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Research Tower Underground | 7:59 AM | Third Day
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so cute," she said, sneering. "Whoever is doing this is certainly has a flair for the dramatic, but they must think us a real pack of morons, expecting us to buy something this slapped-together."
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looked to lead, you mean," Zeno went on, rolling her eyes. "I''ve seen Wag Festival decor more realistic then than all this. Anyone can smear some blood on a wall."
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Anomaly-Divining Arcana. She pinched Ptolema with her free hand, presumably to have someone independently verify the result - though I couldn''t think of any reason why she''d have picked her of all people except for the fact that she happened to be standing close by in the right moment.
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Life-Sensing Arcana, again..." Ophelia said, taking out her scepter. "Even if the culprit has tried to hide it, there might be residue from a further trail."
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carving something like this by hand, cheap-looking or not, would surely have taken a lot of time. So how could it have been done so quickly?
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was all his blood), then he was probably gravely injured.
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very bad idea. On it was a sign reading:
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DANGER - UNFOLDING NUCLEAR CONVENTION PROCESS WITHIN - RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS PRESENT
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But doesn''t the skull change with age, too...? I thought, but didn''t bother saying out loud. It felt like the best outcome you could hope for in an argument with Zeno was a pyrrhic victory.
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What?" She looked over at the projected image herself, nudging Anna a little out of the way. "How is that possible?"
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20 years ago?
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time. Today."
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trap? For us?"
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hated being here, trapped in this awful place. I longed to be back in the city and wrapped up in bed, thinking about anything else. For the first time, I might''ve even abandoned the reason I came here in the first place just to run.
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Physical, as you just said! There''s nothing stopping us from evaporating some of this stone and cutting out the middleman--"
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fucking farce! This organization is rife with imbeciles!" A realization entered her eyes, and she glanced around, her eyes suddenly becoming sharp. "Who did do this, then? It had to have been one of us. Who oversaw the system, the last time it was re-designed?"
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The bell tower. Meaning that right over our heads... Hanging there, was...
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was, really, was an engineer. He designed machines, logic engines and otherwise. At the time of his death, he''d only left the order recently, and Anna had said that the last time system had started its redesign had been 20 years ago, and it had been prompted by the installation of Sekhmet and Eshmun. So the early parts of the process must have taken place around then, and the one who''d been charged with it... As his last act in the organization...
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why? And how? There''s no way he could possibly have known about this event so far in advance, down to the specific date. And even if he did, what reason would he have had to terrorize the order like this? Bad blood was one thing, but this...
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wanted, and the consequences of that desire. But I''d never in a thousand years imagined he was hatefully evil - just swallowed by cognitive dissonance and mindless yearning for the past, like I was. He wasn''t the type of person who''d conspire to commit murder, even with dementia turning his brain into soup.
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Stay calm, my rational voice told me. There''s still no proof he''s responsible for anything, but vague inference. And everyone in the class knows you weren''t even close. And besides, your alibi for Bardiya''s murder is airtight.
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to." She traces her finger downward, towards the part of the map which depicts the underground. "To that effect, I would suggest we connect them to the artificed intelligences in the sublevel. They are designed to follow our directives, and are capable of the most fluid functionality in the sanctuary."
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spectacularly ominous.
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but the body was so mutilated that there was no humanity left in it. It looked like, or had been made to look like, an absolutely savage attack from a wild animal. The limbs were strewn about the area in pieces, the skin seemingly gone outright, and the torso had been caved open, the guts running in a streak long the floor. The head seemed to have been crushed-- No, obliterated- is the better word. Were it not for brain matter and pieces of skull strewn about the area, I would have called it decapitation.
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Do we, though?" Fang said skeptically. "I mean, that could be anybody."
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had routinely involved surgery.
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Appears. Now that''s a weasel word if I''ve heard one." She tossed her scepter around idly, despite it presently being useless. "There are numerous ways to fabricate a corpse, or to come into possession of one with certain attributes-- Voila, illusion complete."
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foolishness," Zeno interrupted him, swinging her scepter up and bopping the tip against his forehead. "Regardless of the nature of our opponent or the scale of the conspiracy behind them, I shall not be led by the nose like some snivelling teenager in a cheap horror drama. This scenario is beyond contrived-- He''s attacked by a monster, dragged to a summoning circle, and magicked over here, with identifiable features absent?" She shook her head. "If Durvasa were truly dead, the culprit would have no reason to go to such lengths to put on a show for us."
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