The Unseen Servant forums

Hansel agrees about waiting until the eyes heal. This will work to allow getting more information from Dantes over time, as well as seeing if there are any more "prisoners of their own device" around. He also notes that having a space station that can teleport would be cool, if we wanted to think that big.


As I understand it, we have one marshal who can walk through walls, one who can teleport, and one who can mimic at TL4-proof levels of ability anyone we have a genetic sample of. Maybe we should invite a director to a meal?

Worst case, we might want to consider helping Dantes get to his ship & away (distraction 1), causing a vigorous lack of structural integrity to the station (big distraction 2, hopefully permanent), as we go through one of the portals. I don't think we'll get the Directors as allies, it just doesn't seem in the cards to me. Hate to walk away from ali baba's cave of wonders, but we should look at that as at least a backup.

jemmus wrote: ↑Wed Feb 15, 2023 1:18 am Taavi can teleport himself up to 10 meters. (I don't see any way for that to be very useful here).

Oh, we can help you understand your power(s).

It says, "The teleporter can translocate to another location they have either occupied before or can see with their unaided vision."
...you currently cannot access the welcome center where your gear is stored or the elevator you took to get here, but you occupied those spaces and can return there from nearby (i.e. past a locked door). 10 meters is also sufficient to go a deck down or up, but you haven't been to A or C. It is probably not quite enough to return to deck D. You could teleport from deck A or C back to B, though.

Telekinesis is also always helpful in surreptitious action.

cybersavant wrote: ↑Wed Feb 15, 2023 4:10 am we should find out where Dante docked his ship in relation to where we are

He told you it was on the arm of deck B past the medical center (and past where you heard Emile's whistling). He is alive because he never tied to break rules to go back to it, so any other knowledge is a good Hacking check.

Sorry, the last few weeks have been overwhelming.

I can reply to the two posts, but they are still "wait and watch" posts. If anyone wants to take more definitive action or planning, you can still post.

Hang in there, Marullus. No hurry. Taavi will lay low and stay out of trouble while Baleygr gets his treatment. He's reading from terminals trying to get more knowledge about the local organization and its history.

Sorry I dropped out of view--depression got the better of me. I'm feeling somewhat better and will try to start posting again!

We got you.

Feel better bro. We got your back.

So, I think whatever we do has to look absolutely 'normal' until the very last minute, just like in all the best caper movies!

Absolutely agree. We are way outgunned here in terms of both information-gathering and firepower.

redwarrior wrote: ↑Mon Mar 06, 2023 1:16 am So, I think whatever we do has to look absolutely 'normal' until the very last minute, just like in all the best caper movies!

Indeed.

What that means, though, is that the Last Minute is competely defined by YOU. You set the trigger by which your plan springs into motion.

I'll admit that I'm kind of tapped for ideas. I haven't been successful in getting any actionable intel, and with the panopticon they'll know we're breaking the rules before we ever get a chance to do anything. For all I can walk through walls and send my hellhound out, I can't do it without being seen.

Sorry, I don't want you all to stay stuck.

I think you're assuming too much about the surveillance. Sure cameras are everywhere but they aren't EVERYWHERE. The residents have told you they're controlled by computer systems and will summon robots because there's not enough people for manual monitoring. It isn't as smart as people - it will respond to anything overtly offensive. I will clarify further - if you want to do something sneaky, I will let you do a Wis+Sneak roll (the diff will just be 8 instead of 6) to get away with looking inconspicuous when you aren't.

I think you still need to define your group's current objective. Look back to this conversation:
https://www.unseenservant.us/forum/view ... 14#p645314

You have done a good job of exhausting the safe zone on Deck B. Are you trying to still investigate or just to leave? If investigating, avenues remaining:
- Balygyr hasn't hacked anything since his sight is back
- You know the likely route to answers is with the Directors on Deck A
- You don't know what's on Deck C
- There’s the administrative offices and Deck B residences on the Deck B arm counterclockwise from yours.
- The security center (where Emile is in lockup), fuel bunkers, and empty (unmonitored) docking bays on the Deck B arm clockwise from yours

Ah, OK. I was assuming it all went to a feed monitored by humans--and if we tried to, say, get our weapons back, guards would immediately see and we'd be surrounded by armed guards and lose our only chance at freedom.

I hoped that was clarified in the post below... am putting things in IC delivery making them unclear? If so, you can ask for an OOC clarification.

Marullus wrote: ↑Sun Mar 05, 2023 10:01 pm Hansel and Shadrach work their way into the confidences of other locals. As you become more and more part of the ship, you find the locals own demeanor shifting to harmonize with your own. There is soon a cluster of gruff, hard-drinking locals with troubled backstories centered around the two world-wise men each night. Hansel finds no other spacers beyond Dantes. Talking about the surveillance, the locals wave it off. "Algorithm monitoring, don't even worry about it. Only bothers those who are anomalous anyway. It triggers the VI security they will put deviants in the cells." They order another round of shots, describing the robotic security bots that will respond.

When Shadrach asks about deck C, they are happy to answer, but don't have much in details. "Never been there. Deck is only for the Directors. We all are on Deck B... never had cause to leave. Deck C is only for emergencies. Never had an emergency." They all chuckle at even the idea of it being unfathomable. One adds, "I've been to D, though. Technician. Got to keep station systems smooth, after all." Pressed for more details about what Deck C offers for emergencies even this wise station traveller shrugs and says, "It's all automated. We'll get directions when it happens."

It sounds like if we do something deemed "anomalous", we'll be put in cells. Am I misreading that? Anything that we would do to get off this place would be considered anomalous, given that nobody is supposed to try to leave. And that's assuming that the information the random guy gave us was accurate--it's just as possible that we'd be summarily executed. If we were imprisoned Shadrach can probably get out--but that's a one-time trick, and if/when they realize he's busted out they'll also realize imprisonment isn't an option for him.

The only thing this suggests is a nuclear option--we try to continue recruiting/creating disgruntled locals and hope we can somehow overthrow the station before the overwhelming security puts a permanent stop to the insurrection.

i don't think the phasing/teleporting is a one time trick - they aren't violent - the robots MAY be, but we don't know for sure, or how many, how fast - we DO know where they'll come from

i think first we need to get Emile, then the weapons. I'll need to look at the map again to see how far apart the areas are - am i recalling correctly that Dante tried to escape?

we need to share some info among each other - telepathy again?

I don't believe Dantes tried to escape, I think his compatriots did. In any case, that's the sort of thing Hansel can work into conversation with him over time, to try and get details on how that went without using obvious trigger words like "escape, shoot, etc." I think I get what Marullus means about the surveillance. It's more of a fuzzy logic thing that will hit on BIG aberrations, not minor deviations within a standard deviation of expected behaviors. Now to ponder.

I'll be more OOC clear.

• You guys are walking anomalies, from the perspective of the Harmonious Way, and no security triggers have happened yet.
• Even when Balygyr failed his hacking attempt, nothing showed up.
• You have seen there's cameras visible in every area, but that doesn't mean all angles. With some thought you can do something discreet (i.e. WIS+Sneak, diff 8)
• You were told by locals that the camera feeds are monitored by expert systems, not by people, and that they will summon security robots who will put you in the cells. The photo there was supposed to be descriptive - the bots are descripted as small and spider-like with non-lethal tasers - you can expect them to swarm, and "go to prison" means they're not killing you. They will TRY to put you in jail (even Emile got a saving throw before he was knocked out) - the game is about attempts.
• You've done plenty of anomolous things and you think it would need to be overtly bad to trigger the algorithms, and then you still get the roll if you make the attempt to be discreet. (This isn't meant to stop you from all actions.)
• Dante explicitly did not try to escape. His companions did and were taken away and never seen again. His captain had his neck snapped by the friendly waitress. THAT MEANS: 1) Getting on the bad side of the even-otherwise-friendly human residents does result in them passing judgement on rulebreakers, which is worse than robot response. 2) It means they're quite skilled at Execution Attacks, and can do them unarmed (which requires Foci-level martial arts training, which you assume is part of their Harmonious Way training). 3) Being warned by Dantes means you're suspicious and prepared, which also means you are not subject to Execution Attacks.
• Dantes is the only non-local, and you've looked around the whole allowed area, and he's already recruited. The locals continue to innately harmonize to you as a norm (i.e. the food, language, Shadrach/Hansel's drinking buddies) but you have had absolutely no lock in identifying disgruntlement. They're all fully in the Harmonious Way, and that means harmony/consensus first. You determine you're unlikely to get additional recruits against their station and need other actions.
• The welcome center is locked (and has bulkhead doors) which also means the elevators to other decks are locked (being inside the welcome center).
• Balygyr failed his first hacking roll against Decks A and C when you arrived, but that doesn't mean he can't try again now... or hacking to find information on other questions as well.
• Physical exploration of denied areas might require disguise (either a Sneak roll or Balygyr's actual personal or spell-based masking abilities since the camera is a sensor).
• Testing his phasing, Shadrach finds that the cameras can't tell if he's solid or insubstantial (or at least don't react to him being insubstantial), so he can try something sneaky with the Wis+Sneak roll, particularly if someone else provides misdirection/distraction.