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A 'metaphysical superweapon' could make the difference in your assignment. Better in your hands than his.

Don't forget why you're here, operant. The Lich's time of arrival. Whatever must be done.

Whatever it is you hoped to achieve with this wholly optional diversion, you've achieved it. Time to go.

Hauzmann. The null persona.

The man in the Fogged Mirror.

This message is no courtesy. It's a debt slip.

Your name and your cryptonym. A dead limb twitches.

Assignment compromised. Rating: CATASTROPHIC. The day is lost.

Zero yourself out as soon as possible. You are high up -- defenestration is viable.

He watches, like his father taught him to do, a trick to keep him occupied. On the lookout for sinister bodies.

Solid stagecraft. Very results-oriented. This goon knows of what he speaks.

Here it is, laid out: the logic of the ritual sacrifice.

Point to the Opera.

At your direction, of course. Her father was head of a secret Dream Study receiving EMTERR funding.

You have miscast your company. You were all amateurs, unfit for your roles, and for this stage.

Recall the case of Operant DUTY, who was tortured so effectively by the Weeping Eye that he began to reveal the secrets of his captors.

As it was with Operant AXIS, captured in La Cupola in 75 and then dragged behind the resurfacing machine at every Luzian ice hockey game until he finally succumbed in 78.

Like Operant KEEPSAKE, who was fed to sacred hawks by the Mircean inquisition in 21 -- consigning her soul to eternal torment.

A trick, left unmastered.

Crushed -- like Operant MARBLE, who was ejected from a Mircean submarine and immediately pulped by the sheer weight of black, icy water above.

Still a strong trade. Absolutely worth it.

The young watcher averts his eyes but his posture betrays his attention. He knows there's something up with the mysterious party of foreigners, and he's trying to work out what.

The marks along these 'seats' are anchor points -- four per seat. You know what that implies.

Orlavin-3. Terribly effective for interrogations and 'shock pacification'.

A decent performance. But you have notes.

This is the only way through. Darkness visible.

Now's the time. Pull back the stage curtain.

From day-player bootlegger to directing the full production in five years. Quite the ascent for an exposed asset.

Why couldn't PSEUDOPOD get past this man?

Many old assets cry 'urgent' -- especially when they're looking for a handout or a favour.

Better to know. Always better to know.

Shards of both past and present collide. In the wreckage, a jagged pattern forms:

Of course you do. A true name.

Post-mortem loyalties -- sign of a well-cultivated asset.

What if he got to PSEUDOPOD? Ignatz was lurking around Foto 24, after all.

There it is. The man from Foto 24 -- and the one sniffing after you. You have his name.

Everyone swears silence until it can buy them something.

He knows you're one of Tempo's now. Remind him that you can be trusted.

If he knows something, it'll require finessing.

Starting on their personas at such a young age. Impressive.

Interesting theory. A popstar of that magnitude is a powerful piece on the board.

The adolescents will only open up to those they recognise as their own. This may call for a disguise.

She can't know how many masks you've worn over the years. How you switched them so quickly and effortlessly that you soon forgot your own face.

Subliminal messages? Backmasked indoctrinations beamed directly into the youth subconscious? Low-frequency infrasonic hypnosis?

Given your assignment... she's not far off.

So he knows its value... shame.

Relieve the pensioner of his plastic propaganda.

In his eyes, a spectre -- recognition?

1,044 skill checks - ZERO PARADES field manual - Page 2 of 21