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Eidolon: Conspiracy Theory

@rush99999, I'm going to give Haruki a chance to post before I throw anything up, but in the meantime, trying to charm the creature out of the kitchen sounds like a Dazzle to me. Your cards are:

The Magician - Positive - You achieve the impossible
Temperance - Neutral - You are met with an equal and opposite reaction
The Hanged Man - Negative - You must make an impossible choice

Temperance is The Crow's dissonant card. Pick what you want, of course, but I want to remind everyone that you get experience not just for picking negative cards, but for picking neutral cards when a positive card is in your spread.

2100 ☢️ BADLAND REPUBLIC (Interest Gathering) (High Casual) (FULL)

This looks cool--consider me interested!

Eidolon: Conspiracy Theory

"You do know that there's a gas leak here right?" Ashley tried to misdirect using previous events as the basis of her story as she concentrated on the 'script' she once saw.

A different word, a different act can change the future. For a want of a nail, a battle is lost and all of that.

So she is observing not just the present but also the future in whether this man is worthy of any trust.

@Digmata

The Wheel of Fortune - Neutral - You are at the mercy of the fates

Ashley, you reach out to your Eidolon and bid it show you the future, and something different happens. The first time you tried this, [Bootstrap Paradox] showed you a single, coherent vision of the events to come--a vision which was immediately preventing from coming to pass, thanks to your actions and the interference of The Crow. Having absorbed that, you've come to a deeper understanding of your power, and opened yourself up to the inherent multiplicity and uncertainty of the future.

Of course, knowing that the future can follow many paths is not the same thing as being able to absorb all of the information contained within them. You vaguely hear Emily next to you, trying to convince Agent Simonsen to stand down, but most of your attention is locked on the man himself. To your sight, he seems to have split into multiple copies, all superimposed on each other. One stands, hand on his gun, listening intently to your friend but not relaxing. Another has drawn his gun and begun blasting away at the three of you. The last one watches someone--or someones--exit the front door of the diner, then draws his gun and moves out of the "frame", vanishing. As he does, the three copies collapse in on each other, resolving into the first image.

You're not foolish enough to think that you've seen every possible future, but the impression you get is that, unless something dramatic changes about the situation, there's currently no future in which Simonsen retreats without at least attempting to fulfill his mission, whatever that happens to be. Moreover, he's definitely willing to escalate this into violence if he needs to.

Emily answers the man, "You may call me the Writer for now. Agent Simonsen, are you truly an agent, or are you a mindless zealot, bending to the will of a cult without question?"

She then explains with a chuckle, "As Ashley mentioned, there's a gas leak. Or at least, that's what the Head Waitress told everyone in order to get both customers and employees to evacuate this diner before both of your arrivals,"

She then gave the Agent a hard stare through the ceremonial mask, "Do you realize that if we had not interfered and warned the Head Waitress, you would have incinerated every living soul in this diner just to accomplish your mission? What kind of justice permits sacrificing innocent lives in order to see a mission done?"

Alas, her skill doesn't completely translate in this situation: There is still the element of unpredictability. One may think that upon hearing this revelation, they may think of their actions carefully and change their ways. But...there are people who double down on their beliefs upon realizing that they are in a cult, and refuse to listen to reason.

There is a chance that Agent Simonsen may be such a person and not listen to her...Emily could feel that worry chew away at her.

@Guardian Angel Haruki

Death - Neutral - A complication prevents your skill from fully translating to this situation

Emily, Agent Simonsen is listening intently, and as you speak, he looks back and forth between you and the kitchen entrance. His face is hard, devoid of emotion, but something tells you that's a mask.

"I wasn't going to--look." He takes a deep breath in through his nose, then lets it out slowly. "I don't even know who you people are. You just showed up while I was in pursuit of a target, dressed like a bunch of weirdos, and starting giving me grief. Besides," he sniffs the air, "I don't smell any gas, so I don't know what you're on about. I won't deny that sometimes our missions involve... collateral damage, but I don't make it a point to hurt civilians, and the work we do is extremely important."

His face suddenly changes; you can almost see the lightbulb turn on above his head. "Hey, I don't know who you people are. And I don't know how you could possibly know what I would have done if you hadn't been here." He doesn't move, but the tension in the room grows ever so slightly. "I think you need to explain some things to me, 'Writer'."

It doesn't look like your attempt to dissuade Ray from his mission entirely has been successful, but you've got him on the back foot now, and if no one on your side escalates--and there are no drastic changes to the situation--you can keep him talking. You might be able to find out something important if you ask the right questions--or at least give someone else the chance to get the drop on him.

@rush99999 - Luka, you're barely taking in the events in front of you, reeling as you are from the... well, it would be insufficient to call it a "vision", though you're pretty sure you didn't go anywhere physically. There's a warmth coming from your pocket; if you are so inclined as to check on it, you will find the card Santana gave you, with the artwork for The Wheel of Fortune still engraved on it. You understand instinctively that the card is tied to you, and can be summoned and dismissed at will. The other side, previously that indeterminate fractal pattern, has changed to the card you just saw in the courtroom: Justice.

You hear another loud crash from the kitchen; apparently the creature that Simonsen was chasing hasn't yet found the back door.

@XxFellsingxX - The Crow, wherever you currently are, the phone attached to the wallet you just pilfered buzzes. If you choose to look at the screen, you can see several notifications (though whether you can read them, much less determine what they are, is an open question). Two are missed calls, from a contact titled "Agent Bullshit". The last is a text from the same person: "pick up ur dam phone ray"

---

Game Stats

Phantom Clock: 2 PM
Party Experience: 1
Fate Deck: 12/22

Luka Durand

Damage Track: Fresh

Emily Sanderson

Damage Track: Fresh
Other:

• -1 Forward

Ashley Whitlock

Damage Track: Fresh
Ready For Anything:

• The Fool - Neutral - You become who you are needed to be in this moment
• The Hermit - Neutral - Your actions isolate you
• The World - Positive - For a single moment, the world bends to your will

The Crow

Damage Track: Fresh

Noble Arms: The ASEAN War - Thread Three, the Darkest Hour

WO "Mikey" Rangel

---

Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, USA - 2022-11-19, 13:31, UTC-5

Mikey stood staring at the closed office door. She had already been standing there for a good ten seconds too long, and she was still working up the nerve to knock. It wasn't that she was afraid--at least, not exactly. She was, however, both wary and weary. When she had first been press-ganged into the Army, she had known that it would be unpleasant at first, but she had thought--hoped, really--that she would get used to it quickly. With the current administration's foreign policy, there was little chance of her getting sent out to actually fight somewhere, so it was really just a question of the indignities of military life.

What Mikey had found out over the last two years, of course, was that the indignities could be pretty damn undignified, and getting summoned to the CO's office was never a good thing. Even when they pulled you in to tell you something they thought you should be excited about, the main thing that came with it was higher expectations for a job she had never wanted.

Still, there was no point delaying the inevitable any longer. She raised her hand to knock on the door, but before she could, a voice called out from the other side.

"Ms. Rangel. Come in."

Aw, crap. Mikey briefly considered what it would take for an Arms Master to get busted down to Private; she'd miss the extra money, but at least people would stop calling her Miss. Then she opened the door, stepped through, and saluted, eyes straight ahead and over the head of the man behind the desk.

"Warrant Officer Rangel, reporting as ordered."

"At ease. Take a seat." Mikey stepped forward, planting herself in the uncomfortable chair with her hands in her lap. Her face was a mask; outwardly, she remained silent, even as she internally wondered what new training they had cooked up for her to run through.

"First things first. I want to say that you've..." The square man behind the desk looked her up and down, and from Mikey's perspective, he didn't seem to like what he found. "Well, you've definitely improved as a soldier since you were assigned here."

Alarm bells started going off in her head. That was probably the nicest thing a CO had said about her since she had enlisted. Were they prepping her for some new assignment? She had actually managed to make some friends here; were they going to ship her off across the country again?

The man behind the desk slid a manila folder over from a stack on one side. It was heavy with documents, and bore a red stamp across the front reading [TOP SECRET]. One paper stuck out the top of it, and Mikey could just barely make out the heading: Task Force Obsidian.

"Ms. Rangel, what do you know about the Philippines?"

---

La Casarita - Present day, present time

Mikey blinked blearily at Myron. What was the military's obsession with getting out of bed before the sun was up? It didn't help that, despite having been in-country for almost a week, she still felt like crap. Jet-lag and allergies--inevitable coming from Maryland's cold autumn to the warmth and humidity of the Philippines--had been kicking her ass, and were only beginning to let up.

Still, an order was an order. Mikey threw on her ACU trousers and t-shirt. The jacket stayed behind--even at this early hour it was warm and humid enough to make it uncomfortable, and her read on the other members of her new unit was that they wouldn't be terribly concerned with the state of her uniform--but she pulled the hat on to cover her bedhead. So dressed, she left her room at a jog, quickly catching up with Myron and the other members of the task force he was gathering.

"So, uh..." Mikey hadn't known any of the members of the task force for very long, and to tell the truth she found most of them a bit unsettling. Not only were they trained and--unlike her--practiced killers, but many of them were even younger than she was. Their acting CO, at least, was a couple of years older, but he was also the least approachable. So, when she spoke, her question was addressed to the group at large, rather than Myron specifically. "Anyone know what this is about?"

Eidolon: Conspiracy Theory

@Guardian Angel Haruki Good deal! If you want to write up a post detailing how exactly Emily tries to convince Agent Simonsen, I'll write up a response to you and Digmata at the same time. Per the move, make sure to include a detail about how her storywriting skills don't /exactly/ match up to the situation.

@rush99999 Cards have been reshuffled, cards have been discarded, and Justice is back in the deck, so you're free to Dazzle again =O

Eidolon: Conspiracy Theory

@Guardian Angel Haruki to clarify--when you Push Yourself, you have to take whatever the next card you draw is. Do you still wanna do that, or just take Death?

Eidolon: Conspiracy Theory

@Guardian Angel Haruki Whoops, sorry, I overlooked your reply at first. No, I think we're pretty much on the same page there =) Your ELE is 2, but you have -1 Forward, so your card is:

Death - Neutral - Something ends, and something else begins

Death is The Crow's resonant card; if you want to try drawing another card, you can push yourself at the cost of ticking the Phantom Clock.

Eidolon: Conspiracy Theory

@Digmata Your BIZ is 2, so you get:

The Wheel of Fortune - Neutral - You are at the mercy of the fates
The Tower - Negative - Something terrible happens

The Wheel of Fortune is Luka's resonant card _oof.

Eidolon: Conspiracy Theory

I don't know if this is Investigate or Dredge the Undertow but I won't be using my remaining card here.

@Digmata, I was about to say "don't you have two cards still held?" and then I Remembered lol. I think this could go either way so I'll let you pick which one you prefer. your GEN is higher than your BIZ, but keep in mind that when you Investigate you have to play every card you draw. eta: investigate will get you specific questions answered; with dredge i'll give you more of a General Vibe

@Guardian Angel Haruki hm, out of those two I think Everything is a Nail definitely fits better--do you have any specific ideas as to how mastery of writing stories could help her out here? if not i have some thoughts, but if you already have something in mind i'd like to hear that first.

Eidolon: Conspiracy Theory

She studies his surprised reaction and listens to his...well, not quite so official demand for their identities. She retorts to the man, borrowing a line from an enigmatic character she once read, keeping her tone even and calm, "Don't you know it's rude to demand our identities without introducing yourself first?"

@Guardian Angel Haruki

The man lays his hand on his gun and flips open the holster's latch, but for now, the gun stays where it is. He does, however, take a couple of steps back from the three of you, and the side of his body with the gun is turned away from you; if he does draw, he'll be in a good shooting stance.

"Well," he says. Clears his throat. Looks back and forth at the four figures in the diner. "Ok."

A cacophonous sound comes from the kitchen, metal crashing against metal, followed by a distant screech.

The man takes a deep breath.

"I'm Agent Ray Simonsen, IDLN. I know you haven't heard of us, but here's my badge--" As he speaks, Agent Simonsen reaches into his jacket, then freezes suddenly. "Um. My badge." He reaches in the other coat pocket--awkwardly, as he refuses to take his hand off of his gun. Checks his pants pocket. Frowns.

"Well, I'm with the IDLN. We're an agency responsible for handling sensitive cases, like the one breaking all the dishes back there. What you're doing right now is obstruction of justice. I ought to arrest all four of you, but I've got other stuff that's more important to deal with, so if you all just get going to whatever halloween party you were headed to, I'll look the other way this time."