GM Sappy's Infiltrators - Dirty War

Game Master Sapiens

Hearing movement Ada started awake, almost accidentally bumping her head on the event horizon of the universe. Panicking she checked her watch and saw she had hours until the end of the world.

Something about mirrors allowed a properly charged electric field to entangle photons in such a way as to dramatically lower the metaspace potential between two universes, so long as the second universe was sufficiently small. It made for a wonderful place to camp securely, but the catch was that small universes could have irritating low physical constants, and a nasty tendency to evaporate in hours.

"I'll be out in a bit!" she called grumpily, then set about the laborious task of preparing her effects.

Ada looked up from her notes and called out from the flyspecked mirror she'd found on a dresser.

You aren't exactly sure where to find musicians. There are at least a couple of orchestras in the city, but the two most well-known theaters are the Rudolfinum, now Heydrich's headquarters, and the State Opera, currently contaminated by the necromantic invocations being slung around.
Perhaps you can find music shops or woodworkers who will point you in the correct direction.

Diplomacy to Gather Information if you search actively, Knowledge(local) to remember.

Knowledge (Local): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9

Katherine yawned sleepily, scrunching her toes up for a moment. "I'm afraid I can't remember much about the local music scene. I haven't been in town too long."

"Nor have I." Tomasz replies. "Perhaps it would be best to ask the old rabbi before we seek out an instrument shop or similar - unless the rest of you have seen some thing."

The first hours of the morning pass quietly, and the drizzle subsides, leaving the sky overcast.

The road to the Jewish hideout is easy to find with Titus and Leo to guide you. But when you arrive you find the door to be closed. Once you easily pick the old lock, you only find empty catacombs, devoid of life, goods and signs of struggle.

"On the one hand, this thing makes sense. On the other, how annoying." Tomasz grumbled. "A woodworking or instrument shop I would suppose is our best next option - though cautious we must be. This piece, it is rare and Heydrich mayhaps has people listening for it. Shall we split up?"

If the others are assenting, Tomasz sets off down the street. Should he see a likely local he will stop them to ask for directions.

"Can't say I'm surprised people would want to leave." Titus mused. "I can probably track them down if you want to find them. Otherwise...?"

"Nothing is simple or easy, but we shall see what can be done." Katherine moved off to see what she could find.

Gather Information: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (3) + 12 = 15
Silver Toungue Gather Information: 1d20 + 12 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 12 + 4 = 31

"I think it would be best for us to not track them. Trust would not be endeared if we were to find them like that, most especially arriving with new faces. No, best I think to let them be. If they wish to be found they will find us."

It takes Katherine a couple of hours to track down a skilled violinist. Do you others have plans in the meantime?

As he world slowly evaporates, Ada prepares, luxuriating in the absence of migraine. By the time she exits the mirror-ward, many of her companions are gone.

Walking to the room where the ward is kept, she studies it again. "Anyone here?" she calls "I need someone to check my reasoning."

"Alright..." she starts, talking to herself as much as the room, and taking notes. "A ward with a key, and a safety. The safety incinerates the paper with a short circuit, and lays a geas over the mind of the person applying the key. That means whoever uses the key needs to be sure they can reliably apply it - or be willing to face the consequences."

"The incineration may be something that can be overcome by reinforcing the paper. Connecting anything to the ward is likely to trigger the ward prematurely."

"The geas may be possible to redirect, or block. The easiest way would be to use a disposable mind to absorb the effect. That suggests that the key is something a disposable or blocked mind could not employ. That suggests the key is somehow encoded in the mind."

Ada nods to herself.
"Whatever this is, it was not destroyed. If it has been received, it has probably been read, and then kept. Either it is; stored for posterity, stored for sentimentality, the person involved lacks the ability to memorise, the information itself is too risky to allow someone to remember it, or the information may need to be passed on to a subsequent individual."

"I doubt sentimentality - more likely to be a trophy. Very likely the reader would have the ability to memorise anything but an extensive quantity of data. I'd discount those two. Both posterity, and subsequent use are similar enough to be essentially the same from design purposes. If the information is too dangerous to allow storing it in the memory of someone trusted with the key, then there would likely be even more security."

This raises a nasty thought "Does anyone know if they know it is gone? If so we should be keeping this in a radiation shielded faraday cage. If our ward protecting it should flicker, they could be on us."

Ada turns back to the topic at hand. "Alright. If this is designed to hold information that can not be stored in even a geas protected neural structure..." she trails off "I'm not sure even the Ahnenerbe is that level of paranoid."

"So; designed for someone else to access the data. Assuming so, the key must be describable. It also presumably requires exposing a neural structure that can be affected by the geas. That suggests some sort of patterns need to be set up, and set up in a reliable way. Emotions are possible, but would need to be universal enough that an unknown later reader could reliably feel them from a description, while still being specific enough that other sentients would not have them."

"That fits with the Oath - the Reich is very good at reinforcing that with loyalty. Anyone insufficiently indoctrinated to generate that on demand is probably not someone you want reading it."

"The music as well. That's less likely to be emotional - different people have different emotional responses, and even the same individual's emotional responses are likely to vary. It could be aimed at a different area of information processing in the target."

Ada nods at the thought "The more degrees of orthogonality, the harder it'll be to fool the ward with a synthetic thought structure."

She continues "So, given music is highly encoded information..." Ada had little love for music, and her broken recorder had been no accident "That suggests either listening or playing. Likely a violin, given the target. Violin playing is a rare skill that cannot be reliably achieved by adults without the use of neural restructuring that would likely tamper with results. Listening is something anyone not deaf could do. That suggests listening. Listening to a specific piece of music while taking the Oath?"

"The paradox... potentially aimed at a third area? Limits the pool of potential applicants - but Formal Logic can be taught relatively quickly, and most members of the Ahnenerbe would have the basics - and a proxy mind likely wouldn't. Contemplating paradoxes involves the logical portion of the mind. Everyone thinks differently, though. Working through proving or disproving a paradox... formal logic. Different brains should function similarly if going through the same steps of using formal logic. That suggests a formal logic of paradox - or something involving philosophy and paradox. Given Germans pride in their superiority, almost certainly something set down by one of their own."

"So: Katherine is out finding us a tame musician. She claims she can deal with the 'heartfelt' part of the oath, if needed. That leaves the Paradox. While Richard said he had one, if it is thinking about the formal logic we need to make sure we think about it the right way." She starts "Probably..." she adds "In German."

@Sappy: not sure what rolls to make to evaluate her reasoning, and see how well she is puzzling this out. I'm thinking that reading up on the philosophy of paradox might be the next step.

"I do wonder - the music, perhaps it is less a key and more a clue? Heydrich, he is scheduled to be performing on the 16th, playing the violin. Mayhaps a copy of the schedule we can find?" Tomasz asks. "That, too, would perhaps explain the oath, if such a performance may beguile the minds of its listeners. The old tales, they are filled of such things. As to your formal logic posit..." Tomasz shrugs/ "I am afraid I know little. Logic is not a popular learning topic, those who would are likely rare. Especially in these war-torn times. Our best bet, perhaps, would be the city's college."

Ada excuses herself.
"I'm off to try to beg, borrow, buy or - if I have to - steal a book on formal logic. Given the Karolinum has been closed, I suspect I'll have to find a German mathematics department to ransack."

She waits long enough for anyone else who wishes to accompany her to get ready, and then leaves.

She's careful to leave by a winding route, walking far enough to cross the Vltava, and ground herself on the far side. That done she beings a slow tour of academies searching for a book on paradoxes by a German mathematician or philosopher.

apologies if I got historical facts wrong - chalk it up to Ada's lack of knowledge

Tomasz nods, and will go with her if only because this gives him the opportunity to learn something new. "This thought-train, of holding in the head a paradox - it is good, I think, though I do not understand how one could do such a thing. Either something is, or it is not. Even the most creative of abstract mathematics agree on this, else all things that declare 'I am' would be proving false."

His accent degenerated as he spoke, his grammar likewise, but that was to be expected when toothing through a problem. True, some things that seemed like not anything at all - emotions, the past, the weight of the human gaze - were in fact things of great importance, but such was just a matter of proving something-ness or disproving nothingness. And true that some things were, in fact, many things at once until they, like a butterfly, could be pinned down, but something that is many things is still something.

It was like the riddle they had used to tease new students, what was it? The set that contains all sets that do not contain themselves? But, even this paradox was false. It had been solved years ago.

Titus raised a hand as Ada spoke. "I can also explain the basics on formal logic, maybe enough to help. You use it a lot in my line of work to cobble together enough scraps of information to make a plausible theory and move forward from there. Lemme tell ya, detective work is pretty low on facts sometimes, so we need all the help we can get."

The ancient astronomical clock in Old Town Square marks the hour 19:30 as you assembly in your unassuming hotel chambers. With you is a thin man carrying a violin case, who introduced himself as Stefan Michálek, second violin of the Czech Philharmonic. He looks around, clearly puzzled by why people who would hire a professional musician for an impromptu entertainment stay in such a lowly environment, but after his compensation is exchanged, he appears to be content with the situation.
"Ladies and gentlemen, with your permission I will now play some soloist excerpts from Ludwig van Beethoven's Concerto in D Minor."

Tomasz leans over and whispers to Katherine, "The music, is that what it was? The D Minor Concerto?"

Of course, now that the man was beginning to play things could start getting dangerous. He wasn't armed, but Tomasz did have a variety of his little mechanical gadgets secreted about his person and as the violinist raised his bow he reached a hand into his pocket to pre-emptively grasp one.

"Yes," Katherine responded with a nod. She hoped the others were ready for whatever the music revealed. She was waiting to soothe the man's mind so he wouldn't see whatever was about to happen, and to help the others meet the criteria as needed.

Ada whispers "I can grant the insight we gathered on paradoxes to Richard, and grant him a measure of protection. Katherine, if you can grant him a mind twisted enough to believe the oath - temporarily - I will stand by to disrupt any energies if it starts to go wrong." she looks doubtful "Last chance to back out, Richard."
'I'm not sure I'd go through with it, at this point.'

Richard is silent for a moment, staring straight ahead at the violinist. He seems to be whispering along with it, putting words to a wordless song. He then turns to Ada and his eyes widen while his lips stretch into a manic grin, ”You think I would back out? You think I would wish to save my mind from shattering into a million and one shards of glass? My dear, my mind is broken already. Even if it is the final nail in the coffin, know that I give myself willingly. My manservant Alastair holds the deed to my estate. If I perish, contact him. I am ready.”

Looking at Richard with mild concern, but using magecraft came with a price. The damage it did to one's mind was reason for enough for the...quirks...that many spellcasters showed. Richard seemed to be no exception to this, but so long as he could the parts of his mind together for the mission, it would be fine. "When the time is right, I shall."

Michálek carefully checks the tuning of his violin, then the bow touches the string and the room is flooded with the majestic notes written by Beethoven. The notes embody the transition between the composer's classicality and the approaching Romanticism, with passion pushing through the bars of a formal style. In the span of no more than fifteen minutes, he reaches a passage that sounds familiar to you, from your prodding and pushing at the ward.

Suddenly, in the back of your head you feel a tension, like the drone of a large amount of static electricity in the air. The musician makes a choked sound and grimaces in pain, but his arms and fingers lock in and he carries on playing flawlessly, if slightly more mechanically.

"I believe I have a ritual to conduct, and a few many-angled ones to speak with. There are no paradoxes like those utterly inimical to our very minds."

Tomasz winces at the burrowing, twisting in his skull but nods at Richard. "We stand ready when you are."

In fact, Tomasz stood ready to do several things, including wall Richard off from reality and blow them all to Kingdom Come, but there was no need to scare the violinist. Any sensible ritualist would have plans to do the same.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (4) + 13 = 17

Noticing the other man's tension, Titus put a hand on Tomasz' shoulder. "Calmly, now, friend." he said. "I specialize in sealing and banishing things that shouldn't be. If it gets out of control, just hold it off long enough for me to pierce its defenses."

"It may be prudent for you all to stay back. If you are particularly faint of heart, perhaps look away as well. I cannot guarantee this will end well."

Once it's made sure the violinist cannot see him, Richard sets about his preparations. He begins with a pentacle, drawn in an odd silvery chalk with candles at each point. Marking in cuneiform are drawn at each intersection, referencing the stars, madness, and ever more esoteric and contradictory concepts. To finish he produces a silver tube from his pocket and pours a circle of salt around the pentagram. From his pocket, he produces the Stone. He stares at it for a moment, whispering odd half-words. He then places it at the center of the circle. He rummages in his things for a few minutes before producing an absurdly large scroll, layers upon layers of parchment marked with runes, cuneiform, and esoteric diagrams. He shuffles through the scroll before arriving at the largest and most impressive diagram, before nodding slightly and kneeling in the center of the circle.

He then begins to chant in Sumerian, choppily at first but morphing into a rhythmic drone.

Would Lore (Blasphemous Rites) be a relevant skill check here? Also, I'm using a tube of abjurant salt, which prevents summoned evil entities from crossing it, and the casting of contact entity II from my scroll.

Katherine stood ready, for the moment when the conviction was needed.

I'll use Greater Inception when it's the right time. Since it doesn't erase the memories of not being a Nazi it should be easier to undo, but powerful enough to do the job.

Ada lounges on the edge of a nearby sofa faking insouciant ease, but the unblinking gaze she runs over the sigils as she mentally checks Richard's preparations gives lie to her apparent confidence.

Richard snaps a precious receptacle of healing energy over his knee, releasing the stored, dense information into entropy. A gibbering din echoes as the message is received, coming from both the warded paper and the diagram being traced, dense with words your brain refuses to understand because of their sheer impossibility.

A Class 3 abomination, highly sentient, slams against the ward built over Richard's borderline psychotic determination to know. The assault likely cost him five years of lifespan, but as it is repelled there is a piece of knowledge stolen from the creature. It is made of such stuff as nightmares are made of, and will evaporate soon, but it's a paradox of a strength human minds can't comprehend. It's a fundamental flaw in a perfect system, it's a stain on the fabric of the multiverse. It reeks of fundamental corruption in everything that could possibly be, a wrongness at the quantum level.
It's so terribly true and so eminently false to kill an unprotected human.
Richard opens his mouth, and you all blank out for a thousand years, coming back into conscience five seconds afterwards, with ringing ears an cloudy eyes. Your minds have no memory of what was said, and you are glad of it.

A hunger comes from the sheet of paper, an explosive tension yearning for the last piece of the ward. You are stretching the borders of the ward by this roundabout way of activation.

His eyes glazed over, Michálek goes over the passage. And over. And over. And over.

Richard, you only take 2 Wisdom damage as fortune favors the bold.

Blinking the darkness from her eyes, Katherine glanced over at the compelled violinist. She was certainly going to have to spend some power to chance his memories. Eyes flicking back, she asked, "Has the ward been broken?"

"The wordth. Thay the wordth." Ada grunts, blood running freely from her mouth where her teeth drove through her tongue. 'I don't know how Richard stands it, even out here it was bad enough my safeguards have started engaging.'

When the party comes to, they see Richard at the center of the circle. His hair is dishevelled, and the shattered remains of his wand sit contorted into angles that are uncomfortable to look at. His eyes are wide and frantic, and a painfully wide grin is plastered on his face. He mutters, ”We are nearly there...”

With that, he springs to his feet before raising his arm and straightening his hand in the salute of their enemy before declaiming in German, ”I pledge allegiance to the Reich and the Führer, to the people of Germany, to the righteous cause of the nation, may it last a thousand years!”

The oath was said, all that could be done was wait.

GM, that was an awesome post you made. Even though fortune favors the bold, I’m down to a six wisdom. Fortunately I don’t use it for much.

Tomasz blinked, recovering. Silently he stepped through the diagnostic routine he'd been taught so long ago, checking for any damage to his wards or geasa.

Ach, śpij, kochanie,
jesli gwiazdke z nieba chcesz - dostaniesz.
Wszystkie dzieci, nawet źle,
pogrążone są we śnie,
a ty jedna tylko nie.

It's not the words, it's the rythm and he feels it thrum and resonate with the magic laid on him. Nothing broken. Good. That done, he turns his belated and slightly terrified attention to matters at hand. He'd been present at several summonings before, but nothing quite like this.

Ada tenses, the command words to trigger the pre-prepared algorithm thick on her savaged tongue.

Katherine's spell twists Richard's thoughts, giving him fake memories of loyalty. Her identification routine prevents the Laundry ward to interpret this as disloyalty, and when the man makes his pledge, he deeply believes it.
For all the effort that it took to achieve it, the ward releasing its information is rather low-key. The tension releases, the gibbering stops, and the writing of the paper takes on a new form for you, a more personal, hand-written missive.

Reinhardt,
allow me to start this letter by congratulating you on the excellent results of the Theresienstadt concert, casualties notwithstanding. Your binding and containment of the entity has been confirmed to be effective beyond what we could have obtained with any previous electrical diagram. I concur with your evaluations of the priorities, and once the thaumaturgical grounding has been better defined, I shall have you perform a larger-scale concert at the Mauthausen or Auschwitz-Birkenau sites. Obersturmbannführer Eichmann will provide you with logistical details at the appropriate time.
I have also sent you the ENIGMA machine you requested. If your theory is correct, it could prove to be an invaluable support to our operatives, but take care, as the self-feeding mechanism makes the algorithms borderline unstoppable excluding physical destruction of the machine.
Rest assured that the Führer has been informed of your contributions to the cause, if not of the details, and he is very satisfied with you. You will be granted the highest honors once the war is completed.
For the glory of the Reich,
Heinrich Himmler.

It's hard to imagine that such a letter would have been placed in the Castle archives on purpose. It sounds more likely that your possession of it is due to a clerical error.

Richard moves his hand to the knife on his hip and begins muttering in German.

With that, he begins frantically looking around the room.

Ada keeps her spell readied, despite the burning desire to read the letter. 'Still dangerous... if he turns on us. A knife wound is the least we can expect.'
"Ahem. Kathrina?" - fortune favoured her that the sentence could be said with a damaged tongue.

Noticing Richard's erratic behavior, Titus held up one hand, and a book was suddenly in it - not pulled out of anywhere, but present like it was always there, should have always been there, though it manifestly had not been. Fortunately, he was rather proficient in German, and it hadn't been hard to understand what was said. "Hold him down!" the investigator said as his book opened of its own accord, flipping pages until it suddenly stopped on one in particular. It flashed briefly, and then the air around the area changed, helping to prevent impossible travels in or out for quite some ways around.

Activating Plane Manipulator, which stops teleports and attempts to cross planes, including summoning things.