"Oh," said David to Borghild, "well, at least I tried something other than 'punch a solid metal door'. Even if I was just making it up as I went." He stuck the keypad back in place and put the screws back in by hand, if only to make everything look neater. "Besides, now we at least know that the security is fairly sophisticated."
He turned to see someone new - a scientist here, maybe? - come around the corner and ask if they were trying to figure out what this place was about. Be careful. This could easily be a trap. He might be a guard dressed like a scientist.
"Maybe. Why do you want to know?"
"Well, assuming that's what you're trying to do, I'll be happy to help you guys burn this place to the ground. I just got fired, you see, but they let me go 'cause I don't know anything yet." He carried his laptop under his arm.
Finally getting to see what they've done here with the help of this guy's laptop should get things moving.
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."She looked up at the white-clad figure that strode in, crossing her arms over her knees.
"Wait, did you just say burn? Don't you want to raid the place of all its servants and riches first?"
edited 10th Apr '11 10:36:03 AM by annebeeche
Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.That Laptop in the scientist's arm can prove useful, Lucas thought. But it would be foolish to trust this man right away. So Lucas had asked, "And........ when exactly will we reach this trap you set up?"
edited 10th Apr '11 6:19:29 PM by PsychoFreaX
Help?.. please..."'Trap'? You think I have a trap set up for you guys? Nice observation, but I'm not an antisocial nutjob, thank you very much. I actually see something wrong with using genetic engineering to turn a ten-year-old incest victim into a fucking mermaid, god forbid I actually have morals."
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth.""Look the point is we don't exactly know we can trust you yet," Lucas responded. Each of them except the new one had already been on Viktor's bad side at some point. "Perhaps taking a look at that laptop can prove where your loyalties truly lie."
Okay I just made a new page for the whole Character Development Thread tradition. But since I'm such a newbie with anything outside the forums I'll be having a little trouble taking it much further. So edit it and link it as you wish ^^.
edited 10th Apr '11 9:59:49 PM by PsychoFreaX
Help?.. please..."I have no idea what you're looking for, but I was here for a week. You're not going to find much on it."
The very fact that he was willing to give them access to the outside world should've been enough to convince them. The former scientist handed the laptop over.
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."Borghild peered at the inscripted device—Latin alphabet. Never mind, she can't read it.
She leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, waiting for the foreigners to work their self-inscribing-device magic.
Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.Finally. Isaac had been keeping a distance, listening but not letting himself be noticed, hoping to avoid getting involved in any trouble. But now, it seemed he had something of use to work with. He revealed himself, hands up, and said, "OK, sorry I was stalking you; had to make sure you didn't fuck up and get yourselves killed." He then said, "listen, I don't know what sort of outside connections you guys have, but if you'll just let me send one e-mail, just one, you'll have my old pals Sigmund and Alice on your side. Let's not get into a cock-comparing contest about whose outside connections are the strongest. Just know that Western Amalgamated will stop at nothing, nothing to get us out of here." By "us," Isaac meant himself, although Sigmund would no doubt like as many witnesses as possible to get information. Without waiting for an answer, Isaac took the laptop and logged himself in. He decided Clowns wouldn't suffice here, so he sent GPS coordinates, and a brief message: "Egg Sandwich. Alice is gonna be pissed."
On the mainland, the giant and the "little girl" sat in a hotel room. "Dammit, Alice," the giant muttered, "he's vanished. All the money in the world, and I still can't bribe a storm."
Alice replied, "amen, Sigmund. But if anybody has so much as broken his glasses, I'll make sure they get a good look at their own heart before they die."
Pulling out a laptop and turning it on, Sigmund said, "well, I suppose we'll have to just hope for the best. Let's see how my stocks are... oh, hello." He looked at Alice, smiling, and said, "he's still alive." Then Sigmund took another look out the window, and his smile vanished. "Now, how are we supposed to get the Egg Sandwich to him in this weather?"
Despite Isaac's hopes, Sigmund and Alice are presently powerless to help.
Satisfied, Isaac said to the scientist, "OK, so what did you do here? I'm asking as one scientist to another, so don't hold back on detail."
edited 11th Apr '11 10:12:44 AM by KillerClowns
The scientist grinned as he held out his laptop to Isaac, then his grin vanished.
"Gene splicing.
Vince says that it's so that he can 'give power to the weak', et cetera, et cetera. His team of forty or so scientists managed to find the one chromosome that allows people to do magic, and found a way to splice it into living people using viruses. But, no. He doesn't stop at turning people into mages, he has to turn them into Half-Human Hybrids, too. Any of you see an old Asian guy with fangs running around? He's a former subject.
Also, thank you for stealing my password and giving me a reason to get out of this castle. My 19-year-old supervisor fired me."
Didn't one of them steal information off of Viktor's computer?
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."Oh, sure, David thought about Isaac. He royally screws up and still acts like we're incompetent. If this is what Western Amalgamated sent, they've taken several steps backward. And he might've just given us away, with that email; if I were Vince, I'd keep track of everything going in or out of an isolated location like this, if there was a network at all. I didn't even think he'd allow the Internet, because that means the computers are networked to the outside, and that means they can be hacked.
"Hold on," David said. "Gene splicing? How many failures have you had? Because when... some people I know... tried it, most of the test subjects died horribly. A lot of the time, the genes were opposed to each other - this gene made this protein for that structure that this white blood cell thought was an invader - and their bodies basically destroyed themselves. And then there were the ones where the body wasn't properly redesigned to handle the stress. Once, they were trying to give this guy wings, and they put the joints on his scapulas. Scapulae? Anyway, that bone isn't meant to hold that much weight, and the wings basically tore his back open. Not a pretty sight."
edited 11th Apr '11 1:11:29 PM by TeraChimera
Isaac began pacing back and forth, muttering to himself. "Single chromosome... hmm, curious... V-type magic akin to what I've seen thus far would represent a significant evolutionary advantage... it should have shown up somewhere through sheer random mutation... if it hasn't already. Must research. Possible connection to... no, no genetic difference found between sell-soul magic users and ordinary humans, Eyes and Teeth does not alter genetics beyond occasional mutation to differentiate followers. Possible conflict of interest between Eyes and Teeth and V-type magic, could possibly exploit. Egg to Dream City... risky, but ensures annihilation of viral samples in area. Viral delivery system... fascinating. Perhaps we could develop a counter-virus? Outside of my area of expertise, might have to outsource. No, can't outsource, too important. Still, could work in-house, have a few experts... viruses evolve rapidly..." Isaac stopped. "Dear God. Potential ramifications..."
With a sigh, Isaac switched to his usual tone, and said, "I should be looking at this shit in a lab, not fucking around in this goddamn island. I'm a scientist, not a spy... ah, well, life's a bitch, ain't it?"
When the ex-worker had finished his speech, Borghild gave her opinion:
"Well, I don't know what genes or chromosomes or any of those thing are, but it sounds pretty fucked up, especially if it's killing innocent people."
She cracked her knuckles. "I say we raid the place and put an end to this demented butchershop. Who's with me?"
edited 11th Apr '11 1:52:22 PM by annebeeche
Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens."Have patience lady," Lucas said as he checked the scientist's laptop for viruses through all files including encrypted ones. Viktor must have realized by now that someone had hacked in and stole information from his computer. So Lucas wanted to know it's safe to use a portable hard drive.
"Well you're right about the gene splicing," Lucas told everyone else as he analyzed Viktor's documents. The scientists back at The Occult Society were working on a similar project. But Viktor didn't need to be testing on innocents before he was certain it would work. Lucas took his time to look through more of Viktor's files.
Help?.. please...The scientist leaned in. "...Where'd you get that stuff?"
And all the photos of fantastical Half-Human Hybrids should be coming any minute. So far, we have a ten-year-old mermaid (or Hope, the deaf girl from Beach House), Kiyoi the old Asian guy with fangs, and about three others I haven't mentioned yet. Go nuts, feel free to make up the other 35.
edited 11th Apr '11 4:31:23 PM by CrystalGlacia
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth.""Well this is strange enough to report wouldn't you say?" Lucas went on as he looked through more research reports with images including a Winged Humanoid, three eyed people and many which can't even be put into words. "So how many people here wants to raid the castle again?"
edited 11th Apr '11 5:02:19 PM by PsychoFreaX
Help?.. please...The three-eyed-person must've been in their shapeshifted form. Vince at least made sure they would look relatively normal in real life, at least.
As he waited for answers, they continued clicking through photographs, heading further and further back until they got to gene-splicing photos dating back to even the 1980s.
A cluster of photos timestamped at 11 August 1983 caught their eye when the ones who knew him noticed it was Kenneth, the red-haired, somewhat effeminate-looking in-house bartender. A few other photographs revealed him with large upper and lower canines, sharp claws, gold eyes with slitted pupils, and rather impressive leathery wings. Another picture was of a roughly elephant-sized dragon with overlapping red scales and a long, slitted tongue. A creature clearly built for volcanic regions.
Good thing shapeshifting comes with being a mage.
edited 11th Apr '11 8:43:48 PM by CrystalGlacia
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."Joining in with this. If I'm getting anything wrong, feel free to let me know.
The first thing Fenano saw was the cold stone hall of the castle.
This is no castle I've ever seen. Trasona, the Hanging Tower, Belleholm... where in the world am I?
He slowly pulled himself up to try and get his bearings. One thing was for sure, he couldn't go outside. The winds were howling a gale, and the rain battering on the roofs and windows sounded like a thousand drums of hell. He supposed he'd have to stay here for the night, and find whoever owned this place... aye, and whoever was responsible for bringing him here.
Fenano examined himself closely. He was still dressed in full plate armour, enamelled a deep forest green with silver chasing, and his spear, eight feet of oak topped with a vicious steel prong, lay on the floor nearby. Even his shield was there! That made no sense. If whoever had brought him here wished to disable him or get him out of the way, wouldn't they have taken his weapons? Or perhaps they didn't want to... what am I doing? Take it one mystery at a time, Fenano.
He picked up his spear and shield and began to walk down the halls. Glass tubes glittered overhead with light of an unknown source, so at least the pathway was well-illuminated. He kept his spear raised and his shield up, as whoever was here would most likely mislike Fenano invading his home. More black sorcery, taking me to unknown places like this. As if I didn't have enough of that...'
He's heading to wherever you guys are, so if one of you guys could notice him...
"Christ," Isaac muttered, staring at the pictures. He returned to his terse muttering: "significant large-scale modification, usually implies interference by advanced entities... Vince's projects more significant than Uelane production of plant pigmentation... as David mentioned, difficult using pure science. Use of magical catalyst to ensure subjects' survival highly probable, as is case with Uelane. Wonder if Vince's subjects also suffer increased risk of cancer. Unlike Uelane, magic may be needed to preserve creatures' continued existence." He scratched his chin thoughtfully, then said, "perhaps disruptor weapons would have same effect as on Uelane mages... must have Alice try and steal another from Mauros cult. Pity constructing new disruptor weapons beyond capacities of Type 0 civilizations."
Isaac turned to the scientist and said aloud, but still in an oddly terse manner, "need more information on effects of alteration. Non-obvious effects, naturally. Increased food requirements? Seems probable. Change in diet? Increased or decreased susceptibility to diseases, extremes of temperature, pressure, cancers, chemicals? Hard to measure what psychological effects come from biology, and what from simply being human brain in non-human form. Insanity seems highly probable long-term consequence. Eliminating most heavily altered subjects act of mercy, both to subjects and world at large. Sorry, digression. Subjects highly variable; what consistent patterns have been noted? Are the experiments possible to perform on any human being, or are specific traits required?"
Yes, Isaac talks like Mordin Solus when his brain is in scientific-focus mode. What of it?
...Okay, he sounded exactly like Doctor Thornton and his Spock Speak there. They could get along, actually.
So he was basically asking about how the procedures affected the subjects. Easy enough.
"...Well, the few that I've seen seem rather normal for the most part, I guess. I mean, look at Kenneth. Wish I could tell you more, but I've been here barely a week."
Hm, maybe the castle itself deserves an entire story on its own. Lord, the things I could do with forty characters. My main plotline is actually about fantasy politics.
edited 11th Apr '11 9:25:25 PM by CrystalGlacia
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."Fenano had reached the group of people by now, and was standing outside the doorway, listening to their conversation. "Plant pigmentation"? "Disruptor weapons"? "Type 0 civilizations"? None of that made any sense, and none of it was anything that he'd heard anywhere on Ferrerneos before. And they had spoken of magic, but was it the type of magic he knew? And science... they're speaking of science...
Science, in Fenano's experience, had lead to nothing good. Libernea had destroyed themselves with their own technology. Estitia had reverse-engineered that technology, and destroyed themselves in turn. Quartus had woken mechanical horrors from the earth to ravage humanity, and been killed by his own creation. And of course it was the Utiveans that first created those, so it was never better in the past. The way Fenano had seen it, science led to thousands of people being killed.
Oh well, might as well introduce myself to these people... whoever they are. Cocking his spear and holding his shield up close to his face, he stepped out from his hiding place behind a pillar. "What is this you are talking about, and what is this place?" he demanded brusquely.
David wasn't particularly fazed when another man in plate armor stepped out from behind a pillar. He wouldn't be surprised if the entire Marine Corps showed up asking for tea, at this point.
"We're talking about gene splicing," he said, "and we're in a castle smack dab in the east of nowhere." He shrugged. "Don't ask me what's going on; I asked some questions, but sort of got locked out of the loop."
@CG I take there's pics of Celia included in there, seeing as she's a former subject? The scientist probably caught wind of Noah's mother going to a psyche institution and assume it was a side effect of the experiments
Noah started regaining consciousness after the encounter with that robotic... maid... thingy. Kiyoi was sitting in his room and, as expected, Anaru was hanging over him.
"Ow... God, my head..." It hurt worse than it did after waking up after that one time he was up all night playing Amnesia, "Anaru... Kiyoi... Did ya beat that thing?"
Jesse was eavesdropping in the walls, mentally breathing a sight of relief that his sister's son was alright.
“DAMMIT WHEN I HEAR 'SPACE CQC' ALL I CAN THINK OF IS BIG BOSS WITH A FISHBOWL ON HIS HEAD, STRANGLING AN ASTRONAUT OUTSIDE THE ISS.""I must admit I'm impressed, Vince had knowledge on occult science that have even been missed by my own organization. However his research too have their own flaws," Lucas closed the files and removed the disk and packed it away. "But combine the two and the Occult Society may even advance a century on our researches."
Then as Lucas decided to use the internet to send an email to Kyle informing him of the situation, he smiles at the scientist, "Thank you for your cooperation." But what now? Will he just return home to say mission accomplished? No, there may be more The Occult Society may want to know which he would have to ask Kyle.
edited 12th Apr '11 4:58:16 AM by PsychoFreaX
Help?.. please...

For the record, Vince, the master of the castle, looks way too young to be a grandfather- he looks about 35, maybe 40 if you really stretch it.
In the meantime, Kiyoi headed upstairs to go hang with Noah, he was probably getting bored.
Extremely annoyed as it was, Viktor continued using his psychic powers to disassemble the Robot Maid.
They'd better leave before Vinicio gets here... he thought.
The newly fired scientist stared at the guest who bolted towards the door, disinterested, before passing him by.
He began looking around the east wing for any of the guests, it'd be easy to spot them.
...Oh, they're trying and failing to break into the vault.
He went into the vault corridor and discovered a group of people who had managed to remove to keypad, but to no avail.
He spoke. "You guys trying to figure out what's in this place?"
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."