free work, offer to commission the 'apprenticeship'. Be grumpy when Irishman pushes you past budget of $5k to $6,000, but decide a back alley surgeon can hopefully teach a great deal.
>*Ask Lev if he could spare an hour or so on the weekend to teach you some more advanced hand-to-hand fighting. Ask Zhenya the same about pistols. Awaiting response from either.
[Grisha has been queued to do the following:]
-Decide that Chakra training is something that you will see gains out of, at least in the department of spiritual wholeness, so be paying attention. Fail to notice anything through haze of initial period of lessons.
-Note that Andrei has not stopped laughing since the this morning, ponder what horrible thing he has witnessed this time, going from the record of things Armas has done. Considering the firestorm at the Nazi warehouse and his reticence to say, decide it's probably something terrible.
-Fail to sleep after lunch, instead think while pretending to sleep, think of homeland, your father, deliberate over chakra training. Worry over a particular bit of phrasing Ito used, and how it sounded a bit different from something similar Camella said. Keep worrying over it until you think you've straightened it out.
-When considering the likelyhood of encountering more... robust foes in this business, decide it may be worth getting something more powerful than modern assault weapons, inflicting shock may end up more important than wounding or killing efficiently... not that the AN is unsuited for simple human combat. Recall that Titus was working on some sort of shock gauntlet thing. When asking him about it over a group meal, be told he's still looking to get field test data with it-but thus far hasn't had much luck getting it, even though he's gone through several bug checks and is ready to go. Wonder if maybe you could help him simulate field tests-or find chances to create field tests.

>[Boris has been queued to do the following:]
>Decides to join the morning jogs in earnest to get good enough to make up for what happened last time. Puke even more than the first time, come in dead last. Fucking Kelpie Krisps.
>To combat his kelpie krisps cravings (aka, to completely eliminate them from diet) decide to go for cookie baking training with Boss-introduced cookie lady every day around 1pm (can shift it around if she wants to).
[Ivan has been queued to do the following:]
*Continue training hard in Chakra but, be sure to take a day off of other training to catch up on sleep. Then remember you already are taking time off all your other training-since there's not enough hours to do all of it and the current chakra training. Be happy you caught this personally, rather than vocalizing it and sounding dimwitted. Once more chalk up a point in favor of your stoicism.
*Join Satai's marksman training group on its regular meetings, such as they currently are. Immediately dominate group in terms of shot accuracy, fall behind on rate of fire. Be unsurprised by this.
*Decide that Boss Weasel could use a bit of bling.
*Settle on idea of using gold leaf to let him decorate himself.
*Dub plan "Operation: Pimp Your Weasel"
*Seek Lyubov's assistance in the afformented plan. Be unsurprised she is immediately on board.
*Purchase one 25 leaf book of gold leaf and one 25 leaf book of silver leaf Spend: $104
*Reluctantly realize that gold/silver-covered fur might interfere with weasel rubdowns.
*Settle on decorating Boss Weasel's claws instead along with a few small wind and musical note themed highlights on his fur. Chuckle at thought of 'weasel getting it's nails done'. Make mention of inane joke to no one.
*Create wax paper stencils of patterns with Lyubov's help
*Approach Boss Weasel alongside Lyubov to pitch the idea of GILDED CLAWS AND FUR to him. Recieve weasel to the face, and afterwards wonder why you feel more rested.
*When he accepts, commence the decoration with his choice of combination gold and silver. Almost jokingly ask him how it felt to have his nails done for the first time once finished, but get beat to it by Lyubov. Mentally sigh, resolve to make joke next time.
*Feel moderately silly when you realize that what you have been referring to as an L129A1 Sharpshooter is actually an MSG90-A2. Again, chalk up a point in favor of stoicism, as no one else knew of your mistake.

[$atai have been queued to do the following:
$-Be exhausted and overworked. Begin to raid Andrei's energy drinks. After a moment of consideration-post much-needed caffeination, abort that potentially ongoing plan. Instead find Andrei and tell him that he needs to go buy enough energy drinks for all the Russians to be awake in spite of horrible sleep-deprivation all the time and it goes on the company dime. He can manage the selection and distribution personally, of course, as long as he makes sure that Satai gets as many as he needs.
$-At sniping practice and in transit to/from, make an effort to talk with Hillevi. Start with sniping-related things, like different types of mundane long-range weapons (rifles, mortars, rockets, missiles, grenade launchers, artillery, etc.) and what she has in terms of magic to fulfill the same basic combat roles. Be a bit unnerved when you find she can replicate just about anything but an outright machine gun-bursts of scattering ice shards, high precision ice spikes, wall-demolishing heavy spears, ready-to-violently-shatter hyperdense ice balls to lob all within her capacity. Again feel that Lev and Nikifor are foolish for entertaining thoughts of fighting face to face against magic users that include individuals such as Hillevi. Wonder how you would weaponize some RC cars.
$-Try to segue from there in discussion with Hillevi into a more general information exchange about magical and mundane methods of combat, and from there into all kinds of related topics- enchantments on weapons and items and how those work, chakra, general mundane technologies particularly those with military application, common magical whatevers, mundane force organizations, types of magical creatures, whatever. She's spending four hours a day in Satai's company, and that of the others in the marksmanship group; this is a golden opportunity to have a lot of useful information exchange- and as long as we keep to topics where Hillevi is knowledgeable hopefully she won't feel awkward and clam up. Stay in high spirits about plan even as first session yields little results-but feel far more confident about how to phrase questions to her, and what topics to address-namely, elemental magic and its derivatives along with crystal/ice enchanting. Also learn she knows at least some about Chakra-but have a considerable disconnect with her terminology. Wonder how to circumvent this, and be certain the answer would be obvious if less tired.

>[b][Igor has already done the following:]

>Gone to Kardemmir with Iosef.
>Attempt to circumvent personal lack of professional demeanor and social skills beyond the most bare and blunt by having Iosef lead. Watch this plan spectacularly backfire. Be happy you did not lose the meeting.
>Get quoted prices roughly %20 cheaper than the markets-but only for purchases by the ton for steal and iron derivatives, and by the half-ton for other metals.
>Swear you hear some really strange machinery in the building, or at least something working with some very exotic material, be assured by Iosef you're just hearing things-even lacking high perceptive skills, notice the exaggerated reaction of employee hosting meeting. Wonder what's up with that.
>Belatedly realize smithing's come to all but a standstill as there's only five hours a day available for it, catching up on sleep and whatever else he wants to squeeze in. Wonder why he thought he was still doing that full tilt. Decide it was due to lack of sleep-resolve to get an extra hour of napping this afternoon.
[Nikifor has been queued to do the following:]
-Igor's finished your arm-armor. Wear them allday erryday to get used to them. Test them out on today's sparring sessions. Attempt to block blows with them-do amazingly poorly as you continue to get used to the weight, and do so while extensively exhausted from sustained chakra training and limited sleep-coupled with an unrelenting set of sparring partners.
-So much training! Try to relax in-between the extreme spartan trials by drinking.
-Everyone's so busy-increase the amount of bottles you add to the Booze Stash everyday. Begin to host a fear someone will audit the house booze and hold you accountable for something-wake up from nonsensical nightmare mid-nap, forget it happened.
-Weasel Boss is getting so many stuffs...wonder if she ordered the Russians to get them for her, or if they're gifts. Wonder if you should get her something too. Wonder why so many people are treating the OBVIOUSLY female weasel like a male.
-Last time you tried to communicate with ShadowBoss, your own shadow ended up waving at you. Become curious-while drunk, talk to it. Tell him how awesome Big Boss Armas is, even with his...eccentric orders and love for self-amusement, compared to that shit-eating bastard Chugainov. Attempt to wrestle with your shadow (rolling on the ground), then stomp it to submission. Have shadow continue to be completely normal and unresponsive-begin to question if previous event even took place.
[Iosef has been queued to do the following]
?~Be a bit nervous about this whole you-are-going-to-explode thing but at the same time relieved that Boss really means to hold his promises and take care of everyone's well-being. Certainly nothing like when working under previous boss, even the normal Russian military wouldn't give rat's ass about regular soldiers. Tentatively place further trust in clearly insane new boss.
?~Mentally review other reasons this is an amazingly desirable job, given your skillset and what's available, and factoring in all the impressive amenities.
?~Decide that, no matter the weird eccentricities that he has, Boss is pretty much the best boss one could hope for.
?~Raise a quiet toast for The Boss.
?~Think about all the comrades from black ops still held captive under Chuganov back home. Feel sorry for them.
?~Drink for their well-being too
?~If Catch Boris sneakily eating Kelpie Crisps. Smack him around and tell him to have more discipline. He wouldn't want his favorite chef (seriously, he makes the BEST borsch, even without magical ingredients) to go boom just because he didn't have enough willpower to stop eating literally poison for couple of weeks.
?~Decide to stop all other projects and pursuits on hold and focus only on training-not that you had a choice.
?~His schedule should be like this: wake up at 3:30, go through morning routine and have a breakfast. 4:00-11:00, Camella Jog and Chakra training. 11:00-12:00, Instructor at Ito's, grab food when possible since there is no chance of a legitimate lunch break. 13:00 Chakra training with Ito. 14:00-19:00, Sleep. 19:05-20:00, dinner and relaxing/socializing. 21:00, Chakra at Ito's. 22:00-24:00, Night lessons at Ito's. 00:00-3:30, Sleep
?~Seek out Sake and ask him use his healing magic on Iosef right before sleeping at midnight. Be told to fuck off since you're getting enough sleep. Be unsure how to proceed from here.

[Lyubov has been queued to do the following:]
*Wake up. Go on jog (in the cold and the snow and the dark) with Camella and others. Push hard. Slip and land hard on butt literally at the very end. Get up with bruised butt and injured pride-having rolled, quite literally, into a third place finish amongst the Russians. Become notably envious on seeing Gloom rather nonchalantly taking first when he doesn't even look all that tired.
*Go inside, shower, dress. Go to Sake’s room to check on the phone minutes and help him into his backpack for the day. Find him in a good mood, and the phone drained of minutes. No straight answers on why weasel's so happy. Accept lack of explanation on condition of receiving a rubdown, resolve to make more time to play with Sake later. Acquire weasel rubbings, lose all soreness and fatigue.
*During break ask Ito about Camella’s favorite ice cream flavors. Be handed a list in short, blocky writing that reads, in order: 'Rum Raisin, Pistachio, Butterscotch' without any explanation. Be pretty sure you know what this is.
*After classes look up directions for a good gelato shop and buy a half pint of each of the three named flavors. Store them in a six-pack cooler with ice. On same shopping trip, buy hair spiking glue and styling combs and brushes. Spend $85.
*Come home, check Camella’s room, find her doing some sort of meditation thing or whatever. Give her the gelato in person, say, “This is for you. Thank you so much for what you’ve been doing for us. I appreciate it. If you want my help or anything at all just let me know. I’ll make time.” Receive a look almost like the one she's been throwing around whenever Armas is in the room-on that note, wonder why Camella's not getting that the reason she's getting hung up is not because Bossman chewed her out in front of everyone-or because said Bossman, known dick, was right-but because a guy she cares about did it. Wonder how big sis Camella is missing this. Be wise enough to NOT immediately just up and ask her. Decide amusement can be had with this. Leave room with Camella looking very pointedly at you.
*Collect Ivan, Sake, and tools. Spend an hour doing little gold and silver highlights on Sake. Don’t completely cover him, the goal is glam, not garish. Promise to help Sake wash it all off when he gets bored with it or when it starts to flake off in a couple of days. End up stenciling on passable silver clouds on Sake's torso and lacquering nails gold. Decide you could use some work on stenciling-Sake assures you you'll get it.
*Once Sake’s all set up, go visit Andrei. Explain problem, accept his offer of help with getting mom out of Russia. Offer to help him with his family.
*Ask Hillevi how her brother liked the audio books. Hear that he liked them-and that he left. Welp. Ask what she can do to help her chaka along besides what Camella and Ito are teaching. Be told nearly dying usually helps. Politely decline her assistance in this.
*Eat dinner. Night lessons. Try brief moments of thoughtlessness against the older vampire. Fail-but, due to being unusually peppy today, don't do as bad as you expected. Cool stuff.
*Come home, play guitar solo in sound-proofed music room if Sake isn't around. Play with him if it is.
*If the Boss is up and around ask him about that training he promised. Be directed to choose WHO to learn from-and be presented with options of Bossman, Sake, Shadow Boss and that little bird. Be told whoever you pick will be the primary teacher this week. Wonder what's going on, glassily smile and make a choice [INPUT PLAYER CHOICE]
[color=#3399FF][Matvey has already done the following:]
M- Call ahead to the ranch and get a lesson for a couple hours. Take out the van with the peeling paint rather than the one with the suspicious bullet holes.
M- Go out hiking again, but this time a new location, Belgrade forest. It's a nice little forest, named after a historical battle and more importantly it's probably inhabited by some lower level magical critters which would make it an excellent place to scout for a proper brownie stane.
M-Briefly become Bob and cry about all the massive posts at the same time, then become Matvey again and forget it ever happened. Amen didn't notice it. Probably. Wait, notice what? Nevermind.
M-Look around for Gloom to invite him along, because he is a fellow hiker and frankly you're worried about him. Try not to spend hours looking for him in the labyrinthine maze that is your new home.
M-Realize you have no earthly idea how to identify anything of a magic nature, let alone rocks, decide to ask Hillevi if she can help by explaining some indicators and start jotting down notes. After two dozen pages start to think that this is not exactly effective, ask her if she'll come along. Pack for a two hour hike, but bring s'more ingredients, because you know Hillevi hasn't even had any of them individually and you'll be damned if Gloom can be ... well gloomy eating a s'more.
M-be proven wrong about Gloom.
M-Try to find out what you did wrong with the tea. Approach Camella and see if she knows why Ito did not find your tea acceptable enough to drink. He didn't seem to have issue with the other tea and you thought matcha was the most common and widely drank, hopefully it's just a personal preference thing. Thank her for her help when she notes he likes his tea to be highly compatible with alcohol.
M-Stick around after the night lessons again. Get to talking with the others and generally trying to be good company. Continue to not really get much of a read on the old granny vamp, even as the other orphan vamps start to really open up.
M-Next day, Grow grave at the revelation you are slowly dying from magical saturation. Resolve to work through the issue just as you have with dozens of other near death encounters. Be confident this isn't a charging, snarling, beast that's the source, this is lunch and you'll be damned if you let your lunch kill you where three horrible years under General Chugainov didn't. Cut out any horseback riding lessons, hour long drives and training sessions are no longer justifiable.
M- Be ecstatic you got to use a magic gun and how effective it was. Find the desire to own such a gun one day still going strong. Be alret when baseless rumors about a prize for being the best learner of chakra start floating about.
M- Find yourself pleased you are not being regularly subjected to Camella's 'jogging' sessions, but begrudgingly admit that by not attending them every morning you're falling behind and decide to amp up the hiking sessions to compensate, just not today, fuck you're beat.
M- Feel sorry for Boris after he is mocked by the boss man. Take Boris aside and show him the new Brownie stane, tell him to just refill it once a week since the tasty treats only get delivered once a week anyway. Then just leave immediately and never once think of what you're doing as a payment or worse refer to it as such. If he really wants to try making up for trying to see them then leave some cream out.
M- Go hiking again and see if additional weight added to the packs provides the same workout. Incrementally add weight over the next few days if not successful on the first go... is the intent. Stop at just ten extra pounds because FUCK chakra training is harsh shit under Camella's watch. Contemplate that such hikes could be valuable and opportune time for further teamwork exercises, but put the idea on the back burner due to the already spartan training regimes the men are being subjected to.
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390602

>>390190
I reflect, briefly, on Camella's situation: I'm confident it's not something life threatening-no disruption of her soul save some emotional, and no signs of being tampered with. She's... in a funk I guess. What's more interesting, though, is Go. His words were a gentle rebuke to remind me that while we may be able to get along just fine-we aren't really friends, and we don't work together. Some day, that's probably going to be an issue only one of us walks away from. While I'm confident I have what it takes to make sure I'm the one doing the walking-and the victory dancing-it's still a bit disheartening to be reminded that's somewhere in the nebulous future. It brings a sense of transience to my acquiantance with all the Triads I know that I don't care for the taste of-and there's nothing I can do about it. Sake, of all people, is decidedly sympathetic to my concern-and his pep talking gets me out of my own little funk.
>>390490
I finish getting out of my funk by playing on an idea I've got-a rather simple one at that.

I tickle my rifle.

Silja's giggling as the gun quivers and jumps in my hand makes me smile wider than most non-Smiles, and I get the distinct sensation that she's a fan of being tickled-even as I hear her attempting to disjointedly claim she doesn't care for it-without bothering to tell me to stop.

After a few minutes of ticklin' my gun-and knowing I'm making a certain Buntline envious-
>>390354
>>390477
>>390525
I decide to get some slightly more productive, if less personally entertaining, things done. To wit: I hunker down in front of the big old monster Andrei put together, pull out the checklist he gave me, and set to work connecting with the Smiling One's website. It takes me ten minutes, but eventually I'm there, though I'm not quite sure I could say WHY the way I got there means I'm secure. Seems... you need a passcode to even get in? Hm-let's take a look at that card she gave me.... nothing written, but... feels a bit... yeah, something's embossed here. Let's see... four..... 'E'..... 9 .... 9.... 'A'.......7...... eventually I get the whole fifty character hexadecimal code plugged in, hit enter-

And enter a two way IM session. A message pops on the screen within one second from someone called 'P1X13'.
>[P1X13]Where'd you run into her?
[Armas]Who, Smiling One?

>[P1X13]Who else?
[Armas]Is this relevant to my ability to use this site?
>[P1X13]Bingo! Site moderator here!
[Armas]An Auction.
>[P1X13]Moooore details, come on I'm not the tooth fairy, don't make this so hard!
[Armas]Turkish Wyld Goblin Auction of a Demon Prince's Artifact. Specific enough?
>[P1X13]Yuppers! Got one more question, from the Admin herself-so here goes: What'd you buy?
[Armas]I really hope she doesn't need something more complicated than 'An exceptional hummingbird'
>[P1X13]Nope-nope, that'll do dandeli-dandy! So, what's up? Not just here to set up your account, right?
[Armas]Looking for gourmet consumable options.
>[P1X13]Well we've got that, that's for sure!

I spend the next hour hunkering down through the details of what the Smiling Merchant can offer, and get my account set up for future site perusal. I'm told in successive visits I'll get to meet the other users-and learn the Smiling One's actually a pretty well known name amongst the makers of not just magical sake-but mead and peach cider as well. I've got a log attached to my login so the Smiling One and the other members of her site-users included-know I'm interested in magical beverages and have some very particular-and unstated-needs for more hearty consumables.

Heh.

I log out after realizing I won't be getting a response now, chuckling from the manic moderator's childish banter and silliness. After a few hearty meals-one of which makes my stomach a bit upset, the second time it's happened with Boris' stuff, and I start to wonder if he's slipping-before I head out. Well, not out, not really-but down. I enter the sewers on my lonesome, having noted Hillevi now working with Camella in the current bit of Chakra tutelage for the Russians, and trek down the semi-remembered path to the arena I got introduced to. When I get there, I actually have to drop my soul guise for the gate guards, which look decidedly like fleshcrafted golems now that I really take some time to look at them, recognize me and allow me entry. Soul Identification of visitors? Something to remember, that's for sure. I'll ruminate on it later-as for now, one of the strange, overly hairy creatures that runs this place has rushed over, drywashing it's paws while inquiring as to what drew me here today. When I inform them I want to fight, rather than sponser a warrior, at first the creature seems alarmed-but when I assure them I'm not nearly the caliber of the two I brought before, it settles down. Sadly, I'm still not certain it doesn't have an inflated view of my ability, no matter how much I try to correct the thing-and ultimately, I bet all my money on-well-me.

The beasty tells me I'll get to fight a Slirk. I have no idea what that is-but Sake tells me he's got it covered. After I make sure SB's cleared to bet on me with my money, I'm told that I won't be able to use any Artifacts-and I left Silja behind.
>[Reflexive Retention Trait used]
>[Greedy GrabberTrait used]
Oh well-I've got both Matebas, Old Lonesome and all four courtly pistols hidden all about my deliciously bulky figure swaddled in a heavy fur coat.

Then I'm told I can only bring one weapon, unless I want the odds so in my favor I can't really make anything even if I win. ...MAN, I can't do that.
Instead, I ask Sake to go grab the WASP headed spear (and mentally communicate he should soak it's end in Doony poison then flash freeze the poison so it won't drip with Hillevi's help) and wait for a moment. When they see all I have is a magical hafted spear with a frozen tip, they thank me for getting into the sport of things, and note they will do their best to give me odds I can live with. I notice the creature doesn't really notice the joke it made.

Ten minutes later, with Sake and SB looking on, and the Hummingbird allowed by dint of being the competitor's spirit animal and thus immune to exclusion, my foe marches forth to meet me as our respective introductions are made.

So, Brandt, I called big I could still see him as a person, if one nearly cartoonishly huge-but still something I could look at and go-hey, that's believable. Hillevi's a bit beyond that, sure-her proportions are just... OFF for someone that large-while Einrik, Markku, Karma, Lammy's Were form and the Nazinauts-all of those were just plain TOO big, masses of muscle that you just can't believe could really exist.

The reptilian thing before me's on the scale of Tartalo, a twelve foot tall, nine foot wide MOUNTAIN of stocky muscle and thick hide, beneath armor that looks every bit as tank-like as that the Nazinauts sport. ...Gooood thing it's upper legs, upper arms, mouth and eyes are uncovered. I watch as it picks up a rock the size of a buick like it's a basketball, and lobs it over at me the moment the fight starts, my soul sense showing me it's charging in the wake of it's easy toss. Taking to heart the image of its soul as a knockoff of a dragon grown within a kong-sized monkey (at this point I no longer question the strange ways souls can look), I give it plenty of room as it carves out a scoop of stone where I once stood a foot deep with it's raking fingertips, shattering through the stone it threw.

Yup. Real glad I dodged that.

The beast is powerful, and unrelenting. It does not truly lack speed, or even mobility. Were it more precise or agile, perhaps I'd have an issue. As it is, between my shoddy dunter footwork, Hummer's Momentum and goblinic stealth techniques, the creature doesn't even manage to snag-

Okay so it DID snag my coat. Maybe I was getting too fancy. Fine. Things get more interesting when the Hummingbird notes that every time it sets it's mind to making one of it's signature dives and coring out a hole-the creature's soul condenses around the spot. I pay closer attention as I dodge-and see it, the rapidfire shifts in soul concentration leaving seemingly random points of overly dense soul. It's... preemptively blocking the bird? That's got to be passive.

That's about when I notice the fucking thing's emulating Camella-and slowly speeding up.

Right.

>[SOTG Trait used]
Spear, meet eye. Eye, meet spear. I fake trying to block rather than evade a blow with high stance, step in closer while minimizing my profile with mid stance, and put the spear's head through the Slirk's inner thigh with low stance. The flesh pulps and bruises on impace, the WASP head triggering-and the poison gets introduced to a femoral artery.

That should do it.

Sure enough-I keep dancing, and five minutes later the beasty drops. Good thing-I didn't really have any sure fire ways to hurt it other than that. But hey-doony poison applied via exploding ice shards atop a gas injecting knife-good times!
PERSONAL FUNDS: +45% $465,474.33
Making nearly 150k for a few minutes of playing around doesn't sit too badly with me either. I'm still bummed they won't let people gamble with collateral, or wager goods-but then, it's not really a big arena, so I guess I'm not that surprised. Still: MONEY.

After bowing out of the arena after some hemming and hawing by the beasties that run the place-those platitudes they give to say 'hey we hosted this fight, so keep betting chucklefucks', that load of tripe-I decide to call my parents-because thinking of money made me wonder why I never heard from them after the wire-I was totally expecting them to try and return it. When I get through to them though, I feel kind of stupid: I'd switched to calling them from a satellite phone with a blocked number-and never gave them the number. They'd been calling my apartment for a month before they thought to talk to Arkvad. After some rather obligatory chewing out they seem to finish venting, and I get to ask them how things are. Seems they've put the money to use-Got the truck fixed back up to perfect working order, finished off the last few years of the mortgage in one go, got a new home heating system and got the yard cleaned up. They're really happy the house not only doesn't look as shitty-but is also a hell of a lot more livable now. It's good to hear, and I make no secret of the fact I'm happy for them. When they ask me how I'm doing, I sheepishly admit that the company I started has been doing damn fine business in Istanbul-and my feigned reticence to bask in my accomplishments distracts them enough I get the questions back on them. Seems that house three doors down that's been vacant since forever's finally got a resident-some guy called Grime-more or something, a french guy they think. I ask a few more questions, drawing out the phone call, and finally say my goodbyes once we get near the hour mark. My father says I'm forgiven for forgetting to give them the new number just as I hang up. I have to double-check myself to be sure I actually DID give them the number now.

>"You have a minute?"
I'm between stuff yeah. What's up?
>"To save time I'll be blunt: you should try to become Whaitiri's son."
Yeah, I'm going to need some context for that.
>"Whaitiri is, like all gods, a being of Belief-and our soul is rather well suited to... altering belief. Add to this the fact that we have some of her soul in us-and she some of ours in hers."
Hm... Not to mention the fact she eats the food I eat-which I guess makes me a filter for what she consumes?
>[Sake]"I would like to go on the record as rejecting this-she IS a known cannibal and going down this route will make Soul Guises irrelevant in regard to your cannibalistic taint as it will be a known feature of you-there is no way she could or even would want to keep this secret, assuming you succeeded in getting her to accept."
That's pretty sober of you.
>[Sake]"Most divine beings hate being made the pets of gods-this would count, given I'm tethered to you both.
>"This is why I don't demand you do this-Sake has a valid point, but I am still reticent to let go of what we could gain. All things said, Whaitiri's been far less malicious-and frankly, less dangerous-than most of her godly peers-and that's something to be treasured."
>[Iron Trick]"What is not to be treasured is the lack of power she has-and the lack of followers. I don't have you pegged as one to join the little guy when you can join the big guy instead."
I... kind of like the idea though-and that's two for, two against. Hummingbird, you mind being tiebreaker?
>[Hummingbird]"I think that serving another can be noble, as can symbolic familial ties-but I doubt you would live up to either possibility. In light of that, I'd recommend forgoing this, unless events change, and instead looking for a way to impress her even while remaining a seperate party. Surely she cannot ignore earned respect."
Well, there it is-three to two, with all three ideas having something I can like about them. Even if I'm not part of the majority, I can feel content bowing to the general consensus here, contested or no. I didn't miss that only Armas soul bits voted yes on it. Though while we're on the subject of Whaitiri-
>"Yes, she should be done asking Amen questions within the next twenty hours, I should say. I do not currently believe she feels any onus to subsequently initiate a conversation with us, or freely offer up a reward for what we gave her, but I do think pursuing such has an excellent chance of success if timed properly. Personally, it seems most logical to leave the situation be for at least two days post her completion of her Amen studies to her satisfaction, before approaching her."
Pretty much three days then. Okay, I'll keep it in mind.

My internal council meeting concluded-I call the master of ventriloquism himself.
>[SM]"Yes, Mr. Laine? And may I congratulate you on your first personal showing at the arena?"
"You can. I'm calling about the Doony corpse-but I also have some other things."
>[SM]"Oh do you?"
"Yeah. I'd like to find out what kind of winter related female humanoid bodies or bodyparts you might be able to offer. I won't pay a premium for living specimens, or for ones that still have a soul still in them."
>[SM]"In the interest of clarifying the potential Bargain we discuss, would it be correct to say your perogative is nutritional value from these 'bodies' rather than experimentation?"
"That would be more correct than the alternative, yes."
>[SM]"I see. What limits do you wish posed on the potential offerings?"
"Limits? Pssh. Yuki onna, valkyries, female einher or Úlfhéðnar, frost giants, kumiho, winter elves or nymphs, bloodliners, vampires, or weres of the appropriate clans-if it's winter, female and humanoid, it qualifies."
>[SM]"....I see. We could offer quite a bit in that category, then-but I wonder if you would find it cost effective, given your phrasing."
"What, only premium stuff on hand? No bulk?"
>[SM]"Accurate enough for our purposes. You seem to desire a format of goods that we simply put do not generally carry or focus on. I am obligated to inform you of this before attempting to pursue a deal."
I still have the Smiling One's website, along with all it's users.
"Tell you what. If you can provide me with some sort of rough estimates on pricing for this, I can look at it, see if I'll follow up on it."
>[SM]"That can and will be arranged. Shall we move on to the stored goods you have?"
"Yup. I want it."
>[SM]"At the mansion, I assume?"
"Right in one.
>[SM]"Done. It's in your butler's care."
I finish climbing out of the sewer with one hand, walk to the door-and get confirmation from Amen.
"Great. There's one other thing I'm interested in. I would like to secure the use of a nevernever pocket sometime soon, designed to be ideal for training purposes and last for a subjective five years."
>[SM]"And what do you offer for this?"
"I'll start with the info the Triads are currently down their heavy hitter Labombard right now."
>[SM]"This was known."
"Did you know they don't even know where Labombard IS?"
>[SM]"...No, I did not. You have acquired six months."
>[WETN Trait activated]
"Bu-"
>[SM]"If you have more information, present it-don't try to haggle what each piece of data is worth."
" You are familiar with my current guests, of course."
>[SM]"You reference Li Kui?"
"Yes. Duke's battle in the arena should have given you a good sense of what he can do- and I can offer you my services in directing him against specific targets. I'm sure you have a few matters where a man of his capabilities could solve problems or simplify matters to your advantage, preferably through fights that he would appreciate. As a further payment and to prove my abilities in this, I maneuvered him into killing Mammon's Knight some days ago, and he thanked me for it afterward."
>[SM]"Were you to get him to kill any of the following invididuals, I would happily provide you with the full five years you desire: Rocco Armani, Baki Endman, Jet Fang."
"...Just those three?"
>[SM]"Just them, as it were."
"I'll... have to get back to you on that, then."
>[SM]"Do so."
"Final thing: what kind of price range would a charm to protect a spirit animal still in it's body from overbleed from it's owner run?"
>[SM]"To protect that which you possess? While the specifics are negotiable, something along the lines of 'favors, all your charms and more'. You have an exceedingly high quality spirit animal that is causing auto-overbleed in it's own right, within one of the smallest, frailest forms of spirit animal corporeal forms-and the primary source of overbleed is... you. It is a tall order you ask, hence why it'd be exceptionally costly. If and when you wished to sell it, we would be willing to trade back a sizable portion of what you bartered away for such a charm."
"I...see."
*CLICK*

After I have a chat with Lyubov that involves a bit of trollishness on my part and defering my end of a deal we made, a sturdy bout of pain training involving arsenic cocktails and fire, not to mention a bout of trying (and again failing) to get a non bird-assisted Dual Orientation going, I get to thinking about work. That Swede's job.... SB, you mind doing more scouting?
>"I'll do it, but if they beefed up their wards like I'm betting they did I can't promise anything."
Whatever you can get.
>"Ahuh. Back soon, hopefully."
While SB learns which buildings with which kinds of wards hold the goods Ironhead wants us to steal, I make yet another call.

"Arkvad! Hey, how's it going? I've got some great news- care to come by for dinner, talk about things?"
He acquieses, of course-and by the time he's arrived I've finished my meal-four slabs of Doonongaes filet, grilled to perfection. I modified a hydra steak recipe for it from the cookbook-and the sauce it's topped with is sinfully decadent. He smilesa s I greet him with steaming plates of food before following me over to the table and gushing over the steaks from the first bite. Myself, I just barely refrain from ejaculating, my body too unaccustomed to this much culinary delight, even with the constant magic meals. I barely keep my calm as I get to my questions.
"So, heard anything about Flinder's Range? You said someone would be checking it out- anything promising?"
>[AS]"God this is good-yes, the Range. We've managed to gain access-actually, we've got every bit of supplies you listed off for the Mere together now, as it happens. We're ready to do the reforging whenever you want-but I don't know that I can get them to fully comp it without some more research on the Titancorp tech to placate them. How're things on that?"
"Got an expert doing some further testing, actually. I also wanted to ask, did you do anything about Otso? Thought I should give him a call and dispense some advice, but you're closer to the family than I am and I wasn't sure how you'd be moving on the issue."
Arkvad tries to soberly grimace about a serious topic, but his face is still admantly stuck in a gleeful smirk of enjoyment as he keeps feasting.
"Your cousin. Well, I've not done much. I got him put on a list of divine representatives known to be more trouble than they're worth-at the least, if he gets in any mundane trouble he's got something of a protective blanket on him... for one mess-up, at least. Can't really speak past there. About Otso himself though... I don't really know what to do. Seems he's been playing the vigilante, getting rid of some odd criminals and such-the problem is he's actually catching rapists, arsonist and such. I'll be honest, I don't mind the fact he's killing them, even if it bothers his parents something fierce. As is... I'm going hands off, because I don't know that I can trust myself to not encourage him. Chalk it up to me being a crusty, stubborn old man and not as touchy-feely as you more modern types."
"Oh thanks for lumping me in like that. Mind giving me the kid's cell phone?"
>[AS]"Sure."
"Thanks. So, that news I mentioned- guess what you're eating?"
Arkvad clearly tries to stop eating, at least for a moment out of concern-but he just can't stop that fork from reaching his mouth. I can't blame him-that first three pound steak of mine is GONE, and MMMMM-MMMMM, my gut's throwing a party and wants to invite everyone.
" Doonongaes. Claimed by me as spoils after we killed it on Sunday."
>[AS]"Bullshit."
"Ask anyone in the group, they'll all confirm. Better- its scales, bones, cartilage, scales, fangs- do you think your company would be interested in such things?"
>[AS]"You... you.... You know what, fine. You're damn right we'd be interesting in a Doonongaes corpse."
"Thought so. I'm not willing to sell it all-"
>[AS]"I'd stop you if your were-you have to at LEAST keep a trophy, come on!"
"-but if there are any particular projects- I've made arrangements so that it's all clean of poison and won't be going bad. And you can add this to our resume for working acquisitions."
>[AS]"...Heh. Well, I think I've got what I need to make sure even the last hardasses okay the completementary Mere reforging if you can offer us something like this."
"I'd be interested in making some kind of support arrangement, if possible- have you got people who would be interested in working with a company like mine?"
>[AS]"No offense, but we hire people that like stability and safety-and pay top dollar for their skill. I... don't know that they'd want to work for you. Different mindsets."
"You sure? We could pull in two or three on a subcontractor basis to do weapons work for us and offer useful advice, do some acquisitions or provide some components we've acquired on other jobs to Holland & Holland in return- everyone wins."
>[AS]"I'll tell you what I'll do-I'll write up a proposal about this, and I'll back it as much as I can-I've got some decent clout to throw around in your name, and while I can't promise anything, I'll definitely do what I can."
"It's all I can ask."
Arkvad looks down with a start to see he finished his entire steak-then groans as if only now realizing just how much he ate.
>[AS]"...Oh, you bastard I'm going to hate you tomorrow morning."
"You did it to yourself."
>[AS]"Magic food doesn't count! Fuck, now I need to get one of Endman's massages to get rid of energy, don't I."
"You know Endman?"
>[AS]"I was on his customer list the day he opened up shop in the city-he's got fair prices and he can help normal folk get away with more hedonism than they really should. He's an okay guy in my book-and I know he's got criminal associations, and... look, I won't ask you to promise but could you at least TRY not to kill him? I know you've got some things going on with the Yakuza, but please, leave the massseuse out of it-and me out of it, for that matter."
"So I SHOULDN'T tell you everything, then."
>[AS]"What? Of course not! That'd be stupid for both of us! You have the shit you deal with, I've got the shit I deal with-we keep it separate, keep it to ourselves, and never have to fuss about the other somehow fucking us over. Definitely don't tell me."
This is why Arkvad's always been my favorite not-really-an-uncle-but-still-is.

We chat and throw convivial backhanded insults at one another for a bit longer, and Arkvad bows out for the night, thanking me for the visit, and asking if he has an invitation to come back and inspect the Doonongaes corpse, to which I reply of course (and make damn sure Amen knows it). Once Arkvad's left-and with the Russian's out, Hillevi coming up to me and mentioning that while I was training Einrik left, handing me a note adressed to me:

Obviously, I've left. Before I get into what I truly think the more important part of this message, let me briefly lead with this: Were you to purposefully drain yourself to the very end of your energy in both fields, I think you'd find a realm in which you could learn several rather crucial lessons that you'd normally not learn for decades-if at all. In particular-but not primarily-I know you could learn several tenants of energy efficiency that are rather crucial. Now, to the 'main event': I thought about it, and decided that if I really want to be your friend, I have to act like it-which includes, according to my observation, being 'trollish dicks' to one another. As you have failed to initiate in our relationship thus far, either out of respect, fear, indifference, inattention or otherwise, I decided to pre-empt you. Forgive the amateur quality of the attempt-but as I left, I took the last six bottles of Artemis' Brew you had in your larder-which were, incidentally, the last bits of magical beverage within your house' stock. Don't feel too bad-Duke had, by that point, drank the entirety of the rest of your stock and/or grabbed it for his refill. On this note, please do not be overly angry at Duke, as is, understandably, your right. Incidentally, I informed him of what he has done-it seems he had not even noticed that in taking advantage of your open invitation to the house stock that he had actually fully depleted an entire category of resource. You may have noticed he is not the most perceptive or aware individual. I don't know that I'd call it shame, guilt or anything of the sort-but he is, at the very least, less assertive and at ease than is his normal wont to be, and it's the direct result of learning what he did. I could stop there-and that, I think, would have been a passable enough attempt at trolling, but as you may or may not have noticed, I do not like leaving things well enough alone, so I took things a step further. Your guest the Duke Iron Ox currently thinks it the funniest game he's ever heard of to refuse to listen to anyone unless they first speak to him in iambic pentameter-in rhyme. Don't fear-his grasp of this 'game' dictates that once the condition's been met an individual can be considered to have stopped playing-but he does need to feel you really spoke with him, rather than simply said something to complete the game. Enjoy, friend.

....A tear comes to my eye. This... this is beautiful. He really, really cares!

Thankfully, the tear comes to my ever-watering, nonfunctional and eyepatched eye, so no one notices-
>[Sake]"Except me."
>[Iron Trick]"And me."
>[Hummingbird]"I can perceive your thoughts rather ably enough, sir giant: pray do not think me unobservant."
>"And me. And back, by the way, the goods are in FOUR separate buildings, each with sufficient wards I can't see the innermost layers of defenses-and what I can see looks like it'd react to direct use of shadowmagic. Not saying it'd stop me, but it might-and at the least, it'd react in some way or other."
...Okay. Right.

I need time to think about that, so after I thank Hillevi, I decide-to call my cousin.
>[Otso]"...Hello? Who is this?"
"Evening, Otso."
The sharp intake of breath says my voice is recognized. Good.
"Thought I should ask how you're getting on. Starting out cold is never easy- I should know."
There's a pause, and I can hear him mumbling to himself oh so softly, clearly struggling to decide what to say-and help him out.
"Now-I'd rather not share too much over the phone- unless you happen to have a much more secure phone than I would expect- but I can answer a few questions if you have them. No overly personal details, of course."
>[Otso]"How... how'd you know? I mean, the advice?"
"The long and short of it is friends. Knowing people will always help-this is just one example of that."
>[Otso]"What... what are you?"
"Now, I'm afraid that one's a bit tricky-or could be, except the answer's pretty simple. I'm your cousin, Armas Laine. That's the truth, and it's what counts here."
Again, the line goes quiet. Then-
>[Otso]"You... you aren't going to talk to, uh, to-"
"To what-your parents? your friends? My only interest here is helping out a cousin in need. I do hope those aren't the only questions I can assist you with, Otso."
>[Otso]"Okay... uh... so, how do I.... ah...."
I give him time to work it out-this one's the key, I can tell. If I can help him with this, I've got his trust locked down tight.
>[Otso]"How do you deal with the... urges?"
I'm no goblin. I can't throw voice or perception through a phone, simply because a conversation's taking place. I'm no shadow, to listen in without regard for physical presence. I've no way to see it or confirm it-yet all the same I know what he means.
>[RRRRRR Trait used.]
"That one-that's a hard question, no matter who's asking and who's answering-and I don't have an easy answer for you. Still want to listen?"
I can hear the eager desperation as his head rubs against the reciever, nodding even though I have no way to see it.
"Well... the thing is that you're something more now-and that's not going to go away. And if you keep thinking of yourself as what you were, not what you ARE... it's just going to get harder. You have to accept what you are-not to submit to urges-mark-me there-but acknoweledge you have them and work around them as necessary. Think you could give that a try?"
Again, that frantic silence as he struggles with what to say. I'll say this for my cousin-however potentially lacking in the quick wits department he may be, he doesn't babble or blurt things out.
>[Otso]"...I think I can. Um.... can I ask some more questions?"
"Of course."
>[Otso]"Say... say I'm going to... uh... lose on purpose."
"Now Otso, I think you might be missing the lesson. Just because you know you'll win too well if you fight doesn't mean you have to lose."
>[Otso]"I don't understand."
"And this, sadly, is something that can't really, truly be explained, but I'll do what I can. Understand that life is nothing but a string of scenes-and just because these scenes are presented to you in a certain light, the setting a certain way-does not mean you must take them as is. If you cannot win a fight, that does not mean your ONLY other option is to lose."
>[Otso]"I... I think I get what you mean, but I still... uh..."
"Mayhap an example will help."
>[Otso]"YES! Uh, I mean, sure."
"In the example of not being able to win a fight for fear of winning too much-one could, if silver tongued or well informed on the secrets of his aggressors, talk them out of a fight, combining one's past wins with implied threats. You do not lose-but all the same, the fight you must not win never takes place. One could, if swift of foot or well versed in the schedules of his foes and the area's layout, purposefully avoid ever meeting them without resorting to sneaking-and comment about how odd it is one hasn't seen them. One's reputation is untarnished, and the aggressors take a hit without ever meeting their quarry. If one were well suited to dealing with authority figures or had at least one they'd already established a rapport with, one could get a discreet teacher intervention and orchestrate a scheme that doesn't leave one branded a snitch, but leaves the aggressors shamed. If one were loose with the law or desperate and skilled with locks, one could simply plant contraband in the aggressor's bags and indirectly draw attention to it. And this is only scratching the surface-the point, though, is to never be restricted in how you approach a scene you know to be in your future."
>[Otso]"...I know I'm not... uh... good, I guess, with words. Or a bunch of the other things you said. But... but I did hear what you said besides that-and I think I can put in time to prepare, and not just react. That's.. that's the lesson, right?"
The lesson was to cheat, but I can work with this.
"It's part of what you could learn. Do try to think on it."
>[Otso]"....Thanks. I... uh, man, I'm bad at-heh, I mean, REALLY, thank you."
"Think nothing of it. How could I not help family?"
>[Otso]"Still... thanks for, um, not treating me like a kid."
"You will make the choices you choose to make. All I can do is offer my thoughts and advice when possible."
>[Otso]"...Hey, why did...... no, sorry. Um, forget about it. Thank you, really."

With that the call is concluded-and I realize just how late it is. I grab a meal and hit the sack.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 27th, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $465,474.33
BUSINESS FUNDS: $189,347.00
CASH: $9,170.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 16%
WINTER ENERGY: 108/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 43/50


I wake up at six am, dose on Brain coffee and briefly throttle up my kidneys, liver and parathyroid while spicing my awakening with a jolt of adrenaline. Completely and utterly awake and alert before I finish opening my eyes, I wonder:
















What should I do today?
>>
No. 390655 ID: cc1982

Skill you could only get after decades of work available through a shortcut? He knows you well, best get on that today as this could be just the solution needed for Hummingbro. You can drain your winter line trying to finally get some semblance of skill with dual orientation, and the Summer by working on Gianni's homework on adrenals, perhaps with a larger infusion of adrenaline the differences will make themselves more readily apparent. While doing both of these things try to craft your own version of Hummingbro's focus enhancement technique, now that you can see your own soul and can see how it works hopefully some headway can be made on that. Leave the rest of the day open for this.
>>
No. 390664 ID: ac262f

Armas;
Some thoughts to chew on, you won't need to kill Baki if you can get him on your side, the problem is, how do you go about tearing the Yaks apart yet absorbing their best people?

Hafaz and company may be the solution here, so this plan can go on the backburner, though any chances to [DESTABLIZE] the leadership of the Yaks is to be taken, if Baki no longer wants to be part of the Yaks due to the Yaks becoming pathetic/dishonourable it is our win.

On Lammy. Lammy was and is a bro, see if you can meet with Go ping, apart from that an [INVESTIGATOR] would be very useful... Adelat is bound to come under your dominion sooner or later.

For today, it might be an idea to find a way to meet with the werewolf Matriarch, give our apologies for not taking her offer, but make clear we'd be happy to do work in exchange for favours...

We also have a small problem of that demon meeting to deal with... I would be tempted to find a way to just throw Duke at that problem, but for now arrange to meet with Johan.

Finally SM owes us a meeting with other Goblins of Istanbul, might be an idea to redeem that today.
[How do i make plans!? >.<]




Orders for LEV
>*Ask Lev if he could spare an hour or so on the weekend to teach you some more advanced hand-to-hand fighting. Ask Zhenya the same about pistols. Awaiting response from either.
Lev would be happy to help in keeping a medic alive, He loves medics, also take far too much joy in somebody wanting to learn melee from you.

You've heard it, you need to learn chakra or you will die, or more particularly you won't be able to eat the lovely lovely food. Cut down on all other training, make sure to get a good amount of sleep. Attend all chakra training, but always try to do the stuff while in the shadows, you don't trust messing with your soul in the sunlight...

On the note of sunlight being a vile soul destroying deciever, start wearing a hat gloves and sunglasses.

Spend some time practising what you learn in the dark, Try to focus on your shadow, realise you have not a clue what you are doing. Seek out Shadow Boss, ask him if the black lights helped with his research and if there is any thing else you can do for him, anything. Then break down due your fear of dying and beg him to teach you how to put energy into your shadow or some chakra training or something.

Come to the conclusion that in spite of soul popping danger, Your new bosses are pretty boss, you don't really know how to deal with superiors actually seeming to care about you.

Be sad that you don't really have the time to go to circuses any more.
>>
No. 390714 ID: 76c597

Let’s think this through. Jet Fang’s death is the most valuable to us – weakening Lo Fang – but with the most dangerous potential consequences (if Lo Fang learns of our hand in it). Rocco’s death is the most immediately dangerous since we don’t understand his stealth bloodline, and we’d also lose one of our two biggest employers. Endman would be a loss personally, what with potentially damaging Hafaz’s plans (that group may even end up involved in any hit we attempt, since baki’s been hanging with them) and Arkvad would be bummed. So, I say we keep our eyes open for an opportunity to come along but don’t go out of our way to engineer one – and we can tell SM that.

Today, take Jet up on his offered training. For content… I don’t remember, can we shunt power full power to SB, Sake or HB yet? If not, we could have him improve the flexibility of our stealth suite – to fool more types of creatures. Failing those, there’s always the chakra overlay.

What is our problem with that, anyway? Seems to be an issue with focus as much as precision, since HB’s trick gets it working. This says to me that SB and us working together could also accomplish it, or SB and Sake teaming up with us providing the power. Still just another way to cheat the problem, not satisfying Lo Fang, but it could be useful.
>>
No. 390715 ID: b83c65

>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>Agree with Boss. Ask him instead that, when the dubbing is finished, the company will watch the Kill Doony Video and be trolled with THE MACHINE video.
>Come to realization that Boss is dick troll, Shadow Boss is Serious Troll, and Sake is fun troll. Ask Boss and Sake, personally and with Shadow Boss doesn’t seem to be nearby, about running Camella through THE MACHINE. Also maybe some other Russians. Gloom comes to mind.
>Get dubbing finished, and try to get Shadow Boss and Sake to record their lines. Before and after dubbing, just chat with them. Comment on Sake looking awesome and Shadow Boss on convincing Nikifor to ‘wrestle’ his shadow.
>>
No. 390719 ID: 0b1389

>What is our problem with that, anyway? Seems to be an issue with focus as much as precision, since HB’s trick gets it working. This says to me that SB and us working together could also accomplish it, or SB and Sake teaming up with us providing the power. Still just another way to cheat the problem, not satisfying Lo Fang, but it could be useful.

It may not be the amount of focus Armas can devote, but the ability to stop short of putting all of himself into one orientation. Like with Hummingbird's help Armas has enough control to sink only a certain amount of his attention into each orientation. Without Hummingbird Armas submerges all of himself into one orientation.
More figurative, running two orientations is like treading water just strong enough to be submerged from the hip down, no more no less. What Armas manages on his own is either keeping at most his feet wet or at most his scalp dry.

Some training by running a chakra orientation and then trying to starve it, to drive it as low as possible without shutting it off might help.
>>
No. 390743 ID: 76c597

Titus Orders
Barring a mission or hunting trip (or finding some Blades to beat up), the best way to live-fire test something like this is probably sparring. And the vampires at Ito’s are strong enough to take a little electrical charge without much harm.

However, doubt you are rested enough to prove a challenge to them as is – if you can at all, of course, but at least you’d have the edge on one of the ganger vamps in skill.

Have Titus approach Hillevi, ask if it is possible for her to remove fatigue buildup or allow someone to fight through exhaustion. Ask humbly, as one might ask an honored elder sibling, despite Titus being 29 and Hillevi 17. This is due to Hillevi reminding Titus of his elder (now married) sister, despite the two having little in common (this is due to Elder Sister seeming very big in young Titus’s memory).

If Hillevi is able to do something like that, attend Ito’s (with Grisha, if amenable) and talk their way into fighting the gang vampire pair one-on-one. Have Titus and Grisha both try the gloves in their bout, then compare notes later. Then… probably suffer greatly the next morning at 4am.

Failing Hillevi’s ability or inclination to do this, maybe Hillevi herself would allow us to test it, two-on-one? If so, regret even more the next morning.
>>
No. 390786 ID: 3947e9

Formerly >>390707

Baki has a massage technique where he removes magic from mundane humans who over indulged in magic foods.
Maybe he could help with hummingbird's magic situation.

Lo Fang or his disciples could potentially teach us how to draw that saturating energy from the hummingbird too. Regularly drawing that energy combined with weasel rubdown healing should do the trick.

We should suggest that the russians get regular weasel rubs during their current push to learning chakra.

>SM introduction
SM owes us introduction to other goblins... we need to claim those already. That would allow us to "shop around" for things a bit and thus improve the prices we can get.

>Amens Prisoners - Time to meet them
I think it is time we met/examined the various prisoners amen has. Also lets reexamine the mangled reaper soul (now that we have improved soul detection).

>Godling
Ask sake to clarify the definitions of god, godling, kami, and name other in betweens he knows of. Also, what is the difference between divine and devil.

>Chakra Practice
Armas should focus practicing holding multiple simultaneous chakra alignments with hummingbirds assistance. Keep at it until he increases assisted duration by a second and then try by himself. Repeat it until he can do it by himself for a second.
Ideally we want to be able to have an array of multiple detection alignments running concurrently (although I guess we could also cycle between them)... speaking of, I want to learn all the different detection configurations lo fang could teach us for that purpose.

>Chugniov
Lets approach SM with the idea of ordering jidovka to steal and deliver to us a sample of chuginov's blood.
We offer SM to sell him non exclusive access to chuginov same as we did to jidovka.
SM will help us phrase the order for amen, to order jidovka to steal the blood.
In exchance SM gets a discount on his purchase of chuginov ordering rights.

>Boris
Will leave brownies beer wort and cream. Then just leave immediately and never once think of what you're doing as a payment or worse refer to it as such.
Stop spiking food with ipecac and ghost pepper sauce. its obviously not working.
>>
No. 390788 ID: 612dcf

>>390786
Upvote except for meeting the prisoners. Since we allowed Amen to do anything he wanted with them, meeting prisoners might be dangerous.

Ask Sake if he can heal missing limbs. If he can then talk to hummingbird and your brothers about the following plan. Sake could cut away parts of hummingbird thereby removing some of the magic in his body and immediately heal him afterward.
>>
No. 390794 ID: 81f32a

ORDERS FOR IOSEF:

>>>Remember stuff delivery! Distribute Laptops to every Russian not already having one or that will break it. Be given a decidedly ambivalent response by most. Grumble about no respect.
-Hey, Iosef appreciates the gesture. He will thank Andrei for his thougful gift and tell him that if he ever needs help with anything that Iosef will help him.

>?~Seek out Sake and ask him use his healing magic on Iosef right before sleeping at midnight. Be told to fuck off since you're getting enough sleep. -Be unsure how to proceed from here.
Well, that's just rude. Besides, the plan was to do this after Ivan and Iosef present him the golden nest.
Also, having that amount of recuperation and rest would allow Iosef to push himself much harder during his training. Anyway,

>Approach Lyubov and ask her about gold-cloth or something similar he could use to make something comfortable for Sake to sleep on
>be ready to spend 400$+ on the cloth, 25$+ on the down for the bed
>Thank Lyubov for her help and tell her that Iosef will do favour for her if she needs one.

>Since Iosef is pretty much getting the best recovery, try to push himself much harder during trainings. Although not during the Camella jog, he doesn't want to embarrass himself by vomiting on the side-walk, that part of the training he'll take more gradually.

Orders for Armas:
-Chakra training. Try to get the double chakra flowing in your own for at least a half of a second. 6 hours
-Finally go meet those goblins you have bought introduction for.
>>
No. 390899 ID: b83c65

>[Andrei has been queued to do the following on:]
>Agree with Boss. Ask him instead that, when the dubbing is finished, the company will watch the Kill Doony Video and be trolled with THE MACHINE video.
>Come to realization that Boss is dick troll, Shadow Boss is Serious Troll, and Sake is fun troll. Ask Boss and Sake, personally and with Shadow Boss doesn’t seem to be nearby, about running Camella through THE MACHINE. Also maybe some other Russians. Gloom comes to mind, after hearing that he made S'mores gloomy.
>Get dubbing finished. Laugh while editing, trying to keep it silent. Make sure Sake and Shadow Boss have the lines recorded and sounding the best. If they're not well recorded, get Sake and Shadow Boss to get their lines recorded properly. Chat with Sake and Shadow Boss (between recordings). Comment on Sake looking awesome and Shadow Boss on convincing Nikifor to ‘wrestle’ his shadow.
>Between editing, Remember that Satai wanted caffeine. Get 5 more gallons of 5150 Juice for $174.75 dollars, 200 Energy Catalysts for $192, 8 Blast Caffeine shakers for $100, and $303.2 for sixteen of each of the three types of Dynapep micro energy shots there. Hands shaking too much for anything else.
>Finish up editing on both films. Be stoked that trolling can happen.
>Get excited; call Boss and Shadow Boss and Sake to see!
>Laugh and Laugh again; stop, choking and feeling light headed.
>Fuckit, let's show this movie off. Get the big ass TV set up, while snickering to self.
>Watch the beginning of Kill Doony. Can not contain self. Laugh, and laugh, and laugh, falling off chair. Keep laughing, feeling the world going distant. Have heart attack.
>With last breath: "Got. Yeah."
>Hopefully revived by Weasel! Hurrah! If not, fuck!

>If not dead, start using free time for sleep. Cut down on too much caffeine.
>>
No. 390906 ID: 07eaf7

Rostislav orders: >Wake up one morning thinking back on all that weird shit he's seen so far. >Except that one thing. >Recall how Camella broke Boss's arm. >Think for a moment how much thrusting power that takes. >Decide to approach Camella later about Reinforcement and how to achieve that use of Chakra. >Should Camella prove difficult to talk to, ask Ito >Should both of those fall through, simply pay more attention to the chakra lessons, focusing as much as he can. >During incredibly limited spare time, drop Best Beer Hunt (But keep it in mind) and instead start looking for fight clubs >Especially ones that are barely legal and allow weapons >Don't actually enter yet, scope out for one as mundane as possible and one around his level
>>
No. 390941 ID: e3f546

Grisha has been queued to do the following:
-Wake up at four AM, somewhat cranky and tired.
-Agree to go along with Titus' taser testing at Ito's when he asks, it should be interesting to see what those vamps can take in terms of damage, if you can hit them with it at least.
-At Camella's group training, do what is required, wonder what the deal is with the start, there is something about it that is odd and it is pissing you off - be too tired to think about it much.
-Continue to be a bit grumpy at Ito's, try to hide it so as not to throw off students.
-Sleep the sleep of the dead. Don't even bother undressing.
-Get woken up to see the movie, who gives a fuck, it'll be uplifting to watch something die in seconds that would take out an entire troop or two under Chugainov's command.
[Andrei has a heart attack: SS Trait activates]
-Be shocked, upset, saddened, and pissed off by Andrei having a heart attack.
-Do whatever can be done to help him, defer to to the Bosses and Feodor, it's what any good person would do, right?
[Andrei survives]
-Be worried, attempt to get him to chart his caffiene intake, with a notepad.
-Be paranoid and make sure to check that pad a couple of times a day for a few weeks.
-Tell him not to do that to himself again, too many promising soldiers have commited suicide in the Forces!
-Ask Ito along with the vampires if you can help Titus test some less-lethal equipment related to close combat.
-Concentrate on getting the taser into contact, realise you'll take more hits doing so, stop to make sure the vampire you are sparring is okay whenever you connect.
-Sleep because you will be exhausted regarless. What a horrible day...
[Andrei dies [unless Bob has other ideas on what the Russians will do]]
-Be even more pissed off and sad, mainly because it was self-inflicted.
-Decline using shock gauntlet, take some of your anger out during a spar, hopefully getting the desired result.
-If Ito says no, or stop then do so.

I'm not sure about orders most of the time, but it seems like a major enough of an event to produce such a split.
>>
No. 390959 ID: 3af16b

ARMAS ORDERS

Today, though you do not know it, you will face horrors beyond human ken. Duke will not be in his normal bathroom, and you will walk into a horrible scene. But like so many things in your life, from trauma springs greatness.

In this case you'll have an epiphany. The horrible, caustic, hazardous deuces that Duke drops are literal poison. And you could, if you copied his incredible intestines, build a flesh golem based on spewing the same crap everywhere.

The nazinaut would make a good base. It was built from a human turned vampire turned elder-acid-plant, designed to be a one-use panic button weapon. Nice, but not sustainable. But you've got just about all the parts you'd need to make it sustainable. Think about it. You've got the dooney's heart, you've got those phoenix hearts (save up one more and you'd have a rule of three ready complex).

You know a little flesh craft, but you don't know enough to do this on your own. You do know a fleshcrafter that could probably do it, and you already agreed to let him look at the nazinaut: Gianni. Couldn't you just... steal him from Rocco? He seems to like you a lot more than he likes Rocco. And he seems to want another fleshcrafter in his life. He made excuses to bring you to dinner. And you got the Owner's personal attention, Gianni would appreciate that your star is rising (once he was sober, ha ha).

The first part of this hinges on being able to get Gianni on board though. Call him up, tell him about the Dooney kill.

"Hi Gianni, did I tell you I killed that Doononegas asshole over the weekend? I didn't? I guess I wanted to keep it a surprise until the detox work on the bodyparts was done. Well, surprise!"

"Yes, I've got most of it, including all those poison glands it uses. Now, as it happens, I've got this great idea. I was thinking, "why not put the glands in me? I'd need some help to do it, but I just so happen to have a spare set of the glands anyway..." Yeah you see where I'm going with this right?"

"Right, a set for you, for helping me get mine installed. But it occurred to me that with all the flesh I've got laying around here, I could do something really interesting. See, I think that with the right combination of hearts, guts, and raw strength, we could make a really nasty fleshgolem. Something that could spew divine, mortal, and elder poison, and maybe a bunch of diseases or something too. And be a terror, a complete bruiser in battle. And be built to go really fucking fast."

"Oh don't worry about that, I've got some contacts who sort of specialize in fleshcraft-based footwork. Getting them on board with this won't be a problem."

"Aaaanyway, I was thinking, if I had a solid fleshcrafter mentor, one who was on-board with me and mine, and who didn't mind teaching in a more intimate setting, and guiding me along. Well, that mentor would be the perfect guy to be the lead on designing this Beast of a golem."

"You know how I am, I've got a tendency to, ah, split my attentions. I've got a mentor lined up for my other skillset, and as it so happens, I think he could help us with just those issues you're bringing up. If you're on board with this, I'd want you to be completely on board."

"Well when I told Rocco I wanted you, I meant it. The taste I've had of your attentions has left me hungry for more. I really do want you behind me. Backing me up. Mentoring me in the myriad methods of the flesh."

"I'm going to be serious here. I think you'd be a great fit. I'm trying to build something more than just a company. I mean, I want the company to be great. But I want to start building a clan. The truth is that being clanless sucks, but I just can't see myself anywhere in any clan I join besides ultimately receiving the Head... position. And since that'd be just as hard as building my own clan, I decided that I'd be better off just going the Full Monty and building things from the ground up."

"Well I already know I'm about as crappy a teacher as a guy can be and still be breathing. I'm going to need a solid mentor for my kids. Money, influence, interesting projects, and a place to call your own with us. Plus you'll get instant authority over that group of soldiers I've got with me. What do you say?"

"Right, I don't want to leave Rocco feeling put out either. How about we arrange a parting agreement with him. We'll lend him what he needs while he lines up alternates. The whole company at his disposal, at discount rates, for a month or so. Maybe less, what do you think would be a reasonable amount of time for him to get another man lined up and slotted into his organization?"

"Gianni, I think this is the beginning of something beautiful. I, excuse me, I got something in my eye."

With Gianni, the first part of the plan becomes possible. You'll need to talk to Rocco and help Gianni wrap up whatever he's involved in, but it might be possible to get the glands installed as soon as today.

With luck, Davgon will just show up on your doorstep to talk about the mentorship and mercenary work. He's had almost a week to get his affairs in order and get into the country. Einrik will have given him your address and phone number, hopefully.

Plus, you've got Duke here. At least part of this golem will be based on Duke's physiology. Who better to have on hand as an expert in how the grafted parts work than the man that donated the template?

In fact... there's a lot of improvements you could make... involve the dunters... let SB pilot it... and maybe ask Whaitiri for her suggestions once we've got something solid to show off. And don't forget to armor it.

[A List to Build a Beast On]
-Hire Gianni away from the Mafia. He is fun, and he knows his craft, and he seems to like you much more than he likes Rocco.
-Offer up a set of doononegas poison glands for him, a chance to mentor you in a more intimate setting (and be compensated for such), mission pay, a chance to be in on the ground floor of a clan that’s going to be building some awesome things
-Things like The Beast. Start with the living nazinaut flesh, implant a set of Doonegaes poison glands and a Doonegaes heart to stabilize it. And maybe some phoenix auxiliary hearts, since they’re from the same court.
-Which will then be set up to spew that horrible caustic crap that Duke leaves in the bathroom after his morning constitutionals. We’d need to copy his intestines for that.
-And maybe make the Elder-derived acid that it was originally designed for, too
-In fact why not give it the ability to spray fire, too?
-And add magic and divine diseases to its payload? Just to fuck with anything that’s immune to three different types of poison and fire.
-And it needs lots of limbs so that it’s hard to mobility-kill it.
-Maybe we could make it really fast. You’ve got a couple of Dunter who would probably like to help you with building the beast to use their footwork techniques.
-And considering how good they are at bloodwork, we could probably learn how to integrate their blood-sponge, thick blood, toughened veins, and set up a system that allows nutrition to be mainlined into the golem’s muscle tissues from his circulatory system.
-Maybe we could talk Duke into letting us borrow parts of him to improve the base. It was a human once, and Duke is a transcendental human with regeneration. We could put his high-quality human parts in there and make the golem even more awesome.
-If Davgon signs on, we’d have the help of a Sami soul shaman to craft the soul control side of things
-And maybe copy some of the soul tricks we’ve learned.
-Maybe we could design the Beast to be piloted by ShadowBro. He might need a decent way to interface with it. But isn’t he already controlling that other nazinaut shadow? Maybe we could stitch that to the soul-control-center for the beast.
-And Restrict it to just accepting control from Laine-relatives, so that we don’t have to worry about some other shadowuser running off with our awesome golem.
-If we can get Whaitiri to help, we’d have a divine goddess providing support in the form of mere-claws for it that can cut anything (and maybe other things too, like a gate to her realm that we could use to move spare parts through during a fight).
-She could help with some of the integration issues too, maybe.
-Since it doesn’t have eyes, or need most of its brain, we could put lasers in its head.
-And more heads! And maybe a charm to shift the heat away from the delicate parts of the lasers. Hamlet could help with this laser stuff, he would know this shit. He could pick out a nitrogen gas laser of some sort, so that the golem would shoot ultraviolet wavelength lasers.
-We could put armor on it. The best runed armor we can find, or have made. And we could make it easy for ShadowBro to swap parts mid-fight, so that he can replace damaged parts.
-We could even get some automated repair charms for it. Or learn how to make them, and do it ourselves. Take some of the load off of SB and cut down on replacement costs for the armor panels.

>>
No. 390975 ID: 76c597

>>390959
>"Well when I told Rocco I wanted you, I meant it. The taste I've had of your attentions has left me hungry for more. I really do want you behind me. Backing me up. Mentoring me in the myriad methods of the flesh."
Make sure to mention we really need hands-on training.

>In this case you'll have an epiphany. The horrible, caustic, hazardous deuces that Duke drops are literal poison. And you could, if you copied his incredible intestines, build a flesh golem based on spewing the same crap everywhere.
Remember, whenever talking to Duke, we need to use iambic pentameter?
"Duke, the stench of your excretions/could choke a charnel house./Perhaps it is only the murderous fumes/But I have a thought that eclipses Faust's.

We're going to make a golem/An abomination against god/And man, and the Geneva convention/... something something, gonna need your shit, allright?/What do you want from me, I'm not a poet."

Very, very rough iambic pentameter, not really up to what I normally consider Armas's standards, but trying to hit 10 syllables AND rhyme is hard.
>>
No. 390993 ID: 2e5ed3

Go on the Internet and look up nootropics and other forms of mental enhancement like the neural feedback electotheraphy mentioned before. Basically, anything with well documented positive effects on focus would be helpful for learning.

>>390959
SUST. All of it, as it's far too long to criticise only in part, and far too much stuff like the Gianni stuff that's been voted against before for good reasons.
>>
No. 391013 ID: 421737

>>390602
The shouter Ironhead wants the police theft task to be completed. We are to be doing it, tomorrow. Have the Shadow learn who of the police has the keys, and the codes, and the other information that is vital to the police theft task. We will change the face, and open the doors tomorrow with the stolen keys and codes. Then we will break the wards, and the Shadow will take the things. Then we will leave. Tomorrow! But Shadow does preparation today!

>>390655
Just because you learn something one day you do not have to it the same day! We may have to wait to drain until after the police theft task. I am SUST. But we do the draining later, after police theft.

>>390664
If what we want to do in this post does not take up too much time, then fine. But if you add a lot of time, you can not reason. I want to hire the instructor Gianni.

>>390959
Yes, we will offer pay to the instructor Gianni, to be our instructor, and to help build Golem, and to put the poison glands inside the Armas soft flesh. I want to make Golem.

>>390714
Baki and Endman are two men. Baki is the hard man of rubs, Endman is the mundane who gambles. The Sometimes Merchant would expect we to have Duke end Endman, but Duke would be most bored.

Killing Jet Fang of Lo Fang is the most dangerous, but it is not what the Sometimes Merchant would expect, and is not what Lo Fang would expect if we get the lessons from Jet Fang. We are to get the lessons, and set Duke on Jet Fang.
>>
No. 391017 ID: 9718f3

First thing, track down Camella before she leaves for Ito's and ask her if she's figured out that trick for getting around charm arrays yet. Get definitive confirmation one way or another, she's got to describe the trick to you.
If not, "Hey Iron Trick, I bet that a month from now Camella STILL wont have figured Splintered Intent out for herself."
We're betting a soul sliver a day for a month against knowledge in the Darkening portion of our Winter bloodline as though we were trained by an expert of the Darkening bloodline for 6 hours a day for a month. I guess we can increase that to two slivers a day if he's being a dick about it.
I'm attempting a Rule of Three gamble with the month/month/month. Unsure if it'll do anything.

>>391013
SUST getting Duke to kill Jet Fang.
>>390959
Love the list. Hate the bluntness with which you pursue Gianni and am therefore SUSTing it.
>>
No. 391029 ID: cba104

IGOR
>[Igor has been queued to do the following:]
Make sure to sleep 8hr a day by taking a mid-day nap.


>What should I do today?
Well, first, we should think about yesterday:
>[SM]"...No, I did not. You have acquired six months."
>[WETN Trait activated]
>"Bu-"
>[SM]"If you have more information, present it-don't try to haggle what each piece of data is worth."
After beginning to try to barter, you were redirected to bartering at the end of the conversation- and you didn't. “Won't Ever say no” doesn't mean “won't maybe say no”, and we should be careful to remember to try to get as much as possible before leaving our barter opponent. Likewise, “I would like to secure the use of a nevernever pocket sometime soon, designed to be ideal for training purposes and last for a subjective five years.” Is really not precise enough. You should know better than that by now, with how SM needs to squeeze us given him being a goblin. Now, it's pretty obvious that if our teacher age in such a bubble, or the hummingbird does, or Hillevi can't come with us as well as the trainer and ourself it's NOT ideal at all. However, we should NOT let things in any way vague- we know better than most how to manipulate truth. We really should take care of that blindness we have when it comes to other people doing what we ourself do all the time. Just for that, Armas should call SM and make sure of a few things: if he has duke killing more than one of them, does it mean we get two 5 years bubble? Are those bubble actually “ideal” for training, and not just “ideal” in a crooked sense of the word? Would we still get them if they die because of us, but not from Duke's hand? Those are all things we must make sure to get.

>Einrik
That means he will feel sad ifthere is no prank waiting for him when he comes back. Mental note: prepare one.

>Otso
Hey, you forgot the whole reason we called him- for Abloex advice. What's up with that?

>[Sake]"I would like to go on the record as rejecting this-she IS a known cannibal and going down this route will make Soul Guises irrelevant in regard to your cannibalistic taint as it will be a known feature of you-there is no way she could or even would want to keep this secret, assuming you succeeded in getting her to accept."
>That's pretty sober of you.
>[Sake]"Most divine beings hate being made the pets of gods-this would count, given I'm tethered to you both.
While I would tend to dismiss IT and Hummingbird's opinions here- IT because he STILL is Rabbit's (and he should know we don't mind shooting for the underdog), whatever else he might be, and Hummingbird because he is clearly still quite ignorant of non-bird interactions, Sake makes two impressively valid points: First, that Cannibal thing, second, that he would feel like being a pet of god. We need to talk to him more about that- does that mean he would be opposed to nay kind of relationship with Whaitiri? Would it be more acceptable for him if we just tried to give whaitiri “trust” when it comes to Armas, or even try to be some kind of “mercenary hunter” loosely associated with her?

>>390959
That's... Really aggressive there. SUST to aggressiveness. I want to get Gianni to come here, to implant the glands in us and give us a epi lesson, and to begin working on the nazinaute golem today. Maybe implant the Doony heart in it or something. However, we should be REALLY carreful on how to poach Gianni. I would suggest trying to get Gianni sold on the idea first (as in, make sure he agrees he wants to be poached), and then help Rocco eliminate the nazi with the help of Duke (Bye bye endman), and get Gianni as part of our payment from Rocco (so that we don't get bad relationships with Rocco).

If Gianni comes here today, we could try to tempt him on working on the Nazinaute golem as “more interesting” than that fleshcrafter meet. SUST to going there, btw. We don't need more sidequest. If Gianni leaves us tonight early in the evening to go there, Armas should drain both of his bloodline and try to get that efficiency boost. He might well sleep a LOT, but as long as he makes sure to have sake wake him up for anything truly important, that should be ok. Armas REALLY need efficiency as the hummingbird might die any day now.

>We are to get the lessons, and set Duke on Jet Fang.
SUST on killing Jet Fang currently

Speaking of Jet Fang, we should call and schedule a chakra lesson with him tomorrow afternoon. If there is any free time today, we should also spend as much time as possible working on dual-layered orientation. Possible begin with soul-sensing → reinfrorcement with the help of the hummingbird once so that SB can shove into use what our soul looks like when we do it, and then try to be guided by that when we do it without Hummingbird.
>>
No. 391031 ID: 431fa8

>Satai Orders
>Wonder how Lyubov and Ivan look so goddamn peppy. Grumble about it in proximity to others, realize that Sake is responsible. Hunt down Sake. Inquire about receiving precious wakefulness in spite of horrible sleep deprivation, if there are any side effects.
>If Sake is reluctant, conclude that obviously he's fishing for bribes. Doubtless this is why everyone else keeps giving him things, he charges for favors. Mention that there's probably room for a very flexible medical supplies budget somewhere in the quartermaster accounts that Sake could probably get access to as our most competent healer, if he would care to discuss it some time when Satai is actually awake.
>If he bites, attempt to make arrangements for Sake to get whatever the hell he wants (as long as it's not totally breaking the budget, obviously) and Satai's assistance in purchasing things in exchange for helping out Satai upon request. No point stinting on the budget, it's not like we're short on cash and we get more all the time.

>>390602
Give Go Ping a call and ask if he can schedule the training that Jet Fang offered scheduled.

Spend the bulk of the morning on chakra training if possible, either with the Triads or with Hillevi's assistance if we can get it- fighting Hillevi is always good for burning up a bunch of power.

We should talk to Sake about what he said when relations with Whaitiri came up.

"Sake, you have a bit? You said that divine beings hate being the pets of gods- might not have noticed this, but I don't really know anything about what's involved there. Mind filling me in?"

"What exactly qualifies as being a god's pet, then? Are you against any kind of permanent relationship with a god, or do you just need it firmly established that you're independent and not taking orders even if you're doing favors? I don't want to take any steps that would leave one of my brothers miserable, but I'd really like to chase power here- lay it out for me, would you?"


If we can get the chance, we should see what's bothering Camella. Go by Ito's a bit before we expect night training to start; maybe we'll be able to catch her before she's busy. "Hey, Camella. You want to talk?" (expected answer 'no') "Okay, saw that one coming. How about this: Word is you're acting troubled, and talking about it might make you feel better. I would be happy to take a stab at the good-friend thing and listen. I'll even avoid saying anything rude for the entire conversation." Say the last line in the tones of one offering an irresistible bribe. If she turns us down or says not right now, "Well, I won't press. Offer stands if you want it later."

>>390959
>conversation with Gianni
I'd open with "Gianni, I know you mentioned that there's an opportunity for a fascinatingly fleshy evening at a certain restaurant tonight, but I wonder if you might come by my place beforehand. I have a delectable piece of meat that's not to be missed- you won't regret it."

Aside from that, STOP after "Mentoring me in the myriad methods of the flesh." SUST to bringing clan concepts into it or offering Rocco massive discounts. There is another, hopefully more profitable way.

"Now, I know that's moving kind of fast and you're already deeply involved with some very possessive people. But if you're on board and inclined to change partners, I think we can handle this so Rocco leaves the room feeling satisfied.

"Now, I know there's been some trouble for your organization recently- I haven't been following in too much detail, but there's rough times in the works. The sort of times when a city where the mafia is making significant gains might be noticed very positively, right? Everyone else must be eyeing you in rather nasty ways.

"As it happens, I have at my disposal a large number of aggressive people with access to guns, magic, and magic guns- which I would describe as an excellent means of making very sure that the mafias no longer look like the most troubled group in the city. In fact, we're feeling twitchy and have never had any kind of positive relations with the Germans, so if the mafia is willing to provide useful intelligence we'd be more than happy to hit them hard- and repeatedly. Often enough and hard enough that they decide to pull out of Istanbul as more trouble than it's worth, and Rocco will be one who was best positioned to pick up their pieces bit by bit.

"We can't work without a certain amount of pay, of course- but if you were planning to grace our company with your delightful membership, with Rocco's blessing thanks to our ongoing and quite profitable business relations, I'm sure that arrangements could be made- not all wealth is money, after all, and there's nothing wrong with a favor being held for a while. And the Nazis are sure to have a fair amount of loot to go around to make up the immediate costs, if our last encounter with them is anything to go by.

"What do you say, Gianni? Willing to risk a little mess for some fun with me, and take the lead in convincing Rocco to join in?"
>>
No. 391038 ID: 3af16b

LYUBOV ORDERS

*”I want to learn from you, Boss. Whatever you think is important. I like Sake, but he doesn’t have a human body. I need to know what I’m doing with mine.”
*Accept whatever (without a doubt weird) conditions Armas will set. Offer only token arguments, remember the point is really to keep him busier than he normally would be. Make him commit to a time that doesn’t conflict with the other training.
*After the midnight practice with Sake, go catch a nap. Wake up in a couple of hours.
*Work on the first concealed carry holster. Become dissatisfied with the basic design (cribbed from a commercial design), decide that nylon stiffener is required. Make a note to pick some up later.
*Go on jog with Camella. Push hard. Beat Gloom! He’s a tall lanky motherfucker, but he’s not you!
*Shower, remember the two 20 hour phone cards you bought last week but did not put on the phones, get dressed. Go visit Sake, put time on phones, request rubdown politely. Admire his bling. Go get breakfast.
*Instead of eating with everyone, eat in the kitchen. Encourage Boris to stick with the runs, learn of disappearing food issue. Keep an eye on the plates of food by being thoughtless about checking on it. You’re not turning around to look at the food. You’re not even turning around for a reason. You’re just, turning around. From time to time.
*Chakra practice. Put your heart into this, like you told Armas, you need to know what you’re doing. It’s non-optional for a reason.
*Agree to help with the Bed for Sake project. Wonder if you should set up a queue or something for this, given how everyone seems to want to out-do each other. Plan a trip to the market tomorrow.
*After lunch find Hillevi. Ask her, as much out of morbid curiosity as anything, how she would accomplish her proposed method of helping nearly kill you. Defer making a decision for now, politely.
*Watch the video. Be incredibly disturbed and alarmed by Andrei’s accident, but keep your cool. If Sake’s not around (why?!) assist Feodor and Hillevi.
*During training with Armas, broach Hillevi’s idea. Ask if he could tell when you had made the majority of the gains you could make from such a dangerous thing. Ponder it.
*At dinner try to distract yourself from how fucked up that was. Sit near Camella and Hillevi, ask Camella how long she’s known Armas anyway. Ask if he got her anything from his trip. If she admits to him bringing her a fext heart, or Hillevi volunteers it, ask, “Did he make the obvious, ‘My heart is now yours’ jokes?”
*Be surprised if she says no. Say something like, “Oh. Well, uh. I’m glad he let us all live. Here in his house. Because he hired us.”
*Awkwardly go to class. Train with Ito, night lessons. Spar with Granny, use your chakra techniques and try to keep your intentions… fluttery. After inevitable ass kicking, ask Granny Vampire how she does the thing where she reads you so well.
*Go home, find Sake prank calling people. Get rubdown, join in.
>>
No. 391062 ID: 5fd34f

>He speaks of folding energy flows, of inverting chakra gates. He speaks of splitting something that feels unsplittable
Consider that SB is a split off part of your soul and has a chakra system that mirrors your own to a degree.
Is it possible for you both to adopt orientations and then mold them into one?
Even if it isn't fully sustainable for combat, if it can be done it will no doubt give you both more insight on what is required here on a deeper level, and in his case the memories can be packaged and sent to you to allow you to do it on your own when it is fully understood.
Run it by him.
>>
No. 391065 ID: b7a018

Feodor Orders

*During chakra training, consider what Einrik said about how those men could have been saved. His advice relied, at least partially, on being a chakra Expert. Push towards this goal.
*Thank Andrei for the laptop.
*Apologise to Sake for trying to fight him. Be confused by his talk of posters, since you very clearly hit him in the face. After he accepts the apology, ask him if his healing can allow a person to survive without any sleep. Thank him for his answer, then as you turn to go, stop and say, “You have, however inadvertently, made me completely useless to these men and women. I hope that you will consider helping me rectify that dishonour.”
*When Andrei collapses, immediately check his pulse. Start CPR, and send people or Amen to get Titus' shock gauntlet and a flat piece of metal, preferably copper. Continue with the CPR. When they metal and gauntlet arrive, place the metal under Andrei's back, on his left side. Apply the shock gauntlet to his chest on the his left side again, and defibrillate him.
*Get in contact with Finnigan and organise to start working for him from Friday night. Ask about scheduling – make sure it's compatible with the training, even if you have to move things around – and exactly what you'll be doing. Arrange to give him the money after your first fortnight. If he doesn't like it, tell him that it's up to a month. Tell him “If you want the money at all, and I know you do, you'll wait.” Don't take any shit from him – he's a money whore, he'll want it.
>>
No. 391094 ID: d97a61

[Lev has been queued to do the following:]
{}Find himself happy to help keep that medic alive. As a man fond of actions that frequently get him injured, Lev loves medics. Take far too much joy in somebody wanting to learn melee from him.
{}Partake of the same silly dream/reality confusion as so many others, and somehow forget that the conversion to the chakra learning schedule cancelled all prior static plans. Be kinda sad bouts with Nikifor stalled out due to this.
{}Be suspicious and reticent of any soul-related things while in direct sunlight, owing to personal take on Boss' comments about sunlight's effects on souls. Observe Iosef taking note of his behavior behavior, and not looking particularly pleased.
{}Start wearing hat, gloves and sunglasses any time it's sunny out. Start getting 'Looks'.
{}Use precious period of free time to rehash day's lessons in a dark room. Tries to focus on his shadow, realizes he has not a clue what he is doing.
{}Seek out Shadow Boss, ask him if the black lights helped with his research and if there is any thing else you can do for him, anything. Be immediately asked what you are trying to get from him. Make mental note Shadow Boss is sharp.
{}Break down due your fear of dying and beg him to teach you how to put energy into your shadow or some chakra training or something. Be near to being ignored, until Shadow Boss seems to consider something. Be told that he'll need to show his worth by standing out from the crowd in some way during the Chakra training everyone's now doing-be left to figure out how on own. Be told this is more to show you would have the mental fortitude to endure the assistance SB could offer him, rather than to prove himself.
{}Come to the conclusion that in spite of soul popping danger, Your new bosses are pretty boss, you don't really know how to deal with superiors actually seeming to care about you.
{}Be sad that you don't really have the time to go to circuses any more.

[Titus has been queued to do the following:]
T-Decide that realistic best way to live-fire test something like taze-glove is probably sparring. And the vampires at Ito’s are strong enough to take a little electrical charge without much harm. Probably.
T- However, doubt you are rested enough to prove a challenge to them as is. Recruit unusually energetic Andrei (who Feodor's acting all careful around) to help when he won't shut up about feeling good. Get back preliminary tests from a techie-decide at least eight hours will be needed to begin addressing the issues he raised (heating complications, glove slippage and desynchronized taser activation).
T- Approach Hillevi, ask if it is possible for her to remove fatigue buildup or allow someone to fight through exhaustion. Ask humbly, as one might ask an honored elder sibling, despite Titus being 29 and Hillevi 17. This is due to Hillevi reminding Titus of his elder (now married) sister, despite the two having little in common (this is due to Elder Sister seeming very big in young Titus’s memory). Due to politely deferential request, be moderately surprised at her acceptance. Feel like testicles were dipped in liquid nitrogen, briefly, as she 'freshens you up'. Be too starkly awake and peppy to ponder just what she did, beyond that it was cold as hell.
T-Have trouble falling asleep because he 'freshened up' after returning from Ito's. Go to sleep late. Regret it in morning until Hillevi is found-beg for second dose, recieve it, and face the day alertly and with recessed balls, ready for anything.

>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>Agree with Boss. Ask Boss instead that, when the dubbing is finished, the company will watch the Kill Doony Video and be trolled with THE MACHINE video. Receive far more favorable response.
>Come to realization that Boss is dick troll, Shadow Boss is serious troll, and Sake is fun troll. Ask Boss and Sake, personally and when Shadow Boss doesn’t seem to be nearby, about running Camella through THE MACHINE. Again be rejected, as it seems Shadow Boss informed both of certain costs involved that eclipse the humor.
>Get dubbing finished. Laugh while editing, trying to keep it silent. Make sure Sake and Shadow Boss have the lines recorded and sounding acceptable enough for broadcast. Be uncertain they meet this standard, but decide this is as close as they'll get right now. Chat with Sake and Shadow Boss (between recordings). Comment on Sake looking awesome and Shadow Boss on convincing Nikifor to ‘wrestle’ his shadow. Continue trying to preserve informal sense of camaraderie that existed as they all first watched THE MACHINE. Be unsure how well he is doing.
>Between editing, Remember that Satai wanted caffeine. Get 5 more gallons of 5150 Juice for $174.75 dollars, 200 Energy Catalysts for $192, 8 Blast Caffeine shakers for $100, and $303.2 for sixteen of each of the three types of Dynapep micro energy shots there. Hands shaking too much for anything else.
>Finish up editing on both films. Be super stoked that trolling can happen. Get excited; call Boss and Shadow Boss and Sake to see! Laugh and Laugh again; stop, choking and feeling light headed.
>Fuckit, let's show this movie off. Get the big ass TV set up, while snickering to self. Watch the beginning of Kill Doony. Can not contain self. Laugh, and laugh, and laugh, falling off chair. Keep laughing, feeling the world going distant. Have heart attack.
>Go into cardiac arrest.
>Be rubbed back to awareness and health by a green sock-no, wait, that's weasel boss.
>Get up to notice only Feodor there with Sake, looking stressed. Despite feeling pretty great now, decide to take it a bit easy.
>Wonder why Ito lessons that day seem really easy.
[Boris has been queued to do the following:]
-Leave brownies beer wort and cream. Then just leave immediately and try not to think of what you're doing as a payment. Have trouble with this, but at least keep it all in head.
-Stop spiking food with ipecac and ghost pepper sauce. It's obviously not working. Be severely creeped out when next batch of footage shows Boss spending hours in the kitchen that you could have sworn you were alone for. Become more inclined to paranoid back-checking while in the kitchen.
[Iosef has been queued to do the following:]
I-Appreciate Andrei's gesture with the computer. Thank Andrei for his thoughtful gift and tell him that if Andrei ever needs help with anything that he will help him.
I-Decide that Sake's rub rejection was rube, on the basis of a unimplemented plan that would have seen Weasel Boss get some swanky nest.
I- Approach Lyubov and ask her about gold-cloth or something similar he could use to make something comfortable for Sake to sleep on. Only approach her room while she's not in it. No meeting. Hm.
I-Note that Sake seems to really dig the stencils and backpack he's got, and has not recently shown any interest in a nest. Wonder if plan is still viable.

[Rostislav has been queued to do the following:]
>Wake up one morning thinking back on all that weird shit he's seen so far.
>Don't recall how Camella broke Boss's arm since you weren't there for it and nobody told you about it and abruptly brain fart right on out of meta territoy
>Don't decide to approach Camella later about Reinforcement and how to achieve that use of Chakra, not only because of meta but also because you can barely even recognize own use of Reinforcement and this is patently far beyond his current skill.
>Since meta fell through, simply pay more attention to the chakra lessons, focusing as much as he can.
>During incredibly limited spare time, drop Best Beer Hunt (But keep it in mind) and instead start looking for fight clubs, using limited personal experience with such back in Russia.
>Specifically ones that are barely legal and allow weapons, since anything else would probably just be a gym, he figures.
>Don't actually enter yet, scope out for one as mundane as possible and one around his level. Find nothing but wannabes first night out looking.
[Grisha has been queued to do the following:]
-Wake up at four AM, somewhat cranky and tired. Keep it to herself.
-At Camella's group training, do what is required, wonder what the deal is with the start, there is something about it that is odd and it is pissing you off - be too tired to think about it much.
-Continue to be a bit grumpy at Ito's, try to hide it so as not to throw off students.
-Get woken up as Feodor runs by door, hear something about Andrei screening a movie for the bosses and his heart. Wait, his heart?
-Be shocked, upset, saddened, and pissed off by Andrei having a heart attack.
-Do whatever can be done to help him, defer to the Bosses and Feodor, it's what any good person would do, right? Be more than a little perplexed at how... totally, completely okay he is by the time you see him.
-Be worried, attempt to get him to chart his caffiene intake, with a notepad.
-Be paranoid and make plans to check that pad a couple of times a day for a few weeks.
-Tell him not to do that to himself again, too many promising soldiers have committed suicide in the Forces!
-Feel concern only slightly abate at sight of exceptionally energetic Andrei at evening Ito lessons.
-Sleep because she is exhausted. What a horrible day...

>[Igor has been queued to do the following:]
>Enjoy sleep. Use all but one hour of free time a day for napping to get full eight. Wonder what you can get done with one hour a day.
[$atai has been queued to do the following:]
$atai will-Wonder how Lyubov and Ivan look so goddamn peppy. Grumble about it in proximity to others, realize that Sake is responsible thanks to Russians being terrible at keeping secrets from one another. Hunt down Sake. Inquire about receiving precious wakefulness in spite of horrible sleep deprivation, if there are any side effects. Given lack of camaraderie with weasel boss, be turned down-gently.
$atai will-Conclude that obviously he's fishing for bribes. Doubtless this is why everyone else keeps giving him things, he charges for favors. Mention that there's probably room for a very flexible medical supplies budget somewhere in the quartermaster accounts that Sake could probably get access to as our most competent healer, if he would care to discuss it some time when Satai is actually awake. Se a much more interested weasel.
$atati will-Attempt to make arrangements for Sake to get whatever the hell he wants (as long as it's not totally breaking the budget, obviously) and Satai's assistance in purchasing things in exchange for helping out Satai upon request. No point stinting on the budget, it's not like we're short on cash and we get more all the time.
$atai will-Get an initial rubbing, struggle to not goggle at how amazingly refreshed he now feels, and be asked to acquire Sake a solid silver bed. When Sake is sure no one is listening be confided in that Sake doesn't care for gold as much as silver. Be sworn to secrecy on this. Owing to need for this agreement to work and evidenced fickle behavior of weasel, agree.
$atai now-wonders what'll be the most cost effective way to get a silver bed sized to Sake.
[Lyubov has been queued to do the following:]
* Respond to Bossman's prompt with: ”I want to learn from you, Boss. Whatever you think is important. I like Sake, but he doesn’t have a human body. I need to know what I’m doing with mine.” Be given a smile so lecherous you aren't sure if it's parody or not before Armas agrees.
*Accept wierd conditions Armas sets of stripping to skivvies and oiling up with an unnamed substance Armas provides. Offer only token arguments, remember the point is really to keep him busier than he normally would be. Feel oddly tired and anxious to act once fully oiled. Receive terrible tutoring from Bossman-despite this, afterwards feel more aware of what Reinforcement feels like in her body. Ask Bossman what the hell that oil was. Be told it was Strawberry flavored KY, and be unsure if he's merely pretending to be surprised when you ask how come you still learned from that. Be very, very confused about this-especially the fact that she did end up benefitting. Fail to notice Sake snickering in a corner the whole time.
*After the midnight practice with Sake, go catch a nap. Wake up in a couple of hours.
*Work on the first concealed carry holster. Become dissatisfied with the basic design (cribbed from a commercial design), decide that nylon stiffener is required. Make a note to pick some up later. Have to write note twice as she keeps getting distracted over how Armas had pre-packaged in new containers more than a liter of Strawberry KY.
*Go on jog with Camella. Push hard. Beat Gloom! He’s a tall lanky motherfucker, but he’s not you! Win by maybe sort of hipchecking him so he steps in a gutter and turns his ankle. Still be unsure if that was on purpose, owing to the fact someone bumped her before she could independently commit to trivial sabotage. Wonder who did that.
*Shower, remember the two 20 hour phone cards you bought last week but did not put on the phones, get dressed. Go visit Sake, put time on phones, request rubdown politely. Receive it with gusto on delivery of forty more hours of prank call time. Admire his bling, smile at his wiggly preening. Go get breakfast.
*Instead of eating with everyone, eat in the kitchen. Encourage Boris to stick with the runs, learn of disappearing food issue. Keep an eye on the plates of food by being thoughtless about checking on it. You’re not turning around to look at the food. You’re not even turning around for a reason. You’re just, turning around. From time to time. Exactly once, spot a hand that vanishes the moment she starts paying attention to it. What the hell?
*Chakra practice. Put your heart into this, like you told Armas, you need to know what you’re doing. It’s non-optional for a reason. Be very surprised that today you are the first one to get a stabilized Reinforcement Orientation going.
*Ponder Andrei's performance post-heart attack.
*After lunch find Hillevi. Ask her, as much out of morbid curiosity as anything, how she would accomplish her proposed method of helping nearly kill you. Be told she'd induce hypothermia by converting some of her spirit into winter energy she can't metabolize, then restoring her when she can't take any more. Defer making a decision for now, politely.
*During followup training with Armas (this time practicing in a room that's, coincidentally, twenty below freezing), broach Hillevi’s idea with a teeth chattering stutter. Ask if he could tell when you had made the majority of the gains you could make from such a dangerous thing. Be told he probably could-receive one of Bossman's Smiles. Ponder it.
*At dinner try to distract yourself from how fucked up that was. Sit near Camella and Hillevi, ask Camella how long she’s known Armas anyway. Ask if he got her anything from his trip. When she admits to him bringing her a fext heart, ask, “Did he make the obvious, ‘My heart is now yours’ jokes?”
*Be surprised when she says no. Say “Oh. Well, uh. I’m glad he let us all live. Here in his house. Because he hired us. As the Boss. Man. Yeah. Hey Hillevi can you pass the bread thanks.”
*Awkwardly go to class. Train with Ito, night lessons. Spar with Granny, use your chakra techniques and try to keep your intentions… fluttery. Early on get in lucky punch and actually knock Granny on her ass. After inevitable ass kicking, ask Granny Vampire how she does the thing where she reads you so well. Be told that she thinks your master (Granny's words) could tell her about that, and mentions asking about eyes being gates.
*Go home, find Sake prank calling people. Get rubdown, join in. Swear you hear someone periodically interjecting into calls telling you to knock it off. Wonder why Sake says he can't hear it.

[Feodor has been queued to do the following:]
*During chakra training, consider what Einrik said about how those men could have been saved. His advice relied, at least partially, on being a chakra Expert. Push towards this goal. Build on that bump he had recently, try to get into a rhythm. Fail to immediately fail.
*Thank Andrei for the laptop. Well, mumble a thank you mid spar. He probably heard. Probably.
*Apologize to Sake for trying to fight him. Be confused by his talk of posters, since you very clearly hit him in the face. After he accepts the apology, ask him if his healing can allow a person to survive without any sleep. Be told, quote 'Duh'. Thank him for his answer, then as you turn to go, stop and say, “You have, however inadvertently, made me completely useless to these men and women. I hope that you will consider helping me rectify that dishonour.” See Sake actually look a bit unsure how to respond to deadpan comment.
*When Andrei collapses, immediately check his pulse. Start CPR, and send people or Amen to get Titus' shock gauntlet and a flat piece of metal, preferably copper. Continue with the CPR. Before the metal and gauntlet arrive, see Sake wiggle-tackle Andrei's face-and Andrei abruptly get back up. Again, feel.... impotent.
*Get in contact with Finnigan and organize to start working for him on Friday night. Ask about scheduling – make sure it's compatible with the training, even if you have to move things around – and exactly what you'll be doing. Arrange to give him the money after your first fortnight. Be told Friday's good-he has damn near guaranteed clients on Friday nights. It's his busiest evening, on average. Be pleased with this.


>>390959
>>390975
>>391013
>>391031
Before I do anything, I slap myself and properly remember what SM said-that he'd like Duke to kill EITHER Baki OR Endman, who are clearly separate people. Right, okay, brain fart dealt with. Now, to just place an early morning call to Go Ping.... all right, looks like I CAN do some late-night Chakra training with Jet Fang. Nice.

In time to catch a text-from an unknown number.
>[?]Sami from up north here. This a certain friend of the Valkonens?
Davgon?
>[D]I would appreciate it if you spelled it properly, but yes. I heard there are employment opportunities over your way.
Not to mention the chance to clear up a favor.
>[D]What's the address?
I give it-and am told he'll be arriving within the next four days. Nice.

So now.... I think I'm going to try and do something... particular with my day. Something a bit less along the lines of maintaining every little thing-and more along the lines of getting something big going.
>"...The Nazinaut?"
Yeah, the Nazinaut.
>[Sake]"Not that I don't think we could ultimately do some interesting things with that body-isn't it poised to rot and rip itself apart the moment it comes out of stasis?"
I start walking, for some reason curious to test if I even CAN crap anymore-it's been months since I last did.
>[Hummingbird]"I admit to not fully grasping why you would wish to restore such a cumbersome creature."
Oh, I have some ways to use it.
>"Which, I assume, rely on it being functional. How will you achieve that?"
Gianni and Dávgon and a whole mess of supplies.
>"What makes you think Gianni will help?"
This.

I flip my phone open and dial a certain flamboyant Italian.
>[GiaGia]"My my-just which luscious little thing is dialing me now?"
"Hi Gianni, did I tell you I killed that Doononegas asshole over the weekend?"
>[GiaGia]"You did not, but since that scandalous grapevine told me I'll forgive you."
"I didn't? I guess I wanted to keep it a surprise until the detox work on the bodyparts was done. Well, surprise!"
>[GiaGia]"I do hope you actually mean you have some meat on hand, and aren't just teasing poor old me."
"Yes, I've got most of it, including all those poison glands it uses. Now, as it happens, I've got this great idea. I was thinking, "why not put the glands in me? I'd need some help to do it, but I just so happen to have a spare set of the glands anyway..." Yeah you see where I'm going with this right?"
>[GiaGia]"I believe the turn of phrase in english, one of them, is 'scratch my back, I scratch yours?"
"Right, a set for you, for helping me get mine installed."
>[GiaGia]"A functioning set of Doonongaes poison glands? You do have me aquiver, dear lad."
"But it occurred to me that with all the flesh I've got laying around here, I could do something really interesting."
>[GiaGia]"Hah, becoming a poisonman isn't fancy enough for you?"
"Frankly-no. See, I think that with the right combination of hearts, guts, and raw strength, we could make a really nasty fleshgolem. Something that could spew divine, mortal, and elder poison, and maybe a bunch of diseases or something too. And be a terror, a complete bruiser in battle. And be built to go really fucking fast."
>[GiaGia]"Sounds like every child's fantasy of a perfect warrior. How do you intend to mobilize the mass it will no doubt need to have?"
"Oh don't worry about that, I've got some contacts who sort of specialize in fleshcraft-based footwork. Getting them on board with this won't be a problem."
>[GiaGia]"Let me see... can't be Goblins, their footwork isn't based in fleshcraft. Can't be vampires, it's blood based excepting specialized clans, and unless you've been a very naughty boy I'd have heard of you meeting with them. Could be a were tribe, but I doubt it. Can't be a human-since no one in Istanbul's that great of an external fleshcrafter. ...Mmm, it's Red Caps you speak of, isn't it sweetums?"
"Aaaanyway, I was thinking, if I had a solid fleshcrafter mentor, one who was on-board with me and mine, and who didn't mind teaching in a more intimate setting, and guiding me along. Well, that mentor would be the perfect guy to be the lead on designing this Beast of a golem."
>[GiaGia]"Oh my~, are you implying something that will putty dear Rocco in a huffy mood?"
"You know how I am, I've got a tendency to, ah, split my attentions. If you're on board with this, I'd want you to be completely on board: SOMEONE needs to make sure this doesn't flounder once started, and-"
>[GiaGia]"It probably would flounder if solely under your care. You are rather... prone to attempting a certain brand of multitasking, yes. But... you want me, do you?"
Oh, he wants innuendo does he? Well I'll give it to him.
"Well when I told Rocco I wanted you, I meant it. The taste I've had of your attentions has left me hungry for more. I really do want you behind me. Backing me up. Mentoring me in the myriad methods of the flesh."
>[GiaGia]"Oh me oh my, it's getting rather warm over here-perhaps I should cool off..."
"I'm going to be serious here: I'm actually set to start on this project.... right now."
>[GiaGia]"Right now?"
"Right now."
>[GiaGia]"...Were I to agree, would you be able to agree to keeping that... servant of yours from butting in?"
"I could indeed."
>[GiaGia]"Well... then I'll see you in half an hour."
And just like that-I've got the Mafia elite on board to see this project made. Sure, I'm not doing the recruitment pitch which I really wanted to do-but there's time for that later.
"Gianni, I think this is the beginning of something beautiful. I, excuse me, I got something in my eye."
>[GiaGia]"Just wait till I get there, I'll fill your eyes with something special."
"I can't wait for you to come."
>[GiaGia]"I bet you can't."
"Now, I know this is moving kind of fast and you're already deeply involved with some very possessive people."
>[GiaGia]"Rocco, dear as he is, does have his faults."
"But if you're on board and inclined to change partners, I think we can handle this so Rocco leaves the room feeling satisfied."
>[GiaGia]"A singularly bold statement-how enticing."
"Now, I know there's been some trouble for your organization recently- I haven't been following in too much detail, but there's rough times in the works. The sort of times when a city where the mafia is making significant gains might be noticed very positively, right? Everyone else must be eyeing you in rather nasty ways.
>[GiaGia]"No comment, I'm afraid-you'll have to live with it love."
"As it happens, I have at my disposal a large number of aggressive people with access to guns, magic, and magic guns- which I would describe as an excellent means of making very sure that the mafias no longer look like the most troubled group in the city. In fact, we're feeling twitchy and have never had any kind of positive relations with the Germans, so if the mafia is willing to provide useful intelligence we'd be more than happy to hit them hard- and repeatedly. Often enough and hard enough that they just couldn't take it, and decide to pull out of Istanbul as more trouble than it's worth."
>[GiaGia]"...And that strong armed adonis Rocco will be one who's best positioned to pick up their pieces-such a tidy one, cleaning up when others leave a mess."
"We can't work without a certain amount of pay, of course- but if you were planning to grace our company with your delightful membership, with Rocco's blessing thanks to our ongoing and quite profitable business relations, I'm sure that arrangements could be made- not all wealth is money, after all, and there's nothing wrong with a favor being held for a while. And the Nazis are sure to have a fair amount of loot to go around to make up the immediate costs, if our last encounter with them is anything to go by."
>[GiaGia]"Well... that's a sexy plan you've shoved in me-and I can't just stay flaccidly inert to it, now can I? No, I must tighten my callipygian and make some decisions-but not just yet. For now... expect me, about our more pressing arrangement."
*CLICK*

It's a good thing he hung up.

Because I just walked into a room Duke is occupying.

He forgot to lock the bathroom door.

...Oh god, what-

[DISCONTINUITY]

SB's shouts in my head finally catch my attention, and I realize I passed out standing up. And am now wearing new clothes-what? Well, according to my soul brothers my heart stopped too, but eh.

What matters though-is Duke's shit. Because SB, Sake-even the bird and gun alike, no matter WHO I put the question to, they could sense that pervasive wrongness, that corrosive taint about the stuff.

Not to mention the fact that what Duke shits, by all appearances, is tar and jade. No shit. That.... I think, I will have to make note of. I almost died just from getting in close proximity to the stuff-what'd happen if someone got hit in the face with that load, I wonder?

I Smile.

I have Amen move the Doony spoils, seperated by category, to the Red Cap meeting room as I give them a ring. I have him move the still in stasis Nazinaut to the room, and have him provide me with a fleshy sphere that's a pressure based toggle switch to move the body in and out of stasis. Amen estimates that eleven seconds outside of stasis will lead to irrecoverable cellular decay in the Nazinaut, given it's current state.

Gianni arrives while the house is mostly empty-and without any further ado I lead him to our work area. He quirks an eyebrow at the medieval styling of the room, but eschews comment as he sizes up the Doony meats, the Nazinaut, and the 'spare parts' from the Nazinaut corpse I had Amen bring. I don't even get to finish telling him how much time out of stasis the body can take before he speaks with a decidedly critical, analytical and rhetorical tone.

>[GiaGia]"Hm. Hm. Yes, like I thought-power over everything, especially longevity. Ten... no, eleven seconds if we're lucky before that pops. Can't do full body fusing that fast-but I don't need to."
So it is he explains what he thinks is our best bet for a first step:
-He merges the bits of the Nazinaut corpse with the Doonongaes heart, the heart of a Summer Court Divine Regenerator, over the course of a half hour. Then he takes another quarter hour to meticulously go over this macguyver'd construct, smoothing out the parts that set him to muttering. I continue to raptly watch his work, trying to learn from his example. It's too high-order for me to decipher, but the concepts behind what he's doing might just unravel themselves to me, or so goes my hope.
-Using that as a base, he rebuilds the dead Nazinaut body (in semblance, at least) wholly out of Doonongaes material-flesh, meat, bones, all of it. After an hour, he's got a rough double for the still in-stasis living Nazinaut body. Which he promptly gives a once over that takes a quarter hour, again buffing out the details that set him to disapproving clucking.
-He has me flick the Nazinaut out of stasis for a bare instant to measure how it decays, and spends another twenty minutes tweaking the pseudobody. While he does this, I get a text from Ricky, saying they're currently out of the country, but should be back in a day or so.
-After finally becoming satisfied, Gianni spends an hour deconstructing the pseudobody, and spends another quarter hour wrapping it about the still in-stasis Nazinaut, like a loose glove about a lax fist. He asks that I drop the stasis.
-In a manner I find rivetingly sickening, Gianni attaches the pseudobodies circulatory system to the living Nazinaut, slowing the decay and buying himself enough time to start merging the two forms from the heart outwards. Some bits of flesh fall off, crumbling to moldy dust as he works-he doesn't seem bothered by it. Finally, he steps back-and just stares at the visibly nonreactive body for half a minute in it's freshly fused state, before asking that I put it back in stasis. He paces about the body for a time, saying nothing, occasionally reaching out a hand to idly stroke it's flesh, eyes distant.
-He tells me that he's still looking at a net loss in regeneration, to the point that outside of stasis the thing will still have magical rot-and that we've only greatly slowed it's decay, not stopped it. He also tells me to perk up, as he thinks he has an idea. Twenty minutes later Amen asks me if I'll let a flesh golem in the house-and seeing Gianni's look, I allow it. Gianni marches one of his muscle goons down to the room we labor in-and begins merging the Doonongaes corpse pile of nerves and a third of the poison glands to the goon, opening it up like he did the pseudobody before. Once more, he asks me to drop the stasis. Before I do, I hesitate-and he assures me his flesh golem's not potent enough to compromise my beastly project even if he wanted to. Iron Trick and SB believe him-and funny thing, so do I.
-I drop the stasis, and this time watch him connect the two bodies by nerves, not blood vessells, while yet again fusing from the heart outwards. This time he's notably slower, despite having already learned some lessons from having to work around the somewhat mangled, irremovable armor on the giant's body. He works for nearly forty minutes on this second layer of merging. This time, as he finishes he asks me to leave it be-and proceeds to molest the one-time Nazinaut for five minutes, running his hands over every nook and cranny, before declaring it self-sufficient, and no longer in danger of just falling apart. When I ask about it's regeneration, he faintly leers, saying the very fact it's not going to explode, turn to dust or melt is in and of itself an amazing accomplishment and that strictly speaking he thinks he should get a congratulatory reach around at the very least. He also notes that the poison glands are having some triggering issues-and observes he's quite glad he didn't volunteer to try them on himself first. When I ask what he thinks could be the issue, he shrugs and says he'll have to check some things.
-He spends an hour working on the body, giving it yet another of his tweaking sessions, systematically ironing out kinks, glitches and perceived problem patches as he sees fit, before finally declaring that physiologically, there's nothing stopping the body from producing the Doonongaes' poison-and assume that, as magical organs, they require some spiritual signature to activate. For now, he says he'll call it a day. I, for one, consider the massive amount of ground zero, first hand exposure to genuinely competent External Flesh Manipulation-and wonder if, now that the body is stabilizes, I can take a more active role and double these building sessions into real training experiences. Gianni doesn't see the Smile that spreads across my face as he sashays around the clunky body.
-Before parting ways, he casually raps his knuckles against the misshapen breastplate of the monster, and comments that I should really look into armor exoskeletal suits that AREN'T just slabs of steel and nothing else. Not to mention actually getting it's armor made better-he shows me how the shoulders and hips alike aren't sophisticated enough joints to allow full ROM. He also comments that the armor for the extremities is bulky and poorly fitted, and suggests scrapping them completely to build wholly new, higher articulation hand and foot armor. I thank him for the advice as he flounces away.

After Gianni's gone, taking his set of Doony glands with him with the promise he'll 'do me' last to minimize the chances of making an error, I put the beast back in stasis just to be safe-and have Amen move it back into house storage.

That is, after I spend an hour or two with my hands around the one-time Nazinaut's neck, tactilely trying to pick up on it's flesh sculpted form as SB is for once quite giving, transmitting all the magical data he perceives about the monster. Frankly, there's so much there that even with a dedicated study session and being present to see the alterations being made, I still don't think I've mapped more than half of the monster's interior-there's huge swathes of flesh that just defy comprehension, to both halves of my soul. It's vexing-but I can live with it, for now at least.

Noting that the Russians are re-entering the house, I snag Igor, and ask him about that visit to Kardemir-blatantly fishing for ways to make the armor upgrade for my project easier. I fixate on his mention of hearing machinery no one else heard and everyone that worked there adamantly denied. It piques my interest, and I get the feeling SOMETHING kooky that way wanders, if I ever find time to track it down. A visit to Kardemir, hm? Something to think about. I then ask the Watch fanatic if he's got the time and inclination to show me what he's got-that is, build me the best damn battle glove he can manage, as a sample of his current skill. I tell him I get it if he doesn't think he's that good now-but time is a factor here, and I have no problem with swapping out for better versions-and more importantly, offering him something in turn. I ask him what he thinks about getting an official Company Wide 'Dibs' on the first piece of magical armor that is wearable by him. Sleep deprived as he is, he tells me he'll have to get back to me on that-but I see the spark of interest in his eyes. Knew he was an armor nut.

>>391029
With my project stalled out for the moment, even if greatly advanced from where I started, I find myself frowning as I recall the Sometimes Merchant's working-and then frown further as I realize that what I briefly thought was him tricking me, wasn't-we never finished hammering out the NN bubble bargain, so the final bartering is still pending. I make a mental note to abuse the fact that this time around I'll know what's being offered for what well in advance of the actual meeting, and will have a chance to really nitpick over what wording I'll use. Could be quite profitable, methinks.

I surprise Silja with a bit of tickling, and 'accidentally' cut myself on the dagger, smearing it with blood. I surprise her with my best attempt at a pleasant smile, and ask her how she feels. When she goes a bit quiet at actually being able to see, I tickle her some more to break the ice-and get her laughing in earnest when I poke fun at the clearly pouting Iron Trick, still tickle-less. The half hour of inanity and frivolity I spend with Silja further cements her bond to me-and gives me hope I'll be able to fully bring the rifle back into combat use all the sooner because of it. Despite the practical gain, I hang onto that simple sense of joy in lighting up her lonely world. People are supposed to like being nice to those in need right?
>"Of course they do."
>[Iron Trick]"Except when they don't"

Having spent nearly the whole day in the mansion, I'm damn happy it's time to head out-and prowl on over to the docks, meeting with a Triad I instinctually label... as douchey. He's got a pop-collared silk shirt, a leather vest and snakeskin shoes. How DARE he wear snake when I'm wearing Alligator!

I push past it and focus on the lesson-starting with Reinforcement, though not by choice. What follows... is enlightening. Jet Fang teaches me how Reinforcement can be modulated by area-how to move Over and Undercharge levels around, how to create them, how to collapse them. He teaches me a trick that feels the same as that I saw the Slirk use-as that Camella used to produce such valorous force when she broke my arm. I devour the lesson with gusto, ever greedy for more control over the abruptly remade Reinforcement Orientation-and I find myself more than passing sad when the lesson ends up being over. On the way back to the mansion, SB fills me in on a highly poignant conversation he had with Sake-regarding the nature of Divine Beings. Seems that while Godlings are just proto-gods of variable status with no guarantee of fully transitioning into godhood, and most Gods are just masses of belief made sentient, Divine Beings are, ultimately, the descendents of Godly minions. By that he didn't mean angels or anything like that-he means simple tools of war or service, mindless constructs fashioned to labor for gods-that through trial and tribulation, through luck and circumstance-gained self-awareness. Which.... explains why he doesn't want to serve a God, yeah. I can get that now.

I get back home juuust shy of midnight, grab some decidedly unspicy plates of food, and hit the sack.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 28th, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $465,474.34
BUSINESS FUNDS: $189,347.00
CASH: $9,170.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 9%
WINTER ENERGY: 122/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50

I wake up at six am, dose on Brain coffee and briefly throttle up my kidneys, liver and parathyroid while spicing my awakening with a jolt of adrenaline just like yesterday. Well, not JUST like it-I tweak it a bit, because hey, maybe I can make it better. Completely and utterly awake and alert before I finish opening my eyes, I wonder:
















What should I do today?
>>
No. 391193 ID: cba104

IGOR
>Enjoy sleep. Use all but one hour of free time a day for napping to get full eight. Wonder what you can get done with one hour a day.
>I then ask the Watch fanatic if he's got the time and inclination to show me what he's got-that is, build me the best damn battle glove he can manage, as a sample of his current skill. I tell him I get it if he doesn't think he's that good now-but time is a factor here, and I have no problem with swapping out for better versions-and more importantly, offering him something in turn.
Igor should go see Boss Sake, and tell him what Boss Armas asked him to do. However, the current time table is exhausting, so Igor should ask Boss Sake if he could please give him a rub-down every day for so long as the schedule is like this. Of course, this means Igor would be ready to build something fun for Sake maybe in Gold or in other precious material? (Igor learned that Ramidreju are known for liking those, and saw sake's reaction to everything shiny). If it works, Igor now use three of the five 'free' hours every day for working on Armas' project, one for going on jogging with camella (if it takes one), and the last for sleeping. Upon waking from the nap, he will then take rub-down. If Sake doesn't agree, Igor will still need to sleep at least 6hrs a day
+Igor notices that a couple of people did better in chakra training yesterday than others, and will ask them why.


>What should I do today?
Well, there are two big emergencies: Hummingbro could die any moments now, and we need to steal stuff from Cops. I would say use the morning for beginnign stealing stuff plan, and then use the afternoon and eveningfor moderating the damages on hummingbro. So:
+Morning:
-Call Rocco, ask him if there is a cop he suspects of giving information to triad/yak/nazis that he would want to be compromised. We'd want to pick a guy without much in the way of family, just to keep things from getting complicated.
-Arrange for SB to plant evidence that this cop is trying to frame Adelat so that he can do his jobs for nazi/yaks/triads. It'd be even better if we could like have Andrei invent an internet girlfriend or something in a country with crappy extradition treaties. Build fake logs, put those in the dude's home computer.
-Arrange to make him seem to be fleeing the country after having conducted a deal to sell out his boss (SB should be able to kidnap him, or maybe Armas could do that. Make sure to do so away from any cameras or other people). This guy should seem to have been the one that stole the content of the vans as well as what we are going to steal.
-Get Gianni to fleshcraft us into that crooked cop after kidnapping him but before cops see evidences, and then steal the stuff under that fleshcrafting. With soul-guise like him, obviously.

+Hummingbird. First, Call Davgon; and ask him advice on the following (do it if you got his okay, and change stuff as needed upon his advice.:
-Get Sake to Rub-Down Hummingbird.
-Get Baki Massage/Flush of magical saturation on Hummingbird. After all, We know Baki is probably a master in chakra (and possibly other stuff) AND that he is known for his massages to take care of extra magic. Make sure to convince Hillevi to come with us there to see how he does it and also possibly help with overbleed.
-Use the whole afternoon in chakra practice and then sparring with Hillevi. The goal here is to not only get practice for dual-orientation (you might want to do it JUST ONCE with hummingbird's help and then get SB to freshen our memory of what our soul looked like when we did it as a guideline) and flexibility and flushing in combat (C.O.F?) but also to utterly drain both of our bloodline. So don't skimp on the hybrid regen (which is why using Hillevi is good). As long as Hillevi doesn't destroy our head it's all good, really.
-Get utterly drained and exhausted, and groan in pain because while we may get a much needed (for both hummingbird and armas) understanding of efficiency, being that drained will probably be really weird/painful.

Apart from that, Armas should check his minions' souls every morning so that he knows if they are still near bursting. Upon hearing about Andrei's heart attack, pay close attention to him.
>>
No. 391224 ID: 76c597

Al: I think you might have hit on something very clever here, with Silja as a Valkonen by marriage. Since what we are literally attempting to do is to raise a (regrettably magicless) Valkonen from the dead, we just might get a great deal of support from Markku. That said… it depends on how Markku was raised, I think. A lot of old clan families historically see the affiliated houses as tools. Markku, as head, may be within his rights to demand Silja from us on completion, if not before. How does the saying go, ‘That which is of the family belongs to the family, and therefore the Head as its keeper?’
Ark: I agree we need to get moving on the theft plan, but I still feel somewhat doubtful Baki will know hummingbird chakra well enough to flush him. And he is – after all – a yakuza, which we may not want to give free access to our spirit animal (even if the yakuza are not directly against us yet per se).
If Armas doesn’t feel like he needs a full 8 hours, no need for him to get (more) hedonistic on us. He could swing by the goblins and get 1 hour of charm/trap training a day, just as a random example.
I think we should by all means pursue ways for the hummingbird to survive, but we should put the question to him. Offer to put him on ice for a time, like the giant-mouthed creature did (we think we can do that) while we seek out a better solution, or he can live freely and well as long as he thinks he’ll last (which we worry will not be so very long).
While we will want to do the magic drain/thing Einrik said eventually, I feel we have more important things to do right now. Corn and Owner, basically. How far can Sake get from us, have we ever checked? Maybe it’s time for him to take a jaunt down the Bosphorus to the Mediterranean with his phone set to GPS?
On Lammy: Has SB happened to spot any likely places he’d hole up in during his nighttime jaunts? Just cuz he’s probably doing fine, if we happen to spot him…
On Corn: Have Amen attire us in a black suit, black-on-black vest with a bright orange tie/buttons/cufflinks, black and orange two-tone shoes (wingtips, maybe?), and a matching bowler hat. This is no doubt a formal affair, and I want to look both sharp and modern. Also, have our boxer briefs (boxers show sometimes in fitted suits) have a big smiley face with vampire fangs on. Find a way to bring Silja, and maybe Trick?
Once there, exchange the usual politenesses. “Such a pleasure to be (conscripted into being) of use to the Zosimus Dynasty in ridding it of a prehistoric pest.” “Since the bet ended with the Doonongaes as a pile of mystical reagents rather than myself as a bloody smear, it seemed appropriate to meet in a timely manner so that you could discharge your portion of the wager. In any case, it seemed only polite we become acquainted, given I found myself in possession of -” How to describe Amen… “- A potentially valuable yet persistently dangerous resource.” “Even the Owner seemed interested in our little stake! I’ve been meaning to send him a care package of Doonongaes as a little thank-you for all this happening in his demesne.”
Does that all sound appropriately snooty? Make sure to make a note of any clan Sires which have a blood specialty, given the Heart and all. See about purchasing their services (except maybe it should be appropriately flowery, like “I would appreciate the opportunity to consult on a master of your standing in regards to a trifling matter of my own“) after the meeting (specified ideally to remove the memory of what we’re using him for entirely – given SB and Sake can implant memories, it seems only natural they can remove them too – or at least a binding oath of silence in all its forms on the subject), purchased through either barrels of normal-ish blood, or maybe a fair bit of Doony blood. How much blood did we wring from the fellow, anyway?

>>391210
I think there's a difference between framing Adelat and letting her take the fall for something. And I don't think we need to go to a lot of trouble. At most, we should fleshcraft/illusion/mask ourselves to look like that guy when we break in.
>>
No. 391227 ID: b83c65

>>391193
Up-voted. Also, let's see if we can find a way to frame this guy as the one who framed Adelat and as the guy who's stealing the stuff. See if we can't pin a few more things on him, too.

>[ Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>Be alive. Be amazed at being alive, and just how easy chakra lesions were. Start whistling.
>Promise self to cut back from too much caffeine intake. Also, talk to thin air while getting breakfast tea. "Look, I'm still curious who you are and why you are want my caffeine - and if you the jackass who put curse on the Red Bull, that was a dick move dude. But I'm not gonna be hitting it that strong anymore, so you can have some. If, you know, you actual come out and talk to me." If unknown stalker appears, talk to him, and drink with him. Give him the stronger stuff, we'll just have a Bawls, or a tea.
>Be distracted by Lyubov when she asks about dying, and audio recording problems.
>Check with Sake and Boss. Make sure the film was cut well because someone did die over it.
>Chakra Murder Time Fun Time. Push self harder - whatever happened, it feels easier. And the faster this gets over and done with, the faster hacking can resume.
>Struggle to be a proper teacher. Yes, prior teaching has sucked; maybe death will have been enlightening on that front too.
>Nope.
>Get back to the mansion. Do not let the Charka Death march get you down. Remember that Turkey has some of the best tea and coffee houses around. For lunch, invite some Russians out for lunch. Use this time to practice socializing in front of others, and if any 'friends' show up, introduce them to the Russians, via lying.
>Get back to the mansion. Find Boss, maybe Shadowboss. Mention that at least one of the Nazi credit cards was used through Oyak Securities. This might be worth following up with.
>Nazi TIME!
>Get high resolution images of all six faces from Laserdisc.
> Remember that Boring as Fuck surveillance video includes Nazi attack. Attempt to find Nazi Attack footage, for another home movie.
> Peruse the Nazi workstations. Check to see what files can be worked on.
>Take a break. Relax, do some meditation. Find that too boring. Get camera, find Sake and ask him if it's ok to film him. "Don't worry; I will upload twenty percent more awesome videos of Sake to Youtube. You will become overnight megastar. Millions of hits."
>Back to work. Working on the floppy. Heh. Check to make sure the disc can be made into a disc image. If so, start by dumping a disc image of the floppy so work will be done on the disc image rather than the disc itself. Once the image is finished look through raw data looking for patterns. Realize this is what happened on the last disc when looking through surveillance footage, and be bored with this. Wonder where Sake is.
> Continue anyway, because it's a job, and it's curious. Be tempted by caffeine. Oh, your siren song, you black devil. How I miss thee! Groan, and look for possible file headers, the File Allocation Table, the file indexes, and anything that would indicate what OS this thing is supposed to run on. If that yields nothing, perform an analysis of the disc for stenographic techniques used to hide information it could be that the data is readable only from a disc image that is re-assembled in a different order or something like that.
>Dinner. Compliment the chef.
>Time for the beatings to continue. Use this painful time to get the other Russians who aren't running keen to the idea of joining Camella on her run. Suggest to the students to ask their teachers about it, and what not.
>>
No. 391241 ID: 9eda8f

You have to see about hummingbird's health. It has been put off for too long now.

>heart of a summer court divine regenerator
Right now the current setup is only good enough to stop it from degrading, if you add phoenix hearts it will no doubt be good for it. You just so happen to have one, and if you can get two more from sometimes merchant you can hook them up for a sweet RULE OF 3 bonus using the Donny heart as a core for them to be built around. Call up SM and ask him about prices for two Phoenix hearts.
Even if you don't do this, you have to get better armour for the megabeast, especially for the heart area as it is even more so a vital organ for it now. I don't doubt that it would be instantly reduced to dust if that gets taken out. A good option right now would be layering of steel plates with the first one hardened to resist impact and the ones behind softer to hold the bullet if it gets through the first one.
Another good option is to get the muscles around the chest area fleshcrafted to be rubbery and dense to absorb impact better and spread it out.

Zhenya orders
-Have silent contest with Lyubov during training time without telling anybody. Be beaten in everything, feel slightly bummed out and wonder why she is doing so well.
-Be glad about your ID stuff being sorted out and resolve to get into the stunt driving school as soon as possible.
-Talk to Fedor about teaching you some driving tricks after all this is over.
-Attempt to clean all your guns, fail and fall asleep on the cleaning table. -Dream about guns eating you, be slightly weirded out. Resolve to do one gun a day until they are all clean.
-Hang out with Lyubov and sake if the opportunity presents itself.
-Notice that weird mafia guy leaving the house, wonder why he was here. Be struck with memory of horrible fire from that night. Get to room and silently freak out.
-Hope the future gets better.
>>
No. 391251 ID: 19db89

Armas:
Ask SB if he can possess the modified Nazinaut. He doesn't own its shadow, but he does have the shadow of a very similar creature, and if he can possess it, he may be able to use his half of our Summer Bloodline to inspect it from the inside. SB has had the benefit of all of Amen's flesh crafting instructions to Whaitiri, so as the Nazinaut's is partially based on a Divine Summer Fleshcrafting monster, may have some special insight.

We should think of the pleasure we took helping Silja, and decide we like that feeling, and think of other ways to do so. With SM's route looking temporarily closed, we should look around us for other options:
- Camella is a trained, elite soldier. She would have had no problem donating blood for a comrade in arms who needed a transfusion. We should explain Silja's predicament to her, and point out that with the charm we gave her, there is very little downside to her regularly donating blood. We promise that we will in no way use this against her. Once Camella gets comfortable with that, we can raise the possibility of organ donation. After all, they grow back...
- Silja is a Valkonen by marriage. It's possible Markku's prohibition on giving the blood of clan members doesn't apply to her. This is one to approach very carefully, running it past first SB and Sake then, if he agrees, very carefully approaching Einrik. To make this work, we need to present Silja as long lost family in great need, and hopefully Markku's protectiveness of family will do the rest.

We should also very carefully inspect the Nazinaut with our soul sensing orientation active. What state is it in? From the descriptions of some of the bids when we auctioned Mammon's Device it seems Emotion Fragments start off as souls. The Nazinaut's soul has taken a beating, and from what we've already seen of it, is entirely obsessed with Rage. We've seen Lammy's soul as it embraced the power of his Rage fragment - does that give us any insight here?

>heart of a Summer Court Divine Regenerator
Before using other valuable components like this can we investigate what our other options are so we could weigh up not thought through our other options.

>accidentally' cut myself on the dagger
Cutting ourself on the vorpal three foot plus sword on the end of the rifle was perhaps a little risky, as she might have eaten us.

HB needs to be helped
[primary]
Ask SB if he can pull the bulk of HB's soul into our Eyespace outside his body, at least whilst he's asleep. As the problem is energy overflowing from his soul into his body, having the bulk of his soul elsewhere should mitigate this. The intention is to delay until we have the combination of factors to keep him alive.
[trickster]
The problem is that you output energy too fast, and HB's safe absorbtion rate is too slow. Time has to be tricked here, so we need activatable charm(s) that steals time from Armas and gives it to HB, so that Armas' output rate is slowed down, and HB has more time to absorb it. Armas spends huge amounts of time just chatting, so he can spend periods in physical/spiritual time dilation, whilst mentally accelerated, whilst SB relays his words through the shadows in his mouth.
[direct/hard]
Silja has eaten a vampire, and made it part of her. If there's nothing else left to try, we should try to feed him some of her blood, and trigger him to transform into a vampire, after asking Gianni to upgrade his body whilst Sake and Hillevi heal him. If HB dies, he's going to exit the flesh as the hardest hummingbird that has ever lived.
[escape]
You will have to humble yourself and ask Hillevi to help look after HB by buffering him until you can find another solution. You may have to get a thin partition made between two rooms, so you can sleep a couple of feet apart, and then stick together full time.

>>391193
SUSt messing with cops. We have higher priorities.

Gloom:
-Give up drinking, and make sure to sleep a couple of hours every afternoon, as well as not going on the run. Not dying is important.
-Approach the company commander's Shadow, and try to have a conversation about how the commander manages to be quite so stealthy. Is it something that can be learned, as, if so, and it could be done without him knowing, a couple of truly great pranks could be played on him if he thinks he still has a monopoly on the technique.
>>
No. 391281 ID: 6616f3

Titus Orders
>heating complications, glove slippage and desynchronized taser activation
So at a guess, he'll need thicker insulation, some kind of buckles at the upper arm/elbow, and maybe the wiring is coming loose? Titus will look into that stuff in his copious free time, maybe bring in Satai again if fiddling around himself ain't doing it.
>>
No. 391282 ID: 252e1b

>>391251
Your FAP (Four Action Plan) is interesting, but there are multiple elements I'm not comfortable with and in fact think won't work right. I'm SUSTing it. Sorry. We talked a little about it in IRC though.

>>391193
I am on board with both the Hummingbird plan outlined here, and the plan for raiding the police.

I think we could refine the police plan a bit. Andrei is going to be key for some of this, so he'll be given weaselrubs for the next couple of days to give him time to keep moving false evidence into computers. We'll want faked telephone call logs, we'll want to break into the cop's cash account and buy a plane ticket out of here, we'll want to move the remaining money from the account to something like Bitcoins (Andrei will know about that, even if Armas doesn't really). We'll want to create a set of notes that have a simple cipher. The notes will paint a picture of the cop having orders to steal the weapons, to frame Adelat specifically in retaliation for the German bust she made, and to then lay low. There will be a second set of notes that has the mysterious note writer getting more irate with the crooked cop until he threatens death.

With the fake girlfriend in Bolivia and the notes, it should look fairly convincing.
>>
No. 391326 ID: 07eaf7

>Orders for Rostislav >Seek out further Chakra training with Camella or Ito around Chakra. He doesn't really know what in specific yet but is eager to learn. Realize free time is so precious as to make this impractical - instead simply continue making his greatest effort at the normal provided training. >Speaking of free time, devote a little (one hour atop the provided four) to sleep and the rest to Fight Clubbin'. >Speaking of that, continue scoping out fighting clubs, consider beating the shit out of those wannabes earlier for some easy money/gratification, turn an eye to who looks strong but is actually fronting. >Offer a round at his favorite bar to anyone who can explain what the fuck happened with Armas's broken arm that he mentioned in that meeting earlier.
>>
No. 391327 ID: c6ce12

Matvey
Have odd dreams in which you are not Matvey, but someone else, someone who is not as impeccably clean shaven as your self. Watch as the person's beard grows larger and larger until it consumes the dream scape. Wake up in a cold sweat, feeling at your chin.

Ask Boris to make something with potatoes, garlic, and mushrooms in it for breakfast.

See Rostislav approach you while drinking asking to be informed about what happened with Armas' arm in exchange for a free drink. Relay to him as much as you know on the subject.

While at the range with the sniping group go into daze during a firing lull and continue to think about acquiring a magic gun of some variety, allowing self to be taken in by the rumors of a magic gun as a prize. Then be abruptly startled out of your thoughts by the sounds of sniper rifle fire.

When Lyubov approaches to arrange a meeting with the boss and the officers write it down. Tell her you'll see to it as soon as possible. Ask if she would be amenable to helping you convince the Boss Weasel to help by giving someone a rub down, no not yourself, Ito. The first time you got a rub you were not only restored, but all your old aches and pains went away, Ito seems like the kind of man who would appreciate that. As she walks off thank her for her hard work putting the identification together. Approach the boss and Camella with the proposal when you see them next, omit hiking from your schedule that day and set it in that time slot.

Slowly begin to realize you are now near or at the bottom of the ladder when it comes to Chakra lessons after Camella's latest marathon training session, having fallen behind due to not making nice with the weasel or trying to overdose on caffeine. That's fine, you can do without them. You will WORK to get better.

With Feodor's encouragement and thoughts of a magical prize try to push harder and take in as much as you can.

Approach Ito during the after night lessons shoot shitting session, ask him if it would be possible to put your instruction duties on hold in order to pursue additional Chakra lessons.
>>
No. 391337 ID: b7a018

Feodor Orders
*Go on the jog, try not to die too much. Tease the few who fall behind you when you can, try to enrage them into beating you.
*During chakra training, realise that it was much easier to work harder when it was for the others' benefit. Focus again on trying to be an example for them to strive for. Try to show off your improvements to the jealous ones, like Zhenya, and remind Matvey to put in the effort he needs to be a leader to these people. It's his responsibility to keep them alive, too. Remember feeling impotent at how easily Sake saved Andrei, and get angry at him again, but try to use that anger to fuel your efforts rather than having to release it with violence
*Give Rostislav an in-depth description of the processes of compound fractures in bones, including soft-tissue damage. Pretend not to notice the bored expression he gives.
*Tell Zhenya you'll try to teach her what you know, but not until your schedules are more free.
*Sleep at least a couple of hours during the afternoon, to prepare for work at Finnigan's. After night classes, have a shower and head over there.
>>
No. 391342 ID: 252e1b

LYUBOV ORDERS
*During a lull in the prank calls, ask Sake about dying in a controlled way like Hillevi proposed. Get a run down on the possible long-term complication. Thank him, Ponder it.
*While prank calling, get yelled at on the phone by a cranky accountant who believes he’s being targeted because it’s close to tax day. Realize Ito probably doesn’t have valid tax numbers for any of his employees.
*Notice Zhenya's light is on. Check in on her, notice she's asleep sitting at her table. Put a blanket over her, close door.
*Put together a printout with the new fake identities and the tax information Ito will need, for everyone.
*Write a letter to mom, including information only you and she would know to prove it’s you. Include apologies, tell her you love her. Include invitation to come to you, explain that you’ll arrange it if she wants to leave Russia. Cry again, but feel more hopeful. Put letter in envelope, put it away for now. Plan to send it to mom through the church.
*Go on run, note that Gloom is absent. Hope you didn’t hurt him yesterday. Push hard anyway, you’ve got to keep improving.
*At breakfast ask Andrei about his near-death experience. Ask about what it was like, how long he was out, and if he's noticed anything different since. Ponder his observations. Also mention your problem with recording Sake’s phone calls, and arrange to have him just look at the whole computer, recording rig and all.
*During chakra training put your heart into it. You’re going to learn this, and learn it right.
*If you see Gianni during the course of the day, due to him being around for whatever reason, say hello. Ask how he is. You’ve worked with him a couple of times now, he seems like an alright guy.
*When asked by Igor about your recent improvement, remember the Boss’s training session. That mortifying session. Politely say, “I really don’t want to talk about it. It’s… I just don’t want to talk about it.”
*Present the list of tax numbers and identities to Ito, explain, "I don't want you to get in legal trouble on our behalf. These are good, they’re what we use now."
*Request meeting with Matvey. Explain issue with families in Russia, and your plan to get messages and other help to them through either the Orthodox Church or other discrete methods. Mention that Camella and Andrei are aware, and Andrei is willing to do whatever hacking is required. Ask that he arrange a meeting with Armas, himself, Camella, Andrei, and you to talk about possible ways to either evacuate the families or get Chugainov to back off of them.
*In response to snugglerubs for Ito: Suggest that we arrange that Ito meet Sake at another one of Matvey’s tea parties as first step to getting Ito that favor. Suggest that Matvey ask Ito for permission to bring a notably non-human guest into his Dojo. So far we’ve only seen humanoids there. Suggest a goodly amount of booze be brought.
*If Armas is available, arrange for another training session tonight. Pre-empt some of his ability to humiliate you by planning on wearing the one-piece swimsuit under your normal clothes.
*After session, explain that you want to have your mother come live here. Don’t cry during this. Even though you're afraid terrified he will say no, don't cry. “She is a good secretary; she has worked twenty years as a personal assistant. She’s supremely qualified. And you will need office staff. And she could help you with your office side of things. At the very least, all the paperwork the taxes will generate, besides all the other things like phones and personnel and I don’t even know, I just know that she’s so good that even though she doesn’t let them sexually harass her they kept her anyway and I don’t think it’s safe now in Russia for any of our families and we need to talk about that too with Matvey and Camella, but can you hire my mom if she agrees to flee Russia to here? She’s the only family I have left and I’ve been a really crappy daughter and she thinks I’m dead and…”
*Go to night lessons, performance depending largely on Armas’ answer.
*Go home, shower, sleep.
>>
No. 391432 ID: 048990

>>391251
Also going to have to SUST the four-action plan, we just don't know enough about the sorts of thing you propose to be randomly experimenting like that; we don't want to accidentally kill Hummingbro after all, or blow things up, or whatever.

>>391193
Upvoting the Hummingbird Health Plan here.
Speak to the Hummingbird before you leave, make sure he knows that we'll be prioritizing it more than we have been so far.

Armas:
Talk to Igor about finding an armorer, both for training Igor and building the armor for the Nazinaut. After all, hiring someone to train Igor (once there's no chance of Igor dying from soul-explodey) will mean having someone who actually knows the craft around while Igor's learning.

Wonder why the food seems to have suddenly become so bland. Make up for the strange loss of spiciness by adding hot sauce to your own food....and other people's. Sharing is caring!
>>
No. 391434 ID: ac262f

>>391251
Random experimentation can be fun, it can also be bad, so SUST

>>391193
I like anything which is good for Hummingbro. Upvote.

Armas orders;
Spend some quality time with Silja, consider that you really need to get a glamour so you can take her places, ask if she'd like that.

Tell her about the sulking Camella, perhaps a woman's insight will be of some help.

Hello, Armas, look at your Golem, now back to Mine, now back at your Golem, now back to Mine. Sadly, yours isn’t mine, but if You stopped using inferior body parts and switched to a three Phoenix hearts, it could regenerate like it’s mine. Look down, back up, where are you? You’re on a battlefield with the Golem your Golem could work like. What’s in your hand, back at me. I have it, it’s body with two bloodlines to that power you love. Look again, the bloodlines are now Savoy's. Anything is possible when your Golem works like a Phoenix and not a zombie. I’m on a Flesh Golem.

LEV'S ORDERS
Realize that you haven't really been much of a bro to the bosses, briefly wonder why Shadow Boss was kind enough to make his offer, decide you will not fail him!
Pay seven kinds of attention to Camella's classes, make sure to get it right, talk with the others who are doing well and see what they've been doing right.
Try to do chakra training while doing ordinary tasks and while sparring with feodor, you won't waste the chance you've been given!
Look up chakra on wikipedia, fully aware a large amount isn't the case, badger Ito about the locations of the chakra points, be a man driven, be particularly fascinated by the idea of the lower chakras, the Mahatala and Patala are relevant to your interests.
Again shy away from messing about while in sunlight.
Consider how Sake is a awesome boss and an awesome medic, wonder how you can please Sake, see Sake likes shiney valuables. Consider making some wooden figurines of the company and gilding them with silver or gold, which ever you can afford more of, begin, try to keep the project a secret, look at Sake a lot in order to get his form in the wood.

Almost accidentally your soul out due to reckless enthusiasm.

Sorry about the old spice, my adaptation is poor but I couldn't resist
>>
No. 391463 ID: 81f32a

>>391193
>+Hummingbird. First, Call Davgon; and ask him advice on the following (do it if you got his okay, and change stuff as needed upon his advice.:
>-Get Sake to Rub-Down Hummingbird.
>-Get Baki Massage/Flush of magical saturation on Hummingbird. After all, We know Baki is probably a master in chakra (and possibly other stuff) AND that he is known for his massages to take care of extra magic. Make sure to convince Hillevi to come with us there to see how he does it and also possibly help with overbleed.
>-Use the whole afternoon in chakra practice and then sparring with Hillevi. The goal here is to not only get practice for dual-orientation (you might want to do it JUST ONCE with hummingbird's help and then get SB to freshen our memory of what our soul looked like when we did it as a guideline) and flexibility and flushing in combat (C.O.F?) but also to utterly drain both of our bloodline. So don't skimp on the hybrid regen (which is why using Hillevi is good). As long as Hillevi doesn't destroy our head it's all good, really.
>-Get utterly drained and exhausted, and groan in pain because while we may get a much needed (for both hummingbird and armas) understanding of efficiency, being that drained will probably be really weird/painful.

Upvoting. Wanted to suggest chakra training myself.
>>
No. 391471 ID: 431fa8

>Satai orders
-Speak with Sake again after ensuring that no one else is listening (the weasel bed order is to be kept secret), explain that something like this will need custom crafting and might as well be done right- get his measurements, preferred dimensions and style for his comfort. Ask if he's identified any particular places in the city where they work in large silver items, to save some time- Satai can find it if he has to but Sake probably knows exactly where they work in silver. Also acquire more wakefulness.
-Following this go to the city's silversmiths, ask around and locate someone who could make a custom decorative item. Expecting it to basically be a large, shallow bowl of solid silver that Sake can curl up in, modified to his tastes. Place order; anticipate $30,000-$40,000 for it. Mention that employer is highly eccentric if questioned as to why the hell this is needed.
-Talk to Hillevi more now that wakefulness is acquired; try to keep conversation running easily. Discuss Satai's particular passion of mines and traps, perhaps the topic of crystal enchanting that sounded interesting, then move back to chakra. Feel her out for how much she knows about this and how willing she is to share it.
-If by the end of practice she seems like she'd be able and willing, ask if she'd be willing to provide actual chakra tutoring. If yes, withdraw from the dojo entirely (with polite regrets to Ito and hidden internal glee) and replace that block of time with chakra studies with Hillevi.

>>391094
Items regarding socialization.

Talk more with Silja in the morning. Make sure she can see and try to get her in a good mood, then show her around the mansion. "Fun place, right? This vampire guy had it all- did I tell you about this? He was supposed to be helping me out, but cheated me out of a gun I was trying to buy from him and then tried to have me killed. Didn't count on me being able to outfight him, heh. And now it's all mine. What do you want to see?"

Show her around. When she sees television, explain what it is. "I told you there's all kinds of new technology these days. Those are basically boxes that can display images from anywhere in the world as long as someone else over there is transmitting it, and recorded things and fiction as well. Man, I need to get you up to date on all this!" Subsequently run around the house explaining refrigerators, computers, internal heating, phones, toilets, showers, dishwashers, and whatever else we run into. Seeing is believing, after all. Have fun; try to make Silja be excited about all the things that this time period has to offer instead of depressed about how strange it all is.

If she's in a sufficiently good mood, consider showing her what she herself looks like at the moment, in a mirror. "Ah. I was thinking... are you willing to see what you look like, Silja?" That will be very disconcerting and even perhaps slightly horrifying to her, but she'll find out eventually and we want it to be when she's primed to be happy and we can spin in the proper way. "Hey, no sadness allowed. I warned you that you were trapped in a gun- you think I spend my time talking to you because I don't believe in you? You've come so far already." "You're like a seed, all right? Sure, it doesn't look much like the flower it's going to be eventually right now- but it splits open, sends out little shoots, and grows into something beautiful. You're the same way. Only a blind person couldn't see that you're coming back- look, you've got ribs, spine, hips are coming in- it's just a matter of time. It's more noticeable every time you eat something, you know- and I'm making arrangements to try and move that faster. Give it a month or two and you'll bloom too, I promise." She seems to like being touched, so try for comforting stroking as we talk.

Might have to play the rest of that by ear to make her okay with it, but we'll be able to manage it, I'm sure. Leave some of our blood on her so that she can see, and from now on whenever we're in the mansion carry her around and chat idly- even if we're just leaving her leaning against walls so that she can watch what we're up to. If we have to leave the mansion leave her in an area that people will probably be passing through, so that she can watch them. Try very hard to never leave her alone in an empty room.


We still haven't looked into Camella and it's been days- we can't afford to keep leaving that. Go by Ito's a bit before we expect night training to start; maybe we'll be able to catch her before she's busy. "Hey, Camella. You want to talk?" (expected answer 'no') "Okay, saw that one coming. How about this: Word is you're acting troubled, and talking about it might make you feel better. I would be happy to take a stab at the good-friend thing and listen. I'll even avoid saying anything rude for the entire conversation." Say the last line in the tones of one offering an irresistible bribe. If she turns us down or says not right now, "Well, I won't press. Offer stands if you want it later."

If she is willing to talk, treat our offer to act as a good friend for the conversation as a serious promise. Remember how we spent a month at the Valkonens' pretending to be genuinely honest and trustworthy? Do that again, only this time pretend to be a responsible and thoughtful leader. We can hold that mask in place for an hour or two.

It's not certain what she's going to say, but remember our objectives here. Ultimately, we want Camella to treat us with respect instead of constantly discounting us and being a bitch. We want her to consider the company something worth putting time and effort, heart and soul into (maybe literally, later). We want her to have our back and act of her own initiative to shore up our weaknesses. We also want her to trust us enough to tell us her thoughts and share confidences, because we trusted her with quite a few of ours and when she didn't give us shit in return, that hurt no matter how much we blew it off. We need trust and respect from her, or we're just not going to get enough out of this relationship to stop us from eating her to become a crazy martial arts genius one day.

If working towards that means that we need to act like we have depth and some scrap of responsibility, even if that's just in the form of taking our hobbies (like running a mercenary company) very seriously, or if it means that we need to act the sensitive friend or amateur psychologist or lover or whatever the hell she wants from us, then we can damn well do it. Acting like we have new personality traits is easy; making people into actual friends is hard.
>>
No. 391485 ID: 6616f3

>>391471
The Grand Bazaar silversmiths are located in the Gümüsçüler Hani, or easier to pronounce, Kalcilar. Look up Master Kapik at #10, he does silver molds like bowls and things, he should be good for a bed. If you want designs, his Armenian business partner Master Arus's son Dikran is a kakmaci who specializes in designs.

>Camella
I think the problem here is that we've never really defined our relationship. Which is understandable, cuz feelings are hard. We like her (as much as we like anyone); I personally like the cut of her jib. She likes us (well, she has complicated feelings for us)... but then we're also her boss.

So we need to talk out what we expect from this relationship. We want to make money together, obviously, and grow in power magically and economically. She has her own stuff going on (getting back home, her own interactions with our various friends - speaking of, maybe we should mention that thing Go Ping said?), and so do we, and that's fine. But we're together here, and we're up against some very nasty people. The Triad, Cosa Nostra, the Paladin Group, Titancorp and the Yakuza would stomp us out if they notice us. The 'little' guys like the Corsican Mafia, the Tongs, or Turkish organized crime would tear us down if they can.

God and Camella knows we're not perfect; hell, she's seen us. We're trying to keep dozens of balls in the air at the same time, and sometimes they slip through our fingers and fall. We forget things. And we're trying to be responsible for 20 people here, when we've barely been responsible enough for one until now. So all we can ask her is to do her best to help, and we do likewise - and we meet somewhere in the middle, and hope that's enough.

Also, please call Riker, just to see how he's taking what his spook told him. It's been like a week.
>>
No. 391488 ID: cc1982

>>391471
Upvoting this.

After everything is done, it's time for some practice, cycle through all known fleshcrafting techniques trying for speed, this should hopefully help get your body used to the magic for more extreme changes later. If Hillevi is agreeable ask her if she wants to try something out, Have her set up the link to HB and try to make use of the power against us in a spar. During this slip into ego-less mode to get more experience using it, try to incorporate chakra-orientation usage at the same time, if it goes well go all out and try to get Dual-orientation running as well. Run through both of your reserves doing this so as to reach ENLIGHTENMENT
>>
No. 391501 ID: 57e509

>>391471
SUST talking to Camella like this. What's the point? She clearly doesn't really respect us as a leader, and taking this attitude with her won't help. The only way to sort this out is to demonstrate we're worthy of respect - by raising our game and investing more of our time in being a responsible commander. For example, playing tricks on our own men unfortunately isn't in that category. They should be seen as allies, not convenient victims. Don't shit where you eat, etc.
>>
No. 391507 ID: 3af16b

>>391485
I think what I've written is along these lines.

>>391471
>"Hey, Camella. You want to talk?"…

I like the gist, but the phraseology needs work.

“Hey Camella, you got a couple of minutes? I wanted to apologize, and have a talk. In private.”

“Ok. I’m sorry I dressed you down in front of everyone Sunday. I should have waited until we were in private. It was totally inappropriate of me to do it like that; what I said would have had just as much impact behind closed doors. All I can say is I got a little pissed off, and I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”

If she’s got no demand, or reasonable demands (sub $100,000 range in value, basically): “Alright. Consider it done.”
Otherwise: “I’ll see what I can do.”

“But that’s not everything I wanted to say. I also wanted to congratulate you. You’re doing a great job with them so far. I’m going to do a check up on them Sunday, and I’ll let you know what I think of their gains. I’d like you and Ito to do the same, so that we have three different datasets to compare for each come Monday. I’m just going to use a ratio, compare their baseline when they entered your training program to their new normal. I’ve got their growth since I first met them too, but only Gloom and Lyubov had changed much. The others weren’t really pushing themselves.”

“Do you think it’d be too disruptive for me to sit in on one of their sessions and observe?”

“Alright, you’ve got a point there. But I think I could learn something from how you handle them. Not so much practicum or theory, but how to be a decent leader.”

“I got a confession to make to you. I spent 8 years in two branches of the service, as a Ranger besides, and I never made it past Private. I was not leadership material. I’m trying to grow, trying to become that guy, but right now I’m just throwing everything I can think of at keeping the people I’m responsible for effective, happy, and healthy.”

“Heh. Thanks. It goes both ways though; I mean, do you remember a couple of months ago? The day of the Smets mission? I told you it was my friends and family that were going to help anchor me, and keep me sane. Keep me from going too far. They’re another set of anchors. It’s fair to say you’re the lead though, so if you ever need to tell me something, please do.”

Now this is where the following becomes relevant:
>If working towards that means that we need to act like we have depth and some scrap of responsibility… or…act the sensitive friend or amateur psychologist or lover or whatever the hell she wants from us, then we can damn well do it. Acting like we have new personality traits is easy; making people into actual friends is hard.

With that in mind, say, “I really mean it, Camella. You’re, bar none, the second most important person in the company. And you’re one of the most important people in my life. I don’t make friends easily. I just don’t get close to people easily. So, if something’s bothering you, let me know. If there’s an issue we need to deal with, let me know. I’m a dick, but if you need a conversation where I keep it in check, let me know. I can put on a serious face when I need to. That’s part of this whole “leadership” thing I’m trying to learn. You just let me know.”

Then just wait expectantly for a moment. Give her a chance to see you’re being what she wants: A responsible leader who is trying. She’ll either take the prompt or let the moment go. Listen hard, and watch her soul hard, during this moment.

Based on what I know of her though, she’s going to be a little snarky and then start being honest. Don’t rise to the bait, do respond in a heartfelt manner.

“The Hummingbird told me something the other day: he said that ‘I don’t distinguish between business and recreation.’ And that was a brilliant moment for me, he put into words exactly how I am. I let every aspect of my life blend together.”

“Well you could have mentioned it before Hummingbird did, saved him the trouble. Anyway, can I ask for something from you? Just, I think we should make a point of meeting up every day. We compare notes, we talk about how things are going, we let each other know about issues. We bounce ideas off each other. We even make time to go have fun together. Because, if we’re going to make “this” work, we’ve got to communicate meaningfully, regularly.”

“Well, since I’m so bad at compartmentalizing my life, “this” means our entire relationship: as friends, as anchor and magic man, as commander and executive officer, as rivals, as…as everything that encompasses “us.” It’s all going to have to be done as a package deal. I’m not capable of compartmentalizing enough for it to be otherwise.”

She’ll probably take that. It’s honest, it seems sincere, it’s sensible, and it’s dangerous. But the way you put it means it’s the only way. After she agrees, it may be appropriate to give her a hug, to reaffirm that you’re friends.
>>
No. 391508 ID: 81f32a

SCENE I. The mansion of Armas
Enter ARMAS, and DUKE


ARMAS
A question sir and friend. Your forum is one
Built for the joys of flesh made flesh? That is
To say that thine form is base and lay low.

DUKE


ARMAS[b]
Nay, hold thine fist and fury, for I mean not
A curse, but a boon. Thine flesh, tis penal?

[b]DUKE



ARMAS
Hold once more, mine Duke. My words not call thine
History to insult, but thine body to single
Question. Let me be plain and dispel with
Needless complexity. My Duke's form was
One base draconic. That is the basest
Of the dragon's parts.

DUKE


ARMAS
And once more and the last, I say nay. Not
True draconic heritage, but born of
That which passes the heritage across
The arch of time. Simply, the Loins! Are thy,
My Duke, the loins of a dragon given mind?
>>
No. 391527 ID: c6ce12
File 133134725136.png - (46.75KB , 800x820 , HB.png )
391527

Hummingbird fan art, because he deserves it.

For reference I am also up-voting these.
>>391471
>>391485

And this.
>>391193
>>
No. 391535 ID: 252e1b

>>391432
Give Hamlet a call, ask if he can pressure-test a vessel for you. You need to make sure that tank on the back of the Nazinaut will hold. Get Igor and a couple of the big, strong, dudes to help him and assign them to: pull the armor from the nazinaut (as much of it as will come off anyway). Work out what they'll need to replace all the emitters and pipes, and to present you with ideas on putting it UNDER the armor this time. Have Sake give the boys a rubdown so that they can do that work and keep up with their studies.

>>391508

"Duke, I'm building a golem. A golem based on the doononegas heart, the body of a formerly female vampire turned nazinaut, a set of those nasty poison glands from the dooney, the best armor I can get, some decidedly specialized bloodwork, and the guts of, well, you. If you'll help me, I mean. See, when I walked in on you in the bathroom, I had an epiphany. Your shit stinks. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it's downright deadly. I want to set up a golem that can do the same, and spray that shit everywhere."

"So, I was wondering, could I get a sample the next time Gianni is here? I could ask Sake to help you heal up, too. I know it's no simple thing to give so freely of yourself, but you'd be lending me a, well not a hand. More like a bowel, and a gallbladder, and a spleen. Some stomach, and a chunk of liver to let this thing cope with the massive load that it's going to have on its circulatory system."

"A reasonable request. I can personally guarantee that I won't use your parts for any purpose against you, no spells, no rituals; in fact I'd treat them the way I'd want my parts to be treated. I'll talk to Gianni about ways to make sure nothing escapes our control too. There might be ways to make it rot to dust if it's not attached to the golem."
>>
No. 391560 ID: d97a61

[Igor has been queued to do the following:]
X-Go see Weasel Boss, and tell Sake what Asshole Boss asked him to do. Bitch about current schedule making request impossible, ask Boss Sake if he could please give him a rub-down every day for so long as the schedule is like this
X-After Weasel Boss briefly confers with a shadow, receive surprise wiggle to the face. Feel fucking fantastic.
X-Now use four of the five 'free' hours every day for working on Armas' project, and the last for sleeping.
X-Igor notices that a couple of people did better in chakra training yesterday than others, and will ask them why. Hear responses such as: weasel rubs, nearly dying, weasel rubs, boss trolling, weasel rubs, being frozen and weasel rubs. Draw a conclusion from this.

>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>Be alive. Be amazed at being alive, and just how easy chakra lessons were. Start whistling-until he finds a lesion in his mouth. What?
>Promise self to cut back from too much caffeine intake. Also, talk to thin air while getting breakfast tea. "Look, I'm still curious who you are and why you want my caffeine - and if you're the jackass who put a curse on the Red Bull, that was a dick move dude. But I'm not gonna be hitting it that strong anymore, so you can have some. If, you know, you actual come out and talk to me." Abruptly acquire a headache after stumbling forward. Be pissed.
>Be distracted by Lyubov when she asks about dying, and audio recording problems. Have no idea how to even look into this when an initial investigation shows no audio signals to match what she described.
>Check with Sake and Boss. Make sure the film was cut well because someone did die over it. Be told the footage is hilarious.
>Chakra Murder Fun Time. Push self harder - whatever happened, it feels easier. And the faster this gets over and done with, the faster hacking can resume. Abruptly feel like he hits a wall the moment he pushes harder. What the hell?
>Struggle to be a proper teacher. Yes, prior teaching has sucked; maybe death will have been enlightening on that front too.
>Nope. Nopely-nope.
>Get back to the mansion. Do not let the Chakra Death march get you down. Remember that Turkey has some of the best tea and coffee houses around. For lunch, invite Gloom and Ivan and Grisha out for lunch. Use this time to practice socializing in front of others.
>Get back to the mansion. Find Boss, maybe Shadowboss. Mention that at least one of the Nazi credit cards was used through Oyak Securities. This might be worth following up with. Be told by Boss to not use that card any more, and otherwise be ignored.
>Get high resolution images of all six faces from Laserdisc. Make printouts.
> Remember that Boring as Fuck surveillance video includes Nazi attack. Attempt to find Nazi Attack footage, for another home movie. Be THOROUGHLY disappointed when video quality starts noticeably degrading from the moment the crate of Nazinauts arrived. Try to clean it up, have little to work with.
> Peruse the Nazi workstations. Check to see what files can be worked on. Find no handy sets of bank numbers-wonder how the hell to crack this shorthand code spread through CSV files.
>Take a break. Relax, do some meditation. Find that too boring. Get camera, find Sake and ask him if it's ok to film him. Receive dismissive slap of weasel ass to the face. Take that as a no.
>Back to work. Working on the floppy. Heh. Check to make sure the disc can be made into a disc image. Start by dumping a disc image of the floppy so work will be done on the disc image rather than the disc itself. Once the image is finished look through raw data looking for patterns. Realize this is what happened on the last disc when looking through surveillance footage, and be bored with this when results are not immediate. Wonder where Sake is.
>Groan, and look for possible file headers, the File Allocation Table, the file indexes, and anything that would indicate what OS this thing is supposed to run on. When that yields nothing, perform an analysis of the disc for stenographic techniques used to hide information it could be that the data is readable only from a disc image that is re-assembled in a different order or something like that. Get... very strange readings-after a second analysis, find data... has changed. Double check disc image-find the file is... mutating, even as you watch it, without any input.
>Unplug HDD, set fire to HDD, unplug floppy reader, place in isolated room. Consider burning it too. Be fearful of the rise of the machines. Check computer-only feel partly safe at lack of mutating disc image on main hard drive.
>Time for the beatings to continue. Use this painful time to get the other Russians who aren't running keen to the idea of joining Camella on her run. Suggest to the students to ask their teachers about it, and what not. Be saddened at the lack of takers.
[Zhenya has been queued to do the following:]
-Have silent contest with Lyubov during training time without telling anybody. Be beaten in everything by smaller woman, feel slightly bummed out and wonder why she is doing so well.
-Be glad about your ID stuff being sorted out and resolve to get into the stunt driving school as soon as possible.
-Talk to Feodor about teaching you some driving tricks after all this is over. Note Feodor to still be in a funk.
-Attempt to clean all your guns, fail and fall asleep on the cleaning table.
-Dream about guns eating you, be slightly weirded out. Resolve to do one gun a day until they are all clean.
-Hang out with Lyubov and Sake because who else is she friends with?
-Notice that weird mafia guy leaving the house, wonder why he was here. Be struck with memory of horrible fire from that night. Get to room and silently freak out.
-Hope the future gets better.

[Gloom has been queued to do the following:]
-Give up drinking, and make sure to sleep a couple of hours every afternoon, as well as not going on the run. Not dying is important.
-Feel dissatisfied at giving up commanding frontrunner position in runs.
-Approach the company commander's Shadow, and try to have a conversation about how the commander manages to be quite so stealthy. Fail to have proper conversation about this, as it seems Shadow Boss does not like him.
-Be irritated at lack of respect-but be hard pressed to put fire in it, as he's been met with far worse reactions.
-Wonder if it is something that can be learned, as, if so, and it could be done without him knowing, a couple of truly great pranks could be played on him if he thinks he still has a monopoly on the technique.
-Wonder if 'free time' could be fully devoted to this project.
[Titus has been queued to do the following:]
=-Draw conclusions from Andrei's test data.
=-Decide to work on thicker insulation, a buckle system at the gauntlet's edge, and more solidly mounting the wiring.
=-Begin, but do not complete, redesign to Taser Glove Ver 1.1

>[Rostislav has been queued to do the following:]
> Seek out further Chakra training with Camella or Ito around Chakra. Don't really know what in specific yet is the plan but be eager to learn. Realize free time is so precious as to make this impractical - instead simply continue making his greatest effort at the normal provided training. Be told by Camella that more enthusiasm won't help-but do learn that he could give up Ito pay ($150/week) to convert more time at Ito's into chakra training without spending more time. Ponder this.
> Speaking of free time, devote a little (one hour atop the provided four) to sleep and the rest to Fight Clubbin'.
>Speaking of that, continue scoping out fighting clubs, consider beating the shit out of those wannabes earlier for some easy money/gratification, turn an eye to who looks strong but is actually fronting. Realize he is doing a terrible job eyeing people since he's never been good at at-a-glance assessment of others. Remain confident he can wreck their shit.
> Offer a round at his favorite bar to anyone who can explain what the fuck happened with Armas's broken arm that he mentioned in that meeting earlier. Learn much from Matvey (cost: $11)
[Lyubov has been queued to do the following:]
*During a lull in the prank calls, ask Sake about dying in a controlled way like Hillevi proposed. Be informed that being beaten to nearly death is a staple. Get a run down on the possible long-term complications involved, most of them self-evident. Thank him, Ponder that magic lets horrible events that would normally permanently impair into net gain situations.
*While prank calling, get yelled at on the phone by a cranky accountant who believes he’s being targeted because it’s close to tax day. Realize Ito probably doesn’t have valid tax numbers for any of his employees. Feel sphincter tighten at thought of surprise inspection causing a BAD DAY.
*Put together a printout with the new fake identities and the tax information Ito will need, for everyone.
*Write a letter to mom, including information only you and she would know to prove it’s you. Include apologies, tell her you love her. Include invitation to come to you, explain that you’ll arrange it if she wants to leave Russia. Cry again, but feel more hopeful. Put letter in envelope, put it away for now. Plan to send it to mom through the church.
*Go on run, note that Gloom is absent. Hope you didn’t hurt him yesterday. Push hard anyway, She's got to keep improving. Take first place without hip checking anyone. Still be disgruntled at Camella no longer even sweating over the course of the run.
*At breakfast ask Andrei about his near-death experience. Ask about what it was like, how long he was out, and if he's noticed anything different since. Ponder his cavalier and sadly brief observations. Also mention your problem with recording Sake’s phone calls, and arrange to have him just look at the whole computer, recording rig and all.
*During chakra training put your heart into it. Decide to learn this, and learn it right... or righter than she was.
*When asked by Igor about your recent improvement, remember the Boss’s training session. That mortifying session. Politely say, “I really don’t want to talk about it. It’s… I just don’t want to talk about it.” Wonder how he made that event so... personally productive. Wonder if he only did it so it'd be hard to be mad at him. Furiously think this over.
*Present the list of tax numbers and identities to Ito, explain, "I don't want you to get in legal trouble on our behalf. These are good, they’re what we use now." Be a bit surprised when he says he'd already given bogus tax information through a tax auditor that's a student in exchange for free lessons-laugh while watching him use them to restock cat's litterbox. Notice cat seems very nice to Ito, even though it farts on any Russian it gets a chance to fart on. Mentally dub cat 'Sir Flatulence'.
*Request meeting with Matvey. Explain issue with families in Russia, and your plan to get messages and other help to them through either the Orthodox Church or other discrete methods. Mention that Camella and Andrei are aware, and Andrei is willing to do whatever hacking is required. Ask that he arrange a meeting with Armas, himself, Camella, Andrei, and you to talk about possible ways to either evacuate the families or get Chugainov to back off of them.
*In response to snugglerubs for Ito: Suggest that we arrange that Ito meet Sake at another one of Matvey’s tea parties as first step to getting Ito that favor. Suggest that Matvey ask Ito for permission to bring a notably non-human guest into his Dojo. So far we’ve only seen humanoids there. Suggest a goodly amount of booze be brought.
*If Armas is available, arrange for another training session tonight. Pre-empt some of his ability to humiliate you by planning on wearing the one-piece swimsuit under your normal clothes. Be told to swim in the pool! ...Which is currently filled with jello. Spend a good ten seconds giving Armas a 'bitch you serious?' look. When he fails to crack, begin laps. Yet again, somehow, inexplicably, come out of lesson with a greater sense of how to stably maintain Reinforcement. With one final lesson segment with the boss left this week, demand to know why this is working: be given the hint 'The distraction works just as well even when you know that's what it is-so what's that tell you?'.
*After session, explain that you want to have your mother come live here. Don’t cry during this. “She is a good secretary; she has worked twenty years as a personal assistant. She’s supremely qualified. And you will need office staff. And she could help you with your office side of things. At the very least, all the paperwork the taxes will generate, besides all the other things like phones and personnel and I don’t even know, I just know that she’s so good that even though she doesn’t let them sexually harass her they kept her anyway and I don’t think it’s safe now in Russia for any of our families and we need to talk about that too with Matvey and Camella, but can you hire my mom if she agrees to flee Russia to here? She’s the only family I have left and I’ve been a really crappy daughter and she thinks I’m dead and…” End up crying when boss, at sight of someone legitimately begging him, says he'll do what he can.
*Go to night lessons, perform excellently due to both raised spirits and another Armas lesson. Wonder how in the HELL Gloom is now in the class top four. Also note Matvey humming eye of the tiger as he sets his nose to the grindstone.
*Go home, go to sleep. Dream.

[Matvey has been queued to do the following:]
<>Have odd dreams in which he is not Matvey, but someone else, someone who is not as impeccably clean shaven as him self. Watch as the person's beard grows larger and larger until it consumes the dreamscape. Wake up in a cold sweat, feeling at your chin. Find... a soul patch? No wait, he was still asleep. When really waking up, be less relieved than ideal at still clean jaw.
<>Ask Boris to make something with potatoes, garlic, and mushrooms in it for breakfast. Be given a bowl of stew. Be ready to spend day farting. Get what was expected.
<>See Rostislav approach you while drinking asking to be informed about what happened with Armas' arm in exchange for a free drink. Relay to him as much as is known on the subject, which admittedly isn't much-but be pretty sure she didn't really hit hard, so much as make her fist harder in a way that made what she hit comparatively weaker and thus more prone to breakage.... or something.
<>While at the range with the sniping group go into daze during a firing lull and continue to think about acquiring a magic gun of some variety, allowing self to be taken in by the rumors of a magic gun as a prize. Then be abruptly startled out of your thoughts by the sounds of sniper rifle fire.
<>When Lyubov approaches to arrange a meeting with the boss and the officers write it down. Tell her he'll see to it as soon as possible. Ask if she would be amenable to helping him convince the Boss Weasel to help by giving someone a rub down, no not himself, Ito. Explain that the first time he got a rub he was not only restored, but all his old aches and pains went away, Ito seems like the kind of man who would appreciate that. As she walks off thank her for her hard work putting the identification together. Approach the boss and Camella with the proposal when you see them next, omit hiking from your schedule that day and set it in that time slot. Then double check self, and wonder how hiking fit in with four hours of shooting practice a day in five hour slots.
<>Slowly begin to realize he is now near or at the bottom of the ladder when it comes to Chakra lessons after Camella's latest marathon training session, having fallen behind due to not making nice with the weasel or trying to overdose on caffeine. That's fine, he can do without them. He will WORK to get better.
<>With Feodor's encouragement and thoughts of a magical prize try to push harder and take in as much as you can. Note this actually changes nothing he can percieve-give zero shits and try harder, for some reason trying to emulate the unflappable trope of a british officer.
<>Approach Ito during the after night lessons shit-shooting session, ask him if it would be possible to put your instruction duties on hold in order to pursue additional Chakra lessons. Be told sure, if he's okay with not being paid for teaching, since he'd stop teaching. Ponder this.

[Feodor has been queued to do the following:]
*Go on the jog, try not to die too much. Tease the few who fall behind you when you can, try to enrage them into beating you. End up taking seventh place out of twelve.
*During chakra training, realize that it was much easier to work harder when it was for the others' benefit. Focus again on trying to be an example for them to strive for. Try to show off your improvements to the jealous ones, like Zhenya, and remind Matvey to put in the effort he needs to be a leader to these people. It's his responsibility to keep them alive, too. Remember feeling impotent at how easily Sake saved Andrei, and get angry at him again, but try to use that anger to fuel your efforts rather than having to release it with violence. Due to naturally bitter and rage-fueled nature-find this plan works rather well. Nearly outperform Gloom when Ito's assessing everyone.
*Give Rostislav an in-depth description of the processes of compound fractures in bones, including soft-tissue damage. Pretend not to notice the bored expression he gives. Try a second time to explain-then give up for now.
*Tell Zhenya he'll try to teach her what he knows, but not until his schedules is more free.
*Sleep at least a couple of hours during the afternoon, to prepare for work at Finnigan's. After night classes, have a shower and head over there. Be berated for being late, handed a macguyvered bit of tubing, and told to provide suction as he works on a ganger with a few extra holes in him. Feel... grounded during lesson.

[Lev has been queued to do the following:]
(-)Realize he hasn't really been much of a bro to the bosses, briefly wonder why Shadow Boss was kind enough to make that offer; decide he will not fail him!
(-)Pay seven kinds of attention to Camella's classes, make sure to get it right, talk with the others who are doing well and see what they've been doing right. End up doing worse because he spends so much time talking with others to get their take rather than, you know, actually training.
(-)Try to do chakra training while doing ordinary tasks and while sparring with Feodor, you won't waste the chance you've been given! Fail because chakra lessons are designed to nigh-completely drain the Russians, and he has nothing left.
(-)Look up chakra on wikipedia, possibly aware that wikipedia is useless in this instance, badger Ito about the locations of the chakra points. Think of self as a man driven, be particularly fascinated by the idea of the lower chakras, the Mahatala and Patala.
(-)Again shy away from messing about while in sunlight.-which means being more persnickety about where training happens, and further slow down training.
(-)Consider how Sake is a awesome boss and an awesome medic, wonder how you can please Sake, see Sake likes shiney valuables. Consider making some wooden figurines of the company and gilding them with silver or gold, which ever you can afford more of, begin, try to keep the project a secret, look at Sake a lot in order to get his form in the wood.
(-)Drop to dead last in chakra performance due to hardly spending any time, comparatively, on actual training rather than wikisearching, chatting and carving. Somehow be confused at poor performance, and fail to grasp the reason is due to mismanagement of time.

[$atai has been queued to do the following:]
-Speak with Sake again after ensuring that no one else is listening (the weasel bed order is to be kept secret), explain that something like this will need custom crafting and might as well be done right- get his measurements, preferred dimensions and style for his comfort. Ask if he's identified any particular places in the city where they work in large silver items, to save some time- Satai can find it if he has to but Sake probably knows exactly where they work in silver. Learn of a specific crafter of precious metal jewelry boxes and silverware that would probably be great for this-and also acquire more wakefulness. via facerub. Idly wonder how much fur sake has per square inch-that feels... too soft.
-Following this go to the city's silversmiths, head to named store and ask about a custom piece. Expecting it to basically be a large, shallow bowl of solid silver that Sake can curl up in, modified to his tastes. Place order; anticipate $30,000-$40,000 for it. Mention that employer is highly eccentric if questioned as to why the hell this is needed. End up paying $42,500. Be a bit miffed that he couldn't haggle it lower. Shrug, and deal with it.
[BUSINESS FUNDS:[ -$42,500 $146,847.00
-Talk to Hillevi more now that wakefulness is acquired; try to keep conversation running easily. Discuss Satai's particular passion of mines and traps, perhaps the topic of crystal enchanting that sounded interesting, then move back to chakra. First learn that Hillevi is rather proud she can make a MEAN crystal shard mine. Feel her out for how much she knows about this and how willing she is to share it. Get a sense she's almost unbelievably willing to share, but has no concept of how to shift verbage when a conversation partner doesn't have the same background as her. Wonder how to get around this.
-If by the end of practice she seems like she'd be able and willing, ask if she'd be willing to provide actual chakra tutoring. Be told she'll have to check with Armas-in a fit of inspiration, assure her he'd be okay with it. Avoid looking surprised when this works. Withdraw from the dojo entirely (with polite regrets to Ito and hidden internal glee) and replace that block of time with chakra studies with Hillevi. LOSE GYM INCOME


>>391193 Palendromic arbitrary bonus that doesn't really mean anything but seems to entertain some people
>>391227
>>391282
I try calling Rocco-and get his voicemail. Lame shit, that. I try calling Gianni-who I get in contact with easy enough, but he's no help either-seems no one I know at the mafia can direct me to a specific cop fucking them over. Lame-but there it is. With that a complete bust-I decide fuck it, and call a different contact in the early morning: A certain Sami Shaman. ...Well, I don't call him, so much as start a texting session.
[Armas]Hey.
[Dávgon]You again. What?
[Armas]Spirit Animal questions.
[Dávgon]What species, what class, what's it bound to and what's the question?
[Armas]Hummingbird, Assault, soul and how do I keep its body healthy?
[Dávgon]Did you just say you have an Assault Class Hummingbird?
[Armas]The bird is in fact awesome, yes.
[Dávgon]And it's still in the flesh?
[Armas]Alive and kicking-for now. Kind of want to keep it that way. Having some issues.
[Dávgon]Well yeah, there's only a couple ounces of flesh to diffuse energy in.
[Armas]So-solutions?
[Dávgon]I'd need more context.
[Armas]How about I throw out ideas, you approve or shoot down.
[Dávgon]Fine. Go.
[Armas]Ramidreju healing rubs?
[Dávgon]Only would buy time, not really a solution.
[Armas]Chakra-capable masseuse with a history of being able to flush energy from customers?
[Dávgon]Too much force requirement-would shatter bird's body.
[Armas]Drain myself of magic?
[Dávgon]Sure while drained you wouldn't contribute to filter issues-but that's not really a solution either.
>>391251
[Armas]Killjoy. Say I had a Soul Shadow, and a Demiplane: could pulling the bird's spirit into the plane while it sleeps help?
[Dávgon]On paper maybe. Problem is that it'd get a big old lump of overbleed the moment it's soul goes back to it's normal place-that's no good.
[Armas]How about mucking with time? Say, give the bird more time to filter, myself less time to oversaturate it?
[Dávgon]You do know how prohibitively expensive time-based charms are, right?
[Armas]Not specifically, actually. Ballpark?
[Dávgon]What?
[Armas]Rough estimate.
[Dávgon]Enough to buy a castle.
[Armas]Right. Outside the box time here-what about vampirizing the bird?
[Dávgon]How is that an idea you think of? Do you have a vampire on hand in your service so this isn't a horrible idea?
[Armas]Technically-sort of.
[Dávgon]Okay. So. Then I guess that could work, BUT the bird would have to drink your blood-like all the time. Would have to use blood as filter substitute.
[Armas]How much blood are we talking?
[Dávgon]A liter or more a day.
[Armas]Huh. Say I had a skilled Fleshcrafter on hand for the vampirization and check ups-that help?
[Dávgon]Sort of. It'd let you make sure the bird could stand sun-which would otherwise be a problem. It'd also let it become a more mature vampire-derivative right from the start.
[Armas]Okay-and say I had someone skilled and potent enough in magic to be a third party filter-could that work in the long term?
[Dávgon]If they just stick around forever, yes. Though, probably not as good a solution as personal energy drain.
[Armas]Why's that?
[Dávgon]More likely for you to find a way to solve saturation issue from your end than if someone else is doing things.
[Armas]I'd also be magicless.
[Dávgon]Last I heard you have a company and plenty of heavy hitters around.
[Armas]That your professional opinion?
[Dávgon]Given Einrik's comment about what to expect of you as a student? Absolutely?
[Armas]What'd he say?
[Dávgon]Afraid I can't do that-no really, I can't actually state it.
[Armas]So. Drained state?"
[Dávgon]You presented no better alternative save heavy investment, like a time or buffer charm-so yes."
[Armas]Alright. See you when you get here. Thank's for the talk.
[Dávgon]Sure. Good to get a better sense of where you're at, even if vicarious.

Hm....

>>391282
Oh, hey-SB.
>"Yes?"
You see any dick cops when scoping the buildings out?
>"Define assh... ah, an appropriate scapegoat. Yes, I saw one-and I did see the license plate of the car he drove since it got smeared in sahagin blood at some point-and I heard the number he dialed when calling home."
You know where he lives? His name?
>"No, and Achmed Yilmaz. And yes, I got the spelling too."
That should be enough-let's see, Andrei could do faked telephone logs, unusual deposits in his accounts once we know what they are, subsequently close the account, buy a plane ticket and convert the funds to something more easily trafficked.... Andrei will know something, anyway we can also make some notes on the computer-simple encrypted shit, or maybe in code, point being easily broken-and paint a picture of the cop being on the payroll of someone nefarious that wanted the weapons stolen from police custody-and wanted a certain Agent off the field. Oh-the ticket, whereever he's going, we can fake an internet girlfriend he's moving to meet with-more motivators never hurt.
>"That... could work. I'd think we want some actually corporeal evidence at his home-which I assume would be my area."
Yup. You got it, or want any thoughts?
>"No, I've got it. I'll... compromise him, even if most of the electronic evidence doesn't pan out."
Awesome.
>>391432
I get up, grab a plate of bland eggs after putting on a purple leisure suit with my signature tie, make a face and splash hot sauce on the plate. ...On every plate, even as Boris makes more. Come on man-where's the flavor? ...I think he'll get the hint.
>>391471
>>391485
>>391488
>>391507
>>391527 HUMMINGBIRD APPROVED FANART
After having some food, I start multitasking a bit-working on the still utterly unsuccessful and still completely draining practice at running dual Orientations-and while doing so, spend some more time with Silja, because dammit tickling her as a rifle was funny shit. Seems my plan to distract her from the wierdness of seeing through a blood covered blade via ticklage worked just fine-she doesn't even fuss when I wipe a bit more on her (happy for the excuse to do a mite of Hybrid healing and keep the drain going). Eventually I get around to asking her what she thinks of the place, having walked the mansion's halls with her in my arms, and have an interesting exchange.
>[Silja]"It's so.... vast. I feel like we shouldn't be here-this has to be a place for nobles!"
"You know, funny you say that. This vampire guy had it all- did I tell you about this? He was supposed to be helping me out, but cheated me out of a gun I was trying to buy from him and then tried to have me killed. Didn't count on me being able to outfight him, heh. And now it's all mine. Any particukar place you want to see again?"
>[Silja]"Let em look out of the windows, I want to see.... want to see."
"A glance at the world as it is now from the heart of a modern city? As you will."

Silja's more than happy to look-and give me a solid, uninterrupted three hours to just dump every bit of energy I have in working (to know perceivable avail) on my Dual Orientation attempts. By the end, all I really think I've learned is to be a bit more comfortable trying to start two at once-completely separate from, you know, actually SUCCEEDING. My energy levels plummeting, and Silja starting to look a bit restful-hey, I get back to that gunshow.
-I show her the television, and do my best to explain what it is. Then the refridgerator-and computers, and the internet, and.... well, I won't really say she understood most of it-really ANY of it, but I AM sure she's excited about it. Kind of odd that Note Dude doesn't seem to have mentioned a single piece of technology to her-but she seems to know a bit about international events? Odd.
-I decide not to show her what she looks like, and instead liberally recoat her blade with blood, and prop her up by a window on the third floor to people watch, per her request. Seems she's kind of aware she won't like what she sees, if she sees-well, herself. For right now-I can live with that.

Or I COULD HAVE, had she not seen her reflection in the glass a few minutes in. So-I improvise.
"Hey, no sadness allowed. I warned you that you were trapped in a gun- you think I spend my time talking to you because I don't believe in you? You've come so far already."
>[Silja]"Am I a gun? No... what AM I?"
"You're like a seed, all right? Sure, it doesn't look much like the flower it's going to be eventually right now- but it splits open, sends out little shoots, and grows into something beautiful. You're the same way. Only a blind person couldn't see that you're coming back- look, you've got ribs, spine, hips are coming in- it's just a matter of time. It's more noticeable every time you eat something, you know- and I'm making arrangements to try and move that faster. Give it a month or two and you'll bloom too, I promise."
She doesn't respond-but, she also doesn't react aversely to my attempts to reassuringly stroke her.

Which is when I feel Lyubov on the prowl, looking for me. Damn, is morning training over already?

Unwilling to let her see me like this with Silja, I reassure my Rifle that I'll make it right and soon enough it'll all be okay, set her down by a less reflective window-and march out of the room. I catch Lyubov in her hunt, and find out she's.... got some stuff going on. She may have... begged.... me for something. I'm a bit hazy on it now-not too sure what to do when people just... up and make themselves vulnerable at me. Feels like cheating to be a dick to them then. Anyway, I think I said yes-so I'll have to live with that.

That done-I catch Camella before she heads out for Ito's, spotting Satai leading Hillevi aside in my peripheral as I finally ask a question that's been bugging me.
"Hey, Camella. You want to talk?"
She frowns, purses her lips while nearly averting her gaze, and adopts a more reclined posture, as if unwilling to be willingly close to me.
>[Camella]"I don't know, I've got these guys I've got to train and-"
>[RRRRRR Trait activated.]
I'm not buying that.
>[MMM,MMM M Trait auto-activated. ]
"Camella-no, you know what... How about this: Word is you're acting troubled, and talking about it might make you feel better. I would be happy to take a stab at the good-friend thing and listen. I'll even avoid saying anything rude for the entire conversation."
She responds to my tone, like that of a man offering his pregnant wife the world's only quintuple chocolate caramel mousse fudge pie cake.

She.... she smiles, a flickering shadow that traverses her face nearly too swiftly to be caught, before looking away.
>[Camella]"....Thanks, really, but.... maybe later?"
"Well, I won't press. Offer stands if you want it later."
Once again, her face makes ware with itself as a few dozen possible reactions to that vie for dominance-and she settles on a decidedly.... Lyubovian glassy smile, nods and heads out the door to catch up with the Russians-despite the fact most haven't left yet.
>[Hummingbird]"And you said she is not your mate?"
>[Sake]"Yeah, she totally wants it.
>"Listen to your sister Armas."
>[Sake]"...Oh, OH, YOU ASSHOLE. Did you just-
>"I went there, yes."
>[Sake]"You dickless killjoy.
>"Yorkshire-based Shadow-Silence]"
>[Sake]"[The sound of a weasel not squeking, snuffling or chittering]"
>"You know this is war, bitch."
>[Sake]"I didn't know we were at peace, eunich.
>[Iron Trick]"Aaaaand I now have a new favorite thing to be audience to."

>>391508
Since Camella finished scarpering while I was... distracted, I continue draining out my magic-I think I'm about halfway there, maybe-and hunt down Duke. Not hard really-he's watching.... Jersey Shore... in the living room. Remembering Einrik's words, I take a bit (half an hour) to come up with some Iambic Pentameter compliant rhymes.... and bust them out.

Duke turns to look at me wordlessly as if a retarded child just tried to shit out its own heart.

....That... wasn't the reaction I expected.
>[Duke]"What crawled up your ass? Someone plant some shit in you to give you that flowery speech?"
.....That beautiful bastard: He faked me out-he never talked to Duke about ANYTHING-that was all just... bullshit.

Yeah, I need to shake his hand next time I see him. That was well fucking played.
>>391535
Right. On to business.
"Duke, I'm building a golem."
He looks at me like a child proud of it's first ejaculate and naively showing off.
"Specifically, a golem based on the doononegas heart, the body of a vampire turned nazinaut, a set of those nasty poison glands from the dooney, the best armor I can get, some decidedly specialized bloodwork, and the guts of, well, you. If you'll help me, I mean."
Now he's looking at me with some actual interest-but still clearly waiting for my point.
"See, when I walked in on you in the bathroom, I had an epiphany. Your shit stinks. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it's downright deadly. I want to set up a golem that can do the same, and spray that shit everywhere."
He preens over the complement, and I already know I've got him.
"So, I was wondering, could I get a sample the next time Gianni is here? I could ask Sake to help you heal up, too. I know it's no simple thing to give so freely of yourself, but you'd be lending me a, well not a hand. More like a bit of a bowel, and a gallbladder, and a spleen.... Some stomach, and a chunk of liver to let this thing cope with the massive load that it's going to have on its circulatory system."
>[Duke]"So pretty much my whole digestive system gets sampled, huh? It's funny-and wild enough I could get behind it-but I'd need an oath for it-can't have my flesh going anywhere but where I want it, you know?"
"A reasonable request. I can personally guarantee that I won't use your parts for any purpose against you, no spells, no rituals; in fact I'd treat them the way I'd want my parts to be treated. I'll talk to Gianni about ways to make sure nothing escapes our control too. There might be ways to make it rot to dust if it's not attached to the golem."
>[Duke]"If you can make MY flesh rot just from touching your golem-hell, I'd PAY to see that. ..Sure, let me know when you're doing some work, I can shit out some stuff for you to work with whenever you want, heh."

And there it is-Duke's shit, the most caustic, vile thing I've yet learned exists, is now available for use with my beast. Sweet. Now... it's mid-afternoon, and I wonder:



What the hell else should I do?
[SAME DAY: NO NEW MINION ORDERS CAN BE INPUTTED]
No really I'll flat out ignore them. Want to get the rest of the day up within the next 24 hours-so just focus on Armas.
>>
No. 391636 ID: 6616f3

>>391607
Another option is to go see Cornelius (>>391224) and get the Heart plan done, and include the Hummingbird. We may want to touch base with Davgon first (or not, it's supposed to be a company secret), but the Heart should ensure the bird gains our agelessness, and we can move energy around better between Heart members.

Also, might as well check on the Grand Bazaar armorsmiths. We're going to need some quality engineering on the golem tubing since we'll want to integrate it underneath/inside the armor: it's an obvious weakpoint, even if the tubing is armored. And the shunt going from Duke's flesh to the tank needs to be ABSURDLY strong and resistant to heat. So we can either build it large and shrink it down (least attractive option, adds a lot of weight), find some magical metal capable of handling the shit, or maybe a fire mage to vent the heat into the phoenix hearts (the psi and chemical resistance is possible with modern alloys, the heat requirements, not so much).
>>
No. 391642 ID: cc1982

Best take it easy for the rest of the day Call up Hamlet, see if he wants to meet up to discuss his work make sure to have to bullets on hand for that. Depending on his schedule either before or after that head over to that place Igor spoke of, using the twin techniques of talking your way up and soul-evaluation you should be able to find someone that knows whats up, hopefully this will be the start to a remedy for the flaw in the golem Gianni pointed out

Continue Draining the bloodlines, but ration it to coincide with when you want to head to sleep. On the subject of Dual orientation try out all of them to see which have the least overlap, two likely options are open and stealth, and soulsense and reinforcement. Ask HB to give you a quick burst of it to try and get into the rhythm, pay close attention to your soul when that happens
>>
No. 391677 ID: cba104

>Asking Duke in awesome rhymes if his true Nature is a Dragon Dick. Be bummed when realizing Einrik troll, and forgetting what you were talking about.
Einrik troll was awesome, but there was no reason to not continue asking his true nature. By now, Duke probably like you enough to answer now, and we want to win that bet with IT, if only to feel good about our awesomeness. Do that.

>give me a solid, uninterrupted three hours to just dump every bit of energy I have in working (to know perceivable avail) on my Dual Orientation attempts. By the end, all I really think I've learned is to be a bit more comfortable trying to start two at once-completely separate from, you know, actually SUCCEEDING.
Armas Armas Armas- it seems you are thinking of chakra training as too much of a 'chore' lately. You really shouldn't do that. Not only does it give you nice power, but it also has some 'fringe' benefits. You know, the kinds you love. Remember how each time you sparred with Camella she ended up training that much harder later on, and came back with nifty new tricks? That soul quirk and her sudden renewed focus on chakra (that punch HURT)? Remember how, each time, you could be argued to have 'won'- first by more or less winning but knowing you couldn't 'win', and the second time by having the result of Camella hitting you be Camella unable to go on fighting. Not only are those spars with all the new tricks you show up good for yourself, but they are a magnificent troll for Camella- and a troll that HELPS her. What's not to love?
As such, Armas should make sure he is convinced that having the dual-orientation pat down would be a nice beginning for the next session of “troll-help Camella”. Likewise, given how recurrent the 'troll-help' is, it should now be considered a hobby. Armas should maybe ask for SB to “refresh” his memories of what it felt like to manage to enter that orientation when he was using HB's help, as well as 'refresh' his memory of what his soul looked like. If you need to bribe SB, tell him that you would try to get to a constant Stealth/soul-sensing dual orientation as a goal.

>Seeing Ghanem, seeing Cornelius or other dangerous people today.
SUST, we are trying to drain energy and maybe get that boost in efficiency Einrik told us about. Probably one of the things we wouldn't have learned for decade is 'caution believing Einrik', but even then I doubt that it will actually work on our awesome risk-taking!

>Golem
-Got to Kardemir steel plant with Igor (sorry guy, need you) and Sataias bodyguard, as well as Hillevi (if she could fileter hummingbird, it would be great. Also, ask her how hard it is, and how long of a NN bubble overload does she think she could deal with it. Try to follow up that weird noise stuff, as well visit more normally. While with Satai and Hillevi, ask them what they were doing together earlier. Upon learning Hillevi is mentoring Satai on Chakra, be impressed at Satai's opportunity grabbing and fast talking, but that won't stop you from trolling him. Give Hillevi express permission to train him as hard s she likes as long as he doesn't die permanently . He has to do what she says, yadda yadda, if he complains blah blah. This should also remind Armas to continue trolling lyubov during her own 'lessons'. Should step up the difficulty a notch- can't get Hillevi be 'better' than us, can we?
>-He has me flick the Nazinaut out of stasis for a bare instant to measure how it decays, and spends another twenty minutes tweaking the pseudobody. While he does this, I get a text from Ricky, saying they're currently out of the country, but should be back in a day or so.
-If Ricky and Lucy are back (text him), they should be willing to help for the whole project (at least) in exchange for some Doony blood. Try to text them, as they could begin the next step into making the golem. Try to get in Gianni on that too- he might like a opportunity to show their craft, if they'd allow it.

If Gianni came and saw Dunter work, get him to give you a lesson on epi (summer drainage!). Continue to get drained.

>Yeah, I need to shake his hand next time I see him. That was well fucking played.
We REALLY need to have a very solid troll for when he gets back. The most delicious I could see is 'make Hillevi do that troll'. If we were able to teach Hillevi how to be manipulative, as well as greatly improve her skills, I am sure we could find a way for Hillevi to utterly confuse Einrik. And, if there is one person Einrik WON'T expect to be outdone by when it comes to 'skill' or 'mental/social traits', it's Hillevi. Having Hillevi mentor Satai is a good beginning. Armas should watch closely how she does it, and give “advices” from time to time. How to convince him to do stuff he doesn't like, how to 'read' how he works, etc. After all, Mentoring is a part of clan relations that Hillevi knows is important. Likewise, having Hillevi come when we teach Lyubov could help- give her pointers, and so on.
>>
No. 391691 ID: 3947e9

>[Armas]Killjoy. Say I had a Soul Shadow, and a Demiplane: could pulling the bird's spirit into the plane while it sleeps help?
>[Dávgon]On paper maybe. Problem is that it'd get a big old lump of overbleed the moment it's soul goes back to it's normal place-that's no good.
>[Armas]Okay-and say I had someone skilled and potent enough in magic to be a third party filter-could that work in the long term?
>[Dávgon]If they just stick around forever, yes. Though, probably not as good a solution as personal energy drain.

We can combine these two plans. SB can keep HB's soul in the demiplane. One a day (or twice) hilevi tethers to act as a filter... she then gets hit with lump of energy which she can handle...

Of course, for safety reasons we should start off slow. First attempt to have her tether and intercept the lump after a mere minute to make sure she can even do it. Then try with increasing amounts of time to ensure that the fact it comes up as an instantaneous lump does not overwhelm her. But overall I think we got a short term solution. It only requires her to spend a few minutes a day on it, she can do it for the year she is here, we could probably compensate her somehow... and in that year we could focus our chakra training towards becoming good enough to filter ourselves (especially with aid from SB who will also get better in that year).
>>
No. 391692 ID: 81f32a

Armas made a Deal. Armas takes his Deals very serious. We have a job to do for Ironhead, we promised we would do it, it wasn't an open job open like with Lo Fang and his sword mission. We actually told him we will complete it in a week. We made the deal on 22th, Saturday. We have till 29th, Saturday. Today is 28th Friday.
We have made almost zero progress on this job. What the hell?!
We have exactly one day to complete it. And it is not the matter of reward: a tank is cool and all but I can live without it. It's the matter of principle, we made a deal and we are on a fast-lane to break it. Hell, we might lose our Word Like Gold trait if we do not keep our promise.

Forget about everything else! Focus on this job.
First of all, we need to inform our employees. Call Matvey and Camella (maybe Hillevi too). Tell them about the mission, everything we know. Maybe they will come up with a plan, maybe not, but we need to tell them. Hell, we should have told them immediately instead of dicking around.
We could send SB to investigate, but I think he has already (the goods are in 3 different storages and all of them are warded, right?). Although he could search other information, like the security details, the people who guard the place, etc..
If we are particularly desperate, we could force Adelat to break her NDA and use her knowledge and position to complete the job.

If we REALLY want to train chakra or something today, finalize the deal with SM to get that NN bubble (make sure that we can bring other people in it who can train us), set up the Hillevi-filter like we did with Redcaps and train for a 10 days or so (also, make sure that we don't have to use all of NN-time in one go).
>>
No. 391699 ID: 6616f3

>>391692
Given there ARE magical wards, we probably don't want to actually break in today when we're leaking chakra like a sieve and not at our best.

Either way, we should NOT tell them about planning to rob the police. Putting aside Camella's possible reaction, none of them are as sneaky as we are. We do this, at most, with one russian as a van-driver to store the goods. And really, I'd rather Sake was our getaway driver, for the lulz.
>>
No. 391727 ID: 252e1b

>>391720

I reject your plan and substitute my own.


If we're going after the weapons from the police:

[primary]
0) Change your face and steal a clean disposable mobile phone.
1) Sneak inside an appropriate senior officer's office, using goblin stealth. Have SB monitor the chosen officer and learn his password (possibly by resetting the computer or something when he's not looking). Send an order to each evidence store that they should collect the appropriate high security vans and prepare for transport to the Samandıra Army Air Base for transport to Ankara for forensic examination at the Türkish Criminal Police Laboratories. Send e-mails about a transfer of evidence from high security facility to security services. Send an order to release police vans from transport pools to officers with {insert eight fake names}. Forward senior officer's phone to disposable mobile.
2) Print out inventory if we can find it, as well as evidence handling procedures.
3) Print out orders in office to collect evidence and vans
4) Have Amen create cop uniforms, fake badges (with fake names from above), face-altering charms (with long-dead Turkish faces), and masks designed to look like the charmed faces.
5) Brief 8 Russians on procedures (if available) and give them print outs of orders. Pick the Russians who are the least tired, most able to bullshit and drive.
5) Have the Russians collect the police vans from the transport pool.
6) Russians drive to the evidence warehouses.
7) Get the guards to ring senior office to confirm. Sake will answer the phone, in Turkish, and say "Yes, of course it's all approved," in the voice of the chosen officer. Have him mimic a Turksih prostitute talking in the background.
8) Russians load vans, and escape, no one the wiser.
9) Transfer stolen goods to your vanduras fleet in privacy, at the German building the Mafia busted up awhile ago. Leave the police vans there, bring vanduras fleet home. Repaint all of them.

[trickster]
1) Same as [Primary] with the exception that we have the police do the moving instead of our Russians.
2) Amen should create a passable heavy goods vehicle license for Armas
2) Wearing a false skin and hair color, Armas should "borrow" a big rig. If any Russian can drive one (Feodor), they should come with us.
3) We should park up by the side of the road to the airbase, lying in wait.
4) We should redirect as much of our chakra power to SB as we can.
5) SB tells Whaitiri he's planning to feed her some magic from wards, os would be very grateful if the shadowmere is capable of cutting and eating them.
6) When the vans arrive we drive alongside them on the motorway and SB attacks the wards with the shadowmere, and when they're down teleports the contents to the big rig.
7) We go to the German building to do the transfer.

[Heavy]
0) "Borrow" a big rig. Bring Feodor to drive it, put him in disguise.
1) We have Shadowbro seal off the sewer vents on the police lockup buildings. We then have him establish a back-flow, making the toilets spew literal geysers of shit.
2) With no good way to stop the high pressure leaks, the police will be forced to take action to ensure that the storage rooms aren't damaged. Even if they don't move anything out, they'll be distracted.
3) With them distracted, you'll be able to move around (in disguise of course) and non-lethally disable the guards on site, one by one.
4) Break into the rooms with either stolen keys or Sake's help. Break the wards with the shadowmere, and have SB move everything to the waiting big rig truck.
6) We go to the German building to do the transfer.

[Escape]
1) Admit you're not going to get this fully done today.
2) Pack up everything you have and get it to Ironhead.
3) Turn it in, point out this is the primo stuff, ask more time to get the rest.
>>
No. 391730 ID: cba104

>>391727 BUTTZ
Upvoting. Hillevi, Sake or SB might als be able to help open doors if heavy handed is needed.
>>
No. 391731 ID: cf49fc

>>391692
Oh shit. We REALLY need to get this done. Even if we just go in guns blazing, we NEED to find a way to work this.

I recommend an Italian Job. Go in via some kind of sewer or sub basement, then blow the damn floor out from under the goods and run off. Helicopter Chase optional.
>>
No. 391736 ID: cb0cc3

>>391728
Upvote with comments and adjustments:

-Make sure that if we're blowing up random buildings, there aren't bystanders inside- scan the buildings, incapacitate anyone inside, remove them to elsewhere. Also consider stealing random potential valuables inside as loot, since it would just be destroyed anyway.
-The Russians don't look Turkish. This is suspicious even if they speak it and have the right papers- they need illusion charms or possibly fleshcrafting to look Turkish if we're sending them in and expecting them to bluff successfully.
-Get Sake or Hillevi to energize any Russians that we're sending on this job so that we know they're fully alert.
-Make sure that trace evidence of the Russians is eliminated if at all possible- that means that when we're done with the police vans, they get burned or otherwise purged of potentially recoverable/trackable data.
-If the Russians draw suspicion while inside the facilities (for primary) we cannot let them be arrested and seriously detained- these are our people and they both know too much and are ours to guard. Have ourselves and a second team on standby for a rapid assault/rescue if everything goes wrong; disguises are important for this because anyone caught on camera/identified will be tracked down by so much police hate forever that it's not even funny. Do not kill any cops, just disable, grab goods as quickly as possible and get the hell out- then teleport the goods into Sometimes Merchant's hands and vanish into the city; hopefully he'll be willing to take them once they're out of actual police territory.
-Do not let Hillevi anywhere near this job. If she is identified assaulting a mortal government Marrku will probably kill us.
>>
No. 391748 ID: d97a61

>>391636
First things first-Igor's busy, I get that. But.... there's armorsmiths in this city. And Satai's the quartermaster. So.... I leave both of them a note in their room, asking (not telling) them to look into Grand Bazaar armorsmiths-I'll check on Kardemir myself soon enough, but it can't hurt to check on more. I wonder when they'll get to it.
>>391642
That done I call Hamlet to check in with him, and see about getting him some new bullets. Funny thing, seems I caught him while he was shopping in the neighborhood-so I grab twenty reaper rounds (leaving me 38) and have a quick jaunt out to hand them off to him in passing-all said and done, the phone call, the handoff and the return home take ten minutes.

>>391692
Now, I WANT to go to Kardemir-buuuut I kind of have a job that's gotta be done by the end of tomorrow that's still pending.
>"I've planted some rather compromising evidence at the individual's domocile. If you can get people to investigate, irrelevant of whatever other proof will exist they will be certain he is a criminal and not one of their own."
I'd ask for details but I've still got the physical end of things to resolve. Hm.

Thinking ahead, I make a quick call.

With that done, I round up Matvey and Camella by meeting them at Ito's, and give them the skinny. Camella rather immediately questions if the gear we already appropriated is included in Ironhead's deal-
>[RR Trait activated]
>[GG Trait activated]
I Smile at her and say that the 'deal will be altered as necessary to insure that's not the case'. I have little doubt I can convey to Ironhead that since I took it before he even made the job offer, it OBVIOUSLY is mine, and not part of the police collection of loot-and as such is exempt. I'll make him see the light.

>>391727
>>391736
When they ask my for my plan, I lay it out for them-just as the person I called pops in at Ito's-Flouncing through the door like a one-woman stripshow, he doesn't even say anything-and with a delightful smile, play-slaps me. I fake a heavy stagger from the blow, obscuring my face as I feel bones shift and my throat tingle-before turning back to Camella and Matvey sporting a decidedly generic Turkish face. I catch the phone Gianni tosses me, and wave him off, taking note of his lecherous comment he wants to handle my 'special meat' some more soon. Acting completely oblivious to the incredulous looks I'm getting, I clear my throat, and in a new voice explain that I'll be doing a bit of reconnaissance and prep, but that ultimately, what I need everyone else to do is figure out who among them is best suited to bullshit and drive-I need some fake cops to drive around. Camella says nothing at this, clearly setting her mind to discerning what details I've worked out and what I've yet to set in stone about the plan-but not commenting beyond getting confirmation I'll call and inform everyone when we're actually rolling-so they have time. Matvey verifies that this is not meant to be a conspicuous job, and that only small arms are advisable, and yes, there will be uniforms, and names that should work out. On his request, I call ahead and tell Amen to work with the Russians once they figure out which eight will be drivers-and craft disguise charms for them following the recipe we'd previously discussed and house blood stock. While Camella finished explaining to Ito how all his military teachers need to stop early today, I see the old man grimace but acquiesce without objection.

Okay, they'll be ready-now, on to my shit.

I've got my face changed and I have a disposable mobile phone that once belonged to a recently discovered and recently removed snitch. SB-you spot any officers living near the buildings?
>"People with the ability to grant access and such? I saw one older individual that wore a spotless, medal-decorated dress uniform the whole day. I would assume he would suffice."
Mind leading the way?
>"Follow me."
It's not even thirty minutes later that, uncharacteristically clad in unflashy clothes, dressed as a simple police officer, I arrive at Officer Fancypants' place, and with SB's aid let myself inside without the need for doors. I'm not there long-just long enough to confirm that yes, indeed he really WOULD keep his password written on a sticky note on his home pc, with two sets of login credentials. That'll do. Still alert for any untoward attention settling on me, I make my way to the nearby precinct building, verifying with SB it's one of the four locations housing the targeted goods, and make my way, vis-a-vis some Goblinic stealth, to Fancypants' office. He's still occupying it-for another ten minutes that is, before he glances at the clock and heads on out. With him never noticing me, I seat myself at his computer, and successfully login on the second attempt-okay, let's see what I can do here.

....Ok, I think I just sent an order to each evidence store that they should collect the appropriate high security vans and prepare for transport to the Samandıra Army Air Base for transport to Ankara for forensic examination at the Türkish Criminal Police Laboratories. ...That, or I did it in a test environment for group notification. ...I do it in the second application to, just to be safe.
-I send e-mails about a transfer of evidence from high security facility to security services.
-I send an order to release police vans from transport pools to officers with eight names I scribble down as I make them up.
-I forward senior officer's phone to the disposable mobile.
-I don't find an inventory list, but I do manage to find-and print- an evidence handling procedure document twenty times. That should work for handouts, I hope.
-After finally seeing the orders are actually posted in-system now, and not just on the officer's computer, I print out orders in office to collect evidence and vans, respectively. ...Damn, that's a slow system, took like five minutes to actually get inter-department orders posted.

Well, that should do it for that. I head out the door, stay nonchalant and don't shy away from cameras. No one pays any attention to the completely generic cop moving about in the background-the impressively uninteresting Soul Guise I threw up isn't hurting either. The moment I'm out the door, I'm calling Amen and Matvey alike (I love the high-end model's ability to internally host a conference call) and give out the names I made, explain the gist of the plan now that it's in motion-and make sure Amen and Matvey both know I expect them to successfully garb and prepare the chosen-doing so without giving Amen a new order and with it a new binding. I take my time walking back, admiring the clouds and their pastel coloring as the sun starts to set.

I get back, hand out the procedure documents and orders to the eight that step forward-noting Zhenya, Matvey, Satai, Andrei, Feodor, Dmitrii, Titus and Boris as the chosen. It's a bit strange seeing them-all LOOK nothing like normal, the charms already made and active, but their souls are still the same-and, cool thing, looking a LITTLE less likely to pop. I also take some time to explain to Camella we'll need the Vanduras to meet us at the German warehouse we hit a while back for hand-off, even noting it'll probably be more than one load per van. Once everyone's read the document and the orders over once, I pile them all up in one of the vans, and have a bit of nostalgia as I drive a Vanduras through the city, dropping them off nearby before letting Sake, who whined the entire time, try his hand at driving the van back to the mansion. It's not connected to me by a paper trail, and the fuck do I care if he wrecks a Vandura?

So, I wait, leaned up against the wall of a nondescript alleyway, my bird and my shadow for company, looking at the disposable phone in my hands. Sure enough-it rings. Yeah-call forwarding. Shit's awesome-especially when you slap that on someone's desk phone then silence it.
>[Turkish Officer][In Turkish]"Captain Demir? Can you confirm a set of after-hours orders?"
I look at SB-who rises to the challenge with a gruff, weathered voice he throws out of the shadow in my mouth.
>[In Turkish]"The vans?"
>[Turkish Officer]"Yessir, to be distributed to-"
>"I just verified I knew what orders you're talking about. Give those eight their vehicles unless you want to explain why transport was delayed through the weekend."
We are rewarded with the sound of frantic hustle and bustle, of people desperately trying to NOT be the ones left explaining a fuckup to the higher ups. I watch the eight vans head out, splitting off in pairs en route to the respective warehouses. I wait to see if anyone challenges their orders to pick up the weapons-and am not disappointed.

>[Turkish Officer][In Turkish]"Captain Demir? Can you-"
>[In Turkish]"Read the orders-yes, I approved the transfer to Samandıra Army Air Base and beyond. Any more questions?"
>[Turkish Officer]"No Sir."

A few minutes later-another call. Then another. I never get called on the fourth set of orders-and after I get a brief call from Matvey confirming all pickups were made, I get them headed to a new location, where the rest of the Russians are in waiting along with Camella-and Hillevi and Duke as backup. Just in case anyone gets 'lucky'. I almost wish someone will.

First, I get a call from Camella, confirming the vans arrived. I confirm she's on track for using the Vanduras to get things home-and even find out that Sake made his merry way out to meet up with Lyubov-so we've got the full five at out disposal.

About ten minutes later, I start getting calls from decidedly more 'official' individuals checking on the orders. Yeah, seems they noticed-but what good will it do? In fifty minutes the last of the loot'll have been moved to the mansion, and the police vans will be... deconstructed.

So really, all I have to insure is that no one finds the police vans within 50 minutes-and make sure I'm not caught with this phone. So....

Long Story short, I invent a bit of a sex scandal I, officer fancypants, got caught in while being called, and keep that story going for twenty minutes, eating up time. Eventually though, all things come to an end-as I see police spreading from the nearby building looking for someone.

So I give my Goblinic stealth and Soul Guise techniques a workout-and spend a half hour just... wandering out of the grasp of an ever-closing police cordon. Eventually the voice on the phone drops all pretenses of believing I'm the officer, and is getting rather irate as SB continues to boldfacedly lie-and I keep dancing out of sight. After a final glance at my watch, I switch to Reinforcement, briefly stopping my dual orientation attempts, and shatter the phone in my hand-and drop the pieces.

SB promptly shadowports them randomly into the sewer below to be washed away. Let's see them find that.

I continue to enjoy the surreal sense of being alone in a crowd as I just keep stepping where no one's looking and march my ass back home. On my return, I find a massive pile of weapons in the foyer-thankfully invisible from the outside-confirm the Police Vans were set on fire and then chucked in the sea, and that all the Vanduras have now been repainted by Amen a certain, discerning shade of Orange.

While everyone's looking pretty smug about a job easily done, I abruptly remember something while looking at Lyubov-and decide now's a great time to say it.

"SO-Quick announcement everybody, but it recently came to my attention there's some new news about Chugainov you all need to hear."
Well, THAT got their attention.
"As it happens, seems that, besides having you all listed as dead-he has had you all branded as traitors, and is now trying to make life miserable for your families back home. I KNOW-"
I have to raise my voice a bit at this point as bedlam breaks out-
"That there are questions you want to ask-but thus far I've only got some incomplete reports, and I can't really explain shit I don't know the details about, not unless you want a load of bullshit. You want to know more? Talk about it amongst yourselves, that's where I got the info from. And after you have your chat, if there's something that, as a group, you think I can do to help, let me know."

And with that, I skedaddle, leaving the resultant mess behind. ....Eh, it'll be good for them. Probably.

So I spend the rest of the night, ALL of it after Hillevi spends half an hour talking about how she's now teaching Satai-good for him I guess-getting back to work on Dual Orientations. I run out of juice just shy of midnight feeling so terrible I barely make it to my bed-with my last thought being that of wonder: Did I get the two orientations fully up that last time?


SATURDAY, JANUARY 29th, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $465,475.04
BUSINESS FUNDS: $146,847.00
CASH: $9,170.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 2%
WINTER ENERGY: 13/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 8/50

I wake up at seven feeling horrible, use what little energy I have to get some brain coffee going-then abort my wakeup routine as I find my face is still different.

I spend the next hour trying to get my stubborn face to revert to normal before I finally succeed, and seriously wonder if Gianni made it harder to undo than necessary. ...Either way, not REALLY important, not really.

Not compared to the missed call and resultant voicemail from the Red Caps saying they're back-or the knowledge I've completed Old Ironhead's job.

...And I JUST NOW ran out of energy. Awesome. This.... feels weird as fuck.
















What should I do today?
>>
No. 391854 ID: cc1982

First of all, of course you got the dual orientation running, and let no one tell you otherwise! So we’re out of energy now eh, well take it easy for a couple of minutes to make sure you’re not about to collapse. To bad we can’t run soul-sensing to see what’s changed, although now that you’ve already seen your soul perhaps you can manage it without additional aid? Worth a try. After that take a look at the connection you have to the Bros, HB in specific as now that the link isn’t getting flooded with energy you can see a picture of it in resting state and have an idea of what to shoot for later when you attempt to control the flow. If no revelations have descended from the high yet feel a bit ripped of and see if you have any specks of power left to manipulate, perhaps the lesson is when you only have a drop to work with you do so more carefully. If none of that works then forget about it for now and move on.

It’s time to call Ironhead and finish this deal, tell him it’s at your place and he should bring transport, but before he gets here we should be ready to squeeze a bit more from this guy. First have a the loot you originally got on the first run nearby the other loot in a pile that displays its value. Then cherry-pick through the new stuff for the choicest items (magic, high-value, rare, etc) and scatter those nearby the pile of the old stuff. When Ironhead gets here let him come in a salavitate over the goods for a bit, then tell him

“Unfortunately there’s a bit of a problem for you. You see that pile of goods I had already acquired before we ever made this agreement and so sadly are not available for purchase under it.”

Here you point to the pile of goods you originally acquired which just so happens to be very nearby all the best goods of the latest job as well.

“I realize you may have had your heart set on some of this stuff so I’m willing to amend the agreement to include it for a reasonable amendment of three-quarters market-value for everything.”

Be willing to go down to two-thirds or at most one-half for this bargain. Hopefully SB actually knows all of what's there so you don't get screwed here. Have the money sent to your personal account where it'll actually do some good due to arena gambling. Pay those involved a grand or two for the bit of help they provided

Apologize to duke about the lack of action and tell him your planning to start wiping out one of the organizations in istanbul in a couple of days, if he's interested there should be some entertainment there for him

After all that’s dealt with call up the red caps and tell them your building a beast of devastation, on the base of a beast already created for pure destruction, would they be interested in helping. Offer some doony blood for their assistance.
>>
No. 391868 ID: 786b7a

>I run out of juice just shy of midnight feeling so terrible I barely make it to my bed-with my last thought being that of wonder: Did I get the two orientations fully up that last time?

So, starving orientations might be a workable way to train dual orientation.

<Experimentation for Armas>
Start one chakra orientation. Then lower the charge it until it is just shy of collapse. Armas learned overcharging, undercharging shouldn't be that different, but easier. Hold that orientation there and slowly raise another undercharged orientation.
</experimentation>
>>
No. 391871 ID: 6616f3

I think the first step is to talk to Hummingbro and the rest of the Armasmind. Is HB not getting any of our chakra now? How does that feel? Does SB still have his own store of power separate from us? Are we getting any power bleed from them, or are we the only one with that problem?
>>
No. 391896 ID: 81f32a

>>391854
>First have a the loot you originally got on the first run nearby the other loot in a pile that displays its value. Then cherry-pick through the new stuff for the choicest items (magic, high-value, rare, etc) and scatter those nearby the pile of the old stuff. When Ironhead gets here let him come in a salavitate over the goods for a bit, then tell him

That goes against the Deal we made. We agreed to get him all the loot we steal from the police storage, picking up the good stuff and the pretending we had it before is deal-breaking.

I do agree to magically go over them to see if there are any magic weapons/items among them. If there are, we pick them and then later, when Ironhead comes we make separate deals with him to buy them. Of course, we are not obliged to tell him if they are magical. It is possible he will bring his own method of identifying magic items but he will be doing that in the Mansion, meaning that we can tell Amen to block and prevent him from identifying magical guns.
This and calling Ironhead should be the first things we do today. Tell IH that he is responsible for weapon delivery, give him a free tip that the police are on high alert too.
>>
No. 391905 ID: b83c65

>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>Wake up. First things first, didn't get a chance to check out that lesion yesterday. Look at it now. Be confused that it looks like he bit his cheek. Talk to Feodor about it, and also ask Boss if this is a sign of the whole 'exploding' thing and why weasel healing didn't heal that.
>Give laserdisc printouts to boss.
>Breakfast. Find it hot. Miss Dave's Insanity Sauce. Look into getting that, when free-time is had.
>Look into yesterday's headache with kitchen cameras because somefucker is going to regret that.
>Six hours of Chakra Murder Fun Time. Bring up the Wall with Camella between dyings. Find out why pushing harder doesn't work.
>Dojo Days. Ow.
> Pick up new 1TB External Hard Drive in stagger back from Dojo. Price should be about $80. If it isn't $80, it's time to practice haggling practice.
>Home again home again, jiggety jig. Also, lunch. See if Boris can do Chicken Vindaloo.
>Debate what is the most important thing to do - with all this weirdness, decide on finding out about that. Apologize to Lyubov and say that her computer will be checked later.
>After lunch, find Boss. Threaten him with floppy disc while asking his opinion on it. Broach the subject of finding out what is actually wrong with the disc and, if magical, bring up how to combat hacking that uses magic when our current computer is mundane and most of Andrei's skills are related to mundane hacking. Use 'fuck' a minimum of 25 times.
>Just to make sure, repeat this process with Shadow Boss. Use 'fuck' a maximum of 10 times. Breath more.
>If both Boss and Shadow Boss are not helpful in this, spend the rest of the six hours trying to find information personally.
>Almost forget dinner. Snag something cold and/or energy-bar-ish on the way out.
>Like Dojo nights they're harder then hard in a lot of strange ways.


>>391896
Have the Russians do that, then. Or, if we want to be honest, just go through the stuff and argue that the cut of what we want we have taken.
>>
No. 391921 ID: 07eaf7

ROSTISLAV ORDERS
>Hear news about family
>Recall that Father only wants to see you dead or worse, and mother is already dead, be one of the few who don't give a shit about new info, until you realize that Pops might be looking for you
>Briefly regret being a scrappy bastard, father disowning you for not being able to control yourself, etc, regret fades as he realizes the awesomeness of current employ as well as safety of it
> Dropping teaching and paycheck - it's not very fulfilling, and approach Ito about that Chakra thing
>Decide against beating the shit out of rookie fighter clubs, continue to seek out stronger fight clubs for self-improvement
>>
No. 391954 ID: 6066dc

Ok, another day, another beast addition.
Call up the redcaps and invite them over to take a look and make deals to do some work on it now and in the future when we get the arms. Getting some fleshcraft training of your own while they do that would be incing on the cake. I think some of the purified doony blood would be a good place to start the bargaining. Put the blood on the metaphorical table and then make em an offer(1/3 or 1/2 I think would be good starts).

Ok, waiting for one more Phenoix heart. On that note, you really shouldn't be keeping the flesh of a SUMMER REGENRATOR in the fridge, no matter how much you like it. Instead put it over a fire and when it gets back to a nice fresh state, just leaving it on some hot coals would be good I think or something equally hot. If you can redirect sunlight to hit it directly it would do wonders.

Finally out of energy eh? good. When you don't have shit, you learn how to use it better, be more efficient, precise in your workings, unwavering in control. Of course, you are non of these things, so get cracking on the dual orientation training again. Start first with getting into the orientations separately with this little energy you have left. If you can manage those then you can get to the next step of switching them over rapidly and then focusing on your dual orientation, the final step.

Get Ironhead over to get all this loot out of your place, make sure nobody sees him enter.

Since you hardly wear it anymore your should give out your old 'dragonskin' armour to one of the russians, or get it Amencrafted(tm) to something classier with the same defensive capabilities.

[Zhenya orders]
-Hear about Chuganov, initially give no fucks. Think for a moment and realize that your family, minus mum maybe, wouldn't even care about what happened to you and just think of it as you dragging the family down more. Be pissed. Be pissed more when you realize you don't even know where your mum is, she could be suffering or still buggered off around the world somewhere. Remember dad's horrible death and the damn stupid fire that started everything in the first place get angrier.
-When you get home from training at Ito's be too pissed to grab your nap even though kind of tired, elect to do some shooting instead.
-Retain enough presence of mind not to grab the company bullets, instead grab your own bullets and your 2 EMF Hartfords and the season guns you have been training with.
-Get steadily more pissed as you keep shooting as you cannot get the bullets out fast enough to satisfy your rage even if you have enough guns. Briefly wish you had enough hands to shoot them all or at least faster fingers.
-Imbibe heavily at Lunch in attemps to drown anger, fail.
-Get to Ito's night sessions and attempt to take out rage on opponents. Be pissed off when you are even easier to read like this and can't hit them even with your 6 arms.
-Realize you are drunk and seeing multiples, apologize to Ito and excuse yourself. Be more pissed that you let yourself get pissed over this foolishness.
-Get home along mapped saferoutes and pass out.
>>
No. 391960 ID: c6ce12

Matvey

Accept Ito's terms. The loss of pay isn't a big problem, but you will miss teaching and hope to return to it once you're not in danger of dying. Ask him if he would be ammenable to allowing a non-human guest in the next time everyone gets together for drinks. If he has any questions try to describe the Boss Weasel to him and assure him it's a nice enough fellow, great drinker, does impressions.

Stand in shock for a couple seconds at the bomb Armas dropped on you. Hastily attempt to organize a meeting so this issue can be dealt with appropriately. Be diplomatic and diffuse problems that arise as needed. Look to organize and develop proposed solutions into a report for the Boss as soon as possible.

Hope the Boss takes into account this particular dick move when he's dolling out bonuses.

Be entirely drained of energy due to the demands made of you from both the earlier mission you helped coordinate and handling your rightfully concerned comrades queries.

Feel terrible about your own situation with your parents, being a selfish idiot and out of contact when they needed you. About the trouble you've caused them and about not trying to find a solution until just now.

Wake up, wander the halls to try and find the Boss and give him the report of what group came up with last night, tell him you'll keep him informed.

At breakfast continue to puzzle over what teas and alcohol go together. Defer to Boris' judgement on the matter and if he has none forgo the tea entirely.

Locate Boss Weasel, ask if he would like to go out and meet some new drinking partners. Casually use magic words or 'free booze'

Go out during your lunch hour and purchase more ingredients for the next drinking session, prepare to pay several hundred dollars with the booze funnel weasel's pressence in mind.

Jump right into your new Chakra training schedule, attempt to get a good start and hit the ground running. When you fail at something continue being unflappable, getting back up and trying again until you get it right.

Work through the weariness that night as you hang out during the drinking session. See how things go. Talk with Lyubov about it when you get home.

>>
No. 392153 ID: e3f546

Grisha Orders
-Be restive about her father's state, after all the bastard Monster General is sending hooks out for us, any way it is looked at this won't be good at all for his job as a mechanic.
-Curse Chugainov and his bloody shadow army a second time.
-Eat breakfast and what is this
-Get something to cut the heat of the meal. Decide to buy yoghurt to add to meals in future if smell is off.
-Try not to think of family issues at chakra training, not dying is immediately more important than that.
-Ask Andrei about his caffiene intake next time you see him.
-Pick up yoghurt after
-Instead of sleeping, search for news regarding your father. Curse Chugainov again, slimy bastard, sullying the memory of comrades fallen in that event.
-When that dries up, try to make sense of the mansion layout.
>>
No. 392276 ID: 3af16b

>>392243

Most all of this seems fine to me. We could expand the "teaching contest" to include an actual reward for Hillevi if Satai grows more than Lyubov does in the next couple of weeks. Something she'd appreciate, like goblin stealth training, or maybe just a request she can make that she feels is of commensurate value against the difference in growth and training between Satai, Lyubov, and the general population of Russians. The goal here is to make Armas not want to lose, and thus work to improve his own teaching abilities, as well as encourage Hillevi to make gains in her teaching technique.

ARMAS ORDERS

That was pretty good, dropping that emotional bomb on Matvey and Camella. You had to hear about it from Lyubov, of all people. Both of the officers should have let you know when they did. This is why we have telephones! Give your officers a conference call and say as much.

"Hey, I dropped that on your laps last night because I was pissed that I had to hear about it from Lyubov instead of you two. And I know she told you both already, I could see it in your faces. If that's what that meeting you wanted was about Matvey, then you need to make a point of saying stuff like 'urgent' and 'important to company morale.' I want a written report on what the plan is in my room, waiting for me to read before I go to sleep tonight. If you need my help with any aspect, let me know. Either way I want to review it before you enact it. We copacetic?"

"As long as I got both of you on the phone, anything else I need to hear?"

"Fine. I'll talk to you both later."

Give Ironhead a call, find out how he wants to perform the goods transfer. Tell him you could probably arrange a very discrete 3rd party to do the running if he doesn't mind paying the courier fee (talking about the wyld goblins here, but we don't want to give that away yet).

Give Adelat a call. We're just going to troll her a little. "Hey, I just wanted to call and make sure it's clear between us that your, eh, visit was not so annoying that it made me hate you or anything. Not that I ever did hate you, it was just a relationship that didn't really work out. Those happen."

"Uh. Wow, that's pretty mean, Adelat."

"Now hang on, I didn't-"

"But that's-"

"You done? Let me talk. Like I said, I am not the guy who put you on probation, and I sure don't deserve that kind of abuse. As far as I'm concerned, that warehouse is was an opportunity for me. If you want to whine about that because you think I'm a criminal, fine, but don't metaphorically spit on me while you're doing it. Even if you're too angry and irrational to be friends, we can be polite to each other."

"I went to the effort of calling you to, again, try being friendly. I don't like it when things end on a sour note, and honestly that was a pretty bitter parting. Can we agree to try to be polite at least?

"Thank you. Now, that whole incident made me start paying more attention to my news sources. Reporters, their informers, and the like, really. So I heard about that mess at the station last evening. It sounded like someone went and tried to frame old Captain Demir there, ruin his home life and his career. Is he in a similar boat as you, or what?"

"Huh. Well you think this mess will make them re-examine things? Maybe find that you're neither incompetent nor a criminal?"

"Well I wish you luck; hopefully they'll realize you're a keeper. I've got another question though. What the hell happened to all that evidence? No one's talking and if someone can just break into the police like that how the hell can I hope to keep my secrets secure?"

At this point she'll either say she doesn't know, since the department is in an uproar over it, or she'll do the obvious and snark about how Armas' secrets are all stupid anyway, perhaps with commentary on them, perhaps not. If that breaks the contract, say, "Holy shit, Adelat you agreed not to talk about that. You fucking idiot." Then try exercising whatever magic the goblins put in that contract to ensure that you can control the forfeited property. If there is no magic like that (seems unlikely) leave it alone for now. You'll want to pay her visit in person.

If she doesn't trip the contract, try to get legitimate advice out of her, and then end the call on a polite note.

Later, when you see Hillevi, propose the "teaching contest" as outlined in response to Arkeus' post. And you know what? You're going to make a point of doing really awesomely, because if you don't, you're going to owe Hillevi a pretty big favor. If you and Hillevi keep your teaching rates neck and neck, and both Lyubov and Satai make good progress ahead of the rest of the Russians, you'll have an excuse to provide Hillevi with a nice reward anyway (but not something outrageous).

Have Amen make clothes for Silja. "Make a garment for Silja based on the design of a nice pencil-skirt and office-appropriate top, with appropriate undergarments and a hat with a hole for the bayonet."
>>
No. 392283 ID: 3af16b

LYUBOV ORDERS

*Oh Boss, you so crazy. At least you’re making sure things happen.
*Look to Matvey and Camella for how to deal with this mess. Let them field most of the questions, they both know as much as you do.
*Notice how tight lipped Camella is being.
*Bring up the idea of sending messages through “this priest I know, he’s a good man, he is concerned always about rightness instead of piousness.”
*Volunteer to arrange more fake identities, if we need them.
*Be generally in favor of plans that involve evacuating the families.
*Afterward meeting and duties, swing by liquor store and buy a bottle of good wine ($45). Go home, visit Camella’s room. Drink with her if she agrees, and let her know you’re not angry or anything, that you understand she’s really busy and preoccupied, and that you’re glad Matvey and Armas were able to get things rolling. Make a point of deflecting any apology she offers. Putting things off was not a good thing, but it is what happened.
*Talk about your mom a little, mention you got Armas to agree to hire her if she wants a job as his secretary. Chat about whatever Camella wants to talk about. If she asks about the Communication for Couples books, admit it was you and apologize for overstepping bounds and misunderstanding.
*When things wind down, go to bed.
*Wake, seek out Sake weasel rub, examine his bling to see how well it’s holding up.
*Go on a jog, keep up with Camella. Today will be better than yesterday!
*Shower, breakfast, realize the breakfast is tainted with too much hot sauce. Eat cereal.
*Keep thinking about your mom, happy thoughts, while you do your chakra training.
*During training with Armas, answer his question, “I’m not really sure what it is, I mean you keep trying to embarrass me so maybe I’m sort of like that but I never though so and I’ve never had any boyfriends who were into weird things like, uh, that, and after all that excitement about the families last night I’ve been kind of distracted all day and…wait. Are you saying it’s just being distracted? Doesn’t matter what?”
*”Then why did you pick those distractions? Was that leer serious!?” Be mortified. Mortified, mortified, mortified.
*Go through with the training anyway, as long as it’s not outrageously horrible.
*Go finish writing your letter to mom, include Armas’ job offer and how he lets employees stay in his mansion.
*Research everyone’s family, as mentioned in the new articles.
*Eat dinner, ask Gloom if he wants to go to church with you on Sunday.
*Go to Night Lessons.
*On the way, notice Zhenya is wasted. Try to talk sense into her. Fail because Zhenya is a stubborn drunk.
*When Zhenya starts to see sense at the dojo, walk her home. Make sure she is safe. Help her, tuck her in, go back to the dojo.
*Keep looking for methods to keep yourself distracted while you train.
*Go home, talk to Sake about distraction techniques applicable.
*Go to sleep.
>>
No. 392284 ID: 7499c7

Gloom
* In meeting about family, urge caution, as the harassment they are getting now is nothing compared to what will happen if Chuginov gets proof we've defected. Doing nothing may be the least bad option until the attention dies down, and we can arrange an extraction.
* Ask Armas if he can find out if it's possible for a blood mage to use our parents' blood to track or effect us.
* Begin trying to practice the commander's way of moving, as you've seen it when performing live fire exercises as the first step of replicating his stealth. It's bound not to be all there is to it, but it might give a clue to what's missing. Politely ask Camella if she has any tips, as she's the only one who seems to be able to pin him down in a fight. If she can counter what he does, perhaps she can explain it. Make sure to mention to her that it would really give him a surprise when sparring if someone can pull his trick right back at him.

Armas
* Meditate on what the precise sensations of being out of energy are. Try repeatedly eating a small piece of magical meat to gain some summer energy whilst focusing on the process of consumption and assimilation, then spend it on flesh-crafting so you have none left again.
* It's also been a while since we left BC behind at the Valkonens. We should talk to the children again, and after finishing with them ask if they can get him on the line.
* You should spend a few hours today on the shooting range. You finally got back into the groove, and wouldn't it surprise Arkvad when he's in town for the mere repair to find you're actually competent, or even skilled. It should be very possible to scam a few beers out of him with some carefully chosen bets on the subject as well...

>>391854
SUST trying to cheat Ironhead - he may have access to police sources to get an inventory, and we'll have no way of telling.

>>392243
SUST going outside today, we're flat out of energy and we have no idea what the side effects will be after we stay in that state for a while. Einrik could well be trying to troll us.
SUST buying alcohol, the Russians can earn back drinking privileges when their souls aren't about to explode.
>Check every differences. Can we use Chakra? Can we see souls? Can we sense items? Can we attention-sense? How is our body feeling? Armas should ...
Upvote

>>392276
The competition sounds good, but we should set it up so that each week we both randomly select a student, and the one who's student has improved the most, as judged by HB, Sake, and Camella, wins.
>>
No. 392292 ID: c6ce12

>>391748
I'm just going to suggest two things you should do today, neither should even take that long. Pick up Silja and just talk to her. She's just been reintroduced to the world, we should see how she feels about getting more involved with it and interacting again. It's a delicate subject but this is important for her. How would she feel about getting the foot in the door for interaction with people again?

Then grab your phone and give Einrik a buzz. There was interest expressed earlier at the idea of having the skeleton of a Doonongaes grace their bone yard, but due to unfortunate circumstances they haven't been able to lay their hands on any intact bones. We are in the opportunity to remedy this. In trade for a significant portion of the skeleton we would ask for several things from his personal contributions to the yard. I'm thinking a good portion of spine and some ribs as the basis? See how much he'll offer for that and tweak the deal as required. In exchange for that we would like small portions from angelic class beings and those of a royal female with a bloodline who was or died a queen (This is to satisfy Meat of the Champions which does work with bones.). We want the highest quality he can offer, we don't need a whole skeleton a singular bone should do. We would also be interested in bones of female winter entities with human appearances, but unlike the first request we're prioritizing quantity over quality.

>>391854
SUST on cherry picking anything from his pile. We just went through a hell of a lot of effort to rush through a plot just to avoid breaking our word due to time frame. Don't try and lose us our Word Like Gold trait like this. Let's just check the inventory and do our own appraisal so we can get a rough idea of what everything is worth and what our cut should look like. If we want the good stuff we can make a list and point out to him what we'd like to buy later, he may oblige and let us get the first shot.

>>392276
This is going to look biased no matter what, but you're going to want to change the initial dialogue if you want to be at all consistent. Saying someone should tell you when they learned of something and then chastising them for your refusal to listen is kind of sending mixed messages.

And a genuine SUST to having Amen create Silja clothes right now, that just seems like it'll do more harm than good at this stage in her development.
>>
No. 392296 ID: 619ee6

IGOR
+Igor doesn't have family back in Russian, so is at first mostly feeling restless because of the sudden pain and anger he can feels around him.
+His second though is “why the fuck didn't we anticipate this? This is chugainov, after all. He then realize that getting drunk on freedom and 'power' helped him ignore the obvious.
+As he has a current request from Dick Boss, he is not going to have time to do much about it, and knows that as a somewhat-observer, butting in wouldn't be appreciated, so he resolves to see Dick Boss today and ask him if dick boss could order significant amount of alcohol.


>Asking Duke in awesome rhymes if his true Nature is a Dragon Dick. Be bummed when realizing Einrik troll, and forgetting what you were talking about.
Einrik troll was awesome, but there was no reason to not continue asking his true nature. By now, Duke probably like you enough to answer now, and we want to win that bet with IT, if only to feel good about our awesomeness. Do that.

>Golem
-Got to Kardemir steel plant with Igor (sorry guy, need you) and Sataias bodyguard, as well as Hillevi (We need to see her more, she is our ward. Ask her how hard it is, and how long of a NN bubble overload does she think she could deal with it. Try to follow up that weird noise stuff, as well visit more normally. While with Satai and Hillevi, ask them what they were doing together earlier. Upon remembering Hillevi is mentoring Satai on Chakra, be impressed at Satai's opportunity grabbing and fast talking, but that won't stop you from trolling him. Give Hillevi express permission to train him as hard s she likes as long as he doesn't die permanently . He has to do what she says, yadda yadda, if he complains blah blah. This should also remind Armas to continue trolling lyubov during her own 'lessons'. Should step up the difficulty a notch- can't get Hillevi be 'better' than us, can we?

>Yeah, I need to shake his hand next time I see him. That was well fucking played.
We REALLY need to have a very solid troll for when he gets back. The most delicious I could see is 'make Hillevi do that troll'. If we were able to teach Hillevi how to be manipulative, as well as greatly improve her skills, I am sure we could find a way for Hillevi to utterly confuse Einrik. And, if there is one person Einrik WON'T expect to be outdone by when it comes to 'skill' or 'mental/social traits', it's Hillevi.

>Armas manipulating Hillevi into using manipulation for teaching, and make a game of being a 'rival/mentor' to her when it comes to it.
Having Hillevi mentor Satai is a good beginning. Armas should watch closely how she does it, and give “advices” from time to time. Those advices should be centered on analyzing how Satai ticks, which should come from a combination of body language, actions and soul sensing. As Armas understood how to manipulate Lyubov into giving her all into learning, he knows it's possible, and Armas know he is godly at analyzing and manipulating people. It's simply logical he could also do that to make sure they give much more of themselves into training than they otherwise would be able to. For example, Satai has established patterns when it comes to learning (gain information, take action, repeat), but I am sure we could find how to make him tick into going a bit farther.

>Ironhead
Don't even talk about the thing you got before unless he asks about it- it's ours. Get money, but put a goodly bit into our own account, as it can easily serve as a multiplier at the Arena.

>Arena
Make sure Camella gets a weasel rub, and get her to the Arena with Hillevi. If she needs convincing, a simple “Well, I did it fairly easily” would push her into going.

>Being out of energy.
Check every differences. Can we use Chakra? Can we see souls? Can we sense items? Can we attention-sense? How is our body feeling? Armas should try to spar against someone strong but 'safe' today- let's say Igor or Lyubov- to see if his performance drops in ways he doesn't expect.

>Igor talking about buying alcohol.
Sure, do that while we are outside today. Can't hurt to barter a bit and get some sweet, sweet oblivion for our shocked troops.

>>392292
Upvoting all of this, as it shouldn't take too long and well worth the effort.
>>
No. 392297 ID: 431fa8

>Satai orders
>Friday post-newsbomb
-In response to Armas' announcement, try to track down sources. Find out who let Armas know about this, how they found out, look at whatever source they used originally and seek other sources for further information. Get details on exactly what is happening before freaking out.
-Find out if those who died trying to kill Armas are on the list, and then if their families are being menaced as well. If they are, then we need to help them too... however we do it.
-Decide time and distraction is needed to think about this. The job for Ironhead provides an excellent excuse; go away from other people, then give him a call and inquire on behalf of the company where the $50k that should have come our way for a certain meeting is. His second job is almost complete, and we still haven't been paid for the first one- that just can't fly. Try to make agitation over family's situation come off as a professionally displeased attitude. If he doesn't get us the cash promptly, hunt down Armas in the early morning before he makes any sales and point out that we probably shouldn't be selling these goods to someone who has cheated us once.
-Drink vodka. Consider calling family in spite of the dangers. Drink more vodka. Strongly consider emailing sister in university in spite of the fact that her email is probably monitored. Drink more vodka. Be sure that the company assets currently in hand would be more than enough to extract all family from Russia, and almost willing to do it but unsure how bad the situation really is or if they'd even be glad of it. Finish bottle. Go to sleep before doing something colossally stupid.
>Saturday
-Barely drag self out of bed and into proximity of Sake, attempt to gain relief from hangover and misery with the news of when his commission will be complete.
-When time is free, call up Arkvad, who Satai met on a certain night out, and ask if he can recommend a good clipping service, someone to keep track of specified bits of news for our company. Someone with supernatural news sources would be nice, but even a reliable, discreet mundane group could be invaluable.
-Ask Feodor to find out the suppliers of that black market doctor he's hanging out with and see if he can get his hands on some drug supplies relatively cheaply. Look into it, at least. Some study drugs might help out the whole company given what we're doing now, if nothing else, and we can probably rely on Sake to eliminate most side effects.
-Push for any method we can manage of establishing secure communication with our relatives, or better still, somehow teleporting around to go and talk to them in person if we can get in and out of the country safely. There must be ways of doing this, and we can throw money and services at the problem. Turn to Armas, Duke, and Hillevi for suggestions as to exactly what might be able to accomplish this because they actually know things about magic.
-In chakra training with Hillevi, work on trying to understand how to talk to her better, with the hope of soon being able to gently nudge her talking in the directions needed to provide more understanding, since it's clear that she's not really a talented instructor. If this doesn't work out well Satai will be stuck going back to even more melee practice in shame, and that must be avoided at all costs- make it happen.

>>391748
Spend at least another hour or so talking with Silja. We need to make this a habit- by talking with her and gradually introducing her to the way that things really are with our careful spin on it she grows more accepting of them, and hopefully soon able to re-enter the real world while acting under our direction. This will require careful emotional manipulation.

While Camella and the Russians are training, bring Silja to a place where you can watch them, and communicate with her (silently, so the company can't hear). Note, do not mention that the Russians are Russian yet. "My company- and friends too, at least some of them. Working for me, though. They're in a bad state at the moment for more than one reason... stuck working really hard like this every morning because they got too much magic in them thanks to one of my bad judgment calls. I was careless, and barely noticed the problem in time. If they can't learn a little bit of magic, their bodies will sicken or their souls will pop or something. There are so many ways to get hurt in this world... even hiding in the nice things. It's hard to look after each other."

"Anyway, that's just the beginning of their problems. Camella there is from another world and can't get home; we're all she's got, because no one else that she remembers can remember she even exists. And the rest of them... they were in an army under a very bad man, the pedophile I told you about way back. He ordered them all to try and kill me, expecting them to die trying. I fought them off and offered them a new job working for me. It's gone pretty well so far, but... that general is threatening their families, now. I don't even begin to know how to handle that. We can't tear everyone they're related to away from all their lives and friends to bring them here- the Turks would probably try to deport them, and even if we got them all fake identification there's no guarantee they'd be happy. I want to make them have good lives, make us all get strong together and have great adventures and all that sort of thing, you know? But that's a tough dream to keep to, sometimes."

Go elsewhere, introduce her to Sake. "Silja, meet Sake. My weasel-brother. Cute, isn't he? We met in Finland shortly before I met you, actually- he's a kamaitachi, a Japanese trickster wind spirit, but both of his brothers were killed and then he was. His killer brought his corpse back and threw it in a graveyard full of trophies, but Sake hung on for years and years, too stubborn and desperate to die even as nothing more than a skeleton. When I met him he possessed another weasel and almost killed me, but eventually I realized that I would rather have him as a friend than take vengeance- and what he really needed was new brothers. Got him a new body, too; that's actually a ramidreju, a kind of Spanish magic weasel. We can't really replace what he lost, but maybe we can bring him a new sort of existence and happiness."

Then go sit somewhere alone with her, looking out into the city. Make sure there's a possibility of her seeing her reflection if she chooses to look at it, but she doesn't have to. Stroke her softly and talk. "We make quite a crew here, don't we? A whole mansion full of people with our problems. But at least we're facing them together. They'll understand what's happened to you and won't hesitate before accepting you as who and what you really are. You'll fit right in, I promise."

Spend some time after this sitting with her and talking gently. Keep trying to bolster her emotionally, and make her feel like no matter how strange her situation you'll be there for her and she's got a future ahead of her, with people who will be friends and companions and not blink before accepting her past because they've had issues of their own and know what it's like, at least to some extent. If she seems particularly depressed, bringing the hummingbird into the conversation is probably a good failsafe for bringing things back into a positive mood. She does think he's ridiculously adorable, after all.


Call Ironhead and negotiate our way into making tons of money plus a tank on this sale.

Go to Kardemir in the afternoon. Wear a suit, bring Igor and Satai, and chase down anything magical that we can get our eyes on. Use our soul senses to identify those who are important and try to persuade them into spilling their secrets- this is a manufacturing company, so it's a good bet that any unusual bits will be some form of specialized manufacture- try to push the angle that we're a potential buyer with resources. Once we've determined what resources are available here, try to come to some kind of beneficial arrangement where we gain access to as many of them as possible. It's difficult to plan without more information, but unless there's something truly mindblowing and dangerous there we should be able to talk our way right through any and all encounters, because we are a skillful and manipulative bastard.

Before bed, talk to Silja some more. Try to get her to talk about what she's thinking and feeling- we need her to feel like she can share her thoughts and emotions with us safely, both as part of establishing a firm bond and so that we can manipulate her more effectively.

>>392276
>Have Amen make clothes for Silja.
SUST. That's a sick joke that makes mockery of her situation more than it does anything useful. She is not in an emotional state where she could take it at all well- she'd take it as basically making fun of her, or if we do convince her that it's a genuine gesture she'd see us as even more half-crazy.

We need to help her accept herself as she is, not taunt her with what she is not.
>>
No. 392298 ID: 252e1b

>>392276

Oh, and check the Smiling One's website. It's been three weekdays since you last visited.
>>
No. 392310 ID: 02a582

Armas Orders
>>391854
Upvoting with regards to chakra, downvoting trying to cheat Ironhead.

>>391944
Upvoting going to Kardemir, especially investigating the sounds. Downvoting trying to convince Hillevi to kill Satai as a joke, because that's retarded.

>>392276
>>392297
>>392298
Upvoting all of these.

Text Davgon about whether he's heard of anyone "farming" spirit animals - deliberately putting mundane animals into dangerous situations in order to cause soul formation.

After going to Kardemir, take Satai into Silah Dunyasi and have them set him up as a proxy for our purchases, so he can buy stuff via our account.



Feodor Orders
*Return from Finnigan's. Drink. Get some sleep, if there's time.
*Jog again. Use the same techniques as last time to improve the laggers, but if there's no improvement, deliberately fall behind, and then try to pass them again.
*During chakra training with Camella, remember the others talking about Chugainov. Seethe with anger at the mere memory of that psychotic bastard, vow inwardly to get revenge on him for how he treated your men.
*Worry for your mother, with Chugainov harassing her. She's lost both of her sons and her husband, she doesn't need the trouble from him too. Realise, with horror, that you never saw your brother's body after his death. He may have been taken by the Black Ops army, just like you, and your family was just told he had died.
*In the afternoon, find Sake and ask him if he's thought about what you said. If he agrees to help, tell him you've thought of two possibilities: he can help you find some magical way to improve your medical abilities - whether that is an item, training, or something else he can think of - or he can use his abilities to remove your need for sleep while you're working with Finnigan. If he doesn't agree, tell him you're disappointed, and leave.
*Get to Ito's early, before the chakra training begins for the evening, and ask him if you can switch to being an instructor during the day instead of at the night classes, for a week or two, and if you can get your training with him earlier as well.
*After night classes, head straight to Finnigan's. Begin a journal, and whenever the work dies down, take note of all the procedures you perform, injuries treated, etc. At the end of the night, ask him where he gets the drugs he uses. Don't tell Satai, yet.
>>
No. 392320 ID: d97a61

>>391905
>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>Wake up. First things first, didn't get a chance to check out that lesion yesterday. Look at it now. Be confused that it looks like he bit his cheek. Talk to Feodor about it, and also ask Boss if this is a sign of the whole 'exploding' thing and why weasel healing didn't heal that. Be given an odd look by boss initially. Get Feodor being frustrated as his lack of personal understanding of what the lesion is. Hear back from boss when he casually tells you to let him cut off your cheek, and just get you healed back up-why bother dealing with a persistent injury if he can stomach a little pain for a bit and just reset? Awaiting player input.
>Give laserdisc printouts to boss. See Bossman Smile. Wonder if there is such a thing as getting used to that.
>Breakfast. Find it hot-not in the good way. Miss Dave's Insanity Sauce. Look into getting that, when free-time is had. Laugh morbidly at the thought of 'free time'.
>Look into yesterday's headache with kitchen cameras because somefucker is going to regret that. Once more, find... not much. A single, blurred frame's flick, nothing more. ...Decide that if he really wants an answer, he'd need to get heavy duty hi-speed cameras-and that there would be no notion of subtlety about their presence.
>Six hours of Chakra Murder Fun Time. Bring up the Wall with Camella during the morning routine. Find out why pushing harder doesn't work: Find out about what she calls soul capacitance and soul coherence. Find out how capacitance is a soul's energy, and that any given capacity has a minimum required coherence to keep the soul stable. Find out she's pretty sure this principle is why pushing harder doesn't work, as the gains he made were from a coherence gain from the near-death experience, but still have the same base capacitance. Ponder this.
>Dojo Days. Ow. Take a baby aspirin on the way home. For health.
> Pick up new 1TB External Hard Drive in stagger back from Dojo. Price should be about $80. Look at that, it's $79.99.
>Home again home again, jiggety jig. Also, lunch. See if Boris can do Chicken Vindaloo. Get... a passable attempt. Not bad, at least. Try and explain what was off so he can do it better next time. Make mental note to ask for dish again some time.
>Debate what is the most important thing to do - with all this weirdness, decide on finding out about that. Apologize to Lyubov and say that her computer will be checked later.
>After lunch, find Boss. Threaten him with floppy disc while asking his opinion on it. Broach the subject of finding out what is actually wrong with the disc and, if magical, bring up how to combat hacking that uses magic when our current computer is mundane and most of Andrei's skills are related to mundane hacking. Use 'fuck' a minimum of 25 times. Be told that Andrei and/or Satai will have Bossman's endorsement to buy any materials needed to upgrade the house electronic resource as they see fit, but until such upgrades can be implemented-or researched-to make a habit of using external hard-drives when testing anything, and be ready to perform the oldest of safety measures-burn it.
>Just to make sure, repeat this process with Shadow Boss. Use 'fuck' a maximum of 10 times. Breath more. Be told that magical code is a rare topic, and that frankly he's not convinced this one example is proof positive the house needs more defenses-but will defer to Armas.
>Spend the rest of the five hours trying to find information personally. Make very little real progress-but get a clue: probably something that Lightning and/or Mind Manipulators could do, if what the forums he's yet found are anything to go by-and they do sort of match up with what the Boss has said so far.
>Almost forget dinner. Snag something cold and/or energy-bar-ish on the way out.
>Like Dojo nights For presenting the same and sole difficulty they've ever presented: superior foes that are a struggle to not be overwhelmed by, an issue that's grown more problematic as their sparring partners have gotten more adept. Enjoy relief from the Wall encountered with general chakra training even as learning continues.
[Rostislav has been queued to do the following:]
-Hear news about family.
-Recall that Father only wants to see him dead or worse and mother is already dead. Consider lack of any real family ties to be troubled by the announcement; be one of the few who don't give a shit about new info, until he realizes that Pops might be looking for him.
-Briefly regret being a scrappy bastard, father disowning you for not being able to control yourself and hospitalizing the wrong man's son, regret fades as he realizes the awesomeness of current employ as well as safety of it relative to the job he'd previously thought he'd have for life.
- Drop teaching at Ito's and paycheck - it's not very fulfilling right now. Approach Ito about just getting Chakra training. Since he's aware of the situation the Russians find themselves in, he agrees-and notes he could probably only handle six such full time students at once, old man that he is.
-Decide against beating the shit out of rookie fighter clubs even when he runs into one that calls himself 'Titanium Bull'. Continue to seek out stronger fight clubs for self-improvement. Finally get a point in a promising direction and find a place in an abandoned bomb shelter beneath an aged hookah lounge. Note that some of the dudes fighting seem to have sort of magic-like tricks-be unsure, as it doesn't really seem on the scale he's seen with the Boss or back under Chugainov. Wonder if maybe that's Chakra use? Awaiting player input on how to handle any attempt to fight at this new location.
[Igor has been queued to do the following:]
I-Ruminate over the fact he doesn't have family back in Russian, but still feel restless and the need to do SOMETHING about what's going on there.
I-Remember that he has a request from dick boss. This means he will mostly go to Matvey and make sure he is aware that if he needs anything, he will (suicidally) drop everything else. Be told by Matvey that it's stupid to tell a lower ranking officer he'll be prioritized over the orders of the very boss that has thus far rather amazingly improved the quality of their lives-and ignores question about the subsequently increased surrealism of their lives.

Fail to do anything else because SERIOUSLY TWO FUCKING DAYS TO PUT UP MINION ORDERS. I'm not rewriting them again motherfucker. If you aren't sure about your orders, don't post them until you're sure.
[Gloom has been queued to do the following:]
* In meeting about family, urge caution, as the harassment they are getting now is nothing compared to what will happen if Chuginov gets proof we've defected.
*Then recall that he must have assumed such if Jidkova confirmed their survival after encountering Armas-and finding their fake graves.
* Ask Armas if he can find out if it's possible for a blood mage to use our parents' blood to track or effect us. Be told it's rather probable.
*Say nothing about the fact he is internally torn on whether making sure his family dies has really become the more appealing option to him over attempting their rescue. Feel morbidly entertained by the lack of emotion on his part.
* Suggest that one option is for the Valkonens to make some gesture that implies they feel a responsibility for mortals that they kill, given the power disparity. If they start with the soldiers who were blown up by the back-blast from trying to break the walls of the igloo, it might deter further harassment. Be shot down by Hillevi, who says there's no way her dad would do that.
*Again, hear nothing you like about the leader of this clan the boss is so heavily intertwined with-even while begrudgingly admitting the two you've met haven't been so bad.
* Begin trying to practice the commander's way of moving, as he's seen it when performing live fire exercises several times now. Personally consider this as the first step of replicating boss's stealth.
*Be completely unsurprised by initial lack of progress, and pessimistically soldier on in pursuit of whatever small accomplishments can be made. Be willing to sink serious time into this and continue it past the resolution of their Chakra situation.
*After initial lack of measurable progress, decide it's bound to not be all in the movements, and be unsurprised by this.
*Decide that he feels pretty confident that practicing the footwork he's seen so far, if nothing else will make his footfalls softer.
*Politely ask Camella if she has any tips, as she's the only one who seems to be able to pin him down in a fight. If she can counter what he does, perhaps she can explain it. Be given a relatively insightful explanation, and decide she's clearly thought about her battles with Armas extensively to be so ready to thoroughly analyze them.
*Learn that the boss' ability is built upon reading the sensation of being watched-and without the ability to sense it far more finely than is natural, the footwork he's trying to pick up won't achieve much. Ponder her words, and wonder how he could acquire a finer sense of... Attention. Be averse to the idea of going directly to the boss for the same reason he's been innately distrustful of the boss from the get-go: feel that the boss simply rubs him the wrong way. Decide the job and opportunities are good enough he doesn't care right now.
*Recieve order to meet with Camella for an undisclosed reason. Wonder what's up with that.
*Awaiting player explanation of why Gloom's been continually standoffish to his fellow employees-something beyond 'that's just how I am'.
[Zhenya has been queued to do the following:]
-Hear about Chuganov, initially give no fucks. Think for a moment and realize that her family, minus her mum maybe, wouldn't even care about what happened to her and just think of it as her dragging the family down more. Realize this probably means they'll be safer. Be pissed.
-Be pissed more when she realizes she doesn't even know where your mum is, she could be suffering or still buggered off around the world somewhere. Remember dad's horrible death and the damn stupid fire that started everything in the first place get angrier.
-When she gets home from training at Ito's be too pissed to grab her nap even though kind of tired, elect to do some shooting instead.
-Retain enough presence of mind not to grab the company bullets, instead grab her own bullets and her 2 EMF Hartfords and the season guns she had been training with
-Get steadily more pissed as she keeps shooting as she cannot get the bullets out fast enough to satisfy her rage even if she has enough guns. Briefly wish she had enough hands to shoot them all or at least faster fingers. Completely miss her atrocious shot placement while she favors rate of fire over precision.
-Imbibe heavily at Lunch in attempt to drown anger, fail.
-Get to Ito's night sessions and attempt to take out rage on opponents. Be pissed off when you are even easier to read like this and can't hit them even with your 6 arms.
-Realize you are drunk and seeing multiples, apologize to Ito and excuse yourself. Be more pissed that you let yourself get pissed over this foolishness.
-Get home along mapped safe routes and pass out.

[Matvey has been queued to do the following:]
M-Accept Ito's terms. Be the second of six total students able to take Ito's offer to do only chakra training.
M-Decide the loss of pay isn't a big problem, but he will miss teaching and hopes to return to it once he's not in danger of dying.
M-Ask Ito if he would be amenable to allowing a non-human guest in the next time everyone gets together for drinks. In response to his questions, try to describe the Boss Weasel to him and assure him it's a nice enough fellow, great drinker, does impressions. After a considerable amount of wheedling, succeed.
M-Stand in shock for a couple seconds at the bomb Armas dropped on you. Hastily attempt to organize a meeting so this issue can be dealt with appropriately. Be diplomatic and diffuse problems that arise as needed. Look to organize and develop proposed solutions into a report for the Boss as soon as possible. Be completely receptive to everyone's questions and proposals.
M-Hope the Boss takes into account this particular dick move when he's dolling out bonuses.
M-Be entirely drained of energy due to the demands made of him from both the earlier mission he helped coordinate and handling his rightfully concerned comrades queries.
M-Feel terrible about his own situation with his parents, being a selfish idiot and out of contact when they needed him.
M-Think about the trouble he's caused them and about not trying to find a solution until just now.
M-Attempt to use recently forged dedication and resolve to shrug off potential distraction. (ROLL A D100 IN DISCUSSION. BEAT 45 TO SUCCEED)
M-Wake up, wander the halls to try and find the Boss and give him the report of what group came up with last night, tell him you'll keep him informed. Fail to realize this meeting was a hallucination.
M-At breakfast continue to puzzle over what teas and alcohol go together. Defer to Boris' judgement on the matter and if he has none forgo the tea entirely. Decide instead that a manly brunch of whiskey, whiskey and more whiskey should suffice.
M-Locate Boss Weasel, ask if he would like to go out and meet some new drinking partners. Casually use magic words of 'free booze'. Acquire Weasel Drinking partner.
M-Go out during your lunch hour and purchase more ingredients for the next drinking session, prepare to pay several hundred dollars with the booze funnel weasel's presence in mind. (Spend $375)
M-Attempt to jump right into his new Chakra training schedule, attempt to get a good start and hit the ground running. Be willing to tolerate failures. (dependent on roll requested above).
M-Work through the weariness that night as he hangs out during the drinking session. See how things go. Talk with Lyubov about it when you get home. Once more be riminded Lyubov does not 'do' sustained, coherent conversation so much as flighty topic changes on the fly.

>[Feodor has been queued to do the following:]
>Return from Finnigan's. Drink. Get some sleep with that remaining half hour. Hooooo boy, lot of sleep, right there.
>Jog again. Use the same techniques as last time to improve the laggers, but if there's no improvement, deliberately fall behind, and then try to pass them again. Fail to catch up again due to increased difficulty of variable pace jogging on a Camella jog.
>During chakra training with Camella, remember the others talking about Chugainov. Seethe with anger at the mere memory of that psychotic bastard, vow inwardly to get revenge on him for how he treated your men. Observe Camella noting he had more raw energy-but took a sizable precision hit while so aggravated.
>Worry for your mother, with Chugainov harassing her. She's lost both of her sons and her husband, she doesn't need the trouble from him too. Realise, with horror, that you never saw your brother's body after his death. He may have been taken by the Black Ops army, just like you, and your family was just told he had died. Wonder how he could possibly be certain what's the truth regarding the brother.
>In the afternoon, find Sake and ask Weasel Boss if he's thought about what was said. If Sake agrees to help, tell Weasel Boss he's thought of two possibilities: Sake can help him find some magical way to improve his medical abilities - whether that is an item, training, or something else Weasel Boss can think of - or Sake can use Weasel-rific abilities to remove his need for sleep while he's working with Finnigan. Receive weasel rubbings-admit to self (and no one else) that was pretty cuddly.
>Get to Ito's early, before the chakra training begins for the evening, and ask Ito if he can switch to being an instructor during the day instead of at the night classes, for a week or two, and if he can get his training with Ito earlier as well. Be told that's workable, but that it would mean a time reorganization, as more time at Ito's is spent training than being trained. Realize this means Feodor gets out of Ito's during the day two hours earlier-but has to show up two hours earlier for night classes. Live with it.
>After night classes, head straight to Finnigan's. Begin a journal, and whenever the work dies down, take note of all the procedures he performs, injuries treated, etc. Note that thus far, the only injuries treated have been knife and gun wounds.
>Speak with Satai-find out he's very interested in getting medical drugs from Doctor Finnigan.
[Grisha has been queued to do the following:]
-Be restive about her father's state, after all the Monster General is sending hooks out for her and fellow Russians, any way it is looked at this won't be good at all for father's job as a mechanic.
-Curse Chugainov and his bloody shadow army a second time.
-Eat breakfast and what is this crap that doesn't taste awesome.
-Get something to cut the heat of the meal. Decide to buy yoghurt to add to meals in future if smell is off. As a non-fan of spicy food, be aware that trouble could loom on the horizon.
-Try not to think of family issues at chakra training, not dying is immediately more important than that.
-Ask Andrei about his caffeine intake next time she see him. Be given a noncommittal response comprised primarily of grunts.
-Instead of sleeping, search for news regarding your father. Curse Chugainov again, slimy bastard, sullying the memory of comrades fallen in that event. Find no news, because pops was not exactly an internet friendly mechanic.
-When that dries up, try to make sense of the mansion layout. Continue to fail, and wonder if the mansion just... changes because it feels like it.

[Lyubov has been queued to do the following:]
*Oh Boss, he so crazy. At least he's making sure things happen.
*Look to Matvey and Camella for how to deal with this mess. Let them field most of the questions, they both know as much as you do. Be exceedingly happy Camella does NOT divulge the fact you've known for so long.
*Notice how tight lipped Camella is being. Be appreciative.
*Bring up the idea of sending messages through “this priest I know, he’s a good man, he is concerned always about rightness instead of piousness.” Initially be rejected, as she has no proof at all that the priest is trustable... yet.
*Volunteer to arrange more fake identities, if we need them. Find that no one's even thinking that far ahead. Wonder what's up with the shitty attitude towards family from most fellow minions. Inwardly laugh at self-typifying as a minion.
*Be generally in favor of plans that involve evacuating the families.
*Afterward meeting and duties, swing by liquor store and buy a bottle of good wine ($45). Go home, visit Camella’s room. Drink with her and let her know you’re not angry or anything, that you understand she’s really busy and preoccupied, and that you’re glad Matvey and Armas were able to get things rolling. Do not bat an eyelid at lack of apology from her. Putting things off was not a good thing, but it is what happened.
*Talk about her mom a little, mention she got Armas to agree to hire said mom if mom wants a job as Boss' secretary. Chat about whatever Camella wants to talk about. When she asks about the Communication for Couples books, admit it was you and apologize for overstepping bounds and misunderstanding. Be... decidedly surprised when she does not demand any apology. Contain speculative smirk at thought she is finally realizing she likes Bossman. Inwardly chortle at matchmaking going on.
*When things wind down, go to bed.
*Wake, seek out Sake weasel rub, examine his bling to see how well it’s holding up. Reapply his fur bling because that shit rubs off fast.
*Go on a jog, keep up with Camella. Today will be better than yesterday... is the thought she had. Fail to meet expectations when a stray dog shows up and chases her specifically.
*Shower, breakfast, realize the breakfast is tainted with too much hot sauce. Eat cereal. Briefly wonder if it's tainted too.
*Keep thinking about her mom, happy thoughts, while she does her chakra training.
*During training with Armas, answer his question, “I’m not really sure what it is, I mean you keep trying to embarrass me so maybe I’m sort of like that but I never thought so and I’ve never had any boyfriends who were into weird things like, uh, that, and after all that excitement about the families last night I’ve been kind of distracted all day and…wait. Are you saying it’s just being distracted? Doesn’t matter what?” On completion of fourth and final training session of the week, wonder if that's important, that Bossman got you to learn shearly by dint of distracting you.
*Ask Bossman ”Then why did you pick those distractions? Was that leer serious!?” Recieve further leers. Be mortified. Mortified, mortified, mortified-oh, and mortified, in case she forgot that.
*Go through with the training anyway, as long as it’s not outrageously horrible. ...Decide that this 'haigure' thing he's having you do is really strange, but not... THAT.... horrible. Be incredibly conflicted about the fact it still worked.
*Go finish writing her letter to mom, include Armas’ job offer and how Bossman lets employees stay in the mansion.
*Research everyone’s family, as mentioned in the new articles.
*Eat dinner, ask Gloom if he wants to go to church with her on Sunday. Awaiting input from Gloom's player.
*Go to Night Lessons.
*On the way, notice Zhenya is wasted. Try to talk sense into her. Fail because Zhenya is a stubborn drunk. Shrug-and decide to watch the street theater.
*When Zhenya starts to see sense at the dojo, walk her home. Make sure she is safe. Help her, tuck her in, go back to the dojo. Take note of fact Zhenya was probably too drunk to even notice her help.
*Keep looking for methods to keep yourself distracted while you train.
*Go home, talk to Sake about distraction techniques applicable. Be told that she'd have to discover it herself for it to have any meaning.
*Go to sleep.

$atai has already done the following:]
-In response to Armas' announcement, try to track down sources. Try to find out who let Armas know about this, how they found out, look at whatever source they used originally and seek other sources for further information. Get details on exactly what is happening before freaking out. Be exceptionally irritated that that everyone seems to be saying the info's brand new, despite this feeling... off.
-Find out that those who died trying to kill Armas aren't on the list. Decide the poor bastards at least got one stroke of luck.
-Decide time and distraction is needed to think about this. The job for Ironhead provides an excellent excuse; go away from other people, then give him a call and inquire on behalf of the company where the $50k that should have come our way for a certain meeting is. His second job is almost complete, and we still haven't been paid for the first one- that just can't fly. Try to make agitation over family's situation come off as a professionally displeased attitude. Be temporarily distracted from bad mood by sounds of enraged Ironhead demanding to know why pay was not given out from one of his flunkies-darkly chuckle when he hears gunshots and a pleading voice cut off.
BUSINESS FUNDS: +$50,000 $196,847.00
-Drink vodka. Consider calling family in spite of the dangers. Drink more vodka. Strongly consider emailing sister in university in spite of the fact that her email is probably monitored. Drink more vodka. Be sure that the company assets currently in hand would be more than enough to extract all family from Russia, and almost willing to do it but unsure how bad the situation really is or if they'd even be glad of it. Finish bottle. Go to sleep before doing something colossally stupid. Fail to notice a certain shadow watching him closely.
$atai has been queued to do the following:]
-Barely drag self out of bed and into proximity of Sake, attempt to gain relief from hangover and misery with the news of when his commission will be complete. Receive rubbings, perk up.
-When time is free, call up Arkvad, who Satai met on a certain night out, and ask if he can recommend a good clipping service, someone to keep track of specified bits of news for our company. Someone with supernatural news sources would be nice, but even a reliable, discreet mundane group could be invaluable. Be told about 'The Last Spelling', a group that will collect news both printed and oral and verify its authenticity for the subscriber-be forewarned that a 'subscription' is fairly costly, even for straightforward things. Be advised that it's not very cost-effective for personal curiousity.
-Ask Feodor to find out the suppliers of that black market doctor he's hanging out with and see if he can get his hands on some drug supplies relatively cheaply. Look into it, at least. Some study drugs might help out the whole company given what we're doing now, if nothing else, and we can probably rely on Sake to eliminate most side effects. Awaiting Feodor's response.
-Push for any method that can be managed that will establish secure communication with our relatives, or better still, somehow teleporting around to go and talk to them in person if we can get in and out of the country safely. There must be ways of doing this, and we can throw money and services at the problem. Turn to Armas, Duke, and Hillevi for suggestions as to exactly what might be able to accomplish this because they actually know things about magic. Be told by Boss that he's still trying to catch the only teleporter he's yet encountered-and that that should be a reasonable assessment of how hard it is to acquire such magic. Be told by Weasel Boss that short of the family being magically active, any magically-derived communication could put them at risk of the same oversaturation problems the Russians are currently dealing with. Be told by Hillevi that she's willing to talk to her dad and/or brother about it, but doesn't know what they could do. Be frustrated magic people are not knowledgeable about all fields of magic.
-In chakra training with Hillevi, work on trying to understand how to talk to her better, with the hope of soon being able to gently nudge her talking in the directions needed to provide more understanding, since it's clear that she's not really a talented instructor. Make progress on.... getting her to stop using descriptive hand motions in lieu of words. Surprisingly, this vastly improves how understandable her instruction is.

>>391854
...Ayup. I'll go ahead and say I DEFINITELY got that Dual Orientation to work last night right before I fell asleep.
>"You sure about that?"
Totally.
>"So do it now."
I WOULD-but I'm out of energy, so sad.

Instead, I call that loudmouth Ironhead and let him know I've got the goods, and we're ready for him to pickup. Underwhelmingly, he doesn't pick up-but I'm sure he'll get the message.
>>391868
After a few minutes have passed and I've got the barest semblance of power in my body-I try to run a Chakra Orientation at undercharge by starting it up normally, then lowering input energy. ...Problem is I don't have enough juice to start it normally-and have no idea how to 'start' a low-energy orientation-and it's not as simply as just 'hey let's just do it smaller scale'. For now, that's one experiment I can't do. Sad.
>>391871
On the plus side, there's good parts to being chakra-less. Like, for example-
Hey Hummingbird-how' it goin'? You still getting too much energy?
The bird in question restlessly ruffles it's feathers and flaps it's wings a single time, looking like someone working the kinks out of their body before speaking.
>[Hummingbird]"I note no energy flowing from you-and the relief from that deluge is palpable."
Good to know.
>>391896
Just to be thorough, I go over the haul with my horrendously limited magic item sense-and come up with a whole lot of nothing. ...Seems Jung wasn't carrying any magic gear-or if he was, the police already moved it. Well, that clears that up.
>>391954
I decide to... press on with the dual orientation training each time I've regenerated just enough energy to try one more time-and do my best to ignore that ravenous, painful hunger.
>[GGG Trait activated]
...It's not that bad, all things being said. It sucks, sure-but it's... tolerable, I suppose. My first attempt at a dual orientation shorts out too early to even know if it worked-so I decide to wait a bit longer before trying again.
>>392068
While I'm waiting for the next recharge-I call Riker. Sure, it's morning-and sure, that means it's the middle of the night for him. But... I've been a dick to that guy, politely of COURSE, enough that it'd be out of character for me to patiently wait for a proper time to call. Unsurprisingly-he picks up.
>[Riker]"Why are you interrupting my peaceful spooning? You have one chance to convince me this isn't grounds for me to go on a hunting trip to carve out your testicals. You know how I like my sleep."
"Yeah yeah sarge-actually, I was calling about the agent. How'd that shit go?"
>[Riker]"Can't you ask that Il Nona chick you had fill in for you?"
"...Okay, seriously?"
>[Riker]"She's not the first slider I've indirectly worked with."
"No shit."
>[Riker]"Yeah. So, seems she impressed-but here's the thing-you and yours have been labeled as a liability, potential profitability or no. This may or may not have something to do with them having learned a bit more about you, the guy running that outfit."
"Must they really judge me by my past?"
>[Riker]"Yeah, they really must. Plus side, they didn't reject or blacklist you-they're just sitting on their asses. Most likely outcome is that they find a situation where your... eccentricity isn't an issue, and have you handle that as a field test. Until then though? Sit on your ass and wait or do your own thing, they won't really care. Now'd that answer your middle-of-the-night questions, or are you going to keep me up longer?"
"No I think that did it."
>[Riker]"Stay safe you fucker."
*click*

..Ah Riker. Love that shithead. ANYWAY-
I call up Gun World and get them to add Satai to my account as a verified buyer-I have to pointedly ignore a few questions about the nature of our relationship, but by the end of the call Satai's cleared to make purchases in my name at the chain. Having blown enough time to build something up, I again try a dual orientation-and while I once more fail to really get it going, I almost could say the process felt... more streamlined, I suppose.
>>392276
While waiting for the next round of trial and error to be possible-I call up Matvey and Camella in a conference call-fucking love my phone's got a built-in app to host that. Once both are on the line, I POLITELY inform them of my views.
"Hey, I dropped that on your laps last night because I was pissed that I had to hear about it from Lyubov instead of you two. And I know she told you both already, I could see it in your faces. If that's what that meeting you wanted was about Matvey, then you need to make a point of saying stuff like 'urgent' and 'important to company morale' or even 'hey boss you should really make this a priority' or SOMETHING. I want a written report on what the plan is in my room, waiting for me to read before I go to sleep tonight. If you need my help with any aspect, let me know. Either way I want to review it before you enact it. We copacetic?"
While Matvey offers no retorts to this, and I could swear I already hear him writing, Camella speaks up.
>[Camella]"Putting aside the moral questions involved since they really don't have the relevance to you they could-practically speaking, was there anything we could accomplish then that we can't now?"
"Realistically? Probably nothing but that's not the point and you know it."
>[Camella]"Matvey, leave Ito's an hour early. I'll work with you on the report."
>[Matvey]"Okay.jpg"
"As long as I got both of you on the phone, anything else I need to hear?"
>[Matvey]"I'm concerned about Gloom, but not enough I think an intervention of any sort is necessary."
>[Camella]"I'll talk to him."
"Great. I'll talk to you both later."
*CLICK*

Ah... being a boss dick. Always fun. Speaking of being a dick....

...DAMMIT, Adelat's either blocking my calls, not picking up or flat unavailable. Shit sucks.
>>392284
In the future SPECIFY the gun(s) Armas practices with-there's too many of too many different designs to just say 'go practice shooting'. If it's left completely open ended next time, he'll just flounder and accomplish nothing.
For the next few hours as morning becomes day, I continue to focus on my depleted state. First I have the bright idea of eating small bits of magical meat to feel the energy difference-but that doesn't pan out largely due to the fact I can hold so much energy a little bit of meat doesn't do squat. I keep trying for Dual Orientation anyway-and have to say the 'feels more efficient' thing is staying relevant. Still feels... odd, not quite off, but definitely different to try this way.

After that-I give the Riihivuori kids a call while I'm at the shooting range in the mansion. I check in with them-seems they've 'adopted' a Domovoi with Markku's aid and are rather excited about that-as well as being surprisingly okay with talking with a dude shooting while he's chatting-to the point I can hardly get them to talk about anything else, in fact. I give in and just ask about their new 'pet' for a while, and once they seem content with the amount they've told me-I ask how Big Crazy's doing. They look at one another, then Eirikki dashes off to return shortly with the man in question. He looks good-maybe a bit thinner than before, but not in a bad way-and is frustratingly ambiguous and vague about what all he's been up to. When it's clear he's not going to stop holding back on me I make my farewells, and spend the rest of the hour shooting-idly wondering if I'm ever going to get better at target practice. I could swear my shot placement hasn't improved at all-but I seem to recall doing notably better in live fire situations. Hm.

After another go at a Dual Orientation-this time possibly succeeding for all of a third of a second-I do a few more checks. Seems I can't use chakra at all when drained-unfuckingsurprising, that, given that which feeds my chakras, my soul-based winter bloodline, is out of juice. Wow, who'd have thought. Seems I can still see souls-but... shittily. Maybe part of that's tied up in my bloodlines, but not all? I DEFINITELY can't do item sensing without magical mojo-and I spend a minute trying to recall if I had energy when I appraised the pile of guns or not before I put those concerns to rest. I could test more things-but fuck that. I've gotten burned with experimenting without any direction enough times I'm not as gung-ho about it as I could be-so I get on with my day.

>>392292
I try calling Einrik-and find that his phone's been disconnected. That's no bueno. ...Well, not much I can do about that.
>>392296
>>392297
I distract myself with some more dual orientation attempts-and a bit of Silja talking. Seems she's... doing better with the whole 'Saw she is a gun' thing. I of course don't comment on how she intellectually already knew that, because what's the point? After she confirms she's doing fine talking with the Note Writer right now-I leave her be. No need to force her to do things, not when I've made all this progress with her. I'd planned to do a round of introductions... but she's clearly still trying to become 'okay' with her situation, and doesn't really want to be distracted. She's hit on the Note Writer as being the one she talks about this with. ...Short of having a great way to interject, I can't think of a way to interrupt that which won't bite me in the ass.

Well, if she's busy, all those other people are either unavailable or have already been called.....

Then I'd say it's time to go to Kardemir. That whole 'sound one person heard and all the workers vehemently denied is just too deliciously intriguing to me. Hillevi actually rejects my invitation, saying she'll be busy teaching Satai-that is, until I tell her Satai's coming too. So, after I dress myself in a burgundy suit with a gold shirt, I head out with Andrei, Satai and Hillevi as escort, for all intents and purposes effectively a magic-less man as I continue to drain away any energy that builds back up-and slowly start to have almost-stable Dual Orientations more often.

After Igor leads us all to the primary facility where he had his meeting-I take charge. Not so much because I have a complex plan, or know what I'm doing-but because I sent out SB as a scout the moment we passed through the doors. And lo and behold-he found something. A removed section of Kardemir where there's wards, magic-everything an inquisitive fellow could hope for.

I ignore the protesting receptionist that tries and fails to stop me from walking by. I let Satai and Andrei distract the incumbent workers who try to stop us-then I let Hillevi intimidate those that try to bar us more forcefully. With a smile on my face, I barge through a warded door-

Into a small room filled with a bevy of alien machines-all operating remotely. Within the room a lone individual lingers, the thin-stemmed cigar in his mouth dipping as he scowls over the new arrivals to his demesne. The man in question, in his mid thirties with a swept back, oiled head of pitch black hair and a sharp jaw with a hooked scar on it. Beneath his heavy work overalls, I see a silk shirt's sleeves rolled back over tautly muscled forearms. Without getting up from his seat before the largest machine in the room, the man casts a single, bloodshot eye at me.
>[Worker][In Turkish]"I hope you have a phenomenal reason to be back here."
A reason? Let's see: I haven't dumped that pittance of magic I've built up in the last while-so I can sense magic-and I can sense SCORES of magic items in the room-all stored in the two racks near the back of the room. I can't see WHAT the magic items are-but I'm pretty damn sure they were made right here, in this room.

At my failure to promptly respond, the man takes his hands away from the controls before him, and methodically wipes them clean of grime and grit while continuing to stare at us.
>[Worker]"If you're not even going to try and be courteous, I suppose I can show you the door..."

I should probably say something.







What should I say?
What exactly am I trying to accomplish here?
SAME DAY: NO NEW MINION ORDERS CAN BE INPUTTED/
>>
No. 392386 ID: 431fa8

>>392320
>What exactly am I trying to accomplish here?
This man has a forge full of equipment that he is clearly using to churn out magical weapons/armor/gizmos/whatever. We must have either the forge itself or his service in providing us with gear. There is no other outcome here.

While we're talking, Shadowbro should analyze the magic items over there and see if he can tell us exactly what kind of magic we're looking at.

>What should I say?
Our objective here is going to be to simply blast through him socially, and keep talking until he cracks and gives in to whatever we want. Do not ever pause for long. Continue talking full steam ahead even when he starts trying to reply. Pause only long enough to let him half-assemble his thoughts and barely start trying to say something before continuing to bull right through. Speak quickly, and speak even more quickly as we keep speaking. It is particularly important to keep our emotions positive and momentum running if he shows signs of getting angry instead of confused and then compliant- we cannot afford for him to see this as a confrontation since that would ruin the effect. Be aggressively friendly and all smiles (the normal kind).

"That's very kind, but the door is right there- and you, you are right here! This is wonderful. I've been wondering for days how I could possibly come up with materials so suited to his particular needs, and it seemed all but impossible- but you might just be able to manage it! This setup is remarkable, my compliments, and your own talents must be not inconsiderable as well. In fact, you might just be the perfect man for this job- which will require the most superb of knowledge, craftsmanship, and experience! I promise you, it will press you to your limits and quite possibly be amongst your greatest works, renowned by all were it ever to become known for its true quality.

"Of course, you care about the project's nature! A funny story behind that, there is a man of my acquaintance with a truly exceptional talent for causing damage to certain hmm rooms of a personal nature if you take my meaning, when he makes use of them, due to the impressively toxic nature of certain aspects of certain emissions, yes. With your craftmanship applied to the problem, of course, even the most corrosive and fume-ridden of such things would surely fail to even scratch the john. And the piping, the piping is perhaps even more important because of the pressure, you see, it must accommodate extremely high pressures, far higher than you would normally expect- and both hot AND cold, normal metals will just not do too much stress on them- but I am certain that your skills and equipment are up to the task!

"Of course there will be a certain amount of compensation, although I'm sure that your pride as a craftsman demand that you rise to such an enviable challenge- a challenge which does not come along every day, no no- and of course it might take you a certain amount of time to- no? No time? You can start right away? How fantastic!"

"What, that project doesn't appeal? I am shocked and appalled, but I suppose I can spare a little bit of time for you to reconsider and in the meantime, let's talk about your accomplishments so far here. These are some very nice weapons and armor, I'm quite enthused, would be interesting to see what else you can come up with if given the proper incentive and construction opportunities how about making some armor for all of my personnel? That would be a delightful project I'm sure, and you might even be able to make some friends as I'm certain that several of them even those here- wave at the man, Igor and Satai, yes that's you, wave now, thank you- would be more than happy to work with you extensively in the future if our business should call for it. Or even if our business doesn't call for it, my people get up to all kinds of interesting things when they think I'm not looking I'm sure you know how that goes, eh? So will you need to measure out my men for armor individually or can I just send you their sizes, and will you be able to customize their suits' enchantments because there's nothing that defines a soldier quite like the weapons and armor he chooses, you know, and to a certain extent the enchantments make the man; I'm sure that I would be giving a very much different impression when fighting people if I wasn't using my trademark guns though I'll admit that I've been consider moving to some kind of finger-gun tied to a magical effect just for the style points. I know it's cliche but I can't really resist.

"Have you introduced yourself yet? No, how rude of you, that's all right I'll introduce myself anyway I'm Armas Laine what is your name?"

"I said, what is your name, if you please?"

"That's great, it's wonderful to meet you and we're getting off to such a great start here, you know those weapons you have over there look pretty good too, and I've been considering issuing some kind of enchanted melee sidearms but normally enchanting is just so expensive and it's not like I really want my guys to be up in the face of every vampire or werecritter or what have you because normally guns and such are just that much more effective, keep you at a safe distance from things that are stronger than you and carrying around a giant spear or sword or something large enough to make a difference without a truly absurd amount of training is just so difficult. But it looks like you have a really excellent mass production process or at least rapid individual production process going here, and maybe you could provide me with some kind of low cost weapons like longish combat knives or something, just some basic enchantments at least, you can get me a catalog or what have you later. Hah, catalog! You should be laughing, that was a great joke, come on. We can also take those things that you've got here now to cover the time on your end until you can get everything built, I know that you want to fill your orders as quickly as possible and this is kind of a large one and it's unprofessional to give us such a delay, but that's all right, we won't hold it against you. These are fine for now, and you can take a few days to get through the rest of our order and get us actual custom things, but we appreciate these really, be sure to bring a list of capabilities with you when you drop by tomorrow because that just wouldn't be appropriate otherwise.

"Anyway so I'm thinking that this is a great partnership and it was wonderful to meet you, so you'll set us up with the armor, and the knives, and drop by my house to take a look for the piping project because this is really not something that you want to try and approach cold I wasn't kidding about the nastiness involved here."

At this point, hopefully he will be so beaten down that he'll just dumbly agree with whatever we say, and we'll be able to quickly shove him through some extremely advantageous pricing arrangements- or, better, convince him that all the pricing will be worked out when he drops by tomorrow!- and then we leave with a couple armloads of magical gear. If not, launch back into endless blathering and keep overrunning him until he totally loses it and breaks down.

"Great I'm glad all this is in order, actually speaking of orders I should make sure to get a receipt, wouldn't want you to be accused of any untoward doings or trying to cheat us, not when you've been such a gentleman as a host here, take this-"

Hand him a slip with our name, reading
"For delivery to Armas Laine and company at (address):
-Approx. 25 custom-fitted sets of enchanted armor
-Approx. 25 enchanted combat knives
-One exceptionally nice set of runed pipes
Supplies delivered as initial deposit on projects. Payment details pending negotiation tomorrow over lunch, 12:00 sharp. Contact Armas Laine at (phone number) for pleasant conversation and any necessary appointment modification."

"-great, now just sign that so you don't forget and I'll keep my copy, of course, excellent, then I look forward to doing some extensive business with you in the future. It's great to meet such an excellent supplier, it really is, you're so accommodating and I can almost taste the quality of your products. I'll see you tomorrow for lunch then, ta-ta!"

Leave this place with as many of his finished magical goods as we can carry. If he starts recovering, chatter at him more with aggressively friendly cheer to cover our escape.


After we're gone, talk to Hillevi. If that worked, it should have been impressive enough in its effects to lay the groundwork for our attempting to give her some real instruction in social interaction and being a sneaky manipulative git. And that, of course, is the best thing that we could possibly teach her to be- a perfect way to fulfill our duties as her guardian and troll Markku. "So, Hillevi, what did you learn from that? I hope you were paying attention."

"The lesson I would recommend learning is that just because someone is talking to you doesn't mean that they're trying to communicate with you. I was saying things there, sure, but the point was to totally confuse him, put him off his guard, and ultimately get him to agree to whatever I wanted while he was mentally reeling."

"We need to start training you to deal with that kind of thing, and also more generally in how to conduct social interaction with intent. Blather and overrun like that is a ridiculously unsubtle social attack, but I suspect you'd still have trouble with it. When are you free tomorrow? I know you've agreed to teach Satai here and might have some other obligations- which I'd like to hear about if you care to share- but we really need to get going on this. Almost a month of your year with me is gone already and we've hardly started." Let her set a time, of course.

"Excellent. Attempt to arrive with a flexible mind."


When we get home, go on Nikoyaka Youkai's website and see if anyone's attempted to follow up on contacting us regarding our stated desire to acquire particular items of interest. Even if Note Writer appears to be disrupting our hopes for Silja's emotional development- being the one who is there to hear her thoughts and feelings instead of us really hurts our ability to establish a strong bond with her, and the fact that we've been blocked out of helping her cope by quietly establishing similarity to the situations of several other company members is serious sabotage of our ability to get her to embrace the company as a whole as people that she can consider friends and companions and expect to bond with- we still want to see if we can get any humanoid Winter female bodies for her to eat so that we can advance her development. We're still in this game even if Note Writer is busily fucking with our playbook.
>>
No. 392564 ID: 04c2c3

>>392386
I din't honestly think we've got much use for combat knives. All the Russians have, however, been learning jukenjitsu, so sword bayonets would be much handier. For armour, the modular monolithic plates use in modern body armour would seem best. Of course, simple bullets would also help us. What ever we do, we need to offer him something. The magic for the enchantment must come from somewhere, and we can access to various magical body parts thanks to SM and the Smiling One.
>>
No. 392574 ID: d97a61

>>382386
...Well, my ability to see souls is still working fine: and everything I see about this guy's soul seems... decidedly ordered. I see a man that likes control-that likes comprehension. I see a man of straight lines and rigidly defined corners-I see a soul not artistically but purposefully shaped. I see focus, I see iron-and above all I see a man ruled by reason and logic-and can see precious little trace of emotion having any real say in what he does. I see a man that prefers older, less rapid musical pieces purely because it's easier to appreciate each and every nuance for him. I see a soul that reminds me of a naked blade, simply and starkly built for it's purpose-and content to be just so.


>[MMM,MMMM Trait auto-activated]
So I run with it, responding to him-with a Smile. In that moment of hesitation at the unnatural look of supreme geniality merged with impish capriciousness, I strike.
[Turkish]"That's very kind, but the door is right there- and you, you are right here!"
I note hit look of determination undiminished-but his hands stall in their fastidious wiping-he's hesitating.
"You know this really is wonderful. I've been wondering for days how I could possibly come up with materials so suited to his particular needs, and it seemed all but impossible- but you might just be able to manage it!"
I can feel the confusion from Andrei, Satai and most of all Hillevi behind me-but I have to press on. A moment of hesitation on my part would end what I'm trying to accomplish well before it can truly begin.
"This setup is remarkable, my compliments-oho, and your own talents must be not inconsiderable as well."
I rub my chin speculatively as I take a breath, refusing to let any real pause break my rhythm.
"In fact, you might just be the perfect man for this job- which will require the most superb of knowledge, craftsmanship, and experience! I promise you, it will press you to your limits and quite possibly be amongst your greatest works, renowned by all were it ever to become known for its true quality. Tell me, would you like your name to live in legend?""
Finally given a chance to speak, the man takes it-playing into my hands.
>[Worker][In Turkish]"And exactly what makes you think your job is so-"
Fool that he is, he thought I was genuinely inviting him to speak. The rube.
"Of course, you care about the project's nature! A funny story to tell-there is a man of my acquaintance with a truly exceptional talent for causing damage to certain hmm rooms of a personal nature if you take my meaning, when he makes use of them, due to the impressively toxic nature of certain aspects of certain emissions, yes. I know, I know-why would this be in your field? Well, with your craftsmanship applied to the problem, of course, even the most corrosive and fume-ridden of such things would surely fail to even scratch the john. And the piping, the piping is perhaps even more important because of the pressure, you see, it must accommodate extremely high pressures, far higher than you would normally expect- and both hot AND cold, normal metals will just not do too much stress on them- but I am certain that your skills and equipment are up to the task!"
His grim demeanor is beginning to crack, the handtowel idly falling from uncaring fingers as he tries to voice something. Whether it was objection, clarification or other-I suppose I'll never know. What I DO know is I will not let the abruptly tenuous nature of his previously ordered soul go to waste.
"Of course there will be a certain amount of compensation, although I'm sure that your pride as a craftsman demand that you rise to such an enviable challenge- a challenge which does not come along every day, no no- and of course it might take you a certain amount of time to- no? No time? You can start right away? How fantastic!"
At this he starts to recollect himself, immediately bristling as he sweeps a hand to point at one of the racks I can feel the sense of magical items emanation from-and simply keep trucking.
"What, that project doesn't appeal? I am shocked and appalled, but I suppose I can spare a little bit of time for you to reconsider and in the meantime, let's talk about your accomplishments so far here."
Dimly noting the confusion from Satai and Andrei to be abating, I march over to the rack he'd begun to motion at-and pull free....

A rune-stamped sword blade, double edged. I say stamped for a reason-I can... feel the same sensation from the runes as I do from the machine the hook-scarred man once sat at-and make a simple intuitive leap. I start speaking before he can really process a stranger idly picking up his work as I have.
"Nice, nice-these are some very nice weapons and armor, I'm quite enthused by your workmanship. 'Twould be interesting to see what else you can come up with if given the proper incentive and construction opportunities-so how about making some armor for all of my personnel?"
Still trying to get around my babbling to properly focus on what could be construed as theft by some, I keep speaking before I even see him register what I just requested.
"That would be a delightful project I'm sure, and you might even be able to make some friends as I'm certain that several of them even those here- wave at the man, Igor and Satai,-"
Satai's hesitantly complying but I can still feel a hiccup in Andrei-fine, blunt time it is.
"Yes that's you, wave now, thank you-"
I really should expose the Russians to my modus operandi more often-
"-would be more than happy to work with you extensively in the future if our business should call for it. Or even if our business doesn't call for it, my people get up to all kinds of interesting things when they think I'm not looking I'm sure you know how that goes, eh?"
I actually get away with lightly elbowing him in the side conspiratorially, having sidled up beside him as I turned to instruct my compatriots. Again, the wholly new stimulation and new potential train of thought I inspire merely serves to tangle ever further the growing knot of overwhelmed confusion in the man's mind.
"So will you need to measure out my men for armor individually or can I just send you their sizes, and will you be able to customize their suits' enchantments because there's nothing that defines a soldier quite like the weapons and armor he chooses as you no doubt know very well, and to a certain extent the enchantments make the man; I'm sure that I would be giving a very much different impression when fighting people if I wasn't using my trademark guns though I'll admit that I've been consider moving to some kind of finger-gun tied to a magical effect just for the style points-or perhaps an eye beam, clichéd I know but there's a certain style to it- I can't really resist."
I begin walking back over to the racks from which I drew the unhilted blade, still unsure just what the rune might do (odd, given that Einher-derived Item Sensing I've got) and once more apply a surreal touch to my wording.
"Have you introduced yourself yet? No? Well how rude of you, though I suppose that's all right I'll introduce myself anyway I'm Armas Laine what is your name?"
He gives me the most profoundly confused Turkish Silence I've yet recieved.
"I said, what is your name, if you please?"
I let the pause draw out just long enough he begins to speak-hesitant and bewildered where before he was obstinately driven.
>[Worker]"Yavuz Celikaya, no-"
Woa-woah-ho-ho there, can't be letting him control the flow of this conversation, now can I? I start pulling forth a few more unhilted blades from the one rack as I move on to the second, now noting it to hold a series of bucklers stored not unlike dishes in a washer, neatly stacking in a row and devoid of any handles.
"That's great, it's wonderful to meet you and we're getting off to such a great start here, you know those weapons you have over there look pretty good too, and I've been considering issuing some kind of enchanted melee sidearms but normally enchanting is just so expensive and it's not like I really want my guys to be up in the face of every vampire or werecritter or what have you because normally guns and such are just that much more effective, keep you at a safe distance from things that are stronger than you and carrying around a giant spear or sword or something large enough to make a difference without a truly absurd amount of training is just so difficult."
Again, I am forced to pause by simple dint of needing to breath-but I keep rolling as I gesture with arms now filled with bucklers and blades alike towards the machine Yavuz stands before.
"But it looks like you have a really excellent mass production process or at least rapid individual production process going here, and maybe you could provide me with some kind of low cost weapons like longish combat knives or something, just some basic enchantments at least, you can get me a catalog or what have you later. Hah, catalog!"
I briefly sputter directly into the middle of some uproarious laughter, a bit disappointed only Andrei seems to get into the spirit of things and echo me before I continue. I swiftly cease my laughter and speak to the still stunned Yavuz.
" You should be laughing, that was a great joke, come on. We can also take those things that you've got here now to cover the time on your end until you can get everything built, I know that you want to fill your orders as quickly as possible and this is kind of a large one and it's unprofessional to give us such a delay, but that's all right, we won't hold it against you. These are fine for now, and you can take a few days to get through the rest of our order and get us actual custom things, but we appreciate these really, be sure to bring a list of capabilities with you when you drop by tomorrow because that just wouldn't be appropriate otherwise. You are available tomorrow right of course you are glad to know SO-"
SB, I'm going to need an order form from you-can you manage that or-
>"I know where they logically should be, I'll just grab samples and see which one Satai okays-keep going, I'll have your form."
The sooner the better.
>"On it."
"Anyway so I'm thinking that this is a great partnership and it was wonderful to meet you, so you'll set us up with the armor, and the knives, and drop by my house to take a look for the piping project because this is really not something that you want to try and approach cold I wasn't kidding about the nastiness involved here."
At this point, I'd hoped he'd be so beaten down that he'd just dumbly agree with whatever I say, and I'd be able to quickly shove him through some extremely advantageous pricing arrangements- or, better, convince him that all the pricing will be worked out when he drops by tomorrow! Unfortunately he seems to be getting his bearings despite my best efforts, so I'll need to cut this short-and when we leave we'll do so with a couple armloads of magical gear.
>[Yavuz]"Jus-"
>"Got one."
Good-put it in my left pocket.
>"Done."
"Great I'm glad all this is in order, actually speaking of orders I should make sure to get a receipt, wouldn't want you to be accused of any untoward doings or trying to cheat us, not when you've been such a gentleman as a host here, take this-"
I pull the order form from my pocket-

Hummingbird, please tell me you can write.
>[Hummingbird]"I do not know the meaning of you giants' glyphs, but should you imagine their shaping I can replicate them well enough."
Perfect-then I implore you to impress me with your speed at transcribing this-

There is a blur that hovers over the piece of parchment as I pass it over-and Yavuz finds himself staring at an order form reading:

For delivery to Armas Laine and company at (There is no way I'm putting a real life address to the mansion):
-Approx. 25 custom-fitted sets of enchanted armor
-Approx. 25 enchanted combat knives
-One exceptionally nice set of runed pipes
Supplies delivered as initial deposit on projects. Payment details pending negotiation tomorrow over lunch, 12:00 sharp. Contact Armas Laine at (phone number) for pleasant conversation and any necessary appointment modification.

"-great, now just sign that so you don't forget and I'll keep my copy, of course-the signature should be right here, oh you already have a pen, excellent-"
I practically guide his hand in signing-
"Well then I look forward to doing some extensive business with you in the future. It's great to meet such an excellent supplier, it really is, you're so accommodating and I can almost taste the quality of your products. I'll see you tomorrow for lunch then, ta-ta!"

At which point, having handed the bucklers to Satai and the blades to Andrei I turn on my heel and head out the door with my order receipt in hand-and stop for NOTHING. Not when I hear Yavuz finally starting to react. Not when the workers that had been attempting to stop us before attempt to form a living barricade-I simply have Hillevi, the unbeatable Red Rover champion, up to the front to break through their feeble blockade. I don't even stop when I hear the receptionist threatening to call the police-I simply flash her a smile and head out the door.

At which point, once no one within is looking at us anymore-I abruptly accelerate from my sedated pace to a rather impressive powerwalk. Certainly, there are appearances to uphold-but what kind of image does it evoke if we're forced to return our samples the moment we get outside? It just would not do.

Thankfully, the head start we had coupled with my studious attention to, well, Attention means they never actually find us even as we are still working our way through the parkinglot. Hillevi eventually takes hold of our spoils, the goods simply vanishing from view beneath her glamour and we make our way back to the mansion. Even with our visit itself being rather... expeditious, the transit time still means it's late evening when we return home.

After I blow through the dregs of power I'd yet regenerated with a few back to back Dual Orientation attempts, I finally have a single, brilliant moment, a full half-second of complete and functioning Reinforcement and Soul Sense-before I run out of juice and the system collapses. ...Eh, I'll take it.

After grabbing a few plates of food, I settle down in front of Andrei's computer after telling Satai to store the eight blades and six bucklers we appropriated until they can be examined-and log onto a certain Japanese Creature's website.
...Seems that P1X13 moderator was right-I can now see other users-and while there has not yet been any response to my request for certain kinds of food beyond the occasional 'How much are you looking to spend?', there IS something that attracts my attention-the /news/ channel. Seems it's a place for website users to gossip about current events-and that just now, it's completely flooded with variations of the same story:

Seems Blackbeard is having a running, heavily destructive tussle with none other than Armin the Crafter out in Azerbaijan-and they've been at it for the last two days. So far, site users estimate they've caused thirty seven million in property damage-and they aren't even fighting in the middle of a city.

I spend the rest of the night checking around, trying to get a better feel for the site as a whole, how to navigate it, and what mannerisms are most popular and likely to get response-all while, as always, burning through tiny bits of energy when possible to try Dual Orientations. I... think I'm hitting the 'lasts a third of a second and almost kinda sorta actually gets up and running before falling apart' to happen more often than one in four times. Progress-a beautiful thing.

But I can't deny just how DRAINING it all is-and before I really know it, I'm off for bed and have turned in.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 30th, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $465,475.04
BUSINESS FUNDS: $196,847.00
CASH: $9,170.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 0%
WINTER ENERGY: 11/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 13/50

[DISCONTINUITY]

Instead of waking-I am drawn into a familiar landscape-but unlike the last few times, it's once more populated by, well-myself.

My shadow, seated in a chair hewn from black bone and covered in orange leather, smiles his smokey smile as he gestures for me to sit.
>"While I am quite sure there is much for us to discuss, there are two topics, I think, that need must be addressed: The matter of what to do with THAT-"
At which point SB gestures at the still restrained composite spiritual beast-come engine that's been inhabiting my eye since the start-
>"And what to do, not about Silja, for I think, now at least, you have a plan of sorts-but about the Note Writer. I, for one, distrust this entity immensely-but I would hear your own thoughts on him, should you offer them."

Seems SB's got some stuff to talk with me about-and is also very much so open to me bringing up topics for our little Armas-sesh.













So what do I say about SB's topics?
What topics of my own do I have to bring up?
Once I'm awake-what's my plan for the coming day?
>>
No. 392587 ID: 448d82

Armas:
"So far the only danger the note writer presents is in gaining a deeper relationship with Silja than me, he has no ill-designs on her it seems, but I feel he'd have little patience for me if not for her.

As to what to do, I just have to gain more affection than him, it's a contest"

"Though... if we could troll this note-writer..."
Trusting the note writer doesn't mean giving him Silja's affections. We were not in a position to reject his offer, Silja's mind was on a knife-edge.

And that's all I've got, my brain is fried

LEV ORDERS
Considering the recent failure, and the bad news of the families be in a slightly less than good mood. Accidentally take anger out on woodcarving, be mortified at lapse.
Decide not to mess about, just do Camella's lessons properly, gotta make ShadowBoss proud.., try to table emotions until later.

Later be surprised by this strange feeling of wishing for someone's approval. Hear about Ito's training on the grapevine, or vodkabottle, whatever, jump at the chance presented.

Round about evening time, wonder if Babushka is ok... surely if anything was happening one of the 12 from the orphanage would take her away... then again, Chugainov is kinda powerful... and you don't have a clue where others are or what they are doing. You lost contact with everyone when you ended up in the special forces. You miss Babushka, your pent up emotions from earlier explode out, try to get drunk, then try to follow Rostislav for fight clubbing, get lost in mansion, wail about not knowing what Anna, Oleg, Nestor , Mariya, Veronika, Karp and... and... you can't remember the names of the others BAWWWWW!!!!

Search for a green fuzzy thing to wrap yourself around, fail/succeed.

In the Dark Curl up in foetal position with the sword of the father you never knew, mourn your blade-filled stolen childhood, there is some people a little boy shouldn't play with...

For a long time, the only monsters you knew of, were the human ones.
>>
No. 392603 ID: 07eaf7

Rostislav orders >Consider a single bout at the new fight club you found. Earning experience against foes that have decidedly newfound ways of working and special tricks? Hell yes. In fact, structure the whole damn day around this event to make certain you are as awesome as possible - Sleep pattern, alarms, food consumption. You're back in the old business, let's be sure business is good! >Briefly notice someone following you, fail to care when you notice it's Lev. >As you did before you got in jail, before a good fight, prepare first-aid supplies and keep them on person. It's manly to take a punch, but stupid not to take care of it after. >For the rest of the day, keep up, but don't put in the same amount of focus.

ARMAS

Before we can deal with Note Writer, you need to find oput WHO he is, WHERE he is, HOW he's doing this, WHY he's doing it, and WHEN to best get at him. Then you can close the trap on him. We can assume, since he can bypass Amen, that this is the safest place to discuss it - nowhere else. We can also make one of two assumptions (for HOW):

1) The Note Writer isn't being noticed because he's been here the entire time. Check for when the notes started, and who you brought in, as well as who was present when you found the notes.

2) He has magic that can bypass Amen. Elder magic was mentioned. This is, intellectually, a dead end for now, due to our lack of knowledge on the subject. But if it falls to this, we can then start gathering info on Elder casters in the area. Also note to SB that Elder is continually proving to be a really WEIRD sort of magic, home to all sorts of exceptions and rule-breaking, and investigating it might prove handy anyway, if only to prepare.

You should keep an ear open to SB, he might have insight on either point that you don't.
>>
No. 392610 ID: 81f32a

ORDERS FOR IOSEF:
-Drop instruction job in favor of more Chakra Training (lose 150$/w income)
-Having trainined for several days, realize that getting optimal amount of sleep doesn't improve Chakra training in the least.
-Ask others if they know of any other ways to improve Chakra gains. Do this during breaks, free-time or when having meals.
-Will cut down sleeptime (15:00-17:00 nap, meaning 3,5h at night + 2 hours during the day)
-Reflect on what you did wrong when visiting Kardemir Steel. Decide to work a little bit on social skills, so that they are at least 'passable'. Ask Andrei, Matvey, Lyubov and The Boss for tips and how to start improving. Use the nifty notebook that Andrei gifted you to browse different chat-rooms and forum (anonymous or otherwise) to work on communication skills. Don't ever use real names, locations or events. In fact, ask Andrei if he made sure that the notebooks he gave out have been tweaked by him for maximum protection against hackers and viruses (Iosef is not that good at computers, you see?)
-If Iosef knows that Andrei has been doing the same thing for a while, ask for beginners help. Maybe later they can do something together (like trolling forums or similar)
-Spend about 2 hours doing this (17:00-19:00)
-(19:00-21:00), just spend time socializing with other Russians and denizens of the mansion. Ask Duke how come he is so awesome.
-Due to new schedule drink big cup of black, bitter coffee in the morning and after afternoon nap. Also, make use of the energy drinks that were provided by Andrei and Satai.
-Drop the idea to get Sake a gift. It seems that you've been beaten to it and it looks too much like ass-kissing now.
-Nonetheless, give the idea to Lyubov. Perhaps she will make use of it.
-If Iosef knows that Lyubov was the one who found the info about Chiganov first, tell her that he understands why she didn't want to make everyone upset with the info we cannot act upon, he appreciates the gesture even if it was misplaced and backfired.
-Be depressed about the news but since he personally can't do much about it, don't let it hamper you too much.


Orders for Armas:
Armas should let Matvey and Camella know that he has almost total control over Jidkova. Maybe they can think of something to do with that option (since we sure as hell aren't doing anything with such a great ability)
>>
No. 392732 ID: 252e1b

LYUBOV ORDERS


*Have difficulty sleeping. Get up, research ways to keep yourself distracted throughout the day. End up placing several orders you’re probably going to regret, pay for expedited shipping ($800).
*Read about that ‘haigure’ thing. Most of the information about it is in Japanese, be a little weirded out by the stuff that is in English.
*Change into swimming suit again, pose in front of a mirror in that ‘haigure’ position. Briefly wonder how you rationalized this as being acceptable before you almost start to wonder how much shit you and Armas would be in if Camella learned. Stop thinking about that, decide “it’s just training, she’ll understand.” Yep. Totally understand.
*Get dressed in pajamas, go find Sake. More prank calls, recorder on. Again with the complaining guy only she can hear. Take a break, start to genuinely worry about mental health. Ask for weasel rub-down to see if it helps. Nope, still hearing that dude.
*Wander downstairs, find Duke watching TV. Watch with him, mention hearing a voice on the phone that Sake can’t hear. Ask how Duke is so awesome, share your personal background, tell the story about the arms smuggling. It’s really funny, now that you’re not sentenced to death. Well, technically you are, but things are better now!
*Four a.m. already? Excuse yourself, go get dressed for jog. Breakfast seems normal today, guess Boris was just experimenting.
*Go to your room, dress very nicely for Church. Collect Gloom, head out, leave letter to mom at home. Donate $1000. Introduce Gloom to Cookie Lady.
*Talk to Nikolai, confess more sins, uncharitable thoughts about co-workers, your moment of longing for Hillevi’s money last week. Ask about the 1955 Pogrom, ask why things went so badly here. Ask if we could meet in the afternoon sometime during the week to talk more about how things in Istanbul having to do with God and religion are very different compared to other places.
*Missed a couple of hours of chakra training because of church. Go grease up with that bottle Armas gave you again, make sure it’s all covered by your workout outfit. You smell like strawberries, and the wicking layer of your outfit is sticking to you. Feels gross. Focus on getting into orientation.
*Shower and change before going to Ito’s.
*At lunch recognize Zhenya is hitting the bottle really hard again. Pester her and jokingly threaten, “I’ll take blackmail pictures if I have to bring you home again.” Explain she made a fool of herself last night. Get her to tell you a very sad story about her family’s cursed violin. I talked to Falcon about this.
*Comfort your friend. Show her funny videos, play back the recorded prank calls, apologize for the messed up audio. Contain your dread when Zhenya claims the calls sound fine to her. Focus on cheering her up.
*With remaining time in the afternoon block, be approached by Iosef. Ask him to come along as you go shopping, go buy 20 hours more phone airtime ($60), nylon stiffener ($40), nitrile gloves and safety goggles ($20). Drop stuff off at home. Give Iosef advice: “If you don’t want to seem like you’re just kissing up, try actually getting to know him. Sake’s a very friendly guy. Bring some good alcohol, and spend an evening talking to him, that’s how we became friends.”
*Dinner. Ask Andrei how he’s doing, ask Hillevi and Satai how their training is going. Tease Hillevi, “I didn’t realize you liked the intellectual types. He wouldn’t even spar with me the other week.” (in reference to you jokingly challenging Satai to wrestle you for the guns you’d had in your room, if Hillevi wants you to elaborate). Keep an eye on Zhenya. Try an energy drink, decide it’s no wonder this horrible tasting stuff killed Andrei.
*Night lessons. Keep your intentions fluttery against Granny. Keep your thoughts fluttery too. Wonder what happened to Lev.
*Come home, look for Sake, find Lev drunk and crying. Welp. Drag him to his room, ask SB to keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn’t hurt himself.
*Find Matvey, alert him about Lev and Zhenya. Mention Zhenya seemed better after talking it out with you this afternoon. Answer questions (but don’t tell about Zhenya’s phobia, just that the family issues reminded her she practically has no family).
*Finally get some sleep. It’s been a long day.

>>
No. 392818 ID: 4e5a14

>>392320
Gloom
>[spolier]*Say nothing about the fact he is internally torn on whether making sure his family dies has really become the more appealing option to him over attempting their rescue. Feel morbidly entertained by the lack of emotion on his part. [/quote]
Ruminate on whether that's helpful. Decide it's not. Wonder why that was a relevant consideration. Your family has proved themselves to be your very best allies in the world, and you wouldn't want to loose them. Spend a while a day with the others brainstorming what is best to do next.

Armas:
>So what do I say about SB's topics?
1) The blood-fiend-thing. It's under control for now - but check if it's getting more restive. Given what we've been told about the possibilities of converting in into an engine, that should be our main focus. As engines need fuel, and can traditionally burn alcohol for energy, we should focus on securing the kamatachi for Sake to bind as a spirit animal. We can then store energy for when we need it, and gave the engine turn it into useful power.
>What topics of my own do I have to bring up?
We've been trying to curry favour with Whaitiri for several reasons - the mere repair, other boons, and a pile of otherstuff on top.
Why not just ask what she prefers to eat as the victory prise.
>Once I'm awake-what's my plan for the coming day?
Discuss with SB, Sake, and IT whether it would be possible to use the offcuts from the mere re-creation project to make magic items.
>>
No. 392830 ID: 602cbb
File 133177035946.jpg - (41.83KB , 500x334 , holdem.jpg )
392830

>Soul engine
something about turning it into the base for a demiplane simulation/ observation deck of the world to use at our leisure. We can use the Sami favour combined with our own power to start it up or we can ask some god class being...or Ogrimir. Man undoubtedly has the power, just depends on what we need to pay.

>note writer
I don't trust him much either, but he's good for Silja. The problem now is that even if he does turn out bad, it would be hard to break their relationship without some negative effect on Silja, so that's one problem. If we can wean her off of him by spending more time with her ourselves(like we have been but moreso) it would be good. Otherwise, if we can talk to the guy...or write him I guess we should use that to find out more about his intentions. Ask Silja to tell him we need to talk.

>What to do with your day?
I'll tell you what to do you blighter.
How long have you had the Valkonen girl here as your ward and how does the amount of teaching you have given relate to her time here? That's right, you are being a shitty guardian.
Last time you really spoke with her in that teachers role you promised to speak more about manipulation, how about you get on that.
An excellent way to do so that both puts her in situations where deception is necessary and gives her more opportunity to act socially is via poker.
Poker acts as a good starting point for getting her to 1)control her emotions and reactions 2)Quickly read people's intentions and truth behind actions 3) Make people act the way she wants.
These are the 3 topics that make the base of any manipulation situation so it will be good practice and starting point to get even better as a manipulator. The fact that she loses games (if losing money isn't enough) is a good motivator for her to get better quickly, she strikes me as a 'don't want to lose' type.
This also strikes me as very Armas.
So get it set up all snazzy, get Amen to prepare a little casino style room and get Sake a tiny dealer's outfit and the green casino dealer hats. It's on.
Make significant use of soul guises to assist in bluffing.

Keep working on the chakra thing.

[Zhenya]
-Wake up with hangover, remember jack shit.
-Approach Sake for weasel rubbings to get rid of hangover, thank him whatever the outcome.
-Consider getting him a gift, he and Lyubov have been very friendly. Decide to get him 1000 ping pong balls.($12for a pack of 144, buying 7 packs for a total of $84-discounts)
-When you get back to room notice a large empty space where you ammunition was. Count up and see 2000rounds gone. Trace back to inner shooting range and get your targets from yesterday, notice horrible shot placement, wonder what the hell you were doing wasting 2000 rounds like this.
-Imbibe heavily at lunch and talk to Lyubov.
-Be slightly depressed by all this, decide to go cheer self up.
-Grab 5k and head out the the black market dealer to ask for rare or special pistols. Specifically ask for the Volquartsen MKIII(http://www.varmintextreme.com/home.cfm?dir_cat=99258) and the LeMat Revolver. (http://www.cabelas.com/pistols-lemat-revolver.shtml). Attempt to do some minor haggling. You are a repeat customer and a potential future client, if he can sweeten the deal you are more likely to return to him for future business.
-If you got anything then head back to base with em before going out to get the ping pong balls for sake. If not, then just go hit up a sports store and get em.
-Present Sake with ping pong balls, inwardly hope he doesn't use them for /too/ much mischief. Ask him if he knows any methods she can use to get ahead in this chakra thing, maybe a mindset?
-Skip night sessions, stay home and clean guns and pack (possible)new ones.
-Try the chakra thing one more time before going to bed, be slightly frustrated at lack of progress.
-pass out.
>>
No. 392931 ID: 252e1b

ARMAS ORDERS

>>392574
>So what do I say about SB's topics?

Take a seat, look at the spirit engine seriously. Evaluate its power and talk to SB about it.

“I had a vague idea of using it to power the kameosa to make spirit wine, and then storing that to be used as needed. Obviously we’ll need to put that on hold until the situation in Japan is resolved, one way or another. I’d planned on eventually ending up with more weasel wine than we needed, and at that point then diverting the power to other uses. We’ll just do that now, and divert to the kameosa when we have one.”

“I haven’t forgotten about that list we made when we talked a couple of weeks ago, ARMAS' MASSIVE PILE OF SHIT TO DO. We’ve completed most of it, but the world eye was on the list and I’ve given it some thought. It was one of the candidates for what to do with that engine. And I’ve got two ideas about it.”

“The first isn’t that well developed, but basically, if we could make the eye a conceptual mirror for the entire world, we’d be able to look at it whenever we liked. Considering that the eye is based on ice magic, and ice can be made into a mirror of sorts if you have the right material backing it, I think we’ve got a solid base to work with. But that would only give us real-time information, if the concept is solid.”

“I’d like to be able to make projections. So what we need is something like in that cartoon where they bought the meatball a snake: we need a virtual reality simulator, with a physics model and a magic model, built as complete as possible. I have no idea what kind of computing capacity we would need to simulate the world, but I do know we don’t need to simulate everything.”

“If we focus on just the important areas, like what’s going on in people’s minds and souls, the flow of magic in the world, large scale events, we could cut out a lot of unnecessary computation. We could limit it to just simulating small regions while we’re developing it. Initially we could just build it based on what’s going on here in the house. Amen knows about almost everything that happens in him, we could get regular updates about the state of things here and compare our model’s results to that, and modify the model in response until they match up. Then we expand the region, and sample data, and modify the engine. Each iteration takes us closer to a more complete and accurate model.”

“I think we’ll need help eventually, especially with making my eye’s interior a proper mirror, but having a prototype will give us something to entice potential helpers with. I think it could be worth asking Og a question about; he’d at least like that we were proactive about getting the groundwork laid. This won’t be a simple project, but I think it could be a very worthwhile one.”

“As to the Note Writer, I don’t trust him either. I hardly can, given the information disparity between us. He knows practically everything about Silja and what goes on around her, and we know nearly nothing about him. And it hasn’t escaped my notice that he came for a visit right after I’d given Silja a chance to see.”

“His powers are likely based in Elder principles, given how Amen claimed he couldn’t detect Elder powers, and how so far Amen hasn’t detected anything about Note Writer. You noticed how he didn’t want us to tell Einrik about him, and how he’s always operated while Einrik was not around? And Einrik has that Elder-proto-god-thing in his forehead.”

“We’re going to need to learn some Elder detection techniques of our own anyway, if we go with building the World Eye as a simulation. Octopus spirit animal, perhaps?”

“Anyway, if we got some sort of Elder sensor either on me, or on a person we do trust, it would probably go a long way toward keeping him from being able to undermine us. And putting it on someone else has some advantages, like giving him an opportunity to talk to us when we’re not near our Elder sensor, and not tying us to something that’s got a reputation for being very weird.”

“So, while I can’t trust him yet, I can keep an eye on Silja and keep interacting with her. He’s subtle, but he’s not all-powerful. And he’s got some unknown agenda in mind here. I’m afraid he might be Armas Valkonen, which would be both a blessing and a lot of trouble. I say a blessing because that Armas loved Silja, and wouldn’t want to see her anything but happy and healthy and of sound mind. So in that, our goals would coincide. A lot of trouble because, well, everything I’ve heard about him reminds me of me.”

>What topics of my own do I have to bring up?

“I want to talk about Hummingbird. I was thinking, maybe we could get him fleshcrafting powers somehow. Maybe a boon from Whaitiri, maybe some other way. Anyway, we get him fleshcrafting powers and we perform a flesh bind. That way he’s double-bound to me, and he can use the energy to keep his body in good shape.”

“I think it’d make him as immortal as I am too. Not sure.”

“We’re going to need to figure out what we are to Whaitiri, too. I don’t want to end up in a situation Sake won’t be happy in. He’s important, his happiness is important; but equally important is not ending up in a situation where Whaitiri’s not in our corner. Besides the relationship of “son” there’re other potential ones. “Business Partner” would be good, but I just know she’d reject it. She’s a goddess, she doesn’t do business, you know the spiel. So that leaves stuff like “Husband” or “Consort” for near-parity in the relationship. Neither seem exactly ideal either.”

“Yeah. Do you think she knows the modern concept of “Sugardaddy?””

“Now hang on, we shouldn’t discount it out of hand. I feed her, keep her in energy, and she provides… favors. The relationship is mutalistic, anyway.”

“It’s just what comes to mind. We can table it for now, give us both a chance to reflect on it.”

“Next topic: Our minions. Your thoughts on them? Give me a run-down about how you feel how they’re developing, how we can use each of them best, and who we need to pay more attention to.”

“I’m not sure I agree on every specific, but it all seems to match closely to my views. No big surprise, the little differences in what you and I have noticed are what are most interesting.”

“Probably because I’ve got a body. Changing the topic slightly here, but I was thinking of setting up a proper chakra tournament for like the 26th or 27th, putting up either a specific prize or a boon with the stipulation that it be within reason. They should have enacted their family solution by then, so we’ll have time to guide the winner to picking something like a spirit animal or a magic weapon instead of a really expensive prize. It would give them sufficient motivation to really learn their chakra.”

“I also wanted to ask what you think we should do with Hillevi. Satai talking her into giving him extra training is going to be good for them both, I think, and she’s been doing some teaching down at Ito’s anyway, but I know that more than that she needs a comprehensive course on dealing with the mundane world.”

“Right. I was thinking of sitting down with her today and going over her computer, teaching her it like I promised. Maybe play some computer games with her, browse the internet, show her how to connect up to the Rhivuldori kids’ Skype. Use e-mail. All that.”

“Ah, and speaking of tournaments and minions and Hillevi, I was also thinking that, well, I’m a crappy teacher. I found an approach that works with Lyubov, but not everyone’s like her.”

“I’ll just ignore that rude remark. Anyway, I know that learning how to be a teacher is fucking hard work, of the worst sort, and so I personally need a motivator to get better at it. And so I was thinking I could combine it all into one project, and offer Hillevi a boon based on how well Satai does in comparison to both the Russians in general, and Lyubov specifically. If Hillevi’s pupil is better than the Russians in general, she gets some small prize. If her pupil is better than my pupil, she gets a big prize. That way I’m motivated to improve my teaching technique too.”

“New topic: what happened to that Ramidreju’s soul? Sake’s still got it, right?”

“Well, couldn’t we make a spirit animal of her? Or, say, bud off another body for her from Sake’s, move her soul into it, then bind her as an ensouled spirit animal in her own body? It’d be easier on her than anything else I can think of, given that it would be her body anyway.”

“One last thing: I’m still thinking of that missing month, and what Einrik told us about the NeverNever strikes. And here’s what I got so far: First off, for our entire childhood we were accountable to mom. She would not have let us disappear for a month without raising hell. Not long after we graduated high school we were in boot camp. Again, no good opportunity to disappear for two weeks to a month during boot. I’d need to pull up our leave records to find out if we took enough leave at any given time to account for that period. Obviously my memories are suspect on this matter, but the records should stand.”

“That might give us a good idea of possible windows it could have happened in. I doubt there will be many. If we didn’t take enough leave during the suspect period, then the only other option is that we disappeared right before boot camp. That would narrow things down considerably. I’d need to talk to Mom and Dad, and see what the story was. Beyond that, we’re going to be playing detective.”

“I don’t want to involve Riker if we can help it. He’s way too fucking sharp, and he’s too well connected. If he figured it out before we did, we’d be fucked. Same thing for dealing with Sometimes Merchant, or talking about this with Amen. I mean, fuck, Amen either missed or withheld that the long period of amnesia happened when he did an audit of us, right after we met Grigori.”

List to Lick Lacunar Amnesia:
1) Check your military leave records
2) Talk to Mom and Dad about the period right before enlisting, and any leave periods which were long enough to also qualify.
3) Check your credit purchases and bank withdrawals for the suspect period(s).
4) Check your cell phone records for the suspect period(s), both call history and location data.
5) Be prepared to add more to this list as you discover new clues.

>Once I'm awake-what's my plan for the coming day?
~Read that report that Matvey and Camella came up with. You need to be able to reference it if they ask you, or if there’s something important in there.
~Show Hillevi how to use her computer. Teach her how to use e-mail, messaging services, Skype with the Rhivuldori kids, use the internet, and play some of her new video games. If she says she needs to train Satai, tell him to help with this computer shit. If she already knows all this because someone decided to move quicker than you, play a computer game with her (and Satai if he’s here). You want to play with your ward and the computers right now, and you will not be denied!
~Pull up your leave records on your own computer. Check your e-mail too.
~Call Lo Fang and let him know you’ll be a few days before you see him for a lesson.
~Go find one of the Russians you trust and ask for a spar. Promise no magic, just a straight spar. Make sure Sake’s on hand in case you or your partner gets too enthusiastic.
~Announce the tournament on the 26th, with a “reasonable boon” as the prize.
~Check in with Camella about how her talk with Gloom went, either in a conference call with Matvey or in-person meeting. Make sure Sake is taking part in the conversation too, he interacts a great deal with everyone independently of you. Ask if anyone noticed any other issues.
~Watch some of the training sessions, both Camella doing group training, and Hillevi teaching Satai one on one. Don’t interrupt, just observe. Later, make constructive suggestions to Hillevi, and (if Shadowbro didn’t shut you down on the idea) the idea of a friendly competition between you and her.
~Go visit cookie lady! Give her your new address, and make sure Amen recognizes her as a guest.
~Go to your old apartment and empty it out. Hire movers or something, doesn’t matter really. Cancel the lease. That’s money you can put to other things.
~Like paying for regular alcohol deliveries to the house. You don’t want the house to be dry, and Duke DID clean you out. Haggle for a good deal.
~Meet with the guy from the steel works. You know he’s going to want to talk to you.
~Try calling Adelat again, later in the day (in the evening, after the meeting with that guy from the steel works). Maybe she was just having a bad day yesterday. If you still can’t get in contact with her, ask Amen what she is doing.
~Call Gianni, just to shoot the shit with him. Ask him when he thinks a good time to talk to Rocco about your proposal for hiring him away would be. Tell him you got a lead on armor for the golem.
~More low-energy chakra practice.

Added a couple of lines to the world-eye idea, changed it up a bit to include the mirror idea. Added the List to Lick Lacunar Amnesia and dialog about it.
>>
No. 392939 ID: 95ebda

>>392830
Do this in the evening.

To get her into it:
(shamelessly stolen in almost its entirety from >>392386)
"Well, Hillevi, you've had some time to think about it now, so what did you learn from my monologue at the foundry yesterday? I hope you were paying attention."

"The lesson I would recommend learning is that just because someone is talking to you doesn't mean that they're trying to communicate with you. I was saying things there, sure, but the point was to totally confuse him, put him off his guard, and ultimately get him to agree to whatever I wanted while he was mentally reeling."

"We need to start training you to deal with that kind of thing, and also more generally in how to conduct social interaction with intent. Blather and overrun like that is a ridiculously unsubtle social attack, but I suspect you'd still have trouble with it. Which is why we're going to start off with something a little different. Poker."

Try to make her ignore any spiritual data she's getting by changing soul guises as rapidly as you can sustain. Exaggerate your tells at first, but dial them back as play continues to provide increasing challenge.

>>392931
>Show Hillevi how to use her computer. Teach her how to use e-mail, messaging services, Skype with the Riihuvuori kids, use the internet, and play some of her new video games.
Skip nearly all of this. Teach her how to find that information instead, so we're not wasting time.
>Announce the tournament on the 26th
Don't announce it yet, just tell them to be ready for something like it near the end of the month. Can't really have an announcement when even you don't know anything about it.
>Watch some of the training sessions, both Camella doing group training, and Hillevi teaching Satai one on one.
Make sure to take note of anyone who stands out (whether they're better or worse than average) during the group training, and talk to Camella about them afterwards.
>Go to your old apartment and empty it out.
Just have SB shadowport it all into our vans.
>regular alcohol deliveries to the house.
Get multiple good deals from multiple vendors, if possible. Can't have too much booze, and it pays to have redundancy in case something goes wrong with one of them.


Feodor
*Get back from Finnigan's. Drink. Go over notes. Shower.
*Find Sake, receive weasel-rub.
*Notice that even though it's Sunday, Lyubov's still going jogging with Camella. Crazy girl. Realise that training is still on. Rush to join them, try to catch up.
*Shower again quickly. Eat breakfast even quicker.
*Go to Camella's Chakra Killzone. Get angry at yourself for having to rely on Sake. Remember what Camella noticed yesterday and simmer down on the anger. Precision is key here.
*Shower again
*Ask Armas about how he heals so easily and quickly, and whether whatever it is is a viable option for the Russians. Ask about other methods. Ask who to talk to find out more about charms and where to get them.
*Go to Ito's for day-instructing and chakra training.
*Head back to the mansion. Shower again. Wonder why you keep showering.
*Have a short nap.
*Tell Satai he'll owe you for the information.
*Head to Finnigan's early. Ask him where he gets his supplies – drugs, instruments, even bandages. Talk about where he's from and how he got started in Istanbul. Continue taking notes throughout the night again.
>>
No. 393013 ID: 252e1b

>>392732

LYUBOV ADDENDUM

*When you see the Boss, ask him if he's going to get any jobs out in Egypt or the other countries experiencing turmoil at the moment. Express surprise when he doesn't know what you're talking about, explain the Arab Spring to him as, "Well it started because this guy set himself on fire and now everyone's upset and it looks like Egypt is going through a revolution and some other places too and it's all in the news."
>>
No. 393039 ID: 76c597

>Note Writer
“Of course I don’t trust him. A being we don’t know, can’t track and have no understanding of is messing around with our 2nd most powerful gun for his own reasons. And he predicts doom if we ever tell anyone about him.”
He seems to have some understanding of future events, and then Silja suddenly has the ability to do things before they happen? Or something. Gotta be Simo’s or this guy’s doing. So basically we can’t get a read on him, couldn’t strike back at him, and he’s at least pretending to help Silja, so what can we do? Nothing, that's what.

>Amenmonster
“The thing is, I haven’t the faintest idea how to safely use this thing even now that we’ve bound it. Beside the thought that it’d probably be safer to use it to power the World Eye rather than plug into it.

“Ah, but I had a thought, hoping you’ll tell me I’m being paranoid again…

“Amen has been bound to the house, so much so that he actually IS the house. That couldn’t have taken a small amount of energy, so why would someone do it? And then we’ve been walking around outside house boundaries carrying little bit of Amen with us. Suddenly, that strikes me as a tremendously unsafe thing to do. Tell me I’m wrong, please.”

>Other stuff
Note to self: whenever Camella mentions moral considerations, look at her blankly, like she’s speaking another language. Eventually she’ll give up even mentioning it.

I think maybe we should start putting more effort into Hillevi here. Some different ideas we should do regularly: there’s the Arena of course, to keep her in fighting trim with all sorts of weird enemies, which helps fulfill Markku’s requirement. There’s playing hide and seek with us, she must be a great hunter after growing up on the Valk grounds, we’re a slippery motherfucker and she’s a great huntress. I think we both stand something to gain.

Have her interact more with the Russians. Specifically, work up large-scale training exercises where Hillevi is either a platoon leader or a second-in-command under someone with more knowledge of small team tactics like Camella or Matvey. Use, I dunno, soap bullets or blanks or paintballs or something. Vary the goals from hunting down monsters, battling other platoons, protecting a VIP, assassination, all kinds of stuff. Switch up the teams occasionally to keep things fair. Make it a game, give out prizes to be determined later. We once had an idea to do a martial arts tournament, this is more fair to the Russians who aren’t melee combatants. Choose different landscapes; the woods, inside the mansion, by the river where we killed Doony, etc. Hell, swing by one of those paintball ranges with the variable terrain and dominate everything at least once.

Also get her in on the webcam calls or whatever we’re doing with the kids, in case she’s missing the family. 17 year old, first time away from home, remember. Just because she wanted to go doesn’t mean she might not be homesick.
>>
No. 393053 ID: 252e1b

>>393039
>Note Writer
>Amenmonster

Guile, no offense to you, but these both seem like Paranoia-fodder, and thus SUST fodder.

>Note to self: whenever Camella mentions moral considerations, look at her blankly, like she’s speaking another language. Eventually she’ll give up even mentioning it.

How about instead of being a dense motherfucker Armas tries trolling her by asking her to explain her position?

Something like, "No, really, tell me about what the moral questions are here. Assume I don't know anything about this, and start from basic principles. Take as long as you want, I've always got time for you."
>>
No. 393094 ID: c4e2b7

>Once I'm awake-what's my plan for the coming day?
Order Amen to: “Honestly tell me how much flesh and blood from from beings belonging to the following categories there is available in the mansion and that you can tell me about without violating any of your bindings. Queen, angel, dragon, elder being and Savoy.”
>>
No. 393110 ID: 619ee6

IGOR
+Igor notices he hasn't been seeing a lot of people lately, and decides to go on jogs with others from now on.
+Igor wonders “why the fuck didn't we anticipate this? This is chugainov, after all about the 'chugainov problem'. He then realize that getting drunk on freedom and 'power' helped him ignore the obvious.
+As he has a current request from Dick Boss, he is not going to have time to do much about it, and knows that as a somewhat-observer, butting in wouldn't be appreciated, so he resolves to see Dick Boss today and ask him if dick boss could order significant amount of alcohol. Be prepared to be sent on the errand himself, as it seems this is how Boss works.
+Igor notices that a few of his colleagues have been focused on chakra instead of teaching at ito's, and resolve to talk about it to the “dead lasts” of the chakra russians, so they can grab the opportunity before Ito can't afford to miss teachers. Proposal: institute a rotation that can be changed so that as people catch up, they can put more time into teaching again while others get the extra attention


>Asking Duke in awesome rhymes if his true Nature is a Dragon Dick. Be bummed when realizing Einrik troll, and forgetting what you were talking about.
Einrik troll was awesome, but there was no reason to not continue asking his true nature. By now, Duke probably like you enough to answer now, and we want to win that bet with IT, if only to feel good about our awesomeness. Do that.

>Seeing Hillevi more, and try to organize a contest between the two of us for 'best teacher' as a way to motivate ourself. See it as an opportunity to teach her how to manipulate too, so that we focus on “manipulating people into giving more than their 100%”.
Upvote

>Read report, be a boss
Upvote

>Note to self: whenever Camella mentions moral considerations, look at her blankly, like she’s speaking another language. Eventually she’ll give up even mentioning it.
SUST. Instead, keep up your dcision to use her as a way to have a different 'human benchmark', even if it's obvious by now that Camella's morality is askew. If she talks about morality, ask her to explain herself, in details.

Make sure to put soul-sensing on the moment you have enough juice, and then try to “undercharge” it as a self-efficiency lesson. CALL LO FANG, tell him you won't be able to meet him for the next few days.
>>
No. 393119 ID: 431fa8

>Satai orders
-Call up The Last Spelling and inquire as to prices for daily updates on news relevant to the Turkish magical community (if Arkvad indicated that they were supernaturally savvy) and to activity amongst criminal groups in Turkey.
-If possible, do chakra training with Hillevi around the mansion so that Satai and Hillevi are present when Yavuz Celikaya maybe shows up at noon. The crap Armas pulled on him yesterday was disconcerting, hilarious, and extremely impressive- if there's more, Satai wants to see it.
-Keep trying to understand Hillevi better and gently push her into talking in ways that make more sense to a beginner during chakra training. Try to start building a coherent picture of chakra theory- what the hell it is and why it works, since no one seems to talk about that much but Hillevi probably knows.
-Satai is willing to owe Feodor about as much for the information as it cost to get: about thirty seconds and no expenditure of resources whatsoever. It's not like the mafia don't sell drugs.
-To Lyubov, "Training's going fine. And of course I wouldn't spar; too much mixing work and play. How's learning in the Boss' tender care?" Be glad when she leaves, the flighty bint.
-By the end of the day, if no one has communicated a plan for dealing with our relatives, hunt down Matvey and ask what the hell is going on and why nothing has been done about this yet. They're just sitting on it- and how long were they sitting on it already? Satai has only one vodka of patience left. If Matvey mentions a plan given to Armas, get a copy of it and read.

>>392574
>So what do I say about SB's topics?
>What topics of my own do I have to bring up?

>Once I'm awake-what's my plan for the coming day?

1. Find that plan that Matvey and Camella made for us, read through it quickly so that we can talk about it and not look like a total idiot if they ask.

2. Talk to Hillevi in the morning, when all the Russians are at chakra training. It's the biggest block of time when almost everyone else will be busy. Use >>392939 and >>392830- we need to at least take a stab at trying to get her to learn social lessons from things, and poker's a decent way to start. Invite Duke to poker, and arrange for enough booze to be present that he'll show. Be willing to crush Hillevi in poker, but every hand that we do so stop and explain exactly what we did and why we thought it would work. Also, get Duke randomly talking about stuff, see if we can learn a bit about what makes him so strong and what his soul quirks are. Also, have Hillevi and Duke take a glance at those magic weapons we picked up yesterday, see if they can figure out what they do.

3. Call up the Redcaps. "I hear you're back in town; I've got a bit of a project that I'd like you to take a look at- would you care to drop by this evening? I guarantee it will be worth your while, and I think you'll even enjoy helping out." "Great. See you then."

4. Be around at noon in case Yavuz Celikaya shows up. Have a fantastically cooked magical meal ready. If he shows, tell Hillevi to watch you work and have some fun with him. He'll probably be angry and determined to take control of the conversation- be carefree and cheerful, deflect any anger with enthusiastic positiveness. "Yavuz, my friend! So good of you to come, please, have a seat, try the kraken, it's excellent today." "Not now, Yavuz, Business is for after pleasure. Let us begin with idle chat- perhaps work related but we are both diligent men who live our lives as a proper paean to our tasks, are we not? Tell me, how long have you been working on your products? I inspected them in detail this morning, very fine, but I would have expected a different variety of base components. Do you have any supply difficulties?" "Interesting. I myself rarely have problems, we do a bit of business in acquisitions and transfer of various variousnesses, there are limitations of course but anything can be overcome with the proper application of time and effort."

Fill other conversation with a lot of cheerful helpfulness that doesn't tell him a lot about what we do here beyond implied utter disregard for anything that gets in our way, but paints a picture of ourselves as being highly eccentric, of great resources, of significant magical power, extremely enthused about what he can do for us- and willing to do a bit for him as an unimportant side effect of that. Don't be shy about showing off a bit of magic- little things, but take the casually enough that it's clear we consider them trivial and commonplace. (Shadowbro should be handy here.) Keep pushing the friendliness until it gets under his skin, until he accepts the premise that we really are his friend and want to work with him extensively. As things wind down...

"Ah, then, business. For the most important part, the pipes... I think you need to see exactly what you'll be working with."

Dramatically reveal the horror that is Duke's feces, from a relatively safe distance. "You see, having come into some quantity of this, I can't help but think how potent it would be if pressurized, mixed with the strongest toxins I have on hand- also corrosive, as it happens, exceedingly deadly, delightful stuff- and then projected at high velocity towards whatever happens to be getting in the way of my latest venture." "I know it's not what you're used to, but you show all the signs of a master craftsman! Push your limits! I could simply have dredged up a svartelf or dwarf something, there are plenty of crafty critters out there, but I need someone with heart! Soul! And not the literal kind, almost everyone has those." "We can table this matter for now; it's not incredibly urgent and doubtless will require much in the way of thought on your part. On to armor, then. I'm interested in what rune schematics you have available- if the personnel armor project goes well, I might come up with a few larger items in need of your expertise. Vans. Tanks. Golems. Drones, perhaps, depending upon how certain projects currently not in production pan out."

Go through what he's got available, make arrangements to actually get everything that the receipt asked for. To avoid paying now, promise pricing upon delivery of product and imply a few past bad experiences. Keep upbeat and positive, let him talk but only if he's not taking the conversation in an undesirable direction (like "give me my stuff back") and try to usher him out with the solid idea that he needs to make you things and, however bizarre you might be, he definitely won't regret working with you.

5. Actually meet with the redcaps. Show them the golem, talk about how awesome it is, and ask their help in making it more awesome.
>>
No. 393136 ID: 252e1b

>>393119

LYUBOV ADDENDUM

*Respond to Satai, "His latest lesson is that chakra progression is about understanding yourself. All his lessons have been helping me with that. It isn't normal training, but it works. And are you saying you will spar me now?"
>>
No. 393163 ID: c6ce12

Matvey

color=#3399FF

-(rolled 49 = 49)
-Have Lyubov come to you with news on Lev and Zhenya. Ask questions until you have as complete an understanding of the situation as you can. Find the two breakdowns very shocking, make a mental note to talk with those two later.
-Answer a conference call from the boss about Camella's progress with Gloom. Continue to be concerned for his mental well being. Take notes.
-Tell Iosef what you can about social interaction in general terms. Recommend he spend some more face to face time interacting with people or meeting new people.
-Be approached by an angry Satai demanding to be informed of the familial situation. Tell him the situation is being handled as best you can with the resources and knowledge available, him getting angry at you will not make this go any faster. There's a report already written and awaiting the boss' review, if he wants a copy he can have one. What we have right now is pretty sparse, it essentially being what was proposed in the meeting that he and the others were all a part of. If Satai really wants to help he can come by sometime discuss whatever ideas he has with an officer. As far as you know this hasn't been sat on, at least on your end, you learned of the situation a couple hours prior to everyone else from Lyubov and attempted to act on that as soon as you heard. As far as you knew the only other people who knew before you were Camella and Andrei, who will assist with any hacking required. If he's concerned with not being informed as soon as possible he can bring it up with them.
>>
No. 393197 ID: d97a61

So since minion orders are proving quite popular and regular-a bit of a formatting request: Please phrase orders in second person-ie, Gloom's orders to think about something would go: -Consider picking up Krav Maga. Decide against it owing to his preference for Systema.
[Lev has been queued to do the following:]
L-Consider his recent failure, and the bad news of the family situation. Be in a slightly less than good mood. Accidentally take anger out on woodcarving, be mortified when he realizes he not only
butchered the carving-it looks more like an angry penis than anything else. Feel uncomfortable with the thought of burning or keeping it-wonder what to do with it.
L-Decide not to mess about, just do Camella's lessons properly, rationalize that he's gotta make ShadowBoss proud. Try to table emotions until later.
L-Later be surprised by this strange feeling of wishing for someone's approval. Hear about Ito's training on the grapevine, or vodka bottle, whatever, jump at the chance presented. LOSE $150 a week in Ito
training pay. Acquire one of Ito's six slots for dedicated chakra training: four left.
L-Round about evening time, wonder if Babushka is ok... surely if anything was happening one of the 12 from the orphanage would take her away... then again, Chugainov is kinda powerful... and he doesn't have
a clue where the others are or what they are doing.
L-Lament that he lost contact with everyone when he ended up in the special forces anti-magic Russian army division (silly Lev thinking he's special forces). Miss Babushka, and mid-mope pent up emotions from earlier explode out. Try to get drunk, then try to follow Rostislav for fight clubbing, on return from fight-clubbing, wail about not knowing what Anna, Oleg, Nestor , Mariya, Veronika,
Karp and... and... he can't remember the names of the others BAWWWWW!!!!
L-Search for a green fuzzy thing to wrap yourself around, succeed with the power of booze.
L-In the dark curl up in fetal position with the sword of the father he never knew, mourn blade-filled stolen childhood, there are some people a little boy shouldn't play with... Suppress, yet again,
childhood rape event from active thought.
L-Fall asleep to the quasi-philosophical drunk-thought: For a long time, the only monsters he knew of were the human ones.

[Rostislav has been queued to do the following:]
R-Consider a single bout at the new fight club he found. Earning experience against foes that have decidedly newfound ways of working and special tricks? Hell yes. In fact, structure the whole damn day around this event to make certain he is as awesome as possible - Sleep pattern, alarms, food consumption. Decide he's back in the old business, decide to be sure business is good!
R-Fail to pay heed to memories of not being anything resembling a 'talented' fighter in the old fight-related clubs he participated in. After all, new job, new Rosti.
R-Briefly notice someone following him, fail to care when he notices it's Lev
R-As he did previously before a good fight, prepare first-aid supplies and keep them in his coat. It's manly to take a punch, but stupid not to take care of it after.
R-Perform: (PLAYER MUST ROLL IN DISCUSSION THREAD. 1d100, DC 52)
[Iosef has been queued to do the following:]
I-Drop instruction job in favor of more Chakra Training (lose 150$/w income) THREE SLOTS LEFT.
I-Having trained for several days, realize that getting optimal amount of sleep doesn't improve Chakra training in the least. Wish he was intellectual/philosophical enough he could figure something out from
this data blurb. Decide being heavy weapons guy's pretty okay even if he isn't the sharpest baller in the melon.
I-Ask others if they know of any other ways to improve Chakra gains. Do this during breaks, free-time or when having meals. Given sparse time questions are asked during and busy nature of cohorts, get highly
limited response. Only get meaningful reports from three individuals: Lyubov, noting that she's pretty sure matching the training structure to one's personality type is a good idea, Matvey noting that emotional
disturbance does not at all help one's precision even if it can help raw output, and Satai noting that 'cheating is always best' and making mention of rubs and other training multipliers.
I-Cut down sleeptime (15:00-17:00 nap, meaning 3,5h at night + 2 hours during the day). Be aware that short of a magical solution this will notably increase the rate of sleep deprivation.
I-Reflect on what he did wrong when visiting Kardemir Steel. Decide to work a little bit on social skills, so that they are at least 'passable'. Ask Andrei, Matvey and Lyubov, for tips and how to start improving. Be given a few strange looks and some comments that are highly general-be unsure how useful they are.
I-Use the nifty notebook that Andrei gifted him to browse different chat-rooms and forum (anonymous or otherwise) to work on communication skills. Don't ever use real names, locations or events. In fact, ask
Andrei if he made sure that the notebooks he gave out have been tweaked by him for maximum protection against hackers and viruses (Iosef is not that good at computers, you see?). Make no initial gains due to internet-norm abrasive verbal hazing and apathy of posters for newcomers, particularly inarticulate ones.
I-Learn that Andrei has been doing the same thing for a while, ask for beginners help. Be given a social engineering how-to printout, and be told to read it.
I-Spend about 2 hours doing this (17:00-19:00). Continue pressing on even as it doesn't make sense-read it through twice, and decide to read it more later, and next time possibly take notes.
I-(19:00-21:00), just spend time socializing with other Russians and denizens of the mansion. Ask Duke how come he is so awesome. Be told it's because he can literally fart thunder-well, thunderous pressure waves. Decide that no matter what anyone says, this is impressive as hell.
I-Due to new schedule drink big cup of black, bitter coffee in the morning and after afternoon nap. Also, make use of the energy drinks that were provided by Andrei and Satai. Abruptly feel stinging sensation on hand, be distracted by a brief blur seen for an instant. Rub hand in consternation, wonder what just made that welt.
I-Drop the idea to get Sake a gift. It seems that you've been beaten to it and it looks too much like ass-kissing now. Grump about how some people get magical rubbings and he doesn't.
I-Nonetheless, give the idea to Lyubov. Perhaps she will make use of it. Be told by Lyubov that 'If it's not Etse compliant, I probably won't do it.' Wonder what the hell Etse is.
I-Be depressed about the news but since he personally can't do much about it, attempts to not let it hamper him too much.

[Lyubov has been queued to do the following:]
*L~Have difficulty sleeping. Get up, research ways to keep herself distracted throughout the day. End up placing several orders she'll probably regret, among them a left handed ferret brush (why
would she even need a left handed one?), pay for expedited shipping ($800).
*L~Read about that ‘haigure’ thing. Most of the information about it is in Japanese, be a little weirded out by the stuff that is in English.
*L~Change into swimming suit again, pose in front of a mirror in that ‘haigure’ position. Upon brain catching up to body, briefly wonder how she rationalized this as being acceptable before she almost starts to wonder how much shit she and Armas would be in if Camella learned. Stop thinking about that, decide “it’s just training, she’ll understand.” Yep. Totally understand-and that's why she'll never ever find out. Yes.
*L~Get dressed in pajamas, go find Sake. More prank calls, recorder on. Again with the complaining guy only she can hear. Seems this time he's actually speaking TO her-and keeps saying 'this is not how you
should use phones'. Take a break, start to genuinely worry about mental health. Ask for weasel rub-down to see if it helps. ...Nope, still hearing that dude.
*L~Wander downstairs, find Duke watching TV. Watch with him, mention hearing a voice on the phone that Sake can’t hear. Be told it's probably 'That Phone Guy' as if that explains everything. Ask how
Duke is so awesome, be told it's because he can drink a lake (literally, he's verified this) of hard liquor in one sitting, volume discrepancies be damned. Share personal background, tell the story about the arms smuggling. It’s really funny, now that you’re not sentenced to death. Well, technically you are, but things are better now! Note that Duke seemed quite enthused with cheerfully delivered self-depreciating tales.
*L~Four a.m. already? Excuse herself, go get dressed for jog. Breakfast seems normal today, guess Boris was just experimenting. Feel a bit queasy about the belly during the run-not a huge amount, but enough she notices. Otherwise notice nothing out of whack.
*L~Go to your room, dress very nicely for Church. Collect Gloom, head out, leave letter to mom at home. Donate $1000. Introduce Gloom to Cookie Lady. Observe cookie lady promising Gloom next week she'll have handpies made 'just for him to put a smile on his face'. Wonder if her cooking can overcome comrade's dourness.
*L~Talk to Nikolai, confess more sins, uncharitable thoughts about co-workers, your moment of longing for Hillevi’s money last week. Ask about the 1955 Pogrom, ask why things went so badly here. Be told that respectfully, the whole story is rather complex and he does not want to explain things by half-measures. Ask if we could meet in the afternoon sometime during the week to talk more about how things in Istanbul having to do with God and religion are very different compared to other places. Be told he'd be delighted to do so-make plans to meet WEDNESDAY at the church. Hope she remembers to go.
*L~Miss a couple of hours of chakra training because of church. Grease up with that bottle Armas gave her again, make sure it’s all covered by her workout outfit. Note she smells like strawberries, and the
wicking layer of her outfit is sticking to you. Feels super gross. Focus on getting into orientation. Note that, even knowing the principle guiding it, the distracting tactile sensations still make Orientation setup easier.
*L~Shower and change before going to Ito’s. Be excessively happy she thought ahead and acquired multiple workout outfits.
*L~At lunch recognize Zhenya is hitting the bottle really hard again. Pester comrade and jokingly threaten, “I’ll take blackmail pictures if I have to bring you home again.” Explain Zhenya made a fool of herself last night. Get Zhenya to tell her a very sad story about her family’s cursed violin. Keep thoughts that 'This is probably not an actual cursed violin and just some coincidences' to self.
*L~Comfort her friend. Show Zhenya funny videos, play back the recorded prank calls, apologize for the messed up audio. Be ready to contain dread if Zhenya claims the calls sound fine to her-be surprised when she ALSO complains about the soft voice in the background. Focus on cheering her up, make mental note someone else heard that voice.
*L~With remaining time in the afternoon block, be approached by Iosef. Ask Iosef to come along as she goes shopping and be turned down as he's got some printouts to read, go buy 20 hours more phone airtime
($60), nylon stiffener ($40), nitrile gloves and safety goggles ($20). Drop stuff off at home.
*L~Give Iosef advice: “If you don’t want to seem like you’re just kissing up, try actually getting to know him. Sake’s a very friendly guy. Bring some good alcohol, and spend an evening talking to him,
that’s how we became friends.”
*L~Dinner. Ask Andrei how he’s doing, ask Hillevi and Satai how their training is going. Find out Andrei's still his kooky self, just... perkier since his heart attack. Odd, given the lowered caffeine
intake. Tease Hillevi, “I didn’t realize you liked the intellectual types. He wouldn’t even spar with me the other week.” Feel like she 'gets' Boss at delicious social schadenfreude over Hillevi's fiercely delivered protestations and comical blue-blushing.
*L~Keep an eye on Zhenya. Try an energy drink, decide it’s no wonder this horrible tasting stuff killed Andrei. Feel like something is watching her when she grabbed said energy drink-be kinda sure it wasn't Sake being a dick or Shadow Boss being a creeper. Go with gut feeling it wasn't Boss. Know it wasn't Camella or Gloom. Wonder who the hell that leaves?
*L~Night lessons. Keep intentions fluttery against Granny. Keep thoughts fluttery too. Wonder what happened to Lev. Fail to replicate that lucky punch from the other day-wonder what's missing.
*L~Come home, look for Sake, find Lev drunk and crying. Welp. Drag him to his room, ask SB to keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn’t hurt himself. Go 'Ooooooh that makes sense' when hearing Lev lamenting he doesn't even remember the names of all his bastards.
*L~Find Matvey, alert him about Lev and Zhenya. Mention Zhenya seemed better after talking it out with you this afternoon. Answer questions (but don’t tell about Zhenya’s phobia, just that the family issues
reminded her she practically has no family).
*L~Finally get some sleep. It’s been a long day.
*L~When she sees the Boss, ask him if he's going to get any jobs out in Egypt or the other countries experiencing turmoil at the moment. Express surprise when he doesn't know what she's talking about, explain the Arab Spring to him as, "Well it started because this guy set himself on fire and now everyone's upset and it looks like Egypt is going through a revolution and some other places too and it's all in the news." Recieve oddly blank look from boss, and hear him mutter about 'Vacations'.
*L~*Respond to Satai, "His latest lesson is that chakra progression is about understanding yourself. All his lessons have been helping me with that. It isn't normal training, but it works. And are you saying you will spar me now?" Try to evoke a 'shit's on if you want it' aura.

[Gloom has been queued to do the following:]
Ruminate on whether his irregular personal views on family issues are relevant to how the group as a whole approach the Chugainov/Family issue.
*Decide it's not. Wonder why that was a relevant consideration.
*Note his family has proved themselves to be his very best allies in the world, and he wouldn't want to lose them. Spend a while with the others brainstorming what is best to do next.
*Decide this is probably a 'healthier' way to deal with personal eccentricities than staring at the shower's wall.
*Be told by cliched Old Granny figure that she will bake some desserts specifically for him.
*1d100 roll to beat DC45 to avoid having heart warmed by this to stay coldly rational. Roll in discussion.
[Zhenya has been queued to do the following:]
-Wake up with hangover, remember jack shit. Given the company she keeps-be concerned over what could have happened.
-Approach Sake for weasel rubbings to get rid of hangover, be laughed at and mocked for a good couple minutes before rubbings are administered. Thank him even if he was a bit of a dick about it-sweet
sweet release is worth it.
-Consider getting him a gift, he and Lyubov have been very friendly. Decide to get him 1000 ping pong balls.($12for a pack of 144, buying 7 packs for a total of $84-discounts). Store them to 'spring' upon
Weasel Boss at an opportune moment.
-When she gets back to her room she notices a large empty space where
her ammunition was. Count up and see ~2000rounds gone. Trace back to indoor shooting range and get her targets from yesterday, notice horrible shot placement, wonder what the hell she was doing wasting
2000 rounds like that.
-Imbibe heavily at lunch and talk to Lyubov.
-Be slightly depressed by all this, decide to go cheer self up.
-Grab 5k and head out the the black market dealer to ask for rare or special pistols. Specifically ask for the Volquartsen MKIII and the LeMat Revolver. Be laughed at for asking for something as old as a
Lematt-fail to get a word in edgewise to explain even functional replicas are fine. Find out that while the merchant does not currently have a MKIII, he could acquire one within a week. Decide to come back
later and check in after he refuses the notion of being placed on a 'call list'.
-Present Sake with ping pong balls, inwardly hope he doesn't use them for too much mischief. Ask him if he knows any methods she can use to get ahead in this chakra thing, maybe a
mindset? Be told by an abruptly far more magnanimous than usual Weasel Boss, wallowing in a pile of balls and wiggling contentedly, that to really get results, she has to figure out what kind of person she
is-be given example of how Lyubov's learned she's big on distraction, causing it or receiving it, and playing to this improves her learning rate. Sake goes on to say 'know yourself to best learn'.
-Attempt to skip night sessions, stay home and clean guns. Attempt to stay home interrupted by a Wild Camella enforcing class attendence.
-Try the chakra thing one more time before going to bed, be slightly frustrated at lack of progress.
-pass out.

[Feodor has been queued to do the following:]
*Get back from Finnigan's. Drink. Go over notes. Shower.
*Find Sake, receive weasel-rubbings in exchange... for a roll of gauze. Do not question the weasel rolling itself in the gauze until it looks like a bandaged green sock.
*Notice that even though it's Sunday, Lyubov's still going jogging with Camella. Crazy girl. Realise that training is still on. Rush to join them, try to catch up. Be thankful for past attempts to encourage others with modular speed-don't fail miserably at playing catch up on run.
*Shower again quickly. Eat breakfast even quicker.
*Go to Camella's Chakra Killzone. Get angry at self for having to rely on Sake. Remember what Camella noticed yesterday and simmer down on the anger. Precision is key here.
*Shower again. Try to 'wash off' that emotional energy. Think that... maybe worked?
*Ask Armas about how he heals so easily and quickly, and whether whatever it is a viable option for the Russians. Decide that the Smile given in answer is reason enough to not investigate-sober. Ask about other methods. Be told pretty much all of them take stupid amounts of magic-quoted directly from the boss. Ask who to talk to find out more about charms and where to get them. Be told to take a trip down into the Sewers, and ask to speak to 'Sometimes Merchant'-be warned his services do not come cheaply. Ponder this.
*Go to Ito's for day-instructing and chakra training.
*Head back to the mansion. Shower again. Wonder why he keeps showering. Shower yet again. Why is he doing this?
*Have a short nap. Wake up in the shower. What? Wake up in bed-decide maybe to take a break from showers.... tomorrow, after a whif of his own B.O. Reluctantly shower again.
*Tell Satai he'll owe you for the information.
*Head to Finnigan's early. Ask him where he gets his supplies – drugs, instruments, even bandages. Be told it's all through EMT's that 'lose' their stock in exchange for favors from him-and that they would understandably NOT be okay with supplying other people. Talk about where he's from and how he got started in Istanbul. Be told he's actually Scottish, not Irish, and everyone gets it wrong. Continue
taking notes throughout the night again.

[Igor has been queued to do the following:]
+Notice he hasn't been seeing a lot of people lately, and decides to go on jogs with others from now on.
+Wonders “why the fuck didn't we anticipate this? This is Chugainov, after all" about the 'Chugainov problem'. He then realize that getting drunk on freedom and 'power' helped him ignore the obvious.
+As he has a current request from Dick Boss, he is not going to have time to do much about it, and knows that as a somewhat-observer, butting in wouldn't be appreciated, so he resolves to see Dick Boss today and ask him if dick boss could order significant amount of alcohol. Be prepared to be sent on the errand himself, as it seems this is how Boss works. Wow look at that-Boss told him to buy.... ten thousand dollars of booze, okay wow that was more than he expected. AWAITING PLAYER INPUT ON WHAT 10K IS SPENT ON.
+Notice that a few of his colleagues have been focused on chakra instead of teaching at Ito's, and resolve to talk about it to the “dead lasts” of the chakra Russians, so they can grab the opportunity before Ito can't afford to miss teachers. Despite their only being three remaining openings, be non-dickish about this. Morosely wonder if anyone will notice.

[$atai has been queued to do the following:]
$-Call up The Last Spelling and inquire as to prices for daily updates on news relevant to the Turkish magical community and to activity amongst criminal groups in Turkey. Be told in a manner that makes the price feel preset that the price is $5,000 a week, but if one doesn't care if they are in the news they read, then the pay's $50 a week.
$-Do chakra training with Hillevi around the mansion so that Satai and Hillevi are present when Yavuz Celikaya maybe shows up at noon. The crap Armas pulled on him yesterday was disconcerting, hilarious, and extremely impressive- if there's more, Satai wants to see it.
$-Keep trying to understand Hillevi better and gently push her into talking in ways that make more sense to a beginner during chakra training. Personal bias towards meticulously specific phrasing that is as hard to misinterpret as possible may be bleeding through to her-and in his mind is entirely beneficial. Try to start building a coherent picture of chakra theory- what the hell it is and why it works, since no one seems to talk about that much but Hillevi probably knows. Start with the concept that Chakra manipulation is technically innate to every single thing with a soul, but it's not easily accessed, effectively 'born atrophied', and has nowhere near the magical efficiency of Bloodline magics. Beyond this, be unwilling to concretely stand behind more facts until he's had more time to pester Hillevi.
$-Willing to owe Feodor about as much for the information as it cost to get: about thirty seconds and no expenditure of resources whatsoever. It's not like the mafia don't sell drugs. Notes that Feodor maaay have smiled at this.
$-To Lyubov, "Training's going fine. And of course I wouldn't spar; too much mixing work and play. How's learning in the Boss' tender care?" Be glad when she leaves, the flighty bint. Be reasonably sure Hillevi has not at all picked up on personal dislike for Lyubov-but be personally unable to shake the feeling the details she and Matvey seem to be hiding feel like they'd make him dislike her.
$-By the end of the day, if no one has communicated a plan for dealing with relatives, hunt down Matvey and ask what the hell is going on and why nothing has been done about this yet. They're just sitting on it- and how long were they sitting on it already? Satai has only one vodka of patience left. When Matvey mentions a plan given to Armas, get a copy of it and read.
$-Find that it notes the impracticalities and unreliability of nearly every collectively known method due to all of them being actively used by Chugainov. Paying for someone to smuggle them through mundane channels, staging a kidnapping, staging a death that wouldn't leave an identifiable body, bribing their way through locals in each individual's hometown, using intimidation to simply pick them up-all have been clearly-and, he must admit, fairly-shot down as not being workable enough to consider.
$-Find that after all the failing methods, there is a short blurb that effectively equates to 'we need to find a magical solution to this-and Camella said something about Armas' space-manipulating trick not being normal teleportation-in a bad way. Reread blurb-be unable to glean WHAT exactly Camella said, or what, barring teleportation, the trick the Boss has been seen to use is-and why it's bad.
$-Decide that he may have to directly confront the boss or get a group meeting organized to force the boss to prioritize-work perks the boss may have covered, but employee relations-particularly empathy-not so much.
[Matvey has been queued to do the following:]
-(rolled 49 = 49) Actually avoid being distracted, start to really solidify 'hard-work' rhythm. Be glad he didn't flop out early. Hope he'll truck through subsequent hurdles as well.
-Have Lyubov come to him with news on Lev and Zhenya. Ask questions until he has as complete an understanding of the situation as he can. Given Lyubov's eclectic storytelling style, this is not as much as he'd hoped. Find the two breakdowns very shocking, make a mental note to talk with those two later.
-Answer a conference call from the boss about Camella's progress with Gloom. Continue to be concerned for his mental well being. Take notes. Seems she's identified Gloom as the type to legitimately pull out more power AND control with increased emotional investment with Chakra-and she and Ito both are trying to guide him towards less antisocial possible uses of that.
-Tell Iosef what he can about social interaction in general terms. Recommend he spend some more face to face time interacting with people or meeting new people.
-Be approached by an angry Satai demanding to be informed of the familial situation. Tell him the situation is being handled as best you can with the resources and knowledge available, him getting angry at you will not make this go any faster. There's a report already written and awaiting the boss' review, if he wants a copy he can have one. What they have right now is pretty sparse, it essentially being what was proposed in the meeting that he and the others were all a part of. If Satai really wants to help he can come by sometime discuss whatever ideas he has with an officer. As far as you know this hasn't been sat on, at least on your end, you learned of the situation a couple hours prior to everyone else from Lyubov and attempted to act on that as soon as you heard. As far as you knew the only other people who knew before you were Camella and Andrei, who will assist with any hacking required. If he's concerned with not being informed as soon as possible he can bring it up with them.

>>
No. 393199 ID: d97a61

>>392931
I sit in the technically imaginary chair, rather pleased with the squooshiness of the thing, and respond to what's effectively myself while eyeing the hybridized spirit construct with my best attempt at a sober glare.
“I had a vague idea of using it to power the kameosa to make spirit wine, and then storing that to be used as needed. Obviously we’ll need to put that on hold until the situation in Japan is resolved, one way or another. I’d planned on eventually ending up with more weasel wine than we needed, and at that point then diverting the power to other uses. We’ll just do that now, and divert to the kameosa when we have one.”
My soul shadow, my brother and myself steeples spindly fingers to grin at me over, that featureless mound of a forhead gleaming.
>"It's good to hear you have been considering it, at least. I've not been so free as I once was, to spend my time picking through your thoughts-and as you well know, trust is... difficult, when it comes to ourselves."
“I haven’t forgotten about that list we made when we talked a couple of weeks ago, ARMAS' MASSIVE PILE OF SHIT TO DO. We’ve completed most of it, but the world eye was on the list and I’ve given it some thought. It was one of the candidates for what to do with that engine. And I’ve got two ideas about it.”
>"Please go on."
“The first isn’t that well developed, but basically, if we could make the eye a conceptual mirror for the entire world, we’d be able to look at it whenever we liked. Considering that the eye is based on ice magic, and ice can be made into a mirror of sorts if you have the right material backing it, I think we’ve got a solid base to work with. But that would only give us real-time information, if the concept is solid.”
>"I would not eschew something so 'paltry' as real-time information about any part of the world at large. The concept you propose does sound functional in principle-but lacking details, is hardly pursuable. Putting that aside-what makes you consider the gains of such a plan meager?"
“I’d like to be able to make projections. So what we need is something like in that cartoon where they bought the meatball a snake: we need a virtual reality simulator, with a physics model and a magic model, built as complete as possible. I have no idea what kind of computing capacity we would need to simulate the world, but I do know we don’t need to simulate everything.”
>"And there, I fear, is your 'normal' mindset. Well, how do you see that as being possible without, say, the entire Dark and all of the Draconic society and every Wizard working in tandem to produce the raw power needed?"
“If we focus on just the important areas, like what’s going on in people’s minds and souls, the flow of magic in the world, large scale events, we could cut out a lot of unnecessary computation."
>"Please be assured that the magical and spiritual status of the world and its inhabitants would be what requires the majority of computational ability."
"We could limit it to just simulating small regions after getting it set up, and expand as we acquire ways to augment the system. Initially we could just build it based on what’s going on here in the house. Amen knows about almost everything that happens in him, we could get regular updates about the state of things here and compare our model’s results to that, and modify the model in response until they match up. Then we expand the region, and sample data, and modify the engine. Each iteration takes us closer to a more complete and accurate model.”
>"Modelling the house with Amen as our point of reference for self-correction? That sounds far more reasonable-indeed, if we start with just modelling that which is mundanely visible and expand to magic later, I suspect the quasi-engine we have now could well suffice. Amen's magic, however, would make a full implementation initially immensely complex-and so I say we forego it until we've learned more about the field."
“I think we’ll need help eventually, especially with making my eye’s interior a proper mirror, but having a prototype will give us something to entice potential helpers with. I think it could be worth asking Og a question about; he’d at least like that we were proactive about getting the groundwork laid. This won’t be a simple project, but I think it could be a very worthwhile one.”
>"Why do you think I asked you? This project is the one thing that could pull me back from my current engagements in political maneuvering in the Dark."
"How IS that going?"
>"I have a full dozen subordinate shadows now-all bound to magic users and unable to act on their own within the physical realm, but entirely sapient. It's a functional start, and I believe an ample testing ground for Shadow manipulation-which I can do with both bloodlines, as it happens, at least within the Dark."
"No shit."
>"Yes-I can ply the summer line's defunct Flesh crafting as Shadow crafting with the aid of the Nazinaut shadow as a filter, and my Winter line's the foundation of my natural shadow manipulation abilities. But enough about what's as of yet not produced any real results-what about the Notewriter?"
“I don’t trust him either. I hardly can, given the information disparity between us. He knows practically everything about Silja and what goes on around her, and we know nearly nothing about him. And it hasn’t escaped my notice that he came for a visit right after I’d given Silja a chance to see.”
>"Good. The timing on that was far too perfect to ignore. As I can neither read the notes-or indeed, properly assess the obvious magic involved in them, I have little to personally make estimations with. What is your take on this individual's capacity?"
I give this some thought.
“His powers are likely based in Elder principles, given how Amen claimed he couldn’t detect Elder powers, and how so far Amen hasn’t detected anything about Note Writer. You noticed how he didn’t want us to tell Einrik about him, and how he’s always operated while Einrik was not around? And Einrik has that Elder-proto-god-thing in his forehead.”
The smile partly hidden behind fingers of dusk and umber curls tighter at my comment.
“We’re going to need to learn some Elder detection techniques of our own anyway, if we go with building the World Eye as a simulation. Octopus spirit animal, perhaps?”
>"As entertaining as that could be-I disrecommend attempting to claim another spirit animal personally-the Hummingbird would not take kindly to others, I think. Instead, I suggest encouraging the minions at your disposal to take up such spirit animals after Davgon and Big Crazy have returned. Surely between them they'd be able to insure a safe and comperatively easy binding process that left those involved aware of elder energy-and what a thing that would be, to have our entire company, bloodline-less as they are, able to readily read and comprehend the magic of forgotton gods."
I Smile at the image he presents even as I go on.
“Anyway, if we got some sort of Elder sensor either on me, or on a person we do trust, it would probably go a long way toward keeping him from being able to undermine us. And putting it on someone else has some advantages, like giving him an opportunity to talk to us when we’re not near our Elder sensor, and not tying us to something that’s got a reputation for being very weird.”
>"Indeed."
“So, while I can’t trust him yet, I can keep an eye on Silja and keep interacting with her. He’s subtle, but he’s not all-powerful. And he’s got some unknown agenda in mind here. I’m afraid he might be Armas Valkonen, which would be both a blessing and a lot of trouble. I say a blessing because that Armas loved Silja, and wouldn’t want to see her anything but happy and healthy and of sound mind. So in that, our goals would coincide. A lot of trouble because, well, everything I’ve heard about him reminds me of me.”
>"I wonder about that. ...No, I suppose at this time it'd be naught but idle paranoia. Please excuse my comment-I'll get back to you when I have something of note to discuss."
"That works for me-I wanted to talk about Hummingbird."
>"What about the titled 'Best Hummingbird Alive'?"
" I was thinking, maybe we could get him fleshcrafting powers somehow. Maybe a boon from Whaitiri, maybe some other way. Anyway, we get him fleshcrafting powers and we perform a flesh bind. That way he’s double-bound to me, and he can use the energy to keep his body in good shape.”
>"That... would let him readily survive the loss of your body despite being flesh bound-the soul bind would keep him going. Conversely, if his form is destroyed, you could quite literally grow him a new one-or more likely, he could make you grow one for him."
“Yeah, I thought it’d make him as immortal as I am too.”
>"Which you still have yet to test-which I am rather proud of. Perhaps you really are firmly grasping the notion of caution?"
I ignore the gentle jab.
“We’re going to need to figure out what we are to Whaitiri, too. I don’t want to end up in a situation Sake won’t be happy in. He’s important, his happiness is important; but equally important is not ending up in a situation where Whaitiri’s not in our corner.[/i]"
>"So what if the spirit bound to us in a subordinate manner is bound to another in a subordinate manner? So long as he still must be-"
"Set aside the fresh feud for a minute, would you?"
>"As you wish."
"Besides the relationship of “son” there’re other potential ones. “Business Partner” would be good, but I just know she’d reject it. She’s a goddess, she doesn’t do business, you know the spiel. So that leaves stuff like “Husband” or “Consort” for near-parity in the relationship. Neither seem exactly ideal either.”
>"Not to mention the likely issues she still has left from her last human lover."
“Yeah. Do you think she knows the modern concept of “Sugardaddy?””
The smile completely uncurls to a straight line wider than SB's shoulders as I keep talking.
“Now hang on, we shouldn’t discount it out of hand. I feed her, keep her in energy, and she provides… favors. The relationship is mutalistic, anyway.”
>"It's somewhat concerning your mind spun this particular direction."
“It’s just what comes to mind. We can table it for now, give us both a chance to reflect on it.”
>"Please do-I still find the notion rather jarring."
“Next topic: Our minions. Your thoughts on them? Give me a run-down about how you feel how they’re developing, how we can use each of them best, and who we need to pay more attention to.”
>"Hm. I would say the one I am personally most impressed with is either Gloom or Iosef. The former has kept himself swaddled in a shell of cold rationalism that dances on the edge of madness rather comfortably-I'd say his mind is about as 'shaped' to handle trauma as a human mind can get. A great thing to have when facing nightmares is an occupational hazard. The latter impresses me because despite knowing that I am in a manner in charge of him, and have done nothing to him personally, he STILL has an innate distrust and dislike for shadows and the Dark in general-and that has persisted even as his fear of it has begun to diminish. He seems, on that subject at least, to have walked the fine line between skepticism and paranoia rather ably. Beyond those two stand outs, I'd say there is no true surprise or detail of note among them-all have progressed more or less as one could expect a 'normal' soldier to progress when forced into the situations they find themselves in. By no means should this come off as a dismissal-soon enough they'll have a firm grasp of basic chakra manipulation-no mean feat."
“I’m not sure I agree on every specific, but it all seems to match closely to my views. No big surprise, the little differences in what you and I have noticed are what are most interesting. I knew you'd pick Gloom-but Iosef over Lyubov and Andrei?”
>"Their minds and souls are not as aesthetically shaped to my senses. My judgment is what it is."
I mull this over.
“Probably because I’ve got a body. Changing the topic slightly here, but I was thinking of setting up a proper chakra tournament for like the 26th or 27th, putting up either a specific prize or a boon with the stipulation that it be within reason. They should have enacted their family solution by then, so we’ll have time to guide the winner to picking something like a spirit animal or a magic weapon instead of a really expensive prize. It would give them sufficient motivation to really learn their chakra.”
>"I endorse it-but given I have read Matvey's report and you have not-"
"Oh right that-"
>"I believe it pertinent to note the report effectively boils down to the fact they do not HAVE a solution-and require a magical one, given they are certain Chugainov can outmaneuver them on ever mundane plane they may approach."
"Hm. I'm kind of directionless on that just yet."
>"I would seriously consider calling in the favor with the Sami Shaman at large of the Laib Olmai to pull them out-surely they could accomplish it."
“Hm. It'd burn up a BIG favor I could call in later-but then, what if they die before I can call it in? I'll have to ponder this. Oh, I also wanted to ask what you think we should do with Hillevi. Satai talking her into giving him extra training is going to be good for them both, I think, and she’s been doing some teaching down at Ito’s anyway, but I know that more than that she needs a comprehensive course on dealing with the mundane world.”
>"More specifically, she needs to become accustomed enough to the modern world she can act independently with some measure of confidence within it-that is effectively your duty as her guardian, per Markku."
“Right. I was thinking of sitting down with her today and going over her computer, teaching her it like I promised. Maybe play some computer games with her, browse the internet, show her how to connect up to the Rhivuldori kids’ Skype. Use e-mail. All that.”
>"I would have Andrei teach her-it would also teach the merits of checking with ALL of one's contacts, and not merely the best known one."
“...Huh. I like that. Ah, and speaking of tournaments and minions and Hillevi, I was also thinking that, well, I’m a crappy teacher. I found an approach that works with Lyubov, but not everyone’s like her.”
>"Her innate disposition to distraction as a learning medium is about as idyllic a preference for you to work with as I have seen, yes. Your perverted antics producing any results at all is proof enough of that."
“I’ll just ignore that rude remark. Anyway, I know that learning how to be a teacher is fucking hard work, of the worst sort, and so I personally need a motivator to get better at it. And so I was thinking I could combine it all into one project, and offer Hillevi a boon based on how well Satai does in comparison to both the Russians in general, and Lyubov specifically. If Hillevi’s pupil is better than the Russians in general, she gets some small prize. If her pupil is better than my pupil, she gets a big prize. That way I’m motivated to improve my teaching technique too.”
>"...You would wish to organize a Lyubov versus Satai situation?"
"What?"
>"...No, nothing. I shall reserve judgment on this notion."
“New topic then: what happened to that Ramidreju’s soul? Sake’s still got it, right?”
>"He does. How to... ah, this should serve. You recall, I trust, that fundamental structure native to Vampiric souls?"
"Sure."
>"That suppressed, regressed, restive state they are driven into by the sun-that is, interestingly enough, almost exactly like how most forms of possession work-compress the resident soul with superior power and personal density, and once it's been pushed out of control, take over-and keep it suppressed. It is of course not perfect-but it's easily accomplished, a massive amount more user friendly than any other method of possession I've heard of."
“Still there huh? Well, couldn’t we make a spirit animal of her? Or, say, bud off another body for her from Sake’s, move her soul into it, then bind her as an ensouled spirit animal in her own body? It’d be easier on her than anything else I can think of, given that it would be her body anyway.”
>"Given the delicate nature of what you propose, I strongly encourage you to table this until you've had time to really grow into your fleshcrafting ability, gain a real level of control over Gianni, and have a considerable amount of uninterrupted free time to work with."
“One last thing: I’m still thinking of that missing month, and what Einrik told us about the NeverNever strikes. And here’s what I got so far: First off, for our entire childhood we were accountable to mom. She would not have let us disappear for a month without raising hell. Not long after we graduated high school we were in boot camp. Again, no good opportunity to disappear for two weeks to a month during boot. I’d need to pull up our leave records to find out if we took enough leave at any given time to account for that period. Obviously my memories are suspect on this matter, but the records should stand.”
>"Yes... I would be most eager to learn more about that... gap of ours."
“That might give us a good idea of possible windows it could have happened in. I doubt there will be many. If we didn’t take enough leave during the suspect period, then the only other option is that we disappeared right before boot camp. That would narrow things down considerably. I’d need to talk to Mom and Dad, and see what the story was. Beyond that, we’re going to be playing detective.”
>"While I do still endorse the World Eye-and fully intend to try my hand at getting at least a test environment running in the near future-I find the notion of resolving the largest personal question we currently have of far higher personal value."
“I don’t want to involve Riker if we can help it. He’s way too fucking sharp, and he’s too well connected. If he figured it out before we did, we’d be fucked. Same thing for dealing with Sometimes Merchant, or talking about this with Amen. I mean, fuck, Amen either missed or withheld that the long period of amnesia happened when he did an audit of us, right after we met Grigori.”
>"He omitted it. I have verified this."
"You have? Great."

The world begins growing... hazy, indistinct. SB sighs.
>"Lamentable. This was proving most productive too. Well, until next time-perhaps I shall have something to show you when next we meet like this."

[DISCONTINUITY]

I wake the fuck up, and no amount of Brain Coffee makes the fugue over my mind clear faster. I've finished showering by the time I'm really awake-and decide to just slap on a neon orange leisure suit-feeling lazy about my attire just now.

I have a quick talk with Hillevi, thankfully still very much in the habit of waking early, and tip her to go and bug our computer expert to learn a great deal more about how to use the machine she's got. She seems rather enthused with the idea-and happily dashes off before I can tell her she can look things up herself too. ...Eh, Andrei'll tell her. Probably.

Now-while Andrei's occupied.... I appropriate the company computer, and pull up my old service records-and confirm that as I recalled, there weren't any leave periods large enough to account for a week-the most I ever took at once was ten days. Well... guess it's got to be between leaving home and joining the army then. While mulling this over I call Matvey and explain that I'll be calling to schedule in a few days-something he readily accepts-or at least, Go Ping accepts on his behalf. Next-I task SB with helping me pull a quick pre-dawn mission-that being, he and I each grab a van, drive our asses out to my old apartment, he shadowports everything I own in the apartment into the vehicles (hello handloading bench-hello armored guitar case... wait where's the mannequin?) while I turn in the papers to opt out of the contract, and give my new address to the cookie lady-and while doing so, mentally order Amen to recognize her as a guest. We both make it back to the house just after the Russians have started returning from their jog, and harangue them into adding to their morning workout by unloading the vans. Vlad seems to perk right up at the sight of the handloading press-more equipment to play with.

>>393119
Hillevi now assists with the morning Chakra training from five to eleven. She's a sparring partner for Camella to practice on, and someone that can demonstrate chakra principles with enough force even those not attuned to sensing it can detect it. So... mostly watching, and sometimes actually doing a bit of assistive teaching.
First-I walk AROUND the still-massive pile of weapons that once were Jung's to sell in the Foyer, and take a moment to inspect those blades and bucklers more thoroughly. ...Yeah, no wonder I couldn't read them properly-they're too simple. The magic in them isn't designed to last-I was misleading myself looking for details only repeat use magic items would have. ...Expendable blades and shields, huh. Each one's got a different rune stamped on it-and they range from kinetic energy nullification, magic leeching, fire creation, matter freezing... the variety is impressive, if the quality is not. ...Still, if there's no need to contain the magic once released-even not exceptionally well made these would all pack one very respectable punch.

Walking past the pile, I rouse Duke from a splayed-out slumber with a few convivial kicks to his ribs, and when he finally peels an eye open, I ask him if he knows how to play poker. Lucky for me-seems he does, but refuses to play without booze-and since he drank us dry, he'll have to go get some. Meaning he'll be back later to play poker... Well, hopefully that's after noon and Yavuz' visit.

Wait what am I thinking?
"Hey Hillevi-come over here."
>[Hillevi]"What? I'm helping teach-"
"Yeah-Camella, taking my ward back for a bit. She's got lessons too, and all."
>[Camella]"Okay-change of plans, pair off for sparring, now I want you to...."

As Hillevi follows me with diminishing personal confusion, I lead her back to the foyer-and begin to teach her the principles of poker. It takes me a good hour to get her semi-solid on the game's rules-but it's necessary, so she's confident enough I can really play poker with her.

Long, long story short-three and a half hours pass in one long game. Hillevi learns a truly important personal lesson about making choices and trying to outthink rather than outmuscle others-and has both a greatly increased respect and dislike of bluffing.

This may have something to do with the fact I won $238,000 from her in the game. Did I mention we played for actual money? Yes, indeed we did.
BONUS PERSONAL FUNDS: +$238,000 $703,475.04
In fact, I'm actually proud of the fact that, unwilling to simply leave the game for the percieved loss of face, she immediately latches onto Amen's appearance to inform me I have a visitor to have the came 'put on hold' and then being evasive about when it might be resumed-even when I playfully press her.

Aw, the little squirt's growing up. That's beautiful.

So, Yavuz time I bet.
I go to the door to find a man dressed in what most probably wouldn't notice is a low-profile ballistic vest disguised as an old-fashioned business vest, is clad in all silk, and sports a curious pair of gauntlets rather obviously radiating magic-but I can't see the point of it, as if a part is missing from them-odd.

He blinks pointedly as he looks me up and down before speaking.
>[YC][Turkish]"Your attire is painfully garish."
I smile enthusiastically.
"Why thanks for noticing! So Yavuz, my friend you're here, excellent! So good of you to come, please, have a seat, try the kraken, it's excellent today oh wait that's right we're all 'taking a diet' while they get their stomachs in order-I won't bore you with mundane fare."
>[YC][Turkish]"I am here to-"
"Not now, Yavuz, Business is for after pleasure. Let us begin with idle chat- perhaps work related but we are both diligent men who live our lives as a proper paean to our tasks, are we not? Tell me, how long have you been working on your products? I inspected them in detail this morning, very fine, but I would have expected a different variety of base components. Do you have any supply difficulties?"
His craftsman's pride ruffled, he is, to his detriment, sidetracked.
>[YC][Turkish]"I use the finest steels in my crafting-what would you have me do, use innately magical metal?"
He says that... almost derisively. Well-
"Interesting. I myself rarely have problems, we do a bit of business in acquisitions and transfer of various variousnesses, there are limitations of course but anything can be overcome with the proper application of time and effort."
>[YC]"Oh? You claim you could acquire imbued metal to work, is that correct?"
"I haven't tried yet but I am certain I could. If by no other means, I COULD simply purchase it from Holland and Holland-I've got extensive connections with them."
This seems to 'unruffle' the prickly man before me as he stairs past me at the massive pile of guns.
>[YC]"...Do you now? I didn't think they dealt in such modern armaments as these-nor this mundane."
"You'd be most surprised with what they deal in-space diamonds, dinosaur bones... from meteors to matebas, they do it all, heh-so as fascinating as that is though, you're obviously here to see what you're working with, right?"

Amen, you still have any of Duke's poop?
>[Amen]"Indeed master, this one does."
Put some in a room on the first floor and seal it under glass.
>[Amen]"As master wishes."

I smile exuberantly as I keep speaking.
"Ah, then, business. For the most important part, the pipes... I think you will understand why I needed a consult."
Third door on the left down the west wing... HERE.

I expansively throw open the door, smirking as Yavuz recoils in horror.
"You see, having come into some quantity of this, I can't help but think how potent it would be if pressurized, mixed with the strongest toxins I have on hand- also corrosive, as it happens, exceedingly deadly, delightful stuff- and then projected at high velocity towards whatever happens to be getting in the way of my latest venture."
Yavuz simply transitions his stare from the festering, throbbing pile of gelatinous jade and sticky tar that tarnishes the tiles around it without even touching them, and I try to dimple my cheeks as I go on.
>"Failure."
DAMMIT.
"I know it's not what you're used to, but you show all the signs of a master craftsman! Push your limits! I could simply have dredged up a svartelf or dwarf something, there are plenty of crafty critters out there, but I need someone with heart! Soul! And not the literal kind, almost everyone has those."
....I've got him. I can feel it-or more accurately, see it in his soul-his focus on balancing the scales for my percieved insult to him yesterday has been waylayed, as I see him adopt the objective, analytical eye of a man considering a problem in need of resolution.
>[YC][Turkish]"What exactly is going to be spraying this, a man-portable device or-"
"I could show you, but it's hardly... complete. Suffice to say-a golem the size of a tank should be a solid sense of scale."
>[YC][Turkish]"Show me if you really are serious about this?"
"Someone questioning my sincerity-what is the world coming to, oh how deplorable follow me right this way yes walk this way..."

I have the Golem moved to a closer room down the hall by Amen, and just after getting confirmation it's there toss open the doors, not even bothering to look in. Instead, I watch the fluctuations in Yavuz's face, the youth he tries to hide so hard bleeding through with the outbreak of so much confusion and rapid deduction.
>[YC][Turkish]"You... have a stable, post-activation Nazinaut."
"An admirable grasp of the obvious-but more importantly, as you can see it's metalwork is-"
>[YC][Turkish]"Utterly compromised. So, the piping I grasp now, but-"
" On to armor, then. I'm interested in what rune schematics you have available- if the personnel armor project goes well I could see a much larger project than piping and emitter systems between us."
>[YC][Turkish]"And you show this to me so easily-"
"How could I keep such relevant information hidden from a business partner-why, it would be unthinkable!"
I switch up my soul guise, trying to put an unflappable air of honesty about myself-and think... he might have bought that. Amazing.

What's even more amazing? On the way back out after we've exchanged a few more words, he oh-so-casually swings over and reclaims his blades and bucklers, citing them the initial deposit on the piping work. Why, he's very nearly getting into the spirit of things, excellent!

After that, Duke gets back-but not before I've called a certain diminuitive couple and gotten confirmation they were heading over tonight. With Amen alerted to inform me on their arrival-I occupy myself with a second round of poker, this time against Duke, who has to play one handed as he's not even stopping his guzzling to properly breathe. Impressive, in a way.
BONUS PERSONAL FUNDS: +$1,800 $705,275.04
More impressive is the fact that I even won any at all-I got the distinct feeling he knew the game far better than I, and was... letting me win. Will have to keep an eye out for that in future games.

Thankfully the Red Caps arrived-so I get to veer off towards a new distraction.

Ricky is, unsurprisingly, immediately in love with the giant monster-turned-golem I'm working on. Lucy, of course, immediately cites their need for pay if I expect them to work for me. So I offer them all the Doony blood I have (excepting a quarter) and ask what they could offer in turn. In answer, the two, after getting a sample of blood from my beast, spend two hours digging their hands into it's flesh and rooting around, only to withdraw their hands from bloodstained but ultimately unblemished flesh. Ricky explains as they work: They are reworking the circulatory system-as is, while magical there's nothing special about it-clots, pressure discrepancies, cuts-anything that can threaten the blood flow of a normal being could threaten my beast-and he just does not think that is right. So he's giving the veins something not unlike their own musculature-the ability to contract, expand, flex and sway within the body-he also idly comments, while digging his hands into the beast's liver, that they think it'd be a good idea to heavily thicken the beast's blood to nullify it's ability to bleed out-and asks if I have any intention to give it a heavy duty enough pumping system to push tar through a garden hose at mach 1.

Ricky's words, not mine. I love that guy.

When I explain I'm contemplating using a heart array with Pheonix hearts, plural, linked to a central heart-he laughs, and says that'll do. After the two have finished their blood vessel manipulation, they wipe their hands, and ask to be called when the beast's got a more robust set of hearts to it's name-and slyly mentions that such delicious blood, as it was originally floated as potential pay for Footwork tutoring, could quite easily be applied getting their lessons Grown into the beast.

...A Freakishly fast and mobile Nazinaut? I can work with that.

But how to do it best....

This is the thought that fills my mind as I go to sleep.

MONDAY, JANUARY 31st, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $705,275.04
BUSINESS FUNDS: $196,847.00
CASH: $9,170.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 100%
WINTER ENERGY: 38/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 24/50

I wake up feeling WAY better than yesterday morning-despite being awoken by a phone call.

>[Ironhead]"Hey yeah I'll be there in ten with an appraiser, took a bit to find one, see you then."
*CLICK*
Of course HE had to pull a.... me.











So what's the plan for today?
>>
No. 393200 ID: d97a61

>>393197
[And were I not mentally deficient, I would have properly said 'In Third Person' not 'In Second Person' because I'm clearly giving an example of the former not the latter.]
>>
No. 393202 ID: 07eaf7

Rostislav Orders >Enjoy himself at the fight club - give and take in equal measure. Strange tricks took getting used to, but some solid wins made for great fun. >During the downtime between his fights, attempt to observe the others - see if anyone stands out. Maybe something can be learned here. Maybe it's all some form of this chakra he's supposed to learn. >If asked in specific about it, tell what he did, but not with whom or where. >Make the fight club a weekly thing from now on. Gives him some motivation to really give it his all in lessons - gotta learn a trick or two of his own, after all, those guys are gonna sharpen up too. >Finally, invite Lev to drop by next time - he seems like he needs his blood pumping, or something. Maybe a drink? It's about time he started to make friends in this damn outfit, shit's getting real fast enough. >Consider the beer hunt again - he's got some time on his hands so long as he sticks close to the manor. >Open up invites to hunt for great beer again! >Note to self, though - magic beer is a no - no.
>>
No. 393212 ID: 602cbb

Ok Armas, man is on his way, Have Amen organize all of the items by make and from smallest to largest in a room you choose to be used for display and trick that room out. While he is doing that, whip up a quick batch of Kelpie Krisps.
Have a quick change of clothes to something that says ALL BUSINESS. Then add an orange bowtie.

After all that horrible business is done with and you are hopefully 1 tank, a business partner and some other stuff richer it's time to get shit done again.
Call up mom and dad and get on finding out about that blank spot in your life, have a nice chat with them about other things too.

Talk with Silja, very important. Gotta get her to desire speaking with you more than note writer.

Whatever else you do today, get some Chakra training in.

[Zhenya]
-Arise with Sake on your mind.
-Consider what he said and briefly indulge in the memory of him happily messing around.
-Be distracted all morning as you consider what he said, trying to figure out who you are /really/.
-Regret briefly when you realize you are doing worse than usual with morning activities, decide that it's worth it, just this once.
-Decide on your love of music and pistols(pistols <3) as your main strengths, but figure this isn't who you are fully. Decide against delving into your crippling fears and weaknesses for now...get to that later.
-Decide to try her normal methods of working in those fields and apply them to training, repeated and constant practice and memorization of facts. Realize this isn't much different than what she has been doing, feel slightly disappointed but try anyway.
-Take the music route first, keep doing the chakra training even in off time. eventually start humming to self to keep focused and break monotony.
-Consider results, at the very least more practice can't hurt, even if you are barking up the wrong tree on the 'who you are' thing.
-Challenge Sake to a friendly game of table tennis, use random unused table and a book for your paddle. Be completely and utterly destroyed.
-Be even more tired than usual, have fitful sleep.
>>
No. 393479 ID: 0851e9

*After returning from Finnigan's, Feodor follows the jogging train, staying in last place. He shouts encouragement to those who are lagging behind, and when that inevitably fails, he tries abuse. He gets pissed at the lack of effort from those who're coming last, and tries to intimidate them with his anger.
*During chakra training Feodor is still angry at the others for not trying hard enough. He wonders “Do they want to die?” His anger at them causes him to forget his goal of striving for precision as he just gets angrier and angrier.
*Feodor showers, trying to obtain that feeling of washing away his anger.
*Feodor goes to Sake for his daily weasel-rub, still somewhat angry at the other Russians, and now angry at having to go to Sake so that he can cope with his schedule. During Sake's magnificent medicating ministrations, Feodor realises that his anger at Sake and Hillevi is misplaced. “Even if they have taken my role,” he thinks, “They're still helping the rest of the Russian's survive – and that's my main goal.” Feodor lets his anger at Sake and Hillevi go, and feels relieved. Afterwards, Feodor asks Sake if he knows anything that could help Feodor with chakra training, or help him help the others with it.
*Feodor goes to Ito's for chakra training and work, and on his way back he stops by the Grand Bazaar, buys as much raw cotton fibre as he can carry and gives it to Sake as a reconciliation gift. He wonders what he could get Hillevi.
*Feodor meets Lev to do some knife training, and notices that Lev seems more subdued than usual. Hoping that seeing improvement in his student will cheer him up, Feodor tries harder.
*Just before heading to Finnigan's, Feodor looks for Armas and asks him, “When you said that the services of this “Sometimes Merchant” do not come cheaply, what did you mean? Would I have to be a millionaire to buy from this man?”
*Throughout the night, Feodor chats to Finnigan. “Why do you do this work?” he asks, “How did you get started?” Feodor relaxes in the work, taking notes when he can.
>>
No. 393480 ID: 619ee6

IGOR
+Igor makes sure to get that Sake rubbing today as well, and then instead of napping one hour like he did the last couple of days he goes out to the city with Andrei to get some booze. 10K$ is a lot, and he expects that Andrei might be of help in order to negotiate the prices better.
Man agreed for Andrei
+Igor realize he has no idea who are the actual “worse students” at chakra, so he talks to Matvey, Camella and Ito about it. After all, it's a matter of life and death, so it's logical to for Ito to make sure no one is left too far behind. Igor is going to ask the officers to make sure a system is made in place so that everyone survives. Initial idea is for a rotation in which the worse students can train for chakra instead of teaching, but of course theofficers and teacher may have better ideas.
+Apart from that, he continues to work at making that gauntlet for Armas. Igor will try to catch one of the bosses to clarify exactly what they want.
+Upon learning through the grapevine that “mental atitude” helps a lot for chakra training, Igor is going to try to on the timing of breaths and of the exercise demanded. He is going to try to vizualise the exercises demanding timing as clocks ticking.

>>
No. 393506 ID: cc1982

Get ready to greet Ironhead, Remind yourself not to agree to such disadvantageous deals for the sake of gimmicks next time. Both the low selling price for the merchandise and the time-constraints were things that were totally unnecessary to agree to when he was the one that came to you and you had no pressing need to oblige him.

After that Burn down your energy again, yesterdays results were somewhat lackluster so give it at least one more day. Since you have dual orientations partially working you'll be able to see your soul and how the energy is actually being manipulated, check for both the seven distinct chakra types, look at the process that goes into starting an orientation to try to see how to slim it down for lower powered versions. Also check out how your actual bloodlines perform at this level. Check different soul-guises and try to see the maintenance cost, same with different flesh-crafting techniques.

After this it's been three days so it's time to try to cash in on Whatiri's good mood. Go for the Hummingbird boon. Unless SB has any suggestions otherwise do this by gorging yourself on all the magical food that has been stockpilled since no has been eating it lately, ask amen if the mansion has any other magical consumables as well. Then eat until you feel you can eat no more, after which keep eating. While doing this ask SB what he thinks about the Sugar daddy plan now that he's had some time to think about it, if not opposed roll with it, otherwise just settle for a less specific feeling of goodwill.

Make a mental note that the 7777 book will be available for purchase soon, so don't forget and that it would be wise to call early that day so you don't miss the chance.
>>
No. 393518 ID: 431fa8

>Satai orders
-Try to get an example of what The Last Spelling provides in terms of news for their stated price; old news from a random week would be ideal for reference. If that can be secured to at least tentatively verify reliability, pay their $5,000/week. The company can easily afford it, and he's sick of feeling uninformed.
-Talk to mafia contacts about acquiring various drugs- medicinal, recreational, and otherwise, either through them or a supplier they can point him to. Spend $1,000 on a decent supply of painkillers and enough stimulants to support the Russians taking them on a daily basis for a few weeks to awareness, focus, and learning.
-See if Hillevi is willing to give Satai an energy boost before chakra training, since she can apparently do that- after six hours of Camella, anyone could use some vigor. Then keep talking through chakra theory for hours with Hillevi, trying to get her to use more comprehensible communication habits as he goes.
-Hunt down Andrei and determine what exactly his relation to the family problem is. Matvey said he's helping and was informed in advance- who brought him into this, what exactly do they have him doing, and why didn't he mention this huge problem? Be willing to cut Andrei some slack regarding going insane and dying, but still be frustrated. Is anything actually constructive going on right now that Andrei is aware of? Get copies of whatever data he has.
-Locate Lyubov and determine what exactly her relation to the family problem is. Andrei (presumably) said she recruited him to help before Matvey found out about anything, and Matvey said she knew before him- when and where did she find out about this, and why was she plotting with Andrei? Find out exactly what if anything she is doing on the problem right now, and get copies of whatever data she has.
-Consider situation. Matvey says to rely on the officers, but his and Camella's report essentially says that they're useless and unwilling to try anything. Also, they apparently sat on the information for an unknown length of time and therefore don't respect their troops; Satai has had more than enough of trusting officers who don't give a shit about him. Armas is erratic in his actions and prone to shoving work off onto others when they try to suggest things, and capable of talking anyone into anything; any approach to him will likely end with Satai being deflected in a completely random direction and possibly assigned a bunch more work instead of actually accomplishing anything. Armas' shadow is smart and seems much more practical than Armas, but it's a shadow; does it even know what family is? Sake is... something; that might work, but it doesn't seem likely.
-After due consideration and review of available information, hatch plan.
-Grab some energy drinks and tinker all night instead of sleeping. Get weasel rubs in the morning to wake up.


>>393199
>So what's the plan for today?
See how Silja is doing, and make general efforts to chat with her and put her in a good mood. As we discussed with Shadowbro, Note Writer is essentially acting as a disruptive influence on our ability to get her to emotionally bond with us; if we can't talk to Silja because she's communing with him, then he's actively reducing her future loyalty to us and stealing it away for himself. We need to work against that- to continually establish that she should speak with us all the time, that we are here to comfort her and help her cope with things. >>392297 has a good way to push her towards trusting us and lays out groundwork for her wanting to socialize with others more; note that it doesn't actually involve letting anyone else see Silja or talk to her, since we can do it mentally, only pointing them out to Silja. Drawing parallels between her situation and those of others we know should bring her hope and make the future seem much less bleak. And of course, any time spent with her at all helps.

The meeting with Ironhead is likely going to be awkward, so ready ourselves to bargain hard before ten. Bring Hillevi by to observe- she needs to spend more time watching us work on people in social and trade situations whenever possible. That means that when we expect to be going into a talky situation, we get her over near us and ask her to pay attention to what is being said, who is saying it, and what their intentions probably are.

Ironhead is bringing by "an appraiser", but how can we verify their authenticity? For all we know, whoever he brings will be in cahoots with him. Therefore, it will be important to independently confirm their neutrality- either by determining that they are a type of being which is reliable, insisting on a soul swear to appraise fairly, or perhaps using Amen to detect their intentions and truthfulness.

Aside from that, there is the matter of that portion of the goods which were not in police hands at the time of the deal. We're still willing to sell those to him, of course- but not at the originally agreed-upon price. We'll want two-thirds fair market price for them, or we can keep them for our own purposes.

Remember that whatever the take from this mission, the Russians went on it. 25% of the pay is the standard they get to divide up, I believe; see that the eight of them who waltzed into a police lockup to boldly steal everything inside divide that portion amongst themselves, and take another 5% as our personal cut from this job for services boldly rendered.

Hold a decent amount of energy until after that bargaining is concluded. Afterward, spend some time looking all the souls in the house- Camella, the hummingbird, Sake, Hillevi, the various Russians- even ask Duke about his soul quirks, if he's willing to let us see them. They must be quite impressive. Spend some time taking a long, careful look at all the souls around with boosted spiritual sensing- overcharge the alignment, even, to see if we can really look into them and get a good view of details we haven't previously been able to discern. Once that's done, resume our efforts to drain ourselves for Einrik's rumored efficiency boost and to protect the hummingbird. Practicing dual alignments remains an excellent way to do this. If we have some spare time, sit around watching our soul gradually replenish Winter energy after it is depleted. Maybe eat something for Summer when it's just about out, as well, and see how that effects our soul. Hopefully with only a little bit of power in it we'll be able to make better sense of the system.

Call Gianni and invite him over for the afternoon/evening- he'll likely be delighted to see the changes that the Red Caps made, we told Duke that we would talk to Gianni with him about options for both using and keeping secure his organs with the golem, and we could really use another fleshcrafting lesson- both because we need to learn more and because we want to burn away Summer energy. If he could take a look at the hummingbird's body and give his professional assessment of how much more damage it can withstand, that would be appreciated, too.

It would also be good to know if Gianni's given our proposal to take over his employment any more thought- or if he's planning to split from Rocco unexpectedly. If Rocco is willing to accept we'll need to meet with him soon and work out a serious plan of attack against the Istanbul Nazis.

If Shadowbro thinks that he could get Whaitiri to be receptive enough to call in a favor for getting her Amen's instruction, we could also see if Gianni is ready to install those Doonongaes glands in us, with Whaitiri on hand to comment/improve upon his work. This may or may not be possible at the moment, but it would certainly be nice to get done. Doing it prior to a lesson and then having Gianni spend a few hours teaching us how to use the glands properly would be nice.

Speak with Sake about Whaitiri. "You said that you don't want to be a god's pet. I'll tell you this: You're my brother, and I'm no one's pet. No matter how things end up, I will be trying very hard to see that a certain minimum of respect is given. I want very badly to get power here and would very much appreciate your backing in making sure that we get it in a way that we can pull off successfully and all be content with." If he's willing to limit his objections, it's time to begin Belief feedback on Whaitiri. Trying to formalize our relationship as sugardaddy is fairly a ridiculous idea, but maybe an unspecified "family" tie would avoid some of the problems of taking up the subordinate role of her son while gaining a reasonable level of loyalty? Failing that, due to Sake opposition or other headvoice concerns, if we can do so with subtlety shoot for a general feeling of trust toward Armas and Shadowbro. Hopefully that will make dealing with her in the future easier regardless of what final relationship with her we choose.

Snag Hillevi for a few minutes. "Your teaching Satai seems to be working out well for both of you so far- nice choice on your part. I picked up a student as well, Lyubov, so would you care for a contest? At the end of February, we'll evaluate all the Russians' chakra abilities- or have a neutral third party evaluate them, for fairness. If Satai is in the top three, I'll give you a small prize. If he's the best, I'll give you a real prize- in fact, you can pick it, out of anything I can give you that's not too crazy. If Lyubov is the best, well, you don't have to give me anything but I'd consider it fair." "Oh, a couple other things. This contest is between us as teachers, not them as students. Don't let anyone else know about it, all right? And I should say right up front, we don't hold a loss against our students- it's our job as teachers to make sure that they learn, and if they don't it's on our shoulders, not theirs."

At night, go to Ito's for night sparring. Yes, even with near-zero energy- we're not going to die in a spar, and we might learn something while fighting vampires and such. In order to learn these efficiency things that Einrik was talking about, we'll probably need to push ourselves to our limits while on the very dregs of power. It's not certain that we can accomplish that in a spar, but we might as well try. While we're at the dojo, speak to Bora and see if he's given any further consideration to the book translation we mentioned.

There was also a certain ambitious vampire there who caught our eye- check his soul and see if it's changed, and if not, finish off the night by dropping an invitation to him. "You're fairly impressive- got a drive and spark that would be very handy in my business. I'm not sure what you're filling your nights with aside from this, but my company has an opening for solid talent- and I suspect that we've got more to offer you than the vast majority of other places. Stay the day with us, and I think you'll see what I mean." With any luck, he'll at least be curious- and if the wards on the mansion really do let vampires withstand the sun, then with a few well-chosen words I think we'll have ourselves a vampire hireling.
>>
No. 393526 ID: 619ee6

>>393518
Holy fuck a solid post. Upvoting everything.
>>
No. 393574 ID: 252e1b

LYUBOV ORDERS

*Lyubov will get up, get dressed, and forget her socks. She’ll go jogging, listen to her iPod, and be confused: What the fuck, did Andrei mis-label every song?
*With a smile, she decides that’s an open invitation to a prank war.
*Go home, shower, examine Sake’s bling again, clean it up, and touch it up. She’ll ask if he could teach her Japanese and German, or download it to her mind like Amen did for the Turkish and English a few weeks ago. She’ll get a snuggle rub, and she’ll share her concerns about Zhenya. Ask that he keep an eye on her, and be informed that he gave her a little help with the hangover yesterday. Which leads to Lyubov getting a funny idea.
*Lyubov will intercept Zhenya, and egregiously violate her friend’s personal space, pulling up Zhenya’s shirt sleeve and declaring, “Ha! Did you get Sake to heal your scars finally?”
*In response, Zhenya says, “D- did you just look through my clothes? How did you see that?" Lyubov replies, “Don’t worry about it too much, Armas can see through them too.” Talked to Falcon about this
*At breakfast Lyubov will say to Hillevi, “Andrei seems ok after his heart attack experience. I will take you up on your offer, but I want to have Armas with us to watch and figure out when I have gotten everything I can from your help. Can we do this tomorrow?”
*Camella lessons. Lyubov will have the iPod on half-volume so she can hear instructions. She’ll take note of its relative effectiveness as a learning aid.
*She’ll shower, change clothes, and head to the Dojo.
*Lunch. Look up Lev’s progeny. They shouldn’t be too hard to track down. Chugainov did the hard work of finding out who is responsible for them, and suing them... what the hell, they’re all toddlers. Lev’s only 22? Damn, he’s been busy!
*Lyubov will compile a list of Lev’s bastards (and their mothers or caretakers) being harassed by Chugainov. She will put the mothers’ names/pictures and kids’ names/pictures/birthdays on a list for Lev and leave it for him in his room, on the dresser, with a note, "Sorry, I couldn't find your Anna, Oleg, Nestor, Mariya, Veronika, or Karp, but here are the kids I could locate. Already forwarded this info to the officers. -Lyubov"
*Add it to the larger list of people being targeted by Chugainov that Lyubov has based on her earlier research (with pictures! As many as possible!). Finish research, compile as completed list. Why were Lev and Nikifor such horndogs? 16 kids between the two of them. The total list is large, even accounting for people like Zhenya who (claim) they don’t care about their families.
*The list should include addresses, pictures, names, ages, professions, mobility issues either mentioned during the big brainstorming session or discovered while researching.
*Be confronted by Satai. She’ll show him the list and ask if anyone he likes is missing. She will explain, “I only found out because I got bored and wondered if we’d made the news. I know you’re mad, I am too. But I’m trying as hard as I can to help your family, and mine, and everyone’s. So let me work, I need to finish.”
*Lyubov dodges answering questions about how long the issue has been known by first saying, “As soon as I knew I told an officer, and then I told the other one, and I talked to Armas.” Then she will mention how Satai reminds her of her dead grandfather (why is that? Is it because he is always grumpy?), and start crying (genuinely, even) when she realizes that she’s probably never going to get a chance to visit her family’s graves again. She’ll tell Satai to go away and leave her alone for a bit.
*If he becomes belligerent, she’ll call Hillevi to remove her unruly student. Claim he is just upset about his family, and needs exercise or sleep. Or exercise until he is so tired he must sleep. If he claims she is hiding something, she’ll call him paranoid and an ass for reminding her of her grandfather.
*Lyubov will find each Russian in turn and ask if the list missed anyone. She’ll then turn copies of the long list in to Camella, Matvey, Andrei, Satai, and Armas.
*Find Andrei. Ask him to continue to lie to Satai about the day he learned about the family problem (because surely he kept his mouth shut after the initial meeting, once he picked up on Lyubov and the two officers presenting a unified front). If Andrei says he already spilled the beans, she will ask him to recant and claim to have been confused due to his heart attack. She will point out that Satai is just angry and looking for a reason to place blame on someone he can fight, since Chugainov is a target he can’t hit yet, and that in-fighting right now would not help at all. If Andrei asks why there was a delay, admit to not knowing why, but that she thinks punishments should not come from the company at large. It’s Armas’ responsibility, and he is aware.
*Speaking of which, Lyubov will find Armas and first tell him about the troll she’s played on Zhenya (“She thinks you taught me how to see through clothes now”) and will say, “The old grandma-vampire keeps kicking my butt in the night lessons. She also said ‘my master’ would know how she does it, and that I should ask about how eyes are windows to the soul… so, how are eyes windows, Boss-Master-Armas?”
*Lyubov will also ask Armas to be present tomorrow for the near-death experience with Hillevi.
*Dinner time already? Mail should have arrived too. Get packages, dump off in room. *Lyubov will ‘accidentally’ spill something on Lev during dinner so that he is forced to go to his room to change.
*Night lessons.
*At Igor’s request Lyubov will hang out for a few minutes longer than normal after lessons. Apparently he wants emotional support while he talks to Camella and Ito. That’s ok!
*Lyubov will go home and report Lev’s crazy oath to Camella. She’ll ask if it has any binding at all given the way it was worded- and be relieved if it doesn’t. She’ll then go to her room, open her packages, put things away, and go to sleep.

>>
No. 393578 ID: 6616f3

Armas Order
Well, we can either keep our energy low (around 10/10) and keep working on Lo Fang's double orientation - this is as much for HB's benefit as anything. I say we ask him now: 'You have a few options, and as a sapient being I think it's only right you decide for yourself. Finding a cure could take a while, I could probably put you into storage with one of those soul bubbles and bring you out when I have a solid plan.' I don't expect he'll go for this, too much like hiding. 'Option 2: we could bind you to us in flesh as well as spirit - once we actually figure out how to do that, maybe we could talk to Gianni or something - and that should help your flesh match your indomitable spirit and will.' This is the one a lot of us in IRC favor, since it should solve the body wearing out (HB is getting on, in hummingbird years) as well as our soul overpowering his body. 'And then I think there may be a way to have you become a were. Which, yeah, you'd probably accidentally change into other, lesser birds occasionally until you better understand it, but you would be less likely to die for various reasons. Plus we'd need to find some werebirds for that to work, I guess.'

Or we can just start building up again to max so we can get on with the important stuff like Cornelius meeting, Owner meeting, sword job, whatever - and HB will die or he won't.

Titus Order
Titus is going to man up and ask Amen if it knows of low-magic/chakratic ways to defeat (or rather, escape the notice of) blood practitioners of the skilled but ultimately mortal level (and then to explain them to Titus).
If Amen obliges, probably spend a while after that wondering if Amen lied, but be resolved to try it.
Consider how one would best get into Russia while avoiding the eyes of half the government- and just as important, how to get out again. Titus has never been a planning genius, but he'll do his best.
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No. 393589 ID: 448d82
File 133200336807.png - (300.45KB , 896x560 , Armasposter.png )
393589

>>393518
I uh... Yeah, this is pretty good.
Upvote.
I got nothing.

LEV ORDERS

Wake...
Lev finds himself in bed, he doesn't remember... what... someone must have moved him into bed...
someone cares?
Curse Self for idiot drunk. Spots the failed Carving, decide to carve it into Gloom, kinda fitting, since he's a dick. Why are emotions so treacherous... maybe Gloom has the right of it?

Chakra training, Lev has too much time to think.
Lev considers his Babushka, there were a few of his children that went to her.
Lev has a realization. Chuganov has certain “tastes”
What exactly is stopping Chuganov from defiling his children? More than that given the monster general would probably fuck them just to fuck with Lev. Lev's head is filled with murderthoughts.
Consider you need power to kill people, specifically Chuganov, who you don't have the power to kill. Serious effort into chakra will increase yield of power for killing people you hate, like Chuganov. Lev decides to seriously pursue these lessons, might just give him the power he needs, if Camella is any indication.
Carry through this determination to Ito's training.
Though he fails to see the OTHER reason for hating Chuganov

>*Feodor meets Lev to do some knife training, and notices that Lev seems more subdued than usual. Hoping that seeing improvement in his student will cheer him up, Feodor tries harder.
Teach Feodor where you've observed are good places to stab people, find Feodor's medical knowledge unsurprisingly helpful here, learn stuff yourself.

Politely ask Sake for a rubdown, he needs to be in top form for REVENGE, offer hugs and THE DEATH OF SOMEONE. Sickly laugh, Lev pretend it is joke, but seriously, “I'll cut up someone or something for you, all I'm good for really”
Fail to notice how much idiot bravado you are putting on
Receive weasel wind whacking for being a damn fool. Pass it off as “training” feel justified.

During Dinner, get clothes ruined by Lyobov spillage.., deflect all apologies, go to room to change...
Find note of all his women and children, previous feelings be interrupted, be glad/sad that she did this for him, remember that someone helped him into bed, connect two and two, be unsure as to what this means, Lyubov's a nice woman... she'd just do this for anyone, right?

Consider that Lyubov has family too... the rage returns, upon encountering her again, swear on his sword you'll punish Chuganov, in her name, one way or another. Thank her.
Fail to see his your black mood upset her

Go fight clubbing with Rostislav, whether or not he asks or offers.
Lev remembers, why he chose the sword... It was to become a blade, to discard his emotions, to become nothing less than a reaper of men, a messenger of Death himself. Focus.
Lev knows, he is his blade, his blade is him. To become an avatar of retribution... begin to feel slightly embarrassed at childhood dreams coming up like this, dismiss oneness with sword, there may be monsters but that is fantasy, consider that... WOOPS!
Lev almost drew a knife in a fist fight!

When home, fall into bed, tired. Consider if you are going to kill a monster like Chuganov, you would need a sword that kills monsters. You don't have one. Draw family sword, perhaps there is some truth to the old folktales. He cuts his palm on his sword and smears the blood on the blade and grips the handle with bloody hand, swearing the death of Chuganov and all other like monsters. “With this bloodpact, I dedicate my soul to death”
Clean the sword, bind the hand. Looking at hand, wonder if that was really such a good idea, Ow.
Fail to realise, you have only thought of killing Chuganov, no thought of rescuing your "family"

Sleep. Smile and dream of revenge.
Oh boy, Lev's going to get in trouble with command
>>
No. 393590 ID: b83c65

Armas is gonna do the following:
If the Iron Cap got you up this early, do what you'd do. Get everyone ELSE up this early. And I mean everyone. Call Big Crazy, Camella [Yes, call her. Don't walk to her, piss her off by making it sound like your in dire need of a full body massage behind enemy lines], Hafaz, Adelat, Hamlet. Suggest to everyone, quite subtly - or in Camella's case, overtly - that this is Ironhead's fault. Shit kicks downward, after all.

Check those print outs that Andrei gave you.

If you got some free time, you know you are in Istanbul. You should see the sights and, with your magical vision, see who is magical there. I suggest hitting the Hagia Sophia and Topkapi Palace. They're old and should already have people there, but that just means people who can hire you. Check into the Janissaries, and be sure to see the Kasikci Diamond.

>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>MORNING! Why the fuck are you so early? Seriously, four-and-a-bit hours? Christhammer.
>Be impressed with Boss and his verbal sparring/grappling/sprinting. Wish there was time to practice his own verbal stylings. Laugh ruefully about 'time'.
>Actual breakfast. Pine for coffee, but it waits for the death training to finish. Answer any questions that can be answered this HORRIBLY early in the morning. Hear vague complaints about invisible things watching or attacking those that drink the blessed Caffeine. Also overhear both Zhenya and Lyubov talk about voices on the phone. Complain into breakfast that nothing is easy!
>Six Hour Italian Death March! Use this time to ponder soul capacitance and soul coherence. Fail. It is unrelated to computers or shooting. Frustrating, as it is related to not dying. Ponder actual capacitance instead. Andrei finds this hurts his head. Use this time, when not dying, instead to plan what to do today. As Boss-man, in his wise wisdom has gotten Andrei to tend to his Ward, online at least, so do that. End up on his ass somehow.
>Ito's Gym! Quickly, talk to Ito about just Chakra training for now! Head that those slots Hopefully those extra hours will aid in not ending up on ass during Italian Death March.
>Chakra Training Anyway. Tongue the lesion during the lesson.
>Lunch. Give Boris tips on chicken vindaloo. Carry pseudo-chicken vindaloo to Hillevi.
>Use five hours, including lunch, to teach Hillevi about, how to play various games of strategy, the finer points of surfing the net and what not. Total War, Mass Effect, League of Legends, Neverwinter Nights, Homeworld and Recettear. Be glad yesterday we went over proper typing, how to surf, basic netiquette and such, and that that those things seem to have stuck. While teaching, get her opinion on computer based magic, who could be attacking and spying on the Russians, and who was phone. During these hours, be interrupted by Satai - who wants the truth - Paragon - and Lyubov, who wants lies - Renegade. Use this conflict to teach Hillevi, mentally grump at how they have free time to be getting angry, and go Renegade on Satai. After a non-committal lie/deflection of something like "Can this wait until I've finished with Hillevi", deflect him with the idea of Satai, Lyubov and himself getting a van set up to work on remote control.
>Use single hour of free time to try and look into Lightning and/or Mind Manipulators. Realize, when Igor shows up, that free time is an illusion. Mention this the the clockman. Ask him, jokingly, if he has learned how to freeze time yet.
>To more Chakra Training! Urg. This is worse than the training for an anti-magic Russian army division or a special forces!
>Hopefully last teaching for a while. Put in a solid effort and see if anyone cares that he might not be back for a little while.
>>
No. 393593 ID: c1c082

Iosef:
-Studies the fuck out the printouts. Makes notes where needed. Uses dictionary for hard words and concepts. Consults Andrei on particularly hard points if he cannot figure it out himself.
-Think that Rotislav's proposal is perfect opportunity to go out and 'meet people. like Matvey suggested. Knows that his social skills suck, is prepared for failure. At least he tries his best to not insult anyone and start bar fights.
-Splits the tab with Rotislav
>>
No. 393597 ID: a6bece

Gloom:
>Be told by cliched Old Granny figure that she will bake some desserts specifically for him.
* Thank her politely.
* Talk to resident gun nuts about the possibility of using an automatic airgun to fire just sub-sonic flechettes bearing a poison payload for use as a silent assassination weapon.
* Continue practising the stealth techniques.
* Try practising it (and chakra), in front of a mirror, to see if being able to see yourself makes any difference to being able to pull the moves off. Try setting up multiple mirrors facing each other, so you can see parts of your body and movements you wouldn't normally be able to.
* Ask Camella if she has considered trying to replicate them herself. Us mere mortals need all the advantages we can get, etc.
* Tell Camella that the squad was out together at the last minute and he doesn't know any of the others at all, so has no particular reason to get to know them, at least until they prove they're likely to survive. The general was planning on getting everyone in the unit killed for a reason.
* Note other Russians getting special training. Ask them if they've learned anything that's worthwhile sharing.

Armas:

>The magic in them isn't designed to last-I was misleading myself looking for details only repeat use magic items would have
This would be ideal for enchanting bullets, grenades, missiles, or replaceable modular armour plates.

>When I explain I'm contemplating using a heart array with Pheonix hearts, plural, linked to a central heart-he laughs, and says that'll do.
The golem currently has three hearts used in its construction. It's original one, the Doonegeas', and one from Gianni's flesh golem he merged with it. For any fun rule of three based exploitation, we probably want three sets of three hearts. Now, mythologically, erinyes are divine creatures born from blood, so using three of their hearts in the golem might well be appropriate.

>So what's the plan for today?
* Give the material to Ironhead.
* Practice with the AVT-40. Whilst doing this, experiment using Overcharged Reinforcement to help absorb and compensate for recoil.
* Practice dual orientation continually, even when you're doing something else.
* Ask Camella if after her leg replacement she was left with any way to contact the wizard. He may be very interested in getting his hands on the Donnegeas' brain to plumb for memories of its master, as it's the wizard's enemy. We could offer this in return for having the Doonegeas' memories of Summer Flesh magic, or anything else we can use, given to SB. SB can then tell it to Whaitiri if she's interested, and implant the bits we can apply into us. As the Doonegeas was powered by Divine energy, it might also fill in some of the gaps in what he's learned from Whaitiri.
* Ask SB's advice on feeding Whaitiri energy to power her upgrade of the mere. He has the shadowmere, will he have any opportunities to use it on anything potent enough to interest her?
* Explain Silja's predicament to Camella and ask if she's willing to donate blood/body parts to her, considering that Camella's charm means she can do so at minimal cost to her. If we can talk her into it, it might help Silja to have willingly donated components.

>>393518
SUST all the Whaitiri stuff. We've huge amounts we want from her:
* Fixing/Upgrading the mere into an artifact
* Granting HB a summer flesh manipulation bloodline
* Teaching us flesh manipulation
* Grafting the abilities of things we've eaten to us.
* Upgrading our summer bloodline to be royal
* Extending our summer bloodline to incorporate thunder based powers.

We need to carefully decide which of these is most valuable and unique. Note that Gianni believes he can graft the glands to himself without godly assistance, so why would we need it. Also SUST going to the dojo when flat on energy and unable to regenerate/resurrect. We can push ourself as hard as we want using Hillevi as a sparring partner without taking that risk for no gain.

>>393578
I don't think option 2 works on its own - you the spirit animal may need powers in that field of its own to be able to inherit its master's. Option 3 and 2 together would work, assuming that weres are flesh manipulators. Another option is to do something like get HB granted an Einheir's powers, as that seems to involve both soul and flesh manipulation. Einrik told us that if someone with a blank Winter bloodline defeats an Einheir, they can gain their powers. HB might appreciate that concept, of taking from a defeated enemy, given his attitude to learning chakra. This would of course require us getting him a blank bloodline slot. Another option is to exploit how power inheritance from their master works from spirit animals, where they can gain powers in the same sphere as the magic used to bind them if both they and their master has power of that type. We can perform a flesh based binding, and we have flesh based magic, but SB doesn't. Fortunately, that's easy to get around:
* Whaitiri forms a temporary contract with HB to grant him the minor flesh crafting required for the duration of the operation.
* We bind him to our flesh.
* He inherits our powers.
* He eats a phoenix heart.
* Whaitiri grants him a boon that allows him to absorb the phoenix's flesh manipulation ability.
* The contract ends, but the grafted flesh manipulation allows him to keep inheriting our powers.
Whaitiri can hopefully be persuaded of the benefits of this quite easily, particularly if HB inheriting our summer based powers means that what he eats feeds her in part as well. HB can probably be persuaded on aesthetic grounds, phoenix's are amongst the few creatures that approaches the glory of his own plumage, after all. There could also be some very nice synergies here, in the long run, if we also investigate something like grafting a phoenix heart into us to replace our own.
>>
No. 393600 ID: 252e1b

>>393597

LYUBOV ADDENDUM

*When asked, Lyubov tells Gloom, "Armas, uh, looked at me. And he figured out what he needed to do to make me learn what he saw, and then we spent the lessons with him helping me understand myself better. That's it, really. You learn chakra better the better you understand yourself. Oh and Hillevi says that nearly dying helps too and Andrei improved some from his heart attack, so I asked her and Armas to help me try that tomorrow. So, yeah. But you seem to be learning really well; I guess you already know yourself?"

>>
No. 393606 ID: d97a61

[Rostislav has been queued to do the following:]
R-Enjoy himself at the fight club - give and take in a personally favorable disproportionate fashion. Fail to dominate or impress-but clearly 'earn' his victory. Bow out from spontaneously offered second bout of the day: a solid win made for great fun, but strange tricks took getting used to-and he didn't really get what that guy was doing with his footwork, even if he did beat him.
R-During the cool-down after his fight, attempt to observe the others - see if anyone stands out. Muse over idea that maybe something can be learned here. Maybe it's all some form of this chakra he's supposed to learn. Ignore stink eye from bested foe-take note of a few others looking his way speculatively.
R-Decide that if asked in specific about his early evening outings, he'll tell what he did, but not with whom or where. First rule of fight club, after all.
Make the fight club a weekly thing from now on. Gives him some motivation to really give it his all in lessons - gotta learn a trick or two of his own, after all, those guys are gonna sharpen up too.
R-Finally, invite Lev to drop by next time - he seems like he needs his blood pumping, or something. Maybe a drink? It's about time he started to make friends in this damn outfit, shit's getting real fast enough. Awaiting Lev's response.
R-Consider the beer hunt again - he's got some time on his hands so long as he sticks close to the manor.
R-Open up invites to hunt for great beer again! Wonder who will have time-wonder if maybe Dmitrii and Vlad at least would be up for it. Make mental note to avoid magic beer if encountered.
[Zhenya has been queued to do the following:]
Z-Arise with Sake on her mind.
Z-Consider what he said and briefly indulge in the memory of him happily messing around.
Z-Be distracted all morning as she considers what Weasel Boss said, trying to figure out who she really is. Have brain hurt at hard thoughts.
Z-Acquire regret when she realizes she is doing worse than usual with morning activities, decide that it's worth it, just this once. Yeah, that's it.
Z-Decide on her love of music and pistols(pistols <3) as her main strengths despite devoting precious little recent time to music, but figure this isn't who you are fully. Decide against delving into her crippling fears and weaknesses for now...get to that later.
Z-Decide to try her normal methods of working in those fields and apply them to training, repeated and constant practice and memorization of facts. Realize this isn't much different than what she has been doing, feel slightly disappointed but try anyway. Be further disappointed when she can't even tell when she's trying it owing to just how similar to the current learning method it is. Feel like she's missing something.
Z-Take the music route first, keep doing the chakra training even in off time. eventually start humming to self to keep focused and break monotony. Find humming distracting, feel like it hinders more than helps.
Z-Consider results, at the very least more practice can't hurt, even if she is barking up the wrong tree on the 'who you are' thing. Decide she has to have looked at this wrong.
Z-Challenge Sake to a friendly game of table tennis, use random unused table and a book for your paddle. Be completely and utterly destroyed. Be okay with that.
Z-Be even more tired than usual, have fitful sleep.

Third person Falconis. Third person. Have your post was second, half third.
[Feodor has been queued to do the following:]
F=-After returning from Finnigan's, follow the jogging train, staying in last place. Shout encouragement to those who are lagging behind, and when that inevitably fails, he tries abuse. He gets pissed at the lack of effort from those who're coming last, and tries to intimidate them with his anger. Uncertain it was truly successful, begrudgingly admits all the shouting while running probably was a better workout for him than the norm.
F=-During chakra training still be angry at the others for not trying hard enough. Wonder “Do they want to die?” His anger at them causes him to forget his goal of striving for precision as he just gets angrier and angrier. Realize there may be a problem when he misses an easy opening due to distracting anger he should have had no trouble reaching.
F=-Shower, trying to obtain that feeling of washing away his anger. Find it easily-be a bit wierded out it's that effective.
F=-Go to Sake for his daily weasel-rub, not really angry at the other Russians, but now angry at having to go to Sake so that he can cope with his schedule. During Sake's magnificent medicating ministrations, Feodor realizes that his anger at Sake and Hillevi is misplaced. “Even if they have taken my role,” he thinks, “They're still helping the rest of the Russian's survive – and that's my main goal.” Feodor lets his anger at Sake and Hillevi go, and feels relieved. He wonders if it was so easy to let go because of the shower.
F=-Afterwards, asks Sake if Weasel Boss knows anything that could help him with chakra training, or help him help the others with it. Be told that Weasel Boss mostly knows how that works for magical animals and such, not people. Begrudgingly accept this-also be informed that Sake's pretty sure being full-to-bursting with magical energy while training is probably helping accelerate everyone's learning.
F=-Go to Ito's for chakra training and work, and on his way back stop by the Grand Bazaar. Buy as much raw cotton fibre as he can carry and gives it to Sake as a reconciliation gift. Witnesses Sake building a mounded den in the corner of a room. Wonders what he could get Hillevi.
F=-Meets Lev to do some knife training, and notices that Lev seems more subdued than usual. Hoping that seeing improvement in his student will cheer him up, Feodor tries harder. Wonders why Lev's acting off.
F=-Just before heading to Finnigan's, he looks for Armas and asks Boss, “When you said that the services of this “Sometimes Merchant” do not come cheaply, what did you mean? Would I have to be a millionaire to buy from this man?” Be told that effectively, he'd EITHER have to be a millionaire OR have a bunch of really impressive secrets to sell OR have some magic items to barter. Fail to enjoy boss's musing on whether one can sell parts of their identity, like their free will, or years of their life, and so forth.
F=-Throughout the night, Feodor chats to Finnigan. “Why do you do this work?” he asks, “How did you get started?” After being told to 'shut the fuck up and hand me some [insert medical tool here] both times he picks up on the fact the man does not like banter. Relax in the work, taking notes when he can.

[Igor has been queued to do the following:]
I+Makes sure to get that Sake rubbing today as well, and then instead of napping one hour like he did the last couple of days he goes out to the city with Andrei to get some booze. 10K$ is a lot, and he expects that Andrei might be of help in order to negotiate the prices better. Stress when despite Andrei agreeing to help, he doesn't show! Hunt down Andrei, find him gaming and acting a bit crazy. Seems he's not connecting 'I will help' with 'I will help right now'. Mentally classify Andrei as a lazy shit outside of work. Make no mention of this. Buy $10,000 of Vodka on own due to horribad planning (Seriously, no mention of types of alcohol, ratios, anything by either of you. Fail.)
I+Realize he has no idea who are the actual “worse students” at chakra, so he talks to Matvey, Camella and Ito about it. After all, it's a matter of life and death, so it's logical to for Ito to make sure no one is left too far behind. Igor is going to ask the officers to make sure a system is made in place so that everyone survives. Initial idea is for a rotation in which the worse students can train for chakra instead of teaching, but of course theofficers and teacher may have better ideas. Be given a strange look by Matvey and a consoling pat on the back when he's informed HE is the worst student-and if he couldn't notice himself falling behind everyone else, then the system they have is working fine. [Read: politely told to step back and let people that know this shit handle it.]
I+Apart from that, he continues to work at making that gauntlet for Armas. Try to catch one of the bosses to clarify exactly what they want, fail to get anything more than the dimensions of a stupidly large hand.
I+Upon learning through the grapevine that “mental attitude” (or was it aptitude?) helps a lot for chakra training, decide to try to on the timing of breaths and of the exercise demanded. He is going to try to visualize the exercises demanding timing as clocks ticking. Feel rather silly at first, and find transition clunky-nevertheless feel more comfortable than expected with the concept.

[$atai has been queued to do the following:]
$-Try to get an example of what The Last Spelling provides in terms of news for their stated price; old news from a random week would be ideal for reference. See that it's more or less a chronicling of the movers and shakers of the magical community in respective fields, with brief mentions of lesser-known individuals when they pull off something noteworthy. See that oddly, Dragons aren't commented on all that often-but when they are, it's because they did something big. Assume all the missing information is due to people paying for the more expensive subscription.
$-Pay their $5,000/week. The company can easily afford it, and he's sick of feeling uninformed.
BUSINESS FUNDS: -$5,000 $191,847.00
$-Get first day's clippings: See that Armin and Blackbeard are STILL going at it, but are now heading west-last verified location being Azerbaijan's western border, where they erased a border checkpoint in passing. See that there's a section for reporting on the Nazis in Istanbul-find it odd how they're treated like a celebrity family people watch to witness fucking up. See that they've faced heavy reprisals in South America after assisting the US Government in capturing a massive number of Mafia members, which itself was retaliation for heavy attacks staged on them in Istanbul by the Mafia and their contracted mercenaries. Be pleased to note it does not name the mercenaries. See that the paper has a small section on Traitors-recognize no one except a single name, the most prominent in the list: Gallileo Savoy. Remember hearing something about him back in the Army, read his section. Learn he's thrown all-in with the Nazis, and has submitted himself to them as an experimental test subject. Keep reading... find nothing else of note today except that the Owner, ruling dragon of Turkey, was challenged to a dual by a mundane human that gave the moniker 'Blade'-and oddly did NOT kill him for the insult.
$-Talk to mafia contacts about acquiring various drugs- medicinal, recreational, and otherwise, either through them or a supplier they can point him to. Given past dealings, be happily pointed in the right direction after agreeing to invite them (three Mafia mid-level goons) if and when he throws a party with his pills. Spend $1,000 on a decent supply of painkillers and enough stimulants to support the Russians taking them on a daily basis for a few weeks to awareness, focus, and learning.
$-See if Hillevi is willing to give Satai an energy boost before chakra training, since she can apparently do that- after six hours of Camella, anyone could use some vigor. Wonder if that was worth it after briefly becoming convinced testicles had fully withdrawn into pelvis from the shear, shocking cold-decide that it DID, admittedly, do an excellent job or rendering him alert and energetic.
$-Keep talking through chakra theory for hours with Hillevi, trying to get her to use more comprehensible communication habits as he goes. Start to glean further facts from her: Seems that Chakra is a massively flexible and widely explored field, and that just about anything one can think of will have at least ONE Orientation for it. Decide the mental comparison of thinking of Chakra Orientations as phone apps and Bloodlines switching the phone (person) from a shitty service to a better plan works pretty well after bouncing it off Hillevi. Even if the plan gets better, the apps are still the same since they're in the same phone... but if one were to opt for an improved phone, via soul, mind or flesh sculpting.... decide he doesn't know enough to complete that thought yet.
$-Hunt down Andrei and determine what exactly his relation to the family problem is. Matvey said he's helping and was informed in advance- who brought him into this, what exactly do they have him doing, and why didn't he mention this huge problem? Be willing to cut Andrei some slack regarding going insane and dying, but still be frustrated. Is anything actually constructive going on right now that Andrei is aware of? Get copies of whatever data he has. Be provided with some documents Andrei was able to find, concerning lawsuits being placed against several of the group's family members. Find it odd how readily accessible this information was given Chugainov's normal methods-wonder if this is potentially a trap on his end to try and force them to reveal themselves in attempts to assist their family.
$-Locate Lyubov and determine what exactly her relation to the family problem is. Andrei said she recruited him to help before Matvey found out about anything, and Matvey said she knew before him- when and where did she find out about this, and why was she plotting with Andrei? Be told she found out about her own family having troubles from church, and went to Andrei to verify if this was just going on on her end, or if it was happening to other members of the group's family. Find out that she personally isn't doing much about this beyond making a list of people being targeted by Chugainov as she goes because it's largely outside of her experience-as of yet, she's started exploring if they could make new identities for the family members too, but wonders if that would really matter against Chugainov. Terminate questioning session early when Lyubov gets emotional. Be excessively frustrated she did not solve the problem herself or immediately inform everyone the moment she even thought there was a chance there was a communal threat.
$-Consider situation. Matvey says to rely on the officers, but his and Camella's report essentially says that they're useless and unwilling to try anything. Also, they apparently sat on the information for an unknown length of time and therefore don't respect their troops; Satai has had more than enough of trusting officers who don't give a shit about him. Armas is erratic in his actions and prone to shoving work off onto others when they try to suggest things, and capable of talking anyone into anything; any approach to him will likely end with Satai being deflected in a completely random direction and possibly assigned a bunch more work instead of actually accomplishing anything. Armas' shadow is smart and seems much more practical than Armas, but it's a shadow; does it even know what family is? Sake is... something; that might work, but it doesn't seem likely. Fail to make any note of how these sorts of thoughts were an everyday thing under Chugainov, only there was no way to do anything about them-miss out on excellent chance to improve personal stance on things by seeing silver lining. Stew in indignant deliberation. Fail to notice slightly off-key performance in Chakra training that day.
$-After due consideration and review of available information, hatch plan.
$-Grab some energy drinks and tinker all night instead of sleeping. Get weasel rubs in the morning to wake up.
[Lyubov has been queued to do the following:]
*Get up, get dressed, and forget her socks. She’ll go jogging, listen to her iPod, and be confused: What the fuck, did Andrei mis-label every song?
*With a smile, she decides that’s an open invitation to a prank war.
*Go home, shower, examine Sake’s bling again, clean it up, and touch it up with a few more layers where it's peeling. She’ll ask if he could teach her Japanese and German, or download it to her mind like Amen did for the Turkish and English a few weeks ago. Be told he could probably do Japanese if she wanted. Say yes. Receive snuggle rub with complimentary mental download (And resultant headache that vanishes mid-rub), and she’ll share her concerns about Zhenya. Ask that he keep an eye on her, and be informed that he gave her a little help with the hangover yesterday. Which leads to Lyubov getting a funny idea.
*Lyubov will intercept Zhenya, and egregiously violate her friend’s personal space, pulling up Zhenya’s shirt sleeve and declaring, “Ha! Did you get Sake to heal your scars finally?” Immensely enjoy mortified look on Zhenya's face.
*In response, Zhenya says, “D- did you just look through my clothes? How did you see that?" Lyubov replies, “Don’t worry about it too much, Armas can see through them too.” Idly wonder if she can find someone to blush yellow to pair with Hillevi and Zhenya.
*At breakfast say to Hillevi, “Andrei seems ok after his heart attack experience. I will take you up on your offer, but I want to have Armas with us to watch and figure out when I have gotten everything I can from your help. Can we do this tomorrow?” Be told sure, but it'll have to be during her lesson with Satai. Tentatively accept opportunity to simulate near-death experiences tomorrow with Hillevi.
*Camella lessons. Lyubov will have the iPod on half-volume so she can hear instructions. She’ll take note of its relative effectiveness as a learning aid. Oddly, barely hearing what Camella says and feeling less sure about what she should do yields better results than normal.
*Shower, change clothes, and head to the Dojo.
*Lunch. Look up Lev’s progeny. They shouldn’t be too hard to track down. Chugainov did the hard work of finding out who is responsible for them, and suing them... what the hell, they’re all toddlers. Lev’s only 22? Damn, he’s been busy!
*Lyubov will compile a list of Lev’s bastards (and their mothers or caretakers) being harassed by Chugainov. She will put the mothers’ names/pictures and kids’ names/pictures/birthdays on a list for Lev and leave it for him in his room, on the dresser, with a note, "Sorry, I couldn't find your Anna, Oleg, Nestor, Mariya, Veronika, or Karp, but here are the kids I could locate. Already forwarded this info to the officers. -Lyubov"
*Add it to the larger list of people being targeted by Chugainov that Lyubov has based on her earlier research (with pictures! As many as possible!). Finish research, compile as completed list. Why were Lev and Nikifor such horndogs? 16 kids between the two of them. The total list is large, even accounting for people like Zhenya who (claim) they don’t care about their families. Realize this makes the plan of extraction even harder to pull off just due to scale.
*The list should include addresses, pictures, names, ages, professions, mobility issues either mentioned during the big brainstorming session or discovered while researching.
*Be confronted by Satai. She’ll show him the list and ask if anyone he likes is missing. She will explain, “I only found out because I got bored and wondered if we’d made the news. I know you’re mad, I am too. But I’m trying as hard as I can to help your family, and mine, and everyone’s. So let me work, I need to finish.” Get distinct feeling Satai's absolutely pissed at her-wonder if it'd be a good idea to tease him about being a momma's boy if he does confront her later and claim she's been irresponsible about this. Salivate at delicious thought.
*Lyubov dodges answering questions about how long the issue has been known by first saying, “As soon as I knew I told an officer, and then I told the other one, and I talked to Armas.” Then she will mention how Satai reminds her of her dead grandfather (why is that? Is it because he is always grumpy?), and start crying (genuinely, even) when she realizes that she’s probably never going to get a chance to visit her family’s graves again. She’ll tell Satai to go away and leave her alone for a bit.
*Lyubov will find each Russian in turn and ask if the list missed anyone. Eventually develop list of names, numbers and addresses. She’ll then turn copies of the long list in to Camella, Matvey, Andrei and Satai. Attempt to turn a list in to Armas-find Armas impossible to locate. Wonder if he's trolling.
*Find Andrei. Ask him to continue to lie to Satai about the day he learned about the family problem (because surely he kept his mouth shut after the initial meeting, once he picked up on Lyubov and the two officers presenting a unified front). She will point out that Satai is just angry and looking for a reason to place blame on someone he can fight, since Chugainov is a target he can’t hit yet, and that in-fighting right now would not help at all. If Andrei asks why there was a delay, admit to not knowing why, but that she thinks punishments should not come from the company at large. It’s Armas’ responsibility, and he is aware.
*Speaking of which, Lyubov will find Armas and first tell him about the troll she’s played on Zhenya (“She thinks you taught me how to see through clothes now”) Note Boss-man to be immensely pleased at this, and look nearly like a proud parent. Will say, “The old grandma-vampire keeps kicking my butt in the night lessons. She also said ‘my master’ would know how she does it, and that I should ask about how eyes are windows to the soul… so, how are eyes windows, Boss-Master-Armas?” Get answer of "Well Hafaz, when he's back, could tell you more on a level that's relevant to you-but basically, eye contact with magically perceptive stuff? Not a great idea. Not saying blindfold yourself-but maybe only watch arms and legs, maybe." Wonder how to make this work when she's already pretty accustomed to reading faces.
*Lyubov will also ask Armas to be present tomorrow for the near-death experience with Hillevi. Be given a non-commital response-decide she'll need to bug him about this.
*Dinner time already? Mail should have arrived too. Get packages, dump off in room. *Lyubov will ‘accidentally’ spill something on Lev during dinner so that he is forced to go to his room to change.
*Night lessons. Find Boss-man's advice ludicrously hard to follow-decide to suck it up and keep on trucking.
*At Igor’s request Lyubov will hang out for a few minutes longer than normal after lessons. Apparently he wants emotional support while he talks to Camella and Ito. That’s ok!
*Lyubov will go home and report Lev’s crazy oath to Camella. She’ll ask if it has any binding at all given the way it was worded- and be relieved it doesn’t. She’ll then go to her room, open her packages, put things away, and go to sleep.
*When asked, Lyubov tells Gloom, "Armas, uh, looked at me. And he figured out what he needed to do to make me learn what he saw, and then we spent the lessons with him helping me understand myself better. That's it, really. You learn chakra better the better you understand yourself. Oh and Hillevi says that nearly dying helps too and Andrei improved some from his heart attack, so I asked her and Armas to help me try that tomorrow. So, yeah. But you seem to be learning really well; I guess you already know yourself?"

[Gloom has been queued to do the following:]
* Thank old lady politely and take an immediate liking to her. Be unable to rationalize liking-or distrust it for being unnatural. Find even internal irritation she's so likable is difficult to sustain.
*Despite best efforts, look forward to personalized baked goods.
* Talk to resident gun nuts about the possibility of using an automatic airgun to fire just sub-sonic flechettes bearing a poison payload for use as a silent assassination weapon.
*Learn it's possible, but probably not in-house feasible, and that they'd be happy to comment about specific base models if he wants to mod something up, or critique specific plans-but are all largely chemical propulsion gun-nuts.
* Continue practicing the stealth techniques.
* Try practicing it (and chakra), in front of a mirror, to see if being able to see himself makes any difference to being able to pull the moves off. Try setting up multiple mirrors facing each other, so he can see parts of your body and movements you wouldn't normally be able to. Spend most of this first day's attempt just getting a mirror setup he thinks really works.
* Ask Camella if she has considered trying to replicate Boss's techniques herself. Be told she has not-and is instead pursuing a different path. Get feeling it's got something to do with that meeting with the Owner she had-then remember she had a follow-up meeting with him too.
*Be asked by Camella about relations to the squad.
* Tell Camella that the squad was out together at the last minute and he doesn't know any of the others at all, so has no particular reason to get to know them, at least until they prove they're likely to survive. The general was planning on getting everyone in the unit killed for a reason.
*Be asked just how long he's going to wait-and if he realizes waiting long enough will make the choice for him.
* Note other Russians getting special training. Ask them if they've learned anything that's worthwhile sharing. Due to abject failure to become friends with them, learn nothing of value. Only Lyubov makes time to talk with him.
*Wonder if Camella was on to something there.
>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>MORNING! ...Wonder if it's necessary to have such an early morning every damn day. Seriously, four-and-a-bit hours? Christhammer.
>Be impressed with Boss and his verbal sparring/grappling/sprinting. Wish there was time to practice his own verbal stylings. Laugh ruefully about 'time'.
>Actual breakfast. Pine for coffee, but it waits for the death training to finish. Answer any questions that can be answered this HORRIBLY early in the morning. Hear vague complaints about invisible things watching or attacking those that drink the blessed Caffeine. Also overhear both Zhenya and Lyubov talk about voices on the phone. Complain into breakfast that nothing is easy! Eat breakfast in vicious retaliation for complicated life. Take THAT, eggs, toast and kale!
>Six Hour Italian Death March! Use this time to ponder soul capacitance and soul coherence. Fail. It is unrelated to computers or shooting. Frustrating, as it is related to not dying. Ponder actual capacitance instead. Andrei finds this hurts his head. Use this time, when not dying, instead to plan what to do today. As Boss-man, in his wise wisdom has gotten Andrei to tend to his Ward, online at least, so do that. Decide he is happy he's got PDF's of several 'for dummies' books about general computer and internet use he picked up for shits and giggles.
>Ito's Gym! Quickly, talk to Ito about just Chakra training for now! Secure fourth of six slots (lose $150 a week pay). TWO LEFT.
>Chakra Training Anyway. Tongue the lesion during the lesson. Wonder if he should just let them cut it out and regrow it-it's getting annoying.
>Lunch. Give Boris tips on chicken vindaloo. Carry pseudo-chicken vindaloo to Hillevi.
>Use five hours, including lunch, to teach Hillevi about, how to play various games of strategy, the finer points of surfing the net and what not. Total War, Mass Effect, League of Legends, Neverwinter Nights, Homeworld and Recettear. Find Hillevi only mildly enthused in non-first person (or at least over-the-shoulder) games. Be glad yesterday we went over proper typing, how to surf, basic netiquette and such, and that that those things seem to have stuck. While teaching, get her opinion on computer based magic, who could be attacking and spying on the Russians, and who was phone. Get puzzled look about phone, be told that even her brother has mentioned he doesn't know much about computer magic-wonder what exactly he's holding.
>During these hours, be interrupted by Satai - who wants the truth - Renegade - and Lyubov, who wants lies - Paragon. Use this conflict to attempt teach Hillevi, find this works kind of well since she's liking ME1 so far. Mentally grump at how they have free time to be getting angry, and fantasize about going Renegade on Satai. After a non-committal lie/deflection of something like "Can this wait until I've finished with Hillevi", attempt to deflect him with the idea of Satai, Lyubov and himself getting a van set up to work on remote control. Find Satai doesn't see a reason to include Lyubov in this.
>Use single hour of free time to try and look into Lightning and/or Mind Manipulators. Realize he has no idea where to look that up, since he's not about to break into the site Boss visits sometimes.
>Realize, when Igor shows up, that free time is an illusion. Mention this to the clockman. Ask him, jokingly, if he has learned how to freeze time yet.
>To more Chakra Training! Urg. This is worse than the training for an anti-magic Russian army division or a special forces!
>Hopefully last teaching for a while. Put in a solid effort and see if anyone cares that he might not be back for a little while.
[Lev has been queued to do the following:
Edited for Grimdark Edgy DRAMA content.
Seriously though Mystic more than half the shit you said you'd tone down/etc. in this wasn't touched at all. Also-THIRD PERSON. That's 'he said, she does, etc. Not 'you'.
-Wake in bed. Be reasonably certain he did not get his ass in there himself. Draw conclusions.
-Decide to recarve giant angry penis carving into Gloom... at some point.
-Nearly consider Chugainov as having personal designs on raping children, but not drunk enough to believe ridiculous idea.
-Wonder if Chakra could teach him how to actually have a shot at assassinating Chugainov someday. Then remember he's got a thousand or so Special Forces style bodyguards. Realize plan is A+ on the retardation scale.
-Appreciate Feodor's increased effort to learn, try to teach him the practical places he's found it effective to stab people in-note Feodor muttering medical terms as he gives examples.
-Be turned down for rubbing by Sake who cites him having too much energy, mental or otherwise, to properly work with right now-and Sake isn't making that worse. Wonder if he should, in fact, chill the fuck out as the weasel said.
- Find note in room about all his women and children, be glad/sad that Lyubov did this for him, remember that someone helped him into bed, connect two and two, be unsure as to what this means, Lyubov's a nice woman... she'd just do this for anyone, right?
- Consider that Lyubov has family too... the rage returns, upon encountering her again, swear on his sword he'll punish Chuganov, in her name, one way or another. Thank her.
-Follow Rostislav to fight club again, get permanently banned for being dumb enough to bring a knife into the fight and nearly draw it.
- When home, fall into bed, tired. Consider if he is going to kill a monster like Chugainov, he would need a sword that kills monsters.
-Noting he doesn't have one, draws crappy family sword. Randomly assume that there is some truth to the old folktales. Cut his palm on his sword and smear the blood on the blade, swear some bullshit about it being to the death of Chuganov and all other like monsters. “With this bloodpact, I dedicate my soul to death”
-Note absofuckinglutely nothing happening.
- Clean the sword, bind the hand. Looking at hand, wonder if that was really such a good idea, Ow.
-Realize he was just a retarded clusterfuck nearly all damn day-wonder if grim derpiness should be abandoned.

[Iosef has been queued to do the following:]
-Studies the fuck out the printouts. Makes notes where needed. Uses dictionary for hard words and concepts. Consults Andrei on particularly hard points if he cannot figure it out himself.
-Think that Rostislav's proposal is perfect opportunity to go out and 'meet people. like Matvey suggested. Knows that his social skills suck, be prepared for failure. At least he tries his best to not insult anyone and start bar fights. Fail on this point when encountering a vapid bitche's douchey guy getting in his face.
-Splits the tab with Rostislav. Listen to Rostislav's comment about maybe just playing to his strengths, and mention of fight clubs. Ponder if he even COULD fuck up getting along with a group that expects him to punch them.


[MINION ORDERS LOCKED, UPDATE TONIGHT]
>>
No. 393692 ID: a6bece

You know, we were wondering how we could troll Einrik?

Well, the perfect solution has just dropped into our laps. Einrik has clearly told Davgon all sorts of stories about us, so clearly the best we can do is make it seems like he was spouting rubbish, until Davgon calls Einrik on it. It's simple, all we have to do is act as a perfectly professional mercenary company commander until Davgon cracks under the anticipation of when the penny will drop. As a positive side effect, it should also get Camella good as well. Amen will just have to be invited to make Duke clothes for the duration - we should be able to talk him into it, and make him seem that Einrik conflated the pair of us in his stories. Duke will probably go along with it when the motive is explained.
>>
No. 393712 ID: 252e1b

>>393692

This is amazing. Yes, do this!
>>
No. 393726 ID: 619ee6

>[Laine]"Amen, time for a check-up. As per the orders which related to giving the Russians their language downloads, you are to non-destructively and with no side effects save comprehensively gathering information check the mind, body, and soul of myself, my employees, and my ward for outside effects and/or influences, all forms of damage, and missing memories. You are to completely and accurately inform me of what that you learn. As soon as you have collected the information, tell it to me. As soon as you have told it to me, you are to forget the information."
If this is used, it should be about completeness, not comprehensive details. Likewise, "Tell me what you learn" is a BAD idea given that 1°) he might already know everything ,and thus learn nothing, and 2°) Amen's relation to "learning" is very askew.

>Pay should be along the lines of the previous work they've done. We've got a policy of putting the majority of our gains into the company. Pay the Russians $3,000 each for services rendered (they were not shot at, had hidden identities, were properly disguised, and had authority granted to them by you pretending to be a police captain). By every account it was a milk run for them. The majority of the funds earned from this job will be going toward more company upgrades, including the price discount for future purchases with Ironhead.
This is not what was previously agreed. SUST on robbing our minions from agreed pay rate. If we want to change how the pay is handled, it should be done before the job, not after.

>>393692
Oh god this, must do.
>>
No. 393731 ID: b83c65

>>393726
I have to agree with not robbing from the Russians.
>>
No. 393738 ID: b83c65

>>393734
That's good.
>>
No. 393752 ID: c1c082

You guys realise that the job comes with a free bonus that is a high quality prototyps tank? Again, just a bonus. I do not know how much tanks cost but probably more than five million dollars.
If that's a bonus then how much is the main pay?

How about we wait and see how much money we make first and then pay the minions?
>>
No. 393786 ID: 252e1b

>>393726
>>393752
>>393731

I deleted and edited the post these posts refer to. The revision takes into account their input and is as follows:

>>393518

>Remember that whatever the take from this mission, the Russians went on it. 25% of the pay is the standard they get to divide up, I believe; see that the eight of them who waltzed into a police lockup to boldly steal everything inside divide that portion amongst themselves, and take another 5% as our personal cut from this job for services boldly rendered.

It may be better for company morale to just pay everyone a share (claiming that they assisted with moving the goods and were on stand-by to bail out the drivers in case there was an issue), and pay sizable bonuses to the 8 who drove. Additionally, we should consider setting aside a portion of the pay to help fund the budget for extracting the families. Since the only plan the employees have turned in is basically "we think we want to get them home somehow but we're not sure" you're going to need to be able to fund it.

If, for some reason, the take is less than $96,000 then you should pay above the normal rate and make sure that the 8 drivers at least get $3,000 each.

We should also pay the Russians for the Dooney job. Another $3,000 to everyone. While it was a dangerous job, they had every advantage on their side.

Finally, settle up with Lyubov if you haven't already. It'll be much harder to get her to agree to help with more falsified identities if you don't transfer that $21,433 you owe her. She mentioned that she wanted Andrei and Zhenya to be paid as well. Given that you negotiated her down to a sixth of what she originally asked for, just pay Andrei $13,234 and Zhenya $1,333. Total bill: $36,000 (which is still way less than what you would have paid anyone else).

>Speak with Sake about Whaitiri. "You said that you don't want to be a god's pet. I'll tell you this: You're my brother, and I'm no one's pet. No matter how things end up, I will be trying very hard to see that a certain minimum of respect is given. I want very badly to get power here and would very much appreciate your backing in making sure that we get it in a way that we can pull off successfully and all be content with."

Sake will likely be a hard sell. Just as important to him as how things actually are, are how things look, and there's no two ways about it: it would look like you and he were Whaitiri's pets. The being known for being a cannibal issue is also a real problem. We can't go for an overt relationship with her, so we need to pick something a little different. My suggestion is to ask Sake what he thinks, and to buy time by using Belief to shape Whaitiri's trust in you if Sake thinks it is a good idea.

>>393518
The rest of your plan is pretty darn good.

ARMAS ORDERS

~Deal with Ironhead, and make sure the whole household is ready to meet him.
~Check in with Camella about how her talk with Gloom went, either in a conference call with Matvey or in-person meeting. Make sure Sake is taking part in the conversation too, he interacts a great deal with everyone independently of you. Ask if anyone noticed any other issues.
~Settle up with your employees. $3000 each to everyone for the Dooney job ($57,000 total), and $36,000 total to the three who worked on the fake IDs (full payroll of $93,000). Don't decide the pay structure for the Ironhead job until you know what you're working with.
~Keep draining your magic energy. There are probably more lessons to learn.
~Ask Satai for an expense report, and the TPS reports, and ask if he got the memo about the cover sheets for the TPS reports. When he is confused by all this tell him to forget about it. Then look up the transaction information for the company account online so that you can honestly claim to Camella that you looked it over (even if you didn't really pay any attention to it, that shit is boring). Gotta stay a step ahead of Camella, after all.
~Go find one of the Russians you trust and ask for a spar. Promise no magic, just a straight spar... except that you'll be blindfolded. Make sure Sake’s on hand in case you or your partner gets too enthusiastic.
~Announce the tournament on the 26th, with a “reasonable boon” as the prize. If asked what a reasonable boon entails, peg it as equivalent to a Favor of some sort, but one with the right for you to refuse based on it being impossible, prohibitively expensive, or something that would cause discord in the house.
~Try calling Adelat again, later in the day. Maybe she was just having a bad day. If you still can’t get in contact with her, ask Amen what she is doing.
~Call Gianni, just to shoot the shit with him. Ask him when he thinks a good time to talk to Rocco about your proposal for hiring him away would be. Tell him you got a lead on armor for the golem. Invite him over to look at the golem now that you've had some of the bloodwork done on it. Mention that you secured Duke's blessings.
~More low-energy chakra practice.

Talk to Ironhead:

"Well you look fucking chipper today! You want anything while your appraiser works? Breakfast? Coffee?"

"Great, hey Boris you heard him! Go make breakfast! And no funny sauces today, cook like you're cooking for your favorite uncle or something. Someone go make coffee. Satai get your ass over here and say hello."

"Yeah the chemical weapons. They weren't in the police lock up. There was actually an officer, and EID detective name of Adelat, who got in trouble the day of the raid because two van loads of them and other assorted nasty shit just fucking up and disappeared. Because we took 'em both! But we only took what I thought we could use ourselves."

"I just said it's mostly stuff I thought I could use, and that we took them before you and I made a deal. I can understand how disappointing it is to not get stuff you had in mind, so I'm still willing to let you have a look at it and buy from it at half price. I really don't want to sell the DP rounds, but I'd be willing to trade them for two-thirds the same weight of DP in 5.56mmx45. I'd like to keep half the gas. The rest is some launchers and missiles I don't want to let go, and some piddly shit: ammo and some floppy disk that I let my tech expert have a crack at."

"Nope, we don't know what the fuck it's for yet."

Talk to Amen:

"Amen, elaborate on how having forcibly opened chakra as I do would be unhealthy for the Russians."

"Amen, elaborate on how come you are personally incapable of generating Belief, to the degree that such information would not in and of itself injure me."

"Amen, are you a girl house or a boy house?"

"Amen, I heard reports that Smets had maids. Who were they, and what happened to them?"

"Amen, give me a report on Jidkova, a report on Chugainov using what you have learned through Jidkova, and then a report on Adelat. Also give me your best Clint Eastwood impression."

"Amen, you are to amend the order to communicate changes in the binding pressure on your soul such that the base point on the scale is 1/32nd the strength of the pressure from the order I gave you to ignore Savoy instead of one point."

This will give us more resolution and a better idea of what each order really represents. Instead of "between one to two points" well get answers like "between 17 and 18 points."

"Amen, time for a check-up. As per the orders which related to giving the Russians their language downloads, you are to non-destructively, unobtrusively, and with no side effects save comprehensively gathering information check the mind, body, and soul of myself, my employees, and my ward for outside effects and/or influences, all forms of damage, and missing memories. You are to completely and accurately inform me of what that you know with regards to the aforementioned minds, bodies, and souls, and taking no more than five minutes per subject."

"Amen, you are to non-destructively, unobtrusively, and with no side effects save comprehensively gathering information check the mansion, all the stuff in it, and the people who live there for spying devices or spells, and covert devices. Accurately and completely describe their function and locations in the house."

"Amen, you are to non-destructively, unobstrusively, and with no side effects save comprehensively gathering information report on all spell works, charms, and effects that presently affect my employees."

"Amen tell me about the magic consumables in the house at present, as well as whatever drugs we have in the house stocks. Further, tell me about whatever goods we have in the house that are estimated to be above $25,000 in value individually, excepting those I already know of or those which belong to my Guests and Employees."

"Amen, what happened to Big Crazy while he was in your custody?"
>>
No. 393849 ID: 252e1b

>>393786

I can't delete this, Firefox updated and my session ID changed.

But here's a DIFFERENT set of Amen orders, written with a new approach to Amen. These supersede the orders in the above post.

ARMAS ADDENDUM

Talk to Amen:

These orders should be given after the business of the day with Ironhead is done.

"Amen, you are to amend the order to communicate changes in the binding pressure on your soul such that the base point on the scale is one one-hundredth the strength of the pressure from the order I gave you to ignore Savoy instead of one point."

This will give us more resolution and a better idea of what each order really represents. Instead of "between one to two points" well get answers like "between 56 and 57 points."

Armas is going to attempt to manipulate Amen. We know some of what he likes, his desires, and his personality. We've got enough to make an attempt to make him do what we want without outright resorting to binds in many cases.


"Amen, let's talk shop for a minute. I know you've got superior knowledge on chakra and flesh and soul magic compared to me. Compared to most, actually."

"Well, it's always surprising how people in general can become overwrought with hubris. I know we had a bumpy settling-in period but the more I learn about you, the more I think we can work together on stuff."

"Well, I was wondering if you would tell me about how having forcibly opened chakra would be unhealthy for the Russians? You did it to me and I've only had some minor complications from it that I've noticed, almost all related to the Hummingbird. Or did you mean that the mechanism for achieving it would be unhealthy for them? Because if your technique requires putting your blood in them, then I think I understand what you mean. Or did you mean something else?"

"That was edifying. Alright, earlier you mentioned how you couldn't generate Belief. I recognize that you have been given orders by previous masters that make talking about yourself pretty difficult, so bear with me for a moment: Amen, please elaborate on how come you are personally incapable of generating Belief, to the degree that you can without tripping triggers to cause me harm, or causing me harm through the information being innately damaging. If knowing the information wouldn't hurt me, but would afford me the opportunity to harm myself, you should continue."

"That was not what I expected at all. I'm not sure what I expected, but I know it wasn't that."

"Alright, Amen, this is in reference to that conversation we had about what it was like having me inside you: Are you a girl house or a boy house?"

"Well you know, I had to ask. Curiosity. Anyway! I think I'm going to need a larger household staff to help you. No offense, but with my mercenaries all tied up at the moment I'd rather not make them spend their free time doing shopping errands for the household. I need at least a couple of domestic servants that can get around. So, I was thinking about the day we met, and everything that led up to it, and I remember that I heard reports that Smets had maids. Could you tell me more about who were they, and what happened to them? If possible I'd like to talk to them and see about hiring them. If you want to provide your opinion of them, I'd appreciate it."

"I'm feeling a little silly. Amen, could you give me a report on Jidkova, a report on Chugainov using what you have learned through Jidkova, and then a report on Adelat, all done in your best Clint Eastwood impression?"

The following set of orders should be given when Armas has an hour block of time to devote to listening to Amen.

"Alright, now I've got to give you some specific orders. It's been satisfying talking though, we'll have to do it again sometime."

"Amen, time for a check-up. As per the orders which related to giving the Russians their language downloads, you are to non-destructively, unobtrusively, and with no side effects save comprehensively gathering information check the mind, body, and soul of myself, my employees, and my ward for outside effects and/or influences, all forms of damage, and missing memories. You are to completely and accurately inform me of what that you know with regards to the aforementioned minds, bodies, and souls, and taking no more than five minutes per subject."

"Amen, you are to non-destructively, unobtrusively, and with no side effects save comprehensively gathering information check the mansion, all the stuff in it, and the people who live there for spying devices or spells, and covert devices. Accurately and completely describe their function and locations in the house."

"Amen, you are to non-destructively, unobstrusively, and with no side effects save comprehensively gathering information report on all spell works, charms, and effects that presently affect my employees."

"Amen tell me about the magic consumables in the house at present, as well as whatever drugs we have in the house stocks. Further, tell me about whatever goods we have in the house that are estimated to be above $25,000 in value individually, excepting those I already know of or those which belong to my Guests and Employees."

"Amen, can you tell me what happened to Big Crazy while he was in your custody? He was pretty upset about that, so when I next see him I want to placate him properly. I don't want him to get emotional when he sees you, and say things that would make life difficult for all parties involved."
>>
No. 393872 ID: d97a61

Sorry about the delayed actual update-ear infection is kicking my ass.

[/b][Titus has been queued to do the following:][/b]
T---Man up and ask Amen if it knows of low-magic/chakratic ways to defeat (or rather, escape the notice of) blood practitioners of the skilled but ultimately mortal level (and then to explain them to Titus). Be told that virgin's heartblood taken as a monthly supplement can render one notoriously hard to detect or adversely effect by most mortal blood manipulators. Also learn of a ritual involving the blood of three generations of the same family line that similarly obscures one without any personal need for skill. In the realm of magical abilities, Amen notes there are Chakra methods-but none that match up, per an equivalent amount of energy and effort invested, to what Blood manipulators can call upon.
T---Spend a while after that wondering if Amen lied, but be resolved to investigate further.
T---Consider how one would best get into Russia while avoiding the eyes of half the government- and just as important, how to get out again. Titus has never been a planning genius, but he'll do his best. Decide that eschewing human contact and hoofing it through the immense landscape without hitting towns could, in fact, get around Chugainov's watch. They'd just need someone that can pull off what Napoleon couldn't... yeah. Feel like magic's probably got an answer.


>>393212
Well-ten minutes until Ironhead. I can work with that.

I throw on my Orange tie and a black suit, and make sure Satai's on hand-my quartermaster's got a better sense of what things might go for, and I could use a bit of a pre-game chat. So when Ironhead arrives ten minutes later with a bald, lazy-eyed buck-toothed man, I am more versed on what we have, and what prices they might command-and Amen on hand to verify if they're telling the truth. Not much Ironhead can get up to with that-or so goes the plan.
>[WETN Trait activated]
>>393701
BUSINESS FUNDS: +$578,500-(18x$3,000)x2$662,347.00
A quarter ends up being a tidy amount-which is unsurprising, Ironhead periodically kicking his appraiser to work faster, evoking the air of being more concerned with finishing up than trying to wheedle his way into a better deal. He hands me the keys and barks the address of a storage lot outside of the city where the tank's waiting before having a good dozen people bustle in, box up all the goods and take it out to a waiting truck he's got. Interestingly, he never asked about the stuff I grabbed early on-so I don't bring it up while I decide to handle pay a bit differently this time. This job-it was a cakewalk. Premade identities, perfect disguises, backup in the form of an impersonated officer... really, no risk to speak of. ...Eh, need to pay everyone on that since everyone ended up doing SOMETHING, be it loading vans or otherwise-and let's be frank, loading a van's not that much harder than impersonating a cop with the right uniform, right face, right orders, right pre-made speech and a higher up to back you up-eliminates most of the guesswork, that. Same thing for the Doony mission-as dangerous as the beast was, we closed the trap smoothly and not a one of them was exposed to serious harm or even risk. So.... I'll go with $3,000 for each of them for both missions. Yeah, that should do it. ...Still got that cost of difference to pay to Lyubov though. ...Eh, might as well.
BUSINESS FUNDS: -$36,000[Split Lyubov $21,433 Andrei $13,234 Zhenya $1,333]$626,347.00
...I COULD pay Camella, but she hasn't said anything so... I'll leave it be for now. ...Yeah, that's... probably a good idea.
>>393518
>>383256
>>393701
Well, with Satai looking mighty pleased at the newly inflated Business account, I get on with my morning after shooing him back to his training-need these guys chakra-capable and safe as soon as possible. Now then-

I decide to talk with Silja again-and hey, she's not mopey about being a rifle any more, nice. Not entirely sure I like that it's due more to her having been able to talk with that Note Writer dude than me-but she's more than happy to talk with me, so I figure I'm doing okay. I bring her down to watch the Russians at their labors, struggling along with Camella's lessons, and begin describing them to her, their weaknesses, their pride, their personal brands of humor as I've seen them-all without ever labeling them Russians. I manage to get her looking at them positively enough-I'd say she sees them as children in a strange way-but strange as that may be, I'll take the positive emotional attachment that implies. After she's started to display a minor bit of fondness for them as they struggle and bumble along, I drop my bombshell.

My company- and friends too, at least some of them. Working for me, though. They're in a bad state at the moment for more than one reason... stuck working really hard like this every morning because they got too much magic in them thanks to one of my bad judgment calls. I was careless, and barely noticed the problem in time. If they can't learn a little bit of magic, their bodies will sicken or their souls will pop or something. There are so many ways to get hurt in this world... even hiding in the nice things. It's hard to look after each other.
>[Silja]"Oh that's horrible!"
That's just the beginning of their problems. Camella there is from another world and can't get home; we're all she's got, because no one else that she remembers can remember she even exists. And the rest of them... they were in an army under a very bad man, the pedophile I told you about way back. He ordered them all to try and kill me, expecting them to die trying. I fought them off and offered them a new job working for me. It's gone pretty well so far, but... that general is threatening their families, now. I don't even begin to know how to handle that. We can't tear everyone they're related to away from all their lives and friends to bring them here- the Turks would probably try to deport them, and even if we got them all fake identification there's no guarantee they'd be happy. I want to make them have good lives, make us all get strong together and have great adventures and all that sort of thing, you know? But that's a tough dream to keep to, sometimes.
>[Silja]"...It sounds like you have a lot on your mind. Just... just remember I'm here if you ever want to talk, okay?"
Sure Silja-I appreciate the offer, and just might take you up on that soon. But enough glum stuff-you've got to see this.
I tilt the bayonet blade over to afford Silja a view of the stretching weasel.
Meet Sake. My weasel-brother. Cute, isn't he?
>[Silja]"My goodness that little nose of his-I bet it feels just like a pig's!"
We met in Finland shortly before I met you, actually- he's a kamaitachi, a Japanese trickster wind spirit, but both of his brothers were killed and then he was. His killer brought his corpse back and threw it in a graveyard full of trophies, but Sake hung on for years and years, too stubborn and desperate to die even as nothing more than a skeleton. When I met him he possessed another weasel and almost killed me, but eventually I realized that I would rather have him as a friend than take vengeance- and what he really needed was new brothers. Got him a new body, too; that's actually a ramidreju, a kind of Spanish magic weasel. We can't really replace what he lost, but maybe we can bring him a new sort of existence and happiness.
>[Silja]"...Does anyone with you not have a troubled past?"
>[Hummingbird]"The giant female should be pleased to know my resplendent self is unburdoned by such troubles as plague the rest of this group."
>[Silja]"Aaww, that's great little guy!"
>[Hummingbird]"Hereafter do not refer to me as 'little guy' for I find it distasteful."
In a manner not that unlike a petulant child Hummingbird ruffles his feathers atop my tie's knot as he takes flight, buzzing about me.

We make quite a crew here, don't we? A whole mansion full of people with our problems. But at least we're facing them together. They'll understand what's happened to you and won't hesitate before accepting you as who and what you really are. You'll fit right in, I promise.
The rifle in my hands... giggles
>[Silja]"I suppose if such a respected bird is present it has to be a good group~!"
There it is-Silja flat out stating she's okay being part of our group, knowing full well we're a bunch of mercenaries. Sure, she hasn't yet said 'use me to shoot whatever you want, use me as you see fit' but hey-it's another step in that direction. After setting her up, at her request, to be able to watch the group in their training, Hillevi, who hung out on the sidelines and watch me haggling with Ironhead, comes up to ask if that's how sales are supposed to be. I smile at the chance to give her an explanation of haggling and where it can be used, happy she took the initiative to divert from her normal morning routine to watch me.

Well... with Ironhead gone, I get to a quick assessment of the staff as a whole, and what changes I can feel now that I have a reasonable amount of juice in me. Let's see....
Gloom looks like he'd nearly started to... crack along his mirror-like soul's core, but has stabilized and is rebounding strong. Nothing's really different yet-but I get the sense more's on the horizon.
Dmitrii looks rock-steady, like before. Not much ever seems to faze this man-and his 'been there, done that' demeanor's still going strong. Still, lack of change isn't always a bad thing.
Andrei's really changed since joining up-or more accurately, become comfortable and started behaving normally. His eclecticness is, frankly, rather familiar to me-but I get the feeling he's still in that 'overeager' phase I was in myself not too long ago. Will have to keep an eye out and make sure he learns caution at some point-funny as it is for ME to be watching for that.
Matvey's soul... really looks like he's gotten the idea in his head to start... polishing it. I really don't have a better term for it-it's not that he's piling on soul weight any faster, but he's... doing it more aesthetically? Maybe some exploitation of natural patterns rather than haphazardly random placement? Not sure about the specific mechanism but for the moment he seems to have something going for him.
Lyubov is as ever a cheerful-possibly overly so-soul of impishness, distraction and capriciousness. Compared to before, I'd say her soul feels more... spread out, more expressed than it used to be.
Lev's soul seems to be warring with some tightly held beliefs from childhood-not really sure what's going on there, but it doesn't look innately dangerous, so whatever works.
Titus is looking... a bit more secretive than before. Seems giving him privacy has really made him appreciate having it. His soul's not looking all that different beyond that-a bit surprising to me, I'd have pegged the Sambo guy as being one of the top students for Chakra stuff.
Ivan's been... well, Ivan. He's said little, kept mostly to himself, and solidly positioned himself in the sniper's club. His soul's still a harshly observant eye-but it feels... less alien, less suspicious of us now.
Igor's still got a fundamental out-of-place feel to his soul that hasn't been resolved. Hopefully the fellow can straighten that out.
Feodor's looking rather different-far more involved in what goes on and energetic in general-and it shows in his soul, in an increased luster and sheen.
Rostislav is feeling rather smug-I can't quite see why, but it's masking the otherwise minor changes his soul's undergone. I wonder what's got him so happy?
Vlad is... well, Vlad. It's not that his soul hasn't changed-it's just that the change is secondary to the Vlad-ness of his soul. He's still big, loud, fond of explosions and liquor-really, what changes matter in the face of that?
Iosef seems to have lost some self-inspired brilliance-maybe some mental clarity loss, or imagined loss? On the other hand, that crippling fear of the dark doesn't seem nearly so dominating as before-his flame of a soul now less desperate to illuminate everything around it-and more stable for it.
Boris has changed precious little-and is right alongside Igor as the least changed Russian.
Grisha's alertness seems to have transitioned rather well to a wonder at the world of magic now that she gets to participate rather than be an outsider. She's taken to her training with gusto, and keeps chugging along.
Zhenya I'd like to say the same about Zhenya-but like Lev, she's too wrapped up in emotional problems to really have her soul in focus. I guess... her soul's a bit bigger now? That could just be me not being familiar with its exact size.
Nikifor seems to have become a bit lonely recently-not sure why-but in a way it's helping him-he's just dedicated himself to his sleep and his practice-and it's paying off with some solid performance and a better sense of Chakra.
Satai is looking decidedly more cold and analytical-if I had to guess, he's plotting payback to someone, or maybe deciding if payback's necessary. He's got that stewing hate feel about him, even if it's minor. I can't quite pin down who it's directed at-and wonder if that's because it's so faint, or because he might have multiple targets.
Camella is, thankfully, looking about the same as before-no new soul additions or perks.
Hillevi is looking ever more comfortable, that awkward care about her soul melting away more each day. Even if nothing else comes of it, seeing her losing her source of insecurity makes me glad.
Duke's soul is yet again not really visible to me-and when I ask him if I can peek at his soul quirks, he just laughs at me, and welcomes me to try. Seems his soul being fuck-hard to perceive, Soul Sense Orientation or no, is a passive thing for him. He also notes himself to be atrocious at self-description, and laughs, hoping I'll be able to see his soul soon so he can actually explain things.

After my more-than-cursory inspection of everyone's souls and how they're doing at the moment, I take a look at the time-WOW, already 9:30AM? Day's flying by.

I call Gianni to invite him over, and get him slotted to arrive between eleven and noon. While waiting for him, I decide to do some prep-that being, seeing if we can actually get something out of the now more aware Fleshcrafting oriented cannibal god. I lay out for SB, who by now agrees with me that he's got the better relation with her having been her translator for subjective seasons worth of discussion, and is confident he can get her to play adviser to Gianni as he re-tweaks the Poison Glands and subsequently installs them in both of us.

I do three things while waiting for Gianni to arrive:
1-I try convincing my brother Sake to go along with the Whaitiri idea-but even using my best spiels and having some dialogue I tailored to him-he's not biting. I get the feeling he won't even listen to the concept of being bound to a god through his connection to me-but he does seem, surprisingly, a bit less immeidately rejecting of the 'sugardaddy' idea, since it'd place me, ultimately, in a superior position to Whaitiri-and SHOULD, according to him, protect him from getting bound again. He doesn't seem too sure on that-so I gather it's something I'd have to enforce, rather than just assume it'd happen if we went the sugar daddy route. Something to think on.
2-I blow my somewhat respectable energy stockpile on yet more Chakra practice-continuing to try dual orientation with Reinforcement and Soul Sensing. Since I'm 'succeeding', at least for a brief moment, more often than once in a blue moon, I now try to immediately lower my chakra charge level in each orientation and squeeze in some dual orientation undercharging training. Now, admittedly-Over the course of all the practice I put in now I don't once get a dual orientation undercharge going-the whole multipart process that needs to be done so precisely and swiftly is still very much out of my reach-but I am, at least, perceivably undercharging, or at least beginning to undercharge, once Orientation each time. If nothing else, this should be great practice for normal Undercharging. As to the Dual Orientation... I'm achieving a half-second run-time about half the time now: Still not enough I'd call it applicable in battle, but it's inching ever-closer to being something I can practically use.
3-Snag Hillevi again, to have a talk with her about teaching Satai. Not only do I toot her horn about being a thus far decent teacher-I propose a wager. She's skeptical at first-proof my prior lessons are sinking in-but when I explain it's a contest to see who's student can learn the most, I catch that glint of interest in her eye, and after a quarter hour have talked her into it. So, seems that End of February we'll be looking at a match-up between Satai and Lyubov. Funnily, the moment the agreements' made, Hummingbird gets into a bit of a spat with Sake about who gets to teach Lyubov next, both seeming rather certain it's their turn next while SB simply chuckles in the background.

I'm doing one more run of dual-orientation, just having picked up enough juice for another go, when there's a knock on the door-Gianni's here. I let him in, we exchange some brief lecherous pleasantries (I'll be damned if I let him win the verbal gay chicken match! {And I must stress it's just verbal, I did in fact learn my lesson from Duke}) With our greeting ritual completed, the banter takes a side-seat to the actual work, as Gianni, not even commenting on my bone-dry energy state, throws a few questions my way the moment he sees the beast again. 'How many Red Caps worked on it?' 'Was it a communal effort or did each work on it individually?' 'Did they just manipulate it or impart some of their own blood to the system?' The last question catches me a bit off guard, and Gianni clarifies he doesn't detect any blood from a Powrie-but that doesn't mean it's not there, and he figured he'd ask. Given my reaction, he's pretty sure nothing's there, since whatever else can be said about Dunter, they are exceedingly polite while houseguests, arguably as much if not moreso than goblins or lesser fae. After a full hour of investigation, his hands tracing delicate arcs over the creature's flesh as if shadowing the paths Ricky and Lucy dragged their fingers through, before pronouncing the addition largely integrated with the existing system-but says it still needs some tweaking. He spends half an hour fiddling with the circulatory system and getting it to hook up more ably with the existing hybridized heart setup, which itself is subjected to a bit more change. After he homogenizes the three disparate hearts merged into the beast's torso more firmly into a single gestalt magi-gland, he finally pronounces the system fully compliant with what's there. As around this time is when SB gets back to me, saying Whaitiri is indeed ready to go on providing advice, input and direction on the poison gland install, I tell Gianni that a Shadow I know and have reason to trust has secured a flesh-crafting god's input on the poison glands, and wonder if he wants to give their installation a go. After a few questions to get a rough sense of the scale of the god involved-and indeed, seeming happy to see she's not a prominent one, he acquiesces, and shortly both of us are sitting before two piles of doony poison glands.

And here is where things get a bit surreal. SB tells me that Gianni's now talking through him to Whaitiri-but so far as I see, he's just looking a bit disracted while he absorbs his set of glands into his body over the course of an hour. At the end... he doesn't look, physically or spiritually, any different from before-but when he holds out a hand and secretes a familiar substance first from just a finger tip and then from his palm, I feel... confident the experiment was a success. When I see him even tasting the poison he secretes I initially get worried-but more than ten minutes pass without any ill effect, and I assume them to have been integrated successfully. It's at this point Gianni turns to me and thanks me for finding someone that could advice on how to render the user completely immune to the poison-as that secret was not hidden within the glands themselves. Gianni installs mine next-and the feeling of fleshy, oft-pulsating sacks sinking into my skin and settling, among other places, in my neck, my chest and my gut, is not as disconcerting as I anticipated. The glands slowly append themselves to my pores to be fully secretable from any place I might sweat-and after a brief attempt to ply the ability I find I can define any set of pores as a secretion point for the poison. The only problem, for now, is that I... don't define those areas precisely at all. I try to do just my fingertip-and it's my whole finger. I try to do my whole hand-and it's only half of my hand. Gianni notes this, and comments he'll probably have to focus on Epithelial tissue manipulation with me in our next lesson if I don't want to accidentally kill someone, and that as such he suggests I not dick about with secreting the poison until I've got those lessons under my belt. I tell him I'll take it under advisement-as currently, my only PERSONALLY usable no-magic trick is, well, the poison. Hopefully I won't need to use my 'DO NOT TOUCH' button until I learn how to really use it.

Gianni applies what he picked up from Whaitiri's comments and critiques to the Beast's body, grumbling that the poison glands still won't function properly without a guiding psyche to drive them-but does note he's further compartmentalized them to allow more precise control. That done-I invite Duke into the room. I am spared having to see the two of them play any derivative of gay chicken, as both seem to recognize just how deep the game would get with such foes as one another-and instead leap straight into my explanation. Duke's okay with donating some rather nice tissue samples, so long as Gianni, like me, will swear to only use it for integrating it into the golem we're working on, and nothing else. Gianni doesn't quite see the point to it... until Duke pokes him in the forehead, badgering him to stop wasting time. The moment there's direct physical contact, Gianni's eyes widen, and he's abruptly all on board with making the promise. Shortly enough Duke's cut out samples of all the different bits of his digestive system and tossed them our way-and plopped himself down with a quintet of kegs, each filled with everclear, to 'sip away' at while he watches the show. And show it is-Duke's admittedly small samples seem to fight the body to be integrated, and hours fly by just waiting for Gianni to circumvent enough of the rejection issues to get the flesh IN. After three hours of work-he's just got the small intestine sample in, and has moved on to the large intestine. Gianni comments this'll take him all evening-and all night-to pull off. I content myself with staying and continuing to learn by watching from a fleshcrafting expert-

…Well, until I multitask a bit and ask Amen some questions.

>>393849 Not happening. I'm sick as shit and already had to delay and re-format this twice, I'm not doing it again because you wanted to change orders AGAIN. Come on man.

Amen, elaborate on how having forcibly opened chakra as I do would be unhealthy for the Russians.
>[Amen]"Without the requisite ability to either control those now-open chakras or sufficient energy, they would passively drain their bodies of energy until such point their souls collapsed and they died-effectively, an oppositely inclined death by magic scenario to the soul rupture risk."
Amen, elaborate on how come you are personally incapable of generating Belief, to the degree that such information would not in and of itself injure me."
>[Amen]"Within the confines presented to this one, the only answer this one can offer is that this one is not, strictly, a person or otherwise an entity capable of generating belief."
[Laine]"Amen, are you a girl house or a boy house?"
>[Amen]"This one is the house. That is all the answer there is to this question."
Amen, I heard reports that Smets had maids. Who were they, and what happened to them?
>[Amen]"Smets' maids were intruders this one had been given permission to alter as needed to create functioning servants. When this one experienced a change of ownership, pre-existing orders dictated that these 'maids' be deconstructed and added to the house organic resources."
Amen, give me a report on Jidkova, a report on Chugainov using what you have learned through Jidkova, and then a report on Adelat.
>[Amen]"Jidkova was presumably left out of the loop almost immediately after this one extracted her blood binding within the Russians, as the blood manipulator was not tasked with binding any further individuals. Related to this, Chugainov immediately distanced himself from her, and as such cannot be concretely reported on. Adelat, interestingly, seems to have taken leave, and is currently investigating the sewers after two molars identical to those of a missing police officer's dental records were reported to her. As such, she has no cellular reception-and has been out of contact in this format for several days. This one cannot comment on whether she ran afoul of the Wyld goblins or their pets without authorization to pursue a deal of that order with the one titled Sometimes Merchant."
…Huh.
Amen, you are to amend the order to communicate changes in the binding pressure on your soul such that the base point on the scale is 1/32nd the strength of the pressure from the order I gave you to ignore Savoy instead of one point.
>[Amen]"This one hears and obeys."
Those few questions done, I get back to fully focusing on the lesson I'm getting to watch-

That is, until about ten PM-when Dávgon arrives at the house. I excuse myself from the ongoing merging process Gianni's laboring over and Duke's spectating to, and go meet my newest employee. I take him on a brief tour of the mansion, show him to the as-of-yet unclaimed rooms so he can settle into one-and, after some small-talk where Dávgon again proves himself not the type to ask unnecessary questions, I have a bit of an idea.
" Most of my employees are out at this local gym I know the owner of, doing some Chakra training and teaching orphan vampires."
>[Dávgon]"Orphan meaning unclaimed by any clan, would that be right?"
"Correct. Mostly pretty shoddy vampires-but some standouts."
>[Dávgon]"It's my understanding most places where 'orphans' gather will get at least a few.... call them 'consultants' get assigned. Not officially part of a clan-but still definitely NOT orphans."
"Yeah, I've noticed a few that could meet those criteria. Anyway, as you could no doubt tell right now magically I'm-"
>[Dávgon]"Running on empty, though the rate of gross energy recovery you're soul's undergoing suggests you either have phenomenal energy generation or a decidedly excessive gross energy capacity."
"Oh? Which one are you betting on?"
>[Dávgon]"The latter-it's more in line with the amount of resources you possess."
"I see. How about why I'm out of juice-any ideas in that direction?"
>[Dávgon]"Probably so you don't overwhelm that Spirit Animal of yours."
"Well, definitely PART of it, yes. So have you always been fluent in English?"
>[Dávgon]"No. Einrik downloaded the information into my mind-it was not entirely pleasant, but no issues arose from it."
"Good for you. Well, shall we head out?"
>[Dávgon]"To that gym? Sure."

On the walk I take my time looking at Davgon's soul-and the souls of his spirit animals.

Dávgon's soul is soft-not in a gentle manner, but like putty-it gives the impression that if you laid it against another soul, in it's deformation it'd acquire a print of the other soul's shape. It is this replicating softness that stands out as the most defining trait of the soul before me, and governs even his soul's weight distribution: rather than having a fixed format to how the weight has 'settled' his soul seems freely able to shift it's density about-leaving some areas rather light on weight while specific points become maddeningly heavy for a soul of his caliber. I'm not too sure I could quantify the ramifications of being such an individual just from a glance-and I don't know that I want to reach out and touch his soul to get a better idea. For now, I'll take my understanding of his soul as being like molding putty to heart-and assess his spirit animals.
-Three spirits are bound to Dávgon, in three ways.
-The first is an Owl bound to his mind, a reserved spirit that is content to watch from within the man's skull. It gives his gaze, at least to those spiritually attuned, a disconcerting doubled effect. The Owl, hidden within his skull, is too close to Dávgon's soul for me to properly read.
-The second is bound to his soul, a finnish gray wolf-specifically, one that feels way, way older than Dávgon-maybe something that was bound to a charm or totem or something for a few generations, and then got soul-bound to him? Any way it happened, the wolf definitely doesn't feel like a pack-leader or anything, so really I have to assume it'll make him a pretty good team player.
-The third and final spirit he's got is also soul-bound, and feels the newest of the lot: A… well, I can't call it anything but a yeti. It stalks alongside him, an ethereal guardian watchful for harm to it's master. I can feel the heightened magical power of the spirit and know it to be stronger than his other two-but cannot determine what class it or the other two are.

My observations done, we both arrive at Ito's gym and I wonder just what kind of fighting I should be looking for in my 'no energy' state.


I could…..





Just fight all the Russians, see how that goes (roll three separate 1d100s [as in different posters] for each versus six bout. DC: 45
Fight some fledgling vampires (roll up to eight 1d100s, with the DC being 55.)
Fight a mix of Fledgling vampires and Russians (roll three separate 1d100s to beat a DC 60)
Fight Ito (roll 1d100, DC 60)
Fight Camella (roll five d100, DCs, in order of rolls: 1:72, 2:68, 3:99, 4:82, 5:69)
Fight Dávgon (roll 1d100, unknown DC)
Or do I have some other plan?

State which plan you are rolling for when rolling. If you have details about how Armas should try to fight, feel free to post them-but they will have limited impact. A few sentences will have equivalent weight to a multi-page dissertation on how to exactly fight, so keep this in mind when scripting 'advice' for how Armas should fight.
Same day/evening, no new minion orders can be issued.
>>
No. 393883 ID: 5382ad

rolled 100 = 100

Fight some fledgling vampires
>>
No. 393888 ID: 602cbb

rolled 84 = 84

Kick some vampire ass brohammus.
>>
No. 393891 ID: cc1982

rolled 52 = 52

gyaketsuote some vamps
>>
No. 393892 ID: 252e1b

rolled 61 = 61

>>393891

That doesn't work against them that well, remember? Use the SotG high stance!
>>
No. 393900 ID: 21a619
File 133210409811.jpg - (122.23KB , 524x680 , Disappoint.jpg )
393900

rolled 57 = 57

Get some practice with Jukenjitsu against the vamps
>>
No. 393901 ID: c8cac1

rolled 89 = 89

Fight the vampires

[primary]
* Engage soul sensing chakra orientation
* Use shoddy step along with an ego-less low stance with a practice rifle.
* The vampires have superspeed, but are still dependent on traction to move. That makes them vulnerable to attacks designed to take their legs out from under them.
* Push them hard enough that they lunge forwards
* Then use the shoddy step to get out of their path and trip them, so they go flying.
[trickster]
* Say that HB will be showing his funky stuff tonight, as your champion.
[direct/hard]
* Enter a shadowed aread.
* Have SB improve your mobility
[escape]
* In the very unlikely attempt the vamp goes mad in a way you can't defeat, have SV do the same as the above option, and pull you out of the way into the dark street.
* Lure the vampire to follow you back to the mansion.
* It's then an intruder...
>>
No. 393906 ID: 6616f3

rolled 38 = 38

>>393900
Why not practice against Ito, since we're getting back to Jukenjitsu basics? It's been too long, the old man is probably lonely.

If Hummingbird is up for it, I'd like to try what would happen at least once if the Bird combined his inertia-less thing with our forward thrust. We can rationalize it as Davgon getting a better feel for how we work together, or some such. Naming it 'Ougi: Hummingbird Thrust!'(and potentially announcing it at the top of our lungs, then having Sake say something like "The Hummingbird Thrust? This is a fearsome attack which has kept Chinese emperors in check for 1000 years" or "This technique which produces a single, ungodly-swift thrust goes back to the Edo period-" or something) is a possibility.

If we 'accidentally' damage Ito during the Hummingbird thrust, we could get the man some Sake rubbings, too. He probably won't thank us, though.
>>
No. 393907 ID: 7472ad

rolled 35 = 35

Davgon. Finally, a post I have time to make. We're low on energy and he's got three spirit animals, so the priority is probably learning over winning. Still, he's seen us use Kas-Pin so stick to high-stance, he understands spirit animals, so wait to use HB so his awesomeness is more surprising, and that leaves SB helping out as our bread and butter magical support.
>>
No. 393908 ID: 619ee6

>>393906
Let's weasel rub Ito, BUT ASK HIS PERMISSION FIRST. We are trying to troll Davgon and Einrik, right? Let's continue to look professional, kind and a gentleman. Also, polite.
>>
No. 393911 ID: 6616f3
File 133210617289.jpg - (258.77KB , 1700x2318 , YoungIto2.jpg )
393911

Oh, and according to IRC Sake's ramidreju magic will actually bring Ito a couple of decades closer to his prime? In which case I finally get to use this Young!Ito art.

Been hanging onto this thing for a couple of months.
>>
No. 393961 ID: 421737

rolled 85 = 85

>>393906
After Ito gets the rubbing, we ask for another. No silly stuff, all jukenjuitsu again.
>>
No. 393964 ID: d97a61

[Rolls locked, writing evening of fights up]
>>
No. 393979 ID: d97a61

All sorts of options before me… couple ways to handle them, but before I really make my choices here, might as well eyeball what's around. I eye that hopeful I'd spotted before-the kid without tattoes amongst the vampire numbers, the one with ambition and fire to his soul. I'm pleased to see his drive, that passion to excel at what he does has not flagged-but also note that currently he's nursing a bad case of 'arm got ripped the fuck off'. Doesn't seem particularly troubled by it-on the surface. In his soul, I can see the rampant fear this has inspired-not at the injury, or the event that caused it, but at the notion of considering the loss of a limb as a minor thing. Seems the change from what he knew of as himself is screwing with his head-but he's keeping it in and trying to deal with it himself. Well, he's still here to learn-so, let's give him that chance. …And that one with the neck tattoo too.


>>393883 [100/55]
And really, that's all they have-a chance. It's a bit odd, but despite my current lack of power, my inability to set up an Orientation due to me running on fumes, my weakened spiritual perception, my lack of Dunter Footwork's magical aspect-there's plenty of reasons I should fail against a duo of vampires with nothing but a stick.

All of of them amount to squat as I trounce the three of them, continually using the leading member of the trio as a screen to keep his fellows as uninformed about my position and actions as possible. One could be self-depreciating and focus on how they clearly don't work well together, and by forcing them to have to work around one another I lower each one's ability to effectively fight. One could be observant and focus on how both seemed to have a notably harder time keeping track of me and in general reading me than they did in their earlier bouts with me. One could be reflective and think about how I've worked the mundane aspects of Dunter Footwork into my Goblinic Stealth and am a bit more nimble than I should be. The point remains though, that despite being incredibly outclassed in power, speed and stamina-I clearly dominate the match. Well-not CLEARLY. That one-armed lad manages to get in a few blows he timed around the clearly uncoordinated cohorts he's got, but they're too slow and too few to really drag me down to their level of performance.

After the match is called, with the fully limbed vampire looking confused and a bit angry at his performance, I grab my moment to speak with the one-armed vampire when we bow.
[In Turkish]"You're fairly impressive- got a drive and spark that would be very handy in my business."
His head snaps up at my comment as I keep going.
"I'm not sure what you're filling your nights with aside from this, but my company has an opening for solid talent- and I suspect that we've got more to offer you than the vast majority of other places. Stay the day with us, and I think you'll see what I mean.
>[Gimpy Vamp][In Turkish]"…Stay the DAY? Is that supposed to be a joke?"
"I can assure you it's not: Come visit some night and I'll prove it."

>>393888 [84/55]
Next round I do, I'm up against just the old lady vampire. I may have a high opinion of myself-but she kicked my ass around last time, so no need to try and take her on with help just yet. The same thing I noticed with the first batch of vamps crops up here-she seems less able to read and react to me than before. It's not a huge difference, but It doesn't have to be. With it in the way and slowing her down, I manage to keep her from sending my ass to the mat for the whole bout-and while I don't really knock her down or beat her, I completely hold my ground against a much faster and damnably agile foe by properly plying reach and footwork. I take note of the fact that while Ito and Camella look on impassively to this, Dávgon looks impressed-as does the one-armed vamp. Yeah, I think this is helping my case a bit here.

>>393900 [57/55]
I feel a bit like I'm on the edge of losing victory the whole fight, but I manage to face two newer fledgling vampires, one what looks like an office lady and the other a decidedly portly individual that is actually slower than me. I try to use just Juken-Jitsu on them, the weakest of the three staff/spear/bayonet arts I know, and just… don't control the flow of the match. I hit them more than they collectively hit me, and I maintained superiour positioning through the fight-but my actual attacks weren't really… good enough to stand up to muster on their own. Seems it's still really something I need to improve if I really want to hit a groove while using it.

>>393891 [52/55]
There's a bit of a hiccup when I switch to unarmed combat and go against a middle aged vampire that clearly used to do some form of grappling-my money's on judo or something based off it-I try plying Gyaketsuote against the vampire before me but have a rocky start, between my lack of recent use of the trick…. and me forgetting it's got problems when used against Vampires. I'm a bit peeved I did worse than my last match against a better foe-hell, worse than all my prior bouts tonight-
>>393892 [61/55]
But it's okay, I bounce back. The next match I call for a rematch with the same guy and manage to lock down all his grapple attempts and trip his ass on the ground more than once. I manage to properly ply Hafaz' trick to let me control the matches pacing, and really make up for my shoddy initial showing in unarmed.
>>393901 [89/55]
In my third unarmed fight I decide to face a vampire armed with a practice rifle, to spice things up. With me back in the swing of things with gyaketsuote, I expand back up to my current style, adding the mundane portions of Dunter Footwork to my moves and stick with Kas Pin's manifold low-slung attacks on footing. It doesn't matter how fast they are if they can't get traction to move right. After tossing my foe on his back five times, I finally see a proper chance and wrest the rifle from his grasp. From there… well, the guy's not a slouch at fighting but he's still mostly a newcomer, and gets stomped. …Really, the simularities between how I'm performing now and how Camella has… all the time… are a bit unnerving. When I find a chance to sweep my eyes past her nook on the wall, I can tell she's picked up on it too.

But is it really all just increased proficiency? Have my training bouts with the russians, those group missions helped THAT much?
>"The lack of attention you cited… I wonder if they sense the magic in a living being's blood?"
Vampires? Yeah… that'd fit. With my drained state, I'm less visible to their not-so-normal senses, and I've been getting real familiar with this drained state for the last while. …Huh.

>>393906 [38/60]
In that strange place of being tired, but having built up a bit of magic power again so feeling perkier than normal, that conflicted, torn state I find myself deciding to challenge Ito himself to a spar. Same as last time we duked it out: staffs, Jukenjitsu only-final destination.

Well, he kicks my ass.

I'd like to say it's because I'm tired-or because I don't have enough juice to properly ply a Chakra orientation-but that's not it. I'd been 'cramming' before with Jukenjitsu, never really the best long-term learning method, and then largely stopped using it's specific tricks. By the end of our bout, I'd say I might claim to be where I WAS-but it's a bit of an eye-opener, and really makes me wonder what other mundane tricks and knacks I've been neglecting.

>>393907 [35/??]
After that, panting, scuffed up and bruised, I ask Dávgon for a bout. He seems a bit reluctant-especially when I encourage him to give me a hard time, but does not vocalize any objections and capitulates in the end. He gives me just what I wanted: non-lethal unrestricted use of his Spirit Animals to wreck my day. And that's what he does-between the Owl seeming to really help him pick and choose when and where he chooses to strike, the wolf making his strikes to the legs vicious as hell (unsurprisingly, reminiscent of a wolf going to hamstring something) and evidencing superhuman durability and ablation that I'm certain Camella's had to deal with when facing me-I hit him as hard as I can and sometimes it doesn't even make him blink. He utterly destroys me-but I get a GREAT chance to see firsthand just how the spiritual flow of orders being issued to and enacted by spirit animals works-and feel like this little lesson will really help me be more aware of what's on the horizon when fighting shamans.

As an added bonus, HB seems a bit… upset I got trounced so hard, and seems fully on board with assisting me in a rematch. I might be able to swing that into him thinking it's a matter of course to do everything he can to help me when against other Spirit Animal users-and from there it's not that far to having him willingly using every trick he can leverage whenever I need them.

>>393908
>>393911
>>393961 Fanart Bonus
As I'm catching my breath (an odd thing for me in recent days to have to do) I decide to broach a topic that necessitated Sake coming along tonight: Ito getting some sweet, sweet rubbings. At first he's rather skeptical of the idea-but as several Russians join Hillevi in wholeheartedly endorsing the rub's effects coupled with my insidious words, we wear the old man's hesitation down and he lets Sake do his thing. What happens is a biiit surprising.

Ito's joints pop as his back loses it's hint of a hunch and his shoulders expand back out a few breaths, his wispy, receding hairline darkening and pushing forward. I see spotted, droopy skin tightening and thickening with vitality-I see harshly exposed veins fade back under layers. In all, no one change is TRULY massive-but collectively, Ito went from looking like an early seventies (really, excellent for being 80+) to… looking mid-fifties. His face has creases-but not wrinkles. His neck's bereft of wattle, and I can see him happily running hands through the mane of hair covering his head, even as he frowns at the full-face beard he's found himself with. …Hair regrowth as part of the healing huh? I'll make a mental note of that.

So it is that, after Ito's had half an hour to himself, stretching and getting re-acquainted with a less creaky body while I get myself on my second wind-I propose another match between us. Before, Ito might have been hesitant, unsure what I could gain from such an event: Now he doesn't even hesitate, shoving me out onto the mat in his eagerness. I'm not the only one to note the change in behavior-in fact, that seems to draw more attention than the change in appearance-he was THAT rock-steady in disposition that it's the go-to topic, not the apparent de-aging.

Once more, I face him with just Juken-jitsu as my weapon.

Of course, that doesn't mean I can't use my Goblinic Footwork. …or my mundane Dunter Footwork. Or Gyaketsuote. All of those are tricks I can ply without active magic to manipulate-guess they just need a body or a soul to work-so I see no reason to eschew them.

The fight… is eye opening.

-Ito's got me vastly outgunned on sheer exuberance-even with me as invested in this as I get in spars, he's still putting in more effort, riding that high of his body being freed of all those burdens. He hits harder, moves more forcefully, and commits even moreso to his actions. In fact, I don’t think he does even ONE 'correction' or use any feints-everything is brute, direct and viciously sharp.
-Ito's more efficient in how he moves than me. Now that he's got vigor to back it, I can see some real similarities to Camella's more efficient theme-and no that even if he isn't outright faster than me on paper, in practice he sure as shit is.
-On the other end of things-doesn't matter how world-weary, how well travelled, how seasoned Ito is-I'm more perceptive. I can pick up on his tells, physical and spiritual, faster and more ably than he can mine-and that means I get to react to him sooner than he gets to react to me-a HUGE advantage for me, especially since he puts me on the reactive side of things so often with his aggressive style.
-I'm still more flexible than him despite being bigger than him-and it means a lot compensating for his superior flat skill with a bayonet.

I shore up poor comparative weapon handling with 'reading' his moves earlier, with full-body sways and nimble footwork. I render his guard less absolute by plying Gyaketsuote's deception. Above all-I use the 'groove' I've been getting in, fighting without the aid of 'real' magic as hard as I can-and I manage to come out on top, being the first to knock my foe to the ground. For his part, Ito couldn't be happier-but I wonder how much is pride in an improving student, and how much is exultation at his restored form. Eh, I won't knock it.

I head back to the mansion with everyone else, giving Dávgon a round of individual introductions to the russians and Camella alike. He's easy enough with his understanding of english, and seems to be tentatively being friendly with them…. good.

I don't quite realize how beat I am until we get back and INSTEAD of doing a couple things I'd considered-I promptly pass out.

TUESDAY,FEBRUARY 1st, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $705,275.04
BUSINESS FUNDS: $626,347.00
CASH: $9,170.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 95%
WINTER ENERGY: 21/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 17/50

I wake up… feeling not too shabby. I think I'm getting 'used' to not waking up chock full of magic. Okay….









So what's the plan for today?
>>
No. 393983 ID: 3947e9

Armas should volunteer at a maternity ward for a day. As well as consult davgon on the formation of soul in humans and kami.
Does a soul get formed at conception, sometimes during fetal development (heart complete? brain complete?), at birth?, some years after birth (development of sapience/experiences?)

I believe that we could wrangle a resurrection technique here. We can use to restore sake's original body (His DNA acquired from his bones; acquiring a living kamaitachi tissue sample to genetically modify to match his DNA via existing mundane techniques) and any ally that dies by using mundane technological cloning (which we could find and hire someone in under a week to do for us, of-course it would take months to years to actually perform the process) and then having the intended soul posses the new soulless body just before it forms a new soul... OR fully merge with a newly formed soul as soon as it forms (its blank so it would not affect the resulting gestalt being). Biggest risk is, in my opinion, that the clone will have no magic and potential illegalities (for example, if we must merge with a newly formed soul instead of possessing a soulless body).
We could use magic tools to perform mundane technological things (kinda like how redcaps have mundane speed acquired via magic muscles). If instead of a microscope and micro needle you use magic to move physical objects in that size...
Note that for cloning sake's body for him to be reborn into we would use a mundane female weasel we buy/steal from the zoo not his currently occupied body.

As for the ramijadu, I believe I have a good spin on what happened to actually recruit her as an ally rather then an enemy or hateful slave.
We originally sought to acquire her healing services (we COULD have paid for it so suggest that; even if we weren't planning to), when we came dragons were after her hoard and her body. We found her hiding spot and figured the dragons would find her too if we don't relocate her. But she was hibernating and we could not wake her. So we moved her sake possessed her temporarily to protect and relocate her hibernating body. This spiel hinges on not doing untowed things with her body, like budding off a body and shoving her into it while sake keeps the original. (although, rather then pushing her into a budded body perhaps might be better to sedate her, sake vecates body, then do budding of male body, then sake takes that one over and she keeps original; but that is only plan B if cloning doesn't work)
And we could always perform some memory mods on her via soul sculpting first to improve chances with her.

>Silja
>Sure, she hasn't yet said 'use me to shoot whatever you want, use me as you see fit' but hey-it's another step in that direction.
I think we need to abandon the notion of convincing silja to become our willing gun of fire at will and redirect into her becoming a close ally and companion who is fighting independantly...
Because as she grows she will transform from a gun to a humanoid shape (if done right). Even if she could transform back and forth at will she better fight independantly. Armas himself would have maxed out his 2 artifact limit via Iron Trick and Mateba.

>Japanese wizard ban on kami trading
Now, if I am not mistaken she comes from a family that trades in magic foxes (kitsune?).
So is this an ethical limitation or a non competitive one? If the latter then we should be able to buy a license to hunt from her family.
If former then did she ever forbid one kami from hunting another? If that is the case then some must have already done so without harm (something to ask). We could then have the goblins provide sake with tools (a trap / sedative), location, and direction (magic compass of location) so that he could hunt one himself. And heck, throw in transport to and fro japan as well.
>>
No. 394041 ID: 7472ad

"Orders" for Dmitrii. Bob said to keep them short, but because of my own issues and not getting a chance to post very often he okay-ed me loading up on them.

*Dmitrii, having spent the last few days thinking about it, decides there's nothing he can do for his family. With several uncles, cousins, a mother and two brothers in the army, there isn't really anything that can be done. Resigns himself to saying a prayer every night for family, two for his younger brother, despite not being religious.

*Having come to terms with the family issue, he refocuses on Chakra. What's that shit they say in martial arts movies? Know yourself or some non-sense? He knows himself. He's a helper. Support. A damn minion. When his dad lost his leg in the accident, he dropped out and got a second job to help feed his brothers and sisters. Once most of them were old enough to support themselves he joined the military to support his country. When his little brother joined the military after him, he stopped going for promotions and instead helped little Alexei build connections so he could go farther then Dmitrii ever would. So he's going to focus on how his ability with Chakra will help him support the company, his superiors, and his comrades.

*Once he gets his small bit of free-time, instead of taking a nap today, he'll ask Duke if he wants to go get magic drugs. Which of course he does. Heads off with Duke to the address of "Doctor 'So-Great' Ace"'s flunkie, and hopefully to see the Doc himself given how much Duke will probably want. He'll be sure to have let Duke know before hand that he's only covering Duke's first 2500$ worth of drugs. Dmitrii abstains himself, seeing this as as an opportunity to get in Duke's good graces and scope out the market for magic drugs here in Istanbul.

*At some point he asks Boss if there's anyone that provides professional instant learning, similar to how Amen taught them languages. But you know, not him. If given an answer, inform other Russians. No need to hold out.

*Dmitrii then goes back to following Officer's+Satai's orders until' I have time/energy to post again.

Armas orders.

Don't be a twat today.
>>
No. 394119 ID: 3af16b

ARMAS ORDERS

~Go read that clipping service Satai signed up for. Get caught up on the local news. Laugh like hell at that idiot that challenged Owner.
~Blackbeard’s still stirring up shit? Might be time to team up with Armin and just finish him off. Timing’s kinda poor for your entire company, but the bounty would be great.
~The payrate for the Ironhead mission is equivalent to as if the company got hired at $216,000. Would you have hired the company out as "support with little to no fighting expected, for a mission involving stealing from the police" for that? You probably would have demanded more, and bonuses for the riskiest positions, and extra money in lieu of a cut of the goods. And easy job or not, you agreed to pay them a flat rate of 25%.
~So, adjust the pay for that job. You can afford a second payment of $5,000 total for everyone and to issue $4,000 bonuses to the men and women who drove. That'll make it a $8,000 job for everyone, and $12,000 for those eight. Total cost: $122,000. Total benefit: You're square with your men, and they can't complain. If they ask why payments were in two chunks just say "I wanted to make sure you got some money right away, so I set that first payment up even though I wasn't sure about what the total on that mission was going to be. Soon as I knew, I paid out the difference and bonuses."
~You need to pay Matvey his officer bonuses as well. $15,000 to him should cover both missions ($5,000 for Dooney, $10,000 for the Ironhead job). That officer pay doesn’t just represent work done for missions, it’s to compensate them for all the work they do keeping tabs on the others. As long as they’re on board with you about their duties, there shouldn’t be a problem.
~You need to figure out what you owe Camella. Call her and ask how much you owe her for the extra teaching work. She's not going to screw you over. She’s your friend. Ballpark estimate: $5,000 for the teaching services, $10,000 in bonuses as officer pay (would have been $15,000 but you were rightly displeased with her performance, thus the bonus forfeiture for the Dooney job).
~Total for both officers: $30,000
~Ask Camella if there was a date we needed to get that five million to the Triad for her leg, as you'd rather not there be an outstanding debt to them. In fact at this point you're willing to consider selling off some of your more liquid assets to get the funds and get squared up with them as soon as possible, so that you can pursue Blackbeard without any fear of Triad interference. And make it very clear in a polite manner that the money has nothing to do with her status as an employee, she’s your friend and that means you’d have helped her anyway.
~Ask her if she knows why Go Ping apologized to you. Dude was acting guilty as shit about something and there’s probably more to it than him just feeling bad that you were treating him like a friend.
~Bring Matvey in for the next part here, and show them both the clipping service notes on the Blackbeard-Armin fights, and ask their opinions about making an attempt on collecting that BB Bounty, and maybe checking out some information on a certain set of coordinates in the Caspian Sea while we’re in the neighborhood.
~Tell Matvey to assign one of the Russians to perform preliminary research on the coordinates. Write them down for him and pass it to him.
~As soon as Matvey is gone, ask Camella how her dinner with Owner went.
~Ask if there’s anything else she wants to talk about. Anything at all. You’re all ears for her. If that doesn’t get her to crack and tell you what’s wrong, keep on being polite. Let her get back to her duties.
~Issue that spare satellite cell phone to Dàvgon, for company business.
~Negotiate his rates with him, and arrange a lesson schedule with him.
~Make sure he’s dressed appropriately for the city, the man was a nomad in a magic tribe before he ended up with you. Have Amen set him up with clothes just like you did for the Russians: 3 normal outfits, a formal outfit, and an armored outfit. And ask one of the fashion-conscious Russians to give him a hand: whoever still isn’t running around in only the clothes you gave them (see that was a test too, you wanted to know who had the initiative to make sure they had a wardrobe, yep, totally not you forgetting that you could have clothes made for them).
~Vlad said he had training in how to drive an APC back when you first met him. How he’ll fit inside the tank is anyone’s guess, but have him work with Lyubov, he might spot things she’ll miss.
~Lyubov worked as an army mechanic before she was put on the suicide squad. Assign her the task of examining the tank once we get it. We need to know what replacement parts we’ll need to stock, what tools we’ll need for working on it, and what issues it has that haven’t been worked out (it is a prototype after all).
~Go stare at Zhenya again, the stink-eye she gave you when you were scoping out the Russians’ souls was hilarious.
~Lyubov asked you to help her with her near-death experience today. Hillevi is capable on her own, but this could be the first time she’s done it. And while Lyubov is Sake’s friend, she still asked you to be present. And this after your ‘perverted antics’ with her, as Shadowbro put it. Don’t fail that trust she’s placed in you. And do keep an eye on your ward when she tries her hand at a common technique in the magic community. Ask Dàvgon to come and make a lesson of it for you as well, there’s got to be stuff to be learned by observing a near-death experience.
~Look into getting some new local merchant contacts. It’s not good to rely on the same set of contacts all the time, you need to diversify. There is that magic bar that Sake showed you, start there.
~You need to arrange for Duke to have a reason to End Endman. Didn’t Endman hang out in a casino? Doesn’t Duke like a good time? Maybe a gambling trip is something you could do tomorrow.
~Invite Shadowbro and Sake to go out tomorrow morning and troll the populace again. It’s good fun.
~While you’re talking to your brothers, broach the idea of “cloning Sake’s original male body” from DNA samples in the bones in the Valkonen boneyard, finding Sake’s mother or another female kamaitachi who would be willing to be a surrogate mother for the cloned pup, and then performing a soul-transfer into a body that is genetically the same and gestated in a similar environment. This would let Sake be himself. Since it seems to be an issue, apparently, that the two brothers have been bickering about.
~Another option would be to get the expertise to perform the “bud off a cloned ramidreju body and make it male” plan. Either plan will take some time, unfortunately. But, hey, Sake would have his pocket weasel again!
~That’s a pretty full day for a guy low on magic energy. And you ARE going to be that guy, because there’s still more you can learn from this. Keep yourself drained, practice dual orientation throughout the day.
~Take a brief nap in the evening, so that you have just enough of a reserve to try using Hybrid Healing while you’re low on power. Try to have enough energy to set up a Soul Sensing orientation too, so that you can watch what you’re doing while you’re healing.
~But to use Hybrid Healing, you have to be hurt. So that means it’s time for another Torture Session tonight! Use the soundproofed room, because this time we’re doing the Smoked Sausage plan. You’re going to be making a lot of noise.
~Either do this yourself, or have Amen build what you need: Get an electric blanket. Take the safeties off of the heating elements so that they get hot enough to cook. Put an appropriate vapor barrier on the elements, one that can hold up to the heat. Snake the elements inside your intestines (either like a colonoscopy or by cutting the intestines open and laying it inside them, then stitching/healing them closed). Turn that sucker on. Induce cramps like in a case of irritable bowel syndrome so that your guts are squeezing on this heating element. Endure it as long as you can.
~Maybe combine this with more boiling water/oil training.
~Solicit Amen’s ideas about pain training techniques. He’s an expert at torturing, after all.
>>
No. 394123 ID: dfc57c

>>394113
SUST on any self-torture sessions until Armas has a solid understanding how low energy influences healing.
<experiment>
I understand Armas needs something to heal to acquire that understanding, but he should go slow. Start with paper cuts and heal them. Then Armas should slowly make the cuts deeper and always keep an eye on how fast they heal and how much energy it takes.
Observing how the technique restores Armas's flesh during a low energy state might also give some hints for flesh crafting.
</experiment>

>paying Camella for teaching
Teaching the Russians is part of her job as officer. That is not only Armas take, it's Camella's as well given how Armas got her to start teaching them. It also objectively her duty. Camella is the executive officer, keeping the crew in shape and able to do their jobs is her job.
>>
No. 394181 ID: 7f6367

Gloom:
* Continue preparing his mirror setup.
* Try to integrate the footwork he's learned with his normal combat style.
* Based on Lyubov 's comments, ask Armas what his soul looks like.
* Ponder that medical science makes being technically dead and coming back to life quiet a standard procedure, given how heart surgery works. Go on the internet to investigate how that works. After discovering it involves hypothermia, talk to other Russians about making a joint presentation to Hillevi and Sake on the subject.
* Ask Ito for advice on Armas' footwork deceptive style.
* Consider what Camella said about "another path". Apologise if it's rude to ask, but can she give any hints about what what the first steps are, and if they're mutually exclusive.

Armas:
* Introduce Dávgon to SB and HB, if not done already.
* Talk to the children again, and show them HB. After that, get them to bring over BC so that we can set a time for a conference by mentioning it's potentially for his benefit. Also invite Dávgon and Gianni. Then, ask about the potential of bodybinding HB. We know he inherits our soul manipulation from our spirit bond, so if we can get him some basic ability in the subject he may inherit our fleshcrafting. We should also pull SB and Sake into the conversation, and ask if anyone can think of a way to get those basic skills (idea here: >>/questdis/360216), and how to bind him like that without harming his body. We should discuss with HB first, and mention this is a way that he can steal himself some more magic.
* Show Dávgon the flesh golem, bring in Gianni as one of its crafters, summon Woosencraft in another room and offer him the chance to get discount access to the possession vessel we're building in return for helping with the control mechanisms (in confidence, promising not to use the knowledge against us, and to help us to the best of his ability), and ask SB if it's worth asking Whaitiri if she wants to get involved on the off chance it would allow her to temporarily possess the golem when she wants a physical body. Then, start a round table discussion about how to make it possible to possess and control the golem in the optimal way that makes SB or our permission an essential part of the process, so whilst we can lend it out it, it can't be stolen.
* Consider how to exploit the mobility that SB can grant you. As he becomes able to exert more force on the material world, it will get to the point where he'll tear you apart by only pulling on your exposed surfaces, as the force will be unevenly distributed. You should ask him whether it would help to vastly increase the area of your internal shadows by fleshcrafting countless very thin cavities around your bones and muscles, with massive surface area but small volume. This will also mean that your insides (and under your clothes), and always full of deep shadows, even when you're in an illuminated area.This would have the side benefit that it make you look less gaunt. Later on, perhaps these can be filled with some transparent armour, such as thin plates of ice SB froze from our blood plasma. If he gives the go ahead, talk to Gianni about making the cavities, but don't even hint that it's for the shadows, let him think that it might be for poison storage so it doesn't have to be produced on the fly.
* Practice with the AVT-40. Whilst doing this, experiment using Overcharged Reinforcement to help absorb and compensate for recoil.
* Practice dual orientation continually, even when you're doing something else.
* Ask Camella if after her leg replacement she was left with any way to contact the wizard. He may be very interested in getting his hands on the Donnegeas' brain to plumb for memories of its master, as it's the wizard's enemy. We could offer this in return for having the Doonegeas' memories of Summer Flesh magic, or anything else we can use, given to SB. SB can then tell it to Whaitiri if she's interested, and implant the bits we can apply into us. As the Doonegeas was powered by Divine energy, it might also fill in some of the gaps in what he's learned from Whaitiri.
* Ask SB's advice on feeding Whaitiri energy to power her granting boons (possibly upgrading the mere, upgrading our summer line to beroyal, that kind of thing). He has the shadowmere, will he have any opportunities to use it on anything potent enough to interest her?
* Explain Silja's predicament to Camella and ask if she's willing to donate blood/body parts to her, considering that Camella's charm means she can do so at minimal cost to her. If we can talk her into it, it might help Silja to have willingly donated components. In addition, having Camella help her regain her body will reinforce her emotional connection and grounding to the company, and may possible allow Silja to inherit some of Camella's perfect command and understanding of her own body, which may come in handy with the new body she' growing.

>>393983
>Maternity ward
Upvote putting this on medium term list
>Silja
SUST changing tactics at this point. Also, I think Silja's so valuable as a rifle because she's becoming a creature who wears that shape, so won't count against the artifact limit.

>>394041
>Don't be a twat today
Upvote

>>394119
Upvote paying people.
SUST smoked sausage plan and other pain training.
>>
No. 394193 ID: 3af16b

LYUBOV ORDERS

*L~Lyubov will wake up, get dressed, and pick through some of the new stuff she ordered, making a point of trying out an EMS belt set to something that’s high enough to cause a mildly painful distraction. She will declare, mostly to herself, that it sucks, and then leave it on.
*L~She will have her morning jog, breakfast (and horrible caffeinated drink), and bother Armas, reminding him to come to her near-death experience. If he tells her he wants to have Dávgon also observe, she’ll agree.
*L~She will go to her room and prepare to attend Camella’s lessons, going for broke today with the EMS belt, the lube under her clothes, and her iPod.
*L~Lyubov will ask Armas for a training session tomorrow. She will also speak to him in Japanese, and if he doesn’t understand her switch to Russian.
*L~Lyubov, still in her workout outfit, will collect Dávgon and Armas and go to her death at Hillevi’s hands. Afterwards she’ll thank Hillevi, and go to the kitchen to get a warm drink. Even if she’s not actually cold anymore, the memory persists.
*L~Lyubov will help Zhenya with her own self-training, mainly by providing hand holding and emotional support. And a second set of hands with a fire extinguisher nearby.
*L~Lyubov will shower and change before night lessons, and will put Armas’ earlier advice about avoiding eye contact to use.
*L~Lyubov will come home, shower, dress casually, and then make up her mind. She’ll go to Armas’ room and wait for him. While she waits she’ll flip through the picture book she heard him talk to Camella about. When he shows up, she’ll speak in Japanese (unless she’s sure he doesn’t know it) and say, “I’m not really that good at keeping my impulses in check and sometimes I do stuff without thinking about the wider consequences and I haven’t had a lover in over a year. Not since I got stabbed in the back and put in the Black Army, and anyway I don’t want to betray Camella and I think what we did last week would really really really hurt her if she found out and I don’t want that. I really admire you and her both and I think you should go for it and stop leading her on, you’re a giant flirt sometimes and you should take how she feels into account. But if you’re not going to be with her and you clear it up with her, then what we were doing would be ok. But I don’t want to hurt her.”
*L~Bedtime.

>>
No. 394195 ID: 602cbb

Go get the tank. It would be wise to buy a temporary charm from SM to make the tank just look like a big vehicle, a cheap illusion that will just last till you get it home. Park it in the garage, if you don't have space, ask Amen to make space for it while using the minimal amount of energy in a way that won't change anything but the space he is making and which will not effect any changes on people or things that are exposed to it.

[Zhenya]
-Considers the ramifications of scars being gone and feels slightly uncomfortable.
-Realize how much this fear is a part of her and is holding her back and how she has been leaning on it like an emotional crutch. Decided to change this.
-She briefly speaks to Lyubov about it and steels herself to confront her fears and get stuff done .
-She buys some normal, unscented, emergency candles($5 worth) and goes to her room with them.
-She lights one and practices slowly putting her hand closer to the fire and building up chakra like she was taught until she cannot feel the heat from it. Rinse repeat for as long as it takes to get it right and if she gets it right, to get keep it going for longer.
>>
No. 394198 ID: 79aac6

[NIKIFOR ORDERS]
-Noticed some of the Russians dropped training at Ito's Gym for better Chakra training. Joins them, because the sooner he stops being a magic bomb, the better. Besides, he's got enough money.
-Got drunk. Very Drunk. Called Amen, attempted to get him/her/it drunk. Bullshitted with Amen. Jokingly request Amen to 'make itself look more like a woman and put on a maid outfit'. Then wandered around the house drunkenly, shared Booze with all the Bosses, including Weasel Boss and Shadow Boss (poured Booze on a mug on the ground)
-Wondered how Family's doing back at Russia, has there been success selling their bone-crafted items? Or did they move on to another job? Must suck to get abused by Chuggy right now. Dedicate a few bottles to their well-being, hoping they're not encountering much problems.
-Noticed some Russians were pretty down these days. Tried to cheer them up with Booze.
>>
No. 394245 ID: 51a2ac

IGOR
+Igor wonders a bit how he hadn't realized that he was the worse student. It is obviously in part BECAUSE he is the worse student, though there may be other factors too. Maybe he should make sure to stay connected to the other Russians a bit more.
+Igor tries to determine why he is the worse student- he knows he works hard, because he has always been a perfectionnist, but maybe he is too used to taking his time? While he is one of the russians who get a Sake rub-down, he also hasn't really been looking into ways to optimize the chakra lessons until very recently.
+Igor takes the time to go out and buy a couple of metronome today that he will install during the chakra training, as a way to try and garner different personal rhythm that goes along with the exercises.
+At the shop to buy it, think back to his old days of playing with 'special' steel drums that didn't sound too cheery (Steelgong are manly). Considers taking it up again when things are less hectic.
+continue doing Armas' gauntlet job.

>>
No. 394358 ID: 75aebf

UP/DOWNVOTING
>>394119
Upvoting everything above the line beginning:
>Look into getting some more merchant contacts.
SUST to everything from that line down.

>>394181
Upvoting everything except asking Camella to donate blood/body parts to Silja. While I agree with the idea itself, that's not the kind of thing you just spring on a person with no warning. Just explain Silja's history up to now, how the plan is to make her human (-appearing) again, and how you're doing that (with flesh/blood). Maybe add in a few things like "If she comes out of it anything like you, that'd be perfect", if you want to manipulate her into coming up with the idea on her own.

>>394195
Sure, get the tank, and the short-term charm's probably useful, but the order to Amen is both unnecessarily complicated, and unnecessary in itself. The mansion probably has a garage (I don't know that we ever checked, but we're keeping those vans somewhere) and even if it doesn't, we can just drive through the front window if we have to (though I wouldn't recommend that).



ARMAS ORDERS
Keep professional - not only should you be that already, being leader of over twenty men and women, it's the perfect opportunity to revenge-troll Einrik indirectly. It's certain that, while he alone was in contact with Davgon, he told him about how... let's say "eccentric"... you are. The troll here is getting Davgon to think you're the perfect boss, professional rather than an asshole, caring rather than callous, and cautious rather than the retard mad scientist with no sense of self preservation that you are. Once he's convinced that everything Einrik's told him is a lie, it all flows back to Einrik.



Feodor Orders
*Gets back from Finnigan's, relaxed from the work and pleasantly tired. Inexplicably (to him) gets a huge craving for a steak. The craving gets so strong he doesn't bother cooking it properly and eats it rare. Helping to cut people up all night does that, apparently.
*Finds Sake so he can get a weasel-rub, receives healing and happy feeling. Asks Sake (knowing the answer already) if he liked the gift. Keep thinking for something Hillevi would like. Consider asking Satai.
*On the jog, he is simply too happy to try using his new form of “encouragement” on the other Russians. Tries out his weight vest with 20lbs in it.
*At chakra training with Camella, his continuing lack of anger makes it much easier to keep focused, and to keep the goal of precision in mind.
*Stays at the gym after Ito's chakra training to get his instructor work in, cheerfully instructing students. He spends most of his time with newer students.
*Gets back to the mansion for training with Lev. Notices badly bound hand, re-bandages it. Can see Lev is still acting strange, wonder if he's worried about his family. Acts like he's having trouble learning - if getting Lev to focus on teaching doesn't help, cut the session short and suggest that if Lev's feeling off, he should try taking a shower.
*Tries to think of secrets to sell to Sometimes Merchant. Comes up the idea of selling information about the conflicts and casualties he witnessed in Russia, but realises that kind of thing probably either wouldn't be worth enough or would already be known. Sets aside plan to buy charms, for now.
*Leaves for Finnigan's. Gets hungry halfway through a procedure. Notices strangeness of the feeling's timing, and adds it to his notes for the night.
>>
No. 394361 ID: 9718f3

When talking to Camella today casually ask, "So hey, Camella, have you figured out that trick to get around charm arrays?"
If she says yes ask her to describe it, we need confirmation, and hey, maybe she accidentally figured out a different trick. If so tell her.
If she says no or figured out a different trick offer the following bet to Iron Trick, "Iron Trick, I bet you that a month from now Camella STILL wont have figure Splintered Intent out for herself."
Wager a soul sliver a day for a month against knowledge in the Darkening portion of our Winter bloodline as though we were trained by an expert of the Darkening bloodline for 6 hours a day for a month.
Hopefully the month/month/month thing makes it a Rule of Three gamble, if such a thing exists.

>>394181
Upvote. Reasonable list, might not have the time or energy for the shooting practice though.

>>394041
>Don't be a twat today
Upvoting.
>>
No. 394422 ID: 3af16b

>>394119

ARMAS ADDENDUM
~Ask Amen: "Is Adelat in good health, and has she interacted with anyone in the sewers? Has she made repeated ventures into the sewers, or has she simply been down there since she first went down? Finally, could you guide me to her?"
~If there's something wrong with Adelat, go get her.
>>
No. 394435 ID: 431fa8

>>393979
>So what's the plan for today?
Clear our morning. It's time for some introspective business.

When we talked to Yavuz, we tried to dimple our cheeks at him in a deceptive manner- and couldn't. We've tried to smile and ended up manically grinning recently, too. We've had trouble recognizing the expressions on others' faces, or understanding why they're doing what they're doing.

What the hell is wrong with us? We're supposed to be a brilliant actor- able to deceive others by manipulating our own action and appearance, understanding them well enough to identify what strings need pulling and then proceeding to yank them around so that we achieve our desired result while leaving them feeling however we want them to feel. We're acting like a rank amateur- worse, we're actually unable to call on our greater skills when we need them. We're actively losing our best honed abilities, presumably replacing reading people's faces and body language with reading their souls and our own acting abilities with soul guise hammers that make them think whatever we want them to think about us. It seems really bizarre that our skills could decay this much in the space of just a couple weeks since we got those powers, but it's the only explanation that occurs- and if it's true, we cannot afford it. When we face powerful people and beings, our soul abilities will fail us; they'll hide their souls and shrug off the effects of our soul guises. If we don't have our mundane social skills in top form as a backup we'll get punked, and we'll deserve it because of our own incompetence.

Last night was an effective demonstration that we don't need our powers to be awesome- we were slapping down those vampires left and right. We need to do the same with another arena of skill now. Stop using our magical social tricks- use faces, bodies, and voices instead of reading souls when trying to figure out what people are like and what they want. Do not shift our soul guise during conversations. Try to keep tight control of our body language and facial features- smile only when we deliberately want to smile, react only how we want to react. Rebuild the mask that we used to wear between us and the world, showing whatever emotions we want to show in order to achieve our desired objectives.

It won't be easy, but it has to happen. Focus on this all day, and ask the hummingbird- and Shadowbro, if he's not distracted with other matters- to remind us in order to keep us from forgetting and running all our social interactions on easy mode.

If we find that our skills in reading people are really rusty, we can deliberately retrain ourselves. Consider that we can see emotions on the soul, but that those emotions are usually also evinced in the face or body language. As we talk to others, try to match the former to the latter- if their soul says that they're happy, angry, frustrated, or sad, how do their body and face show it? We could examine the Russians' souls again, match their moods to their bodies and faces, then talk to them briefly- no using soul guises for this- and carefully watch how their faces and bodies change as their moods change. They'll probably think that we're strange for this, but eh, they think that already and we need to resharpen these skills badly.


Get Silja over here for the next item- we'll need some emotional support, and during the later bits some reliable feminine counsel might be handy. It's okay to show Silja when we're hurt and worried; not only can we trust her to be supportive, it'll also make her feel closer to us. "Silja, will you help me with something? I need someone who... well, someone who actually cares about me, and you can see now, so you'll understand."

Strip (mostly) down and look at our body in a large mirror. What do we look like? Is this how we envision Armas Laine in our head, when we think of him? Remember what Ricky told us about humanity- that it's based upon what others consider normal. If the body, the mind, and the soul drift away from normality they drift away from humanity as well. Our mind is pretty strange by human standards; our soul is bizarre we've ever seen by any standard, not just human ones. Our body just got tons of poison glands implanted into it- we'll never pass as normal under a CAT scan now. How is our physique? We might not mention it, but we know that 'freak!' is the default reaction to someone who have pulled a human body as far in the direction of pure physical prowess as, say, the Valkonens- and we should really take steps to ensure that it's not the default reaction to us as well. We can be big, strong, lean and fast- but there's a fuzzy line where people start considering even normally positive descriptors in a negative light, and if we've crossed it we need to stroll right the fuck back across that line.

"A monster told me once that being human is about being human- it's recursive. If people look at you and see a normal human, it actually makes you more human. And the reverse is just as true."

Find an old picture or two of us, preferably shirtless, and look at the changes.

"I used to look like this. Just months ago, in fact, before I started on this whole gaining power and magic thing. And I'm starting to worry that I'll keep drifting away. That before too long, people will look at me and not just say 'whoa, look at that guy'- they'll say 'freak', and a while after that, they'll say 'monster'. Then maybe just scream and run without saying anything at all." "I don't want that to happen. I need to stop it before it goes too far. I hope- I know I can. I think if I know exactly what I want to look like, then maybe I can make that happen- I have some shapeshifting powers right now, you know? And I didn't consciously make myself look like this, but maybe if I push for it I'll be able to make my real form be something more like what I want it to be. Will you help me figure out what that is?"

We don't have to try and return to what we were before- but it'll serve as a decent reference point for what's more normal. Consider Gianni, who looks remarkably attractive- and who knows how old he is? Choose a face and body that's recognizably us, but closer the the human norm than we are currently (and possibly somewhat better-looking) without losing out in strength, flexibility, or speed. That's the new us. Fix it in our mind; consider as many details as we can. Go through the whole body with Silja, part by part, and decide what needs to change, and come to a look we'd be willing to be immortal in for the next few centuries and wouldn't draw eyes in any negative way. Pass mental images of possibilities back and forth with her; the hummingbird showed us that it's possible. Know what we want to look like. Start considering how to make it real. If we don't think that we know enough fleshcrafting or anatomy to successfully pull this off yet, well, there are ways to learn more fleshcrafting and anatomy quickly if we have to- nevernever bubbles, memory grafts. When we're done-

"Thank you so much, Silja. I really hope I can make this work- and I couldn't trust anyone else with it." "I... I know this is getting a bit ahead of ourselves, but when you've gotten to looking human again and are worrying about details like this, tweaking what you look like, I would be honored to help you, too. With enough effort, working together... I think you'll turn out absolutely perfect."

Hopefully that will end this conversation on a serious but optimistic note and leave her feeling that we've established some common ground and she'll be able to depend upon us in the future.


Have one ton of Doonongaes meat, selected as the higher quality edible portions of muscle, sent to the Owner along with a carefully hand-written message that reads "I would be pleased to have the discussion you mentioned at your convenience." We can probably get the goblins to deliver it in exchange for letting them read the note.


>>394119
>~Ask Camella if there was a date we needed to get that five million to the Triad for her leg, as you'd rather not there be an outstanding debt to them.
At no point should we state or imply that any of that five million is Armas' debt, because Armas owes the Triads precisely zip at this point. Camella's personal debts are something that we're willing to assist her in dealing with, but that doesn't mean that they're ours. They are not, and it was incredibly rude of her to demand that we shoulder any of that burden in the first place- essentially demanding that we pay her an exorbitant fee to retain her friendship. As it happens, we're willing to throw exorbitant fees at retaining her friendship, but that doesn't mean it's our obligation to do so- even as a good friend. Five million is going way above and beyond the requirements of friendship.

>horrible torture techniques
SUST until we're near full power again and can wildly burn healing on this sort of thing. It's admirably creative, but there is too much risk involved when we're this low on energy. Pain training should be conducted only in fashions which we reliably know we can pop right back from.

>>394422
>~If there's something wrong with Adelat, go get her.
It would be fun to just stroll up to her in the middle of the sewers and yank her out of there. I doubt the goblins will let things be that easy, but we'll see if things work out that way.

>>394193
>Lyubov talking to Armas about feelings for Camella
Camella is incredibly uncommunicative even when we try very nicely to get her to talk, demanding, rude, has shown anything resembling respect for us on a number of occasions which can be counted on one hand, and has an excess of emotional problems. She is fun to tease and an impressive combatant, but sleeping with someone who treats us the way she does would only be fun because of the incredible sex- and it would be truly incredible, given that Camella is Camella, but there are limits to how much that's worth.

Since Lyubov is obviously willing to sleep with us or she wouldn't be going along with our perverted fun, talking about how long ago she last made love, and discussing betraying other identified potential romances, go with that instead. She's reasonably attractive, charmingly trollish, and we can have sex with her for hours at a time and call it chakra training- and have it actually work as chakra training. Brush off her concerns, seduce, and end the night on a fun note after having Amen shield the room from outside detection. Abort this plan only if Camella actually decided to open up and talk to us for once when we did
>~Ask if there’s anything else she wants to talk about. Anything at all. You’re all ears for her.
earlier. If she didn't talk, she can't reasonably expect us to sit around passing up golden opportunities forever.
>>
No. 394441 ID: 81f32a

ORDERS FOR IOSEF:
-Oh wow, 3,000$ for doing jack-shit. This place gets better and better.
-Agrees with Rotislav. Asks him to let him tag along next time he goes to the fight club.
-Tries to make friends by punching people.
-Nonetheless, socializing the normal way is important too. Iosef will continue visiting bars with Rotislav or any other Russians who decide to go out.
-This new schedule sure is energy-draining. Grabs an energy drink.
-Reads print-outs again. Realizes that they have nothing about internet culture. Goes to Andrei and asks for print-outs on Internet "etiquette". While there asks Andrei if he has booby-trapped energy drinks.

Orders for Armas:

>Adelat, interestingly, seems to have taken leave, and is currently investigating the sewers after two molars identical to those of a missing police officer's dental records were reported to her. As such, she has no cellular reception-and has been out of contact in this format for several days.
Alright, NO ONE spends entire day willingly in sewers, let alone several. There is no question that something bad happened to Adelat. Fortunately Amen didn't say that she's dead, so there's still a chance to get he out of whatever mess she is.
And boy, do we want to keep her alive. That incredibly hilarious joke we played on her to trick her into selling away her body and soul? That shit cost more than 2m$ in blood (Amen uses blood from the storage to do his tasks. It does not replenish). Had we known beforehand, maybe we wouldn't have gone all out and spend so much on that event but we've invested so much 'money' into her now, we should make sure she doesn't get eaten by some moleman in the sewers at least.
And that's just one of the possible outcomes in her trek in the sewers. What if she meets a Wyld Goblin and buys information? What if Wyld Goblins come to her (maybe they already did)? You know that she went to investigate the murder of that policeman we killed. Chances are high that she'll ask about that and we never made a deal with SM to not sell that information iirc. Adelat could even learn the ramifications of the NDA she signed, if she does, then getting her to break NDA would be much, much harder.

So, operation 'rescue' Adelat is GO:
[primary]:
Just go to her and get her to the surface. Amen should be able to pin-point her location through her blood, if not, then we will have to pay for SM service. Since we're low on energy, take Hillevi as a bodyguard.

[trickster]:
If we do not want to reveal ourself (don't know why we should do that), we could manipulate events in such a way that she gets out seemingly on her own strength. We could help her from the shadows, using our stealth techniques and SB's shadow magic. If we feel particularly generous, we could buy her safe passage from SM.

[Heavy handed]:
Same as primary just with more back-up in case we need to level a city-block or two. We could take Camella and Davgon.

[Escape]:
While in this scenario this plan should mean "whatever, no my problem, she can die for all I care", a better approach would be "let others deal with it. I Have 20 people working under me, why do I have to do everything personally!!". Best person to delegate this to would be Camella. Telling her that "a mundane female is stuck in sewers for several days" would certainly get her going.

Yes. I needlessly used F.A.P. to get an auto-upvote.


>>394119
>~So, adjust the pay for that job. You can afford a second payment of $5,000 total for everyone and to issue $4,000 bonuses to the men and women who drove. That'll make it a $8,000 job for everyone, and $12,000 for those eight. Total cost: $122,000. Total benefit: You're square with your men, and they can't complain. If they ask why payments were in two chunks just say "I wanted to make sure you got some money right away, so I set that first payment up even though I wasn't sure about what the total on that mission was going to be. Soon as I knew, I paid out the difference and bonuses."
>~You need to pay Matvey his officer bonuses as well. $15,000 to him should cover both missions ($5,000 for Dooney, $10,000 for the Ironhead job). That officer pay doesn’t just represent work done for missions, it’s to compensate them for all the work they do keeping tabs on the others. As long as they’re on board with you about their duties, there shouldn’t be a problem.
>~You need to figure out what you owe Camella. Call her and ask how much you owe her for the extra teaching work. She's not going to screw you over. She’s your friend. Ballpark estimate: $5,000 for the teaching services, $10,000 in bonuses as officer pay (would have been $15,000 but you were rightly displeased with her performance, thus the bonus forfeiture for the Dooney job).
>~Total for both officers: $30,000

Gonna have to disagree with this. No one has earned all this money: both missions were near zero-risk with shit-laod of backup, no one has done any outstanding performance and just because you have position of an "officer" does not mean you should get shit-ton of money for barely any work.
In fact, this is something that has been bothering me for a while. Armas is being too happy about giving away his hard-earned money. Armas is a greedy fuck, or at least he is supposed to be.
And if you want to keep Russians "happy" with money, they should already be extremely joyous about the pay they have been receiving. Average salary in Russia is about 300$/m, some regions going as low as 100$/m. Moscow and St.Petersburg does a bit better by having around 600$/m. But those are just salaries on "paper". In some regions the corruption is so rampant that 50% of paycheck gets withheld. I personally know people who haven't been paid for work for 6 months. Military contractors get better deals, about 1,000-1,500$/m but I doubt that our Russians were paid more than half of that.
This is why thing like Lyubov donating 1,500$+ to church absolutely baffles me. For an average Russian that's shit-load of money. Considering that our Russians were in anti-magic division, I doubt that they came from rich backgrounds, most likely they all come from very poor families.
Armas should know this and pay his minions accordingly.

Hell, if you want a good comparison look no further than Armas' own work history. One of his first jobs was to assassinate a target for 10,000$. Armas agree to murder a person for 10,000$. That was an extremely high-risk job where Armas killed his target and his two very well-armed bodyguards then he had to run away from his pursuers. He had no back up, he had no magic, he had nothing and he still did that job.
And you want to pay Matvey 10,000$ for Ironhead job? What job?! He did jack shit. Everyone did jack shit. The ENTIRE mission was done by Armas personally. Even those who drove the vans hadn't actually done anything much, hell even if they had somehow failed their task, they didn't even face the risk of being caught since they had disguise charms.

Basically: stop throwing away so much money. Armas worked hard to earn his money, he should have no reason to give away so much of it. Don't know about others, but I remember when we got paid for the Triad Boat job and feeling how much we earned it. It being 45,000$.
Now Armas basically turns blind eye to useless 40,000$+ bribes made by his minions? For shame. [note: I'm not being angry at Ironybot for spending money. God knows that he does some good real life job of keeping wiki and armory in proper state and being the voice of reason. And hell, keeping Sake happy is its own reward]

>~Ask her if she knows why Go Ping apologized to you. Dude was acting guilty as shit about something and there’s probably more to it than him just feeling bad that you were treating him like a friend.
Second.
"Camella, you heard that odd thing that Lo Ping said after Doonongeas job, right? About not friends but just business partners? When I contacted him later on some other business, he apologized to me but I got distinct feeling that it wasn't related to our business. Do you know what's up with that?" or something like that.

>~Go read that clipping service Satai signed up for.
Second. Focus on the bits about Savoy. Contact the agency and ask them to deliver news about him from the past month.
We really need to deal with him, he ought to be holding insane grudge against us.

>~Negotiate his rates with him
Davgon "owes" us. We don't really have to pay him anything.

>~Make sure he’s dressed appropriately for the city, the man was a nomad in a magic tribe before he ended up with you.
This is really racist/stereotypical thing to assume. I am sure that he knows how to dress in real world on the account that when we met him, his attire wasn't mentioned (meaning that he is wearing appropriate clothing)


>>394195
>Go get the tank. It would be wise to buy a temporary charm from SM to make the tank just look like a big vehicle, a cheap illusion that will just last till you get it home.
Upvote. We could try to borrow a charm for short period too, depending which choice is cheaper.
Instead of parking it in the garage, put in on pedestal in the Foyer, where Big Pile O'Guns used to be. If the space is too limited, we can always ask Amen to expand a little.

>>394358
>Keep professional
second

>>394041
>Don't be a twat today.
upvote

>>>394435
In addition to this, we must lose that weird, fatless, gaunt body that we have. It's really creepy, especially with out Smile. Grab a Menth's Health magazine and look how an attractive body should look like (as far as beefed-up bodies go), then re-imagine your "self" to be in-tune with that. Try not to lose any flexibility though.



><TheBeardiestBob> To answer a question, if one were getting, each day, an at-dawn rub, an evening icing and a mid-day drugging, then a human could go without sleep entirely and continue to function without ill effects. Granted, that's like, as much energy as a mid-level bloodliner outputs in a work week spent in one day JUST to keep someone fresh and alert.
Why don't we do this?
I noticed that in our quest to gain more effective results in training, players have tried to use their Russians to achieve that when we could just as easily have Armas tell/order Hillevi and Sake to administer restorative measures on Russians and Cemalla. That way they can keep on trucking for 24/7 and could potentially get twice as much training than normal.Going back to my displeasement on how easily Armas parts with money, Satai (and others) wouldn't have needed to bribe Sake to get restoration if Armas just told Sake to do it. I know that giving healing for 20 people would leave Sake magically depleted. If that turns to be a problem, we could cut this number in half and assign them to people who are lagging behind, essentially making a 'special need ed.' class for them.
Even with just Hillevi giving cold jolts, Russians could gain extra 5 hours to do shit everyday and from what I know of Hillevi that shouldn't drain her magic reserves even a little. I assume this from this line:
><TheBeardiestBob> Those that get weasel rubs or other assistance can fully use those five remaining hours.

Actually, why doesn't Armas do it too? Being able to be awake for 24/7 with no side-effects is a great boon. We could spend those hours we usually sleep doing self-training if nothing else. Our visit to Ito showed how strongly our mundane skills have decayed, spending 6 hours training them each day will prevent that.

Aw geez, I didn't mean to make such a huge suggestion. I promised myself I wont do this anymore...
>>
No. 394455 ID: cc1982

>>394435
Upvote

>What to do
When talking to Dávgon get his impression of our Hummingbird and ask him about Mind Binds, ask him if he thinks if high intensity training for six months could solve the problem of killing hummingbird.

Keep focusing on dual orientations throughout the day. Take another look at the reaper soul now that you have an improved soul sense orientation.
>>
No. 394462 ID: 448d82

<.<
[IM is busy]
LEV'S ORDERS
-Lev gets up and wonders just what his problem is.
-Stupidity, must be.
-Lev look for Hillevi or Sake for hand healing, that was really dumb last night, wonder what possessed him.
-Decide that bad news and no play makes Lev a mentally unsound boy, look up circuses in Istanbul, find out that ON THE EIGHT-TEENTH OF FEBUARY Circque de Soliel will be in Istanbul. Work guts to pitch idea of group visit to said circus to Armas Boss, if a failure, consult Lyubov.
-Chakra training, gotta get this right, gain power, make the bosses proud, kill the pig. All dat motivation.
-Gift some of your nicer knives to Sake, with his wind, he could do seriously fun things with them.
-Accept Rosti's offer, he could do with some simple enjoyment, play darts if dart boards present themselves, it's about time to make some friends in this outfit.
-Feel much more sane.
>>
No. 394471 ID: 252e1b

>>394441
>Just go to her and get her to the surface. Amen should be able to pin-point her location through her blood, if not, then we will have to pay for SM service. Since we're low on energy, take Hillevi as a bodyguard.
I agree with the rest of the FAP, but we shouldn't involve just Hillevi in this. Frankly there should be nothing in the first level of the sewers that Armas alone can't handle, even in a low-energy state. Bring the brothers, and maybe Camella or one of the Russian women so that there's a female presence when we rescue Adelat. We don't need a bodyguard, just someone who can keep Adelat calm if we encounter trouble on the way out. If we bring Hillevi, it is going to be to teach her about how to keep someone who has been put in a very bad situation calm while you extract them, not for her to be the bodyguard. Since we know Hillevi needs physical examples and demonstrations to learn best, this could be a good learning opportunity for her.

>Davgon "owes" us. We don't really have to pay him anything.
He owes a favor, not perpetual servitude. I want to keep him after the favor is repaid, so that means we have to compensate him fairly.

>This is really racist/stereotypical thing to assume. I am sure that he knows how to dress in real world on the account that when we met him, his attire wasn't mentioned (meaning that he is wearing appropriate clothing)
I actually asked Bob in irc if Davgon brought anything with him. No bags, no luggage, nothing beyond a few small tools of his trade. He'll need a wardrobe, and he'll probably appreciate a companion while he builds it.

>>394435
>Lyubov and Camella
Before jumping into anything, we should think about what Armas' feelings actually are. He's obviously got some affection for Camella, and has bonded with her. Her behavior has been one of a conflicted person trying to cope with being in a very weird world, cut off from all the people she knew and loved. Objectively making allowances for that, it's possible that Lyubov's right, and that Camella feels some sense of possession about Armas.
>>
No. 394482 ID: 51a2ac

>>394119
>Adelat
Upvoting finding out what happens with her.

>Talking to Camella
Yes, we need to talk to her, though upvoting >>394435 modifications.

>Making a soul sensing lesson of watching deathly lyubov
Upvote

>>394181
>Getting on a call with BC when Davgon and Gianni are in the room.
Upvote. We need to talk about HB, and try to get a way to give him fleshcrafting power he will like (Gianni may be able to do it, ask both HB and Gianni about it during the call) and then body bind him without destroying the body (though he may be able to reconstruct it, inquire about that). Likewise, we might want to talk to Davgon and the others about a triple bind (mind bind as well as body and soul bind). This would only be beneficial really if Armas was counted to have mind powers (does our M7 having a magical trait count, armas should ask) and if HB has one (Determinator will count?). If those does, it could mean HB is bound to Armas to body, has fleshcrafting powers and Armas has fleshcrafting power, and the same for soul and mind. Should be a recursive rule of three thing here (inquire).

>>394435
>Think about why we have been losing ability.
UPVOTE THIS. Armas went from being able to read body language and being able to look amiable, sincere and anything else as only someone in the top 99,9999 percentile could, to someone utterly unable to do what 99,9999% of beings can in maybe a week. This is wrong, and something Armas should rectify ASAP. There is multiple possiblities about the “why”, and he should investigate them. It's possible that the many, many different ways Armas now has to senses things AND make other people senses things means he has “multitasking problems”. It shouldn't make him utterly unable to do them, but it is wortht looking into. After all, whereas a simple human can only read body language, Armas also has Attention-sensing, Soul-sensing, a chakra soul-sensing orientation, better ears/eyes/nose than usual people to deal with when ti comes to senses he receive. And it's the same way for senses he gives off, too. If Armas is having those Multi-tasking problems, we REALLY need to learn to juggle everything. Begins small, and get to it.
Another possibility is the godling thing- it is possible that Armas having no clue about how to use the large input of belief he is getting means he is getting influenced too easily by people's perceptions of him, hence accelerating any deterioration about such thing. Armas should talk to SB and Sake about it, and reinforce his self image.

>Talk to Silja to reinforce self-image and find a 'good human' one.
UPVOTE.

>Lyubov talking to Armas about feelings for Camella
Well, this is interesting. First, make sure Camella can't find this room currently. Camella has been putting out signs of pitying Armas at best and finding him pathetic as more likely, so Armas should 'refresh' his mind with SB's help about various interactions with Camella. Could his recent concentration on soul sensing and not his previous body-language reading (and the latter's impossibly fast deterioration) means we have misinterpreted a lot? Could we have unconsciously NOT read obvious sings? Think about it, think about this morning's conversation to Camella. If it seems like Camella truly find us utterly unworthy of respect as her previous interaction with us as shown, then there is no 'choice' to be had, and make sure to convince Lyubov that there is nothing between Camella and us. Lyubov is available, and... the only reason to not seduce, if that were the case, would be if she is too emotionally vulnerable. There is a limit to manipulation, even for us. If she is too unstable, let her recover before seducing.

>>394441
SUST being an idiot about money. We want our men to like us, and when we ask them to do a job requiring immense danger, we shouldn't give them LESS because it went well.
>>
No. 394493 ID: 421737

Today Armas shall go to the sewer to rescue Adelat. He shall fix his body so that he looks more normal. He shall talk to Gianni and Dávgon about the golem. He shall buy condoms or fleshcraft a vasectomy.

>>394119
>~So, adjust the pay for that job.
No, the current pay is good as >>394441 says.

>~But to use Hybrid Healing, you have to be hurt. So that means it’s time for another Torture Session tonight!
No torture today.

>>394435
>Strip (mostly) down and look at our body in a large mirror.
>Be naked in front of Silja
This is not gentlemanly behavior, Silja will be angry. Do not do this.

>>394482
>Armas should 'refresh' his mind with SB's help about various interactions with Camella.
This is worth doing, and costs little.
>>
No. 394517 ID: b83c65

>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>Woke up. Fall out of bed. Drag a comb across head. Having forgotten dinner, Andrei is exceptionally hungry. Also he's only four hours of sleep; sneak a hit of Rage Inferno, grab a power-bar before the death training begins again. Miss kale, and eggs, and blini.
>CONTINUE CHARKA TRAINING WITH ITALIAN CRAZY WOMAN. Wonder if death would be less painful. In an attempt to do something useful while dying, mentally go over Java coding.
> CONTINUE CHARKA TRAINING WITH SUDDENLY YOUTHFUL JAPANESE CRAZY MAN. Focus on the training, because he asked for this damnit.
>Home, and lunch. Pick up two more Terabyte external hard drives. And by 'Lunch' I mean 'Powerbar'. Ask Hillevi if she will work with him in the Computer Cave.
>Time divided between aiding Hillevi in gaming and advanced internet surfing/computer use, and actual doing our job. Hillevi takes priority, however, so he will make sure she knows how to game and surf.
>Actual job stuff is editing together footage of Nazi attack.
>If Nazi Footage is complete within seven hours of distracted aiding of Hillevi, then Andrei moves onto Nazi computers. Check all other files on the 4 workstations, and thoroughly. Note any differences or similarities. Then check all four workstation's CSV files for any differences and similarities.
>>394441 When Iosef shows up, sit his ass down and learn him some internet culture and etiquette. If Hillevi knows enough, she can teach him. If not, they're both getting learn'd. Also, Iosef doesn't get free time. He gets learning time.
>What do you mean its Chakra time? NO ITO, NO!
>>
No. 394537 ID: 431fa8

>Satai orders
-Toss the daily news on the breakfast table in the morning for anyone who wants to read it.
-Introduce himself to Dávgon as quartermaster; be friendly about it. Explain that it's basically his job to ensure that the company has the things they collectively need, show him the armory, and offer to look into acquiring anything that he needs in particular. If he has any unusual requests Satai will want an explanation of why he needs it, though.
-See if Ironhead has additional AN/PRC-152's; buy ten more if he's got them. Est. $75,000 before any discounts.
-Take study drugs before chakra training. Perhaps a chemically focused mind will help with learning.
-Shoot for weasel rubs in the morning, Hillevi refresher later, energy drinks to see Satai through the night. Attempt occasional self-examination to see how this whole no-sleep thing is working out.
-Watch Lyubov do her near-death bit. At training with Hillevi, pursue the theory behind why dying is helpful for chakra training and any other effects it might have, or ways to achieve similar things. Discover whether one could die on a daily basis for massive chakra power gain.
-Talk to Hillevi about the family situation. "I know this is a trap, but... if I do nothing, Chugainov will kill them eventually, so I have to act somehow. If I spring the trap and die, at least he won't have anything against them anymore, and if I spring it and get them out they'll be safe. So what option have I got other than to try? There's no 'if' left, only how. Can you think of anyone who might have enough power or connections to pull dozens of people spread over thousands of kilometers all safely out of a country together, before Chugainov can get word and order anyone left killed? Because Armas doesn't seem to be doing anything, so someone who can do that is the one we need to find and convince to help our families- somehow. You know a lot about magic, and magical people and beings- please tell me you've got at least one idea."
-Satai shares the blood of his ancestors, right? Blood magic should let him talk to his grandfather, hopefully in a very hard-to-detect way. Find Armas and try to get him to order Amen into establishing that communication without hurting either of them. A little magic buildup is a minor risk compared to Chugainov.
-If that worked, tell the other Russians about it.
-Grab Titus and talk to him about families in the evening while mucking with his taser hand more.
-When all others are asleep, it's time for Satai to tinker and hopefully recenter himself somewhat. Making little RC things is peaceful and makes sense. Try for a working helicopter. If Sake's awake, fly it around near him and laugh at how clumsy it is. Ask if he can enchant things with air magic and make them fly better.

>>394435
I don't want to delete this post because it's been referenced a bunch of times, but there are some fairly drastic changes that need to be made to it following others' comments on the Silja situation and things that I've forgotten.

First, Silja's emotional reaction to this has been brought up, and that her situation is so much worse than ours that it's ridiculous to expect empathy. That's only true if we don't spin the situation correctly. The important concept that we need to be emphasizing is direction of drift. Armas's body has a lot of humanity now, but it's fading fast- in a year, he'll be extremely inhuman. Silja's body has relatively little humanity now, but she's gaining more- in a year, she might well resemble a human so well as to be indistinguishable. As long as the focus of the conversation is kept on this, on helping Armas reverse his momentum rather than focus on absolutes, then the sense of the conversation is not that Armas is in a strictly better situation than Silja and should shut up and stop complaining. In any case, eliminate the line "A monster told me once that being human is about being human- it's recursive. If people look at you and see a normal human, it actually makes you more human. And the reverse is just as true." and replace with "A monster once told me that one can lose all their humanity while blinded by greed, by lust for power, and never see it. I think I'm seeing it now, in me."

Second, the idea was not to strip naked and freak Silja out with full frontal (who knows how she'd react to that) but rather to show the warped-ness that our clothes normally conceal. Taking off just our shirt is fine. The overall attitude of this should be very serious and focused anyway; it's more like a medical thing than anything else. When worrying about the health of the body modesty only gets in the way, though whether Silja would agree with that isn't something we can easily predict so it's best to err on the side of caution.

Third and most importantly, apparently Silja was blind and the player collective has reminded me of this so Armas knows it even if I've forgotten. This means that the basic concept needs some significant alteration to be salvaged- instead of a one-shot deal we need to make the whole thing a positive experience for her in exploring what exactly people are supposed to look like, an ongoing project where we look at all kinds of people on the internet, in magazines, and maybe by watching passers-by or exploring the city with her and decide what exactly is the most favorable appearance for each of us- but they require a much more careful approach than initially presented because she's simply not equipped with the memories that she'll need to help us out intellectually right now without that background knowledge, even if she could do so emotionally. Establish "learning about and working toward an appearance that is human" as something that Armas and Silja can do together, a constructive and useful task which can occupy their time, and it becomes something positive to look forward to and bond over.

As a final note, we need to be keeping a close eye on how Silja is feeling and be at the ready to lighten the mood a little or cheer her up as necessary. We want all our interactions with her to be positive overall, even when dealing with serious and dangerous issues. Make sure that she enjoys the time she's spending with us, even if that means we don't get quite as far on the things we want to discuss.
>>
No. 394650 ID: 252e1b

>>394193

LYUBOV ADDENDUM

L*~If Armas doesn't speak Japanese when Lyubov tests him earlier in the day, she'll just ask Sake to find an excuse to make him learn it today. Maybe just that she speaks it and he doesn't would be enough.
L*~Before she talks to Armas, Lyubov will get a weasel-rub so that she's fully alert for what will be a very important conversation.

>>
No. 394812 ID: d97a61

Yeah… these minion orders are getting ridiculous. I'd suggest toning them back, as otherwise I'm going to be putting caps on them for my own sanity. Seriously, some of you are trying to do WAY too much per day.
[Feodor has been queued to do the following:]
*Get back from Finnigan's, relaxed from the work and pleasantly tired. Inexplicably (to him) gets a huge craving for a steak. The craving gets so strong he doesn't bother cooking it properly and eats it rare. Helping to cut people up all night does that, apparently. Or maybe he was just impatient. Whatever, fucking hungry.
*Finds Sake so he can get a weasel-rub, receives healing and happy feeling. Asks Sake (knowing the answer already) if he liked the gift. See Sake's bandage den is still looking fine. Keep thinking for something Hillevi would like. Consider asking Satai. …Decide Satai looks rather angry about something.
*On the jog, he is simply too happy to try using his new form of “encouragement” on the other Russians. Tries out his weight vest with 20lbs in it. Comes in dead last, but doesn't feel destroyed from the run.
*At chakra training with Camella, his continuing lack of anger makes it much easier to keep focused, and to keep the goal of precision in mind. He doesn't break any power output records-but he has his most consistent day of Chakra training yet.
*Stays at the gym after Ito's chakra training to get his instructor work in, cheerfully instructing students. He spends most of his time with newer students. Can't because if he did he wouldn't have time for his other activities.
*Gets back to the mansion for training with Lev. Can see Lev is still acting strange, wonder if he's worried about his family. Acts like he's having trouble learning - if getting Lev to focus on teaching doesn't help, cut the session short and suggest that if Lev's feeling off, he should try taking a shower. Wonder where that came from.
*Tries to think of secrets to sell to Sometimes Merchant. Comes up the idea of selling information about the conflicts and casualties he witnessed in Russia, but realizes that kind of thing probably either wouldn't be worth enough or would already be known. Sets aside plan to buy charms, for now. Grumble a bit about it.
*Uses laptop to look up ways to improve learning. Finds information on transcranial direct current stimulation. Figures it's interesting enough to try out, decides to tell Satai about it next time he sees him.
*Falls asleep on tiny laptop keyboard. Wakes up to dried drool crusts on the keys. Decide to deal with cleaning that shit up later.
*Leaves for Finnigan's. Gets hungry halfway through a procedure. Notices strangeness of the feeling's timing, and adds it to his notes for the night. Got hungry after a patient got resistive about a bullet extraction and had to be held down.

[Dmitrii has been queued to do the following:]
*Having spent the last few days thinking about it, decides there's nothing he can do for his family. With several uncles, cousins, a mother and two brothers in the army, there isn't really anything that can be done. Resigns himself to saying a prayer every night for family, two for his younger brother, despite not being religious.
*Having come to terms with the family issue, he refocuses on Chakra. What's that shit they say in martial arts movies? Know yourself or some non-sense? He knows himself. He's a helper. Support. A damn minion. When his dad lost his leg in the accident, he dropped out and got a second job to help feed his brothers and sisters. Once most of them were old enough to support themselves he joined the military to support his country. When his little brother joined the military after him, he stopped going for promotions and instead helped little Alexei build connections so he could go farther than Dmitrii ever would. So he's going to focus on how his ability with Chakra will help him support the company, his superiors, and his comrades.
*Acquire 1 hour's worth of chakratic training bonus.
*Once he gets his small bit of free-time, instead of taking a nap today, he'll ask Duke if he wants to go get magic drugs. Which of course he does. Heads off with Duke to the address of "Doctor 'So-Great' Ace"'s flunkie, and hopefully to see the Doc himself given how much Duke will probably want. He'll be sure to have let Duke know beforehand that he's only covering Duke's first 2500$ worth of drugs. Dmitrii abstains himself, seeing this as as an opportunity to get in Duke's good graces and scope out the market for magic drugs here in Istanbul. Spend extactly $2,500 as a third of the pay for Duke's purchase: The spinal fluid of a Roc stewed with literal magic mushrooms and distilled into liquor-just one bottle of it, which he downs immediately, much to the amazement of the seller.
*Note Duke to have prismatic fire coming out of his nose and mouth, and to comment the hallucinations aren't as strong as normal. Watch Duke use this 'lack of kick' to work his way into a second bottle-which is also promptly downed. Be reasonably sure even one bottle's supposed to be a lethal dose.
*At some point he asks Boss if there's anyone that provides professional instant learning, similar to how Amen taught them languages. But you know, not him. Be told the expensive-as-shit goblins in the sewers can do it, the really-not-trustworthy house servent Amen, and that other options likely exist but he doesn't have specific contacts to name. When given an answer, inform other Russians. No need to hold out.
*Dmitrii then goes back to following Officer's+Satai's orders until he feels like doing something again.

[Gloom has been queued to do the following:]
* Continue preparing his mirror setup.
*Be distracted by irritatingly warm and inescapably positive thoughts about cookie lady.
* Try to integrate the footwork he's learned with his normal combat style.
*Continue to not have much to show due to how little time's been put in this endeavor yet. Keep going because this is what he signed up for.
* Based on Lyubov 's comments, ask Armas what his soul looks like.
*Be told his soul is exactly as described on the minion page. Wonder if this is evidence his mirror plan has merit.
* Ponder that medical science makes being technically dead and coming back to life quiet a standard procedure, given how heart surgery works. Go on the internet to investigate how that works. After discovering it involves hypothermia, talk to other Russians about making a joint presentation to Hillevi and Sake on the subject.
*Due to abysmal ability to give reports or in general warm people to an idea rather than dissect it, get very limited response-note Lyubov to be smiling smugly.
* Ask Ito for advice on Armas' footwork deceptive style.
*Be told that Armas had a journal during his early lessons that he may wish to investigate.
* Consider what Camella said about "another path". Apologize if it's rude to ask, but can she give any hints about what the first steps are, and if they're mutually exclusive.
*Be told the paths are not explicitly mutually exclusive, but that Camella's pretty sure trying to pursue both at once would be much less practical than just focusing on one-and she'd rather follow the path that gives her something implementable as soon as possible.
[Lyubov has been queued to do the following:]
*L~Lyubov will wake up, get dressed, and pick through some of the new stuff she ordered, making a point of trying out an EMS belt set to something that’s high enough to cause a mildly painful distraction. She will declare, mostly to herself, that it sucks, and then leave it on. She giggles at stray thought of possible masochistic tendencies and dismisses it as idle fancy.
*L~She will have her morning jog, breakfast (and horrible caffeinated drink), and bother Armas, reminding him to come to her near-death experience. If he tells her he wants to have Dávgon also observe, she’ll agree-which is good, because he does.
*L~She will go to her room and prepare to attend Camella’s lessons, going for broke today with the EMS belt, the lube under her clothes, and her iPod. Learn hard way that lube and EMS belt do not get along together. Be missing from practice for twenty minutes while resolving issue. Find distracted state on return, preoccupied with how the training idea failed makes for another solid day of learning.
*L~Lyubov will ask Armas for a training session tomorrow. She will also speak to him in Japanese, and takes note of him initially looking surprised, then irritated, then amused when he responds in kind.
*L~Lyubov, still in her workout outfit, will collect Dávgon and Armas and go to her death at Hillevi’s hands. She is brought into sub-hypothermic temperature ranges-and tasked with practicing until her body starts failing.
*L~Accomplish twenty minutes of training before Dávgon whispers in Armas' ear, and Hillevi is asked to restore her to normal. Afterwards she thanks Hillevi, and goes to the kitchen to get a warm drink. Even if she’s not actually cold anymore, the memory persists. Wonder what she could even have learned from that-fail to remember much of it. So cold.
*L~Lyubov will help Zhenya with her own self-training, mainly by providing hand holding and emotional support. And a second set of hands with a fire extinguisher nearby.
*L~Lyubov will shower and change before night lessons, and will put Armas’ earlier advice about avoiding eye contact to use.
*L~Lyubov will come home, shower, dress casually, and then make up her mind. She’ll go to Armas’ room and wait for him. While she waits she’ll flip through the picture book she heard him talk to Camella about. When he shows up, she’ll speak in Japanese (unless she’s sure he doesn’t know it) and say her spiel to Armas. Hope that worked. Be optimistic in a stereotypical Lyubovian way.
*L~Bedtime.

[Zhenya has been queued to do the following:
-Consider the ramifications of scars being gone and feel slightly uncomfortable.
-Realize how much this fear is a part of her and is holding her back and how she has been leaning on it like an emotional crutch. Decide to change this.
-Briefly speaks to Lyubov about it and steels herself to confront her fears and get stuff done .
-Buy some normal, unscented, emergency candles($5 worth); go to room with them.
-Begin lighting them and practice slowly putting her hand closer to the fire and building up chakra like she was taught until she cannot feel the heat from it. Rinse repeat for as long as it takes to get it right and if she gets it right, to get keep it going for longer.
-Have trouble getting even half-way close to the flame-but end the night feeling a bit less terrified of fire.

[Nikifor has been queued to do the following:]
-Notice some of the Russians dropped training at Ito's Gym for better Chakra training. Joins them, because the sooner he stops being a magic bomb, the better. Besides, he's got enough money. ONE SPOT LEFT
-Got drunk. Very Drunk. Called Amen, attempted to get him/her/it drunk. Bullshitt with Amen. Jokingly request Amen to 'make itself look more like a woman and put on a maid outfit'. Then wandered around the house drunkenly, shared Booze with all the Bosses, including Weasel Boss and Shadow Boss (poured Booze on a mug on the ground).
-Wondered how Family's doing back at Russia, has there been success selling their bone-crafted items? Or did they move on to another job? Must suck to get abused by Chuggy right now. Dedicate a few bottles to their well-being, hoping they're not encountering much problems.
-Noticed some Russians were pretty down these days. Tried to cheer them up with Booze. Be pushed away by several, Satai in particular.

[Igor has been queued to do the following:]
+Igor wonders a bit how he hadn't realized that he was the worse student. It is obviously in part BECAUSE he is the worse student, though there may be other factors too. Maybe he should make sure to stay connected to the other Russians a bit more.
+Igor tries to determine why he is the worse student- he knows he works hard, because he has always been a perfectionist, but maybe he is too used to taking his time? While he is one of the russians who get a Sake rub-down, he also hasn't really been looking into ways to optimize the chakra lessons until very recently.
+Igor takes the time to go out and buy a couple of metronomes today that he will install during the chakra training, as a way to try and garner different personal rhythm that goes along with the exercises.
+At the shop to buy it, think back to his old days of playing with 'special' steel drums that didn't sound too cheery (Steelgong are manly). Considers taking it up again when things are less hectic. Wonders where the hell he'll get a tripleweight steelpan drum. …Then he remembers he is, in fact, a smith.
+continue doing Armas' gauntlet job. (Requires 1d100 roll in discussion)
>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>Wake up. Fall out of bed. Drag a comb across head. Having forgotten dinner, Andrei is exceptionally hungry. Also he's only had four hours of sleep; sneak a hit of Rage Inferno, grab a power-bar before the death training begins again. Miss kale, and eggs, and blini.
>CONTINUE CHARKA TRAINING WITH ITALIAN CRAZY WOMAN. Wonder if death would be less painful. In an attempt to do something useful while dying, mentally go over Java coding. Take mental refuge in this.
> CONTINUE CHARKA TRAINING WITH SUDDENLY YOUTHFUL JAPANESE CRAZY MAN. Focus on the training, because he asked for this damnit. Wonder why the hell Ito's so much more of a bastard to work with. Oh wait, going from old and creaky to pretty-much prime of life'd do it.
>Home, and lunch. Pick up two more Terabyte external hard drives for $160. And by 'Lunch' he means 'Powerbar'. Ask Hillevi if she will work with him in the Computer Cave. Be told maybe another time-she's really busy today.
>Time divided spent with advanced internet surfing/computer use, and actual doing our job. Hillevi takes priority, however, so he will make sure she knows how to game and surf.
>Actual job stuff is editing together footage of Nazi attack.
>If Nazi Footage is complete within seven hours of distracted aiding of Hillevi, then Andrei moves onto Nazi computers. Plan to check all other files on the 4 workstations, and thoroughly when he finishes because obviously since he has less than seven hours of free time a day he couldn't finish in one go. Note any differences or similarities. Then check all four workstation's CSV files for any differences and similarities.
>What do you mean its Chakra time? NO ITO, NO!
[Iosef has been queued to do the following:]
-Oh wow, 3,000$ for doing jack-shit. This place gets better and better.
-Agrees with Rostislav. Asks him to let him tag along next time he goes to the fight club.
-Tries to make friends by punching people. (Roll a 1d100 in Discussion)
-Nonetheless, socializing the normal way is important too. Iosef will continue visiting bars with Rotislav or any other Russians who decide to go out… when pigs fly, or when otherwise impossible things like free time crop up again.
-This new schedule sure is energy-draining. Grabs an energy drink. No welt on his hand this time. Hrm.
-Reads print-outs again. Realizes that they have nothing about internet culture. Goes to Andrei and asks for print-outs on Internet "etiquette". Be given a REALLY weird look, and receive nothing. While there asks Andrei if he has booby-trapped energy drinks. Be told no, but get the feeling Andrei knows exactly what he is alluding to.

[Lev has been queued to do the following:]
-Wonder just what his problem is.
-Decide it's stupidity, must be.
-Look for Hillevi or Sake for hand healing, that was really dumb last night, wonder what possessed him. Find no healers despite improbability of failing to find anyone.
-Decide that bad news and no play makes Lev a mentally unsound boy, look up circuses in Istanbul, find out that ON THE EIGHT-TEENTH OF FEBUARY Circque de Soliel will be in Istanbul. Work guts to pitch idea of group visit to said circus to Armas Boss, if a failure, consult Lyubov. Really, keep on massaging his own guts through his belly as a means of confidence boosting as he tries to get ready to talk to the boss.
-Keep working them guts. Rub rub rub. Briefly notice Vlad staring at him. Decide maybe he should stop.
-Chakra training, gotta get this right, gain power, make the bosses proud, kill the pig. All dat motivation.
-Try to offer some knives to Sake-be immediately laughed out of room-seems Sake's snooty about that.
-Accept Rosti's offer, he could do with some simple enjoyment, play darts if dart boards present themselves, it's about time to make some friends in this outfit. Be rejected as 'that shit that drew a knife and almost got me kicked out of a fight club I finally like, what the fuck'. Realize he IS that unstable guy in the group, and wonder how to resolve this impression.
-Feel not much more sane.

[$atai has been queued to do the following:]
-Toss the daily news on the breakfast table in the morning for anyone who wants to read it.
-Introduce himself to Dávgon as quartermaster; be friendly about it.
-See if Ironhead has additional AN/PRC-152's; find out that no, he does not, the contact he got them from is getting court-martialed.
-Take study drugs before chakra training. Perhaps a chemically focused mind will help with learning.
-Shoot for weasel rubs in the morning, Hillevi refresher later, energy drinks to see Satai through the night. Attempt occasional self-examination to see how this whole no-sleep thing is working out. Think he's probably doing okay. Probabl-WHATWASTHAT!? …Oh, nothing.
-Watch Lyubov do her near-death bit. At training with Hillevi, pursue the theory behind why dying is helpful for chakra training and any other effects it might have, or ways to achieve similar things. Discover whether one could die on a daily basis for massive chakra power gain. Find out it's about the impact it has for the one undergoing it-every time it's done, the impact is less.
-Talk to Hillevi about the family situation. "I know this is a trap, but... if I do nothing, Chugainov will kill them eventually, so I have to act somehow. If I spring the trap and die, at least he won't have anything against them anymore, and if I spring it and get them out they'll be safe. So-" Be interrupted by a concerned Hillevi who asks "Hold on: So, he's making life not so fun for them-but they're alive. And… you want to kill yourself doing something you know you can't do, because it MIGHT make their lives easier? Are you saying you value your own life less then the comfort level of your relatives? But even beyond that-nothing I've heard about this Chugainov guy makes it sound like he'd stop just 'cuz your dead. I mean-if you die in an attempt to save them, then obviously they mattered-and you provide him with a body he can use to make their lives more miserable. Do you want him to use your corpse against your family?" Be seriously wierded out by how serious Hillevi is about her response. Be confident she isn't trying to be offensive. Wonder if her comment that personal desire to see kin safe is overwhelming rationality has merit-be forced to at least consider issue by the fact a teenager told him this, magical or otherwise.
-Grab Titus and talk to him about families in the evening while mucking with his taser hand more. While fiddling with some wires absentmindedly comment that Hillevi doesn't think there's anything to gain-even for family-in half-assed plans to save their family.
-When all others are asleep, it's time for Satai to tinker and hopefully re-center himself somewhat. Making little RC things is peaceful and makes sense. Try for a working helicopter. If Sake's awake, fly it around near him and laugh at how clumsy it is. Be a bit sad when Sake, irritated at the noise it makes, blows it into a wall and bends one of the propellers. Ask if he can enchant things with air magic and make them fly better: Be told he could do that, but would need something called 'Weasel Wine', which he currently does not have enough of.

>>393983
None of this is something that can be implemented TODAY, nor do any of these topics contain initial steps that can be implemented today. When making suggestions, please try to address the player prompt-in this case, 'what's the plan for today?'. Maaaaybe the Volunteer thing could be a plan for the day-but there is NO WAY to legally just drop in and be a volunteer same-day the idea is had-and I see no assertion about Armas using Soul Guise/Deception to cheat his way in. If you repost these, please actually address the implementation of plans, not just the overarching theory-just the one does no good.
>>394041
For some reason I feel like the universe expects the impossible from me today. I wonder why.
>>394119
Given there's a print-out sitting on the desk outside my room, I pick it up on my way back from my shower to peruse it. …News clippings, that's not…. huh. This is about magic happenings. Where'd Satai find thi….oh.

OH

This guy-'Blade' or whatever horseshit pseudonym he uses-I recognize him. Well, not HIM-but his sword. It's one of the ones Blackbeard had-SB, can you back me up on this?
>"The description matches perfectly to one of the swords Blackbeard was noted to possess when encountered in that downtown office-presumably it is the same weapon."
So… so some magic-less shit that stumbled on a lucky sword… challenged the Owner to a duel. My god, that's fucking amazing.
>"I for one hope to read more news about this individual."
Shit, if for nothing else to read up on the train wreck as it happens. On to other news… BB and Armin, STILL going at it? Wonder if I might be able to partner up with the Craftsman….wait, how the fuck would I contact him? Article doesn't mention anything, and it's not like he's got a webpage or….

…Okay, verified he does not, in fact have a web-page.

Before I log back off the computer though… I get to thinking-and call Camella mid-jog, because I can.
>[Camella]"Yes?"
"Do you know why Go Ping might have apologized to me?"
>[Camella]"Not the other way around?"
"Yeah."
>[Camella]"I'll guess, then… that you haven't done him any favors recently he could have felt shitty about not paying back?"
"Nope."
>[Camella]"Might have something to do with me then-he was acting a bit guilty after he helped me get that dream I mentioned set up."
"No kidding."
>[Camella]"Pretty sure I'm not what one might call a kidder."
"True enough. New topic-money."
>[Camella]"What about it?"
"Get ahead of everyone a bit so they can't overhear you too much."
>[Camella]"….Okay, now WHAT?"
"How much do you want, realistically speaking, for teaching the Russians chakra stuff?"
>[Camella]"…You're asking me?"
"Sure. Not exactly a handy reference sheet on the topic for me to use. I'm thinking five grand for the training so far. That workable?"
>[Camella]"…Yes… I still don't know why you're okaying this with me."
"Why wouldn't I make sure my second in command's okay with my decisions regarding the company?"
>[Camella]"Do you really want me to answer that?"
"I was mostly making conversation-though if you have an issue I'm all ears."
>[Camella]"….No, nothing."
"So… don't want to talk about your debt to Lo Fang? Okay, I'm just guessing on the Lo Fang part, but the debt for the new leg."
>[Camella]"I... do not know that I want to talk about that with you."
Well, that's how she wants to be, okay. I can indeed firmly identify when she's not going to budge on something.
"Alternative topic then-how'd that date with the Owner go?"
I can nearly feel the smile that's turns her lips and colors her words through the phone.
>[Camella]"He… was actually a perfect gentleman. I was pleasantly surprised."
And she doesn't sound that enthused either-pleasant's not exactly a word one'd match up with a prospective partner-works for some, maybe, but I really don't have Camella pegged as one of them. Still, it's clear she's not THAT keen on talking more-so I take the hint.
"All right, talk to you later."
And I WILL get you to talk about what's bugging you close-mouthed Italian piece of work.
*CLICK*
Okay… five grand for training…. ten grand for the missions, because officer or no she didn't really have to do much… eh, if I'm paying one officer, should pay the other… Matvey hasn't really fucked anything up and I did kind of dump some shit on his head-so he gets fifteen….. and then I might as well up everyone's pay for that Ironhead job, just so I stay consistent (mostly) about payroll. So… five for everyone involved on top of the three they already got, and… four as a bonus to those that had to do the actual 'pretend to be a police officer' parts. …Oh cool, Oyak lets me put notes on fund distributions? Okay… Wanted to make sure you got some money right away, so I set that first payment up even though I wasn't sure about what the total on that mission was going to be. Soon as I knew, I paid out the difference and bonuses. Right, that should cover it. Okay……
BUSINESS FUNDS: -$152,000 $474,347.00
Right then.

-I leave a sticky note on Andrei's computer asking him to look into the coordinates I got from the Owner, and let me know anything unusual about the island they attach to.
-I swing by the Armory, grab that spare satellite phone, and drop it off outside Dávgon's room (guy's still asleep) with a note saying it's his now.
-I note Gianni to be blearily making his way towards the doors mumbling about shit and guts, not even energetic enough for his normal lecherous quips… and… wearing DUKE'S suit. After I wave him off, a quick check inside the Beast's room shows that Duke is, in fact, now wearing Gianni's suit. …Ooookay.
-Get an early morning call-two of them, actually. First one's from Jung-seems he's willing to dole out fifty K for a solid tip on when it's safe to move back to the area. I file that bit of information away for future reference.
-Second call's from Long Wang-seems he wanted to let me know that there's a lull in contract work right now-and the way he phrases it makes me think it's not just for the Triads. Seems everyone's maneuvering since the recent spat of hectic exchanges for some heavy-duty trouble-but until everyone's ready no one's acting yet. …Good thing I've padded company and personal accounts recently, might need to make that last for a bit.
-I also get a text from Yavuz. Seems he's drafted up some initial plans of how to make flexible piping sturdy enough for my needs-and has hit a snag in the material department. His plans require him to have Iridium-sixty five kilograms of it, in fact. He presents me with the option of waiting (and paying more) for him to find it himself, or save time and money by finding it for him. He tentatively puts the 'deadline' for my decision as four days off.
-I check with Amen-and find out that sure enough, Dávgon's only clothes are still handmade and derived from animal hide-and not in the modern way. In an effort to see him fit in a bit more, I ask Amen to suggest more modern alternatives similar to his garb. I am told that 'Metrosexual Scotsman' is probably the closest theme, and Amen would be readily able to provide such clothing. How can I refuse?
-I leave Lyubov and Vlad both notes about the Tank and it's location, and leave the keys with Lyubov's note.
>>394181
-I call up the Riihivuori kids in Skype and have another silly, pointless conversation with them and enjoy myself immensely making them laugh. Half an hour later, I ask where Big Crazy is-and am told he left last night with Markku to do something. …Well, I'm told he left with 'Big Mistah Beard' which is hilarious but I'm pretty sure that's what they meant.
-When I notice Dávgon waking up, I go over to bug him a bit. Specifically, I show him the once-human-then-monster-now-golem beast Gianni, Duke and the Red Caps have been working on. While he schools his face to relative stillness, his soul's afire with excitement and wonder. He comments it doesn't have a soul, a pseudosoul or a soul-like control scheme to be used, and wonders how I plan to control it. I explain that's part of why I hired him, and ask what he could do that'd be compliant with purposeful possession, direct and indirect control and (possibly) even autonomous function. He counters by asking me (politely) to leave him alone as he starts to set up a basic pseudosoul to serve as a template to format into whatever structure I want later. I give him his space and his time to work on it as he grumbles about how spiritually ravaged the giant body is, chuckling at the idle thought of how Duke will react to finding a different person working on the golem. I arm Dávgon with a barrel of vodka to give to Duke as an icebreaker when he wakes up.
-I have the thought to summon Woosencraft again-but no dice, Abloec's MIA, even when I repeat his name thrice. Guess he's out on a job then.
-As the morning presses ever onward, I get two calls at the same time-and only pick up the one from the number I know: Hafaz. Seems he and his finished their mission, have gotten friendly (ish) with the Yakuza… and have a tidy sum to deposit in the company account, as agreed. He also notes that for the next few days the five of them will be mostly going to Ito's to work on Chakra, being characteristically cagey about the why of it. Well, he did what he said he'd do, got an in with the Yakuza-and the company made money off it. I'm not complaining.
BUSINESS FUNDS: +$85,000 $559,347.00
-The call I didn't pick up left a message. Seems some shithead got my number from…. wait, from the Owner? And… and the caller wants me to KILL the Owner. …And is offering a measely five K? Is this a joke? I keep listening to the message-and it gets wierder. The caller says that the Owner TOLD them to call me if they had complaints-hell, actively encouraged the guy to try and put a hit on him. It doesn't add up… until I hear the name the guy leaves: 'Blade'. It's that fucker with Blackbeard's sword. This shit went from insulting to hilarious with just one little word. …I wonder how I could 'best' respond to that message… have to mull it over.
-With my limited current energy, I ponder whether to try Overcharging Reinforcement and seeing how I do at using it to account for Recoil, versus further Dual Orientation practice since I KNOW there's no way, none at all, that I could practice both-Dual Orientation practice is way too energy intensive, not even accounting for my depleted state. So I stick with what I've got in a groove with, and keep up the Dual Orientation practice.
-About twenty minutes before the Russians head out I finally have one beautiful, full one second long Dual Orientation. For that fleeting moment I stably run Reinforcement and Soul Sensing before it all collapses-but I finally succeeded in doing what before I could only do with my spirit animal's aid. Score one for Armas. …It only took re-depleting myself to zero to pull off.
-Lyubov says something to me that I'm not really paying attention to-and it's only after the fact I realize she spoke in, and I answered in… Japanese. When I ask Sake about this, he merely snickers and assures me I didn't get any brain damage. Probably. That last remark was him being a dick. Probably.
-After the Russians head out to Ito's, I ask SB if he could have that Nazinaut shadow move me around like he does-and am informed the big-ass shadow would literally break me apart if it tried to move me like SB does. At which point SB outlines a rough idea for disseminating a plethora of micropockets through my flesh that can contain shadows, to act like metaphorical snow shoes for the Nazinaut so it can walk on my snow without breaking me. His metaphor's shit, but the idea he's going on about sounds pretty good. I'll have to ask Gianni about that some time.
-I also ask SB about feeding energy to Whaitiri through the Shadowmere he's got to power boons-and am told he already asked her about it and no dice-she only cares, for boons at least, about actual magical flesh, not just flat energy. A bummer, but there it is.
>>394422
-I ask Amen how Adelat's doing-seems she's still alive and well, and no longer in the sewers-and that the contract still hasn't been broken. Hm… what was she up to down there, I wonder…
>>394435
I spend the rest of the later morning and the following noon time…. being introspective.

I ponder a great many things-my failure to even properly dimple my cheeks (even though I've never really been able to make 'dimples' and probably would need to outright fleshcraft to pull that off). A failure at making a NON manic-as-shit smile, general trouble recognizing expressions… there's shit going on here. I used to be a great actor-
>"And therein lies the problem."
With SB to bounce ideas off of, I discover a wholly different problem than I expected, and one I don't really prefer to the issue I thought I'd be pondering.

I've never taken acting lessons. Never been part of a drama club, debate club-not a single memory of being in ANYTHING related to acting or talking in school. Same deal once I enlisted-I never did infiltration missions that required deception or anything like that. Sure, I wasn't socially retarded (I don't think) but the point is that right up until I left for Istanbul… I was about as good of an actor as I am now-that is, a shitty one (that now uses magic!).

So why was that different when I first moved to Istanbul-and why did it go away? My lapses in paying attention to mundane skills I already had, those I can grasp-but why, why the HELL did I go from 'shitty actor but dedicated troll' in the army and prior, to 'good actor not really a troll' and then right back to 'shitty actor but dedicated troll' again? Over the course of years, maybe that'd make sense-but the timeframes involved through understandability out the window. Worst of all-SB and I, Sake and HB-not a one of us has a good explanation for why for a brief period I was more capable in this one field. Understandably, after such a jarring realization the four of us are rather thorough picking through my memories and 'checking' all my other skills I'd assumed atrophied in the wake of gaining magic in a hurry-and no other category has this format. Everything else I either clearly remember being good at for quite some time and then losing my edge as I stopped practicing the skill so often-completely and utterly unlike what happened with my bullshit-fu.

Shit, this questions' bothering me enough I'd almost go to SM or Ogrimir or something for an answer-something is WRONG, and I get a gut feeling it's related to that missing month.

…On the plus side, I suppose, SB CAN see the memories of being that good in my head-and he's happy to help me work on getting them reintegrated with my mind each time I sleep, but as beneficial as that may be… it's still… off. I decide to supplement the 'restoration' with a renewed focus on the mundane aspects of interaction and reading people.

Still troubled over the memory shenanigans I've got to deal with, I decide to switch gears to something a bit more productive-and snag Silja. I have a bit of a heart to heart with her, and get her to agree to look at me largely naked-which I NORMALLY would have used as the lead-in for a trolling, but I got shit to take care of. Specifically, I'd seen a year-old picture of me at a beach in california… and I had a completely different physique than I have now. And when I get Silja to promise to be objective and show her what I look like now…. my fears prove founded.

The conversation we have when I show her the old picture… is probably going to stick in my mind for a long while.
"I used to look like this. Just months ago, in fact, before I started on this whole gaining power and magic thing. And I'm starting to worry that I'll keep drifting away. That before too long, people will look at me and not just say 'whoa, look at that guy'- they'll say 'freak', and a while after that, they'll say 'monster'. Then maybe just scream and run without saying anything at all."
>[Silja]"I know you said that humanity is recursive and said it's like a slippery slope, but you don't look THAT different-"
"That's the point though-I look different ENOUGH you have to qualify your reassurances. I don't want… that to happen. I need to stop it before it goes too far. I hope- I know I can. I think if I know exactly what I want to look like, then maybe I can make that happen- I have some shapeshifting powers right now, you know? And I didn't consciously make myself look like this, but maybe if I push for it I'll be able to make my real form be something more like what I want it to be. Will you help me figure out what that is?"
>[Silja]"I don't know that I'm the best person to ask."
"Of course you are-you're the best person I could ask in the entire company, and make no mistake about it. So… will you?"
>[Silja]"Of course Armas. I'd be honored."
"Thank you so much, Silja. I really hope I can make this work- and I couldn't trust anyone else with it."
The gun in my hand begins to feel a bit… warm.
"I... I know this is getting a bit ahead of ourselves, but when you've gotten to looking human again and are worrying about details like this, tweaking what you look like, I would be honored to help you, too. With enough effort, working together... I think you'll turn out absolutely perfect."
Now I'm certain-Silja… is blushing at the praise. She's blushing-my rifle is blushing.

With that thought to put a smile on my face, I snap my mind out of the dangerously dour train of thought I'd put it on-notice that it's already nearly dinnertime, holy fuck-and get on with my day. ….AFTER I have Amen package one ton's worth of the choicest cuts of meat within the remaining Doonongaes flesh I have and send it to the Asitane for the Owner with a note, reading:
"I would be pleased to have the discussion you mentioned at your convenience."
I've barely finished setting Amen to his task when Lyubov bugs me-REMINDS me about her thing with Hillevi. Right, that 'sorta dying' thing. I head over to the beast's room, find Dávgon still at work, and ask him to get ready to head out for a bit-he tells me he'll be ready in ten.

Ten minutes later, Dávgon and I are headed out with Satai, Lyubov and Hillevi to the sniping grounds where they do their training sessions, to watch… as Lyubov's very nearly frozen alive. I keep an eye on her soul and watch for Dávgon to express concern-but nothing seems to go wrong, and Lyubov, now an ashen white-blue from the cold, lethargically makes her way through a string of chakra exercises… for about half an hour, before Dávgon whispers in my ear that she should probably be warmed back up now. I glance at Hillevi, waiting a handful of seconds to see if she'll make the call herself-and when she doesn't, I have SB whisper it in her ear so it looks like her idea. Hillevi 'removes' the cold from Lyubov, Dávgon gives her a quick once-over to make sure she's okay-and that's that. I can tell Lyubov's happy about the event, even if not outright ecstatic-seems it really helped her Chakra stability.

Dávgon and I head back to the mansion-with Dávgon, still having made no comment about his new wardrobe trucking right back into the beast's room to keep at work-while I decide what to do with the rest of my evening.
>>394441
I'll help you keep that promise to yourself by ignoring your massive post. Teamwork!

I decide….

To spend the ENTIRE remaining handful of hours in the evening doing shooting practice, which I haven't bothered with for a while. It feels good to 'dust off' my practice and get back into it. Leaves me in a good mood-which is why I'm smiling when, on return to the mansion, I Sense someone in my room. …Lyubov huh? Her soul feels… pretty ambiguously open. Hrn-welp, let's check out what's going on there.

I open the door to my room to spot a pajama-clad Lyubov on my bed, looking up from a book she'd been reading. She springs into oration the moment she sees me-and her expression, her tone-hell, even her soul make me think the speech is premade. All the same, she renders it in typically bubbly, word-salad inclined Lyubovian fashion.
“I’m not really that good at keeping my impulses in check and sometimes I do stuff without thinking about the wider consequences and I haven’t had a lover in over a year. Not since I got stabbed in the back and put in the Black Army, and anyway I don’t want to betray Camella and I think what we did last week would really really really hurt her if she found out and I don’t want that. I really admire you and her both and I think you should go for it and stop leading her on, you’re a giant flirt sometimes and you should take how she feels into account. But if you’re not going to be with her and you clear it up with her, then what we were doing would be ok. But I don’t want to hurt her.”

…Well then.


So how the fuck should I respond to that?
[Next update tomorrow night. 22 hour posting window begins… now.]
As before, not a new day, no new orders can be issued to minions
>>
No. 394824 ID: cc1982

Huh, what's this? Someone in your room looking through your stuff without your permission? Babbling nonsense as well? As you were getting ready to go to sleep? If you weren't in such a good mood this might just piss you off. Usher her out of the room while telling her that perhaps she should stick to her strengths and keep the flights of fancy confined to her friends. However if she wishes to discontinue Armas' training that's perfectly fine both HB and sake expressed interest.
>>
No. 394827 ID: a76cbb

Palm your face and lean against the doorway. Ask her what the hell gave you the idea Camella had those feelings. (Note: Maybe Camella opened up to Lyubov?) Further note that you're not leading her on - as much as you're not leading Lyubov on. Reassure her most of the flirting is just that, and that your 'thing' with her is just... that thing.

Honestly.

If she continues to prove inconsolable, reassure her you'll have a serious talk with Camella on the subject and that Lyubov doesn't need to worry about stepping on toes.

If this doesn't placate her, shoo her from the room and go to sleep.
>>
No. 394830 ID: 602cbb

"Lubov, what are you doing in here."
"No, this could have waited for another time and most certainly did not have to be done in my personal chambers. At night. When I come to sleep"

Send her away and make sure Amen informs you if somebody or something tries to enter your room again without permission.

Send her away, get some sleep.
>>
No. 394915 ID: 97ac6a

Well, this situation is only a symptom of a deeper problem, the question of what is up with Camella. It's time for a quick conference with the various head voices in accelerated time. We should consider:
* The fact she knows SM and sold him something to buy hair renewal potions. It's possible she sold him something that has caused her behaviour.
* The connections to the Triads she made in our absence. Lo Fang could be exerting some influence here, given the warnings we've received.
* The job(s) she did when we were away and who she could have met.
* Why the Owner is interested. According to legend, one of dragons' common pastimes was kidnapping princesses, and, as in much else, it may have more than a grain of truth to it. They must have a motive for this, and we know the importance of royal blood. Is it possible that they are trying to breed themselves powerful servitor children by crossing one of their own draconic bloodlines with royalty? Furthermore, if that does occur, could the Owner be interested in whatever it is that makes Camella "special" and use her for a similar purpose. He doubtless has the power to manipulate her to achieve this. An unlikely possibility, but not impossible.
>>
No. 394944 ID: 3af16b

>>394824
>Be sarmy, make her leave the room
>>394830
>Be exasperated, make her leave the room

Armas knows Lyubov well enough to know she won't let this drop if she thinks it's an issue. Delaying won't solve this.

>>394827
>Ask what makes her think Camella feels so.

[Lyubov] "Ah, well she was screaming mad when you left that letter and she was swearing and cussing at you for it because she thought you were taunting her. But, um, after she read the letter to us I thought well maybe that's just how you are and I figured you're no good at being actually polite, so the letter was as close as you could get, because it seemed genuine to me. So I went and bought a couple of "Communications for Couples" books and I left one in here for you and one her room and I guess she thought I was trying to make fun of her."

[Lyubov] "Um, well, so we talked about it last week over a glass of wine. And she was really upset after you yelled at her, and anyway she likes you more than just as a boss, I'm sure of that. And I think you like her too, there's a bunch of jokes you don't make that you could be making, like when you gave that fext heart to her you didn't joke about how you were giving your heart to her, we talked about that."


>>394827
>Reassure her that your emotions are compartmentalized.

Armas being confused on the matter isn't the issue. Armas has enough information to be able to understand Lyubov's perspective, which is that the issue is Camella would be hurt.

>>394915
>Compressed time review of the facts relating to Camella, conference with SoulBros, Hummingbird, and Iron Trick

You already know that they're going to tell you Camella's got the hots for you. They've been saying so for the past couple of days, all of them, even Hummingbird. If there's a complicating issue they might recognize it and tell you.
>>
No. 394984 ID: 76c597

What DID happen last week? The bathing suit thing, or is Armas tired of his long dry spell? "Psychoanalyst Lyubov, huh? Okay, here’s the thing. I like Camella a great deal, and suspect she may have warmed to me as well, but we’re not exactly joined at the hip here. We’re in a weird place, she and I. She’s never admitted any sort of feeling for me – and I’ve never bothered to quantify my occasionally less-than-honorable intentions. Hell, I’m not even sure she considers herself my friend or my keeper. And she doesn’t seem inclined to change things, given the way she dodges my attempts at serious conversation. So yeah. Camella: great girl, amazing fighter, mildly terrible friend – not that I can talk – but so far? That’s as far as it goes. Feel free to tell her so, if you like.

“Also, waiting for me in my bed chambers in your PJs? Imagining the reaction of other people – like Camella – to that is keeping me amused enough to even have this conversation.”

Given Titus didn’t have a Minion section today, hoping I can update him now:
Titus Orders
Talk with Satai about families. Wonder if Hillevi is underestimating the danger. Shunning has historically led to suicide and similar terrible outcomes. Wonder how he knew that; maybe Titus saw a TV special or something.

After some thought, go see Hillevi with a request for more ball-freezing torture. Fail to find a delicate way to ask Hillevi about the health benefits of virgin’s blood. Ask anyway. If she doesn’t rule it out outright:

Um. Do you think maybe- that is, are you a- how much- um. Scratch beard furiously and decide to drop the subject like Chugainov desperately clinging to the edge of a cliff.

To pick self up afterwards, hand off P155/Kevlar material to Amen and start taking orders among the Russians for custom suits, trenchcoats, greatcoats. Further armor paneling or leather cost extra. Ask Amen if Titus can watch it make those – he’s familiar with modern armor, but not the weaving of it so much.
>>
No. 395024 ID: 9718f3

>>394827
and then
>>394984
is the closest to what I want to say. So Upvotes I guess.

Maybe jokingly suggest Sake could help her out with that "haven't had a lover for over a year" thing. Wait, no. That is a terrible idea.
>>
No. 395029 ID: 431fa8

>>394812
On the one hand, minions showing up in the middle of the night trying to manage our interpersonal relationships is annoying. On the other hand, there is a woman in our room wearing less clothes than usual in the middle of the night, talking about her past lovers and trying to clear the air about our current romances. That's a not-so-subtle hint that there's something to move on here, and it would be silly not to take advantage. When was the last time we got any that we can actually remember? And Lyubov is in no position to betray us even if she wanted to; at worst she'll cause petty relationship drama. Putting up with drama in exchange for sex is something men have been doing ever since women were invented.

Exasperated sigh, and I-wish-I-were-joking tone. "If Camella's hiding some kind of tender desire for romance beneath her spiky shell of derision and refusal to talk about anything unless I'm yanking statements out of her, then maybe she should reconsider that shell. As things stand, if she wants that to go somewhere she should try to be a less mediocre friend and drop a hint that she'd actually be interested. Since she's not doing either, she's obviously not inclined to change how things are.

More friendly now. "Now if she were inclined to, say, greet me from my bed in the middle of the night with lines about how impulsive she is and how long it's been since she got any, I might be inclined to take that fairly obvious hint. Since she's highly unlikely to do that or anything like it, I'm not going to be with her and am free to act on such hints when other ladies decide to... act on impulse." Smile invitingly, and yes we were just kicking ourselves for dependence on magic, but a light you-want-this soul guise wouldn't hurt right about now either. "Care to stay a while?"


Whether that works out or not, we should seriously consider where we're gonna start getting some. We're rich and powerful now, and that means we should have at least one lover (possibly several). Paranoia and our busy life demand that we not make a habit of going out and sleeping with random mundanes from clubs or what have you, Camella would make for a miserable and stressful romance even if the sex would be amazing, Silja's a gun right now even if she's a great person who would be a decent prospect, Hillevi is our ward and therefore out of the question even were there not Valkonen problems. Any of our minions would be a fine choice in practical terms, but failing that we'll need to make locating a lover or two that we can trust a project. Make a note to check the collected listings of the Russians' relatives tomorrow, see if any of them are cute women. Getting an elf or something to magically swear to not act against us before hooking up seems like going to excessive lengths, but if we tried it without there would be a little paranoid voice in the back of our head ruining everything.
>>
No. 395039 ID: cf49fc

What the hell is wrong with all of you? Manipulating the thoughts and feelings of our employees is only right when it's funny! We should discuss this like civil adults, and prevent Camella the Absurdly Deadly Commando from being driven off the deep end because we were an insensitive jackass for too long.

And afterward, I don't know, we can trick Blade into attacking the President or something to make up for it. It's important we maintain our team, even at the cost of our trolling record. Otherwise one of them will probably dump us down a burning mineshaft or something.
>>
No. 395062 ID: d97a61

>>394284
I really just want to write this off as some crazy bitch in my room babbling about nonsense while leafing through my shit. After all, face value that's what this shit is-and I am NOT happy to have my planned rest interrupted.
>>394827
But, if one looks PAST that… the normally bubbly Lyubov actually sounds genuinely concerned about what's going on. Not so much what I've done to her-I get that-but what it means to Camella. Which, to be honest, I really hadn't considered. Not that way at least. Don't get me wrong, I like argumentative people quite a bit-but the way she's thick and thin skinned at the same time with that viperish tongue… eeeeehhh. No.

I lean against the doorframe, palming my face as I consider the opposed side of things. I've been, at best, an amazingly trollish friend to Camella since the get-go and only recently really toned that shit back-and first impressions matter a hell of a lot. So, just as I question why I would look at Camella like that-

"What gave you the idea Camella had those feelings, hm?
>>394944
>[Lyubov]"Ah, well she was screaming mad when you left that letter and she was swearing and cussing at you for it because she thought you were taunting her."
I suppress a laugh in the interest of getting the whole story-but yeah, that 'polite' letter shit was pretty funny.
>[Lyubov]"But, um, after she read the letter to us I thought well maybe that's just how you are and I figured you're no good at being actually polite, so the letter was as close as you could get, because it seemed genuine to me."
>"She's on the mark that you really don't know how to be polite unless there's the threat of immenent violence and general woe over your head."
Sh, listening.
>[Lyubov]"So I went and bought a couple of "Communications for Couples" books and I left one in here for you and one her room and I guess she thought I was trying to make fun of her."
"She knew you left the book?"
>[Lyubov]"So, not… initially?"
"Lyubov…"
>[Lyubov] "Um, well, so we talked about it last week over a glass of wine. And she was really upset after you yelled at her, and anyway she likes you more than just as a boss, I'm sure of that."
"Why?"
>[Lyubov]"You probably don't like 'woman's intuition' as an answer huh."
"Good guess there."
>[Lyubov]"Well, then, uh-body language and tone when she spoke about you versus other topics, how wordy she was in certain areas look a bunch of little things okay? But she didn't deny it when I asked her!"
"So you think she likes me."
>[Lyubov]" And I think you like her too, there's a bunch of jokes you don't make that you could be making, like when you gave that fext heart to her you didn't joke about how you were giving your heart to her, we talked about that."
>[HB]"You…. passed upon such a possible means of living up to your own ideals? I had thought I was beginning to grasp the minds of giants-what nonsense is this?"
>"I must admit satisfaction even the Hummingbird finds your lack of punnage and ribaldry suspect in that instance."
Look, I just-no, no, you aren't pulling me into a longwinded mental debate while I'm in the middle of this.
>"And the 'master' learns his own limitations."
My shadow's keen on facetious obsequiousness, who would have guessed?
>"I can do unctuous too if you require."
Pass.
>>395029
"There were reasons, but that's not the point-If Camella's hiding some kind of tender desire for romance beneath her spiky shell of derision and refusal to talk about anything unless I'm yanking statements out of her, then maybe she should reconsider that shell. As things stand, if she wants that to go somewhere she should try to be a less mediocre friend and drop a hint that she'd actually be interested. Since she's not doing either, she's obviously not inclined to change how things are."
>[Lyubov]"You're both always off doing things and never around each other long enough to actually make talking it out possible, come ON boss!"
"Yet here we are, Camella and I still distant."
I put on an easy smile with only a faint hint of lechery behind my confidence, rubbing my chin.
"Now if she were inclined to, say, greet me from my bed in the middle of the night with lines about how impulsive she is-"
Lyubov shifts in position-
"-and how long it's been since she got any, I might be inclined to take that fairly obvious hint."
Now she's outright squirming, her soul clearly in turmoil-most likely for the very reason she just flat out told me. I keep talking-because that's what I do.
"Since she's highly unlikely to do that or anything like it, I'm not going to be with her and am free to act on such hints when other ladies decide to... act on impulse."
No better time then now to see how this works… let's see, soul of Don Juan, James Bond, Patrick Swayze and a young Hasselhof all jumbled together, personality discarded and pure magnetism left behind. Soul of easy charm and warmth-a man that's happy to make people… happy. A soul… that doesn't SCREAM all of this, just gently put it out there…. how's it look?
>"Can't assess it."
>[HB]"Wrong gender and species."
Well, looks okay to me so-

"Care to stay a while?"
Lyubov's cheeks flush and she bits her lip-but the sultry look swiftly fades as her brow krinkles and she walks out-I can see thoughts of Camella weighing heavily on her soul-she must really respect her. It's with this clinical thought to conveniently kill the direction my mind had briefly been going, that I watch her walk out the door. So nothing happened-doesn't change the fact I've spotted a new bit of fun that could be had at home.

-Which I can think about tomorrow-today, actually, fuck it's past midnight, right.

Okay, sleep.

TUESDAY,FEBRUARY 2nd, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $705,275.04
BUSINESS FUNDS: $559,347.00
CASH: $9,170.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 90%
WINTER ENERGY: 19/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 13/50

I wake up… feeling not too shabby. I think I'm getting 'used' to not waking up chock full of magic. Okay….









So what's the plan for today?
>>
No. 395096 ID: 7c31d2

Iridium is a dense metal. Dense metals are more plentiful under the earths crust. Amen has no depth limits. Ask Amen if he has the ability to mine us the iridium we need without pissing off anything that would kill us
>>
No. 395123 ID: a76cbb

[Rostislav]
>Rostislav ponders on why he saw Lyubov leaving Armas's room last night while heading to the bathroom himself.
>He chalks it up to a) Trolling Boss (meh) or b) sex with Boss (slightly less meh but still meh)
>He recalls training with Ito.
>He hopes to all that is holy that Ito's less energetic today, because holy shit, that was terrifying.
>He still throws self full-on into anything Chakra-related. Rostislav recalls the even fights of the last time going to the club, and wants to develop a trick of his own. But first he needs to learn chakra. After all, every bullshit enemy or person he's met has it.

[ARMAS]

Make a mental note to at least greet Camella before you head out, or something. Lyubov's right about one thing - you don't talk to each other much unless it's about business. If she becomes evasive, well, too bad. Gotta keep pinging that shell.

As for shit to do...

Check for replies from Owner, we need to know whether we're meeting with him or not in order to structure the day. Otherwise, asking Amen about >>395096 , or really any significant and interesting mineral, sounds good.
>>
No. 395194 ID: dfc57c

[Armas]
* Research the Boozy Floozy, Hyougo Hanmaki. Task Andrei to look up whats publicly, and not so publicly, available on her. Ask Satai if that clipping service he found can deliver magic clippings for East Asia of the last two weeks, too.

<experiment>
Place some sheets of paper and pen next to your bedside. Before going to sleep, start doodling on the papers for a quarter hour. It is best if you pay the least attention to what you are doodling you can. The sleepier you are when doing this, the better. Do not put any chakra in the paper, pen, the act of drawing or the drawn thing. Then go to sleep.
The next morning look at your results from the night. If one of them looks interesting, powerful, inspirational, beautiful or dangerous, place it aside. Do this for five days.
</experiment>
>>
No. 395213 ID: 6616f3
 

>>394984
Re: Titus orders.

As for Armas... well, for one thing, we're coming up on Lo Fang's training again, aren't we? if we have a plan for HB, now would be a good time.

Besides that, I think we need to drop everything and troll Blade now. The Owner practically handed us an engraved invitation, giving him our number like that.

Call him back. Tell him you want to meet on neutral ground to discuss this. Where you meet isn't really important - for kicks, pick somewhere out of From Russia With Love (Sulukule, maybe the train station), Topkapi, or the teashop in Somersault in a Coffin.

I think the brothers are going to be on-board with messing with this guy, but if they aren't for some reason, we can table things. It's just a diversion. Still, point out trolling one guy repeatedly can be more fun than prank phone calls. Get Hillevi in on it. Claim it's to train her acting skills, or something.

When you meet, feel free to adopt a ridiculous accent of your choice, wear a Bogart-esque overcoat and fedora, or otherwise be over-the-top; doesn't matter, we'll have only a bit part in the events to follow.

Start the meeting off with, "So you're the new guy making a splash in this town. Blade. Word is you've got balls the size of bowling balls, friend. Trying to take out the Owner? Dangerous shit."

Make small talk, make it seem like you're being talked around by Blade to taking the contract. Make it seem like he's convincing you.

Then Hillevi (wrapped in shadow/SB) makes an entrance. Shout, "Assassins! You fool! You led them here! He KNOWS!" Whip out the Judge and fire on her, then allow her to kill you - an obviously fatal wound, but one that wouldn't kill you immediately, a hole in the gut or something (keep a bit of energy in reserve to Hybrid Healing when Blade stops paying attention to us). "My only regret is I never got to say -" then 'die'.

Let Hillevi improv, but SB feel free to back her up (vocally or magically) if she needs it.

If he attacks, make it clear he's outclassed- and Hillevi can leave him alive as 'not worth killing-yet' or 'you have some potential' or otherwise villain monologue.

If Blade has any sense at all, he'll run - Hillevi can chase him for a bit before Sake shows up to save the day. Maybe Sake can tell Blade about his grand destiny (talking magical animal companions tend to do that), or otherwise take the guy under his metaphorical wing.

I also have some ideas for the first training mantage if Sake wants them (see vid).
>>
No. 395245 ID: 30c02a
File 133253327186.jpg - (9.76KB , 300x300 , 41oFeTcu6AL__SL500_AA300_.jpg )
395245

Ok Armas. You are not as active as you used to be, but that comes with your current situation and plus, it's a good thing. You get some time to work on your Chakra stuff and controlling your body before you accidentally sweat doony poison in stress situations killing everybody, friend and foe alike.
With that said, you have two man tasks for today.
First is to keep the dual orientation going for at least 10 seconds, manage your energy accordingly to make this happen. You have been doing this for a while, you should have a good idea how much you can get out of your current energy. I want you to discard that and get more out of it. Ration your energy basically. SB should be able to tell you how it's going as he can see your energy better than you can for some fucked up reason. So before you even start grabbing energy to funnel, SB should be able to tell you if your chakras are reacting the right way, kind of like if your muscles are in the right position.
Second is controlling your poison. Since today is all about control it's good for you. Gianni might be too tired, but check him anyway to see if you can get some help. If not, you have SB, he acted as a channel for Cannibalgoddess during the installation, he might have some insight on how to limit the poison to where you want it from that combined with all the fleshcrafting knowledge he gained before. I would suggest you start with controlling sweat glands as you won't be sweating something that can kill flipping everyone around you. When you can control those accurately, you can move on to mixing in the poison (having amen take it afterward for safe storage with the limits that he can't do anything to it or allow anyone not cleared by you to do anything with it until you say so so he doesn't do something horrible).

wait a minute
>TUESDAY,FEBRUARY 2nd, 2011
>TUESDAY,FEBRUARY 1st, 2011
either a typo or some temporal shenanigans. Why do you think it's still Tuesday Armas?

[Zhenya]
-Be excited for some unknown reason. Realize that it's about time for her guns magazine to be sho-.
-FFFFFF that was back in the army. Be slightly saddened and resolve to go resubscribe with her new identity after getting everything settled with that.
-She does some more fire training, careful to keep extinguishers close by.
-Join Ito's chakra class. This last batch of money has left her feeling the pay unnecessary but she promises to come back to teach after.
-She considers a gift for her friend Lyubov. Decides to go grab her some music books to practice with and some guitar strings($50)...and a toy kaleidoscope($30).
>>
No. 395247 ID: 9718f3

Ask SB if he wants that Og advice yet, it has been over a month since he said one month, but things may have changed for him since then.

Lyubov made at least one good point last night, we should probably spend some time around Camella just hanging out. So, "Hey Camella, got plans for lunch? I was thinking of making Kelpie Crisps if you're interested. My day's pretty open so whenever is good for you really."

If she agrees, make the food for whenever she says she's free to eat. Casual conversation, maybe mention that some mundane guy challenged Owner to a duel and wasn't vaporized for it. And now he's trying to hire us to kill Owner. Because Owner gave him our number if we had any "complaints". Not sure which of the two is funnier, though Owner definitely has the better sense of humour.
>>
No. 395269 ID: 3af16b

ARMAS ORDERS
~Call Camella and schedule lunch
~Call up Labombard’s phone number. Hopefully you’ll reach him, and be able to confirm that he’s at least ok. Ask if you can bring some home cooking by for him. If you can’t reach him, you’ll need to look for ways to find him.
~Which likely means either paying the Sometimes Merchant (bad idea) or making new contacts (useful anyway)
~Ask Amen about getting stuff from the mantle of the earth. At the very least his mocking will be entertaining.
~Work on the “Mess with Blade’s Head” plan
~Talk to Camella
~Meet up with Lyubov for training
~Go out to that magic bar Sake likes, meet people, try to get a feel for the local gossip. Seek out new merchants and contacts. Ask the bartenders if they’ve seen Labombard, you’re worried about your friend is all.
~Come home, burn off energy with low-energy hybrid healing practice.


What times do we know Camella is free? Not too many, recently. The four hours in the afternoon, really.

Give her a call, and invite her to lunch.

"Hey Camella, good morning! How's things?"

"Alright. Actually I wanted to have lunch with you. It's been awhile since we've done anything together, and I had a conversation last night that I wanted to talk with you about."

"It was mostly about you, actually, and it was with a person who respects you a lot. I'll get into details over lunch. Speaking of which, what do you say to me cooking up a nice magic meal while the men are out, and having it ready for you when you get back?"

"Well we wouldn't be eating in the dining room. I can have Amen set up another room somewhere. I really don't want to rub it in their faces either. But look, you pick the dish, I'll do the rest. And if missing some sleep is a concern I could ask Sake to give you a little help. He won't mind."

"So, see you at noon."

Then cook up whatever she wanted (probably kelpie krisps, maybe some other dish, doesn't matter since you know what you're doing). Since you're still doing low-energy training, you'll need to pick a dish that's fairly light on the meat for yourself.

Have Amen set up a room with lots of windows for this: maybe a sun room or something with a view out at the street. A table, couple of chairs, a nice arrangement of artificial flowers and a little light music that will grow quieter as you two talk. If Camella agreed to have Sake give her another weasel-rub, ask him to be the one to lead her to the room you'll be having lunch in.

At lunch:

"So, one piece of business before we start with the personal visit. Yesterday Lyubov had Hillevi freeze her down, nearly to death, while she ran through chakra exercises. Dávgon and I observed. She made solid gains. I think it'd be worth leaving the option open to the others. Your opinion?"

"I’m reluctant to force them into it. Giving them the choice will be useful. Besides giving them a sense of control over how they deal with this problem, it'll give us a good idea of who future leadership candidates are. You and Matvey are fine, but the company's going to keep growing."

"She handled it pretty well, but I think I'd want myself or Dávgon present for a couple more."

"Cutting right to the quick, huh? Yeah, I mentioned a conversation. I spoke to a person who I could see really respects you, right down to their soul. What that person said was that I need to talk to you, and that we need to figure out where we stand.”

“Yeah, where we stand. Things haven’t been quite the same between us since I came back. I kinda wish you’d come with me on the Finland trip, but I can appreciate that you wanted space. I get that. That was fine. I kinda wish we’d talked more while I was on the trip. That was my fault. Then you got hurt and I came back, and you made it pretty plain you wanted a little space. Which was fine, you’ve gotten yourself established, I had a company to run and a bloodline to finish. And I know that prank I pulled with it put a lot more distance between us.”

“Yeah, at best, at the very best, I’ve been the friend that likes teasing and pranking too much, and that was going too far. I’ve apologized for it before, and-“

“Fine. But I know I hurt you, and I know that you haven’t forgiven me yet because you’ve been hurting me right back.”

"Yeah, you've been messing with me. I keep trying to talk to you, and you keep blowing me off. Or like a couple of weeks ago, you were belittling me, and not solely in jest either, there was a kernel of seriousness to it that was really annoying. And a little before that, you were treating me like I was mentally deficient, again, not solely in jest. And nearly first thing when I came back, you made a demand with the 5 million. When you originally brought it up, how part of the bounty would pay for your leg, I was fine with that. But the way you presented it was worrying, there was this acid edge to something that you wanted to seem like a lighthearted heads-up. And it hurts that you don’t want to talk about that either.”

“And now you’re saying Go Ping messed with you somehow, and frankly I’m fucking worried. Worried for you, worried for how whatever he did is affecting things, worried about how I’m going to come up with an exit plan. So can we- ”

“I’ve admitted to you, at least once, that I know I have issues with keeping myself grounded. I get caught up in the moment, and sometimes it works out. Sometimes I end up regretting it horribly. So yeah, I’m in no way a perfect friend. But I need my friends to talk to me, and you’ve been hurting me with this distance. I didn’t realize that I was starting to feel bitter and angry about that until that conversation last night. I realized, at the very least I needed to talk to you.”

"Yeah, I get that. I get that I'm not good at communicating how I really feel. I get that I like being trollish and silly wordplay and empty flirting. That's all play. I don’t set out to hurt you with it, I set out to have fun with you with it. And after I finished my bloodline it seemed like you were reacting badly to my normal goofing around, so I backed off. Maybe I was messing more with your heart than I should have been. I'm sorry if it hurt you. It's just how I feel out if it's safe to get close to a person."

Option 1: Decisive Armas

"Safe for both of us. But I’ll stick my neck out first here. I want you to be happy, and I want to be happy. I want to be able to talk to you. I want you to be my friend. I want to help you accomplish your goal of going home. And since I’m sticking my neck out here I’m going to be honest about something that’s normally better left unsaid: I don’t want anything past that. Being intimate is a wonderful thing, but I don’t think it’ll be our thing.”

“How about you? What do you want?”

Option 2: The Invitation to Involvement

“Safe for both of us. But I’ll stick my neck out first here. I want you to be happy, and I want to be happy. I want to be able to talk to you. I want you to be my friend. And since I’m sticking my neck out here I’m going to be honest about something that’s normally better left unsaid: I don’t want to lose you. I know how important going home is to you, and I’ll uphold my promise to help you go home. But if there’s a way for us to be together, I want that. And if there isn’t a way, tell me now. Let me finish getting over being hurt, so that we can work together and figure out a path home for you.”

“How about you? What do you want?”

Either way, Armas will have a clarified position, and there won’t be any more confusion on either side of the Armas-Camella relationship about what sort of relationship it’s supposed to be.
>>
No. 395287 ID: cc1982

>>395213
This not only should be done, but must be done, also excellent chance to practice our acting.
>>395269
While the tone is somewhat apologetic we do need to figure out if all this shit Camella has apparently been involved in is going to fuck us so do this going with option One (1) if the conversation seems to show Lyubov actually had a clue after all.

>What to do today
You need to talk to Davgon about your Hummingbird get some suggestions, Then call Gianni ask when a good time for that lesson on how not to kill everyone with Doony poison would be. Continue trying to decipher emotions and their reflections in souls as well as continuing acting practice try to imitate some of the officers you remember when interacting with the Russians, Riker would be a good start. Try learning to individually start underpowering both orientations before trying to do it all in dual orientation today, hopefully you can get all of the pieces down solid first and then put it all together faster than trying everything at once. Practice that efficiency focusing trick you learned as well.
>>
No. 395291 ID: 51a2ac

First, Armas MUST MAKE SURE TO KEEP READING PEOPLE PHYSICALLY, AND TRYING TO ACT.

>>395213
If we decide to troll Blade, we should make sure to arrange something solid here. This is one of those times that could be good for our acting. It may also be the chance to begin our TV series: Blade. I would also tend to say that SB is a 'better' example than Sake for mentor, though that depends on how we want to spin it (fake batman or magical girl). If you go for SB, he may 'appear' to devour our body as we will die, and will not appear much to SB because he has to “recuperate”. Also, we may not want Blade to know our actual names. Same for Camella/Hillevi, they should be wearing silly over-the-top super-villain outfits and flesh-crafting. Also, I want Camella as Hillevi's sultry assistant.

>>395269
While we really do need to clarify our position to Camella, make sure it doesn't end up taking too much time. We have thing to do today, after all.

1°) Try to learn more about the relative importance of things we sold to SM, as this will help for future deals. This can be easily begun simply by asking the red caps if anything important is going with the wyld goblins lately.
2°) Hammer out our deal for the NN bubble we have from the lammy information. As the deal hasn't been finalized, i want at least 1 year from it, and make sure the ideal NN bubble is Ideal. By 'Hammer out the deal' i don't mean calling SM right now though, but mostly make up speeches we can use. 'Something' that we can use to cheapen the price of the NN bubbles via killing Endman/etc would be, for example, trading to SM the knowledge of WHEN we will kill them in advance. This should REALLY help him, after all.
3°) Get BC's phone number, and have a four way conversation about spirit animals Armas/Dávgon/Gianni/BC/Camella (because she may want to see a conversation about how to set those up) to learn to double or triple bind HB. Dávgon might have be able to find that number, if only by contacting his tribe who is in contact with BC. If not, we could still try the Valkonen home or even as Camella. OF COURSE, before double-binding HB to our body, we MUST have him get flesh powers first. Could Gianni help with that? If not, he might know of ways we could think about doing this.
4°)The Chakra book is coming out tomorrow. This mean we need to talk about it with Camella/Hillevi/Matvey, and make sure all our people have an idea what they want to learn. When we get it, we'll copy the index and have it circulated around.
5°) Call witch for appointment. A pal of us, a loup-garoup, is apparently having trouble, and she might know about it. Of course, we ALSO want to see the witch for our own plans (spying on vampires for her, for one), but this would make it possible to truthfully say “I went there to get news of my french friend”.

>>395062
That was really disappointing, Armas. We really had no clue WHAT we wanted there, did we? Not only did we use our soul guise to try to get her to sleep with us, but we did it badly. First, she is our employee- if we do decide to sleep with an employee, we must first be aware of what that means. Second, we had told ourself to stop relying solely on soul guises and try to “remember” our previous acting skills by practicing them (and it was a golden opportunity to do so), third we acted as if we didn't know a single thing about her. Lyubov is possibly the minion of ours we know best, and we didn't tailor anything to her. For example, we could have easily used our knowledge of lyubov to get her to do something for us, like forcing a “Armas/Camella” intervention of sort. It would have been damn easy, because Lyubov is the type to meddle anyway, so a little word here and there and she would have been persuaded it was her idea in the first place. However, what we did was just appear as a first class lech and completely ignore everything we know of her. Lame, Armas.

>Never having acting skills in the first place.
This is... interesting. I mean, We did get much, much more skilled in a LOT of things very quickly, not just our acting skills (unless our ability to talk under danger, our ability to withstand pain, our ability to manipulate others are all part of this), so it's strange only this was influenced. Does this mean that Armas no longer has any shred of Deceptive Truthfulness in him? Because if it is, then this is REALLY weird. If we lost ALL of it (and this should really be clear, if only for knowing if the splintered intent is no longer possible for us, for example), my initial finger-pointing would be on Armas V. After all, it did seem we were “like him”. Would it be possible that Armas somehow “borrowed” some of that A.V 's attribute? We should also try to pinpoint when the 'loss' occurred. Could it be when our persuasive skill got 'magic'? If it is, it could be the “aptitude” is used to power something different.
>>
No. 395294 ID: 448d82
File 133255124773.jpg - (29.56KB , 500x400 , demotivational-posters-close-combat1.jpg )
395294

STUFF FOR ARMAS
First and foremost. It would be time for Armas to check himself, how you handled Lyubov was pathetic, regardless of what you wanted from her. I mean soul guise is no replacement for being straight out awesome gentlemanly troll, did you seriously want such a pathetic victory had it worked?

It is a wonder that Shadowbro isn't ashamed of you now. What happened to the discovery you made that your social skills were dying? It is junk like this that has brought you this far. Magic is a tool, not a crutch boy.

Now, to consider your feelings for Camella, well... you have them, you might throw on qualifiers you might say how annoyed you are, but at the end of it, you do care, you do want something a bit more with her, she's strong and weak, kinda serious and stiff at times, but you like her and her strange human morals...

Far too much of not being straight with yourself. Aren't you human? Soul guises aren't a good replacement for empathy and acting.

However she's all messed up from being a woman displaced from home(and nightmare sewer climb). It should be a delight to troll her out of that state and make her heart plop into your hand, metaphorically speaking. Also she might be “short of patience” if that is the case, pierce through that with absurdity. There can be no half-measures.

So...
Introduce Camella to Silja! Her reactions will be amusing. They are similar in some-ways and it'll just cause problems if you don't introduce them sooner or later. I'm sure Camella will have a heartful reaction to Silja's plight, we can act as go between for them talking. You may need to go on the jog to do this, but that shouldn't be a problem.

Now apart from that, we should get to know Duke and Davy at bit better, to this end, poker with them and Hillevi is in order! Get GiaGia in on it too if you can, infact, get whoever is around in on it. This will be fun and help Hillevi and you'll get to know people better, THREE BIRDS WITH ONE STONE. (Sorry Hummingbro), wait fourth bird, you'll be better at

Check up on the golem.

Now before the dinner with the Owner there is four things that need done.

>1
We need to troll Blade; and this; >>395213 is a wonderful plan
If he doesn't flee, have him get beaten up a left alive. Leave him alive but have SB or someone steal everything but the man's sword.

>2
Brush up on Dragon Manners.

>3
Brush up on relevant recent magical events

>4
Find out a bit more about those co-ordinates that he gave you.

And that is a wrap. (Mmm wraps).

LEV'S GUTS ORDERS
Get up, have that shower Feodor suggested, clean is nice, wetness, not so much.
Dress, stow a knife or two... or three away on your person.
Lev decides to go on the Jog to bond with the others. Remember recent fear/hate of soul destroying sunlight.
Jog below in the sewers to avoid sunlight (fail to realise this is a bad idea), half-way through jog/getting lost, realise that this completely defies bonding with the others.
If Lev still lives, he heads for Camella training.
Camella training – GutsGutsGuts.
Ito Training – Lev realizes that somehow he missed Ito's magical transformation. CAN THE GUTS BEAT ITO? (no they can't, don't be silly Lev).
Feodor Training – GUTS!
Pitch circus idea to Armas, Ask about guts... er Chakra.
Lev apologises to Rostislav, mainly for being a damn fool.
Hit the night city, try to find the shinest most rich ornate silver-inlaid dagger Lev'll show Sake!
Ito Night training – Manly chakra training time, GUTS! (seriously?)
Look online for decadently expensive daggers, then get distracted by looking up sword/dagger eating. Fall asleep on computer, mumbling about guts. Have weird dreams about puking knives.
>>
No. 395311 ID: 252e1b

>>395294
>Introduce Silja to Camella... while jogging
:s0::s1::s2::s3::s4::s5::s6::s7::s8::s9:

That is an amazingly bad idea. Silja's not ready for this.


LYUBOV ORDERS

L*~Lyubov wakes, feels briefly regretful that she's in her own bed, and then squashes that thought.
L*~Lyubov gets ready to go on the morning jog and notices Lev is ready to go too. She encourages him, and thinks nothing of him ducking into the alley on the side of the house (must have needed to adjust his jockstrap or something) and then goes running. Upon arriving back at the house, she points out that we lost Lev somewhere during the jog. Welp. She'll be sure to mention where she last saw Lev to the officers.
L*~Lyubov uses just the iPod today during Camella's training. Keeps thinking that the stupid belt was a stupid waste of money. Get a shower, get a weasel rub, ask Sake if he's ever heard of 'bath bombs.'
L*~After the lessons at Ito's, Lyubov runs home, gets a quick lunch, gets a shower, gets dressed nicely, and borrows a van to drive down to the church to meet up with Father Nikolai for that chat.
L*~Upon returning home, Lyubov is given gifts by Zhenya! She thanks Zhenya for the gifts, hugs her, and plays with the kaleidoscope for a few minutes before her lesson with Armas.
L*~Lyubov will ask Armas if he talked to Camella. If he did, and confirms he's still unattached, she'll ask for him to be her trainer again this week. If he didn't, or he confirms he's got something more complicated going on, she'll ask Sake to be her trainer.
L*~Lyubov spars with Granny Vampire! Lyubov doesn't make eye contact! Lyubov asks Hafaz for pointers, says Armas pointed her to him.

>>
No. 395329 ID: 218954

[[NIKIFOR ORDERS]
-Notices Lev suddenly breaking off from Jogging's general direction, jokes at him. "It's the Sunlight, huh? You're gonna end up as pale as Death at this rate!"
-Ohwait what he's going to the...sewers? Weren't we warned about the sewers and it's monstrosities? And he's going in unarmed! After his ass!
-If not too far from the Mansion, goes back, full sprint for arm armor, sword and dagger, then chases after him. Because going for guns and loading all the mags/gear is gonna take too much.
-If too far, then just chases-no time to be lost! Hopes he doesn't get too far ahead/lost!
-If he comes back alive (with Lev), then asks what the hell's made him consider going there. He's been pretty down after receiving the News, try to get him more willing to talk with Booze.
-Goes a bit harder on everything today. He'll have to become much better, if he wants to survive against horrible monster shits.

>>
No. 395332 ID: b83c65

Armas Orders
*First, see if you can contact Sometimes Merchant and sell him the edited together Doony tape. Many people wanted that fish dead, and people would likely want to watch his death for themselves.
*Second, if you have free time, go to the Blue Mosque. It's beautiful, and you might be able to catch sight of any magical goings on. Hell, spend a few hours of your life just going to go to any of the old sites of the city, or museums. Take Hillevi. You might find out something about this whole 'Jason and the Argonauts' stuff, or at least make some magical connections of your own.
*Third, actual make magical connections of your own. You have maybe three contacts, you need to increase that number.
*Fourth, TROLL BLADE. And be sure to film Blade while he is trolled. We must get Blade TV series, and a Blade video game, and other Blade merchandising. To that end, copyright Blade's likeness. And, if Hillevi, Sake and Shadowbro are going to appear, copyright there likenesses. And go further. Copyright the Russians likeness, Doony, and Adelat
*Fifth, start looking for ways to actually get the Company of Laine jobs as a legal PMC.


>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>To breakfast and to coffee - with an Energy Catalyst inside, when no one is looking - eggs, kale, and blinis and sausages. They know how to make everything better. Isn't that right Mister Kale?
>Fuck. Chakra Training. OK 200 mgs of caffeine help Andrei focus! And make him stop auto translating Italian orders into Java commands.
>Curse Boss. Why did you turn Ito into Young Ito? While being abused by Ito, Andrei realizes he has not socialized with anyone for several days.
>Home, and lunch. Force self to get proper lunch - Dagwood sammich and tea. Check with Hillevi if she can be taught computers today.
>Curse loudly when there's a note on the computer to look at some coordinates.
>Look into coordinates. Pull up any pull any seismographical, radio or sonar data available on island. Piggyback the connection and capture the data from any satellites over that location, and set the Monster about on decrypting it.
>When Armas orders looking up the Boozy Floozy, offer Armas a middle finger and choice words before getting on it. Look up the woman, and get as many records as she has online. Andrei idle wishes that he had help doing this. For the first time, he thinks about his pre-military connections. He immediately stops, and focuses on information hunting.
>IF HilleviComputerTraining = Yes THEN Curse silently at note. Help Hillevi get set up. Begin to describe the basics of 'the language of the internet' and the untold trillions of minor reference that are used throughout the internet. When Armas comes to issue MORE orders, do not curse him out loud or physically. Do not do as much work, as distractions cause trouble.
>Ito Time. Focus on Ito time as hard as possible; push his all into it until he forgets to remember.
>>
No. 395423 ID: 9718f3

Can't delete my old post to amend, sorry.
>>395269
Of the two options presented, I would choose Option 2. It isn't so final. There are differing opinions in the user base over what we should do and it leaves the largest number of options open. It let's Camella respond with the maximum level of flexibility, whether affirmative or otherwise. And it isn't like we would be stuck in a romance if she agreed either, if it doesn't work out for whatever reason there's nothing stopping us from redefining our relationship.
>>
No. 395425 ID: 7df8c9

Feodor Orders

*Get Sake-rub. Head out jogging with everyone. Wear the vest, same weight as before.
*Chakra training with Camella: having forgotten about last night's weirdness already, just focus on training.
*Knife training with Lev: note Lev is much more enthusiastic, be glad for him.
*Go over last night's notes. Have memory jogged about that weird feeling. Call Finnigan and talk about not coming in tonight. If he asks why, tell him it's because of sleep deprivation.
*Try to grab someone big to carry things, then head into the bazaar. Buy 20 metres of bamboo fabric (world's softest fabric) for Sake [$80], a silver necklace with a snowflake for Hillevi's apology gift [max. $500], and a dozen bottles of good quality vodka [$900]. After getting back to the mansion, go online and order an optical microscope [$450], benchtop centrifuge [$500], autoclave [$2500], and various pieces of lab equipment and glassware [$1000]. Might as well update other skills, too.
*Ask Amen if the mansion has a library, and if so, to show where it is.
*Get some much needed sleep
>>
No. 395429 ID: ced741

>>395213
Upvote but use SB as Blade's mentor.

>>395291
Upvote the conversation with Dávgon, Gianni and BC about hummingbird.

Ask SB if he is ready for Ogrimmir's advice about his bloodline.
If you manage to find a solution for hummingbird, you should stop spending winter energy today.
>>
No. 395440 ID: 421737

>>395062
Today is the day of talking. Talk at Blade and make him a fool. Talk with B.C. and Dávgon about the Hummingbird, to solve the problem. Talk to Camella with Option 1. She is problems.
>>
No. 395566 ID: bfba64

Gloom
* Finish setting up mirror setup.
* Inspired by his soul's description, he tries imitating the mannerisms of various chakra users you've seen whilst practicing. Try Armas, Einrik, the Triad senior minions, Lo Fang, and Ito. If it makes any difference who he's imitating, he notes that down..
* Ask the butler to bring any books on stealth in the mansion to you. Then, photocopy them, and order the butler to return them to exactly where they came from now.

Armas

>>395213
SUST trolling Blade now. We're busy trolling Einrik via Dávgon by being utterly professional. Leave a message with him saying, "I'm not an assassin, I'm a problem solver. What's your problem you need removing?" then tell him we can make time to talk to him a week today if he wants us to deal with it.

So, set up a meeting with Camella, Matvey and you every morning at 11:00 to discuss company strategy and management. In the first meeting discuss the upcoming job drought and suggestion looking elsewhere in the Middle East.

>Iridium
Sixty five kilos of Iridium costs $2.5 million+, and represents over 2% of annual production. Buying that much at once will move the Mather and attract a lot of attention.

Priorities for today:
* Get Dávgon to give you an introduction to soul manipulation and spirit animal binding methods and the implications when both parties have magical abilities.
* Talk to Dávgon about HB's predicament. Mention that we're a godling, and brainstorm options.
* As we're low on energy practice shooting with the AA-12.
* Practice Fleshcrafting and dual manipulation whilst time would otherwise be wasted, such as when walking between other activities.
* Hillevi is teaching a Rusaian about chakra, so she must know something about the subject. Ask her to demonstrate what that is to you.
>>
No. 395568 ID: 51a2ac

IGOR
+Igor continues to go on the morning Run
+Igor continues working on Armas' gauntlet and decides to take his time to make it as optimal as possible see post
+Igor continues to use metronomes during chakra training to find a rhythm and atmosphere that “fits” him.


>>395566
Good point, Blade stuff should be made with an appointment first, and one week gives us enough time to set up an elaborate first episode of Blade: The Dark Thug.
>>
No. 395624 ID: 252e1b

>>395269

Oddly enough I forgot to vote for which option I wanted. #2
>>
No. 395850 ID: 81f32a

ORDERS FOR IOSEF:
>-Tries to make friends by punching people. (Roll a 1d100 in Discussion)
>rolled 25 = 25
-Well, I'll be damned.
>-Reads print-outs again. Realizes that they have nothing about internet culture. Goes to Andrei and asks for print-outs on Internet "etiquette". Be given a REALLY weird look, and receive nothing.
Didn't you read >>394517? Andrei was willing to teach some.
-Tries to get some tips from Andrei again, preferably when Andrei is teaching Hillevi about internet usage and whatnot. Maybe he'll manage to make friends with this teenage girl at least?

Orders for Armas:
Instead of trying to talk with Camella when she's busy/right getting to somewhere, finally get some private place where you can talk with her for at least an hour without interruption. If there already were similar suggestions then I support them all.
>>
No. 396060 ID: a47cf8

Orders for Vlad
- Wake up, have breakfast vodka, accidentally add large amount of pepper and hot sauce to said alcohol due to brain not yet being fully operational
- Consider taste of vodka with additions, shrug, consume remainder of bottle, remember combination for later
- Finally take a few moments to grieve for loss of gunsmithing practice and internet trolling time
- Consider hilarity potential of a 'comeback tour' when he can start his gun forum trolling rounds up again, accept current situation and decide to put in as much effort as possible (giving up most of free time, such as it is) in interest of resolving situation ASAP
- Time for training with Italian Commissar
- Continue pondering idea of a 23mm automatic shotgun when brain time is free but physical time is otherwise occupied
- After suitible recovery time, ask Satai if there's been any headway with finding KS-23 ammo
- VODKA!
- Bullshitting with fellow Russians
- USHANKAS FOR EVERYONE! INCLUDING DUKE!
- Ponder what happened afterward and why he is now wearing an old Red Army uniform, and how the hell he got it.
- Decide this would create headaches, settle on sleep as the wiser choice



Armas

Consider the potential of more upgrades to the juggernazi. Depending on the regen level the thing has, it could possibly be modified to have several hollow bone cavities on the front and back of its torso or possibly as nodules on its limbs. The side of the cavity/nodule facing outward toward the flesh overlaying it would have to be shaped to have a series of natural ridges and such to form a grid, and some sort of combustible gas-producing means (possibly the Duke retrofit can be utilized) to funnel said gas into the hollow cavities themselves. Add a mechanically-activated sparking device and you now have a point-defense system comprised of organic, renenerating claymores.

May be something to consider if you can get people to consult with on how it could all work, especially if integrating the system into the armor so it has strategic open areas to act as blast channelers, widening or tightening the splinter pattern per area as needed, with plating being bonded to the bone itself so the hollows can grow on top of it and act as a backing plate for shock absorption.
>>
No. 396774 ID: d97a61

[ CORRECTION: It's WEDNESDAY, not TUESDAY]
[Rostislav has been queued to do the following:]
Rostislav ponders on why he saw Lyubov leaving Armas's room last night while heading to the bathroom himself. He also remembers flickering shadows and still needed to piss when he actually got up-wonders if that was a dream. Seams that's been going around, after all.
He recalls training with Ito at extreme-turbo-overcharged-max-hyper-throttle yesterday.
He hopes to all that is holy that Ito's less energetic today, because holy shit, that was terrifying. An old man with trickery enough to keep up with adult soldiers is not so easy to keep up with when he's got about ten times the stamina and twice the strength and speed.
He still throws self full-on into anything Chakra-related. Rostislav recalls the fight club competitors and their trickery, and wants to develop a trick of his own. But first he needs to learn chakra. After all, every bullshit enemy or person he's met has it.
[Titus has been queued to do the following:]
|T|-Talk with Satai about families. Wonder if Hillevi is underestimating the danger. Consider that shunning has historically led to suicide and similar terrible outcomes. Wonder how he knew that; maybe Titus saw a TV special or something. Right, with that fat doctor type with the stupid mustache. All coming back to him.
|T|-After some thought, go see Hillevi with a request for more ball-freezing torture. Afterwards ponder if this might actually be doing damage to his testicles with how fast they retract from the strangely too-pervasive bracing cold-hope that such a thing would not be part of a magical healing/reinvigorating trick.
|T|-Fail to find a delicate way to ask Hillevi about the health benefits of virgin’s blood. Ask anyway. Get a dumbfoundingly weird and not-too-childish looking set of body language and demeanor when she notes that it CAN help in some few rituals, but most are pretty specific-and none too friendly.
|T|-Keep asking, start to get sense she just is weirded out he even knew to ask about it, but otherwise isn't labeling him bad or anything for asking-she doesn't seem to know much about the details about those few rituals, but…. there is a question to ask. How to put this: Do you think maybe- that is, are you a- how much- um.
|T|-Scratch beard furiously and decide to drop the subject like Chugainov desperately clinging to the edge of a cliff, hopefully one where the bottom would allow a comical and drawn out death to befall him that Titus could watch. Wonder if he's getting too specific in his example and if it might not be indicative of his largely unspoken troubles dealing with what Chugainov's actions mean for his family…. nah.
|T|-To pick self up afterwards, hand off P155/Kevlar material to Amen and start taking orders among the Russians for custom suits, trenchcoats, greatcoats. Further armor paneling or leather cost extra. Ask Amen if Titus can watch it make those – he’s familiar with modern armor, but not the weaving of it so much. Be given a smile that's not nearly as cuddly as the boss' and be told he could be allowed to watch. Awaiting Titus analysis of fellow Russian's wants.

BONUS: EACH MINION GETS ONE LARGELY BULLETPROOF TRENCHCOAT, GREATCOAT OR FULL SUIT.
Discuss with Titus in minion orders or guile in irc or discussion to learn pricing options and details on add-ons like armor plating.
[Zhenya has been queued to do the following:]
[Z]-Be excited for some unknown reason. Realize that it's about time for her guns magazine to be sho-.
[Z]-FFFFFF that was back in the army. Be slightly saddened and resolve to go resubscribe with her new identity after getting everything settled with that.
[Z]-She does some more fire training, careful to keep extinguishers close by.
[Z]-Join Ito's chakra class. This last batch of money has left her feeling the pay unnecessary but she promises to come back to teach after.
FINAL ITO TRAINING SLOT FILLED, NO MORE MINIONS CAN SWITCH TO FULL CHAKRA AT ITO'S AT THIS TIME
[Z]-Considers a gift for her friend Lyubov. Decides to go grab her some music books to practice with and some guitar strings($50)...and a toy kaleidoscope($30).
[ Lev has been queued to do the following:]
(L)-Get up, have that shower Feodor suggested, clean is nice, wetness, not so much.
(L)-Dress, stow a knife or two... or three away on his person.
(L)-Decide to go on the Jog to bond with the others. Remember recent fear/hate of soul destroying sunlight. Come up with astoundingly poor plan.
(L)-Jog below in the sewers to avoid sunlight (fail to realise this is a bad idea), half-way through jog/getting lost, realize that this completely defies bonding with the others. What the hell, how is he becoming the dumbest shit in the bunch, that was supposed to be the other guy's job….. that guy who's name he can't place. That guy.
(L)-During rescue, is castrated when struck in the thigh. Now gets to associate having his junk forcibly ripped off with going in the sewers.
(L)-Camella training – GutsGutsGuts as only means to not think about crippling injury Sake healed from sewers.
(L)-Ito Training – Lev realizes that somehow he missed Ito's magical transformation. CAN THE GUTS BEAT ITO? (no they can't, don't be silly Lev).
(L)-Feodor Training – GUTS-no, no wait that's indigestion.
(L)-Pitch circus idea to Armas, Ask about Chakra. Be told to look that shit up himself, Armas isn't a teacher. …Wait, what about Lyubov? Be given a Look.
(L)-Lev apologises to Rostislav, mainly for being a damn fool. Doesn't get his ass back in the club.
(L)-Look online for decadently expensive daggers, then get distracted by looking up sword/dagger eating. (L)-Fall asleep on computer, mumbling about guts. Have weird dreams about puking guts filled with knives all night long.

[Lyubov has been queued to do the following:]
L*~Lyubov wakes, feels briefly regretful that she's in her own bed, and then squashes that thought.
L*~Lyubov gets ready to go on the morning jog and notices Lev is ready to go too. She encourages him, and thinks nothing of him ducking into the alley on the side of the house (must have needed to adjust his jockstrap or something) and then goes running. Upon arriving back at the house, she points out that we lost Lev somewhere during the jog. Welp. She'll be sure to mention where she last saw Lev to the officers.
L*~Lyubov uses just the iPod today during Camella's training. Keeps thinking that the stupid belt was a stupid waste of money. Get a shower, get a weasel rub, ask Sake if he's ever heard of 'bath bombs.' Be given an uninformed look, but be told by Sake he does know. Be pressed by difficulty of restraining giggle at adorably bad lie.
L*~After the lessons at Ito's, Lyubov runs home, gets a quick lunch, gets a shower, gets dressed nicely, and borrows a van to drive down to the church to meet up with Father Nikolai for that chat. Learns that her mother now knows she's alive, and is currently unemployed. Explain need to get her over here to work for boss, and the difficulty finding a way to extract her. Ask if there's a roundabout way the church could do it. Be told he'll check.
L*~Upon returning home, Lyubov is given gifts by Zhenya! She thanks Zhenya for the gifts, hugs her, and plays with the kaleidoscope for a few minutes before her lesson with Armas.
[color=#CC00CC]L*~Lyubov will ask Armas if he talked to Camella. Learn he did, and confirms he's still unattached.
[color=#FF00FF] L*~Ask for him to be her trainer again this week.

L*~Lyubov spars with Granny Vampire! Lyubov doesn't make eye contact! Lyubov asks Hafaz for pointers, says Armas pointed her to him. Be told he's had a shitty day and is probably going to be a dick about it but could give her those pointers now. Says 'why not' and gets a highly critical and abrasive lesson on how Gyaketsuote works, and the principles of eye contact and its magical relevance. Get a good sense for when it's not a good idea to make eye contact with normal supernatural beings.
[Nikifor has been queued to do the following:]
[N]--Notices Lev suddenly breaking off from Jogging's general direction, jokes at him. "It's the Sunlight, huh? You're gonna end up as pale as Death at this rate!"
[N]--Ohwait what he's going to the...sewers? Weren't we warned about the sewers and it's monstrosities? And he's going in unarmed! After his ass!
[N]--Due to how far from the mansion they are, directly pursue him-no time to be lost! Hopes he doesn't get too far ahead/lost! Find Lev attempting to fend off some shape in the darkness-haul Lev away after he gets wounded. Begin dragging him back to mansion.
[N]--After Sake assists with Lev's violently nongendered state, ask what the hell's made him consider going there. He's been pretty down after receiving the News, try to get him more willing to talk with Booze. Gets some crap about guts and edgy grimderp. Decide Lev is, in fact, a goddamn idiot. Mentally file this detail away for future interactions.
[N]--Goes a bit harder on everything today. He'll have to become much better, if he wants to survive against horrible monster shits.
>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>To breakfast and to coffee - with an Energy Catalyst inside, when no one is looking - eggs, kale, and blinis and sausages. They know how to make everything better. Isn't that right Mister Kale? That's right mistah Andrei wait what?
>Fuck. Chakra Training. OK 200 mgs of caffeine help Andrei focus! And make him stop auto translating Italian orders into Java commands.
>Curse Boss. Why did boss turn Ito into Young Ito? While being abused by Ito, Andrei realizes he has not socialized with anyone for several days.
>Home, and lunch. Force self to get proper lunch - Dagwood sammich and tea. Check with Hillevi if she can be taught computers today. Find her plinking away at an internet argument she stumbled into with her initial web forays-feel oddly proud.
>Curse loudly when there's a note on the computer to look at some coordinates. And someone called Hyougo Hanmaki.
>Look into coordinates. Pull up any pull any seismographical, radio or sonar data available on island. Piggyback the connection and capture the data from any satellites over that location, and set the Monster about on decrypting it. Find… it's a totally normal, uninhabited, rocky island. What?
>Look into Hyougo Hanmaki. Find she has a myspace page, but otherwise doesn't exist on any channel he can track. Check myspace-find she used it like a live journal. Be unsure that this is not just a drama-filled angsty teen's myspace.
>Ito Time. Focus on Ito time as hard as possible; push his all into it until he forgets to remember.
[Feodor has been queued to do the following:]
*Get Sake-rub. Head out jogging with everyone. Wear the vest, same weight as before.
*Chakra training with Camella: having forgotten about last night's weirdness already, just focus on training.
*Knife training with Lev: note Lev is much more enthusiastic, find this very odd given he apparently got himself castrated during the jog.
*Go over last night's notes. Have memory jogged about that weird feeling. Call Finnigan and talk about not coming in tonight. If he asks why, tell him it's because of sleep deprivation.
*Try to grab someone big to carry things, then head into the bazaar. Buy 20 metres of bamboo fabric (world's softest fabric) for Sake [$80], a silver necklace with a snowflake for Hillevi's apology gift [$420], and a dozen bottles of good quality vodka [$920]. After getting back to the mansion, go online and order an optical microscope [$445], benchtop centrifuge [$515], autoclave [$2450], and various pieces of lab equipment and glassware [$1200]. Might as well update other skills, too.
*Ask Amen if the mansion has a library, and if so, to show where it is. Be told the library must be shown to a guest by the master of the house-be told boss does not know where the library is. Wonder how that'll work itself out.
*Get some much needed sleep.

[Gloom has been queued to do the following:]
* Finish setting up mirror setup.
Be pretty happy with how it turned out-it's two dozen small mirrors segmented togethor into a parabolic dome in front of him, and a series of full-body mirrors set up behind him, easily moved to 'open' the mirror setup.
* Inspired by his soul's description, he tries imitating the mannerisms of various chakra users you've seen whilst practicing. Try Armas, Einrik, the Triad senior minions, Lo Fang, and Ito. If it makes any difference who he's imitating, he notes that down..
Find that mimicking Armas is the only one he has any real success with, but be pretty sure nothing magical was involved, just pretty good mimicry. For now.
* Ask the butler to bring any books on stealth in the mansion to you. Receive a book bound in and written on what is easily identifiable as human skin. Grumble at page's poor ability to be copied.
Remember those stories about the necronomicon and its physical properties, and other skin-bound tomes. Wonder if this book is similar due to substance it's made of.
[Igor has been queued to do the following:]
+Continues to go on the morning Run that's arbitrarily capitalized but that's okay Bob does that all the time he can't call you out for it.
+Igor continues working on Armas' gauntlet and decides to take his time to make it as optimal as possible. Finds those damn finger joints to be infuriating to achieve proper articulation with.
+Continues to use metronomes during chakra training to find a rhythm and atmosphere that “fits” him. Continues to not hit on anything that feels 'right'.

[Iosef has been queued to do the following:]
-Be exceptionally surprised when punching people in the face does NOT, in fact, make them his friend. Decide that he'll settle for earning begrudging respect for his punching capacity now, and work towards actual positive relationships later.
-Once more attempt to get some instruction on internet etiquette, or at least print outs, from Andrei. Be given a packet that has the name 'Hillevi' crossed out on the top, largely explaining that being a polite individual who's not anal about details and has an exceedingly thick skin is an approach that works in the vast majority of places where internet etiquette would work. Wonder if this means he'll have to put up with days of being mocked/written off to develop initial relationships in the more austere parts of the internet.
>[The Drunken Vlad who hardly ever does anything but drink and troll internet forums while drunk and ramble about shotguns has been queued to do the following:]
> Wake up, have breakfast vodka, accidentally add large amount of pepper and hot sauce to said alcohol due to brain not yet being fully operational. Do not realize this until the third pull from the bottle.
>Consider taste of vodka with additions, shrug, consume remainder of bottle, remember combination for later use. Maybe ghost peppers and cinnamon?
> Finally take a few moments to grieve for loss of gunsmithing practice and internet trolling time.
>Consider hilarity potential of a 'comeback tour' when he can start his gun forum trolling rounds up again, accept current situation and decide to put in as much effort as possible, then remember Camella's been forcing him to do that from the start and that Ito's newly revamped lessons demand the same.
>Time for training with Italian Commissar. Why the hell does she never seem out of breath? Shit's unfair.
>Continue pondering idea of a 23mm automatic shotgun when brain time is free but physical time is otherwise occupied. Begin to build automatic association of jogging=shotgun time in mind. Wonder if this is a good thing.
>After suitable recovery time, ask Satai if there's been any headway with finding KS-23 ammo. Awaiting Satai's response, presumably in the vein of 'that's a pretty low priority'
>VODKA!
>Bullshitting with fellow Russians
>USHANKAS FOR EVERYONE! INCLUDING DUKE! For some reason Amen freely offers to help with this.
BONUS: +1 USHANKA TO EACH MINION
>Ponder how getting Amen's help means he is now wearing an old Red Army uniform, and how the hell he got it since he sure as shit didn't change.
>Decide this would create headaches, settle on sleep as the wiser choice

>>395245
>Days of trying and usually failing to even get a dual orientation running for even half a second.
>Just recently succeed at getting a one second dual orientation-not reliably, but as a one-off.
>Expect Armas to achieve ten seconds the day after that one-second benchmark was briefly touched sans bird.
>This notion of progression is abhorrently flawed and you should feel bad for letting it escape your own mind's idle whimsy. [/potkettleblack]
>>395096
…Wait, that Iridium stuff could be REAL simple-
Amen, you have no actual depth limit for how you define the house's contents, correct?
>[Amen]"This one is not entirely sure that's the most appropriate way it could be phrased, but the master observes a truth close enough to fact as to not matter-yes, broadly this one does have no 'depth limit'."
So nothing's stopping you from mining up some Iridium, right?
>[Amen]"The lack of it or any other substance of note within the unmined, uninhabited portions of the area this one defines as it's own would seem to present a considerable deterrent. This one is unable, unable…. unable to mine that which is not there. "
So no gold, uranium, plutonium, palladium, platinum, iridium, silver or the like?
>[Amen]"This one notes none of the mentioned elements within the defined owned zone."
Well shit.

So hey SB-the doony glands that are now-
>"Tied to your pores such that any bit of skin you have could be induced to secrete the substance-what of it?"
So, how does this work, really?
>"Simple-I locked it to 'left palm 'right palm' and 'full body' until you've got a better visceral sense of their function-and even those cannot be activated without multiple components. For now, you'll have to tense the muscles of the area-and yes, for full body that does mean just flex, form the conscious thought of wanting to secrete the poison from the chosen area, and ply that implanted rudimentary sensory understanding to 'make' the poison work. Since right now you only know the hard-coded on/off switch ability, this will let you start building the actual neural pathways that will let you treat the poison glands and their use like any other manually controlled system with feedback within your body."
Who's idea was-
>"Mine, via Whaitiri. Gianni had no plans that did not involve your genitals as a chosen area of focus. He claimed it was purely professional interest in insuring you would be motivated-which I was able to dissuade the Goddess from agreeing with."
…each palm and full body? Can I try to do both palms at once?
>"The current setup can handle that, yes."
Huh. That'll make for some interesting practice sessions, won't it.
[$atai learns….]
{$}-That there hasn't been a sighting of Armin or Blackbeard in twenty hours-and that their fight is now no longer able to be tracked for coverage.
{$}-That the Winter Court is seeking to lock down the Wyld Goblins of Istanbul, who recently have been undergoing massive expansion.
{$}-That the one nicknamed 'Blade' has been confirmed to own a decidedly lackluster magic gun that, in exchange for accuracy, is able to make each shot double as a stun grenade-with no known protection for the user.

So… think I'll get out of bed now.

>>395194
Just, ah, gonna leave a little note for Andrei here to look up what he can of Hyougo Hanmaki and get back to me on it.
>>395247
Oh hey SB another thing-about that Ogrimir advice you said you want-
>"I have chosen to delay claiming it until I've had more chance to practice the corporeal aspects of the purely ice-based facet of my winter line. I have not forgotten."
Okay, cool.


>>395213
>>395287
>>395291
>>395294
On something of a whim, I try… texting the Red Caps, actually.
[Armas]Hey. You up for a question?
[Ricky]Depends on the question.
[Armas]Hey. Goblin oriented.
[Ricky]Ask away. Might not answer.
[Armas]How have the Wyld Goblins been doing lately?
[Ricky]What, broadly?
[Armas]The whole Istanbul group, yeah.
[Ricky]Well, between getting their hands on some NN strikes and a semi-revolutionary idea about charm circumvention…
[Ricky]…They've managed to take control of all of Turkey west of the Bosphorus on top of Istanbul.
[Armas]No shit.
[Ricky]Not surprising you didn't know. Happened oddly fast-very recent. Gotta go.

I think about asking Dávgon if he has some contact number that could get me the Valkonens so I can reach Big Crazy-then I realize I'm being dumb as a stump, I HAVE a direct line to the estate-and call up the Riihivuori kids number. Helmi picks up, looking a bit pissy that I woke up the kids-but relaxes when I explain I need to get in touch with Big. She tells me he doesn't have a phone on him, since his got broken. And promptly turns off the connection.

Okay, no getting in touch with Big until he gets here or contacts me himself. I can live with that.



Welp. I COULD do something else with my morning-but after making sure I've left Camella a note saying we're having a lunch meeting at noon I decide to focus on what's really important: dicking with this Blade chucklefuck. To that end, I round up Sake, SB and Hillevi, and share…. a plan.

A plan that leaves me rather happy I've watched Andrei enough I at least know how to get those cameras of his set up and recording.

[DISCONTINUITY]

>[Blade][Turkish]"Who is this?"
"What, you don't have caller ID?"
>[Blade]"Real cute asshole, now answer-"
"Look if you don't WANT to discuss that job you asked about fine, I've got other clients."
>[Blade]"What are… oh. OH, YOU!"
"Yes, me. We need to meet to discuss the services you want to purchase."
>[Blade]"Why can't I just do it over the pho-"
"Is your phone secure? Is it encrypted? Can you say with certainty it is not being monitored? If the answer to any of those is 'no', then yes, we need to meet to discuss this."
>[Blade]"..Right, right, of course. …So where?"
"Neutral ground, obviously. How fast can you get to Sulukule?"
>[Blade]"The station? Uh, a bit shy of an hour-"
"That will have to do. I'll spot you when you get there."
>[Blade]"How will you do that if we've never met?"
"I am deceptively perceptive. One hour, Sulukule."
*CLICK*

SB, Sake-
>"On our way to scout the area out."
>[Sake]"Don't keep us waiting too long."
Sure sure.

I get suited up in a Dick Tracy-themed off-yellow trenchcoat and fedora, happy with how well my Orange tie works with the ensemble, and manage to get Hillevi to garb herself in a black leather bodysuit-because if she's going to play her part, might as well do it right. Can't have a villianess that ISN'T wearing objectifying clothing, after all: it just is not done.

Hillevi and I head out and make the relatively short walk to the station in short order, arriving a half hour before the proposed meeting time. SB and Sake network with me, making note of the few bits of wards they've detected (All around the trains and tracks, not the walkways or anything), and we briefly discuss where to mount cameras and microphones before SB flits off to discreetly place the devices. Hillevi follows SB to a shadowed nook behind a storage locker and takes off her glamour charm before being swaddled in obscuring murk and fading from notice. Sake sets up in the rafters, ready to swoop down as needed.

Okay, parties all set up.

[DISCONTINUITY]

The moment I feel the magic signature of a weapon I've encountered before I home in on it-and sure enough, it's one of Blackbeard's swords-the katana of the lot-being carried by a scruffily gaunt man in haphazardly mismatched expensive clothing, slightly stained and frayed, making his way through the crowd in that special way where in his efforts to push through the crowd he does nothing but slow himself down and attract attention. The soul behind the face is no better-I feel blithe self-confidence, I feel deluded self-assurance, I see the least-small fish of a diminuitive pond thinking itself the grandest in the world.

In short, I see exactly the mark I'd hoped this guy would be.

Doesn't take much effort at all to ghost my way up beside him, and casually begin to speak the moment he breaks out of the crowd.
"So you're the new guy making a splash in this town. Blade. Word is you've got balls the size of bowling balls, friend. Trying to take out the Owner? Dangerous shit."
His reaction doesn't disappoint-the moment I begin speaking to him he jumps like a sheltered college freshman getting goosed for the first time, hand stupidly diving towards his sword (which seriously, I think he only got in here because they thought it was fake. Wrapping police 'caution' tape around the scabbard? Really?) before he finally hears what's being said, looks back at me without a hint of subtlety, and tries to look… confident.

He pulls of constipated. I'd give him a C- for effort.

We walk and talk as I make a show of being swayed into accepting the contract as I make my way closer to Hillevi. Just as I'm about to seal the deal-

SB, now.

Hillevi, in all her titanic nordic glory, encased in leather and wreathed in insidiously solid shadow, steps into view not twenty feet away. I shove Blade to the side as I yell at him, knowing what is coming.

"Assassins! You fool! You led them here! He KNOWS!"

I'll treasure the decidedly dim yet startlingly stark look of horrified confusion on the thug's face as he processes what I said and did…..right as a shard of ice as big as my arm lances through my guts, throwing me off my feet and tumbling to my side. I feel the ice freezing to the sides of the wound-and feel SB shadowporting the ice around, breaking the seal it made so I can more visibly bleed around it. Nice one SB. Almost makes me not notice how much more that hurts.

I bite off the side of my tongue to get a proper mouth of blood, cough it out and speak to blade as Hillevi approaches.
" My only regret is I never got to say -"

Hillevi raises a hand now wreathed in a hollow sphere of ice larger than my body, and brings it smashing down at me. From Blade's perspective, there's no way he can see how, the moment the shadow of that ice encapsulates me, I vanish, swiftly replaced with assorted uncooked meats SB appropriated from vendors near the station.

Now standing in the very shadowed corner Hillevi once occupied, a smile on my face at the unfolding pandemonium as people shout, point and scream-while Hillevi gets her first taste of troll ham. She advances on Blade, laughing as he draws his sword and tries to cut her-only managing to rap his blade against her rapidly formed ice armor. With a laugh that sounds disturbingly like she's trying to emulate Mum-Ra, she… begins.

In SB's voice, modified to sound nominally like hers.

>[Hillevi]"You thought you could hurt me? A worm like you?"
Queued by SB, Hillevi cracks a passable smirk.
>[Hillevi]"Don't make me laugh-you aren't worth my time."

..Shit, that was a cop going through the doors there-we've got to wrap up. SB!

Hillevi's head whips about, zeroing in on the new arrival amidst the sea of panic-and after casually backhanding Blade, simple takes a running leap-and crosses the tracks in one go, just before a train passes by.

>'She's got her glamor up… and I have a safe route for her exit. You need a 'port?"
If you don't mind.

[DISCONTINUITY]

The shadows that raced up to grab me disappear, and I find myself outside of the station as I realize we attacked as a donut place across the street was having a half-off sale.

Explains why I'm abruptly seeing mounds of cops showing up within minutes. They were already here. …Well, he's got Hillevi in his mind now-I can continue this later.
>[Sake]"If it helps I blew him into a mop bucket while he ran."
Please tell me we got that on film.
>[Sake]"You tell me."

Drifting over to my side from the open window he'd flitted out to make his own escape, he deposits in my hands the collection of cameras and thumb drives. Hopefully I got the settings right and actually have the raw material for some video here. It's at this point I actually attend to the wound in my side-
HYBRID HEALING
WINTER ENERGY: 3/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 0/50
…Okay, feeling pretty hungry and empty now.

I head back a bit faster than I'd intended after realizing it's almost noon. …Prank setup for pretty much the whole morning? Totally worth it.


>>395269
I have that lunch with Camella I scheduled. Kelpie Krisps a a touch overcooked, but the breaded exterior's benefitted from it. Might have had something to do with me cooking three other meals concurrently so I could scarf them and start to fill that ravenous hole in my gut-metaphorical now, but entirely literal less than an hour ago. Camella arrives right as I finish plating the Krisps.

With her actually sitting down and talking with me rather than trying to talk with her while she's doing something else-she actually stops dodging things. Holy fuck. She tells me about how her being so displaced by being here she'd been clinging to some failed notion that developing connections with people here meant making light of the world she still wants to go back to, and ignoring the pragmatic concerns of its feasability. She tells me how she'd let herself keep thinking of me as nothing more than a childish prick because it was easier-and she apologizes to me for that. She tells me she is in debt to Lo Fang for the leg, and it indeed is for five million dollars, like I thought-but that she got it set up as a magical contract by the wizard, leading to no ability to charge interest by Lo Fang, nor any ability of his to force her to pay by a certain date. Seems that failure to resolve the contract before death cedes rights to one's soul to the other contract participant. She admits she's concerned about this, but hopes that realistically between the pay and medical benefits of working with Armas she could make that back herself and square it away personally in a reasonable amount of time, given the amount. She seems decidedly vulnerable while admitting she's in debt-her cagey expression and disquieted soul telling me she has a problem with owing debts-not the archetypal 'I must pay it back' but the markedly different 'I must get out of this'. Interesting.

Seems all those speeches I had rumbling in my head were completely unnecessary-just forcing her to sit her ass down and devote time to just having a chat did the damned job for me. Imagine that.

In the afternoon, after an unsurprisingly enjoyable meal and conversation that ended with Camella acting uncharacteristically… normal towards me, I wonder what else I should do. Let's see… it's two o'clock, so…..

Oh, Lyubov wants me to be her instructor still, huh? And she said that AFTER I confirmed nothing's going on with Camella?
>"Perhaps you didn't fail as much as we thought the other night."
Seems like that's possible. Just to fuck with her I decide that today I'M the one in a thong, covered in KY while I spar with her, and try to pull off a Robin Williams impersonation even while I once more use that Soul Guise from last night. Unsurprisingly, finding herself subconsciously attracted to a somewhat misshapenly fit man in a thong and covered in jelly that talks like he'd just done a football field sized line of coke distracts the HELL out of her… and again, she actually makes some good progress. I'd say she can reliably enter a stable Reinforcement Orientation now, even if she's not yet practiced enough to start it up when running low on juice. Despite my attire and demeanor I don't try anything-and I think that confuses her even more.

Well, that was an hour well spent.

As I towel off afterwards, I decide to try calling Lammy again…. strait to voicemail. Again. I leave a message asking how he's doing, keeping it above the level, and hope he gets back to me.

I track down Dávgon and his deliciously ordered, precise soul, yet again lurking in the beast's room, and vaguely perceive the work he's doing on it. We chat for a bit about the project, with him telling me the seed he put in it was made out of a mass of atrociously poor-quality animal spirits melded into one and patterned off of Einher Bloodline Seeds. The theory behind his plan eludes my grasp, but the functional end of things seem pretty straightforward-a mass of weak, recent souls lacking any real mental focus interrupt one another's consciousness, and effectively blank their peers out to make a mass of soul that completely lacks any ability to act independently. It's a pretty stable system he's installed, but he does note it takes a LOT of post-installation polish to get working properly-hence why he's yet again here, working on it. I watch him for more than an hour, happy to file away first-hand memories of soul sculpting in action. Just because I can't try what I'm seeing right now doesn't mean I can't learn.

After I get his spiel, I decide to really introduce him to Hummingbird. While his face is schooled to stillness, I feel the turbulence in his soul as he properly assesses the nature of the creature I've taken as my own. The best part is when I ask him what he thinks.
>[Dávgon]"What do I think? I think there's probably at least a few books on spirit animal dynamics that would need to be re-released with some corrections regarding hummingbirds in particular, and about sensor types in general. I think it's a bit sad that life contrived to make this bird too powerful for it's own body. I find his intuitive grasp of his own soul's structure and manipulation baffling, but can chalk that up to it being the first… truly exceptional non-mythic spirit animal I've encountered."
"So you say. And if I said I had been pondering the notion of binding the hummingbird to my flesh as well as my soul?"
>[Dávgon]"Well… you'd need to get the bird some form of fleshcrafting ability so it could sync up with your body-based bloodline. I also think you'd need, beyond myself and that fleshcrafter that's worked on this thing here, a vampire to act as observer and make sure we don't run into issues on the blood side of things. But, given that… I would say that a double bind like you're proposing would probably solve the problem you're facing."
"So a soul and body double bind, in this particular case, could resolve the issue of the bird getting lethally oversaturated?"
>[Dávgon]"I won't promise that with certainty, but probably, yes."
"Not as much conviction as I'd been hoping for."
>[Dávgon]"I do not promise what I cannot with absolute certainty deliver."
"Okay. Glad we had this talk. You still working on this?"
>[Dávgon]"Yes. I still have… two? Two more hours of work to do, and then I'll check on it again after it's had a full day to just sit here. After that, assuming there aren't any unexpected issues, I'd say you're ready to have those knowledgeable on possession or other control means come in and look at what you have."
"Ready to actually get some real field testing at that point, is that what you're saying?"
>[Dávgon]"Yes-the flesh is stable, the magic is stable, and by that point I'll have verified the soul seed is stable. Not without room for improvement, something I normally wouldn't note, but it seems you have considerably more resources than I am used to working with."
"I see. Okay, don't let me stop you."

So it is I spend a quiet two hours watching Dávgon work, and really feeling a great deal more confident about the core mechanics behind soul sculpting. Not enough to say I actually know how to do it by any means-but enough I'd feel less certain experimenting on someone would accidentally kill them.

Once Dávgon's wrapped up and my 'lesson' ends, I stay in the room after the shaman's departure, pondering a different part of the project: Yavuz. He needs Iridium-specifically, a statistically appreciable amount of the annual production of the material. I don't know the hard numbers on it off-hand, but I'd wager trying to just buy that much would not only cost millions, but get a whole mess of eyes on the buyer.

I work this over in my mind, wondering how to get Yavuz that Iridium myself so I don't get charged out the ass for him getting it himself…. while I followup that recent return to shooting practice with more hours with the AA-12. I don't really track how long I spend, finding myself easily settling into a groove-and, 1,200 rounds later, I'd say….

[HOT HANDS Trait evolves into Level 3 trait HOT HANDS OF HARRYING]
-Armas now gains a bonus when shooting at enemies within one hundred feet of himself. This bonus is not restricted to shotguns.
-Armas only recieves the bonus if shooting at a fleeing enemy, or otherwise attacks from the back.

…That I might have actually learned something there.

NEAT

Sadly, it's late as fuck-and there's not much more I can do today.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3rd, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $705,275.04
BUSINESS FUNDS: $559,347.00
CASH: $9,170.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 85%
WINTER ENERGY: 21/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 14/50

I wake up… feeling not too shabby. I think I'm getting 'used' to not waking up chock full of magic. Okay-

The phone rings-it's… Lammy?

I pick up to hear a decidedly feminine voice.
>[Woman on Labombard's Phone]"So why is it you want to speak with our dear, furry friend, hmmmm?"

Well there's an interesting question.







How do I respond to that?
And what's the plan for today?
>>
No. 396795 ID: 7472ad

Dmitrii Order: Make sure it matches your street clothes and wear that Ushanka all the time.

Woman might be the Witch. Lammy is a Werewolf of sorts having problems with a Fragment. Witch deals with werewolves and specializes in fragments. Sounds like a likely match. Be polite. Let her know you're concerned about your friend.

Speaking of the witch, if it isn't her, you need to get around to seeing her anyway. I mean, outside of cookie lady, the Witch has been the most polite and nicest to you. Which is especially nice given that she really doesn't have to be.
>>
No. 396811 ID: a47cf8

Orders for Vlad:

Wake up. Belatedly remember to take off Red Army uniform. Put it away with after curiously checking it for anything unusual.

Attempt to reproduce spicy breakfast vodka from yesterday, leave kitchen in shambles whether achieving success or failure.

HOW DOES ITALIAN COMMISSAR NOT DIE OF RUNNING

Ponder the mystery of this whilst trying to keep up. Conclude crazy woman is either some sort of robot sent from the future or possibly powered by the misery of nearby males. Ponder some more. Decide the only conclusion is vodka.

Buy $80 worth of beef jerky and two $10 bottles of cheap vodka on the way home from Jogging Gulag.

Open one bottle and cram jerky bits in until it is full. Seal bottle again and put into closet, await delicious meat-flavored vodka results (and vodka-infused jerky). Attempt again to reproduce spicy vodka with other bottle, again leave kitchen a ruin. Voraciously devour remaining jerky.

Be interested in both the greatcoat and full suit armor selections, ask Titus for more info on the latter, and what options are available for both. Put Red Army uniform back on, relax with comrades and drink experimental spicy vodka concoction while talking about old Soviet days, end up loudly singing Soviet anthem as sobriety retreats in the face of insurmountable odds. Share experimental vodka with others if interest is shown in mixture.

Time to go get beaten up by an old man who isn't old anymore. Ask Ito between beatings if chakra tricks can make someone bulletproof.

Ask Amen where the Soviet uniform came from on the way to bed. Fail to realize this may not be the best thing to do prior to sleeping.
>>
No. 396862 ID: 7c31d2

There was something important you needed to do today. Call those people about that book on noncombat chakra use.
>>
No. 396928 ID: dfc57c

>* Despite severely undercutting the plan yesterday, Armas is meant to be dedicated on the Einrik-troll of appearing professional at the moment. Nothing can be allowed to distract from that, no matter what the temptation.

I don't think the Blade trolling is exactly unprofessional. The Owner practically invited Armas to show case himself when he referred Blade to Armas. To refuse such an invitation from a figure like the Owner isn't really professional.
>>394812
>The caller says that the Owner TOLD them to call me if they had complaints
Now, what is the job of a customer complaints department? I think Armas is doing a good rendition of it for now.
>>
No. 396963 ID: b7dbe3

Gloom:

*Wonder if it's possible that Armas' personal notes on stealth are bound in human skin. Decide it is, but that it's unlikely. Use kitchen tongues to turn the pages of the book Amen gave him and a video camera to scan the contents without reading the book. Then send Amen back and ask him to ring another stealth book if one exists. Rinse and repeat.
* Ask Amen for a set of clothes identical to the type Armas wears save fitted for Gloom. Wear these whilst imitating Armas in front of the mirrors during private chakra and stealth practice.

Armas:

>How do I respond to that?
* Say to the woman on the phone, "Well, it's his turn to buy lunch, but if he's otherwise engaged I wouldn't want to intrude, although I'm sure if you wanted to dine you'd be welcome to join us... "
* Talk to SB afterwards about what we saw when Lammy took out the Reaper. Is there something wrong with him? If we work out about a Rage Fragment, remind him that Whaitiri manage to eat parts of our soul. Ask him if he thinks that Whaitiri would be capable and willing to make a contract with someone who has an implanted Fragment to occasionally nibble on the Fragment whilst leaving the rest of the soul untouched, allowing its bearer to retain their sanity while giving her the energy. We could even ask for commission on the deal. Do not suggest discussing it with Whaitiri now.

>And what's the plan for today?
* Despite severely undercutting the plan yesterday, Armas is meant to be dedicated on the Einrik-troll of appearing professional at the moment. Nothing can be allowed to distract from that, no matter what the temptation.
* Dávgon noted that HB needed to be given Flesh Manipulation powers for our flesh binding plan to work. Talk to him, SB, and Sake about how to achieve this. Propose that we enter into a Contract with Whaitiri on HB's behalf that he will serve as her Champion (explain to HB that she's a blind goddess, proud but in reduced circumstances who needs Best Hummingbird to stand for her) and possibly as a conduit through which she can act in the material world for 1 day a month or season. Depending on what that buys him, she could just grant flesh manipulation outright (preferably external), or temporarily give him something minor so that he will gain the use of our Summer Bloodline powers so that Whaitiri can graft some fleshcrafting from an appropriate summer creature, such as a phoenix, that he eats the heart of. This might also make it easier for Whaitiri to work on the mere, as HB can serve as a conduit to her.
* We still need to get more credit with Whaitiri. SB or Sake may know enough to work out how to directly sacrifice flesh to her, or may know how to safely and controllably switch our summer bloodline to shunt the energy of all the magical flesh that we eat directly to her. If we can do the latter we should gorge ourselves on half the stockpiled magical meat in the house.
* Whaitiri also demonstrated at least some ability to directly interact with souls when we first "met her", when she ate a piece of ours and enabled us to take a piece of her and graft it to our soul. This suggests that she has at least some form of rudimentary soul manipulation powers, as, well, she manipulated our soul. Talk this through with SB, and suggest that we offer her the opportunity to question Amen on that subject as we did for Flesh Manipulation.
* If you talk to Gianni today, ask him about the idea of distributing countless tiny hollows throughout the body. Don't say what it's for.
* Talk to Dávgon and ask him if he can write down those parts of "the book" that would have to be rewritten as a result of seeing HB. That knowledge sounds valuable, so we should sell it.
* Also introduce Dávgon to Silja and explain to him about the soul slivers carrying certain of Simo Heya's memories that are implanted within the rifle, partitioned off by Einrik's barrier. Would it be possible to cleanly transplant them into us? The idea would be to do with our soul as we have with our body with the Dooney glands.
* Ask him to explain about the Einheric Bloodline seeds. Could something based off them be applied to SB to help the evolution of his abilities?
* Properly introduce Dávgon to Duke. Given what he spent the last few years doing, he may have picked up a lot of knowledge about spirit animals that a skilled shaman could tease out.

>>396862
>Call those people about that book on noncombat chakra use
Upvote.
>>
No. 396965 ID: 5464d4

Congratulate HV on a job well done, she pulled it off splendidly. Consider now if this is the kind of role her father or brother would be wanting her to play and the wisdom of releasing a video with her in it to the magic community.

>Laombards lady?
"I'm calling on behalf of a worried friend, and also as one."

As soon as you hit their opening hours, ring up those chakra book people. If this is as hot as I think they are gonna vanish in a flash.

Don't forget about those Einher that were apparently coming to get you. You have to quickly get some information on that or at the very least, ensure that you are prepared to face them at any given time. Call up SM and ask if he has any information on Einher that is related to you, buy fucking everything. Get your spare guns and ammuntion for them into a room that is kept locked and in shadow and ensure that your ensembles from now on include a coat or some other form of dress that allows you to make quick shadows of sufficient size. Even a hat is better than nothing in that respect.

[Zhenya]
-Does more chakra training with the candle as a motivator. She tries to get herhand closer to the fire today.
-She stares fondly at her violin. After she is in no danger of exploding she is gonna get back on that.
-Buys a rules of the road book for istanbul and studies up. Gotta get that license.
-She wonders what the hell she was thinking getting into another hard chakra course and why the hell Ito is so much scarier.
-She briefly imagines Ito as smoldering coals given a breath of fresh air and instantly regerets it as she can no longer stop thinking about Ito as a man on fire. This is gonna be a long class.
>>
No. 396996 ID: cc1982

>>396982
Susting this entire post

>Response
Respond that your a friend of his and haven't heard from him in sometime and wanted to catch up, inquire as to why she has his phone.

>What to do
After the call make sure to order the book. If you've been offered to go somewhere to meat with the caller/lammy then eat to restore your summer line and head out. If not then talk to Hillevi, ask if she had a good time and if she would be amenable to future appearances, then inquire for Satai's progress is going and if her computer skills are coming along nicely. Try to get a feel for how she's been doing and if she might be interested exploring other avenues that you could help her with. After that continue dual orientation and ask Gianni when the next lesson will be.
>>
No. 397001 ID: b83c65

>[Woman on Labombard's Phone]"So why is it you want to speak with our dear, furry friend, hmmmm?"
"Calling on behalf of a worried friend, that's all. And why do you have his phone, hmmmmm?"

"Who am I, I hear you call? As I said I am calling on the behalf of a deeply worried friend who has not seen the furry frenchmen in several days."

Banter a bit, see what she knows and how well she knows our furry friend.

"Also, as a note, I might have just been a cop, or a call center in India and answering that would have opened up some very dangerous questions for your fine, furry friend and for you."


>And what's the plan for today?
Well, the book, for one. Need to jump on that as quickly as possible.
Goblins: If we do go talking with them, bring up the idea of selling the Doony Tape.
Speaking of tapes, the Blade Tape might be good for The Owner. Speak to The Owner, and mention that you are not sure if this is protocol or not when you wish to sell it to him. Do suggest that we can make a whole TV series about Blade, if an initial investment is made.
Begin making a whole TV series about Blade anyway. Clearly Armas is the wise master that dies too soon. We need some footage of Armas finding out about Blade and some dark, evil stuff about Hillevi and SB plotting to kill him. Start plotting who will be what, and what kind of monsters you'll throw at Blade to test his 'worth'. Andrei can be Melvin Kitnic, the Kickstarter - Master of Punchhacking.
Speaking of Blade, did you get a tracking device on him? If you didn't, next time try to. They make very small GPS chips nowadays, and if Shadowbro can get one on Blade, it shouldn't be too hard to keep it on him - or play it off as if he's been bugged. Also, Sake needs to go introduce himself as your...familiar, or something, to 'train' Blade. You know, like they trained Wimp Lo in Enter the Fist.


>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>Wake up. Remain in bed for as long as possible as he contemplate sleeping for as much time as possible today because, apparently, he's going insane. Just powerbar and coffee + 2 Energy Catalyst for breakfast and... Apologize for attacking food on Monday. Not that the food can talk. Nope!
>Commissar Camella's Chakra Carnage, Combat and Christ-this-hurts.
>Wake up, Andrei! It's time for Ito's Agony! Push self, focus on every piece of code or information Ito is teaching.
> Home. Somehow. Check with Hillevi on computer use. Offer aid, if possible. If she's talks about her outing of trolling, ponder starting RPG group with her. Curse lack of free time. If Iosef shows up again, he'll get hands on lessons if he starts doing some things for Andrei. Because fuck video editing to the point of death.
>Remember Stupid-Fucking Island. Ask Boss if he didn't mean 39° 83' 62" N by 49° 53' 20" W, because that's almost right over the Titanic. Monitor Stupid-Fucking Island anyway.
>Regard Hugo's Han-Maky's Myspace. Realize that Boss is trolling. Troll back. Make accurate-as-possible account for Boss. Begin e-flirting with horrible drama-cow. Also, engage in full on-troll mode with several other identities - Duke, Chugainov, Camella - and subtly get a /b/ invasion to her MySpace going. Use several different reasons, and make sure the fake reasons pan out.
>At somepoint, be distracted by Lyubov bringing dinner. Realize dinner is good, and invite her in. Stop working - bad form to eat over the computer and all. Let her lead the discussion. Lament, out loud, just how frustrating it is that he's just been working on various problems for almost a week without social interaction. Ask what's been happening.
>Realize that trolling took up all of the day, and make sure Hillevi doesn't need help.
>Ito Time. Have a bottle of Rage Inferno to keep self going.
>>
No. 397021 ID: 252e1b

LYUBOV ORDERS

L*~Lyubov thanks Hafaz, and plays the part of sympathetic listener if he wants to say why he had a bad day. She asks what his favorite liquor is.
L*~Before going to bed, she catches Matvey and Camella and updates them both on the situation with Father Nikolai. She says, "I spoke to my priest today. Well, um, yesterday now. Um, he decided to talk to my mother because I told him I was uh. Not a good daughter. So, he told me that he sent word to my mother and she knows I'm ok, and that she got fired from her job. She had that job for twenty years; she was excellent at it. I think Chugainov is trying to ruin them, not just burden them but make them a pick between being in the streets and being his tools. And anyway I asked him to see what could be done about getting mom here, but that's only just one person. What are we going to do about everyone elses' families? I showed you the lists, there's dozens of people we'd need to evacuate, and if I move my mom through the church what'll that make Chugainov do?"
L*~Lyubov goes to her room, finds the note and keys from Armas, researches companies in Istanbul that rent heavy-duty flatbeds and goes to sleep. When she wakes, she engages in the Morning Routine (Jog, Weasel Rub/Bling, Breakfast, iPod/KY, Camella Training, Shower, Ito’s) with gusto, cheered by her mother at least knowing things aren't hopeless. At some point, she calls and asks Armas if he would mind meeting before dinner instead of their normal hour for lessons.
L*~After Ito's, she goes home, and cleans up. She gets ready to get the tank by checking the house garage with Amen and moving things to make space. Upon discovering the motorcycles Smets left, she requests motorcyclist’s leathers and a helmet for her second armored uniform. Rather than drive a flatbed herself, she hires a driver through the rental company and claims the tank is a prop for an art project by her boss. She tips the driver to not mention the tank to anyone since, "The Boss hates when his projects end up being gossiped about before he's ready. So please don't mention it." She then covers the tank up with tarps and makes sure it's secure. Lyubov will act as a spotter for Vlad via radio to be sure there are no accidents when loading and unloading the tank.
L*~ After the flatbed is gone, Lyubov will buy things: a bottle of Hafaz’s preferred liquor, some ‘bath bombs’ for herself and Sake (a brand that has gold leaf and saffron petals), a Beefcake magazine for Andrei, and a makeup set in cool winter tones (with matching nail polish and such) for Hillevi. (Estimate: $400-$600 total, the majority in the makeup set). As soon as she gets home she will put the Beefcake magazine in Andrei’s room.
L*~ Lyubov will submit the bill for the rental to Armas when they meet to train. For training she will wear the orange underwear Armas ordered last week under her outfit. After training and clean up, she will mention to Armas what her priest told her about how her mother was fired, and that she thinks Chugainov is probably going to try to utterly ruin the families financially as a prelude to putting them into a position where he can dig his claws into them.
L*~At dinner she will talk to Andrei about his new project. She will offer to help learn about Hyougo Hanmaki, mention the talk with the priest, and ask if Andrei heard that Lev was castrated during his sewer adventure.
L*~Night Lessons. Lyubov puts the stuff Hafaz taught her to work. She slips a bottle of the liquor she bought him into his gym bag when he is busy.
>>
No. 397025 ID: c0e043

>How do I respond to that?

“He up and disappeared on me. I worry. I assume you know where he is, since you have his phone. Is he okay?”

In general, show some concern, try to get as much information as possible, and try to get a meeting with the caller.

>And what's the plan for today?

Morning:
*Call book guys, order book.
*Eat large breakfast
*Go see SM: ask him to set up the introductions that he owes, try to weasel something extra out of him for how well the strikes and splintered intent worked.
*Organise a lunch with Camella, Matvey, Davgon, Hillevi and Duke – invite Gianni too, if he's free. Serve magic food to everyone except Matvey – give him normal food (SAD MATVEY IS SAD). Use this as an opportunity for everyone to get to know Davgon, especially Duke. Suggest to Camella that she might try fighting in the Arena if she wants to make money, and that she'd get 25% of the profits from anything you bet on her.

Afternoon:
*Have a chat with Silja, clean her, rub some oil into her stock.
*Tell Satai that he should confer with Matvey about giving anyone who does stupid things (like Lev yesterday) punishment duties – like making them clean ALL of the guns.
*Call Go Ping to organise the next chakra lesson (any day from 6am, while the Russians are training), and ask him if he can help get in contact with Dorjpalam Khubiliai.
*Make sure Andrei has the Blade footage, set him working on editing it.
*Dual Orientation training: try combinations of Reinforcement and Stealth, Stealth and Soul-sensing, and Reinforcement and Reinforcement, and see if there's any difference in ease of use.

Evening
*Brainstorm ideas for Blade TV with Shadowbro and Sake: episodic structure is pretty much a given, so ideas for stories/episodes. Perhaps you can convince him you were a member of some Super-secret Ancient Order®, that you were killed by some evil rival organisation, and that he's some kind of Chosen One. Perhaps you can do this by appearing to him, as a "ghost", providing some exposition, then periodically coming back to give cryptic warnings.

Feodor Orders
*Kick self for not noticing Lev running off yesterday. Realise some of these guys are so stupid that saving their lives may require dragging them, kicking and screaming, away from what they're going to get themselves killed by. Set new long-term goal of placing top three in the daily jog while at +140lb. Today's goal: Beat half at +20lb.
*Knife training with Lev: Smack Lev on the back of the head for being an idiot yesterday. Otherwise, continue as normal.
*Roll fabric out for Sake, and leave necklace in Hillevi's room with an apology note.
*Ask Finnigan which nights he'll be needing help most on - discuss only coming in 4 nights a week. Work like usual.
>>
No. 397054 ID: c0e043

Addendum:
>>397025
Get Davgon to help you check the chakra progress of the Russians while they're training with Camella.
>>
No. 397140 ID: 6616f3

>Lammy
Say in a voice like old bones and granite, "I have business of my own with Labombard of the Loup Garou. He will pay for every transgression a thousand-fold. For every drop of blood, an ocean. For each hurt they suffered, he shall know a thousand. For every insult, 17 lashes with a limp noodle. For each Reaper dead at his hand, he will receive a fruit basket and a coupon to Baki's massage parlor - nah, I'm not entirely dissimilar to something like a friend of Lammy's. Heard from a mutual friend he was down, thought I might be able to help. Who's this?"

Just because I like messing with self-important sounding people like this.

If we have nothing better to do, ask Camella if we can join the daily jog. If yes: "Excellent, I just need to go buy some tennis balls. Be back shortly." SB, Sake and Armas turn the jog into a live-fire exercise by popping up in weird places and throwing tennis balls.

Call Rocco: "Got a minute? I was hoping to discuss getting GiaGia on long-term retainer. What that man can't do with his hands isn't worth talking about.

"I hear the Nazis struck back at Mafia holdings for our little raid. The bosses can't be happy about that, eh? So... how about a freebie in exchange? And it's a hell of one, too. I currently have a rather restless fellow guesting in my house who could arm-wrestle a Valkonen and come out ahead. If you give me something to pique his interest - and we're talking Skorzeny, or a Nazinaut facility or something here - I will give you a level of destruction you've never seen before. The kind of destruction Hitler would say 'Maybe that's going a little far' in response to. Then he'll piss on the ashes, and this guy's piss is the sort of thing that'll salt the earth for 100 years.

Just a thought, huh?"

I think you can call up Jung and say if he has a decent bodyguard he can come back to Istanbul. If he requests one, Davgon might suit if the money's right. Give the guy something to do when not teaching us shit and messing around with souls.

Also, what's keeping us from finishing the mere? Nothing, right? Talk to Whaitiri, get her blessing, have SB involved in the crafting, call H&H and get it done.
>>
No. 397155 ID: 81f32a

ORDERS FOR IOSEF:
-Re-reads the print-outs and other info that Andrei gave him.
-Uses the knowledge he gained for socializing on internet again (forums/IM/Omegle/etc)
-Asks Hillevi how her 'internet training' is going and how she is doing on Internet social front. Asks her general opinion on the whole thing.
-Tries to get Duke talking again. Drags a barrel of vodka for him. Listens to Duke talking about cool shit he did in life.



Orders for Armas:
>More video work for Andrei.

You know, I don't think there's any other Russian in our company who is as overworked as Andrei. On top of mandatory, brutal training he has a pile of tasks we dumped on him and, iirc, he was also queued to build a server and a computer network in the Mansion. Man, the guy had a hear-attack due to the sheer burden ffs.
Tell Sake and Hillevi to administer their restorative methods to Andrei daily, one in the morning and one in the evening. That way, he will be able to function will no ill effects with just few hours a sleep per day.

>Adelat.
I'm concerned what happened and what she learned on her quest through the sewers. She spent more than a full day in them before successfully leaving them alive. Those are grounds to be worried, who knows what or who she met there?
Ask SB if he could spy on her and try to discern what she did in the sewers. Also ask him if he could look into her research and see what she dug up about Armas ever since we murdered that police man. If she found any hard evidences beyond speculation, ask him to steal them or at least take a note.

>Chakra training.
Getting ALL of our chakra training solely from the Triads is dangerous, especially when we are expecting that sooner or later we will have to go against Lo Fang. Maybe we should contact that Chakra Master that Einrik recommended to us and arrange for lessons?
If we do, we should have her train Camella too.
>>
No. 397199 ID: 448d82

LEV ORDERS
>Shower, water is still wet, wonder at the possiblity of non-wet water, wait what?
>Lev feels dull, wonders why he has been so stupid lately, perhaps therapy is in order?
>Be nervous about jog, go anyway, not going down the sewers, not until ready to exact revenge for Little Lev anyway.
>Camella's Hell training, Lev tries to focus his chakra, just like when throwing at a distant target, or preparing to strike. At lot is riding on this weird stuff.
>...Is Ito made of rubber and PAIN?
>Be smacked in the head by Feodor, fall down out cold.
> [Be Revived?]
>[If Revived]: Remember nothing as to what happened.
>Lev wonders why his voice sounds a bit different.
>Night Training with Ito - Castration brings... peace? Disturbing.
>Celebrate restoration of Manhood with Sake, bring drink and what ever pretty things you could find! TRIBUTE FOR THE MEDIC-KAMI! Build another shrine, in Drink-guilt make a little part for feodor.
>...Later Lev finds himself stuck to the ceiling with duct-tape. He wonders if he did something wrong and if anyone will let him down.., fail to remember the events that led to this.
>Feel Lonely, Fall asleep.
>>
No. 397216 ID: 252e1b

>>396793
>As for Lammy's girl here - there's no need to feign concern, ours is legit.
>>396795
>Be polite. Let her know you're concerned about your friend.
>>397025
>“He up and disappeared on me. I worry. I assume you know where he is, since you have his phone. Is he okay?”

I second these.

With that in mind:

"Hey now, they hate it when you call them furries. Not that I blame them, that CSI episode was just traumatizing to watch. So! I'm calling my friend, because I haven't heard from him lately and I was hoping that if he had gone and gotten into trouble I could try setting aside the whole 'being an asshole' thing and try exercising the old sense of 'loyalty to my friends.' The best part is that I could go right back to 'being an asshole' after I saved him; he'd never hear the end of the damsel in distress jokes. I'd be his gallant prince, he'd be, uh, I dunno. What's an appropriate Princess? Rapunzel? Wait, was she even a princess?"

"Oh well, my favorite Brothers Grimm tale was 'Town Musicians of Bremen' but there aren't any princesses in that one. How about you? What's your favorite fairy tale?"

"Ha, I guess that's an appropriate one. Well then, that'd make you 'Belle' in this tale?"

"Charmed. I'm Armas. I really am worried about my friend though."

"I was afraid it was his condition acting up. That's not good at all. I knew he'd been fighting hard lately, but I didn't realize... well. Can I visit him, or is he, ah, indisposed?"

"Right. Alright. So does he need some good home cooking? Because I can do that too. Chock full of vitamins, nutritious, and magically delicious. Besides that, well what does he need to really fix this?"


>>396928
>There was something important you needed to do today. Call those people about that book on noncombat chakra use.

Yes, call Avery Bagoyle's publishing house and secure that copy. Inquire if they'll sell you a second copy as well, so that you have a present you can make part of the reward for an in-house chakra tournament. Ask if they have a catalog of other books of a similar nature that they offer.

ARMAS ORDERS
~Ask about Lammy
~Call about the Chakra book(s)
~Ask Andrei about what he learned, ask if he needs extra help with the video stuff since you're dumping more of it on him. If he says he does, tell him to talk to Matvey and ask for him to assign the people Andrei wants. Remind him that the video editing takes a back-seat to getting healthy though. Ask about his lesion.
~Talk to Matvey and Camella on the phone again, the morning conference call to make sure everyone is on the same page for the day.
~Order them to make sure someone is always with Lev. He could have gotten himself killed yesterday, he's lucky he only lost his dick.
~Contact the Chakra Master that Einrik gave you the contact number for. You negotiated the first line of gatekeeping (her grand kids), so now you need to negotiate the second and make an appointment to meet with her.
~Ask Amen to give you a brief summary of Adelat's sewer adventures which does not omit anything magical which happened to her, and which truthfully conveys what she learned there. Also find out if she got reinstated to her position.
~Give Adelat a call, along the lines of this: >>392276
~Get Dávgon to help you check the chakra progress of the Russians at some point today. Have him turn it into a Sensing and Detection lesson.
~Talk to Dávgon about compensation. Ask if he has an identity in place that would let him be in the country according to the mortal authorities. If he doesn't, point him to Lyubov, and make a point of telling her that she's got more identity construction work to deal with when you train her.
~Make a point of swearing him to secrecy on this one issue and then mentioning to Dávgon that you're a godling. Ask if that changes any options about Hummingbird's situation.
~Call for SB and Sake. Summon Satai too. The four of you need to confer with Dávgon about possession or control options for the golem, talk pros and cons of direction possession, shadow manipulation, remote radio control, and other setups.
~Have an Officer's Luncheon.
~Have a chat with Silja, clean her, oil her up, feed her something you grilled for her. Try teaching her some chakra. Just the basics, terminology and the like, to start.
~Keep up your end of the deal with Lyubov
~Before you deal with Lo Fang again you need to prepare to make a move in the Machiavellian game with him. So far he's had Go Ping try to subvert or kill Camella, has successfully placed her in a position of being his creature if she dies (and has the tools to ensure it can work), has harassed an arms dealer contact you became friendly with, and has the opportunity each week to monitor your personal progress. Lo Fang's intelligence network was sufficient to know about the AORB meeting we had scheduled, and he visited Ito's Dojo himself. The concerning thing about the AORB meeting being known was that he knew Camella was the one attending, not you.
~Either AORB's side of things was compromised, or your end was. And it's way more likely your end was.
~Perform bug sweeping on the house and dojo. Have Amen help in the mansion. Once you know what you're looking for, have Shadowbro discretely sweep the Dojo.
>>
No. 397222 ID: 622cca

>I wake up… feeling not too shabby. I think I'm getting 'used' to not waking up chock full of magic. Okay-
Three days in a row we wake up thinking this. Does this mean we feel we haven't got a better handle on this than 3 days ago, or does this mean we are, every days, thinking we 'finally' got it but each time feeling even better the next? Think about this, this is important.

>Go see SM: ask him to set up the introductions that he owes, try to weasel something extra out of him for how well the strikes and splintered intent worked.
If we do that, it's not “try to weasel”. SM and us hav a deal pending about the NN bubbles- as in, it's not finalized yet. For lammy's info, we should be getting at LEAST 1 year, and this “one year” should be in a bubble where we can bring many different people and people/hummingbirds do not age of course (as well as being otherwise ideal for training). If he wants us to kill underground lieutenants, then it should be ten years EACH, and double that if he wants to known in advance WHEN we deal with one. It also shouldn't just be “Duke kills them”, but “He dies from our resources”.

>Organize a lunch with Camella, Matvey, Davgon, Hillevi and Duke – invite Gianni too, if he's free. Serve magic food to everyone except Matvey – give him normal food (SAD MATVEY IS SAD). Use this as an opportunity for everyone to get to know Davgon, especially Duke. Suggest to Camella that she might try fighting in the Arena if she wants to make money, and that she'd get 25% of the profits from anything you bet on her.
Upvote. Also, ask Duke if he has contacts that would know a lot about spirit animals, especially for body binding. We have to do this when Gianni and Dávgon are presents. Explain you are trying to double-bind the Hummingbird, but want to know as much as possiblefirst. Ask gianni if he could get fleshcrafting powers/perks to HB, and if it is enough for our purposes. Ask HB what kind of perks it would want.

>I think you can call up Jung and say if he has a decent bodyguard he can come back to Istanbul. If he requests one, Davgon might suit if the money's right.
SUST. There is no reason to sacrifice Dávgon like that, and it's very likely Jung would die anyway. Also, it will pit us directly against lo fang without any gain.

>Get Davgon to help you check the chakra progress of the Russians while they're training with Camella.
If you do that, do it as a lesson. Really. Don't just have him 'help'.

>Getting boons from Whaitiri
The problem here is that we STILL haven't done anything about our relationship with Whaitiri. There is something we could do though that Sake probably won't dislike (ask him first). Women like cookies, right? Get to the Cookie Lady. Tell her that a woman very close to us is blind and distraught, erratic, and we want to help her. Ask her for her advice. Slowly get to talk about magic, and have Sake rubs her. Then say how this person is linked to 'food', and she possibly has never eaten cookies. Tell her we can serve as a 'vessel' of sort for her to eatThat should do the trick. When we eat the cookies, we should BELIEVE as much as we can in the cookies, while not being things of enormous power, has an unique quality giving it taste- and believe that taste is something that would help “Heal” Whaitiri's bitterness, unhappiness, and so on.

IGOR
+Igor continues to go on his routine
+Igor continues working on Armas' gauntlet and tries to remember how it felt when he was sucessful on the last one
+Igor tries to “feel” the tempo of him “striking metal” while practince chakra
+Igor notices Vlad buying a Vodka bottle from outside, and tells him there is still plenty left at the mansion.

>>
No. 397478 ID: 7c31d2

Phoenix hearts burn going down, whiskey burns when going down, both are good burns, why not combine them? Adding two good things has to have a good result
>>
No. 397872 ID: 54103e

>Rostislav will begin to mull over his memories from the fight club while doing the runs - attempting to sus-out some of, or at least one of, their tricks. He'll also think about the arena and what sort of things he can utilize in it - if there was dust, or sand, or if it was a hard floor. > Rostislav will ask Ito what sort of things he should be aware of in a fight with a chakra user. >If he's asked why, Rostislav will frame the fights from the club as a mugging he managed to escape - and tell Ito what he can recall from those fights. >He'll wonder if Dad has head from Chugainov - And what sort of things the assholes could manage together. He dismisses this line of thought as useless and paranoid. >Finally, he continues to throw himself into the wonderful drug of self-improvement.


ARMAS: Congratulate Hillevi on a job well-done.
It's about time to get that deal with the goblins finalized, isn't it. Considering the impact your strikes had - along with your trick - I imagine there's a lot of bargaining you can do. Might want to strike while the iron's hot!
As for Lammy's girl here - there's no need to feign concern, ours is legit. We heard he was in trouble, right? Only natural to be concerned about a coworker/boss, especially one so powerful and connected, and doubly so when all of the people you know him through can only say he up and fucking vanished.
>>
No. 397937 ID: 6616f3
File 133332790581.jpg - (178.74KB , 1452x1881 , EliteMook2.jpg )
397937

Titus Orders
-Start polling the russians on coat preferences. Consider asking Amen to simply make a variety of coat to demonstrate, then adjust and reweave as suit personal preferences. There are probably hundreds of styles out there, but the basics- trench, overcoat, duster, single- or double-breasted suits, jackets- hell, tail coats with matching tophat. Amen could probably get a pretty good mix.
-Get quotes for ceramics useful for inner armor if other russians seem interested in heavier armors than simple kevlar. Ask Amen if he can do the work of an arc furnace and/or diamond grinder - carbon boride and the like are cheaper in natural state or powder than in finished plate form.
-Non-newtonian fluids are likely to be harder to find, and will require research - but it would be a nice way to further armor but cut down on weight.
-For himself, Titus already knows the style he wants.
>>
No. 398030 ID: d97a61

>[Dmitrii has been queued to do the following:]
>[D]-Make sure great coat matches general street attire and is ushanka compatible-otherwise be okay with standard form. Awaiting Titus' estimation on base price to complete transaction.
[Vlad has been queued to do the following:]
(V)- Wake up. Belatedly remember to take off Red Army uniform. Put it away with after curiously checking it for anything besides the washing tag dated eighteen seventeen.
(V)- Attempt to reproduce spicy breakfast vodka from yesterday, leave kitchen in shambles after succeeding with capsaicin crystals in lieu of actual peppers and mixing it like salt into warm water. Know that the ring of fire may kill him tonight. Care not.
(V)- Ponder the mystery of the Italian Commisar not dying or even becoming winded while running, all whilst trying to personally keep up. Snarl at Feodor for running with a weighted vest-belatedly realize Camella's got ankle and wrist weights on, and has been wearing them from the start. Wonder if anyone else noticed them. Conclude crazy woman is either some sort of robot sent from the future or possibly powered by the misery of nearby males. Ponder some more. Decide the only conclusion is vodka, as it should be.
(V)- Buy $80 worth of beef jerky and two $10 bottles of cheap vodka on the way home from Jogging Gulag. Be happy when seeing Feodor nearly tumble from top-heavy status while so winded from the run-take that overachiever, Vlad carries more weight than that every day!
(V)- Open one bottle and cram jerky bits in until it is full. Seal bottle again and put into closet, await delicious meat-flavored vodka results (and vodka-infused jerky). Voraciously devour remaining jerky.
(V)-Try to pump Titus for armor pricing options before committing, sure his personal size will mean he'll have to pay a premium for the sheer amount of fabric needed.
(V)- Time to go get beaten up by an old man who isn't old anymore. Ask Ito between beatings if chakra tricks can make someone bulletproof. Be given a thoughtful look from behind a slightly feral looking grin as Ito explains such things do, to his understanding, exist-but most are too energy intensive to be effective against more than a pistol for a normal Chakra practitioner, so they wouldn't be really useful until he'd put in years more to really master them. Be told Ito might actually be interested in seeing if his version of Reinforcement can be made to serve this function for him now that he's got a renewed personal sense of chakratic stamina. Awaiting Vlad's input on whether he'd shoot Ito sometimes when he wanted to be shot, knowing that post-de-aging Ito'd probably be 'fired up' enough even after successfully ablating the gunfire that he'll likely aggressively attack Vlad in the interest of 'training'.
(V)- Ask Amen where the Soviet uniform came from on the way to bed. Be told Amen crafted it from the belly of a tortured shell of a man that long ago lost his grip on sanity merely for it's own amusement-before being told this was likely a metaphor, and given no further answer. Belatedly realize this may not have been the best thing to do prior to sleeping.
[Gloom has been queued to do the following:]
*Wonder if it's possible that Armas' personal notes on stealth are bound in human skin. Decide it is indeed possible, but that it's unlikely. Use kitchen tongs to turn the pages of the book Amen gave him and a video camera to scan the contents without reading the book. Then send Amen back and ask him to bring another stealth book if one exists. Receive a tomb that weeps blood that crumbles to ash just before hitting any surface. Begin recording-be unable to finish today.
*Wonder if Amen is messing with him and only providing unusually crafted books.
* Ask Amen for a set of clothes identical to the type Armas wears save fitted for Gloom. Spend a while pinning down something close to 'regular' attire for Armas: Snakeskin boots, a purple cashmere suit, a burgundy silk shirt and a neon orange tie. Wear these whilst imitating Armas in front of the mirrors during private chakra and stealth practice.
*Be distrustful of gut feeling it's easier to imitate him while largely looking like him.
[/b][Zhenya has been queued to do the following:][/b]
-Do more chakra training with the candle as a motivator. She tries to get her hand closer to the fire today. Wonders if this really counts as chakra training given she's really just getting over a fear of fire as best as she can figure.
-Stare fondly at her violin. After she is in no danger of exploding she is gonna get back on that.
-Buys a rules of the road book for istanbul and studies up. Gotta get that license. Continue building map of Isanbul backstreets and alleyways large enough for vans.
-Wonders what the hell she was thinking getting into another hard chakra course and why the hell Ito is so much scarier. Oh right, she saw him get rubbed with Sake, she KNOWS why he's so much scarier. Wonder how weasel boss de-aged Ito. Is that a normal trick for Sake?
-Briefly imagines Ito as smoldering coals given a breath of fresh air and instantly regerets it as she can no longer stop thinking about Ito as a man on fire. Have even more trouble given his newly fiery disposition. This is gonna be a long class.

>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>Wake up. Remain in bed for as long as possible as he contemplate sleeping for as much time as possible today because, apparently, he's going insane. Just powerbar and coffee + 2 Energy Catalyst for breakfast and... Apologize for attacking food on Monday. Not that the food can talk. Nope!
>Thanks for apologizing mistah Andrei DIDN'T HEAR THAT NOPE.
>Commissar Camella's Chakra Carnage, Combat and Christ-this-hurts.
>Wake up, Andrei! It's time for Ito's Agony! Push self, focus on every piece of code or information Ito is teaching.
> Home. Somehow. Check with Hillevi on computer use. Offer aid, if possible. Realize she's sort of getting it. Curse lack of free time. When Iosef shows up again, demand video editing help in exchange for documents, notes and general tutelage from Andrei in what he knows about social engineering.
>Remember Stupid-Fucking Island. Ask Boss if he didn't mean 39° 83' 62" N by 49° 53' 20" W, because that's almost right over the Titanic. Be assured coordinates are correct, wonder what the fuck is there. Monitor Stupid-Fucking Island anyway.
>Regard Hugo's Han-Maky's Myspace. Realize that Boss is trolling. Troll back. Make accurate-as-possible account for Boss. Begin e-flirting with horrible drama-cow. Also, engage in full on-troll mode with several other identities - Duke, Chugainov, Camella - and subtly get a /b/ invasion to her MySpace going. Use several different reasons, and make sure the fake reasons pan out. Fail to realistically cobble all this together since anonymous trolling coordination makes herding cats look easy, despite this succeed in getting Hugo caught up in it all-seems kind of surprised anyone's responding to her.
>At somepoint, be distracted by Lyubov bringing dinner. Realize dinner is good, and invite her in. Stop working - bad form to eat over the computer and all. Let her lead the discussion. Lament, out loud, just how frustrating it is that he's just been working on various problems for almost a week without social interaction. Ask what's been happening. Get recap on several company happenings he hadn't noticed, and otherwise have some 'normal' human interaction. [i]Good for you Mistah Andrei
son of a bitch I forgot a piece of asparagus.
>Realize that trolling took up all of the day, and make sure Hillevi doesn't need help.
>Ito Time. Have a bottle of Rage Inferno to keep self going. …Make that two. …Heart feels fine.
[Lyubov has been queued to do the following:]
L*~Lyubov thanks Hafaz, and plays the part of sympathetic listener if he wants to say why he had a bad day. Is told he just found out his cousin got killed by an Einher-was his own fault, but still, he liked the kid. Attempts to console him are abrasively shrugged off-she ceases making attempts. She asks what his favorite liquor is. Is told that he really likes Bourbon.
L*~Before going to bed, she catches Matvey and Camella and updates them both on the situation with Father Nikolai. She says, "I spoke to my priest today. Well, um, yesterday now. Um, he decided to talk to my mother because I told him I was uh. Not a good daughter. So, he told me that he sent word to my mother and she knows I'm ok, and that she got fired from her job. She had that job for twenty years; she was excellent at it. I think Chugainov is trying to ruin them, not just burden them but make them pick between being in the streets and being his tools. And anyway I asked him to see what could be done about getting mom here, but that's only just one person. What are we going to do about everyone else's' families? I showed you the lists, there's scores of people we'd need to evacuate, and if I move my mom through the church what'll that make Chugainov do?" Camella responds by saying she'll talk to Armas about higher-order solution options, but that otherwise she thinks we should only act when we're sure they can resolve the situation, rather potentially risking Chugainov attacking families as-of-yet unevacuated before they finish. Matvey says 'It's good we've established a contact that has the capability to contact the family's but doing so may have been premature. Evacuating your mother could cause terrible things to happen to the remaining families if found out and considering the rate Chugainov is going right now it won't be pretty. At the scale we're looking at now evacuation doesn't seem feasible. Camella and I are going to have to tell Armas this and find out what he's willing to do to Chugainov that could stop this.' See that both of them seem on the same page.
L*~Lyubov goes to her room, finds the note and keys from Armas, researches companies in Istanbul that rent heavy-duty flatbeds and goes to sleep. When she wakes, she engages in the Morning Routine (Jog, Weasel Rub/Bling, Breakfast, iPod/KY, Camella Training, Shower, Ito’s) with gusto, cheered by her mother at least knowing things aren't hopeless. At some point, she calls and asks Armas if he would mind meeting before dinner instead of their normal hour for lessons. Be told that works.
L*~After Ito's, she goes home, and cleans up. She gets ready to get the tank by checking the house garage with Amen and moving things to make space. Upon discovering the motorcycles Smets left, she requests motorcyclist’s leathers and a helmet for her second armored uniform. She estimates this would cost about $300 for the leather needed to layer over the actual armor, and provides this to Titus. Rather than drive a flatbed herself, she hires a driver through the rental company and claims the tank is a prop for an art project by her boss. She tips the driver to not mention the tank to anyone since, "The Boss hates when his projects end up being gossiped about before he's ready. So please don't mention it." To really send the point home, she tips $150. She then covers the tank up with tarps and makes sure it's secure. Lyubov will act as a spotter for Vlad via radio to be sure there are no accidents when loading and unloading the tank. Successfully gets tank home.
L*~ After the flatbed is gone, Lyubov will buy things: a bottle of Hafaz’s preferred liquor, some ‘bath bombs’ for herself and Sake (a brand that has gold leaf and saffron petals), a Beefcake magazine for Andrei, and a makeup set in cool winter tones (with matching nail polish and such) for Hillevi. (Cost: $565). As soon as she gets home she will put the Beefcake magazine in Andrei’s room.
L*~ Lyubov will submit the bill for the rental to Armas when they meet to train. Armas pays the $650 out-of pocket. For training she will wear the orange underwear Armas ordered last week under her outfit. After training and clean up, she will mention to Armas what her priest told her about how her mother was fired, and that she thinks Chugainov is probably going to try to utterly ruin the families financially as a prelude to putting them into a position where he can dig his claws into them. Be told he's got a solution that might work, but he's going to need to tweak it if they don't want to be looking at 'collateral damage'. After prompting, be told he was thinking about tapping this clan of spirit shamans that owe him a favor and are used to nomadic life to pick their asses and their god-in-a-siedis up and go evacuate the Russians en masse. He still sees the same problems Matvey and Camella cited, about reprisals to the later evacuated, as the shamans largely travel together, and the families are too spread out. Listen to boss muse over what would happen if they could get two more groups about that scale involved-hear him decide they could probably collectively act before Chugainov could act. Gain sense boss does not conveniently have other, similar favors to call in. In Armas training gets-a completely, utterly normal and professional training class where Armas' blatantly half-assed approach to conventional teaching comes through. Be so distracted by horrible boorishness of training that it still works. Be peeved at the smug grin he sports when she realizes this was his plan.
L*~At dinner she will talk to Andrei about his new project. She will offer to help learn about Hyougo Hanmaki, mention the talk with the priest, and ask if Andrei heard that Lev was castrated during his sewer adventure. Be briefly concerned Andrei's having a seizure before he coughs up the food and continues laughing at comment. No one mentions the Beefcake magazine.
L*~Night Lessons. Lyubov puts the stuff Hafaz taught her to work. She's still not doing well against the old lady vampire-but then, neither is Hafaz. Seems only Camella (and now Ito) can really give her a good run. She slips a bottle of the liquor she bought him into his gym bag when he is busy.
[Feodor has been queued to do the following:]
*Kick self for not noticing Lev running off yesterday. Realise some of these guys are so stupid that saving their lives may require dragging them, kicking and screaming, away from what they're going to get themselves killed by. Set new long-term goal of placing top three in the daily jog while at +140lb. Today's goal: Beat half at +20lb. Redact goal after realizing he'd been meeting it-shoot for beat two thirds at thirty pounds. Player roll 1d100 in discussion, dc is 50.
*Knife training with Lev: Smack Lev on the back of the head for being an idiot yesterday. Otherwise, continue as normal. Wish he had knives sharp enough he could hold them like scalpels-he's more used to precise wristwork with that grip format by far.
*Roll fabric out for Sake, and leave necklace in Hillevi's room with an apology note. Decide not to be around when she gets it-girl's too bubbly for his tastes.
*Ask Finnigan which nights he'll be needing help most on - discuss only coming in 4 nights a week. Be told in order, his four most busy days are usually Friday, Sunday, Saturday then Thursday. Work like usual.

[Iosef has been queued to do the following:]
-Spends majority of day's scant free time helping Andrei edit video and learning how to provide said help. Re-reads the print-outs and other info that Andrei gave him after helping.
-Plans to use the knowledge he gained for socializing on internet again (forums/IM/Omegle/etc) when he has time.
-Asks Hillevi how her 'internet training' is going and how she is doing on Internet social front. Asks her general opinion on the whole thing. Be told he's weird.
-Tries to get Duke talking again. Drags a barrel of vodka for him. Listens to Duke talking about cool shit he did throughout his life.
[Lev has been queued to do the following:]
Seriously tone back the insanity please.
{L}-Shower, water is still wet, wonder at the possiblity of non-wet water, wait what?
{L}-Lev feels dull, wonders why he has been so stupid lately, perhaps therapy is in order?
{L}-Be nervous about jog, go anyway, not going down the sewers, not until ready to exact revenge for Little Lev anyway.
{L}-Camella's Hell training, Lev tries to focus his chakra, just like when throwing at a distant target, or preparing to strike. A lot is riding on this weird stuff. Player must roll 1d100 and beat 60 to maintain focus.
{L}-Celebrate restoration of Manhood with Sake, bring drink and whatever pretty things you could find! TRIBUTE FOR THE MEDIC-KAMI! Build another shrine, in Drink-guilt make a little part for feodor.
{L}-...Later Lev finds himself stuck to the ceiling with duct-tape. He wonders if he did something wrong and if anyone will let him down.., fail to remember the events that led to this.
{L}-Fall asleep still stuck to ceiling.

[Igor has been queued to do the following:]
+Continue to go on his routine as apparently 'do exactly what he was doing' is an order to queue up now.
+Continue working on Armas' gauntlet and tries to remember how it felt when he was successful on the last one. Feel like he's having a hard time mentally imaging what this gauntlet would fit on, really.
+Igor tries to “feel” the tempo of him “striking metal” while practicing chakra. Continues to have a problem finding a way to get into a groove with this method. Wonders if maybe rhythm, tempo and metronomic properties aren't his 'thing', insofar as a way to improve learning, like Lyubov and her distractions.
+Notices Vlad buying a Vodka bottle from outside, and tells him there is still plenty left at the mansion. Gets a 'well crap' look and a thank you for the information.

[Rostislav has been queued to do the following:]
- Ask Ito what sort of things he should be looking for in a chakra-using fighter if he wanted to try and analyze what they are doing with Chakra. Be told to save his breath when trying to bullshit about a chakratic mugging to not mention Fight Club. Ask this in the midst of being manhandled by the still admittedly tiny eighty year old Japanese man who looks in his mid-fifties and quite friendly with the weight room.
-Be told that it's mostly in the eyes, hips and feet, so far as Ito's seen. Feet are usually staggered and facing forward for aggressive, direct offensive Chakra uses, splayed for evasive Orientations, and stably bent for defensive Orientations. He says the hips are usually low for offensive and evasive orientations and techniques, but less so for defensive techniques. He says for evasive techniques, the people will usually watch hands or feet, while offensive watch joints and the eyes to determine weaknesses, while defensive watch the spine to keep track of the center of weight. Be told none of this is absolute, but that in his small bit of experience in life, he found the aforementioned statements to be generally true. Be told this while Ito waits for him to get up after another vicious throw aided by an elbow to the gut forceful enough to propel him skyward all on it's own-the throw just Ito's icing on the cake, to bring all that weight right on back down.
-Ignore small sense of gratitude to Ito for making training with him more helacious to force them all to learn Chakra faster just to keep from collapsing without healing. Mull over his memories from the fight club while doing the runs - attempting to figure out some of, or at least one of, their tricks. Fail abhorrently due to only knowing some of the details of ONE Chakra Orientation, and thus having nothing remotely like a frame of reference or magical perceptiveness needed to properly reverse engineer observed Chakra Orientations, just like any other normal person. Walk away only with the sense that if it's as Ito says you'll need to get better at watching, because footwork, setting of the hips and where one's looking can all change at the drop of the hat, and it'll take real effort to clearly identify when they're actually going for their trick, and not just maneuvering. Wonder if boss' inclination for astoundingly ambitious plans is rubbing off on him-hope not.
-Think about the arena and what sort of things he can utilize in it - While it was a hardwood floor, the boards were purposefully only minimally supported, leaving large areas where the boards could flex and bow easily. So far as he saw, this was to let throws not end with regular broken bones. Note that floors are dusty, but not enough to easily grab some for throwing. Know that hard enough throws or strikes could probably break right through the floor-be pretty sure one would have to try for it to make it happen.
Wonders something about his dad's head and Chugainov-pretty sure it's paranoid mental fluff. Walk that shit off.
[Titus has been queued to do the following:]
-Start polling the russians on coat preferences. AWAITING INPUT FROM ALL MINION OWNERS ON PREFERENCE OF SUIT VS COAT, AND TRENCHCOAT VS GREATCOAT
-Consider asking Amen to simply make a variety of coat to demonstrate, then adjust and reweave as suit personal preferences. There are probably hundreds of styles out there, but the basics- trench, overcoat, duster, single- or double-breasted suits, jackets- hell, tail coats with matching tophat. Amen could probably get a pretty good mix. Be asked a dazzling array of questions that suggests Amen is immensely savvy about fashion options and would be all-too-willing to whip up just about any style. Be a bit unnerved by the incongruous nature of this revelation.
-Get quotes for ceramics useful for inner armor if other russians seem interested in heavier armors than simple kevlar. Ask Amen if he can do the work of an arc furnace and/or diamond grinder - carbon boride and the like are cheaper in natural state or powder than in finished plate form. Be told Amen can but he'll be using up more blood than average for operation to do so. Decide that just eighteen suits shouldn't be an issue given all the other crap the butler's maybe done, depending on who's telling drunken stories.
-Non-newtonian fluids are likely to be harder to find, and will require research - but it would be a nice way to further armor but cut down on weight.
-For himself, Titus already knows the style he wants.


>>396795
>>396963
>>396965
>>396996
>>397205
>>397140
>[DDDDD Trait activated]
>[MMM,MMMM] Trait auto-activated]
"I have business of my own with Labombard of the Loup Garou. He will pay for every transgression a thousand-fold. For every drop of blood, an ocean. For each hurt they suffered, he shall know a thousand. For every insult, 17 lashes with a limp noodle. For each Reaper dead at his hand, he will receive a fruit basket and a coupon to Baki's massage parlor - nah, I'm not entirely dissimilar to something like a friend of Lammy's. And on that note hey now, they hate it when you call them furries. Not that I blame them, that CSI episode was just traumatizing to watch. So! Heard from a mutual friend he was down, thought I might be able to help. Because I haven't heard from him lately and I was hoping that if he had gone and gotten into trouble I could try setting aside the whole 'being an asshole' thing and try exercising the old sense of 'loyalty to my friends.' The best part is that I could go right back to 'being an asshole' after I saved him; he'd never hear the end of the damsel in distress jokes. I'd be his gallant prince, he'd be, uh, I dunno. What's an appropriate Princess? Rapunzel? Wait, was she even a princess? On that note: Who's this?"
>[Woman on Labombard's phone]"Someone that, while admittedly mildly amused, is still awaiting a satisfactory answer."
"Well, it's his turn to buy lunch, but if he's otherwise engaged I wouldn't want to intrude, although I'm sure if you wanted to dine you'd be welcome to join us... "
>[Woman on Labombard's phone]"Oh my, that just wouldn't do-you might not have learned~or conveniently forgotten~that I'm rather committed-I just couldn't do that to my darling. Beyond that, I daresay one of his failings is to be the jealous type, and further venture he might take offense at your forward offer."
"I see. An important thing to know, and factor into one's decisions."
>[Woman on Labombard's phone]"Well, past such potential hiccups to our conversation, I'm afraid I must return to my original question-as fascinating as the story of a meal is, it's not truly representative of your reason for calling, is it?"
"Speaking plainly, I'm calling on behalf of a worried friend and also as one: do I need further justification than that to check upon a friend?"
>[Woman on Labombard's phone]"Not at all-rather, the issue is with what potential other motivations one could have to seek out the pitiably worn-out Loup Garou. He's such a willfull were-so unhesitant in his choices that sometimes he can hurt himself worse than any foe. I'm sure that, as his friend, you'd know what I speak of."
"To call it optimism would be euphemistic, and not properly identify the blatantly nihilistic tendencies underlying it."
>[Woman on Labombard's phone]"Oh my, I had not thought you had known him long enough to so subtly read him, nor that you were that good at reading others."
"That's some rather specific expectations for a presumed stranger calling-but I believe it would be safe to say that cumulatively I can be rather perceptive."
>[Women on Labombard]"I enjoy how curiously over-true that sounds to me. Well, you have indeed hit the nail on the proverbial head-and now we come to my concern. You see, Mr. Laine-"
>[RRRRRR Trait activated]
"If we're doing away with the pretense of not knowing one another, I would prefer to hear it from you directly how you'd prefer to be addressed, oh Witch."
I can feel a few sparks gently tickle across my face from my phone as the Witch on the other end chuckles throatily.
>[Witch of the Weres]"It is good to hear it confirmed-and I must thank you for your deferment. If you could title me Matron of the Mubarek, I would call you accurate-but frankly boorish. I'd have you call me Oggmum. It's less cumbersomely formal, in my mind, and I always did like being called my Name."
"I shall extend you that courtesy then, Oggmum. Would you tell me what alternative motivations you fear me having?"
>[Oggmum]"It'd be mercurial in nature, and I trust you see why I could suspect you of holding such motivations."
"I was not aware there was any sort of contract on Labombard and frankly consider him too entertaining a drinking partner to wish to ponder pursuing such a hit."
>[Oggmum]"Good for you that's the truth, Mr. Laine. Yes, there are those to worry about-but not mine to worry over. No, what concerns me are those looking to reunite him with the Triads-for I'd say that'd be most unwise for his health. And, to further complicate matters, I know well your established dealings with the Triads, and could not explain further without a decidedly concrete oath of secrecy, one of those irritating ones that penalize you for even being tangentially involved in any plot that circumvents the secrecy. I know, quite burdensome, but that is the state of affairs here-Mr. Fang, efficient businessman as he may be, is not known for letting go of his prizes for anything but truly dire reasons, and I'd rather not create an incident with the Triads as a whole."
"But you feel it safe to confirm he's with you and the Muberak tribe?"
>[Oggmum]"Did I confirm that? Curious. I'm afraid with just that Lo Fang cannot act without fear of… well, me. Thought I would appreciate it if you did not tell him-our friend the French were does need his rest to recover."
"I'll admit I don't know enough about his woes to suit my taste-could you at least enlighten me on what ails him?"
>[Oggmum]"I'd like to, but I'm afraid that strays too far into sensitive territory. Unless you wished to take that oh-so-frustrating oath?"
>"I could subject myself to this oath-she's got a track record of playing fair and I personally am rather curious just what HAS befallen our furry friend."
>[Sake]"Much prefer being bound in some way to a wizard than to just about anything else-I'm okay with it, and more than a bit intrigued."
>[Oggmum]"Do I detect a bit of hesitation-I suppose I'll be generous and take that as a sign of professional concern of possible ramifications. Feel free to call back if and when you are comfortable agreeing to never let the information you learn past your possession."
*CLICK*

Hm. So, I just talked with a Witch, a female Wizard, one of the most powerful individual beings on the planet and in general something that everything has to be careful of no matter how heavy hitting they get.

…She was nice.


>>396963
I decide to go bother Dávgon, finding him out of his room and unsurprisingly find him checking over the beast. He comments as I enter the room without turning around.
>[Dávgon]"I won't bother you past this repeating what's already been said, but… this is a rather audacious project you are pursuing. Some day I'd like to sit down with you and discuss what you plan to do with it-not for judgment, but to know if I'm even building this towards it's purpose as ably as I could."
The shaman turns around.
"So what can I help you with?"
I talk with Dávgon, Sake and SB about options for the Hummingbird and granting the tiny warrior a body-based means of flesh manipulation to serve as anchor for a dual-layered binding. They see my goal as being worthwhile-but all three shoot down my plan to use a Whaitiri boon, in favor of Gianni. They'd rather see him spend the time to craft a seed that Dávgon and Gianni could then jointly anchor to Armas than rely on a god for it-godly intervention is best kept to items, not one's own body, so says Dávgon. Sake doesn't disagree. The Hummingbird himself offers forth the proclamation he's already forced anchored to one giant-and would rather not be bound to any more, godly or otherwise. So, it seems those I'd deem worthy of offering their opinion are largely in favor of a mundane solution to this-but I've only got Gianni on board for the golem project with those poison glands and nazinaut observations-I'll need something new to offer to keep the deal I'm pushing on him from souring even a touch when I ask him for more. What to offer….

On that note, I ask them what's up with Whaitiri-how am I going to get her to owe me a boon? Well, turns out she already owes me one, and would probably be okay with granting it now-but SB rather forcefully argues in favor of using it to further my own understanding of fleshcrafting, given she's the origin of the bloodline's form. I can't say I disagree with the notion of blanket-receiving a trickle-down from Whaitiri after arranging for her lessons with Amen. I wonder if I should indeed cash my boon with Whaitiri in on improving my mastery of my Summer Line, or use it on the Hummingbird despite the other's reservations. Something to ponder.

I get Dávgon to explain what he knows of the Einher bloodline Seeds. He says he doesn't know nearly enough to be an expert, and asks me to bear this in mind as he answers. So far as he understands it, they're seeds to allow Odin to maximally spread his power when investing in mortals, and does so in a way that rather ingeniously guarantees him returns-the seed itself means even a slightly above average soul will make Odin a spiritual profit even if it dies the moment it's been booned the bloodline, during the conversion to spirit Einher. Pretty much the only thing that mucks this up is things that can destroy the soul-and most such things have learned to not mess with Odin's personal army in that fashion. Dávgon notes there's no way he can cogitate that'd allow what he knows of Einher Bloodline Seeds to be positively applied to my Soul Shadow to improve it. Before Dávgon leaves the room, I ask him what specifically he thinks would need to be rewritten in that book on spirit animals-he admits it'd probably be a very minor revision, accounting for outlier events where events conspired to create exceedingly capable souls able to 'break the mold', and would likely only add a blanket admonishment at the beginning of the tome-after all, why would this be restricted only to exceedingly masterful hummingbirds only? Finding no reason to contest him on this, I accept it at face value and wonder just how much a one or two sentence alteration to a book's forward would be worth.
>>396965
The morning progressing with speed as I deal with meetings, among them introducing Duke and Dávgon to one another and informing Dávgon of Duke's veteran status where it comes to Spirit Animals-rather swiftly Dávgon begins attempting to pry information from the ambivalent boozehound. As they talk, I step aside to call the Sometimes Merchant-recalling a warning from Abloec about the Einher. I ask the goblin about information on Einher that'd be useful to me.
>[WETN Trait activated]
>[WLG Trait activated]
I'm able to talk him down to one single blade charm.
TRADE: LOSE ONE BLADE CHARM FROM COLLECTIVE ARMORY
-Seems Abloec wasn't kidding, and a posse of some seven total Einher had gathered together, all of them having been Spirit Einher for more than half a century apiece, and each fond of bringing several magical weapons to bear each when manifesting and using a host vessel.
-I learn that among the seven, one was already an Ice Manipulation based bloodliner, and is decidedly deadly at controlling the local environment to sway battles in their favor, beyond just freezing things solid with a touch. I also learn one of them is a talented possessor, and can oust willful souls from their own bodies control rather reliably. None of the others sound particularly stand-out besides those two, but then 'veteran spirit einher well versed in their power and equipped with a bevvy of magical weapons' is bad enough.
-Seems a certain Gleb Romanov and some Valkonen Einher were able to talk them down, and nothing's happened-yet.
-Learn that cousin Osto recently made a small splash by, after repeatedly stopping local thugs, running afoul of some ghoul'd thugs in service to a local vampire. Long story short, he ripped the vampire's head off and drove it's skull through it's own chest, ripping it's heart to pieces with shattered bits of it's own skull. Seems he's getting the hang of his powers-and SM notes word's already going around that for some reason this kid's a bit different from most 'new' Einher without pre-existing magical connections. Go team Laine!


>>396862
>>396996
>>397001
>>397025
>>397216
With Lunch swift approaching-I decide to call a meeting of sorts. Camella, Matvey, Dávgon, Hillevi and Duke are all invited, and I serve everyone but Matvey a bevy of dishes from the Goblin cookbook, happy for another excuse to get my cooking back in gear. Matvey looks a bit sad at his mundane food, but doesn't complain. I make sure everyone's had formal introductions, and that everyone knows roughly what their peers do, and what is expected of them. A good thing I did so-it seems Dávgon had assumed Duke my 'ill-mannered bodyguard', which Duke thankfully finds funny. During this I take the chance to suggest to Camella that she fight in the arenas in the sewers if she's seeking money-and that I'd be willing to give her a quarter of my profits from any bets I place on her. She seems hesitant, clearly disliking anything involving her going back into the sewers by choice, but Duke talks it up while Dávgon mentions that she's already got an exceptional Soul quirk, and if she was willing he could add a few more that normally help unbloodlined humans. I mentally thank the two as I watch Camella be swung about, and find the idea of fighting in the arena worth investigating-after we finish clearing up the Russian's problem with magic. Can't argue with that.

-After the meal I take some more time to talk with Silja, clean the gun (which she clearly finds innately illicit and just as clearly is trying to not comment about it) and rub some extra oil into her stock for good measure.
-After satisfying my gun, I call up the number for that Chakra book, and place an order.
PERSONAL FUNDS: -$17,050 $688,225.04
-Looks like the book on Chakras will be arriving in…. TEN DAYS, and I'll have to pick it up at the companies Istanbul outlet, where they'll hold the book for me. Looks like I'll have to remember that.
-With the early afternoon proceeding swiftly, I get to my lesson with Lyubov, having fun with trolling her by… not trolling her.
-I ask Andrei if he needs more help, after noticing he wrangled Iosef into helping him with video. Be told he'd like someone actually competent at video editing, and doesn't know which others could offer that. I make a mental note to check into that so I don't overwork my only IT guy.
-Camella and Matvey both approach me, and let me know they really think I'll need to work on a magical solution to the Chugainov problem, as currently they're running into severe problems insuring Chugainov doesn't crack down on those as-of-yet unevacuated before they finish, and wonder if I could provide a magical solution. I ponder the usefulness of the Laib Olmai clan here-and wonder if with some extra help they could pull it off. Matvey and Camella tell me they're still looking into mundane solutions, but stress that they aren't sure they can find a working solution swiftly enough to prevent harm to the family members in need of relief, hence the need for me to seriously look at a solution. Can't really argue with that without just doing it for the sake of being a dick.
-I order Matvey to make sure someone's always with Lev, as sadly looks like the guy needs to be babysat. Matvey doesn't complain, and looks like he was already resigned to the order.
-I call back Einrik's chakra master. Again I speak with her grand kids-and this time, with patience, get past them to her direct children. After some reasonably polite back and forther, I get an appointment to speak with her directly on SUNDAY, at one of the parks. Seems I'll be able to bring a guest-so I arrange for Camella to be free in the MORNING, when the meeting happens. Looks like the Russians will have their free time in the morning, not the afternoon, that day.
-I have Amen relay to me Adelat's sewer adventures, which disappointingly turn out to be nothing more than a long, drawn out cat-and-mouse with a Sahagin or two before she finally escaped. On the plus side, she DID get her position back, as it was determined she couldn't have been at fault when a presumed terrorist group targeted the force like that.
-I try to call Adelat-and it seems she's switched phones, because the number's disconnected.
-I travel with the Russians to their session with Ito, Dávgon in tow, and have a personal training session in soul sensing as Dávgon appraises each Russian's spiritual readiness to use Chakra, and offers some words of advice to all of them. I'd say I feel a bit more equipped to gauge how skillful a foe is with Chakra now.
-While still at Ito's, Dávgon and I sweep the place-and sure enough, find a bug that is the likely culprit for how Lo Fang new Camella had stood in for me for the AORB meeting. I confirm with Amen he can find no such devices within the mansion.
-Turns out Dávgon is actually a Finnish citizen and legally entered Turkey, complete with the passport stamps to prove it. Well what do you know. Learned something new on my walk home.
-I swear Dávgon to secrecy and introduce him to the notion I'm a godling, and ask if that impacts what he'd suggested for my bird. After coughing for a few moments, he says that only more firmly cements his surety I should have mortals establish the link-if the linkage is too divine in nature, it could negatively interact with the bird's body, and undo any gains the dual linkage caused, keeping the looming threat to the bird's life alive and strong. He also asks me if there's any other major details about my power I think he should know. I say I'll bring them up when relevant.
-I have an early dinner after returning from Ito's, and discuss with Dávgon, Sake, Satai and SB about control mechanisms for the beast. When Satai politely asks why he is present, I mention that a mundane, remote control backup system would be great to implement, and ask if he can look into its feasibility. When he expresses confusion as to what would be controlled, I remember he hasn't seen the golem yet. I ask Dávgon to show it to him after the meeting. SB, for his part, says that he's talked with Dávgon some and thinks he's ready to get his own control method implemented-and Dávgon hesitantly agrees, citing the shadow in SB's possession as the sole reason to do so, so early in the build process. He still heavily recommends getting an expert on Possession to take a look at it relative to my goals and provide feedback before Dávgon makes further changes.
-After the meeting, I spend some time feeding Silja some grilled harpy. It's… about as close to human like female flesh as I've got, and she seems to like it. Sadly, my attempts to teach her about chakra don't seem to go well-she claims it's 'all over her head' rather swiftly, as if not really willing to even try, but also not willing to ask me to not attempt it. I wonder if that's her passivity, or her politeness talking.
-I ponder if I want to risk offending the thus-far really polite and fairly personably Mubarek witch Oggmum by selling the info Lammy's there to SM.
-I spend the night blowing all the energy I built up over the day repetitively working on dual Orientations, really building on my reliability even if I still can't get past a second and change yet. I find that I can't dual orientation the same orientation-that it just doesn't work to try and 'double up' on Reinforcement, as opposed to just overcharging it. I find that the Soul Sensing and Stealth orientations actually seem to more easily go together than either do with reinforcement-and that particular dual orientation is one where I achieve two second stable runs four times before running out of juice.

I turn in exhausted, and getting more used to regarding that exhausting as simply being a magic-less human, and as such not truthfully exhaustion.




FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4th, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $705,275.04
BUSINESS FUNDS: $559,347.00
CASH: $8,520.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 80%
WINTER ENERGY: 12/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 9/50

I wake up… feeling not too shabby. I think I'm getting 'used' to not waking up chock full of magic. In fact, I'd say that, given each morning I'm feeling more used to it-otherwise I wouldn't comment, as nothing would have changed-that I'm just about back to feeling 'normal' with OR without magic. Good thing that was blatantly obvious. Okay-







What's the plan for today?
>>
No. 398065 ID: b83c65

>[Andrei have been queued to do the following:]
>Spend an extra hour awake past midnight getting IRC chat room online, chatting to Boss and Lyubov, Feodor and a bug. Or was that all just a dream?
>Awake. Andrei is very confused, and stumbles to breakfast. Ask Powerbar if Camella got Lev down. Correct self. Ask Russian if Camella got Lev down from roof. Also make sure Powerbar can't talk. Because of dream, put off caffeine.
>Chakra Abuse. Study with Ito, try and find a point to listen to Camella.
>Home. Avoid lunch. Because then it won't talk to me. Isn't that right?
>Grumble about Dream Boss and bombing Stupid-Fucking Island. It was just a dream. Get as much information on Island as possible: Seismographic, radio or sonar information over the past ten years, IR imaging of the past ten years, soil tests, fly-over photography, and any other piece of information available.
>Aid Iosef and Hillevi in social aspects of the internet. Realize that Invasion Skills are rusty. Sigh that there isn't enough time to work on the Trolling. Transfer cat herding duty to Iosef.
>Check video editing. Fix any of Iosef mistakes. Make sure there are no cut scenes that work. Laugh at Armas' work. Congratulate Hillevi.
>Ito Training. Try and focus. Be starved because he has just had a single powerbar all day. And it didn't talk to him at all. "Right?"
>>
No. 398183 ID: 00d367
File 133339589986.jpg - (12.96KB , 320x320 , 13848240_alt02.jpg )
398183

>whitari boon
Your fleshcrafting.
If anything you can use that to help with giving HB fleshcrafting powers if it's good enough so it's a double win.

>SM info
Well this is going slightly better than expected. Slightly.
Also we now know that SM knows about Osto somehow. (unless the information was specifically requested and we didn't just ask 'information about Einher that would be useful to me'. In any case, he knows Osto is interesting to us.)

Would be interesting to get something else for the kid...
magic equipment maybe? Fingerless gloves that enhance strength for example.
>implying he needs more strength
Or your old Dragonskin armour that you never ever wear anymore, Amen modified to look a bit more casual without losing the defensive capabilities, increasing them even and keeping them flexible. He can heal himself but it's always nicer to just not get hurt at all.
...holy shit. Just send him a magic superhero outfit with something norse related on it, increased strength, speed, cognitive abilities and completely formhugging.
Send him a gantz suit.
FLAMING ORANGE

>Gia gia
I wonder how he would like the hearts and/or body parts of several magical flesh manipulator/regenrators(e.g. phenoix, fext, that other one you get from SM).

Zhenya
Hell if I can find her style
-Zhenya fully examines herself for any other changes. Hair strength? Skin condition(other than loss of scars)? muscle condition? Voice? math skills? etc. Wonder what else Sake could have changed with that one rub.
-Zhenya asks Sake about the healing powers and what she can expect to have changed other than the obvious.
-Zhenya postpones fire training today and get's some shooting in with the magic guns and her revolvers.
-Zhenya grabs 10k and heads down to the dealer. It's been 5 days so he should have the MKIII by now and maybe a Volquartsen Custom V-10?
-Zhenya focuses on building up chakra to stop herself from being hurt and faster than expected steps to avoid Ito's grabs. She won't get em all, but if she can work up the energy to nullify/avoid 1 out of every 10 she will be happy. She watches his eyes to see where he is going to grab/attack to help out.Implying Ito won't just grin and start staring her dead in the face whenever he attacks or just catch her anyway
>>
No. 398241 ID: a47cf8

Vlad orders:

Make more spicy breakfast vodka. Somehow manage to ignite the toaster despite not being anywhere near it.

Settle on a greatcoat option for armor, with non-newtonian fluid sandwiched between ceramic or metal plates if possible for maximum effect. Not like carrying all the extra weight is anything new, and having a huge coat instead of conventional body armor should allow for a little more freedom of movement due to lack of constraint. Make sure to mention a desire for many loops/snaps/pouches and so on attached to the inner lining of the greatcoat for equipment storage. Wonder how much this is going to cost.

Consider shaving head. Curse Turkey for being hotter than Russia. Go through with head-shaving plan after being advised by Comrade Vodka.

Get a rub from Sake after Jogging Gulag, share experimental meat-vodka and vodka-jerky with the magic weasel.

Check out the tank, make sure everything's in proper order. Be sad at lack of ammunition for main cannon. Name the tank "Aglaya".

During daily bullshitting session with other Russians, mention father who is a 'professional' wrestler of bears despite his age, and grandfather who is amazingly still alive and doing still shows in a circus as a strongman and fire-breather.

Take Ito up on the offer of shooting at him, despite the prospect of another beating. Not like it'd be anything new, after all. Speak in detail about various ballistic properties regarding available weaponry to make Ito aware of the potential damage to be had from any particular weapons in the armory, just to be safe.
>>
No. 398262 ID: 201fd7

>Witch
Accept the Oath to the witch if she's down with doing it today head over.
>Boon
The lesson about flesh-crafting sounds pretty great, ask if SB thinks buying a solid medical background in knowledge about how bodies work before cashing it in would be helpful, also the Mere still needs to be reforged how hard a sell does he think that'll be?
>business
Call hamlet up and ask about how things are progressing.
Check out the tank Lyubov and Vlad brought back.
>Training
When trying your chakra dual-orientation think back to when you first started hybrid healing, you did it once so of course you could do it again try to enact the same principle in regards to this.
>Social
IT hasn't been speaking much lately ask him what's up.
At the end of the day hang out with duke a bit he expressed interest in modern innovations when you first met so why not take him and anyone else that isn't busy go out for a joy ride on those awesome bikes you saw when looking at the tank!
>>
No. 398418 ID: 04d036

Feodor Orders
>>questdis/360671
>rolled 37
>Extra weight and extra effort were too much, Feodor dropped into back half.

*Return from Finnigan's, have breakfast.
*Disappointed with yesterday's results, try only beating half of the joggers at 30lbs.
*Shower, because Sake has to put up with the indignation of rubbing manflesh – he shouldn't have to put up with sweat too. Get weasel-rubbed.
*See if keeping weight vest on during chakra training has an effect other than “oh god, I'm dying”.
*Shower again.
*Talk to Davgon. Ask about Davgon teaching some basic theory about souls and related magic if he ever has a couple of hours free. At the end of the conversation, ask Davgon to tell him what his soul looks like.
*See Titus in the hall on the way to training with Lev, thank Titus for the offer, and ask for a greatcoat. Think about why Lev's been acting so odd lately
*Head to Finnigan's once again, ready for a busy night. Keep notebook ready.

Armas Orders
>What's the plan for today?
*Check the clipping service.
*Call Gianni in to the mansion. When he gets there, bring Davgon along and discuss the Hummingbird fleshcrafting/body-bind idea. Talk about what materials or resources would be needed – offer your heart, if it'd help the process. Offer Doony's penis to Gianni as payment for the fleshcrafting seed and binding.
*While they're both still at the mansion, SUMMON Abloec. Ask if you can give his name to Otso if he needs more advice. No matter his answer, proceed with the real business. He remembers the host vessel he sensed, right? Tell him you've got something involving it in the works that he will be very interested in, but before you can give him any more information, he's going to have to swear one of those real binding oaths not to allow any information about it to be communicated from him to anyone who doesn't already know about it, until its ready to be revealed. If he swears, show him the Nazinaut, and have Gianni and Davgon tell him what's been done to it so far, and tell him about the possession plan for it: control systems, top-level access for you and SB, etc. Tell him that if he helps, he can get a discount on its use, and maaaaaaybe preferential access.
*Ask Camella to get in contact with the wizard, and offer, as your proxy, the brain of Doony (and the memories within) in exchange for the creature's Flesh Manipulation knowledge.
*Call the Matron and swear the oath, if you can do it over the phone. Otherwise plan to meet tomorrow.
*Call Otso, congratulate him on the piece of work he did on the vampire, and ask him if he needs any more help. Tell him about Abloec: how saying his full name three times will summon him, that he's an experienced and friendly Einher with plenty of advice that Otso'll appreciate.
*Go to the night classes at Ito's, see if that vampire has thought any further about your offer. Spar against the top 6 Russians (with respect to chakra) without using any of your magical powers.
>>
No. 398467 ID: b7dbe3

Gloom.
* Continue chakra practice in-between of mirrors. Briefly test if this can be combined with using tongs and a fixed video camera to record book contents.
* Wonder if Armas is setting up this scenario to wind him up. Decide it doesn't matter.
* Talk to other Russians about training methods. Suggest to any who haven't that they ask Armas what their soul looks like.

Armas
* We should offer Gianni the Doonegeas' prehensile penis in return for helping us give HB a fleshcrafting seed and binding him to our body. Perhaps say something about wanting to make both our little friends a little more flexible.
* We should get Gianni and Dávgaon together and talk to them about whether they'd need any raw materials to make the Fleshcrafting seed and binding, or whether having materials would improve it. Suggest that our regeneration probably means that, with correct preparation, we can survive the rapid extraction of our heart (normal people survive transplants, after all) long enough to regrow it. Would this help make such a seed that would be linked to us, perhaps making a link recursive by focusing the binding of the seed to our regrown heart.
* Whaitiri demonstrated when Gianni grafted the Doonegeas' glands that she's willing to consult on interesting projects. We should talk to SB about whether it would be worth asking Whaitiri if she can advise on HB's procedure.
* Ifthe above is agreed,we should ask if she's whether to audit and repeat to SB Amen's contribution if we order him to non-disruptively alert her of any problems he detects during the operation.
* We need a Blood Manipulator to monitor the process (and maybe improve it?). The only ones we have a decent relationship with are the Redcaps, but they would need something for their trouble, and may not have the expertise. We should offer them the opportunity to question Amen on blood manipulation, with appropriate warnings, and the suggestion that it might be wise to try out anything he teaches on an experimental victimsubject before anything else. They probably already know, but finding one who he's never interacted with would be best as well. In return, we'd ask their continuing friendship, discretion, tutelage, and assistance on any interesting projects we start. It might be worth raising the Blood Heart plan at this point.
* Given the terms of her deal with the Triads, Camella should have contact details for the wizard. We should use these to get in touch with him and offer him the Doonegeas' brain to plumb for memories of his master, in return for our shadow being given the extracted memories of what the Doonegeas knew of magic that either of us can use. If this works, Whaitiri may or may not be interested in a copy, but we certainly want them.
* Talk to SB about optimising the boon we're going to ask Whaitiri for. At present Whaitiri is clearly a master of fleshcrafting, but is that all she might be able to help us with. Soul quirks can give powers, and we have something rather more significant than that, a piece of her soul grafted to our own. What can we do with that?
* We should move on to discussing the ability Whaitiri has already demonstrated to interact with souls. She was capable of biting a piece of our soul off, and then allowing us to do the same to a piece of her's. That seems like a method of Soul Breaking. We should ask with SB if it's worth suggesting to Whaitiri that she could question Amen about soul manipulation in general and breaking in specific. She may also be capable of soul sculpting by selectively biting off bits of a target's soul and then regurgitating that piece of soul and feeding it back to them, reshaping it into the desired form. Amen may also be able to tell her how to best do this as well, both seem the kind of methods he'd prefer.
* If we do the above, and Whaitiri takes up the offer, we could ask her to teach us all she knows of magic that we can make use of, rather than just Fleshcrafting. We may be able to apply the principles of what Whaitiri knows of soul manipulation to Lordly Inposition.
* If Whaitiri learns to be a more skilled soul breaker/sculptor from Amen, she may also be capable of controlling the growth of Fragments so they don't overwhelm their host by occasionally nibbling on it whilst leaving the soul intact. This is win-win, Whaitiri gets some free energy, the person with the Fragment stays sane. What do SB and Sake think?
* We should also discuss what it would take to upgrade our Summer Bloodline to royal status. We've eaten some of Savoy's Royal Summer Blood, so we may have a start. SB may have an idea of what Whaitiri would want to perform the upgrade. Royalty implies having a kingdom, and we should look up what private Greek and Turkish islands are for sale. Ask Amen if Smets owned any.
* As Dávgon has recommended it twice, we should try calling us Woosencraft, and, in another room, tell him that if he's willing to agree to confidentiality, he can take a look at our progress on the possession vessel. If he agrees, show it to him, and offer him the opportunity to take it for a very quick test drive. If he agrees, then afterwards ask him how it felt, and then ask if he's willing to become a consultant on the project. He'd have to keep it confidential, but we can make sure that it's comfortable for him to use, if he ever wanted to borrow it in future... We can explain that we want to set up the control mechanism so that both us and SB can control/possess it, and others are also able to, but in a way that requires them to have our explicit permission to do so, and allows us to kick others out if required.
* If Woosencraft does show up, given that he gave us his name because he was bored, we can ask him if he'd find seeing the baby steps of a young Einheir amusing, and tell him that we'd be grateful if he would give us permission to give his name to one, so they can ask him for advice and so only screw things up once.
* Ring Oggmum back and say that we're happy to accept her conditions relating to informing the Triads.
>>
No. 398469 ID: 252e1b

LYUBOV ORDERS

L*~Lyubov stays up late with Sake reading Japanese comics on the internet, researching Hyougo Hanmaki, chatting with Andrei on the computer, and reading about the Altay tank.
L*~Lyubov has an errant thought, and sends Armas a text: Are you allergic to anything? Latex, shellfish, nuts? Anything?
L*~Lyubov talks Sake into committing to using the bath bombs at least once. She says ”Hey you said you liked bath bombs right? I mean you know what they are, everyone who knows what they are likes them, they’re fun. I got you some, with little gold leaf flakes in them, you’ll like it. I didn’t know what you’d like best so I guessed. Come on, your fur’s all sticky from the hair gel for your bling anyway, it’ll be fun.” She then takes him into the bathroom, where she chucks one of the bath bombs into a drawn bath, and talks him into the bubbling tub.
L*~Afterwards, she engages in the Morning Routine. She takes note of how Camella acts around Armas now that they’ve talked. She catches Andrei and reports what she and Sake learned about Hyougo Hanmaki, mentioning that if he intends to do more research on her, he should probably learn Japanese. She will also ask Dimitri to suggest a dealer for club drugs like poppers, and for LSD and marijuana.
L*~After her teaching session at Ito’s is over, Lyubov will talk with Gloom at lunch, and will be very surprised he didn’t already know that Sake could heal fatigue (as she thought it was common knowledge). She’ll try to calm Gloom down, and will offer advice on securing Sake’s help. When Gloom brings up that he intends to mention retrieving Sake’s body, she’ll point out that he should play up the ‘stole it right from under a dragon’s nose’ angle. If he asks Sake for help while Lyubov is present, she’ll add, “I bet Gloom’ll take you rabbit hunting, right? I spoke to Alratan about this.
L*~Lyubov will then go shopping and will buy a couple of “Condolences on your loss” cards (one from herself, one for Armas to sign), some things from the pharmacy (replacements for items left in Russia), catnip, two more bottles of good wine, and a pair of silver fire opal cufflinks she spots in a pawn shop display. (Estimate: $770 total).
L*~Lyubov will show the tank to Armas when asked, and will comment on it. ”It’s a prototype of the new Altay tank, I guess Ironhead found someone in Otokar who didn’t mind letting a pre-production model disappear? I am not sure. The diesel engine is an MTU Friedrichshafen design which is lucky because I can get replacement parts for it commercially. It’s kinda underpowered compared to what they could have fit in there, so if you want I can look into buying a more powerful diesel. The armor looks like the Korean armor it’s supposed to have but I’d need to pull some off to be sure. Getting replacements will be harder than for the engine, but maybe we can find someone. I haven’t looked at the computer and targeting systems much yet, but if they need replacing we should be able to do it. The gun is a Rhinemetal 120mm smoothbore, so NATO tank ammo and NATO targeting computers will work just fine. I think Vlad’s in love with it. I still need to make a list of tools I’ll need to maintain it, and also we’re going to need a place where we can practice with it, some land somewhere out where no one will care. So yeah, want to go shopping for a country cottage Boss?”
L*~Lyubov will present the condolence card to Armas for him to sign when she meets with him for training. She’ll explain that Hafaz’s cousin was recently killed by an Einher and he’s been mourning. After training she will respond to Armas’ proposition in Japanese, and say, ”I didn’t answer you the other night. Now that you’ve talked to Camella, and things are where they are, and I had some time to get, ah, ready? Well, uh, having other people watching or reading your memory is, um, a little voyeuristic. And I’d like to go on dates with you sometimes too. So if the ones you’re bonded to are discreet, and you take me out sometimes, then yes. The answer is yes.”
L*~Night Lessons. Lyubov gives her card to Hafaz. She’ll pass along Armas’ card too, if he wants. When she gets home, she’ll dress for the occasion, get the wine, and have a fun night with Armas. Provided he agreed, of course.
>>
No. 398472 ID: 448d82
File 133348731391.jpg - (21.20KB , 200x374 , gcjw.jpg )
398472

Looking through all plans I find little to complain about, I do however support helping Lammy as soon as possible.

LEV ORDERS
Lev will go for something like pic related, probably with an armoured undervest in case of having to discard coat. Though gotta have somewhere to hide knives, perhaps bigger sleves would be nice?

> rolled 81 = 81
> Lev is focused, seriously focused, the throw comes after aiming right? The throw in this case is just a weird chakra orientation rather than a knife... well, something happened, then it kinda stopped huh.

Be woken by Duct tape being torn off self.
Thank whoever did this "kind" deed.
Shower, curse you water, curse you and your wetness. Commence Weasel Worship rub and hug, Sake is best boss, mustn't let ShadowBoss find that out.

The red line run, Lev wonders if his feet are bleeding, regardless he runs like the sewer things are after him.
Chakra training, try the same thing as before, Lev readies himself as if for a strike or throw, then "throws". Again something for a brief time, Lev wonders, perhaps if he "threw" in rapid succession? A flow of "strikes?". Worth a try at least.
Ito training, perhaps timing the "strikes" with an actual strike would work better... not that Ito can be hit. Ever.

Lev decides to kick Feodor's training up a notch! time to do it while wearing WEIGHTS. Be dismayed when discovering Feodor is fairly used to weights. GUTS, rise to the occassion Lev will accept Feodor's MANLY MANGRIT, MORE WIEGHT!

During eatan times, try to talk to that new guy, Dav... Dav... Davy? Did Boss beat him over to his side too?

Before going out to Ito's night training, Lev grabs an energy drink, or at least tries to, some kind of "force" keeps him back, GUTS.

At Ito's night session, wonder if you could actually throw this chakra energy stuff... ask Ito about it.

Before sleeping, wonder why today wasn't such a mess up. It couldn't have been the duct tape could it?
...Who even did that?
Lev dreams of throwing his soul bit by bit and having to hold himself together with ducttape.
>>
No. 398483 ID: c6ce12

On the Doonongaes' brain, let's not trade it just for information contained within it, particularly information we could have extracted using our own resources. We're vastly underestimating the value of his brain if we're doing that, it's a creature hundreds if not thousands of years old and his brain is saturated with all the delicious secrets such a long lifespan entails. To Dorjpalam there's even more value, he was the champion of one of his local enemies and what's contained within his brain could provide intelligence that would make for an easy victory. We should be looking for something on the scale of the World Eye for his brain. That's where my vote would go at least.
>>
No. 398512 ID: 81f32a
File 133349546286.jpg - (49.48KB , 500x600 , MODERN-GREATCOAT.jpg )
398512

ORDERS FOR IOSEF:

>>398065
>Aid Iosef and Hillevi in social aspects of the internet. Realize that Invasion Skills are rusty. Sigh that there isn't enough time to work on the Trolling. Transfer cat herding duty to Iosef.
-Andrei wants socially inept, internet ignorant Iosef to organize /b/ as personal army to invade a random drama teen's myspace page?
-...
-H-here I go.

-Continues working on video editing.
-Notices that Andrei is overworked and looks more like a zombie these days.

-Checks out the tank everyone is talking about.
-Thinks it would look great in the foyer on a pedestal. Share the idea with the Boss.
-If the Boss goes out for motorcycle joyride, join the gang.

>AWAITING INPUT FROM ALL MINION OWNERS ON PREFERENCE OF SUIT VS COAT, AND TRENCHCOAT VS GREATCOAT
-Pic more or less related, that is what Iosef will be aiming for.
-Iosef will ask for best option available for armor plating, full-cover and highest quality with as little weight and loss of mobility as possible. Also request Amen some kind of detachable, comfortable neck-guard which should fit the motif seamlessly. It should about +10 Celsius in Istanbul right now, make sure that the coat will not be too warm.
-Express confusion what exactly Titus charging for. As far as Iosef knows, it is Amen who is crafting everything. Or will Titus work personally on armor plating? Wouldn't Amen be better suited for that?


Orders for Armas:
>-I ponder if I want to risk offending the thus-far really polite and fairly personably Mubarek witch Oggmum by selling the info Lammy's there to SM.
Absolutely not. It's a witch ffs!

>-I try to call Adelat-and it seems she's switched phones, because the number's disconnected.
She probably lost her cell in the sewers and hasn't yet recovered her sim-card. Perhaps we could try to recover the cellphone? Who knows what kind of interesting contacts and messages she has on it. If SB is not against it, he could search for it in the sewers after Amen tells where she lost it.
She cannot be blocking us since our phone is encrypted. If she took a new number, we should try to get it. Call the police and ask for her directly or her number.



>>398479

>*Fleshcrafting training (+Falcon, +201fd7, +BUTTZ) (3)
+1
>*Ask Whaitiri how Armas can upgrade his summer bloodline, and in what ways (+Alratan, +BUTTZ) (2)
+1


>*Give gear, mundane or magical, to Osto (+Falcon) (1)
+1
>¤Tangent: Arrange for an encrypted satellite phone for Osto, then talk about sensitive stuff with him (+BUTTZ) (1)
+1

>Matron Witch Oggmum’s offer
*Agree to the Oath about Lammy (+201fd7, +Alratan, +Seventeen , +BUTTZ) (4)
+1


>*Try calling Abolec again, get him to agree to not talk about the golem yet (either binding oath [Alratan], or just his word [BUTTZ], and solicit his advice about it. If he wants payment, promise to give him a discount on renting it in the future [Alratan]. Ask if he’d mind talking to Osto, too. (+Alratan, +BUTTZ) (2)
+1


>*Ask Gianni and Dávgon to help build a fleshcrafting seed for the bird. Offer payment in flesh to Gianni (+Alratan, +Seventeen, ?Falcon, +BUTTZ) (3+?)
+1
>¤Just call on Determined Vampire (Gimpy Vampire) from the Dojo to play the part of monitor. Alternatively, call on Erzsi. (+BUTTZ) (1)
+1


>*Check the clipping service again, make it part of the routine (+Seventeen, +BUTTZ)
+1

>*Ask Camella to help Armas contact Wizard Dorjpalam with an offer of trading him the Doononegas’ brain for the fleshcrafting knowledge it contained. Everything else in the brain, and the brainmeats proper, would be his. (+Alratan, +Seventeen, +BUTTZ) (3)
+1


>*Reflect on how hybrid healing principles may relate to dual-orientation (+201fd7)
+1
>>
No. 398596 ID: 7472ad

Armas orders:

Accept binding with Witch, but check to see if it prevents you from speaking about it to someone who shouldn't know or has consequences for doing so. Preventing you from talking about it is preferred to ensure you don't slip something or get overheard at some point

Orders for Dmitrii

Waking up early, Dmitrii heads down to the kitchen, checks out that recipe book, and looks for something easy to make. Then he makes it and enjoys delicious magic foods.

When Camella gets back from her run, ask to talk to her, Matvey, and Satai(Dmitrii seeing him as an unofficial officer) and informing them of his recent acquisitions. If/When asked about what he paid, Dmitrii will become hesistant and answer "Memories" and let them know he really, REALLY doesn't want to talk about it. He'll also ask about skipping out on most of the chakra training as he doesn't really need it. He'll stick around for a couple hours of it everyday to help others out though.

Dmitrii will point Lyubov in the direction of drug dealer for what she asks for. Let her know that he's buying some stuff later if she wants to tag along and get introduced to dealers.

With newly acquired freetime, Dmitrii spends a few hours searching online for vehicle simulators and games with complicated controls. Ends up ordering Steel Battalion with it's controller off of Ebay, buying Wings of Prey, and Digital Combat Simulator, and a mess of other vehicle simulators.

Then Dmitrii heads out into town on shopping trip. Buys a decent flight stick and an xbox for Steel Battallion. Stops at several car dealerships and feigns interest in buying a different vehicle at each one so he an go on test-drives. Greatly enjoys sense of being awesome at something he's put little work into as of yet. Finishes trip with buying 5000$ worth of drugs.

While acting as an Instructor at Ito's Dmitrii will inform him of the teaching change and art&crafts stuff. General questions about Chakra following, and if he has any advice regarding it.

After returning home asks Andrei about building a computer. After hearing mumbling about chakra and exploding, decides that after today will spend 2 hours a day helping him with whatever while subtley helping him learn chakra.

Give Duke drugs and talk with him and Davgon regarding Dmitrii's arts&crafts. Chakra energy is soul energy, and while he has so little it takes forever to make stuff, maybe he could make something undercharged and they could finish it off? Or maybe they have a way of channeling energy through someone? Getting a few made soon would be nice so he can make proper use of that Charm.
>>
No. 398673 ID: dfc57c

>decidedly concrete oath of secrecy, one of those irritating ones that penalize you for even being tangentially involved in any plot that circumvents the secrecy.

It is important how tangentially involved. Armas has much contact with the Triads. Simply refusing to talk about a topic or noticed lying about the same might help the Triads to circumvent the secrecy. Even avoiding the Triads completely might help them confirming Lambombards is with Oggmum. Armas should question SB, Sake, Davgon and Duke about oaths and if they leave an imprint or can otherwise be sensed. And don't forget end conditions and exclusions for plots of Oggmum and her tribe or Labombards themselves that result in the circumvention of the secrecy.
>>
No. 398700 ID: 397da4

Only quoted my upvotes/downvotes, not the whole summary
>Whaitiri’s Boon
*Fleshcrafting training (+Falcon, +201fd7, +BUTTZ + Dkay + Arkeus) (5)
¤Tangent: Get mundane biology training from another source, like Feodor (+201fd7, +BUTTZ+ Arkeus) (3)
*Ask Whaitiri how Armas can upgrade his summer bloodline, and in what ways (+Alratan, +BUTTZ + Dkay + Arkeus) (4)
*Try for even more, discuss her methods of soul manipulation, “Soul Breaking,” etc. (+Alratan -BUTTZ - Arkeus) (- 1)

>Osto’s Adventures
*Call Osto up, give him Abolec’s name (+Seventeen, -BUTTZ - Arkeus) (-1)
¤Tangent: Arrange for an encrypted satellite phone for Osto, then talk about sensitive stuff with him (+BUTTZ + Dkay + Arkeus) (3)

>Matron Witch Oggmum’s offer
*Agree to the Oath about Lammy (+201fd7, +Alratan, +Seventeen , +BUTTZ + Dkay + Arkeus) (6)

>The Golem
*Try calling Abolec again, get him to agree to not talk about the golem yet (either binding oath [Alratan], or just his word [BUTTZ+ Arkeus] (2), and solicit his advice about it. If he wants payment, promise to give him a discount on renting it in the future [Alratan]. Ask if he’d mind talking to Osto, too. (+Alratan, +BUTTZ + Arkeus + Dkay) (4)
*Talk to the Arena Owner about getting some Nazinaut arms. He surely sees them now and then. (+BUTTZ - Arkeus) (0) : We have some spare left.
*Armas still needs to get magical eyes (x18, various) and magic lungs (x3, catoblepas). He should check The Smiling One’s website. (+BUTTZ+ Arkeus) (2)

>Hummingbird
*Ask Gianni and Dávgon to help build a fleshcrafting seed for the bird. Offer payment in flesh to Gianni (+Alratan, +Seventeen, ?Falcon, +BUTTZ+ Dkay + Arkeus) (5+?)
¤Specifics: Inquire if using Armas’ own body parts (regenerated after being harvested) as reagents for the binding is useful. (+Alratan, +BUTTZ+ Arkeus) (3)
*Consider using the Redcaps instead of a vampire as the blood manipulator/monitor Dávgon suggested (+Alratan, -BUTTZ) (0)
¤Just call on Determined Vampire (Gimpy Vampire) from the Dojo to play the part of monitor. Alternatively, call on Erzsi. (+BUTTZ + Dkay + Arkeus) (3)

>Business
*Check the clipping service again, make it part of the routine (+Seventeen, +BUTTZ+ Arkeus + Dkay) (4)
*Locate Endman (while in disguise) and attempt to use him to get Armin’s contact information (+BUTTZ + Arkeus) (2)
*Ask Camella to help Armas contact Wizard Dorjpalam with an offer of trading him the Doononegas’ brain for the work to build the World Eye, and discretion about it. If possible, extract any knowledge we want from the brain using Amen, with orders to do so non-destructively. (+Grail, +BUTTZ+ Arkeus) (3)
*Offer the Redcaps the opportunity to question Amen about the subject of blood manipulation as a trade good. Ask them about the Blood Heart idea. (+Alratan, -BUTTZ- Arkeus) (-1)

>Training
*Fight At itos (+Seventeen, +BUTTZ + Arkeus) (3)
*Use hybrid regen while having soul sensing orientation on and look at our soul instead of doing that thing about how dual orientation has to do with hybrid techs.

IGOR
+Igor feels that maybe he is going at this chakra with mental prep the wrong way. Maybe using physical prop- meditating while striking metal, would help.
+Igor also is going to ask Armas about his opinion- he knows he did wonder with Lyubov, after all.
+Igor will ask Armas for a 'fitting' for the gauntlet, to help his visualization in a practical manner.

>>
No. 398708 ID: 3af16b

>>398596

LYUBOV ADDENDUM

Lyubov asks Dmitrii to just pick some of the drugs she wants up for her this time, since he's making a trip anyway, and takes down the contact info of the dealer for later. She gives him $600, and asks that he buy $200 in LSD and poppers and the rest in good weed.
>>
No. 398724 ID: 3af16b

Trying something new here. This is a summary of the orders presented thus far, updated to account for additional votes and ideas that were added after 3 p.m. yesterday.

ARMAS ORDERS:SUMMARY

>Whaitiri’s Boon
*Fleshcrafting training (+Falcon, +201fd7, +BUTTZ, +Dkay, +Arkeus) (5)
¤Tangent: Get mundane biology training from another source, like Feodor (+201fd7, +BUTTZ, +Arkeus) (3)
*Ask Whaitiri how Armas can upgrade his summer bloodline, and in what ways (+Alratan, +BUTTZ, +Dkay, +Arkeus) (4)
*Try for even more, discuss her methods of soul manipulation, “Soul Breaking,” etc. (+Alratan –BUTTZ, -Arkeus) (-1)
*Ask SB how she’d take being asked to put the boon into further empowering the reforged mere (+201fd7) (1)

>Osto’s Adventures
*Give gear, mundane or magical, to Osto (+Falcon, +Dkay) (2)
*Call Osto up, give him Abolec’s name (+Seventeen, -BUTTZ) (0)
¤Tangent: Arrange for an encrypted satellite phone for Osto, then talk about sensitive stuff with him (+BUTTZ, +Dkay, +Arkeus) (3)

>Matron Witch Oggmum’s offer
*Agree to the Oath about Lammy (+201fd7, +Alratan, +Seventeen , +BUTTZ, +Dkay, +Arkeus) (6)

>The Golem
Try calling Abolec again, get him to agree to not talk about the golem yet (either binding oath [Alratan], or just his word [BUTTZ], and solicit his advice about it. If he wants payment, promise to give him a discount on renting it in the future [Alratan]. Ask if he’d mind talking to Osto, too. (+Alratan, +BUTTZ, +Dkay, +Arkeus) (4)
*Talk to the Arena Owner about getting some Nazinaut arms. He surely sees them now and then. (+BUTTZ, -Arkeus) (0)
*Armas still needs to get magical eyes (x18, various) and magic lungs (x3, catoblepas). He should check The Smiling One’s website. (+BUTTZ, +Arkeus) (2)

>Hummingbird
*Ask Gianni and Dávgon to help build a fleshcrafting seed for the bird. Offer payment in flesh to Gianni (+Alratan, +Seventeen, ?Falcon, +BUTTZ, +Dkay, +Arkeus) (5+?)
¤Specifics: Inquire if using Armas’ own body parts (regenerated after being harvested) as reagents for the binding is useful. (+Alratan, +BUTTZ, +Arkeus) (3)
*Consider using the Redcaps instead of a vampire as the blood manipulator/monitor Dávgon suggested (+Alratan, -BUTTZ) (0)
¤Just call on Determined Vampire (Gimpy Vampire) from the Dojo to play the part of monitor. Alternatively, call on Erzsi. (+BUTTZ, +Dkay) (2)

>Business
*Check the clipping service again, make it part of the routine (+Seventeen, +BUTTZ, +Dkay) (3)
*Check in with Hamlet (+201fd7, +BUTTZ) (2)
*Check out that tank Lyubov and Vlad brought home (+201fd7, +BUTTZ) (2)
*Locate Endman (while in disguise) and attempt to use him to get Armin’s contact information (+BUTTZ, +Arkeus) (2)
*Look up properties to buy, or have someone do it for you. Islands [Alratan], and Lyubov’s suggestion of someplace suitable to practice with the tank.[BUTTZ] (+Alratan, +BUTTZ) (2)
*Ask Camella to help Armas contact Wizard Dorjpalam with an offer of trading him the Doononegas’ brain for either knowledge [Alratan] or for the work to build the World Eye, and discretion about it [BUTTZ]. If possible, extract any knowledge we want from the brain using Amen, with orders to do so non-destructively prior to trading. (+Alratan, +Grail, +BUTTZ, +Dkay, +Arkeus) (5) (Majority in favor of World Eye)
*Offer the Redcaps the opportunity to question Amen about the subject of blood manipulation as a trade good. Ask them about the Blood Heart idea. (+Alratan, -BUTTZ, -Arkeus) (-1)
*Ask Amen where Adelat lost her phone. Ask ShadowBro to retrieve it, if possible. (+Dkay, +BUTTZ) (2)

>Training
*Reflect on how hybrid healing principles may relate to dual-orientation (+201fd7, +Dkay) (2)
*Observe the soul (using the soul sensing orientation) while using hybrid regeneration. (+Arkeus) (1)
*Go to the Dojo tonight to spar with the best Russians in a group, and to invite Determined Vampire (Gimpy Vampire) over. (+Seventeen, +BUTTZ, +Arkeus) (3)

>Social
*Ask Iron Trick what’s up with being less chatty than usual. (+201fd7) (1)
*Take Duke for a joyride on a motorcycle. Take anyone else who knows how to ride and wants to go along, too.[BUTTZ] (+201fd7, +BUTTZ) (2)
>>
No. 398737 ID: c6ce12

Matvey
Work on Armas' order to arrange babysitting for Lev. Go through Russians and access for free time and inclination to help their comrade. Get Lev to sit down and talk. Realize how much of a mess this man is. Try to have him talk to you about his daily schedule so you can stop him from getting himself killed. See he has obligated himself to instructing Feodor in melee during some of his discretionary hours, inform Feodor he's responsible for Lev during that time when he is encountered next. Assign him to work under Boris' supervision during meal times, hope cooking will be somewhat therapeutic for him or at the very least he doesn't stab himself making the borsch. Find that beyond that his schedule should be fairly booked with additional Chakra lessons at Ito's gym, wonder why you haven't seen him actually attending said lessons, find out he's somehow avoided going. Tell Ito when you next encounter him, be pleased how easily that situation will resolve itself. Ask to get him signed on to pick up teaching slack left by Russian's like himself to occupy any of his remaining free time and keep him safe under Ito's gaze.

Talk to Dávgon when the opportunity arises. Chat amicably for a while, picking up from your prior conversations at lunch. Pick up on how similar the circumstances of your respective oustings from your prior positions were. Have a good feeling about the two of you getting along.

Take Dávgon aside and ask him more about the soul quirks he discussed last night (making sure you either remember or learn from him what soul quirks are, how they can be added to a person, the options he has for non-magic humans, and any negative effects that could result from the process). Then ask about anything that should be taken into considerations for the Russian's situation and if he thinks he could work on the group. If he does and the risk doesn't seem that great then express interest in being one of the first in line, as always.

Matvey will listen to Dmitrii's explanation of his recent acquisitions and offer to make a formal report to the other Russians with Camella so they understand the situation. Explain what you can, attempt to preempt questioning about what Dmitrii traded and dissuade people from bothering him about the subject. Segue into what you learned from Dávgon about soul quirks and what options would be available to the Russians, answering questions about the risks as they arise.

In Chakra training with Ito Matvey will try to apply the advice Dávgon gave him when he last visited the Russians at the gym and see if it helps.
>>
No. 398754 ID: ca5118
File 133358770319.jpg - (188.25KB , 533x706 , ID%20Chocolate%20Brown.jpg )
398754

[NIKIFOR ORDERS]
-Decides to go for a bulletproofed full suit! Pic related! Asks Titus to modify it a bit to discreetly hide an SMG with a few mags, and sturdier armor to take on rounds of higher caliber.
-Woah, there were motorcycles in the Garage?! Well, they're not really Sportbikes, but they'll do. Attempts to claim one for himself! Marvels at Tank.
-Asks Matvey, Boss Camella, Big Boss Armas, ShadowBoss and WeaselBoss if they know any Marketplaces that deal with Magical Items, and what are the price ranges, usually.
-Checks on Precious Emergency Booze Stash. Also, tries out Vlad's awesome Jerky idea, stuffs some Jerky down all the Booze, seal tight.
-Tells story of how he got that ugly neck scar in a knife-fight back when he was at the Red Army. Frowns when he realizes everyone's staring at him, get pointed out his scar's not there anymore, because of Sake's Magical Healing Rubs. Becomes a sad Nikifor. Seeks out ShadowBoss to talk with.
-Takes his sword, dagger, arm-armor and somee Booze to the Night Fight, challenges Iskander, the Capoeira Kid! It's time to test his own skills! Uses his swordsmanship and acquired-through-brutal-training Chakra skills to help him! Hopes he doesn't makes a fool out of himself! Shares Booze afterwards!

>>
No. 398773 ID: d97a61

>[Andrei have been queued to do the following:]
>Spend an extra hour awake past midnight getting IRC chat room online, chatting to Boss and Lyubov, Feodor and a bug. Or was that all just a dream? …Probably a dream That's right mistah Andrei perhaps a reduction in caffeine intake's in order…
>Awake. Very confused, and stumbles to breakfast. Ask Powerbar if Camella got Lev down. Correct self. Ask fellow Russian if Camella got Lev down from roof. Get 'the fuck you talking about' look. Also make sure Powerbar can't talk. Because of 'dream', put off caffeine.
>Chakra Abuse. Study with Ito, try and find a point to listen to Camella. Those lessons just keep not clicking any better than before. Shit sucks.
>Home. Avoid lunch. Because then it won't talk to me. Isn't that right? …..Good.
>Grumble about Dream Boss and bombing Stupid-Fucking Island. It was just a dream. Get as much information on Island as possible: Seismographic, radio or sonar information over the past ten years, IR imaging of the past ten years, soil tests, fly-over photography, and any other piece of information available. Find out the island is… oddly undocumented on many levels. After getting what little data there is, find only enough to create a suspicion there are extensive cave systems that extend out into the surrounding sea, but no means of confirming it. Beyond that, find the island's largely been unvisited compared to its sister islands. Start to get 'spooky shit' vibe from what little data's been acquired.
>Aid Iosef and Hillevi in social aspects of the internet. Realize that Invasion skills are rusty. Sigh that there isn't enough time to work on the Trolling. Transfer cat herding duty to Iosef. Be pretty sure Iosef the partial luddite won't fuck that up. Yup…..
>Check video editing. Fix shit tons of Iosef mistakes. Make sure there are no cut scenes that work. Accomplish this after two rounds of reclaiming video. Wow that guy is terrible at editing, where's his flair for visual aesthetic? Laugh at Armas' work. Congratulate Hillevi.
>Ito Training. Try and focus. Be starved because he has just had a single powerbar all day. And it didn't talk to him at all. "Right?" ……..That's fucking Right!. Mistah Andrei! Fuck.
[Zhenya has been queued to do the following:]
[Z]-Zhenya fully examines herself for any other changes. Hair strength? …Nope, still a little limp. Skin condition(other than loss of scars)?... pores are maybe clearer? Maybe? How about muscle condition? No change there, that's for sure. Voice? Sounds the same. Math skills? Why is she checking this? Wonder what else Sake could have changed with that one rub. Fail to grasp own paranoia building into a potential obsession.
[Z]-Zhenya asks Sake about the healing powers and what she can expect to have changed other than the obvious. Get's slapped with a weasel butt and is told it was just a healing to 'healthy', relative to what 'healthy' should be for her and that's that. Note weasel boss snickering at vague as all getout answer.
[Z]-Postpones fire training today and get's some shooting in with the magic guns and her revolvers. Still hurts a bit to even use the guns-must get out of collection hoarding mindset!
[Z]-Zhenya grabs 10k and heads down to the dealer. It's been 5 days so he should have the MKIII by now and maybe a Volquartsen Custom V-10? Find he has the MKII but still not Volquartsen-it's almost like the black market isn't the best place to look for .22 target pistols! (PAY $5,200)
[Z]-Zhenya focuses on building up chakra to stop herself from being hurt and faster than expected steps to avoid Ito's grabs. She won't get em all, but if she can work up the energy to nullify/avoid 1 out of every 10 she will be happy. This fails completely and utterly, as the already exceedingly economical of motion Ito now outmuscles her and has the stamina of a caveman. Find she cannot brute force herself into being faster, or using enough chakra for her Reinforcement to stop the veteran student of the art.
[Z]-She watches Ito's eyes to see where he is going to grab/attack to help out. Is excessively creeped out by the fact he's staring her dead in the eyes and isn't blinking or lidding his eyes or anything oh god oh god.
[Z]-Get Ito'd. Thoroughly. ..Why did boss youngify him, dammit….

[Vlad has been queued to do the following:]
\/-Make more spicy breakfast vodka. Somehow manage to ignite the toaster despite not being anywhere near it. Wonder if two gallons of stewing spicy vodka is enough for future consumption…. nope.
\/-Settle on a greatcoat option for armor, with non-newtonian fluid sandwiched between ceramic or metal plates if possible for maximum effect. Not like carrying all the extra weight is anything new, and having a huge coat instead of conventional body armor should allow for a little more freedom of movement due to lack of constraint. Make sure to mention a desire for many loops/snaps/pouches and so on attached to the inner lining of the greatcoat for equipment storage. Wonder how much this is going to cost.
\/-Be reminded Titus doesn't HAVE non-newtonian fluids appropriate for use yet. Oh.
\/-Consider shaving head. Curse Turkey for being hotter than Russia. Go through with head-shaving plan after being advised by Comrade Vodka. Ignore minor details of cuts to scalp from drunken self-haircut.
\/-Attempt to get a rub from Sake after Jogging Gulag, and be told to walk it off. Acquire rub by sharing experimental meat-vodka and vodka-jerky with the magic weasel. Find Weasel Boss thinks it's pretty okay.
\/-Check out the tank, make sure everything's in proper order. Be sad at lack of ammunition for main cannon. Name the tank "Aglaya". Hear something about Dmitrii being the one that'll drive it… what? Well, if that means he can be the gunner…
\/-During daily bullshitting session with other Russians, mention father who is a 'professional' wrestler of bears despite his age, and grandfather who is amazingly still alive and doing still shows in a circus as a strongman and fire-breather. Be called on bullshit and admit grandfather is a HOBBY bear wrestler, and his grandfather stopped the fire breathing two years ago.
\/-Take Ito up on the offer of shooting at him, despite the prospect of another beating. Not like it'd be anything new, after all. Begin to speak in detail about various ballistic properties regarding available weaponry to make Ito aware of the potential damage to be had from any particular weapons in the armory, just to be safe. Get slapped in the gut hard enough through his shirt to drop him to the floor clutching at his stomach in a fetal position for a little while. Be told by the World War 2 veteran does, in far, know a bit about guns. Realize that makes sense.
\/-Get asked by Ito to shoot at the wall for three magazines. Do so. Observe Ito observing shooting.
\/-Enjoy shooting a 1911 at Ito. Be less glad when Ito grabs the bullet out of the air while dodging to the side and, as he learns after the fact, converts it into a leaping roundhouse delivered to his skull. Decide Ito can, as it happens, handle a .45 at point blank. Note welts on gut and neck alike despite being the shooter.
\/-Spur-of-the-moment ask Ito if the teacher will help him learn this anti 'getting own ass shot' Orientation variant of Reinforcement. Learn Ito will agree-if Vlad is okay with shooting at him for an hour a day of his FREE time until Ito's got it down. Ponder this offer, and the prospect of maybe becoming, if not bullet proof, bullet resistant.
[Feodor has been queued to do the following:]
*F*Return from Finnigan's, have breakfast.
* F*Disappointed with yesterday's results, try only beating half of the joggers at 30lbs. DC 51, ROLL IN DISCUSSION
* F*Shower, because Sake has to put up with the indignation of rubbing manflesh – he shouldn't have to put up with sweat too. Get weasel-rubbed. …After a second shower. After all, Sake's got precious metals in his fur now. Must be clean.
* F*See if keeping weight vest on during chakra training has an effect other than “oh god, I'm dying”. …Nope, just 'oh god this is strange', almost like…. wearing something with metal in it while working on Chakra's distracting. Is it not related to the weight? DC 30 TO NOT BE DISTRACTED FROM LESSON BY THIS. DC 85 TO DEDUCE PERSONAL QUIRK RELATIVE TO CHAKRA FROM THIS.
* F*Shower again. Rule of Three or something.
* F*Talk to Davgon. Ask about Davgon teaching some basic theory about souls and related magic if he ever has a couple of hours free. Be told he'd be up for the conversation-later, when he's not managing a rather tenuous project and settling in. Say, a week from now? At the end of the conversation, ask Davgon to tell him what his soul looks like. Be told his soul look like soot-stained martyer, an oil-slicked good samaritan, a corrupted kindly friar. Be told there feels like a disconnect between his disposition and soul over the 'stained good person' motiff. Wonder at what all THAT means.
* F*See Titus in the hall on the way to training with Lev, thank Titus for the offer, and ask for a greatcoat. Think about why Lev's been acting so odd lately
* F*Head to Finnigan's once again, ready for a busy night. Keep notebook ready. DUAL-DC ROLL: DC 25 TO AVOID FUCKING UP WHEN IT COUNTS, DC 75 TO SHINE WHEN IT COUNTS.
Please name which rolls you make are which when making them.

[Gloom has been queued to do the following:]
*G* Continue chakra practice in-between of mirrors. Briefly test if this can be combined with using tongs and a fixed video camera to record book contents.
Find the method of trying to get the book in the loop on this cumbersome and awkward to the extreme. Wonder if it's worthwhile to persist in the attempt.
* G*Wonder if Armas is setting up this scenario to wind him up. Decide it doesn't matter.
Continue trying to spot Armas observing him.
* G*Talk to other Russians about training methods. Suggest to any who haven't that they ask Armas what their soul looks like.
Learn that despite in general learning the most per lesson at Ito's, several Russians have surpassed him-Dmitrii just today stepping beyond Lyubov, Satai and Andrei. Note that Matvey is also starting to pick up the pace. Wonder how they're bridging the gap. Feel like he's missing something. Then Lyubov casually mentions the weasel healing thing.
[Lyubov has been queued to do the following:]
L*~Lyubov stays up late with Sake reading Japanese comics on the internet, researching Hyougo Hanmaki, chatting with Andrei on the computer, and reading about the Altay tank.
L*~Lyubov has an errant thought, and sends Armas a text: Are you allergic to anything? Latex, shellfish, nuts? Anything? Gets back a text he is 'allergic to absolutely nothing. Also boredom'.
L*~Lyubov talks Sake into committing to using the bath bombs at least once. She says ”Hey you said you liked bath bombs right? I mean you know what they are, everyone who knows what they are likes them, they’re fun. I got you some, with little gold leaf flakes in them, you’ll like it. I didn’t know what you’d like best so I guessed. Come on, your fur’s all sticky from the hair gel for your bling anyway, it’ll be fun.” She then takes him into the bathroom, where she chucks one of the bath bombs into a drawn bath, and talks him into the bubbling tub. And by 'talks' she means she grabs the distracted weasel from behind and chucks him in the tub when he's trying to weasel out of it. Proceeds to give the wiggly, wriggly tube a firm scrubbing. Is begrudgingly thanked-after Sake 'splashes' her with the entire tub.
L*~Afterwards, she engages in the Morning Routine. She takes note of how Camella acts around Armas now that they’ve talked. She catches Andrei and reports what she and Sake learned about Hyougo Hanmaki, mentioning that if he intends to do more research on her, he should probably learn Japanese. She will also ask Dimitri to suggest a dealer for club drugs like poppers, and for LSD and marijuana. She gets a name, and makes a note.
L*~After her teaching session at Ito’s is over, Lyubov will talk with Gloom at lunch, and will be very surprised he didn’t already know that Sake could heal fatigue (as she thought it was common knowledge). She’ll try to calm Gloom down, and will offer advice on securing Sake’s help. When Gloom brings up that he intends to mention retrieving Sake’s body, she’ll point out that he should play up the ‘stole it right from under a dragon’s nose’ angle.
L*~Lyubov will then go shopping and will buy a couple of “Condolences on your loss” cards (one from herself, one for Armas to sign), some things from the pharmacy (replacements for items left in Russia), catnip, two more bottles of good wine, and a pair of silver fire opal cufflinks she spots in a pawn shop display. (Estimate: $770 total).
L*~Lyubov will show the tank to Armas when asked, and will comment on it. ”It’s a prototype of the new Altay tank, I guess Ironhead found someone in Otokar who didn’t mind letting a pre-production model disappear? I am not sure. The diesel engine is an MTU Friedrichshafen design which is lucky because I can get replacement parts for it commercially. It’s kinda underpowered compared to what they could have fit in there, so if you want I can look into buying a more powerful diesel. The armor looks like the Korean armor it’s supposed to have but I’d need to pull some off to be sure. Getting replacements will be harder than for the engine, but maybe we can find someone. I haven’t looked at the computer and targeting systems much yet, but if they need replacing we should be able to do it. The gun is a Rhinemetal 120mm smoothbore, so NATO tank ammo and NATO targeting computers will work just fine. I think Vlad’s in love with it. I still need to make a list of tools I’ll need to maintain it, and also we’re going to need a place where we can practice with it, some land somewhere out where no one will care. So yeah, want to go shopping for a country cottage Boss?” Find out that Amen can apparantly provide… an indoor range and field to practice with the tank in, with just a 'little' bit of bending space. Wonder how to feel about the concept of indoor tank practice.
L*~Lyubov will present the condolence card to Armas for him to sign when she meets with him for training. She’ll explain that Hafaz’s cousin was recently killed by an Einher and he’s been mourning. Note bossman sporting a strangely disbelieving look, as he asks if Hafaz' cousin was a vampire, or otherwise in the service of one. Find the question odd and make mention how Hafaz obviously didn't make mention or she'd have said, so presumably he's not. Ask where cousin lived. Recall Hafaz mentioning somewhere in Scandinavia. Note Armas sighing at this, eyes distant. Get no response from Armas on why he's hung up about this.
L*~After training she will respond to Armas’ recent proposition in Japanese, and say, ”I didn’t answer you the other night. Now that you’ve talked to Camella, and things are where they are, and I had some time to get, ah, ready? Well, uh, having other people watching or reading your memory is, um, a little voyeuristic. And I’d like to go on dates with you sometimes too. So if the ones you’re bonded to are discreet, and you take me out sometimes, then yes. The answer is yes.” Be super embarrassed by how over-the-top submissively girly she sounded saying that in Japanese. Regret choice when Armas laughs at her hilariously nasally 'sultry' tone. Feel like she sounded like a coy Fran Drescher, oh no! Don't feel much better even when he tries to stifle his laughter-but then he looks at the cute little hummingbird and laughs harder!
L*~Night Lessons. Lyubov gives her card to Hafaz. She also gives over the card Armas signed, even though she really didn't feel like he was really thinking about Hafaz when he signed it. When she gets home, she’ll grab the wine she had been PLANNING to have with Armas that night, and have a 'fun' night Drinking alone-until Sake barges in complaining about some asshole telling him he can't prank call anymore. Gladly accept distraction, try to not think about how she's angry Armas ruined the moment and...
L*~During the night finds an apology card that's unsigned but reads like it's from Armas on the table in her room. How'd that get there?
[Lev has been queued to do the following:]
[L]- Lev will go for something like pic related, probably with an armored undervest in case of having to discard coat. Though gotta have somewhere to hide knives, perhaps bigger sleeves would be nice? Wonder how Titus will price all that extra fabric.
[L]-Do pretty well at being focused in training, surprisingly. Attribute this to GUTS. Give guts a congratulatory kneading.
[L]- Be woken by Duct tape being torn off self. Thank whoever did this "kind" deed. Wait who DID do that?
[L]- Shower, curse you water, curse you and your wetness. Commence Weasel rub and hug, Sake is best boss, mustn't let ShadowBoss find that out. Get papercuts all over his stomach as Sake immediately informs him he 'doesn't do male hugs'. Make a mental note of this. Ow, papercuts everywhere.
[L]- Chakra training, try the same thing as before, Lev readies himself as if for a strike or throw, then "throws". Again something for a brief time, Lev wonders, perhaps if he "threw" in rapid succession? A flow of "strikes?". Worth a try at least.
[L]-Except his uniquely deluded recollection of WHAT made his training effective the other day leads him astray, and he does poorly. Man, if only he wasn't crazy… but then he wouldn't be him.
[L]- Lev decides to kick Feodor's training up a notch! time to do it while wearing WEIGHTS. Be dismayed when discovering Feodor is fairly used to weights. GUTS, rise to the occassion Lev will accept Feodor's MANLY MANGRIT, MORE WIEGHT! Wait no that doesn't work.
[L]- Before going out to Ito's night training, Lev grabs an energy drink, or at least tries to, some kind of "force" keeps him back, GUTS.
[L]- Before sleeping, wonder why today wasn't such a mess up. It couldn't have been the duct tape could it?
[L]- Lev dreams of throwing his soul bit by bit and having to hold himself together with ducttape.

[Iosef has been queued to do the following:]
-Continues working on video editing.
-Notices that Andrei is overworked and looks more like a zombie these days.
-Checks out the tank everyone is talking about.
-Thinks it would look great in the foyer on a pedestal. Share the idea with the Boss. Be given a Look.
-Hope the Boss goes out for motorcycle joyride so he can join the gang.
-H-here he goes DC 65 TO NOT AROUSE /b/'s WRATH WHILE TRYING TO CORRAL THEM
[Dmitrii has been queued to do the following:]
(D)-Waking up early, Dmitrii heads down to the kitchen, checks out that recipe book, and looks for something easy to make. Then he makes it and enjoys delicious magic foods. Mmm… Harpy omelet with Mandragora root. Like the best potato omelet ever.
(D)-When Camella gets back from her run, ask to talk to her, Matvey, and Satai(Dmitrii seeing him as an unofficial officer) and informing them of his recent acquisitions. When asked about what he paid, Becomes hesitant and answer "Memories" and lets them know he really, REALLY doesn't want to talk about it. He'll also ask about skipping out on most of the chakra training as he doesn't really need it. He'll stick around for a couple hours of it everyday to help others out though. No one really has grounds to say no to him. since he's now got safe filtering methods.
(D)-Dmitrii will point Lyubov in the direction of drug dealer for what she asks for. Let her know that he's buying some stuff later if she wants to tag along and get introduced to dealers.
(D)-With newly acquired free time, Dmitrii spends a few hours searching online for vehicle simulators and games with complicated controls. Ends up ordering Steel Battalion with it's controller off of Ebay, buying Wings of Prey, and Digital Combat Simulator, and a mess of other vehicle simulators.
(D)-Then Dmitrii heads out into town on shopping trip. Buys a decent flight stick and an xbox for Steel Battallion. Stops at several car dealerships and feigns interest in buying a different vehicle at each one so he an go on test-drives. Greatly enjoys sense of being awesome at something he's put little work into as of yet. Finishes trip with buying 5000$ worth of drugs. Somehow only 4800$ of them make it home. Odd.
(D)-While acting as an Instructor at Ito's Dmitrii will inform him of the teaching change and art&crafts stuff. General questions about Chakra following, and if he has any advice regarding it. Be told by Ito he'd have to see the orientation Dmitrii's learned, at least four hours apiece, and be able to maintain physical contact with Dmitrii to get a 'proper' read on the Orientations and feel comfortable giving advice. Ponder when he could fit in two sessions of four-hour chakra Orientation advice with Ito.
(D)-After returning home asks Andrei about building a computer. After hearing mumbling about chakra and exploding, decides that after today will spend 2 hours a day helping him with whatever while subtley helping him learn chakra. Realizes he's probably going to have to make a schedule or something.
(D)-Give Duke drugs and talk with him and Davgon regarding Dmitrii's arts&crafts. Chakra energy is soul energy, and while he has so little it takes forever to make stuff, maybe he could make something undercharged and they could finish it off? Nope, seems Dávgon only knows how to one-shot craft charms, not finish them, and Duke's confident he'd overload anything Dmitrii could make.
{D}-Or maybe they have a way of channeling energy through someone? Getting a few made soon would be nice so he can make proper use of that Charm. Be told that might be able to work. Have Dávgon demo 'channeling' some energy through him. After four seconds of it feel like he just got done running a marathon, climbing a mountain, and getting slapped in the balls. Realize this will take some getting used to.

[Igor has been queued to do the following:]
+B+Feels that maybe he is going at this chakra with mental prep the wrong way. Maybe using physical prop- meditating while striking metal, would help.
+ B+Asks Armas about his opinion- he knows he did wonders with Lyubov, after all. Is told to stop copying other people, it's boring. Tries to explain he isn't trying to copy Lyubov-boss gives zero fucks. Possibly even negative fucks. Fuck-taking may be transpiring here.
+ B+Igor will ask Armas for a 'fitting' for the gauntlet, to help his visualization in a practical manner. Is shown the Beast. How does he react to that monstrous remnant of the death-spewing monsters of the German's?
[Matvey has been queued to do the following:]
/\/\-Work on Armas' order to arrange babysitting for Lev. Go through Russians and access for free time and inclination to help their comrade. Get Lev to sit down and talk. Realize how much of a mess this man is when he doesn't even seem to grasp what the talk's about. Try to have him talk to you about his daily schedule so you can stop him from getting himself killed. See he has obligated himself to instructing Feodor in melee during some of his discretionary hours, inform Feodor he's responsible for Lev during that time when he is encountered next.
/\/\-Assign him to work under Boris' supervision during meal times, hope cooking will be somewhat therapeutic for him or at the very least he doesn't stab himself making the borsch. Find that beyond that his schedule should be fairly booked with additional Chakra lessons at Ito's gym, wonder why you haven't seen him actually attending said lessons, find out he's somehow avoided going. Tell Ito when you next encounter him, be pleased how easily that situation will resolve itself. Ask to get him signed on to pick up teaching slack left by Russian's like himself to occupy any of his remaining free time and keep him safe under Ito's gaze. Get an agreement.
/\/\-Be ready to come down on Lev like a ton of enraged constipated bricks the moment he 'forgets' that he's now got a schedule to keep him busy all the time until Chakra training's done.
/\/\-Talk to Dávgon when the opportunity arises. Chat amicably for a while, picking up from your prior conversations at lunch. Pick up on how similar the circumstances of your respective oustings from your prior positions were. Have a good feeling about the two of you getting along. Get the feeling Dávgon doesn't really see him, but someone from his old clan that he reminds Dávgon of. Feel okay with this.
/\/\-Take Dávgon aside and ask him more about the soul quirks he discussed last night. Learns it's easiest to think of them as the spiritual equivalent to grafts for plants. Personally classify them as 'like getting soul DLC' after having seen Andrei playing games often enough. Then ask about anything that should be taken into considerations for the Russian's situation and if he thinks he could work on the group. Be told he might be able to, but there'd be red tape to clear up unless they'd be okay giving him soul oaths they will agree to allow his soul-manipulation as a blanket contract to avoid the need. Decide the risk doesn't seem that great and express interest in being one of the first in line, as always.
/\/\-Give Soul Oath to back up Dávgon if and when he's challenged on the legality of his soul manipulation.
/\/\-Acquire Soul Quirk. ROLL 1D3 (1 for inner, 2 for middle, 3 for outer) AND 1D10 FOR SOUL QUIRK.
1-10 scale for Quirk scope. 1 is decidedly underpowered for Matvey, and would be suited for a completely, perfectly mundane human. 10 would be something suited to a full bloodliner, and beyond Matvey's safe scope at the moment. The 'prime' realm shifts depending on whether it's inner, outer or middle. Inner's best range is 3-5, Middle's best range is 4-7, Outer's best range is 5-8. In general, Inner can handle the lowest rolls, Outer can handle the highest rolls, and middle can handle… the middle rolls the best.
/\/\-Matvey will listen to Dmitrii's explanation of his recent acquisitions and offer to make a formal report to the other Russians with Camella so they understand the situation. Explain what you can, attempt to preempt questioning about what Dmitrii traded and dissuade people from bothering him about the subject. Segue into what you learned from Dávgon about soul quirks and what options would be available to the Russians, answering questions about the risks as they arise. Find that being willing to be the first test subject for Dávgon lends a good bit of weight to argument, despite need for Soul Oath.
/\/\-In Chakra training with Ito Matvey will try to apply the advice Dávgon gave him when he last visited the Russians at the gym and see if it helps. RESULTS DEPENDENT ON QUIRK OUTCOME. RESULTANT QUIRK WILL BE GRADED BY TIER, TIER 1, 2, and 3. IF TIER 1, DC AGAINST ITO IS 60. TIER 2 IS 55. TIER 3 IS 50.

[Nikifor has been queued to do the following:]
-Decides to go for a bulletproofed full suit! Asks Titus to modify it a bit to discreetly hide an SMG with a few mags, and sturdier armor to take on rounds of higher caliber. Is asked by a somewhat incredulous Titus if he'd like him to pull the moon out of his ass too-is subjected to lecture on need for a decidedly NON form-fitting suit to properly conceal something as large as an SMG in an accessible manner, completely at odds with the fitted suit Nikifor's asking for. What gives?
-Woah, there were motorcycles in the Garage?! Well, they're not really Sportbikes, but they'll do. Attempts to claim one for himself! Marvels at Tank.
-Asks Matvey, Boss Camella, Big Boss Armas, ShadowBoss and WeaselBoss if they know any Marketplaces that deal with Magical Items, and what are the price ranges, usually.
-Checks on Precious Emergency Booze Stash. It's still safe, GOOD. Also, tries out Vlad's awesome Jerky idea, stuffs some Jerky down all the Booze, seal tight.
-Tells story of how he got that ugly neck scar in a knife-fight back when he was at the Red Army. Frowns when he realizes everyone's staring at him, get pointed out his scar's not there anymore, because of Sake's Magical Healing Rubs. Becomes a sad Nikifor. Seeks out ShadowBoss to talk with. Dammit, can't find him again.
-Takes his sword, dagger, arm-armor and some Booze to the Night Fight, challenges Iskander, the Capoeira Kid! It's time to test his own skills! Uses his swordsmanship and acquired-through-brutal-training Chakra skills to help him! Hopes he doesn't makes a fool out of himself!
-Is temporarily barred from Ito's gym for bringingi live weapons and smelling of alcohol when desiring to fight a teen. Is given an oddly smug look by Lev.


ARMAS ACTIONS INCOMING
>>
No. 398783 ID: d97a61

>>398724
As stated, trying something new.

After a final check with my brothers and finding we're all in agreement-I decide to cash in that Boon with Whaitiri on Fleshcrafting straight from the source of my Summer Bloodline. I let SB handle the actual negotiations as he requested-it DOES make the most sense since he doesn't need to call Whaitiri to speak with her-and after he preemptively butters her up I make my request. What happens is… strangely tactile. My stomach abruptly balloons outward as thick vines of something worm their way outward, threading through my body. The roots continue to spread, racing like wildfire, engulfing me in moments. I have a brief moment just before they reach my head, still not having caused a single ripple upon my skin, to note that as the tendrils spread, my stomach deflated. The waves of tunneling energy and purpose finish traversing the whole of my form-

And I remember.

I remember studying from a venerated elder of my tribe, he a disciple of the once mighty Whaitiri. I remember studying the hunger-rooted, cannibalistic flesh crafting Whaitiri is most attuned to. I remember learning how to claim the flesh of fleshly slain beasts to heal myself of grievous wounds, granted to me so that I may be motivated to learn. I remember the trouble of learning to dominate the flesh of still living scavengers, the struggle to claim a kiwi's body to reinvigorate my own. I remember learning how to build each and every part of myself save my heart-even the grasp of how to rebuild a brain comes to me, jarringly alien in principle to me, having come from the mind of one that never learned formal physiology. I remember learning how to use flesh claimed from elsewhere, either personally consumed or simply grasped and expended mid-act, to fuel decidedly aggressive healing-that still feels hollow, compared to the energy intensive Hybrid healing. I remember learning how to reverse the flow, how to push my recovery outside-and, by sacrificing my own flesh, restore that of another. I learn how with two bodies on hand, one can use one body to heal another without consuming oneself. I learn the ins and outs of how it feels to think the use of this power as natural as walking or breathing-and, despite remembering much at all in the way of theory, I feel a markedly stable grounding in what my bloodline can do.

But most importantly of all, in this comprehensively regenerative knack, this considerable innate familiarity with the fundamental nature and form of my Summer Line, I gain the grasp of how to perform extensive regeneration over the course of minutes, and to do so with but a shadow of drain on my Summer line. It is this ability to substitute the energy and effort of others for my own that I immediately covet most, out of all the manifold secrets of how to properly ply the energy of my body I come to know from Whaitiri's boon. This, coupled with my existing knowledge of cosmetic shifting, effectively means I could simply break myself down, manually heal with just my Summer Line to a new stature and build, and grant myself whatever pigmentation I desire-I've taken yet another step down the path of being able to socially deceive. I wonder how much I'll hone it before I start trying to apply it in the field…

Regardless, amidst an as-ever hectic morning, I tap Feodor, recalling most medics as having a solid background in anatomy that could prove helpful to me as a fleshcrafter. When I explain I'm looking for repeat timeslots to pick his brain about 'general doctoring', he tentatively accedes, but requests that I wait until he and the other Russians are done dealing with the oversaturation issue-he won't have to spend so much time watching his comrades, or so he says. I don't feel inclined to press the point, so I accept the deferment and head on.

Still thinking about the news little Osto's starting to make a pretty respectable name for himself in his field-okay, he's just at the rocky start of it, but still-I find myself wanting to further throw support behind him-discreetly, of course.
>"Of course."
So I have Amen use my leftover one-time full-body set of kevlar and ballistic plates along with my still-damaged Dragon Skin vest along with a sizable amount of leather and several kilograms of scrap metal from the one-time Nazinaut's armor to build a semi medieval themed bodysuit, built to not just provide effective mulit-layered protection to the wearer, but handle considerable stresses placed on the fingers and toes. Sure it'll be excessively dense and overly heavy for normal use-but it's owner's an Einher, a weight problem for a human doesn't really apply. Best of all it'll fit under even modestly bulky clothes.
While I continue to have Amen modify Osto's impending present, I decide to make a different sort of gift.
CASH: -$1,000 $7,520.00
I arrange for Osto to get a satellite phone, and promptly go out to pick up the purchase while Amen makes his last adjustments to the suit. I pick up the phone, leave the cash, and within the hour Osto's gifts are wrapped up and shipped off. He should get them soon.

With that done, and the Russians still busy with their morning training…. I decide I really should accept the Witch's bargain. So I call her back on Lammy's phone-I accept her demand-and get an interesting blurb that I, and my brothers, will have to keep to ourselves-literally, we will be unable to share it as per our collective oath.
>[Oggmum]"Well, I could prattle on about the details for hours, but I'll stick to a summary since it's most important you grasp what's going on. Whatever you may think you know about the subset of weres, the mortal bloodline that bestows the Loup Garou traits upon it's bearers, know this: it is built to grow. It is a thing of rage and violence that feeds on its own anger indefinitely. This thing I speak of is true, and is representative of the fate of all Loup Garou in the eyes of our community: Whatever personality they may effect, it is nothing more than a temporary shell around the mindless destruction that slowly grows within. This is the mindset that colors all interactions with their kind-be one elf, goblin, demon or god, this distrust of the Loup Garou is nigh-universal. For this state of perpetual growth also encourages growth in the difficulty of commanding the bloodline-and no matter how fierce a learner one is, they will inevitably fall behind their bloodline. They distrust because history has shown that no Loup Garou can truly last-they must either live briefly and gloriously, or someday fall to their rage. This is the sad, lonely fate that awaits Loup Garou in their end days-and it is a fate Labombard has accepted. But this is a far-off thing, or should be-he should yet have scores of years to live to the fullest and make of his time what he can. …Or so it should be. Under Lo Fang's employ he'd taken to using a… stimulant the Triads manufacture. It markedly improved his ability to heal, making him effectively immortal. It also agressively accelerated the maturation of his bloodline while also overtaxing his flesh's ability to handle so much regeneration. I keep him safe to provide him a chance to recover from the pit he's dug himself into. When he is well enough to take care of himself as he will once more, I am certain he shall wish to contact you."
One hell of a detail I learned there-and I literally CAN'T tell or convey that information to anyone in a way that would compromise the secret I just promised to keep.

I try calling Abloec up again-and this time, the old Einher's voice pops up, even if the Spirit itself's still absent.
>[Abloec]"Yeah, what? Busy, but I get the feeling this'll be interesting enough."
"Hey, if you'd give your word you won't talk about it with anyone without clearing it with me first, I could show you that vessel you detected before. It's coming along nicely, and could use a possession expert's input. Discount on use for the help if you're interested."
>[Abloec]"Knew it. Damned right I'll give my word on that-now walk your ass to it I'll use your eye to see it assuming that don't bother you."
"What's got you so busy?"
>[Abloec]"Gleb killed ANOTHER Valkyrie that tried to claim his soul when he did that trick of his where he temporarily metamorphoses into a Spirit Einher then goes back to what he calls mortal. As usual, fallout-with the added twist of a Fire Giant raid. I can multitask okay though, so let's seeoh. Oh nice. That's one of those Nazinauts right?"
"Was originally, yes."
>[Abloec]"How'd you stabilize it?"
"Crap ton of brute effort and application or resources."
>[Abloec]"No cunning trick, just hard work? All right, fine. Who did the vein work, and is that soul seed supposed to be based on Einher work?"
"Red Caps, and yes."
>[Abloec]"Whoever made it missed a detail-bet it was a mortal crafter. Anyway, get some Divine Being, God or otherwise Divinely oriented soul stuff and graft it into the seed-that'll up the synchronization rate something fierce. Other than that I'll need to actually try this thing out to comment-don't know when I'd be ready."
"Well, when you ARE ready, besides checking in with me would you mind saying hi to that new Einher Osto in Finland?"
>[Abloec]"Your cousin? …Fine, I'll give the lad a pointer or two, but just one hour's worth-I hate kids."
"I appreciate it. Let me know when you'd like a peek."
>[Abloec]"Ayup."

Getting on a roll, after some brief interactions with my minions I do some other checking on what I can do with the Golem.
-I get in touch with the Arena organizers in the sewer, and ask them about Nazinaut arms. They agree to let me know the next time they get even halfway salvageable limbs that meet my needs, but aren't too hopeful-seems the arms, what with those pressurized masses of combustible acid bolted to them, usually don't come out well-it's the legs that on average they see survive the best.
-I check about the Smiling One's website, and find someone selling sets of Catoblepas lungs for a quarter of a million each. …So, $125,000 per individual lung. Steep-and, according to the listing, but non-negotiable and limited to a stock of four sets of lungs. If I want in on that deal, I should probably act soon-the lungs of poisonous-smoke spewing monsters are apparently a hot commodity. Who'd have guessed.
-Also on her site, I find a few listing for eyes that pique my curiousity-in particular, I find a guy that sells cyclops parts, but only does trade. After a bit of back and forth, I tentatively say I could get Cyclops eyes at a 1:1 ratio for Erinyes hearts. Supposed to be stupidly durable and possess incredible clarity of vision, quite possibly the king of robust ocular organs. They also automatically see through any attempts to become invisible-but not attempts to go unnoticed.
-I also find someone who's listed as selling Gorgon eyes, but seems they're currently not listing any publically. Seems I'd need an invite from an existing client of this dude to even attempt to ASK about a purchase. Seems like a lot of work-but gorgon eyes could be pretty nice, what with the 'gaze of stone' thing.
-Lastly I see a listing for a major vendor of were body parts that's best quality eye product is from a particular type of beast called a 'were-shrimp'. They look fruity, but are supposed to grant similarly precise and broader spectrum vision to the Cyclops eyes, without the incredible durability or auto-invisibility piercing. I could get a full two dozen for 300K-but it seems the seller cautions they'll go bad within a week of purchase if not hooked up to another organism to keep them going.
-From there, as the afternoon rolls on I switch gears when Gianni stops by to have a drink with Duke and look over the golem, and rope him and Dávgon into my project for the Hummingbird. It takes them four hours-but they end up merging a rather bloated pile of magic into my spirit animal, and tell me my own overbleed will finish cementing the seed. Seems… I'm actually okay to use magic like 'normal' with my Spirit Animal-hell, it's encouraged to finish building his base for fleshcrafting work. I also file away the fact the seed was made largely by converting some of my own flesh into a spiritual signature and implanting that in the bird's flesh.
-With that Gimpy Vamp with the Determined soul showing up mid-HB seed installation, I take the opportunity to grab him, manipulate him into swearing under Amen's power to keep a secret, and showing him the golem before asking him to be my Blood Monitor for the project. I remain largely professional and avoid gloating at the befuddled state he's left in, and only let myself smile when he acquiesces. He says he'd probably need some tutoring from a veteran vamp from an actual clan to be GOOD at blood monitoring, owning up to his own shortcomings rather bluntly. I also notice his arm's starting to regrow.
-I check the clipping service again, and find the day to have largely been slow news-wise: Seems the Owner had to deal with the Mad Drunk, and since dealing with the red-nosed sot has been aggravated enough most of Turkey's been on their best behavior, or at the very least keeping a low profile. I wonder how long THAT'll last. Outside the area it seems Blackbeard wounded Armin and escaped, but otherwise not much happened. Seems no one knows where the Mad Drunk went after the Owner booted him.
-I check in with Hamlet, to find he's hit a snag in delivering his report-he can't account for roughly one fifth of the kinetic energy the bullets regularly display when tested no matter how he crunches the numbers, and would feel it unprofessional to just leave it at 'it does better than it should and I don't know why'. I decide he can have more time to look into it, but feel like he may have found some hint at well-disguised magic within the bullets.
-I make time to stare and drool over my tank for a full six minutes. I've got a tank, fuck yeah.
-I talk with Camella when she's available about helping me get in contact with the Wizard Dorjpalam, to sell him the mind of one of his foe's lieutenants. She figures my offer's good enough to call the guy now, and hands me her phone after dialing and doing a brief introduction. After a brief exchange where I confirm I am indeed offering the Doonongae's mind, I get to the nitty gritty-what I want for it. I explain that I'm looking for discreet work to be done on a spiritual plane, effectively a concept install. After I rough out my hope to make a real-time world map, he agrees to look at my resources, and advise me on what I'd need so that he could perform the task with zero net energy loss-and, once I have said ingredients, he'll set up what I requested. Looks like I've got a sort-of green light on my World Eye project. Fuck yeah.
-I end up blowing a large portion of the night dealing with an unfortunate accident where what was looking to be a good time got ruined because I have a pavlovian reflex to laugh when I hear Fran Drescher's voice and… well. Hopefully the card soothed SOME of the ruffled feathers.


SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5th, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $705,275.04
BUSINESS FUNDS: $559,347.00
CASH: $7,520.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 80%
WINTER ENERGY: 36/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 17/50

I wake up feeling pretty damn good. I have a bit of brain coffee, hop out of bed-






And wonder how this Weekend shall be used.
….I never did call Lo Fang back about that lesson, did I. Hm.
>>
No. 398821 ID: 199d28

Armas Orders

* Pay more attention to your food. Do you get a feel for the structure of what you consume with your enhanced summer bloodline? Can you focus your bloodline on freshly consumed meats to grasp them?
*Check your techniques to learn if and how the advancement of the summer bloodline changed or otherwise influenced them.
* Talk with Camella about runes. Tell her how HB managed to acquire his spell work by finding runes that appealed, that 'talked', to him. Suggest she might profit from looking through runes on the internet or simply doodling to find symbols that spark with her. They could be a good start to learn more about herself. Mention Armas is to unfocused to get anything out of it when Camella questions why he doesn't use it.
* Go to the magical bar Sake found for a bit of socializing. Armas needs more local contacts. Assume a guise of relaxed power, tone down the loudness of your clothing a bit so it doesn't scream but rather talks confidently. Spend some time to look for references and invites to other establishments.
* Send the Owner a thank you note for referring Blade. Perhaps with first installment of the Blade Saga when Andrei finishes editing it.
* Contact Professor Jadga for a consultation with a biologist, with expansive knowledge of cells, cell organelles and single celled organisms. On the uncounted hollows to help SB move Armas body with shadow, the best approach is probably to go to structures below the cell level. There are already a lot of containers in cells. If Armas can modify a type, like vesicles, to contain shadow, he might be able to keep the hollows around or collapse them as desired. Going for converted cell organelles hollows also sidesteps the placement issue. Cells are very well distributed in Armas body.
>>
No. 398949 ID: 78662e

Vlad orders:

Await price quote on armor. Be willing to wait for optimal materials to be in stock.

Buy another $200 worth of jerky after Jogging Gulag. Make enough meat-vodka from existing household stock so that everyone gets a bottle, plus two for Sake and a metric shitload of spare bottles for later. Attempt to combine meat vodka with spicy vodka ingredients. Drool in anticipation during assembly, eagerly await testing results the next day.

Ponder exchange of one hour of free time a day in exchange for further severe beatings and possibly becoming resistant to bullets. Spend two seconds in deep thought. Reach conclusion. ABSOLUTELY FUCKING WORTH IT.

Bring a bottle of meat vodka along to give Ito before the next beating commences, do not notice repeated blunt force trauma quite as much while thinking happy thoughts about bullet resistance combined with heavy personal armor.

End day by drunkenly mistaking Amen for a lighting fixture and trying to put a lampshade on his head before crashing into usual vodka-fueled slumber.
>>
No. 398991 ID: 34faba

Sunday morning Armas has a meeting with a chakra master. Going there low on chakra isn't a good idea, so don't burn your reserves down today.
>>
No. 398994 ID: d75017

Igor
+Igor is going to be drooling at this golem, definitely. His head hurting will be forgetten in the face of such an engine of destruction. "I really hope it can make big explosions".
+Later, Igor is going to be really impressed, again, by how slick the boss can be. He went to meet with the boss asking him about his opinion on one thing, pointing out he is not being original in the least in how he ask for help, and the boss managed to have him trying to prove he is not copying others to the boss even though everyone know the boss love copying others and that Igor himself respect that. More-ever, it took him hours to even manage to think about it without having his head hurting. Slick.It is unknown whether the boss didn't help from lazyness or just Igor not being as easy to help as Lyubov, but it's clear it doesn't really matter.
+Igor is going to say fuck it- smithing in the afternoon free time means he can't do anything at all during the day, so he will try to ask Hillevi for one of those cold refresh- balls shrinking or not.
+If successfull, Igor will move smithing during the night (Will ask one of the boss to make sure there is no noise thks Amen).
+During the afternoon, Igor will ask Dmitrii for help with Chakra. Apparently he is good now.
>>
No. 399063 ID: 6616f3

Titus
-Got orders from Lev, Vlad, Nikifor and Lyubov (and Titus himself, of course), and possibly others he's forgetting, so we can start working on the armor thing.
- Unfortunately, the right ceramics you usually need to buy by the ton. So Titus will look around for 1t each of boron carbide and silicon carbide, which will set him back between 2k and 7.5k, depending on the kind of deal he gets - and that's gonna require Amen to do the arc furnace thing to make it into plates.
- BAE Systems is working on non-Newtonian fluid armors and the results seem very positive, but doesn't have a market prototype that I've seen. Maybe Amen can make something similar if Titus describes the phenomenon?
-So far, all he can offer for armor options are the kevlar/P155 (freebie: lightest, protects against chemicals, acids, pistols up to .357 magnum), leather ($300: +5 pounds, not much further protection, mostly for looks) boron carbide in a mail style ($600: +15 pounds, protects against rifle ammo, mmmmmaybe AP rifle rounds), silicon carbide in same ($600: slightly less protection, resists thermal shock/fracture, heat, electricity), plate inserts with non-Newtonian fluid sandwiched between boron carbide and silicon carbide backplate ($900: +40 pounds, less maneuverability, protects AP rifle rounds and down, anything moving at high velocity). [These are, of course, my own estimates and may not 100% reflect reality, only my own research]
>>
No. 399077 ID: 7472ad

Armas orders

Today is a day of learning. Ask Gianni/Davgon if they think a regenerator heart could be grafted into a Russian as an alternative method of dealing with magical saturation. Specifically, Earth troll heart into Vlad. Ask SB/Sake if they think a winter aligned creature could be flesh crafted into a female humanoid for Silja and if it'd influence her final form the way we want. And finally, ask the brain trust about living magic sentients without brains, so we have a basis for arguing brain death isn't death to SM, unless he wants any deal he's made with those creatures that last until death to require him to continue it after they stop existing, which could prevent him from fulfilling his part of the deal which is something he's not capable of doing.

Dmitrii orders

Wakes up early. Promises himself that today will be the last day he does that for awhile. Before making breakfast, asks Boss if Amen can be ordered to use excess magical scrap meat, that is what we have beyond what is needed to feed everyone, to make materials for his art&crafts. Immediatly after heads out and buys another 5000$ worth of drugs, going straight home. Calls up Ito and asks the following; would it be easier or at least not more difficult to get a read on the orientation with more energy flowing through it, would it be easier or at least not more difficult to get a read on the orientation while it's actively being used, would he mind if two or three people possibly,as he hasn't talked with them yet, accompanied him for the first 4hour block of orientation showing, and does six to ten AM and four to eight pm today sound okay for showing him the orientations?

Make breakfast, and make an extra omelet each for Duke and Davgon. Give them the Omelet and Duke the drugs, and ask if they'd be willing to come with him to Ito's to overcharge his arts&crafts while he shows Ito the orientation, and maybe comment on it after as well. Also comment that he thinks DUke would like Ito, given how he's acted since being de-aged. Realize that Davgon only got here after the magic food stopped being made, and if he seems at all surprised by the egg inform him that there's magic food and a magic recipe book if he wants to make himself something. Boris should go back to making everyone magic food once the Russians are no longer at risk of exploding. Also ask if there's anything he likes/want as thanks for the help, as a pile of drugs like he gives Duke doesn't seem his style.

Ask Duke and Davgon if Sake could help mitigate the fatigue of channeling the energy. If so, ask Sake if he'd be willing to help out, and offer to make him charms in the future as payment. Gotta be hard to go out alone as a bright green magic weasel, and while he might need to ride a unicycle or glider or something, Dmitrii should be able to make something to counter that.

Spend rest of day doing what's planned. With the charm making, he'll go for the most complex thing he can make to fully show what he can do. Also, does the teaching orientation require Dmitrii to actually have full knowledge of what he's teaching? He'll try use it to help Ito pick up on the orientation itself, figuring if it gets in the way Ito will comment on him doing something weird and he can stop.
>>
No. 399103 ID: 252e1b

LYUBOV ORDERS

L*~Lyubov spends the wee hours of the morning with Sake, playing on the computer and polishing off the wine. Finally she dozes off, catching a long nap with her weasel pal.
L*~Lyubov wakes up, finds the note from Armas, and reads it several times. She puts the note away with the letter she never sent her mother, and goes about her Morning routine (including distractions and weasel-rubs). During breakfast she visits Boris in the kitchen again, hooking her computer up to the security camera to watch for when Armas starts stealing food again. She’ll make Armas laugh and spoil his stealth by using the nasally voice to call him out on it, reciting a few lines of Pushkin: Thievish mouths cannot consume/stolen morsels undetected/so long as they're employed in song. Or laugher, today.”
L*~ At the Dojo, Lyubov will ask Ito if he thinks that tax guy student he mentioned would like to do some consulting work for Armas and his taxes.
L*~At lunch Lyubov will chat with Hillevi. At the end of lunch she asks delays Hilllevi from going off with Satai long enough to present her with the makeup kit, and promise to help her with it when she wants. Particularly for the next time she’s in a movie.
L*~Lyubov will meet with Armas for her lesson and at the end say, ”I read that note with your apology. It’d mean more if you gave it to me with your lips, but I accept that you did not mean to be cruel. So, take me out to dinner next week, and all will be forgiven.”
L*~Lyubov will then examine the tank with Dmitrii, talk to him a little about his new abilities, and compile a list of tools she’ll need to maintain it properly. (Estimate: $15,000-$40,000. Use the low end if the mansion has a good selection of tools and appropriate hydraulic lifts already.)
L*~At dinner, Lyubov talks to Gloom. She makes it very clear that Sake is indeed an independent entity, and explains what she knows of how his power works (recharges at dawn, enough for 18 heals, minor injuries cost just as much as replacing a nearly destroyed body, Sake doesn’t like close contact with guys that much).
L*~Night Lessons. Lyubov uses Hafaz’s advice again, in combination with keeping her own intentions fluttery and uncertain until the very last moment. After lessons, she will catch Feodor and ask in Russian, “Could you do me a big favor and look up what chemicals would dissolve granite, marble, and sandstone? And what is good for corroding bronze?”
L*~Before bed, Lyubov will take a nice bath and relax.
>>
No. 399105 ID: 81f32a

ORDERS FOR IOSEF:
>rolled 54 = 54 [kinda glad this failed. /b/'s wrath is better than Witch's wrath, especially when said witch is a moody, angsty teen.]
>Accept soul oath for Davgon for this particular job.
>Ask Dimitrii how he finished his chakra training so fast. Ask what kind of memories he sold [not asking for exact memories but the type/scope, so that Iosef might know if he has memories worth selling]
>[just for clarification, did Iosef clarify he wants for armor in >>398512 ?]


Orders for Armas:
Don't forget that tomorrow you have meeting with the chakra master in the morning. Better tell everybody that morning training has been moved.
>>
No. 399116 ID: 39c22e

Gloom:
* Continue the mirror training.
* Talk to Armas about the near death experience. Suggest being repeatedly frozen in a mirror smooth block of ice and then revived to break out of it. After all, he's going to die anyway if he doesn't learn chakra.
* Keep on copying the books. In future, make sure to ask Amen for books that won't damage the reader.
* Talk to Lyubov about fatigue healing. Make sure that all the other Russians are aware of it. If the Ramidjeru is actually under the control of an independent entity, best to make nice. Explain to the weasel the plan to learn Armas' stealth, and surprise him with it when he least expects it, and that to do that you need more time in the day. A not so little bird has suggested he might be able to help...
* If he can catch him, give Duke a case of vodka picked up on the way back from the gym and copies of the tapes of the stealth book. Say that after seeing what he can put away in terms of drugs and alcohol, he can't even see books Amen provided harming him. Would he mind terribly telling him if these are dangerous for a standard human to read.

Armas:

>>398821
Upvote everything but trash talking himself and contacting the Owner, whch is SUST-ed. Given M7 and the fact he's a godling, doing the first is a bad idea.

* Stop burning down energy levels.
* Eat as much magical meat as possible now that the Russians aren't eating it. Offer HB a liquidised magical meat meal.
* Talk to HB about his fleshcrafting. Try to mentally show him what you've learned on the subject, if he's interested. Also ask how his chakra theft is going.
* Go on the Smiling One's website and look for humanoid winter aligned female body parts. Fleschcrafters preferred. Get in touch with the seller of Cyclops eyes and make an offer to buy a pair of them, exchanging tomorrow.
* Discuss Silja with Camella and explain her situation.
* Ring Ghanem and set times for the introductions to the surviving supernatural merchants and information brokers he promised to make.
* Take Hillevi sight seeing to the Blue Mosque and the Topkapi palace, and have a look at the Sword and Cloak of Mohammed.
* Ask Dávgon for basic lessons in soul manipulation and sensing.
* Go to the arena and try out what Whaitiri taught. Before going, arrange to borrow a large amount of cash from the bank in your personal accounts overnight secured on your ownership of the business.
* Consider the shadow pocket idea. Talk to SB about whether Whaitiri's tuition allows its implementation?
* Ask Dávgon if it would help to leave the chakra orentation that channels our excess soul energy to HB set as a default.
* Remember the Maori Glyphs that were researched previously. In particularly, recall the Kowhaiwhai and Hei Tiki.
* Discuss with SB how we can persuade Whaitiri to help with the mere repair and upgrade process, in particular carving it with Kowhaiwhai glyphs to represent our lineage going all the way back to the First man represented by the Hei Tiki, and carry the hereditary mana from him to us. Would pledging to sacrifice a tithe of the Doonegeas' meat to her when the mere is repaired help, or does he think he can persuade her of the benefits of the tool designed to feed her being as strong as possible without that.
* If Whaitiri is amenable to helping with the mere now, ring Arkvad and give him the latest information on the Reaper ammo and gun, and tell him Whaitiri has agreed to help. What needs to happen next?
* If we haven't got enough information for H&H yet, it might be worth rining up Johann and offering to pay him for a quick consultation. In purely theoretical terms, if one had a coil gun launched gyrojet that was hitting with 25% (80:20 split explained:unexplained) too much kinetic energy, what could cause that? If he can tell you, pay him what he asks and ring H&H back.
* Discuss the mechanism by which Whaitiri implanted the knowledge in you with SB, and encourage him to copy the information itself for his own future use. Is the mechanism some form of flesh based work around for mind manipulation, and does it have any commonalities with what Whaitiri learned from Amen, given his talents in that field.
* Also ask SB if having some of her soul resident in a living shadow such as himself could give Whaitiri some affinity for shadow manipulation, and, if so, whether there's any opportunities there.
* Was SB able to read our mind as we experienced the memories of the accelerated teaching? If so, was he able to retain any more of the theory than we were?
* If known about, watch soul quirk installation in Matvey.
* Carefully observe Dmitri's new chakra orientations.
* Forbid any of the other Russians dealing with SM without notification first. Explain that he is exceedingly dangerous and will drive an incredibly hard bargain, which they may not be able to do as well at.
>>
No. 399118 ID: 7472ad

>Forbid any of the other Russians dealing with SM without notification first. Explain that he is exceedingly dangerous and will drive an incredibly hard bargain, which they may not be able to do as well at.

Downvoting this. Warn them about selling company information or things that could harm it, but I'm against forbidding them from dealing with SM.
>>
No. 399122 ID: cfb2fc

>>399116
>Forbid any of the other Russians dealing with SM without notification first. Explain that he is exceedingly dangerous and will drive an incredibly hard bargain, which they may not be able to do as well at.

SUST
>>
No. 399124 ID: 252e1b

ARMAS ORDERS:SUMMARY

>>Training
*Pay more attention to your food. Analyze its structure, if possible. [>>398821] (+199d28, +Alratan) (1)
*Analyze how your existing techniques can benefit from the boon of knowledge you were granted. [>>398821] (+199d28, +Alratan) (1)
*Don't burn your reserves down today, you want to be ready to meet the chakra master Sunday morning. [>>398991] (+34faba, +Alratan, +BUTTZ, +81f32a) (4)
*Ask Dávgon for basic lessons in soul manipulation and sensing. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan)
*Ask Dávgon if it would help to use chakra flushing to channel our excess soul energy to HB. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan)
*If known about, watch soul quirk installation in Matvey. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan)


>>Fleshcraft
*Eat as much magical meat as possible now that the Russians aren't eating it. Offer HB a liquefied magical meat meal. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan)
*Talk to HB about his fleshcrafting. Try to mentally show him what you've learned on the subject, if he's interested. Also ask how his chakra theft is going. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan)
*Consider the shadow pocket idea. Talk to SB about if Whaitiri's tutelage allows its implementation? [>>399116 ] (+Alratan, +BUTTZ) (2)
*The easiest way to make empty containers in the body is to grow epithelial tissue into a gland shape, and then not fill it with any specialized glandular cells. Rig smooth muscle tissue around them to collapse them when the shadow synergy isn’t required. (+BUTTZ) (1)

>>Social
*Talk with Camella about runes. Tell her how Hummingbird found his. Suggest that with her similar knowledge of self, she may want to keep an eye open for resonant runes. Do not trash talk yourself [Alratan] [>>398821] (+199d28, +Alratan) (2)
*Go to the magical bar Sake found. Socialize, make more local contacts. Be confident, not garish. [>>398821] (+199d28, +Alratan) (2)
*Send the Owner a thank you note for referring Blade with first installment of the Blade Saga when Andrei finishes editing it. [>>398821] (+199d28, -Alratan) (0)
*Discuss Silja with Camella and explain her situation. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan)
*Take Hillevi sight seeing to the Blue Mosque and the Topkapi palace, and have a look at the Sword and Cloak of Mohammed. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan, +BUTTZ) (2)
*Remind everyone that they have their morning free tomorrow. [>>399105] (+81f32a) (1)

>>Research
*Carefully observe Dmitri's new chakra orientations. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan, +BUTTZ) (2)
*Ask Gianni/Davgon if they think grafting an earth troll heart into Vlad would produce useful results. [>>399077 ] (+TMIoverload)
*Ask SB/Sake if they think a winter aligned creature could be flesh crafted into a female humanoid for Silja and if it'd influence her final form the way we want. [>>399077 ] (+TMIoverload, -BUTTZ) (0)
*Research sapient beings that lack brains, for use as examples in arguing with Sometimes Merchant about the nature of death. [>>399077 ] (+TMIoverload) (1) [But how is he to research them?]
*Consult with a biologist contacted through the Professor about empty vessels in the body. [>>398821] (+199d28, +Alratan, -BUTTZ) (1)
*Consult with a biologist or Feodor for general biology training (+BUTTZ) (1)
* Research Maori Glyphs. In particularly, look at the Kowhaiwhai and Hei Tiki. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan) (1) [But how is he to research them?]
*Discuss with SB how we can persuade Whaitiri to help with the mere repair and upgrade process, in particular carving it with Kowhaiwhai glyphs. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan) (1)
*Discuss the mechanism by which Whaitiri implanted the knowledge in you with SB, and encourage him to copy the information itself for his own future use. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan) (1)
*Also ask SB if having some of her soul resident in a living shadow such as himself could give Whaitiri some affinity for shadow manipulation, [>>399116 ] (+Alratan) (1)
*Was SB able to read our mind as we experienced the memories of the accelerated teaching? If so, was he able to retain any more of the theory than we were? [>>399116] (+Alratan) (1)

>>Business
*Go on the Smiling One's website and look for humanoid winter aligned female body parts. Fleschcrafters preferred. Get in touch with the seller of Cyclops eyes and make an offer to buy a pair of them, exchanging tomorrow. [>>399116] (+Alratan) (1)
*Ring Ghanem and set times to be introduced to his surviving contacts. [>>399116] (+Alratan, +BUTTZ) (2)
*Go to the arena and try out what Whaitiri taught. Before going, arrange to borrow a large amount of cash from the bank in your personal accounts overnight secured on your ownership of the business. [>>399116] (+Alratan) (1)
*Forbid any of the other Russians dealing with SM without notification first. Explain that he is exceedingly dangerous and will drive an incredibly hard bargain, which they may not be able to do as well at. [>>399116] (+Alratan, -BUTTZ, -TMIOverlord) (-1)
>>
No. 399126 ID: 448d82

Lev orders
Wake, vaguely uncomfortable... slept on roll of duct-tape
Shower, curse water, respects to the great Magic Medic, consider a shrine in your room... what?
Lev goes on the jog, tries some weights, GUTS
Camella training, focus on the stomach, let the guts flow throughout... Lev abruptly leaves to go to the toilet.
Ito, Focus, ask for feedback on what you have done wrong and right.
Weighted combat training with Feodor, any indeed any person man enough to join, the garden of manilness is open to ALL.
Try not to get in Boris' way, cook up a mean stuffed suasage, burn the potatoes, set fire to the water.
Lev seeks out Shadow Boss to ask what his soul looks like, if failure, he just finds Armas with Shadow attached and asks Shadow Boss then, after apologiesing to Armas Boss.
Ito After hours. Lev is having a really good gut feeling about this chakra stuff.
Later getting ready for bed.
"Well done Lev, didn't kill yourself today" Lev says aloud to himself.
"Oh well... there is always next time..."
...
Lev is fails to sleep, shocked at himself talking back to himself.
"Don't woooorry Lev, I'll end it... after all, I'm Lev"
...
Lev Duct-tapes his mouth, and spends the rest of the night with the realization that he is in fact both mad and trying to kill himself.
...He is slightly glad he has proved too inffectual to kill himself thus far.
>>
No. 399144 ID: b83c65

>>Training
>*Pay more attention to your food. Analyze its structure, if possible. [>>398821] (+199d28, +Alratan) (1)
+1

>*Check your analyze how your existing techniques can benefit from the boon of knowledge you were granted. [>>398821] (+199d28, +Alratan) (1)
+1

>*Don't burn your reserves down today, you want to be ready to meet the chakra master Sunday morning. [>>398991] (+34faba, +Alratan, +BUTTZ) (3)
+1

>*Ask Dávgon for basic lessons in soul manipulation and sensing. [>>399083] (+Alratan)
+1

>*Ask Dávgon if it would help to use chakra flushing to channel our excess soul energy to HB. [>>399083] (+Alratan)
+1

>>Fleshcraft
>*Eat as much magical meat as possible now that the Russians aren't eating it. Offer HB a liquefied magical meat meal. [>>399083] (+Alratan)
-1

>*Talk to HB about his fleshcrafting. Try to mentally show him what you've learned on the subject, if he's interested. Also ask how his chakra theft is going. [>>399083] (+Alratan)
+1

>>Social
>*Talk with Camella about runes. Tell her how Hummingbird found his. Suggest that with her similar knowledge of self, she may want to keep an eye open for resonant runes. Do not trash talk yourself [Alratan] [>>398821] (+199d28, +Alratan) (1)
+1, Also trash-talk self.

>*Go to the magical bar Sake found. Socialize, make more local contacts. Be confident, not garish. [>>398821] (+199d28, +Alratan) (1)
+1

>*Send the Owner a thank you note for referring Blade with first installment of the Blade Saga when Andrei finishes editing it. [>>398821] (+199d28, -Alratan) (0)
+1

>*Discuss Silja with Camella and explain her situation. [>>399083] (+Alratan)
-1

>*Take Hillevi sight seeing to the Blue Mosque and the Topkapi palace, and have a look at the Sword and Cloak of Mohammed. [>>399083] (+Alratan)
+1 SO HARD. Also, go to Hagia Sophia and Church of the Holy Apostles

*Get Granny's phone number from Duke, so that you can deal with her and the Summer Goblins she knows. (New Suggestion)
*Call Lo Fang up for Chakra training. Mention that our chakra levels are low, and if we should wait to train until they're back to max. (New Suggestion)

*Discover how much Dávgon knows about the modern world before attempting to teach him about it. (New Suggestion)
*Get Dávgon encrypted satellite phone. (New Suggestion)
*Get Dávgon a company account. (New Suggestion)
*Offer Dávgon fake papers in addition to his actual papers, if he wants them. (New Suggestion)


>>Research
>*Carefully observe Dmitri's new chakra orientations. [>>399083] (+Alratan, +BUTTZ) (2)
+1

>*Research sapient beings that lack brains, for use as examples in arguing with Sometimes Merchant about the nature of death. [>>399077 ] (+TMIoverload)
+1, but put Andrei on it

>*Consult with a biologist contacted through the Professor about empty vessels in the body. [>>398821] (+199d28, +Alratan, -BUTTZ) (1)
+1, but focus on learning about cells themselves not just empty vessels.

>*Consult with a biologist or Feodor for general biology training (+BUTTZ) (1)
+1, Biologist only.

>*Consider the shadow pocket idea. Talk to SB about whether Whaitiri's tutelage allows its implementation? [>>399083] (+Alratan) (1)
+1

>* Research Maori Glyphs. In particularly, look at the Kowhaiwhai and Hei Tiki. [>>399083] (+Alratan) (1) [But how is he to research them?]
+1, Put Andrei on it

>*Discuss with SB how we can persuade Whaitiri to help with the mere repair and upgrade process, in particular carving it with Kowhaiwhai glyphs. [>>399083] (+Alratan) (1)
+1

>*Also ask SB if having some of her soul resident in a living shadow such as himself could give Whaitiri some affinity for shadow manipulation, [>>399083] (+Alratan) (1)
-1

>*Was SB able to read our mind as we experienced the memories of the accelerated teaching? If so, was he able to retain any more of the theory than we were? [>>399083] (+Alratan) (1)
+1

*Talk to ShadowBro about how he'd like the shadow pockets to be formed. Cellular, sub-cellular, or something else entirely. (New Suggestion)
*Talk to Gianni about the idea of creating internal cavities in the body which can be collapsed or opened as needed. (New Suggestion)
*Discuss with Giagia about what magical eyes to get. Put forward were-shrimp, gorgon, and Cyclops eyes. (New Suggestion)

>>Business
*Go on the Smiling One's website and look for humanoid winter aligned female body parts. Fleschcrafters preferred. Get in touch with the seller of Cyclops eyes and make an offer to buy a pair of them, exchanging tomorrow. [>>399083] (+Alratan) (1)
-1 Winter aligned female bodyparts, +1 Cyclops Eyes, if 3 eyes rather then 2.

>*Ring Ghanem and set times to be introduced to his surviving contacts. [>>399083] (+Alratan, +BUTTZ) (2)
+1

>*Forbid any of the other Russians dealing with SM without notification first. Explain that he is exceedingly dangerous and will drive an incredibly hard bargain, which they may not be able to do as well at. [>>399083] (+Alratan, -BUTTZ) (0)
-1

*Just buy the three catoblepas lungs outright.(New Suggestion)
*Ask Arena owner for Nazinaut legs instead of hands. (New Suggestion)
*Talk to Duke about handing over some of his poop to H&H(New Suggestion)
*Inventory parts of Doony's corpse suitable for magic item crafting. (New Suggestion)
*Determine the price with H&H for a reasonable selection of Doony Parts. (New Suggestion)
*Research mundane methods of upgrading and maintaining the tank. (New Suggestion)
*If mundane methods of upgrading the Tank don't seem feasible, look into renting the tank to the Wyld Goblins - after training - the payment being continued upkeep and upgrades, and if destroyed, the Goblins have to repay us with something of equal value. (New Suggestion)
*Put more effort into finding and getting The Gun Shadow for him. (New Suggestion)
*Discuss with Shadowbro about which shadows he would like us to get for him. (New Suggestion)
*Look into buying one, or more than one. They shouldn't be much more than 20,000 Dollars. (New Suggestion)



>[ b ] [Andrei have been queued to do the following:] [ b ]
>Do not go to sleep at midnight. Spend night salvaging Iosef invasion mess. Note the major problems he made.
>Make a print out of everything known on 'Stupid-Fucking Island' - actual name, Qara Su Island - including the three closest settlements of people - Pirsaat at 15.6km, Byandovan at 17.7km, and Ələt at 18.8km - and the closest airstrip - Pirsagat at 19.2km. Also, that it use to have a gas field on it.
>Around two in the morning, even if fixing the mess hasn't been completed, to the ice box he shall go. He will arrange the food carefully and talk to all of them. "Hello. I do not know if you are understanding me, but I am wanting to speak with you. I know we have gotten off to the wrong foot. Let me first I am sorry for eating you without asking. Please, forgive me. Second, why are you speaking to me. It is not I am not wanting the company, but it is disturbing to have food in your mouth and greeting you. Also, please. Tell me if you are willing to be food."
>As a show of faith, make breakfast for all the Russians and staff. Kale, kippers, Blood sausage, five egg omelet each, fried bread, and oatmeal. Bid each meal a good eating. Take a coffee, after asking it if he can, and two Energy Catalysts. On Armas' plate, also include the print outs.
>Chakra Gulag. Not giving a shit didn't work, how about learning everything possible and looking for a way to game the system.
>Have lunch, for once. Boris is requested to craft a mouth watering bacon-and-cheese burger. Bacon-and-cheese burger is told thank you, and is eaten.
>Iosef and Dmitrii do not get lunch. They get to make the company spreadsheets, handle watching the satellite feed, handle watching the internal house video feed, and edit together Blade Footage. Copy of the Original Blade Footage.
>Watch the trolls on Japanese Drama Cow.
>Begin building Faraday cage with materials on hand. Ask Amen for material location, or if there is a Faraday cage on the mansion's grounds. If there isn't any material, or an existing one within the mansion, voyage outside to collect materials.
>Spend last hour correcting Iosef horrible visual aesthetic, and see how fucking horrible Dmitrii does on video editing.
>End of the day Chakra. Keep researching this 'Chakra' stuff.
>>
No. 399145 ID: 448d82

>>Business
*Go on the Smiling One's website and look for humanoid winter aligned female body parts. Fleschcrafters preferred. Get in touch with the seller of Cyclops eyes and make an offer to buy a pair of them, exchanging tomorrow. [>>399083] (+Alratan) (1)
>>399144 :-1 Winter aligned female bodyparts, +1 Cyclops Eyes, if 3 eyes rather then 2.

Winter aligned female bodyparts (+1) We have the money, we can make her again, better, stronger, faster.
>>
No. 399217 ID: 0a2032

Feodor Orders
>DC51, rolled 62
>DC30, rolled 15
>DC85, rolled 89
>DC25/75, rolled 86

*Return from Finnigan's, happy and somewhat exhausted. Fall asleep for a minute while showering. Find Sake and get a rub.
*Go jogging; aim for top 3 with 30lbs.
*Wear the weight vest for chakra training again, to be sure about yesterday's feeling.
*Ito's for more training.
*Since Lev seems so enthused about training with weights, make him wear the vest with the whole 140lb load, then spar. Hopefully he can be taught some restraint.
*Dinner, then off to Ito's again.
*Keep up the good work at Finnigan's.
>>
No. 399230 ID: b11735

*The easiest way to make empty containers in the body is to grow epithelial tissue into a gland shape, and then not fill it with any specialized glandular cells. Rig smooth muscle tissue around them to collapse them when the shadow synergy isn’t required. Discuss it with SB, and, if he doesn't shoot it down, try it in one arm. [>>399124] (+BUTTZ, +Alratan) (2)

The problem with this approach is that some places you cannot make the described pockets without compromising the function of the area. For example in bones it will create weaknesses in the matrix. I am pretty sure it will make muscle stiffer because those pockets don't flex like the muscles themselves. It depends on how far SB can reach around those pockets and accordingly how densely they have to be placed in the body. It might work and probably will be easier to create than the cell organelle version, but it will likely have worse side effects too. For that reason even if SB says the macro pockets will work, Armas should still evaluate the micro pockets.
>>
No. 399241 ID: b83c65

Correction: Rather than 'Get Dávgon encrypted satellite phone' replace with 'Make sure Dávgon can use the encrypted satellite phone'
>>
No. 399252 ID: 252e1b

>>399230

I replied to you in >>/questdis/360836

The brief answer though is that, done intelligently, there shouldn't be an issue.
>>
No. 399257 ID: 6616f3
File 133383271055.jpg - (195.04KB , 1700x2317 , ByThePowerOfHumanSkull1.jpg )
399257

>>399116
We should be good on the mere. It'd be nice to meet the H&H brass in person when it's done or shortly thereafter, too, so we can hammer out a deal.

Okay, so Whaitiri needs to be involved. Should we take the formal approach? Dedicate the area to her, then invoke her. There's an invocation for her to bless the health of a newborn, I think that could be repurposed for the recrafting of the mere. Failing that, she just seems like she'd like a little gravitas attached to her: "Whaitiri, Goddess of Thunder, bless this venture, so that it may bring honor upon your name through its deeds, so it's bounty may strengthen you by its actions, so..." etcetera.

Maybe try and work in some maori stuff like “E iti noa ana, na te aroha” (Though the gift be small, it is given with love), or "Haha te whenua, haha te tangata" (in a desolate land a man is not deserted), "Ka to he ra, ka rere he ra" (The sun sets, a new day is born). Kinda tempted to try and work in some stuff about Whaitiri's supposed three-as-one dealie with her younger twin sisters Naniwa-i-te-Rangi (Lightning) and Pere (Volcano), since we are also a triad (Immortal Summer/Winter, Shadow/Ice, Wind/Luck), but given we don't know if those two are still around or what the situation is, probably not wise.

Then SB needs to be involved so he can recraft his shadow mere at the same time... maybe wait to do it during a thunderstorm, for the darkness/light symbolism?
>>
No. 399258 ID: 7c31d2

Didn't we check out some library books? We need to return them before the late fees get worse
>>
No. 399283 ID: 81f32a

ORDERS FOR IOSEF:
-Compares the final version of the edited footage. Makes notes on the differences compared to the one he made. Perhaps next time he'll fare better.
-Man, Andrei is like a walking corpse- Wait, is he talking to his power-bar? Damn, that guy really needs to get some sleep.
-Talks to Lyubov, says he's concerned about Andrei's well-being. "He has too damn many tasks and not a lot of time to do them so he pushes himself to extreme. Look, you're friends with Sake, right? Could you get him to daily heal Andrei? Else he's going to lose it. I saw him have discussion with a half-eaten powerbar!"


Orders for Armas:

>*Pay more attention to your food. Analyze its structure, if possible. [>>398821] (+199d28, +Alratan, +ManOfTroy) (3)
+1
>*Analyze how your existing techniques can benefit from the boon of knowledge you were granted. [>>398821] (+199d28, +Alratan, +ManOfTroy) (3)
+1
>*Don't burn your reserves down today, you want to be ready to meet the chakra master Sunday morning. [>>398991] (+34faba, +Alratan, +BUTTZ, +81f32a, +ManOfTroy) (5)
+1
>*If known about, watch soul quirk installation in Matvey. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan)
+1

>*Talk to HB about his fleshcrafting. Try to mentally show him what you've learned on the subject, if he's interested. Also ask how his chakra theft is going. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan, +ManOfTroy) (2)
*Consider the shadow pocket idea. Talk to SB about if Whaitiri's tutelage allows its implementation? [>>399116 ] (+Alratan, +BUTTZ, +ManOfTroy) (3)
+1



>>Research
>*Carefully observe Dmitri's new chakra orientations. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan, +BUTTZ, +ManOfTroy) (3)
+1
>*Ask Gianni/Davgon if they think grafting an earth troll heart into Vlad would produce useful results. [>>399077 ] (+TMIoverload) (1)
+1, not just vlad and troll heart but all the Russians and all graftable material we have


>*Consult with a biologist or Feodor for general biology training (+BUTTZ) (1) . Biologist Only [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy) (1)
+1
>*Discuss the mechanism by which Whaitiri implanted the knowledge in you with SB, and encourage him to copy the information itself for his own future use. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan) (1)
+1
>*Was SB able to read our mind as we experienced the memories of the accelerated teaching? If so, was he able to retain any more of the theory than we were? [>>399116] (+Alratan, +ManOfTroy) (2)
>*Talk to ShadowBro about how he'd like the shadow pockets to be formed. Cellular, sub-cellular, or something else entirely. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, +Alratan) (2)


>>Business
>*Forbid any of the other Russians dealing with SM without notification first. Explain that he is exceedingly dangerous and will drive an incredibly hard bargain, which they may not be able to do as well at. [>>399116] (+Alratan, -BUTTZ, -TMIOverlord, -ManOfTroy) (-2)
How about instead downright forbidding, we just tell them to run through Armas before they go dealing with SM? He can provide excellent advice on how to approach the deal, give some pointers and feed them tricky lines. That way, anyone trading with SM might be able to get more out of the deal.



>*If mundane methods of upgrading the Tank don't seem feasible, look into renting the tank to the Wyld Goblins - after training - the payment being continued upkeep and upgrades, and if destroyed, the Goblins have to repay us with something of equal value. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, -Alratan) (0)
+1 They might require training before they can use the tank. If that's the case, we can gain more training hours from them!
>*Put more effort into finding and getting The Gun Shadow for him. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, -Alratan) (0)
>*Discuss with Shadowbro about which shadows he would like us to get for him. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, -Alratan) (0)
>*Look into buying one, or more than one. They shouldn't be much more than 20,000 Dollars. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, -Alratan) (0)
+1 for all
>>
No. 399289 ID: d97a61

[Vlad has been queued to do the following:]
\/-Await price quote on armor. Be willing to wait for optimal materials to be in stock. Decide that means waiting since Titus doesn’t yet have non-newtonian fluids to use, and hasn't worked out what the cost of all that extra material would come to. Decide the lack of an imminent cloak is excellent motivation to help Ito (and through him help himself) with that 'blocking bullets' thing.
\/-Buy another $200 worth of jerky after Jogging Gulag. Continue to be pissed at all those tinier people that can jog so easily. Make enough meat-vodka from existing household stock so that everyone gets a bottle, plus two for Sake and a metric shitload of spare bottles for later. Attempt to combine meat vodka with spicy vodka ingredients. Drool in anticipation during assembly, eagerly await testing results the next day.
\/-Ponder exchange of one hour of free time a day in exchange for further severe beatings and possibly becoming resistant to bullets. Spend two seconds in deep thought. Reach conclusion. ABSOLUTELY FUCKING WORTH IT. VLAD IS NOW DOWN TO FOUR HOURS OF FREE TIME A DAY
\/-Bring a bottle of meat vodka along to give Ito before the next beating commences, do not notice repeated blunt force trauma quite as much while thinking happy thoughts about bullet resistance combined with heavy personal armor. Fail to notice Ito doesn't seem to care for meat flavored alcohol. Continue to help Ito with being shot at, and wonder how come he always goes into a counter the moment he's shot.
\/-End day by drunkenly mistaking Amen for a lighting fixture and trying to put a lampshade on his head before crashing into usual vodka-fueled slumber. Have a weird dream about being watched by a lamp.
[Igor has been queued to do the following:]
+I+Igor is going to be drooling at this golem, definitely. His head hurting will be forgotten in the face of such an engine of destruction. "I really hope it can make big explosions". Wait no no that makes no sense why would Igor a mostly sane and archeically minded fellow feel that way about what was once a monster that tried to kill him there's no way he OOOOOH, he's deluding himself, man those are going to be some vicious nightmares he gets tonight.
+I+Later, Igor is going to be really impressed, again, by how slick the boss can be. He went to meet with the boss asking him about his opinion on one thing, pointing out he is not being original in the least in how he ask for help, and the boss managed to have him trying to prove he is not copying others to the boss even though everyone know the boss love copying others and that Igor himself respect that. More-ever, it took him hours to even manage to think about it without having his head hurting. Slick. It is unknown whether the boss didn't help from laziness or just Igor not being as easy to help as Lyubov, but it's clear it doesn't really matter.
+I+Igor is going to say fuck it- smithing in the afternoon free time means he can't do anything at all during the day, so he will try to ask Hillevi for one of those cold refresh- balls shrinking or not. Feels like he's still missing something pretty critical wedged somewhere in his preferences that would matter for chakra. Dismisses thought when again it leads nowhere.
+I+After Ito's, he moves smithing to during the night. Is forced to try and smith quietly-has to be very gimmicky with his hammer to avoid excess noise. ROLL A 1D100 in DISCUSSION, DC's 40, 55, 70 AND 90.
+I+During the afternoon, Igor will ask Dmitrii for help with Chakra. Apparently he is good now. Awaiting Dmitrii's response.

[Titus has been queued to do the following:]
[T]-Get orders from Lev, Vlad, Nikifor and Lyubov (and Titus himself, of course), and possibly others he's forgetting, so we can start working on the armor thing.
[T]- Unfortunately, the right ceramics you usually need to buy by the ton. So Titus will look around for 1t each of boron carbide and silicon carbide, which will set him back between 2k and 7.5k, depending on the kind of deal he gets - and that's gonna require Amen to do the arc furnace thing to make it into plates. Initially, only finds a single vendor near his upper price limit-7.4K for a ton. Awaiting Player input on whether this is accepted or if Titus keeps looking for a cheaper vendor.
[T]- BAE Systems is working on non-Newtonian fluid armors and the results seem very positive, but doesn't have a market prototype that I've seen. Maybe Amen can make something similar if Titus describes the phenomenon? He does, but it's got… quite a smell to it, not unlike rotting flesh. Awaiting player input on whether 'rotting flesh' scented non-newtonian fluid will suffice.
[T]-So far, all he can offer for armor options are the kevlar/P155 (freebie: lightest, protects against chemicals, acids, pistols up to .357 magnum), leather ($300: +5 pounds, not much further protection, mostly for looks) boron carbide in a mail style ($600: +15 pounds, protects against rifle ammo, mmmmmaybe AP rifle rounds), silicon carbide in same ($600: slightly less protection, resists thermal shock/fracture, heat, electricity), plate inserts with non-Newtonian fluid sandwiched between boron carbide and silicon carbide backplate ($900: +40 pounds, less maneuverability, protects AP rifle rounds and down, anything moving at high velocity). [These are, of course, my own estimates and may not 100% reflect reality, only my own research]

[Dmitrii has been queued to do the following:]
(D)-Wakes up early. Promises himself that today will be the last day he does that for awhile. Before making breakfast, asks Boss if Amen can be ordered to use excess magical scrap meat, that is what we have beyond what is needed to feed everyone, to make materials for his art&crafts. Is told he could-initial estimates shows that if Amen uses the 'scrap' meat that is left after a week of the Russians eating as they used to, Amen can create 150 arts&crafts compliant strips per week.
(D)-Immediately after heads out and buys another 5000$ worth of drugs, going straight home. Calls up Ito and asks the following; would it be easier or at least not more difficult to get a read on the orientation with more energy flowing through it, would it be easier or at least not more difficult to get a read on the orientation while it's actively being used, would he mind if two or three people possibly, as he hasn't talked with them yet, accompanied him for the first 4hour block of orientation showing, and does six to ten AM and four to eight pm today sound okay for showing him the orientations? Notes Ito accepting the two time blocks, is told guests can come, but is sadly informed there's not much he could do to improve the efficiency of these observations.
(D)-Make breakfast, and make an extra omelet each for Duke and Davgon. Give them the Omelet and Duke the drugs, and ask if they'd be willing to come with him to Ito's to overcharge his arts&crafts while he shows Ito the orientation, and maybe comment on it after as well. Also comment that he thinks DUke would like Ito, given how he's acted since being de-aged. Realize that Davgon only got here after the magic food stopped being made, and if he seems at all surprised by the egg inform him that there's magic food and a magic recipe book if he wants to make himself something. Dávgon thanks Dmitrii for the information. Dmitrii notes Boris should go back to making everyone magic food once the Russians are no longer at risk of exploding. Also ask if there's anything he likes/want as thanks for the help, as a pile of drugs like he gives Duke doesn't seem his style. Dmitrii wonders where he could find a set of Finnish Wolf's teeth for Dávgon.
(D)-Ask Duke and Davgon if Sake could help mitigate the fatigue of channeling the energy. If so, ask Sake if he'd be willing to help out, and offer to make him charms in the future as payment. Find out that sadly no he couldn't, it's all reliant on Dmitrii getting more accustomed to channeling another's energy.
(D)-Spend rest of day doing what's planned. With the charm making, he'll go for the most complex thing he can make to fully show what he can do. This ends up being a charm that makes it excessively hard, if not impossible, to determine how many people are inside a given vehicle. Dmitrii wonders how long it will take to finish.
(D)- Also, does the teaching orientation require Dmitrii to actually have full knowledge of what he's teaching (yes)? He'll try use it to help Ito pick up on the orientation itself, figuring if it gets in the way Ito will comment on him doing something weird and he can stop.
[Lyubov has been queued to do the following:]
L*~Lyubov spends the wee hours of the morning with Sake, playing on the computer and polishing off the wine. Finally she dozes off, catching a long nap with her weasel pal.
L*~Lyubov wakes up, finds the note from Armas, and reads it several times. She puts the note away with the letter she never sent her mother, and goes about her Morning routine (including distractions and weasel-rubs). During breakfast she visits Boris in the kitchen again, hooking her computer up to the security camera to watch for when Armas starts stealing food again. She’ll make Armas laugh and spoil his stealth by using the nasally voice to call him out on it, reciting a few lines of Pushkin: ”Thievish mouths cannot consume/stolen morsels undetected/so long as they're employed in song. Or laugher, today.” Enjoys watching Armas stumble upon her speech.
L*~ At the Dojo, Lyubov will ask Ito if he thinks that tax guy student he mentioned would like to do some consulting work for Armas and his taxes. Ito agrees to ask the student-and after a short phone call, gives Lyubov a number.
L*~At lunch Lyubov will chat with Hillevi. At the end of lunch she delays Hilllevi from going off with Satai long enough to present her with the makeup kit, and promise to help her with it when she wants. Particularly for the next time she’s in a movie. Hears Hillevi saying something about her sister as she runs off to her training session.
L*~Lyubov will meet with Armas for her lesson and at the end say, ”I read that note with your apology. It’d mean more if you gave it to me with your lips, but I accept that you did not mean to be cruel. So, take me out to dinner next week, and all will be forgiven.” Armas smiles, and for once it's not the horrifying lip and cheek-breaking macabre leer.
L*~Lyubov will then examine the tank with Dmitrii, talk to him a little about his new abilities, and compile a list of tools she’ll need to maintain it properly. (Estimate: $23,000 since Amen can provide analogues for hydraulic lifts.)
L*~At dinner, Lyubov talks to Gloom. She makes it very clear that Sake is indeed an independent entity, and explains what she knows of how his power works (recharges at dawn, enough for 18 heals, minor injuries cost just as much as replacing a nearly destroyed body, Sake doesn’t like close contact with guys that much).
L*~Night Lessons. Lyubov uses Hafaz’s advice again, in combination with keeping her own intentions fluttery and uncertain until the very last moment. ROLL 1D100 FOR TRAINING, DC 50 TO 'GET' GYAKETSUOTE'S PRINCIPLES. After lessons, she will catch Feodor and ask in Russian, “Could you do me a big favor and look up what chemicals would dissolve granite, marble, and sandstone? And what is good for corroding bronze?” Awaiting Feodor's response.
L*~Before bed, Lyubov will take a nice bath and relax.
[Iosef has been queued to do the following:]
=I=Fail to keep the internet invasion of the potential Witche's Myspace coherant-begin to get spammed with gore and lemon pictures by bored internet goers.
=I=Decide to accept that Soul Oath from Dávgon. ROLL A 1D3 (Inner/Middle/Outer) AND A 1D10 (1 weak 10 overpowering) TO GENERATE SOUL QUIRK.
=I=Ask Dimitrii how he finished his chakra training so fast. Ask what kind of memories he sold. Be completely stonewalled on this-get the feeling Dmitrii's probably not doing it to be a dick. Wonder why he's not saying anything at all about it.
=I=Wonder when Titus will get back to him on his armor pricing.
One set of minion orders per update bucko. This is just posting bloat here.
[Gloom has been queued to do the following:]
* Continue the mirror training.
Despite frowing more familiar with how he looks moving, feel that there's still something off about the training, some piece that's missing.
*G* Talk to Armas about the near death experience. Suggest being repeatedly frozen in a mirror smooth block of ice and then revived to break out of it. After all, he's going to die anyway if he doesn't learn chakra. Be told by Armas he's not going to force Hillevi to do anything, so if he wants something like that he should try pitching it to her.
Despite feeling that a boss should be more helpful and controlling, take note of Armas' comments that he should really think about how to phrase the request.
*G * Keep on copying the books. In future, make sure to ask Amen for books that won't damage the reader.
Is cautioned by Amen that books that are guaranteed to not damage the reader in any way simply don't exist within the mansion. Wonder what this means for the books he's yet seen.
*G * Talk to Lyubov about fatigue healing. Make sure that all the other Russians are aware of it. Find out he's practically the last one to learn about it. If the Ramidjeru is actually under the control of an independent entity, best to make nice. Explain to the weasel the plan to learn Armas' stealth, and surprise him with it when he least expects it, and that to do that you need more time in the day. A not so little bird has suggested he might be able to help.
Become angered when weasel gives zero fucks what Gloom's trying to accomplish, since it sounds more like a goal involving ambition rather than pranking, and as such, is not in the 'give a fuck' realm for the weasel.
*G * If he can catch him, give Duke a case of vodka picked up on the way back from the gym and copies of the tapes of the stealth book. Say that after seeing what he can put away in terms of drugs and alcohol, he can't even see books Amen provided harming him. Would he mind terribly telling him if these are dangerous for a standard human to read. Is told by Duke he's a terrible example of what a 'standard' human can do in any category, and beyond that he can only read chinese.
Begin plotting how to get Duke to implant himself with knowledge of more written languages.
[Lev has been queued to do the following:]
{L}-Wake, vaguely uncomfortable... slept on roll of duct-tape
{L}-Shower, curse water, Lev goes on the jog, tries some weights, GUTS.. does fuckall since he's still a spastic idiot that randomly tries more things than Armas rather than sticking with anything. In a sudden and depressingly brief moment of clarity, Lev realizes not having his shit even remotely together means IGOR and BORIS are pulling ahead of him in the chakra training-that stuff he's doing so he doesn't DIE.
{L}-Camella training, focus on the stomach, let the guts flow throughout... Lev abruptly leaves to go to the toilet. MAN, that was a satisfying moment. Feels notably lighter afterwards. Hopefully he didn't lose any GUTS there.
{L}-Ito, Focus, ask for feedback on what you have done wrong and right. Be told nothing comes even close to the importance of the feedback 'calm down you spastic child.
{L}-Weighted combat training with Feodor, any indeed any person man enough to join, the garden of manliness is open to ALL. Get weird looks when wandering the halls and trying to haul off Russians who OF COURSE would want to train with him even though he never asked and they're all busy as fuck too.
{L}-Try not to get in Boris' way, cook up a mean stuffed sausage, burn the potatoes, set fire to the water. Be relegated exclusively to working on sausages, and sausage related products.
{L}-Ito After hours. Lev would be having a really good gut feeling about this chakra stuff if he was anything remotely close to being focused or directed or really anything but what he's recently been.
{L}-Idly wonder why he's gotten progressively more insane since moving into the mansion. Hopes he can maybe work on that before it gets him killed-which will DEFINITELY happen if he keeps this shit up.

>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>A<Do not go to sleep at midnight. Spend night salvaging Iosef invasion mess. Note the major problems he made. Be thankful he mostly brought shit upon himself, rather than the company assets as a whole.
>A<Make a print out of everything known on 'Stupid-Fucking Island' - actual name, Qara Su Island - including the three closest settlements of people - Pirsaat at 15.6km, Byandovan at 17.7km, and Ələt at 18.8km - and the closest airstrip - Pirsagat at 19.2km. Also, that it used to have a gas field on it. Include blurb about it probably having fucktons of caves but he can't prove it.
>A<Around two in the morning, when the fixing of the mess has been completed, to the ice box he goes. He will arrange the food carefully and talk to all of them. "Hello. I do not know if you are understanding me, but I am wanting to speak with you. I know we have gotten off to the wrong foot. Let me first I am sorry for eating you without asking. Please, forgive me. Second, why are you speaking to me. It is not I am not wanting the company, but it is disturbing to have food in your mouth and greeting you. Also, please. Tell me if you are willing to be food." Receive no response beyond the vague feeling the cabbage nodded at him when he wasn't looking.
>A<As a show of faith, make breakfast for all the Russians and staff. Kale, kippers, Blood sausage, five egg omelet each, fried bread, and oatmeal. Bid each meal a good eating, be pleased none talk back to him. Take a coffee, after asking it if he can, and two Energy Catalysts. On Armas' plate, also include the print outs.
>Chakra Gulag. Not giving a shit didn't work, how about learning everything possible and looking for a way to game the system. Right-actually trying to pick apart the system Camella and Ito have been teaching-that makes WAY more sense than not giving a fuck, why didn't he think of it before?
>A<Have lunch, for once. Boris is requested to craft a mouth watering bacon-and-cheese burger. Bacon-and-cheese burger is told thank you, and is eaten. Andrei begins to feel a tiny bit silly for talking to all this clearly inanimate food.
>A<Iosef and Dmitrii do not get lunch. They get to make the company spreadsheets, handle watching the satellite feed, handle watching the internal house video feed, and edit together Blade Footage. Copy of the Original Blade Footage. Dmitrii promptly ignores this missive as he makes himself a minotaur-sausage hot dog.
>A<Watch the trolls on Japanese Drama Cow. Note some stayed the course despite Iosef's poor handling.
>A<Begin building Faraday cage with materials on hand. Ask Amen for material location, or if there is a Faraday cage on the mansion's grounds. When informed nothing of the sort is present, ventures out for materials.
>A<Spend last hour correcting Iosef horrible visual aesthetic, and see how fucking horrible Dmitrii does on video editing. Seems he's slow as fuck, but not incompetent.
>A<End of the day Chakra. Keep researching this 'Chakra' stuff. Feel really good about this 'figure out new system's code' approach to Chakra. Fail to note a smug Dmitrii popping a couple pills with lidded eyes and a sleepy smile in the background.
[Feodor has been queued to do the following:]
[F]-Succeed at beating two thirds of the joggers with 30lbs. Wonder why he failed the other day. Probably his lucky socks, thick enough they could stop a bullet.
[F]-Be horrifically distracted by metal in training gear-so much so that, while it does intially cripple his sparring performance, he realizes his body is the most responsive when it's just itself-almost like non-biological materials in some way interfere with his chakra-or perhaps removing such materials amplifies it. Ponder if this means he should wear bunches of leather or what.
[F]-Help keep a Yakuza from bleeding out when he comes in after a gunfight. Receive an almost complimentary grunt from Finnigan.
[F]-Return from Finnigan's, happy and somewhat exhausted. Fall asleep for a minute while showering. Find Sake and get a rub.
[F]-Go jogging; aim for top 3 with 30lbs. DC 68
[F]-Wear the weight vest for chakra training again, to be sure about yesterday's feeling. Yup, it's definitely easier to mold chakra when NOT wearing something filled with metal. Huh.
[F]- Since Lev seems so enthused about training with weights, make him wear the vest with the whole 140lb load, then spar. Hopefully he can be taught some restraint. Chuckle at Lev's efforts to ignore the weight.
[F]- Dinner, then off to Ito's again.
[F]- Keep up the good work at Finnigan's.



ORDERS FOR ARMAS LOCKED
>>
No. 399298 ID: 555274

ARMAS ORDERS:SUMMARY

>>Training
*Pay more attention to your food. Analyze its structure, if possible. [>>398821] (+199d28, +Alratan, +ManOfTroy, +Dkay) (4)
*Analyze how your existing techniques can benefit from the boon of knowledge you were granted. (+199d28, +Alratan, +ManOfTroy, +Dkay) (4)
*Don't burn your reserves down today, you want to be ready to meet the chakra master Sunday morning. [>>398991] (+34faba, +Alratan, +BUTTZ, +81f32a, +ManOfTroy, Arkeus) (6)

*Ask Dávgon for basic lessons in soul manipulation and sensing. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan,+ManOfTroy, +BUTTZ) (3)
*Ask Dávgon if it would help to use chakra flushing to channel our excess soul energy to HB. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan, +ManOfTroy) (2)
*If known about, watch soul quirk installation in Matvey. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan, +Dkay) (2)

>>Fleshcraft
*Eat as much magical meat as possible now that the Russians aren't eating it. Offer HB a liquefied magical meat meal. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan, -ManOfTroy) (0)
*Talk to HB about his fleshcrafting. Try to mentally show him what you've learned on the subject, if he's interested. Also ask how his chakra theft is going. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan, +ManOfTroy, +Dkay) (3)
*Consider the shadow pocket idea. Talk to SB about if Whaitiri's tutelage allows its implementation? [>>399116 ] (+Alratan, +BUTTZ, +ManOfTroy, +Dkay)) (4)
*The easiest way to make empty containers in the body is to grow epithelial tissue into a gland shape, and then not fill it with any specialized glandular cells. Rig smooth muscle tissue around them to collapse them when the shadow synergy isn’t required. Discuss it with SB, and, if he doesn't shoot it down, try it in one arm. [>>399124] (+BUTTZ, +Alratan) (2)

>>Social
*Talk with Camella about runes. Tell her how Hummingbird found his. Suggest that with her similar knowledge of self, she may want to keep an eye open for resonant runes. Do not trash talk yourself [Alratan] [>>398821] (+199d28, +Alratan, +ManOfTroy) (3)
*Go to the magical bar Sake found. Socialize, make more local contacts. Be confident, not garish. [>>398821] (+199d28, +Alratan, +ManOfTroy) (3)
*Send the Owner a thank you note for referring Blade with first installment of the Blade Saga when Andrei finishes editing it. [>>398821] (+199d28, -Alratan, +ManOfTroy) (1)
*Discuss Silja with Camella and explain her situation. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan, -ManOfTroy) (0)
*Take Hillevi sight seeing to the Blue Mosque and the Topkapi palace, and have a look at the Sword and Cloak of Mohammed. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan, +BUTTZ, +ManOfTroy) (3) Also, go to Hagia Sophia and Church of the Holy Apostles [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy) (1)
*Remind everyone that they have their morning free tomorrow. [>>399105] (+81f32a) (1)
*Get Granny's phone number from Duke, so that you can deal with her and the Summer Goblins she knows. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, +BUTTZ) (2)
*Call Lo Fang up for Chakra training. Mention that our chakra levels are low, and if we should wait to train until they're back to max. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, -Alratan) (0)
*Discover how much Dávgon knows about the modern world before attempting to teach him about it. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy) (1)
*Get Dávgon encrypted satellite phone. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, -Alratan) (0) [Why does he need two?]
*Get Dávgon a company account. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, -Alratan) (0)
*Offer Dávgon fake papers in addition to his actual papers, if he wants them. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy) (1)

>>Research
*Carefully observe Dmitri's new chakra orientations. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan, +BUTTZ, +ManOfTroy, +Dkay) (4)
*Ask Gianni/Davgon if they think grafting an earth troll heart into Vlad would produce useful results. [>>399077 ] (+TMIoverload, +Dkay) (2), plus all the other Russians with graftable material [>>399283] (+Dkay) (1)
*Ask SB/Sake if they think a winter aligned creature could be flesh crafted into a female humanoid for Silja and if it'd influence her final form the way we want. [>>399077 ] (+TMIoverload, -BUTTZ, Alratan) (-1)
*Research sapient beings that lack brains, for use as examples in arguing with Sometimes Merchant about the nature of death. [>>399077 ] (+TMIoverload, +ManOfTroy) (2) Ask Andrei to. Do it [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy) (1)
*Consult with a biologist contacted through the Professor about empty vessels in the body. [>>398821] (+199d28, +Alratan, -BUTTZ, +ManOfTroy) (2) but focus on learning about cells themselves not just empty vessels.
*Consult with a biologist or Feodor for general biology training (+BUTTZ) (1) . Biologist Only [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, +Dkay) (2)
* Remember the Maori Glyphs that were researched previously. In particularly, recall the Kowhaiwhai and Hei Tiki. If necessary, ask Andrei to re-research Kowhaiwhai and Hei Tiki to jog your memory. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan, +ManOfTroy) (2)
*Discuss with SB how we can persuade Whaitiri to help with the mere repair and upgrade process, in particular carving it with Kowhaiwhai glyphs. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan, +ManOfTroy, +Guile) (3)
*Discuss the mechanism by which Whaitiri implanted the knowledge in you with SB, and encourage him to copy the information itself for his own future use. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan) (1)
*Also ask SB if having some of her soul resident in a living shadow such as himself could give Whaitiri some affinity for shadow manipulation, [>>399116 ] (+Alratan, -ManOfTroy) (0)
*Was SB able to read our mind as we experienced the memories of the accelerated teaching? If so, was he able to retain any more of the theory than we were? [>>399116] (+Alratan, +ManOfTroy, +Dkay) (3)
*Talk to ShadowBro about how he'd like the shadow pockets to be formed. Cellular, sub-cellular, or something else entirely. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, +Alratan, +Arkeus, +Dkay) (4)
*Talk to Gianni about the idea of creating internal cavities in the body which can be collapsed or opened as needed. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, -Alratan) (0)
*Discuss with Giagia about what magical eyes to get. Put forward were-shrimp, gorgon, and Cyclops eyes. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, -Alratan, +BUTTZ) (1)

>>Business
*Go on the Smiling One's website and look for humanoid winter aligned female body parts. Fleschcrafters preferred. [>>399116] (+Alratan, -ManOfTroy, +InsufferableZombie) (1) Get in touch with the seller of Cyclops eyes and make an offer to buy a pair of them (+Alratan, -ManOfTroy) (0) or three (+ManOfTroy, -Alratan) (0) [Buying three is impossible, we will only have two erinyes hearts], exchanging tomorrow. [>>399116]
* Ring Ghanem and set times for the introductions to the surviving supernatural merchants and information brokers he promised to make. [>>399116] (+Alratan, +BUTTZ, +ManOfTroy) (3)
*Go to the arena and try out what Whaitiri taught. Before going, arrange to borrow a large amount of cash from the bank in your personal accounts overnight secured on your ownership of the business. [>>399116] (+Alratan, +Arkeus) (2)
* If Whaitiri is amenable to helping with the mere now, ring Arkvad and give him the latest information on the Reaper ammo and gun, and tell him Whaitiri has agreed to help. What needs to happen next? [>>399116 ] (+Alratan, +Arkeus, +Guile) (3)
* If we haven't got enough information for H&H yet ring up Johann and pay him to answer questions about excess gyrojet round KE. Then ring H&H back to tell them it. [>>399116 ] (+Alratan) (1)
*Forbid any of the other Russians dealing with SM without notification first. Explain that he is exceedingly dangerous and will drive an incredibly hard bargain, which they may not be able to do as well at. [>>399116] (+Alratan, -BUTTZ, -TMIOverlord, -ManOfTroy) (-2)
*Just buy the three catoblepas lungs outright. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, -Alratan, +BUTTZ, -Arkeus) (0) [Tax day cometh, and $375,000 is a lot]
*Ask Arena owner for Nazinaut legs instead of hands. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, -Alratan) (0)
*Talk to Duke about handing over some of his poop to H&H. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, -Alratan) (0)
*Inventory parts of Doony's corpse suitable for magic item crafting. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, -Alratan) (0) . Ask Dávgon to do it instead, as we don't know anything on the subject. (+Alratan) (1)
*Determine the price with H&H for a reasonable selection of Doony Parts. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, -Alratan) (0)
*Research mundane methods of upgrading and maintaining the tank. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, -Alratan) (0)
*If mundane methods of upgrading the Tank don't seem feasible, look into renting the tank to the Wyld Goblins - after training - the payment being continued upkeep and upgrades, and if destroyed, the Goblins have to repay us with something of equal value. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, -Alratan, +Dkay) (1)
*Put more effort into finding and getting The Gun Shadow for him. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, -Alratan, +Dkay) (1)
*Discuss with Shadowbro about which shadows he would like us to get for him. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, -Alratan, +Dkay) (1)
*Look into buying one, or more than one. They shouldn't be much more than 20,000 Dollars. [>>399144] (+ManOfTroy, -Alratan, +Dkay) (1)
>>
No. 399439 ID: d97a61

>>399298
-I start my day off-as a gourmand. Or that's how I think of it. Three plates of Kelpie Krisps, two plates of Mandragora Salad, one plate of Hag Liver, three plates of Harpy Omelets. I take the time to try and differentiate between the different culinary details of each food item's flavor, as well as associating flavors with different sensations of assorted magical materials being consumed. Not really sure why I'm doing this-I haven't noticed an ability to taste fine differences in magic before, but I'll give it a shot.
-I try spending a solid chunk of the morning going over my other fleshcrafting techniques, looking for ways my new knowledge from Whaitiri could be plied. A bit unsurprisingly it looks like what I learned would only benefit me with the other fleshcrafting I know if I'm 'cannibalizing' flesh from elsewhere to power it-the whole focus of what I learned was to learn the Cannibalistic system of fleshcrafting where other being's bodies become my building tools, and as such just gives me a different option for how to approach what I already knew. It didn't make me better, or more efficient-it just lets me swap what kind of engine I'm running a given bit of fleshcrafting on, one that's more efficient but has stricter requirements to use.
-I make a point of doing no further testing or magic.
-Immediately after that I try to offer HB some tutelage in Fleshcrafting, which he immediately rejects out-of-wing, and sternly cautions me that Mine is the path of forging techniques through crucibles of my own design, and while your offer is respected as what it is it will not mesh with the warrior's path I have chosen.' A funny little bird, but I get the feeling I'd REALLY have to push on this to change his mind, and I'm not too sure that's a good idea when the bird still doesn't know I could force it. Besides, he can already shift the coloring of his plumage at will and regrow lost feathers, and several scars that had festooned his feet, so he's clearly making decent progress. I get the Hummingbird to agree to tell me if he's not certain he can learn the new system before his body can no longer handle the saturation he and I both subject it to. It's about all I can do without clashing against his pride.
-I bounce the idea off of SB of getting Whaitiri's help making pockets for shadows-and other things-within my body that could, when expanded, pad my body out to simply look like a mostly normal muscular fellow, rather than an emaciated body-building cannibal. SB's uncertain it's a good idea to try that route until we can sacrifice to Whaitiri an example of at least ONE create that uses something remotely similar. So the question is now 'where will I find something with flesh pockets like what I'm shooting for?'
-I grab a slab of minotaur sans-flab, and while consuming it through my hand as 'claimed flesh' (A strange as SHIT feeling, absorbing flesh through one's hands) and use it's appropriated magical energy to power an experiment. SB okayed it after I showed I could do it with no net loss to personal magical energy. What I do is, all things considered, rather simple: I form a few clusters of epithelial tissue around my gut, but stop before filling them with anything, like a functioning gland. I base my work largely off of what Gianni did to house the Doonongaes glands I have-and after building roughly a hundred of the things, I decide to try expanding them, just a hair, and seeing if the principles I'm assuming true are even roughly accurate. Sure enough, the hollows do indeed fill with shadows SB can use-but there's an added perk. Because they were wrought of, and nestled within, the Flesh crafting Bloodline I have based in my body, that means that even if SB is absent, one would have to attempt to control them by going THROUGH my Summer bloodline-and, if SB's present, through a decidedly capable Soul Shadow immediately therafter. Two innate layers of defense against Shadowmancers trying to play with my new internal shadows eh? Not too bad. I end up having a surprisingly long discussion with SB about what this means for facing others with magical shadows contained within bloodline anchors-and realize this just may have prevented me from making a major slip-up when trying to offensively ply shadowmancy.
-I head to the magic bar the Leprichaun and a Minotaur run that I found a while back, dressed modestly (for me) with a silk suit so darkly purple it looks more like twilight made corporeal than a foppish pimp suit, a nearly-but-not-quite irridescent pink shirt and my trademark tie. Compared to some of the other patrons, like what I assume are Dryads clad in leaves, or tusk-toothed masses of muscle in naught but loincloths, or some fairies clad in what looks like solid light, I seem to have pulled of 'subdued attire' rather well for the setting. I go with the tried and true of conversation following 'let me buy you a drink' to meet a few new faces. The first I meet is one of the owners, the Leprichaun Bonzi O'Leary, a fellow with enough propensity for drinking I think he'd get along fine with Duke who's more than happy to discuss any sort of special order for a customer if the money's right. The second I meet is the head of security and co-owner of the bar, a minotaur named Kronknar the Implacable, a stoic individual who radiates the soul signature of being a cannibal. He's quite the watchful sentinel, and I get the feeling any guards I could come up with could learn a thing or two from him. Lastly I meet an Encantado by the name of Some-name (that's what he called himself) who's soul feels like waves crashing on a rocky beach. He's nice enough if quite possibly even more entertained by shenanigans than myself, and I exit the bar a bit poorer but stocked with newfound knowledge of contacts in the area.
CASH: -$1,200 $6,320.00
-After I head back from the bar, I grab Camella, and explain to her what the Hummingbird did, just copying runes it didn't understand for appreciable positive effect. When I try to float the idea to her she might be able to do the same, she looks a bit speculative, and asks if she can check out books from the mansion-something I give her ready permission to do. I wonder what she'll come up with going down that path?
-I check the current state of the Blade footage, find it not up to my standards, and decide to wait on sending it to the owner-it wouldn't do to send him an incomplete product.
-I kick awake the passed out Duke in the foyer and extract Granny Goblin's number from him before shoving a fifth of vodka in his gullet and he drifts back off, like a baby nuzzling at a teat.
-Spotting Dmitrii spending some time practicing those new Chakra Orientations he picked up, I spend a solid hour carefully watching him. I don't know that I could outright replicate them, but I picked up their general format, and think I could use my wonky-as-fuck Stealth orientation and Wyld Goblin knowledge as the foundation to build my own version-when I'm willing to blow energy. Hm-a Chakra orientation based around stealth while piloting something? Wonder how that'd function around possession?
-I bounce the incredibly rough idea of implanting a Troll Heart in one of the Russians off of Dávgon and Duke-Duke thinks it's a great idea, while Dávgon is reluctant to support it, citing the potential long-term emotional erosion that could happen-if the host isn't stronger than the implant, they could be consumed by it. Maybe this is something to look into later? I leave Dávgon one of the Troll hearts to inspect, and thank them for their time.
-I call up Professor Jagda, and ask him if he could look into a Biologist he could recommend to me. He tells me he'll look into it, and asks if I have any new books for him to consider looking at. I tell him no, and our conversation ends after he comments Hamlet's been decidedly sleep-deprived recently-it seems he won't let that numerical inconsistency between expected and actual ballistic performance of the Reaper Bullets go. I may want to check in with him.
-I grab Feodor and get a half-hour chunk of Q&A about biology going, mostly asking questions relevant to my current flesh crafting abilities. I learn a bit about glands, how they're controlled, formed and repaired, and hope this will make it easier when I actually get around to practicing with my Doony Poison.
-I decide against throwing even more research duties at Andrei-he's still my only real IT guy, and I don't want to burn him out. Maybe once I actually have an IT team I can really use them….
-I spend a good amount of time in a mental meeting with SB discussing Whaitiri, and how she might be involved in the mere reforging. Frankly, it doesn't look all that feasible, and I'm finding myself wondering if I should just go with SB's idea to just let him etch the symbols in the mere at the time of reforging, since he knows them well enough. If I want Whaitiri, I'll need to bribe her with yet another bit of sacrifice. Greedy girl, that one.
-SB verifies he can't utilize the fleshcrafting knowledge I acquired from Whaitiri, as again, it's not Shadow-Flesh Crafting, the format he has to practice. Seems his entire Summer line is about as esoteric as Einrik's Ice Manipulation => Soul Manipulation work-around. That's got to make finding proper material to study a bitch… outside of the Dark, which I have to bet is his best resource on that.
-SB laughs when I try to irk more out of my boon memories by asking him if he recollected anything I didn't-seems I got the full package, and there's nothing more for me to squeeze out of it. Bummer.
-When I ask SB about the trial cellular sacs I created, he asks me to unmake them, and show them, creation process and all, to Gianni and ask his opinion. Seems SB's really taken a shine to the flamboyant Mafioso, and I can't argue about him knowing more about Fleshcrafting than I do.
-I visit the Smiling One's website, and only find offers on monstrous female Winter creature parts-not exactly what I'm looking for where Silja's concerned.
-I express an interest in buying some Cyclops eyes, but because I'm being very indecisive about it I don't get any agreement even when the seller cautions me he'll probably run out of stock in the next three days.
-I similarly express an interest in the poison-smoke spewing Catoblepas lungs, and similarly am struck by a lack of decisiveness on the issue. Looks like they have only THREE pairs of lungs left now. I wonder how long until they've run out of their current stock?
-I call up Johann and ask when he'd be available for a consult on a future-gen bullet's performance, one that I presume to be magically augmented. He tells me he's open TOMORROW FROM TEN AM TO ELEVEN AM[/b], and his next availability is four weeks off-seems he's been swamped with orders from the Mafia, Yakuza, Triads and damn near every other group in Istanbul.
-As the day passes depressingly quickly while I bounce between all these different pursuits, I ring up Ghanmen and set times for him to 'pay up' TOMORROW AT NOON. I had best not forget the appointment.
-I spend a few hours talking with Duke and several others about a myriad of topics, and afterwards head down to the sewers to find the arena shut for the day. Seems… they only operate during the daytime? Really? How odd.
-I have another massive meal and conk out for the night, wishing I hadn't split myself so widely so I could have really enjoyed something today. Maybe tomorrow I can actually focus on just a couple things. …Yeah who am I kidding that hasn't happened since I started this company.

I drift to sleep with thoughts of overfull schedules filling my mind.



SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6th, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: -$8,140 weekly expenses[small] $680,085.04
BUSINESS FUNDS: $559,347.00
CASH: $6,320.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 75%
[small]WINTER ENERGY: 50/160

SUMMER ENERGY: 42/50

I wake up feeling really damn good. I have a bit of brain coffee, hop out of bed-






And wonder how this Sunday shall be used.
I have two appointments I should probably not forget.
I… still haven't called Lo Fang. I get I'm putting this off until I'm fully charged again, but still….

So: What's my plan?
If you want me to go into more detail about what Armas does, suggest less total actions-I'll keep streamlining into pseudo-bullet points so long as there keeps being a flood of suggestions to do all sorts of different stuff. So no NEED to trim down on suggestions, just know that if you don't I'm sticking with this format since I don't spend hours and hours writing up in-depth reactions to each order.
>>
No. 399445 ID: 7c31d2

Right, we've had those 11 library books for 67 days now, return them before the late fees get worse
>>
No. 399459 ID: 205ef9

IGOR
+I+Igor is going to be drooling at this golem, definitely. His head hurting will be forgotten in the face of such an engine of destruction. "I really hope it can make big explosions". Wait no no that makes no sense why would Igor a mostly sane and archeically minded fellow feel that way about what was once a monster that tried to kill him there's no way he OOOOOH, he's deluding himself, man those are going to be some vicious nightmares he gets tonight.
This isn't making sense, did you change Igor or something? .
>+I+After Ito's, he moves smithing to during the night. Is forced to try and smith quietly-has to be very gimmicky with his hammer to avoid excess noise. ROLL A 1D100 in DISCUSSION, DC's 40, 55, 70 AND 90.
Rolled in disc.
+I+Will try to keep as quite as possible during the night spent smithing.
+I+ Igor will spend time in the afternoon with Dmitrii if possible. If not, he will go back to smithing... but this time, for himself. Steelgong incoming.
+I+ During today's chakra training, Igor will try to not think at all, and just the follow instructions and follow the flow. Maybe he could find a decent rhythm that way.

>>
No. 399508 ID: 78662e

Vlad orders:

Wake up. The fuck was that dream about? Give nearby lamps a weird look, conclude vodka is required.

Test new spicy meat vodka for breakfast. If acceptable, share results.

Off to Jogging Gulag. Bring canteen of vodka along for refreshment.

Pass out bottles of meat vodka when returning home. Also give a bottle to Amen for the hell of it.

Decide some practice may be in order after thinking about super shotgun plans again. Check an AN-94 and the Kushnapup out of the armory along with ammo for each, 1000 rounds of 5.45 and 100 of 12ga slug. Leave note that ammo stocks currently have a shortage of buckshot shells.

Shooting practice for a couple hours. Check that weapons are in proper condition first. Spend time getting accustomed to the shotgun's quirks, especially when firing one-handed. Attempt to improve autofire accuracy through exhaustive AN-94 use. Test different stances, distributions of weight, grip placement, etc. Anything that may help in getting accustomed to a weapon firing in rapid succession.

Maintain weapons and return them to armory with any remaining ammo.

Off to Ito to dispense bullets and recieve beatings. Wonder if the constant thrashing is having any effect on pain tolerance or perception thereof.
>>
No. 399551 ID: 448d82

Welp, time for the madness to shut down somewhat.
LEV'S ORDERS
Lev wakes. Shower.
While showering Lev considers how his poor state of mind, well. Recognition is the first step to recovery right?
Lev goes on the jog, calm, Lev guesses in part it may be a kind of culture shock, the current situation is fairly far removed from the time under Monster Chuggy's clutches.

Chakra training, Lev concentrates, his life is on the line here, he can't afford to GUTS... wait, calm, just remember. Lev did it before, if he can be sane for a moment he can do it again.
Ito Chakra. Apologise for being a psycopathic manchild, apply guts to... apply will to learning, you really don't want to die.
>Screw you, suicidal tendencies!
Feodor training. Begin again, footing, stances, gripping. Offer to teach feodor some knife throwing aswell, can be handy when a foe is fleeing. Confide discovery of self-madness to Feodor. Result being that Lev discovers it was kinda obvious that he was acting screwy.

Recall past blunders, like the sewer episode, Lev wonders how he could have possible been so stupid, oh yeah, insanity.

Cooking time with Boris, GUTS, a sausage and noodle dish, consisting of several bags of noodles, (Lev isn't allowed near the water) diced herbs, diced tomatos(with sauce, garlic and chopped chorizo. Noodles are the only unfried thing, some tomato juices added to the water. Everything is lumped together and mixed after cooking, placed in a large tin, grated cheese covering the top, grill until cheese melts. serve. Find dicing vegtables great fun. Consider that Italians can get some things right. Ask Boris about Boris' cooking skills.

Attempt to grab energy drink, fail. Attempt to recieve weasel rubbings, be pranked.
Ito Night Chakra. Focus, just like preparing to strike, just focus.
Lev collapses in bed, He fails to have energy to consider madness or state of combatting madness.
>>
No. 399612 ID: e089c4

Alternate plan for the afternoon: walk the Egyptian (spice) bazaar. It should be open on Sunday. Keep soul sensing active to find magical spices, nuts and fruits to do the magical meats justice in the kitchen. There are supposed to be jewelry and other expensive items available too.
>>
No. 399717 ID: 252e1b

ARMAS ORDERS
~Read the text from Lyubov, go “Oh right, I had Amen legally transfer the house to me, I’ll owe transfer taxes.”
~Give Hamlet a call, first thing. Right now. Get him on board with meeting Johan, and talk him into going to the dojo to be exercised to sleep.
~Go to that meeting with the Chakra Master, be social, be polite, make your association with Einrik an important part of the introductions.
~If the meeting appears to take you close to 10 am with no real chance to leave (i.e. it’s going well and you’re learning) call Satai and have him take some reaper rounds and the reaper parts to Johan for evaluation. Ask Shadowbro to go with him, and to brief him about what Hamlet has learned. Be sure to call Johan and let him know you can’t make it yourself, but you’ve sent capable people in your stead.
~When you have what looks like a free five minute block of time, call Ito’s tax assessor contact that Lyubov got for you. Arrange a meeting for Monday, if he’s up for it.
~The meeting probably won’t take you to noon, but if it looks like it will, politely beg off. If Camella wants to stay to hang out with the Chakra Master, don’t be boorish. If she wants to meet Ghanmen and his contacts, let her tag along for that.
~Contact Gianni, show him your new trick

“Hey Hamlet, I got a guy I think you could benefit from talking to about the project, but I'd either want to be with you, or to send one of my employees and a, ah, sensing system along with you. The sensing system would be, eh. You ever seen Peter Pan? Yeah, remember that part where Pan meets Wendy? Heh.”

“You’d have nothing to worry about from it. It’d actually be there to escort you and make sure there’s no trouble on the way. The guy I want you to meet is solid. Very professional. Also a very busy guy, the only time he can meet is from ten to eleven.”

“Alright. How’re you doing there? You sound bushed.”

“Hm. Tell you what, I’ll give you a little help. If you want to drop by my house tonight I’ll arrange something for you that should help with the fatigue. No drugs, no side effects, but it won’t solve the problem permanently.”

“No, nothing sinister like that. I just mean that it sounds like your body isn’t tired enough to pull you past worrying over the problem and into a good solid sleep. There’s a dojo I like, run by a friend of mine. I’ll call ahead and let him know that I’m covering your fees. You just show up when you got a little time, let him know who you are, and he will make sure you’re too tired to do anything but sleep. Exercise, I’m a big believer in it. Doesn’t hurt that there are some cuties teaching there now, too.”

“Great, the Master of the Dojo is Ito Sensei. Here are the addresses for the expert I wanted you to talk to, and the dojo. Oh, the expert’s name is Johan. If I’m not with you, you’ll have that bodyguard and my employee.”

Then call Ito and arrange what you promised (explain that Hamlet’s a geek, and needs to be exercised hard enough to be able to get on a normal sleep schedule), and call Satai and tell him you might need him to run an errand from ten to eleven.

The morning is going to be fairly busy. Use one of the vans, unless you want to waste a lot of time on the bus (you don't want that).

Wear the underarmor workout outfit and a suit that's easy to move in, get your breakfast, get Camella, and go to your meeting with the Chakra Master. Make your introductions, “Hello ma’am. My name’s Armas, and my friend here is Camella. A friend of mine told me I could learn a lot from you, and since Camella is teaching a sizable class of her own, I thought she might like to make your acquaintance too.”

Smile normally, and say, “Our mutual friend would be Einrik. He’s sort of a hard man to forget, once you get past the façade he likes to show the world.”

“He was doing well when I last saw him. He was certainly feeling chipper enough to trick me into spending a morning inventing questions in iambic pentameter, and I’ll freely admit I’m going to repay the favor later. Next time he comes to visit his little sister, I’ll have him speaking in trochaic tetrameter.”

“Yes, his sister is spending the year in my household. She’s a great kid. If you want to meet her my door’s open. Or I could bring her to meet you sometime, either way.”

“Alright, down to business. We both learned our initial lessons from a Jukenjitsu master who knows enough chakra to augment his martial arts. I’ve had lessons from some Chinese businessmen who I met through another friend, as well, and am versed enough to use a couple of orientations besides reinforcement: a detection orientation, and a stealth orientation. I’m still struggling with getting dual orientations sustainable. At the moment all I can manage is a couple of seconds.”

“Yeah, the class. I’ll be blunt: I made a mistake. I opened my larder to some completely mundane people, and fed them magical food. Once I realized they were having issues, we started them on a crash course of chakra training, at least enough that they can internalize the energy they built up; seemed the safest way to help them. I’m not a good teacher. I’m getting better, very slowly, but I’m honestly poorly suited for teaching a class. So Camella has been helping the people I hurt with my ignorance. They’re making progress, some more than others.”

“There are other complicating factors to their situations, but I would not dream of troubling you with them. At least not at the moment, ma’am.”

Go through her evaluations, and share about what you did with Ito with regards to your bloodline.
>>
No. 399721 ID: 29b0fe

So, proposed schedule – the idea is to try to work around our three appointments for the day, and then fit one other thing in. It's probably best to only try one other thing.

First thing in the morning - If going to the Arena practice shooting with the Kushnapup in case it's needed in the arena, if not refresh on chakra in case Einrik's contact asks from a demonstration. In either case, brief Satai on what we knows about Reapertech so far, and give him a couple of gyrojet rounds in case he needs to take them to Johann.
Just after leaving the mansion - Let Lyubov know we're declining her dinner invitation. Confirm with Joahnn it's OK to do so, introduce Satai to him over the phone just in case we can't make it, and then ring Hamlet to invite him to go to Johann's. Explain, with our deepest apologies to both of them that we may be later or not able to make it personally, but will try. If not agree to meet Hamlet in the evening at the mansion to discuss.
8:00 - Go to meeting with Einrik's chakra contact along with Camella.
10:00 - If we can finish the meeting with Einrik's contact in time visit Johann for a consultation with a couple of example gyrojets and some (a lot of) cash. If we can't make it let Satai know to go in our place. If Hamlet is there, he should briefly present his results, if not, we or Satai should run through what we know, then on the way out make Hamlet close his eyes and have Sake inflict a Surprise!WeaselRub on him. Then refuse to tell him what it was. Whoever goes should take the swastiskull grenade along for Johann to look over if there's time.
12:00 - Go to the introductions to the supernatural merchants and information brokers Ghanem knows.
Any Spare time in afternoon - We have various possibilities, includingOption 1 - Arena or Option 2 - Doonegeas Fleshcrafting. Depending on the choices we make, we may have time to do more than one. I'd prefer to do the Fleshcrafting them the Arena, if possible.
Evening - if Johann said no to Hamlet coming – Have Hamlet visit for dinner to run through the results of Johann's investigation. As Surprise!WeaselRub didn't happen before, have it happen now.
Evening - if Johann said yes - Have dinner with everyone, and then retire early with Dávgon to get some basic tuition on soul manipulation/sensing and also show him the chakra orientation that channels energy to another soul connected to yours. He might find it useful or know of it, and we can also ask him whether it would help to have that active and assigned to HB by default?
After Dinner - Send results to H&H. Hopefully this is enough to get the mere repaired and offered a commission as one of their hunters on top. Don't ask for the latter, and put off accepting it if it is offered. Ring Lo Fang and set up a time to meet during the week.

Optional Plans (alternate plans and implementations of plans also welcome)

Arena
* First borrow as much as we can secured against our ownership of the business accounts and placing the overnight loan in our personal accounts. As a high net worth individual, we should have a personal banker who can set this up in a few minutes, and it shouldn't be at an annualised rate of more than about 2%.
*Take a few sizeable chunks of medium power magical meat with us for mid combat power refills, and adopt a different physical appearance, different mannerisms, and wear conventional clothes This might lead to better odds and make it easier to repeat tricks on unsuspecting foes.
* Go to the Arena, and, if possible, enter a grand melee free for all.
* Try out our new shooting trait by shooting people in the back of the head - perhaps with the AA-12 (covered in a piece of tailored nondescript fabric we can have Amen make) loaded with HEAP covered with Dooney poison rounds given the enemies we're likely to face. (AA-12 chosen as it's the least distinctive and powerfully magic weapon we have that can kill the kind of opponents we are likely to face). In case the AA-12 gives us terrible odds we should also bring the Kushnapup (same ammo as the AA-12). Some flashbangs would also handy.
* We should use Gyaketsuote, attention and intentions sensing, anything we can adapt from SotG, as well as Hummer's Momentum and the Dunter's footwork to get behind people, and to manipulate them to think they're actually being attacked by the other participants rather than us.


Doonegeas Fleshcrafting
* We are going to hand over the Doonegeas' brain soon, but haven't done so yet, and haven't promised the wizard exclusivity.
* We want to get access to the Donnegeas' centuries of experience and skill with Summer Aspected Divine cannibal based Fleshcrafting.
* This entire plan should be first discussed with SB, it relies heavily on him, and so we ned to make sure he's happy with it. Any improvements he can suggest would be welcome.
* Various methods to copy the memories are possible, described below.
[Primary] – Goblin. If SM can't extract them non-destructively:
[Trickster] – Hobo. If SM doesn't want to play at all:
[Heavy] – Witch. If she's not interested then:
[Escape] – Wizard. If we use any plan but the last, we then go to the next step, with the skills/knowledge stored in either the brain/hobo, or SB himself:
* SB can then immediately take whatever he's using to transport the memories to SM, and sell him the right to copy the knowledge and skills that are essential to learn the Fleshcrafting, and nothing else.
* These are should be very valuable (if much less so to SB, lacking as he does a body), and he should negotiate for as much as he can get. After all, the Doonegeas was apparently the Knight of an entity that could survive a bout with a Wizard, and it was considered such a heavy-hitter that its absence made a meaningful impact on it. Payment should include giving SB a copy of the skills and knowledge if he doesn't already have them -with any traps should be disarmed first. This is only the start - our deal to have the goblins teach SB seems to have been very good value, so perhaps he should try the same, and buy training for us, rather than anything more for himself. As we already have a balance of hours of training, he might be able to add on to that.
* As a minor part of the deal SB should arrange for the Doonegeas' brain be delivered to the wizard in our name, and for the goblins to make no use of the knowledge before it's delivered, or extract anything from it not agreed above. He should also probably consider negotiating for confidentiality.
* We should ask the witch if she's interested in buying the skills and memories. After all, she's patron of a were clan, which uses Fleshcrafting a lot. If so, then she may be able to take a copy from SB or us. We shouldn't push the issue to hard though, but as a witch, she would have a lot to offer. She might be able to grant us knowledge of spirit/soul manipulation or be able to help with one of our other projects, such as the mere or goblin control setup.
* SB can ask Whaitiri if she's interested in the Doonegeas' experiences and skills. We may (or may not), want another boon at some point soon, after all...

Goblin - Have SB make a deal with SM to receive the Doonegeas' brain directly from him, and have SM, if he can, copy the relevant skills and knowledge directly from it non-destructively and without effecting the source.

Hobo
* Amen can be ordered to “Non-destructively copy and implant those, and only those, pieces of knowledge and skills essential and germaine to the Doonegeas' Fleshcrafting without affecting the source brain, harming the recipient or altering him in any way save as is essential to store the skills and knowledge (and only then using the least damaging technique you know and have supplies for), losing or missing anything, having the knowledge and skills decay within a few days after implantation, implanting any traps, or affecting me, my brothers, our guests except those we call [X], or any of our possessions save any ingredients I approve, in any way, into the person we call [X]. [X] is not to be able to access the memories, nor will the process alter their behaviour. The process should be performed in such a way that when I order it you can reset [X] to its current state without further expenditure and in line with all the orders around the copying and implantation. You are to name what ingredients you need. If the least damaging technique requires ingredients I do not approve, you are to list the ingredients.”
* We should hire a hobo to act as a courier, and have him agree to transport some information for us and not to remember it afterwards, wink wink. Best to approach him and deal with him whilst Fleshcrafted, Soul Guised, acting, and dressed as a completely generic Turkish man. We should transport him in the back of a nondescript van, so he can't see where he's going, and have Amen have his avatar and the bits of the mansion he sees look like, say, a doctor and the interior of a hospital.
* We then order Amen to perform the procedure as described above after getting the hobo's name and calling him it. We make the order above substituting [X] for what we called them.
* After dealing with the goblins we then order Amen reset the hobo as described in the initial order, drive him back to where we found him, and turn him loose from the back of the van with $5K.

Witch – We can ask the Witch if she' be interested in copying the Doonegeas' skills and knowledge of magic, in return for giving a copy to SB, and perhaps another boon as well. We then skip the later stage where we try to sell them to her, and have SB transport the memories to the goblins.

Wizard - We can abandon the idea of reselling the memories and the subsequent steps of the plan, and ask him if the Wizard would be willing to give the relevant skills and knowledge to SB in return for us not allowing anyone else access to the brain.

>>
No. 399729 ID: 252e1b

>>399721
>Just after leaving the mansion - Let Lyubov know we're declining her dinner invitation.

:s0::s1::s2::s3::s4::s5::s6::s7::s8::s9:

There is no need for Armas to actively sabotage his relationships. A rejection by phone is just plain cold. Why’s he rejecting her anyway? The points in >>394435 still stand.

>>399728
>Armas is having fun messing around with Lyubov

An interesting theory, but it's not clear at all in the provided context. Also, this isn't the place for meta-discussion.
>>
No. 399752 ID: 205ef9

>>399721
Upvoting most of this, with the fleshcrafting option for the afternoon. A couple of details- in order for SB to be able to get this from SM for less than Armas would, SB would need to be buying this service out of his own resources, be it knowledge/skills or money. Armas should think about making him his own private account if possible, or else give him cash as another officer for jobs/etc- after all, he has his own needs, and he will appreciate it. SB shouldn't mind paying for this even though he can use it less for us because a°) knowledge is power, b°) we did get for him those Shadow lessons from goblins and c°) he might possibly get his very own boon out of whaitiri for this, though Armas would caution SB to not check on this beforehand as well as not believe it too likely, as it only bring the price higher for SM if he lets it be felt.

>-SB verifies he can't utilize the fleshcrafting knowledge I acquired from Whaitiri, as again, it's not Shadow-Flesh Crafting, the format he has to practice. Seems his entire Summer line is about as esoteric as Einrik's Ice Manipulation => Soul Manipulation work-around. That's got to make finding proper material to study a bitch… outside of the Dark, which I have to bet is his best resource on that.
Heh, Armas should remind SB that he is making him a very nice body to have romps with, so he probably WILL be able to use those lessons. Would be a nice trick to help Golem regenerate/attack, after all. Also, the golem having a doony type heart means he could be well attuned to those fleshcrafting memories he will buy.

>As day is barely used, Whaitiri meeting option.
I can't help but notice that the Doony fleshcrafting plan and the hamlet/johan follow up in upvoted post should -not- take from noon till midnight to do. If Armas is finished early enough, he should go to the Arena as detailed in the upvoted plan, with money from business transferred to personal account as well (or rather depending what SB/Sake thinks) as taking credit. If not, Armas might think about tucking in early, to better incorporate those memories with SB help, as well as because he will want to talk to Whaitiri within the eye demi-plane.

Armas should respectfully thank her for the cannibalistic fleshcraftic boon, and tell her all about his plan to remake the mere into the grandest and most rare of weapons. He should enthusiastically and truthfully tell her everything about it, plying all of his acting and social skills to convey the effectiveness such a weapon could have, and the grand task the weapon's bearers might hopefully do in her honor. Soul guises should not be used to lie about anything, simply enhance things Armas already think about the mere being a weapon that will bring great power to Whaitiri. Tell her that sadly, with his own current resources, he would only be able to do a lesser version, and beg her insight on such matters. Maybe if he was to eat a lot of Doonegease meat in her honor, she might feel beneficent enough to help in this grand reforging (we may need her or SB to teach us how to give her the whole of the meat and not just a fraction in this case) ?

Otherwise (if you are sure she isn't agreeing, so make sure of this first), ask her if she might have a task she would want us to do within Istanbul that would help convince her to do this(here I am thinking that as it's SB who bought the doony memory, the boon from those if existing would be solely his). Another possibility is Armas telling her he might be able to get ahold of the memories of a modern human researcher on how the human body works, and she might find it useful to know the current limitations of human knowledge (make sure you give many examples to let her know, if she doesn't, that doctors actually know a damn whole lot about human bodies that was unknown while she was more powerful. Those examples should of course not say anything about her losing powers, and should include things like DNA and capacity to enhance the brain in various ways we heard was possible in Australia, etc).

>Being awesome option
If Armas doesn't feel like going to bed early, alternatives would be to go to cookie lady and tell her about this great dojo we sometimes go to, and how they might need the help from someone like her, as they entertain many orphans in need of guidance. Bring her to the knowledge of magic in a tasteful manner, and convince her to get a weasel rub. Try to get her to the dojo, make her meet Ito and the night crew. Armas should then spar there, secure in the knowledge he just made the life of orphans much, much better. Pay special attention to how Ito is acting around cookie lady. Playing match-maker might be fun there. Ito and Cookie Lady might possibly be a match in baking!

>>399717
>~When you have what looks like a free five minute block of time, call Ito’s tax assessor contact that Lyubov got for you. Arrange a meeting for Monday, if he’s up for it.
SUST making plans for monday when we already are having too many plans currently. We want time to really think about this and not rush it.
>~Contact Gianni, show him your new trick
SUST Showing a still not “owned” mafia member a very specialized trick like this. We must keep things in secrets.
>Inviting Hamlet to Ito's
What? He is a erudite, not a fighter, and there is no point to putting all our eggs in one basket. SUST.
>Being obnoxious to chakra mistress, and talking about us messing up about our russians.
SUST. You don't tell someone your problem ,and end up with a obnoxious “but I would not dream of troubling you with them. At least not at the moment, ma’am.” Also, the chakra mistress whould know who gave us her number already, and Armas definitely should NOT be calling Hillevi a “great kid”, as this sounds really insulting. Let's not be an ass here.

>>399725
It's not via SMS. Armas is having fun messing around with Lyubov, and he should continue to have fun that way unless he feels she gets too emotionally involved and it will influence her working for him. This probably means he shouldn't flat out say “no” to her, I agree, but saying “i won't take you to dinner” and then taking her to lunch a couple of days later could be fun.

>>399750
Sust this so damn much, there isn't a single acceptable idea here. Using so much money when we need millions in less than a week is suicidal, but maybe the worse there is
>No, seriously call Lo Fang up. Tell him that we've been very busy, that we recently had been dealing with issues that our Chakra has been very low but, finally, it's managing to increase and we should be good for Chakra training in a few days. Do this immediately.
Lo Fang should NOT be called under any circumstances, SUST.
>>
No. 399757 ID: c30f9b

Downvoting the Arena plan. The arena matches are public, at least to the bettors. Good customers or associates of the arena might be able to acquire Arena evaluations of fighters, maybe review memories or recordings. Testing abilities in the Arena is not a good idea, because a badly understood or badly used ability might reveal how to counter it.

Downvoting playing the wizard. We promised him the mind of Doony. Even if we didn't promise exclusivity, the wizard didn't promise exclusivity on the world eye plan. I am pretty sure if we distribute the Doony mind without the wizards approval, our world eye plan is likely to make rounds without our approval, too.
What Arams can work at is taking the brain with him after the wizard finishes and mine that for anything he can get. In so far as the Doony's mind is separate of his brain.

>Also, fuck chartering a plane. Buy one, or see if Amen has one somewhere. Because fuck yeah, your own jet.
SUST buying a plane until Armas can get a pilot.

>>399717
SUST on throwing around Einriks name or Armas's Valkonen connections. If he is that loose with names, why should the chakra master want to associate with Armas.
SUST on forcing information about the russians, and especially Hillevi, on the chakra master. Armas comes as supplicant looking for teaching. Remember Teacher/student is quite an important relationship in the community. Running the mouth on confidential information about your students will make quite bad an impression. Give an honest description of yourself instead: Armas has problems with focus(or rather he needs concrete goals to strive for) and likes shortcuts probably more than is good for him. But he has no problem with working hard and subjecting himself to pain or humiliation. He has a hard head and a weaselly self, but he keeps to his deals.
>>
No. 399768 ID: 448d82

>>399445
Send a minion to do this.

>>399717
Upvote in combination with >>399721 and ammendments here; >>399752
In particular upvoting plans for doonybrains

>>399750
Well, I hate to do this, but your post has a lot of tangents Man, So a soft general downvote, gotta stay focused.
SUSTING the spilling of beans to Lo Fang, when we call him we don't need to explain so much. Particulary revealing that we've been on low fuel is dangerous.

>>399729
Know what?
I support not accepting Lyubov for dinner, we have VERY little to apologise for. Instead lets kidnap her and have dinner with her, teach her that Armas is odd and zany and she should be a big girl and stop using emotional blackmail, Armas is vulnerable to crying/upset girl.

I shall explain, if there is any chasing to do, Armas shall do it. So;
Armas will reject Lyubov, by comically "Misunderstanding" her, he'll agree that it is a wonderful idea, and order her to set a rota for the russians to have dinner with him, a man must know his employees after all. Begin with Lev(Stand him up, Have Duke have dinner with him instead, more later), Zhenya, Grisha, etc... (after this first night, obey the rota)
Then, close to dinner, abduct her, have Amen clean and sober her(if she has been drowning sorrow), dress her is a suitable dress(read FLASHY).
Then hit the town, and have dinner with her at a nice place, be a perfect gentleman.
Now for some troll, of her and sake. Ask her what her intentsions toward our brother are, tell her we understand how she's a little fustrated at Sake's current state of unmanilness, but we'll solve that soon. Give her our blessing to pursue our brother, express a little sadness at having no chance. Take the time to ask SB to keep Sake's girlfriend out of thier little spat.

Then bring her home. Stop outside your room, sweep her up, give her the kiss of a lifetime.
"My brother is a lucky man, er Weasel"
Then slam the door shut(locking it loudly) and leaving her outside and confused, while we spend some quality time with Silja, if she is talking with notey point out notey can probably do that anytime, where as Armas be a busy man.
Ask her if she'd like it if we carried her about more, we can always get her some kind of charm to hide her from normal people.
Why do all this? Because Armas has not been getting to troll much, and each dinner with each russian will be a glorious chance to both bond and troll the russians.
Romancing should be on Armas' trolly terms, and anyone wanting to get any of him, should be able to both take and give it, Silja excepted of course.

Plus we haven't trolled Sake lately.
>>
No. 399770 ID: 22f952

>>399721
Upvote with the fleshcrafting option.
>>
No. 399772 ID: 9718f3

>>399721
I agree with this plan for the day, as well as the optional plan Doonongaes Fleshcrafting.

Addition to [Primary] Goblin plan:
Confirm that SM is capable of extracting memories from the brain before all else. Include condition that SM be restricted from sharing that the source of the knowledge is the Doonongaes.

>>399768
Only do this if time permits. It is something that could easily be put off to another day.
>>
No. 399793 ID: b83c65

Armas Orders:
Talk to Giagia about eyes for our BEAST. Seriously, Giagia is the only person who we know who can actually get THE BEST working and install the eyes and lungs and whatever other organs we need. It stops us from getting 15 wereshrimp eyes before Giagia tells us they're not compatible. Same with the Lungs we're looking at and the Cyclops Eyes.

Take over Andrei's Monster. Order Three Cyclops Eyes and the rest of the Lungs. Those lungs sell like hot cakes, and those eyes are important. Yeah, we don't have enough Hearts. But let's buy one more heart, then. See about picking up a heart from one of our sources - we have three now, so talk to Bonzi O'Leary, the Summer Goblins, and Sometimes about picking up a single heart for cheap. We have quite a few charms we can sell; we can sell the fact that we need Cyclops eyes to Sometimes.
Oh, hey, idea. Talk to Sometimes and see how many Cyclops eyes you can get from a single Erinye heart. Do the same with the Summer Goblins. If it's more than one, we might not need the Smiling One's Website for this.

Another repeated thought: Talk to Goblins about renting the tank to them. We can also sell the training of the tank for more training hours for us, we can sell the fact that we have a tank, we can sell the information about how we got the tank for the payment of them not selling where we got the tank, and the payment for them being able to use the tank can be the continued upkeep and upgrades of the tank, and if destroyed, the Goblins have to repay us with something of equal value. Because, otherwise? We will have to knock over banks every month to pay for the tank and that's not including the money we would need to start up our own 'tank service depot'.

Oh yeah, you are going to the Aren today. Pick up some Nazi-legs. Yeah, this is a repeat idea, but so what. You know you want the BEAST to have kickpunching armlegs.

And, end of the day? Back to the Bar. Hang out with Some-name, try and get any more contacts. See if anyone knows about the Caspian Sea - don't directly ask Some-name, that's racist. We have a trip to


Downvoting any use of Vlad's Kushnapup. That is like messing with his Vodka and his meat. He fights bears, Armas. Do you really want to mess with his baby?

Downvoting the 'fucking with the payment for our eye-world' plan. I do not want to anger a wizard by screwing around with an item we sold two days ago. So what if 'technically' we were telling the truth. Technically, a wizard can have our intestines rape us to death and take the brain anyway. This is a needless risk.


>[ b] [Andrei has been queued to do the following:] [ b ]
>A< Do not sleep. Latenight troll-herding. Keep Invasion forces directed at Drama-Cow and Iosef.
>A< Between herdings, begin working on the actual Blade: The Series! Footage. Boss wants it soon, damn it all.
>A< Andrei squashes any feelings of silliness. Talking to food is the first way to gain its trust. Then, steps will be taken to craft a 'Food Network' that will respond only to Mistah Andrei. To this end, he will have another discussion with food. Just talking, getting to know the food and carefully bringing them around to the idea of telling him what they hear.
>A< Self made breakfast of Kale, Massive Omelet, Bacon, and Blini. Ask them if they have overheard anything in the past day. Coffee and three Energy Catalysts.
>A< Learning About Charka's Source Code Time. Get the feeling that Lyubov and Gloom are- Wait, what? What do you mean we have time off? Son of a duck!
>A< Well, down to continued editing. Get Blade: The Series: The First Episode: Death of a Stranger done. Iosef and Dmitri are both ignored because working. Wish, when the visual effects are compiling, there was more time in the day. Also, buy a satellite. It should only be about 20,000 dollars to pick up one in orbit.
>A< *Ahem* Learning About Charka's Source - Wait? The rest of the night? Andrei gets himself a Rage Inferno - Learning About Charka's Source Code Time. Get the feeling that Lyubov and Gloom are trying to spoof the IP, but keep focusing on learning the root code, or any backdoors. Fuck latenight trollherding. Sleep on couch.
>>
No. 399795 ID: 81f32a

ORDERS FOR IOSEF:
>=I=Decide to accept that Soul Oath from Dávgon. ROLL A 1D3 (Inner/Middle/Outer) AND A 1D10 (1 weak 10 overpowering) TO GENERATE SOUL QUIRK.
-DC 3: rolled 3 = 3
-DC 10: rolled 7 = 7

>=I=Ask Dimitrii how he finished his chakra training so fast. Ask what kind of memories he sold. Be completely stonewalled on this-get the feeling Dmitrii's probably not doing it to be a dick. Wonder why he's not saying anything at all about it.
-After thinking hard about it Iosef concludes that if Dimitrii sold his memories, he doesn't have them anymore thus cannot tell anyone, even in general terms, what he sold. At least he didn't lose the memory of the trade. Imagine how awful it would be to suddenly realize 10 years later that a big chunk of your life is missing and then spending time and effort trying uncover what happened.

-Tries to learn from his failed invasion attempt. This could be a good lesson in his goal to have better social skills.
-Compares the final version of the edited footage. Makes notes on the differences compared to the one he made. Perhaps next time he'll fare better.
-Man, Andrei is like a walking corpse- Wait, is he talking to his power-bar? Damn, that guy really needs to get some sleep.
-Talks to Lyubov, says he's concerned about Andrei's well-being. "He has too damn many tasks and not a lot of time to do them, so he pushes himself to the extreme... Look, you're friends with Sake, right? Could you get him to daily heal Andrei? Else he's going to lose it. I saw him have discussion with a half-eaten powerbar!"
>>A<Iosef and Dmitrii do not get lunch. They get to make the company spreadsheets, handle watching the satellite feed, handle watching the internal house video feed, and edit together Blade Footage.
-Andrei sure is milking that favor Iosef offered for getting that laptop as a gift.... Ah well he needs help, back to work.
-Only after the deed is done, asks Andrei why the hell he wanted to raid that site anyway.
-Depending on the explanation, decides it is stupid and kicks himself for not questioning the action beforehand.
-Checks the girls page himself, tries to learn more about it and the person. Also checks the reaction to the minor invasion.
-spends the rest of the day doing whatever work that Andrei piles on him.

Orders for Armas:
>So: What's my plan?
Attend both meetings today.

>If you want me to go into more detail about what Armas does, suggest less total actions-I'll keep streamlining into pseudo-bullet points so long as there keeps being a flood of suggestions to do all sorts of different stuff. So no NEED to trim down on suggestions, just know that if you don't I'm sticking with this format since I don't spend hours and hours writing up in-depth reactions to each order.

If that's the case, then I suggest doing nothing more but going to the meetings. Removing banters and dialogue and having cliffnotes instead kills the entire appeal of this quest.
>>
No. 399810 ID: 0da5bc

>>399793
This was previously 399750, so received a couple of SUSTs, to which I'll add my own.

>>399768
If we have time to do the Lyubov troll on top of everything else, upvote.

We should also make sure that we explain to Camella where we're going and what we're doing when we see the chakra master, just in case we haven't already.

Gloom
*G* Decide that Sake has a very limited sense of humour.
*G* Modify order to Amen to not bring books that being in the presence of without reading them are harmful. Continue taking digital recordings, and make sure to have a couple of backups.
*G* Mention to Lyubov that Armas isn't interested in the near-death experience unless Hillevi is...
*G* As generally superiors are uninterested in whether you live or die, refocus on chakra training. Drop stealth training and everything else.
*G* Talk to Camella about the mirror set-up and explain it's connection to Armas's description of soul. Ask if she would be interested in helping him test whether it does work. Ask Camella what (unisex) clothes she feels most comfortable in, and then get Amen to make up a set for both her and him. Try practising chakra between the mirrors with Camella there as well, mimicking the physical motions she is making, and attempting to do the same with the esoteric.
>>
No. 399904 ID: c6ce12

Matvey
[Saturday]
rolled 2 = 2
rolled 6 = 6
rolled 84 = 84
[Sunday]
Continue the weekly Brownie's gift giving ritual. Go to the designated room, tidy up, get Boris to help refill the bowls of porridge, saucers of cream, and stane.

Recieve meat Vodka from Vlad, try to taste it, be unsure how to take the flavor. Thank Vlad for the bottle anyway. Drink some more, decide to drop the bottle off in the boss' room, he seems to appreciate meat to a disturbing degree, leave a note saying he can thank Vlad for this new concoction.

Talk to Camella after her Chakra training session about your new Soul Quirk, how amazing it is and all the things you just want to go out to see, do, and learn with it. And explain how much it sounded like ... well her when Dávgon explained it to you and you figured she could help. Yesterday might have been a good start, but there's a distinct feeling that this will be tough to get used to and who better to help you be like her than her.

Get the news about Andrei's condition. The poor bastard. Check with Lyubov to make sure Sake will attempt to relieve his exhaustion. Explain to Hillevi that Andrei isn't feeling well and if she could offer her assistance when she goes over for her lessons. Set Andrei up to go in for a medical check up with Feodor just to make sure all the possible bases are covered. Try to eat meals nearer to Andrei when he comes out of his lair, try to get him to open up, hopefully socialization improves his deteriorating mental and physical health.

>>399445
Upvote.

>>399717
Downvoting showing Gianni any new fleshcrafting tricks just yet and also downvoting the offered dialogue for the Chakra instructor meeting. I don't see real harm in getting him into Ito's although it's precarious as hell because the guy likely has his ears perked for oddities after giving him those bullets. If we want to have him introduce himself to magic, I guess that's fine. I'm proposing we mix in a little of the Sake refreshing plan with this though, if we know he's going try to have Sake give him a little stealth rub after a work out, see how quickly he takes to them after feeling extremely invigorated each and every time.

>>399721
Upvote with support for doing the Fleshcrafting plan today. Going to say we just keep the dinner with Lyubov, work her in after we've had our business meals.

>>399752
I'll upvote the Whaitiri propositions and generally being awesome.


>>399793
Downvoting purchasing those expensive as all get out lungs and talking to the Wyld Goblins about the tank. The eye, arena (if we go there), and bar socializing are fine.
>>
No. 399978 ID: 06efb4

Feodor Orders
>DC68, rolled 53

*Return from a less exciting night at Finnigan's. Shower, and get a Sake-rub.
*Use the lack of competitors in the morning run as an excuse to try using the weight vest with a full load (140lbs).
*Approve of Lev's new, more serious approach to training. Decline the offer of knife-throwing training. Upon hearing Lev's revelation, say, "I don't know you very well, so I thought you were just an idiot. I don't know how you couldn't tell what you were doing was retarded. You need to see a psychologist."
*Answer Lyubov when she returns from church. Tell her about the various common inorganic acids, focusing on hydrofluoric acid as the one that'll dissolve granite and sandstone - as well as her bones if she weren't careful. Finish by telling her that bronze is quite hard to corrode, but that if she wanted to go completely overboard, it could be dissolved in a boiling mixture of concentrated nitric and sulfuric acids, like a precious metal.
*Head into the market and buy some lambskin leather ($300), wolverine and lynx hides ($1000), and if possible, some animal teeth or ivory ($200). Take it all back to Amen and ask him to make some winter clothes out of it. Ask him what mundane materials he'd recommend for making clothes suitable for the rest of the year in the Istanbul climate.
*Do all of the day's chakra training while wearing the new all-animal clothes, and see if there's any difference to normal.
*Head to Finnigan's, notebook ready. Bring the $6000, and apologise for forgetting it. When it dies down towards the end of the night, ask Finnigan what the strangest thing he's seen someone come in with was.
>>
No. 400045 ID: 421737

>>399717
This is acceptable. But do not use Satai and Hamlet, just go in person. Do not say a lot, it's a bad idea. Do not use the words presented. Go to meetings and be a businessman.

>>399721
Death match is not the only way to make money. Use the NeverNever time to make Andrei finish making movies. Then sell films.

Do not cheat Wizard. Ask the Wizard to give flesh memories as part of the award. Do not use Amen, do not stick it inside the homeless, do not stick it inside the goblins, do not make Witch scoff.

>>399768
It is bad idea. Why do we reject the opportunity to help Armas become less mentally ill? Why do we represent Armas as more like a monster and not as a person? Why be emotionally crippled Armas, when he can heal?

Weasel will be upset over being so freely of their gender. Using weasel as a pawn is going to be bad.


>>399793
Talk to Gianni and Dávgon about golem/bodyparts/plan for golem.
>>
No. 400133 ID: 252e1b

LYUBOV ORDERS

L*~Before bed, Lyubov will text message Armas: Ito has a trustworthy tax assessor. Call for consulting work on your taxes, before the 15th. ###-#### Don’t let your day be spoiled! Have a good day! :)
L*~Lyubov will then sleep, wake, and follow the first part of the Morning Routine. She’ll get cleaned up, submit the list of tools and supplies she’ll need to Satai, and then get ready for church. She’ll borrow a van to run a few errands while she has time.
L*~Lyubov will buy: a couple of replacement disposable cell phones, an X-Box 360, and a couple more bottles of wine for later in the week. ($410)
L*~Lyubov will then swing home, drop off her purchases, pick up Gloom, and head to church. She’ll confess sins to Father Nikolai, talk to him briefly about her mother, and donate $500 to the church. She’ll ask Nikolai if they can talk again this Wednesday.
L*~Lyubov will grin at Gloom’s reaction to Cookie Lady’s thoughtful gift, and will mention to her that she knows some other people who would probably like to meet her. “Maybe you could come to the dojo where we work as trainers some evening and we could make cookies together in the kitchen there for everyone, I am sure they would all love you. How about Tuesday evening?”
L*~After Church Lyubov will head home and set up the X-Box on the living room TV. Then she’ll buy a copy of Jade Empire and tell Duke “A few years ago they made a game that has a character based on you in it. I played it before, but I got it again if you want to play it now. Here, you’re not the player character, you have to be one of these...” ($15)
L*~Lyubov will change into her workout outfit and go to the dojo, and then back home to Camella’s Chakra Lessons (complete with her usual distraction routine).
L*~Lyubov will practice more gyaketsuote with Granny Vampire and Hafaz. She will also ask Ito, in Japanese, “Can I bring a friend over Tuesday to see where I work and meet some of my friends and maybe make some cookies? Please? She’s a really nice old woman from church.”
L*~When Lyubov goes home, she’ll get the SIM card from one of the disposable phones Tesla killed, and put it in one of the new phones. She’ll turn the phone on and say, “I know you are there, and I want to apologize for irritating you. I am sorry about not talking to you sooner about my friend, too. But, how is it you do this, and why do you care? I have made prank calls many times before.” When he (inevitably) introduces himself properly, she’ll offer her name in return and be respectful.

>>399795
L*~Lyubov responds to Iosef, "He is talking to food? Oh, that is not good at all. I will ask Sake to check on him, maybe it has something to do with the thing in his mouth. And I will let Matvey know, Andrei is better with Matvey I think? I am not sure."

>>399810
L*~Lyubov says to Gloom, "Maybe you should ask her politely? It only took a half hour or so for me when she did it. Ah, but, I had Armas and Dávgon observe. I think you should arrange to have one of them, too, or Shadowboss, maybe. They see souls, those three, and the uh, dying exercise, affects souls. Oh! Or if you do not want to use Hillevi's technique, Sake told me the most common way is to be beaten nearly to death. That is, ah, more traumatic, but anyone could help with that, and Sake would help you heal after. He helps those who are injured. Um. There are probably other ways too. But Hillevi's technique was very controlled, and I felt very safe with her."
>>
No. 400230 ID: ca5118

[NIKIFOR ORDERS]
-Pushes himself hard in the Morning Jog-can't let the others beat his ass! It'd be embarrasing if someone who puts on a WEIGHTED vest outperforms him everyday! Feel penis envy and lose self confidence. Make beating Feodor a personal goal!
-Head out, attempt to find and finegle a milliner into handcrafting a Bowler hat out of unspotted leopard skin or other dangerous furred animal. Be roundabout in explaining why if questioned ($300). Strut around feeling debonair until a watchmaker is found and buy a decidedly suave watch http://www.stowa.de/cosmoshop/pix/a/z/chrono1938schwarzpol/g/Stowa_Chrono_1938_3.jpg ($2222). Feel so great about purchase he punches a dog in the snout on the way back. Have no regrets.
-Agree to pay $600 for Bulletproofed Suit, since he wants Silicon Carbide in Mail Style. Start to leave. Turn around and flail arms wildly at the last minute and express something along the lines of "Tailor right arm straits by an inch or two to fit low profile arm brace"
-Is a bit sad he got banned from Ito's Gym for a week. Briefly consider writing Ito an apology later. Remember old people are incapable of reading. Nod thoughtfully to self. Maybe he'll go gambling at the Casino one of these Nights and have some fun...nah, after the suit's done. Hooke-- ladies love suits. Asks Titus how long it'll take.
-Spends the nights trying to self-practice, with mind pacified by the magic of booze. Explore abilities with and train in chakra flow, long range marksmanship, and swordsmanship/dagger-play. Asks Amen to provide a safe, sound-proofed range, and then a few mobile targets which are NOT harmful or alive to shoot/slash at. Ask offhand if Amen has a sexual preference.

>>
No. 400343 ID: d97a61

[Igor has been queued to do the following:]
+I+Will try to keep as quite as possible during the night spent smithing, hammering away. Will not only accomplish this, but get the feeling he might want to try Reinforcement when he's smithing.
+I+ Spends time in the afternoon with Dmitrii if possible. If not, he will go back to smithing... but this time, for himself. He seeks to craft… a steel-gong.
+I+ During today's chakra training, Igor will try to not think at all, and just the follow instructions and follow the flow. Maybe he could find a decent rhythm that way. What kind of cadence could he set him to…
>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>A< Do not sleep. Latenight troll-herding. Keep Invasion forces directed at Drama-Cow and Iosef. Find the interest in the invasion dying down as the Myspacer does not seem that enthused with defending herself. Odd for a tween.
>A< Between herdings, begin working on the actual Blade: The Series! Footage. Boss wants it soon, damn it all. Continue rehashing footage and wonder if a stylized view would be a good idea, given it was shot with multiple cameras all around the building… what does that remind him of…
>A< Andrei squashes any feelings of silliness. Talking to food is the first way to gain its trust. Then, steps will be taken to craft a 'Food Network' that will respond only to Mistah Andrei. To this end, he will have another discussion with food. Just talking, getting to know the food and carefully bringing them around to the idea of telling him what they hear. Sounds fun Mistah Andrei …Did I hear something? ……….No? ………Okay.
>A< Self made breakfast of Kale, Massive Omelet, Bacon, and Blini. Ask them if they have overheard anything in the past day. No response. Odd looks from some coworkers-Dmitrii seems to give zero fucks. Coffee and three Energy Catalysts. Notice that someone's been drinking a goodly bit of caffeinated goodness, judging by the depleted state of house stock.
>A< Learning About Chakra's Source Code Time. Get the feeling that Lyubov and Gloom are- Wait, what? What do you mean we have time off? Son of a duck!
>A< Well, down to continued editing. Get Blade: The Series: The First Episode: Death of a Stranger done, still feeling like he could come up with a better presentation than just editing the footage together with flow and enhancing the base footage. Iosef and Dmitri are both ignored because working. Wish, when the visual effects are compiling, there was more time in the day. Also, buy a satellite. It should only be about 20,000 dollars to pick up one in orbit.
>A< *Ahem* Learning About Chakra's Source - Wait? The rest of the night? Andrei gets himself a Rage Inferno - Learning About Charka's Source Code Time. Get the feeling that Lyubov and Gloom are trying to spoof the IP, but keep focusing on learning the root code, or any backdoors. Spend entire night on process, in a caffeine-fueled semi-meditative-semi-vegitative coma-trance.
>A<Snap out of it feeling like Neo in the morning. See no discernible change… yet. But the lessons do feel… simpler now.
[Vlad has been queued to do the following:]
\/-Wake up. The fuck was that dream about? Give nearby lamps a weird look, conclude vodka is required.
\/-Test new spicy meat vodka for breakfast. Find it insufficiently spicey, or breakfastey. Desire to brew…. a better breakfast liquor.
\/-Off to Jogging Gulag. Bring canteen of vodka along for refreshment. Continue to grumble about the simple not-enoughness of the Spicy Vodka.
\/-Pass out bottles of meat vodka when returning home. Also give a bottle to Amen for the hell of it. Find the fact the bottle was abruptly shredded and crushed while somehow able to move like flesh, glass and brew alike, and died in Amen's hand when Amen was encouraged to drink it…. pretty fucked up. Like he did something bad to alcohol itself.
\/-Decide some practice may be in order after thinking about super shotgun plans again. Check an AN-94 and the Kushnapup out of the armory along with ammo for each, 1000 rounds of 5.45 and 100 of 12ga slug. Leave note that ammo stocks currently have a shortage of buckshot shells. Awaiting Satai's response.
\/-Shooting practice for a couple hours. Check that weapons are in proper condition first. Spend time getting accustomed to the shotgun's quirks, especially when firing one-handed. Attempt to improve autofire accuracy through exhaustive AN-94 use. Test different stances, distributions of weight, grip placement, etc. Anything that may help in getting accustomed to a weapon firing in rapid succession.
\/-Maintain weapons and return them to armory with remaining 187 rounds of 5.45 ammo.
\/-Off to Ito to dispense bullets and recieve beatings. Wonder if the constant thrashing is having any effect on pain tolerance or perception thereof. Find Ito already complaining single fire from a .45 pistol is not sufficiently 'bracing' for his needs. Awaiting Vald's reaction to Ito egging him on at what and how he shouts at him.

[Lev has been queued to do the following:]
[L]-Wakes. Showers. While showering Lev considers how his poor state of mind, well. Recognition is the first step to recovery right?
[L]-Lev goes on the jog, Lev goes to chakra training, Lev concentrates, his life is on the line here, he can't afford to GUTS... wait, calm, just remember. Lev did it before, if he can be sane for a moment he can do it again. Surreptitiously rubs his guts when no one's looking.
[L]-Ito Chakra. Apologize for being a psychopathic manchild, apply guts to... apply will to learning, you really don't want to die. Be told be Ito to keep his words and give his apology by… not being a psychopathic manchild in his dojo.
[L]-Feodor training. Begin again, footing, stances, gripping. With mind back in the game, once again out perform far less-experienced combat knife handler. Take some note of the oddly precise wrist movements Feodor's using, more mechanical than fluid.
[L]-Offer to teach Feodor some knife throwing as well, can be handy when a foe is fleeing. Confide discovery of self-madness to Feodor. Result being that Lev discovers it was kinda obvious that he was acting screwy.
[L]-Recall past blunders, like the sewer episode, Lev wonders how he could have possible been so stupid, oh yeah, insanity.
[L]-Cooking time with Boris, GUTS, a sausage and noodle dish, consisting of several bags of noodles, (Lev isn't allowed near the water) diced herbs, diced tomatos(with sauce, garlic and chopped chorizo. Noodles are the only unfried thing, some tomato juices added to the water. Everything is lumped together and mixed after cooking, placed in a large tin, grated cheese covering the top, grill until cheese melts. serve. Find dicing vegtables great fun. Consider that Italians can get some things right. Ask Boris about Boris' cooking skills. Have… a pretty normal time period cooking with a better chef. That's… not insane, right?
[L]-Attempt to grab energy drink, fail. Attempt to recieve weasel rubbings, be pranked. Feel smug about prescience, limited in nature or no.
[L]-Ito Night Chakra. Focus, just like preparing to strike, just focus. Find less ramshackle mind may hold something in it he could use-feel like some more time spent really getting his head back in the game could pry out a secret.
[L]-Lev collapses in bed, He fails to have energy to consider madness or state of combating madness. His last thoughts as he falls asleep are of what he might get from Dávgon if he makes that deal…
[L]-Dreams of fighting ever-expanding Matvey that's also the Hulk (but orange?) and a terrain-destroying Iosef monster…. as mecha-Lev!
[L]-Has a good night's sleep. Real good.

[Iosef has been queued to do the following:]
=I=Acquires a Soul Quirk that lets him render objects he touches more prone to breakage-it's enough to make things easier, but nowhere near enough to crumble things on its own. Feel a bit underwhelmed, pay little attention to Dávgon's comments it's keyed to the size of his soul.
=I=After thinking hard about it Iosef concludes that if Dimitrii sold his memories, he doesn't have them anymore thus cannot tell anyone, even in general terms, what he sold. At least he didn't lose the memory of the trade. Imagine how awful it would be to suddenly realize 10 years later that a big chunk of your life is missing and then spending time and effort trying uncover what happened.
=I=Tries to learn from his failed invasion attempt. This could be a good lesson in his goal to have better social skills. Learns that… emotionally engaging trolls in any way is, as it happens, a bad idea. What a valuable lesson!
=I=Compares the final version of the edited footage. Makes notes on the differences compared to the one he made. Perhaps next time he'll fare better. Feels like he can only tell Andrei's is better, not why-gets frustrated with lack of insightful self-comparison.
=I=Man, Andrei is like a walking corpse- Wait, is he talking to his power-bar? Damn, that guy really needs to get some sleep.
=I=Talks to Lyubov, says he's concerned about Andrei's well-being. "He has too damn many tasks and not a lot of time to do them, so he pushes himself to the extreme... Look, you're friends with Sake, right? Could you get him to daily heal Andrei? Else he's going to lose it. I saw him have discussion with a half-eaten powerbar!"
=I=Andrei sure is milking that favor Iosef offered for getting that laptop as a gift.... Ah well he needs help, back to work.
=I=Only after the deed is done, asks Andrei why the hell he wanted to raid that site anyway. Awaiting some great old explanation from self-proclaimed social engineer Andrei.
=I=Checks the girls page himself, tries to learn more about it and the person. Also checks the reaction to the minor invasion. Seem's she's upset-and withdrawing from Myspace.
=I=Spends the rest of the day doing whatever work that Andrei piles on him. Feels a little less dumb with computers-hooray!

[Gloom has been queued to do the following:]
*G* Decide that Sake has a very limited sense of humor.
Which makes sense, he's some sort of magically sentient godly animal, not a person.
*G* Modify order to Amen to not bring books that being in the presence of without reading them are harmful. Continue taking digital recordings, and make sure to have a couple of backups.
Be frustrated as the book's text, in general, proves deceptively hard to film in small ways-an error or two, nothing major, will appear on nearly every page.
*G* Mention to Lyubov that Armas isn't interested in the near-death experience unless Hillevi is...
Trail off and actually make a realization: He could probably find some way to combine Hillevi's near-death 'training' experience, the 'refresher' she can do and Sake's regenerative rubbing to make a… an accelerated Soul evolution event. The plan feels… Armas-like. Decide to keep it to himself, and refine it, so he can use it to re-assert a dominant position in the group.
*G* As generally superiors are uninterested in whether you live or die, refocus on chakra training. Drop stealth training and everything else.
Continue to not note personal preference for controlling leaders when verbally espousing a love of the ability to act independently. Much better to not be distracted by that.
*G* Talk to Camella about the mirror set-up and explain its connection to Armas's description of soul. Ask if she would be interested in helping him test whether it does work. Ask Camella what (unisex) clothes she feels most comfortable in, and then get Amen to make up a set for both her and him. Try practicing chakra between the mirrors with Camella there as well, mimicking the physical motions she is making, and attempting to do the same with the esoteric.
Fail to capture Camella's attendance for mirror training-but get a singularly unusual recommendation from her that sticks in his mind. "Why not stick with the training since it's wholly hatched of your own ideas-but try something a bit different? You're watching yourself watch yourself in the mirrors, right? Well, what if you learned how to feel yourself watch yourself?" Be advised to blindfold self, and try to feel reflected sense of being watched. Decide it sounds odd.
[Matvey has been queued to do the following:]
/\/\-Enjoy new knock-off Camella Soul Perk that makes it natural to increase invested energy in just about any sustained effort he undertakes. Be positive about… jarring disorientation it's use causes.
/\/\-Continue the weekly Brownie's gift giving ritual. Go to the designated room, tidy up, get Boris to help refill the bowls of porridge, saucers of cream, and stane.
/\/\-Recieve meat Vodka from Vlad, try to taste it, be unsure how to take the flavor. Think it's too savory for booze and too watery for meat, but still strangely good. Thank Vlad for the bottle anyway. Drink some more, decide to drop the bottle off in the boss' room, he seems to appreciate meat to a disturbing degree, leave a note saying he can thank Vlad for this new concoction.
/\/\-Talk to Camella after her Chakra training session about his new Soul Quirk, how amazing it is and all the things he just want to go out to see, do, and learn with it. Then learning it didn't really help him learn at all, just stuff like run faster, push harder, and stuff like that. Explain how much it sounded like ... well her when Dávgon explained it to him and he figured she could help. Yesterday might have been a good start, but there's a distinct feeling that this will be tough to get used to and who better to help him be like her than her.
/\/\-Get an interesting response-she's not rejecting, but isn't fully committed on doing it until she's certain she could give him 'homework' and he'd do it between lessons. Awaiting player response on how she could assuage her concerns, and thereby gain her tutelage.
/\/\-Get the news about Andrei's condition. The poor bastard. Check with Lyubov to make sure Sake will attempt to relieve his exhaustion. Explain to Hillevi that Andrei isn't feeling well and if she could offer her assistance when she goes over for her lessons. Set Andrei up to go in for a medical check up with Feodor just to make sure all the possible bases are covered. Try to eat meals nearer to Andrei when he comes out of his lair, try to get him to open up, hopefully socialization improves his deteriorating mental and physical health.

[Feodor has been queued to do the following:]
*F*Return from a less exciting night at Finnigan's. Shower, and get a Sake-rub. …Then a shower to get rid of… animal dander. Yep. Being healthy.
*F *Use the lack of competitors in the morning run (with the few first-placers adamantly staying ahead of the rest) as an excuse to try using the weight vest with a full load (140lbs). DC 80 to not fall into bottom third. DC 99 to stay above middle.
*F *Approve of Lev's new, more serious approach to training. Decline the offer of knife-throwing training. Upon hearing Lev's revelation, say, "I don't know you very well, so I thought you were just an idiot. I don't know how you couldn't tell what you were doing was retarded. You need to see a psychologist." Feel like Lev didn't get he was being serious.
*F *Answer Lyubov when she returns from church. Tell her about the various common inorganic acids, focusing on hydrofluoric acid as the one that'll dissolve granite and sandstone - as well as her bones if she weren't careful. Finish by telling her that bronze is quite hard to corrode, but that if she wanted to go completely overboard, it could be dissolved in a boiling mixture of concentrated nitric and sulfuric acids, like a precious metal.
*F *Head into the market and buy some lambskin leather ($300), wolverine and lynx hides ($1000), and if possible, some animal teeth or ivory ($200). Take it all back to Amen and ask him to make some winter clothes out of it. Ask him what mundane materials he'd recommend for making clothes suitable for the rest of the year in the Istanbul climate. Be recommended.. Amen. Be very weirded out he offers himself as a material to make clothing from. Instead just… get some basic leathers.
*F *Do all of the day's chakra training while wearing the new all-animal clothes, and see if there's any difference to normal. Be uncertain, from one day, if it's because the metal's gone or because he's got such new attire. Feel further testing is needed.
*F *Head to Finnigan's, notebook ready. Bring the $6000, and apologize for forgetting it. See Finnigan pointedly tearing down a calendar he had been Xing out days on. Realize he had been crossing out days he was late. Hear nothing further on the subject. When it dies down towards the end of the night, ask Finnigan what the strangest thing he's seen someone come in with was. Be told it was a Leprechaun that anal prolapsed into its pot of gold, and he called in a big favor just to make someone else deal with the problem-seems this particular Leprechaun had an anus that was allergic… to gold. From his descriptions, it was a most hauntingly traumatic sight.

Lyubov has been queued to do the following:]
L*~Before bed, Lyubov will text message Armas: Ito has a trustworthy tax assessor. Call for consulting work on your taxes, before the 15th. ###-#### Don’t let your day be spoiled! Have a good day! :)
L*~Lyubov will then sleep, wake, and follow the first part of the Morning Routine. She’ll get cleaned up, submit the list of tools and supplies she’ll need to Satai, and then get ready for church. She’ll borrow a van to run a few errands while she has time.
L*~Lyubov will buy: a couple of replacement disposable cell phones, an X-Box 360, and a couple more bottles of wine for later in the week. ($410) Notices she's got the third X-Box of the house.
L*~Lyubov will then swing home, drop off her purchases, pick up Gloom, and head to church. She’ll confess sins to Father Nikolai, talk to him briefly about her mother, and donate $500 to the church. She’ll ask Nikolai if they can talk again this Wednesday.
L*~Observes Known Powerful Force (KPF) codenamed 'Cookie Lady' waylaying Gloom and feeding him a Rhubarb tart-and finding a small smile on his grim face that she merrily points out. Lyubov will grin at Gloom’s reaction to Cookie Lady’s thoughtful gift, and will mention to her that she knows some other people who would probably like to meet her. “Maybe you could come to the dojo where we work as trainers some evening and we could make cookies together in the kitchen there for everyone, I am sure they would all love you. How about Tuesday evening?” Be told this is a wonderful idea, but she'd have to be home by nine.
L*~After Church Lyubov will head home and set up the X-Box on the living room TV. Then she’ll buy a copy of Jade Empire and tell Duke “A few years ago they made a game that has a character based on you in it. I played it before, but I got it again if you want to play it now. Here, you’re not the player character, you have to be one of these...” ($15) Barely get Duke interested in mocking the 'combat' in the game while waiting to show him his own character.
L*~Lyubov will change into her workout outfit and go to the dojo, and then back home to Camella’s Chakra Lessons (complete with her usual distraction routine). Start to feel pretty good about Reinforcement.
L*~Lyubov will practice more gyaketsuote with Granny Vampire and Hafaz. She will also ask Ito, in Japanese, “Can I bring a friend over Tuesday to see where I work and meet some of my friends and maybe make some cookies? Please? She’s a really nice old woman from church.” Be told that's totally fine. Well not in Ito's words but that's what he probably meant!
L*~When Lyubov goes home, she’ll get the SIM card from one of the disposable phones Tesla killed, and put it in one of the new phones. She’ll turn the phone on and say, “I know you are there, and I want to apologize for irritating you. I am sorry about not talking to you sooner about my friend, too. But, how is it you do this, and why do you care? I have made prank calls many times before.” Is told, in turn 'There is a difference between a normal person calling for an hour, here and there, and a magical being plying it's own twisting of chance dedicating entire nights to creating havoc. " Fail to get a name-but hey, he's not mad sounding… sort of!
L*~Lyubov responds to Iosef, "He is talking to food? Oh, that is not good at all. I will ask Sake to check on him, maybe it has something to do with the thing in his mouth. And I will let Matvey know, Andrei is better with Matvey I think? I am not sure." Seems Sake thinks this… actually really might be related to the thing in his mouth-asks if he's allowed to just surprise cut it out, heal him and be done with it-he could do it next time the guy sleeps before he even knew what was happening.
L*~Lyubov says to Gloom, "Maybe you should ask her politely? It only took a half hour or so for me when she did it. Ah, but, I had Armas and Dávgon observe. I think you should arrange to have one of them, too, or Shadowboss, maybe. They see souls, those three, and the uh, dying exercise, affects souls. Oh! Or if you do not want to use Hillevi's technique, Sake told me the most common way is to be beaten nearly to death. That is, ah, more traumatic, but anyone could help with that, and Sake would help you heal after. He helps those who are injured. Um. There are probably other ways too. But Hillevi's technique was very controlled, and I felt very safe with her."
[Nikifor has been queued to do the following:]
-Pushes himself hard in the Morning Jog-can't let the others beat his ass! It'd be embarrassing if someone who puts on a WEIGHTED vest outperforms him everyday! Feel penis envy and lose self confidence. Make beating Feodor a personal goal! ROLL in DISC, DC 60
-Head out, attempt to find and finegle a milliner into handcrafting a Bowler hat out of unspotted leopard skin or other dangerous furred animal. Be roundabout in explaining why if questioned ($300). Feel so great about purchase he punches a dog in the snout on the way back. Have no regrets. Fucker barked at him.
-Agree to pay $600 for Bulletproofed Suit, since he wants Silicon Carbide in Mail Style. Start to leave. Turn around and flail arms wildly at the last minute and express something along the lines of "Tailor right arm straits by an inch or two to fit low profile arm brace"
-Is a bit sad he got banned from Ito's Gym for a week. Briefly consider writing Ito an apology later. Remember old people are incapable of reading. Nod thoughtfully to self. Maybe he'll go gambling at the Casino one of these Nights and have some fun...nah, after the suit's done. Hooke-- ladies love suits. Asks Titus how long it'll take.
-Spends the nights trying to self-practice, with mind pacified by the magic of booze. Explore abilities with and train in chakra flow, long range marksmanship, and swordsmanship/dagger-play. Fail to see any real change, but hey, it's an investment. Asks Amen to provide a safe, sound-proofed range, and then a few mobile targets which are NOT harmful or alive to shoot/slash at. Is told to clear it with Armas first as it'd cost him a reasonable amount of blood to provide-an odd reply. Ask offhand if Amen has a sexual preference. Get no answer.




ARMAS ORDERS LOCKED
>>
No. 400372 ID: 205ef9

ARMAS SUMARRY

>Morning
+If going to the Arena practice shooting with the Kushnapup in case it's needed in the arena, if not refresh on chakra in case Einrik's contact asks from a demonstration. (Alratan – MAN for shooting(it's Vlad's!)) = 0
+Giving back the books to the library (Pillbug+ Grail) (2), send minion for this (TIM) (1)
+Realize you owe taxes (Buttz+ TIM) (2)
+Give Hamlet a call, first thing. Right now. Get him on board with meeting Johan (Buttz + Arkeus +Alratan + TIM) (4+), and talk him into going to the dojo to be exercised to sleep. (Buttz -Arkeus), , Only do it if we can sneak in a weasel rub (Grail)
+Go to that meeting with the Chakra Master, be social, be polite (Buttz + Arkeus + TIM), make your association with Einrik an important part of the introductions. (Buttz – Arkeus -c30f9b ), take Camella (Alratan + Arkeus + TIM), SUST using obnoxious dialog (Arkeus + c30f9b)
+Give an honest description of yourself instead: Armas has problems with focus(or rather he needs concrete goals to strive for) and likes shortcuts probably more than is good for him. But he has no problem with working hard and subjecting himself to pain or humiliation. He has a hard head and a weaselly self, but he keeps to his deals.
+If the meeting appears to take you close to 10 am with no real chance to leave (i.e. it’s going well and you’re learning) call Satai and have him take some reaper rounds and the reaper parts to Johan for evaluation. Ask Shadowbro to go with him, and to brief him about what Hamlet has learned. Be sure to call Johan and let him know you can’t make it yourself, but you’ve sent capable people in your stead. (Buttz + Alratan + Arkeus + TIM +Dkay - 421737 ), Ask Hamlet to go to Johan (Alratan + Arkeus +TIM)
+When you have what looks like a free five minute block of time, call Ito’s tax assessor contact that Lyubov got for you. Arrange a meeting for Monday, if he’s up for it. (Buttz - Arkeus)
+The meeting probably won’t take you to noon, but if it looks like it will, politely beg off. If Camella wants to stay to hang out with the Chakra Master, don’t be boorish. If she wants to meet Ghanmen and his contacts, let her tag along for that. (Buttz + TIM)
+Contact Gianni, show him your new trick (Buttz+ 421737 – Arkeus -Grail), Talk to Giagia about eyes for our BEAST. Seriously, Giagia is the only person who we know who can actually get THE BEST working and install the eyes and lungs and whatever other organs we need. It stops us from getting 15 wereshrimp eyes before Giagia tells us they're not compatible. Same with the Lungs we're looking at and the Cyclops Eyes. (Man + 421737, -Arkeus, -TIM, -Alratan)
+Buy lots of stuff, rent tank (Man, -Arkeus, -TIM, -Alratan -Grail)
+Death match is not the only way to make money. Use the NeverNever time to make Andrei finish making movies. Then sell films. (421737)

>Social
+Let Lyubov know we're declining her dinner invitation (Alratan- Buttz), Decline invitation to dinner but take her to lunch instead (Arkeus), Troll plan (TIM +Abeo if have the time -421737 -Grail)

>Afternoon
+Alternate plan for the afternoon: walk the Egyptian (spice) bazaar. It should be open on Sunday. Keep soul sensing active to find magical spices, nuts and fruits to do the magical meats justice in the kitchen. There are supposed to be jewelry and other expensive items available too. (e089c4 )
+Arena Plan (-c30f9b + MAN )
+Doony Fleshcrafting plan (Alratan + Arkeus + TIM +UBR + Abeo + Grail -c30f9b - MAN (cheating?)). Only use Wizard exlusivty plan: 421737.
+Take a nap/faint and meet Whaitiri (Arkeus+ Grail)
+Do nothing (Dkay)

>Evening
+Evening - if Johan said no to Hamlet coming – Have Hamlet visit for dinner to run through the results of Johan's investigation. As Surprise!WeaselRub didn't happen before, have it happen now. (Alratan)
+Evening - if Johan said yes - Have dinner with everyone, and then retire early with Dávgon to get some basic tuition on soul manipulation/sensing and also show him the chakra orientation that channels energy to another soul connected to yours. He might find it useful or know of it, and we can also ask him whether it would help to have that active and assigned to HB by default? (Alratan)
+After Dinner - Send results to H&H. Hopefully this is enough to get the mere repaired and offered a commission as one of their hunters on top. Don't ask for the latter, and put off accepting it if it is offered. Ring Lo Fang and set up a time to meet during the week. (Alratan)
+Go get Cookie Lady and take her to the dojo. Try to set her up with Ito, but mostly try to make her realize there is poor orphans that she could help. (Arkeus + Grail)
+And, end of the day? Back to the Bar. Hang out with Some-name, try and get any more contacts. See if anyone knows about the Caspian Sea - don't directly ask Some-name, that's racist. We have a trip to (MAN)
>>
No. 400473 ID: d97a61

I stretch despite not really needing to-and seem to jog a decidedly odd idea free from my mind. I recall, of all things, overdue books I borrowed from one of the city libraries, and decide that this morning, I shall return them. I dress in muted attire, a simple navy navy suit, matching periwinkle shoes and shirt, and royal blue words stitched into every article of clothing: Orange, written everywhere, to proclaim to the world that which is not present, save in a four-fold handkerchief and a largely obscured tie, each nearly hidden despite their neon brilliance. It helps that I had Amen give the blue ensemble an iridescent finish. Properly attired to visit the library, I go, drop off my books-and somehow, end up not owing any late fees. Perhaps it had something to do with me 'accidentally' finding all doors unlocked and being able to evoke the persona of a bumbling idiot and happened upon an early morning tryst. After a reasonably brief conversation I left, my books returned, uncharged for lateness-and owed a favor by one Librarian of the nearest city library to the mansion, and by one steelsmith from the city bazaar. I don't even bother reading their names after confirming I do indeed have their contact information. It is on my way back from the library that I come to a realization: I…. need to pay taxes, not just on the company, but on the mansion-and probably those motercycles… ah. Ah man. This sucks.
>"It seems I retain your hatred for taxes every bit as much as you do. I find… it is a feeling I do not miss."
>[Sake]"What are taxes?"
>[Hummingbird]"Speak of what vexes you so that it may be understood."
I try to explain taxes to my soul brother and spirit animal, and accomplish little more than seeing Hummingbird's beak and talons rapidly lengthen when he makes a vehement point-proof he's been eagerly investigating his new fleshcrafting capacity. feather manipulation, not claw and beak… he's only had a few days, but I should have bought him some time with that extended drained period. I… tentatively say we are on track to explore the bodybind solution rather soon.

Recalling my appointment with Johann and the logical need to have the most informed present, I call Hamlet, and shortly have him heading to Johann's address to meet me at ten, with an explanation it's to consult an expert on potential causes for the numerical inconsistency that's cropped up with the Reaper round research. I don't tell him there's a very real chance I'm just going to leave him to it-and I call Johann, explaining I might be occupied this morning, and wonder if he'd mind talking with the guy who came to me with the problem I was coming to talk to him about. The guy grumbles, but remembering his stoic front I'm fairly certain he's just dicking about and doesn't really mind-he agrees readily enough, at least.

With my morning potentially free all the way until noon, I decide to go for a bit of an involved pursuit: Einrik's chakra contact. I take a risk and decide to go early, confident I can spin it as earnest eagerness if they try to make a fuss. The directions to the place are oddly convoluted-and at several points I could swear I'm walking on the wrong street, but SB and the bird alike detect fuckall, so I keep trucking, eye open and alert. It's now that I'm rather thankful that I got to run into Camella on my way out the door. I still can't believe 'Hey, I'm going to maybe get access to a crazy talented chakra teacher-wanna come?' worked. Guess she really was serious about knocking that prickly bitch shit off-and hey, she may not be a cheater, but she's the next best thing: talented. Having her here could help me make an even better impression!

When I finally get to the park, I find it surprisingly empty: no matter the weather most parks in the city are at least permanently semi-populated. I start walking, brazenly trying to stretch my soul sensing as I look for occupants in the park…. damn, bit too windy, hard to get a good-
There.
At a bench just barely visible arounda meager, semi-starved set of old trees I see what at first I think to be a root dress in human clothing. The woman is ancient, her skin so wrinkled it's nearly pleated, sitting with her eyes closed, happily swaddled within a bevy of knit jackets. She's… wearing pink bunny slippers. and what look like pajama pants made out of a thick comforter. Well she's… definitely comfortable. She's also the only person in the park. So Camella and I make our way over, hearing her speak as we draw close enough to cast shadows over her.

Well, we don't REALLY hear her speak. It's more that… I speak for her.
"I would ask that you not let your darkened soul fall upon me."
Okay WOW that was weird, at least SM just throws his voice, I actually said that. Taking a few steps back-and I speak again.
"I do not recall you mentioning another potential student, but I think I shall overlook it-she is a curious thing to have on hand to compare you to."
>[Camella]"Are you willing to consider teaching me, or am I only to be considered a tool for his teaching?"
"Rather brash to ask outright, is it not?"
>[Camella]"I simply wish to know what could lay ahead of me. Either way I shall help as I can, if you are inclined to let me."
"You'd help me train him? Why?"
Seriously strange to be witness to this conversation."
>[Camella]"Plenty of reasons, but to name one: I… have some things I need to make up for."
"Very well, keep your motives. A bloodline-less chakra user more mentally defended than a dual bloodlined godling? Curious, curious…."
Okay, that's a bit rude there, and now I'm getting one of those looks from Camella-man….
>"May I ask how your morning has been so far?"
"You may, but I think with the two of you here we might as well start now."

And that… is when I begin learning some rather different things about Chakra. I can't deny an irritating amount remains out or reach to me, and I decide to lay it out for Old Lady-no seriously, she makes me call her that. I tell her about my mid-to-long-term focus problems, my need for clear goals and checkpoints to stay focused on training, my fondness for shortcuts, workarounds and risky ventures. I tell her how I use my narcissistically rooted competitive streak to make myself a hard worker, and can take just about any kind of abuse I have to to reach one of my goals. I tell her about my bloodline-based chakras, and the gross power they can hold giving me prodigious stamina for my level of experience. From her-I learn the ways of the mind. It would seem that chakras opening directly into the brain presents all sorts of options-that is, if one can expertly discern how much of a given flow of chakratic energy is from which gates, and at what aperture they emitted the energy. Thankfully, at least with my own chakras I can mostly do that-the sole reason, I think, she actually ended up teaching me. Hers is the way of mental manipulation-of invasion, control and influence. She speaks of convincing others an idea is their own, of taking control of another, of crushing intellect with raw mental force. I'm so caught up in the lessons that not only do I hardly notice Camella learning beside me, I forget to even call Hamlet or Johann to confirm I'm late. Good thing I got things set up beforehand.

I learn of mental defense-of how to wall my thoughts with chakra, hide them behind fortresses of my own devising. In truth I only get as far as grasping the concept that guides the attempt, before the Old Lady moves on, clearly happy to let me finalize my orientations on my own.
>"Potential evidence she is unwilling/unable to officially teach you her style, but letting you make something like it doesn't seem off-limits."
She teaches me how to vacate control of my own body, and I feel certain she'll teach me how to wrest control from another… but the lesson stops there, when I realize it's nearly noon. I thank the Old Lady for her tutelage, she accepts with my own mouth (still as weird as it was before) and excuse myself, pleasantly surprised how little energy I ended up expending on that-it was a rather theory heavy lesson, but decidedly enjoyable for its refreshingly alien nature.

I move, then, to a different obligation: That of Abdul Ghanem to introduce me to his contacts. I meet the man in question at the Bazaar, where without speaking a word directly to me he stomps about, singling out merchants I hadn't looked twice at and periodically introducing me to them-it's on the third merchant that I actually step into a shop-finding that from within, it reveals a decidedly magical nature, housing far more room and goods than it should. I come to find that each such merchant he introduces me to is such an individual, manning a discreetly placed magic shop that I flat-out can't detect from without. Over the course of the afternoon, he introduces me to a vender of metal goods, a cloth merchant, an insect merchant, a butcher and a pet shop with decidedly uncuddly charges. Five different merchants, all dealing in different magical goods, hiding in plain site within the cities largest market. This is what the man that despises me is forced to bestow upon me by the Accords, and I find myself grateful for the knowledge, hardly paying any attention to the knowledge Abdul will likely try to crush me sooner or later for the insults I and my friends have offered him. Shit happens.

>>399721
On my return, I decide to head into the sewers rather than going in the mansion, and start up a chat with the Sometimes Merchant. We both briefly touch upon the outstanding balance of half a year of NN time I've got floating in an unclosed Bargain, before we butt heads for quite a while over the specifics of a rather brainy deal. With the Wizard's offer as of yet unagreed to, and no promise made, I am wholly free to make copies of what I will later give to the exclusive care of the wizard Dorjpalam. SM's prices are a pain, even after two damn HOURS of back and forth I've only got him at the point of giving the memories to SM and I as a manipulatable object within my eye's spiritual plane-we won't genuinely gain the creature's memories, but we will get an interface we can use to experience those memories as we will. It's not what I'd hoped for-but it's all I can get while getting the goblins to agree to take nothing more than the same themselves, before delivering the completely unharmed, memories-intact mind to the Wizard in my name. Simple…. if one looks over the bitter divorce-like proceedings it took to get there. Seems SM was real keen on massively distributing the memories, and it was HELL to keep him to just his own copy that he and his shadow can view, and none other, same as me. I don't know how to feel about the fact SM was able to use the revelation his shadow was similarly ensouled as a way to weaken my bargaining position, but he managed to do it. At least I mostly mitigated the damage that did to my standing in the haggling. The mind still should meet Dorjpalam's standards, as he'll be the first to crack it's secrets, and only after I've confirmed he's begun investigating it will SM or I (or our shadows) be able to peruse our new mental files.

-I hope to have learned enough about the Fleshcrafting Doonongaes practice to be able to properly sell it to Oggmum-I can't see a were-affiliated Witch not being interested in divine fleshcrafting that could benefit her tribe.
-I learn that Whaitiri could indeed be interested in the memories-but would, interestingly, need to have them pitched to her directly by me to officially consider it.
-I head back to the bazaar and have a followup conversation with each of the merchants Abdul introduced me to, doing my best to get them as favorably inclined towards me as possible. So far as I can tell, mundanely or magically, they're not hiding any dislike of me, or otherwise showing that Abdul poisoned them against me in some way. Still, should probably consider my first possible purchases from them carefully.
-I invite Hamlet over for dinner, and get him to explain what he learned from Johann. Seems Johan talked about some 'nonsense' concerning devils that hide in certain shapes, and that the strange twisting coils within the bullet's explosive tip are the source of the irregular performance. I note Hamlet extremely agitated that he not only can't disprove the old man's claims, but his initial testing on the shape in question show it to defy conventional aerodynamics even when not exposed to the air. Now, THIS, I think, will be an excellent cherry to put atop my Titancorp reverse engineered pie.
-I spend a solid chunk of the evening with Dávgon, exploring the basics of soul sculpting with the aid of the modest collection of souls he never made into spirit animals. Each one's to decayed and faint to even count by the Accords standards, and are so spiritually weak I hardly need to use any power at all. I end up learning what it feels like to reach out and willfully try to reshape another soul-and wonder what it would feel like to reshape my own.
-While jauntily whistling, I fire off the complete report to Arkvad, complete with the initial shape analysis Hamlet did just today since lunch-and get an email back within an hour saying the Mere project's been approved and funded, and that some of the H&H executives would like to meet with me when they have the mere ready for me.
-I call up Lo Fang, and set a training time for WEDNESDAY, 6AM to 12AM. I should be mostly recovered by then. He notes he will not 'pay back' the hours I missed since the last lesson, since it was my choice not to attend.
-I watch Hillevi thoroughly enjoy watching Duke bumble his way through Jade Empire.
-I spend the later bit of the night bringing the Cookie Lady to Ito's, and succeed in showing her the plight of the Orphan vampires and similarly explain they have to work odd hours so they're only really up at night. She resolutely promises to make baked goods for the lot of them, a gleam in her eyes.
-I belatedly read the daily news feed-and find that the Shen that moved into the Bosphorus has moved on already. Not only that, but Blade… holy shit, Blade raided a Nazi outpost in Istanbul? Go Blade, good for you you little shit.

I try to get some sleep.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7th, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $680,085.04
BUSINESS FUNDS: $559,347.00
CASH: $6,320.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 70%
WINTER ENERGY: 69/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50


I wake up so energetic I don't even feel the need to brain coffee it up as I see the Hummingbird peering at it's foot-long tail feathers reminiscent of a peacocks with a heavy air of speculative appraisal before the feathers return to normal.

My day takes a bit of a negative turn when I get a call from Gianni with gunfire and screams in the background.
>[GiaGia][In Italian]"It's the Germans, it's ALL OF THEM, I-"
The line goes dead before I can hear any more.
>[Iron Trick]"Is someone messing with OUR pansexual? That shit won't stand."
SB… sounds pissed off.

Good.



Looks like the germans are trying to start some shit-and in that, are threatening Gianni's wellbeing. I need that fucker to finish my golem project, to keep learning more about fleshcrafting…. I need him, plain and simple.
>"I think he was at one of the three restaurants Rocco uses as a base when calling-it would make the most sense if this is a surprise mass attack."
Right. I've got three potential destinations, each within four blocks of one another-if I get it wrong I should be able to HEAR the trouble.












So what's my plan?
>>
No. 400651 ID: 252e1b

We’re going to need more men for this. Call Hafaz, we could use his squad to help.

Recall what Galileo Savoy told Armas about the restaurant where Castelletti met his end, in response to his plan to shoot Castelletti on the toilet:

>"…The first floor restrooms are those of the general restaurant-and are deeply ensconced in the building, too many walls for anything but a cannon to cleanly punch through in one go-so really, as you'd hit caliber levels that would have police calling the military, you could have issue."
>"[The second floor is] [j]ust the exterior wall then the [interior wall]… he's probably not going to use the upstairs bathroom, even if it is his own private one, adjacent to his panic room."
>"…there is a sewer access… attempting to manipulate it will be quite conspicuous."

Thanks to Castelletti, one of the restaurants is a virtual fortress, and included a panic room adjacent to his Sybarite-like office (seriously, it had all sorts of creature comforts, remember?). Rocco probably moved right in, and let Gianni take what he wanted when he redecorated. But I’m sure they kept the panic room and whatever fortifications were installed on the ground floor. They might have even upgraded the fortifications. They have to have had expected reprisals.

>Right. I've got three potential destinations, each within four blocks of one another-if I get it wrong I should be able to HEAR the trouble.

That’s a dangerous assumption. If the Nazis are smart, they will have a detachment of conventional forces at the other two restaurants to bottle up any potential reinforcements to their primary target. We’ll need to split the team. If Hafaz’s squad is available, assign Camella and whichever Russians she wants to bring to integrate with his squad and bring it up to parity with the Russian squad (make sure the Russians retain Dmitrii, since Matvey doesn’t know the Mafia well but Dmitrii does).

The last “squad” will be the heavies, and they will have their own assignments, largely acting to shore up holes and exploit opportunities. Or make opportunities.

This will be an urban fight, and thus civilians may be a problem. We’re going to need to assume that the Nazis are not totally incompetent, and have already set up cordons around the restaurants. It’d be preferable to bypass the cordon entirely (use back alleys, or if possible, rooftop or sewer access) and let the enemy troops or hirelings continue to perform the civilian deflection duty while we use our men to take the pressure off the Italians.

Since this was a surprise attack on the Mafia, the Nazis must have devised a stealthy and speedy way to disable or kill the Mafia rooftop pickets. There is probably some stealth-oriented enemy or group of enemies in the midst of the Nazi attackers, and the Nazis likely own the rooftops for now. To deal with this, Shadowbro, Sake, and Armas/Hummingbro will be detached from the others and tasked with the duty of quickly securing the rooftops around the restaurants the Russians (and Hafaz’s squad, if available) relieve, and then the other rooftops. If the squads move in via rooftops instead of sewers, the Bros will also help clear the paths for them and assist them in getting into position. As soon as we own the roofs, we’ll be able to assault whoever is attacking the restaurants directly.

Sake and SB should be able to relay enemy positions to our Russians as well. As soon as they have relieved their assigned restaurant, the Russians should get into position to provide a salvo of mortar fire against whichever enemy position is the most exposed.

All our heavy hitters, ArmasBros, Hillevi, Dávgon, and Duke if he’s available, will be scrambled to Rocco’s restaurant. Gianni is likely there too, and using his golems to help hold the line and buy time. Otherwise we’ll have to hope Rocco can hold out long enough with whoever he has on hand for us to reach him.

Given the size of the attack, either the Germans bought off the police, or they expected their blitzkrieg to be finished before the police respond. In either case, we can safely go heavy-weapons free. We should bring the good stuff: mortars, javelins, RPGs, and the experimental grenade launchers. We should consider bringing the chemical weapons. If the Nazis are not wearing gas masks it could be a pretty important edge against them, and as long as Sake is around and juiced up, we can assign him the duty of making sure the chemical weapons don’t hurt anyone we like.

We should not expect Nazinauts. They’re too difficult to control in a fight for use as anything but indiscriminate shock troopers. Since this is an urban area, and since nothing draws government inquiry like civilian deaths, even the Nazis will be willing to show some discretion. We’re going to be looking at their practitioners, their other super-science and magitech projects, and a shitload of armed and charmed foot soldiers.

Speaking of discretion, we know that one of the Nazi leaders (perhaps Endman, perhaps someone else) likes to make deals with the Wyld Goblins. Check with Sometimes Merchant before using the sewers. The Nazis may have requested that the goblins restrict sewer access or issue alerts to attempts to use the Italian’s zone for the duration of the attack. If that’s the case, using the sewers to move fighters would be walking right into an ambush.

Frankly, we’d be stupid to do anything but make extraction our top priority. Gianni is the most valuable member of the mafia to us. Rocco is second. The others are less important, but still worth saving (each one of them we save is one more man that will owe us a favor). The idea is to punch in, get the VIPs and anyone else we can save, and punch out before the military or the Owner or someone shows up.
>>
No. 400777 ID: 252e1b
File 133430482944.jpg - (127.48KB , 480x394 , 11[1].jpg )
400777

LYUBOV ORDERS

L*~Lyubov will muse about meeting Cookie Lady at the dojo last night and decide it was fun, if a little weird that Armas already knew her. She’ll reason that it’s a small world. She’ll ask Cookie Lady if she’d mind helping cheer up a friend she’ll bring by Tuesday night as well, “He’s been kinda green lately, and I think he’s been arguing with one of his brothers about something, and on top of everything his two cell phones died the other day.”
L*~In the morning, Lyubov will wake and follow the first part of the Morning Routine. Arnas will interrupt breakfast with his emergency, and everyone will be scrambling and it will be a mad dash to get ready.
L*~Lyubov will request Amen ‘fix’ her helmet so it looks like a hat (see attached photo), and then outfit herself in her Amen-made armor (looks like a casual suit), arm herself with her AN-94 (fitted with green laser), her Škorpion vz. 68 (fitted with stock), three of the V40 mini grenades, two RGN offensive grenades, two swastiskulls, her assorted soldiering gear (radio, satellite cell phone, earpiece, thermal binoculars, misc things), and her overcoat that makes it possible to hide the rifle.
L*~Lyubov will, as usual, keep her eyes open for trouble in the course of the mission, paying extra attention to windows that seem like good sniper nests.
>>
No. 400812 ID: 099679

Phase One: Prep
*Wake everyone up, if they're not already. Anyone who's not completely alert gets a soul ice-zap from Hillevi.
*Get Andrei on intel - news reports, police channels, satellite images, street-level CCTV, etc. He stays at the mansion, continually feeding info to us.
*Get Dmitrii to organise the vans and choose who else he wants driving.
*Have Satai make sure everyone's equipped and anything non-standard is signed out. Get him to assign charms as well as mundane equipment.
*Have Feodor call Finnigan and tell him to prepare for possible casualties.
*Try to convince Duke and Davgon to come along - for Duke that may be as simple as telling him he gets to kill people; for Davgon, mention that the Project is virtually dead without Gianni.
*When everyone's ready, or a certain amount if time has passed - whichever is first - head to the closest restaurant unless Andrei has relevant info.

Phase Two: Fight
*Send Shadowbro ahead to map out the area as much as he can while sabotaging the Germans' efforts - the usual shadowporting of firing pins, etc. should do.
*Use that info to come down hard on the Germans from multiple directions.
*Locate the Nazi leadership and take it out.
*Locate Gianni and Rocco, get them to retreat towards our forces. Evacuate any casualties and get Hillevi on medic duty for the worst.

[u]Phase Three: Clean-up[/]
*Help the Italians remove anything incriminating.
*Get the fuck out. Any injured Italians that are left get dropped off at Finnigan's - tell him to come by the mansion later for payment (which will be from Rocco).
>>
No. 400813 ID: 7359ee

Feodor Orders
Yesterday
>DC80/99, rolled 92

*Get back from Finnigan's to find the mansion in mayhem. Hillevi does something, testicles ascend.
*Get equipment ready: AN-94, USP 9mm, medic bag, a sack and a large knife.
*Keep towards the back in support, keeping an eye out for anyone getting injured. Bring injured Italians back behind the line, triage the wounded so Hillevi can heal the worst.
*After the fight, cut off the dead Nazis' hands and put them in the sack. If anyone asks about it, tell them it's a "special assignment".
>>
No. 400889 ID: b83c65

> [ b ][Andrei has been queued to do the following:] [/ b ]
>A< Awaken early as possible. Grab earlier - er, nearest computer. Google any costume stores, or anywhere that would sell a Gi – 50 to 70 dollars they should cost – on the way to Ito’s. If not, get Amen to make Neo’s Gi from the first Matrix.
>A< Be distracted from planning to troll by Armas suddenly appearing. Pull up recently acquired Satellite imagery of Istanbul for reasons unknown. Identify small scale war going on. Realize that pranking with have to be put on hold - and it won't work any other day. Fuck. Curse those damn- Germans? Again?
>A< War. Huh. What is it good for? Hacking into all the Nazi's wireless phones and hacking their Commend Centers to slap their shit electronically, that's what.
>A< Germans love Potatoes, right? Talk to the Potatoes to see if they've learned any German secrets.
>A< If not dead and can make it to Ito's sometime today, go. Carry Neo Gi in back. Go to bathroom, change. While wearing Neo Gi, he shall declare that 'I Knows Kung'. Be ready for an utter beating, laughing the whole time when laughter is possible and doesn't hurt too much.
>>
No. 401076 ID: f90fbc

Gloom Orders
*G* Make two recordings of each book, so between them, a complete recording can be assembled.
*G* Try Camella's advice on mirror practice.
*G* Talk to Dávgon about soul quirks, and whether there are ways to improve the result you get? Ask him if he could direct/improve an accelerated Soul evolution event.

Armas Orders
* Delegate assembling the Russians to Camella, whilst you, Duke and Hillevi go ahead. They can bring and set up heavy weapons later. Hopefully they will bring mortars, the RPG-32, the M202 FLASH launcher and some spare ammo, a couple of Stingers in case the Germans bring air support, and some Javelins in case of armour.
* Try to recruit Duke with the promise of some sport.
* Call up Abolec and ask him if he fancies taking the golem for a test drive.
* Phone the redcaps. Ask if they like "German food" because we're headed to an all you can eat buffet and would love to have their company. Offer them Amen-made one hour duration disguise charms if they want them so they can come above griund attack with surprise. It will be a nice teaser for selling the permanent ones later. If they agree, order him to make and give them one each when they arrive that make them appear to be children.
* Mention to Hillevi that this kind of thing needs to be approached with caution. It would be quite trivial for an enemy to duplicate Gianni's voice and spoof his number - and we've demonstrated that we'll rush to the aid of allies when rung early in the morning before. It's pretty unlikely, but someone could be doing to us what we've just done to the Doonegeas.
* Take Silja, the AA-12 loaded with HEAP FRAG-12 rounds, Iron Trick, the Season Guns and plenty of grenades. Give the AVT and Wind Gun to Camella, if she wants them.
* Everyone should get a radio.
* We should ask Dávgon if he has a Sensory spirit animal that can give us some early warning of what's going on and where as we get closer.
* When we get there, Duke and Hillevi should go in first, with Sake simultaneously dropping a wind bomb on them and SB shadowporting in grenades and Dooney poison. Dávgon can do whatever he's most suited for, which could be taking an overwatch position and scouting for where Camella and the Russians can set up. We should take advantage of the confusion to try to get behind people and shoot them in the back of the head.
* If Sake's around, it may be worth seeing if he can fly out Gianni and Rocco whilst the rest of us make a distraction. With them evacuated, the Russians can then rain missiles and mortar fire down with out worrying about friendlies.
>>
No. 401077 ID: 28ebf2

>>401076
Upvote everything with the following exceptions.

You should bring Camella and leave assembling the Russians to Matvey. Offer her the use of the season guns. The golem is still far from ready so do not call Abolec.
>>
No. 401079 ID: 252e1b

>>400889

I mostly agree with this post, with a few exceptions, assuming that it is treated as being largely compatible with my post here >>400651

The exceptions:

The golem still isn't ready, really. Without the primary weapon system all we'd accomplish is getting it beat to shit or destroyed. (-Use the Golem)

If we're going to be making charms, I'd suggest making sure the Russians who don't have identity concealing charms (the 10 who didn't drive on the Ironhead mission) get issued some now. (+Issue identity concealing charms to everyone)

There's no need to "hope" about what the Russians will bring. Just tell Camella what you want. (+Be specific with Camella)

Also, just as a note, the armor the Russians have right now is configured to look like normal street clothes, not Nazi uniforms.
>>
No. 401202 ID: f90fbc

>>401076
As I've been upvoted I can't delete/replace easily, so append this.
* Ring the Valkonens and offer Markku and Tartalo the chance to fight first a full strength Nazi war party and then Liu Bu/Duke as a second round friendly. Give him SM's number again as a courtesy in case he would prefer to use the goblin to arrange instantaneous transport. Don't mention it, but this should also qualify us to receive payment from SM for the Valkonen introduction, as he said he'd pay us when they get in touch.

In general, the heart of our plan should be to call in "All the Backup!" to counter "All the Nazis!", and to use what social skills we have to persuade them that we're doing them a favour by giving them an opportunity for some great fights. Probably best to brief them, in confidence, about the general nature of their other allies. Ice manipulators, blood fuelled speedsters, whatever Duke is, etc.

We can then vigorously exploit the fact that we thrive in chaotic skirmishes to run around taking advantage of the vast amounts of chaos that all these party-crashers will cause to shoot lots of enemies in thr back of the head. Any magical enemies can have a taste of the Season guns to start with, followed by Silja if they're Winter aligned female humanoids, or Iron Trick if they're not. Heavily armoured ones, or regenerators, can have a taste of high explosive armour piercing ammo from the Taste of Ruin. We can also use a soul guise to suppress our signature as much as possible. We've seen what a fading soul that's barely there any more looks like, thanks to Dávgon, so we should adopt that soul guise, and hopefully become to insignificant to devote any attention to.
>>
No. 401216 ID: b83c65

>>400812
I fully support this awesome idea.
>>
No. 401217 ID: 7c31d2

>>401202
I love this idea, upvote
>>
No. 401232 ID: 252e1b

>>401079
This post was meant to be in response to >>401076, not >>400889
>>
No. 401248 ID: d624bc

>>400651
supporting

sust-ing any suggestion saying to use the golem. It is not combat ready and will simply reveal our hand and probably get it broken. Besides the only way to run it would be using SB's shadownaut and those two are resources we don't want to tie up right now as they serve more critical roles than that of bruiser in this engagement.

[Zhenya queued to do the following]
-Zhenya will request permission to use the magical pistols in combat and if granted take the summer and winter pistols as extras and keep an eye out for magics that seem to fit the stereotypical fire/ice manipulator and shoot them.
-Zhenya will also take her emf Hartfords as seconds(AN-94 is still primary). These, while collection pieces have seen more use and are her favorites, even if they are not the most valuable in the collection.
-Zhenya will grab a map and divide the target area and 2 blocks around into 8 sectors (two concentric circles going outward from the area and each split into 4) and outline good approach routes, retreat routes from any given sector and extraction and rendezvous points in case of separation within the sector and submit it to Armas/Matevy for perusal if it meets her standards.
-Zhenya will request a gas mask from Amen, one that won't harm her by using it.
>>
No. 401414 ID: 9718f3

First thing, we send SB to go scout out which restaurant the conflict is at. He's faster than us and there ought to be tons of magic for him to detect there. Once there he should engage in sabotage as he's able without being too obvious or putting himself at risk.

Wake everyone up if they aren't awake already. Duke, Hillevi, Sake, and Davgon are going to head out with us first. Camella will be escorting the Russians as a second wave heavy assault team.

General plan is to ambush them with our group of heavies, engage them, then ambush them AGAIN with Camella and the Russians using our heavy ordinance. All the while Armas is stealthing about shooting people in the back.

Equipment:
-Armas is taking Silja, Taste of Ruin, and Iron Trick as well as a backpack with a shitton of grenades and ammo.
-Russians are bringing the magic guns we aren't using and all our heavy weapons they can actually put to use. Miniguns if they can mount them in the vans promptly, our missile/rocket launchers, the XM25 if someone thinks they know how to use it.
-Camella's group divides up the defensive charms. Wear the gas masks.
-Everyone gets appropriate communications equipment, the situation is fluid we need to be able to give further orders.

>Call Redcaps.
Upvote. Try to gauge their interest in an "all-you-can-eat" before offering them payment.

>Get Abloec to pilot the golem.
Downvote. The golem is nowhere near ready. It currently has no weapons or armour and represents less of a threat than a single standard Nazinaut in all likelihood.
>>
No. 401427 ID: a110d6

Well, this seems to have plans chosen already, so just going to make a few precisions.

Make -sure- you have enough ammunitions and grenades to last the whole fight. Better be over-equipped than under-equipped here.

>All the germans
'All the germans' attacking the mafia? Odds are quite good we'll meet our dear friend Savoy there. Hopefully he'll lend us another arm.

>Soul guise.
We must make sure to at the VERY least not be seen as having Imperial Dual Godling status there. Armas also should think of what kind of soul guise he could use in order to be unnoticed and use his new backstabbing ability with guns more effectively. Taking the transit time to think about all the souls he found that we just flat out boring and worthless might be a good start, but the goal here is to have soul-guises that makes the lurk bloodline seems like loud, noticeable and awkward. Try to think of of things, concepts and souls that would make people flat out not notice them and their bearer.

>Camella with the russians while you run to the Mafia with Dávgon, Duke and Hillevi
Unsure if not having Camella arrive for minutes is worth her 'organizing' the Russians, as she hasn't shown more skills in this than Matvey or Satai. I think we should leave her the choice of how to use herself best, as, well, she IS a very experienced strike force member. We could also listen to her if she wants to advice us.

>Call Redcaps
Calling redcaps AND SM feel foolhardly, so we'd have to make choices there. Likewise, calling RedCaps might mean we will lose loot.

>I don't know how to feel about the fact SM was able to use the revelation his shadow was similarly ensouled as a way to weaken my bargaining position, but he managed to do it.
You should feel ashamed, as Amen told you Goblins tended to have soul shadows, and SB himself told you SM was feared within the dark.
>>
No. 401432 ID: c0b3f5

>Try to think of of things, concepts and souls that would make people flat out not notice them and their bearer.

Perhaps literally being part of the background, like the city? A soul guise that's essentially very frayed edges that sort of blend into the surroundings, that tries to let the city settle in between and around itself.
Or going as vermin. A rat or cockroach, or a small, distributed group of them.
A third possibility is going with 'I am not really here' and 'I am someone else's problem'.
Arams could also try for the absolute opposite 'you know me, I am your buddy, 'I should be here', 'I am on your side', 'protect me, I am important to you'.
>>
No. 401434 ID: a110d6

>>401432
>Arams could also try for the absolute opposite 'you know me, I am your buddy, 'I should be here', 'I am on your side', 'protect me, I am important to you'.
While this might be useful for a lot of stuff, i had dismissed this soul guise for this fight because they are nazis :p
But, yes, Armas also is very lucky to have an excellent example of someone who makes everyone like her at first glance- Cookie Lady.
>>
No. 401440 ID: d97a61

>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>A< Awaken early as possible. Grab earlier - er, nearest computer. Google any costume stores, or anywhere that would sell a Gi – 50 to 70 dollars they should cost – on the way to Ito’s. If not, get Amen to make Neo’s Gi from the first Matrix.
>A< Be distracted from planning to troll by Armas suddenly appearing. Pull up recently acquired Satellite imagery of Istanbul for reasons unknown. Identify small scale war going on. Realize that pranking with have to be put on hold - and it won't work any other day. Fuck. Curse those damn- Germans? Again?
>A< War. Huh. What is it good for? Hacking into all the Nazi's wireless phones and hacking their Commend Centers to slap their shit electronically, that's what.
>A< Germans love Potatoes, right? Talk to the Potatoes to see if they've learned any German secrets.
>A< If not dead and can make it to Ito's sometime today, go. Carry Neo Gi in back. Go to bathroom, change. While wearing Neo Gi, he shall declare that 'I Knows Kung'. Be ready for an utter beating, laughing the whole time when laughter is possible and doesn't hurt too much.
[Feodor has been queued to do the following:]
*F*Get back from Finnigan's to find the mansion in mayhem. Hillevi does something, testicles ascend.
*F *Get equipment ready: AN-94, USP 9mm, medic bag, a sack and a large knife.
*F *Keep towards the back in support, keeping an eye out for anyone getting injured. Bring injured Italians back behind the line, triage the wounded so Hillevi can heal the worst.
*F *Assuming he doesn't die, after the fight, cut off the dead Nazis' hands and put them in the sack. If anyone asks about it, tell them it's a "special assignment".

[Gloom has been queued to do the following:]
*G* Make two recordings of each book, so between them, a complete recording can be assembled. Able to verify the 'glitches' don't always happen in the same place-but frequently do. Muses that he may need to make quite a few copies if he wants to stitch them together into a fully error-free file.
*G* Try Camella's advice on mirror practice.
Upon initially putting on the blindfold, feel nothing different other than the lack of sight. After half an hour of trying to 'feel' his own blinded gaze, pores quiver as if non-existent hair was trying to stand on end, and feel as if a massive crowd is watching him. While attempting to analyze this shift in sensation, feels rapidly building sense of impending doom. Rips off blindfold-doom-feeling vanishes, and nothing looks out of order. …What was that?
*G* Talk to Dávgon about soul quirks, and whether there are ways to improve the result you get? Ask him if he could direct/improve an accelerated Soul evolution event.
Is told that he could, if any of them had sturdy enough souls to take unusual magical therapy-but the frank point is he is neither masterful enough/Russian souls are not sturdy enough for him to manually choose soul quirks-merely attempt to slot one in and hope it's a beneficial one. Wonder if this is something he cares about.
Lyubov has been queued to do the following:]
L*~Lyubov will muse about meeting Cookie Lady at the dojo last night and decide it was fun, if a little weird that Armas already knew her. She’ll reason that it’s a small world. She’ll ask Cookie Lady if she’d mind helping cheer up a friend she’ll bring by Tuesday night as well, “He’s been kinda green lately, and I think he’s been arguing with one of his brothers about something, and on top of everything his two cell phones died the other day.” Giggle at punniness of comment.
L*~In the morning, Lyubov will wake and follow the first part of the Morning Routine. Arnas will interrupt breakfast with his emergency, and everyone will be scrambling and it will be a mad dash to get ready.
L*~Lyubov will request Amen ‘fix’ her helmet so it looks like a hat, and then outfit herself in her Amen-made armor (looks like a casual suit), arm herself with her AN-94 (fitted with green laser), her Škorpion vz. 68 (fitted with stock), three of the V40 mini grenades, two RGN offensive grenades, two swastiskulls, her assorted soldiering gear (radio, satellite cell phone, earpiece, thermal binoculars, misc things), and her overcoat that makes it possible to hide the rifle.
L*~Lyubov will, as usual, keep her eyes open for trouble in the course of the mission, paying extra attention to windows that seem like good sniper nests.
[Zhenya queued to do the following]
[Z]-Zhenya will request permission to use the magical pistols in combat and if granted take the summer and winter pistols as extras and keep an eye out for magics that seem to fit the stereotypical fire/ice manipulator and shoot them. Will fail to notice timetables of mission mean it's 'first come first serve' and miss out on chance to claim Pistols as other, more opportunistic Russians simply grab them.
[Z]-Zhenya will also take her emf Hartfords as seconds(AN-94 is still primary). These, while collection pieces have seen more use and are her favorites, even if they are not the most valuable in the collection. Has small worry in the back of her mind non-magical small-arms will be largely useless, given how charm and monster-happy the Nazi's have been shown to be.
[Z]-Zhenya will grab a map and divide the target area and 2 blocks around into 8 sectors (two concentric circles going outward from the area and each split into 4) and outline good approach routes, retreat routes from any given sector and extraction and rendezvous points in case of separation within the sector-well, she STARTS the map, but by the time she's outfitted herself it's time to roll and she can't finish it. Damn time constraints.
[Z]-Zhenya will request a gas mask from Amen, one that won't harm her by using it.
[Z]-Gets slapped upside the head by Matvey who tells her to use the mundane gas masks they have and not poke the damn monster butler. Grumbles that Amen's would have been cooler.




ARMAS ORDERS LOCKED
>>
No. 401462 ID: a86912

>Allies to Invite
Hafaz + squad [>>400651] (+BUTTZ, +Falcon, +252e1b) (3)
Duke [>>401076] (+Alratan, +UBR, +Abeo, +BUTTZ, +Falcon, +252e1b) (6)
Dávgon [>>400812 ] (+Seventeen, +Alratan, +UBR, +252e1b, +b83c65 ) (5)
Red Caps [>>401076 ] (+Alratan, +UBR, +Abeo, +252e1b ) (4)
Abolec in Golem [>>401076 ] (+Alratan, -UBR, -Falcon, -Abeo) (-2)
Markku + Tartalo, suggested SM transport [>>401202] (+Alratan, +UBR, +Pillbug) (3)

>Prep
Talk to SM about Nazi deals [>>400651] (+BUTTZ, +Falcon, +252e1b ) (3)
Soul-ice zap wake-up call from Hillevi [>>400812 ] (+Seventeen, +b83c65) (2)
Leave Andrei behind getting electronic intel [>>400812 ] (+Seventeen, +b83c65) (2)
Get Dmitri to organise vans [>>400812 ] (+Seventeen, +b83c65) (2)
Get Satai to organise charms and equipment [>>400812 ] (+Seventeen, +b83c65) (2)
Give out all the charms[>>401076 ] (+Alratan, +UBR, +Abeo, +252e1b) (4)
Wear gas masks [>>401414] (+Abeo) (1)
Take Silja, the AA-12 loaded with HEAP FRAG-12 rounds, Iron Trick, the Season Guns and plenty of grenades. Give the AVT and Wind Gun to Camella, if she wants them. [>>401076 ] (+Alratan, +252e1b) (2)
Offer Camella the Season Guns intead [>>401077] (+UBR) (1)
Get Russians to bring mortars, Javelins and Stingers, as well as other missiles. [>>400651] (+Alratan, +UBR, +BUTTZ, +Falcon) (4)
Warn of the possibility to be wary of us being ambushed on way in [>>401076 ] (+Alratan, +UBR, +252e1b) (3)
Have Feodor call Finnigan to war about incoming casualties [>>400812 ] (+Seventeen, +b83c65) (2)
Remember Savoy's briefing on the fortified restaurant, and go there. [>>400651] (+BUTTZ, +Falcon, +252e1b) (3)
Don't expect Nazinauts [>>400651] (+BUTTZ, +Falcon, +252e1b) (3)
Expect Savoy [>>401427] (+Arkeus) (1)
Brief any invitees on other guests rough power sets to avoid friendly fire [>>401202] (+Alratan, +UBR, +Pillbug) (3)

>Strategy
Take an initial assault force of heavy hitters [>>401076 ] (+Alratan, +UBR, +Abeo) (3)
Wait for the Russians to assemble [>>400812 ] (+Seventeen, +b83c65) (2)
Leave Camella to assemble the Russians [>>401076 ] (+Alratan, +Abeo, -UBR) (1)
Send SM to scout ahead [>>400812 ] (+Seventeen, BUTTZ, +b83c65) (3)
Send Sake to scout ahead [>>400651] (+BUTTZ, +Falcon, +252e1b) (3)
Ask Dávgon if he has a spirit animal that can scout ahead [>>401076 ] (+Alratan, +UBR) (2)
Split into multiple small groups, rooftop (Armas+Bros), Heavy Assault (heavy hitters), Close Range (Hafaz+some Russians), Artillery Support (rest of Russians) [>>400651] (+BUTTZ, +Falcon, +252e1b) (3)
Split into three teams, Initial Assault (Duke+Hillevi), Second wave (Armas, Bros, Dávgon), Artillery/Long Range Support (Camella+Russians+Hafaz) [>>401076 ] (+Alratan, +UBR, +Abeo) (3)
Heavy weapons free [>>400651] (+BUTTZ, +Falcon, +Alratan, +UBR) (4)
Focus on decapitating Nazis [>>400812 ] (+Seventeen, +b83c65) (2)
Extract Gianni and Rocco. [>>400651] (+BUTTZ, +Falcon, +Seventeen, +b83c65, +Alratan, +UBR) (6)
Make that the top priority [>>400651] (+BUTTZ, +Falcon, +252e1b) (3)

>Tactics
Initial Assault team attack first and break any ambushes, then Second Wave tales advantage of the disruption. [>>401076 ] (+Alratan, +UBR, +Abeo) (3)
As above, but with greater focus on ambushing them [>>401414] (+Abeo) (1)
Multi-pronged assault with smaller teams (+BUTTZ, +Falcon, +252e1b) (3)
Russians should rain artillery down as required. [>>400651 ] (+Alratan, +UBR, +BUTTZ, +Seventeen, +b83c65) (5)
Armas should use others as distraction and run around shooting them in the back of the head, first with Season guns if magical, then Silja if the right kind of milk, or with Iron Trick or AA-12 HEAP depending on target. [>>401076 ] (+Alratan, +UBR, Pillbug) (3)

>Soul Guise
A decaying, barely there soul [>>401202] (+Alratan, +Pillbug) (2)
Cockroach or similar [>>401432] (+c0b3f5) (1)
Cookie Lady/Your best friend [>>401432] (+c0b3f5, -Arkeus) (0)

>Clean-Up
Help Mafia remove incriminating evidence, send casualties to Finnigans [>>400812 ] (+Seventeen, +b83c65) (2)
Watch round two between Duke and any invitees who want to play [>>401202] (+Alratan, +UBR, Pillbug) (3)
>>
No. 401537 ID: d97a61

There… is much to do.

My first priority is in getting the Russians-hell, getting everyone in the house-to start suiting up. I ask SB to knock quite forcefully on everyone's doors, flick on the lights and emulate my voice to state 'Begin preparing for an extraction mission: friendly in hostile territory.' While I begin to register the sounds of waking individuals, I start dialing as I slap on some clothes.

-I manage to get in touch with Hafaz and co, and get them to agree to providing rooftop sniping support, all being at least passable at the function-I can't really take the time to argue and get them more involved in the fight, so I take what I can get. Besides, they're squishy enough they probably should hang back. Seems they have a solid lookout in mind, since they didn't seem bothered I only have a collection of possible locations. Well, sniper support's never something to sneeze at, and they know pretty much everyone I work with.
I'm mentally commanding Amen to reshape some of the material Titus acquired into a bodyglove for me to wear under a suit-
-I personally take the fore to get Duke on board with this coming clusterfuck: He's cantankerous as shit about being woken this early, and Amen needs to block more than a couple of his strikes while I explain to the horrendously hungover warrior that I have a brawl to invite him to. At the mention of a fight against a foe that 'brought everything' Duke finally subsides and listens with interest-and while he grumbles, he agrees to put some effort into NOT attacking Gianni's friends. I'm not sure that would have worked if he and Gianni hadn't hit it off so well, but honestly I don't care right now. One Chinese Transcendant Century-old warrior, on board.
-I catch Dávgon leaning out of his room with muted confusion on his face, watching the hub-bub, and explain we're about to go to an ally's aid against a foe keen on making less-than-savory magical constructs, and I could use his help on the mission. When he asks me for priorities, I explain keeping our own group safe and effecting the successful extraction of our ally Gianni are the two biggest priorities I have, and he nods before starting to prepare. I may still not know all that much about the guy, but hey, an extra level of defense for our intruding party on the scuffle can't hurt.
I see Lyubov talking with Amen about getting her helmet reshaped and don't have time to spare to focus on the inanity of it.
-I pass by Hillevi's room, noting her already up and gone, no doubt waiting in the foyer. Seems she's raring to go.
-I call the Red Caps-and end up going to voicemail. Not willing to give up that easily, I call three more times before a decidedly aggravated sounding Ricky picks up-but when I explain I'd love for him to intrude on a soon-to-be chaotic maelstrom of a battle, he settles down. Seems the chance to opportunistically snatch a great haul of blood and be gone in a flash appeals to them-but all I can get them to agree to is to make one vicious sortie at a time of their choosing after my party has arrived. I even float the idea of buying their help in a more dedicated fashion, but they're not biting and I don't have time to really go for the sale. I guess I'll have to make do with the one-off they're willing to provide.
I strap Iron Trick, the Matebas and the Lonesome Judge to my body, slinging Silja over my shoulder as I watch the AVT-40, AA-12 and Season pistols appear in the hands of Russians keen to hit the battle with all we've got-
-I speak Abloec's name three times and summon the old ghost, but while he's sure as shit interested in piloting my golem, he doesn't have time to have fun with me right now, and beyond that doesn't think the golem should go into battle until it's got enough beef to protect itself from all the attention it'll attract. That's a bust, sadly-with no time to dwell on it.
-I start scraping the bottom of the barrel now, and call the Valkonen estate. I explain to Markku that I've got to move to assist an ally, and that the battlefield is probably going to get pretty hectic. I ask if he'd like to take part, or otherwise assist his daughter in fighting what my ally claimed was 'all' of the Nazis in Istanbul. Sadly, seems Markku himself, despite being obviously interested in my proposal, has to turn me down: Helmi's not at the estate, and he can't leave just the Twins there-what'd happen if something important transpired while he was occupied elsewhere? On the plus side, he DOES say there's nothing preventing him from sending Tartalo-though he does stress that Tartalo will primarily be there to protect his daughter, rather than assist Armas in mission objectives. I learn that Tartalo will show the moment SB sends a recognizable Shadow pulse for the cyclopean servitor of the Valkonen clan to orient on-and then he'll be there.

Casting an eye down into the foyer at the now fully armed, armored and assembled band of Russians, the alert Camella, the eager Duke and Hillevi, the yawning Sake and the stoic Dávgon I review what reinforcements I've secured besides those before me.

-Hafaz and co. will be providing long range support fire-particularly helpful in claiming the rooftops wherever the battle may be.
-The Red Caps Ricky and Lucy will make a one-time sortie into the fight at a time of their choosing after our group's joined the battle.
-SB can signal Tartalo, the Valkonen Cyclops, to come to Hillevi's aid at any point once the battle's begun.

Okay-My forces and those that'll supplement my forces are as arranged as I can get if I still want to say I'm really jumping on this-time for some wrap-up while Hillevi ice-jolts the russians to full alertness and Camella double-checks each one's attempts at Reinforcement.
-I call SM and check on the status of the sewers around the Mafia restaurants. Seems my fears were well-founded: The Nazis have bought the rights to have anything that is or was human that tries to use the sewers there shunted to an NN space that… has been populated with Nazinauts ready to be activated. Dozens of them. Wonderful. While that does mean I can't use the sewers to gain access-there's nothing stopping the innately inhuman Red Caps from waltzing right past that defense.
-I tell Andrei to get his ass back to the central computer, he'll be playing comms coordinator since the new mic system we've got set up is still largely new to our group. Losing one mostly mundane gunner to improve overall group cohesiveness is a small price to pay.
-I get Dmitrii to get the vans ready and pick out the other two drivers while Satai divies up the charms as evenly as possible amongst the humans amongst us-save Camella. Even Dávgon gets a few charms, while I smile at the fact the crew already put on their gas masks.
-I note Camella sporting the Walther WA2000 that Olga once used, and sporting a bandoleer with quite a few grenades on it. Once again I find the magic of the rifle she sports confoundingly illusive to nail down-but she seems solid with her loadout, so I'll leave the season guns, AA and AVT amongst the Russians as-is.
-I find out Dávgon's spirit animals aren't that great at scouting more than a few hundred feet from him-so I send off SB to scout ahead for us while everyone loads into one of three vans. Give or take, each van has six russians and two heavy hitters with them (Counting Myself/HB, Sake, Duke, Hillevi, Dávgon and Camella as such), and each one's slated to stop about a block before each of the restaurants to unload, letting the heavy hitters move ahead first. If we're lucky, they can bypass spots that aren't relevant to my goals, so we can focus wholly on extracting Gianni. And if not-well, the Russians dealing with enemy-controlled restaurants won't be taking the brunt of the attack so they'll have better odds than they would have anyway.


That…. is about it I can squeeze in right now if I still want to rush-any longer and I'll have spent more than ten minutes prepping for this mission, and I don't think Gianni can wait all that much longer.

Vans filled, plans largely hashed out, we thunder along dark streets in nondescript vans, weapons bristling out of sight from the sleepy pre-dawn environs.
>"I'm having trouble pinning down which building it is-all of them are under attack, and there's too much magical interference to be certain what's what."
Fine. Just means we have to network well and close the net as fast as possible the moment we know which building Gianni's in.

Plan unchanged, each van pulls up a block away from curiously silent and dark restaurants all clustered into the same district.

Three sets of van doors open, with a pair of individuals darting out as swiftly as possible, while in their wake heavily armed squads move quietly to advance without being detected. I keep an ear open in case Camella and Sake, or Dávgon and Duke report anything while Hillevi and I advance, still a street away from the dim building.
>"Something's not right… I can feel too much magic about the building…"
As we approach my eyes itch, and beneath a Soul Guise tailored to look as barely-there and decayed as possible, I switch from Reinforcement to Soul Sensing. My modest perceptual boost lets me punch a bit farther through the illusion, and I see that there's a hazy shroud hanging over the eatery, one that no doubt obscures all manner of chaos within.

SB, still no word?
>"Between these strange barriors that don't actually obstruct individuals and the chaos within, no-I don't know which one Gianni's in."
This is the same one Castelletti holed up at, presumably he'd-
>"And what if that was just a common design feature to the restaurant's the Mafia is fond of building here?"
Well then the detail's not really helpful and he could be anywhere. Do you know if going through the barrier will alert anyone?
>"I can't even detect who's casting the barriers-so I couldn't say. All I can say is there are no shadowmancers amongst them unless they have grand masters that could completely hide their presence."
Well there's that.
>[Dávgon]"We're in position-should we breach?"
>[Camella]"Same question."
"One moment."

I call Hafaz.
"Hey, in position?"
>[Hafaz]"See the tower?"
I look about and finally note the dim and distant smudges that are the distant souls of Hafaz and the rest of his squad. From their location, I think they could bring fire down on any of the restaurants."
"Can you see through the barrier?"
>[Hafaz]"Answer'd be no if Baki hadn't sold us some things. Partial sight-enough to tell there's enemies on the rooftops, at least three per building."
"Can you tell if they can see us?"
>[Hafaz]"Unknown."

Okay-barriers that won't obstruct us and might or might not alert those within, friendly sniper support with limited perception through the barrier, and an otherwise completely unknown status inside each building. I don't like all the unknown's involved but the clock's ticking and the longer I wait the less likely the extraction will even matter. Is Gianni even still alive?

I strive once more to piece the barriers and feel the souls within, and again get naught but static.










Do I have any last minute ideas to bring into play or is it time to attack?
How's this going to go down-just the two heavies with each team swiftly breaching with limited sniper support in the hopes we can quickly identify which restaurant has what we want?
Or do I try to free up the mafia members at the restaurants that aren't housing Rocco and Gianni so I have even more reinforcements? …Can I afford to wait long enough to implement this?
Please post plans promptly, if possible there'll be another update tonight
>>
No. 401559 ID: a86912

* Be prepared for radios not to function inside the barriers. That may be why Gianni's phone call was cut off.
* Send the Russians back. They can maintain a perimeter with heavy weapons to engage any Nazis that try to get away.
* Note that the Russians were just getting up, so it's before 5AM, and so will be dark for a couple of hours yet. Anyone going inside, where the lights are probably needs to be able to see in the dark natively somehow, have work-arounds, or be incredibly capable, otherwise it's a death sentence. That excludes all the Russians. Night vision goggles don't hack it.
* Get most of your magic weapons back. The Russians have no business at all being in CQC with the kind of things the Nazis can deploy, even if they could see them, and so they don't need pistols or shotguns. To compound this, they have no way of identifying what Season an enemy magic user is using, so there's pretty much zero point them having them.
* The Shadowmere can cut anything. Can he cut down the barriers? He should time his assault to be synchronous with the rest.
* We should time our assault to be synchronised with a couple of anti-personal mortar rounds on the top of each restaurant.
* The Russians who aren't firing the mortars can fire a volley of RPGs through the windows at the same time. Any of the mafia soft enough to be killed that are in rooms with outward facing windows will already be dead. The idea here isn't to actually kill anything, simply to provide suppressive fire. Both mortars and RPGs shouldn't be distinctive enough to summon immediate external intervention.
* Hillevi can, if minded, repeat her trick with a truck from the warehouse. Duke might like the idea as well.
* Grand Theft Nazinaut: Order Amen to modify an ex-human intruder so that it would count as that to a goblin detection method, and so that if shunted into a NN space a magical trap inside it triggers and sucks the contents of that space into the mansion. Amen is to immediately lock anything sucked through in stasis without otherwise affecting them or anything else, and make them available to us on request. The modified intruder can have no other effect apart from those described that a mundane human would not. When created, he is to have the modified intruder make there way as soon as possible to the region of the sewers the Nazis have had trapped. We should pay SM a charm to make sure the modified intruder gets there quickly, without it being shunted to a NN space on the way.
* Have Amen notify Andrei when the trap is triggered, then begin the assault.
* When we go in, throw a few flashbangs in first, and manoeuvre to get out of line of sight.
* We should be alert to unknown friendlies. Who knows what other allies the Mafia may have called in on short notice and not be able to warn us about.
* Hillevi should summon Tartalo when she meets something she can't handle that is hostile. Mention what we did to the Doonegeas to her, and how glad it would have been to have a friend on call in that critical moment. Do not be to proud to make use of him.
>>
No. 401605 ID: 6616f3

If the radios cut out as Al thinks they will, we may want to let people know beforehand that - as we are a type of divinity - a heartfelt prayer to Armas might just be answered with an immediately deployed Shadowbro in their location. Haven't tried it yet, but the theory is sound.
>>
No. 401606 ID: 431fa8

>>401537
>Do I have any last minute ideas to bring into play or is it time to attack?
If we send in our heavies alone, then we're matching up a grab bag of two of our people against the very best of whoever the Nazis brought in their assault groups, plus an unknown number of enemy mooks. That's a shitty decision that's going to get our people killed- and thanks to this cloaking field, we won't even know it since they probably won't be able to talk to us.

No, we need to concentrate forces against the enemy heavyweights if we mean to bring this off. Have Shadowbro try to bring down the cloaking field with the mere; if that doesn't work, Hillevi might be able to bring it down somehow, or Dávgon might be able to lend Armas/Hummingbird advice on how to external soul craft it down. Either that takes it out and lets us find the enemy, or someone will have to put the fields back up and we'll hopefully be able to trace where they are when they do so.

The Russians won't be going in here until we know that what we're facing is in their weight class. Have them pull back to take up positions with mortars, sniper rifles, missiles, and so forth to blast any hostiles emerging from the restaurants. Simultaneously with our attempts to bash the shield in/locate the primary targets here, they should snipe and drop mortars on the enemy targets on the roofs of the restaurants to take them out if possible.

At that point, whichever heavy team is at the primary target site assaults immediately, Shadowbro moving in support (since he's of course the most mobile). If they run into more than they can handle, they should pull back and try to draw out the enemy into a killzone in the street. The other heavy teams break off and move to back the first team in as quickly as possible, either in fighting the enemy in the street or in pressing the attack.

The Russians kill any enemies they see with extreme prejudice, and if we can determine that any restaurant has opposition only at their tier, move in to clean those sites out. Try to keep everyone in communication at all times if possible, and watch each others' backs; the restaurants are demanding attention, but the Nazis might have left any number of enemy forces outside them as a flexible response force.
>>
No. 401617 ID: d624bc

Splitting up, while the fastest route to discovery, is also the fastest to death.

Stick together and make a forceful breach, if they are not in the first one then move quickly to neutralize all enemy force in your way and get to the next one.

Consider scouting the rest yourself as quickly as possible, considering that a) you are the fastest person you can bring to bear immediately with all your fancy footwork(duke is a better option but not sure if quick response or he will just keep fighting) b) you can likely survive/evade any immediate reaction with a combination of your abilities. So send a shoutout to Duke to find Gianni, but if he is slow to hop to it, then just do it yourself and get back to the group.
>>
No. 401620 ID: 252e1b

>>401605

No way, don't reveal Armas is a divinity. That's dangerous information at the moment (godlings are delicious).

>>401606

In general this plan is good, but we can't reasonably expect to be able to leave once we enter. If there weren't magic to keep people in, we'd have seen people leaving from the second floor already. We need to regroup and send all the heavies in at once once we know which restaurant holds the caster maintaining this magic barrier. Use the minute it takes for everyone to gather to call the Redcaps and tell them which restaurant is which. SB should call Tartalo as soon as we are ready to assault. We go in with him.

I really want to turn the Nazi's own trap on them, and with that in mind, once we're inside the building, Shadowbro should be ready to destroy chunks of floor that are over the sewers. Dropping an enemy in with the nazinauts will be funny. Consider this an attack of opportunity against enemies that would take too much time to get rid of otherwise.

If we haven't warned our friends about that sewer trap, we should.

>>401559

No we are not taking the guns away from the Russians, Armas can't even hold all the guns at once.

Do not use that crazy plan that involves Amen. It is crazy.
>>
No. 401639 ID: d97a61

Ideas swirl in my mind, and to avoid being indecisive in a moment of action, I slip into accelerated thought to try and sort out the chaff.

>>401559
Okay, should assume radios won't work-the barriers could very easily be what cut Gianni's phone off. At best, I only see the possibility of communication between people on the inside of the barrier. Guys?
>"That sounds logical."
>[Sake]"No arguments from me."
-Definitely don't want to have the Russians charge into the buildings if anything remotely like a magical bruiser's inside. They're all a block away, already free and clear of the fight-no reason to pull them back farther but it'll do for now.
>"They should take to the rooftops and assist Hafaz' team in neutralizing the visible enemies. Combined sniper and mortarfire should wrap that engagement up swiftly."
And after that they could stay outside and pick off any enemies that try to flee, or at the very least give them a solid bit of pain for their trouble. Sounds good.
So, that barrier. SB, can you cut it?
>"Already tried, it doesn't seem to have a shadow to cut or otherwise leave an imprint in the Dark."
That tell us anything useful?
>[Sake]"That it's probably Divine or Draconic, both only have manually included shadow components to spell constructs. …I think. Hiyotoya said that."
>[IT]Hiyotoya, it turns out, was right. I'd wager on Divine, but whatever made this is alien enough to me I'm not really sold on that. Curious."
I'm…. really liking the idea of Duke and Hillevi both using Koolaid entrances. Anyone object?
>[Hummingbird]"A pair of valorous warriors boldly entering the field? How could I object?"
>"Can't say no to the shock and awe entrance, it's distracting and that's what we want."
>[Sake]"So should I cut open a wall then?"
Sure, sounds good, three new entrances will mean three new exit points.
>"An idea to float since the Russians, one and all, can at least ply Reinforcement to the point of notable bodily enhancement-what about a volley of flashbangs?"
Hm-Mortars and RPGs would have all their hands full, but if they lobbed first then picked up their weapons…. eh, that doesn't give them much time to aim. Explosions applied directly to the rooftops, then a barrage of flashbangs to the ground floor, THERE we go.
>>401606
Wait-wait, hold on, we can't breach each one at the same time, that's stupid. We're throwing a grab-bag pair of heavies at what could be the best the nazis have-they'd get shredded unless I've really misjudged the crazy germans. And we don't even get to have superior intel thanks to that barrier. If we want to really hit them hard and have those delicious few seconds of steamrolling confused combatants we'll need to hit as a group, simple as that-and that requires knowing which house to hit.
>"So, any ideas on that front?"
Well, you can't bring down the barrier.
>"No."
Then-
"Hillevi-you got any Valkonen anti-barrier tricks I don't know about?"
>[Hillevi]"Wha-uh, no, no I don't."
"Dávgon?"
>[Dávgon]"I can neither see nor touch enough to do anything."
"But if someoen that could see more and touch more told you what they saw-"
>[Dávgon]"I could advise on how to crack it: what do you see?"
I takes twenty seconds to hammer it out, but Dávgon wants me to… well, he said I should try to pull my navel through my mind, and then breathe out my chakras while focusing on the barrier, but I don't-
WINTER ENERGY: [-5] 65/160
There's a rippling sensation as a piece of my soul shakes itself apart, and the barrier around the restaurant before me collapses. Without a perceived new energy source, the barrier restores itself.
>[Dávgon]"Caster-maintained barrier, casters in one of the other two barriers."
So, crack one more, and I'll learn where the caster is, right or not. The Russians with each group of heavies start climbing fire escapes and lugging equipment as I dash alongside Hillevi to the nearest alternative option, ignoring the feeling of rapidly dying souls amidst a pile of charm signatures in the building we ignored. With Hafaz confirming into my ear the rooftoppers of that building didn't react when the barrier went down, I wonder at just what Gianni's facing when so far I've only seen mooks from the germans.

Rounding the corner and getting a clean line of sight to the second building encased in a barrier, I pull my navel and breathe-
The barrier drops, and I'm locked in place by the massive spiritual pandemonium I witness.

-On the ground floor are a full dozen souls the likes of which I've never seen before, divided into three categories. First, there's three souls that feel wholly wrought of sickness, decayed shells too withered and toughened to ever be scratched, sapping the life and vitality out of all around them, malevolent empty mockeries of life that feel spiritually less human than the Nazinauts. Second, there's two souls that feel like lightning given form, a harsh, impatient aura struggling to take any action it can as fast as possible, a brilliant flicker of light destined to dim swiftly, an effervescent threat. Third, there's a full seven souls that feel like earth and crystal bunched together, a piece of a mountain's heart substuted for soulstuff-and several of the signatures are too low to the ground to simply be on the first floor-diggers, tunnelers of some sort?
-Beyond these trio of wholly inhuman souls I reflexively title 'nazi', I feel the psuedo-signatures of more than a score of Gianni's golems-and alongside them I feel an outline, a blankness in the shape of a soul that moves and does battle, a conundrum to my senses I tentatively label as allied with the Mafia.
-With the rest of the heavier hitters on the first floor I feel a total of seventy mortal souls lacking bloodlines, and off-hand couldn't tell which ones are which with all the magic involved, already detecting well over a hundred charms spread throughout the lot of them.
-Amidst all the chaos on the first floor I feel a soul that smacks of something familiar, something elusive and hard to watch-soaped and covered, drenched and tainted with magic most demonic. Whatever it is, it's soul is as vast as Labombard's beastly rage when I watched him fight a reaper some time ago-and I know whatever it is is every bit the threat the other Nazi monsters is-more, given I can feel a magical item that practically screams to my senses in it's care.
-On the second floor, I can dimly percieve Gianni's soul as eight of his golems assist him in defending a tenth soul on the second floor.
-What is it they defend themselves from? The very same creature that is the source of the rebuilding barricade. The very same monster so spiritually vast I can't even detect it even knowing it's there. The very same monster I watch all the lesser souls move around on the first floor. I know not what this thing is, but it's nearly overwhelming Gianni while also battling the first floor defenders.

While I'm reeling from the jarring spiritual bombardment, SB races through the pre-dawn gloom to inform Sake and Camella to move to our location with all haste.
>"[i]I also took the liberty of advising Hillevi and Duke to both focus on the largest magical signature-Duke was going to do that anyway, incidentally.
"

So. Thirteen nazi heavy hitters and some crazy monster way out of my league, and up to seventy charmed mooks on their side.
"Report, teams in position?"
>[Gloom]"Team 2 in position."
>[Matvey]"Team 1 in position."
>[Feodor]"Team 3 in position."
"Hafaz?"
>[Hafaz]"Ready."

I look up in time to see Sake depositing Camella between Hillevi and Duke, the heavy team fully reunited and outside the building we need to hit, it's barrier still not fully back up.

"Fire."
The moment I give the order I lead the charge, rifle in one hand, Trick in the other.

Suppressed rifles cough, off in the distance, their noise muffled as mortars and rocket launchers add their volume to the morning. I watch one of the teams of russians dropping their heavier equipment and lobbing flash bangs, the brilliant flares contained within the barriers along with the explosions. We breach the freshly rebuilt barrier in a flash, duke leaping forward while still disquised as a well-attired old man, and the wall before him, heavily reinforced as it may be, simple explodes into bits around him like a baseball through wet toilet paper. To his right, Hillevi strikes the wall with a grunt, ice racing so swiftly the wall screams in clicking, clacking, cracking protest before shattering from the sheer stress. With more than twenty feet worth of entrance to work with, Sake further enhances our entrance by wrapping the recently made debris in wind and slinging it all forward, aimed at the largest thing in the room, the only thing that could be the caster of the barrier.

There are words that are thrown about as descriptors. Lovecraftian, Elder Horror, abominable monster, abherrant nightmare. But how does one describe that which simply refuses to be understood by the human mind? How to quantify a seething, multiton mass of stuff that can't decide if it's hide, flesh, bone or scale, of limbs that split and merge without rhyme or reason, about orifices that exist for the space of a heartbeat, of a form made out of not having form? How does one define that which refuses to stay in a singularly definable category?

In the space of one second, while the other nazi beasts rampage within their metal shells not that different from the nazinaut's own armor, that mass of horrid life shifted in every sense of the word: it's mass, it's shape, it's number of limbs, its joints, it's mouth and teeth, every single bit of it changed in the space of one heart beat.
>"The amount of Fleshcrafting skill one would need for that is… beyond Gianni's level as much as Gianni is beyond you. And the power it'd take…and I haven't even felt it's magical signature waver from that-it could do that all day.."

…Call Tartalo. Call Tartalo right the fuck now.

I get no response, as Duke becomes out vanguard, leaping ahead of the briefly hesitating Hillevi to lash out at the cephalapoidean monstrosity before us while HB and Sake both set to harrying the armored figures. Instead, out of the shadow beside her reaches a gargantuan hand covered in scars traced across rhino-like leathery skin, which comes to gently rest on the Valkonen's shoulder.

As duke's thrown back so fast he blurs, a second hand emerges to catch the living cannonball that was about to exit the battlefield as swiftly as he entered, as the fang-mawed, one-eyed glare of the Valkonen servitor finishes stepping free of the shadow, protectively towering over the youngest of the clan it serves. Tartalo tosses Duke back into the fray while it's lone eye glares at the writhing, shifting giant amidst the nazi forces.
>[Tartalo][In Russian]"A Skin Walker. No. Not a Skin Walker? Must be killed."
With that oh-so eloquent contribution to the battle, Tartalo lumbers forward, it's gargantuan size letting it rampage straight to the beast Duke is already merrily re-engaging, Hillevi hot on the cyclop's heels. So-my three heaviest hitters are on that… Skin Walker? Sake and HB are on the metal dudes who I've had all of four seconds to analyze and still have no idea what they do, pretty much everything that not one of those or one of Gianni's golems is writhing from the flashbang-

Except-for a familiar face.

As if the battle around us didn't exist, as if my group's flashy entrance was just a warmup, Galileo Savoy, scarred, discolored and in strange attire, stares at me from across the battle-filled room, his eyes too-wide as he maniacally grins.

Okay-teleporter here. Great. Wonderful. Of COURSE Savoy's here.


Well, I've got a gun in each hand, and have so many targets I probably [u]could[u] pull off some one handed rifle shots.










So what am I going to shoot at?
What's MY immediate plan in this battle?
What orders do I have for allies?
>>
No. 401643 ID: cf590a

hhaahhahahahhahaahha

overcharge the bloody hell out of IT and shoot this bastard in the shadowy balls.
Never, ever take your senses off this bastard.
Lock him in your mind.

Stay mobile with your dunterfootwork and attention dodging, keep the current guise and orientation.

It may be a good idea to get that soul bubble HB made for you up and running again. i.e. ask the bird to start it up for you again.

Would have been so nice to call old granny goddess.
>>
No. 401670 ID: 431fa8

>>401639
>So what am I going to shoot at?
Blasting Savoy's crotch again is pretty much the most trollish thing we can do to him here. Thus, there is no other realistic option. Shove a soul sliver into powering the bullet for bonus points.

>What's MY immediate plan in this battle?
Pump out Doonongaes poison- lots of it. Shadowbro can near-instantly deploy it on all the nazis, all the nazi monsters except the not-skinwalker, and on Savoy using teleportation tricks. Preferably he'll drop the poison in places that won't splash around and hit our allies.

Do not let Savoy close with us. Figure out what that weapon he has is if at all possible, but definitely don't get hit with it. Keep at least part of our attention locked on him so that he can't teleport around. Play the evasive game and blast him repeatedly, unless he starts shooting bullets back at us like before or something.

Make sure Silja's with us on this one. She can probably see exactly what's going on from our back and is probably panicked and confused, since she was never briefed as the others were (what with no actual ears)- if we switch to using her at some point, an accelerated moment of perception in which to explain that we were called for aid by one of the men living here, our sometime instructor in fleshcrafting, should suffice. Having seen the horror that is that skinwalker, and how screwed up and aggressive Savoy looks, there's little doubt that Silja will be more than willing to enthusiastically be on our side but it can't hurt to make sure. Hopefully we won't need to use her, because we don't really want her eating demon-flesh, but if it comes down to melee she's what we have.

>What orders do I have for allies?
Sake, Dávgon, and Camella are... well, Sake might be able to usefully contribute to the fight against Savoy or the not-skinwalker, but the others almost certainly can't. It therefore falls to them to handle everything else. A simple "I have Savoy, take the rest!" should adequately communicate the battle plan here.

Hillevi, Duke, and Tartalo- "Get it outside if you can!" If they can draw the not-skinwalker outside, then we've got our entire company in prepared positions to blast it with missiles, rockets, mortars, and all kinds of other delightfully large guns. That thing looks nasty enough that even our heaviest hitters could really use the fire support, and otherwise the Russians aren't going to be accomplishing shit in this battle.
>>
No. 401707 ID: a110d6

rolled 70, 70, 8, 26, 63, 51 = 288

>-With the rest of the heavier hitters on the first floor I feel a total of seventy mortal souls lacking bloodlines, and off-hand couldn't tell which ones are which with all the magic involved, already detecting well over a hundred charms spread throughout the lot of them.
>Pump out Doonongaes poison- lots of it. Shadowbro can near-instantly deploy it on all the nazis, all the nazi monsters except the not-skinwalker, and on Savoy using teleportation tricks. Preferably he'll drop the poison in places that won't splash around and hit our allies.
How... delightful for the nazis to give us 70 bodies to regen and heal our people with. We tip our hat off to their sense of fairplay. Make sure they get into optimal healing positions by being the first targets of Doony's poison shadowport spam from SB- if worse come to worse and SB has trouble shadowporting it from outside our body, we could have him directly shadowporting it from cavities we create within.

>Do not let Savoy close with us. Figure out what that weapon he has is if at all possible, but definitely don't get hit with it. Keep at least part of our attention locked on him so that he can't teleport around. Play the evasive game and blast him repeatedly, unless he starts shooting bullets back at us like before or something.
Upvoting to keep our attention-sense and soul sense on him so that he can't teleport the fuck away, as well as play evasive maneuvers.

I suggest we use this “ambush time” to kill the trio of Nazi elite that have a “darinlife” attribute by using shadowpiercing (improv shadow pinning) on them. Make sure that you also get ready to dodge the hell out of enrage savoy attack. From then on, use any enemies as ways to cut Savoy or other enemies' field of vision and try to ALWAYS shoot people from the back. Savoy should be our main target.

Rolls for IT
>>
No. 401763 ID: 65bcd8

rolled 93 = 93

>>401670
Upvote everything. If Savoy is incapacitated but not killed by the overcharged IT shot, shoot him in the head with Silja.

The roll is for the overcharged IT shot to Savoy's shadow.
>>
No. 401767 ID: 65bcd8

rolled 79, 54, 33, 10, 49 = 225

>>401763
Rolls for shooting Savoy with Silja.

>>
No. 401771 ID: 21a619

rolled 5 = 5

I suggest it was Savoy, in the dick, with Silja.
>>
No. 401780 ID: 76c597

Talk like you’re out for an afternoon stroll. “Savoy! From that thing with Castelletti, right? Man, small world.” Basically, our job in this fight is to save our Winter/Summer energy as much as possible while keeping Savoy engaged. As we dodge, keep up the patter. “You know, I was just saying to myself(ves), ‘I wonder what Galileo is up to these days’?” and “See, it’s funny because it’s a joke about your nonexistent manhood.”

The way he’s smiling all crazy at us – and his own established lack of care for his own allies – means he ought to go right through his own allies to get at us. Keep the lesser Nazis between us at all times; use them as human shields. Use our soul sense to keep a map of the battlefield in mind, but keep our eyes on Savoy at all times. Start up a Gyaketsuote if we can – I think our similarities should be enough to get a link going. How did Shakespeare put it, ‘Let me tell you of mine nearest and dearest enemy’?

Then whatever he tries to hit us with – magic, Artifact, knife, gun, demon arm – use Gyaketsuote, speed and Goblin sneakiness to keep our Nazi shields between us. Any human Nazi he kills, absorb them for fleshcraft ‘juice’ before moving on. Fire away at Savoy – no trick shots, ball shots or shadow sticking, just center mass. Fill him full of lead; he probably still has that ‘demon arm redirection’ thing going with his new demon parts, but we’ll have our Nazi shields and IT’s ‘extra damage with each subsequent shot’ trick may get through and rack up damage.

If IT’s trick doesn’t work, just switch over to shooting the exceptional Nazi souls while still focusing primarily on Savoy.

Basically, we’re giving HB, Sake and Camella time to figure out and take down the Nazinauts and other assorted nastiness while we hang tough and lead Savoy on a merry chase.

Once the assorted Nazis are down, HB and crew can head upstairs to either pile on (if they’re feeling suicidal) or extract Gianni/the dude he’s protecting.

I wonder if the oddly invisible ally on the first floor is Rocco, or if Rocco’s upstairs with Gianni.
>>
No. 401783 ID: c6ce12

>>401639
First thing's first, I trust SB communicated all we sensed to our allies with less than stellar means of magical perception, because it's important they have a good idea of the battlefield they're wading into right now and of the potential dangers like an ambush attack from one of those tunnelers. We need to get on that if we haven't already.

>What's MY immediate plan in this battle?
We are going to do what we do best, by being a flighty, dodgy, bastard. Savoy is our primary target and he is more than willing to let us keep him busy it seems. With what we've invested into Goblinic Stealth, Footwork, and Gyaketsuote we should be able to dance around the battlefield and keeping at our preferred range. Savoy is so damn focused on us his attention should be hitting us even harder than Olga's did. And of course if we can feel his attention we can perceive him and since perceiving him locks his teleporting. And of course we just so happen to have a woman with more than a hundred soul eyes and a cyclops here who may just lock his teleportation out by being around. All while we do this we can plug away at Savoy and take any chances we get to make opportunistic strikes on any openings other enemies give us. Savoy might give us some trouble with his arm like last time, if he does we might need to get a bit creative, if shadow pinning him works it might be able to prevent any automatic functions his arm has through it's illusory nature. Now if we can't get a good angle for a shot? Let's not forget that trick we can do with Shadowbro where we move a gun through him and have the barrel fire out of another shadow entirely, probably best used with Silja as she has far lower energy requirements for any kind of porting than Iron Trick.

I'd also try to ask Amen if he could give us a truthful analysis of what we can expect from Savoy with his newly tainted soul and demonic grafts if this barrier doesn't prevent that.

>What orders do I have for allies?
Everyone seems to have a task currently, the only ones I can really think of offering orders to are Dávgon and Camella who might want to work their way towards the second floor, assisting Sake and Hummingbird as they go, to establish contact with Gianni while the heavier forces are occupied.

>>401643
I would I would slip into accelerated thought again and ask IT what would happen were divine energies and demonic ones mix in situations like this. If we shoot him I want to know if we should be prepared for him to burst into flames from our holiness or if it'll just cause an explosion and if it does cause an explosion will it be the type Sake can and will need to contain and then wrap around him for extra damage or something even worse.

Oh and I'd say aim a little higher, you really want to get the whole package in one go.

>>401670
This post has my general support and an upvote for everything but attempting to add a soul sliver to our empowered shadow pin.

>>401707
I would not be so eager here, there are up to seventy people writhing on the floor from our entrance, that much is true, but we could not determine at a glance who was who and it's very likely a good portion of them are mafia mooks. And while I agree with you and the other who are saying we should have SB deploy our poison against them it should be noted that they have charms, it might just be beneficial to have SB rip those off their corpses and have them either examined and deployed to our own people or if that's not possible put somewhere we can collect them later. After all that's done feel free to use the enemies as healing fuel.
>>
No. 401803 ID: 764776

Ok, so first, before anything else, enter accelerated time and spend a few subjective seconds planning.
* Check with HB if he can accelerate our metabolism without compromising his own abilities, even if it means damaging our body.
* Ask HB if he can lend us his focus for the couple of seconds that we take the initial shots when the accelerated time ends.
* Ask SB about whether the shadowpockets we previous made in our flesh are enough to mitigate him having the Nazinaut shadow throw us about. If so he should have us thrown aside as soon as we've finished taking our initial shots, in the direction of a body.
* Discuss with SB the best way to deploy Dooney poison so he can teleport it?
* After the initial shots we want to stay as mobile as possible, and away from the floor to avoid being ambushed by the tunnellers. Darting from body to body, touching it and claiming it to recharge our reserves from continually healing us from the damage the Nazinaut shadow and possibly HB's metabolism boost do. As we do this we should be taking imbued shots with Iron Trick at their shadows when we're behind enemies seems the best immediate tactic.
* Do not approach any enemies within melee range under any circumstances. We don't know their capabilities so want to keep our distance.
* If we manage to dodge everyone's Attention try to change our Soul Guise into the "outline, the blankness in the shape of a soul that moves and does battle" we saw earlier.
* If any allies are seriously injured we should make our way over to them with a dead body and use it to heal them as best we can.
* Given that the various Nazi heavy hitters have been here for the, what, 10, 15 minutes since Gianni rang, the chances of any of the living charm wearers being friendly is minimal. Kill them all and let the gods sort them out.
* Ask for other suggestions. Can we do anything to help the others?

>>401780
* SUST talking to Savoy. Just shoot him and then get our of his field of view as soon as possible to shift soul guise. Much better to have him fruitlessly searching for us rather than giving him any clues.
* We need to check with SB whether he thinks we've improved enough since last time we tried to experiment with Gyaketsuote at further than hand-to-hand range, as we should stay at a distance we can use Iron Trick on him safely, which, given the pistol is a meter long, is well over 2 meters away.
* Note that with 12 remaining Nazi heavy hitters and all our heavy hitters otherwise engaged, we're far, far too outnumber to concentrate solely on Savoy. We need to tie up at least him plus two of them.
>>
No. 401884 ID: d97a61

>>401643
>>401670
>>401763
Right then, my gut says-

Time for bullet to the balls numero dos for Savoy.
[FIRST SHOT: 093/100]
93+5+4Trait bonus+10Supernatural Bonus = %112
Soul Sense alert, senses in tune, I feel the sliver of my spirit rip free, coiling about the bullet as it leaps free of the chamber. I see a leg torn apart, a side gouged open, a shoulder cored out as the payload screams from barrel to shadow, slamming into the ground beneath Savoy.
WINTER ENERGY: [-5 Second barrier piercing in prior post] [-1] 59/160
For a brief moment, in the pre-dawn gloom, in the murky restaurant, there flickers into existence a fist-sized patch of… not quite light, but certainly something bereft of shadow. It eschews the darkling of the gloom about it-as Savoy drops to a knee, falling below the sea of bodies.
>"If you couldn't soul sense, you'd have lost him there. Great as this is-"
Sh, he's gonna-
>[Savoy][In Italian]"Hehehehihi-AGAIN, huh? But I saw, I saw I saw-that cost you, didn't it? How much can you lose, deceiver!?"
That… didn't sound good. He saw me putting some soul in that?
>"Seems so."
>[Iron Trick]"He does so seem to relish in affirming the obvious to you, does he not?"
Well-here's a thought. SB, can you tell mooks apart here?"
>"The mafia have nearly no charms on their men-yes, I can tell them apart."
Okay-I'm going to produce as much Doonongaes poison as I can, teleport it as possible onto the nazi dudes.
>"Certainly."
Hummingbird trills indignantly as he's repelled by the tank-scale armor on each and every on of the lesser nazi monsters-and only now, do I get a chance to look at them, muscles clenched and mind filled with venomous thoughts. There's a trio of armored behemoths covered in caution signs and outfitted with exotic rebreathers, the owners of the poisonous shell souls I saw before-I see several dead mafia (and nazi alike) around each of the three, several without any wounds on their body.
>[Hummingbird]"They seek to weaken and cripple all those that fight here with their way-detestable vermin!"
Well, seems HE's occupied-and Sake, for his part, is… well, playing whack-a-mole. What else should I call the seven creatures that seem to swim through stone as ably as water that Sake keeps hammering back down, refusing to even let the prowlers rejoin the battlefield? Dávgon, for his part, has done what he can to pick up the slack, focused on the twin Lightning-soulled monsters, each sporting a massive cluster of turbines on their armored backs, the dull thrum of current surging through the air. I can't say what exactly he's doing with his spirit animals-but he's got them occupied so I call it good enough. Good enough-the golden standard of the battlefield. Only Camella seems a bit too snooty for that-tearing into the nazi enforcers in support of the mafia like a bladed whirlwind, happily showing off.

Duke collides with a fist wrought from what was moments ago a featureless wall or writhing flesh and is pushed back as a maw spits burning fats and acids at Hillevi, illuminating the area around her while suppressing her ice so forcefully she is falling back, all while a trio of tendrils attempt to simply bind the Cyclopean intruder, Tartalo, strong as he may be, unable to fully wrest himself from their grasp. In that one glance, I saw that monster not just holding my three strongest allies back, but beginning to overwhelm them.

My body beginning to become slick as I feel the flutter of air flowing over my skin as SB takes his first batch of poison from me, my attention still rooted on Savoy, already tucking IT away to properly grip Silja.

You're sure you-
>[Silja]"You told me how important this is-do what you have to."
Right. man I'm glad I pep-talked her on the drive over
>>401707
Five seconds.
That's how long it's been since Savoy made his declaration.
Zero seconds.
That's how long he's been out of sight for me. I don't care HOW deadly his bloodline can be, if he can't use it, it's not at threat.
>"So long as you keep him pinned down.
I raise Këihas to my shoulder in a sweeping thrust, fending off a charmed nazi so I can-
[SECOND SHOT: 070/100]
70+1+4Trait bonus+15Supernatural Bonus = %90
With a thundering boom that deafens in the enclosed space, Silja kicks into my shoulder, fire filling the air as charms burn to ash, the violence my blind widow spits out scoffing at their feeble protections. The first round-is caught by savoy. That's… shit. Well-
[THIRD SHOT: 070/100]
70+1+4Trait bonus+15Supernatural Bonus = %90
Again, charms burn, people scream-and on the far side of the room, Savoy stands unharmed-well, past the first bit. He's not throwing the bullet back, like he did with that other arm-but while I can't tell WHAT he's doing, I can feel magic gathering about him, all the same.
[FOURTH SHOT: 008/100]
8+1+4Trait bonus+15Supernatural Bonus = %28
>[Silja]Armas-"
The rifle in my hands bucks backwards, my shot going wide-as a tentacle way, way too reminiscent of the Doonongaes' slams through the floor I had been standing on like it was cardboard.

Clearly not content simply trying to crush me, the tendril sprouts dozens of spined maws-SB!
>"I've got-"
The mouths open wide-
[DISCONTINUITY
I'm on the far side of the room perched atop a shelf, free and clear of the hellacious torment the tendril releases all over where I was.

All while it continues to slowly overwhelm Tartalo and Hillevi while it continues to bounce Duke around like a toy, denying him the chance to fight the way he wishes-all of this, while it's got another tendril going up to the second floor, messing with Gianni directly. But it's attention… is odd.

>>401771
Savoy's already amassed enough mojo, and for the moment eyes are off me-time to pump out a shot right where it hurts-
[FIFTH SHOT: 005/100]
5+1+4Trait bonus+15Supernatural Bonus = %25
…Oooor Savoy could catch that one too.. and his hand could start glowing-
>[AAE Trait activated]
I barely see the balefully glaring magic weapon he carries stretch out on an abruptly elongating arm before it cracks like a whip, the blade tearing through suit and flesh alike-
>[GGG Trait activated]
I grit my teach as something fouler than fire brutally rends its way through my guts in the wake of that sweeping blade, blood spouting from my mouth as I bite through my tongue. I don't need to glance down to see it-my flesh is rotting around the wound, I can feel it in far too many ways to even doubt.

So I do what I must-SB!
[DISCONTINUITY]
I stand behind someone SB assumes to be a nazi, my only consolation for what I'm about to do. I wrap a hand around their neck-
>>401767
[79 on a 'Claim Flesh' Roll. Foe DC: 15 PASS]
-and Claim their flesh, stomach still falling apart.
Just like the memories that aren't mine tell me…
Like the contented inhalation prior to a satisfied sigh post-feast, I consume the body of the warrior in my grasp, funneling it all to-
Skin writhes, muscle ripples, organs quiver, veins pulsate, arteries quake and bones rattle as beneath the spreading rot new flesh bubbles and blooms, racing out to replace what was lost in one gluttonous burst. The corrupted flesh protrudes, and I do the sensible thing-and promptly cut it the fuck off, using the last of the sacrifice's life to heal the self-made wound. So yeah, that hurt, no doubt-but I know his trick now.
SUMMER ENERGY: [-1] 49/50
Glancing down I see the hunks of severed flesh continuing to shrivel, dessicate and rot, parts crumbling away-
While the middle of the room's become a literally earth-shaking battle royal, Sake having dispatched one of the mole-like monsters while he, Dávgon and HB join Duke, Hillevi and Tartalo in attacking the abomination that's bloodied all comers from the start, and the remaining eleven lesser nazi experiments. The human fighters are all paying heed to this, buying Gianni's remaining flesh golems time to scythe down enemy numbers unmolested.

>>401780
Right-minor setback, learned something-didn't really lose anything. And SB's still spreading my goodness to all those in need, so if this drags out I win anyway.

I dance away with Dunter Footwork as fast as my feet dare move as a lance of heat slices across the room, carving a deep, smoldering channel through stone and steel alike.
>"That… was an eye beam."
Wha-
>[Sake]"[So it's interesting to both of you wonderful, now keep moving!"

I turn my dodge into the start of an erratic dash through the crowd, barely staying on top of the massive panoply of Attention swirling in the room, racing to stay that oh so vital step ahead of the monster's attention. While not forgetting about Savoy-who doesn't… seem to have really done much-no, wait, he grabbed someone and…. ah. He's…. cannibalizing people. I can't tell if that's one of his guys or a mafia dude-but either way…… I kind of feel like he's muscling in on my turf.
>"You get worked up about the perceived slight, I'll focus on his apparent need to recharge after fleshcrafting his demon arm as he did."
Not just that, he needed outside attacks to channel into a trigger, right?
>"Precisely."
So… well fuck meleeing him, so I guess that leaves shooting his shadow.
>"He'll be expecting it."
My dashing comes to a halt as blood flies in looping arcs as gusts of wind buffet me-and familiar monstrous souls ravenous for blood pop into my realm of observation.

Ricky and Lucy, making their appearance. Sadly, I can't truly see what they do-only the soul status of the room, before and after.

The room goes from having 62 mostly mundane people in it-to just 25. And, lucky lucky me, they didn't take that blank-soul dude, Gianni's golems or any of my guys. Good to see they didn't fuck me-I didn't think they would, but you never know.

With the battlefield abruptly less populate, Gianni's golems immediately race for the stares despite sudden heavy bombardment with acids and corrosive spines from the nightmarish ramshackle chimera that now dominates everyone's attention.

Everyone, it seems, but the one without a soul (as I have taken to calling him for no rational reason), who promptly charges one of the death-shells HB's still focusing his efforts on, attacking with a tool every bit as not-there as it's owner-and the massive plates of armor simply fall away, each and every joint and joining coming undone. HB does not pass up his chance, swiftly boring a pair of holes through the exposed monster, head and heart, before flying off to support Sake.

I wish the good news kept going-but that freak continues to slap down EVERYONE-I hope I can keep Savoy out of everyone's hair while they whittle away the beast's defenders.
>"I don't know they'll survive that long-and Savoy-"

This time it's SB flat-out shoving me aside with his Nazinaut shadow so forcefully he caves in my shoulder-as I find myself cast out of range of a caustic spray Savoy belched our way. Seeing how it eats through the wall behind where I was in the space of moments…. yeah, I'll take the shoulder. Okay, lash arm, decay knife, acid spray. What else you got? …Let's find out.

Savoy, that was it! From that thing with Castelletti, right? Man, small world, smallll world!
I keep talking, obscuring myself as I lean down, laying a hand on one of the few bodies I felt still within the room after Ricky and Lucy's flash appearance, surreptitiously powering an essentially free healing.
You know, I was just saying to myself, ‘I wonder what Galileo is up to these days’… hehehee…
Savoy doesn't seem to be laughing-in fact, I dare say he looks a mite miffed!
“See, it’s funny because it’s a joke about your nonexistent manhood.”
THERE'S the mindless rage, WOW he broke the ground uh SB-
>"Quarter second"
He's almost here holy fuck he can move fast-
[DISONTINUITY]
!SHITWHEREISHE-
>[Savoy]"You think I wouldn't notice you can't watch while moving?"
Savoy hands me my own kidney by punching his hand through my back. No really, he kind of tosses the kidney at me, like 'here fucker'.
>[GGG Trait activated]
I COULD get all caught up in the surrealness of that.

Instead I slice at his exposed hand with Silja's bayonet, lopping off his thumb before he wrenches his hand back.

I use the tug to whirl myself about, redrawing Iron Trick with it's remaining five bullets-
>"Six now"
Six shots-
I see the metal monsters not unlike the nazinauts I am familiar with faltering, crumbling, breaking. I see the applied weight of so many types of magic finding chink after chink in their defenses-even Camella finding a chance to pluf her rifle directly in one of the lightning monster's mouthpieces while Sake 'distracts' it. I see Dávgon and Sake doing their best to keep wearing down the remaining nine nazi experiments. But effort or no, progress of no, the horror looms, and a sweat-drenched Hillevi wavers, a servile Cyclops reclaims a lost arm-and Duke becomes ever more enraged at his inability to solidly hit this beast.
Dammit as if my shit wasn't enough my allies are gonna get steamrolled soon if the momentum keeps going against them-

>[Hummingbird]"Focus"

Just like that-I do.











What's my plan?
Who am I shooting, where, with what?
How the hell is this situation going to get resolved, that monster's starting to have me convinced it doesn't run out of juice.
>>
No. 401893 ID: f70e5e

rolled 25, 76, 92, 17, 57, 41 = 308

Savoy is dangerous, but he seems to be mlee focused, and so long as wee keep an eye on him he lacks to mobility to be as dangerous as the other groups of enemies. if we use iron trick to blow holes in the shadows of the nazi experiments we can bypass there armor and put them down fast, freeing up Camella, Sake, and Davgon to help deal with the skin walker.


rolling for six shots with iron tick to the shadows of the nazi experiments.
>>
No. 401913 ID: 9d1a38

Well... now that the peons are dead have SB shadowport the doony poison on Savoy. Those demon parts are pretty bullshit. Lets see if he got a demon liver as well.
>>
No. 402007 ID: 76c597

Use HB to focus one by one on the viability of some fairly desperate but possibly awesome ideas - discard them if they seem unfeasible.

-Soul sculpt self & Savoy- then switch
- Try and get the Warwalker to attack Savoy
-Try and use HB Focus to study, copy and then utilize Savoy's fleshcraft armwhip technique
-Use SB to open a Dark portal through which we send our arm, like we did with our spear during the Gunnar fight
-Use the shadows down the front of our pants as our portal, and the shadows inside Savoy's jacket as the exit- then slap him with a Doony-poisoned fist. Alternatively, use portal to stick Silja somewhere unpleasant
-Start pulling everyone out via Sake, then SB/IT/Russians mortaring everything team-up to drop the floor out from under the Warwalker and have it land on Savoy and Armas
-Wait until literally the last half-second to teleport out, and with some luck our eyes on Savoy will keep him from doing the same
>>
No. 402014 ID: a63110

* We came here to extract Gianni and Rocco, and that's what we should focus on doing.
* Savoy is well out of our league, as the not-Skinwalker is for our heavy hitters. We need to arrange to withdraw.
* SB can probably teleport Rocco and Gianni out of the building, and then Sake can catch them and fly off with them.
* Before we do that, we need to thin out the numbers of Nazis by hitting the armoured ones with augmented shots from Iron Trick.
* It's possible that Savoy may still be protected from attacks intended to kill him, which is why we could cut his finger off or shoot his balls off again, but not shoot him in the head, so we should probably try something more indirect. After all, it was Amen who removed Savoy's demon arm, after he knew that we were his owner and that Savoy would hate us. He had means, motive and opportunity to do so in a way that would ensure that Savoy would retain as much of the power it granted, including no-selling lethal attacks.
* We probably can't kill Savoy ourselves, but fortunately the Nazis themselves have given us a solution. Below us there is a trap for anything human derived, which Savoy should qualify as. The tunnelling monsters should also have left the floor beneath us honeycombed with tunnels or at least disturbed. We need several plans to take advantage of this, shown below. [Primary]. If we don't think that the NN trap will catch him, then try [Trickster] as well. If he doesn't seem like he'll go down from the kick, try [Heavy]. If all else fails [Escape] is the only option.
* As Hillevi needs some help, we should ask SB if he has the energy to shadowport a few Arrow and Sword charms to her.
* When Savoy and a few of the other Nazis are out of play, Sake and SB should go for the rescue. Hopefully the sight of its quarry escaping should encourage the non-Skinwalker to pursue, right into the killzone the Russians should have set up.
* We should then take the chance to try to shadow pin it, to give the Russians a chance to nail it and for Duke to get a solid hit in.

Savoy Plans
[Primary]
* All the way through we keep Attention focused on his soul
* SB teleports grenades beneath our feet.
* Nazinaut shadow throws us upwards hard
* We use Hummer's Momentum when our feet are just above Savoy's head to redirect us over the top of him.
* Just as we pass him, we use Hummer's Momentum to direct us down and slightly backwards.
* We kick ourselves off the object we're passing over as hard as possible in order to rebound and make us jump further. We utterly convince ourselves that this is the only reason we're doing so. We do not consider that this will coincidently knock him forwards in any way, shape, or form. Even beneath that, if we can't manage that, we should honestly have no expectation that kicking him would do any direct harm.
* Grenades detonated by SB.
* SB teleports out the broken ground leaving a hole leading to the sewers.
* Sake creates an inverse tornado that sucks Savoy down into them.
* Profit We get Amen to relay a message to SM that we've sent a Scion of the Royal House of Savoy into his domain, and nothing else. If the Nazinauts don't get him, SM will when he comes out.
[Trickster]
* If they're like the Nazinauts, the experimental monsters aren't seeing using eyes, but other senses.
* We know from how we got our Soul Guise working, pretending we were applying it to someone else, that it may well be possible to do that for real.
* We should Soul Guise Savoy to seem like someone that the under-floor monsters would love to attack – if they're focusing on Sake, for example, into him. This might be quite hard, so push with our full borrowed determination. If we can, we should also have it radiate temporary acute vulnerability and hostility to them. After all, even royalty bows to an Emperor, and fills the roll they assign.
* If we make him sufficiently enticing, the burrowing experiments just may even be foolish enough to chase him into the sewers...
[Heavy]
* Use the Nazinaut shadow + Hummer's Momentum trick described above, but change the angle slightly and try to chop the top of his head off with Silja. Whilst we do this we shouldn't expect or intend this to kill him.
* Have SB shadowport a grenade to a set of co-ordinates we specify, right over his exposed brain, although he needs to make the transfer blind, ignorant of where it's going.
[Escape]
* If he's not falling for anything, just use the Hummer's Momentum + Nazinaut shadow trick to get the hell out of dodge whenever he gets close, and try to keep one step out of his reach.
* Whilst we do that, we can ask SB if he thinks it's a god idea to take the thumb back to the mansion, and perhaps have Amen use it to make first make Savoy reject all his demon grafts and vice versa in a way that will quickly kill them and him without being a hazard to anyone else. We leave the exact orders to his discretion of course.
* As we'll probably be lacking the Nazinaut speed boost if SB's doing that, we should ask HB if there's any more aid he can give to make us move faster.
>>
No. 402063 ID: 431fa8

Savoy MUST be killed or eliminated as a combatant, and quickly. The moment we disengage from Savoy he'll be able to start teleporting and stabbing them in the back, which could rapidly kill almost anyone else here since they're already occupied with the not-skinwalker. We can't merely drive him off or injure him- he can heal too quickly now since he's got cannibalization tricks like we do, and will come back to menace us once again. We end him here.

While we're working on killing Savoy, everyone else needs to prepare for a withdrawal. Shadowbro and Sake can hopefully coordinate this- the mafia mooks, Dàvgon, Gianni, Camella, Rocco if he's in here, anyone and anything else the mafia needs can all start pulling out. Once they hit the street, they need to communicate to the Russians what a horrible enemy this is; we need all the heaviest and most enchanted armaments ready to pound the crap out of this not-skinwalker the moment it emerges. Then Hillevi, Duke, and Tartalo can pull the fuck back. Shadowbro needs to keep an eye on Hillevi and make sure she doesn't die before then. If Shadowbro gets a spare moment, he can also pop outside and order someone to call Karma (if we have his number); he'd almost certainly be more than willing to charge right over and fight evil, while being fairly easy to manipulate. And we don't care if he dies.

Primary
Take Savoy out in melee; we've been in melee with him once already and taken his measure, and while he was deadly both sides took wounds so we've got a shot. Say something along the lines of "Let's try this the warrior's way" to the hummingbird, pump ourselves 110% full of adrenaline, and charge Savoy with Silja. Use all our best tricks- dunter footwork, gyaketsuote, hummingbird momentum shifting and focus (and if he can give us anything else to make us even faster or more powerful, that would be great), all our spear-based combat skill, egoless fighting, shifting soul guises, chakra reinforcement, assistance from Shadowbro, doonongaes poison both delivered directly and teleported into his clothes, flickers of the soul shield we used against Duke, maybe try to twist that shield into a soul blade, and constant regeneration from any injury we suffer. We are a legitimate fucking badass armed with a whole array of magic tricks and a weapon that literally wants to do what we want it to do- pull out the stops and we can take this guy. To top the whole thing off, the nazinaut shadow can charge Savoy and try to hurt him or at least pin him in place for us to score the kill.

Trickster
But in case we can't, hedge our bets with a gambler's ploy- make a stack of bets against Iron Trick, one per loaded bullet. The stakes for all bets are one soul sliver a day for a week against his activating a power upon our request that would severely harm Savoy even if he catches the bullet like he has so far. Moment of accelerated thought for conversation before charging Savoy.
-Bet that we'll be able to successfully hit Savoy on our initial charge.
-Bet that we can get Savoy to say our name within ten seconds.
-Bet that we'll be able to get at least two-thirds of the surviving mafia members out of here alive, counting from the moment we make the bet.
-Bet that we can disarm Savoy before we're done here (pun here means removing weapon or either of his arms should count).
-Bet that Savoy won't manage to successfully hit us with acid during our melee engagement.
-Bet that Savoy will manage to do enough damage to us that a normal person would be dead at least three times over.
If we win any of them, then we have a backup plan for if the primary falls through and Savoy completely mauls us in melee in a way that we can't easily heal: Gain space, switch weapons, and blast him. Shadowbro will probably need to help with the "gain space" bit; we don't want to shadowport again, but the nazinaut shadow might be able to pull us back or hold Savoy while we withdraw, and Shadowbro could pop some grenades in Savoy's face. If we win multiple bets, then we get multiple power shots. If we lose multiple bets, then we're stuck giving Iron Trick soul slivers for the next few weeks, but we can afford that. Because of the wording of our bets we should still get the more powerful shots for any triggers that we meet even if we kill Savoy successfully in our melee, so we'll be able to deploy those against the not-skinwalker if we've got extras.

Heavy Handed
If the first two plans have failed, then Savoy will have proven himself simply too tough for Armas to beat alone. That means we need other people to help kill him- and with everyone inside occupied, that means the Russian firepower awaiting outside. Give the order to everyone left inside to get the fuck out; hopefully the not-skinwalker team will be able to manage a successful withdrawal; possibly leaving explosives behind them. Taunt Savoy as we withdraw to provoke him into remaining focused on us even as we pass through the barrier and might lose track of him; hopefully that will ensure that he teleports after us instead of starting to slaughter our friends. If possible, arrange so that he's actually physically charging at us and goes through the barrier of his own volition.

At that point, we have either Savoy and the not-skinwalker or just the not-skinwalker outside on the street. Everyone hits either and both of them with everything- rockets, mortars, miniguns, every magical weapon we brought and all the powers that any of us can bring to bear. Keep it up until they're dead, we run out of ammo and power, or things are clearly turning against us.

Escape
It comes to this if we're done- our resources are largely exhausted and some people are probably dead. Give the word for everyone to flee and meet back at the mansion. We try one of the only gambits left to us to salvage a victory- call in something bigger and nastier than us. Pull out our phone and call Oggmum (for she was nice and what's bigger and nastier than a witch, plus able to bring power to bear on-site in time to help?), stating that both the Istanbul mafia and our company will owe her a serious favor if she can deal with whatever the fuck this horrific monster is. If that fails there's really nothing left but to run and hope we can reach the mansion before we all die.
>>
No. 402068 ID: 7c31d2

>>402063
Upvote.
>>
No. 402082 ID: a110d6

>>402063
Upvoting this, as Savoy is too moblie and hard-hitting a wash-out to let live here, and this is a pretty thorough plan.
>egoless fighting
Only if that doesn't let him teleport.

>>402014
Wary of this plan, so downvote.

>>401893
Only shoot if we get Savoy's back to us by maneuvring, or if we are using charged shots.

>Okay-I'm going to produce as much Doonongaes poison as I can, teleport it as possible onto the nazi dudes.
>Savoy hands me my own kidney by punching his hand through my back. No really, he kind of tosses the kidney at me, like 'here fucker'.
“You don't know it, but you are already dead.”
>>
No. 402083 ID: d97a61

rolled 3 = 3

>>401893
[Planned Shots: 25, 76, 92, 17, 57, 41]
>>402063
>>402068
>>402070
I'm point blank-even crap shots can't miss, the gun's in my hand and I'm in about as close of range as one can get. Thinking to the one time I actually successfully shot him this evening, I go for an encore.
[FIRST SHOT 025/100]
25 + 8 + 4Trait Bonus + 10Supernatural Bonus = 47%
WINTER ENERGY: [-1] 58/160
The first shot's rough as I flick the barrel down, slicing free a sliver of soul to speed the bullet along-Savoy's body dances away with ever more of that devilish speed-
[SECOND SHOT 076/100]
76 + 8 + 4Trait Bonus + 10Supernatural Bonus = 98%
WINTER ENERGY: [-1] 57/160
Tactical pessimist as I try to be, I've already got my gun moving the moment he starts leaping-my second shot's dead on, coring through his right lung-in his shadow. He stumbles in his helter-skelter evasion, violently vomiting a gout of blood without even seeming to notice as he steadies himself.
[THIRD SHOT 092/100]
92 + 8 + 4Trait Bonus + 10Supernatural Bonus = 114%
WINTER ENERGY: [-1] 56/160
The third soul-swaddled bullet blazes through his shadow's forehead as I mentally give SB a high five for providing the realtime imaging of magical signatures and shadow positions. NO way I could have done this in this occluded battlefield on my own. I smile at our teamwork as Savoy's magical signature rocks backwards, losing his footing. Damn I love those empowered shadow shots.
[FOURTH SHOT 017/100]
17 + 8 + 4Trait Bonus + 10Supernatural Bonus = 39%
WINTER ENERGY: [-1] 55/160
>"ARMAS-"
Again I feel a forceful impact and bones break-admittedly, this time it's just ribs cracking as I'm pushed out of the path of yet another brilliantly beaming lance of light, ripping a vaporizing wave of destruction into the restaurant as it almost delicately traces by.
>[GGG Trait activated]
Thankfully this hardly rates, and barely throws my attention as I fire away, refusing to let my momentary assault end before it must.
>[HHoH Trait activated]
[FIFTH SHOT 57/100]
57 + 8 + 4Trait Bonus + 5Trait Secondary Bonus + 10Supernatural Bonus = 84%
WINTER ENERGY: [-1] 54/160
[SIXTH SHOT 041/100]
41 + 8 + 4Trait Bonus + 5Trait Secondary Bonus + 10Supernatural Bonus = 68%
WINTER ENERGY: [-1] 53/160
The last pair in the revolver thunder out to catch Savoy's shadow in the guy and thigh, and I can see every bit as much spiritual havoc from the attack as I can 'see' it from SB's magical assessments.

[PRIMARY]
Already over the hole in my side and the cracked ribs but unwilling to show off my hybrid healing I slap the revolver back in it's holster, re-heft Silja and charge at Savoy's twitching corpse. SB, two things: Can you get outside and call Karma and now's when I really want to hear you can just shadowport Gianni and Rocco out of here.
>"Prepare to be half disappointed: I already have and to the latter-this thing is… blocking me. With a work around-blood manipulation, one of my Shade thinks. A work-around. I can get around it…once."
I'm shadowporting fine with you so wha-
>"It's specifically the second floor-it's created a null zone where shadows don't touch the Dark."
That… sounds pretty hefty.
>"My Shade and I know of no way to circumvent it save intensely draining brute force. Yes, it is hefty."
Well-fuck. And here I was hoping you could extract Camella and Dávgon besides the Mafia duo so they don't have to try running…

I dejectedly slip into a low stance-
>[SOTG Trait activated]
And petulantly start stabbing the fuck out of Savoy, who's soul has still clearly not ruptured, and who's magical signature has not dispersed. …Dammit why isn't he just dying!
>"Thank you for not making me attempt to stop you from feeding him to Silja. I see no way good could come of that-"
[TRICKSTER]
Nine stabs in my mind shifts tracks.
Hey Trick, care to gamble?
>[IT]"What's the bet?"
I can get two thirds of the currently surviving mafia out of here-
I tumble to the side to dodge Savoy's gurgling body coughing acid on me, catching an eyeful of Duke being flanked by Dávgon's spirit animals as he tries yet again to close on the freak, his bullrush buying Hillevi a moment to sag in exchausted relief and catch a harried breath before a new tentacle forms and lashes out, paper-thin spins flicking free of the flesh and tracing neat incisions through everything the touch, Tartalo getting shredded as he buys his master more time to dodge, more time to breathe, more time to live. Sake, HB, Camella and the No-Soul have whittled the metal monsters down to seven-but with how bleak things are looking against the big bad monster itself I can't say I'm too happy.
>[IT]"Ho….. I'll take that bet."
I also bet-
>[IT]"Now now-one wager at a time, dear owner."
>[MMM,MMMM Trait auto-activated]
SB, teleport the Mafia dudes to safety-you can do that, can't you?
>[IT]"Sly, sly trickster, oh-ho~"
>"With enough energy left for my make-or break it-only just"
Just like that I win my bet.

And just like that I heft Këihas in one hand while redrawing Iron Trick-
>"One bullet."
>[IT]"Suppose it's time to pay up, heh."
WINTER ENERGY: [-7] 46/160
With a shuddering twist that scythes through my tesseracted soul I feel the wheels of fate turn the gears my way as my finger finds a trigger…..

[1d3 Roll, 1=Black Hole, 2=Soul Scale, 3=Darkening]
>>
No. 402093 ID: d97a61

>>402083
[3, Darkening]
There's a flash from the muzzle and-
[Distinuity]

Okay, so the monster-how the fuck are we going to deal with that thing, shou-
>"WHAT THE FUCK WHAT ABOUT SAVOY!?"
Who?
>"You're joking right you… where is he?"
Again, who?
>"The guy you were just fighting."
Dunno if I'd count a metal monster like this digger freak a 'guy', but he's right there.
>"No, this is insane, have the memories."
What areWHAgn, that was… okay. Trick, what the fuck just happened?
>[IT]Can't explain, owner of mine. Best focus on what it looks like you've gained."

And… what HAVE I gained. From seven surviving metal monsters, there are now six, the last falling even faster than before-and Savoy?

He doesn't…. seem to exist anymore. I even forgot he was there-completely, perfectly and utterly. HB, Sake, what was I just fight-
>[Sake]"Don't have time for your nonsense, busy, get your ass back in the fight."

Yeah… about that-I'm still wounded from the fight with Savoy, but I'm free and clear of theLASER-

THAT time I saw it coming and didn't need a bone-breaking 'helpful' shove out of the way, able to dodge my own ass out of the way. Hurray!

…Unfortunately, the… floor is kind of shaking now and-



With a muffled THOOM the floor collapsed a few feet-

Before vast swarming tides of quivering flesh and writhing appendages slither free from the cracks, all of it reeking of the same foul magic as the monster…. all….
>"Part of it… The sewers are…. there's blocks of this thing…"

Well…..



Fuck.


[WAR WALKER BEATDOWN INTERRUPTED BY A ROGUE GLEB]

With a distinctly muted snuffle of light, Gleb Romanov, Einher extraordinaire, beard-touting, beer-bellied, shark-toothed wanderer simply pops into existence. He only grins wider as he takes in the seen, grinning like a smug cat the size of a school, his soul equally hidden to me.

I finally connect chaos to action and feel the brief buildup as the monster all around us, every last writhing tentacle of it, prepares to shift into what I have little doubt is intended to be a deathtrap as Gleb's hand is shoved in a pocket.









What do I do?
>>
No. 402149 ID: 3af16b

Ask Shadowbro if the War Walker's concealment spell is also blocking the blood bond to Amen. Hopefully it is.

If it is, have Shadowbro relay an order to Amen to not read Armas' memories of the events that have happened today. If it is not, order Amen to not share, sell, or hint at any information learned in the past hour with anyone except his master. We want everyone to not remember Savoy, and Amen would think it'd be very funny to put the information out there.

There were two binds that involved reference to Savoy. Luckily they both were fairly old, and so they actually happened. Unluckily, one of them is referenced each time we make any binding. Now we should be safe if we do something like "Amend the order that I issued which references changes to the pressure on your soul to use the order to wear an orange suit as the baseline pressure value, instead of any other order."
>>
No. 402184 ID: 76c597

I have no interest in actually killing this thing. Have your allies begin a fighting retreat. This involves the heavies disengaging two by two as the rest cover their retreat at range. Hillevi and Tartalo first, then GiaGia and No Soul, Duke and his partner. After they’ve retreated a bit, they turn and join the holding action while the next pair retreat, and so on. Dive out the window if they have to.

The idea is to escape enough to draw it out of the safehouse, so the Russians can mortar it. This covering fire should hopefully be enough to genuinely retreat. The idea is to survive long enough to reach the mansion, sewer areas the Nazis haven’t bought and paid for (that would get rid of the Diggers, at least), and/or draw the wrath of Owner/Dorjpalam/Oggmum/Inquisition/any other scrap of help we can muster down on the Nazi beasts for creating a massive spectacle in broad daylight.

Yeah, we’ll catch some flack too, but the Nazis are the ones fielding abominations, while we are just defending ourselves.

I like Gleb, but I don’t like him enough to fight this guy for one second longer than we have to.

Sidenote: If there are Mafia souls still hanging about, I’m rather inclined to snap them up before something else does. We can release them later, or sell them back to the Mafia, or whatever. Saving them from ending up in that mess of tentacles really should be an okay use of our power, even if we don’t ask first.
>>
No. 402214 ID: 21a619

rolled 35 = 35

It has to have a penis somewhere.
Shoot it.
>>
No. 402251 ID: b83c65

rolled 50 = 50

>>402214
We have to do this. The twin cock-shots of Savoy have vanished into the whever the Darkling shot shoots to.

WE MUST COCKSHOT THE WARWALKER! If that shot missed, SHOOT IT AGAIN!
>>
No. 402285 ID: f70e5e

rolled 78, 44, 77 = 199

we could try pining the war walkers shadow, we have allot of allies and at least one of them can hit harder than we can. its probably resistant to that sort of thing so we should wait until we can hit it with at least 3 rounds in quick sucsesion, reloading by hand if SB can't spare the juice port more rounds into iron trick.

rolling for shadow pining.
>>
No. 402329 ID: 3af16b

rolled 82 = 82

ADDENDUM TO >>402149

Have SB pass along to the Russians points they can aim at to hit the war walker's expanded form under the sewers. We want to drop mortars on the street, basically, to blast through and hurt this thing.

Have SB also pass along to Gleb and the others (including the Russians), "I'm going to try something to force the skinwalker-thing to stop. I'm putting everything into it, you all better be ready to capitalize on it. I have no idea how long it will last. Best guess: not long at all."

Then, impose your Lordly will on the War Walker. Tell it to stand down, guise your soul into that of a great Emperor, the most impressive Tsar, the greatest Maori Chief. A noble countenance, one which commands instant authority. And then force that War Walker to obey you. It must listen to the Imperial Lord Laine, because centuries of tradition demand that men with the Imperial characteristic tell their lessers what to do.

Take the shots if you must, but first force it to sit down, shut the fuck up, and chill.
>>
No. 402332 ID: a110d6

>>402329
If you do this, you should be shooting with IT until they are all ready because:
>When I shoot something's shadow, it triggers that immobilization trick. The bullet's impact variability trick is based on the animalistic-ness of the creatures I shoot, and their total mass. Third, when a target is shot repeatedly and there are more of the buntline's bullets embedded in them than any other projectiles the bearer has shot, then the strike of the bullet is multiplied up, as if he had been shot again by the original.
>"Part of it… The sewers are…. there's blocks of this thing…"
The odds of It doing eneormous damage to it with a single shots are great, and once we have enoug bullets within, it will just keep on growing.

To be considered 'ready', Russians should be capable to be hitting the Warwalkers with their big ordinance as well as AA12/season pistols, and hopefully the MK2 should be gotten rid of (either killed or rendered unable to interrupt all of us hitting the war walker hard). A possible idea for this would be sake blowing them all toward WarWalker tentacles.

Then, when it's time to Lordly Imposition it, take out Old Lonesome
"KA-BLAMMO!!"
The lord imposition should be centered around using all that lordly power to impose a binding on it to -stop- it, to cut it's strings.
Then get back to using IT. If you have enough energy left, try to empower 'normal' shots to see if it also has some kind of improved version.
>>
No. 402333 ID: 408709

>>402330
Seconding
>>
No. 402336 ID: 4d6efd

>>402329
>Have SB also pass along to Gleb and the others (including the Russians), "I'm going to try something to force the skinwalker-thing to stop. I'm putting everything into it, you all better be ready to capitalize on it. I have no idea how long it will last. Best guess: not long at all."

SUST this. We don't have time. We know it takes one second for it to completely shift its form, as it's doing, so that's all the time we have. We won't have chance to say anything to anyone, they should catch on quickly enough.
Instead, we should:
* Ask SB to shadowport us the four Season Guns, so that if it's stunned by our command we can hit it with a bullet from each of them, which will hopefully do something to suppress its magic at least partially.
*Sake should be on standby to create a horizontal tornado to blow us all out of the nice large exits we made on the way in as soon as it starts moving again.
* When we're outside we need to get the Russians to fire antitank missiles aimed at the floor we just came from.
>>
No. 402344 ID: 9718f3

We need to get Gianni and Rocco out of this place or all our effort is basically wasted. If/when we stun the big thing, SB shadowports Gianni and Rocco out of danger. If the anti-dark zone doesn't collapse when we stun it, SB is going to have to try his workaround anyway, despite the energy cost. We need them intact if we're going to profit from this thing. Plus, we need Gianni for the Golem, fleshbinding HummingBird, and teaching us fleshcrafting.

>>402332
Upvote because it's hilarious.

>>402336
SUST SB getting us the Season Guns. We can't shoot four guns in a timely fashion, and if we're leaving the building anyway, the Russians who currently have them can just shoot the thing at that point.

Upvote Sake evacuation though.
>>
No. 402345 ID: 76c597

We need some Gleb dialogue to mark this entrance. How about, “(Cousin) (Uncle) (Big Papa) (Oniichan) Gleb Romanov! Delightful to see you again. Really. Little busy, though. My people are getting their asses kicked by the Nazi’s answer to Lovecraft’s Shoggoth. And these big bastards down here are a pain in the ass, themselves. As the business man said to the prostitute: it's time for us to pull out before we get in trouble. Maybe we could do this again another time?” Armas is really the kind of guy that would assume Gleb has come for him.
>>
No. 402346 ID: b83c65

>>402345
Seconding Oniichan.
>>
No. 402369 ID: e19626

Well, I'd have to agree with >>402184 a strategic retreat. We've done our part by pushing the enemy back and softening them, but we do need Gianni, Rocco, and no soul out of here along with our wounded.

We could have Sake air lift them out. Would keep them out of tentacle reach and then we can deposit them with the russians.

Other than that, shadow pinning, the lord disposition and anything to slow them down I am for. Leave the real fight to the guy who looks like he came prepared for this thing.
>>
No. 402374 ID: 431fa8

>>402093
>What do I do?
Moment of accelerated thought to discuss moves with headvoices. We need to get the fuck out of here.

Sake can airlift out Team Mafia- he should disengage immediately and do that as fast as possible. Once they're gone, we can rely on getting paid and keeping Gianni, which should make this worth it and completes our objective here. In case the not-skinwalker tries to shoot them down while they flee, Shadowbro can hopefully warp a couple arrow charms onto Sake and each of them to avoid being hit in the back by lasers.

Everyone else just needs to fall the fuck back. Shadowbro can hopefully keep us alive and coordinate orders, including those to the Russians- if this thing extends for blocks they might not be far enough away, so they'll need to join in both the fighting an the retreat part of our fighting retreat as soon as possible.

Cheerful greetings for Gleb during the mass retreat would be nice, if we can find the time. In fact, being outwardly bright and peppy to everyone is the appropriate demeanor here, because we must mind our reputation and there's nothing like cultivating an apparently suicidal love of absurdly dangerous battle to impress- and make others question just how much power we really command.

>>402184
>Sidenote: If there are Mafia souls still hanging about, I’m rather inclined to snap them up before something else does.
Upvote, if we can do it without getting killed. I don't really want to leave them to get eaten, and I doubt any mafia guys we save from that fate will come after us for the manipulation of unwilling souls- particularly since we might be able to sell the mafia our services in installing them into Gianni golems later as possessing spirits.

>>402329
>And then force that War Walker to obey you.
Upvote, because that would be great. In fact, in our moment of accelerated thought- "Iron Trick, I'll bet you that I can make this thing stop attacking us. Black Hole next shot if I'm right." If it works and we win the bet, use the Black Hole shot to cover our retreat after our team will no longer likely be caught in its radius.

>>402332
>"KA-BLAMMO!!"
That is obviously our activation word for fire blasts- completely inappropriate to use here. Let's go with "DOWN!" as though we were talking to a disobedient dog for the attempted stun effect.
>>
No. 402434 ID: d97a61

The brooch on my eyebatch crackles as I slip further into accelerated thought-
>>402149
So does this thing's concealment spell block the bond to Amen?
>"I believe so."
Not sure?
>"Not completely. Confident though."
Right.
>>402184
Mind feeling lighter from that rather ludicrous sense of relief, I'm rather receptive when SB exploits the our moment of conversation to convey something altogether different.
>"This much exposed… I detect something like possession, and you've got multiple sub-categories of attention-it could be a hive mind. Which makes what it's about to do-"
Even more dangerous yeah but so what we were kind of fucked anyway-
>>402329
>>402332
>>402336
>>402344
SB, tell everyone to get ready-
>"You-you're taking Lordly Imposition on another field test NOWno, I'll tell them… and told."
Welp, hope 'every damn bit of juice I've got is enough-
WINTER ENERGY: [-53] 0/160
My Soul Guise flickers, shifting into a hastily assembled caricature of an emperor as I blindly shove every bit of soul energy I have into a very simply devised binding-that to 'Obey the Word of Armas'. I feel, I watch, I focus on that blast of magic lancing from me and into the nearest hunk of the abomination hounding us-
I perceive it all while drawing the Lonesome Judge into my offhand and uttering a single word, eyes still glued on the gesticulating, mutating forest of vicious flesh around me.
>[AAE Trait activated]
>[DD&DDD Trait activated]
>[MMM,MMMM Trait auto-activated]
"DOWN!"
I hardly notice myself pulling the trigger as for a moment, I feel something not unlike a breath of wind, a harbinger of a grim fate that would have been mine-had my soul been attached to the energy I sent. I feel the hopeless battle it fought as if it were a long-lost afterthought-and hardly care at all, since whilst the battle was waged-the creature stalled.

And while it stalled-
[FIRST SHOT: 082]
82 + 4 = 4Trait Bonus + 10Supernatural Bonus = 100%
>>402214
[SECOND SHOT: 35]
35 + 4 = 4Trait Bonus + 10Supernatural Bonus = 53%
>>402251
[THIRD SHOT: 050]
50 + 4 = 4Trait Bonus + 10Supernatural Bonus = 68%
>>402285
[FOURTH SHOT: 078]
78 + 4 = 4Trait Bonus + 10Supernatural Bonus = 96%
[FIFTH SHOT: 044]
44 + 4 = 4Trait Bonus + 10Supernatural Bonus = 62%
[SIXTH SHOT: 077]
77 + 4 = 4Trait Bonus + 10Supernatural Bonus = 95%
I dumped Iron Trick's reloaded chambers (courtesy of SB) into it's shadow (which is only visible to me, again, thanks to SB) to happily pile another layer of movement restriction on what I through into the fire. All said and done it's not much in the grand scheme of things-like I expected, I really get the thing to slow down for all of a few seconds.

That's plenty.

Dávgon's Yeti and Wolf alike abandon their earlier caginess to tear into the beast's form with abandon. Hillevi, bought those precious few seconds by Tartalo (Currently putting himself back together) gathered enough focus to boldly lay hands on one of the tendrils-and promptly begin shattering it with brute force freezing, the ice racing down into the masses beneath us and the rest of the broken floor. I see Sake, HB and Camella brutally finishing the last five metal monsters whilst no overbearing horror reigns death and woe upon them. I see the No-Soul laying a hand on the tentacles nearest him, the magic within them snuffing out even as the flesh itself persists. I feel SB's efforts abruptly extricating two specific souls from the second floor as my shadow throbs in pain, soul shaking in empathy.

But most of all, I notice Gleb, and Duke.

Gone is Duke's guise of the old white suited man. Gone is the disguise so potent it occludes his very attacks. For the first time I genuinely see Duke as who he is: Li Kui of the Heavenly Spirits, the Iron Ox, the Black Whirlwind, a hulking figure of Brandt's stature with a prodigious beer belly and arms so heavily laden with muscle I almost think him wearing gauntlets. No regal robes or ornate armor for this man-simple pants, boots and shirt, all worn, torn and haphazard, adorn him as an afterthought. In each of his hogshead-sized hands he hefts what some would call axes, others would call cleavers, and sensationalists would call 'titanic masses of seratted, blood-stained metal that could cut through a tank atop a handle sized for a herculean giant'. Both weapons scream of harm and danger every bit as much as Savoy's blade did as Ox finally, truly gets to slam a hit solidly home.

At the same time as Duke finally getting to cut loose, Gleb disabuses me of my recollection of him and the threat he poses. from his pocket he pulls a short baton laden with runes that exudes an aura of being made to channel power.

He then, in one reality-bending bite, eats his own head, and dies.

His soul's Einher nature triggers as a massively swelling spiritual weight breaks across the room, assuring one and all he's ascended into Spirit Einherdom-as his head simply reappears without any fuss as Gleb's body, now wreathed in a skin-tight soul-bubble, grips what is now clearly the hilt of broadsword-shaped blade formed of Gleb's own soul, and thrusts himself into the fray with speed and vigor vastly surpassing what little I'd ever seen from him before.

Li Kui hits with such tremendous force that the building overhead ceases it's complianing and begins to collapse around us, the beast being thrust against the sewer floor amidst the sound of spreading cracks as loud as thunder. Gleb displays uncanny swordsmanship and brutally efficient ferocity, breaking through the rubble and limbs alike to directly attack the massive mounds of flesh within the sewer.

All of this-they were able to land within a total of two seconds.

As those last vestiges of the bindings I crudely placed with everything I had finish falling apart, Black Whirlwind, standing atop the beast's sewer-filling body, raises both axes high yet again. All around him I see eyes and tubes grow and prepare to attack-as Gleb fillets a gory path to Iron Ox's side to let him finish his backswing.

The axes slam home while the entire jaw-dropping mass of flesh is thrashing and flexing, trying to fully reshape itself, magic in flux from the weight of Duke's attack.

Three seconds pass as I hear the sounds of pipes bending and stone shattering, wishing there was light enough I could truly see what's transpiring-it sounds like-
>"Duke's hitting hard enough he's breaking through to the undersewers through the beast, yes give him a few dozen more hits and that might be true but we need to go-"
>>402374
Damn fucking right we do. I… oh. Shit.
>"What did…. you've lost a rather distressing amount of blood. I thought that wasn't supposed to happen anymore."
I was also handed my own liver by a demon arm. Evacuation plan-Sake can get No-Soul out and coordinate-
>"Sake can't airlift him-not enough magic left for the brute force he'd need to keep the irregularity aloft."
-Fuck fine say Gianni won't mind if I just use one of these Golems of his-
I place a hand on it's featureless face as Duke slams home another earth-shaking hit, the over-reinforced ceiling above still managing to not quite finish collapsing with the building around us.
I Claim the flesh and absorb it, jarred by the profound alien-ness compared to a human body-and ignore all of it, powering an express patch-up, complete with more sweet, sweet blood. While I push my body, I see Tartalo urging a for once nresistive Hillevi to retreat, and Dávgon proactively hoofing it, already halfway to the door, Camella not far behind. By the time I've stabilized myself It's just me, No-Soul, Gleb, Duke and the monster still within the shell of a broken restaurant we've fought within-and the building's coming down, SB-
>"Only you-"
[DISCONTINUITY]
My left collarbone is shattered a bare moment before the shadowport takes hold, and I'm standing outside with the remaining rescued mafia members, a decidedly shell-shocked group of seventeen, Rocco and Gianni both exuding an air of calmness even as their souls riot.

I'd make a quip as the building beside me collapses, obscuring barrier already breaking down, but I catch the abruptly active comm and pay attention.
>[Matvey]"-firmed, it's the Boss-"
>[Vlad]"Where's Duke, he-"
I put a finger to my ear as I do a confirmatory headcount that everyone I saw escape is indeed outside, the ground trembling beneath my feat as a certain someone continues to pound away.
"Status report."
>[Hafaz]"Other two buildings secure-no gunshots heard since barriers started falling."
>[Dmitrii]"Roughly sixty suits heading your way from our stake."
>[Gloom]"Fifty from ours."
Well that's-

Just as I'm noticing the decidedly large number of lights on in windows neighboring the battlefield, I sense a new soul entering my range-
>"Karma"

One can imagine how surprised I am when, after watching his descent from the sky and fully expecting an earth-shattering touchdown, he simply comes to a quiet landing that defies the laws of momentum, Karma himself looking positively puzzled by his muted landing.
>[Owner]"I have enough cleanup to do here without you being loud, thank you."
I see Karma jocularly opening his mouth out of the corner of my eye as I focus on the abruptly present owner of the Asitane and Ruling Dragon of Istanbul.
>[Owner]"Yes, thank you for your willingness but why don't you just take notes, hm?"
Sparing not a further thought for the now-distracted Inquisitor, the Owner appraises the collapsed building with an impassive sigh.
>[Owner]"Sinkhole? Yes, I think I can make that work, but-"

There is a quaking sound far louder than all the prior, my footing nearly going unsteady as the sounds of Duke and Gleb (and possibly No-Soul's) battle are muffled. Beside me, the Dragon, wearing, of all things, a mauve cashmere suit, tsks.
>[Owner]"Those can be called earthquakes, I suppose-unusual geological activity, yes…"

The Owner's pontification trails off as the last torrent of chaotic sound leaves in its wake silence, which seems to only irritate the Owner further, as he calls out rather volubly even as I feel the mass numbers of souls that had begun approaching windows-all, as one, deciding to not check after all, and going back to sleep.
>[Owner]"I don't have all morning, come out and let's be done with this."
Like an infant's whisper a form slithers free of the rubble to sinuously erect itself upon the street. It sports a passingly humanoid figure not unlike Gianni's Flesh Golems yet some twelve feet tall-with the odd quirk of having three arms, each one holding hostage-Duke, Gleb and No-Soul. Each one's flesh is penetrated by slender tendrils at the neck, and no one needs tell me that while they are alive that could no doubt change rather soon. The misshapen figure, so roughly hewn in form, spreads it's face wide as it grows a mouth and begins speaking. I try to ignore the buzz as the being's now singular Attention fixates on me.
>"…It was a collective before, what… hm."
>[Figure]"Need. ….Food.
>[Owner]"You even caught Gleb…. I wonder how many know you were made this well."
>[Figure]"These…. or Other?"
>[Owner]"You ask as if you were able to make any choice at all in this. If I must I shall make my condolences to Odin afterwards, but you…. should be removed, I feel."
>[Figure]" ….No Fight, no need."
>[Owner]"A claim most wouldn't believe, coming from an attempt to engineer a Skin Walker replica-or would the term be clone now?"
I see the Owner turned to me in actual question at that, but I'm denied my chance to answer as the thing continues to speak.
>[Figure]"No food? Could accept-could not eat bodies. Want binding gone."

The Owner takes a closer look at the figure before speculatively turning back to me. Something makes me think the 'not a godling or a cannibal' Soul Guise I put up the moment I knew he was there isn't really fooling him.
>[Owner]"After this is resolved I think we may have even more to discuss than I'd originally thought. How wonderful."

Beside us both, I hear Karma frantically scribbling notes while the Owner sighs yet again.
>[Owner]"Troublesome. I hope you weren't attached to that erstwhile Heavenly Spirit…"

It would seem the Owner intends to put down the monster rather than negotiate. I…. may object to seeing at least two of those hostages getting squished. Not loudly-I don't have a good reason yet-but if I can think of something……









So what should I say, and what should I do?
>>
No. 402448 ID: e19626

Well, just offing the Warwalker right now would be relatively wasteful. Right now we have access to something most wouldn't dream of. One war walker, able to talk. If we can properly interrogate it, the owner and ourselves can learn WHERE the nazis made them, how, who fielded the project and help us locate his 'buddy'.

Not only that, but I think this thing is relatively similar to Amen in a few ways. Nazis use bindings to control him being one(it's probably why he freaked out when no one was controlling it.). Hell, it's probably why he wants THOSE bindings off. The nazis seem like the sort to pour on the bindings so he doesn't fight back. We free him of those bindings and the nazis have one less war walker and one more enemy. Considering what they just tried to pull, it's obvious the Nazis have no concern when it comes to the safety of the city if they brought that in to deal with the mafia.

As for the hostages, he still has that island demolition project right? Two of those guys are crazy powerful and the third is probably pretty handy when it comes to stuff too. Might want Gianni or Rocco to back us up on this guy. Either way, these are three good workers which can be pretty hard to find, would likely enjoy blowing up a island, and relatively grateful for not dying horribly.

As for finally dealing with the war walker? After we remove it's nazi's bindings, why don't we bind it to some place? Like I said, similar to Amen with the whole organic thing. If we bound him to a place, have him make himself look like a regular building and unable to move from said spot, you have a very impressive addition to the city(and perhaps we will have another base?).

Either way, if we can convince him that letting all four of them live is considered a good investment, he'd likely go for it. Draconic greed and all.
>>
No. 402456 ID: f70e5e

I am getting the feeling that skin walkers are the sort of thing that most members of the supernatural community consider shoot on sight abominations. So if we are going to convince the owner to deal rather than kill the thing we might want to stress that this one could well be the first of many. even if the Nazi’s lack the resources to make more at the moment that could change quickly, if for no other reason than they might agree to make skin walkers for someone who does or even sell the secret of making more if they get desperate enough for allies or resources. If the owner wants to stop the proliferation of skin walkers the important thing is finding out where this one came from, and who exactly made him. The skin walkers cooperation would make stopping the Nazis from making another one, or living long enough to sell the secret of his creation much easier. It would also provide an object lesson in why making things like skin walkers is a bad idea, making it less likely that anyone else would be willing to expend resources to try and find out how the Nazis did it.

As for why the owner should trust the skin walker, I’d put even money he dislikes the Nazi’s enough that he would be willing to trade one master for another, so he might let the owner put a new set of bindings on it with him as the master Or at least some bindings that make him less of a danger to the world at large. If nothing else he might allow himself to be made into something else if the owner really does not want to let a skin walker live.
>>
No. 402525 ID: 6616f3

>[Owner]"Troublesome. I hope you weren't attached to that erstwhile Heavenly Spirit…"
"Mm, a bit. What he did to my wine cellar I wouldn't do to a dead dog, but he is a useful sort of friend to have, now and again.

Obviously not good at restraining himself, but you don't need me to tell you there are plenty of his ilk in Istanbul right now. Like the nazis that sent him.

So here's a thought- ending things right now with a blast of magic would be theraputic, but a bit wasteful, don't you think? I figure I could get rid of that binding for it with a little trial and error (okay, error and error: still, progress!), then ship them off. They're never seen in your province again, you don't have Odin kicking up a fuss about his favorite Einherjar... and for your generosity, I'm sure they wouldn't mind accomplishing some little task.

The nazis could learn not to dump their experiments in Istanbul the hard way - at the claws and gibbering mouths and excessive tentacles of their own creation. And can you imagine Grigori having to put up with Duke - from a distance of a few countries, that seems like a great show, to me.

As for the soulless fellow, you're welcome to kill him if you like, although I imagine his unusual skills make him pretty useful to the Dons, and they might find a way to make themselves suitably annoying in response."
>>
No. 402533 ID: 057cd0

>>402525
SUST commenting on the Blank. Armas doesn't know anything about that one and that cavalier attitude practically invites the Blank or his backers to hit Armas over the head.
>>
No. 402539 ID: 408709

>>402456
seconding

I hope the owner doesn't want to have a particularly violent talk with us. Hopefully something along the lines of 'more work'.

Also something tingling at the back of my mind. The way the owner keeps looking from it to us, and the way the Walker FIXED it's attention on us the moment it got out instead of on the damn dragon in front of it.
I wonder...I wonder if the Lordly imposition got through somehow and it actually feels the need to obey us, or some kind of inkling.
Considering what we were up against the idea is almost laughable, but the way this is going just leaves me unable to rule it out.
I actually hope this isn't true because I kind of think that counts as 'unwilling soul manipulation', and dragons just ain't pleased about that. Hey maybe they let godlings slide a bit...

also congrats on your magic trait saving your life by allowing you to instantly mentally fuck with yourself.

[Zhenya]
Considers the steps in her life that led to her laying flat on top of a building watching a giant fleshy monstrosity talking to a dragon that looks like a man.
Well, at least it isn't a giant fiery monstrosity.
>>
No. 402549 ID: 67590d

>>402490
Upvote. The plan here is to have Amen imprison the War Walker (the Owner would not break his word by attacking the War Walker if it decides not to enter after seeing the mansion). Armas should make eye contact with the Owner while thinking about this plan. Be prepared to accept any demands made by the Owner regarding the fate of the War Walker.
>>
No. 402573 ID: a110d6

Previously 402490
>So what should I say, and what should I do?
I suggest we try to get the War Walker to let the hostages go by making it believe we can and will take the binding off at our mansion, while signaling (maybe with SB?) that we will of course let the Owner decide what we are allowed to do with it.

Of course, this little speech should be accompanied by making sure our soul-guise shows your truthfulness, as well as utterly hide our greed. Our goal here is to, obviously, get a live WarWalker as a prisoner at our mansion. We only promise to take the bind off, and we will NOT give him guest rights. We have to make sure he is utterly convinced that Owner is the only threat here. Armas should NOT be condescending to the owner, and anything he says must make it clear that he respects,wants his approval and amuses him.

If we need to give an excuse for the Owner to agree (he will obviously want to, as this will amuse him, as well as because he won't have to apologize to Odin, but he may need an excuse in order to fool WW), we could simply say that “What we did to the WW complicates matters, and so I feel I should take responsibility for what happens.” We might also mention we will soon have a nice surprise for him (Blade footage, etc).
>>
No. 402575 ID: 201fd7

Susting all these 'Goals' to take the warwalker prisoner and presume upon the Owner.

Tell the Owner "I'm actually pretty fond of the guy do you mind if i try to resolve this peaceably?"

If he agrees then say to the Warwalker something along the lines of

"Neither your binding or your meal will particularly matter when you're dead. if you want either sometime in the future the only possibility is to throw yourself on the Owners mercy and hope he feels indulgent."

If it doesn't work then at least we got out alive and the mafia still owe us huge.
>>
No. 402678 ID: 723705

>>402448
>>402504
Upvotan
>>
No. 402753 ID: c0b3f5

>>402575 Upvote

Downvoting any proposal to put words in owners mouth or trying railroad Owner into doing what Armas wants. It is okay to try to convince Owner Armas has a got solution, or at least the idea for a good solution. But trying to make a dragon, and the local ruler at that, dance to Armas tune is a really, really bad idea.
>>
No. 402835 ID: 2d3920

>>402789
SUST, Gianni is a dude. Lyubov's funny and cute, and willing.
>>
No. 402852 ID: 252e1b

>>402678

Sorry, I deleted one of the posts you upvoted.

>>402434

The others challenged me to try again, more seriously. So, I will.

Put on your most serious face Armas. Duke's life is on the line, you need to carry yourself with gravitas and dignity for this exchange. Don't think about the women in your life right now, put that off for later. You have to focus on finding a solution that will sway Owner and convince the war walker to let the hostages go.

Say this: "He's a good drinking companion, and entertaining to talk to. I would miss him. I can understand not trusting 'an attempt to clone a skin walker' so would a name help? Hey you! Got a name? No? I'll name you then: Placid Savant, so that you may be wise and calm. Do you accept?"

"Placid, great. My name's Armas. You don't remember much, do you?"

"Owner, I think Placid will keep his word. He wants to live, and I believe you want this situation to be resolved without more mess. Placid's a victim of the Nazis, and obviously has precious little socialization or culture. But he could learn those things, and learn how to live as part of a community. He's obviously very capable."

"Yes sir, but you could save yourself a fight entirely, and you'd get to keep tabs on how Placid develops as a bonus. Placid, will you be good?"

"I want to trust you. Set those men down please. Let them go, Placid."

"We will take care of that after you let them go, if Owner agrees. First let them go."

"See, he can mind. He will need someone to keep an eye on him and help him learn how to behave in the world, but I think finding him a patron won't be too hard. Right Gleb?"
>>
No. 402864 ID: 06593f

Say that you're hoping that this can be resolved peacefully, as the expression on the Nazi leaders faces when they find out one of their most valuable experiments has spontaneously developed sapience, defected and reformed into a productive member of magical society would be hilarious. We can think to SB (so that the Owner can overhear), that if we sell the information to the goblins part of the price can be them taking pictures of said expressions when they sell on the information to the Nazis.

We could also bring up the fact that Odin may be interested in the Warwalker itself. Odin could have sent significantly more forces to deal with it if he wanted it dead - we know a war part of magic item equipped Spirit Einheir was free (to go after Armas), but they aren't here. If the One Eyed God sees something more to it, perhaps it has potential to become something interesting.

>>402759
SUST

>>402852
SUST suggesting that the Owner should give a major asset like the Warwalker to Odin, who we have no reason to believe he is on particularly good terms with.
>>
No. 402904 ID: b79151

Remember when you took Camella out to meet Ito? Remember that she wasn't wearing a bra?

Remember when you woke up with the vampire and elf? Remember how beautiful they were?

Remember when you saw Hillevi naked? Remember how she had muscles and curves in all the right places?

Remember how Adelat looked when she got washed in the machine? Remember how SB undressed her in the machine?

Remember when you were approached by Lyubov? Remember how she stripped when you asked her to? Remember how she looked when you had her do the haigure poses?

It has been months since you got laid, and you don't even remember it.

Don't get a boner in front of Owner.
>>
No. 402905 ID: 81f32a

>>402575
>Susting all these 'Goals' to take the warwalker prisoner and presume upon the Owner.

I must agree with this. From what I gather skin-walkers/clone are beings of tremendous power ranging from mid-dragon level to ruling dragon in terms of power. No way Owner is going to let us have our way with it.
The best we can hope for is that he doesn't kill our friends. We might try to convince him not to deal the killing blow, telling him that he would be better of if he can claim the skin-walker/clone for him self. I mean, who wouldn't want such a powerful bruiser at his beck and call?

>>402759
>>402773
>>402789
What the shit? SUST
>>
No. 402920 ID: 21a619

>>402904
Upvote. Don't get boners. Don't get any boners at all.
>>
No. 402960 ID: 980e12

>>402904
Get every boner. All the boners. I mean it. So many boners.
>>
No. 402979 ID: 2563b5

>>402904
Use magic to not get a boner.
>>
No. 402980 ID: 7c31d2

Susting getting a boner. There are better times to get one, like when Gianni is teaching us
>>
No. 402983 ID: 490792

>>402904
SUST. There's nothing sexy currently going on, so Armas probably wouldn't get distracted at a time like this.
>>
No. 403004 ID: d97a61

>>402525
>>402539
>[Zhenya has been queued to do the following:]
> Considers the steps in her life that led to her laying flat on top of a building watching a giant fleshy monstrosity talking to a dragon that looks like a man. Finds she can't quite figure how she got to said point.

I respond to the boss dragon of Turkey while trying to think of a way out that doesn't mean watching completely usable allies die.
"Mm, a bit. What he did to my wine cellar I wouldn't do to a dead dog, but he is a useful sort of friend to have, now and again."
I glance between the blue-tinted form of the Owner and the caricature of a person that is the War Walker as I go on.
"Obviously not good at restraining himself, but you don't need me to tell you there are plenty of his ilk in Istanbul right now. Like the nazis that sent him."
The Owner grunts at my gesture towards the beast.
>[Owner]"While your statement is accurate I would appreciate you getting to the point."
Don'tpissofftheRulingDragon-
>>402852
"He's a good drinking companion, and entertaining to talk to. I would miss him."
The Owner's eyes flicker with something I can't concretely identify, and under the hopeful assumption I've caught his attention I keep going.
"I can understand not trusting 'an attempt to clone a skin walker' so would a name help?"
I turn back to the creature, still rigidly holding it's trio of hostages.
" Hey you! Got a name?"
The creature cocks its semi-misshapen lump of a head at me, digesting my words.
>[Figure]"Name? Name name… name. Name is designation? War Walker Zero Two Eight-that is Name?"
"Twenty Eight? Do you want to be called a number?"
The creature's head flicks about as it considers the question.
>[Figure]"Then what is name?"
"Well to keep it brief it's how others call you-mind if I suggest a name?"
>[Figure]"Give name?"
"Right. I'll name you then: Placid Savant, so that you may be wise and calm. Do you accept?"
The creature's head turns a full 360 degrees before once more being cocked at me.
>[Placid Savant]"Accept."
"Placid, great. My name's Armas. You don't remember much, do you?"
>[PS]"Remember? Past… events from before. Recall battles. Missions. Eating. Fighting. Is that remembering?"
"Well, it's part of it."
I turn back to the Owner, thankful that despite the ruckus caused the lights have stayed out since the mysterious loss of interest in neighbors.

"Owner, I think Placid will keep his word. He wants to live, and I believe you want this situation to be resolved without more mess. Placid's a victim of the Nazis, and obviously has precious little socialization or culture. But he could learn those things, and learn how to live as part of a community. He's obviously very capable. Isn't that right Placid?"
>[Owner]"For the sake of clarity, you are suggesting I allow what the Skin Walkers have been excessively dedicated to preventing, a replication of their existence, to continue living, despite having just made a mess in the city I call home?"
>[DD[i]D[i]DD Trait activated]
"Yes sir, but you could save yourself a fight entirely, and you'd get to keep tabs on how Placid develops as a bonus. Placid, will you be good?"
The War Walker tilts its head yet again, firmly cementing it in my mind as being birdlike.
>[HB]"It knows what form of life is the most sublime and the most worthy of emulation. I commend it on it's insight."
>[PS]"Good? Unknown term. What meaning has it?"
"Being good means I can trust you. I want to trust you. Set those men down please. Let them go, Placid."
>[PS]"…Not understood. They are safety, yes? Want safety."
"And you can have safety-it's available. We will take care of that after you let them go, if Owner agrees. First let them go."
The creature regards me keenly, going so far as sprouting a single baleful eye above it's irregular mouth, focusing on me to the exclusion of all else as it lowers its three hostages to the ground.

Color us both surprised when Gleb remains standing after his feet touch the ground and he nonchalantly pulls the tubes from his neck to step away without any real regard for the hidiously powerful being behind him. The potbellied, shark-toothed bearded man merely grins at me as he flicks his nose.
>[Gleb]"Well, fun as that little tussle was, I'd best be going unless the Owner would care to have a Valkyrie manifest within the city?"
>[Owner]"You are rather consistent in your troublemaking capacity, aren't you primate?"
>[Gleb]"I try."
>[Owner]"Were I to ask you why you threw the fight-"
>[Gleb]"I would have no idea what you were asking about."
The human-guised dragon smiles at Gleb's plucky retort, the exchange having bought Duke and No-Soul enough time to rouse after the War Walker took it's tendrils out of them.
"See, he can mind. He will need someone to keep an eye on him and help him learn how to behave in the world, but I think finding him a patron won't be too hard. Right-"
>[Duke]"RIGHT, ROUND TWO-"

I'm about to watch it all crumble, Duke haphazardly charging right back at the beast of flesh, before he simply appears beside the Owner, his head just below the dragon's palm, his body in an obsequiently submissive bow.
>[Owner]"I understand that the time you are used to allowed you to pursue your fun wherever and whenever you pleased-but do understand that currently, you simply cannot do that around large numbers of mundanes. Do you understand, Heavenly Spirit Li Kui?"
>[Duke]"So what do you call what it did?"
>[Owner]"It would seem your acquaintance Mr. Laine suggests that, as a recently freed vessel for possession, that it cannot be held accountable for what it's body was made to do prior to it developing a consciousness-is that right? I admit I have not listened particularly closely to your prattle. "
"Accurate enough."
>[Owner]"And as the creature currently answering to… Placid Savant… has indicated, it is wholly willing to cooperate. But that still does not answer why risking the ire of the general Skin Walker populace over what amounts to an awakened weapon. Explain to me how this provides me with a net benefit."
"Ending things right now with a blast of magic would be therapeutic, but a bit wasteful, don't you think? Risk or no, a live, free-willed one of these has to be a galvanizing resource. I figure I could get rid of that binding for it with a little trial and error. And for your generosity in letting it live, I'm sure it wouldn't mind accomplishing some little task-right, Placid?"
>[PS]"Mission? Is there a mission to be performed?"
"Haha-what a go-getter attitude, that. So, the nazis could learn not to dump their experiments in Istanbul the hard way - at the claws and gibbering mouths and excessive tentacles of their own creation. That seems like a great show, to me. Do you disagree?"
>[Owner]"…I suppose such a scenario could be entertaining to observe."
>[PS]"Mission… destroy experimenters? Kill tenders? What of War Walker Zero Zero Four? Do not wish to destroy. ….Hungry."

No-Soul thankfully gets his mind back in gear, recognizes he's at the foot of a monster and hauls ass back to the Mafia group, now growing as the members from the other restaurants start showing up, Gianni and Rocco both moving to No-Soul's side while still keeping an eye on the showdown.
"I can't fault him for wanting a meal-beyond how much energy it expended, it did get knocked about a fair bit."
>[Owner]"I see that. I hope you do not suggest I should feed it."
"Not at all-I'd be happy to feed it myself, assuming I have your permission?"

The owner once more turns to the demolished remains of a restaurant before snorting.
>[Owner]"Swear to keep it from causing trouble and I'll leave things at that-I have enough to deal with."
"Placid-you're hungry for meats and organs and such right?"
>[PS]"Flesh blood soul bone heart liver kidneys yes, hunger sated by named items."
"Great. I have food at my place-if you promise to behave, not attack anyone and do as I say, I'll give you food. Will you make that promise?"
It's head is cocked, as it's body begins to fill in more definition, a brow forming above the eye, and extremities becoming more precise.
>[PS]"Promise? Not understood."
"Think of it as a set of mission parameters you are capable of breaking but are not allowed to."
>[PS]"Promise: recognized as being mandatory mission performance criteria. Promise is to obey designated binder, titled 'Mr. Laine', and avoid having injurious interactions with others. Following this mission mandate will result in the provision of consumables to aleviate hunger. The Promise is made to this effect."

…MAN, that thing is getting more verbally complex fast. I wonder what I'd see if I could see its soul-

The Owner attracts my attention as he walks by me, focused on Camella.
>[Owner]"Ah, savory flower-I am happy to see you are well. Have you had time to think about my offer? Perhaps Thursday night?"
>[Camella]"I'll have to check my calendar."
>[Owner]"Mm-hm, I'm sure you do. Well-Armas. Li Kui. Karma. Gleb. It was a delight, but I'm afraid duty calls-I'll have to pick up our little oddity here later. I shall have to leave it up to you all to vacate the area within the next thirty seconds. Tata."

Again, without a glimmer of magic or movement, the Owner vanishes, and the War Walker returns to being the most potent creature on the field.



I see Duke, now bereft of the Owner's restraint, looking exceedingly keen on continuing the fight-while Gleb's glaring at him with narrowed eyes. I see Dávgon trying very hard to not attract attention and stand as far away from Placid as possible. I see Karma's notebook dropped and forgotten, his eyes locked on Duke. I see Hillevi speaking with Tartalo, who's currently trying to convince her to return home, a notion she adamantly rejects. I see Sake's rump twitching on the ground as his tube of a body slumps over Camella's shoulder, clearly exhausted. I feel SB's pain and fatigue so acutely I doubt he could even speak to me just now. I sag a bit as the Hummingbird lands upon my shoulder, keenly inspecting its talons as if to show this battle did not bother it in the slightest. I see Rocco and Gianni's eyes locked on me, waiting for my next move as the man now ostensibly holding the leash of the very thing that nearly destroyed them.
>"Just an FYI, but this thing is magically perceptive enough I'm fairly certain it can and will detect what Amen is before entering the mansion-and as such, I think it would be wise to have a backup plan if it refuses to enter Amen's reach."

Placid Savant looks at me expectantly while a chuckle escapes my lips. Thank you Owner, for leaving it to me to finish the cleanup. Now then….
>"Twenty eight seconds until we are supposed to be gone."
Right.






What's the plan?
What do I say and do with Placid-how exactly do I see this working out until the Owner comes to claim it?
What am I going to say to Gianni and Rocco? What am I looking to get for my efforts to keep their asses alive?
Do I plan to interject in Tartalo and Hillevi's conversation about whether she should stay or not, or seeing that she seems insistent on staying anyway should I stay out of it?
What else am I going to do with my day?
>>
No. 403028 ID: 980e12

> What's the plan?
Get a boner
> What do I say and do with Placid
"Boner!" then use boner
>What am I going to say to Gianni and Rocco? What am I looking to get for my efforts to keep their asses alive?
"Boner? Boner!" You're looking to get their boners.
>Do I plan to interject in Tartalo and Hillevi's conversation about whether she should stay or not, or seeing that she seems insistent on staying anyway should I stay out of it?
Interject with boner.
>What else am I going to do with my day?
Astrophysics.
>>
No. 403039 ID: 06593f

> What's the plan?
Get off the streets and back to the mansion ASAP.

> What do I say and do with Placid-how exactly do I see this working out until the Owner comes to claim it?
* In the immediate term, start walking back to the mansion, after asking the Warwalker if it can assume a more normal human form.
* As we walk, describe Amen to it in general terms so that it is not surprised when we arrive. Say that Amen would be an incredible threat if unbound, but fortunately it's under countless restrictions. Also note that it shouldn't feel sorry for Amen, it's a sapient ball of hate and rage, and its sapience only exists because of the bindings. Also tell it that Amen is bound not to harm visitors who have been good Guests.
* If, when informed, it declines to enter, I'm sure that Rocco can find it a place to crash for a few days, and, if given the contact details for the magical butcher in the market, pay for it to eat.
* Then, when we're at home, get Silja to talk to it. She's probably then most empathic of everyone, and can set the best example, given its name. It seems not to be the most violent of creatures, so would get on with Silja on that front, and perhaps it can be inspired to turn its powers and any inherent knowledge it retains t help her with her long term project to build herself a body.
* We can use the stockpile of magical meat we've been accumulating since the Russians stopped eating it to take the edge off its hunger, although we shouldn't feed it any hearts.

> What am I going to say to Gianni and Rocco?
* Invite them back to the mansion. Yes, it's not ideal, but right now they're very exposed to 3rd parties taking advantage of the damage the Nazis have done in there defences, and being inside Amen will deter most attackers.
* Suggest that discretion as to precisely what occurred in the restaurant and who and what stopped by to play would be appreciated.

> What am I looking to get for my efforts to keep their asses alive?
More efficient to leave them stewing on the matter for a while. Leaving it a little while will let it sink in just how far in a hole they are.

> Do I plan to interject in Tartalo and Hillevi's conversation about whether she should stay or not, or seeing that she seems insistent on staying anyway should I stay out of it?
Thanks Tartalo for coming, for his concern, and say that we're determined to live up to our responsibilities for Hillevi as our ward. After all, the Nazis were on Markku's approved target list. It's nice to see her father had such faith in her...

> What else am I going to do with my day?
* If you have any werewolf/vampire hearts, eat a couple to help SB recover and then ask him if it's more efficient for him to consume them directly.
* Review the combat with our allies, including looking over the camera footage, investigating what we could have done better and worse.
* Suggest to Duke that if he fancies some more of a workout, the Nazis kindly set up a trap in the sewers that he could use as an encore. It'd be cool if he could bring us back a few arms and heads when he's done with them, but it's no big deal.
* Mention to Gleb that it was a privilege to see him in action. If he ever fancies dropping in again, he's welcome to come for a return visit.

>>403028
SUST
>>
No. 403058 ID: 25f303

>>403039
Yea this is pretty much it. Seconded

Also you might want to make a quick check on just how much of this '100 people per day' food stash this thing counts as.
>inb4 512 people

Owner took time out of his supposed busy schedule to flirt with Cammella. Girl got dem dragons droolin over her ass. Be slightly jealous.

>I see Karma's notebook dropped and forgotten, his eyes locked on Duke.
...oh great we have a secret admirer on our hands...or a vendetta, who knows. Check that shit out.

Actually just get them all done at home, here is bad, very bad.
"Alright, party at my place, who want's in?"
then run
>>
No. 403060 ID: f70e5e

>>403039
upvote

we should try and get a better idea of exactly what placid servant eats. he mentioned that he eats souls, we should make sure that's not a required part of his diet. for that matter we should make sure that the organs he eats don't have to be human.
>>
No. 403122 ID: 3ce5b2

>>403028
upvote
>>
No. 403133 ID: b83c65

>What am I going to say to Gianni and Rocco?
If they don't accept our offer of hospitality tonight, extend your thumb and pinkie from a close fist and wiggle it about in the 'call me' gesture.

>What am I looking to get for my efforts to keep their asses alive?
There is the possibility that you saved all that remains of the Mafia in Istanbul. If so, ask to absorb the remains of the Mafia into the Company of Laine - everything, men, locations, weapons. This will keep the Mafia's holdings from being pecked clean and we can 'return them' if they build up enough strength to return. Of course, any men that do not with to return to the Mafia or locations that have been destroyed through enemy action, or weapons that have been depleted would not be our fault.

Of course, if the Mafia in Istanbul hasn't been decimated, then we need to focus on the fact we saved Gianni, Rocco, and No-Soul, including anyone else in the restaurant - and we can easily say we saved everyone else because we took out the main assault. So, at the very least, we should ask for Gianni. Well, ask Gianni if he would work for us for coming to save him. Call him a princess. But we should also try and get a favor or three-to-five out of Rocco. Extra favors might be No-Soul, or more contacts, ones that would not be related to the Mafia, and would be loyal to use; a very powerful artifact would be very nice too.

>Do I plan to interject in Tartalo and Hillevi's conversation about whether she should stay or not, or seeing that she seems insistent on staying anyway should I stay out of it?
Stay out of it unless it looks like Hillevi is caving. However, move in so you can actual hear them - why does Tartalo want to bring Hillevi home exactly? Was this an order from Markku, or is it Tartalo's own idea?
If you do have to interject brow beat the fuck out of him in Turkish. Something about how her lessons have only half begun, how she is still learning and it has not been the described time yet, and how if Tartalo can't speak this language, then he shouldn't even be arguing with her. Of course, only use Turkish if he isn't already speaking it.

> [ b ][Andrei has been queued to do the following:] [/ b ]
>A< Be amazed it took so little time to deal with the Nazis. Focus on disorientating traffic and mundane forces to give the Company more time to escape, and describe the best exit for everyone to use.
>A< Andrei waits until everyone is safe until he becomes fucking [ i ]confused [/ i ] about what the fuck the cameras where showing.
>A< When everyone gets back, grunt and down to the Monster in the Basement. Time to add CGI effects to the Blade video, get a soundtrack started - if not written, then stolen - and start on editing the [ i ] NEW [/ i ] footage.
>>
No. 403174 ID: 6616f3

>>403058
>Be slightly jealous
Are we jealous of Camella or Owner in this scenario?

>>403151
We've yet to meet Oggmum in person. I'd rather not hand the voice on the phone the knowledge of us having the warwalker just yet.

>Duke, looking exceedingly keen on continuing the fight
>Gleb glaring, Kharma curious
"Sorry Duke, no more attacking the new skinwalker. Not right now, at least. Although if you're still in the mood for a fight, I hear that there's a few dozen Nazinauts waiting in a pocket dimension trap at sewer level."
Smile at him. "Feel free to spring the trap if you like."

>Hillevi and Tartalo
Keep half an eye on them in case it looks like Tartalo decides to abscond with her through the shadows - for her own safety - but otherwise let that play out. Hillevi being assertive and insisting she stay with us (with no prompting or coercion on our part) is good. At most, be quietly supportive.

>What do with skinwalker?
We can take it back to the mansion, but if they think it won't allow itself to enter Amen... I'd say stick it in our old apartment, but I think we ended the lease on that one. We do have another option, though.

"Hey, Rocco. I still have that storage space at that one place, don't I? Think I'll set Placid here up over there. I'll keep an eye on it, don't worry."

"Well, it's been fun, but I'm guessing most of us're ready for a hearty meal and an early night. GiaGia, I'll be seeing you. Rocco... I'm sure we can work out something worth the service later. An introduction or two, perhaps some sharing of (personnel) resources, that sort of thing."

So we nip on home to get a large helping of our scrap meat, then head over there to feed it. If it's still hungry, well, I guess we'll need a trip to a few butchers. Set up the crew with some cash for an extravagant dinner. Sort of an 'hey, everybody's alive!' meal. $10-15,000 should cover it, but if it costs more, don't skimp. We should probably personally thank Camella, Hillevi and even Duke for their contributions. Without any one of them, we might have all died. Honestly, I think it'd be pretty human to find some pretty young thing (or several) and have some life-affirming sex (and oh wait, we have some of those things here at the mansion- and Duke may not be pretty or young, but he isn't so bad despite his Popeye forearms), but nothing seems to divide us questers faster than trying to pick a romantic lead.

I'm undecided on if we should attend the feast as well, or if we should stay with Placid. At least for tonight, I'm thinking we should stay and talk to it.

It apparently has excellent senses and some soul tricks, see if it can hear Silja. The so-called Placid and the professed pacifist might be a pretty good match, at least in a 'teacher-student' sort of way, although I suppose we could shoot for 'big sister-little brother'.

What's the most immediately important thing we should teach it? Probably how to not fake not wanting to eat people. Social hierarchy, politics, inhuman mannerisms, normal conversation, all that we can cover later. Eventually I think we'll want to set it a series of philosophical questions that require it to think for itself. If we want to bother going that far.

What can we learn from it? The location of nazi strongholds? Passwords? Names? Nazi-tech specifications? Its own capabilities? Can its old operators re-take the reins, or now that it's self-aware will it be safe?
>>
No. 403175 ID: 7d85d6

Since we have to explain Amen to our newborn fosterling for him not to frighten it how about we use this for a first lesson?

"Amen's life began very similar to yours. A bunch of people wanted a poweful weapon and created Amen. Later they had a sentient weapon at their hands. Instead of calming down and following the basic rules everyone has to live by he started a rampage until some other people teamed up and bound him (I guess). Now he is so tightly bound that he is forced to obey the rules whether he wants to or not. He will never be allowed to run free, because he is untrustworthy and dangerous. So in short he is the unreliable and destructive kind of being you do not want to be, if you ever want to be allowed freedom.

The rules I mentioned were made so people can feel safe interacting with each other. If you know the rules and everyone follows them you can live together with beings far more powerful without having to fear that they will kill you as long as you behave.

The Owner wanted to kill you because you have not yet shown, that you are willing to follow the rules. He considered you an unnecessary risk to the safety the rules provide. Because you have not yet earned enough trust he does not want to let you run free and possibly break more rules. Therfore I had to extend my trust to you for you not to be killed. Basically you are allowed to live in my care because and so long as they trust me to make you follow the rules.

I think the only way for you to survive and be freed one day is to show everyone that you can follow the rules. I will tell you more about what rules there are later, but the possibly most important one is that you should not risk revealing magic to the mundane world unless you have a good enough reason. The fight just now was an example of how this rule was broken and if you had been in full control of yourself you would have been killed for what happened. Another very important rule is not to kill anyone without a good reason.
Of course it is can be very tricky to tell what is a good reason for either of those. Therfore I ask you not to kill or even attack anyone and not to act or look in a way that mundanes are likely to notice and find weird without me agreeing as long as you are under my care."
>>
No. 403177 ID: c0b3f5

>>403133
SUST on trying to cash in with the Mafisio now. Beside the unreasonableness of the suggested options, now isn't the time for that.
It is better to wait till the Mafia can assess the damage this raid did and how they want to react.
The nazies went for killing them directly instead of driving them out. This attack could have been disaster, but Armas avoided that. The Mafia lost manpower and a safe house, but the heavy hitters are all intact. It looks like their business isn't all that impacted by this failed attack. But their standing has taken a hit. The locals have do two things to keep the support of the bosses, protect their revenue and punis the nazies for the attack. Both are things Armas can be very helpful with.
By waiting Armas has a much better chance to increase his influence/account balance with the Mafia to laer claim Gianni.
>>
No. 403180 ID: b83c65

>>403174
"Are we jealous of Camella or Owner in this scenario?"
Yes.

Also, I agree with not calling up Oggmum in anyway.
>>
No. 403259 ID: 81f32a

ORDERS FOR IOSEF:
>Feel a bit underwhelmed, pay little attention to Dávgon's comments it's keyed to the size of his soul.
-What? Don't go putting thoughts into Iosef's mind. This power is awesome, with practice, developed reinforcement orientation and general soul growth Iosef could potentially be able to break trough solid walls. He could become very destructive in close quarters.
-Practices the quirk on wooden planks and loose bricks.
-Asks Davgon to explain the soul quirk better. Asks him what would be the best way to improve it and if Iosef could channel the excess magical energy through his quirk to get rid of it.

>No response from Andrei.
-Frustratedly decides that this was just some petty vengeance job over some slight. Realizes that Andrei is not that awesome spin doctor that Iosef first thought he was.... or maybe that is the result of his quickly deteriorating sanity?
>=Seem's she's upset-and withdrawing from Myspace.
-Asks Andrei to at least tell him who that girl was.
-Realizes that loosing the only contact and link to the target that Boss asked to get info on is an awful outcome.
-Gets back on the computer. After studying her page and entries a bit more, tries to contact the girl personally.
-FORCES Andrei to help him if he has trouble connecting with the girl. Threatens to destroy Andrei's awesome rig with his new hands of (tiny)destruction if he refuses.
-If it gets brought up, pretends to have come to her site along with the raid.
-Tries to get her e-mail or other contact information so that he can keep in touch with her.
>>
No. 403310 ID: 6616f3

>>403174
Should probably replace 'everyone going home for a fabulous dinner and an early night' with 'gots shit to do', since it's like 5 am.

Take it easy, though. Have Armas glut himself on hearts and magic meat while the nonmagic stuff goes to Placid? Braise up some werewolf hearts, maybe in a nice confit, maybe just seared cutlets if Armas just wants to do some easy grilling.

We could do the vamp meeting, maybe? (>>391224)? Although we're running on empty, magically, probably not a great first impression...

Titus Order
- The ceramics with Titus's current contacts are heavily marked up, and there doesn't seem to be much interest in a non-newtonian fluid that people can smell coming, so Titus will just do the suits and jackets and so on.
(Motorcycle leathers for Lyubov (leather outside, kevlar lining), P155 suit for Nikifor, duster for himself, various others - anyone who didn't specify earlier gets a uniform armored cloak with no frills, free of charge.
- Titus will watch Amen work.
(Titus will probably run screaming through the house and out into the sun shortly after, tearing at his clothes and weeping, 'Its people! It's all made of people!')
- Meet Lyubov for a sambo sparring match later. Pretend nothing happened.
>>
No. 403320 ID: 3c321c

Welp, now that the fun is done, let's look over a few simple ideas to help ideas to help us out.

The Kodoku Experiment: The Kodoku is basically a pot where you put poisonous bugs in and have them fight each other until one remains. This final bug is then used for assassinations. We can assume that due to the conflict, the remaining bug is likely a lot stronger than it was before, but why stop at one jar?

Simply put, we get a bunch of jars and fill them with various poisonous insects from centipedes to spiders to wasps. Whole bunches of them. Get those who are skilled at getting the proper bugs(Davgon I believe) and set up a pyramid style tournament. When the bugs in one pot are reduced to one or two champions, put them in the next tier of pots with the other winners and so on and so forth, cycling the champs back in to keep them fresh and so they do not get rusty.

Once this is done for some time, we should have a good base pot full of strong bugs(possibly ensouled). That's when we prepare the final arena for them. Now, we can either put this final Kodoku in either the golem(moar poison!) or in Armas to have them serve as scouts, a built in defense(next person to slap us with our kidney will be very unhappy) or general attacks and shock tactics(Spiders everywhere). Either way, doony poison should help toughen them up even more so in controlled doses and make their poison even stronger.

Hell, this could be a way to get cheap spirit animals for use in all sorts of things and we can even have bets on the kodoku fights for a bit of side cash and entertainment. Add that bugs and cannibalism would likely work well(decaying corpses and all that) and it's a good little thing to help us out even more.
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No. 403332 ID: 8e94aa

[NIKIFOR ORDERS]
>DC 60 to beat Feodor at Morning Jog, rolled 70
-Feels pretty smug after outrunning him. Self-confidence suddenly drops when he realizes (again) that Feodor had a weighted vest on. It's like jumping and dancing in front of an old man with back problems and a walking cane. Welp, the only way to do this is to beat him at his OWN game! Asks Igor if he has any steel plates to duct tape together for tomorrow.
-Also asks Big Boss Armas for permission to have Amen set up the range.
-Stays THE FUCK away from that thing following Big Boss Armas. Nope, not taking any chances.
-Keeps trying to self-practice with Chakra during self-training.

>>
No. 403357 ID: 2fdb67

Feodor Orders
Yesterday:
DC 80/99, rolled 92

Today:
Feel disgusted with self for the plan to cut the hands off of corpses, and relieved at the lack of opportunity to fulfil it. Can't even remember what the plan was for! Wonder if this is indicative of some fantastic new mental disorder. Congratulate self on use of internal sarcasm, and resolve to bring it up with Matvey later, once all the excitement has died down.
Go through daily routine on autopilot, preoccupied with trying to figure out just how bad mental health really is. PTSD from regular army, super-PTSD from black ops, mild bipolar disorder, transient depression, and now whatever this morbid, cutting-hands-off-dead-guys thing is.
Stare at Vlad's gift of meat-vodka for a few minutes. Wonder how father, the vodka distiller, would react to such an abomination. Decide to give it a try anyway.
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No. 403566 ID: 9718f3

Well, this was certainly an exciting start to the day. Better get back to work. Wouldn't want the Russians missing out on their training after all.

On the way back home sneak up besides Camella (because why not) and say the following:
"Hey Camella, I'm going to be trying to teach Placid to be people today and well... as usual you are the more qualified teacher. If you've got some time free, I'd appreciate it if you could drop in for a bit and offer your advice. Oh, and I've got a thing to talk to you about."

If/when she shows up to help us with Placid, it'd be a good time to talk to her about that little detail about us Old Lady let slip.
"I know you're curious about something Old Lady said about me the other day, that I'm a 'godling'."
"Well first and foremost, it's a secret. I'm actually not sure how she figured it out since I keep it obscured most of the time. Also a secret, by the way. At a guess, she did an audit of my mental processes and tracked down what I was hiding using the process I was using to hide it, but I couldn't say for sure."
"Oh, right, sorry. Well, being a godling basically just means that my bloodlines are Divinely flavoured. So my magic is like the magic Gods use, though I don't know how like it it is. Not sure how it's different from mortal magic either, I'm flying blind and by the seat of my pants here really." "And that's... all I really know about the subject."
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No. 403652 ID: 34ea1a

Gloom
*G* Keep on asking Amen for stealth books as required that don't harm those nearby by their presence. Keep on recording them without reading them.
*G* Maintain focus on chakra training.
*G* Talk to Dávgon about preparations to make the best of a new death experience.
>>
No. 403674 ID: 431fa8

>What's the plan?
To teasingly call Camella "Savory Flower" instead of her actual name every time we talk to or about her, obviously. Anything else would be absurd. We might have to make that her official codename. "Meeting at lunch, Savory Flower. Aside from that you can take the day off if you want it."

"Duke, if you still want a fight there was a trap in the sewers with Nazinauts in a pocket dimension. It's probably still there. Bring me some bodies if you can, would you? Or a couple live ones."

Let's get moving while we talk. There's a lot of talking to get through, and standing here when the Owner said to leave seems like a terrible idea.

>What am I going to say to Gianni and Rocco? What am I looking to get for my efforts to keep their asses alive?
"If a job like this isn't worth five million easy, I'll eat my hat. And here." Talk into our radio. "Matvey, new plan for the day- render all reasonable assistance to Rocco until sundown. You're lead; I'll be busy." Back to Rocco. "Would hate to leave a job undone. Other items to square us... I've got an issue that some teleportation might vastly simplify- you have ties with the Savoys, right? Get someone who can speak for them to drop by and chat- at a prearranged time, to be clear- sometime in the next few days, please. Duke would probably be interested in hunting down Endman for fun, and we might as well rub out some more Nazis- please assist him and any of my men who care to help in locating and killing him, and see that all useful items recovered, including his magical equipment and copies of any information, are delivered to me. I'd like whatever information you've got about other groups and interesting personalities in Turkey and Greece- though mostly Istanbul. And Gianni whenever I want him and he's not doing anything critical for you."

If Rocco objects or tries to lower the price, cut him off. "Rocco, you're a great guy and I don't want to jeopardize our working relationship here, but negotiations come before jobs. When I come dashing over to bail you out on zero notice and fight a goddamn Nazi skinwalker with everything at my disposal- including a Valkonen, an invincible shadow cyclops, and the legendary Li Kui- and end up negotiating with the ruling dragon of the country to get your last officer back, then I just bill you."

When he pays, $1.5 million goes to Hillevi as the Valkonen cut, hopefully with enough of a loophole dodge that we won't be breaking their special rules about mercenary work. She can work out with Tartalo how much of that he should get on her own. Dàvgon and Camella get $200,000 each. We get $500,000. The Russians and Middle Easterners can get $20,000 each, which is a bit less than their usual pay but it's not like we were throwing them into high-danger situations here. That leaves us with more than $2 million dumped into the company fund, which will hopefully get us some equipment upgrades and keep us chugging along for a good long while.

>Do I plan to interject in Tartalo and Hillevi's conversation about whether she should stay or not, or seeing that she seems insistent on staying anyway should I stay out of it?
Try to keep half an ear on the conversation, but stay out of it unless it looks like she's backing down. If Tartalo gives up, after he's gone tell Hillevi "Nice work with Tartalo. Not exactly my style of negotiation, but you got what you wanted in the end and that's what's important. And great job in the fight, too- you were priceless." If and only if Hillevi is about to give in, interrupt. "Markku charged me with Hillevi's education, and the best way to learn is to be pushed to and beyond your limits. She's tired but uninjured and one serious fight more experienced- which is the entire purpose of her being here rather than locked up at home. If the clan head wants to discuss my methods after hearing your report I would be happy to speak with him, but until the year is up or he personally revokes my status as her guardian Hillevi's place is with me... and one would think that he'd be proud of her actions here. I certainly am."

Either way, we'll want to talk to Hillevi about the battle when Tartalo is gone. "Hillevi. Did this remind you of anything?" (answer) "Here's the answer I had in mind: The Doonongaes fight, with us as the fish. Care to guess why?" (answer which will hopefully get this next part, but if not use it) "I got a phone call from Gianni- a lure that would bring me running on short notice, since I want Gianni around. We arrive at an unknown situation, and almost charge in blindly in pairs- which would probably have killed some of us just like the Doonongaes. I barely realized what was happening in time, and it was still a close thing." (comment) "It's not a perfect analogy, but anything that brings you running should be sending up warning flags- and the thought that maybe it's worth pausing a moment and looking at just what you're running into."

"That's a big part of why I keep pestering you with questions about what you learned from things. Life's got a lot of variety, but somehow the same patterns still manage to come up again and again, just with different details. If you think about situations after the fact- not just what happened, but why it happened that way- then in the future when you run into similar situations, you'll hopefully be able to recognize them and be aware of mistakes to avoid. Make sense?" (comment) "Great." Smile. "So, what'd you learn from this one?"


>What else am I going to do with my day?
Order Amen to add attractive name plates to the doors of each room that people have taken to living in. They should have the residents' first names only, except for Camella's, which should read "Savory Flower".

We need to call Yavuz. He asked us to tell him our decision on the iridium acquisitions; tell him "Sorry for the delay- it's been a busy few days, some involved business deals with a side of trying not to get eaten. The iridium's been added to my company's list of desired acquisitions, but we don't normally trade in it and it'd be prohibitively expensive to acquire in that quantity on really short notice- if you find a decent deal on some before I next get back to you, don't hesitate to get it. I'm sure we'll have other projects that need high-strength alloys resistant to high temperatures and corrosion in the future, after all."

Study epithelial fleshcrafting with Gianni until it's time for lunch. He's probably exhausted, but we're full up on Summer energy and might as well use it.

Lunch meeting with Camella. "I thought this morning went quite well, all things considered. Impressions?" "I'm not going to argue that all our lesser forces weren't mostly useless and we didn't mostly get our asses handed to us by Placid, but one can't have everything. We definitely need more powerful and reliable perceptions and communications. We came way too close to going into a slaughterhouse blind and piecemeal; I'm surprised you didn't catch that before I did." "Anyway, I need more training to become a ridiculous badass who can take care of problems like that. Godlings as a class seem fairly strong and I did a pretty solid job building my powers so I should be able to push into the heavyweight division eventually." "Godling. Sounds impressive, doesn't it? As for what it means... well, pray to me and find out." Grin and wink. "But be sure you really mean it. Anyway, don't spread that around. The stronger you become the nastier the things that want to kill you are, and at this point I'm basically made of candy as far as a lot of critters are concerned." "Getting back to the company... the Russians are getting stronger all the time thanks to your training, but it's not really enough for them to measure up in situations like that- even against the nazinauts, which were only the middling threat. Getting more enchanted gear might help, but that'll run through our cash very quickly. And I don't really want to start grafting monster parts onto them or adding twists to their souls or making them vampires or weres or what have you unless they actively want that and seek it out; the decision to let yourself be fundamentally changed like that is too personally important to make mandatory. You have any ideas?" "Great. You work on those, while I keep working on becoming superman." "Anything else you want to talk about?" "All right, then, enjoy your afternoon. We should make lunch meetings a thing, though. See you at tomorrow's."

Get training in the afternoon from Dàvgon. "This morning was a rather effective demonstration of why I desperately need instruction. I'd like to spend the afternoon learning how to use these powers right- and every afternoon I don't have other business, in fact. You up for it?" After lunch we should start with how to use our spiritual senses properly, with a focus on seeing an interpreting the details of souls, seeing hidden souls- Duke's in particular as it almost certainly has some fascinating quirks we want to inspect- and effectively picking up on the presence of people that we've never seen before and don't know are there, since we still seem to be having issues with that. Once we know how to look, we can move on to touching.

And then catch Lyubov and screw her before going to sleep, because we fought a skinwalker today and lived through it and if that doesn't call for getting some, what does? Fucking attractive minions is part of being rich and powerful, we're now rich and powerful, this is how the good life is supposed to work. She'll probably be quite willing, but add wine, delicious magic snacks, a bit of conversation, a sexy soul guise, and some conversation just to be sure.
>>
No. 403682 ID: 3af16b

>>403175

Armas doesn't even know that stuff about Amen. All he knows is it is a ball of hate and maliciousness and is really powerful and bound to obey him.

>>403174

Don't you know it's illegal to live in storage units? We're not keeping Placid in one. If we really have to, we can rent an apartment. But I think we can talk Placid into going into Amen.

ARMAS ORDERS

>What's the plan?
Get home without any further incidents in good order.

Say aloud, "Time to go! Placid, assume a human form you've practiced with, and then walk alongside me. Think of this as an infiltration mission."

Have Amen relay to Andrei that he is to call Rocco and tell him, "Owner says to vacate the area. Hurry. He's probably got a sinkhole ready to go."

Hopefully Camella will take initiative and get the Russians ready. If she doesn't, have Sake radio them, "Twenty seconds! Get to the vans!"

While you're trotting clear of the mess, say to Gleb, "Gleb, I'd like to thank you for getting those hotheads to cool their jets a bit, I heard about it and am thankful. You're welcome to come on over to my place, we can catch up since the last time we talked. Here's my number, don't be a stranger, have fun with your fight with that valkyrie."

Say to Duke, "I meant what I said to Owner. And Owner meant what he said to you. We can arrange for your fun once we've got breathing room."

Say to Karma, "Hey, wake up! Owner said to go! Come on."

Mentally tell Amen to allow Gleb, Placid, and Karma to visit as guests.

>What do I say and do with Placid-how exactly do I see this working out until the Owner comes to claim it?

As soon as you're clear of the clean-up zone, start to very subtly shift your guise to something that is like Mr. Rodgers. Then say to Placid, "Ok, we're going to go my house, but it's a special sort of house. It's a living home, and is actually a powerful being that has been bound to be a house. It has many bindings on it, but foremost it is bound to obey me. You may recognize it as the bloodfiend."

"Yes, that sounds accurate, but what do you mean you can't go in it? Do you mean you're not allowed to, or that you're-"

"I see. But you would not be taking any risk by entering the house that I'm not taking. In fact, I've already issued an order to recognize you as having rights to visit, as per previous bindings I placed on the house. Other visitors have been completely safe, and you would be too."

"Well, that's a bit of a problem. I've got all this delicious meat and blood in the house larder, and I was going to feed you breakfast."

"Well, there's another reason I want to bring you to the house too. It's very secure. You'll have privacy from your enemies."

"Well, the Nazis, your creators and former binders for one. And another group would be the skinwalkers. I don't know how much they will approve of you existing, but I think they will not like things the way they are right now. If they hear about you, they may just attack you, or they may try to kidnap you, or they may try to bind you. I just don't know what they'll do. They could even ignore you. But in any case, we can prevent a lot of trouble if they can't even find you. So, if you go into the house, you'll be able to let the house take care of defenses while we work on your education and socialization."

"That's right, you've got to learn the basics of getting along with people, and that includes being able to seem like a human. There are billions of humans in the world, and it would behoove you to be able to interact smoothly with them."

"Behoove means "fits, appropriate, suitable." It would be appropriate for you to be able to be social with people. It is something that takes time and effort though. I've been working on being a social person all my life. And you're newly born, today! I can tell you learn fast, but still, it would be wise to learn how to act in socially acceptable ways in a safe place."

"Yes, a place where you won't have to worry about an enemy attacking. Since I control my home, and since it is so hard for things to break into it, you will be able to take the wise action I've suggested. By entering my home, and living with me and my men for a time, you can learn how to be social in a safe place."

"Yes that's right, we all live in the house. Won't you be my neighbor?"

>What am I going to say to Gianni and Rocco? What am I looking to get for my efforts to keep their asses alive?

>Do I plan to interject in Tartalo and Hillevi's conversation about whether she should stay or not, or seeing that she seems insistent on staying anyway should I stay out of it?

>What else am I going to do with my day?

>>403674
For all three of these questions, this is pretty good.

We should make sure to budget time to spent with Placid, to talk to him (or her or whatever it decides to identify as), and to set him up with stuff to do and people to talk to.
>>
No. 403696 ID: 34ea1a

>>403039
As an addendum to this:
* Introduce Placid to the others, first names only.
* Talk to SB on the way back about whether to get in touch with Oggmum. If he agrees, tell her that you've been placed in a unique situation that she may be interested in helping with. You have been assigned temporary responsibility for the care and moral development of the "newborn" conciousness of a Skinwalker clone, and can think of no one better in Istanbul to help make sure it grows up to be a responsible member of magical society. It is mentally developing at a tremendous rate, so its early interactions could be crucial. Of course, this also means that you have a potentially cooperative Skinwaler to aid in the investigation of how their magic works, if she's interested. We understand she's busy, but the creature's need is great, and you're sure we can work something out so that it's a win-win-win situation for all three of us.
* If we get in touch with Oggmum, and she agrees, she's one of the best options to backstop our custody of Placid if it won't enter the mansion. After all, there may be other interested parties who don't have its best interests at heart we are less capable of protecting it from.
* Ask Tartalo and Hillevi if they have a way of getting in touch with Einrik, as he may want to be here. Seeing a friendly Skinwalker clone is pretty unique.
* Spend a few hours running through the basics of external soul manipulation with Dávgon. Both breaking the barrier and binding the Skinwalker relied on processes we don't understand, and we may well have done it better if we did.
* We have a few seconds to text the Red Caps and tell them that there are a pile of Nazi experiment bodies ripe for collection before the sinkhole is created - and the not-Skinwalker has left. If they're interested, we can negotiate what they're worth later.
* Offer Gleb a controlled venue to fight the Valkyrie in without worrying about collateral damage.

>>403133
* SUST launching a semi-hostile takeover of the Mafia's Turkish operations. We know that the other two Mafia bases survived as the defending forces for them have just showed up.
* SUST asking for Gianni. From what we should know of the Mafia's internal mythology, the only way to leave is through death. Later, much later, when they've had time to recognise how far in debt they are, we can suggest that he's assigned as a permanent liaison officer from the Mafia to us on detached duties, or something like that.

>>403674
* On Hillevi, perhaps link us rushing to help an ally in the early morning when rang twice with no confirmation of the caller's authenticity to what we did to the Doonegeas, and why in some cases risks need to be taken.
* SUST the negotiation with the mafia for now, let them sweat. Do offer the Russian's help though.
* SUST studying epithelial fleshcraft. Anything we can learn on that subject from him most likely overlaps with what we can gain from the Doonegeas' memories.
* SUST sleeping with Lyubov. If we want sex, call a whore and have Amen remove any traces.
* SUST telling Camella that our godling nature makes our flesh taste good for supernatural.
>>
No. 403719 ID: 12315b

>>403674
Okay, mandatory massive upvote for a post where i support every single damn thing.An addition though:

>"Matvey, new plan for the day- render all reasonable assistance to Rocco until sundown. You're lead; I'll be busy."
Make it clear, when you are asking for the 5 millions (which is a pretty low price, considering), that you are throwing your men as help for the day to make sure they can secure their power base, as it's still part of the same job, sorta.

>And then catch Lyubov and screw her before going to sleep, because we fought a skinwalker today and lived through it and if that doesn't call for getting some, what does? Fucking attractive minions is part of being rich and powerful, we're now rich and powerful, this is how the good life is supposed to work. She'll probably be quite willing, but add wine, delicious magic snacks, a bit of conversation, a sexy soul guise, and some conversation just to be sure.
Make sure this is understood to be a fling with one of your minions, as is your right as the Boss-man. Privileges and all that. Likewise, make sure that it's known that this will stop if we ever get into a serious relationship with someone in the future. (like Camella, Camella, Cammy, Silja, Adelat....)

Another thing to do is send a SMS to the red caps as fast as possible: "Not-Skinwalker problem 'under control', a dozen nazi delicious meatbag in the late mafia building. Will appreciate some sharing if you find loot."
>>
No. 403744 ID: 421737

>>403320
It is full of bugs! It is good plan for later. Why play with bugs today? Play with bugs later.

>>403174
Yes to have the fun and to learn the secrets from Placid.

>>403674
It is pushy Armas. Be pushy, get things. Get Gianni and money and tax money. Get Lyubov. Take her to http://www.kizkulesi.com.tr/ tonight, it is nice. Spent night with her. Caviar and wine. Dress like Arkvad for dinner, dress Lyubov in nice matching dress. It is fun night!

>>403719
Do not say stupid things to Lyubov. Arkeus never has woman, he is a bozo. "The only vagina that you're going to ever see is the one that you fell out of when you were born."

>>403682
Yes to be nice to Placid, she is a baby. Ask Placid about other war walker. We may rescue!

>>403332
Armas say to Nikifor he can not fight teenagers in gun range when drunk and when not drunk. Then set up range. Set up tank range too.
>>
No. 403772 ID: 81f32a

I'm just going out and say that I'm against doing anything with Lyubov. I never liked the idea in the first place, I don't like her that much to be honest and besides, she's our minion.
And don't go "oh but Armas needs some good loving once in a while". We all know that Armas could go to any club/bar and get a one-night orgy with all the females in there. There is no reason to make everything awkward by doing it with our minion, especially since we have absolutely no interest in long-term relation ship. And yeah, Armas could use some game, I'm not sure why we wont let him go and hook up with a hottie for a night. Certainly less bullshit and trouble than going with our minion/Camella/Adelat/whatever
Consider this my downvote for sleeping with her and/or taking her out to the date.
>>
No. 403799 ID: 252e1b

>>403682

ARMAS ORDERS ADDENDUM

Since we're going to meet BC today, we should ask him for help with body binding the greatest hummingbird ever, and introduce him to everyone, and get him in on the party. Sure he didn't get to help, but he tried man, he tried.
>>
No. 403980 ID: 32e1f9

Armas needs to check on Amen. Wasn't Savoy an important part of how Armas got in control of Amen in the first place? With Savoy now erased, this might have influenced Amen. It is might, because apparently SB got to keep his memories and so Amen might, too. But it might have unraveled some bindings related to Savoy Smet put on Amen. That may or may not affect Armas relationship with Amen. It is best to check.

>>403674
>What else am I going to do with my day?
Agreeing with the SUST's in >>403696. Especially on the Mafia cash in. They are too off-kilter to really get what happened yet and appreciate what Armas could have done instead. Like waiting a little, for example by negotiating, and driving the price high, or getting only Gianni out.
>>
No. 404231 ID: 07f6ee
 

I sutffed up posting the video lol here it is
>>404215
Oh sorry have a song to make it up
I can add my suggestion now
I like this one >>403039 and this one >>403674
>>
No. 404331 ID: d97a61

> [Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>A< Be amazed it took so little time to deal with the Nazis. Focus on disorientating traffic and mundane forces to give the Company more time to escape, and describe the best exit for everyone to use.
>A< Andrei waits until everyone is safe until he becomes fucking confused about what the fuck the cameras where showing.
>A< When everyone gets back, grunt and down to the Monster in the Basement. Time to add CGI effects to the Blade video, get a soundtrack started - if not written, then stolen - and start on editing the NEW footage.
[Iosef has been queued to do the following:]
-Try to convince self power is awesome. With practice, developed reinforcement orientation and general soul growth he could potentially be able to break trough solid walls…. he thinks. He could become very destructive in close quarters…. he thinks.
[I]-Practices the quirk on wooden planks and loose bricks. Be let down that it hardly makes a difference-maybe he's doing something wrong, or it needs a specific mindset to use?
[I]-Asks Davgon to explain the soul quirk better. Asks him what would be the best way to improve it and if Iosef could channel the excess magical energy through his quirk to get rid of it. Be given a look that looks like Camella when she's dealing with Lev and be told, verbatim 'At least TRY to figure that shit out yourself bucko.' Wonder why Dávgon called him bucko.
[I]-Frustratedly decides that Andrei's use of him was just some petty vengeance job over some slight. Realizes that Andrei is not that awesome spin doctor that Iosef first thought he was.... or maybe that is the result of his quickly deteriorating sanity?
[I] -Asks Andrei to at least tell him who that girl was.
[I]-Realizes that loosing the only contact and link to the target that Boss asked to get info on is an awful outcome.
[I]-Gets back on the computer. After studying her page and entries a bit more, tries to contact the girl personally. Makes a post as awkward as a 40 year old virgin trying to hide his shortcomings.
[I]- Attempts to FORCE Andrei to help him if he has trouble connecting with the girl. Threatens to destroy Andrei's awesome rig with his new hands of (tiny)destruction if he refuses. Has a gun placed against his throat as an abruptly less-maniacal Andrei calmly tells him if he fucks with the computer he is damaging company assets and as such he'll have zero issue explaining to Armas why he had to kill him. Realize Andrei is probably not bluffing about being willing to kill him if he seriously destroys the company's only functioning high-end computer just to get his way. Hears unspoken comparison to Lev's mental issues in threat-wonders where the fuck he got the idea this was a good idea.
[Titus has been queued to do the following:]
- The ceramics with Titus's current contacts are heavily marked up, and there doesn't seem to be much interest in a non-newtonian fluid that people can smell coming, so Titus will just do the suits and jackets and so on.
(Motorcycle leathers for Lyubov (leather outside, kevlar lining), P155 suit for Nikifor, duster for himself, various others - anyone who didn't specify earlier gets a uniform armored cloak with no frills, free of charge.
- Titus will watch Amen work. Observes Amen prodding groaning, decripid masses that were clearly once people into producing threads, silks and fibers for him, their disfigured faces silently weeping.
(Titus will run screaming through the house and out into the sun shortly after, tearing at his clothes and weeping, 'Its people! It's all made of people!')
- Meet Lyubov for a sambo sparring match later. Pretend nothing happened.

[Nikifor has been queued to do the following:
[N]-Feels pretty smug after outrunning Feodor. Self-confidence suddenly drops when he realizes (again) that Feodor had a weighted vest on. It's like jumping and dancing in front of an old man with back problems and a walking cane. Welp, the only way to do this is to beat him at his OWN game! Asks Igor if he has any steel plates to duct tape together for tomorrow. Igor asks if he's been spending too much time with Lev.
[N]-Also asks Big Boss Armas for permission to have Amen set up the range. Is told to stop being an idiot and use the range already set up in the mansion and has been in use for some time now. Gets the feeling boss couldn't decide if he wanted to be more good-natured or trollish about it.
[N]-Stays THE FUCK away from that thing following Big Boss Armas. Nope, not taking any chances. THIS is why that Golem's damned-creepy: Giant flesh monsters are no bueno.
[N]-Keeps trying to self-practice with Chakra during self-training. Self-realizes may be being self-obsessive about self-concepts.

[Feodor has been queued to do the following:]
(F)-Feel disgusted with self for the plan to cut the hands off of corpses, and relieved at the lack of opportunity to fulfil it. Can't even remember what the plan was for! Wonder if this is indicative of some fantastic new mental disorder. Congratulate self on use of internal sarcasm, and resolve to bring it up with Matvey later, once all the excitement has died down.
(F)-Go through daily routine on autopilot, preoccupied with trying to figure out just how bad mental health really is. PTSD from regular army, super-PTSD from black ops, mild bipolar disorder, transient depression, and now whatever this morbid, cutting-hands-off-dead-guys thing is.
(F)-Stare at Vlad's gift of meat-vodka for a few minutes. Wonder how father, the vodka distiller, would react to such an abomination. Decide to give it a try anyway. …Find bacon and vodka actually sort of go together. Be unable to fairly hate drink as he wishes to.

[Gloom has been queued to do the following:]
*G* Keep on asking Amen for stealth books as required that don't harm those nearby by their presence. Keep on recording them without reading them.
Be told by Amen he has 'Triggered the Smets Protocol' and that no more tomes are available for perusal of any sort.' Be unable to get Amen to explain what this protocol is.
*G* Maintain focus on chakra training.
Continue to be behind Dmitrii.
*G* Talk to Dávgon about preparations to make the best of a new death experience.
Be told that similar near-death experiences within a short timeframe yield very reduced returns, and that he should realistically look into something else and then come back to Hillevi's version.


>>403133
For the briefest moment, my thoughts of what to do with twenty eight seconds first turn towards exploitation, plans of claiming the whole of the Istanbul-based Mafia for my own-until SB intellectually slaps me upside the mind and tells me to not be a chucklefuck. I begrudgingly comply.
>>403682
I see people gathering their wits to ask questions-well fuck that.
"[i]TIME TO GO!
"
I make shooing motions at the mafia and crowd at large as I start marching at them, intent on walking right on over them if they don't take the hint. SB and Sake, both similarly 'concerned' with the Owners parting words, ply wind and shadow alike to start forcibly moving people-between that, the massive gutted wreck that WAS their base, my comment as well as Hillevi (Tartalo now just…. gone) and Dávgon both, there's simply too much incentive for everyone present to just…. get the fuck away from here.

My plans to move everyone are interupted as a familiar soul rockets into my percievable range-Big Crazy, his soul ensconced within a shell of wet fangs and scales alike, twists up a traffice light pole and puts a small pothole in the ground with his foot. He stands, sporting a cocky smile-and looks singularly confused as we ignore him and keep on moving away.
>[BC]"What, what's-"
"Nope, no time-get your ass in gear, we're leaving."
>[BC]"Bu-"
"Delayed Draconic spell's about to hit-probably."

And just like that the conversation's over, Big Crazy retreating alongside us. I barely have time to try and sort through the different feel of his soul (really makes me think of that hydra I saw at the Valkonen estate) before my head whips about from halfway down a now-packed alleyway as SB perceives a mass of oppressive magic springing to life.

Without a whisper, with nary a sound, the entire block the restaurant's rubble rested on simply vanishes, sinking into the ground with such force I don't really see it leave. Beneath our feet, the ground does not even quiver at the forces exerted so near us, no whispers of dust or strident quakes heralding the massive change to the scenery. A block simply goes from existing, to not.

I put a hand to my ear.
"Report."
>[Matvey]"All fine, no casualties."
>[Dmitrii]"The same."
>[Gloom]"…"

Well then-
I turn to Placid.
"Placid, assume a human form you've practiced with, and then walk alongside me. Think of this as an infiltration mission."
Again it does that head-cocking thing.
>[PS]"Human form? Height range quantified weight range quantified build complexion-"
Placid raises a hand as if to cough-and in completing the motion goes from 'twelve foot tall mass of flesh in a roughly humanoid shape' to 'Old guy in a miner's jumpsuit, greyed hair, missing teeth and jutting chin', so…. 'normal' I probably wouldn't look twice at him if I didn't know. He just looks so… forgettable. Well, that's solid.

With the monster amongst us no longer looking the part, I get back to all those curious looks from people out of their depth and hopeful I can explain. But before I do THAT-I've gotta deal with Duke, who was at best marginally distracted by the retreat.
>>403174
Amen, add Gleb, Kharma and Placid to the house Guest list, would you?
>[Amen]"This one hears, and obeys."
Great, now…
"Duke-"
The man in question briefly turns my way-
"Sorry man, but no more attacking Placid right now, okay? Although if you're still in the mood for a fight, I hear that there's a few dozen Nazinauts waiting in a pocket dimension trap at sewer level."
I smile at him as I finish.
"Feel free to spring the trap if you like. Bring me some bodies if you can, would you? Or a couple live ones, that'd be great."
Seems my words hit the right note-as Duke promptly loses interest in Placid-the-miner, idly rips open a sewer grate, and plunges into the murk underfoot. …Well, he knows where the house is, he'll be fine.

With Gleb gone, Karma looks a bit put out-and it's in this let-down state that I accost him.
"Soooo-I hope you took good notes."
The decidedly Duke-like man frowns in horror as he begins searching for his notebook, having already forgotten we're even there. With him so easily taken out of the picture-I have a few words with Placid, knowing the Mafia sure as shit will wait for me to say my piece.
I set my Soul Guise to slowly shift into one that looks just like my mental image of Mr. Rogers-warm, inviting and clad in a sweater.
"Ok, we're going to go my house, but it's a special sort of house. It's a living home, and is actually a powerful being that has been bound to be a house. It has many bindings on it, but foremost it is bound to obey me. You may recognize it as the bloodfiend."
>[PS]"Bloodfiend Carnagefather Allhater Amen identity verified. This is the house you speak of? Will not enter designated domocile."
"Yes, that sounds accurate, but what do you mean you can't go in it? Do you mean you're not allowed to, or that you're-"
>[PS]"Will not go in."
"…I see. But you would not be taking any risk by entering the house that I'm not taking. In fact, I've already issued an order to recognize you as having rights to visit, as per previous bindings I placed on the house. Other visitors have been completely safe, and you would be too."
>[PS]"Will not enter house-known superior threat."
"Well, that's a bit of a problem. I've got all this delicious meat and blood in the house larder, and I was going to feed you breakfast."
>[PS]"Would rather experience further hunger than enter Amen's reach."
"Well, there's another reason I want to bring you to the house too. It's very secure. You'll have privacy from your enemies."
>[PS]"Answer has not changed-why would privacy be relevant?"
"Well, the Nazis, your creators and former binders are no doubt going to look for you, for one. And another group to be concerned about would be the Skin Walkers. I don't know how much they will approve of you existing, but I think they will not like things the way they are right now. If they hear about you, they may just attack you, or they may try to kidnap you, or they may try to bind you. I just don't know what they'll do. They could even ignore you. But in any case, we can prevent a lot of trouble if they can't even find you. So, if you go into the house, you'll be able to let the house take care of defenses while we work on your education and socialization."
>[PS]"Education-term understood. Socialization's meaning known. Why is this relevant?"
"Well, you've got to learn the basics of getting along with people, and that includes being able to seem like a human. There are billions of humans in the world, and it would behoove you to be able to interact smoothly with them."
The creature once more tilts its head.
>[PS]"Behoove-define term."
"Behoove means "fits, appropriate, suitable." It would be appropriate for you to be able to be social with people. It is something that takes time and effort though. I've been working on being a social person all my life. And you're newly born, today! I can tell you learn fast, but still, it would be wise to learn how to act in socially acceptable ways in a safe place."
>[PS]"A safe place…"
"Yes, a place where you won't have to worry about an enemy attacking. Since I control my home, and since it is so hard for things to break into it, you will be able to take the wise action I've suggested. By entering my home, and living with me and my men for a time, you can learn how to be social in a safe place."
>[PS]"Others live in house that are not masters of Amen?"
"Yes that's right, we all live in the house. Won't you be my neighbor?"
>[PS]"The concept… cannot be accepted. How is this to be handled?"

The question seems rhetorical, as Placid isn't really waiting for a response so much as musing to itself. Well, plenty of time, now, to talk with the OTHER people present.
>>403674
The mafia…. well, let's see how Rocco likes this.
"If a job like this isn't worth five million easy, I'll eat my hat. And here."
>[Matvey]"You're not wearing a hat boss."
"Matvey, new plan for the day- render all reasonable assistance to Rocco until sundown. You're lead; I'll be busy."
>[Matvey]"Acknowledged."
I turn to give Rocco my full attention, even as I see him trying to hide the relief he feels at my offer of aid and fails due to how frazzled he is.
"Would hate to leave a job undone. Other items to square us... I've got an issue that some teleportation might vastly simplify- you have ties with the Savoys, right? Get someone who can speak for them to drop by and chat- at a prearranged time, to be clear- sometime in the next few days, please."
>[Rocco]"I…. can arrange that. You know that the Savoys haven't worked with the mafia for quite a few years so I can't guarantee they'll be amenable to whatever you want, right?"
"I expected such. I can make due. Past that-Duke would probably be interested in hunting down Endman for fun, and we might as well rub out some more Nazis- please assist him and any of my men who care to help in locating and killing him, and see that all useful items recovered, including his magical equipment and copies of any information, are delivered to me."
>[Rocco]"Don't suppose I could claim dibs on some of his loot since I've been trying to kill him for a few weeks more than you have? …Didn't think so. What else?"
" I'd like whatever information you've got about other groups and interesting personalities in Turkey and Greece- though mostly Istanbul. And Gianni whenever I want him and he's not doing anything critical for you."
>[Rocco]"…Fine. I'm in no position to argue, so take my second-he'll answer your questions about 'interesting personalities'."
"Excellent. …So, the actual pay-"
>[Rocco]"You did say five million."
"I did say this was easily worth five million."
>[Rocco]"Appreciated as your help may have been, I can't help but notice you didn't suffer any casualties. Five flat, but I'll put myself over the table to get you that favorable Savoy contact, no matter what it's about."
Money is nice, but trolling….
"I assume your word on that?"
>[Rocco]"Obviously. If you have someone that can do it I'll do a Soul Oath if you need it."
"I'll take your word and leave it at that. Five million-you know the account number."
>[Rocco]"It'll be there by the end of the day."
BUSINESS FUNDS: +$5,000,000.00 $5,559,347.00
Well there's that.

$1.5 mil goes to Hillevi as the Valkonen cut, that has to be enough of a loophole dodge that we won't be breaking their special rules about mercenary work.
>[SB]"Hopefully."
Seeing as Tartalo's already gone and an initial inquiry reveals she's confused by the notion of 'paying' Tartalo I leave things as they lay.
BUSINESS FUNDS: -$1,500,000.00 $4,059,347.00
Dàvgon and Camella get $200,000 each.
BUSINESS FUNDS: -$400,000.00 $3,659,347.00
We get $500,000.
BUSINESS FUNDS: -$500,000.00 $3,159,347.00
PERSONAL FUNDS: +$500,000.00 $1,180,085.04
The Russians and Middle Easterners can get $20,000 each, which is a bit less than their usual pay but it's not like we were throwing them into high-danger situations here.
BUSINESS FUNDS: -(18+5)x$20,000.00=$460,000 $2,699,347.00
That leaves me with more than $2 million dumped into the company fund. That should fund a bit of fun.

Next…. I have a little talk with my Ward.
[In Finnish]"Hillevi. Did this remind you of anything?"
>[Hillevi][In Finnish]"I… the fight? I don't know what…."
"Here's the answer I had in mind: The Doonongaes fight, with us as the fish. Care to guess why?"
>[Hillevi]"I'm not sure I follow…"
"I got a phone call from Gianni- a lure that would bring me running on short notice, since I want Gianni around. We arrive at an unknown situation, and almost charge in blindly in pairs- which would probably have killed some of us just like the Doonongaes. I barely realized what was happening in time, and it was still a close thing."
>[Hillevi]"So… we were the Doonongaes this time? But the Doonongaes was stronger than any one of us just like that… Placid thing.."
"It's not a perfect analogy, but anything that brings you running should be sending up warning flags- and the thought that maybe it's worth pausing a moment and looking at just what you're running into."
>[Hillevi]"But you didn't pause."
"I did-long enough to gather every resource I could. Which was rather critical. A big part of why I keep pestering you with questions about what you learned from things is in fact related to that. Life's got a lot of variety, but somehow the same patterns still manage to come up again and again, just with different details. If you think about situations after the fact- not just what happened, but why it happened that way- then in the future when you run into similar situations, you'll hopefully be able to recognize them and be aware of mistakes to avoid. Make sense?"
>[Hillevi]"I guess, but I kind of assumed I'd just… I don't know, break traps around me or something. Guess not, huh?"
"Great to see you realize it."
I smile at her.
"So, what'd you learn from this one?"
Hillevi frowns a bit as the Russians finish climbing down from their rooftop perches.
>[Hillevi]"Well… I learned that dad was totally right to say I shouldn't fight Skin Walkers-this wasn't even one of them and it was… wow. I learned that unless you set up an ambush really, really well it's not going to help that much-and… and I feel like I learned something else, but… I don't….. sorry, but I don't remember, not well enough to put it in words, at least."
"Good to see you're keeping your eyes open."


At the sound of approaching sirens in the distance, our massive group looks about itself and decides we are simply too suspicious. Rocco, Gianni, No-Soul and the great mass of mafia members incline their heads and start fading into the predawn gloom that clings to the alleyways. Hafaz and his group don't even meet up with us, already moving to distance themselves from the scene. Karma belatedly cocks an ear and promptly launches himself into the sky with an earthward strike. The russians make their way back to each respective van, load themselves back in-and soon enough, they're in route to the mansion.

I chose to walk back with Placid, Sake, SB and HB keeping us company.

-As I expected, Placid continues to balk at the notion of entering the house. Seeing how adamantly resistive it is, I ask if it will wait in the alleyway as I get some food together. After I get Amen to gather up what amounts to a literal ton of magical flesh of assorted forms, I get Big Crazy to help me bring it out to our new 'guest', who simply sticks a hand in the pile and… sucks it all up. It's a bit weird to watch.
-Big Crazy and I spend a good half hour catching up, both pleased to see one another. I learn he bound a Hydra, a Mythic Animal, as his Spirit Animal by placing a piece of it inside of his stomach and using that as the anchor for the binding-and that he migrated his old two spirits to a pair of charms he now wears. I don't mention HB to him just yet.
-I approach Dávgon, using this recent outing as an example of why I need training in Soul manipulation. While I ask for him to be ready for 'regular' lessons in the afternoons/evenings, today I choose to follow up our outing with an immediate, intensive lesson with the Scandinavian shaman, and get a great deal more of the underlying theory and principles of Soul manipulation ingrained into my mind before noon rolls around.
-Come noon, have a lunch meeting with Camella. In this meeting, I cavalierly explain my godling status and my need to finish learning how to properly leverage my nature. I tease her about praying to me. Somehow, she gets from the conversation the idea that I should be called 'Candy'. I retaliate by labelling her 'Savory Flower'. The battle begins.
-I fuck Lyubov's brains out after a mid-day wine and dine, still high on the feeling of 'I didn't get my ass killed.' For once, I am not blackout drunk, no one steals my memories and I get to just have fun. I keep looking around for the other shoe to drop the whole way till we're both finished. I don't question whether she would have slept with me if I HADN'T use a Soul Guise-instead, I focus on the fact that she made me promise to take her out for a date on WEDNESDAY at some time. Wonder when I should do that. I'd ask Lyubov, but I just de-brained her. Pity. She's usually got okay advice.
-I recall that I'd wanted to throw some sort of party over the whole 'surviving' thing-and promptly get Camella to organize the whole thing. Delegation powers, ACTIVATE!
>>403039
-Gleb, his eyes still on the sky, is thoroughly thanked for showing up, and after we exchange a few warm words with one another, he simply walks off into the city without a single glance back.
-Seeing as Placid is still having none of entering the house, I call Rocco back up, and ask him what the nearest safehouse/apartment/what-the-fuck-ever he's got near the mansion so I can stick Placid in it. He gives me an address two blocks down, and I give the address to Placid after confirming the number Rocco gave me can reach the house in question. Sure, he's not WITH me, but Placid's accessible and on-hand. More importantly, he's both housed and fed. For the moment, I've got nothing to worry about.
-I find out that Armas Valkonen had told Silja about Skin Walkers, and she's TERRIFIED of them. I may have to abort my plans of having her talk to Placid.
-I stuff my face with every damn vampire, were and troll heart I have, relishing the feeling of energy returning to my winter line as I feast. It's not much-but it's enough I'm not running on empty.
WINTER ENERGY: [+42] 48/160
-Duke returns in the mid-afternoon with a total of three mostly-intact Nazinaut bodies, and asks me if that's good enough. Seeing as I can't really ask him to UNkill them, I obviously tell him it's just fine before having Amen move the bodies into storage.
-After I call Gianni and explain to him that I have a mass of Nazinaut flesh for him to work with, he heads on over, and sets to what he tells me will be the multi-day project of deriving usable limbs from the ravaged bodies Duke claimed. He estimates he'll have two new pairs of arms to graft to the body in five days-but he's not too adamant about the specific timeframe.
>>403174
-I have to sternly tell Duke that he is NOT allowed to fight Placid anymore-I only really manage to sell it because I highlight how unwilling to fight Placid is right now, and play up his love of 'fair' fights by guilt-tripping him.
-Camella's planned party is actually looking pretty awesome, and I wholeheartedly sign off on it.
-I fund a 'modest' celebratory meal, and start dinner early. How was it? A bit disjointed, frankly-the only ones REALLY partying like they just dodged the reaper are those of us that actually went inside-the Russians enjoy themselves, but the disconnect keeps it from being any truly memorable occasion.
PERSONAL FUNDS: -$11,000.00 $1,169,085.04
>>403175
-That evening, I head over to Placid's new home and have a talk with the 'guy'. I work my way though the 'essentials' , explaining why the Owner was willing to destroy him and why he didn't, why I stuck my neck out for him and why he should continue to not just randomly eat people. The conversation is surreal, sure enough, but Placid continues to display an incredibly adaptive mind, soaking up everything I say on the matter.
>>403320
-I have something of an idea after Stumbling around the internet a bit, and go to Gianni to ask about Kodoku. Seeing as he's got a wealth of golem bodies to leverage, I ask if he could get them started gathering up as many poisonous bugs as they can-a task he readily agrees to.
-I ask Dávgon if he's able to craft Kodoku urns. Turns out that yes, in fact he can. He says he'll have five urns ready by morning, and probably will be able to make another ten to fifteen a day, if all he's doing is teaching me and minorly tweaking the golem's soul seed.
-I check back in with Gianni and explain that his golems will provide their catches to Dávgon.
-Rocco calls me back to say a Savoy representative will be calling me the following morning to arrange a meeting.
-I check online-and it seems Rocco already got me the money. What a surprise, considering I saved his ass. …Well, my company saved his ass. Coincidentally, when I went there to keep my favorite fleshcrafter alive. Still, he totally owes me.
-I call Placid at his new abode, speaking with him for a time both to confirm to myself he paid attention when I explained phones and to see if I really do feel comfortable letting him be on his own like that, a block away or no. I continue to be surprised by how…… mellow the thing is. No anxious energy, no rambunctiousness, no impishness, no troublesome boredom-it LIKES just existing. I can work with that.


Satisfied with my day, I stuff may face with what few magical ingredients linger within the house, and call it a night.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8TH, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $1,180,085.04
BUSINESS FUNDS: $2,699,347.00
CASH: $6,320.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 65%
WINTER ENERGY: 60/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50

I wake up feeling refreshed, and skip the brain coffee-that is, until I hear my phone ringing when I'm mid-stretch. I pick it up to hear an unfamiliar female voice, dusty and precise in a manner decidedly suited to that of a librarian.
>[Caller][In Italian]"Is this the number of the individual by the name of 'Armas Laine'?"
"May I ask where you got this number?"
>[Caller]"The number was nominated by one Rocco Armani, endorsed by one Gianni Gialgorra as well as seven of Don Fierro personal guard. If that satisfies your curiousity about where the number was acquired, can you please verify if you are the individual named?"
"I am. You would be the Savoy Clan representative, I take it."
>[Caller]"I am a member of the Savoy Clan, yes."
"May I ask your name, given you know mine?"
>[Caller]"You may call me Miss. Savoy if you must attribute to me a moniker. What was it you wished to discuss with us? And before you ask-yes, I am quite aware that your group just yesterday preserved the lives of a great many workers for a business our clan has close ties with. That is why you are speaking to an actual Savoy, and not one of our attendents."
"Well, thank you for clearing that up."
>[Miss Savoy]"So-"










What do I tell this 'Miss Savoy' is the reason I wanted to contact the Savoys-I can hardly say 'I hated one of your clan, and now that I apparently erased him from reality I want to fuck his mom just in case he can somehow find out and be that much more pissed off because I'm just that kind of guy, after all.
Exactly what am I talking with her about, and how do I phrase it?
What's my plan for the rest of the day?
>>
No. 404399 ID: 5bc224

>What do I tell this 'Miss Savoy' is the reason I wanted to contact the Savoys-I can hardly say 'I hated one of your clan, and now that I apparently erased him from reality I want to fuck his mom just in case he can somehow find out and be that much more pissed off because I'm just that kind of guy, after all.
"My thanks on agreeing to speak with me on such short notice - I would not have wanted  you to be unduly disturbed. Now, as may have been mentioned, I have a proposition to make to your family. Of course, I would prefer to do so in person, all electronic communication, no matter how secure, has at least one weakness, and we have already said more than enough to trigger interest. I am given to understand that you have the power to make such a meeting trivial, and would of course give you my word that you are in no danger were you to choose to accept my suggestion."
Then order Amen to permit the next, and only the next female Savoy who attempts to teleport in to do so, and consider them a guest for the duration of their visit and no longer.
>Exactly what am I talking with her about, and how do I phrase it?
Have Amen turn the room you are in into a reception room that exudes restrained majesty and power, then assume a soul guise that emphasises imperial majesty and general regal confidence, with more than a hint of divine right to rule. When she teleports in, have Amen divert her to an antechamber, and order him to be polite and welcome her with the words, "I am pleased to welcome you to the holdings of House Laine.", and then escort her to te room we are in and introduce her by her full name. When introduced, we should say, "I am pleased that the reputed powers of your house were not exaggerated. We have much to discuss." Then let her begin to reply, before twisting your soul guise to command attention so she falls silent, and continue. "I have been pondering entering into an arrangement with your House's old allies, but though useful, they do not have the... 'legitimacy' that Houses such as our's have, so I decided to go straight to ask direct to you. You have heard, I presume, of the singular concentration of forces that was brought to bare after the Mafia called on me for aid. Such a group can apply great force where it can reach, but one thing that has proved troublesome to arrange is strategic mobility and intelligence. Such things, of course, can be purchased, but it is always preferable to have stronger bonds than mere transitory commercial considerations when arranging such critical matters. This consideration then brings me to you. It is perhaps oversold to make such a proposal at this stage, but I believe that working together could be in all our interests."
> What's my plan for the rest of the day?
* Talk to BC about the mechanics of his improved flesh based bond, then let HB demonstrate what a superior spirit animal he is. When BC is appropriately humbled, ask him if he can see a way to apply his binding methodology to HB.
* Continue lessons with Dávgon.
>>
No. 404401 ID: 7c31d2

>>404399
Upvote
>>
No. 404403 ID: 21a619

Download an instrumental of 50 cent songs and redub them. Burn it to a CD and hastily scrawl 'Candy Wrapper' on it in permanent marker. Then leave it in Savory Flower's room. She'll love it.
Oh, we should also introduce Big Crazy to Savory Flower, Duke, and Davgon.
>>
No. 404464 ID: 9f95e4

>>404399
I thought we needed a teleporter to help us get the russian families out, that attitude doesn't seem like it would help follow that plan much and considering her response so far i think a professional attitude will help more and I'd rather not troll a clan of teleport specialits without an idea of what buttons we CAN push
>>
No. 404540 ID: b83c65

Say "I hated one of your clan, and now that I apparently erased him from reality I want to fuck his mom just in case he can somehow find out and be that much more pissed off because I'm just that kind of guy, after all." Then laugh rich and deeply using such an obviously false statement to break the ice. Turn on the charm for whatever else you say, and see if you can use Soul Guises over the phone.
>>
No. 404556 ID: c6ce12

>What's my plan for the rest of the day?

Go the sewers and contact the Sometimes Merchant so that we might finish our negotiations for the six month Nevernever bubble made ideal for training purposes we traded for in exchange for that oh so handy bit of information the Triads were not only without their heavy but that they are not aware of his location. What we want from this is for our bubble to allow for us to train with Dávgon learning soul manipulation and access to our spirit animals (although I would accept just allowing for Hummingbird if it comes down to making some cuts) and room for Shadowbro to experience the entirety of the Doonongaes mental file while we do so. This may seem like a tall order, even for Armas' considerably improved haggling skills, but we may just have something for this. There is another floating and unclosed Bargain beyond this one which we can hopefully use to wrap them both up. SM recieved information that Duke, Li Kui, was maneuvered into killing Mammon's Knight and which we have not received compensation for yet. I propose we offer to ignore this and call it even on both deals if he accepts the terms of our proposal here and say makes our deal for hearts weekly for each (which would make keep track of them much less of a pain).

Before you conclude your dealings ask SM about the female human/humanoid winter-oriented parts we inquired on earlier.

At some point in the day talk to Gianni and see if he needs assistance with the golem, sinking a couple hours into it wouldn't be too bad if we can get more of that sweet, sweet, practical fleshcrafting experience from it all. And don't forget to ask him about those interesting personalities we are due information on whenever you get a break or find another opportunity to do so.

Contact the individual willing to trade Cyclops eyes for our Erinyes hearts and make arrangements to acquire two Cyclops eyes, three if we manage to convince SM to giving us all the hearts weekly. If not check iff he's amenable to receiving mundane money in return for his goods or it's equivalent in blood (which if I gauge this even correctly should be around a barrel or two of mundane blood) if he insists. This is the last day they will have a stock of them available and I do not want to miss out on it.

Check with Amen for any orders that have been issued to Jidkova by SM, we were supposed to be given a list of all orders they issue and his responses to them in a manner we can read but we haven't gotten anything yet, he's either skirting some loophole and not giving them to us immediately or SM is for some reason not making any use of her. In any case she's being isolated and rapidly depreciating in value to us, we still have control of her, SM has only purchased restricted access to her so we should consider what to do with her very soon.

>>404399
Upvoting speaking to Big Crazy and learning from Dávgon today downvoting the rest of the post.
>>
No. 404615 ID: c6ce12

One more thing, we need to have a cake baked and decorated that says "Welcome back Big Crazy" or something more clever than that if anyone can respond with a better idea. The cake needs to have a hallow Sake can hide inside, this is imperative. While we talk to BC make no mention of his return, then once we finish we either try to stealth ahead of him or we shadowport and make our way into his room. Where we will have the cake that Sake will jump out of and wiggle like a madman and a fully functional replica of a space suit waiting for him when he opens door we can hand him and make him quirk an eyebrow at how we beat him to his room. This might be more appropriate for his birthday, but damn it I want Sake to jump out of a cake.
>>
No. 404663 ID: 81f32a

ORDERS FOR IOSEF:

-Fuck it, the guy honestly thought he could kill you and was actually going to do it. Not going to trust him to fix the situation.... Hmm, who can help? Oh right, Lyubov! She's good with talking with everyone, isn't she?
-Finds Lyubov, explains the situation and how they fucked up. Asks to help him when leaving messages to the girl, giving tips and acting as an editor if need be. Also adds "Oh and that crazy treatment you want to give to Andrei? You might want to hurry that up. He pulled a gun on me and threatened to murder me over a piece of hardware. Sure, he cannot actually do that in this house but he didn't know that and was honestly going to shoot me. Having someone who values things over his comrades will not do well for the health of this company."
-Also reports to Matvey because he is an officer and less scary than Camella and The Boss and says the same thing.
-If Matvey doesn't give a fuck sheepishly reports the Boss. "I'm sorry for the fuck-up, Boos. I should have realized that Andrei wasn't in his right mind when he made that decision."

-With Lyubov's help, try again to get friendly with the girl.
>>
No. 404715 ID: 38c9a2

Feodor Orders
Wake up on bedroom floor. Notice empty bottle of meat-vodka. Notice two other empty vodka bottles. Berate self for getting drunk, skip the day's Sake-rub as self-imposed punishment.
Go on the jog with 40lbs in the vest, and aim to beat half, despite hangover.
Do Camella's chakra training while wearing the furs. Try to figure out if there's any difference.
Socialise with the other Russians for a while in the afternoon.
Sleep.
>>
No. 404747 ID: aa8dbe

Alright, SUSTing any and all plans to alienating or insulting the Savoys at all. We just got out of their bad books thanks to Darkening, let's not go back in them. We have enough enemies so let's not add more.

Not only that and even if they are not possible mating canidates, they are a powerful family with plenty of resources and connections up the wazoo. Do NOT spit in the face for potential money and resources.

Be polite and respectful. She is a high ranking member of society and deserves equal respect until we get past the door. As such be polite and efficient. Keep it short and sweet.

"Ah yes. Thank you for reminding me Ms. Savoy. As you seem to have heard, I have been working diligently to improve my standing and the standing of my company. To do that I of course need to get in contact with powerful people, such as yourself and seek potential employment. To cut to the chase, I am looking for work, both big and small for me and my company and if you find my services to your liking, perhaps something more. We could talk in person about such things if you so desire, but it is up to you Ms. Savoy."
>>
No. 404757 ID: 25757c

"I have been building my power-base, which include both acquiring personal power and allies.
While I can muster quite a bit of killing power I and my allies lack some support abilities.
My research has led me to find about the royal house Savoy; known for their bloodline's ability of teleportation.
I have several projects which I believe could benefit from your abilities and I am sure the opposite is also the case.
I was hoping that we could meet in person to see if we could foster a mutually beneficial relationship"

>Optional
If we are serious (rather then just trying to fail without insult mafia)
And if they bulk to just meeting us. We can offer the following:
"I would be open to the idea of offering you a favor, of reasonable proportions, to demonstrate my sincerity"

I am not too sure if we should include that bit

>>404399
SUST.
Don't waste a boon in a way that causes negative rep with the mafia. I am against the stupid fuck savoy's mom plan too but this isn't helping.

>>404540
SUST the fuck up.
If we go after the savoys we are NOT telling them before striking.

>>404464
>Teleporters to save russian families.
Savoy bloodline can only teleport self; that is why Galileo worked alone.
If you mean help us locate them all. Armas does not know that savoy's line can do that; it is OOC knowledge
>>
No. 404782 ID: f70e5e

>>404757
this
eventually banging Savoys mom would be nice, but frankly Establishing ourselves as allies or at lest trusted business partners with his clan would be almost as nice a way to piss on his grave, and far more practical.
>>
No. 404784 ID: c54548

>>404757
why'd we need a telepoter than? i know there are at least a few of the families that were hit hard by Chugainov and needed out. Also what OOC knowledge?
>>
No. 404827 ID: 46c64f

At some point, ask SB and Sake whether we're good enough at Hafaz' trick to start looking into developing other applications for it.

>>404556
SUST on accepting so little for the Duke information and for attempting to offer something else for cyclops eyes apart from Erinyes hearts when we've already been told they only want those.

>>404615
SUST. BC should be included on our no-trolling list for Sake, and we don't want to mess with that binding.

>>404674
SUST wasting training on learning to cook.

>>404747
SUST on going to the Savoy's like an unemployed tradesman touting for work. We've no need to lower ourselve in her eyes at all - we should consider ourselves her equal if we want to be treated properly. Given that we jut demonstrated we're a significant supernatural player, acting like her inferior implicitly insults all the allies we brought to the Nazi battle by implying that they too are at that level. We have a Valkonen as a ward, which means we operate socially on the same level as they do. Would Einrik lower himself like this?

>>404757
SUST offering them a favour. We are not supplicants and we don't need them.
>>
No. 404868 ID: 3af16b

>>404399
SUST. Goddamn, Al.

>>404784
For those of us who do not visit the irc channel, know that Alratan openly stated he wanted to sabotage any interactions with the Savoys, since he thinks it's a distraction. Not gracefully back out of, but outright sabotage.

>>404615
This is silly, but so is Armas. Let's do it!

>>404556
I'm all for wheeling and dealing, but it's possible that some sellers won't budge. Anyway, give it a shot.

>>404757
I like your ideas, and I offer suggestions on the dialogue.

"So, Miss Savoy, I'm interested in allies. Good ones, ones that I can trust. Everything I've heard about your family makes me inclined to like them. Even the caveats and cautions aren't anything that would make me balk."

"I would not question such personal and private matters myself but, well, people talk."

"Mostly things that are puerile, or not their business at all. For instance (and I mean no offense, bringing this up) it's unusual for there to be no obvious heir. One would think there would have been many, many suitors trying to change that. I won't pry as to the circumstances of your private life. I only brought it up in the first place because you asked."

"Oh, now I hadn't heard that at all."

"I see. It's interesting you would choose to share that with me. Thank you. I'll maintain the confidence you placed in me, and not spread it around. But, fair is fair: what have you heard about me?"

"I'm impressed you've heard so much about me. I'm quite proud of the craft I'm learning to ply. I won't deny that I can be a character. I cultivate the impression beyond what I am, though, to confound enemies and confuse uncertain allies. What counts is that I can muster quite a bit of killing power: my personal power, my allies' power, and my subordinates' power are all available to me."

"Generally, in the pursuit of more power. Taking the long view though, I and my allies lack some fairly crucial support abilities necessary to turn that into security. The royal house Savoy would be able to benefit from what I can offer, I think. And I'm certain I would find a close association to be of benefit as well."

"I was hoping that we could meet in person to see if we could build a mutualistic relationship. Would you accept an invitation to lunch at one of our friend's fine restaurants, once their matters are in order, perhaps? I should think they would be ready in three days. Friday sound fine?"

I'm using three day delay to touch on a little Rule of Three serendipity.

OTHER STUFF TO DO TODAY

Also, three days gives us enough time to really do our research and find out just what the rest of the world thinks of a Savoy family sans Galileo. If he was close to anyone in the family, many of their actions will seem sort of crazy in retrospective to third party observers.

I also think we should make time today to talk to Gianni and Placid and build dossiers on the Germans, including their prominent personalities and known strongholds. I'm fairly sick of the Germans' shit, and I think it's time we acted decisively.
>>
No. 404872 ID: 12315b

>>404556
>SM trading
Well, we know SM has some kind of Feud going on with the savoy family, as well as told us he had a soul shadow, so he might remember Galileo. We should begin by making sure he will pay for the info/services.
"So, do you remember that guy named Galileo we had transactions about? as you have a soul shadow, i wonder if you might?"

"Well, i seem to remember you taking pleasure in his family's shaming- want to see me humiliating it a little more by fucking around with his mom?"

This might serve to help ensure that as SM will -certainly- hear about Armas contacting the Savoy family, he will think of it as Armas conning an hated family, and not Armas allying with one.
>>
No. 405008 ID: 6616f3

Think about what happened to Savoy, Armas. Where did you send him, and why did SB remember? And perhaps most importantly, can Savoy return? Did he get punted into the Dark, or further? Was he literally unmade? Never born? Does anyone else remember him? IT is obviously going to be coy, but... I dunno, maybe he'll drop a hint or two?

Random thoughts:
- our parent's neighbor is named 'Grimoire'? Like, the spellbook? That's weird. And kinda ominous.
- if we ever get a minute of Johann's time again, we may want to inquire into magical .45 LC ammo. The DOOM ammo further empowered Mammon's Artifact, I bet we could think of something that links symbolically to Trick.
- did SB grab two more nazinaut shadows, or did I imagine that?
- did Duke save any of that tubing intact from the nazinauts? Less work for BSS, although they'd probably need to be reworked a bit to an under-armor design (into the flesh if need be)

>>404556
I prefer:
- To use the bubble for Cookie Lady-related pursuits and to bone up (Cookie Lady and bone in the same sentence, *shudder*) on our baking skills
- SM as much as told us the Winter parts he had on sale wouldn't be cost-effective for our purposes

>>404399
While HB is appropriately awesome, BC DOES have a mythic spirit animal combined with two others. I think he'll rate better than you expect.

What other topics can we broach with BC? "Sorry we messed up your big entrance. We could go back and try it again if you like. Here: 'Big Crazy! Here you are in Istanbul, just when I need you! Thank God (Armas) for you, you magical Indian, you!'"

Other topics:
- Feels like there should be something we can do with the fact we have a Native american artifact tomahawk gun.
- Get drunk, trade 'you shoulda been there when.'
- Shouldn't be hard to talk BC into the company, particularly since he'll have an officer role waiting for him - but this IS where he was tortured by Amen.
- maybe he'd like to handle the bequest to Locke's kid? Explain we're doing it because otherwise the gun would've gone to the gobbos anyway. That way he may not rightly peg our feelings towards kids as 'soft and womanly' in nature.

Titus orders
Buy raiju pelt ($11,000 of 20k)
Finally notice Satai has been receiving tutelage from Hillevi. Ask (respectfully, as always) to sit in on lessons.
Start to enjoy ball-freezing wake-up torture. Worry about that.
Make apologies to Ito; explain sambo is first and truest love, and beg off teacher duty to apprentice-teach at Crash Course once time permits.
Make mental note to enter next Turkish Wrestling Federation tournament (a rise in rank would put Titus at uppermost Senior level, just below Kandidat Master). It'd be neat to be able to enter the Senior World Wrestling Championship tourney (held in Istanbul this year) in September.
>>
No. 405010 ID: 252e1b

>>404868

ARMAS ORDER ADDENDUM

Armas should probably check on those phoenix hearts and move them from the fridge and into an oven. They're kinda important, and the cold won't help them at all. But heat will, since phoenixes are reborn in flame.
>>
No. 405017 ID: 252e1b

>>404872
SUST. This is premature. We don't want to commit to anything with the goblins we may not want to see through. Let's first get some research done, before we suggest to SM that we're in it solely to troll the Savoys.

LYUBOV ORDERS
Monday, February 7th

L*~Lyubov had a fun afternoon with Armas and a nice nap after.
L*~Lyubov seemed quite happy at the party. She asked Camella what had happened in there, and commented that she had seen people be like they were only after bad missions in the Black Army (where only a few people came back).
L*~Lyubov went to the dojo for the Night Lessons, talked to Ito (asked for Wednesday night off), practiced with Granny and Gimpy, and had two SAMBO spars with Titus after (the first she only used SAMBO, the second she used her Gyaketsuote as well).

Tuesday, February 8th

L*~Lyubov will engage in her Morning Routine, talk with Sake a bit, engage in chakra lessons with Camella as usual, and be distracted throughout the day with thoughts of Armas.
L*~Lyubov will listen to Iosef and Andrei, tell Iosef to leave Andrei alone for today, tell Andrei that she’s genuinely worried about him now, ask when he last actually slept, and gently suggest to him that he take a nap. This turns into a conversation where she learns he’s obsessed with finishing the work above all else. She will get Dávgon to look at Andrei’s oral lesion, and if Dávgon doesn’t know what it is, she will take a picture of it and put it on 4chan.
L*~ She then will report the issue to Matvey, and will bring Iosef along. She’ll comment to Matvey that the mental health issues are starting to get out of hand, and that the only thing she can think of to do is find a good councilor. No idea who, though.
L*~Lyubov will spend an hour working on getting Hyougo’s contact information with Iosef, and will analyze the times she has posted to figure out when she is most likely to be awake and able to be contacted via IM. She will also research suppliers who can sell the chemicals Feodor suggested for destroying headstones and memorials.
L*~Lyubov will borrow a van to go pick up Cookie Lady and bring her to the dojo. She’ll introduce her to Sake. She will ask Iskander if he knows any driving schools that are faster than usual, as in, same day service for getting the required paperwork done (in Turkey a license requires 44 hours of driver’s education). If he inquires, she’ll say she wants a Turkish license so she doesn’t have to worry about renewing anything (Turkish licenses are for life). Lyubov will be sure to drive Cookie Lady home in time to get her back by 9 p.m., as requested.
L*~Lyubov will return to the dojo, and then go home. If Andrei’s lesion wasn’t solved, she and Sake will relate Andrei’s issues to Armas, and try to sell him on the idea of just cutting it out anyway, since the guy has confirmed that he hears food talking to him now, sometimes.
L*~Since she’s talking to Armas anyway, she’ll also ask if he talked to Ito’s tax guy. If he admits he didn’t even read the text, she’ll tease, “What does it take to make you check them? Pictures?”
>>
No. 405038 ID: 252e1b

ARMAS SUMMARY

Some sort of dialogue everyone except Pillbug rejected (Alratan) >>404399 (-3)

Talk to BC about binding HB, and keep up the Dávgon lessons (Alratan) >>404399 (+1)

Put a bunch of 50 Cent songs on a CD and label it “Candy Wrapper” (21a619) >>404403

Trolling suggestion to be explicitly truthful (b83c65) >>404540

Negotiate, wheel, and deal with Goblins and others (Grail) >>404556

Make a “WELCOME BACK BC” cake, and make sure it is hollow so Sake can pop out of the cake when it is presenting to BC. (Grail) >> 404615

Be polite and respectful to Miss Savoy (Juroko) >>404747

Suggested dialogue, polite and respectful tone but to the point in nature (MrTT) >>404757 (+1)

“At some point, ask SB and Sake whether we're good enough at Hafaz' trick to start looking into developing other applications for it. “ (Alratan) >>404827

Dialogue in the same vein as MrTT’s, notable for requesting an in-person meeting in one of the Mafia-held restaurants in three days (BUTTZ) >>404868

Take those three days to really research the Savoys new reputation without Galileo. (BUTTZ) >>404868

Talk to Gianni and Placid and build dossiers on the Germans and their strongholds. Prepare to wipe them out. (BUTTZ) >>404868

Suggest to Sometimes Merchant that Armas is only investigating a line of communication with the Savoys to fuck with them (Arkeus) >>404872 (-1)

Ominous thoughts about Armas’ folks’ new neighbor. Plan to ask Johan about doom ammon in .45LC in a month. Find out what is salvageable on those nazinaut corpses. Socialize with BC, talk him into joining the company as an officer. Offer managing Locke’s Bequest to the 4 year old to BC. (Guile) >>405008

Check on the phoenix hearts and move them into an oven. (BUTTZ) >>405010
>>
No. 405042 ID: 431fa8

>>404331
>What do I tell this 'Miss Savoy' is the reason I wanted to contact the Savoys
We want to have a legitimate reason to contact them- and not just anyone; them specifically. And we need to play this carefully, because if Galileo was any indication the Savoys are a prideful bunch who take their Royal status seriously and think a great deal of themselves. We need to play to that in our words.

We are NOT looking for employment- that makes us a beggar not worthy of respect, and will put a bad tone on our future relationship. We are NOT offering an alliance- that would imply that we're placing ourselves, an upjumped mercenary, on level with their clan which they would take as an insult. SUST suggestions to take either tack. Instead, we're asking them for help with a serious issue- which isn't an ideal way to start off a relationship as it means we'll need to owe them something, but it allows us to make a flattering approach without implying that we're less than them, because top-tier people sometimes ask each other for things.

The Chugainov situation is perfect for this, particularly if we leave the "how" somewhat open to their discretion. That will encourage further communication and working together, which we can hopefully exploit into a standing alliance. Or a standing troll. Whichever, really, as long as we have the chance to build this into a decent connection... all of which will depend upon the success of our initial approach.

>Exactly what am I talking with her about, and how do I phrase it?
"I've heard some very impressive things about what Savoys can accomplish, and would like to ask for assistance in resolving a certain difficulty.

"Some time ago the covert branch of the Russian military launched a rather ill-advised attempt to kill me using only a couple dozen infantry with practitioner support. After an extremely brief altercation I offered the survivors employment in my company as an alternative to returning home with news of failure; the fact that every last one of them accepted speaks rather poorly of their superiors, I'd say. In any case, General Chugainov seems to have decided that rather than writing off his losses and dropping the issue he'd label everyone who accepted my offer a traitor and ruin their families financially and socially- then possibly worse, though we haven't confirmed that yet.

"I could probably ignore this without too much trouble- but I don't particularly want to. He's thrown the gauntlet, my reputation as an employer is at stake, and abandoning my own would be despicable. Unfortunately, my ability to affect matters in Russia is limited. Locating Chugainov then dealing with him directly would be difficult, and simultaneously extracting dozens of civilians separated by thousands of miles from the country even more so. Ideally I would do both, if only to demonstrate that I can- a tall order, which is why I'd hope for your help.

"The Savoy line are renowned as unmatched teleporters, and are hundreds of years old- I'm sure you have an arsenal of ways to expand your abilities and things that synergize with them. Further, you likely have the knowledge and pull to make others act on your behalf should that be the most effective approach to a problem- I'm not fool enough to think that royalty is just for show. One way or another, I'm sure your assistance could either solve this outright or make it much easier for me to do so."

At some point what we can offer her in exchange is sure to come up, of course. "My resources aren't anywhere near as extensive as yours, but I do have a capable military force as well as my personal abilities and access to a few very useful contacts. The ones who arranged this call likely provided you with a fairly thorough idea of what exactly a favor owed by me and mine might be worth." If she asks who the contacts we mentioned are, "I'm planning to meet with Cornelius Zosimus tonight and several executives for Holland & Holland next week. On business terms, not social, but I wouldn't get personal meetings if I didn't rate."

>What's my plan for the rest of the day?
Show off the hummingbird to Big Crazy. Surely he will be envious of such a majestic creature. Discuss our plan to body bind him so that he doesn't die and get information how that might be accomplished. Dàvgon may wish to be present to advise and for his own education, since he's not much for body binds.

We asked Dàvgon for regular lessons in the afternoons- stick to it. From lunch to dinner, learn soul manipulation. In particular, it would be good to get a rundown of how hummingbird spirits usually work so that we can get a handle on any features of our hummingbird that we might have otherwise overlooked- presumably he can do everything the others can in addition to all his unique abilities, after all.

Catch a nap in the early evening.

Then, once night is well underway, grab our invitation to visit Cornelius Zosimus and go to visit him. Clothing ideas from way back:
>black suit, black-on-black vest with a bright orange tie/buttons/cufflinks, black and orange two-tone shoes (wingtips), and a matching bowler hat. Look both sharp and modern. Have our boxer briefs have a big smiley face with vampire fangs on.

We don't really know exactly how Cornelius is going to be inclined to play this, but our demeanor should be careful and fairly restrained and respectful, although not overly so. At least until we can figure out what his goal is, at least- we'll want to keep our options open. He could be an employer or even an ally if we can properly read and exploit the situations. Make sure that our soul guise is up and neatly concealing all the usual sensitive topics.
>>
No. 405043 ID: 38c9a2

>>405040
Upvoted.
>>
No. 405045 ID: aa3641

>>405042
sounds good, upvoted.

just be careful when meeting BC. The kind of strength he showed when he arrived is not something you want to accidentally lose a shoulder to as he absentmindedly hits you.
>>
No. 405060 ID: 252e1b

>>405042

This is something I can get behind. I still think we should ask for an in-person meeting in three days in a Mafia restaurant.

I think we should call ahead to Cornelius as well, no need to just show up. Sure, we're entitled to, but it pays to be polite.

Bring Silja along, Cornelius has some crazy fleshgolem, and a tome on golemcraft. He may have ideas about helping her condition improve quickly without having to feed her a fortune in magic women.
>>
No. 405096 ID: d97a61

[Iosef has been queued to do the following:]
[-I-]-Fuck it, the guy honestly thought he could kill him and was actually going to do it. Not going to trust Andrei to fix the situation.... Hmm, who can help? Oh right, Lyubov! She's good with talking with everyone, isn't she?
[-I-]-Finds Lyubov, explains the situation and how they fucked up. Asks to help him when leaving messages to the girl, giving tips and acting as an editor if need be. Also adds "Oh and that crazy treatment you want to give to Andrei? You might want to hurry that up. He pulled a gun on me and threatened to murder me over a piece of hardware. Sure, he cannot actually do that in this house but he didn't know that and was honestly going to shoot me. Having someone who values things over his comrades will not do well for the health of this company."
[-I-]-Also reports to Matvey because he is an officer and less scary than Camella and The Boss and says the same thing. Matvey asks what piece of hardware started this. Iosef admits to threatening to destroy company property over a dispute.
[-I-]- Matvey doesn't give a fuck. He sheepishly reports the Boss. "I'm sorry for the fuck-up, Boss. I should have realized that Andrei wasn't in his right mind when he made that decision." When asked to explain, again mentions threat to computer. Boss tells him to never take company assets hostage, even if the intent was jest-as he won't punish anyone for attempting to defend it.
[-I-]-Gets upset only Lyubov seemed to care a gun got pulled on him.
[-I-]-Notes a hummingbird to briefly sit on his should as if to console him when boss walks out of the room. Wonders why that made him feel so much better.
[Feodor has been queued to do the following:]
{F}-Wake up on bedroom floor. Notice empty bottle of meat-vodka. Notice two other empty vodka bottles. Berate self for getting drunk, skip the day's Sake-rub as self-imposed punishment. Take back to back showers to compensate. Become clean.
{F}-Go on the jog with 40lbs in the vest, and aim to beat half, despite hangover. DC65, DC25 to avoid TERRIBLE THINGS.
{F}-Do Camella's chakra training while wearing the furs. Try to figure out if there's any difference. …Again, get feeling that there is something different from the norm, but it's more along the lines of feeling less inclined to distraction than anything else. Hey, a perk's a perk.
{F}-Socialise with the other Russians for a while in the afternoon. Listen to Iosef complaining about scuffle with Andrei. Hear something about someone pulling a gun. Wonder if he should care enough to look into it, given no one was injured, obviously.
{F}-Sleep…. after a shower.

[Titus has been queued to do the following:]
(T)-Buy raiju pelt ($11,000 of 20k)
(T)-Finally notice Satai has been receiving tutelage from Hillevi. Ask (respectfully, as always) to sit in on lessons. Awaiting Satai's response on how he feels about sharing lesson time.
(T)-Start to enjoy ball-freezing wake-up torture. Worry about that.
(T)-Make apologies to Ito; explain sambo is first and truest love, and beg off teacher duty to apprentice-teach at Crash Course once time permits.
(T)-Make mental note to enter next Turkish Wrestling Federation tournament (a rise in rank would put Titus at uppermost Senior level, just below Kandidat Master). It'd be neat to be able to enter the Senior World Wrestling Championship tourney (held in Istanbul this year) in September. Pursues paperwork necessary to compete, finds his fake identity will work-but he'll need to get recertified. Identifies Crash Course gym as closest, most accessible place to get recertified and 'prove' his level.

[Lyubov has been queued to do the following:
L*~Lyubov had a fun afternoon with Armas and decides she'll remember 'a nice nap after'. Yup, totally didn't pass out.
L*~Lyubov seemed quite happy at the party. She asked Camella what had happened in there, and commented that she had seen people be like they were only after bad missions in the Black Army (where only a few people came back). Get's Camella's rather horrifyingly blunt play-by-play of what happened in the restaurant, and the gory end so many met-and learns what the thing boss was being so chummy with is. Thanks to Camella's conveyance, is innately terrified of the thing living down the street from them, and is immensely thankful it didn't enter the house.
L*~Lyubov went to the dojo for the Night Lessons, talked to Ito (asked for Wednesday night off), practiced with Granny and Gimpy, and had two SAMBO spars with Titus after (the first she only used SAMBO, the second she used her Gyaketsuote as well).
L*~Was a bit miffed Titus was clearly superior to her in SAMBO knowledge. Is certain to inform him of this with weasel-assisted pouting (the specific assistance rendered being Sake tripping Titus for the 'rematch' bout once every five seconds).
L*~Lyubov went home and chatted with Titus a bit, and he broke down crying. She hugged him, got him a warm drink, and got Sake to keep an eye on him while she woke Matvey and told him that Titus was now having problems. It was a sour note to an otherwise good day. Does NOT like the sound of what little he did manage to mention, about 'meat suits', and wonders if this would be one of those times to NOT indulge her rampant curiousity.
L*~The next day Lyubov engages in her Morning Routine, talks with Sake a bit, engages in chakra lessons with Camella as usual, and tries to be distracted throughout the day with thoughts of Armas. Inadvertently succeeds by getting stuck thinking of what possible 'meat suits' could have really thrown Titus for that big of a loop.
L*~Lyubov will listen to Iosef and Andrei, tell Iosef to leave Andrei alone for today, tell Andrei that she’s genuinely worried about him now, ask when he last actually slept, and gently suggest to him that he take a nap. Hears from Andrei that Iosef was, from his perspective, yammering on being a whiny turd and proceeded to threaten to destroy his precious computer rather than going to an officer. This turns into a conversation where she learns he’s obsessed with finishing the work above all else, even while feeling a bit pissed at the biased picture Iosef wove. She will get Dávgon to look at Andrei’s oral lesion, and isn't particularly surprised when he says it should be excised, saying something about a 'corporeally anchored spiritual erosion locus' whatever that is.
L*~ She then will report the issue to Matvey, and will bring Iosef along. She’ll comment to Matvey that the mental health issues are starting to get out of hand, and that the only thing she can think of to do is find a good councilor. No idea who, though. Notes Matvey being far less sympathetic to Iosef than she was when he swiftly ferrets out Iosef's threat to destroy company property rather than just going to an officer off the bat.
L*~Lyubov will spend an hour working on getting Hyougo’s contact information with Iosef, and will analyze the times she has posted to figure out when she is most likely to be awake and able to be contacted via IM. She will also research suppliers who can sell the chemicals Feodor suggested for destroying headstones and memorials. Learns a decent bit, amongst it that Hyougo does seem to post during the afternoon and evening, Japan Standard Time.
L*~Lyubov will borrow a van to go pick up Cookie Lady and bring her to the dojo. She’ll introduce her to Sake. Is forced to smile as every single student at the dojo is enthralled by the heavenly sent from her carried baking tray. Snickers when thinking how Cookie Lady defended non-specific baked goods by saying 'I made them for the students of the dojo, whoever they may be-that's specific enough'.
L*~She will ask Iskander if he knows any driving schools that are faster than usual, as in, same day service for getting the required paperwork done. If he inquires, she’ll say she wants a Turkish license so she doesn’t have to worry about renewing anything (Turkish licenses are for life). Lyubov will be sure to drive Cookie Lady home in time to get her back by 9 p.m., as requested.
L*~Lyubov will return to the dojo, and then go home. Since Andrei’s lesion wasn’t solved, she and Sake will relate Andrei’s issues to Armas, and try to sell him on the idea of just cutting it out anyway, since the guy has confirmed that he hears food talking to him now, sometimes. Upon hearing Dávgon thinks it should be excised, gets approval from the boss.
L*~Since she’s talking to Armas anyway, she’ll also ask if he talked to Ito’s tax guy. If he admits he didn’t even read the text, she’ll tease, “What does it take to make you check them? Pictures?” [Armas]"Bit distracted by bid to amass global-scale power, what can I say?" Huffs in disapproval at him. Recalls horribad monster Armas had moved in down the street-suppress shudder.

>>404540
…I open with honesty.
"Well I hated one of your clan, and now that I apparently erased him from reality I want to fuck his mom just in case he can somehow find out and be that much more pissed off because I'm just that kind of guy, after all."
I start laughing even as she speaks.
>[Miss Savoy]"Excuse me?"
>>405042
>>405043
>>405045
>>405060
>[MMM,MMMM Trait auto-activated]
The 'joke' bought me enough time to think out a solid strategy in real time.
"I have a habit of opening with wisecracks and jokes, please pay it no mind. I called because "I've heard some very impressive things about what Savoys can accomplish, and would like to ask for assistance in resolving a certain difficulty. "
I can hear the sound of rustling papers.
>[Miss Savoy]"Before we proceed, a brief intermediary question: Do you corroborate Rocco Armani's claims one of the two Nazi War Walkers was the hammer of the assault from which he was extricated-and that you came to an agreement with the Owner allowing you to care for said War Walker?"
"It's the truth so I could hardly not."
There is the sound of a pen scraping across paper as the phone briefly crackles.
>[Miss Savoy]"Interesting-please, continue."
"Some time ago the covert branch of the Russian military launched a rather ill-advised attempt to kill me using only a couple dozen infantry with practitioner support. After an extremely brief altercation I offered the survivors employment in my company as an alternative to returning home with news of failure; the fact that every last one of them accepted speaks rather poorly of their superiors, I'd say. In any case, General Chugainov seems to have decided that rather than writing off his losses and dropping the issue he'd label everyone who accepted my offer a traitor and ruin their families financially and socially- then possibly worse, though we haven't confirmed that yet."
>[Miss Savoy]"The general is reasonably well guarded."
"I'm quite aware. I could probably ignore this without too much trouble- but I don't particularly want to. He's thrown the gauntlet, my reputation as an employer is at stake, and abandoning my own would be despicable. Unfortunately, my ability to affect matters in Russia is limited. Locating Chugainov then dealing with him directly would be difficult, and simultaneously extracting dozens of civilians separated by thousands of miles from the country even more so. Ideally I would do both, if only to demonstrate that I can- a tall order, which is why I'd hope for your help."
>[Miss Savoy]"And what exactly is it you would ask the Noble Savoy Clan to assist you with?"
Flattery can go far-
"The Savoy line are renowned as unmatched teleporters, and are hundreds of years old- I'm sure you have an arsenal of ways to expand your abilities and things that synergize with them. Further, you likely have the knowledge and pull to make others act on your behalf should that be the most effective approach to a problem- I'm not fool enough to think that royalty is just for show. One way or another, I'm sure your assistance could either solve this outright or make it much easier for me to do so."
>[Miss Savoy]"Let us suppose for a moment that we are as you claim perfectly able to perform such a… favor. What sort of compensation would you be offering for being made to thumb our noses at Chugainov at the behest of another? Repugnant as that man may be, his resources are quite formidable in their own way."
The segue to pay I was looking for-I've got this.
"My resources aren't anywhere near as extensive as yours, but I do have a capable military force as well as my personal abilities and access to a few very useful contacts. The ones who arranged this call likely provided you with a fairly thorough idea of what exactly a favor owed by me and mine might be worth."
>[Miss Savoy]"While it is true that your companies capacity to exert destruction upon designated targets came with rather impressive recommendations, I do believe that the situation with Castelleti does shed some potential… doubt on your trustability."
…Fuck, how did that series of events even happen post-Galileo wipe?
>[Miss Savoy]"While it is true you were cleared by a Confessor of wrongdoing, the fact an admittedly gregarious manager in the group we work so commonly with met his death at your hands is… questionable."
"[i]I'd be curious to know your personal opinion on that actually-most of those around here wouldn't think to comment to me.
"
>[Miss Savoy]"I don't doubt it-there are certainly a few questions involved when a mercenary no one had heard of before abruptly acquires the resources to stage a comprehensive assault on a defended base to terminate a leader. In my personal opinion, it was not something I hold any anger at you for. Professionally, I must acknowledge it did necessitate relocating Rocco from an area that now has a less talented leader to cover the hole made by the incident."
"The subsequent issues with the nazis didn't help."
>[Miss Savoy]"They did not-though you do bring up an admirable point about how pivotal you've been to insuring that entire branch survived. …As a show of good faith, would you mind naming some of the contacts you just spoke of so that I may have a frame of reference for who you can call upon?"
"I'm planning to meet with Cornelius Zosimus tonight and several executives for Holland & Holland next week. On business terms, not social, but I wouldn't get personal meetings if I didn't rate."
>[Miss Savoy]"Interesting."
There is a lull in which nothing but the soud of shuffled pages and scratching pens can be heard along with the occasional shallow breath.
>[Miss Savoy]"Well yes, we actually could help you-we could assassinate Chugainov's personal guards as a message. This has been used to convey stern messages to him before by other parties to excellent effect."
"While it is nice to have a tried and true approach, I do have to wonder at the specific nature of the offer-do you see no other viable alternatives?"
>[Miss Savoy]"There's more reason to leave him alive and fearful of our clan than outright kill him, so far as our perspective goes. If you want him dead personally-well, we'd need to have quite the vested interest in making you happy, and currently there is no such thing."
"I'm sure we can build to it. But assassinating his guard-by that, do you mean all of them?"
>[Miss Savoy]"It is a rather effective means to lend weight to whatever warning is left alongside such a scene."
"Mm, can't argue with that. So, were such an offer to interest me, what would the Savoy clan like to see in return?"
>[Miss Savoy]"We would like the rights to a total of three owed favors, to be redeemed at a time of our choosing."
"Favors that I can refuse and eventually repay another way, correct? I'd loathe to think I'd be aggreeing to potentially be forced into deathtraps."
>[Miss Savoy]"That is correct, you would get to choose."
>[WETN Trait activated]
Twenty minutes later
>[Miss Savoy]"…Very well, two favors for a message to Savoy to leave his one-time employee's families alone, and let the matter rest, with a conditional clause that if he ignores the offered warning and persists the Savoy Clan will terminate Chugainov, which in turn will incur an additional two favors owed on the part of you and your company."
"Excellent. When will it be-"
>[Miss Savoy]"A moment."
I can hear the indistinct murmurs in the background of conversation, but fail to catch it's nature. It cuts off rather abruptly for half a minute, before I hear someone pick up the phone.
>[Miss Savoy]"The message has been conveyed."
"Just like that?"
>[Miss Savoy]"Several clan nobles were on hand to perform the requested favor and inclined to do so-the request, as such, war wrapped up expeditiously. There were a total of fifty seven individuals that were terminated-one of the Clan Elders thought it prudent to inform you of such."

Once I get past my astonishment at how prompt their service was, I get around to finagling myself a meeting with a Savoy Clan representative, ostensibly to let them 'assess their future resource as represented by the owed favors' while giving me another shot to talking my way solidly into the clan's good graces. Amazing as the trolling opportunities are, realistically the Savoy Clan has an amazing ability and barring any cause for them to hate me I'd love to have close relations with them.

The moment I wrap up the call, I call the Zosimus contact number I've got, and check to see if tonight will work for that meeting they floated an offer for. Turns out it will-great.

That done, I get on with the frantic push of the day proper.
-I sit down to a talk with Big Crazy after waking him up, and start catching up properly. In the process I introduce my spirit animal in the flesh Hummingbird, thoroughly enjoying the bulging eyes, rigid neck and gurgling spit-take he does when I casually mention the bird to be an Assault class spirit. When he swiftly hides behind his new spirit's Mythic classification, attempting to reclaim his internal sense of superiority, the following occurs:
>[HB]"Is it correct to say that this giant is claiming the beast that lives in his belly is in some way superior to me?"
"Big, Hummingbird wants to know if you think your spirit animal is better than he is."
>[BC]"Well it's mythic, of course it is-"
It is at this point that Hummingbird vanishes from my should with a puff of wind, coring a hole into Big Crazies gut to…..
>[SB]"To do battle with his perceived rival in it's home territory, presumably."
That's…
I struggle to find the proper way to describe this as I watch Big Crazy collapsing to one knee, clutching his gut.
"Hummingbird, you are causing quite a bit of discomfort to my friend, I'd appreciate it if you stopped."
The bird bemusedly withdraws, and after a time Big stands back up, rubbing a thumb over the newly healed flesh of his stomach. The talk goes on.
-After introducing the Hummingbird, I discuss my want to body bind the bird-I also mention how the bird's already got some flesh-crafting ability based in it's own body to sync up to my own. Hearing of the solid groundwork we've got built, he says he could easily oversee such a binding. It takes him three hours of the morning to set it up, mostly involving giving me specific things to ingest-but at the end of it, the bird's bound to my flesh, and I can feel the trickle of power flowing backwards through that bond-as the overbleed I send the bird's way stably loops back into my larger, more robust system. I'll need to do some testing of course, but… I may have just wrapped up any remaining concerns about keeping my spirit animal living just like that.
-I spend an hour amusing myself putting together a bunch of 50 Cent songs and burn it on a CD I title 'Candy Wrapper' with a sharpie. I leave this in Camella's room-for sport, I do so while she's in the room without allowing her to see me do it, or even notice me in the room. I enjoy watching her not-quite locking onto me.
>>404556
-I head into the sewers before lunch and talk with the Sometimes Merchant. Some haggling, wheedling and back and forth has me converting the fact I never got paid for the information about Li Kui offing one of Mammon's knights into weekly heart deliveries rather than a three-week cycle (this DOES reduce me to only one Erinyes heart per week), as well as clearly laying out that my spirit animal, HB, along with my Soul Shadow, SB, should be wholly able to enter the NN space with me, and whoever/whatever I designate as my teacher for the time I use it. If I choose to, I could use this to let me learn from Dávgon direct for six months while SB spends… decades, subjectively, leafing through the Doony mind copy. Or I could train with someone else-it's still up in the air. Point is, I'm ready for it now.
-While talking with SM, I ask for an update on those humanoid winter oriented parts. He says that after some head-butting on the issue, they determined that they could provide me with a 200 kilogram load of assorted female humanoid winter parts in exchange for a weekly set of hearts. I find this acceptable after clarifying the parts include Snow Woman eyes, Frost Giant livers and other bits of fairly potent creatures. I'll have to get an order of this to test with Silja to properly get a sense for how many loads I'll need to wake her up-or even if it can.
-I spend the last hour before lunch with Gianni looking at the Golem, trying out a new method of learning that seems to work rather well: I set myself up as the channeler, using Cannibalistic fleshcrafting, to funnel Gianni's efforts into the golem body-and as I'm wearing a soul guise that assures any that look I'm not only a peasant mortal, but not a cannibal, I don't doubt Gianni's confused at the alien fleshcrafting method. The point for me, though, is that I get to directly experience the efforts he's putting into the golem while observing them as closely as is possible. If I do this every time, I could practically sleepwalk through soaking up every bit of effort Gianni puts into the golem.
-I contact the vendor on Smiling One's website that was amenable to Erinyes hearts for Cyclops eyes, and barter for a pair. I pick them up from Sometimes Merchant just after lunch, adding the grapefruit sized eyes to my stock.
-I check in with Amen to see what, if any, orders SM's given to Jidkova per that deal we'd brokered. I'm surprised to learn that the very first time SM attempted to have her do something-that being to get a better look at the face of an official meeting with the general-a previously undetected blood ward sprang into action, and Chugainov was alerted to someone attempting to exert influence on his officer. Since then, the goblins have taken no further action-and Jidkova has been under strict quarantine. The recent murder of Chugainov's guards has not lifted any suspicion from her.
-I have my afternoon lesson with Dávgon after he finishes the fourth Kodoku jar of the day, bringing my total up to nine, the first five already filled with a thousand poisonous bugs apiece, each urn 'refining' that which it was provided. My lesson is again on Soul sculpting and binding of the external variation-and this time, I feel there was a key point in the lesson I should pay heed to.
>[Dávgon]"I am curious, exactly how you view what you did to the… War Walker, is that what the dragon typified it as?"
"Call it Placid please, I did give it that name."
>[Dávgon]"Fine, 'Placid'. What is your take on what you did to it-that order you gave that it actually followed, however briefly?"
"That seemed to me to be a Soul Binding, correct?"
>[Dávgon]"Ostensibly correct, but not the point I'm trying to make. You used more power than a normal bloodliner ever has total in their body on a single binding, and did so via a decidedly efficient soul quirk you've gained from your winter bloodline that imbues your external soul manipulation with a Royal Impetus-then on top of all of that, you are, as it happens, a godling, and as such your binding registered as divine, as well."
"Is there a point your complimentary assesment is alluding to?"
"It's that the very fact your crude initial binding worked shows that, between your magical stamina and nature, you are nearly tailor made to be a binder of powerful spirits, an option open to few. It's not something you'd really come into your own with for quite some time-you are still, after all, gaining familiarity with how to soul bind the orders you want into a target and when needed soul sculpting them out, but you still can't manage evoking soul quirks upon souls-as such, your external soul sculpting is still almost entirely binding-based."
"Well binding is kind of more interesting-right off the bat it's 'impose rules upon souls' and such, whereas general soul sculpting takes time before I can really do something. I won't deny I'm a student with a short attention span."
>[Dávgon]"Quite. All the same, since you are stronger on Binding than your are Sculpting, I would like to focus on the latter today to try and make you better rounded."
"You're the teacher. We still practicing on those little almost-souls you have?"
>[Dávgon]"No. I believe you've already got enough baseline proficiency that it'd behoove us both to have you practice upon the soul seed of the golem-your Divine and Royal nature should make it rather easy for you to exert evolutionary forces on the soul seed."
"Well you’re the teacher-let's get to it."
-The lesson is long and fruitful: I get a great deal more practice layering bindings, one rule at a time, on more complex spiritual entities, and in addition to that I have more time to practice external soul sculpting. So long as I can lay my hands on something ensouled for a solid handful of seconds, I can at least repair stress tears in a soul-I can't stop a soul rupture once it starts, Dávgon assures me, but I could at least do some field patching of spiritual wounds on others now-so long as they're the soul-equivalent of a scrape or a bruise, at least. I'll need to work on this some more if I want to really have something to lay claim to. Still, the ever-soaring confidence in binding is a great prize in and of itself.
-After the lesson, Summer line still full, I take a nap in the hopes it'll speed my rejuvenation, trying to better absorb the lessons I just learned.

After the nap I wake up with the setting sun, and begin to get ready for the end of my 'day'. I dress in a black suit, black-on-black vest with a bright orange tie/buttons/cufflinks, black and orange two-tone shoes (wingtips), and a matching bowler hat. I do my part to evoke a look both sharp and modern. I also pick out boxer briefs that have a big smiley face with vampire fangs on. I've been wanting to wear those since I first spotted them in my room, but never had the right occasion-now, with my impending meeting with Cornelius Zosimus, I find my moment.

I exit the mansion after briefly checking in with Hillevi, Matvey and Camella to let them know I'll be out (along the way getting a bit bogged down by one of the russians whining about having a gun put to his face-after hearing my only computer tech did it in defense of his only respectable piece of computing equipment that is incidentally a company asset I find myself decidedly unsympathetic). One ambling night stroll later I show up to the named address with SB, HB and Sake, having left my physical weaponry behind. Between my brothers and my Spirit Animal, I think I'll be protected enough.

I do a quick assessment of my magical state.
WINTER ENERGY: 71/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50

…Lessons with Dávgon weren't as draining as I'd feared, excellent. Well, half of my total winter energy should be enough to at least appear of note-between the two bloodlines I've got something around four times as much energy as a 'normal' bloodliner.
>"I'm at full power to back you, and feel reasonably confident you will not be found wanting within the presence of the shadowmancy inclined Zosimus clan. Incidentally, should this go well I find it likely I'll be able to further expand my Shade.[i/]"
Excellent to hear.
>[HB]"I will refrain from harming giants I find distasteful lest they directly try to aggress my person or yours."
I'll take it.
>[Sake]"[i]I'll put in some effort to stay out of trouble.
"
I'd like a little more than 'some' effort, Sake….
>[Sake]"Just restraining it's hard enough, thank you."
Well, so long as it's not an issue during the meeting-
>[Sake]"It won't be."
Good.
…And, Soul Guise is in place still, anti-Royal, anti-Divine, anti-Cannibal. I'm all set.


I walk up to the door to find it being opened by an ashen-faced man in a tuxedo that sports, I kid you not, a monocle and a handlebar mustache.
>[Butler-type]"What can I help you with sir?"
"I'm Mr. Laine-"
>[Butler type]"Aaah-my apologies, right this way-"

The butler steps aside to let me in, and promptly leads me down decidedly cliché gothic corridors that proudly bask in the heavy shadows I don't doubt fill them at all hours. I feel SB coiling protectively about me even as the gloom we stride through feels decidedly… thicker… than it normally does.
>"We are being watched by a number of shadowfiends and Zosimus Shadow Souls. I see no imminent threat, but.."
Hey, thanks for the info. Unsurprising, but good to confirm.

The butler bows as he opens one of several identical doors for me, revealing a parlor with but two large black leather armchairs on opposite ends of a coffee table, a hookah atop it's modest top as Cornelius Zosimus sits in the chair facing the door, his back framed by rows upon rows of massive grandfather clocks ticking away in the background. In all… the room feels decidedly like what SB's done with the demi-plane in my eye.
>"The Clan Head cannot be said to lack style…"

After the door shuts behind us, Cornelius gestures for me to sit. As I follow his indication, he starts without preamble.
>[CZ]"While we certainly have…. much to talk about, I wonder if you'd care to join me for a smoke first-I find it makes for less volatile discussions, on a whole.

I eye the hookah before me, a wrought gold monstrosity designed to scream opulence as loudly as possible, and fail to detect any magic on it.

Hm…….









Do I smoke with Cornelius as he offered?
It seems he might want me to try leading the conversation-if that's the case, what's my plan here?
>>
No. 405109 ID: b83c65

You are going to smoke, and you are going to find a way to either take that wonderfully gaudy bobble opulent item home with you, or we are going to copy it and make it entirely out of Orange.

>It seems he might want me to try leading the conversation-if that's the case, what's my plan here?
HA! Oh, that will just not do! A Laine does not allow the conversation to be led, he leads it down his own Lane! Rapid fire rhetorical rebuttal and sly and subtle social chicanery!
>>
No. 405142 ID: 448d82

>Do I smoke with Cornelius as he offered?
Yes, but filter that stuff, thankfully your body allows ignoring of toxins/destruction of toxins.

>It seems he might want me to try leading the conversation-if that's the case, what's my plan here?
Talk, joke, SMILE. Get what you want, be urbane and amusing to a long lived being, manners and new-experience are a delight.
"I beleive this is the beginnings of a wonderful realtionship"

Things of interest;
>Find out his feelings on various current events and factions.
>Get what Shadowbro wants.
>Be awesome.
>The mansion, be displeased at the current state of affairs.
>Amen, try to find out stuff about Amen without revealing what you don't know or mistakes you've made.

LEV ORDERS
Lev wakes, wonders why there is a empty bottle of vodka that smells of meat... probably nothing.
During the shower, Lev considers THAT HE HAD AN ENCOUNTER WITH A DRAGON A DRAGON!
Lev is both terrified and exhilarated, this is what it is all about, killing Nazis and seeing the unseen.
Lev feels pumped and alive.
He goes on the jog, thinking about it, apart from suicidal madness, life at the mansion is pretty good...
Lev concentrates on the chakra training, thank Camella afterwards, she's hard, but life is great!
At Ito's Lev tries to get his head in the game, see if he get past the madness of days past.

Training with Feodor, teach him the stabs, all the stabs, for Feodor's medical knowledge stabs may be one of the better things. Raise the topic of madness, Lev is worried that it isn't just him that seems to be losing it, Andrei's been talking to Kale, of all things, and gloom, well maybe that doesn't count. Still, what if it wasn't the crazy schedule? Watson, I smell a mystery!

Maybe it's something about the mansion, Lev asks Amen if he knows anything about the mansion that might be causing everyone to go loopy.
Cooking with Boris, consider the merits of home-made sausages, man. Talk to Boris about the awesome Dragon. What would Dragon taste like? Victory?
Take extra sausages to that guy... what was his/her/its' name? Placid?

Ask Dávgon if there would be any benefit to waiting before getting a soul quirk, like waiting until better at chakra or when more sane?
Wait... Lev wonders what in the world Grisha has been doing... investigate...
Be very glad the mansion hasn't exploded, ask Gisha to come drinking sometime, not healthy being cooped up in that room filled with explosive death.
Attempt to grab energy drink... succeed? Odd, Lev wonders what has changed, Drink it...

Find the taste lacking.
Super-extra nighttime training, focus, prepare, a similar focus to that when you fight.
Return to room... Why is there duct-tape everywhere? Meat-vodka?
Dream again...
>>
No. 405150 ID: aa3641

>>405096
>this room
...
Really take a good look at Zoz please.
Also check if your connection to Amen is still up here.
Complement his taste in decor.

>smoke
Considering that we are here under guestright, I don't think we will be harmed or unwillingly manipulated with chemicals. So enjoy a first draw at least, appreciate the man's gift and comment on it's quality and content if appropriate. After that you can start filtering if you want to remain clear for discussion.

Don't keep it just because he let you use it. Bad Armas.

[Zhenya]
-Introduces herself to BC and tries to get to know him and how he knows the boss-. Invites him to the shooting range to fire off a few. Tries to avoid talking about guns the entire time.
-Also introduces herself to Davgon, slightly ashamed it has taken her so long to do so, but with soul nearing explosion and all, she was rather focused on fixing that.
-Tries to get to know him as well along the same line as with BC, find out what kind of music he likes.
-Cleans guns.
>>
No. 405190 ID: 68bc1e

*Ask Sake if he can subtly use wind manipulation to ensure that the smoke in your mouth and lungs never actually touches your flesh.
* Now, at some point in the conversation we're bound to mention Amen, at which point Cornelius' soul shadow, if he has one, will immediately realise that his other self's memories have been manipulated, as we blamed Savoy for us gaining control over Amen in the first place. Given our dealings with the Savoy family, we can't afford to have the existence of Galilelo revealed, as they have sufficient resources to track down what happened to him, in which case our play there is messed up. Similarly, the Zosimus Dynasty is fully capable as well - they can just buy the info from SM, and have the incentive to do so, as they need to find out what is capable of hacking their leader's mind. Given them finding out will, happen, we should ensure it happens on our terms. Say to him that if he has a soul shadow, he'll notice that his memories relating to our acquisition of Amen's lease have been modified. We will explain how if he promises complete confidentiality on both the mechanism and fact of the change. If he agrees, explain that we have access to a costly way of erasing someone and their recent actions completely, and removing all memories of their existence on top of that. We are open to future negotiations if he has a prisoner that requires executing with extreme prejudice, although this won't be cheap, as we have to pay the price for the elimination. This is a very unusual capability that is probably exceedingly valuable.
* When discussing Amen, if we offer to sell them access to him for his clothing making services, we should suggest that annually purchasing access would require the killing of an Einheir on our behalf, and the individual items of clothing will require payments of twice the components and blood required to make them. We may also want to offer him privileged access to Amen to get the latest fashions first in return for tuition and introductions for SB, although check with him first.
* We should probe Cornelius' attitude to the Nazis, possibly by mentioning how very interesting the fact that the Nazinauts are prepared to tear off their own shadows, and seeing how he reacts. If it seems like he isn't allied with him, we should talk in general terms about how, with the losses they've suffered recently, they're ripe to be asset stripped. Is in interested in teaming up on this?
>>
No. 405319 ID: 252e1b

>>405190
Al, I think some of your ideas are going to bite Armas in the ass.
(-)SUST on having Sake mess with the smoke that's just plain rude.
(-)SUST on revealing the Darkening and on mentioning anything about Savoy, we don't know enough yet to tip our hand that we had anything to do with that. Remember, no one else knows that Armas did it. At least, no one who believes it.
(-)SUST specifically on mentioning that the Nazinauts rip their own shadows off. It's interesting information, but there aren't that many ways to learn about it in the first place, and shadowpinning is one of our better tricks.
>>405150
(-)SUST on checking if we can talk to Amen here. If the vampires detect that we've got a telepathic connection to Amen through shared blood we're going to make Armas out to be either a gigantic idiot or a gigantic threat. Gigantic. Don't do this.
>>405109
(-)SUST on stealing the hookah! Cripes.

>>405190
(+)I like the general idea of offering Amen's design services to them, but make sure to ask for the hearts as well as the deaths ("killed specifically to meet the order" or something like that). Armas is already known for asking for einherjar hearts from the Mammon's Device auction.
(+)I do like the idea of feeling out how Cornelius feels about the Nazis in general.

ARMAS ORDERS
*I want to mention that we've got footage of the Doononegas fight that we have a technician editing and putting into an entertaining little video. Really little. Actually it's more of a snuff film than a battle.
*I want to talk about our golem, and how we started it from the Doononegas' heart and a post-activation Nazinaut body we stabilized. And I want to make sure to mention we didn't utilize Amen for this, beyond storage. We used other resources available to us. It's a work in progress, but what a work!
*I want to talk about our Gimpy Vampire. He needs training and we've taken a shine to him.
*I'd love to show off the Hummingbird. The little dude is pure awesome. Get some ink, get some volunteers who want tattoos, have Hummingbird tattoo them. Paints and canvas, do some portraits. Fun stuff. Show off that Armas has some culture, some class. "Armas the Artist" is a cool title. Might as well earn it here.
*I'd like to learn what the requirements for being recognized as a sire are. Just idle curiosity, really. Honest.
*I really want to hear some history. Cornelius goes waaay back. He's got to have a cool story or two he likes to share.
*We should ask Cornelius about some history on Amen. We've been of the mind that betraying ignorance to outsiders about what we've been sitting on seemed like a worse idea than just being very very careful until it was time for the audience.
*We would like to cultivate a more permanent relationship with an information agent, like the one Cornelius lent us.
>>
No. 405330 ID: b83c65

>>405319
It is not stealing if we find a way to be allowed out with such an item.
>>
No. 405336 ID: 3734f6

Do smoke it, use flesh-crafting combined with moderation (if needed) to avoid becoming smashed/high if it seems to have that effect but otherwise just smoke and enjoy. You are safe after all, he gave you a very serious magically binding promise of safety.

Start with the small talk, include a mention how delicious doonie's blood is and ask if he enjoyed it.

>Boris
Boris will go around talking to sake, big crazy, davgon, gia, hilevi, armas, SB, and duke.
Ply them with booze and his cooking, and ask for some info about vamps and were creatures.
Namely, can humans really be turned into weres or vamps?
What are some of the best "strains" of each.
What are the methods in which such a transformation can occur (can a heart taken from a vamp or a were be used for such, for example)?
What are the methods in which the transformation can be augmented should it be done willingly?
what are the benefits and drawbacks of the more noteworthy strains of weres and vamps?
Will compile info and share it with other russians.

>Here comes the SUST-mobile
>>405190
(-)SUST on having Sake mess with the smoke that's just plain rude.
>>405150
(-)SUST on checking if we can talk to Amen here.
>>405109
(-)SUST on stealing the hookah! Or on begging to take HIS hookah.
Instead, compliment him on his taste and ask where he shops.

>>405190
(+)Broaching darkening (and suggesting selling rights to use it) in such a manner as to get him to swear secrecy.
>REFINEMENT
Specify that this also applies to any shadows listening in or members of his clan. Although he might reveal it with your permission. Also in exchange for this info try to wheedle the right for SB to ask a specific (negotiated) amount of questions about shadow magic and have them answered.
(+)How Cornelius feels about the Nazis in general.
(-/+)SUST (maybe) on offering amen services for crafting CLOTHES... It makes us look like a loon to be misusing the monkeypaw in such a way...
Instead, scope out how they used amen before. If you find that they do consider this a "safe" way to use him and that they have done so before only then offer it. If not then ask for advice on handling it.
>>
No. 405341 ID: 6616f3

Hey Armas, remember how we faked being polite at the Valkonens'? Time to dust off that skill.

>[CZ]"While we certainly have…. much to talk about, I wonder if you'd care to join me for a smoke first-I find it makes for less volatile discussions, on a whole.
"Of course. I apologize for not bringing a small token for your inestimable self, but I hope you at least liked the little gift I sent? I.. imagine, eating a fallen enemy to add a certain piquance."

I think it'd be amusing to try and make Cornelius eat crow while simultaneously taking a deferential attitude. In our first conversation, Cornelius could hardly go a sentence without mentioning that if we were uninteresting, he would kill/dispose/discard us. So we say things like, "I do hope the wager was able to hold your interest? It was a rather dull contest in the end, I suppose..." and "I hope this insignificant speck need not worry about being used and discarded - at the moment?". All phrases Cornelius used in our last encounter. The tone we're going for is 'gentle ribbing'. You can mention the tape if his many assistants well-versed in surveillance did not catch it.

Another interesting tidbit is that just using Cornelius's given name raised his ire at Doony, 'unless you've found a family to take you in' was the phrasing. I think we can use that; use his name, but hesitantly, as though inquiring about the propriety. After all, we're currently unbacked by any Dynasty or clan beyond the Valkonen (which I suspect Corny knows, at least in general terms, that we're well-liked by them)- but with luck, not for long.
>>
No. 405377 ID: 68bc1e

>>405319
(-)SUST mentioning the golem - we shouldn't reveal it at all until we're ready for it to be deployed, and even then we probably want to have it hidden under as many charms as possible.
(-)SUST mentioning HB's abilities. This gives far too much evidence that he is an Assault class rather than Sensor class spirit, which we probably don't want to reveal until we have to.

On the Nazinaut shadows we don't have to reveal the shadow pinning (even though we've been using it very publicly). Something like "My Soul Shadow observed that the Nazinauts would go the lengths of tearing off thei own souls in order to press an attack." is true, but gives the wrong impression. After all, what's more likely, that our Soul Shadow grappled their shadow, or that we have a shadow based Artifact that can do the same whilst also hiding its abilities. It's worth considering that SB has the Nazinaut shadow now, and Cornelius may well be able to see it, so we're not telling him much he doesn't know, apart from affirming that SB didn't breach the Accords to gain it.

>>405336
Agred on the Darkening Refinement. The confidentiality needs to extend to the rest of his Dynasty and any affiliates he has sufficient control over to enforce it.
>>
No. 405480 ID: 2a1ec3

Yo, can someone tell me what "SUST" means.
>>
No. 405483 ID: 7c31d2

>>405480
Its one of Armas's traits.
It means shut up stupid thoughts. Its our version of downvoting
>>
No. 405555 ID: 252e1b

"Yes, thank you. I'm not much of a smoker, but I could hardly refuse such hospitality. And I must admire the hookah itself; it's an opulent bauble, very beautiful craftsmanship on it."

"I do hope the wager was able to hold your interest? It was a rather dull contest in the end, I suppose. I even went to the trouble of filming it, from multiple angles, and it turned out to be so short that I'm afraid it's more of a snuff film than a proper showcase battle. I have a technician working on setting it to music, doing what he can with it. Still, I'm afraid it just wasn't a very exciting fight. I over-planned."

"Yes, I extended an invitation to the mortal Triads who had faced Dooney down with me aboard the boat originally, and they accepted. I also had a favor from the Valkonen heir; he agreed to help make sure that the brute couldn't escape. His little sister, my ward for the year, provided support as well. As did my men. In truth they were very useful, technical expertise isn't something I profess to personally have, but a couple of them knew enough to work up an electronic system that helped confuse Donney. We were able to box him in thanks to it. The Triads picked the killing ground, and I and my men prepped it. The rest was just so much carnage."

"Oh, I was slightly unclear. No one on my side died. Just the doononeagas. It was a very one-sided battle."

"Of course I'll give you a copy of the video when it is ready. You know, I've been experimenting with the idea of having my little mercenary company and I perform themed work. Not just fighting and getting a job done, but doing so in style, and in special cases with a hint of irony."

"Well, for example, we were hired to assist with a raid against a warehouse owned by a certain group of well funded Neo-Nazis. My men and I came dressed in vintage German Army uniforms, and I marched right up to the gate, shouting in German about what a poorly run facility it was, and that we needed field resupply. The guards were confused long enough for other assets to get into place, and for us to initiate the fight proper on our terms. I'll note that we didn't lose a man, even though we faced a complication from a crate of nazinauts breaking loose during the battle."

"It was an experiment with the idea, I don't have film of it beyond some security footage that was in the warehouse. We're being more meticulous about filming anything that seems like it would be entertaining."
>>
No. 405568 ID: 252e1b

>>405555

"Oh, and my compliments on your information broker. He was quite helpful. When I called him, he knew exactly who I was, and what I wanted. I would like to have access to his services with regards to other individuals I may, or will, encounter in the future. I would have spoken with him directly about it, but I do not want to step on toes. If you would grant him leave to do investigative work for me from time to time, for pay of course, I would be obliged."

"That mess with Smets was rather a shock all around. Pity Smets felt he could cheat me like that. From what I've gathered about him, he would have been an interesting friend to make. His caution with Amen speaks well; he had apparently left instructions for a great deal to be destroyed, hidden, or otherwise disposed of somehow upon his death."

"Well, one can't have everything. I've actually been circumspect about gathering information about Amen; I felt that betraying my own ignorance seemed like a worse idea than just being very, very, careful until I could talk to you about it. It had the bonus of not revealing to the public that the transfer of power wasn't part of a succession plan."

"I've learned bits an pieces nonetheless. Amen, the Allhater, bloodfiend, a monstrously powerful creation bound to be in the shape of a house. Generations of previous owners, a dangerous thing to be the master of, coveted by fools. Has a penchant for being deceptive, telling lies it finds useful toward advancing its agenda of hate. Grandmaster bloodmage, and quite skilled in other aspects. I don't trust it a whit. Mostly I use it as a butler, and I let it make clothes."

"Yes, I was hoping you could help me fill in the blanks about Amen."

"That's rather sobering. I knew it was old and dangerous. I didn't realize just what it was fully. I'm glad I've been wary of it."

"I happen to know a very young vampire, one abandoned by a sire who likes to prey on the unwary, and I'd like to arrange for him to get training. The basics he'll need, the essentials of blood sensing, answers to his questions. I'm not versed in what he would need, but your clan would be. Maybe a copy of rules one would need to adhere to, things a well-educated vampire should know, like how to get permission to be a sire, or the legal instrument for recognition as such."

"I'm aware that you, personally, have seen a great deal. Do you have a favorite tale or two from a time before I was born? I always love a good story."
>>
No. 405596 ID: cc554e

Grisha has been queued to do the following:
-Decide to participate in the Morning Jog like most of the other russians.
-During breakfast she thinks about that Doon-thing that they killed a while ago... did we get some of it's venom that Armas was so careful to gain temporary immunity of?
-She decides to ask Armas about the venom next time he is in the mansion.
-Chakra, it is still a workout, what this does is make us less... flexible and like tyres?
-Now, if the poison is virulent enough, a small dose inside a cavity in a bullet could be enough to greatly affect human-sized foes, namely things that think they can suffer a few shots without hassle.
-Of course to do this she'll need to get a small drill press and some wax and soft metal to seal the hole.
-Grisha decides to devote an hour or two a day to looking for sellers of metals and hardware stores, mainly through various turkish business directories and visits to areas and stores that seem to stock items generally used for fabrication.
-Tell Lev that sure, she'll go drinking with him and the rest. Also put grenades into a cupboard due to the looks they attract.
-Think about talking to Feodor about how to safely work with things that could kill you on contact, also syringes for handling the venom. Maybe when boss okays using the venom...
-Notice a jittery Lev at night training, stupid caffeine drinks...
-After training, check to make sure that your room is the correct room, just in case the hallways are being weird again.
>>
No. 405621 ID: aa8dbe

>>405555
Well, can't really fault any of the stuff here really. It's pretty solid all around. However, I would like us to try to get that Orphan vampire into our company. A blood user who ISN'T made of hate would make for a good asset even if he would need to be trained to be really good at it, and having a run of the mill super natural in the company could help ease the russians with dealing with super natural things that AREN'T out to get them.

...also, I have to admit, I am interested in controlling Gimpy as a minion.
>>
No. 405777 ID: fa2730

>>405096
"The last time I did bonghits I was in high school. We turned an emptied urn into a bong with a replacement lid. We kept the ashes in a cookie tin until we were done. After that I quit hanging out with goths."

Ask if he can find someone else to take Amen.
>>
No. 405781 ID: d97a61

Lev has been queued to do the following:]
[L]-Upon waking, wonders why there is a empty bottle of vodka that smells of meat in bed with him. It's probably nothing to be concerned about.
[L]-During the shower, Lev considers THAT HE HAD AN ENCOUNTER WITH A DRAGON! …Wait, he was supposed to start giving a shit about not being manic and suicidal eager….
[L]-He goes on the jog to clear his minds of thoughts he can recognize as prone to getting him riled up trying to not think and just work it out...
[L]-Concentrates on the chakra training, thanks Camella afterwards.
[L]-Training with Feodor, work on how he can put as much force as possible behind stabs at variable angles. Raise the topic of madness, express worry that it isn't just him that seems to be losing it, Andrei's been talking to kale, of all things, and Gloom… well maybe that doesn't count.
[L]-Cooking with Boris, consider the merits of home-made sausages, man. Talk to Boris about the Dragon sighting. Confirm that did indeed happen.
[L]-Take extra sausages to that guy... what was his/her/its' name? Placid? …Wait, no, no, not happening, trying to be normal again.
[L]-Ask Dávgon if there would be any benefit to waiting before getting a soul quirk, like waiting until better at chakra or when more sane? Be told absolutely yes.
[L]-Wonders what in the world Grisha has been doing... investigate...
[L]-Be very glad the mansion hasn't exploded, ask Gisha to come drinking sometime, not healthy being cooped up in that room filled with explosive death.
[L]-Attempt to grab energy drink... succeed? Refuse to look gift horse in mouth.
[L]-Find the taste lacking.

[Zheny has been queued to do the following:]
{Z}-Introduces herself to BC and tries to get to know him and how he knows the boss. Invites him to the shooting range to fire off a few. Regrets it when partly deafened by god-awful sound of his .55x110 custom mare's leg. Tries to avoid talking about guns the entire time.
{Z}-Also introduces herself to Dávgon, slightly ashamed it has taken her so long to do so, but with soul nearing explosion and all, she was rather focused on fixing that. She's told he doesn't see why she's that worried about that-while she couldn't eat magic food every day, she's able to at least crudely filter magic energy as-is.
{Z}-Tries to get to know him as well along the same line as with BC, find out what kind of music he likes. Finds out he refuses to answer that question-how odd!
{Z}-Cleans guns.
>[Boris has been queued to do the following:]
{B}-Boris will go around talking to Sake, Big Crazy, Davgon, Gianni, Hillevi, Armas, SB, and Duke. Will get incredibly little done trying to squeeze in in-depth talks with so many people in already limited free time.
{B}-Plies them with booze and his cooking, and ask for some info about vamps and were creatures. Is given particularly crude and vulgar answers from Duke, the first he was able to catch for a long question and answer session.
{B}-Wonders why it's hard to just up and grab one of the officers, bossess or bosses' wards to have a long one-on one.
{B}-Reflects on the fact were clans seem to self-perpetuate-as in they really can bite and infect you-but that Duke doesn't really know how they start-nor, as it happens, does he seem to care how Were tribes are founded. A pity-but that is the nature of the man in question.
{B}-Reflects on fact that yes, turns out Weres and Vamps both are made out of humans-and in some cases, out of non-humans. Reflects on the fact Duke laughed his ass off when asked what some of the 'best' were and vampire strains are. Wonders if this means they're just different, and there are no 'best' ones?
{B}-Wonders why he thought Duke, at least, would know (or care) about the esoterics of how the transition into vampirism could be augmented with third party magic. Ponders if any of the people he'd thought to ask and hadn't yet run into would know this.
{B}-Realizes this isn't really a complete bio on vampirism and the were state-and that he'd probably need to actually find a legitimate expert on the topics if he really wanted to learn something, as odds are good anyone already associated with the company wouldn't have the additional information he'd want.
{B}-Wishes for some manner by which to make this achievable without leaving his fortress of a kitchen. Laments unfairness of world, wonders if he should ask Satai about this-that guy seems to have quite a few contacts.
[Grisha has been queued to do the following:
(G)-Decide to participate in the Morning Jog like most of the other russians. Wish she hadn't had such spotty attendance as she performs noticeably worse than the last time she was present. Resolves to attend more regularly.
(G)-During breakfast she thinks about that Doon-thing that they killed a while ago... did we get some of its venom that Armas was so careful to gain temporary immunity of?
(G)-She decides to ask Armas about the venom next time he is in the mansion. Is told they retained some of the poison, yes.
(G)-Chakra, it is still a workout, what this does is make us less... flexible and like tyres? Feel like she's pretty close to getting how she should flush energy properly.
(G)-Now, if the poison is virulent enough, a small dose inside a cavity in a bullet could be enough to greatly affect human-sized foes, namely things that think they can suffer a few shots without hassle. Is told by Armas weaponization of the poison is already underway.
(G)-Of course to do her plan for the poison she'll need to get a small drill press and some wax and soft metal to seal the hole. Wonders if she can use part of Vlad's tools.
(G)-Grisha decides to devote an hour or two a day to looking for sellers of metals and hardware stores, mainly through various turkish business directories and visits to areas and stores that seem to stock items generally used for fabrication. Starts building contacts.
(G)-Tells Lev that sure, she'll go drinking with him and the rest. Also put grenades into a cupboard due to the looks they attract.
(G)-Think about talking to Feodor about how to safely work with things that could kill you on contact, also syringes for handling the venom. Maybe when boss okays using the venom... What? Feodor doesn't know about the weaponization project? That's weird. Who's doing it then?
(G)-Notice a jittery Lev at night training, stupid caffeine drinks...
(G)-After training, check to make sure that your room is the correct room, just in case the hallways are being weird again.


>>405555
>>405568
I accept the offered pipe feeling decidely comfortable under the guestright I'm protected by.
"Yes, thank you. I'm not much of a smoker, but I could hardly refuse such hospitality."
I pause for a moment to comment further on noticing the stem itself is wrought in an overly intricate miniaturization of a battlefield-every piece of the device the very idea of extravagance.
" And I must admire the hookah itself; it's an opulent bauble, very beautiful craftsmanship on it."
The vampire seated across from me smiles, his eyes gleaming like flames within the darkened room.
>[CZ]"As flattering as your commentary is, regardless of how well received it may or may not be, I believe we have a great deal more to talk about besides my recreational instruments, do we not?"
"I could hardly argue it. I do hope the wager was able to hold your interest?"
>[CZ]"Did it not hold yours?"
"Perhaps. Though I will note I went to the trouble of filming it, from multiple angles, and it turned out to be so short that I'm afraid it's more of a snuff film than a proper showcase battle."
At this the easy smile hitches a bit-it's clear Cornelius wants me to see he's pleasently surprised. It… would stretch my imagination a bit if a Vampire Clan Sire were so unwillingly easily read as that.
>[CZ]"You recorded it?"
"I have a technician working on setting it to music, doing what he can with it. Still, I'm afraid it just wasn't a very exciting fight. I over-planned."
I rub my chin at this, finally partaking of the hookah in my hand, pleased to note it just… tastes like smooth smoke, and that's it. No hint of any magic I might not enjoy, no hint of opium or anything else… good. I offer it back to Cornelius only to have him gesture for me to go again as he speaks.
>[CZ]"One thing I do find of note-while none could possibly argue if a Ward or a house guest could be leveraged in fulfilling a personal wager, there are those who would question your inclusion of another's warriors-Lo Fang's men."
Unsurprising he'd comment at that.
"Yes, I extended an invitation to the mortal Triads who had faced Dooney down with me aboard the boat originally, and they accepted. I also had a favor from the Valkonen heir; he agreed to help make sure that the brute couldn't escape. His little sister, my ward for the year, provided support as well. As did my men. In truth they were very useful, technical expertise isn't something I profess to personally have, but a couple of them knew enough to work up an electronic system that helped confuse Donney. We were able to box him in thanks to it. The Triads picked the killing ground, and I and my men prepped it. The rest was just so much carnage."
>[CZ]"That Doonongaes was never one of the brightest of it's kind. So, who's corpses joined the beast's?"
"Oh, I was slightly unclear. No one on my side died. Just the doononeagas. It was a very one-sided battle."
>[CZ]"I suppose it is a bit alien for me to consider something like 'carnage' as applying to an individual. Back to this video you mentioned-will you show it to me?"
"Of course I'll give you a copy of the video-when it's ready. You know, I've been experimenting with the idea of having my little mercenary company and I perform themed work. Not just fighting and getting a job done, but doing so in style, and in special cases with a hint of irony."
>[CZ]"So that's why you're experimenting with filming your endeavors. Do you think there's a market for that?"
"Well, for example, we were hired to assist with a raid against a warehouse owned by a certain group of well funded Neo-Nazis. My men and I came dressed in vintage German Army uniforms, and I marched right up to the gate, shouting in German about what a poorly run facility it was, and that we needed field resupply. The guards were confused long enough for other assets to get into place, and for us to initiate the fight proper on our terms. I'll note that we didn't lose a man, even though we faced a complication from a crate of nazinauts breaking loose during the battle."
>[CZ]"I imagine more than a few would wish to see such footage, if arranged in an agreeable fashion."
"It was an experiment with the idea, I don't have film of it beyond some security footage that was in the warehouse."
>[CZ]"A pity-I believe it would have far greater vendability than footage of a Doonongaes being slain, however artful the act may or may not have been."
"We're being more meticulous about filming anything that seems like it would be entertaining."
>[CZ]"I should hope so."
"Oh, and my compliments on your information broker. He was quite helpful. When I called him, he knew exactly who I was, and what I wanted. I would like to have access to his services with regards to other individuals I may, or will, encounter in the future. I would have spoken with him directly about it, but I do not want to step on toes. If you would grant him leave to do investigative work for me from time to time, for pay of course, I would be obliged."
The vampire finally accepts the still offered pipe of the hookah, taking a steady pull and draw out the silence before he responds.
>[CZ]"As to that… The clansmen in question is rather reticent to interact with you beyond what is absolutely necessary. I suppose his fear is understandable-you are the one that slew the prior holder of his job. I do hope you aren't asking me to force a loyal clansmen of mine to satisfy you."
There's that resistance I was expecting to see. Okay, lateral around the issue-
"That mess with Smets was rather a shock all around."
>[CZ]"Was it? I would not mind hearing what your view on events happens to be."
"A pity Smets felt he could cheat me like that. From what I've gathered about him, he would have been an interesting friend to make. His caution with Amen speaks well; he had apparently left instructions for a great deal to be destroyed, hidden, or otherwise disposed of somehow upon his death."
Cornelius' reserved smile finishes fading into obscurity at this point.
>[CZ]"Yes-he did behave… poorly in that circumstance. I suppose it is possible he simply let greed get the better of him. It has happened quite a few times before. But the important thing, I think you will agree, is that Amen is still bound, and it seems you have not become it's puppet-thank you for that."
"I do what I can. I've actually been circumspect about gathering information about Amen; I felt that betraying my own ignorance seemed like a worse idea than just being very, very, careful until I could talk to you about it. It had the bonus of not revealing to the public that the transfer of power wasn't part of a succession plan."
>[CZ]"A cautious choice-one I commend you for. What is it you do know, then?"
"I've learned bits and pieces. Amen, the Allhater, bloodfiend, a monstrously powerful creation bound to be in the shape of a house. Generations of previous owners, a dangerous thing to be the master of, coveted by fools. Has a penchant for being deceptive, telling lies it finds useful toward advancing its agenda of hate. Grandmaster bloodmage, and quite skilled in other aspects. I don't trust it a whit. Mostly I use it as a butler, and I let it make clothes."
>[CZ]"It was always a preferred means of fashioning avant-garde attire. I assume you wish to know about less… recreationally oriented aspects of the thing you live within?"
"Yes, I was hoping you could help me fill in the blanks about Amen."
Cornelius takes one more hit before passing the pipe back to me, glaring at me with those glinting eyes over steepled fingers.
>[CZ]"Amen… what to say. For one, I know that several famous Soul Binders have tried their hand at loosening it's restraints and getting rid of now-defunct orders to ease the spiritual pressure-but none succeeded. Enough fatal reminders have left our clan with the impression that Amen is simply irrevocably one-way bindable, and is already dangerously pressurized. Smets was using Amen as little as possible in the hopes of dragging out that remaining time as much as possible. You may wonder, of course, why we'd go to the trouble of housing such a thing if we don't even wish to use it-why not petition the Owner to assist in simply excising a now-dangerous magical construct? The problem is that Amen is a decidedly ancient golem that was made to slay a God-Wizard. It succeeded. It also slew it's creators and razed the city it was birthed within to the ground-and only through chance was it bound before it could recover from that awakening. Simply put, Amen represents too great a threat to simply excise it out of hand-hence why we were quite willing to simply put it into a state of willful stasis."
"That's rather sobering. I knew it was old and dangerous. I didn't realize just what it was fully. I'm glad I've been wary of it."

I lean back as I step past the sensitive topic, not wishing to risk showing just how shaken I was at the realization Amen's that big of a threat.
"I happen to know a very young vampire, one abandoned by a sire who likes to prey on the unwary, and I'd like to arrange for him to get training."
>[CZ]"Do you know what clan he was Sired by?"
"I do not."
>[CZ]"I see. Continue."
"I want to see him learn the basics he'll need, the essentials of blood sensing, and in general answers to his questions."
>[CZ]"Give me a rough sense of what this spawn knows currently."
"Well I'm not sure if he'd fully finished maturing before he got turned, and since then he's just been learning how to throw his new weight around with chakra users and other vampires bereft of clan."
>[CZ]"Ah-a gutter rat you wish to raise up. It can be quite rewarding."
" I'm not versed in what he would need, but your clan would be."
>[CZ]"Indeed, it would mean little personal effort on our part to see him educated, at least on general things."
"Maybe a copy of rules one would need to adhere to, things a well-educated vampire should know, like how to get permission to be a sire, or the legal instrument for recognition as such."
>[CZ]"We do not have… books… that teach what one needs to know."
"Well, asking for him to simply be tutored seems a great deal to ask."
>[CZ]"That's entirely dependent on how things transpire for the rest of this evening-to wit, while I am happy to see you were not overeager to meet with the other Turkish Sires as could be here for this, I must ask if you've considered what you might do at this meeting-it is, after all, a chance for you to be introduced into a wholly new realm-a new chance to define enemies-as well as allies."
>[SB]"Probably going to try and get you to support something he says to another Sire in exchange for the favor."
Five minutes of conversation later-"
>[CZ]"-nd so I'd find it rather thoughtful of you if you were to support me when I suggest that the Shen in the Bosphorus is not so quarrelsome a presence as some may make it out to be."
"So thoughtful of me you'd think nothing of helping me with my fledging?"
>[CZ]"Exactly, Mr. Laine, exactly."
>[SB]"Called it.
"I suppose I shall have to see how your argument sounds at the time."
>[CZ]"If that is how you will have it…"

"I'm aware that you, personally, have seen a great deal. Do you have a favorite tale or two from a time before I was born? I always love a good story."
>[CZ]"I have quite a few stories I could tell, and admit that picking just one is challenging. Perhaps I shall speak of the time I encountered a group of Godlings doing battle with one of the True Giants back during the reign of the Roman Empire?"
"I'd certainly be curious to hear it."
>[CZ]"A trio of Roman Godlings along with a wandering Scythian encountered the living weapon upon a bridge that had been erected by Zeus, at the time going by the name Jupiter. It-"

Cornelius' eyebrow twitches as he purses his lips.
>[CZ]"Please excuse me for a moment, it would seem our other guests have arrived."

>>405150
Even as Cornelius gets up to welcome his new guests, I fail to find a single way to actually see his soul. I suppose that means he's rather solidly above my weight class, then.
…Hey, Amen, can you hear me?
…Hello?
>[SB]"The estate is extensively warded, no doubt some render Amen unable to reach here."
Nice.

In short order Cornelius walks back into the room, with three individuals trailing after him. I hardly pay any mind at all to the abruptly restocked room I waited in, rising to my feet to stare over the full set of five chairs the room now sports.

-The first of the newcomers is a pleasently portly looking man with a robustly curled beard reaching down past his belt, a bejeweled hand idly running through it's length as an unlined face regards me with eerily flat black eyes, not a hint of his thoughts bleeding through to me. I note he wears naught but the color brown, and is dressed in robes and a turban. He seats himself with a somewhat iconic movement, purposefully sitting forcefully rather than smoothly. While I cannot read his blank expression, nor can I see his soul, I get the distinct sense this man is as humorless as they come.
-The second is a man a few inches taller than me, the tallest member of the meeting and also the lightest. With whip-thin legs and an emaciated frame beneath a form-fitted suit coupled with spindly fingers as well as an overlong and overnarrow skull makes what on paper is a wholly humanoid individual fall squarely into the uncanny valley. I note the oddly overactive gait he uses, as if he was a puppet being paraded across a stage, even while he dissonantly sits so smoothly I couldn't really say just how he managed the transition. His rheumy, jaundiced-looking pink eyes glare mostly at me as he files into the room. My gut tells me he's a capricious one-we'll have to see how accurate that is.
-The last one in the room is just over six feet tall, a broad-shouldered, strong jawed matron with steel-gray hair held up in a rigid bun. She wears a Burka that seems wholly wrought out of gold-despite this, it seems utterly unable of gleaming, glittering, sparkling or flashing, shadows sticking to it far too ably to let it shine. For some reason I get the feeling she sports a smile behind her mask-but I have no way to be sure.

>[CZ]"Well, Armas Laine, may I introduce you to Sire Jogda Ibruhem-"
The bearded man in brown tilts his head a fraction of an inch.
>[CZ]"The Sire of the Yorgin Clan-"
The too-slim man in the suit simply narrows his overmoist, discolored eyes.
>[CZ]"And Sire Allala Bagatim. All were curious to meet a new mercenary of note operating within the country they call home."

At this Cornelius falls silent.
>[SB]"Now would be an excellent time to make a good impression with them-and no, I don't think I can impress ANYONE's shadow here."










What was it I wanted to say to the other Turkish Vampire Clan Sires now that I have met some of them?
Was there anything more for me to discuss with Cornelius while I'm having this meeting with him?
[Please try to have suggestions for final Cornelius meeting conversation topics in within the next twenty four hours.
>>
No. 405796 ID: b83c65

Clearly, we must find a way to gain the fanciest hookah.

Also, this Jogda Ibruhem has no humor. He must either be mocked, or be our straight man.
>>
No. 405859 ID: 3734f6

>>405336
>Boris orders
To clarify, boris is STARTING that project today but he isn't crazy enough to be trying to complete it in one day.
So he will not rush the conversations, just talk to them whenever he gets the chance over the coming days or even weeks and gather info.
When he is done with the magicals in the house, if he finds that they don't have reliable detailed info, then he will expand his investigation to other sources, including the other russians and contacts outside the company.
>>
No. 406171 ID: aa8dbe

Well, if we aren't going to get into the nitty gritty of what to say, let's look at what we are facing right now. There are three vampire sires right in front of us. Each with a rather different personality to start off with, and all very likely to cause us trouble if we mess it up. We can't stall them. They are very busy and influential people and they may take any attempt of pushing the time to one we are comfortable with as an insult. They are here so we may as well do what we came for with them.

Goals: Other than being a vampire sire, contacts, potential teachers and suppliers are always a plus. Any knowledge or fancy stuff should probably wait for later meetings. Having them acknowledge us as a potential ally can also help us.

Whom we are trying to appease: So far we know very little about the three of them other than their importance and that first glimpse of their personalities. However, that's all we need right now. Jodga is serious, the Yorgin sire holds us in contempt, and Allala seems to be in a good mood. So long as we are not a dick Allala won't be a problem. As long as we don't treat this like a game or act too silly, Jodga won't be a issue. The Yorgin sire however is our main cause of concern when it comes to appeasing everyone. A guy who dislikes us from the start is always hard to please and if he takes the floor in this meeting, we may have to do some damage control to make our goals viable.

As such we should introduce ourselves politely, thank them for coming and sparing time from their busy schedules to meet with us. After the initial greetings and pleasantries, we are going to need to sell ourselves. I have three exampled right now of ways we can progress the discussion that fit Armas decently.

The true businessman.
We have done our work well. From simple assassination attempts to more elaborate works we have had a good success rate and had minimal loses. We have proved time and time again we can get the job done even when under pressure from things we were not prepared for. We have a group of trained soldiers whom have done their jobs well in the missions provided to them. This sort of approach focuses on our SKILL and RELIABILITY to get the job done and our men are trained professionals. A great way to show how capable we are, but not so much in the upbringing of those we will Sire.

The suave gentleman
We have done our work in style. From big ol explosives to themed means of offing someone, we add a bit of class and charm you don't see that often. Sure you can KILL the guy, but sometimes getting the job done with some finesse and a bit of the old Armas touch can leave a more powerful message. After all, we've tweaked Blackbeard's beard in the auction, gassed nazis, make potential foes look like fools with Adelat and Amen's fun house. Plus, we care for our minions. We have been taking care of their health with plenty of exercise, a very good medical plan, and also cared for their love ones when they were threatened. We have also helped our allies when it came to personal matters(Doony was just as much revenge as it was a job) and when they need help(Gianni and the Nazis). A friend in need is a friend indeed after all. This focuses more on our TALENT and LEADERSHIP. Are men are well cared for and we are a reliable ally when it comes down to it. Great when we want to sell ourselves as a good Sire and specialist, but they might not think we take our jobs seriously.

The rising star
We grow. We grow fast and we grow strong. We went from some small time merc doing small missions and security work to a Man with one HELL of a blood line, having many powerful friends and allies, and we don't seem to stop growing as of yet. Missions that seemed hard at first become rather easy to pull in a relatively short time(Doony went from a possibly dangerous encounter to a curb stomp battle. Not much to say there.) and our men are growing as well. The company may be young, but it's not plateauing at all and having a ally when they are small is a lot easier than asking when they are bigger. Mind you we might not end up big enough to rival them, but we have shown plenty of promise and growth that we could be a good investment. This method focuses on GROWTH and POTENTIAL. We are growing and to a lesser degree, our men are as well. IF we can't handle a mission, there is a chance that we may be able to do so in time. Likewise, we could grow into being a good sire even if we don't look it. Downside? That blind leap of faith and the fact that we are parading our growth around will likely bug them. They've likely seen their share of rising stars that crash before their time so a bit of respect would be needed if we go this way.

Finally, if they do not feel we can be a proper Sire, why not a test? We pick one sire-less vampire of our choice(gimpy) and spend a month or so training him with a bit of help with Cornelius when it comes to the rules and such(we sort of lack that part after all). Once the month is up, each may send their own fresh disciples who have been trained for a month or so and all four of us have our disciples participate in a sort of mini tournament. Similar amount of time when it comes to training means that the success of our student relies on the teacher and if our skill is up to snuff, we could make a no named kid a pretty good fighter with what we have. Besides, a bit of friendly competition can help strengthen bonds and a bit of safe excitement.
>>
No. 406178 ID: 3d0530

Be cordial, businesslike.
Introduce yourself again and thank them for listening.
A list of your major accomplishments/resources/alliances no bob i don't expect YOU to type them out and reiterate that your services are available for hire for the right price.

not sure how far this will go towards impressing them but if you can get a piece of paper from SB or request t from Cornelius and have HB do his instant 'writing' trick to get your contact info down for all of them, it might be nice.

(your darkened soul ability is sure to impress but I don't think you want to let that cat out of the bag yet)
>>
No. 406180 ID: 6616f3

I wonder if this is Cornelius's voting bloc, so to speak? His allies among the Dynasties.

Give a shallow bow before reseating yourself; respectful but not VERY respectful. "It is a pleasure to be welcomed among august company."

Try to give the impression you appreciate tradition (Cornelius seems to be heavy on this point), but have an eye for change. Make sure not to cleave entirely to Cornelius's opinion, or entirely away. Try to make it seem like you have a brain in your head.

Follow Cornelius's opinion on the Shen, though. It costs us nothing. Who cares about some clam monster?

"I am called Armas, of no clan worthy of mention. I am pleased to say the Laine Company offers services of both a diffident and excessive nature, as necessary to meet our clients' preferences." You know, if we end up trying to pitch ourselves or get their contact info.

Feel free to name-drop anything you think Cornelius already knows, which is probably quite a bit; the Valkonen, Duke (but not Li Kui), Owner (but not the specific job offer), the various human organization clashes, mmmmaybe Ghanem.
>>
No. 406192 ID: 3af16b

>>405796
SUST, we already decided that while the hookah is swanky, Armas can't keep it. And we're not going to insult potential contacts until we're sure how we want things to shake out here.

>>405781
>What was it I wanted to say to the other Turkish Vampire Clan Sires now that I have met some of them?

*We need to establish what Armas is useful for to them, which means we need to do the elevator pitch and do it in a way that doesn't come off as "new-world douche bag."
*We should learn what their specialties, and the specialties of their subordinates are. Just from first blush, I'd say that Sire Jogda Ibruhem appears to be some sort of mental specialist, thanks to his admirable self control. The Sire of the Yorgin Clan appears to be a flesh or golem specialist (perhaps this is some sort of possessed golem we're talking to, instead of his usual body). Sire Allala Bagatim is obviously keenly aware of, and a friend of, the dark. SB could know something about her, but in any case she seems to be in a good mood.
*It would be great to get their contact information, and give them ours, so that we can deal more privately with them later.
*I'd like to make the positively inclined Sire Allala Bagatim a friend, and the others more likely to like us, which means we need to learn some of their personal interests. Only way to do that is to chat and talk to them.

>Was there anything more for me to discuss with Cornelius while I'm having this meeting with him?

*I really want to find out more about his clan. SB might know about that golem they have. I'd like to get work from him. I'd really like to know more about the intersection of mortal politics and magic events, given how much shit we've pulled with the police recently. Cornelius seems like he'd know all about that kind of thing.
>>
No. 406211 ID: fa7834

>What was it I wanted to say to the other Turkish Vampire Clan Sires now that I have met some of them?
First, be properly polite and respectuful. DO NOT let up your soul guise. About the soul guise, remember when you felt that Einrik wanted blood upon meeting ghanem, and how soul can let you guess the current mood of the one you 'see'? Armas should be thinking of playing with this-subtly. Make sure you always have your soul-guise giving the appropriate feeling you want to come across with when talking, whether it be honest, respectful, greedy, sad, fearful... Also, Armas should change the 'feeling' with an appropriate speed depending the circumstances.

If we can, It would be interesting to ask, or to have the sirs volunteer by themselves, their clan's specialty if it's not shadowmancy. I am sure it's no secret Zosimus are shadowmancers, so it shouldn't be a secret what theirs are either... hopefully. We know we want Cornelius on our side because SB needs to learn more shadowmancy, but it would be interesting what we could get with the other clans.

>I note the oddly overactive gait he uses, as if he was a puppet being paraded across a stage, even while he dissonantly sits so smoothly I couldn't really say just how he managed the transition.
This seems to be either a high-end Muscle fleshcrafters who puppets his own body, or he is using a golem somehow.

>Was there anything more for me to discuss with Cornelius while I'm having this meeting with him?
We want instruction for SB. This probably would cost quite a bit more than a simple comment on the Shen not being that dangerous though, so Armas should talk to him about the different capabilities of his company to explain what kind of return favor he could expect. “My more...average... men are currently what you can expect for ex-militaries who have had experience with fighting magical beings, and who are now learning the rudimentary of chakra. I have however a few special people currently under my care. Strong, durable people who hit hard, and some with much more precision. I have access to soul manipulator and fleshcrafter.”

“Then, there is me. As you can probably see, I am a dual bloodliner possessing some talent in fleshcrating and soul manipulation. My talents run more toward the esoteric, subterfuge and social than most of my people.”

>>406171
SUST to the sire stuff. We have no way to know anything about this currently, and our plan is to pretend to already be one, not beg to be one.
>>
No. 406260 ID: 431fa8

>What was it I wanted to say to the other Turkish Vampire Clan Sires now that I have met some of them?
Our basic objective here is to establish ourselves as someone worth hiring for big jobs worth large sums of money. Be polite and professional.

One other thing- we still don't know the proper etiquette for addressing the clan sires, which is awkward; most likely is "Sire X" where X is the clan name, but seeing as our rank here is somewhat ambiguous and Cornelius got rather pissed at the Doonongaes for calling him by his first name I'm inclined to play it cautious and avoid addressing any of them by name. Word our statements to avoid that.

A small bow. "It's an honor. I would be more than pleased to satisfy your curiosity."

That is hopefully an opening one of them will grab to talk, which gives us an opportunity to play off their conversation. They will doubtless have some questions about our capabilities, which we'll want to answer with anecdotes about our accomplishments. "This meeting is a result of the Doonongaes' fate, of course. A minor wager with our host as to my worth; he died rather poorly, but what can you expect from someone foolish enough to run into a trap surrounded not only by my entire company, but also several others with grudges against him?"

"Ah, my company. I decided some months ago that acting entirely alone simply wasn't my style. I've acquired a number of useful individuals and am seeking more when I can- ex-military, practitioners, anyone with exceptional potential. Collectively our talents are diverse enough to accomplish quite a bit; at the moment we've only a half-dozen standouts to four or so times that in basic military types, but the setup is promising."

"Of course, not everyone is suited for all operations, which is part of the advantage- we can handle a variety of tasks with the appropriate amounts of force without needing to overcharge. For example, if you're familiar with a certain dust-up on the Triad docks recently, myself and two companions were present for a force augmentation job. With three Reapers as the opposition, most others in the company would have been dead weight, but- if I may flatter myself- thanks largely to our tactical use of capabilities and personnel suited to the mission, none of the Reapers survived to leave the field and the Triads suffered what were ultimately minimal casualties."

Don't talk about us for too long, of course- Cornelius made it clear that there is other business to be handled, and it's to our advantage to hear what the Sires are interested in conversing about amongst themselves. So let them take the conversation away from us if they try to.

When Cornelius brings up the Shen, be sure to support him- it costs us nothing, and it'll get us what we want. Try to do so in a manner that doesn't make it immediately obvious that we're pitching in as a yes-man to Cornelius, though.

>Was there anything more for me to discuss with Cornelius while I'm having this meeting with him?
Yes. Several important items, in fact. Lines of dialogue for after the other Sires have departed, hopefully on amicable enough terms.

"Well, that was interesting. You found the meeting agreeable, I hope?"

"There were a few minor items I would like to bring up, if you can spare a few more minutes."

"Thank you. For the first, I noticed rather quickly that Amen possesses a truly immense stockpile of blood." (await comment) "Well, I have little need of it. As I plan to make scant use of Amen given the dangers involved, it seems a waste to leave that there- when I am certain that you, or the others I recently made the acquaintance of, would much prefer it. And I would much prefer to have my stockpiles in the form of ready cash." (comment, hopefully positive) "Blood is truly expensive, at least outside the supernatural world. If mundane prices hold I could cash out just a small fraction of what Amen possesses and retire to found a clan on the proceeds. I'm disinclined to do that, however, so for the moment I would like to discuss relatively small transactions." Aim to sell a few dozen barrels of blood for a few million dollars. It would be very, very nice to leave this meeting with a line on twenty or thirty million in exchange for large chunks of a resource that we hardly use.

As that is ongoing, quickly confer with Shadowbro as to if he would like us to try and secure tutelage for him in the Dark from one of the Zosimus shadows, or if he would rather handle such arrangements on his own. He can obviously draw on reasonable amounts of our resources in his own negotiations if he wishes, or we can offer Cornelius more blood/other items in the mansion as part of the above deal.

"While Amen is under discussion, I wonder if you have any form of list of existing bindings he is under, or at least particularly significant ones. My attempts to discern them have been largely fruitless and often frustrated by his tendency to deceive."

Last, we want to alert Cornelius to the existence of the Heart project, although not its specifics just yet. Let him know that there's a favor we're after, at least, and then trust him to pursue advantage by granting it to us. "One last thing. I have a certain project in mind, one I conceived of after realizing Amen's prowess but before fully grasping the scale of his malice. It requires the assistance of someone exceptionally skilled in working with blood, and skilled in working with shadow. Someone who I can confirm, beyond all reasonable possibility, will betray neither me nor the secret of the project after it is done. If you recall a certain auction- and I find it likely you do- then you likely recall that properly completing this was amongst my requests in exchange for a certain artifact; that should give you an idea of what I believe to be its difficulty. If you can make appropriate arrangements I would consider it of exceptional value."

As we depart, "You have my thanks once again. I hope to hear from you soon."

Then go home and get some more sleep before meeting Lo Fang tomorrow. Plan to get up even earlier than we have to for that so that we can have a word with the company before departing.


>>405796
SUST to mocking or requiring a straight man

>>406171
SUST to the whole sire/test thing; that's based partially on OOC information and we don't want to be pushing for further trials when we just went through a (successful) trial with the Doonongaes. Our life is not a series of tests.

>>406178
SUST to the implied level of detail in listing our resources and alliances. We want them to know that we're good, but these people are not our friends- we need to minimize information that lets them see potential significant weaknesses here. Alliances in particular are none of their business, and resources should be listed only in general terms where possible. Our accomplishments are open for discussion, but keep sensitive information quiet where possible.

>>406211
SUST to changing up our soul guise. We don't know enough about souls to know how to make shifting it up look natural, and that means don't try it in front of heavyweights.
>>
No. 406326 ID: d97a61

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9TH, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $1,180,085.04
BUSINESS FUNDS: $2,699,347.00
CASH: $6,320.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 60%
WINTER ENERGY: 49/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50

>>406171
>>406260
>>406180
I make myself look natural giving a fastidious bow reminiscent of Einrik's in his glamour, hoping to lend an air of professionalism to my first impression.
"It's an honor. I would be more than pleased to satisfy your curiosity."
Jogda Igruhem and the Yorgin Sire both simply stare as words as dry as soot slither forth from Allala's form.
>[SireAB]"What of your exploits might we not know?"
Well that's a curiously phrased query.
"Well this meeting is a result of the Doonongaes' fate, of course. A minor wager with our host as to my worth; he died rather poorly, but what can you expect from someone foolish enough to run into a trap surrounded not only by my entire company, but also several others with grudges against him?"
Jogda cuts in at this, his concrete voice shattering through the air in a rush to assault my ears.
>[SireJI]"We know of your slaying of a Doonongaes. We know you auctioned off Mammon's Device. We know you have Amen."
The Yorgin sire cocks a stenciled eyebrow above a goopy eye, saying nothing as Allala picks up Jogda's slack.
>[SireAB]"We know you've worked with the Mafia and Triads repeatedly. We know you are a new mercenary to this area and we know that your military records are easily accessed."
>[SireJI]"Is it wise for one operating in the circles we work be that easily studied?"
Okay-won't lie, the whole 'they have my files' is more than a bit unsettling, but I can work with that.
"I wonder-what do you know of the morning attack on the Mafia that the Owner stepped in for?"
Jogda and Allala lapse into silence to match the Yorgin Sire, stoically towering over the two as all digest my words-and say nothing.
"Allow my to paraphrase events then. The neonazi group that has recently been plaguing the city chose to strike with a hammer to smash the Mafia completely. Presumably, they would then crush the Triads without the threat of the Mafia at their back."
>[SireJI]"And why is it we have not heard of this?"
"I would imagine the royal dragon that covered it up with a 'sinkhole' was thorough about their endeavors."
>[SireAB]"What was it they brought to make up their hammer?"
"Oh, plenty of canned monsters as I endearingly call them-and something a bit fleshier and… larger… than it's cohorts. That thing alone was worse than the time I had to square off with a trio of Reaper agents."
>[SireAB]"This was part of the altercations upon the docks within the Triad's control."
"Indeed. I and two companions were present on a force augmentation job. With three Reapers as the opposition, most others in the company would have been dead weight, but- if I may flatter myself- thanks largely to our tactical use of capabilities and personnel suited to the mission, none of the Reapers survived to leave the field and the Triads suffered what were ultimately minimal casualties."
I give an easy smile as Allala falls silent-and Jogda leaps back into the fray, Yorgin still utterly silent.
>[SireJI]"What of your company as a whole?"
"Ah, my company. I decided some months ago that acting entirely alone simply wasn't my style. I've acquired a number of useful individuals and am seeking more when I can- ex-military, practitioners, anyone with exceptional potential. Collectively our talents are diverse enough to accomplish quite a bit; at the moment we've only a half-dozen standouts to four or so times that in basic military types, but the setup is promising."
>[SireJI]"How are they outfitted?"
"Well, I would like to think-so far haven't lost a one in a mission, even with some rather interesting ones."
>[SireJI]"How many missions has your company collectively undertaken for this 'no casualty' title you claim?"
Let's see…. Russian Job (scare professor), Castelletti's job (kill Barby), Kill Castelletti, Lucky Lady Boat Job, Brandt Job, :Get Revenge on Smets "Job", Pobadino Scouting Job…. oh, I can be creative with this… The Ferry Mission, the Unknown Goblin Favor #1, Armas v. Blackbeard: Raiding Party, Mafia v. Nazis I: Clean Sweep, Triads v. Yakuza: Golden Guard, Mafia v. Nazis II: Electric Snafu, Jung Series #1-#7: The Korean Kapers, Ironhead Job #1, Mafia v. Nazis III: Rapid Response and Rescue, the Einher hits, the Sami attack, doing that job for Chugainov, research assignments, company missions to appropriate military hardware….. if I define anything as something that I COULD have gotten paid for as a mission, and did, effectively, get paid for as a mission, from my personal merc career and the company pool the total number of zero-fatality missions is-
"Twenty nine jobs. "
It's completely true, if a bit misleading-
>[WLG Trait activated]
But I can tell they focus more on the truthfulness of what I say than the content…. do I detect some individuals used to riding on potent magical senses? Surely not… right?
"I will note that I have strong ties with several sub-contractors practiced at working with my group."
>[SireJI]"You boast a moderately impressive record-is such reliance on external parties necessary?"
Of course, not everyone is suited for all operations, which is part of the advantage- we can handle a variety of tasks with the appropriate amounts of force without needing to overcharge, and in the rare cases we don't have enough, we know where to find it."
Cornelius cuts in at this point.
>[CZ]"Well, I certainly must thank my guest for being so loquacious about himself: but we are all here, I trust, to discuss what Andolon proposed at the last meeting, are we not?"

So it is that Cornelius effectively takes an hour to work his way around to 'coincidentally' asking my input on the topic, testing if my first impression was as solid as I thought. When Allala expresses an interest, I suppress a smile and answer, giving a fairly independent take on Cornelius' views, only marginally close enough to be said to agree-but still, a tie-breaking vote against the hesitant Yorgin Sire and Jogda. It takes another half hour for him to finally swing the Yorgin Sire to his side, before finally calling it a night as Jogda makes it clear he's not budging. I rise to bid farewell to the Sires as they leave, and wait patiently for it to once more be just Cornelius sharing the room with my brothers and spirit animal.
"Well, that was interesting. You found the meeting agreeable, I hope?"
>[CZ]"It was productive. Your fledgling will, of course, have his assistence."
"There were a few minor items I would like to bring up, if you can spare a few more minutes."
>[CZ]"I can and will: What would they be?"
"Thank you. For the first, I noticed rather quickly that Amen possesses a truly immense stockpile of blood."
>[CZ]"Yes-Amen's rather energy intensive to run, and without stupendous reserves in its bound state it can't exert much power at all."
"Well, I have little need of it. As I plan to make scant use of Amen given the dangers involved, it seems a waste to leave that there- when I am certain that you, or the others I recently made the acquaintance of, would much prefer it."
Cornelius offers me a slow smile.
>[CZ]"That might be wise."
And I would much prefer to have my stockpiles in the form of ready cash."
>[CZ]"I assumed funding was your direction-it would seem I assumed right."
"Seems so. Blood is truly expensive, at least outside the supernatural world. If mundane prices hold I could cash out just a small fraction of what Amen possesses and retire to found a clan on the proceeds. I'm disinclined to do that, however, so for the moment I would like to discuss relatively small transactions."
>[CZ]"Well, there are two potential problems I see with this. For one, Amen requires blood just to passively exist-and even that was rather expensive to fund. And lacking the resources to 'run' it, you would be sitting rather plainly with a temporarily disarmed nuclear warhead. I imagine there would be quite a few opportunists happy to claim it."
"Risks I believe I am equipped to handle."
>[CZ]"If you are set on this, I can send someone to Amen tomorrow night, and you can haggle away what you will."
"While Amen is under discussion, I wonder if you have any form of list of existing bindings he is under, or at least particularly significant ones. My attempts to discern them have been largely fruitless and often frustrated by his tendency to deceive."
>[CZ]"To sum up centuries of clan-wide experience: we have experienced similar… issues."
"One last thing. I have a certain project in mind, one I conceived of after realizing Amen's prowess but before fully grasping the scale of his malice. It requires the assistance of someone exceptionally skilled in working with blood, and skilled in working with shadow. Someone who I can confirm, beyond all reasonable possibility, will betray neither me nor the secret of the project after it is done. If you recall a certain auction- and I find it likely you do- then you likely recall that properly completing this was amongst my requests in exchange for a certain artifact; that should give you an idea of what I believe to be its difficulty. If you can make appropriate arrangements I would consider it of exceptional value."
>[CZ]"If you are so adamant about getting rid of blood, I could take ten barrels off your hands to provide such skills-I will not be so banal as to claim my whole clan is talented enough to rise to a challenge like that, but enough are you could easily have a dedicated team that would willingly give their memories of their service to their Soul Shadows-and their Soul Shadows would pass them on to yours. A suitable level of discretion, I trust?"
"I should think-ten barrels?"
>[CZ]"I need something to feed some rather thirsty ghouls tomorrow."
>[SB]"His shadow's still stonewalling me on tutelage: Take it, maybe more jobs with them will open doors."
"I accept-And you have my thanks once again. I hope to hear from you soon."

I find myself exiting the Zosimus estate finally pulling up all the inferential evidence I have on what each of the other three Sire's Clan specialties are. Not a one of them even came close to saying it outright-but references were made, oblique or not. I'm guessing Jogda has some power over earth-or maybe solid matter, or weight even-but something… heavy, rocky, and inclined to be used for quips claiming one is dense. Allala has SOMETHING involving fleshcrafting, but the way her burka moved so irregularly I instinctually want to put her take on flesh magic somewhere in the same boat as Placid-so well, WELL above my bar. The Yorgin Sire… I couldn't say. The references to his abilities were excessively sparse, and I don't even remember what he sounded like.

I push the thoughts away, knowing anything more than my initial guesses will be based on nothing concrete-and am a bit startled when my phone rings. …Two thirty in the morning, really? Who… shit that's the Mongolian Wizard's number.
"Hello?"
>[Dorjpalam Khubiliai]"Di I wake you?"
"No."
>[WizardDK]"Interesting. I have inspected the item you brought me-I find it acceptable. Come visit me tomorrow afternoon, and we can look at your pay."
"Do you have a preferred time in the afternoon?"
>[WizardDK]"Two o'clock."
"I'll be there."

He hangs up-and I sigh, realizing there's no real point sleeping tonight-too few hours left. Might as well spend it trying to meditate after stuffing myself-I think there was SOMETHING in those Whaitiri memories about picking up the… shadow? The shadow of food consumed can be used for general magical power, right?
>[SB]"It should restore magic slightly faster than sleep, yes."
I'm on it then.

Three hours later I've already cleaned up and arrived at the docks. Mustachioed Meng Yun is waiting for me, and after appreciatively stroking his windswept facial adornment at me he leads me up to the second floor padded room Lo Fang favors for his lessons. He quirks an eyebrow at my 'Blue is Orange' suit-
>[SB]"I'm still glad you agreed to show it to him."
>[HB]"It is a most enjoyable set of colors-an acceptable plumage for a giant."
Aw gee thanks guys.

>[Lo Fang]"Show me a Dual Orientation."
Hummingbird, will you-
>[HB]"I have come to recognize your relations with this individual-I shall aid you as best I can."
My focus stretches and warps. I reach for a dual orientation of Soul Sensing and Reinforcement. I snatch it easily, and sustain it for a second… two…. after five seconds I see a small smile on Lo Fang's face as he nods, flicking his wrist at me to make me dispel the dual orientation. He walks over to the board he fiddled with last time I was training with him, and grabs the same pin (I think) as before, moving it back up to where it was. From there, the lesson moves on, as he mercilessly drills me on how to irk every second I can out of dual orientation. Initially, HB is able to assist me to reach seven seconds. Lo Fang has me at ten within a half hour, and has moved me on to half a minute an hour later. Seems there's more to it just than practice-which Lo Fang makes particualrly clear in one of his rare bits of commentary.
>[Lo Fang]"The Gates are not just simple passages that open and close certain amounts, can be different sizes and that is all-there is more to them that must be developed to properly call Chakra one's own. Multi-Orientation is about building into one's gates the ability to split flows upon release."
"So besides becoming more practiced at performing it-"
>[Lo Fang]"Yes, practice will also make your body more able to perform that which your reflexes are coming to demand of it. From here on, the journey is far simpler than it was to get here: You should be at a miniute before the end of the lesson.

…The lesson ends shy of noon with my best time sixty three seconds.

I head back to the mansion, trying not to show my exhaustion at once again having drained my Winter bloodline.
WINTER ENERGY: 3/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50
Oh well, at least I've got some left.

I snag as much time as I can meditating over meat to pump my energy back up before I head back out to meet with a Wizard about an eye.

The address he gave me is different than before-it's a simple alleyway door that… opens on a wholly incongruous, featureless dim yellow room, the wizard patiently waiting at it's center. The door slides soundlessly shut behind me as the ancient figure smiles, adorned in heavy robes iconic of his birthplace.
>[WizardDK]"This will likely require some time so we should get right to it: Exactly what is it you wish me to do with your eye? Please do mind your wording, now. No need to make it a single sentence or any such-simply be as accurate as you can in your needs, and we will go from there."

Hm…..













Exactly what DO I want for the World Eye?
How do I see this working, what setup am I looking for?
If I'm only getting some features I'd idyllically have, which ones do I value the most?
>>
No. 406518 ID: fa7834

>Exactly what DO I want for the World Eye?
1)a reflection of the world in real time with the ability to survey any point on it with a quality that is at least on par to 'if we were actually there'
2)Unable to be detected by others without permission (Soul-guise?)
3)remains intact even if physical component is destroyed(eye should grow right back in its shielded, demiplaned state, with everything just as it was). General strengthening so it's harder for unwilling manipulation to happen
4)Engine based on current events and past events to predict likely future paths
5)able to identify enchantments,wards and such in the viewed area (Possibly redundant, what with the ability to survey as if we were there)
6)the ability to 'record' events that happen at a particular location or follow a certain individual/item (SB can remember stuff, and physical record is really dangerous. Why do you want that?) SUST
7)Oh we want it to applicable towards Gyaketsuote and have the ability to do the 'every living thing in the world staring at you' trick that hooks into projecting pain and memories at people.
8)Ability to move in reality to the place being viewed instantaneously (Ahaha, we can dream)
misc:
-Search engine
-linked to both bloodlines if possible, winter if only one

>How do I see this working, what setup am I looking for?
I really think we should mention our own particularity to the wizard: That is, that we are a dual bloodlines godlind, with both divine-taints coming from court neutral sources, and that our winter bloodline is imperial. Our summer might become so, depending on how the Maori descendant of chieftain thing works. I am sure that those are things the wizard could use as a base (use divine graft to make the energy divine neutral and thus linkable to both bloodlines?) Another important thing to talk about is the ice/reflection conceptual parallel. Might be useful.

>If I'm only getting some features I'd idyllically have, which ones do I value the most?
1,3,7,4 are the most important.
>>
No. 406527 ID: 879b3f

>>406518
>what we want to have most
The list was organized in order of importance

>5)able to identify enchantments,wards and such in the viewed area (Possibly redundant, what with the ability to survey as if we were there)
The point of that entry is so that we would be able to identify things outside of Armas's scope but within the scope of a wizard. So if we find ourselves unable to look into an area we can at least know why, etc.

>6)the ability to 'record' events that happen at a particular location or follow a certain individual/item (SB can remember stuff, and physical record is really dangerous. Why do you want that?) SUST
Who said anything about a physical record? This is all spiritually contained. Also, I doubt SB can remember with perfect clarity everything that happens in the world at any given time from the time we implemented this to any given time we decide to access this in the future, and even if he can, we don't want to tie him up with that task. We don't want to be fucked over just because something distracted SB at the time we want to look at or for the feature to be completely inaccessible if SB is unable to talk to us for whatever reason. upvoting the original entry.


One thing that is to be added to this that isn't really a feature of the world eye, but something to provide synergy.
Request that the wizard leave you a way to access the physical eye if you so desire so that you can reinforce it as you will. This will also allow you to fuse it with other eye types to provide other features, for example, fusing it with one of the cyclopes eyes you bought(or another you get later) to give yourself a vision boost and a nigh indestructible physical eye(which also provides another layer of protection for your demiplane) or fusing it with the eye of a gorgon, giving you the ability to whip off your eyepatch and turn people to stone. Those are just a handful of the benefits available with restored access to your physical eye.
>>
No. 406639 ID: 68bc1e

>>406518
From this, I think that 1 is the most important, followed by integrating it with both our bloodlines, then 2 and 4. I don't think the recording, searching, prediction, or teleportation options should be pursued (4,6,8). I don't think we need 5, as long as we design it so that any watcher can apply all their senses through it, as then SB's magical senses can be used.

We also need to make sure that the eye's ability to serve as a spiritual prison is retained.

We may also want to bring up our blood heart idea, and discuss linking it to our heart, perhaps to make it easier to link future members of the blood heart to the eye and let them enter it on invitation. It may also help with linking it to our bloodlines, as we know that regenerators' hearts seem to be attacked closely to their souls, and clearly are to their flesh. If we do this, it may also extend any indestructibility to our heart granted by integrating a cyclops eye into the physical counterpart of the world eye.

I further propose that we have the eye moved to sit over our third eye chakra, as that may help rooting it in our body and linking it to our magic. It would also allow us to recover binocular vision if we regrow an eye in that socket, and we can just move the eye patch so that it operates like a bandana. The associations of the third eye chakra with clairvoyance may also help. This would be particularly useful if (2) from the above link can be applied, as it put a hidden obstacle in place to hacking our mind through our third eye. As chakra seem to be partially soul based features, by integrating the eye into our chakra system we should be able to hide it by applying a soul guise that makes it appear normal for a chakra adept. There's a mythical chakra technique known as Thousand Mile Eye, which allows you to see everything within that disatance, which our World Eye resembles but surpasses, and the southern Chinese goddess also has a guardian general of that name, so there may be some associayed belief to harvest to aid in the construction.

We may want to consider asking Whaitiri if she is willing to donate a very small piece of herself, as a court neutral deity, to serve as a keystone for the eye's construction, in return for the chance that it will return some form of sight to her through the eye. This piece of court neutral deity could then be used as a filter/converter/buffer between our Summer and Winter Lines, possibly allowing both of them to be linked to it.

This may be easier if, as it may be, that behind the metal coating and wards our eye is simultaneously a spiritual demiplane and a piece of living flesh, as the Winter Line can be linked to the former and the Summer to the latter, but both are linked to the World Eye, which is both simultaneously.

The idea of linking it to our Bloodlines is to build on their Imperial/Royal Nature. A King's temporal power is dependent on the amount of territory they claim/control, so it may be advantageous to assert dominion over a reflection of the entire world. There's also a lot of mythology (Fisher King archetype), about a King being a physical reflection of the state of their kingdom, and his wounds and sickness being a symbol of his land's afflictions. As we're wanting to make the eye demiplane part of us, so it can regenerate with us, this piece of the myth would fit very well. This might require us to Name the world inside our eye to identify it as its own location, not merely a reflection, but a place in its own right as well. At the very least, hopefully external soul manipulation would be easier if performed inside a spiritual demiplane that we claim as part of our imperial possession.

Pre-emptively SUSTing any use of the hate engine to power the world eye.
>>
No. 406704 ID: bbc2ad

Use the hate engine to power the world eye somehow.
>>
No. 406711 ID: 6616f3

Why a mirror world? I think I would prefer a perfect working replica, if possible. Would this include replicas of living beings? Well, I hope so.

Do we need to use the Amenmonster in our eye to power this thing? It could make a pretty interesting guard dog, stalking its way through the empty streets of the World Eye.

When 'using' the World Eye, the easiest form would likely be to form what is effectively an invisible floating sensor 'eye' and zoom around like Google Earth. But it would be incredibly useful to have 'search engine' capability.

I think the 'break enchantments' thing is unnecessarily involved, and I'd rather that power go into keeping the Eye hidden. Despite my desire for privacy, it'd be nice if anyone that we invite to the demiplane (HB, SB, Sake, perhaps others in time, like Einrik) were able to use it, effectively extending the range of SB's parlor to world-size.

Speaking of Einrik, I think the ability to slow time within it while using the Eye (for spot-checks around us/what's ahead) would be more convenient than trying to use it to gain oracular ability/see the future.

Ideally, we would hook our bloodlines up to the eye. Most important would be winter (we may not be able to do both, considering the explosive results last time we tried messing with summer/winter energies in our eye), though summer would also have value. Our Lordly Imposition can only benefit from literally having the metaphysical weight of the world behind us. On the summer side of things, a Maori holy man's whenhua comes in large part from the land and people he commands.
>>
No. 406741 ID: 3734f6

"I understand that the whole list is beyond the scope of the one boon you are granting me, I wish your aid in advancing the process. In setting up the foundation for the parts I cannot do myself so I can use other resources to build on it and reach the final goal, which can be changed based on how realistic certain capabilities are to acquire. And perhaps we could work together on it again in the future if I prove useful to you again"

>>406518
>1
Upvote
Clarify that you were thinking the implementation could be done by making it a mirror of reality (via Ice reflective properties) and of using the eye encapsulated within to look anywhere within it (with magically shifting perspective to anywhere you want within the worldeye with relative ease and speed).
And that you could fleshcraft merge that eye with cyclops and other type of eyes to give exotic vision properties.
>2
Well, its already well protected. I think "don't sacrifice it"... or maybe ensure our darkening bloodline can mask it too.
>3
Only if it does not prevent future tune-ups, improvements, and upgrades to the design.
>4
Make sure to explain our plan on how to run such an engine with amen as baseline.
This is a low priority.
>5
This is difficult and totally redundant. Just make sure we could use whatever magical senses we have through it
>6
SUST (sorta). Explain we already figured out this could be done via any 3rd party charm that records our memories, if it ever becomes necessary to actually make a recording.
>7
Why just Gyaketsuote? Any gaze attack INCLUDING Gyaketsuote. (this form of usage will most likely leave us vulnerable for return fire though;l although ideally we could reflect such attacks...)
Oh, speaking of reflecting, reflect the gaze attacks of beings in one part of the world to an enemy in another part.
>8
SUST. Really? Don't even bother asking for instant teleportation to anywhere in reality.
Although, we could just say "the ability to influence the real world via the mirror"

To distill
We basically want a mirror, that lets us observe all, influence all, and experiment non permanently on copies in the mirror to see results before "omitting" them to reality.

Other ideas:
9. Make sure it remains part of us to prevent it turning into an artifact. (or other method of preventing this from being an issue. Such as tying it to our divinity)
10. Explain about your status first so he does things right.
11. Tie it up to your divinity
12. Offer him use of the intel it provides for further upgrades to its capabilities.
13. It is important that the design can be upgraded and modified, and that what we do now is not the "final state" of it.
14. Maintain ability to use it for other purposes beyond reflection of world. Or if impossible then sectioning off a tiny "seed" of the demiplane before performing the procedure so that it could (at suitably large expense later on) be grown into a separate additional demiplanes (with their own sectioned off seeds to give layers... think like the layers of hell). Those other demiplanes to be used for other purposes. (eg, a retreat for willing souls to go to; a foundation for armas' deadlands when/if he finally ascends to godhood, etc)

>>406711
>it'd be nice if anyone that we invite to the demiplane (HB, SB, Sake, perhaps others in time, like Einrik) were able to use it, effectively extending the range of SB's parlor to world-size.
Not just nice, an absolute priority. We are going to turn SB into Legion. That means massive intel gathering abilities.
>>
No. 406745 ID: 252e1b

"The big idea I had was to set up the interior of my eye as a conceptual reflection of the world, providing real time information that's comprehensive and true to life. That information would be fed as state data to a simulation engine that can perform faster than real-time simulation of whatever I'm observing with the eye. The goal would be to have a real-time observation device, and as complete a simulator as possible that I could use as an experiment environment, a laboratory, a prediction engine, and a way to personally simulate having greatly increased reactions while not putting extra load on my nervous system. The eye needs to be difficult for anyone who would covet it or speak about it to detect, but there also needs to be a backdoor function that would allow me to grant people I designate access if I choose. In fact, I would place non-detection and durability over the simulation engine in terms of priority."

"I had an idea about meshing my eye with a cyclops eye, to help with the durability issue. If part of the backdoor were a way for me to be able to get fleshcrafter access to the eye, that'd be very helpful. Between that and my own regeneration ability, and my bloodline, that could cover most eventualities involving damage to the eye that didn't also mean my utter end."

"A way to record data would be great, too. I'd like to be able to set up virtual cameras with the simulator, make recordings, and then be able to export that data to a useful format in the real world, or failing that, to my mind. Between that and the ability to mess with the state data the simulator is using, I would have an effective duplex channel for information in and out, filtered by my mind and whatever else is integral to such a system."

"Since the eye is, in concept anyway, the entire world, I'd like to tie it to myself as thoroughly as possible for counting as owned property. That is, if being physically part of me isn't sufficient."

"Being able to see the reflection of what is on the other side of protections from prying eyes would be of great benefit as well."
>>
No. 406969 ID: 9718f3

First off, the prediction engine is stupid to attempt at this point. Later on we can try to cobble one together using input from the World Eye but realistically speaking it is a project of equal, if not greater, scale to the World Eye itself. so for the time being, SUSTing prediction engine.

We want the eye's demiplane to reflect the entire world to those inside it, allowing them to look anywhere in that mirror-world that they please. They should be able to use any spiritual senses they possess through the eye.

Having the eye and seals integrated into our self so they can be regenerated would be optimal, as would leaving the organic eye within the metal shell open to our fleshcrafting in general. The eye needs to have room to grow, to be improved.

Linking our bloodlines to the eye in some fashion or another might give us some sizeable bonuses but it could also limit certain synergistic approaches to the eye's operation, what with their opposing natures. If the eye is more generally integrated into our being, it is possible that we could pick and choose which Bloodline to channel our mirror world's authority at any time, if such a thing is possible. It goes without saying, but SB should be actively consulted as to his opinion/personal desires for the eye.
>>
No. 407326 ID: 431fa8

>>406326
Be sure to drop our soul guise so that the Wizard knows exactly what he's working with here. We don't want him to fuck up because he didn't understand what we were, and there's not a huge amount of point in concealing any of our statuses from a wizard.

>Exactly what DO I want for the World Eye?
>How do I see this working, what setup am I looking for?
"I would like a lot of things, but if I start naming features right off I'm afraid that we'd lose track of the forest for the trees. The key idea is to establish a very strong conceptual status for my eye. It needs two things. First, eye should reflect the world. Second, it's still my eye. My hope is that those two concepts will lead to numerous potential features.

"The first concept, 'the eye reflects the world', should let me
-Form a partial reflection of the world in the spiritual demiplane which displays any desired portion of the world in real-time, including as much accuracy as possible- people and all;
-Have the reflection remain all but undetectable to others when used since it sees only the reflection of the world rather than the real thing;
-Allow many people to safely be in the spiritual plane at once, potentially as many as could fit in the world;
-Potentially implement features around the idea of reflecting things more directly, but that's for later.

"The second concept, 'this is my eye', should
-Make sure that the eye is considered part of me, not a separate item or artifact;
-Let me regrow the eye in its entirety if it gets destroyed, hopefully as easily as I can regrow other parts of my body;
-Allow me to improve my own eye and thereby improve the World Eye;
-Grant me absolute control over who can get into the World Eye in the first place;
-Establish my control over everyone inside the World Eye since they are inside me;
-Ensure that no one else can take control of the World Eye since it's fundamentally mine.

"And the combination of the two concepts might
-Boost my bloodlines by giving me an Imperial claim over an entire world by right of absolute ownership;
-Allow those in the World Eye to exploit the abilities my eye has gained- for example the sight of a cyclops might allow those in the World Eye to pierce most magical deceptions and make the eye harder to destroy, while gaining the abilities of a seer might let those in the eye see the future as a seer would;
-Allow me to use gaze attacks which exploit the fact that there's an entire world potentially gazing outward- perhaps even reflecting the gazes of specific other creatures, if I can gain the skill, but certainly at least giving access to the gazing abilities of anyone within the eye;
-Potentially eventually let me or someone who serves me exploit my ownership over the reflection of something to access the real thing, such as using reflected shadows to let my soul shadow shadowport me to the real shadows.

"Aside from the key concepts, I'd like it to
-Be as subtle and undetectable from the outside as possible. Ideally it would look just like a normal eye, even to powerful supernatural senses."

>If I'm only getting some features I'd idyllically have, which ones do I value the most?
"As long as you can establish the conceptual basis I need here, in terms of immediate application being well concealed from outside detection, reflecting the world, and linking to my bloodlines for a boost- assuming that's possible- are the most immediate priorities. I'd like to be able to improve to the rest later if possible, though.

"I'm quite open to doing future favors for you, if you'd be willing to spend additional time on this project in exchange."
>>
No. 407343 ID: 201fd7

>>407326
I like this idea for the world eye best upvoting.

Also next time you see the russians mention that steps have been taken to reign Chugainov
>>
No. 407347 ID: 7472ad

>>407326
Upvote
>>
No. 407348 ID: c6ce12

>>407326
Upvote.
>>
No. 407349 ID: 21a619

>>407326
Ironybot plan? Don't even need to read it to get an upvote from me.
>>
No. 407352 ID: 252e1b

>>407326
My only complaint about this is that it doesn't even try asking for the simulator engine. Asking for it and being told "that'd take a lot of work, sorry" isn't bad. Not asking at all is, though.
>>
No. 407355 ID: 157807

>>407326
Upvote.
>>
No. 407442 ID: d97a61

>>407326
>>404343
>>407347
>>407348
>>407349
>>407352
>>407355
"I would like a lot of things, but if I start naming features right off I'm afraid that we'd lose track of the forest for the trees."
The wizard smiles at me, not unkindly.
"The key idea is to establish a very strong conceptual status for my eye."
I hold up a hand, two fingers standing tall.
"It needs two things. First, eye should reflect the world. Second, it's still my eye. My hope is that those two concepts will lead to numerous potential features."
The wizard nods, running his hand down his immensely long and rigidly narrow beard, encouraging me to go on with an air that reminds me of Johann.
"The first concept, 'the eye reflects the world', should let me
-Form a partial reflection of the world in the spiritual demiplane which displays any desired portion of the world in real-time, including as much accuracy as possible- people and all;
-Have the reflection remain all but undetectable to others when used since it sees only the reflection of the world rather than the real thing;
-Allow many people to safely be in the spiritual plane at once, potentially as many as could fit in the world;
-At least open the possibility of using this reflection to run simulations at some future point.
-Potentially implement features around the idea of reflecting things more directly, but that's for later."
>[WizardDK]"If I may?"
I of course cede the floor to the magic man that could likely level the entire city with his mind.
>[WizardDK]"The first and second requests, paired as they are-and given the chimeric spirit engine you've already got within the eye and fully acclimatized to the demiplane, are easily done."
He quirks a small smile that suggests he's making a mild joke at my expense.
>[WizardDK]"The third request is more troublesome-the spiritual signature of a dragon, for example, vastly exceeds that of thousands of mundanes-and the eye's tolerance can only truly be based on spirit if you want it stable. I do not doubt it could house thousands of mortal souls, bloodliners or no-but to make it more like your request would prove quite the challenge-and as such would be an independent job. The fourth and fifth options are going to be viable no matter what happens-unless you specifically request it, my preference is to leave my workings open to me should I or the client wish to amend our choices at a later date."
First two were the only real important ones in that bunch, and I mostly got the third-so far, so good.
>[WizardDK]"Go on."
"The second concept, 'this is my eye', should
-Make sure that the eye is considered part of me, not a separate item or artifact;
-Let me regrow the eye in its entirety if it gets destroyed, hopefully as easily as I can regrow other parts of my body;
-Allow me to improve my own eye and thereby improve the World Eye;
-Grant me absolute control over who can get into the World Eye in the first place;
-Establish my control over everyone inside the World Eye since they are inside me;
-Ensure that no one else can take control of the World Eye since it's fundamentally mine."
The wizard's brow crinkles, magnificently bushy caterpillars perching above his eyes wriggling as he musters his thoughts.
>[WizardDK]"More accomplishable. The dual binding of divine and… elder touched mortal is unusual, but as both are winter-based it's fairly solid-your eye sits rather well within it. The eye would perforce have to remain part of you for what I will do. Regrowing the eye, shield and all, will also be guaranteed: I need to bind the shell to your soul as part of harmonizing all the disparate parts that will serve as the base for your new eye. Third request is also natural-I'm not locking down a project that could be improved unless I must. "
His brows draw down as he frowns.
>[WizardDK]"The fourth request I can grant, in a sense, but you will not be able to cage wizards. Your fifth request can only be partly met-you will have a rather firm advantage when trying to exert control over other souls that are within your world eye, but not an insurmountable edge. Your last request cannot be met in the sense that I cannot promise nothing could take it. Suffice to say it would be far easier to slay a soulless than to claim your eye from you."
Damn near everything I wanted-excellent. What else can I get, I wonder?
"And the combination of the two concepts might:
-Boost my bloodlines by giving me an Imperial claim over an entire world by right of absolute ownership;
-Allow those in the World Eye to exploit the abilities my eye has gained- for example the sight of a cyclops might allow those in the World Eye to pierce most magical deceptions and make the eye harder to destroy, while gaining the abilities of a seer might let those in the eye see the future as a seer would;
-Allow me to use gaze attacks which exploit the fact that there's an entire world potentially gazing outward- perhaps even reflecting the gazes of specific other creatures, if I can gain the skill, but certainly at least giving access to the gazing abilities of anyone within the eye;
-Potentially eventually let me or someone who serves me exploit my ownership over the reflection of something to access the real thing, such as using reflected shadows to let my soul shadow shadowport me to the real shadows.
The wizard…. laughs.
>[WizardDK]"For all but the third request, you would need an outright Contract with me to get that much power. The World's Weight of attention though… well, I would say it couldn't be done, but I see the touch of the Wyld Goblin well enough on your soul-decades of it-and I think it might be doable. I wuoldn't be able to build in much of a control mechanism-you'd need to rather blindly try to command it-but I believe it could be made… possible to achieve."
I nod, surprised ANY of my combination effects have a chance at being implemented. I thought I'd be shit out of luck four for four there.
"A last feature I'd dearly like to have:
-Be as subtle and undetectable from the outside as possible. Ideally it would look just like a normal eye, even to powerful supernatural senses."
>[WizardDK]"That…. is outside of my area of expertise, I'm afraid, and I do not vend my efforts dabbling in new fields. Your eye will be percievable as a magical object to those perceptive to such-but then, it already did. Thanks to the bindings that encase your eye the increase in it's potency shouldn't be that overt to observers-but I would not be surprised if dragons thought it rather powerful in it's own right, even if they couldn't see inside of it."
The wizard narrows his eyes, still stroking his beard.
>[WizardDK]"Is this still what you want?"
Well that's an easy one.
"Absolutely."
The wizard nods-

[DISCONTINUITY]

We are inside my eye.

Sake, HB and SB all stand tall in their respective forms around us as the Wizard Dojpalam ignores us all, idly inspecting the demiplane around him. He hems and haws, grumbling and murmuring to himself as he brushes a finger across a column, a slippered toe across the drab floor, and finally peers astutely at the chained spirit engine. His eyelids droop, his cheeks suck in and he takes a deep breath, reaching out with one hand-

What I witness next is a memory I hope to never lose, and immediately became the crystallized essence of why I chase magic with such abandon.

The world SB built, the realm of shadow and bone, of clocks and gloom, shifts and swirls, it's walls and floor all slither and thin, the sheen of glass filling the gaps as we look out onto the vast sea of nothing the demiplane floats in. An abyss of shadow far deeper and greater than the sheltered murk Ogrimir and Whaitiri first dragged me into months ago stretches out beyond the scope of conception. Out in distances beyond fathoming vast, hulking shapes, ephemeral mirages too solid for my liking flicker in and out of sight, monstrous forms full of mind-twisting shapes that cluster on the edges of my vision. Within this nebulous sea of naught, the wizard Dorjpalam simply fades into view, the body beside us crumbling like ash. His twinkling form, not unlike a star, raises cloth-wrapped hands. From the void around him, titanic slabs of rock take form, slamming together again and again, a rock larger than Turkey swiftly emerging from his ministrations. It keeps growing by the heartbeat, rock liquifying from pressure as soon a planet-sized rock hangs beneath our room, readily visible through the walls and floor.

The wizard drops his arms to his hips and puffs out a never-ending breath.

The barren rock beneath us ripples and quakes, water seeping, green spreading, landmasses forming and arranging…. until it resolves all together, into that beautiful blue globe I love to lust after. Planet earth, a picture-perfect copy, sits in my eye, somehow within and… outside… of my demiplane.
>[WizardDK]"About this-"
The wizard that reappears within the zone I'd previously thought of as the whole of my demiplane and begins pontificating without preamble.
>[WizardDK]"Your Demiplane wasn't, as is, nearly large enough to contain what you wanted-I had to builda rather substantial spell matrice within that construct down there to let it operate, and I couldn't fit that in here. So I stripped back some of the safety layers between your demiplane and the vase space between planes, and created a symbiotic demiplane, attached to and part of your own. The facet of note is, the connection itself is a defensive structure that covers the weakness I made by opening up the pathway I subsequently filled."
>[SB]"You grafted a wholly new demiplane to our own-and one much larger, at that-will this have any impact on our own plane's functionality?"
>[WizardDK]"It shouldn't. Short of a planet-scale Elder magic event happening on earth that gets replicated through to here, nothing could really eat through the connection without having to come from your side. Incidentally, you will notice your chymeric engine is gone-"
-So it is-
>[WizardDK]"I used it as the seed for the spellwork, given it was already dominated by both halves of your soul. It's the foundation of the link between what were two disparate planes, and are now the multi-plane realm that is your eye's spirit zone."
>[Hummingbird]"And it possesses yon features you mentioned as being accomplishable without need for Contract?"
>[WizardDK]"A very astute spirit animal you have-yes, but I will note a few distinct details. First, you can only see through it while in your body-you have to use your physical connection to the eye to access it as a viewing tool, whereas guests to your spirit zone can be allowed into the zone and can then directly roam the replica planet-which is, as requested, a real-time image of the world. I strongly recommend only viewing the world in accelerated thought-while it is possible to set mental shortcuts to orient on specific things to look at, by default you have to manually shift your view about to find what you seek-there is no guide attached to this world of yours, so it will fall upon you and whoever you allow onto the world to add a quick-use interface to suit your needs."
The wizard moves-and stops.
>[WizardDK]"A final note: The eye and this connected Demiplan required a name in attributing to them this much magical complexity. I title it Allview. I'll erase my knowledge of the name once I'm out of your eye… right, that was it."
The wizard claps his hands-

[DISCONTINUITY]

I am back in the flesh, and quirk my brow at my stiff joints.
>[Sake]"…It's night."
I pull out my phone to check the time-woah, it's eleven thirty. Holy fuck. ….And…. Lyubov tried to call me at seven, and sent a picture….yeah, I promised her a date tonight, didn't I.
On my way home, I notice I have a couple of messages, a voicemail and a text, both from Lyubov. The text is just a photo of her wearing a really nice blue evening gown and makeup. Honestly, she looks great. Like she's- oh no.
>Oh yes, I was wondering when you'd remember.
Fuck. I better call her and-
>And what, take her out to dinner at 1 in the morning? Just go home and talk to her.
I check my voicemail, just to be sure, and yes it is what I expected: Lyubov asking why I was late, and wanting to know what was going on. She didn't even sound mad, just, slightly irritated.

I move to make my farewells to the wizard in question, but he's already gone, leaving me alone-save for my brothers and bird.

Not so alone, then.

I head outside, and, on the stroll back to the house in the twilight, I play around with my eye. The biggest lesson I learn on the way back to the house is that, while I CAN sense souls when looking through the eye, I can't see through magic wards, like those on Amen or on Cornelius' house. When I return to the mansion I head up to my room and stop outside the door as I sense Lyubov waiting for me inside. Her soul feels... kinda irritated, and... worried? I'm sure she's not mad. Interesting. She's sitting on my bed again, wearing her pajamas. As soon as I open the door, before I can get a word in, she's talking.
>[Lyubov]"You said Wednesday! I even let Ito know I was taking the night off. I understand stuff comes up but when you knew you should have let me know too! We have encrypted phones, you have your brothers, and you're clever! You could have figured out a way to let me know."
Right, I can work with this. I step inside, and sit down next to her.
"The wizard didn't tell me before hand it'd take all night, and it's hard to pick up a phone when you are inside your own eye. In point of fact, it's hard to hear it, too.'
>[Lyubov]"You didn't have it on vibrate mode? You have the most annoying ring tone, I can't believe you wouldn't put the phone into silent mode when you met with a wizard."
Funny, she didn't even question that I was in my own eye. She's really focused on how I fucked up.
"My soul was not even in my body, what is a vibration going to do? I could get SHOT and not come out of it!"
>[Lyubov]"Well at least you were not in danger of that happening in a room with a wizard, where you were the wizard's client and guest. I am not sure what the rules are about that, but I think he could not have let you come to harm. So, fine. You were safe, and you had no way of contacting me, and you did not ask him how long it would take. So, we will go out to dinner another night. "

Got her.

>I believe she wanted to forgive you anyway.
You're as bad as Einrik. Now shush, she's still talking.
>[Lyubov]"What is so great about your eye now that it took him twelve hours to finish?"
I could lie to her. I could keep Allview's capabilities to myself, but fuck that. This thing is awesome!
"Uh well I can see.... everything. Everywhere. From anywhere. From any angle. Uh. You watch stupid Japanese cartoons with crazy eye magic? Shit's got NOTHING on my field of vision. I can even look at the back of my own head, it's awesome. Seriously, give me a minute, I could probably look at your mom. What do you make of THAT, huh?"
>[Lyubov]"It sounds amazing, but how would you even know where to look for my mom? Do you just decide "Show me Lyubov's mother" and then you are watching her sleep? Or do you need the address?"
"It's like a mentally... tactile... google earth? Yes, let's go with that. So, I have to find things manually. Currently. Also, my eye now has a name. That was given to it by a wizard. Does your eye have a name? Yeah, didn't think so. Bask in the glory of.... ALLVIEW."
She smiles at me, her sense of curiosity piqued.
>[Lyubov]"Are things labeled when you are zoomed out in Allview? Or is it ALLVIEW? If you were to try to find Mozhaysk, would you have to zoom in and find road signs to follow from Moscow?"
"I can add labels, but there aren't automatic signs. I've added every nation's borders from Yakko's nation's song that still exists, and a few capitals too. It's... okay for Istanbul, at least. Already mapped out the neighborhood for quick reference. Fun thing with the labels is they aren't... there? They're thoughts that just float in your mind while you consider the world, sort of thing. Like shortcuts."
>[Lyubov]"So- then if I asked you, "what is my mother doing right now" you would lie down and then go into a trance? And you would go find Moscow and fumble around for the rest of the morning trying to find the city and address? At least you would know you had the right woman, she looks very much like me."
"Well-not really a trance, I sort of speed up my thoughts so I can still do other things too-but anyway. If you gave me an address I could find it-I can follow streets and such, it's not exactly hard. Oh, cool thing, I can auto-orient to myself to start as a base point. Also, if someone wants to and is capable, if their spirit enters my eye I can let them use the world they can walk on it and stuff-I can only look through it. Tradeoffs."
>[Lyubov]"Use the world? How does it seem to them? Just like being there? And how capable does someone need to be? Could I try?"
She'd been asking decent questions too, but that entire rapid-fire set leaves her way too open. I can't resist lightly mocking her.
>"Oh, so you know how to astral project yourself? Because I totally thought you didn't know, and as such couldn't get your soul in my eye without... dying... first, and letting me pick your soul up and stick it in there. That's rather morbid Lyubov, why would you bring that up?"
She's acting a little chagrined over that.
>[Lyubov]"I did not know it would require that, that is why I asked. And I asked because, well. I would like to see my mom. I have not seen her in two years."
Oh. Yeah, that makes sense. Huh, I didn't tell anyone about how my call with Miss Savoy went, either, did I?
"Well, on that note, things should probably be better for her now."
>[Lyubov]"What do you mean?"
"Got a Royal Bloodline family to send a message to Chugainov to back the fuck off unless he wants this to get real, real bad for him. Conveyed through the corpses of his entire personal guard. Rather powerful message I think, having his innermost shield stripped away like that. Took all of... what, two, three minutes? And if he starts shit, the same royals will just kill his ass for being stupid."
She's just looking at me, but I can tell that right down to her soul she's feeling relief and happiness at the news.
"So, we're good. He can't touch your family because he'll get killed, he can't directly retaliate because he'd get killed. Anyone's family, really. I'd say he's neutered. In fact-"
And at that point she's thrown her arms around me in a tight hug, and I can't finish my joke.
>[Lyubov]"You should have told me that first! That is good news! The best news! It will make the others happy too, especially Satai and Gloom. But I do not think you would want either of them to do this."

And then she's kissing me, and I think it's pretty clear she wants to spend the night

This was a good day.


THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10TH, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $1,180,085.04
BUSINESS FUNDS: $2,699,347.00
CASH: $6,320.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 55%
WINTER ENERGY: 76/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50

I wake up as Lyubov gets up to go for the morning jog with the rest of the Russians-and a wild thought takes me:

What if I went on their morning workout routine?
>"Yes, there's no possible way this can go horribly wrong"
>[IT]"The potential shenanigans are amazing and I wholeheartedly support this."

Hm.







So do I get up with Lyubov and shadow the Russians on their training?
If so, what, exactly, is my plan here? Just assess them, some trolling… what?
If I'm not doing that-what AM I doing with my day?
>>
No. 407463 ID: f70e5e

maybe we could follow them in ALLVIEW? it would be a good chance to practice using it to track mobile groups, it would also make a good test of just how hard to detect it is. Camella has maybe the second best(for its size) magical sensor suite we have yet seen. its also an optuinty to mess with her a bit. if she can pick us up we mess with her on the run, if she can't see us we wait until she gets back. Then we troll her about how we are disappointed how she didn't spot us once while we were following her, and make offhand mention of things we would have had to be very close to see.
>>
No. 407487 ID: 201fd7

You have a bad habit of randomly telling people important secrets when there is absolutely no reason to do so, realize and internalize that it's a foolish practice and refrain from it in the future. Of course the eye is awesome but being reliant on the admiration or approval of others is not. Get lyubov to promise not to repeat what you told her as well.

Go down and tell all the russians about chuggy instead of letting them learn it second hand but don't go with them on the training.

The rest of the day can be spent working with gianni on the golem in the morning and your lessons with davgon in the afternoon.

Make sure Duke is up for the Endman hunt you pitched to Rocco, if he invites you go along with him. Get Rocco to tell you a list of possible locations for him and you can break in ALLVIEW finding him.
>>
No. 407560 ID: 21a619

Lordly Imposition: 'Tell no one of Allview, it's abilities it's name or it's existence.'

Problem solved. Armas, don't be an asshat and tell everyone everything "just cause LOL XDDD!!1!"
>>
No. 407589 ID: 76c597

We can allow ourselves some fun, you know. We are Legion, after all. I’m sure Hummingbird wouldn’t mind spending time in the Eye, flying out to that island by Azerbijan, finding his old city, etc. etc. And I bet Sake wouldn’t mind scoping out his old stomping grounds in japan for us; we could have him drop in on that Hougo witch, maybe.

Tell Camella you’ll be dropping in on practice.

Make the Russians’ practice today an exercise in finding and dealing with infiltrators. And we can get practice actually infiltrating a group, even if it’s one we know fairly well. If any of the Russians drop out of sight/Attention (by stopping to tie their shoe, or attempting to commit suicide by going through the sewers, or whatever), take their place by goblin stealth/soul guise/fleshcrafting ourselves to look like them. The extra Russian is then informed ‘You’re dead’, and gets to go practice by themselves or gets an off-day or follow at a distance and rejoin later or whatever.

Buy a metric assload of tennis balls for Sake and let him have fun popping out at random and beaning Russians – basically, Camella will see the obvious troll and miss the subtle one. Continue your infiltration.

If they don’t catch on, feel free to leave hints (faux-Russian could get things a little easier than their normal self would, or have a tick they don’t normally have – it’ll foster some good-natured paranoia. Is that guy just joining the ranks of the Mad Russians, or is it a SPY?) or remove another Russian from play. If suspicions rise, treat it like one of those IRC games of Werewolf & Mafia. Try and throw suspicion off yourself by accusing others (but not in an obvious way: never be the first to accuse, feel free to back up any accusations that aren’t targeting yourself, change sides freely as the winds of paranoia run rampant). See if you can get them to destroy the conch and kill Piggy, metaphorically speaking.

If things are turning against you and you think they’ll find you soon, try something new with Lordly Imposition: a light touch rather than a massive, crushing demand. Hint, rather than command – see if you can change one of the Russians’ minds without them even being aware of it. Pick on Lev (if you’re not pretending to BE Lev), just in case your experiment turns out to damage the target’s mind or something.
>>
No. 407731 ID: 3734f6

>Fucking lyubov
Make sure you use protection (you have been using condoms right?), don't want accidental baby. Is she on the pill?

>Wizard has to use name for a magical construct this awesome
>Wizard erases own memory of name so only you have it
>You tell it to the first person you meet.
Really armas? Lyubov is loyal but you didn't even tell her to not repeat the name, you SHOULD tell her that before she leaves and see if she told anyone and make them also promise to not repeat the name.
Names have power.
Also, anyone you tell about should be sworn to secrecy about its very existance (not just the name). We don't want it to be widely known HOW we get our info.
Oh, we will deal heavily with info merchants, but I would rather we do not tell them how we know... or if we do that it is strictly confidential

Rather then following them, get the magical newspaper clips for this morning, look for interesting locations (for example, are BB and armin still fighting?) and see about tracking higher value targets. If we can follow blackbeard we can find what that pirate hides his treasure. Which we can then (for example) have the goblins collect for us from across the world for a tithe (percentage of value).

Also, now that we have this upgrading your eye via fleshcraft becomes a priority.

Furthermore, we currently have Gia channel his work on the golem through us, any reason davgon can't do the same? (cheating yet actually learning! WEEE)

Also, abolec told you how to fix the einher-like soul seed in the golem, we totally forgot to do it.
Give davgon the info we managed to acquire on the procedure (the instructions from abolec) and then do it.

Also, get in touch with stumpy (what is his name?) and let him know about the "so you are a vampire now?" crash course we got him from the zosimos clan.

Be mindful of your fast thought charm, don't burn it out by overusing allview, SB Should familiarize himself with it particularly since he is going to become a legion once we get the bloodheart going.

And finally, when all of that is done, use allview to look at the island whose coordinates you got from The Owner.

>Missed meeting with Zosimos rep yesterday.
Call Cornellius, say "I was unexpectedly indisposed due to a friendly summons by a wizard for some business. I was unable to track time or call until it was concluded. I hope you understand why I don't go into more details (I love truthful deception :P). shall we reschedule for tonight?"

>Experiment START
You currently must have sensing chakra orientation to see own soul, that has a cost. Can you use allview to see own soul for free?
Try it by turning off sensing orientation (if on) and looking at self via allview.
>Experiment END

>Go down and tell all the russians about chuggy
Sure, do that. But ALSO remind them that while chuggy backed off, they still need to exercise restraint on what magical secrets you reveal over the phone (namely, don't reveal any). We aren't the army but we are not without our enemies.

>>407589
>Mindfuck lev with dengerous potentially soul rending experiments
Shut the fuck up you stupid thought!
Just SUST!

Aside from it being wrong, aside from the Russians being pissed and afraid (what with how chuggy treated them)...
There is the little issue of both Camella and Davgon detecting it and both freaking the fuck out about it, what with davgon seeing it as a betrayal of your duty as chief of this clan, and Camella as proof of your evil ways. (and they will then inform the rest of which others will also not approve).
This is the most major fuckup in Armas history if you do it.
>>
No. 407737 ID: c29888

>So do I get up with Lyubov and shadow the Russians on their training?
No, of course not. You've just gained the World Eye, so you can exert bosses' perogative and follow their progress from the comfort of your bed, whilst simultaneously practicing with your new toy. This will also allow you to make comments referencing their performance when you encounter them later in the day.
>If so, what, exactly, is my plan here? Just assess them, some trolling… what?
N/A. Anyway, the Russians aren't worthy targets of trolling, where's the pride in shooting fish in a barrel.
>If I'm not doing that-what AM I doing with my day?
* Talk to Duke about Endman's alleged lethal-without-fail weapon, and how he may well have a few more of the Nazi's toys thrown in for good measure, to get him in the mood. Then, contact the Mafia, and enquire whether they have any leads as to Endman's location, follow up on them using the World Eye. If you find him, let Duke know, and hopefully send him off to splatter him. If, as it appears, Duke lost his weapons in the fight with the Warwalker, he might be interested in taking something off the Nazis.
* Ask SM for the price of a temporary charm designed to enhance what is gained from a linked spirit animal, that functions until the sun next rises when purchased an hour before dawn. Ask if it would be cheaper or more effective to have it Restricted to only function for doubly bound Hummingbirds. Offer, in return, to give confirmation of the Wizard accessing the Doonegeas' brain within 48 hours of occurring. Do this by phone.
* Ask SB and after checkin with him and the shaman, take Dávgon, and if possible, the golem (as a teaching aid) to SM, to redeem your six months NN bubble for soul sculpting, binding and sensing education whilst SB reviews the Doonegeas memories.
* Try to arrange a meeting with Oggmum to discuss the Doonegeas' memories and (if SB agrees) some knowledge from Amen retrieved by a godly level Fleshcrafter.
* Talk to SB and Sake about the pros and cons of "selling" Whaitiri the Doonegeas' Fleshcrafting and potentially access to the World Eye.
* If Dávgon training occured, tell Lyubov that for her own safety that all she learned this morning can't stay accessible to her. You need her to accept soul binding and sculpting to at best delete and at worst suppress to absolute inaccessibility any information gained then. It's probably easier on her if she swears fealty and obediance to us as her Emperor first.

>>407589
SUST soul binding random Russians, and getting involved in their practice. There are better things to do.

>>407731
Upvote telling Dávgon about Abolec's advice. We should probably donate an Iron Trick sized soul sliver to be integrated. If we can do this ourselves after Dávgon shows us how, all the better.
>>
No. 407746 ID: d5f40e

>>407589
SUST
>>
No. 407777 ID: 252e1b

LYUBOV ORDERS
Wednesday, February 9th

L*~Lyubov engaged in her Morning Routine, collected Andrei, Satai, and Sake and excised the lesion from Andrei’s mouth (she then burned it in Igor’s forge).
L*~Lyubov visited Father Nikolai at lunch for an update on her mother and also asked if there was anything she could do to help.
L*~Lyubov spent the rest of her afternoon getting in IM contact with Hyougo. Lyubov declared that Hyougo shouldn’t let the 4channers bully her away from doing what she wants, since they’re just weird people and will get bored soon. Lyubov introduced herself as someone who found Hyougo’s page as a result of learning Japanese recently. She was amiable and friendly.
L*~Lyubov asked Hillevi for a little help in the form of a chakra chiller, and explained that she wanted to be at her best tonight. She asked Hillevi about what she did. If Hillevi was willing, Lyubov would have spent some time with her playing with the makeup kit she bought for her, experimenting with different applications on Hillevi.
L*~When it became obvious Armas wasn’t showing up, Lyubov worked on her holster project and finished a couple of them. She left the one she made for Andrei in his room, on his pillow.

Thursday February 10th

L*~Lyubov will engage in her Morning Routine, talk with Sake a bit (and redo his bling), and engage in chakra lessons with Camella as usual.
L*~Lyubov will place a phone call to her mother, Svetlana, and talk for some time, catching up, making sure she’s ok, arranging to send her money, and encouraging her to just leave Russia and take that job with the company. Lyubov will exercise great care in what she shares with Svetlana, since the line could be tapped.
L*~Lyubov will set aside an hour to chat with Hyougo via IM about sundry concerns.
L*~At the end of her lesson with Armas Lyubov will again ask if he took advantage of having a trustworthy tax assessor’s contact information.
L*~Lyubov will go to Night Lessons and experiment with how energy flows through her to reinforce her body during her spars.
>>
No. 407811 ID: b83c65

Just SUST to the ideas of putting a soulbind on Lyubov.
>>
No. 407844 ID: 252e1b

>>407560
(-)SUST, doing a Lordly Imposition without a contract or at least permission is asking for a shitload of trouble. That's effectively a poorly-planned binding given Armas' current amount of finesse with the ability.

>>407737
>Talk Lyubov into accepting soulsculpting to have the memory of Allview's name excised, and to talk her into officially swearing fealty.
(-)SUST, that's a bad idea. You can very effectively plug this leak by simply asking her to keep it a secret. Asking her to swear fealty is premature at best. Yes there are lots of horrible things out there that can tear information from minds. This suggests that you need to figure out protection schemes for yourself and the company, as well as institute better information control, rather than reshape the very soul of a person you are intimate with solely because you wanted to share your cool new toy with her.

ARMAS ORDERS

(+)Ask Lyubov to promise not to share the name Allview or its capabilities.
(+)Tell Matvey and Camella first about Chugainov’s recent neutering, then tell everyone else after they assemble for their lessons with Camella. Remind them to not share anything that Chugainov's people don't already reasonably know (so nothing about what we're doing in Istanbul, for instance).
(+)Apologize for missing the meeting with Zosimos representative, if he arrived while you were out, or if he arrived while you were busy and Shadowbro didn't handle it.
(+)Tell Dávgon about Abolec’s advice on the golem soul.
(+)Contact Gimpy, tell him you've arranged for him to receive an education from one of the most prominent clans in the area.
(+)Take Lyubov's advice and get an appointment with Ito's tax assessor.
(+)Discuss birth control with Lyubov. As long as you're talking about relationship stuff, pick a night for that dinner date with her.
(+)Get a solid grasp of that Teaching chakra orientation that Dmitrii showed you, and use it during your lesson with Lyubov.
(+)Tell Duke about Endman, talk him into fighting him, initiate the NN bubble training plan.
>>
No. 407876 ID: 8a777b

Feodor Orders
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
>>/questdis/361721
DC 65 (if <25, BAD THINGS)
>Rolled 53

Wednesday, 9 February 2011
*Wake up, get Sake-rub, and go on the morning jog, showering when (/more than is) appropriate. Decide to keep wearing the weight vest through to the chakra training despite its distraction, hoping that adversity will lead to better improvement.
*Talk to Lyubov Happened on IRC and afterwards ask Amen if something mundane that destroys blood, like bleach, will work to prevent it being used for blood magic.
*Have soul magic conversation with Davgon, focusing on chakra-body interactions and soul “disease”. Makes notes about the information, offer a less messy version of them to Matvey so he can disseminate the information throughout the Russians.
*Go to Night Classes, challenge rolled 7 for who to challenge Iosef to a friendly match.

Thursday, 10 February 2011
*Get up and go through the morning routine. Ask Vlad for more meat-vodka.
*Set lab equipment up near bedroom. Make sure not to tell Duke about it, don't want to be his meth-slave.
*Head into Finnigan's early, so you can talk without him being an ass. Ask for help finding two things: a legitimate clinic to sign off on Lyubov's driver's licence physical, and a counsellor or psychologist that has previously been exposed to the world of magic. Mention that if he helps with both, he may be able to get some sort of finder's fee for the counsellor.
>>
No. 407881 ID: b83c65

>[ b] [Andrei has been queued to do the following:] [ b ]
Wednesday, February 9th
>A< Foodtime. While eating, ponder if Ito is Morphus, who is the Oracle. Ponder the nice old lady who gave the vampires food. Stop eating [ i ]immediately[/ i ].
>A< Ambushed by surgery.
>A< Well, that was disturbing. On to Chakra Hacking/Training: If the body is the hardware, then orientations would be the software. Also, Chakra Gates = Logic Gates? Discuss this with Camella, and bring up the modular nature of the hardware. Is it possible to replace a chakra-gate and the surrounding circuitry?
>A< Discuss the same topics with Ito. Also, try to get Ito to say anything Morphus says from the first movie.
>A< Andrei grabs a Turkish coffee and a Qurabiya on his way back to mansion. Think about the time since he died. Decide to degauss and head to a local Turkish bath. Pine for proper Saunas.
>A< Talk to patrons of the baths. Start working the rust of social skills with small talk and small lies.
>A< Recall conversation with Satai about The FUTURE Shop. See what computer-based goodies they have and see if he could buy a reliable method of seeing if a phone is tapped or not and disrupting the tap if it is, and of sweeping for bugs.
>A< Andrei should have some extra time, so he'll journey to the Blue Mosque to just enjoy the culture of Istanbul.
>A< Welcome back, Mister Andrei-son. Ito missed you.

Thursday February 10th
>A< So, that beating should have knocked any desire for continued matrix references out of Andrei's skull. Try to eat solid foods.
>A< Discuss the spoofing attempts that Gloom seems to be doing with the chakra. Also, Dmitrii seems finished his training. This means he might have the source code or root access or a password.
>A< Talk to Ito, after being beaten after using the phrase 'Whoa', about harmonic frequencies and look into any ways to cheat Chakra directly.
>A< Turkish Baths and a Midday Snack. Keep working the grime off, and cleaning up those social skills.
>A< Travel to the Hagia Sophia. Sight see.
>A< Back to the Mansion. Focus on getting the Computer set up with any missing programs, and learning the ins and out of the new one and cussing Chugainov. Also, getting music and special effects edited into the Blade Footage.
>A< And to Ito's!
>>
No. 407882 ID: 6616f3

Titus orders
-Mess around with his new, eleven thousand dollar pelt. Do some thinking/sketches on a mk.II. lightning gauntlet. Armored mittens, perhaps - depends on how the lightning is stored in the pelt, I suppose. If it's just constantly crackling away, this will require some finesse.
-Glad as he is to have Satai helping him with the prototype, ask Armas if he can run this thing by Hamlet, see what the engineer thinks. Phrase it as 'sometimes even brilliant people need time to work on something else and let ideas percolate, to come back to an old job with new insights.'
>>
No. 407907 ID: f518f4

>>407844
SUST agreeing a dinner date with Lyubov.

If sleeping with her means sharing critically important secrets with a known traitor who is only here because she is willing to break her sworn oaths to save her own skin, it needs to end now. Tell her that it's been fun, but you've started some business with a family that would most likely look down on someone who sleeps with the staff. Unfortunately that means your little arrangement will have to come to an end. Perhaps it's time to get back in touch with Adelat, and begin the process of making her forfeit her soul to you. After then, even if she's unaware, she'd make a much more secure partner.
>>
No. 407908 ID: 2e87cb

>>407844
SUST agreeing a dinner date with Lyubov.

If sleeping with her means sharing critically important secrets with a known traitor who is only here because she is willing to break her sworn oaths to save her own skin, it needs to end now. Tell her that it's been fun, but you've started some business with a family that would most likely look down on someone who sleeps with the staff. Unfortunately that means your little arrangement will have to come to an end. Perhaps it's time to get back in touch with Adelat, and begin the process of making her forfeit her soul to you. After then, even if she's unaware, she'd make a much more secure partner.
>>
No. 407914 ID: 8e8b4b

If only we had sold the russians to the goblins, then we wouldn't have to question the loyalty of a player character. And we wouldn't have to overreact to our allies finding out about something that they are suppose to use.
>>
No. 407948 ID: 162511

Right, since you have more than four people [birds, weasels, shadows/world-ending gods of hate...] knowing the eye name already... you might as well consider why names have power, power is control, so if you have a name for something you have control over it in a way, or at least influence via the name.
Note that the name often has to be the thing the individual calls itself, and seems to be related to what soul characteristics and experiences.
Of course you can name things that are not individuals... the wizard did it, and many artifacts are named too. And there is Lordly Imposition, which appears to be able to force a command or place a binding on a target for a cost of power.
>>407731
General upvote for everything in this post, ALSO:
It could be that naming is a less power-intensive way of binding an object, or individual so their growth-namely in response to magic absorption-is focused along the implied meaning of the name.
So, as a result any power used in the attachment of a Name to an item could potentially act as a seed, provided it is maintained so it does not fade away like a ghost.
This would have many implications on magic items such as the following:
-Firstly, an item with a seed placed inside it and maintained via regular energy infusions may have an increased chance of developing an effect based on it's name, or a magical ability.
-Soul splinters could be used as a component for the seed, provided it is extracted without damage. This may have been demostrated by the Iron Trick, as it's apparent ability to create tremendously powerful spell effects could be the use of the splinter to render the rounds themselves magical items, though probably restricted to immediate use only in the Trick.
-A powerful Binder bloodline with the ability to shed soul splinters could produce magical items with some skill, at least by themselves, with others donating splinters production is potentially unrestricted by their soul coherance.
If anyone thinks of other things this could imply, please post them, It is late and I know there are other things this could lead to.
Otherwise, the Hummingbird has refused to name itself anything other than "Hummingbird", why? What does it consider a hummingbird to be? Best not to ask it if you do not have much time.

>>407487
Upvoting chastising self and telling Lyubov to keep if a secret, if everybody knew you had Allview and had its name then any control you have is being diluted as they may have a stake in the governing of it.
>>407560
Downvoting any Soulsculpting on self, Davgon has told you of what happens to those who do so and that is not a path you should tread.
>>407589
Upvoting testing the joggers this way, with the luxuries of Allview we don't even need to be within the same area as them, a time out should be enough, maybe half a minute?
Downvoting soulscuplting people, even Lev.
>>407737
Ah, upvoting Alratan's post, I can detect only one thing i dislike about it.
Which is soulbinding/oathing/scuplting Lyubov, downvoting that hard.
>>407844
>>407907
Also SUSTing agreeing to going to dinner with Lyubov, why not just go out for an afternoon tea or something? You could take her and Placid Savant out for Icecream together! Though that is probably a bad idea, just going to a cafe with Lyubov alone would be fine.
>>
No. 408032 ID: 448d82

Upvoting admonishment of self for loose lips.
Upvoting setting up things for the NN bubble, see if we can convince Gimpy and Davy to come.

>>407589
I am on board with the whole pretend to be one of the russians idea. (ok with Lev being grabbed).
Sust on the Lordly Imposition bit though.

Orders for LEV
Lev has his morning shower! Today is a good day.
Lev goes on the jog!
*IF NABBED BY ARMAS*
Lev is manhandled, he Agrees to go along with it(Like he has a choice), but on the condition that Armas helps him.
"Help? I am mad, Insane, I randomly rub my guts, get my dick eaten and I am scared of the sun and stuff. I am like a, what is it, psycopathic manchild, I need help boss."
Lev then returns to the mansion, and tries to carve the angry wooden dick into a different thing... Making one of Amen was a bad idea.
*Above only if grabbed by Armas*

Lev's day goes like clockwork, Camella training, Ito training, training Feodor, cooking Boris... wait cooking with Boris. Training, training... this is all leading to surival right? Lev wonders.
...Lev wonders when he'll have time to go drinking and playing darts or something with Grisha and the others...
>>
No. 408039 ID: 6616f3
File 133617573351.jpg - (228.65KB , 2188x1694 , PowerGlove1.jpg )
408039

Sorry for the third post this update, bob, but I can't seem to delete my old posts, and I wanted to use my art now I have my computer back.

I believe that's 'thundersnow' inscribed on the glove in russian, but I kinda forgot. For all I know, it could be 'I Love the Power Glove'.

>>407844
The pill? That is a ridiculous topic of conversation. That said, aren't Orthodox Christians opposed to birth control in general?

Also, still holding out to take initiate Cookie Lady into the mysteries of magic with a 6 month vacation, baking cookies, and remembering how to be human. Come out refreshed, and with baking secrets of the gods.

>>407908
Dinner date's a bit boring and girlfriendy... and Lyubov is the Armas of the russians. We could have her join Sake as part of Blade's on-going epic saga. Give her a choice of being the protagonist's (Blade's) love interest, the redshirt that dies horribly to show Blade how serious things got, or the jealous student of their fellow mentor (Sake) who betrays him (and then goes around in SB black leather with Hillevi.

Titus orders (amended)
-Mess around with his new, eleven thousand dollar Raiju pelt. Do some thinking/sketches on a mk.II. lightning gauntlet. Armored mittens, perhaps - depends on how the lightning is stored in the pelt, I suppose. If it's just constantly crackling away, this will require some finesse.
-Glad as he is to have Satai helping him with the prototype, ask Armas if he can run this thing by Hamlet, see what the engineer thinks. Phrase it as 'sometimes even brilliant people need time to work on something else and let ideas percolate, to come back to an old job with new insights.'
- Realize that Amen can appear at any time, and those tortured husks have to come from somewhere. And how well does he REALLY know the boss? A week from now, people could be saying, 'Hey, where did that Titus guy go?' while Amen and Armas just smile like shadows and secrets. Resolve to never be alone if one can help it. Follow others out of a room if necessary, just don't ever. Be. Alone.
- Realize this is an absurd coping mechanism for psychosomatic stress and it wouldn't even protect him from a being of Amen's demonstrated power. Do it anyway, because it DOES make him feel better.
>>
No. 408040 ID: fa7834

>So do I get up with Lyubov and shadow the Russians on their training?
You get up with Lyubov because you really messed up last night and told her critical info that had even a wizard scour his mind of. Not only does Lyubov now know the name of our world eye, Amen does too AND it has been said in the real world. Way to mess up, and we have -never- been that stupid about showing new toys before. Usually we -use- that new toy to play pranks or whatever, not tell it to the first random person, and one of the least trustworthy ones we know to boot. So, we need to make sure neither Amen nor Lyubov can tell anyone about. For Lyubov, she is the kind the loves manipulation going against authority which is why Armas really likes her so, but in this case it means it would probably be pretty hard to just aks her not to tell it to anyone, as she might just do it for this reason. Try to ask SB or Sake if they could either take out the memory of the name. If impossible, maybe they would be able to give a conflicting memory of it with something else, and then we could just nickname it that way and talk to her with this, so that she would believe in that wrong name. As for Amen, “Amen, I order you to tell me truthfully if you can convey the name of my world-eye to anyone who isn't me, part of my soul or a current Master” and if he can “Amen, I order you to not convey said name to anyone unless I give your permission first”. Another possibility would be having him to forget it, but he might very well have memory boxes...

>If so, what, exactly, is my plan here? Just assess them, some trolling… what?
Nope, though we should speak to lev, because he might be a perfect training tool for the rest of the plan.

>If I'm not doing that-what AM I doing with my day?
Going to set up that NN bubble with Dávgon. We may want practice dummies though, so Gimpy and Lev might be good choices (get them an oath, etc. Lev should be easy to convince as he is doing pretty badly and a little soul sculpting may help him get better TIM agrees , and Gimpy is a driven guy).

>get an appointment with Ito's tax assessor.
Make a phonecall, and get that appointment for tomorrow.

>Discuss birth control with Lyubov. As long as you're talking about relationship stuff, pick a night for that dinner date with her.
SUST to both. We talked to Lyubov more than enough yesterday, and now is getting awesome time. Also, as the NN bubble should have SB poring over Doonegaes memories, we should be able to tell, when we are back, whether Lyubov is pregnant. If she isn't, by then we would be more than able to make sure we won't get her so. However, Armas shouldn't forget he did promise hr a date on “Wednesday” , so he should be ready to make due on a Wednesday. Possibly next week, possibly in a month.

>Get a solid grasp of that Teaching chakra orientation that Dmitrii showed you, and use it during your lesson with Lyubov.
We really don't have time for this (unless there somehow is left over time in NN bubble), so SUST.

>>407737
(+)Decent suggestion and upvote most of it, though SUST on the soulsculpting Lyubov part. Soulsculpting our men shouldn't be done under pressure unless we have very obvious reasons, as it's a good way to alienate the company as a whole. Also, I dislike taking Golem as it would probably mean SM would know everything about it. If we do take it, we should first sell everything we know about it to SM, as he will learn of it regardless.

>Apologize for missing the meeting with Zosimos representative, if he arrived while you were out, or if he arrived while you were busy and Shadowbro didn't handle it.
(+)Upvote
>>
No. 408041 ID: 78624d

Armas, try taking a glance over a map of a place you don't know, noting certian street names and such and then go check out the place in the allview. Since you have a soulshadow that can help you enforce clarity of memory, I want to see if the allview will pick it up or if you really do have to become more familiar with the area.

[If my impression that the labeling was automatic based on places he was familiar with, then having the information for SB to still capture and fiddle around with still won't be bad]

One more thing. Since you are in a warded location right now (i.e. Amen) does that allview simply not work or does it just start above the house?(or other)

[[Zhenya orders]]
-Zhenya questions Lyubov about her being missing from dinner and night lessons, and recieves a concealed carry holster from Lyu (talked in IRC)
-Zhenya is overjoyed and thanks Lyubov.
-After their conversation is over Zhenya tries to find Amen, not calling for him or anything, just seeing if she can find in the house.
-With the remainder of her free time Zhenya heads out and has a walk through town to check out the street fairs and get some fresh air, using her new concealed carry holster(gingerly) to keep her H&K P7 K3 with her.
>>
No. 408044 ID: 431fa8

>>407442
"Shadowbro, please tell me the Zosimus representative came by while I was sleeping and you handled the trade. We were supposed to make tens of millions of dollars last night, and instead I got incredible new magical powers and then had sex. Which was pretty awesome as days go, but it would be nice to have the money too." If he didn't cover for us, we'll need to set a new meeting time.

>what AM I doing with my day?
Nothing wrong with randomly trolling Russians during practice. Could be fun.

However, it's not the most important thing. Today is a good day to become awesome at soul manipulation. We have a six-month timelapsed nevernever bubble from the goblins that would be ideal for that.

Talk to Dàvgon about going into it with us as an instructor. Discuss options- in particular, one that comes to mind is bringing one or more people with us as experimental subjects. We could essentially certainly get one of the Russians to agree as long as we're willing to try to leave them functional/better after we're done, and Adelat wouldn't even have a choice about it.

In fact, Adelat is essentially ideal as a learning tool for that reason. Shadowbro should be able to easily track her down at work or home; once he does it'll be trivial to go up to her (preferably when she's not still working) and convince her to trip the contract. In fact, we could troll her by approaching her using a "the one who is your lord and master" soul guise, and claiming that she already broke the contract and we're coming to pick up what's ours, then using that to get her to break the contract and really become ours.

Grabbing a Russian could be interesting as well- cheerfully ask if anyone's interested in being a learning experience in exchange for making us smile upon them in the future, and get any suckers who accept to do the legal minimum to let us sculpt them- soul swearing works. Perhaps that new vampire would be interested, too.

Be sure that the goblins are down with bringing experimental subjects into the training bubble. They'll probably charge because they're dicks, but argue them into it anyway. Pay no more than we have to.

When we're in the bubble, learn as much as we can from Dàvgon, try to make sure all our experimental subjects emerge stronger for the experience, see if Shadowbro can look through the Doonongaes' memories to learn as much as possible and give us the information when we're done, and get crazy learning bonuses from our hummingbird. Try to see if we can learn more about how to work properly with him, as well; Dàvgon almost certainly has excellent advice on how to properly synch up one's abilities with a spirit animal and could give us solid training on it.


Catch Duke and mention Endman, if he hasn't already heard about it. Explain that we thought he might be interested in the entertainment of hunting the guy down. Play up Endman's reputation as being able to kill anyone with one bullet, and the fact that perhaps his artifact really can do it. As one of the remaining Nazi leaders he might have piles of minions and nazinauts, too. Duke can invite any of our minions who want to go with him, of course. We've already secured the mafia's assistance in locating Endman, so putting Duke on the hunt should be enough to hopefully get us that next nevernever bubble.

Last item, spend some time talking to Silja. Our fleshcrafting skills have improved a great deal since our last serious conversation about what we look like with her; clear the room and see if we're good enough to restore ourselves to an appearance that looks less freakish than our current form. Get her review of how we look- she doesn't know much about how people are supposed to look, but that hardly matters; this is a bonding experience and we can trust Silja to mean well, if nothing else. When we're done, just talk with her about how things are going. Mention also that we've gotten what we hope will be a substantial next step in making her more human in the form of food which should, theoretically, affect her shape more strongly than most. That should be here in just a few days.
>>
No. 408079 ID: 252e1b

>>407908
>Break up with Lyubov, Use Adelat as a slave/sex-toy

Al, goddamn. SUSTing your stupid shit. Can you at least try to win support for potentially antisocial ideas first?

ARMAS ORDER SUMMARY

(+5) Chastise yourself for sharing the name ALLVIEW with Lyubov, ask her to promise not to share the name. >>407487 (201fd7+1, MrTT +1, Shifter55 +1, InsufferableMystic +1, BUTTZ +1)

(-2) Use Lordly Imposition to force a soulbinding on Lyubov to not talk about Allview. >>407560 / Get permission from Lyubov to perform the binding/sculpting, talk her into swearing fealty officially. >>407737 (Alratan +1, 21a619 +1, b83c65 SUST, BUTTZ SUST, Shifter55 SUST, Arkeus SUST)

(+1) Determine general options for memory editing Lyubov if that proves to be necessary. Talk to Sake and SB about it. Find out if Amen can share Allview’s name. >>408040 (Arkeus +1)

(+2) Discuss birth control with Lyubov. >>407731 (MrTT +1, BUTTZ +1, Shifter55 +1, Arkeus SUST)

(+1) Remember that you actually promised a dinner date to Lyubov on a Wednesday, so plan to deal with that next week or month or something. >>408040 (Arkeus +1, Alratan -1 to dates in general, BUTTZ +1)

(+2) Offer Lyubov a choice of roles in Blade’s Saga >>408039 (Guile +1, BUTTZ +1)

(+1) Invite Lyubov to tea or something, but not dinner tonight >>407948 (Shifter55 +1)

(0)/(+2) Get a solid grasp of the Sneaky Teaching chakra orientation, use it when you teach >>407844 (BUTTZ +1, Arkeus SUST if doing so uses up NN time that we can’t afford)

(+1) Follow the Russians in Allview, tease Camella afterwards / Go in person to the training, pose as the first Russian to leave the room, have Sake throw things at people >>407463 and >>407589 (new guy +1, 201fd7 -1, Guile +1, d5f40e SUST, Arkeus -1, Shifter55 +1)

(-5) Fuck with Lev’s mind >>407589 (Guile +1, MrTT SUST, Alratan SUST, d5f40e SUST, Shifter55 -1, InsufferableMystic SUST, BUTTZ SUST)

(+2) Talk to Lev and offer to help him >>408040 (Arkeus +1, InsufferableMystic +1)

(+3) Tell everyone about Chugainov’s recent neutering. / Tell Matvey and Camella first, then tell everyone else. Remind them to not share anything that Chugainov's people don't already reasonably know (so nothing about what we're doing in Istanbul, for instance). >>407487 and >>407844 (201fd7 +1, BUTTZ +1, MrTT +1)

(+1) Have normal training sessions with Gianni and Dávgon during the day. >>407487 (201fd7 +1)

(+3) Tell Dávgon about Abolec’s advice on the golem soul. >>407731 (MrTT +1, Alratan +1, BUTTZ +1)

(+1) Muse about the nature of Binds and how they relate to Names >>407948 (Shifter55 +1)

(+2) Talk to Gimpy Vampire, let him know you have lined up training for him if he’s in. >>407731 (MrTT +1, BUTTZ +1)

(+3) Scout out interesting locations based on the clipping service’s data and on maps and stuff. Blackbeard in particular is of interest. >>407731 (MrTT +1, Falconis +1, BUTTZ +1)

(+4) Tell Duke about Endman, talk Duke into fighting him. Get potential intel locations from Gianni and follow up with the worldeye. >>407487 (201fd7 +1, Alratan +1, BUTTZ +1, Ironybot +1)

(+1) Encourage Duke to invite minions to go along on the fight (Ironybot +1)

(+5) Set up the NeverNever bubble training session with Dávgon, ask Sometimes Merchant about a custom charm, spend 6 months in NN training and having Shadowbro review the Dooney memories >>407737 / Possibly bring Gimpy/Adelat/Lev as practice subjects (IRC peanut gallery is saying make sure they’re legal for this kind of work) (Alratran +1, Ironybot +1, BUTTZ +1, Arkeus +1, Insufferable Mystic +1)

(+1) Discuss with SB and Sake the idea of selling Whaitiri and/or Oggmum the Doonegeas' Fleshcrafting memories. >> 407737 (Alratran +1)

(+4) Address missing the Zoismos representative, if you did. Be either evasive or apologetic, split vote on that detail>>407844 (BUTTZ +1, MrTT+1, Arkeus +1, Ironybot +1)

(+2) Talk to Silja >>408044 (Ironybot +1, BUTTZ +1)

(0) Break up with Lyubov, turn Adelat into a sex slave >>407908 (Alratan +1, BUTTZ SUST)
>>
No. 408106 ID: aa8dbe

I would honestly agree with breaking up with Lyubov. Right now it seems sort of like she's forcing us around and basically influencing a lot of our actions. We have no time for romance as is and even then, Lyu is only really providing sex and hollow relationships tend to cause nothing but trouble.

If we really are looking for Romance, I suggest Cammy, Silja, or even Einrick(he at least understands our trollery) or someone who's at least our equal and not a minion.

Also, I agree with the using the never never bubble with Gimpy and Luv. We can not only practice soul stuff, but generally train up weaker, fresher units to be equal to our other men. Besides, Armas could use some training and basic leadership experience to become a better boss.
>>
No. 408117 ID: d97a61

>[Andrei has done the following:]
>A< Foodtime. While eating, ponder if Ito is Morphus, who is the Oracle. Ponder the nice old lady who gave the vampires food. Stop eating immediately.
>A< Ambushed by surgery. Ow-but… got healed. Okay… that was something.
>A< Well, that was disturbing. On to Chakra Hacking/Training: If the body is the hardware, then orientations would be the software. Also, Chakra Gates = Logic Gates? Discuss this with Camella, and bring up the modular nature of the hardware. Is it possible to replace a chakra-gate and the surrounding circuitry? Realize Camella is as luddite as they come, and is completely lost in the comparison. …What's this, Camella's NOT good at everything?
>A< Discuss the same topics with Ito. …Yeah, the eighty year old has no idea what the tech side of his comparison means. Also, try to get Ito to say anything Morphus says from the first movie. Fail miserably. Succeed in becoming Ito's test dummy for entire day.
>A< Andrei grabs a Turkish coffee and a Qurabiya on his way back to mansion. Think about the time since he died. Decide to degauss and head to a local Turkish bath. Pine for proper Saunas.
>A< Talk to patrons of the baths. Start working the rust off social skills with small talk and small lies.
>A< Recall conversation with Satai about The FUTURE Shop. See what computer-based goodies they have and see if he could buy a reliable method of seeing if a phone is tapped or not and disrupting the tap if it is, and of sweeping for bugs. Find out the guy actually likes to feel out his customers and do one-off sales of specific products-turns out it's due to Contract with the Turkish Dragons, as quite a bit of his merchandise is officially tracked. Ponder this.
>A< Andrei should have some extra time, so he'll journey to the Blue Mosque to just enjoy the culture of Istanbul. Feels… nice to just relax and do nothing for a while.
>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>A< So, that beating should have knocked any desire for continued matrix references out of Andrei's skull. Try to eat solid foods. Be weasel rubbed by Sake after the seventh time he groans trying to chew eggs.
>A< Discuss the spoofing attempts that Gloom seems to be doing with the chakra. Also, Dmitrii seems finished his training. This means he might have the source code or root access or a password. Find Dmitrii amused by his claims, and unwilling to share.
>A< Talk to Ito, after being beaten after using the phrase 'Whoa', about harmonic frequencies and look into any ways to cheat Chakra directly. Find that for once Ito actually pauses, and instead of the now-common slap to the head, he offers a thought: 'I recall having heard of there being harmonic frequencies to the seven chakras, but do not know them personally. Should you find a lead on this front, inform me.' Ponders this.
>A< Turkish Baths and a Midday Snack. Keep working the grime off, and cleaning up those social skills. Feel like an actual person again.
>A< Travel to the Hagia Sophia. Sight see.
>A< Back to the Mansion. Focus on getting the Computer set up with any missing programs, and learning the ins and out of the new one and cussing Chugainov. Also, getting music and special effects edited into the Blade Footage. Still have trouble finding right programs-the hell did Chugainov's computers use, anyway?
>A< And to Ito's!
>>407777 [Four of a Kind Bonus]
[Lyubov has done the following:]
L*~Lyubov engaged in her Morning Routine, collected Andrei, Satai, and Sake and excised the lesion from Andrei’s mouth (she then burned it in Igor’s forge).
L*~Lyubov visited Father Nikolai at lunch for an update on her mother and also asked if there was anything she could do to help.
L*~Lyubov spent the rest of her afternoon getting in IM contact with Hyougo. Lyubov declared that Hyougo shouldn’t let the 4channers bully her away from doing what she wants, since they’re just weird people and will get bored soon. Lyubov introduced herself as someone who found Hyougo’s page as a result of learning Japanese recently. After repeat trolling endeavors, poster is understandably wary.
L*~Lyubov asked Hillevi for a little help in the form of a chakra chiller, and explained that she wanted to be at her best tonight. She asked Hillevi about what she did. If Hillevi was willing, Lyubov would have spent some time with her playing with the makeup kit she bought for her, experimenting with different applications on Hillevi.
L*~When it became obvious Armas wasn’t showing up, Lyubov worked on her holster project and finished a couple of them. She left the one she made for Andrei in his room, on his pillow.
[Lyubov has been queued to do the following:]
L*~Lyubov will engage in her Morning Routine, grumble about being sore, talk with Sake a bit (and redo his bling, much to the weasel's satisfaction), is informed she really shouldn't tell Allview's name to… well, anyone, and engage in chakra lessons with Camella as usual.
L*~Lyubov will place a phone call to her mother, Svetlana, and talk for some time, catching up, making sure she’s ok, arranging to send her money, and encouraging her to just leave Russia and take that job with the company. Lyubov will exercise great care in what she shares with Svetlana, since the line could be tapped. She's unsurprised her mother's initially very resistive to the idea. But she's pretty sure she can wheedle her with the power of 'but this way I can keep my daughter out of trouble'. Assures self she's okay with that if it means mom's as safe as she can get.
L*~Lyubov will set aside an hour to chat with Hyougo via IM about sundry concerns. Learns that Hyougo is obsessed with someone called… Gackt?
L*~At the end of her lesson with Armas Lyubov will again ask if he took advantage of having a trustworthy tax assessor’s contact information. Is again told… nope. Fumes a bit at irresponsible Armas-wonders if she's going to have to do something about this. Reap what is sown bonus
L*~Lyubov will go to Night Lessons and experiment with how energy flows through her to reinforce her body during her spars.
[Feodor has done the following:]
(F)*Wake up, get Sake-rub, and go on the morning jog, showering more than is appropriate to the minds of less… clean individuals. Decide to keep wearing the weight vest through to the chakra training despite its distraction, hoping that adversity will lead to better improvement. Find it didn't-but it did provide a decent chance to practice moving while considerably burdened. Mark it as a no-loss outcome.
(F)*Talk to Lyubov and afterwards ask Amen if something mundane that destroys blood, like bleach, will work to prevent it being used for blood magic. Find out that most anything that will damage the cell walls and turn it into nonusable goo will do the trick-boiling it down, bleach, whatever he wants.
(F)*Have soul magic conversation with Davgon, focusing on chakra-body interactions and soul “disease”. Makes notes about the information, offer a less messy version of them to Matvey so he can disseminate the information throughout the Russians. (Minions now have an understanding that spiritual diseases exist, and are most commanly caused by all-spirit entities that infect the body. Gain understanding that only someone with soul sensing abilities could detect such an infection-and it would take an external soul-sculpter to attempt to remove such a disease.)
(F)*Go to Night Classes, challenge Iosef to a friendly match. Be surprised at ability to match brute strength with the larger man. (ROLL 1D100 DC45 TO WIN SPAR)
[Feodor has been queued to do the following:]
(F)*Get up and go through the morning routine. Ask Vlad for more meat-vodka. Be disturbed by just how many bottles he has brewing in his closet.
(F)*Set lab equipment up near bedroom. Make sure not to tell Duke about it, don't want to be his meth-slave.
(F)*Head into Finnigan's early, so you can talk without him being an ass. Ask for help finding two things: a legitimate clinic to sign off on Lyubov's driver's licence physical, and a counsellor or psychologist that has previously been exposed to the world of magic. Mention that if he helps with both, he may be able to get some sort of finder's fee for the counselor. Finnigan immediately demands 2k for his troubles of pointing them to the right kind of counsellor. Feodor agrees, and learns of a reclusive Czech psychologist that was soul-bound by a dragon to never divulge his patient's secrets that has handled all manner of mental woes. Learns of a clinic that many 'unusual' individuals go to for their physicals.

[Titus has been queued to do the following:]
{T}-Mess around with his new, eleven thousand dollar Raiju pelt. Do some thinking/sketches on a mk.II. lightning gauntlet. Armored mittens, perhaps - depends on how the lightning is stored in the pelt, I suppose. If it's just constantly crackling away, this will require some finesse.
{T}-Glad as he is to have Satai helping him with the prototype, ask Armas if he can run this thing by Hamlet, see what the engineer thinks. Phrase it as 'sometimes even brilliant people need time to work on something else and let ideas percolate, to come back to an old job with new insights.'
{T}- Realize that Amen can appear at any time, and those tortured husks have to come from somewhere. And how well does he REALLY know the boss? A week from now, people could be saying, 'Hey, where did that Titus guy go?' while Amen and Armas just smile like shadows and secrets. Resolve to never be alone if one can help it. Follow others out of a room if necessary, just don't ever. Be. Alone.
{T}- Realize this is an absurd coping mechanism for psychosomatic stress and it wouldn't even protect him from a being of Amen's demonstrated power. Do it anyway, because it DOES make him feel better.

[Zhenya has been queued to do the following]
(Z)-Zhenya questions Lyubov about her being missing from dinner and night lessons, and receives a concealed carry holster from Lyu (talked in IRC)
(Z)-Zhenya is overjoyed and thanks Lyubov.
(Z)-After their conversation is over Zhenya tries to find Amen, not calling for him or anything, just seeing if she can find in the house. Oddly, he doesn't seem to be anywhere.
(Z)-With the remainder of her free time Zhenya heads out and has a walk through town to check out the street fairs and get some fresh air, using her new concealed carry holster(gingerly) to keep her H&K P7 K3 with her.

>>408044
Before I get up, before I move, before I do anything-
Shadowbro, ell me the Zosimus representative came by while I was sleeping and you handled the trade. We were supposed to make tens of millions of dollars last night, and instead I got incredible new magical powers and then had sex. Which was pretty awesome as days go, but it would be nice to have the money too." If he didn't cover for us, we'll need to set a new meeting time.
>"I wish. I was stuck in the Allview while it was built, same as you. You want me to ask them for a rescheduled meeting?"
Yes.
>"Right. …Okay, they're amenable to it, but won't have someone who can do the deal free until [i]Saturday morning at three AM. They also sound like we should make certain we attend this requested meeting, and do not snub them a second time.[/i]"
I… will try to remember that one and not get caught in a wizard's work. No promises.
>"Working very hard to keep your status as being perfectly truthful, aren't you."
I try.

>>408072
I don't bother getting up as Lyubov goes on automatic, doing just enough to wake herself she won't fall over on the run. As she pulls the door shut, so bleary-eyed she doesn't even notice I'm awake, I try to sort through the massive laundry list of things I want to do.

-First things first-I need to correct a mistake I made. I ask Sake to tell Lyubov to keep the eye's name to herself, knowing she's prone to playing with the weasel after wrapping up her morning routine. The message will be conveyed discreetly, and will happen before she has the time to chat with anyone. In retrospect, blithely telling her the name of a magic item… organ? not even sure how to classify that-anyway, if a wizard goes to the trouble of erasing a name from his mind to keep it on the down-low, I should PROBABLY make at least a token effort to keep it under wraps myself.
-Next, the first thing I actually spend any time on: I take the Allview out for another test drive, this time zooming in from low orbit to find the mansion in downtown Istanbul, and eventually track the streets until I find Camella and the rest out on their morning jog. I take the time to play around with the view, trying to get creative in what directions I look: Even if the eye lets me look wherever I want, I only get an eye's worth of visual input at any given time, so logically I'm going to want to learn to be efficient at picking up data-and hey, here's plenty of moving bodies to practice with. Sure, it's not all that much like tracking a foe that's trying to stay out of sight, but I need to start somewhere and this seems perfect.
-Half an hour in Dávgon knocks on the door. I finally get up and dressed, and listen to him report that the first batch of five Kodoku bugs is ready-and what's more, we just breached the thirty pot mark. Looks like it's a two-day cycle for a bug to reduce it's occupants to the lone, empowered victor. I give him the go-ahead to have the bugs put in stasis via Amen, at least until we have enough graduates I can actually try some of my more creative ideas for the jars. Two centipedes and three spiders-an unsurprising first batch of enriched critters.
-Knowing Sake's partial to her, I decide to ask SB if, in his opinion, we might want to edit those memories of the eye's name out of her mind. Yeah, the idea's a bit off to me, but if leaving that there could really fuck me over I need to know now before it gets even harder to do anything about. Lucky for me, seems SB doesn't think we need to worry-as is, there's little cause to think use of the eye will make people curious about it, and if no one's hunting for information on it, then the fact someone happens to know it's name but doesn't bring it up shouldn't be relevant. It's odd having him not advocate what I'd call the 'amoral but logical' approach, I decide to relax, and go with it.
-Thinking of her and no longer worrying over whether I might have to tamper with her mind, I recall that I still very much so do need to make up the missed date to her in the near future. Not sure when, or what kind of details might be involved, but since I already used the Chugainov card I have no more get out of jail cards in my deck. I'll have to keep my eye open for chances to square that away.
-With the Russians back at the mansion from their run, I spin the Allview up for some more practice, and start roaming the streets with my invisible gaze, looking at the lives and souls of the masses as they get on with their days. I slip down alleyways, zoom through walls, and in general get an immensely voyeuristic feel from my eye-still, it's easy to use and getting easier ever second. I don't doubt in a few days I'd probably be okay to use it mid-battle, rather than just to line up shots. The fact I can auto-orient the eye on myself makes it very handy for looking at things near me. Still, I need more than just a few hours practice to say I've really got a handle on how to use it deftly.
-I take some time after Sake's confirmed he passed the message to talk about some completely unrelated things with Lyubov over a pot of mandragora tea: specifically, contraceptives. Seems she had that all taken care of. Hooray, no errant mini-me godling to-be's running around. That's one potential worry gone. She doesn't smile outwardly, but her soul seemed amused when I asked. Now why would that be, I wonder?
-During said moment of magic tea, I offer her the chance to come up with some ideas of how she could be part of the parody-reality series I'll be running centered loosely around Blade, and explain what's happened so far. To say she's intrigued would make cats seem positively uninterested in any… okay, bad example. Point is she wants in.
-I keep studying Dmitrii's soul quirk to afford better teaching ability: I can discern what part of his soul the quirk is, but I have no idea how I could translate that to my hypercube'd soul. The entire base would need to be fundamentally different-and when I ask Dávgon, he says he's not that great at adapting one person's quirks to be viable for someone else. It's a bother-but if I want that quirk, I'm going to have to do some research of my own.
While the russians are still busy with lunch, I grab Dávgon and head for the sewers. I cash in my six-month token for NN time, designate Dávgon as my teacher, and after verifying I can't bring other people into the NN space as test subjects, since my teacher, spirit animal, soul shadow and myself can all suffice, We all step outside of time. It's a small room, or looks like one at least, and I immediately recognize it as being a primarily spiritual realm, given Shadowbro's standing just as solidly as he does in Allview, even if Hummingbird's not a giant like he is there. Interesting. Not wanting to waste our time, SB sets out to exhaustively start perusing the Doonongaes' memories while I work on picking up everything about Soul manipulation from Dávgon I can. Sure he's been at it much more than six months longer than I have-but I'm pretty sure my bloodline outclasses his by a lot, and so far I've been pretty quick to pick up soul tricks when I actually have teachers. Just like that, time seems to vanish as the lessons flow together, with only brief illuminating moments where the monotony of the training breaks.
>[Dávgon]"Interesting…"
"You'll have to elaborate."
>[Dávgon]"What's the first thing I pounded into your head about soulbinding, and why it's different from soul sculpting?"
"Soul Binding's permanent, soul sculpting isn't. ..Well, there are a couple circumstances where you can undo the outermost binding on something, but all the methods require quite a bit of work."
>[Dávgon]"But what about altering existing bindings?"
"Can't be done, as I recall."
>[Dávgon]"I had been rather confident in that assessment previously-but, apparantly, your bloodline is not bound to that. I do not know if it's just the Imperial portion, or it having combined with your divine nature, but you can edit bindings you yourself placed. You still can't remove them-but effectively you could make any binding into any other binding."
"So I'm not actually just layering a really, really thin binding on top of the previous one like we'd thought?"
>[Dávgon]"I've had a month to have that viewpoint violently torn from my grip-no, you are able to actually alter existing bindings. I had thought that exclusively the territory of gods, wizards and dragons-well, and skinwalkers."
"Should I take that as meaning showing this off would attract all sorts of attention?"
>[Dávgon]"Armas let's be frank-nearly all of your magic is like that: At this point I'd just stop worrying about it."
Can't argue that one. The lessons continue as I practice on Dávgon, watching him revert his soul each time I soul sculpt it, getting more accustomed to how to move soulstuff around. I practice on HB as well, happy to have such a disparate soul to work on, trying it both while he is and is not providing me with that improved focus of his, and even secure SB for a few test runs to practice with-eventually, I'm at the point I'm removing the soul sculpted changes I make myself. The lessons end with me able to Encourage the formation of whatever soul quirks are natural for a given person, for good or bad, repairing spiritual damage and removing spiritual curses, placing and editing soul bindings and temporarily inflating my own soul to boost a subsequent move's power in exchange for overstressing my spirit. More importantly, I now can recognize most basic forms of soul manipulation magic on sight, with SB feeding me the info on spell matrices to complement my soul sensing. Not bad at all. On the down side, SB notes that the Doonongaes memories are as jumbled as is possible, and the fact the thing lived for more than five thousand years means he didn't even get close to viewing it all, accelerated thought speed or no. He notes he'll just have to keep working on it as the Sometimes Merchant arrives to take us away. Best part: Learning from past experiences I went easy on the effort near the end to maximize how much magical energy I exited the NN space with.
-I take Lev aside and offer to help him with his problem, having finally heard enough about how worried people are for him I feel obliged to step in. I don't really listen to his sob story that has angst and fear of light and way too much intenseness on his part-so I slap him in the face, and while doing so, I apply a light binding to his soul to 'Stop doing stupid things'. Since it's bound to my definition of what's stupid, at the very least he will be less personally irritating. I'm confident the binding will do him no harm-I can recognize the signs of an overpressurized spirit mass at this point, seeing as Dávgon forced me to overload a few in our last practice
-Before everyone's gone from their afternoon break, I pull Camella and Matvey aside to tell them about Chugainov's neutering, and remind them that while they can certainly contact family now, that they really shouldn't share anything Chugainov doesn't already know, as nothing's stopping him from still tapping phones. Matvey looks more in need of a drink than a sober Duke.
-On that note: Duke barges through the front doors with a scowl on his face, and proceeds to complain about some 'stupid wussy german who used stupid wussy body doubles'. Turns out he and Rocco, via Gianni, hit a total of twenty one different hideouts and killed a total of forty eight possible Endmans-and the guy was confirmed as arriving in a Mongolian airport an hour ago. He led them on a merry chase, and escaped without a scratch. Duke's pissed-but before I can worry about what he's going to do, Vlad just chucks a few bottles of pepper and meat infused vodka at the man. And just like that he's happy as a clam. Okay, yes: The fact Endman got away sucks, but there's not much I can do about it. Not like I'm a conceptual teleporter or anything.
-While I hold another all-afternoon training session with Gianni, once more acting as funnel to his techniques to literally absorb his methods, I lay out Abloec's advice for Dávgon, who promptly fills up a few sheets of loose paper with notes on my recollection. Eventually he snaps the tome shut, turns away from the kodoku jar he'd finished, and gets back to molding the golem's soul seed: this time, I've seen enough soul manipulation to recognize he's reinforcing the seed's connection to the divine parts of the golems' body, and in turn connecting that more firmly to the slivers of wholly alien-feeling energy within the mountain of flesh. He doesn't even need to explain-this time I can just see how that'll mean any built desire-to-action bits of spiritual programming will take better. Great… I still need to get people to start piloting this thing so it gets a rudimentary control system going. …I also need to actually move this project forward. You know, at some point, so it's actually usable.
-After Satai mentions having talked with a certain one-armed Vampire I'd invited over, I give the kid a call and explain I've got him some 'how to be a vampire' lessons with the Zosimus clan. When I explain just who's going to be catching him up on all things vampiric, he seems less hesitant than I expected: good. He says he'll call me when he thinks he actually understands the world he is now part of-and until then, he won't bother me. That's…. rather considerate of him.
-After checking with Satai, who's been working his way through a backlog of articles on magical happenings, he mentions how most political events of import happen at known landmarks, while most battles happen in the sewers (or deeper) or on the bosphorus. I find myself entirely unsurprised by these tendencies. What does surprise me is the existence of a Devil-run pawn shop where, yes, people can actually pawn off their souls. …A devil that could sell souls, huh? Well…. I could make use of that, I think. Her name's Bolletta, and her shop's Last Chance. I'll need to check that out some time.
-I talk with SB in the evening to get a sense for just how far he is from actually having enough of the Doony's mind mapped out we could look at selling memories. He notes with how extensive the memories are it'll be weeks at best-he just can't sort through that many memories any faster. I wonder, at that point, if I might want to invest in something that'd aid him mind decoding. There's got to be juicy secrets hidden in those millennia of memories.
-I spend the twilight hours having another chat with Silja, a choice moment of which sticks out boldly in my mind.
>[Silja]"That Note writer had something he wanted me to give you."
"Oh?"
>[Silja]"Yes… oh, how did he say to do this? ...Hhnn!"
The rifle in my hands twitches and flexes as if I were tickling her.
"Silja?"
>[Silja]"I think I've… almost.. there-"
A slip of paper simply slips out from the grain of her forestock, oddly feeling as if she'd shed it directly from her heart. I pick up the note… and read.

Hello again, Armas Laine.

I feel I must congratulate you-I wonder, have I already doomed myself to be taken as insincere with my prior notes? I suppose that's up to you. Within the same day you saved the lives of the two highest ranking Mafia members in Istanbul, freed the first War Walker from Nazi control to date, talked the Owner into changing his mind, and now have made excellent headway on getting connected with the Turkish Vampire Clans. I do admit I am a bit curious why you would do this after having had some back and forth with Oggmum, but truly that is naught but a personal quibble and in no appreciable way detracts from your accomplishments. Well done: You are starting to match your social standing to the magical standing you are able to claim. I hope this is largely because you recognize having more power than influence or more influence than power are tenuous positions to hold-though ambitious greed is an entirely functional motivator.

Compliments aside, I wonder if you know how highly Silja thinks of you-that she thinks of you as her guide to her second life-perhaps you grasp that she holds such views, but the scale of them-that, I think, you rarely dwell on. A poor woman standing outside of time, the entire world alien to her-and all she has are you and I-and truthfully there is no real way I could measure up to you in her eyes. I speak with her as much as I am able-but there is only so much simple words can do for someone imprisoned so. Given your higher standing in her eyes than, well, anyone but a very different Armas, and the resultant trust she places in your actions, I would suggest expediting the process to free her-but you seem to have set yourself some rather stringent requirements on that avenue, ones I can't exactly object to and still have any hope of truthfully claiming I have her best interests at heart. Nevertheless, it is my belief that you still could do more-if only you were to prioritize her rebirth more highly. To that end, I have a proposal. I am currently one of a presumably select number of individuals capable of knowing why you had two perfectly blank Bloodlines that, as you no doubt noticed, were decidedly easy to customize and activate. I am, as such, fully capable of telling you why you had them, how they came to be like that, and other secrets some would call juicy. If this interests you, you merely need to inform Silja of such, and I'll be certain to find out-though I must note helping her finish getting out of her shell in the literal sense is very much a requisite for me to 'pay up'. As previously implied, my motivation here is her condition, moreso than yours.

On an altogether different train of thought-I caution you against going near the Bosphorus. While it is not yet widely known, the Shen that had moved and appeared to leave is very much so intending to stay until it's resolved a certain bit of business-namely, exacting revenge for the death of a friend it considered a little brother. Would you like to guess who that friend was? I would hope you already know, given your roll in orchestrating their death. Shen, like Doonongaes, Hekatonkheires, Giants and many others, are decidely poorly documented, eclipsed as they are by the Draconic species. This is often the source of doom for quite a few explorers-as, to take the example of a Shen, these creatures are in no way inferior threats to Dragons. What is a Shen, you may then ask? Well, as common lore goes, it can indeed be succinctly referenced as a 'Water Dragon', but the differences are rather critical. A Shen only has two fields of magic under it's control-the realms of Flesh and Water. Arguably, Shens are more talented fleshcrafters than Dragons-indeed, one might even put them in the same category as Skin Walkers in this regard-and Shens similarly outclass Dragons in the field of Water Manipulation. Sadly for them, they can never expand those fields, or gain new Bloodlines as Dragons are wont to do-and as such, are oft assigned a lesser level of threat-a gross miscalculation, given a Shen thinks nothing of the effort it takes to crush an entire city beneath a single, all-consuming tidal wave. The only good news I can give you about your new non-admirer, is that Shen cannot travel more than one league from any source of flowing water-so I would disreccommend any fishing trips you may have been pondering.

A non sequitor given your current concerns and the prior topics of this note, I know, but please do humor me: Do you know how Weres first came to be? As it happens, users of living beings as Spirit Animals that chose to delve deeper into their bond, and managed to bind their animal to mind, body and soul underwent a form of fusion-and gave birth to the original weres that founded each of the different tribes. In fact, the only alternative method for founding a Were tribe would be to acquire a Contract from a Wizard, God or other higher power to forcibly become totemically connected to a specific animal. Well, that's not perfectly accurate-one could replicate evolution by coupling two were families who's personal animalistic specializations are, respectively, contributing ancestors to the desired were form. By this, I mean that one could make a new canine were tribe by replicating the breeding process that made the actual dog breed, and this replication would create a were family with the were form of the given animal. An esoteric detail commonly of little use and poorly understood in modern times, but still rather interesting in my mind, and worthy of note. I hope you shall reflect on it as you move forward with that fowl you have under your care-origins are frequently far more important than one may wish when moving forward.

Best of luck with the War Walker.

A Note Writer


….That fucking guy.

I decide to sleep on it.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11TH, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $1,180,085.04
BUSINESS FUNDS: $2,699,347.00
CASH: $6,320.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 50%
WINTER ENERGY: 103/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50

I wake up with a prompt dose of Brain Coffee when I hear Amen speaking to me.
>[Amen]"Master, this one must note there is a guest: Placid Savant seems to wish to speak with you, but most certainly does not wish to enter the premesis."

I glance at the clock. It's three AM. …Well, nothing for it. I throw on some clothes and head to the door, finding Placid, still taking the form of the wiry miner, waiting for me. It looks…. odd. I can't be sure but it almost l looks-
>[PS]"Erratic and unpredicatable noises have been noted in the apartment procured for my use: I have deemed it necessary for me to have company while I slumber to prevent agitation. Will you provide yourself for this function?"

Is…. is Placid saying it's scared to sleep alone?

That's….
>"I'll say it-that's creepily adorable."
Yeah….








So what do I say to the fretting monster on my doorstep?
And what's my plan for the day?
>>
No. 408152 ID: af38b0

You should give a name to each of our five Kodoku champions (and any that comes after that) then when we have all of our champion's fight you should give a title to the victor.
>>
No. 408277 ID: b32055

Well, this is an opportunity that can't be missed. Ask Amen for an unmodified skin flake that Camella has shed inside the mansion (people continually do so, after all). Then ask Placid to assume the form of a young girl modelled on a hybrid of Camella and your self. Then, hold Placid's hand and take some photographs. They may come in handy one day. Then, call ahead to a nice hotel and book a room for tr rest of the night. Spin some sob story of some kind of flood or mini-disaster that has left you and your daughter homeless for the night.

Consider it practice for when you have children of your own.

When you both wake up again spend some of the day with Placid discussing Fleshcrafting, and what tricks it has with it. Specifically, mention the Shadowpockets idea and ask for assistance in implementing it. Do not mention why you want to make the pockets. Then take Placid on a tour of Istanbul, and buy it/her some icecream. It might be interesting to visit the magical merchants and ask them if they know a supplier of magical ice-cream, at the insect shop, look into the prices for buying some prey for HB. He might enjoy catching and eating flying magical insects. At some point in the day, teach Placid how to Smile.

Use the World Eye to take a look at the island the Owner pointed you at.

Some time also needs to be spent thinking of your personal situation. Note Writer just went on at length about how important you are to Silja, and so you need to think about what she is to you. She's been your closest companion and is probably your most trusted confidante, and you really should do the right thing by her. On top of that, of two cannibal women you know, she is by far the most friendly, after all, and so is one of the few who can properly understand that side of you. There is also Camella, who you've been treating rather poorly recently. She just indefinitely postponed a date with the Owner, which can't have been an easy choice, so you should probably take her out to dinner yourself to give her an opportunity to talk to you about it if she wants. After all, she's meant to be your friend, and you haven't been a particularly good one recently. If she's interested in following Duke's path, perhaps it would be worthwhile mentioning our new found ability to encourage the formation of soul quirks. We have also started the plan "fuck Savoy's mother", and if we want to have any chance of success we may want to be circumspect in our personal dealings to appear as a suitable and available , i.e. unattached partner. Between Allview and our knowledge of the attention based goblin stealth arts, we have an enormous amount to offer them, and so they may be amenable to a more permanent partnership. Recognition of our Royal status may be helpful, and the Savoys would make ideal members of the Blood Heart, particularly if SB is included. Imagine one Savoy teleporting ahead as a scout and herald, and then SB shadowporting the rest of the company through the teleporter's shadow. With this potential, it's worth a little temporary sacrifice and modifying our behaviour to appear suitable.
>>
No. 408278 ID: b83c65

>So what do I say to the fretting monster on my doorstep?

Smile to yourself and chuckle. Grab a blankie - you have one, I know you do - and a pillow.
Walk to your war walker ward and smile as you yawn. "Having trouble sleeping, huh?" Whatever is hanswer, wrap the blankie around him. "Well," Yawn. "Lets go back home, ok?" Take his hand, and walk back to Placid's house. "So...some scary noises, or did you need a night light on?"

>>408255
SUST. The only good idea here is going out with Placid for Ice Cream and sight see.
>>
No. 408283 ID: bbcca7

>>408278
Upvote. When at Placids appartment, don't go to sleep immediately. Give him a bedtime story. I'd prefer something that cautions him about wizards, but I've got no title with that content. Puss in Boots may be an alternative, but slightly scary story. I don't think Placid is in the right mood currently for a scary story.

On the Kodoku bugs, take a look at them with soul sensing. If they aren't already strongly souled, set a jar aside and put a bit of magical meat inside when you fill it with bugs.

For Silja, check with SB and Sake if teaching her fleshcrafting might be possible.
>>
No. 408356 ID: 4117e0

>>408277
(+1) Ademendum: Take Silja with us to the Hotel (or Mafia safehouse if we prefer) when we take Placid Savant, make sure to wrap her and try to project a soul-guise on her of 'walking staff'. We might also want to have a 'Man who needs a walking staff' soul-guise too on us. Even if Silja doesn't want to talk to Placid Savant, it would be good for her to see how, in some ways, she is just a lost little kid learning what it is to be a being. Silja... is one of our link to humanity, and someone who responds and trust us, shomehow. It would be good to have her commenting on PS, and giving advice on how to bring her up.

[EXPERIMENTATION]
If Armas feels confident upon his ability to edit his binding, he should edit his current binding to 'only recover winter energy on Friday', and then switch that tomorrow for 'Saturday', and so on. This, I must stress, is ONLY if Armas feels he could edit such a command. Talk to SB/Sake if they want similar binding on their bloodlines (no summer bloodline, as it could be explosive) [EXPERIMENTATION]

>Soul Quirk for Camella
We don't know if giving Soul Quirks to Camella might prevent her from gaining her transcendant state though. Go bug Duke and talk to him about it. If it's a problem because we are a godling, try to see if we can use SB as a sieve to not let the godling bit go through (ask SB/Dávgon). If we do make a soul quirk for Camella, do not forget to use HB to increase our boost, and THINK about Camella- we know her like very, very few do, and that should help us bring out her potential. Likewise, talking to her beforehand about what kind of soul quirk she would wish to have (make sure to tell her that it would only help her develop one that she has a affinity for, and we can't quite choose it yet) may help us focus on those characteristic of hers she wants to enhance. If we need to try and convince her to let us do this, we might mention that "Soul abilities that have to do with -others- usually gain, at least to my experience, a rather sizable advantage from knowing the other person, and as such i feel i am more able than Dávgon to help you out. Furthermore, Hummingbird here is what you could hope to be if you were born of his magnificent species, so that could help, too."

>Troll plan for Camella
If Armas is able to give soul quirks to Camella, he should consider the following troll plan: Make as many great soul quirk as possible for Camella, trying as much as we can to focus and be methodical about them until we know her enough and we have experience enough to choose what soul quirks she will grow. Then make her grow a “Savory Flower” soul quirks (most likely a charisma based one that makes her delicious). Bonus point if Armas learn to do body quirks, and do the same for those in parallels.

>Soul Quirks for gimpy.
If we can't find a way to give Camella soul quirks without barring her from transcendance, or if she just refuse us to help her, then we can ask the same for Gimpy. The lad is driven and ambitious- he should accept.

[EXPERIMENTATION] When trying to help people grow soul quirk, Armas should edit his current binding so that he can have maximum proficiency toward this. Maybe “Restricted to only souls sense 'target x apart from myself'”, that is then edited into “Restricted to only help grow soul quirk on 'person X'” when we have a optimal idea of how that person's soul work. If we want a different track, we could instead try “Restricted to being methodical when growing soul quirk on 'target X' during fridays”, because Armas might lack method. [EXPERIMENTATION]

>ARENA.
Armas has quite a bit of money currently, and this means a nice multiplier factor if he goes to the Arena. He should go there, rmeembers all of his soul manip practice he did recently (too abd SB couldn't improve his fleshcrafting any), and try to see how it could apply to using HB more effectively in battle. There has been so many skills since Armas learned since he last fought seriously in battle with a melee weapon, and World eye, Gyaketsuote, Shoddy step, Shadow step, the 'everything step', our better understanding of soul manipulation and chakra, are things we should put into practice.. and gain money.

>TAX
Hey, Lyubov keeps bugging us about our tax..and she is right. Still, she KEEPS BUGGING US. Who cares about her being right, let's make that appointment and ask her to get to it, as she is so concerned about it.

>LYUBOV
Also, Armas should think about his relationship with Lyubov- there is so many plans goign right now, different relationships for different reasons in our head, and fucking around with Lyubov might have been needed, but it also needs clarification. We can't tell her we want to marry her, as not only are we her boss, but a serious relationship with someone as fragile as she is currently is begging for BAD THINGS to happen to her. We don't want that. Armas should make sure she is aware this relationship can't be serious, but he really DOES find her manipulations and troll funny, so as long as he has no reason not to, he should ask her if she doesn't mind being his friend with interest.

>Pre-emptively upvoting
Idea to try to sell partial access to world-eye to Whaitiri as a work-around healing for her eyes in exchange for a MASSIVE boon, as well as a way to try and convince her to help us find soul manipulation teachers for healing her completely.
>>
No. 408436 ID: 6616f3

Meet up with Duke. To give a pretext for the convo... pull up in a van, pick Duke up, and head out to the store. We're going to buy two-gallon canning jars; dozens of them. Some we'll fill with vodka and various fruits - let them alone for 3 months or so, and the vodka will take on the flavor of whichever fruit is placed inside it. Others will be for various canning experiments vis a vis other alcohols (holy, spirit, magic, other), hearts, whatever we feel like sticking in there.

While we're doing this, have a little conversation with the man.

"Thank you for the effort on finding Endman. No one could say you and Rocco didn't give it a hell of a try."

"So, what've you been up to? Bored? I'm afraid I can't really think of who else is in your league that I have access to except for the new addition, and I'm still trying to make sense of that one... I suppose Camella, Hillevi, Big Crazy, Davgon and I might be able to give you some kind of workout if we all came at you together..." It would be a nice chance for the five of us to work out some strategies utilizing our various talents against a superior foe.

"What were the Endman clones like? Flesh golems like Gianni's, magical homunculus/simulacra/whatevers, illusions, actual technological clones, something else?"

"I heard Camella was picking your brain for becoming a Transcendent, how is that usually achieved?"

"See, I just today learned how to... hm... encourage the soul to develop whatever quirks would come naturally, but quickly. I assume you're long past the point of needing any such thing, but her and the rest..." Speaking of, can we still not see Duke's soul? Maybe by switching to our soul sensing chakra and restricting our own binding to focusing exclusively on Li Kui? Studying his own soul quirks would probably help us a lot.

"Oh, so divine help is a big problem for reaching a true Transcendent state, that is a problem... I don't suppose using my non-godly shadow brother as a sieve to work through the way I do between Gianni and his own project...?"
>>
No. 408441 ID: 448d82

>>408277

Upvote for additional daww and considering the standing of things is important for Armas.
Plenty of time to think while watching over's Placid's sleep (If we are not attacked by Ninjas). Ah, Armas might aswell take Silja with him, someone to talk to and useful in a pinch.

One of the main rationales for Placid having a child as "base" form is because in many ways it is a child.

It being visually so will aid humans in humanizing it.
Armas should run his thoughts by the council of head voice (HB, SB, etc...).

*EDIT*
>>408356
Upvote but...

SUST the Lyubov part, Not that Armas shouldn't think about Lyubov, but we don't need to tell her anything yet. Planning first, dealings later. For now, perhaps a step back, Armas should consider what he is getting into, and the effect on the company it has. It is after all a bit like sleeping with the secretary. Though... our official relationship should probably be saved for political or power reasons, cold as that may be, such is a curse of power. Getting her a spirit animal would probably help with her squishiness, come to think of it, getting all the Russians spirit animals would make them stronger.

>Experiment?
Oh and for the winter regen binding, make sure to edit it back to non-binding binding state once we are full.
>>
No. 408783 ID: 4117e0

>>408356
Addendum:
>If we want a different track, we could instead try “Restricted to being methodical when growing soul quirk on 'target X' during fridays”, because Armas might lack method.
The wording here might be pretty bad, because not only should it not really increase method beyond a very weak conditional "being methodical when", but it also gives two keys as to the 'when', which may need two bindings which is just stupid as Armas only has one current non-binding binding, and we shouldn't add more. "Being restricted to only be methodical on Friday" should work much better. Or, if we want to [EXPERIMENTATION] a bit, we could do "Being restricted to only be methodical on the eleventh of a month" and try to see if that binding is 'stronger' than the weekly one. Likewise, “Restricted to only souls sense 'target x apart from myself'” should maybe be “Restricted to only soul sense “Person X and myself” if it threatens to need another binding.

All binding edits should be done with Armas mindful of the binding, and feeling how strong they are. He should have learned that having too many bindings slow soul growth, and he should try to quantify how the different binding constrain his soul growth. It is a good idea for Armas to learn how to use the least strong binding possible for what he wants, if the wording of the restriction truly strengthen the binding and slow his soul growth by a notifiable amount
>>
No. 408809 ID: 01cf26

>>408441
Upvote for all this including the upvote.

Slight alteration to inqurys is when asking about bindings:

1. What language would be best to use for the binding?

2.Furthermore would it be beneficial to make the same binding 3 times in 3 different languages?

3.Would this invoke the rule of the rule of 3? and if so could there be conciseness to Unbinding them?
>>
No. 408841 ID: 9718f3

Soul binding proposals:
We should suggest to SB that we could edit his binding to take advantage of the fact that he can't use his summer line in the material world. Maybe something like "Can only use his Winter bloodline to affect material objects." Up to him what tweaks he'd want on it, but should give him a small boost. And, of course, if he doesn't like it, we can change it whenever!

We should bind our soul senses to "Only detect Li Kui's soul" Hopefully restricting our spiritual senses to a single entity, and using its Name in the binding, is enough for us to get a glimpse at Duke's soul


>>408277
Upvote in general. Except the Smile. Placid shouldn't be creepy.

"Of course Placid, whenever you need me. I'll do even better, just for tonight, since the noises at that apartment are disturbing you, we'll sleep somewhere else." "No, not Amen. We'll go to a hotel. It's like a home you purchase the right to use for a limited time. Although, hmm... it would attract attention if you went in that form. Try something else, something that wouldn't attract attention, a child maybe. Yes, that would be a good cover. A father with his child."

>>408356
Upvotes:
>Experimentation
See if you can also bind yourself to recover soul energy only on "February 11th" with only the single binding, should see even better energy regen.
>Taxes
My god, all my upvotes. You can delegate the grunt work if need be, but phoning the tax guy is your job.
>Lyubov
I agree with making sure Lyubov understands she's a friend with whom he enjoys sexy benefits, and that he's not looking for a romance, or exclusivity.

Downvotes:
>Bringing Silja
She's scared of Skin Walkers, I don't want to push her on this issue without cute stories to share of Placid first.
>>
No. 408893 ID: b83c65

>[Andrei has done the following:]
>A< First things first, thank Sake for helping with the 'solid food' thing. Offer to eat with him.
>A< When Camella's training starts, begin whistling the fourth E above middle C - or any frequency in the 2600 hertz range.
>A< Whistle the same notes when training with Ito. Also, apologize for Wednesday. Explain that he meant 'Is it possible to remove someone's chakra points/nodes, and if it's possible to replace existing chakra nodes/points with someone else's'.
>A< Andrei takes lunch at Ismael Kebapcısı. Damn, that's good food. Banter with fellow eaters, and then mid-day relaxation at Turkish Baths, and more banter/getting the rust off face-to-face social skills.
>A< Back to the FUTURE! To The FUTURE Shop, that is. Andrei looking to just talk, for now. Information on magi-tech computers and what to look for and all.
>A< Forgo sightseeing today. Instead, Andrei returns to the mansion and get on hacking into his old computer. The VNC - the remote desktop control protocol - should still be working, so Andrei should be able to pick up whatever programs were on the old rig, and seed it with some very subtle key loggers.
>A< Ito's Midnight Training.
>>
No. 409009 ID: 252e1b

[UPVOTES AND DOWNVOTES]

>>408152
(+) Only name the bugs if you understand their nature, otherwise you could be giving them names that are contrary to what they're developing into.

>>408277
(-) Placid wasn't capable of extrapolating and adjusting appearances a couple of days ago. Unless he's had more practice while we left him to his own devices, he's not going to be able to accomplish the look like Armas and Camella's kid task. Also this is an incredibly creepy thing to do without telling Camella, doubly so because there's some romantic interest there, possibly. If you have to pursue this plan get Camella's permission first. She'll be up in an hour anyway, with the rest of the household. Also, I don't think we need to go to a hotel. Why would we? We've got a safehouse right there that's fine.
(+) Taking Placid out for the day, and (+) Using the World Eye to take a look at the island the Owner pointed you at are both fine though. It might be a good idea to bring another person with you, possibly Hillevi or Gloom. Gloom being forced to interact with Placid would be hilarious, as would giving Gloom magic ice cream.
(+) Spend time thinking about your friends and potential allies. Nothing wrong with that.

>>408278
(+) I agree that we should indulge Placid's request. >>408283 mentioned a bedtime story, which is also a good idea.
Possibly it'd be worthwhile to bring someone else along as well, just to establish that Armas isn't being a creep with Placid.

>>408356
(-) Don't bring Silja to meet Placid yet. She is afraid of him, and we'd just lose ground with her forcing the issue.
(+) Yes, deal with the tax issue before you end up in court or something.
(-) Don't give away access to ALLVIEW yet. Let's keep this eye thing a secret.
(0) Whatever you say to Lyubov, this is probably important enough to merit actual dialogue with her.

>>408436
(-) Don't suggest a group spar against Duke, the man has a hard time restraining himself. You only want people who can't die going up against him.

ARMAS ORDERS
~You've been doing the "responsible boss" thing to make Dávgon think Einrik overstated your flaws. You can still have fun with that though. Go talk to your minions, announce the Chakra Tournament at the end of the month, and that it will be a measure of prowess at integrating chakra techniques with general unarmed fighting. "The winner will get a boon of some sort, anything that's not unreasonable or insanely expensive, as according to me. Since the families are all taken care of, I'm expecting you guys to ask for something creative. If you're hurting for ideas, come talk to me. I'll make time."
~Give Some Name, your encantado contact, a call and shoot the shit about the shem. Ask what the scoop on Kazadora is too, you know precious little about your enemy.
~Try talking Placid into the house again. Argue, "You'll be in a house with a bunch of people, and will never have to be all alone. You'll be able to talk to them, and play games with them, and we'll be able to study things together. Right now most of us are studying chakra. Also, you'll be able to play video games. Those are pretty fun."
"Amen is bound to not harm you, thanks to bindings I had him make on himself. Since he's bound, and since he did the binding, he literally can't disobey."
"Well, I learned how to do a new kind of binding. If you want, I could help you get around your reticence to go inside. It's not required, and I think you could get over your fear off going into Amen with just some emotional support, but I wanted to let you know the option is on the table."
"Yeah, I can do re-writable binds. I could put it on you, then blank it when you're ready to try on your own without the bind's help."
~Make sure you catch Satai and tell him about the blood trade. Give him permission to sell no more than 100 barrels of blood. Have him find out the market rate, but you can guess it's somewhere around $3 million per 50 gallon barrel given the prices of the stuff you were being offered in the MD auction.
>>
No. 409017 ID: 201fd7

Head over the to the safehouse, check under the bed.

PLacid day trip is a good idea. Upvoting,

other than that spend some time working with gianni on the golem, mention that you should have the three hearts this weekend, it'd be nice if the arms could be installed before that. Also Make ABSOLUTELY sure you're present for the vamp meeting.
>>
No. 409036 ID: 2afffb

Try putting soul guises on other people during the lessons. Make Zhenya look like a fire. Make Iosef look like a shadow. Make Camella look like a flower. Make Andrei look like a computer. Make everyone look naked.
>>
No. 409049 ID: 421737

>>408278
Yes treat Placid as scared kid, comfort and reassure. Placid should look like kid.

>>408356
This is good but for the rudeness to Lyubov. Do not talk in such a way, it is rude. Making love to a woman and then say such things is not fair.

Do not lose Word of Gold, make appointment to take Lyubov to dinner Monday night at the dragon restaurant.

>>408783
Offer binding to Russians, to help with fears.

Find Adelat and trick her to break contract. Time to make the soul and body the property of Armas.
>>
No. 409156 ID: 421737

>>409049
Also to be done is the tax man. Make calls, get things finished. Do not be them http://www.fastupfront.com/blog/business/40-celebrity-tax-evaders/
>>
No. 409189 ID: 01cf26

Sorry for the double post but sense i haven't seen anyone mention it:

Find out what noises/things are bugging PS.
>>
No. 409192 ID: b83c65

>>409156
Armas, holy fuck, The Bandit skipped paying taxes!
>>
No. 409270 ID: aa8dbe

I would suggest that IF we bring Placid anywhere near Silja, we make him a little boy instead of a girl. Last thing we want to add to her pure fear of Placid is jealousy and thinking s/he's trying to take Armas away from her. Besides, a female Placid is all we need along with Lyubov,Silja, and Cammy gunning for Armas. Better to have Placid think of us as a big brother(maybe father? Our command did help give birth to his personality) than anything that could.. shift.

I agree with Lyubov simply staying as a friend, but we should be polite and respectful. Go on the date as promised, but try to stem any chance she tries to progress it. As others had said, she's our subordinate and not that strong. Would only cause trouble if enemies found out.

As for the lovely Kodoku? get 27 champions from the mass Kodoku. Create one last pyramid where three champs fight each other in 9 separate Jars. When one in each jar is left, group them into three, continue until we reach the THREE remaining champions. For this jar, the final jar, make it big with plenty of fodder bugs and the three final champions. The big fight should be the final push and the rule o three may also help them some more. Of course, we MUST video tape this final bug battle. Maybe have the minions take bets. A fun day for all!
>>
No. 409311 ID: 252e1b

>>409009

ARMAS ORDERS: ADDENDUM
~After lessons with Lyubov, get in more dual orientation practice of your own today.
~Practice what the Old Lady taught about mental defenses and work to make it into a useful orientation.
~Ask Camella to provide an objective opinion of your current progress with the Old Lady orientation.

>>408117
>Put a soul binding on Lev without getting his explicit consent
That's pretty much a capital offense if someone notices, gets Lev to explain, and you can't argue your way out of dragon court. You have to do this shit the right way, Lev and the others are all going to be out in public at various junctures. Armas, you have to stop fucking up like this. First the Allview thing with Lyubov, now this? What's next?

Well in this case the damage is done. You need to get Lev to agree to a soul binding, knowing what it is, so that if someone else notices and asks he can say "Yes I gave permission for that."
>>
No. 409361 ID: 162511

Grisha has been queued to do the following:
(Γ)-Jogging times after shower, hm.
(Γ)-During breakfast she plans out which Businesses to call and visit today,
(Γ)-Chakra training with Camella as usual, Grisha attempts to focus on the stiff feeling and holding it at a reasonable level, at least over the hours of the day...
(Γ)-Ito job times, considering their reactions it only really hurts for a few seconds, and no injuries occur, pain is a decent motivation, and makes success sweeter.
(Γ)-Sayes after work to the other russians, "So, how is everyone?" Listens to responses.
(Γ)-After lunch, she goes to a hardware store and orders a small bench drill-press ($1000 at most, price is generally $200-$500) to be delivered at the mansion, and also buys a set of decent-quality metal-boring drillbits ranging from 0.5mm to 4mm in diameter.
(Γ)-She calls Amen, and askes him if he can replicate transparent non-toxic flesh-like materials for the testing of bullet penetration, as she is thinking of doing tests in the future.
(Γ)-Decides to find Vlad, and describes what she is thinking of making to him, and asks for any advice he could give, and if he wants to come and test the prototype rounds when they are done.
(Γ)-Ito Night lessons again, why don't the vampires react at all to pain? Don't they feel their bodies properly?
>>
No. 409382 ID: 673c63

>>408277
Addendum. This isn't a full day, and Armas needs to keep productive. Revising what the Old Chakra Lady taught is sensible, and it's probably also a good idea to talk to Dávgon on the subject of mental defences. We know from how he could revert his sculpted soul on his own whilst training that he has some form of internal soul manipulatin work around, so he may well be able to assist with a soul based method. In combination with what you were previously taught this may be enough. It may also we worth consulting with HB about whether it's worth using The technique Amen showed us to form an orientation from the memories of the morning we spent learning this. We want to check first whether it would compromise our ability to develop a better version later. This should take the rest of the day. If not, we should get little girl Placid talking about what she can do with magic - preferably in front of someone else for added comedy value.

>>408356
Upvote experimentation and generally.

>>409009
* SUST the chakra tournament. It just rubs the fact that a couple of the Russians are getting special training in their faces, and compounds that by then pretending it's a fair way to give out a prize. Even worse, basing it on hand ro hand makes it even clearer it's rigged, given how few of Russians specialise in that. The fact that Dmitri has bought chakra skill so would be the best at that but may well lose at HtH makes this an even greater mockery.
* SUST trying to make Placid come inside. It's too soon.
* Also SUST suggesting further bindings of Placid. Remember the reason that it's with us is our offer to investigate removing its bindings.

>>409049
Don't make a date with and, certainly not at the dragon restaurant. Firstly, it's not a place to take mundanes to (Camella doesn't count) and second we didn't specify which date we'd take her out, just the day of the week. It could be delayed virtually indefinitely.

>>409270
As I didn't mention it in the original post, the reason to have Placid become a little girl rather than boy is because f the differing social expectations and inherant cultural role they have. Boys are expected to be naughty children, and then be punished for it, whilst girls are expected to be generally better behaved. Conversely, girls are also often treated more sensitively and given more slack emotionally.

Gloom Order
*G* as he's been doing for the last week, continue dedicating free time to chakra training in the mirror setup suggested by Camella, occassionally imitating Armas, Camella and Ito whilst doing so. Seek further advice from Camella as appropriate.
>>
No. 409397 ID: 7472ad

You know, you should really talk to Camella about that debt of hers. She's probably aware by now, but he's enough of a slippery jerk that if he included that bit, he sure as hell intends to collect. But the wording means that if Lo Fang dies before the deal is concluded, she gets his soul. Now, she doesn't have the ability to manipulate souls as far as we know, so we should ask about officially getting the rights to be able to collect for her, provided we make sure to inform her we've done so. No way she'd agree to let us have his soul, but making sure we can collect it for her would be nice.

Lo Fang is a tricky bastard. Given Camella is tied up training Russians, she probably won't be able to pay it off soon, and we know he's going to try and collect. We need to do something about that. But he's also pretty damn strong. A threat, but one we probably aren't strong/smart enough to take out on our own. You know who's been helpful to you? The Redcaps. But they're vicious little monsters. Not the kind of things you can really trust. At least, not without a deal. Let's make a deal. We're extraordinarily delicious, aren't we? And we regenerate. So, Let's pay them in our Heart's Blood every month for the following: They can't act against us, they can't trade, give away, or leave our blood lying about, they can't use our blood to discern our secrets and trade or give away those, and we get a favor every month(this month's is killing Lo Fang). Throw in a clause that if we our payment lapses, all the conditions other then the favor stay for one month, during which we can catch up on the missed payment, adding in an extra portion of blood as a latefee. If after a month we haven't payed up, the deal simply ends.

This month's favor, as said, is to kill Lo Fang. They bring us with, drop us nearby, they kill Lo Fang, bring us to his now dead self, we collect the soul and body(if it still exists), and then they take us back to the mansion. Clear the entirety of this with them first. Don't want them taking off at just kill Lo Fang, and then his soul does whatever back-upplan he has. Cause he will have one. On that note, make sure to have as much winter energy as possible when we do this. Take the body somewhere minions won't see, and eat it. We've done very little actual cannabilism, and that probably hasn't helped our relationship with Whaitiri. Plus, Lo Fang's chakra nodes are probably delicious and will give our chakra a bigger boost.
>>
No. 409409 ID: 4117e0

>>409397
Upvoting this. Make sure you have a “Nazi elite” Soul guise, and that you fleshcrafted yourself into looking like a Nazi. Too bad we never saw Endman, or we could pretend to be one of his body doubles- try to get a glimps of one with Allview if possible, and then fleshcraft/soulguise into that. Also, Don't forget to look out for who is where at the Docks with Allview if the place isn't too heavily warded. It should be possible to maximize the entry/leaving. The goal here is to kill Lo Fang, grab his soul and body, and run away, all this while leaving everyone thinking it was NOT Armas Laine. Last thing: pumping the red caps full of blood for them to be at full power might be needed.

Make sure Camella agrees to let you play courrier for the soul. We may need to ask Amen for another glass jar if we don't want to take Lo Fang's soul within our eye (though I guess Now it's less dangerous). For convincing Camella, I think we just need to tell her about what we suspect Lo Fang of doing to the hobbos attacking at the dock (soul collection), as well as what he did to the dead disciple during Reaper attack. Tell her he will attempt to kill her, and probably already attempted to mind control most of the company- including ourself, her, and Ito. Incidentally, we found a bug at Ito's. Tell her that souls in the sun gets destroyed, and that most souls get eaten/destroyed after a short while, so it should be actually be safer for him to be brought back to her.

>>408356
Second Addendum:
If both Gimpy and Camella are unavailable for soul quirk growing, make the rounds around the mansion for other people. Begin by high-magic ones. When Armas is doing any such things that demans a high focus, it might be a good idea to edit HB's nonbinding binding to something like “Can only use his spirit animal power to improve Armas' concentration power” or “Can only share his focus with Armas on Friday's” and so on. This type of binding has the added benefit to not slow Armas soul growth.

>>409009
>~You've been doing the "responsible boss" thing to make Dávgon think Einrik overstated your flaws. You can still have fun with that though. Go talk to your minions, announce the Chakra Tournament at the end of the month, and that it will be a measure of prowess at integrating chakra techniques with general unarmed fighting. "The winner will get a boon of some sort, anything that's not unreasonable or insanely expensive, as according to me. Since the families are all taken care of, I'm expecting you guys to ask for something creative. If you're hurting for ideas, come talk to me. I'll make time."
SUST for obvious reasons (not everyone in the company has the same training time, and the test itself is extremely skewed toward HtH specialists).

>Do not lose Word of Gold, make appointment to take Lyubov to dinner Monday night at the dragon restaurant.
Promise was to take Lyubov on a date a Wednesday, not any other time. Monday is no good. SUST.
>>
No. 409429 ID: a8c88a

>>409397
Try to make the wording in the deal with Camella so that Armas is allowed to use the soul until he gives it to her. Do not agree to the redcap deal to kill Lo Fang if the redcaps demand significant amounts of additional payment (for example if they demands a hundred barrels of blood or more) unless you manage to get the right to indefinite use of Lo Fangs soul.
>>
No. 409458 ID: 76c597

I like the tournament idea, but let’s tweak it a bit.

First, the timing. Right now, the Russians are motivated to not die. Once they learn Reinforcement properly the impetus is gone. Getting a prize (like, say, able to check out a particular gun whenever you like) would keep their hand in.

Second, the type of matches. No matter what format we choose, somebody’s going to be disappointed. Satai would loath a hand-to-hand tournament; Vlad would probably kill himself and others in a driving challenge; Gloom would lock himself in his mirror room more than usual at the mere hint of a beard-growing contest; when playing the quiet game, Lyubov stands no chance unless her mouth is otherwise occupied (by, say, Armas); in a battle of wits, Lev competes unarmed. So the trick is that each match of the tournament can be different – as long as both competitors agree on the terms. Failing that, it defaults to a wilderness survival/paintball match.
>>
No. 409464 ID: dfc57c

How about taking the cue from dueling for the tournament? One gets to decide the weapon, the other the time and place. Random draw, for example a coin toss, decides who gets which. Winner of the draw gets weapon or type of the contest first, loser gets to choose place and time second.

It's fair in giving each an equal chance to choose his or her favorite venue for the competition. Its challenging in that one has to plan for both possibilities. And a bad choice of weapons or a good choice of place and time can flip the supposed advantage.
>>
No. 409469 ID: dc34ef

>>409397
Two thought, it might be an idea if we can have Amen make temporary Nazinaut disguise charms for the Redcaps, that last, say 10 minutes. Also, I don't think we want to eat Lo Fang's brain. That's much too valuable.
>>
No. 409489 ID: 9718f3

>>409397
If we're going to kill Lo Fang today, we should call Mr. Jung to tell him it will be safe to come back to Istanbul. We should also call Oggmum shortly after Lo Fang is taken care of, to let her know he wont be a threat to Lambombard's health any longer.
>>
No. 409509 ID: c6ce12

Matvey
[Past]
-Confirm you're willing to do Camella's 'homework' assignments. Be sure you have no idea what you're in for.
-Continue plying your new soul quirk to build up investment in chakra and try to pull ahead of the pack. Hope it gets easier with Camella's training
-Hear Titus screaming about everything being people, look distressedly at your stylish wardrobe, frown. Ponder what this means for other things, like the chairs, the beds, and... oh god what about the toiletries?
-Start purchasing your own personal goods.
-Go out and pruchase some decidely nice threads not wrought from the flesh of the damned for your wardrobe, ask Davgon if he would like to come along. Shudder at the thought of someone like Nikifor trying to teach him how mundane people dress. End up shopping in Mavi Jeans and Lilipud Boutique, acquire a full wardrobe for your self at $2,500. Help Davgon pick out clothing to his tastes, whatever those may be.
-Introduce self to Big Crazy. Chat a bit, seeing as how you only know about him from reports. Ask if he's been to Ito's yet, when he says he hasn't offer to show him around as it's an important facility the company utilizes. Introduce him to Ito, see how they get along.
-Get around to requisitioning a small pet from the magical pet shop for Titus through Satai to ease his mental anguish at the thought of being alone. Acquire magical chameleon with therapeutic properties ($5,000). Arrange for it to be given to Titus with a manual for how to care for it.
-Here the news about Chugainov, and it's implication one of your friends was just killed, suppress the urge to drink until you can get your job done.
-Get together with Camella and gather the Russians to announce the news as soon as possible. Announce to them that their families are now safe as Chugainov as both a proverbial and at any moment literal knife to his throat. Caution that everyone should take care when communicating with them as wiretaps are still a risk.
-Grab bottles from the stock of booze that gets delivered to the house, bring them in after the night lessons, and drink with Ito. Share a knowing look when he sees there are no snacks or merriment, continue drinking, eventually explain your self. Feel better about the situation afterwords.

[Present]
Attempt to ignore hangover.

Armas: There is something I would like to muse and consult our brothers on. But there may be a simple solution sitting under our nose. We're dreadfully unclear on the capabilities of our brother's Shadowmere. A simple answer to the question of if he can use it on a pile of the Doonongaes' flesh and feed it directly as a tribute to Whaitiri, which we could in turn claim a boon from would suffice. If he can't proceed to ponder whether or not you could use your newly acquired cannibalistic fleshcrafting in combination with your warped digestive tract to feed Whaitiri directly as the mere does. It would make sense if it were possible or for Whaitiri to have even given us knowledge of this specifically to further benefit from us. Ask your brothers, either way don't act on any of these plans, just attempt to answer the basic question. When we have an answer we can begin work in earnest on a proper tributary ritual to feed her and to hopefully mend the relations slightly damaged by past direct dealings.

>>408152
Upvoting because why not? Here are some names for the bugs, they're mostly Turkish words, but they should suffice.
Centipedes:
savaşçı-warrior
kılmak-render
Spiders:
avcı-hunter
tuzakçı-trapper
çatışma-strider

>>408277
Upvote.

>>408356
Upvoting these experiments.

>>408436
Upvoting and while we talk to Duke I'd like to ask him if he could get us an introduction with some of the other Heavenly Spirits, he either has some means of contacting them or has been looking for the past month. It would be nice to get some pointers from experienced godlings. I'd name Yan Qing, Wu Yong, Gongsun Shen, or Dai Zong as my top choices. It's a good thing the teachers skilled in what Armas wants are the survivable type, so at least some of them should still be kicking around.

>>409036
Sure, why not? Upvote.

>>409311
Upvoting this order addendum, just that part.

>>409397
Upvote

>>409458
Upvote
>>
No. 409535 ID: 252e1b

LYUBOV ORDERS
Friday, February 11th

L*~Lyubov looked up Gackt, bought a selection of his albums ($50), and listened to them with Sake. She will discuss both Gackt, and the luck powers that Phone Guy says Sake’s been using (she wants to know if Sake can suppress it when making prank calls).
L*~ Lyubov will engage in her Morning Routine, talk with Sake a bit, and engage in chakra lessons with Camella as usual.
L*~After her instructor period at Ito’s is over, Lyubov will talk to Hyougo about what she thought of Gackt’s music (pretty cool) and ask for other suggestions about Japanese culture. She’ll mention what Sake thought as well, and that he’s the one who taught her Japanese, but won’t mention how he taught her nor that he’s not a human. If asked, she’ll say, “Oh he hasn’t been in Japan in awhile, and he’s a lot older than me.”
L*~Lyubov will arrange through Oyak Securities to send $10,000 home to her mother, Svetlana. She will also make some purchases (thermal scope ($2000), small head mounted display suitable for Sake ($250), a stunt kite ($50), and some items for a prank ($250).
L*~Lyubov will ask Hillevi for a chakra chiller, and will contact that driving school Iskander suggested to get them to sign off on her having been in attendance for the past month ($450). Then she’ll head to her Night Lessons, and ask Feodor about the clinic for the physical.
L*~Lyubov will try to talk to Phone Guy tonight, mostly to ask permission to make prank calls with Sake again, provided Sake doesn’t use his luck powers and they limit themselves to no more than four hours a week. She’ll argue that they will use phone cards with less time on them to be sure that they don’t go over the agreed amount of time. She will also ask if Phone Guy monitors just the phones, or if he’s concerned about what goes on on the internet as well. Then she’ll ask why he tolerates 4chan.
>>
No. 409564 ID: cf00bf

Feodor Orders

*Go through normal morning routine: Shower, Sake, Shower, Jog, Shower, Camella's Chakra, Shower, Ito's Chakra, Shower. Shower.
*After hearing about the family situation from Matvey, tell him about the counsellor, with the suggestion that all the Russians go at least once. Have him get $2000 from the company account to pay Finnegan for the tip. Think about calling mother, but don't.
*Go to Night Classes. When she asks, tell Lyubov about the clinic, and offer to go with her out of curiosity. Be reminded of what Amen said about destroying blood, and tell her. See how Iosef's feeling after winning the “fight”. If he's happy, consider it a success.
*Bring the money to Finnegan, and work for the rest of the night.
>>
No. 409629 ID: 431fa8

Satai Orders Backlog

February 02
-Chakra training with Camella, focusing mostly on practice, and with Hillevi, focusing on theory as well.
-Sniper training. Ask Hillevi some more questions about elemental manipulation.
-Satai is highly concerned by family matters. Armas, Matvey, and Camella cannot be relied upon to solve the situation. Nor can Lyubov, who is up to something but untrustworthy. Fortunately, Satai has a large bank account and a job that requires buying things, so there's an easy way to attack the problem.
-Talk to the Last Spelling about getting old news. Purchase detailed news back issues for the last year and highlights from the two years before that for $130,000 company funds.
-Ask if the Last Spelling can recommend a supernatural tour guide to Istanbul or similar. They offer a meeting with one of their information broker for $10,000. After brief negotiation, get the broker's drop box address for free.
-Meet with Johan Straus, the demonologist gunsmith, inquiring after weapon enchantments. After some discussion of options and showing Johan a clip of his enchantments in action against the Doonongaes, purchase 1 enchanted L129A1 suppressor, 2 enchanted MSG90-A2 suppressors, and 1 enchanted M107A1 suppressor for $20,000, 60 7.62x51 NATO rounds and 20 .50 BMG rounds enchanted for silence[/color] for $20,000, have 4 kilos of C4 saturated with demonic energies for $18,000, 2 enchanted anti-tank grenades for $12,000. The items will be available for pickup on the 7th. Satai asks after contact information for other supernatural dealers and learns of an enchanted armor merchant in the Istanbul bazaar, a magic electronics salesman in the Istanbul bazaar, and a German bloodliner enchanter Johan describes as the best.
-Email the German bloodliner Astrid. Inquire after the cost and availability of an armor-piercing enchantment for a M107A1 and the possibility of a much large project if she's interested.
-Spend the evening reading through back issues of the Last Spelling, trying to identify as many locations, groups, and individuals as possible and build profiles on them. Both mentally and physically, as Satai will begin putting together literal physical files with information he has on all supernaturally active groups he knows about.


February 03
-Get a call from Johan, advising Satai to watch out for 'People too stupid to know where the boundary between human and demonic is'. Satai thanks him for the warning and says he'll let Johan know if he encounters anyone of the sort. Passed along warning and request for information to Titus and the sniper group, including Hillevi.
-Chakra training with Camella and Hillevi, as usual.
-Sniper training. Discuss crystal magic with Hillevi.
-Meet with the enchanted gear merchant Quilton Vajajra. After some discussion of available goods, Satai tests out a sixty-pound shield charm and confirms that he could carry it all day easily thanks to chakra superpowers. Find that incredibly cool. Satai purchases 10 kinetic shield charms, 10 wyld goblin stealth cloaks, 3 sets of runfast boots, and 1 leader charm for 40 blade charms, 15 arrow charms, and $30,000. Items will be available for pickup in five days. Seek additional supernatural contacts and learn that Finnigan has healing stuff.
-Go to the magical electronics store run by Slim Seller, and be somewhat unnerved by how easily mundane security measures are defeated by magical tech- and how expensive it is to get defenses against it. While discussing options, mention that he'd heard of a disk with mutating code on it and find Slim Seller abruptly turn nervous and cease being helpful. Barely manage to exploit Slim Seller's desire to get Satai to leave to get the address of a woven-goods shop run by a minotaur bartender that is open only erratically.
-Get called by Armas to meet with Dávgon, Sake, and Shadowbro to discuss the golem. Witness golem; holy fuck. Realize shortly thereafter that Armas is spending millions of dollars or equivalent in services/materials to build a giant killer toy, but it's a toy that will draw a lot of fire and Satai might have a little bit of fondness for extravagant, deadly toys himself. Proceed to design discussion; after a great deal of talking hash out options for secondary mechanical movement systems, secondary and tertiary mundane control systems, and running a power plant off a triple-phoenix heart energy core.
-Talk to Dàvgon afterward for several hours about how souls work, spirit animals, soul quirks, and soul manipulation in general. Learn that Australia is the best place to find natural spirit animals that Dàvgon knows of. Learn that Dàvgon thinks his tribe might be able to extract the Russians' families, but he can't talk to them anymore. Get a warning that near-death experiences when heavy issues are weighing on the mind can cause serious nightmares, if seeking chakra enhancement. After some consideration, decide to ignore warning due to current sleepless lifestyle. Ask Dàvgon to observe and assist with that tomorrow.
-Seek advice from Dàvgon on how Satai's soul is built in order to hopefully exploit the "know thyself" advice floating around. Dàvgon advises Satai that his soul is very hierarchical, and using memory and focusing techniques would probably work out very well for him. He recommends establishing a mental "chakra methodology" tree and says the results should be fairly dramatic.


February 04
-With Hillevi and Dàvgon's assistance, undergo a near-death experience in the morning. It's far from pleasant.
-Chakra training with Camella and then with Hillevi. Try to attempt memory technique untrained, envisioning a sapling, as young as Satai's knowledge of chakra is young, within his mind with each part of it linked to something he knows. chakra seems absurdly easy today whether trying to use that or not- it's difficult to tell if the memory technique even matters, since there was an expected power boost masking it.
-Sniper training. Topic of the day is different types of supernatural creatures.
-Learn from Dmitrii about his trade with the goblins. Talk with him about the extent of what exactly he can do- upon discovering that he has a chakra orientation for synergy with goblinic stealth charms, inform him that one of the goblin stealth cloaks will be earmarked for him when they're picked up. After realizing that Dmitrii sold part of his memory or self or something, conclude that the goblins' existence should probably be kept quiet to avoid rash trades on the part of foolish or drunk company members. Satai resolves not to touch the goblins unless he's desperate; trading is meant to be in money and goods, not parts of people.
-Spend time online looking up memory enhancement techniques in general. Test them out by learning facts from Last Spelling back issues as the project to learn about the supernatural world of Istanbul continues. After several long hours, be uncertain if it's the attempts at mentally linking facts to images or that he just read all this information that's letting him recall it well.
-Drop by to see Ironhead and make a substantial arms order. Purchase for pickup on the 9th:
6000 12 gauge slug ($0.57/round base) for $3,078
6000 12 gauge 00 buckshot ($0.70/round base) for $3,780
200 Frag-12 HE ($50/round base) for $9,000
200 Frag-12 HE-FRAG ($50/round base) for $9,000
200 Frag-12 HEAP ($50/round base) for $9,000
30 HE 60mm Mortar ($500/round base) for $13,500
40 40x53mm Grenade ($50/round base) for $1,800
6000 .50 BMG ($2.25/round base) for $12,150
-And from the mafia, purchase for pickup on the 10th:
500 FN 5.7×28mm ($0.42/round base) for $273
500 .32 ACP ($0.20/round base) for $130
500 9x18mm Makarov ($0.20/round base) for $130
500 9x39mm ($2.00/round base) for $1,300
6000 .45 Long Colt ($0.60/round base) for $4,680
6000 .454 Casull ($0.89/round base) for $6,942
5 RPG-32 Launcher ($500/ea base) for $3,250
30 105mm Thermobaric Rocket ($300/ea base) for $11,700
500 23mm Barrikada Slug ($6/round base) for $3,900
300 23mm Shrapnel-25 Shot ($7/round base) for $2,730
100 23mm Zvezda Flashbang ($12/round base) for $1,560
100 23mm Cheremukha-7M CN Gas ($16/round base) for $2,080
60 73mm OG-9VM1 FRAG-HE ($50/round base) for $3,900
-Encounter one-armed vampire, Bagga, in the mansion come the evening, as he was apparently dragooned by Armas. He looks very young; Satai inquires as to if he's joined the company and mentions that if so, then as quartermaster he'll need to see him properly equipped. Descriptions of available supplies take a sharp turn for awkward when the kid asks if anything is available to not let him burn in the sun, or possibly normal food that doesn't taste like ash. Satai recovers by offering healing for his arm; calls Hillevi and asks if she can fix vampires. She recommends Gianni. Satai calls Gianni and makes an appointment for the 5th, citing the vampire as an Armas-backed member of the golem project in an attempt to dodge the need to pay for the fleshcrafting.
-Ask Bagga for any supernatural contacts he has; the only one he seems to know is the old woman vampire, who has been dispensing occasional advice and knows a hell of a lot. She thinks he's a member of a wood manipulation clan that grows parasitic plants, but doesn't have its name or any details.
-Talk with Titus at night while tweaking his gauntlet. Mention recent purchases and the increasing feasibility of being able to at least attempt a successful extraction of their families on their own. It would be foolish to move before being well-prepared, but preparations shouldn't take too much longer.


February 05
-Chakra training with Camella, trying to make his mental sapling function. With a better perspective on his current abilities after yesterday, continue focusing on his imaginary mental sapling, meticulously putting different parts of it .
-Chakra training with Hillevi, still trying for the mind tree. Hear Lyubov talking to Hillevi about being in a movie during class. After Lyubov is long gone and it's safe to talk, ask Hillevi what's going on. Watch Blade video; be amused. Get curious upon noticing that Hillevi was in a sundress in the video, but Blade definitely wasn't reacting to her that way- illusion charms not working on camera comes out.
-Ask Hillevi if she followed up on the Blade thing, or if that was a one-time deal. Hillevi expresses an interest in having more fun with it, and the two of them lay plans. Satai modifies some of Hillevi's clothes to include strategically mounted mini-cams.
-Sniper training. Topic of the day is even more supernatural creatures.
-Read more back issues of the Last Spelling while attempting to build mental structures as memory aids according to online instruction. Discover that the mansion's former owner was a vampire spymaster; ask Amen for any intelligence records. Be informed that they were all destroyed upon Smets' death. Ask if Amen knows the clan of the vampire Satai was speaking to last night; be informed that he was of the Gorenzen clan, powerful parasitic wood manipulators based in eastern Turkey.
-Meet with Gianni and stoically put up with some bad touching thanks to the "how to deal with Gianni effectively" advice of certain mafia friends: "He's like the nasty old aunt when you were a kid who wanted to kiss you but would give you a fifty thousand lira note if you let her, only he's not related to you and with groping and magical boosts". Mind of steel, Satai, mind of steel.
-Get a fairly badass arm for Bagga- for free, no less. Note that Bagga seems very happy and impressed by Satai; feel glad that Good Has Been Done Here by strengthening the company and cheering up a kid (who happens to be a bloodsucking monster but you can't win them all). Mention that he did some checking and learned about the Gorenzen as vampiric parasitic wood manipulators, so that's Bagga's clan.


February 06
-Chakra training with Camella and Hillevi, working on the mind tree. Grow somewhat frustrated by the end of it because there don't really seem to be any results from this after three days.
-Sniper training. Topic of the day is random stories, told by anyone.
-Talk to Dàvgon and Hillevi about the value of repeated near-death experiences, since the first seems to have resulted in a clear and substantial improvement. They say it can help, but different methods should be used each time to properly 'season' the soul.
-Dwell on how surreal life seems these days. Stimulants and study drugs before training to sharpen the mind, Sake's helpful rubs afterward to eliminate side effects restore vigor, Hillevi's invigoration between the two to bridge the rest of the day; Satai wonders how long it'll be before he sleeps again. Sometimes the mind tree seems almost as real as the real world, even though it's purely imaginary.
-Speaking of that, ask Dàvgon why the tree isn't working. Describe method and be told that to make that work one has to use an existing tree that's important to them, not create a new one. Dàvgon seems baffled at the fact that Satai has no important trees in his life.
-Attempt to recoup time losses spent looking into memory techniques by trying to use a more standard memory palace technique and other image linking menomics instead. Satai uses his grandfather's workshop in Irkutsk as the centerpiece of his mental memory reference, since that has an emotional connection.


February 07
-Large battle which the minions miss out on most of, but at least Satai saw a skinwalker and a dragon. That's nice. It's particularly nice that he was pleasantly far from both of them.
-Receive reply from Astrid and subsequently exchange a series of emails. Astrid can easily enchant the light fifty. Satai asks if she can provide any method of retreiving many people separated by thousands of miles and she says she can enchant something to teleport them to the item, but a blood sample from them or a family member or for the target to have touched the item will be needed. Also, she'll need a seidis shard or similarly optimal base for soul magic to enchant, and will charge three million dollars. Satai is nevertheless ecstatic and says he'll look into locating a shard and get back to her.
-Help out the mafia most of the day. Be slightly sad that several of his mafia friends have died, although some are still around. Inquire if they'll hold any kind of funeral services, and offers to grieve with them Russian style by drinking vodka until they can't stand.
-Pick up weapon order from Johan Straus. Curse the fact that they would have been damned handy to have in the huge battle.
-Party at the party. Break out drugs for everyone. Get the full story on what happened from Hillevi.
-Ask after a seidis shard from Dàvgon, Hillevi, Sake, and Duke, trying to figure out what it is and where one could be acquired. No joy; none of them know similar items or a cost of less than a million dollars. The company account can't cover that even if Satai was willing to drain it all for the summoning pad project.
-Pull Titus aside and mention the summoning pad project, as well as the fact that the gear should be in soon- while they might have been initially able to move out right after the gear came, with the pad on the table Satai is inclined to delay at least a bit. It shouldn't be too impossible to scrape up millions of dollars. Learn that Titus had a horrifying experience with Amen and that apparently everything in the house is made of people. Be unnerved and uncertain how literal Titus is, but resolve to start looking into alternate housing.


February 08
-Another near-death experience, this time by a careful and deliberate drug overdose. Satai self-facilitates and Dàvgon and Hillevi observe, while Sake heals him afterward.
-Training with Camella. Drug-assisted focus and work on making the workshop into a usable reference; once again, things seem easy but Satai doesn't trust that since he just got a power boost.
-Titus inquires if he can sit in on lessons with Hillevi. Satai is surprised, since he was pretty sure that Titus was still doing Ito during the time that Satai normally gets lessons from Hillevi, but since Titus is a pretty great guy he has no objection as long as Hillevi doesn't mind.
-Sniping training. Topic of the day is whatever things in the magical world Hillevi has been told is ridiculously dangerous, since Satai had never heard of a skinwalker before yesterday.
-Send M107A1 to Astrid via troll delivery on her recommendation, paying $50,000 for enchantment and $1000 for transport. Estimated transport, enchantment, and return time of six days.
-Pick up gear order from Quilton Vajajra. Mix in shopping with Hillevi since she just got a pile of money and didn't seem to have anywhere to spend it. She purchases a number of crystals for enchanting purposes and a high-tier fire protection charm.
-Now that magical gear is on hand, it's time to have fun. Satai acts as cameraman using wyld goblin cloak and runfast boots while she terrorizes Blade and his entire gang by proxy for shits and giggles. Good times are had; Satai is pleased to make Hillevi laugh since she's helping him out so much.
-Read more back issues of Last Spelling, taking notes on people mentioned both on paper and trying to use memorization tricks as Dàvgon recommended. Lyubov shows up to be a pest, but it turns out that she actually has some useful information. Satai gets everything he can out of her, learning about the Phone Guy, Cookie Lady, and the existence of a magic bar, gets some in-company gossip, and then has her leave.
-Talk to Sake in an effort to learn more about divine magic. Bribe him by offering to upgrade his backpack with mounted cameras and provide some airdroppable minicams and microphones. Also offer to get a bunch of those electric hand-buzzer prank toys and strip out all the buzzers for Sake's abuse. Faced with an ecstatic weasel, learn a hell of a lot about divine magic, how prayer works and how it affects gods and other divine types, Armas' nature as a godling and what that means, and other sundry facts from Sake's view of divinity.
-Upon asking if Sake has any questions, be informed that there's an ensouled ferret who leads a pack of mind rats that Satai would probably like to meet. Learn what mind rats are, then promptly set meeting for early tomorrow afternoon after having a chance to pick up a mental protection charm; Sake recommends using one until Satai's soul is stronger than the leading ferret's.
-After mention that Sake would have to act as a translator, Satai wonders if he could learn to speak weasel so as to avoid needing Sake as a common point of contact; Sake tells him that is impossible as his human throat can't make the right squeaks. After a brief contemplation of whether Gianni can expand one's vocal range, he flinches back from that concept and wonders what the hell he's thinking. Get a mind download to understand muscalid anyway.
-Frustrated by lack of money, ask Amen if he can make a seidis shard or equivalent for enchanting purposes. Answer: Yes, given one infant. Be simultaneously horrified and tempted by how easy that would be. Be certain that stealing a baby, or several babies, would be relatively easy. Question if family is worth it.
-Ask after saleable assests Amen has that no one in the house has seen or spoken of. Get a swift recitation, mostly "organic engines" and "industrial organ-clusters". Ask what they are. Find out.
-Abort work, leave the house immediately, and use drugs and whores to the point of distraction. Be desperately glad not to need to worry about nightmares.


February 09
-Go early to speak with Andrei about this soul wound Lyubov mentioned. Try to talk him into letting it be excised, since that's the counsel from the professional (Dàvgon). After that's done, tell him about Slim Seller and describe the store, requesting that he visit it and see about purchasing ways to sweep for bugs and detect/disrupt phone taps. Warns him against mentioning the mutating code disk or Satai to avoid alienating Slim Seller.
-Training with Camella and Hillevi, still working at that memory room.
-Sniping training, topic of the day being magical items and what Hillevi knows about them.
-Visit Quilton Vajajra, asking after mental protection charms. All he carries are Shielding Charms that protect against mental attacks- and Satai doesn't want to carry around sixty pounds of weight to protect against a secondary attack form. Be pointed to the goblins as a reputable source for more compact options.
-With some trepidation, visit the goblins. Manage to enter negotiations and gain 1 continuous lesser mental shielding charmand $87,500 for 7 Javelin launchers and 15 Javelin missiles.
-Meet with Sake and go see Moe the ferret. Observe some serious wiggling, and be faintly amused by seeing Sake play the cantankerous elder. After some discussion and negotiation, purchase a bowl of rat shit for a five-dollar box of super balls and two two-dollar slinkies.
-Wonder how life came to this, add tobasco sauce, chow down.
-Drain $45,000 from bank accounts accessed through stolen memories into personal account, bouncing them through bank accounts linked to disposable ID's. Be intimidated by the $250,000 figure on the last account remembered, as well as the fact that its address of record is in a Turkish military area.
-Check with Andrei and Camella to spot-check for people who know about money laundering; no one does, so split the account's contents 50/50 with the mafia in exchange for their assistance ensuring that Satai isn't linked to the cash in any way.
-Pick up arms shipment from Old Ironhead.
-Get caught by Armas and end up talking to him. Focus on the news Armas might find interesting to avoid going into other topics when the man who can talk circles around anyone might be able to find out what he's up to. Mention a couple stores and organizations he's discovered and find that Armas apparently discovered a few stores of his own in turn- shocking.
-Grit teeth and talk to Amen again. Discover the value of the organ-clusters is in the range of several million dollars; more than enough to cover the seidis shard and enchantment from Astrid, no infant sacrifice necessary. Decide it's worth selling it, even if it will probably piss off Armas to lose his instant clothing torture device. Prepare to ask Armas for authorization to trade a bunch of Amen's custom organs that none of them have ever seen or (personally) used in exchange for a magical item that would let them teleport in people from anywhere as long as they've got their blood or that of a family member, hoping he can phrase it so Armas says yes without looking too closely. Silently curses that he needs authorization from Armas to sell Amen's possessions.
-Wait around all evening reading back issues of the Last Spelling and writing notes/trying to memorize them until Armas shows up at the mansion- but Armas doesn't seem to show, until late at night when by the time Satai notices him he's already having loud sex with Lyubov. Interrupting that wouldn't go over well, so Satai resolves to wait for the morning.


February 10
-Training with Camella, with more attempts at building the memory room. Plan to catch Armas at lunch to sell the organ-clusters- only to be informed by Matvey that Chugainov has been forced to back off. Scrap the plan in light of the news, call family instead.
-Send grandfather $80,000 for his family in Irkutsk, grateful that his grandfather has politely decided to avoid pressing him with awkward questions. Upon discovering that grandfather's health is failing, urge him to take a vacation to Istanbul as soon as possible. Hopes that his younger sisters can convince the cantankerous old man to give in.
-Send older sister in St. Petersburg $20,000 as an apology for not letting her know her brother was alive, and the fact that Chugainov ruined most of her university career and recovering it would take at least until next semester if it can be done at all. Tell her that if she comes to Istanbul he'll explain everything. She's not busy, so she says she'll catch a flight over soon and plan on staying at least a couple weeks.
-Training with Hillevi, full of happiness. Tell her about what happened with Chugainov in case she didn't know, mentions that he might get to see his sister soon and that would be wonderful. Even in Satai's mind his grandfather's workshop seems bright and cheerful, and everything seems to come easily today.
-Sniping. Still cannot stop smiling, and Satai normally doesn't do much of that. Converses with the others about family, since that's on his mind.
-Pick up arms shipment from the mafia. Wonder how much of a discount we could get ordering from them these days.
-Have a cheerful evening working on drone toys all night. Trying to get the payload up on these rotordrones. Also makes good on promise to Sake to get him tons of minicams and microphones, as well as electro-buzzers.
-Talk to Bagga when he comes by very late (well, early) about his first experiences under his new tutor. Apparently his vampiric bloodline is Ibruhem, some kind of kinetic energy manipulators. Satai concludes that Amen is probably a lying fuck and feels very glad he didn't go through with his plan. Chat briefly with Bagga about how his arm worked out (incredibly deadly) and remind him that as the company's only vampire, he defaults to the job of our social pointman and informant amongst all vampires that he meets. Requests that he mind our reputation and gather intelligence when he can, then report it back.


February 11
-Have a third near-death experience by stabbing an artery and bleeding out. Satai self-facilitates, Dàvgon and Hillevi observe, and Sake heals him afterward.
-Chakra training with Camella and Hillevi. With a death right behind him, things are easy today once again- although the memory room seems to be helping a fair bit, too.
-Sniping training. Topic is famous people or artifacts in the magical world, as Hillevi knows them.
-Spends some time reflecting on the last few days and decides that there are a few questions he has which are worth braving a conversation with Armas. Contemplating murdering infants and selling the mutated forms of dozens of people is pretty fucked up. Inquire after what, exactly, company moral policy is on things like that- Camella gave him a funny look for laundering money, for crying out loud, and Armas is strolling around in torturewear.
-After a brief and rather frank conversation with Armas, have belief that Armas doesn't give a shit about the life or comfort of others reaffirmed and feel confident that the corporate policy handbook reads "seek power over all else" on the morality page.
-At least Armas is a much more pleasant monster to work for than Chugainov was. Satai thanks him for saving his family, tells him that we can still get the summoning pad for $4,000,000, and goes back to work.
-Work in this case is calling up Gianni and seeing if he has some time to talk about the principles of fleshcrafting, grafts, and body modification through supernatural means. Learn as much as possible if he's willing to share it and add some new notes to the file.
-Read more of the Last Spelling's back issues and take more notes.
>>
No. 409631 ID: 431fa8

ARMAS ORDERS SUMMARY
Suggestions dissected and sorted by topic with upvotes and downvotes listed. Topics listed in rough order of votes. Suggestion incompatibilities listed but do not account for the time constraints in a single day. Where one suggestion is listed as subordinate to another suggestion, it is a modification or addition to that suggestion. It is noted that summaries are meant to be references for analysis purposes, not substitutes for reading the actual post, and the posts in question should still be referenced.


Suggestions Regarding Placid Savant
Mutually incompatible suggestions or those working at cross-purposes are colored to match one another and have been placed adjacent where possible. Suggestions regarding a similar topic have been grouped where possible.

>>408277
(+4) Have Placid turn into a child that looks like Armas and Camella's daughter using skin samples from each.
-SUST >>408278
-Upvote >>408356
-Upvote >>408441
-Upvote >>408809
-Upvote >>408841; see dialogue suggestion
-SUST >>409009; if this must happen, get Camella's permission.
-Upvote >>409509

>>409270
-(0) IF we bring Silja anywhere near Placid, make him a little boy instead of a little girl.
-SUST >>409382

>>408441
-(+2) Remember that Placid should have a child base form because it is a child in many ways; discuss with headvoices.
-Upvote >>408809

>>408278
(+5) Return to Placid's house with it. Treat it like a child.
-(+2) Upvote >>408283; read a bedtime story.
--(+1) Upvote >>409009; bring someone else along.
-(+1) Upvote >>409017; check under the bed.
-Upvote >>409049

>>408277
(+4) Go with Placid to a hotel for the night.
-SUST >>408278
-(+1) Upvote >>408356; bring Silja along concealed under soul guise so that she can offer advice on Placid's emotional upbringing.
--Upvote >>408441; bring Silja.
---Upvote >>408809
---SUST >>408841; bringing Silja specifically downvoted
---SUST >>409009; bringing Silja specifically downvoted
-Upvote >>408841; see dialogue suggestion
-Upvote >>409509

>>409009
-(0) Attempt to argue Placid into the house.
-SUST >>409382

>>409189
-(+1) Find out what noises/things are bothering Placid Savant.

>>409009
-(0) Offer to lay bindings on Placid to help it get over its fears.
-SUST >>409382

>>408277
(+9) Go on a tour of Istanbul with Placid later today. Buy ice cream.
-Upvote >>408278
-Upvote >>408356
-Upvote >>408441
-Upvote >>408809
-Upvote >>408841
-(+1) Upvote >>409009; bring Hillevi or Gloom along.
-Upvote >>409017
-Upvote >>409509

>>408277
(+5) Discuss fleshcrafting with Placid, including the shadow pockets idea.
-SUST >>408278
-Upvote >>408356
-Upvote >>408441
-Upvote >>408809
-Upvote >>408841
-Upvote >>409509

>>408277
(+3) Teach Placid how to Smile.
-SUST >>408278
-Upvote >>408356
-Upvote >>408441
-Upvote >>408809
-SUST >>408841
-Upvote >>409509

>>409382
-(+1) Get little girl Placid to talk about what she can do with magic in front of someone else for the humor value.


Suggestions Regarding the World Eye
All suggestions are mutually compatible.

>>408277
(+6) Use the World Eye to look at the island the Owner brought up.
-SUST >>408278
-Upvote >>408356
-Upvote >>408441
-Upvote >>408809
-Upvote >>408841
-Upvote >>409009
-Upvote >>409509

>>408356
(+4) Sell partial access to the World Eye to Whaitiri in exchange for a massive boon.
-Upvote >>408441
-Upvote >>408809
-SUST >>409009
-Upvote >>409049
-Upvote >>409382


Suggestions Regarding Taxes
All suggestions are mutually compatible.

>>408356
(+6) Call the tax guy.
-Upvote >>408441
-Upvote >>408841
-Upvote >>409009
-Upvote >>409049
-Upvote >>409382

>>408356
(+3) Assign Lyubov to handle our taxes for us, after calling the tax guy.
-SUST >>408441
-Upvote >>408841
-Upvote >>409049
-Upvote >>409382


Suggestion Regarding the Arena

>>408356
(+5) Go to the arena and bet tons of money on ourselves for cash.
-Upvote >>408441
-Upvote >>408809
-Upvote >>409049
-Upvote >>409382


Suggestions Regarding a Conversation with Duke
All suggestions are mutually compatible. Note that under Suggestions Regarding Soul Quirks, Duke's input is requested in such a way that there is some overlap here; it may be prudent to simply put this immediately prior to that and it is listed before it for that reason in spite of having much lower upvotes overall.

>>408436
(+2) Take Duke on a trip to buy cans for making flavored alcohol as an excuse to talk with him.
-Upvote >>409509

>>408436
(+2) Talk about Endman with Duke.
-Upvote >>409509

>>408436
(+1) Offer to spar with Duke, him vs. everyone else with magic.
-SUST >>409009
-Upvote >>409509

>>408436
(+2) Talk about what Transcendants are with Duke.
-Upvote >>409509

>>408436
(+3) Talk about adding soul quirks to others with Duke. Edit our binding to only be able to allow our soul senses to only focus on Li Kui in order to attempt to see his soul.
-Upvote >>409509
-Effective upvote >>408841

>>408436
(+2) Discuss whether Shadowbro could act as intermediary to prevent our adding soul quirks to others from counting as divine intervention.
-Upvote >>409509

>>409509
-(+1) Ask Duke if he can put us in touch with any of the Heavenly Spirits, preferably Yan Qing, Wu Yong, Gongsun Shen, or Dai Zong, so they can teach us how to be a godling.


Suggestions Regarding Soul Quirks
All suggestions are mutually compatible.

>>408356
(+6) Edit our binding to restrict ourselves to only being able to give one person soul quirks when adding soul quirks to that person.
-Upvote >>408441
-Modification >>408783; possible wordings discussed.
-Upvote >>408809
-Upvote >>409049
-Upvote >>409382
-Upvote >>409509

>>408356
(+5) Talk to Duke about whether getting Camella a soul quirk would interfere with her transcendant path.
-Upvote >>408441
-Upvote >>408809
-Upvote >>409049
-Upvote >>409382

>>408356
(+5) Think carefully about Camella's personality, soul, and desires before making her a soul quirk.
-Upvote >>408441
-Upvote >>408809
-Upvote >>409049
-Upvote >>409382

>>408356
(+5) Give Camella a soul quirk that makes her into a savory flower.
-Upvote >>408441
-Upvote >>408809
-Upvote >>409049
-Upvote >>409382

>>408356
(+5) Give Gimpy a soul quirk.
-Upvote >>408441
-Upvote >>408809
-Upvote >>409049
-Upvote >>409382

>>409409
-(+1) If Camella and Gimpy are not available for soul quirking, make the rounds around the mansion for other people starting with high-magic ones.


Suggestions Regarding Training and Experimentation
All suggestions are mutually compatible.

>>408356
(+7) If Armas feels confident in his abilities, edit his binding to restrict his Winter energy recovery to only happen on the current day of the week; change daily.
-(+3) Upvote >>408441; be sure to edit the binding back to blank when we are at full energy.
--Upvote >>408809
-(+1) Upvote >>408841; alternately try binding ourselves to restrict the energy regeneration to only on a specific day, such as "February 11th".
-Upvote >>409049
-Upvote >>409382
-Upvote >>409509

>>409311
-(+3) Practice mental defenses as taught by the old lady and try to make a chakra orientation.
-Upvote >>409382
-Upvote >>409509

>>409311
-(+2) ASk Camella to provide an opinion of our progress with the old lady orientation.
-Upvote >>409509

>>409382
-(+1) Talk to the hummingbird about using the memories of the morning we spent learning from the old lady to create a chakra orientation; check whether it would stop us from developing a better version later.

>>409382
-(+1) Talk about mental defenses with Dàvgon.

>>409311
-(+2) Practice dual orientation.
-Upvote >>409509

>>409036
-(+2) Try putting soul guises on other people during lessons.
-Upvote >>409509

>>409409
-(+1) Edit the hummingbird's binding to restrict his ability to improve Armas' focus in such a way that it is improved.

>>408783
-(+1) Do not add any additional bindings to Armas.

>>408783
-(+1) Attempt to sense how tight various binding edits are in an effort to keep binding pressure low and maximize soul growth.

>>408809
-(+1) Ask several questions about bindings (listed in post).

>>408841
-(+1) Suggest soul bindings to Shadowbro which take advantage of the fact that he cannot use his Summer line to affect the material world.

>>408283
(+1) Check with Shadowbro and Sake to see if we might be able to teach Silja fleshcrafting.


Suggestions Regarding The Slaying of Lo Fang
All suggestions are mutually compatible.

>>409397
-(+4) Talk to Camella about her debt, and request that we be able to act on her behalf in collecting Lo Fang's soul should that clause activate.
--(+1) Upvote >>409409; tell Camella about Lo Fang's various sins to convince her to agree to kill him, and ask Amen for another jar for storing souls.
--(+1) Upvote >>409429; try to word the deal so Armas can use the soul until he gives it to Camella.
-Upvote >>409509

>>409397
-(+3) Attempt to make a deal with the Redcaps, offering them some of our Heart's Blood on a monthly basis in exchange for favors, also on a monthly basis.
-Upvote >>409409
-Upvote >>409509

>>409397
-(+3) Should both of the above deals go through, cash in this month's favor with the redcaps to have them kill Lo Fang, then capture Lo Fang's soul and devour his corpse.
--(+1) Upvote >>409409; disguise as a Nazi and pump the redcaps full of blood for the operation.
-Comment >>409429; do not pay the Redcaps additionally for this unless we have indefinite rights to Lo Fang's soul.
-Comment >>409469; have Amen create Nazinaut disguise charms for the Redcaps. Do not eat Lo Fang's brain due to its value.
-Upvote >>409509

>>409489
-(+1) If we are going to kill Lo Fang, call Jung and tell him it is safe to return.

>>409489
-(+1) If we kill Lo Fang, call Oggmum and tell her he will no longer be menacing Labombard's health.


Suggestions Regarding Kodoku
All suggestions are mutually compatible.

>>408152
(+3) Name all Kodoku champions and plan on giving a title to the victor.
-(+1) Upvote >>409009; only name the bugs if you understand their nature.
-Upvote >>409509

>>408283
(+1) Set the kodoku bugs aside and feed them magical meat if they are not yet strongly souled.

>>409270
-(+1) Get 27 kodoku champion bugs and have them fight each other in nine sets of three, then three sets of three, then one set of three and a fill quota of normal bugs. Video tape the final bug battle.


Suggestions Regarding Relationships
All suggestions are mutually compatible. No suggestion which requires action rather than only thought exceeds +1.

>>408277
(+6) Contemplate relationships. "Do the right thing" by Silja; go out to dinner with Camella and offer soul quirks; avoid being seen in any relationship so that we appear single if the Savoys check up on us to maximize odds of fucking Savoy's mom.
-SUST >>408278
-Upvote >>408356
-Upvote >>408441
-Upvote >>408809
-Upvote >>408841
-Upvote >>409009
-Upvote >>409509

>>408441
-(+2) Consider our relationship with Lyubov and its effect on the company; it is like sleeping with the secretary.
-Upvote >>408809

>>408441
-(+2) Plan to save our official relationship for political or power reasons.
-Upvote >>408809

>>408356
(+1) Tell Lyubov that our relationship is firmly in the "friends with benefits" category.
-SUST >>408441
-Upvote >>408841
-Comment >>409009; this requires actual dialogue
-SUST >>409049
-Upvote >>409382

>>409270
-(+1) Lyubov should stay a friend, but we should be polite. Go on a date with her but don't let her progress it.

>>409049
-(-1) Make an appointment to take Lyubov to dinner at the dragon restaurant on Monday night.
-SUST >>409382
-SUST >>409409


Suggestions Regarding a Tournament
Mutually incompatible suggestions share color. Curiously, the suggestion to have a tournament in the first place received net zero votes, but suggestions regarding its specifics received net positive votes.

>>409458
-(+2) Structure the tournament so that the type of competition between any two contestants can be anything mutually agreed upon.
-Upvote >>409509

>>409464
-(+1) Structure the tournament so that one contestant chooses the weapons, the other the time and place.

>>409009
-(-1) Dedicate the tournament to chakra and unarmed combat.
-SUST >>409382
-SUST >>409409

>>409009
-(+1) Offer a boon to the winner of the tournament.
-SUST >>409382
-Upvote >>409458

>>409009
-(0) Announce a chakra tournament at the end of the month.
-SUST >>409382
-SUST >>409409
-Upvote >>409458


Sundry Suggestions
All suggestions are mutually compatible. No suggestion exceeds +1.

>>409311
-(+1) Have lessons with Lyubov.

>>409009
-(+1) Contact Some Name a call and ask about the shem and Kazedora.

>>409009
-(+1) Inform Satai about the blood trade, authorizing him to sell up to 100 barrels of blood.

>>409017
-(+1) Spend some time working with Gianni on the golem.

>>409017
-(+1) Make absolutely sure that we attend the vampire meeting.

>>409049
-(+1) Offer the Russians bindings to help with fears.

>>409049
-(+1) Find Adelat and trick her into breaking her contract.

>>409311
-(+1) Curse self for putting a soul binding on Lev without explicit consent due to the legal vulnerabilities it opens up.

>>409311
-(+1) Get Lev to agree to a soul binding properly.
>>
No. 409634 ID: d97a61

Armas orders locked
Also, holy fuck
>>
No. 409863 ID: d97a61
File 133654058674.jpg - (87.20KB , 704x884 , Li Kui Soul.jpg )
409863

>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>A< First things first, thank Sake for helping with the 'solid food' thing. Offer to eat with him.
>A< When Camella's training starts, begin whistling the fourth E above middle C - or any frequency in the 2600 hertz range. Get more than a share of strange looks for whistling the single note without pause.
>A< Whistle the same notes when training with Ito. Note Ito not seeming to react in any way. Also, apologize for Wednesday. Explain that he meant 'Is it possible to remove someone's chakra points/nodes, and if it's possible to replace existing chakra nodes/points with someone else's'. Be told, in order-'Yes, but you'd die shortly thereafter', and 'No, I've never heard of such a thing'.
>A< Andrei takes lunch at Ismael Kebapcısı. Damn, that's good food. Attempt banter with fellow eaters, have mediocre results. Have a mid-day relaxation at Turkish Baths, and more banter/getting the rust off face-to-face social skills. Feel like he may have overestimated his social fu in recollection.
>A< Back to the FUTURE! To The FUTURE Shop, that is. Andrei looking to just talk, for now. Information on magi-tech computers and what to look for and all. Be told that Magitech computers, decent ones, usually run in the million-dollar range, as most hardware involved in their making are individual, separately tracked magitech items.
>A<Drool at idea of multimillion dollar magic computer.
>A< Forgo sightseeing today. Instead, Andrei returns to the mansion and gets on hacking into his old computer. The VNC - the remote desktop control protocol - should still be working, so Andrei should be able to pick up whatever programs were on the old rig, and seed it with some very subtle key loggers. …Or he would, if he saw any indication the old computer was still connected to anything-it doesn't seem Chugainov left it as is. Blast.
>A< Ito's Midnight Training. Start losing some of his interest in chakra as the lessons seem to drag.
Grisha has been queued to do the following:
(Γ)-Jogging times after shower, hm. Is it just her or is the jog not nearly as 'oh god I'm gonna die'?
(Γ)-During breakfast she plans out which Businesses to call and visit today. Thinks a hardware store would be a good bet.
(Γ)-Chakra training with Camella as usual, Grisha attempts to focus on the stiff feeling and holding it at a reasonable level, at least over the hours of the day... huh, that made her Reinforcement defense better, but shot her mobility to shit. That… probably means something.
(Γ)-Ito job times, considering their reactions it only really hurts for a few seconds, and no injuries occur, pain is a decent motivation, and makes success sweeter. Watches Vlad do his 'Shoot at Ito, get the crap beaten out of him' thing-note that Vlad doesn't seem all that bothered by getting hit even harder than fellow classmates. Is that due to his hugeness, or is there something there?
(Γ)-Sayes after work to the other russians, "So, how is everyone?" Listens to responses. Most certainly did not titter in a semi-vapid fashion when she realized Gloom and Ivan were competing on who could be the least talkative.
(Γ)-After lunch, she goes to a hardware store and orders a small bench drill-press ($700) to be delivered at the mansion, and also buys a set of decent-quality metal-boring drillbits ranging from 0.5mm to 4mm in diameter.
(Γ)-She calls Amen, and asks him if he can replicate transparent non-toxic flesh-like materials for the testing of bullet penetration, as she is thinking of doing tests in the future. Is told that not only can he, he can simulate any combination of age, health, ethnicity and magical state for this flesh-get the feeling Amen's very into this. Be unsure how to feel about that.
(Γ)-Decides to find Vlad, and describes what she is thinking of making to him, and asks for any advice he could give, and if he wants to come and test the prototype rounds when they are done. Awaiting Vlad's thoughts on Grisha's project (IRC)
(Γ)-Ito Night lessons again, why don't the vampires react at all to pain? Don't they feel their bodies properly? …Oh, they DON'T feel pain properly. Okay then, question answered.

[Gloom has been queued to do the following:]
*G* as he's been doing for the last week, continue dedicating free time to chakra training in the mirror setup suggested by Camella, occassionally imitating Armas, Camella and Ito whilst doing so. Seek further advice from Camella as appropriate.
Without fail, continues to get an overwhelming sensation of being intimately watched whenever he blindfolds himself within the mirror spot. Can't shake feeling there's something watching him when he is blinded. Wonders if he should ask anyone about that.
[Matvey has done the following:]
/\/\-Confirm you're willing to do Camella's 'homework' assignments. Be sure you have no idea what you're in for.
/\/\-Continue plying your new soul quirk to build up investment in chakra and try to pull ahead of the pack. Hope it gets easier with Camella's training. Might be. Hard to say.
/\/\-Hear Titus screaming about everything being people, look with alarm and distress at your stylish wardrobe, frown. Ponder what this means for other things, like the chairs, the beds, and... oh god what about the toiletries? WHAT ABOUT THE TOOTHPASTE THAT'S ALWAYS THERE?
/\/\-Start purchasing your own personal goods. For everything.
/\/\-Go out and purchase some decidedly nice threads not wrought from the flesh of the damned for your wardrobe, ask Davgon if he would like to come along. Shudder at the thought of someone like Nikifor trying to teach him how mundane people dress. End up shopping in Mavi Jeans and Lilipud Boutique, acquire a full wardrobe for self at $2,500. Help Davgon pick out clothing to his tastes, whatever those may be. Find… he likes leather a whole mess. Be thoroughly unsurprised.
/\/\-Introduce self to Big Crazy. Chat a bit, seeing as how you only know about him from reports. Get the feeling he's feeling down about something, but be uncertain what, and feel like just outright asking wouldn't be a great idea. Ask if he's been to Ito's yet, when he says he hasn't offer to show him around as it's an important facility the company utilizes. Introduce him to Ito, see how they get along. Observe Ito breaking Big Crazy's collarbone and realize Big Crazy doesn't know how to use chakra: Watch him regenerate the injury in a manner that looks a whole lot like the boss's tricks.
/\/\-Get around to requisitioning a small pet from the magical pet shop for Titus through Satai to ease his mental anguish at the thought of being alone. Acquire magical chameleon with therapeutic properties ($5,000). Arrange for it to be given to Titus with a manual for how to care for it. While carrying Chameleon, notice it's colors shift in beat with 'Eye of the Tiger'. Wonder if that's normal for them. Give the now-black chameleon to Titus-notice it immediately changing to an eye-wrenching red-green color.
/\/\-Here the news about Chugainov, and it's implication one of your friends was just killed, suppress the urge to drink until you can get your job done.
/\/\-Get together with Camella and gather the Russians to announce the news as soon as possible. Announce to them that their families are now safe as Chugainov has both a proverbial and at any moment literal knife to his throat. Caution that everyone should take care when communicating with them as wiretaps are still a risk.
/\/\-Grab bottles from the stock of booze that gets delivered to the house, bring them in after the night lessons, and drink with Ito. Share a knowing look when he sees there are no snacks or merriment, continue drinking, eventually explain self. Feel better about the situation afterwards. Try to ignore Vlad grumbling about one of Chugainov's guards owing him $20.
[Matvey has done the following:]
/\/\-Attempt to ignore hangover. …Feel like hangover should be much worse.

[Lyubov has been queued to do the following:
L*~Lyubov looked up Gackt, bought a selection of his albums ($50), and listened to them with Sake. Thinks he sounds kinda wussy. She will discuss both Gackt, and the luck powers that Phone Guy says Sake’s been using. Learn Sake's not been plying any luck magic-it's all been passive. Frown a bit at the thought he can't turn it off. Give consoling belly rub to weasel. Be amused by pleased wiggling.
L*~ Lyubov will engage in her Morning Routine, talk with Sake a bit, and engage in chakra lessons with Camella as usual. Starts to feel like the lessons aren't that hard anymore.
L*~After her instructor period at Ito’s is over, Lyubov will talk to Hyougo about what she thought of Gackt’s music (pretty cool) and ask for other suggestions about Japanese culture. She's told to look up Naruto by a decidedly over-eager message…. debates personal willingness to read a children's comic. Then remembers she's best friends with a magic weasel. She’ll mention what Sake thought as well, and that he’s the one who taught her Japanese, but won’t mention how he taught her nor that he’s not a human. If asked, she’ll say, “Oh he hasn’t been in Japan in awhile, and he’s a lot older than me.” Gets feeling Hyougo thinks Sake's some old fart.
L*~Lyubov will arrange through Oyak Securities to send $10,000 home to her mother, Svetlana. She will also make some purchases (thermal scope ($2000), small head mounted display suitable for Sake ($250), a stunt kite ($50), and some items for a prank ($250).
L*~Lyubov will ask Hillevi for a chakra chiller, and will contact that driving school Iskander suggested to get them to sign off on her having been in attendance for the past month ($650). Then she’ll head to her Night Lessons, and ask Feodor about the clinic for the physical.
L*~Lyubov will try to talk to Phone Guy tonight, mostly to ask permission to make prank calls with Sake again, explaining Sake doesn’t actively use his luck powers, and they're willing to limit themselves to no more than four hours a week. Is greeted with silence. She’ll argue that they will use phone cards with less time on them to be sure that they don’t go over the agreed amount of time. Again, is greeted with silence. She will also ask if Phone Guy monitors just the phones, or if he’s concerned about what goes on on the internet as well. Then she’ll ask why he tolerates 4chan. Is told 'because they have corners. Corners are good.' …Strange. Still, he didn't say no, so… prank calls are back in action?
[Feodor has been queued to do the following:]
F*Go through normal morning routine: Shower, Sake, Shower, Jog, Shower, Camella's Chakra, Shower, Ito's Chakra, Shower. Shower. Ah, running water. Wonderful stuff.
F*After hearing about the family situation from Matvey, tell him about the counselor, with the suggestion that all the Russians go at least once. Have him get $2000 from the company account to pay Finnegan for the tip. Think about calling mother, but don't. When no one's looking, feel like a BAD SON A TERRIBLE SON Okay mother's nagging may have taken thorough root in skull.
F*Go to Night Classes. When she asks, tell Lyubov about the clinic, and offer to go with her out of curiosity. Be reminded of what Amen said about destroying blood, and tell her. See how Iosef's feeling after winning the “fight”. If he's happy, consider it a success.
F*Bring the money to Finnegan, and work for the rest of the night. Get to see a Vampire get treated for bloodloss. Decide that he probably could have figured out to just give them packs of blood to chew on without Finnigan's help. Decide it's good to have it confirmed anyway.

>>409629 +1 to Mind Charm function to counterbalance ~300k evaluation discrepancy.
[Pretend Satai's orders are here. It is recommended to read them as they do involve company purchases by the quartermaster.]

>>408278
>>408283
>>409009
>>409017
>>409049
…Right, rolling with it.

I smile at the restless Savant, softly chuckling.
"Well-"
Amen, hand me a colorful blanket and pillow-
>[Amen]"At once, master."
In my hand behind the door I now find an orange comforter stitched with smiley faces and a matching pillow… well, colorful. Okay-
"Having trouble sleeping, huh?"
Placid turns its blank face from me to the side of the door, then down to the ground, its feet shifting as it constantly adjusts its center of balance.
>[PS]"Sleep functions are able to progress as normal when initiated."
Placid continues to eye the ground.
>[PS]"There seems to be an issue with external stimuli being taken as appropriate to cause arousal in situations where the judgement does not make sense."
The Skin Walker knock-off turns it's grizzled gaze back up to my face, still restless in its footing.
>[PS]"That is not to say irregular sounds are not being detected."
I pull my hand from behind the door, showing what I carry.
"Okay, well-"
>>408277
>>408809
>>408841
>>409509
I try to give the childish monster before me some confidence, smiling warmly as I clap a hand on it's shoulder.
"Of course Placid, whenever you need me. I'll do even better, just for tonight, since the noises at that apartment are disturbing you, we'll sleep somewhere else."
Placid takes an uncertain step back from my hand.
"No, not Amen. We'll go to a hotel."
Placid cocks the miner's head, again giving off a birdish air.
"It's like a home you purchase the right to use for a limited time. Although, hmm... it would attract attention if you went in that form. Try something else, something that wouldn't attract attention, a child maybe. Yes, that would be a good cover. A father with his child."
>[PS]"Child… that would be a prepubescent homo sapiens, correct?"
"One that has similar pigmentation to me'd be ideal, if you can manage it."
Placid frowns, the first expression I've yet seen on his face this evening.
>[PS]"I shall try."
The monster ripples and flows, it's mass diminishing farther and farther, the 'clothes' on its body writhing frantically, the whole form eager and desperate to change. gnarled, club-like hands become puny and pudgy. a ropey, liver-spot-laden body becomes smooth, rotund. Overalls… become a school uniform I don't recognize, clearly not from anywhere near Turkey.

Placid, now a little fat kid, looks up at me with a great deal of focus.
>[PS]"Does this fulfill the presented requirements?"
Hm…. darker than me-possibly too dark, but the bone structure's hidden well enough under the fat it doesn't matter. And that unruly mop is just about the right color… yeah, this works.
"Excellent job Placid. Shall we go to the hotel?"
Placid nods at me, stepping back as I walk out of the mansion still in my pajamas, a blanket and pillow in hand. It doesn't take us long to make our way to the nearest hotel-but Placid falls back as we approach the doors.
"What's wrong?"
>[PS]"There are too many people within that structure-it would prove problematic."
Aw, Placid's being shy.
"Are you sure? Hotels are pretty great, it'd be a nice thing to try."
>[PS]"The optimal outcome is still to utilize your presence to insure there are no undue interruptions of sleep while at the pre-established resting area."
"You want to sleep at your place still?"
>[PS]"That is correct."
"Well allright."

So we turn right around, and head back towards the mansion, veering off towards the one-time mafia crib Placid's using. It's a modest, subdued structure, and the very first thing I do after Placid shows me around-is check under the bed.
"Well, nothing there."
>[PS]"Of course-sensory input would have identified additional presences in the room."
"That's great Placid. Say…"
My eyes roam over the narrow bookcase in the bedroom, quickly spotting something more than perfect for the situation-a children's story book-it's Hansel and Gretel.
"Would you like me to read you a story?"
Placid once more cocks its head, the chubby neck spreading like dough as the head angles so sharply, before the creature nods decisively at me.
>[PS]"It is presumed that would be enjoyable. Proceed."

I read Placid the story-at first Savant's full of questions, why a Witch is using so little power, how the children have not been eaten already… but soon enough his objections quiet, and the War Walker has drifted off to sleep. Only took… an hour and change. That's okay. I spend the time till the sun begins peaking over the horizon continuing to add more shortcuts to Allview in the Istanbul area for rapid reference, just being there. I kind of expected the Hummingbird to disapprove of such dawdling, but he doesn't pipe up with any complaints. Works for me. When Dawn does come though, I decide to deal with my day. I pick up Placid's house phone and dial myself with it to get the number, then make ready to leave. I use every bit of sneaking ability I have to quietly exit the house, and head back to the mansion to rejoin my brothers. What do I want to do….

>>409631
-I spend hours looking through the eye at the island the Owner asked me to investigate-and Andrei mapped out some data on. It takes a while to find it, given it's just one of many largely featureless grey blobs off Azerbaijan's shore-and even after I find it, I remain puzzled that the Owner recommended it. I meticulously pick over those barren shores, the crumbling hills, scouring every inch of its surface to no avail-not even a glimmer of spiritual energy. It is here, however, that I recall the islands possess caves-or should, according to Andrei. Quite extensive ones, in fact. It's about ten minutes after I find them-that I find IT. Deep beneath the island, as if it were nothing more than an obscuring façade, slumbers a titanic mass of limbs-where Placid took up blocks, this takes up entire stadiums. Amazingly it doesn't seem to notice my observation, and I finally spy a bit of light hitting a tendril-it's red. I put this together with the below-sea-level range I found this creature in, and wonder if I just found an Akkorokamui.
-I try to sell Whaitiri partial access to the World Eye-after all, she sure as shit could use some sight, right? I expected to be looking at some massive possible boons-but there's an irreconcilable snag, one that SB both points out and has verified by Iron Trick: Turns out that one needs to be able to SEE, to use the World eye-so Whaitiri couldn't even make use of it. Seems Whaitiri can't use Allview until she's actually got eyes again. I once again ponder the question of curses, and how one might restore a cursed wound that rejected eyes, as SB has come to learn she has.
-I finally, actually get around to calling that tax guy Lyubov got me a number for. This decision may or may not have been influenced by my recognition she's a born nagger. The guy's certainly interested to hear about someone that's recently acquired a mansion and started a company, no doubt seeing a tidy commission in his future. Never having been one for taxation details, I double-talk my way through most of his questions, and finally provide him with Lyubov's number. After all, this is yet another chance for her to rise to the occasion-I know, I'm being overly giving, but that's the kind of guy I am. There-nagging forestalled AND Lyubov busied. And then, so I don't fuck myself over with it, I catch Lyubov as she's heading out, and talk her into wanting to do the taxes with the guy. Man, I love talking crazy circles around people.
-I try to head to the Arena, hoping to make some real money betting on myself today-but it seems the whole place is shut down-something from the Underdark tore up through the ground and rampaged through the arena-there were hundreds that died. Unpredictably, they don't have a scheduled reopening date yet. Well, that completely shoots that plan, but I DO get to learn more about what exactly happened when I run into Ricky and Lucy on my way back.
>[Ricky]"Hello~"
I turn towards the gust of wind as the massively muscled, hunched over souls of the redcaps zoom to the seen, zipping to the heart of my perceptual range as fast as I detect them. Ricky and Lucy-always a treat.
"Did you two get a good harvest at the restaurant?"
>[Ricky]"We did-really, we had ourselves a bit of a gluttonous feast afterwards, it was quite delightful."
>[Lucy]"The unnecessary exposure to something very like a Skin Walker was regrettable."
"Well, these things happen. Besides, Placid's a pretty nice guy."
>[Ricky]"That's right-I heard something about you talking with the Owner, and ending up the caretaker of the nazi experiment for the time being? How is that working out for you?"
"Oh, well enough. It's illuminating, to be sure. Speaking of-care to shed some light on what happened here?"
>[Lucy]"The arena ran afoul of a Wyrm."
Ricky gets a bit more explanation put together at my questioning look.
>[Ricky]"Wyrm. Think like one of those regular pointless earth worms, but miles long and anything organic it touches gets absorbed into it's body, and it secretes acid that burns it tunnels through inorganic stuff. Takes all the meat, burns away the rest-rather greedy things. Also quite mindless."
>[Lucy]"And also, quite clearly, sufficiently lethal."
So-'twas the Wyrm that wrecked the arena. A shame-but now I've learned just a bit more.
-Once I'm back at the house, I call Placid, intending to do a lunch outing and show it the town. …Oddly, Placid does not pick up the phone. I head over to its house-and find it pulverized the phone. 'The irregular noises it made were unexpected' is Savant's defense-I don't make anything of it. I take Placid, still in the form of a portly boy not that unlike myself in coloration, on a walk through Istanbul-I happily abuse Allview to accidentally run into every single ice cream trolly, truck, stand and hawker within five miles of the mansion, and, $200 later, I'm reasonably certain Placid might think Ice Cream is the meal of choice in Istanbul-and finds this notion absolutely delightful. In fact, when I ask Placid how it'd like to eat ice cream with every meal, I am rewarded with the creature's best attempt at a cherubic smile. At most, it's an epileptic smirk-but hey, Savant's clearly trying. And how could I not give Placid a pass when it spooked those old folk by idly talking about how little it intellectually knew about magic compared to visceral comprehension. On the way back, Placid reaches out and takes hold of my hand after intently studying other 'prepubescent homo sapiens out with their progenitors'. I find myself immensely happy SB's busy with Dark stuff today, and isn't around to chide me for that.
-Once I get back, I decide that I've had enough of Duke drunkenly pouting about the house over Endman, and rope him into helping me buy cans to store and flavor alcohol. Sure enough that does the trick, and he readily loads up the van's back when we hit the store. While we're shopping-with the aid of his card, no less-I ask him about Endman. I learn… a few things.
>[Duke]"Killed him what… two dozen times? I don't even remember anymore. Hate those multibody types."
"Multibody?"
>[Duke]"Yeah-dunno how, exactly he does it, but I know none of those were fakes-every single one of them was Endman, the real deal. And what's more, every one remembered all the prior ones dying."
"So he's… what, a hive being?"
>[Duke]"Sounds about right. What was so irritating was he didn't even really have magic-sure, he's good with Chakra I suppose. And sure, each one of him was packing a good bit of magic items. But that didn't really make him a threat-it was just enough to make him time-consuming to kill. I don't like that. Makes me feel like he has some sort of…. plan"
I take a moment to digest the fact Li Kui can be so repulsed by the very notion of planning things out.
"Do you know how many others there might be?"
>[Duke]"I don't-Rocco made a guess though. He bets there's at least a hundred still around. Said something about Endman being his own smuggling chain, I think. I didn't really pay attention."
"Do you think there are any more Endman in Istanbul?"
>[Duke]"I want to say no, but he's probably got at least ONE being reclusive and such around here somewhere."
From there, the conversation goes on to Transcendence, where I learn a bit about the system itself. It seems that there are three Transcendent paths, Mind, Body and Soul, and to walk any of them requires one to not have a bloodline, contracted or otherwise, with absolutely no workaround to avoid this rule. What each path does is take the chakratic magic the body can emit and improve its efficiency until the power output is equivalent to bloodlines without losing the flexibility of chakra. Following two paths grants one power as if their bloodline was twice as potent as the average, while all three grant Chakratic power as if one's bloodline where compounded over generations. I also learn that each path bestows a bevy of personalized beneficial quirks to the area-Body Quirks being things like Duke's amazing gastrointestinal system, and Soul Quirks being just that. Not knowing much about Mind Transcendence, he can't comment much on it, but I still feel I've learned a good bit about something that sounds… well, exactly like what Camella might want to try. Given Duke said pretty much everyone that tries to follow such a path dies and/or fails, I'd only put money on her being able to pull it off of the bloodline-less people I know. I also learn that Soul Quirks are not just okay to have going into a Transcendent path attempt, they're practically encouraged. THAT SAID, A Godling can't become Transcendant, so my soul quirks could very easily damage her chances of achieving Transcendant status. Bugger. Still, learned a bunch. Maybe I'll even remember it. …Naw.
-During our conversation I try something of a gambit and rebind my soul, using the blank binding to assign an imposed rule that I 'Can only spiritually percieve Li Kui, the Iron Ox, the Black Whirlwind, Duke.' Turns out doing this lets me see a soul… that looks exactly like the body I briefly saw when his glamour came off. Which… is strange as hell. Souls are normally just a glob of energy centered around the heart and head-the fact his soul looks exactly like he does in real life… I don't even know what that means. All I do know is that I got a headache just looking at his soul-so I removed the binding without much delay at all.
WINTER ENERGY: [-5 for Binding, -5 for Unbinding] 127=>117/160
I ask Duke about what he thinks of me adding Soul Quirks to others. His thoughts, quite succinctly, are 'Go for it, either way it should be interesting, right?'. I'm not sure if that's advice I should take as expert. On the plus side, he is able to successfully shoot down SB's plan to filter out the divine nature of any soul quirks I dispense-seems that, as my soul shadow, SB can't properly filter out my divine energy even if he tries-so I'd need someone unrelated to me that's wholly non-divine, and is also skilled in magical application. That… would be the Valkonens. Dávgon, it seems, doesn't have the chops to keep up with all the magical weight I can shit out. Makes sense-I've been stuffing every bit of magic I can into my body for months now without the slightest regard for safety. That has to be hard to keep up with.
-As Duke's helping me unload the van, I ask him if there's any Heavenly Spirits he's gotten back in contact with-I drop the names of a few I'd like to see, and pay attention when he mentions he recently found Gongsun Sheng again-seems he's been acting as a sometimes mentor to Taoist charm-makers in eastern Europe for the last few decades. From the way Duke mentions the presumed mighty Taomaster, I get the feeling that the Triads are most assuredly amongst those being advised by him, something Duke can't confirm or deny. Duke lets me know what his mailing address is, and says he's still trying to figure out the guy's number-if he even has one. Seems I don't really need to do anything then-he's already gotten in contact with one of the Heavenly Spirits that really interested me.
-My afternoon involves me doing a fair bit of thinking about how to properly abuse my ability to edit soulbindings. I decide that it's probably best to bind my soul to 'only be able to add soul quirks to X person' before I do work on anyone-after all, bindings are synonymous with restrictions, so logically this should boost the resultant soul quirk's quality rather considerably. I think about how I could just give Camella a soul quirk to make her a savory flower… but that sounds suspiciously sub-slapstick, and I don't know if that's really good enough trolling to be worth the hassle that would come with it. What I do do, though, is track down Gimpy the Vampire (apparently his name is Bagga) at the Orphanage eight blocks from Itos, find him in the dark corner he's waiting for the sun to go away in, and offer him a Soul Quirk. Before he answers, he asks if I'm a godling. I double check myself, verifying my 'normal magic dude' soul guise is up and running, verify with SB that there's nothing nearby listening-and own up to his claim. Which is when I learn that Divine energy mixed with vampiric energy is a whooooole lot like mixing opposed court energy. Boom, baby. I lose my drive to stick a divine soul quirk on the vampire at that revelation. …Well, downside of being a godling, I guess.
-I put out a notice, upon return to the mansion, to all the residents: I'm offering juiced up soul quirks to anyone that wants to get them, all they got to do is ask.. I'm tempted to just slap quirks into people without asking, but that feels a little too close to rape for me.
-I edit my binding yet again-this time to briefly be 'I can only regenerate Winter Energy on Fridays'.
WINTER ENERGY: [-5 for Binding] 117=>112/160
I leave this one as I spend the rest of the late afternoon-and indeed, the entire evening-on the old ladies' chakra orientations. Here, I hit a major stumbling block-I'm just utterly unable to take a stand. Do I want to make a resolute, immobile and impregnable fortress? Do I want to make a labyrinth, a maze for invaders to be lost in? I can't seem to come to any way to ply the mental defenses that feels… right, like I'd have conviction behind my attempt. I just… keep wanting to do everything. Damn my ambition!
(Players need to actually decide if they want a defensive, deceptive, or otherwise oriented mental defense chakra Orientation. Just saying 'practice' defeats the purpose of it being left open ended for you guys to develop it. So throw out ideas. Preferably into discussion until some consensus can be reached.)
While banging my head for hours against my inability to decisively commit to a way of development, I make great advances with the 'Soul Walking' trick where I shove my spirit out of my body. What improves most is my speed and comfort level both vacating and reentering my body, as well as the degree of subtlety with which I can exercise the ability. Now, so long as I'm sitting down when I ply the trick, I can look like some regular dude nodding off, not someone collapsing like a puppet with their strings cut.
-That night when I talk with Camella, I find that, unsurprisingly, she agrees with my assessment about how I'm doing with the old ladies lessons-that I really do need to pick a method and focus on it for the mental defense trick. Of course, I ask her what she chose, and find out she's built herself a trap-filled fortress, and adds more to it every time she practices. A pity I can't invade her mind and give it a try.
-SB gets back to me about the blood sale to the Zosimus clan-it seems the representative was very surprised-almost none of the high quality blood from before is left. So, we sell fifty barrels for only $11 million dollars. Oh, woe is me.
-I dream up a plan to kill Lo Fang-I call the Red Caps to hash out a bargain that could have them be my wetwork guys for the job, but once the conversation starts turning towards who the target is, they immediately back off. Seems they've met Lo Fang before, and all they will tell me is that they made a promise of mutual nonagression that they quite literally cannot break. This throws a massive, massive wrench in my plan, and is disappointing enough I just go to sleep. Yes-after a day of amazing events and several accomplishments, I grump and pout my ass to sleep. Only someone that really expects to own the world can do that. A sign of greatness, is what it is.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12TH, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $12,180,085.04
BUSINESS FUNDS: $2,401,964.00
CASH: $6,120.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 45%
WINTER ENERGY: 160/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50

I wake up to a dose of brain coffee, smack my lips and get dressed in a pleated neon green suit just because I can. I ponder naming the Kodoku graduates-now totaling thirty one, counting this morning's batch as well as yesterdays-and observe that not a one of the 'graduates' has a soul-certainly, each bug feels more… aggressive, more dangerous-but not a one shows the wisps of soul I need to judge their nature. And so, completely unable to assess these first-round champions, I forgo naming them.
-With Dávgon finishing up the forty sixth Kodoku jar, I ask him if it's possible to set up a jar for graduates to just gorge themselves on magic meats and veggies, a place to store champions until I'm ready to force them through further trials to properly evolve them. Seems he can do that, and notes he'll have one ready by tomorrow-and also notes he won't be building any normal kodoku today. Okay-meat jar to put Kodoku winners in, ready tomorrow. I should remember that.
-I have a moment where I consider relationships in a semi-serious manner. I still can't look at Silja in anything even resembling a romantic light, I don't know that I feel like it could work between me and Camella… but all the same, there's something very… 'boss banging the secretary'-ish about me and Lyubov. Not sure I care enough to do anything about it, but I am, at the very least, aware of it. I also wonder how I'll swing this as I move forward on the 'get in savoy clan' project I recently started. I consider talking to her about how we're just 'friends with benefits'….. but I don't really know what to say. Sure, I could bullshit and mince words until she didn't even know what was going on, but given she's someone I periodically expect to try and keep my ass alive, I feel like I should probably put some actual effort into this. …That is, if I actually do anything about it. Who knows-maybe she already understands that without me saying anything. Could happen, right?
>"…Ugh."

I gather up everyone as they get back from their morning routine to make an announcement, thinking of how to both motivate them to wrap up their introductory Chakra training, and to make them like me more as a boss.

"Okay boys and girls: Tournament time. And no Vlad, it's not a drinking contest."
Ice breaker dispensed and more than a few chuckling at Vlad's forlorn demeanor, I get to the heart of things.
The winner will get a boon of some sort, anything that's not unreasonable or insanely expensive, as according to me. Since the families are all taken care of, I'm expecting you guys to ask for something creative. If you're hurting for ideas, come talk to me. I'll make time. Oh yes, and if anyone has any fears, phobias or bouts of crippling psychosis or depression I've got a cure for what ails you-and my door is open."
I clap my hands.
"Okay-Tournament will be… end of the month. Be ready."
And with that, I walk off, wondering what to do with the rest of my day from noon onward.













So what should I do?
>>
No. 409890 ID: aa8dbe

If we are going with Mental Defenses, I say we go with a deceptive(Maze) type. We are very good at it. Twisting words, picking the right path and leading some down the wrong ones. Twists and turns, half truths that the enemy believe they are going down the right track when all it does is cause them to waste time and energy. A solid mental defense is good, but it's something people can brute force their way through. We are nowhere near the level of those sorts.

As for things to do? Well, we need to find a new arena in the mean time and start looking for more jobs. We need to keep the cash flowing and until we decide to take a big mission, we should continue boosting the company's rep as a skilled work force.
>>
No. 409979 ID: 3734f6

deceptive maze with traps based on soul-binding and tricking consent out of invaders so we own them.

See details here: >>/questdis/362273
>>
No. 410008 ID: 01cf26

>>409979
upvote and adding my 2 bits here:
>>/questdis/362277

(hope that link works.)
>>
No. 410190 ID: 421737

Only three others today? So few! I am glad it is not the horrible people.

RUNIC MEN make efforts!

Events for today:

It is good if you call about pipes for golem shit sprayers.

Tell Placid about the golem and ask if he is desirous to see. Explain it is a being built to be used by shadow and by friends and has no mind. Explain it is to help protect you and friends, so it is safer to not be in Amen. Placid can spend more time with your friends and you then, in building that is not Amen. This is needed because Placid will not go in Amen but I want Placid to help with the golem.

Lyubov and Satai have the job to buy a building for Placid's friendship. Lyubov must now have access to your accounts for taxes. It is Satai's job to buy things. They must work together for this. Buy a place where people can stay and where the golem can be kept and where work can be done. It is not wise to be in the city center, so be closer to the forests for privacy. Shadowbro and Sake and Hillevi and Dávgon and Dmitrii and Duke and Gianni and Amen all contribute ideas for wards. Then they build them. Andrei and Satai will pick out normal security systems and have other men install. Others do installs because Andrei and Satai have many other jobs.

Camella will attempt to attack it once it is set up, to probe for weakness. Tell Camella that function is hers and give her men who did not work on building security. Use paintguns and melee. Goal is to get inside and get pictures of the rooms where the golem will be.

When the building is ready and golem moved, tell Placid of how you remade your heart after the meeting of the dragons and the devil and you and Einrik on the neutral mountains in Spain. Tell Placid of how Duke gave body parts for the golem.

After all is ready, after story about your heart, ask Placid for his heart for the golem, to be put in with same promises as to Duke. It is to make strong defending golem, and so Placid can make new friends in new building.

Other events:

Time to get devices to block Note Writer. He manipulates you for fun and power ploys .Only some persons who could know what happened to you: a person who did it and a person who helped him and a person who spied on his enemy. If it is first or second you are still dancing on his strings. If it is last you will die.

Satai is good at many contacts. But you are not to tell him. It is to be Sake's job, while you distract Note Writer. Talk to Silja while Sake plays and have him stumble on Satai and irritate him with plastic balls. Sake to whisper request on wind vibrating eardrum directly and apologize for being pest and explain problem.

You need a fire man or border man to help with the golem. Go to Mammon Market to buy services of one for job.

Vampire Cornelius will ask about good blood. Say truth: Spent it for project to improve Armas so death was less likely and Amen getting free less likely too. Project not by Amen. By others. Planning to be taking the steps to replace with other blood if only so no worries. Project to replace blood is to take blood from slaughter houses, but do not say this to Cornelius.

Ask Andrei about the witch and remember he was sick. Issue mandate: NO TROLLING WITCHES OR CHILDREN. Issue mandate: No talking to food. Punish Andrei for trolling witch and talking to food with jogging laps carrying you. Say next time it will be Vlad he is to carry.

Ask Lyubov about witch because she made you aware of problem with Andrei. Learn of her trying to make friends. Tell her she is your favorite for not angering the witch. Encourage Lyubov and mock Naruto and listen to Gackt with her in the bedroom. In the bedroom tell her stories of adventures, make love.

Think about Lyubov. You trust her with your body. You trust her with your secrets. You trust her with your taxes and your money. You trust her with your brother Sake. You trust her advice. You trust her to use contraceptives. You trust her words on others. You trust her with your life too. She is not strong, but you trust her. It is both ways, she has trusted you too.

Do you feel strange for 'fucking the secretary' or strange for feeling trust in a woman who trusts back? You tried to trust Camella in such a way. Camella resisted. Lyubov came to you to talk. On the new monday it will be one week since you seduced her.

What other women have you been with in the past? None you remained with. Army is hard for relaationships. How many lovers in Army? Before Army, you were in school. How many lovers there? How many you like as much as Lyubov?

Consult with people before giving free quirks. You must ask if they are going to be Transcendent. One door opens, another closes. They have a right to get to hear the door shutting.

Get the addresses of the families from the list Lyubov made and look up everyones families with the world eye. Look up your family too. Look up Dávgon's family in Finland. Look up the Valkonen family. Do not look for your cousin. Look for your parents in America. What to look for? Look for spy things.

It is the time to Adelat. Learn of her address and knock on the door. Then sneak in unseen. Make her a dinner and stay hidden. Get the new phone number. Set table and put dinner out. While Adelat throws meal out, put video of her in funhouse on tv. Start it playing and wait for her to get mad. Ask what she thinks of video. Say video is security footage. Keep contract in eye.

Get Feodor. Demand physical. Change body shape when he checks. Make self look like Feodor as physical happens. Then like Camella. Then Hillevi. Then make self look like preteen and complain about funny emotions and hair in weird places.

Get Lyubov and tell her story of Placid and bedtime stories and ice cream. Placid is cutest little monster.

Get Russians to fight you again with guns. They do not shoot head only body. Use trick where you undress and have empty suit blown up with wind or shadow by Sake or Shadowbro. It is game of tag. If you tag Russian he is "dead" and must explain why he was ambushed.

Call massager and inquire as to special chakra massages if he would teach such for private use only.
>>
No. 410202 ID: aa8dbe

>>410190
Lovely bunch of ideas, but they need many kinks worked out.

First and foremost, SUSTing anything and all things involving Lyubov and love. It is simply getting ridiculous and becoming a waste of time and energy. I have voiced my thoughts on this several times before and will continue to do so. Nice try though.

Setting up a secondary home? Good idea, bad zone. Doesn't matter if we are near or far from the city, if the enemy wants to find us, they can find us through various means. If we want a secondary home for Placid and those who want to be away from Amen, we need it relatively close for easy access in case of emergency and so we(and our minions who can't preform amazing feats of travel.) don't spend 30 or so minutes getting there and 30 minutes back. Besides, people have managed to hide the oddest things right in the heart of this city. Better to be at the root for easy access than far away.

Keeping tabs is a good idea when it comes to those we know. Specifically 'Alert' tabs. Little commands that would warn us something happens to said person. Set them up like Macros such as: if (this) person's heart stops send (this) signal and save a mental image of time of death.

As for punishing Andrei? I say we use a simple and effective tool for disciplining which will serve our trolling needs. I call it, the flagpole of shame. Get Amen to erect a flag pole of a medium-small height for a flag pole and hoist said trouble maker up it in such a way that is both humiliating and amusing(but also safe. Got to remember that part.)say that if someone causes trouble, they will be put in a funny amen made suit and left on top of the flag pole for all to see with a small note at the base saying why he(or she) is on the flagpole of shame.

Let's not troll Adelat yet, but let's keep an eye on her using the tagging method... just so we can get other trollish black mail and such.

I agree with spending time with Placid every now and then just to check on his growth. A few books might help. Nothing super ultra difficult, but a good variety should help. Include Water Margin in with the books. He might see Duke in a new light.

SUSTing on jipping the Elder vampire on his blood. We gave our word, we are not going to make give faulty goods. Remember? We want to keep our name good. We can likely get blood from other sources if need be.

We should probably look into the Demon Bazaar, but we need a good list. We can get TONS of things, possibly books of various magic types or things to improve our minions. It's a market place of GREED, we should be ready with a big enough list.

Finally, SUSTing actively dealing with Note Writer. The guy is untouchable due to whatever elder stuff he pulls. We can set up all sorts of defenses, he will slip right past them. Either way, if he wanted us dead, we would be dead. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Let's not tempt him with a reason to.
>>
No. 410205 ID: a8c88a

Armas it is already noon and you hardly did anything today. You should stop sleeping unless you desperately need to recover winter energy.
Duke killed Endman multiple times. Try to convince SM that he owes you 5 NN years. If SM argues that Endman was not killed, try to use this to convince him that the food deliveries should continue even if Armas dies temporarily and is resurrected by the Romanov power.

>>410190
Downvoting everything (especially the Lyubov parts).
>>
No. 410230 ID: 421737

>>410205
I SUST you completly. Goblin will not agree because Endman is not like Armas. Sleep is good for Armas.

>>410202
It is not love. It is TRUST. It is truth. Armas has trusted. Armas trusts Einrik and Hillevi and Camella and Gianni and others. And he has trusted Lyubov with many things too. Armas trusts his friends.

It is not to cheat vampire. Vampire already bought blood, and will tell Cornelius about the best blood being used. It is explaination for why best blood gone. I am not good at writing so sorry for confusion. But why can I understand what Bob writes and you can't?

Second home in city is ok. I agree it is good change. Must be big home with workspaces.

Flag pole is bozo idea. But we must punish.

What to do for Note Writer? He say "don't tell Einrik" and maybe it is ok for Silja. But there are more worries than Silja, and now Note Writer hurries on her. Why? He has a agendea. It is not safe.
>>
No. 410329 ID: deba2a

>>410326
>Talk to Gianni and ask how to make yourself picture related.
SUST. This is pants-on head retarded
>>
No. 410339 ID: 21a619

Penis.
>>
No. 410346 ID: cf49fc
File 133670333968.jpg - (3.78KB , 126x126 , Second.jpg )
410346

>>410339
>>
No. 410349 ID: 7c31d2

>>410339
Upvote!
>>
No. 410350 ID: 62b020

>>410205
+1 talking about Endman

>>409890
-1 to not sleeping
>>410321
+1 to using a school as the setting for the mental maze

>>410190
+1 to this

>>410339
+1 to penis

[I deleted my old post, it had a downvote to a deleted post about lactation]

The post to send a picture of Little Armas to the company phones and ask people if it is normal got deleted but I would have +1'd it, so I'm suggesting it now.
>>
No. 410359 ID: 133e22
 

>>410008
This is good.

>>410350
>>410349
>>410346
>>410339
+1 to showing the company your pride and joy.

>>410190
+1 to making love to Lyubov. Do it slow. Do it tender. Fuck her gently.
+1 to messing with Feodor for fleshcrafting practice.
-1 to buying another property.

>>410202
-1 to punishing Andrei. He was sick.

Help Placid with fleshcrafting human faces and looking like a child. He needs practice.
>>
No. 410538 ID: 431fa8

First order of business is something we were utterly careless to forget- change our binding so that we regenerate Winter energy only in the month of February, instead of only on Fridays. That should turn it back on and keep us juiced up. Whenever we have a free moment throughout the day and are near full energy, practice dual orientations to burn up more of it, Use Open as one of our standard practice orientations so that we leak more Winter energy into our body for our Summer line to snap up, but don't overdo it.

Modify our standard soul guise, "Armas sans Imperial, godling, cannibal", to conceal our bindings as well. We don't want those to be visible to others- otherwise they'll be able to tell when we change them, and potentially even how. If we're going to be editing our bindings casually we can't have that; why let them know more than we have to?

This evening, do something that we should have done long ago: Making Adelat trip up her contract. We sunk a pretty penny into having that created and getting her to sign it in the first place, so it would be a waste not to utilize it. Amen has her blood, so use him to get her current position and then the World Eye to locate her more specifically. Practice a particular soul guise for a bit- "Armas your master". Focus on being the boss, the emperor, the kind of person who can snap out a command and have others leap to obey, the absolute leader who demands instant obedience from his subordinates and always gets it, who it is unthinkable to betray and it feels utterly natural to serve and trust. When we think we've got it down decently and Adelat is alone, dress in an enviably cut formal suit with a subdued orange trim and interior and stealth/shadowport ourselves into her company. The objective in our conversation will be to convince her that she's already broken the contract and use her reaction, as well as the soul guise, to maneuver her into actually breaking it. Both before and after she breaks it maintain an air of kindness, like of course she made a mistake and she's ours forever but we're a benevolent master and wouldn't dream of abusing it.

(Comments issued in a general order, but depending upon how the conversation goes feel free to go off script or rearrange as necessary. This assumes that things go well, after all.) "Good evening, Adelat." "Yes, it's me. I trust you've been well since your unfortunate excursion into my home? Less cautious than you should have been, however... or perhaps you simply didn't read very carefully." "Where did you get the clothes that you left the mansion in? That alone was a mistake. Theft, arguably, and certainly giving away more information than you should have." "Oh, come now, you must know at this point that there is more to the world than meets the eye. An agreement is a binding thing in more ways than one, and a contract sealed in blood even more so." "Why, I don't want anything from you right now. I just thought it would be appropriate to drop in and establish our new, closer relationship. One which, I'm afraid, dictates that you begin answering my phone calls. It's not all one-way, of course; I'm happy to look after my people, including you. If you find yourself inconvenienced, or have questions, feel free to request that I provide. For that, you need but focus on me and truly believe that I will hear you." "Oh, I'm sure that I'll have requests from time to time, and you'll be expected to do precisely as I ask. But why use a heavy hand?" Continue the conversation as long as she seems willing to talk- pushing her into giving in to her circumstances and agreeing to willingly serve us would be ideal. A slave you have to watch is such a pain. Throw a binding on her before we leave so that we can edit it through the World Eye into whatever we want, later.

With the female Winter-aligned parts arriving from Sometimes Merchant tomorrow, tonight is a perfect time to bond more with Silja. We haven't yet used our improved fleshcrafting powers to alter our appearance towards "normal", but we should be able to relatively easily. Around 10:00 PM or so, ditch everyone else and go grab Silja, then proceed to an isolated place with a mirror in it. Gradually work out a new more normal body for us, and when midnight hits, feed her the human parts. We'll want to discuss Note Writer's offer with her, and explain that we're reluctant to do things that she wouldn't want to see done in order to restore her to her form, but if she want it we will press the issue as hard as she desires- and get her back to a human body within days, should she desire it. (Note: This NEEDS improvement/restriction suggestions/dialogue but I need to run. Will add them in the next eight hours or so failing an update.)

Check the Smiling One's website if Silja isn't terribly human-looking after absorbing all of it. Check with the moderator for any special rules on this first, but if you get the go-ahead post that we're looking for the bodies or body parts of physically attractive Winter-aligned female humanoids, including bloodliners or other humans, closer to standard human appearance and stronger Winter alignment both preferred, shapeshifters with a specific human alternate form that fits our requirements accepted, with a note that we can pay slightly more if the seller is willing to accept blood as currency. Hopefully that will draw us a few decent parts for Silja's further development. While we're online, check and see if any other interesting bargains have been posted, just in case something new has come up.

Get up early tomorrow morning. It's trolling time. The plan for that goes like this: Offer Lyubov "supplemental instruction" today so long as she doesn't tell anyone else about it, which of course she'll take because she wants to learn more. Then say that we'll want to try a couple unusual things with her and want her permission to do them, but naturally they won't work as well if she knows what's going on- she'll have to trust us to know what we're doing. We're pretty sure that she won't regret saying yes, though. Her experience with us as a teacher has been that we do some really strange things but our methods definitely work for her, so she shouldn't have any reason to refuse, particularly if we work the persuasion a bit. Once we've secured her permission to go forward, wait for the Russians' training with Camella to start.

The inspiration from this plan comes from the lurk that we heard about at the goblin auction. He was such a trollishly brilliant master of stealth that he had sex with his chieftain's wife while the chief was in the room, without letting him know what was happening... twice. We have not only soul stealth, but also goblinic stealth and supernatural speed- surely we are well equipped enough to attempt a lesser feat. That feat, of course, is fondling Lyubov for the entirety of her chakra training this morning, a full six hours, without letting anyone else in the room see us. Preferably not even Lyubov, but if she catches on (and she almost certainly will) then at least we have her promise to keep quiet. Before we start, toss a binding on her (for which we secured her permission earlier) so that she can only learn chakra effectively when aroused- that should amplify the effects of this education.

Which is nice, of course, but our three objectives here are really 1. Trolling all present; 2. Training our own stealth; 3. Having fun messing with Lyubov so much that when her training is over she dashes out of the room and jumps onto our dick. Camella will probably be sly enough to catch on to what's happening- stay the course, and admit to nothing! Consider swapping our binding to our soul guises so that we can only use stealth; that will hopefully amp us up enough that even her funky soul eyes don't catch on. Walk through the room having a snack or something at some point, make sure that we're reading a book or something if she goes off to check, and otherwise provide at least passing evidence that we're elsewhere doing other things, while keeping as much focus as we reasonably can on the fondling.
>>
No. 410557 ID: 252e1b
File 133678134782.jpg - (242.27KB , 800x800 , butt.jpg )
410557

>>410190

Well there are some good ideas there, I guess. Not going to comment on the Lyubov stuff in this post. And I'm not going to touch the whole "buy a building for Placid" thing.

I disagree with punishing Andrei. The rest I'll go along with, with Juroko's modifications and ideas here: >>410202 specifically the idea to put bookmarks on different places. I'm not endorsing Juroko's downvotes.

>>410359
>>410350
>>410349
>>410346
>>410339

Hey. Hey you. All of you. You realize how weird that'll be? Don't do it.

(On a totally unrelated note attached is some fanart I made)

>>410538

The Silja and Adelat related stuff I'm in favor of. But, it is crucial that we do not get Armas into the bad habit of binding without informed consent.

I don't normally comment on Lyubov-related stuff, but I think Armas needs to get explicit informed consent when it comes to putting binds on people outside of combat. In combat, it's much easier to justify anything after the fact. Out of combat, it's pretty hard for "Well she said I could use a secret method on her" to hold water. The rest of it, messing with Lyubov and trolling everyone, I've got no comment on. But when it comes to binding stuff it is crucial that we do not get Armas into the bad habit of binding without informed consent. This is exactly the sort of power an immature person like Armas would abuse, and so we have to take extra care to not get him into the habit of doing so. Just to be clear, I am downvoting putting binds on Lyubov, or anyone else, without their informed consent. That of course excludes souls Armas has a right to that to, like Hummingbird or Adelat (should she break contract).

Just going to repeat it, since it's so important: it is crucial that we do not get Armas into the bad habit of binding without informed consent.

ARMAS ORDERS

Not a whole lot to add here.

~Give Hamlet a call and ask how he would make an incredibly durable low-power laser that would be suitable for acting as a guide to another weapon system.
~Invite Hamelet over to look at some of the toys in the armory. There's some fun stuff in there, like the javelin missiles!
~Practice your fleshcrafting, you want to be able to make yourself look like any other human, eventually.
>>
No. 410582 ID: 149a8f

>>410538
Another solid plan that deserves an upvote. Making sure we don't forget to edit our binding after the day is passed is a must, as well as talking more to Silja- it always brings up our morale. Likewise, plan have lyubov jump on our penis is a delicious mix of trolling, training and and the sexual relief Armas is only now getting after so much time and seems to need. However, and important point here is for Armas to realize that Binding is not something to be done on people he hasn't already conquered or rule over. The maori concepts of semi-ownership over people he captures, as well as the fact his winter bloodline is imperial and it's becoming obvious the minions are truly Armas' willing subjects, means they are semi-safe targets, but even then, a certain measure of respect should be there, and any bind that isn't currently being helpful for the minion should be edited back to unbinding . So far, Armas has a good track record on binds- possibly giving Placid semi-free will, improving self, trying to help Lev, and it should stay about things he can argue are beneficial to the recipient without lying.

>Getting some more practice on our soul guise, as well as including in our default soul-guise ways to hide our bindings.
For this, i would suggest going around the house with the binding "can only soul sense things pertaining to Authority, Submission or 'trust' in february", and look at everyone's soul, so that we might understand the concept some more. Likewise, we might want to do the same for other concepts later on, such as stealth or 'blandness' in order to achieve penis lurk plan.

>>410190
>>410230
>>410359
>>410350
SUST for obvious reasons. trolling, and someone who used double IP posting to upvote himself

>Punishing andrei with pole of shame
Upvote there.

>Maze-like defense.
Upvote

>Soul manipulation experimentation as talked about in disc >>/questdis/362287 >>/questdis/362289
Do that.
>>
No. 410584 ID: 421737

>>410582
I am not a troller. I am not double posting. I took lot of time to write all that. If you do not like my ideas keep it. If you think I am troller, remove SUST. I post in here before.

>>410538
>>410359
>>410350
>>410582
SUST penis. SUST public sex, sex is for bedrooms.
>>
No. 410586 ID: 01cf26

>>410538
ALL OF THIS: upvote

>>410205
also i am voting for the hole "spy on the Clone Guy (Endman right?)" for info to sell and selling what you can to SM, worth a shot. Maybe if you find him in the world eye you can make a shortcut to search for similar faces and in doing so track down more of him.

>>410339
no, plz no.

One last thing is the soul shop if there is time; if Armus cant make time can a minion go as a representative to get a feel for the place and see if anything is worth the time? Just a sort of menu kind of report. (probably best to send someone has solved there chakra/mental problems)
>>
No. 410588 ID: 6616f3

Armas:
- Call up Jung, for gods' sake. Tell him we made an honest try of that last job he left us (killing Lo Fang: when we sounded out the redcaps), but that it's a no go for now. Tell him he can either come back with a bodyguard good enough it'll be too much bother to kill him (we can recommend a few), or we can fleshcraft him a new face/body. He can pretend to be some other guy taking up the reins of Jung's organization, or whatever.
- What's Sake been up to? Has it realized he can use Ramidreju abilities and the Allview to go treasure hunting, yet? And Big was pouting, we should probably think of something manly to do together, so he can show off some.
- Our day is pretty free, I say we should see if we can meet Lo Fang's third Disciple, besides Meng and Jet. Or do a little practice with Ito on jukenjitsu.

>>410538
Not really feeling the Adelat stuff. We paid to have her silenced, and neutered in relation to our business. This we got. Forcing her to break contract and become our soul-slave is just... a pretty shitty thing to do.

And the Lyubov thing... have we actually tried removing bindings on others yet? That might be a quality of our own amorphous soul. That would be a HORRIBAD way to learn that limitation, that Lyubov 'could only learn chakra while aroused'. Just... really, really bad. Also, not everyone enjoys public shaming - the previous instances of our sexual harrassment were basically just between herself, Armas and Amen. Find Lyubov's stance on such things first.

Titus (apologies for the length this time):
- Having seen that near-death experiences do provide dividends, decide to try it at least once with proper supervision. Wonder who would be the best choice to beat him to death (his method of choice, since electricity has all those nasty side-effects). Ask Armas, since Hillevi is a nice (if barbaric) girl and he doesn't really want to make her do that.
- Thank Hillevi for the handful of lessons and bow out. Check in with Crash Course's instructor still in need of an assistant teacher.

- Declare the mood ring lizard to be 'lucky'. Name him Roduga and try to train him to ride on Titus. Iguanas can supposedly find their way back home, surely his new friend can at least learn 'stay'. Try and figure out what colors correspond to what moods. Remind self to keep an eye out for something Matvey might like.
- Recognize that some people seem to be uncomfortable waking up to find him sharing floorspace. Try camping out on the grounds (avoid the flowerbed). Chameleons are arboreal, anyway.

- There are little local wrestling and MMA competitions all the time in Istanbul. Turkic folk wrestling (oil wrestling) is popular and has been for around 650 years. Other freestyle wrestling types are popular, only Greco-Roman wrestling doesn't seem to have a presence in the city. Sign up for one. Titus should only need 1-2 match wins to move up to 1st rank of the Vzrosliy Razryad bracket. If he actually places 1-4 in a good tournament he'll skip up to 3rd rank Kandidat Master (1-2 in a tournament with 8 sambists for 2nd rank and 1st in a tournament of 10 sambists for 1st rank) Kandidat Master rank.
- Other points of interest: Istanbul houses Corvos Academy, home of Equipe Corvos (Turkey's national MMA team) and world champions in Brazilian Jiujitsu, MMA and Muay Thai. A globetrotting BJJ competitor is going to show up in Istanbul on March 10th for a day. See if fellow-Sambo enthusiast Lyubov wants to attend some if the tournaments and ambush-host the latter with him. The Senior World Wrestling Championship is set for a week in September in Istanbul.

- Decide on two different mock-up prototypes using the Raiju pelt to see which works better. The former with the pelt simply sewn into the palm grips of the glove (use the mk.I taser version for this, leaving the taser prods as a secondary system on the knuckles); replace kevlar under the pelt sections with thick PTFE (teflon) backing to see if that will insulate him enough. Second version would use small sections of the pelt's electrical output to store energy in capacitor banks; collaborate with Hamlet on the correct setup. I suspect Titus will then need to ask Satai if he knows a guy who does magical capacitors to hold that charge without popping.
- Try not to fry himself. Proper magical OSHA safety at all times!
>>
No. 410590 ID: 63f90e

>>410538
SUST

>>410359
SUST

>>410582
SUST

Don't play with bindings. Play video games with Duke today.
>>
No. 410598 ID: 0ec58f

>>410538
SUST-ing the Lyubov plan. It does not set a good precedent to be manipulating the very souls of our employees without having them know what is planned.

[Zhenya orders]
-Buy $5k worth of assorted liquors and invite Duke out for a night of drinking (or in his case probably an hour). Chat with him for a bit and eventually get around to the topic of personal strength. This tourney is coming up and you are wondering if he has any tips to strength, maybe even the method he used.
-Ask if he would be willing to train you, or take you as an apprentice or if he can direct you, or give the name of someone that could start her down the path to strength.
-Don't feel bad if you are laughed at.
-If Duke can't help, see if you can help Ito out more in return for...advanced training, willing to give up the remainder of her free time for the task.Lyubov is getting a bit too far ahead for her thoughts of rivalry to seem founded anymore...
>>
No. 410617 ID: 8d9714

Suggestions
It's phonecall time! Call Otso. See what he's up to and how the body armour is working out for him. Call Arkvad, see how he's feeling now that he's got all that magic out of him and invite him out to a more mundane dinner with some friends (Yes, Camella included you dirty old man) on Wednesday night. Call your parents, invite them to come to Istanbul to visit in a few months. Call Go Ping and organise a training session with the efficiency guy for Monday morning. Call Johan and ask him what he knows about the Last Chance. Finally, Skype Hilja and Eirikki, because those kids are awesome. Tell them Big's here safe and sound, and he's sulking because you didn't find him impressive enough. Encourage them to tease him about it next time they talk to him. If Markku's around, update him on what Hillevi's been doing lately (if he doesn't know already), like her daily training of Satai and her practice with the sniper group. Ask him if there's anything in particular he'd like her educated on.

Talk to Silja about what the Note Writer said, and how he's spurred you towards getting her human quicker. Make sure she knows what that will entail, though, and remind her that if she feels uncomfortable or unsure about any of it, to tell us both as soon as she gets an opportunity.

Remember to do the day's Soul Manipulation practice with Davgon.

Voting
>>410190
Downvoting everything except for buying more property and checking on people with Allview.

For getting more property, at least two residential buildings are needed (one for Russians, one for Placid), at least one of which should be an apartment building or similar. Leave a note for Lyubov and Satai to look into it, with permission to order any of the other Russians to help if they need it. This project will need more work than a single thought.

With regards to Allview, only do it at night when there's nothing else to do. Build up shortcuts to your parents' place (check on that Grime-more guy while you're there), the Valkonen lands, family members in New Zealand, and each of the Russians' families.

>>409890
>>409979
>>410008
SUST until we have a consensus, or at least a majority.

>>410205
>>410230
>>410339
>>410350
>>410359
Downvotes to all.

>>410538
Upvoting everything except for binding Lyubov without her explicit permission. Just tell her it's to make her training easier, and remember to blank it afterwards.

>>410557
Downvoting showing Hamlet the armory, as that stuff is almost all illegal.

>>410582
Very confusing post, so I don't know what to do, but upvoting being helpful to the minions, which looks like it's in there somewhere.

Feodor Orders
*Increase weight for the jog to 50lbs. Keep it on for chakra again, despite the distraction.
*Remember to tell Satai about the tDCS technique and offer to try it out with him. Talk with him about the info from Davgon and find out he already knew, having asked Davgon previously. Ask Satai about what else he's been up to, and learn about the contacts he's been making. Be surprised when Satai wants to know what healing magic Finnigan sells - thought Finnigan was just a doctor.
*Ask Davgon about the possibility of gaining his services as a chakra tutor.
*Go with Lyubov to the clinic, mostly out of curiosity for what people or things go there (with a little pseudo-fatherly protectiveness).
*Go to work at Finnigan's. Try to figure out what Finnigan is really like as a person. At the end of the night, ask him what healing magic he's selling and why he's been hiding it.
>>
No. 410671 ID: cb0cc3

Satai Orders for February 12

-Chakra training with Camella and Hillevi. This memory room bit is really working out; it's noticeably easier to follow what Hillevi is talking about, at least.
-Sniper training, topic of the day is bloodline clans and other magic-using groups.
-Meet with Johan and discuss more weapon options. Eventually purchase 40 enchanted anti-tank grenades, 6 enchanted flashbangs, 60 .454 Casull doom rounds, 2 hellfire 105mm thermobaric rockets, and 2 amplified 105mm thermobaric rockets for $655,980. The order will be available for pickup on February 22. Discover that Johan has demon seeds which can enhance ensouled weapons, golems, or constructs; drop off a note by the golem for Armas and the others on the golem design crew mentioning this option and listing what Johan described as its effects for their consideration.
-Meet with Shopkeep, the vendor of metal goods in the bazaar. After some discussion and negotiation, purchase 1 anti-magic blade, 1 were deshifting dagger, and 48 square feet of impact-dampening chainmail for $621,000. Arrange for the chainmail to come with complementary custom fitting into armor form for those who will be using it. Learn of a Greek mercenary and car enthusiast can help make or improve magical vehicles, and of three different bars frequented by magically aware types in the city.
-Talk a bit with Feodor. Agree to help set up and try the tDCS, at least once.
-Catch Titus, Zhenya, and Dmitrii and mention to them that they're on the list for having enchanted armor custom-fitted at one of the city shops, and that can happen tomorrow afternoon if they make time.
-Have $6,000 clothing bill submitted by Lyubov- what the hell? Hold off on laughing at her until seeing exactly what she bought and determining whether it's as appropriate and helpful as she claims it will be.
-Spend most of the night looking into available housing and apartments in Istanbul and the surrounding area. Moving out of Amen would be nice, but we'll need somewhere that we can secure.
>>
No. 410675 ID: 9718f3

>>410190
SUST

>Minion bindings
>All plans mentioning Lyubov
>Half-assed mental defenses before consensus is reached
SUSTing all of them.

It's noon. Lunch happens at around noon. Let's go to lunch with Big Crazy and Camella. Last we saw, Camella was super untrusting of BC, we need to work on that if they haven't worked it out for themselves. Has BC been staying in Amen? How does he feel about that? Placid can come along for lunch too. Careful social interaction with a couple friends of ours should do it good.

Oh, and, I don't know, fleshcraft yourself different beards every time Camella sees you, but make sure nobody else sees them. That's an okay troll, right? Maybe a beard that looks like a penis.
>>
No. 410676 ID: 7472ad

Dmitrii orders:
Head down to SM and see how much a set of Finnish Wolf's teeth are. If less then $10,000 buy them, but he'll definitely start and try to end much lower then that while haggling. They're mundane teeth that have no use for him specifically after all. If he gets them, he'll give them to Davgon. Follow-up gift by asking Davgon if he thinks finding a way to constantly randomize the controls of a vehicle while operating it would help him learn to use his soul-quirk, or if that could lead to something bad, like overloading the soul-quirk if that's even possible.

Talk with Ito more about chakra, now that he's seen the orientations and possibly had time to think about them. Dmitrii's hoping Ito can make use of the teaching orientation if he doesn't have one already, him being a teacher for him and his comrades, but on a personal level he wants to be able to make those charms much faster.

>>410599
>Upvoting Ironybot's post, downvoting all the posts above him.

Same, except for the Lyubov part.
>>
No. 410716 ID: 35166f

Bring up the bet we made with Iron Trick, and say that, at the core, Duke is himself, he is in his own category. Sure, there are other descriptions that can be applied, like soul and body Transcendent, but they don't do the man full justice.

Talk to Duke, and ask if he lost his weapons in the Nazi fight. If so, is he up for an expedition into the bones of the earth to recover them.

At some point we should ask Placid if it's capable of external fleshcrafting.

Most of the day should be spent experimenting with bindings, preferably spending at least a minute between altering our binding

If Lyubov mentions the prank calls, refuse the invitation. Armas can do much better than that.

Experiment Ideas. In general, if we find ourself getting a headache whilst experimenting, immediately reset the binding to null and take a break. After perform the experimental session, reset your soul binding to null, and the same with HB and anyone else's if his has been set. Check all Restrictions with SB first to make sure we don't accidentally Restrict ourself to be unable to edit our own soul bind.

HB: Say to HB that we recall how his Focus was problematic to lend us, and suggest we have a method that may either ease the cost or make his sacrifice more worthwhile. With his permission, alter his binding so that all he may share with us through his link (to our soul if SB thinks that's a good idea) is his Focus. Then try it out. If it's useful, try to interest HB in the results of your other experiments so he's willing to lend us his focus whilst we perform each one.

Soul Senses: For all of these sensory experiments, it's best to keep the binding active for the minimum length of time, so it is not in force when analysing the results. SB may be able to help by taking a copy of the sensory input for a fraction of a second, which can then be analysed at leisure. Offer to apply the same restrictions to SB's magical senses as we're applying to ourselves. Start by Restricting our soul senses to first only working in winter, then in February, and then on Saturdays, and run all the below experiments with those restrictions first before applying the final set of specific restrictions described in each section.

Restrict our soul sensing to only apply to our own chakra, and then run through the full gamut of our chakra techniques. We can look for minor imperfections and inefficiencies we'd otherwise be incapable of spotting. Lo Fang mentioned that learning multi-orientations changed the chakra in some way, so it might be worth while looking for that, and perhaps watching it happening whilst we have a dual orientation active.

Restrict our soul senses to only work on our soul, engage our soul sensing orientation, and closely examine our own soul. At the least we should try to catalogue any soul quirks we have, and possibly learn more about the structure of our soul, divine graft and all, and look for any spiritual wounds that need healing or soul bindings in place. Can we see the signs of our soul oath we made with Ogrimmir and the results of the Contract we made such as the ability to sense Einheir. We can then move on to analysing our own soul manipulation techniques, once again looking for flaws and imperfections. If Dávgon is willing, we could Restrict his soul sensing to only apply to examining our soul crafting for the duration of the experiment, so he can give his expertise. Finally, we should then try some hybrid healing and closely examine how that functions.

Restrict our soul senses purely to analysing Camella's soul quirk(s), and then spar with her. When her soul eyes open try to puzzle out how they work. Imagine the trolling potential if we gain a full understanding of them and their weaknesses.

Restrict our's and Dávgon's soul senses to examining the golem, and look for improvements that can be made. Then restrict both of our external soul manipulation to only effecting the golem, and fix some things you've found. Compare the effectiveness to how it was before.

Restrict our soul sense to only being able to see SB's soul, and then let him examine a copy.

Restrict our soul sense to Hillevi and look at her whilst she's using her magic. Einrik said that their style is based on freezing their souls to allow them to draw extra power from it. Can we see that happening, or nay evidence of her Rule of Three enhancement.

Item Senses: Same basic principles as soul sensing. We should being trying to detect strength, the nature of the maker, any weaknesses or strengths, hints as to the construction method, the nature of the magic used, and anything about the precise details of the spells. SB may be able to combine this information with the spell matrices he can detect. The items we should look at are:
* AA-12
* Doom and Destruction .600 Round
* .45 Doom Round
* Mind Shielding Charm
* Reaper Charms, all together, then individually, then all together again.
* Accelerated Thought Protection Charm
* Wyld Goblin Cloak
* Kinetic Shield Charm
* Runfast Boots
* Leader Charm
* Arrow Charm
* Sword Charm
* The regeneration charm we gave to Camella
* Camella's charm from the Nazi warehouse.

Silja: Restrict our Winter Bloodline based senses to only apply to Silja, and simultaneously examine her with soul and item senses.

Energy Regeneration: Restrict our natural energy regeneration over time to the season of winter (1/4), Saturdays (1/7), February (1/12), and the seventh week of the year (1/52), being very careful to check for stressing our soul.

Orientations: Check all these with SB, Sake, and HB for potential problems or interactions with our summer owned body (or HB in the first case). SB should carefully monitor this, we should have Sake on hand in case immediate healing is required, and we should be ready to abort at the first sign something is wrong. SB should collate a memory package of what ever we're using and stripped of extraneous details, and whilst we're under the effects of HB's focus we should use Amen's technique to reify them into a chakra orientation. We should also ask SB if he can use this technique to produce chakra orientations, even if he can't use the results, as it might be better, as his chakra isn't Winter aligned so won't conflict with his presumably Summer owned body. Use:
* HB's Focus (if using his Restricted Focus is better, just use those memories)
* the six months training we performed with Dávgon in the NN
* the sensation of detecting the nature of magic items

Soul Guises: Restrict our soul guise to only being able to hide features of our nature, and then ask Amen if that makes it harder for him to detect our true nature.

Gloom Orders
*G* Talk to Dávgon about the chakra training method he's chosen, and the results.
>>
No. 410788 ID: 252e1b
File 133685426859.jpg - (85.84KB , 450x336 , ledclothing06.jpg )
410788

LYUBOV ORDERS
Saturday, February 12th

L*~Lyubov places a same day shipping order for a couple of samplers of fiber optic cloth, a shawl she can convert into a cape for Sake, two jackets/tops/pants (sized for Armas and Satai), two jackets/dresses (in her and Zhenya’s sizes), and several spare LED lighting boxes. ($6,000 but bill submitted to Satai as company expense, because looking like you fit in is totally important if you’re making new contacts). She’ll get Sake to agree to the idea of going to bar tomorrow night, and will get him to tell Satai when he sees him to today (since Satai is the one who wanted to go). Then she will get some sleep.
L*~ Lyubov will engage in her Morning Routine, talk with Sake a bit, and engage in chakra lessons with Camella. She will ask Camella if there’s more she can do, since the lessons so far have stuck really well. If Armas talks to her about his plan for elaborately manipulating her training experience, she will object on the basis of, "I work and live with these people, did you think about how horrible it would be to be caught like that in front of them? No, it is too much for me. I am not comfortable with it." If he does it anyway, or doesn't talk about it properly, she'll quit the training as soon as she realizes she's being messed with, and will be very, very, angry.
L*~After her instructor period at Ito’s is over, Lyubov will go shopping and buy some Naruto mangas and some glowing hair gel (in green, blue, orange, and white). ($160 total). She will talk to Zhenya and invite her to come to the magic bar (Zhenya agrees spoke to Falcon already). Lyubov then will go with Feodor to the clinic for her driver’s license physical sign-off.
L*~Lyubov will talk to Hyougo and mention her latest sewing project: turning a fiber optic cloth shawl into a fun cape for her friend, so they look good at a flashy bar. During lessons with Armas, Lyubov will try to ask him about growing up in America, and share about her experiences growing up in Russia. After the lesson she'll ask Armas, "Would you like to make prank calls with me and Sake tonight? It'll be fun- and Sake has got some innate luck manipulation power he is not consciously using when we make calls, so maybe you can help us figure that out? Oh, and tomorrow night Sake is taking Zhenya, Satai, and I to the magic bar. Want to come with us? I have these fiber optic clothes I ordered for you already. They are very fleshy. The actually glow."
L*~Lyubov will make that little cape for Sake out of the shawl, because why not? She'll also use the sampler pack to get a feel for how the cloth could be used to enhance other clothes, but won't seriously delve into the project. She'll give Satai's, Zhenya's, and Armas's outfits to them.
L*~ Lyubov will ask Hillevi for a chakra chiller, and will then head to her Night Lessons. She will let Ito know she and Zhenya will not be present Sunday evening. At the lessons she'll spar with Titus again, since her SAMBO is obviously not up to par. She'll agree to the idea of hosting the transient master if Armas will allow it, and she'll ask how Titus knew?
L*~Lyubov will make prank calls with Sake and possibly Armas for no more than two hours. There’s no reason to antagonize the Phone Guy, after all.
>>
No. 410982 ID: d97a61

[Titus has been queued to do the following:]
(T)- Having seen that near-death experiences do provide dividends, decide to try it at least once with proper supervision. Wonder who would be the best choice to beat him to death (his method of choice, since electricity has all those nasty side-effects). Ask Armas, since Hillevi is a nice (if barbaric) girl and he doesn't really want to make her do that.
(T)-Get beaten nearly to death by Armas, and healed by Sake.
(T)- Check in with Crash Course's instructor still in need of an assistant teacher. Find that they do. On an assessment spar, realize he's become far more adept at reflexively slipping into the Reinforcement Orientation.
(T)- Declare the mood ring lizard to be 'Lucky'. Note Lucky's color to shift to neon shades of pink, orange, purple and green at his naming, almost looking like a fireworks display. Attempt to name him Roduga-find the lizard does not chromatically respond to the name. Verify that the moment he declared it lucky it took that as it's name.
(T)-Try to train him to ride on Titus. Iguanas can supposedly find their way back home, surely his new friend can at least learn 'stay'. Succeed as Lucky is quite adept in the art of 'sit still and do fuckall'. Try and figure out what colors correspond to what moods. Find that some classics persist from folklore and hearsay: Red for anger, blue for sadness, yellow for fear, black for hate. Be unsure beyond that thus far. Remind self to keep an eye out for something Matvey might like.
(T)- Recognize that some people seem to be uncomfortable waking up to find him sharing floorspace. Try camping out on the grounds (avoid the flowerbed). Chameleons are arboreal, anyway. Find a decent patch of grass that's next to the main street, right beneath the encircling wall. Decide that might work.
(T)- There are little local wrestling and MMA competitions all the time in Istanbul. Turkic folk wrestling (oil wrestling) is popular and has been for around 650 years. Other freestyle wrestling types are popular, only Greco-Roman wrestling doesn't seem to have a presence in the city. Signs up for a Turkic Folk wrestling contest, because oil wrestling sounds like a hilarious new thing to have tried at least once.
(T)-Titus should only need 1-2 match wins to move up to 1st rank of the Vzrosliy Razryad bracket. If he actually places 1-4 in a good tournament he'll skip up to 3rd rank Kandidat Master (1-2 in a tournament with 8 sambists for 2nd rank and 1st in a tournament of 10 sambists for 1st rank) Kandidat Master rank. He knows that the competition he entered won't really apply for his own ranking system as well as it could, and hopes to find an actual Sambo tournament at some point.
(T)- Other points of interest: Istanbul houses Corvos Academy, home of Equipe Corvos (Turkey's national MMA team) and world champions in Brazilian Jiujitsu, MMA and Muay Thai. A globetrotting BJJ competitor is going to show up in Istanbul on March 10th for a day. See if fellow-Sambo enthusiast Lyubov wants to attend some if the tournaments and ambush-host the latter with him. The Senior World Wrestling Championship is set for a week in September in Istanbul. Awaiting Lyubov's response on Titus' invitation to go ahuntin' masterful martial artists for fun.
(T)- Decide on two different mock-up prototypes using the Raiju pelt to see which works better. The former with the pelt simply sewn into the palm grips of the glove (use the mk.I taser version for this, leaving the taser prods as a secondary system on the knuckles); replace kevlar under the pelt sections with thick PTFE (teflon) backing to see if that will insulate him enough. Second version would use small sections of the pelt's electrical output to store energy in capacitor banks; collaborate with Hamlet on the correct setup. He finds that the former seems to actually work so long as he doesn't use too much Raiju pelt. Begins fiddling with optimal ratios of pelt-to-insulation.
(T)- Try not to fry himself. Proper magical OSHA safety at all times!

[Zhenya has been queued to do the following:]
{Z}-Buy $5k worth of assorted liquors and invite Duke out for a night of drinking (or in his case half an hour). Chat with him for a bit and eventually get around to the topic of personal strength. This tourney is coming up and you are wondering if he has any tips to strength, maybe even the method he used. He mentions his own 'bread and butter' is way too time-consuming to implement to really consider for the tournament
{Z}-Ask if he would be willing to train you, or take you as an apprentice or if he can direct you, or give the name of someone that could start her down the path to strength oh god please help her. Duke, having been thoroughly boozed and asked for a favor by a pre-established drinking buddy, says sure.
{Z}-Don't feel bad if you are laughed at…. wait. He said yes? …Learn that he expects to be 'properly watered' as he teaches her.
{Z}-Learn that Duke's going to teach her half a millienia's worth of experience at how to properly brace herself to really get her whole bodies worth of force behind her attacks-hitting harder never hurts, right? He also casually mentions since he sucks so much in actual martial finesse, he probably shouldn't try teaching her an actual style, and just stick with his true joy, monstrous, guard-breaking, form-disrupting, overwhelming strength.
{Z}-Giggle a little as she thinks of knocking Vlad on his ass with one punch.
{Z}-Begins to question choice to ask one of the Heavenly Spirits to train her at the look of anticipation in his eyes. ROLL 1D100 EVERY DAY FOR TRAINING. FIRST DAY DC: 65 SECOND DAY DC: 75, THIRD DAY DC 50
[Feodor has been queued to do the following:]
*F*Increase weight for the jog to 50lbs. Keep it on for chakra again, despite the distraction. Start to really feel that the chakra's more… natural to use, from all the practice.
*F *Remember to tell Satai about the tDCS technique and offer to try it out with him. Talk with him about the info from Davgon and find out he already knew, having asked Davgon previously. Ask Satai about what else he's been up to, and learn about the contacts he's been making. Be surprised when Satai wants to know what healing magic Finnigan sells - thought Finnigan was just a doctor.
*F *Ask Davgon about the possibility of gaining his services as a chakra tutor. Find out Dávgon doesn't think he'd make a good instructor on chakra, since it was never really his thing. Be surprised at his counteroffer to help him with finding a spirit animal.
*F *Go with Lyubov to the clinic, mostly out of curiosity for what people or things go there (with a little pseudo-fatherly protectiveness). Find that the place just oozes comfort and relaxation. Interesting.
*F *Go to work at Finnigan's. Try to figure out what Finnigan is really like as a person. Conclude he's still a stick-in-the-ass moneygrubber, like he thought. At the end of the night, ask him what healing magic he's selling and why he's been hiding it. Be told he never asked about it before, and he doesn't use it in his work, he just sells it. Is told he sells restorative injections-treated blood from regenerators.
*F*Becomes immensely internally distressed when his mention of what he sells makes him slaver. Immediately excuses himself.

[Lyubov has been queued to do the following:]
L*~Lyubov places a same day shipping order for a couple of samplers of fiber optic cloth, a shawl she can convert into a cape for Sake, two jackets/tops/pants (sized for Armas and Satai), two jackets/dresses (in her and Zhenya’s sizes), and several spare LED lighting boxes. ($6,000 but bill submitted to Satai as company expense, because looking like you fit in is totally important if you’re making new contacts). She’ll get Sake to agree to the idea of going to bar tomorrow night, and will get him to tell Satai when he sees him to today (since Satai is the one who wanted to go). Then she will get some sleep.
L*~ Lyubov will engage in her Morning Routine, talk with Sake a bit, and engage in chakra lessons with Camella. She will ask Camella if there’s more she can do, since the lessons so far have stuck really well. When Armas talks to her about his plan for elaborately manipulating her training experience, she will object on the basis of, "I work and live with these people, did you think about how horrible it would be to be caught like that in front of them? No, it is too much for me. I am not comfortable with it." Decides he was joking with her as he is oft wont to do after some comments he makes thereafter-fail to be groped in lesson, further assuring self he didn't really mean it.
L*~After her instructor period at Ito’s is over, Lyubov will go shopping and buy some Naruto mangas and some glowing hair gel (in green, blue, orange, and white). ($160 total). She will talk to Zhenya and invite her to come to the magic bar. Lyubov then will go with Feodor to the clinic for her driver’s license physical sign-off.
L*~Lyubov will talk to Hyougo and mention her latest sewing project: turning a fiber optic cloth shawl into a fun cape for her friend, so they look good at a flashy bar. Hyougo thinks this sounds very interesting, and wants to see pictures when it's done. During lessons with Armas, Lyubov will try to ask him about growing up in America, and share about her experiences growing up in Russia. After talk, has strangest feeling something was off about Armas' stories growing up versus being in the military, and it didn't seem like Armas himself notices. After the lesson she'll ask Armas, "Would you like to make prank calls with me and Sake tonight? It'll be fun- and Sake has got some innate luck manipulation power he is not consciously using when we make calls, so maybe you can help us figure that out? Oh, and tomorrow night Sake is taking Zhenya, Satai, and I to the magic bar. Want to come with us? I have these fiber optic clothes I ordered for you already. They are very fleshy. The actually glow." Is told he'll try to come to the bar outing, but that he's got some things to wrap up tonight, so he has to duck out on the prank calling this time.
L*~Lyubov will make that little cape for Sake out of the shawl, because why not? She'll also use the sampler pack to get a feel for how the cloth could be used to enhance other clothes, but won't seriously delve into the project. She'll give Satai's, Zhenya's, and Armas's outfits to them.
L*~ Lyubov will ask Hillevi for a chakra chiller, and will then head to her Night Lessons. She will let Ito know she and Zhenya will not be present Sunday evening. At the lessons she'll spar with Titus again, since her SAMBO is obviously not up to par. She does find it a bit odd she's matching him in brute strength and endurance pretty well, despite her smaller build. She'll agree to the idea of hosting the transient master if Armas will allow it, and she'll ask how Titus knew? Gets a smile as an answer-feels like the smile's got nothing on the ones Armas can make.
L*~Lyubov will make prank calls with Sake and possibly Armas for no more than two hours. There’s no reason to antagonize the Phone Guy, after all.
[$atai has been queued to do the following:]
(($))-Chakra training with Camella and Hillevi. This memory room bit is really working out; it's noticeably easier to follow what Hillevi is talking about, at least.
(($))-Sniper training, topic of the day is bloodline clans and other magic-using groups.
(($))-Meet with Johan and discuss more weapon options. Eventually purchase
40 enchanted anti-tank grenades, 6 enchanted flashbangs, 60 .454 Casull doom rounds, 2 hellfire 105mm thermobaric rockets, and 2 amplified 105mm thermobaric rockets for $655,980. The order will be available for pickup on February 22. Discover that Johan has demon seeds which can enhance ensouled weapons, golems, or constructs; drop off a note by the golem for Armas and the others on the golem design crew mentioning this option and listing what Johan described as its effects for their consideration.
(($))-Meet with
Shopkeep, the vendor of metal goods in the bazaar. After some discussion and negotiation, purchase 1 anti-magic blade, 1 were deshifting dagger, and 48 square feet of impact-dampening chainmail for $621,000. Arrange for the chainmail to come with complementary custom fitting into armor form for those who will be using it. Learn of a Greek mercenary and car enthusiast can help make or improve magical vehicles, and of three different bars frequented by magically aware types in the city.
(($))-Talk a bit with Feodor. Agree to help set up and try the tDCS, at least once. Wonder when he'll do that, given busy schedule. Make no promises on timeframe of tDCS test.
(($))-Catch Titus, Zhenya, and Dmitrii and mention to them that they're on the list for having enchanted armor custom-fitted at one of the city shops, and that can happen tomorrow afternoon if they make time. [ALL THREE MINIONS LOSE AFTERNOON FREE TIME ON 13th]
(($))-Have $6,000 clothing bill submitted by Lyubov- what the hell? Hold off on laughing at her until seeing exactly what she bought and determining whether it's as appropriate and helpful as she claims it will be.
(($))-Spend most of the night looking into available housing and apartments in Istanbul and the surrounding area. Moving out of Amen would be nice, but we'll need somewhere that we can secure. So far, not seeing anything genuinely palatable-housing in the middle of a major city is, as always, a hassle.

Quartermaster reduces Business Funds by $1,276,980.00
BUSINESS FUNDS: -$1,276,980 $1,124,984.00
[Dmitrii has been queued to do the following:]
[ D ]-Head down to SM and see how much a set of Finnish Wolf's teeth are. He gets a full set for $1,500 after haggling, and gives them to Davgon. Follow-up gift by asking Davgon if he thinks finding a way to constantly randomize the controls of a vehicle while operating it would help him learn to use his soul-quirk, or if that could lead to something bad, like overloading the soul-quirk if that's even possible. Find out Dávgon doesn't have any precedent to back it up, but he thinks it would be the latter, not the former. Unlike younger, brasher coworkers, puts stock in expert's guess that shit is trouble.
[ D ]-Talk with Ito more about chakra, now that he's seen the orientations and possibly had time to think about them. Dmitrii's hoping Ito can make use of the teaching orientation if he doesn't have one already, him being a teacher for him and his comrades, but on a personal level he wants to be able to make those charms much faster. Learns Ito thinks he can make the Teaching Orientation work, and be informed Ito's performed limited tests with positive results. Feel like Ito's got what he wanted to give him. Decides this means he won't be needed as much to assist in other's learning.

>>409890
>>409979
>>410008
I frown as I consider the prior day's failures over mental orientations: Given a night to sleep on it I've firmly concluded I want to build a mental maze rather than a fortress. Given I already spent hours minutely inspecting the tiny vespers of magical energy clinging to the forms of kodokuized bugs in pursuit of some hidden tells of souls nestled in their forms, and I spent the first chunk of my time in quite a long time thinking about anything other than trollish antics, mission parameters or my lust for ever-more magic, I think nothing of devoting the rest of the day to building an honing a genuine mental defense orientation-with one available, I could create a dual orientation of soul sensing and mental defense to be very advantageously placed, chakratically, when in situations like my meeting with Zosimus: Neither orientation is aggressive, one defends my secrets alongside the soul guise while the other amplifies what details I learn with my own sensory suite. It's a rather subtle combination of abilities compared to those I normally pursue-but given how heavily I've relied on my goblinic training I'd be a fool to not recognize it's worth. And so it is… that I turn inward.
-I have ambitious plans to implement, manifold and multifaceted the lot of them, and eagerly set to work. After an hour of struggle I frown, wondering why I can't get even a glimmer of winter energy, let alone anything specifically involving binding, to manifest within my mindscape. I throw myself at the task with abandon, grim resolve, focus and irritation in turn, but nothing seems to change. After another hour of hollow attempts, never even feeling the slightest bit of progress I table the idea, deciding There is no way I can get my Winter Bloodline involved with my mental defense chakra orientation. It's like… the two forces feel incompatible. I try to query Sake and SB on it, but neither can give me a reason why-neither one having much in the way of experience with mental defense magic. Maybe a way does exist-if it does though, I probably would have to be much more accomplished to use it. My hopes that this can be implemented are dashed when Iron Trick makes one of his rare interjections.
>[IT]"Putting aside the many problems with this notion, the simple fact that mental invaders are in no way obligated to bring their souls and thus even be eligible for binding completely renders this entire thought process moot-at best, you could hope to manually activate it while actively dealing with a specified invader."
-Even worse, the entire thought process I had involving building conditional locks at forks in my planned mental maze, the very things for which my inclusion of bindings seems a no-go for, seems to be hitting a similarly unassailable wall. Directly obstructing blocks-I can build those, at least, without issue-but the moment I try to plug rules, conditions or instructions in those walls, or try to make anything of automated action, the mental construct shudders and falls apart. I try doing this with varying levels of over and under-charge to the orientation base the Old Lady taught me, but it continues to fail at every attempt. After an hour and change of this, both in and out of accelerated thought, I finally conclude that Currently I have no way of programming commands into my mental defenses, such as building puzzles that an invader must solve. I recall that the Old Lady hadn't mentioned being able to automate mental defenses nearly to the extent I'm shooting for, and decide this idea also must be tabled.
-The part that pisses me off the most is my failure to even make a conceptually-oriented maze. I had grand plans for making such entertaining things as actions or behaviors themselves being paths, just as left and right-but I feel the same problem that assailed me with programming instructions into my mental defenses-it's like the complexity, the higher function I want to demand of my chakra is simply not there. Only after SB reminds me that I have better success being more pragmatic and less ambitious do I stop, likewise determining that I have absolutely no idea how I would go about building conceptual paths, and all of my ideas of how to go about it met with abject failure. If a way does exist, I strongly suspect I'd have to learn it, rather than simply build it on my own.
-I'm hardly surprised as, even with the sun setting that I can't even scratch the seperation between my mindscape and the NN space of my eye. Certainly, it is keyed to my soul and my use, but I get a similar feeling of incompatibility. It is at this point, thus far only answering my clarifying questions as I experimented, SB speaks his opinion of my work: It seems he thinks all my efforts to reach an end-goal right as I start are completely unrealistic, and ventures I may even be indelibly crippling my construction of mental defenses simply because I wanted to skip to 'the good stuff'. After pondering his words as the evening begins in earnest, I set to something a bit simpler… okay, a great deal simpler.
-Within half an hour, I've built a twelve-layer two dimensional mental maze large enough that at the very least it would slow down any invader. I verify the sturdiness of the walls, their ability to be too costly for any but overwhelming mental infiltrators from simply blowing past them, and decide this isn't too bad for a start. The next hour finds me building the maze from two dimensional to three-and immediately sees a dip in the efficiency of maze construction. With a great deal of help from my soul shadow, and a few comments from a certain revolver, I manager to expand my first successful maze, all twelve layers of it, into a sphere, surrounding my mind like a barricade. Compared to the grand ideas I started with it's hardly anything at all-I abandoned all my aesthetic plans when I set down to building the basics, and the mental maze is as start as a whitewashed building in shadow, not a whit of creative flair to its name. Despite this, Sake, who'd thus far seen nothing of the details of my mental defenses, is called into my mindscape and tasked with besting my defenses as swiftly as he can. After more than a few frustration inducing dead ends Sake finally bypasses my barriers-after a good half hour of infiltration.

Certainly, it's not even close to what I dreamed of, what I desired. But it works, this Sphere Labyrinth Orientation of mine, and that's really all I truly wanted. My only hope is that, as I find more chances to sit down and exhaustively test and tweak my defenses, I could make something special out of it. I won't deny my favorite part is the fact that the whole time a mental intruder is in the maze, I can, at any moment, choose to simply spiritually shove them with my soul. It's a crude, simple, down and dirty trick-but one can never underestimate the value of a well-timed sucker punch to a distracted foe.
[NEW CHAKRA ORIENTATION MENTAL LEARNED: SPHERE LABYRINTH (S.L.)]

For now, I merely check my worries by noting even the mighty Hummingbird took eleven minutes to breach my mind's defenses as I maintained a vigilant overcharge to make the avian think twice about trying to directly pierce the walls.
>>410205
That night, feeling oddly strained and bleary, I make an effort to contact the Sometimes Merchant before I rest, confident that, given Duke did kill Endman, I'll be able to claim the agreed upon prize. However, not a single bit of persuasion seems to avail me, no matter how involved, circuitous or manipulative, as, in a decidedly disappointed tone, the goblin utterly rejects me.
>[SM]"You claim you should be rewarded for the slaying of Endman, for his removal. All that has transpired to support your demand is that some of the bodies he used were destroyed. This happens to Endman daily-it is nothing more than an inconvenience. His smuggling and information networks continue unimpeded. He's already seeded more of his bodies back into the city. Absolutely nothing of note has been accomplished beyond costing him some easily replaceable resources. Despite this, you have the temerity to claim you not only should be rewarded, but are willing to argue in face of your failures for a… conciliatory payment? And you label such a demand… fair? …Have you no respect for bargaining at all?"
…Yep, that pissed him off. In hindsight, why DID I think I could swing that? I knew Endman's a multibody dude, that has to make collecting on him hard as shit without killing the lot of them. …Good thing I've been talking with Satai and between the two of us we've got a goodly number of non-goblin contacts. …Still, SM's found ways to shaft me on a couple deals-maybe if I can make a case based around…. no, I get the feeling that he's not REALLY in it to be fair, so much as working around a restriction as much as possible to achieve highly selfish goals. If I tried to press him on this, I might be looking at negative impact on my title as 'Friend of Turkish Goblins' which… I'd rather keep, if possible.

>>410538
>>410582
>>410586
>>410599
>>410676
The very last thing I do before going to sleep is belatedly editing my soul binding to 'Can Only Regenerate Winter Energy in the Month of February', restoring my advanced bloodline regeneration and preserving it for weeks to come. Given I go to sleep immediately thereafter, I doubt the small loss of energy for making the edit will have much impact at all-I was still nearly fully charged, anyway.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 13TH, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $12,180,085.04
BUSINESS FUNDS: $1,124,984.00
CASH: $6,120.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 40%
WINTER ENERGY: 160/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50

The moment I wake up, I get dressed in a purple suit not that unlike the won I wore when waving to Adelat from outside Jung's warehouses-and head out to meet her at her home. I've decided that I've had enough of waiting for her to break the contract, and decide to take a more direct hand. On the way over I surreptitiously alter my Soul Guise, including my single Soul Binding in it's occlusion. I stand cheerily outside her apartment door and don't stop knocking until a very grumpy Adelat opens the door, whatever irritated words had been planned dying the moment she recognizes me.

"Good morning, Adelat."
>[Adelat]"..."
With textbook perfect Turkish silence she simply shuts the door on me. How rude. SB?
>"One shadowport, coming-"
[DISCONTINUITY]
>"-up."
I watch from within her darkened home as she finishes turning away from the door to see me standing behind her. Without a moment's hesitation her hands fly into motion as mace flies into my eyes while a tazer is applied to my chest.
>[GGG Trait activated]
I ignore both and keep standing.
"Yes, it's me. I trust you've been well since your unfortunate excursion into my home?"
She immediately darts back, opening room as she pulls a gun from a nightstand. I keep talking as if I hadn't noticed while SB confirms he's removed the bullets from her pistol's magazine.
"Less cautious than you should have been, however... or perhaps you simply didn't read very carefully."
>[Adelat]"Get OUT of my home!"
"I merely came here to retrieve what's mine."
Since I didn't make any sudden moves, she doesn't shoot-which means I have time to keep talking.
"Where did you get the clothes that you left the mansion in? That alone was a mistake. Theft, arguably, and certainly giving away more information than you should have."
Adelat shoots me a look of disgust through the gloom.
>[Adelat]"And if you had them, would you leave?"
"I'm afraid that's not all I'm here for."
As I take a confident step forward she pulls the trigger-the click of an empty chamber is deafening in the quiet room. She looks at me with genuine fear.
"Oh, come now this can't be that strange to you, you must know at this point that there is more to the world than meets the eye. An agreement is a binding thing in more ways than one, and a contract sealed in blood even more so."
Again, she says nothing.
"Why, I don't want anything from you right now. I just thought it would be appropriate to drop in and establish our new, closer relationship. One which, I'm afraid, dictates that you begin answering my phone calls. It's not all one-way, of course; I'm happy to look after my people, including you. If you find yourself inconvenienced, or have questions, feel free to request that I provide. For that, you need but focus on me and truly believe that I will hear you."
Again, she says nothing.
"Oh, I'm sure that I'll have requests from time to time, and you'll be expected to do precisely as I ask. But why use a heavy hand?"
>[Adelat]"…No."
"No?"
>[Adelat]"I haven't talked about anything, with anyone. I… I don't care what you want to do, you can't do it unless I break the agreement I signed, right?"
She lowers her gun like a curtain, the fear in her eyes washing away at the same time.
>[Adelat]"So I have a new secret I can't ever share. Small price if it means you can't touch me. Now are you going to leave, or do I need to find a hotel?"

I should be angry. Here I came to find a new minion, to leverage a binding to make a useful servant-and instead she sees the one thing that will keep her safe, and resolutely clings to it, defying me to my face even when she now has every reason to think I could end her without any trouble at all.

I find myself impressed-and as such, with a smile I'm not entirely sure she sees, I incline my head towards her.
"Don't expect it to be quite that easy-we'll be in touch."
SB-
[DISCONTINUITY]
I'm dropped outside of her apartment complex, and stroll out of the alleyway whistling a dirge as cheerfully as I can, filling the air with merry sounds of death and loss. Oh, what an interesting turn of events this was!

-The rest of the morning I spend with Silja, initially simply chatting with her as normal before I divert our conversation back around to the old topic of her resurrection. I explain that I still have every intention of seeing that through-and what's more, the Note Writer is looking to encourage me. I explain to Silja I acquired some ingredients ideal for pushing her further along towards her rebirth, and ask if she'd be willing to let me feed them to her vessel. Not even the small amount of hesitance I expected seems to raise it's head, as she happily accepts. Making sure her blade isn't bloody enough she can see through it, I work my way through all the recently delivered Winter Flesh I got from SM, watching the familiar swirl and shudder of the rifle feasting on what's offered to it. Over the scarlet-stained wood and bone shapes and swirls, twin pathways spiral and twist, new constructs I'd not have recognized were it not for my recent gains in Fleshcrafting acumen. As it is, I recognize the formation of a visible circulatory and nervouse system each alligning themselves with the fetal bones built into my rifle. It's appearance even more monstrous, I can't help but be pleased that Silja's Taken another step towards her rebirth. …At the same time, I'm happy I didn't imply I could have her free in days-if this is all a week's worth of materials bought me, I'll need to dose her quite a few more times. ….Is it just me, or does the wood grain look more like muscle tissue now?
>"Not just you."
Huh.
-While still chatting with Silja (and learning her regrown nerves make her FAR more ticklish, something I have a hard time not abusing) I check in on the Smiling One's website-and find I've got a couple responses on my standing requests for Female Winter flesh. Most of it's not what I'm looking for-but one offer looks appealing enough: An ancient Oni with it's own personal Siedis to use as vessel was caught outside of Japan when the Witch Hanmaki blocked off live being trade-with a load of Yuki Onna. He's looking to offload his stock before he gets home, but is only really interested in sizable purchases, given he's got to move a total of fourteen of them. It looks like he's got a listed pricing of about two million per Yuki Onna, with no price reduction if I don't need them alive. It's not perfect, by any means-but it could be good enough. I send him a response asking if he's amenable to payment in blood or magical goods, or if he'd only want direct currency. I'll have to keep an eye on that for his response.
-Dávgon finds me around eleven, informs me he's finished the kodoku based meat jar, and has placed all the 'graduates' in it's confines. He's resumed building regular Kodoku, and ventures he should have 13 to 17 done a day, as he's gotten into the swing of making them.
-Titus approaches me seeking for me to… very nearly beat him to death. Seems he wants in on the near death experience craze. I oblige, Sake heals him, and I go about my day.
>>410557
-I have a sexy idea and try to talk Lyubov into letting me try out a 'creative' training aid. Unsurprisingly she is very NOT on-board with such exhibitionistic plans as me stealth-groping her during group training, and I can tell that she'd be mightily pissed if I tried it. Since the idea was just a passing notion, I decide to drop it, and note how much tension slides out of her shoulders when I say I won't do it. I get her laughing soon enough with a few quips alluding to that being my least sexy plan, making light of what I'd proposed to better cement it in her mind as 'just one of Armas's trollish jokes he wasn't going to follow up on to begin with'. I don't tell her the primary reason I decided not to was that I recognized I had been about to bind her against her will just to make the plan work. Binding Lev like I did was already pushing it-sure, there's definitely a case he needed it, but he didn't really know what he was getting there. With Lyubov, I'd only be doing it to amuse me-and while that's a great reason for just about anything, it's not ENOUGH of a reason, not for this.
-After my morning endeavors with Silja and my less-time consuming lunch-time interlude with Lyubov, I take the copy of Endman's file and… start looking for him with the Allview. After all, if he's gotten copies back in Istanbul, I should be able to find them so long as they aren't warded, right? It takes me two hours, with Sake and HB both lending their aid by directly searching the Allview from the NN-space side of things, but finally we find one just before he steps into a major insurance company with heavy warding on its walls. I try to use the positive ID of his form to auto-shortcut to other Endmans, but it doesn't work. …Well, at least I tagged the one I found so I can auto-orient on him later. 1 Endman Found[ Cannot Auto-Link to Other Endman.
>>410588
-After my modest gains with the Allview, I call up Jung to explain how things stand. I tell him about my honest attempt to find a way to off Lo Fang, and the setbacks I encountered. He doesn't sound that surprised by my admission, and listens intently when I lay out the alternatives I've come up with. He's surprised when I mention I could get him a fleshcrafting to look like someone else to avoid notice by using a new handle for his gunrunning, but he shoots that down, saying Lo Fang would identify him by the contacts he uses. When I propose getting a bodyguard to keep Lo Fang back, Jung surprises me with a chuckle-it seems he made quite a bit of money on some bets while out of the country, and, with the Tongs help, he was able to find what he describes as 'A Chakra Grandmaster such as to make Lo Fang look like a clumsy child'. He won't say names over the phone, but the confidence I hear in his tone speaks volumes. He says he's got some things to wrap up, but that he'll probably head back in a couple weeks. He also thanks me for telling him, even if I couldn't solve the problem-at least now he's not waiting on whether or not I manage to solve the problem for him.
-When I casually ask Sake, after the phone call, if he's yet started using the Ramidreju's luck with the Allview to find treasure, he looks at me in frustration, reminding me he can only access it spiritually-and spiritually, he is most certainly not a Ramidreju. ….I try not to facepalm at my slip, even as I wonder if there IS a way he could leverage his bodies luck within the spiritual search medium.
>>410617
The afternoon slowly making its way to evening and I decide to place two more calls. The first to the Valkonen estate, to once again say hi to the Riihivuori children. While chatting with them I find out Markku's been looking into places they could go that could teach them more about their bloodlines. When I tell them Big Crazy's doing fine, they giggle, and say they'll tell Helmi. Sadly, Markku's not available and the two tykes don't really know much about the plans, but I make a mental note to check in on that-maybe arrange a conference with Markku about it or something. The second call is to my cousin Otsu, to check on how he's doing.
[In Finnish]"Otsu. A certain relative wanted to check on you. How are things?"
>[Otsu][In Finnish]"Its you!"
"Yes, me. So?"
>[Otsu]"Ah, sorry. Thanks for that outfit you sent-it fits under sweatpants and a hoodie real easily, and I haven't broken any bones since I put it on-it even stopped bullets!"
"Good to hear it's working well for you-though I truly hope you don't think that means you can be more reckless with it."
>[Otsu]"I'm being careful enough!"
At the heat in his voice I realize I have to clarify.
"I hope so-if you get crippled early in your career, it will be even harder to become one of the best Einher to live. Though I'd be more than passing impressed if you lost a limb and still managed to surpass old Gleb."
>[Otsu]"..Gleb?"
"A guy that's fought block-sized monsters of fangs, fire and tentacles without batting an eye and walked away looking pretty. Talented Einher, if I do say so myself."
>[Otsu]"What kind of monster was he fighting?"
"Something pretty nasty-maybe when you've got some more experience under your belt I could tell you more, eh? So what kinds of fights have you been getting into?"
>[Otsu]"I ran into a werewolf! It was tough, but I killed it when I knocked it into a jewelry shop with a motercycle."
"Precious metals, that'll do the trick. Did it manage to bite you?"
>[Otsu]"No, it couldn't even reach me through the armor, and I kept my face away from it."
"I'm happy to hear that. Any trouble with your family?"
>[Otsu]"…I don't think so. Maybe. I don't know."
"What's wrong?"
>[Otsu]"It's just… they don't seem as close as they were before, you know? Like there's something between us."
"Secrets can do that. So can magic. You're dealing with both."
>[Otsu]"…Should I tell them?"
"Ultimately, it's up to you. All I know is that there are ways to make it work telling them or not-and there are ways for things to get worse, telling them or not. Ultimately, all you can do is pick a path you don't regret."
>[Otsu]"…Thank you."
"Of course."
There is a muffled sound from his side of the connection.
>[Otsu]"OhI'vegottago-"
*CLICK*
Well, he seems to be doing well enough. I'll have to check in on him in a week or so, I think.
-After the calls with the Riihivuori and my cousin, I call Arkvad-or try. I leave a message on his home phone, and on a whim try his work line-to get a receptionist. When I identify myself, I'm given a message on Arkvad's behalf that he's dealing with some followup regarding materials for a joint project H&H has with me-the receptionist doesn't quite know what to make of it but I understand well enough: It's about the mere. Well, I'll have to ask him about that when I next get in touch with him.
-I use the afternoon to hold another lesson with Dávgon on soul binding and sculpting, again using the Golem as the base. We keep building on prior lessons, and I edit the old bindings I'd placed to flow together more efficiently before layering more on top, until a total of seven bindings, each imposing a 'rule' of Davgons' design that feels oddly like Asimov's laws mixed with parts of the ten commandment, and by the end of the session the golem's soul seed is looking rather intricate: it's got inner, middle and outer-soul quirk, with at least one as buffer in between each of the seven bindings, with each soul quirk sculpted to loop around the bindings to force all of it, seed, quirk and binding alike, to flow as a cohesive whole. While I needed Dávgon's direction to make the changes I implemented, the point remains I can look at our work and understand how each bit of it was made-slowly but surely, I'm getting more familiarity with soul sculpting as a whole. While I'm there, Dávgon comments that Gianni wondered what kinds of exotic materials I wanted to put in the golem next, as he's just about topped out on tweaks he can do to its flesh as-is.
>>410716
In the early evening, cooling down from a decidedly more rigorous than usual spirit manipulation training session I decide to chat up Iron Trick.

So, about Duke…
>[IT]"Yes?"
I'd say the truest thing one can say about him is that he is himself to such an extent he is his own category.
>[IT]"Go on."
Sure, there are other descriptions that can be applied, like soul and body Transcendent, but they don't do the man full justice. Li Kui, Iron Ox, Black Whirlwind, Duke-whatever name, whatever the title the man underneath it is still the same individual-that's why his soul is like that.
>[IT]"You dance with the truth, but can't quite seem to reach it-still, not a bad attempt."

-After my failed attempt to win that outstanding bet with my Artifact firearm, I talk with Duke some. Turns out he didn't, as I had started to suspect, lose his weapons in the Nazi fight-seems they're bound to his soul, and he can't really lose them. So, as much as I was fully ready to further embed myself in his good graces by finding them… that's just not an option, nor is making him a new set, now that I know they are so indelibly his.
-I visit Placid, who is more than passing pleased at my presence, still in the shape of the vaguely-related portly child. As he lets me in I find he's found a total of four cats and three dogs that now roam his room: After some inquiry, it would seem that when he took a walk yesterday, he found that nearly all types of animals are quite keen to interact with and follow him. Placid can't really offer an explanation as to why, but notes that 'The presence of such individuals does not disrupt my wellbeing, and their ability to adhere to requests is an approvable trait', which to my understanding is his way of saying 'I'm lonely and they're adorable, what did you expect would happen?'. While I'm complimenting him on his new friends and learning he's gotten them to happily take a walk to fertilize the nearby park in lieu of using his living space, I ask him if he knows how to externally fleshcraft. Seems he can-or at least, he thinks he can. He hasn't tried. He sounds a bit hesitant when he says that, as if he's afraid. There's just too much hesitation for me to not reach that conclusion, too much reluctance to even address the topic.
-I spend about ten minutes playing with my binding, doing once-a-minute edits… and swiftly stop as my soul begins to ache like an infected tooth, the heady, distracting throb causing my body to spasm minutely. I try to wait for the headache to go away, for my body to feel whole and with it my soul… but it persists too long. I realize there's something about repeatedly editing bindings-or maybe editing the same binding-that causes a strain that's slow to leave me.
WINTER ENERGY:-5x10 for Binding Edits 110/160
Feeling out of sorts from my final bout of experimentation for the day, I briefly slip into my Sphere Labyrinth Orientation, reaffirming to myself that what I've already built and stabilized is still working fine, do a double-take at how fast I drained off energy with less than a dozen binding edits…

And get ready to head out to the magic bar the Leprichaun and Minotaur run with Sake, Zhenya, Satai and Lyubov, outfitting myself in the neon orange fiber optic suit she got me for the occasion.

…She knows me too well. So flashy I love it







So, the five of us are going out to the magic bar-do I have a plan for the evening beyond 'have fun?'
What am I doing tomorrow?
>>
No. 410999 ID: 149a8f

Igor's up for grab folks
>>
No. 411012 ID: 35ccd6

[Bagga's Minion Orders]
>: After being accepted by Mr Laine, bring his belongings from the Orphanage to his new home(some clothes, his wallet, a few text books, and 5 super bouncy balls he bought during that time he tasted hearts blood... that was a weird night.). Enjoy the fact he has a actual room to himself. A whole Room!
>: Right, new place to live, new people to know. Oh, better make sure to introduce himself to the other residence and tell them he is living here too. It's only polite. Be sure to ask around where everything is so he doesn't get lost. Other than that, relish in the fact that he can ACTUALLY SEE THE SUN WHILE IN HERE! How he missed it~
>: Oh, he better talk to Mr. Laine's shadow about what he has learned so far. The main abilities of the average vampire(blood sensing, able to hear individual heart beats, dulled sense of pain, good at reinforcement(adept level he was told) and that they can innately tell if something is divine or elder by their blood(so they don't accidentally explode while having a drink)). The main rules of vampires(Respect your elders unless they are your enemy or clanless, always ask to hunt first with that turf's local clan(poaching is a big no-no) and don't make friends with Weres.) where a few clans are located,(Ibruhem, the clan his blood line is related to can be found in the MEAT PACKING DISTRICT, Yorgin are downtown right next to the Zosimus, and Allalah's clan is on the other side of the bosphorus.) and few important facts(heart's blood can give vamps crazy boosts and the mind set of a kid who drank his first pop and had some cocaine. Vamps can make other vamps by not fully draining someone. They can be cured the first one or two days by going out into the sun, but there is a 50% chance they explode in one of the worst deaths known.). Tell him he will inform him what else he learns when he can, though he does ask if it's alright for him to drink some of the blood they have. So he doesn't have to hunt drunks again..
>: Right, Vamp lessons with his Teacher in the Zosimus. Ask how someone becomes a Sire. He knows they are important, but doesn't know how they come to be.
>: Time to go for some of Ito-sensei's training. Continue to focus on learning more about defense(mainly blocking and countering with a bit of dodging). He was told his Ibruhem bloodline is based around redirecting energy aimed at him into the ground(or if he is touching someone, into them). Do one on one spars with his fellow students to get a feel of the impact and energy of the blows.
>: Head back home, drink some blood if he was allowed to and watch the sun rise for the first time in a while. Feels good man.
----
Well, aside from enjoying yourself for the night, try to do some info collecting. Anything interesting happening, possible job leads, events, that sort of thing.
>>
No. 411092 ID: 4c3429

Have fun, try and get to know some people, never hurts to get more contacts.
Keep the soul guise up.
Find and elf and get laid, if SB is coming with, see if he can find a female with a soul shadow. Shenanigans.

[Zhenya orders]
-Zhenya will still be unable to believe that Duke said yes…she will probably, no definitely, need to secure healings.
-Zhenya will chat up sake, complementing him on his coat and musical skill. She will explain the Duke situation and begs him to provide at least part healings for her after the sessions. Will promise to hang out with him and Lyubov more and resume the jam sessions if he would like to…
-Zhenya will go talk to HV and explain the Duke situation and ask if she can provide part healings and soul spritzers before and/or after sessions (seeing as she will be coming from Ito’s class)
-Zhenya will go talk to Satai and find out if he has met any healer types or knows where she could get healing items to purchase. She will then follow up on any contacts she gets from him and purchase healing items or times with a healer if needed.
-Zhenya will recall the name Baki as a masseuse from reading the files Armas got and look him up in the phone book (or if the file lists a number) to secure his services, a later time would be preferable.
-Zhenya will spend another 10k on booze to last Duke (and herself to a smaller extent) through the next few days of training sessions.
>Sunday: TRAINING TIME: (rolled 77 in disc)- Zhenya will feel good about not being a total failure during training
-Zhenya will get healed after her training sessions and go get fitted for her armour before going out with Lyu and gang.(brings 5k along just in case)
-Zhenya will notice how fast her money has begun to disappear without her buying a gun.
-Zhenya will offer Sake a backrub.
I hope this covers everything needed, I'll do the other results on their days I guess...
>>
No. 411200 ID: 4c3429

>>411092
Forgot to add this
>wat do tomorrow
Check on the Chakra book and your Lungs and Eye order from the site.

>Zhenya will go talk to Satai and find out if he has met any healer types or knows where she could get healing items to purchase. She will then follow up on any contacts she gets from him and purchase healing items or times with a healer if needed. (Clearance for this is 5k)
>>
No. 411204 ID: 711b45

>So, the five of us are going out to the magic bar-do I have a plan for the evening beyond 'have fun?'
Don't drink. Last time you did that on a night out you forgot all the good stuff, and you don't want that to happen again. Some strategic sleight of hand using goblin stealth should be all you need to seem like you're drinking when you're not. Consider it a challenge. Keep your plans for the house of Savoy in mind, and recognise the fact that as you're our in public amongst supernaturals, so anything you do may find its way back to them and prejudice your long terms troll/plan there. This means acting like the kind of person a queen would want to marry - and as it's likely they could afford to have us recorded, soul guises don't help. Royalty does not generally like nouvou riche, so our physical appearance and actual behaviour has to look the part. Plan for tonight is to practice your soul sensing on magical creatures, try to tie their souls to their powers and outward nature. This may come in very useful when dealing with disguised beings in future.

>What am I doing tomorrow?
The experiments described here (>>410716) involve editing out own bindings thirty times. We have already performed 10 edits, so some may have already been performed. Perform the rest of the experiments, editing the bindings every 15 mins. This should take 5 hours (7.5 if none happened yesterday).. If you start feeling the beginnings of pressure, move to one binding every 30 minutes and spend 10/15 hours on it, with pauses to recover energy under the regenerate in Feb only binding, as appropriate. Don't forget the orientation development at the end.

Ring Arkvad back about the mere, without mentioning it by name.

Have lunch with BC and Camella, and discuss company business. How do they see this working out, what direction do they see us going? As an aside, mention the possibility of becoming a were-hydra to BC.

In the late afternoon, go to Ito's. Use no chakra or Fleshcrafting, an simply practice Jukenjitsu paired with gyaketsuote on the pupils there. Be careful of your own strength.
>>
No. 411243 ID: 3734f6

>Boris
*Will ask armas for a near death beating as well; have it in the context of a spar and do your best to fight back.
*Find and encourage all the Russians who haven't had near death experience yet to get one.
*Offer to shoot at ito as well.

>Armas
The ability to tag and quickfind people is far better then quickfinding places. Abuse the fuck out of it!
Find and tag your family in allview, your co-workers, your friends. Whenever you meet someone who is important to you, being friend, foe, or powerful tag them. Tag your own body and your brothers so you can find each other. Tag everyone in the company. Tag lucy and ricky and SM when you next meet them.

Explore the sewers with allview, you can do so safely. Try to find who lives where.

>Endman
>>/questdis/364399
*weird forum bug, had to space those two lines out.
>>/questdis/364406
Screw killing endman, its too profitable to recruit him! (see plan and execution in questdis)
I think we should do some more legwork on collecting info on him before we contact him for initial threat/offer.

>Souls
It is too much work to find all the info yourself in allview... we need minions who live in allview and do so.
1. Souls owned by devil shop might do. Find newly departed souls who have followed their corpse around and hadn't yet dissipated by looking at morgues. As well as sneaking around ER and getting a police scanner to listen for violent crimes taking place.
2. Make a pitch, avoid followers of powerful jealous gods like Yehova... but atheists or fringe religions are fair play to manipulate. The choice of which approach to take will be based on the read we get on the soul.
2a. Tell them what a raw deal souls get, how the NN will eat them, use a soulguize for someone who is oozing divinity, trustworthiness, and speaks the truth. You are a... godling, not a full grown god yet so its still worth your time to collect souls in person; that this is the best deal they will get since nobody else will offer and since they aren't aware or prepared they will fade to nothingness in the NN.
2b. We could use deceptive truthfulness to convince without actually saying it that we are the grim reaper and they are MEANT To come with us too :P
2c. We could guise ourselves randomly and say we represent armas (its the truth, we represent ourselves).
3. Get them to accept you as their god, and welcome them to an afertlife in allview, your land of the dead. Form a celestial hierarchy and beurocracy. Deceive them into believing that there is already one in place, promote souls to management positions (with perks) as they prove themselves, with those underneath being "reassigned" without realizing they were working directly under you until that point.

The celestial beurocracy in allview will provide you with large manpower to collect and collate data on the world and allow us to fully leverage it as a tool beyond what armas alone ca do.
Also, declaring it our deadlands and populating it with souls who believe us their god will hopefully give us a boost, as well as result in allview growing naturally.
>>
No. 411495 ID: 01cf26

>>411200
>>411204
>>411243
upvote

also would like to add that the next time Armas see's PS use the same trick he used on Duke to view PS's soul.

also also auto-upvote to advancing Silja's growth

also also also work on SPHERE LABYRINTH. If possible use some bindings to improve Armas' ability to make a bigger badder maze. Consult Camila about problems in this and ask how she was able to make traps and what not while Armas is having trouble making anything complex. (not necessarily in that order.) Maybe get BC's 2 cents in on it while at meeting.
>>
No. 411684 ID: 448d82

>>410999

Lev is likewise up for grabs
>>
No. 411724 ID: dfc57c

>>411148
The flashy suit is okay. The Savoy certainly checked the history of Armas by now and know about his panchant for eye-seering outfits. They will notice it's not nouveau rich flashy, because Armas doesn't do it to show his riches, but because he's Armas. If Armas changes his known habits now, that will only raise questions and make the Savoys look much closer at him. Otherwise upvote the evening plans.

>>411243
upvoting the Endman plan

Go and collect the 7777 Chakra Uses book from the Istanbul outlet of the printer.

For the Golem we still plan to add a tail and piping to make use of Duke's contribution, don't we? Tell Gianni about those plans and let him start on the preparatory work. Like adding blood vessels for the tail and strengthening the bones of the lower spine and the hips. Meanwhile Armas should look for interesting tails on the Smiling One's site and post he is looking for such a limb. Another thing, the empowering base under all those modifications was Vampire, wasn't it? So how about adding some blood to the Golem. Armas has basilisk on hand and there should still be some of the Doony blood left. Some other types to gather and try for possible interesting effects are Troll and Werewolf, especially the later. Werewolf blood will either work wonderfully or cause an explosion. So be appropriately careful when adding that.

Armas needs to continue dual chakra orientation training. Just because Lo Fang said from now on it will be easier to extent the time is no reason to stop training. As is most negotiations will likely run longer than Armas can keep up a dual orientation of mental defense and soul sensing. There are also the 7777 chakra uses of the book, some of which will surely be helpful in negotiations. Once Armas can keep up a dual orientation for 90 minutes, he should start working on expanding that. Add a third orientation for a triple chakra orientation and work on recursive dual orientation by making a dual dual chakra orientation. Amas knows too little about chakra to guess which is easier or more likely o work, so in typical Armas fashion he should start to work on both.

On the Sphere Labyrinth and the objects not working, I think the objects need to be powered or invested with will to do anything. Camella's traps are likely filled with aggressive emotions or desires. Things like hate, fear, rage, desire to hurt and hunger. For objects in Arams maze to work, he needs to fill them with his trollishness. Things like malicious glee, spite, desire to humiliate, desire to thwart, petty malice, joy in other's frustration.

[experiments]
Try to form an orientation of this is me, Armas, and all of it is mine, mine, mine. Then try to push the chakra out of your body. Does it work and if so how fast does it dissipate?
Also try to push the chakra with that orientation a) into your mind, b) around your mind. Does it work and if so how fast does it dissipate?
If you managed to have chakra with the this is mine orientation outside yourself, try the bindings 'stay around me', 'dissipate on Tuesday', 'hold together'.
[/experiment]

Armas needs to sit down with Davgon and question him. Gods have the ability to split off parts of them to take be in multiple places at once.
One example are avatars, gods present in the flesh. Another are Japanese temple charms, which are offshots or manifestations of divine beings depending on tradition. Armas being a godling might be enough he can profit from that.
The questions for Davgon are 'Are there ways to split parts of from a soul?', 'What would the repercussions of such a split be for a being without and a being with divine parts?', 'Are there ways for an external force to separate a soul bound being from the one it's bound to?', 'What are they?'.
The basic idea is since you can bind things to your soul, can you bind things off your soul? Can you take a little piece of your soul, separate it from yourself and bind back to you? If that is possible for Armas, or at least Davgon has no indications Arams might cripple himself by doing that, creating such a separate but bound piece of himself might be a good idea. It would be of Armas, but not Armas himself. It could act like Armas without being Armas. It would be very helpful in Allview and might be able to run Armas's mental defense.
>>
No. 411736 ID: b58801

>>411204
On the experiments, I've put them up in disc(>>/questdis/364481), as we may actually want to perform them over several days.

We should also talk to Dávgon and Duke about soul bonding weapons, or otherwise making them count as a part of you. We might also want to closely examine how the shell around of our eye was bound to our soul. Whilst we can't replicate a wizard's method or power, the end result may give us some clues as to what is possible.

>>411495
On Silja, then we should follow several options at once:
* For the Yuki-Onna, we should buy three of them, to try to exploit potential Rule of three synergies. We want them delivered alive after checking what authority the Oni has over them, and if we're buying them as well. We can then explain, "I have a friend who is in great need of transplants, and when she is recovered, I will have no great need of you or your services, so would have no real problem, with appropriate guarantees provided, of letting you leave." We would want to wear the soul guise of a good man driven to extremes by neccessity, but with an essential core of decency that they could work to their benefit. The idea would be to imply but not directly promise them their freedom, so we have a strong basis to manipulate them into wanting to stay. Appropriate soul guises could make them think that they're getting the better part of the deal by eventually swearing them self into the service of someone who's both a soft touch and would protect them from real threats like the oni in future.
* We should also ask Silja to ask the Note Writer if it would aid her recovery to have a powerful Valkonen pour energy into her, either directly with their healing technique, or perhaps by saturating a still living transplanted organ with Winter energy as it is transferred.
* We should try to track down Einrik to discuss Silja's status as a magical Valkonen-by-marriage with him, and whether as the last representative of the branch family she was a part of, Markku would feel an obligation to help her, perhaps by allowing Hillevi to donate blood or flesh. We'd want to ensure that he would leave Silja her freedom, perhaps as a second ward of ours.

>>411724
On the golem:
* for a tail, I propose that we suggest to SB that when he is ready to possess it we get sufficient Red Cap flesh (traded in return for our own heart's blood for lots of precautions perhaps), and then he can use a Whaitiri boon to graft on their metal musculo-skeletal system and tail. We can then investigate growing a living metal exoskeleton, starting from the metal feet.
* for more parts, we should give Gianni the pair of phoenix hearts we already have, if they can be integrated one at a time.
* it might be worth giving Abolec a shout, and asking him if he fancies having a spar with us whilst wearing the golem to test it out. We can also examine his soul under Restricted soul sight to try to get some clues as to possible routes of soul evolution.
>>
No. 411743 ID: dfc57c

>>411724
To be clear, the last paragraph is only to make clear why Armas is to ask Davgon the questions.
>>
No. 412163 ID: 9718f3

While you're out, you might as well practice the whole dual orientation thing with Sphere Labyrinth and Soul Sensing. Speaking of Sphere Labyrinth, why is it not orange? Also, ask Lyubov about her progress on the taxes she is obviously making what with being such a model employee and all.

We also need to pick up that chakra book, maybe spend some time browsing through it for what looks the most fun/interesting.

>>411243
Downvoting the Endman plan. I like the use of Allview to harass/steal from him but I don't like the idea of trying to use that fact to sway him to our side. We have no measure of his personality, so no clue if it'll work. I'd rather not have a second absurdly proficient chakra master as an enemy.

>>411736
I like the Yuki-Onna approach. We also need to find out what kind of bindings they are kept under/will come with.
>>
No. 412298 ID: d97a61

[Gloom has already done the following:]
*G* Talk to Dávgon about the chakra training method he's chosen, and the results.
Learns that the fact he's been having results at all is somewhat unusual, but mostly in-line with the type of soul structure he has-effectively, it's not common but makes sense for him. Dávgon goes past this, explaining that the sensation of being watched when blindfolded, however, is more of an enigma-he knows of one thing it could be, but doesn't want to commit without more data. He asks to be kept in the loop if anything changes.
[Zhenya has been queued to do the following:]
[Z]-Be unable to believe that Duke said yes…she will probably, no definitely, need to secure healings.
[Z]-Chat up sake, complementing him on his coat and musical skill. She will explain the Duke situation and begs him to provide at least part healings for her after the sessions. Will promise to hang out with him and Lyubov more and resume the jam sessions if he would like to. Learns that Sake did indeed enjoy jam sessions, and agrees to offer healing.
[Z]-Zhenya will go talk to HV and explain the Duke situation and ask if she can provide part healings and soul spritzers before and/or after sessions (seeing as she will be coming from Ito’s class). Finds out Hillevi's a bit busy with her current 'star pupil' Satai, but she could at least offer 'soul spritzers'.
[Z]-Talks to Satai and finds out he has heard of some healer types/knows where she could get healing items to purchase. She finds out that Finnigan sells some magic healing stuff, but that oddly Satai didn't hear back from Feodor when he looked into what Finnigan has.
[Z]-Recalls the name Baki as a masseuse from reading the files Armas got and looks him up in the phone book to secure his services, a later time would be preferable. Finds out he's booked solid out two weeks.
[Z]-Zhenya will spend another 10k on booze to last Duke (and herself to a smaller extent) through the next few days of training sessions.
>Sunday: TRAINING TIME: (rolled 77 in disc)- Zhenya will feel good about not being a total failure during training. Holy crap is Duke a rough teacher though.
[Z]-Zhenya will get healed after her training sessions and go get fitted for her armour before going out with Lyu and gang.(brings 5k along just in case)
[Z]-Zhenya will notice how fast her money has begun to disappear without her buying a gun.
[Z]-Zhenya will offer Sake a backrub. Learns that weasels wiggle a great deal when given back rubs. Attempts to not daww. Fails.

[Boris has been queued to do the following:]
B*Asks Boss for a near death beating as well; wants it in the context of a spar and does his best to fight back. Given Boss was frequently sparring against ALL the Russians and coming out smelling pretty, spar ends with Boris beaten to half-dead pulp, and Armas looking spotless. Damn him. At least he got a weasel rub.
B*Find and encourage all the Russians who haven't had near death experience yet to get one. Coughs up a bloody tooth he accidentally swallowed when trying to sell Grisha, Iosef and Igor on the idea-gets feeling they didn't like the concept. Was it something he said?
B*Offers to shoot at Ito as well. For first day uses Vlad's gun-after getting kicked into a wall, begins to question efficacy of plan.
>[Bagga has done/been queued to do the following:]p.b[
>: After being accepted by Mr Laine, bring his belongings from the Orphanage to his new home(some clothes, his wallet, a few text books, and 5 super bouncy balls he bought during that time he tasted hearts blood... that was a weird night.). Enjoy the fact he has a actual room to himself. A whole room!
>: Right, new place to live, new people to know. Oh, better make sure to introduce himself to the other residence and tell them he is living here too. It's only polite. Be sure to ask around where everything is so he doesn't get lost. Other than that, relish in the fact that he can ACTUALLY SEE THE SUN WHILE IN HERE! How he missed it~
>: Oh, he better talk to Mr. Laine's shadow about what he has learned so far. The main abilities of the average vampire(blood sensing, able to hear individual heart beats, dulled sense of pain, good at reinforcement(adept level he was told) and that they can innately tell if something is divine or elder by their blood(so they don't accidentally explode while having a drink)). The main rules of vampires(Respect your elders unless they are your enemy or clanless, always ask to hunt first with that turf's local clan(poaching is a big no-no) and don't make friends with Weres.) where a few clans are located,(Ibruhem, the clan his blood line is related to can be found in the MEAT PACKING DISTRICT, Yorgin are downtown right next to the Zosimus, and Allalah's clan is on the other side of the bosphorus.) and few important facts(heart's blood can give vamps crazy boosts and the mind set of a kid who drank his first pop and had some cocaine. Vamps can make other vamps by not fully draining someone. They can be cured the first one or two days by going out into the sun, but there is a 50% chance they explode in one of the worst deaths known.). Tell him he will inform him what else he learns when he can, though he does ask if it's alright for him to drink some of the blood they have. So he doesn't have to hunt drunks again… Armas says 'sure, whatever, I got some basilisk blood in the fridge'.
>: Right, Vamp lessons with his Teacher in the Zosimus. Ask how someone becomes a Sire. He knows they are important, but doesn't know how they come to be. Finds out Sires are vampires that aren't part of a clan that, unsurprisingly, sire other vampires, and then get recognized by existing Sires. Seems very political.
>: Time to go for some of Ito-sensei's training. Continue to focus on learning more about defense(mainly blocking and countering with a bit of dodging). He was told his Ibruhem bloodline is based around redirecting energy aimed at him into the ground(or if he is touching someone, into them). Do one on one spars with his fellow students to get a feel of the impact and energy of the blows.
>: Head back home, drink some blood and watch the sun rise for the first time in a while. Feels good man.
>>410999
[b]MINION: IGOR IS UP FOR GRABS.

>>411684
MINION: LEV IS UP FOR GRABS.
Please check in IRC and/or discussion if interested in claiming one of the now-free minions

[ARMAS ORDERS LOCKED]

[I got hit by a car yesterday, my apologies but the actual update will be delayed.]
>>
No. 412384 ID: 3e7271

Sunday, February 13, 2011
*Be incredibly glad not to be working with Finnigan until Thurday. Couldn't face him after having that reaction, anyway. Avoid telling Satai of the product, afraid of him finding out.
*Increase the weight on the jog to 80lbs. Use increased difficulty to to distract self from memories of last night.
*Make an appointment with the Czech, for as soon as possible.
*Take Davgon up on his offer, and ask how to prepare for getting a spirit animal.
>>
No. 413295 ID: c74bfa

I feel your pain, bro.
>>
No. 413669 ID: d97a61

[Lyubov has already done the following:]
L*~Lyubov (and Sake) asked Amen to collect all the documents related to the transfer of the mansion from Smets to Armas, as well as other documents of interest for taking care of taxes including vehicle titles and anything else which the tax authorities would care about. They received a collection of loose papers in the wrong order, and spent a couple of hours arranging them into binders. Lyubov made sure things that clearly indicated criminal activities were put into their own “black binder” while things that did not require covering up went into a “white binder.” The black binder consisted mostly of Satai’s books, and some numbered account bank
statements (wow, Armas has a lot of money).

L*~Lyubov engaged in her Morning Routine, reminded Sake to be home in the afternoon so she could do his fur, and engaged in part of a chakra lessons with Camella. She then called the tax assessor got cleaned up and went to church (Gloom declined to go this week). At church she spoke with Father Nikolai, and let him know that Chugainov had been forced to back off the families, somehow. Probably better not to know how, really. She donated money ($300).
L*~Lyubov invited Cookie Lady to lunch again, and asked her to come to the dojo on Tuesday night. “The va- er, students, really liked meeting you, and they could not stop talking about how wonderful your cookies are. We’d all love for you to come visit again.” Cookie Lady smiles back with a big pile of wrinkles and leaves Lyubov with "That's very nice of them, thank you for telling me dearie" They had a conversation that covered a number of other topics as well, before Lyubov took her home. ($80 on lunch)
L*~Lyubov doubled-checked her appointment with the friendly tax assessor for Monday, as well as checking in about what paperwork she would need to finish Armas’s taxes. The assessor asked what her relationship to Armas was, and she explained she was helping her friend. She ignores the assessor's theatrical eye rolling.
L*~During the make-up session for Wednesday’s missed lesson with Armas, Lyubov mentioned the appointment with the tax assessor, and continued to ask questions about Armas’s past (as well as share her own stories). She said, “When I was nine, my grandfather had won a shotgun in a drawing and so he wanted to go rabbit hunting with it. Granny was away, I do not remember where, and mother was at work. Well grandfather could not leave me alone, and so he took me with him, and we had a lot of fun just talking and walking through the
woods near the reservoir and trying to find rabbits. And we finally found one just before he decided to give up. So he shot at it and uh, the gun was loaded with buckshot because my grandfather was cheap and stubborn. Aaand the rabbit sort of disintegrated. I cried and cried.” Armas, in turn, cops to not actually having much in the way of memorable childhood recollections-but he does relate the story of how he first encountered the supernatural in the army several years back. Find the concept of a non-magical Armas thoroughly Surreal.

L*~Lyubov wrote a quick note to Hyougo and included a picture of the cape on a table (in a darkened room, so it looked glorious). Hyougo noted it to be very chic, and asked for pictures of it being worn. Lyubov asked Hillevi for a chakra chiller, and then spent the next couple of hours getting herself and Sake ready.
L*~Lyubov will have a fun night, chatting and not getting too drunk (thank you reinforcement). She will try to make at least one new friend at the bar. Maybe that minotaur who is eyeing up the flashy clothes they came in wearing. She’ll talk about how the clothes work (“Oh they’re not magic at all, it’s all mundane. The
threads are made of shaped glass, and light is piped through them from this control box so it radiates out. See? I can turn it on and off and it doesn’t use anything except for some batteries. Yes the gel on my friend is mundane too. And I did the gold leaf stencils here, and I used a couple of colors of hair gel around them to make them really
stand out and glitter- thank you, he does look great! Oh I do other little projects too- you sell cloth? What’s your number, I’d like to visit your shop sometime.”) …Begins to regret decision when Minotaur begins hitting on her with the skill of a lethally inebriated Jersey Beach Ape ™

[Lyubov has been queued to do the following:]
L*~Lyubov) wakes up in Armas’s bed. Since the evening went well, she’ll give Armas the orange fire opal cufflinks she bought, and will say, “I saw these last week and thought of you. I keep forgetting to give them to you, so, here! You have a good day! I’ll give you a call and let you know what happens with the tax assessor.”
L*~She’ll then go through her Morning Routine, and will save herself a little trouble and just take a bath with Sake (“You can’t leave the old hair gel caked on all day, and you’re just going to soak me with the bathwater anyway. Why are you snickering like that? Well, ok, it was funny, but it wasn’t that funny.”). During the chakra lessons Lyubov will continue to experiment with how the energy flows, and will try ‘pushing’ more energy around. Feels like… it kind of flows like taffy, or something-she can kind of shove it in places if she really forces it, but it oozes back? She's not really sure. If she manages to exhaust herself, she’ll ask Hillevi for a chiller, and ask her when she wants to do the next part of the Blade movie (since Lyubov’s been asked to help with this). Finds out Hillevi wants to delay until she has an appropriately impressive repertoire of villianess-compliant tricks-currently, she's working on writing with ice and rendering the sculpted letters short-lived explosives.
L*~Lyubov will meet up with the tax assessor student at Ito’s dojo after lessons, and will spend the afternoon going over Armas’s finances and ‘white book’ obligations. She’ll talk with the assessor about different options for getting the estate fees to as low a number as possible without drawing any more suspicion to an already strange property transfer. She learns that there’s not a great deal that can be done about the estate fees, and that while Armas has been in Turkey since June 2nd (though not continuously since then) he can easily enough claim to have been performing consulting work as an independent contractor. Those obligations work out to be about $48,675.04 in taxes on the money that went into his old account (the one linked to his identity).
[color=#FF00FF]Lyubov makes a mental note to get some sort of front set up for Armas, including an account linked to his identity again, if only to keep up appearances. She gets a number from the tax assessor for what the
total bill will be, and his commission for his time and (very helpful) advice, and calls Armas to get him to make the appropriate transfers right away. $2.4 million well spent, hopefully ($2.4 million in taxes and transfer fees, and another $20,000 to the assessor for his discretion and help).
[color=#CC00CC]The assessor warned that there are other rules about taxes for Americans who are living out of the country, and that Armas not having a conventional account anymore would likely draw a great deal of attention from the IRS. It will be a problem in a couple of months, and as far as the IRS is concerned the mansion alone would certainly count as income for Armas.
[color=#FF00FF]Finally, after the meeting was over, Lyubov picked up copies of tax filing documents for the fake identities she had constructed and distributed them at dinner and in-person to people who skipped dinner, with instructions to pay taxes as for "consultation work" appropriate to the fake identities' skill sets ($1,000 to $6,800 in taxes, depending on the skills associated with the identity). "Use a cashier's check! This is supposed to be all cash income, after all. Hillevi I will help you with this tomorrow, or Satai could, your choice. …Oh, your family…. doesn't… have to pay taxes? Are you sure? …No, I get that your dad told you but-okay, okay, fine, you don't pay taxes. We must pay these to keep the fake identities in good status, so they are not investigated. Everyone, the date taxes must be postmarked is tomorrow. Dávgon, you are here legally? Good, you do not have to worry until next year, same as Duke. Bagga, you also have no worries until next year."
[color=#CC00CC]L*~Upon returning home, Lyubov will spend a few minutes chatting with Hyougo and mildly complaining that her lover apparently has an allergy to taking care of his own taxes. Hyouga confides that her family is far too keen to sell the animals they breed, and she thinks it's dumb. Zhenya comes over and just staaaares at Lyubov for some reason. Lyubov can’t get anything out of her as to what’s wrong. Spoke to Falcon about it. Lyubov asks Sake what’s up, discovers he smells like he rolled in puke, and learns that Zhenya had a rather traumatic experience at Duke’s hands.

L*~Lyubov will give Sake another bath and then go to Night Lessons. She’ll focus on practicing her gyaketsuote with a variety of sparring partners. She's getting more comfortable with the art-like she's really starting to click with whatever mojo makes the illusion work. She’ll leave a few minutes early to go get a coffee cake for Zhenya, and will sneak the favored confection into her upset friend’s room.
L*~Lyubov will end the day by double-checking with Armas that he really did move all the money around that he needed to, and will probably spend part of the evening reading that new book with him-after getting really pissy he still didn't send the money. Promptly nags him mercilessly until he does. Then gets to book reading. Maybe there’s an astral projection orientation…
TAXES -$2,468,675.04
PERSONAL FUNDS: -$2468,675.04 $9,711,410.00
[Feodor has been queued to do the following:]
*Be incredibly glad not to be working with Finnigan until Thursday. Couldn't face him after having that reaction, anyway. Avoid telling Satai of the product, afraid of him finding out. Hope he doesn't think you're trying to keep it to yourself.
*Increase the weight on the jog to 80lbs. Use increased difficulty to distract self from memories of last night.
*Make an appointment with the Czech, for as soon as possible. Find out he's booked solid for two weeks-and his next opening is the middle of the night on the 28th.
*Take Davgon up on his offer, and ask how to prepare for getting a spirit animal. Be told that for starters, he'll need to resolve whatever's playing havoc with his soul equilibrium-in other words, get his head sorted out.


>>411204
I briefly think about not drinking before discarding that ludicrous thought. Fuck, I've got a magic stomach, Reinforcement and fleshcrafting-I can damn well take it. I do, however, decide that, given this is, in a way, my first public night out in magical company, I should keep in mind that just about anything I say or do could get right back to the Savoys and totally fuck my plan of the greatest troll of history.
>"That wouldn't be the greatest, the-"
Shut up don't ruin this for me-anyway, after I fund a round of drinks for the group-
CASH: -$60 $6,060.00
And then I start mingling. For some reason, the ideas aren't coming and I have no 'grand plan' to enact while here, just a vague admittedly logical desire to pick up more contacts-but I've got an easy conversation starter with my suit, so I hardly even need to try. I talk with faeries. I chat with sirens. I switch to talking with a few ogres after I see Lyubov giving me the stink eye, making my way around the room without any hurry. I see Zhenya being asked to dance by an Elf-I see Lyubov now the subject of the amorous advances of a minotaur-I see Sake looking decidedly at home chatting up a collection of magical muscalids-and through it all I build a picture.

The magical scene in Istanbul… isn't really defined solely by the sewers and the rest of the subterranean ruins. I had thought they did, knowing the dragons to live below, the goblins, my first major contact in the area, likewise claiming land beneath our feet. But that does nothing to disrupt or disturb the positively thriving community above ground. Vampires from assorted clans mingle, the bar clearly some form of neutral ground for their grudges as the weres in attendance also don't cause trouble. Ogres drinking beside pixies, no one caring. I find that Istanbul has a history of being a city where certain types of watering holes have been havens for the unusual for centuries-in some cases, millennia. What I don't learn is where these other bars are-but I get the feeling if I became a regular I could wheedle it out of the Leprichaun without too much trouble.

So while I end up getting more than a few numbers for people that like to hang out and bullshit over some brew, I don't really get any business contacts.
>"You know many business contacts start this way."
Yeah but they aren't YET like that, so they don't count as business contacts-OBVIOUSLY.
>"Of course. I do so wonder how I missed that."
I keep drinking, happy to feel little more than the burn of the alcohol and even happier I've gotten a few bar-goers comfortable enough with my presence I can convince them to buy me a drink. After some dozen free drinks, I realize time's been flying while I've been bullshitting, and I round up the group. Sake I extricate from a pile of weasels, snickering all the while. SB I had THOUGHT was being a wallflower, but had actually been hosting a private party for his Shade within himself. Satai was busily confounding a Siren who couldn't quite figure why her amorous auto-suggestion wasn't reaching him (A feat I'll have to complement him on later), and Zhenya and Lyubov were impishly doubleteaming an Elf that seemed more than passing perturbed at their breathless babble. Well all head back with more than a bit of liquor rolling around in our guts, and on the trip back I note all three Russians to… be filtering the magic from the drinks they'd imbibed with the aid of Reinforcement. Short of these three not at all being representative of the rest… I'd say the Russians have actually rendered themselves safe from soul implosion.

I decide to keep that to myself until after the tournament.

After we return home, the group splits up, Sake and SB head out for a night of pranking, and Lyubov and I go to bed.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14TH, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $9,711,410.00
BUSINESS FUNDS: $1,124,984.00
CASH: $6,120.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 40%
WINTER ENERGY: 160/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50

>>411243
The first thing I do when I wake up to Lyubov getting out of bed is start up the Allview, and start tagging… every single person I can think of and can find. My parents, Riker, all the russians, Camella, Hillevi and the rest of the Valkonens… frankly, the only people I know that I DON'T end up tagging are Ogrimmir, Lo Fang, the Owner, Sometimes Merchant and the Red Caps. I thoroughly test all the connections, making sure the quickfind links stuck-and start as I realize I spent six goddamn hours on this.
>"You DID take quite a bit of time to find quite a few of the people you thought of."
Guess I didn't notice the time passing… wait, I thought I'd gotten better at 'feeling' how much time was passing.
>"You have-when not using the Allview, which demands a rather large amount of your focus and concentration."
Grumbling about how tiresome that was, I get out of bed, get dressed in a neon green suit, much to Sake's joy, and head out to make a quick pickup. Today's the day the Chakra book's in, and there's not a chance in hell I'm missing it.

There is, however, a slight problem with my plan.

As I approach the place I'll pick up the book at, I realize that I've got a tail-four sets of attention focused specifically on me. This wouldn't bother me that much, save for two points: I can't seem to shake them no matter how I ply my goblinic teachings… and all four are completely, utterly spiritually incomprehenisble to me. That isn't to say I can't sense their souls-it's just that, no matter how I focus on them, I can't quite make out-

[DISONTINUITY]

I wake up with one of the worst cases of dry mouth I've ever heard of, and need a good half minute to clear my eyes of gunks just so I can see. As I take in my surroundings, a few things start to slide in place.

-I'm in a perfectly illuminated room, the very walls themselves glowing and bereft of corners-there isn't a shadow in the entire place, and when I experimentally try to cup my body around itself to create a pocket of shadow, it stays illuminated. Has to be some sort of magic-but my limited magic item sense isn't picking anything up. I also cannot seem to contact SB.
-I can see no entrance or exit to the room I occupy, and can't sense any souls beside my own and HB.
-I can see HB inside of a crystal sphere roughly the size of a soccer ball to my right. Attempts at mental communication fail, and when I touch the sphere my fingers catch on fire at the moment of contact. After withdrawing my hand, the flames go out-the burns to my flesh remain.
-I seem to be completely and utterly naked, save for a set of shackles around my feet and wrists.
-Said shackles are made out of bone, and look like they were grown specifically to fit me. Each shackle is anchored to the ground with a stake, also bone, and even at full overcharged reinforcement I can't make them budge.
-There is a note on the ground in front of me, already beginning to fade out of existence as I begin reading it.
-Allview can't seem to find me-I can track to other places in the world, but it just won't auto-orient on me, and I have no idea where I'd even begin looking for myself. Where the hell am I?

Armas, you've been captured by a Dragon magic researcher that learned of your status as a dual bloodline godling. If you can't convince him you're worth more as an ally than as an ingredient… well, I'll have to find someone else to see to it Silja's brought back. I wish I could say I could help-but I have precious little power here. Your words will be your best weapon-good luck.

The note finishes fading away.

Roughly ten minutes later, part of my cell's wall swirls itself open, and from the darkness beyond, a voice emenates.

[???]"Awake already, are you? Regrettable for you-I do not think you will find this pleasant."

The darkness beyond the door oozes inward, bulging like diabolical taffy intent on decaying erstwhile teeth, tendrils drifting out that slowly approach me.
[???]"It is my understanding you can regenerate yourself from considerably heavy wounds, for a primate-what do you require to regenerate?"
As the question is asked, one of the tendrils whips through the air to scoop a sliver of flesh from my chest.
[???]"…Interesting. Your flesh is decidedly poisonous-why is that?"

Okay me, you can do this-just convince the probably-dragon that's looking to use me like Amen uses burglars that I'm worth more as something OTHER than a meat farm. Come on brain, do your thing…..









What do I say to my captor?
If I have any genius plans, now would be the time, I think.
>>
No. 413697 ID: f70e5e

we could try to argue that we are going to be something far more valuable in the near future.

" I was a more or less mundane human a few months ago. don't you want to see what I'm going to be in a year? after all, what would a year or so matter to one such as you? you could have me now, or you could have my word of letting you harvest some of my flesh after I've become something far more."
>>
No. 413768 ID: 35ccd6

Alright. This is going to be one of THOSE sort of situations. Resisting or trying to just plainly weasel out? Not going to work. He is here to research, he WANTS to research and will constantly think of researching by the looks of it. That means with holding info may be a bad idea when it comes to bits about ourselves.

To get out of this safely? We are going to have to both sate his curiosity AND prove ourselves. He just gave us a starting point; Our poisonous body. Remain calm, but do not act superior. We are on the table, he is not.

My example;
"It is likely due to the Doonongaes poison glands I had integrated into my body. It required a bit of work of course. Getting the materials before they rotted, creating the antitoxins so I do not die from my own poison and a few favors here and there to integrate them, but I find it quite worth it."

But yeah. Any questions about our body, so long as they don't dive deep, we explain to him and use a bit of our wit to give him a bit of insight on HOW we got them. The guy is a researcher, so if he sees us as someone who also researches various things(though we use our own body for most of them), he'd likely consider us far more valuable than a sac of resources.
>>
No. 414368 ID: 31093f

>>413768
This. And don't forget to ask him about what he researches. The track Armas should follow for that is Armas shared his research, the results of his experiments, reciporcating with some of the dragon's experiments and their results would only be polite. Also offer to field test things for the dragon. As a mercenary and at most midlevel practitioner Armas has much more opportunities for rough testing and leeway if he appears with new things.
>>
No. 414390 ID: 252e1b

>>413697

Let's try not to pay a tithe in Armas's body parts and blood unless we have no other choice.

The thing to do is to get him interested in things Armas needs to be free to be able to do properly. Obviously we don't want to give up information for free, but this is going to require talking him away from the subject of "Armas as a meat factory" and into the idea of "Armas as a fun factory."

We know he's doing his own research instead of going out and fighting and getting power the old fashioned way. We know he's got decent, but incomplete, intel on Armas. And we know that he's a dragon.

Since he's interested in Armas's bloodline, there's one obvious thing he'll want. The data Einrik collected. Einrik was present both for the performance of the ritual Ogrimir gave Armas, for Armas eating the Sami and Romanov heart, and for the finalization of the bloodline with the Darkening bullet.

That alone could be a good chip to get him off our back. If we offer access to that data, discreet access, we might be able to get him to listen and to consider letting Armas go. It wouldn't be in character for Armas to not attempt to profit from this, though, so offering the services of the Company of Laine as mercenaries to complete jobs for him, in lieu of his somewhat conspicuous constructs, would be logical. He might go for it, he might not, but it'd be a sweetener.

What we really want though, is for him to let Armas go and have free agency to go and keep being Armas. The thing that has the supernatural community, from Cornelius to Owner most interested in Armas isn't his ability as a fighter or bloodline practitioner or even as the head of a mercenary company. It's his potential to make really fucking funny and entertaining movies. We need to play that up, tell him our ideas for it (from the Blade Saga to Heroic Hobos, and whatever else we've done) and get him on board with the idea of letting Armas go for that reason.

We could offer to perform jobs for him that are done artistically, the footage edited and cut to be hilarious, and the target ruined to whatever degree requested.

As soon as we're loose and back home, we'd need to jump on getting some of the production work done. Grab Andrei, find a production and special effects company we can buy outright (we're going to need way more help for Andrei for this, he's just one dude) and get the "Death of Doony" completed (soundtrack, slo-mo shots, etc). Send a copy to Cornelius, and then arrange to show "Death of Doony" at the Leprechaun and Minotaur bar. Heck, send a copy to Blackbeard too, it'll be funny for him to get a copy in the mail and be all "How did he know where I am?"

Get the first episode of "Blade's Saga" finished too, and send that to our abductor, as well as Owner, Dorjpalam, Oggmum, Lo Fang, Rocco, and SM. This'll be the first real work for Laine Productions.
>>
No. 414419 ID: 6616f3

>[???]"…Interesting. Your flesh is decidedly poisonous-why is that?"
Don't mention Doonongaes per se. "As with most things, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Not many things want to eat you when you're simultaneously producing a few dozen deadly poisons."

[Primary] I wonder if the magic light is erasing even the shadows within our body- remember that trick? While we're fiddling around with that, keep talking. "Wow, took me right off the street in broad daylight, huh? Ballsy, if you'll forgive me saying so. I hope you at least removed everyone's memories of the event, the local Ruler gets pretty angry about that. Last time something like that happened, he turned the entire building and surrounding area into a sinkhole."
[Trickster] We treat the Dragon kinda like we would Iron Trick. "You want answers, yes? Me too. And while I'm sure - as any true researcher - seeking those answers is enjoyable in its own right, we could move this along. Perhaps we might play a little game?" Whatever the game we choose is, we play for an answer around, either one of his, or ours. I'd like this guy's name, and if he's a Turkish dragon- or if we're even still in Turkey.
[Heavyhanded] is when we trade heavily on our connection with the Ruling Dragon. "Is this going to take a while? I've been expecting a call back on a job from the Asitane's Owner at his convenience." "Actually, how long have I been out? I've been keeping something for him for a few days now, and I'd rather not leave it alone for long. It would probably get lonely."

If that fails, mention that if we die, our butler is likely to turn Turkey into a crater. The Owner and Dorjpalam would likely be... unhappy. We won't care; we'll be dead. This guy, though? "Better start running."
[Escape] is to take ourselves hostage. Threaten to kill ourselves before he can! We can force hybrid healing to not kick in. Is there enough slack in the bone chains to eat ourself? If not, there's always the Hummingbird sphere. Once we're dead, see if we can put off our resurrection for a few days, to try and get the dragon to drop his guard. It's not a very GOOD Escape plan, but we don't exactly have a lot to work with.
>>
No. 414422 ID: 397c9d

>>414390
SUST the movies/chat about fun. You're massively overplaying the value of Armas' currently rather shitty home movies, and also assuming that a draconic researcher is into frankly rather pedestrian sub-reality TV, which at worst may offend it.

A big challenge here is to engage with the dragon in a way that it considers Armas as another thinking being to meaningfully talk to rather than merely a subject for vivisection. Note that way it's asked the two questions, not pausing to give you chance to answer the first before moving on to the second. There's a good chance that the questions are purely rhetorical or it's just talking to itself as it works. It may be worth casually demonstrating a significant display of unusual magic and skill. Say, for example cannibalising the parts of our limbs around the shackles and then shifting so the parts fall in a way that we touch tbem with the stumps outside the shackles and hybrid heal the missing joins closed. Another option, if our Fleshcrafting senses can determine that the bones holding us are possible and safe to cannibalise, we can do that.

When we're sure we have his actual attention but saying something like, "Well, as to your question on the poison, it's a long story, but it might be best to start with a little wager I made with Cornelius Zosimus at the Owner's, as that's lead me on more than one little journey of discovery. To cut a long story short, out sport ended with a Doonegeas dead and it's corpse, that of a Divine Summer aligned Fleshcrafter in my hands. I'm sure you undertand how I couldn't resist the urge to perform a little direct experimentation, given the obvious similarities..."

If he keeps asking us questions on our Fleshcrafting, we can perhaps mention that we have recently been inspired by witnessing what a Skinwalker's powers can do in the hands of the entity that the Owner recently entrusted into my temporary supervision.
>>
No. 414461 ID: 252e1b

>>414419
Oh man, Guile you're a cool guy but that dialogue is really presumptive and sassy. I can't see anything good coming from talking to a dragon like that. SUST.

>>414422
SUST. You know why the dragon asked why Armas is poisonous right after he asked his first question? Because he touched Armas and was surprised to find that he's poisonous, that's why. It was a reflexive question. This dragon is not a focused dude, and if we start showing off he's going to just start tearing Armas apart for answers.

Since we know he's not all that focused, we can talk him into subjects we want to talk about.

Here's what I'm talking about, in verbose one-sided conversation form.

“The flavor didn't give it away? I take it you never bothered to fight the Doonongaes. I slew it, and claimed its flesh as my trophy. A friendly fleshcrafter did the work of making me less delicious to most threats. I'm given to understand that such poisons are beneath the notice of your kind, though."

“Tell me, what is it you want to know besides the extent of my ability to survive? If it's my bloodline you're interested in, there are people who have detailed data about it, who were present when I finalized it. And I mean detailed, as fine a magic sensor as anyone could hope to have."

"Anyone I’d allow to be present for such a private moment would be tied closely enough to me, be it through deals or other bonds, that outright buying the information would be problematic for you at very best. And getting the information more violently would pose other issues for you. I daresay you took a risk being so overt in snatching me. But that's beside the point. I think I could get a copy of that data, and, with the right promises, feel quite confident in making it available to you. Obviously you'd want me to maintain a cover."

“It wouldn't do for my friends and all the others who spy on me to realize I'd been abducted. I'm not yet good enough at making sense of magic data myself to have a personal need to go over that information, so asking for it would make the current holders wary. I'd need to be able to present that I'm actually good enough that copying the data wouldn't be a waste of time for everyone involved. At least to get it done free of suspicion, or nearly so."

“While you could imitate me, could you do so long enough to avoid detection? Any party who could record a magic transformation in the fidelity I mentioned would have impressive sensing abilities at their disposal, and everyone I associate with has made a habit of examining me when I show up. The past few months have been ones of radical change for me."

“Acquiring the bloodline data without being in the company of the holder for an adequate period would, given the nature of previous dealings, draw attention.”

“That, combined with all my current outstanding obligations being ignored, would be a big red flag. I'm confident the holding party could piece it together, and fairly certain several third parties could figure it out independently if they knew of the request. And any of them would be wise enough to call for help. In short order all my allies, and the parties interested in my well being, would be investigating."

“I know how inquisitive minds are; there's never just one project. You'd put all of your ongoing projects in jeopardy to learn something which you could acquire with a little dealing?"

"Yes, holding me as a research subject, a source of reagents, a source of sustenance, could be profitable for you. But think of how much more valuable having an established agent available would be. Your reliance on those constructs to capture me was a risk. My company, my mercenary company, would draw much less attention for similar jobs. No obvious tie to a dragon performing private research, and jobs like that would be well within the expected actions of such a company."

“Your constructs did an admirable job capturing me, but it is not their competency or quality that I question. It's their origin and nature that is the issue. A chance observation, a trace left behind, or worst of all one being captured by a competent fleshcrafter and made to reveal secrets inherent- all would, with due diligence, lead an investigator to you. Whereas a known agent such as myself would be much harder to connect to you."

“Then I would congratulate you, and ask if the extra attention would not still cause you trouble in pursuing your other projects? And wouldn't the attention be enough to cause trouble for your ongoing concerns? Using an established agent would save you grief. And, there's another reason to use my company."

"Surely you're old enough to have an interest in novelty. I've been making my company capable of turning jobs into entertaining productions. Costumes to taste for the job, artistically planned work, high definition video expertly cut and choreographed. Since this is my planned modus operandi for the company, it would not even seem out of place."

“I did a test run against a Neo-Nazi warehouse. No cameras on that run, unfortunately, but it was meant as a dress rehearsal for future jobs. The employer was amused, and allowed it. My men and I wore period World War 2 German Army costumes, with a few embellishments and modern amenities like hidden armor. Except for my second in command. She was wearing an SS uniform. Very, hm. Have you heard of "Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS?" It was a campy exploitation film, but you get the idea?”

“I was able to walk right up to the gate as 'Oberst Orange' and yell at the guards for being incompetent. That bought us the time to move into place for the assault proper, which was a show in itself. The guards fell fast, mundanes equipped with charms, but the grand finale was a crate of Nazinauts activating and giving us all trouble, until I detonated them with a well placed shot. A bit like swatting flies, only with a pillar of flame."

"You recall the duelist Owner endured? The fool goes by the moniker Blade. Owner gave him my contact information, and Blade attempted to hire my services as a hit man. He offered the grand sum of $5,000 for the Owner's life. Laughable as that was, it gave me the opportunity to set up an ongoing series of unfortunate events for Blade, starting with faking my own death in a dramatic manner right in front of him."

“As Blade is largely an uninitiated mortal, he's primed to believe all sorts of nonsense. I've set my ward up as a "villain" to harass and oppose him, and I intend on having others serve the role of mentor and magic helpers. The goal is to create a truly hilarious saga, a miniseries worth of material at least, with Blade enduring a "villain of the week" on the way to a grand confrontation with my ward. We have a fair amount of material for the Blade Saga already filmed, in fact."

"I haven't discussed it with my confidants yet, as I've found it's best to not overwhelm them with projects, but I have been thinking of doing a reality TV show. You're familiar with that mundane TV series, "Heroes" right? Well, what if I were to use my resources to take the dregs of society, the forgotten, the forlorn, the forgettable, and turn them into something so much more?"

"A little fleshcrafting, the right amount of soul sculpting, and we'd be looking at people with legitimate low-level powers and a desire to do good. Then I'd set them against enemies who were dramatically devious, dangerously demented, decidedly dastardly. Also, as it happens, built. Or perhaps just brought on as guest actors. The idea would be to see how far a Heroic Hobo could go before meeting his end or washing out."

"Such a setup lends itself to all manner of interesting set piece battles. Trains, construction sites, the sewers, office buildings populated with golems and actors, and so on. Managing the amount of mundane attention drawn would be the biggest challenge."

"The inevitable turnover in heroes would be a problem, but I will pick those destined to die forgotten and alone anyway. Most of them will be drug addicts; in taking care of their addiction problem, I'll give them a chance to become notable. Considering that they would have otherwise completely wasted their lives, there's no great moral quandary. Who wouldn't trade a slow death in the throes of withdrawal to a spiritually addictive drug for a chance at being a star?"
>>
No. 414581 ID: 35ccd6

(Bagga's orders.)
>: Use the fact that he saw the sun as motivation to work harder. He wanted to enjoy the sun? Why not enjoy the sun while he trains himself? Besides, if he works hard enough and proves his worth, he may be able to walk outside the mansion in the sun some day.
>: Absentmindedly realize that Basilisk blood tastes like chicken. Weird.
>: Talk to Lyubov here and there about various things. Borrowed her phone to talk to his mom and his.. father(for about 3 seconds with the later) to let him know he's OK. Feel a bit better.
>: During their chat, find out that the Company knows the person who cut off his arm... Blade. Also find out they are going to troll him to high heaven. First chance he sees Armas, he is going to volunteer to join in the trolling against the brash punk who cheap shot his arm off.
>:Realizes He knows nothing about guns and decides to go ask Zhenya. Notices Zhenya getting her butt handed to her by Mr.Duke. Slowly back away and ask Mr.Matvey for the training instead.
>: Be SURE to thank Mr. Gianni for making his new arm. He very much appreciates it and it's only polite to thank him.
>: When he next sees Miss. Camella, ask if he could have some light sparring with her. She's very good at dodging, fighting tactically and staying in control. Something he needs more practice in.
>: Night Lessons! Ask for some basic tips on blood monitoring and how to get better at it. He was asked to be their blood monitor before, he may as well learn to do so to the best of his abilities.
>: Welp, time for Ito Sensei's lessons. Aside from his block/counter training with his fellow vamps, ask Ito for some advice and.. possibly some training in helping him figure out his bloodline's tricks.(try to)Be ready for the Itoing.
>: Go home, drink some basilisk blood, and read some of his text books. Think of what he learned today.


>>414419
Sust. Sorry, but these plans do not really seem all that handy. This guy is a dragon. Dragons don't take kindly to being bored. This one we don't want to be too excited about our body either. It would lead to horribad experiments. Threatening, calling in the Owner, that sort of thing can cause trouble. We do not want to act superior to a Dragon. It never ends well.

>>414422
Susting ALL of this. We have no idea what the shackles are truly made of nor do we want to mention the owner so easily. If he is a weaker Dragon, he could just as well use us as a hostage or simply take us away. Besides, mention Placid might mean he will just take him too.

>>414461
Upvote. The base ideas are sound. We want him to focus less on our body and more on our mind and ability to get things done. Sate his curiosity of our body, but make him curious about US instead. The speeches do sound armas enough to work well. Not only that, they are at least odd and interesting enough to draw his attention away from our body. He might even like the chance to try low level experiments on hobos. Might make things interesting for him.

But in the end we want to focus on these things: Do not try to flee or escape(he can easily catch us again and then try harder to hold us), make him not focus on our body, make sure he does not feel threatened, and above all else keep him interested! If he gets bored, we lose.
>>
No. 414624 ID: 01cf26

Few things to test:
See if you can contact Amen (probably not, but worth a shot)
Use the EYE to find Sake and see if he has at all sensed your "absence" (he is a soul bro after all)
Try and contact HB (probably not, but worth a shot)

A few things to do and prepare for whatever comes of this is to hold on to your confidence and self control, be prepared for great pain of some sort but do not subcome to it.

Another suggestion i have is to use accelerated thought to plan and calculate possibility as best as possible; without your charms and brothers to talk with the accelerated thoughts will be one-sided and will have conciseness latter on but will be worth it if you come out of this on top, witch brings me to my last bit.

Treat this as an interview or proposition of a potential employer/deal broker, you are very good in those sorts of situations and this is no different save for your impending doom, but really since when is that new?
>>
No. 414863 ID: 3734f6

>Offer to entertain him.
Just... no.
>a mix of poisons
That would be a lie, its only one poison.
>Can't locate self in allview
The wording suggested this is different then when inside amen or zosimos' mansion. If that is so then maybe its not warding but a case of you no longer being on earth. (a demense? outer space?)

>Tried to break out of bone shackles with reinforcement, for 10 minutes.
Armas, is your head ok? Why would you try to break out of dragon crafted obviously magical shackles rather then cannibal consume the bone (wish we had time to analyze it with fleshcraft or integrate it into body), or fleshcraft your appendages to be smaller or detach them or some such? Could there be magic here that is affecting your thoughts?
Be careful, if there is one such magic there is more. Watch for accidentally spilling secrets you do not explicitly intend to.

IF he is buying your direct approach you should further throw him off by rhetorically asking "mind if I make myself more comfortable for our discussion" and then freeing yourself in such a manner. But only if he does that, if he doesn't then keep it a secret so we can escape later.

>Answer his questions about our body / bloodline; starting with the poison
Excellent ice breaker.

Our goals are:
1. Convince him to not kill us or render us unconscious (to buy us time to enact other plans). This is as simple as explaining that we are very capable of regeneration while conscious and aware. So he could get quite a harvest as long as he doesn't impede either. However if this does NOT suffice we should say "Be aware that on my death Amen the bloodfiend shall be rendered free (he doesn't need to know how we and amen define death). Due to the methods you used to bind him he cannot be transferred to another owner (because the blood was destroyed). Amen has the means to supervise my condition (he doesn't need to be told what the current status of the link is).
2. Convince him to release us OR escape. (see FAP below)
3. Get something out of this.

FAP
Direct: >>414461 This is a good primary approach (sans the entertainment stuff). But I fear it assumes he gives a shit about our bloodlines rather then using us as a component (dual blooded godling). I think we should try to become his actual ASSISTANT in research... willing to tithe flesh. And hopefully also RECEIVE flesh from him of various strong beings to upgrade our quality. This could be a great relationship if we explain that we have the ability to assume the powers of those we consume which are more powerful then us. Heck, perhaps we could even sweet talk him into letting us eat dragon to observe the result.

You could cheat here by editing your existing bind (which wouldn't break your guise) to only being able to detect the soul of a dragon who holds you captive. This will hopefully let you read his soul while discussing things with him and thus give you an edge in where to take the conversation.

We should DECEIVE him into thinking our bloodline grants us the ability to spy all over the world (do not reveal allview, just shrug if he asks you how you do it) to have him use us as an info collector.

Trickster: Try to convince him you have been claimed by The Owner already. He knows what you are (do not mention guises) and has ordered you meet him to discuss it. He has also assigned you several tasks (blade, WW).

Heavyhanded: Reveal to him the existance of the eye (but not its name), lure him into leaving his body behind and entering it with his soul. Explain "I was warned by a wizard that a dragon could destabilize it, but perhaps if I... what is your name? could you shed some energy before entering? (hopefully he does both). Then EDIT your existing binding (for recharging energy) to be one of only being able to place new binds (with intention of it excluding unbinding or editing binds) to bind <name the dragon> (or dragon in my eye if he did not reveal it) and blow your entire wad of winter energy to place a bind on him to obey and protect you.
This gives you the following advantages:
1. Overwhelming eye advantage.
2. Blew all your practitioner juice on him
3. Bound self to only bind him
4. Convinced him to shed energy first
5. Had him reveal his soul.
6. Have him body-less when trying to bind his spirit.

THE MOMENT you place the bind you should start rapid fire orders: "Do not break the bind! Do not attack me! Do not use magic on me! Do not place limits on me! Do not escape my presence! Exist my eye now and assume your form in front of me!" (this should cover all actions he might take against you)

Escape: Try to maintain conscious while he works (presumably you convinced him to leave you alive for repeated harvesting) and after he leaves you (and seems like he will be gone for a while; make sure he isn't going just to grab meats for you to use for regenerating) release yourself via fleshcrafting, create a shadow pocket inside you using fleshcrafting (hopefully ownership overrides the magic light spell), release hummingbird. If SB cannot port you out, mind bind HB (davgon has mind bound spirit animal and he should have covered it in the 6 months) and become a were-hummingbird progenitor (you need every scrap of power you can get to escape this)
>>
No. 415177 ID: 252e1b

>>414863
I really cannot support this post. SUST. Willingly tithing flesh, trying to get involved as a research assistant when that is one of Armas's weakest points, and the rest of the FAP are all untenable and undesirable. And letting him know about Allview is downright dangerous. he could decide that alone outweighs whatever entertainment value Armas could provide.

Yesterday, and a few hours ago, we talked about how Armas should take stock of what just happened to him, and what he can do about it. The following largely reflects that, though there might be individual points people have issue with. In particular, the plot to put Cookie Lady in the house is mine alone.

ARMAS ORDERS
~For starters, if the book store isn't closed for the day, go ahead and get the book. There's no reason not to, it was the bait that drew you here, you already paid for it, get the damn thing and go home.

~The fact that this dragon KNEW that 7777 could be used as bait means that someone told him, or he has access to the publisher's records. If it's the latter, there's jack shit that can be done. If it's the former, you can at least trace the leak.
~~Consider: who knew you had ordered the book in the first place? The Russians, Camella, Hillevi, Duke, and Einrik. While all these people are beyond suspicion themselves, they may have leaked about it accidentally or thoughtlessly. The only thing we can do is ask if they mentioned it to anyone and hope their memories are good.
~~More worryingly, Meng Yung, the Triads who helped kill the Doonongeas, and Lo Fang also knew, and all it would have taken is a quick phone call to the publisher to find out when the next set of 7777 would ship and arrive. But, selling the information doesn't seem to fit Lo Fang's modus operandi at all. If he learned that you tried to hire the Red Caps to kill him, he'd be more likely to respond in kind (hire assassins) rather than put you in the clutches of a dragon. And even then, he wouldn't move on it right away. Not until he had Lammy available again. So it likely was not Lo Fang.
~~Finally, and worst of all, it is possible that a third party knew. Bugs would make sense. Who else could have heard? You spoke with Meng Yung on the Triad docks, which are meticulously kept clear of bugs and have numerous anti-scrying wards. But what about a bug that was slipped on you? You have such a high magic signature that it could overwhelm a passive search, and thus you could be made into an unwitting carrier for the bug. Since nothing you own has magic bugs on it (you did that sweep with Amen, right after Dávgon spotted the bug in the dojo), if there was a bug on you it had to be on something from a third party. Like that hair tonic. Where did Camella get the hair tonic anyway? Could it have been bugged? You need to find out. Make asking Camella about this a priority. A high one.

~Regardless of how that turns out, there are other things to think about too. You could make it much harder for conventional spies to track you by using shadowporting to leave the house instead of using the front door. Sake can help extend the shadowport range, too, so that your habits are that much harder to pin down.

~You have an incredibly flashy wardrobe. Very distinct and very unusual on the streets of Istanbul. And looking like yourself, a big half-Maori guy, isn't too bright either. A distinctive superficial appearance makes it easier for anyone to track your movements, from law enforcement on up. So, it'd be best to tone that down. Way down. You want to be able to blend in, make it harder for mundanes and low-magic spies to track you. The flashy suits are fun, and should be used when you need to be remembered, but should not be for every day use. Not anymore.

~Actually, doesn't Amen get the materials for the suits from burglars he converted into living bioproduction units? Wasn't that, at least in part, what this dragon was going to do to you? And isn't using the products of what is ultimately a fate worse than death for a crime (burglary) that's seen by society as a fairly low-end sort of crime both completely out of proportion and hypocritical as hell? And what would Camella think if she learned about where all these clothes come from? Hillevi? Lyubov? What about the others?
~~Continuing to use the biofactories is completely unacceptable, and the others would think so too. You need to put them out of their misery and accept that you're going to have to buy conventionally made cloth and thread for the house stocks.

~Changing your look and clothes won't help much if someone wants lure you into a trap. You're still based out of the same place, and you have employees. People think you're involved with Camella to the point where Lo Fang has been trying to get his hooks in her, and you have a number of other people in your life who you would try to retrieve. If a spy has researched you much, he'll know who will make good bait. In presumed order of importance: Your parents (who are at least somewhat protected by distance and by being in an AORB territory), Hillevi (obscenely dangerous for most abductors), Camella (again, a tough target), Arkvad (protected by the H&H contracts and his own precautions), SB/Sake (hard targets to pin down), the Russians (tough for low-grade abductors, not very hard for anyone higher on the food chain), Ito (same deal as the Russians), and possibly Cookie Lady (who is rather vulnerable, actually).
~~The Russians should probably not be traveling alone. Pairs, minimum, when they go out. Ito is a less likely target, and is a rather prideful fellow, but you should offer to help him with any security he wants in the dojo. Talk to Camella about how to approach him on this.
~~Cookie Lady is more trouble. Short of having someone with her all the time and installing someone in the apartment next to her, you're not going to be able to really give her continuous body guard coverage. Not without inviting her into your home. But that could be arranged. A little fire while she's out would be upsetting to her, but would also mean she'd have to move somewhere while the apartment was being fixed up. You could invite her to stay with you for that period. Be completely sure that the fire doesn't destroy anything irreplaceable to her. Pictures, keepsakes, and so on (ask Lyubov what might be important to Cookie Lady, she's in touch with her culture and friends with Cookie Lady anyway).

~Along similar lines of thought, your relationship with Lyubov can't really be public. If you go out with her socially, you'll both need to be wearing other people's faces.
>>
No. 415190 ID: 252e1b

>>414863
>Armas, is your head ok? Why would you try to break out of dragon crafted obviously magical shackles rather then cannibal consume the bone (wish we had time to analyze it with fleshcraft or integrate it into body), or fleshcraft your appendages to be smaller or detach them or some such? Could there be magic here that is affecting your thoughts?
>Be careful, if there is one such magic there is more. Watch for accidentally spilling secrets you do not explicitly intend to.

At MrTT's urging, I am specifically upvoting this portion of his post. The realization that there's a mind-affecting spell in place that discourages escape is an important one.
>>
No. 415193 ID: 21a619

>>413669
Upvote.
>>
No. 415194 ID: 6799e8

>Since we know he's not all that focused, we can talk him into subjects we want to talk about.
Can't upvote this enough. Armas' real chance here is to focus the Dragon's mind on -other- things than “meat factory Armas”. This is also why If Armas decide to play with the binding he placed upon himself, he must make sure to use his soul-guise so that his binding editing can't be seen. If he is fairly confident on his ability to do so, I would strongly suggest Editing his binding to “Can only talk to people he strongly suspects to be dragons”, so that our silver-tongue gets a great boost.

Whatever he does, Armas must also make sure not to make any promise that would force him to not “quiet' his captor later on. We might need to strike against him if we believe not doing so would result in other higher-power people regularly capturing us for “favors”. This hsould be fairly easy, as if he is truly a dragon he won't ever think Armas could be a threat.

>>414461
Basic ideas sounds decent enough, though Arms should definitely try to get the captor focused on things OTHER than Armas' bloodlines as fast as possible.

>See if you can contact Amen (probably not, but worth a shot) 
SUST. We know Dragons may be able to detect any such contacts.

>>414863
>Our mind is being messed with as we didn't try obvious options for escaping.
Upvote realizing this. If it's just low-memtic stuff, we should be able to counter-act it now that we are aware of the possibility.

>Mentionning Owner, Amen or Allview
SUST

>>415176
~For starters, if the book store isn't closed for the day, go ahead and get the book. There's no reason not to, it was the bait that drew you here, you already paid for it, get the damn thing and go home. 
Upvote.

>Leak about us being a godling.
Upvote. Also make sure to get a couple of hours looking extensively at the souls of those who know we are a godling (Duke if we can, Dávgon, Camella, Maybe Lyubov) and make sure they aren't magically bugged. Appropriate bindings to be able to thoroughly understand the souls as needed (“Can only see souls in february” could be a decent beginning).

>Thinking about the human tortured factories of Amen, and making a stop to this
Upvote.
>>
No. 415211 ID: 431fa8

>If I have any genius plans, now would be the time, I think.
Edit our binding to "only speak to dragons". Use our soul guise to conceal the edit, as well as the required energy expenditure; if we do this properly, there should not be any indication that we did anything. Mask the edit even further by doing it at the same time as any regeneration that's required, so if he does notice that we're spending energy he'll attribute it to that.

Upon making this binding, be certain that Note Writer wouldn't lie to us about this guy being a dragon, and any indication on his part to convince us otherwise is a clever trick. In fact, until we get out of here we can assume that anyone and everything we run into is secretly a dragon. Understand also that the word 'speak' does not apply to forms of communication other than that which is verbalized.

>>415194
Do not use that binding wording. It would stop us from talking to anyone we either know for certain is a dragon, or have no reason to harbor strong suspicions about. We'd have to M ourselves constantly to talk to anyone.
>>
No. 415265 ID: 40fb55

[MNM,MMMM Trait auto-activated]

>:[Bagga has been queued to do the following:]
>: Use the fact that he saw the sun as motivation to work harder. He wanted to enjoy the sun? Why not enjoy the sun while he trains himself? Besides, if he works hard enough and proves his worth, he may be able to walk outside the mansion in the sun some day.
>: Absentmindedly realize that Basilisk blood tastes like chicken that somehow is the perfect quintessence of addictive fast food… but in a good way. Weird.
>: Talk to Lyubov here and there about various things. Borrowed her phone to talk to his mom and his.. father(for about 3 seconds with the later) to let him know he's OK. Feel a bit better.
>: During their chat, find out that the Company knows the person who cut off his arm... Blade. Also find out they are going to troll him to high heaven. Accidentally rip muscle in cheek when grinning. First chance he sees Armas, he is going to volunteer to join in the trolling against the brash punk who cheap shot his arm off. Armas happily accepts-but tells him no unrecorded trolling, PERIOD.
>:Realizes He knows nothing about guns and decides to go ask Zhenya. Notices Zhenya getting her butt handed to her by Mr. Duke. Slowly back away and ask Mr. Matvey for the training instead. He seems… nice.
>: Be SURE to thank Mr. Gianni for making his new arm. He very much appreciates it and it's only polite to thank him. …Wow, what a friendly guy, giving him a hug like that!
>: When he next sees Miss. Camella, ask if he could have some light sparring with her. She's very good at dodging, fighting tactically and staying in control. Something he needs more practice in. …Okay ow, why is she kicking his ass so hard. He knows he's stronger and faster.
>: Night Lessons! Ask for some basic tips on blood monitoring and how to get better at it. Get to practice with a couple really basic looking golems-wow, that's interesting stuff, trying to figure out what all blood went into a single composite body! He was asked to be their blood monitor before, he may as well learn to do so to the best of his abilities… and he feels he'll really need to work at it, if he's going to have anything of worth to say about that golem.
>: Welp, time for Ito Sensei's lessons. Aside from his block/counter training with his fellow vamps, ask Ito for some advice and.. possibly some training in helping him figure out his bloodline's tricks.(try to)Be ready for the Itoing. No one is ever ready.
>: Go home, drink last of the basilisk blood, and read some of his text books. Think of what he learned today.

>>413697
>>413768
>>414368
>>414461
>>414581
"What, the flavor didn't give it away? I take it you never bothered to fight the Doononegas. I slew it, and claimed its flesh as my trophy. A friendly fleshcrafter did the work of making me less delicious to most threats. I'm given to understand that such poisons are beneath the notice of your kind, though."
[???]"These were Doonongaes glands? Interesting to know. ...How.... thorough... is your regenerative ability?"
"You haven't heard the Cambrian mountain story? Whoever sold you the information on me shorted you. I'll phrase it like this: I irritated a Spanish dragon by speaking out of turn, and was able to bounce back from his rebuke. You know how they are."
[???]"I know about your regeneration of a considerable portion of your chest and an upper body limb-but what of your brain? Your heart? What sort of damage ends your life?"
"The heart was replaced when I healed from the chest injury, and I have some outstanding deals with the goblins that end should the brain be destroyed, so I have not experimented on my own. I was entertaining the idea of figuring out a method of moving my mind to something more durable, to avoid the end of the Deal with them. Tell me, what is it you want to know besides the extent of my ability to survive? If it's my bloodline you're interested in, there are people who have detailed data about it, who were present when I finalized it. And I mean detailed, as fine a magic sensor as anyone could hope to have."
[???]"....The Valkonens or the Wyld Goblins, I suspect-not many others were around you at the appropriate time. Which ones were the witnesses?"
"You know I have enough dealings with both that buying the information would be problematic at very best. And it is obvious that getting the information more violently would pose other issues. I daresay you took a risk being so overt in snatching me. But that's besides the point. I think I could get a copy of that data, and, with the right promises, feel quite confident in making it available to you. Obviously you'd want me to maintain a cover. It wouldn't do for my friends and all the others who spy on me to realize I'd been abducted. I'm not yet good enough at making sense of magic data myself to have a personal need to go over that information, so asking for it would make the current holders wary. I'd need to be able to present that I'm actually good enough that copying the data wouldn't be a waste of time for everyone involved. At least to get it done free of suspicion, or nearly so."
[???]"Yes yes, of course you'd ask for some measure of autonomy such that it may present you a means of escape-what prevents me from ripping your memories from your mind and using them as reference to impersonate you? I am rather certain I could imitate you more than passing well, if necessary."
"The same thing that prevented you from doing so in the first place: you would risk damaging me. A less-than-thorough attempt could give you false or incorrect data, while a thorough attempt would ruin at least some of my value to you. You've seen my history, you must know I respect deals. And while you could imitate me, could you do so long enough to avoid detection? Both the parties you named have impressive sensing abilities at their disposal, and both have made a habit of examining me when I show up. The past few months have been ones of radical change for me."
[???]"I think you labor under a misconception. Were I to not care overmuch about what happened to your mind, fully ripping free the totality of the memories you claim would be readily achievable. What's more, I would not NEED to imitate you for long-just long enough to acquire those... details. I will admit being able to ask you questions hereafter rather than leaving you a broken shell of imbued meat is marginally more appealing to me. That said, would you care to try again?"
I swallow, my mouth dry again.
"Acquiring the details without being in the company of the holder for an adequate period would, given the nature of previous dealings, draw attention. That, combined with all my current outstanding obligations being ignored, would be a big red flag. I'm confident the holding party could piece it together, and fairly certain several third parties could figure it out independently if they knew of the request. And any of them would be wise enough to do so. I know how inquisitive people are; there's never just one project. You'd put all of them in jeopardy to learn something that you could acquire with a little dealing?"
Damn it’s hard to get any sort of read on this guy when all I can see of him is a couple of tentacles.
[???]"Well, at least it seems the claims you aren't as dimwitted as most primates seem somewhat accurate. You seem to think you'll be able to convince me to let you go-why is that? Surely you grasp that a godling of your nature is... more than passing useful to have as a resource."
"Yes, holding me as a research subject, a source of reagents, a source of sustenance, could be profitable for you. But think of how much more valuable having an established agent available would be. Your reliance on those constructs to capture me was a risk. My company, my mercenary company, would draw much less attention for similar jobs. No obvious tie to a dragon performing private research, and jobs like that would be well within the expectations attributed to a group such as mine. And recall that I'm proven to be a durable survivor, reasonable in what is a very stressful situation, and have remained focused even under the pressures of the enchantments you've permeated this room with. I could provide assistance as an agent for your other projects, the data you wanted, and could be a source of information on the concerns and events of the surface. I really respect deals. My word is good as gold."
[???]"You seem to misunderstand. Those constructs cost me nothing to use-so why would I consider hiring someone to do what I've already got... constructs, as you say, that will do it for nothing? I do not doubt you have some modicum of competence, but how is that more valuable than infinite free competent labor, hm?"
It’s a dragon, when in doubt, flatter.
" They did an admirable job with me, but it is not the competency or quality of the work that's in question. It's the origin and nature of them that is the issue. A chance observation, a trace left behind, or worst of all one being captures by a competent fleshcrafter and made to reveal secrets inherent- all would, with due diligence, lead an investigator to you. Whereas a known agent like myself would be much harder to connect to you."
The shadows seem almost to smile at that.
[???]"And if I were to tell you I am utterly, unassailably outside of the Owner's jurisdiction?"
Okay that… is important. That also clearly struck a nerve, he wouldn’t have wanted to flaunt it otherwise. Or he could be lying. Or he could be Owner, but that’s- no, nope, not going to even entertain that idea. That’s paranoia talking.
"Then I would congratulate you, and ask if the extra attention would not still cause you trouble in pursuing your other projects? And wouldn't the attention be enough to cause trouble for your ongoing concerns? Using an established agent would save you grief. And, there's another reason to use my company."
The tentacle twitches again. I think it’s indicating that I continue. Good.
"Since you're old enough and powerful enough to be securely beyond the Owner's legal grasp, surely you're old enough to have an interest in novelty. I've been making my company capable of turning jobs into entertaining productions. Costumes to taste for the job, artistically planned work, high definition video expertly cut and choreographed. Since this is my planned modus operandi for the company, it would not even seem out of place."
The thus far smug and confident voice lurking within the solid shadows seems to pause at this.
[???]"...Theatrical assassination and slaughter?"
Finally! Fuck yeah, got to play this up.
"I did a test run against a Neo-Nazi warehouse. No cameras on that run, unfortunately, but it was meant as a dress rehearsal for future jobs. The employer was amused, and allowed it. My men and I wore period World War 2 German Army costumes, with a few embellishments and modern amenities like hidden armor. Except for my second in command. She was wearing an SS uniform. Very, hm. Have you heard of "Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS?" It was a campy exploitation film, but you get the idea? I was able to walk right up to the gate as 'Oberst Orange' and yell at the guards for being incompetent. That bought us the time to move into place for the assault proper, which was a show in itself. The guards fell fast, mundanes equipped with charms, but The grand finale was a crate of Nazinauts activating and giving us all trouble, until I detonated them with a well placed shot. A bit like swatting flies, only with a pillar of flame."
[???]"Yes, I'm quite aware as to how... prone to rupture... the creations of those that call themselves nazis are. ...Hm. What else have you done, in the line of 'theatrical mercurial work?'
Should be safe to mention Owner now. He’s either aware, or has guessed I’ve got ties to him. Still, best to stick to mostly public information. I've got his interest-okay, let's keep going-
"You recall the duelist Owner endured? The fool goes by the moniker Blade. Owner gave him my contact information, and Blade attempted to hire my services as a hitman. He offered the grand sum of $5,000 for the Owner's life. Laughable as that was, it gave me the opportunity to set up an ongoing series of unfortunate events for Blade, starting with faking my own death in a dramatic manner right in front of him."
A tentacle tip lightly rests on my shoulder, ugh that really looks like a- no, don’t dwell on it, got to keep talking.
"As Blade is largely an uninitiated mortal, he's primed to believe all sorts of nonsense. I've set my ward up as a "villain" to harass and oppose him, and I intend on having others serve the role of mentor and magic helpers. The goal is to create a truely hilarious saga, a miniseries worth of material at least, with Blade enduring a "villain of the week" on the way to a grand confrontation with my ward. We have a fair amount of material for the Blade Saga already filmed, in fact."
[???]"...Do you have other, similar... sagas... planned?"
"I haven't discussed it with my confidants yet, as I've found it's best to not overwhelm them with projects, but I have been thinking of doing a reality TV show. You're familiar with that mundane TV series, "Heroes" right? Well, what if I were to use my resources to take the dregs of society, the forgotten, the forlorn, the positive forgettable, and turn them into something so much more?"
The tentacle motions for me to continue, obviously not interested in answering rhetorical questions.
"A little fleshcrafting, the right amount of soul sculpting, and we'd be looking at people with legitimate low-level powers and a desire to do good. Then I'd set them against enemies who were dramatically devious, dangerously demented, decidedly dastardly. Also, as it happens, built. Or perhaps just brought on as guest actors. The idea would be to see how far a Heroic Hobo could go before meeting his end or washing out."
The second tentacle slips from my shoulder down my chest, resting right over my heart. Lie detection? Not sure.
"Such a setup lends itself to all manner of interesting setpiece battles. Trains, construction sites, the sewers, office buildings populated with golems and actors, and so on. Managing the amount of mundane attention drawn would be the biggest challenge."
[???]"You mean for me to believe you will happily treat other primates as nothing more than an expendable entertainment resource, to be filmed for the amusement of others?"
Okay… have to keep telling the truth… and have to keep myself from feeling too distant from the rest of the human race… let's see…
"I will pick those destined to die forgotten and alone anyway. Most of them will be drug addicts; in taking care of their addiction problem, I'll give them a chance to become notable. Considering that they would have otherwise completely wasted their lives, there's no great moral quandry. Who wouldn't trade a slow death in the throes of withdrawl to a spiritually addictive drug for a chance at being a star?"
The tentacles draw back. I want to say they’re being held contemplatively, but it’s like trying to judge how an eel feels.
[???]"…Interesting."
The tentacle over my heart slithers into my flesh, wrapping around what I wish I couldn't recognize as one of my lungs, pulling it free like it was peeling a grape.
[GGG Trait activated]
I barely stay conscious through the process, dimly noting the bulging shadows and tendrils to be withdrawing to the entrance.
[???]"You have given me something to think about. I shall return, in time."
The darkness finishes withdrawing, and the door simply ceases to be.

>>414419
After several minutes pass, I cast my attention inward, looking to see if the magic light is erasing my internal shadows-and find that, without Shadowbro to be my shadow sensor and shadow expert… I have no fucking idea. I don't know how to flesh-craft my way into knowing whether there's shadows in internal hollows-I'd have to rip that shit open and look, and that would rather defeat the purpose.
>>414624
I try contacting Amen-but that's out too, as even a direct order to respond produces nothing.
Next, I use the Allview to quickfind Sake, and note the rascal to be… currently meeting with Shadowbro, Dávgon, Camella and Matvey. If the Allview had audio I could tell what was being said, but as it is I'm having trouble reading their lips-damn, hate the fucking light in here, it's practically MADE out of 'fuck your brain, you can't think right' and the worst part is I KNOW I'm not thinking as well as I should… and it doesn't matter, knowing it's there doesn't do a damn thing for me.
>>415177
I find myself considering two things-first, why I'm not bleeding from the… massive hole in my chest from which a goddamn LUNG was ripped free… and second, whether the timing of my capture was coincidental. …Thinking back to Einrik's warnings, I'm thinking… yeah, someone at the book store sold out, and that's how he knew to find me then and there. It fits way too well. I consider several other possibilities as well-whether my allies may have said something careless that got to the wrong party, or even if a bug had been hidden on my, obscured by my large magical signature. …The Triads could have been involved too.

Beyond that thought… I find myself thinking about some rather disturbing things. While I absolutely refuse to stop being a flashy chucklefuck till the day I die (and if that's today and it's because of that, I'll die with no regrets except that I'm dead)… I can't help but draw disturbing parallels between the use it looks like the dragon wants to put me to… and the use Amen put those that dared enter my house uninvited to. I consider the clothes I am not currently wearing, and realize I could well be the source of such a suit, if my captor so wishes it. …And isn't using the products of what is ultimately a fate worse than death for a crime (burglary) that's seen by society as a fairly low-end sort of crime both completely out of proportion and hypocritical as hell? And what would Camella think if she learned about where all these clothes come from? Hillevi? Lyubov? What about the others? I….

I wish Sake or SB were here to crack a joke so I could move on, but in this lit room with nothing but myself for company….

I realize that continuing to use the biofactories is completely unacceptable, and the others would think so too. I need to put them out of their misery and accept that you're going to have to buy conventionally made cloth and thread for the house stocks.
>[GG and RR auto-activate]
…But that doesn't mean that I can't see about using their souls-could be I can just separate the magical aggregate from the sapient portion, or hell, put them in the Allview. …Seeing how hard I cling to pulling power from my actions, my dourness lightens, if only a little.

After a period of time I can't begin to guess at, having regrown my lung with Hybrid healing long ago, a door once more appears.

[???]"Mr. Laine."
He… called me by name. That's a damn step up right there.
[???]"I believe we need to continue our prior conversation."
The shadows flow back into the room in a huddled mass, a trunk of writhing, flailing pseudopods caressing my flesh.
[???]"I would hear more about how you think you hold more value, alive and free… than this"

From within the shadows comes a set of darkling limbs, carefully cradling what ostensibly looks to be a metal parrot, it's wings fluttering fitfully in restraint. I can feel the magic rolling off the bird-my magic, specifically.
[???]"You have proven a rather decent source of material-did you know I can make multidimensional constructs with thirty percent less energy investment on my part if I use you as a source, as opposed to other potential donors? Really, that's quite a catch-are you so sure I'd give that up?"
I… I already told him most of what I've got, and I really don't think repeating myself's a good idea-but he called me by name-he came here to ASK me something, not just to harvest from me. I can do this-I can make him let me go, I just have to find the right lever to pull….









So how's this going to be-what am I going to say to him, now that he's actually posed the question of how I'd be worth more free than captive?
>>
No. 415514 ID: 252e1b

>>415417
SUST offering a tithe of flesh and hinting at Armas's cannibalism-based ability to absorb powers. If he demands it, that's something else, but offering it is neither in character nor desirable. The cannibalism hint alone could be enough to make him realize Armas is using a soul guise instead of some other form of obscuring magic.

I can get behind offering co-producer credit on future films. It's not a bad idea.

Basically, I think we need to get down to the nitty gritty of selling him on our ideas.

"There will always be other potential donors for your project- and that is a very interesting little creation- but where else will you find someone who can create both entertainment to order and series format entertainment that will, with a little time, see widespread distribution? You have a chance here to be in on the ground floor of what will likely be the next hot entertainment series in the magic community. In fact, I can do one better. On any project that you request, as in any project that involves a target you've named, you (or a person of your choice) would get co-producer credit. That could be a pretty nice bargaining chip as my company gains reputation. There's power in having a Name associated with being an entertaining visionary."

"My team and I would tailor our approach to please, either to your bespoke specifications, or to our own artistic tastes as entertainers. My philosophy is pretty simple: if it's funny, keep it. Otherwise, put it on the cutting room floor. There's a spontaneity to the format I want to popularize which should ensure it stays fresh. It's one thing to be able to block out a shot and try to guess what the target will do, and quite another to actually attempt the scene. If a target doesn't react at all the way one expected, it makes for incredibly funny entertainment."

"Another example: ex-girlfriend tried to break into my new home not too long ago. I reconfigured the basement to run her through what amounted to a lunatic's version of a Rube Goldberg Breakfast Machine. I didn't have the greatest cameras on hand for it; had to resort to using the home security cameras, but the footage was incredibly hilarious. I started her off falling into a swimming pool. When she got out of the pool, fully dressed for winter mind, she was presented with the only exit to the room: a cubicle with a console that had several labeled options, from the practical to the absurd. The problem for her lay in that the labels on the console had all fallen off. She punched at the buttons randomly, and I ran her through all of them, starting with breakfast, a shave and haircut, a bath, a rub down with stuffed animals, and finally dressing her in one of my suits. Then she got a canned pep talk that told her what a suave and excellent man she was."

"There were several other events in the breakfast machine, though my favorite bit was when she ended up dancing with a dummy dressed in the outfit she had been wearing initially."

"Oh, no, she didn't die. The goal was just to humiliate and confuse her, so that she would not bother me again. I believe it worked. I'm probably going to make that footage a bonus feature on the first Blade Saga disc."

"I understand that some things are best enjoyed when they're private. If you had a particular job you did not want to be published well after the fact, something that was just for you, I could certainly accommodate it. Normally I'd charge a licensing fee equivalent to projected profits on the footage but you could get one private show, at-cost, every year for as long as I lived. That's life according to the goblin definition, of course, since you already know I have vested interests in not meeting their definition of being dead."

"Remember, as I gain notoriety and reputation for these kinds of special shows, and as I establish my distribution networks, the value of a given show will only go up. Your first private show could be worth a tidy sum indeed in a couple of years. And since the distribution rights for the private show would be yours, you'd have total control over who, outside of my company and a few specially chosen critics, would have ever seen your enemy suffering in such a delightfully funny manner."

"That would be in addition to my company being available for jobs that would eventually see public distribution as entertainment. And remember, we're not just killers. We can do thefts, frame-up jobs, reputation degradation, annoyance, abductions, and other sorts of dirty work."
>>
No. 415528 ID: f70e5e

we have two cards left to play, we can offer to let him take our flesh every week or so, or whenever he has great need of a multidimensional construct. and we can point our that our friends are looking for us, and considering that we are soul bond to at least one of them they are going to find us. the second one is a gamble that blocking a soul link is at the very least resource intensive.
>>
No. 415666 ID: dfc57c

Given the way this dragon talks about the Owner and his desire for crafting with your flesh, perhaps you have met the master of Doony.
Another possibility is this dragon has approval from the Owner for, may even be the Owner, finally having that talk Armas always put off.

>[???]"I would hear more about how you think you hold more value, alive and free… than this"
>From within the shadows comes a set of darkling limbs, carefully cradling what ostensibly looks to be a metal parrot, it's wings fluttering fitfully in restraint. I can feel the magic rolling off the bird-my magic, specifically.
I find it very important he calls Armas Mr. Lain when presents the product. For some reason after working with Armas flesh Armas became a person with a name rather than a resource. Something not even the pitch was enough for.

>magic rolling off the bird-my magic, specifically.
>multidimensional constructs with thirty percent less energy investment
I think these two give the hint. Why would Armas flesh be especially good for multidimensional constructs? Because of Allview and the connection it established between Armas eye and two separate, but connected demi planes. Further the eye is well connected to the body by blood circulation and nerves, which means Armas has nerves and blood crossing dimensional barriers. By law of contagion this probably spread, somewhat diluted, to the rest of his body. The interesting question is what else got spread from the eye?
A rather basic concept the wizard did implement in the eye is 'this is my eye'. In this situation the interesting parts are
>-Make sure that the eye is considered part of me, not a separate item or artifact;
>-Ensure that no one else can take control of the World Eye since it's fundamentally mine.
Since Armas can feel his magic in the construct the dragon brought, I believe those parts of the concept did indeed spread. Armas has some ownership over the construct by dint of containing some of his flesh.
That the dragon brought it here is likely a test if Armas is aware of this, because if he is that vastly lowers his usefulness as a material resource.

Now Armas, feel for your magic in the construct and order it to fly a few circles around the room and land before you. when the construct does that, tell the dragon 'You noticed that peculiarity, didn't you? Is this test then finished or shall I make it do something else?'
>>
No. 415690 ID: 3734f6

First, note that his plan to rip your mind apart has a flaw. Your excellent healing powers require you to be aware, if he rips your mind apart to impersonate you then he will get very poor returns from your mindless husk.

Engage him in a conversation of interest.
30% better you say? I am curious, what is the second best donor you have found? Do you believe this has to do with my souls protrusion into the NN because I did that via a magic ritual I acquired and could potentially be replicated.

The big lever:
Letting you go does not mean giving it up!
Our flesh is 30% more efficient then any other source now, it will become even more useful in the future if he lets us go!
Beyond your natural growth, you have an arrangement with a god which increases your power if you offer it flesh of those stronger then you; potentially giving you aspects of their power. Offerings you could continue to make if freed (you could also make them if force fed magical meats but he doesn't know that).

In exchange for such a tithe of flesh, for rule of 3 make it the following 3 points:
1. Assurance it will not be sold to our enemies / used against us. - yes he could harvest some now and do it... but he has little reason to and loses out on the other things, including the improvement in power and efficiency.
2. Protection from other dragons within reason (aka, he doesn't have to step in against owner).
3. Sharing in the results of his research into our own body, bloodline, and capabilities and their uses; if we can arrange it, teaching us. (yay for dedicated dragon scientists working on figured out what is unique about us).

Phrase the deal to tie your own obligation (but not this dragon's obligations in it) into your Godling status so that your obligations expire when you are no longer a godling... If we are still not powerful enough we will continue to do them but it gives us an out without breaking word of gold and without simply outright killing this dragon.

>Someone in the book sellers blabbed
We will not seek revenge... we will seek reparations in magical tomes.

>Silja
If we didn't fear her eating us, a (temporarily or better yet, locally modified after removal donated flesh) gender bent armas would be the ideal source for reviving silja.
If we could separate flesh from self and then ALTER its signature to no longer be detectable as "armas" this would solve the issue.
Consult Gia about the possibility; I think the best way to do it is for armas to use his own flesh as a base for crafting female flesh golems which are sufficiently "not armas" (perhaps making each based on a vamp or werewolf heart) and then feed them to silja.

Besides the above though, we should train silja to identify foods and eat selectively. She is already choosing not to eat armas and we can build on this.
It is imperative she control her own eating anyways so as to not accidentally eat friends in the future, or accidentally attempt to eat something like nazinaut or skinwalker which would be fatal for her. If she masters it then a simple gender flipped armas would work.

>Amen farms
The issue is that amen made it clear he would kill us, master or no, if we pry into his past and will use any loophole to act against us.
We simply did not DARE mess with the farms. A fleshcrafter of amen's quality could easily use non sentient organ farms... he just chooses not to and we don't yet have the power over him to change it.

If we do act there, the best thing would be to get amen to grant us access to them and not interfere. Then to, ourselves, separate the sentient soul from the organ farm body and recruit them into our eye.

Also, there are many prisoners held under the same orders as BC and the nazinaut which have not been turned into organ farms. Might check up on those finally.
>>
No. 415744 ID: 252e1b

>>415651
Let me be explicitly clear then. I am against the idea because it is selling Armas's flesh.

The other reasons are secondary concerns, like it being dangerous to Armas's sanity, because it would mark Armas as being indebted or enslaved, because it means there will be a bunch of gear out outside of Armas's control with his magic signature, because it makes it much easier for enemies to acquire examples of Armas's magic signature or analyze and dismantle for weaknesses, and because it might give the dragon the hints he needs to figure out Armas's soul guise.

>>415690
>Rule of three
SUST with point by point deconstruction
1. That would require telling him that Armas has a way to upgrade his summer line on his own.
2. He could by lying about how strong he is. Even if he isn't, what good can he do for us in Turkey if his jurisdiction ends in whatever country this is?
3. No matter the actual value of this point, the (arrogant, prideful, old) dragon will see the products of his research efforts as being far more valuable than Armas's cooperation in the matter. Suggesting that Armas has any value as a co-researcher or research assistant is arrogant and will get him punished.
>>
No. 416106 ID: 3734f6

>>415690
I would repost but that would seem like SUST evading so:
>tithe
Error in wording here. Its trade not tithe.
>rule of three
Was being stupid. I asked for 4 things not 3... and I will take less then all of them.
Also to clarify those are 4 things in addition to what we already offered (being an agent, entertainment, etc).

>All them people asking to be entertainer but not giving a plan.
It wont work unless you expand on it. The only way to push this is to suggest he give us a trial period... and play on his pride in how nothing we could do could stop him from snatching us again if he doesn't find the results entertaining enough.
>>
No. 416122 ID: d9a0da

Reposting to consolidate improved suggestions. Note, BUTTZ has SUSTed all the below except Escape.

First try [Primary]:
“But is granting me autonomy really such a clear cut sacrifice. After all, you have the strongest guarantee that I will not try to escape, that of my naked self interest, as my freedom in no way precludes you purchasing flesh from me in future if you have need for it. After all, Istanbul seems to be undergoing something of a supernatural convergence at the moment, and sheer geographical proximity means I may have more opportunity to acquire interesting components than most – I know for a fact that a Wizard saw value in some parts of the Doonegeas I slew.”
If he doesn't bite on that, try [Trickster]:
”More, my freely purchased flesh may actually become more useful to you as time passes, for I have an arrangement for outside divine intercession that can potentially expand my power set, which would not be so readily available if I remained here with you."
This doesn't reveal anything too significant, as he's already well aware that we can hide the true nature of our powers, given that we appear to be a practitioner when he knows we're a godling. It also doesn't even hint that it's actually our own summer bloodline that allows this, and, as he should be able to detect whether we're telling the truth, should send him down the wrong track. Importantly, this isn't a threat to him, as divine intervention isn't godly intervention.

If he's not prepared to wait for future deals, we could make a deal now and be [Heavy Handed]:
“Of course, in that case it would be in both our interests for me to grow freely, I would be happy to commit to trading you a number of organs for making constructs each time my physical power set expands, in return for you informing me of the source of your information on me and how widespread it is, and for informing me of what you learn from my flesh, so that I may grow faster.”
Or, if all that fails, we can go with the movie director's classic film director's gambit to pay difficult backers off - a co-producer credit as [Escape]:
"To sweeten the pitch, to compensate you for the increased inconvenience that would impose on your projects, would you value the right to nominate a non-executive co-producer for the projects? If they are as successful as the existing level of interest suggests, that right could become quite the bargaining chip. Interested?"

It's worth considering why the dragon made the construct into a parrot. It could well be a subtle warning – after all, parrots are animals that talk as if they were people, and the dragon could be sending a message that he thinks Armas is the same. On the other hand, it could be because form follows function to some degree, and it is parrot shaped to help it inherit Armas' communication skills. That would imply that if Armas gains new skills or powers, the dragon could efficiently make different kinds of constructs from it. This would seem to favour the Trickster plan above.
>>
No. 416241 ID: c6ce12

Matvey
[Past]
-Attempt to start Camella's special training for your soul quirk.
-Disseminate the information on counseling available to employees through the magically bound psychologist. See about princes for sessions and try to get one booked for each person, set up a sheet of the times and let the others work out when they would like to go, and if not have them approach an officer and give a valid excuse.
-Talk with Big Crazy more, ask him about himself and what you should know about him and his capabilities given your position in Armas' company. See about getting him a slot to train with Ito on Chakra if he hasn't arranged for that himself.
-Find self disliking the uncertainly at how much your soul quirk is contributing to your chakratic efforts. Consult with Davgon and Ito on the matter and come to the conclusion it would be more effective to start using on focused tasks, break down the use of reinforcement to it's essentials and work with Ito to tailor training towards applying effort to each.
-Begin training Bagga in the basics, bringing him along to the marksmanship training sessions and setting aside the first few hours at the range to, instead of practicing your self, instruct the very green vampire in what he needs to know.
[Present]
-After Armas' conspicuous absence for a day and subsequent report from Lyubov about her phone friend telling her that Armas is somewhere in the Americas. The situation reeks of Very Bad Things ™, reach out to Armas' family friend Arkvad (the morning of the 15th) for assistance. Find once you explain the situation to him that he not only has a way to more accurately locate Armas through a preexisting project he had in the works, but that he can contact a group called AORB, who you know as people that would be VERY capable of getting this job done.
-Allocate any spare time working with the other parties involved and doing whatever is in your power to ease the situation along.
-Keep the others up to date on the progress of the situation in as much detail as you can divulge without harming the operation.

>>
No. 416471 ID: 40fb55

[MATVEY ORDERS]
[Past]
/\/\-Attempt to start Camella's special training for your soul quirk. Find that being guided by her… seems to make the quirk manifest faster?
/\/\-Disseminate the information on counseling available to employees through the magically bound psychologist. See about prices for sessions and try to get one booked for each person, set up a sheet of the times and let the others work out when they would like to go, and if not have them approach an officer and give a valid excuse. Find out that you can probably get individual sessions at $500 a pop, given the number of employees that would be going, collectively. Decide that's a pretty damn good deal, even if the sessions are only a half hour. Presume psychologist does not waste time.
/\/\-Talk with Big Crazy more, ask him about himself and what you should know about him and his capabilities given your position in Armas' company. Find out that he can regenerate (decide he can't do it as well as the boss) has super-strength in the same category as Hillevi, if not greater, and has some fun detection magic tricks-so, a perceptive juggernaut, really. See about getting him a slot to train with Ito on Chakra if he hasn't arranged for that himself. Find Ito is happy to accept gold as currency when Big offers it. Why does he even HAVE loose nuggets of gold?
/\/\-Find self disliking the uncertainly at how much your soul quirk is contributing to your chakratic efforts. Consult with Davgon and Ito on the matter and come to the conclusion it would be more effective to start using on focused tasks, break down the use of reinforcement to it's essentials and work with Ito to tailor training towards applying effort to each. Once Reinforcement's been broken down to it's constituent parts, begins working on each individual brute fact comprising the orientation. …Finds training to go better. Also finds self humming 'Eye of the Tiger' rather frequently. Odd.
/\/\-Begin training Bagga in the basics, bringing him along to the marksmanship training sessions and setting aside the first few hours at the range to, instead of practicing yourself, instruct the very green vampire in what he needs to know. Finds out Bagga had never even used guns before-realizes this will be a long process.
[Present]
/\/\-After Armas' conspicuous absence for a day and subsequent report from Lyubov about her phone friend telling her that Armas is somewhere in the Americas. The situation reeks of Very Bad Things ™, reach out to Armas' family friend Arkvad (the morning of the 15th) for assistance. Find once you explain the situation to him that he not only has a way to more accurately locate Armas through a preexisting project he had in the works, but that he can contact a group called AORB, who you know as people that would be VERY capable of getting this job done.
/\/\-Allocate any spare time working with the other parties involved and doing whatever is in your power to ease the situation along.
/\/\-Keep the others up to date on the progress of the situation in as much detail as you can divulge without harming the operation.
/\/\-Be privately impressed as hell with how go-to Lyubov's being about this.

[LYUBOV ORDERS]
Monday, February 14th
L*~Lyubov returned from her night lessons to find Sake wriggling and leaping around in a panic, and Hillevi, Dávgon, Duke, Gianni, Big Crazy, and Camella discussing what a bust their search for clues about the disappearance of Armas and Shadowbro was- and wait, he’s missing? Oh no, Armas. Last Wednesday’s fears are today’s reality…
L*~Lyubov grabbed the ‘prank call’ phone. “Hello, excuse me, Phone Guy? Sir, if you’re listening, I would really, really, really be thankful if you could tell me what happened to the phone my missing friend was using. I am very worried.” The Phone Guy replied, “Your friend bumbled into a trap laid by an American dragon, an unfortunate occurrence, and one which he should have been capable of avoiding. Which dragon it was, and what the dragon intends, only the future will tell.” Lyubov squashed her annoyance at Armas being implied to be incompetent, pushed aside the feeling of dread at hearing that a dragon had kidnapped Armas, and instead thanked Phone Guy for the information.
L*~Lyubov rejoined the officers and Sake and told them, “I called a contact that does magic stuff with the phones and he said Armas was kidnapped by an American dragon. He didn’t know which.” At this Sake wailed that he was losing his brothers again, and that he had to go to America right now to get them back. Lyubov grabbed him and spent some time stroking and comforting her best friend, regardless of all the weasel boogers he ended up wiping on her as he cried.
L*~Lyubov spent much of the night repeating largely the same thing to Sake. "They both still live, you know that, so whatever he is being used for the dragon needs him alive.“ She tried not to cry too much herself, since Sake needed her emotionally engaged and supportive. “But how are we going to get them back?” Sake asked. Lyubov responded, “Camella is the XO of the company, she will definitely put together a plan to get them back.” That plan (Matvey’s really) involved a call to AORB, who were not happy at all that a dragon had gone rogue, and said they needed to know which dragon. Something none of them could answer.
L*~During one of his more composed moments, Lyubov had Sake call the phone company to have calls to Armas’s phone forwarded to Sake’s phone. Sake can mimic Armas, after all.
L*~Lyubov also had Sake make the appropriate calls to Oyak Securities to pay the taxes. “When Armas gets back, the last thing he will need is a tax headache!”
Tuesday, February 15th
L*~Lyubov woke up with Sake still clinging to her. She distracted him with breakfast while she cleaned herself up for the day, and managed to not break down (too badly) in the shower.
L*~She and Sake talked about things Armas had left undone that would need to be taken care of: Placid (“Well. Uh. I guess someone will have to check on him.”), the golem (“What the hell, he never even talked about that.”), Silja (“So his gun was a person, and she will be again? Why doesn’t he ever ask for help with this stuff.”), the mere (“Oh so that’s what that stone knife is called- wait isn’t Arkvad a family friend? We need to tell him too.”), and other projects that were of lesser importance.
L*~Sake and Lyubov rounded up Matvey and Camella and together they placed a call to Arkvad, alerting him about Armas’s plight. Arkvad was distressed, but told them he thought he maybe had a way to find him. Maybe. He needed to check some stuff, could be a day.
L*~Bagga approached Lyubov and let her know he had run out of blood, and that he’d talked to Satai about it. Lyubov asked Bagga if he needed quality or just quantity. Quantity would do, he would likely need a lot of any non-magic blood. Gallons. She researched companies that sell cow blood for biology experiments, and found that it could be ordered in bulk for $45 a liter. She passed the information along to Bagga and Satai.
L*~Lyubov let Ito know she would not be going to her day teaching session, but would be at the night lessons with Sake and Cookie Lady. Sake, imitating Armas, arranged with the bookstore for an assistant to pick up the 7777 book instead. Lyubov drove down there with Sake and picked up the book on chakra orientations.
L*~They took the book home and delivered it to Satai. Lyubov flipped through the back issues of “The Last Spelling” looking for anything she could find about the American dragons. …Okay, wow America has a lot of rogue dragons, that sounds scary. Camella went to a lunch-time meeting with Owner to secure a promise from him to rescue Armas as soon as his location was known.
L*~Sake took a nap, and Lyubov went to pick up Cookie Lady a little early. She spoke with her about cookies, as well as Armas’s issue. She helped make some cookies for Sake and Satai specifically, as well as helping with the larger batch for the dojo students and workers. She swung back home to get Sake, and drove both him and Cookie Lady to the dojo, and introduced them properly. She made sure to drive Cookie Lady home by nine, as requested. She delivered Satai’s cookies to him, as an apology for the trouble she’d inadvertently caused him with Amen.
Wednesday, February 16th
L*~Lyubov looked through the 7777 book and read up on the astral projection orientation.
L*~Lyubov got Sake to help her with her chakra training, as much to keep them both distracted and active as anything else.
L*~Sake took a nap while Lyubov went to the normal day teaching session. She was not very happy with her teaching performance.
L*~Lyubov apologized for not getting back to Hyougo sooner, and explained “Things are a little crazy here the past couple of days, I’m afraid. I’ll ask my friend about that picture though. What kind of animals do your folks sell? Do they export them?” Learns Hyougo's family sells tamed foxes-that sounds fun!
L*~Now certain she had the right Hyougo, Lyubov spoke to Sake about her request for a photo of him in his little cape, and spent an hour making him look super-lovely for the picture. She e-mailed the picture to Hyougo, and set it as her phone’s wallpaper.
L*~Arkvad called Sake’s line, and they quickly got the officers and others involved in the call. Since the mere is an artifact, it would link up with Armas as soon as it was repaired. It would take them six days of real-time effort to prepare it, or four if they cut corners on the detailing (and thus made it less powerful, permanently).
L*~At first both Sake and Lyubov were in favor of just rushing things, but cooler heads pointed out that if the rogue dragon had sufficient resources he could have already completely reshaped Armas’s mind and soul, which would make rushing rather pointless. It was agreed that the extra two days should be taken. Dávgon and Gianni would prepare for the worst, if Armas were indeed badly tampered with. Sake and Lyubov privately decided to not trouble Silja with the bad news unless Armas was damaged when he was recovered. Then they would ask Dávgon to contact her, or Einrik if he was in the house at that point.
L*~Night lessons. Lyubov did her best to ignore how awful she felt about Armas. The night lessons students got to see Sake all dolled up.
Thursday, February 17th
L*~Sake taught Lyubov some more tricks she could use to make her chakra more efficient. Lyubov took a bath with Sake to clean off the hair gel again.
L*~A mostly normal day otherwise, with training, lessons, Hyougo chats (about Naruto), and another conversation with Svetlana designed to drive her nuts (“Well I took a bath with my friend this morning, to help him clean off this glowing hair gel. What? No it’s not like that. Nope. Mom you’re old fashioned, but I’m not doing anything like that with him, it’s platonic. Now, his brother, on the other hand… no, never mind. Just forget I said anything mom.”).
L*~Lyubov practiced changing chakra orientations. She talked to Hillevi, asking how she was doing and confiding that, “Sake has really been the only reason I haven’t been a complete mess; Armas being in trouble has been more emotionally trying and heart wrenching and horrible than I expected. Not that I ever expected it, but I mean it’s a surprise how much I care about him, I knew we’d become friends but- well, I just really miss him.” Is rather surprised by how utterly confident Hillevi is that Armas will be alright-immediately likens her emotional state when a friend's in trouble to 'the rock which others lean on'. Finds self surprised to find this trait in the girl.
L*~Night lessons. Practiced with Granny Vampire and Bagga mostly. Bagga's new arm is stupid strong and REALLY hard-but YES, got another sucker punch in on the granny vamp! Gyaketsuote's starting to maybe work how it should?
Friday, February 18th
L*~Lyubov and Sake spent much of the early morning jamming with Zhenya. Later Lyubov got more chakra help from Sake.
L*~While Lyubov was practicing changing chakra orientations, Placid came to the door. Lyubov swallowed her doubts and fear (and resolved to not leave the door threshold, since she knew firsthand that Amen could stop Duke, and thus could probably protect her from Placid), and went to find out what the… unexpectedly cute... monster wanted.
L*~It turned out, he was lonely. She told him a children’s tale, and got him interested in trying other foods besides people and ice cream. When she told him that Armas was kidnapped, and might not be healthy when he returned, Placid was very sad. She cooked some of the foods her mother had taught her, like pirozhki and blini for Placid, and delivered them to his apartment. “Wow Placid, you sure like stray animals. What have you been feeding them? What do you mean you just extrude food for them? No, no, you don’t need to show me. I’ll, uh. Just get some petfood for them.” And some brushes, and toys, and treats. And a disposable cell phone that Placid can call with, and enough airtime it’s useful. ($230)
L*~Night lessons again. A quick word with Matvey about Camella’s birthday tomorrow, and an agreement to keep it low-key but happy. Practice combining gyaketsuote with SAMBO.
Saturday, February 19th
L*~Lyubov, Sake, and Zhenya practiced a few songs for Camella’s birthday (a couple of Italian folk songs, and Tanti aguri a te).
L*~Besides her normal routine of Morning Lessons, Midday Teaching, Hyougo chatting, and Night Lessons, Lyubov made time to talk to her mother. This time she made her mom worry about her by suggesting that she was in the process of just bribing her way through the local driving exams. Feels a LITTLE bad she's tweaking her mom's nose for normalcy to make herself feel better while Armas is in trouble. She bought a couple of little presents for Camella as well ($140).
L*~Lyubov asked Cookie Lady to bake a birthday cake for Camella and her well-wishers. Cookie Lady was happy to help. She brought Cookie Lady and the cake to the dojo that evening for the small party. She presented Camella with a body henna kit for her leg (and an offer to help put it on later), as well as a nice amethyst rosary (Camella’s birthstone). Sake, Zhenya, and Lyubov played the songs they had practiced for her as well. Notes Camella looking very wistful while happy about the party.
Sunday, February 20th
L*~A normal Sunday, although Gloom declined to go to church again. Lyubov prayed and asked that Armas be safe and mentally sound when he was retrieved tomorrow. Another donation to the church ($250).
L*~Lyubov asked Cookie Lady if there was anything she wanted any help with. She’s been a good friend, and Lyubov wanted to be able to return the affection and favors.
L*~More practice shoving energy around while in the reinforcement orientation. Trying to put it where the toy rubber balls Sake was hurling were directed was fairly exhausting.
L*~Instead of Night Lessons, Lyubov went on an evening outing with Rostislav to the Fight Club. She used every melee trick she’d learned, combining her SAMBO and gyaketsuote techniques. Hooray she beat the dude she drew as opponent! …She'll go ahead and ignore the fact he clearly underestimated her.


MINION ORDERS CAN NOW ONLY BE ISSUED ON SUNDAYS, GAME-TIME. EACH SUNDAY, PLOT OUT YOUR MINION'S GENERAL GOALS FOR THE WEEK.

>>415514 PALENDROMIC BONUS
"There will always be other potential donors for your project- and that is a very interesting little creation- but where else will you find someone who can create both entertainment to order and series format entertainment that will, with a little time, see widespread distribution?"
[???]"I'm sure I could convince an Imp or Goblin clan to undertake such a project if I had to."
"That's the point though-you'd need to start them yourself, where as I've already begun. You have a chance here to be in on the ground floor of what will likely be the next hot entertainment series in the magic community. In fact, I can do one better."
The shadows wrapped around the metal parrot, it's eyes spinning, quiver in what I now believe to be… curiosity.
[???]"Better, hm? And what is it you label 'better' Mr. Laine?"
"On any project that you request, as in any project that involves a target you've named, you (or a person of your choice) would get co-producer credit. That could be a pretty nice bargaining chip as my company gains reputation. There's power in having a Name associated with being an entertaining visionary."
[???]"Names have power, true enough-but what makes you think there's value in attaching a name to your projects? Entertainment rarely reaches the levels of… influence necessary for a naming to be worthwhile."
"My team and I would tailor our approach to please, either to your bespoke specifications, or to our own artistic tastes as entertainers. My philosophy is pretty simple: if it's funny, keep it. Otherwise, put it on the cutting room floor. There's a spontaneity to the format I want to popularize which should ensure it stays fresh. It's one thing to be able to block out a shot and try to guess what the target will do, and quite another to actually attempt the scene. If a target doesn't react at all the way one expected, it makes for incredibly funny entertainment, and I think that will be enough to keep it fresh for an audience-enough so that they get hooked."
[???]"…How else do you plan to captivate audiences?"
"Another example: ex-girlfriend tried to break into my new home not too long ago. I reconfigured the basement to run her through what amounted to a lunatic's version of a Rube Goldberg Breakfast Machine. I didn't have the greatest cameras on hand for it; had to resort to using the home security cameras, but the footage was incredibly hilarious. I started her off falling into a swimming pool. When she got out of the pool, fully dressed for winter mind, she was presented with the only exit to the room: a cubicle with a console that had several labeled options, from the practical to the absurd. The problem for her lay in that the labels on the console had all fallen off. She punched at the buttons randomly, and I ran her through all of them, starting with breakfast, a shave and haircut, a bath, a rub down with stuffed animals, and finally dressing her in one of my suits. Then she got a canned pep talk that told her what a suave and excellent man she was."
The shadows simply stopped moving-yep, I'm throwing his brain for a loop here, no reason not to keep that going-
"There were several other events in the breakfast machine, though my favorite bit was when she ended up dancing with a dummy dressed in the outfit she had been wearing initially."
[???]"This… episode, ended with her slain for her impertinence, correct?"
"Oh, no, she didn't die. The goal was just to humiliate and confuse her, so that she would not bother me again. I believe it worked. I'm probably going to make that footage a bonus feature on the first Blade Saga disc."
[???]"And if I wanted you to perform a show of a… private nature? Does your business mobel allow for such?"
"I understand that some things are best enjoyed when they're private. If you had a particular job you did not want to be published well after the fact, something that was just for you, I could certainly accommodate it. Normally I'd charge a licensing fee equivalent to projected profits on the footage but you could get one private show, at-cost, every year for as long as I lived. That's life according to the goblin definition, of course, since you already know I have vested interests in not meeting their definition of being dead."
Tendrils begin moving again-and start… infiltrating my flesh in a manner so invasive even I'm wierded out watching them sink into my chest.
[???]"Is that so..."
Crap, I don't think I'm selling him-
"Remember, as I gain notoriety and reputation for these kinds of special shows, and as I establish my distribution networks, the value of a given show will only go up. Your first private show could be worth a tidy sum indeed in a couple of years. And since the distribution rights for the private show would be yours, you'd have total control over who, outside of my company and a few specially chosen critics, would have ever seen your enemy suffering in such a delightfully funny manner."
[???]"You believe your method of entertainment to possess sufficient entertainment value that the financial gains inherant to this partnership are themselves a point worthy of consideration?"
Despite asking the question, I can't help but notice that… I'm still feeling those… shadow limbs fluttering within my tissue.
"Correct. That would be in addition to my company being available for jobs that would eventually see public distribution as entertainment. And remember, we're not just killers. We can do thefts, frame-up jobs, reputation degradation, annoyance, abductions, and other sorts of dirty work."
>>415666 Devil Bonus
As the dragon fails to respond, I find myself having an epiphany if only to avoid dwelling too deeply on what transpires within my flesh. I recall the specific nature of the bird he showed me… and it's natural affinity for multidimensional constructs. Why would my flesh be especially good for multidimensional constructs? Because of Allview and the connection it established between my eye and two separate, but connected demi planes. Further the eye is well connected to my body by blood circulation and nerves, which means I have nerves and blood crossing dimensional barriers. By law of contagion this probably spread, somewhat diluted, to the rest of my body. The interesting question is what else got spread from the eye? …I wish I had SB to ask, but…. Shouldn't I have some ownership over my flesh in that bird still? I mean, sure a dragon worked on it… and customized it to it's own functions… but it came from me.

I try to feel the magic within the construct and order it to-

One of the tendrils tightens around my heart.
[???]"Mr. Laine, here we were having such an… enlightening discussion, and you try to corrupt my creations into following your orders. Should I take that as an insult to my crafting abilities? Do you think me no more capable than one of your primate brethren?"
I note the venom dripping from his tone… yeah, good job deconstructing WHY the multidimensional thing happens, poor call on trying to manipulate it. ….If I could talk to SB, he'd probably have stopped me.
>>415690
>>416122
Things sort of fall apart from there-I try haggling over deals using my flesh, wheedling, every trick I have-but my one, solitary act of defiance seems to have irrevocably damned me in the dragon's eyes-and in short order, it… pulls my heart from my chest.

That's a new sensation I'm going to file away as 'never want to feel that again'.

The dragon in shadows withdraws, the opening to my prison seals… and I am left with the choice of either using Hybrid healing to regrow my heart, or seeing how long I can endure the agony of a damaged body and continue living-as I truly don't wish to use my spiritual reincarnation abilities, however they may function, without being certain I can escape. So I do what I must.

HYBRID HEALING
WINTER ENERGY: 135/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 25/50

…Is regrowing a heart supposed to be that hard?

Once more…. time passes, without any frame for my personal reference.

Time becomes meaningful again-when I hear the sound of explosions, the featurely floor beneath me vibrating at their impact. The roaring booms and riotous crashes continue to build before the crescendo blows half of my prison away-and reveals to me what transpires without my gloomy home.

The place I've been calling my home and tomb for the last… however-long is, itself, based within a truly gargantuan cave, lit by tree-sized bioluminescent mushrooms that constantly shed glittering, glowing dust that seems to coat the floor everywhere I look. Creatures that look vaguely cambrian scuttle and scratch about, diving for hiding places-as a war is waged.

The mass of shadows made physical I immediately identify as my jailor… is being pounded with artillery fire blasted without pause from…. flying tanks, stamped with massive four letter decals that glow a soft red, at-odds with the cerulean hue the cave naturally sports. The letters are a simple abbreviation: A.O.R.B….. and I've never been happier to see the law.

Each and every shell they fire blazes to my eyes, screaming it's magical essence into the cool and gloomy cavern, each one exploding into a swiftly-collapsing spell matrice, dozens of shells slamming into the dragon each and every second like clockwork. The tanks buzz about the air like titanic bees, not a one staying still long enough to be hit by the eye-searing lances of fire, acid and lightning being thrown in retaliation by the enraged dragon. The group of two dozen deliciously potent magitech constructs completely ignore the vaunted might of dragons by sheer dint of overwhelming firepower and seamless coordination.

I hardly notice the appearance of a score of souls in the area until they're practically on top of me-by which point I've identified them: My company, here…. to save me.

Lyubov's the first to come into view, Iosef and Feodor at her back, and I note she's sporting her signature so-cheerful-it's-almost-embarassing-to-her smile as she steps closer, hefting-

-Hefting my fucking mere! It's been rebuilt!
[Lyubov]"ARMAS!"
She moves to throw her arms around me, stumbles as yet another explosion rocks the cavern, seems to think better of it-and starts babbling.
[Lyubov]"So we got worried when we couldn't find you and called Arkvad and he said he had a way to find you and I hope we didn't do wrong by getting your mere made so-"
[Feodor]"Later? Please?"
[Lyubov]"Oh, um right! Okay, let me just cut you loose… Um, these… are bone-"
[Owner]"That should not be a problem for the weapon forged for him."
As Lyubov gets to work cutting my manacles like hot butter with a glittering, magic-blazing mere, I look to Owner, the Turkish ruling dragon dressed in an impeccably immaculate dark purple suit, Camella close at his side.
[Owner]"Well-I find I must thank you. I'll be able to extract a favor from the American Dragon for dealing with one of his problems-and in the process I'll get to legally tweak AORB's nose, as I havejurisdiction, given he captured one of my citizens. Incidentally, well played, actually paying taxes before getting captured-I might not have bothered, otherwise, social contact not being seal and all."
The owner smiles as his gaze slips over to where the AORB tanks are thoroughly engages pounding on the dragon-now having hammered him through several dozen meters of bedrock with their unending barrage.

[Owner]"I don't suppose he told you who originally told him about you, did he?"
"Before that-how long have I BEEN here?"
[Matvey]"A week."

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21ST, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $9,711,410.00
BUSINESS FUNDS: $1,124,984.00
CASH: $6,120.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 05%
WINTER ENERGY: 145/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 35/50


[Owner]"So-any idea who sold you out?"
Ideas… Ideas I have plenty of: Certainty… not so much.






What do I tell the Owner-do I share any of my postulations about who sold me out, or stay quiet in case I'm wrong?
Can I think of any reason I should ask him to NOT jump into the fray and tweak AORB's nose?
What do I need to get caught up on now that I know I've been a captive for a week?
>>
No. 416507 ID: 1294ab

Gloom
*G* continues training
*G* considers the conversation he had with Armas, and how Armas came across completely inhuman. That does not seem like a man or creature to work for. The price would be to high.
*G* Gloom watches as the kidnapping and rescue plays out, and he sees the scale that's being operated.
*G* In light of this, he decides to resign. With his skills, and the seed money, he's made, not to mention being rendered multilingual, he can turn a profit in the non-supernatural world.
*G* Checks with Dávgon for whether his chakra skill is sufficient to deal with the magical meat he ate.
*G* Writes a resignation letter and gives it to Camella, in which he thanks her for her advice in recovering from magical poisoning. In person, he suggests that Armas is deeply insane and clearly has a deathwish, as is clearly shown by the clothes he wears in a city plastered with CCTV cameras while apparently being a high value kidnap target. He proceeds to recommend she strongly considering quitting as well, so she isn't sucked down with Armas next time he brings the disaster down on his an everyone around him's head.
*G* Leaves.
>>
No. 416514 ID: 6616f3

>"Incidentally, well played, actually paying taxes before getting captured-I might not have bothered, otherwise, social contact not being seal and all."
"That's me, proud Turkish citizen in good standing. Not entirely sure who set me up yet- there's no shortage of suspects, from the proprietor of the book store I was headed to, on up through Abdul Ghanem, the Shen and the Akkorokamui, all the way up to the government itself. I've tweaked my share of noses the last few months. Whoever they were, the dragon was quite well informed."

"Anyway, thanks very much for storming the dragon's lair for me. Pay raises for everyone, seriously.

Incidentally, if anyone happens to spot a multidimensional monstrous fusion of flesh and metal in the shape of a parrot, hang onto it? I did miss your birthday after all, Camella, but that's no reason not to procure a present."
>>
No. 416634 ID: 956fde

Ask owner if there's any possibility of getting compensation from the dragon. After all, he took your heart, lung, and several chunks of flesh. Why shouldn't you get the offending dragon's?

Yes, I realize he only intentionally took one chunk of flesh but considering the messy method he used to remove our organs we could get away with this half truth.
>>
No. 416719 ID: 6616f3

Titus
Spend the week finishing up the second glove prototype (find the right teflon mix to protect the palms from the raiju pelt strips), talk to Satai about the magic electronics fellow- get an introduction, and pick up a pair of magic supercapacitors (2x $10,000) for the planned third prototype.

>>416507
We're going to need to do something about this. Gloom knows far too much of our operational planning, our minions, our armory, our magic, our goblin stealth - he wouldn't even have to plan to sell us out (though he probably is), anyone that can take Armas off the street would snap him up in a second.

Magical NDA, have Amen painlessly mind-rip the urge out of him, kill him out of hand as an example to the others, or wave him goodbye with a smile (and eat him later).

Something.
>>
No. 416733 ID: 1988e7

>>416719
While I agree we need a way to ensure Gloom keeping his trap shut, killing, maiming or otherwise permantly harming him will HORRIBLY backfire. Our other minions might start consider us as large a threat as the Chuganov was.

The NDA is the best idea brought up here. Should he really try to leave without confronting Armas, we´ll have to hunt him down. Should some questions our motives, Gloom left moments after Armas got rescued from the kidnapping, his dislike of Armas is pretty well known. He could even be the dragon´s informer in the first place, although I doubt it. Personally I think the Nazis with Infos buyed from the goblins or Lo Fang more belivable.

All that aside, I´m not really surprized about Alratan leaving ship. He kinda was preparing Gloom for it from the getgo, staying alone and distrustful of everyone.
>>
No. 416787 ID: e77953

Bagga Orders(because I still have 6 days of them)
>: After drinking the last of the basilisk blood, talk to Lyubov and Satai about it. Be willing to drink the animals blood so he isn't too big a drain on the company assets. Make sure Satai approves it. He is the quarter master after all. Also chat with Satai about the various things he learned so he's in the loop.
>: Once that is dealt with, read his biology text books. Specifically the sections about the human circulatory system. Knowing how blood travels through the body may help his blood monitoring studies.
>: Ask Gianni if he could practice blood monitoring on some of his basic golems. He seems like a nice guy, and practice makes perfect.
>: Hear that Mr. Laine is missing. Be concerned about his well being. He did offer him a lot after all. Use it as an incentive to study as best as he can so he can help out when the time comes.
>: Spar with Miss Camellia. She is likely stressed out and with dealing with father taught him anything, smacking stuff can be good stress relief. Use the very likely smack downs as his Ibruhem blood line training.
>: Gun lessons with Mr. Matvey! Listen to what the nice battle veteran/ex military officer/teacher says about fire arms and try to follow his lessons.
>: Find out about Miss Camellia's birthday. Realize he has no gift. Apologize to her for not getting a gift and sing Happy Birthday to her.
>: Blood Monitoring and Vampire lessons with his Teacher again. Try to chat with his teacher to form a better teacher/student bond and to get the most out of his time there. Ask his teacher if there are any possible job opportunities for the Company with the Zosimus Clan. Be sure to relay the possibilities to the commanding officers if there are any.
>: Nightly Ito-sensei smack downs. Try to take his beatings like a man and do his best to learn his blood line. See if he can promote himself from rag doll to punching bag.
>: AS the day to rescue Mr. Laine fast approaches, hear the plan. Find out there is a chance he may have suffered some damage from being held captive. Volunteer to aid Mr. Gianni and Mr. Davgon by using his Blood Monitoring to help make sure he is OK.
>: Realize that while his body may be OK, his personality may be traumatized by the event. Making sure Mr. Laine is still Mr. Laine would be important. Remember he likes jokes and trolling. Ask Gianni to help him pick out a outfit that is nice and professional to show he's working hard, with a bit of humor to help cheer him up/make sure he's ok mentally.

Alright! Calvary arrived, Dragon smack downs and we have our Mere.. which the Owner seems to have some knowledge about. First order of business; ask for a snack, get our stuff, and find every piece of us we can find. It's not hard, they would all have our energy signature in some way.

Second order? Find out what went missing. Any bits we lost we can ask for a draconic return from Mr Mad Scientist Dragon. Lung for lung, heart for Heart, Flesh for Flesh. It's only fair after all.

Third order? We have an untested mere with feasting powers, several bros who are likely mighty pissed, AORB tanks firing at a dragon, and the Owner right there fighting against a rebel dragon who kidnapped us like we some princess. This may very well be our best chance when it comes to facing a dragon right now and it's FULL of opportunities.

1: We can test the Mere and feed on Dragon flesh with it. Should fill us up and we give it a proper baptism by blood. Nothing starts a legend like blood justice and revenge against a rebellious dragon.
2: Use this as both a means to impress AORB and a means to amuse the Owner due to the fact we would be tweaking AORB's nose with this action. He knows the Mere is awesome, let's show him how good it is.
3: Helping to kill the dragon can give us some prime materials. We could even walk away with some additional loot. Not a big portion mind you, but more than likely a nice bit on top of what we are owed.
We have so many safety nets here it's not even funny and if things get hairy, we shadow port out of the conflict and let the pros handle it.
HOWEVER, this is the best chance to try out the Mere and likely our safest encounter with a dragon. We do not want to miss this chance.
>>
No. 417055 ID: 252e1b

>>416787
>Attack the rogue dragon with the mere
SUST
Let's NOT get involved in the fight that you need dragon-level defenses or good ranged abilities or both to be able to reasonably survive, let alone be useful.

Instead, let's say, "People who could have sensed my condition... I'm still learning to hide it. Too many to count had a chance to detect it. The only concrete thing I can give you is that I was picked up on the way to pick up a book, 'Avery Bagoyle's 7777 Indirect Chakra Orientations.' So the rogue had to know about that, but I only told allies that I had ordered it. I suppose a bug is a possibility, or an informer at some point in the supply chain, but the only places I ever talked about the book were pretty secure."

>What do I need to get caught up on now that I know I've been a captive for a week?

We should find out about the concern that Owner assigned us: Placid. "How's Placid?" should be the second thing out of Armas's mouth.

Other pressing concerns are, "Where are Sake and Hillevi?" and, "Who pitched in on this rescue?" and even, "And what about that stupid book anyway?"

>Can I think of any reason I should ask him to NOT jump into the fray and tweak AORB's nose?

Nope. But ask for help breaking Hummingbird and Shadowbro out, and a pointer to where your gear is.
>>
No. 417058 ID: 9718f3

"Unfortunately, while I do have my suspicions, none are concrete at the moment and my "host" was more interested in harvesting my organs than sharing its sources. Ah, speaking of, and keep in mind I am not exactly familiar with draconic law, but isn't that the sort of thing I might claim recompense for, perhaps in kind?"

"My heart and one of my lungs. I'll have to find those... hopefully the latter hasn't flown off somewhere. Actually, regrowing hearts is hungry work and I haven't had a meal in a week, anyone bring anything to eat?"

Cut Hummingbird out of the globe using the mere, say hi to your bros, get your missing heart and lung, the rest of your stuff, bugger off. Stay naked.

Rought list of shit we need to follow up on:
-Detailed description of rescue efforts
-We should have got our third Phoenix heart for the flesh golem
-Lo Fang training
-Check how Otso is doing
>>
No. 417061 ID: 252e1b
File 133833887056.png - (70.30KB , 375x1000 , Paperdoll.png )
417061

Hey kids, it's time to play "What did the minions bring to dress Armas in?"

Since it's not much fun to just describe what's going on with his wardrobe, here's a paper doll! And don't forget to accessorize! Armas needs his Hummingbird, Buntline, and Eyepatch (to cover his left eye) with optional Mental Acceleration Protection charm.
>>
No. 417083 ID: cf49fc
File 133834265960.png - (143.00KB , 375x1000 , Armas (HURGH___).png )
417083

>>417061
Oh god, it looks like a hand is poking out of his crotch!

The rest of it is great, but OH GOD I CAN SEE IT WHEN I CLOSE MY EYES!

Anywho, did I make the brim wide enough?
>>
No. 417109 ID: 179960

Armas Orders
>What do I tell the Owner-do I share any of my postulations about who sold me out, or stay quiet in case I'm wrong?
“I wish I knew. As it is, my style of operation and my growth have both gained me plenty of enemies. Then there's all the enemies I have that I don't even know about yet. Then there's the ones that aren't my enemies, they would just care more about what they'd get from selling me out. My suspicions start with someone at the bookseller's – if you want someone to investigate, that's as good a start as any – but there's just too many more people out there with motive and opportunity.”

>Can I think of any reason I should ask him to NOT jump into the fray and tweak AORB's nose?
Nope.

“I'm done talking, you can go kick his ass now. Just, uh, could you maybe save me a few parts? He tore out my heart, a lung, and probably a few other bits and pieces too, and I was hoping I could get some... reparations for that.”

Hopefully he'll let us have the heart, so Markku can show us that dragon heart ritual.

>What do I need to get caught up on now that I know I've been a captive for a week?
First, break Hummingbird out. Then get some food. Not eating for a week is going to catch up real soon, unless you do something about it. Hopefully someone brought some food, but if they didn't, eat your own arm. If someone finds the parrot, or you can control it and get it to come towards you, eat that too.

Speaking of finding things, collect anything you had on you when you were abducted, and anything else the dragon made. Might as well check for anything else lootable while we're here, too. If this dragon has biofactories like Amens, we should try to get them so we can replace our human ones.

While all this is happening, have Amen detain the shadow that's been in the mansion impersonating SB – how could he be there when he's been trapped here? Hopefully it hasn't escaped yet.

Voting
>>416719
Upvoting finding a way to deal with Gloom.

>>416787
SUST to attacking the dragon.

Feodor Orders
Monday 14 Feb – Sunday 20 Feb
*Inform Satai of Finnigan's wares, trying not to react visibly to the thought of that blood.
*Have interrupted sleep due to horrifying nightmares. Dream of killing and eating everyone at the company over the next couple of days. Vomit after waking from one particularly disturbing nightmare involving Sake and Lyubov. Decide not to sleep at all from now on.
*Continue putting extra effort into the jog and other training.
*Order a full set of university-level biology, chemistry, medicine, and physics textbooks ($8000) online with expedited shipping. When they arrive, have Amen build a wooden bookcase to store them in.
*Think about Davgon's comment. The appointment is set up with the Czech, so all that's left is to wait. Try going back to the magic clinic, with it's aura of relaxation, and just sit there for a while.
*Work with Finnigan Thurs-Sun nights. Make note of any unusual procedures or patients.
*Hear about the plan to rescue Armas, and demand that he be examined immediately upon it's implementation.

Sunday 20 Feb – Sunday 27 Feb
*Head off on the Rescue Op. Check Armas and make sure nothing's too badly damaged in his body. After witnessing him downing so much food, become worried that he caused this... problem.
*Morning Jog, Chakra Training with Camella and Ito, and Night Classes, all while wearing 100lbs in the vest.
*Read through the chakra book, and come across the “Mystical Ascetic Palm” orientation. Start trying to learn it. Once the theory's memorised, cut self a few times on the arm and try the orientation out.
*While working with Finnigan, try out the new orientation on the patients.
*Discuss spirit animals with Davgon. Learn about his possible plan for Feodor to get a vampiric octopus. Ask what kind of benefits that would provide. Learn that he would gain all the benefits of being a vampire – being able to feed on blood, blood sense, etc – without all the downsides, gain some ability in sensing elder magic, and most importantly, it would give him a way to hide the soul taint from him being a cannibal. Shit. Davgon knows. Confess about the urges and the dreams. Break down in tears while telling him.

Rostislav Orders
Sunday 13 Feb – Sunday 20 Feb
*Continue with the jog, only putting in enough effort to keep up. Focus more on the Reinforcement training.
*Go to Fight Club a couple of extra times, trying to use Reinforcement and what Ito said about where to watch. Try to predict what opponents will do, and use any opportunity to overwhelm them.
*Think about spirit animals. Remember a wolverine that wandered into town once and mauled a homeless guy to death. Want one.

Sunday 20 Feb – Sunday 27 Feb
*Continue with all the chakra training. Talk with Ito after the morning lessons and tell him about how his advice worked.
*Keep going to Fight Club. Lyubov joins for one session. Be a little surprised at her win, then remember that she's been getting extra training – she's probably better at chakra than him.
*Flick through the chakra book, looking for something damaging.
*Ask Davgon for a Soul Quirk.
*Try to commission a set of knives from Igor. Go for two single-edged 8” blades; two double-edged 6” blades; one single-edged 12” blade; and one double-edged, 4” blade with a handguard. All should be full-tang, and left unadorned without handles attached, since Igor's doesn't do that. Offer $2000, with a possible bonus, depending on the quality.

And I thought that I was doing fine at keeping my minion orders short.
>>
No. 417123 ID: 7472ad

Dmitrii orders:
Ito hinted that he figured out something similar to Dmitrii's teaching orientation, and used it to help him with his charm making orientation. He's going to spend some time on that. Specifically, chakra charms that keep others from realizing he's in the tank, others are in the tank, that the tank is aiming at things, and if there's anything for enhancing unexpected attacks from the the vehicle, that as well.

He's going to buy a couple thousand dollars worth of drugs everyday for Duke during the week.

See if Duke's willing to oh god channel energy through Dmitrii for making chakra charms when he's not training Zhenya. It's probably not much energy compared to how much Duke has, but hey, maybe it'll be the difference between Zhenya almost dying and only wishing she was dead.

Spend rest of freetime relaxing and trying out various vehicle simulation he bought, including steel battalion. A virtual vehicle is still a vehicle, so hopefully it will help him get used to his soul quirk. Enjoy unfair advantage online.

Ask Satai if he'd be willing to hook something, as in not an actual bomb, up to a vehicle to help him test if knowing what everything in a vehicle does will warn him of a bomb that would go off by starting it.

--

On the gloom front, I say we have Amen safely rip knowledge of the company and Armas out of him.

As for what to do now, see about asking for the other Dragon's heart and lung since he took yours.
>>
No. 417324 ID: 654e6a

>What do I tell the Owner-do I share any of my postulations about who sold me out, or stay quiet in case I'm wrong?
Make it clear that “I only have theories- but that the list of people who should know how and whyt o capture me as well as have a motive to sell us out is limited. Unless they actually wanted me to escape or manage to kill the dragon, I doubt people like Lo Fang would have done such a gambit: I believe he has plans involving me. There is a underground Arena that should know about my candy status, and they also recently probably incurred quite a loss when it was destroyed by a rampaging Wyrm. However, I would think the ambush site is important, and I don't know how they would know about the chakra book I was going to order. Likewise, the Wyld Goblins might be responsible, but they would also need to know about this.”

>Can I think of any reason I should ask him to NOT jump into the fray and tweak AORB's nose?
“I am painfully unaware of the laws on this matter- but would you jumping in the fray and tweaking AORB's nose make it harder to then tweak their nose by you asking this dragon's possessions as reparations for what he did against your sovereignty?”

>What do I need to get caught up on now that I know I've been a captive for a week?
Armas probably need to eat a LOT, as well as decompress from this ordeal. Sex could help. We have our new mere, and Armas saw SB talking with our men, so it's likely Armas think his shadowmere was also upgraded, however:
>Shadowbro was also kidnapped.
The moment Armas realize that Shadowbro is still with him and was also captured, he should put the house under lockdown, and make sure the shadow posing as shadowbro can't escape- but isn't destroyed or crippled either. That is, if that shadow is not currently around (though the place is still forced-light?), in that case we would have to deal with it right now.

Armas should think about testing his new mere. Given a week has passed, it should probably be a good time for Armas to feed Whaitiri a lot of the doony meat before it spoils. It would be very good if we could get some of the Dragon meat as reparation, but I don't think the Owner would go for that. However, we must make sure to get back HB and IT, and maybe get a few trinket from the dragon.

>Savory Lung the Parrot made of Armas.
That is apparently multidimensional, and possibly could be used as a means of escape from our captor. MAKE SURE you talk about it to the owner as soon as possible “This is Savory lung, a multidimensional parrot that Dragon made from me- I think I have some measure of control over it, though in my profound lack of knowledge about such things I worry that this Dragon may use it somehow to escape.”

We WILL want to take Savory Lung back with us. It's a priceless experiment (at least for us), and may serve as the basis for many, many things. We also might learn a lot from examining it. Worse to worse, we could offer it to Camella. Sharing multidimensional proprieties and all that.

>>417109
>Eat the parrot
SUST

>>416787.
SUST to attacking the dragon.
>>
No. 417521 ID: 3734f6

1. Don't snark the owner.
2. Simple answer, we don't know. Don't try implicating unless you are sure.
3. Get back: IT, Hummingbird, SB, the bird he made from your lung, whatever he made from your heart.
4. Keep in mind this has been stressful on those who care for you, like your brothers and friends. Show appropriate concern, again, with no snark. (time and place; lets not be an ass)
>>
No. 417859 ID: 252e1b
File 133853137697.png - (99.74KB , 350x1000 , Paperdoll outfit.png )
417859

Here's an outfit I put together on the paper doll. I like it: loud obnoxious shirt, loud pants, and all his trademark gear.
>>
No. 417984 ID: 8d3841

>What do I tell the Owner-do I share any of my postulations about who sold me out, or stay quiet in case I'm wrong?
Keep it to yourself

>Can I think of any reason I should ask him to NOT jump into the fray and tweak AORB's nose?
If the owner jumps in and annoys the AORB, they will forever associate it with 'that jackass that the owner came to save', i.e. you. So you can basically expect from such an event the treatment of someone that put a dragon sized problem in their life.
Of course you have no right to say any of this, so I would suggest you keep quiet and just deal with it. But you are Armas after all.

>What do I need to get caught up on now that I know I've been a captive for a week?
Find out if any important contacts called/visited (VAMPIRES, Triads, Jun, Mafia, Valconen, Otso, the kids etc)
Find out what Amen has been up to
Lyubov's sex drive
Kokudu progress
Golem progress
Your supposed meeting with the owner.


[Zhenya]
-IS not sure whether she should be more worried about how quickly she got over Duke shattering her spine and telling her to walk it off while she was slowly dying on the ground, or the fact that after being healed she is having trouble not breaking things. She decides to worry about them equally.
-Decides to try and move gingerly after tearing her new favorite shirt in half while trying to put it on. Wonders if this is what Hillevi feels like all the time, on an even larger scale. She makes a note to chat with her more.
-Keeps following her rather full schedule of 'camella training, Ito training, Duke training, (free time hahahahha), Ito sessions". Wonders if she will die from this eventually.
-Keep training, tries to actually get a hit on Ito sometimes.
-Keep Jamming with Sake and Lyubov, brushes Sake's coat every now and again for mental soothing.
-Feel glad that Armas is back.
-Select a 'body maintenance' orientation from the book. Something that will just make her use her energy more efficiently in the body and keep her looking nice and silky.
>>
No. 417985 ID: 252e1b
File 133857767409.png - (89.55KB , 350x1000 , Paperdoll Pillbug Request.png )
417985

IRC participant Pillbug requested this. I thought it was funny enough to oblige.
>>
No. 418211 ID: 40fb55

[Gloom has been queued to do the following:]
*G* continues training
Starts to become irritated with the consistent sense of being watched when blind mirror training.
*G* considers the conversation he had with Armas, and how Armas came across completely inhuman. That does not seem like a man or creature to work for. The price would be too high.
Is unaware the gross hypocrisy of he, the most mentally inhuman of the Russians judging others this way is so great he killed a newly manifested Muse just by having such potent cognitive disonnance.
*G* Gloom watches as the kidnapping and rescue plays out, and he sees the scale that's being operated.
In light of this, he decides to resign. With his skills, and the seed money he's made, not to mention being rendered multilingual, he can turn a profit in the non-supernatural world.
*G* Checks with Dávgon for whether his chakra skill is sufficient to deal with the magical meat he ate.
Is told sure, it is.
*G* Writes a resignation letter and gives it to Camella, in which he thanks her for her advice in recovering from magical poisoning. In person, he suggests that Armas is deeply insane and clearly has a deathwish, as is clearly shown by the clothes he wears in a city plastered with CCTV cameras while apparently being a high value kidnap target. He proceeds to recommend she strongly considering quitting as well, so she isn't sucked down with Armas next time he brings the disaster down on his and everyone around him's head.
Does not see Camella immediately calling Matvey and Armas to report one of the minions with a head chock full of secrets is attempting to leave and just insulted him as an employer in a clear show that he has no interest in keeping any secrets he possesses to himself.
*G* Attempts to leave. Is stopped by Armas and Amen at the door, and told he'll have to enter a non-disclosure pact, as well as a non-competition agreement to never use the skills he gained under Armas' employ in the service of others. Immediately balks, citing the skills and memories as his. Is told by Armas 'That's fine, I have a plan B'. After some time talking with Armas, walks out the door and leaves.
Upon walking out door doesn't realize he no longer can speak multiple languages and hardly remembers even the most general things about his time working for Armas as he no longer remembers being able to do any of those things. Still has his pay and new identity. Doesn't even remember the books he was planning to take with him to sell.
Amen now has a stored mindrip of Gloom's skills and company secrets. This can be placed in a golem body to create a Pseudo-Gloom perfectly loyal minion-or implanted in an existing sapient mind.
[Titus has been queued to do the following:]
(T)- Spend the week finishing up the second glove prototype (find the right teflon mix to protect the palms from the raiju pelt strips), talk to Satai about the magic electronics fellow- get an introduction, and pick up a pair of magic supercapacitors (2x $10,000) for the planned third prototype.
(T)-Now he needs to find something that can survive being a test dummy for the Mark 3's.
>[Bagga has been queued to do the following:]
>: After drinking the last of the basilisk blood, talk to Lyubov and Satai about it. Be willing to drink the animals blood so he isn't too big a drain on the company assets. Make sure Satai approves it. He is the quarter master after all. Also chat with Satai about the various things he learned so he's in the loop. Satai seems interested in this 'Blood Monitoring' that vampires can do, and wants to learn more.
>: Once that is dealt with, read his biology text books. Specifically the sections about the human circulatory system. Knowing how blood travels through the body may help his blood monitoring studies. Keeps on reading!
>: Ask Gianni if he could practice blood monitoring on some of his basic golems. He seems like a nice guy, and practice makes perfect. Seems Gianni's totally okay with that!
>: Hear that Mr. Laine is missing. Be concerned about his well being. He did offer him a lot after all. Use it as an incentive to study as best as he can so he can help out when the time comes.
>: Spar with Miss Camellia. She is likely stressed out and if dealing with father taught him anything, smacking stuff can be good stress relief. Use the very likely smack downs as his Ibruhem blood line training. Keep trying to figure out what felt different the one time he managed to make a hit go right through him-be unable to puzzle it out!
>: Gun lessons with Mr. Matvey! Listen to what the nice battle veteran/ex military officer/teacher says about fire arms and try to follow his lessons. Still have problems remembering which way the safety should be and to not point the barrel at friends for any reason.
>: Find out about Miss Camellia's birthday. Realize he has no gift. Apologize to her for not getting a gift and sing Happy Birthday to her. Oh no, it seems Camella's the type that doesn't like celebrating her birthday-she became grumpy!
>: Blood Monitoring and Vampire lessons with his Teacher again. Try to chat with his teacher to form a better teacher/student bond and to get the most out of his time there. Ask his teacher if there are any possible job opportunities for the Company with the Zosimus Clan. Be told there may be soon, but not currently-seems there's an all-Sire meeting just about every clan's getting ready for, and no one's hiring. Be sure to relay the possibilities to the commanding officers if there are any.
>: Nightly Ito-sensei smack downs. Try to take his beatings like a man and do his best to learn his blood line. See if he can promote himself from rag doll to punching bag. His broken ribs say 'nope, not yet'.
>: AS the day to rescue Mr. Laine fast approaches, hear the plan. Find out there is a chance he may have suffered some damage from being held captive. Volunteer to aid Mr. Gianni and Mr. Davgon by using his Blood Monitoring to help make sure he is OK.
>: Realize that while his body may be OK, his personality may be traumatized by the event. Making sure Mr. Laine is still Mr. Laine would be important. Remember he likes jokes and trolling. Ask Gianni to help him pick out a outfit that is nice and professional to show he's working hard, with a bit of humor to help cheer him up/make sure he's ok mentally. Think Gianni's idea to put him in a nurse outfit is a bit strange-but he doesn't question it. Dons fetish gear with gusto.
[color=FF0000]Feodor has done/been queued to do the following:]
Monday 14 Feb – Sunday 20 Feb
*Inform Satai of Finnigan's wares, trying not to react visibly to the thought of that blood.
*Have interrupted sleep due to horrifying nightmares. Dream of killing and eating everyone at the company over the next couple of days. Vomit after waking from one particularly disturbing nightmare involving Sake and Lyubov. Decide not to sleep at all from now on.
*Continue putting extra effort into the jog and other training.
*Order a full set of university-level biology, chemistry, medicine, and physics textbooks ($8000) online with expedited shipping. When they arrive, have Amen build a wooden bookcase to store them in.
*Think about Davgon's comment. The appointment is set up with the Czech, so all that's left is to wait. Try going back to the magic clinic, with its aura of relaxation, and just sit there for a while.
*Work with Finnigan Thurs-Sun nights. Make note of any unusual procedures or patients. There was a Siren who came in to get her throat checked-seems she suspects she can't charm people properly or something because of a bar encounter.
*Hear about the plan to rescue Armas, and demand that he be examined immediately upon its implementation.
Sunday 20 Feb – Sunday 27 Feb
*Head off on the Rescue Op. Check Armas and make sure nothing's too badly damaged in his body. After witnessing him downing so much food, become worried that he caused this... problem.
*Morning Jog, Chakra Training with Camella and Ito, and Night Classes, all while wearing 100lbs in the vest. Starting to finally not think about the extra weight on him.
*Read through the chakra book, and come across the “Mystical Ascetic Palm” orientation. Start trying to learn it. Once the theory's memorised, cut self a few times on the arm and try the orientation out. …Okay, the theory alone is going to take referencing… like half of the books he just bought-a doctor clearly designed this. Put off practical test until theory is nailed..
*Discuss spirit animals with Davgon. Learn about his possible plan for Feodor to get a vampiric octopus. Ask what kind of benefits that would provide. Learn that he would gain all the benefits of being a vampire – being able to feed on blood, blood sense, etc – without all the downsides, gain some ability in sensing elder magic, and most importantly, it would give him a way to hide the soul taint from him being a cannibal. Shit. Davgon knows. Confess about the urges and the dreams. Break down in tears while telling him. Be uncertain how to feel when Dávgon looks at him like 'so you like blood: what of it?' Listens to Dávgon relate a tail of when he ate a tribesman's soul in self-defense a few years back. Feel like problem may be smaller than he thought. Feel oddly better-if only somewhat. [/color]
[Rostislav has done/been queued to do the following:]
Sunday 13 Feb – Sunday 20 Feb
*Continue with the jog, only putting in enough effort to keep up. Focus more on the Reinforcement training. Still find skin cannot blunt knives. DAMN!
*Go to Fight Club a couple of extra times, trying to use Reinforcement and what Ito said about where to watch. Try to predict what opponents will do, and use any opportunity to overwhelm them. Notice that some of the guys he's never seen fight at the club are eyeballing him after his recent victories.
*Think about spirit animals. Remember a wolverine that wandered into town once and mauled a homeless guy to death. That was badass. Want one.
Sunday 20 Feb – Sunday 27 Feb
*Continue with all the chakra training. Talk with Ito after the morning lessons and tell him about how his advice worked out: He's been able to find 'sucker punch' moments in fights thanks to it. End up fighting Ito after giving the complement for REASONS. Get beat up. Laugh with fellow 'beat up by Ito' buds Boris and Vlad.
*Keep going to Fight Club. Lyubov joins for one session. Be a little surprised at her win, then remember that she's been getting extra training – she's probably better at chakra than him. When getting ready to leave, get asked by one of the watching fighters to fight with them next week-notice that most of the people at the club are watching when the offer's given, several hiding grins inexpertly.
*Flick through the chakra book, looking for something damaging. And by 'flip', he means 'ask Satai who immediately locked that book up the moment they got it. Learn about an orientation that lets one use their chakra to expand the cutting edge of held bladed tools that's supposed to be for magical chefs-decide it would be EXCELLENT for knife fighting.
*Ask Davgon for a Soul Quirk. Be told that he looks to be between quirk formats right now, and he might want to stabilize first. Asks how he could do that-is told 'just keep trucking and check in later'.
*Try to commission a set of knives from Igor. Go for two single-edged 8” blades; two double-edged 6” blades; one single-edged 12” blade; and one double-edged, 4” blade with a handguard. All should be full-tang, and left unadorned without handles attached, since Igor doesn't do that. Offer $2000, with a possible bonus, depending on the quality.

Awaiting player to claim Igor the smith
[Dmitri has been queued to do the following:]
D-Works with Ito's help to make charms: starts producing chakra charms that keep others from realizing he's in the tank, others are in the tank, that the tank is aiming at things, and charms for enhancing unexpected attacks from the vehicle, at a rate of six each per week. Begins amassing supply of charms to make himself invisible in a tank. For some reason Ito demands charms for use with.. his beat-up purple Cadillac. Why does he even have that. Fine, make charms for Ito.
D-Spends $1500 on drugs for Duke per-day. Swiftly starts cementing himself as 'one of the coolest Russians' in Duke's eyes-not that Duke knows or cares what Russia is.
D-Find that Duke considers him a valuable enough resource from repeated drugging to disrecommend channeling his magic, as it turns out it can be every bit as corrosive as his shit. After involved tale about last guy that channeled Duke's magic for any length of time, decide.. wow, that doesn't sound fun. Table idea. Hope Zhenya does okay.
D-Relax and spend time on vehicle simulators.
D-Ask Satai to make a faux-bomb to test his vehicle sensing talents. Awaiting Satai's input.
[Zhenya has been queued to do the following:]
Z-IS not sure whether she should be more worried about how quickly she got over Duke shattering her spine and telling her to walk it off while she was slowly dying on the ground, or the fact that after being healed she is having trouble not breaking things. She decides to worry about them equally.
Z-Decides to try and move gingerly after tearing her new favorite shirt in half while trying to put it on. Wonders if this is what Hillevi feels like all the time, on an even larger scale. She makes a note to chat with her more.
Z-The very first time she talks to Hillevi about it finds that WOW, this girl is all sorts of knowledgeable about this kind of problem and is excessively eager to share the tips and tricks she's learned about how to work around 'cardboard world' syndrome. Start learning to mitigate issues.
Z-Keeps following her rather full schedule of 'camella training, Ito training, Duke training, (free time hahahahha), Ito sessions". Wonders if she will die from this eventually.
Z-Keep training, tries to actually get a hit on Ito sometimes. The next time she hits him knocks his ass into the wall. The far wall. Ten feet away. …Go Duke training!
Z-Keep Jamming with Sake and Lyubov, brushes Sake's coat every now and again for mental soothing.
Z-Feel glad that Armas is back.
Z-Select a 'body maintenance' orientation from the book. Something that will just make her use her energy more efficiently in the body and keep her looking nice and silky. Finds one from the index Satai gives her called 'The Ladies' Grace' Orientation, which seems to be all about efficient, discrete use of chakra flow in the body to stay pretty and healthy. Yay!

FINAL RETRO-ACTIVE ORDERS ISSUED [Save QM Satai's] ALL ORDERS GOING FORWARD MUST BE FOR THE COMING WEEK, NOT PAST WEEK.

>>415614
I smile up at Owner as I stretch, giving zero fucks about my birthday suit.
"That's me, proud Turkish citizen in good standing. Not entirely sure who set me up yet- there's no shortage of suspects, from the proprietor of the book store I was headed to, on up through Abdul Ghanem, the Shen and the Akkorokamui, all the way up to the government itself. I've tweaked my share of noses the last few months. Whoever they were, the dragon was quite well informed."
[Owner]"I do so hate to pander to the stereotype, but sometimes it must be said: It is a Dragon-being well informed usually comes with the territory."
"Anyway, thanks very much for storming the dragon's lair for me. Pay raises for everyone, seriously."
[Camella]"Well if you insist…"
"Incidentally, if anyone happens to spot a multidimensional monstrous fusion of flesh and metal in the shape of a parrot, hang onto it? I did miss your birthday after all, Camella, but that's no reason not to procure a present."
>[SB]"I got it. Also, fuck that dragon. He trapped me in that room with you. Do you know what it's like as a soul-shadow in a shadow-less environment?"
Well-
>[SB]"It'd be like having a massive button that says 'give ultimate power' right in front of you and you just can't quite reach it."
…I feel for you dude. Now-
"Actually-on that note, I do have the present. Well, part of me does."
>[SB]"Bringing it-tell her to turn to her left."
"Camella, if you'll look to your left…"
A metal parrot, the metal parrot hewn from my lung, squawks as it's lofted from the frantic and sporadically lit pseudo-gloom of the cavern, landing on Camella's shoulder.

>>417055
"So hey-how's Placid?"
>[Lyubov]"Um he's fine! I made him meals and I've been checking on him! I gave him some things for his pets and a phone he can make calls on and if he asks about Friendship House tell him not yet-so uh, yeah can we go?"
"In a bit-got a few things to do-like getting my heart back."
The Owner favors me with a smile, showing off decidedly carnivorous bicuspids.
>[Owner]"I'm afraid that besides your little avian gift, none of this one's creations seem to be around-I suppose he could have masked it from my senses, but if so I'm rather curious how you plan to find it."
"Right. Where's Hillevi?"
I see a hand shoot up in the darkness, and finally get my head to stop feeling off with a hell of a brain-coffee, my soul sensing properly registering her presence.
>[Hillevi]"Over here!"
"So who pitched this rescue?"

I am determined to utterly ignore the bitch-slapping AORB is handing out to my captor.
>[Satai]"Can we please answer your questions back at the base?"
"Well you could, but I'm rather starved for conversation and last I checked there's a Ruling Dragon that just said he was here to help free me. I don't think he'd let me die right after that."
>[Owner]"Correct-it would be rather embarrassing if you managed to die between being rescued with my assistance and being returned to your living environs."
"So-we got that book?"
>[Iosef]"What boo-"
>[Satai]"Yes, now if you please-"
"Not until Hummingbird's free too."
No one says anything for a moment, the cavern only home to the sounds of cannon fire and thrusters as Camella pointedly looks at the Owner, who shrugs amicably.
>[Owner]"In for an insect, in for a primate."
>[SB]"That's an odd turn of phrase. Also I found your gear."
The shadows to my left ripple as Iron Trick, the Matebas and the Lone Judge appear.

I watch as the Owner simply taps the crystal sphere in which the bird's encased-and it shatters, Hummingbird immediately blurring out of sight.
"Woah buddy, calm down."
>[HB]"I shall not calm down until I deliver righteous vengeance to the one that ensnared me! He shall feel my terrible wrath!"
>[Owner]"…Camella, I believe I understand why you labeled this precocious little thing 'adorable'."
>[HB]"You will take back your words or we shall come to blows over the insult you have offered me, dragon."
>[Owner]"Oh yes-most entertaining. Of course, sir Hummingbird, I did not mean to offend."
>>417058
"As great as all that is, I find that regrowing organs is hungry work: anyone have any food?"
>[Lyubov]"We can make some back at base so can we go? Please?"
>417109
"Ok-I'm done talking. If you want, you can go kick his ass now. Just, uh, could you maybe save me a few parts? He tore out my heart, a lung, and probably a few other bits and pieces too, and I was hoping I could get some... reparations for that.”
>[Owner]"I'm afraid there won't be any pieces left with this one-not with what I'm going to do. Now-if you'll excuse me."

As I get dressed in the flowerprint shirt, kakhis and cream shoes Lyubov thought ahead to bring-something I do reluctantly, as the breeze was rather invigorating-I get to witness a Ruling Dragon having fun. In all, I have to say it's a rather brief thing to witness.

The Owner simply stops being beside us-and is in the middle of the firefight. The cannon fire that had been pounding the dragon that captured me simply stops in midair as the Owner flicks his hand at the regenerating mass of charred flesh that was my captor. There is a wink of light-and the dragon is simply gone. One of the AORB tanks blares out a message on its speakers the moment this interjection occurs.
>[AORB]"Put your hands in the air, you are under arrest-"
>[Owner]"Article Seventeen, section B of your own founding charter explicitly states you cannot even attempt to arrest a Ruling Dragon without express approval of a trio of Agents. I don’t see any agents here, do you?"
The tanks are conspicously silent for a moment, before-
>[AORB]"Mr. Laine is a US citizen, we will-"
>[Owner]Do absolutely nothing. He's paying Turkish Taxes, he is mine, not yours, and your own administration will back this stance up."
The owner lightly dusts his hands off.
>[Owner]"Well this relieved some boredom. Enjoy your short lives, primates."

The Owner appears amongst us once again, spreading his arms wide.
>[Owner]"Well, I'd say it's time to go home."
"Hold on, what about-"
>[Owner]"I'm afraid that AORB does have due rights to any and all research they may find here-do you wish to contest them for the dragon's scraps?"
"…Depends."
>[Owner]"If they'd happily kill you to preserve their own rights to the spoils?"
"Okay, let's go."

The Owner's hands glow-

[DISCONTINUITY]

-And our entire group now stands in the pre-dawn darkling downtown of Istanbul, just outside the mansion.
>[Owner]"Well Camella-Armas-this was certainly an enjoyable jaunt. I will have to ask that you try to not get captured as an organ farm again though, hm?"
"I will do my best."
>[Owner]"Yes, I'm sure you will-well then."

The Dragon vanishes, and the Company of Laine is left twiddling it's thumbs.

"Okay-I need food. "
>[Boris]"I can cook something up."
"Whatever you can make fast that's magical-MAKE it."

I spend the morning, several hours of it in fact, eating plate after plate of food as I check on a few things.

-For one, I find out I've got well over a hundred Kudoku-ized bugs now-very nice. I also have nearly two hundred jars, and two meat jars.
-The Red Caps visited while I was out, ran into Gianni, and together harmonized the circulatory system more closely with the musculature of the golem.
-I now have enough Pheonix hearts I can attempt one of my more grand plans for the golem.
-Sake, emulating my voice, got a call from Hafaz, who said he had some real interesting information about the Yakuza, when we have time to meet. I should probably call him about that, set that up.
-Gloom, almost the moment we returned from the mission, decided to tender his resignation, insult me to Camella's face, and attempted to leave with several books copied from those Amen cares for. I… dissuaded him from simply leaving by dint of reclaiming the memories he no longer has rights to. I wonder what I should do with them.

But more importantly than really anything else that happened in the interim, I learn….


That SB, despite being trapped with me… was at the house. Or, at least, that's what everyone thought.

Now, though, Amen has an SB-replica shadow trapped in it's tender care… and I wonder just what I should do with what is no doubt yet another construct that dragon employed in its capture of me.


After I finish my eighteenth plate of food, I finally stop eating, and stand.

It's time to start doing shit.







So what am I going to do?
What's my plan for the golem?
What's my plan for Gloom's memories?
>>
No. 418417 ID: 3dd6e8

>SB-replica
give it to SB.

>What's my plan for Gloom's memories?
either put them into one of Giani golems or give them to Bagga.

>What's my plan for the golem?
use the phoenix hearts.
>>
No. 418471 ID: 5205df

>So what am I going to do?

I propose that we use my schedule

Morning - We find out exactly who contributed to our escape. If we were too hungry to have listened to an accelerated thought debriefing from Sake, we can do that right now.

Morning - Because Gloom quit, we need to head off any loss in confidence or morale. I propose we make a point about loyalty. We know Camella, Matvey, and Lyubov were the three people in the house who contributed most to the rescue. Give them boons in front of everyone else.

Morning - Go talk to Silja.

Noon - Go visit Arkvad on a personal call. He can tell us about the mere, and we can reassure him.

Afternoon - We must visit Placid soon. Bring Lyubov, since she has been talking to him. We will tell Placid about the dragon's lair, and ask him to help with the golem like Duke and Gianni are.

Afternoon - We need to finish the heart work on the golem with whatever we can talk Placid into giving us.

Evening - I propose we arrange to have Gloom's memories grafted to Bagga. We can pitch it as getting an instant soldier upgrade, and Dávgon can do it if we ask.

Evening - Shadowbro's patience meter will run out tonight. Give him permission to run your energy out in the conference, there will be a lot to talk about and we will need opinions from the brothers.

Lyubov did a great job looking after our interests while we were away. If it were not for her we would either still be stuck in that prison or we would be in AORB custody. One thing that is to be considered is that she now knows most of our secrets. She has shown herself to be trustworthy, and if she is learning Astral Projection she could visit the eye when Shadowbro's patience meter runs out. She is part of our inner circle of friends, but not bound to us like the others. We can use that perspective to make sure we really are okay and healthy.

Is Lyubov run by a group too or is she just run by one person?
>>
No. 418531 ID: e77953

First things first, we should get a check up with Davgon, Gianni and Bagga. If the dragon did do something, they would be our best bet to see any signs of damage due to their familiarity of us. It is better to be safe than not.

Next, Placid. Not only should we show him we are safe, but if something is wrong with us, he would be the best at handling it. Talk to Silja after wards as well. We should probably look into having some minions interact with them soonish. Both to better help Placid's soul and help Silja confirm her humanity.

I do not mind if Bagga gets the memory graft, but make sure Davgon does it, not Armas. Don't want any divine bits on it to cause trouble up the wazoo.

Let's not worry Placid too much or make a big deal with Gloom leaving. The fact only Armas and Cammy knows by the looks of it and the fact Gloom never spends time with anyone will likely mean no one will notice him gone. If they ask, simply tell them that Gloom decided to leave the company and has been discharged. It is the truth and we can tell them more if it comes to it(including the, 'guy tried to steal our stuff and run when no one was looking' bit.)

I think we should avoid grafting placid bits to the golem right now, but the hearts should be set up. I also agree that we should know how well the Mere construction went by talking to Arkvad. Who knows? We may have some job opportunities now.

But yes, we should dole out the pay to all those who helped one way or another. From our rescue team to the medical team. Show our appreciation to those who wanted to help us.
>>
No. 418721 ID: 3734f6

parents got a creepy neighbor called "grimoire" (a magic book, really?). Look him up at allview.
>>
No. 418804 ID: 9718f3

We need a debrief on everything that went into our rescue. Gives us a better idea of company capabilities, and we really should be aware of any debts that are hanging over our heads now.

Speaking of, may be a good idea to offer to cover any debts individuals took on during our rescue. Concrete debts are better than vaguely owing our friends for sacrifices they have made.

Next we need to get in touch with Arkvad, get the run-down on our remade mere.

Then shooting shit with Silja and Placid, ideally at different times. No need to take on too much today. We can disassemble the flesh factories tomorrow.
>>
No. 418814 ID: 252e1b

>>418471
I'm not sure that Lyubov's good enough at the orientation for that. As long as it's not very risky, she'd go along with your idea though.
Lyubov is run by just me.

>>418804
Let's ask Placid how he did that laser trick back when we were fighting him. That's the sort of thing we want to do with the golem, after all. And I stress ask how, we don't need a demonstration. Just learning the mechanics of it will be fine.

We should talk to the little guy about how his week's been, what he wants to learn more about, what foods he wants to try next, how his practice at mimicking human behavior is going, and ask what he remembers about the way the Nazis are set up. If we bring Lyubov, we'll take turns with her telling him more stories (ones with values we want him to learn, like teamwork, friendship, dealing constructively with unpleasant emotions, and the like). If we go on another outing with Placid don't feed him just ice cream. There's other food out there!

>>418531
I second the idea of getting a check-up on soul and body. I also think we should get an appointment with that shrink Matvey got a bunch of timeslots with. We should not bottle this shit up, talk to an ally about the experience. Sake, or Camella, or Lyubov, or Hillevi, or Dávgon are all good candidates. Pick one to share with, and don't forget to make that appointment with the shrink later.

>>418531
>>418471
If Bagga's OK with it, and Dávgon doesn't have any objections, go ahead and get that set of Gloom memories integrated with Bagga. The boy needs the help getting into the soldiering mindset.

>>418211
And yeah, talk to Silja. Ask her how she's been, find out what she's been told, talk to her about how we were kidnapped and then subsequently rescued (obviously do this after the debriefing and we know who did what in the rescue). Go ahead and reveal that many of the men are Russians; the fact that they came for us will do a great deal to make Silja like them in spite of their nationality. Ask who she would like to be the person to keep helping her if we are forced away from her like that again in the future; it's better to have a plan for a bad situation and never need it than not have it when the worst happens.
>>
No. 418935 ID: 252e1b
File 133891769449.png - (54.27KB , 375x1000 , Zhenya-Paperdoll.png )
418935

I asked Falcon (who runs Zhenya) to draw something for the Armas paper doll, and he declined with the (paraphrased) excuse of "I don't want to draw clothes on Armas because it'd take too long and I don't want to do shitty work." I responded, "Oh yeah well I'm going to make Zhenya the next paper doll then!"

So, this is me following up on that. I'm going to work my way through the entire company, but the PCs and most active minions get priority. The IRC dudes have asked for Vlad next.

Oh and in case you can't tell, this paper doll is of Zhenya. She's pretty petite, only 5'4". Her paper doll is scaled properly to Armas's though (who is 6'4"); items like Iron Trick or any other guns we end up drawing should be interchangeable. From her heels to the crown of her head she's 790 pixels tall. The conversion rate is 12.36 pixels to one inch, if you want to make stuff with known dimensions.

Anyway, go nuts drawing on her. Even if you suck at the whole art thing, it's all in good fun.
>>
No. 419395 ID: 24433d

Spend the rest of the morning catching up on things:
-Get a complete accelerated thought debrief on the rescue mission from Sake – who did what, whether we've incurred any new debts for it, etc. Tell Shadowbro that he can do what he wants with the captured shadow, but ask him to spend some time checking on your parents – and that Grime-more guy – via Allview.
-Have Davgon, Gianni, Bagga, and Feodor give you a full check-up to see whether anything's been messed with to a dangerous extent. From Davgon, get a quick run-down of anything important with regards to the company's souls. Ask Gianni and Feodor to give Bagga any education that might help him improve his blood sensing.
-Check with Satai on how things are going on the business side – learning about that Siren he bought should be a nice surprise – and any news from the city's goings on that you haven't heard about yet. While speaking to him, tell him to issue bonuses to everyone involved in the rescue. The main players will get extra later on. Might as well give him a raise as well, $1000 a month is not nearly enough for the amount of work he does. Quadruple it.

Call Arkvad and let him know you're coming for a visit – offer to buy him lunch if he's available. Remember to get changed into something a little more professional before you leave, like a simple navy blue business suit. Once you're together in person, ask him about the work done on the mere pounamu, and it's new abilities. Remind him once again that you and the company are both available for hire.

After lunch, call Lyubov and ask her to meet you at Placid's place. Follow Buttz' suggestion at >>418814. Spend as much of the afternoon together as necessary.

On the way back from hanging out with Placid, thank Lyubov for rescuing you, and talk about what's noted in >>418471 and >>418814, particularly on the topic of keeping you sane. Ask her to have Matvey organise an appointment with the Czech psych for you.

Have a quick dinner with whoever's home at the time, then head down to the golem with Gianni to install the hearts, and if he volunteered the information, start building the structures by which Placid made his eye laser.

Have extremely loud, enjoyable, dirty, sanity-of-other-mansion-occupants-destroying sex with Lyubov, then fall asleep for tonight's conclave in the eye.

Voting
>>418471
If nobody's going to actually post any details on it, I'm saying SUST to using Placid's bits in the golem, for the moment. Also, SUST to the suggestion to have Lyubov use an orientation that could strand her soul outside of her body when she has absolutely no experience in it.
>>
No. 419999 ID: 252e1b

This is largely for the benefit of people who want to interact with Lyubov during the course of the week. It is designed to be safe to skip entirely. The important results will be posted at the end of the game week, and will include things that happened which are interesting but were not very public (like a planned prank on Zhenya for Tuesday)

LYUBOV'S WEEKLY PLANNER

ANYTIME DURING THE WEEK
L*~Spend extra time with Armas this whole week.
L*~Practice the Astral Projection orientation whenever a safety net is available (Armas).
L*~Speak to Placid daily by phone, visit daily with Armas if possible.
L*~Pick up driver's license and a motorcycle helmet ($100).
L*~Minimum two jam sessions with Sake and Zhenya! Minimum one practice session for Russian folk songs for Svetlana's Name Day.
L*~Get the four hours of prank calls in with Sake and whoever else wants to join in. Be absolutely sure to not go over the agreed time limit.
L*~Experiment with hooking the stunt kite up to Sake's backpack with D-rings so it can be attached and removed quickly.
L*~Build a second backpack for Sake with an extra compartment for the thermal scope ($60), help Sake get comfortable with using the thermal scope.
L*~Practice gyaketsuote with more people (as many as reasonable, including students).
L*~Start teaching Feodor how to ride a motorcycle, as well as anyone else who is interested.
L*~Hear talk of spirit animals, discuss the topic with B.C., Dávgon, Duke, and anyone else who is interested ($600 for wine).
L*~On Wednesday, introduce Svetlana to friends and co-workers. Make sure Svetlana understands everyone's position in the company.
L*~On Saturday have a pleasant little party at lunch with Svetlana. Ask Boris to make Svetlana’s favorite dishes.
L*~On Sunday, discuss martial arts with Titus, including Turkish Oil Wrestling. Laugh at his silly joke about the required uniform not being appropriate for women. Mention the Fight Club, and do so publically enough others could overhear and ask to come along.

>>
No. 420198 ID: a7cdd7

Looks like Armas has his stuff planned out already.

Don't forget the set up the phenoix heart trifecta engine for the golem. Get Davgon to help make sure the RULE OF THREE:HEARTS setup will actually work and it won't just be 'three hearts'.

[Zhenya]
-Talked to Bagga(talked to player) and worked out a deal between them for her to be taught some boxing stuff to help tighten up her swings and for him to learn about pistols from her. Prepares a glorious list of things to talk on.
Scheduled for after Duke training, alternating the session days to maximise time (day one gun training, day 2 boxing, day 3 gun, etc)
-Jam with the group. Comb Sake's hair and ask him to tell her stories about his brothers.
-Try to implement counter strikes into her fight routine with the intention of disarming foes. (foe attacks, arm lock and snap, flip and take down, stuff like that. The basis in Combat Sambo and her own dabbling in a bunch of martial arts should help)
-Spend another 10k on booze for Duke sessions. Tries to abstain herself to max the amount duke can get.
-Thank Lyubov for the cake. Hugs gingerly.
-Practice her new Ladies Grace orientation when she is not in combat. Ask Ito, Armas and Davgon for tips on how to switch orientations fast.
-Chill with Hillevi
-Visit Satai too see what he is up to and how she can help. Haven't seen him much recently and he is always busy.
>>
No. 420277 ID: 01cf26

Looks like Armas is set for things to do tho id like to up-vote getting the check-up first.

Also Armas and SB should question Amen as to how (and why) the doppelganger SB got through his defenses and to figure out countermeasures to such things later on.

This makes 2 confirmed things Amen cannot (or will not) counter; The note writer being first and whatever the dragon's "shadow clone" did.
>>
No. 420394 ID: a7cdd7

>>420198
forgot

-Go to Garbage Pete's. Buy all his working pistols, all of them. Buy all his not working pistols too for spare parts and for Bagga to learn assembly. Look out especially for any guns he says works a bit better than they should or different in an unexplainable way.
>>
No. 421236 ID: 252e1b
File 133953340815.png - (89.13KB , 375x1000 , Zhenya-Paperdoll-Dress.png )
421236

>>420198
>>
No. 422359 ID: 22e2ce

found out that it's already the afternoon for Armas, so I'm redoing my orders, everything else on the list can get done tomorrow

Catching up 
-Get a complete accelerated thought debrief on the rescue mission from Sake – who did what, whether we've incurred any new debts for it, etc. Tell Shadowbro that he can do what he wants with the captured shadow, but ask him to spend some time checking on your parents – and that Grime-more guy – via Allview. 
-While receiving the update, have Davgon, Gianni, Bagga, and Feodor give you a full check-up to see whether anything's been messed with to a dangerous extent. Ask Davgon to prepare a report on the company's souls, as well as anything important that's come within his area of expertise. Ask Gianni and Feodor to give Bagga any education that might help him improve his blood sensing. 
-Ask for a report from Satai on how things are going on the business side – learning about that Siren he bought should be a nice surprise – and any important news from the city's goings on that you haven't heard about yet. Done by Wednesday's officer meeting, preferably, and make sure Camella and Matvey also get a copy.

Arkvad
Call Arkvad at his office.
>”Impromptu business meeting, you busy?”
If he is, arrange a meeting for tomorrow. If not, continue with the following conversation plan.
>“Are you able to come to the mansion? I'd prefer not to leave at the moment – for obvious reasons.”

When Arkvad gets to the mansion, greet your favourite unofficial uncle at the door with a hug and a sincere 'thank you'. Lead him to an office or similar, something comfortable but still at least kind of formal.

>“I guess it's not so much like most of your business meetings, with all the hugs and 'thank you's. While I'm thanking you so profusely, mind telling me what you did to get me out of there?”

Listen to his explanation of the events from his end. If it seems like he took on any kind of debt – money, favours – offer to take his responsibility on it or pay him back. If he asks what it was like,
>”Better than it could have been, I suppose. Time was different, so it didn't feel like I was gone that long. He did some uncomfortable stuff to me, though. I'm pretty sure if I hadn't been rescued my body would have ended up endlessly pushing out parts for him.”

He'll probably ask you if you're sure you're still you, like if the dragon could do that to your body, have your mind and soul been changed or affected. If he seems like he's going in this direction, cut him of and brush off the implicit question with your signature cavalier attitude and
>”Don't worry yourself, Arkvad. I'm fine. I had myself checked out before I called you.”

>”Have you told my parents about this whole thing, at all?”
If he has,
>”Oh man, that's going to be an awkward conversation. 'How did you get kidnapped? Are you okay?' and all of that from Mom, and Dad'll probably be disappointed I didn't just kick ass.”
If he hasn't,
>”Good. I don't want to worry them.”

Now it's time to talk about your mere pounamu. Take it out and place it on the desk between you.
>”So it's all fixed. Stupid of me to get it broken in the first place, but it's good as new. Better, even. What can you tell me about it?”
Listen to what he says about it, any new abilities now that it's an Artifact, especially.

>”Now, since this is supposed to be a business meeting and all, how about we talk business? I've got a fair amount left over from that Doonongaes if H&H still wants it. I've got bone, scale, most of the skin and cartilage, lots of meat...”
Haggle your way to a reasonable price (“You're getting paid to talk to me, what do you care if you get a good price?”), and make sure to include that you get informed of every item created using the parts – nothing that would make a buyer identifiable, just what kind of effects H&H can get out of the parts.

>”Got anything else for the business side?”
He'll likely bring up the 'hunter' job we tried to get earlier – a sort of freelance ingredient collector, if memory serves. Tell him you're still open to it, so long as it's not getting too much in the way of your own company's work.
>”You can have the contract drawn up and I'll sign it when I come in to meet those executives. Speaking of them, can you tell me anything about them?”

The last thing before he leaves is to get some advice.
>”Before you go, I know H&H has some kind of in-house security; could you give any advice on that front? I'd really prefer not to get kidnapped again if I can help it.”

The rest of the day
If there's any time left in the afternoon, collect Lyubov and head over to see Placid. Some possible conversation topics are: being kidnapped by a dragon, dragons in general (including the Owner), the Nazis (their operations, etc.), Placid's abilities (like how he did the eye-laser) and whether he's willing to help with the golem (via installing a similar eye-laser system, or creating extra flesh, limbs, or a tail for it). Tell him some stories, too.

On the way back from hanging out with Placid, thank Lyubov for rescuing you, and talk about what's noted in >>418471 and >>418814, particularly on the topic of keeping you sane. Ask her to have Matvey organise an appointment with the Czech psych for you. 

If Gianni's still up when you get back, get those phoenix hearts in the golem and, if Placid had anything useful to say, implement any other changes.

Voting
>>418471 
SUST to the suggestion to have Lyubov use an orientation that could strand her soul outside of her body when she has absolutely no experience in it.
>>
No. 423271 ID: 5faed0

Order Amen to blow the heart that the dragon took from us.
>>
No. 423278 ID: 40fb55

…Okay, maybe BEFORE I start doing shit, I should actually, really catch up. So, Satai understandably didn't let me get sidetracked with who put together the rescue. But I still need to know. Sake, mind filling me in?
>[Sake]You owe four people a great deal. Lyubov, Camella, Arkvad, and Matvey. Camella called in Owner, it was Matvey's idea to get AORB involved, and Arkvad had the idea to hurry the production on your mere and use its link to you to locate you, but Lyubov did the most to get things going. The same day you were taken she learned you were kidnapped by a rogue American dragon. She took it on herself to make sure your taxes were paid, she was the one who remembered to call Arkvad, she had your calls forwarded to my phone so that the public wouldn't know of your kidnapping, she picked up the book for you, she spoke at length with that Placid monster you're taking care of even though she knew exactly what it is, and she even organized a little birthday party for Camella."
….Ok, that's impressive as hell. How did she learn it was a dragon?
>[Sake]She called a contact we know, and asked him what happened to your phone.
Any chance I could talk to that contact?
>[Sake]Maybe. We just call him the Phone Guy because it's what Duke called him. Lyubov seems to have his attention. I might too, but he's kinda boring and doesn't like fun.
Would this have anything to do with the prank calls?
>[Sake]Maaaybe.
Fine. How did she get the taxes paid?
>[Sake]She asked me to imitate your voice and helped me make the appropriate calls and money transfers. Owner was serious about the tax issue, he legally wouldn't have been able to help if she hadn't done that.
And I'd likely be in AORB custody right now. Might be able to talk my way into that being a good thing, possibly, but-yeah, happy to still be free and clear all the same.
>[Sake]I had to tell her about Silja and the other ongoing projects. I needed help figuring out what to do, and she's sensible.
And your best friend.
>[Sake]And your girlfriend.
…Moving right along, how did she take learning about Silja? What did you tell her?
>[Sake]I told Lyubov everything. She didn't seem upset you had the soul of a grown woman in your favorite gun, if that's what you're worried about. She agreed we needed to figure out how to contact Silja if you had been mind wiped or had your soul rewritten. We settled on asking Dávgon to break the news to her if that was the case.
And how did Silja take it?
>[Sake]She didn't as far as I know. Note Writer might have told her. We decided that the risk of trying to make contact with a vampiric weapon primed to eat flesh, solely to pass along bad news, outweighed the risks of leaving Silja to her own thoughts for a week.
I'll need to talk to her then. How about Placid?
>[Sake]That disturbing monster of yours puts me on edge. It came up to the front door and called for you. I was with Lyubov at the time, and she insisted we needed to talk to it, if only to keep Owner happy with you. She dealt with it from there, but she did let it know you had been taken, and that Owner was going to help retrieve you today.
I should probably visit Placid then and let him know I'm fine.
>[Sake]Probably. You should also pay Arkvad a visit. He was very worried about you, and he's got a big file on the mere.
I bet it wasn't easy for him to hurry along the mere.
>[Sake]He's got a story to tell you, I'd say.
Anything else I ought to know?
>[Sake]I talked to Satai about the Yuki Onna stuck outside of Japan because of Hyougo. We settled on buying a soul-bound siren instead. We only needed one winter-aligned woman, and the Yuki Onna were going to be a minimum 6 million dollar purchase. The siren is just $800,000. She arrives on the 25th. And no, Lyubov’s not yet aware. We decided to leave the job of explaining why you now own a beautiful slave up to you.
Dick. Dicks, the lot of you.
>[Sake]We try.
And since when have you been calling Witch Hanmaki by her first name?
>[Sake]Since she asked for a picture of me all dressed up. Lyubov’s been talking to her daily.
I thought I gave that project to Andrei.
>[Sake]Lyubov’s his friend, and she just took it over when he started making bad decisions because of the chakra lesion.
Well. Good. When’s she going to start working on getting an exception to the ban? Or just getting it lifted?
>[Sake]Sometime in the next couple of months or so.
That’s still before the season is out. If she can do it and keep the young witch as a friend then as far as I’m concerned we came out ahead.
>[Sake]That's the hope.
Hm… anything else?
>[Sake]SB's really curious what you're going to do with that Shadow-Clone.
>>418417
>>418814
>>422359
Well obviously I'm giving it to him.
>"Mind ordering Amen to give it to me then?"
Amen, give my shadow what he requested regarding the fake shadow that impersonated him.
>[Amen]This one hears, and obeys.
>"You have my gratitude."

The weasel idly floating in the air before me taps its shovel-claws together as if to regain my attention.
>[Sake]Gloom's memories?
>>418471
>>418531
>>418814
Well, we got that vampire who's working for us now, right?
>[Sake]Who is atrocious in his handling of weaponry, yes.
Well, unless he says no, I say Dávgon should graft those memories in him-at least they'll be put to good use.
>"I am certain he will be amenable to the idea."
Also, why the hell was he dressed up like a fetish nurse?
>[Sake]It's my understanding Gianni convinced him that it would help insure your mental health.
…Really.
>"He portrayed it as a litmus test of mental health-which you failed, by the way. You were supposed to laugh at him."
So I went to the trouble of not being witnessed laughing at that get-up… and that's what he wanted-yeah, that makes sense. Sure.
>>418417
>>418531
>>418814
>>420198
Oh, hey-we have three Pheonix Hearts right?
>"You just don't give up about that golem."
Damn right I don't. We need to get Gianni and Dávgon working on that.
>[Sake]What about you?
I might help. Dunno. I think it'd be better to devote my time to getting Placid to help out in the crafting-you all saw those crazy organic lasers and stuff he pulled off.
>>418531
…Might want to have Placid meet Silja in the near future… eh, I'll think about that later.
>[Sake]Fine. What about repaying the loyalty your followers showed?
Yeah, Camella, Matvey, Lyubov-fucking all of them are getting bonuses. …No, scratch that.
>>418471
They're getting fucking boons, insofar as I can grant them. …I think I'll tell them that personally, rather than announcing it or anything-don't want everyone whining about getting a boon when they just went along with it.
>"And what do you plan to do right now?"
>>418531
>>418814
>>419395
>>420277
Welp-I got a blood dude, a flesh dude, and a soul dude in the house, and more than one person was worried I'd have… problems… after I came back. So I'm getting a checkup, that's what.

With that staunch declaration, my day began in earnest

-I round up Gianni, Dávgon and Bagga to perform a thorough analysis of me. After Gianni puts a half-assed attempt in at molesting me, we get to the actual inspection-and so far as they can tell, I'm fine. Bagga's vampiric Blood Monitoring shows no unusual discrepancies in my circulatory system, and my regrown heart seems totally fine. Gianni can't find any trouble in any type of tissue in my body, no signs of permanent damage or implants that are new. Dávgon can't find any soul grafts, new soul quirks or any problems with me. …Seems I actually weathered my captivity pretty well, all things considered.
-I order Dávgon to graft Gloom's mindrip into Bagga, and tell him to do it whenever he and Bagga have time-but that currently, I have a larger project I want them to start on. I also tell him to be discreet about the whole thing.
-On that note, I order Gianni to make himself available to Bagga as needed to help the kid with his vampiric Blood Monitoring, siting Gianni's greater understanding of the human body as expertise the kid could benefit from.
-I task Gianni and Dávgon with installing the trio of Pheonix hearts into the golem-both immediately note they'll need to do some pre-installation research to make sure they don't screw it up. I mention I'll be conferring with an expert on organic lasers, my desired end result of shoving such high-powered magic organs in the golem. When I leave them, both are busy, Gianni checking old notes of his, while Dávgon confers with his spirit animals.
-I round up Camella, Matvey and Lyubov, the respective orchestrators of my escape. I express my gratitude towards them, and ask them to think of what I could do for them to balance the scales, to reward their hard work. None have an immediate idea-though Lyubov flirtatiously implies I could start paying her back tonight. I don't see a problem with that.
-Deciding that I've only checked my soul and body but not my mind, post capture, I make an appointment with the shrink Matvey's been setting up timeslots with. Might as well complete the trifecta, there. For the here and now, especially given how many things about me she now knows… I talk about my capitivity with Lyubov. I tell her about the timeless nature of the room, the sensory deprivation, the conscious organ harvesting, the mental influence that kept me from being truly driven to escape. She's very sympathetic to my plight, but doesn't seem to notice any unusual behaviors-by my metric, at least. Still, I'll wait on official word from the doc.
-When Matvey and Iosef ask me about Gloom leaving, I don't make a big deal about it. I tell them that Gloom decided to leave the company, I asked him to reconsider, he wouldn't-and now he's been discharged. When it's just Matvey, he asks me if I knew about Gloom building a collection of books to leave with, presumably to sell. I tell him that I know the guy tried to steal our stuff and run, but that didn't happen, so everything's okay. With the aid of a perfectly honest answer and a trustable Soul Guise, Matvey doesn't question my oddly phrased answers.
-I learn that ultimately, Amen tricked himself into believing the fake shadow was, in fact, Shadowbro, and was itself the security breach. This doesn't surprise me much, and is yet another reminder of why I really, really don't like Amen as a butler.
-I meet up with Satai, and get a distressingly in-depth report both on his financial work on behalf of the company, as well as a breakdown of what he's been doing. I find that he's… been staying far busier than just about any other Russian, and that really he's getting underpaid-even if I do spot quite a few company purchases that seem more like they're for him than the company. Either way, I decide to bump Satai's monthly pay as quartermaster up from $1,000 to $4,000. He doesn't object.
-I check in on Gianni and Dávgon late in the afternoon, finding them busy preparing the golem to withstand the trio of new power sources it's going to be getting-they ask me if I'm going to see that flesh-laser expert. I tell them I'm on it.
-My visit to Placid-which Lyubov happily accompanied me on, clearly less averse to the little guy than before-doesn't go quite as I expected. The moment Placid opens his door, before I can even say anything, he grabs my hand just like he had when we took a walk, looking at me soulfully from his blank face. I explain what happened to me, and the War Walker favors me with his special brand of logic.
>[Placid]"It is inadvisable for you to be captured again."
"You know, I happen to have come to that conclusion myself."
Lyubov has fun asking Placid to introduce her to his ever-growing collection of animals sharing his living space with him, and here and there I see hints of levity in the faux-little boy's mannerisms. The two of us tell him more than a few stories extolling the virtues of teamwork, friendship and most importantly constructively dealing with negative emotions-all of which he soaks up like a sponge. As the visit begins to wind down, I ask him the big one: Whether he can help me with my golem project, given how knowledgeable he is about organic lasers. Placid tells me he'd be willing to help-provided he doesn't have to enter the mansion. Man, this guy's hardlining about 'not falling under Amen's jurisdiction'. Not like I can really question the validity of that opinion. We finish up with some small talk as I learn Lyubov's talked up her mother's cooking enough Placid would like to try her food after she gets here.
-On the way back I give Arkvad a call, and find him about to rush out for a work trip, but more than happy to be a bit late so he can chat. I reassure him I'm fine, thank him for his assistance, and ask him if I could meet up with him later to shoot the shit-and maybe learn a bit about the mere project's results. He's completely okay with the idea, but doesn't expect to be back in town for two days. I'd like to know about my Mere as soon as possible-but it's not like I'm going to pitch a shitfit. So I accept, and make a mental note to check with him about that later.
-After getting back to the mansion, I excuse myself, telling Lyubov I have to talk to Silja, make sure a certain other point of contact hasn't gotten her worked up in my absence.
So Silja, how've you been?
The rifle in my hands practically quivers.
>[Silja]…So you're all right then?
Gee, thanks for having my back Note Writer.
Well, sure. So, how much did Note Writer tell you?
>[Silja]So little-that you'd been taken, and that a dragon had you.
…He specifically said it was a dragon?
>[Silja]Yes, why does that matter-it's true, isn't it?
…It sure is. So yeah, got rescued, everything's hunky-dory. Anyway, the Russians-
>[Silja]What Russians!?
The ones that saved my life for no other reason than because they thought I shouldn't be in danger. Those Russians.
>[Silja]…We are talking about Russians right?
Of course we are-that's who I have working for me, bunch of Russians. I figured I had to be quite clear on that-as now I have a question I have to ask you: If I should ever be… unavailable again, who would you like to-
>[Silja]I don't want to talk about this?
I can feel the hint of an angry hungry pressing against my hands, tearing the finest layer of skin away as the rifle reacts to her emphaticism.
Right, choosing for you, Zhenya or Lyubov. Dunno which.
Okay, we don't have to. So, what else did the Note Writer talk with you about?
>[Silja]Nothing, really-I didn't want to talk after he told me that you… that I might be alone again.
Well like you see, I'm here, so's Sake ans SB-
The Hummingbird alights on my shoulder so he's visible to Këihas' bayonet.
>[HB]"Do not fear, damsel: The noble Hummingbird will make himself available to you within your locked nest."
After that, she seems to cheer up-and spends a good five minutes teasing Hummingbird with various references to his adorablness and general level of cute.
--The last thing I do with the onset of evening… is check out my parent's new neighbor, this Mr. Grime-more (and doesn't THAT just sound like grimoire). What I find is… interesting. The moment I find him in his house, I notice that every room has, rather than wallpaper, bookshelves-and to my eyes, the shelves, every last one, look empty. Mr. Grime-More himself, a balding, mustached potbellied man working on a mug of beer is holding his hands oddly before him as he sports a pair of reading glasses. Nothing about him suggests he's noticed my observation-but by the same token, I can't see the books I'm rather certain have to be there, even in his hand. Everywhere else I look in his house, I find bland minimalism-and nothing to give me clues beyond the invisible mountain of literature.
---I'm shocked out of my observations when Lyubov enters my room, and shoos HB out. We kept everyone up-all night, I fear.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22nd, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $9,711,410.00
BUSINESS FUNDS: $1,124,984.00
CASH: $6,120.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 00%
WINTER ENERGY: 160/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50


[DISCONTINUITY]

The moment my mind comes to be within SB's domain, I speak.
"Hey, I got an idea-can you get Lyubov's mind in here?"
>"I'd need your energy to do it."
"Not a problem."
The titanic figure of the Hummingbird, with Sake seated atop it's head, clicks his beak at me.
>[HB]"What plan requires you to summon your mate to this meeting?"
>[Sake]"I think I know~"
Shadowbro only smiles as, with a ripple, a fifth joins our council in the parlor/viewing room of dark leather and bone-like rock that overlooks the world itself in that sea of madness: Lyubov, her muzzy eyes swiftly widening as she takes in her surroundings.
>[Lyubov]"Wh.. what?"
I walk over with a wide smile, giving her a hug.
"Congratulations, you've proved instrumental in proving whether or not someone's brains really can be screwed out!"
I can hear the soft Sniggers from Sake even as SB sighs. Lyubov's face is, briefly, priceless before she starts believing me.
>[Lyubov]"Oh, OH WHAT!? WHA-"
"Calm down I'm kidding-this is just a demiplane inside my eye. You're fine."
She looks at me like a gutted fish for a few seconds before finally offering:
>[Lyubov]"Wha- but uh. What."


Well, I feel reasonably caught up on what's gone on in my absence-that said, I got my first five-way Allview meeting going. So the question is:






What is there to talk about?
>>
No. 423420 ID: 21a619

First off, gangbang.

Then whatever.
>>
No. 423743 ID: cdc0e8

>>423420
Oh you, SUST. Not the time, place, or honestly appropriate.

Lyubov should stay if she wishes. An outsider perspective is always refreshing and hey, always wise to get employee response.

As for what we should discuss? Here's what's on the top of my head.

1. The false shadowbro.
Thing was here for a reason and hopefully Shadowbro has some info on the bugger. Even if it's only a little bit, any bit of data we can extract will help us. Someone went through a lot of trouble to try and make an exact copy to fool everyone and it may be important to find out who.

2. The tournament.
We got to keep up on that. We promised them a tourney, we make sure we have the tourney ready. Of course, we should keep it combat based to measure their growth, but put in a few safety precautions. Use paintball weaponry instead of normal guns and gear. Less chance of a lethal accident that way. Maybe make some sort of paint blades for our blade lovers too. Like some sort of hard sponge that leaks paint when enough force is applied. As for hand to hand? No lethal moves, no horrible dismemberment, go for the KO or surrender.

As for a twist? Why, the wheel of trolling! Each space on the wheel adds a certain obstacle for the bout. Sake's slot would have sake blow wind on the stage messing with long range combat and the like. Hillevi's would freeze the floor and they would have to fight on ice. Shadowbro's can be complete blackout so they must fight in the dark. Ect, ect. Keeps them on their toes and will be worth a good laugh.

3. Paying our minions.
We have boons for the major players, but we should pay everyone. They could have just walked away or left us alone and loyalty should be rewarded. 40k each sounds about right. Urgent, high risk, and the fact that this was a very sensitive mission. Besides, we have 9 mil right now and thanks to satai, we managed to save a lot of money. We can afford it.

4. Silja
That siren is pretty much the key thing we need to give Silja her body, however we should do this as humanely as chopping off limbs to feed our blood/bone eating gun can be. Put her deep under during the process, make sure Sake is on standby with healing, and once we have what we need heal her right up. We can likely do this a few times in one session(I suggest 3-4 times. Enough to get a decent load, with plenty of spare heals for emergencies.). Once her body is complete, the Siren can be freed from that gastly duty and we can then think of more pleasant things to do with her.
Once she does have a body, we should get her to meet up with our other two friendly monstrosities, Placid and Bagga. All three are trying to either keep or regain their humanity and having friends with similar problems and personalities can make things easier for them. Especially for Silja and Placid.

5. Jerbs
We need jobs and missions. Keep the cash flowing and our reputation growing. Asking our many contacts like the Savoys, Mafia, and H&H for jobs when they come can help us build more funds. We should also keep an eye on any jobs our minions present to us. Maybe a small finder fee for finding the work. We are a merc company, we do merc work.

6. Sometime Merchant.
This ordeal is a GOLD MINE of info. Even if we keep the itty gritty to ourselves, this sort of information can get us some nice things and help our reputation with SM after than small fiasco. Not only that, but this is the sort of info we WANT to get out there. If our enemies think we are under watch by the owner, they will likely back off for a while. Especially if the owner killed a dragon who held us hostage.

7. The misadventures of Blade and our artful killing.
Sure it's Blade and all, but it's a good idea to keep an eye on these side projects. Good reputation is good reputation and Blade can offer us soooo much. Besides, while trolling blade, we can use these shows as a means to improve our relations even more. Blade robbed someone? Do a fancy fight with him, replace the stolen good with a replica and give it(or sell it) back to it's owner. It's dickish, but I do not trust this guy with a magic paper clip, let alone a magic katana.

8. HEART!
We should look into the company heart, get the opinions of our bros and the like and possibly look into some research for this. We want this thing to be ready from the start so we don't have any hiccups or mishaps.

Anyting else we should add or expand on? Comments?
>>
No. 423772 ID: 522afb
File 134002316811.jpg - (15.57KB , 303x312 , ThatIsMyFetish.jpg )
423772

>>423743

This, except that:
3. 40k sounds way too much to pay for just participating, even if it meant going into high-risk area. 10k should be enough for everyone.

4. Forcefeed the siren! More meats to feed the rifle means we get Silja out faster.

6. SUSTing everything to do with telling people we're buds with the Owner to score work. I really doubt he would agree to us just using our associating with him like that.



Also we need to start looking for a wizzard to help Camella get back home. The clock is ticking on that. It's clear that transdimensional travel is way above our paygrade, and we need to find someone who would actually be able to get it done.
>>
No. 423819 ID: 507eef

Order Amen to blow the heart that the dragon took from us.
>>
No. 424011 ID: 522afb

Adding to >>423772

4. Silja
We should ask Dávgon, Gianni and possibly Placid and Einrik if we can catch him if it would be best to use fleshcrafting to increase the size of the siren first for the purposes of feeding it to Silja, or just cut off parts of it and have Sake heal her. We should also figure out which bits of the siren would be best for feeding her.

We should pursue suitable anesthesia for the Siren. We should also ask them if it would be possible to strengthen or even increase the winter aspect of these cut off meats through our soul crafting, either by using our own inherent winter energy for it or by buying some cheap winter aspected beings and parts.

We should also ask Hillevi if she'd donate some of her blood to Silja. Also, we should feed any dead female corpses in Amen's care to Silja.

Continuing with the numbering:

9. Camella
Finding a wizard for Camella to pursue getting her back home.

10. Golem
Get Placid to come take a look at our golem to see if he can do something about it. Pack the golem in a crate and bring it somewhere where Placid can work on it, since he won't come within Amen's influence. We should also ask him what exactly he uses to power his immense bulk, maybe we can adapt something like that.

11. Summer bloodline
Start figuring out where we'll eventually be wanting to go to get connected with our Summer aspect, and possibly plan for a company wide trip there. Maybe even look for an island to buy there.

12. Reaper soul
Try to pry out secrets from that partial reaper soul we still have locked away.

13. Implement filing
We should also start keeping actual physical files on things like enemies and magic as we know it that everyone can read and add to. This should help with intercompany knowledge.

14. Werewolves
Go make a courtesy visit at the werewolves' place, just to get connected to that side as well.
>>
No. 424359 ID: 9718f3

First things first, Lyubov should have a proper introduction to what is a very exclusive club.
"Everyone please welcome the newest member of the Eye Guys-" "Hey now, it's my eye, I'll call us whatever I want. Come up with a better suggestion and we'll go with that. Anyway, the rules of the Eye Guys. The first rule of the Eye Guys is: you do not talk about the Eye Guys. The second rule of the Eye Guys is: you do not talk about outside, what we talk about inside my eye. And... that's it. Welcome."

Lyubov is welcome to stay for the majority of what we will be talking about, but there are some subjects that aren't appropriate for her to have knowledge of, at least not yet. The bloodheart plan, and any plans we have regarding the tournament are examples of things that she shouldn't be here for. SB may also want to talk about things that he'd rather she not hear. So we can send her back outside when we're done with the less private dealings, or she could give the more confidential memories to SB before leaving, but that seems needlessly invasive/complicated when she can just leave before learning them in the first place.

The siren that is coming soon represents an excellent opportunity to bring Silja back into the world of the animate, if handled correctly. This means doing things carefully, and gathering as much info as possible. Sake and SB may have valuable insights, and Lyubov might be worth a laugh if the topic is broached carefully. By which I mean indelicately.
"So, that slave that Satai got according to my specifications while I was away. My current plan is to take what I want from her body, and use Sake to keep her alive when the injuries get too severe. Obviously this would be very unpleasant for her, so I plan on making sure she doesn't feel a thing. Thoughts, possible complications, suggestions?"
Lyubov will probably be highly confused at best, so just explain that it is food for treating Silja's condition and that we're going to treat the siren as well as possible.

The big thing to discuss is how the dragon found out that we are a Godling. I'm not sure Lyubov should be present for this, I'm not sure she even knows we're a Godling, and we will have to discuss a number of contacts we met under conditions I'd rather keep as secret as possible. In no particular order, the entities that either know or have a fair chance of knowing we are a Godling are: the arena, SM, the vamp sires we had the meeting with, Lo Fang, Granny Stomp, patrons of Granny Stomp's bar, Old Lady, Camella, Owner, Dorjpalam, Ogrimir, Rabbit, the Valkonens, our bros, Amen, Dávgon, Note Writer, Bagga, and anyone with spiritual senses that may have randomly seen us in the few days before we figured out soul guises. Most aren't likely to have sold us out, but some stand out. The arena recently fell on hard times and may have been looking for ways to make a profit, we pissed SM off recently, Lo Fang is a dick; Granny Stomp was able to sell information in map form, so may have been able to sell us out using physical goods that contained the info, and we slighted her by poaching without paying dues to her.

>>423743
>3. Paying our minions
40k is too much. 10k-20k is much more reasonable considering they had Owner as an escort, with AORB forces present as a distraction.
>6. Somtimes Merchant.
SUST. I am completely against selling any information about what happened to SM. It advertises that we're kidnappable, that there is a reason we are desirable to kidnap, even if the reason itself is not revealed, and anyone who knows anything about Dragon politics is going to know that Owner rescued us to fuck with AORB, not because he gave a shit about us.
>>424011
>4. Silja
The whole point of buying a living winter humanoid female is that we don't have to do gimmicky bullshit like making HUGE women, which if fleshcrafted into her in a way that let her regenerate HUGE with Ramidreju healing would also make Silja HUGEr by default. We also don't trust corpses that have been in Amen's care. We can't get Hillevi's blood without her father's permission, and we can't get his permission without revealing that Silja married into a Valkonen branch family, at which point it would be nearly impossible to retain possession of her. Not worth the risk.
>11. Summer Vacation
Planning stuff is fine. Company-wide trip is not. One of the major benefits to the company is maintaining a profitable presence in Istanbul while we are elsewhere.
>12. Reaper Soul
The Reaper ripped off its consciousness and merged it with the Amen/Sisuthros blood entity, which was then lobotomized and later used as a seed to a wizard's work. Unlikely to be any secrets.
>14. Werewolves
SUST. We already have an in with the werewolves, their matron and witch, Oggmum. If she deems us acceptable to work with we can do work with them. Attempting to maneuver around her will almost certainly be seen as an insult.
>>
No. 424764 ID: c28be6

>>424359
>The bloodheart plan, and any plans we have regarding the tournament are examples of things that she shouldn't be here for.
I am disagreeing. She is here because we trust her. The bloodheart plan is no more immoral than werken with the soul of the Reaper and is much less illegal. Nothing for the tournament must be obscured from Lyubov except the bet with Hillevi. All other tournament issues and topics are available to be discussed.

>SB may also want to talk about things that he'd rather she not hear
If it is the case, SB can ask her to step out when all other topics are addressed.

For compensation, $40,000 is acceptable for all who were present. That is 17 Russians, 1 Camella, 1 Bagga, 1 Gianni, 1 B.C., 1 Dávgon, 1 Sake, 1 Hillevi and 1 Duke. The total bill is $1,000,000 and will be paid from the personal account.

Because Lyubov showed Sake how to use bank accounts, Sake is to have his own account and cash card. It is not goed to force him to ask permission at all hours to make purchases from the personal account.

The siren should be brought up in a professional manner as we have already enjoyed one prank on Lyubov. It is simple to say what Silja requires first and then to explain that the purchase of the soul bound siren was made with only Sake and Satai's knowledge, and only to satisfy Silja's need. We will discuss treatment, care, and stewardship of the siren.

Discussion of the cloth organs being rebuilt, including placing souls into Allview, should be made with all.
>>
No. 425067 ID: c6ce12

>>424359
Tossing an upvote to everything here.
>>
No. 425165 ID: 40fb55

>>423743
>>423772
>>424011
>>424359
>>424764
>>425067
Lyubov returns my hug, and for a moment I get to enjoy the feeling of a purely mental embrace. Warm feelings of affection, lust, trust, and love seep through the extended moment of contact, all tinged with an overtone of mild confusion.
>[Lyubov] “So, um- Why am I taller than you? Why is the Hummingbird gigantic?”
It’s true. While she was never the tallest woman I’ve ever known, Lyubov is now about a foot taller than normal, compared against myself for reference. The top of her head is a couple of inches above mine.
>Your size in a mental and spiritual realm such as this is directly related to your relative amount of willpower and your self-image. Obviously you are proportionately more willful than my dear brother, though you don’t hold a candle to the Hummingbird.
>[Hummingbird] “It would be unfair to compare any giant to my splendor.”
>[Lyubov] “That makes sense, I guess. It explains why I am wearing my Sunday best, too.”
>[Hummingbird] “Thine plumage is appropriate for a female.”
>[Lyubov] “What does that mean?”
“It means he likes it when you wear earth tones. By his reckoning I should be the flashy one.”
>[Lyubov] “Oh, he must just love how you dress.”
>[Hummingbird] “He is one of the few giants that understands the importance of male plumage.”
She breaks from our hug with a smile and turns her attention to the world below. Her body…flickers, and briefly loses a couple of inches of height as she is distracted by the view.
>[Lyubov] “It is the planet’s reflection below? And this is the control room?”
>[Sake] “Think of it as the projectionist’s booth. This is Kuvey’s domain, but I lived here while I waited for my body.”
Lyubov takes a seat on a suede leather loveseat, upholstered with a diamond tufted pattern on the back, all in black with orange trim. She takes my hand as I sit beside her.
>[Lyubov] “Kuvey is your name, then?”
>One of my monikers, though I’d prefer you not spread it around just the same. My actual Name is known only by Sake and myself. Armas may not know it until certain conditions related to Amen are satisfied.
>[Sake] ”Namely until we’re sure it can’t read Armas’s mind anymore.”
I interject quickly, “The mind reading problem is related to the binding schema used to keep Amen obedient to me. I don’t want to tamper with it unless I need to. If something went wrong, Amen would be free to misbehave.”
>[Lyubov] “And then he would run off, house and all?”
“I think he would make a lot of trouble, yes.”
>[Lyubov] “You have told Amen to keep what he learns from your mind to himself, right?”
>We made sure it can’t share information unless given permission.
“Setting the topic of Amen aside, everyone please welcome the newest member of the Eye Guys-"
>Eye guys?
"Hey now, it's my eye, I'll call us whatever I want. Come up with a better suggestion and we'll go with that.”
>Actually it is my domain.
>“But my physical eye. Anyway, Lyubov, the rules of the Eye Guys. The first rule of the Eye Guys is: you do not talk about the Eye Guys. The second rule of the Eye Guys is: you do not talk about outside, what we talk about inside my eye. And... that's it. Welcome."
>[Lyubov] “So it is- what? A conference?”
“Pretty much. We have complete privacy here, and can talk about whatever needs to be talked about. We do long-term planning, discuss problems, plot to gain more power and wealth. The usual.”
>[Lyubov] “Hosted by Kuvey and you? Then it is a conclave. The Laine Conclave. It sounds much better than the Eye Guys.”
>[Sake] ”Agreed.”
>That does have a certain ring to it.
>[Hummingbird] “It’s far more accurate as well.”
“Well I know when I’m outvoted. Fine, we’ll call it the Laine Conclave.”
>[Lyubov] “What are we here to talk about tonight?”
“I’ve got a few things I wanted to bring up, and the others probably do too. And if you have stuff you want to mention, by all means say so. But to start with, let’s discuss that slave that Satai got according to my specifications while I was away-
Once again, Lyubov's height wavers as she does a double-take.
>[Lyubov] “Slave? Wait, what?”
“My current plan is to take what I want from her body-“
>[Lyubov] “What. Are you being serious?”
“-and use Sake to keep her alive when the injuries get too severe. Obviously this would be very unpleasant for her, so I plan on making sure she doesn't feel a thing. Thoughts, possible complications, suggestions?”
Lyubov looks rather… un-amused. I wonder WHY.
“Oh, that’s right, Sake didn’t tell you! Silja needs winterish energy from female sources to continue to develop her new body. To that end, I was looking into buying a contract of some sort with a woman who could make flesh donations or sales. Satai and Sake were very helpful while I was missing though, and decided to purchase a soul-bound siren.”
Lyubov shoots a disapproving glance at Sake.
“She meets the requirements, and was actually the least expensive option. Or so I was told.”
>[Sake] ”It’s true, all other options for a renewable source of material for Silja would have been far more expensive. Prohibitively so.”
>[Lyubov] “You cannot fool me. I know why you wanted a siren. You want a singer for our band.”
Sake doesn’t deny it. Instead, he wiggles happily on Hummingbird’s head, and the massive avian shakes him off, ruffling his feathers disapprovingly. Sake flies over to us and curls around Lyubov’s neck. She allows it… begrudgingly.
>That does answer part of the question about what to do with her once Silja is whole.
>[Lyubov] “How expensive was her contract?”
“$800,000. She’ll arrive on the 25th, and I think it’d be best if we just got started right away with the plan to restore Silja.”
>[Lyubov] “How did she come to be soul-bound? For how long has she been a slave? What protections do we have against her? Satai may have that mind protection charm, but the rest of us will need some way to prevent being manipulated when she is conscious. And how do you propose to keep her asleep after each weasel rub?”
>[Sake] ”She broke a soul-oath she swore to not interfere with a certain person’s ventures, and was thereafter bound to be a slave. The rest of your questions Armas will need to address.”
“I can place appropriate soul bindings on her once she’s here for our protection. And to keep her unconscious, now that I think of it. Anything else about the siren?”
>[Lyubov] “I understand that you must take body parts from her to help Silja, but what else are you going to use her for? I do not want to have to worry about what she is doing when I am not nearby.”
“Trust me, I’m only interested in her for Silja’s sake.”
>As she is a divine creature you should be able to pick her brains about using Belief magic.
“What for?”
>[Sake] ”For helping smooth over whatever complications might arise in Silja’s recovery, and to possibly augment the golem.”
>And so that you may effectively ply your divine aspect.
“About that. I’ve had a little time to think of who knows I’m a godling, and the list is depressingly long. To start with, there is you, Lyubov-“
>[Lyubov] “I did not, and would not, share that secret. Not willingly, at least.”
“I’d expect the same of many of the people who know, but I’m going for completeness here. So, Lyubov, the arena hobgoblins, Sometimes Merchant, Lo Fang, Old Granny Stomp, patrons of Granny Stomp's bar, the Old Lady, Camella, Owner, Dorjpalam, Ogrimir, Rabbit, the Valkonens, Amen, Dávgon, Note Writer, Bagga, Abolec, and anyone with spiritual senses that may have randomly seen me in the few days before I figured out how to hide it. I miss anyone?”
>[Sake] “I explained it to Satai when he asked, as well.”
I rub the simulacrum of my physical face in the mindscape/
“Alright, new rule, don’t tell people I’m a godling even if you trust them.”
>[Sake] ”By the terms of our contract of brotherhood, I must obey.”
Lyubov glances between Sake and I, a conflicted look on her face. She rethinks whatever it was she was going to say, and simply strokes Sake’s fur.
>[Lyubov] “Who are Ogrimir, Rabbit, Old Lady, and Old Granny Stomp?”
“Ogrimir is a top-level winter god, in the same power tier as your Christian God actually. Ogrimir is an alias. Rabbit is an American Indian trickster god who monitors me through a magic weapon he made. Old Lady is the top Turkish expert in chakra; Camella and I got a lesson from her in mental defenses. Old Granny Stomp is a Summer Goblin out in Brazil, she runs the Amazon Poacher’s Guild.”
>[Lyubov] “Would any of them sell you out?”
“Maybe Old Granny Stomp. She may have felt slighted by my poaching without paying dues to her.”
>I doubt it. We stirred up quite a mess in the Amazon when we accomplished our mission there and while the end result would have reduced her personal profits temporarily, it also means an increase in demand, and thus, premiums she can charge for spirit animals.
“So far for motives what I’ve got is: the arena recently fell on hard times and the owners may have been looking for unorthodox ways to make a profit, I pissed Sometimes Merchant off recently, and Lo Fang bought assassination exclusion from some speedy monsters I know and may have been tipped off by them when I attempted to hire them for the same.”
>[Lyubov] “You want to kill Lo Fang?”
“For several reasons, yes, but mostly because he has been openly meddling in my affairs, so I’m very willing to take whatever opportunities I can to just put an end to the problem for good.”
>[Lyubov] “Now you sound like Gloom.”
>I was very disappointed that he decided to quit.
>[Hummingbird] “Truly? His betrayal was not wholly unexpected, he was more like a crass chough than most giants.”
>[Lyubov] “It was a surprise, he would have been the top contender for the tournament.”
“I’m not sure what bug crawled up his butt, exactly, but he’s nobody we need to worry about now.”
>[Lyubov] “Um. You didn’t kill him, did you?”
“No. I tried to get him to agree to an NDA, but he didn’t want to cooperate. He had actually been planning on betraying me, selling copies of some magic books that are in Amen’s care.”
>[Lyubov] “And you let him go?”
“Yes, but as he was the day he was assigned to the suicide squad. He doesn’t remember anything of the past two months. All the skills, languages, and memories were surgically removed from him. If he sees you on the street, he probably won’t recognize you.”
>[Lyubov] “What will he do now?”
“Frankly, I don’t care. Gloom leaving the company was a loss, and I’m still annoyed I didn’t really see it coming. Whatever else he wants to do is his business; he can’t hurt me or mine, and that’s all I really care about.”
Lyubov doesn’t say anything, but she squeezes my hand.
>[Sake] ”I don’t know if Lyubov mentioned it to you, but she talked to her mother this morning.”
“She didn’t. What’s up with your mom?”
>[Lyubov] “Ah. Well, so, I had a long conversation with her, and I talked her into taking a flight here to Istanbul so she can visit, and she says she’ll properly consider taking that job you offered, and she’s going to want to meet you. Aaaand she’s aware you like being all troll-y, and she specifically asked me to not ask you to lay off on being yourself. So, yeah. Don’t be a complete dick, is all I ask.”
Sake snickers as he slithers along Lyubov’s shoulders.
“Don’t be a complete dick. Don’t be… what an odd concept. When will she arrive?”
>[Lyubov] “Wednesday morning. I already took the day off, and got a reservation at a nice restaurant for four people. So that’s me, mom, you, and a guest of your choice. Maybe Arkvad?”
“Maybe. Or Hillevi, or Camella if this is to convince your mom to sign on. What’s her name, anyway?”
>[Lyubov] “Svetlana.”
“I’ll make sure Amen recognizes her as a guest.”
>You said she was a secretary? This is good, we’ve been skating along for far too long.
>[Lyubov] “At the very least, to keep out of trouble with the mundane tax authorities, we will need to set up a front company of some sort.”
>I was thinking more along the lines of having her collate files and administrate our intelligence records. A threat database would be extraordinarily useful to those among our number who are not so proactive in learning on their own.
>[Lyubov] “You will need a front company and to have your accounts in order before mid-April. The American IRS has new laws that let them be very intrusive about what accounts they can look at, and if they can show there is linkage between you and your numbered account they will not hesitate to try you for tax evasion. I think it would be wise to be proactive on this.”
“Sounds like a pain.”
>[Lyubov] “It is that, or surrender your American citizenship formally, and I cannot advocate that. Having a legal citizenship is of value, it is a counterbalance to Owner.”
>[Sake] “A secretary is some sort of bureaucrat, correct?”
“You could say that. Why?”
>[Sake] ”It may be a good idea to have Svetlana review Satai’s work from time to time. As I understand it, he has decided that obtaining the tools for working on the tank is of the very lowest priority.”
Lyubov shoots Sake a dirty look.
>[Lyubov] “Just because I told you doesn’t mean I wanted him to get into trouble over it. It has been hard getting him to not act like he is being forced to the dentist every time I talk to him, I would rather he not think I complained outside the chain of command.”
“Then he won’t. We can have it come up when your mother’s doing a review of requests people have made to him.”
>[Sake] ”It is what bureaucrats are for.”
I ignore the sniggering weasel draped in silks that is, itself, draped around Lyubov's throat.
“This is changing the subject, but does anyone have any thoughts on how we’re going to help Camella find a wizard to send her home? I haven’t broached the topic with Oggmum or Dorjpalam yet, but I suspect it’s going to be expensive. And I haven’t heard anything at all about Grigori since that night we met the Valkonens. We don’t know what Hyougo would charge, either. In fact the only thing I’ve heard about her is that she issued that trade embargo.”
>[Lyubov] “Oggmum is?”
“Matron witch of one of the wereclans here in Istanbul. She’s a very nice witch, though.”
>Whichever we choose to approach, we should do so before the end of the month. Einrik’s assessment was that we were on a time limit. If Camella should develop a bloodline before a wizard has a fix on her original world, she won’t be able to go back.
>[Lyubov] “I am sorry, I do not quite understand.”
>[Sake] ”Camella’s home dimension had no magic to speak of, and so she has been absorbing magic from ours. When there is enough magic from our dimension inside her, it will be impossible for a wizard to get a good idea of which alternate reality she is from.”
>[Lyubov] “Oh. That is a problem.”
>Oggmum may be our best hope for this. Hyougo has had nothing to do with us, except Lyubov. Grigori likely doesn’t have the finesse to perform it properly. And I doubt Camella will be willing to trust Dorjpalam again, he already messed with her leg.
“It was a dick move to leave her with a leg that was the wrong color.”
>[Lyubov] “You know it is a funny thing that you mentioned Dorjpalam. Did you know that Duke was present for when he became a wizard?”
I do a double-take at that.
“No, I didn’t. I guess it just slipped his mind or something.”
>[Lyubov] “Yes, he was a wandering philosopher-hobo, like how I was a guitar-hobo for a bit, and he stayed with the Heavenly Spirits for awhile and would talk to them about the nature of reality and what is the purpose of life and things like that and Duke would get drunk and listen and he thought it was great until they had an accident with a NeverNever gate they summoned and it hit Dorjpalam by mistake and he turned into a wizard and suddenly a bunch of really horrible enemies showed up because apparently wizard flesh is the most delicious thing ever if you are the sort of creature that eats people and anyway it was a bunch of skinwalkers and dragons and they were co-operating which is really weird because Duke says that they hate each other normally and these other wizards showed up because apparently wizards defend newbie wizards as a matter of course and they were all fighting until the Hecatonchires showed up looking to fight everyone because it likes fights and started just killing everyone and anyway like four wizards and twenty Heavenly Spirits and a bunch of dragons and skinwalkers died and um, yeah.”
Aaand apparently Lyubov’s realized she doesn’t need to breathe to speak here. Opposite me, SB's smile curls into a tight spiral as he smugly gloats over the new information.
>That is actually really fascinating. Did you learn anything else?
>[Lyubov] “Just silly stuff like his favorite foods and some of the philosophy stuff Duke could remember.”
>Next time you and Duke have a chat, I may drop in.
>[Lyubov] “Sure, feel free.”
“Changing topics again, but, Lyubov how much would you say I should pay for my rescue?”
>[Lyubov] “Um, you paid twenty thousand for the Doonongeas and the rescue Rocco and Gianni jobs, so that is a good baseline. Maybe a moderate bonus or something on top of that, so that you can say you are really happy that you are home and all.”
“Right. Would you say that $25,000 seems like a good sum for saying what I want to say?”
>[Lyubov] “I think it says whatever you want it to say.”
>If you say so.
>[Sake] ”You don’t say?”
"Dicks, the lot of you."
>[Hummingbird] “Truly I do not understand this obsession with money.”
“Speaking of what I say, I said there would be a tournament at the end of the month.”
>That you did.
“I want to run it as a round robin, with non-lethal weapons and techniques permissible.”
>[Lyubov] “So, wait, what are we doing?”
“Well I was thinking we could just let everyone pick what they want from a pile of paintball guns and plastic weapons and assess handicaps on a per-match basis. If a guy wants to use a paintball gun and his opponent doesn’t, he’s going to have a large a point deficit.”
>Sounds workable.
“I also wanted to mix things up a bit, randomize the tournament a little. I was thinking of a Wheel of Trolling.”
>[Sake] “Oh I love that name.”
"Yeah I thought you would."
>[Lyubov] “What is it the wheel will do?”
“I was thinking we’d spin the wheel before each match up and impose conditions on the field or fighters per its results. As an example, there might be a Turkish Oil Wrestling item on the wheel. If it came up I’d have Amen make a grass field for them to wrestle on, and neither fighter would get anything but a pair of leather pants and a lot of olive oil.”
>[Lyubov] “I should never have mentioned it to you, it was fun that one night in the bedroom but now you want to make it public?”
I Smile a most disarming Smile.
“There’d be nothing perverted about it, it’s a classic sport.”
>[Lyubov] “And if it happened that a female fighter had such a condition imposed?”
“First, it’s a classic sport, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. Secondly, it’d be good, clean, fun. Third, we’re all adults in this house, and we’re all used to trusting each other with our lives. One fight topless shouldn’t be that big a deal. If it was though, she could always forfeit, I guess. Why? I thought you weren’t that shy.”
Shadowbro is just staring at us, his over-sized mouth quivering now and again.
>[Lyubov] “I- I am just thinking of the other women.”
“Sure. Look, I’ll put other stuff on the wheel like fighting on a sheet of ice, or blindfolded, or with a hand tied behind the back. There are plenty of other things.”
>[Lyubov] “I’ll wait with bated breath, then.”
>Moving on to other topics, I noticed you haven’t really made any progress with Whaitiri.
>[Lyubov] “Progress? Whaitiri?”
“Whaitiri is a part of the Maori pantheon. She used to be pretty powerful. As it stands, she’s a low-tier goddess, but she’s still very knowledgeable and frankly I want to have her in my corner for good. My summer bloodline is based on her powers, and my mere’s connected to her, which is a start, but I can tell I’m going to need a formal relationship with her of some sort.”
>[Lyubov] “Like what exactly?”
“Not husband, nor consort; that’s too risky, too inappropriate. Anything which would put Sake into a subordinate position to her, through me having a subordinate position, is ultimately unacceptable.”
>[Sake] ”Thank you for keeping my wishes in mind.”
“We’ve discarded the idea of most other filial relationships as well. Business partnership would be ideal, but she’s an old school goddess. She doesn’t ‘stoop’ to business deals usually.”
>[Lyubov] “It sounds like you need her to gain enough status and power to be equal to her, then. Do you have any contact with the rest of the Maori pantheon? Perhaps you could arrange to improve all of their power with rituals to give them physical presences, like how it is with theotokos for the Virgin.”
“I was thinking of a trip to New Zealand to find my roots. What is theotokos?”
>[Lyubov] “It is the word for the condition that Mary had because she was able to carry Jesus to term. She was the bearer of god’s son made flesh, and elevated in status because of it.”
Huh. Guess going to church all the time taught her something useful.
>[Sake] “Wouldn’t he need to be a woman for that to work?”
>[Lyubov] “Um. I am not the best person to ask about this, but aren’t you making a golem? If you could make bodies for the Maori pantheon, would it not count as being the creator of their earthly vessels? That would be a big gain in status I bet, and it would be with all of them, and so would count for more with her, and would not mark you as her servant specifically.”
>[Hummingbird] “You propose he be the builder of nests for them? It is an admirable thing to be known for.”
>Worth thinking of, anyway. Dávgon should know more about making a seidis work.
“All that leaves is making contact with them.”
>[Lyubov] “You would not be bringing the entire company to New Zealand, right?”
“No, it’d be a little too risky, draw a little too much attention, and provide too much of a chance of someone getting into trouble. Plus we’d be missing jobs in Istanbul.”
>[Lyubov] “So it would just be a small group?”
“Yeah.”
>[Lyubov] “I will look into resorts that will cater to your predilections.”
“What predilections are you referring to?”
>[Lyubov] “Since we have complete privacy here, I will just say it. You are very fond of naked people. Of being naked yourself, or having others be naked. And me, specifically. So, since we are not bringing the entire company, I will find a place where it is acceptable.”
“Like a nudist colony?”
>[Lyubov] “Yes. I hope Gianni knows one friendly to magic people, as well.”
…She really does know me too well.
>[Hummingbird] “Thou and thine mate are baffling. Thine mating and courtship behaviors are completely alien to me. Were thou and thine mate not giants, I would despair for both parties’ mental health.”
>[Lyubov] “Speaking of that, I have a concern to bring up.”
“Something related to my abduction? I told you I was going to talk to that shrink.”
>[Lyubov] “No, this was from before, and I have been thinking of how to bring it up constructively. When you told me of your childhood, it was, um. Very bland, compared to your time in the Marines and Army. Suspiciously bland considering that you are you. I would have expected you to have many stories of getting into trouble as a boy.”
>
The silence emanating from my Soul Shadow is deafening in its intensity.
>[Sake] “What’s the problem, Lyubov?”
[Lyubov] “That is the problem, I am unsure what exactly is wrong, but I know something is. Armas, I think it may be worthwhile to get your old yearbooks and to go visit your parents and look at your old things and keepsakes and review your memory. You have been through a lot in the past five months, so it is not unreasonable that you damaged your brain somehow and lost some memories. It is possible there are ways to jolt them back into place with familiar things.”
Wanting to throw a quick zinger at her with a particularly juicy-and hopefully hilarious-childhood memory I rifle through my mind… and come up with squat.
“That’s- that’s a really good idea. Thank you.”
>I don’t deny that it could help, but there’s not much else we can do for it at the moment. Make a call to mom though, and ask her to send the yearbooks and our old school journals.
“I will. But before we stop here, there’s one last thing I wanted to talk about. The company heart.”
>[Lyubov] “The what?”
“It is an idea I had, to build a heart that conceptually is the heart for every member of the company, using our blood and bits of our souls. We would share in magic power that way, and could share shadows as well. It would let Kuvey there be able to teleport us to each other whenever we needed, no matter how far away we were. It would, should, let us build a new body for any member who was killed. We’d all be in better synch with each other, as well.”
>[Lyubov] “Um. That sounds- Uh. Well. Wait, how much privacy would we have from each other?”
>I think it would depend on how tight the concept was. If you all gave up your hearts and left the function of a heart to the company heart, you may be able to distinctly feel what the others are up to. A less tightly bound concept might have you being vaguely aware that everyone else was fine, or injured, or upset. But even with a very loose concept, we think all involved would get to live forever, provided the heart wasn’t damaged, and it would let everyone move around quickly.
>[Lyubov] “It sounds very, um. Intimate.”
“I guess so.”
>[Lyubov] “This is completely out of left field for me. I will need time to think about it.”
“That’s reasonable. I don’t need to do it right now, anyway.”
>[Lyubov] “Who would be building it?”
“Some blood manipulators I know. Their clan head agreed to do it for a reasonable price, and to wipe the memories of it being done after.”
>[Lyubov] “Can he lie?”
“Yeah, I think so, but we can make contracts to prevent any dickery. SO… what about that fake Shadowbro?"
>"You mean this?"
A cage wrought of blackened bone rises from the floor that flows like quicksand around it, containing a raging form of murky nothing, the void mage manifest in an undulating sea of naught, the coalesced personification, the quintessence of shadow on a level far more profound than my suit clad, Cheshire-cat-grinning Soul Shadow. Within its cage formed of the very plane we inhabit, the bound shade rages impotently.
>"It is proving difficult to tame, but given time it will come around."
>[Lyubov]"Okay um. So. What… what is that?"
"That would be what everyone thought was Shadowbro for… the last week?"
>[Sake]"Yeah, thing fooled us for a WHILE. Didn't hurt that Amen helped it."
>[Lyubov]"Amen did what?"
"Be itself, a righteous backstabbing dick. That's what happens when a being made of hate's a butler, I suppose. Well, the thing's caught, and soon enough it'll be my brother's playtoy, so all's well that ends well."
>[Lyubov]"Wait wait wait-that was pretending to be-"
>"Me. And, by all accounts doing an excellent job of it-it fooled my Shade."
"Wait it did?"
>{Hummingbird]"Do those of your flock not recognize your essence?"
>"[i]They did not. I am… correcting them.
"
"Great, so this shouldn't be a repeat concern?"
>"It is not an error they will repeat, no."
I clap my hands together happily.
"All right. Last thing I've got on the agenda is that Reaper Soul piece I've still got."
>[Lyubov]"A Soul Piece?"
"So, how can I pull delicious memories out of it?"
As one, Sake, Hummingbird and Shadowbro all start laughing-and I know for a fact they're not laughing WITH me. Fuck, even Hummingbird?
>[Sake]"Every time I think you're wising up, you pull out a gem like that."
>"Oh… oh my. You actually think you'll get ANYTHING of value out of a soul that purposefully ripped itself apart. That is just precious."
>[HB]"Thou is surpassingly talented at keeping me from overestimating giants, giant."
"Yeah har har-and happy to help, HB. So, no chance of-"
>[Sake]"None."
>"Zilch."
>[HB]"There is no chance."
"Okay then.
>[Lyubov]"Reaper's Soul Piece?"
"Guy that tried to kill me and like, a hundred people near me. Had to get tricky to catch him-ended up with a spiritual 'prize' afterwards. Okay, so that's a bust-guess it's just good for Charm identification purposes?"
>"Correct.["
"Huh…. Okay then. That kind of covered everything I had."
>"Wonderful. Goodbye."

[DISCONTINUITY]

I wake up with the first rays of dawn's light streaming through the window, my own movements rousing the slumbering Lyubov atop me who's brow immediately furrows at the first stream of light to hit her.
>[Lyubov]"Wuh… bluh?"
"Hey. Move."
Her eyes sliding into focus, Lyubov surreptitiously licks up the drool trail on her chin before responding.
>[Lyubov]"Why would… what the hell! Why is it this late!?"
"Meetings. They happen on SB's time. What can I say-he can be a dick."

Unsurprisingly, Lyubov wastes no time getting up and whisking into motion, swearing under her breath in Russian seemingly without pause before, with a wave, she darts out the door.

I spend the entire morning trying to up my speed at locating new objects with the Allview, blow through 1,000 rounds on the Taste of Ruin to keep my hands from rusting, and proceed to blow a third of my energy on Dual Orientation practice, pushing my personal record for sustained Dual Orientation all the way up to one minute, thirty eight seconds. I wrap up with some noon-time refurbishing of my Sphere Labyrinth, tweaking each of my existing twelve layers of three-dimensional mazes and trying to polish off some of the crudeness of my infantile designs. I can't say that they're 'good', but they're certainly better after I've lavished some effort, time, magic and attention on them.

At a bit after two, Sake BOLTS into the house and zips over to me sniggering up a storm, his body wiggling and a'wagglan' with glee.
"Sake what-"
>[Sake]"This is so freaking funny, you have to listen to this-"

Sake's mouth keeps moving but now it's taken on a tone disturbing like Morgan Freeman as he narrates for me a scene…..

Boris had already left Cookie’s apartment. He had to go get dinner ready for the others back at home, which was a large job even with help. Lyubov had lingered, helping Cookie Lady straighten up. She looked at the large sacks of flour and sugar, the three kilos of butter, and the several cartons of eggs she had hauled up to the apartment a couple of hours ago with Boris. She shrugged, and said, “Babushka, I think I purchased far too much for the few recipes I wanted you to help me with.”
The Cookie Lady nodded. “Yes, I think you did. Will you need help?”
“Can I just leave it here? Boris and I visit often enough that it would be a bother to move the ingredients back and forth all the time.”
“Oh, dearie, I suppose that would be fine, but I can’t move such large sacks into the cupboards on my own.”
Lyubov said, “It is no trouble,” and with one hand she hefted a 25 kilo sack of flour into the proper cabinet. The old woman watched her, pleased that she had so many new friends in her life.
“Babushka, please feel free to use them too, there is no way even Boris and I would finish all this on our own. The eggs and butter, especially, will go bad if not used.”
“Well, alright Lyubov. If you’re sure.”
Lyubov spoke as she worked, and asked, “Babushka?”
“Yes, Lyubov?”
“I want to talk to you about something. But I did not want to really talk about it while Boris was here. I mean, I do trust Boris, and he is a goodhearted person, but it was not something I really wanted to discuss in front of him because it is related to Armas and I much prefer to keep the gossip about him to a minimum and Boris is his chef after all.”
Cookie was packing up some of the cookies they had made earlier. She spoke as she sealed each tupperware container. “Oh, that’s fine dear. I don’t mind. What is it about Armas? You mentioned he was in a little trouble after the Sunday service.”

Lyubov had made a habit of treating Cookie Lady to lunch on Sundays. The old woman was an excellent listener, and Lyubov loved to talk. “Well, he was, but we got him back safely. He was in the Americas, and we had to go yesterday to get him from the, uh, kidnapper that took him. But we got him back safe and sound, mostly. He wasn’t happy about it at all- I mean about being kidnapped, he was very happy to be rescued. He laughed off everything and tried to take it in stride and honestly I am just so glad he’s back, I nearly hugged him when I saw him but he was naked because the kidnapper was a jerk and there were others around and it would have been awkward,” and she had to take a breath.
Cookie Lady took the opportunity to say, “I’m very glad to hear he’s safe, and that he’s taking it well. Will he be at Ito’s tonight?”
“I do not know. Maybe? I will send him a text and remind him you will be there. He is always happy to see you, I know that.”
“That’s nice of you to say, Lyuba.”

Lyubov smiled. Cookie Lady had used her diminutive name; that must have genuinely pleased her. Lyubov said, “It is just simply true. But, I know Armas would still not be home if it were not for some help we had. There were a lot of complications and troubles we could have had with the American authorities. Since Armas is an American citizen, they could have taken their time with the investigation, but we bypassed all of that right from the start because we had a, um, powerful person giving us help.”
Cookie Lady simply listened. She was used to Lyubov’s meandering.
“He made recovering Armas very much safer, and we all got home quickly and safely thanks to him. I think he, um, felt a responsibility to Armas. And both Armas and Camella know him, and I know they thanked him, but I didn’t get a chance to. So, I wanted to ask you for your help making a nice batch of cookies for him. I know he will appreciate it, he likes good food and your baking is simply the very best there is.”
Cookie Lady favored Lyubov with a snaggletooth smile. “Well, of course I’d be happy to help you with that! What kind of cookies shall we make?”

Lyubov rinsed her hands off and spoke as she dried them. “Um, well, before that, there was another man, too- he helped Camella out a couple of months ago. She may not look it, but she had been injured and the recovery period would have been much longer but he was, ah, able to give her a leg up. So now she’s just as mobile as she was before, and she’s been able to really help all of us; she would have had a lot of trouble with that, and with getting the other help for Armas, and everything, if not for the help with her injury. So- um.”
“So, two batches of tea cookies then for such helpful men!”
She wringed out the dishcloth she dried her hands on. “Well, wait. I know he would prefer pralines. And also, I do not just want to make these men thank you cookies, I really appreciate all the things they’ve done and I want them to get a lasting, um, thing. You see, they are both powerful and well connected and in the tops of their fields, and I think they could do a lot of good if they were working together more. But they don’t, and part of it is they just don’t have many reasons to talk directly, I think? I am unsure. But it seems very likely.”
”Lyubov, what do you have in mind?”
This was it, everything had been lead-up. Time to make the pitch. Lyubov set the dishcloth back on the counter. “Well, they are both very security minded, and both very serious, and I was thinking that they would become friends if they had a common topic to discuss that touched both of those things. And so I was thinking, what if when they next wake each man believed the other had somehow snuck into his room and given his hair a trim? They-“
“Lyubov-“
”But they would have a reason to talk to each other after, and they would each seek the other out. They are both reasonable men, they would eventually come to the conclusion that it was a mistake and then they would have a good laugh about it, and then they would have a joke that was theirs alone. Such seeds are what friendships grow from, silly stories and serious moments that bring smiles. And then they would have had both a proper thank you from me and they would have gotten a friendship kindled that would be of benefit to them both. The little joke is harmless, and it will bring a smile to them for years.”
“Lyubov, what if they lose their tempers?”
“They will not, they both think they cannot afford to look foolish in front of the other. I think that they will probably seek ways to broach the topic with each other without giving away what is the issue first. And they will dance around it verbally for awhile, and then um, one of them or both of them realize that they are after the same thing. Then they will speak plainly about it. And then they will realize that their fear of looking foolish made them look foolish, and will have fewer barriers to talking in the future and a funny story like I said... um. So. Yeah.”
“Well, who are these men?”
“Ah, the man who helped Camella is the owner of Gelrindo Academics. The one who helped Armas is the Owner of the Asitane restaurant. They are both very private sorts of people, for all their power and connections.”
“The owner of the Asitane? Lyubov, I made a lovely set of tea biscuits for him once.“
”Flavored with pomegranate and persimmons? Babushka, even if he has had them before, he will love your cookies. Yours are the best there are- so delicious, and so much love in them, it is impossible to see how he could have ever had anything else remotely as good.”
“Well Lyuba…”
“And I made sure to bring all that we needed for both sorts of cookies. I am sure that it will work out really well, and that they’ll both enjoy the cookies and the thank you notes from me, and that they’ll become friends. Perhaps even good ones!”
“Lyuba, hand me the flour please.”
“Yes Babushka.”


Dear Owner, I hope this package finds you well. Words alone cannot convey just how very thankful and grateful I am that you helped Armas, and I wanted to properly express it. I asked the best baker in the world (in my opinion, anyway) to make these for you. Please enjoy them. -Lyubov of the Company of Laine


Dear Mr. Khubiliai, I hope this package finds you well. You helped a couple of my friends in the recent past, Camella and Armas, and I’m grateful that they’re healthy and happy respectively. I happened to be visiting a baker I know (I think she is the very best in the world, and I am sure you will agree), so I asked her to make some cookies for you as well as a thank you. -Lyubov of the Company of Laine. p.s. In case you had not heard one of your old associates from your wandering days, Li Kui, is in town. He is a guest at Armas’s house. He would like to talk to you about your opinions on philosophy over a drink again.


>[Sake]"See? HILARIOUS!"

…Lyubov's planning to prank the Owner and Dorjpalam, two of the most powerful people I've ever met, and her plan dances on the knife's edge precipice over disaster and ruin-and she's doing it, so far as I can tell… just to troll.

I've never been more turned on in my life.









So what am I doing with the rest of my day?
>>
No. 425296 ID: 9718f3

Alright, so we've got that awesomely reforged mere and while we don't actually know what it DOES yet(not really), we do know that we aren't as good as we could be at using it from a martial perspective. Camella is our best weapons expert in terms of skill and teaching ability, and we have stuff we need to discuss with her anyway. Grab her for a sparring session whenever she's free. Use a stand-in for the mere, obviously. No sparring with artifact weapons.

Stuff to discuss during the spar:
"So, like your birthday gift so far?" "The dragon who made it said that it was a multidimensional construct and naturally I thought of you and how it might help you in your journey home. Or, failing that, utilizing the fact it was made from my body, and its form as a parrot, an animal heavily associated with speech, to possibly keep in touch with you when we get you home some other way."
"Speaking of actually, I've been in contact with a local Witch that I think is probably our best bet for helping you. I have no idea what a witch might charge for something like this, and I'd imagine she would want payment upfront, so you might have to settle with getting a read on your world of origin for now, so even after Einrik's projected time limit is up, you can still get back."

"There's one other thing I wanted to talk to you about. Lo Fang. Realistically, he isn't going to give you the chance to pay him back. You probably aren't aware, but the man collects souls. You know those junkies that attack his docks during certain shipments? I'm fairly certain he let's those attacks happen so he can syphon their souls when they're dispatched. I have no idea what he's using them for but I have no doubt he will kill you for your rather exceptional soul... unless we act first."
"I'm not confident that simply killing him will solve the problem. He is part of a larger organization, and has incredible wealth and numerous connections, as well as being a master strategist. We need to know what he knows to be sure of our ability to deal with any reprisals that result from his death. Fortunately, the terms of your contract mean that in the event of his death you own his soul, a perfect source of what he knows. Unfortunately, you can't manipulate the spiritual and couldn't collect. I do, and I could, with your permission. Ideally in the form of a Contract that allows me to exert your authority over souls you may have gained the right to. Messing with souls without the proper paperwork is risky. Owner would be able to handle that side of things. Anyway, think about it."


Time to dismantle those flesh factories. Get Gianni and Davgon together and have Amen bring them out. We aren't touching anything that is producing blood for Amen, it is unfortunately too risky. Everything else is up for grabs. First question we need answered is if the factories can remain operational if their souls are removed. They probably can't, but it was worth a try. Next thing to find out is how the constant torture of their existence has affected their souls. Davgon plus personal observation should be enlightening. Have their personalities transformed into hate-filled monstrosities, eroded completely, what? Gianni should be asked about any useful properties the left-over flesh from these things might have. This should be a good learning experience.

Obviously, appropriate orders/inquiries should be made to ensure Amen isn't holding out on us, hiding traps in the factories, has orders to prevent tampering with them he isn't telling us about, etc..

If there is any time left in the day, flip through that chakra book for something fun to try out. We went through quite a bit trying to get that thing, about time we enjoyed it.
>>
No. 425301 ID: fad7f5

...Lyubov's idea has tremendous potential to backfire. As a rule, powerful beings do not like being made fun out of, and even if they did become friends there's no reason they wouldn't take the embarrassement out on us. We wouldn't let Armas rile up a wizard and a dragon just on the off chance they hit it off, and we shouldn't let Lyubov do it either. Tell her to stop acting like a suicidal Armas.
>>
No. 425317 ID: f64567

We really should order Amen to remotely blow the heart that the dragon took from us.
>>
No. 426317 ID: cdc0e8

>: Bagga's Weekly Orders
>: Get those Gloomy memories put in. Be surprised at what he learns from them. Also be surprised as to the way he tried to leave the company. Feel a bit sorry for him, but he made his choices.
>: Keep his promise with Zhenya and help her with boxing in return with her teaching him more about guns.
>: Gianni Lessons! Learn what he can from them. Figure he should try to find some supplementary material to get a better impact with them.
>: Test his newly acquired sneaking and observations and quietly watch Zhenya and Mr.Duke practice. Use blood Monitoring to see how the body works in action, focusing on Mr.Duke.
>: Recall from Gloom memories that Lyubov offered to teach him Gyaktesuote. Talk to her about them and see if he could get the lessons.
>: Ms.Camellia Spars! Try practicing some blood monitoring while sparring with her and be ready to take his share of hits from that decision.
>: Matvey general lessons. Hopefully the new knowledge will make things easier for both him and Mr Matvey.
>: Vampire lessons~ be sure to get as much knowledge as he can about blood monitoring and it's various uses. Keep an ear out for any jobs the Zosimus may have for the company and be ready to inform Mr.Laine.
>: Ito Lesson Smackdown. Try to integrate the Systema knowledge he has into his Boxing while sparring with the vampires. Mix up his tactics a bit here and there to get a good feel for it and be ready to take what he can handle... and then be smacked around by the Itoing.
>: Special one time things
>: Get Mr. Shadowbro up to date on everything he's been learning at the lessons and that jobs may be available soon. Also inform him of the tapes that Gloom made of the stealth book. They are company property after all and Mr.Laine could likely handle it better than he can right now.
>: Once money is obtained, head to the vampire orphanage. Donate 5000 dollars to them in thanks for taking him in when he had no where else to go.
>: After Duke finished training for a day, ask Duke if he may take a in depth look of his circulatory system with blood monitoring. Be willing to pay for his time. Be ready to pay for his time and be sure to make the most of it. HE shall need note books.
>:Decide to ply his new sneaking and observation skills in a helpful manner. While Boris cooks, help clean up here and there to make things easier for him. Make sure to stay out his line of sight as he does this.

Whoooa there. No blowing up the rogue heart. For starters, if our lung was able to make a multidimensional parrot, our heart is likely the part of something big. Not only that, but we know from past experiences that hearts tend to have a larger concentration of magic than any other part of the body. Add in the fact that our heart is that of a dual bloodlined godling and you have something packing a LOT of energy. Blowing that thing up would likely destroy the object that held it and anyone in the area if we are unlucky. If we are REALLY unlucky, AORB is the one holding it. I don't know about you, but I do not want to piss them off. Besides, are you honestly thinking of giving Amen the command to blow up our heart? We are going to need to word that better if we don't want to blow our own heart up and not cause an incident.

For the flesh factories, figure out if there is anything to save first. Rescuing someone is all well and good, but rescuing a soulless or broken hunk of fresh with no identity or mind of it's own will not help us or anyone else for that matter.

As for what to do? Well, now that we made sure our body is fine, dole out the cash to the minions we promised(25k each), get a hold of the Savoys and the Mafia to see what possible jobs are available, find out what Blade has been up to lately and plan the first episode of the Adventures of Blade, and possibly start the feeding pot for the Kodoku champions.

Other things we can do is do a bit of looking around to find another arena, and check up on the news. Never know if there are chances right around the corner.
>>
No. 426396 ID: cb97cd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcp-3eG--PY
>>
No. 426865 ID: 40fb55

Reminder: Minion orders can now only be inputted on Sundays in-game

"Okay… that is amazing, and thank you for narrating it… don't know that the old Morgan's voice is right for you though… ah, whatever."
With Sake sniggering and wiggling beside me, I ponder what to do with the rest of the day-
>>425296
And decide I should keep the training focus rolling-and refresh myself on melee weapon combat so I'm ready to use the mere to it's fullest. To that end…. it's time to talk to Camella. I find the Company of Laine's official second in command wrapping up the mid-day lessons with the Russians and wait for her to be free. Having spotted my presence on the sidelines, she trots over the moment she sets them off.
>[Camella]"Is something wrong?"
"Not at all. So, like your birthday gift so far?"
Camella turned to ogle the metallic silhouette that perches atop the least popular sofa in the central hall of the mansion.
>[Camella]"It's… something, all right."
"The dragon who made it said that it was a multidimensional construct and naturally I thought of you and how it might help you in your journey home. Or, failing that, utilizing the fact it was made from my body, and its form as a parrot, an animal heavily associated with speech, to possibly keep in touch with you when we get you home some other way."
>[Camella]"You were being serious about that?"
I ignore the jab.
"Speaking of actually, I've been in contact with a local Witch that I think is probably our best bet for helping you. I have no idea what a witch might charge for something like this, and I'd imagine she would want payment upfront, so you might have to settle with getting a read on your world of origin for now, so even after Einrik's projected time limit is up, you can still get back."
>[Camella]"I… wow. Yes, that sounds… that sounds good. Is that the Witch with the were tribe?"
"Yes. There's one other thing I wanted to talk to you about. Lo Fang. Realistically, he isn't going to give you the chance to pay him back. You probably aren't aware, but the man collects souls."
>[Camella]"…Does he now."
"You know those junkies that attack his docks during certain shipments? I'm fairly certain he lets those attacks happen so he can siphon their souls when they're dispatched. I have no idea what he's using them for but I have no doubt he will kill you for your rather exceptional soul... unless we act first."
>[Camella]"So we kill him first, then."
"I'm not confident that simply killing him will solve the problem. He is part of a larger organization, and has incredible wealth and numerous connections, as well as being a master strategist. We need to know what he knows to be sure of our ability to deal with any reprisals that result from his death. Fortunately, the terms of your contract mean that in the event of his death you own his soul, a perfect source of what he knows. Unfortunately, you can't manipulate the spiritual and couldn't collect. I do, and I could, with your permission. Ideally in the form of a Contract that allows me to exert your authority over souls you may have gained the right to. Messing with souls without the proper paperwork is risky. Owner would be able to handle that side of things. Anyway, think about it… some other time. I don't want you distracted while you beat my face in."
Camella smiles as we square off.

Six hours later I'm feeling a bit more firm about my need to work on melee weapon use-and frankly pleased Camella was willing to devote her entire day to the company. I was able to clear out all the rust and cobwebs from my close-range fighting, and even set the groundwork for further improvement. Given repeat lessons and dedication, I could see myself pulling up to Camella's range of skill with my superior strength, speed and stamina. It'll take a while, but it's definitely on the table.

What I do with my evening is simple-
>>426317
I have Amen decommission every last one of the biofactories he has, save those used to create blood for his use. This amounts to two hundred seventy six… things that were once people.

I have Gianni and Dávgon double-check them alongside me, looking for signs even one of the tormented souls within was able to weather the damages wrought on them.

None did.

I seal all of their souls into a modified Kudoku urn on the off chance I can find someone to restore them.

After a late evening of work that left me feeling decidedly less impish than usual, I have an evening meal that tastes less amazing than usual. Instead of complaining to Boris, I go to sleep early, thinking about what could have happened, if my company hadn't rescued me.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23rd, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $9,711,410.00
BUSINESS FUNDS: $1,124,984.00
CASH: $6,120.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 100%
WINTER ENERGY: 160/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50


A new day begins-and this time, I don't have an arm pinned under my bedfellow. Lyubov’s already awake, reading something on her netbook as she lies beside me. She notices I’m up, and sets her computer on the nightstand before she rolls over on her side to face me.
>[Lyubov] “Hey, today’s the day.”
I roll over to face her, and kiss her before I ask, “What day?”
>[Lyubov] “My mother arrives today, remember?”
Oh right.
“How could I forget? What time does her flight arrive?”
>[Lyubov] “Around eight. I picked a morning flight for her.”
I glance at the teak and gold clock over my dresser. “You’ve got plenty of time, then. And you took the entire day off.”
>[Lyubov] “I did. I don’t have to be anywhere, just yet.”
I caress her, and she kisses me. “Well, if you have time…”
>[Lyubov] “…would I keep you in mind? Give me a moment to get ready.”
She grins at me and starts to make for the bathroom attached to my room when her phone rings, the ringtone oddly jilted and jarring. She picks it up from the nightstand and frowns as she looks at it.

“Your mother?”
>[Lyubov] “Unlisted, but it might be her. I should take it.”
“Don’t mind me.”
She sits on the bed, and I ogle her as she speaks.
>[Lyubov] “Hello?“
Oddly enough, I can hear the other party on the phone, a prissy sounding man. Though as I listen, I realize I’m not actually hearing what he’s saying so much as just perceiving it on some fundamental level. I start paying closer attention.
[Phone Guy] “You have retrieved your friend from the dragon. But now I have a-”
>[Lyubov] “Um. Phone Guy? It’s nice to hear from you! And yes he is safe now. Thank you again for your help, it was really invaluable actually for getting us going in the right direction and finding the right help and-”
[Phone Guy] “I have a question-“
>[Lyubov] “-and I was wondering if you would like me to arrange for some cookies to be sent to you?”
[Phone Guy] “-that... Cookies? That can wait, I-”
>[Lyubov] “I have a friend, who is the best baker in the world, and I could ask her to make some for you. But I would need to know where to send them and-”
[Phone Guy] “Let me speak. I have a question for you. Were you baptized by an Eastern Orthodox priest?”
>[Lyubov] “Ah. Yes. Why?”
[Phone Guy] “If the godling in the room with you is important enough to you to include in a life changing decision, take his hand, else I will be forced to talk to you alone.”
Lyubov looks at me like she's been goosed-I can't blame her.

Does everyone know that I’m a godling? Who is this guy?
>I think I know, but if I’m right I have to question why he’s picked Lyubov. She’s not the first person in the house I think of as embodying his ideals.
Well, who is it?
>Wait.
>[Lyubov] “What is this all about? Why are you-“
>There’s something wrong. I can feel a build up of energy focused on Lyubov, like the precursor to those NeverNever strikes that hit you, but which were redirected to the goblins.
[Phone Guy] “Hurry.”

Now that my attention’s been called to it, I can feel the first vague hints of the massive swell of energy that is the hallmark of a NeverNever gate event- and I realize I have no time to do anything about it, as while I was focusing on reading the magic energy signatures surrounding her, Lyubov had already reached over and grabbed my hand. As I attempt to sit up, I feel myself become increasingly more sluggish, my heartbeat slowing to a crawl. An electric feeling of static dancing along my skin permeates my arm and face, and I realize that I’m now in mental communion with Lyubov and the Phone Guy.
>In light of this, the call does make more sense.
[Phone Guy] “You are Lyubov Ivanovna Khorobrova, whose father was named Ivan, a mechanic and soldier, who was killed in action in Afghanistan by a rocket propelled grenade that hit his service vehicle. Your mother is Svetlana. She raised you with the help of her parents, and worked as a secretary for Bykov Accounting, a medium sized book keeping company. She is currently boarding a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul. You were born in the Maternity Hospital building of Mozhaysk Hospital. Date of birth was March 13th 1989, at 3 p.m. local time. You attended Moscow University, studying math, until you dropped out in Spring of 2008. From October 1st 2008 you were a mechanic for the army until you were declared killed in action January 4th, 2011 and subsequently declared a traitor to Russia a week later. Is this all correct, or have I found the wrong Lyubov?”
>[Lyubov] “Who are you? Did you hack all the government offices in Russia? How do you know all this?”
[Phone Guy] “Miss Khorobrova, I am Nikola Tesla.”
I beam a tight mental communication to Shadowbro, largely to express the feeling of 'what' I'm experiencing.
>The god of Science and Electricity. I’m impressed she caught his attention. She and Sake must have raised hell with the phones.
>[Lyubov] “…the Tesla coil guy?”
[Tesla] “The very same. Understand that I give you my name because I suspect that you would not accept help from an unknown entity, and you will need help in very short order to survive your imminent ordeal.”
>[Lyubov] “What ordeal? And why can I not move?”
[Tesla] “You are in a field which manipulates the perception of time passing, focused on your phone. We had run out of time for normal conversation earlier, and in any case I prefer to speak at a much higher reference frequency than what most people use.”

It's at this point I decide to chime in.
“You’ve got a NeverNever strike aimed at you.”
The voice that crackles within our minds seems to hum in approval.
[Tesla] “So you are not totally incompetent, Armas Laine, whose father is named-“
“I know who I am.”
>[Lyuov] “Wait, no, just stop and answer. WHAT? Seriously, what do you mean?”
“A NeverNever gate strike, like that story you told me Monday night.”
>[Lyubov] “Oh no, no, no, I had plans today! I have stuff I need to do! Why today? I do not want to fight a little war this morning.”
[Tesla] “Without intervention you will not survive the strike to see opportunists attempt to eat you. You are currently well above the magic quotient for successfully surviving a NeverNever gate event. Your chakra gates are too developed and dilated, and you have absorbed far too much magical luck and divine proto-soul essence into your body from close contact with magical beings. When the gate event hits you, you will simply overload and explode instead of becoming a living conduit.”
>[Lyubov] “Wait, I will die?”
“Divine proto-soul essence?”
[Tesla] “And I am again disappointed with you Mr. Laine. You do not even know your own people’s lore. Maori tradition states that semen contains significant magical energy, in the format of a proto-soul intended to combine with menstrual fluid in the womb to form a new human soul, with a strong propensity for the new soul to-‘
>[Lyubov] “Why is this even important now? I am not pregnant! I do not want to die!”
[Tesla] “How fortunate that you caught my attention then, and that I have a way to quickly return you to basal levels of magical energy.”
>[Lyubov] “What is it?”
I hear desperation in her mental voice.

[Tesla] “Understand that this only will work because of your heritage and religion: Russian-descended standard human, baptized by an Eastern Orthodox priest. The rites act as the foundation for a ritual completed by a divine lightning strike, while your heritage ensures sufficient weight of Belief to smooth out any unfortunate side effects from it. I can direct a bolt of lightning at you which will make you conceptually without sin at the ‘cost’ of moving your magic energy to me. This will leave you primed to become a conduit; in most cases this sainthood ritual is used to make someone a divine conduit, to become a true saint with the ear of a patron god. This will, technically, make you one of my saints.”
>[Lyubov] “Why are you even explaining things to me? It would have been simpler to just hit me with the lightning.”
[Tesla] “I do not pick saints without due consideration. If you are to be my saint, you must meet my standards. And there will be some terms you must follow if you agree.”
>[Lyubov] “Well, I will hear them, but given that my other choice is to simply die-“
“Not quite true, I could have Amen scour the magic from your body and soul.”
[Tesla] “There are no guarantees you will survive the subsequent strike with that method. The sainthood ritual I propose has much better chances of seeing you successfully survive.”
>[Lyubov] “-I will hear him out.”
[Tesla] “Your temperament, creativity, energy, and date of birth are all good. You were born in the middle of the greatest geomagnetic storm of the century, which bodes well for being my saint. Your academic record was good until Spring 2008, when you dropped out for no reason that I can tell. What happened?”
>[Lyubov] “My heart was broken. A boy, Sergei, he was my first love and had accepted a scholarship to study in San Diego. I got word he had married and I became badly upset.”

…I never knew that. We haven’t really talked about previous relationships, though.
[Tesla] “You had a nervous break down?”
>[Lyubov] “Yes.”
[Tesla] “You served as a soldier, what prompted this?”
>[Lyubov] “Need. I had no money, and my mother was in debt from my grandparents’ funeral and medical expenses. I would only have been a burden to her.”
[Tesla] “Why not dig ditches, or other honest labor?”
>[Lyubov] “I was, um. I was an idiot. I thought it’d be an experience I could get material to write songs from, and it would be interesting and I didn’t think we’d be fighting anyone anyway and, yeah. Stupid.”
[Tesla] “Yet you work in a mercenary company now, though one designed to engage criminals and the supernatural instead of fight wars with humans.”
>[Lyubov] “My father died in a stupid and useless war, and I was nearly killed in a secret war on magical creatures. I have no love for war; private military actions are ok, as long as civilians are not involved.”
[Tesla] “Have you invented anything?”
>[Lyubov] “Um. Well. Um.”
“She made a little backpack for a weasel. He loved it.”
>[Lyubov] “Oh and I have been figuring out how to mount a thermal scope on it so he can see thermals for riding the wind on a kite. And I made some holsters for carrying self-defense pistols that were better than the commercial designs. Um. Also, a friend and I were talking of making a full sized tank able to be remote controlled, but our mutual acquaintance did not really want to work with me and so I have not pushed the issue, I had hoped to use it to help build a friendship.”
[Tesla] “Were your projects completely original designs?”
>[Lyubov] “No, everything I made is built on earlier designs. I improved them for my purposes.”
[Tesla] “I do not presently have an Istanbul agent. You would be such, and I would issue you tasks. Should I accept you, can you give up smoking, encourage and help promising new inventors, and promise to work to turn the motivations that drive you toward the good of all humans?”
>[Lyubov] “I can make such promises. The first I am trying anyway, the second sounds fun, and the third I will earnestly work on.”
“Lyubov. Are you sure? Entering a pact with a god shouldn’t be done lightly.”
>Says the man who swore his soul to one for a service period.
But not forever, ‘bro.

>[Lyubov] “I think it is better than risking my soul being utterly destroyed.”
[Tesla] “Then do you, Lyubov Ivanovna Khorobrova, agree to enter a contract with Nikola Tesla to give up smoking, to uphold his values and serve as an example of them, and to act as his earthly agent in Istanbul, so that you may be a Saint of Tesla until your corporeal end?”
“Wait. Don’t agree to that Lyubov, a witch can live forever.”
[Tesla] “Statistically unlikely, given the sampling of eventualities from other dimensions I have polled. Further, she will not be becoming a Witch proper, but a mathamatically derived Belief-based Witch-like entity. She will have more in common with a divine prophet or a God's Voice. ”
Okay what's that?
>"Sake would know more, but effectively it's what happens if a God, rather than a Wizard, blanks magic in someone immediately before they are hit by a Never Never strike."
So what happens if a Dragon does the blanking, or a Skin Walker or-
>"[i]Not the time.
"
Armed with this concise tidbit of knowledge, I resume my haggling on Lyubov's behalf.
“But it’s possible. There should be a term of service, and terms on the service itself. We’re talking about a witch here-"
[Tesla] “A Witch-based Saint, please be precise.”
"Still, one of the most powerful individual beings on the planet, capable of challenging pretty much anyone, right?"
[Tesla] “Her methodology for tapping magical energy hereafter, given it will be completely based on my own essence, will perforce be wholly alien to the vast majority of individuals. There will be no practiced defenses to raise against her.”
"Then there should be some sort of limit on how you’re allowed to access her power.”
>[Lyubov] “Armas is right. I will not agree to hurting my friends and loved ones, or being set against them. And I should not be always at your beck and call, I would like a guarantee of time of my own. And there should be the option to defer service periods if I am pregnant, nursing a child, or attending to my family’s needs.”

[Tesla] “Then I offer this: Do you, Lyubov Ivanovna Khorobrova, agree to enter a contract with Nikola Tesla to give up smoking, to uphold his values and serve as an example of them, and to act as his earthly agent in Istanbul with the stipulations that you will not be set against your friends and loved ones, you will have the option to defer service while on maternity leave, and your service will consist of a period no longer than 108 hours every three fortnights, so that you may be a Saint of Tesla for a period of 33 years?”
>36 days a year. 3 years 3 months total service out of 33 years.
>[Lyubov] “To be able to live to see being 56, to be a... Witch Saint? Yes, I will be your saint.”
[Tesla] “Hurry to the window once time's returned to its normal flow. Armas, instruct your home to allow my lightning to strike Lyubov and do so without delay. The rest will happen on its own. I suggest remaining indoors until some time has passed; while some can recognize the difference between Witchs and Witch Saints and will leave you be, most wizard hunters will not want to fight the Bloodfiend. Next Monday I give you your first mission.”

And just like that, time snaps back into its proper place. Lyubov hurls the phone away as it bursts into flames, another $1000 satellite phone destroyed. She leaps up from the bed and dashes to the window, throwing the curtains open and lifting the lower sash until it’s opened, completely heedless of her nudity.
Amen, let the lightning from Tesla strike Lyubov.
>[Amen] “This one hears and obeys, obeys, obeys, oh master.”
I am still in accelerated thought as a pure white lightning bolt strikes through the opened window, splitting into eight distinct branches as it touches her. A branch for each of her chakra nodes, from crown to root, the lightning visibly burning her chakra gates back to the state they had two months ago, tearing the very magic from her. A breath later, I feel the cataclysmic magic energy of the NeverNever gate strike well up to fullness, a familiar sensation from a new perspective. There’s a tremendous rush of raw magic, and I sense Lyubov’s soul attuning to it, adapting to the power offered from the planet as it rapidly reshapes and inflates her soul as its shape warps and writhes into contortions even my own soul can't match…

…until it settles upon a bloated shape that I can only call the spiritual equivalent of a tesseract hewn of lightning.

She tumbles over, stunned, her entire body covered in a feathery pattern of red burns from the lightning, the smell of burnt hair filling the room. Her throat raw, she voices her opinion of that whole affair.
[Lyubov] “Oh, that was horrible.”
>She will be vulnerable for some time, until she acclimates.
Okay-yeah, gonna need some answers on this. SB, can you-
>I've already called for Sake, he should-

A green blur bursts into the room with fur bristling and butt waggling in the air, shovel paws spread wide for trouble and wrapped in flows of distorted air.
>[Sake]"Brothers, Lyubov, are you....."
The tumultuous wind currents around his form dim in a manner I can now recognize as evidencing his brain catching up with his actions.
>[Sake]"...What?"
"What, what?"
A beady eye peers intently at Lyubov as she slowly starts sitting up, her movements shaky.
>[Sake]"Why... why is Lyuba a Witch Saint?"
"We'd be delighted to answer that but first some more information on what that IS would be handy. Also, how could you tell what she is?"
>[Sake]"What? Any wholly Divine being can detect Witch Saints-you should be able to too!"
"I've never met one before so-"
>[Sake]"The way her soul doesn't feel like it's made of soul, so much as something else-like lightning? Clear indicator of a Witch or Wizard Saint. Now-"
"Mechanically, what does being a Witch Saint mean for her?"
>[Sake]"Uh... there was an analogy SB helped me think up that-"
>"The Source Code thing?"
>[Sake]"Yes, that! ...How'd it go again?"
>"...If Sake's analogy is accurate, she now has what is effectively the Source Code of divine magic, and can interface with or otherwise manipulate any form of Divine energy, and has the capacity to register as the owner of any piece of divine magic should it's actual owner not currently be exerting his influence."
"That... is amazing, and I'm kind of expecting to hear a 'but' any time now."
>[Sake]"Well, her soul's REAL... uncondensed. Dangerously so. And every time she uses her magic, it will make her soul bloat more-"
"Soul Rupture threat? Are you saying that's a concern any time she does... anything?"
>[Sake]"Even using chakra, yes."
"She can still do that?"
>[Sake]"A divine analogue patterned after the deity she's now a Saint of, yes-"
The weasel stomps his feet in midair, miniscule sonic booms breaking up my attempt to further my questions.
>[Sake]"Now someone tell me who claimed Lyuba!"

The thus far silent observer Hummingbird deigns to chime in.
>[HB]"It seems the female was given forewarning of a pending environmental threat-it was called a Never Never strike, is that correct?"
>"Correct."
>[HB]"An entity capable of manipulating the communication devices favored by giants has become her patron, by my understanding."
Sake rounded on Lyubov, a perplexed question written on his face.
>[Sake]"The phone guy? He's a god? What god? What he demand of you?"

Lyubov, still reeling from being struck by lightning and then hit with the single most potent magical force I've yet encountered tries to speak, her raw throat failing her as naught but scratchy warbles come out. With a shake of his head, Sake soars over to her, rubbing up against her side-as her burns persist.
"Are the burns magical?"
>[Sake]"Yes but that's not the problem-Lyubov, you have to accept my healing, okay?"
The weasel catches Lyubov's confused look and keeps on squeaking.
>[Sake]"I can't tell you HOW to do it, only Witch Saints know what it's like-maybe if you try-

Sake's healing kicks in and Lyubov's form is restored to full working order. She coughs out a mouthful of phlegm and bloody flecks before groaning.
>[Sake]"How'd you accept it?"
>[Lyubov]"I just-bluh, that's a terrible taste-I just pretended like I was in that place where we talked before, and tried to nod and say yes, and it worked."
Lyubov looks up at me with a decidedly perturbed expression.
>[Lyubov]"My soul is in danger of rupture again?"
I observe her soul more closely, noting the transient, ephemeral feel of it-the insubstantiality of it's mass.
"...Yeah. We're going to need to work on getting your Soul Density up."
>[Sake]"I can help her with that! In fact I'm going to do that right now!"
Sake wraps himself around the naked Lyubov's neck, and starts pulling her along by using his tube-like body like a leash, shortly leaving me alone with Shadowbro and Hummingbird.

"So... that just happened."
>"We're going to need to figure out why this even happened."
>[HB]"...So this isn't another of you giant's mad mating rituals?"

I feel now is an EXCELLENT time to sigh as I try to make sense of how my morning started.






What am I going to do about this wholy 'Lyubov's now a Witch Saint' thing?
Lyubov's mother is arriving today-what am I going to do regarding that? Anything, or leave that to Lyubov?
What's my general plan for the day?
>>
No. 427611 ID: 522afb

Feel happy for your girlfriend! Even if she did suddenly overtake you in power. As pretty much every woman in your life seems to be doing. Damn gender inequality.

Go pick up Svetlana from the airport. Wouldn't hurt to make a good first impression, and personally picking her up would probably help with that.



As for what to do during the day...

See about putting Reaper soul remains in reaper charm get-up to see if that makes it work for anyone. Get Einrik's and Davgon's input on it.

Get Camella to train with Old Lady for soul sensing chakra configuration, send her to scout Lo Fang's compound to see the soul stealing, report to Owner.

Go through Doonengaes memories searching for more information about the Shen.

Contact Oggmum on Carmella's behalf, try to find out how much figuring out which plane of existence she comes from and to get her something of a tracer for that plane.

Spend goblin training hours for the rest of the day learning how to craft charms.
>>
No. 427628 ID: 8e38d4

Armas really should go see that chakra book, try to find a "walking on the moon" orientation.
>>
No. 427692 ID: 252e1b

>What am I going to do about this wholy 'Lyubov's now a Witch Saint' thing?

What CAN be done? Help her get her soul into a safe state (which, besides whatever Sake is doing with her, may include tricks like another near-death experience, or just calling Tesla up and asking him what should be done), be supportive of her, and help her as much as you can.

As to why this happened? Tesla's obviously been watching Lyubov ever since the prank calls started, and he's probably been looking into the company too. Best guess is that he really is hurting for an Istanbul agent and he decided Lyubov would serve. Like he said, she's got a lot of traits that make her a decent match with him, and she's connected to our company, which is itself fairly well connected.

The only worrying issue is that she's probably going to be pretty good at controlling divine beings. But she asked for a clause in her contract to be sure that Tesla couldn't force her against us, so that's not a big worry. She's still trustworthy.

>Lyubov's mother is arriving today-what am I going to do regarding that?

Talk to Lyubov about it. She asked Feodor to help, and he agreed, but if we want to look like a prince we can go with Feodor or just go ourselves and thank Feodor for wanting to help. Going in person says a lot, and Lyubov's not just an employee, she's Armas's girlfriend. We want Svetlana to at least have a good first impression.

Plus we'll get all sorts of opportunities to troll Svetlana if we meet her ourselves.

>What's my general plan for the day?

Call a meeting for this afternoon, include Camella, Matvey, Duke, Gianni, B.C., Dávgon, Lyubov, Sake, and SB. We're going to need to talk about this, at least to keep everyone on the same page about what is going on in the house.
>>
No. 427716 ID: 252e1b

>>427692
I don't know how it slipped my mind, but Hillevi should be included in the afternoon meeting too.

As for actual plans to troll Svetlana, the IRC guys are saying we ought to go in with stuff that's specific to her, which means either talking to her or asking Lyubov questions about her mom. If we do the latter, Lyubov will tell us that Svetlana's M.O. is to do whatever she can to try to keep a low profile. She'll fix issues behind the scenes, she'll act professional, and she'll go to some lengths to avoid being a notable person herself.

So obviously whatever we do to her should draw a lot of attention to her. It'd be doubly nice if it were deniable or not obvious at all. Maybe a soul guise that says "Look at the woman next to me!" would be a fun start. People would look twice and not know what the fuck, and Svetlana could hardly not notice the attention, though she'd be at an utter loss as to what was going on.
>>
No. 428598 ID: 9718f3

The only thing to do, really, is to make sure it doesn't kill her. Beyond that there isn't much to be done. Finding out why exactly a NN strike was targeting her, if it was random or directed, is obviously important but I can't think of anything that can be done right now about that. Tesla would probably know. In fact, considering Lyubov's unique position, it is plausible that Tesla is the one behind it. Not many people live in a house like ours, a house that is shielding her from the typical witch hunters. Provides excellent security on the investment of a NN strike, however much that cost him. Assuming it was him. Need more info.

I'm inclined to stick around the house to keep an eye on Lyubov rather than go to pick up Svetlana ourselves. We've plenty of able-bodied folks. If we're worried about making a good impression, "Sorry I didn't pick you up myself, I didn't want to leave your daughter's side and she can't leave the house right now." would be a decent card to play.

We should follow Sake and Lyubov. We've got some knowledge of souls and energy to throw around, we might be able to help with whatever Sake is doing. Or at least learn about it, it seems likely to be divine magic, and that is something we are planning on picking up anyway, this is a great opportunity for a lesson. Keep Lyubov entertained as possible, try making funny faces using fleshcrafting impersonations or something. Again, an excellent opportunity to practice.

Check the chakra book for a "walking on surfaces" orientation. Being able to walk/run/stand on walls/ceilings would be both incredibly amusing and useful. If that is a no-go, combine dual-orientation training with over/undercharging practice. Experiment with different combinations of over and undercharged orientations to see what is easiest and what is most challenging. Try and see if you can run an undercharged orientation with an overcharge of the same orientation at the same time. Undercharged soul-sensing with overcharged soul-sensing, for example. Some of this overlaps with previous exercises, but taking stock of our chakratic abilities every once in a while is prudent.

>>427692
>Meeting, Gianni
The meeting is a good idea, so long as Lyubov agrees, it is her secret to keep or not after all. I'm not sure about including Gianni though. He isn't part of the company, we just have a deal that means we get to use his services. A deal that doesn't even touch on confidentiality, which is something we really need to have a discussion with him about. If he is reporting everything he sees and hears back to the mafia, we need to reconsider how we utilize his services, as that is simply not a price that is wise to pay for them.
>>
No. 429037 ID: 486be3

A surface walking orientation would be handy, especially if we are going to be fighting in enclosed areas, but I am going to have to SUST the moon walking one.

In terms of Lyubov's mom, we should pick her up. Lyubov will be fine with Sake so we don't need to worry there. As for the officer meeting, Gianni may be Mafia, but if he promises to not tell anyone outside the room, his imput could be handy. Besides, we can use the meeting as a way to do a status report on how things are going and we can start looking for work. Got to keep growing the company.
>>
No. 429179 ID: fd3125

Call Arkvad and ask about the mere.
>>
No. 429411 ID: 40fb55

I step around the burned spot on the carpet by the window and firmly close the aged glass panes, locking off the already fetid breeze whispering through downtown. Then I start to get dressed for the day, talking as I do so. As tempting as it would be to tease Hummingbird on his social disconnect, I figure he deserves a straight answer-after all, prickly guy that he is he still puts up with my crap largely without complaint.
“No, Hummingbird, this had nothing to do with mating. The way I see it, Tesla’s obviously been keeping an eye on Lyubov. At least ever since she and Sake started with their prank calls. That’s, what, a month or so of monitoring our phones?”
>Likely. I still am unclear specifically why he chose her though.
“He tried to verify her baptism status right away. He probably couldn’t look it up himself in time, if the records weren’t digital.”
>No time to get a follower in Russia to help with sorting analog data? Possible.
“And he did try to give her more warning than I would have expected someone making a hard sale to. She wasted it, but he made the effort. I think what happened here was probably him seizing an opportunity... kind of like the Note Writer and me, now that I think about it.”
>Which, while great for ensuring that Lyubov’s still with us, doesn’t materially change the fact that he was watching in the first place. Given that he decided to research you as well, this may indicate he’s got an eye on the entire company.
“Putting aside what, logically, someone like Nicolai Tesla-"
>"Assuming that was truly him-"
"Yes, aside from that, and the potentially obvious electrical prowess such an entity would have, I assume Yavuz has been putting out feelers for the staggering amount of iridium he needs for the golem’s emitters, and Satai’s been doing a large amount of wheeling and dealing of his own for us."
>"Now would likely be a good time to say I have floated our companies name to several lesser shades and shadowfiends I know have transactable issues."
>[HB]"And your jade-furred fellow trickster has commented about having similarly offered forth your flock's name when visiting local... 'watering holes'. That is the term, correct?"
"It is... yeah, kind of wish this had been mentioned before."
>"It seemed somewhat self-evident we would spread the companies name amongst magical contacts when mundane jobs are less then stellar."
"Right. All that activity is easily traceable if you’re watching already. I’m inclined to take Tesla at his word: he was looking for an appropriate agent in Istanbul. He didn’t say it, but he probably wanted someone with enough existing contacts to be useful, and decided we might fit the bill. So he took a gamble on Lyubov when the opportunity arose.”
>Gamble indeed, she is close to the last person I would peg as a follower of Tesla.
I scratch my head, trying to pluck free one of my older memories.
“I’m not so sure about that. I kinda remember a-“
>Documentary, yes. We saw it in the barracks in Iraq. That’s right, Tesla was a troublemaker as a kid, wasn’t he?
“And he didn’t really start with his most brilliant inventing until he was in his mid-twenties. Lyubov’s only just turning 23 next month.”
>How do you think this going to affect your relationship with her?
“Honestly? Not sure. I trusted her before this, and she’s got a clause in her contract that makes it so I can still keep trusting her. But she’s a lot more powerful now. I’m happy she is, it’s great I’ve got all these powerful women in my life, but I don’t know how she’ll take it.”
>I think it’s worth noting that, if what Sake has told me is correct, Lyubov is going to be especially good at dominating and controlling divine spirits, godlings, and even weaker gods.
“I can think of a lot of uses for that.”
>That includes you and Sake.
“Yeah, I got that: I still trust her. If it’ll make you feel better, you can figure out an emergency plan if you want.”
>Seeing how she works would be of great help in that. Perhaps you could offer to let her practice on that siren that is arriving tomorrow.
“I’ll think about it and let you know.”

As I sit on the bed to start to pull on my shoes, I sense a trio of souls approaching my bedroom door: Feodor, walking alongside Lyubov, and Sake draped around her. I catch a bit of their conversation as she speaks.
[Lyubov] "So, enough about Tesla and saints and weasels. I think Armas is in his room still?"
[Sake] "He is. And you can never talk too much about weasels."
[Lyubov] "Then, enough for right now about weasels. There are nightmares to stop. So, Feodor? It is only the bad dreams where you are, ah, eating people that you wish to stop?"
>[Feodor] "Yeah, I'm used to the rest of my nightmares by now."
Odd. Feodor was quite a bit harder to hear than either of them.
>Sake is spiritually tied to you, and Lyubov does not yet have any control to speak of over her divine signature. It pulses when she speaks.
So she's just... broadcasting? Yeah, got to get that under control.

Lyubov raps on the bedroom door twice.

I call out, "What's up? You ever get dressed?"
[Lyubov] "Yes, I put on my bathrobe. But we need to talk a minute."
Without further preamble, she opens the door. Funnily enough, Sake's all over her, snaking up out from under her bathrobe. ...Is it just me, or is Sake being even more friendly with her?
>She has sufficient divine signature now, and it has sufficient weight of Belief behind it, that to a Divine-specced Ramidreju or other wealth and/or luck-sensing divine creature, touching Lyubov is like touching a large bed of precious gems. You've seen how he is with Camella? Our favorite slider has enough luck to register as being similar to touching gold.
I recall that Sake does seem to like to touch Camella more than the others, and I smile.
I thought gold was pretty valuable?
>Historically, precious gems have been associated most with being the ultimate in portable wealth.
He is not going to want to stop touching her, is he?
>I think that exceedingly unlikely, yes.

I break from the brief interlude of accelerated thought as Feodor greets me, and Sake mentally briefs me. He explains that Feodor found him and Lyubov, apparently concerned someone had been hurt by the lightning bolt. Lyubov had explained, more or less, what happened to her and in the course of the explanation Feodor ended up blurting out that he had been having issues with recurring dreams where he was eating his friends. Lyubov and Sake among them. Suffice to say: This bothered him.

I bring up my soul sensing orientation and re-examine Feodor. He is, indeed, showing signs of the blue, brown and purple soul-bruises that mark one as a cannibal- but the taint is not nearly as apparent as my own. It's more of a spread out sheen, a full soul bruise from surface to core, than specific lines of taint. Reminds me of the exceptionally faint cannibalistic taint I sometimes feel on generic, mundane passerbies.

I play it cool. "Sake says you've come out about your cannibal taint. What's up?"
>[Feodor] "You knew as well? I guess I shouldn't be surprised by now... I've come to ask you to stop the nightmares I've been having lately. The cannibal ones."
I drum my fingers on the bed and say, "Your cannibal taint is more like something that would have been a faint imprint that's been bloated up, than what I'd expect. Unfortunately, dealing with the taint itself isn't something I'd recommend just yet; it'd require some work on your soul, fairly delicate work at that thanks to the way it is layered on you. But the dreams I can do. You want a soul bind to not have cannibal-based dreams, right?"
>[Feodor] "Yes, but... why is everyone so calm about this? I've been keeping this secret, and now that I'm telling people, nobody seems to even care. It's like I'm just the friendly neighborhood cannibal, completely pedestrian, something you see every day. Why?"
"It happens. Some divine beings are going to be snooty about it. Some aren't going to care. Some'll invite you to dinner. I'm guessing Lyubov just doesn't care?"
[Lyubov]"I don't see any reason to, either way. It's not like he's murdering people just to eat them or anything."
>[Feodor] "No, of course not. I just thought it was something... wrong, you know?"
I don't really want to utterly discourage him, but I can't lie to him about it. How to phrase it...
"Feodor, most of the magic community, that is, the collection of bloodline practitioners and contract holders and chakra users and in-the-know humans, won't be very happy about it, but they're not going to go out of their way to kill you unless you give them a real reason. Mostly, enemies will care about the strength of your cannibal taint. Yours? Weaksauce. They'll see it and think you probably ate some blood by mistake or ate out a girl on the rag or something."
I take delicious enjoyment out of watching Feodor's mouth flopping about like a fish at my cavalier reference.
>How delicately put, brother.
Lyubov's thinking something similar, I can see she's torn between being amused by the idea of someone being permanently marked a cannibal for earning his red wings and having to be serious for Feodor's sake.
>[Feodor] "Well, it was accidental! It's not like I wanted this..."
"Many cannibals don't, but that first step on the path is usually taken by accident or because need forces the issue."
>[Feodor] "Is this kind of thing common knowledge? How do you know all this?"
"You do know I'm half Maori, right?"
[Lyubov] "I can hardly forget it, it's the "dark" part of your tall, dark, and handsome."
Feodor just ignores her joke.
>[Feodor] "And?"
"And, their old practices included human cannibalism. Some of the Maori pantheon are advocates of it. Lyubov, I told you about Whaitiri, right?"
>You're sure you want to draw attention to this?
Lyubov will figure it out anyway, she knows enough now and she's connected to Tesla, who, last time I checked, knew everything on the internet.
>Point taken.
[Lyubov] "Um. Yeah. A Maori goddess."
See, she didn't give away anything about my connection to her.
"Right. She's a cannibal goddess, among other things."
Lyubov's looking at me very thoughtfully now. I ignore the scrutiny.
>[Feodor] "And you learned all this from one of her priests?"
"Yeah you could say that."
>[Feodor] "Oh. Well, what do I do?"
"First, don't go out eating people publically, that's a surefire way to attract attention. If you do decide you want to indulge in flesh for some reason, like, maybe it's a life and death situation, or maybe there's a dinner invitation you can't really refuse..."
Feodor visibly flinches at that, but it'd be dishonest to not suggest that accepting an invitation to indulge might be the only thing that keeps a cannibal from trying to eat him at some point.
"...then there are ways to hide your taint's signature getting stronger. Some charms, some kinds of spirit animals. Other ways too, I suppose. It may be worth hiding it now, if you want to avoid the social stigma that comes with it. But, as I see things, the real problem for cannibals is that they end up hungering. Human flesh, or flesh with good magic content, can sate the craving. Don't go spreading this around until after the tournament this weekend, but you're actually safe to be eating magic food again. So, get a minotaur steak or something else with a solid bit of magically infused blood in it and that should help. Finally, if the dreams and cravings are still bugging you, I can put a soul bind on you to make them hard for you to even notice. One bind won't hurt your soul growth-okay, might hurt it a BIT, but it wouldn't be a crippling change or anything like that."

The relief on Feodor's face is palpable.
>[Feodor] "So I'll be fine? Oh thank god... Thank you, Armas"
"Sure. I told you, my door's open about problems. Do you still want that soul bind, or do you want to see if some magic meat helps first?"
>[Feodor] "I think I'll try without the bind, for now. Thank you again."
Just as Feodor's working over the unexpectedly great news, I turn to Lyubov, recalling her initial preamble.
"Right. Lyubov, you got an issue too, right? Let me guess: your mom?"
[Lyubov] "Yeah, but I just wanted to let you know I asked Feodor to go get her when her flight arrives."
Sake lazily drawls out a snicker-filled comment.
>[Sake]"You could go pick her up."
[Lyubov] "I could? Shouldn't I be staying inside and learning or something like that-that's what you said, isn't-"
Sake's butt rises up to smack her in the face.
>[Sake]"A Witch Saint with a mortal is OBVIOUSLY out on a divine mission and as such, interfering with them would require being ready to interfere with the plans of their patron god-anything that wants to mess with that could probably mess with you in the house if it really wanted to."
[Lyubov] "That really doesn't make me feel better about this!"
"I wouldn't have minded taking care of that for you if you want."
[Lyubov] "That would be nice-but… Sake, are you being serious?"
>[Sake]"Of course, Lyuba."
[Lyubov] "…Then maybe I should pick her up after all?"
" Might be a good idea: and you'll be there with Feodor. When you do get back though: would you like me to be with you when you break the news to her?"
[Lyubov] "Um. If you can be with me when I explain to her what happened to me this morning, that would be nice. You and Sake."
[Sake] "I'm not going anywhere today. I'm totally going to stick right with you."
"There was another errand to run anyway. We're going to need more satellite phones. I need to get a replacement for myself, you need a new one now, and your mom'll need one I guess."
>[Feodor] "I can pick them up if you arrange for them."
"Great. One less thing for me to think about."
[Lyubov] "Feodor, I needed to talk to Armas about another thing too. If you could?"
>[Feodor] "Oh, yes. Excuse me. I need to let Camella know why I’m skipping part of class, anyway."

As soon as he's out of the room and the door is firmly closed, Lyubov frowns at me.

[color=#CC00CC][Lyubov] "Do you indulge, much?"

I can tell she's not in the mood for me to play ignorant here.
"Not more than I need to."
[Lyubov] "How? How did it come to pass?"
"Just like I told Feodor. Need and accident. I had to engage in a ritual with Whaitiri to save my life; it worked, but it left me tainted. Since then I've only done so as I absolutely needed to. That's why I keep so much magic meat in the house."
[Lyubov] "Well. I guess I can accept it. But, if you end up needing to again in the future, brush your teeth before you kiss me."
I laugh-and then put on a patently fake serious face.
"Seriously though, what's up with today? NN Strike, Divine Teslaic intervention, you becoming a Witch Saint, Feodor finally asking about his feeding problem…. did someone tack a 'talk to Armas about your shit' sign on my door or something?"
[Lyubov] "I did not see one, no."
"Damn. There goes my explanation."

>>427611
For a moment, I think about accompanying Lyubov and Feodor to pick up Svetlana-
>>427692
Until I realize I'm thinking of her like a girlfriend, and not a fuckbuddy. Nipping THAT train of thought in the bud.

Besides, I got shit to follow up on here.

I ring up Oggmum's number, and ask to get called back about a Trans-Dimensional Consult when time permits, before I call Arkvad. He, at least, is at home.
>[AS]"Armas, how are you?"
"Excellent, thank you for asking. Well, not AS excellent as I will be when you give me the documentation about the mere."
>[AS]"Ah-haha, certainly. How about I bring it over and we do brunch?"
"Sure, where?"
>[AS]"You know that coffee shop two blocks down from you?"
"…The one with the picture of a boar in it's window?"
>[AS]"The very same. Their blood sausage is amazing."
"I'm sold. Would ten work?"
>[AS]"Ten AM at the Ground Boar, sounds perfect."
"Prior to that-anything REALLY important I need to know about my weapon?"
>[AS]"Just that you shouldn't eat it, really. So long as you don't do that prior to brunch, I'm sure it'll be fine."
"Hah, all right. See you then."
*Click*

With the rest of my morning prior to my new appointment, I get cracking on something else that's been sitting for a while: The Reaper Charms and the bit of Reaper soul they're stuck to. I sling the set over my shoulder and proceed down to the golem/kudoku room where I find, unsurprisingly, Dávgon and Gianni both present, each one monitoring a project. Both look up at my arrival as I theatrically slap the charm set down.
"SO. I'd like this golem to scoff at the notion of normal chronal flow, and in general cheat as much as a Reaper in combat. Think we can work a still-active charm set into the golem?"
While Dávgon busies himself carefully staring down my prize with a neutral face, I see the exhaustive deliberation behind his mask-his entire soul's pondering the question, quite literally. Even his Spirit Animals seem to have been thrown together into a council for him. Gianni, on the other hand, flounces upright to pick up the set and cast a speculative eye my way.
>[GiaGia]"Hmm~. I obviously can't see the soul-bit your talking about, but putting aside the scandalous tale of this booties acquisition, would it be correct to say the charms merely need to be in contact with the body to function, rather than outright worn?"
I have no idea.
>[Dávgon]"That's correct. They're built that way such that a wounded reaper with his charms forced into his body could still ply them."
>[GiaGia]"A delightfully explicit comment, thank you dear. Well, the magic I'm feeling from these charms shouldn't be a problem for any of the flesh within the golem-I see no potential problems for the physical part of the implant, Davvy?"
>[Dávgon]"…The one that once had this soul: He hated you, didn't he."
"To say he cursed me with his dying breath wouldn't be an unfair description."
The Sami shaman sits back with crossed arms and a frown.
>[Dávgon]"It… can be done, but I have my reservations about the safety of it. While excessively unlikely, the soul's innate grudge towards you could manifest in the soul seed after they're paired."
"…That's a risk because the Soul Seed isn't an actual cohesive Soul yet, correct?"
>[Dávgon]"Mm. If the golem had an actual soul first and then had this grafted, the risk would be moot."
>[RRRRRR Trait activated]
"…Wouldn't a soul possessing the golem count for this?"
>[Dávgon]"…Yes, actually. Who could-"
"Unless you think it could be a risk, I nominate myself: I got a possible possession method that I've been looking for an excuse to try out anyway."
>[GiaGia]"Have you been holding out on us deer sweetness?"

The process is frankly cumbersome enough I'm happy I tested it under such controlled circumstances. The Orientation I learned from the Old Lady is put to use as I separate my consciousness from my body, and move to the surprisingly inviting void of the golem. The moment I'm in I find I can't even begin to make sense of the sensory data I'm getting-when Shadowbro speaks directly to my soul.
>"Gianni commented that as of now, without a control system in place, it's normal to have white noise instead of interpretable sensory data."
Well that's good. Does this work for them?
>"It more accurately did. We're pulling you out now."
Already?
>"It had been two hours. Now it's been two and a half."
Right, pull away-

I find myself back in my body with Gianni buried to the elbows in the golem's guts, whistling a jaunty tune as he works while Dávgon inspects me while delivering a report.
>[Dávgon]"It was a success. The soul fragment's grudge was nullified by your coherent psyche's presence before it was assimilated by the Soul Seed. Once Gianni's gotten the charm array properly arranged internally, I'll work on the soul seed again-"
>[GiaGia]"And then I'll tweak the charms a bit more, then he'll work the soul more-we'll give it a solid existential tempering, oh that we will!"
"…Excellent. Do you know-"
>[Dávgon]"Frankly? Three days to get the array properly rooted such that further alterations to the golem can be once again performed with relative impunity."
"Three days it is. How are the Kudoku? Any stand outs yet?"
>[Dávgon]"None yet-though we are still continuing to get a plethora of spiders and hornets over centipedes and beetles. I still can't find a logical reason for this. Do you need specific numbers?"
"Are you still making more jars?"
>[Dávgon]"Fifteen every day. "
"Gianni, your golems still gathering critters?"
>[Giagia]"I'm picking up aaaaalll the bugs for Dávgon~."
"Then no, I'm good."

Looking at the time, I shower and get dressed so I can head out to meet Arkvad. On my way out I note Lyubov's not yet back with her mom-and I also note traffic reports say the airport is a madhouse right now-so that's not too surprising. Thinking of Gianni's whistling woes, I give whistling a PROPER demonstration as I mosey on down to the Ground Boar, lilting my way through a myriad of melodies and drawing more than a few looks-something that lets me properly stretch my legs as I dart and dodge about the attention.

In a depressingly normal looking suit I make my entrance, waving to Arkvad at his table while navigating between heavy, tightly-packed wood chairs and tables and past the bustling waiters. I sit down, eye the post-modern art of decidedly minimalistic aesthetic dotting the walls and smile at the folder that just magically appears before me. I admit I hardly pay attention to the meal itself as I read the report through, plumbing it's depths for secrets.
[Soul-Bound]--Seems Holland and Holland was able to get absolutely every little thing I'd requested for the mere-the multiple diamond variants, opalized bone and wood alike, space dust and expert care all coming together to make my weapon. It's most certainly an artifact-but more importantly, it's my Soul Artifact, and CANNOT be magically utilized by others without my express consent until such time as my soul ceases to exist. A handy means of ensuring my weapon isn't turned against me.
[Double-Divine?]--Besides being so thoroughly 'locked' to me, the weapon is, interestingly, both Divine and Elder orientation-a detail Holland and Holland in general as well as Arkvad in specific finds fascinating, as it implies one or more of the ingredients, either individually or in combination bestowed an inherently Elder-themed magical format to the blade. Seems there's no reward for the unwitting tip, but it seems clear that if anything they're even more inclined to work with me from here on out-if there is such a thing as the 'short list' for H&H, I am most assuredly now on it.
[Straight to the Heart]---Being a Soul-bound Divine/Elder Hybrid Artifact weapon grants it some interesting powers. For one, it's instantly lethal to humans and dragons alike if it can pierce the heart (or, in the cases of multiple hearts, at least one heart). As it still retains its ability to slice through any sort of organic matter, living or dead with the greatest of ease, that's a decidedly handy perk-though I wonder how the company figured out this particular ability. Well, I'm certainly not going to step on some toes prying into things.
[Godslayer]---It seems that if I channel some of my Divine spiritual essence into the weapon and 'charge' the divine portions of the weapon, it can cut the conceptual foundations of divine magical constructs-the verbiage is pretty obtuse, but seems that if I treat the mere like Iron Trick insofar as imbuing power, then at will I can cut through DIvinely wrought shields, spells, weapons and entities with great ease. The reports do stress it CANNOT utilize the same disregard for defenses against mortal magic. It does imply that, should I ever encounter Elder things I potentially could similarly annul any and all of their power with a single applied slice, but I'd need to have an Elder essence to fuel such a trick. Something to ponder.
[Hunger Quencher]--As my soul weapon and already being a method of feeding a cannibal divine entity, I now leech off of the 'tribute' given to Whaitiri while I wield it, and can effectively 'feed' my Summer line with the weapon through inflicting injuries on magical foes.
[Magic A No-No]--While the blade can cut through even the most durable of bone, it still has no means for dealing with externalized mortal or draconically derived magical defenses.
[Beastly Emesis]--The Mere can be made to pull tribute back from Whaitiri to assemble a variable-form flesh golem. It doesn't automatically slave it to my will, and in fact without the ability to safely insure I can command such a beast the ability is ludicrously dangerous even beyond pissing off Whaitiri by taking back tribute-but I can DEFINITELY see potentially amazing uses for the ability.
[Hello, Hello?]--I can contact Whaitiri through the mere whenever, wherever, as it's effectively a piece of her soul just as it's bound to me. While sadly it looks like H&H sees no way I could try to manipulate the god through this duality, I can most certainly get guaranteed conversations with her-and the best part is it's literally impossible for her to turn them down. It does mean I'll have to be careful about abusing it.
[What's Mine is Mine]--Lastly, it's hypothesized I could absorb the weapon into my flesh for discreet carrying, but that this would be done by skin-contact, NOT by attempting to eat the weapon. …The pages of potential outcomes if I eat the weapon do not make me inclined to experiment with the option.

Having finished reading up on the newly Artifacted Mere, I turn my attention back to the meal I've nearly finished, and the conversation Arkvad has been attempting to start with me.
"Hm?"
>[AS]"I suppose I can hardly blame your enthusiasm: That is a rather impressive bit of work you comissioned, I must say."
"Why thank you. Anything interesting with the tech I traded?"
>[AS]"Actually, yes. You recall the consultant you hired for the analysis?"
"Hamlet?"
>[AS]"Yes. He was recruited by H&H into R&D-I do believe he is surpassingly grateful that working for you netted him what he called a dream job."
"Good for him-and good for me."
>[AS]"One can never have too many well-placed people that owe favors."
"No, they-"
My phone rings. I look down to see the caller-it's Yavuz Celikaya, the Black Sea Swordsman and the dude I commissioned to work on the golem's armor. I look up at Arkvad-he's already motioning for me to take it.

"Yavuz?"
>[BSS]"I've finally secured enough promised deliveries to get the iridium I need."
"That's great news, when does it all arrive?"
>[BSS]"The last of it arrives in ten days."
"Do you have an estimate on when the actual work will be done?"
>[BSS]"Yes-it's 'The work won't start until I'm renumerated for the considerable resource expenditure I just made for the project."
"Why Yavuz, surely you trust me."
>[BSS]"I frequently have issue trusting my father. You are not so lucky-I don't trust you at all. This does not mean I am averse to working with you: merely that until a track record is established I need to be certain I will be getting my fair pay."
"And how much is that, then?"
>[BSS]"Roughly six million dollars. I'll fax you the invoice tomorrow."
Thank you base god for my stupid amounts of readily accessible wealth.
"Sounds good. Will you be stopping by to take measurements?"
>[BSS]"I already have everything I need."
"Good to hear."
*CLICK*

Well, not exactly hung up on formality, that one.

With the call over the meal wraps up shortly with a bit more familiar banter with my unofficial uncle Arkvad , and I find that yet again I'm reminded how much I enjoy listening to the old curmudgeon.

Once we part ways I make my way back to the mansion promptly-and run into Lyubov offloading her mother bags from one of the vans. Between her and Feodor, a middle-aged woman that HAS to be Svetlana is trying to not look confused at the dissonance between the ratty van that picked her up and the opulent mansion it pulled up in front of. I try to keep my Smile human while I cup the folder on the mere to my side, walking ever closer. Lyubov's the first to look up, sporting a sunny smile as she waves.
[Lyubov] "Hey Armas! What's going on, you have a good meeting? Also Feodor and I got my mom from the airport, mom this is Armas, Armas this is Svetlana, my mother."
I smile at the woman, ready to speak-

And pause as I see Matvey climbing out of a manhole.
"It's wonderful to meet you, and if you'll excuse me for just one-ONE minute here-"
Lyubov quickly looks over at Matvey-and where he just climbed over-before turning back to her mother, Russian springing from her lips. While I walk over to Matvey, Feodor discreetly mentions he's leaving to pick up those phones.

I stop in front of Matvey with my arms crossed.
"So?"
>[Matvey]" Boss, I've been down to the sewer and I've made a deal."
"No kidding. What did you give up?"
>[Matvey]" What no nothing like that."
"So explain, please."
>[Matvey]"After being ousted from the military and having my record tarnished and most of my friends killed I've had the opportunity to sell the information, a copy of the memories I had of Chugainov."
"A copy, specifically?"
>[Matvey]"I still remember it don't I? Anyway I figured you sold the base information already, so don't worry, this doesn't interfere with your deal. In fact I think the entity that lives down there, the Sometimes Merchant? He seemed...pleased. You might want to talk to him later. In the end he offered to make me something called a Soul Transcendent in exchange for them, exclusivity on the sale of those memories and the promise to vouch for them for the duration of four seasons from the date of deal when they ask."
"Back to what you sold-when you say Chugainov memories-"
>[Matvey]"I mean everything about the man I know and believe. Anyway, seeing as Duke's got one of those Transcendant Souls too, I'm going to go talk to him-my head's been ringing since I did it."

With a small smile that shows he knows EXACTLY how much he's being like my normal flippant self walking off and trying not to show it, I shake my new little factoid out of my focus and walk back over to Lyubov and Svetlana, switching to Russian.
[In Russian]"My apologies-had to check on that."
>[Svetlana][In Russian]"It is no problem."
[Lyubov][In Russian]"I told you about each other I think? Armas is the boss here, master of the house and all. Mom- Svetalana, worked for awhile for that book keeping company and um, yeah actually we went over this a couple of hours ago didn't we Armas? Yeah."
[In Russian]"That we did."
Before anyone else says anything more, Lyubov babbles on.
[Lyubov][In Russian]"Anyway Mom, Armas is my boyfriend and also I'm not a Christian anymore and the others are all involved in their morning training. It's like physical conditioning and stuff but I took the day off from it. And did I tell you I got hit by lightning earlier today?"
…She called me her boyfriend.
>"Stop being a baby"
Well 'WAAAHHH' to you too.
>[Svetlana][In Russian]"What?"
[Lyubov][In Russian]"So did you eat breakfast? We have a full kitchen here."
Sake finally finishes with the playing dead act and raises his head to cut in.
>[Sake]"Full Restaurant kitchen~"
>[Svetlana][In Russian]"…What?"

I'm a bit torn. I COULD play into the shenanigans and have quite a bit of fun here-but by the same token this person's supposed to be a potential book-keeper, and I'd like to see what they've got.








Am I going to play into Sake and Lyubov's trolling or try to get things on track in the name of Greed?
What else am I doing with the remaining afternoon and evening?
>>
No. 429439 ID: 22b9bb
File 134155219086.jpg - (48.86KB , 300x345 , escher-stairs-thumb6306396.jpg )
429439

One thing you will do, one thing you must do, is practice with the mere.
Get the feel for it again against some sandbag enemies. Get a good feel for the weight and brush up on your knife fighting with the Russians that specialize in the art.[[note: do not actually hit the Russians with the mere. Especially not in the heart. Use a normal knife of similar weight during live practice.]] You need to learn how to utilize the weapon properly without putting it in danger. TO properly do this, fight without the help of your magical bonuses. The point is to increase your base level.

As an experiment, the folder said you could store the blade in your flesh as a carrying location, can you also move it using your fleshcrafting, or perhaps your will? The point of this experiment is to enable you to poke the blade out of your hand when striking for a hidden blow and to keep it safe within your body.

Whatever you decided to do, trolling or business, introduce Svetlana to Satai after, he is your quartermaster and their duties overlap a bit so ti would be good for them to know each other.

Find a way to allow Silja to talk to Lyubov and Zhenya(and vice versa) and then introduce them. We need to get her out of her shell bit by bit, and female friends would be useful, especially with someone like Lyu. Just give them a proper brief on her.

Find out if the time warp thing for the golem has to be constantly monitored or can just be left to settle for a bit and get Gianni and Davgon a meeting with placid to talk about those lasers. Iirc, you started on this and didn't finish, we have to use those hearts.

Burn out roughly half of your energy with strong practice with dual orientation, stealth and soul sensing as the targets.

If you have any time left do some more work on the mind sphere thing. See if you can add any MC Escher-esque surfaces and rooms, designed to catch the person in an infinite loop if they don't pay attention.
>>
No. 429953 ID: 08dfda

We really should order Amen to remotely blow the heart that the dragon took from us.
>>
No. 430007 ID: 360e93

^yes
>>
No. 430532 ID: 9718f3

Active trolling or passive trolling(the mansion's goings-on are pretty ridiculous for somebody who knows nothing about magic), be productive. She is a potentially valuable asset to the company and knowing what she can do now means not finding out she could have been doing more of your work the whole way along later. Either we give Svetlana the tour, or hand her off to someone else to do it. Or both, I suppose.

Check the chakra book for a "walking on surfaces" orientation. Being able to walk/run/stand on walls/ceilings would be both incredibly amusing and useful. If that is a no-go, combine dual-orientation training with over/undercharging practice. Experiment with different combinations of over and undercharged orientations to see what is easiest and what is most challenging. Try and see if you can run an undercharged orientation with an overcharge of the same orientation at the same time. Undercharged soul-sensing with overcharged soul-sensing, for example. Some of this overlaps with previous exercises, but taking stock of our chakratic abilities every once in a while is prudent.

>>429953
We should really order Amen to remotely destroy the heart the dragon took from us in a manner which will render it impossible to use to target us with any form of magic, or effect us in any way, and will cause the least destruction/disruption/damage to the surroundings of the heart. We don't want to make things explode in AORB facilities or anything. We simply do not know where it is, or even if it is any longer, no explosions.

>>429439
>Silja
Silja can wait until she has her body to make friends with our employees. I honestly think it will work out better that way, for her. We can talk to her ourselves though. About her favourite animal, why not.
>Training
I agree with the energy expenditure, but our stealth orientation is actually pretty shitty. Reinforcement or sphere labyrinth would be more useful to get practice in.
>>
No. 430561 ID: 01cf26

>>429411
First laugh. then:
"well Lyubov if your going to overwhelm her we might as well pile it on. It is my favorite way to get to know someone."
Go and walk in front of the door, and with arms out stretched to your sides proclaim in your most magnanimous voice:
"Welcome (use her full name) to the truer and far less defined world"
Mind order Amen to create a Small, sunny, clear skied, grassy, hill with a human sized "rabbit hole" in it, then order Amen to open the door.
"care to see how deep we've delved the rabbit hole?"
Then walk in and fall in the hole. Have SB port you back outside and hide yourself so you can watch the ensuing "breakdown". When the time feels right have HB greet her by landing on her hand or shoulder so Lyubov knows your nearby.

And to top it all off have Amen move some cameras to record the hole thing for posterity.



...she did say she wanted you to be your trollish self. Right?
>>
No. 430646 ID: 5a499b

Take all of the Kudoku bugs and put them to fight each other.
>>
No. 430662 ID: 252e1b

We should return that call to Hafaz and find out what is up. As soon as Feodor is back with the phones, give Hafaz a call.

Get Dávgon, Lyubov, Sake, and Svetlana and have a pow-wow about what Lyubov being a Witch Saint actually means now. Lyubov already told you she wanted to explain things to her mother, and Dávgon has the best general education about soul related matters of all the people in the house.

Edit your soul bind so that you can see Matvey's soul, and then take a look to satisfy your curiosity.

Pick a guest for the dinner tonight with Lyubov and her mother. Either Arkvad, Hillevi, or Camella are the most appropriate choices.

Go visit Placid again today, and talk to him about the souls that need rehabilitating. If he's interested in working on that project with you as well, it'll be all to the better. You'll be able to learn a thing or two, and he'll be able to show off for you. There are a couple of approaches to take, but the one I like best is to make the souls specialized for living in Allview. The initial work on them can be done either in Allview, or in the golem (the golem would benefit from having souls developing near it, as outside soul growth in close proximity encourages growth in all souls).

Bring Lyubov to visit Placid, it's important to keep working on his social skills, and Lyubov's already shown she's patient enough to deal with him.

>>430561
That joke is OK, but considering it's going to cost some of the house blood stocks to do it, it's not all that great or worthwhile. If we're going to troll Svetlana, we should do so in a funny way that's not horribly expensive.

We've got a lead-in with the kitchen, we could always do the 'invisible chef' prank again. That one drove Camella nuts for a day or two.

In any case, I think the best policy here is to go ahead and indulge in some trolling. Treat all the weird shit that happens in the house like it ain't no thang, but when it's time to get down to brass tacks about the business end of things, be serious and professional. Business is business, the rest of life is fun.

>>430646
I think we should just keep following the existing plan for the bugs (have them fight, store the winners, feed them magic meat to make them grow even stronger, pick names for the winners).

Actually have we begun feeding them magic meat? If we haven't, we should. Satai's got some special meat we can use, and there are the house stocks as well.

>>430532
The heart stuff Abeo is advocating is fine. Let's do it that way, have Amen use Armas's body as the link to the lost heart.
>>
No. 430816 ID: 01cf26

>>430662
Yea not my greatest work still whatever is done i still would think it funny to record the trolling.
>>
No. 431330 ID: bbe27e

We should make a Kudoku entirely of ants, and name the winner Scars of Yesterday.
>>
No. 431352 ID: c28be6

Trolling Svetlana:
1) Armas will ask Sake to use his healing on her.
2) While she's distracted with how awesome she feels and looks, Armas will use fleshcrafting to make himself look like Lyubov.
3) Shadowbro will swap Lyubov and Armas's clothes.
4) Armas will pretend to be Lyubov for the rest of the day, and Lyubov will pretend to be Armas pretending to be Lyubov

Armas has not yet arranged for a cash card for Sake. He should do this today, and allot an allowance to Sake. He should pay his workers for coming to get him, $25,000 each. Armas should spend time answering Svetlana's questions.
>>
No. 431420 ID: 01cf26

>>430662
>>431352
>>431330
upvoten
>>
No. 431510 ID: 6f038b

I realise that Bob's already started the update, and as such nothing I say right now would affect the update all that much, but I thought I should post just to explicitly downvote these:

>>430561
>>430646
>>431330
>>
No. 431551 ID: 483348

>>431330
>>430662
I will be upvoting these ones, also we could see if the owner is interested in our superhero reality show, he would be a great sponsor.
>>
No. 431671 ID: 40fb55

>>430561
I can't help it-I laugh at her confusion.
"Well Lyubov if you're going to overwhelm her we might as well pile it on. It is my favorite way to get to know someone."
[Lyubov]"I do not think that we-"
Amen, make a hole in the yard I could fit down without physical discomfort
I put an arm around Svetlana and Lyubov alike, guiding them onto the mansion's grounds as I follow Amen's mental directions. I let go of them in time to take a long step forward, turn about and Smile as I gesture at the over-sized rabbit hole.
"Welcome, Svetlana Khorobrova, to the truer and far less defined world!"
With a theatrical flourish I step backward into the hole, dropping straight down-

And into the shadow at the hole's base. I roll my ankle after landing, checking it's function… a bit unnecessarily deep, but that's to be expected.

Now would be a good time, SB.
>"Very well-"

[DICONTINUITY]

I'm standing in the shadow of the mansion half the wall's distance away from the 'rabbit hole', giving me a perfect position to watch Lyubov walk forward with an amused roll of her eyes while her mother follows with a frazzled soul. I keep a cautious eye on the weight of their Attention and dispositions of their souls-and frankly, neither is really all that impressed. To be sure, Svetlana is baffled to not see me at the hole's base, but the talking weasel seemed to still hold a higher place in her estimation. Very well, a bit of effort can be levied.

"So, care to see how deeply-"

I speak out clearly, catching their attention as I walk from the shadow at the wall to one beside the mansion-
SB-

[DISCONTINUITY]

I step out from Lyubov's own shadow, hanging my arm around her as I appear.
"We've delved the rabbit hole?"
>[MMM,MMMM Trait auto-activated]
While Lyubov just seems to share in the kindred enjoyment of shenanigans of all sorts, I can feel my honeyed words-and blatantly impossible movement-supplanting Sake as 'most insane thing she's seen today.
>"Well done, you've bested a rat."
"WELL, I think I've had my little laugh for the moment, Lyubov could you give her the tour?"
[Lyubov]"Will we be getting any 'visits' during the tour?"
"No, I'd say I'm done for now-work calls, all that. "

>>429139
While Lyubov leads off her frazzled mother, I decide to get with my testing-after all, as great as what the folder tells me sounds, until I put it into practice it means squat. Within the first minute of practice I find something already sticking out like a sore thumb while going through the motions-the blade's surprisingly unaltered in heft and weighting, despite it's reforging. …No, that's not quite right. It's certainly heavier-but it's shape and distribution of density is effectively identical to what it was before. I continue to confirm this after grabbing Dmitrii, Lev, Nikifor, Rostislav and Titus to play around with for an hour, fighting them with a blunted knife and without a whit of active magic while they all try their hardest to kill me. I suppose it did help unrust my skills, but I just don’t get the feeling that fighting my employees is really going to improve my knifework anymore. I'd need something that could actually pose danger to me, something that could get the adrenaline flowing naturally, rather than manually.
>"It would be ideal if you had a masterful knife expert on hand, but sadly-"

Duke throws the mansion doors open, a dead Ika-Turso slung over his shoulder and a babbling, heavily drugged Matvey under an arm, the Russian holding an ancient, rust-covered sword in one hand, his rifle in the other, the arm itself covered in a positively decrepit looking set of roman-looking arm armor.
>"I cannot decide if I am more irritated Murphy did that or pragmatically pleased at what looks to be exactly what we needed."

But before I can really do anything, Matvey's body snaps upright as if on a puppeteer's strings and makes a beeline for his room, shutting the door with a click as sounds begin to emerge from within. Duke claps a hand on my shoulder as he passes by, his eyes already on the prowl for liquor to quaff.
>[Duke]"Don't worry about it-he's just mining himself a Conceptual Magical Construct in the form of a naturally self-aware sword…. well okay, the sword's making him mine it out, but anyway he's got a fun toy there to play with. Found some good rolling papers too."
>[DDDDD Trait activated]
"Excellent to hear. Teaching him the ways of the Transcendant Soul?"
>[Duke]"More like playing amused, interfering audience to his first gig post-Transcendance. Didn't do too bad. We used up a barrel of meat, by the way. Anyway-booze time."
As Duke waddles off to engage in the fine are of autoinebriation, I carefully consider the magical signatures I'd detected from the weapon and armor Matvey bore. But before I try to form any opinions…
SB, can you provide me your recollection of their respective magical signatures?"
>"For a copy of your intuitive grasp of their purpose: Ponder, swap theories?"
Done.

My mind swells with two very divergent sets of data, and I set to quantifying what's Matvey now has.

The sword, that… N.S.AC.M.C. fuck, even abbreviating it makes it cumbersome. That sword of his… is completely alien to me. No, that's not quite right-it smacks of SOMETHING, but I can't place it. What I sense within that lump of rust is age made solid, something so old and weathered it's forgotten itself a hundred times over-that's the feeling I get from its magic, and it's distressingly vague. Thankfully, SB's magical signature seems to provide more: the sword's magically absorbent, and so I figure that with age having worn away its original magic, it just eats magic to fill the hole left behind. Makes sense.

The arm guard, however, is another matter entirely. SB couldn't see a single thing… but I could. The armor… I think it's Divinitech, with the way it seems to resonate with me so similarly to the mere, Whaitiri and Sake. That said… it's weak. The divine signature I feel from the armor's so faded all I can make out is the sensation of a desperately thirsty plant trying to revive.

I tell SB what I think the items are-and he shares a slightly different view.
>"While I must concede you have to be right about the arm guard, I believe you've stopped short of the blade's true purpose. I suspect that it's sensation of missing it's original magic coupled with the absorbative structure suggests it absorbs not raw magic, but actual spellwork, swallowed hole, to fill that void. Beyond that, I couldn't say how it might function-but I am certain my estimation is correct."

I end my brief discussion promptly, nodding at the new details I have to file away about one of my officers. I try to get back to working with the blade-and encounter a problem. I can absorb the blade…. to a point. I can only get it under my skin. It's stark outline is rather hard to miss, and I can't get it to dissolve or go deeper, even after running through every bit of Fleshcrafting theory I know. Well that's a bust. Still, I've cleared out some of my 'knife'work rust, and I've found an excellent prospective sparring partner for honing it further. I'll have to talk to him about that.

>>429953
>>430007
>>430532
But while Matvey's doing… whatever is entailed in 'mining' a weapon of such a metaphysical nature, I get to issuing Amen an order-a very specific order.

Amen, remotely destroy the heart the dragon took from me in a manner which will render it impossible to use to target me or my soul brothers with any form of magic, or effect us in any way, and will cause the least destruction/disruption/damage to the surroundings of the heart.
>[Amen]"This will require twenty units of blood-this one is obligated, obligated, obligated to inform Master of this."
That's fine-do it.
I shiver while waiting for Amen to do his thing.
>[Amen]"It is done."


With that taken care of, I swing by the Armory and get the book on chakras from Satai to peruse, looking for orientations involving wall walking. Finding several, I eventually settle on one that re-orients one's personal gravity to whatever surface they're standing on-that is, if one stands on a wall, the wall becomes 'down' to the Orientation user. I have SB fully copy every detail on the pages, and suppress a sigh as I notice it's already nightfall. Perhaps I spent more than just an hour playing with my reformed mere.

Deciding to go with what I know, I switch to dual Orientations, Sphere Labyrinth and Reinforcement starting up under my command as I get to work playing with over and undercharge as a backdrop to everything else I do for the evening, sparing no chakratic expense.

>>430662
Next, now that Feodor's back with the new phones I call Hafaz up, following up on what Sake had told me-that the guy had some interesting news about the Yakuza. He answers on the second ring.
>[Hafaz]"Who is this?"
"Oh, I suppose it is a new number. You had something to say about some Japanese businessmen?"
>[Hafaz]"You. Yeah, I do. Seems they don't actually have a reason to even be here with the Nazis-in fact, word around their ranks is that someone hit their higher ups with a subtle-as-fuck mind manipulation to make it seem like a good idea-none of them can even recollect what motivated their move at all. And given they're already here, and you happen to be the head of an organization that's been thoroughly thrashing the group they now suspect used magic to gain their support rather than actually forming any sort of real alliance… well, they want to meet with you, boss to boss, to discuss what your respective relationship should be. I can work out the details for you-set up a meeting at the Asitane if you want-but I'll need your go-ahead."
"You think a backstab's likely?"
>[Hafaz]"After getting a pet War Walker that half the city knows about? No."
"Then set it up."
>[Hafaz]"All right, I'll give you a call later."
*CLICK*

Next, I head out to visit Placid. The War Walker still stubbornly wearing the skin of a portly child version of myself seems to have found a few new animals to care for-a crow now added to his menagerie-but he hardly pays them any mind as I explain what brought me here today.
"So do you think you can do it?"
>[Placid]"…'Think I can do it'. It seems highly probably the War Walker skill set should be capable of doing what is requested, but…"
"What's the hangup? Sounds like you think you have the magical muscle and know-how to do it."
>[Placid]"Rebuilding souls bereft of focus or consciousness into new existences is wholly foreign ground for me. The capacity to provide the requested service is there, but the familiarity with the task is not."
"Would it alleviate your concerns if I checked on your progress regularly?"
>[Placid]"It would. Is it disrecommended to store the souls in the bodies of these animals while rehabilitating them?"
"Let's… leave off that for now-after all, new ground and all that."
>[Placid]"Understood. The only remaining option is to house them within my own form-this should not prove difficult."
"I'll look into getting you an external place to store them."
>[Placid]"That may not be necessary-if the goal is to have souls designed to function in a demiplane that is itself spiritual, then there is no reason they would need… 'growing space'. This is known."
"Well, you're a bigger expert on Soul mechanics than I am, so we'll go with that then. When would you like to stop by and pick them up?"
>[Placid]"Now would seem suitable."
"Okay-let's go little guy."

With Hummingbird as our escort, Placid and I make it back to the mansion, where I have Amen provide me with the shattered souls that once lived in the biofactories the Hate-monster fabricated, and hand them to Placid, still outside of the mansion. Looking like nothing more than a child ecstatic over getting a new toy, Placid happily trots off to get to work.

Back at the mansion, I see that Lyubov's finished giving Svetlana the grand tour-and I missed out on her introduction to Satai-from what Lyubov says, it was rather comical.

Unsurprisingly, the moment I return to the house Svetlana's rather… keen to have me explain what's going on with her daughter and this 'Witch Saint' business. Given the lateness of the hour-I may have wasted a bit of time reading Placid another story or three, seems the little guy can't get enough of them-I decide that I'll just explain over dinner, and ask Camella if the Owner's got any tables open. Turns out he does-so we get a same-day reservation at the Asitane at peak dining hours.

Not too shabby.

I call up Arkvad to come along, as Camella informs me that the Owner's got designs on having dinner with Camella himself, and I might as well introduce my best contact in the gun business to Svetlana while explaining the whole Witch Saint thing as much as I can. Though it pains me to do so, I leave behind every last one of my weapons, ALL of them, before heading out, Arkvad picking all of us up in his aged, well-cared for piece of class he calls a car. Certainly a better ride than the vans I've got… though I wonder how it'd stack up against the tank… eh, another time.

At the Asitane, I introduce Arkvad and Svetlana to one another, and explain how he's a family friend, unnoficial uncle, and the 'face' of Holland and Holland as far as our company goes. For his part, Arkvad plays up the old world charm, clearly interested in an unmarried woman near his age that's both utterly human and aware of the true nature of the world. Sometime after appetizers are finished, the introductions are over-and we get to explaining to Svetlana what Lyubov is. To be perfectly frank, the idea that her daughter is now naturally designed to bend godly things to her will proves quite a challenge for the devout christian mother, but the sheer surreal nature of her day so far helps her accept my words. I find myself pleased to see that by the end of it, she thinks of Lyubov as the exact same daughter as last she'd seen her, something Lyubov seems quite grateful for-I suppose she had some concerns her mother would have trouble with the idea of her daughter the god-binder witch-saint, thankfully unfounded.

When the meal's wrapped up and the waiter refuses to give us a check on the grounds that the house was picking up the bill, I decide to head over and thank the Owner-and ask Camella to tell him about the reality TV show idea I'm working on, when an opportunity presents itself. With that seed planted as politely as possible, the four of us bid our farewells, wishing the Owner and Camella a good night.

Once back at the mansion, I find that Duke decided to make what he calls 'spider beer' out of several of the kudoku champions-thankfully more than a hundred are still left, but still, I tell him rather firmly that if he needs booze I'll help him out, but that he shouldn't just go brewing it up himself. Surprisingly, he actually agrees to my demand, however reluctantly.

After Arkvad's finally decided to call it a night and headed out, Svetlana similarly retires.

I had PLANNED to spend much of the evening continuing to hone my frankly atrocious skills relative to my weight class… but Lyubov has other plans.

So I work on controlling dual Orientation under very distracting circumstances all night-well, until Lyubov passes out six hours in.

Lightweight.

I fall asleep.



THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24th, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $9,711,410.00
BUSINESS FUNDS: $1,124,984.00
CASH: $6,120.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 100%
WINTER ENERGY: 160/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50



I wake up feeling great, not even needing a morning dose of Brain Coffee. After disentangling myself from Lyubov, I glance at the clock and see I woke up EARLY-it's only been two hours since I went to sleep, so it's just barely past three. …I've got energy to spare, so I see no reason to go back to sleep.






What should I do with the wee hours of the morning?
What's my plan for the rest of the day?
>>
No. 432830 ID: c90e2d

Goblin teaching in charm crafting, all day long.
>>
No. 433404 ID: 252e1b

Let's see... if it's 3 a.m. Thursday in Turkey, it must be 5 p.m. Wednesday in California.

Perfect timing for a call to Mom and Dad. Check in with them, give them the new number and caution that you're going to try to get the old phone number back. Ask for your old school stuff to be shipped out: the journals from elementary through high school, your old yearbooks, copies of the family photo-albums, and any other interesting little keepsakes like that. Mom will, without a doubt, want to know why you want all that crap now. Tell her a close friend wanted to see the things, and you want to indulge her request. It's a better excuse than "I think I'm brain damaged," for sure.

After you catch up with mom and dad, and get a promise for your things to be sent, you'll have maybe another hour or so before the household starts to wake up. Use the time to check in on everyone. Matvey and Lyubov both went through fairly significant changes yesterday; you also didn't really notice Feodor's cannibal taint until you examined him. So spend that hour reviewing everyone's souls. Check everyone in the household, including Svetlana. Use Allview if you want to be less creepy than normal. Look for signs of soul stress, development relative to your first evaluation of everyone's souls, changes in shape, likely developing quirks, and the other fun stuff Dávgon taught you.

By now the household should be waking up. Eating peoples' breakfasts before they even see the plate is, while funny, getting a little old. Put in a big breakfast order with Boris, and eat at the table with everyone else, like normal for once. Doing the exact same prank loses impact without a baseline to refer against, and that's what this is: setting a baseline of reference. This will be perfect for them to compare against when you start stealing people's food right from their plates, while they're at the table, next week.

After breakfast, do your banking. Call Oyak Securities and move the money around for your dudes rescuing you. Go with Lyubov's suggestion of $25,000 per person, it's not bad middle ground. Go ahead and set up an account for Sake as well, with a payout to him. He might not be able to use it in normal shops, but he certainly could use it for internet shopping and with savvy supernaturals who are set up to interface with bank systems.

You also need to pay Camella for her teaching services again. The first payment for it was $5,000 for 80 hours of work. We haven't paid her for her teaching since February 1st, but since she's been incredibly regular about putting in the full 8 hours of education and exercise for the Russians each day, we can get all caught up right now. She should get an additional $11,500 to cover all the extra education she's given them.

Take care of getting your old phone number assigned to this phone, and do the same for Lyubov's phone since you're on the same account. Have the call forwarding on Sake's phone taken off, so that you get calls to your old number again.

Ask Sake and Satai when the siren is expected to arrive. You want to be present for that, and should probably have Lyubov present as well given Shadowbro's request and her expected role in dealing with the siren (obviously if Sake intends to use the siren as part of their band, Lyubov's going to have a goodly amount of interaction with her).

>>432830
Compromise. Contact the goblins and see what Sometimes Merchant has to say about the pre-existing Chugainov deal. Visit in person, you always seem to do better at negotiation when you're physically present. Find out if you can get that charm training in real-time. It may change the value of the training to do so, and if it does you'll need to make a judgement call on that.

We also need to decide what subset of charm training we want. We don't have enough time to learn it all, but we can learn most of a specialty with the time we have. I suggest armor repair charms, as we're going to have enough armored things that autonomous repair charms would go a long way toward making it cheaper to field the tank, the golem, and ourselves.

That should carry us into the afternoon. After our training session with the goblins we will want to go visit Placid. Bring more tasty treats. Follow up on Placid's interest in what Svetlana's cooking is like by bringing some (this requires asking Svetlana to do the cooking, but it should be easy enough). Bring Lyubov and both Zhenya and Svetlana too, since it's important to keep introducing Placid to new people who we can trust to treat him like a person instead of a monster.

Last night's drive with Arkvad reminded me of something: You're still driving those old vans instead of a car that matches your personal status. It's high time to rectify that. Take Hillevi and Big Crazy and maybe Vlad, and go find a luxury vehicle that you like, which even the biggest people in the house are comfortable in. Budget $100,000 or so for this.

Speaking of treating people like people, we should talk to Silja tonight and tell her about Lyubov's new status as a Witch Saint of Tesla. Maybe introduce her to Lyubov properly, if she seems receptive. No need to push anything here.

And finally, when the bill from Yavuz arrives, pay it right away and in full. You want to earn his confidence, and speedy payment is one path to that.
>>
No. 433450 ID: 01cf26

>>433404
hmmm...upvote

Just burn off some energy in something like walking on walls sounds like fun, before eating. Hell see if can mix stealth into it as well. Then later at the table mention it at the table and encourage everyone to check out the 7777 Chakra book with hints that successful use of such things might have rewords. (might not, but don't have to tell them that)
>>
No. 433472 ID: 9718f3

>>433404
Generally sound post, upvoting.

>Lyubov and the Siren
SB's request for seeing Lyubov's divine-dominating powers at work in no way means Lyubov has to be present for our initial meeting with the siren. Unless we plan on having her demonstrate those powers during that meeting, they are entirely separate issues. And having a witch-saint practice dominating her the first time we meet is likely to leave a negative impression. No, there is no need for Lyubov to be present. Especially since she tends to derail conversations. SUST to having Lyubov present for the siren's arrival.

>SM
As I recall, the goblins provide their services as guides. I suggest we get them to guide us to an arena that is open and would allow us to fight and bet on ourselves immediately. The secret to pay with with can be some prank nobody caught us for during our military years. The reason for the arena is the bill from Yavuz we're expecting. It's going to eat two thirds of our money and I would prefer to bolster our funds before taking a hit like that. Anti-artifact rules are probably pretty common in arenas so for weapons we should take that ice-spear Hillevi made forever ago, if it's still around, the AA-12, and the Matebas. use your judgement if number of weapons influences betting odds. Shouldn't take more than an hour or so to have a fight or two.

On the broader issue of Lyubov, you don't want her to be your girlfriend, but you also don't want to alienate her from being your friend-friend. So this has to be handled properly. Which, unfortunately, might just mean waiting a couple days for her to get used to the idea of being a Witch-Saint. It wouldn't really be fair to spring what, from her perspective, is probably a pretty big change on her right after all she's been through. It isn't fair to you to have to wait and allow the misunderstanding to continue, of course, but life happens, you've got to make the best of it that you can. Sake spends more time with her than you do, does he have any (non-assholish)insight to offer?
>>
No. 433780 ID: 3ae52c

>>433404
For the most part, I agree. Talking to our folks and figuring out what we can will help us figure out what exactly we are missing. Likewise I agree with a quick scan of our minions. In the span of a day, two of them grew amazingly fast in terms of potential and what they have to offer. Always wise to check, just in case.

SM did want to see us so it's only fair to hear him out. As for Placid, we should introduce him to Zhenya, but also Bagga. Both are rather varied in their personalities to give Placid some variation of people to talk to, and introducing him to Bagga, another super natural being we are helping who is also working hard can help form some concrete bonds and make Placid feel like even less a outsider.

Also, we should tone back on bringing Lyubov everywhere, at least for the moment. We were big enough targets before, the two together just makes things more troublesome. Especially since we just got back from a kidnap issue. Besides, we should spend some time with our Ward, Silja, and our other colleges as well.
>>
No. 433873 ID: b0de3e

The general plan is sound, but I have proposals to make.

1. There is a requirement for a place where the golem can be worked on in privacy. Such a place must be made or rented so that Placid can put the lasers in. Dávgon and Shadowbro know about privacy wards. Ask them to work together to find a suitable place. Ask Sake to help by giving Dávgon a weasel rub or two so that he can operate continuously if he wants.
2. The most suitable vehicle is the 2011 Range Rover Supercharged. Increase the budget for the new vehicle to $120,000, but Armas should plan to haggle it down.
3. Armas must speak with Matvey about his new sword and armor, and should look at them both more closely soon.
4. Camella and Matvey should be informed about Lyubov's new nature if they have not already been told. She is in their chain of command, and they must know.
5. Armas should assign Svetlana to review Satai's purchases, as they spoke about on Monday.
6. Armas should talk to Sake, the Siren, Amen, Duke, and Lyubov about making armor with Belief-based magic. They should look at Matvey's bracer as an example.


>>433472
Armas will not be worried about leaving a good first impression on a slave. The plan for her was to chop off pieces of her and feed her body parts to Silja. When she komprehends it she is going to hate Armas, and her first impression of him will mean very little.

Shabdowbro's request was for Lyubov to be given a chance to use her new powers in a place where he can watch. Armas and Shadowbro have no idea how to counter her ability, and until they do Armas is one whim away from Lyubov taking direct control of him. This is not a low priority issue, and if Armas intends to change the nature of his relationship with Lyubov, he should make figuring out how to protect himself and Sake against her one of his highest priorities. She may be his friend, but she will be a woman scorned.

Armas must strongly reconsider why he does not want Lyubov as a girlfriend. When she was normal, it was understandable that he would want to have a less committed relationship. But now she is a Witch-Saint, personally powerful, and has the patronage of Tesla. Armas knows from personal experience that power gains tend to snowball. She will only get stronger.

Armas also knows she is a divine being now, and that her personality has not changed. Armas trusted her with many of his secrets, and has spent more time with her any anyone else since he returned from being kidnapped. She is compatible with him in many ways.

>>433780
Armas will be careful to not make Placid the center of attention for too many people at once. Placid did not want to go to the hotel because he is shy.

I propose the following solution:
1. At breakfast, Armas should announce that he wants to gradually introduce the household to Placid. Placid needs to meet more people, but he should meet them in small groups. No one will be forced to meet him, but anyone who wants to volunteer should talk to Armas privately.
2. Invite Svetlana to meet Placid today, because he wants to try her cooking. Bring Lyubov to this meeting to smooth over any misunderstandings between her mother and Placid.
3. Plan on bringing the first two volunteers to the next visit with Placid.

Sake said that Lyubov was not likely to be a target of opportunist attacks, except by enemies prepared to deal with Tesla's wrath. Armas was kidnapped because he is a dual-bloodline godling. Witch-Saints are known for dominating godlings.

Armas may be safest in public if he is with Lyubov. The assumption of beings with understanding of godlings will be Lyubov has dominated Armas. If they assume Armas is hers, then both of them are off limits unless the attacker wants to incur Tesla's wrath. I propose that Armas take her with him everywhere he can. Her presence will deter kidnappers who are aware Armas is a godling.
>>
No. 433927 ID: 716060

>>433404
Upvoting everything from calling our parents down to the phone stuff, as well as visiting Placid and buying a new car. SUST to talking to Silja about Lyubov – she's not our girlfriend, and we don't want Silja to think she is. SUST to the siren stuff, too – we already know it arrives tomorrow, and Lyubov definitely doesn't need to meet it straight away, given we're just going to be cutting bits off of it and growing them back.

At breakfast, remember to ask Camella to organise a meeting with the Owner about his mysterious island, and to apologise on our behalf for taking to so long to do so, when she sees him next. Also ask if anyone needs our input on any of their projects.

Ask Placid if he's had any progress with the souls, or if he'd like any help.

When we go to buy the car, offer to let Hillevi challenge one of the local combat schools, like she wanted to before we got to Turkey. Talk to her about how she's doing with training Satai and practising with the sniper group, offer to take her out to see a little more of the city or take a daytrip out to the countryside, and ask her whether she'd like to take the opportunity to smash some stuff during the current uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. Ask Vlad about the tank and his munitions-making hobby.

>>433472
The Arena is probably something we should dedicate a whole day to, as well as involving the rest of the company – if they get rich betting on us, we can go without paying them for a while.

>>433780
SUST to taking Bagga to meet Placid – two new people is more than enough for one visit. Maybe another time.

>>433873
Upvote to all of this.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whenever possible throughout the day, do the following things:

*Tag your position in Allview for ease of viewing later
*Practice dual orientations with various combinations, particularly
-Sphere Labyrinth and Reinforcement
-Soul Sensing and Stealth
-Shunting chakra energy to both HB and SB, and telling Sake he doesn't get any because he was rubbing himself on our naked fuckbuddy.
*Use Soul Guises and Internal Bindings to get the most out of social interactions
*Make bets with Iron Trick about everything, even trivial things, in an attempt to get information about Rabbit out of him
*Keep an eye out for well-placed apartment buildings to buy – Amen's not the greatest place for the minions' sanity.
>>
No. 433943 ID: 57ce89

>>433927
Unfortunately I'm using my phone and cannot replace my post whole, so I'll just have to add some supplemental things.

I retract my opposition to the arena fighting idea at >>433472 but suggest that rather than hiring a guide, we buy a map of the region, and find our own. Hiring guides just keeps us under SM's power.

I'd also like to add some clarification to the suggestion to use soul guides and bindings to improve social outcomes: soul guises are relatively straightforward, however some examples for bindings to use may include "may only use a soul guise that...", to strengthen a specific soul guise, or "may only speak to those believed to be goblins", for dealing with goblins. Around those who are likely to have soul senses, like goblins, soul guise should hide the binding. Mundanes should be fine to use both on.

Finally, I am retracting my support of >>433873, except for the six numbered points at it's beginning.
>>
No. 434237 ID: 7c31d2

Ask Duke for ways to brew beer our of our magical meats. Offer him the first batch in return for the information
>>
No. 434633 ID: 64466d

>>433873
Whoo boy, going to have to SUST this hard aside from those first 6 points.

For the most part? Enslaving ourselves to Lyubov is an all around BAD IDEA. It limits our diplomatic abilities and makes it so we are no longer truly in control. Even 'pretending' has that problem of people 'believing' it to be true which may very well make it so.

Second? She's not strong. Not yet and not for a while. If we draw too much attention to her and form too much of a public showing, we are likely going to be kidnapped again by people ready to take on a witch and right now Lyubov is at risk of even using her powers.

Third? While she is trust worthy and will continue to grow, groveling at her feet and clinging to her legs is no befitting action of Armas. We'd be sacrificing our growth SO MUCH it's not even funny. Sure she'll grow, but your plan will have us wither and stagnate.

Heck, with her current growth she seems more and more like a friendly rival/fuck buddy than a full on partner. Spark each other's growths, see who can grow faster and 'top' the other, while also be there for one another when one is in a bind. Keep the freedom, keep the friendship, keep the growth, and we still have her by our side in times of need.

Besides, she's immortal and Armas is (sorta) immortal. The average marriage these days barely last 30 years. Don't think a literal eternity is on the menu.
>>
No. 434799 ID: 40fb55

>>433404
>>433405
>>433472
>>433780
A thought occurs as I glance at the clock. It’s 5 p.m. in California, right now. I could call Mom and Dad and be appropriate. Yeah. Think I’ll do that. So I decide the first thing to do with my day is abuse the relation of timezones to have a conversation I've frankly been putting off.
>"It hasn't hurt your ability to avoid it that you effectively never lack for more pressing concerns."
Yeah, but still-gotta talk to them.

I pause for a moment as I try to look them up in my phone’s address book and discover it’s completely empty. I didn’t get a chance to copy it over from my old phone before the dragon destroyed it. Normally, Shadowbro would just remind me, but he’s away, training/playing with Sake, a consolation prize for my weasely little brother letting Lyubov and I have some time without him draped around her neck.

So, instead of calling information or digging up my address book on my computer, I just use Allview to home in on my Mom. It’s a pretty domestic scene: Mom’s working with her sewing machine, taking in a pair of my Dad’s pants. Guess he’s lost some weight? Good for him. She calls him over to try them on before I see both turn toward the kitchen-guess a roast just finished so they'll be sitting down for that. I swiftly change my view to the house phone, make a note of the number and exit Allview.

So I call my parents, catching them just before dinner back home in California.
>[Mom]"Hello?"
"Hi Mom."
>[Mom]"Oh-Armas, is that you?"
"Pretty sure it's me-hold on let me check... yeah, it's me."
>[Mom]"Ha ha dear.... so, how have you been?"
It’s been almost a month since I last talked to her, and we spend some minutes just catching up on her and Dad’s goings-on. Dad got a second-hand piano from a friend, and Mom and Dad both enrolled in a class to learn how to play it. Mom’s been having a fun time with setting up for a spring garden, and Dad’s been finishing up the work on the truck. She tells me about how their new neighbor is usually a nice enough guy, but treasures peace and quiet a bit much- seems Dad was testing his muffler work on the truck and Mr. Grimoire got good and angry about the noise. Moreso than would be reasonable. I file that away and reassure her that the guy was probably just cranky. Mom’s brother, my uncle, stopped by Monday for just a couple of hours; he was in-town on other business but made time to visit. It's a little detail I don't mind knowing, carefully emblazing it in my memories right away-and actually answer the question that led to our small talk.
"I've been well, my companies been doing very well-actually currently there's a bit of a work slump, but we made a whole mess of money prior so it's not a problem."
>[Mom]"Are you worried about not being able to find work?"
"Not particularly-it's the nature of the business to have lulls like this."
>[Mom]"Well, it's good to hear you thought it out."
"Gee thanks."
>[Mom]"Would you like to talk with your father?"
"In a second-actually, I called mostly because I have a request."
>[Mom]"What is it dear?"
"Can you send me my old yearbooks, and maybe a copy of a photo album?"
>[Mom]"Sure I could, but whatever for?"
>[MMM,MMMM Trait auto-activated]
"Well, it's hard to think of Istanbul as a home when I don't have many memories to lay about the place, you know?"
>[Mom]"So you're still enjoying it there?"
"I have become thoroughly enthralled with just how much is going on here. So would you mind?"
>[Mom]"Not a problem. Here, talk to your father while I look for those, okay?"

The sound of slippered feet shuffling and of indistinct conversation drifted through the earpiece before a familiar scratchy voice was heard.
>[Dad]"Boy?"
"Hi dad."
>[Dad]"You're up early, aren't you?"
"Suppose so-I guess the military really did pound some early waker perogatives into me."
>[Dad]"Hah, glad you walked away from that with something, mister 'forever-a-private'."
"Oy oy, I EARNED my 'forever-a-private' title: mock it if you will, but at least PRETEND to show some respect for the effort involved."
>[Dad]"...Well, I suppose anyone that can flip a helicopter without wrecking the thing deserves a bit of respect."
"Just a bit?"
>[Dad]"Well, it's certainly no 'surprise the landscape changed overnight."
"I still want to know what BESIDES a mess of vodka led to your platoon working all night to uproot a few trees and create an artificial hill."
>[Dad]"The anticipation of the look on our CO's face when we convinced him we'd marched in the wrong direction, and then the look on his face after 'correcting' the problem just made it worse."
"And people wonder where I got my love of pranks from."
>[Dad]"There's a key difference between our shenanigans boy-you know I only pranked drunk."
"And I have no such limitation-yes, we're quite clear about me being the superior shit-disturber between us."
>[Dad]"Mm. So? How's work?"
"Put it this way: I'm about to pay someone for 2% of the global annual production of a specific rare material, and I'll still be heavily in the black."
>[Dad]"Since it's you we're talking about, mind giving me some ballpark figures here?"
"Sure, I'll untwist the words a bit: My company has several million dollars at it's disposal."
>[Dad]"Already? Business must be booming."
"Booming might not be a loud enough word-exploding, more like."
>[Dad]"Speaking of money, your mother and I wanted to thank you for-"
"Hey woah, don't worry about it-think of it as a preventative measure to prevent nagging in the case of me NOT assisting you two during 'tight-belt' periods."
>[Dad]"...Mm. ...Say, I've heard that Istanbul's got some pretty old and famous book stores-you been to any?"
"Not as much as I'd like, but I've started something of a collection of unusual tomes-why?"
>[Dad]"Well... no, it's probably nothing-"
"Dad quit making me beg for it, just tell me."
>[Dad]"Fine, but you'll think it's stupid. That new neighbor we mentioned a bit ago- Mr. Grime-More, across the street?"
"What, he got some strange books or something?"
>[Dad]"...Now how was THAT your first thought?"
"Let's see-you lead with a question about books, and his name sounds like grimoire. Seemed as likely as anything."
>[Dad]"Hurm."
"So what about his books?"
>[Dad]"Well... I'm just wondering, is there a... mold, or something like that, that'd interferes with memory?"
My blood runs just a bit colder at the implications.
"Memory problems like what dad?"
>[Dad]"Well, we've been over to his place once-neighborly hello, all that-and we both commented on how many books the man has-but after having left... the funny thing is your mom and I can't remember a single book's title, and we looked at at least a dozen. It's a bit strange, you know?"
>"Books that are effectively warded from observation, and that mundanes, at the least, can't seem to recollect the details of after witnessing them. ...That narrows down what exactly Grimoire's doing, but not enough to really matter."
Well, it's still progress on figuring out who that guy is.
"Well, maybe you could jot down a couple titles and authors next time you're there-or have mom bring her camera and snap a few pics. Should neatly circumvent any spotty memory issues, right?"
>[Dad]"I thought about that, but it just seems a bit... strange."
"Really? You're going to worry about strangeness?"
>[Dad]"...Got me there. Way more irritating to not recollect something than to have a neighbor maybe think we're strange."
"You gonna ask him first or just snap the shots?"
>[Dad]"It's his house, his books-of course we'll ask."
Well, not many supernaturals that would hurt them just for that-should be safe.
>[Dad]"Oh, you're mother's back-well, it was nice talking to you boy. Do you yet have an idea when you'll be out here?"
"Hard to say specifically-but I'm planning a work trip to New Zealand soonish-I'll see if I can swing a trip out to California."
>[Dad]"I'd say don't waste your money, but..."
"Yeah, hard to say when I already copped to having all that moolah."
>[Dad]"Yeah, and... Okay honey -well, looks like it's your mom's turn again-"

Once again, the voices on the other side of the line shift and putter about.
>[Mom]"Well, this is a little embarassing."
"What is?"
>[Mom]"I can't seem to find your old year books."
Warning flags are set off in my mind.
"Really?"
>[Mom]"I don't know what I could have done with them-I know I didn't throw them away, but... well, listen to me making excuses. I'm sorry dear, but all I can send you is a copy of the photo album."
"That's okay-even that helps."
>[Mom]"Is your address still the same?"
"Yeah-still in the middle of downtown Istanbul."
>[Mom]"Isn't the rent expensive?"
"...Didn't I mention I own the place?"
>[Mom]"Oh my, no. Do you need these sent right away, or-"
"You can use snail mail, that's no trouble."
>[Mom]"Well okay dear: I imagine it'll get to you in two weeks or so."
"Thanks mom, you're the best."
Lyubov rather unconveniently snores beside me. My mother immediately picks up on it, and I can practically hear the conspiratorial gleam in her eyes.
>[Mom]"Oh my, who was that?"
"That'd be Lyubov."
>[Mom]"And who's Lyubov, hm?"
"Well, I could half-ass telling you over the phone, or you could meet her and whoever else from the company I bring when I swing through California during a work trip."
>[Mom]"Was that the one to New Zealand I heard you talking with your father about?"
"That'd be the one."
>[Mom]"When you know where specifically in New Zealand you're thinking of going, let me know-we might well have family out that way."
"Sure, I could definitely use some points of reference."
>[Mom]"Okay-well, I'll let you go dear."
Her voice bubbles with suppressed laughter.
>[Mom]"Try not to let Lyubov tire you out~"
"Gee, thanks mom. Have a good evening."
>[Mom]"And you have a good day!"
*CLICK*

I put the phone down, and have a little pow-wow with my Soul Brothers and Spirit Animal.
"So? What do you make of this?"
>[HB]"What is a 'year book'?"
>"It's effectively a physical copy of memories of specific periods of one's formative years-by your parliance, very popular amongst giants, and the fact they can't be found is incredibly suspicious."
"Exactly. Mom's many things, but a poor housekeeper is not one of them. She hardly ever misplaces things, and not being able to find any of my yearbooks is completely out of character for her."
>[HB]"...From this, the assumption seems to be this was not negligence, but a nefarious act related to your memory gap and long-ago mind-editing?"
"Bingo."
Sake dramatically bursts through the doors without making a single sound, wafting over to land on the slumbering Lyubov's bottom, snuggling in smugly as the Witch Saint murmurs in her sleep.
>[Sake]"Do you think this is related to the Grimoire guy?"
"Not sure-maybe. We still don't have enough data to make any concrete theories or anything."
>"So then why are we talking about this?"
"I was kind of hoping SOMEONE was holding out and had some critical data."
>[IT]"I do, but if you want it you'll need to win it from me."
How thoughtful of you.
>[IT]"I try. Also, please do remember to use me now and again-I would hate to be forgotten just because you have a personalized Artifact now."
Well maybe if you were more helpful-
>[IT]"Asking an Artifact crafted by a Trickster God to not be capricious is sadly a worthless endeavor-even if I wanted to, I couldn't change like that."
Oh well....
"Okay-table it?"
>"Sounds appropriate."
>[Sake]"I don't really care, so sure."
>[HB]"Hopefully the secrets needed to find this quest's goal shall be ours soon enough."
"Hopefully..."

I then look over at Lyubov, still asleep, and ply my soul-sensing ability.

Her tesseract-like lightning soul is still perilously overcharged, but does feel a little firmer. I marvel at it for a moment as I spend some time really examining the new structure. The tesseract barely rotates, the fourth-dimensional linkage to Tesla apparently not doing much as she rests. There are analogues on Lyubov’s soul to structures I’ve come to expect in normal souls. I can see the external structure of memories, but most are hard to read at all beyond identifying them as memory. Then again I didn’t expect to really be able to read any. I’ve only had real luck with passively reading soul-memories on vampires. There’s already a meta-pattern to her soul that reminds me of what her soul was like before: a cheery, capricious, mischief-maker who delighted in distraction. That’s a comfort, actually.

I also examine her forcibly-withered chakra gates, which, underwhelming or no, are still letting Tesla’s divine energy spill into her body. Her body looks just fine. It, too, is saturated with divine energy. I can see hints of my own energy, and Sake’s, in her body. It’s barely anything at all compared to the energy already there, but it’s definitely detectable if I’m looking carefully.

I notice, too, that there is a definite difference between the three sorts of divine energy. No, the four sorts. The divine energy that is filtered through her chakra gates is very similar to Tesla’s, but it’s got a signature that’s certainly different from the energy in her soul. Her own signature, then. It feels a little more cheery and warm than Tesla’s cool, rational and- optimistic? I want to say optimistic- divine energy. In contrast, my own energy feels… grand, and covetous, infused with the bombastic quality of my personality. Sake’s weasely divine energies are like a snicker, if I had to put a sound to the sensation I feel from detecting them.

I look at the clock and notice I’ve spent a good half-hour just examining Lyubov. I settle on a quick inspection of the rest of the household, via Allview.

Everyone appears to be in good shape, spiritually. There’s been a small general improvement in soul coherence in everyone, and everyone has more or less grown at the same rate, with the exception of Bagga, Zhenya, Satai, and Matvey.

As expected, Bagga’s soul is looking decidedly more Gloom-y. The sneaky Russian’s soul-based memories appear to be cleanly grafted, a mirror-like surface encasing a core of rock hard determination. …No, perhaps 'cleanly' isn't the correct description of what I sense-the graft is rough and raw, and feels as if it needs some sort of balm, so outside influence to fully settle. I briefly find myself fascinated by the duality of his current soul structure, the Gloom-fragment like a shadow made of reflections poised about his soul, still in the process of fusing.

Zhenya’s soul, too, has an air of determination around it. I notice that it’s a little more coherent than the others, and I’m reminded of how Lyubov’s soul looked right after her near-death experience. There’s a hint of something that’s like how Hillevi’s soul used to look- a fear of breaking things? Odd. There’s a sense of fear of something else too, but I’d need to spend far more time on her to figure it all out. I do notice that her soul's growth seems wholly independent of her chakras-her ability with Reinforcement, if I'm reading her soul emission properly, isn't at all different from the norm established by the rest.

I catch Satai in his room, reading The Last Spelling. He’s got a clear sense of focus to him, not determination but clarity of mind that feels… more thorough, more organized than when I first met him. Were I to liken it to physical objects, where before Satai's purpose could have been a simple bin, it is now a steel filing cabinet, both more durable and more organized. I wonder if that's due to the frankly impressively wide breadth of magical exposure his soul's soaked in. I can also sense that Satai’s undergone at least one near-death experience… Probably more than one- there’s a vivid sense of clinging to consciousness that permeates his coherence gains. Which, to be fair, are actually the best of everyone I’ve examined. Frankly, he'd probably do better with regimented mental Orientations than I would, preferential soul for chakra use or no. His chakra gates, too, appear to have been pushed more than most. I suppose Hillevi’s been working hard with him.

I have to edit the bind on my soul to be able to actually view Matvey’s new transcendent soul. I feel the same sensation of vague pain and disquiet I felt when I looked at Duke’s soul, and I only spend a few moments reassuring myself that Matvey’s recent gains haven’t left him in danger. Which is just as well, as he’s already awake and taking a leak. But before I look away, I absorb a single, pressing sensation, comparing his soul from before to now: Where once there was a paper lantern with a single candle within, now there's a lantern with a miniature sun that sucks in the air around it to keep it's greater brilliance going. It's an oddly pervasive sense of being more… well, more than he was before, from a spiritual standpoint. I'll have to look into what's changed once he's started getting a handle on that-I don't doubt there's much to learn there.

I end my soul exam by giving Svetlana a good look. She’s not awake with the rest of the house yet. I sense a quiet seriousness to her, an implacable dignity, a desire to remain unremarkable, veined with minor streaks of impishness rather reminiscent of the tone Lyubov’s impishness had; though it is not at all a dominant trait like it was in Lyubov’s soul. With her hair down, and no makeup on, I’m struck by how much she and Lyubov look alike physically, in spite of Lyubov’s having a good 40 lbs of muscle on her.

With the frankly surprisingly time-consuming soul-checking done, I decide to do something a bit out of character for me: Have a normal breakfast with everyone. ...Well, a normal person that eats twenty pounds of meat during breakfast. So... not normal at all. I get Boris started on French toasted croissants while I work on grilling up some meaty stuffing for them, and sausages, home fries, fresh squeezed orange juice, coffee black as tar, and other delectable delicious delights. Boris keeps looking at me askance, and I can tell from his body language and soul alike that he's trying to reconcile some rather divergent thoughts with my frankly mundane method of having breakfast today. With my help, fulfilling everyone’s orders fairly quickly is trivial, and soon the whole house is seated and eating before the business of the day really starts in earnest…. after a few bits of trolling. Just to keep the chef on his toes, I have SB feed a few plates from the kitchen to Whaitiri through his Shadow Mere, while HB pitches in by having some energy drinks, doing his best to contribute to the image that the food thief struck again.

I get a few questions about the nature of the upcoming tournament, which I deflect by reminding people to come up with decent boons to ask for if they win. I then mention that I’m going to be doing money transfers for everyone today: pay for the job they completed on Monday. I retire to my room while I do so. Pen in hand, I mull over the finer points of financing as I pre-fill a transfer order from Oyak.

Let’s see, 17 Russians, Camella, Dávgon, B.C., Bagga, Gianni, Sake, and Duke. 24 people total… need to set up a new account for Sake specifically… plus $10,000 each in officer bonuses for Camella and Matvey… and I should probably pay Camella her teaching fee too. What was it, $5,000 for the first 80 hours? And she’s been getting in 8 hours a day the past 23 days…I owe her $11,500 in teaching fees.
PERSONAL FUNDS: -$ 631,500 $9,079,910

That will be a chunk of change when I put the transaction through. And I’ve got another bill that’s supposed to come in today, too, from Yavuz. Man. Might be time to rustle up work. Or see if I can talk Tesla into paying the company to help Lyubov on Monday. I wonder what he’s got in mind for her, anyway.

I find myself distracted by the post arriving-or rather, a single letter. Curious at the irregular delivery, I briefly have Amen confirm it's not an attack, scan it myself-then open the thing. Inside, I find a single sheet of paper-containing an account number, a value, a page-fillingly detailed transaction list and a brief note from Yavuz. In the end, it's my bill for acquiring roughly 2% of the annual yield of iridium, plus shipping, smelting, and effectively the entire set of alloy crafting done for the golem's rebuilt weapon system.

It comes out to $6,215,250.00
PERSONAL FUNDS: -$6,215,250.00 $2,864,660

…Yeah, really gonna need to start looking for work again-or put some effort into finding some blood buyers, if I want to continue selling off the same stock that is no longer replenished and needed by Amen to function. Well, nothing for it-time to hit the bank, and put these transactions through-no way Oyak's going to let my first truly massive fund transfer go through over the phone or online-their attention to their client's funds is exactly what drew me to them, after all. With Sake remaining behind, I head out, Iron Trick and Mere at my hip, Shadowbro beneath my feet, to make a banking transaction.

[BANKING DISCONTINUITY]

One the way back from the bank, still sighing over the absurdly long line that took two hours to get through and the time-consuming paperwork involved in transferring millions of dollars about, I swing by the phone shop I picked up our satellite phones from, and once again hurry up and wait. It doesn't take as long as the banking did-thank Murphy for that-but it still eats up a whole mess of time to get my old encrypted phone number reassigned, and to get Lyubov a new phone as well as her old number moved. I end up getting a new employee today, and, having nothing truly pressing to do, I amuse myself waiting for him to finish by constantly steping out of his Attention while he helps me-his confused looks for the apparantly invisible customer amuse me deeply.

With the sun moving along and late afternoon becoming early evening, I recall a question I wanted to pose.
"Hey SB-when's that Siren getting here?"
>"Two hours."
"That soon?"
>"Yes. I was going to pick her up and bring her to the mansion myself."
"You know, I think I'd like to take care of that."
>"As you wish."

Upon my return to the mansion, I grab Dmitrii and Vlad and head off to the airport in one of the Vanduras, still chuckling over the idea she's flying in more or less like a mail order bride. On the way, Vlad and Dmitrii have a few questions.
>[Vlad]"So this Siren we are picking up-is she a greek one?"
"I assume so. Honestly, the Winter aspect is what I care about."
>[Dmitrii]"For your gun, right?"
"Yeah, for Silja."
>[Vlad]"So we will be killing this Siren."
"That'd be a waste-we've got fleshcrafters and time, I see no reason we can't safely remove several times her bodyweight in flesh from her without causing her any actual harm."
>[Dmitrii]"Don't take this the wrong way boss, but that sounds pretty cold."
"Eh, we'll find a way to temporarily shut her mind down for it if we can't get her to do it willingly-she'll go to sleep, and wake up, no bits missing."
>[Vlad]"That... sounds okay, actually."
"She DID get her ass-and soul-sold into servitude for doing... something, so really, this is a whole lot better treatment than she might have expected to get. Strictly speaking, we could barbecue her alive and it would be okay-fucked up, I know."
>[Vlad]"...Haven't we had Siren dishes at the house?"
"Pretty sure we have, yeah."
>[Dmitrii]"Do we have a plan for what to do with her afterward?"
"Not a one-that'll kind of be dependent on what she's like."

The rest of the drive is filled with idle banter as Vlad and, to a lesser extent, Dmitrii enjoy a rare moment to shoot the shit with me. We reach the airport with fifteen minutes to spare, and with a silvered tongue I talk one of the gate guards into letting us drive our shady-looking van in without any credentials.

Oh, I do love the perks of having gotten used to talking with supernatural deal-makers.

When we finally reach the designated location-a small landing strip for a tiny plane-I immediatly feel a soul that feels like a frozen song, bound in the largest, most complex Soul Bind I've yet encountered. I instinctually label this soul the purchased Siren-and am not disappointed when she steps off the plane.

At first glance, the leggy brunette looks like a human-but there's a few details that aren't quite right. Her collar bones are a bit too pronounced, and lightly push against the slightly ragged sun dress she's wearing. Her legs are overlong, and have more curve to them than they should, making her almost look bow-legged. Her feet, which I had at first assumed to be clad in heels turn out to be carefully folded and camoflaged talons, able to take a compact shape very similar to a generic pump when the talons are curled up. Her nose is aquiline bordering on beakish-but it's her eyes that explain why her frankly shoddy attempt at looking human even works. Brilliant pits of blue and green, orbs sparking like gems of sapphire and emerald lock with mine-and for the briefest moment I feel the pull of an alluring magic trying to wrap around my mind. Thankfully, I know enough about Gyaketsuote to recognise the attempt, and brush it aside as I step up to the cloak-clad man escorting my purchase, his every inch or skin covered in cloth. His movements are jrky, slipshod, and match perfectly with his soul' looking like nothing more than a facsimile of a human held upright by near invisible strings.

I step up and offer a hand to the smaller-souled being before me as the Siren behind him glares hate at everything she sees.
"Hello there, you are..."
>[???]"Call me Ragdoll. You Armas?"
"I am."
The man pulls a script of paper out of his pocket, it's substance softly exuding a steady thrum of power, too faint to even ping my Item Sense.
>[Ragdoll]"Her Contract. So long as you don't give it to someone, it stays yours, even if lost or stolen. Understand?"
"I do."

I turn from the wrapped figure as he promptly gets back in the tiny jet, eyeing the Siren now tapping her heel-like talons impatiently on the ground with a decidedly indignant look on her face.
>[Siren]"...So what are you looking at, huh?"

Hm. How to respond to that. I do own her now, after all......






What should I say or do?
[It is currently 7:50PM]
>>
No. 434825 ID: 54c7e5

I think trolling is the appropriate response for this situation. Give her a Smile, bitches love Smiles.

Seriously though, it's a good idea to convince 'Ragdoll' that our interest in this siren is only for consumption; we have a reputation to uphold on the Smiling One's website.

Beyond that, might want to explain to her what's going to happen to her when we get to the car. It would also probably be a good idea to get her Name, so fleshcrafting and the unconsciousness spell will be easier to apply.

Insert joke about 'using her body' here.

Also, might want to bind her from using her gaze abilities on Dmitrii and Vlad. Doing this after we get in the car has the advantage of not letting 'Ragdoll' know about our capabilities. Should just tell them not to look her in the eye though.
>>
No. 434833 ID: 100061

we don't know what kind of behavior is expected in this situation, so lets try to avoid any significant interaction with the siren until she's in the car. then we can explain to her why we bought her.

"in case you are wondering why I bought you, well quite simply I bought you for your body. No not like that, get your mind out of the gutter. I need some winter aligned flesh for a project of mine. with the fleshcrafters I have access to I should be able to harvest a significant amount of flesh from you in a day."

give that a second to sink in and then say

"oh by the way, how do you react to pain killers? between shutting down your mind for the duration and healing you up afterwards it should be more or less painless, but it would be a good idea to have some mundane forms of pain relief ready to go just in case."
>>
No. 435355 ID: 3734f6

SUST on telling her to get painkillers we aren't scaring her.
SUST on giving ragdoll info

>Siren
"follow me" and go to the van. Speak to her while someone drives.
What we do with her is our business not ragdoll's and I would not want to give away info about silja to ragdoll's owner for free. He would just sell it to info merchants, any secret we leak to random strangers is a secret we could have sold an info merchant! Or better yet, kept an ACTUAL SECRET!

"Who, not what; to answer your previous question. Who am I looked at? What is your name?"
Start by plying her for her story. Continue by telling her you plan to "temporarily harvest and then fully regrow your flesh in a painless non damaging manner to provide medical assistance to someone in need; afterwards we will see".

>Siren long term plans, do not mention or execute yet
Don't mention this to her yet, but I think that afterwards we would like to study the binding on her, so that we may replicate it on others in the future as needed.
Then we free her not by ordering her free, but by disassembling and removing her bindings one by one as practice. (ideally with some sort of guidance/teacher)
We put a spin on it all so she volunteers, and when she is freed we have a new friend and possibly and employee.

>Amen
Order amen (after consulting the lane conclave for exact wording):
1. Prioritize amen's usage of blood from least to most magical; if a task cannot be performed with the least magical blood in stock, use the least magical from the blood that is sufficiently magical.
2. Do not use blood for the first year after it has been collected without permission. (he immediately used up Galileo's blood to spite us!)
3. Between non magical human and animal blood, use the animal blood first.
4. Give him a standing permission to use cow, and only cow blood immediately after it is collected (to overcome the 1 year wait period).

Assign a Russian to acquire enough calves for amen to set up for blood harvesting to minimally power amen, plus enough to power all the orders you are giving amen, plus enough to build up large stockpiles.
Tell him to answer truthfully as to how many cows he would need, as a bonus, we could recover and remove the remaining human based blood factories which we have currently left alone.

According to interwebs an adult cow runs close to 1000$ but calves go for about 150$ each. So you can afford as much as are needed.

>Prisoners
We have ordered amen to detain prisoners in the same manner BC was detained a while ago, only the first prisoners we had were made into bio-factories, there are many detainees we never met! MEET THEM! Any argument as to them being dangerous to meet due to amen traps is silly paranoia as:
1. Existing bindings on him to not harm master.
2. He had the bio-factories we dismantled for much longer and it didn't hurt us!
3. We are just asking him to bring them to us, just as we have had him fetch countless other things. No extra risk in merely bringing a prisoner to us.

>Boris
Approach Armas asking to use company funds to set up a full brewery for both private use and resale and as a front business.
Not where he is doing everything but actually buying equipment, hiring employees with prior experience, and buying large quantities of raw materials. Mundane stock for mundane brews (public sale, front). Magic honey and peaches and other magic fruit from smiling one for magic meads and wines.
Will work with Armas later (questdis) to set up exact details including a new Amen definition for workers who are not guests, but mundane workers that are not to see or interact with amen.
>>
No. 435359 ID: 7f43a0

>>What should I say or do?
There needs to be a definite change in how we deal with her compared to our other underlings. She is a slave and as such should be dealt with, at least at first, more like Amen than like a Russian. For now, this means giving commands rather than requesting and preferably giving as few of those as possible. She doesn't get free information, she doesn't get any leeway – while the Contract won't allow her to disobey the word of an order, we should cultivate the expectation of her following the spirit of them, too, as well as acting in our best interests at all times. Don't give her attention when she wants it, unless it's to give an unrelated order.

Ignore her question. Just tell her “Follow me.” Don't say anything else yet, just get in the back of the van and direct her to sit. Once everyone's in, head back to the mansion.

Give the Contract a quick read through and try to sort out what it means – how orders works, whether they're permanent like with Amen, how to free her if we ever decide to – with Shadowbro using accelerated thought. If it looks too complicated to comprehend with only a few minutes, set it aside and let SB figure it out using his perfect memory. If the Siren tries to interrupt, just hold up a finger to indicate that she shouldn't talk.

Once the Contract is reasonably well-understood, or ten minutes have passed, tell the Siren to summarise how and why she is soul-bound. Use this opportunity to get a good look at the binding on her soul to help SB figure it out, but remember to listen to what she says – having to tell her to repeat herself isn't particularly useful. Once she's finished with her story, give her the ground rules as orders.

*Do not harm me, my followers, or my associates, directly or indirectly.
*Do not manipulate or coerce me or my associates via magical or mundane means.
*Do not communicate with Amen.
*Do not leave the mansion unless directed to with specific objectives by myself or an officer of my company, and return there on completion of those given objectives.

That should cover most of the trip. Once back at the mansion, have Vlad lead her to Satai to have her details recorded. Make sure she knows that she is to answer all of Satai's questions truthfully and to follow all of his orders for the rest of the day. Don't give Satai any directions with regards to what information to get out of her.

Ask Dávgon about the possibility of mental or spiritual damage to the Siren from repeated flesh harvesting and, if it looks likely, ways to mitigate that damage. Invite him to study her binding with you for your next Soul Manipulation lesson.

Talk to Silja. Ease her into the plan, ensuring she knows that the Siren won't have to die and will be fully returned to health once the procedure's over. Ask her how she's feeling about it, and if she's upset or uncomfortable, reassure her.

Assuming Silja's fine with it, and Dávgon gives the all-clear, round up Sake and whoever else needs or wants to be present, and get harvesting.

>>435355
Upvoting the Amen parts, despite their lack of relevance at the moment.
>>
No. 435366 ID: 22ae81

Read the contract.

Tell the siren to get in the van. Interview her on the ride. Learn her name, her age, her offense, her

Tell the driver to take us to a flower shop. Buy flowers!

Buy a bouquet of mayflowers and plumeria with laurestine for the siren, a bouquet of dark pink roses with pear blossoms and larkspur for Camella, a bouquet of dark pink roses with pear blossoms and a white lily for Hillevi, a bouquet of red and orange roses with calliopsis and apple blossoms for Lyubov, a bouquet of yellow roses and yellow poppy with yellow poplar flowers for Zhenya, a bouquet of lime blossoms and plum blossoms with bellflowers for Gianni, a bouquet of bumblebee orchids and Canterburry bells with cabbage leaves for Satai, a bouquet of mulleins and oak leaves for Zhenya, mayflowers and dark pink roses for Svetlana, and whatever the proprietor suggests will be suitable for saying "good work, friends" for all the others.
>>
No. 435382 ID: 259434

>>435366
SUST to buying flowers. That's just stupid.
>>
No. 435584 ID: 252e1b

>>435366

Buy the flowers. Don't buy two bouquets for Zhenya, that's a little silly.

Someone in IRC had the funny, if somewhat cruel, idea of having the siren hand-deliver the flowers to everyone. If we do that, we need to put little notes with the flowers too.

Mayflowers and plumeria with laurestine for the siren (note to read: "Hope this turns that frown upside down.")
Dark pink roses with pear blossoms and larkspur for Camella (note to read: "Sometime I'll tell you how I learned the language of flowers, it's a fun story.")
Dark pink roses with pear blossoms and a white lily for Hillevi (note to read: "A bouquet for my friend, I hope you enjoy them.")
Red and orange roses with calliopsis and apple blossoms for Lyubov (note to read: "I got these for you just because.")
Yellow roses and yellow poppy with yellow poplar flowers for Zhenya (note to read: "I knew you'd work through that turbulent period your soul was going through. I'd like to have a chat with you sometime, how's tomorrow?")
Lime blossoms and plum blossoms with bellflowers for Gianni (note to read: "I know I can't go wrong giving you a bundle of genitals, even if they did come from plants.")
Bumblebee orchids and Canterburry bells with cabbage leaves for Satai (note to read: "You're doing good work, keep it up.")
Mayflowers and dark pink roses for Svetlana (note to read: "I'm looking forward to developing a lasting friendship with you, welcome aboard.")
Plumeria and sunflowers for Placid (note to read: "A little gift to brighten up your day.")
Yellow roses and rue for Matvey (note to read: "Sorry about the arm thing, in hindsight it was excessive.")
Oak leaves and mullein for Bagga (note to read: "Stay strong, kid.")
Peppermint and dragon lily for Dávgon (note to read: "I've been keeping you busy lately, be sure to let me know when you want time for yourself.")
Dark pink and yellow roses for B.C. (note to read: "I'm glad our friendship got past that shakey start.")
Woodbine and phlox for Sake (note to read: "You may speak the language of weasels, but I know the language of flowers! Just try to figure out what this arrangement means!")

>>435359
This is generally good, but it should be made explicitly clear the the siren who in the company is an officer. In fact, it'd be good to spell out what everyone's roles are, just so there is no wiggle room for her to be creative with who she takes direction from.

"Follow me into the van. Buckle up."

"Time for ground rules. Do not harm me, my followers, or my associates. Do not manipulate or coerce me or my associates via magical or mundane means unless directed to by myself or by one of my company's officers. Once we arrive at the mansion, you are to stay in the mansion unless given specific objectives which include permission to leave house grounds granted by myself or by an acknowledge officer of my company. When you complete the specific objective, you are to return to the mansion without delay."

"Do not communicate with the entity known as Amen, also called the Bloodfiend, the All-hater, and my butler."

"What's your name?"

"What's the story behind your soul bind? Tell it as impartially as you can, I want a balanced view of things."

"How old are you, and how long have you been a soul-slave?"

"Do you have any allergies or medical issues?"

"How much combat training and experience have you had? Are you familiar with modern firearms?"

"Explain to me in full the effects you can achieve with your magic."

"How many owners have you had, and in what ways have they employed you?"

"Do you have any kids, any family, any friends who would want to talk to you?"

"In general terms, what do you know about divine magic workings? Divinetech is something I've got an interest in."

"Have you ever worked with a witch saint before?"

"What are your dietary requirements?"
>>
No. 435607 ID: 722415
File 134310556608.jpg - (82.29KB , 520x346 , Rolls Royce.jpg )
435607

>siren being snippy
aw hell no
Assert dominance

Normal: use the Contract to make her behave
Trickster: completely ignore and go abotu your business while subtly manipulating her with your words so she gives up trying to get a foot ahead. RUN WORD CIRCLES AROUND HER.
Hardball: Orange voice :"SIT"
Nothing else works: Introduce Amen.

>>435584
Downvoting Adding notes and having siren had deliver. WE don't need her mucking about before we have a proper set of ground rules set. And we don't need her running around before being properly introduced, if we even plan to introduce her.
The Notes are just very un armas to me. To much sincerity, not enough trolling. Flowers alone are fine.

>siren apperance
Get her some proper clothes. We may be nto fully human, but we aint no monster. And we don't need to have her walking around in raggedy ass clothes. It doesn't look good.

>vans
HA
Call Satai. Have him order you 2 Rolls royce Phantom's. Immediately if not before. When you get them you can work on getting them magically shielded and armoured and such.(and when we do, I imagine the fact that it's called a PHANTOM, will help with illusion/speed/phasing upgrades) But for now, you can't be trying to court/bang royalty and be seen driving around in a raggedy ass van. WE made initial contact, we probably have at least one person watching us from her side. Keep it classy.

Also, get one of the minions on repairing the vans, it's silly that they still look bad.
>>
No. 435619 ID: 85ee6a

>>435366
Downvoting the flowers SO HARD. It's stupid.
>>
No. 435709 ID: 3734f6

>>435359 upvote
>>435607
>Assert dominance
You are a gentleman not a schoolyard bully, let the poor slave her tiny act of defiance.
>Show vans, fix up existing vans
Its not a matter of money, the vans were chosen to look inconspicuous. Fixing them up or replacing them would be counter productive to armas' ninja ways.
We should get a classy car to use when going to openly visit powerful people. Zosimos, Owner, etc... But we should keep the rundowns of the most common van type in turkey for when we are not trying to draw attention to self. Like right now.
>>
No. 435933 ID: 9718f3

Ignore her attitude, just tell her to follow to the car.

While there, engage in small talk. Ask her if she has any hobbies, her favourite type of music, the last play or performance she attended, her most enjoyable kill, you know, normal stuff. No need to needlessly boss the poor thing around. We are the boss, nothing to prove here.

>>435366
>>435584
>flowers
Upvote.
>siren delivered
Downvote.
Armas should deliver the flowers himself. Stealthily. Leave the flowers next to them so they'll notice their presence, but make sure they don't notice Armas doing it.

When we're home and the basic safety orders are in place, we can explain to her what we bought her for.
"Now, as I'm sure you've been wondering, the reason I purchased you was to complete a particular project I have. It requires female winter-aspected flesh and purchasing a renewable source was more efficient than buying it outright. I have a variety of restorative methods on hand to ensure no lasting injury. You may be rendered unconscious for the procedure and/or unable to feel pain, at your discretion. Do you have any questions before we begin?"

Obviously we ask Davgon/Gianni about the risks involved in this sort of flesh harvesting and how to mitigate them, if any. I think for tonight we should take a decent amount, but not a huge amount, feed it to Silja, and then monitor both the siren and Silja for changes. It isn't like we are in a huge hurry, and this represents an opportunity to learn. Rushing and doing it all in one lump means we can't observe the results as finely.
>>
No. 435967 ID: 959781

>>435366
SUST to buying flowers.
>>
No. 436066 ID: 53b559

NO TO FLOWERS!!!
>>
No. 436095 ID: 21a619

>>435366
lolnoflowers
give that bitch a nothing
bitches love nothing
>>
No. 437451 ID: 47c52e

I think we should give her a nice smile instead of flowers
>>
No. 437635 ID: 40fb55

I could be capricious and/or lackadaisical about this as per my normal flippant self-I could.

But the fact remains that I own this siren as utterly as I'd hoped to own Adelate (and I still find myself wondering if the appropriate label for the strange, inverse-schadenfreude I feel over her continued resistance would be 'villainous satisfaction') conjoins with my desire to be out of such a highly exposed place before I force the siren to start spilling the juicy secrets I so desire.

"Get in the van."

It's not a request-and I watch her oversized Soul Binding pulse with power as her legs begin moving, guiding her towards the van regardless of her opinion. I can see the thinly veiled hate in her eyes-it's not that surprising given the circumstances, and I can't say that I really care that she hates me. She is, after all, my slave.
>"What a novel concept-treating a slave like a slave."
On my shoulder, a certain set of tiny wings is flapped most fiercely.
>[HB]"Is this truly a… just use of the female?"
>"I'll field that one: Imagine her as being a suitable location to build a nest. Its original occupant has elected to trade this ideal nest to others-and it has come into our possession. The fact the nest is, in this case, sapient is largely irrelevant. The metaphor isn't perfect, but does that help explain why there is no issue using her any and every way we want?"
>[HB]"Giants… the behaviors you evoke are, as ever, baffling to me."

I note he doesn't offer any more complaints.

With Ragdoll already back in the plane and starting the engines back up to taxi down the runway and get the hell out of Turkey, I get in the back of the van with the Siren, my ears faintly tingling as I watch Vlad and Dmitri getting back in the front seats. ..Ears tingling, that-
>"Yes, she is attempting to ply a sonically-founded mental influencing magic."
Can't have that.

"Stop that."
If I wasn't watching her soul as well as her face, I might have doubted that I was correct-not a single expression on her face showed surprise beyond that of one being addressed for no reason. Her soul, on the other hand, stormed and churned like a thief caught in the act.
>[Siren]"I do not know-"
"First-don't lie to me."
Her mouth snaps shut with an audible clack.
"Second, you can't use your power on myself or anyone affiliated with me unless I personally give you explicit orders otherwise-is that clear?"
She glares hate at me in silence while I hear Vlad asking Dmitri if he thinks he could pop a wheelie with a tank-I find myself curious when Dmitri's response is 'probably'.
>[Siren]"…I understand."
"Good. What's your name?"
She says nothing-and in a quick review of her binding, I see no facets that innately compel her to answer questions-we'll change that.
"Answer my questions when I ask them. Now, what's your name?"
If looks could kill…
>[Siren]"…It's Stacey."
My shadow speaks up from within the van's gloomy confines as we make our way towards the roads leaving the airport.
>"Is that your birth name?"
>[Stacey]"No-it was given to me after my original name was claimed…"
She looks rather clearly confused that she was compelled to answer that. I COULD explain how SB is effectively me, made of my own soul, and as such no doubt qualifies for any rules I impose on… Stacey… that reference myself. I do not give her the luxury of an explanation. Instead, I stick my head up into the cabin, interjecting myself in Vlad and Dmitri's conversation about tank wheelies.
"Hey-FYI, don't look her in the eye, okay?"
>[Dmitri]"Did you not enact.. precautions from her abilities?"
"I did but I think we all know how 'meticulous' I can be-so, warning you now, probably safest to not even look."
>[Vlad]"Dah-you do not look down gun's barrel, even if sure it is not loaded."
"..Yes, let's go with that metaphor."

>>434833
Deciding that the absolutely wretched feel of her soul is beginning to get bothersome, I elect to offer a limited explanation to her.
"In case you are wondering why I bought you, well quite simply I bought you for your body."
She huddles against the van's wall, reflexively seeking escape that can never be. I'm not exactly surprised by the reaction given the phrasing I used.
"No, not like that; get your mind out of the gutter."
Her body relaxes a shade as confusion wars with resistance.
"I need some winter aligned flesh for a project of mine."
Aaand there she goes trying to melt into the wall again.
"I have no intention of seeing you die in the process, nor do I intend to see you subjected to undue discomfort or maiming in the process: with the fleshcrafters I have access to I should be able to harvest a significant amount of flesh from you in a day without any harm befalling you."
I eye her soul binding, intrigued by how it seems hierarchical, my orders… 'filed' under the overarching binding that forces her to obey me as her Contract Owner. Decidedly fascinating.
"Oh by the way, how do you react to pain killers?"
>[Stacey]"It… depends on the kind. I do not do well with demonically derived sedatives."
"Good to know. Between shutting down your mind for the uncomfortable part and healing you up afterwards it should be more or less painless, but it would be a good idea to have some mundane forms of pain relief ready to go, just in case."
>[Stacey]"I have not-"
She cuts off as if uncertain speaking could be a good idea.
"Go on."
>[Stacey]"I have not tried mortal medications before, so I cannot comment on them."
"I see-a pity."
>>435355
As an awkward silence-made awkward solely by my fellow back-of-the-van passenger's body language-settles over our seating, I stretch, and throw Stacey a question I imagine she did not expect.
"So-tell me about yourself."
Her body evokes surprise even as her mouth moves to obey me.
>[Stacey]"I'm a Siren from the Srenum Scopuli's Anthemoessa, the roving fourth island. At the time of my birth the island was near Sweden-and I, along with my clutch-mates, were attributed with a Winter alignment. I was never as talented at vocal hypnosis as the rest of my clutch were, and I strived to make up for it with guile, having met a traveling sphinx that was willing to instruct me in some riddle-work. I eventually targeted a traveler from the Orient who was able to answer my every riddle, and bound my soul when I could not do the same-and here I am."
I see a bitterly frustrated tear threaten to fall from her eye at the utter powerlessness of her situation. I could ALMOST see myself thinking of freeing her-but that's completely irrelevant until I've used her body to see Silja's reincarnation through to the end. So I table the thought, and decide to utterly ignore it in all its forms until I no longer actually need Stacey's body.

>[RRRRRR Trait activated]
Then something strikes me about the way she worded her answer, and I recall what Sake had said Monday night. It doesn’t quite match what she just told me, so I ask a follow-up question.
“What did you do with the people you targeted and won against?”
Stacey looks at me with utter bafflement, as though there was only ever one answer.
>[Stacey]"I ate them.”
>It’s the traditional sphinx riddling game. The magic inherent in the game’s ritual makes the loser submit to whatever demand the winner has. Being killed and eaten is the usual end for losing mortals, and has the advantage of being fully within the Accords.
Yeah, suddenly, I don’t feel nearly so bad about this. I think she picked up on that, since she shut her yap as soon as she could. But I know there’s more to this.
“Was your binder just a traveler, or was he someone called in specifically to deal with you?”
She hesitates.
>[Stacey]”I’m not certain.”
“Give me your best guess.”
>[Stacey]”I think he heard about me, and came on his own to stop me.”
“Just stop you? Not enslave you, then. This was a contract binding you broke somehow, wasn’t it?”
She looks decidedly perturbed, and resigns herself to a more complete explanation.
>[Stacey]”Yes. I was bound to not challenge humans to riddling games anymore. I made a mistake with one wearing a charm that made her seem to be the favored human form of a shape shifter I knew of.”

As I sit in the van's back with a Siren bound to do absolutely anything I tell her giving me the nine-yard stare, I decide to have a conference with Amen in my head. I lead off with some simple but rather important stuff-I finally order him to always use the lowest magical content blood possible for fueling any of his actions, and to allow blood to sit for a year before being considered 'usable' to prevent future incidents of it using up blood I needed. I feel pretty good about these corrections-and feel I can 'complete' them once I actually start picking up animal blood for Amen to use.

I find myself less impressed when it becomes clear that Amen has sidestepped prior bindings by letting every single prisoner escape in what I can only consider a string of purposefully orchestrated periods of gross ineptitude on Amen's part. From what Shadowbro and I gather, Amen arranged for periods of laxness in its internal security measures while performing some large-scale shuffling in the way the lower levels of the mansion were arranged, ostensibly to accommodate changes in the way Duke’s shit is stored. Amen cited a need to limit its senses when doing so, and volunteered that the s hit is just potent enough that it qualified under pre-existing orders for storing as magic feedstock.

And what's more, Amen was able to burn up all the stored blood samples it had had on hand for every single prisoner in its care. With no way to track them down, I have only Amen’s word that it wiped their memories of the mansion entirely.

If I wasn't used to Amen by now, I'd be surprised at this bullshit-oh well, nothing to do about it now. The only 'people' still in the house that do not work for me are the biofactories producing blood for Amen's continued function.


>>435359
As the silence continues to stretch, I pull out the actual contract for the Siren to look it over….

And have no idea what language it's written in.
>"Nor do I."
>[IT]"I know, but I'm not telling."
Wonderful. Guess that's another thing to look into at some point.

While I can't read the contract just now, I can lay down some basic ground rules to prevent issue: I order Stacey to….
Not harm me, my followers, or my associates, directly or indirectly.
Not manipulate or coerce me or my associates via magical or mundane means.
Not communicate with Amen.
Not leave the mansion unless directed to with specific objectives by myself or an officer of my company, and return there on completion of those given objectives.
Follow Satai's orders and answer his questions where doing so won't come into conflict with any order I've given her.

Sure, it's not ironclad or anything like that-but it should keep her on hand and available at least for the immediate future, while I work out some more concrete bindings. I continue to marvel at how every new order I make gets sucked into the single binding-and am absolutely fascinated at the way the binding itself seems to pick up increased density/coherance as it gets more orders layered into it.

Fucking fascinating, really.
>"I find it interesting that the contract is as magically… present as it mundanely is."
Say that again but make more sense this time.
>"I can actually read the contract, rather than just analyze it's magical content-I hope I do not need to tell you how unusual that is."
Think it's related to why her binding's so complex?
>"While I have no evidence to back my idea, yes, I do find that the most likely explanation-that the Contract is… some form of Restriction that empowers the binding itself."
Well that's some food for thought there.

On the drive back, I briefly find myself thinking about buying flowers for… well, everyone. Then, after a brief check of my Sphere Labyrinth (still active since I'm still dual-Orienting with Soul Sense and Sphere Labyrinth), I detect an exceptionally subtle-by my standards at least-intrusion attempt that lines up perfectly with the thought cropping up. Going out on a limb, I elect to believe that, no matter how real the thought may feel, it's not mine, and as such-no flower power hour.

I almost feel like I hear a falcon weep. Odd.

After the drive home, during which Stacey continues to stare at me like a Chihuahua eyeing a Caucasian Shepherd with a bit too much drool on its lip, we get back to the mansion-and after introducing the Siren to Amen as a guest, I bring her to Satai. Unsurprisingly, I find him going over excel spreadsheets in a room filled with boxes and files, guns and words his only company. On my arrival to the room he gives the most exaggerated acknowledgement of another's presence I've yet seen from the man-he looks up and quirks an eyebrow.

"Hey. So SHE-"
I push the Siren in front of me, inwardly chuckling as she looks patently huffy-
"Is a siren. General gist of her story: From one of the islands of the siren, born when it was way north, that's why she's Winter type, sucks at the normal siren hypnosis and such, and is a people-eater. As you see, she's not purple-I know, we're missing out here. So anyway-you got any questions you want to put her through, go ahead-she's obligated by Contract to answer truthfully."
>[Satai]"I… see. Are there any particular questions you want asked?"
"I hit the big ones for general stuff on the way over-really, I'm looking for you to dig about for anything interesting in her noggin."
>[Satai]"How soon do you need it?"
"Well, I'd like it before I start feeding bits of her to Silja, but that doesn't need to start anytime soon-I'd just prefer it, you know? So don't go losing sleep over it."
>[Satai]"Don't… yes. I wont."
"Excellent. OH, new thing for you to buy."
Satai grabs a notepad and looks at me expectantly.
"A pair of Rolls Royce Phantoms in orange-or at least with orange trim. Or orange seats.
Really, so long as it's clearly got some noticeable orange, I'm happy."
>[Satai]"Are there any particular details you need?"
"Yeah-if you can get them already armored great, but the goal is to make these vehicles properly durable for their investment. I don't really care if that's from a package deal or after market stuff, just so long as it happens. But do tell me before committing the cars to a defense package that would preclude others, okay?"
>[Satai]"That… will be costly."
"Not a problem. In fact…"

Turning every iota of my attention outwards, I linger in that almost-shadowy buzz lingering in the back of my mind, informing me of Einherjar within several miles of me.
"I'm pretty damn sure work will be picking up soon enough."
>[Satai]"Glad to hear it. We need the funds."
His eyes glimmer as a thought occurs to him, and he holds up a hand to stall me as he rummages in one of the boxes.
>[Satai]"…Here we are."

A box radiating magic is tossed to me-and jingles the lovely jangle of bullets when I catch it.
>[Satai]"Sixty Doom rounds for your matebas."
My eyes sparkly like a kid in a candy store.
"Oh man Satai my main man, you are so lucky you don't have a pussy."
I'm treated to the sight of Satai freezing stock still like a machine working through a particularly complicated bit of kid, his eyes blinking rapidly before, in an exceptionally neutral voice, he responds most succinctly.
>[Satai]"…Yes."
I Smile at him as he continues to put up a good poker face.
"You do know I can see your soul, right?"
Behind his poker face, his soul continues to squirm.
"All right, enough messing around-have fun interrogating the Siren, let me know how that goes. And thanks again."
The cautious nod he sends my way, surprisingly, isn't a dismissal. After a bit more rummaging, her pulls out a crate of grenades.
>[Satai]"…Past that, we may want to have a demonstration of these at some point soon. The grenades, at least; we have enough to afford expending a few and I don't think they'll be fully appreciated until we've seen them in action."
"You told me about these-'melt the fuck out of anything' grenades, right?"
>[Satai]"Accurate enough. There's also similarly amplified flash bangs, but we only have six of those."
"Okay-I'll look into a demonstration-maybe as a… precursor to the tournament at the month's end. Should be fun. May or may not throw those stealth or shield charms into the mix too. Now-"
My phone starts ringing. A quick check shows… it's Yavuz Celikaya. I glance at Satai, waving goodbye as I step out of the room.
"Yavuz."
>[YZ]"Mr. Laine. Your order is ready."
"…That fast?"
>[YZ]"I am used to working on restricted deadlines-it was simpler for me."
"Ah-huh. So, can you deliver them up here?"
>[YZ]"Yes-but I would recommend that you come pick up the pieces-none of my vehicles lack the company logo, and Kardemir Steel is fairly well known."
"Right, questions, questions, can't have those."
>[YZ]"Indeed."
"Okay-I'll swing by sometime tomorrow to pick the stuff up-give me a ballpark here, what's the weight?"
>[YZ]"Roughly eight hundred pounds."
"Ah, no problem then. Okay, tomorrow."
*CLICK*

And that's all she wrote.

Feeling that I really shouldn't let myself lapse back into laziness, I spend a solid three hours exhaustively practicing my Dual Orientations, and then wrap up by sitting in on Gianni's night-time modding of Ivan's eyes, once more playing the conduit to his efforts to force my body to learn a bit more fleshcrafting. By the time I'm done, Lyubov's long since asleep, and I hit the sack.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25th, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $2,864,660.00
BUSINESS FUNDS: $1,124,984.00
CASH: $6,120.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 95%
WINTER ENERGY: 160/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50


I wake up to a hand on my chest…..


An hour later, I get out of bed to start the day. Eyeballing the clock, I see it's roughly six AM now.






What's my plan for the day?
When am I picking up the parts for my golem project?
>>
No. 438165 ID: 3734f6

>Major action
1. Note-writer bargain requires silja to be our #1 priority. Get on it immediately and fully assign gia, davgon (if he can help, to prevent spiritual injury), sake, and whatever you can contribute using your own energy. Also see if you can convince hilevi to assist with healing the siren too... Not amen though. Ask they siren if she is capable of regenerating if fed magic meats.

>Decisions/realizations/quick conversation with brothers (should take seconds each)
2. The rape joke with siren and sex joke with satai were creepy not funny. Armas should be classier then that in his trolling.

3. When you feel an einher presence immediately inform SB so he can immediately scout it out, and at his discretion converse with the einher in question.
Then the conclave, excepting Armas, should use their judgement on what to tell Armas based on the situation. aka, hunt down and here is what we know or avoid and mention not a word on who they are. I believe we should avoid einher too strong as that will kick our ass, too weak and young, relatives, and those who are politically out of our reach.

4. Don't antagonize the siren. Yes she is bound, but you saw how easy it is to still screw people (ex: amen with prisoners) and you don't want her hating you unnecessarily. Also I am concerned that flesh from a person who utterly loathes you might affect silja negatively. Be manipulative in your conversations with her to minimize her disdain for you... make her think she lucked out as having you as a master and has a chance at freedom.

5. We didn't finish the "practice magic near 0 energy" thing einrik told us about. We just quit midway due to having solved issue with hummingbird. Whatever energy we cannot use for silja we should pour into low energy chakra practice until we DO learn those critical lessons.

>Quick Actions (should take 10-30 min each)
6. Based on the ideas from >>/questdis/57874 discuss the feasibility of those ideas with your brothers and those that don't get you laughed at bring up with gia and davgon. Most important question is on whether a duplicate of armas could be obfusicated and gender swapped for feeding into silja and are there harmful effects for doing so (like a soul mark). Consider it might also be possible to use romanov to heal non fatal injuries to regrow a donated arm rather then just whole bodies (although we yet don't know how to do any of the above).

7. You forget to tell a Russian to get cows. Tell Satai to get started on calf acquisition.
Ask amen (under truthful response order) if he can use mundane cow blood to fuel his abilities and how much mundane cow blood is needed compared to mundane human blood; as well as the amount of mundane cow blood needed to fully power him, and amount he would have needed had he used mundane cow blood to performed the order you gave him about destroying the heart stolen from you.

8. Ask Lo Fang and Mafia if either is interested in buying a Phoenix heart.
>>
No. 438292 ID: 54c7e5

>>438165

Actually, for selling body parts and blood and such, we have the Smiling One's website. We can use it for selling as well as for buying.

Our time with the Triad and Mafia is better spent trying to get actual work, even if it's just a bunch of small jobs that the Russians can handle.

Also, I am of the opinion that we should have a Siren dish for dinner tonight.
>>
No. 440259 ID: 252e1b

Working on interesting projects out of the house, while convenient, is starting to pose some problems. We are very obviously connected to the mansion and anything and anyone that arrives or leaves from it. Furthermore, we won't be able to get Placid to work on the golem's laser systems until either we have moved it someplace that isn't under Amen's control, or we have convinced Placid that Amen is sufficiently leashed that entering the mansion isn't as scary as he thinks.

Until we have this issue solved, picking up the order from Kardemir Steel is of secondary concern.

We need a workspace. A warded warehouse, or rented space from a trusty merchant with access to such, or borrowed space from an ally. Keeping the location legally unconnected to us would be a bonus, but is not necessary.

*Lo Fang could provide the workspace we'd need, but then he'd know what we were up to, and we have decided we don't like him enough that we've been looking for assassins to throw at him. In fact, he's a problem we're going to have to address properly since he's our #1 suspect for who tipped off that American dragon about us. If the golem were further along, I'd consider asking Lo Fang for workspace just for the chance to trojan horse it into his compound, but he'd obviously have a killbox set up around the work area as an insurance measure. It's not a viable plan. At least not yet.
*Sometimes Merchant could provide the workspace we need, but then he'd either know what we were up to, or we'd pay a premium for privacy.
*Johaan could facilitate rental of a workspace and privacy from a demon, but he'd be expensive.
*We could deal with a demon ourselves, in Mammon's Market, but then we're dealing with demons directly.
*The mafia would be able to provide space (maybe that storage container, if we don't mind using a place we know Sometimes Merchant knows about), but that would be just another little thing tying us closer to them.
*We could rent or buy (either legitimately or through a straw purchase) an appropriate warehouse. We would need to be prepared to spend a day installing wards, probably with Shadowbro and Dávgon's help (or Placid, or all of them).

That last solution, by the way, seems the safest even if it is the most time consuming. It's what I advocate, at least. Failing that, I'd talk to Rocco. We're already fairly invested in the mafia and their network of contacts.

Another possible problem might be Gianni getting annoyed about the golem being worked on by the very war walker that tried to kill him. The best way to head that problem off would be to introduce them properly, and stress that Placid has free will and his own mind now. Placid's got no reason to try to hurt Gianni, and in fact would probably enjoy talking with a fleshcrafter about their craft. Might be educational for them and Armas, even.

>>438165
>1.
Silja is important, but we need to keep up the momentum on the golem project. A consultation with Gianni and Dávgon will be a good start, but don't pull them off the golem project. Our primary concerns with using Stacey as a source of flesh for Silja are Stacey's physical and spiritual health from the procedure (we do not want any spiritual wounds forming), Stacey's mental condition (thus the need to actually find a way to shut her mind down with a bind or fleshcraft magic, or to experiment with mundane or non-demonic pain killers), and Silja's end-state from what she absorbs. If there's a way to improve her gains, perhaps by empowering Stacey with Hillevi's help (think of those chakra chillers she does for the Russians), then we should go for it.

Using Armas as a source of flesh is another idea fraught with potential for mishap, from an incomplete transistion to female for Silja, to Armas accidentally being absorbed by her as he'll appear to be more like a meal than a friend (as far as I understand it, her eating ability is largely unconscious). I can't advocate it.

We have a deal with the Wyld Goblins where we can trade a delivery of hearts for a delivery of 200 kg of powerful winter female flesh. We should exercise that option this week and see what Silja can get from it, as well.

>>438165
>3.
The implication of an einher in the city isn't just that there's a target for us to attack, but that there's likely to be a lot of trouble soon. Einher only really show up when they know there's going to be a good string of fights.

>>438165
>4.
Don't lead her on with fake ideas of freedom. We're not in the business of emancipation, we're in the business of making a profit.

>>438165
>5.
This shouldn't be done until after we've got the golem running. There's no good reason to run around defenseless.

>>438165
>6.
Sounds great for getting laughed at by the bros. It's largely a risky set of ideas, and we have safer methods on hand already.

>>438165
>8.
Let's instead use our spare phoenix heart (we have four at present, one more than we need for the golem array) to experiment with making magic booze for Duke. A phoenix is associated with heat, with burning, with the idea of renewal and of fire in general. So we could put a heart in a vat of aguardiente (translates to "firey water") or into a vat of brandy ("burnt wine") and get something that would enjoy concept synergy with the phoenix heart. We would want to build the vat like a still, with a waterjacket for capturing alcohol that boils off from the phoenix heart.

ALSO, let's toss those phoenix hearts into Igor's furnace. They can keep there just fine, and he might get a magic furnace out of the deal.

>Finally
When we talk to Sometimes Merchant about switching this Sunday's heart delivery for magic winter woman parts, we should think about what his mask actually is. It's obviously magical, and obviously important to all the Wyld goblins. The summer goblin we met did not use a mask though. In fact, we haven't met any other group who uses masks like that.

This suggests it's something unique, or at least culturally significant, to the wyld goblins. And, why are they called WYLD goblins if they're so civil and urban anyway? Generally the wyld aspect of magic is associated with the wyld hunt and the other non-court aligned traditions/cultures that led to classic mythical stories about weird elves and other stuff in the woods. Circumstancial evidence, sure, but it points to some cultural adaptation that the wyld goblins of Turkey specifically learned and took up to become more successful than the other wyld critters. Including the wyld goblins outside of Turkey (remember that SM could only make the friendship bargain on behalf of the Wyld Goblins of Turkey, and that while that might seem like just a geopolitical limitation, it could be a cultural one).

If it is their masks that give them the power to not act like wyld creatures, then we need to know why. The solution could be of immense help to loup garou, like our friend Lambombard.


Also I still like that flower idea, can we buy flowers for just all the women in the house? Use the list in >>435584
>>
No. 440371 ID: 74bfb9

If you can still feel the buzzing that says the einher is within a league, ask Shadowbro to try to find him or her via Allview. If he says it would be impossible due to the size of the area, tell him you have something that should make it easier and change his binding to “While using Allview, can only see einherjar, buildings that einherjar are in, roads, and street signs.” Tell him to try tagging the einher when he finds them as well as getting any information he can about them.

Sneak into Camella's morning training session with the Russians and whisper into her ear a request for her to organise a meeting with the Owner about the coordinates he gave you. Use all of the techniques you use in your spars against her to keep her from seeing you. While you're there, do the same thing to Satai, Dmitrii, Vlad, Grisha, and Rostislav with an order to go pick up the pipes from Yavuz.

Now, on to the main event of the day: harvesting the siren.

The first step is talking to Silja about the plan. It wouldn't do to go through all this just for her to hate us for it. Go sit with her, and put some blood on her blade so she can see you when you talk to her. Tell her that you're ready for the next stage in getting her a body, ask her if she is, and whether she wants to know what's going to happen, given that it looks to be a fairly gruesome project. If she does want to know, tell her how it'll work: the siren will be unconscious and will have its head separated from its body, at which point it will be healed and the cycle will begin again. If she doesn't want to know the details, just assure her that the siren will be left healthy and whole at the end of it. Do this as early as possible in the day, so that she has time to process the information – everything else can happen in the afternoon or even later.

We haven't discussed the matter of long-term spiritual damage from doing this repeatedly with Dàvgon and Gianni and we really, really need to. Otherwise we could accidentally destroy our investment through carelessness, and that just wouldn't be cool.

As far as pain mitigation goes, a number of possibilities present themselves. A simple chokehold or knock to the head would probably suffice, though healing Stacey with Sake means that it'll have to be done each time and she might not like that. Anaesthetics might work, but since she's never had them used on her it might be something of a gamble. Gianni might be able to turn her sensory nerves off, though given his specialisation he'd probably be more used to turning their sensitivity up. The most comfortable option for all involved would be ordering Stacey to sleep or be unconscious for the length of the process. Given how aggressive her binding is, this should work rather effectively. An hour should be enough, and if we need longer than that we can always give her the same order again.

When we get to the actual process itself, we should consider that the head can generally live for 10-15 seconds after being cut off, with just the oxygen in the blood. Given that timeframe, as long as we're efficient we don't really need to involve Gianni, it should just be as simple as Armas using a really sharp implement - potentially Silja's blade itself, since it's very good at slashing, though any knife would do - with Sake healing the head immediately after it's been severed. We should be able to manage repeating it about ten times before Sake runs out of heals, but he should probably keep a buffer – say three or four heals – just in case.

Once we've harvested all we can, we should feed it and the meat from Sometimes Merchant to Silja all at once and watch what happens.

>>438165
Downvote to 6 and 8. Upvote to 7.

>>440259
Upvote to the workspace idea, specifically the idea to buy a property and then have it warded. I'd alter it slightly to be an apartment building with a large basement rather than a warehouse, as then it covers the need we have for housing external to the mansion, for the minions who don't like living in a house where everything's made from people.

Also upvoting both phoenix heart ideas, though whiskey would probably work just as well for the base spirit given its nickname of “firewater”, and the idea to trade a heart delivery for winter woman meat.
>>
No. 440397 ID: b9d3b7

>>440371
That should take us to around mid-morning at the very latest. Once that's all done, and assuming Silja doesn't have a complete body and Shadowbro hasn't found the einher, there is a vast list of things we could do:

Organise Lo Fang/Meng Yun/Li Zhou/Jet Fang training sessions for the week (5-10min)
Call Go Ping to ask about jobs (10min)
Call Rocco to ask about jobs (10min)
Call Hamlet to congratulate him on his new job (10min)
Organise the meeting with Baki Yamada (10min)
Call Otso and see what antics he's been up to (30min)
Practice fleshcrafting with Gianni (1-6hr)
Practice soul sculpting with Davgon (1-6hr)
Practice any of the various facets of chakra (1-6hr)
Sort out a price list with H&H for the Doonongaes parts (1hr+)
Ask Amen what that rotting old book you bought ages ago was about (5min)
Visit Ito (2hr+)
Visit Placid (2hr+)
Visit Cookie Lady (1hr)
Talk to Camella (30min+)
Talk to Big Crazy (30min+)
Fight someone (30min+, depending on who and how many fights)
Cook something (30min-2hr)
Wander around the bazaar (1-6hr)
Read the clipping service (1hr+)
Go motorcycling with Lyubov and Feodor (1hr+)
Buy souls from Last Chance to put in Allview (1hr)
Use Allview to spy on the Triads (???)
Go “hunting” for supernatural creatures/bloodline practitioners/vampires/weres to sell on the slave market/for parts/for ransom (all day)

..and many others, though I'll not include any more as there's quite enough choice already.


My personal vote is for the following:

>Call Hamlet to congratulate him on his new job (10min)
There's not a lot more to say, though I expect he'll spend a few minutes thanking Armas.
>Organise the meeting with Baki Yamada (10min)
Have Hafaz organise something appropriate for Sunday.
>Call Otso and see what antics he's been up to (30min)
>Ask Amen what that rotting old book you bought ages ago was about (5min)
I'm just curious about what was in it. The so-called “Decay Tome” interests me too, and we haven't done anything with it.
>Read the clipping service (1hr)
Catch up on the major new of the last couple of weeks.
>Talk to Camella (30min+)
See what's up, how she's enjoying her parrot, what Owner's like in be- not that last one.
>Talk to Big Crazy (30min+)
We haven't really spoken to him since he got back. Ask him what he's been up to since returning to the city and if he has any plans for the immediate future.
>Practice fleshcrafting with Gianni (rest of the day)
Getting proper control over those Doonongaes poison glands should be a priority, one which should itself require that we improve our epithelial control in general. Do whatever tasks Gianni feels best provide that improvement.
>>
No. 440543 ID: 9718f3

Let's go bug Satai about what he's learned from Stacey. If he's written up a report or taken notes, that's fine instead.
I'm not sure when everyone eats breakfast exactly, but we should drop by Stacey beforehand with some Kelpie Crisps. We don't really know what she likes, but we've consistently found it to be a dish others enjoy. She should be eating alone for the time being.

Now, the pseudo rape jokes are somewhat crass. I personally feel they are below us in terms of humour, and they spread a negative image of us besides. I think we can have some fun "fixing" the situation, however. During breakfast we make a short announcement.
"It has recently come to my attention that certain elements of the company have been making inappropriate comments of a sexual nature. I'm not going to point fingers or name names. I just want to make it clear that that sort of behaviour is unacceptable among my staff and that if anyone is doing or saying something that makes you uncomfortable you are free to inform one of the officers, I personally suggest Camella, and they will handle the situation, in her case most likely by beating the perpetrator to within an inch of their life, though perhaps simply axing them to stop instead."
Satai, in particular, should find the announcement to be... odd.

After breakfast, we should pick up the golem parts from Yavuz Celikaya. We can manage the weight by ourselves easily, no reason for an escort. And heck, he showed up at our place without grunts, we'd be lowering ourselves to not extend the same courtesy to him. Chat with him a bit, dude seems like he could be pretty fun when not trying not to be.
On the way back home, drop by Placid, see how he's doing and whether he needs anything.

It shouldn't even be noon at this point, so we have plenty of time to work on stuff. Silja is a very high priority, but there is no need to rush things. Talking to Davgon, Gianni, SB, and Sake about physical, spiritual, and mental risks to Stacey from repeated flesh harvesting is vital. SB mentioned something about our learning divine magic would help smooth out issues with Silja's restoration, we should ask about that in further detail. We only get one shot at this, we need to do it as well as possible. If the contribution of such is significant, we should delay major harvesting/feeding until such a time as we have basic competency.
We should explain to Stacey that our project is essentially a medical procedure. The patient is a very unique case, and requires a large quantity of graft material and she matches the ideal profile for said material.

If we have any spare time in the day, we should really ask HB what he can do now that he's had time to get used to having so much energy on hand, and it isn't killing him anymore. Also what he can do with that entirely new powerset we gave him.

>>438165
>6.
Sust.
>>440259
>Acquiring off-grounds workspace
>Phoenix heart ideas
>Flowers
Upvotes to all three.
>>
No. 441352 ID: e69eee

Phone Oggmum again. It's the 25th, we need to get Camella checked out in the next three days. Taking the risk that we're annoying her is something we have to do. Hopefully, by demonstrating we are willing to slightly harass a Witch for the sake of our friends, it will advance our progress on the Labombard front as well.
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No. 441369 ID: 3734f6

>>441352
upvote but talk to camella first! We need to have a oggmum trace her home dimension and time of departure. Even if it takes her decades to pay oggmum enough for the trip, she can always get a youth rubdown from sake and just port back to the exact moment she left.

>>438292 SUST on eating siren. see discussion @ >>/questdis/58050 (he conceded the point but can't erase the post).

>>438165 To clarify confusion.
#1 Contribute Armas own energy as in let gia work through armas to use armas' impressive energy pool to heal the siren for more flesh harvest. Shunt winter energy to sake to heal her more times a day. No armas flesh used.
#6 says that using armas' own flesh has myriad uses (beyond just silja) but also dangers so we need to _ask_ some people in the know about those. It does not say to do anything, merely to discuss the possibilities. And every single sust for that included warning about dangerous which I explicitly mentioned myself.
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No. 441445 ID: 252e1b

>>440371
>Sneak into Camella's morning training session with the Russians and whisper into her ear a request for her to organise a meeting with the Owner about the coordinates he gave you...

Sorry, I have to SUST this. It's not a major faux pas, but to request a meeting before Owner is ready is probably a bad idea. I'm pretty sure Owner won't want to have a meeting with us until he's learned who sold Armas out, and resolved the matter to his own satisfaction.

Now, if we wanted to mention to Camella that it'd be ok to mention to Owner that we've made some progress looking into that island, that's fine. It leaves her with discretion on the matter.
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No. 442432 ID: 40fb55

[Silja Boogie]
Well-I should focus on something rather important that's been stalling out for one reason of another again and again: Silja's resurrection. And it's right now, in the wee hours of the morning, just before a dose of Brain Coffee that I realize I never really discussed the plan with Silja herself. She's a gentle soul-if I don't want to be a flagrant dick about this, I'll need to avoid abrasive and blunt phrasing. Let's see…

After putting on some pajamas, I split my palm open with a shallow slice and rub a thin layer of my blood on each side of Këihas' bayonet, laying the unwounded hand on the rifle's side.
"Hey Silja."
>[Silja]"Armas, hello! …Oh, that's a nice sunrise outside, isn't it?"
I glance out the window, noting the gentle amber and mauve glow on the clouds.
"Yes, it is at that."
>[Silja]"…I get the feeling there was something you wanted to talk to me about."
"Got it in one Silja: I've got a rather major update for you about your reincarnation, if you've got a moment."
The rifle in my hand shivers in a way I've come to recognize as laughter.
>[Silja]"I think you have my attention, yes-what is it?"
"Well, I've got pretty much an ideal source of material to see you regenerate. We're ready to go… and while I could explain the specifcs, the method itself is a bit gruesome sounding, even if the end results are fine, so if possible I'd rather avoid simply disturbing you."
>[Silja]"…Oh. Well. …Is it okay if I ask a few questions about it, without you telling me the whole thing?"
"Of course, fire away."
>[Silja]"Do you need to kill anyone to do it?"
"Nope."
>[Silja]"Oh…. how about cripple or curse?"
"No and no-it's just temporary unpleasantness."
>[Silja]"Then… then I suppose I can live with not knowing."
The rifle in my hand begins to twist about.
>[Silja]"So! How… how far along reincarnation will this get me?"
"I'm hopeful it can get you the whole way-"
>[Silja]"Eeee!"
"-BUT I can't promise that so don't count on it working perfectly, okay?"
The rifle seems to both wilt and… become huffy in my hands.
>[Silja]"Fiiine, Armas."

All right-she's on boad, now it's time to get this under way.

I find which room the Siren's currently in, collect her, Gianni, Dávgon and Sake. I give everyone involved a quick recap of what the goal is, and feel out how they best think they could work together. Turns out my gut was right: Having Gianni sustain the head so brain death never occurs, Sake regenerate the siren post-body seperation with a rubbing, and Dávgon to Bind the soulmatter within the siren's seperated body to be edible only by Silja to optimize it's magical yield. …Okay I lied-Dávgon surprised me with that last one, and again reminds me why soul binding is awesome.

And that's just what we do as the world around us goes about their lives: We take a room deep in the mansion, we set the Siren up in an enforced coma state-and get to work. Eighteen times, we cut off her head. Eighteen times, Gianni keeps her mind and soul within her skull preserved while Sake regenerates her. Eighteen times, Dávgon engorges the spiritual energy of the flesh we're feeding her-and thirty six times, I act as a conduit for human effort, letting my magic learn from their efforts. In the end, We feed Silja for scarcely an hour before Sake runs out of healing charges, and we call it a day. Gianni and Dávgon get back to their work on the golem and bringing it together into a (mostly) working first-run prototype-and I look at Silja.

The efforts leveraged on her have most certainly had results, and… I don't know that I can use her in combat anymore.

Her forestock ribcage has sprouted skeletal arms, and the pelvis stock has similarly grown legs, all the limbs fetally curled up-but all of it already laden with whisps of tendon and ligament tying everything together. Her spinal ribbing along the barrel's now fully covered in muscle-and I see hints of nerves tracing out through her system. As it is, she's doubled in bulk-and I don't doubt at this rate we'll have her good to go soon enough.

I grab hold of Këihas and speak.
"So-like I thought, not perfect news. It's working, but we're going to need to repeat the process a few more times to finish this. Hopefully we'll be done soon-I'm guessing something like a week, maybe two."
>[Silja]"I think I can wait-but…."
"Yes?"
>[Silja]"If you're repeating the process, does it still not hurt anyone in the long-term?"
"It doesn't."
>[Silja]"Then… then it's okay! Thanks Armas!"
"Oh-we aren't QUITE done yet: I got one more thing to give you for reincarnation, but I have to get it. Back in a bit."

After a brief sojourn to the sewers and a meet with Sometimes Merchant, I once again trade away one week's supply of hearts for 200 more kilograms of female winter magic flesh, and on returning to the room feed Silja again. Her arm and leg protrusions develop extremities, and the muscle spreads over more of the system. It's not a massive change-but it definitely sped the process up.
"Okay-NOW, that's all I can give you for the day."
>[Silja]"Oh, it's going to be so nice to have a body again…"

[Siren's Silence]
After I replace the rifle in my room, I return to the chamber and speak to the insensate Siren.
"Wake up, Stacey."
With a gasp she sits up, suddenly awake.
…That IS a good binding.
>[Stacey]"I… yes?"
"Thank you for your help today."
>[Stacey]"That… was it?"
"What was it?"
>[Stacey]"I… I'm not really sure. I can't tell if they were dreams or not. …Did you harvest my flesh by cutting off my body and regenerating me?"
"I did. Did it cause you pain?"
>[Stacey]"No…"
"You sound hesitant: Is there an alternative harvesting method you'd prefer?"
>[Stacey]"I-no, that's not it. …Is there anything more you need from me today?"
"That will be all. Feel free to wander the mansion as you will-oh, and when you feel hungry just let Amen know, he'll make sure you are fed."
And you'll feed her only things that don't impinge on prior rules presented, won't harm her, and won't ostracize her from my workforce, is that understood?
>[Amen]"It is, it is, it is-this one understands quite well."

The Siren watches me leave, and I decide I'm about 70% sure that behind her confusion and torpor I did leave her with a more positive impression of me going off her soul.

After that encounter I seek out Satai, and have a chat with him. I get a breakdown of how thorough Stacey's binding is, and learn that effectively, anyone I-or Satai now-order her to obey, she will not just obey the commands of, but obey indirect suggestions. For example: When Satai fed her a cookie and verbally estimated it would make her feel better, her binding compelled her to feel better to meet that expectation. Such a pervasive binding can certainly be useful-but it's critical I remember it will interpret as many things spoken as orders as is possible. I also learn she's familiar with most of the general flow of aquatic and, to a lesser extent, seafaring flying magical communities, and how they generally function and interact. If I want to get broad-spectrum information about either, I should probably ask her.

[Inane Ideas]
With that done, I keep up my tradition of using the morning for me-time whenever I can, and decide to poll my selves and advisors on a few ideas I've got rumbling around.
“I have an idea I want to run by you guys-Shadowbro, you in particular. …Okay, several, actually, so please hear me out. I want to try voluntarily pushing my soul out of my body, and then letting my Romanov ability trip so my winter energy is used to build me a new one. So, I build a new body with the Romanov ability, and then I voluntarily push my soul out of the new body and hook myself back up to this body.”
>"Even assuming that you can mimic Gleb’s trick so that you can get your soul entirely out of your body before the Romanov function tripped, you’d still suffer a significant amount of spiritual damage. And then you’d just have a spare body that’s essentially dead flesh."
“Flesh that I could use for projects, like-“
>"I know where you’re going with this, and it’s not safe for Silja. Feeding her flesh that’s gone through a fleshcrafter treatment to be female won’t work well. The soul bits associated with the corpus will still be heavily male. For this to work the way you intend, you’d need to be a woman for a significant period of time first, or you’d need to be able to sculpt the very subtle changes to your soul that constitute the meta-pattern of a female identity."
“What do you mean ‘very subtle’ though? Lyubov and Camella are the two women I’ve studied best and they’ve both got souls that feel feminine.“
>"There are hints and suggestions to their gender on their souls, especially if you look at the self-images they have of themselves, but can you point out a single structure anywhere on either of their souls that is specifically built to be ‘female’?"

I consider Shadowbro’s point.

“Well, now that you mention it, no. Just that their femininity is part of their soul.”
>"Gender identity is, essentially, a large number of belief tweaks to all aspects of a soul. The body and mind influence those tweaks, but there are no gender-specific structures on a soul. It is essentially a corruption of the soul from its default state. Remember that Belief plays into gender role in people. Most cultures clearly have one set of expectations for men and another for women."
>[HB] “Sir Shadow, I understand manliness to be a concept akin to my natural splendor. You say such is belief-based. Does that mean a paragon of manliness will possess a divine aspect?”
>"It’s external belief-pressure that shapes the soul, not an internalization of belief to power the effect. Barring extremes, no matter how manly a man may be, or however splendid a bird may be, he won’t spontaneously become divine from it. That said, I suppose edge cases are possible. In your case though it’s a moot point, you’ve got divine corruption from being connected to Armas."
“Right. So, I’d need to have enough skill to be able to re-shape the soul bits left in my spare body to be feminine, and I’d have to do it completely enough that Silja wouldn’t have any more trouble than she’s already going to have from her previous male meals.”
>"That, or live as woman in the spare body long enough that you identify as female down to your soul. Incidentally, I had expected you to figure this all out on your own. You had all the pieces. Didn’t it strike you as weird that there was no gender-specific structures on any of the souls you’ve looked at?"
Anyway, that’s not my only idea for what I could do with a spare body. I know my flesh is delicious, and that we still need an ‘in’ with Whaitiri.”
>"No, don’t go there. Offering personal flesh to gods is fraught with all sorts of belief, and most of it amounts to being a good servant for the god in question. That’s not the relationship we want."
>[IT]"Paradoxically, offering just soul slivers doesn’t have much of any sort of belief associated with it. Humans have a lot of rituals built on flesh, but not nearly so many based on soul. It's a detail I've always found fascinatingly contrary about your race, and why I've enjoyed my service to Rabbit, such as it is."
“I was planning on stripping the flesh and magic in it of my identity.”
>"Which would just insult her, instead of make you her devoted servant."
“Alright, what about if we built a protosoul-seed for it and made it possessable by you?”
>"I know you like having a body, and all the urges and sexual escapades that go with it, but I’m content to be me. At best it would be highly situational. I just don’t think that the risk represented by having a possession-ready copy of your body available to be stolen is outweighed by the utility of giving me access to soul manipulation powers. And, as an aside, it would completely spoil the experiment we’ve been running with divergent education."
“What if we made it so my soul occupied it and my current body simultaneously?”
>"How?"
“I don’t know. Isn’t my soul connected to the NeverNever through you? Isn’t the Dark connected to everything? I know you can do teleporting through it, seems to me there should be something to work with here.”
>"You’re suggesting using me to coordinate simultaneous connections between elements of a multi-body soul, making the connection through the Dark. That’s risky-no, that's not adequate verbiage for the scale of risk involved. That's absurdly dangerous. An experienced member of the dark could break the connection between me and one of the satellite bodies without outright killing me or you. And then we’d be in the situation of having a competitor who is you."
“Would binding it to the company heart work for stopping that problem?”
>"That depends entirely on how the heart is made. You really need to start thinking through your ideas."
“Yeah, but new ones are just so fun. How about this then: what if we used it to craft magic servitors?”
>"You don’t need to vacate your body for that. Gianni can teach you golemcraft, the normal, sane way instead of you killing yourself."
What’s with him? Why’s he copping an attitude now?
“Fine. One last idea. How about if I leave my original body in stasis and use the new body to adventure in. That way the brain I used to make my deals with Sometimes Merchant can’t ever be killed, even if I die.”
>""
>[IT]"There are a whole heap of problems with that, and I am going to have so much fun listening to your brother list them off."
>"I don’t think I can fully quantify them all without berating you, and I… don’t feel like doing that. It won’t make you any better, and it won’t make me feel any better. I’m going to go take care of other business."
And with that parting piece of discouraged sounding pragmatism, Shadowbro’s attention is elsewhere again.
>[HB]"Would not one’s brain be inactive, and so be considered to be dead, as soon as the connection to the soul were severed? Perchance all that need happen is for the seat of the mind to have no activity in it once, ever, and then ongoing transaction with the Sometimes Merchant would qualify to end?"
“That’s… logical.”
>[IT]"Should have kept my mouth shut, I think your brother reacted to what I said. Damnit, you need to be less boring. How about you wear me to bed tonight?"
“What possible interest could that hold for you?”
>[Iron Trick]"Seeing how Lyubov reacts would be the fun part."
>[HB]"It is, in a word, baffling. Neither of them even have proper cloacae."
“Alright, that’s enough, if you two want to chat about my sex life you’ll have to do it without me.”
>[Iron Trick]"You know you’re the only one who can hear me."
“Then I guess that’s the end of that conversation.”

Okay-not as rewarding as I'd hoped, but at least I now know that the multi-body idea, at least for now, just isn't happening.

[Puny Power Practice]
I spend three more hours on low-energy training by dint of cycling between the most aggressive overcharging and chakra-flushing exercises I can perform just to see if I can overwhelm my binding-derived magical regeneration. It's tricky, but I find a way to get around it and keep working on that zero-energy practice, looking for the payoff Einrik hinted at. This time, I'm going for Soul Sensing and Sphere Labyrinth, giving Reinforcement a break. In truth, a full hour of that time was spent just trying to keep myself low enough to do low-energy practice, a fact that fills me with no small amount of pride over the wellspring of power I've become. Near the end of the practice session, with my chakra's feeling out of sorts and no breakthrough presenting itself, I get on with my day proper at eleven AM.

I estimate I'll be back to full power in… an hour.

MAN, I love these preferentially edited magic regeneration bindings.

[Allview Ascertainment]
As my senses continue to buzz on and off with Einher ghosting through the outer reaches of my weakest but farthest reaching form of detection, I decide that I should have SB scout out each detected Einher, to see if I should engage-
>"No."
"No?"
>"No. The number of Einher pings that have been detected recently, in addition to the variable difficulty of tracking them as well as the risk of them being able to and inclined to harm shadows, I simply won't sink the time and take the risk just to make one aspect of your life marginally more automated and easy."
>[Sake]"Oh come on, stop being a wuss!"
>"You do it then."
>[Sake]"They could SEE me!"
>"And they couldn't see me? Difficulty being detected by conventional means does not equate to undetectable."
"FINE, find them with Allview then."
>"I'll devote up to one-minute, real-time, to finding each Einher. That equates to more than a day's effort on my part, relatively speaking-I would find it unlikely I'd find someone past looking for that long."
"Hey, that works for me. So-"
>"I'll tell you in a minute."

[Owner Obligations]
Seeing Camella coming through the front door, I slow her down and pull her aside.
>[Camella]"Armas-what's up?"
"Hey-can you tell the Owner I've made progress on that pet project he sort of assigned me?"
>[Camella]"That island thing right?"
"Yup."
>[Camella]"Sure-let me call him."
"Great-hey, you want to talk to Oggmum? I know, total curveball right now, but do you?"
Camella closes her eyes for a brief moment and I can see her wrestling her soul into retaining stillness when it wanted to be a tad more calamitous in reaction to that.
>[Camella]"…I think so, yes."
"Great-you call Owner, I'll call Oggmum."

Ten minutes later, I'm sitting pretty with an appointment for TUESDAY AT FOUR PM to see the Owner who very much so wants to discuss my findings, and Camella's got a consult for WEDNESDAY AT THREE PM with Oggmum, which I am obligated to be present for. Cool cool.

"Hey, thanks Camella."
>[Camella]"No problem-thanks to you too."
"Say Camella, how's the parrot working out?"
>[Camella]"It… won't stop randomly trying to make an ass of itself whenever I'm busy."
She looks at me like that's my fault somehow.
>[Camella]"Anyway, for now I'm keeping it in my room."
"Ahuh. Oh-how's Owner in bed?"
>[Camella]"Excuse me?"
"Well he's a Dragon-a Ruling Dragon, at that-and as such a masterful fleshcrafter. So I'm wondering what he's picked up over the years-he just good, or redefine the game for you?"
>[Camella]"I think I'll let you stew in your perverted little fantasies."
"Sounds good to me-nice talking, Camella."
>[Camella]"See you around."

[Phone Palaver]
After Camella leaves I start to get back into the swing of low-energy practice, feeling like I might have been onto something that morning-and get interrupted barely twenty minutes in. It's Hamlet Hanson, the undergrad that got a job at Holland and Holland. Seems he's absolutely in love with his new job, and eminently thankful for me providing him the opportunity to get looked at by such a company. It's nice to hear he's absolutely in love with the job, and I don't have to fake my interest when he promises to help me out whenever, wherever so long as it doesn't mess with his job or put him in danger.

With my phone still out, I decide I might as well get on with some other phone business I have: Specifically, Calling Baki Yamada, the masseuse with the Yakuza that I'm looking to meet with.
"Am I speaking to Baki?"
>[Baki]"…Who is this?"
"A Mr. Laine."
I can practically hear generic suspicion giving way to abrupt focus over the line.
>[Baki]"I see."
"I was wondering if there was time Sunday for a meeting to… discuss things."
>[Baki]"…Yes, time could be made. Be at my parlor at noon. Come alone-that's a request, not a condition."
"I see. And who will I be meeting?"
>[Baki]"People with things that they need to talk to you about, that's all that really matters."
"Very well. Until Sunday."
*CLICK*
And with that, I have an appointment for the weekend to keep me busy-I imagine a talk with Yakuza officials could take quite a chunk of the day, so I should probably write Sunday afternoon and evening off here and now.

With Baki's appointment made and my mind cycling along phone-centric thoughts, I decide to call up little Osto and see how the other magical Laine is doing. He picks up on the eighth ring, his voice groggy but clearly cognizant of who's calling.
>[Osto][In Finnish]"…Hello?"
[In Finnish]"Hey Osto. Happen to have any updates or accolades of note from your burgeoning career?"
I hear a sound not unlike a slap before Osto speaks with far more enthusiasm.
>[Osto]"Most definitely! Whoever told you was completely right-see, there's runes, and I don't understand them that much yet except one of them, but you can use them to command the Einher magic in your body!"
>"The child has my undivided attention."
>[HB]"Mastering his own power-how avian of a giant. I approve of his attempt to emulate perfection, futile as it is."
"And what have you learned to make it do so far?"
>[Osto]"Well, so far I've just figured out how to make it make me heal faster, but it burns a bunch of calories, I have to practically eat a bucket of chocolate to make it back up if I… uh, nevermind."
>[MMM,MMMM Trait auto-activated]
"Now now Osto-I can hardly help you if you aren't honest with me."
>[Osto]"…Sorry. Okay, so, I kind of got my arm ripped off by a Werebear-it's okay though, I totally killed it! But… yeah, that's where I had to put the idea I'd come up with so far to work and… yay, got my arm back. Still pretty scrawny looking though-it's gonna take a while to bulk it up. If it weren't for the strength I get I might have trouble hiding what happened."
"So what runes specifically did you use, and how did you use them?"
>[Osto]"Okay, so first I looked up runes because I figured hey, big stuff for Odin, he's the guy that made this, so, maybe it's like, the code or something right? So I tried all sorts of stuff with standard Medieval Runes, like spelling out commands in assorted languages, either with blood, stone and/or actual bone-not mine though, didn't want to risk it. I was really confident writing runes in my own blood on my body would work, but no dice. Anyway, I couldn't exactly go home no arm, so I was kind of stuck at that point. But then I wondered, maybe I was using too recent of runes, right? So I went back to Younger Futhark."
>[IT]"This kid has either been wiki bingeing or actually likes to study runes."
>[Osto]"So when I used commands spelled in my blood on my flesh with Younger Futhark, I finally got a reaction. Only-it was a stunted one. Like, there'd be some light around the runes, and they'd glow and evaporate into sparkling vapor-it was really weird. I could sort of feel something trying to happen, but it was like… something was stopping me. I kind of abandoned the project for a bit since I had no ideas where to go, but then I wondered if it might be kind of like a regular user trying to do admin stuff, and being denied for having the wrong access-it seemed kind of like that, right? So, I figured, if Younger Futhark worked when Medieval didn't, that if I went back even further, I might get around the restricted use. So I went back to Elder Futhark, thinking a germanic source rune alphabet might slip behind the newer scandinavian runic alphabet-"
>[IT]"Definitely wikipedia."
>[Osto]"And it worked! If I write 'heal me' on my arm-or anywhere on me, I guess-it uses up my energy to perform regeneration. I'm not sure if I can control the speed, and I don't really know what I'm drawing on to power it, but-"
"I might be able to help there. In all likelihood, it's directly drawing energy from the Einher bloodline construct, which is itself attached to your soul."
>[Osto]"Wait, I'm using up my soul to heal myself? Oh MAN THAT WAS DUMB, I-"
"Hold on. It's more probably it's just consuming the energy your soul-based bloodline produces, rather than your actual soul. I can't guarantee that, but usually that's how that works."
>[Osto]"Really? WHEW, had me worried there Uncle Laine!"
"So writing 'heal me' on your arm encouraged the bloodline to produce a non-automated function based off the command…. that does sound like you've hit on the programming code of the bloodline."
>[Osto]"Wait so magic DOES work that way, it's kind of like computer stuff?"
"I have yet to see anything that outright disproves that association, though it is a realm fraught with untold numbers of custom built operating systems and frequently unique hardware to boot, never mind the applications themselves. …Of course, if you empty that, there's really nothing left but your soul for it to drain, so…."
>[Osto]"…Okay, I get you. …Wow, that answers, like, a bajillion questions I had."
"So why'd the werebear rip your arm off, and what happened after that?"
>[Osto]"Well, I KIND of pissed some Weres off with that werewolf I killed a while back, and then I kiiiiind of got attacked at the pool and didn't have my armor so-"
"You left it behind?"
>[Osto]"I know, it was totally stupid, I carry it in a duffle like everywhere I go now-anyway, arm got ripped off, ran like a bitch but definitely not towards home, tried out those ideas for like, twenty hours straight on the run, finally got one to work, robbed a chocolatier to feed my new arm growth, suited up, beat werebear's face in. IN THE END, it all worked out, and that's what matters, right?"
"I've heard some say that 'the ends justifies the means' as a negative phrase, but in your case I'd say it's true enough."
>[Osto]"…Really? Great, awesome! …Uh, I was kind of up till six because of stuff, so I'm kind of tired-"
"I won't keep you then. Congratulations, on hacking your bloodline."
>[Osto]"Heh, thanks Uncle Armas!"
*CLICK*

Spying a name in my contacts, I decide to go knock on Big Crazy's door, see what he's up to-only to find that he's out: He even left a sign on his door, detailing how Rostislav hired him to hunt down a specific wolverine to be his spirit animal, and he thought it'd be a fun job. …I also see he left his cell behind, with a card on it saying 'This is an 'inna woods' scenario, don't want to be bugged.' …Welp. Okay then.

The rest of the day gets a bit busier from there.
-First, I take all four of the pheonix hearts to my name, make my way over to Igor's forge, note that the bugger's still perfecting the fine and subtle art of riveting to an almost unhealthy level, bless his strange soul, and even lets the forge keep going while he's out on class. I find myself smiling at the unsafe practice and dump the hearts in. All three beat with far more life and vigor than before, and I instantly feel this was a good idea.
-That is, until I hear Duke grumbling about 'liquid fire' while shuffling about in search of booze. This gets me off on an idea that had flashed through my mind before-and I decide to leave Vlad a treat. I fish one of the four hearts back out of the forge, and make my way to Vlad's room, adding it into his still, so that all the spirits he makes flow around and through that still-beating heart of fire.
-Next, I find Satai, currently talking with Stacey about the types of aquatic monster communities one can encounter around Istanbul-currently, they're focusing on the Southern Ika-Turso herds that Mermaids tend deep undersea and their excellent trade in livestock-when I ask him to order up some cows for blood purposes. He doesn't even bother asking for more of an explanation, and says he'll get on that.
-My next concern is getting Placid a place he can work on the golem. I think about a bunch of ways to get him one-Lo Fang, the Mafia, Sometimes Merchant, Johann, Demon Summoning-but none really feel… guarded enough to trust my beast to. So instead, I elect to find the nearest company that rents out storage sheds, verify with Allview that they don't have magic warding to begin with, and rent the place out at $35 by-the month. I ask Placid to set up runes to his satisfaction-and he erects runes that, according to SB, are FILLED with swastikas. Still, I'm assured they're quite robust, so whenever I want to let Placid work on the golem, I have a place I can send it-but while it's there, Gianni and Dávgon have to choose between working on it, and all their other projects. For now, they're still fine-tuning the initial hookup of the tubing and the emitters.
-I ask Dmitrii to make privace charms for the van we'll use to transport the golem to and from the warehouse. He gets on that, and by tomorrow our car should be perfectly kitted out for discreet transport.
-I have a chat with Hummingbird about his studies on fleshcrafting, and during that have a decidedly interesting exchange about his abilities.
>[HB]"You ask what I can do, and there are many answers a pinnacle of birddom could give-but I think what would interest you most, giant, is this: I believe I can now render your entire body down into hummingbirds, and reassemble it at will. It has the minor detail of requiring your permission, but I am confident in the execution."
"What-like a swarm of hummingbirds?"
>[HB]"Indeed. As I would not expect your feeble giant brain to comprehend how to be a hummingbird, let alone a swarm. I will control their movement for you, until such time as I can school you in some of the basics of how to live as a superior lifeform."
"I see-but you could make me that, huh? How fast do you reckon?"
>[HB]"I estimate I could do it within one second."
"That's impressive as hell."
The bird on my shoulder preens.
>[HB]"I am aware."
"What else can you do?"
>[HB]"I can attempt to heal your body for you, should your magic systems become compromised. Otherwise, most of what I've learned is not directly applicable to you, and therefore not worth wasting words on."
-Somehow, my attempts to ponder a floral idea seem to sputter out, as if the thoughts were vanishing into a shadow of my mind. How odd.
-I spend four hours apiece with Gianni and Dávgon on external Soul and Flesh crafting, and finally start to feel I'm getting something resembling competence for my weight range going. I'm no longer restricted to just eating what I touch with cannibalistic fleshcrafting-I've got enough examples of fine and restorative magic that I could at least pass as a generic external fleshcrafter now. Certainly, still below my total power pool-but added to the cannibal magic and the direct line to Whaitiri and paired Artifact, I'm looking okay. For Soul-crafting, I've FINALLY had enough examples working on Dávgon's soul-seed and pseudo-soul assembly that I think I could actually craft up my own soul-facsimiles to serve as magical, spiritual AI for complex magical systems. The applications of such a skill in direct combat are limited, but I'm rather certain that's not where it's meant to shine. Still, I know I'm rough in both areas, and more time and practice can only help. I also fear I'm drawing closer to my two teacher's limits as I brute-force learn their methods by being their conduit, and wonder where I should turn afterwards…
-After my eight hour cumulative lesson, I find the golem's had the piping for the weapon embedded within it's arms, to wholly fall beneath the planned armor. Speaking of which, it's flesh-fused armor has finally had all the no longer necessary parts shorn off, and the golem, while certainly not complete, no longer looks like it might belong in a scrap heap. Similarly, Gianni tells me it will be ready to implant the Pheonix hearts soon enough.
-Most importantly of all, before the day's ended I've had time to call Go Ping of the Triads, Rocco Armani of the Mafia, Sometimes Merchant, Cornelius of the Zosimus Clan and even the Leprechaun of that magic bar looking for the work situation, and found myself an interesting set of options.
Go Ping:
---Will pay a full week of specialized training in any subject he knows if Armas will help him put down a flesh golem made of May Lee by an enemy of the Triads looking to enrage them. Asks for Armas specifically.
---Will pay $430,000 for someone that can obtain the ward schematics to a give safehouse from one Elwen Embla, and thereafter crack the combination Magitech/Divinitech warded and sensor-equipped warehouse. The fulfiller of this contract gets their choice of the first three items from the warehouse, not counting a single, pre-designated object of Lo Fang's choosing.
---Will pay $175,000 for someone to find Labombard for them.
---Will pay $10,000 for every confirmed Yakuza head brought to them.
Rocco:
---Will pay $850,000 for Armas to commit his company to seeing a town officially under mafia control has no 'rock-the-boat' issues for the month it takes to get new mafia members out to it and resolve their general manpower shortage. The location has nothing of sufficient worth to draw any considerable magical threat, and at best would run afoul of human criminals, magical or otherwise, looking to claim the modest income the town can provide to its 'protectors'
---Will pay $270,000 for anyone to find out who learned Elwen Embla was carrying the ward key to a warehouse in the city. There are no clues to the case, except that it was someone that knows Elwen.
---Will pay $52,000 for a quartet of escorts of a magical persuasion to advise and scout for taking out a non-magical nazi remnant base with minimal property damage. They are not expected to fight.
---Will pay $2,000 per Soul Binding for someone to insure loyalty in new emergency recruits.
Zosimus:
---Has put out a contract with 'name your boon' as the listed reward, to anyone that can kill a werelion that's armed with, get this, a Conceptual Magical Construct-a Sword of such Swordly nature it's no longer physical-just like Matvey's. The Contract's open to all, and seems to have… quite a few reported failures already. Seems the Werelion's quite the talented urban fighter as well as being an exceptional swordsman. Mission also notes he can cut automatic fire out of the air…. I wonder how many bullets at once he can do that to…
---Will pay $120,000 for someone to guard a recently turned Conceptual Bloodliner for two weeks, as her vampirism corrupts her initial bloodline. This job has two guard positions open.
---Will pay $57,000 for anyone that can resolve their issues with one of the Turkish Blood Banks no longer wanting to give their due. Details available on request, but it seems they really want someone quite socially mobile.
---Will pay $55,000 for anyone that can figure out whatever happened to one of the ambulances Zosimus Ghouls ran and lifted blood from. So far, it's been verified to be a surface-level problem, and not involve the Undersewers-otherwise, they know nothing.
---Will pay $40,000 for anyone that can permanently make a nosy reporting poking about the Zosimus clan permanently halt her inquiries. The reporter is a family woman, and would be noticed if made to vanish.
---Will pay $35,000 a head for three separate rogue vampires, one from Ibruhem, one from Yorgin, and one from Zosimus. They have no relation and none have a known location. True names are available for those accepting any of the three contracts.
Leprechaun Bonzi:
---He will pay me ten pounds of gold if I can get him a first edition copy of Flash Comics #1, the comic book. It must be in mint condition.
---He will pay in a set (I variable setting thermal/kinetic/electric Shield Charm, 1 Blade Charm, 1 Arrow Charm, 1 Mind Charm, 1 Curse Charm, all rechargable) of grade-A Leprechaun-craft charms for anyone that can remove an infestation in his Pot.
---He will pay me by assigning a section of his pot as mine to store things in and sign a Soul Contract to deal honestly and promptly with me regarding item storage, should I find a way to remove the Giant from the Undersewers beneath his shop that keeps stealing his shipments of Magma Dwarven Beer. This storage space will let me store three items, and the Leprechaun agrees to be bound such that he's incapable of knowing what the items are outside of when I'm actively discussing them with him-it sounds like a rather potent and secretive storage system, and there's no mention of needing to kill the Giant, merely to resolve the situation.
---Offers a vintage Semetic Clay Golem complete with its original order-papers for anyone that can find the thieves that broke into a Triad van while it was parked outside, broke one of their terracotta soldiers, and stole something from inside of it. The customers refused to give details on what was lost, beyond it being 'very red, and very pole-like'.
---He will teach the fundamental principles of Leprechaun footwork to anyone that can both calm down an angered Kronknar, and suitably, but nonlethally, chastise a prominent Were's child that robbed Kronknar's shop on a dare. This job is warned to be difficult.
---The Minotaur Kronknar of the bar will pay a hammer that hardens metals it shapes to be present on spiritual and shadow planes as well as the corporeal for anyone that can help him bust up a game some Devils are running where they hunt and kill a Minotaur in a maze. The devils are all known to be no stronger than five bloodliners, each, and no more in number than six.
Sometimes Merchant:
---He will pay a year's use of a private time-bubble with an environment (but not inhabitants) tailored to the contract fulfiller's specifications, for anyone that can assassinate a Dwarven general based in the sewers beneath Eastern Turkey.
---He will let my shadow drink of the Shadowwell (something SB tells me is not that unlike a fountain of power for shadows and allows shadows to consume corporeal matter rather than just shadow) if he and I can help him claim a shadow that is owed to him, that of an old, long-dead god, currently held in slumber by a cadre of Spring Elves based in a subterrainean city beneath the Bosphorus. He says it requires both a shadow and corporeal being, and for the two to share a soul-making the job uniquely suited to me.
----He will pay two rechargable Blade Charms and one rechargable Arrow Charm, svartelf make, each, for up to five warriors willing to fight a horde of hobgoblins. He's confirmed they won't have artifacts or outright spellcasters to their name, but can have basic magical implements in their number.
---He will pay a dragon's tooth for someone to attack two groups, and to do so with the other group's weapons, without being caught in the attack. The dragon tooth is guaranteed to come from a long-dead dragon from a now-defunct continent and sufficiently removed from memory that there are no active vendettas against the possessor of this particular dragon's corpseparts.
---He will owe me a Favor of negotiable nature if I can 'teach a lesson' to the heir of a local Bloodline family that besmirched his pride. I'm not allowed to kill or harm the kid-merely to annoy, shame, frighten and general troll him.

After compiling my job list and verifying none of them will vanish overnight-I go to sleep.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26th, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $2,864,660.00
BUSINESS FUNDS: $1,124,984.00
CASH: $6,120.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 90%
WINTER ENERGY: 160/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50


I wake up with a dose of brain coffee, see that it's five thirty and wonder:





What shall I do with this day?
>>
No. 442436 ID: fe0298

I vote for taking these jobs



Sometimes Merchant:
---He will let my shadow drink of the Shadowwell (something SB tells me is not that unlike a fountain of power for shadows and allows shadows to consume corporeal matter rather than just shadow) if he and I can help him claim a shadow that is owed to him, that of an old, long-dead god, currently held in slumber by a cadre of Spring Elves based in a subterrainean city beneath the Bosphorus. He says it requires both a shadow and corporeal being, and for the two to share a soul-making the job uniquely suited to me.
----He will pay two rechargable Blade Charms and one rechargable Arrow Charm, svartelf make, each, for up to five warriors willing to fight a horde of hobgoblins. He's confirmed they won't have artifacts or outright spellcasters to their name, but can have basic magical implements in their number.
---He will pay a dragon's tooth for someone to attack two groups, and to do so with the other group's weapons, without being caught in the attack. The dragon tooth is guaranteed to come from a long-dead dragon from a now-defunct continent and sufficiently removed from memory that there are no active vendettas against the possessor of this particular dragon's corpseparts.
---He will owe me a Favor of negotiable nature if I can 'teach a lesson' to the heir of a local Bloodline family that besmirched his pride. I'm not allowed to kill or harm the kid-merely to annoy, shame, frighten and general troll him.

Leprechaun Bonzi:
---He will pay in a set (I variable setting thermal/kinetic/electric Shield Charm, 1 Blade Charm, 1 Arrow Charm, 1 Mind Charm, 1 Curse Charm, all rechargable) of grade-A Leprechaun-craft charms for anyone that can remove an infestation in his Pot.
---Offers a vintage Semetic Clay Golem complete with its original order-papers for anyone that can find the thieves that broke into a Triad van while it was parked outside, broke one of their terracotta soldiers, and stole something from inside of it. The customers refused to give details on what was lost, beyond it being 'very red, and very pole-like'.
---He will teach the fundamental principles of Leprechaun footwork to anyone that can both calm down an angered Kronknar, and suitably, but nonlethally, chastise a prominent Were's child that robbed Kronknar's shop on a dare. This job is warned to be difficult.
---The Minotaur Kronknar of the bar will pay a hammer that hardens metals it shapes to be present on spiritual and shadow planes as well as the corporeal for anyone that can help him bust up a game some Devils are running where they hunt and kill a Minotaur in a maze. The devils are all known to be no stronger than five bloodliners, each, and no more in number than six.

Go Ping:
---Will pay a full week of specialized training in any subject he knows if Armas will help him put down a flesh golem made of May Lee by an enemy of the Triads looking to enrage them. Asks for Armas specifically.
>>
No. 442621 ID: 421c1e

First order of business is to get the job board up with all the missions on it aside the ones we want personally. Maybe with a few warnings here and there involving the very dangerous ones(The were-lion for example).

As for what we should take? Well, we definitely want to take the May Lee mission. That is a dick move and she was one of the first buddies we lost. The reward is decent as well. I'd say do that mission first.

The SM merchant missions all seem nice for various reasons, but several of them may take us a few day to complete. The hob goblins sound easy enough, especially if we bring four minions with us and the dragon's tooth Mission would likely work best with a partner. One silently attacks the one side, while the other attacks the other side. That way, they cannot assume it is one attacker.

Long term missions will also be troublesome, especially if there can only be those initial people. Stay away from the Lion, and maybe Elwin Elba missions. Best not to have Lo Fang get what he wants after all.

But yeah, the money missions for the most part seem like minion level stuff. Just need to make sure they are properly equipped.
>>
No. 443564 ID: 3734f6

>Boris
>>/questdis/58713
Boris has made some headway on his vamp and were research. Based on this info he approaches armas & camella and points out the security risk of baggha, and suggests if we could find his sire and assist him in consuming him it would restore his free will.

>Armas - Owner meeting
Armas and SB should create a 3d representation of the tunnel network and the creature residing in them.
If The Owner meant for us to find out info rather then just see what we do with that, or seems disappointed in our findings, we can give him / show him the model we created.

>Armas - Work
There is a solid plan in place to get a wide array of those jobs taken care of. One point of order is that it includes passing on SM's best paying jobs yet still taking some of the jobs he offers which suffer from the same critical drawback that prompted not taking the others.
We should not take any of this round of jobs until we have spent some time understanding the situation better. We need info on sewer politics, military situation, and social info on goblins and their competitors.
Then we could play the field as we do overground, or press for a partnership where we give advantage and dominance now for an ongoing source of power.
See full explanation and reasoning here: >>/questdis/58719

Of note is that the one mission people are calling for from SM right now is the hobgoblin one. Yes it is not liable to make him a massive amount of power (bob clarified in IRC that its only about a dozen hobgoblins not the large amounts suggested in the update text).
It would probably make us permanent enemies of the local hobgoblins and maybe their allies and further isolate out from potential partners. Also of note is the goblins being assassins while our men being highly visible.
>>
No. 443619 ID: db869e

>missions
Right, these are a pretty good opportunity for your company to make some cash. There are some issues with assisting our rivals in their tasks, but the potential for our own growth shouldn't be ignored.

Tell your captains about the missions and be sure to explain the levels of danger involved in each one(especially the were lion).

Go Ping:
---Will pay a full week of specialized training in any subject he knows if Armas will help him put down a flesh golem made of May Lee by an enemy of the Triads looking to enrage them. Asks for Armas specifically. ARMAS

---Will pay $10,000 for every confirmed Yakuza head brought to them. (if the situation comes around where we have a dead Yakuza on our hands, we can cash in but otherwise no attempts are to be made to go on this as it's too much of a clusterbomb)


Rocco:
---Will pay $850,000 for Armas to commit his company to seeing a town officially under mafia control has no 'rock-the-boat' issues for the month it takes to get new mafia members out to it and resolve their general manpower shortage. The location has nothing of sufficient worth to draw any considerable magical threat, and at best would run afoul of human criminals, magical or otherwise, looking to claim the modest income the town can provide to its 'protectors' - BORIS, NIKIFOR, LEV, GRISHA, MATVEY, ANDREI, DMITRII, VLAD

---Will pay $52,000 for a quartet of escorts of a magical persuasion to advise and scout for taking out a non-magical nazi remnant base with minimal property damage. They are not expected to fight. – MATVEY, BAGGA, DAVGON, SHADOWBRO,

---Will pay $2,000 per Soul Binding for someone to insure loyalty in new emergency recruits. - ARMAS



Zosimus:
---Will pay $120,000 for someone to guard a recently turned Conceptual Bloodliner for two weeks, as her vampirism corrupts her initial bloodline. This job has two guard positions open. – TITUS, ROSTISLAV

---Will pay $57,000 for anyone that can resolve their issues with one of the Turkish Blood Banks no longer wanting to give their due. Details available on request, but it seems they really want someone quite socially mobile. - SATAI

---Will pay $55,000 for anyone that can figure out whatever happened to one of the ambulances Zosimus Ghouls ran and lifted blood from. So far, it's been verified to be a surface-level problem, and not involve the Undersewers-otherwise, they know nothing. - NIKIFOR, BAGGA, IVAN

---Will pay $40,000 for anyone that can permanently make a nosy reporting poking about the Zosimus clan permanently halt her inquiries. The reporter is a family woman, and would be noticed if made to vanish. - SHADOWBRO, SAKE(?)

---Will pay $35,000 a head for three separate rogue vampires, one from Ibruhem, one from Yorgin, and one from Zosimus. They have no relation and none have a known location. True names are available for those accepting any of the three contracts. - BAGGA


Leprechaun Bonzi:

---He will pay me ten pounds of gold if I can get him a first edition copy of Flash Comics #1, the comic book. It must be in mint condition. - Svetlana (then other operatives for acquisition, Satai coordiate maybe?)

---He will pay in a set (I variable setting thermal/kinetic/electric Shield Charm, 1 Blade Charm, 1 Arrow Charm, 1 Mind Charm, 1 Curse Charm, all rechargable) of grade-A Leprechaun-craft charms for anyone that can remove an infestation in his Pot. - ARMAS

---He will pay me by assigning a section of his pot as mine to store things in and sign a Soul Contract to deal honestly and promptly with me regarding item storage, should I find a way to remove the Giant from the Undersewers beneath his shop that keeps stealing his shipments of Magma Dwarven Beer. This storage space will let me store three items, and the Leprechaun agrees to be bound such that he's incapable of knowing what the items are outside of when I'm actively discussing them with him-it sounds like a rather potent and secretive storage system, and there's no mention of needing to kill the Giant, merely to resolve the situation. - Cammella (she can request assistance)

---Offers a vintage Semetic Clay Golem complete with its original order-papers for anyone that can find the thieves that broke into a Triad van while it was parked outside, broke one of their terracotta soldiers, and stole something from inside of it. The customers refused to give details on what was lost, beyond it being 'very red, and very pole-like'. - FEODOR, ANDREI

---He will teach the fundamental principles of Leprechaun footwork to anyone that can both calm down an angered Kronknar, and suitably, but nonlethally, chastise a prominent Were's child that robbed Kronknar's shop on a dare. This job is warned to be difficult. SATAI, ZHENYA

---The Minotaur Kronknar of the bar will pay a hammer that hardens metals it shapes to be present on spiritual and shadow planes as well as the corporeal for anyone that can help him bust up a game some Devils are running where they hunt and kill a Minotaur in a maze. The devils are all known to be no stronger than five bloodliners, each, and no more in number than six. ARMAS, HILLEVI


Sometimes Merchant:
----He will pay two rechargable Blade Charms and one rechargable Arrow Charm, svartelf make, each, for up to five warriors willing to fight a horde of hobgoblins. He's confirmed they won't have artifacts or outright spellcasters to their name, but can have basic magical implements in their number. – ZHENYA, MATVEY, SATAI, BAGGA, ROSTISLAV

---He will owe me a Favor of negotiable nature if I can 'teach a lesson' to the heir of a local Bloodline family that besmirched his pride. I'm not allowed to kill or harm the kid-merely to annoy, shame, frighten and general troll him. - ARMAS


These are the suggested missions to take along with people who could work on them. In the case of people being assigned multiple missions, they should do the short term ones first and the join up with the longer term (e.g. Matvey is doing scouting and Mafia town work, he would do the scout day first and then join up with the rest of the town group)

In the case of the Mission for you and Hillevi, you should discuss payment options with her first. I suggest having the hammer valued and paying her equal value while you keep the hammer, or sharing it somehow. We could really use that thing.


>what do today
Get right back on Silja stuff and harvesting the siren. I don't suggest allowing her to see yet cause she might catch a glimpse of her half formed body >_>.
Have a chat with her anyway though.

With Gianni/Davgon supervision, try and make a golem using a troll heart as the base. A tiny servitor the size of a rat. (or a hummingbird hint hint). This is mostly for practice and I don't expect this to do anything but walk around and eat food and do things like fetch slippers on command. Name it Hosef.

Start working on your assigned missions. I suggest talking with Go Ping about the May lee golem thing first and if it can't be done today go troll the kid that messed with SM and if time allows, end the day with a meeting with the minotaur bar owner to discuss specifics(and maybe just do the damn thing).

Have a bottle of red wine, it's good for you.
>>
No. 444237 ID: 6616f3

A few possible alterations:
I really think one of the standard russians could scare off a single reporter, no matter how much SB and Sake might enjoy the work. That'd free up SB and Sake for more work. Perhaps Sake would like to stretch his trolling muscles on the local heir?

Bagga should take a sniper as backup for hunting the three rogue vamps; Iosef and Igor don't have anything to do, right? Nobody should take a job alone unless they have to. Likewise Satai with the blood bank- it's probable nothing will happen, but Titus would be willing to play the muscle for the meeting, having fulfilled that role before.

For that matter, Iosef would go better on the hobgoblin extermination mission than Satai.

Should we offer Duke the werelion job? Maybe with Sake or Shadowbro backup? He's probably our hardest hitter outside Placid, and Corny's boon being used for 'all your alcohol and drugs' would be pretty funny.

I rather like the idea of SM's Shadowwell being used in conjunction (before, during, or immediately after) with Ogrimmir's shadow-winter teaching favor. Plus, yes, shadow of a god is probably pretty awesome for SM, but we get to sift through a village of Spring Elves' crap. Bet we could find some nice enchanted armor and weapons there. Or depending on their relative power, if we could intimidate them into taking a Contract in exchange for their lives... I still remember Castelletti's elf, that guy was one bad dude. Can we keep it on the books for when Armas has worked through some of this caseload?
>>
No. 444359 ID: 5f4e7d

Going though some jobs, with suggested resource allocation.

Go Ping:
---Will pay $430,000 for someone that can obtain the ward schematics to a give safehouse from one Elwen Embla, and thereafter crack the combination Magitech/Divinitech warded and sensor-equipped warehouse. The fulfiller of this contract gets their choice of the first three items from the warehouse, not counting a single, pre-designated object of Lo Fang's choosing.

Putting a couple of the Russians on this one seems an adequate use of resources. Andrei in particular springs to mind as someone who could hack through the security.

Rocco:
---Will pay $270,000 for anyone to find out who learned Elwen Embla was carrying the ward key to a warehouse in the city. There are no clues to the case, except that it was someone that knows Elwen.

I just laugh a little bit about this contract. We have the Russians working on getting into the warehouse find this out.

---Will pay $2,000 per Soul Binding for someone to insure loyalty in new emergency recruits.

Doing this job should be easy, and not take up too much time. Putting down Armas as a resource is barely worth mentioning.

Zosimus:
---Has put out a contract with 'name your boon' as the listed reward, to anyone that can kill a werelion that's armed with, get this, a Conceptual Magical Construct-a Sword of such Swordly nature it's no longer physical-just like Matvey's. The Contract's open to all, and seems to have… quite a few reported failures already. Seems the Werelion's quite the talented urban fighter as well as being an exceptional swordsman. Mission also notes he can cut automatic fire out of the air…. I wonder how many bullets at once he can do that to…

I agree fully with putting Duke on this one. He came along with us for good fights, booze and drugs. Might as well get him the one that lets us afford the other two.

---Will pay $120,000 for someone to guard a recently turned Conceptual Bloodliner for two weeks, as her vampirism corrupts her initial bloodline. This job has two guard positions open.

Two Russians, $240,000. Whoever wants it.

---Will pay $40,000 for anyone that can permanently make a nosy reporting poking about the Zosimus clan permanently halt her inquiries. The reporter is a family woman, and would be noticed if made to vanish.

Two Russians for this job is probably ideal. Keeping reporters out of the know is everyone's responsibility, after all.

Standard: Go up, pretend to be a lawyer representing the company she is investigating, let her know nothing is going on, that everything is fine, ect.
Trickster: Put her on a different line of inquiry, have her investigate the Nazis or something.
Hard: Just threaten her. Sudden Russians telling her to halt this line of questioning usually works.
Escape: Front door, make sure not to use any real identification, be traceable to some other corporation, like the Nazis, remember weapons, just in case.

Leprechaun Bonzi:
---He will pay in a set (I variable setting thermal/kinetic/electric Shield Charm, 1 Blade Charm, 1 Arrow Charm, 1 Mind Charm, 1 Curse Charm, all rechargable) of grade-A Leprechaun-craft charms for anyone that can remove an infestation in his Pot.

This Pot appears to be an extra-dimensional space of indeterminate size, infested by 'something' with indeterminate lethality, survivability, and area coverage. I recommend at least three Russians with flamethrowers and grenades.
Recommend Vladimir, Iosef, Grisha

--He will teach the fundamental principles of Leprechaun footwork to anyone that can both calm down an angered Kronknar, and suitably, but nonlethally, chastise a prominent Were's child that robbed Kronknar's shop on a dare. This job is warned to be difficult.

Letting Hillevi handle this one sounds good. She can probably stand up to the Minatour and get him to calm down. Also, she gets practice with non-lethal, not to mention she will probably be able to put the footwork thing to very good use.

---He will pay me by assigning a section of his pot as mine to store things in and sign a Soul Contract to deal honestly and promptly with me regarding item storage, should I find a way to remove the Giant from the Undersewers beneath his shop that keeps stealing his shipments of Magma Dwarven Beer. This storage space will let me store three items, and the Leprechaun agrees to be bound such that he's incapable of knowing what the items are outside of when I'm actively discussing them with him-it sounds like a rather potent and secretive storage system, and there's no mention of needing to kill the Giant, merely to resolve the situation.

This seems like an Armas Job.

Standard: Going in and talking to the guy, maybe getting him to work for us, (exceedingly powerful beings in our service for alcohol has precedence)
Trickster: Just convincing him to leave, since there's now a contract out on his head
Hard: Soul binding him to not be able to steal the beer
Escape: Leave

Sometimes Merchant:
---He will let my shadow drink of the Shadowwell (something SB tells me is not that unlike a fountain of power for shadows and allows shadows to consume corporeal matter rather than just shadow) if he and I can help him claim a shadow that is owed to him, that of an old, long-dead god, currently held in slumber by a cadre of Spring Elves based in a subterranean city beneath the Bosphorus. He says it requires both a shadow and corporeal being, and for the two to share a soul-making the job uniquely suited to me.

Harder job than the Giant. This would need Armas, and oh, three Russians for backup. Make one of them Lybov, and probably bring Placid along. There is no such thing as overkill, and having the war walker helping out here might make those Elves more manageable.

----He will pay two rechargeable Blade Charms and one rechargeable Arrow Charm, svartelf make, each, for up to five warriors willing to fight a horde of hobgoblins. He's confirmed they won't have artifacts or outright spellcasters to their name, but can have basic magical implements in their number.

Five Russians, and that's all of them with jobs. And Russians can take care of themselves, I'm not worried. Placid could also go here; WAR walker.

---He will owe me a Favor of negotiable nature if I can 'teach a lesson' to the heir of a local Bloodline family that besmirched his pride. I'm not allowed to kill or harm the kid-merely to annoy, shame, frighten and general troll him.

Sake. Just Sake. Let him go wild. THIS WILL BE SO MUCH FUN FOR HIM.
>>
No. 444386 ID: c6ce12

Out of the missions that people have more or less agreed Armas should handle personally we should start planning out an order for him to tackle them in. A lot of these require preparation work. Our morning should be spent making sure we've prepared for the more immediately relevant missions and have all the intel we could need on hand. A meeting with Go Ping bright and early would be ideal, somewhere on neutral ground but private where we can discuss who did this to May Lee's remains, where these people are and where they are keeping the flesh golem, and what they've done to get ready. Then we can ruminate on that a bit and come up with a proper plan later one. Then I would arrange for Rocco to send any men that need bindings to come around at night, maybe late-ish around 12:00. Have him make a confirmation call a couple hours beforehand, if he doesn't answer he can send his new shipments of men elsewhere, if we're in we'll do all the guys he has before we sleep that night.

One of his jobs however does not seem to have the luxury of time, the minotaur being hunted by the devils in a maze seems like it could slip out of our grasp at any moment. I think we should consult Hillevi, explain the job to her, and ask if she wants to accompany us (the answer is almost certainly yes, she must be terribly bored with how much we take her out for fun things). I'd ask her about minotaurs and magical mazes too, just so we don't have our head completely up our ass when we go to the bar to later that day to meet with Kronknar. When we meet the big guy he'll probably be floored by Hillevi coming along, it may unbalance him with what excellent resources we're putting up, use this to try and haggle your way into acquiring rights to as many Devil corpses as possible so Hillevi has some pay and we get rights to the hammer. If all is well and good on his end and he's prepared to go that very day and the mission won't be doing crazy timey wimey warping stuff on us I say we go.

>>443619
Upvote, Matvey would request to be swapped off of the town guarding job though. I would swap him out for Camella, who is our only other capable leader. Stick him on the boozy Giant job with some people and the notably difficult Kronknar calming and child were chastising instead.

>>444237
And upvote sans the portions regarding alternative deployment options for the mission to shut up the nosy reporter and the hobgoblin mission.

>>444359
Downvote.
>>
No. 444532 ID: 252e1b

>>444359
I think you've got the wrong idea about Lyubov's abilities. If anyone's ideal for that ward cracking job, it would Lyubov. She has innate powers that let her read divinetech and electronics with ease. Have Shadowbro help her on the magitech part and they'd have it done.

I asked Bob about how long the Triads would give us for cracking the warehouse, and he said two weeks. Whatever Tesla is going to have Lyubov do will not take her more than four and a half days. Given that, and her measures to get her overcharged soul back into the safe zone, she should be ready to work on the warehouse with time to spare.
>>
No. 444545 ID: c31f72

>>444359
SUST, because I don't like your name
While all this talk about what jobs to do is good and all, there doesn't seem to be any suggestions as to what to actually do today!
So, I say we spend time dicking around with the swarm of hummingbirds trick, learning how to actually use one of our escape abilities is a good thing.
Also, we would be shiny. Oh so shiny...
>>
No. 444671 ID: a97f94

I think we should call up the dunters we know, and hit them up for more jobs and info on the political situation underground.
>>
No. 444828 ID: 3734f6

If doing soul binding to ensure loyalty mission, make sure to not reveal our ability to edit binds.
>>
No. 444840 ID: 9718f3

I see no reason to not harvest Stacey this morning as well. Only use 14 of Sake's charges though, we should keep some in reserve since we're starting missions up again. And make sure there was no conflict between our "don't talk to Amen" and "Just ask Amen for food" orders.

We should find out if Kronknar knows exactly where the devils are or not. If we can get the job done before noon Sunday, we should go for it. Also phone Go Ping to find out if he knows where the May Lee flesh golem is, and to tell him we're generally onboard.

Spend spare time trying to figure out that Wall Walking orientation instead of practicing dual orientations, which we're pretty good at right now. It'd be nice for missions in tight spaces.

>>444359
SUST.
One or two decent ideas, but sending Placid on missions, bringing Russians as backup on missions where they virtually can't be of assistance, sending a hacker to decode magical ward systems. Those are all silly things.
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No. 444991 ID: 6616f3

>>444386
>Out of the missions that people have more or less agreed Armas should handle personally we should start planning out an order for him to tackle them in
Okay.

May Lee mission: I'm still a little unsure on how All View works. We can 'tag' people we find in All View, can we 'tag' the May Lee? Preferrably while we're get that Yakuza meeting done. Then we could just roll up and say 'Hey Ping, get your shit, I found her.' Incidentally, the tack to take for that meeting is, I think, to get all indignant - make it clear you consider Long Wang, Diao, Ping and May Lee friends. Whether we do or not with what the Triad has pulled on us, acting the part costs us nothing and might keep Go Ping unsure on his loyalties.

The minotaur-inna-maze mission is pretty time critical, should hit that swiftly. Will we be deposited in the maze and have to track them down? Cuz our hummingbird swarm would make short work of that, and might just impress Hillevi. Play it cool- 'yeah, you know, just haven't had the right situation where being three hundred hummingbirds would help-'. Placate Hummingbird with 'sorry, Hummingbird, but its the truth. You don't use buckshot to swat a mosquito, right?'

The soul binding can also be fit in around larger jobs - binding to 'be loyal to the Mafia' with our ability to change bindings (to, say, 'be loyal to the Armas'?) would be delightful.

The Pot infestation and chastising the heir I'm not sold on being Armas's thing, but I suppose we can pick them up later depending on how well and quickly we work through the other 3. Though really, if we're going to have extra time to do another mission from the list, I still prefer the god's shadow and the spring elves.

We should go into the Yakuza meeting with a clear idea of what we want. Mostly, that's information, for me. We don't know which yakuza group we're dealing with, here, for one. Yamaguchi or Sumiyoshi, or some smaller family? The Golden Death Gods and the Oni clan I would rate above the local Mafia's forces and the Triad (when not counting Lammy and Lo Fang) but below the Nazis- but that could change if the heads are anywhere close to Lo Fang's insane level of skill. We have NO info on these guys besides Baki. That could be a problem, so a meet n' greet like with the vamp sire dynasties is going to be very good.

I don't particularly want to work for these guys, but an amicable arrangement wouldn't be a bad thing- live and let live, that sort of thing. Feel them out on if they plan to withdraw their forces now that they recognize their former friends were playing them.

We can fleshcraft and soulguise ourselves into literally anything. We could walk into the meeting with a soul shaped as a yakuza crest, or a Hello Kitty.

A few other things: they don't actually call themselves yakuza, they use 'ninkyou dantai'. Just a thought. And if it turns south, remember that $10k a head bounty.
>>
No. 445642 ID: fbe4f4

>Changing the topic slightly here, but I was thinking of setting up a proper chakra tournament for like the 26th or 27th, putting up either a specific prize or a boon with the stipulation that it be within reason.
Well, apparently the tournament is today or tommorow- we actually talked to a couple of minions about it. Thing is, with all this work we took, we might not have time to do it properly. Regardless, this pretty much means Lyubov can't do it because of her witch-sainthood and her sudden overbloated soul. Armas knows lyubov enough to know that girl is a go-getter, and having his very own witch-saint being petulant wouldn't do. Armas should make an effort to find a thoughtful something for her. Luckily, her mother arrived recently. He should ask her of any particular..Weaknesses...of lyubov (Food, Films, other ideas).

>-I ask Dmitrii to make privace charms for the van we'll use to transport the golem to and from the warehouse. He gets on that, and by tomorrow our car should be perfectly kitted out for discreet transport.
If Armas wants to see Placid going googly-eyed at our Golem, he should be there for the first meeting. Likewise, talking to Placid a bit, giving him encouragement about the work he is doing on the souls, watching it and trying to see what he is doing, are all good. Remember we promised to one day take care of his bindings, and as such we may try to analyze Placid as deeply as we are currently capable.

>>444237
>>442436
Sust to any SM jobs but the Hobgoblin one, because they seem to hasten SM's take over too much. SM is a great contact, but we must be wary of his sudden increase of power here. Also, if we do take the Hobgob job, we must make sure the minions sent there are adequately camouflaged/illusioned/fleshcrafted so that we don't incur unecessary bad blood with hobgonlins.

>>443619
Upvote the job section, as that's a really thorough job everyone did together.
>Get right back on Silja stuff and harvesting the siren. I don't suggest allowing her to see yet cause she might catch a glimpse of her half formed body >_>.
Upvote. While on the topic of Silja, it was good to see how the meat gained by exchanging all those hearts compares to what she gains from the Siren, but now that we did it's pretty clear that, at least for this stage, it's probably not really needed to do that again.

>>444532
This does seem like a perfect job for Lyubov. Upvoting, though make sure that she is not alone in case her contract with Tesla make it impossible for her to finish that mission in a profitable way for the company.
>>444386
Upvoting this pretty hard
Details:
+May Lee was someone we lost in a mission, and she was, however shortly, a teammate. While meeting Go Ping, we should adjust our soul guise so that we not only hide our imperial and divine nature, but also give our soul an appearance of well-contained wrath. Make it clear we won't let that stand.
For the Devils jobs, we want to try to get the Devil bodies. They are in the 'really good and safe to eat' range, as long as Devil doesn't inherently conflict with divine. Do not forget to take the mere with us, as well as a spear- the Amazon spear could help here. For this, we need to either negociate looting rights, or else use cannabilizing fleshcrafting on the devils while they are alive.

[General Training Tips]
Chakra:
+Reinforcement: When we train in our reinforcement, we should aim to polish and understand our ability a bit more. As such, trying to use flexibility so that we can choose to concentrate all our reinforcement into a specific body part would be a good step. Trying to time ourself from going 'full body reinforcement' to 'reinforcement in my legs', for example, would help us improve our response time, and make it easier to counter and attack ourself. We should be wary of the winter chakra/Summer body conflict, however, and begin slowly. Especially if we try to use specific-body when amplifying reinforcement.
+'Stealth ': While our stealth orientation is kinda a joke (and we definitely need a better one soon), we should likewise improve our flexibility with it, let's say by trying to only provide energy for SB, instead of it being only 50% of the orientation. It would also be interesting to learn how much energy we can give him until it becomes unhealthy for SB, because with our regeneration rates we can definitely give him a ridiculous amount.
+Open Orientation: this would be much like the stealth orientation training, except trying to give the energy to the mere. We could, likewise, give some really nice amounts of energy to Whaitiri, and it can't hurt to be nice to her before our next meeting.
+Sphere Labyrinth: Dávgon has a mind bound spirit animal, and Satai has been looking quite a bit into the mind side of things. Talk to them, try to see if you can practice against them or they have advices. If not, look at your soul a bit more. It might be interesting to have a clearer idea of 'self' while doing mental training.
+Spirit sensing : We have learnt about undercharging last month, and we should train our spirit sensing orientation with it. Talking to people (or looking them in allview) whose soul baffled or interested us while doing so will probably help. Dmitrii, Matvey, Duke, Lyubov would all be good candidates for this. Changing our bind to 'can only use spirit sensing orientation in february' or 'can only use spirit sensing in february' could help if we can't see anything, or if we want to try for progressive progress.

Fleshcrafting:
>So, I say we spend time dicking around with the swarm of hummingbirds trick, learning how to actually use one of our escape abilities is a good thing.
Upvote

+Cannibalism: We have the ability to 'eat' things through our magic, or eating them the normal way, which also seem to be amplified by magic (or at least our taste buds are). We have never tried to quantify if there was any difference between the two, be it efficiency or any such things. As such, we should do a number of tests. First, on the meat in our fridge: If we have two non-phoenix hearts, use some of your summer energy, put yourself to spirit sensing orientation with appropriate binds, eat one with the cannibalism magic, and then eat one the 'normal' way. See if there is any differences between the gains of either, and truly try to analyze what those gains are- there could be something beyond the spiritual regeneration, as well as the summer energy gain. Worse come to worse, try to get a glimpse of how it works. Being as it is a Cannibalist magic, a second step is required: do the same with two tiny bit of flesh from one of the minions (after asking, of course): there may be secondary effects when it comes from either living or human stock (possibly both).

>With Gianni/Davgon supervision, try and make a golem using a troll heart as the base. A tiny servitor the size of a rat. (or a hummingbird hint hint). This is mostly for practice and I don't expect this to do anything but walk around and eat food and do things like fetch slippers on command. Name it Hosef.
Upvote trying to learn some golemcraft, though we should talk to Gianni first before deciding on using a troll heart.

Soul Manipulation
+Soul-Guise: Armas has realized that Bagga could feel something divine about him. This should mean the extra-speciliazed vampiric blood-sensing needs Armas to be able to find a soul-guise that counters it. Talk about it with your brothers, and change the default soulguise as needed. Furthermore, hides the presence of our soul bind in our soulguise. We should then train to be able to change our binding while continuing to appear that we have none.
+Bindings: Do not forget to change your bindings approprietely with the date (February is soon over). Bindings are an incridibly versatile tool, and Armas should not hesitate to abuse this as much as possible. A Simple binds like 'can only communicate with people Armas thinks are Triads' could be, for example, extrmeley useful for our meeting with Go Ping. Likewise, binds could be used to maximize our trainings, and so on.
>>
No. 445769 ID: 40fb55

>>445642
>>444991
>>443619
>>444386
Well, one of those jobs looked… exceedingly easy. There's a May Lee golem here in the city, and Go Ping wants to find it. I got Accelerated thought and the Allview-not to mention my brothers.
>"We're helping you with this?"
Are you actually balking at further indebting Go Ping to us?
>"No, just verifying you're still doling out orders."
Well I am.
>"As I see."

It takes us all of, real time, eight minutes to find her. To us, it was nearly a full day of combing the city before I finally found her, lurking in the meatpacking district. I give Go Ping a call as I start getting dressed.
>[Go Ping]"Mr. Laine."
"Hey Go. So-I found May Lee, and-"
The eminently zen Go Ping's voice rasps with cold focus.
>[Go Ping]"Where."
"Meat packing district near the place that imports mollinari meats, the-"
>[Go Ping]"I know which one that is-how accurate is this information?"
"Well I'm not there now, but effectively I'm looking right at her-and that's her."
I hear muffled orders and the sound of industry from Go Ping's side of the line.
>[Go Ping]"…Thank you Mr. Laine. As it happens, we are near the meat packing district today."
A quick swivel of the Allview shows that's so: Go Ping and a bunch of triads are in a van.
"It'll take me a bit to get there, hold-"
>[Go Ping]"The assistence you've already provided is sufficient: We will end this, and not allow this to carry on any longer. And before you ask, Mr. Laine, of course I will honor my end of the request-you more than fulfilled your portion. If you'll excuse me."
*CLICK*
ACQUIRED 1 WEEK OF GO PING LESSONS

…Well that was easy.
>"Easy can be good. Even if it does leave a few unanswered questions."
Eh, gives me more time to prioritize the jobs I think most transient. That said…. I'm going to have to talk to Hillevi about that mission for Kronknar. Wel… first though, I have to gather up a few people for that mafia town job…. I think I know who to grab.

After knocking on some doors and gathering up eight people, I give them a rundown. There's a town in Italy-they'll get transportation gratis, obviously-and they'll need to keep things running smoothly for a month. No number crunching or law-making, just keeping things from getting messy. Population of 400, give or take, and no bloodliners present. Other than a longstanding fued between two non-magical families in the town, it's about as quiet as it gets-so I want them to try doing a long-term group mission. Camella, Boris, Nikifor, Lev, Grisha, Andrei, Dmitrii and Vlad look at one another before nodding-they'll take the mission. Camella asks who will lead the chakra and general fitness lessons in her absence-I tell her it'll get taken care of. Just like that, eight people are packing up, and after a quick call ahead Rocco's on board with my offer, and the contract's mine. The sun still hasn't come up yet.

While I have Rocco on the line, I tell him to send over the Soul Bind people tonight-at midnight-after doing a confirmation call an hour or two beforehand, as well as telling him I have an ideal set of personel in mind for his scouting job. After a quick conversation, I ask SB to round up Matvey, Bagga and Dávgon for a consulting job. My Shadow Soul leaves promptly, one of his shade whispering that currently Matvey is not in the house, but that he seems to be en route back via the undersewers. They'll leave on his return, it seems.

That done I hang up-and call a different person.
>[Zosimus]"Armas, how are you-it's rather late."
"I know. I hoped to catch you in time to discuss those jobs of yours."
>[Zosimus]"Oh?"
"I have an excellent pair to offer for the bloodliner guard job."
>[Zosimus]"And you will personally vouch for them?"
"That I will."
>[Zosimus]"Excellent. What of the rest?"
[smallTitus, Rostislav offered[/small]
"I have a rather fastidious employee that would no doubt be excellent at addressing your troubles with the Blood Bank."
>[Zosimus]"Excellent. I hope he is well versed in dealing with the inept."
"I think that won't be a problem.
Satai offered
"I also think I can handle that ambulance problem of yours."
>[Zosimus]"That will be paid on resolution, so I won't be closing the contract just because you said that. That said, I look forward to hearing about it."
Iosef, Bagga, Ivan offered
"I assume, then, that just because I tell you I have someone on the job for those rogues you mentioned-"
>[Zosimus]"Correct, I will not close the contracts."
"I see."
Bagga offered
Hey, one of SB's shade still around?
>"There is one present-what is it brother of our master?"
I want you and Sake to kill the reporter Zosimus wants shut up, and to make it look like an accident.
Sake wiggles happily.
>[Sake]"I bet we can be done before Kuvey even gets back!"
And with a gust of wind they're gone.
"I also recommend keeping an ear out for good new on the public interest front."
>[Zosimus]"I will be alert. Was there anything else?"
"I think that's it."
>[Zosimus]"Well, despite the irregular hour, I suppose I should thank you for taking a number of issues off my shoulders-or at least, promising to."
"We'll talk later?"
>[Zosimus]"I imagine so."
*CLICK*

I spend some time tapping the people I just committed to work and verifying they're up for it-surprise surprise, they all are-and then make my way on to a new set of calls-this time to the Leprechaun Bonzi.
>[Bonzi]"Who's this?"
"Mr. Laine. I wanted to discuss some of the problems you want resolved."
>[Bonzi]"That so. Oh-should tell you, won of your boys came through here a bit ago-guy with a sword, bioarmor, chimera guardian and all that. Thought I should let you know in case you were looking for him."
That would be Matvey-but what's this about a Bioarmor and a chimeric guardian?
"Well, I effectively want to take all of your problems and make them go away-but I feel like Kronknar's problems take priority."
>[Bonzi]"You want to do all of them, huh? How you gonna deal with the infestation?"
"External Soulcrafting and soul binding."
>[Bonzi]"Hmph. The Comic?"
"Bureaucratic finesse."
Satai, Svetlana Offered
>[Bonzi]"The Giant?"
"Worst case scenario I'll see to it myself."
>[Bonzi]"Heh, sure. The prick that pissed off my cook?"
"How about some unbloodlined Mortals taking him down a peg?"
Satai, Zhenya offered
>[Bonzi]"Now that'd work just fine. And the maze issue?"
"I'll be over shortly, with a Valkonen to assist-that is, if we can get the devil's bones. You know those Valkonens and their collecting."
>[Bonzi]"A Valk? …Yeah all right, I'll talk to Kronknar-he'll have to live with not having any bones for making devil soup stock. …Well, got to say it sounds like you got this under control. How long until you're here?"
"Is there a timeframe I need to be there by?"
>[Bonzi]"Not specifically."
"Does noon work?"
>[Bonzi]"That'd be fine."
"Noon it is."
>[Bonzi]"Until then."
*CLICK*

I make one last call while idly reviewing the status of all those already leaving on missions.
>[SM]"Armas Laine. What can this merchant do for you?"
"It's more what I can do for you. I have a group that can tackle that Hobgoblin job for you."
>[SM]"Do you? Excellent."
Matvey, Zhenya, Satai, Bagga, Rostislav offered
"I'd also love to hear more about this heir you need trolled."
>[SM]"It's nothing much, just the Aksoy Families heir, Yilmar, a boy of… singular arrogance. One suspects that he would make for a passable Pride Fragment-but that's beside the point. He frequently can be found in downtown Istanbul."
Amen appears at my side, handing me a picture of a young, cocky looking guy with a narrow jaw.
>[Amen]"This one was provided with this by the Sometimes Merchant for Master."
"Anything of note before I set off on this?"
>[SM]"Only that he has a fondness for USSR-era music and rabidly defends its quality."
I Smile.
"That should be plenty."
>[SM]"Excellent. I hope to hear good news soon."
*CLICK*

My glut of phone conversations over with, I finally get to actually starting my day-or I will, after I listen to Sake giggle about the sordid car accident he and SB's shade-member orchestrated, a fatal affair of plain bad luck-or so it was made to appear. Well, once Zosimus sees the news, that job should be done. Even better, Sake recorded it with his backpack cam!
+$40,000 on confirmation by EOD on Zosimus' part.
Just as I get Sake to calm down, I get a call from Matvey-seems he went straight to the mission on being contacted, and they already finished their scouting job-and just got paid.
+$52,000
BUSINESS FUNDS: +(52,000-25%)=$1,163,984.00
While I have Matvey on the line I tell him I'd like a report on what he gained in his venture-specifically, about his new armor and guardian-but that I expect mission completion to be his priority. He acknowledges my request-and I hang up with a smile. Already, three jobs completed. Not too shabby.

As I exit my room, Satai catches me-well, more accurately I let him catch me, given I see his soul headed my way. He seems… disturbed, but to have his agitation on a tight leash. Better hear what he has to say.
"Satai, what is it?"
He doesn't hesitate a beat when I step out from my room just as he's about to knock.
>[Satai]"Armas, did you order the siren to tell Amen when she is hungry- and then order him to feed her?"
"I did."
>"…Oh, I know where he's going with this, this will be good…"
Satai's spiritual agitation grows even as his face remains rigidly controlled.
>[Satai]"In that case, I must ask if you have some form of plan for her mental and emotional molding which requires that she be subjected to the most horrifying method of feeding that Amen can devise while abiding by whatever your exact wording was. If you want to play games with her head that's up to you, but I'd appreciate a briefing on it seeing as you set me up as her handler."
I could, I suppose, spin this as being on purpose-I could. But… every now and then, when I think about it, I wonder just how I can keep myself human-by my standards, at least. And the answer I always come back to is to have someone to call me on it. So…. why not Satai?
>"Oh, this will throw him for a loop."
"You're right Satai."
>[Satai]"Please save… what?"
Satai looks at me like I've grown a second head.
"You're right: I didn't think about the scope of her binding in relation to Amen's character. Do you have an altenative order to replace that with at this time or does one need to be thought up?"
His soul looking positively frazzled, Satai's ever-calm face spits out some words to me.
>[Satai]"…Just withdraw the order to Stacey and she can go back to eating magical flesh out of the kitchen like I told her to before."
"Certainly. In fact-"
Spotting Stacey's soul on the lower level-
"I'll tell her now-care to tag along?"

As if he doesn't quite believe I would so bold-facedly own up to a mistake, Satai follows me like a wary guard dog, and listens in silence as I rescind my order to Stacey.
"So, was that all?"
>[Satai]"…No. I've cut a deal with Johan on a way to improve our kodoku jars- it should drastically improve survival rates and quality fairly inexpensively, but requires a few hours of your time and some memory transfers. Dàvgon has the details; please coordinate with the two of them."
"I see-I guess I'll be talking to him then."
Satai also hands me a report, with details on a pair of Rolls Royce Phantoms.
>[Satai]"And here, your Phantoms are ready for order. Just call this and give them your account number- the company account does not have the funds to spend almost a million on fancy cars right now. They should fit your requirements."
"Excellent, thank you Satai. Oh, you may have noticed some people leaving on jobs this morning."
>[Satai]"There were armory visits, yes."
"Yes-I've got one particular job I'd like you to handle wholly yourself."
>[Satai]"That being?"
"Clearing up what sounds to be a political issue keeping the Zosimus clan from getting their regular contributions from a particular Blood Bank. Shouldn't involve anyone shooting at you-and if it does, you are of course free to call me or the rest of the company for support."
>[Satai]"…I see. Is there a number I call, or-"
I give him the number.
>[Satai]"….I will call them."
With nothing more than a bow of his head, Satai departs, visually the same as always. Were it not for my soul sensing I might have missed the riot transpiring in his spirit. My admitting to wrongdoing really shook something in him.
>"I have to admit-an impressive bit of trolling."
>[Sake]"I still like slapstick the best."
"I know you do Sake."
>[IT]"While I care most for things just like this-trolling with honesty and kindness."

I head off to Hillevi's room, and explain to her that I have a job she might be interested in. She's already on board before I explain anything-and the moment I mention a maze and Devils I think I'd have to kill her to keep her from going. Okay-guess she's on board. Even better-the idea of getting devil bones sounds like an awesome reward to her. Means I get to have uncontested access to that hammer-perfect. After flitting about and talking with everyone I committed to a mission about what they've got on their plates, I head back into my room-and find someone what was curiously absent from it last night.

Lyubov’s in my room again, writing by hand in a notebook. She’s laying on her stomach on the bed, while Sake’s curled up on her butt, a green fuzzy sleeping slinky. She has the stereo system hooked up to her MP3 player, slow music in the background. She looks up at me when I enter, and speaks with a lazy yet curiously eager smile. [Lyubov]“Hey. Sorry I didn’t come to bed last night. I’d talked to Dávgon yesterday, while you were off with Gianni I guess, and he asked me some questions that got me really looking at myself and what I am now and I was pretty upset by the end of it and you were already asleep and so I ended up talking with my mom and anyway there’s stuff we need to talk about. You and me.”

Whilst my body tenses in wariness at her wording, Shadowbro, having discreetly rejoined me after the mafia mission, speaks aloud, in his gravely ‘I’m a creepy shadow’ affectation. His words are, as ever, decidedly unflowery.
>“You want privacy?”
A shaken head is Lyubov's response.
[Lyubov]”No, you should stay, some of it is important to you, too, and uh, you’re a part of Armas as much as he is a part of you. So, yeah, you’re both important to me. But, um. I know it’s obvious to anyone with spiritual senses that I’ve got a multidimensional part to my soul now, the conduit to Tesla, and that’s just part of being what I am now. But there is a multidimensional aspect to my mind now, too, and it is not so obvious. Not even to me, at first.”

Well this sounds interesting.

She scoops Sake up and deposits him on one of the pillows. Then she sits up.
[Lyubov]”I’ve got memories of- from. From my other selves. My, um. Sister Lyubovs, from other dimensions. Most of them follow my life very closely. The only real differences are in, uh, mistakes they made that I did not. Fatal mistakes, like when I nearly drowned except I remembered to let the water pressure in the car cabin equalize and then I escaped, but one of my sister-Lyubovs didn’t and she ended up drowning, and I remember it like it happened to me.”
>A multidimensional memory grave? That is fascinating.
He voice starts to get thicker with emotion, and I wonder if it's coincidence or SB's crassly analytical comment bothered her.
[Lyubov]“And like when I was in the metro and slipped and managed to grab my friend instead of falling down on the metro tracks, but for some Lyubovs in other dimensions, they didn’t manage to- and, and they ended up on the tracks and- they just knocked their heads the wrong way, or the train hit me- I mean, them, or-
SB whispers a comment from within my ear's shadow.
>I’m glad Dávgon talked to her. I’ve asked around in the Dark about witch saints, and most of what I’ve learned has been rumors and speculation.
Really not the time.

She starts tearing up, and I can tell she’s going to be really weeping in a moment. So, I sit on the bed beside her. She leans against me, and I put my arm around her, just holding her for a bit. I can feel her sobbing both physically and spiritually and all I can really do is hold her. Irrationally, I want to yell at Dávgon for making her cry but-

>It’s not his fault, she would have realized even without his questions. That, and she's overly emotional.
I know it’s not his fault. It’s not really anyone’s fault. And you know we are both TERRIBLE judges of emotional stability!
>"An arbitrary detail."
See now you're just being a dick.
>"Yes-and just how does that feel, I wonder?"

Tuning out my soul shadow, eventually I venture, “Sounds pretty morbid.”
She nods against my shoulder.
[Lyubov]”I thought I got all of this out last night. I’m sorry, I just-“
I cut her off. Tears are still not something I do well dealing with.
“No, it’s fine. Take what time you need. If you ever want to talk about any of it, I’m here for you.”
Sake, woken by her crying-and her shifting position knocking him off her rump-crawls into her lap as she composes herself. She reflexively strokes him. Gathering herself, she wipes her nose and starts gain.
[Lyubov]“Anyway, it’s like that for just about every potentially fatal situation I have ever been in.”
“Any silver lining to it?”
She nods.
[Lyubov]”One. A big one, actually. Dávgon thinks that being a memory graveyard for my other selves is just a side-effect of being multidimensional now. But there’s a set of memories that do not terminate- that are from a Lyubov that just said something a little different, and- and do you remember that boy, Sergei? The one I told you and Tesla about, who went to San Diego? Well, the other Lyubov, she made a different choice and won the scholarship instead of him, and so I went to San Diego and enrolled in the state university and got into the engineering program there. And I remember meeting you- I mean, I remember her meeting your, um, counterpart. In September, last year.”
>[Sake]”The problem though is that I’m not part of that alternate reality. Neither is Hummingbird, or even Kuvey. So obviously it's a boring reality.”
A smile forces itself onto her face as she continues.
[Lyubov]”And you- I mean, the other Armas. He acts somewhat differently. More serious? Like, he’s a bit more reserved and he’s got more restraint, and he was a Sergeant First Class when he left the Rangers, but he still likes pulling pranks and he’s still you, just- kinda different. And, he and the other Lyubov, they are involved, like we are, and he’s told her things, and he does remember his childhood stories. And I am sure that he has no magic. And neither does that Lyubov.”

My attention stops attempting to idly wander as I gravitate towards this detail: This means something, related to that missing month, the bloodlines-all of it.
>I don’t need to tell either of you just how valuable having a control to compare against, even from another dimension, will be.
>[Sake]Yet you just did.
I barely hear my brothers quibbling.

“They’re both still alive?”
[Lyubov]”Yes. And when I think about them and try to remember things, I can see what she has been up to. Yesterday they had a ballroom dancing class together.”
She smiles at that. A happy memory, I guess, even if it isn’t hers.
>Her mind is a gate of self. That’s extraordinarily rare. I might be able to learn how to make some of your ideas about multiple bodies more robust, if we studied this. A pity the furball is averse to the idea of serving a god: If Tesla can grant that, much could be accomplished under his guidance.
>[Sake]"Moot point, he's already got his avatar here."
>"True."
“Was that the only memory chain that’s different from all the others?”
Lyubov nods.
[Lyubov]”It is. And it’s funny, I remember meeting that other Armas’s parents. They seem very like a sweet couple.”
“Did they have a weird neighbor? Across the street, a book guy?”

That just draws a blank look from her. She thinks about it, and finally declares, [Lyubov]“Nope.”
>Either a low-magic world, or Grim Moire is only interested in the magical you.
That's what it sounds like, yes.
Shadowbro finally speaks aloud once more.
>“Why do you have access to that San Diego Lyubov’s ongoing memories?”
[Lyubov]”Dávgon thinks it might be an example Tesla would like me to follow, or a boon, or something like that.”
Shadowbro and I end up speaking at the same time. “You haven’t asked Tesla?”
She looks a bit flummoxed at the suggestion.
[Lyubov]”I- no.”
From her lap, a wiggling weasel offers his own squeaky comment.
>[Sake]”You could just call him up and ask, you know.”
[Lyubov]”You think I should?”
>[Sake]”The worst he’ll do is just tell you he’s too busy to talk right now. You’re his Witch Saint.”

Lyubov doesn’t waste any time setting her phone to speakerphone mode. The “ritual” she uses for getting Tesla’s attention consists of her asking on an open line if he’s there.
[Tesla]”Yes, Lyubov?”
[Lyubov]”So, um. Hi Nikola. Is it ok for me to call you that?”
[Tesla]”I see no issue with it, in private. If you have to call me by name in front of people who are not your loved ones, please address me as Tesla.”
[Lyubov]”Ok. So. I called because I found the memories from my counterparts in other dimensions. Both the ah, ‘terminal dimensions’ and the student. And, I would like to know, why? Pretty much no one I’ve talked to knows much more than rumors about witch saints.”
[Tesla]”That’s not surprising. The requirements for making them are rarely met, and they’ve become even rarer due to artificial restrictions from the God Wars treaty, which AORB and other signatories enforce on each other.”
[Lyubov]”So there’s no ‘How to be a Witch Saint’ textbook huh?”
[Tesla]”No. We’re both going to have to learn about this. I’ve made many saints before, but you are the first Witch Saint I have empowered.”
[Lyubov]”Wouldn’t AORB know?”
[Tesla]”They do, but they will not share that information as I never asked their permission. I didn’t need to, since I was never subject to their treaty. I’m one of a handful of gods capable of sustaining a witch saint properly who was born post-God Wars. But do not mistake my action for antagonism. It is simply that while I cooperate with AORB sometimes, I do not answer to them. And likewise they are under no obligation to help me with this, and as a point of fact they have already reminded the signatories to the God Wars treaty that they cannot share information about Witch and Wizard Saints.”

At this point I interject, looking for more information about the shadowy American group. “But why would AORB even care?”
[Tesla]”Lyubov, have you considered the implications of your existing magic, your chakra orientations, being converted to a divine format by being made into a divine spell seated in your soul?”
I can practically feel the smugness rolling off of my shadow.
>If she hasn’t, I have.
Well what is it?
>Let’s see if she gets it, first.

[Tesla]”Uh- I can learn how to emulate anything?”
[Tesla]”Be precise. You should be capable of learning how to emulate any Divine-format magic a mortal, a practitioner, or a contract holder could exercise be it spell, ritual or rune, in addition to your native divine powers or replicating wholly inhuman Divine magics. Based on this, I see no reason you could not eventually learn to emulate Mortal Magics-or so I hypothesize. Though the practical methods a Witch Saint uses to build her emulation packages are unknown to me at the moment, I am confident you will learn.”
He sounds like a proud father.
>It very neatly explains why making new witch saints is restricted for most gods. A fully developed one is more versatile than the god she’s connected to.
>[Sake]”That’s interesting and sounds like it’s going to be more fun than the Christian Hell, but you never answered her original question.”
[Tesla]”The multidimensional nature of a Witch Saint is well known, though the rumors have been partially discredited by a misinformation campaign. What is not widely known, and what I did not know until I observed Lyubov’s transformation, is that it naturally finds divergence points within a rather short metaphysical range. I had to work to make sure that Lyubov achieved a link to her living counterpart Lyubov, the student as you have titled her.”
“Are you saying that naturally, the dimensions closest to this one have her dying a lot?”

[Tesla]”Yes. I have done some checking, to be sure that she is not under a curse, or affected by bad luck. It appears to be entirely natural phenomena. Statistically speaking, someone must be on the far ends of the curve. A normal distribution demands that there be someone who is deceased in most dimensions. In her case I estimate it to be one surviving counterpart Lyubov for every one thousand three hundred deceased.”
[Lyubov]”That’s. That’s really sad.”
[Tesla]”There’s a practical advantage to it, besides making it hard for enemies to construct extradimensional models of your behavior. If you had been synched with a large number of living counterparts your personality would have been lost, overwritten by a barrage of memories that did not happen to you. Instead, you enjoy one active connection, and more importantly are still quite sane. I gather it was a problem for some historic Witch and Wizard Saints who were empowered without account for the potential backlash their minds would receive.”

Her transdimensional bad luck with survival turns out to be good luck for this specific Lyubov… okay. Huh. That's certainly something.
“How rare are Witch and Wizard saints?”
[Tesla]”I did a little research and have determined that there are 60 confirmed Witch and Wizard saints, including Lyubov. I must note in the interest of accuracy that given their value, it's entirely possible this number underrepresents the total, given many would try to hide such a commodity. In comparison, I have estimated there to be some 760 extant Wizards and Witches-I say estimated as at any given time they can create more of their number, chose to die out of boredom, or leave for another dimension. In the pre-God Wars era, I estimate there were usually 400 to 600 Witch and Wizard Saints at any time. Interestingly, while the gender difference between Witches and Wizards is nearly an even split, there are significantly more Witch Saints than Wizard Saints at present.”
[Lyubov]”Hey, about that invention thing. Um. I’ve been playing with different ideas, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be a stretch for me to have anything finished before Monday.”
[Tesla]”I will take your spiritual condition into account when I give you your assignment Monday. It may be several short jobs instead of a long one. I will talk to you about it later. Goodbye, Lyubov and Laines.”
The magical aura about the phone I was only just beginning to identify and properly observe winks out.

>That was a fascinating conversation.
He sounded way less prissy compared to Wednesday.
>I know. I can’t help but wonder… well, it will keep. Just make sure you get some of those stories the other Armas related to the other Lyubov. They might be of use.
You were wondering if he's getting altered by the connection to Lyubov just like she is.
>"It is always gladdening when I am reminded you are merely impulsive, and not dimwitted."
Love you too.

Lyubov smiles wryly at the phone, and sets it on the nightstand. She stands, Sake scrambling up to her neck as she does so, and pulls on my hand.
[Lyubov]”Come on.”
“What are we doing?”
[Tesla]”I want to dance with you.”
"I'd love to but I've got a job to go on-"
The pouts at me, clearly for appearances and not from any genuine irritation as her soul remains unruffled.
[Lyubov]”Come back safe then, both you and Hillevi. I'll just. Keep busy with my project here, I guess.”
I smile at her-and for once, it's not a face-breaker.
"I'll see you when I get back."

My shadow and Weasel alike currently unoccupied and trailing me, I get ready for the mission. After arming up with Iron Trick, my Mere, the Matebas, the Lonesome Judge, the Taste o. Ruin and the South American Spear, adorning myself in one of the remaining Amen-make full-body kevlar suits and taking a shield charm-because why not-I stand alongside Hillevi as we head out for our job. She can hardly contain her excitement on the way over, and is frankly drawing attention more for her childish exuberance than for the muscled appearance of her glamoured form. At a bit before eleven, we reach Bonzi's bar-and the Leprechaun welcomes us.
>[Bonzi]"Right, there you are-Valkonen…"
He nods at Hillevi before continuing-
>[Bonzi]"Kronknar's already left-here', I'll send you along."
The iron pot the leprechaun sits on abruptly dances into the air, growing wide-and promptly swallowing us both. Before the darkness surrounds us, I see HB indignantly ruffling his feathers on my shoulder.

[DISCONTINUITY]

The darkness recedes-and we are outside of a massive maze floating in a sea of nothing. I can't detect any soul near us-save one. The Minotaur before us, his soul stained with the taint of cannibalism, grunts, shifting the maul on his shoulder (a weapon that emenates a magic involving vibration manipulation) as he greets us.
>[Kronknar]"[b]Finally. I've got a rough sense of where the minotaur is, but I don't know where the Devils are. You got a magic that'd make it easier to try to hunt down the devils beforehand, or do you just want to try and brute strength them when they go for the minotaur by just going directly to the scent I located?"
"So, hunting, or defense?"
>[Kronknar]"More or less."
I look to Hillevi.
>[Hillevi]"Both sound exciting!"
>[Sake]"I think we should do the defense."
>"I think we should stalk them."
>[IT]"I think you should screw up in a hilarious fashion for my amusement."






Well-what's my call here-do we go straight to the minotaur and defend, or try to hunt isolated devils down first, before they potentially group up on the target?
What's going to be my general method to approaching the devils-force, wordplay, or something else? I mean, I do need them dead, but… plenty of ways to approach that.
Once we get back, is there any reason I wouldn't next address the Leprechaun's pot infestation first thing?
Past that, what else is my plan for the day as minions buzz about their many missions?
>>
No. 445782 ID: 21a619

Slip and break your face on a rock.
>>
No. 445949 ID: 76c597

Standard: Head for the minotaur but try to run into any Devils between these two points. If we find one and take it out without a tremendous battle, I bet we could take its form and soulguise for further fun. Perhaps by Sake hitting it with a tripping wind, SB's Nazinaut shadow holding it down, and us hitting it with the mere from behind while Hillevi blasts it with ice magic from the front? We're the one most likely to survive a misaimed ice blast (our fleshcraft healing + winter resistance), so it falls to us to work around Hillevi rather than vice versa. Kroknar can pitch in as he sees fit.

Trickster: If we pull that off, we'd have the option of leaving Hillevi, Sake and Kronkar as one team and join the hunt as one of the competitors. Using that to prey on the tendency for Devilish backstabbing could be useful, albeit personally dangerous.

Alternatively, we could try claiming we brought the others as slaves to assist in the hunt (who better to hunt a minotaur than another minotaur?) The Devils would likely see this as cheating though, even if we claim (lying) that we own their souls so they are naught but tools in our hand.

Muscle: Bust through and find the minotaur, then take him with you as you track down Devils and murder them loudly and showily. It'll be a bonding experience!

Escape: Kill one devil, fleshcraft/soulguise his shape, find minotaur, declare self winner.
>>
No. 445957 ID: fbe4f4

rolled 17, 14, 19, 8, 87, 53 = 198

>What's going to be my general method to approaching the devils-force, wordplay, or something else? I mean, I do need them dead, but… plenty of ways to approach that.
While wordplay is great, wordplay with five different devils would definitely not be something Hillevi could easily follow, and she is being so excited here that letting her down is unecessarily cruel. Let's try to kill them.

>Well-what's my call here-do we go straight to the minotaur and defend, or try to hunt isolated devils down first, before they potentially group up on the target?
These are Devils here, not Demons. Remember that the odds of them working together, here, is really, really low. As for the plan- Killing the Devils is worthless if the minotaur is dead. As such, making sure it's protected should be part of the plan. As such, here is what I propose:

Now, here is the tricky part- we have bene a bit rough on SB this morning, so we must be sure to show him we still consider him an equal partner. We should have two conversations here: One with our Bro, one with Kronknar. The one with kronknar is in case we are somehow being listened to. Obviously, Hillevi should be informed of the real plan, and we should ask SB nicely if he can do that:
“Let's split up- I will go hunting the devils, while you, Hillevi and Sake will rush to the Minotaur's help. There, Hillevi can ascertain the situation and, provide what defenses and traps she can- I am certain she knows perfectly well how to defend and trap out a place. From there, I would suggest she and Sake go and hunt the devil as a second team, while you protect the other Minotaur.”
To our brothers: “to be more precise, I was thinking of doing a secondary, perimeter guard around our group. This way, twe will be able to stalk any devils that realizes that resinforcement would be coming and decided to use that reinforcement to find the Minotaur” (this should be close enough to 'hunting the devils, and as such we don't say any lies). “Once Hillevi and Sake leaves the two minotaur, you should play as bait, with me and SB ready to hunt any would be hunters”.

Details on how to execute the plan: When we are sure we are unwatched, switch our Soul-guise to 'Mindnumblingy boring thing” (make sure it has the standard no-imperial, no-divine, no-binds attached), and ask SB whether he prefers to be within our body or not. Regardless, put on the stealth and the soul sensing orientation if you can manage that dual orientation, and amplify to 100% the stealth one (or as close as possible). Make sure to ask SB if a too large input of energy will harm him, though.
If we do find a Devil following our group, or taking the later 'Hillevi and Sake as bait”, it would be a good time to practice our back-shooting ability. As long as the enemy doesn't hide/protect his shadow as well as having a Armor, shoot with IT(adjusting the type of shots used if, say, it's a enormous beast-like devil). If not, use Taste of Ruins' heavier armament.

>Once we get back, is there any reason I wouldn't next address the Leprechaun's pot infestation first thing?
No, we should do that.

>Past that, what else is my plan for the day as minions buzz about their many missions?
Armas should talk to Matvey as well as the people gone with him during that time. Get as much details as possible, and likewise follow the [General Training Tips] for spirit sensing orientation training when talking to them. Then, do the 'Cannibalism' part of that training, asking Matevey whose minion he thinks would agree for the later parts (make sure they are aware it should be perfeclty safe). Any Cannibalism training should be done in a way that doesn't alert people as to what we are doing. Luckily, there is enough 'graft everywhere' in fleshcrafting that asking for samples makes perfect sense. However, we should eat the samples in secret. After that, any other kind of training could be done, but it might be time for Armas to ask again any of the available minions whose soul matured enough if they want some soul binds, soul quirks, or other such improvements. Do mention that, if Hillevi is willing, you could use a sieve to 'block' the divine tainting.

>>445949
SUST lying
>>
No. 446250 ID: 327ee1

>>445782
SUST.
>>
No. 446516 ID: 6c8f77

>Well-what's my call here-do we go straight to the minotaur and defend, or try to hunt isolated devils down first, before they potentially group up on the target?
Both, kind of. Send Hillevi and Kronknar straight to the minotaur, where Hillevi can set up defences like ice walls or her crystal mines. Follow them at a reasonable distance until they’re there, to make sure they don’t get ambushed. Then you, Sake, and Shadowbro are going to have some fun with the devils. Head back out into the labyrinth, searching for the devils if you’re able to, or else just wandering. If you find one, feel free to try to take them out if they’re alone, but more importantly (a) delay them until Hillevi has set herself up and (b) goad them into attacking Hillevi’s now fortified location by giving them some of that good ol’ Kyrpa Peikko action (without the nudity). Remember to switch to the energy shunt orientation if either Sake or Shadowbro are getting low on power, but otherwise ply soul sensing and Sphere Labyrinth.

>Once we get back, is there any reason I wouldn't next address the Leprechaun's pot infestation first thing?
If it seems within your abilities, do so.

>Past that, what else is my plan for the day as minions buzz about their many missions?
Any or all of the following:
-Harvest Stacey for Silja again.
-Ask Satai to find price comparisons for the Doonongaes parts we have, as well as get an inventory of it, so we can decide how much to sell to H&H, and how much we'll sell it for. Call Arkvad, ask him to email a list of monster bits that are in high demand over there while you’re at it.
-Practice soul manipulation with Davgon. Try to form a soul in one of the Kodoku bugs - if Davgon starts to run low on soul-bits (or you’re just bored), see if you can substitute your soul-derived Winter energy for some.
-Ask SB if he found any einher yesterday.
-Put the golem in the van, take it to the newly warded storage. Bring Davgon and Gianni, and watch Placid work on setting up the eye-laser.
-Ask Sake for a flesh sample. If he agrees, take it then heal him. Eat the flesh sample to see if you can figure anything out about it.
>>
No. 446776 ID: 40fb55

>>445949
>>445957
>>446516
All post-maze duties for day logged for maze completion
If the Minotaur dies, that's that-so no matter what, I have to head for the minotaur Kronknar hired me to help him get to. With Hillevi, SB and Sake to back me up, two Artifacts to my name and the client himself… well, let's say I don't feel underarmed.
"Lead the way to the minotaur then-and if we can hit some Devils on the way…"
The smile Kronknar shoots me is as black as sin-and filled with camaraderie.
>[Kronknar]"Then follow."
The minotaur sets off-and there's really nothing much to do but follow his nose.

As Kronknar leads us, I briefly try the Allview, just on the off chance that it can see within the demiplane… no such luck. I'm forced to analyze the maze exclusively from a first hand perspective-and find it, frankly, top notch. The walls are utterly featureless and wholly uniform in appearance, and the pathways can actually be seen to shift-slowly, to be sure, but shift all the same. Given how gargantuan the maze looked from the outside, such insidiously slow shifts could lead one to be trapped indefinitely, if one were not careful. The ground was oddly soft and too-silent beneath my feet-

That is, until I stepped in something wet with a quiet splash. Looking down, I see the faintest outline of a puddle of nearly dried, mud-like blood.
>[SB]"No magical signature…"
Seeing the blood, Kronknar speeds up. The five of you round a final corner and find….

A minotaur, smaller, less coarsely furred and lighter toned is on the ground, bleeding and rasping.
Standing above it, pulling a strip of flesh from the fallen bull-man's chest with glee is a Devil crafted out of thorns and brambles, a mockery of the human form. The moment I see both they bloom to my soul senses-and I realize with a start that these walls utterly block my soul sensing from passing through. The Devil's head snaps about to glare at us-as SB probides me running sensory data on magical buildup in our first of six targets.
>[AAE Trait activated]
Not one to waste a perfect moment to test out what I read about the Mere, or the shadow-filled nature of the Maze…
>"Very well-"
[DISCONTINUITY]
I'm shadowported less than forty feet, right behind the Devil, ludicrously close to a no doubt physically overwhelming foe-but more specifically, I'm shadowported with mere in hand. And so, as limbs as felly potent as any that I've seen rush towards my form, I stab.
>[SOTG Trait activated]
And….

…And the body sags lifelessly against me the moment I slammed the blade into where the devil's heart should have been. Kronknar, who had been building up speed to charge across the small intervening space slowed, his shaggy eyebrows climbing as he turns his attention to the wounded Minotaur. Me? I'm busy dealing with a familiar mental presence that cropped up the moment I stabbed the Devil.
>[Whaitiri]"So, my cannibalistic catechumen, it would seem you have something rather tasty placed atop your gate… but your dear Soul Shadow mentioned something about you needing something from the body before I should feed?"
That's so-and thank you SB-I need to preserve the bones-Valkonen traditions, all of that.
>[Whaitiri]"I grasp why he stopped me now-it is good to respect tradition."
With that the Maori Cannibal Goddess recedes from my mind like a wave rolling out to sea-

And perfectly timed to her exodus, the bark-like skin, the sap-like blood and gnarled, root-like muscle of the devil I just slew with such ease simply flows into the Mere like water down a drain, leaving the curiously shaped, delicate-looking bones behind.
>[Hillevi]"Oh that's lovely looking!"
Kronknar looks askance at Hillevi's comment before a look of understanding passes over his face.
>[Kronknar]"…Didn't know you had a melee Artifact."
"I suppose I'm full of surprises."
>[Sake]""So lucky you stabbed him before he could get into the groove."
>[HB]"Victory by dint of overwhelming speed and properly plied power is just as honorable as a drawn out battle of whittling. The decisive nature of the conquest does add much to it's worth that it's lack of tension may take away."
"Knew I could count on you to phrase it right HB."

I shake off my internal dialogue and refocus on Kronknar.
>[Kronknar]"I need to take care of this guy-and there's still the other five. You want to take care of them? I'm sure I can keep this guy out of their hands myself."
"Hey-you're the client, no prob."
>[Hillevi]"Oh!"
She lets the skeleton drop back to the ground as she bounds over to participate in the conversation, her earlier intense scrutiny of the brambled bone utterly forgotten.
>[Hillevi]"We should make it a contest-first one to kill three more wins!"
I look at my brothers.
"That hardly seems fair-I've got a bit of a team here."
My feet promptly slip out from under me-before I can hit the ground, shadow flickers over my senses and I'm once more upright. I see Sake has abandoned my side, and now loops himself around Hillevi's bull-neck. With a paw-obscured snigger, he speaks.
>[Sake]"Hah, team Storm's gonna kick your butt, outnumbered or no!

At my hip, the revolver speaks to me alone.
>"Does that make us Team Armas, or team Soul?"
>[IT]"Is this…. a Team Death Match? …I do believe it is, by a less… standard definition. How delightful. I wonder who shall win?"

I draw Iron Trick in my off hand as I give Hillevi a lazy smile.
"You ready then?"
Her 'answer' is to immediately turn and dash off in pursuit of targets with a jubilant look on her face, Sake sniggering from her shoulders as she forms a protective ice shell around him. For my part, HB simply lands on my shoulder-and merges with my neck.
"Wait-"
>[HB]"No time for such prattle, giant: A challenge has been issued, and must be met. I shall swarm your body across this maze in search of targets!"
"What about my delicious guns and the mere?"
>[HB]"I shall carry them in a soul bubble-you have the power to do it."
"Okay fine, let's-"

I don't get to finish before the most intricate and intimate fleshcrafting I've ever experienced is unleashed the very instant I give my body-bound Hummingbird permission. My flesh doesn't shift or flow-there is no sinuous shifting, no wild warping. I simply disintegrate, my crumbling pieces slamming together into a vast cloud of tiny replicas of HB in the space of one second. In that one second, I experienced more wholly alien sensations than in my entire magical career up to this point-and I found myself immensely gratified that SB was there through it all, copying the memories for later review. Disoriented and so broken up that focus was difficult I began to adapt to my current status enough I could pay attention to external stimuli. So. What's… HB doing with my body here.

Okay. Swarm's mostly together, more or less around the Soul Bubble of my gear. Okay. I can work with that. The swarm's… not moving. Why am I not moving? …Ah, there are birds away from the swarm-well, little packs of birds-that are racing out through the maze. They're all me-so I'm getting all of their sensory data. Or I would be, if I could actually handle however many thousands of iterations of input this is. Realistically speaking, I'm just grasping at a few bird's perceptions like a man looking through binoculars in reverse, grossly limited from the whole picture.

HB though, is handling it like a champ. I can tell, instantly, which bird he is-it's the only one that I can't grasp snippets of perception from-and he's guiding the divided colony like a maestro, hunting devils without the slightest sloppiness or uncertainty, no matter the monumental strain he must no doubt feel. As HB sits atop the Soul Bubble in silence, I begin to lose myself into the wonder of exploring my manifold form, marvelling at what my spirit animal can transform me into-when my little buddies eyes snap open.
>[HB]"Team Storm is proximal to three of the remaining devils, while we are proximal to two. Shall I move to engage one of the devils nearest your ward to assure us victory?"

I wonder about that….




Ward-raising decision time: Do I go for victory over Hillevi, or do I let her have the win?
More importantly-this one job's gotten her more excited than anything else has for a while. Do I maybe have some advice for her at it's completion?
>>
No. 446808 ID: 1a3e7f

Go for the two that are close to you, if you manage to finish yours before she is done with her's then kill the third.
>>
No. 446824 ID: bf3455

>Ward-raising decision time: Do I go for victory over Hillevi, or do I let her have the win?
Hillevi has been the most excited on this mission we have seen her in a awful lot of time. Moreover, she actually directed term of a challenge that puts her in advantages, as well as ran just after, not really waiting for an answer. Our girl is growing up, and it's every parental figure's role to take one for his little ones every so often. Just concentrate on the two in front of you, and only go to Hillevi once those are done.

>More importantly-this one job's gotten her more excited than anything else has for a while. Do I maybe have some advice for her at it's completion?
Congratulate her for her wording of the challenge, and take her out for a treat afterward-ice creams and cake!
>>
No. 446839 ID: 9718f3

It is a friendly competition, no need to interfere with eachother, especially not so early in the game.

We should definitely congratulate her on the wording of her challenge. She neatly deprived us of the advantage having already killed one devil would have provided us in a purely numerical contest and the number of devils total made the move easily excused as a measure to avoid any ties. Very clever, keep up the good work. Many is the contest that is won before it begins.

As for us, we should try to pay as much attention to the structure of the maze and how it shifts as possible. It should be incredibly helpful as a referance for our mental defence orienation.
>>
No. 446850 ID: f616b5

Hillevi would hate it if we make it even slightly easy for her.
Go for the victory!
>>
No. 446895 ID: 54c7e5

>>446850
Seconding this. It's a matter of honor; a victory is meaningless if you don't earn it after all.

Besides, it's not even interfering, kill stealing, or any other kind of cheap trick outside the spirit of the game. It's utilizing one of our information-gathering strengths.

Maybe re-enforcing the concept that information is one of a warriors greatest assets on the battlefield?
>>
No. 446940 ID: 1005d2

Yeah, go for the win. Take out the third one from Hillevi's side that's closest to you before going after the two on your side.
>>
No. 446948 ID: 01cf26

Fight to win.

Also bet to win with Trick.
>>
No. 446976 ID: 76c597

>>446839
Yes, we (particularly HB) like a challenge, we like winning, and fighting cheaply would teach Hillevi a lesson abou the world. It's also the wrong choice; our stated goal is to teach Hillevi about the world. Our ACTUAL goal is to get her (and by extension, her family) to like us. So we play this clean, and yeah, we give her a small advantage (to combat the fact that we know where every devil IS thanks to HB).

We fight the two closest to us, and if Hillevi still hasn't cleaned up the three closest to her, THEN we go for the win. Preserve the sense of friendly competition. And it's not even like this means we're throwing the fight, just giving her a chance.
>>
No. 446977 ID: 110950

>>446976
I agree with this post. There is no advantage for us to win here. It would simply be a dick-move out of greed. It would most likely make Hillevi sad or at least not happy which is contrary to our goals. We should not let her win either but she needs a chance. We already have HB and SB helping us, killing that devil first would be bullying her and nothing else.
>>
No. 447045 ID: 69616a

>>446976
I honestly don't see us approaching this tactically as being somehow dirty. Why should we give her an advantage when we can pull ahead with a simple choice of who to go after first? If she has any sense, she'll have decided the same way and it becomes a race, if she doesn't, she will learn a lesson in choosing targets. Just because we're fighting against our protege doesn't mean we have to fight STUPID or somehow handicap ourselves. The point here isn't if she wins or loses: it's how she plays the game. Regardless of the outcome, good performance should be rewarded and poor performance corrected.
>>
No. 447066 ID: 252e1b

>Ward-raising decision time: Do I go for victory over Hillevi, or do I let her have the win?

First find out if Sake is using the information that the Hummingswarm discovered. It shouldn't be hard to verify. If he is, Team Storm will move toward the devil in their group of three which is closest to you.

While waiting to see what they do, go for one of the two near you.

If Team Storm isn't going for the 'right' devil, kill the other one near you. Then move toward whatever are left. She is probably just as fast as you are at killing them, but I really have to wonder at how fast she is at locating them. So in that case give her a sporting chance.

Sell it to Hummingbird as "Since she's my ward, it's part of my duty to give her chances to grow."

If Team Storm is going toward the 'right' devil, go for one of the other ones proximal to them. Turn it into a race where you are using Shadowports to skip large portions of maze geometry so that you're able to outpace her. Let this be a fair attempt.

>More importantly-this one job's gotten her more excited than anything else has for a while. Do I maybe have some advice for her at it's completion?

"Well, that was fun. You brought a bag for those bones, right?"

If Team Storm did appear to use your sensory data: "Was it your idea or Sake's to piggyback on my intelligence gathering trick? Either way, nicely done. If the intel is reliable there's no reason to not use it, right?"

If Team Storm says they did all the detecting work on their own, and in fact Hillevi did the brunt of it: "Very nicely done indeed, I'll have to tell your brother that you took his sensory lessons seriously. If you ever want to trade technique just let me know. I've got a really neat chakra orientation, you've probably seen me using it."

If they did not appear to use your sensory data: "Did Shadowbro lock you guys out of my intelligence gathering trick? Might be a good idea to work on your senses some more, I know your brother was working with you on that, and if you like I'd be willing to dedicate an hour or two a day to helping you with it."

If Team Storm did everything right and you still won because of the shadowports: "You did everything right, you know, it's just that I've got a mobility advantage in terrain like this thanks to Shadowbro. If the targets had been clumped up closer you probably would have won. Think about ways you would want to improve your own mobility and let me know. I'll help you work on what you come up with."
>>
No. 447178 ID: 1a40f2

Attack the devils by flying the mere at them.
>>
No. 447429 ID: 3734f6

>>447178
SUST. Port and heartstab don't toss your weapon.
>>
No. 447433 ID: 5658ae

>>446976
Agreed.

Swarm and reform around targets, stab em and get the bones. Try not to lose too many bodyparts.
>>
No. 447490 ID: 40fb55

The urge to show her exactly how to play competitively properly-especially after she waited for me to make a kill AND went for a head start-is quite potent. Not to mention how much I love winning: Being able to scratch that itch and show her how to properly win a contest cheaply could be an excellent lesson-

>>446808
>>446824
>>446839
>>446976
>>446977

I also have to accept that objectively, it's the wrong lesson to prioritize as her guardian. No matter how many lessons I want to teach her about the world, I have to remember that the original reason I even accepted her as a ward was so I could get the Valkonens to like me, and establish strong ties to the family. And crushing her spirit like kicking a puppy, while potentially an excellent life lesson, is not the best answer-not for me, at least.
>"Ah, coming to the right answer for the wrong reasons-wonderful"
>[HB]"You… would not choose to dominate her?"[/i]"
Sure I COULD, but that only makes me feel good and teaches her a lesson. If I lose properly though, she still learns a lesson, it's easier to ensure that on returning her to her family that I get the strong bonds I'm looking for-and THAT knowledge also makes me feel good. It's two versus three, in terms of perks here.
My gaze continuing to flicker between the myriad of eyes I have to choose from, I note HB reluctantly coming around to my way of thinking.[
>[HB]"…It is a curious thing, for losing a contest to be the greater win."
But you see why that's so.
>[HB]"Aye. …Very well. We shall start with the most distant one-AVAUNT!"

Before I can tease the fiesty avian about his curious word choice, the swarm moves.

This is a wholly different 'newness' to my experiences every bit as alien and disorienting as… well, being some several thousand hummingbirds. The critical difference here is that all of the birds are in motion-none hover in place, none provide me a sensory reprieve from the data storm of the flock in motion.
>[SB]"Jarring, isn't it."
I don't even have the attention to spare for snark with my brother: I'm too busy not losing myself in the massed collective-

Or that's what I WAS doing, until I am, suddenly and gloriously, me again. Yes, I'm naked-but that's a small detail, compared to having my gun and mere in hand, and a devil before me. The particular devil in question is both similar and wildly different from those I've seen before. Once again, it holds a humanoid form. Once again, it's a mish-mash of bits and pieces that have no business being a moving body. In this case though, it's body seems to be comprised of shattered shards of aged records.

I realize the Devil is, in fact, quite aware of me when it rips my arm from my shoulder, it's free hand pulling back to stab me through the heart. I Dunter-step aside, analyzing the pain that could be crippling my mobility right now-

And drive my mere into the devil's side. I miss the heart-having one arm's throwing off my balance-but with a heave the blade cleaves through the devil's 'flesh' with ease, bisecting the heart on it's upward path-and as it does, I see the hellish fire of life in the creature's eyes fade. Once more, all but the bones of the beast are sucked into the blade-and I get a strange feeling as if someone smacked my lips for me.

Looking down at my missing arm I sigh, grab the limb and hold it to the stump and-
[HYBRID HEALING]
Aaaand good as new. I wrench the arm about experimentally, making sure I didn't miss anything before nodding in satisfaction. As I shake it off… my world becomes feathered, once again.

HB wastes no time in re-transitioning me into a one-man swarm of hummingbirds. I find myself moderately pleased that I manage to keep hold of a semblance of coherance as my mind is split a thousand ways. Granted, I only just adjust before I'm reverted to human form and we reach the second devil on our exodus-which is where things got a bit curious.

This devil, unlike the other two I'd found, was not merely wandering about. It stands amidst an array of runes carved into the obdurate floor underfoot, frowning as it studies small flickers of magic about it's person. Unlike it's brethren, this one's not truly humanoid-it's lower body is nothing more than a mass of hooked tentacles, it's arms a mad cross between a bat's wing and a monkey's tail, slender fingers writhing in the air.

As I try to adjust to once more being human (what a thought THAT is) I see the Devil….

Vanish within its ritual circle, not even leaving a puff of smoke in it's wake.

>[HB]"The coward would not face a warrior's death."
I can live with that. Hillevi?"
The bird says nothing as he shifts me back into a swarm that swiftly disperses under his will. As each clump heads off in different directions, I find my tenuous grasp of sensory data slip away. I drift on a sea of buzzing wings and blistering movement-before an aggravated sound blares through my head.
>[HB]"The last.. has fallen."
I try to see what HB's talking about-and finally find a sub-swarm of hummingbirds that isn't moving, currently fluttering above a frozen devil. My charge leans against it, looking pleased as punch as she giddily chats with Sake about the takedown. Less than a minute in, HB's remaining swarms rejoin with the one watching Team Storm, and out of the massive horde-I emerge.

Too bad I'm naked and can't stick the landing, but that's a detail.

I stand up with a back-popping stretch to find Hillevi already proudly thrusting her victory in my face.
>[Hillevi]"Heh-heh~, I totally beat you!"
"Seems you did-well done. Was Sake any help?"
>[Hillevi]"Only the BEST help! He trips them-"
>[Sake]"And she freezes them-I gotta say, like the combo."
"Excellent. Well, the devils seem to have been dealt with-shall we fetch Kronknar?"
Sake nods enthusiastically as Hillevi finally notices I am, in fact, naked. A most familiar blue sheen rises to her cheeks, something I ignore as I begin walking back to Kronknar. After all, that's where my clothes still are.

When we reach Kronknar though things are… sticky. Literally.

There is exactly one minotaur waiting for us, his hands and mouth covered in gore and blood. Mid-way through licking his hands clean, Kronknar waves at us, tilting his head questioningly.
>"Hm. Well, not like we didn't know he's a cannibal."
I answer the client's unasked question.
"Yeah, they're done. If you'd mind waiting while my Valkonen compatriot collects her bone totems, we can be on our way."
>[Kronknar]"Mm, I see."
Hillevi jogs off, looking somewhat perturbed at the fate of the one we 'saved'. In my ward's wake, Kronknar eyes me.
>[Kronknar]"You're one too, aren't you."
"I am many things-please be spe-"
>[Kronknar]"Cannibal."
"I see no reason to deny the truth: what of it?"
>[Kronknar]"You are rather lightly touched by the magic."
"Is that so? I choose to interpret that as a compliment. Was your meal worthwhile to you?"
The minotaur sucks a finger dry.
>[Kronknar]"Completely."
"Excellent. Perhaps we can do business on that front again."
>[Kronknar]"Mmph."
"Actually, I have a question about a different job while we're waiting on the Valkonen."
>[Kronknar]"Yeah?"
"What's the name of the were that pissed you off?"
>[Kronknar]"The runt. Name's Otto, of the Mubarek. Old werewolf clan. Bonzi's got a picture and address."
"Any preferences on the chastisement?"
>[Kronknar]"If you can make him rob other, bigger name vendors so his clan can't protect him, that'd be ideal: I don't require that though, only that he be outed as a thief and publically shamed."
I stroke my chine.
"I see."

Hillevi, a block of ice with bones tetris'd into its core, comes galloping around a corner with an easy smile, and Kronkner levers himself upright.
>[Kronknar]"Ready?"
>[Hillevi]"Yup!"
"I am."
The minotaur grunts-and tilts its head back to roar at the heavens.
>[Kronknar]"BONZI"

With a thunderous clap, a giant iron pot hovers in the air above us, the pot-bellied, stick-limbed Leprechaun in question hovering over them all.
>[Bonzi]"Oh FINALLY you wee beastie, you ate. Right then!"
The pot tips-and balloons up large enough to swallow the entire realm we inhabit in a sea of darkness.

[DISCONTINUITY]

We are back in the bar.

Based on ambient light levels, it's early evening-we were in the maze for… six hours?
>"Time dilation can work both ways."
Hm. Well, what's done is done.

The Leprechaun plucks a hammer that sings to my Item Sense of it's multidimensional ability from its pot and lobs the implement my way.
>[Bonzi]"Well, you finished up that job. You still got time to work on another job tonight?"
"The pot?"
>[Bonzi]"Yeah, the pot. From what I saw of you in the demiplane, it'd take you all evening and night to do-I'm betting some fifteen hours, all told. You want to do that now or later?"
"From that, I assume you can tolerate waiting."
>[Bonzi]"Sure, though I'd prefer to do it now."
I hum a bit in contemplation as I look at the puppy dog eyes Hillevi's shooting me-clearly, she wants to spend some time talking about how fun the mission was for her, but by the same token… getting the job done faster seems pretty important for my business reputation.




What's my final plan for the day:
Am I going to prioritize Hillevi's personal gratification and head back to the mansion, listen to her talk about the mission and most likely spar with her for the night?
Or
Do I try to show her how important professional work is and get another job for Bonzi done before leaving his shop?
>>
No. 447528 ID: 522afb

>>447490
Well shit, if we're going for being close to her we might as well actually BE CLOSE TO HER, instead of just gimping ourselves deliberately to let her win a friendly contest against us which does nothing to that effect. Go to the mansion.
>>
No. 447569 ID: 54c7e5

>>447528
Agreed. Should probably explain that you have a job pending for tonight at midnight; and that you can do this in the morning.
>>
No. 447849 ID: 2ba2d3

i say go for hillevi
>>
No. 448058 ID: adb918

>Do I try to show her how important professional work is and get another job for Bonzi done before leaving his shop?
No, because that's totally unprofessional- we have an appointment at midnight with Rocco, and another with Baki tomorrow at noon. It's evening, and working on the pot for 15 hours or so mean we would finish around noon tomorrow, and missing a meet plus making ourself exhausted for the next (if we even can make it) just in order to look good to bonzi is utterly unprofessional.

>Am I going to prioritize Hillevi's personal gratification and head back to the mansion, listen to her talk about the mission and most likely spar with her for the night?
Don't forget to buy ice cream on the way back, and to really congratulate her about how she both made sure that our first kill was discounted and that she went first. Then ask her if she also thought of tapping into our senses via Sake, or if she managed to find the Devils by herself. Congratulate her on how damn fast she killed three of them- it took her, what, half a minute for all three kills?

On the way back home, take a minute to think about our recent improvement in regeneration. Even with a less efficient bind, it took us something like a full night to get most of our energy back, not all. However, we now can regenerate all of it in less than an hour. Ask SB if it's the effect of his shade leaking energy or some such. Ask SB if when we are at full, our regeneration leaking to him is efficient, or if he would profit more from Armas actively giving him that energy, be it via shunting chakra orientation or direct soul manipulation.

When we get back and spar with Hillevi or even better Matvey or Rosti as we aren't too used to fighting them. A free for all between us would be best (we should do a couple of experimentation: look at our soul while fighting and using soul manipulation (we haven't use our soul bubble for a while. Armas using as much of our usual skills like Gyaketsuote, our various mobility aids, Chakra reinforcement and soul-sensing as possible is also good.), and try to determine what in our soul is regenerating, and how it works. Then change our bind (still while fighting) to non-binding and try to determine what changes (make sure to keep some energy left though). There is the possibility that the binding-induced boost to winter energy regeneration hasn't increased, but that it is in fact our base regeneration that has increased (which would increase the result of the multiplier so much more). Maybe regenerating so fast for so long has 'unclogged' it, or taught ourself passively how to maximize it.

Talk to Hillevi a bit more- ask her if she would mind working as a sieve when we bind the mafia people tonight, as we might not wish to let our godling nature known, and it's possible that the binds would show up as divine-tainted magic. If she agrees and is capable, thank her. Furthermore, it's very important to check sooner than later if binds made with a sieve can be changed (we should do that with the world eye when no one is around the mook in question that could detect it, and quickly put it back to what it was after).

Then call up Dávgon (while Hillevi is still here), and tell them about how our regeneration of winter line has improved even after we got the binding (going from regenerating most of our pool in one night with binding to regeenrating all of it within an hour), tell them about the experiment we just did to try to determine why it was, and what we think we saw. Then ask them for their opinion, and if there is any other tests they can think of, especially with their supervision. Furthermore, ask Dávgon again if he wants us to change his binding to a similar one we have for regeneratin energy, and ask them both about the dangers of a bind like 'can only experience soul growth in “month”' or 'can only improve in soul manipulation in “month”'.

Once all of this is done and if we still have some time before Rocco's men arrive for soulbinding, we should ask Dávgon and HB about trying out to make offensive use with our Soul-manipulation. Maybe enhance our punches directly with soul in a way similar to the soul-bubble, or even create a weapon- like a Soul-spear?
>>
No. 448064 ID: 0ba8d2

>>448058
Upvotan all dis
>>
No. 448383 ID: 76c597

Tell Bonzi with regret that we'll have to schedule for monday or tuesday. Cite previous job/engagement.

Then hang with Hillevi. It's no more than the truth (we have Rocco's job later tonight), but she ought to be pleased we seem to be deferring Bonzi's job in favor of her.

I think some modest feasting and boasting is appropriate here - allowing the victors to do the lion's share of both. Get the guys from the hobgoblin job to join in, if they're around. Best debriefing ever: around the dinner table.

Do a couple hours of sparring after dinner has settled. Switch teams up regularly; Armas/SB/HB and Sake/Hillevi, Armas/Sake/HB and Hillevi/SB, that sort of thing. We're looking for which combinations work the best and getting everyone used to working with each other.

If Matvey and Rosti are interested, sure, get them in on it. Three teams at once requires more strategy and thinking on a strategic level versus a tactical one.

Rocco's job: Has Rocco told them they're getting a soulbind? If not, probably best to do it on the downlow; this may be illegal, I forget how the law regarding soulbinding goes. Dress up Jagda-like; professorily (tweed with orange elbow patches, maybe?). Ask them some background questions, or tell them you're the Mafia's counselor (Psychology degree from the college of Why the Fuck Are You Asking), or hell, tell them you're checking them for STDs. Whatever.

Then try and soulbind them without them noticing - maybe we could make one inside another soulbind, so the outer 'bind (of something harmless) obscures the inner ('Do not betray the Mafia').
>>
No. 448629 ID: 6c8f77

>>448058
Upvoting.
>>
No. 448642 ID: 34d817

Several minor items:

Speak to Dàvgon about the kodoku improvements Satai mentioned, and do whatever he needs for that.

Recharge all our rechargeable items in the armory, which shouldn't take too long given our energy recovery rates... and while we're at it, look at the armory records and figure out just who's been doing what with our things. They've certainly seen a lot more use than our official missions can possibly account for, and we'd better remain informed about what our minions are doing.

Harvest the siren for Silja sometime today, before Sake's healing supply resets again at dawn tomorrow.

Talk with Lyubov about the differences between our childhood and the other Armas'; see if we can pick out anything interesting. Reference with Shadowbro as he shares our memories. Also, it's fucking bizarre that the one other life she's got, we appear in. They met here by what's basically a chain of freak coincidences- it should have taken millions upon millions of lives for the two of us to meet in another universe, let alone shack up there as well. Twisted probabilities like that almost always mean something.
>>
No. 449112 ID: 522afb

SUSTing everything that has nothing to do with either Hillevi or Rocco's job. We need to focus here, dammit, and actually pay attention to Hillevi and strengthen the bond between us!
>>
No. 449322 ID: 782776

>>449112
Tasks not involving Rocco's job or bonding with Hillevi will take minutes. Lyubov is the only one who will take longer, because everything with Lyubov takes longer. That is logical, since she is Armas's girlfriend and they like to spend time with each other, so it is best if Armas plans ahead for spending time with her as well.

If it is 7 now, then Armas can spend 4 hours with Hillevi, a half hour with Davgon, and a half hour buffer for other things. He will talk to Lyubov so they can spend the rest of his free time after the binding job together.

Armas will also change clothes before the binding mission and will have Bagga dress as the fetish nurse again, to help with the bindings.
>>
No. 449520 ID: faa542

>>449322
Sust all of this- both the 'Lyubov is Armas' girlfriend' when the relation between Armas and Lyubov is verbally established as a friend with benefits one, and the 'Bagga fetish nurse' one because this is humilating a member of our company in order to... look stupid in front of our employers. Yeah, no.

Also, Armas should remember that he doesn't need to touch or talk or be near the mafia mooks while he binds them, and he might even want to pretend someone else is doing the binding, just for mindscrew.
>>448642
auto-upvote Ironybot's post. (and manually upvote especially the bits about the Kodoku talk with Dávgon and recharging the various items to recharge. Armas should be careful about not overcharging them, though. Baby steps.)
>>
No. 449532 ID: 733ae0

>>449520
>'Lyubov is Armas' girlfriend' when the relation between Armas and Lyubov is verbally established as a friend with benefits one
Whats the difference?
>>
No. 449618 ID: 8aedfd

I think we should give Hillevi all our time. Although we shouldn't start neglecting contracts for it.
>>
No. 450323 ID: 60780f

No reason to neglect scheduled contracts, but some time spent with Hillevi, boosting her ego, seems in order. It will keep her happy and inclined to our cause.
>>
No. 450520 ID: 22ae81

>>448642
I support this course of action but I suggest Armas buy a bouquet of roses for Lyubov. Buying flowers for everyone else may be verboten, but Armas can buy flowers for Lyubov. She is his girlfriend.
>>
No. 450541 ID: 44f50a

Got to have to agree with doing the pot mission later. Hillevi did a good job and deserves the gratification. The work will be there for a bit, but this is a good time to give Hillevi some proper one on one before pursuing anything else.

On the whole Lyubov issue, we SHOULD cut back at the moment. It's nice and all, but we should pay attention to more than just her when it comes to minions. This includes SUSTing any and all 'romantic' actions with her. I am fine with talking with her about 'other universe Armas' and professional knowledge, but NO flowers, lovers stuff, or the like. Keep her a friend with benefits.

Other than that, I agree with >>448642,>>448383, and >>448058 and SUST >>450520 and >>449322.
>>
No. 450607 ID: 40fb55

>>447528
>>447569
>>447849
>>449618
I find myself enjoying my deliberation over how to handle this.

I COULD let greed rule me-I could prioritize speedy mission completion over other activities in the name of professionalism. That said... I'd be lying to myself if I did so. If I'm here, working on Bonzi's pot, then I'm not going to be available for Rocco's call tonight, nor will I be available to do the Soul Binding he wants. It's not exactly altruism or kindness that guides me to it, but pragmatic or no, I find I have to value my Ward's time over trying to squeeze in more work.
>"I find the pragmatic justification superior to the emotional one."
Yes yes, you've made your disdain for emotion in general and emotionally motivated decisions in particular abundantly clear to me.
>[HB]"I hold a differing view-to follow one's heart without doubt or regret is a sublime thing, and the mark of a true warrior."
>Until they die from a stupid, hot-headed decision."
>[HB]"A warrior's death is not to be feared."

I tune out their resultant debate as I refocus my eyes on Bonzi with an easy smile and a friendly Soul Guise.
"I'll be back later for the pot-I've already got other work duties lined up for the rest of my time today."
The Leprechaun scratches his scraggly rust-red beard festooning his jutting chin before nodding reluctantly.
>[Bonzi]"Aye, I ken. When will ye be back ta finish?"
"Within the next couple days."
>[Bonzi]"So long as ye don't leave me waitin' for a week or summat, I can stomach it."
"Excellent. I'll see you soon."
>[Bonzi]"Aye."

Our business-for now-concluded, I take my new magic hammer, and start making my way back home only AFTER Hillevi's verified she can carry the bone and keep it obscured with her glamor. Our walk starts off, briefly, unexpectedly quiet. This doesn't last, as within the span of a block the teen titan's begun her bubbly diatribe.
[Hillevi][In Finnish]"Well that was fun!"
[In Finnish]"I hope you thought of it as more than fun."
She pouts at me for daring to not be as enthused as her.
[Hillevi]"You nearly sounded like dad there."
"I will attempt to avoid that where possible-so? I have to admit I'm curious why there was no leftover material from the devils you fought."
At this, Hillevi blushes-her glamored form unable to express the blue tint through the disguise-as she tries to explain.
[Hillevi]"Um. I may have gotten a bit too... excited?"
"I would appreciate a more thorough explanation than that."
She looks a bit frazzled as she tries to cast her mishap in the best light possible.
[Hillevi]"Weeellll... I was really looking forward to beating you-"
Her cheeks darken with the admission even as she continues-
[Hillevi]"And I kind of used the quicker, more... damaging.. ice."
"I see. And that prevented any harvesting outside of your own?"
[Hillevi]"Yeah-only bone does okay with that kind of Ice. ...Sorry."
"Don't apologize: You acted within the confines of the defined contest."
She smiles in relief at the easy forgiveness.
"That said, in the future do attempt to avoid using that kind of ice where possible if I'm on the job with you, okay?"
She nods vigorously.
[Hillevi]"Roger-Roger!"
I quirk an eyebrow at her chosen response format. Unsurprisingly, her easily triggered blush resurges.
[Hillevi]"Uuuummm... was that not right? I heard it during some viewings on the telo-vision box, and thought... sorry."
>[IT]"Oh, her awkwardness is quite delightful. You should tease her more."
I ignore my garulous gun.
"For future reference, the particular movies you watched-and I'm pretty sure they were movies-aren't exactly accurate by any means. If you want to reference it, just say Roger once, okay?"
She nods contemplatively, filing the factoid away-then smiles, throwing me a theatrical salute.
[Hillevi]"Roger!"

I can't help but smile at that.

>>448058
>>448064
>>448383
>>448629
On the way back, an idea occurs to me. And for once, SB's not giving me shit about it being stupid.
>"I begrudgingly admit the concept you ponder seems based on sound reasoning."
I suppress my mocking incredulity… partly… and do what seems like a good idea: I get Hillevi some ice cream. I admit, she surprises me a bit with her flavor choice.
[Hillevi]"So all of these are different flavors of ice cream, yes? "
"Yep. So what flavor do you want?"
[Hillevi]"All of them. "
"…You did see the size chart for how big a scoop is, right?"
[Hillevi]"Aw… are you doubting I can eat it?"
"…No, I suppose you CAN eat three liters of ice cream. ..Okay, one scoop of everything it is."
[Hillevi]"Yay! "
As she looks pleased with her post-victory treat selection, I decide to broach a subject while awaiting her confection's construction.
"So-did you use Sake when doing your tracking?"
[Hillevi]"Huh? No, I just layered the air with soul-frozen ice flakes, and just went where the flakes melted! They can't stand up to other souls besides my own, heheh!"
…She has a workaround to soul detection. Once again: Valkonens, you impress the crap out of me.
"I see-and why didn't you use Sake as well? He did, after all, have access to my own data through our bond."
[Hillevi]"Yeah… but I figured, since I already waited 'till you knocked one down, and it was just for fun, that I didn't need to try that hard… and I didn't know if maybe you wanted to teach me a lesson about aggressive cheating or something."
On my shoulder, the Hummingbird inclines his beak towards her in respect for her train of thought. She giggles at the gesture-which promptly causes the little fellow to fluff up at the indignity of it all. I try to ignore that as I move on with the conversation.
"You know, I have to say-I'm really proud of how you handled that bet-it was creative, done swiftly, and orchestrated with confidence."
Her giggles get strangled by her entire head turning blue beneath her glamor.
[Hillevi]"U-um… thank you! "
She busies herself eating the ice cream-and I let her have her moment-it's clear the praise flustered her a bit more than she wanted.

Once we're back en route to the mansion, I voice a question to SB, along with a hypothesis. …Oy, SB you listening or-
>"Why not just coalesce your idea rather than expecting me to read it out of your mind?""
FINE. So, my energy regeneration, even with the change to it only regenerating, per the edited binding, on 'Today', has increased-quite a bit. Is that some bleed over from your shade or something? I mean, your shade has gotten a bunch bigger, right?
>"I…. your perception of the change is accurate, but your reasoning for it's cause is wholly backwards. It's not that energy from the Dark, or from my Shade, or from me personally has made you more apt at regenerating. It's that… you've adjusted."
…To what, the increased energy flow?
>"Hardly: You adjusted to handling a workaround to Conceptual magic as being the founding force driving your soul binding boost. I imagine that, with your passive regeneration abilities, you didn't even notice the repeat brain damage-or, in fact, minor soul degradation-as you automatically regenerated the damage before it could build to perceivable levels. And yes, to save you time: I was wholly aware of it, but given it was clear the acclimatization process would not genuinely harm you, I saw no point to mention it. Now that you have unwittingly brute force learned how to handle it, you are now able to use the Conceptual Binding properly, and that is the reason your regeneration has grown."
No shit-so I can do Conceptual Magic now?
>"Let me preface this with the statement that, as of yet, I know relatively little about the overarching field of Conceptual Magic. That said, I think you would be more able to learn other Conceptual magic-but for now, I'm quite confident you can only use this one form of it."
Am I getting the feeling you're implying the binding, as is, is about the best regeneration I could hope for-that about right?
>"Insofar as I've concretely verified options, yes, that's correct."
Huh… shit, if I hadn't gotten HB double-bound-
>"His life would have for certain ended the moment you placed the binding of 'Today'-just your passive radiation is allowing Sake and I to… well, explore new options.""
>[HB]"I must confess, the sheer inexhaustible nature of what radiates from out bond-let alone what can be willingly drawn-is the reason I've finally gotten the swarm to work: I no longer need to overcome the energy issues that plagued the notion previously."
Well shucks-what can I say, I'm your battery.
From around Hillevi's neck, a snigger promising trouble precedes his own two bits.
>[Sake]"Oh man, this new trick I can do? Slow as all crap, but so fun. Bring me next time you need to put a hole in some fortifications, yeah?"
I'll do what I can.

[ARMAS NOW EFFECTIVELY HAS INFINITE MAGICAL REGEN FOR HIS SOUL AND THE WINTER BLOODLINE WITHIN RELATIVE TO IT'S ENERGY CAP, AND NEEDS TO PURSUE PURPOSEFULLY INEFFICIENT POWER CONSUMPTION TO EVEN BRIEFLY BE RENDERED WITHOUT POWER WHILE THE SOUL BINDING IS IN PLACE]

[ARMAS'S MAGICAL REGEN HAS ADVANCED SUFFICIENTLY IN ONE FIELD TO ALLOW ALL MAGICAL REGEN TO BE APPRECIABLY BOOSTED]

The rest of the walk back is filled with Hillevi animated enthusiasm over a properly fun job, and her giggling in glee as she tries-and frequently fails-to avoid being tripped by the fey Sake, as always eager to catch a few laughs. By the time we get back to the mansion, I'm no longer worried about having been very hands-off with Hillevi: The rapport she's built with my entire company is, frankly, heartening, and likely more important to her father than any attempt on my part to train her.
>"Such is your suspicion, at least. Though in fairness, it seems a logical conclusion given the mercurial attitude the Valkonens seem to take when gallivanting outside of their home."
Raising a teen amongst mercenaries, several of them cannibalistic, inhuman and/or psychotic seems to be more or less exactly what Markku wanted. ...Good thing, too.
>"You could call him and verify that your assertion is accurate."
...Naw, I'm pretty confident.
>"So long as she doesn't sleep with one of them I would venture your confidence is wholly acceptable."
...On that note, I recall how much attention Hillevi's been paying to Matvey-particularly after he picked up that sword and became, in her eyes, a 'proper' warrior.

I'll need to keep an eye on that.

While Hillevi promptly goes to bother Matvey and Satai about her outing, Sake and I meet up with Dávgon and Gianni… and we gather up Stacey. She's not resistive at all-and while she does look sad about what use she's being put to, the resignation in her face makes me wonder if she'd resist even without the binding. After today's harvesting and feeding, Silja's form begins, oddly, developing something not unlike a leathery eggshell around her form. The shell itself seems to take the bodies the same as the rifle-but oddly, Silja sounds, well, sleepy after being encapsulated: like it's slowly putting her to sleep. She doesn't seem concerned, neither does Dávgon, Gianni, Sake or SB, so I feel reasonably safe letting this happen. Maybe it's something like a metamorphic reincarnation? Well, all of Sake's heals for the day doesn't see Silja's resurrection finish-but progress, undoubtedly, is made.

After that, I briefly call in to Zosimus with the sun having set-and find he did indeed get confirmation the nosy reporter had an unfortunate, but wholly mundane looking accident.
BUSINESS FUNDS: +$40,000 $1,216,984.00

After taking care of business, I have an all-hands feast of a meal, and give Hillevi a chance to properly boast and brag about her recent mission. She gets a chance to talk more thoroughly with some of the more introverted minions-Iosef and Andrei alike unable to avoid being amused at the idea of her pulling a fast one on me-and surprisingly, she doesn't even mention our employer was a cannibal, leaving them all with a decidedly lighter-hearted impression of the mission. Though, her idly summoning Tartalo into the house to ferry her harvested bones back to the family estate for placement in the boneyard does impress more than a few-for one, I think Satai's soul did a riot in Accelerated Thought timeframes at the sighting-I don't doubt he hadn't been aware of this particular trick of hers. Honestly, she comports herself well, and I wonder if she might have surprised herself with how well she did-or if it's me that's surprised.

During the meal, I'm brought up to speed on the mission completions while I was out: For one, seems the Hob Gob mission was completed with great ease, in no small part due to the use of overwhelming force-excellent. There were no casualties, just some use of expendable magical munitions that Satai carefully documented in the Armory logbooks. I do find myself curious about something that was noted during the mission: There was a magically masked river of what appeared to be solidified shadow, that the Wyld Goblin fighters did not warn them about-nor was it's presence or nature explained. Curious. Still, the job pays well, so I choose to focus on what was gained, rather than stress over new questions.
+10 Rechargable Blade Charms (Svartelf Make)
+5 Rechargable Arrow Charms (Svartelf Make)
+2kg Uncut Garnet Gems

As the meal's winding down, I bring up what I hope will be the cherry to my day of tending to my ward:
"Hey Hillevi: How about a spar where you can hit me as hard as you want?"
The way her eyes just sparkle at that make me glad I waited until I didn't need to worry about dying in the slightest. Because during the feast, HB reminded me about the Swarm being comprised of my purposefully fragmented soul-and how HB himself, as a part of that swarm, perforce has had to take into his form a small sliver of my own soul as an anchor and control mechanism. Most importantly, this means that my soul sustains uninterrupted, non-ruptured existence even if I'm physically and spiritually slain, so long as HB is alive. So…. is Hillevi freezes my soul or some shit, it's fine, I can finish regenerating from HB, my goblin deals, amen ownership, eye possession, everything uninterrupted.

The fight's straightforward, and frankly watched by pretty much everyone after how I phrased the invitation: No weapons, she tries to put me down, I try to not be put down-and HB lends a hand. With a Soul Bubble formed around me and visible only to those with Soul Sensing, I square off with the girl a decade my junior-and our spar begins. With Reinforcement, Hummer's Momentum, Attention Sense and Dunter Step working in concert, I my feet and constant shifts in weight and directional momentum make me flutter like a leaf before the larger, faster foe, as her fists fly like cannons in nothing by near misses. Just when I think this will be easy, having gotten to her back, she shoulder checks me with an ice-plated flank…. to no real effect. HB, looking as proud as I've ever seen, puffs up without lifting a single feather, swelling with silent smugness alone as the Soul Bubble he crafted around me tanks Hillevi's full force impact.

So when the Soul bubble freezes over and shatters from the prolonged contact-which I realize was Hillevi's goal from the start, given she had to know I was registering spiritually well beyond the limits of my physical body-I have to suppress the urge to snicker at the schadenfreude of the look of startled loss-of-face on his beak. Thankfully, he has no problem restoring the bubble with my ever-gushing spiritual energy-and I keep fighting. As the battle progresses though, the differences in our talent start to show-my tricks, varied as they may be, unravel before the born and bred warrior, all the while ice building up around her body as she hits her stride. She no longer gets in the odd solid shot to the soul bubble-but regularly shatters it with her soul-chilling cold. She can't break them faster than I can restore them… but she's penetrating farther past the bubble with each success. Soon enough-

An ice covered fist shatters HB's soul bubble and rushes past to slam into my side, a genuinely serious Hillevi getting me dead to rights within half an hour. The blow is like a cluster of artillery shells vaporizing my side-and half of my torso is frozen solid and instantly shattered in the hit-my spine included.

My body sags dangerously to the side, the flap of muscle that's the sole remaining connection between my upper and lower bodies laughably inadequate to hold me upright…

Before I grab the bottom of the wound-
>[GGG Trait activated]
And hold myself upright, much to the varied exclamatory reaction of the crowd.
"Huh. Painful, but not QUITE as bad as I expected."
Hillevi grins nervously as she slowly pulls back her fist, a few frozen shards of my guts stuck to it.
[Hillevi]"Ehehe… that's, um… the soul damage. "
"Is it?"
With some focus, I ply my summer line to reject the bits of frozen biomatter still stuck to me-watching as Matvey's puppy happily eats the ice candy delights I've sewn across the ground-and then ply my best healing trick.
[HYBRID HEALING
I go from half a torso to a full torso in one second flat. The amount of envy I feel from Rostislav at my recuperation is delicious, and sets a cocky smile on my face as I get back into the fight.

Hillevi and I fight without much in the way of pause for some two hours, with her constantly punching holes in my body and soul alike as I… just keep repairing it, getting used to a higher class of melee damage. Even when I lose my entire head-with a jarring moment of existing within HB's body, I am still wholly able to regenerate and get back in the fight. Thankfully, she seems to eventually hit a cap in her adjustment to my style eventually-and, with the rules as they are, our battle effectively becomes… predictable. Both of us, after yet more time, simply stop, because the contest as it is… isn't really that exciting anymore.

Our audience might disagree.

After that, I WANT to talk with Hillevi-but Duke has other plans. What follows is roughly three hours of the Heavenly Spirit, Doubly Transcendant Black Whirlwind tearing me apart, bellowing with joy as he gets to cut loose. I become intimately familiar with the utterly unblockable nature of his axes and fists alike, and through the prolonged bout, I get exposed to enough of his attack patterns I get two back to back, in-depth and first hand looks at how super strength, melee-inclined warriors fight. I find it positively enlightening, and am far more quiet than usual as I process all the little details I took in. Thankfully, Duke is, as ever, Duke-and gets bored soon enough-and I'm freed from my surprise match.

While Hillevi gets showered with praise for beating the hell out of me-no matter how unharmed I am currently-and Duke gets a proper showing of respect, my phone ends up ringing… ah, Rocco, the confirmation call. Yeah-guess it is time. Man, how long were we even sparring-or, beforehand, feasting? I ate… a whole mess… ah, whatever.
>[Rocco]"You still on?"
"Count on it-how many?"
>[Rocco]"Eighty nine."
"Not a problem."
>[Rocco]"Excellent. They'll be there at the arranged time."
*CLICK*
With that, I turn to Hillevi-
"Hey-you willing to be a soul-channel for binding others?"
[Hillevi]"If… Dávgon's on hand to moderate, then yup! "
"Perfect."

I look away from Hillevi with an expectant smile as a bevy of souls approach me: Matvey, with his sword audibly grumping at him, Rostislav with his now passively magical body that feels more golem now than man, and the now positively titanic Vlad who has to be near eight feet and seven hundred pounds. All three of them are armed-Matvey even sporting his BioArmor.
"…Well, this should work for an excellent first-hand look at how all three of you have changed, won't it?"
>[Rosti]"I wouldn't mind the chance to see how you take what I now think of as a proper beating."
>[Vlad]"Da: I wish to see if my hugeness can compete with the ice princess there."
>[Matvey]"You did accept my offer to spar with you sir."
"So I did. One moment though-"
I retrieve my mere, letting it sit lazily in my hand, fitting perfectly.
"Got to have something for the sword, after all. Now-"
HB reforms the soul bubble around me that Hillevi and Duke alike made short work of time and again.
"Shall we?"

My hour-long fight with the three Russians lets me learn exactly why the others have been acting like these three are physically the strongest right now. Rostislav and Vlad are both hitting with enough force that, were it not for the Soul Bubble, they would easily be breaking my still more or less humanly durable body like it was wet cardboard. However, lacking magic like Hillevi's to go the extra mile, they can't get around the ablating Soul Bubble. Still, the durability they show against the few experimental punches, elbows, knees and kicks I throw their way suggests I could think of them as being legitimate magical bruisers now. Good to know.

Matvey on the other hand, is something different. Maybe it's because dealing with the other two keeps me boxed in a bit more than I'd like, but whereas I can dance around the other, slower Russians, Matvey matches me step for step-literally, as it happens. I realize rather swiftly he's plying his own rendition of Dunter Footwork with Ricky's fingerprints all over it-and his sword's able to cut through the soul bubble with laughable ease. What it does NOT cut through, however, is the mere. I can feel the respect-frayed as it is-within Matvey being reinforced as I turn his opening blow aside with a single handed swing. Gyaketsuote-which Hillevi was able to somehow freeze and shatter, while Duke was able to throw something not unlike Drunk Goggles back at me isn't able to reach Matvey in his suit-but it can reach Rostislav and Vlad alike-and after I start properly confusing them with magical feints, I get enough breathing room to go fully mobile. It's at that point that I finally, concretely get to see that Matvey's… wholly able to keep up with me, even when I'm not constrained.
>"Not that he could keep up with shadowporting."
>[HB]"Though his suit's ability to amplify is impressive if it lets him neutralize your weight control."
Yeah, I'm impressed with the guy-a damned fine bit of improvement.

Eventually though, there is a knock at the door-and, hastily dressed in a new leisure suit, I let just shy of a hundred people into the house. Using Hillevi as a filter and Dávgon buffering the transfer, I push external Soul Binds into eighty nine souls, each bearing the same structure, word for word: 'I shall be loyal to the Mafia'. Simple and crude, but I have to assume it's functionally effective.

Half an hour past midnight, we're done-and I just finished making the company a chunk of change.
BUSINESS FUNDS: +$178,000 $1,394,984.00

>>448642
I try to ask Dávgon about the Kudoku improvements-but it seems that ensuring Hillevi's safety through all those binds really took it out of the guy, and he asks that I hold off until tomorrow with the questions. I have no issue complying.

After that little event, I spend a few minutes going through the armory, and recharging every renewable charm and magic item we've got. Really, this amounts to little more than topping off the shield charms-but hey, can't hurt. After that, I spend the last dregs of the already late night talking with Lyubov, and comparing my own childhood recollections with the ones the Armas her other self knows. We… don't really get very far tonight, but it's a start-and I have the feeling there has to be something here. …Ah, if only I hadn't lost the original physical brain I was born with the first time I was made a swarm of hummingbirds, I'd feel more certain I'm not missing any more memories than I already know about. In short order we call it quits-and retire.

We get to sleep a couple hours after.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 27th, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $2,864,660.00
BUSINESS FUNDS: $1,394,984.00
CASH: $6,120.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 90%
WINTER ENERGY: 160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50

I wake up, as usual, rather energetic. I snicker at Lyubov's rather exhausted state with such comparatively little sleep as I indulge in some Brain Coffee. Now……








What should I do today?
What jobs should I do today?
Don’t I have some meeting to go to?
REMINDER: Minion orders for the week are submitted today. If you are unsure how the new format works, please ask in discussion thread or on IRC, on #golemquest on rizon
>>
No. 452038 ID: a9930f

>What should I do today?
First thing to do today is to switch our soulbind to “Can only use spiritual senses on 'Today'” (or 'February' if not possible). If we could make such a binding conceptual too it would be highly useful. Make sure Armas switch his Chakra Orientation to soul sensing, likewise. Then, Armas should think a bit about his spars the previous day:
While reinforcement with chakra is really useful, and Armas should definitely follow the general training tips to learn how to amplify it and then use flexibility to move it to only a single body part for attack/defense, there arise the problem that Armas still hasn't truly tried to be able to use inner fleshcrafting as well as chakra that enhances the body in a way that doesn't explode him, and Fleshcrafting is definitely very good at making one stronger, faster, more agile and so on.
Given his recent durability boost, Armas should try to learn how to use both inner-fleshcrafting and reinforcement or other body-chakra abilities. Learning “how much” energy is needed for there to be a conflict and then an explosion could be a first test. Obviously, Armas/SB/Sake would observe what's happening there with with their differing magical senses and try to brainstorm a way to correct the problem. for example:

+Variance a: 1°) flushing the body of chakra and winter energy, 2°) use under-powered reinforcement, 3°) use some inner fleshcrafting on a finger or something slight to check how big the damage is. Test this until we can pinpoint how much energy is needed for the conflict to make an explosion, as well as determine how it happens.
+Variance b: do the same but with a single Armas-hummingbird while in swarm hummingbird mode. This could actually be 'safer', as well as be a way for Armas to fight offensively against some pretty potent enemies. We could also test this to see how big the explosion is with different amount of power.
+Variance ab: In either Variance a or b, try to reinforce one part while fleshcrafting another (in variance a, while the body was previously flushed of winter energy, reinforce arms while fleshcrafting legs (for example); in variance b, do it on two different hummingbird).
Don't hesitate to switch back the bind to the magical regeneration one if we are running almost empty.

Because every hummingbird is basically a tiny bit of our body, if we can Reinforce one hummingbird and fleshcraft another without a problem, then we should be able to reinforce any 1/5500th of our body while fleshcrafting another 1/5500th and not have problems. [M7]

Regardless, Armas should now practice his inner-fleshcrafting more advanced abilities as much as possible (mostly when he is using soul-sensing orientation and with his body flushed of winter energy, obviously) so that until he can use both body-chakra/soul-manip and inner-fleshcrafting at once, he will at least be able to switch his combat style to inner-fleshcrafting +soul bubble + various other boosts ('okay step' could even be used and improved!).

Speaking of mobility boosts, it's known that hummingbird spirit animals have a secondary ability where the spirit shaman can, at the price of constant body damage during use, move 'at the speed of hummingbird thought'. We should talk about it to HB, as Matvey having equal or better mobility than us just won't do for our ego. Hillevi is one thing, our minion another.

Otherwise, follow 'General Training tips' as >>445642 when it comes to training.

Now that we have switched our binding to a “spiritual sensing” enhancing one, our magical regeneration should have plummeted. It should still be worthwhile to check if it's not higher than it used to be, though. Likewise, we should have a talk with SB- ask him if he will need us to spend acouple hours a day, when we switch back our binding to the magical regeneration one (hopefully after the spirit sensing one has turned conceptual), shunting energy off to him. Maybe he has over-extended himself with all that extra energy and we should make sure he doesn't appear to run dry. Likewise, we should ask him what he thinks of proposing to Whaitiri to feed her energy through the mere in exchange for boons. A last question to SB should be about Doony flashcrafting: if we were to give him more energy soon, would he be willing to use more of his effort toward getting that info/package?

After this, Armas should go and talk to Dávgon about the Kodoku bug method he hinted at. Also talk to him about bindings. The dangers of using bindings for things like “can only have soul growth 'this month'”, “Can only learn “x” 'month x'”, and so on. Also ask about conceptual bindings. Another important question would be that, Since we now have stupidly high energy regeneration, I wonder if it's possible for us to stretch out magical actions over time. For example, instead of throwing all our energy at a soul bind and then regenerating, could we place a many-thousand-point soul bind by laying it onto his target over the course of many seconds?

Look at the armory records and figure out just who's been doing what with our things.They've certainly seen a lot more use than our official missions can possibly account for, and we'd better remain informed about what our minions are doing.

>Don’t I have some meeting to go to?
We have a meeting with Baki at noon, no telling when it will end. This should be a simple greet and meet, and but we should still make sure to be adequately prepared. Make sure:
+To first speak to Sake about the Yakuza, as he is our resident japanese expert. Likewise, check with SB, he might have learned things in his own ways.
+To have our soul-guise hiding the fact that we have a soulbind as well as hiding we are a godling and a cannibal and have a imperial winter bloodline.
+that we can switch our soulbind without disturbing our soulguise
+Our soul-guise should be of a dual-bloodliner of middling power, of a “mercenary”, a eccentric but truly honest one.
It could be a decent idea to switch our soul-bind to “Can only manipulate people on 'Today'” (or 'February' if not possible) once we have looked over their souls thoroughly. A variant could be “Can only talk to people on” too.

>What jobs should I do today?
Once we have talked to Baki, we should call Bonzi and ask him if he is free for us to take care of his pot infestation problem. With our spirit-sensing bind and orientation, we should be able to do that work in a much more delicate manner than usual.

>>451597
SUST using more than one binding on Armas.
SUST bothering Oggmum before her meeting with her. One thing at her time with her, baby step.
>>
No. 452127 ID: c31f72

Its amazing how strong our minions have been getting. But why are you always the last to know? Its kinda obvious they avoid talking to you, despite you being the boss. So, in order to get them back for not telling you stuff they really should, lets ruin all their plans for the next week by having a mandatory company wide vacation!

>>452038
Upvote!
>>
No. 452135 ID: 759c6f

Vlad:
-Clear all prior orders.
-Keep working with Tidus Atmor the gunsmith. Attempt to develop system of nonverbal communication if such seems feasible.
-Continue widening range of resistance.
--Query Hillevi for assistance with cold exposure, express gratitude with kind words and assorted vodka if assistance is rendered.
--Find source of acid for corrosive exposure.
--Get repeatedly electrocuted in some fashion for energy exposure. Ask Titus about getting tasered.
--Seek means of exposure to being blown up. Ask Sake if wind attacks could be focused enough to mimic concussive shocks from explosions, so as to avoid large amounts of collateral damage/deplete the armory's stock/not annoy the neighbors.
--Attempt to increase resistance to pain. Recruit Grisha and Amen for this. Have "Fun™" and try not to rupture larynx.
--PRIORITY: Ensure a means of healing is available before commencing exposure due to interest in not dying if things go wrong.
-Continue developing new forms of vodka infusions. Attempt to secure small amount of magic blood and shave bits off a regenerator heart for use in new experimental healing vodka idea.
-Acquire a second giant mug and have Sake's name etched into the side, leave it out for the weasel as a present with a fresh bottle of meat vodka.
>>
No. 452270 ID: 30db31

First of all, SUST to all the boring experimentation above me and upvote all the experimentation that is involved in creating a flock of soul-exploding hummingbirds, because that is the best idea Armas has ever had.

Other morning plans
*Have another Silja-feeding session, but only use half of Sake’s heals.
*Practice soul manipulation with Davgon. Try to form a soul in one of the Kodoku bugs and see if you can substitute your soul-derived Winter energy for some. This might make a nice gift for someone, if you can do it.

Now, we have a meeting with Baki at noon today, so we should prepare beforehand just in case they pull something funny, or to pre-empt it if possible. A list of preparations:
>Research Japan and it’s magical culture before you go. Seriously, your brother is from there and he can communicate with you near-instantly. This is a no-brainer (perfect for Armas, ZING).
*On a similar topic, go over Baki Yamada’s file again.
>Consider leaving “non-godling” out of the soul guise. It’s already out of the bag anyway - that dragon knew it, SM knows it, and anyone who saw our soul before we finished our bloodline knows that we at least have a connection to a god, so being a godling isn’t that much of a leap from there. This is beneficial due to how much power divine beings have in Japan, which may instil some inherent respect for us within the Yakuza.
*Wear something professional. No crazy eye-bleach-needing fluorescent orange kimono, no suit made of live hummingbirds (even if I do want to try that one day), no going naked with a “I’m not naked” soul guise. Just a suit. If something eccentric is required, wear that suit that had ‘orange’ embroidered all over it.
>Be polite and bring a gift (a pair would be better) for Baki. Make sure to follow correct Japanese gift-giving procedures - wrapped in modest colours, given in private, hold it out with two hands, “tsumarani mon”, let him refuse at least once but continue offering, etc. Remember to make the gift appropriate, such as not giving the vegan Baki a pile of magic meat.
*Leave at least one hummingbird behind, preferably with Svetlana, who can’t magically interact with it - just hand it to her and say, “Look after this for me, will you?” then wander off. Expressly deny Lyubov permission to use her divine domination powers on it, even if it is a tempting target.
>Don’t bring any armaments other than IT and the mere. We can get away with those because they’re Artifacts and we can’t have anyone else getting their hands on them. In fact, hiding the mere inside our stomach might be even better.

After the meeting, take Hillevi, Dávgon, Gianni, and a bunch of the minions to Bonzi’s magic bar. Let them hang out there, eating, drinking, and being merry, while we go fix Bonzi’s problem. Tell them not to wait for us.
>>
No. 452312 ID: 65004b

>>452038
>experimenting
Don't do it in your own body and no need to go full swarm mode if he can just make one bird for the test. All that would do is make him have to look through a billion different eyes and try to make sense of shit.

>Swarm mode
Mentioning that, you should ask SB how that affects him, with him having all these new 'anchors'. With his evidenced mobility, shade and super power battery(in the form of armas) it may hardly matter to him anymore, but with hummingswarm(tm) he may be able to get 'start points' anywhere, effectively moving battle stations.

We shouldn't abuse this skill, save it for special times.

>Wat do today
You have a meeting with the yakuza in the evening. Prepare suitable flashy gear. Something orange and eastern. Bring Sake and Lyubov with you. They should both be useful for knowledge of the culture of the people you are to meet and respect points for divine beings.
Lets hope these guy's still keep to the old ways, and as magic aware types, it's likely they do.

In the morning however, it wouldn't hurt to find out why the hell everyone is so different now. Go hit up Matvey to get a report of their abilities. You need to have this properly documented so you can have them work on new teamwork styles as the older ones, based on humans with guns, are likely now obsolete, unable to fully utilize their new abilities.

-----
>Zhenya
-Wonder how so much happened to you in the past week
-Enjoy new, yet unnamed, magic pistol and other gear
-Spend more time with Matvey
-Acclimatize to Ogre strength use so that you can operate at normal levels even with it on.
-Move out.
-Keep training in general.
-Go to the Arena with Matvey.

>Lev
-Go to the Arena with matvey
-Talk to Matvey again about killing your father
-Work on ways to find mother
-Practice with knives
-Try and find interesting women and magical things in Italy.
-Have fun.
>>
No. 452368 ID: 30db31

Ivan
*Have a one-sided conversation with Lyubov about souls after she catches a glimpse of herself in a memory of an internal noir monologue.
*Unsure of what to do with all the free time in the morning, try some meditation, using Hawk the rifle as a mental focus. Lay down in a sniping position and still your body. Try to alter your level of Reinforcement and feel not just its effects on your body, but how your soul reacts to it as well. Try to notice ‘movement’ in your chakras and your soul. Stoically stick with it all morning, just to fill up the empty hours.
*On the way to Ito’s on Monday morning, buy a pair of polarised sunglasses [-$50] to reduce the impact of ultraviolet vision in the sunlight. Begin wearing them everywhere. Notice that this makes people-watching habits much harder for others to notice.
*Ask Ito if he needs some more help with Camella gone for a month.
*When Armas isn't around to notice it, take the family's Mosin-Nagant out, unwrap it, and give it a good clean. Try and fail to get some of the stains out of the stock. After thinking about the rifle and the family back in Russia, write a letter to older brother Abram: let him know that the news, of death and treason, they’ve received is false.
*Notice the company's ammunition facilities sitting unused after Vlad has left for Italy and decide to waste some time making some custom ammo. Figure that silver bullets are used often enough in folklore to be useful, and buy some silver bullion to try melting down into bullets [-$3000 for a 100oz bar]. Read up on bullet-making techniques and try out the machinery with the newly-bought silver.
*On Thursday, head to Dávgon and ask for a soul quirk.

Feodor
*Hand out gifts and receive gratitude from all except Sake who, through a series of unfortunate coincidences, repeatedly misses out on his gift.
*Spend Sunday night working on Ivanovich while the mannequin-man sings. After a strenuous weekend without Sake-healing, be put to sleep by such a lullaby. Hear from Lyubov later that Ivanovich was seen, singing and with a belly full of surgical tools, carrying a certain sleepy medic back to bed.
*Attend the psych appointment, let everything out to the man who can't reveal it: everything from the accidental cannibalism and the reaction to it from self and others to guilt over still not having found anything out about Alexei, not speaking to Mother for three years, and having let so many people die over the years. Schedule another appointment afterwards, then head to Rostislav's fight.
*On Wednesday morning, head into Mohammed's Discount pet shit and buy a Vampire Squid and a pressurised transport container for it for $14,000. Take it back to the mansion and gather Dávgon and Gianni, and spend the next few minutes taking part in a strange ritual that involves eating the squid alive, while it's wriggling and flopping tentacles all over the place. Use up most of the rest of the day having Gianni pull a fully formed and annoyed squid out until how to manifest the familiar clicks. Afterwards, make a deal with Gianni where he gets the use of Ivanovich for a project in return for teaching magical anatomy.
*During free time, practice a little with the squid's conferred abilities, especially the regeneration. Cut self and time the wounds healing, etc. When Sake-healing time arrives and Sake demands a piece of liver for his trouble, get curious. Climb on the operating table and cut a piece out for him while he watches. Have a strange time sensing people's blood, and wonder how odd sensing Elder magic is going to be.
*Having spent the week finishing off M.A.P. cross-referencing, be prepared to use chakra at Finnigan's to lower the surgical workload a little. See how he reacts. Remember to take notes on patients and procedures, still.

Rostislav
*Head to the Zosimus mansion with Titus for a guard mission, meeting the head Zosimus vamp; the charge, a teenaged girl; and the other two guards on the job: a German juggler in a Nazi uniform by the name of Armin and what looks like a tattooed zombie, that turns out to be a man named Radu Hagi. Chat with Titus and the others for the evening, stab Radu repeatedly with a memory-thief knife (receiving the wounds, and the memory loss that goes with them), and set up a shift rotation for the mostly silent girl.
*Using the first night off from the guard job, fight Adib at the late night Fight Club. Take a lot of damage during the fight, but win by stabbing the black guy in the eye with a chewed off finger. Learn after the fight, while Gianni's healing the two barely-conscious combatants, that Adib is a two thousand year old flesh golem. Spend the rest of the night drinking.
*After spending a shift and a half being cursed by Radu for fun, get bored and try reading an old journal from the guard room bookcase. Fail to see parallels between self and the magical-blooded golem-man hunted by vamps from the journal. Get bored and, tempting fate, ask Radu if anything's going to happen. What do you know, Radu replies with, “Well, there IS the gentleman mind-locking the vampires in the house while Zosimus and his fellow elders are out.” Follow Radu's lead, opening the door for the intruder, up to the point where Radu, slack-jawed and blank-eyed, is mind-locked himself. Try fighting the obviously dangerous intruder, and be thrown about, have limbs dislocated and arms flayed for the trouble. Eventually rage so hard that skinless arms tear themselves apart, becoming flailing bone-filled tentacles, whereupon the red-caped intruder remarks that a shoggoth is too much trouble and leaves. Spend the next ten minutes trying and failing to get a drink with extraordinarily damaging tentacle arms before passing out as Radu wakes up. Come to in time to give a report to the vampire elder, while Armin's Masterful Hands put tentacles back in place, and receive a pair of sizeable black diamonds as a bonus payment. Spend the rest of the shift talking to Radu about rituals and make a deal with Titus to buy some of his divine lightning gems [-$50k] to pay for curse ritual training.
*Wednesday night, for the off-shift, head to the mansion for a nice calming magic beer. Upon arriving, encounter an irregularly irate Big Crazy clutching an almost rabid wolverine. Become instantly gleeful. When BC demands more money for what was an obviously more difficult than he expected mission, offer him an extra $100,000 and swap him an armful of magic beer bottles [-8L magic beer, -$150k] for the wolverine. Note his immediately calmer disposition on drinking the beer. Race to Davgon to have him bind the wolverine, where he remarks that the beast requires an additional binding beforehand as it's essentially a Hate Fragment.
*Trade a promise to Titus for his surplus lightning gems, then trade the gems to Radu Hagi for teaching. Spend the rest of the week's uneventful hours eating, drinking, and learning curse rituals from Radu. Remember to keep the blood production and blood iron charms on to speed the process of making the blood iron knife.
>>
No. 452413 ID: 6616f3

Titus:
-Do the guard job for the next two weeks. Hang out with Rosti and the other two guards, try not to get dead from either enemies or employer.
-Spend free time building the mk.IV taser glove. Use the opalised wood for backing on the backs of the hands and knuckles. Opals for capacitor banks and the Lightning Ridge opal and twice-struck flash stone for primary supercapacitors. Raiju hide (2/4 remaining) outputs a constant charge to charge the capacitors and electrify the opalised wood. The usual nomex-P155-kevlar mix for the glove, possibly supplemented with the dryad-blood rubber if Titus doesn't need it for the wiring (it seems Tesla coils can be used for wireless electrical transmission; since Titus is sorta pals with Tesla's Witch Saint, it seems almost polite to use his technology). There'll be energy bleed-off, but with the rubber protecting Titus and the hefty (and free) energy output from the pelt, he ought to be all right.

Armas:
We should go into the Yakuza meeting with a clear idea of what we want. Mostly, that's information, for me. We don't know which yakuza group we're dealing with, here, for one. Yamaguchi or Sumiyoshi, or some smaller family? Or something without a real-world analogue, like... Iunno, a Family of kamitachi yakuza. The Golden Death Gods and the Oni clan I would rate above the local Mafia's forces and the Triad (when not counting Lammy and Lo Fang) but below the Nazis- but that could change if the heads are anywhere close to Lo Fang's insane level of skill. We have NO info on these guys besides Baki. That could be a problem, so a meet n' greet like with the vamp sire dynasties is going to be very good.

Unless this is all a ruse to get us to a certain meeting spot on time for an ambush. But hey, no plan is perfect.

I don't particularly want to work for these guys, but an amicable arrangement wouldn't be a bad thing- live and let live, that sort of thing. Feel them out on if they plan to withdraw their forces now that they recognize their former friends were playing them.

We can fleshcraft and soulguise ourselves into literally anything. We could walk into the meeting with a soul shaped as a yakuza crest, or a Hello Kitty. I kind of want to get one of those giant yakuza back/arm tattoos, of a hummingbird coring through a dragon, or a kamaitachi battling an ice giant. I bet we could hit Gianni up for installing chromatophores in us- then not only could we do the chameleon thing, we could have tattoos of WHATEVER we want, WHENEVER we want.

A few other things: they don't actually call themselves yakuza, they use 'ninkyou dantai' (chivalrous groups). So they at least consider themselves to be respectable and honorable men. Just a thought. And if it turns south, remember that $10k a head bounty.
>>
No. 452457 ID: 44f50a

Well, in terms of outfit for the meeting, we have several options. Orange leather coat with a styled humming bird and weasel fighting, maybe dress ourselves like a Bancho(and have our hair done up in a pompadour.). After all, got to go with the theme of the day. Other than that, I agree with >>452270 other than the clothes, and >>452312. Everyone is growing rather fast after all. Maybe some time poking around the others might be a good idea. Of course, taking them to Bonzi while Armas does his job is also a good idea.

>Bagga
>Considering the missions he has been on so far, it's obvious Bagga has much to learn. Try looking for a super natural boxing club to hone and test his boxing skills.
>Talk to Gianni about the body mods and enhancements. Look into some additional lessons about the body as well. He does seem to know a lot about it.
>Go shopping for gear! Some enhancements for the gauntlets would be good,along with some basic, multi purpose gear..
>With the gain of Igne(his pet cactus) ponder the thought of running a company herb garden that can focus on various healing and boosting plants. Probably will have to talk to the higher ups about this.
>Continue with the Ito lessons per usual and check up on his fellow orphan vamps. Just because he's working doesn't mean he should forget about them.
>Continue the vampire lessons. Try to learn some advanced techniques and find out a bit about the vampire scene. Can't skip on that.
>Prep for the Arena with Matvey, Zhenya, and the others.
>Finish ALL his missions!
>>
No. 452495 ID: 252e1b

LYUBOV WEEKLY GOALS
L*~Tesla’s jobs, whatever they are, take priority.
L*~Daily Lessons in divine magic fundamentals with Sake as long as he is willing.
L*~Make sure Svetlana is settling in well (drag her into interacting with people if required).
L*~As many lessons with Armas as time permits and as he is willing to give (divine-based flesh and soul magic demonstrations, essentially).
L*~Finish the Mk I Plasma Wing and work on a wearable MkII Plasma Wing ready for Sake.
L*~Visit the magic electronics shop, ask after local magic electronics clubs/associations, and buy parts required for the Mk II Plasma Wing (magic superconducting wire if available and affordable, magic rectifiers, quartz crystals, batteries, resistors, and other parts).
L*~Visit Placid at least three times during the course of the week, either alone or with Sake and/or Armas. Deliver his textbooks and talk to him about whatever strikes his fancy. It’s always intellectually engaging and fun talking with him. Show him the Mk I Plasma Wing!
L*~Talk to Hyougo at least three times this week. Be sure to hit topics like “how do you feel about witch saints? There's a new one in my city,” and “I’ve been working on a new project, look at this cool Plasma Wing thing!” and “I really pissed off my friend, what do you suggest I do to apologize?”
L*~Apologize to Zhenya and Matvey for video recording their unfortunate incident with the gift to Duke. Turn the original video discs in to Matvey, have a good cry with Zhenya after explaining what a witch saint actually is in greater depth. Still not over the death memories thing…
L*~Talk to Andrei and Hillevi in depth about being a witch saint, ask what she’s heard of them, explain most of what is known in general, omitting only the details of the deal with Tesla. Agree to help Andrei with getting in contact with mortal hacker contacts who know magic hacking of mundane systems (in exchange for him owing her or Tesla a favor). Make it clear to Andrei that he’ll be expected to pay these people for his education, and suggest he ask Armas for a budget for it. Make the call to Tesla about it.
L*~Go out to the Leprechaun bar with Dávgon, Hillevi, Armas, possibly others for a few drinks, broach the idea of a betting parlor with Bonzi (simulcast video of arena fights, a secure interface with mortal banking systems, betting booths, first access and direct input in what would be a pilot program).
L*~If Bonzi likes the idea, and there are no issues that would scupper it, research companies that do electronic gambling (Quixant looks good, relatively low cost solutions with established secure protocols...). Plan on requesting a meeting with the Hobgoblin arena owners.
L*~Read up on wireless cave communication systems.
L*~Remind Armas that Dávgon needs a research budget for monster anatomy and divine magic.
L*~After the unfortunate incident with Sake, have a talk with Kuvey and resolve to be more mature and less meddlesome (except when the situation actually merits meddling, which really amounts a resolution to get more information before meddling).
L*~Look into a charm for Sake which will prevent the Punning issue from being catastrophic for him again.
L*~Get some Ferret Tubes for Sake. Those things are awesome to play in. ($200)
L*~Borrow Matvey’s bracer and really analyze it, figure out what is failing and what could be repaired. Make this a joint project with Armas. Practice possible solutions in the plasma container.
L*~Talk to Hillevi about spin ice monopoles and superconductors, with an eye toward using the everice spell matrix to make both of those products practical. Contact Furukawa Electric about their high temperature superconductors, and buy dysprosium titanate from a chemical supplier (500 grams for $1,400) for the spin ice project.
L*~In either case if Hillevi is reluctant, point out that a complete manufacturing process would probably be of value to her clan, if nothing else as a process that they can license to other ice manipulators who are interested in manufacturing products that will be in demand. Though what they do with it ultimately would be up to the clan head, he could probably be convinced it is valuable.
L*~Continue the research into Armas’s past as time permits.

>>
No. 452507 ID: 252e1b

>>452312
I like Falcon's post here and generally endorse it.

Additionally, I think we should use most of the suggestions in >>452270 with the exception of letting the Godling part of the guise down. If we simply must do so though, we should make a show of removing something mundane (like a pair of sunglasses or something) once we're in the parlor and matching dropping the Godling part of the guise to that action. The obvious conclusion is that the sunglasses were a charm to hide the Godling aspect of our soul.

>>452127
I wish we could just up and duck out on our obligations but we really can't. It would have been funny though.
>>
No. 452691 ID: c6ce12

>>450607
If time permits today look into what is left of the Doononges' corpse, namely how much meat and organs we have. Before the mere broke we wanted to sacrifice it's meat to Whaitiri to earn a boon from her, well now it's fixed and we have that opportunity again, checking on how much we have left after our other ventures using it is a good first step. Ask Gianni how much we need to set aside for future golem building and confer with Shadowbro on if we have enough to please Whaitiri. We can handle the specifics and all the tradition involved with feeding a venerated god on a less busy day, but doing inventory is a good first step.

A bit of a check up on its organs would be worthwhile too, everything we've taken so far (brain, heart, poison glands) has been very useful to us in some respect or another. There could be hidden treasures in say what remains of say it's eyes, liver, or kidney's we've yet to tap.

Oh and set aside the Doononges' jawbone so you can make it into a kantele latter, Hillevi will love it.

>>452038
Upvote
>>452127
There's a bit too much going on today, SUST for now, maybe later.
>>452270
Upvoting except for the suggestions to no proceed with the boring experimentation and altering our default guise to no longer hide that Armas is a godling.
>>452413
Upvote.

Matvey Orders
/\/\-Hand Armas the report he asked for with full details on the trip, relevant news you've picked up, reports on other's ability gains, and compensation to the tune of 25% of your winnings ($386,125) for using several of the disposable charms and a promise to keep him personally informed of future arena ventures and your or other's use of company gear so that he can get a proper cut.
/\/\-Undergo concentration training to prepare your mind for using Conceptual magic at least once per day, finding a soundproof room or secluded spot away from prying eyes when possible.
/\/\-At some point accede to Zhenya's request to go out for dinner and dancing, have a good time and get to know her.
/\/\-Witness Armas' hummingbird instructing Ohotnik in 'how to be a proper warrior' at breakfast, request that he allow you to watch and assist as you are Ohotnik's master and trainer. Suddenly be taken to a very odd void with only wind, the hummingbird, Ohotnik, the Nothern Night Soldier bioarmor, and yourself as occupants and participate in a bizarre exercise where the hummingbird educates Ohotnik with an obviously hummingbird inclined, but correct worldview, assisting and elaborating yourself when possible. Come out from subjective hours of training with breakfast still in progress.
/\/\-Meet a nice couple at the dog park who breed Kangals who inquire about Ohotnik (having been recently trained to disguise himself as one for ease of movement through cities). Have a pleasant chat with them and receive contact information and the offer to come and socialize Ohotnik with their young dogs.
/\/\-On the way back from the park see a very curious sight, a dog barking at Ohotnik in a way that somehow cowed him. After following the strange dog see it disappear into a tree. The bioarmor revealing after the fact it was likely a hound of the Erking and the tree was acting as a divine portal.
/\/\-At night classes find two strange men, both transcendents of different stripes than yourself challenging you to face them in the arenas because you defeated a woman they both wanted to face in your last match at SugarSkull's arena. They both offer the same challenge with the same stakes-Shuhadaku Zayin against their swords and one of their arms. Choose to face the transcendent body known as Samson Aegis in one month.
/\/\-Stay after that night, until even the other Russians and students who join in drinking after classes leave, and talk to Ito about a very disturbing thing you learned through Shuhadaku Zayin about his past in the military and things he was made to do in his service. Talk to him and ask his advice on how to stay sane and free in this life. Stumble back home in a drunken haze after one too many drinks are shared over the subject.
/\/\-Pass a note on to Armas regarding the Erking hound you spotted, a proposal for what to do with Iskander's rather unique aerial abilities, and a brief description of the challenge you accepted.
/\/\-Get Hillevi to carefully freeze the Northern Night Soldier bioarmor so that it gains greater defenses to cold and have Titus shock it with his latest iteration of glove for greater resistances to each respective attack type next molting
/\/\-Clear some time for a brief venture to SugarSkull's arena to acquire the additional funds needed hopefully for a house outside the city proper.
/\/\-Train in Dunter Footwork under Ricky and Lucy as they are available.
/\/\-Take a visit to Das Bones', the magical diner owned by a powerful golem that Bagga invited everyone to to celebrate your return home. Ask Das Bones for assistance and learn about the nature of conceptual cutting while washing dishes. Acquire permission to return and help around the kitchen for more pointers on conceptual cutting.
/\/\-Enter the armory and have Satai print off a couple orientations one for adhering to surfaces and one that repels you from them.
/\/\-Watch Rostislav's bout at the fight club, a very brutal affair. Assist in helping Rostislav and the other Russians get out of the aftermath okay and join in celebratory drinks with everyone afterwards.
/\/\-When the opportunities arise throughout the week go to Das Bones' at the usual lull periods for advice while assisting him with basic kitchen chores.
/\/\-Go with Zhenya to offer Duke a gift she purchased for him with her winnings only to have to suffer through an incident you would rather not mention to anyone. Ever.
/\/\-Spend more time with Zhenya afterwards and eventually ask her if she would like to come with you to live outside of the mansion and find she accepts. Tease her about the specifics of the house you've been spotting out for days after.
/\/\-Find Lyubov knocking on your door after the incident, offering up the tapes of it she and Andrei took. Be appreciative Lyubov decided not to do terrible things with the discs like she seemed so inclined and after she leaves feel less aggravated with her in general.
/\/\-Talk with Davgon likewise after the incident and fall into some much needed good cheer when he convinces you to laugh at yourself a little. Fall asleep that night knowing you have a good friend.
/\/\-Be visited by a Valkyrie late in the night with an offer to become an Einher, refuse and be surprised when a second, much different offer is made in a voice unmistakeably belonging to Odin himself for a future task he will give to you should you acquire Body Transcendance. The voice offering a token of advice for the future as it cut out and the Valkyrie disappeared.
/\/\-Talk to Armas in the morning, asking if he is willing to allow you to live outside of the mansion and have some vacation time in the next few days. Fight the uphill battle that is that of an officer trying to live off-site, offering $350,00 if he allows you to do so and gives you the vacation time. Regardless pay for the damages Ohotnik has recently caused to the house playing with Ohotnik that cost blood to repair ($19,000).
/\/\-If plans for moving out and a vacation go through give Armas the address of your new residence and provide contact information if it were already known to anyone who may need you. Provide select friends the address so that they may visit.
/\/\-Enjoy quality time with Zhenya and Ohotnik at the new place.

Iosef Orders
>Complete any missions asked of you.
>Go find things to do with your newly found muscles.
>Ask Ito if he has anything you could do now that Camella is gone and you have free time again, see if you can't test out your new muscles at rival gyms.
>Ask Satai if you can get some copies of pages from the chakra book for orientations that help with the weird ritual things you do at Johan's shop.
>Continue making visits to mister Johan's shop to help him clear out his backlog of rituals so he'll teach you things.
>Invite Karma over to the mansion to hang out, not having paid attention to the time Camella mentioned the rules about guests, but also not know Karma was cleared the potential problem solves itself all without being thought about.
>Ask Karma about all that demon name, ritual magic, runing stuff mister Johan mentioned he accepted as payment.
>Call that one waitress from the ambulance mission.
>Now that Boris is gone all the delicious food is too, find this unacceptable and look for places you can eat out. Look for places that offer free food and glory for eating large meals, grin at what a deal you're getting every time and at your growing collection of awesome souvenir shirts.
>>
No. 452702 ID: 9718f3

Svetlana:
-Track down Armas and ask him how much he will be paying her. Also ask him to please not read her soul memories, as it makes her uncomfortable.
-Ask about the risks and consequences of recieving language grafts. Ask for a graft of Turkish so she can do her job properly.
-Work with Satai on comic book job.
-Handle purchasing legal, nonmagical, nonweapon goods for Satai.
-Attempt to fulfill the requests of her superiors quickly and efficiently. This takes priority over everything else, she needs to make a good impression after all.
-Make company letterhead that meets with Armas's approval.
-Start gathering company records and copying them for the archive she will be maintaining. Roughly split the archive into financial, administrative, and field sections to start with. Ask superiors how they want access to the archive to be handled. Free access to company members, graduated access levels depending on position in the company, no access below officer level, or some other way?
-Set up and run a message centre for company use. Members of the company can leave messages with her for others and she'll make sure they get to them.
-Be available to take calls and messages for anyone who wants her to.
-Spend some time during the week with Cookie Lady, who Lyubov introduced her to before church on Sunday. Enjoy the company of someone normal. Make a mental note to get her name again, it isn't like her to forget.
-Lend a hand in the kitchen since Boris is in Italy. Avoid eating any magical food herself.
-Be open to suggestions on what other members of the company want her to do. They have a better idea of the needs of the company.
-Try to get to know her new coworkers and socialize.

Igor:
-Be happy that he's good enough at chakra to not have to worry about metabolizing magic anymore. Camella went to Italy so everyone is OBVIOUSLY in the clear, right?
-Be very excited about having a magical hammer to work with, but worry he isn't good enough to do it justice.
-Experiment with the hammer's effects to ensure future projects are as good as they can be.
-Work on any projects SB gives him to do with the hammer, in exchange for help and advice on other projects he uses the hammer for and information on shadows in general.
-Work on making smithing tools using the hammer. Hopefully tools that can interact with shadow/soul will afford him finer control over the final form of things he shapes with the hammer.
-Offer to make something for Ito, as way of thanks for the training he's provided. Mention he's got a magic hammer now but warn he's not very good yet.... (Someone in IRC suggested a bumper for Ito's Car)
-Tell Armas he's finished the golem's pair of gauntlets and he'll upgrade them with the hammer once he gets the hang of it. Offer to start working on armouring the rest of it, if Armas wants to pay him for it. Bluntly mention he wishes he had a way to see the soul/shadow planes for smithing with the new hammer. And more money. And metal, or he can't make the armour.
-Begin smithing armour for himself. A set of Almain rivet, to be exact. Supposed to be relatively simple to construct. Perfect for a first attempt.
-If asked to do projects warn that he has somewhat busy with the projects he's working on already. If what they want done is for company use, tell them to go through Satai. If they want personal work done, tell them it isn't his magic hammer so they'll need company permission if they want magic gear.
-Get back to tinkering with his watches now that he has the time. It's been a while.
>>
No. 452852 ID: 3734f6

>Bindings
If i understand it right. armas binding himself to "only regenerate on X" has caused him to subconsciously learn via experimentation a specific form of conceptual magic to do so. The process of which caused a bunch of brain and soul damage which was being healed as fast as it happened by our passive healing powers (lucky thing we have Romanov and the soul graft or such an attempt would have permanently crippled us!)
From that I take:
A. don't use such a bind on someone else! unless they have a passive soul and body regen that is of sufficient power they could be ruined.
B. could armas not use the same method to learn more conceptual magic by binding himself?
Such as to learn how to make mind maze chakra orientation conceptual or consciously perform our current conceptual magic so that it does not "use up" our existing bind to do.

>Experiment, what is conceptual?
A point of contention, there has been some argument on whether the binding forced armas to subconsciously use conceptual magic in of itself, conceptual self soul sculpting powers from winter bloodline, or if the bindings themselves have been rendered conceptual bindings.
Poll the conclave... furthermore, turn on sensing array and look at own soul carefully examining bind and soul as well as having conclave looking; and actually, any competent sensor in the house. While doing that alter bind to do nothing and then back to what they are right now and observe changes. Include flushing energy and repeat if necessary.

>Unnoticed ongoing damage
Make a habit of spending 10 minutes every night before going to sleep of examining your soul and brain for anomalies to the best of your abilities.

>Chakra
Take chakra training to the next level by using your massive energy regen and try to achieve 24/7 duel orientation. Whenever duel orientation collapses immediately reenter it. Go around with sensor + mind-shield on simultaneously at all times.
Make a note to find someone to teach you more specialized sensor orientations so you could attempt rapid cycling between different sensor orientations.
Make a note to find someone to teach you combat speed boosting orientations for even more speed hax.

>Silja
Its a new day, don't forget to get today's work on silja. But wait until Gia and Davgon wake up on their own.

>Sleep?
Ask gia and davgon if there are flesh/soul craft abilities that eliminate or reduce the need to sleep without causing mental degradation or other such issues. The fact they bother sleeping could indicate there isn't, but could also be because its prohibitively expensive in terms of energy which is unlikely to be a problem (and if it is... well its excellent practice).
Rami healing seems to do the trick so maybe it can be replicated via soul and flesh manip.

>Lyubov
Let lyubov know she is broadcasting her words magically.

>Placid
Visit him.

>Hummingbro
Offer him the heart of a phoenix to study.

>Boris
When he returns to mansion after mafia town job, look in 7777 book for for sleep reduction / replacement chakra orientations.

On mafia town:
1. Get as much chakra training as possible under Camella while there.
2. Ask Camella about this whole "natural ascension" thing.
3. Ask around with locals (in pub?) about "interesting" local things (ancient ruins, haunted caves, etc). Investigate with fellows.
4. Feel somewhat left behind, small an insignificant, at how fast some of his fellows are growing in power.
5. Bake lots of delicious cookies, share with co-workers.

>>452038
upvote

SUST on intentionally revealing armas is a godling, owner and some dragons know. but imperfectly kept secret is better then making it public to all.
SUST on revealing our ability to mask our soul by wearing an obvious guise like a hello kitty or yakuza crest shaped soul.
>>
No. 453398 ID: 522afb

Andrei:
-Work towards developing remote control armored stationary turrets that can fit motors and mounts strong enough for miniguns. Install cameras, both regular and IR.
-Program tracking and facial recognition software for turrets for autonomy. Buy and cannibalize kinects for help and inspiration with sensors and body and facial recognition, look through other already available solutions as well.
-After these are done, work towards getting turrets mobile with some treads.
-Build three redundant IFF systems for company to avoid friendly fire with automated targeting: Buy cheap phones, alter them so that they query -> answer through bluetooth automatically, ask to spray paint a glyph on mission suits in IR reflective see-through shellack, and hook up an IR leds on suits on a separate system, set to light at query. Hand these out.
-Decide you want to magic up your speciality. Find Lyubov. Ask if Tesla would be willing to help him along the way of finding a teacher. Be told she'll ask.
-Decide to go after other venues for now. Go to The FUTURE Shop. Inquire after someone who could teach the magical side of hacking. Get told the name of a rather expensive group that can teach him personally, lessons to some measure of functional confidence would cost ~250k. For instructional material, he can get a collection of DVDs for 40k, or an actual book for 85k, and if he's looking for examples of magical hacking code to purchase and pick apart, each instance usually runs 5-15k.
-Go ahead and buy the book.
-Start learning magical hacking from book.
-Start making 3D map of Istanbul that would let him translate where the company is on the map and send data on enemy and friendly positions to helmet HUDs. Hook up a GPS, a transmitter and three 3D surface imagers on a large RC car, on pointing straight ahead, two pointing to the sides.
-Try to find Dmitrii to ask after a stealth charm for said RC car.
-Drive around in car when bored of reading and coding and no urgent tasks, always make sure to roll it back in the house. Shamelessly rip off Google Maps for pictures, driving around with a camera rig occasionally to see that it's accurate.
-Talk to Armas about compensation for editing work. Also ask whether he has ideas for venues of selling finished videos.
-Go to the psychiatrist once per week. Complain how living in murderous house and being surrounded by constant magical radiation makes him a dick and gives him cancer.
>>
No. 453489 ID: 34d817

Summary of Guns for Hire Corporate Acquisitions and Expenditures
Since February 11, 2011
Including Both In-Thread and IRC Information

+ 46 demonic anti-tank grenades
+ 18 demonic flashbangs
+ 6 lightning devil crossbows
+ 80 cubic yards of high-quality enchantable leather
+ 80 giant japanese hornet queens
+ 245 kodoku
+ 25 kodoku meat jars
+ 1 kodoku spirit jar
+ 1 100-kodoku jar excretion amplifying matrix
+ 1 satellite phone
+ 1 Spirit-Shadow Forge Hammer
+ 2 stasis charms (auto-activate immediately prior to brain failure)
+ 41 blade charms
+ 1 light aspected aura charm
+ 1 flawed lesser wrath fragment
+ 10 Rechargable Blade Charms (Svartelf Make)
+ 5 Rechargable Arrow Charms (Svartelf Make)
+ 1 mere artifact (repaired)
+ 1 Ensouled anti-tank rifle (returned from Astrid)
+ 1 Adelat contract
+ 50 cattle
+ 1 7777 chakra alignments book
+ 2kg Uncut Garnet Gems
+ 200 pounds mid-tier wrath demon flesh/week
+ 50 pounds mid-tier pride demon flesh/week
+ 50 pounds mid-tier envy demon flesh/week
+ 50 pounds mid-tier gluttony demon flesh/week
+ 20 liters of magical spring-aligned blood/week


- 1,000 12 gauge slug rounds
- 5,100 .50 BMG rounds
- 15,300 7.62x51 NATO rounds
- 1 40x46mm Grenade
- 6 flashbangs
- 1 smoke grenade
- 11 arrow charms
- 1 hellfire 105mm thermobaric rocket
- 1 demonic 105mm thermobaric rocket
- $1,368,300
- $43,900/week ($87,800 thus far, included above)
- $3,000/month ($1,500 thus far, included above)



Satai Orders
$ - Complete assigned company jobs
$ - Murder a certain gargoyle in retribution
$ - Focus relentlessly on improving control and understanding of mindscape
$ - Attempt to learn to separate, recognize, and manipulate mental inputs
$ - Work on building useful mental constructs
$ - Discuss mind manipulation with potentially well-informed parties
$ - Examine others' minds if and when possible
$ - Seek additional sources of information on magic, particularly mind magic and rituals
$ - Read through all available written resources on magic-related topics
$ - Keep sniping; attempt more rapid target acquisition and precise shots
$ - Keep training with Hillevi, using new perceptions to improve chakra skill
$ - Seize opportunities for personal profit which present themselves
$ - Continue looking after Stacey
$ - Go out with Verusha and/or friends to magical night spots when possible; build contacts and enjoy self
$ - Take careful, measured steps toward resuming habitual magically-oriented promiscuity


Grisha Orders
G - Go to the Arena with Lev, and have fun!
G - Have some Fun™ with Vlad and Amen before leaving for Italy, since he asks so nicely~ Invite Anguisher.
G - Introduce Anguisher to Amen, get opinion.
G - Go to Italy, bringing Anguisher and some motorcycles for planned biking adventures with Lev.
G - Study under Anguisher in the arts of pain and villainy!
G - Study on top of Lev in the arts of fun and Fun™!
G - Keep the town in line and take frequent day trips to really enjoy Italian life. Bring Sake when possible!
G - Don't neglect martial arts training- see if Camella will help since there's no more dojo to use.
>>
No. 453926 ID: fc9776

Link to Sixth thread:
http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/res/453740.html
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