Well that was certainly a bit of imagery right there. You attempt a different tact. Perhaps you might be able to get more of a reaction from him if you mention Eric Flahive. “Sir, of the five professional teams participating in the Winter Festival, only you and Eric Flahive’s team remain unscathed. Do you have any comments on that?”

Andrew Quinn, places down the chainsaw and leans on the large block of ice, his scowl deepening. “If Eric Flahive,” he spits the name out like an oath, “and his crew of happy little elves have managed to avoid this rash of accidents, I can only hope that they get ten times worse what the other groups have gotten so far.”

It seems like Andrew is a miserable old bastard, but he doesn’t seem totally averse to talking with you guys. For now at least. You need to make sure that he doesn’t come around to suspecting that you know that magic was involved.

>”Sir, you said you hoped Eric and his team got ten times worse than what the others have so far. Does this mean you suspect someone or something is responsible?” [Inquisitive, risky]
>”It seems there is some bad blood between you and Mr. Flahive. Can you shed some light on that situation?”
>”Mr. Quinn, are you sure you wouldn’t be willing to do an interview for the Tribune?” [Attempt to convince him to let you explore more of his backyard and studio, roll a 3d10 for success]
>Write In

Rolled 7, 9, 9 = 25 (3d10)

>>38771869
>>”Mr. Quinn, are you sure you wouldn’t be willing to do an interview for the Tribune?” [Attempt to convince him to let you explore more of his backyard and studio, roll a 3d10 for success]
I have a suspicion that the culprit is neither Andrew or Eric. It might be one of Eric's crewmate. Notice how he called them "elf"?

That might be an hint.

Rolled 1, 3, 6 = 10 (3d10)

>>38771869
>>”Mr. Quinn, are you sure you wouldn’t be willing to do an interview for the Tribune?” [Attempt to convince him to let you explore more of his backyard and studio, roll a 3d10 for success]

Imma do as that other anon do because I like his dice.

You decide that giving it another shot from the plucky reporter angle couldn’t hurt. It was certainly going better than the last time you feigned an identity. He hadn’t asked for a badge yet, although you’re not sure if reporters even have something like that.

Yeah definitely better than the entire plainclothes cop angle you tried that one time.

You decide that although it might be a bit risky, you’ll try and question him along the lines of his relationship with Eric Flahive. Although he clearly doesn’t care for the man, and there’s a risk that he’ll just walk out, it may also get him to open up a bit more. You pull out a pencil and notepad from within your jacket and bite on the eraser tip in pseudo contemplation. “Mr. Quinn, are you sure you won’t do an interview with the Tribune? If not then I’m afraid we’ll have to fall back and ask Mr. Flahive instead.”

Predictably, Andrew’s scowl deepens yet more, until the lines in his face are more like trenches. “Fine. Only a few questions though. I’ve got an order to finish.”

You nod appreciatively and the two of you follow Andrew back behind his house. The man has a large backyard, most of which is taken up by a large shed. You follow him into the shed to find a smaller one man version of the warehouse Ashley took you to. In front of you is a large version of the Target corporation logo, carved out of ice. You can see a pencil and some paper with the outline of words. Something about quarters. Tables line the shed walls, various carving implements lying on top of them. You glance over at Stupp. He pulls out a film camera and hides behind it, lurking over the tools.

He’s using his Sight under cover of photography. It’s your job to keep Quinn distracted while Stupp scopes the place out. Also getting some information out of the old bastard would be nice.

“So, whaddya want to know?” grunts Quinn, eyeing Stupp beadily.

>When did you first hear about the accidents. What are your thoughts on them?
>Context is important for this story. Do you think you could tell us about your relationship with Mr. Flahive?
>That’s quite a nice sculpture you have over there. Could you tell us about your work?
>Write In

>>><<<
Hey everybody. Don't often write mysteries, so I'd appreciate it if you guys provide feedback as it occurs to you. Or at the end of the thread. Either one works.

>>38772733
>>That’s quite a nice sculpture you have over there. Could you tell us about your work?
Guys a prideful bastard, he'd talk about his own mastery for hours probably.

>>38772733
>>Context is important for this story. Do you think you could tell us about your relationship with Mr. Flahive?

Smalltalk and opinions are the least of our worries. We need to build connections and get context.

>>38772733
>Write In
"Would you rather fight a horse sized duck or a hundred duck sized horses?"

We need to know...

>>38772733
>>Context is important for this story. Do you think you could tell us about your relationship with Mr. Flahive?
This seems the most helpful, although I would really like to know what his answer to the write in would be.

>>38772892
OOC He would prefer to fight one Horse sized duck. Were he in the mood to think the issue through fully he'd probably try to gouge it's eyes out with an ice pick.

Rolled 10, 1, 8 = 19 (3d10)

>>38772733
>>Context is important for this story. Do you think you could tell us about your relationship with Mr. Flahive?
Did he NTR you?

>>38772733
>That’s quite a nice sculpture you have over there. Could you tell us about your work?

You decide to try to appeal the Quinn’s sense of pride. You’re not sure if he has one, or if it was eaten by his sense of spite, but to be completely frank that’s an impressively perfect circle. You can’t even draw one that nice, let alone carve one out of a block of ice. “That’s a very nice sculpture you have over there Mr Quinn.”

Quinn glances over at the Target logo and snorts. “Hardly. It’s a fucking circle.”

You force a smile. “Well, I certainly couldn’t draw one that nice, let alone carve it. It appears as though you’re quite the talent. Is business going well?”

Quinn snorts again. This time it sounds less derisive and more bitter. “I’m one old fuck working alone in a shed in his backyard. What do you think? No, of course business isn’t booming. I don’t have any support staff, anyone to help me move my work unless people are willing to pick it up themselves. It completely limits the scope of the sculptures I can manage. Talk to Flahive if you want a success story.”

Jesus, this guy needs to get over Flahive. Still, it’s an appropriate segue to your next question. “So I understand you were partners at one point with Mr. Flahive. Are you willing to explain your break from him?”

“Yeah. We had some creative disagreements in late 2002, right before the festival. I told him he could go fuck himself. We split ways and I’ve been competing against him every festival in the team sculpture since.”

“I thought you said you were a one man operation, Mr. Quinn? Where did you get the team from?”

Quinn’s brows loosen for a split second, the glower wearing at the edges. “Wasn’t always a one man. Had a few people who left with me when I split with Quinn. Some of the best in the business actually. We figured we were set to win the ‘02 fest. Then Flahive’s team comes out with this gigantic… panorama. It’s a near perfect replica of that one Japanese painting with the big wave. Incredible. Most of my crew defected to him over the year.”

He sighs a little, less hostile and more tired, before his lips purse again. “But that’s all old news anyway. And why does it matter? What’s it got to do with the accidents lately?”

You glance back at Stupp. He lowers the camera and shrugs. “I think we’ve got enough pictures boss. You want to get one with Quinn and wrap things up, or you still got some questions?”

>Done with Quinn
>A Few more questions
>If you guys want to, you can just tell me what you’d like to know from this conversation and I’ll format them into appropriate questions for you. I feel like this might be an easier way to approach things.

>>38773643
>A Few more questions

>>38773691
For you http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/38753465/

>>38773643
Last thread a character mentioned the accidents were a result of a ritual, I think it'd be more helpful if we started talking to Edith or Stupp or someone and just went over the basic setting rules for magic.

That might be helpful.

>>38773724
alright thanks ill change my vote.
>A Few more questions
qestion him about sculpting methods and how dangerous they could possibly be.

Do we have any method to determine if a ritual has taken place in this place?

>>38773643
>A Few more questions
>There are people who believe that the recent chain of accidents was caused by some kind of curse. What do you think of such superstitions?

Am I right in assuming that in this setting magic being real is not exactly public knowledge? Otherwise replace superstitions with rumours.

>>38773977
That would be correct, most people believe that magic is just stage trickery. People have the same perception of magic as people in the real world do. Very few people know anything about how it works, or care for that matter.

>>38773837
That's a good suggestion. I'll be sure to touch on the mechanics of magic after you guys are done with Quinn.

>>38774033
So... do magnets run on magic or does magic run on magnets in your setting?

>>38774215
Funnily enough magnets disrupt magic in the setting.

>>38774304
holy shit... so even here nobody knows how they work...

>Star Trib
Is... Is this game set in Minnesnowta?

“Well, I’d like to wrap this up really quickly Mr. Quinn. Just about ice sculpting in general. I saw you were working with a chainsaw earlier. Is ice sculpting usually a dangerous profession?”

Quinn snorts. “Hell no. It’s like carpentry or any craft job. If you’re an idiot then there are a million ways to hurt yourself. But no not especially dangerous. There’s probably more of a risk of people slipping on the ice carrying their sculpture to the van than hurting themselves while making the damn thing.”

You nod. “Alright, one final question Mr. Quinn. Some people we have spoken to earlier think that ice sculptors are,” you pause for a moment and smile slightly incredulously, “are well... cursed. What do you think of such superstitions?”

Quinn glances at Stupp before speaking. “Are you serious? There isn’t such a thing as curses or hexes or that nonsense. What a load.”

“Very well then Mr. Quinn. So you don’t think that these accidents will affect your participation in this year’s winterfest?”

“No,” grunts Quinn. “Now I’ve got a sculpture to finish, so get out.”

File: C530.jpg (13 KB, 250x250)

13 KB JPG

You quickly take your leave with Stupp. The two of you leave the worn shed and walk past the house and into the car. Stupp thrusts his backpack into your lap as he climbs into the driver’s seat. “Check the digital camera,” he says.

“I thought you were using film?” you ask as you scroll through the images. They seem to be mostly of Quinn’s tools. Several of them look like a cross between a knife and a saw, and you see many chisels with flat heads of varying size and shape. One of them in particular stands out to you, a chisel with a long and thin U shaped blade pointing out of the handle. You could take someone’s eye out with that thing. “Did you see anything?”

Stupp shakes his head in the negative. “No. There was a lot of quiet magic, probably from years of use, but nothing there that matched the sort of black magic at the accident site. Unless he did his casting away from home.”

You nod. “So, nothing conclusive?”

Stupp shrugs. “Pretty much. I think we should look into Eric Flahive tomorrow. It’s getting kinda late.”

>Skip to meeting with Eric
>Go over mechanics of magic and possible techniques used by suspect with Stupp [heavy setting exposition]

>>38774610
>>Go over mechanics of magic and possible techniques used by suspect with Stupp [heavy setting exposition]
If we don't understand any of the concepts were going to be very confused, we'll probably be confused anyway.

>>38774610
>>Go over mechanics of magic and possible techniques used by suspect with Stupp [heavy setting exposition]
this would be helpful.

>>38774610
>>Go over mechanics of magic and possible techniques used by suspect with Stupp [heavy setting exposition]
exposition me like one of your french maids

>>38774610
>>Go over mechanics of magic and possible techniques used by suspect with Stupp [heavy setting exposition]

Rolled 8, 10, 5 = 23 (3d10)

>>38774610
>>Skip to meeting with Eric
YOLO

>>38774610
>>Go over mechanics of magic and possible techniques used by suspect with Stupp [heavy setting exposition]
Sooner or later the exposition dump has to come, so it might as well be now.

You and Stupp drive back to your house in relative silence. While he takes charge of feeding Arn dinner, you throw a frozen pizza in the oven. He comes back upstairs bearing a nauseated expression. You make sure to hold on to the hot pie in order to prevent any bag tossing shenanigans. He puts the empty bag of viscera into the trash and joins you at the table. As the pair of you dig in, you look at Stupp. After a few seconds he stops eating.

“What?”

“Well, I’ve just been thinking. We’ve spent a fair bit of time looking into who could be guilty, but we haven’t spent much time establishing how the curses took place.”

Stupp shrugs. “What else do we need to know? Rituals powered by cold fronts. Bing bang boom,” he returns to eating his pizza for a few seconds before he stops, a sly smile curling at the edges of his mouth. “You do remember how rituals work, right?”

You grimace. Honestly, you were always trash at theurgy, ritual magic. you left that to Stupp. “So, how are those fireballs holding up, Stupp?”

Stupps ears flush red and he purses his lips in obvious irritation. “Fine. Fine. Okay so there are two basic kinds of magic, right? Thaumaturgy and Spiritism. Both use aether to cause magical phenomena, but Thaumaturgy uses free standing aether, while Spiritism uses the aether that comes from Spirits.”

“Yeah yeah,” you interrupt, slightly cross. “I just don’t know about the basics of theurgy, I’m not an idiot.”

Stupp glances at you and smirks a little before he continues speaking. “Thaumaturgy and Spiritism both have two distinct sub-disciplines. For Spiritism, there’s Evocation, or the summoning of spirits. Like demon summoning or something. You can use these spirits for information, bind them to your will, whatever, all that matters is that the spirit has a physical shell that is distinct from your own or anyone else’s.

“Then there’s Invocation, which invites spirits to enter and empower the body of another living creature, often the caster’s own. This can range from full on possession, to breaking spirits to your will and using them like magical mitochondria.”

You groan and bury your face in your hands. Stupp can be relentless when he wants to be. Luckily he’s about halfway done now.

“Then we have Thaumaturgy, which has two schools, Theurgy and Incantation. Incantation is the one you’re good at,” he reaches out and ruffles your hair condescendingly. “That’s the one with the shouting EXPLODIO and the fireballs.”

“Then there’s Theurgy, or ritualism, which involves creating magically empowered symbols. Usually runes or magic circles,” Stupp places a hand on his chest and switches to a haughty tone, nose pointed into the air. “Its by far the more complex and subtle of the two schools.”

After a few seconds of posing, he chuckles and returns to his food. You take your head out of your hands and sit up a bit, he seems to be getting serious now. ”So anyway, for any type of theurgy you need to either have either your target contained within the ritual circle, or have some part of them contained within the ritual circle. Naturally the magic is most effective when the entire person or thing is contained within the circle, but it can work with just a hair or two or a sample of blood.”

“Alright, so that means,” you reply thinking quickly, “that whoever is the likely culprit somehow managed to get hair or something from the victims, right?”

Stupp nods. “Yeah. It’s the only way that can happen. It’s like, required. Necessary. If there isn’t some part of the intended target in the circle the magic has nowhere to aim. It just kinda disperses.”

>Any further setting questions?

>>38775279
nope, I'm good

>>38775279
Is there any upper limit to the circles size? Or does it have to be specific... surely you can't just draw a REALLY fucking big circle and have it affect anything and everything within that circle.

>>38775279
Lets list out what we know and figure out how he did it and try to fill in the blanks from there as best we can before going to the other guy.

>>38775279
Is there any standing time that you have to have a sample from? Surely you can't just take some discarded blood from when they were a baby or something and use it forever right? Once it decays its ineffective yes?

“Hey, idle thought,” you say, “What if there was a really big circle?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, a really big ritual circle that covered multiple city blocks, would it affect everyone in the circle, or what?”

Stupp snorts. “Well assuming you didn’t mess up the circle at some point, and that’s already hard enough since they have to be very precisely drawn, then it’d probably fail. Either you wouldn’t be able to gather enough aether to start the spell, or you’d die trying. The amount of aether required increases exponentially based on the number of targets.”

“Huh, okay then,” you respond. “Another one?”

Stupp looks slightly bemused but smiles invitingly. He really does enjoy talking about theurgy. “Yeah sure, what is it?”

“Is there a half life on bits of people? Like does blood go bad?”

Stupp nods. “Generally speaking, yeah. Blood is actually a very effective focus so long as it’s still fresh. Once it dries out though it’s practically useless. Hair and toe nails are generally effective for longer but don’t transfer nearly as much power as fresh blood. Stuff like a finger or ear or another body part… those can be incredibly powerful for very long periods of time. So don’t go leaving extremities in the hands of dark mages.”

You snort. “I’ll try not to. Just like we don’t share our names with other mages.”

“Yeah, yeah that'd be a bad idea too. It’s why we introduce each other.”

“Only reasons to bring your useless ass along on investigations.”

Stupp crosses his arms. “I can still punch things.”

“You sure can,” you chuckle. “But anyway. What do we know now? There’s a cryomancer out there cursing ice sculptors. He somehow managed to get hair or blood or something from them and he’s using the power of cold fronts to curse them.”

Stupp nods and continues, “And so far the most likely culprits are either that Quinn guy, or Eric Flahive or one of his cronies.”

>Any other observations you’d want to make?

>>38775716
Or it could be someone who just hates the contest, but that line of investigation should be reviewed only after we check both of the people we know about

>>38775716
it seems to clear. We have two clear suspects with one having a very good grudge against the other sculptures and the other one we don't know yet. Its to clean I don't like it. Has anyone ever lodged a complaint and tried to take the festival down before?

>>38775716
>>38775840
this

>>38775716
Would a circle like the one Quinn carved from ice be suitable for this kind of thing?
Also does the part need to be an actual body part of the victim or can it also be something symbolic, like an object they grew attached to?

“I don’t know, this is all a little too clear cut you know? Could it be someone else, maybe someone who tried to get the festival shut down before?”

Stupp shrugs. “I mean I guess its possible. But just think about it. Whoever is doing this is using magic, and fairly sloppily I might add. So that suggests to me at least they don’t have formal training and likely aren’t aware of other magicians existing period. They aren’t really trying to be subtle about this. Hell, Ashley realized something was up and she’s totally mundane.”

“And your point is?”

“Just that I don’t think there’s very much cloak and dagger stuff going on here. I think whoever we’re dealing with probably just thinks that magic alone is enough to cover up his or her tracks. And I mean, they’re not exactly wrong, yeah? Like if we weren’t on google I don’t think anyone would have gotten the slightest idea about what’s going on.”

“Maybe,” you mutter. “It just seems too simple. But anyway, should we go meet Flahive tomorrow?”

“Yeah, sounds alright,” replies Stupp.

You go upstairs to watch Netflix while Stupp stays behind to take care of the dishes. A few minutes later you hear him climb upstairs and enter his own room. A few minutes after that you hear some furious swearing. “...fucking broken ass undoable game. How about you go fuck yourself and your dogs with your fucking cleaver you capra fuck…”

Really, if he had the same sort of passion while incanting that he did while playing video games, Stupp might have actually learned how to do more than create a little wytchlight. You decide to turn in early for the night.

>>38776548
...Dark souls?

You wake up to the sound of your alarm once more. Blearily turning off the shrill alarm you roll over and check the weather. For some fucking reason God has decided to shit on you today. Windchill into the minus thirties. Lovely. Groaning, you lurch out of bed and open the door to the hallway.

You pause. So does Stupp. The two of you staring at one another in slight surprise. You never get up at the same time. Usually he beats you. Must’ve stayed up late getting his bitch ass handed to him by that Capra Demon. You glance down the hall, towards the stairs. There’s maybe a good twenty, twenty five feet until the wall ends and the bannister the stairs begins.

He who dares wins.

>It’s a race to the bottom! Plan how you will beat your housemate downstairs and make him take care of feeding Arn today!
>You have 45/45 Aether Points (AeP)
>Suggested spells include:
>Immobolos 3 AeP
>Aerea 3 AeP

>>38776846
uhh what do those spells do? because we should totally use some

>>38776846
Immobolos on Him

Rolled 8, 8, 5 = 21 (3d10)

>>38776846
Just flash him.

Not need to waste precious magical points.

Okay, we may use immobolos as it sounds less dangerous.

>>38776893
use them and find out!

Immobolos it is then.

>>38776846
tackle or leg sweep him, then cast Immobolos while he's stunned, though I've no fucking idea what it does

>>38777047
When he complains later, we need to comment that it isn't our fault that our talents are so unsubtle.

Rolled 7, 9, 2 = 18 (3d10)

>>38776846
rolling to not fuck up.

Rolled 9, 4, 1 = 14 (3d10)

>>38777578
Roll to fuck up

Rolled 88 (1d100)

>>38777603
Rolling for anal circumference

>>38777578
While we are on the subject of rolling, can someone quickly explain the system to me?

You blink at Stupp. Then suddenly your hand shoots up and you shout “Immobolos!”

It’s not exactly like a taser shock, since that makes your muscles flex and lock in place, Immobolos simply stops all movement, so rather than standing bolt upright and then collapsing to the floor, Stupp merely goes unnaturally still. You can hear him topple over as you plunge down the stairs.

You slide into the kitchen and pull open the fridge door, eventually settling on another bowl of cereal. You’re already quite well situated when Stupp comes down, face flushed with anger. you hoist your spoon in salute. “Mornin’”

“That was goddamn cheating.”

“Hardly my fault my talents are so unsubtle.”

Stupp grumbles but accepts his fate. You’re finished with breakfast and back upstairs to shower before he finishes feeding Arn.

An hour later, the two of you are showered, dressed, bundled up, and ready to go see Flahive. Stupp called ahead and set the appointment. Claimed you guys were with the local university newspaper. The pair of you pile into the Accord and drive out into the bitter cold. After a few minutes of driving you pat around your head. “Oh goddamnit.”

“What is it?”

“Forgot my hat.”

Stupp snorts with laughter. “Good thing we’re driving then. I’ll try to park near the entrance, how about that?”

Stupp remains true to his word and you guys pull up in front of a warehouse with an attached office. The sign in front of it reads “Ice Occasions”.

Punny.

The two of you walk into the office. The building is warm, with a well designed interior and wooden floors in stark contrast to the somewhat drab exterior. A receptionist sits behind an actual desk. She looks as the pair of you enter.

“Why hello, you must be Mr. Stupp and… uh…”

Stupp steps in. “That’s Chris Barker. Person actually writing the story. I’m just here to take pictures,” he pulls a digital camera out of his bag.

“Very well then,” smiles the receptionist. “I’ll inform Mr. Flahive you’re here.”

A few minutes later Eric Flahive bursts into the reception area, startling both of you. An older man, roughly the same age and Andrew Quinn although in much better condition, he seizes Stupp by the hand and shakes it vigorously. “Well hello there! I suppose you two people are from the Daily?”

Stupp smiles back “Yessir, that’s Chris Barker.”

“And that’s Christopher Stupp,” you finish, gesturing at your partner. Never reveal your name to a potential mage.

“Ah, welcome to Ice Occasions Chris and Chris,” Flahive chuckles. “You guys can just call me Eric. So do you want to look around the work area, or should we conduct this interview in my office?”

>Tour work area first
>Go to office

Rolled 1, 10, 3 = 14 (3d10)

>>38777823
>>Tour work area first
Take some pictures

>>38777823

>Tour work area first

>>38777823
>>Tour work area first
The work area would be more likely to have things fucked around in, although if hes hiding shit it'll be in the office...

>>38777823
>Tour work area first

“I’d like it we can see the facilities first, Mr. Flahive,” you reply, smiling.

“Of course, of course,” Flahive responds, “Keep you hats and coats on then, as you can probably guess, it’s quite nippy in there.”

Flahive leads the way to a set of large doors, opens them, and gestures the pair of you through. The warehouse is much colder than the reception area, but compared to the weather outside, it’s practically balmy. You unzip your jacket and Stupp slides his hat off.

“Mind if I hang that up for you folks,” asks Flahive, holding out his hands for your outer layers. You give him your jacket, and Stupp hands him his jacket and knit cap. Flahive bustles off to hang them up and returns momentarily.

“Alright,” says Flahive, clapping his hands together in anticipation, “so we’re actually still taking orders despite the accidents over the past few weeks, so just keep an eye open for drills or chainsaws. I’m pretty sure you could sue if you lost an arm in my studio.”

Flahive leads the pair of you forward, pointing out various sculptures and introducing you to various employees. The warehouse has about ten or so people inside of it, not including you, Stupp, and Flahive. Various ice sculptures loom everywhere, the most common being swans, but you also see a pretty good imitation of the Venus de Milo and a fat buddha. “And over there we have Mark and our latest hire, Ashley, working on a reindeer… I think it’s for a wedding,” Flahive says as gestures towards two people working on a half finished reindeer. You eyes narrow as you gaze at the pair of workers.

That’s definitely the Ashley who hired you guys.

You carefully keep your surprise from showing. You’d prefer to not have Flahive wondering why two uni students know one of his workers. Stupp keeps his face buried in the camera. After a few more minutes of walking, Flahive stops, and pulls out his phone. “Crimenently. Sorry guys, I have to swing back by the office real quick. Need to send an email. Do you want to follow me, or should I have someone continue the tour?”

>Follow Flahive
>Continue touring with an employee

>>38778424
>>Continue touring with an employee
"why not with Ashly over there, a female perspective on art can draw in a lot of readers."

File: intensifies.gif (290 KB, 500x425)

290 KB GIF

>>38778387
I don't fucking like this. He took our coat and hat. Might have gotten samples or palmed them off to an assistant for sample collection.

>>38778424
>Continue touring with an employee

Rolled 1, 2, 4 = 7 (3d10)

>>38778424
>>Continue touring with an employee
I wonder if Chris can hear us in her head

>>38778424
>Continue touring with an employee
Either us or stupp open our third eye.

>>38778424
>>Continue touring with an employee
Eh why not? We can get ashleys input.

>>38776548
>>38776846
Man, the Capra Demon was easy as fuck, I kicked it's ass on my first try.

Random Hollow With Spear #13, now HE was a game-breaking piece of shit, let me tell you.

>>38778556
Screw you dawg. Capra demon took me like twenty something tries. Of course once I got it, it was a joke the next time.

Alright, writing. How's the quest holding up for you guys so far? I hope it isn't too dull.

>>38778556
Theres been a recent trend in Dark souls II for some people to use hacks to create player "boss battles", where they literally play one specific style and use a bunch of attacks and styles.

Also some people recently discovered the arena is in DS II also fully mapped and you can get there with noclipping.

>>38778594
Alright so far but lets wait for the end until we give our thoughts cool?

>>38778387
>You give him your jacket, and Stupp hands him his jacket and knit cap. Flahive bustles off to hang them up and returns momentarily.
He just took some of our hairs didn't he?

>>38778594
pretty good so far

Rolled 3, 1, 6 = 10 (3d10)

>>38778594
Pretty good so far

>>38778594
So far so good.

“If you don’t mind Mr. Flahive,” you reply, “I think we’d like to continue touring for a little while. Maybe even get in a few interviews about your employees’ thoughts on the issue.”

Stupp leans in and “Maybe that new hire, Ashley? I’d personally be interested in the perspective of someone new to the business.”

“Oh Ashley isn’t new,” responds Flahive. “She switched jobs after her boss was injured. Not that long ago actually.” Flahive grins. “That’s some good instinct you’ve got there, she probably has more to say about the accidents than I do even.”

“Ashley,” Flahive calls. The woman looks up from her work, a large chisel in hand, “Ashley, you mind showing these folks around the warehouse for a bit? I’ve gotta get some emails. Bring ‘em to my office once they’re done.”

Flahive hurries off out of the warehouse as Ashley approaches you. She smiles somewhat awkwardly. “Well, uh, hey there.”

>Anything to say to Ashley?

>>38778837
Hi, real unfortunate about all these accidents huh? Might ruin the entire festival at this rate.

>>38778837
mighty big coincidence that her boss being injured forced her to work here... wonder if similar incidents pushed all these other people into working here over time... This conspiracy might not be new... he might've just gotten sloppy and impatient...

>>38778606
The PvP in Dark Souls 2 pissed me the fuck off.

It was based on total amount of souls ever fucking touched instead of level, which I didn't find out until after I kept wasting tons of souls on superfluous shit (When I realized you could respec in that game I bought and upgraded all the miracles, sorceries, pyromancies, unique armor sets, and other various shit that wasn't leveling up instead of focusing on what was necessary because I thought slightly slower level progression in exchange for a bunch of fun toys wasn't a big deal.).

Early game I rekt shit because I was just better than most people, but later on I got punished hard as fuck for my lack of fiscal responsibility, because everybody else was higher leveled and more streamlined in what items and spells they bought, and I wasn't. But hey, I had every sorcery in the game despite having an intellect of 8, so whatevs.

>>38778837
whisper this "Alright girl you are going to tell the truth and the whole truth, we are possibly dealing with a man of great power and little control over it and I will not tolerate and fucking around from you or any one else clear?"

then in normal tone

"Ms.Ashly Glad to see you had the time to talk with us could you tell us a little about the facilities and how long you ahve worked here and what kind of man your boss is?"

>>38778936
Remember... all hackers have one weakness... gravity...But seriously, if you fall out of the map you suffer infinite damage so it'll kill infinite life hackers

“Hey Ashley,” you reply, your light tone not at all matched by your narrowed eyes. “Kind of a surprise to see you here. How’s whatshisface doing?”

Ashley kicks the floor guiltily. “The doctor’s are saying the injury might be permanent. I need the work okay? It’s not like sculpting brings in the big bucks. I can’t afford a vacation.”

“We’re not blaming,” intervenes Stupp, holding up a hand, “We just think that it’s odd that right after your boss gets a crippling injury Flahive shows up with a job offer.”

Ashley looks up at you both, slightly startled at the statement. “You think? No… there's no way. Eric runs the single most successful ice sculpting business in the state. Why would he resort to offing competition?”

You shrug. “It’s just a thought.”

>What do now
>Continue talking to Ashley
>Talk to other Employees for more information
>>Questions:
>>What do you know about Andrew Quinn?
>>When did you start working for Eric Flahive?
>>What do you think of the accidents?
>>Write in

>>><<<
OOC note: I forgot to mention that rituals take effect immediately upon casting. Time delayed rituals are possible, but only for incredibly skilled and experienced mages

Rolled 10, 4, 4 = 18 (3d10)

>>38779487
>Continue talking to Ashley
>>>What do you know about Andrew Quinn?

>>38779487
Stupp keep your eyes open buddy.

>Continue talking to Ashley
>Talk to other Employees for more information
>>What do you know about Andrew Quinn?
>>When did you start working for Eric Flahive?
>>What do you think of the accidents?
Just schmooze as someone genuinely interested in this stuff.

>>38779487
>Talk to other Employees for more information
>>When did you start working for Eric Flahive?
IMPORTANT: If these consistently match up with incidents and general bizarreness we've got a major red flag.
>>What do you think of the accidents?
We might be able to find people afraid to talk... which would be more of a sign than people not afraid of it.

>>38779565
this I guess.

>OOC note: I forgot to mention that rituals take effect immediately upon casting.

This is immediately relevant, isn't it?

>>38779995
probably, we should prepare some defenses against a curse if Eric is trying something with our hairs from our coats

>>38779995
Or if people saw him at the times the others were injured he's innocent.

>>38780096
don't worry anon, we can sue if anything happens on his property.

You glance over at Stupp. His eye is pressed into the viewfinder of his camera, as is his wont when he’s using the Sight for brief periods of time. Since he hasn’t pulled you aside or anything, you figure everything must be pretty kosher so far. You personally figure that Ashley is too new to know anything really meaningful about Eric, and begin asking his other employees.

Unfortunately, your suspicions that Ashley’s story might be typical for Flahive’s workers turns out to be groundless. Most people there either started working for Flahive as apprentices (you did not realize that people still used the term apprentice in this day and age) or after Flahive offered them a pay raise from their old job. No mysterious accidents or injuries aside from Ashley’s. Hell, most of these guys haven’t even been around long enough for the split between Quinn and Flahive. “Oh yeah, that Quinn guy,” replies one, “Yeah I see him at winter fests. He never shows up to any of the get togethers or anything. Seems like a bit of an asshole if I’m being honest.”

You are about to give up when you notice an older man, perhaps nearly as old as Flahive and Quinn, sitting in the back, sawing away and a brick of ice with a hand saw. You walk over to him. “Hello, Chris Barker with the Daily. I was wondering if you’d have some time to answer a few questions Mister…”

The man looks up and grunts “Mallone. I saw Eric showing you the place. You with the college paper?”

“Yeah. We were wondering if we could get your perspective on the recent accidents.”

Mallone doesn’t look up from his brick. “Real shame. It’s sad to see so many good sculptors get injured like this.”

“Does this concern you at all?”

Mallone continues to saw at the ice, the weird scraping undercutting his voice. “No. I’ve been doing this for twenty some years. I’m not about the cut my own hand off.”

“Well alright then,” you reply, looking around. “We were also wondering if you were at all familiar with Andrew Quinn?”

At that, Mallone stops sawing the ice. The silence settles like a thick blanket. “Yeah. Yeah. I was around when he split. A real mess it was. He left with a good number of our coworkers.”

“Can you tell us anything more about it?”

Mallone grunts. “It was actually kind of incredible. Andrew left with most of our best sculptors. We, Eric and I, figured we were screwed. This was right before the winterfest see, and people were looking at it as a competition to see who was the better sculptor. We get there, and it's the coldest it’s ever been in a long while. Windchill down to minus 40 at least. They nearly called off the fest. So cold I could barely feel my damn chisel through my gloves.

“But Eric,” he says, his voice filled with awe, “Eric, it was like he was in his element. Him and Quinn. They made some really wonderful sculptures that year, best I’ve seen in my life. But Eric won by a hair, and that was that.”

Mallone shrugs and gets back to sawing. “But that’s old news. Hell, the Backstreet Boys were still a thing then. My daughter wanted an album of theirs for her birthday. I sometimes remember that and I feel very old.”

>Anything more to say
>Or go to Eric

>>><<<
Don't be confused by the voting option, this is the last post for the night. We'll start tomorrow with whatever you guys choose. Should have actual OP and some pastebins ready by then.

>>38781095
sweet, some time tomorrow I'll probably get around to bothering to put this up on the 1d4chan quest list...

>>38781095
thx 4 runin
twitter?

>>38781095
"What was their relationship like when they were still together? Professionally I mean."

"Did anyone ever object to the festival, try to ban it or what not?"

also thanks for running.

>>38781095
>Anything more to say
Ask what the sculptures they made were, if he has any pictures of them and such.

>>38781095
So Mr.Flahive is at his best when it's super cold out? I'll have to ask him about it. Thank you for your time Mr. Mallone.

thanks for the thread FG

>>38781154
@DickishDead

>>38781196
>>38781161
No problem. Thanks for playing

I'll copy your responses everyone. I'm hoping we can get this mystery done by tomorrow. How are you all feeling so far about it? Any top suspects?

>>38781248
Old guys story suggests its the overly nice guy... it'd make sense too, he has been getting away with this crap because hes an opportunist and usually is nonviolent with it. Wonder what pushed him over the edge into the gross bodily harm zone now...

>>38781248
so far it looks like that first winterfest after the split is the beginning of things and evidence points to Eric having some role in it, though I don't know whether he's responsible or not, though Andrew certainly seemed to have plenty of motive, but lacked the will to do it