Event: Pest Control!

[idolpro]

Good morning, Imeeji! It’s been a while, but let’s have another event!

Thanks to a certain few people, 2000 Hell imps are taking over Imeeji. They’re relatively harmless—they won’t outright attack anyone—but they are the nastiest pests since C came to Imeeji. You can find them doing any of the following:

• Messing up your hair/change it to whacky colors, changing your skin or your clothes to whacky colors or patterns.


• Changing out boxed items in the stores. You might have thought you were buying a candy bar, but when you open up the wrapper, somehow it’s been swapped out for a solid lump of melted crayons. Open up the new hair dye you bought, find out inside there’s maple syrup. How did they even manage that without the seal being broken?


• Hiding your things, so hopefully you don’t keep too much out on the balconies or in public places. . .


• Installing trip-wires and digging pits and then covering them with leaves in public places. There’s some net-traps too.


• Messing with the electricity in public buildings, so elevators bring you to the wrong floor, lights flicker on and off, loud off-putting electronica or [insert genre of your choice] plays from public speakers.


• Handcuffing you to other people and leaving piles of keys out. You’ll manage to find the right one eventually, but you can hear the imps laughing as you try and sort through and find the right one. Or maybe the handcuffs have action tags written on them, and the handcuffs won’t come off until you’ve performed the action written. . .


• Making surfaces reflective or painting doorways and tunnels onto solid-surfaces, to see how many people run into them. Or maybe gluing familiar doors shut.


• Dousing you with potions that have various strange effects—like you’d get from AlcheME! potions or after a game.

In summary, players will have free reign to have whatever pranks they want happening during this event, along with blanket permission to status-effect their characters however they would like. The above isn’t meant as an exhaustive list, but rather some examples to give players a place to start!

The imps will be about two to three feet tall, and mostly strangely and brightly colored. While they might be humanoid or resemble an animal or two that you might be familiar with, they frequently have a fantasy bent to them, such as bat wings, or two heads though otherwise that's just a bright poisonous magenta cat. If you want though, free free to have characters see the more stereotypical "imp" form, with a forked tail. That said, they all have a snickering laugh in common, can laugh, and are fast enough to be hard to catch.

Characters are probably going to want to catch these imps. Who knows what trouble they’ll get up to, if left unchecked long enough. . .

CATCHING IMPS ROLL TABLE | CATCHING IMPS TURN-IN

This event is running for roughly two weeks as a lowkey mingle event with roll tables for people to get exciting results (oops couldn't catch the imp but COULD stub your toe!); there will be a couple of days set aside for any boss battle fights if not enough imps are left unchecked! It will run through July 8th through July 21st, with the finale running from July 22nd through July 24th!

Comments

[goodtoolboy]

I hope questions here are okay! I'm a bit unclear, are the imps supposed to be too fast to catch or are characters supposed to be actively catching them? Also what does 'catch' entail. Can we murder it. What happens if you try.

[imepro]

Little bit of column A and column B! Imps are very fast and characters should ostensibly be trying to catch them to, if nothing else, stop them from causing more chaos in whatever area is currently inconveniencing their character, although if IC plans are made to work together and eliminate the imps then that's also cool.

Catching includes pinning them down, netting them, killing them, etc. When you murder an imp it dissolves and returns to wherever it came from, although it might leave something behind as well. (Details on what that something is will be revealed when the event launches!)

[temperedinpride]

Question: are imps edible and do they have any nutritional value to cannibals?

[imepro]

Imps are technically edible and they technically may or may not have nutritional value although we at Imeeji Idol Productions do not recommend eating the imps.

[worthathousand]

PLOTARMY QUESTIONS:
How should the army groups handle any organized imp catching we want to do?

How does it impact how many imps groups (should be working groups of 5) can capture at once, including capture using the roll table? (I would think that having been training in coordinated tactics would help, but I'm not sure how much!)

How much freedom do we have to handwave stuff in general?

[idolpro]

- If you'd like to have a designated discord channel for army groups, let us know! Otherwise, you can use this post or make an ooc post for coordination.

- You can catch as many imps as you want, so if you want to have all 5 members use the roll table to do so that's fine, or if you want to roll once for the group and coordinate how you'd play out [roll result: 4 imps caught], that's also fine.

- The only thing we ask is that some mention of the imp engagement is threaded out—for example, if you just wanted to have a starter toplevel of "oh man I got hurt but I caught 5 imps that's sick, also I sneeze rainbows now", that's absolutely fine, even if imp catching was not threaded out, but we'd strongly like to avoid any "my character off screen killed like 100 imps no consequences no one knows stealth ninja" situations, just because there's a limited (though very high) number of imps.

[worthathousand]

Thank you! I did go ahead and put together an ooc plotting post; I'll get back to you on whether it feels like a discord chan would be helpful.

[bondsofsuffering]

1. Will all imp parts collected as drops turn to ash if taken to the deadzone just in general?

2. If yes to the above can imps be corralled into the deadzone to poof them?

[idolpro]

1. Imp parts will turn to ash if taken to the deadzone in general, yes!

2. Yes, absolutely!

[neigh_sayer]

could C in theory recruit the imps and enlist them for even more havoc in a live

[idolpro]

yes. They speak C(haos)

[neigh_sayer]

exCllent thank u

[tenebraecious]

some imp questions since pink can do a thing:

1. oracles can seal off areas to keep daemons from entering. would that be an ability that glacies could use during this event? probably nulled down to just lower level scrubs unless y'all want to go higher up the ranks.

2. ... and she and absinthe have daemon absorbing powers ... glacies would only use it for a big bad (you guys doing a boss fight??). what are thoughts on that?

......... there is the potential to heal stat effects but that doesn't seem fun but idk, if y'all want to use it ... sorry i have a magical canon pope, weeps

[imepro]

On both 1 & 2, canon powers are unable to be used in Imeeji, so neither would work. o> (Demon summoning is something anyone can do in Imeeji canon, whether they could do it in their own canon or not, as we've had it done before, but other abilities can't be used at this time.)

[tenebraecious]

cool, good to know!

[iamverybadass]

If Talon and Hurricane try to carefully lure an imp into a live-catch trap decked out with pillows and snacks and shit will it still explode into dust? Talon's hoping that not stressing them out will work.

[imepro]

If the imp is not physically restrained—that is, if the trap is more like a rabbit cage or otherwise a spacious area, then it will not explode into dust!

[worthathousand]

I came here to ask a related question! Namely, could the army crew theoretically get an imp surrounded and attempt to question it, or would that count as "restraint" for these purposes?

[imepro]

If they're not physically touching the imp they can surround it and attempt to question it, but it cannot be communicated with in any meaningful way to get information, although if you are a chaos demon like C you might be able to convince it to do pranks and tricks.

[crossmyheartandhope]

If someone searches the paper scraps on Tanabata for the rest of the missing HELP wish, is it findable? :0a

[imepro]

It is not! The imps probably ate it or something.

[crossmyheartandhope]

Thanks o7

[worthathousand]

The army group has come up with a proposal to put out trackers for the imps to steal (or trackers on some other bait, if they'd ignore or destroy trackers that aren't hidden) and use that to try to figure out where they're actually coming from.

1. Can trackers be purchased from the points store? (If so, for how much?) Or do we need to hit up fin for that?
2. Would tracking the imps reveal initial information beyond the fact that they're gathering in the park? e.g. would it reveal somewhere they're coming from?
3. How quickly could we get these results? That is: would it require a substantial delay before the "army" group could get a move on? (I'm trying to balance IC logic and an OOC desire to keep the post moving.)

A final question not directly related to trackers:
- How effective is it to LiliS illusion yourself as an imp and literally follow some of them around?
I felt comfortable handwaving that this is how Amaranth knows that (1) they're gathering at the park, and that (2) traps exist, but not comfortable assuming any more detail like actual trap locations, etc.

[maidenheaven]

1. Trackers can be purchased for 300 points (tool*electronic, or 150*2) along with a tracking app (50 points). Feel free to fudge how effective and reliable the trackers are (that is, how far the target can move away before they no longer show up on the app) though no gps tracker works when entering the deadzone.

2. It does not! They just appear sometimes, sometimes the tracker stops and then shows up again. Sometimes they're broken, sometimes an imp might find it and throw it out to see. It's very chaotic, although there are similar piles of imp gatherings to the park (and inspecting them they'd be able to find More Things being gathered, e.g. library books or other people's stuff).

3. Since the results are on an app, this can be pretty immediate!

- When it comes to effectiveness, they will generally not notice anything unusual. Amaranth may witness, sneaking around, that imps that gather around in large groups assemble like penguin colonies, bundled up together. Strangely, their forms may waver here, although not for very long before they break apart to go do something else. She may also witness, maybe even in the same place, black clouds collecting together to materialize into solid imp form.

[worthathousand]

This is all extremely useful—thanks so much!

Is it safe to assume that we (people threading army stuff "we") can use the answer to what Amaranth would see while scouting as content for army threads as well?
—Unless they in fact don't do that stuff while they believe they have witnesses, which is also good to know!

[imepro]

They'd have to be extra sneaky about it (invisibility potions and such) but yes, they can witness the above information as well!

[worthathousand]

Oh, so the imps do attempt to conceal it. Good to know, and I'll pass all this along!

EDIT

[sunflowering]

If Taisho uses common law on the imps and their effects, does this still work?

For instance "No idols can be hurt/pranked" when they start a mission against them? Would this make the consequences of imp catching null so long as it was within her range?

Edit: https://imeeji-frontstage.dreamwidth.org/450301.html?thread=311518461#cmt311518461

This thread has some questions regarding their ability too. For instance, would saying something like ""No idols are of any interest to imps"? Or something like, they can't even tell we're present?" be effective against imps...?

Re: EDIT

[imepro]

In order for Common Law to work for "No idols can be hurt/pranked", the entire area would have to be 100% cleared of imps first: imps, after all, are always setting up traps and pranks for idols.

Thought policing like "no idols are of any interest to imps" would not work in general, although in addition to that, imps are already interested in idols so it would be impossible to create an area like that where imps already exist.

[we_meet_again]

Are imps affected by lights at all? Could they be harmed, warded off, or made uncomfortable by bright lights?

[sancrimony]

They are not, no!

[justfuckingtryit]

Can Achilles Radar pinpoint a weak point on the imps, or on a large group of imps, if they're together?

Can Machai Provocation be used to turn the imps on each other?

[maidenheaven]

Achilles Radar may pinpoint weaknesses on some imps: they'll be hearts, eyes, and some parts of flesh. Imps attacked with Achilles Radar have a 100% drop rate, so just roll until you get a drop!

Machai Provocation used on the imps doesn't result in any imp poofing; they might be distracted for a moment but they don't seem to be able to injure each other and they'll quickly find a different idol to target.

[justfuckingtryit]

Okay, thanks o7

[composeur]

i dont even know if i will get around to it i just Need To Know

can imps sign contracts


WOULD they sign contracts, can i trick imps to sign contracts, can they bleed???

[imepro]

Imps do not bleed, but they can technically sign contracts! Please let us know what kinds of contracts you're looking to have them sign so we can let you know if they successfully do it or not, though the general rule of thumb should be that they can probably pull off things that are annoying as they usually do (and just direct them more at a certain person or type of person) but they'll fail any contract that has them not being a super mega nuisance, and any punishment given that results in bodily harm will poof them.

[composeur]

can i direct them at an entire team? for example, avante

also how DO they sign? how do i get entire groups of imps to sign? are they a single entity?

[imepro]

1. You can direct them to an entire unit, although they don't seem to understand unit distinction so you might want to say "all the people in yellow/gold". (There will be innocent casualties in this war.)

2. You can have imps step in ink and take their footprints. Only the imps whose footprints are taken will be bound by the contract, but you can assume other imps will decide to follow them because it looks fun and imps love to have fun. (This also means there will be other innocent casualties in this war from non-contracted imps not discriminating.)

[crossmyheartandhope]

Does throwing dirt from the dead zone at imps have any effect?

Probably experiments were done,

[imepro]

Deadzone dirt will poof the imps, provided the imps are actually hit with it.

[crossmyheartandhope]

Thanks! o7

[featherbeaned]

I have a question before I sign up:

Is there space for DUMB SHENANIGANS, i.e. my AlcheMe gets involved almost accidentally on her way home from stuffing her face at a conbini somewhere, throws potions, and tries to run away?

[imepro]

You can definitely do a hit and run if you want to! We expect the majority is probably going to be some level of horrific violence on people so we can't promise silliness beyond a hit and run, but we will do our very best to honor the sanctity of Dumb Shit.