95 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
95 lines
4.1 KiB
Markdown
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---
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title: 00045
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created: Tue, 20 Dec 2022 10:15:23 -0700
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updated: Thu, 22 Dec 2022 09:29:11 -0700
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syndicated: yes
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public: yes
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---
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### 00045 {#00045}
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> As the blankets draw back from the bloody mass, a cute little
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> hemogoblin appears. "Aww little fellas just scared." Alex lowers
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> the dagger, but otherwise ignores the hemogoblin. Best to leave it
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> be for now, there's more important things.
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>
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> As the balloon gets within range of the ship Alex begins to scan
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> the deck for Cyberplasms. At the same time he checks his bug to
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> track the location of the cyberplasms more acutely. It looks like
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> there may be an opporunity to jump from the balloon to the ship.
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> After that cutting the zip lines would give me the opporunity to
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> steal the ship, leaving the cyberplasms trapped at the top of the
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> hotel.
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Just a few Cyberplasms remain on the deck of the airship. The vast
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majority of them have zipped into the hotel tower.
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You check your bug's feed. It has gone almost entirely unnoticed in
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the fracas, and you are able to piece together a clear picture of the
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inside of the tower. It is indeed a grand library, its galleries
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spanning each floor of the tower. One of the largest collections in
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all of Basmentaria.
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The Cyberplasms have breached the tower near its base and are pouring
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into the Great Hall. You tune in just in time to see a rail-thin,
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bald and mustachioed man standing defensively in front of a display
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case. "No! You can't!" he exclaims as a disembodied sickle approaches
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him in a cloud of electricity and ectoplasm.
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Behind the glass in the display case is a bluish hunk of rock the
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size of a melon, with gently pulsing gold veins.
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> Inky puts away the papers they caught in passing or picked up along
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> the path up to read later, including a number that from a cursory
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> glance appear to be from a culinary collection and a few from some
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> moth-eaten but finely illustrated botanical tome, among others.
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>
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> Eventually arriving at the hotel entrance, Inky enters and manages
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> to catch a frantic-looking attendant near the reception to ask the
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> whereabouts of the hotelier, indicating they had a business
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> appointment with said manager.
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You walk in through the hotel's main entrance. The grandeur would
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take your breath away were it not for the shouting and the smoke and
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the explosions coming from down the hall to your right.
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You wave down a passing hotel clerk and inquire after the hotelier.
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They are hauling a large bucket of hot water, and carrying an
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oversized bundle of clean towels under one arm. They pause for a
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moment to look at you incredulously before running off in the
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opposite direction.
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A cry rings out nearby and a Cyberplasm flies through an open door
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down the hallway. It lands in a heap of crackling energy, smears of
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ectoplasm streaking the floor as though it were bleeding heavily. It
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seems to be barely held together by the energy stored in its
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cybernetic leg and a metal skull plate.
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It scoots backwards on its hands and its butt, trying to stand up.
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Two toques leap out of the door after it. You recognize Bread and
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Confidence right away.
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Bread has obviously been to the kitchens. They are wearing tin baking
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sheets and an oversized pot on their heard as makeshift armor, and
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have a couple of dangerous looking kitchen knives hanging from their
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belt. At the moment they are swinging a large meat tenderizer over
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their head as though it were a war hammer.
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Confidence, meanwhile, has been to the gardener's shed. They are
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wearing a heavy leather apron and thick leather gloves, and have a
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trowel in each hand, and a large hoe or rake strapped to their back.
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Bread lowers their hammer on Cyberplasms head, denting the skull
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plate. And Confidence darts in and stabs with both hands at the leg.
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As soon as the prosthetics go offline and the plasmic arcs cease
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firing, there is nothing left holding the ectoplasm together and the
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ghost kind of dissipates into the air with a soft wail.
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They look up and notice you at the same time, relaxing their
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offensive stances. "Oh!" cries Bread. "It's you!"
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"You don't happen," asks Confidence, "to need a guide, do you?"
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WHAT DO YOU DO
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[www](https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-12/msg00227.html)
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