From tbutler@birch.net Tue Oct 30 18:42:07 2001 Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 23:16:04 -0600 From: Travis Butler To: Philip J. Moyer , Chris Bremner Subject: [UnS] Cairo Nights John asks, "OOC Okay, whatcha going to do first?" Beowulf says, "OOC After we leave, check with Lily and see what she was able to find out from her table, then head to the library and see if we can track down a copy of that newspaper article. Assuming the library isn't too close to any of those recruitment centers. ^_^" Beowulf asks, "OOC Another question -- How much of this shadow would Bey have to experience before he could conjure devices that worked under its weird mad science restrictions?" John says, "OOC You'd probably want to study a few such devices to get a good feel for it" Beowulf OOCly nods. Keep an eye out for some that could be easily bought/studied without notable attention while we're here, then. Lily says, "Well, from what I've been able to tell, there's apparently a loose alliance of people fighting against Mobius, known as the Mystery Men. If we can find a way to contact them, we might be able to get their help. They're not easy to find people, though. The governor of Cairo is named Wu Han. He's basically your Fu Manchu type." Beowulf nods. "Right. Did your folks have any feel for how good these 'Mystery Men' were?" Lily continues, "Some of their memories of the past don't cohere very well; I think Mobius has molded this shadow somewhat sloppily." She thinks a moment. "They're good enough to keep Mobius from catching them." She continues, "Probably not up to our level, but better than the average joe." Beowulf nods. "Right. Might be worth checking them out. You said they weren't easy to find; did they have any suggestions?" She says, "It tends to be one of those things where they are most likely to show up when Mobius is about to do something big. There's no standard way to find them. I suspect you could use Pattern to tweak probability to help us stumble into one." Beowulf nods. "Right. Let's do that when we're ready to leave the city." He stomps hard on his memories of the A-Team and similar stories. "It looks like we'll have to visit Thebes to get a good feel for his construct, though the bartender did mention a newspaper article describing his HQ being built. Might be worth checking out quickly." Beowulf goes over the rest of his conversation with the bartender. Lily says, "I also learned he's recruiting soldiers, but it sounds like you already learned that." Lily says, "Also, his men have been going around searching tombs. I'm not sure if that will be of any use to know, but apparently there was a big flap witht he priesthood of Osiris over it." Beowulf asks, "Looking for artifacts of power in general, or did you get the sense they were looking for something specific?" "No one knows for sure, and Mobius won't say, which is one reason the priesthood of Osiris went so berserk." Beowulf nods. Beowulf asks, "OOC While I'm thinking of it, how many zeps do we see flying around here?" John says, "OOC You've seen three of them flying over the city." Beowulf asks, "OOC In how long? A couple-three hours?" John says, "OOC Yep" Beowulf asks, "OOC Did Kansas Jim tell Bey where the libraries were located?" Keitaro says, "I suggest we might want to also try prying some information out of the local mob. Organized Crime usually knows a lot of things the public doesn't." John says, "OOC Yes." Beowulf smiles ruefully. "Well, my last attempt to deal with organized crime didn't work out so well, so I didn't really think about that." Shinobu Minor grins. "I think I can beat a few answers out of them." Beowulf raises an eyebrow. "I see." He smiles. "Just don't get yourself into *too* much trouble; I'd hate to have to explain problems to your family. Either of them." Shinobu Minor says, "Oh, I think we'll be fine." Beowulf asks, "How long do you think you'll need?" Shinobu says, "Hmm, probably a while. Say we meet at dawn tomorrow?" Beowulf nods. "Right." He hmms, and picks what seems like a good spot to meet, based on what they know of the city. "Any place in particular we should go looking for you if you aren't there in time?" Shinobu says, "Hmm, I'm not sure exactly where we'll be. We'd best trump you once we know where the criminal scum are." Keitaro says, "You can probably find us with Pattern pretty easily." Beowulf nods. "True enough, though I was hoping to save it for a last resort." He smiles a bit. Keitaro thinks. "Well, I'll do my best to shield you when I call you." Beowulf nods. "Aeris ought to be able to help with that some, too." Beowulf says, "I'd like to keep use of powers down to a minimum, until we have a better idea what this construct can and can't sense, but we use what we have to." Shinobu nods. "A good idea. I've heard about what happened with Ebenscrux." Beowulf nods in return, looking pained. "That was a near disaster. Let's avoid any repeats." He manages to smile a bit and wink at her. Shinobu says, "Well, we're off, then. We'll see you at dawn's early light." Beowulf says, "Anything else you can think of? If not, good luck... and see you tomorrow morning." Beowulf heads to the library with Lily, giving the recruiting stations a wide berth. :) You reach the library. what all do you want to look up? Beowulf says, "OOC Let's start by looking for that article Kansas Jim mentioned. :) Keep an eye out to see if anyone's interested in folks doing research on Mobius. ^_^" You find an article all about Mobius' artificial sun. It's quite a feat of engineering, involving vast amounts of bogus physics. It also seems like a device that could very easily malfunction horribly. Beowulf asks, "OOC 'Bogus' as in really weird, or bogus as in 'they lied to the paper for security reasons'?" John says, "OOC As in really weird science that wouldn't work in most shadows :)" John says, "OOC It's pretty useful for getting a grip on how a lot of aspects of physics vary here." Beowulf asks, "OOC Ahhh. :) So the article feels genuine, I take it. And what are some of the 'horrible' ways in which it could malfunction?" John says, "OOC Well, it would be pretty easy for the 12,000 microfusion engines to basically spiral out of control, resulting in a blast that makes the best ICBMS today look like small potatoes" John says, "OOC or for the cooling system to break, causing it to overheat." John says, "OOC or for the Magnetic repulsors to fail, causing it to fall to the ground." Beowulf asks, "OOC OWWW. x.x Can I guess what the chances of are its destruction ripping a hole in reality for the Outsiders?" John says, "OOC IT's a lot more likely that the artificial sun would just melt large chunks of the shadow to fairly mundane slag if it malfunctioned horribly." Beowulf says, "OOC Hmmm. It's sounding like this isn't actually Mobius' construct, which is a bit of a surprise -- though it makes sense for him to make an obvious decoy." John nods OOC. Beowulf asks, "OOC Does anything in the research seem to suggest something that actually might be his construct?" Mobius seems to build goatloads of pyramids and puts obelisks all over creation bragging about his deeds. The massive rebuilding of Thebes would be a good place to hide a construct. You also find that he has several 'Reality Bomb' factories near Thebes, Cairo, and Alexandria Beowulf OOCly nods. No place in particular stands out as a possible hiding place, though? Beowulf asks, "OOC 'Reality bomb'... Sound like something Outsider-based?" John says, "OOC Not really, since you don't know how big it is or anything. He does have a big palace in Thebes, and you'd espect he might want to keep it near where he usually lives." John says, "OOC Could be, although it also might involve magical Shadow Molding with Conjuration" Beowulf OOCly nods. John says, "OOC As you'd guess these are the weapons Panopticon people mentioned that let him rewrite reality to suit his raids." Motoko wakes up. Beowulf says, "OOC Right." John says, "OOC The mention of Obelisks reminds you that one form of manifestation of the Construct was a very small obelisk; there might be some way to trace from the obelisks to the construct, if these obelisks are connected." Beowulf says, "OOC Right. :) " Beowulf asks, "OOC Hm. Based on what I know about my own Pattern grenades and shadow molding through conjured items, do I think setting off a few of these reality bombs will interfere with the construct's ability to mold the shadow to its liking?" Aerianne has arrived. Lian has arrived. John says, "OOC You think that if you reprogrammed the reality bombs, they might make a great way to interfere with the construct's own control." Beowulf OOCly nods. One more thing to put on the agenda. o.o Anything useful in the articles about security at the reality bomb factories? John says, "OOC The articles only note that the Pharoah's elite shocktroopers guard them." John says, "OOC And that they're not open to the public." Beowulf OOCly nods. Beowulf asks, "OOC Anything like a 'travellers' guide to Thebes'?" John says, "OOC Yes. You find lots of travellers guides to all sorts of cities." John says, "OOC Including maps, so you can find your way around." Beowulf OOCly nods. "What are we going to need to fake in the way of religious piety, given Kansas Jim's comments?" John says, "OOC Spending some time studying up on the Egyptian religion and maybe all putting on some Ankhs would help." John says, "OOC It won't be too hard to fake." Beowulf OOCly nods and does some quick cramming with Lily, enough to pass reasonable muster and show Keitaro and Shinobu how to do the same. Beowulf asks, "OOC Anything else to watch out for in Thebes?" John says, "OOC You probably will want to get some fake IDS" John says, "OOC And make sure any vehicles you conjure have appropriate license plates" Beowulf OOCly nods. "Anything special I should look out for making them, or would it be better to see if Keitaro and Shinobu can provide 'em? As they'd be dealing with the folks most likely to be good at 'fixing' paperwork." John says, "OOC Keitaroand Shinobu will probably grab you all some." Beowulf OOCly nods. What kind of picture of Mobius' military installations can he put together at this point? John says, "OOC Mobius seems to have a military base near every major city. Thebes has several, as it contains 'bridges' that connect to the other Nine Empires. There's rumors of secret desert bases as well, and there's one by the Valley of the Kings." Beowulf asks, "OOC Does the Valley of the Kings look like it has anything significant to warrent a military base?" John says, "OOC It's full of goatloads of tombs." John says, "OOC In theory, the base is there to provide quick response for troops to defend them." John says, "OOC That, and it has the Sphinx." John says, "OOC You notice the Sphinx has not lost its nose in this shadow." Beowulf OOCly raises an eyebrow. "Well, perhaps Napoleon's troops never made it this far... ^_^ What's Bey's tactical analysis of this 'in theory' justification for having the base there? Does it make sense that this is connected with Mobius' search for artificats in the tombs?" John says, "OOC You suspect it's connected for his search for artifacts." John says, "OOC It's also possible that Mobius may have repaired the Sphinx's nose :)" Beowulf OOCly nods. "What's there in the library about the other nine empires, specifically any reasons why Mobius went after those particular shadows? Does it sound like he's been picking 'em off to go artifact-hunting there?" >From the history books, Mobius seems to have deliberately picked higher-tech shadows than his own, where he could then use his reality bombs to cripple their high technology. Beowulf OOCly nods. Kanna OOCly says, "And now, bed." There's no clear indication of why those particular ones, though they seem to have each been distinct enough that they weren't too close toe ach other insahdow, though not hugely seperate either. Beowulf says, "OOC Sleep well, Phil." Aerianne has disconnected. Beowulf OOCly ponders... sounds like we've got a fairly good picture of the shadow's layout, military installations, the Thebes layout, the artificial sun, reality bombs... anything else Bey can think of that he could pull out of the library to contribute to his tactical analysis? John says, "OOC Not that you're going to find in a public library, as Mobius likely doesn't put maps of his bases there :)" Beowulf says, "OOC Right. :) Though he's not planning on needing maps of most of the bases, as he'll leave that part of things to the Lucasfolk he's hoping to recruit. ^_^" Beowulf says, "OOC Tentative plans I'm thinking of: Recruit Lucasfolk, 50-100 or so, outfit 'em with all 8-point items. Hijack a zep and as many Reality Bombs as we can grab." Tybalt falls asleep. John listens. Beowulf says, "OOC Turn Lucasfolk on strategic military bases in teams of 2-3, as a distraction and to pull away Mobius' forces. Send the zep in against the heart of Thebes, as another distraction. Take strike team in against the construct." Beowulf says, "OOC Setting off some reality bombs as we go to try and bolix up the construct's control of the shadow." John says, "OOC Sounds pretty good. You'll need to find the construct first, but it sounds like a good plan for getting to it." Beowulf asks, "OOC It seems like the big thing we still need is data on the construct and Mobius himself. Given that lack, how's the plan sound tactically?" Rod has connected. John says, "OOC You think you have a good plan." Beowulf OOCly nods. About what time is it? How long until we meet up with Shinobu and Keitaro? John says, "OOC You still have hours and hours until you meet them, as it's now about 11 PM" Beowulf OOCly nods, and tries to think of something useful to do in that time. This version of Cairo have an all-night bazaar, where he could pick up a few weird science artifacts? :) John says, "OOC Heh. The shops are pretty much closed up by now, unfortunately." John says, "OOC About all that's open right now are bars and brothels." Shizumaru has disconnected. Beowulf says, "OOC Neither of which is particularly interesting at the moment. :) Unless we can think of any more info to pump from folks in the bars." John says, "OOC Might be best to just grab a hotel room and get some sleep." Beowulf finds a hotel room with Lily for the night, giving appropriately false names to the hotel clerks. You find a room. You get a good night's sleep and wake without any trouble in the morning. Beowulf makes sure to get up early enough to meet the others on time, gets ready with Lily and heads over to the rendezvous spot. Shinobu and Keitaro show up; they're both now carrying Thompson submachineguns. Shinobu grins. "Hey, Uncle Beowulf. Did things go well with you?" Beowulf says, "Not too bad. Got a list of military bases to attack for disruption, got a map of Thebes, a fair amount of info on their artificial sun, things we'll need to do to blend in down there... stuff like that." Beowulf asks, "Did your... informants..." He grins. "...have any information on the Valley of the Kings?" Shinobu says, "Rumor has it that Mobius is trying to find some old Pharoah's tomb. No one knows why. And there's been some new gangs muscling in some of the cities; from the description it sounds like it could be some of Kanawa's people." Shinobu continues, "And he's apparently been melting down some of the things in the tombs for use in his bombs,t hen selling the rest of the artifacts on the black market." Beowulf blinks. "Hmmm. What kind of things is he selling?" Shinobu says, "All sorts of grave goods." "Caskets, sceptres, urns, all sorts of things." Beowulf nods. "How hard are these things to pick up?" He sighs. "I was hoping to make this a quick in-and-out strike, but it sounds like there's something important buried in the Valley of the Kings -- especially if folks from Kanawa are snooping around here." Shinobu says, "I'm inclined to think that whatever he's looking for won't matter once we beat him down." Shinobu continues, "How hard is it to get hold of these goods that are being sold off, you mean?" Beowulf smiles. "Point. Although if it's an Outsider artifact, we should probably take it out before Kanawa grabs it." Shinobu says, "Yes, but once Mobius is down, we can search at our leisure." Beowulf nods. "I was hoping the goods might be able to tell us something about where he's looking. Though you're probably right about searching at our leisure." Shinobu says, "Well, if you want to hit the black market, we could probably get some right now." Beowulf asks, "Good enough." He gestures at the tommyguns, grinning. "It seems like you two had some pretty good luck with our friends from the mafia. What all did you find of interest?" She says, "WEll, told you most of it already. I did get a lead on a bar where one of the Mystery Men apparently hangs out." She continues, "Place called 'Eskimo Joe's'." Beowulf nods. "We can check them out on the way out of town. Does the Mob cause Mobius much trouble, or have any useful knowledge about him?" "And apparently Mobius is negotiating with some mob leaders to see about them exporting their crime networks into the next Empire. Rumor has it, they'll be hitting a place called 'Mega-Tokyo' next." Beowulf raises an eyebrow. "Interesting. Does this have any relation to the Kanawa folks snooping around?" "Not as far as we could tell, but it might. Mega-Tokyo sounds like the sort of place Kanawa would like to take control of." Shizumaru has connected. Beowulf nods. "We'll need to pass this information along to Uncle Drake, then... and I think Kanna said she was going to work on the Kanawa folks pretty soon." Beowulf asks, "Any of them have much useful information on Mobius himself? His abilities and skill level, and the like?" Shinobu nods. "A good idea. Ahh, Mobius. Basically, he seems to be a sort of 'Crazed Evil Mastermind' type, the sort who builds elaborate plans and giant devices to take over the world, then puts the heroes in deathtraps, from whih they escape, and then apparently dies in his own machine, only to return later with a hard to believe story about why he isn't dead." She continues, "A very brilliant mind, and some fighting skills, but not a grand master of it." Beowulf rolls his eyes. "Greaaat. Lots of mental skills, but at least it sounds like you and I would be able to fight him effectively person-to-person, if it comes to that... assuming Lily and Keitaro would be able to use their mental skills to keep him off our backs in that respect." She says, "He has a reputation as being virtually unkillable. Somehow, he always comes back." Lily says, "Well, I'd have to test him, but I think Keitaro and I together should handle that end of things." Beowulf asks, "Hm. As if he were using puppet bodies to go out in the world?" She says, "Or possibly his construct can bring him back to life." Beowulf nods. Beowulf says, "Either way, it sounds like we'll have to deal with his construct to finish him off permanently." Lily nods. Shinobu says, "I think we should crash his artificial sun into it." Beowulf nods. "I thought about that, and it doesn't look like it'd be that hard to do if we can keep the construct from interfering too much..." He describes the reality bombs to her. "However, we'd need to do it from a goood safe distance, as that thing could wipe out half the shadow if it explodes." Shinobu Minor nods. "That's true. If it goes up, it's going to be ugly." Beowulf asks, "OOC In fact, what would I guess will happen to the sun when the construct is destroyed?" John says, "OOC The sun seems to be self-powered, so it's not clear if anything will happen" Beowulf OOCly nods. Beowulf says, "Now, if we could just take control of it and swoop it through the construct without blowing it up..." He grins. "Well, something to think about when we actually get a look at the situation in Thebes." Shinobu nods. "Exactly." Keitaro looks thoughtful. "If we got control of the artificial sun, I could probably use trump gates to direct its heat and flame inside the construct." Beowulf ooohs. "That's a very nice idea. And if you could put Aeris' trump font power behind that, things could get *really* ugly for them." Beowulf says, "Just so long as the construct doesn't do something like switching off Trump. Hopefully, that's something setting off a few reality bombs would help with." Beowulf taps his chin. "Your friends know much of anything else of use?" Keitaro nods. Shinobu says, "That's about all I got that would be much use, I think." She continues, "Unless we need bootleg liquor for something, anyway." Beowulf chuckles. "No, I don't think so. Probabyly out to see if we can pick up a few of those artifacts, then, and take as wing by Eskimo Joe's and try and find us a Mystery man." Shinobu nods. "Sounds good to me." John says, "OOC And we cut here, since you said you wanted to stop around 11" Beowulf OOCly nods. "ANd since I wasw starting ty typo, that also says it's time to call a cut. :)" Travis Butler tbutler@birch.net ...Cats are the proof of a higher purpose to the universe.