Thief: Acolyte A discovered the true identity of the evil salamancer and released my character.
Thief: My character passed a stealth check and was able to hide while the evil salamancer completed their plans.
Priest: I think my character knows the rest from the news reports.
Priest: The evil salamancer was defeated, mind wiped by a dispel ritual in public, and now tainted ones have gained even more sympathy than before.
Priest: How’d it get so fouled up?
Thief: My character’s hope was that the evil salamancer would kill Acolyte A.
Priest: Of course it was.
Priest: I asked myself, what would be the worst, most inhuman thing a person could possibly want from all this? And that was it. You never disappoint.
Priest: Still, I see the logic. Dead pretty girls are always good publicity.
Thief: Whereas all we have now is a not-quite-dead, not-quite-pretty girl that has worked just as effectively against us.
Thief: My character lost control of events. That’s always the risk when trying to nudge them in secret.
Priest: How did A get hold of your character’s dispel circle?
Thief: She must have taken it from my character while he was imprisoned.
Priest: Are you sure about that? You said Doctor D was gaining respect for her.
Thief: No, I said that D was leading her to believe that.
Thief: In any case, he’s too rudimentary to overrule my decisions.
Priest: As long as you’re certain.
Priest: I mean, YOUR CHARACTER is certain, pardon me.
Priest: In summary, everything was going swimmingly until it all backfired at the last minute.
Priest: Can’t wait to see how you top this. What’s your next evil scheme?
The man leaned back, allowing his head to sink into the chair’s backing for a moment as he scrutinized the ceiling in thought. After a full minute, he returned to the keyboard.
Thief: I’m getting the team back together.
Priest: Are you.
Priest: And how will it be different this time?
Thief: We have a new purpose.
Thief: The new DEDA cannot act without public scrutiny. We don’t have that restraint.
Priest: You’re actually serious.
Priest: You really think being back at full force will make it any easier to nudge events?
Thief: I’m done with nudging. It’s time for something stronger.
Priest: How much stronger?
Thief: I’m thinking a push. A very hard push.
Differently Morphous Page 35