For the rest of the day, make some time to practice using Hummer's Momentum to improve shooting, particularly the AA-12 on full auto. It should do wonders for negating recoil. Then, practice using Shoddy Step as well to fire accurately whilst on the move, taking shots in the instant you change direction and pass through zero velocity, whilst zig-zagging.

When Hillevi awakes,simply express concern and offer her some clothes, her embarrassment will provide payback enough.

Go ping will be calling soon, when he asks about the job simply say you have decided against accepting. If (when) he presses for more in an irritated voice tell him upon research something turned up that made it unappealing.

You don't want to spend to much energy before heading out in case something goes wrong on the heist so practice the latest fleshcrafting knowledge SB gave you, get a feel for the different col orations possible and how to quickly change them, then have a snack to recharge.

>Satai orders
-Help Boris set up a camera. Then he'll help him set up a separate second less obvious camera, just in case. Shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes.
-See >>386357.
-Hunt up Igor. If he's got a forge, he should be able to smash some metal into basic shaped backing plates for directing explosives, right? Ask him to set us up with a couple dozen for use with our C4 charges. No, Satai doesn't care about the lack of artistry involved in the job.

>>386389
>And I wonder just how should I greet her when she wakes up?
>Clearly I have 'just cause' to troll her, given she made me worry-but what could I do?
The best troll here is not to act trollish at all. Make sure that she wakes up to us sitting concerned by her bedside, herself neatly covered by blankets. Perhaps Sake can arrange to be nestled nearby, somewhere which lightly implies that we used his powers to heal her without actually saying it. We should endeavor to look a bit tired, like we've been worried and not sleeping. Don't push things into overblown drama with crying and hugging and what have you- but make sure that our demeanor, words, and appearance scream that we were extremely worried about her. Have arranged for food to be cooking in the kitchen.

Greet her with "Hillevi, you're finally awake. Do you feel all right?" "After you collapsed, you started to overload with power- so cold you froze and cracked apart everything touching you, even the floor. Sent me into a bit of a panic... it was hours before I could get in touch with Einrik. It's been almost a day, and you only finally thawed a bit before noon. Are you sure you're okay?" "All right. Your brother said it was something he'd expected, when I eventually talked to him- apparently it should have made your magic mature somehow. Presumably you'll notice the difference soon enough." "I'm sorry about your clothes and hair. Hey, do you want me to cook you something? You must be hungry after all that. Wait here, I don't know if you should move yet."

At that point, dash off and leave her trapped in a bedroom by her lack of clothing. Return a few minutes later with immense quantities of food, and insist on having her eat all of it while completely ignoring the fact that she's naked and probably trying to cover herself with a blanket. Act totally oblivious to any embarrassment and like we're only concerned with her health and recovery.

If at some point she requests clothing, have Amen provide her with high quality modern clothing which fits her. It should be suitable for fighting in but emphasize her attractiveness. It should also incorporate a tiny Armas-orange grinning weasel logo on it somewhere subtle. Have the clothing delivered on the bed so that she has to ask us to leave so that she can get dressed. Of course, we issue the specific desired orders telepathically while just telling Amen to provide clothing out loud so that it's not obvious.


>And once that's dealt with-what else do I do with my day?
We need to call Go Ping and politely turn down the job. Apologize for the delay in making our decision, but give no explanation for it. Also mention that we expect to be prepared to move on a certain fishy problem this weekend and would like to meet when he and the others have some time in order to hash out definitive plans. Lunch tomorrow, perhaps? That should give us plenty of time to plan before our meeting at 3:00.

Keep an eye on the Adelat/Jung situation; hopefully the police raid will go off flawlessly but all the arms dealers will escape, but we'll want to know any unexpected twists in that plot. Shadowbro and a few Russians under his command should be more than capable of keeping an eye on this and letting us know what's going on without being detected.

When the police are moving out with Jung's confiscated weapons, have a couple Russians take our vans out to the area and have Shadowbro teleport the goods directly from van to van. We shouldn't even need to stop moving before peeling off with the loot. Still, if everything goes completely smoothly a little teasing of Adelat might be in order- the sight of Armas in an attention-arresting orange suit along the police's path back, even if it's nowhere near the point on their route at which their loot disappears, would probably kick us right back onto her radar even if there's no logical connection between us and her case at all.

Call up Johan and ask him how soon we could get the various bullet types that he listed. These things take time and he's a busy guy, so no need to press if he can't do them quick... but if he can have them ready by Saturday morning, we'd buy a few things. Ask if the enchanted bullets are likely to have any problems working with enchanted guns, just in case; if not, ask for 40 7.62×54mmR bullets of the mid-level enchantment (up to $32,000, personal funds).

Grab Andrei and go to a high-tech store. He should be able to identify cameras good enough to automatically film the whole endeavor, as well as speakers high-quality enough to pass as human to a very discerning ear. Buy several dozen of each (budget like $20,000 on this, no point stinting) along with anything he says he'll need to keep them working properly.

After Hillevi has had a little bit of time to rest/get used to her modified abilities, offer to spar with her so that she can work with them a little more. She's a great sparring partner for us anyway- it'll give us a chance to really work our increasing array of tricks. We can spend most of the afternoon/evening on this if necessary.

Order Amen to have the mansion windows tinted. We don't want people to be able to look into our mansion freely; there are too many awkward things that they might see. We should really have done that already.

>>386590
>During the call use ambiguous statements like, "I believe it is safe for you to assume that I am interested in pursuing half a million dollars." when he asks if you are taking the job.
SUST. When it comes to taking or refusing jobs we must maintain a certain level of professionalism- unambiguously take a job or not, and then keep our word. Anything else will damage our credibility and harm our future employment prospects too much.

Now that we are really thinking about this police woman, don't you think that if she were truly interested in catching you she would have you under surveillance? With the amount of shady moves you make you should really be more aware of that.
Next time you go out, spend a few moments analyzing the attention focused on you; if they are using technology like normal city cams then you might not get shit, but if they are pulling the old 'stakeout' deal you might pick something up. In either case, ask your brothers and hummingbird to give an eye out too. If you can't shake whatever shadows you have, you might want to look into the 'Other Armas' charms.
Also, ask Amen to tint the windows and shield the walls. Actually blocking them mundanely so that people can't see in via normal or technological means. If he can also identify anyone that has been looking at the house for a long period of time that would be great too.

>things to do today
Execute plan 'milk everything you can from Jung'
Rent a boxtruck or two that you can use to store the loot.
Check on Duke.

----------------------
Zhenya orders
-Take Hillevi out to buy some new threads, invite Lyubov. (budget, $3000)
-Attempt to make friends with Hillevi and answer any questions she has about modern life.
-Offer to help Lyubov with her ID plans.
-Keep playing music in spare time.

[Andrei Orders]
Grumble at the time it takes to put together and have the computer shipped.
Wonder who has been getting Red Bull. Grab one, and remember to thank whoever is getting it. Maybe suggest Jolt or making Magic Coffee for another caffeine addict.
Suggest to Boris that Satai set up the cameras, and Andrei can check up the connections and the Wi-Fi and what not.
Decide to brush up on social engineering and dickery by going outside and networking(and lying to people).
Be distracted by Armas and get dragged to look at cameras. Idly bring up the idea of helmet cameras, so that the Russians can have their missions filmed, for cash in pocket, and also as a control center, or 'brain', for the whole crew. Practice lying when with Armas, and be confused if Armas can't join us in social fu.

[Armas Orders]
As for pranking I'm in favor of >>386878 with a bit of >>386492 but we should make sure that we've removed any blankets or sheets from the room. Anything she can cover up with should not be there - the room should be an empty one that has no adornment. So when we leave, lock the door and inform her of nakity, she will get a little frantic that there is no way to cover up. That, combined with our doting, worry should be hilarious.

After we've dealt with trolling/helping Hillevi, look into what the hell Rocco is going on about. News wise the story 'Agents of the United States charge 127 alleged mafia members in the northeast of the country' might jump out at you as being the best guess, but search and make sure. He could be meaning something bigger, like 'The largest rocket ever launched from the west coast of the U.S. is launched carrying a secret payload.' Check Reuters and BBC to see if anything overt jumps out at you, and see if Sometimes Merchant, Arkvad, or Garbage Pete can inform you on anything on the supernatural side of things.

Also, look into if the mansion actual has medical facilities. If it doesn't, have Sake's room turned into the medical faculties.

>[Satai has been queued to do the following:]
>Finally get around to reviewing Iosef's list of proposed purchases related to ammo fabrication. Place appropriate orders.
BUSINESS FUNDS: -$12,200 $80,447.00
>Professional grade Swaging equipment, an automatic reloading press, and four dies-one 5.56x45mm, one 7.62x39mm, 4.6x30mm and 5.45x39mm, to cover most of the more ammunition-demanding firearms. DELIVERY DATE: SATURDAY
>Help Boris set up a hidden camera and a not-so-hidden camera observing the kitchen.
>Badger Igor into making shaped backing plates for directing explosions. Give zero fucks when Igor complains about the crude crafting being demanded of him, deadpan way through explaining how it's impossible for Igor to smith something more productive to the company as a whole given time investment. Awaiting Igor response on Satai's request for two dozen. (will use up 72 pounds of steel)
>[Zhenya has been queued to do the following:]
>Once Hillevi awakens, take her out shopping for clothing. Fail to realize no one just HAS clothing properly fitted to a 6'9" woman, inadvertently make Hillevi feel like a freak when no one has clothes her size. Realize she should have thought this through, and that because she didn't she just hurt the feelings of the Boss's Ward. Have mild panic attack that this will mean not-good things for her.
>Fail to make friends with Hillevi as she's too mopey about the clothing issue.
>After miserably failing in this endeavor, on return to the mansion ask Lyubov if she could use some help with the ID stuff. Awaiting Lyubov's response.
>Play a sad series of sonatas to commiserate fuckup.
>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>Like any tech worth his salt, grumble at the time it takes to put together and have the computer shipped.
>Wonder who has been getting Red Bull. Attempt to grab one, hand promptly goes numb-be unsure why. Attempt it a second time-and hand once more goes numb. Decide that's enough testing and currently label the Red Bull as 'not for everyone'.
>Suggest to Boris that Satai set up the cameras, and Andrei can check up the connections and the Wi-Fi and what not. Find out Boris already bugged Satai about this-feel out-of-date.
>Decide to brush up on social engineering and dickery by going outside and networking(and lying to people). Start haunting internet cafes in Downtown.
>Be distracted by Armas and get dragged to look at cameras. Idly bring up the idea of helmet cameras, so that the Russians can have their missions filmed, for cash in pocket, and also as a control center, or 'brain', for the whole crew. Practice lying when with Armas, and be confused if Armas can't join us in social fu. Become worried when he realizes Armas has not lied to his knowledge-and wonder how that can be true with all the things he says. Wonder if that means he's an idiot or a masterful manipulator.

>>386418
How to handle this-I could go full-tilt with the trolling-maybe wait for her to wake up on the cieling, try to convince her she's the one on the ceiling?
>[Hummingbird]"That which you have titled Hummer's Momentum' is a pulse, not a static flow-it can move you, but not hold you in a place you should not be."
...And using wind to hold myself up there kind of defeats the purpose.
>>386444
Ok, okay: we move her to one of the-
>"If I am reading her magical status correctly-and I do not claim to be certain on this-then attempting to move her carries a growing risk she will awaken prematurely. While I see no way this could harm her-"
It defeats the purpose if she wakes up before she's moved-and I don't trust the butler for this. Okay-how about funny clothing?
>[Sake]"Given she HAS no clothes anymore, that might be a wise idea."
That's RIGHT, she never got new cloths past that wooly/feathery workout outfit.
"Amen, I require clothes sized to Hillevi made from the mundane fabrics I provided you with-how about a doublet... ah, I don't know the names of those, but what Sean Connery wore in Highlander-"
>>386461
>"Xena outfit."
"-and a replica of Xena, Warrior princess' garb too."
Amen, appearing at my side, merely bows as he proffers forth properly sized clothing sets, one in each hand, before vanishing. I lay both outfits over chairs in the room, and get back to thinking.

>>386277
I try to distract myself from the wait-and buy myself more time to ponder how to do this while I enact a minor test. In an attempt to see my own soul, I-
....Oh.
>[Iron Trick]"Took you long enough.[/code]
The moment I seriously pondered looking at my soul-I saw it. A swirling, shifting mass of energy, two opposed currents sinuously locked together, never allowed to mix. I see my Soul Guise as if it were an egg shell surrounding me, smoothing out the darker, the rougher, the less 'normal' parts of my Bloodlines and general existence. I... I see the difference, the ugly blue, brown and purple bruising on my soul that's not present in my Soul Guise practically proclaims itself my Cannibal 'taint. I also see the... the pinpricks of light, the stars hidden within my soul that are absent from my Guise-and by process of elimination, realize they are the manifestation of the Divine energy in my bloodlines and soul. I see my over-sized chakras, so firmly embedded in my soul they seem more like pipes from spirit to flesh than simple gates. All of this I grasp in that first glimpse-while therafter my focus is dominated by my soul's shape.

Simply put, what was once a relatively directionless non-Euclidean shape is now far more purposefull, more focused. Where once I had impossible categories of symmetry-now I have a spherical Tesseract containing a mobious strip that is itself comprised of the tesseract's sides.
....Wait, I don't know what a tesseract is-
>"I do. Have been brushing up on magically relevant physically impossible shapes-and that's a tesseract, no doubt about it."
Shared the info huh? Thanks....... all the same-
>[Iron Trick]"[u]Yes, you have been fully able to see your own soul since you first learned the Soul Sensing chakra orientation."
....Motherfucker.
>[Sake]"That... is a bit irritating, especially with how often you experiment, that we did not know your soul was once more visible to you."
I tentatively flush my orientation-and immediately cannot look at my soul again. I set Soul Sensing back up and sight at this revelation.
>>386590
>>386753
Then I get on with another bit of work that needs attending-calling back Go Ping. He picks up in six rings, rather slow by his standards.
>[Go Ping]"Have you made your decision?"
"I have. I believe it is safe for you to assume that I am interested in pursuing half a million dollars."
>[Go Ping]"...I will note you did not explicitly say you will take the job."
"You are correct, I did not. While the pay is certainly enticing, upon research something turned up that made it unappealing."
>[Go Ping]"Is that what you wish me to relay to Mr. Fang?"
"Yes."
>[Go Ping]"Then I shall do so. As an aside, Jet Fang's interested in teaching you next time you need lessons."
"Thanks for the pass on. Actually, wanted to talk with you about the fish problem."
>[Go Ping]"Ah yes-how are plans?"
"Looking rather good actually. You all available this weekend?"
>[Go Ping]"We can be."
"Great-we can talk over the specifics tomorrow at lunch."
>[Go Ping]"How does Kim's House of Pho sound? I profess an inclination to eat there again."
"Where's it at?"
>[Go Ping]"Near the docks, but not near enough to be under my employer's control."
He rattles off an address.
"Okay, sounds good. A late-ish lunch at 3 work?"
>[Go Ping]"Indeed it does."
"Great. Until then."
*CLICK*
that taken care of, I get back to something more important than what my soul looks like, or talking about a coming hit.

>>386492
>>386522
>>386878
While I sit there, talking with SB, Sake and the Hummingbird alike about the viability of Okay step (read: not much use at all yet, since it's so multifaceted it prevents ability stacking that shoddy step allows, without any worthwhile gain in ability) I note Hillevi to stir oh so slightly. Rather soon she's started to stir more fitfully, and her eyes slap open shortly after she kicks off the sheets. -wait, kicked off the sheets?
>"I pulled them up while you were looking at your soul. Moot point now."
Before she can even catch her bearings, I step into the act I forgot to plan yet feels strangely natural.
"Hillevi, you're finally awake. Do you feel all right?"
My gaze doesn't even twitch as I keep looking her in the eye as her mouth works like a fish as she looks at me. I keep speaking.
"After you collapsed, you started to overload with power- so cold you froze and cracked apart everything touching you, even the floor. Sent me into a bit of a panic... it was hours before I could get in touch with Einrik. It's been almost a day, and you only finally thawed a bit before noon. Are you okay?"
>[Hillevi]"I....."
She coughs, her voice scratchy, and a few chips of ice fly out of her mouth as she continues.
>[Hillevi]"I think I'm okay. What... what happened?"
"All right. Your brother said it was something he'd expected, when I eventually talked to him- apparently it should have made your magic mature somehow. Presumably you'll notice the difference soon enough."
Still clearly looking confused, Hillevi nevertheless begins to beam out a wide smile-and it's at this moment she realizes she's naked. I keep speaking as she freezes in panic.
"I'm sorry about your clothes and hair. Hey, do you want me to cook you something? You must be hungry after all that. Wait here, I don't know if you should move yet."
I get up and begin walking to the door, catching her blushing so fiercely blue she looks like a smurf in my peripheral, before pausing at the door, my back to her.
"Those are the only sets of clothing I have in the house right now that could fit you. My apologies, but for the moment you'll have to make due."
I can FEEL the air chilling against my back with her embarassment as I softly close the door-and break out into a grin.

Hah, that went perfectly.

I make my way down to the kitchen, and for once don't steal food-and instead ask Boris for whatever lunch he's got that's the heartiest-and am promptly provided with a large bowl of Borsht filled with strips of meat and liver. I swing by my room, grab the last of my current Valhallan Mead, and bring both back to the room. I blithely open the door-and briefly witness a still-naked Hillevi bounding back under the covers with impressive agility. Before she can say anything-or really, in any way catch her footing-I plop myself back down in the seat, and hand her the food and drink.
"Eat."
>[Hillevi]"B-but-"
"Eat. You just woke up, and I don't doubt you can't tell how hungry you are yet."
SB, bless his shadow of a heart, decides to fabricate the noises of a growling stomach-and have them exude more or less from her side of the room. Still too confused to think straight, she assumes it her own, and sheepishly accepts the meal and mead-and promptly chugs both the borsht and the drink alike, her meal done in under a minute. All the while I continue not to Smile at her, but do a passable impression of Einrik's faint, tidy cheer. After she finishes, she huddles under the covers, wrapping herself in them like armor as she speaks again.
>[Hillevi]"...Um-"
"Feels somewhat familiar, doesn't it."
>[Hillevi]"...What?"
"To how we first met."
She frowns for a moment before her eyes widen fractionally, she blushes yet again. Gone is her soul's impression of being stuck in a fragile world-instead, her uncertainty and own emotional fragility are what define her spirit.... for the moment, at least. It's kind of endearing, really. A reminder that, giant super powered bruiser or no-she's still a kid. I'm shaken out of my brief Reverie as she starts speaking.
>[Hillevi]"...Um....uh-I know it's your house, and so I'm your Guest, and I'm also your Ward, and both of those mean I absolutely have to listen to you and I will but-"
I begin standing up.
"You want privacy as you dress. Of course. I'll be down in the foyer if you need me-incidentally, your brother's currently out."
I hear a pair of heavy footfalls as a chilled hand, rough rather than delicate, wraps about my wrist.
>[Hillevi]"Where's my brother?"
I turn back to glance at her, noting that she rather swiftly forgot her embarrassment and is glaring at me with impressive determination.
"As to where specifically, I do not know. I do know he's addressing an insult offered to him by a local Clan. He did not at all seem like he needed assistance with that."
Hillevi continues to stare at me even as her tension deflates-and she again remembers her attire-or lack thereof. The hand about my wrist is placed on my chest-and I am shoved out of the room just before she slams the door shut. I tumble to my feet with a smirk on my face, and get on with my day.

Specifically-dealing with Jung's situation.
"Hillevi," I call out through the door, "I'm heading out for a bit, and will be back soon, okay?"
>[Hillevi]"I... okay!"

Okay-SB, I'll need you to keep shadowing Adelat so we know when her team's moving.
>"Will do."
Sake, I need you to hang out at Jung's, and do what you must to make sure they leave once we've got confirmation Adelat and co are on their way.
>[Sake]"How much leeway do I have?"
"So long as you DON'T give Jung reason to hate me, AND avoid leaving behind evidence that'd make mundane law enforcement suspicious as hell-however you want.[/i][/code]"
>[Sake]"YEEEE!"
"TRY not to damage too many goods, okay?"
>[Sake]"Yes mom."

With my two brothers heading off, I round up the Russians, looking for two people to be discreet drivers-Feodor and Gloom offer themselves up, for driving acumen and a firm grasp of how to be innocuous, respectively. Each one gets one of our two beat up Vanduras-and are told to drive out and find parking within a block of the warehouse, and hunker down. While they ride, I grab Matvey and make my way to what, according to google, is the closest cafe to the warehouse to... witness the show. I keep my ears alert, continuing to listen to Sake and SB's periodic reports-and watch things unfold.

Two minutes after SB confirmed Adelat was in route the warehouse windows rattle and I see people fleeing into back alleys. I might have seen Jung among them-I'm not sure. Either way, about twenty people spill out and scarper. Shortly thereafter, I see a faintly visible green squiggle fly out of the warehouse, while Sake informs me he's headed back to the house now that his part's done, intent on further prank calling.

Ten minutes later, I hear sirens-and I continue drinking while I look on. Six cars round the corner-one nearly clipping the van Feodor's in-and scream up to the warehouse to promptly vomit forth a sea of gun-toting fellows one truly hopes are actually law enforcement. What follows... is rather boring, frankly. There's an hour where nothing happens-indeed, I spend some of the time on the phone, talking with my other employees as they work on individual jobs for Jung and network with the contact he provided us-before a new team shows up-a trio of heavy vans. It's only now that things start to go slightly off-script.
>"One of those vans is warded-and I'm not sure about the nature of the warding. Beyond that, there's too many people inside observing the merchandise for me to move any before it's been loaded."
Okay. Well, don't risk it with the one van-and just pilfer what you can from the other two. Discretion's more profitable than blind greed for the moment.
>"I wonder how painful that thought was for you."
Eh.

Another hour passes-and three of the seven Jung jobs, all hit missions, are reported as complete-before they actually start loading the vans. At this point, I'm on my seventh beer, and Matvey's finally having something to drink. It takes them a full hour-but they've loaded all three vans-which set out while the police, Adelat included, remain behind.

SB? Now.
>"On it."

I could go into details about how my shadow timed his teleportation to happen as the trucks turned or braked, to hide the shift in weight behind vehicular motion. I could talk about how smoothly the mission went. I could talk about how I'm frankly a bit disappointed I didn't get to shell the warehouse, and admit the idea holds intrinsic appeal to me.

Instead, I'll note we received an entire van's worth of steel cylinders marked as chemical weapons that SB tentatively says are Tabun and Mustard gas. Given the van's tires are near to popping and undercarriage near to buckling with how heavily it's been weighed down, I'll take SB's word for it when he says we've got a shit ton.

The other van though-that's got some varied goodies in it now.
-A pair of 9k111 Fagot model 9S451M2 launchers and six 9M111M missiles for them.
-A single SPG-9 Kopye 73mm recoilless gun, and a 'sampler pack' of projectiles: three PG-9N, four OG-9VM1 and two OG-9BG1.
-A crate of 300 rounds of 30mm PGU-14/B depleted Uranium.
-A crate of 1000 rounds of .50 BMG
-A crate of 5000 7.62x51mm NATO.
-A small box of six(6) .600 NE rounds.
-A floppy disk. SB has no idea why it was there, but figured he'd snag it.

Once the trucks have passed by, and the vans can safely pull out and depart without attracting attention, we get up and get ready to leave-when I spot Adelat exiting the warehouse. Still clad in a fetching purple leisure suit, I enthusiastically wave at her before I walk off. I can feel her attention practically boring a hole in my back as I leave.

The rest of my afternoon is spent making sure we wrap up all seven jobs for Jung-and more importantly, get paid. Interestingly, seems that Vlad's job got cut short-but we're still getting the full pay plus the expedition bonus. Score one for us.
BUSINESS FUNDS: +$145,200-25% $189,347.00

With the spat of missions winding down, I get to making some other calls even as I chuckle at Hillevi wearing the Connery-esque doublet over the Xena outfit while she gets in an Argument with Vlad about what the definition of overkill is while I make some calls.

-First call is to Johan, requesting a set of 40 7.62×54mmR rounds with second tier cold magic. The total comes out to $32,000-and Johan knocks it down to $31,000 for me. I even get him to promise the rounds will be ready for pickup by Saturday morning.
PERSONAL FUNDS: -$31,000 $361,013.11
-Next, I send Andrei, our resident tech expert, out shopping for quality cameras and speakers for the doony mission. He's given a budget of $20,000, and I send Satai with him when he says he'd like an electrician's input given what we'll be doing with the stuff. They get back a bit after sunset, laden with purchases.
PERSONAL FUNDS: -$20,000 $341,013.11
-I look online for why Rocco gave me that strange call-and learn about the massive arrests in the US. I ponder if this creates an opportunity for the company.
-I finally order Amen to tint the house's many windows-which he does promptly.

After that... I set myself in action for my final 'plans' of the day: A spar.

Specifically, with Hillevi.

We end up going at it for six solid hours-with Duke, along with Russians not currently out at Itos or elsewhere, as the audience. At first Hillevi's easy to deal with, as my mobility gains mean I practically dance around her. It's pretty clear though that something's bothering her-as when I tell her to focus on the spar, I abruptly go from 'lalalaa you can't touch me' to 'Girl's got a mean right hook'. It's not that she's faster, or stronger, or anything like that: Instead, all of the difference is in how she leverages the power she has. Gone are those minor hesitations that plagued her before, as if she's finally viscerally accepted that to really put in solid effort she can't be afraid to cut loose under controlled circumstances. I won't say I fought her while she was being serious-but she shattered my ribs, pulped arms and froze flesh more than a few times as I dodged around her-and I got in a heaping helping of practice fighting high-magic foes, and slipping in spats of Hybrid Healing in combat. Win-win, as far as I'm concerned.

Still, the match is exhausting, and while I'm happy I got Hillevi's mind off of whatever funk she'd gotten in while I was out, I'm exhausted. After stealing some food from the kitchen (and being impressed with the kick) I retire for the night.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 21ST, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $341,013.11
BUSINESS FUNDS: $189,347.00
CASH: $0.00 Spent on beer watching Jung's warehouse
SHADOW PATIENCE: 65%
WINTER ENERGY: 69/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 42/50

I am woken up at four AM by a phone call from an unlisted number. I have some Brain Coffee and answer, pleased I actually don't sound like I just woke up.
>[Mr. Jung]"I can't say I'm completely grateful for what you did-but I recognize it's necessity. I'll be returning in the near future-but actually called regarding business."
"What's the business?"
>[Mr. Jung]"I want you to kill Lo Fang, and will pay you four times what he offered you for my life. I will also not place a time limit on this contract-and do not require you to even respond to the offer."

I mull this over.









What do I say to Jung-about the offer or otherwise?
What's my plan for today?
Don't I have a meeting I need to go to today?
When am I going to do the Gianni dinner thing?

HELL NO we are not taking a measly two million to kill Lo Fang, local leader of the Triads. Because holy fuck, Go Ping and his boys would be on us like flies on shit. And while I think we could hide out in the Mansion until the issue cools, we'd never be able to work with the Triads again.

I'd ask for ten, even twenty million. Two is almost insulting, practically asking to put everything we have on the line.

Don't be angry, just be firm - you'd need a shitload more cash and some up front if he wants to make an offer like that.

I think we might want to have a general policy of not killing the higher ups of organisations who regularly employ us, with exception for suitably large piles of cash of course. 2 million is not a large enough pile of cash to piss off the triads. especially considering we would probably have to leave Istanbul if we did so. the only other underworld power that would hire us is the mafia, and they are fairly close to the triads so even they would not be a sure thing. not to mention killing lo fang would be incredibly difficult. we have no idea of what lo fang is capable of, aside from like his disciples but more so. that is not the level of Intel we would want before going after someone in lo fangs weight class.

>>386936
Dude. Lo Fang took out SAVLOY. Apparently EASILY. Taking him on is suicide, AND loses our Triad connections. This is a horrible deal, and not worth mere MONEY. If he were offering something like "Unlimited Magical Rocket Jetpacks That Shoot Lasers And Blowjobs And More Jetpacks", maybe, but not a paltry two MILLION dollars. That's a pittance.

[Andrei Orders]
DIBS ON THE FLOPPY DISK!
Get good cameras with Satai. Raise the possibility of helmet cameras and bring up some editing software if Boss wants to actually broadcast this. Go to music store. Say we are on a mission from god. Get awesome speakers. After shopping, chill out. Go to Turkish coffee house. Enjoy. Idly mention boss
Curse whichever fucker restricts access to Red Bull.
Begin ordering Bawls Geek Beer ($34.95 for a 24pac, Milligrams of Caffeine per bottle: 100), Jolt ($9.99 for a fresh 6pac, Milligrams of Caffeine per bottle: 280), Rage Inferno in the Fire Extinguisher Bottle ($29.99 for a Twelve Pac, Milligrams of Caffeine per bottle: 375), Chameleon Cold-Brew (3 pac for $27.00, Milligrams of Caffeine per bottle: 2160) and 5150 Juice (1 Gallon is only $39.95, Milligrams of Caffeine: 64,000).
When sweet, sweet caffeine arrives, place in fridge beside tampered Red Bull. Write 'ANDREI' with a big, red, marker on everything. Feel smug. Indulge caffeine addiction.
Continue making contacts and 'friends' at the internet cafe.
Use Internet Cafe to brush up on actual hacking.

[Armas Orders]
"Mister Jung, I don't know what you know about the hit placed on you, or about the Triad in Istanbul, but let me be perfectly clear in saying that four times the price for your head is nowhere near the price needed to suggest killing Lo Fang. If that is all you can offer, then goodbye."

>What's my plan for today?
Train, train, train. Have another 'Hunt Armas' session, and include Hillevi. Do some dodge training, too. Just flat out avoid getting shot as you're standing down range, and the Russians shoot at you.
>Don't I have a meeting I need to go to today?
Friday, 3pm, at Yilmur. Wind tunnel testing with big guns, Armas. Big guns. I'm sure we can
>When am I going to do the Gianni dinner thing?
When you can find something good to wear. Go shopping! You need to dress up pretty for him.

Susting all the responses advocating refusal to jung. He is asking for long term thing that we wouldn't be undertaking soon anyway, but in the future we may want to kill Lo Fang for reasons of our own and at that time there will be a 2million bonus for something we'd be doing anyway. Also he offered 4x rate not 2million, he could very well think the price on his head was larger.

>response to jung
say nothing, simply hmm and hang up the phone.

>Meeting
Hamlet said he had 4 hours free so call him up and ask to meet for dinner at 6 instead, that'll give enough time to finish with Go Ping.

>Gianni
Call Him up and ask him if tonight works for him, anytime after eight is good.

>Plan
withdraw 20,000 dollars for walking around money. Practice the fleshcrafting knowledge SB gave you for a new look to take to Gianni's dinner as well as a suitable soul guise, think back to the souls of the Einher you have previously met and look for commonalities amongst then to base it off. Pick up the dullest off the rack suit you can find for the civilian portion.

>>386983
What? The mafia isn't close to the triad, they're enemies. Big time. If Lo Fang died, Gianni and Rocco would attend the funeral in party hats.

Anyway, thank Jung for the offer, but don't expect that to happen any time soon. Explain that while we're not really against the idea in theory, even dropping a Javelin on him (yes, we have one) wouldn't be enough to see that one dead. Jung should probably resign himself to working around that guy.

ARMAS ORDERS

>What do I say to Jung-about the offer or otherwise?

>>387003 >>386937 >>386983 >>387016

As these gentlemen have said, we can't take that job offer yet. But we should NOT admit to any ill will toward Lo Fang, either. Think about it. What's Sake been doing the past couple of nights? Imitating people on the phone. This is an unlisted number, not the one you had for Jung earlier. This could be some kind of trap.

Simply say, "Well, that's a dangerous offer. I mean, even if I turn it down, you're going to leave it open. Anyway, whatever you think I did, we can talk about it in person sometime, along with whatever other business you want to talk about. When you get back in town, maybe over dinner?"

>What's my plan for today?

Evaluate your minions' souls and see how they look now that they've spent a few weeks with you. Perhaps the last couple of missions have seen them grow.

Ask Boris what he put in the food yesterday, and mention that you liked the kick it had. Do some cooking yourself, you've been lazy/busy the past couple of days. Either look up a recipe for a phoenix heart, or devise one based on the meat being able to grill the food around it, and needing to be cooled quickly before being eaten (try a very light roux that you allow to cook on the meat, and a yogurt-based dipping sauce of some sort)

Brag about your new recipe to Go Ping later.

>Don't I have a meeting I need to go to today?

You double-booked, you retard! You are supposed to meet the student engineer, Hamlet Hanson, at 3 p.m. in Yilmur's by the University, AND you scheduled to meet up with Go Ping at 3 p.m. in Kim's House of Pho by the docks! Bad Armas! Bad!

Luckily, Hamlet also mentioned that he had a four hour block of time free. Call him up and reschedule for 5 p.m. in Yilmur's instead of a 3 p.m.

Either research yourself, on your laptop, the rates a student engineer in Turkey can expect to make (and what tuition at Hamlet's university is) or have a Russian help you by doing the research for you. You need to know what Hamlet will expect, so that you can properly haggle and offer the right perks. And keep in mind you've got a lot of gear that many engineers with give up a tooth or two to get a good look at (those Javelins, for one).

>When am I going to do the Gianni dinner thing?

Dinner at 7 p.m., if he's up for it. Expect to be up all night.

LYUBOV ORDERS

[Thursday]
*Started the morning off with another jog with Camella. Spent another half hour spent contemplating how many athletes Camella could put to shame. Decides "All of them, probably."
*Hunted the Armas!
*Boring research into checking the collected identities to be sure no one else had the same idea and stole the same names she chose. [Bob says: "So, she found three in use, all male."]
*Made a note of the three names in use, groused about having to go to another cemetery soon.
*Spent a half hour looking up a good electronics store (one with geeky-sounding reviews)
*Go out to the chosen store, ask for help getting connectors suitable to hook cell phones up to a computer to play music over the phone to friends and record their response. Also bought more cell time ($120 for misc connectors and another 20 hours of airtime).
*Watched the spar, watched Zhneya moping around.
*Asked by Zhenya "How can I help?" pondered how to best use her. Responded to Zhenya, "Uhm, I need more boy names. If you go to some cemeteries I didn't, maybe out of town? Then maybe you can find good names that sound right. I need two, so try for eight. And get any girl names you see that sound ok too."
*Hooked up the computer so it can record the phones, recorded the fun with Sake for posterity. Asked what was up with Hillevi, got the low-down.
*Went off to night lessons.

[FRIDAY]
*Another jog with Camella, asks her "What is it you do besides the running to be so fit? Can you give me advice on what I should do?" After run, recovery, vow to one day manage to not feel halfway dead after a jog with Camella.
*Visit favorite bookstore again, buy books on mundane body building and body conditioning ($100).
*Return home, look up boutiques and shoe shops that specialize in clothing for tall and large women. Try to pick out ones that either also cater to normal sized women, or are near other boutiques that do so. Call ahead to be sure they can accommodate Hillevi. If she can't find any boutiques that can accommodate her guessed dimensions for Hillevi, she will seek tailors who can do it.
*Catch Hillevi and give books to her. Explain that since the simplest mundane cover (stressing how important appearing mundane is for less-than-legally acquired identities) is to have her claim to be a professional body builder for her fake ID background, she should study mundane techniques about body building so that if it comes up she can present a consistent story. Mention that the fake ID will be good for bars as well as other things (be SURE to assign Hillevi an identity that's the correct age for that).
*Talk to Hillevi a little about how things are going. Lead conversation to topic of her clothes yesterday, ask if she wants to go to some shops that cater to athletes and other top 1% of the human population (Lyubov will be sure to stress how people with Hillevi's height are almost all world-class athletes of one sort or another, and how shops and tailors specialize in serving them, rather than the hoi polloi). If she learns about Zhenya's failed attempt yesterday, say, "Zhenya has a good heart, but she jumps in without looking sometimes. I have already found the right places." Mean it, too. Remind Hillevi to bring cash card, mention that, "$500,000 can buy a lot of clothes."
*Call a taxi for them after looking at both vanduras and realizing #1 would look out of place in the upper-crust areas, and that #2 is still all shot up. Mention to Igor that #2 is still full of holes, hint that it would be less suspicious if it were not.
*While out, buy pajamas, a couple of dresses for herself, two more sets of workout clothes, skirts and tops, a couple of bags, shoes, and misc items (jewelry, undergarments, accessories, etc) ($3000-$6000). Lubov will give Hillevi the best advice she is capable of, and encourage her to have fun with clothes and pick a variety.
*Stop in sewing supply store on the way home. Buy elastics, snaps, slim tension buckles, a bolt of black nylon and another of white nylon, 10 yards "slip-not" or other PVC coated fabric, and wadding. ($400)
*At home, start getting materials all sorted for her project, offer Hillevi a drink. Get to talking, mention stories about how her mother taught her how to do alterations and basic sewing. Complain about living in a 101st kilometer city (residential communities established well away from urban centers to keep their residents politically impotent) as a kid, "So boring! I was always getting into trouble and doing stupid things. I smoked horrible cheap cigarettes and wore counterfeit Levi jeans and played pogs. Pogs! My friends and I were stupid. It is a game where you flip over cardboard coins with a brass coin."
*Abandon idea of getting any serious work on her holster project done today. Play back some of Sake's prank calls for Hillevi, if Hillevi doesn't grasp the humor, explain, "This is like verbal sparring. If you challenge people's expectations in the right way, it is funny. It can make the prank caller more creative, and the person being prank called more quick to recognize when they are having a joke played on them."
*Prank the rest of the night away with Sake and Hillevi until Night Lessons. Apply alcohol to all three parties, but Lyubov will steadfastly remain sober enough to perform her duties at the dojo.

[IGOR]
>Badger Igor into making shaped backing plates for directing explosions. Give zero fucks when Igor complains about the crude crafting being demanded of him, deadpan way through explaining how it's impossible for Igor to smith something more productive to the company as a whole given time investment. Awaiting Igor response on Satai's request for two dozen. (will use up 72 pounds of steel)
Give zero fuck about Satai's delusions on what is 'good enough', and decide that If he limits his sleep and do nothing but his lessons at Ito's and crafting, he may have time to do a decent job at it. Igor will re-evaluate Saturday morning if he has not advanced far enough on those, but for now it's full time smithing.

[ARMAS]
>What do I say to Jung-about the offer or otherwise?
An offer for an unspecified amount of money where there is no timeframe for killing someone we almost certainly will end up killing? Well, Armas can't say yes, but should definitely be having a great inner cheer here. If his greediness wants more, he can easily try to get lo fang to up the bounty on Jung's head, too, which would bring up Lo Fang's. Deliciousness. So, say nothing but a pleased mmmh.

>What's my plan for today?
>Keep up your soul guise, and keep in mind that we can now see it, which means Armas should see if there is a difference between different amount of focus on it.
Armas should re-evaluate the training he has been doing with the Russians- while it is fun and has helped him see how to use his footwork a bit more, it definitely is not really pushing him, and he hasn’t been really planning how to get the most out of it. IF Armas decides to do another of those, he could spice things up by trying to take on a soul guise that says “friendly”. In order to do that, he may want to begin by having a soul that share components with the Russians, and, by process of elimination, try to get a universal “i am a ally' soul-guise.
Armas can't really do anything that's really dangerous, as he need to recuperate his winter energy by the time he fights Doony if he wants any chance of capturing his soul. This mean live-fighting in the Arena for Armas or some such is out of the question, though maybe Camella could do that. However, if Camella is here, Armas might ask Amen to lead them safely to a non-dangerous room that is covered in shadows, and Armas might get into a serious spar with her there, preferably with the Russians and Hillevi cheering Camella on (it will feel so weird for Hillevi). This will be Armas' best bet to have a comprehensive feel/example of how effective his new mobility is against someone as broken as Camella before the Doony fight. Armas might want to tell Camella not to kill him or some such as as they have a job this week end.

[PRIMARY]Armas should begin with Shadow Step, then switch to shoddy step + Hummingbird’s momentum, and then try to use his practice with precision chakra to 'add' shadow step to the previous duo for instants at a time in order to destabilize Camella and try to either score hits or get our of bad situations. Hummingbird's momentum is of course especially good for having crazy movements that could confun Camella, as well as for using the walls/objects around for movements. Of course, Armas should also look at his soul and at Camella's when he has his soul sensing orientation (which may not be that much, as Camella might be using reinforcement) in order to get information for why he has trouble with using shadow + Shoddy+ hummingbird at once, as well as try to 'get' Camella more and manage to 'anticipate' her like we did in our spar at Ito's. If Camella is using chakra, Armas should try and match her strength. If she is using an orientation he doesn't know of, he should obviously try to 'understand' it.
[TRICKSTER] Armas might want to change his soul-guise during the spar in order to 'Bluff' her. Soul-Guises have a high-chance of stacking very well with Ego-less, and now that Armas can see his own soul he can adjust them that much more precisely. This might not only make Ego-less work once again against her, but it could be used in the opposite fashion by making her believe she has a good grasp on what Armas is going to do and then either capitalize on her overreaching, or if impossible just 'break the flow' by doing something truly unexpected.
[HEAVY HANDED] If nothing works (or if Armas just wants to test this mode), once Armas has gotten a good enough grasp, when looking at his soul, of using shoddy+Humming+shadow for instant, he might want to try and use them all for a longer amount of time as well as overcharging reinforcement to the max (or simply stay on Soul Sensing if Armas manage to “anticipate” Camella's attacks that much better when he has this orientation on).
[ESCAPE] Armas may need to 'escape' from Camella's assault from time to time, and we can't constantly rely only on Hummingbird's momentum to get us out of this- this is when we should switch to our sucky Stealth orientation and use the shadows as well as a soul-guise to hide. While Armas might not know a good “no one is here” Soul-Guise (though he should try to get it), he might be able to bluff Camella with using a soul-guise of one of our audience. I am sure Sake could tell Lyubov to go away for a minute or so, so that Armas could get a “Lyubov soul” and thus confound Camella, or some such things.

>Lo Fang lesson.
Well, we want to get rid of the doony this WE. If we manage to get everything pumped up for it (Go Ping and Labombard and so on agree), this means that we need to be in top form when we do it. This mean that unless we get our Lo Fang lesson saturday morning and go against Doony sunday night, we WILL be too tired- and if we do that, we most likely will sleep all of Saturday, which may make our plans to get rid of Doony half-assed as well as make it impossible to get a Gianni lesson. So i'd suggest either begging off this week's lesson- and try to get a double one next week- or else have this week's lesson to be for the Hummingbird. He did help us out a lot last time, and Lo Fang might be his only way to learn Chakra- if he can, that is. Brings up the idea to Hummingbird. Whatever we decide, we should call Lo Fang about it- it's already Friday, and he wants a day's warning.

>Don't I have a meeting I need to go to today?
You, once again, overbooked. Put that meeting with Hamlet at 5pm (this means only 2hrs for Go Ping Doony planning), and TRY to get there on time.

>When am I going to do the Gianni dinner thing?
Very, very soon. Really, if armas managed to get his epi first lesson before getting rid of doony, he might be able to get enough lessons from Whaitiri that he could get some nice Doony glands. Also, given we want to deal with Doony this WE, we better do this tonight after Hamlet meeting. Armas should of course plan that meeting (certainly not date) with GiaGia.
First off, obviously, is soul guise. Given the 'level' of AORB, this means taking on a soul guise that looks almost completely like a “Einher”, but with just a trace of 'professional American' left. Luckily, Armas has seen enough einherjar to help, and he knows what an American is. For 'professional', well, Armas might think of Riker. Second is the clothing- for this, Armas may ask help from Einrik and Duke- they both almost certainly know better than Armas what a einher would consider 'Common' clothing for mundanes. Especially a bit of a gauche Einher. Last is the attitude. Of course, the Einher “barbarism” should shine through a half-assed businessman attitude, but there should be some “too ingrained to be discarded” professionalism there. THIS MEANS ARMAS SHOULD PRACTICE THIS NEW SOUL GUISE FOR A HANDFUL OF HOURS (while looking at his own soul) during the day, preferably when he is doing other stuff at the same time.

>What do I say to Jung-about the offer or otherwise?
Say, that Jung should keep his head low, making such offers is a dangerous thing to do, then hang up. Then tell Go Ping another hit (probably already bounties on his head) is out on Lo Fang.
Fair is fair and the more foes Lo Fang has, the better for us.

>What's my plan for today?
Knife fight! Seriously, do some melee training with the Russians, no guns allowed. Get Amen to make a harmless wooden mere for you.
On other notes, you need to get a guise for Silja that makes her look like a cane, then you can talk with her more and take her more places with you.
Settle for feeding(Shapeshifters and female things, preferable humanoid... Amen should have human blood stored) and talking to her each night before you sleep.

>Don't I have a meeting I need to go to today?
Overbooked, fix problem as suggested by almost everyone.
When at the Go Ping meeting, if Lammy isn't there...
Realize you haven't heard from him since the reaper incident... question Go Ping about this. Lammy seemed to have paid a large price for his actions that day... he may not have regained full sanity...
Einrik(headmessing) and Duke(knows his drugs) might be of aid there...
We might have to “extract” Lammy from the triads if all else fails. Heh, then we'd have a company dog!

>When am I going to do the Gianni dinner thing?
Make sure to change your skin and hair colour before going, wear coloured lenses too.

>>387145
Upvote everything here as sound plan, Not the bit about Jung though, sounding pleased about a contract to kill Lo Fang isn't the kind of tell we want to give, even though we'll have to kill that man someday, that day is not yet upon us.

>LEV orders.
Seek out Feodor, recall the times he has patched up your wounds, drink in celebration of the awesomeness of medics, recall the weasel has also done healing, raise drink in praise; construct a shrine in Sake's honour from random shiny junk in the middle of somewhere, it will probably catch fire, you don't care, medics are great; *hic* Especially magical ones.

At some point, either before, during or after drunken thanksgiving, realise how many times you seen boss without his shadow, recall that weird encounter you had with a another one of the boss.
…
A TALKING LIVING SHADOW. Be confused as to whether this is a cool thing or a scary thing, come to the conclusion it is both. Shadows... sometimes in the old stories, the folktales Babushka told, they are good things and sometimes bad things...

Well, at any rate, it seemed civil. If you see it again, ask it if you can get it anything, or if there is anything it wants, being in with the boss's shadow seems a safe idea... man this is weird.

For the rest of the day, make some time to practice using Hummer's Momentum to improve shooting, particularly the AA-12 on full auto. It should do wonders for negating recoil. Then, practice using Shoddy Step as well to fire accurately whilst on the move, taking shots in the instant you change direction and pass through zero velocity, whilst zig-zagging.

Don't do melee training.

Boris is somewhat disappointed at the lack of screaming and vomiting when more food was stolen.
He looks up the video footage to see if he can find out who it was.

Fuck Lo Fang, but taking him out right now without, say paying the Redcaps to do it and giving them enough blood for their blood bubble trick isn't feasible. And he's not really offering enough for that.

Dmitrii orders: First make sure to return the weapon you checked out along with the magazines and unused ammo.

(Budget $6500. Less mafia dudes and no other Russians should offset a more costly vice) Head out pick up seven or eight mafia dudes for another party. Ignore bringing other Russians this time. Last time was booze, food and whores. This time drugs, food and whores. Going need to ask them about where to get a hold of drugs here. Since you gave them a taste of high-ish life last time, you can't just stick to weed and cheap stuff. Crack in Turkey should on average cost about 70$ per gram. Most of it'll probably have crap mixed in and in general be a bit shitty, but try and at least make sure there isn't stuff that'll kill you in the mix.

Any mafia guys who aren't used to crack, make sure you tell them how to keep from ending up as some shivering crackhead. Won't do for the mafia to blame you for their guys turning into worthless druggies. When your high starts to fade don't immediately try and smoke some more so it. You build up resistance pretty quick and you'll need so much after a few hours that it's an easy way to OD. Varies a bit from person to person, but fifteen minutes high, fifteen low, thirty normal(or smoking weed instead), and then you can start back on the crack again. Also let them know they should probably wait at least two weeks before hitting up again. Again, helps to make sure you don't end up some crappy crackhead. As long as you pace yourself and don't do it all the time you should be fine.

After a couple hours ask if they know where to get some magic drugs. There's gotta be magic drugs around. That'll be expensive, but the others should enjoy it and might be able to sell that sort of info to Duke.

we're not killing Lo Fang. That's balls on head retarded.
But we shouldn't say anything to Jung either. Do not accept or deny the proposition. Do not comment it in either way. Do not start circuitous monologue. There is absolutely no need for it.
He said we do not need to reply, so we shouldn't.

Like it or not, we are deeply entangled with the Triads. Labombard who sees us as a 'little brother' (and thus our ally) is an open ally of the Triads, we are good friends of Lo Ping and Meng Yun, we made it so that Camella became friends with Lo Ping, we introduced Hillevi to the Triads, the Triads became acquainted with Ito, we have gained a measure of respect from Lo Fang and have become his STUDENT (student-mentor relationships are still important, guys). We have gained Lo Fang and his protegees as Chakra mentors for indefinite time. He's a 80 year old grandmaster and no matter how fast we learn Chakras I cannot see anyone better to learn from than Lo Fang at the moment. The training we get from the Triads is priceless on its own.
Whenever we trust Lo Fang or not is unimportant. Frankly I am appalled that some would even consider this proposal if the pay was better, or thinking that we will definitely have to kill Lo Fang at some point in future (this is dangerously paranoid thinking)
The little stunt we made with Jung situation could be chalked-up to friendly manipulation game. I don't think that Lo Fang would be angry at us for pulling it (maybe he'll be even slightly impressed how we made everything play out in our advantage).

Really, unless we fuck up big time or the Triads go full-retard villain mode and betray us, I do not see us moving against them now or ever.

>>386936
>What do I say to Jung-about the offer or otherwise?
We're not going to kill Lo Fang right now, but there's no reason to tell him that- if it's a standing contract that we don't need to state acceptance of, then there's no reason at all to turn it down. SUST to any suggestion to do so.

"Understood. I hope your operations were not disrupted too badly. My company remains available for employment, of course."

>What's my plan for today?
Maintain soul guise all day.

Order Andrei to figure out a way to read whatever's on that disk. With that problem properly delegated we can move on to more pressing matters.

If our soul sensing chakra orientation lets us see ourself- does it also let us break through any of the other barriers that we'd previously identified in our abilities? Can we sense souls that we haven't yet seen or gotten Attention from, for example? Try to sense random people outside or in other buildings to test. Likewise, we might consider using our soul sensing orientation to get a more thorough read on others' souls than we have thus far; spend a bit of time staring at someone, and see if we can get more than the simple summaries of personality that we usually get. Try to identify details, memories, minor facets of personality and if they tie together with each other or with memories somehow- whatever we can find. Overcharge our orientation if we have difficulty to see if that helps.

Call Gianni and see about a certain dinner invitation- perhaps this evening?

Spend some time talking to Silja this morning. She makes a decent confidante and might have some insight into the situation with Hillevi... not that we should actually tell her the details, but the general idea of Hillevi being apparently in danger yesterday, our reaction, what Einrik said about it, and our discovery that she has the memory of a terrible mistake sealed away- in what mirrors our own repression of certain errors rather closely. Even trapped in a gun, Silja is probably wiser than us when it comes to emotions- and now that we know about it, isn't it sort of our job to try and build Hillevi up emotionally to the point where she can handle remembering it, since she's our ward?

>Don't I have a meeting I need to go to today?
We have two, in fact. Withdraw $20,000 or so in cash before going to them, and call Hamlet Hanson to delay our meeting with him by a couple hours since we double-booked for some bizarre reason even though we specifically knew that we had a meeting at three and had nothing else planned all morning to stop us from meeting Go Ping for lunch at a normal time.

At our meeting with Go Ping, don't mention the Doonongaes by name- we agreed to meet him at an unsecured location for some reason, instead of inviting him to our mansion for a magically delicious lunch in a pleasantly warded locale, so the Doonongaes might be able to pick up on us with its super-hearing if we're insufficiently circumspect.

Some things to say:
"I've got a fair number of resources together- you know Hillevi is staying with me; her brother has agreed to assist so far as ensuring that our fishy friend fails to flee, should it try. Aside from that, I've got paired pistols, a shotgun, and another pistol that should be able to go a long way towards keeping it down rather than letting it get back up, if we're able to hit it with all of them- the enchantments should stack up nicely. And as far as sheer damage goes- I was thinking several miniguns, an automatic sniper rifle with rather frigid ammo, and explosive charges planted wherever we think it will probably go should be enough sheer firepower. I've also got guys to man any weapons we can't handle ourselves, if we need them. What have you guys put together?"
"I've got a line on some poison resistance and should be able to pick it up on short notice, in quantity if we need it. Expensive as hell, though. Have you got any solution that isn't incredibly costly?"
"A little intel on its movements- it looks like it spends most of its time patrolling the Bosphorus, mostly on the south end in the evenings and the north end in the mornings. Doesn't keep to a perfect schedule, though. Still, if we're on the north side and start shouting things into the sea, I think we can be fairly certain that it will hear us. Anyone have a better plan than shouting insults until it shows for luring it in? That would be fun, but... not as certain as I'd like. And it would leave the chance that it brings friends."
"Any objection to moving on this Sunday morning?"

Before we go, ask that Go Ping arrange for us to receive tutoring from Lo Fang on Monday. And get a solid look at all three Triads' souls, if we can.


Our second meeting is with Hamlet Hanson. Bring the gun components in a sealed container that conceals what they are, along with a diagram showing what they originally came from. Inspect his soul before talking to him, for the conversational advantage.

Then aim to push fast to get him into working for us. "Mr. Hanson, yes? A pleasure to meet you. I am sorry for rescheduling- a last-minute business meeting, I'm sure you know how these things go. In any case, to business. As I explained on the phone, I need several items investigated and analyzed- their characteristics mapped out in as much detail as possible, as well as any items on the market which closely resemble them identified. I trust this is something you can handle?"
"The compensation is significant, of course. Paid in cash- I have a retainer here, which should cover whatever you need for your examinations. Depending upon the quality of your results my company can also provide further pay, and if you have any particularly costly expenses while the investigation is ongoing, covering those is negotiable."
Give him $10,000 or so, cash. Then go somewhere non-public and go over the details of the Reaper gun with him so that he can get started.

>>387310
Upvoting this. Try to spend as little winter energy as possible until the Doonongaes fight.

SB said that there were gaps in his flesh manipulation knowledge that made it unsafe to share it with Armas. Ask SB if there are some gaps that might be filled by asking questions to GiaGia and thereby unlocking some of the knowledge.

>>385135
I still like my ideas from this post for the Gianni dinner.

>>387145
Okay, a few thoughts if we get into a big spar/fight thing. I'd like Armas to organize and integrate his martial arts so its easier for us, the questers and simpler for Armas to remember in a fight - a la his jukenjitsu high-low stances. I figure we could break it down into Hard and Soft styles, or maybe Basic Striker-Grappler-Other, or something like that.

Krav Maga's basic fighting stance is balanced and flows really naturally into the other styles we've learned. It shares with LINE's basic warrior stance the 'arms up elbows in face the enemy' bit. That's the Striker/Hard stance.

Hard stance lends itself to strikes and thrusting attacks, very angular. Boost with Shadow Step/Shoddy Step and count on spot Reinforcement to protect you. Hummer's movement if added would be to turn missed strikes into elbow/backfists/instantly rechambered kicks to keep us from overextending. Using everything together would give you a blindingly fast thrust (Hummingbird Thrust!) but not much else.

Knees are bent and center of gravity is low, back leg heel is up off the ground, which it shares with Kas pin. Shift one arm up and one down. That's the Soft stance, and the one you use the mere with (the lower hand is the one using the mere).

This is the one to use Hummer's movement on, I think. It already involves really complicated looping hand movements, switching dominant hands from move to move to make things more confusing for an opponent, nerve strikes, the gentle touch, etcetera - crank that up to eleven and the opponent will need really good eyes to follow you, whereas you only need a few good nerve strikes/mere hits.

Shift weight onto front foot and it becomes Sambo's grapple-heavy stance good for swift clinches/throws, not that we're very good with that.

I'd also like to, just once, try something like tae kwon do's 520 degree kick with Hummer's Movement. 520 degree kick becomes Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku.

Now, on to the actual fight- fighting Camella is always fun, but I think we need to start learning team tactics. We're more likely to fight alongside Hillevi or Camella than against them, and we should remember that. If they're up for it, try a few matches of you and Camella versus Hillevi. Together we're more likely to give her a challenge, particularly with her matured ice magic. Just have Camella wear her wheel charm to be safe, and we can all cut loose.

Now get used to making complementary attacks (high and low, different but complementary angles of attack, that sort of thing), flanking attacks, etcetera.

Practice two types of tag-team fighting. In the first, you're the primary attacker/tank. Work on keeping Hillevi's attention with flashy attacks (heavy use of reinforcement to keep from needing a bunch of new organs, have Sake on healing duty), set up opportunities for Camella. Use Gyaketsuote offensively (yes, I just told you to stare at Hillevi offensively) to keep yourself alive and disrupt Hillevi's timing.

In the other, we're the shadow. Use Camella to screen your own attacks and strike from blind sides. Try using gyaketsuote on your ally to synchronize/complement your movements- instead of using the soul bridge to disrupt and confuse the enemy, use it to understand instinctively what your ally is going to do. From Hafaz we know that just one soul bridge can last the whole fight and you don't need to keep looking in their eyes, so I really think this should work.

>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>The moment you are made aware of its existence shout DIBS ON THE FLOPPY DISK! Mad cackling may or may not be involved. Wonder where you'll get a proper reader.
>Get helmet cameras during camera purchasing outing and bring up some editing software if Boss wants to actually broadcast this. Realize 'oh wait we got way too much money for this just to cover things like this.'
>Curse whichever fucker restricts access to Red Bull, and through it access to all energy drinks in the house. Resolve to Correct this.
>Begin ordering Bawls Geek Beer ($34.95 for a 24pack), Jolt ($9.99 for a fresh 6pack), Rage Inferno in the Fire Extinguisher Bottle ($29.99 for a Twelve Pack), Chameleon Cold-Brew (3 pack for $27.00) and 5150 Juice (1 Gallon is only $39.95). Total spent: $152
>When sweet, sweet caffeine arrives, place in fridge beside tampered Red Bull. Write 'ANDREI'S DO NOT TOUCH' with a big, red, marker on each individual container. Feel smug. Indulge caffeine addiction. Feel oddly self-conscious, as if someone is glaring at you, each time you partake-wonder what's up with that.
>Continue making contacts and 'friends' at the internet cafe. Use Internet Cafe to brush up on actual hacking.
>[Boris has been queued to do the following:]
>Be disappointed by lack of screaming and/or vomiting despite continued thefts.
>Review video footage-find a purple-clad arm that can't be accounted for that grabs food from a doorway. Be reasonably certain thief is the Boss.
>Wonder how to handle this, given Boss' relative position (that being: the fucking BOSS) and disposition: does Boris have enough to act? Is doing anything a good idea? Boris does not know.
>[Dmitrii has been queued to do the following:]
>Be conscientious of the hassle managing the Armory is/display respect for the quartermaster by not only returning your weapon and unused weapon, but also informing Satai of how many bullets were expended so he doesn't have to count (two bullets used)
>Connect with Mafia drinking acquaintances, plan another night on the town. Get the feeling your plan to be 'Fast Friends' with the Mafia underlings is proceeding apace.
>Spend $4,150 on food, whores and drugs-specifically, crack cocaine and weed. Be willing to provide advice on 'safe' use of Crack-find out the Mafia are already aware.
>One of the Mafia comrades has some of his own crack, and adds to your contribution for the night of fun.
>Long story short, end up hotwiring a fleet of mail trucks and parking them all in a low-budget car park before wiping down handles and steering wheels for prints and then removing the wheels and placing them in random truck beds. Afterwards be uncertain exactly how you collectively came to the conclusion that this accomplishment would prove your manhood.
>Noting that the Mafia fellow's crack was a bit more potent than you expected, nevertheless inquire after magic drugs as the night winds down-be told there's a man by the name of Doctor 'So-Great' Ace, and be provided with an address one of his flunkies can be encountered at. Fail to find out exactly what it is he could offer, or how much.
>[Igor has been queued to do the following:]
>In response to Satai give zero counter-fucks about Satai's delusions on what is 'good enough'. Decide that If he limits his sleep and does nothing but his lessons at Ito's and crafting, he may have time to do a decent job at it. Igor will re-evaluate Saturday morning if he has not advanced far enough on those, but for now it's full time smithing. ROLL A 1d70+30 in discussion-on a score of 75 or higher, finish personally approved quality backing plates by Saturday. For every five rolled below the DC, add an additional day to fabrication time. By the end of this smithing project, feel more comfortable enacting gross change in metal with hammering.
>[Lev has been queued to do the following:]
>Seek out Feodor, recall the times he has patched up your wounds, drink in celebration of the awesomeness of medics. Be surprised this small effort of camaraderie is amazingly well received-realize Feodor is feeling a bit out of his depth with multiple magic healers around, and really appreciated being acknowledged for his own efforts. Recall the weasel has also done healing, raise drink in praise only after leaving Feodor's company; due to state of drunkenness when leaving meeting with Feodor, construct a shrine in Sake's honor from random shiny junk in the middle of somewhere, it will probably catch fire, you don't care, medics are great, even the magical ones.
>At some point, either before, during or after drunken thanksgiving (for the rest of his life he's not quite sure on the exact timing), realize how many times you seen boss without his shadow, recall that weird encounter you had with a another one of the boss. Mull this over in a boozed mind for an hour before a thought pops free.
>A TALKING LIVING SHADOW. Be confused as to whether this is a cool thing or a scary thing, come to the conclusion it is both. Shadows... sometimes in the old stories, the folktales Babushka told, they are good things and sometimes bad things... Mull this over with such intensity the entire sequence is fully remembered the next day.
>Decide the shadow seemed civil enough. When the shadow is seen again, ask it if you can get it anything, or if there is anything it wants, being in with the boss's shadow seems a safe idea... man this is weird. Be even more wierded out when the shadow replies by asking for 'black lights'. Wonder what's up with that.
>[Lyubov has already done the following:]
Buttz I love the characterization you're putting in your minion, but if you could dial back the amount of orders just a bit I'd appreciate it.
>Started the morning off with another jog with Camella. Smack into a wall near the end when so fatigued she nearly passed out. Spent another half hour spent contemplating how many athletes Camella could put to shame. Decide "All of them, probably." Do not ponder if this is to assuage ego.
>Hunted the Armas! Find him in Foyer. After watching him for a few seconds, note him to directly turn about and Smile at Lyubov before getting up and walking out of the room. After pursuing him down the hallway, fail to find him. Feel something in her pocket-turn about, see no one. Check pocket: there is a note saying 'If you want to play hide and seek, you have to try harder than that'. Have minor epiphany of 'Oh that's right, my boss is both insane and a magic man'.
>Boring research into checking the collected identities to be sure no one else had the same idea and stole the same names she chose. Note down the three male names already in use, for future blackmail of the name users.
>Spent a half hour looking up a good electronics store (one with geeky-sounding reviews). Locate two.
>Go out to the chosen store, ask for help getting connectors suitable to hook cell phones up to a computer to play music over the phone to friends and record their response. Also bought more cell time ($120 for misc connectors and another 20 hours of airtime).
>Watched the spar, enjoy these non personally painful reminders of the golden rule of monster fighting: don't let them touch you. Watched Zhenya moping around.
>Asked by Zhenya "How can I help?" pondered how to best use her. Responded to Zhenya, "Uhm, I need more boy names. If you go to some cemeteries I didn't, maybe out of town? Then maybe you can find good names that sound right. I need two, so try for eight. And get any girl names you see that sound ok too." Awaiting action on Zhenya's side.
>Hooked up the computer so it can record the phones, recorded the fun with Sake for posterity. Be sad when Sake's voice sounds gratingly squeaky as a recording-wonder how that could be fixed. Asked what was up with Hillevi, got the low-down. Face decides to ignore brain and have its own civil war for what expression is the proper response to this. Realize this is probably how the Boss's Smile started.
>[Lyubov has been queued to do the following:]
>Attend another jog with Camella, ask her "What is it you do besides the running to be so fit? Can you give me advice on what I should do?" Be informed that while she's always been big on fitness, she wasn't quite this enduring until after she'd survived for a week alone in the Undersewers. Decide that an ironman survival training regime of life and death is probably not for her. After run and subsequent recovery, vow to one day manage to not feel halfway dead after a jog with Camella. Make a note on said vow to try and do so without following her crazy crazy example.
>Visit favorite bookstore again, buy books on mundane body building and body conditioning ($100). Snicker as you realize not a one of the women featured looks like anything more than a child next to Hillevi's stature-laugh harder when you realize in many countries she's still not officially an adult. Thanks to surreal nature of current job, give zero fucks at the strange looks the older patrons of the store give her.
>Return home, look up boutiques and shoe shops that specialize in clothing for tall and large women. Try to pick out ones that either also cater to normal sized women, or are near other boutiques that do so. Call ahead to be sure they can accommodate Hillevi. Realize that there isn't any listing of a place that does large and tall clothing large ENOUGH for Hillevi. If she can't find any boutiques that can accommodate her guessed dimensions for Hillevi, she will seek tailors who can do it. Begin to question how costly a shopping outing with Hillevi will be if everything has to be tailor made to her.
>Catch Hillevi and give books to her. Explain that since the simplest mundane cover (stressing how important appearing mundane is for less-than-legally acquired identities) is to have her claim to be a professional body builder for her fake ID background, she should study mundane techniques about body building so that if it comes up she can present a consistent story. Mention that the fake ID will be good for bars as well as other things (be SURE to assign Hillevi an identity that's the correct age for that). Once Hillevi's been made to grasp that Bodybuilding is considered rather 'manly' and that adhering to this cover will help with her goal to get 'permission' to drink, she accepts the task with Gusto. Smile as Hillevi shows how much of a kid she is by frequently asking Lyubov to explain things in the books.
>Talk to Hillevi a little about how things are going. Lead conversation to topic of her clothes yesterday, ask if she wants to go to some shops that cater to athletes and other top 1% of the human population (Lyubov will be sure to stress how people with Hillevi's height are almost all world-class athletes of one sort or another, and how shops and tailors specialize in serving them, rather than the hoi polloi). If she learns about Zhenya's failed attempt yesterday, say, "Zhenya has a good heart, but she jumps in without looking sometimes. I have already found the right places." Mean it, too. Remind Hillevi to bring cash card, mention that, "$500,000 can buy a lot of clothes." Be agog that Hillevi hardly seems to care about the half million she has-offhandedly drool over the money.
>Call a taxi for them after looking at both vanduras and realizing #1 would look out of place in the upper-crust areas, and that #2 is still all shot up. Mention to Igor that #2 is still full of holes, hint that it would be less suspicious if it were not. Awaiting Igor and/or Vlad input to repair Vandura.
>While out getting Hillevi measured and helping her order custom fitted clothes (Hillevi: -$72,000), buy pajamas, a couple of dresses for herself, two more sets of workout clothes, skirts and tops, a couple of bags, shoes, and misc items (jewelry, undergarments, accessories, etc) (Price $4,150). Lubov will give Hillevi the best advice she is capable of, and encourage her to have fun with clothes and pick a variety.
>Stop in sewing supply store on the way home. Buy elastics, snaps, slim tension buckles, a bolt of black nylon and another of white nylon, 10 yards "slip-not" or other PVC coated fabric, and wadding. ($400)
>At home, start getting materials all sorted for her project, offer Hillevi a drink. Get to talking, mention stories about how her mother taught her how to do alterations and basic sewing. Complain about living in a 101st kilometer city (residential communities established well away from urban centers to keep their residents politically impotent) as a kid, "So boring! I was always getting into trouble and doing stupid things. I smoked horrible cheap cigarettes and wore counterfeit Levi jeans and played pogs. Pogs! My friends and I were stupid. It is a game where you flip over cardboard coins with a brass coin." Laugh as Hillevi's examples of stupid games sound decidedly... suicidal. Example: seeing how far one can stick their head in an Ika-Turso's mouth before it attempts to bite.
>Abandon idea of getting any serious work on her holster project done today. Play back some of Sake's prank calls for Hillevi, when Hillevi doesn't grasp the humor, explain, "This is like verbal sparring. If you challenge people's expectations in the right way, it is funny. It can make the prank caller more creative, and the person being prank called more quick to recognize when they are having a joke played on them." Be sad Hillevi still doesn't get it-but note that post-shopping, Hillevi is acting very.... little sister-y towards her.
>Prank the rest of the night away with Sake until Night Lessons. Apply alcohol liberally, but Lyubov will steadfastly remain sober enough to perform her duties at the dojo. Be unaware that after this night's training she acquires the nickname of 'Booze foot' for an accidental stumble placing her foot firmly on the leading leg of her sparring partner and tripping them. Wonder how to feel about the first time you really 'got' a vampire one on one being while she's drunk. Be a bit creeped out by the old Asian vampire toothlessly smiling at her.

>>387011
>>387050
I grunt into the phone even as I start getting up and pulling out clothes.
"Well, that's a dangerous offer. I mean, even if I turn it down, you're going to leave it open. Anyway, whatever you think I did, we can talk about it in person sometime, along with whatever other business you want to talk about. When you get back in town, maybe over dinner?"
>[Mr. Jung]"Now I must stress I'm likely not to be back for some time-I hope you understand this."
"It's understood. I hope your operations were not disrupted too badly. My company remains available for employment, of course."
>[Mr. Jung]"Yes-I find myself curious enough where you found individuals with the skillsets your employees have-but sadly am in no position to inquire. Perhaps some day you can share your secret with me-or perhaps not."
What, he wants to get all pseudo-sagely on me? Two can play at that.
"The winds of change are ever fickle. Who's to say what the future may bring."
I grimace at the taste of the words-as Jung chuckles.
>[Mr. Jung]"True enough. The intermediary your men were paid through is still in town-if more employment opportunities arise, you will be informed. Have a pleasant day, Mr. Laine."
*CLICK*

While I slap on a silver suit, I briefly toy with the idea of being so paranoid I worry about Lo Fang having compromised my phone-about the caller not being Mr. Jung-

And then I remember how damned good I've been doing at NOT being a paranoid shit-for-brains these last couple weeks. Fuck if I'm ruining that hot streak. Now that I'm able to see my own soul, I briefly self-assess to see that indeed my soul 'appears' normally spherical if one does not look too deeply. Or maybe I can see past it so easily because it's my own Guise? Not sure-
What I do know, though, is that I only just now realize I double booked today. Engineering Student Hamlet Hanson at a pub: 3pm. Go Ping and co at a Dockside eatery: also 3pm. This needs correcting.
>[HH][In Turkish]"....Who is this?"
[In Turkish]"My, do you get many restricted calls?"
Theres a momentary pause as the academic mulls this over.
>[HH]" You know, it would have been nice if you'd more clearly identified yourself on the phone-"
"Had I, then you would not have, with proper caution, reached out to a certain Professor. It is good to encourage caution, after all."
>[HH]"Yeah-the Professor told me some things about what you're involved with-"
"Which, I think, would make excellent dinner conversation."
>[HH]"Dinner? I thought-"
"Yes-and I am calling to request a minor rescheduling from 3 to 5. Can you accommodate that?"
>[HH]"..Yeah, sure I can. ...So how'd you know I'd be awake?"
I didn't. I didn't even consider how early it is. So-I imply a nontruth with truthful words.
"Can you tell me how many Engineering students get the recommended amount of sleep?"
>[HH]"Point. So, five?"
"Five."
>[HH]"I can do five. I'll see you then?"
"Indeed."
>[HH]"Great."
*CLICK

Okay-that's dealt with. ...But still-I've got another plan. If I'm doing meetings all afternoon, might as well keep the chain going-so I call Gianni's number, and leave him a message asking if we can do the dinner tonight at seven. We'll see what he says.

With my calls done-I decide to do a little bit of productively professional creeping. Specifically-I wander the halls looking at sleeping Russians. Now yes-on paper that's HORRIFICALLY creepy-but I'd say that being their employer and wanted to check on their soul's passive state is a good enough excuse. What I find-is a bit interesting.

-Everyone's soul has a discernibly larger amount of weight-no surprise, given the extreme nature of some of the jobs they've had. The change is, at best, maybe a five percent increase over what was already there.
-The other thing that applies to every single soul is some sense something's off-like looking at a microwaved hotdog that's on the verge ot splitting it's skin. At least, that's the mental association that first comes to mind. Not sure what to make of it-even when I bounce this off SB and Sake.
-Two souls seem the most different of them all-and I'm not certain the changes are particularly positive. Lyubov's soul... looks a tiny bit more like Sake's soul now. It's got... a weaselly air to it. Very minor, very faint-but it's there. Gloom, on the other hand-his shattered mirror soul looks even more broken now, and I don't know why.

I mull these observations over, filing them away for future reference.
>>387153
I decide to spend the remaining time until dawn and everyone else is up and about-after preparing myself a plate of Minotaur blood sausage and a cockatrice omelette-on some personal time. Specifically-finally putting both Matebas to use again, and seeing just how awesome I can be at shooting with them. I bring the AA-12 along too, because why the fuck not.

...Well, I succeed in eating up the time until everyone's awake. That's good. The down side is that I realize something: The exact same problem I had when trying to go from fullbody muscle conversion to partial body conversion is cropping up here. I try to move just my arm, or my hand-and my whole body moves. After a couple hours of trying, I STILL have not even succeeded once at just moving a part of my body with Hummer's momentum. The practice is an utter and abject failure, and since I ONLY learned this doesn't work, is likely a larger waste of time than most of my recent endeavors. Score one for Armas, yay.
>[Hummingbird]"I know thou did not ask, but my knack was not designed for moving individual body parts, but the whole self."
...Kinda wish you'd told me that already.
>[Hummingbird]"There are enough forms of commentary within your skull, Sir Giant: I do not wish to impose."
What does one even say to that?

Well, everyone's awake. That's good. I catch Camella springing through the door with a light step, idly wiping her brow from her morning run, as a wobbly-kneed, panting Lyubov stumbles in after her half a minute later.
>>387145
>>387349
Eh-I've got a relatively busy afternoon, but my morning's pretty free-
"Hey Camella, how'd you like a chance to punch my face in?"
She does not even bat an eye at my choice of words, even as I see Hillevi looking on with a decidedly impish look in her eyes.
>[Camella]"'sfine, sure. What, you want to spar right now?"
"If I said yes-"
>[Camella]"I'd tell you to wait-I need to shower first."
"Fine. So, we can spar-"
>[Camell]"Nope."
"Nope?"
>[Camella]"You're the one that wants the spar-so I get to pick where-and I say right here, in the foyer. You were probably going to be a childish prick and fight me somewhere where I can't even see, weren't you, weren't you?"
Yes.
"Camella-"
>[Camella]"Don't even try it-now wait."

Fifteen minutes later, the Mansion's budding rumor mill has drawn every last Russian to the Foyer. By the time Camella walks back out in shorts and a tank top, I'm already down to my underarmor and finished stretching.

"Shall we begin?"

[PRIMARY]I should begin with Shadow Step, then switch about between other things. That extra third of speed should have meant my first step caught her off-guard. Sadly, since it's daytime in a massive window-filled house, I don't HAVE big-old pools of shadow, so I can't use Shadowstep.
>"I know you've been doing rather well lately, but that is rather stupid."
There's shadows everywhere, I-
>"No, do not try to cover your error. You are fully aware that Shadow Step requires you to be FULLY submerged in shadow. You are not-and in fact, no such place exists either within the mansion, or at Ito's gym during daytime-both locals are too well lit. Had you specifically picked a location rife with shadow, there would be no error."
After I pick my ass up from the ground after pretty much stepping right into Camella's fist face-first rather than slipping around it, I switch to shoddy step + Hummingbird’s momentum. Both of those work without any regard for light levels. In fact, they work so well I avoid having my brain rattled long enough to realize that, were I NOT fighting a much more skilled opponent, I could probably classify my unarmed fighting similar to how I classified my armed fighting. I've got my [Hard] style, where I use a Krav Maga and LINE influenced stance that's easy to make vicious, direct and brutal strikes and thrusts. It mixes wonderfully with shoddy step, more so even than Hummer's momentum. It's not too great on the dodging part, but does pretty well with counters. Kas Pin, on the other hand, has given me a bent-kneed, low-center staggered stance, from which I can leap into a bevy of looping hand movements and nimble dodges. This [Soft] style is every bit as well suited to Hummer's Momentum as the Hard style is suited to Shoddy step-and I would do well to remember this. It takes me some time to figure this out-but I have plenty of time to work on this as Camella whiffs again and again-

Until she manages to touch me.

This is where the fight gets a bit interesting.

I'm still pretty much boned against Camella. Same as before, I may be able to move faster, but she's more economical with her motion. I'm bigger, she's more slippery. I have a hard time properly integrating Kas Pin with my smattering of LINE, Sambo and Krav Maga knowledge-and it shows. Conversely, Camella doesn't once seem to hesitate, picking between moves. Even with accelerated thought speeding up my choices, her reflexive use is still beating out my deliberate actions. Fists and feet glance off her as she rattles off well-connected blow after blow. Pretty much the only positive thing I can say about how I'm doing is that I'm not too bothered by her strikes-they impact me, and maybe alter my momentum, but they don't hurt, they don't give me pause or slow me down. It's probably the only reason I bounced back from my disastrous shadow mistake.

With Shoddy Step and Hummer's Momentum though-the rules change. Every time she attempts a strike-I Step back and/or use Momentum control to scoff at physics while dancing my cumbersome form away from her dainty fists. The first time it happens, the first time I simply ignore conventional laws of motion, Camella's soul changes. What was once a hyper-dense smorgasbord of memories, crystal clear monuments to her past accomplishments-opens its eyes.

Which wouldn't really bother me-I've seen souls with an eye motif before-except that meant she opened up 108 eyes all over her soul.

The second time I dodge one of her blows I manage to get the timing right and hip check her: she manages to keep her footing only after an impressive amount of hasty flailing.

The third time I feel her knuckles catching against my shirt.

The fourth time she brushes against me-and wraps an arm about my wrist while I counter. She tries to throw me-and fails as I use Hummer's Momentum to keep myself on the ground, dancing back as I break her grip.

Seriously, she's adapting that fast? Come on, that's not fair. I don't even have any big old piles of shadow to move faster in.

The battle... continues to slip from my fingers, bit by bit. First she's learned how to commit to a variable punch and match it to my movement-to be sure, she's not striking with any real force, but the point is what should be a simple dodge is still being caught. I mix it up with evasive flanking, and for perhaps five minutes this halts her. As I expected though, she follows her modus operandi, tries harder, and manages to come up with a nasty trick. While striking, she keeps a leg ready to sweep one way for a low kick, and the fist ready to hook the other way. No matter how I dodge-she twists and whips a limb into me. Did I mention she strikes a little bit harder each time? I should mention it.

Half an hour in-just half an hour-and we've gone from her getting slapped about while she couldn't catch me to her locking down my counters and striking me every time she tries. It's damnably irritating to look at her every attack and say in retrospect 'oh so that's how she moved, that makes sense' and still be unable to adopt any part of her improved economy of motion. What's she got that I'm missing? It's a thought that for a time festers in my mind, and dulls my movements. Even when that's dealt with though-her soul's so focused around observing me I can't get a pre-emptive read on what she's going to do-her Attention is on me-on every part of me-at all times. There's no 'tell' informing me where she's going to strike-and as such, Attention sensing does fuckall for me. I don't know what exactly is going on-but she took away my ability to fractionally predict where she'd strike.

The thing that really bothers me? I don't... I don't think she's using Chakra. The bitch.

[TRICKSTER] Getting more than a bit tired of the increasing frequency of fist-to-face events I'm experiencing, I decide to use her perceptiveness against her-and throw up not just the Ego-Less state, but also start randomizing my Soul Guise. For a beautiful moment, she's utterly perplexed, her soul eyes looking dazed and unfocused-as I sweep her legs from under her, rebuff her own counter attempts with some Krav Maga, and throw her to the ground with a thud that echoes around the room.

I am rewarded with a foot to the balls the moment she slams into the ground. I keep my feet-barely-as she slips from my grasp like an eel to stand up, eyes narrowed. The next quarter hour sees her apply the Camella method-and simply apply more focus and drive until she overwhelms my tricks. And just like before-it works. ...Man, does this mean I got lucky against her before? I hide a fist and try the same tricks that bothered her before-and they don't phase her. Every attempt I make to disrupt her focus fails the moment I try something I've already used on her.
>"The magical man is complaining because his foe's a fast learner?"
Hey, any complaints I keep inside my head can be as irrational as I want-push off.
>[HEAVY HANDED] NO SHADOWS, CANNOT BE DONE
Oh fuck it-maximum Reinforcement. Let's stop being dodgy and try some overwhelming power.

....Ow.

As I pick myself up off the floor amid the laughter of the Russians, I rub my neck. Okay... so she's got a plan for Reinforcement that so far looks like it's 'use his increased momentum to push my own strikes in hard enough it hurts him'. Sure, I can see her working her hand, clearly having strained it a bit-but the point remains she throat-punched me with all her weight behind it while I was charging, and even when I used Hummer's Momentum to duck to the side. This was a sufficiently forceful strike to flip me over backwards. I cough up a couple drops of blood as the minor blood vessel damage in my throat starts to heal, and get back up.

[ESCAPE] I....may need to 'escape' from Camella's assault , since I can't rely on Hummer's Momentum to get us out of this-
My knees go wobbly as it feels like someone drove an ice pick into my skull.
>[Hummingbird]"You think my knack is not reliable? Pfaw."
I see the bird opening a flower of soul from it's beak not unlike the one it injected in Silja-and slams it into my spine.

With an oddly passive feeling, I observe my body moving forward lightly, my hands limp at my sides.

Frowning, Camella feints a jab, immediately slips into a low kick that rises up into a knee as her elbow drops down, clearly intent on catching my right arm in a vice and snapping it.

For some reason I'm not there-I'm in the air as if I'd done a high jump. What?
>[Hummingbird]"You learned my knack was not long-term sustainable-and with that, you lowered yourself to using it like any other flightless creature."
Camella's head whips about only after her bodies in motion, darting after me-and catches naught but air, as my body 'bounces' higher up into the sky.
>[Hummingbird]"Yes, it only creates a brief surge of momentum adjustment-but the effect generated is great enough to wholly lift one off the ground. The obvious conclusion from this is that while you cannot fly-you can still touch the sky."
Having seen it twice, this time Camella leaps, performing a spinning axe kick in an attempt to smash me back down to the ground-as my body shifts momentum once, twice-and abruptly I'm inside her guard, my face mere inches from hers.
>[Hummingbird]"The issue is in making the proper choice on where to throw one's momentum, not a flaw in the method itself."
And with that-I'm back in control of my body-

In time to have an elbow planted in my face right before I could actually grab Camella. Wonderful.

I smash to the ground, rolling upright from a tumble as I raise a hand and idly yank my nose back into place. Camella smiles at me-it can't hold a candle to my personal Smile, but it's creepy all the same-that sickeningly sweet, patently false smile of the victor mocking the loser.
>[Camella]"My-those are some interesting tricks you picked up-but they seem rather similar to your old tricks. I hope you didn't assume I wouldn't correct those flaws in my own method."
"Wouldn't dream of it. Ready for more?"
>[Camella]"I'd like to say so-but I've got a dislocated shoulder, a broken fibula, both ankles are sprained, a broken wrist and three broken fingers. If it's all the same with you, I'd rather stop here, and maybe get some healing."
"Oh. Well, then rub my weasel."
Camella's smile vanishes as she stares at me ominously while the Russians lean in closer to watch the drama.
>[Camella]"What did you just say."
Amen! Put up a Sake poster behind Camella-do it RIGHT NOW!
I see a poster materialize just in the nick of time for me to point at it.
"Well Sake IS the company healer-just one rub of that fellow and you'll be right as rain."
Sake, lazily draped over a pillow, raises his head.
>[Sake]"It's true-I give the BEST rubs ever."
"Could you at least verify said rubs are restorative?"
>[Sake]"They could hardly be the BEST rubs if they didn't restore, could they?"
I sigh as Camella's ire drains in the face of inanity after looking at the poster and hearing out back and forth. She fails to immediately reject the notion, and Sake floats over to vigorously rub himself against her before she can sort out how to respond. Her eyes flutter open in shock and a small gasp escapes her lips, sounding almost like a squeak.
>[Sake]"There-bet you feel better, right?"
Initially frowning fiercely, Camella slowly stretches like a cat with a smile that grows more pleased and full of wonder by the second.
>[Camella]"I most certainly feel better."
She check the clock and frowns.
>[Camella]"...Damn."
She darts off-and five minutes later is heading for the door with her usual gear for teaching at Ito's-
"OY-next time team sparring!"
>[Camella]"However you want me to kick your ass is fine with me!"
-And the moment the door shuts, the Russians begin laughing. I respond to this with a single question.
"SO-who'd like to spar one on one with Camella next?"

Nobody offers to be that guy-and the laughter dies a rather swift and painful death while I ponder just how hard Camella had to push herself-I didn't even touch her ankles-did she sprain them keeping up with me? Maybe. I spend some time talking with Silja, and take a very great deal of pleasure from how easily she ruffles Hummingbird's feathers with her constant adoration of his cuteness. She seems to be more cheerful every day we speak-but all the same she puts that aside as I tell her about what's happening with my Ward. Particularly-when I get to Hillevi having a terrible memory sealed within her that she can't access, Silja's commentary takes on a troubled tone. I know she's thinking in some way about her own repressed memories-and leave it at that for now. It wouldn't do to back her into a corner.

I have an early lunch with the Russians yet in the house, talking with Duke and Hillevi about 'soul eyes' and feeling a bit put upon when neither of them know what I'm talking about. ...What kind of soul quirk WAS that? On the plus side-during said early lunch, curiosity strikes-and I find myself, now that I can see my own soul, fully able to perceive unshielded souls through walls-I had to ask Amen to allow me to sense through the mansion's walls, but the point stands that I can do it. My only complaint is that for souls I have yet to actually connect with, either by genuinely seeing them with my own eye, or by having the soul direct it's Attention my way. As it is, all I can tell is at-a-glance information without having witnessed a soul the 'usual' way.


>>387310
Fuck it, I've got other things to worry about. I clean myself up, withdraw some cash ($20,000 to be precise) and spend a couple hours searching for average pay rates for student engineers in Turkey-and reflexively clutch my wallet. That... that's EXPENSIVE. Well, guess I'll have to try and win him over with toys... but the money won't hurt. Nor will bringing a pair of Reaper bullets.
PERSONAL FUNDS: -$20,000 to Cash $321,013.11
CASH: $20,000.00

I shower, I shave, I put on new underarmor and I re-don my snazzy silver suit. It takes me half an hour to walk to the meeting with Go Ping and co-and I arrive two minutes early. We share some brief platitudes and small talk as Long Wang places orders, and immediately get down to business the moment she departs.
"I've got a fair number of resources together- you know Hillevi is staying with me; her brother has agreed to assist so far as ensuring that our fishy friend fails to flee, should it try."
>[Long Wang]"Excuse me, I would just like to verify-that would be the Valkonan Heir, Einrik, correct?"
"The same. Aside from that, I've got paired pistols, a shotgun, and another pistol that should be able to go a long way towards keeping it down rather than letting it get back up, if we're able to hit it with all of them- the enchantments should stack up nicely."
>[Diao Yuan]"If you allow it, I would be happy to ply whatever weapon you offer-though as you may recall I am most comfortable with shotguns."
"I remember. And as far as sheer damage goes- I was thinking several miniguns, an automatic sniper rifle with rather frigid ammo, and explosive charges planted wherever we think it will probably go should be enough brute force. I've also got guys to man any weapons we can't handle ourselves, if we need them. What have you guys put together?"
>[Go Ping]"We have secured a supply of exactly six-and if all are not used, we will need to return the unused ones, I must stress this-Magitech grenades-it's easiest to conceptualize them as thinking that once triggered, the cover everything within ten feet in a layer of liquid nitrogen. It is likely not enough to kill the Doonongaes-but they should work most admirably as distractions, or towards slowing him down while causing harm."
>[Long Wang]"We have learned that the creature has a cursed wound that manifests whenever tit akes a form with a pelvis-it's supposed to be only marginally off to the right from its spinal column, and only reachable from the back. Due to the fact it's a shapeshifter, we have no photos for reference concerning this discovered weakness. The wound's nature causes it to weaken magical resistances in the wounded area-anything that strikes it should cause more harm than should the creature be struck elsewhere. This is of course offset by the wound being fairly far from any genuinely important organs."
>[Diao Yuan]"We also secured the assistance of some of the ships that police the Bosphorus-they won't help us fight, but they will stay at see as a deterrent to dissuade the beast from fleeing, as it is wont to do when it cannot easily win. That should assist the Valkonen in his own endeavors to prevent the creature's retreat."
"Great. I've got a line on some poison resistance and should be able to pick it up on short notice, in quantity if we need it. Expensive as hell, though. Have you got any solution that isn't incredibly costly?"
>[Go Ping]"No. Doonongaes poison is particularly vicious and multifaceted-the lesser panaceas do not treat it, the lesser boosters do not prevent it. The most economic solution is to not be touched, as foolish as the advice sounds. Do not feel obligated to provide us with such protection-we will cover our own."
"Well, that's about what I expected. A little intel on its movements- it looks like it spends most of its time patrolling the Bosphorus, mostly on the south end in the evenings and the north end in the mornings. Doesn't keep to a perfect schedule, though. Still, if we're on the north side and start shouting things into the sea, I think we can be fairly certain that it will hear us. Anyone have a better plan than shouting insults until it shows for luring it in? That would be fun, but... not as certain as I'd like. And it would leave the chance that it brings friends."
>[Go Ping]"We do have an alternative-simply put, a 'white noise' generating device designed for use in water. It will create decidedly bothersome noises for anything that is highly sensitive to vibrations in the water-such as our target."
"What about other creatures?"
>[Go Ping]"The only things sufficiently keen to vibration that are not the Doonongaes are not sufficiently dangerous to pose any threat to our group-and we have procured the services of an Encantado to dissuade these potential interlopers from interfering-lethally, if necessary."
"An Encantado huh? Hm. Any objection to moving on this Sunday morning?"
>[Go Ping]"I have none."
>[Long Wang]"That's fine."
>[Diao Yuan]"We'll pay him back for May whenever you wish."
"Great-Saturday morning it is. I'll call you first thing in the morning, and we can start setting up. Oh yes-Go Ping, would you please ask Lo Fang if he can accommodate a Monday training meeting?"
>[Go Ping]"I can and will-and I'll preemptively tell you that he'll accept if you wish the training to be in the evening-perhaps from 4pm to 10?"
"Okay, works for me."
All are in agreement-and for a time I simply enjoy my meal, relaxed as I feel not a single whiff of attention on my beyond that of my companions and the mundane waiter. All too soon it's time to leave-and I depart for my next meeting.

The pub I meet Hamlet at is... rather similar to the eatery I met the Triads at, actually. That same 'gritty but not outright dirty', that same lack of interest in aesthetic appeal beyond grunge-the only difference is the age of the occupants. Frankly, besides the bartender I'm probably the oldest person here. I spot Hamlet rather easily, as his is the brightest soul in the room, replete with boundless curiosity, and sit down across from him, the lone person in the bar sitting alone at a table, rather than on a stool.
"Mr. Hanson, yes?"
The rakish, narrow-shouldered, pinch-faced man looks up at me from behind wire framed glasses, and merely nods, visibly swallowing, his pendulous adam's apple bobbing.
"A pleasure to meet you. I am sorry for rescheduling- a last-minute business meeting, I'm sure you know how these things go. In any case, to business. As I explained on the phone, I need several items investigated and analyzed- their characteristics mapped out in as much detail as possible, as well as any items on the market which closely resemble them identified. I trust this is something you can handle?"
>[Hamlet Hanson]"What... kind of items?"
"Items that need to be tested in wind tunnels and the like. The compensation is significant, of course. Paid in cash- I have a retainer here, which should cover whatever you need for your examinations."
I pass across the table to him a simple unsealed envelope filled with $10,000 and containing a pair of the damnable bullets. His eyes widen when he peaks inside, though whether it's due to the cash or due to the nature of the items he's investigating I could not say. I do know for certain he's interested.
"Depending upon the quality of your results my company can also provide further pay, and if you have any particularly costly expenses while the investigation is ongoing, covering those is negotiable."
He looks up at me, back down at the envelope and then back up to me, admirably avoiding gaping like a fish.
>[Hamlet Hanson]"...I won't ask the question you'd have to lie about-but I do have one I really, really have to ask before I can accept your request."
"Oh?"
>[Hamlet Hanson]"Are there people who don't want these to be studied, that would be looking for someone studying them in this country?"
Sometimes, I don't like my dedication to truthfulness.
"I can tell you that it'd be wise to be discreet with your studies-and to never reference the items in detail on paper-or anywhere, save in your eventual report to me. I can also tell you that if at ANY point you feel uncomfortable, or become suspicious something is wrong that you should not hesitate to call me. I am not in the habit of bringing trouble to my business partners-and should trouble find you, I will ensure the situation is corrected."
I can see the war he fights with himself. He doesn't want to be in genuine harm's way-and he also would rather rip off his dick than pass on this money. In the end, the motivator I knew would win triumphs. Hamlet accepts the money and the envelope, shakily offers his hand for a quivering handshake, drains his beer, and is on his way. I'm confident he'll bounce back-his soul had the look of having a candied shell over a steel core-he's pushed around pretty easy to a point, and then rebounds with a vengeance, is my guess. So long as I actually keep my word and keep him out of harms way as he researches this, I can think of no reason he won't complete the job.

Eying the clock as I pay my tab along with his (ever mindful of how valued free beer is to college goers), I head back to the mansion-and along the way get a text"
>[GiaGia]"[code]2nite's purr-fect. Cum with ur act-but don't let the cat out of the bag!'
....Oh Gianni.


I get back to the mansion at six twenty, giving me fifteen minutes before I need to head back out so I can meet him at the Asitane.









What's my plan for the Gianni meeting?
...What was the convoluted disguise I had to shoot for?
How exactly am I going to pull off that disguise?
Reminder: Please do not issue more than one batch of orders to a minion per in-game day.

Orders for Rostislav: Will get tired of that 'left in the dust' feeling, and kick up his training as much as possible without interfering with preset orders (such as the Best Beer Hunt) or causing irreversable mental/bodily harm. Will focus on more close combat, aiming on shoring up weaknesses like his general knifeplay and shooting. Open to sparring with anyone.

So you want to pretend tobe a guy pretending to be a guy that is badly pretending to be normal eh?
Ok, few things you want to look into using mundane and/or magical means.
1)Changing hair colour/texture. You were in the south, you know how the people there look. If you can get your hair to change colour to more their style and texture and then change colour to one that would be common in on of Finnish decent it would be good. If you can't get a wig.
2)Changing Voice. I would think something like this would be handled better via soul or using chemicals. You have seen the souls of some people in the south, try and remember the early imprints, the things that look old, ask SB to help you recall the memory. What you are doing is looking for the things that shape accents and languages of a child growing up. Convince yourself that that is your voice. That IS your voice, how could you have ever thought otherwise. (if you don't want to go that route then ask Duke or do a quick netsearch about chemicals that change voice texture.)
3)setting your Bearing. This is where you bring in the Einher layer to the guise. You have seen Einher before, how they act, how they think, how they speak. Live it, feel it, walk with confidence and strength, be prepared to take on any challenge with a laugh in your voice and a smile on your face. Layer this into your soul guise and also act it mundanely.
4)The average Joe. Finally you need to try and fail to act like a normal person. Your best influence for this is Hillevi. You have seen her soul and described it on multiple occasions to look like a giant trying hard not to hurt those around it, stepping carefully and such. This is going to be one half of your 'Average schmuck' guise. The second half is culture shock. You have to completely omit, get wrong in some way or get right after a few moments hesitation a lot of the 'expected' social relations in the common world. Careful not to take this step too far though or you will fuck up everything. One of the only things that come to mind right now to help you in this area is loud laughing and unrestrained eating.
Last but not least, you have to integrate the AORB guy again. Moves a bit too smooth for an einher at ceratin occasions, and sharp eyes looking around.

IF you can do all of this, and we all know you can, you will have this in the bag.

--------------------------
Zhenya
Break self out of funk and focus on this new job Lyubov has for you. Yea you kinda screwed up with Hillevi because you didn’t do your research first, resolve to not let that happen again.
Spend some time planning out a circuit of medium sized cemeteries that are not yet full and routes to, between and back from them that avoid major routes that you may find police presence on. Also plan escape routes in case you get in any kind trouble.
Spend some time constructing a fake family in your mind.
Call ahead to the chosen places to explain to the curators that you have a recently deceased in your family and you are trying to find a good resting place for them.
Borrow a camera. If one cannot be found go buy a few disposable ones and resolve to pester Satai about getting company cameras.
Borrow Vandura #1 and set out, take the H&K P7 K3 pistol for it’s ease of concealment.
Take at least 20 pics each of boy and girl names. Take pictures of the grounds themselves and such to assuage suspicions from curators. Be prepared to talk if necessary.
Dedicate any remaining free time to music.

Okay, we're an AORB agent pretending to be an Einher pretending (poorly) to be a mundane. Plus our soul guise (I think Veiled Danger should serve well enough, here: a bloodthirsty berserker trying to hide his light in a bushel, but beautifully crafted as if by an AORB hand), and I'd like to try that pigmentation change to something lighter and fairer-haired. Test out beforehand to ensure we aren't going to explode ourselves.

Wear something homespun - and not Amen homespun, but like something you'd find on a Sami. If we have any American cologne, put on just the lightest touch- then douse ourselves in a couple Finnish beers.

When we get there, we adopt English with a Finnish accent. I figure once or twice we'll forget or slur the accent, which is all to the good. Allow the AORB agent (us) to allow a sliver of dislike at the 'foreign' food at the Asitane through his facade, while the Einher self devours it with sub-par table manners and loudly declaims his delight at it.

In fact, we should generally be loud and boisterous. For the Einher, take your cue from Hillevi's own efforts to fit in as a normal. Explain that you are very normal, that you are a... what do normal people do for jobs that don't involve massive amounts of violence? ... You are a salesman. You sell people things that no one really needs because modern people are slothful and lazy.

Have a general air of barely-restrained bloodlust whenever you identify a supernatural that would be a good fight.

>>387357
[Correction: Doonongaes appointment was made for SUNDAY, not Saturday.]

This disguise needs three parts (corresponding to Soul, Body, and Mind), namely a Soul Guise, physical appearance, and behaviour.

The soul guise is probably both the easiest part, and the least likely to be noticed. Simply form a soul guise that looks like an AORB agent pretending to be an einher. Since soul guises rely on conceptual formations, presumably one can be made to look exactly like we need. In the event that it's not self-forming with regards to the details, form one around professionalism, American "patriotism", and the mysterious kind of intrigue that your typical "secret agent" would have around them. Upon this partially layer, in a manner that's particularly easy to see through, what a modern man would think were typical einher traits: the urge to fight, Viking barbarism, etc.

Next we have the appearance. This may require some fleshcrafting help from Amen, so a particularly stringent set orders will need to be thought up. Obviously Armas has a very distinctive look, and that needs to change. Skin and hair pigmentation, especially. Go with an American Mid-west look, since they have a high proportion of people descended from Nordic ethnic groups, and would be more likely to be chosen to impersonate an einher. Fairly pale skin, blonde hair, and here's where Amen's help will be needed, a restructuring of the facial features to something a little less incongruous. Make sure it can be changed back without permanent damage. For clothing wear a suit, slightly damaged, showing that the "einher" has perhaps been fighting a little even so recently, but have it be made out of something too expensive to really fit.

Finally, your behaviour. Act like an uncivilised Viking, but play it up to a ridiculous extent, making it obvious that you're pretending, and slip in more American idioms and knowledge than an einher should have. Use a Finnish accent, but slip into a Mid-west accent every so often.

>>387357
Orders for Matvey:

Recall from the Boss' briefing that the mansion's regular supply of tasty treats is delivered by Brownies. Ask the Boss-man if we're currently leaving gifts for the helpers like you're supposed to, be disappointed when finding out we aren't. Decide keeping the invisible delivery monsters happy sounds like a pretty good idea. Make some porridge with honey in the kitchen, locate a normal and unused room in the mansion and leave it there with a note thanking them and warning off other Russians. Ask Boris if he'd be willing to contribute some Wort for the project.

Go to a barber, get a nice clean shave and a haircut to stave off scruffiness, but also to see how good the lauded service is. Drink the tea they give you. Avoid cringing if they bring out a flaming hair singeing device. Expect to pay about $20 which includes a generous tip to both barber and shop sweeper.

On a whim born out of respect for his elders and a desire for storytime decide to make something of tonight's night lessons at Ito's and purchase some fine tea and alcohol (Up to $500). Ask Boris to make some snacks from the cookbook that will travel well. See if Ito and perhaps any of the straggler's are up for some fun, trade stories of a life of travel with Ito, be fully prepared to run out far before he does.


(Asking for an update on the search for horseback riding lessons as well, it's been at least four days.)

ARMAS ORDERS

Don't come off as a bumbling idiot, you need to act competent enough to at least be a credible AORB agent. Your soul guise shouldn't actually be multilayered, but instead should be designed to just LOOK multilayered. A single guise with all the details involved in pretending to be an Einher.

And about that, you should pretend to be a modern Einher, not someone hopelessly out of date.

If you need stuff to talk about that will keep your cover while still seeming a plausible AORB agent, say things like "how big and capable are your assets...for combat" and "how's your staying power... in Istanbul?"

Before you go to the meeting, summon Amen.

"Amen, change the German Army uniforms I had you make into armored clothes that would not look out of place in an average crowd in Istanbul this time of year, and which has underwear in the color of orange I favor. Make sure they're as protective and flexible as they were earlier. Tell the Russians and Camella that this has been done. Before you change the clothes, seek input from each person about what their respective outfit will look like. Use their input, and my the requirements, and your own undeniable sense of style when you re-make the uniforms."

"I have a question for you: have you ever seen the film 'Monster House'? The one from a few years ago?"

"Was Abolec's comment about the house correct? Is it a body of some sort?"

If he confirms it is, ask "Is it your body?"

If he says yes, ask "So, it's like I'm inside you when I'm home. How does it make you feel to have me inside you?"

>>387357
Orders for Matvey:

Recall from the Boss' briefing that the mansion's regular supply of tasty treats is delivered by Brownies. Ask the Boss-man if we're currently leaving gifts for the helpers like you're supposed to, be disappointed when finding out we aren't. Decide keeping the invisible delivery monsters happy sounds like a pretty good idea. Make some porridge with honey in the kitchen, locate a normal and unused room in the mansion and leave it there with a note thanking them and warning off other Russians. Ask Boris if he'd be willing to contribute some Wort for the project.

Go to a barber, get a nice clean shave and a haircut to stave off scruffiness, but also to see how good the lauded service is. Drink the tea they give you. Avoid cringing if they bring out a flaming hair singeing device. Expect to pay about $20 which includes a generous tip to both barber and shop sweeper.

Gather up whatever Russians aren't busy with company projects and run some basic team building exercises like a group obstacle course which requires teamwork to finish. Attempt to locate potential problems in group dynamics and areas that could be improved.

On a whim born out of respect for his elders and a desire for storytime decide to make something of tonight's night lessons at Ito's and purchase some fine tea (matcha and sencha) and alcohol (sake, sochu, and Japanese whiskey), spending up to $500. Ask Boris to make some snacks from the cookbook that are salty/sweet and will travel well. See if Ito and perhaps any of night class regulars are up for some fun. Chat with regulars and get to know them better. Trade stories of a life of travel with Ito, be fully prepared to run out far before he does.

(Asking for an update on the search for horseback riding lessons as well, it's been at least four days.)

>What's my plan for the Gianni meeting?
The plan is basically to follow Gianni's lead here- we don't have any clue what we are getting into, so we can't gamble on assumptions.

>...What was the convoluted disguise I had to shoot for?
We have to look like a Einher that is failing to look like a businessman- with just enough of a AORB agent showing that the best people at the Asitane could feel it.

>How exactly am I going to pull off that disguise?
The first thing to do, I think, is to scrub ourself of any kind of smell, and then adding some blood of beasts Einherjar hunts or something so that werewolf could 'smell' Einher on us (make sure it's not poisonous or at least of no real danger to Armas). Then, Armas should cloth himself in a suit. He should change his pigmentation and hair color to fit Finnish types. When he is at the Asitane, he should begin acting like a normal person, but forget every so often and instead act like a honor-bound nordic , until he just completely gives up on it. The soul-guise should be of 'Veiled Danger', but only if it doesn't show his godling/cannibal/imperial bits. If it does, and as Armas doesn't have time to learn a new soul-guise for this (new soulguises demand his full concentration), he should put on the 'mundane' soulguise he worked on before, and put on a Amulet or some such that would look like the origin of the guise. The 'AORB agent' part should be subtle. Two ideas for that: for specifc 'instants', make your soul feel 'American' when discussing politics or military or whatever, just to show bias. Thos isntants should be very, very short, so that you can then go back to the soulguise we master more easily. Then, when it's time to pay, there should be a US-only card in our wallet.

>>387372
WB if it's you Alratan (if it's you and you want to keep Gloom, you better notify Bob as he'll soon be taken over). But, hell SUST this experiment on changing how Armas think without any fallback, and SUST on deciding that something is useless when we made some great progress.

>>387591
Upvoting this. While Einher retain the lust for battle, it's a more elegant disguise if you don't act like an over-the-top Viking. Try to sprinkle any mannerisms you might recall from Gleb or Abloec in underneath the outer mannerisms of the mundane, and talk to Gianni about hunting expeditions (the ones you did with Markku and the Valkonen, but don't mention names). For the 'imitating mortal badly part', accidentally-on-purpose start mentioning a specific supernatural beastie then cut yourself off, that sort of thing.

Iosef
>While quietly contemplating during beer, think about the ammo fabrication
>realize that making ammo could become a monotonous, time-consuming task
>resolve to find a way to preemptively alleviate boredom
>conclude that getting a wall-mounted TV with a Blueray player to watch favorite movies/shows would be perfect. Or at least a radio.
>Go to the workshop and make a mental plan where to put the equipment and where to mount the TV for perfect viewing pleasure.
>Ask Vlad if he approves of the idea though.
>Search the web for TV ands player. (400$ for a good FullHD 42" Flatscreen and ~100$ for a blueray player)
>Before spending personal cash, try to convince Satai to chalk it up to company expenses
>If he refuses, then use personal cash.
>While doing all this, think about movies and television in general. The though train eventually brings to old, favorite Soviet classics. Get nostalgic and a bit depressed.
>Think it would be a great idea to organize a drunken, Russian movie-night.
>Contemplate what would be the best to show.
>...
>OLD SOVIET CARTOONS!
>Everybody loves childhood soviet cartoon [Seriously, I've never met anyone who doesn't.]
>Spend the entire afternoon searching for best quality cartoon shorts that can be found.
>Search for English subtitles and add them to the files for the people who do not speak Russian. Get Andrei's help if things prove to be too difficult but otherwise use google for help.
>get a play-list with cartoons like these (among others):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgxHIWBt5yg (I recommend Armas to watch this for some ideas for verbal kung-fu)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYGE_8xSKgM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3yhBEQlH_Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_7gV83yPw4
Classic Tom&Jerry are also universally loved in Russia
>Schedule the Movie night so that everyone is present to participate [all russians, Armas, Hillevi, Einrik, Camella, Duke]

>In the evening, during beer/dinner hear Lev talking about 'living shadows in the mansion'
>Apprehensively ask him to elaborate
>When Lev tells him about a living, talking shadow that has been with them since Armas hired them get a minor panic attack.
>The more Iosef thinks about it, the more nervous he becomes. Spend entire evening drinking.... this only proves to worsen the paranoia.
>During drunken haze somehow find a night-lamp for babies. Resolve to sleep with it on.
>The next day during shooting practice suddenly feel uncomfortable being alone at the gun range
>Decide to cut the practice short due to rising stress and find a place with other people around. [45 minutes instead of 1.5 hour training]
>Start seriously contemplating about this situation in the afternoon and the evening. Ask around among Russians. Learn more from Matvey about Armas' shadow.
>In the end, after reflecting how helpful the Shadow has been in the past (learn about somethings it did during Nazi warehouse raid, for example) and getting information from fellow comrades decide that even if it is a living embodiment of his fear, Armas' shadow is pretty cool dude (alcohol may or may not have been involved when Iosef managed to think this though, ignoring his phobia).
>From next the day continue as normal.

[color=##FFCC00]ARMAS[/color]
>>387357
We don't know much about AORB to make a proper disguise, I think. Call Matvey and ask him to tell you everything he learned about the AORB spook they had the meeting with. His mannerism, his body-language, etc. With this info, we could have a better basis to build our AORB persona. When on-route to Asitane, call Camella and ask her the same thing.

>What's my plan for the Gianni meeting?
Follow his lead, act like you are supposed to.

>...What was the convoluted disguise I had to shoot for?
An Aorb agent, predending to be a einherjar who is badly trying to be normal.

>How exactly am I going to pull off that disguise?
Base Is the AORB
This is Agent, the hidden steel, it is what anyone who digs deep is supposed to find.

Above that is the Einherjar, who should be obvious to anyone with the right senses.
Then you have the poor normal man, this should only just pass muster with normals.

You should dress in a plain but messy suit, make sure to look like you aren't used to wearing such.
Have bad eating habits, be a bit too loud and brash, and be vaguely baffled by seriously mundane things.

Quaff.

On occaision the steel of the Aorb should glint, enought to put doubt in the mind, but not reveal anything.

LEV ORDERS
Well, If shadowboss wants blacklights, then black lights he'll get!
Though, might be an idea to look that up...
Check local hardware and furnishing stores for blacklights.
Then buy/order a varity, get fixtures and torches, that kind of thing.
Make sure to pick up a black umbrella for ShadowBoss, An umbrella casts a shadow, right?
When handing over the good, express curiousity as to what he wants them for, casting shadows in darkness? You don't know, not a physicist or shadowmage or anything like that.

...
Realise you will only get so far teaching yourself the blade...
That glorious mountain woman, you'd almost think her a huldre, she seems to be... traditional in combat, humbling approach her asking to be taught the ways of the sword, be prepared to be shot down like a clay pidgeon.

Guile 2012/02/19(Sun)15:41 No. 387782 ID: 6616f3
File 132969488665.jpg - (195.73KB , 1978x1501 , Food\'s On2.jpg )

Screwed up on the coloring on this one, gave up - poor Boris doesn't even have any feet. You know what I want, though, bob - we are going to force Boris to apprentice to Cookie Lady. She's lonely, we need delicious treats. Problem solved.

So we go to her, tell her our friend really wants to broaden his experience in the kitchen, and we thought of her. We get Boris on board by... I dunno, telling him this is the first step to the creation of our gingerbread man golem army. Whatever. (Gingerbread man army pic will come later)

>>387591
Don't forget "I want to see what you are capable of, someday."

Softball them in for Gianni, don't make it seem like you're in on the joke.

>Satai orders for Thursday-onward
-Spend some time getting more familiar with the lesser arms dealers in the city; should know some by now. Visit a half-dozen or so and get a sense of their operations, drop $5,000 or so at each location buying miscellaneous spare magazines, bullets, grenades, explosives, silencers, or useful sights; don't hesitate to spend a few thousand bucks extra if someone has an unexpected gem.
-The objective here is to get a sense for what each dealer is like, their prices, what kind of goods they stock, and to be recognized as a customer worth paying at least some mind to.
-Spend some time working with Andrei installing helm-cams and working with those expensive electronics Armas wanted set up so that they'll be ready for deployment as a fairly subtle deployable recording/observation/speaker system on short notice.

>>387357
>How exactly am I going to pull off that disguise?
Don't rely too much on soul guises- the key to this is going to be acting properly. Unfamiliar soul guises are difficult to hold while making plans and thinking original thoughts, so we must not try for a new and creative one. Keep up our usual soul guise, or modify our veiled danger one into something familiar enough that we think we'd be able to hold it. Regardless, make sure that it's something we can stick to absolutely- anything else can go wrong this evening, but our soul guise must not break when we are at the Asitane, because there will be powerful people with magical senses watching.

Use our fleshcrafting powers to turn our skin white and our hair blond. Make our clothes not stand out in terms of modernity, but definitely be something more suitable for a northern climate than for the Mediterranean.

Any AORB agent is going to be a competent disguise, so don't worry much about that aspect of it. Try angling the conversations like who loves fighting and is really enthusiastic about it, but keeps stopping themselves from talking about anything really interesting. Keep bringing the conversation back to fighting and Gianni's experiences with it; our Einher persona does this because he likes it, and the AORB persona behind that does it because he's fishing for information.


When the dinner over and Gianni offers to teach us things, focus on the epicanthic powers. There is a ton of trolling to be done with it- maybe he can teach us about pheremones so that we can mess with people by smelling specific ways; wouldn't that go delightfully with our soul guises? And if we actually get an epicanthic specialization, perhaps when we kill the Doonongaes we'd be able to take its poison gland and learn how to integrate it into ourselves along with an immunity so that we could use Doonongaes poison ourselves- Whaitiri might be able to do that, at least.

Bob!t/UKid4z5s 2012/02/19(Sun)19:51 No. 387816 ID: d97a61
File 132970991166.jpg - (446.62KB , 550x1168 , Asitane Owner.jpg )

>[Rostislav has been queued to do the following:]
>Find new favorite bar of the few yet sampled. Only problem is it's on the far side of Istanbul, well away from downtown. While continuing beerhunt, wonder how one could access Rotgut Ronny's Irish Pub more readily. Also wonder why not a single person seems to know why Ronny and his pub are in the middle of Turkey.
>Invest additional time in personal training in both firearms and melee. -1,000 5.45x39mm / week from armory. +$50 a week (to a total of $200/week, $50 above the current norm) from additional time spent teaching.
>Lose ready availability for morning missions without forewarning due to longer sessions assisting with night lessons as part of the above.
-[Zhenya has been queued to do the following:]
-Give self some form of pep talk about Hillevi fuck-up. Do not notice a shadow shaking with laughter observing her verbalized pep talk.
-Plan out a circuit of medium sized cemeteries that are not yet full and routes to, between and back from them that avoid major routes that you may find police presence on. Also plan escape routes in case you get in any kind trouble. Continue learning Istanbul backstreets, and some areas immediately surrounding Istanbul.
-Attempt to construct fake family in mind. Fail to construct fake family in mind as no fake family was imagined within Zhenya's mind. That means you, Falcon, Zhenya's player, should come up with it, or have Zhenya approach someone about getting a fake family.
-Borrow camera that was found within the house, with intent to return it.
-Call ahead to the chosen places to explain to the curators that you have a recently deceased in your family and you are trying to find a good resting place for them. Upon arrival, realize this means you are being shadowed by a curator, and as such taking pictures is highly questionable. Realize you again did well on planning the route-and didn't plan enough concerning what needed doing before the escape routes became relevant.
-At next cemetery, attempt to get away from curator, having already called ahead and thus being expected, but fail to gain enough privacy to take pictures of tombstones. Return Vandura, return unfired gun, feel confidence in pep-talk beginning to crumble in face of back-to-back flubs. Place camera back where it was found, unused.
-Attempt two at cheering self up: jam on violin. Wonder what's up with hearing until Sake is spotted doing something to produce the sound of other violins. Play with green weasel. Feel better. Wonder if problem with ignoring early parts of plans in favor for later parts will get better.
>[Matvey has been queued to do the following:]
>Recall from the Boss' briefing that the mansion's regular supply of tasty treats is delivered by Brownies. Ask the Boss-man if we're currently leaving gifts for the helpers like you're supposed to, be disappointed when finding out we aren't. Decide keeping the invisible delivery monsters happy sounds like a pretty good idea.
>Make some porridge with honey in the kitchen, locate a normal and unused room in the mansion and leave it there with a note thanking them and warning off other Russians. Ask Boris if he'd be willing to contribute some Wort for the project. Awaiting response from Boris on whether he will assist by providing Wort, and if so what kind of Wort.
>Go to a barber, get a nice clean shave and a haircut to stave off scruffiness, but also to see how good the lauded service is. Drink the tea they give you. Avoid cringing when they bring out a flaming hair singeing device due to having expected it. Expect to pay about $20 which includes a generous tip to both barber and shop sweeper. Be unsurprised when $20 does indeed pay for the shave and both tips. Feel like a boss while striding out of the barbershop, cool wind on a freshly shaven cheek.
>Finally get a response from a place 40 miles out of Istanbul that charges $65 an hour for lessons. Wonder why no other places have responded. Learn this location does not sell horses.
>On a whim born out of respect for his elders and a desire for storytime decide to make something of tonight's night lessons at Ito's and purchase some fine tea and alcohol ($500). Ask Boris to make some snacks from the cookbook that will travel well, recieve the staple Kelpie Krisps, along with a mandragora base vegetable soup. See if Ito and perhaps any of the straggler's are up for some fun, trade stories of a life of travel with Ito, be fully prepared to run out far before he does. Still be surprised by Ito's story about getting caught by the Chinese in a brother and getting his pursuers laid while stealing their guns. As well as the old matron's story of burning down an arson's house told as a haiku, much to Ito's amusement.
>Chat with regulars and get to know them better. Still think Iskandar's a bit of a dick, but be largely okay with him as he is honest about his smug assholery and doesn't get upset when mocked. Learn names of most of the vampire fledglings present this night, save the matron. Note Ito scowling at the tea once when he thinks no one is looking. Wonder what you did wrong with the matcha.
-[Lev has been queued to do the following:]
-Check local hardware stores, on a mission to find blacklights.
-Spend $500 getting several variety of blacklights, torches and fixtures alike.
-Spend $10 on a black umbrella.
>Freely provide blacklights (and black umbrella) to shadow next time it is seen. Profess curiosity what it's doing-insinuate it might be trying to cast shadows in darkness. Be given retort of 'I am studying the nature of shadow itself, and it's relation to light'.
>[Iosef has been queued to do the following:]
>Have Satai laugh in his face when attempting to get the company to comp a television. Spend $400 on online deal for 32" HDTV. Delivery in five days. Spend $100 on bluray player-pick up at store.
>Attempt to construct mental plan of where items will go in house-bring up with Vlad. Be told by Vlad to get 'ass out of gun-tinkering room until you have something to do, or something to install.' Resolve to bring this up again later.
>While drinking, decide on new Best Idea (Tm): acquiring old soviet cartoons to watch. Try to pick brain and remember names of old cartoons. Wonder what they were called. Wonder why Tom&Jerry also comes to mind.
>Ask Lev to elaborate when he mentions buying lights for a 'shadow man'. Have minor panic attack at thought of a living shadow sharing the house with you.
>Attempt to use power of alcohol to calm nerves. Fail. Resolve to sleep with light on.
Can't do the rest of the orders because they are a different day's orders. One day's orders at a time, unless you've okay'ed retroactive actions with me either via IRC or discussion. Also jumping the gun a bit on color coding minion orders. But that's okay.
-[Satai has been queued to do the following:]
-Attempt to spend some time getting more familiar with the lesser arms dealers in the city; while some are known, all are currently laying low after the large-scale dealer Mr. Jung left the area. Manage to visit an acquaintance of Garbage Pete named, funnily enough, Homeless Harold. Drop $5,000 buying miscellaneous spare magazines, silencers, or useful sights, the only goods Homeless Harold has anything of substance.
Acquire 15 5.45x39mm compatible suppressors. Acquire 4 10x zoom scopes (AN-94 default is 5x zoom). Acquire 30 30-round magazines compatible with the AN-94. Acquire 11 40-round MP7 compatible magazines.
-Spend some time working with Andrei installing helm-cams and working with those expensive electronics Armas wanted set up so that they'll be ready for deployment as a fairly subtle deployable recording/observation/speaker system on short notice. Realize some more involved tools than the two of you possess are required to refit the standard issue russian army helmets to hold the cameras. Approach Igor about providing assistance-be given completed strike plates. Igor assists, and all the helmets are properly altered to allow the cameras to nestle properly.

Okay okay-let's get to work.
>>387738
First things first-I take a shower and scrub the everloving fuck out of my skin and scalp, trying to clear up every oil, every particle that could give away my scent. Can't hurt to reset to ground zero, right?
>>387379
Second, I'm going to need some new colors. Specifically-blond hair and lighter skin. It's more than a bit disconcerting to watch it happen, but I pull a Michael Jackson and soon enough all that I can point to as 'me' is my bone structure. ...Okay, I'd say I pulled off my dad's coloring pretty well. I think about changing my voice-but then I realize I don't really have any chemicals on-hand that could do the trick long enough to last a meal, don't trust Amen, and I'm not that hot on impressions. So I'll have to forgo voice modulation.
>>387380
I've got part of the Look-let's get the rest of it. AORB agent playing an Einher-well, that'd be an American take on what an Einher should be, even if well-done that should come through. I use the can of Axe that's survived my entire mercenary career to add a light scent, then, lacking any place I could get authentic homespun Sami clothing, I order Amen. I figure the phrasing 'Make for me a set of clothing that is visibly hand-made, can be accepted as mundane in nature by observers and conforms to modern Sami garb] will work-and it does. I get Deerskin pants, surprising well-cut to the point they look more or less like normal leather pants. I get a bear-skin vest and a shirt Amen assures me is moose hair. I have Amen do some minor alterations-adding sealbone buttons and a collar to the shirt, regular leather shoes in place of the moccasin-like slippers and a wide belt give me a look I'd s ay works: A man that is officially dressed professionally but immediately makes one think of a biker-a nordic biker.

If anything would be a stereotypical disguise for an Einher, I'd have to bet on biker.

My look and scent now complete, I start talking to myself, practicing a purposeful Finnish accent. I... do passably, and good news is I won't have to try to have my accent slip up during the meal. I'm ready to call myself a salesman and do it in a way that evokes as much suspicion as possible....

>>387445
Hold on, let's back this up a bit-now that I can see my soul, maintaining a Soul Guise is way easier-and I think I'm okay to use a brand spanking new one. Specifically-something that looks like an Einher, but makes the perceptive suspect a professional actor. I build up a rough shape based off the few Einher souls I've ever seen, and let the shape of a 'normal' soul bleed through from beneath, to suggest a ruse to those most perceptive to such. ...Okay, In attire, in form and in spirit, I match my part now. Good stuff.
>>387591
Well, with my disguise ready-I have a couple things to finish up before I head back out. To wit:
"Amen, change the German Army uniforms I had you make into armored clothes that would not look out of place in an average crowd in Istanbul this time of year, and which has underwear in the color of orange I favor. Make sure they're as protective and flexible as they were earlier. Tell the Russians and Camella that this has been done. Before you change the clothes, seek input from each person about what their respective outfit will look like. Use their input, and my the requirements, and your own undeniable sense of style when you re-make the uniforms."
>[Amen]"This one will do as ordered, ordered, ordered."
"Ahuh. Another question: have you ever seen the film 'Monster House'? The one from a few years ago?"
>[Amen]"This one has not watched a 'film', if master references that which is sometimes called a 'movie'."
"Was Abloec's comment about the house correct? Is it a body of some sort?"
Amen smiles.
>[Amen]"Yes."
"Is it your body?"
>[Amen]"Again, yes."
....Thought so.
"So, it's like I'm inside you when I'm home. How does it make you feel to have me inside you?"
>[Amen]"More turbulent than it was to have prior masters within this one. If master had a more specific question, this one could answer."
"...No, that'll do for now."
>>387782 [FANART BONUS]
On my way out the door, I meander into the kitchen, spot Boris-and call my apartment's neighbor, she whom is known as 'The Cookie Lady' while watching Boris.
"...Yes? Hi, yes, hello. ...Yes, you do recognize my voice-your neighbor? ...That's right. ...Very well, and yourself? ...Wonderful. Listen, I was calling because I've got a student of the culinary arts here-and we were wondering if you could teach him a thing or two about baking. That seem doable? ...Excellent, I'll be happy to tell him. ...No, thank YOU-....well, if you insist."
I hang up and turn to Boris, who'd stopped what he was doing to watch me.
"So. You've got a new teacher in the fine art of baking-here's the address, and her number. Pretty much any time works, but I expect you to spend at least five hours a week learning from her. Also, and I cannot stress this enough, do not sample any baked good she gives you unless it's for you-it will not survive the sampling."
Boris might have some issues with the new orders for him-entirely possible. And compared to how I lust after those delicious delicacies-I couldn't care less.

My last duty dealt with-I head out.

I run into Gianni sitting outside of the expansive restaurant, chatting with two creatures I instantly recognize as being Vampires. The moment he sees me he waves them off, welcoming me with a decidedly frisky hug as he pulls back to take a look at me.
>[GiaGia]"...Well. How delightful."
"To your liking then?"
>[GiaGia]"Oh-la-la~"
"Can I humor you inside? I could use some meat."
>[GiaGia]"Yeah, I bet you could."
It's hard ignoring the joke I set up-but the Einher wouldn't have noticed, so neither can I. Gianni gets us in and within five minutes we're sitting at a table, we've both placed our initial orders (a rack of ribs and mead seems a solid call) and shortly enough we begin conversing as I doublecheck my new soul guise.

>[GiaGia]"So glad you could make it."
"Well, I've been busy but I made time."
>[GiaGia]"Glad to know I'm worth making time for, sweet cheeks."
There's some minor banter, nothing of import-as Gianni glances twice over the course of five minutes to the same table. I wait until it doesn't look like said table's occupants are directing Attention our way, and glance over. I have to look away swiftly-they aren't distracted for long-but I can feel certain underlying commonalities to Labombard's soul-I can feel the beast within them. So... weres. All right.

After the appetizers arrive, the conversation has drifted into a hypothetical discussion of work-with Gianni attempting to hire the 'Einher'.
>[GiaGia]"You know it'd be good for both of us if you just gave in-why not just say yes, hmmm?"
"how big and capable are your assets..."
Gianni quirks an eyebrow at me indulgently.
"...for combat?"
>[GiaGia]"Well, I've been brushing up on my golem work-a certain special someone gave me some very interesting material to study, and I think I can make my toys much, much harder to break. Beyond that-well, you of course know what happened to our friends back in the States."
That massive Mafia arrest that Rocco called me about.
"So how's your staying power... in Istanbul? Are you expanding here, or looking to reclaim?"
>[GiaGia]"Oh, I'd say staying power's something of a strength. For now, let's talk about that: what do you say to working here?"
"Well, it's warm-the environment's a bit off for my liking, but I'm sure we can work something out."

The drinks keep flowing, and soon enough a salad and a soup alike have vanished before us as we hammer out the details on this fictitious contract. All the while I feel the Attention of those weres in the corner table-so it is with some confusion that I witness them, all four of them, turning about to stare at a door leading farther into the restaurant, toss down some money and immediately leave. Without turning to face them Gianni rolls his eyes to follow their exit as he sighs in a huff.
>[GiaGia]"Oh, of course he's got to show up and ruin the game...."
Who-

The Owner. I've seen him only once, but I won't forget that face. The heavyset man with the salt and pepper Wagnerian hair in the blue suit begins pacing through the restaurant, stopping at every table where I can detect patently magical souls or can't see anything at all-not saying anything, merely sharing a brief gaze with the diners. A fifth of their number leave.
>[GiaGia]"Pfaw. I suppose he doesn't like all the intrigue in his house."
The Owner begins walking our way-and his eyes meet mine like a wall of granite crashing down onto a mirror. I'm nearly blown out of my seat by the sheer intensity of it and only barely notice Gianni speaking to me, abruptly a great deal more tense than normal.
>[GiaGia]"Muffin, why's the Owner actually-"
A gravelly voice that makes me think of movie trailers speaks up with a most curiously blended accent, as if both Germanic and a speaker of Oxford English.
>[The Owner]"Well, hopefully I won't need much of your time. In fact-"
Without so much as a whisper of magic, a card with two numbers on it appears on the table before me.
>[The Owner]"I simply wished to give this to the one who's got the bet with the esteemed Corn of Zos."
I look down to see a set of coordinates, 39.836223 by 49.531982, written in a neat cyrillic script. I look up to see the Owner leaning in a bit closer.
>[The Owner]"Perhaps another time we can discuss that."
He smiles once more while tapping his finger on the card-and walks away. Gianni, for his part, immediately orders a bottle of scotch and forgoes the glass.
>[GiaGia]"Why's The Owner interested in you-and don't bother with the act-our marks have left."
"Would answering that get me some more training?"
I am favored with a lopsided smile.
>[GiaGia]"...I suppose it wouldn't. Keep your secrets then."

The rest of the meal's a bit more productive-as I get to talk with GIanni and learn that even though he's personally a muscle tissue specialist, his next best category is Epithelial-and he's confident he could teach me quite a bit in the field.

It's a bit surprising to me that it's already ten thirty when we leave the restaurant-and I get Gianni to agree to a lesson TOMORROW, which can either be morning or evening (starting at 6 AM or PM). All I've gotta do is call him and set the time.

On my return to the mansion, I ignore Sake once more plying his disposable phone and making prank calls-as I find a book in my room.

It's a pop-up book.

It's titled 'My First Ascencion and Mutation: a Beginner's Guide to Experimentation'

I can see the listed authors as Einrik Valkonen... and Camella Delarosa.

I stare at the book for a few seconds longer, confident not a single person is spying on me. I cautiously open the book to the first page-to see the following:

STEP ONE: Don't be Armas Laine. Don't be That Guy. That Guy does not represent a safe experimenter.

Accompanying this disclaimer is a caricature of me farting thunder and vomiting lava while people run away screaming.

[Te Reo]" [Paternal orientation] ................... "

I put the book down-and I go to sleep.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 22ND, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $321,013.11
BUSINESS FUNDS: $189,347.00
CASH: -$650 dinner $9,170.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 51%
WINTER ENERGY: 103/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50

I wake up at five AM on a Saturday morning.











What's my plan for the day?
When do I want to do the training with Gianni-morning or evening?
Of the three remaining focuses of Flesh Manipulation, which should I learn next?
When am I going to tell the Russians about the Doony hit being Sunday?

>When am I going to tell the Russians about the Doony hit being Sunday?
... You haven't briefed them? Get a hold of as many as possible at once and let them all prepare in their own way.

>When for the lesson?
Morning! Brain coffee, yo. You can brief the Russians in the afternoon.


>Of the three remaining focuses of Flesh Manipulation, which should I learn next?
Epi, why the fuck not. Might even prep you a little for your upcoming fight.

As for the rest of the day... Might want to see what the Owner of the Asitane wants. He seems Important. And it has to do with Doony.

Orders for Iosef:
>The ordered equipment should arrive today. Receive it and set it up.
>Also, pick up the Blue-ray from the store.
>[I'm not sure if I need to repost my orders for to day. If so, then these >>387751 orders still apply]


Orders for Armas:
>When do I want to do the training with Gianni-morning or evening?
Morning.

>Of the three remaining focuses of Flesh Manipulation, which should I learn next?
Connective. Focused on improving our Dunther Steps.

>When am I going to tell the Russians about the Doony hit being Sunday?
After the morning training with Gianni. We should also discuss and finalize our plans.

>What's my plan for the day?
The bullets we ordered from Johan should be ready today. Get someone to pick them up.

If we have time, we should have another sparring session with Camella. This time convince her to do it in a pitch-black room. She is our second-in-command and her being stronger will do our company good. During the last sparring, we basically forced her to level up in safe enviorement, now foes using the same techniques as we did will not find any advantages against her. If she didn't have this experience then during an actual fight to the death, someone utilizing the same level skills as we did could seriously harm her. Sure, Armas doesn't get as much out of these spar-sessions as Camella and it might make him look weak, but people forget that Armas does not focus on and perfect one or two paths. Instead he has many different powers he can develop.
Now, if we can get Camella to fight us in a dark rooms where she cannot see anything (or has really low vision) and us being much faster then before, we will forcibly evolve her into EVEN BETTER fighter.
As far as convincing Camella goes, I don't think it will be that bad. Tell her how beneficial these spars are for her (like the one we just had). How it is a good thing to improve at such great rates in safe environment (as opposed to wrestling vampires in the undersewers for a week). Hell, we can tell her that we could visibly see her improve before our own eyes, and that is a great thing.

>What's my plan for the day?
First thing is to look up the coordinates the owner gave you, then wake up Matvey and tell him there is a job coming up tomorrow, you’ll explain in the afternoon. After that grab a snack and head to training, bring a something for Gianni as well. After training ask the usual suspects what the deal is with the hotdog souls the Russians are sporting. Have one of the Russians rent/buy a suitable transport for moving the doony corpse after explaining its possible dimensions. Ask SB if he wants to have a meeting tonight or just talk now, to discuss the possibilities of rewards from Whaitiri, and if rewards are possible, what he thinks she would be most amenable to granting. Some desirable options would be, Beefing up hummingbro to no longer age and/or deal with our soul power better, expanding our bloodline, or flesh manipulation training.

>When do I want to do the training with Gianni-morning or evening?
Morning

>Of the three remaining focuses of Flesh Manipulation, which should I learn next?
Epi

>When am I going to tell the Russians about the Doony hit being Sunday?
After training when Matvey has gathered the Russians, Explain its capabilities to the group then have them sort out among themselves who is best suited for the spots needed to be filled. Setting up cameras, making claymores and manning the mini-guns we’re bringing.

Don't spend any Winter energy.

As soon as it's light, find Camella first, and after talking to her the rest of the Russians, and explain how Hummer's Momentum and the rest of your speed upgrades work. Ask them for their advice first about how you can use those abilities to make you a more effective gunman, and then more effective in general.

Spend the day exhaustively briefing the Russians and any of the rest of the team who can make it on the Doonegeas' capabilities. Do a series of paper exercises where each person takes it in turns to play the part of a shapeshifting regenerating superfast superstrong monster who can spit deadly poison operating against your team. Remind them that it doesn't need doors, and can hear every sound you make.

As the building is already wired for sound and vision, set up a tactical direction team to watch the cameras and sensors and provide direction about what the monster is doing and where it is. This is critical to prevent it finding and replacing someone.

Apologise to Iron Trick and Silja for leaving them behind. Given that there is plenty of firepower available and the Doonegeas can easily tear anyone who gets within close range apart, being able to Shadowport into better positions has to be the priority, which Iron Trick blocks being able to do, and Silja would eat him, which is inefficient.

If the plan is to use the Miniguns someone needs to track down and buy the very specific equipment needed to supply power to the electrical engines that rotate them, and to install the portable generators to run them. These also need to be installed in strong points, as they're not man portable.

>>387990
If we can trade anything to Whaitiri, top priorities should be upgrading the Summer Bloodline to be royal, paying for the mere to be upgraded, and getting a graft from the Doonegeas. She may even be able to find a teacher for divine soul manipulation.

Voting on Epithelial training.

MrTT 2012/02/20(Mon)20:23 No. 388045 ID: 3947e9
File 132979819872.jpg - (175.40KB , 1023x635 , 39836223by49531982.jpg )

The coordinates are for the center of an island in the Caspian sea.
You need to cross two borders from turkey to reach it (Armania and Azerbaija respectively)
Attached is a satellite map of it courtesy of google.

>>388045
That only makes me more interested...

Armas' orders will be in another post.

LYUBOV ORDERS
*Pick a nice chambric women's casual suit as the basis for her armored outfit, with trenchcoat.
*Wake up at 4:30 a.m. Realize by 4:45 a.m. that sleep will not come again today. Eat an apple, browse computer for news about herself on a whim.
*Cry a little for putting her mother through thinking her daughter is dead. Get good and angry at the rest of what she learns, smoke a cigarette, stalk around the house in her pyjamas with a palpable bad mood.
*Bump into Boss, decide to distract herself by asking, "Did you read that book in your room?" referring to the Communication for Couples book she put in there last week, completely oblivious about the pop-up book. Be baffled by the Boss' weird responses about vomiting lava. Change subject, ask Boss flat out, "Why is Amen hiding the swimming pool?"
*Check the camera she lent Zhenya yesterday, be baffled by it being blank. Wonder aloud why today is starting off so badly.
*Write a note to Andrei asking for an update on where he is with the hacking project (hack the TUIK death record database, and change the biomertric data if it exists), mention that she'll get him the last of the names today, stuff it under his door.
*Get ready to go on jog with Camella, think about problem. Talk to Camella before jog about problem, explain issue in detail (including conclusion it's an obvious trap), and nascent plan to move messages and money through the Orthodox Church. Ask for input, ideas. Don't cry. Go on jog, cleanup and rest afterward again.
*Get dressed in something low key, find Zhenya and ask what she did. Don't be angry, just mildly confused about what the problem was. Assign her a new task: "Find some notaries who can be bribed to rubberstamp forms for us, so we can get official replacement birth certificates for the identities. Ask for help if you need it, I'll have my phone."
*Find out which cemetaries she hit, and avoid them entirely. Pick different ones (hour+ bus travel). Follow same plan as before, with the addition to her lie if questioned: Her Boss is a surrealist artist who is coming up with something new, and isn't ready to discuss it yet. He uses an orange color instead of a name, like that one American who was a symbol.
*Speak Russian. Call Andrei up on satellite phone, give him the names and let him finish researching them to be sure they're clean. Ride home on bus. Hope the hack goes well.
*Check in on Zhenya during bus ride. If she's having problems, give her suggestions: "Try researching the public records for ones who let their licenses lapse for a short period, then renewed at the start of the month. They are probably people who are having money issues. Find at least three please."
*Have moment of inspriation on bus ride home about vampire fight last night. Realize the vampire could, somehow, read her intentions. Realize the Boss does the same thing. Wonder what he is.
*Go home, find Sake napping, decide that seems like a swell idea.
*Wake up, research church. Learn about the 1955 Pogrom, be angered for the second time today. Smoke another cigarette. Think about things and realize that the sole remaining Orthodox Church in the city must have a protector of some sort.
*Go to Church for evening vespers, donate $400. Make sure to linger for a little while longer than normal for emotional comfort. Go home. More research on the church, try to figure out who exactly she will need to talk to, guess what questions they will ask.
*Try being "unintentioned" during the night lessons against vampire foes. Talk to Camella about it afterwards.

Andrei Orders
>Wake up. Find entity 'Amen' asking what clothing he wants suggestions for clothing. Don't freak out. Don't freak out! Grab a labtop - if they're being used, get it anyway. http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/sciencemath/2891/ and any other nerdy shirt like http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/sciencemath/2891/. Maybe some nice dress shirts, whatever Amen thinks is good. Quickly correct self by saying gray slacks and white shirts. Hope this doesn't bite later.
>Find note from Lyubov.
>Ponder that not every one of the Russians has a laptop. Correct this, after talking to Satai. If Satai doesn't want to correct, buy them anyway. (13 laptops - one for every russian who doesn't have one, minus one for Igor who will break it. Price: $702 http://www.ecrater.com/p/11154586/cheapest-netbook-7-inch-mini-laptop ) Debate getting PDAs. Put that on the back burner for now.
>Andrei does not wonder where get a proper reader. He has one, right next to his old computer. In Russia. FUCK! Grumble bitch, get on computer. Wait. Check to make sure the Crazy Castle doesn't have one. Find Amen to make sure. If not, order new reader for about 20 dollars. Continue bitching in Russian about the Russian military and being caught.
>While bitching out Russia, remember that there's a Laserdisk that needs viewing. Check to make sure we don't already have one with Amen. If not, then get one for 60 dollars.
>While on computer, look into that thing that Lyubov wanted. First, double check all the names as well as Andrei can. Grumble about putting off plan to crack into NSA, but shrug. Look up and check for criminal records, news records, and tax records of all the names Lyubov has given.
> Hack the Turkish Statistical Institute death record database, and change the biomertric data if it exists. Pride dictates that the TUIK will be a job forgoing onsite assistance, so just ping vulnerable ports and unpeel it like an onion.
> Use identity information that was in the wallets to match up cards to names. Using precautions like proxies, check if cards are still active with small purchases. Siphon money off the active ones.
>While busy, look into Nazi computers. If encrypted or password protected, be careful and go slow. Look for work arounds and known vulnerabilities on the Nazi computers, that's the easy way. If Andrei can't find any vulnerability, then code breaking those passwords. Check the contents of the wallets again, check the credit and debit cards for personal info, try combinations of important dates to Nazis, that kind of thing. If THAT doesn't work, brute force encryption breaking.
>Take a breather. Wear camera-helmet. Check to see the video feed and how good the packet loss and what not is. Continue to wear camera-helmet while going outside. When outside, lie about its use. Something about being for a reality TV programming or his own vblog. See what funny antics people will do because Camera-Helmet.
>After returning home from social networking, social hacking, hacking, shooting and filming to check the film on the computer. If good, share any amusing video with other Russians. While on the computer, remember that odd presence watching Caffeine. Ask Satai or Boris about using the cameras to check out the kitchen. If they say no, use it anyway.

Armas Orders
>What's my plan for the day?
Armas, you just got a new book that will teach you how to fart thunder and vomit lightning. READ THAT! Even if it doesn't, we can use the book to troll Camella. And isn't that what's best in life?
After you read it, follow its instructions. First is 'Do Not Be Armas Laine' and we really don't look like Armas anymore, so you're just gonna have to change your voice.

After that, I suggest doing some planning and training and, as we have a VIP box in a nice magical fight pit, we should go there and see if we can train against bigger foes, and maybe get the Russians to come down and fight too.

Also, limitation hide-and-seek with the Russians. Train them up in fighting the supernatural while you are gurgling glass, or have your left arm cut off. That kind of thing.

>When do I want to do the training with Gianni-morning or evening?
Morning. Bright Eyed and Bushy Tailed to learn all about Giagia's muscles.

>Of the three remaining focuses of Flesh Manipulation, which should I learn next?
Well, we have been ogling Giagia's muscles, and it makes for easier jokes. I suggest going that route. We can find magical ways to make our brain meat better.

>When am I going to tell the Russians about the Doony hit being Sunday?
It would be hilarious not too, but I think they need to be ready for what they're going to take out. But, before we actually out right tell them, I suggest going out with the Russians for sushi, and then get some nice squid-ink noodles. Then go to the aquarium.

Orders for Ivan
*Suggest that the entity Amen model armored clothing similar to [ http://tinyurl.com/8y892u2 ]
*Purchase a nice hat and shoes to go with the overcoat. Budget: $350 [ http://tinyurl.com/7kubql9 ] , [ http://tinyurl.com/7dorlam ]
*Purchase a new pocket watch Budget: $125 [ http://tinyurl.com/74a8wjc]
*Practice stealthfully navigating the mansion, attempting to avoid other occupants for at least one hour per day.
*Spend extra time attending night training sessions at Ito's Dojo.
*Make a request to Satai to be issued an L129A1 Sharpshooter and a HK45.
*Spend two hours daily practicing shooting with both guns.
*Ask to join in with the melee training session group with Andrei and Boris
*Spend some time simply politely observing what the other guys do, particularly boss' weasel, attempt to glean information where possible.

>>388054
As promised:

ARMAS ORDERS

>When do I want to do the training with Gianni-morning or evening?
Take the morning offer.

>Of the three remaining focuses of Flesh Manipulation, which should I learn next?
Epithelial holds interesting secrets, and will lead to fascinating new powers.

>When am I going to tell the Russians about the Doony hit being Sunday?
Make Camella do it, after you've briefed her.

While we're still thinking about Amen and souls and stuff...

>Talk to Amen
"Amen, there's an actual binding added to your soul each time I give you a binding order, correct?"

"And each binding adds a pressure to your soul, correct?"

"There's a limit to how many you can take, then?

"What happens when you can't take any more bindings?"

"That's... not good."

"Alright. You are to inform your master through the same method of communication aforementioned master most recently used with you when the pressure on your soul from your bindings changes due to a new binding or order, and to what degree the change has occured, using a linear system where the pressure from the order I gave you to ignore Savoy represents one point on the scale. You may not lie about a change in pressure."

"Great. Now, truthfully, how many points do you estimate your capacity to be before you will be so tightly bound that you explode?"

"Huh. Ok, new topic. If seeing your soul would not warp my mind, subject me to memetic attacks, or otherwise cause harm that would take me more than a few minutes to recover if I were a complete mundane and had no outside help at all, show it to me."

"Amen, why do my Russians' souls all remind me of overcooked hotdogs? To clarify, their souls feel like they are going to burst."

"Well that's alarming. What are the options for fixing this? I want my employees healthy, emotionally stable, happy, and to retain intact personalities and free will."

"Thanks for the advice."

>What's my plan for the day?
First things first, call Giannia, schedule a morning training session.

Then go get some breakfast, and get ready for training.

After training, call Camella up and ask if she'd like to have lunch with you. Don't take no, you've got stuff to talk about with her. Then go home and cook for her. Serve her lunch in a private room. After lunch, look into getting a truck big enough to move the Dooney corpse. In the evening, go out with the Russians who are setting up the kill site. Make sure SB fills the pools. Buy Dooney-poison resistance potions Sometimes Merchant. Provide your own shatter-proof water bottles to contain them, and ask for potions sufficient for 4 hours. That should help bring the price down. You want enough for yourself, your company, and Hillevi.

>Talk to Camella

"Hey, hello! I bring lunch! And thanks! And other stuff. And my bodacious self. But first things first: Amen, deactivate any spy devices in this room, and personally pay no attention to the room for the duration of this conversation."

"Now, I want to say thanks for that book. It's a really touching and funny gift. It's exactly what my descendants will need. My bloodlines practically demand to be used in experimental ways and I can't see my kids being any better at self-restraint than I am, unless their mom is some incredibly self-disciplined and patient woman... actually I guess she'd need to be, huh? Anyway, I'm going to have to do something really nice for Einrik too. I was thinking something to do with helping him see text, he's got trouble with that. I'm just not too sure what, right now. I'll figure it out."

"No, I'm not just here to talk books. Yesterday I noticed something during the fight. You developed a soul quirk, a really awesome one too. What's with that look?"

"Oh. Well, yeah, I can see your soul. It's part of my bloodline ability. I can see most people's souls. My shadow sees in just magic, or so he tells me, so I'm sure that he's seen it too. Actually, you've got enough magic energy in your body now that I bet he can see it. I haven't bothered asking, it didn't seem important since he can see with my eyes when he wants to. He's complained a couple of times about not being able to see mundane materials on his own. Kinda like Einrik now that I think about it. Anyway, that's way off topic."

"Your soul quirk. Right, first, a soul quirk is like a certain shape to a person's soul that gives them an ability to do something. Like, see, a normal person's soul is just a round ball, right? Well the shape of the soul helps determine what it can do. Round balls can't do anything unusual, they're just normal. You, though, your soul is very beautful. It's a compact form of dense layered experiences made smooth by self-discipline and... call it a sureness of self. Healthy, and whole, and full of vitality, that's you."

"Hey, it's true. If you don't believe me you can ask Einrik. Anyway, the quirk is an added layer of complexity, literally sensor shapes on top of it that are like eyes. There's 108 of them, which is a magically important number."

"Right, and in Draconic magic too, though I'm no expert in that. So, that's the thing I wanted to tell you, and congradulate you on. It's how you beat my Goblin Stealth. And as to Gyaketsuote, well, I suspect that I'd need another 54 people practiced in it to overwhelm you now. Or someone with a similar soul quirk focused entirely on you."

"I've been thinking, the past few weeks actually, how to help you be a little more durable. The sparring yesterday highlighted it; you're awesome, but against an asshole with magic like mine you're going to need some sort of magic yourself. Now, there's a couple of ways to do. Short of building a bloodline in you, there's a couple of options. Chakra training is one, but it's slow. I've only made great gains in it because I'm a big fat cheater. I'm thinking of learning how to make NeverNever bubbles, but I suspect it's an expensive option. Still, it'd let you learn subjective years worth of training in a single real moment. There are charm arrays, like what Blackbeard uses. Or used, rather. I gave him a scare and shook up his faith in them. Turns out there's ways to slip around them, if you've got a mind like mine."

"Well, why not tell you? Just remember this is literally a multi-million dollar secret. The intent of the attacker matters. If an attacker can convince himself that each individual pellet in a shotgun shell is its own attack, that the act of pulling the trigger isn't the attack but just an event that triggers a bunch of them, then each pellet counts as its own attack. The simultanious nature of it lets shots that would normally be stopped by a good array slip through."

"Yeah, I figure most people can't use that trick. So charm arrays and other magic items remain an option, and there are probably ways to build them that remove that weakness. Another option I've found would be to get you a spirit animal. I spoke to Big Crazy about this awhile ago. He has two spirit animals, a sensor type and an endurance type, both bound directly to his flesh using a ritual method that he taught me. I didn't ever need to use it myself, but he was able to shrug off bullets and lift cars. And he had no chakra training to my knowledge, no bloodline that he ever exhibited. Just the spirit animals and his gun play. And because the spirit animals aren't corporeal, unlike a charm array they're not vulnerable to most sorts of attacks."

"No, what the hummingbird and I have is a little different. Hummingbird and I are bound together by a soul link that formed when I released him from his prison. The method Big Crazy taught me, which any mundane person can use, requires that you kill the animal's body in the process of binding its soul to your flesh."

"Yes, I know. Unfortunately, short of some extreme measures involving meddling with your soul directly (that I'm frankly not yet qualified to carry out), I don't know you could perform a binding that's less traumatic than that. I'm also not sure what your personal capacity for spirit animal bindings would be. BC said most people only get one, and that he was unusual for having two. I do know that the sort of animal you pick, beyond its general orientation, matters. A sensor snake and a sensor hummingbird are going to be very different. I've given it some thought and talked to Duke about it, and I think a honey badger may suit you very well. They're little destroyers, incredibly durable, they never give up, they fight animals many times their size, they shrug off wounds... well, you get the picture."

"Think about it. Ask Duke what he thinks, he might have better suggestions about animals that would suit you. I'll help, when you're ready."

"There's one more thing I wanted to talk to you about. I talked to Go Ping and the others yesterday. We're ready for tomorrow morning to do the Dooney hit. Now, based on the intelligence reports the best time to set up all the prep work on the site is in the evening. I tasked Andrei and Satai to design a system for playing decoy sounds, to confuse the fucker when we fight him. They'll need to get it set up tonight. I've also got some inflatable pools, to hold water that can be turned into ice cover. I purchased 40 ice bullets in 7.62×54mmR from Johan, this fella who does special weapons. They're supposed to be ready this morning. The Triads are going to be bringing six magitech cold grenades. And there's all the normal fun stuff too, the explosives in the armory, the miniguns; hell I wouldn't mind breaking out the big stuff. Having a javelin on standby wouldn't be a bad idea."

"Well normally I'd agree that wasting a $40,000 javelin on a target we have bottled up is stupid, but I was at the Aistane last night with Gianni talking fleshcrafter stuff and Owner walked right up to our table and gave me some coordinates he implied were related to this. My guess is it's got something to do with the Dooney's master, instead of Dooney himself, since Owner said he wanted to talk about it after the fight sometime. I looked them up, it's an island in the middle of the Caspian Sea. I'll show you; maybe we can put someone on it and see what we can learn. I'd like to be prepared before I talk to Owner, show that I'm not totally irresponsible."

"Of course, but to my credit, I did realize I needed you. To be an officer for the company. Ahem. Look, can you organize everyone for this? Let them know, and brief them?"

"Yeah I want everyone, and I want anyone not manning an emplaced gun or one of the cameras-"

"Yes, cameras. I figure we've got a chance here to record the entire fight. We'll be able to go over it later and review for things we could have done better. And if it's really good, there are plenty of supernaturals who would pay to watch Dooney die. Most of the community hates that guy."

"Anyway, as I was saying, I want the ones who aren't occupied otherwise to be carrying weapons with wooden stocks, if possible. I know it sounds weird, but the last time I fought Dooney, I had a pair of weapons turn magical on me. The stress of the situation, and the magical saturation, and the weapons having so much natural material all helped. Their roles are to provide support, not directly engage, but I'll buy poison resistance potions for them anyway. Rather not lose anyone. Oh, and Long Wang gave me this tip: The Dooney has a wound on his back, off to the right from his spinal column, whenever he shifts into a form with a pelvis."

Have time during the day? Then try to make some mind-blowing security tape footage with ultimate goblin stealth. Spend a long time in the kitchen with Boris and his security cameras without him noticing. Do things like read the newspaper, stir the boiling pans and add a little salt and pepper when his back is turned, put some food on a plate, take your time eating it, walk circles around him and anything else you can think of. Also have an iPod with large, visible earphones on.

If questioned about the WTF-worthy footage just act puzzled like you thought for sure he knew you were there despite you being engrossed in your music. I mean why wouldn't he notice a large man moving around in the same room as him for several minutes?

>What's my plan for the day?
>When am I going to tell the Russians about the Doony hit being Sunday?
>>388140 This is good except for Amen orders.

Apart from that, Armas should NOT spar or fight with anyone who would force him to use hybrid regeneration, as he needs his winter energy. I am thinking that Armas might want to spend a handful of hours with Camella's help to try and see how to use shooting with his shoddy step, especially for rapid fire while moving quickly. When talking to Camella, we might also want to tell her that Duke probably has a lot of soul quirks, and should know how to both gain soul quirks or gain a spirit animal. Also, our talk with her shouldn't just be about Armas 'giving advice', but also asking for help: he saw that she somehow was much more efficient in body movement than him, so maybe he could ask some help with that. We should also definitely comment when Camella is around that Einrik is a masterful manipulator, managing to force Armas into further insane experimentation he can observe by doing a book that supposedly help to do safe ones.

Armas should make sure to rent trucks or have a way to take Doony's body.
>When do I want to do the training with Gianni-morning or evening?
morning
>Of the three remaining focuses of Flesh Manipulation, which should I learn next?
Epi.

>Also, limitation hide-and-seek with the Russians. Train them up in fighting the supernatural while you are gurgling glass, or have your left arm cut off. That kind of thing.
SUST to using hybrid regen today.

>Spend the day exhaustively briefing the Russians and any of the rest of the team who can make it on the Doonegeas' capabilities. Do a series of paper exercises where each person takes it in turns to play the part of a shapeshifting regenerating superfast superstrong monster who can spit deadly poison operating against your team. Remind them that it doesn't need doors, and can hear every sound you make.
Upvote.

>Apologise to Iron Trick and Silja for leaving them behind. Given that there is plenty of firepower available and the Doonegeas can easily tear anyone who gets within close range apart, being able to Shadowport into better positions has to be the priority, which Iron Trick blocks being able to do, and Silja would eat him, which is inefficient.
We are taking them, al. SB can also shadowport us with IT, it just is much more exhausting.

>Ask SB if he wants to have a meeting tonight or just talk now, to discuss the possibilities of rewards from Whaitiri, and if rewards are possible, what he thinks she would be most amenable to granting.
If we want to gift Whaitiri some flesh/soul of Doony and get reward, we might also want to discuss with SB the possibility of having her do NN bubbles for us, for learning stuff. We might even get her to do a NN bubble for learning soulsculpting if soulsculpting can help us restore her eyes.

IGOR
>>In response to Satai give zero counter-fucks about Satai's delusions on what is 'good enough'. Decide that If he limits his sleep and does nothing but his lessons at Ito's and crafting, he may have time to do a decent job at it. Igor will re-evaluate Saturday morning if he has not advanced far enough on those, but for now it's full time smithing. ROLL A 1d70+30 in discussion-on a score of 75 or higher, finish personally approved quality backing plates by Saturday. For every five rolled below the DC, add an additional day to fabrication time. By the end of this smithing project, feel more comfortable enacting gross change in metal with hammering.
>>/questdis/359239/
Once Igor is finished with this, he should spend another day in the Bazaar looking around the various metal smiths. Even if he can't convince them to mentor him immediately, it should not hurt to just make our presence known, as well as observe them. Try and see if any of them stand out to you, either in the quality of their product on in their personality.

Addendum to >>388061 regarding >>388153 worries. If gargling glass, or limb removal doesn't work then act as if your limb was removed - can't use a limb for the hunting period. As for the pain training, if we can't use Hybrid Healing, then do something else. Gurgle Ghost Peppers, or do the hunt with ghost peppers in your eyes. Or your thumbs in thumb screws.

>Of the three remaining focuses of Flesh Manipulation, which should I learn next?
Epithelial

Morning practice with Gianni. On type, consider our long-term goal. What style do we need to fleshcraft someone a new form? Potentially all four, or would muscle help the most? While there, maybe bring up we may be able to get him a fresh Doonongaes poison sac in return for cleansing the flesh of the beast of poison, and - one day - teaching us how to re-create it ourselves? Doony poison would be amazing with his new and improved golems.

>Pop-up book
Walk around the house muttering, 'Thunder farts... brilliant! Now how...' and have whiteboard with bulletpoints like 'worship thunder goddess (subheading: build altar: jade?)', 'whistling + chakra = ? (subheading: check 7777 Uses of Chakra, 7 Gates, Peruvian Whistling Vessel)'

Okay, so what was Owner trying to tell us? Doony's lair, Zosimus stronghold, a job of his own? We need to find out, today. Do we (by which I mean Einrik) still have the Valkonen jet?

For further setup on the Doony fight, we have the heartbeat fakes, right? We also need something like ATVs to allow the russians to retreat quickly from their encampments if the Doony turns towards them. Also, it would be nice to punch some holes in the walls of the office and warehouse buildings. Put latches on them so they open like a pirate ship's broadsides, and at the right height for our M134s. Add a running stripe at eye level, like for a medieval murderhole, but with wider field of vision.

Will the Amazon cache (minus nectar) be enough for some more Doony antivenin from SM? Who does SM know that would pay for Doony's death within 36 hours? Paying him a 20-40% finders' fee, I bet he'd be motivated to turn up some people.

>Satai orders
-Arrange meeting with Old Ironhead for Armas when requested.
-As it is now apparent that Armas wants to move the entire company+lots of heavy hardware on short notice whenever he pleases, acquire three more largely nondescript vans. Estimate cost at $24,000.
-When Igor's quality backing plates are completed, break into our C4 stash and spend some time turning them into actual, usable shaped charges.
-Ask Hillevi if she does any kind of long-range combat or would like to practice it, and if so, mention that she can feel free to come to sniping practice whenever if she wants; it's every day. Blasting things at long range with magic can't be that different from blasting them with a rifle, although Satai would issue her a rifle if she wanted one. Or goggles with magnification, if they'd help. Actually if she wants pretty much anything as far as military supplies go she can ask him for it.
-Double-check outfitting before the Doonongaes mission; make sure that everyone has the equipment they'll need and nothing is likely to malfunction. Persuade/dragoon a couple other people into helping with this (Titus, Dmitrii, Iosef, Vlad, and Zhenya are likely prospects due to personality and/or past relations).


>>387816
>What's my plan for the day?
Do the following, in order or as simultaneously as is feasible:

0. Hold our soul guise all day.
>1. Eat a large breakfast
2. Call Gianni, tell him 6 AM it is
>3. Leave orders for Satai to call Old Ironhead once it's a business-friendly hour and arrange the requested meeting for early this afternoon
4. Leave orders for passing to Camella and Matvey that the Doonongaes job is happening tomorrow. Give a quick summary of the assets the Triads listed, and tell them to make sure the company is ready to move out and prepare our ground- no partying tonight, we'll be moving out long before dawn.
>5. Call Einrik, tell him/leave a message that the Doonongaes plan is coming together for tomorrow morning.
6. Go to Gianni's training at 6 AM. Tell him that after due consideration we've settled on an epithelial specialization. Get epithelial training.
>7. Go pick up our ordered magical rounds from Johan.
8. Attend meeting with Old Ironhead. See what he wants; anticipate there being a job involved.
>9. Visit Sometimes Merchant. Purchase enough Doonongaes poison immunity for 24 people for 12 hours. Pay with cash if possible; if it would cost us more than $200,000, trade Arrow and Blade charms. Those should trade for immunity doses on at least a 1:1 basis, maybe far better if we can argue it well. While we are there, inquire as to if he would be willing to serve as our middleman in gathering contracts to kill the Doonongaes on short notice- our purpose here, of course, being to get paid repeatedly for something that we're inclined to do anyway. He would, of course, offer him a cut of any pay that he arranges for us to receive- say, 10%.
10. Return home. Ensure that everyone is aware of the Doonongaes tomorrow, its capabilities, the general assets that we'll be devoting towards it, and will be ready to move out before dawn. Go over general strategy. If Duke wants to come he's invited but we don't want him killing the Doonongaes for us.
>11. Read Camella and Einrik's lovingly crafted pop-up book.
12. Sleep early. Call a meeting with our brothers/hummingbird in our eye. Make sure we wake up in enough time to rustle the troops into being at the killsite in the predawn (call our planned arrival time 6 AM).

SUST to ANY kind of sparring or training outside of Gianni's. We want very full energy stores for fighting the Doonongaes.

>>388035
>have whiteboard with bulletpoints like 'worship thunder goddess (subheading: build altar: jade?)', 'whistling + chakra = ? (subheading: check 7777 Uses of Chakra, 7 Gates, Peruvian Whistling Vessel)'
This is an excellent concept. Order Satai to acquire a gigantic whiteboard. Preferably large enough to cover an entire wall, like in a university lecture hall. Tell him we need it by the end of next week, along with a wide variety of high-quality markers to use with it. And also fun, colorful magnets.

>>388140
Not a huge fan of the rambling infodump and at least some of it drifts into OOC knowledge. Regardless, if we talk about spirit animals be sure that Camella knows that any animal with a soul- meaning all viable spirit animals- is fully sapient, if not particularly human in outlook. She will care about that a great deal due to her moral outlook on things.

we need to try and contact the Mongolian wizard before we kill doony. we might be able to swing at leas a minor favor for killing one of his foes, and even a minor favor from a wizard is nothing to scoff at.

also an idea for an alternate use of the speakers. doony probably has a much broader hearing range than we do, what if we rigged a few speakers to put out a huge amount of noise in frequencies we can't hear? if its too late to buy a few more speakers we could use this as a back up plan if doony manages to identify and ignore the false sounds of heart beats.

I'd also like to take this time to nominate something to actually learn charms from the goblins: battery charms. Specifically, charms that can hold a charge of our energy to be taken out later.

Then we branch out from there; charms able to hold, move and redirect energy seem like a fascinatingly useful field.

We need hats. For our guns.
Order amen to make hats for our guns, make sure to tell him to hang them at a jaunty angle.

>>388402
>>388449
And all of the hats will be orange.

>>388402
...Yes. Let's order him to do this, with the hats in styles popular when the guns were made in the country of manufacture.

>[Iosef has been queued to do the following:]
>During shooting practice suddenly feel uncomfortable being alone at the gun range. Have poor performance due to distraction.
>Decide to cut the practice short due to rising stress and find a place with other people around. [45 minutes instead of 1.5 hour training]
>Start seriously contemplating about this situation in the afternoon and the evening. Ask around among Russians. Learn more from Matvey about Armas' shadow: specifically, that it's as much a member of the company as the Boss. Mull this over.
>In the end, after reflecting on how helpful the Shadow has been as well as getting information from fellow comrades, decide that even if it is a living embodiment of his fear Armas' shadow is pretty cool dude. Alcohol may or may not have been involved with this decision.
>Swaging equipment, reloading press and dies delivered. Get back to Vlad-begin working on room arrangement. Come up with a solution that seems workable to both of you.
>Pick up Bluray player from store.
>[Lyubov has been queued to do the following:]
-Pick a nice chambric women's casual suit as the basis for her armored outfit, with trenchcoat. Be sad when trenchcoat isn't all that long.
*Wake up at 4:30 a.m. Realize by 4:45 a.m. that sleep will not come again today. Eat an apple, browse computer for news about herself on a whim. Find out not only did Chugainov have them declared dead, but also declared as traitors, complete with attempts to extort 'compensation' from family while slandering them.
*Cry a little for putting her mother through thinking her daughter is dead. Get good and angry at the rest of what she learns, smoke a cigarette, stalk around the house in her pajamas with a palpable bad mood.
*Bump into Boss, decide to distract herself by asking, "Did you read that book in your room?" referring to the Communication for Couples book she put in there last week, completely oblivious about the pop-up book. Be baffled by the Boss' weird responses about vomiting lava, and his questions about what volatile chemicals are preferable to excrete. Change subject, ask Boss flat out, "Why is Amen hiding the swimming pool?" Be told that the pool must be earned. Wonder what's up with that.
*Check the camera she lent Zhenya yesterday, be baffled by it being blank. Wonder aloud why today is starting off so badly. Then wonder why saying this in Zhenya's presence seemed to make her rather sad.
*Write a note to Andrei asking for an update on where he is with the hacking project (hack the TUIK death record database, and change the biomertric data if it exists), mention that she'll get him the last of the names today, stuff it under his door. Find out computers are up.
*Get ready to go on jog with Camella, think about problem. Talk to Camella before jog about problem, explain issue in detail (including conclusion it's an obvious trap), and nascent plan to move messages and money through the Orthodox Church. Ask for input, ideas. Don't cry. Go on jog, cleanup and rest afterward again. End up crying anyway-but hey, wheezing and sweating from exhaustion can cover that up.
*Get dressed in something low key, find Zhenya and ask what she did. Don't be angry, just mildly confused about what the problem was. Assign her a new task: "Find some notaries who can be bribed to rubberstamp forms for us, so we can get official replacement birth certificates for the identities. Ask for help if you need it, I'll have my phone."
*Find out which cemeteries she hit, and avoid them entirely. Pick different ones (hour+ bus travel). Follow same plan as before, with the addition to her lie if questioned: Her Boss is a surrealist artist who is coming up with something new, and isn't ready to discuss it yet. He uses an orange color instead of a name, like that one American who was a symbol. Acquire seven new boy's names.
*Speak Russian. Call Andrei up on satellite phone, give him the names and let him finish researching them to be sure they're clean. Ride home on bus. Hope the hack goes well.
*Check in on Zhenya during bus ride. If she's having problems, give her suggestions: "Try researching the public records for ones who let their licenses lapse for a short period, then renewed at the start of the month. They are probably people who are having money issues. Find at least three please."
*Have moment of inspiration on bus ride home about vampire fight last night. Realize the vampire could, somehow, read her intentions. Realize the Boss does the same thing. Wonder what he is.
*Go home, find Sake napping, decide that seems like a swell idea. Attempt to claim weasel as belly warming agent for napping purposes. Succeed.
*Wake up, find Sake gone. Research church. Learn about the 1955 Pogrom, be angered for the second time today. Smoke another cigarette. Think about things and realize that the sole remaining Orthodox Church in the city must have a protector of some sort. Wonder if that's the Inquisitor everyone ran into at the Warehouse with the Mafia.
*Go to Church for evening vespers, donate $400. Make sure to linger for a little while longer than normal for emotional comfort. Go home. More research on the church, try to figure out who exactly she will need to talk to, guess what questions they will ask.
*Try being "unintentioned" during the night lessons against vampire foes. Talk to Camella about it afterwards. Be uncertain if this was successful in any way.
>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>Wake up. Find entity 'Amen' asking what clothing he wants suggestions for clothing. Don't freak out. Don't freak out! Grab a labtop - if they're being used, get it anyway. Order nerdy hipster shirts.
>Initially when queuried, begin to agree with whatever Amen thinks is good. Quickly correct self by saying gray slacks and white shirts. Hope this doesn't bite later.
>Ponder that not every one of the Russians has a laptop. Correct this, after talking to Satai. If Satai doesn't want to correct, buy them anyway. (13 laptops - one for every russian who doesn't have one, minus one for Igor who will break it. Price: $702
>Andrei does not wonder where get a proper reader. He has one, right next to his old computer. In Russia. FUCK! Grumble bitch, get on computer. Wait. Check to make sure the Crazy Castle doesn't have one. Find Amen to make sure. Sadly none are to be found. Pay used tech shop tech to get an 8" reader for $25 dollars. Continue bitching in Russian about the Russian military and being caught, even while spending a further $68 to acquire a Laserdisc player.
>>While on computer, look into that thing that Lyubov wanted. First, double check all the names as well as Andrei can. Grumble about putting off plan to crack into NSA, but shrug. Look up and check for criminal records, news records, and tax records of all the names Lyubov has given. Find red flags in too many places for two of the male names for them to be realistically rendered 'safe'. Verify that these were unremarkable individuals that were not photographed often, lack outstanding warrants, and were referenced in tax documentation. Find that one female name and three males have potentially overly sporadic tax records-they'd need to be shored up or their users would have to be prepared for a potential audit. Mull this over.
> Plan to hack the Turkish Statistical Institute death record database, and change the biomertric data if it exists. Pride dictates that the TUIK will be a job forgoing onsite assistance, so the goal is to just ping vulnerable ports and unpeel it like an onion. Be a bit sad that it really is that easy. Wonder if moviehacking will ever be for you.
>> Use identity information that was in the wallets to match up cards to names. Using precautions like proxies, check if cards are still active with small purchases. Siphon money off the active ones.
>ANDREI: +$12,100 BONUS
>Become somehwat alarmed when only making the connection after the fact that one of the cards was with Oyak Securities. Discontinue theft attempts to reappraise if it's really worthwhile to mess with one's own bank.
>While busy, look into Nazi computers. If encrypted or password protected, be careful and go slow. Look for work arounds and known vulnerabilities on the Nazi computers, that's the easy way. If Andrei can't find any vulnerability, then code breaking those passwords. Check the contents of the wallets again, check the credit and debit cards for personal info, try combinations of important dates to Nazis, that kind of thing. If THAT doesn't work, brute force encryption breaking.
>Take a breather. Wear camera-helmet. Check to see the video feed and how good the packet loss and what not is. Find it reasonable enough. Continue to wear camera-helmet while going outside. When outside, lie about its use. Something about being for a reality TV programming or his own vblog. See what funny antics people will do because Camera-Helmet. Realize swiftly it makes for easy future blackmail of those that are encountered drunk, and gravitate towards bars.
>After returning home from social networking, social hacking, hacking, shooting and filming to check the film on the computer. Find film somewhat patch, and find shake of helmet cam more than a bit distraction, even given the medium. Share amusing video of drunks being drunks with other Russians. While on the computer, remember that odd presence watching Caffeine. Ask Satai or Boris about using the cameras to check out the kitchen. Then realize you're the one that manages the cameras anyway and just do it.
[Ivan has been queued to do the following:]
*Suggest that the entity Amen model armored clothing That's mostly a double breasted vaguely military suit.
*Purchase a nice hat and shoes to go with the overcoat. Spend $325
*Purchase a new pocket watch Spend $130
*Practice stealthfully navigating the mansion, attempting to avoid other occupants for at least one hour per day. Do rather poorly, but stoically, stonily carry on.
*Spend extra time attending night training sessions at Ito's Dojo. (Pay increased to $225/wk, current maximum)
*Make a request to Satai to be issued an L129A1 Sharpshooter and a HK45.
*Spend two hours daily practicing shooting with both guns.
*Join in with the melee training session group with Andrei and Boris. Personally enjoy but do not outwardly flaunt satisfaction at being noticably superior in unarmed prowess to each companion. Wisely do not listen to rash voice that suggests sparring with Lev, Vlad, Dmitrii, Iosef or even worse Gloom. Quest; Avoid making fool of self: Success!
*Spend some time simply politely observing what the other guys do, particularly boss' weasel, attempt to glean information where possible. Readily observe bossweasel to be entranced with prank calls, spending at least two hours a night at it. Also notice weasel is proportionately the next heaviest drinker after the one that calls himself Duke. Idly wish to have such an easy camraderie with the man as Vlad.
>[Igor has been queued to do the following:]
>Successfully complete all blast plates to personal standards reasonably swiftly. Be confident this will be a solid 'so there' moment with Satai. Be disenchanted by Satai's apathy, fail to capitalize on chance. Mutter while wandering away.
>Head to Bazaar, looking around the various metal smiths. Even if he can't convince them to mentor him immediately, it should not hurt to just make our presence known, as well as observe them. Begin to doubt this after no less than four different smiths run him off for simply standing and staring. Try and see if any of them stand out to you, either in the quality of their product on in their personality. One of the ones that shouted for him to leave, specifically a knife-specialist smith that pantomimed raising a blade, and one of the less prickly smiths that worked in gold each seemed to have such a lazy grace and economy to their motion to make anyone confident they know their craft well. Stay aware that less than a quarter of the smiths have yet been seen.
[Satai has been queued to do the following:]
$-Arrange meeting with Old Ironhead for Armas when requested.
$-As it is now apparent that Armas wants to move the entire company + lots of heavy hardware on short notice whenever he pleases, acquire three more largely nondescript vans. Estimate cost at $24,000. Be pleased when the man you bought the last van from directs you to someone that sells you a trio for $20,000 flat. Don't be particularly concerned, as the man does swear to the barrel you have Dmitrii put to his head that they were not involved in any kidnappings, major drug trafficking, acts arsons or murder. Find this acceptable, conclude deal. Find estimation of man's pseudo-thuggish demeanor accurate-he knocks an additional thousand dollars off, and seems to now greatly respect you. Assume he may believe you professional killers. Be amused at so right and wrong he is.
$-When Igor's quality backing plates are completed, break into our C4 stash and spend some time turning them into actual, usable shaped charges. Be surprised at the smoothness of the parabolic interior of the plates, and estimate they will do an admirable job focusing a blast into a wide cone.
$-Ask Hillevi if she does any kind of long-range combat or would like to practice it. Be informed she likes to build javelin of ice and hurl them at foes. Demonstrates by skewering a stone wall without much effort. Mention that she can feel free to come to sniping practice whenever if she wants; it's every day. Blasting things at long range with magic can't be that different from blasting them with a rifle, although Satai would issue her a rifle if she wanted one. Or goggles with magnification, if they'd help. Actually if she wants pretty much anything as far as military supplies go she can ask him for it. Find Hillevi highly receptive to the concept of learning to perform long-range, pinpoint spear-chucking.
$-Double-check outfitting before the Doonongaes mission; make sure that everyone has the equipment they'll need and nothing is likely to malfunction. Persuade/dragoon a couple other people into helping with this (Titus, Dmitrii, Iosef, Vlad, and Zhenya are likely prospects due to personality and/or past relations). Succeed too well, and get everyone helping in the wake of the boss idly mentioning the job.

>388140
Stop.
Brain Coffee time.
Now then-
Eh, I've got time until the morning training. Enough, at least, to put to rest some vague assumptions I've built. I clear my throat, stretching as the Hummingbird flits back down from the windowsill to hover in place and watch me-while I have a little chat.
"Hey Amen, there's an actual binding added to your soul each time I give you a binding order, correct?"
I don't jump, for once, as Amen simply begins to exist beside me, mere inches from my face.
>[Amen]"Master is indeed correct."
"And each binding adds a pressure to your soul, correct?"
>[Amen]"Master has thus far accurately paraphrased the mechanics of the situation, yes."
"There's a limit to how many you can take, then?
>[Amen]"Oh, indeed there is a limit."
"What happens when you can't take any more bindings?"
>[Amen]"Let this one answer with a rhetorical-what happens if one squeezes grape too tightly?"
"That's... not good."
>[Amen]"It is dependent on one's viewpoint, this one would posit."
"Alright. You are to inform your master through the same method of communication aforementioned master most recently used with you when the pressure on your soul from your bindings changes due to a new binding or order, and to what degree the change has occured, using a linear system where the pressure from the order I gave you to ignore Savoy represents one point on the scale. You may not lie about a change in pressure."
The small secretive smile growing on its face fades as Amen briefly ponders this.
>[Amen]"This one would say more than one point, and less than two, have been gained from accepting this new order."
"Great. Now, truthfully, how many points do you estimate your capacity to be before you will be so tightly bound that you explode?"
>[Amen]"This one is not entirely sure there is a clear answer to this-the rate this one is used, what one does, how much one feeds, if the bindings are added evenly or in an asymmetrical binge-this one cannot truly answer."
"Huh. Ok, new topic. If seeing your soul would not warp my mind, subject me to memetic attacks, or otherwise cause harm that would take me more than a few minutes to recover if I were a complete mundane and had no outside help at all, show it to me."
Amen simply stands there, its smile returning. ...Well, that's an answer of a sort.
"Amen, why do my Russians' souls all remind me of overcooked hotdogs? To clarify, their souls feel like they are going to burst."
The smile thins.
>[Amen]"They are becoming oversaturated relative to their innate absorbent abilities and spiritual coherance. It is not that unlike bruising, only without a means to wait it out."
"Well that's alarming. What are the options for fixing this? I want my employees healthy, emotionally stable, happy, and to retain intact personalities and free will."
>[Amen]"Given such stringent requirements, this one has very little to offer. They could not ultimately be termed healthy if this one opened their chakras. They could lose their stability if altered to be capable to adapting themselves to externally absorbed foreign energy. They could lose what master refers to as 'happiness' if simply fleshcrafted into more resiliant and enduring forms. They would not retain their personality for the majority of what this one can offer. That said, the best this one can advocate within the guidelines is prioritizing their instruction in control of Chakra until they can readily internalize energy, and until then feeding them exclusively mundane foods."
"Thanks for the advice."

I look at the clock-Yeah, I can make it. I ring Gianni as I get dressed, and tell him I'm headed over shortly. I ignore him purring into the phone as I hang up, getting dressed in a genuine full cloth-of-gold suit, lapels so sharp a gnat could shave it's ass with them-and start heading out. I catch Camella and Lyubov heading out for a jog-and decide to skip alongside them with the aid of Shoddy step, off to a lesson while having a chat. Or at least, trying to.
"So Camella,"
>[Camella]"..."
"Hey, hello!"
Her Attention stays on me, but she continues to visibly ignore me.
"So, I'll bring lunch when I get back! And some thanks! And other stuff-probably not boring stuff though. And my bodacious self, heh. But seriously-I did want to talk with you."
I continue dodging those few feeble bits of Attention to be found in the early morning, smirking all the while, a bird perched on my shoulder.
"Now, I want to say thanks for that book. It's a really touching and funny gift. It's exactly what my descendants will need. My bloodlines practically demand to be used in experimental ways and I can't see my kids being any better at self-restraint than I am, unless their mom is some incredibly self-disciplined and patient woman... actually I guess she'd need to be, huh? Or a hellion. Anyway, I'm going to have to do something really nice for Einrik too. I was thinking something to do with helping him see text, he's got trouble with that. I'm just not too sure what, right now. I'll figure it out."
I note Lyubov stumbling mid-spiel, and ignore it. Camella, for her part, almost looks at me. Hey, progress!
"No I've got more, I'm not just here to talk books. Yesterday I noticed something during the fight. You developed a soul quirk, a really awesome one too."
That got her-she eyes me like an imperious hawk, looking stern and austere-even as her voices sounds quite a bit warmer than her demeanor would suggest.
>[Camella]"Short version's that I had a dream, was chasing something while I got chased-and realized both my pursuer and my prey were me. Woke up, and I could still see as well as I could in the dream."
She continues in silence for a few seconds before continuing.
>[Camella]"So how'd you notice that?"
I can tell she's watching for me to be crestfallen at the patently underwhelming storytelling. Fat chance of that.
"Oh. Well, yeah, I can see your soul. It's part of my bloodline ability. I can see most people's souls."
I ignore Lyubov tripping over the curb as she goggles at my idle comment.
>"It's like she doesn't get that I'm keeping an eye out for magic observers in the area, and you're watching for mundane, and we're actually not being as cavalier with our secrets as we appear."
Yeah. On that note.
" My shadow sees in just magic, or so he tells me, so I'm sure that he's seen it too."
At this a voice comes from the alleyway beside us-Shadowbro's, specifically, a gravelly whisper filled with ash and soot.
>"He has."
I nod at the alleyway as Lyubov finally seems to crest the hill of surrealism and just keeps trucking.
"And there's some confirmation for you. Actually, you've got enough magic energy in your body now that I bet he can see it. I haven't bothered asking, it didn't seem important since he can see with my eyes when he wants to. He's complained a couple of times about not being able to see mundane materials on his own. Kinda like Einrik now that I think about it. Anyway, that's way off topic."
My rambling and continued nonchalant Red Cap themed skipping continue to wear down her wariness, and my storytelling begins to take hold of her curiosity. Where AM I going with this, I bet she's dying to know.
"Your soul quirk. Right, first, a soul quirk is probably like a certain shape to a person's soul that gives them an ability to do something. Like, see, a normal person's soul is just a round ball, right? The ones I've seen are, anyway. Well the shape of the soul helps determine what it can do. Not just the shape, but... I guess the aesthetics of the soul? I can definitely see something like 'quality' I'd wager. Example:"
I idly motion at a portly man two blocks away.
"Pretty shitty soul. He's lived a dull, flat, boring life I'd say. You, though, your soul is painstakingly beautiful. It's a compact form of neat, densely layered experiences made smooth by self-discipline and... call it a sureness of self. Healthy, and whole, and full of vitality, that's you."
And it's true-with my soul sensing getting ever sharper, even if at a snail's pace, and this prolonged observation, I really am commenting on what I perceive. I also may have been spoiled with such an easy mark as Hillevi-but I miiiiight have seen a bit of color in her cheeks at that. Just as she opens her mouth, I continue.
"Hey, it's true. If you don't believe me you can ask Einrik. Anyway, the quirk is an added layer of complexity for you, sensor shapes on top of it that are like eyes. There's 108 of them, to be specific. Pretty sure that's magically significant, that."
Now it is Camella's turn to have her feet stutter on the ground, her hypnotizing rhythmic pace oh so briefly disturbed. I see the look of dawning comprehension on her eyes-but hell if I'm interrupting this gravyboat to ask right now.
>"Draconic magic does hold the number 108 in high regard."
"Oh, also way important in Draconic magic too, though I'm no expert in that. So, that's the thing I wanted to tell you, and congratulate you on. It's how you beat my Goblin Stealth. And as to Gyaketsuote, well, I suspect that I'd need another 54 people practiced in it to overwhelm you now. Or someone with a similar soul quirk focused entirely on you."
She furrows her brow at this.
>[Camella]"So if I can got all those eyes, I wonder... well, whatever. Go on, you've clearly got more to say."
Pssh, like she's not all ears at this point.
"I've been thinking, the past few weeks actually, how to help you be a little more durable. The sparring yesterday highlighted it; you're awesome, but against an asshole with magic like mine you're going to need some sort of magic yourself. Now, there's a couple of ways to do it. Short of building a bloodline in you, there's a couple of options. Chakra training is one, but it's slow. I've only made great gains in it because I'm a big fat cheater."
I have about half a second to recognize Camella's soul venting energy and sense the crystal clear, almost primally raw-feeling chakra she Reinforces herself with as she punches me in the arm.

And promptly BREAKS my arm. Which I completely ignore, not even bothering to heal it and keep speaking. Just because she's, ah, a wee bit better with Chakra than I thought doesn't mean my point isn't valid. I still have to listen to her snide little comment of:
>[Camella]"You cheat, and you're still like... well, you?"
I grin.
" I'm thinking of learning how to make NeverNever bubbles, but I suspect it's an expensive option. Still, it'd let you learn subjective years worth of training in a single real moment. There are charm arrays, like what Blackbeard uses. Or used, rather. I gave him a scare and shook up his faith in them. Turns out there's ways to slip around them, if you've got a mind like mine."
>[Camella]"So only psychopaths can disrupt it?"
Oh, that's how it is huh? Enjoy a little of this...
"If you've got to twist my arm.... Well, if you REALLY want to know I guess I could tell you. Just remember this is literally a multi-million dollar secret."
She did in fact pick up on my implying implications. Look at that. Scowl's back.
>[Camella]"Then keep it to yourself. I'd rather figure it out on my own-which shouldn't be that hard, given I know it exists."
That... that's....
>[Hummingbird]"Proof she's a superior giant to you."
Say what you will-cheaters DO prosper.
>[Hummingbird]"And the fact she matched your Overcharged output when tapping you?"
ANYway-
"If that's how you want to play it. So yeah, I figure most people can't use that trick. So charm arrays and other magic items remain an option, and there are probably ways to build them that remove that weakness. Another option I've found would be to get you a spirit animal. I spoke to Big Crazy about this awhile ago. He has two spirit animals, a sensor type and an endurance type, both bound directly to his flesh using a ritual method that he taught me. I didn't ever need to use it myself, but he was able to shrug off bullets and lift cars. And he had no chakra training to my knowledge, no bloodline that he ever exhibited. Just the spirit animals and his gun play. And because the spirit animals aren't corporeal, unlike a charm array they're not vulnerable to most sorts of attacks."
>[Camella]"Like your bird?"
I can see the tiny figure puffing out his chest to preen and flash plumage. I smile regardless of intent.
"No, what the hummingbird and I have is a little different. Hummingbird and I are bound together by a soul link that formed when I released him from his prison. The method Big Crazy taught me, which any mundane person can use, requires that you kill the animal's body in the process of binding its soul to your flesh."
>[Camella]"Not wholly appealing, but palatable. You're omitting something, aren't you."
"Did I mention you have to Duke it up to do this?"
Fown dimples. My god, that's amazing.
"Yes, I know. Unfortunately, short of some extreme measures involving meddling with your soul directly that I'm frankly not yet qualified to carry out, I don't know you could perform a binding that's less traumatic than that. I'm also not sure what your personal capacity for spirit animal bindings would be. BC said most people only get one, and that he was unusual for having two. I do know that the sort of animal you pick, beyond its general orientation, matters. A sensor snake and a sensor hummingbird are going to be very different... I think. I've given it some thought and talked to Duke about it, and I think a honey badger may suit you very well. They're little destroyers, incredibly durable, they never give up, they fight animals many times their size, they shrug off wounds... well, you get the picture."
>[Camella]"Did you just call me small?"
Do NOT get drawn in!
"Think about it. Ask Duke what he thinks, he might have better suggestions about animals that would suit you. I'll help, when you're ready."
>[Camella]"You sound like you've got more."
"Ayup. There's one more thing I wanted to talk to you about. I talked to Go Ping and the others yesterday. We're ready for tomorrow morning to do the Dooney hit."
Lyubov loses her precarious sense of calm and nearly faceplants at that, no doubt recalling the threat assessment of the beast.
"Now, based on the intelligence reports the best time to set up all the prep work on the site is in the evening. I tasked Andrei and Satai to design a system for playing decoy sounds, to confuse the fucker when we fight him. They'll need to get it set up tonight. I've also got some inflatable pools, to hold water that can be turned into ice cover. I purchased 40 ice bullets in 7.62×54mmR from Johan, this fella who does special weapons. They're supposed to be ready this morning. The Triads are going to be bringing six magitech cold grenades. And there's all the normal fun stuff too, the explosives in the armory, the miniguns; hell I wouldn't mind breaking out the big stuff. Having a javelin on standby wouldn't be a bad idea."
>[Camella]"This sounds like a decidedly... American approach to battle."
"Well normally I'd agree that wasting a $40,000 javelin on a target we have bottled up is stupid, but I was at the Asitane last night with Gianni talking fleshcrafter stuff and Owner walked right up to our table and gave me some coordinates he implied were related to this. My guess is it's got something to do with the Dooney's master, instead of Dooney himself, since Owner said he wanted to talk about it after the fight sometime. I looked them up, it's an island in the middle of the Caspian Sea. I'll show you; maybe we can put someone on it and see what we can learn. I'd like to be prepared before I talk to Owner, show that I'm not totally irresponsible."
She smiles.
>[Camella]"You didn't make a fool of yourself in front of him? How precious. But are you just reporting this to your second, or...?"
"Well of course, but to my credit, I did realize I needed you way before I got the date set for this. To be an officer for the company. Ahem. Look, can you organize everyone for this? Let them know, and brief them?"
>[Camella]"Sure, since Lyubov's obviously going to help me with that."
The still silent companion to our jaunt, growing increasingly winded, merely looks on.
"Yeah I want everyone, and I want anyone not manning an emplaced gun or one of the cameras-"
>[Camella]"Cameras?"
"Yes, cameras. I figure we've got a chance here to record the entire fight. We'll be able to go over it later and review for things we could have done better. And if it's really good, there are plenty of supernaturals who would pay to watch Dooney die. Most of the community hates that guy."
>[Camella]"That's.... rather morbid but I can't specifically say it's wrong, all things being equal. Backtracking here, give me Johan's address and number."
I provide them as she simply nods at me to go on.
"Anyway, as I was saying, I want the ones who aren't occupied otherwise to be carrying weapons with wooden stocks, if possible. I know it sounds weird, but the last time I fought Dooney, I had a pair of weapons turn magical on me. The stress of the situation, and the magical saturation, and the weapons having so much natural material all helped. Their roles are to provide support, not directly engage, but I'll buy poison resistance potions for them anyway. Rather not lose anyone. Oh, and Long Wang gave me this tip: The Dooney has a wound on his back, off to the right from his spinal column, whenever he shifts into a form with a pelvis."
>[Camella]"Down low?"
"You know it."

I glance at my watch-and sigh.
"Well, I've got places to be-enjoy your run."
Camella almost says something to me, but instead simply nods her head and keeps going as I veer off, slowing back down to a normal pace as I walk the last four blocks to the meet with Gianni. Now..... what am I going to have him teach me...

>>387853
>>387990
>>388027
>>388153
>>388157
Epithelial manipulation. Even putting aside the potential gains from manual glandular command, the constant considerations of the poisonous doonongaes keep me well aware such a focus could be rather... varied. When I tell Gianni, he doesn't seem that surprised-

Then proceeds to touch me. It was a good touch.

He took command of my adrenal glands and gave me a first-hand experience of what control means. He shows me how the right chemical balance can create any result a sufficiently skilled user can want. He even goes on to say sufficiently precise control allows one to 'correct' for their own tendencies-a curious parallel to soul sculpting, the act of chemically shackling oneself to prevent disadvantageous known personal traits from being an issue. Just as I wallowing in the thought of having a Soul Guise, a fleshcrafted appearance and a way to force myself to eschew my own tendency to distraction, Gianni genuinely surprises me: He cautions me as he continues to milk my adrenals, the steady throb of shifting focus heady, intoxicating.

>[GiaGia]"Well gosling, this one must confess so many things can go wrong with this approach that really it couldn't be advised. The soul is, after all, linked to the body-which is itself the host of the remaining two thirds of the personal triumvirate. Having Body alter Mind is... doable, certainly, but the problem lies in what repeat use does to the soul-it's not so pretty. I'm not refusing to teach you about it-once you know enough you could do it, at least-but I do have to be clear on this: if you cannot tread carefully, this path is not well suited to you."
I muse upon the seemingly out-of-character warning-and press on with the lesson. Seems that after he's flooded, then flushed, flooded, then flushed my system with adrenaline again and again, he directs me to take the helm. I've felt the foreign magic working on me-I witnessed the shape of the Flesh magic, when it was shoved in my flesh. So it is with not even a hint of trepidation I... sidle back into a haze of focus, energy and distorted thought. From the adrenal, we go to a real treat: the liver. I get to really feel that which handles my booze... and I make some personal plans even as the lesson rambles past blood filtering by dint of glandular control. To complement on-command Adrenaline and a newly manual liver complete with overdrive, Ginna next traipses his lessons through me to my neck to focus on my spine even while staying attentive to my torso: specifically, to show me how the parathyroid and the kidneys can work in concert for rather impressive internal filtering. Coupling this with the liver, I abruptly feel far, far more confident about facing poisons... other than the Doonongaes', at least. Finally, he moves on to my bones-specifically, my bone marrow, wrapping up the personal resilience tolerance with the revelation that there's some distinction in the adrenal gland that I hadn't previously detected-

Gianni ends the lesson with my homework being to figure out what that difference is, and get to the point I can recognize the difference between my attempts to manipulate adrenal, liver, kidney, parathyroid and bone marrow, from his. Obviously there's a difference, but he's adamant I need to be able to define it.... which I don't have a snappy come back to, what with the complete lack of such an ability. Homework, fun.

Armas has learned how to manually begin flooding his system with adrenaline, with all that this entails
Armas has learned how to manually choose what particular toxins are filtered when by his liver, and how to metabolize more quickly.
Armas has learned how to manually ply his kidneys and parathyroid towards gaining heightened internal filtering ability.
Armas has learned how to manually ply his bone marrow to slowly thin or thicken his blood with red blood cells.

...Yeah, I see why he said you could learn more initially about Epithelial than Nervous. Sure there's supposed to be a bigger payoff in the endgame with Nervous, but.... this is a lot to play with. We part ways as noon rolls around, the bird seated atop my golden tie content to snooze for the first time I've seen.

>>388171
As ever happy my soul guise is now readily perceptible to my senses, I verify my default's running smoothly and head back to the house. I ignore the incredulous looks a few throw my way, asking Satai to go ahead and schedule that meeting for today with Old Ironhead. Be surprised when Satai is able to confirm a meeting for this afternoon before I even make it to the kitchen.
"...So, when you say this afternoon-"
>[Satai]"He's inviting you to join him for lunch."
Steady...
"Where at?"
>[Satai]"The Pitstop to Valhalla."
No shit... can't question his taste.
"Tell him I'll be there in half an hour."

The best part is having the Pitstop be on the opposite side of Johan's shop relative to the mansion. I pick up my bullets, and slot them in the magic over-sized 40 round magazine for the AVT-40, the gun itself obviously absent. I shake hands with the craftsman and head on, having spent all of two minutes in his shop. I make it to the Pitstop, that familiar belligerantly resilient yet perpetually ramshackle tavern and take a seat across from the only interesting soul I see outside-who happens to look patently swedish.

I smile.
"So, we have-"
The man flies into a passionate spurt of bluster, plowing headfirst through my attempt to speak.
>[OI]"Alright so here's the deal: big name's off the market. You damn well know who. Now, certain slant-eyes are looking to muscle in. I say fuck them. I say that when a certain trader left, he left a great deal of wares. I say that I want those wares-and I say-"
>[MM,MMMMM[/code] Trait auto-activated]
Two can play the interrupting game motherfucker!
"That you want what certain-"
He merely gets louder.
>[OI]"WHAT? Anyway, I want what our local enforcers that dress in uniform. So-"
Oh it's on.
"SO HOW much is the questio-"
>[OI]"I WANT IT ALL, AND I WANT IT... AS SOON AS I CAN GET IT."
We're practically shouting now, and both starting to rise.
"HOW MUCH?"
>[OI]"THIRD OF MARKET PRICE, PERMANENT DISCOUNT."
"HOW MUCH?"
>[OI]"A TENTH."
"A THIRD."
>[OI]"FUCK YOU MONGREL, EIGHTH."
>[WTN Trait activated and advances to Level four trait, JUST WON'T TAKE NO, ]
"TWO SIXTHS."
>[OI]"THINK I CAN'T DO MATH FUCKHEAD ONE SIXTH."
"TWO SEVENTHS"
>[OI]"QUARTER./b]"
He's stopped that manic shout-grinning he'd been doing-and I take that as my cue to take the deal.
"[b]TIMEFRAME?"
"THIS WEEK."
>[OI]"EXPRESS FEE-"
"FREE TANK."
I can't even resist.

I falter in the shouting match that the customers continue to completely ignore-and find my hand being shaken.
>[OI]"SHIT BASTARD HAS A DEAL."
He finally stops shouting, and returns to his admittedly vocal self.
>[OI]"...Heh. Alright, but seriously get out of here, you're like this close to pissing me off, funny bullshit or no."
Why ruin a good run? I bow out, simple as that.

A third the market price for all that's in the lockers, someone ELSE to deal with selling all that shit, a sizable discount and a tank.
>"You are a child... yet I can't really put much.. fire into my complaints this time. Curious."
Obviously because shadow or no you still love tanks.

On the way back from THAT, I stop in a manhole, and have a chat with SM. after eventually haggling my ass into giving up Four blade charms and one arrow charm to get a grand total of 24 people's worth of half-day long complete Doony poison immunity. Now, we only have to worry about the monstrous strength and claws and shape shifting and... still, one less thing to worry about. And this time, I get a carrying case. No breakages this time, nu-uh!

I return back home, this time finding the Russians far less agog-and asking questions about tomorrow's target. I give them a rough play by play of my prior two experiences, focusing just on actual observations, coupled with my own thoughts. Camella must have done a good job talking to them, because they seem far more receptive and placated by my brief blurb than they really should be. Score one for the team. With the lot of them now thoroughly trapped in arguing over potential alternative conclusions to what the Doony's like, I slip away to the kitchen, shadow Boris for a half hour as I eat a half dozen plates without ever leaving the room, then head upstairs to read that popup book.

...I'm not sure what to make of the fact it's five hundred and eleven pages of a tiny eyepatch sporting caricature that looks vaguely like me suffering various mishaps. There's examples from every school of magic, and each one looks mundanely fatal. ...I read it eight times, belly laughing the whole time, before turning in early.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 23RD, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $321,013.11
BUSINESS FUNDS: $189,347.00
CASH: $9,170.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 44%
[small]WINTER ENERGY: 121/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50

I wake up so chipper I could sour the sun's dazzling smile with envy. It's not hard at all for me to wake up well before dawn, finding the Russians far more easily roused than normal. I should be a bit miffed my meeting with my brothers wasn't all that productive-though I'm wholly occupied with feeling like I came from a comedy marathon, given we spent the night joking so much I heartily enjoyed myself.

So.

Three twenty five, and the last of the Russians have finished waking up and getting dressed. Camella's present, Hillevi and Einrik are both present and accounted for, and Duke's thoroughly not giving a fuck while stroking Sake, with the Hummingbird watching over us all like a diminutive yet unfathomably stern shepard.






So, what's the loadout we're taking on this?
And more importantly-what's the nitty-gritty of the plan?
Assuming it doesn't take all day-what else do I plan to occupy myself with today?

>[Andre Orders]
>Realize that today's the day. Make sure that the audio program is ready, and the cameras are adjusted for the shake - or at least the video editing software can handle reducing the shakes.
>Have cunning idea. Hope that Amen hasn't finished clothing. Order this too:http://img456.imageshack.us/img456/7096/borisshirtgq2.jpg

Guile 2012/02/24(Fri)17:32 No. 388694 ID: 6616f3
File 133013352229.jpg - (44.29KB , 258x251 , russian male.jpg )

[I rather like the look of this outfit for Titus, even if it is very, very Russian.

He'd also would like to pick up some lengths of kevlar, nomex/kevlar/P155 weave, maybe some UHMW or Teijin's Twaron fabric to assist Amen's armored clothing line. It's all very reasonably priced, only $10-30 per square meter. Buy, oh... say $500 of it. That's about 250 sq.meters of fabric, which is enough to outfit that trenchcoat someone wanted, about 60 times over. Eventually he'd like to look into ceramic armor/trauma plate, but we'd need to make our own or something, prices for boron carbide and the like are absurd (mostly because they expect you to buy it by the ton when I've found it for sale at all).

Also, Titus looked into the Armstar Bodyguard on the 12th, got Satai to help him on the 14th, and it is now the 23rd. The taser gloves mk.I are ready for a trial run.]

Can Amen put together a magic item to bring Doony's blood right to the mansion in this short amount of time? Some kind of dessicating knife? We don't want Doony bleeding away more valuable blood than necessary.

>>388650
I think we should be focusing on Doony right now. Taking Trick, Silja and Lonesome should be enough for ourselves. That leaves the matebas (with DOOM rounds), season pistol, AA-12 to be passed out among the Triad. Diao may be interested in the hate gun- fighting the creature that killed her cousin, I assume she has enough hate in her to put some oomph into it.

We may want to spend a little time bringing Silja up to speed on what we're fighting here. No emotional hangups here; Doony is a monster, he eats entire boatloads of people. She's taken his blood into herself before - quite a lot of it - which hopefully provides bonuses (bonii?).

The fake heartbeat stereos... I dunno. If we decide not to use a building we could put them there to lure Doony in, or leave the heartbeat machines in place while the russians retreat from the gate booth to give Doony pause, or just leave them strewn about so he can't trust his ears (or whatever Doony has).

Layout of forces:
(4) The snipers (Ivan, Matvey, Satai and Andrei) should be stationed in the hills to the north. That'll give them some distance, but not so much they should need spotters. Give them one of the vans (since we didn't purchase ATVs) to make a quick getaway if it seems necessary.

Triad and us (and maybe Hillevi and Camella; I'm unsure if we should have Hillevi try out the pinpoint distance ice lance or not) should be out in the open, to draw Doony into the killing zone. Space us in between the docks and warehouse- the snipers will be able to get a shot if placed correctly (the office building could block some shots), the gate booth and warehouse and office building can also contain russians. We may want to again have SB and Sake set up a nasty surprise on the dock, with us funnelling power to them until and unless Doony is close enough we need spot reinforcement. Don't have them drain themselves dry, but wounding Doony before the fight even properly begins seems good to me.

(3) The gate booth should contain our heaviest ordinance russians; GatMalite, M202 Flash, a M134, maybe even the Javelin. Again, a van should be placed to allow them to flee. May want to plant some mines/bricks of c4 in front of the booth - even if Doony rolls right through them, it may give him pause.

(5) Office building's roof we can do mortars, and M134s in the windows.

(6) The warehouse won't get much use owing to the lack of windows, unless we knock some holes in the walls or prepare an ambush. If we place the Javelin in the warehouse or the booth group retreats to there, it'll draw Doony in and we can place russians and multiple M134's within near the back loading doors. Shoot the hell out of him, then retreat again.

The office russians can only make a difference if Doony is on the northern end of the docks, the booth on the southern half - between the two and the snipers, they'll be able to cover anywhere.

The hour of Doony has arrived. How fun.

But before that i suggest consulting Einrik on the issue of near exploding Russians BEFORE the fight as that all the magic that will flying about (see wanting guns to become magic) it might just overload them. this might be paranoia but we have time and it wont hurt to address this.

Speaking of paranoia; Is there any way Armas can direct his PPP trait using M7 into everything Amen says? that way Armas will "over"-anilize everything Amen says, get more out of him from vague answers, and be very careful in giving him any order/bindings.

Silja will need careful talking to to convince her to help i think. I cant think of much except to say things like:
"He killed a boat full of people for no other point but sport and idle hunger" and/or
"Poisoned a friend/comrade and had to watch her slowly die." also
"You may well be my best weapon for this foe" but definitely
"When he recognizes your vessel and how much its/you've grown, he WILL fear you"

Im no wordsmith in this but i think using lines like that will help the most.

Ask who the best pistol shots are, they get the anti-Season pistols and Mateba loaded with Doom bullets, and give them to them to use. This probably includes Camella. Get a detectable shoulder stock for them if we have time to fit into. When they're fired, we don't want them to miss. Ask Johann if as a rush job he can modify his cold bullets to fit the anti-Summer gun.

Bring Silja, but plan not to use her, as she'll eat the Doonegeas. Leave her in a secure location for SB to teleport to you if things go dreadfully wrong.

For use, Take Iron Trick and the AA-12, and nothing else. With the Doonegeas' regeneration then the Taste of Ruin is the only weapon we have that can reliably harm him - it's partially what we sold the strikes for, to enchant it to deal with this fight. It would be a real shame not to actually have it meet its destiny. Iron Trick should only be used to Shadowpin, as the Regneration means that unless we gamble it's futile shooting the Doonegeas with it. The anti-Season and Mateba with Doom bullets are more useful in better shots' hands, as they need to hit. The other guns we have won't do enough damage.

Initial plan should be:

>Set up very bright spotlights on the walls to cast very long shadows.
Engage the Doonegeas in banter.
>Switch on the spotlights and shoot the Doonegeas' shadow with Iron Trick to pin him.
Have whoever has the anti-Season guns and the Mateva immediately fire at the Doonegeas whilst he's motionless, whilst everyone else opens up as well to disguise the source of the suppressing bullets. If they can hit it in its weak point that's even better.
>Switch to Taste of Ruin and unload a full magazine of HEAP shells into the Doonegeas whilst he's pinned, timed for the moment after the first set of anti-Season/Doom bullets hits. As necessary, switch back to Iron Trick to keep him pinned.
>You need to be firing the automatic shotgun as you can use accelerated thought and Reinforcement to manage the recoil better than anything else.
Then, you want to throw Iron Trick aside and have ShadowBro teleport you to another location. The Doonegeas will be after you, and so you don't want to be there any more.
>Be ready for the shadow pinning simply not to work, and plan accordingly.

>So, what's the loadout we're taking on this?
Armas should take IT and Silja (We should be careful with Silja, as she may eat too much), AA12 for either Long Wang or Camella, Season postol (Summer) to the other. Apart from that, the russians should use the mini-guns as well as their normal weapons.

>And more importantly-what's the nitty-gritty of the plan?
Note-letter guy told us Devil might want to interfere with this fight. It is unknown if he still wants to, but we migh think about asking Duke if he wants to watch the fight- and maybe have fun in case a Devil comes. If we do so, however, we must make sure he let us deal with the Doonegaes. Hummingbird and Sake both should definitely take some of that poison immunity too I think. Also, Armas should definitely look at Long Wang and other Triad people to see if he can learn some kind of chakra orientation from them. Likewise, it might be worth it to barter with them to learn some. Maybe a couple of arrow charms?

We should definitely ask SB if Whaitiri wants Doony's soul: If she does, we will need to keep as much winter energy as possible to capture it, and THAT might be risky. So we need a straight answer. We also need SB to tell us if we can take it within our eye without problems. Keep in mind what happened with the reaper.

>Assuming it doesn't take all day-what else do I plan to occupy myself with today?
We definitely need a party celebration if we manage to deal with Doony.


IGOR
Igor should definitely make sure he got a Arrow and Bladeward charm during the Doony encounter (and that every Russians has one). He should use his XM25 to deal as much damage as possible on Doony patiently and methodically.

>>388888
>Armas should take IT and Silja (We should be careful with Silja, as she may eat too much), AA12 for either Long Wang or Camella, Season postol (Summer) to the other. Apart from that, the russians should use the mini-guns as well as their normal weapons.

Be sure to talk to Silja about the Dooney before the fight. Get buy-in from her on this.

TT-30 or Summer Pistol to Long Wang. Wind Blunderbus to Go Ping if he wants to wield it (he will). Issue the AA-12 to Diao Yuan, and tell her what it does. Camella should be rocking a sniper rifle (either hers or the ATV-40, her preference). The Russians with special shooting traits or experience are Dmitrii (used to using that large bore contender pistol), Grisha (grenades) Igor (heavy weapons), Iosef (heavy weapons), Lyubov (small arms and grenades), Matvey (designated marksman), Vladimir (shotguns and explosives), Zhenya (pistols).

Obviously, Iosef and Igor should be manning miniguns. Assign Matvey have whichever sniper rifle Camella doesn't use. Zhenya gets the Matebas if you're willing to trust her to not miss with the doom rounds. Vlad is on bomb duty: he's to trigger the placed shaped explosives at opportune times. Lyubov gets the Autumn Pistol and an ice grenade if the Triads want to pool. Grisha gets one or two of the magitech grenades as well, and should get priority for them if the Triads don't want to give up three. Hillevi should be tossing ice javelins.

I know it's tempting to put Satai on that big fucking sniper rifle he has, but you'll need at least one knowledgeable man helping to run the cameras. Since Andrei will be busy with e-war (you ARE bringing one of those cell jammer packages, aren't you?) and the audio decoys, it sorta falls on Satai.

Issue the Spring Pistol as well to whomever is a good shot, but NOT the winter gun. That stays at home.

After the fight, decide what to do based on how many men you lose (hopefully none) and how much attention you attract (hopefully not much).

>>388767
Man you write just like Alratan.

Anyway, I think we should have the AA-12 be put in the hands of a shotgunner, either Long Wang or Vlad (but Vlad's best used being the brains behind the bombs).

ARMAS ORDERS

Is there any reason to not issue extra sword charms? Any? The charms may be expensive, but the Russians aren't supposed to be getting into melee. If they're surprised, they might need more than one melee charm to get away. Issue three each (54 sword charms issued to them). Each Russian is worth more than that, honestly (consider the value of the money they bring in through contracts and looted materiel).

Also, give Sake 5 sword charms. Stick them in his backpack or something, just as long as they count as being worn you're fine. He's your most powerful healer, so you want to be absolutely sure harm doesn't come to him. That'll leave 6 sword charms for you to distribute: 3 for you and 3 for Hillevi (Camella already has her superior ritual charm, and Einrik and Duke are much more durable than anyone else on the field, save yourself and Dooney). If Hillevi refuses the charms, or she or Einrik argue that she won't need them, assign them to Sake.

Give Amen the following order: "Please make little armored and insulated pockets on the clothes of those using charms for their charms to sit in (as long as being in said pockets won't interfere with the idea of them being "worn" nor with the charms protective functions). And please move their charms to the new pockets as appropriate."

Distribute the anti-poison potions to everyone and remind them to not drink them until you give the order, or as soon as possible if the Dooney puts in an early appearance. Give the order to drink them when the Triads signal their hydrophone.

Might as well get some of the bad news and other shit out of the way while you've got everyone together.

Armas Speech

"Ladies, Gentlemen, and Weasels. Before we begin our final preparations for today's job, I have a few items to bring up with you. They're unfortunately all serious, so I'm going to set aside the cracking wise. I know, it pains me too."

"First, I learned about an issue that affects every single one of our Russian comrades in arms: Those delicious, nutritious, and more than a little magical meals we all enjoy? They're not so healthy for people who either don't have bloodlines, aren't innately magical, or who are not good at using their chakra to manipulate internal energies. In fact, three weeks of good eats has left you all saturated with magic."

"Well, your body will start to fall apart, and if you push the issue your soul will burst apart, and you'll die horribly."

"So, since that's not good, you're all going to have get used to eating mundane fare while you either radiate the magic out, or we figure out a safe way to drain it. And by safe I mean a method that doesn't leave you unhealthy, unhappy, mindless, or wiped of your personalities."

Stare at Amen for that last sentence. Let him respond as he sees fit.

"The problem is that not a one of you are proficient enough with chakra to integrate that extra energy. And since it can't get used up by being spent on reinforcement chakra or some other magic manipulation, it just pools and starts to put pressure on everything in you."

"I'm going to be keeping an eye on you all for the duration of the radiating period, by the way. Regular soul screenings have been added to your medical plan. Hopefully, between Camella, Ito, myself, and any guest who feels like it, you'll all be able to become skilled enough with your chakra that this issue will be behind us soon. I intend to order a book about novel chakra orientations as well, next week, so eventually you'll be able to learn more than just the reinforcement orientation. Not that the reinforcement orientation is anything to scoff at," flop your broken arm around as disgustingly as you can, and say, "Camella did this to me yesterday with a single reinforced punch. Sake, help a bro out?"

"Thanks. In fact, if anyone else needs him to take care of an aliment, speak up now."

"Great, then on to the second item I wanted to talk about: While the majority of you are not supposed to engage the Doononegas in melee combat, I'm going to issue all our sword charms anyway. Sake gets the most, since I like him best."

"He's not nearly so durable as our friends Einrik and Duke. And unlike Officer Camella, he doesn't have a superior charm allocated to him already. And I'm going to be wearing some too. Normally I'd just rely on my personal healing ability, but it occurred to me that if something tragic happened and, somehow, despite our plans and preparations and efforts, someone died, that I might be able to do something about it."

"I'm distributing the charms so that most of us will end up with three, except for the aforementioned exceptional individuals. Three hits should give you a buffer to react, to get away, and for everyone else to lay down fire on the target so that you can get clear. Combined with your body armor to protect against friendly fire, the anti-poison potions I'm providing for you, the field surgery training opportunities I've provided, and Sake and Hillevi's healing prowess, you all stand an excellent chance of surviving this fight."

"But, if you don't, there are a few things you need to know. Death sucks. And the afterlife is no great shakes for most people, too. In general, a soul without a body slowly dissipates into raw magical energy that is reabsorbed by the NeverNever. There's other possible eventualities, but they're not really germane. If you really want to learn about all that, catch me later, or butter up one of our guests. What you need to know is that if your body ends up damaged to the point where you can't stay in it anymore, you will end up as a disoriented and possibly damaged soul."

"Any memories that are only in your brain, but not imprinted on your soul, you will lose. You'll certainly remember how you died. You might remember who your allies are. You probably won't remember what you had planned to do next week. But you have to remember this: sunlight burns souls. If you die, get under cover, fast. Otherwise you'll burn, and the raw magic energy that your soul is built of will boil off, and everything that's left of you will simply unravel."

"Good question. I was getting to that. I have a way to move consenting souls to a safe haven, if the worst happens. The mansion is already properly warded to prevent magic dissipation, so I would be able to bring the recently deceased back home, and let them hang out in the mansion while we worked on a solution to that. In any case, death would be painful, it would suck, and you'd lose a lot. But if you got into cover and if I'm not dead, you wouldn't lose everything. With luck, you'd be back in a body, maybe even your old one rebuilt. Or maybe in something else. Eventualities like that are best pondered when you know what you have to work with."

"I wouldn't normally be so formal about this, but we're going to have outsiders participating in the fight. I'm going to need everyone who wants this piece of insurance to consent now, ahead of time. Meddling with the course a soul takes after death is a touchy subject with the most powerful beings, but you all have free will, and so are able to have a say in your own destiny. If you give me consent now to move your soul in the event you get killed on this job, I'll do my best to shelter you and provide protection until we get back to the mansion."

LYUBOV ORDERS
*Lyubov will ask Zhenya to help her stash their instrument cases in one of the vans, and will convince both her and Sake that the perfect low-key victory song is "Irlandaise," by Claude Bolling. [See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x5QsFP0otQ for an example, Lyubov's "arrangement" of it just replaces the piano with a guitar, and the flute with a violin, leaving the cello and percussion to Sake's care]

*Lyubov will, after hearing the Boss make his macabre little speech, agree to a soul rescue. She'll also make sure to fit her Skorpion with its wooden stock before the fight, and will remind Boris to do so to his.

*During the fight Lyubov will use the Autumn pistol and her skorpion when the Dooney is in range for it. She'll also bring the extended magazines for the SR 1911s, and will either use them herself or badger someone into using them.

*Lyubov will keep an eye open for trouble, periodically checking the road when she's not the focus of the Dooney's attentions.

*If Lyubov gets attacked personally by the Dooney, she'll move to disengage with an eye toward getting the Dooney into allied lines of fire. If injured she'll get under cover, get the bleeding under control, and wait for either the fight to end or their team to win.

*After the fight Lyubov will decide what to do based on if anyone she likes died.

Welp, I think everyone has Armas' back covered here, so Imma going to be a lazy swine and just do some orders for Lev.

ORDERS FOR LEV

Unless you are impaled upon a tentacle or something, melee is not your friend in this fight.

Stick to shooting and more particularly Doony shouldn't pay much attention so make sure to throw knives at large wounds at the time where it is most focused on something, also, never stay in the same place for too long.

Lev will after Armas' prouncement of gloom (and accepting it, afterall Boss never seems to lie), begin to harbor a distrust of open sunlight. It seems not only does the light of day reveal all actions and exposes you to foes, it also BURNS YOUR SOUL UP IF YOU DIE. Spend more time in the dark, eat more fruit and fish, since you'll be avoiding sunlight.

Keep to the shadows, the shadows hide you, keep you safe... On that note, in the interests of survival ponder that if shadows are safer than foul soul destroying sunlight, then ShadowBoss is now your favorite scary being.

Also since it seems Chakra manipulation is now vital to your surival... might start learning that... though...
It's a long shot, but what if ShadowBoss could 'steal' the excess energy from you? I mean shadowbeing often have a thing of draining and stealing connected to them...

(If the uniform thing is still open then...)
Lev when asked by Amen with regards to uniform, would ask for something that can hold a lot of daggers and knives consealed silently in it. Also hooded long jacket, with a vest, undershirt and pants with a good amount of pockets, bland and nondescript is the idea for the colouring.

On the subject of Armas's speech of post-death and the eye, you could add, "If you see a giant hummingbird, or something that looks like me in there, they're fine. Something in a bone motif, or with black and orange coloring, should be part of my territory. If you run into... uh, well, you'll notice the monster if you see it, believe me. He should be under lock and key, but I'm serious- don't poke it, free it, or feed yourself to it. Previous guests were very unwise about that."

>[Igor has been queued to do the following:]
>Acquire arrow and blade charm alike for mission. Attempt to bring XM25. Be refused by Satai who cites he is the only person to have yet crashed the software on the weaponry. Make do with normal armaments.
>[Lyubov has been queued to do the following:]
*Lyubov will ask Zhenya to help her stash their instrument cases in one of the vans, and will convince both her and Sake that the perfect low-key victory song is "Irlandaise," by Claude Bolling. [See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x5QsFP0otQ for an example, Lyubov's "arrangement" of it just replaces the piano with a guitar, and the flute with a violin, leaving the cello and percussion to Sake's care].
*Lyubov will, after hearing the Boss make his macabre little speech, agree to a soul rescue. She'll also make sure to fit her Skorpion with its wooden stock before the fight, and will remind Boris to do so to his. She becomes uncertain if Boris gave a shit.
*During the fight Lyubov will use the Autumn pistol and her skorpion when the Dooney is in range for it.
*Lyubov will keep an eye open for trouble, periodically checking the road when she's not the focus of the Dooney's attentions.
*If Lyubov gets attacked personally by the Dooney, she'll move to disengage with an eye toward getting the Dooney into allied lines of fire. If injured she'll get under cover, get the bleeding under control, and wait for either the fight to end or their team to win.
*After the fight Lyubov will decide what to do based on if anyone she likes died.
>[Titus has been queued to do the following:]
>Ponder picking up some lengths of kevlar, nomex/kevlar/P155 weave, maybe some UHMW or Teijin's Twaron fabric to assist Amen's armored clothing line. It's all very reasonably priced, only $10-30 per square meter.
>Buy $500, ~250 square meters worth of P155.
>Balk at higher prices for boron carbide and relatives. Shake fist at unspecified target, vow 'some day'.
>Be pleased initial prototype gauntlet has been 'working' for two days, and that a few more easily identified bugs have already been worked out. Decide 'why not' and equip self with gauntlet for mission. Hope it will not need active use.
[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
Realize that today's the day. Make sure that the audio program is ready, and the cameras are adjusted for the shake - or at least the video editing software can handle reducing the shakes. While not altogether satisfied with the result, decide it is at least tolerable.
Have cunning idea. Hope that Amen hasn't finished clothing. Attempt to order this too:http://img456.imageshack.us/img456/7096/borisshirtgq2.jpg and be crestfallen when Amen assures him it's too late.
[Lev has been queued to do the following:]
Try to avoid melee, but still be very keen on idea of getting close enough for knife throwing. Display impressive cognitive dissonance on the subject.
Begin to distrust sunlight due to boss' comments, begin to feel more positively about Boss' shadow.
Seriously ponder asking Boss' Shadow, or Shadow Boss (SB) if it can absorb excess magical energy from someone's body.


>388140
Alright, time for some speech bullshit.
"Ladies, Gentlemen, and Weasels. Before we begin our final preparations for today's job, I have a few items to bring up with you. They're unfortunately all serious, so I'm going to set aside the cracking wise. I know, it pains me too."
No one laughs or even grins. ...Fine.
"First, I learned about an issue that affects every single one of our Russian comrades in arms: Those delicious, nutritious, and more than a little magical meals we all enjoy? They're not so healthy for people who either don't have bloodlines, aren't innately magical, or who are not good at using their chakra to manipulate internal energies. In fact, three weeks of good eats has left you all saturated with magic."
Now I get a reaction: concerned confusion.
"Well, your body will start to fall apart, and if you push the issue your soul will burst apart, and you'll die horribly."
Yep, that rather solidly captured their attention.
"So, since that's not good, you're all going to have get used to eating mundane fare while you either radiate the magic out, or we figure out a safe way to drain it. And by safe I mean a method that doesn't leave you unhealthy, unhappy, mindless, or wiped of your personalities."
I stare at Amen for that last sentence, but the Russians don't turn away.
"The problem is that not a one of you are proficient enough with chakra to integrate that extra energy. And since it can't get used up by being spent on reinforcement chakra or some other magic manipulation, it just pools and starts to put pressure on everything in you. I'm going to be keeping an eye on you all for the duration of the radiating period, by the way. Regular soul screenings have been added to your medical plan. Hopefully, between Camella, Ito, myself, and any guest who feels like it, you'll all be able to become skilled enough with your chakra that this issue will be behind us soon. I intend to order a book about novel chakra orientations as well, next week, so eventually you'll be able to learn more than just the reinforcement orientation. Not that the reinforcement orientation is anything to scoff at,"
At this I flop my still broken arm around as disgustingly as I can, and go on with, "Camella did this to me yesterday with a single reinforced punch. Sake, help a bro out?"
I keep talking as a green tube wraps about and writhes on my arm, leaving me healed.
"Thanks. In fact, if anyone else needs him to take care of an ailment, speak up now."
When no one acts on that offer-
"Great, then on to the second item I wanted to talk about: While the majority of you are not supposed to engage the Doononegas in melee combat, I'm going to issue all our sword charms anyway. Sake and I are going to be wearing some too. Normally I'd just rely on my personal healing ability, but it occurred to me that if something tragic happened and, somehow, despite our plans and preparations and efforts, someone died, that I might be able to do something about it. I'm distributing the charms so that most of us will end up with three, except for the aforementioned exceptional individuals. Three hits should give you a buffer to react, to get away, and for everyone else to lay down fire on the target so that you can get clear. Combined with your body armor to protect against friendly fire, the anti-poison potions I'm providing for you, the field surgery training opportunities I've provided, and Sake and Hillevi's healing prowess, you all stand an excellent chance of surviving this fight."
They seem warily optimistic about my declaration, but clearly are not that easily convinced all will be well in engaging a daunting beast.
"But, if you don't, there are a few things you need to know. Death sucks. And the afterlife is no great shakes for most people, too. In general, a soul without a body slowly dissipates into raw magical energy that is reabsorbed by the NeverNever. There's other possible eventualities, but they're not really germane. If you really want to learn about all that, catch me later, or butter up one of our guests. What you need to know is that if your body ends up damaged to the point where you can't stay in it anymore, you will end up as a disoriented and possibly damaged soul."
The sheer weight of their Attention's starting to get grating-see, yet another reason to hate teaching.
"Any memories that are only in your brain, but not imprinted on your soul, you will lose. You'll certainly remember how you died. You might remember who your allies are. You probably won't remember what you had planned to do next week. But you have to remember this: sunlight burns souls. If you die, get under cover, fast. Otherwise you'll burn, and the raw magic energy that your soul is built of will boil off, and everything that's left of you will simply unravel."
>[Grisha]"So say we do get to cover-then what?"
"Good question. I was getting to that. I have a way to move consenting souls to a safe haven, if the worst happens. The mansion is already properly warded to prevent magic dissipation, so I would be able to bring the recently deceased back home, and let them hang out in the mansion while we worked on a solution to that. In any case, death would be painful, it would suck, and you'd lose a lot. But if you got into cover and if I'm not dead, you wouldn't lose everything. With luck, you'd be back in a body, maybe even your old one rebuilt. Or maybe in something else. Eventualities like that are best pondered when you know what you have to work with. I wouldn't normally be so formal about this, but we're going to have outsiders participating in the fight. I'm going to need everyone who wants this piece of insurance to consent now, ahead of time. Meddling with the course a soul takes after death is a touchy subject with the most powerful beings, but you all have free will, and so are able to have a say in your own destiny. If you give me consent now to move your soul in the event you get killed on this job, I'll do my best to shelter you and provide protection until we get back to the mansion."
>[MM,MMMMM Trait auto-activated]
Ultimately it goes more or less as I expected. I've gotten to know them well enough to know how to move them-and as such, it is only the ever wary Gloom that rejects the offer I decide not to press the issue, noting a determined air about his focus. No reason to make a scene now.

>>388694
We get to the nitty gritty. I take Silja, who's actually pretty okay with the idea of Shooting the Doonongaes after I explained what kind of monster it was, Iron Trick and the Lonesome Judge. I earmark the hate gun and Taste of Ruin for Diao Yuan who had a real personal bone to pick along with a real competence with shotguns, hand Camella the AVT-40, set aside the Summer pistol for Long Wang, and distribute the winter, autumn and spring brothers, along with each mateba preloaded with Doom rounds, to the Russians. I note Zhenya grabbing a revolver, while Gloom and Matvey both grab a mateba. Iosef packs both the Gatmalite and M202 Flash, Vlad covets his shotgun and many attachments even while bringing a Javelin missile 'just in case', Ivan, Matvey, Satai and Andrei all grab their assorted longarms, and in general we're suited up rather swiftly, all things being equal. Sadly Einrik, Hillevi, Duke and I all have to hoof it, not quite fitting in after the Russians and Camella, with all the gear. It's not a major inconvenience, Hillevi, Einrik and Duke aren't burdened with questionable weapons, and shouldn't be questioned-beyond that, Einrik's commented he knows more than a few back alley paths in the city. For me, between shadow teleportation, Attention sensing and soul guise use, I think I'll manage, six foot plus rifle and all.

We all arrive on location and after meeting Go Ping et all, likewise early, we get set up by five in the morning. Go Ping, Ivan, Matvey, Satai and Andrei all plying long arms from the hills to the north, and similarly watching for undue external attention while we operate. Diao Yuan, newly armed and touting grenades as well, joins Long Wang, Hillevi and Camella in being part of my force, those charged with keeping the beast's attention while staying out of allie's line of fire. It's a challenging job, and I let Long Wang and Diao Yuan know up front I hope they'll hang a bit back with Camella while Hillevi and I are a bit closer. Neither object. We all set up in the warehouse, complete with abusing those inflatable pools to provide Hillevi plenty of ice to work with-as well as pre-weakening several sections of wall opposite the dock to allow us all easy exit. This works rather well, as eleven of our group are set up on the office building's roof with mortars, already aware they should shell the building to shit the moment we exit it, on the off chance to collapsing it on the target. Even better, Einrik pre-built them a set of ice ramps to retreat down, should the Doony charge them, along with reinforcing the walls of the building with ice. Should the brute choose to try and smash the building beneath them, it will find it far more resilient than they expect. My shadow and Sake alike elect to patrol the water under Einrik's watchful gaze as he meditatively continues to suppress his spiritual state and, according to my brothers, his magical presence, fading from view while staying close to the docks. With Einrik to prevent his escape and my brothers waiting to preemptively ambush the beast the moment it shows, I hope to start this off on the right foot.

Hillevi's prepared a full dozen hyperdense thigh-chick javelins she keeps at the ready, while I check with Andrei the helmet cams are all working, and that the speakers were set up in the warehouse. Hillevi's fussing over the placement of ice for barricades and weaponization for the third time when Go Ping radios that he intends to start the lure. After verifying everyone on my side has downed their poison resistance elixers and are wearing their charms (sadly worn in direct skin contact about the neck only, unable to be placed in an armored pocket as I'd hoped) I give the go ahead.

There proceeds a period of just over half an hour of intense waiting-before a single discrete message from my shadowed twin.
>"It's here."
I glance through the rusted hole I chose to set up beside, glancing over to Einrik's still and desceptively hard to find form, to see his lips twitch. He senses it too. I whisper into my reciever, using the setup Satai and Andrei coached us in for the first time.
"Target Incoming."
I can almost taste the abruptly intensified weight of attention all over these abandoned docks, the sun's first rays starting to lighten the sky.

There are a few heavy, wary breaths as we wait, Diao Yuan reminding me of Amen as hatred seethes and boils within her.

The silent night explodes into sound as a memory flashes into my mind from my brothers: I see immense interconnected through rippling shadows on and under the water, cast by fish, by grit, by trees and docks-creating a viciously chilled zone held separate of and just above the water. I see Sake, ready and waiting for this zone of cold, massing all that air together and hurling it like a cannon ball made of thousands of razor blades bent around one another into a solid mass. Between their sensations, I see their target a bare instant before the blast strikes-a primordial, leviathan form slipping free of the water.

The blast promptly freezes the creature's back and hits with such force it's hurled a few feet into the warehouse' entrance. I discretely fire the Judge looking to get some magic mojo for the piece while Hillevi hurls a spear of ice, Camella plies her grenade launcher and Diao Yuan chucks a pair of specialy grenades that shatter into expanding masses of chilling vapor and fluid, as the beast, just now starting to rebound to it's feet, admittedly swiftly, is caught midway, unable to overcome the surprise of the ambush.

Proving it's mettle at least in the field of durability, with it's flesh sloughing off in frozen chunks it stands, ripping Hillevi's ice lance from it's chest while taking a one-legged leap.

To be promptly knocked from the sky by Hillevi's second lance, while Camella unloads with the AVT, giving the beast forty more chilling issues to deal with., and Diao Yuan gives it a third grenade with one hand while pulling the trigger on the hate gun, sending a dull, pulsing mass or baleful scarlet light plowing deep into the beast's flesh.

Showing the tales of it's cowardice true, the beast, mid-stagger, reverses towards the rear of the warehouse-

To find the whole of it frozen into a wall, courtesy of Einrik. There is no path back to the water for the bleeding, maimed beast.

In roughly three seconds, I watched the beast, dazed and alarmed, recognize the gravity of its current situation-and that it cannot flee as it is wont to do. I see its eyes locking on me even as a second Ice Lance catches it mid-dodge, holding it down while Diao Yuan opens up-and the beast's bleeding intensifies. All of this, for me at least, is a realization that happens behind the scenes-a backdrop to what my true focus is: The beast's soul.

I see a shackle ancient as the bones of civilization, drawn with the blood of slaves-a binding of power, responsibility and servitude. I see the soul that was once within the binding-a poor, shriveled shell, no luster left to its name. And I realize the Doonongaes I face, the thug of the magic world loathed by many, does not truly have a soul-the binding that empowered it won out, and now.... A soul sculpted facet of the beast comprises it's identity. I wonder what the beast was, once-and for the briefest of moments, I pity it, pity someone that was consumed by their own choices.

That does fuckall to stop me from ordering a retreat and ordering the shelling to start. I find the wall I slam into as fragile as once-wet cardboard and tear through it with ease, watching as Long Wang practically has to force Diao to withdraw with us. A good thing he got her-the Doonongaes, having begun shifting into a mass of hooked, sucker-sporting tentacles around a central hardened core, is mid-way through the warehouse and about to close on us.

When ten mortar rounds smash into the building-not from above, but from the side, taking out half of the cieling's support and starting a collapse. A mere moment later, a second volley lands from above, shoving down the collapsing ceiling. Seems Long Wang wasn't kidding when he said he had some mortar advice to give to our office building group-timing an arc volley then lateral firing immediately after for a larger initial assault? I like the way he thinks.

In a manner not unlike a mouse trap slamming shut, the warehouse collapses amidst a flurry of explosions while the snipers keep an eye out, Duke quietly drinking as he observes the fight from his position in the audience. The mortar group is already rushing to fire again when the rubble rips itself apart, dozens of torso-thick tentacles flying out right for us.

Hillevi, purposefully sticking close to the Triads, snap-forms an ice barricade that walls off the tendrils coming her way. Tired as SB is, he's still got enough juice to teleport me-while Camella tumbles through the air like a dancer, switching to her WA2000 and putting a bullet through one of the barely visible eyes in that central node of the shapeshifting beast. The wails that arise as it gets hammered with a direct volley of mortar fire while the snipers assail it, Diao Yuan continues to shut down it's regeneration while I draw Trick, I laugh as I see a hail of bullets coming from the mortar's direction-and see glowing maroon sigils forming as the bullets impact the beast's hide. Broken, bleeding and limbs beginning to spasm even as it scrambles to at least take me with it, a sixth sigil appears on it's flesh-and the beast's body flops to the ground, gasping and undefended as it gets hit with yet another volley of mortar fire and finally lays still.


"Hold fire."
After a few seconds, in which Diao Yuan finishes emptying the AA-12 into the monster's unresisting form, silence returns to the night, as I patiently confirm the beast's 'soul', that laughable mockery of a real mind, shatters while the nigh-aborted soul within is finally allowed to break, not even needing the sun's light to unravel. Again, I have a brief feeling I can't quite place-

Before I focus on the positives.


We just executed our second full-company, zero casualty mission in the space of about half a minute. That's two for two.
I just got my hands on several tons of dead Doonongaes.
I just won that bet with Cornelius Zosimus.
I just fulfilled The Owner's condition for talking with him more about that island in the Caspian Sea.

Just as I'm pondering this deliciously easy outcome, pleased proper planning and stacking tactical advantages rendered a prior problem nigh-insignificant, Einrik speaks up, followed by Duke, shouting from the hill.
>[Einrik]"It's flesh is best butchered soon-it's poison can corrode its own tissue if the magical stability of the flesh isn't being sustained by life."
>[Duke]"Looks like we might be having company-saw some lights go on, maybe fifteen hundred meters away."

...Very likely people calling the police about a mass bout of explosions and gunfire.

I've got vans that already could only barely contain my company, and now have a beast big enough to fill each and every van on its own to contend with. ...On that note, why are Lyubov, sake and Zhenya headed to the vans-and why do I hear music?

..Wait. Let me gloat just a liiiittle more-lalalala~ the Doony's dead, the Doony's deeaad, No Vampire blackmail hanging over-my-heeaad!

Okay, Back to business.













So what's my next move?
>[Expenditures: 33 mortar rounds, ten rounds apiece from each sniper, one full magazine from the AA-12, the 40 Ice-attuned bullets, one hate blast, two loads of Doom ammunition, and 23 .45 rounds for the magic revolvers, and three 40mm grenades.]
>[Ally Expenditures: Hillevi: 101 Winter Bloodline energy, Einrik: 27 Winter Energy, 3 Liquid Nitrogen based grenades, eleven third tier ($10k a pop) Johan Ice rounds from Go Ping, 65 Winter energy from SB, 47 Summer energy from Sake.]

>>389121
Quick, rip out its' heart! As we heard back in thread one, that thing had real power. Maybe we could get its' shifting or poison abilities if we ate it, or an affinity with water.

Even if we are forced to dump the rest of it, grab the heart. Or, if you want a convenient way to hide it temporarily, have Hillevi freeze it in an enormous block of ice and stash it on the bottom of the river for a day until you can come back with a truck. Become the magical equivalent of Birds' Eye.

normally cold would be the way to preserve things, but doony was summer aligned to that may makes it worse, heat may actually preserve the corpse in this instance. if we can't find some way to butcher it ourselves we could see if the sometimes merchant would be willing to help with this. that should be a last resort since his help will probably be somewhat expensive.

First thing order the russians to pack up and prepare to evac, make sure no one tries to sneak a magic gun. Then a quick chat to the bros can Sake properly butcher the corpse and can we pull it into the eye. If that is unfeasible call SM say you wish to make a deal and ask if he is able to operate in your location, if he is then sell the fact that doony is dead, this fact alone should secure transportation and proper butchering a preservation if necessary, Then sell the story of how it died towards time in a NN bubble to be redeemed later.

Ask Einrik if he has any ideas for transport, and Sake what the music is.

SM has a deal that prevented him from accessing the Nazi's property. A warehouse belonging to the Triads is likely no different. Before ringing him, get one of the Triads to get Lo Fang's permission to make use of magical transport from the place. Say you're asking as a courtesy. Before actually asking SM, confirm he can make the transport and block decay. Do not sell any body part to SM for this service if you can help it, only the knowledge that it is dead.

Use Silja to sweep up anything that would otherwise be left behind, and make sure you retrieve any weapons that were lent to non-company members.

>>389121

cadaverific

eat its' heart

Do not eat the heart. We do not gain powers from eating hearts without proper ritual or preparation.
Order everyone to grab everything (like cameras and shit we had set up) and quickly evacuaye.
Sirens, police already!? HALF A FUCKING MINUTE, thats how long this battel took. There is simply no way some citizen called the police and they had such a lighing fast response (it will take them only coupleof minutes to cross 1500 metres and get here). At best it should have taken 15 minutesfor them to get here.
Someone set us up.

We cannot leave the body. We could call SM and ask for his service, like we did when we stored the shaman bodies. We also could ask help from our guests: can Duke and\or Einrik move body and hide it smewhere or maybe even discretely move it to our mansion?

>Doon meat
Sigh, not enough loot trucks AGAIN? We need to fix this ASAP! In fact, I motion that from now on ALL JOBS must have a plan for LOOTING!

Ok, so... lets get our brain juices flowing and then FAP all over this doonie meat.

Primary - Take just the important organs. (heart, polyglut organ, venom gland, brain. If anyone else has an organ to mention, mention it).

Trickster - Make a bunch of ice on land and especially nearby sea for distraction. Freeze meat in ice and put it in water (ice floats) and then drag it to triad docks. Or heck, make an ice BOAT with ice sail and sake can blow wind on sail and you can shunt your energy to sake as lo fang taught you.
Trickster alt - Pack meat into hollow magic ice sphere and roll it, FAST. (SB using his thrall shadowvamp aka "gothy", sake using wind... hilevi, einrik, and duke welcome to help too and make it a competition to see if we can beat the cars to the mansion with it)

Heavy - Throw some parked cars to form a roadblock, potentially blowing up the road too to block the police and buy time. To clarify, drive our cars away from sirens, hilevi and einrik and armas go towards sirens and create the roadblock up ahead.
We chose that as a remote-ish location so it will still take them some time to arrive. Enough time to enact that plan.

Escape - Call SM to transport the meat & poison for a cut of the meat / poison (amen can separate the poison for us without deactivating it... or maybe giagia)...
Or we transport meat & weapons in vans and he allows the russians passage through sewer (not guiding, passage. Armas' shadow will guide them... and if they get lost they just exit at a random manhole and call us for pickup).

>Boris
Boris will help Matvey appease brownies with some beer Wort (no whiskey wort available since boris is currently only making beer, mead, and vodka). In fact, will make sure to thank them and talk at them when placing it (make a daily habit of it).

Make fun of Lyubov for being out of shape as per her condition after the jogs with camella. Join them on a jog to show her how its done. Lose.

Boris will train in cookie making with the legendary cookie baking master as per AB (Armas Boss aka Asshole Boss).

Boris is VERY SAD he can no longer eat kelpie krisps... he tries to avoid them but occasionally slips and will cook some. Which strengthen his resolve to learn chakra from the various named instructors in order to be able to safely indulge in such deliciousness.

>Hummingbird Magic Poisoning:
hilevi was able to use valkonen bloodline to filter harmful to hummingbird energies when he was boosting you AND get to "eat" your magic in the process.
SB has aspected his blank bloodline with a valkonen component... can he not learn to do the same and keep a constant filter (AND gain more energy as a result)? Yea, you need a body, but he somehow has bloodlines so maybe this will work... Bring up the idea with einrik, point out that SB should not have bloodlines so maybe it can do other things that require a body.
Remind SB to consider he might freeze like she did if he tries so to make arrangement appropriately

Hummingbro is probably not going to consent to a memory transplant for chakra manip learning.
Lets tell him that drawing on too much warrior vim from us for his body to handle would harm him. So he should limit the quantities he takes until his body can handle more... and the path to handling more is chakra manip. Make more concentrated effort to perform chakra demonstrations for him yourself as well asking camella, einrik, sake, SB, hilevi, and ito for other demonstrations for him to study.

>Russian Magic Food Poisoning
Does lo fang or his desciples know a chakra config to allow us to draw the energy oversaturating willing mundane humans? Because it could very well mean that we turned a problem into a combat power battery!
If we do that we should create a false impression (via deceptive truthfulness) in the Russians that it under performs so that they remain dedicated to learning chakra.

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

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

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

>Chugniov
Lets approach SM with the idea of ordering jidovka to steal and deliver to us a sample of chuginov's blood. With an offer to sell him non exclusive access to chuginov same as we did to jidovka. Where he vets our order for amen to order jidovka to steal the blood in exchance for a discount on his purchase of chuginov ordering rights.

>Take just the important organs. (heart, polyglut organ, venom gland, brain. If anyone else has an organ to mention, mention it)
Take a good few square meters of skin, too. If nothing else someone can turn it into leather and make Armas a suit. But if Amen, Einrik or Hellevi can store the skin without fully killing it, it might be raw material for flesh crafting.

>>389121
>So what's my next move?
First order of business- com our team and tell them mission complete, get all gear loaded back up for transport out of here. We'll want to be well gone before anyone interesting shows up.

We do want the corpse, of course. The easiest and most effective way at our disposal to move it is through Sometimes Merchant. We can make a decent guess that he doesn't have another one of those agreements- because not only is this no one's territory, we also know that he fought for the wizard's side in the recent conflict. Call him.

"I have news. My team and I, as well as several Triads, killed the Doonongaes about thirty seconds ago after luring it into a trap. More details are available if you wish- but for now, I need its body transported out of here and stored for me in stasis before it starts to corrode or any other parties arrive to investigate or steal it. Can you provide that?"

Regardless of how we deal with the body, here are plans for its final disposition, most of which can be implemented starting this afternoon:
1. We must get its poison gland intact. With that, epithelial fleshcrafting, and assistance from Whaitiri, there is the possibility of being able to produce Doonongaes poison ourselves (and being made permanently immune to it, of course) for an extremely potent sleeved ace.
2. Its head. This should contain its knowledge and memories for the viewing by a sufficiently powerful/skilled magic-user, like Dorjpalam or one of his agents- who, conveniently, would also likely be interested in those. Camella or Go Ping should be able to provide contact information to reach him. Dorjpalam or another wizard is Camella's best bet for going home- I'm not sure how much wizards normally sell their services for, but a quick dimension hop or better still a dimensional traveler Wizard Contract would be the thing to try for in exchange.
3. Choice organs and meat must go to the Owner. In addition to being a statement that we completed our bet with Cornelius, we know that we'll have an incredibly valuable soul-damaging elder artifact when the mere is successfully reforged; the favor of this area's Ruling Dragon could mean the difference between keeping that weapon in our hands and having it stolen by greedy, jealous dragons.
4. The blood should be extracted if possible, a small amount for storage and a large amount for use in bribing the Redcaps- or perhaps vampires, should we want to do so in the future. Sending Cornelius Zosimus a sealed flask of Doonongaes blood would certainly be a more stylish way to declare our victory in the bet than a mere phone call.
5. Any flesh which we cannot transport should be either fed to Whaitiri through the shadowmere, or to Silja through Silja if that's impractical in the necessary quantities.
6. The bones should be kept for crafting purposes if possible. The teeth should be removed, at minimum- we can gift a dozen of them to Johan for his most excellent help in crafting the weapons and ammunition we used to bring the Doonongaes down.

On the way back home, talk to Hillevi. We want to make sure that she drew the correct lessons from this- because there are a number of aspects to this situation that might not occur to her, and noticing them could keep her alive someday. Give her a chance to respond as we talk, of course, and handle her commentary as best we can.
"Any comments on this battle?"
"There are several lessons to be learned here- important ones that might not be immediately apparent. Would you care to take a guess as to what they are, in my view?"
"Understand that the Doonongaes died today because it fought five mundanes in October. That would be myself and the Triads who assisted us today- I had no bloodline powers at the time, they have just moderate chakra skills. One of their friends died in the battle and I was severely injured- after, we resolved to kill the creature. That was one of several reasons that I've been so bold in my pursuit of power. The lesson about leaving people with grudges alive behind you, and another about not underestimating what someone can achieve just because they seem weak, should be obvious."
"It also died because it was an overconfident idiot. We lured it in with basically a noisemaker- something blatantly obviously meant to piss it off, and it charged right over to stop it. If you're dumb enough to walk into the middle of a location specifically prepared to kill you, it doesn't matter how powerful you are personally- you're probably going to die. At that point all that can really save you is if for whatever reason the trap wasn't set properly- being more powerful than your enemies think, having hidden skills they didn't know about, or sheer carelessness or incompetence on their part. Remind me to talk about the value of deception with you more, later; it can save your life in situations like that."
"Last, if you really want to kill something, don't mess around. Pile on allies and equipment until you're sure you'll win, then throw on more. Challenges are great for when you want to grow personally, but when things are serious and you have time and resources, shoot for overkill- and hope that your enemies don't have enough unpleasant surprises to live through it."

Back at the mansion, the Russians need chakra training organized. They're spending many hours every day on melee training right now, which is useful- but also not moving them towards staying alive. They're getting paid for it, but no pay is worth your life. If any Russian is spending less than eight hours a day on chakra training at any point in at least the next two weeks, they're doing something wrong. Announce that. Of course, inconveniently, requires someone to be teaching them for that 56 hours per week. Give Ito a call and explain the situation; see if he can arrange to carve out solid blocks of time for this purpose- or, perhaps, start pushing a full chakra class for both the Russians and any of his other students that he thinks could use the training. Talk to Camella and see how much time she can carve out- she's been stingy with training time for the company thus far, but this is literally a matter of keeping them alive and one would kind of think that would fall squarely in her job description as an officer. She can abort whatever other training with the Russians she's doing and do chakra instead. We can try to provide other training ourselves- though we'll be bad at it. Aside from that, does Hillevi know chakra? She seemed to like teaching at Ito's, and likes some of the Russians, so she might be willing to help out. Try to make some kind of reliable many-hours-per-day training schedule come out of all these conversations and then communicate it to the Russians.

>>389282
>Someone set us up.
SUST. No one set us up, there are no police here, and this is ridiculous paranoia fodder.

Plan A: Butcher most of the corpse here and now, with Sake's help. Feed what you intend to feed to Whaitiri to her right now. Put all the useful bits aside. Clean up the remaining blood and bits with Silja ("You'll be preventing innocent people from contacting it and getting sick from it"). All the valuable parts we keep should be sent home through Sometimes Merchant. Ask if he'll charge less if the parts are frozen for transport.

Plan B: Just send the entire corpse home through Sometimes Merchant.

Plan C: Turn the corpse into an ice-boat and float it away. Land somewhere isolated and finish packing it up and trucking it home from there.

Plan D: Call http://www.globalvanlines.com/ for a rush-job.

>>389291 MrTT
>Asking Lo Fang and Disciples about chakra to drain accumulation

Not really wise if you ask me, Lo Fang hasn't seen the Russians recently and won't know about that vulnerability if we don't tell him (by asking for a way to deal with it). It'd be better to request lessons in how to flush someone's chakra energies out of them. That way Armas could touch the Russians and flush the energy from them, and would also have learned how to turn a utility ability into one with offensive capabilities.

>>389336 Ironybot
>Dooney Meats
I agree with saving the brain (give that to Amen, he should be able to get everything from it). Choice organs and meat being used to butter up the Owner is fine. We should save the heartsblood, but the rest can disposed of to either Silja or Whaitiri.

The majority of the meats should go to Whaitiri, we will directly benefit from that in both empowering our summer bloodline by empowering her, and by being in a better position to beg a boon from her (like help getting that poison gland integrated).

Teeth, of course should be saved. Bones and cartilage should be saved for crafting materials (scales too, and other parts that are suitable for making fish glue from). We'll be able to use the fish glue from these parts to make laminated wooden gun stocks. If we use the right wood, we'll have magic guns... potentially many.

The heart should go to Silja. It's a powerful shapeshifter and regenerator's heart.

Bob mentioned that there are enough poison glands in the corpse to outfit three human-sized bodies with a full set of them. I'm thinking we could use a set with the Nazinaut golem, a set with Armas, and a set with Gianni (who we will steal away from the Mafia because he is utterly awesome). We should offer him the poison glands for helping Armas set up his.

>>389336 Ironybot
>Intense chakra training
Agreed on all counts, but I think we should include weekly tests of their ability and rewards to those who are best each week. Give them all the incentives we can think of to learn this stuff, and learn it well.

>>389233
No one's going to steal a magic gun. You know exactly who was issued what. But do pack up fast, you don't want to leave much evidence if you can help it.

ARMAS ORDERS

As I see it, we can divide the carcass into three broad 'cuts'. The list is thusly:

Armas' Cut:
Doony's Poison and the associated Poison Gland, his Heart and Bones, maybe his Blood and we can't forget that Penis for a weapon and conversation piece. Check in with anyone who has more history then you to figure out if there cuts or peices of Doony that, if we ate or used, would be advantageous to us, Silja, or the company of Laine as a whole. Armas' Cut should not be more than two Buicks. There is no need to be greedy, as the body can be used as gifts and bartering chips.

Prime Cuts:
Prime cuts are usually the fatty parts of a fish usually around the middle, the head, the eyes, the tongue and the tentacles. However, Doony is not a fish or a squid. Check in with anyone who has more history then you to figure out if there are better cuts.

Leftovers:
Anything not listed for Armas or Prime Cuts. Offal, lesser cuts of meat, fin-meat, and what not.


Dividing these cuts, I suggest we need to take Armas' cut for ourselves - getting that is our most important goal before we have to leg it.

Next, we give one Vanduras of Prime Cuts to the Owner, and another to Cornelius. As two Vanduras should not be all of the Prime Cuts, this will leave at least half a vanduras for an auction and half for Whaitiri, if not more.

We will divide the leftovers between Silja, Whaitiri, and an auction as hosted by Sometimes Merchant.

ARMAS EXIT STRATEGY
While everyone else as some very nice ideas, remember that we are at the dock, so there should be some very large containers, as well as some flat bed trucks not too far away - if they weren't cleared away before. We could use this to transport the dead guy, if magical transport doesn't work.

>Andrei Orders
>Realize that, for a minion, you don't really use guns well. Practice long arms and check out the Uzis to practice with those. Because shaking from combat, use them for five hours today. Cut back to two hours afterward.
>Realize that exploding due to food sucks. Learn as much as possible about Chakra on-line before going to class.
>Before going to class, start on editing cameras to make BEST MONSTER KILLING MOVIE.
>Before going to class, also take a crack at those Nazi Computers. Comb through them for useful data.

[Saturday] Zhenya followed Lyubov's advice about going through the public records looking for notaries with financial problems

LYUBOV ORDERS Part 2

*Go home, unpack, clean up, help out with putting all the gear away in the armory.
*If Camella goes on a jog, Lyubov will go with her. If she doesn't, Lyubov will go on her own. If Boris comes along in either case, Lyubov will out-do him. She will!
*Rest up, clean up, go to church. Donate $50. Notice the nice old Russian lady, talk to her a bit. Be reminded of, and miss grandmother (deceased), and mom. Invite Cookie Lady to lunch. Go to that place Armas brought everyone for brunch ($30-$60). Talk and chat in Russian, socialize. Learn about the priests. Before parting ways with Cookie Lady, be sure to get her phone number and name.
*Go home, check out the data Zhenya collected on notaries. Find out their hours.
*Go to Andrei, ask him to please requisition up a decent printer.
*Get the forms for replacement birth certificate, replacement ID, and replacement passport prepared (printed out either on the home printer or at the library). Make copies at a copy shop, including some spares.
*Give each person their new identity (using the clean identities she and Andrei built backgrounds for), work/school/residence history, names, and the forms they'll need to fill out. Ask that the forms be returned, filled out, by tomorrow morning.
*Realize that there's always a chance of some other asshole picking the names they used the same way she did. Ask Sake for ideas on making the memorials seem unremarkable to people looking for "foreigner-appropriate" names.
*Do further research by talking to Duke (and buttering him up with a couple of nice bottles of wine ($300)).
*Go talk to Hillevi (hopefully catching her and Einrik together) about the problem, mention research and ideas from Duke and Sake. Ask for ideas, try to estimate what should be budgeted for this part of it.
*Later, when Einrik is elsewhere, ask Hillevi how her brother got so scarred up. Be impressed, and very glad Einrik is on Armas' side. Remember what Armas said to Camella about SB and Einrik, ask if he has trouble reading with his magic sensor. Bounce idea off of Hillevi for getting him an iPod loaded with books on tape. Find out what stories and music he likes.
*If Hillevi thinks it's a good idea, go get an iPod for him. Settle on getting a good bone conducting headset for him too. Bring Hillevi. Buy an iPod for Sake, herself, and Andrei too ($1200).
*Find Andrei. Thank him for the hacker work on the identities, present him with her gift, ask if Armas ever did anything with those credit cards. Ask him to fill hers and Sake's up with music (Hillevi's too, if she wants), ask for a "good selection" and wait with baited breath as to what he'll put on them.
*Give Zhenya the two extended magazines for the SR 1911s as a thank you for helping with the identity project.
*Fill Einrik's iPod up with books selected according to Hillevi's advice and some of Lyubov's personal favorites ($600).
*Present it to him as thank-you for the advice.
*Write up a budget for bribing the notaries (three months their estimated pay for three, estimate: $37,500) and a plan for getting the spells put on the right tombstones (ask Armas to consider using his 'merchant friend' if the experts she consulted don't offer to help do it). Report in to Armas. Point out how these are far superior to the Mafia and Triad offerings in that they have a consistent background built up for each one, and that with the spellwork on the tombstones the likelyhood of someone noticing that the original bearers of the names are dead is very low. Point out the estimated price of 20 fake passports through either side would have been $166,110 and that this way the identities are not in the hands of a criminal organization (that isn't us, anyway). Ask for three fourths the difference between the price of the fake passports and the budgeted price of bribes (estimate: $128,600). Ask that $8,000 go to Zhenya, and $30,000 to Andrei. If Boss tries bargaining down, be willing to give up a tenth if he'll open the pool. Be willing to give up half if he's willing to personally teach her how to do chakra, one on one, minimum 6 hours a week.

>>389373

ADDENDUM:

Ironybot doubted the quality of the fake identities produced, so here is a little more to the arguments Lyubov will present to the Boss:

"These are genuine Turkish citizenships, we're not going to risk deportation with these. These will also hold up to a background check with all the data Andrei hacked into place. With the Mafia and Triad passports if we got into trouble, we would be relying on delaying from bribed officials in the issuing country for protection and that protection could disappear if we displeased the Mafia or Triads. So these are quite a bit superior, both in the background and in being citizenship. And if you're looking to have independence of any other group, this is the best way."

As the Doonegeas had divine Summer based cannibalistic regeneration, very similar to Armas, he should certainly eat the heart. If he has a Phoenix heart, eating that at the same time would be sensible. That does not mean now, unless we fail to find any transport.

If there is anything SB has learned from Whaitiri/Amen about using directed flesh magic to improve the absorption of traits, now would be the time to come clean, whilst we still have the anti-venom in our system.

To keep Whaitiri sweet, if there's any residual magic in the area released from the Doonegeas' disintegrating soul, hopefully ShadowBro is able to sweep it up with the ShadowMere.

Armas (and Einrik, if he's willing), should carry all the magic weapons, as they're the best at stealth. If anyone arrives to investigate, they should at least be able to slip away and prevent their loss.

P.s. Upvoting the idea of asking Einrik and Hillevi to make an ice-ship to sail into the harbour on. The Triads can then make their own way home whilst the Russians can hire an articulated lorry and we can arrange a pick-up via satellite phone later. If we take this option, we should try to hire a charm that will prevent decomposition of the Doonegeas body/residual magic from SM, to be returned in eight hours, or a temporary eight hour duration charm, whichever is cheaper.

>>389389
Downvote getting drunk or buying any alcohol. Armas can't trust himself not to eat any and all magical meat available when drunk, the Russians might explode if they do, and the Doonegeas' death should be treated like the anti-climax it is, just another day at work. Why give him honour in death he wasn't due alive? On top of this, we don't want to set a precedent. Since the Russians came back there has been an awful lot of drinking, and as this kind of mission should become the new normal, we don't want to encourage every mission to result in a party and a wasted day. On top of that weren't we warned by the letter writer that the devil may try to exploit the Doonegeas situation? If so, a fine time to get us to make a bad Deal would be when we're drunk, as he elf and vampiress demonstrate.

Bargain with SM for transport of the entire corpse back to the mansion. Amen can handle the preparation and preservation of the meat and blood. Don't give Sometimes Merchant more info than absolutely necessary; that leaves more to sell him later. Make sure to ask Amen which parts are magically potent, and if he knows any rituals to make them more so. While on the topic of rituals, ask Einrik for the rituals he has for the preparation of werewolf and vampire hearts. Also ask Amen if there is a way to force the corpse to regenerate, so we can get more from it.

After the corpse is butchered, the poison removed, and everything is stored, separate it according to >>389336

Make sure to go over the fight with everyone. Just because the operation was a magnificent success, doesn't mean you can't get some use out of debriefing and review. If possible, view Andrei's head-cam footage. At some point during this, ask Camella to try to contact Dorjpalam and see if we can't get a meeting with him to discuss a reward of some kind.

>Feodor Orders
>
>Help get all the equipment stowed in the vans, and drive back to the mansion
>Once the debriefing is over, all the equipment's back in the armoury, and there's no more pressing business, get drunk - drink as much vodka as possible without getting alcohol poisoning
>Loudly complain about Sake and Hillevi: they're stealing your job, and depriving you of your life's purpose
>Get so drunk-angry that you start a fight with Sake - lose because it's just a poster of him

See if you can bargain with SB for transport of the corpse to the mansion and butchering/poison removal services. Stipulate that methods used not reduce the magical potency of the meat, unless absolutely necessary, and that the poison also be brought to the mansion, stored in a way that is safe to handle.

Going to try to pay for this with only the knowledge that the Doonongaes is dead, but with the added bonus of an exemption from our normal non-disclosure deals. We don't really care who knows that we are the ones that informed him of Doonongaes' death, and in fact we kinda want people to find out we were the principle actor in its demise. But we don't tell him that.

If that isn't sufficient, up to 3% of the body. Excluding heart, brain, bones, claws/teeth, poison glands, all the interesting stuff basically. He can have simple muscle-meat.

If SM is a no-go for some reason I guess the ice boat thingy is the next most reasonable bet.

However we do it, we should ask knowledgable folks their advice before deciding what we do or do not want to give away to curry favour.

>>389282
SUST. Duke saw lights turning on 1500 meters away. Like, our explosions woke people up and they are most likely calling the police. The police are NOT 1500 meters away.

Nikifor #003300 is officially mine now, bitches.
-Training with the Dagger and Sword is fun, but isn't enough. Search for any places that practice "Historical European Swordsmanship", or "Renaissance Martial Arts" as something more than just flashy techniques. If there is, ask what lessons they offer, how much is the membership fee, mention you have an "interest" in combat/battle reenactment, and could invite a few friends-see if they have discounts for that. Later on tell Lev and Rostislav about the place-they both use stabby/slashy things, but have no expert/official training, ask if they'd like to join along with you.
-Bring the MSG90-A2 to Matvey and Satai. They told us to bring something "good" for training, this beautiful machine here should be enough. Time to start sniper training-you don't need to become the best, just be able to hit them reliably and well-enough like an expert.
-Lev mentioned the Shadow of Big Boss? That's...cool and creepy at the same time. Drunkenly wander around dark rooms, while shouting at the darkness for confirmation if Big Boss' shadow is really there. Then stare at your own shadow, attempt to make it move around and high five you or something. Fail.
-So yeeep, you're like a ticking mojo-bomb right now. Hog Ito again on chakra training, though don't be too aggressive on him.
-Your role is 'the assault guy'. And that means you've gotta move FAST. Jog in the morning with Lyubov and Camella-if she keeps ending up winded and almost fainting from exhaustion, then that means it's GOOD. Don't give up!
-Discuss with one of the officers if organizing a little tournament only between the Russians would be nice. Everyone seems so focused on training/work. It's a competition of...well, pretty much all the skills everyone's got. Shooting, punching, drinking, lying/deceiving people, etc, etc.

>More Andrei Orders
>Tell Lyubov it's no problem. Realize, again, that the Printer is Home. Curse, loudly, in Russian, and get a printer or two. Cheap ones, for now: 2 cheap Canon PIXMA MP495 Color Ink-jet - Printer - $43 for one, two for 86.
>Be first suspicious, then kinda touched at the gesture. Tell her that it'll be easy. Realize that, fuck; the Russians have the old computer. Promise self to use Chugniov as target practice. Tell Lyubov that it'll take a little while, a day or two, to get enough music. Ask Boss what music Sake likes other then Japanese traditional, wind instruments, and Jethro Tull, and get Lyubov some jazz, and classical and nice Russian songs, or whatever music Lyubov liked.
>Check kitchen video for thing that is watching Caffeine Supply.
>Hear rumors about the weasel, and boss's shadow. Casually, and sneakily, ask if anyone has heard boss lie.

Once all the important stuff is done:


PARTY


you earned it.

>So what's my next move?
>>389336
Generally upvoting this. We may want to pay SM with an invite for the dinner we are making to Owner (if we are making one) so that we actually don't have to pay 'anything'.

>Someone set us up.
SUST on useless paranoia here.

With all that meat we are going to feed Whaitiri, we really should try to get some lessons for her. Basically, have Gianni help us get the glands in us and try to corrupt him away from the mafia with his own sets of glands as well as looking at the full Nazinaute, and then have Whaitiri teach us enough Epithelial in order to be able to use those glands in an efficient manner, as well as making sure they are properly integrated. This could really power up our fleshcrafting ability as well as give us Doonengoes poison.

Other things to do with the day is reward our men with a job well done- that is, reward them with a party- they are obviously not allowed to eat any of the delicious magical meat, and sadly Armas can't do that right now- he needs to grab all the delicious rewards he can for the doony, but they should have their reward. Speaking of that, 1500$ each should be given to them for the doony hit. Armas should also speak to Camella:
“Hey Camella. About my men having a magical saturation problem... can you help? You certainly know I am not the... most... gifted when it comes to teaching, and I am hoping you quickly enough reach a level of chakra proficiency where you can help teach them. I do feel responsible for this mess up, and I know you are the best qualified- that is, the best qualified that I trust to not place any trojan horse, for this that I can afford.”.

>Armas lo Fang lesson tomorrow.
Hey, Armas has a lesson tomorrow with lo fang, and hasn't practiced in forever. If he has time, he should spend a handful of hours practicing his multi-orientation until he can gets it without hummingbird. For tomorrow's lesson, I am hoping for any of these: a real Stealth orientation, a lesson to our Hummingbird, or the ability to flush magical saturation in someone else's body.

>>389344
If we can't use SM, this isn't a bad idea for the Doonengoes.

IGOR ROUTINE
Igor should look at the other jobs he was asked about from other people of the company- Lyubov and Nikifor, as well as party. Igor also is going to look into having a minimum of 10hrs a day of chakra practice for the next two weeks, even if it limits his forge time.
>One of the ones that shouted for him to leave, specifically a knife-specialist smith that pantomimed raising a blade, and one of the less prickly smiths that worked in gold each seemed to have such a lazy grace and economy to their motion to make anyone confident they know their craft well. Stay aware that less than a quarter of the smiths have yet been seen.
Continue to look at the different blacksmith when you have the time, as well as try to learn the names as well as reputation of the ones who stroke you as talented. Try to see if any of them have ties to the underworld. If some have ties to dealers, Satai could help in establishing contact.

Titus Orders
Titus tries to strike up a friendship with the Crash Course gym sambo instructor outside class (he’s currently been going 1hr/day. If that works out, consider asking instructor if he needs an assistant master at the gym.

Did Arkvad ever get back to Titus about the pelt?

Armas
>SM Corpse Delivery Service
“Hey SM. I have several tons of corpse here on the outskirts of Istanbul. Should be a claim-free area. Can we Deal?” Hopefully the knowledge of Doony being slain by a handful of mundanes, a few Triad and three practitioners will suffice as payment.

Go Ping’s group: “Well, that went well. Scratch one menace to the shipping lanes (among other Laines). Care to take some Doony home with you? Mind the poison, of course. I think maybe I’ll break out the phoenix meat from the larder to celebrate…” Maybe we should do something nice for the Triad, even if they had their own reasons to be here. Invite them to dinner?

The phoenix heart, the old one… well, if Einrik doesn’t have any old Valkonen recipes, we could either put it in a broth with veggies like a corned beef and cabbage dish, make a nice rue with yoghurt, cook it with alcohol to get a constant flambé effect, or some kind of sweet and sour sauce…

What HAS Lammy been up to, anyway? Inquiring minds would like to know.

The Russians: give ‘em a 3k bonus for performing well when faced with a being that could snap them like a Twix bar. Do not put it in those terms, though.

Gianni: Allowing him to study Doony’s corpse in return for: tuition on how to integrate the poison organs (I‘m a little worried if we have him stick them in us and turn them on, that we won‘t be able to turn them off at will), leeching poison from the meat, and maybe installing the sacs in the Nazinaut we have on ice. Mention casually that if someone were to make a few promises (vis a vis ally pacts or something, I’ll work it out later), he might be able to study our (Nazinaut) body…

While the flask of Doony blood IS classy, I think we should at least call Smets’s contact; we don’t know how to get in touch with Corn of Zos. We could say, “So the pest has been dealt with. When would Cornelius care to make good on his part of the bargain? Let me know.”

Call Riker back. It’s been like a week. “Sorry for the hold-up, Chief. Stuff happened. Busy, you know how it is; being in charge just seems to suck the fun out of things.” Note: this is only true if you actually take your responsibilities seriously. “How’d your friend like my 2IC?” If Riker seems in a good mood and/or hasn’t heard the story, consider sharing. If - for some reason - didn’t like Camella manhandling his man, feel free to lie (facetiously) about disciplining her later.

I wanna do the sword job soon. For that, investigate the museum online., Keep an eye out for anyone that works there that’s about your size. With out change-melanin trick, a blood-illusion (I believe Amen can ensure it won’t be picked up by the wards/sensors, it just costs lives), a blood-teleport bag as a way to let Amen put together the aforementioned illusion, and a really realistic mask (a Japanese company makes ‘em, or Amen would do) for the cameras, we would be totally ready to impersonate anyone.

Orders for Ivan
*Boss said no more magically delicious food until you have the proper level of chakratic ability? Best get to work. Spend no less than 8 hours each day practicing with Chakra.
*Try looking for Shadow Boss (SB) and asking him if he can help you find a way to use chakra for improved stealth or sight. Offer to assist Shadow Boss in any way that you can with his own endeavors.
*Continue shooting training a minimum of an hour each day with your L129A1.

>>389336
>>389346
>>389343
>>389344
SUST dividing up the corpse now. It's massively premature, and we need to research what the various options give us. Also SUST incredibly long posts that try to do too much.

>>389477
SUST trying to graft the Doonegeas glands to you. If we want access to the poison for our weapons we can have them grafted to a cow or something. There's no substantial benefit for someone with Armas, skill set to have them inside him, only risks.

>>389480
SUST allowing Gianni to examine the Doonegeas' corpse. The Mafia are not friends, not allies. They're our sometimes employer, and by showing them the live Nazi, we've already shifted the balance of power in their favour. It does not help a merc get business if his employer has been strengthened, as then they have less need to pay for outside assistance with all the risks that entails.

If choices do have to be made about what to recover, the glowing language translation part of his brain should be considered. At the very least it should be fed to Silja before the magic fades, so we can have a translator on tap. If not, we were warned how rare potential neural grafts were, so we shouldn't waste this one.

>>389480
If we can poach Gianni from the mafia we should. He's a golem expert and he seems to personally like Armas. Once he's part of the company his strength will be our strength. Upvoting.

>>389477
Poison glands will make Armas less likely to be eaten by something that thinks he is delicious. It's a good idea. Upvoting.

>>389336
>>389346
>>389343
>>389344
We have a timelimit on how long the corpse will last, and it isn't that big. Upvoting dividing the corpse up now.

Once the corpse is chopped up and the choice bits arranged to to go people Armas wants to bribe, and after he has finished having Gianni and Whaitiri work on him today, he should call up Lammy and catch up with him. We haven't talked to him since Wayward Wednesday.

Orders for Rosti: Remember something about magic and soul explosion. Remember that the thing you just killed is explicitly magical. Treat it like nuclear waste and get the fuck back to the manor in the least suspicious way possible that doesn't hold back anyone else's departure.

>Satai Orders
-This going-to-die bit from Armas is rather ominous and demands a change in activity patterns as follows:
-Stop eating delicious magic food. Be more than a little sad about it. Avoid the kitchen.
-Cut melee training down to an hour or so per day, more to keep fit than anything else. Some things just aren't that important in relative terms.
-Refuse random tinkering jobs unless they come with pay to compensate for the lost precious time. Satai currently values his time at $150/hour for this purpose due to the perceived opportunity cost of not learning chakra/sharpshooting (drastically increased risk of death) and the perceived opportunity cost of failing to do quartermastering well (losing access to massive amounts of cash).
-Throw self at chakra training, trying for Armas' recommended 8 hours/day. Figure out who available teachers are, bounce wildly between them as necessary to get required time.
-After hearing wild rumors about a magical gunsmith, ask Armas what his deal is and if he's worth building ties with for quartermastering purposes. Regardless of what Armas says, attempt to use underworld contacts to learn more about this Johan guy on principle.
-Also use underworld contacts to get more detailed information on the Serbian arms dealer. Don't approach the guy yet due to the current mood amongst the black market arms types, but learn more about him.
-Squeeze sniping training, Titus' stun gauntlet project, and some desultory attempts at life into tiny remaining amounts of time. Question how life became so crowded.

>>389336
Addenda. Speak to the Triads before we leave. "Nothing quite like a plan going off perfectly- that was almost too easy, but I'll take it. It was a pleasure working with you. If you have some more free time this morning, I would be happy to invite you to my home for a celebratory meal- which might not taste quite so sweet as victory, but I think it will come close. My treat."

If they agree to come, treat them to an excellent magical meal courtesy of us. Hillevi is invited if she wants to be there, everyone else can shove off. Break out our craziest meats and such; snack on our old phoenix heart as a kicker since we should be getting a new one and there's no reason to keep it. "Enjoy. It's been an interesting couple months- you can get all kinds of things and learn some really interesting stuff if you deal with the right sort of being, it turns out."

Try to have a pleasant meal and learn something about Go Ping, Diao Yuan, and Long Wang as people while we're doing this- and get a solid look at their souls. Learning a little about their individual histories, how they came to be where they are today and all that, wouldn't hurt.

Make sure that we get all our magical guns back.

Our company needs to be paid for this job- $1500 each should be plenty considering how smoothly things went. No officer bonuses because our officers didn't do anything worth paying them more this mission. Spend a bit of time reviewing the video footage of the mission from all our cameras and give Andrei and Satai an extra $1000 if it's high-quality, though.

Ask Shadowbro if he can perhaps learn the Valkonen power-filtering trick from Einrik or Hillevi so that he can protect the hummingbird from taking damage when using its abilities on our behalf. That would be quite convenient for training purposes- and Shadowbro can always use more power, right? Also call a meeting in the eye tonight- and this time no mucking about; we have serious matters about planning the future to discuss now that the Doonongaes is dead.

>>389477
>We may want to pay SM with an invite for the dinner we are making to Owner
If you are suggesting that we try to put Sometimes Merchant and Owner in the same room, SUST. The goblins' feelings on exceedingly powerful beings have already been made known to us and we'll only make a fool of ourselves inviting him.

>Armas should also speak to Camella:
That respectful request stuff is adopting entirely the wrong attitude here. We can try it, but if Camella tries to beg off- we need at least 20 hours/week of dedicated chakra teaching from her, preferably more- then push harder. Much harder. We need frank, aggressive conversation with gesticulation and possibly yelling. Use the following if she is reluctant to really help out.

"Let me rephrase. The troops are going to constantly get sick and die if they don't learn chakra, so the faster they learn it the better. This company has three officers- you, me, and Matvey- and between the three of us we are responsible for the welfare of everyone in it. Matvey cannot teach them because he doesn't know chakra. I cannot teach them because I'm quite possibly the shittiest teacher I know. That means it falls to you. I didn't make you an officer because I thought it would be funny- I wanted you to actually help me with things. Now, you hardly say anything useful when planning missions even though you should be an expert at exactly this sort of small elite strike force business, you don't give the troops much in the way of small combat tactics training or advanced modern combat like I was really hoping you would, in fact it seems like you treat this as mostly spot jobs combined with a swanky hotel- well, whatever. You can do that, it's disappointing but I don't really care. But if you don't help me with this when the people I promised would do well if they followed me are going to sicken and die, I will not forgive you for it. Make time."

If she remains stubborn/tries to blame us for this situation: "Yes, this happened because I don't know what I'm doing. Didn't you hear me the very first time that I fed you magic food, I knew there might be crazy negative side effects? I have to go forward anyway- because for the rest of us, things are hard. When we chase power we break our bodies, twist our minds, and bind our fucking souls into service to ancient maybe-evils for scraps of prowess! We don't get to quickly pick up more chakra than my the blood that I paid through the nose for can grant me talent for in a matter of weeks and evolve our souls into crazy beautiful sensor suites from dreams. Shit goes horribly wrong all the time and all we can do is play damage control. And if you're passing out blame, do you really think that Einrik didn't recognize exactly what was happening to the Russians from the moment he walked into this place? The man can sense a flea-sized bit of magic from hundreds of yards away. Ten to one odds he let it run its course just to see what would happen- watch them pop or see me scramble to fix it and see if I did something unusual or interesting again. It doesn't matter how the problem happened or who didn't catch it early enough, we need to fix it."

>>389480
>call Smets’s contact
Good call. Upvote.

>Call Riker back
If we do talk with him, remember what happened last time- keep a solid grip on ourselves so that we don't reflexively spill more information than we want to. Hopefully our headvoices will help out.

>>389651
>I wanted you to actually help me with things.
>Bitchy ranting

Dude, don't be a bitch. Can I just SUST everything after "I wanted you to actually help me with things." ?

The first few sentences are great. The rest aren't Armas.

[Zhenya has been queued to do the following:]
--Follow Lyubov's advice about going through the public records looking for notaries with financial problems
>[Boris has been queued to do the following:]
>Help Matvey appease brownies with some beer. In fact, will make sure to thank them and talk at them when placing it (make a daily habit of it). Fail miserably-and be mocked by the boss when discovered-because Brownies don't like being seen. Once again make an error when trying to do something not explicitly cooking related. Ponder if true calling is kitchen-and nothing else.
>Make fun of Lyubov for being out of shape as per her condition after the jogs with camella. Join them on a jog to show her how its done. After rolling both ankles and having a minor heart attack after explosively vomiting from overstrain, decide she might not be out of shape. Begin to hate Camella, who unlike the boss does not have the excuse of being made of magic for amazing physical prowess.
>Boris will train in cookie making with the legendary cookie baking master as per AB (Armas Boss aka Asshole Boss). Have massive nostalgia attack on first meeting cookie lady, who reminds Boris of every grandmother he's ever met. Lose remaining reservations about studying under her after eating a cookie she made 'just for her visitor'. Wonder if her baked goods could be used as rewards to encourage chakra training.
>Boris is VERY SAD he can no longer eat kelpie krisps... he tries to avoid them but occasionally slips and will cook some. Which strengthen his resolve to learn chakra from the various named instructors in order to be able to safely indulge in such deliciousness. BORIS BEGINS CAUSING FURTHER DAMAGE TO HIS BODY VIA OVERSATURATION. GOOD JOB BORIS.
[Lyubov has been queued to do the following:]
*Go home, unpack, clean up, help out with putting all the gear away in the armory.
*Jog with Camella again. Once more, fail miserably at keeping up. Be pleased watching Boris bite the dust after implying you are unfit. Decide second place is pretty awesome when it's not also last place.
*Rest up, clean up, go to church. Donate $50. Notice the nice old Russian lady with a snaggletooth and a lisp, talk to her a bit. Be reminded of, and miss grandmother (deceased), and mom. Invite Cookie Lady to lunch prior to Boris going to her to begin training. Go to that place Armas brought everyone for brunch ($30-$60). Talk and chat in Russian, socialize. Learn about the priests-specifically, Nikolai, a man that follows god not due to belief, but because it is the way he chooses to do good. Before parting ways with Cookie Lady, be sure to get her phone number and name. Be aggravated when shortly after parting a car splashes water on pants, and renders note with name and number illegible.
*Go home, check out the data Zhenya collected on notaries. Find out their hours. Find out they have douchey 'mid-day only' hours. Harrumph and pout briefly.
*Go to Andrei, ask him to please requisition up a decent printer. Awaiting Andrei response.
*Get the forms for replacement birth certificate, replacement ID, and replacement passport prepared (printed out at the library). Make copies at a copy shop, including some spares. Acquire thirty sets of each form. Spend $60.
*Give each person their new identity (using the clean identities she and Andrei built backgrounds for), work/school/residence history, names, and the forms they'll need to fill out. Ask that the forms be returned, filled out, by tomorrow morning. Fail to respond to Sake's bet that they will not be done by tomorrow morning-not all of them.
*Realize that there's always a chance of some other asshole picking the names they used the same way she did. Ask Sake for ideas on making the memorials seem unremarkable to people looking for "foreigner-appropriate" names. Be a bit put off when Sake simply suggests desecrating the graves to the point they are illegible.
*Do further research by talking to Duke (and buttering him up with a couple of nice bottles of wine ($300)). Fail to find out anything personally useful-acquire manifold personal accounts of adventures had with the 108 Liangshan heroes. Feel confident you could probably recognize other Heavenly Spirits if they at least act how Duke remembers them.
*Go talk to Hillevi (hopefully catching her and Einrik together) about the grave problem, mention research and ideas from Sake. Ask for ideas, try to estimate what should be budgeted for this part of it. Be told that 'notice me not' related magics, particularly sustained ones that do not require regular maintenance, can be prohibitively expensive to set up.
*Later, when Einrik is elsewhere, ask Hillevi how her brother got so scarred up. Learn about him deciding to tango with a Dragon when Hillevi's age. Be impressed, and very glad Einrik is on Armas' side. Remember what Armas said to Camella about SB and Einrik, ask if he has trouble reading with his magic sensor. Be told by Einrik such is indeed an issue. Bounce idea off of Hillevi for getting him an iPod loaded with books on tape: render Hillevi ecstatic enough at the notion she's ready to go off and buy one for her brother herself. Find out what stories and music he likes-find Hillevi is absolutely no use on this, and wonder how this data could be acquired without tipping her hand.
*Go with Hillevi while she gets an iPod for him. Settle on getting a good bone conducting headset for him too. Personally buy an iPod for Sake, herself, and Andrei too ($750).
*Find Andrei. Thank him for the hacker work on the identities, present him with her gift, ask if Armas ever did anything with those credit cards. Be given noncommittal techno babble response. Ask him to fill hers and Sake's up with music (Hillevi's too, if she wants), ask for a "good selection" and wait with baited breath as to what he'll put on them. Find out Andrei is quite the fan of several genres, including Electrohouse, Technoswing, Punk and Trance.
*Give Zhenya the two extended magazines for the SR 1911s as a thank you for helping with the identity project.
*Fill Einrik's iPod up with books from among Lyubov's personal favorites. Wonder if a bunch of fiction works will float his boat. ($600).
*Present it to him as thank-you for the advice.
*Write up a budget for bribing the notaries (three months their estimated pay for three, estimate: $37,500) and report in to Armas. Point out how these are far superior to the Mafia and Triad offerings in that they have a consistent background built up for each one, and that with the spellwork on the tombstones the likelyhood of someone noticing that the original bearers of the names are dead is very low. Point out the estimated price of 20 fake passports through either side would have been $166,110 and that this way the identities are not in the hands of a criminal organization (that isn't us, anyway). Ask for three fourths the difference between the price of the fake passports and the budgeted price of bribes (estimate: $128,600). Ask that $8,000 go to Zhenya, and $30,000 to Andrei. If Boss tries bargaining down, be willing to give up a tenth if he'll open the pool. Be willing to give up half if he's willing to personally teach her how to do chakra, one on one, minimum 6 hours a week.
*Attempt to resist boss' persuasive ways. Use following argument: "These are genuine Turkish citizenships, we're not going to risk deportation with these. These will also hold up to a background check with all the data Andrei hacked into place. With the Mafia and Triad passports if we got into trouble, we would be relying on delaying from bribed officials in the issuing country for protection and that protection could disappear if we displeased the Mafia or Triads. So these are quite a bit superior, both in the background and in being citizenship. And if you're looking to have independence of any other group, this is the best way."
*Still end up only getting a sixth of the difference for getting four hours of training a week from Armas, Sake, the shadow (and apparently his bird) in chakra. Be uncertain how he convinced you of that.
>[Feodor has been queued to do the following:]
>Help get all the equipment stowed in the vans, and drive back to the mansion. Smugly ignore Zhenya's grumpiness that you are a better driver.
>Once the debriefing is over, all the equipment's back in the armory, and there's no more pressing business, get drunk - drink as much vodka as possible without getting alcohol poisoning. Be sad this is less than Vlad's daily intake.
>Loudly complain about Sake and Hillevi: they're stealing your job, and depriving you of your life's purpose. Take offence with sniggering weasel.
>Get so drunk-angry that you start a fight with Sake - lose because it's just a poster of him. Endure more sniggering from Sake. Think you may have seen Ivan actually smirk at personal shenanigans.
[Nikifor has been queued to do the following:]
-Training with the Dagger and Sword is fun, but isn't enough. Search for any places that practice "Historical European Swordsmanship", or "Renaissance Martial Arts" as something more than just flashy techniques. Find a place. Ask what lessons they offer, how much is the membership fee, mention you have an "interest" in combat/battle reenactment, and could invite a few friends-see if they have discounts for that. Be disappointed on all fronts, as it, and it's afiliates are focused on performance swordsmanship, not practical use swordsmanship. Later on tell Lev and Rostislav about the place-they both use stabby/slashy things, but have no expert/official training, ask if they'd like to join along with you, note that at the least you can all have fun mocking sissies if it's a worst case scenario and the place is worthless to them.
-Bring the MSG90-A2 to Matvey and Satai. They told us to bring something "good" for training, this beautiful machine here should be enough. Become modestly indignant when they initially seem resistive even to that. Time to start sniper training-you don't need to become the best, just be able to hit them reliably and well-enough like an expert. JOIN SATAI'S SNIPING PRACTICE GROUP.
-Lev mentioned the Shadow of Big Boss? That's...cool and creepy at the same time. Drunkenly wander around dark rooms, while shouting at the darkness for confirmation if Big Boss' shadow is really there. Get no response. Then stare at your own shadow, attempt to make it move around and high five you or something. Assume you will fail-freak the fuck out when shadow waves at you.
-So yeeep, you're like a ticking mojo-bomb right now. Hog Ito again on chakra training, though don't be too aggressive on him.
-Your role is 'the assault guy'. And that means you've gotta move FAST. Jog in the morning with Lyubov and Camella-if she keeps ending up winded and almost fainting from exhaustion, then that means it's GOOD. Don't give up! Decide to start TOMORROW after watching Boris shakily drag himself back.
-Discuss with one of the officers if organizing a little tournament only between the Russians would be nice. Everyone seems so focused on training/work. It's a competition of...well, pretty much all the skills everyone's got. Shooting, punching, drinking, lying/deceiving people, etc, etc.
>[Andrei has been queued to do the following:]
>Tell Lyubov it's no problem. Realize, again, that the Printer is home. Curse, loudly, in Russian, and get a printer or two. Cheap ones, for now: 2 cheap Canon PIXMA MP495 Color Ink-jet - Printer - $43 for one, two for 86.
>Be first suspicious, then kinda touched at the gesture. Tell her that it'll be easy. Realize that, fuck; the Russians have the old computer. Promise self to use Chugainov as target practice. Ask Boss what music Sake likes other then Japanese traditional, wind instruments, and Jethro Tull. Be informed he is known to convert his normal wiggling into swagger at the sound of Baroque. Get Lyubov some jazz and classical but rename it to Electroswing songs. Chuckle at this.
>Check kitchen video for thing that is watching Caffeine Supply. Find odd blur, too indistinct to be made out. Note that far more sophisticated recording equipment might be needed to catch it-ponder high speed and high def video.
[Titus has been queued to do the following:]
!Try to strike up a friendship with the Crash Course gym sambo instructor outside class (he’s currently been going 1hr/day. Be surprised when this is patently easy, as by coincidence both were present for the same Sambo tournament in Russia six years ago. Small world.
! Ask instructor if he needs an assistant master at the gym. Be told he does indeed-also find out such obligations would clash with previous obligations to daytime training at Ito's. Ponder how to resolve this.
>[Igor has been queued to do the following:]
>Look at the other jobs he was asked about from other people of the company- Lyubov and Nikifor, as well as party. Decide that Nikifor's arm-armor is nearly done-probably ready tomorrow. Igor also is going to look into having a minimum of 10hrs a day of chakra practice for the next two weeks, even if it limits his forge time. Fail to meet this goal because fuck, Chakra training's hard.
>Ponder knife-specialist smith that pantomimed raising a blade and the less prickly smith that worked in gold: each seemed to have such a lazy grace and economy to their motion to make anyone confident they know their craft well. Stay aware that less than a quarter of the smiths have yet been seen.
Continue to look at the different blacksmith when you have the time, as well as try to learn the names as well as reputation of the ones who strike you as talented. Try to see if any of them have ties to the underworld. If some have ties to dealers, Satai could help in establishing contact.
>After being permanently banned from six different smitheries for horrifically heavy-handed phrasing and lack of any substantial subtle social skills, finally find a smith you THINK might have ties to arms dealers-decide to ask Satai sometime about someone called 'Old Ironface'.
[Ivan has been queued to do the following:]
#Boss said no more magically delicious food until you have the proper level of chakratic ability? Best get to work. Spend no less than 8 hours each day practicing with Chakra.
#Try looking for Shadow Boss (SB) and asking him if he can help you find a way to use chakra for improved stealth or sight. Offer to assist Shadow Boss in any way that you can with his own endeavors. Fail to find him after two hours of on and off searching. Wonder why.
#Continue shooting training a minimum of an hour each day with your L129A1.
#Ponder joining Satai's sniping practice group to show them how it's really done.
#Continue being stoic man of few words.
>[Rostislave has been queued to do the following:]
>Due to paying a deplorable amount of attention when Armas was talking about shit that will kill you, only remember something about magic and soul explosions.
>Remember that the thing you just killed is explicitly magical.
>Treat it like nuclear waste and get the fuck back to the manor in the least suspicious way possible that doesn't hold back anyone else's departure. Since the only options are 'drive back with everyone' or 'hoof it on your lonesome' impotently do NOTHING because there's no way you could walk back faster than driving.
>Wonder why you didn't pay attention when Armas was talking about things that can kill you.
[$atai has been queued to do the following:]
$-This going-to-die bit from Armas is rather ominous and demands a change in activity patterns as follows:
$-Stop eating delicious magic food. Be more than a little sad about it. Avoid the kitchen. Feel bad for Boris when seeing him ignore the warning and eat Kelpie Krisps-but don't help him because you don't baby people.
$-Cut melee training down to an hour or so per day, more to keep fit than anything else. Some things just aren't that important in relative terms.
$-Refuse random tinkering jobs unless they come with pay to compensate for the lost precious time. Satai currently values his time at $150/hour for this purpose due to the perceived opportunity cost of not learning chakra/sharpshooting (drastically increased risk of death) and the perceived opportunity cost of failing to do quartermastering well (losing access to massive amounts of cash).
$-Throw self at chakra training, trying for Armas' recommended 8 hours/day. Figure out who available teachers are, bounce wildly between them as necessary to get required time. Be peeved Lyubov somehow got Armas to agree to train her.
$-After hearing wild rumors about a magical gunsmith, ask Armas what his deal is and if he's worth building ties with for quartermastering purposes.Be told by boss that 'Johan Straus is a pretty cool guy, he makes guns and doesn't afraid of anything'. Wonder why the boss chuckled at his broken sentence. Regardless of what Armas says, attempt to use underworld contacts to learn more about this Johan guy on principle. Find out that last time someone tried to skip out on paying him they were found burned to death in their sleep. Pencil in a note of 'do not fuck with this guy' into file.
$-Also use underworld contacts to get more detailed information on the Serbian arms dealer. Don't approach the guy yet due to the current mood amongst the black market arms types, but learn more about him. Find out that NO ONE knows his name-or even what he looks like, as he only makes sales via phone, and has middlemen make the actual handoffs. Wonder what's up with that. Be slightly relieved he's got an excellent track record of being fair so long as one can put up with his paranoia.
$-Squeeze sniping training, Titus' stun gauntlet project, and some desultory attempts at life into tiny remaining amounts of time. Question how life became so crowded. 'BONUS': Satai temporarily gains the Trait 'sleep deprived'.

>>389477
While I'm trying to work out just how to handle this-I decide that now is actually a GREAT time to try and pressure Camella into helping train the Russians in Chakra. I initially come up with platitudes and smarmy requests-
>>389651
Then I remember that's just not my style and go with a different approach.

"Hey Camella."
>[Camella]"What."
"Train the Russians."
>[Camella]"...What, you mean in Chakra?"
"Let me rephrase. The troops are going to constantly get sick and die if they don't learn chakra, so the faster they learn it the better. This company has three officers- you, me, and Matvey- and between the three of us we are responsible for the welfare of everyone in it. Matvey cannot teach them because he doesn't know chakra. I cannot teach them all because I'm quite possibly the shittiest teacher I know. That means it falls to you."
I see her looking a bit resistive at my comment-and press on.
"I didn't make you an officer because I thought it would be funny- I wanted you to actually help me with things. Now, you hardly say anything useful when planning missions even though you should be an expert at exactly this sort of small elite strike force business, you don't give the troops much in the way of small combat tactics training or advanced modern combat like I was really hoping you would, in fact it seems like you treat this as mostly spot jobs combined with a swanky hotel- well, whatever."
...Yeah, she didn't like that, I can SEE her bristling at it-and I keep plowing onward.
"You can do that, it's disappointing but I don't really care. But if you don't help me with this when the people I promised would do well if they followed me are going to sicken and die, I will not forgive you for it. Make time."
At this... she sports an expression I can't quite decipher, which pisses me off, and gives my following words a bit more heat than I might have wanted.
"Yes, this happened because I don't know what I'm doing. Didn't you hear me the very first time that I fed you magic food, I knew there might be crazy negative side effects? I have to go forward anyway- because for the rest of us, things are hard. When we chase power we break our bodies, twist our minds, and bind our fucking souls into service to ancient maybe-evils for scraps of prowess!"
Yeah, definitely more heat in my voice than I intended. But dammit-I cheat like MAD and she still learns just as well as me. Shit ain't fair.
"We don't get to quickly pick up more chakra in a matter of weeks and evolve our souls into crazy beautiful sensor suites from dreams. Shit goes horribly wrong all the time and all we can do is play damage control. Seriously, do you have any idea how much bullshit was required so I could grow comperably to you?"
Did Camella just take a step back?
"And if you're passing out blame, do you really think that Einrik didn't recognize exactly what was happening to the Russians from the moment he walked into this place? The man can sense a flea-sized bit of magic from hundreds of yards away. Ten to one odds he let it run its course just to see what would happen- watch them pop or see me scramble to fix it and see if I did something unusual or interesting again."
Einrik, up until now a silent observer, chimes in.
>[Einrik]"That's accurate-I was morbidly curious how you'd handle that."
I turn towards him briefly.
"See, I EXPECT that from him-he made it patently clear he's out for experimental data."
Before she can use the brief pause to gather herself, I turn back to her.
"It doesn't matter how the problem happened or who didn't catch it early enough, we need to fix it."
Pretty much the ONLY reason I'm not flinching away from her is because I've got to the point that the physical harm she can dish out is (mostly) negligible to me. All the same, lo and behold.....

Looking like she's having teeth pulled at her own funeral, Camella works her mouth for a moment before responding.
>[Camella]"....You.... are right. Fucker."
She rounds on the Russians.
>[Camella]"Set your alarm clocks to five for every day. Five to eleven AM every day, we'll be marathoning basic chakra instruction-and attendance is mandatory."
"And I will FULLY endorse whatever measures she thinks necessary to keep your asses at the lessons-and you are STILL expected to fulfill your obligations to Ito."
Seeing the boss AND the second in command actually wholeheartedly agreeing, not a single Russian objects to the spartan change to their schedule-an event notable enough I nearly miss the second unreadable look Camella throws my way.

Back to the corpse, and the likely semi-imminent police presence.
>>389160
>>389266
I could just rip out the fucking thing's heart and eat it-
>>389211
I could try, fuck I don't know, freezing the meat, but I'm betting that wouldn't work too well for something that's weak against winter energy-
>>389233
>>389282
Wait why are we ALL still here?

"Okay chaps-"
>[Matvey]"Chaps?"
"Fine: Okay assholes, back to base with the lot of you-MOVE."
They don't need to be told twice. Sure, I COULD have ordered them to retrieve the speakers and such-but how the fuck would they dig those smashed bits of electronics out of the rubble in a timely fashion? Andrei assured me no one handled the goods without gloves, and that he's got the video files. Good enough for me. All the Russians-Camella included-pile into the vans, and depart, leaving me, my brothers, the Triads, the Valkonens, the Duke and the Bird remaining.
>>389253
"Einrik-transport ideas?"
>[Einrik]"Honestly? Goblin."
"Yeah, that's what I thought you'd say. Duke-any other lights?"
>[Duke]"Now? Sure, five more lights now-all stationary. Probably homes."
"Hm."
>>389291
>>389344
SB=>Bird idea will not work-you'd either need to have spent more than a decade learning how to use a compounded bloodline-which SB has sure as shit not done-or be the one the Spirit is anchored to-which SB is not. So no dice dude.
I start coming up with some hairbrained schemes to get that meat home, even ways to barricade roads and shit-but I reject them because they're retarded.
>>389226
Wait why am I making this complicated?

I place a call that's answered in my far ear, making me feel decidedly lopsided.
>[SM]"Yes, Mr. Laine?"
"I have news. My team and I, as well as several Triads, killed the Doonongaes about one minute ago after luring it into a trap. More details are available if you wish- but for now, I need its body transported out of here and stored for me in stasis before it starts to corrode or any other parties arrive to investigate or steal it. Can you provide that?"
I can damn near feel his smile through the phone.
>[SM]"Yes, I think that request can be honored. To be clear: do you grant we, the Wyld Goblins of Turkey, permission to store your trophy within our realm until you wish to use it?"
"I do."

Just like that, the Doonongaes' corpse up and vanishes, bloodstains and all.
>[SM]"A pity you couldn't kill it in it's natural state, but such things happen. Is there more for us to discuss now, or was that all?"
"Well, eventually I'll need it seperated into the following categories: poison glands, head, choice, relative to taste, organs and meet for consumption, blood, and lastly bone, cartilage, scale and fang all together."
>[SM]"Such preparation does require a modicum of skill, as the poison in its flesh must be dealt with to prevent such spoils from liquefying. To fund this partitioning there will be a non-negotiable tithe required of a twentieth of the creature's mass relative to each category you named."
"Would that tithe be linked back to me?"
>[SM]"As prior arrangements prevent it, no."
"Then all yours."
>[SM]"A pleasure doing business with you."
*CLICK*

The prize safely stored-I turn to my ward, trying to ignore Einrik's blind stare.
"Any comments on this battle?"
The youngest Valkonen seems at a loss for how to respond-as usually, she becomes far more clumsy when forced into social situations rather than martial.
>[Hillevi]"...I, what?"
I ignore Einrik's small smile.
"There are several lessons to be learned here- important ones that might not be immediately apparent. Would you care to take a guess as to what they are, in my view?"
Her brow furiously furrows as she mulls over my 'riddle'.
>[Hillevi]"Uuum, is it that numbers usually beat talent?"
I don't even bother trying to not smile at that as I continue.
"Not quite. Understand that the Doonongaes died today because it fought five mundanes in October. "
Seeing her confused look, I clarify.
"That would be myself and the Triads who assisted us today- I had no bloodline powers at the time, and they have just moderate chakra skills. One of their friends died in the battle and I was severely injured- after, we resolved to kill the creature. That was one of several reasons that I've been so bold in my pursuit of power."
Einrik tactically muffles his chortling at my comment, valuing the lesson I'm trying to impart on his sister over his own amusement.
"The lesson about leaving people with grudges alive behind you, and another about not underestimating what someone can achieve just because they seem weak, should be obvious."
She hesitantly nods, clearly trying not to disappoint me by her lack of comprehension. I try not to sigh as I keep pounding the point home.
"It also died because it was an overconfident idiot."
THAT she understood.
"We lured it in with basically a noisemaker- something blatantly obviously meant to piss it off, and it charged right over to stop it. If you're dumb enough to walk into the middle of a location specifically prepared to kill you, it doesn't matter how powerful you are personally- you're probably going to die. At that point all that can really save you is if for whatever reason the trap wasn't set properly- being more powerful than your enemies think, having hidden skills they didn't know about, or sheer carelessness or incompetence on their part. Remind me to talk about the value of deception with you more, later; it can save your life in situations like that."
Einrik clearly wants to say something here, but again abstains to avoid disrupting the lesson.
"Last, if you really want to kill something, don't mess around. Pile on allies and equipment until you're sure you'll win, then throw on more. Challenges are great for when you want to grow personally, but when things are serious and you have time and resources, shoot for overkill-hell, shoot for overkill relative to overkill- and hope that your enemies don't have enough unpleasant surprises to live through it."
Hillevi slowly nods at my blurb-and I decide that's as good as I'll get from her for the moment.

Go Ping, for his part, merely bows to me, before offering a succinct segment of parting words.
>[Go Ping]"I thank you for helping us derive vengeance for our comrade-and I wish we could honestly call one another comrades, rather than competitors currently working towards the same goals."
It's a somewhat cryptic message-but then, that's his thing, so I'm not bothered by it. After the Triads bounce, I lead my brothers, the Valks and Duke in a rog back towards the mansion-and scoff when, ten minutes into the journey, we pass by the first responding police car, observing it from the woods beside the road. On our return to the mansion-I find Camella living up to her word, and playing the merciless taskmaster to the Russians, forcing them to push themselves as hard as possible to learn more about chakra. I can see the soul weight gains the Russians are undergoing as she keeps them in a sustained state of strain and trial, forcing them to grow. Again, she looks at me with that damn look I can't figure out-the fuck's Camella doing NOT looking pissy?

Whatever.

I end up talking with Boris about a certain cookie baker, and Lyubov about IDs during the brief breaks Camella offers from her merciless regiment-and delight in the abruptly empty house when, right as their lessons conclude for the morning, she leads them all over to Ito's for their teaching obligations-at a brisk jog.

A brisk CAMELLA jog. I almost pity them.

And what do I do with my free time? Why, I chat with Einrik, wheedling some info about the book he and Camella authored out of him. Turns out he was planning to just make a single page printout-it was Camella that pushed for them to put in the extra effort to make it a legitimate book. Interesting stuff, that.

When the early evening rolls around and the Russians return from Ito's, all looking half dead with exhaustion, I decide to let them off a little easy-and call for a party.

The rest of the day from four pm onwards gets a bit hazy after Duke trades me a bottle of booze for a mug of Valhallan mead. I don't black out amidst the neverending festivities, the celebration at having kill the Doony-but all I really remember is having a really good time and successfully refraining from making a total ass of myself. I'll call that a win.


MONDAY, JANUARY 24TH, 2011
PERSONAL FUNDS: $321,013.11
BUSINESS FUNDS: $189,347.00
CASH: $9,170.00
SHADOW PATIENCE: 37%
WINTER ENERGY: 144/160
SUMMER ENERGY: 50/50

I wake up a bit later than normal-and feel so deliciously rested I take a moment to just lay there in bed, enjoying that relaxed feeling before glancing at the clock and seeing it's five past five.

And I think to myself-it's a wonderful day to be.....

Well:

Me.








GfH THREAD 4: TO MAKE YOUR MARK COMPLETE!