Status Report: Reporting

Schneider has come to visit Doc at his clinic as he passes through Tolbana. He doesn't pass through a lot, since his efforts have been mostly focused on the railway expansion several floors up. But there's the open world to explore, and anyhow, the flight school is down here, and that's become something of a hobby with him. His skill has improved greatly, though we're not close to actual flying yet. It feels like we ought to be, but there's a block, it seems. Still, he glides reasonably well.

And he comes by the clinic to say hello to the doc, "Hello, Doc," because he hasn't seen his boss in a while.

Prophylaxis has been spending much of his own spare time up near the top of the currently cleared tower. He's been busy working on getting the town of Lokk back into something that can even vaguely be called habitable. Now that it has the basics, he's back at home in Tolbana, taking care of administrative tasks and getting to work on Being A Doctor again for at least a little while. Right now though, his office door is ajar, letting Schneider in with no fuss.

"Good evening," he says to his guest, looking up from a stack of paperwork, only some of which is a little past due. "What brings you around these parts this time of night?"

Schneider loses track of time in the game. "Oh, I just got done with a late supper. Spent all afternoon at the flight school after getting in around lunchtime," he explains. "I saw the lights on," or the candles anyhow, "and figured you were in, so I thought I'd come by." He looks down at the paperwork, glad that the library, paper-oriented as it is, doesn't generate paperwork. Not at his level, anyhow. He wonders, "Hey, with Haru joining, then doing a runner, do we have any plans for Dragon's Eye?"

"Mmm, good question," Prophylaxis murmurs. He scribbles something down on another paper, apparently in half autopilot on signing off on one thing or another. "I think we can still probably get in, if we ask the Kunie nicely. Otherwise we'll need to get a ship that can take us in without running aground or being detected. Why, did you have any ideas?" Submersibles are kind of hard, after all. Ironclad ones even moreso. Building a proper submarine is... probably a hard ask.

Schneider had thought of submarines, and they -could- be made in the 1700's, but not with real seakeeping capabilities that he'd trust to infiltrate the Palace Lands. Asking the Kunie nicely draws a smirk, and he says, "What we need is a Hacker like Haru, that's how /he/ got it to work," he explains. "I asked him, when he came over to us," the wizard explains. "But the project's been left dangling with him gone. I do wonder if Palace Lands spies got him. Or maybe the Kunie got mad at him?"

"Hmn. Yeah, it'd be nice if we could get a Hacker in general, honestly. But in absence of one, we'll need to explore other methods of ingress." Submarines are just one example. Specifically-- "If we could build a small submersible deployable from larger ships, we might be able to sneak in relatively undetected. But that carries obvious risks as well. I still think negotiation with the Kunie is the best way to go. They're the ones who have control over Chaos Gate permissions, after all. If we can't bypass them with a hack, then we'll have to do it the hard way."

"...Does make me wonder if a Hacker could get the gates in the Tower to link up, though. That'd be convenient as heck."

Schneider considers, decides, "I don't know enough about what he actually did to suggest alternatives. But yeah, for some reason we don't seem to be able to keep hackers. Maybe they hacked too deep and something ate them? That's an unpleasant thought," he admits. "But yeah, linking up with the Tower would be convenient, sort of. But I'd be nervous about a Gate in the Palace Lands coming in to anywhere in the Tower." As far as submersibles go, he says, "NWA does have a base at Seeker's Landing, we could launch from there, if they let us. That'd be a much shorter trip underwater. The problem is they've got Undines in their armed forces, and they patrol, it's been implied. And we'd need a Hacker to make the sub invisible also. Though if we can do that, that might be pretty cool. Shouldn't be too hard to make a sub with magic to help..."

"Or it could just be that it's a relatively uncommon power in general," Prophylaxis shrugs unhelpfully. "Unlike Legend, Oracle and Loremaster, which are fairly inoccuous, or Data Drain and System Protection, which are arguably very useful dev tools, Hacking is the kind of thing that would get shut down very quickly. If I could push some of our friends in that direction, though, I absolutely would. Maybe one of the Palace Landers would be interested...? It's not like we don't have a reliable method. Just get a couple of Hacking Enigmas, hop on an airship on one of the floors, and get to commiting heresy. Shouldn't be too hard."

"...But that said, I'd rather avoid putting all our eggs in a single enigmatic basket." Who knows when the other shoe will finally drop and it'll be revealed that borrowing the power of the Morrigan is actually some kind of horrible, Faustian deal.

"Maybe it's best we focus on taking out Thor or Rosenheim, then. I think we've got a very good chance of either, but I like our odds at Rosenheim more, myself."

Schneider nods about it being an uncommon power. "I think the fact that we're talking about needing one points to how rare it is. And it's even pretty useful, I think. More useful than Data Drain has been, I think." He shrugs weakly. "I guess I'm not pushing the envelope with it, but I don't want to pull a Merek and get our people killed."

As far as not hammering enigma pieces together, he agrees, "If there was another way, I would have done it. No one told me when I started collecting them that /he/ would come after me. I feel I got lucky in getting away. I've heard the other player who faces him had a much narrower escape."

As far as taking Thor or Rosenheim, he asks, "So /have/ we taken Lumina Cloth? It doesn't seem so, and with our gains there, I'd like to close the deal first."

"I appreciate that," Prophylaxis nods. "The last thing we need is for something to go terribly wrong and for someone to end up hurt. Prudence with powers like Data Drain is merited."

The doctor is, however, pretty sure that he was clear on the risks of smashing two Enigma Pieces together in the past. Perhaps not clear enough, apparently. He files that one away, mentally. "No, not yet. Lumina Cloth is a long term operation, I'm afraid. It all depends on how long it takes for our merchant friend to build up enough capital to make his play. And I'm sure that the other oligarchs in the city are working to suppress his financial power as much as possible." Not just for the fact that he's peddling suspiciously Yamatoan inventions, but also just because that's the nature of people with power. Rarely do they want to share.

Schneider thinks the Doc was correctly guaging the risk involved in Enigma Pieces. Schneider was just being cautious at calling his workaround a permanent solution. He nods about being careful with Data Drain, though he allows, "It did work out with that one gnoll. I wonder if there's a careful way to feel around for what we can do safely?"

He ohs about the progress in Lumina Cloth, and admits, "I'd lost the bubble on him. I'd love to find out where he stands, and what we can do to support him safely. He seems super wary, which is warranted, but it leaves us handcuffed at finding ways to help him."

"The best way is really to get practice in relatively safe settings," Prophylaxis explains. "It may be worthwhile to get together with other interested hunters and data drainers to track down relatively less powerful Bugged Enemies. That would help you get a hang on your abilities, and eliminate things that might become more major threats down the line."

Of course, finding such creatures regularly is easier said than done.

"We have ways of contacting him," the doctor adds, regarding their friend in Lumina Cloth. "It's a matter of making contact with some of his clerks. So that's helpful, at least. But yes, I haven't heard from him in a while, either. May be worth looking into to see if he needs any further aid." Though maybe no news is good news...?

But the candles are burning low and the doctor is forced to pause to cover his mouth when he yawns. "Sorry Schneider, I think it's about time for me to turn in for the night. We'll have to catch up some more next time."