Rata Mall - Bank - Phase 4

[groza529]

(and look confused)

[CaptainMeme]

Calmly shoot the large individual

[ambic]

While Johannes burbles incoherently, Jia calmy pulls out a gun and aims it

Original Roll String: 1d100 (STATIC)

1 100-Sided Dice: (13) = 13

1-60 = Hit
61-100 = Miss

[Primate]

Continue Hiding

[ambic]

The gun fires a green laser, gradually getting wider as it travels through the air. It hits the enemy guard full, vaporizing almost all of him. Most of the crowbar goes with it, and anything he was carrying. There are momentary small bursts of energy in the air around him as everyone looks on. All there is left is less than half a crowbar, the guards feet (complete with shoes) and pretty much nothing else. A small fine powder is settling onto the floor.

[CaptainMeme]

"Alright, both of you, roll your sleeves up and show me the underside of your upper right arm. I'm not the best shot with this thing but I'm good enough that you don't want to risk it, trust me."

[Primate]

*Harry stands up from behind the counter, visibly shivering.*

"I don't want any trouble from you and your kind, I don't mean any harm. please don't hurt me."

*He lays his cane on the counter, takes his jacket off, unbuttons his shirt's right sleeve and pulls it up to the shoulder, and raises his arm to the ceiling, showing the underside.*

"What do you want? Why did you do this to us?"

[Primate]

"Oh god oh god oh god, why is this happening to me."

*He lays his cane on the counter, takes his jacket off, unbuttons his shirt's right sleeve and pulls it up to the shoulder, and raises his arm to the ceiling, showing the underside.*

(That was a command, I am doing that, sorry)

[CaptainMeme]

Inspect Harry's arm

[CaptainMeme]

(from this distance)

[CaptainMeme]

Nods and turns to groza, still keeping the gun ready to fire if necessary

"Now you."

[groza529]

"Jesus! What is that thing? Fine, of course!"

Removes jacket, rolls up sleeve, and shows arm to Jia

"I don't know quite what you're looking for, but I'm quite certain I don't have it!"

[CaptainMeme]

Inspect Johannes' arm

[ambic]

Johannes shows his arm, in the same way that Harry did moments earlier

[CaptainMeme]

"Okay, you're both clean. I am not here to harm you, and regardless of my 'kind', which is none of your concern and in my eyes has no bearing on the situation, I believe our interests will align. It's a relief to finally be able to talk without that ridiculous persona."

Puts the gun away

.

"There is a person here of unknown identity who is a member of the Augmentation League. The AL is essentially a hivemind - they will drug a person, insert a mind-control chip, and from then on that person is entirely under the control of the leader of that hivemind. The organisation I work for was created to attempt to destroy them, but as you can imagine it's incredibly difficult to cull a population that grows exponentially.

"There are three things we know about the League. Their drones retain no memories from before they became a drone, so they can be caught out on knowledge. Their drones carry many syringes and chips with them and all new drones will be given some of these, so they can be identified by going through their bags. And finally, the mind-control chips leave a faint but distinctive green glow under the right arm, so they can also be identified this way.

"My objective is to hunt down and destroy each and every AL drone in this institution. Are the two of you willing to aid me in this? I do not expect you to attack any other individuals yourselves, but keeping yourselves safe and attempting to provide me with information would be useful to both yourselves and I, I believe."

[CaptainMeme]

"And should keeping your minds intact not be enough of a reward in and of itself, I am sure we can come to some agreement around lending my aid towards completing your own objectives, should you have any."

[groza529]

"That sounds preposterous." Johannes rebuttoned his clothing, then looked at the smoking pair of feet. "And yet... I have no explanation for what I've just seen. Even so... I don't suppose you have any evidence of this 'Augmentation League'? I don't relish the sort of witch hunt that would lead to us accusing one another for you to exterminate."
Johannes paced back and forth. "Supposing I do believe you, knowing a bit more about what we are up against would be most helpful. How quickly can one of these drones be created? Are we at risk of becoming drones even today, as we explore the mall? Or can we continue to trust those we have previously exonerated? Might someone even be turned into a drone in a chance moment while other bystanders remain blissfully unaware?"

[CaptainMeme]

"I have little evidence beyond a scrap of paper written in a language you would likely not understand. If I can find and kill one, the evidence under the arm would be self-evident, but that would require using a..."
Jia gestures at the feet.
"...somewhat less effective weapon."

"As for the rest of your questions:
My orders do not specify how quickly a drone can be created, but its implied that they will essentially multiply while in the mall, so it is clearly relatively quick. The process involves drugging a person using a syringe and then inserting a chip into their body, which I imagine would need to be done while nobody else was around.
Yes, you are at risk in the mall. Stay at a distance from anyone you do not trust, particularly if you are alone with them. If you do become a drone I will not hesitate to destroy you, but it will essentially not be you anymore, so I am sure this will not inconvenience you much more that you already have been.
There is no guarantee that someone who previously was not a drone is still not a drone. Drones do not retain their previous memories, so we should establish codewords that can be whispered to confirm that our memories are intact. That would be a guarantee so long as there is no way for the drone to discover the code phrase."

[groza529]

"By my count, there were earlier 5 in the bookstore and Mr. Carouthers was among them. I would like to think he would notice if someone was drugged. Likewise with you and the 3 others in the hardware store. Everyone else was alone. This seems to be good news; while of course it doesn't rule anyone out it suggests that they did not spread last year."

"I would expect of course that you will not act unless you are certain. I am willing to help, but if the vaporous percentage of the population grows indiscriminately I will be inclined to share what I know. In the meanwhile, my initial suspicion would be the female doctor. She was VERY quick to follow the dwarf to the hardware store, though... perhaps hoping to catch him alone. The difficulty is that if she were to be carrying syringes, that would not be too suspicious."

"I must ask though, how exactly does this pertain to the article I shared earlier? Should I fear the sign of the trident?"

Johannes walks toward the security door from which the guard emerged. "I hope that you will not find it rude, but as our time is limited I would like to continue exploring while we have this discussion. I would still like to find a way into the vault."

Enter northeast security door and explore the area behind it

[groza529]

"Oh, and one more question... Why not simply hold us all hostage together in the eatery checking all of our arms? Surely checking everyone at one time is the most efficient option."

[ambic]

THe security door is shut, and locked again. It must have pulled itself closed during the kerfuffle.

[groza529]

"Hmm... Well let's try something else then."

Hop over counter and see to the ATM in the alley

[ambic]

The ATM is outside in the eatery area. You will need to wait till the Eatery phase to do this.

[ambic]

The back half of the ATM however is in the alley, and this is fine - which is what I guess you meant

[groza529]

"Ah, I see that I cannot use the ATM from this side.In hindsight I suppose it makes sense that there would not be an ATM terminal in an alley accessible only through a security door. Or a broken window in the bathroom."

Look for doors, panels, etc to get into the ATM and determine what is keeping them shut.

Then come back inside and examine the signs

"There must be something here we are missing."