GM WhtKnt's GURPS Infinity Unlimited (Inactive)

Game Master WhtKnt

”Hong Chou, it is,” Thom says with a nod, choosing to ignore the escalating discussion on sexual taboos and broader philosophies. ”Ezekiel has some skill with horses and some woodland skills... we can say he’s your assistant, Smythe.”

”Anything else before we leave?”

Iban looks up from the suits, having already passed on three options.

"So was that a no to the mind link?" he looks around the room. "Should I have listed the benefits and drawbacks?"

"I am interested to know if I can connect to C'Deth's mind at all"

He turns back to the rack of clothes and goes back to checking the stitching.

Sir Humphrey ponders a moment. "In such case, please do excuse my hasty response, my dear.", he adds. "Though undoubtedly, we must continue this fascination discussion at a more convenient time.", he adds, glancing behind him to make sure everything is suitably civilised. Nodding at Thomas, he puffs out another bout of smoke. "Excellent. I do not believe I've forgotten anything, though surely it couldn't hurt to check.", he says, before hastily taking out a tablet from his coat's pocket. "A-ha!", he blurts out.

The English gentleman gives his moustache a pat as the smaller man brings up matters of the mind. "Unless, of course, it would be necessary, I believe that a man's mind is their most private of parlours. As such, unless no unwilling, bah, transference of thoughts is possible with your witchcraft, I am afraid I must refuse." His tone, while polite, is stern.

”Uh, yeah, you can brief us further on the mindlink after we jump. We won’t be able to drive any vehicles there, so we’ll have time while we’re walking, or riding carriages, to evaluate whether we want to use it and when,” Thom replies. Observing how Iban continues to look over the small selection of suits, he adds, ”Smythe, why don’t you pick an outfit for your steward; it’ll be a little bit of practice for your covers...”

"If it is witchcraft that you practice than I see no particular reason to fear it," says Ezekiel to Iban. "But I suspect that it is not, is it? I am willing to peel back the veil of my mind, if you are willing to gaze therein."

"Sir Humphrey, your groom is ready to assist," he says, bowing in Sir Humphrey's direction upon hearing Thom's suggestion.

Iban, you and I should be linked, even if the rest aren't Amos says as he retrieves a side arm and some more ammo for both his weapons.

Sir Humphrey gives a frown at Ezekiel, but chooses to say nothing. "Hm, yes.", he nods at Thom, before moving to loom behind IBAN. "This apparel is what I'd judge as suitable, pardon the pun.", he says in a moment. "No man of stature would allow his servant to be treated unkindly, or to be dressed in ruffled clothing." Taking two well-tailored, if simple suits, he gives one to the man. "And by all means, man, you needn't address me in such a manner in here!", he adds, picking up a sizeable cane for himself.

Standing back to let the others dress themselves, he shakes his head. "Bah! If I could share this particular situation to the Club!" Thudding twice with the cane, he pulls out a pocket watch from his coat, and nervously steps from foot to foot. Haste is prudent., he thinks.

Mei stands at the ready all thoughts of jest behind as she prepares for the mission. Another opportunity to step into the rush of the job. time waits for no one. Let us go. Mei says in her raspy purr.

Thom looks dubiously at Mei for a moment. ”Are you saying ‘let us go’ to private instruction right now, or to the mission?”

ooc, I’m assuming that you (Mei) were ignoring Thom’s answer to your teasing but ic what you said just lined up a little too well with what he said, lol.

Iban walks over to Amos places two fingers of his right hand on Amos’s left temple and closes his eyes for a moment.
::I have aligned your pathways with mine, I should be able to communicate with you from anywhere in the same quanta, full disclosure it will also allow me to read your thoughts. However I would not do that without authorization.::

He heads over and begins changing into the suit that the Brit had selected.

::Roger::

who says Mei wasn't teasing back?

Once loaded into the conveyor, the coordinates are set and the projector activated. There is a brief moment of disorientation as the world seems to spin at high speed around you, then your vision clears and your head stops spinning. The readout indicates that you have arrived at the designated date of September 28, 1888, local time 1900 hours.

Did we bring one of the conveyor vehicles or did we use the conveyor platform? If the former, I assume we're outside of the city and will have to hide it before heading in? Or, if the latter, how do we get back? Will we just get retrieved from wherever we are when they hit some recall button, or do we have to be at an appointed place at an appointed time to get brought home? Or do we have a device to send ourselves home, like a very limited portable conveyor?

"Everyone alright?" Thom asks as he quickly looks over his squadmates after their jump.

C walks around, checking everyone's pupil dialation, checking heart beats, and looking for any signs of neural disruption.

When done, she makes sure Thom has the dart pistol that's been disguised to look period appropriate. "Remember, only use this if I'm unable to deal with it myself, if I'm in a jail cell, or tied to a chair or something." She opens the breach weapon, and shows him the darts. "G if you need me to be able to take out multiple killers at once at close range or make people terrified and more likely to run away. R if you need me to be able to get out of something entangling, or escape through very small openings. P if you need me to render someone unconscious stealthfully or escape through small openings. H if you need me to pass for a local animal that won't make the populace afraid. A will return me to human form if I'm not in human form."

Thom raises an eyebrow at C's words, and nods in understanding.

I knew from her file that she could change forms, but thinking practically about it now is something else... if anyone sees her change we'll almost certainly have to kill them... I wonder what it looks like when she changes... it's so weird that the face, and now body, I've always associated with her aren't really hers... I wonder what she looks like in her own form...

"How long does your transformation take?" he asks.

Conveyor, so you will need to hide the evidence, as it were.

@Thom, we have MiB flashy memory things, so we don't have to kill people, just erase their memories.

She shrugs. "Initially, between 8 and 12 seconds. However, once the initial change is complete, often there's a period of adjusting the appearance, as my initial appearance is based on the baseline DNA. For example, if I bit you and changed into you, I'd look very much like you, but not exactly. So I'd need another few seconds to adjust to either duplicate your appearance, or alter mine to stop looking like your brother."

Mei looks around before saying all the while looking for a way to hide the conveyor.

given a moment I can make all of us look like anything I would like assuming this line has some magic Mei says simply knowing her only limit is magical presence and imagination.

"Please do not, in my case. Your magic would negate my own ability to change." She says, her eyes turning solid red for a few seconds before changing to a bright jade green, by way of example. "However, if you can hide the conveyance, that would be very good."

"If the tides of magic are low on this world, than this creature can offer an alternative," says Ezekiel. "I have some experience with needing to hide valuables from prying eyes; I can attempt to hide the conveyor with the materials that we have at hand. However, the conveyor is quite cumbersome in its size; I can make no guarantees that it will go unnoticed."

Note to self, develop post-trasition action plans. I didn't realize we were this out of touch.
He addresses Thom, Sir, while you guys take care of that I'm going to do a little scouting around. With permission, Amos checks his weapon and melts into the surrounding terrain like so much vapor.

"I believe there's camo netting in the conveyor's standard equipment, for just this need." C says, having read the manual. "Unless someone took it out of course."

I don't see an MiB-style 'flashy thing' on the equipment list at all... is the 'eraser ampules' and hypo-spray a memory wipe tool? Also, I don't see camo netting on the list... was that mentioned in another post?

"Amos, yes," Thom answers, "run a sweep about a hundred yards out, and then look for a position with good sight lines to keep a watch from."

I don't remember seeing camo netting on the supply-list... I could have overlooked it, or forgotten about it with all the distractions this morning...

"C... or, Chou- we should start using your cover... why don't you see if you can find that netting. In the meantime, Ezekiel, see what natural materials you can find to aid in the hiding. Mei, if you did cloak the conveyor with magic how long would that last?"

Just the player improvising, since camo netting is a no brainer for this type of stuff, and I'm sure the GM would have listed it had he thought of it Yeah, the eraser empules. But I figured 'MiB flashy thingies' would convey the concept better as far as why we don't need to kill anyone

The netting is fine. It's something that would make perfect sense to have on hand. Yes, the eraser is the mind-wipe drug. It removes the short-term memory. It is both a sedative and anamnestic. The victim awakens with no memory of the previous hour or so. Note that agents must account for every dose used.

Also note, the eraser likely only works on actual humans, shape changers like C, or non-human things like dwarfs and elves, it may not work on?

Maybe not. I don't know (heh heh), you'll just have to experiment.

what would the role be to place a permanent illusion powerful enough to hide the conveyor here from sight?

Sir Humphrey twirls his moustache, nods approvingly as he looks around. "Fascinating! I do quite wonder how London would've thrived without the stabilising economical influence of the western colonies.", he voices enthusiastically. "I would heartily recommend that as soon as you are quite finished with your application of practical subterfuge, we find ourselves suitable means of locomotion.", he clears his throat.

"I do not believe it would simply do for six individuals of our calibre to walk towards the centre of London, through its burroughs? This, or perhaps finding out way to the nearest train station may be sufficient."

Iban nods, "I shall attempt to ascertain our current relative location."

He walks calmly towards the nearest sign of habitation. He reaches out to Amos with his telesending as he walks.
:Mr Anders I am heading to question some locals to determine our present location:

Amos sends back, :It would be ideal to get some kind of address from a building or overhear someone mention our location. Only contact someone directly if absolutely necessary. Strangers with odd accents asking where they are tend to draw unwanted attention.:

@Mei: With magic, it isn't so much how you roll, but more about how much power you spend. To permanently cover the conveyor with an Illusion Shell would cost 400! The benefit is that so long as the illusion is the correct size and shape, the illusion cannot be disbelieved.

Another option would be to make it invisible, but if the Invisibility is to be made permanent, it requires enchantment, which is a whole other ball of wax! Enchantment is both time-consuming and costly.

Maybe I'm miss-reading the rules? But a simple 1 yard radius 4 yard high (cylinder 2 yards across and 4 yards high) simple illusion would take 1 fatigue point to cast, and 0 to maintain. How big is the conveyance? Would she need to cast two illusions to cover it? The second casting would be harder while maintaining the main one. I don't think she wants to permanently cover it, just put up an illusion to hide it for now. How high is the mana here? None, low, average, high, very high?

:My accent is not odd, at least not where I come from: he smiles, :I can pluck and address from one of their heads if I can not find it posted:

It's about the size of a medium school bus. I was looking at Illusion Shell (Magic, p. 96), which is cost 2 for objects larger than hand-sized. However, it only lasts 1 minute unless you maintain it. To make it permanent is 200 times the base cost (so, 400). That isn't the only way to disguise it, but it is probably the most effective.

Simple Illusion works. The only problem there is that anyone who touches or accidentally bumps into the conveyor is going to dispel the illusion. Granted, this isn't terribly likely, but still, the chance is there.

Complex Illusion is another option, at a cost of 2 to cast, 1 to maintain, and it isn't immediately dispelled by touch.

I was mistakenly thinking that the mage had to be present to maintain a spell, but this is not the case, so that's why I was focusing on something permanent.

Mei will concentrate and create a complex illusion of an empty alley where the conveyor is and then dusts her hands saying to the group there we go, all hidden

Mei will only be able to maintain it for 10 minutes before she passes out. That's why I suggested simple illusions, even two of them take 0 fatigue to maintain. It's just harder to cast the second than the first. Maintaining two simple illusions she can do without burning fatigue. But Complex, unless this is a High Mana zone, she'll run out of mana (fatigue) in 10 minutes

Mmmm. Salient point.

Could we please get some kind of description of where we actually are? Some of us are operating as if we're in some bit of wilderness out of sight of any settlement, others like there's a town very nearby, and still others as though were in an out of the way part of the city... I think a little more context for our location and what's going on around us would help us get our act together?

ok please do two simple illusions then I will catch on

Could we please get some kind of description of where we actually are? Some of us are operating as if we're in some bit of wilderness out of sight of any settlement, others like there's a town very nearby, and still others as though were in an out of the way part of the city... I think a little more context for our location and what's going on around us would help us get our act together?

Please?

I assumed we were in the woods outside town, because the original briefing said we'd be dropped off in the wilderness outside town. In 1880, there was a lot of forest outside London

You are outside of London in a wooded area where you can find plenty of space to hide the conveyor. You are about a half-mile from the north-eastern edge of the city. A road about 100 yards from where you are standing runs into the city proper. This puts you roughly 7 miles from Whitechapel.

That's super helpful, thank you.

"Iban," Thom calls as the psychic begins to wander off, "we're too far out for that to be practical. Plus, I have the coordinates right here..."

Quickly consulting the map on his palmtop, he continues, "there's a road just beyond those trees over there that will take us right into London; we're about 7 miles from Whitechapel right now."

As Ezekiel finishes his natural camouflaging of the conveyor, and Mei finalizes the illusions that supplement it, he sorts some appropriate currency out of the hodgepodge of money in conveyor. "This map doesn't seem to show train stations but once we hit the edge of the city we can look for signs of one... we may have to be careful about what we ask though, I don't know how developed the rail technology is in this timeline."

"Well, it looks like everyone's ready, right? Iban, signal Anders to rendezvous with us on the road. And, have him leave himself some kind of sign for finding the way back to the conveyor... I marked it on my palmtop map, but we better have an old-fashioned backup in case something goes sideways. Once we get Anders at the road, we'll head left and walk until we hit the city or something comes up."

Memory, 14: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 5, 6) = 14

C looks around, and nods. "I do not think I will get lost. I always remember where I've been." Photographic Memory

C takes up her period luggage, and begins walking toward the road. She looks from Thom to Mei. "I do not think I would make a good research assistant. Instead, I suggest that I am your physician, from Hong Kong, and ministering to you for a chronic health condition you have. I suggest weak lungs, which would be known as COPD where you are from, they are common and not contagious. You should have enough cash to make it obvious you are a wealthy inventor, to cover your having a personal physician and a mistress of Ms. Mei's obvious expense." She takes a bag out of her pack, and opens it, selecting a small bottle. "I can give you an injection that will make it mildly difficult to breath. You will wheeze, but otherwise only have trouble if you need to run. I can counteract it with another shot later."

Physician 14-: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 3, 6) = 13 Made it by one

Iban stops at Thom's order and moves out of the way for the camouflage team.

:Mr. Anders, once you have completed your reconnaissance Mr. Andrews has requested that you meet us at the road, and he has requested you to leave some covert marking you can recognize so that we can find this location again.:

"Message sent sir."

”Uh, that’s not necessary,” Thom insists, holding up a hand to stop C before she injects him with anything. ”I don’t need real symptoms, we’ll just tell people my humors are off. Their medical knowledge will be pretty limited.”

C shrugs. "If you insist, however, I do not believe your acting skills are sufficient to pull off a fake condition." She considers Thom for a moment, and then nods. "I am certain that your acting skills are not sufficient. You still look like a military man in an illfitting suit who keeps reaching for his pistol and military cap."

Acting 14-: 3d6 ⇒ (1, 6, 3) = 10 Margin of Success 4

C's entire demeanor changes, her stance becomes rigid, her eyes narrow, and she steps closer to Thom. "Attention, soldier! Eyes Front! Square those shoulders!" She growls, and Thom has memories of basic training as she sounds just like a drill instructor.

Thom looks with bemusement at C's little display. With a dismissive chuckle he answers, ”Well, if anyone asks why I don’t seem to have any symptoms I’ll just tell them it’s because you’re doing your job...”