>>1115414
It's not just pain, it's physical injury.

The injuries don't have to mean that the basilisk doesn't affect the brain; If it works by triggering a suicidal response in the victim the kinds of injury would differ from each other.
It seems to go mostly for head trauma but that's maybe mostly because blunt force to the head is the fastest lane it pictures in that moment.

You felt the uninterruped wall without any framing, getting rougher to both sides; I'd guesstimate the picture is either painted or sprayed onto the wall, so checking for the smooth area can give you an idea of the dimensions it covers.
Spraypaint/tag it to anounce your claim of this territory to rival gangs (or disarm the basilisk i guess).
You could then shoot it with the shotgun for good measure to disrupt the surface its on, but this could involve shrapnel and injury. A pickaxe would be nice now.

The first symbol on the letter seems likean alchemical symbol (maybe air or fire, not sure right now), so either your organisation could have different symbolisms for seperate departmens or you have a rival organisation on your hand (which would be another good reason for marking your territory via cross-tag).

Keep monitoring your headache. If it gets worse the air is maybe too bad for long-time exposure, in which case you and especially Gladii should get out of there, they are pretty close to the ground and in bad shape, I'd doubt the air down there is any better.

...also, can you stick your cards into other things than people?

Okay, yeah, I agree with some of the other peanuts here on the following:
1. The other cameras must be dead from directly "seeing" the picture
2. The basilisk is probably a mural of sorts, hence why the surface is smooth there
3. Your headache is probably from the exposure to the scents down here

Which would mean that checking out the working camera should be safe. It was angled away from the picture.

The note is interesting. It seems like it was written by the goth woman to the athlete. The text implied that by the time both of them arrived, the Medusa Mural was already HERE.

It also sounds like it may have been a trap, either for goth lady or for athelete. If we take goth lady at her word, the trap was set for her, and athlete only got caught in the crossfire. But I have my doubts... "I'll make it worth your while" sounds like she knew she had some emotional sway over athlete and leveraged it to get him here. Which makes it especially notable that HE died, while SHE got out.

He may have been a test subject.

Also, the officer's equipment feels weird now. Spraypaint and tarp... why? Did he have an idea of what he'd find here?

The blanket or the curtain might be able to cover a lerger part of the mural than the paint alone, but the other peanuts are right - even only partially blacking out the mural might already help a lot!

Do we have anything that might be able to hold the curtain up? Perhaps whatever the camera was mounted on?

This also seems less like a clean organization like Gladii and you are part of, and more like... maybe something cult-adjacent? Or a ragtag gang of supernatural hunters.

>>1115426

That officer *must* have been trying to cover it up! Maybe the tarp can help cover it more than just the spray paint?

The pictures on the working camera would be good to look at first.

It doesn't have to be a mural. It could be a poster glued directly to the wall.

Oh right and if Gladii has external wounds we should probably administer first aid?

Silicon 2025/11/10(Mon)09:35 No. 1116695 ID: 6d3a6d
File 176279610933.png - (955.24KB , 1500x1000 , C01_12_A.png )

> Headache...
> Stale air, poor ventilation and stinky bodies...
> Yeah.
> Thatd do it.
> Eat mints. Might take the edge off.

That's probably what it is. Don't have any mints and the chewing gum I found on a corpse is not particularly appetizing. I think I'll live.

> Keep monitoring your headache. If it gets worse the air is maybe too bad for long-time exposure, in which case you and especially Gladii should get out of there, they are pretty close to the ground and in bad shape, I'd doubt the air down there is any better.

I still don't have any concrete plan how I'd even get Gladii out. I think even if I got David to help that would be quite difficult. I'm open for suggestions!

> Oh right and if Gladii has external wounds we should probably administer first aid?

... Shoot, you're right! Why didn't I think of that sooner?!
I grab the first aid kit and find a roll of gauze and scissors. There's not much I can do about a potential skull fracture or concussion, but I can at least staunch the bleeding.

Fera: "Hey, Gladii, I'll put a bandage on your head, okay?"
Gladii: "gghhkk... If... hhhh... you must..."

Very gingerly, I lift their head and get to wrapping. I'm not great at this.

Gladii: "hhHHhh... Fffera? hhkkhh..."
Fera: "Hmm?"
Gladii: "Don't... hHHhhh... ever... call me Gladys. ghhkh hHHh..."
Fera: "Uh... Okay."

So they're at least somewhat lucid.

> Interesting note.
> The symbols are new to us, but weve seen similar in the peanut gallery here.
> When we first met you two but didnt know your names.
> What this means is hard to quantify at this point.
> Evidence of other agents? Other group using a similar sigil based identification system?

That is interesting.

> The first symbol on the letter seems likean alchemical symbol (maybe air or fire, not sure right now), so either your organisation could have different symbolisms for seperate departmens or you have a rival organisation on your hand (which would be another good reason for marking your territory via cross-tag).

I'll try asking Gladii.

Fera: "I found some strange symbols. The Peanut Gallery is suggesting they might be for other agents, or another organization..."
Gladii: "Ghhkh... What?"
Fera: "Are there agents that use alchemical symbols rather than tarot suits?"
Gladii: "No... hhHhhh... All suits... Rgkhhh... Me- Media..."
Fera: "media?"
Gladii: "Hhhh... hhHHhhh..."

Hmm...


> The note is interesting. It seems like it was written by the goth woman to the athlete. The text implied that by the time both of them arrived, the Medusa Mural was already HERE.
> It also sounds like it may have been a trap, either for goth lady or for athelete. If we take goth lady at her word, the trap was set for her, and athlete only got caught in the crossfire. But I have my doubts... "I'll make it worth your while" sounds like she knew she had some emotional sway over athlete and leveraged it to get him here. Which makes it especially notable that HE died, while SHE got out.
> He may have been a test subject.

That's a disturbing thought.

> This also seems less like a clean organization like Gladii and you are part of, and more like... maybe something cult-adjacent? Or a ragtag gang of supernatural hunters.

Yeah and apparently they're killing one another.

> Also, the officer's equipment feels weird now. Spraypaint and tarp... why? Did he have an idea of what he'd find here?

> That officer *must* have been trying to cover it up! Maybe the tarp can help cover it more than just the spray paint?

That suggests he would have had to know the thing was dangerous to look at. But if that had been so, why did he look at it and die?

Silicon 2025/11/10(Mon)09:35 No. 1116696 ID: 6d3a6d
File 176279612490.png - (957.71KB , 1500x1000 , C01_12_B.png )

> I think you may be right about needing to view the images on the camera.
> Indecision is detrimental to gladii's health.
> A more ruthless soul would test the camera images on an already exposed individual, but i dont think youre that kind of person, nor would the safety itd earn be worth the cost.

Y-yeah, that's... No I already feel bad for letting them go first.

> Idea! Not to be needlessly cruel, but Gladii is here, and alive. If we’re really wary of the photos, why not show them to her first? Putting yourself at risk first could lead to you BOTH being on the floor, which is kinda counterproductive. If Gladii has a reaction a second time, we know not to look. Plus, it’s honestly probably safe. Digital cameras don’t store every bit of light they capture. I’d be willing to bet that the lower resolution of the camera (compared to your eyes) is enough of a mosaic censor for the basilisk’s threat to be rendered ineffective.

> Both on the floor is a better outcome than one of us dead.

> Right, but it didn’t kill them! So they’d probably feel the same pain again, but still be fine

> It's not just pain, it's physical injury.

I see the logic there. Really, I do. But I'm not going to intentionally expose Gladii to even more harm. Not unless I really really have to. Let's explore alternatives first.

> So, camera image examination.
> Squient till your eyes are blurry or wear the goggles for the first glance. Seeing only part of the basilisk image may disable or impede it.
> Perahps even use the note to obscure half of the image at a time to disrupt full exposure.

Oh that's clever, yeah. I'll do this as safely as possible.

> Yeah that one was pointed in a safe direction.

> The pictures on the working camera would be good to look at first.

Glad we agree.

> ...ah, I bet the other cameras are dead because they took pictures of the poster. The anomaly "killed" the cameras! This would very much confirm the working camera is safe to check.

> Hmm, seems like the basilisk killed the cameras in the room. That would indicate that the other camera hasn't seen inside the room, as its still functioning. I say see whats on it, it seems reasonably safe.

...

Huh? Wait. Are you saying the Basilisk doesn't just kill people, it also kills cameras? That's. Really weird. I mean images that kill people are already weird! But cameras aren't even alive and...

Okay, you know what? I'm just gonna accept this for now. The cameras are dead, after all. I'll take this as a sign that the large camera is largely safe.

> New resource found: the camera
> It being sound activated means you could use it to take further around corner images if needed.

Oh and given what else we just figured out, we could perhaps also use it to check if the Basilisk is still a danger.

Gladii: "Ow! ghHHh Careful..."
Fera: "Sorry."

Silicon 2025/11/10(Mon)09:35 No. 1116697 ID: 6d3a6d
File 176279613477.png - (958.38KB , 1500x1000 , C01_12_C.png )

> ...huh, everyone gets head/neck trauma from looking at the poster, but it's external damage? Maybe it doesn't work like we thought. It doesn't attack the brain, it's... like a telekinetic attack in response to being seen?

> The injuries don't have to mean that the basilisk doesn't affect the brain; If it works by triggering a suicidal response in the victim the kinds of injury would differ from each other.
> It seems to go mostly for head trauma but that's maybe mostly because blunt force to the head is the fastest lane it pictures in that moment.

It seemed to me that Gladii simply... seized up and slammed their head into the wall. And more generally, I imagine that if you're standing up and you suddenly have a seizure like that, you're liable to fall over without being able to protect your head and... well... get badly injured.
In fact! If Gladii hadn't fallen towards me, I probably wouldn't have caught them and they could have really cracked their head open.

> smooth wall
> That would be the poster. Though we're missing some information... Ask gladii if thinking about the poster hurts. If not, ask how big the poster was, and where on the wall it was exactly. From touch, it seems very big.

Fera: "Gladii, uhm... Does thinking about the poster hurt?"
Gladii: "Ghhkkhh.. Ack! hhHHhhh... Y-... yes..."
Fera: "Nevermind, then."
Gladii: "Ask. hHhhh..."
Fera: "No, forget about it. Think of something else."
Gladii: "hHHhghk... Ask!"
Fera: "No! Enough already!"
Gladii: "Just... finish it... hhhHHHhhhh..."

> You felt the uninterruped wall without any framing, getting rougher to both sides; I'd guesstimate the picture is either painted or sprayed onto the wall, so checking for the smooth area can give you an idea of the dimensions it covers.

> It doesn't have to be a mural. It could be a poster glued directly to the wall.

If it's a poster it's glued very firmly to the wall. I didn't feel the surface shifting under my hands at all. I couldn't feel any edge. Could be a mural. It's possible.

In either case, knowing that the smooth stuff is the basilisk is helpful. Makes it easier to tell where to apply the paint.

> not enough spray paint?
> Hmm, maybe the convenience store has more? Alternatively we can get some gasoline and burn the thing. ...burning it seems like the safest option actually. You can take the sheriff's cash to pay for gas.

> Spraypaint/tag it to anounce your claim of this territory to rival gangs (or disarm the basilisk i guess).
> You could then shoot it with the shotgun for good measure to disrupt the surface its on, but this could involve shrapnel and injury. A pickaxe would be nice now.

> The blanket or the curtain might be able to cover a lerger part of the mural than the paint alone, but the other peanuts are right - even only partially blacking out the mural might already help a lot!
> Do we have anything that might be able to hold the curtain up? Perhaps whatever the camera was mounted on?

Understanding that I can probably feel out the exact edges of the thing makes me a lot more confident in the spraypaint plan. If the paint does run out, I'll check the convenience store.
Covering the basilisk with the curtain is difficult. I don't think I have the tools to mount that in there. Plus: A curtain can potentially be removed. I'd prefer neutralizing this thing for good.
I'll... reserve the fire and shotgun options for the case that the spraypaint doesn't work.

Silicon 2025/11/10(Mon)09:35 No. 1116698 ID: 6d3a6d
File 176279614833.png - (622.98KB , 1500x1000 , C01_12_D.png )

Well, Gladii's head bandage is done. It's not amazing work, but it should hold. And it'll staunch the bleeding.

Fera: "There, all done."
Gladii: "hhhHhhhHhh... Thanks..."

That sounded mildly sarcastic, but I'm never sure with Gladii. Is it deadpan or is it just flat delivery?

I gently lower Gladii back down into the recovery position. It's time to check out some photographs!

Silicon 2025/11/10(Mon)09:36 No. 1116699 ID: 6d3a6d
File 176279616097.png - (1.11MB , 1500x1000 , C01_12_E.png )

After lowering the goggles back over my eyes, I pick up the camera, careful to avoid looking directly at the screen. I find the button that switches it into view photos mode. Then I hold the note over the screen and turn the camera to look at it. I slowly slide the note sideways until I can see... a photograph of a bare concrete wall.

That makes sense of course. I did place it down facing the wall.

I place the note back on the screen and move to the previous photograph. Then I repeat the previous process to find... Another blank wall.

I do this until I find a different photo. Look at that handsome devil!

And I repeat this some more. There are, predictably, several pictures of Gladii and me.

I get a bit impatient and I know where the camera was pointing the whole entire time we were in there, so I start flicking through the photos without the whole note-obscuring trick until I'm past the picture showing us coming in.

It takes a little while of slowly, carefully flipping through a lot of near-identical pictures, but eventually there's a change! Look at that! It's the Sheriff!

There aren't many pictures with him. Him about to look around the corner, him looking at the corpse from a distance, him climbing down. There is no picture of the moment of his death.

Following this there are a lot of pictures with just the one dead guy in them. I impatiently flick through them until she appears: There she is: the mysterious survivor. Climbing down. No wait, I'm looking at this backwards. She's climbing out. Obviously.

This is it. My heart beats faster. My hands are a bit clammy. This is where it gets interesting. And potentially harrowing. Let's... Let's see...

Silicon 2025/11/10(Mon)09:36 No. 1116700 ID: 6d3a6d
File 176279617010.png - (0.96MB , 1500x1000 , C01_12_F.png )

I go through the next couple pictures slowly, carefully. Always slowly unveiling each one with the note.

Here she is... rifling through the dead guy's pockets? Maybe she needed the car keys. Or maybe it was something else she was after.

Hm. Here she is cowering in the corner. Is it horror? Guilt?

Here she is crawling around on all fours. Her hand is hovering just above the dead guy's leg. Mhmm...

Woah! Is that... The very moment of death? That's disturbing to think about. I mean obviously we know that he died, but... Seeing it like this is very morbid. I look closer anyway. He appears to be having some sort of seizure. Much like Gladii did. And then he fell.
The mystery woman is pouring water on her face. Is she washing out the pepper spray?

Next one. She's crouched down, hands on her face. The athlete is offering her the water. So I guess this is just after she got hit by the mace?

Silicon 2025/11/10(Mon)09:36 No. 1116701 ID: 6d3a6d
File 176279617937.png - (0.98MB , 1500x1000 , C01_12_G.png )

She... she did in fact pepperspray herself. Wow.
There aren't many more pictures of these two. They arrive and then there's just the empty bunker.

Well. This tells us one thing at least: They didn't make the basilisk. And they didn't set up the camera.

But then who did?

Silicon 2025/11/10(Mon)09:36 No. 1116702 ID: 6d3a6d
File 176279618790.png - (1.02MB , 1500x1000 , C01_12_H.png )

I flip through a lot of empty pictures. It is agonizing. But then, suddenly, the whole atmosphere shifts. Someone is climbing out and they have some kind of light source casting the basement in a warm glow.

The next photo is quite the smoking gun! Or smoking camera, eh? Look at that! Who is that? They're wearing a raincoat, some very large goggles and a mask. There is an open bag and, zooming into the picture reveals that it's got spray cans in it. We have our culprit!
But most importantly, they're taking a photo of the room with the basilisk in it! The camera is spitting smoke!

They must have some kind of lamp mounted on their head? Unfortunately it's out of frame. The culprit isn't in the next photo at all.

But the one after that has them shaking a can of paint. They're holding a couple of thin plasticy-looking thingies with geometric holes in them in their hand.

According to the camera's counter, there is exactly one more picture on here.

It takes all of my self-control to put the note over the screen instead of just flipping to the final image.

Silicon 2025/11/10(Mon)09:36 No. 1116703 ID: 6d3a6d
File 176279619702.png - (846.04KB , 1500x1000 , C01_12_I.png )

...

Silicon 2025/11/10(Mon)09:36 No. 1116704 ID: 6d3a6d
File 176279620611.png - (542.53KB , 1500x1000 , C01_12_J.png )

What even is that? A halo?

...

Silicon 2025/11/10(Mon)09:36 No. 1116705 ID: 6d3a6d
File 176279621491.png - (542.06KB , 1500x1000 , C01_12_K.png )

> ...also, can you stick your cards into other things than people?

Oh uh... Let's see.
I push it into the blanket. It doesn't sink in any further than normal. I try the medkit, I try the wall. Nothing.

So I don't know if it doesn't work with any non-people objects, but it doesn't work with these.

>>1116703

More importantly! Well actually not all that importantly. But if FOR SOME REASON you needed to look at the basilisk without spraypainting over it, check out that visor. Shattered, with distorted eyes. If you use that photo to replicate that visor, it's probably protection against the basilisk!

> thin plasticy-looking thingies with geometric holes
could those be stencils for the killer sigil? perhaps each one holds a portion of the pattern so they can be safely handled, and only when combined do they kill.

If so this would indicate that the deadly image may be a series of smaller images. May be the effect is stronger with more of them. It would explain why Gladii got hurt even with the small area the mirror would have shown.

Those goggles, they seem to act as a filter, fracturing the images so they don't fully connect all at once.
Whoever that guy was, they're either a skilled artist or filled with processing power.

Maybe you can do something like that. Put on cracked goggles filled with water, anything that lets you see in fragments.

>>1116703
Fancy goggles! Alright that confirms that scrambling the image works.
Also very interesting that the basilisk was created via spraypaint and stencils. I'd have thought it would require more fine detail than that. The halo implies an anomalous individual created the thing, though...

I kindof want to keep this camera, so that we can give it to our superiors as evidence of a secondary target... if we can get some disposable cameras from the gas station we can use those to confirm the anomaly is disabled once we sparypaint over it. Make sure to get at least two, so you can use one to confirm the basilisk normally destroys cameras.

>>1116701
Hmm. Looks like she meant to pepperspray the guy, but didn't mean to get him killed. Her hovering over his leg was probably because she was checking if he was dead, and once she realized that she went into the corner in shock. Then she took his stuff, because... I dunno. Considering they used symbols instead of names, maybe it was to remove any evidence of their organization... but she left the note behind? Maybe she just didn't find the note, or didn't expect him to still be carrying it.

>>1116699
Unusual that the sheriff died without making noise, but it seems the other pictures were taken when the victims collided with walls. ...oh, he shined a flashlight on it. I'm guessing that with more light, the effect is more powerful, so it killed him differently.

Go get some cameras, use one to confirm the effect, tag over the graffiti, then use one or two more cameras to confirm it's safe to observe.

Daww.
You stick your tongue out when you concentrate.
Adorable.

>>1116701
I think she was trying to pepperspray that guy and got herself.
Understandable.
Given him helping immediately, i suspect he was just a dumbass with no idea of how itd look getting flirty after taking someone to a dark, creepy spot.
Oh, hey.
He had mints in his pocket. Help yourself.
Cant have too much deadguy on them.

>>1116712
Agreed.
Fracturing the... lines maybe?
That indicates Its definately a rune or sigil or word of power that activates on... what exactly?
Its not a mind as cameras may be smart these days but not that smart.
The only shared trait between humans and cameras would be the eye and the camera both have a lens.
Unless thats too specific a trigger and whatever rules govern this specific weirdery are vague enough to cover anything which can behold it.
Sorry.
Probably not relevant.
Do like to figure things out.

... say. Fera.
Do your cards work on dead bodies?
Science and easily distracted minds demand answers!

I really don't think we need to experiment with goggles. Simply spraypainting it with closed eyes should be fine.

Also of note: despite the fact you're wearing those partially-spraypainted goggles, we can see the photos clearly.

>>1116726

Probably activates on being copied or reproduced. Reproduced in your eyes and brain, reproduced on film. I'll bet money that concrete wall took some damage when the angel(?) spray painted the pattern on it.

HEY! WE STILL HAVE THE REQUISITION FORM! REQUISITION A BASILISK GRAFFITI NEUTRALIZER! OR A GLADII-FULLY-HEALER!

Oh, yeah, we can requisition something to heal Gladii for sure. I think spraypaint is enough to neutralize the graffiti, although... to *really* kill it, we need some paint thinner.

Silicon 2025/12/10(Wed)02:51 No. 1118874 ID: be7ff9
File 176536389561.png - (436.00KB , 1500x1000 , C01_13_A.png )

> More importantly! Well actually not all that importantly. But if FOR SOME REASON you needed to look at the basilisk without spraypainting over it, check out that visor. Shattered, with distorted eyes. If you use that photo to replicate that visor, it's probably protection against the basilisk!

> Fancy goggles! Alright that confirms that scrambling the image works.

I think you're right! Assuming that this... person in the photos made the basilisk and lived, it's safe to say they knew how to counteract it.


> Those goggles, they seem to act as a filter, fracturing the images so they don't fully connect all at once.
> Maybe you can do something like that. Put on cracked goggles filled with water, anything that lets you see in fragments.

I doubt it's that simple. The goggles I have are made of pretty thin plastic that doesn't refract the light very much at all. Just filling them with water might distort the image but not shatter it the way these goggles seem to. That's probably beyond our means to recreate, unfortunately.

You know... The hand mirror did crack when it fell... Perhaps if we cracked it some more, it could be used to look at the anomaly. Though I'm not sure what good that would do us exactly. It's certainly not as good as these green goggles would be. Figuring out the shape and size of anything with an unbroken mirror is already kind of confusing. I imagine it only gets worse if it's all messed up.


> I really don't think we need to experiment with goggles. Simply spraypainting it with closed eyes should be fine.

That'll be my go-to for now.


> Also of note: despite the fact you're wearing those partially-spraypainted goggles, we can see the photos clearly.

That's because I did eventually take off the goggles and look at all of the pictures without them.
Silicon: It's definitely not because I found these pictures too hard to look at with the spraypaint effect applied and got rid of it.


> could those be stencils for the killer sigil? perhaps each one holds a portion of the pattern so they can be safely handled, and only when combined do they kill.
> If so this would indicate that the deadly image may be a series of smaller images. May be the effect is stronger with more of them. It would explain why Gladii got hurt even with the small area the mirror would have shown.

Maybe? Impossible to say without access to the stencils. And even then. How would one test that? Honestly, those stencils should probably be destroyed.
Oh God... Stencils imply this is repeatable. They could just make more basilisks if they wanted. They probably will!


> Unusual that the sheriff died without making noise, but it seems the other pictures were taken when the victims collided with walls. ...oh, he shined a flashlight on it. I'm guessing that with more light, the effect is more powerful, so it killed him differently.

I suppose that's possible. He got a better look than anybody else and it just killed him instantly? Maybe!


> Agreed.
> Fracturing the... lines maybe?
> That indicates Its definately a rune or sigil or word of power that activates on... what exactly?
> Its not a mind as cameras may be smart these days but not that smart.
> The only shared trait between humans and cameras would be the eye and the camera both have a lens.
> Unless thats too specific a trigger and whatever rules govern this specific weirdery are vague enough to cover anything which can behold it.
> Sorry.
> Probably not relevant.
> Do like to figure things out.

Yeah I get it, it is very strange to think about. A picture that kills is already very strange, but one can imagine such a process to be... physical in a way. But it also destroys cameras, which are just not the same thing as a person. What's the connection?


> Probably activates on being copied or reproduced. Reproduced in your eyes and brain, reproduced on film. I'll bet money that concrete wall took some damage when the angel(?) spray painted the pattern on it.

The wall certainly didn't feel very damaged when I touched it. Mostly felt smooth, which I presume was because of the thick paint. And the other parts felt just like all the other walls. But maybe the damage is deeper?

Silicon 2025/12/10(Wed)02:51 No. 1118875 ID: be7ff9
File 176536390626.png - (419.91KB , 1500x1000 , C01_13_B.png )

> Whoever that guy was, they're either a skilled artist or filled with processing power.

> Also very interesting that the basilisk was created via spraypaint and stencils. I'd have thought it would require more fine detail than that. The halo implies an anomalous individual created the thing, though...

Yeah that's what it is, isn't it?! A halo! That's weird! I doubt that's just some guy with a visual arts degree.


> I kindof want to keep this camera, so that we can give it to our superiors as evidence of a secondary target...

I wonder if these superiors actually care. I mean they might. They should! But well... Agent Gladii didn't seem terribly interested in figuring anything out beyond what the anomaly is and how it might be neutralized. The mission orders, as far as we can actually read them, only instruct us to neutralize. But maybe Gladii's attitude isn't indicative of the Agency as a whole. I really hope it isn't.

> if we can get some disposable cameras from the gas station we can use those to confirm the anomaly is disabled once we sparypaint over it. Make sure to get at least two, so you can use one to confirm the basilisk normally destroys cameras.
> Go get some cameras, use one to confirm the effect, tag over the graffiti, then use one or two more cameras to confirm it's safe to observe.

It's not that big a store. I didn't see any cameras in there and I honestly would be surprised if they stocked that sort of thing in the age of smartphone cameras. Even the cameras our culprit used weren't disposable per se. Just fairly cheap digital cameras.


> HEY! WE STILL HAVE THE REQUISITION FORM! REQUISITION A BASILISK GRAFFITI NEUTRALIZER! OR A GLADII-FULLY-HEALER!

> Oh, yeah, we can requisition something to heal Gladii for sure. I think spraypaint is enough to neutralize the graffiti, although... to *really* kill it, we need some paint thinner.

Oh yeah we do have that form. Hm... I don't have a pen. But surely such a thing can be found. Maybe if I search the bodies one more time. Otherwise, David should have one.

But what do I actually do with it once I've filled it in? I don't think Gladii ever explained how it works. Ugh I guess I'll have to bother them again.

Fera: "Gladii?"
Gladii: "hhKkhh.. Just... just kill the... hhhHHh damn thing already..."
Fera: "I will! but I uhm... i need to use the requisition form. How does it work?"
Gladii: "ghhhHhhk just... Just... hHHhhh f-finish... hhHHHgkhhh"

No help there.

Silicon 2025/12/10(Wed)02:52 No. 1118876 ID: be7ff9
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> Hmm. Looks like she meant to pepperspray the guy, but didn't mean to get him killed. Her hovering over his leg was probably because she was checking if he was dead, and once she realized that she went into the corner in shock. Then she took his stuff, because... I dunno. Considering they used symbols instead of names, maybe it was to remove any evidence of their organization... but she left the note behind? Maybe she just didn't find the note, or didn't expect him to still be carrying it.

> I think she was trying to pepperspray that guy and got herself.
> Understandable.
> Given him helping immediately, i suspect he was just a dumbass with no idea of how itd look getting flirty after taking someone to a dark, creepy spot.

Yeah I think they might both not be terribly bright. The removal of evidence is suspicious. I'd certainly like to follow up on all this with Ms. "Goth-chick" at some later date. Maybe she didn't mean to kill him. But she must be connected to the actual killer.

> Oh, hey.
> He had mints in his pocket. Help yourself.
> Cant have too much deadguy on them.

No.

Silicon 2025/12/10(Wed)02:52 No. 1118877 ID: be7ff9
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> ... say. Fera.
> Do your cards work on dead bodies?
> Science and easily distracted minds demand answers!

...

Silicon 2025/12/10(Wed)02:52 No. 1118878 ID: be7ff9
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Silicon 2025/12/10(Wed)02:52 No. 1118879 ID: be7ff9
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Silicon 2025/12/10(Wed)02:52 No. 1118880 ID: be7ff9
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Silicon 2025/12/10(Wed)02:53 No. 1118881 ID: be7ff9
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Silicon 2025/12/10(Wed)02:53 No. 1118882 ID: be7ff9
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Silicon 2025/12/10(Wed)02:53 No. 1118883 ID: be7ff9
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Seriously?

I mean... I guess I could try. I uh...

Should I?

Silicon 2025/12/10(Wed)02:53 No. 1118884 ID: be7ff9
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Do I have to?

Silicon 2025/12/10(Wed)02:53 No. 1118885 ID: be7ff9
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Okay, it's probably important that I get a grip on how this stuff works. So I pick up Gladii's card again and take a deep breath before moving over to the awfully ripe corpse of the athletic guy. Breathing shallow breaths, I gently push the card against his chest. And... It sinks in!

My every muscle tenses up painfully when the dead man raises his head and begins to speak in a quiet, raspy voice.

: "This sucks, being back. I sampled the great void and now I'm jealous of the dead guy over there."
Gladii: "What the f- hhkggk-uck?!"
: "Shit, now I'm getting all reflective. I shouldn't have made music. Every song, every note, every tone? Stains on perfection. I spent my whole life on... fucking up a perfectly good silence."
Gladii: "What d- did you do?! HhHHhhhgghkkk... Hk..."
Fera: "Uuuhhh..."
: "I gotta be done with it. If I can't die and stay dead, maybe I need to... silence the universe."
Fera: "Okay, nope!!"

I yank the card out of him and his head slumps back down. He's silent. Still. It's as if nothing happened. Eerie!

I get upright and turn to move away and-

Silicon 2025/12/10(Wed)02:54 No. 1118886 ID: be7ff9
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Fera: "UaaAAAGH!"
Gladii: "... hhHhgh"
Fera: "Sorry, you startled me!"
Gladii: "hHhh Let me see that."

Gladii snatches the card from my hand and looks at it.

Silicon 2025/12/10(Wed)02:54 No. 1118887 ID: be7ff9
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Gladii: "Huh..."
Their tone is wistful and sad.
Gladii: "... Huh..."

When they hand the card back to me, they have re-assumed their flat affect, however.
Gladii: "If this represents what I think it does, -ghhHhkh- you haven't taken it from me entirely. It's... dulled."
Fera: "Thank you. That's... really useful information."

Before I remember why we agreed not to look at it, I've already turned the card over in my hand.

Silicon 2025/12/10(Wed)02:54 No. 1118888 ID: be7ff9
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That's the Ten of Swords, by my count.
Odd. Given what David's card looked like, I would have expected this to depict Gladii. But that's a different suit and the hair's not the right colour

Fera: "What do you think it represents?"
Gladii: "Again, I'll not put ideas in your head about how your own practice works."
Fera: "But..."
Gladii: "And I think sorting out which part of that grisly display was me and which part was the dead man will be a valuable exercise."
Fera: "Of course you think that."

I carefully tuck the Ten of Swords in the inside pocket of my jacket.

Gladii: "You are hhHh... covered in blood, by the way."
Fera: "Yeah I know."

Silicon 2025/12/10(Wed)02:54 No. 1118889 ID: be7ff9
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Fera: "You uh... Seem to be doing a lot better all of a sudden."
Gladii: "I... lost my train of thought."
Fera: "And that helped?"
Gladii: "Evidently."
Fera: "What were you thinking about that whole time? The basilisk?!"
Gladii: "I felt compelled to reconstruct it in my mind. I still do... It's... I think it's coming back. hhHhgh..."
Fera: "Do you mean like a supernatural compulsion?"
Gladii: "Possibly."

Fera: "The talking dead guy really spooked you, huh?"
Gladii: "It was not the... necromancy alone that shocked me. It was the things he said."
Fera: "Why?"
Gladii: "At the peril of spoiling the aforementioned exercise... hHhh... I related to the sentiment. That is all I will say."

Fera: "So the Peanut Gallery has suggested I use the requisitons form to get some gear. But you never explained how it works."
Gladii: "Fill... hHhhh it in. Deposite it in a slot. ghhkk... Most any slot will do."
Fera: "And then?"
Gladii: "And then y- hKk 're done."
Fera: "Okay that sounds simple. But what do I actually write in there?"
Gladii: "Fill in the blank boxes. Leave the hatched ones empty. Requisition is a powerful tool if you know the... Ghhkhhh structures and words it responds to. But for now, I suggest you keep it simple. A list of items perhaps? hHhhh..."
Fera: "Okay, I'll think it over."
Gladii: "Just don't... waste too much time. Mngghhkkhh..."

Silicon 2025/12/10(Wed)02:55 No. 1118890 ID: be7ff9
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Agent Gladii retreats to the corner of the room and sits down. Their breathing grows more laboured again.
Meanwhile, I quickly go over the sheriff's body again. Lucky! He's got a pen in his breast pocket.

All right, Peanut Gallery, what's our next move?

Silicon: For convenience, here's the form again: >>1102577
What should we put on the requisition form? Maybe some cameras? I don't know if a 'Gladii-fully-healer' is too abstract, but I guess we could try it? What else?

Is there anything we want to ask Gladii about while they're responsive?

And I'm almost scared to ask but... Should we experiment with the cards some more? We have the Nine and Ten of Swords. So far we've tried the Nine on Gladii and the Ten on the dead athletic guy.

>ten of swords
Painful endings, deep wounds, betrayal, bitterness, loss. Considering what the corpse said, I'm guessing that Gladii feels bitter that they are not allowed to die, or are not allowed to stay "gone" since they keep being sent out on missions. They wish for silence but are denied it. It might be that there are no tarot cards close enough to what they feel, though, and that's not them on the card. "dulled" would mean... the feeling is more intense than the card signifies? Like a deep desire for death but being unable to die?
...huh, intrusive thought to take a listen to her earpiece, but that would be very rude. I'm thinking her own Peanut Gallery must be pretty negative...

>But it also destroys cameras, which are just not the same thing as a person. What's the connection?
Well, it also forms a supernatural compulsion for survivors of the attack to reform the basilisk in their minds. So it's supernatural. But just going "it's magic" is kindof boring, so... uh, what if the basilisk is "big"? Like, if you look at it, your brain tries to comprehend it, but it's too BIG so the sensory overload causes you to recoil from it violently. Cameras just burn up from too much "input", like if you tried to shine a laser through the lens and take a picture of that?

Anyway, ways to kill it with the tools we have right now: shooting it to blast off bits of the paint, scraping it with the crowbar, smashing the wall with the crowbar.

Breaking the mirror further to get a really fucked up reflection does sound like a neat idea for getting the gist of what the basilisk looks like.

As for the requisitions form:
Requisitioning Agent: Fera
Type: Equipment
Request:
Something to help Gladii recover from cognitohazard exposure
Enough paint thinner to clean a 6 foot by 6 foot area
A 6-inch wide paintbrush
Some cheap cameras

I'll amend that, instead of "enough paint thinner", specify a gallon bucket of it. Maybe two.

Also I guess you can try the other card on the sheriff's body. ...you could even try using cards on yourself, but you might not want to use the 10 that way, it's dangerous.

>>1118885
Well, that was terrifying on an immediate AND existential level.
Thankyou for your contribution to science.
Have you reconsidered the mints?

>>1118892
All good requisitions.
Dont forget the thicker goggles we can fracture and refract the image through. Actually, a thought...
Maybe a place like the agency would be into esotaria sufficiently to understand a request for fractal goggles. Except properly attuned or reinforced to purpose rather than those fun ones ravers and shroom heads use.

>>1118893
I... I really wanna know how fera
Reacts to a card selfinsertion but...
Until theres a safer spot, keep yourself in the control group fera.
Seeing what the other card does to our fabulous dead volunteer would be interesting...
Are the cards physical manifestation of souls, codified to be understood by fera or are they fragmentsnof the same. Traits that can be tweaked and altered like... spirit lego.
Ismitmpossiblento insert two cards or would one sort of... nudge the other out the other side.
Oh, hey.
What would happen if you,put one in an animal?
Wait, no, stop.
Im Getting lost in the weeds again.
We can play with dead bodies later fera.
Promise you.

>>1118892
I think Gladii meant that the feeling they have is dulled (by the removal of the card? I forget how we got that but infer we pulled it from Gladii), not that the feeling expressed by the body is a dulled representation of the one Gladii feels.

Hm. Perhaps the image 'expands'? A superposition of all possible configurations of the basilisk, simultaneously imposed on whatever data incurs it all at once. Anything that can't process data, like matter, absorbs the excess photons simultaneously, but anything that creates data from data is overwhelmed with the impulse of parallel processing - and nothing in this universe is prepared to perform infinite parallel processes.

Gladii, in contrast, is every possible incarnation of Gladii, which... mitigates it? I dunno.

Requisition a machine that destroys data in every universe.

>>1118892
Get infrared goggles, a where's waldo book (to purge Gladii's visual memory), a paint scraper, and some plaster to cover up the paint if we can't get it all off.

I think we're overthinking this a bit. This problem can be handled with several gallon buckets of black paint, a paint roller with a long handle (plus paint tray), and a pair of those horizontal glasses that show you a 90 degree view.

As long as you don't look up you're safe. So keeping your view of the floor, paint over the entire wall. Starting with the bottom half and work your way up.

You will also need about a dozen digital cameras for testing.