[Pbp] Psychosis - Ship of Fools

Stories about games that you run and/or have played in.

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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

I put a finger to my lips and flatten my hand, signalling to wait. I go back and close the duct we entered by, if this wasn't already done. I settle in to listen to them, and wait for them to either leave, or enter the chamber.
Thaluikhain
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Post by Thaluikhain »

I put a finger to my lips and flatten my hand, signalling to wait. I settle in to listen to them to see if I can make sense of anything, and wait for them to leave.

(Which totally was what I was going to do regardless of what other posters might be doing in their situations)
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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Unable to see anything or hear much, but not wanting to alert the guards of our position, I quietly take another look at my shoulder, to see if anything unusual has happened to the burn that might explain my light-headedness.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

SlyJohnny:
There is no room in the duct to go back past the others, and your whispered requests make no impression at all on them.
Cups test to make yourself understood.
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

Throw in all my cards on that Cups challenge. Try to work out what ideas seem to resonate with them, what they understand easiest.
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Slyjohnny:
Your hand refills: Swords 14, Cups 14, Wands 5, Ace of Cups. Ace is discarded and replaced with Wands 16. The Major Arcana drawn is The Devil.
It's tricky to turn around in the duct without making much noise, but you manage somehow. The man behind you seems to have taken your direction to keep quiet to heart, making shushing gestures at you. His gaze is alert and focused, but subtle movements of his eyes make you doubt that he sees what you do, let alone hears.

Physical contact is the key. When you lay a hand upon his shoulder, his attention fixes on you. You quietly repeat your request several times, and determine that while he doesn't hear the exact words you use, he does get the gist. You feel a bit stupid saying the same thing over and over, and your companion looks at you quizzically, but in the end you are confident he understands what you want.

Then, because he's blocked in by your other companion, he has to turn around and try to communicate with them. It's like a game of telephone where nobody speaks the same language, or like a blind person giving directions to a deaf person to pass on to a third party. At least the concept is simple.

While that's happening, the opposition seems to be coming to a consensus. The one with the grenades will stay behind to guard against a rear attack, and the other – three? – will go in shooting.
Hand: Wands 16, Cups 14, Swords 14, Wands 5
Trace: Pentacles 20
Thaluikhain:
Sweet Pea immediately disregards your stay-quiet gestures and struggles to turn around in the pipe to face you and start whisper-jabbering about ancient nobility or something. You strongly suspect he's popped uppers while you weren't looking. Keeping one ear on the Sisters, you work him through his train of thought to the end.

"Anyway, that's why you should always cover your tracks and keep your back doors shut. Like we should. By closing the pipe entrance behind us, see."

Unfortunately, you can't do it yourself, all you can do is pass the goal back to Slice, who is staring dreamily like he's treated his wound with HappyJuice™.
If you want to convince Slice to shlep back down the pipe and close it, it's a Cups test to persuade him.
Hand: Wands 8, Cups 5, Wands 2
Trace: Wands 20, Cups 16
Darth Rabbitt:
On closer inspection, you don't think it's the wound, which seems to be a simple burn. The sensation has refined itself from vague vertigo into a very specific feeling of falling asleep while floating in the water while nauseous. Your companions ahead are whispering frantically at each other.
Hand: Swords 6
Trace: Pentacles 12, Cups 8
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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

"What's going on?" I lean in and whisper to the man in front of me, attempting to keep my focus.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

((Putting the Wands 16 and Swords 14 into trace))

I leave my companions- my brother officers, aboard the Graf? The sheriff and his deputy?- to it, hoping that between them they can get the hatch sealed. I'm content to wait until the other assailants go in and I have a moment to sneak out there and strangle the one with the grenades. The thought makes me shudder, even though he's trying to kill me. I shot a man in a moment of confusion, sure, but this is... premeditated. I quietly hope I have it in me to pull it off.

((Throwing everything I have into the swords? Check, barring the Pentacles, to sneak up on him and Sam Fisher his ass, without his friends seeing. If I can't kill him in one round, I want to prevent him screaming as I quietly haul him back towards the vent.))
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Post by Thaluikhain »

I use Cups 16 to try and get him to close the entrance.
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

edit: Sorry it's been slow going for a while, I should be snappier with these responses for the foreseeable.

SlyJohnny:
You apply Swords 14 and Wands 16, and play Cups 14 and Wands 5. The opposition draws Pentacles 5, Cups 20, Swords 5, Swords 2, and Wands 6.
The majority of the assailants leave to begin their attack, leaving the one as rearguard. You carefully slide the hatch open and creep out, slowly drawing closer to the man. His black coveralls and visor-helmet are intimidating at a distance, but as you close you see they look worn, slightly shabby.

Your arms slide around his head and neck quite comfortably, settling into a sleeper hold. Caught by surprise, he struggles fruitlessly, then goes limp. You maintain the hold for a few moments, and then – as if by reflex – release his unconscious body to slump to the floor.
You draw Cups 6, Pentacles 7.
Hand: Pentacles 7, Cups 6
Trace: Pentacles 20, Swords 14, Wands 16
Thaluikhain
You have to seize his attention... a few times, but Slice seems willing enough once he catches on and backs away down the pipe. You hear a series of little snapping sounds behind you, and look over your shoulder to see that Sweet Pea has somehow discreetly picked away enough of the rusty pipe wall to make an opening, and climbed out.

You back up past the hole to look out, and see that most of the Sisters have gone. Sweet Pea seems to have KO'd the one who was left somehow.
Darth Rabbitt:
"The opening, go back and seal the opening behind us!" he hisses in a taut whisper. He seems adamant, so you don't mention that you're not sure how to do that. Instead, you ease yourself backwards, dust scraping between knees and stone, until you reach the entrance.

The air in the chamber is still thick with dust, thicker even than when you left, and you cannot see your attackers, but you can hear them, stalking through the cloud. Fortunately, the sliding slab that revealed the passage is quite accessible, and slides back easily enough. You are sealed in.
Last edited by angelfromanotherpin on Thu Jul 06, 2017 12:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

I blink in surprise. That was easy. I must have had martial training of some kind. Who the hell am I?

I hurriedly pat him down for the grenades the others mentioned, grabbing as many as I can, before turning him face down. I examine their design, wondering if they have a pin and an arming lever. If they do (or if their design otherwise allows), I remove the pins from three of them and then move them under the unconscious man so that his weight keeps the lever from detonating them.

Then I slip back into the hatch, and wait.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

I follow Sweet Pea out, and if it's quiet, go through the Sister's pockets. Is she wearing something that could work as a disguise?
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

(Sorry I've been so slow to reply. I'm in the process of moving and I've had a lot of stuff to take care of.)

I head back up the passage, hoping to catch up with the others.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

SlyJohnny:
You scavenge half a dozen grenades from the man, smooth cylindrical things, each with a rotating cap that changes a digital display from 'safe' to 'impact' to 'proximity' to 'timer.' Your trap seems impractical.

While you are examining your spoils, one of your companions arrives and begins going through your victim's pockets, and as you head back to the hatch, you meet your other companion emerging from it.

There are sounds of weapons fire from the control room.
Thaluikhain:
Sisters is just a name, the gang's membership is unisex, and this one happens to be a dude. You find a wallet with cards but no cash, and a flickknife. Sweet Pea got the good stuff, a handful of BoomBoom™ antipersonnel devices. On the other hand, the Sister's gang jacket might let you pass as a member if nobody looks too closely.

You hear weapons fire from inside the pumping station.
Darth Rabbitt:
You turn and crawl along the pipe. Through the entrance seal behind you you can hear exclamations of dismay, although any words are lost. When you get back to where you had been, you don't see your friends, but there is a new opening, and looking through it you see them standing by the body of a guard, rifling it. As you climb out, one of them comes over to meet you.

You hear weapons fire nearby.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

"Right, lets go see what we can see"

Starting in a direction away from the weapons fire. Taking the wallet and knife and the jacket, but not wearing the jacket just yet in case I run into armed friendlies or co-belligerents.
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

...Right. My frame of reference is... wrong? I'm not actually from the time I think I am. Or what I'm seeing is not real. Oh god, is it even a good idea for me to be handling explosives?

I pass the grenades around to my colleagues, two each, and then try to get them to help with them. I grab their arms, if I can, place the grenades securely in their hands. "We need to lure these fuckers out of there, and kill them with these grenades before they destroy everything. Is that right? Do you understand how these grenades work? ...Are you sure? Accounting for microgravity?" I ask, slowly and clearly.
Last edited by SlyJohnny on Thu Jul 13, 2017 7:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Looking around for a weapon, I quietly tell my comrades, "The opening's sealed. I take it more guards are coming? Did this one have anything worth looting?"
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

SlyJohnny:
"The opening's sealed," says the guy in front of you. I take it more guards are coming? Did this one have anything worth looting?"

He accepts the grenades gamely, but your other companion, with a bluff "Right, let's go see what we can see," seems intent on heading back down the corridor, and you have to scramble, pulling yourself hand-over-hand along the wall, to give them their share of the devices. They look skeptical at your proposal.
Thaluikhain:
"Locked in," reports Slice, shimmying out of the pipe.

Sweet Pea shares out the BoomBooms™, grousing about not blowing each other up, but before you can get very far, he takes you by the arm. "We should finish the Sisters off. Draw 'em out and break 'em down, before they wreck up the place."
Darth Rabbitt:
One of them hands you a couple of what look like excavation charges, jerry-rigged into crude grenades.

"We need to lure the frakkers out, frag them before they destroy everything. Can you handle these?"
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Post by Thaluikhain »

(Totally wasn't waiting to see if other players had any clever ideas to steal)

"Let's not be heroes, stick to the plan and hit the sisters where they aren't."

Use Cups 16 to try to persuade.
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

I concede to the general lack of enthusiasm with no small amount of relief. I slit the downed man's throat with my knife, holding a hand over his mouth in case he tries to get off one final scream, and then pull myself along the corridor after my companions. Failing that, I'll put an arrow through his heart.

I dig around in my pockets as I glide down the corridor, wondering if I'm still carrying my map, or some analogue to a map.
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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

I look over the charges, sure my knowledge of salvage lets me know how to use them. "I can handle anything," I say, more confidently than I actually feel. "Let's go blow these fools up."
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Attacking with grenades will be Swords. Sneaking away will be Swords or Pentacles. Let me know if you want to try other things.

SlyJohnny:
You do still possess a map, but where its previous incarnation had been amateurishly hand-drawn on cloth, this is a large folding one, printed on thin plastic, very detailed.
You finish the man, the blood from his cut throat squirting out to hang suspended in the micro-g, forming tiny spherical rubies that drift and spatter onto whatever surface they touch.

"Let's not be heroes, stick to the plan and hit the sisters where they aren't," says the companion who was trying to leave, who has paused but is clearly still determined to continue away.

"Let's go blow these fools up," says the other one.

You hear voices drawing nearer from the direction of the control room.
Thaluikhain:
"I guess," says Sweet Pea, as he stomps on the Sister's throat while checking his MyPhone™. "But I-"

"Screw that, it's crime time, motherfuckers!" Slice says in a stage whisper. He thumbs the BoomBooms™ to active. The weapons fire has stopped, but you can see the shadows of Sisters moving in the facility doorway.
Darth Rabbitt
Your other companion disagrees with the first, and they stand at an impasse. You can hear guards coming towards you up this new, but strangely familiar passage you are standing in. They seem to speak in bursts of static, like scrambled radio transmissions.
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

I wipe the knife clean on the man's suit, and decide to try leading the others away, with a view to either setting up a better ambush ahead, or looping around back to the control room once they're gone. If either of my colleagues stay behind, I'll stay with them instead.

(Pentacles 20 and Wands 16 from Trace, Pentacles 7 and Cups 6 from hand to sneak away)
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Post by Thaluikhain »

"Goddamnit. Fine, lets find a good place to ambush them then"

Use Cups 20 to persuade to find a better place to fight from. If they go for that, just happen to move away from the Sisters in the process.
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

I motion to the passageway, attempting to remind my companions that there are guards coming and regardless of the plan we better start it soon. I hold up a grenade as if to ask, "should I toss one now?"
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
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