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 Post Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2021 9:52 pm 
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Arkady considers for a second, then shakes his head. "Felix, if we don't capture it once it's free of Azash then it will run off and hunt people. Possibly us. Hopefully the doctor or an...how do you say...entomologist? can figure out how to milk it for venom if we bring it back to the colony."

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 Post Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2021 10:58 pm 
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"Hmm... I suppose once it's free of Azash's control, so long as we do nothing to kill it he can't see a future where it's out of his control. We could probably lure it into a trap or cage with ample food and keep it from attacking anything or trying to escape by constantly feeding it."

Felix thinks for a moment.

"Sam, you think you can handle the Seeker once it goes feral? Without Azash controlling it, it's essentially just a big bug. An insectile animal. Catching and restraining it seems more like your field than mine."

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 Post Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2021 10:00 am 
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Sam snorted. “I don’t think I’ve ever been asked to wrangle a bug before, but theoretically possible.” She scrubbed her face. “How strong is this thing, d’you think? Are we gonna need vehicles to bring it down or can we do it by hand? One of y’all is gonna have to heel, because it’s not that I don’t trust you, but accidentally landing the rope around it’s neck probably counts as attempted murder. We’re gonna need supports to tie it down to, cause that fluff gets tiring after 20 seconds, let alone 20 minutes, uh…” She shrugged. “Normally I would suggest a sedative dart for something that dangerous, but unless y’all have information about how it’ll deal with getting shot full of ketamine, because if not that’s also getting filed under too risky.”

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 Post Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2021 1:50 pm 
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"The troll knows how to hide," admits Piper. "I might not know when he's close. And... in the Mayfly stage, the Seeker has no mouthparts. It won't hunt people, because it can't eat them - it'll hunt for a mate, which it can't find. Leaving it alive is important - I don't know how Axash is looking to the future, and what outcomes he is discarding. I don't think he's looking to avoid imprisonment, but I don't know. What I do know is that putting a rope around its neck won't cause trouble - as long as it doesn't die from the rope in any of the timelines moving forward from that moment. Azash isn't avoiding futures where the Seeker is caught by weapons that would be lethal on a human; Azash is avoiding futures where the Seeker actually dies. It doesn't matter what it looks like."

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 Post Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2021 3:04 pm 
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Arkady looks at Piper. "After you remind it to grow up, can you be putting it to sleep?"

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 Post Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2021 7:38 pm 
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"If we account for the Seeker's anatomy we might be able to make some restraints from rope, cables, and metal fasteners that it'd have a hard time moving in. Something we could loop over it's head, arms, and legs really quickly then pull the slack out of? Limit it's movement and ability to leverage it's own strength. Then toss a net over it and throw it in the back of a truck and milk as much venom from it as we can as it tries to transform into an adult."

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 Post Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2021 8:36 pm 
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"That is generally how roping something works- look, if the carapace is strong enough that the ropes won't be a problem, that'll solve a lot of problems. How strong is it? Are two of us going to be able to bring it down on foot? Cause after that we'd just need a tarp." She scrubbed her face again. "I'm going to tea towel a giant bug. Good lord. Milking it is gonna be a whole other thing. Where is the gland in question? Cause we might wanna see if that farm has a bit to spare."

"And, because I need to say this out loud, isn't this technically bringing about a future where it dies? Because there is a part of me that's worried that this does, in point of fact, count."

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 Post Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2021 10:13 am 
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"I think Azash is looking for futures where it is killed by enemy action, not looking for futures where it dies of natural causes?"

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 Post Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2021 1:56 pm 
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"Well, that's what I'm saying; it's dying of natural causes as a result of enemy actions. Like, I am completely down to do this anyway, it's the best chance we got, I just...wanted to make sure it was being considered, I guess? I was raised to consider everything a monkey's paw."

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 Post Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2021 9:56 pm 
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Arkady shrugs. "In every possible future the seeker dies, and Azash is not all knowing. I am guessing that so long as the death is by natural causes, it can't tell the difference so long as it is just one future among many. If it's vision was that all encompassing, it would have retrieved the Rose a long time ago."

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 Post Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2021 4:30 am 
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weremensh wrote:
Arkady looks at Piper. "After you remind it to grow up, can you be putting it to sleep?"


Piper shakes her head. "The adult form of the Seeker will not sleep. Not in any circumstances that I can make happen."

Kajin wrote:
"I think Azash is looking for futures where it is killed by enemy action, not looking for futures where it dies of natural causes?"


"It's more a question of time," says Piper. "Azash will be trying to see as many futures as possible - and thus probably skimming lightly over them, seeking only for the answers to a very limited number of questions. Perhaps only one question, where that question is, 'does the Seeker remain alive an hour from now?' - or two hours, or three hours. I know not which time Azash has chosen to seek through - but the further in the future Azash seeks, the more the number of possible futures multiplies. Azash will seek a limited amount of answers, and a limited time into that future. A future where your weapons kill the Seeker at once? That will shine out, and therefore Azash will foresee that, and know to avoid it, well in advance. But a future where you set up that the Seeker cannot avoid death after, say, five hours? If Azash seeks only three hours into the future, then Azash may completely fail to see that. It matters not the cause or mechanism of the death, whether it is natural or from your weapons - it matters rather the time that the death takes to occur."

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 Post Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2021 2:27 am 
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"Right. I guess no matter who you are, trying to see very far into an infinitely branching future will short your circuits. Information overload."

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 Post Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2021 2:33 pm 
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Arkady shrugs, then asks Piper: "Can you tell us exactly what the insect looks like under the robe? We'll need to know if we're going to design a way to hold it and keep it from using that glow on us."

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 Post Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2021 1:51 am 
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"One can see further," says Piper, "for at least a few futures. It's when you're trying to look through every possible future that it gets... difficult to see far."

weremensh wrote:
Arkady shrugs, then asks Piper: "Can you tell us exactly what the insect looks like under the robe? We'll need to know if we're going to design a way to hold it and keep it from using that glow on us."


Piper pauses for a moment... and then nods. "Sure, I can do that."

--------------

Piper's description of the insect is reasonably thorough, and she happily answers any and all questions about its shape. Its' arms are apparently each a pair of stick-thin limbs crudely melded together with two claws at the end, resulting in a four-clawed 'hand'. In terms of physical strength, the Seeker is nothing to write home about - in any sort of hand-to-hand combat, it relies heavily on its hypnotic glow persuading people to stand still and let themselves be bitten because it's the only weapon that the insect has. (Mind you, it doesn't really need anything else - once it bites one person, it can use that one person as a bodyguard and meatshield quite easily). It does have reasonably tough chitin to deflect blows with, but nothing that will last for a moment against any sort of decent rifle (if Azash's anti-bullet protections can somehow be evaded).

In the end, you have a description of the disrobed Seeker that is as detailed as you like, and can easily come up with a suitable set of designs for restraints.

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 Post Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2021 3:39 pm 
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Felix rigs together a set of restraints that, hopefully, are easy to sling over the Seeker from a distance and cinch tight from the same distance.

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