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Existentially and physically damaged as he may be, PSEUDOPOD has alighted upon an anomaly. There is something off with this man.

Large coat, Luzian accent, guarding the access route to the top of the shrine. This is certainly one of the Lich's guards.

Kids always exaggerate the age of adults. She probably wasn't that old.

Talking to the woman on the intercom. So there's at least two of them.

So there's two of them in there, at least.

Must be someone on the other side.

It's a water-lock, which means you can drain it. That's your best bet.

He's half a foot shorter than your average Portofiran male.

Most likely, this area is not permitted for fishing or shrimping. He's breaking the law.

Across the whole universe, it is humans that actually end up being the unnatural ones.

PSEUDOPOD wouldn't have been here a while ago.

What he says doesn't add up. The logic is broken.

If anything, his prior experience may be making this job more difficult to adjust to.

Something happened on the moon, something he will never be able to face again.

He must be referring to the building's song.

The only explanation is that the delegation is not what it seems. There is another motive behind the ceremony.

Has he been smoking this whole time?

So not technically zero. Cool.

He's really broken the intellectual 'bank' with that one.

There's something you should be doing, but you're not.

It finds you wanting, but how?

And an even weirder thing to be so evasive about.

An unseen puppet master.

That wasn't too difficult to spell out now, was it?

Long-standing...?

Highly suspicious, warrants further investigation.

Of course! Reread the cipher using the book as a new key.

You're with him now -- it sinks into place with a solid mental thunk. 'MBP' becomes 13/2/16.

Ah, ah! Maybe something like...

Easy? So, like... alphabet but reversed...

This is old news. You've cracked his stupid cipher.

Masquerading as a pulpy exploitation novel, in reality it's a work of what the Treffe school of psychoanalysts call Vorbewusstseinweh.

Dante's ticket out. He will need this.

He was alluding to something.

One more drink and he won't make it.

Is he alluding to something?

You are very lucky that the maestro has your back.

He must have been going at it for a while.

He has most likely had between one to seven drinks.

You extracted a small lump or organic matter. You did not extract the brain.

No. There's nothing to consider. Your brain cells rebel at the thought.

A cruel joke, most likely.

Contemplate the nature of your punishment.

A man who's fond of things being orderly.

This is exactly what sane people do.

It's possible that Yana's intelligence was faulty, and that the old Luzian guy's disappearance had nothing to do with the 'hyper incriminating shit' he said into the payphone.

The old man was kidnapped for what he knew or had discovered, and you know nothing.

885 skill checks - ZERO PARADES field manual - Page 10 of 18