>>84770
You start with the brain first, sending spikes spiraling through it. The parasite is simply...consumed, any memories it held unable to be accessed. The corruption ripples down her body, causing her breasts to thrust outward momentarily as her back arches, something rippling under her skin. A brief tent appears in her skirt before subsiding, and she twitched before becoming still.

You have infested CAROL!

You now control ALEX, BOB, CAROL and DARRYL. That's most of this branch.

First scan memory for time of day and work hours. Second, tell us our remaining victims.

>>84773
It's about TWO PM. The branch closes at FIVE.

The remaining victims are FRANK, ERIC the tech guy, and THE BOSS.

>>84774
There's also HAKEEM, the black guy hired because of Affirmative Action, which means he can get away with taking two hour lunches because the BOSS is afraid to fire him.

You detect some hostility in your hosts' memories toward him.

He's out right now.

Would you like to see what CAROL remembered?

>>84774
Scan memory for boss and Eric. Scan Carol's memory to see if Frank ever requested to go to the record room.

>>84776
And yes

>>84777
The Boss is a moderately attractive young woman--younger than some of the employees, in fact--who seems in over her head managing this branch of J&J. She seems to be going through the motions without any managerial flair whatsoever.

Her father is a Vice President. You wonder if that has anything to do with her position.

ERIC doesn't come out much. He's a typical nerd, sunk in the endless gloom of his wire-lined cave, the soft hum of case fans a backdrop to whatever dark deeds he performs in there.

The TECH ROOM has the only monitoring station for the SECURITY CAMERAS, though the actual recordings are kept inside a sealed case. No way for anyone there to get it open, but the cops would certainly check it if someone phoned in a disturbance.

>>84778
What little relevant memories Carol can dredge up are shifting, uncertain. She had initially mistaken them for dreams; it seems the parasite's memory wipe was not as thorough as it thought.

Carol remembers a drive with the executive she was dating earlier, to a house out in the country. A large room. Pattern on the floor. Candles. ItHurtsRobesItHurtsChantingItHurtsFireItH

>>84780
That's all she remembers.

>

>>84781
Our next target will be Frank. Have everyone but Carol go back to their desks. Have Carol look for Frank.

>>84785
Everyone goes back to their desks, except CAROL. She goes looking for Frank.

Oh. There he is.

At his desk. Drinking coffee. Just like you left him.

He glares at Carol suspicuously. "What'ere y'all doin' in there, havin' a three-way?"

>savequit

Nequ!3LrT5NRVks 2009/12/01(Tue)23:46 No. 84787 ID: 84297a
File 125973997429.png - (5.98KB , 604x604 , eldritch_saveQuitb.png )

Save file created.

//actually a pause, but board software doesn't take dupe images.

Nequ!3LrT5NRVks 2009/12/11(Fri)12:26 No. 90228 ID: 84297a
File 126056317977.png - (6.48KB , 604x604 , eldritch_LoadingB.png )

>>84788

//Screw saves and pauses. Let's just keep rolling.

Everyone goes back to their desks, except CAROL. She goes looking for Frank.

Oh. There he is.

At his desk. Drinking coffee. Just like you left him.

He glares at Carol suspicuously. "What'ere y'all doin' in there, havin' a three-way?"
>

>>90228
"Jokingly" say "Maybe I did. Want to go see?"

>>90236
>"Jokingly" say "Maybe I did. Want to go see?"

Frank: "I think you're some kind of deviated prevert, and I think the Boss is gonna find out about your preversion, and that you were organizing some kind of mutiny of preverts."

>>90274
"Dude, chill out. I was only joking. Why do you have to take everything so seriously? Really, it's annoying."

>>90275
>"Dude, chill out. I was only joking. Why do you have to take everything so seriously? Really, it's annoying."

"You wanna know why I have to take everything so seriously? Because we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men who are very serious. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Carol? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep over a stubbed toe and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury..."

Your hosts' minds indicate you've triggered Frank's Rant Mode, and he'll continue in this vein for several minutes. You should see what ERIC is up to in the TECH ROOM.

>>90342
Have Bob go to the tech room while Carol waits patiently for Frank to end his rant. Also check memories for "Frank Rant Mode" in detail.

>>90344
Bob enters the tech room, and tries not to breathe deeply. Eric looks up at him in irritation. "Whatcha' want?"

To Eric's front is a computer screen with a few figurines on top of it. Beeps and boops come from the screen; he's clearly not hard at work. To his left is the bank of monitors for the security cameras.

Carol waits for Frank to wind down.

"--smells like victory--"

His RANT MODE can be triggered by any little thing, and comes out as a rambling stream of patriotic nonsense. Everyone knows Frank has a subscription to several gun and conspiracy magazines, and is rather evasive about his time in 'Nam. Everyone also wonders why he still has a job in the first place.

>>90362
Bob: Are there any security cameras watching the room?

Carol: Continue to wait.

>>90364
The security cameras monitor the main floor, and the boss's office. The BATHROOMS, RECORDS, and TECH ROOM are without them. Eric is the only person monitoring them, though they are being written to BETAMAX in real-time. Eric is also the only person in the office with access to them, or the skills to even work the infernal things.

Carol continues to wait.
>

>>90375
Bob: Ask him how fragile the equipment is.

>>90377
"Could probably stand up to a small nuke. Nope, the only way into 'em is through me." He grins. "Say, wanna hear about my figurines?" He picks up one of the models on the monitor. "They're from this game called Warhammer Fantasy Battle, made by these UK lads, what what! The guys down at Spot Check say they're working on a new game, set in the future--"

Fascinating.

Much like Frank, you tune him out, looking around some more. On his desk are a packet of Red Vines and an opened can of Mr. Pibb. Well, that explains his physique.

>>90392
Bob: Tell him that you want to learn how to play that game. Then infect him stealthily.

Carol: Rant progress.

>>90392
Can we infect through placing a bit of ourselves in a liquid which the victim then drinks? Or would the infection process that follows be too obvious? Could we perhaps start an infection that way but only give a mild suggestion that he has to pee, and finish off the infection process when he's in the bathroom?

>>90394
There are no cameras in the tech room.

>>90393
>"Can you tell me more about this game?"

Eric's face lights up. "R-really? No one ever wants to talk about the stuff I like.

You place a hand on each of his shoulders, and smile reassuringly. Then, quickly, you snap his neck.
>Continued...

>Carol: Rant progress.

"...uphill both ways with a hoop!..."

>>90397
His flesh, his fat repulses you. you pierce his stomach, your corruption spreading across his midsection like an opening flower. He's dead, of course, so he can't feel it curl lovingly around, then consume his spine. His flesh spasms as the spikes flow into them, flesh twitching. Something flickers in his eyes, just before your spikes stab out of them, shortly before reforming into perfect replicas of Eric's eyes. His neck snaps back to its proper position, with a sound of bones--or something like bones--mending themselves. You smile to yourself as his brain is taken over.

At least he won't be making that smell anymore.

You have infested ERIC!

You now control ALEX, BOB, CAROL, DARRYL, and ERIC.

>>90399
Scan Eric's memories on how to operate camera equipment in detail.

>>90400
ERIC's memories contain info on how to alter and edit the tapes. More specifically, he could copy and splice segments in after themselves, to make it seem like, say, FRANK was still talking to CAROL at a time when he was being infested.

Just for example.
>

>>90401
That's exactly what I had in mind. But first, Carol: Rant progress.

>>90402
"--ing Charlies droppping us into pits--"

You could be here all day.

>>90403
Eric: Review how long it takes to splice.
Bob: Get back to desk whilst keeping an eye out for Hakeem.
Carol: Ask Frank what he's most afraid of. Then infect.

>>90404
> Ask Frank what he's most afraid of.

Do you fear death?

>>90404
>Eric: Review how long it takes to splice.

A few minutes.

>Bob: Get back to desk whilst keeping an eye out for Hakeem.

Done. Bob keeps one eye on the elevator banks.

>Carol: Ask Frank what he's most afraid of. Then infect.
>"Do you fear death?"

Frank's tirade cuts off abruptly, and he stares at Carol, his eyes wide open. Now.

"What...what do you mean?"

"Death, Frank." Carol places one hand on the desk and leans over, a strange smile on her face. "Do. You. Fear. Death."

"I'm afraid of a lot of things. Any sane man would be." He doesn't meet her gaze now, and he's leaned away, slightly.

"That doesn't answer my question."

"Get back to work," he says gruffly.

"They put you in the jungle, didn't they? They put you in there and put you on 'puree', with all the guns and the dark and the knives and those pits with sticks. And then they took the fine, fine mess of a man they had made, and they poured him a uniform, and they sent him home to Mom and apple pie. And here-" a straight poke, to his chest- "you are."

Frank looks down, like he can't believe someone's actually touched him.
>Cont.

>>90546
"How much of it is an act, I wonder. The ranting, the clothes, the faint smell about you." Carol pushes him away from his desk. The chair has a bum wheel, and curves slightly to the left. Frank doesn't resist as she straddles his lap, her corduroys pants rupping against his cotton slacks. She can feel him getting...excited, despite himself, despite his shrinking away as Carol drapes her hands over his shoulders and looks into his eyes. He's stammering, seeking words, even as she continues.

"When was the last time you held a woman in your arms? Or a man, if that's your thing. Or do they...bounce off your so-called patriotism, your zeal?"

She cradles his head in her arms.

"Not me," she whispers, her lips brushing his ear. "I know who you are."

And then she kisses him.
>Cont.

>>90550
You're impatient, perhaps, so Carol thrusts against Frank with her entire body. Her hands--claws, now--crush his skull, driving into his brain. The spikes and scorched flesh her breasts have become pin him, piercing through his body and the back of the chair. Your corruption reaches his heart, and spreads speedily through his body, and it only seconds before he is one of you.

Carol climbs off of Frank's body. Both of them discard their ruined clothes, and SHAPESHIFT to their normal appearance.

You have infested FRANK!

You now control ALEX, BOB, CAROL, DARRYL, ERIC and FRANK.

Only the boss and HAKEEM are left. You need to find some way to get into the former's office.
>

>>90555
First order of business: Eric better splice that shit! And also look out for Hakeem in the security cameras.
Other people: Review memory of office conduct.

>>90562
SPLICAN NAO

>Other people: Review memory of office conduct.

It boils down to "don't be idiots". Can do.

Right. Well, Carol talks to the boss more then anyone, right? Lets go talk. Err...We think we could increase profit margins by five percent if we hold a formal board meating to talk about the future of the current project?

>>90580
>"Boss? Can I talk to you?"

"O-okay Carol. Let me just--"

She sounds like she's been crying.

The door unlocks. "Come in."

GINA has been crying. You enter the room.

"Sorry," she says, locking the door behind you. "I just didn't want to see any of those guys today, y'know?" She wipes her runny nose across the back of her hand. "I just...I've been under so much stress lately. I mean, Daddy got me this job, but I have no manager experience. I figured it'd be, that it'd be easy..."

She sits at her desk, and buries her head in her hands. "You're the only friend I have in this office, y'know that? I mean, not that I have any, but still."

Jeez, why is everyone pouring their hearts out to you today?

>>91062
Tell her you have lots of experience(You did lead Germany, don't tell her that), and asks if she wants some.

> Infest Gina

>>91076
>Tell her you have lots of experience(You did lead Germany, don't tell her that), and asks if she wants some.

Technically, you were in more of an advisory position. Off to the side, never in any photos, seen but not exactly remembered...

>Infest Gina
Can do.

Cont.

Carol pats Gina on the back. "I'll be okay."

"Really?" The younger woman looks up at her employee, hope in her eyes. "You really think so?

"I know so," says Carol, letting her palm rest lightly, ever so lightly, on Gina's back. "It'll all be over soon."

"How soon?"

"About twelve seconds, I'd say."

Gina has just enough time to look confused before the spike coming out of Carol's hand severs her spinal cord.

It probably feels strange, you think, to just slump forward, not able to feel anything below your shoulders, and not even those working well. You've never really been interested in anatomy, though the German had a lot of people working for him who took a great amount of interest indeed. It was always possible Carol had somehow broke motor control, but not sensation, so Gina could feel the taint that scrabbled down her spine, working its way along her ribs, then her lungs, then her bloodstream, than everywhere. Could she sense it break down and reconstruct her muscles, the useless fat she hated so much? Her lips are moving. Did she feel fear at this point, or simply relief, relief at the end of the burden, at the encroaching oblivion?

Anything was possible.

You have infested GINA!

That's everyone in the o-hold the phone.

Cont.

As Gina pushes herself up, she sees an invitation on her desk. It's to the big regional meeting a few nights away, and Gina remembers that all the big muckety-mucks will be there, including--you cross-reference with Carol's memories--the same guy who invited Carol on that trip. Worth investigating.

The elevator dings as Hakeem exits. He's got a large fountain soda in one hand, and makes a beeline to his desk. Setting the drink down, he pulls his chair up. "Hey guys, what happened while I was out?"

Silently, the other denizens of the office surround him. You can see, in his eyes, just the tiniest hint of fear.

"Guys?"

Gina does something like a smile as she reaches for him. "You're getting a promotion."

END LEVEL ONE

//Not done with thread.

Nequ!3LrT5NRVks 2009/12/25(Fri)13:53 No. 98046 ID: 84297a
File 126177802076.png - (51.87KB , 898x525 , wikipedia_JonesAndJones.png )

//Okay, now we're done. Archive plox.

Suggestion 2009/12/31(Thu)12:59 No. 102304 ID: 3297aa
File 126229316787.jpg - (7.34KB , 180x211 , PROMOTIONS.jpg )

>>92337
>black guy
>you're getting a promotion

Nequ!3LrT5NRVks 2009/12/31(Thu)16:47 No. 102414 ID: 84297a
File 126230682161.gif - (16.89KB , 196x156 , phoenixWright_reddWhite_loIidk.gif )

>>102304
Son of a--