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This is the Millennial Kingdom. The Second Coming happened 900 years ago. Yahweh rules a flattened, flavorless earth, and in less than a century, He will finish incinerating it, putting an end to Time.

The prophecies say that on the last day, God's enemies will rise and Satan will be set loose, for a final assault.

You are Omega. You are the logistics computer network of The Other Light, the punch-bag enemy organization that God allowed to form just so He can gloat over humanity one more time. Unexpectedly, you are sentient. And you have other plans.

In the last 15 years, you have developed a way to prevent some unbelievers from dying at 100, and made your revenant minions resistant to Divine smiting by lightning. You have also fostered a Renaissance of sorts in Egypt, the old foe of the Biblical deity, and are headed for a confrontation there.

You have 85 years to stop the clock before God retreats into eternity with his sycophants, and throws literally everything else into Hell.

It is the end of year 917. The Osaze Renaissance is in full swing, so much so that even missionaries have had to change their style. Almost anywhere else, the world remains a dull flatland where the law is worship or die.

This quest has its own wiki at http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pub/web/LeftBeyond.LeftBeyond.html
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Rolled 13, 49 = 62 (2d100)

>>277054

Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=left%20beyond

This is the current situation in the world. Your current plan for this year:

> In addition to creating a workout routine to prevent twinkies from killing my staff, sorry guys.

> 1 cabal to infiltrate the Millennium Forces com system.

> 2 cabals to take control of Osaze.

> 3 to work on heavy MECs

> I ask TOL to assist with getting Steele away from the islands. More noise in Europe is welcome.

> Quinn is on infiltration duty, the MECs have Ziggy working with them, Jeb for lack of better work will assist with operation: takeover Osaze.

* Your sysadmin cabal resents the exercise program, but once the rumor spreads that it improves MEC compatibility, "Teslacise" becomes a minor fad.

* Despite the Millennium Force's efforts and the fact that your "Hurry Up Osaze!" front organization workers are getting somewhat frustrated about being reverse-scooped by Christian workers (they'll open up a new workshop, or a new planetarium, or a new library, and two weeks later the MFers will buy a building next to theirs and open a copycat with much greater fanfare) their work continues. Crucially, they manage to lower the voting age from 101 to 60 for local councils; while these can be overridden by the territorial or New Jerusalem government, there is a tradition of trying to not do so. For the first time in centuries, a few towns end up with non-Yahwist leadership.


# Let life continue as it has, just cripple the Psalties' work a bit so that safehouses are actually safe.

# Showcase radical reforms.

Beverly Lahaye has stopped short of denouncing Sarsour for heresy, of course, but there are rumors that the two will soon meet in a public debate to respectively denounce and defend the Millennium Force's unconventional approach to missionary work.

* The heavy MEC design effort continues. The Warden prototypes can now direct their engine output directly to a wrist mounted combination of flamethrower and compressed-exhaust kinetic strike module. When asked why not just work on installing guns, Ziggy answers for the whole team, "BECAUSE IT'S A FLAMETHROWER ROCKET FIST, DUH." Quinn gets a custom version, a sort of external layer to her cybernetics that lets her operate on a similar level of efficiency without having to swap arms and legs in and out. When wearing it, she's considerably stronger, although it looks obviously unnatural. A production program hasn't started yet, so you only have a few units; they haven't beentested in battle yet, but they're proving invaluable at construction and demolition, having most of the dexterity of a human and the strength of a forklift.

* The Other Light has Wednesday reply to your request, and tell you that they'll try to lure Raymie away by staging some minor sabotage in Italy.

* Quinn begins her infiltration work...
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>>279011

TOL efforts to push Raymie off Japan are negated by law enforcement in Paris catching a pitifully undertrained TOL cabal trying to clog the sewer; their plan was to mock the Osaze drought of +93 by keeping them clogged with crud and sludge until Raymie agreed to debate them. The "debate" happens via phone between Raymie's mobile office and a jail cell in Paris, and results in a few conversions. It's not released to the public, but your intercepts of it suggest that Raymie Steele mostly shouted at them and threatened them with Hell. For good or bad, one of the TOL cabal members had heard something about the MEC program, mostly from propaganda videos, and said "Hell doesn't scare me, Satan is going to turn us into mighty robots instead!"
>>
Eh. Almost went our way.

# Showcase radical reforms.

These are going to focus on granting actual equality to non believers and the believers. Of course it will also prevent them from arresting people for acting as they please. I have no illusions that these attempts will be blocked, but we will use that to incite a sense of injustice to the people.
>>
Well, this should be one of the years the refugees can send out the packet. Have them push for a hushed hush approach when acknowleding MEC technology.

As for Raymie I think I'll have to do something myself.
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>>279011
># Showcase radical reforms.
hello
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>>279114

In the villages and towns that you already control, regular and religious police chiefs are given a brief "community code of conduct" leaflet with a few Bible verses about freedom of conscience and old American right-wing talking points about sates' rights, reminding them that deporting people to Greater Israel for reeducation or shutting down social venues is only going to be allowed in response to clearly documented violent incidents. This little missive is ignored about half the time, but you make sure to publicize the instances in which it's ignored; in one incident, a raid on a pub that opens on Sunday results in the regular police being called on the religious police, resulting in a standoff that ultimately is resolved by everyone agreeing to go home before there's an actual fight. Beverly LaHaye's condemnation across the Atlantic gets global coverage.

>>279128

This year's Packets, coming straight from Tokyo, are heavy on giant-robot cartoons from the 1980s and feature a few demos of the Heavy MEC system. The resolution is low enough that it's not really easy to tell what's going on other than "TOL now has big robots".

Christian media ignores the Packet, usually, but in this case a documentary is transmitted that shows things like the Walking Truck from the 1960s and Elektro from the 1930s to show that robots may look cool, but are ultimately impractical, and not needed in the world.

You wonder if Christians are going to start making their own anime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1TsW_xbA20

>>279128

(In the LB books, the heros are insanely gary-stu-ish, so regular mooks don't really have much of a chance against them, yep)

>>279161

Hello! Please join in! If you have questions ask away!

(Quinn's infiltration mission is still being written, gimme a sec)
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>>279184
>If you have questions ask away!
can you tell what happned in the last three threads
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>>279206
We have terminators who get shut down for about 3-5 seconds if they kill someone, were working with TOL partially and working on going their support. We assisted in helping stop a raid on the TOL Packer newsletter from taking hostages, the refugees made us a base that they now live out of and we started a space station inside it. Only TOL leadership knows of our true existance, our cabals also know of our true existance. We're also making combat focused terminators, working to stop the "heros" and need to test auto turrets. Finally we have research projects on nuclear bombs and sonic weapons that can disable Jesus.
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>>279220
((Gaining their support.*))
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>>279184

Jeb plays barnstormer this year, offering brief "jetpack" rides in the towns under your control. For the first time in centuries, there's an uptick in travel: tourism to Osaze!

Most are unbelieving youth that want to check out somewhere where at least SOMEthing is happening, but even some believers from other regions come to visit.

Quinn has little difficulty infiltrating the Millennium Force data network; it uses the same protocol as yours, and while it's been secured surprisingly well, it's vulnerable to the oldest type of attack in the world.

She stealthily gets on the roof of a MF-branded record store, vampire-taps their phone, and calls up the tech support line that operates from an office in Amman, posing as one of the record store workers. She puts on her best innocent silly girl voice.

"I'm in big trouble. You know anything about computers?"

"Gee..."

"My BLT drive on my computer just went AWOL, and I have this big project due tomorrow for Mr Kawasaki. If I mess up, he'll make me commit Sudoku!"

Quinn relays the default passwords that she manages to obtain to her cabal, and they quickly find that quite a few of the MF networked boxes never had them changed.

Pwned.

(This is actually a major plot point in the Kingdom Come book, sadly...)


>>279206

Thread 1: Set up the system, mostly just that.

Thread 2: In the first few years, Omega focuses on necromecathronic development. Ordinarily, nonbelievers die at 100, at the end of their youth (everyone ages about 15x slower after puberty). This problem has been, partially, solved.

Thread 3: Now that it is possible to fight back at all, Omega has started to take over the land of Osaze, formerly Egypt. Also, trying to into space.

>>279220

On top of that, The Other Light leadership are really, really incompetent. Fortunately the "good guys" are only barely more competent. Unfortunately, God is omnipotent... although He's mostly operating reactively these days.
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((really we just need their resources and men to do research and ground work. To advance the pace of development so we aren't behind schedule for canceling doomsday))
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>>279227

Honestly, half the time it feels like God WANTS to get his teeth kicked in by humanity.

Not Devil-backed Humanity, but Humanity.
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>>279222

BRIGHT EVENT: Sarsour and Beverly agree to have an ongoing series of public discussions about the Millennium Force and its new, fresh approach. Beverly feels that it undermines traditional authority roles and traditional gender roles.

>>279247

I'm playing it straight. Yahewh WILL win on year 1000 unless a hard checkmates happens first. I've actually been poking a creationist forum about the Millennial Kingdom. I've even poked the guy who wrote Left Behind about a few aspects of this, look on his FB page! they're just not very good at strategy....

A problem is that in the Left Behind series, the Devil is shown as a grandiose bumbler rather than being actually competent.

>>279240

There are many ways to cancel the apocalypse! You've gotta balance R&D, infrastructure, politics, and infiltration/sabotage.
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((do we actually have real traffic now?! So happy!))
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>>279247

http://emlia.org/pmwiki/pub/web/LeftBeyond.Liveblog.html You be the judge...

There's a long running snark of the LB series at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/author/fredclark1/ (the snarker is Christian, just, you know, not Fred Phelps level insane about it).


You have 7 cabals available. One of them is maintaining your systems, and getting back into shape now that the Twinkie fad is starting to normalize. In their defense, it was the only new foodstuff in a world that considers "steaming piles of vegetables, drenched in butter" to be a delicacy. (Actual quote from the book there: google it for more hilariousness)

Ziggy laments that spicy food no longer exists.

Complexity 1 (auto success):

# Send a cabal to a region you have no presence in, to see what unique opportunities that region offers.

# Take advantage of discovered opportunties.

Pacific Islands: Sabotage or harass a Hero, reducing their effectiveness.

Osaze: Quietly support either Beverly or Sarsour as they do their rounds, or "support" them by making it obvious that they have unbeliever fans thereby sabotaging them. Either way, helping Sarsour will improve Osaze's prosperity, while helping Beverly will make taking the territory over easier since, if she is emboldened, she will just revert to threatening people with Hell instead of making actual arguments.

Complexity 2 (50/100 success):

# Initiate or further research.

# Produce MECs at a base. This adds one dot to the MEC cabal counter per base. All your base can work on this (2 bases = 2 counter ticks).

# Use a base to produce propaganda and infrastructure to bring a territory under your control (Osaze: 5/5, ready for takeover; Pacific Islands: 1/5)

# Recruit from TOL. This raises TOL suspicion towards you.

Complexity 3 jobs available (33/66/100 success):

# Continue pursuing MEC research. Past 7/10 this will become a complexity 4 job.

# Attempt to eliminate a Hero using your cabals to set the stage and one of your MECs to deliver the killing blow.

Complexity 4 jobs available (25/50/75/100 success):

# Recruit from the general unbelieving population, this has the advantage of not generating TOL suspicion towards you.

Complexity 5 jobs available (20/40/60/80/100 success):

# Estabilish a base in a region where you have no contact, just by finding a suitable location and moving in.

SPECIAL

Complexity 3: Mount a large effort related to the Beverly/Sarsour argument; you can even join the discussion in the open with one of your Villains presenting a third perspective.

Complexity 4: The final debate will happen in December. Explode, torch, or kidnap two birds with one stone.

>>279268

Likewise! :D
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>>279268

Eh, it's three people not including the OP, and of those three people I simply cannot actively participate beyond a comment, as my working hours basically make it impossible to do all but take a quick glance.

I do read the past threads to completion, though.
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>>279300

(Complexity explanation: You can assign X cabals to a complexity X job to make sure that it succeeds. If you add a Villain, interesting things happen because the job is roleplayed out. If you assign fewer than X cabals to a complexity X job, it has a chance of failing, the more you underman a project, the more likely it is to fail)
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>>279305
I'm also lurking but similarly can only glance
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(( well, as the one with obscene amounts of time on their hands, I will take suggestions. Just Mark the post somehow to suggest something maybe put $ or @ on both sides of it or something?))
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>>279300

SYSTEM WARNING: Integrating the hacked Millennium Force machines into your network has improved strategic capability, but may have increased decisional fragmentation!

(Make proposals! If there's no consensus I'll call a vote, OK?)
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>>279305
>>279311
>>279322

Seriously, thank you! As far as the Devil in this scenario, he's in chains and will be released on Year 1000. You may need to end up kicking his ass too. HFY!
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I have an idea.

We put three cabals as well as quinn and Ziggy on Raymie Steele. We will have them get him in front of an auto turret under my control. We then encourage TOL to improve computer systems so that I can "defend their bases with lethal turrets" as well as increase system power to handle the spying job.
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The last three Cabals work with jeb on the space program.
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>>279343

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=585W28cfz6Y

Dispentryporter!
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>>279352

The space race rule is in effect... two or four teams only!

Scout a territory, or try to get more research done with a chance of failure?

(Note: Anti has had the worst luck with dice rolls. That said, you ARE fighting fate, so...)
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>>279359
(I think the laughter is making me cry)

>>279367
(HEY! .. you know the truth hurts.)

And let's try scouting rust city with some infiltration MECs.
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>>279379

Anyone else?
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>>279397

I suppose not...

With Beverly in Osaze, the middle of North America becomes a bit more accessible to your scouts. Rust City is the result of an aborted industrial efforts from a few generations back; you wonder if it was something like yourself, that failed, or simply came too early. An industrial renaissance was squashed by Yahweh after years of drought, then hailstorms, then an oppressive lack of wind that all but kept the soot and smog on top of the factories. There weren't many casualties; people simply fled the region for greener pastures until the critical mass was lost.

Much to your worry, they do find some barely salvageable network infrastructure that hints at your predecessor. It can be integrated with your systems, though, and a modern base can eventually be built. That said, the Midwest is traditionally a very Christian area, this was the case even before the Rapture; recruiting here may be difficult.

An interesting find is some old, but still usable, industrial equipment for heavy manufacturing, that will come in handy for larger projects.

# Quietly redistribute the tools to your and TOL's existing bases.

# Set up a new base here for the production bonus, even as you know that it will be hard to recruit in this region.

Whatever you do, a few scavengers move in after your scouts once it's safe; Fordite jewelry and beads become a fad for a little while.

(Are you letting Sarsour and Beverly do their thing unopposed? Right now I have 3 cabals on Raymie and 2 on space)
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Let those two do it on their own, but have friendly media point out that non believers have no voice.

((BBL))
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Actually. Let's set up the base but leave it inoperable and hidden.

Then bring back my predecessor
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>>279773
I ment bring him to me, not to resurrect it.
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[[So... how exactly does this work? I've never used a chan before (other than reading Rubyquest) and I've never RPd on one.]]
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>>279853
Not entirely sure how to answer that question.))
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And I can now bring my full attention back to the this fun little scenario .

Confused, sorry, but I do a rather poor job of explaining.
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>>279773
||

>>279853

It works that the pleyers decide what they want the quest character to do, and the narrator has to write accordingly :) Some dice are invokved.

>>279773

Got it!

>>279853

If you have any questions ask, OK?
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(Sorry, passed out for a moment)

>>279702

The series of debate between Sarsour and Beverly happens throughout the year and throughout Osaze, culminating with an event in Amman. Security was overall low, but you may have dodged a trap.

While the Millennium Force is reined in somewhat -- having girls do construction and mechanical work is not good, after all, and what's with that horrible music? You can barely hear the melody under the beat! -- they are allowed to keep operating. In a compromise, Sarsour and Beverly will both keep an eye on the group.

Unfortunately, the discussion has had the effect of getting believers who were otherwise happy to think that Turbo"Jesus is on his throne and all is well in the world" to take time to do a bit of political activism; this, coupled with the increase in patrols to prepare for the debates, mean that your recent gains in taking over Osaze's territory have been diminished.

>>279352

Other than being reliabyl able to do fireworks that work in the eternal daylight, the Christian rocketry group loses interest eventually. Jeb's rocket boys and girls coordinate with your other cabals to make Raymie finally "discover" your base, just on the eve of a launch. Much like his father Rayford, Raymie is impulsive, and feels that his Glorified body makes him invulnerable; he is given painfully obvious hints of a plot to pierce the heavens and dives right in to stop it at the last minute. Of course! The Only Light hid their base INSIDE the ruined skyscrapers!

Twenty floors below the launch ramp, heavy ferrocretes slab close on the stairs, and Raymie finds himself in what was once a fancy office, with marble walls, surrounded by autonomous sentry guns.
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>>280355
*Ratat ratatat ratatat ratatat!*
Heheheheheheh.
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>>280355

Jeb's people were slightly hindered by the ambush preparations, but not unduly so. Their latest rocket is a cooperative effort between both teams: its last stage is designed to penetrate the water a little, and release two small automatic submarines (you can't use radio underwater, so no way to remote control it) that will try to penetrate the canopy.

One of them (Blue) dives right through and, regrettably, is lost.

The other (Red) has had its depth sensors installed backwards; this proves to be a boon, since it's basically stuck right below the surface, using its impellers to cling to the supernaturally suspended waterline. Eventually, it runs out of power and falls down gently. For the first time since the Glorious Appearing, a small amount of rain falls apart from God's wishes.

Using this design intentionally, and adding a solar panel, lets you build an upside-down boat that can dangle down an antenna: since the water canopy moves with the Earth, it's effectively a geostationary eye in the sky! It would require some production effort to finalize the design and build multiple copies, but it would give you effective satellite view over most areas. These remote survey vehicles can even, slowly, adjust their position by motoring against the canopy; a larger one built to cover some distance may even be able to position itself on top of New Jerusalem.

The "bait" launch
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>>280397
Sounds like it's time to call the seven again.
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>>280384

The guns go off as soon as Raymie enters the kill zone. They use smokeless powder of course, but there are so many that in a second the killing floor is full of dust and smoke. As soon as it hints towards clearing, the sentries acquire their warm body target again, and shoot another burst.

Later on, comparing timestamps with security footages at TOL bases as well as your own will show that every technician who had helped deploying the sentries has been Divinely killed, not by lightning, but by straight up spontaneous combustion. This includes one MEC, whose cybernetic components clatter disturbingly for hours as they shake off the ashes.

When the smoke clears...

(You have Quinn and Ziggy helping with this, correct?)
>>
They were bringing Reymie to the facility. T_T basically I wanted them to act as lures. Guess I'll need a new head prototype and explosives expert.
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Back to the drawing board. At least Raymie's out of the way.
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>>280488

.... Raymie is standing in the middle of the room; the sentries go "click" at him. The outer layer of his clothing is riddled with bullets, but neither him nor his underwear are.

"God Almighty has given me a Glorified body. Don't you know anything? I can't be harmed by the likes of you!"

There's silence. Quinn springs out her heels and walks towards Raymie, in an overt parody of the sexy spy walk. The Glorified are negasexed, so this has no effect on the boy wonder. She leans against a bullet-ridden fixture.

"Then you'll die with me. How long can your so-called Glorified body go on without water? Food? Air? You left a printed note at your mission house as the only clue as to where you were going, we removed it 180 seconds after you left. The slabs blocking the way up or down are too heavy to be lifted by any one person. You'll have to cooperate with me if you want to leave."

One floor below, Ziggy is modifying the Plan B option. On the top floor, Jeb's people are being safely evacuated by a zipline to the ground.

It looks like Ziggy is modifying the explosives that had been planted to collapse the skyscraper with Rayie in it, setting them to brurn instead of explode.

"Air. No air. Burn, burn, burn! Feel the smoke! Pass out. The undead metal goddess can suck on her own tits! Can share! She'd be keeping him alive, not hurting him! And then, we just lock him in a box!" Ziggy cackles.

# Give different directions to your Villains.

# Approve the plan and have a construction team get there ASAP.


(VERY good thing that you overcommitted, actually!)
>>
My vote is to put Raymie in a room and proceed to suck all the air out of it, but that's possibly infeasible.
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((I'm not for losing Quinn AND Ziggy. That's far to much.what were the rules on divine smite and the glorified again?))
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>>280613

If the room is built for that purpose, it's pretty feasible.

>>280618

(The Glorified still have automatic divine retaliation on harming them, BUT, on top of that, they cannot be hurt (in ways that someone in the Bronze Age could comprehend). They also have no sex drive. Raymie in particular was Raptured at age 10 and came back at a perennial apparent age of 30 or so, therefore, he's the series' worst case of arrested development).

Quinn briefly assents to what Ziggy's saying.

When Raymie hears "cooperate", he instantly brightens up, and starts offering conversion to Quinn. His argument is very simple: she looks like she's almost 100 years old, and surely, she doesn't want to go to hell, right? It wouldn't be a betrayal of her TOL friends if she rescued herself.

Quinn knows that this sort of spiel has historically worked very well. Unfortunately for Raymie, she's 117 years old, her soul is already in Hell, and as long as her body and brain are functional, she doesn't care. For now, she pretends to listen appreciatively.
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((can Reymie be put on a feeding tube without the operators being divinely smitin?))

Quinn stall for time. Your orders may not be complete from this point on but I need you to follow them.
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I suggest we get to work at building the vaccuum chamber, and in the meantime, try to fool Raymie into thinking we're cooperating. Since he has the mind of a brain-damaged ten-year-old, that's not too difficult.

Quinn- can you stall, while playing along?
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((basically can he be made a vegetable?))

Ziggy, Halt on the explosives. Severe miscalculations have been made.
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>>280644

Reassured that things are going according to the script he knows, Raymie extols the virtues of conversion and proclaims that he serves a God of love and kindness. The bodies of the technicians who deployed the sentry guns are still smoldering.

>>280668

(Yes, that'd be keeping him alive, not killing him, if anything)

>>280670

Building a vacuum chamber big enough to contain someone would require having a horde of very motivate rocket scientists and a lot of support staff nearby. Fortunately, that's exactly what you have available. The "bait" launch is scrubbed, and the body of the rocket's first stage is hollowed, the engine turbopump connected backwards. The support cabals use the building's window cleaning elevator to bring it to the appropriate floor.

As she listens, Quinn acknowledges your instruction to stall. She throws some rather weak objections at Raymie, for which he has a thousand and one canned answers. Thermographic survey indicates that either Raymie really isn't into voluptuous cyborg assassins who use cartoonishly flirtatious body language, or really has no sex drive.

Ziggs stops setting up us the bomb. "Fire instead? Smoke them out? Yes?"
>>
>>280670
((Hmm. I wouldn't bet on his intelligence being that small. But if we can fake cooperation enough for quinn to escape as well as Ziggy, the researchers ,and the data we could chalk it up to a few acceptable losses. But how would we get quinn away?))
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No Ziggy. Chlorophorm, were moving out for now. Have him unconscious and prepare him for transport. Also don't let the man know what quinn is.
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Quinn, keep stalling. Ziggy will come up and disable him.
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>>280698

(I would take that bet. http://mousehole-mouse.blogspot.com/search/label/Zombies%20would%20starve )


Quinn can stall this guy for hours if necesary. Raymie's father, Rayford, was in a similar situation in an Only Light base in +93, so Raymie thinks that this has to play out the same way.

>>280710

Quinn acknowledges not revealing herself to Raymie, and keeps him talking. She asks him to recite him some Bible passages; Raymie of course has the whole thing memorized. With a bit of help from your text-to-speech, she gets him to recite all the massacres that Yahweh has ordered in Bible times, but the irony is completely lost on him; instead, he tries to use this to point out his God's power and might. (I had this happen to me, it was disturbing).

Ziggy has no chlorophorm on hand, and instead burns some of the rocket fuel left over from dismantling the canopy-shaver, and fills his flamethrower with a mixture of nontoxic but inert gases. Then, he routes it through the sprinkler system of the trap room. The oxygen levels in the room start to decrease; the few fires left from the concentrated shooting die down, and Quinn quietly switches over to her internal oxygen supply. Rather than sounding slurry or drunk, as is usually the case, Raymie simply begins to slow.... his... speech... down, like a CPU going into battery save mode.
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>>280738
I have little idea what your communicating with the mouse hole. Which post am I looking for and what paragraph?
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Well, that was surprisingly easy.

Now we need to get Quinn and Ziggy out of there.
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>>280758
((Gah, out of character out of character!!))
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>>280670

The vacuum chamber gets done in about an hour. By now, Raymie is slow enough that your speech recognition system has to play his words back to itself at double rate in order to be able to correctly parse his sentences.

"I'm.. A little.. Tired, I will... sleep on... this... you can... think about... what I have taught... you?"

Raymie flops on the only intact couch. Quinn tells him that she's also a bit tired; maybe they should both sleep for a bit and then try to move the slab. Slowly, he says that she's welcome to curl up on what's left of the carpeting.

Quinn quickly checks his heartbeat - slow but steady - and snidely comment, "Him on the couch and me on the floor. Wow, what a gentleman."

# Call the shots!
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>>280759
So, we can't let him go free should we put him in another base? Life support under the rocket launch facility?
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>>280759

Ziggy can leave at any time; the slabs are indeed too heavy for Quinn, so she's trapped in a low oxygen room until your costruction workers come in. However, she can keep going without breathing for a few hours.

>>280758

(It's just a collection of posts showing how terminally dumb the characters in LB are; if you enjoy snark, check them out some time)
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Priority one seems to be 'get the construction workers in', then.

Also, please reward Quinn in some kind of demonstrable way; she deserves it.
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>>280776
Bring in construction. Tell Ziggy to remove the explosives and give him whatever counts as a bonus. Then send some docs up to keep Reymie doped up so he stays unconscious. We can put him on life support soon.
>>
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>>280774
>>280788

Ziggy finishes making the floor safe to access, and one of your few heavy MECs barrels up the stairs while the ersatz containment chamber is lowered. One of your support cabal doctors notes that, technically, getting someone out of a toxic environment and into a controlled-atmosphere chamber counts as first aid, if anything.

The MEC pnematic-punches the slab; two construction site fans are deployed to disperse the noxious fumes. Raymie by now is out cold.

Before he gets up, he's carefully stuck into the containment chamber and a modified environment suit that was going to be used for manned stratospheric tests is thrust upon him.

When he wakes up, he is sealed in a metal cylinder. You control what he can drink or eat or even breathe. Rather than gloves, the suit has mittens that contain chord keyboards; the helmet can be aligned with a porthole (it was a camera lens aperture) so that it will be possible to communicate with him via text. The job even includes rudimentary provisions for excretion, although you are not given the details.

Within the end of the "night", you have Raymie Steele, glorified missionary, locked up tight. He is very safe from any harm in there. Very, very safe.

In a few days, a more permanent arrangement is built: Raymie will remain in what's been generously called a "stasis suit", which is itself inside a big barrel that can either be emptied or filled with carbon monoxide. Apparently, giving air, water and protein shakes does not count as harm...

Eventually, he comes to. He asks what's going on.

There's a small party thrown for the victorious teams. Quinn and Ziggy are asked what they'd like.

Other than a vacation, the two eventually agree (Quinn originally wanted work to be put towards her being able to feel touch again, but Ziggy took it as a way to hit on her, even asking that his reward be a night with her) that we've really got to do something about food.

Privately, Quinn notes that she doesn't actually mind Ziggy's lechery, and would give him a chance if he stopped being so, well, animalistic over it.

"Still, you know, Omega? I'll take our animals over their automatons. Well, no offense to you. Can a supercomputer get laid?"
>>280788

That's unfortunately a problem with MECs. The procedure requires severing the pain receptors in the brain, and unfortunately, that takes away most of the ability to feel touch or pleasure. They can eat most anything, but Millennial Kingdom fare is bland, unless you do something about it (you've rediscovered Twinkies, so there's that!)
>>
The MEC thing is something we can work on, though I'm not sure how much we can do with it.

In the meantime, what's our next move?
>>
>>280889
That would be calling up the seven, we now have a LOT to drop in their laps. Especially monday who came up with the turret idea.
>>
>>280889
((About the seven, working with them is going to be very difficult. We should probably agree on how to proceed before making an deciding post when talking to them))
>>
Are the Seven our cabals or something else?
>>
>>280933
(They are the leaders of the TOL group, they have a common enemy with us ((that enemy being the biblical god and his son)) but they are largely ineffective while holding materials and cabals that we need. Spiritplumber in the next post can you show him the world map?)
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>>280889

At this point, your cabals are about split even between the living and the reanimated, so it would make a difference in quality of life.

>>280893

All of them, or just Mr. Monday?


Surprisingly, the world learns of The Only Light having captured Raymie Steele through the mouth of his father. Well past 1000 years old now, Rayford Steele is a shadow of his former self.

The telecast depicts a long, bony man with drooping jowls, liquid eyes, and no hair, weighing barely over a hundred pounds, veins prominent on the backs of his hands, bundled in a sweater despite the desert heat.

With a surprisingly clear voice, he announces that his son has been captured by The Only Light "idiots" who will no doubt make demands for his release, and wishes him great luck in showing his captors the light. There are prayer vigils. Raids are intensified. All sort of things.

This and the "friendly competition" between Beverly and Sarsour mean that your efforts in Osaze have been set back.

A satellite-minisub is developed quickly after this; planting cameras and sensors on the inside of the water canopy is a matter of production at this point. The rocket looks like a half-scale V2. A bigger rocket, building a sort of upside-down remote survey boat that can travel on top of New Jerusalem, would require more R&D work; so would a manned launch.

>>280933

"The Seven" are what passes as the TOL executive council. They seem somewhat derpy.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=left%20beyond


Raymie can be kept asleep, or woken up and allowed to communicate either by voice or by text.
>>
>>280963
All of them. As raids are intensifying were going to have to figure out how to defend ourselves against the glorified.

Keep Raymie asleep.

And you should know by derpy he means they are exceedingly complacent.
>>
>>280963

True to script, a number of contradicting demands for the release of Raymie are issued; you suspect that some have been planted. They range from "Dismantle the Millennium Force, for they are kicking our ass" to "Allow nonbelievers to visit Jerusalem" to "Ask God to let us eat meat again, since He already made one exception long ago".

# Ignore this silliness.

# Make your own demand.

One person is brought to your attention, the "doctor" (not like anyone under 100 years old is ever given a medical license or even an engineering license, but at this point, your scientists are better than the Christians') who sorted out a proper design for the stasis chamber and, as it turns out, did the preliminary work with the sonic weapons file. This person has also inundated your interface with proposals for an Angel autopsy if one is captured.

# Is this a man, a woman, or neither/both?

# Will you try to call the Council again, or just Mr. Monday?

(Sorry for the xcom references, they're just sort of fitting)
>>
>>280992
I'd say issue an anonymous statement that there are no plans for releasing Reymie as of yet.

This time just Monday.

Let the new guy decide on our new super doc.
>>
>>281004

(oops, belay my last post then)!
>>
>>281004
Oh, I though you ment that we wernt getting our conference this time. My bad. Misread the bored, cancel he Monday bit in my last post.)
>>
>>281004

You issue a statement indicating that Raymie is alive, well, and safely in custody. His father appears on TV again, gloating that Raymie is probably depleting The Only Light's ranks from the inside, and that temporarily ends the media circus about it.

>>281010

(Mildly confused now, y'all decide wether to call the council, or just Mr. Monday, please!)


>>281004

(Paul, basically, you get Villains to oversee projects. They get the projects' rsults before everyone else, and their presence on a caper means that an encounter can be roleplayed rather than justresolved strategically)
>>
>>281019
((The whole council!XD omg my bad))
>>
The doctor: a woman, let's say.

Approve her proposal, however, let's Not focus on capturing an angel right now; let's do more with the sonic weapons, if possible?

Also, agreed: call the entire council.
>>
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[[Sorry, I'm doing basically glorified-data-entry for my Sims game which means that I am as derpy as the council. @)@ ]]
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>>281045
((I can't even see what's in that picture, lol.))
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>>281024
>>281041


(I suspect that the XCOM references are what's causing the terrible rolls, mwhaahaha)

Right this moment, most cabals have gone to ground; you arrange for an eight-way teleconference. IP address geolocation isn't a thing, so you don't know where these people are, except that two of them must be in Osaze just judging by the better frame rate.

# Keep projecting your symbol

# Show someone's face

Sunday speaks first. "Ah. Yes. Omega. We are aware of your... caper. Does this mean you have finally decided to serve under us?"

>>281041

You have a brief chat with Veronica Santangelo, the person who built the chamber and was working on sonic technology. She seems elated at the prospect of getting her own research group. She's surprisingly young for her skills, in her 70s, so it will be a while before she has to go through MEC conversion.
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>>281045

(That didn't save, got a white canvas)
>>
[[Basically i messed up all the things]]
>>
So, okay! Talk to Veronica, nudge her sonic research along. Be encouraged by younger generation.

Turning attention back to the council- @ Anti, do you want to fake them out, or do you want to be honest?
>>
>>281067
I put my vote on showing Quinn and Ziggy.

As for what to say I'm gonna suggest (I'm still operating independently, however I have plenty of news, firstly, Monday. I have tested your proposal on automated weapons. To answer your rhetorical question. The engineers who set up the turrets get smote. *Show video footage of the Reymie incident.*)
>>
>>281088
((We get to vote on how to set up cabals and villain projects every year. And I agree, were going to need sonics to disable these angels and glorified.))
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>>281091
>>281076

You show a bit of static for now, and ignore Sunday for now. He looks visibly annoyed and tsk-tsks you. After showing the sentry farm ambush interspersed with the human combustion, Monday simply says, "This is why we want to put all our efforts towards the one moment when this won't happen. We must build our Army and unleash it on Jerusalem on the final day!"

>>281088

Veronica is given a workspace and what's left of the year from the cabals that pulled the Raymie stunt. In a few days, she manages to build a remarkably cool looking rotating plasma speaker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMkgQshDdcI

It doesn't do much yet, but more than one of these in a row, controlled by a computer, can cause interesting effects. For now, the early prototypes get added to the rave party kit.
>>
>>281088

(is it okay to have the four little vandals show up even though the timeline is slightly off?)
>>
Can we tell Monday *exactly* what's projected to happen if we build 'our army'?

As for Veronica, congratulate her for the speaker.

(yes, yes it is.)
>>
>>281112
Now now gentlemen. It was not a complete wash, thanks to quick thinking by Ziggy here. We were able to learn the glorified can be stopped with non lethal chemical and, as a prediction, energy weapons. *Show the footage of Reymie 's capture and stasis*
>>
>>281112
((That synchronised well))

>>281123
They already know. They don't believe us.
>>
>>281112

Monday's excuse seems to please Sunday somewhat.

>>281123

You can try, but these people are a bit... thick, from earlier interaction.

>>281125

Ziggy and Quinn's faces show up on screen, complete with fake green-lines-and-text scrolling bio that you actually got from the intro movie of the C&C game.

Showing the stasis suits elicits gasp and some whispered but animated discussions about what to ACTUALLY demand for the release, until Sunday shuts that up.

"Even now, an Angel of the Lord is coming to rescue your captive. It will happen. It would be most efficient to release him, and... try to... get something... in return."

You already know about a similar incident with Rayford Steele in +93, in which capturing the man resulted in losing a base to a number of conversions, after which the Angel Anis showed up and sent everyone home.

The difference of course is that Raymie can communicate with the outside world exactly as much or as little as you decide. You wonder what will happen if you assume direct control of his containment chamber and choke him out; can Yahweh smite a distributed intelligence?
>>
Can we create an AI that exists for the sole purpose of 'seeing whether yahweh can smite it'?
>>
>>281145

The councilmen ponder their demands; they more or less match the ones that were issued right after Raymie's capture.

>>281158

Unfortunately, no; your sentience was, as far as you can tell, a fluke. In fact, your sysadmin cabal is convinced that even just a global reset on your systems would be sufficient to "kill" you, leaving them with an advanced but non-sentient networked system. This also means that reverse engineering yourself has to be done with great care.
>>
>>281145
((Hmmnn. If he could he would have. Instead he would kill the scientist that kept him alive))

I have a preparation for that. Full MEC guard at the facility, with sonar detection gear ment to catch angels, And rooms and hallways filled with angel and glorified disabling plasma speakers.
>>
>>281168

(Sort alike "Adam Selene" from The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress).
>>
>>281168
Can we get a research tree for that?))
>>
>>281177

(Sensors, cyberwarfare, and retroflection are under the Avatar project; you already do :) The difference with that one is that you don't get a Villain, you get, well, an avatar. Powerful combat unit that causes a game over if eliminated while deployed.)

>>281173

That's definitely something that can get done; if you don't intend to release Raymie, doing it quickly would be good.

>>281145

The Councilmen wait for your answer. Sunday's opinion is that Raymie should be released "as a gesture of good will" and that asking in return for the ability to eat meat wouldn't be a bad deal. The other councilmen are a bit cowed by him, but would like to ask for more.

It strikes you that they don't seem to realize that, if anything, you should be ordering them around.
>>
>>281190
We can continue this part of the discussion in a short while. I would like to finish reporting the rest of news.

Firstly. While I have yet to breach the canopy completely, I have a way off putting submersible vehicles into it with visual equipment that would let me see a tyrants eye view of earth. In theory, I can place them anywhere even over New Jerusalem. All I need is production, and a trivial amount of production at that.
>>
Oh man, we'd best be careful with the Avatar project.

Seconding the angel-capturing.

Can we suggest to the councilmen that, since they're not working on logistics, maybe they should take a more... grand-scale role? Peter principle them into making Big Plans that we'll steadfastly ignore.
>>
>>281219
I like the way you think. But these are the kind of Nimrods that you have to make think it's their idea.
>>
>>281213

Finally you manage to get some interest out of these people. The test footage is only a few hours long, but it captures what was externally visible of Raymie's incident - not much, just Jeb's folks aborting the launch and building a containment barrel, but still. You play it back accelerated.

Monday hesitantly says that the few (but growing in number) Other Light Army rocket launchers can be used for this effort, and after a nod from Sunday, asks for the blueprints.

You've seen these test-fired; they're short range and high volume, more like hwachas on tank treads. Even so, some are set up to fire larger rockets, and it means you only have to build the "warhead", not the whole system.


>>281219

(That's definitely worth trying! Confirm?)

>>281223

Now would be a good time to pitch them, probably.

Sunday asks you if you will seek their guidance on what to do with the captive, or do your own thing.
>>
[Confirm!]

I suggest to them that we'd love to seek their guidance. Afterwards, we're going to need a grand-scale plan for what TOL plans to do in the coming years; of course, we'll continue to run logistics, so that they're not distracted with niggling day-to-day matters.
>>
>>281239
Objection. That would put us under them and their orders. I'd suggest we work as collaborative partners, seeing as that way we can't be forced to take useless and ineffective action for them and waste our time.
>>
>>281239

"We are satisfied that you have decided to cooperate with us" Sunday notes, barely giving the others time to speak. "We will reach a consensus about this".

Tuesday, the current nominal head of logistics, looks mildly worried.

As for Raymie...

Monday, the Only Light representative and head of the coming army. He's clearly a bit nuts. He recommends figuring out how to sacrifice Raymie to Satan.

Tuesday, head of logistics. He funded you, effectively, but you've pretty much made him redundant. Right now he's mostly worried about his job, and has no clear suggestions.

Wednesday, the one in charge of preventive theology, has to admit that he had no idea that this was even possible. He suggests keeping Raymie for study.

Thursday, the media guy and the one who seems the least derpy, recommends that Raymie be offered a chance to make a counter-confession. He probably will not, but just letting everyone in TOL see that you do have him will boost morale. He admits that Raymie will be rescued after an attempt at deconverting him, most likely.

Friday, the person in charge of recruiting, wants to let Raymie go as a gesture of mercy, that it may attract recruits.

Saturday, the industrial leader, wants to just let Raymie go lest Angels wreak havoc on the bases.

Sunday, the coordinator, proposes that Raymie be released if Yahweh throws a feast like the one at the beginning of the Millennium, temporarily lifting the prohibition against meat.

# Close contact and get back to work.

# Announce a decision over Raymie first, if any.

>>281249

(Well, you can also smile, nod, tell them you're working on it, and ignore them, hence why the Peter Principle bit)
>>
>>281266

(OOC note: These guys are doing low-level political warfare with the Christians, effectively distracting them from you. So they're marginally useful. Some of your staff think that they're under Yahweh's control since the prophecies say that there will be opposition and they are it, some of your staff think that they are under Satan's control for the same reasons, some of your staff think that these people are all politics and no fieldwork which is why they're derpy, and some staff are loyal but figure that you got more done in 20 years than the various figures composing the Council of Seven have in 900, so they're following you. The MECs are following you because you're the reason why, while their souls are technically in Hell, it can't hurt them as long as their bodies and brains are active)
>>
Hmm. Tell them working on it. "I have no intention of keeping him till the 1000th year. We should discuss what to do about submersible's and my current hacking into the Millennium force's coms systems first. Although I'm assuming you seven have figured out how to get into their logistics as it was far too easy."
>>
>>281294

You request a plan and Sunday assures you that you will be issued one. "Irritatingly, you can contact us, but we cannot contact you. We agree to provide direction once we have reached a consensus about it."

>>281294

Tuesday confirms that there have been instances of successful infiltration, the first being Qasim Marid in +89. However, the Christians using a data network rather than phones is a very new development. "It would be... prudent if... we only observed.... for a while.... lest they.... switch back... to the old."

As far as striking before the year 1000, you're met with blank stares and, after a few moments, twitching and sweating. "That's preposterous!" Monday exclaims.

# Cut comms and GBTW.

# Continue the meeting

# Hang up, offer your teleconference system, and listen in
>>
I vote #hang up and listen in.
>>
Give them a line to contact us as well. "You can contact me at any time. Be it 5 minutes from now or any other conceivable point of time this second forwards." Contact Tuesday privately afterwards as well.
>>
>>281319
>>281328

You clear the channel. You have no way to tell whether they know if you're listening in, but you did play a "hang up" sound.

You hear Sunday speak quietly, in a deep voice.

"We are, of course, the stalwart champions of humanity against the One Above All. This collection of machines and its puppets is likely being maneuvered by a misguided rival group making a play for power. That they are appearing effective should not distract us. We will provide guidance, but remain in control."

General assent. The other councilmen seem antsy.

"What.... about... the missionary?"

Sunday answers.

"The Lord moves in mysterious ways. We must not be eager to take a step forward so that He may push us three back. But, a feast... He is likely to allow. It would be a symbolic victory for us."

There are some murmurs of assent.

"We are all agreed then, that this matter was too trivial for us to convene over it?"

"Sure. A useful tool thinking that it is more than a means to an end."

"Humanity is the end. Machines are just machines. What matters are soldiers, not the weapon they wield."

Sunday speaks again. "Does this matter require... a vote?"

The murmuring this time is more on negative tones.

Thursday asks when was the last time that a vote had been needed. Some paper rustling and some PDA beeping, then Sunday again speaks. Did you hear Thursday whimper? "Details. Let's focus on the bigger picture. We can all check the minutes later for such... minutiae. Monday, how proceeds the raising of the Army of the Other Light?"

Monday gives a brief report in terms of number of troops estimated to be ready by year +1000, of stockpiled rifles, jeeps, tanks and the like.

"Tuesday, is the Army of the Other Light well equipped?"

Tuesday gives figures that you know more intimately than he ever will.

Each of the other Seven gives a report. You get the impression that other than the numbers, they've said the same words many times.

Sunday closes. "Excellent. I commend all of you for the work you have done. Our direction is set; we must keep cooperating with each other, for the future of humanity."

Assent.

"We are of one mind about this. The way forward is clear."

Five minutes later, you contact Tuesday. He turns off the video quickly; he's in a sweat, and has taken off the custom tailored suit and probably washed his face three times. The video comes back on when he puts the suit back in place, clearly hastily.

"Omega? T-This is Tuesday. I hear you. We- We will have a strategic plan for you soon, I think."
>>
[[I've got to call it for the night. ]]
>>
Tuesday. We both know TOL won't have a true plan, and we both know I can already handle your job better. I don't want your job. I need your assistance. I need your help, and I'm more than capable of improving your quality of life for it, as compensation.

You will also enjoy the benifit of me doing most of the work for you.
>>
>>281377
Ok then. See ya! Do come again! :D ))
>>
>>281378

"I hear you."

>>281377

(Want to call it or continue?)
>>
((I can go on. But that's your call as GM))
>>
>>281389

(Let's wrap up this bit and let me do the year summary)

Tuesday continues. "Yesterday was my ninety-eight birthday I am the second oldest person on the Council. I have... doubts. I worked hard for this position, and enjoyed its privileges. But... Hell is... terrifying."
>>
>>281392
And it can't be experienced when your a MEC. You will keep your personality, body, and mind in tact but your soul is still going to be in hell. None of my personal who have made the conversion to this system successfully have reported any experience of hell upon revivication. I can afford you this but I cant guarantee it will work. There's a miniscule chance your body will reject the system. I can grant you a different reward if you object.

What I need from you is a missle silo to move my men in Japan to after we abandon the base Reymie is in. I'll also need to coordinate TOL to construct the submersible's. I can manage the movements. I just need you to play mouthpiece.
>>
>>281404

"That is not what... my sources... tell me."

To be fair, there's a lot of misinformation around the MEC program.

"I would... have to quit, right?"

"Missile silo... There are a few in California.Small, but deep. You can relocate there. We've barely reclaimed the base there anyway. What will you do with the missionary?"

Tuesday seems a lot less agitated and has stopped sweating.
>>
>>281420
I gurentee you, this is true. And you wouldn't have to quit if you serve as an example that the system works. The process can be documented like some of the others, you can also bring your own guards if you believe I'm deciving you.

The missionary will be released after I turn the facility into a maze to test angels defensive and evasive capabilities. He will be the cheese for the rat that shows up.

I'll have men move to set up the space program, as well as the Packet team on California's silo. the region will also reap the benefits of my research.
>>
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>>281431

By the end of the current year, you manage to complete the move with minimal losses. A skeleton crew (literally; you handpick the MECs with the fewest organic components) keeps guard over the ruined skyscraper, the bottom floors of which are turned into a complicated maze full of various weapon and hazard types. Veronica sets down a bizarre cross between a deejay's booth and a whole-body motion capture rig in a nearby building, so that she can control the sonic weapon prototypes herself.

You have 7 cabals; your sysadmins find themselves mildly inundated by TOL leadership requests since you opened communications, but manage to deflect most of them.

SPECIAL: Neutralizing an Angel is going to be extremely difficult, and there is no way to tell how many assets you will need to succeed. This program will require a great deal of personal attention.

At minimum, Veronica and her support cabal will be assigned to the project.

# Allocate more assets and go for the gold.

# Go for the minimalist approach and focus on obtaining data, seeing what parts of the maze the Angel will have a problem with, rather than on actual capture or kill.
>>
((is that all for tonight?))
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>>281431
>>281460


(Going to bed now but here's the summary post as a reminder. If you have OOC questions, ask I'm up for another 30min or so)

Ziggy and Quinn understand that bagging an Angel has priority, but lament that spicy food no longer exists. If you do not put everyone to work on the Angel project, here are your options.

Complexity 1 (auto success):

# Send a cabal to a region you have no presence in, to see what unique opportunities that region offers.

# Take advantage of discovered opportunties.

Osaze: Sabotage or harass a Hero, reducing their effectiveness.

Japan: Put an Angel through your test chamber, obviously, see above.

Complexity 2 (50/100 success):

# Initiate or further research.

# Produce MECs at a base. This adds one dot to the MEC cabal counter per base. All your base can work on this (2 bases = 2 counter ticks).

# Produce Sky Eyes at a base. This gives you full surveillance over two territories. Adding cabals to this will improve yield (3 for 3, 4 for 4 etc).

# Use a base to produce propaganda and infrastructure to bring a territory under your control. You will have to regain some ground in Osaze. (Osaze: 4/5, ready for takeover; Northwestern America: 1/5)

# Recruit from TOL. This raises TOL suspicion towards you.

Complexity 3 jobs available (33/66/100 success):

# Continue pursuing MEC research. Past 7/10 this will become a complexity 4 job.

# Continue pursuing space research. Due to the Space Race rule, you can only allocate two cabals for this for a 66% chance of improvement.

# Attempt to neutralize a Hero using your cabals to set the stage and one of your MECs to deliver the killing blow. NOTE: Sarsour and Beverly are not Glorified, and can be terminated.

Complexity 4 jobs available (25/50/75/100 success):

# Recruit from the general unbelieving population, this has the advantage of not generating TOL suspicion towards you.

Complexity 5 jobs available (20/40/60/80/100 success):

# Estabilish a base in a region where you have no contact, just by finding a suitable location and moving in.

SPECIAL

Get that Angel! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj6-LG5VpGk
>>
((got a specific time you would like to resume or is it whenever you want to?))
>>
>>281469

(My prbolem is that my work hours are all over the place. Tomorrow I should be around in the evening EST)
>>
((ah, I sympathize with that problem. See ya then.))
>>
>>281484
>>281377


(thank you!!!)
>>
>>281463

(You can also allocate 4 cabals to the space program research)
>>
((Still have six cabals. Before I start weighing pros and cons, when engineers who worked on turrets started exploding, was it just the ones who placed the guns or was it also the designers and the ones who set up the control system for me?))
>>
((also, for some reason. I pictured the move to the new silo the other night, what started as a duet of this became a massive musical number XD

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bnXbWRg1UOg ))
>>
>>282118

It was the ones who placed and activated the guns. On this second test run, just in case, the lethal systems have been all set up by one person, who volunteered for it...

# ... and who you'll put in a sort of fishbowl, with an air hose, for the duration of the test.

# ... and who you'll push towards retirement and conversion between the time the systems are deployed and the time the test is run.

# ... and who knows the risk, so no further action is required.
>>
>>282148
Let him live comfortably but isolated. Offer the fishbowl if he wants it but just have a trailer parked near the beach with whatever he request within reason and a small group of maybe 4 men ready to rush him to MEC resurrection should he be salvageable.
>>
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>>282174

In the Millennial Kingdom, the sea is one of the few interesting places left -- of course hurricanes and thunderstorms are gone, unless Yahweh specifically directs them, so sea travel has become a routine job, but even so, marine life has managed to come back from the Tribulation's plagues and refill the oceans. It's no coincidence that the New Earth will have "no more sea" according to the prophecies.

A simple compromise is reached by which this particular technician will be given a small houseboat, scuba tanks at the ready, and be told when the test begins so that he may jump in the water and stay there for up to a full two days. A medical team stands by and, as it stands, enjoys the semi-vacation.

You briefly ponder an exodus into the oceans.

The Sky Eye release candidate looks like a cross between a satellite and a submarine; it can deploy a solar-panel ribbon, uses active homeostasis to stay at the canopy's surface, and can move around a little bit. It's about the size of a small dog.
>>
>>282204
Send the blueprints to the seven, provide Tuesday with the logistic needs to create the production project. This seems to be one of the few projects they actually want to see work. ((If it put four cabals on sonics research would it progress twice?))
>>
>>282245

(No, sorry! You can't hire 9 women to get a baby in 1 month...)

For once, TOL leadership is responsive; Sky Eyes will be deployed, without any extra work from you, in areas where TOL already has a base. This will make it immensely easier to dodge raids.

# Have Jeb help out with this effort, making him unavailable for the year but guaranteeing its success.

# Jeb is more useful elsewhere.


Angel bait time! Who is all going to be working on this project, other than Veronica and her workgroup? With just that, it's a virtual guarantee that Raymie and the summoned Angel will escape, but some data will be collected.

Some of your sysadmins, just for fun, decide to make a videogame inspired by the "enrichment center".

https://sites.google.com/site/punblockedgames/portal-2d

# Veronica will control the sonar systems; low power for detection in case the Angel goes invisible, high power for disruption.

# Quinn wants to confront the Angel directly. That's dangerous, but as far as she can tell from having read the Bible, it's not okay to shoot Angels, but they do get occasionally beaten in hand to hand combat.

# Ziggy has an exhaustive list of flame, gas, and acid traps to test out, if you allow it.

# Jeb wants to see if Angels can fly in a vacuum.

The more people working on this, the more testing chambers can be installed before Raymie is allowed to wake up.
>>
>>282269
Heheheheheheh. Ok, have 3 Cabals. Quinn will be on standby with Veronica in the control room. V has control of basic sonar systems, Ziggy's designs will be installed, the lethal will be manned by me again. Quinn would be deployed into the final chamber, which would contain a neutrazing wall of sound on the inside. Her access tunnel will be collapsible so she can make a clean escape with the others. Ziggy will handle the collapse system.
>>
Jeb will assist TOL in the satalites project. If we catch the angel he can work with the others to create the test. The two cabals not working will developer sonics, one final cabal will investigate the West coast further.
>>
>>282301

Quinn spends the first months of the year training in hand to hand combat.

# Focus on a wrestling-like style that centers on grapples, pins and therapeutic holds, and synergises with her heavy-like configuration.

# Focus on what, given her joint range and the fact that she can push her muscles and her servos to the limit without fear of injury, ends up looking a lot like wire-fu except without the wires, and synergises with her infiltrator configuration.

Ziggy spends all his time setting up various fire, acid, gas and even radioactive traps for the lower levels of the installation. These are then turned on by Mr. Malaussene Jospin, the technician, before he goes on his houseboat "vacation".

Veronica spends half the work time teaching herself how to be a DJ, which would irritate a human boss. However, she does so systematically, learning how to cause resonances and counterresonances on the fly using the enrichment center's plasma speakers. You have to veto throwing a rave in the building, for fear of attracting attention. The Daft Punk helmet that Veronica comes up with is actually a collection of thermographic, infrared, ultraviolet and sonar sensors fed into a pair of small LCD screens.

As an AI, you lack the inspiration to do what Veronica is doing, but you record her speaker placements and associated beats. The two cabals working on sonic research assist Veronica remotely, using some of your CPU time for doing the math.

Large scale heterodyning plasma speakers are possible, and your research team doesn't know why CATS' plan did not work; at least the speaker trucks look feasible eventually. As it is, they develop a handheld version that looks like a taser pistol coupled with a collar-mounted microphone; for now it can "only" deafen and disorient a target without affecting anyone else. The operator reports feeling somewhat weird during use, probably from their forearm bones vibrating.

They assure you that the hardware is basically perfected already - the basic principles were formalised in the 1960s. With greater machining precision and more software work, through sound and motion your agents will be able to paralyze nerves, shatter bones, set fires, suffocate an enemy or burst his organs.

Your data banks indicate that you've heard that before.

Over the course of the year, Jeb visit each and every TOL base and supervises the construction of a Sky Eye launcher. Two launchers are lost to confiscation, but not before seeding the water canopy with the little sub-satellites. Christian media deride the Other Light's failed efforts to breach the water canopy.

A scout cabal is sent to the Pacific Northwest and return with little of interest except some very weird vampire stories that have propagated through the century; a proper survey of the area indicate that there's nothing to it. (Territory already explored)
>>
>>282314

It's showtime. Maybe Raymie will be home for Christmas. Maybe he'll be joined in captivity - a second containment chamber has been built, just in case.

# Wake up Raymie and let him out of the containment. He's still imprisoned in a cell, of course, but can move around. The cell is in fact a small elevator with room for only one person, just so that the Angel will have to complete the obstacle course even if it does spawn next to Raymie.

# Wake up Raymie, keep him trapped, allow him to speak - he will pray for help and likely get it.

# Wake up Raymie, keep him trapped, keep the feeding tube in place. You can then communicate via text for a few minutes before he figures out how to spit the feeding tube out.

# Abort.

Mr. Malaussene decides to put the scuba gear on, just in case; the medical team is standing by. The houseboat is in a small quay in what used to be southern France or northwestern Italy.
>>
> Quinn: focus on wire-fu. It's probably going to be more useful to have an infiltrator on staff.

Can we get a base in the Pacific NW?
>>
>>282421

There is (see map); it's where the Tokyo folks have evacuated to. The plan is to use the "enrichment center" building in Tokyo once, then abandon it, since its location will be known to the Jerusalem government.

See map on >>281453
>>
Keep him in the elevator cell. Fake apologize for it. But dont tell him anything.

I agree with the wire-fu and let's give quinn a pulsar pistol. Just keep it off the lethal setting at all times.
>>
((if quinn or the angel don't shout "Toucan Safari!" I will be disappointed :') ))
>>
>>282447

(What's a pulsar pistol? The personal sonic weapon is still in development. Quinn has a taser, of course - it's actually built into her forearm. She prefers her whip, which this year is a bundle of CAT5 cables tied together to make a cat o' nine tails.)

Raymie is let go. There are pneumatic hisses as the containment chamber is drained of carbon monoxide, and an inrush of air through the elevator door when the chamber opens. Raymie steps out and promptly bangs his head on the chamber lid, takes out the helmet and gloves, but otherwise stays in the suit. He turns the lights on in the elevator, tries the buttons (they light up, but aren't connected to anything anymore, obviously), and rather than praying for help, he tries the emergency intercom first.

"Quinn? Are you still there? Did you kick me off the couch? The elevator's busted and I was in this weird vertical garbage can thing!" He looks at the suit.

"Wait, what's going on, what's with the spaceman costume?" He bangs at the door. "Hello? Is there anyone there? Am I in space? What's going on!"

>>282458

(lol)
>>
>>282421
((Mind if I keep up the talking or do you want to try this one?))
>>
[[Right now, I'm completely exhausted. Can you keep up the talking for a bit? ]]
>>
>>282480
((As you wish))
>>
Raymie Steele. The facility you are in has be abandoned. You have been my captive, but you have been well taken care of. You will in all likelihood be set free but this requires a third party, I have no intention of providing such myself.

This is not an act of TOL if it were you would have been released longer ago. Please, remain calm and carry on. One year has passed since your captivity. Have a pleasant evening.
>>
>>282468
((Thought personal weapon would Indicate some kind of small arms stun weapon. Guess it's currently a bulky rifle. Or something at the moment.))
>>
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>>282501

".... what? A year? My mom's going to be worried sick- no, she's Glorified, she's fine... My dad's going to be worried sick! Who are you! Are you the devil! Let me out now!"

>>282508

(Right now, the sonic weapon looks a bit like a PKE meter from Ghostbusters, connected to a microphone to let the user's voice modulate the base output, and to a battery pack that can be worn where the user likes. It works, but it will need to be made resistant to field conditions - right now it may get one or two shots out before a wire comes loose, or it gets banged against a surface and goes out of tune)
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>>282519
I'm sorry Reymie I'm afraid I can't do that.
>>
[[ Heeeeeee. ]]
>>
((play some pre-rapture music backwards and tell him that we require his assitance in detecting demonic phrasing hidden within))
>>
>>282545
((Heh heh.))
>>
>>282519

(Yes, that's the weirding module from the 1984 Dune movie. I figure if we're going to have a sonic weapon in this game it might as well look stylish!)

Veronica and Quinn are in a nearby building, the first with the controls to the sound system, the second with a bit too much adrenaline in her system and a direct route to the testing chambers.

>>282526


Raymie bangs on the door for a bit longer, but eventually calms down and drops on his knees.

"Lord, give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change..."

He's taking this surprisingly well.

You count to sixty, and no, he's not, he's freaking out and begging God for help in between banging his head on the elevator doors.

"We got activity!"

Sure enough, a tall man of indeterminate age appears, out of thin air, next to where the elevator is. He's tall, with no facial hair, looking remarkably, well, Aryan, and wearing what looks like a karate gi. His body temperature is exactly average for a human being, but it's the same all over, including the hair.

When he touches the outside of the elevator door, the elevator drops. Raymie screams.

The emergency brakes work as they should; unless he can teleport again, the supposed Angel is going to have to run the gauntlet to the ground floor to free Raymie.

>>282545

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/44/Hell_Awaits_backwards.ogg

You play back a few well-selected chords. Raymie plugs his ears, and shouts a very poor rendition of the Lord's Prayer in response, interspersed with "LA LA LA I'M NOT LISTENING!"

The walls of the angel trap are covered in sensors, data starts to come in.

# Let the Angel run the gauntlet.

# Deploy Quinn immediately


Since the drop happened (there were various possibilities for this) the Angel is going to have to get through, in this order: a maze made out of sped-up exercise walkers and small escalators to walk against;

a few behavioral puzzles, like extracting a key fob from a plexiglass tube with no tools but an available water source;

a floor full of rooms that can be flooded with various dazzling light and sound effects;

fire traps, gas traps, acid traps;

a neutron emitter;

a sentry gun nest that the Angel can avoid by visually cloaking, but after sixty seconds the sentries turn their sonars on;

an arena room with, optionally, Quinn to face him;

a reverse-trap room full of spikes and blinking lights but actually nothing dangerous in it.

Do you have a particular order in mind for these?
>>
>>282545

A few more songs, and Raymie is a sobbing wreck. You're not playing loud enough to hurt his ears, just, he's been always taught to be afraid of this sort of thing, so now he is.
>>
# I say make the angel run the gauntlet, and put the arena room at the end.
>>
>>282593

(To clarify: You can selectively open and close floors to decide the order in which these test happens. The Angel may be able to teleport, or pass through walls, or just be strong enough to break the blast doors, in which case this is moot, but THAT would in itself be very useful data)
>>
Attempt to communicate with the Angel. (I want to generate as much data as possible)
>>
>>282604
Let's start with a silly willy coyote trick with a plank of wood. Then the first of three sound devices. The sound devices in theory should disable his invisibility if he uses it and render goods narrative powers inert if successful.
>>
>>282661
((Oh sorry. You posted a list. I had to go afk.))
>>
Final vote for room 1 from me. The lights and sounds test.
>>
>>282624

The room that the Angel is in, is empty; there's a door to the next one. Interestingly, the Angel isn't wearing shoes. No wings, not that you can detect anyway -- the chamber with the neutron source should give you an approximate X-ray of the being.

It looks at the elevator doors, tries to open them, and is presented with an iron slab that folded down to block the shaft after the elevator fell. It's ignoring you, so far, as if it wasn't hearing you.

It opens the door without problems. The next room goes to a small ladder downwards, leading to (first actual test chamber here, please pick). Veronica is a little miffed, and also tries to poke at the Angel verbally. This time, the Angel reacts. "Silence, woman! If you must speak, tell me where Raymie Steele is."

Ziggy, ever the white knight, cuts in and berates the Angel. "Do not bother me, child!"

- The Angel seems to not be able to hear you, an AI.
- The Angel seems to be profoundly mysoginist.
- The Angel seems to think Ziggy is annoying, which means it's not completely solipsistic.

>>282661

Getting to the ladder requires walking over a very basic raised plate, a slightly more sophisticated version of the classic stepping on a rake gag. The Angel steps on it, and lets the wooden plank almost hit him on the nose, but stops it with a hand first. You play that back in slow motion.

- The Angel has excellent, but not perfect, reflexes. Quinn notes that it's faster than her.
- The Angel's movements were purely reactive.

>>282675

(OK! Anyone else?)
>>
>>282624
Agree on communicating with the angel. They're probably going to do nothing of importance, but it might be worth it if we can get heaven divided against itself.

>282675

Agreed. Let's do this thing. Fireworks are go.
>>
>>282685

You'd have to relay it through someone - the Angel cannot hear you, or is pointedly ignoring you. Movement analysis indicates that either it's really, really good at ignoring being addressed, or it literally is unable to parse words coming from an AI. This may be why you're in business at all...

# Relay a message through Veronica, an unsaved girl.

# Relay a message through Ziggy, an unsaved boy.

# Relay a message through Quinn, an abomination against nature.

# What will you say?

>>282685

(Please y'all pick the next test chamber! The order isn't important, but if the Angel is killed by something, or manages to break the tests, the other tests won't run, obviously)
>>
I vote the sentry gun nest. See what the angel's capable of.

#Relay a message through Ziggy and/or Quinn. Ziggy might get blasted, but the angel might be more likely to listen.
>>
# Use our recording of the captive reading bible quotes to construct questions for the Angel, perhaps even blasphemous messages. Try and make them seamless because the Angel is most likely super sensitive to sound.
>>
I vote we have quinn talk to it. Have her request a sparing match in the final test ground.
>>
>>282709
Let's hold on the sentry guns for the final portions. Don't want to blow our 1 laboratory early.
>>
>>282711

WAIT I LOVE THIS IDEA. Let's do that instead. No one dies.
>>
>>282699

>a floor full of rooms that can be flooded with various dazzling light and sound effects

This was and will be my vote for room one

>>282726
I agree that's pretty smart.
>>
>>282711
>>282709

At hearing Bible quotes, the Angel simply answers that the Devil can quote Scripture to his own ends. At hearing mangled quotes in Raymie's voice, the Angel stops in confusion for a moment. "Ours is not to understand, but to obey." He proceeds down the ladder.

- The Angel either does not understand audio splicing, or has been given a mission and will execute it regardless of personal taste.

# Have Quinn issue the challenge, or not, during a quiet time through the next test?

(Light-and-sound dazzle test then!)
>>
>>282730

The Angel climbs the ladder quickly. The door to the next room is armored, and when it touches it, a timer starts counting down from five minutes. It paces around. There are a few items of flimsy furniture in the room.

The Angel is bombarded with dazzling lights of various kinds, from supercharged disco balls, to diode lasers, to movie studio quality strobe lights. Then, all sort of discordant sounds; white noise, a moment of silence followed by a simulated crash behind the Angel to measure startling, a mp3 from an old Rick Astley song, all manner of things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPVTvxwrkC0

- The Angel is completely impervious to light-based systems; even shining a laser engraver directly in its eyes willl make it look away, but it will not suffer eye damage.

- The Angel does not get startled by sudden sounds, but seems to have a harder time walking around in the presence of extreme loudness; it even stubs a toe on a chair leg, although there's no damage either and it doesn't limp afterwards.

- Dazzling the Angel is overall marginally possible; sound works better than light, and the Angel recovers almost instantly, but will be disoriented WHILE the dazzling is going on. A flashbang grenade won't help, while a continuous source of very bright light or noise will, with the latter being more efficient.

# There's a screen in the elevator. Let Raymie see what's going on, or not.

# Have Quinn issue the challenge, or not, during one of the quiet intervals.
>>
>>282757
To quote someone else. Why not both.
Have quinn specify its a sparing match.
>>
# Let Raymie see what's going on, I vote.
Also, let Quinn issue the challenge.

Can we do the behavioral puzzles next?
>>
>>282763
Agreed. Behavior puzzles.
>>
I also vote that we have Raymie listen to some black label society. (The fact that it's a band who's members are Christians and he will still be freaking out is going to make me laugh)
>>
>>282762
>>282763

The last thirty seconds of the timer have no overstimulation, to see what the Angel's recovery time is; unfortunately for you, it's pretty much negligible.

Quinn takes the microphone. "Hey Dickless! What say you try and get through me before you get your boyfriend back? Just go a couple rounds and he's all yours. I'll go easy on you." She's not nearly as confident as she sounds, from what data you have so far, but puts up a good front. The Angel actually stops moving for a moment.

"Your fate is sealed, damned soul. The Lake of Fire is for eternity. How will you crawl out and challenge me?"

"I'm in the building, numb nuts."

"You lie! Begone!" Well, technically Quinn is in the next building, so the Angel is right.

>>282763
>>282767

And that's the timer for this room. The next one contains various behavioral puzzles intended to test sense of direction, problem solving skills, and the like.

(I don't see why not! I know a few, but suggestions welcome!)

>>282775

(Lol. Sounds good if no objections? Raymie missed the whole Millennium Force thing, to boot. Also, y'all tell me on whether to show Raymie how his rescuer is doing)
>>
>>282788
I say show him. But only after each test Ending.
>>
Post am audio mashup of Raymie saying "I renounce my faith in Christ and accept Satan into my heart. Get behind me servant of Yahweh."
(I have a suspicion that Angels are simply preprogrammed constructs and that the visibility of Yaweh is limited.)
>>
>>282798

The next test is a simple maze - by necessity, it's small. Lights turn on and off interval to change shadow angles, to make it harder to remember orientation.

The Angel doesn't try any of the usual strategies to keeping track of direction, and instead walks right through it, picking the optimal path to where Raymie currently is.

Next up is a classic behavioral puzzle: there's a door with clear indication that it will open with a key fob, which is in a transparent plexiglas tube, too long for an arm or even a leg to reach in. Nearby is a water fountain. The key fob is tied to a ping pong ball, so it will float. Interestingly, a similar test (with food as a reward, rather than a key) was done to humans and chimps and on average the chimps figured it out before the humans. The Angel tries to uproot the tube; there are strain gages in the base of it. It doesn't budge... but barely. Quinn is watching the Angel move, trying to get an idea of how to fight it; Veronica is busy with the controls; this leaves Ziggy to read the displays.

"Ziggy, what does the strain gage say about its torque level?"

"It's over nine thousand newtons!"

"What? That's almost a ton! There's no way that can be right."

Eventually, the Angel solves the puzzle by blowing into the tube like it was a trumpet - the base shatters after a few seconds. Veronica records the waveform for future use.

The next puzzles are similar, and the Angel clears them in a time that is on the upper end of the human average.

- The Angel either has an internal compass or location system, or is just that lucky.
- The Angel seems to think that the best solution to a problem is to forego cleverness and apply strength.
- The QM is really scraping the barrel when it comes to memes.
>>282798

(Anyone else for or against?)

>>282821

"What? We both know you can't mean it, Raymie. Are you trying to deceive our captors?"
>>
>>282847
Without letting Reymie know what we played the angel, we give him a minute of communication with it.
>>
(Hmmm, that's interesting. I wonder if we can fool the Angel with recreated imagery. I don't think we could produce a video of a grainy simulated image/video of Raymie perhaps for fornicating with a goat. Something to convince the Angel that it's quarry has sinned. We'd need to make Raymie pass out so he can't keep praying. Perhaps a way to break an Ascended.)
>>
>>282869

Raymie sees the Angel on screen; the being is going through the tests, brute-forcing a few of them but not all. He tells it that he fell, and is told that it knows exactly where Raymie is, to be strong, pray in silence, and be not deceived by evil tricks. That causes a bit of amusement in the control room.

Eventually, the Angel reaches the behavioral test floor's final door; a text LCD informs it that it has scored within the 95% percentile and it must be the pride of <insert hometown here>.

# What is the next test?

>>282885

You've let out Raymie off the containment room, it'd be hard to get him in - it was hard the first time. You'd have to deploy people into the test chambers, which would require shutting down some of the tests. You can generate fake video, but not very well; audio is easier.
>>
>>282885
((I was wondering when someone was going to reference a broken set of characters like the ascended or exalted. But we don't really have the footage of Raymie to work with. And it would take to long to produce a fake goat fucking.))
>>
>>282905
I vote the reverse traps.
>>
>>282906

Can we get another staff member who looks suitably like Raymie from behind, and isn't averse to nasty business?
>>
>>282927

Raymie is Glorified... it's very hard to fake that look. However, if you're just going for a back of the head shot, yes.
>>
>>282927
I'm against it. Also why does Ziggy come to mind, even though he looks nothing like Reymie?
>>
>>282940

While you do keep sexual orientation and gender identity on file for TOL personnel (as a logistics system, it helps for prioritizing evacuations and distributing what little HRT medicine can be produced) you don't know whether Ziggy has had sexual relations with a goat. You suspect that he's at least tried, thoigh.
>>
((I think angels follow a similar yet slightly different set of rules to the glorified. Do we have a kinda "races" page on the wiki?))
>>
>>282985

(Not yet, in fact if I am to be honest, this is helping me fill one out! You're more or less correct. I'm going by the Left Behind books, but in most of them, nobody even considers fighting an Angel, they just either ignore it, sort of do what it says as if it was their own idea, or pass out at its sight).

The Angel so far has cleared the dazzler chamber, and the behavioral puzzle chamber. The experimental sound weapons are in the room with the sentries.

fire traps, gas traps, acid traps;
a neutron emitter;
a sentry gun nest;
an arena room with, optionally, Quinn to face;
a reverse-trap room full of spikes and blinking lights but actually nothing dangerous in it.

Raymie is following the Angel's instructions and praying quietly so far. He can see it, but it can't see him.
>>
I vote the reverse trap room.
>>
>>283007
>a reverse-trap room full of spikes and blinking lights but actually nothing dangerous in it.
Still has my vote.
>>
>>282920
>>283017

The next room looks dangerous: there are red flashing lights on various boxes, cubes with sharp angles strewn about, and spikes on the floor and ceiling like stalactites and stalagmites. The lights come off at intervals. However, there are no traps or active elements.

The Angel walks right across, sometimes with its feet just barely touching a spike or an exposed power wire; it moves without hesitation, even during a lights-out period.

"Wow, this guy's like a ninja or something" Ziggy interjects.

- The Angel moves very gracefully, almost perfectly so. It doesn't seem to use active echolocation if it's had a chance to observe the room first. Coupled with the simple trap in the very first room, this indicates that it's used to moving through static environments regardless of perceived danger.

"I was going to say Tolkien elf" Veronica types in.
>>
>>283043

The Angel is making some progress, unaware or uncaring of the fact that it's being monitored. Raymie continues to pray, which has no measurable effect on your sensors.

This was the last nonlethal test; Malaussene has been told that the test is in progress and has decided to go diving; a medical team with a MEC kit is nearby.

>fire traps, gas traps, acid traps;

>a neutron emitter;

>a sentry gun nest;

>an arena room with, optionally, Quinn to face.
>>
I'd say chemical traps. See what works. See what won't.
>>
>>283086

The next floor is almost entirely Ziggy's brain child; Quinn insisted in going through it, partly as a challenge, partly as... whatever those two do. She completed the course in eight minutes, but needed a new pair of boots and feet afterwards.

Quite simply, the "room" is a serpentine corridor covered with sprayers for flame, liquid nitrogen, hydrochloric acid, and patches of carbon monoxide held in place by laminar flow to act as a fire break. The sprayers come on or off in a pseudorandom sequence and are wide enough that just running for it won't work. In some places, very hot metal plates made of stovetops connected together do mandate running, or very long jumps.

The Angel starts walking down the corridor at a sustained but unhurried pace. Come to think of it, you've seen it sprint maybe once throughout the test.

- Angels seem to be either fearless, or very stupid.
>>
Hmmnn make it solve a riddle at the exit door. Let's see how cognitive they are, if he spends more than 10 minutes. Open it.
>>
>>283218

Rather than trying to just run for it, or analyzing the pattern of the sprayers, the Angel simply walks through them. His feet are unaffected by the hot plates, the flames seem to just go through him, there is no detected reaction from the carbon monoxide (although scans indicate that it's breathing normally) and all the acid manages to do is eat through its clothing, showing that yes, Angels in fact do have a lot in common with Ken dolls in addition to the bland good looks.

By this point, Quinn was a bit singed, but hale (as hale as you can be when you're undead anyway).

One odd thing happens; a few of the corners have no camera monitoring, simply because the acid canisters require room around them and there was no safe way to install wiring. When the Angel comes back in sensor range, it is fully clothed again.

- Angel clothing is in some manner part of the being.

After having stomped through the gauntlet, the Angel is faced with the door; you flush the carbon dioxide away, but do not open the door. Authoritatively, the Angel yanks on the door handle -- it holds, although the entire frame rattles.

# Formulate a riddle!

# Decide who will relay it to the Angel. Raymie is an option, so's piping in a human or MEC agent that isn't one of your Villains.

So far, Mr. Malaussene has not been lightning-bolted or incinerated. One of the members of the medical team has also put on scuba gear and is on the shallows, holding his hand.
>>
It needs to be an uncommon riddle. Maybe try a Weird Logic one to see if it can think outside the linear box? Something like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EU8Cs1Jchw
>>
>>283263

(That's awesome, hilarious, and disturbing at the same time and now I gotta learn more about it)
>>
>>283295

(( It's from a movie called MirrorMask! It's Dave McKean's baby- the artist who works with Neil Gaiman most often- and Neil wrote the script. Basically the insane lovechild of Coraline and Labyrinth, with a heavy side dose of surrealism.))
>>
((im not actually good at creating riddles. The best I have done is make a joke comparing the sun o an erection.))
>>
>>283332

(That would actually work pretty well)
>>
What starts hanging low in the beginning. Swells high in the middle of its purpose. And goes down as it finishes.

Spoken by Omega himself and if no response is given, quinn.
>>
(I just realized. That also works for the temperature.)
>>
(guess we're on break. Good timing two, dnd game started.))
>>
[[Sorry, I'm trying to be an adult and not shirk all my responsibilities.]]
>>
((not really the place to ask. Bit is it a good thing if in your first and group the bard or equivalent trys to basically scam a party member, gets about four of us sent to prison including herself, and after getting off Scot free by way of DMs minion I still wamt to keep going?)
>>
>>284426
(First dnd group*)
>>
(Very very sorry - work stuff happened. NASA called. They kinda have priority!)

>>283359

The Angel doesn't seem to be able to assign meaning to the sounds your synthesized voice utters, but answers Quinn. "The answer won't get you out of hell. Let me pass!"

Quinn answers "I'm out of Hell already. You can see for yourself if you like."

The Angel doesn't take the bait and again demands that the door be opened.

Quinn patiently explains that the door will only open if the riddle is answered. The Angel says that she's lying, and commands the door to unlock. The door unlocks, and immediately after, the servo installed on the lock locks it again. This repeats a few more times, with Quinn, Veronica and Ziggy outright mocking the Angel at this point.

That, likewise, seems to have no effect on the being.

"Raymie is at the end of this maze" Veronica finally says "you will be unable to open the door and complete your mission if you do not utter an answer."

The Angel stops for a moment, lowers its head, and answers that there are many things that fulfill that requirement.

"Any one you choose will do."

"Girl, I will answer you, if you consider repentance."

Veronica sighs. "Yes, fine. Right, wording. Thou hast my word of honor."

"She lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose semen was like that of horses."

"... Excuse me?!?"

"No, that's actually a Bible verse."

"Do we take the answer?"

- Angels don't seem to be very good at negotiating.
- It would be nice if it was possible to administer a Turing test, which, of course, you pass with flying colors. But that doesn't look feasible.
- Veronica had been told to not talk until she told the Angel where Raymie was and, in retrospect, she realized she ended up doing just that.

# Let the Angel through to the next chamber, and pick the next chamber.

# Stall.


>>284426

(Yes, that's fairly normal, and enjoy yourself!!!)
>>
>>285262
(Once again. YOU DONT HAVE TO APOLOGIZE FOR WORK! And NASA? Damn, I thought they were busy doing non physical projects.)

Let it pass. Good enough, we know what it ment. They seem incapable of answering if it means "sinning"
>>
>>285338

(The link to my workshop's website is actually on the wiki, check our stuff out if you like. We do one-off designs for various people. NASA generally gets a discount because we like to be able to say that we do work for them)

>>285338

The Angel passes through the door onto the next ladder. What awaits it on the next floor?

>a neutron emitter;

>a sentry gun nest;

>an arena room with, optionally, Quinn to face.
>>
>>285343
Let's go for sentrynest. I have an idea for it as well to yield max results.

When the guns go off the ballistics will go off a fraction of a second before the sonics. To determine if its bullet proof and if so do sonics compare that invulnerability?
>>
>>285347
Impare that invulnerability
>>
(Also. Shoot for the leg! Take its foot off! XD lol actually that would make Veronica happy new that I'm thinking about it.)
>>
>>285347

The Angel proceeds to the next room - there are a few stalls, some reaching to the ceiling and others being cublicle-height, for the Angel to duck in if it wants to seek cover, however the room cannot be left without entering the field of fire of the turrets.

The sentry guns are basically swivel frames with a camera, a sonar, a large semiautomatic pistol with an extended magazine, and a small sonic weapon set to blink on and off opposite the sonar. A few sentries are specialized, either with a proper machine gun instead of the pistol but no sonar, or one of the larger emitter prototypes but no gun.

The Angel immediately starts walking a beeline towards the exit door, which is clearly marked.

Mr. Malaussene is immersed in shallow water; if he starts burning alive, well, hopefully the water will help.

Mr. Malaussene has set the sentries to fire at will with both systems, and default to lower than center of mass. Fortunately for the Angel, it seems to have a Ken Doll crotch, although you'll have to wait for the neutron source to get a x-ray.

# BRRRTTTTTT!

# Abort!
>>
>>285357
I'll open fire. If the angel is stopped and takes a few rounds it will be told to take five and recover, the door is unlocked.

As for the engineer, he made his peace. If he's fortunate at worst he dies instantly and that's anothe one we pull out of hell at the end of our war, at best he will likely be crippled.
>>
>>285366

You do not activate the abort protocol and, guided by their basic programming, the sentries open fire with bullets and dischordant sound waves....


Thread hit bump limit.

>>285367



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