Chess Room
Despite having prepared herself for another nauseating trip through the vacuum system, when the ghost maid stepped off of the board the only thing that happened was the black knight piece came unstuck from her hand; no pyrotechnics, no "Curses, foiled again!" over the PA system. It was actually rather disappointing, in a strange way. The clocks did flip, however, indicating that it was now the White side's turn.edited 12th Nov '14 8:49:17 AM by Alhazred23
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"Well that's no fun." says Junko. "If we were dealing with one of my relatives we have had explosions or at least porcugator pits by now. That's what you get when you cross and alligator with a porcupine. Uncle Joe had issues."
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"For some reason, that last part sounds like one of those get-rich-quick schemes my Dad would try nya," Tammy quips. "Those schemes irritated Mom and me to no end nya."
Jessie looks around in wonder on her apparent achievement before hearing the latest conversation. "Is... Is that the first time you've actually mentioned your family that way, Miss Tammy?" The cat girl appears surprised at first but calmly smiles with a nod of her head. "I suppose. I guess coming to terms with my situation will do that nya."
Jessie looks to the floor and the black knight chess piece that had previously clung to her hand, then back up to face the others. "Miss Junko, you may want to make your move so you can come off the field on your next turn. Miss Tammy? Miss Elizabeth? You may select your pieces now." Looking back at the floorboard, the ghost then adds, "I'm guessing I lucked out on getting off the field because I used what would otherwise be a legal move." (Jessie rolls 2 x Cunning 2 = 4, not exactly finding the best pieces for the others to choose.) "Um... Given the field's orientation, all I can say is that I don't recommend selecting any pawns."
Tammy starts to reach for the chessboard when she looks back at Elizabeth apparently about to do the same. "Oh I'm sorry. After you, Elizabeth nya?"
edited 18th Nov '14 2:26:27 PM by 1jimbo10
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"Really. Hmmm they might have known each other." says Junko with a shrug. "He had a pretty big list of contacts. And a bigger list of places he was banned from." She turns to Jessie "Oh yeah right," she says doing so, "Let's hope this works, there's a certain sour faced booze hound I want a word with, along with whoever set this up, nice start but no style at all after the first couple of tricks. Hopefully I'll remember what I wanted to say by the time we find either of em..."
edited 19th Nov '14 7:42:46 PM by barzark
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Elizabeth nearly shook her head, but she stopped herself in time. "Um. I never was much good at chess."
White's turn, huh. Cunning x 2 = 4 She wasn't sure if the 'opposition' was moving White or they were, but considering that the pieces weren't moving, that might indicate something.
"So...does this mean I should take a white chesspiece and send it across the board? Because wouldn't the, um, rook or queen be ideal for that? Or is there some advantage to taking illegal moves?"
Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.
Chess Room
From what little the maids knew of the 'rules' that were being followed here, and how they related to actual chess, any of the knights seemed like a fairly good bet for getting off of the board quickly. After all, the knight was the only piece that could 'jump' over other pieces - assuming that the giant robotic chess pieces would let you walk by unmolested, as long as the move was legal. H:44F(8/30)S|G:19F(0/10)S
"All the moves must be legal," Jessie reminds the others, then looks toward Junko. "Aren't you going to come this way, Miss Junko? The clock's still ticking."
Meanwhile, Tammy looks over the chessboard and the black knight close to her. (Tammy rolls 5 x Cunning 2 = 10 to determine a path for the black knight.) "I should be able to get across the field in three turns and off the board the fourth nya," the cat girl says as she reaches for the remaining black knight. "You might want to try the remaining white knight, Elizabeth, once you see how I..." Realizing it's still white's turn, she corrects herself, "Or rather, how Junko moves nya," she concludes as she picks up the black knight from the chessboard.
edited 24th Nov '14 6:20:12 PM by 1jimbo10
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Junko gets a weird look "Funny could have sworn I already moved...must have hit my head harder then I thought." She shrugs and makes the suggested move.
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Chess Room
-or at least Tammy tried to pick up the black knight. When the catgirl maid reached for the piece a tiny zap of electricity arced from from the piece to her fingers, making her snatch her hand away. Cunning checks, please. If you get a 8 and have been here for a bit... (answer in the discussion forum.) Elizabeth's target is 10.edited 25th Nov '14 7:50:07 AM by alhazred23
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"It feels like I should make a joke here but I haven't got the heart." says Junko. "Hey wait a second...something seems a bit off..."
cunning roll 2x6=12
edited 25th Nov '14 7:22:11 PM by barzark
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"NYA!" True to her part-feline heritage, Tammy literally jumps back reflexively from the jolt.
"Are you okay, Miss Tammy?" Jessie asks from across the room. "I... I think so nya," Tammy replies, flexing her hand to make sure. "But what was that spark for, anyway nya?"
edited 26th Nov '14 4:21:46 PM by 1jimbo10
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"I might have an idea..." says Junko. "I could be nuts....there's something I have to say a lot, but I think I might have an idea....Tammy before you grabbed a white piece right?"
edited 26th Nov '14 7:13:09 PM by barzark
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Cunning roll of honest-to-goodness five, x2 = 10. Elizabeth sucked in a breath sharply. Chess is a two-player game... 'Don't play chess with the future,' she remembered her aunt drunkenly saying once. 'You don't know what might checkmate you, and if it's got too many tentacles.' Who was playing against them...?
Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.
"Hmm..." Jessie wonders over Junko's suggestion. "You may be on to something, Miss Junko," the ghost says before turning back toward Tammy. "But just to be sure... Miss Tammy, try taking the white knight instead."
"All right nya," Tammy says as she re-approaches the chessboard, "But if this thing shocks me again, I swear it's getting the business end of my foot nya!" the cat girl angrily declares as she reaches for the remaining white knight on the chessboard.
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"If I'm wrong about this I'll see about getting shocked myself later to make it up to ya Tammy." says Junko. "I get the feeling there's going to be opportunities. Still if I'm right we'll be on our way to figuring out at least some of how this is supposed to work."
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Chess Room
Fortunately for Junko, no intentional shocking seemed to be in order this time. When Tammy picked up the remaining white knight the floor dropped out from underneath the corresponding giant piece a few feet away - and then another section of floor dropped away, and another, creating a path toward Tammy even as the rushing air threatened to suck Elizabeth under the floor. When the last section between Tammy and the chess board fell away the part of the floor Tammy was standing on began to slide down the path, slotting into the missing space on the board. Meanwhile the floor rebuilt itself behind her. Elizabeth should make an roll, target 4, to avoid getting sucked under the floor during this process. Your choice of attributes, as long as it's appropriate. H:44F(8/30)S|G:19F(0/10)S
Show an affirming flame
Elizabeth was focused on trying to puzzle out the insight that this was a two-person game, but not so focused that she couldn't jump back in time when the air whooshed into the ground.
Athletics = 1d6x2 = 10.
"Well," she said, "That seems to have worked."
Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.
"Yep. Well looks like we're on different teams, if I had to guess I'd figure the blacks are the home team and the white are the visitors. Course you've all probably come to the same conclusion by now." she shrugs. "Course we've been working together this long so I'm not sure how much of a competition it really is."
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"Question," said Elizabeth, raising a finger. "So who's the home team and who's the visitor? Or, who does the chessboard think is a visitor and who isn't? After that it shouldn't be too hard."
There were a lot of ways to look at her own situation: technically she was legally employed here, even if her loyalties lay with...well, whatever group Aunt Jenny was working with. On the other hand, how much the chessboard knew about her at all would be the question.
Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.
"Well I'm mostly stabbing in the dark but from the looks of things I'd guess the visitors are anybody that don't work here, like me Tammy and I'm assuming our simian friend and old down in the mouth, while the home would be the ones that are employed here. Makes about as much sense as anything else. As for how it's telling who's who...If I had to guess I'd say it's probably finger print recognition or something similar, if the boss here is anything like the type I'm used to he's probably got files on everyone, the maids especially that are six miles long." she shrugs "My family has a lot of experience with this kind of thing."
edited 3rd Dec '14 10:32:39 PM by barzark
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"That sounds about right given the pattern you mentioned, Miss Junko," Jessie says. "If you came to work here in Drolphy Manor, Miss Elizabeth, you could try a Black piece; Just avoid touching a pawn."
"And you may want to do that while it's still Black's turn nya," Tammy adds as she returns to a standing position on the space she's on.
edited 8th Dec '14 3:11:34 PM by 1jimbo10
TMINE:(T=F:17,S:0/10);(J=F:6,S:4/20)
"Hmmm hadn't thought of that." says Junko. "Oh well at least we've got part of this more or less figured out. Doesn't make me any less eager to be done with this room of course."
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"Right," said Elizabeth, looking at the nonsensical chessboard. Somewhat experimentally, and rather gingerly, she reached for a black rook, tensing herself to react.
Let's see what happens...
Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.
Chess Room
The first thing Elizabeth noticed when she touched the chess piece was a peculiar stickiness about it; in fact, when she lifted her thumb away the rook was still stuck fast to her fingers. The second thing she noticed was the giant hole that opened up underneath her feet.(For Your Eyes only) The third thing she noticed, in the howling wind and the darkness, was the glowing lines on the bottoms of the floor pieces above. To most they might look like computer circuitry or the like, but to Elizabeth they were clearly a computational thaumaturgy array, probably meant to open a tiny portal to another world to create the ridiculous vacuum under the floor.
A few tense seconds later she could see light once more, as her tile rose to fill the space where the black rook had been at the other end of the chess board. The edge of the board was only a step or two away now.
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"Huh. well that's interesting." says Junko. "Hmmm there's a joke in there but now's not really the time...." she mutters to herself. "By the way anyone who wants to borrow my hammer when we find the guy that set this mess up we'll flip for who gets first dibs."
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