Interrogation

[bravesirrobin]

Slavion chuckles humourlessly.

"You're wrong. I don't know who his father is. And I am not going to tell you anything willingly. I am fully aware of what you will make me do. I want you to do it. I want you to stain your own soul with what you do to me. I want you to look back on this and know that you weren't the one with the power here. I have made you reveal the monster you really are, and you have merely broken me and rebuilt me in the image you desire. I want the cruelty, the brutality and the completely unjustified hideousness of what you are about to do to haunt you for the rest of your life."

[cardinalsin]

[NB: I am about to make one of those changes to my character sheet that were permitted after my first session, which will almost certainly include taking Irresistable Questioning Technique. This will be very useful here (or should be).

It may be better for Kairos to carry on doing his funky thing, in which case Raiden will mainly observe and occasional chime in with 'you're lying' type assertions. Alternatively, if we want Raiden to use IQT I'd quite like to engineer a break in the questioning, by way of a slightly more dignified transition between Raiden's current apparent inability to extract any information and the use of IQT which will hopefully be more effective.

Finally - was Slavion lying when he said "I don't know who his father is?". I assume so on the basis of the previous statement, but it may be that there is a more subtle implication.]

[bravesirrobin]

[He was not lying. If you want IQT go for it. You may well have been waiting until the appropriate time, since he's likely very low on willpower now....]

[Learned Hand]

Kairos smiles.

'You're greatly overestimating how much I care about you. When I leave this room I'll give you no more thought than I give the chicken I ate last night.

'Raiden, do what needs to be done'

He closes the door after him, leaving Slavion and Raiden alone in the room.

[If you've got IQT I'm superfluous - droning suggestion in this context was merely a second-rate attempt to mimic it]

[cardinalsin]

Raiden regards Slavion coolly as the door closes.

"I think it's time you gave me some answers. I'm not leaving until I get them."

Over the next hour, he cross-examines the prisoner. His questions rain down upon him, gently at first, like rain pattering upon him. He can close his mind and drown it out. But the pace and ferocity of the questions increases until it is a thunderstorm, drumming on his skull like an angry god. As the questions continue, Raiden paces about the room, left and right. Sometimes he stands in the shadows behind Slavion's chair, his disembodied voice echoing in the darkness. Then he will stalk into full sight and stand over the man, his aura blazing white hot. He wields Azir's scalpel like a sword, punctuating his sentences with thrusts or slashes, or holding the knife steady right in front of Slavion's face, the light catching on it with crystal clarity. The knife-point never falls upon Slavion's skin but each time the blade falls closer to him, until it seems it must surely cut him on the next question.

By now Slavion is exhausted and disoriented, the spark of resistance gone out of him as he withdraws into fear, awaiting the torture that he knows must come.

Raiden picks up his own chair, and brings it back to sit in front of the man. The scalpel-point sits less than an inch from Slavion's right eye, the lamplight shining off it bringing its point into horrifying focus. Raiden looks over his glasses into the prisoner's eyes, back where he was when the interrogation started. His voice is soft now, a lull in the storm. Slavion knows he must answer truthfully or face the full force of that storm.

"This is it, Slavion. Your last chance to talk. Tell me what I want to know. Let's start Manaas' father. What do you know about him?"

[IQT, plus 8 excellency dice, plus a point of willpower channelled through Conviction for 3, plus monologue bonus for 3 if it's applicable here. (I don't want to fail this roll, in case you hadn't realised)

More questions to follow, obv.

PS the above description assumes Slavion has had multiple five-minute segments of resisting, so he's either out of willpower or unbreakable at this point; I think that's more dramatic than yet more questioning and "fuck you"s.]

[bravesirrobin]

[Successful 3 dice stunt]

Slavion resists for as long as he can, and frankly you are astounded by the strength of his will considering he is a mere mortal. But as a mortal he cannot hope to stand up to the strength of your assault on his mind. When he finally cracks you can see the strain you have put on him. Every word is dragged from him like a mother defending her young.

"He's a god of the celestial bureaucracy... He's pretty senior in the Bureau of Destiny.... He's gonna be real pissed at the guys who killed his son..... And he's gonna come for you...... That's all I know......."

Slavion finally collapses, whimpering and sobbing on the floor. He's not lying, so that really does appear to be all he knows. You've broken him, whether he will recover or not is unclear, right now it'd be useless trying to talk to him, and you leave the room, allowing him to shiver and sob alone on the cold floor.

[cardinalsin]

[Doh!]

[Learned Hand]

[cardinalsin]

[oneiros]

[If anyone tells Azir what is going on, he'll endeavour to give Slavion a sleeping draught and see if there's any permanent mental damage]

[cardinalsin]

[Yes, I'll tell him. I'd be interested to know what his current state is likely to mean, game mechanically. I kinda thought that IQT would allow me to ask quite a few questions (it is scene-length). I'm a bit concerned as to whether he'll get to resist again tomorrow, but with a bonus from having already been IQT'd once.

Is it possible that he is under the influence of someone else's charms, or is collapsing under the pressure a normal effect?

PS Yay! 3D stunt = more XP for Raiden ]

[oneiros]

Azir walks back into the room and looks dispassionately at the racked form before him. With a raised eyebrow at Raiden, he unpacks some medication from his satchel and administers, with difficulty, a soothing soporific to send Slavion into stress-free slumber. As the man slips gently into unconsciousness, the doctor cradles his head in his hands extending his Essence into the prone body. [Activate Flawless Diagnosis Technique and do a Med check to assess Slavion].

Looking up at his companions, he asks "Can we move him to somewhere more comfortable please? This is hardly the most conducive of surroundings for me to work or him to recuperate." While he works Azir also ponders the answer extracted and sets to work again on trying to identify any likely candidates for Maanas' father. [Lore or Occult check?]

[bravesirrobin]

You have no knowledge of the Bureaus of Destiny, other than that it exists and has something to do with fate.

Slavion has basically been broken, quite literally. He is completely out of willpower, which means his behaviour is of someone who is completely and physically emotionally drained. But it's more than that, he seems to have some form of stress condition, probably based on having to betray himself in some meaningful way.

Technically IQT could have been used to continue questioning. The magic would still force the answers out of him, but in terms of normal conversation he's done. It's also a little mean to carry on when he's in that state. You can if you want.

[cardinalsin]

[So "it'd be useless trying to talk to him" - not entirely true then

You're saying it's mean to question him after reducing him to a mental and emotional wreck. This is incorrect. It is mean to reduce him to a mental and emotional wreck. Failing to question him properly afterwards would imply you did it for no reason!

Anyway: Raiden will ask him whether M's father was behind/involved in the bureaucracy-sabotage, what the reasons were for same, what the objectives were for same, who else is involved in same, whether any outside interests were involved in same, whether black market is connected to same, and what he knows about that (i.e. same questions re black market, as applicable). Basically Raiden will gather enough information to completely identify the causes of bureaucratic problems, to the extent Slavion knows about it. Happy to play out IC if preferred.]

[bravesirrobin]

[There's no need, he tries not to tell you but can't. I also knew that he had no more information, to whit;]

Slavion knows nothing of other disruptions. He admits to beginning to form a resistance group, but says their one and only act was to burn down a granary so far. He was trying to recruit some higher ups but hadn't succeeded. He had almost no information on the state of things. He didn't even know there were problems in the bureaucracy. He finds all this pleasing and assumes it is Manaas' father.