quest/src/epistolary/00047.md

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---
title: 00047
created: Thu, 22 Dec 2022 16:51:54 -0700
updated: Thu, 22 Dec 2022 16:51:59 -0700
syndicated: yes
public: yes
---
### 00047 {#00047}
> Damn it! I should've left the little goblin in the balloon, this
> could get tricky..
>
> Time slows for just the briefest of moments while Alex calculates
> his next move. Looking at the position of the pirates he can
> probably yeet the middlemost one away from the group into the left
> most pirate. Best case this sends both of them sailing over the
> edge of the ship, worst case it just slightly knocks them off
> balance. In either event this gives me enough time to dart from
> cover and quickly dispatch the right most pirate with Uncle's
> dagger. I've got to sever each connection point between the
> ecotplasm and the cybernetics, nothing quite as quick and easy as
> flesh and blood, but a quick slice to the left most armpit, and
> another to the right most leg right above the carotid artery should
> do it..
>
> Jumping immediately to action Alex casts `yeet.middle_cyberplasm()`
> sending the middle pirate into the left most pirate away from the
> hemogoblin while he dashes forward to take the third right most
> pirate by surprise. As he reaches the right most pirate he makes
> two quick slices, first at the leg, followed by a quick upper cut
> to the left arm.
<!--
Alex rolls Do Anything 1 to yeet the cyberplasm
3 = Things go poorly. Gain 1 xp.
Spend 1 xp to pass and gain Sysorcery 2
//-->
You channel some of the ambient environmental charge into your
prepared incantation. It's comforting sometimes to peer behind the
veil and see the world through this lens. It's so simple. The
separation of self and other is an illusion: everything is just a
table. The concept of time itself is simplified: coroutines prevent
everything from happening all at once and create the illusion of
concurrency. It's all really quite elegant.
Anyway so the hemogoblin sidles up next to the pirates at the
railing. It's not tall enough to see over the railing, and starts to
kind of jump up and down, trying to catch a glimpse. The pirates look
down at it in confusion just as the `yeet` happens, and they knock
into each other. The leftmost one almost manages to regain its
balance but then trips over the little blood gremlin and pitches over
the railing. The middle pirate yelps as the startled hemogoblin darts
between its legs to get out of the way. The pirate stumbles and then
slips in a small puddle of blood. Its feet shoot from beneath it and
it too tips over the railing.
<!--
Alex rolls Do Anything 1 to sever connections
1 = Things go poorly. Gain 1 xp.
Spend 1 xp to pass and gain Stabbing 2
//-->
The hemogoblin dashes right into the waiting arms of the rightmost
Cyberplasm. "Gotcha, you little ... ugh! What ..." The pirate is
starting to regret snatching up the little furball, which is
defensively gushing blood all over it, when you make your first slice
into its left armpit. Half its cybernetics go offline. One arm goes
limp and it drops the hemogoblin, which scurries around and hides
behind you. The pirate turns toward you, now full of regrets, and you
stab into its right leg, knocking its tech completely offline and
dispersing the ghostly energies.
As far as you can tell, the ship is now free of Cyberplasms.
The hemogoblin thrusts its tiny fists in the air and cheers.
> Inky shakes out several large and very fine kerchiefs, handing two
> each to the guides and gestures for them to cover their noses and
> mouths with them while they perform the action themselves to
> demonstrate.
>
> Donning a pair of skydiving goggles snatched from one of the souvenir
> stalls at the gondola station while no one was looking (replacing it
> with its approximate weight in silver coins), Inky retrieves a black
> metal box that previously served as a portable camp stove from their
> knapsack and removes the lid. The inside of the box is filled with
> dry wood chips mixed with a pine green powder, and Inky throws in the
> wicks pulled from some of the scented candles that were pushed into a
> heater flask to melt fully during the walk up the hotel steps.
> Finally, Inky pours another vial of foul-smelling liquid over the
> contents, opens the door just wide enough to slide the metal box
> through to one side of the door a few paces away.
>
> A mildly sweet, cloying smoke emanates from the flameless heat inside
> the box, which begin to fill the library hall with a rapidly
> thickening cloud. It is also taking on an acrid and slightly sooty
> edge. Near the door, Inky fans more of the smoke in the direction of
> the cyberplasmic apparition with a thin bound manuscript laying on
> the floor.
Bread, Confidence, and you all don protective gear. You push the camp
stove through the door like an Olympic curler. It glides across the
library floor a respectable distance considering the book debris and
the lack of sweepers. Much more quickly than one would think
possible, the hall is filled with a thick, sooty smoke. The
Cyberplasm captain groans with frustration as even the short distance
between it and the hotelier (and the crystal) becomes occluded in the
smoke screen. The hotelier wisely doesn't make a sound as he
disappears from view.
Bread nudges you, grins, and gives you a thumbs up.
WHAT DO YOU DO
[www](https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-12/msg00234.html)