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Your bathroom's not much better than your bedroom. What little warmth you have is sapped by the cracked, icy-cold tiling. No Goddamn insulation. You quickly skim your assessment sheet before placing it on the top of your filthy toilet.

You lean in to look at yourself in the mirror. Unfortunately, it's still you. What kind of Cleaner are you? (It's a small world when it comes to the industry you're in, you may see the others later down the line.)

>A wiry woman with messy hair and a wild stare. You are Nicole S, former Urban Explorer. Knowledgeable on the Supernatural and the secrets of the City, and demonstrates minor Anomalous Abilities. Unstable Psyche and is considered a Person of Interest by many Companies.
>An average, unassuming man with a grey and unfocused left eye. You are Vincent C, former Office Worker and Painter. High stress tolerance, versed in corporate bureaucracy. Little combat experience and very new to the job.
>An oddly well kept and stylish woman with a shit eating grin. Max, former Aristocrat. High in demand with the Companies and has extensive access to corporate assets. Held in contempt by other Cleaners, very sheltered.
>A tall, imposing man with scars and tattoos plastered all over. You are Ashton M, Petty Criminal. Higher base stats overall and has connections in the Criminal Underworld. Blacklisted by most Companies and entered many blood feuds in the past.
>A nervous man in glasses weakly smiles at his reflection. Benjamin A, Pharmacist. Fully licensed as a pharmacist and is Open Minded to the supernatural. Delusional, credulous, and naive.
>A cybernetically engineered husk of flesh and metal, more meat and machine than man. You're Aster K, former bodyguard. Augmented physique enhances intimidation. Sensitive to the unnatural and slower to heal.

>>5796955
>An average, unassuming man with a grey and unfocused left eye. You are Vincent C, former Office Worker and Painter. High stress tolerance, versed in corporate bureaucracy. Little combat experience and very new to the job.
Im a sucker for office worker turned career criminal.

>>5796955
>A nervous man in glasses weakly smiles at his reflection. Benjamin A, Pharmacist. Fully licensed as a pharmacist and is Open Minded to the supernatural. Delusional, credulous, and naive.
The delusional catches me.

>>5796955
>An average, unassuming man with a grey and unfocused left eye. You are Vincent C, former Office Worker and Painter. High stress tolerance, versed in corporate bureaucracy. Little combat experience and very new to the job.

>>5796955
>A cybernetically engineered husk of flesh and metal, more meat and machine than man. You're Aster K, former bodyguard. Augmented physique enhances intimidation. Sensitive to the unnatural and slower to heal.
Time to get to work, hound.

>>5796955

>An average, unassuming man with a grey and unfocused left eye. You are Vincent C, former Office Worker and Painter. High stress tolerance, versed in corporate bureaucracy. Little combat experience and very new to the job.

Let’s start humble, cool quest OP

>>5796955
>A wiry woman with messy hair and a wild stare. You are Nicole S, former Urban Explorer. Knowledgeable on the Supernatural and the secrets of the City, and demonstrates minor Anomalous Abilities. Unstable Psyche and is considered a Person of Interest by many Companies.

>>5796955
>An average, unassuming man with a grey and unfocused left eye. You are Vincent C, former Office Worker and Painter. High stress tolerance, versed in corporate bureaucracy. Little combat experience and very new to the job.
CORPORATE DOG, WOOF WOOF.

>A wiry woman with messy hair and a wild stare. You are Nicole S, former Urban Explorer. Knowledgeable on the Supernatural and the secrets of the City, and demonstrates minor Anomalous Abilities. Unstable Psyche and is considered a Person of Interest by many Companies.
Anomalous abilities + unstable psyche? What could go wrong with that combo

>>5796955
>A tall, imposing man with scars and tattoos plastered all over. You are Ashton M, Petty Criminal. Higher base stats overall and has connections in the Criminal Underworld. Blacklisted by most Companies and entered many blood feuds in the past.

>>5796955
>>A wiry woman with messy hair and a wild stare. You are Nicole S, former Urban Explorer. Knowledgeable on the Supernatural and the secrets of the City, and demonstrates minor Anomalous Abilities. Unstable Psyche and is considered a Person of Interest by many Companies

>>5796955
>A wiry woman with messy hair and a wild stare. You are Nicole S, former Urban Explorer. Knowledgeable on the Supernatural and the secrets of the City, and demonstrates minor Anomalous Abilities. Unstable Psyche and is considered a Person of Interest by many Companies.

>>5796955
>An average, unassuming man with a grey and unfocused left eye. You are Vincent C, former Office Worker and Painter. High stress tolerance, versed in corporate bureaucracy. Little combat experience and very new to the job.

>>5796955
>A wiry woman with messy hair and a wild stare. You are Nicole S, former Urban Explorer. Knowledgeable on the Supernatural and the secrets of the City, and demonstrates minor Anomalous Abilities. Unstable Psyche and is considered a Person of Interest by many Companies.

>>5796955
>A wiry woman with messy hair and a wild stare. You are Nicole S, former Urban Explorer. Knowledgeable on the Supernatural and the secrets of the City, and demonstrates minor Anomalous Abilities. Unstable Psyche and is considered a Person of Interest by many Companies.

File: chasmoftricks.png (249 KB, 836x760)

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VINCENT:
DYo, tjv, Q1J, Hub, o85
NICOLE:
+AF, 4QB, BbB, tt6, Y5S, M9P
ASHTON:
NKz
BENJAMIN
1s2
ASTER:
Hb5
Seems like Nicole won the vote. Vote is locked, update will be written soon Remember, it's a small world when it comes to your industry.

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https://youtu.be/5jfU1HN2pSQ - APARTMENT AMBIENCE

The woman staring back at you from the reflection frightens you. Not because of what she looks like. Bright pink blouse, simple dress jeans, short and messy reddish-orange hair, simple flats. If you paid attention to only that, you would just be a normal and lovely person.

The rest deceives any attempt at normalcy. Your pink eyes dart around, focusing on random points of the room. Your clothes loosely hang off of your wiry frame, long since having gotten too thin and ragged to wear them properly. Tremors run through your body whenever stray thoughts threaten to enter your mind.

You are Nicole Smith.

You try your best to put on an award winning smile. It might've worked if it didn't look like you were snarling at someone. Well, you can work on it, you got a while to make first impressions after all. Grabbing your assessment sheet, you begin to review it. To see how other people view you.

YOUR STATS
FLESH: 2
RESTRAINT: 6
VIOLENCE: 2
TALENT: 4
WILLPOWER: 4
CHARM: 2
CONNECTIONS: 2
COGNIZANCE: 4

BOONS:
[SEEKER OF THE CITY]
You have extensive knowledge of the City and its workings, the supernatural, and all sorts of knowledge they certainly don't want you to know about. When encountering an anomaly, you get hints on how to handle it through visions and internal dialogue.

[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES]
You're not sure how but suddenly, one day, you managed to find a way to bend and break the laws of the world. This revelation currently manifests as minor telekinetic powers. Over time, you'll may gain more abilities or develop finer control over your current abilities.
>Telekinesis (Free/1): You may move small items (anything you can hold in your hand), open and shut doors, and manipulate simple mechanisms from a distance if you have line of sight. If you spend 1 Restraint, you can send medium objects (like tables or shelves) flying. Attacks made this way will roll VIOLENCE and WILLPOWER together.

BANES:
[UNSTABLE PSYCHE]
Your mind has cracks in it and it shows. As your Restraint gets lower, your perception of the world starts decaying, the more unstable your abilities will become, and you might just totally lose control over yourself. Try to keep your head on straight.

[PERSON OF INTEREST]
The Companies have their eyes on you. Corporate Agents stalk, hassle, and may even step in if they deem what you're doing too dangerous to their activities. Remember, They glow in the dark.

STARTING EQUIPMENT:
$500
Map of your hidden supply caches across the City
A bottle of Joyvel (3 doses remain, each dose restores 1 Restraint.)

After putting the assessment sheet down, you exit the bathroom and shut the door behind you with a simple thought. You have some downtime to burn before you must pick your first job. Your mind races at what to do. So much to do, so many options.

How do you prepare yourself? You may select up to three activities.

>Attempt to practice with your powers. It's one of the few tools you have in this world. (Write in how you want to train them. More intensive training will have a higher chance at improving your ability at a higher WILLPOWER DC, and vice versa.)
>Restock at one of your nearby supply caches. You forgot what's there but it might be useful. (Random results.)
>Turn on the TV. See if there's anything on the news.
>Call your Handler and try sweet talking him into being easier on you. (Hard Charm check, DC: 8. Succeeding will improve the mission selection you'll get. Failure will further erode your already weak relationship.)
>Leave the house. Take in the sights and sounds of the City. Maybe you'll find some solace in it.
>Visit the local bar. A gathering place for fellow Cleaners as desperate as you. Might be a good place to find allies.
>Write in.

And to explain what all of those numbers and stats means:
Simple Mechanic Explanation
>You have 8 stats, with 3 being normal in that field. You roll d6s equal to the amount of points in the corresponding stat. e.g having 4 VIOLENCE lets you roll 4d6 when attempting a VIOLENCE check.
>When you succeed a DC, you do the thing you want to do. When you fail a DC, you typically take FLESH or RESTRAINT damage, though other stats may take damage depending on the situation.
>When a health stat reaches 0, you enter a critical state where one more hit will kill you (FLESH) or cause a mental breakdown (RESTRAINT)
>When a non-health stat reaches 0, you'll automatically fail any rolls requiring that stat, and will suffer crippling penalties until it is restored.

Stat Explanation
>FLESH: How much blood can you shed? Your Health Points. Rolled when attempting to endure intense pain, do prolonged heavy labor, or any other physical taxing feat.
>RESTRAINT: How sturdy is your mind? Your Sanity Points. Rolled when resisting anomalous influences, managing intense stress, or pushing past mental limits.
>WILLPOWER: How attuned are you to the supranatural? Determines how well you can use anomalous abilities and equipment, and understand anomalous phenomena.
>VIOLENCE: How willing and able are you to hurt someone? Rolled the most during combat. It may also be used in intimidation or performing feats of strength, like breaking down doors.
>TALENT: How skilled are you? Rolled when performing tasks which require technical expertise, such as lockpicking, repairing machinery, impressive backflips, etc etc.
>CHARM: How well do you handle people? Rolled when negotiating with others, calming someone in a murderous frenzy, pulling a con, etc.
>CONNECTIONS: How many favors do you have under your belt? Rolled when attempting to bargain with the Companies of the City and other entities in high power.
>COGNIZANCE: How smart are you? Rolled when trying to remember specific facts, understand complex puzzles, or any task requiring your brainpower.

>>5797687
>Turn on the TV. See if there's anything on the news.
>Leave the house. Take in the sights and sounds of the City. Maybe you'll find some solace in it.
>Visit the local bar. A gathering place for fellow Cleaners as desperate as you. Might be a good place to find allies.

>>5797694
+1
Get news of the world, our thoughts together, then gather our allies.

>>5797694
Support

>>5797687
Support >>5797694

Quite interesting so far.

>>5797694
+1

>>5797694
+1

Alright. Locking the vote since it's pretty clear what you guys want. Writing.

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TV. The main source of information, entertainment, and spiritual enlightenment in the City. With a simple thought, you push the TV's power button. Snowy static floods the television's screen. Good, it's working.

Once the signal actually reaches your hunk of junk, you see him. The funny news man. Your smile grows wider after seeing him. You get him. He tells you how it is, tells it STRAIGHT. You can always trust his suit and tie.

"...Recent reports have shown a massive amount of defects in the latest Drone production line. Due to this, many businesses are struggling to get the manpower needed to operate their stores."

"If you notice a Drone from the G-01 series, please report it to your local Q-Corp representative. It's best to crush an annoying bug before it causes problems."

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Drones are a type of artificial humanoid created by Q-Corp. While weak and inefficient in all manner of things, they are cheap to buy and are incredibly loyal to their owner.
[UNSTABLE] You doubt the defect explanation. Their bodies is about as complex as a mannequin's, all one solid hunk of flesh. They have to be hiding something inside them. You gotta cut one open later.

"In other news, Leo Krakatoa has gotten into a scuffle with M-Company over them using his likeness in one of their latest music videos. When asked on the matter, they denied the existence of Leo."

"Of course, this has strained relationships between the Krakatoa family and M-Corp. If you had to ask me, though? He should be glad he is even being given the time of day. His family's nothing but trouble, Nicole. I wouldn't associate with those types." The man on the TV snarls.

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] M-Company produces most of the music, audio equipment, and radios of the City. Supposedly, all musicians have at least met a M-Corp representative once in their life. The family name sounds vaguely familiar but you need time to remember.

"Latest, but certainly not least, there's been a recent return of the Purple Phantom. While we don't know much on this Color, we know that districts they have been spotted in have a 52% rise in Cleaner deaths and disappearances! Those who can give us any solid information or pictures on it will be paid a solid $3000 for their efforts!"

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] A "Color" is a specific title given to very dangerous, district spanning threats in the City. Can be applied to humans and anomalies alike. It's best to avoid Colors if you can, you'll likely die if you try fighting one.

That bounty, though? 3k is a LOT of money for someone in your line of work and you only need to take a picture? You take a mental note of it in case you ever encounter it. Who knows what you could use that money on?

Nothing else on the TV seems to be interesting to you. You turn it off with a simple thought. With nothing else left to do here, you make your way to your front door. You make sure to wear your two sizes too big winter coat before leaving.

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https://youtu.be/KIXySk4GId0 - SNOWBOUND CITY

You're instantly hit with an intense gust of freezing wind once outside. You don't remember the last time it's been hotter than 50 degrees in this part of town. It helps wake you up at the very least.

Everything in sight, from your front porch to the streets to the roofs of buildings, is covered in an inch or two of white powdery snow. Remarkably light for this time of year.

You begin your walk over to the nearby bar. It's going to take a while, might as well enjoy the sights and sounds along the way. You let out a shaky breath as you look around, keeping your eyes peeled.

It's early in the morning, so a lot of people are out and about, ready to start their day. A few kids run past you in their cute little winter coats, on their way to school. A crowd of workers of all various types of Companies pass by you. You swear you even saw a few robots or faceless Drones pass you by. The crowd mutters about meaningless nonsense you tune out.

What you care about more is the City itself. The living, breathing ecosystem you find yourself living in. The hum of neon signs in front of businesses. The smell of freshly cooked food from nearby restaurants. Laughs and cries blending in with video game blips and boops from a nearby arcade. Punk music blaring from a 'counterculture' store.

You wish you could turn your brain off and enjoy the simple pleasures these Cityslickers have. But you have a job to do, you don't have time to wander around like you used to. You shake your head, no need to worry about that. You still have a few more minutes until you're at the bar.

You pass by two people on a bench. An old man and a young girl, chatting about old times and precious memories of his former career. Something about being a cowboy? The girl seems ecstatic at the idea of her grandpa being one.

A turn around a corner. A young man sits next to a burning barrel, strumming his guitar. Singing lyrics that are equal parts cringeworthy and heartfelt. He glances at you as you pass him by. You flash your best attempt at a smile at him. He does the same.

[PERSON OF INTEREST] A man in a silver coat and hat passes you by. Your body shivers seeing him. You recognize what that outfit was. They're already up this early?
[PERSON OF INTEREST] Hopefully he's only here to observe, nothing else. Keep an eye out.

A group of teenager friends pass you by, arguing over who would be a better Cleaner. You didn't have the heart to tell them what a bad idea it was. It would only inspire them to try harder.

But, the walk gave you a moment to focus on something besides yourself. Taking in all of the sights...help you, you know? Even if only for a bit, you've gained a bit of control back. It's nice feeling normal for once.

You eventually reach the bar. Even standing out here, you can smell cigarette smoke, piss, and beer. The neon sign simply reads "NICOLAS'". Well, at least it'll be warmer if you go inside.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY-4u9eH8Is - BAR THEME

Oh god, your brain is already getting overstimulated by the hellhole you stumbled into. You already have to back away from two men beating each other up. You quickly walk past them to avoid getting into their scuffle. Annd that's a knife he's pulling out.

Put it out of your mind, Nicole, best not to think too hard on it. Just a bar fight, r-right?

As expected, this place is packed to the brim with all manners of degenerates, freaks, and losers. Most of which are men who walked out of a 1970s post apoc movie or from the nearby homeless shelter. You stand out like a sour thumb here.

You eventually find a seat at the counter, squeezing in between two men twice your size. It doesn't take long for the bartender to find you. If it wasn't for his grey hair and hazy eyes, you wouldn't know he was in his 70s. He clicks his tongue on seeing you.

"ID, please?"

You nod, handing it to him. He skims it before handing it back to you. "Alright. What will it be, miss?"

"W-water, please? J-just here to meet someone." That's technically not a lie? The bartender shrugs indifferently, not really caring. He pours you a glass of water. "Ain't gonna ask, kid. This is on the house, aight?"

"Sides. Not like the beer's any better!" The old man guffaws. You try your best to laugh back. He takes his leave to go attend to the other patrons.

[UNSTABLE] Is it tap? Better not be. You know the kind of shit they lace in there. The kind of shit that destroys your teeth and BRAIN.

You let out a sigh. Oh well, down the hatch. After refreshing yourself, you take a look around the bar you find yourself in. It's time to try finding some ALLIES! There's POWER in COMRADERY! You try to see who stands out amongst them.

Select up to two people you want to try recruiting.
>An old man tinkers away at some bizarre contraption at the table he's at. Grease and oil cover his clothes. Seems like he's having fun.
>A lady around your age jumps from table to table, talking to everyone she can. Each table seems a lot happier after she visited it.
>A brick shithouse of a man stands over a man he just knocked out. An ear to ear smile rests on his face. He barely looks hurt from the fight.
>A woman with bags under her eyes talks to someone over the phone. You notice her expensive outfit stands out a LOT compared to what the other patrons are wearing.
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] He's moving down the halls, like a drunk, but even a drunk would move his fingers once in a while. Something's off about him.
>Someone else catches your eye...(Write in a simple description of the person you're trying to find.)

>>5798285
Y'know, for an unstable thought I was thinking the same thing.

>>5798290
Bleh, fahrenheit, disgusting.

>>5798294
Okay, that thought was a bit weirder, but hey, it could be true, you don't know with this city.

>A brick shithouse of a man stands over a man he just knocked out. An ear to ear smile rests on his face. He barely looks hurt from the fight.
>A woman with bags under her eyes talks to someone over the phone. You notice her expensive outfit stands out a LOT compared to what the other patrons are wearing.

For when we run into trouble and for when fists aren't enough to get us out of trouble. Not gonna go for the shiny, it's probably just someone with Anomalous Abilities or some other variety of supernaturally endowed person. While that is interesting, we've got that and everything else covered.

>>5798285
[UNSTABLE] Is it wrong to cut out hearts?
Tastes like Disco Elysium again, something like a Encyclopedia and Half Light(?) run. Fun.
>>5798332
>(((Celsius)))
>>5798294
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Not a Drunk
A freak for a freak.
>Shithouse.
Every suicide squad needs its muscle. Perfect fit.

>>5798285
>His family's nothing but trouble, Nicole. I wouldn't associate with those types."
TV man talking directly to us already? You sure we don't have meds we forgot to take?

>>5798294
>A lady around your age jumps from table to table, talking to everyone she can. Each table seems a lot happier after she visited it.
>A brick shithouse of a man stands over a man he just knocked out. An ear to ear smile rests on his face. He barely looks hurt from the fight.
Charisma and muscle. Though seeing how well we talked to the bartender, I'm not sure how well we'll even talk to these guys. Hence the charisma vote

>>5798294

>>5798294
>A brick shithouse of a man stands over a man he just knocked out. An ear to ear smile rests on his face. He barely looks hurt from the fight.
>A woman with bags under her eyes talks to someone over the phone. You notice her expensive outfit stands out a LOT compared to what the other patrons are wearing.

>>5798294
>A brick shithouse of a man stands over a man he just knocked out. An ear to ear smile rests on his face. He barely looks hurt from the fight.
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] He's moving down the halls, like a drunk, but even a drunk would move his fingers once in a while. Something's off about him.

SEEKER: HuB, 7le
Shithouse: 4QB, +AF, Y5S, 7le
Phone Woman: Y5S, +AF
Happy Lady: 4QB

Tell you what. You can talk to the Seeker, Shithouse, and Phone Woman and pick which of the two you want, based on what you figure out about them. Here's what I need from you, voters.

I need two anons to roll CHARM (2d6) to determine your first impression with the Shithouse and Phone Woman. DC 4 for Shithouse, 6 for Phone. Fail? You spill your spaghetti and they probably won't want to associate with you. Success allows you to hold your spaghetti in and the more you overroll, the more you can learn from them.
Then I need one anon to roll a WILLPOWER check (4d6), DC 13, for the Seeker guy. No charm roll needed. What happens on a success or failure is unknown, you just know he probably doesn't care about first impressions.

Rolled 6, 6 = 12 (2d6)

>>5798852
Rolling for the Phone Woman.

>>5798867
Yeah, don't think I didn't see that. 11 is the willpower roll, you fail that.

Rolled 6, 6 = 12 (2d6)

>>5798852
Rolling for brick shithouse

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>>5798855
>>5798882
How in the actual fuck. I didn't expect two of the first three rolls to be maxed out rolls. The hell are those chances?
You succeed with the two normies and you...do something with the Seeker dude.

Writing.

>>5798855
>>5798882
wtf...

>>5798883
2.78%

>>5798883
>>5798900
Or 2.6% if you are asking what are the chances of rolling 4 6s out of 8 dice. I don't know the answer if we are taking your question literally exactly as asked.

>>5798929
Moreso the fact both are boxcars but that's besides the point. Still impressive. I'll make sure to give a fitting reward for the statistical anomaly.
Sorta fitting for the character with anomalous abilities.

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Okay, Nicole! Time to nut up or shut up! You can act normal around people! You are a lovely, totally rational human being! With nothing unstable about her! Ha-ha-hoo.

You guzzle your glass of water. If you pretend hard enough, you can believe it's just super watered down beer. Liquid courage to help you out. You push away from the bar counter, swerving by the various crowded tables to talk to your first choice. The brick shithouse.

A wide berth is given to him and it's not hard to understand why. A barely alive husk of a man lays at his feet. If it wasn't for the twitching, you would think he was a corpse.

[UNSTABLE] You remember a corpse like this. Old friend back in District 5, fell for a 20 story building. Went splat like a balloon, pop pop.
[UNSTABLE] This unit of a man can do that? You need his violence. His bloodlust. He will kill the glowies for you.

The man standing over the almost-corpse doesn't calm your nerves. A large leather jacket with some obscure gang sign covers a body of seemingly 97% muscle and 3% bodyfat. He towers over you by a solid three feet and you're pretty average for a girl. Scars and tattoos cover his hands, face, and whatever exposed skin you can see.

His bright green eyes dart to stare down at you. His stained yellow teeth show themselves as he flashes a snarl. "What do you want, girly?" Good at punching. Starting to get to your head, probably good at intimidating.

How to approach this kind of person...perhaps talking to him on his level? You take a moment to try deepening your voice before approaching him.

"Wow. Bet that fight was super boring, huh?" You scoff. "You know, I know a better way to use all of that muscle you got there."

The man squints at you, as if waiting for you to continue. You oblige. "Look. I'm a Cleaner. I do dangerous jobs. I need people like you who can punch real well. And you're good at that, right?"

"...Right." He nods, slowly taking in what you're saying. "Wait, a Cleaner? You're the type of guys who get paid a lot, right?" You nod back at him. Easily bought with cash, huh? You'll bet he's willing to do whatever for it.

"Fuck yeah! It gets tiring looting people's wallets all the time. Shit, have you SEEN how many people with only credit cards?" The man flashes a blood stained wallet before pointing at the person he beat up. "This piece of shit only had an expired credit card and a few nickels! Bullshit!"Easily angered.

"Well! I gotta keep my eyes open but I'm willing to get you some of that extra moolah if you're willing to come along. How's it sound? Works for both of us?" You try your best to flash a snarl at him.

He just breaks out laughing. "Pft. You're a funny chick. Aight, I'll bite. I'm willing to join ya for a little down payment, ya get me?"

"Oh, I get ya. Just two reasonable chaps here."

"Absolutely. Tell ya what. I like your moxie...?" He pauses. Oh, right, your name. This is going swimmingly so far.

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"I'm Nicole. You, punk?" You raise an eyebrow at him.

"Call me Lex. So, let's get to brass tacks. You give me $300 so I know ya ain't bullshitting. And I'll come along. Sound good?" Normally, you would've just accepted but...

[MAXIMUM ROLL] "Pft, you might as well just kill me already." You point at the dude bleeding out on the ground. Poor dude. Oh well. "Hell. He probably feels way better than I would after ponying that up."

"You're gonna get money by working on the job with me. You get too greedy, you're stuck beating people up for pocket change, retard."

Lex pauses for a moment. His eyes glance up and down, trying to process what you said. "Father Above, kid. You got some bite to ya." Lex snorts. He shakes his head in mock disappointment. "Yeah. You're right. How about $150, then?"

You flash a genuine smile. "Sounds good, Lexie! Gotta keep my options open, though! Just, uh, do your Lex things while I think!" Lex can only offer a slightly confused chuckle. "Sure, I ain't got nothing to do."

Next stop, that one woman who was on her cellphone. Something about her attire stands out way too much here. Not in a bad way, given how your Spook Detector isn't going off.

You pass by a few more tables before managing to sit down at her table. She's too engrossed in her conversation to pay attention to you.

"...I fucking told you, I needed Zeta and Omega over there five minutes ago!" You jump as the table is nearly knocked over by the Phone Woman. "Do you think we're dealing with a god damn Notice entity? This isn't like Appetite of a People Pleaser!"

Notice entity? Code titles? She seems to have her nose in something shady here.

She gives a nasty scowl when she notices you. "Great. I got some tweaker sitting here. Can't get a break, can I?" She turns her attention back to her phone. "Send in Phi. I want that entity handled already." She hangs up.

"So. What do you want?" the Phone Woman crosses her arms together. "Make it quick. God knows when someone else calls." Gets a lot of calls. High position of power? Probably has good connections.

"Seems like some of your workers aren't doing too hot, right?" You put on your best serious voice. The personas you have to put on are REALLY hurting to keep up.

"I don't need to be reminded. How hard is it to get a few Agents to deal with some-" She pauses. "Wait. Why would I tell you?"

You keep up your best smile. "I suppose I'm an agent too! Well, Cleaner, if you want to be more specific."

A long, drawn out sigh hisses out of the Phone Woman. "Greeaaattt. Look, I don't have any jobs for you-"

"Ah! You misunderstand, Lady of the Phone!" Your eye twitches a bit. Keep it in. "I have a job for YOU!" You jab a finger at the Phone Woman.

The look of pure bafflement would be funny if you weren't trying to get her to be an ally. "What." Time to do your PITCH!

"See! It sounds like your current staff are poor at their job! What if you got some NEW workers?"

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"It's quite simple! I already got some workers ready to do whatever! With my charming powers, you could possibly get a whole new STAFF of AGENTS! CLEANERS! WHATEVER!" You spread your arms in the air as if trying to manifest a rainbow.

"...Well, you got the spirit at least. What exactly would I get if I did humor your little proposal?" The Phone Woman taps at the edge of her desk.

"Simple! While you get your failures to waste their time doing jobs you don't want to, you can work with us and get all of the rewards of the hit!"

"Interesting. You're proposing that I liquidate my current assets, huh?" The Phone Woman hums. "I suppose it's not much better using the rejects I have now. They demand too much these days." She's a bit too open on ditching her current crew. Not sure if that's a good thing.

"W-well, perhaps not now, but y-yes? I-it would be wise to move onto fresher avenues, wouldn't it?" Your smile wavers a bit. You're running out of steam but you can do it.

"...Mmh. I demand a 25% cut on the next job you do, if you REALLY want my assistance. Considering the price of liquidation and the risk of the assets you gathered failing? You can see the issue here."

[MAXIMUM ROLL] "I understand that but! I offer a counter proposal. I'm willing to pay that...if you provide your new assets with some equipment. Consider it your investment in us."

"After all. If you liquidate your current assets and fail to supply your new ones with something, what are you left with?"

The Phone Woman takes a moment to consider your offer. She nods her head slowly up and down. "Yes, yes, wouldn't want to be stuck with no assets. You gotta diversify when it comes to these things." Corporate grindset. A reliable source of equipment if you can keep her pleased.

"Great! I'll inform the others. I'll see if they're willing to accept the deal." You got one more person to interact with. You glance to see...that man. Stumbling around, not knowing where he's at. You would think he's drunk but he's stiff as a statue aside from his wandering.

You leave the Phone Woman's seat. Your legs automatically carry you forward despite a growing sense of unease building in your gut.

>WILLPOWER: FAILED
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmbvlmKm9S4 - NOT A DRUNK

You eventually get in front of him. He's an average looking man that's wearing a suit and tie. Probably in his late 20s. His posture is slouched over as if he can't support his own body weight.

Glossy, dead eyes stare back at you. He tilts his head to the side. "HELLO. ARE YOU A NEW FRIEND?" A monotone voice drones out of his vocal cords. There's something just...rubbing you the wrong way.

"Uh. Yes. I'm looking for friends. I'm a Cleaner, sir." You try to keep a calm expression on your face.

"HELLO, FRIEND. I AM. QUENTIN." An expression crosses his face. His mouth stretches and grows into a twisted, unrecognizable mess. "I WILL HELP. QUENTIN LOVES HELPING PEOPLE."

You can't get a read on him like the others. Except for one thing. You can smell him even with the distance you put between him and yourself. Smells like three week old curry.

"T-that's all? Y-you just want to help?"

"YES. HELPING IS MY PURPOSE. HUMANS HELP, RIGHT?" His glazed over eyes pierce right through you. youdontlikeityoudontlikeit

Two sets of footsteps approach you. Turning around, you recognize Lex and the Phone Woman. Both have a worried expression on their faces.

"Is that the...other option, Nicole?" Lex points towards the foul smelling man you're talking to. "I get you need all the help you can but this?"

"H-hey, t-the more the merrier, r-right?" You smile. "M-More diverse assets, r-right, uh..." You gesture at the Phone Woman.

"Alexis." She curtly responds.

"I 'trust' you enough to accept your judgement on assets." Alexis glances at Lex, then you. Seems like whatever you said has given you enough respect or trust to bring a third party member along. "Normally I would tell you to leave this freak in the dump."

"However. I believe both of us deserve more compensation if we must bring him along. Don't you agree?" She nods towards Lex.

"Y-yeah. I don't like how he looks." The towering mass of muscle steps back from the rigid, foul smelling man you're talking to.

"WAIT! I HELP. NO PRICE FOR ME! I DO. ANYTHING ASKED OF. DON'T YOU WANT? ASSISTANCE?" He seems really desperate to join your party. You can't quite piece together why though. If nothing else, he seems loyal?

You feel like you really should be spotting what's wrong with him. But the others are looking, you have to make your decision. Who do you decide to bring along? Select as many party members as you want.

>Bring along Alexis. While losing out on a decent cut of job money blows, you think getting some supplies and equipment from her is worth it.
>Bring along Lex. He's simple to understand. Keep him paid, direct his anger to where you want it, and he'll be great hired muscle.
>Bring along Quentin. He's desperate to assist you and some small part of you thinks he might be useful down the line. (The others won't like it. Lex will cost $230 to hire and Alexis will demand a 35% cut of your next job's payment.)

Your phone gets heavier by the second. Your handler's about to call soon, ready for you to pick your missions.

>>5799067
>Bring along Alexis. While losing out on a decent cut of job money blows, you think getting some supplies and equipment from her is worth it.
>Bring along Lex. He's simple to understand. Keep him paid, direct his anger to where you want it, and he'll be great hired muscle.

Expensive, but the point is investing in these relationships. Plus Alexis will be providing us equipment, and Lex rounds us out since he is probably the only one good at sustained violence.

Though now that we've made these connections I could see the wisdom in bringing along only one of these new friends along at a time to lessen the burden on our pay day. Quentin...does not seem like the straight forward kind of fucked up type like we are, or maybe he is depending on how you see it. Maybe we can bring him alone on a different job, but I don't want him giving others the creeps and making the job more expensive for us.

>>5799067
>Bring along Lex. He's simple to understand. Keep him paid, direct his anger to where you want it, and he'll be great hired muscle

>>5799085
+1
Unfortunately, Quentin is the meme option here. He's out for today's mission, at least.

>>5799085
+1
As curious as I am about Quentin, he doesn't seem like First Mission material. Although it seems bringing him aboard in ANY capacity, even if on standby, will up the cost of the others? Or is it just if those two have to share the air they breathe?

Locking in, writing.
>>5799309
Those two are only tolerating the idea because you anomaously gained social skills instead of being a tard. They rather not associate with him in general.
I will say this isn't a universal Bane he has. You'll be informed when bringing him causes allies you're hiring to demand more of a pay check or when you can freely bring him.

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"Sorry, uh, Quentin. Not this time."

"OH. MY BODY ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH. MAYBE BETTER ONE SOON. APOLOGIES." Quentin straightens his posture to stand straight up. You try your best to ignore the many cracks and pops he makes while doing so. "WILL RETURN LATER. I WILL HELP OTHER PEOPLE!"

He drags his limp legs away from the three of you, leaving you in the presence of your two 'allies'. If you can called hire help that. Alexis's posture relaxes and Lex lets out a long sigh after Quentin disappears.

"Thank fuck. That dude was driving me crazy." Lex murmurs to himself.
"That asset was a poor choice anyways." Alexis nods along.

Something feels like you shouldn't write him off like the others did but, god, you wish your brain could've read more about him. Oh well. You pull out your wallet and toss the money over to Lex.
>-$150

Alexis holds her hand out. Right, you don't know what the cut you have to give her is. "We'll see what my handler says." You mutter. She reluctantly pulls her hand away.

>Alexis and Lex have joined the party!
>Until a certain level of trust and work experience between you is met, you must pay them every time you want to use them on a mission.

>ALLY STATS
LEX:
FLESH: 5
RESTRAINT: 2
VIOLENCE: 6
TALENT: 3
WILLPOWER: 2
CHARM: 2
CONNECTIONS: 2
COGNIZANCE: 2

BOONS
[EASILY PLEASED] It doesn't take much to keep him happy and around. He won't ever ask for any extra rewards or equipment, nor will he question what job you're doing. Keep him paid and he'll do anything.

[BRICK SHITHOUSE] You doubt anything's going to slow him down besides a shot to the head. Twice per mission, he may reroll all dice that rolled 3 or lower on a VIOLENCE or FLESH check.

BANE:
[BLOODLUST] Keeping him from not starting shit is going to be hard. He will try getting into fights whenever the chance shows itself unless it's suicidal. Successful CHARM checks can help curb this.

ALEXIS
FLESH: 2
RESTRAINT: 2
VIOLENCE: 2
TALENT: 3
WILLPOWER: 3
CHARM: 5
CONNECTIONS: 4
COGNIZANCE: 3

BOONS
[CORPORATE CONNECTIONS] A half insane mess and a thug aren't likely to be welcomed into any place of true importance, but with Alexis around, you gain access to special corporate buildings and various V.I.P sections of businesses.

[CORPORATE GRINDSET] She needs you around to do the dirty work for her. At the start of each mission, she'll provide valuable supplies to help you out. Weapons, drugs, armor, tools, anything is possible.

BANES
[LIQUDIATION] She's absolutely willing to ditch you if shit goes sideways. If another ally dies or the situation is otherwise FUBAR, she's liable to leave your party.

[INVOLVED] You're not sure who or what will recognize her but she seems she has a lot of fingers in a lot of pies. Expect a lot more attention to be drawn to your group with her around.

While you're busy processing what you've figured out about them, your phone begins to ring. Your allies perk up at the noise. "O-oh! Le-lemme get it." You answer the call.

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"Hey, it's me. Are you ready to talk like a human being yet or are you going to gibber to me about glow in the dark men right behind you?" The Handler's guttural voice crawls into your ear like a bloodworm. You look over your shoulder.

[UNSTABLE] THEY GLOW BECAUSE THEY WEAR SILVER. THEY HAVE TO. HOW ELSE WOULD YOU BE ABLE TO TELL THEM APART?
[PERSON OF INTEREST] You saw one today. You looked into his eyes and they were cold and dark. They're everywhere. Keeping their eyes on you. Ready for you to slip up and show your true self.

"Y-yes, I'm available, sir." You nod your head. Even if he can't see you do it.

"Great. I wasn't lying about your type being in high demand. If I had a say in this, I'd give you the full works and throw your quivering husk back onto the streets myself, so be grateful for this change in employment status." The Handler spits out his 'praise', if you could call it that.

"W-well, what are the missions, sir? Y-You know, t-time is money and all of that, haha?"

"Goddamn it, you waste of skin you can't even say that one thing right. It's 'money is power and power is P Company.' Right. Now then. Here's what we have for you today."

Choose what your next mission is going to be.

>"We've received reports of an Anomaly in your District. Locate and capture A DEATH IN SPACE for transport to the nearest P-Company containment site." RISK LEVEL: High. REWARDS: $1250, improved CONNECTIONS with P-Company.
>"We need you to track down a pharmacist by the name of Benjamin Aaron. Z-Company keeps seething on my answering machine about wanting to pick his brains, so go ahead and do something about it." RISK: Medium-Low. REWARDS: $500, access to the IMPORTANT MEDICATION for your brain, improved relations with Z-Company.
>"One of my close associates keeps complaining about his shop being broken into. Figure out who's doing it and turn him into a SHITPIG." RISK: Medium. REWARDS: $350, your Handler will view you more favorably, offering better missions in the future.
>"Rumor has it that one of our casinos is skimping out on the kickback payments. Whether that's true or not, get us our money back from those fucking parasites." RISK: Low. REWARDS: $300, acquire a Corporate Catalog for better equipment down the line.
>"We've heard rumors that you're a good explorer. We need you to scout out an abandoned section of District 8 for anything of potential interest. Report back anything interesting you find." RISK: Medium-High. REWARDS: $750 and dibs on any loot you find.
>Write in. (Describe the mission and I'll assign the rewards and risk level.)

>>5799892
>Track down Benjamin Aaron
WE NEED TO GOBBLE OUR PILLS YUMMY YUMS

>>5799892
>>"We need you to track down a pharmacist by the name of Benjamin Aaron. Z-Company keeps seething on my answering machine about wanting to pick his brains, so go ahead and do something about it." RISK: Medium-Low. REWARDS: $500, access to the IMPORTANT MEDICATION for your brain, improved relations with Z-Company.

>>5799892
>"We need you to track down a pharmacist by the name of Benjamin Aaron.
Meds are useful.

>>5799892
>"We need you to track down a pharmacist by the name of Benjamin Aaron. Z-Company keeps seething on my answering machine about wanting to pick his brains, so go ahead and do something about it." RISK: Medium-Low. REWARDS: $500, access to the IMPORTANT MEDICATION for your brain, improved relations with Z-Company.

The explorer mission sounds like something we could do alone, although our allies have decent Talent. Whereas dealing with the Anomoly seems like the sort of thing we'd want far more prep and allies for.

>>5799892
>"We need you to track down a pharmacist by the name of Benjamin Aaron. Z-Company keeps seething on my answering machine about wanting to pick his brains, so go ahead and do something about it." RISK: Medium-Low. REWARDS: $500, access to the IMPORTANT MEDICATION for your brain, improved relations with Z-Company.

>>5799892
>>"One of my close associates keeps complaining about his shop being broken into. Figure out who's doing it and turn him into a SHITPIG." RISK: Medium. REWARDS: $350, your Handler will view you more favorably, offering better missions in the future.

>>5799892
>"We need you to track down a pharmacist by the name of Benjamin Aaron. Z-Company keeps seething on my answering machine about wanting to pick his brains, so go ahead and do something about it." RISK: Medium-Low. REWARDS: $500, access to the IMPORTANT MEDICATION for your brain, improved relations with Z-Company.
Meds. NOW

>>5799892
>>"We need you to track down a pharmacist by the name of Benjamin Aaron. Z-Company keeps seething on my answering machine about wanting to pick his brains, so go ahead and do something about it." RISK: Medium-Low. REWARDS: $500, access to the IMPORTANT MEDICATION for your brain, improved relations with Z-Company.
Potentially making our handler less of an asshole is enticing, but I think we could really use those pills.
Maybe they'll help hide you from the glowing men, Nicole.

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Vote locked, left it open a bit longer because I felt picking your first mission warranted a bit more time + I had to eat out with family. Writing.
Funny how the first quest the schizo goes on is to find her meds.

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>NEW JOB: TRACK DOWN BENJAMIN AARON.

"Now, here's what I pieced together from Z-Corp's constant seething about this bastard. I want you to listen in real close." There's papers rustling in the background. "First off, he lives at an apartment block in District 14."

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] There are 26 districts to this City, from A-Z, or 1-26. You currently live in District 7, a neighbor to 14. And a few others that aren't relevant right now.

"You would think that would be it, huh? Well, if it was as simple as that, I wouldn't be bothering to talk to you. His landlord hasn't seen him in days." The Handler shuffles through more papers. "We'll send you the location anyways."

"Secondly, we have a physical description of him. Early 20s, bird nest's haircut, short, wears glasses, pale like a baby's ass." The Handler pauses for a moment. A half chuckle gurgles out of him. "Apparently wears leather gloves. Like a fucking dork."

"Third, and certainly least, we have the names of two of his associates. Roland Moreau and Weston Halford. No clue where they're at but if you can find them somehow? Maybe they'll squeal like the pigs they are."

[UNSTABLE] "ASSOCIATES"? WHAT A JOKE. THESE PARASITES WORK AS A COORDIANATED HORDE, THERE ARE NO GOOD ONES. EVEN THE 'NICE ONES' WILL DROP YOU LIKE YOU'RE SHIT FROM THEIR ASS.

"Got that?" You're interrupted before you can answer. "Good. fuckinhearONEMOREcallfromZCORP." You can barely make out his muttering. Your eardrum nearly bursts when he starts speaking again. "SO FIND THAT FAGGOT ASAP AND GIVE HIM TO Z-CORP. PRONTO. REMEMBER. YUMMY YUMMY PILL MAN." The connection cuts off.

Well then. You look over at your two allies. "So? What's the mission, boss?" Lex taps his foot against the floor with a steady rhythm. You can tell he's getting bored.

"W-well! We have to track someone down. Company wants him, we find him, we get our payment. Five hundred smackaroos." You look over at Alexis. 25% cut, that's $125. So you will pocket $375.

[UNSTABLE] IF WE KILL HER BEFORE THE JOB IS FINISHED, IT'S ALL OURS. BETTER TO STAB THAT BITCH FIRST.

Alexis stews on what her cut's going to be. She slowly nods her head up and down. "Okay. That's good enough for me. A missing person's case?"

"Well, I guess so? I only got a place he lived at and some names."

"Alright. I'll see what I can get. Be right back, alright?" The well dressed woman starts heading for the exit. You have no purpose staying in the bar either, so you two follow after her through the exit.

"So. What now?" Lex turns his head to you.

"I-I guess we'll w-wait for her to r-return."

"Aight. I don't have a better idea." Lex shrugs. He leans his back against the graffiti coated wall of NICOLAS'. You do the same, wrapping your arms around yourself to stay warm.

It's still early in the morning. The sun peeks out above the horizon, shining a faint yellow hue across the streets. A cloud of people, robots, and faceless Drones pass by the bar in a blur.

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[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You swear you heard someone whisper to you. A cold, scared voice. "They are beautiful, are they not?" A woman, you think. Or an effeminate man.

You look around at the source of the voice. It's gone. Might've just been a chunk of your mind playing tricks on you. Glancing over at Leo, you don't seen him reacting at all. Huh.

Eventually, after what feels like an hour, you see a woman in her well kept business suit approach you with a briefcase in her hand.

You recognize her when she's face to face with you and Lex. Alexis quickly nods her head at the two of you. "Alright. Took me a bit but I managed to wrangle some supplies out of an associate." She cracks open the briefcase and turns it to face it at the two of you.

Lex whistles at the sight before him. "Damn, that quick? Guess doing this cleaner job stuff's gonna be easy with you around." He glances over at you. "Oh, and you too." He hastily adds on. You're not sure how to feel about that given you ARE the one who hired them.

"Sadly, we can't bring everything. You know, liabilities with new staff" Alexis lets out a breath she was holding. "So, pick what you want so I can return the rest."

[UNSTABLE] WHAT A FUCKING SCAM. WE'RE PAYING YOU A HUNDRED BUCKS FOR THIS! WE SHOULD GET MORE THAN THIS, YOU GREEDY BITCH!
[UNSTABLE] LOOK AT ME, NICOLE. WE SHOULD KILL HER LATER. YOU KNOW IT'S THE RIGHT OPTION. GREEDY BITCHES DESERVE IT.

You shake your head. You can't necessarily blame her. You look over the equipment she managed to bring over...

Choose your equipment you and your party members get. (Select one for each)

NICOLE
>A Scrapper branded Crowbar. Useful for bludgeoning people's heads in AND B&E! (+1 TALENT and +1 VIOLENCE when equipped. Can force open certain doors or barricades.)
>A standard issue Cleaner Medkit. Contains the necessary supplies to patch up minor wounds. (Has four charges. One charge heals 1 FLESH, two charges gets someone out of a Critical State.)
>A UV Flashlight. Allows you to see the otherwise invisible. (Enough charge for two charges. Spend a charge to add +2 to COGNIZANCE rolls when trying to find traces or tracks of someone.)

LEX
>Spiked Brass Knuckles. Simple, effective, brutal. (+1 VIOLENCE, add an additional +1 VIOLENCE when attempting to intimidate someone.)
>A shoddy and makeshift Pistol. (Holds four bullets. Attacks made with it roll VIOLENCE and TALENT together.)
>Low quality Body Armor. (Allows the user to ignore 3 sources of FLESH damage.)

ALEXIS
>Fraudulent Agent ID. Flash this and people will listen. (One time use. Auto succeeds a CHARM roll when consumed.)
>Emergency Self Defense Drone. For when a situation gets too hectic. (One time use. Activate in combat to add in a temporary party member. Easily destroyed.)
>H-Corp branded Lighter. Insanely powerful for a simple zippo lighter. (Two charges, spend a charge to set most inanimate objects ablaze. Could pair nicely with your power.)

While mulling over what to pick, you have a little bit of time to talk to your party members. What do you do? Select up to three.
>Bring up that weird voice you heard. Surely you couldn't have been the only one who heard it, right? (Hopefully it wasn't all in your head.)
>Try to learn a bit more about them. After all, it's best to know your friends (or enemies) here. (Write in up to three questions to ask them.)
>They should probably learn this sooner than later. Show off your telekinesis power to them.
>Discuss a bit more about your phone call with them. Maybe they recognize the person you're hunting or his associates? Long shot but hey.
>Ask them for their contact information. It would be nice to have them on call if you need them again.
>Maybe it's best that they know you're a bit crazy? Try to inform them about your 'issues'. Honesty might be the best policy.
>Maybe something else completely? (Write in what you want to do.)

>>5801027
>A UV Flashlight. Allows you to see the otherwise invisible. (Enough charge for two charges. Spend a charge to add +2 to COGNIZANCE rolls when trying to find traces or tracks of someone.)

>Spiked Brass Knuckles. Simple, effective, brutal. (+1 VIOLENCE, add an additional +1 VIOLENCE when attempting to intimidate someone.)

>H-Corp branded Lighter. Insanely powerful for a simple zippo lighter. (Two charges, spend a charge to set most inanimate objects ablaze. Could pair nicely with your power.)

>They should probably learn this sooner than later. Show off your telekinesis power to them.
>Ask them for their contact information. It would be nice to have them on call if you need them again.
>Maybe it's best that they know you're a bit crazy? Try to inform them about your 'issues'. Honesty might be the best policy.

>>5801027
>UV Flashlight
YOU ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE WORLD NICOLE, ONLY YOU CAN FIND HIM
>Spiked Brass Knuckles
Enforcer meet Punching Mitts. Can't go wrong with these. Also, good for Information gathering.
>Fraudulent Agent ID.
Seems strong.

>>5801028
>Discuss your phone call
>Ask for contact info
Make sure we can contact allies and put all three heads together on the case. I hesitate to show off telekinesis because what if we start looking too lucrative to these two?

>>5801027
>A UV Flashlight. Allows you to see the otherwise invisible. (Enough charge for two charges. Spend a charge to add +2 to COGNIZANCE rolls when trying to find traces or tracks of someone.)
>Spiked Brass Knuckles. Simple, effective, brutal. (+1 VIOLENCE, add an additional +1 VIOLENCE when attempting to intimidate someone.)
>Fraudulent Agent ID. Flash this and people will listen. (One time use. Auto succeeds a CHARM roll when consumed.)

>>5801028
>Bring up that weird voice you heard. Surely you couldn't have been the only one who heard it, right? (Hopefully it wasn't all in your head.)
>Discuss a bit more about your phone call with them. Maybe they recognize the person you're hunting or his associates? Long shot but hey.
>Ask them for their contact information. It would be nice to have them on call if you need them again.

>>5801027
>>A UV Flashlight. Allows you to see the otherwise invisible. (Enough charge for two charges. Spend a charge to add +2 to COGNIZANCE rolls when trying to find traces or tracks of someone.)
>>Spiked Brass Knuckles. Simple, effective, brutal. (+1 VIOLENCE, add an additional +1 VIOLENCE when attempting to intimidate someone.)
>>Fraudulent Agent ID. Flash this and people will listen. (One time use. Auto succeeds a CHARM roll when consumed.)

>>5801028
>Bring up that weird voice you heard. Surely you couldn't have been the only one who heard it, right? (Hopefully it wasn't all in your head.)
>Ask them for their contact information. It would be nice to have them on call if you need them again.
>Maybe it's best that they know you're a bit crazy? Try to inform them about your 'issues'. Honesty might be the best policy.

>>5801027
>UV Flashlight
>Spiked Knuckles
>Fraudulent ID

>>5801028
>Demonstrate our telekenesis
>Get their contact info
>Ask if they have any experience dealing with pharmaceutical bullshit, what they think they might expect trying to find this guy, or if they have any experience Finding People
Dunno about evealing the Brain Damage just yet

>>5801027
>A UV Flashlight. Allows you to see the otherwise invisible. (Enough charge for two charges. Spend a charge to add +2 to COGNIZANCE rolls when trying to find traces or tracks of someone.)

>Spiked Brass Knuckles. Simple, effective, brutal. (+1 VIOLENCE, add an additional +1 VIOLENCE when attempting to intimidate someone.)

>Fraudulent Agent ID. Flash this and people will listen. (One time use. Auto succeeds a CHARM roll when consumed.)

Crowbar is tempting since it doesn't rely on charges, but we're tracking someone and we're the smartest person here, which makes it our job to do the actual 'finding him' part of the gig. Presumably we can get new batteries for the flashlight, otherwise that'd make the crowbar even more tempting as an addition to our permanent gear.

Knuckles are good for getting Aaron to comply, though all of the options would be good for making Lex better at what he already does well.

If Lex and our abilities aren't enough to carry us through the trials to come then I doubt a cheap drone or setting some throwable junk on fire will make much of a difference.

>>5801028
>Try to learn a bit more about them. After all, it's best to know your friends (or enemies) here. (How's it going, like in general? What's their favourite drink, and does NICOLAS serve it? What do they want to spend their reward money on?)
>Ask them for their contact information. It would be nice to have them on call if you need them again.
>Discuss a bit more about your phone call with them. Maybe they recognize the person you're hunting or his associates? Long shot but hey.

I forgot this.

Revealing our powers and revealing how crazy we are is more for when we have more mutual trust. It's not good to be THAT open right away. Alexis in particular isn't someone I want knowing our powers if she turns on us or we decide to listen to the voice in our head, and because of her connections.

I can't think of better questions. Just shoot the breeze, I guess.

EQUIPMENT
>UV Flashlight, Brass Knuckles, Fraudulent Agent ID
>QUESTIONS
The ones that people mostly agree on is the phone call discussion and their contact info. There's a three way tie for the third question (Powers, Insanity, Weird Voice) but I'll default to Weird Voice, given how there's some opposition to showing off powers and your insanity.
Hopefully that's fine. Rather not slow things down with too many tiebreakers unless it's actually important.

Writing.

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Lex doesn't hesitate for a moment to slip on the brass knuckles onto his hands. Honestly, you assumed he had some already given your general first impressions.

You, meanwhile, grab a bulky hunk of plastic that you think is meant to be a flashlight. The light purple lens glimmers a bit in the morning dawn.

Alexis pulls out what looks like the card of an ETF Agent. "ETF Foxtort" is the name of the supposed agent, with an image of Alexis' face on it.

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] ETF Agents are Cleaners specifically hired to hunt and track down anomalies. While you may track them down as well, ETF Agents are sponsored and heavily assisted by the Companies.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Needless to say, people tend to listen to them.

"So!" You clear your throat, trying to think on where to start. "I should probably tell you about the call a bit more."

"Oh? Sure, I guess. We just find a dude and punch him until he follows, right?" Lex blankly stares at you with a goofy smile. Alexis rolls her eyes.

"Continue, please." She murmurs.

You give a quick, short summary of your call to the two. Not that you had to summarize much, given how your Handler didn't give you a lot to work with.

"So, we're probably taking a train over there, I know that much!" That's really as far as you've planned out, really. "What do you guys think?"

"Not my first time dealing with this." Lex plants his foot against the wall behind him. "I say we just break into his apartment. Usually, runners don't have time to clean up everything."

Alexis raises a finger as if to interrupt him but she stops. "Well, that's not a bad idea. I think there's a few issues with it."

"C'mon, it's bulletproof! Hell, I bet no one will even care if we do it. All I gotta do-" Lex kicks at the air. "-is that and bam! In and out!"

"Ah. But what if there's not enough clues to go off of? If a company is after him, wouldn't he try his best to not leave anything behind?"

"...Well, what's your idea, smart guy?" Lex crosses his arms with a grumble.

"We should talk around! Surely, he wasn't just some random recluse! At the bare minimum, the landlord had to know him, right?" Alexis stuffs her fake ID into her pocket. "We can grill him on when he last saw him!"

"If that fails? Well, his neighbors surely saw or heard something, right?"

You nod along. Both of their plans have their merits, you could see yourself doing either of them. Though, you have a few reservations on both...hm. You'll mull it over.

"Oh, right! You guys have phones, right?"

The others stare at you like you're a dumbass. You stand there, doe-eyed, with a nervous smile.

"Yes." "Yes." It takes them a second to realize why you asked. You see Lex's eyes light up first. "Oh, sure!" He pulls out a hunk of junk that was probably made five decades ago.

"Eh, why not."

You quickly exchange phone numbers with each other. Good, good! best that you get that out of the way now.
>Alexis and Lex have been added to your contacts.

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You pull out your sprawling mess of a map to look for the nearest train station. The others look a bit shocked at what you pulled out. Hm, seems like there's one that's only fifteen minutes away! Alright, that's where you're going.

"Onwards!" You point your finger in the direction of the train station before stomping forwards. The others shrug, following behind you.

"Alright!" "Okay." The two yell and murmur respectively.

The three of you walk in silence, none of you really feeling like talking. After all, you're basically still strangers to each other. There's still a question in the back of your mind though.

"Hey, Lex?" You chirp out a faux-cutesy tone.

"Yeah?" He looks over at you.

"So, uh, while we were waiting for Alexis...I heard someone talking. Someone effeminate? Did you hear anything?" You throw the curveball of a question at him.

A bizarre look crosses his face. He's deeply uncomfortable by what you just brought up...for some reason. He just turns away, not sure how to respond.

Alexis turns around, clearly overhearing the conversation. "And what did this 'voice' say?" You're not sure if she's humoring you or thinks you're nuts. Maybe both?

"W-well, it said something about the people passing by us being 'lovely'?"

Alexis can barely hold back her laughter at what you said. "Uh huh. Seems like whoever this voice is, they're pretty stupid. Wrong kind of city for 'lovely' people, you know?" She turns away from you.

You wonder why Lex reacted the way he did but...mmh. Not now. You don't have time to push any further.

The three of you eventually end up at a trashy, barely held together train station. Alexis steps forward to, either in an act of kindness or pity, pay for the tickets for you three. You're not going to question it. You save money that way.

The train arrives shortly after. When the three of you enter inside it, you notice how it's...empty. Huh. You'd assume there would be some cross-district commutes, wouldn't you?

[PERSON OF INTEREST] Look over there. At the far left. There's that distinct glow, that shimmer. Silver on silver.
[PERSON OF INTEREST] You're not alone. You are never alone. Keep an eye out on him.

The others don't seem to notice. You're not sure whether that's good or bad. Regardless, the three of you eventually find yourselves a seat on the train.

"...So!" You do have one more question, a casual one. You got a little bit of time to squeeze it in. "What do you plan on doing with your reward money?"

Lex is the first to answer. "Rum and Cola. Some good pizzas. A nice blanket or two. That's all, really." He answers with an unusual earnestness. Simple goals, huh?

Alexis takes a moment to process the question before speaking. "Paying for the equipment I borrowed. Investing into some other Agents and Cleaners."

Having gotten your answer, you decide to sit there in silence. Alexis pulls out her phone to respond to some messages while Lex stares out the window of the cart in awe.

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After what feels like days, you end up in District 14. The first thing that informs you of this is the fact everything seems to have the color drained out of it. Browns, blacks, greys, and whites make up 90% of the streets and buildings. The only color that stands out is gold, from the crosses hanging around outside of buildings.

N-Company's District is...something, to say the least.

You look over the map and where you marked down the apartment. You lead the others over to it and they follow mostly without question. Granted, you actually know what the place is.

You arrive at the apartment not long after. It. It looks like shit, to be frank. Chunks are torn out of the wall, you can't see a single unbroken window, it's a whole mess. And it doesn't get much better as you two walk inside.

The smell of mildew and rot hits your nose. Alexis gags, covering her mouth, while Lex's face just scrunches up. "Icky." He mutters.

You take a look around at the front desk. There's a stairway leading to what you assume is the apartment floors at the back. There's some scattered chairs and tables that probably belonged to a bombed out war bunker. Oh, and at the front desk, there's a man above five times your body weight staring blankly at a porno mag. Probably the landlord.

Where do you go from here, Nicole?
>Go with Lex's plan. "Ask" the landlord where the apartment is so you can break into it. Cut to the chase. (DC: 18 using Lex's VIOLENCE. You'll get the apartment's location out of him regardless but succeeding will make sure he doesn't do any funny business.)
>Go with Alexis' plan. Talk to the landlord what he knows about Benjamin. Anything can help. (DC: 15, using Alexis' CHARM. On a success, you'll get some useful information. On a failure, you'll likely get stone walled.)
>Forget the landlord. Maybe you should wander around and ask the people of the apartment about him? (DC: ??, using Alexis' CHARM. Using her ID adds +10 to your final result. The higher you roll, the more information you get out of the residents.)
>You don't need to talk to the landlord. Best he doesn't know you're here, even. Go up and start searching the floors one by one. (Might get the wrong kind of attention.)
>Maybe the apartment isn't the right place to start. He's a pharmacist. Check your map to see what pharmacies or other medical places are, he HAD to have visited them, right? (DC: 12, using your COGNIZANCE. Succeed and you might notice something important. Failure? You waste your time.)
>You got a better plan... (Write in.)

>>5801969
Well either he is easily and deeply disturbed by crazies or the voice was the ghost of someone he knew, I'm guessing.

And thanks for including one of my questions.

>Go with Alexis' plan. Talk to the landlord what he knows about Benjamin. Anything can help. (DC: 15, using Alexis' CHARM. On a success, you'll get some useful information. On a failure, you'll likely get stone walled.)

All the DCs are dead average, though Lex has a slightly better chance at succeeding owing to the brass knuckles. Still, I think it is better to go with the least violent options first and then follow up with the B&E and/or questing of the neighbours if we don't succeed initially, maybe even if we do succeed.

>>5801969
> Check your map to see what pharmacies or other medical places are.
If he's a runner, then he's run right out of here. Understandable with how the landlord is and so on. We can burn a charge on the flashlight to make the roll a 50/50.

>>5801969
>>Go with Alexis' plan. Talk to the landlord what he knows about Benjamin. Anything can help. (DC: 15, using Alexis' CHARM. On a success, you'll get some useful information. On a failure, you'll likely get stone walled.)

>>5801969
>Go with Alexis' plan. Talk to the landlord what he knows about Benjamin. Anything can help. (DC: 15, using Alexis' CHARM. On a success, you'll get some useful information. On a failure, you'll likely get stone walled.)

>>5801969
>>Forget the landlord. Maybe you should wander around and ask the people of the apartment about him? (DC: ??, using Alexis' CHARM. Using her ID adds +10 to your final result. The higher you roll, the more information you get out of the residents.)

>>5801969
>Go with Alexis' plan. Talk to the landlord what he knows about Benjamin. Anything can help. (DC: 15, using Alexis' CHARM. On a success, you'll get some useful information. On a failure, you'll likely get stone walled.)
And then go from there, be it to violence or something else

Aight, seems like a solid majority is formed. I need two people to roll 2d6s and one to roll a d6, for ALEXIS' 5d6 Charm roll.

I'm not going to bully you by asking five people to roll 1d6s but I also don't want one person rolling 5d6. I consider this somewhere in between.

Rolled 4, 1 = 5 (2d6)

2d6, coming up.

Rolled 6, 3 = 9 (2d6)

Second 2d6 roll

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5802650

TOTAL: 16
RESULT: PASS.
Noted. Will write the update soon. Might take a bit longer than usual since I have to housesit for some family friends.

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>Talk to the landlord about what he knows...

You nod your head at your two allies before approaching the landlord. They get the hint and follow after. Now that you're close to him, you notice something off about him. His skin tone is grey, just like the rest of the environment you've seen in this district. Reminds you of a black and white cartoon.

He doesn't notice the three of you, still engrossed in the magazine. All you're willing to make out is a model named "Kate" is a prime star for some reason.

You're tempted to use your telekinesis to send that damn thing flying out of his hands but, no, not now. Maybe if you had more VIOLENCE.

"Excuse me, sir?" You tap on the dreary wooden desk he's sitting behind.

"Mmh. Praise the Father, blessedth be his name. Do you have your rent payment?" It sounds like he's reading off a poorly written script.

"We're not here for your religious stuff, man." Lex grumbles.

"Sorry, sir, it'll only take a minute." Alexis speaks with a low, calm tone. The landlord glances up at Alexis. His eyes light up as he puts the magazine away. "Oh! No problem miss, I apologize! I was, uh, distracted, yes. Busy day."

You look over at Alexis, actually taking a closer look at her. Long blonde hair, well kept business suit, a soft smile...doesn't look malnourished and actually has a decent body?

Yeah. No wonder why.

"What's the matter? Did your boyfriend run away or somethin'? If you got a name, I can check." You and Lex grimace at this display. "You know, for a lady in need."

"Oh, I am looking for a certain man tonight." Alexis leans forward. "Perhaps you can help me find him. Does Benjamin Aaron ring a bell?"

The landlord's good mood instantly deflates. He sinks into the chair with a sour look. "What about him? I didn't think some bimbo would be into him."

Alexis closes her eyes and lets a deep sigh out before putting on a smile. "I do apologize. Perhaps later, we can talk more...privately." She winks. "You see, we're concerned that he hasn't shown up to our gatherings lately. He does live here, correct?"

"Yeah, yeah. Fuckin' night owl, never really saw him much. What do you want me to say?" He shrugs. "We didn't really talk much. He paid his rent and he would fuck off to his room."

Alexis steps away from the desk, mulling over what to say, before snapping her fingers and returning to the table. "Well, we heard rumors that he's gone missing."

"So? Why should I-"

"And if you can't help us find him, that means you have one less person paying rent here. Which means..." Alexis lets the Landlord finish the statement in his mind.

"...Shit. I don't have many people left, I kinda n-" He coughs, stopping himself from saying too much about his situation.

"Well, sir, we're trying our best to find him!" You chirp out, adding yourself to the conversation. "If you can help us, that'll be really nice, you know?"

"Fine, fine. I'll tell you what I know." You got him talking, time to listen.

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"Right. Well, you can always try his apartment. Who knows where it is." The landlord starts to rattle off his factoids.

"Eh? How the hell do YOU not know where it is?" Lex clenches his fists. "Are you retarded or somethin'?"

"Fuck you, bud." The landlord squints at Lex. "I just give them the key and they find the apartment. All I know is he likes going up high."

"Alright, alright." Alexis steps in. "Well, what can you tell us about him, sir?"

The presence of a non-schizoid lady calms him down a bit. "Well, he would always go to this one store around here. Ashley's General Store. Something about getting supplies?"

You look down at your map. Taking a quick look, there does seem to be a store like that nearby. You mark it down a second time just to be safe.

"Second, one of the neighbors made a noise complaint about him a day or two ago. Can't quite recall." The landlord scratches the side of his head. "Something about three men having an argument?"

Huh. That's slightly concerning. You raise your voice as you ask your own question.

"W-well, we know some friends of his. Do you happen to recognize, uh, Roland Moreau or Weston Halford?"

The landlord squints at you like you're an idiot. You feel like you're gonna get a lot more looks like that in the future. "You're not from around here, right?"

You look at the almost monotone haze of the room you're in, then at the landlord, then at your normal colored self. "...Took you that long to realize?"

Your two allies try their best to hold in a laugh while the Landlord slumps into his chair. "Fair. Well, I don't know who Weston is, but Roland?"

"I think he runs the biggest drug store around here. Not the fun kind, you know what kind." So, another pharmacist? "Ben kept crying about him the last time I saw him. Couldn't get a word out of him."

"All I got left is who gave the noise complaint. Ms. Izanata, Floor right above us, first apartment you've seen." The landlord grabs his porno mag and begins flipping through it again. While you didn't get anything SUPER useful, you got some starting points to actually find him.

The three of you step away from the front desk. You look over at Alexis and give her a smile. "T-thanks. For, uh, breaking the ice with him? I-it helped."

"Yeaaahhh, I really just wanted to punch him. Getting kinda bored." Lex mumbles to himself. "Boring room, boring landlord, boring talk. Wish I could just punch a fuckin' anomaly or something."

"Hey, this is just the start!" You wave your hands around. "N-no need to get so riled up!"

"I rather not get the cops called on our first mission together, thanks." Alexis responds a deadpan, dried tone in her voice. "Just be glad we're actually succeeding so far."

You got some decent leads. How do you want to continue, Nicole?

>You got a vague idea on where his apartment might be. Time to search! (COGNIZANCE check,. DC: 10 (-2 from a general idea of where it is). Waste time on failure, find it on success. May need further rolls to GET IN, however.)
>Go ahead and talk to that Izanata lady. Maybe you can learn more about that 'noise complaint' and maybe some more details on Benjamin?
>Might be better to go looking for that drug store the landlord was talking about. A friend of Benjamin would clearly know more about him than anyone here.
>Go to the "Ashley" store. Maybe you can figure out why he had to run through what "supplies" he purchased or from asking the staff there.
>You got one story out of the landlord, but maybe the other tenants will tell a different story. (Write in up to three questions to ask the tenants here. May need a CHARM check from Alexis depending on the questions.)
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You really just want to fuck with him. Use your telekinesis to send his porn mag flying. (Free action, costs 1 Restraint to use but heals 1 Restraint from the impending comedy. Unknown benefits/downsides beyond amusement.)
>Write in.

From now on (to reduce the clutter in the options), if an option has a skill check and doesn't say it uses a party member's stat, assume it rolls using YOUR stat.

Apologies for the delay. Had to handle some rowdy dogs and the messes they cause. Gotta say, I love some rottweilers. Even if they can be assholes sometimes.

>>5802983
>Go to the "Ashley" store. Maybe you can figure out why he had to run through what "supplies" he purchased or from asking the staff there.
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You really just want to fuck with him. Use your telekinesis to send his porn mag flying. (Free action, costs 1 Restraint to use but heals 1 Restraint from the impending comedy. Unknown benefits/downsides beyond amusement.)

>>5803100
+1

>>5802983
>>You got a vague idea on where his apartment might be. Time to search! (COGNIZANCE check,. DC: 10 (-2 from a general idea of where it is). Waste time on failure, find it on success. May need further rolls to GET IN, however.)

>Go ahead and talk to that Izanata lady. Maybe you can learn more about that 'noise complaint' and maybe some more details on Benjamin?
See if we can get his apartment location from her. And if she caught any details of that argument, might prove useful.
Then maybe go to the "Ashley" store after

>>5802983
>You got a vague idea on where his apartment might be. Time to search! (COGNIZANCE check,. DC: 10 (-2 from a general idea of where it is). Waste time on failure, find it on success. May need further rolls to GET IN, however.)
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You really just want to fuck with him. Use your telekinesis to send his porn mag flying. (Free action, costs 1 Restraint to use but heals 1 Restraint from the impending comedy. Unknown benefits/downsides beyond amusement.)

We're already here, may as well look instead of going back and forth.

We got a tie between finding the apartment and talking to Izanata. I'll wait a tiny bit longer for a tie breaker before just flipping a coin between the two

>>5804022
I don't read your quest (Until this exact moment.), but I have been summoned to break a tie.

We'll talk to Izanata.

Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>5804052
welp, I'm a dumbass who just woke up. It was a tie between the ashley store and finding the apartment. Fuck it, dice time. I apologize for my fuck up.

1 = Ashely
2 = Apartment Search
3 = Izanata

Alright, again, I apologize for misreading things in a rush. I'll try to not do that again.

But for now, I need two people to roll a 2d6.

Rolled 1, 1 = 2 (2d6)

>>5804079
Gotcha boss.

Rolled 6, 5 = 11 (2d6)

>>5804079
On it.

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>SEARCH FOR BENJAMIN AARON'S APARTMENT
Alright, so you know it has to be "high up". But it also has to be close enough for this "Izanata" type to hear an argument. She's on the first floor, so maybe one or two floors above that?

You glance over at your allies. "Lex, follow me to the third. Alexis, explore the second. We're searching now."

"I don't have any better ideas." Alexis reluctantly responds.
"Hell yeah! Enough waiting around, let's get to it!" Lex is far more receptive to the prospect.

Before you do, however...you decide to fuck with the Landlord. You focus on the mag in his hand as you clench your fist. A glow only perceivable by you surrounds the magazine. And with a small flick of the wrist, you send it flying.

Normally, the effort of ripping an object right out of someone's hand would make your mind ever so more fractured (compared to moving it if it was unattended), but-

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!" The landlord yells out when he sees his magazine flying away, landing a solid 10 feet away from him. He scrambles over his desk like a man possessed, desperate to get it back.

Alexis and Lex turn around at the commotion. You look back at them with a shrug.
[UNSTABLE] THEY WON'T KNOW YOU DID IT. THEY DON'T KNOW HOW EASILY YOU CAN RIP THEM LIMB FROM LIMB.
[UNSTABLE] GOOD. KEEPS YOUR CARDS TO YOUR CHEST. YOUR POWER. YOU ARE BEYOND THEM, NICOLE.

"Guess he might've let it slip from his hands?" You chirp out.
"I-I guess? How does it slip THAT far away, though?" Alexis tilts her head.

"Pft, who cares?" Lex tries his best to hide his giggling fit. "He deserves it. If shit like this happens if I stick around, Nicky, hoo. It's gonna be a good day."

>Rapport with Lex has increased slightly! Keep him entertained and he might become a more useful ally.

"Alright, enough fun though. Let's find that stupid apartment." Lex claps his hands. Without anything else to do (aside from watching the landlord cling to his magazine), you head up to the third floor with Lex while Alexis checks out the second floor.

Once you arrive? A grey hallway with grey doors lining both of the walls. It's always grey with this apartment, isn't it? Your eyes nearly glaze over before Lex slaps you on the back. Right, apartment.

[PERSON OF INTEREST] He was a runner. He would stay close to the exits.

That might be too obvious, so you point to the right side of the hallway. "Check those doors. Tell me if anything's off."

"Alright, boss."

You start checking the doors on the left door, taking a close look of the doors to see if there's anything that stands out in the grey hellscape of an apartment. You almost wonder if you're somehow in an anomaly's den or something.

>COGNIZANCE ROLL: 13. SUCCESS!

You almost walked passed another door when you look down at the ground. There's a tiny splatter of something red on the ground. You turn around to look at where it leads to.

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You take a few steps over to see it leads to an apartment door that's slightly crooked looking. You tilt your head to analyze what's going on here.

There's tiny splatters of blood on the floor, a messed up door, and there were signs of an argument going on. Like there was a struggle.

[PERSON OF INTEREST] The men in silver, they would just ambush you and suffocate you in their thousand arms. This chemist may be stronger than your Handler implies.

You try to open the door in question but, as expected, it's locked. You're pretty sure this is Benjamin Aaron's apartment, though.

You snap your fingers to get Lex to come over. With a quick text message and a few minutes of waiting, Alexis arrives shortly after.

"So! We finally found his apartment, eh?" Lex seems really eager. If you had to suspect, he wants to break the door open.

"Locked, huh? Perhaps it would be wise to try lockpicking it?" Alexis chimes in. "It might take a while and time may be essential here. But I rather not have the tenants...ask questions we don't want to answer."

So, how do you want to handle the locked door?
>"Lex, break that fucker open." (Auto success, given his high VIOLENCE. However, it will put you on a time crunch because of the noise. You will get a penalty to your COGNIZANCE rolls to search it)
>"Alexis, go ahead and try lockpicking it." (TALENT check with Alexis' dice, DC 10. Succeed and you get in without anyone noticing. Failure may result in the door's lock getting fucked up..)
>[ANOMALOUS POWER] Just rip the doorknob off with your mind.Your allies WILL notice your power usage, though. (WILLPOWER CHECK: DC 11. Succeed, you save time compared to the other methods and gain a bonus to COGNIZANCE rolls to search it.. FAILURE: You'll rip the door clean off and draw way too much attention.)
>You found it, you can put a pin on it and do something else. (Talk to Izanata? Visit a location of interest? Talk to the other tenants? Write in.)

>>5804269
>Alexis, lockpick
We go through the subtle way. If we fail, then get Lex to Kool Aid Man his way in.

>>5804269
>"Alexis, go ahead and try lockpicking it." (TALENT check with Alexis' dice, DC 10. Succeed and you get in without anyone noticing. Failure may result in the door's lock getting fucked up..)

>>5804269
>>"Alexis, go ahead and try lockpicking it." (TALENT check with Alexis' dice, DC 10. Succeed and you get in without anyone noticing. Failure may result in the door's lock getting fucked up..)

>>5804269
If the door's lock gets fucked up, does that impair Lex's ability to just smash the door in?

>>5804269
>Lockpick it ourselves.

Isn't our talent higher? Aren't we better at it?

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>>5804591
>Isn't our talent higher? Aren't we better at it?
Hm, now that you mention it, it is. Could've sworn Alexis' was higher or Nicole's was lower for some reason. I'll concede that I fucked up and allow you to use Nicole's talent dice if you pick the lockpicking option.
I should probably make a pastebin so I can keep better track of the stats.
>>5804534
It wouldn't but you still lose out on the benefit of, say, not having a penalty to your COGNIZANCE roll.

I apologize if I'm a bit scatterbrained. The last few days was kinda hectic for me. Hopefully less of these issues appear as we carry on.

>>5804591
You're right. We got 4 TALENT and Alexis only has 3.
Switch my vote here >>5804320 to
>Lockpick it ourselves.

>>5804598
No worries. Maybe you meant for each character to have 24 total stats? We have 26, the others have 24. Or maybe that is intended since we are a PC and? Or maybe everyone should have 26, to go with the alphabet thing?

Still it makes way more sense for us to have more talent. We are an urban explorer, if we can't DIY shit better or perform parkour/backflips and lock pick better then it just doesn't make sense.

If everyone should have 26, then I think maybe Lex and Alexis should have more connections? Lex for the underground, Alexis because that is her thing? Or maybe Alexis should be brought up to 3 flesh on account of her being healthier and less malnourished, with her other point going elsewhere. Lexi, I dunno, if he doesn't have connection, maybe he can be even tougher or hit harder.

If we are supposed to have 24 each, then maybe take a point off our cognizance and willpower each? Or one off our restraint and one off our cognizance, to better represent our frayed mind and the fact that our knowledge/intelligence is more practically orientated?

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>>5804616
You having more stats than some random shmucks you picked is intentional. They are goons you hire to do things FOR you, after all. It really is just a lapse of memory because I didn't bother double checking. Also, for easier access for information (for myself and you guys) as more posts get made:

https://pastebin.com/3y638TfK (MAIN CHARACTER SHEET)
https://pastebin.com/A9nLYWP6 (MECHANICS)
https://pastebin.com/8gdVZBPe (ALLIES AND THEIR STATS)

Have this apology Vib for the troubles. (Gotta say, the QM who introduced me to this rabbit has great tastes.)

>>5804269
Alright with all this in mind,
>Lockpick it ourselves

>>5804623
man, reading through this qst has given me inspiration to kick my collective quest back into it. thanks, anon.

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Alright, lockpicking it yourself seems to be the winning vote. Two anons, roll 2d6, as per usual. DC 10.

>>5804930
Huh, really? Well, I'm glad I helped motivate you, anon. Just remember: If you're not having fun, don't bother writing the quest.

Rolled 2, 6 = 8 (2d6)

>>5804980
Rollin'

Rolled 6, 6 = 12 (2d6)

>>5804980

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"Alright, Alexis, go ahead an-"

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] This is not the first time you've broken into a place, remember? Or did your mind fracture enough to forget that?

"...lemme do it." You correct yourself. Alexis tosses you a few hairpins she was holding before you changed your tune. It doesn't take long for you to twist and turn it into a makeshift lockpick.

"Lame." Lex leans against the wall next to the door you're going to lockpick. "Do we really have to do this? We're wasting time."

"Do you WANT the cops to come running over here? W-we don't have a warrant for this, you know!" Alexis whisper-shouts. Lex simply rolls his eyes at the comment.

You rub the side of your head. God, you're going to get a migraine. Oh well, time to force this thing open. You start fiddling around with the lock, trying to get the pins to click into place.

>TALENT CHECK: 20!

Before you even realize what you're doing, your fingers move all on their own. A small CLICK! informs you that you managed to unlock the door. Alexis just looks befuddled at how quickly you did it. "I-how? What?"

"...Not my first rodeo." You shrug. With a simple push, the door creaks open. You gesture at Lex to enter first. He does so as you and Alexis follow behind him.

https://youtu.be/xo65v1kTRZA - APARTMENT THEME

The first thing the three of you notice in here is that it's an absolute mess in here. Somehow, your apartment looks better than this. The room you just entered (the living room, you think) has notes covering it from floor to ceiling with barely any furniture besides a lazyboy and a coffee table.

The door to his bedroom has been kicked in, though you can't see much else from where you're standing. You can see the kitchen in here, given it seems to be part of the living room...

And it's also a mess. Half eaten food and drink is left all over the counters. The fridge is plastered in notes that seem pretty illegible to you. Empty pill bottles litter around the kitchen sink. And, as if you approach to try getting a better look of things, the pungent smell of potent chemical cleaner causes you to stumble back.

Now that you think about it, the whole place smells like it's laced in chemicals. Almost reminds you of the science class you had back as a kid, when you were working in a lab.

The main thing that seems to catch your attention, though? At the back of the apartment, near the kitchen, is a broken in window.

"Hoo boy." Alexis rubs the bridge of her nose. "I'm starting to think this isn't a 'runner'."

"This place is a fucking pigstay." "It's pigsty, Lex." "Shut up, I was right the first time." "No, you weren't."

[PERSON OF INTEREST] He was cornered, surrounded. He could not run if he wanted to. You could be next.

You're in his den now. You can probably get a good idea of either why he disappeared or where he is, if you know where to look.

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What's your plan, Nicole? Pick up to two.
>Try reading through the notes scattered all over the place. Maybe there's something of relevance? (DC 15 COGNIZANCE check. You'll get a good idea on who targeted him and why.)
>Check out that broken window. Maybe there's a trail? (DC 12 COGNIZANCE check. You'll get a clue on where the intruder(s) could've came from.)
>Check out his bedroom. Why? Well, you know, you did pick this mission for the meds... (If picked, roll 2d100 to determine what you recover.)
>Use your UV Flashlight to try detecting anything of note, to see what your eyes can not. (DC 22 COGNIZANCE check with 6d6. You'll get a pretty good idea on who was here and what happened on a success.)
>[UNSTABLE] Call it paranoia but you feel like you should be alone during your search. Tell the other two to stay outside and keep guard.
>You should probably tell someone about this, maybe they would know more? (Ask Izanata about it? The Landlord? Write in what you want to tell them and who you're telling.)
>Write in.

>>5805061
Can we assign the others to different tasks?

>>5805061
>CHECK BATHROOM FOR MEDS
>ASK GOONS FOR HELP WITH SEARCHING FOR NOTES
"What do I pay you for? Give me a hand, guys."

>>5805066
You can but their cognizance is lower than yours, so they'll have a harder time passing a check compared to doing it yourself. (2 for Lex, 3 for Alexis, compared to your 4)
Feel free to assign them to do a task if you think they can handle it, though. I say if you assign BOTH to a stat check choice, you can combine their cognizance for that roll (total of 5d6)
Or you can assign one to do a non-stat check choice so you can focus on the stat checks yourself.

>>5805061
>>Check out his bedroom. Why? Well, you know, you did pick this mission for the meds... (If picked, roll 2d100 to determine what you recover.)
>>Use your UV Flashlight to try detecting anything of note, to see what your eyes can not. (DC 22 COGNIZANCE check with 6d6. You'll get a pretty good idea on who was here and what happened on a success.)
Send our friends to check the notes

>>5805070
Hey, what are the mechanics for getting all three of us on one task? Add Xd6 for each bloke participating?

>>5805348
I'll probably regret setting this precedent later but for now, here's the rules for allies assisting in a stat check.
For every 2 points they have in a stat, they can assist you with a check involving that stat for +1d6. So, +2d6 from the smooth brained Lex and the average smarts Alexis.

This can only be done for certain actions that would allow for cooperation to make sense. So, for instance, three people trying to charm one person at once probably wouldn't work. They can't assist you to do a TALENT roll to do a perfect landing after you fell from five stories. They can only assist so much.

>>5805255
Let's go with this

>>5805061
Support >>5805255

>>5805255
Support

I should talk to other people about freezing.

>>5805255
+1

Alright, since we got a lot of dice to roll, I'll simply ask for two people to roll a 1d100, one to roll 6d6, and one to roll 5d6.

No DC for the 2d100s.
22 for the 6d6.
15 for the 5d6.

Rolled 56 (1d100)

>>5805989

Rolled 34 (1d100)

>>5805989

Rolled 3, 6, 6, 4, 4, 2 = 25 (6d6)

>>5805989

Rolled 3, 1, 6, 4, 4 = 18 (5d6)

>>5805989
Rollan.

Successes for the stat checks, middling rolls for the loot. Writing.

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[UNSTABLE] DON'T YOU DARE! THEY'RE GOING TO LIE, TRICK YOU, BETRAY YOUR TRUST! YOU'RE A SMART GIRL. DO NOT DO THIS-

"Alexis, Lex." You point towards the notes scattered all over the place. "Read through them. Tell me if there's anything important in them." You shush the voice in your head. You hired them for a reason, after all.

"Aye aye, captain!" Lex puts on a smile that's a bit too happy for the grueling labor you assigned him. Alexis doesn't bother responding as she starts digging through the papers.

As for you? Well, it's not like he NEEDS everything here. You're just tasked with FINDING him later, right? After making sure your allies are busy looking through the paperwork, you enter his bedroom.

It's almost the same as the one back at your apartment. Bed, desk, closet, and television. The one thing different you notice immediately is that the bed is different. It's about twice the size of yours and actually looks like a bed instead of something fit for a prison cell. It also seems new, as if he brought a bigger bed in here for some reason.

Hm. No one said anything about him living with someone else. You'll put a pin in this later in case it becomes relevant. For now, you have one mission: to find meds. Or anything else of value, really, you're not picky.

You check underneath the bed. Nothing there. What about the desk? There's only torn up notes and empty pill bottles. Television? It's a television. You do a quick double check of these locations to make sure you're not missing anything but yeah, nothing. All you have left is the closet.

You open it up. There's about a dozen white shirts and work jeans hanging up in it. That's about it, at first glance, so you're about to close it before you notice something. Some of the breastpockets on the shirts seem to have something in them.

You look through the pockets and hoo boy, you found some neat stuff in them. You empty out all of them before taking stock of what you managed to find.

LOOT ACQUIRED
>A loose Sinsul pill. (Heals for 1 FLESH when consumed. Simple as.)
>A pair of Gorilla Grip gloves. For when you absolutely can't lose your grip. (+1 TALENT when climbing something and when resisting a disarm attempt.)
>A tablet of Zanal. Fishy smelling but highly potent. (When consumed, grants +1 to all stats for a short duration. When it wears off, -1 to all stats for a short duration.)

You stuff them into your own pockets. Not exactly the best haul but anything is better than nothing, you know? Right as you're done searching, you hear Lex call out for you.

"Hey! We found some interesting shit!"

You exit the bedroom to see what the hubba is about. The brick shithouse holds a crumpled ball of notes in his hands while Alexis is busy arranging the notes she found in a neat and tidy order.

"There was a lot of rambling and chemical nonsense but we found some really interesting stuff!" You're not sure he actually knows what he found. He drops the notes he found onto the table.

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"It was a mess, really." Alexis smooths out the crumpled up papers. "But, yeah, read them for yourself."

There's about five different pieces of paper they managed to gather. You start skimming through them to see what stands out.

"Went to Ashley's after meeting with Max, she seems to be doing well. Tried to gather more extracts. Hard to get what I need in this District, might need to go to that warehouse for another shipment. Don't like talking to them, though."

"Tried to negotiate with them for another shipment. Told me I already owned them two thousand for the last one. I tried to explain that my Cleaner job wasn't working out. Negotiations went south. Need new supplier."

"Kept running into the warehouse guys. Friendly guys, really insistent on the money. Keep telling them I'm sorry, though. One followed me a long while. He chatted with me a lot."

"Anomaly hunting was a bust. Apparently, the Handler sent me something way about my paygrade. Damn crash test dummy nearly tripped my arm off. Running out of medication, NEED SUPPLIES NOW! Running out of money, missions are getting too hard."

"Tried talking to Roland and Weston. Wouldn't give me the time of day but told me to stay. Said something about corporate scum not being allowed. The men from the warehouse came in. Ran. Surely, Roland had a reason, right? Weston had to as well. I can still trust them, right?"

You put down the pieces of paper. He fell in with the wrong crowd and paid the price for it, huh? They keep saying something about a warehouse and some men who work there. Interesting.

You have one last thing to check here. You pull out your UV Flashlight and flick it on, casting the whole room in a haze of purple light.
>-1 CHARGE

Alexis covers her eyes while Lex stands there with a confused look. You notice that Lex's outfit is glowing a nice shade of blue in the light. Blood stains.

"Ah, right, I did give you that." Alexis lowers her hands. "You know, you can say thank you." She nods her head towards the notes she helped to compile. You give a thumbs up and a forced smile. You hope that's good enough for her. "Eugh." It wasn't. Oh well, searching time!

Your goal is to find anything that stands out in the UV haze...
>SEARCH CHECK: 25! SUCCESS.

First thing you notice is splatters of something on the door the three of you entered through, alongside a nasty looking crack. Seems like a scuffle went down at the front door. A few fingerprint shaped blobs of blood cling to the wall next to the door. Someone got their hand stuck.

A set of four footprints trail from the door over to the living room, where you three are standing at. Two sets of footprints leads to the bedroom while the other two head to the broken window. Four people total, one had to be Benjamin. So three other people came in.

You track over to the bedroom to see...oh. That's a lot of bright blue flooding the bedroom floor. That's...not good.

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You flinch when you hear a gasp behind you. You turn around to see that it's Alexis, who's seeing the same thing you did. Ah.

A trail of blood leads from the bedroom over to the floor right in front of the window. Pointing the flashlight outside of it right as the final bits of your first charge dies out, you see a blood trail going down the fire escape stairs right outside the window. Down into the streets below.

This was a kidnapping if you've ever seen one. And you got a few suspects. Your nerves rush with a mixture of adrenaline, fear, and something else. You look towards the others with a wild grin.

Alexis steps away from you while Lex flashes an equally vicious grin.

"I think we're getting close to solving this job." You murmur to yourself. Alexis relaxes a bit once she realizes why you're grinning.

"Oh thank god. I want to get out of here anyways." Alexis taps her foot against the floor. "Rather not be stuck in this crime scene any longer than I have to."

Seems like the situation is a bit more serious than you would've expected. What's the plan now, Nicole?

>Out the window and follow the blood trail. You'll be rushing in blind but it's the quickest way forward.
>You NEED to talk to those two associates. The notes said they work at the same pharmaceutical store and you got decent blackmail material to make them talk.
>Go to that Ashley's store. If nothing else, you could try asking the staff there where this "warehouse" is. Maybe you'll get some help as well if Ben was trusted there.
>Contact your Handler. You have a question or two to ask. (Free action, though you may need to make a CHARM check depending on what you ask. Write in.)
>Exit the room and tell the Landlord about the crime scene in one of his apartments. You might be able to get him to help you out with your mission, if only to keep your mouth shut.
>Write in.

>>5806182
>Out the window and follow the blood trail. You'll be rushing in blind but it's the quickest way forward.

>>5806182
>>You NEED to talk to those two associates. The notes said they work at the same pharmaceutical store and you got decent blackmail material to make them talk.

>>5806182
>You NEED to talk to those two associates. The notes said they work at the same pharmaceutical store and you got decent blackmail material to make them talk.
>Exit the room and tell the Landlord about the crime scene in one of his apartments. You might be able to get him to help you out with your mission, if only to keep your mouth shut.
If only to cause him even more distress, even if he's not useful. We'll probably pass by him on the way out, anyway

>>5806182
>>Out the window and follow the blood trail. You'll be rushing in blind but it's the quickest way forward.

>>5806182
>Out the window and follow the blood trail. You'll be rushing in blind but it's the quickest way forward.

Time is of the essence in a kidnapping, we don't need more clues on where he went unless we lose the trail. If there's trouble we otherwise could've learned about with more caution and questioning then we'll just plow through it.

>>5806182
>Out the window and follow the blood trail. You'll be rushing in blind but it's the quickest way forward.

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"Let's get going!" You throw yourself through the window without any regards.

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] You've done this before. Usually, in a rush to get out of somewhere when someone or SOMETHING was out to get you. You land on your feet immediately, rushing down the fire escape stairs before the others notice what you're doing.

"Woah, hold on, Nicky!" "What the fuck?" Your two allies lag behind with their attempts to get out of the window. They can catch up later, you have a MISSION to complete. You have a TRAIL of CRIMSON to follow.

The pitter patter of your feet stomping past the snow-free streets of District 14 is all your mind needs. Your eyes focus on the stains on the floor. Crimson is your guide forward. Take a turn there, take another turn there. Your legs move on their own, dead set on finding Benjamin.

You only slow down when you hear footsteps following behind you. "Nicole! Slow down!" You turn around to see Alexis huffing and puffing, trailing behind you. Lex is a bit better at keeping pace with you but he's still pretty behind.

You turn around to keep rushing after the fading trail. It must've been recent because you still see specks of red on the ground in front of you. You feel like you would've lost it if you hadn't acted as quickly as you did.

"Father Above, fucking slow down already!" Alexis calls out to you while desperately trying to keep pace with you.

Another turn. Another turn. Yet another turn. Specks of that delicious crimson pushing you forward.

Your legs eventually stop once the trail goes cold. Your body is exhausted from your mad dash. You lean against the wall next to you, nearly dry heaving onto the sidewalk. It takes a few minutes for your two allies to finally catch up with you.

"Fucking hell, what got into you? You ran like you were possessed!" Alexis isn't doing much better than you. Meanwhile, Lex walks up to you two like he was just doing a light jog instead of dashing after a women possessed. "Hoo, where are we, even?" Lex spins his head around.

You don't actually know that. You raise your head up to see you're in front of some random abandoned building that might've been a business. That's not the important one. Across the street, tucked away between two abandoned office buildings, is a shoddy looking warehouse. Rust covers every inch of its exterior that you can see. A few empty boxes are littered outside as well.

The few windows you can spot on its exterior have been boarded up, likely to prevent any break ins. The front entrance, from what you can see, has been shuttered off. Two guards with a similar build to Lex stand in front of it. Aside from some batons on their waistbands and some shoddy body armor, they don't seem too threatening in the grand scheme.

Well, that's what you would say but you notice one of the guards is holding a leash. Your eyes drift to see what it's attached to and-

What the fuck is that thing? Whatever it is, it's not a guard dog.

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It reminds you of a stick bug. Its limbs are sharp and jagged, bent in weird and awkward angles. Violent shakes and tremor flood its body as it looks around, desperately looking for something to attack. Its black carapace has several cracks over it from what you can assume is previous fights it has gotten into. A red, way too human looking eye pierces out of its squashed triangle shaped head.

>Feel free to make a DC: 15 WILLPOWER check to figure out what the FUCK that thing is. Two anons, roll 2d6. Succeeding it might give you relevant information. Failure? You'll get nothing.

"Huh, it's kinda cute." Lex notices the weird bug thing you're staring at. You can't really agree but that's besides the point. Alexis snaps her fingers to get the two of you to pay attention.

"How are we gonna approach this? I don't think I wanna get into a fight with them if we can get away with it." Alexis glances back and forth between you and the guards.

"I think we spent enough time talking. I was hired for a reason, wasn't I?" Lex scoffs. "C'mon. Enough pussy footing around. Let's just break in."

You glance back at the warehouse. You're close to your goal now but you don't really have any idea how to proceed from here. What's your plan, Nicole? You know that Benjamin has to be in there. The money and meds you're promised for completing the job are so tantalizingly close....

>"Stay cool. We can just 'talk' to them." Try to convince the guards to let you in. It might need a bit more than a wave and a smile... (Write in. What you say will determine the CHARM DC.)
>"Stay cool. We can try finding a way in without fighting." Scout the building for any entrances you can sneak through. (DC 16 COGNIZANCE check. Success and you'll sneak in without being noticed, potentially getting a drop on who's inside. Failure? Well, you get spotted.)
>[UNSTABLE] "Let's beat up some motherfuckers already." Just approach them and rip those fuckers to shreds. (Starts a COMBAT ENCOUNTER.)
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You see some empty boxes. Send them flying (-1 RESTRAINT if you pick it. DC 18, rolling your VIOLENCE and WILLPOWER together. Pass and you'll knock them out before anyone can respond. Failure will start the COMBAT ENCOUNTER with a penalty to your side.)
>Write in. (Use any items? Try a different plan? Go somewhere else?)

Rolled 2, 5 = 7 (2d6)

>>5807305
>"Stay cool. We can try finding a way in without fighting." Scout the building for any entrances you can sneak through. (DC 16 COGNIZANCE check. Success and you'll sneak in without being noticed, potentially getting a drop on who's inside. Failure? Well, you get spotted.)

Rolled 5, 3 = 8 (2d6)

>>5807305
Rollan for WTF is this.

>"Stay cool. We can try finding a way in without fighting." Scout the building for any entrances you can sneak through.

>>5807305
>[UNSTABLE] "Let's beat up some motherfuckers already." Just approach them and rip those fuckers to shreds. (Starts a COMBAT ENCOUNTER.)

>>5807312
>>5807318
>WILLPOWER CHECK: SUCCESSFUL

You've heard rumors about these kinds of bugs before. 'Firecrackers', you recall. Specially bred by a joint effort of Q-Company and V-Company as guard animals. It produces highly flammable compounds and can easily inflict 3rd degree burns when attacking someone. You notice that the leash around its neck seems like a standard dog leash, not exactly the best for this kind of creature.

>>5807305
>"Stay cool. We can try finding a way in without fighting." Scout the building for any entrances you can sneak through. (DC 16 COGNIZANCE check. Success and you'll sneak in without being noticed, potentially getting a drop on who's inside. Failure? Well, you get spotted.)

Suggest supplementing the quiet way in with:

>Write-in
>[ANOMALOUS] That Firecracker's a powder keg in clumsy hands. Rip the leash from away from the handler and whap the Firecracker with it

Focuses attention to the door while we look around, should be less demanding than box-throwing, tides Lex over for now.

>>5807429
It works for the fighting approach too.

>>5807305
These all seem like entirely viable options. However, with >>5807322 in mind, I'll support >>5807429 combined with
>"Stay cool. We can try finding a way in without fighting." Scout the building for any entrances you can sneak through. (DC 16 COGNIZANCE check. Success and you'll sneak in without being noticed, potentially getting a drop on who's inside. Failure? Well, you get spotted.)

I will note that unless the write-in gives us 2 dice or we use the flashlight, we'll have to roll slightly above average to succeed. Or pretty well above average if we get no bonus dice.

Noting that the personality of Benjamin's notes is a strong match for the Ben A. in character select. Doesn't help at the moment, but him being Open Minded to the supernatural may present an opportunity. Communicate with him via the invisible glow of our telekinesis, perhaps.

>>5807854
I'm almost certain they are the same person and I'm pretty sure everyone already assumed that. That same post you mention explicitly says that it's a small world for our industry.

I would not be at all surprised if the Max mentioned in Benjamin's notes is the Aristocrat from the character selection.

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So, the winning vote seems to be try sneaking in. Here's how I'll handle the write in. We'll do the standard "two anons, roll 2d6" and if you pass, you get in. Simple as. If you don't, you can roll an extra 2d6 because of the distraction but you lose -1 RESTRAINT because of your powers.

So, two anons, roll 2d6.
Update might be a bit delayed because I'm eating out with family later but we'll see if I can get it out on time (rather not mobilepost)

Rolled 6, 1 = 7 (2d6)

>>5808061

Rolled 4, 4 = 8 (2d6)

>>5808061

1 off, anyone one to roll again?

Rolled 6, 5 = 11 (2d6)

>>5808074
Sure.

Rolled 6, 2 = 8 (2d6)

Whap the pupper

>>5808086
We already had someone roll for the whap check but I'll take this anyways to determine how comedically funny the whap will be. 8/12, so it's up there.

Writing.

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"Alright, so we're going to sneak in." You nod to yourself at your incredibly smart plan. Alexis and Lex look at each other before back at you.

"Wouldn't they spot us?" Alexis points at the guards and Firecracker. "It's the middle of the morning, we stand out like a sore thumb."

"So what if they spot us? We can just kill them." Lex states with the same matter-of-factness of an office worker talking about his day.

"Right, like that's a smart idea. Cause a bunch of noise, get injured, back up arrives! That's an excellent idea!"

While the two are busy arguing with each other, you start focusing on the Firecracker's leash. A light lavender glow only visible to your ilk starts surrounding it. You clench your hand as you begin to influence the world through mere thoughts.

The guard notices the odd pulling on his leash. He assumes it's just the Firecracker and pulls harder. You hear a tinny "YELP" from the bug. Ah, it's already getting agitated. With one swift flick of the wrist, you rip the leash out of the guard's hand.

>Your head throbs. -1 RESTRAINT

"What the fuck?!" The guard who previously had a leash stumbles back with confusion and fear. The guard next to him is about to yell at him before looking at the levitating leash.

And with a flick of your wrist, you smack the Firecracker a few dozen times with its own leash. One or two would've worked but you just wanted to be extra sure.

The crackling noises coming from the bug reminds you of a raging fire. Before anyone has time to react, the Firecrackers start attacking its owners with roaring fury.

"Wait, how did it float-" Alexis questions the seemingly impossible thing that happened while Lex has stars in his eyes. He is eating this up. "I don't know but I'm loving it!"

"Hurry." You gesture at the two to follow you. You can already see the fight is either going to end with someone being killed, so it's not going to buy too much time.

The three of you cross the street as the guards desperately beat the bug with their batons. Nasty burns are already developing on their hands while more and more cracks form on the Firecracker.

[UNSTABLE] It's kinda cute, isn't it? This tiny little bug that can just rip people into shreds, it's adorable! A perfect pet.

You shake your head. Guh. Not now.

The three of you begin to circle around the warehouse to find any openings that you can squeeze yourselves through. All you need is a single open window

"Seriously, the fuck was that?" Alexis whisper yells at you. There's a conflicted look on her face, still dwelling on the anomalous feat that just happened moments ago. "I know my mind shouldn't be focusing on that but..."

"Shh. It was funny." Lex waves her off, not at all questioning what happened.

Alexis grumbles something that you can't quite make out but she's giving you a weird look now. It's not anger or anything but analyzing? Assessing? Like she sees a potential asset.

Hopefully she doesn't connect the dots.

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>FINDING A WAY IN: 26 ROLL. SUCCEED!

After circling around the building for what seems like an hour, you notice something peculiar. There's an oddly placed piece of scrap metal leaning against the back of the warehouse.

You would've completely glossed it over because it's painted to be the exact same hue of grey as the wall in question. Yet, you can JUST barely notice the slight difference compared to the rest of the wall.

It is also way too big and heavy for you to move without using your powers, so you tap Lex on the shoulder. He tilts his head like a confused animal. "Yeah? What's the matter, Nick?"

You walk over to where the scrap metal is and push on it slightly to show Lex where it is. "This. Not wall. Help me move it?" You hope he gets the idea.

"Ah!" Thankfully, he does. He gestures at Alexis to come help at well and, with some reluctance, she does. The three of you begin to push the heavy sheet of scrap metal.

Once it's out of the way, you can see what it was covering. A hole in the wall. Just big enough for you three to squeeze through.

"Good eye." Alexis actually sounds impressed by you for once. "I wouldn't have expected you to notice it. Hell, I didn't."

You simply nod along before you start squeezing through the hole. You get in easily thanks to your smaller build, so does Alexis, but Lex has to take a while longer to squeeze in given his sheer girth. You have time to kill thanks to that distraction earlier, though.

Once inside, you take a look at your surroundings. You're in a storage room it seems. Shelves line the walls from top to bottom, boxes stuffed with god knows what filling every possible space. It smells like urine, chemicals, and blood and frankly, taking a closer look at the floor? There's stains here you don't want to think too hard about.

There's only a single door leading out of the room, so you approach it and carefully open it. You make damn sure it doesn't squeak and blow your cover. Your allies follow behind while you peer around the corner...and you notice the last room was connected to what seems like the main room of the warehouse.

The ceiling overwhelms you with how high it goes up, at least a solid thirty feet high. Shelves as far as your eyes can see are scattered throughout. The only thing keeping this place lit up is an intensely strong light coming from a single light bulb from the top of the ceiling.

Besides the shelves, the main thing you notice is several tall, burly men standing around some sort of mad scientist looking chemistry set. Your brain doesn't take long to guess that's probably some sort of drug lab.

"Lord above, we're dealing with drug smugglers?" Alexis whispers, trying not to get their attention. Lex leans in to take a closer look before shaking his head. "Nah. I think they're making their own supplier. You can guess why."

The main entrance door slides open, catching the attention of everyone, including your group.

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The two guards from earlier are standing there looking like they were just hit by a molotov. Massive burns cover their hands and faces with their uniforms being charred black in several places. The Firecracker has been killed or knocked out cold since it's not moving.

Three of the burly men surrounding the drug lab equipment begin to approach the guards, leaving only one behind to guard a thin and scrawny looking man. You squint. Hold on a minute.

Bird nest hair. Glasses. Wearing leather gloves. Really pale skin. Dried blood coating his forehead from an open wound. That's your target.

"B-Boss! Someone's attacking us!" One of the horribly burnt guards yells out. "M-my leash s-started floating and t-then it hit the Firecracker a-and it got ang-angry an-"

He proceeds to get slapped hard by the biggest and tallest man of the group. You take a closer look at him. He's adorned in a checkered red and black jacket with some sort of weird symbol on it. He's at least a solid seven foot given how he seems to tower over everyone else.

His scarred face is covered in gaudy tattoos that you think are supposed to be scary looking. He glares down at the guard before he begins yelling at him, spittle flying out of his mouth.

"Are you fucking retarded? Floating leashes? I'm sorry, are you fucking pulling my leg?" The gangboss (you assume) grabs the guard's collar. "I thought it was impossible for someone to be so fucking stupid, they couldn't even guard a door!"

The guard hisses in pain at the physical contact. "N-no, seriously, s-sir! I-I s-saw a weird lady moving her hands r-really weird and-"

He gets a slap to the face. The three of you hiss in unison. That couldn't have felt good given the burns on his body.

"And you fucking killed the Firecracker! DO YOU FUCKING KNOW HOW MUCH THAT COSTS?!" The gangboss trembles with a rage you have not seen in a person in ages. "I HAVE HALF THE MIND TO RIP YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!"

Everyone here is watching this spectacle unfold...except for one man. Benjamin. He's just working away at his little lab with an unusually upbeat smile on his face. It's like he doesn't even know what's going on. He's lost in his own little world.

Everyone's distracted by the shitshow going down. The gang members aren't heeding any of the guard's advice either.

Now, you have to somehow get Benjamin to notice you and sneak over OR deal with the gang members so you can leave. You don't have to kill them, you just need to get him out of here and to somewhere safe.

From where you're standing at (right next to the door leading to the hole in the wall), you're about a solid thirty to four feet away from Benjamin. So you can't exactly whisper at him to come over...

What's your next plan, Nicole? If you can get him out of here, the mission is essentially done. You'll be in the home stretch.

>"Alexis, go back to the front and distract them for a bit, would you?" (DC: 17 CHARM check with Alexis' CHARM. Succeed and you'll be able to close the distance between you and Benjamin to try talking to him while the rest are distracted. Failure will likely lead to Alexis getting into hot water.)
>Fuck it, just jump them! (Enters a COMBAT ENCOUNTER. You'll get a sneak attack advantage given they're distracted)
>[ANOMALOUS ABILTIES] It'll take a lot of effort but your powers are useful for surprise attacks. Send a bunch of the boxes from nearby shelves flying towards the gang members. (-2 RESTRAINT, DC 21 WILLPOWER + VIOLENCE check. If you pass, you'll knock out or heavily injured most of the gang members. If not, some will be injured but it's likely this place will go on high alert.
>Try to subtly use your powers to get his attention. (Write in how you want to do this. Depending on what you do, you might need to make a willpower check.)
>Write in. (Use any items? Think up another plan? Tell your allies to do something else?)

Sorry for the delayed update, was busy being dragged out by my family. Had a nice time though.

>>5808267
>"Alexis, go back to the front and distract them for a bit, would you?" (DC: 17 CHARM check with Alexis' CHARM. Succeed and you'll be able to close the distance between you and Benjamin to try talking to him while the rest are distracted. Failure will likely lead to Alexis getting into hot water.)
>Have Alexis use her ETF ID.

We're in the home stretch, the card is an autosuccess according to the original prompt, or +10 back in the apartment, either way, with Alexis's charm it is an easy win. If we can't convince Benny boy then Lex wanted a fight anyways, it's just six guys, two of whom are injured and poorly equipped. We can take em with our abilities.

>>5808267
>>"Alexis, go back to the front and distract them for a bit, would you?" (DC: 17 CHARM check with Alexis' CHARM. Succeed and you'll be able to close the distance between you and Benjamin to try talking to him while the rest are distracted. Failure will likely lead to Alexis getting into hot water.)

>>5804623
>that vib
I'm gonna insert something allright. I won't be playing trash either with the sounds that'll be made. :^)

>>5808267
>"Alexis, go back to the front and distract them for a bit, would you?" (DC: 17 CHARM check with Alexis' CHARM. Succeed and you'll be able to close the distance between you and Benjamin to try talking to him while the rest are distracted. Failure will likely lead to Alexis getting into hot water.)
There's 2 burned guards, 2 burly guys, 1 gang boss, 1 Ben guard. I really want to bash some skulls in with Lex so he doesn't hate us. Maybe Alexis pulls people to the front as distraction, while Lex goes ham on the guys in here, then him and Nicole gank the outside ones as they walk in. Z CORP will want these fucks punished for kidnapping somebody they value, won't they?

>>5808267
>"Alexis, go back to the front and distract them for a bit, would you?" (DC: 17 CHARM check with Alexis' CHARM. Succeed and you'll be able to close the distance between you and Benjamin to try talking to him while the rest are distracted. Failure will likely lead to Alexis getting into hot water.)
>Have Alexis use her ETF ID.

>>5808267
>>Fuck it, just jump them! (Enters a COMBAT ENCOUNTER. You'll get a sneak attack advantage given they're distracted)

Alright, the winning vote is for Alexis to distract them but people are torn between using the ID or not (only 2 said they wished to use it.)

Do you want to use the ID or do you want to save it for a future mission?
>USE NOW.
>KEEP FOR LATER

>>5808918
>KEEP FOR LATER

>>5808918
>USE NOW.

Alexis can always get new gear anyways, especially as we grew more useful to her and she can lean on her connections more. Presumably she won't give us the card after this mission if we don't use it, so it's only good if we bring her on an appropriate mission. If we need other stuff then we also have our caches as well, no need to horde.

>>5808918
>USE NOW

>>5808918
>USE NOW.

>>5808918
>USE NOW.

>>5808918
>USE NOW.

File: FLASHINGYOURBADGE.jpg (97 KB, 795x1000)

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"Alexis. Go back to the front and distract them, okay?" You whisper to her. She nods as she turns back around to head through the hole in the wall. You can only hope she succeeds here.

You and Lex wait in your hiding spot, watching the argument of the gang members and guards continue. It doesn't take long for Alexis to return to the front of the entrance. You can tell Lex is getting antsy but he has the self awareness to not run out and demand a fight. For now.

The two of you look back at the entrance to see Alexis shouting at the guards. "ATTENTION! MAY I HAVE EVERYONE'S ATTENTION, PLEASE?" Her barks quickly get the attention she wants. The man in the checkered jacket lets go of the guard he was harassing.

"What do you want, bitch?" He scoffs with a look of utter disdain on his face. "You're not exactly the type my men like."

She pulls out the ETF agent card and flashes it towards the crowd. "I AM AGENT FOXTORT! If I was you, I would listen and answer some questions I have for all of you." She does his best impression of a serious, battle hardened Agent voice.

>-ETF Card
>CHARM check AUTOPASS!

"O-oh!" The Gangboss stumbles back a bit. "I-I apologize, miss. W-we're not doing anything wrong, are we boys?" He glares daggers at the men surrounding him. All of them try their best to stay cool and professional.

"YES SIR." "UH HUH!" "YEPPO." "YIP!" "YES SIR!"

Everyone, including the man still standing near Ben, has their focus deadset on Alexis. The one guarding Ben starts slowly walking over to the rest. He's clearly more interested in what's going on over there.

You two take this moment to start rushing over to Benjamin. You're not sure how long she can keep them distracted but it should be enough to get him out of here.

The two of you pass by the man guarding Ben, who's too focused on the woman screaming that she's an ETF agent to pay attention to either of you. Though you notice Lex stumbling, staring at the back of the man's head.

You can tell he desperately wants to cave his head in. Do you allow him?
>YES (Auto success because of his high VIOLENCE and it being a sneak attack. Will improve his RAPPORT with you, potentially improving his skill set. The other gang members will probably go on high alert on seeing the dead body, though.)
>NO (DC 6 CHARM check. Pass and he'll hold his bloodlust, allowing for a smooth escape later. Fail and he'll attack anyways without the rapport bonus.)

Regardless of what you do to the guard, you keep pushing forward until you reach Benjamin. He's too busy paying attention to his little chemistry set to notice anything going on.

You tap him on the shoulder. He jumps back with a yelp that's thankfully muffled by Lex covering his mouth with his hands. The thin man with a bird nest hairdo stares at the two of you with a wide flurry of emotions on his face.

"Hello. We would like to talk to you for a moment." You gesture at Lex to uncover his mouth.

File: SCIENCE.jpg (159 KB, 762x1000)

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Benjamin stares at the two of you with a flurry of conflicting emotions on his face before he flashes a stupidly wide grin. "Oh, hey, new friends!"

[PERSON OF INTEREST] He's way too trusting of you. The men in silver wouldn't even have to hide around him. What a fool.

"I'm a bit busy now! My other friends told me they REALLY need me to make some Sinsu and, well, they're pretty pushy on me staying here!"

Lex just squints at Ben like he's a total dumbass. "Dude, we need you to come with us. Like, right now, if you don't mind?" He gestures in the direction of where your escape is.

"Well, I don't want to disappoint them! Surely, they'll let me go after I give them some. You know how needy people can be about the meds they want!" Benjamin coos. "If you don't mind, I'm a bit busy here."

What the fuck? You don't think he understands the situation he has gotten himself in. Though, as you look at him closer, you see a nasty gash across his forehead that still trickles a bit of blood here or now. He might actually have a fucking concussion.

You're so close to your goal. You just need to find a way to make him come with you that hopefully doesn't involve him kicking and screaming. You try to figure out a way to convince him.

How do you convince him to come with? Pick up to three. You won't know which ones will work the best, you're kinda in the dark about him.
>Tell him why you're actually here. "Z-Company wanted us to pick you up. They really want you to work with them! C'mon, a big company wants YOU!"
>"Max misses you. She hasn't seen you in a while and I bet she's worried!" You have no idea what their relationship is. Hopefully they're close.
>"Roland told me that he wants to see you. He wants to apologize. Weston too." Hopefully he was close to his associates.
>"Your landlord hasn't seen you in a while and he wants his rent money. Just come with me so we can figure out a way to calm him down."
>Try to convince him he's with the wrong crowd. "These dudes KIDNAPPED you. They're not going to let you go."
>Show off your telekinesis. Lex will also see it. "I have magic powers. If you follow me, I can teach you how to get them."
>Tell him you're also a Cleaner and you want his assistance. "Look. I need meds. I can offer you more than those other dudes. Trust me here."
>You have something else to say to him. (Write in.)

>>5809121
>YES (Tell him to drag the body somewhere out of sight.)

If that can't be done because he is just smacking him quickly and coming to help us with Benjamin then I guess I'm fine with either a yes or a no. Kinda a waste of the card only to get into a fight now, but at least this way we can probably get a head start on an escape with the guards out of position. Committing to a full on brawl would definitely be a waste of the card though, and the medicine required to restore our restraint.

>>5809123
>Show off your telekinesis. Lex will also see it. "I have magic powers. If you follow me, I can teach you how to get them."
>Tell him you're also a Cleaner and you want his assistance. "Look. I need meds. I can offer you more than those other dudes. Trust me here."
>Have Lex get him moving to our exit while we talk, don't just stand around trying to convince him.

Don't mention other people or the company. We don't know who he trusts, I'm guessing not the company that hired us, if he trusted them then they could just hire him themselves through normal channels instead of hiring us to kidnap him. Likewise, it sounds like he owes a lot of people money and isn't too hot at this Cleaner shit, so he's likely perceived as unreliable.

Luckily he is pliable and seems like a nice guy, plus he likes the supernatural. Offer to open a door into the unknown for him and tell him we need his help (true) and he should be more than agreeable.

>>5809171
>(Tell him to drag the body somewhere out of sight.)
You can tell him to do that, no issue with that. The only downside is that he'll lag behind given that moving a body takes some time. But on the other. Alexis did buy you some time with her distraction and card.

>>5809171
Why do you wanna tell them about the magic powers this early? Come on!

>>5809328
Because he is naive and Open Minded to the supernatural, assuming he is the same character from the character selection, which in all likelihood he is. He'll be in Z Company's hands soon, and they are probably one of the corps sending suits after us, him blabbing to them does us no harm since they already know about us. Even if he is allowed his freedom, what's he gonna tell his few remaining friends? That we are a minor telekinetic strong enough to pick up lab glassware? Not exactly a big revelation.

If you mean Lex, then I think we've already let out enough hints already, they'll figure it out soon enough. If we get through this job together then I'd vote to tell them about our powers anyways, not our craziness though. I'm the one who was against telling them earlier, btw.

>>5809171
+1
Yeah, I think showing him our funny powers is the quickest way to get his interest. It's better than lying about people we know nothing about

>>5809339
OK fine let's do this

>>5809171
+1

>>5809171
+1
Keep moving forward, Cleaner!!!

>>5809171
Supporting

>>5809171
+1

Locking in. One Anon, roll a d100. Higher is better.

Rolled 74 (1d100)

>>5809769
Rollan

Rolled 48 (1d100)

>>5809769

File: CLEANINGTHEBODY.jpg (50 KB, 600x338)

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>LET HIM BUT TELL HIM TO HIDE THE BODY
You flinch when you recall the sickening crack of someone's skull being pulverized. You regret turning around to look at the body again. If you didn't know any better, you thought the head was just GONE.

You make sure to stand in front of it so Benjamin can't see it. You glance over at Lex before nodding towards the corpse. "Hide that. PLEASE."

He gets the message, though you can tell he didn't regret doing it for a second. Blood and brain matter drip onto the floor, bits clinging to his brass knuckles.

He leaves you alone with Benjamin as he starts dragging the body away. You can only hope he manages to get it done before you have to leave with Benjamin.

"So!" "So?"

"Do you mind leaving me alone? I really don't want to be disappoint my friends, you know?" The brain damaged pharmacist flashes a goofy smile. "Seriously, we can talk later."

You might just have to trick him into following you but due to Lex dealing with the body, you have to burn a bit of time. You clear your throat. Okay, how to start?

"Look. I, uh." You rub the back of your neck. "I actually came to you for help, if you could believe that." You flash your best smile. Given how he flinches, it probably doesn't look that friendly.

"I'm a Cleaner, you see." You point at yourself. "And, well, due to certain reasons...I need medication." You're honestly glad that Lex isn't hearing this. You rather not have your allies know about your 'issues'.

Benjamin deflates a bit upon hearing your plea. "Oh. Another Cleaner? Ahaha! Hah. Ha." He turns around. He begins stirring something in one of his flasks. "Mind if I ask why?"

"...Mental issues?" You shrug. It's the truth but you rather not go into detail about it.

"Well, miss, I can't really give you anything without a prescription but, well! I can't ignore someone in need. I'll be sure to get you your medication once my friends are done with me." He yammers on and on. Well, he seems a bit more receptive to you but that barely made him budge.

>BODY HIDING CHECK: 74. MAJOR SUCCESS. DIDN'T TAKE LONG.

Before you even know it, Lex is back. You look around to see where he hid the body. Since you can't see it at first glance he probably did a good enough job actually hiding it.

You nod at him to start leading Benjamin over to the exit. You might need to just grab him and run if your next trump card doesn't work. He places a hand on Benjamin's back and starts pushing him to follow with the two of you. The pharmacist yelps a bit but doesn't seem to resist at first.

"Well, look, we really need you to come with. And I think I got a way to get you to drop your 'friends' behind." You try flashing a more confident and less teeth gnashing smile. Given how your two friends didn't flinch? You're improving.

"Well, miss! I can respect your moxie but I really don't know what you could offer me that my dear friends haven't! They did say I could keep my life if I worked!"

File: LEVITATION.jpg (24 KB, 770x604)

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Lex can only shake his head at what he heard. You're not deterred, however! You're not quite sure why but you think you could impress him with a simple and easy magic trick. You look back at his chemistry set you're walking away from. With a flick of your wrist, you bring one of the flasks over to the three of you.

"So, what did you want to show m-" Benjamin sputters in the middle of his sentence when he sees the levitating flask. Lex looks at the flask, then at you, then at Ben, then back at the flask. As the three of you keep slowly sneaking over to the hidden exit, you do a few tricks with it.

Spinning it around in place, moving it up and down in the air, small little novelty things you can do without any real mental strain. Which you're thankful for since you rather save your energy for important things.

Benjamin's eyes glimmer like he's a kid again. "H-holy shit! A psych-" Lex promptly covers his mouth to prevent him from blowing your damn cover. You asked Alexis to use that card and you're not letting it go to waste.

The three of you slide into the back room where the hole in the wall was. Only then does Lex uncover Benjamin's mouth. "Y-you have psychic powers?!" He starts running circles around you. He scans you from head to toe, as if he doesn't believe that YOU could have those powers. Lex just grabs the levitating flask and pulls it back down to a nearby shelf.

"Yep. And if you come with us, I might be able to teach you how to use my magic powers." You try your best to make spooky sounding noises while waving your fingers around. "So, how about it? You wanna get out of here?"

"Hell yeah! If I get to learn cool powers, screw these chumps!" That seems like that was the right answer. "Oh, right! Name's Benjamin Aaron!"
>Benjamin Aaron has decided to follow your group for now!

"Cool." You already knew his name, kinda, but you're not really interested in it per se. You're interested in getting him to a company and getting that god damn paycheck.

[PERSON OF INTEREST] Selling someone interested in the ways of the supernatural to a company. He will leak your secrets to them. They will know.
[UNSTABLE] THEY'VE BEEN FOLLOWING US LONG BEFORE THAT, DUMBASS. SO WHAT IF THEY KNOW WE CAN MOVE AROUND FLASKS? BIG WHOOP. WHO GIVES A SHIT.

The three of you squeeze past the hole in the wall. To make sure your tracks are covered, you slide the piece of sheet metal hiding the hole back into place (with some help, of course).

You're in the home stretch now. You lead the others around to the front, hoping to god that Alexis has managed to keep them distracted this whole time. You turn the corner to see the front of the building...

"Alright, seems like things have been figured out for now. You can return to your business." Alexis taps her foot against the ground. The gang members are quickly rushing back inside, closing the shutter behind them. She turns around to see that you have Benjamin alongside you.

File: MISSIONPASSED.jpg (14 KB, 512x288)

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She visibly relaxes upon seeing that. "Let's get the fuck out of here." Alexis gestures you to follow. The group (now consisting of four members) begins its trek back to somewhere safer. Though as you're about to get to the other side of the street-

"SYED? SYED? WHERE ARE YOU?" You hear the Gangboss yell out for someone. You try to process who it could be. "BENJAMIN? SYED, I TOLD YOU TO GUARD HIM!"

Alexis turns back to stare at you and Lex. "What did you do?" She has a look of disappointment laced with some dying hope that you didn't let Lex do what she thinks he did. But one look at the blood on his hands makes her visibly cringe.

"We should probably run, shouldn't we?" Benjamin remarks in a rare act of self awareness. You rapidly nod your head up and down. When you start hearing the shutter opening again, the four of you fucking book it.

Thanks to how quickly Lex hid the body, you were given just enough time to get out of sight. You doubt you're going to get chased by them. Thankfully. Though you wouldn't be shocked if you made some enemies that day.

Oh well! A job's done.

The four of you keep sprinting until you're all the way back to the apartment block he used to live at. You and Alexis crumple to your knees while the two men seem to be pretty okay after their sprinting session.

You grab your phone and dial your Handler. You're not sure what to do now that you have him, so you might as well tell him the job's done. Your phone rings three times before you manage to get him to pick up.

"What is it, freakshit?" The Handler is chewing on something. "Busy here. It better be important or else I'm finding you later to-"

"I recovered Benjamin, sir. He's at his apartment block."

"Holy shit." The Handler makes a noise that's between a laugh and a sob. "You actually managed to complete a job? Holy shit! Okay, yeah, yeah!" He's way too excited at the prospect of you being remotely competent. It's almost worse than him insulting you.

"Uh. Keep him there. We'll send over some Z-Company agents. You'll recognize them. Don't attack them or anything or I'm cutting your rewards, alright? You can handle that, right?"

"You'll get your payment shipped to your apartment. You will be contacted later. Bye." You promptly get hung up on.

>JOB SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED!
>REWARDS: $375 (-$125 from hiring Alexis), some new prescriptions (more details will be given when you return to your apartment), +FAVOR (STERILE)
>You have now gained FAVOR with a Company. When a Company feels like a person deserves any semblance of attention, they give them a FAVOR.
>Favor is a resources you spend at any time to gain +4d6 when attempting a CONNECTIONS roll with a specific company.
>Simply having one will also improve how people associated with that Company talk and interact with you. For example, hospitals will likely offer to heal you at a cheaper price with a FAVOR (STERILE)
>You may have multiple favors with the same Company.

"So, uh! What now?" Benjamin twiddles at his thumbs. Right, you didn't really tell him why you actually brought him along. You have some time to kill now given that your job is done.

"Well, my job's done." Alexis dusts her hands. "I'll see you when you need my assistance again. Until then, goodbye." Alexis turns away from the party and walks away without any further comment.

>Alexis has left the party.

Lex doesn't leave however. He pats you on the back, smearing brain and guts and gore all over it. You try your best to hide your disgust if only because he's still an ally. "That was fun. I didn't care much for all the talking but, you know, it was nice doing something for a change of pace."

"Mind if I follow you around for a bit?"

"Oh, uh, sure?" You smile at him. "I don't mind."

"Kickass. If I get to hang out with a cool psychic like you, that's fine enough with me." You can feel some sort of minor RAPPORT building between the two of you. It's not a friendship yet but it's a friendly acquaintanceship.

>RAPPORT 2 has been reached with Lex. You feel like the next time you hire him, you'll be able to improve his abilities somewhat.
>Until you return to your apartment, Lex is willing to follow you around.

What's your plans now that you're free, Nicole? Choose up to three things to do with your free time.
>You probably have some time before Benjamin has to follow the Agents. Talk to him, get his contact info, try to learn more about him. He might be a useful ally down the road. (Write in anything specific you want to ask.)
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Explore around District 14 some more. You were too busy with the mission to see much of the place. You want to take in the shops, sights, and sounds of this place.
>Go hang out at Nicolas' with Lex. Get drunk, see potential allies, it'll be a good time.
>Looking at your map, one of your bigger supply caches is nearby. You should probably grab that real quick. (If picked, roll 3d100 to see what you loot from it.)
>Your two friends here already know about your powers. Maybe you could train your powers with their assistance. (Do you try to improve how much you can carry? Try to learn how to crush things? Something else? Write in. Will call for a WILLPOWER roll depending on how intense it is.)
>While your handler might not have any jobs for you right now but maybe there's some poor innocent people who need help! Try looking for people to assist nearby!
>Just return to your apartment. You don't feel like doing much, your job is done.
>Write in.

>>5809906
>You probably have some time before Benjamin has to follow the Agents. Talk to him, get his contact info, try to learn more about him. He might be a useful ally down the road.
>Looking at your map, one of your bigger supply caches is nearby. You should probably grab that real quick. (If picked, roll 3d100 to see what you loot from it.)
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Explore around District 14 some more. You were too busy with the mission to see much of the place. You want to take in the shops, sights, and sounds of this place.

>>5809906
>You probably have some time before Benjamin has to follow the Agents. Talk to him, get his contact info, try to learn more about him. He might be a useful ally down the road. (Write in anything specific you want to ask.)
>Go hang out at Nicolas' with Lex. Get drunk, see potential allies, it'll be a good time.
>Looking at your map, one of your bigger supply caches is nearby. You should probably grab that real quick. (If picked, roll 3d100 to see what you loot from it.)

>>5809906
>>You probably have some time before Benjamin has to follow the Agents. Talk to him, get his contact info, try to learn more about him. He might be a useful ally down the road. (Write in anything specific you want to ask.)
>>Go hang out at Nicolas' with Lex. Get drunk, see potential allies, it'll be a good time.
>>Looking at your map, one of your bigger supply caches is nearby. You should probably grab that real quick. (If picked, roll 3d100 to see what you loot from it.)

>>5809906
>You probably have some time before Benjamin has to follow the Agents. Talk to him, get his contact info, try to learn more about him. He might be a useful ally down the road. (Write in anything specific you want to ask.)
1. What exactly happened with Roland and Weston? Did they sell him out?
2. Who's the Max he contacted and wrote about in his papers? What's their deal?
3. He wrote about a crash test dummy anomaly. Can he tell us where that was and when he went to it? It might have been apprehended since, but you never know...
4. Don't fucking tell Z-Corp about the psychic powers, okay? No matter what they say or do. Don't even tell them we told you not to tell them. When it comes to any Company agent or person, that shit NEVER happened. Remember, if you want to get cool powers of your own, don't say stupid things that could cause you to lose the one person that could try to teach you how. Capiche?
THEN
>Looking at your map, one of your bigger supply caches is nearby. You should probably grab that real quick. (If picked, roll 3d100 to see what you loot from it.)
LASTLY
>Go hang out at Nicolas' with Lex. Get drunk, see potential allies, it'll be a good time.
Celebrate the first job well done

>>5810057
Supporting

>>5810057
Supporting

>>5810057
Supporting.
I thought about going to District 14, but let's not go back to the scene of the crime.

>>5809906
Support >>5810057 I guess.

Alright, three anons, roll a 1d100 to determine what loot you get. Here's the chart in question to determine what category of item you'll get this time.

1-21: Consumable (self explanatory)
22-41: Defensive (armor, tasers, pepper spray, etc etc. Something to help protect you.)
42-61: Offensive (Melee weapons, molotovs, etc etc. Something meant to hurt people.)
62-81: Supportive (Counterfeit IDs, tools, advanced cameras, etc etc. Something to help you out in the field.)
82-94: Exclusive (Stolen company resources, company exclusive items, etc etc. Something that usually only highly connected people get.)
95-100: Anomalous (You're not quite sure what you'll get if you roll this.)

Rolled 24 (1d100)

>>5811103
ROLLAN

Rolled 94 (1d100)

>>5811103

Rolled 18 (1d100)

>>5811103
Rolling

>>5811119
OFF BY ONE!!!!!

Rolled 60 (1d100)

>>5811103

>>5811111
>>5811119
>>5811130
>Consumable
>Defensive
>Exclusive
Noted. Writing. Due to the fucking Q U I N T S one poster got, I'll make the defensive item you're getting real spicy.
Consider it a way to balance out the fact you were off by one for the anomalous loot. I wouldn't expect me to acknowledge anything smaller than quads, though.

>>5811130
Exclusive items aren't bad

File: BENJAMIN (1).png (73 KB, 250x382)

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You have a lot of questions to ask Benjamin and he better be able to answer them. Well, that and learning his contact details.

"So, mind if I ask you some things real quick?" You practice your smile again. He doesn't flinch. Good. He nods in approval.

"First, what's your contact info? So that I can, uh, teach you my magical powers later." You don't actually know how to "train" someone to give them magical powers, you think. No need to tell him that.

"Oh, sure!" He pulls out his phone. You pull out your phone as you quickly swap phone numbers between each other.
>Benjamin has been added as a contact. You may attempt to hire him on future missions. He might be cheaper than other hires due to his interest in your powers.

"Good, that's out of the way. Here's my actual questions." You take in a deep breath before you begin your interrogation. "What exactly happened with Roland and Weston? I, uh, heard you had troubles with them."

Benjamin adjusts his glasses while thinking on the answer here. "What about them? They're still my friends, aren't they?" He tries to smile and wave the question off but you can hear his voice waver.

"I mean, did they sell you out or anything? It sounded like your relationship got pretty rocky at the end."

"A-ah, no, no! W-we were just talking about how I was going to District 26 soon. Y-you know, the scene here isn't that great so I had to move on. They didn't like that answer, though." He glances away from you before looking back. "I. I don't know what happened, really. They got angry at me. Said I 'betrayed' them for w-wanting to do bigger things!"

"All I remember is those men coming in afterwards and me having to leave. I haven't talked to them since." Hm. Not a lot of information you haven't figured out before. "Last thing they said was they would 'gut me' for 'squealing their secrets' to someone else." That sounds like it was more than a squabble between friends but you don't think you're getting any more out of him.

"Well, what about Max? Who is she? What's her deal?"

He lightens up visibly at you mentioning her name. "Oh! She's one of my closest friends! She told me not to write her last name down for some reason." He nervously chuckles. "Sh-she helped me get approved as an official Cleaner! A-apparently I was nice to her compared to some of the other folks so she took a liking to me!"

"S-she even told me that if I did a good enough job, she could help me move over to District 26!" He takes a moment to catch his breath. "S-sometimes, she would also hug me and t-tell me everything was okay. I-I liked it when she did that. Helped calm my nerves."

"So, what, were you two in a..." "Oh, heavens no! Just friends! S-she helped out a lot, though. G-got me some jobs, helped me with my supplies...haven't seen her a bit. Hopefully she's doing okay."

That 'last name' thing is questionable but you're not sure what to make of it. You do question her judgement on getting him to become a Cleaner, though.

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"Yeah, about you being a Cleaner. I heard something about you fighting a, what was it, a crash test dummy anomaly? Do you have any information about that I can use? Just in case I encounter it." You pull out your map to mark down whatever district he says.

"Oh!" His mood visibly sours when you bring it up. "Oh. That thing. I honestly forgot the name of it because I gave up the job the moment I encountered it." His posture slouches as he continues to talk. "Yeah. Apparently, I got a Class 5 Anomaly in my mission."

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] You don't exactly know what that means but you do know this. All across the City, independent groups and facilities have made up their own rankings for anomalies. Whether it's how dangerous they are, their properties, or their behavior.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] In most of these, the higher the number is? The more dangerous it is. A five is probably up there?

"Had to go down to District 24 to recover it. All they told me before I encountered it is that it stalks people at clothing stores given how it's apparently mannequin-like? It was a big bulky humanoid with giant metallic clubs for fists. Not sure how people couldn't see it."

"That's what I thought before encountering it. Damn thing can go invisible." He glances down at his hands. You notice how there's a nasty scar going up his wrist and to his elbow. "It broke my arm with one hit when it decloaked and attacked. I tried hitting it with the gun Max provided me but the bullets barely made a dent on it. Only managed to get out because I outran it."

Bullets didn't damage it at all and it can go invisible? No wonder why he was fucked.

"Alright. Thank you for telling me that. Before we go, I need you to promise me something, okay?" You put your map away and grip his shoulder TIGHT. Even with your wimpy arms, you can still get a hiss of pain out of him. "I need you to keep your mouth shut about my powers."

He nods his head, eyes focusing into pinpricks as you try to make sure he gets how much of a secret you need this to be. "Don't even tell them I told you to stay quiet. If you rat me out, I can't teach you anything."

"Capiche?" "CRYSTAL."

"Good." You let go of his shoulder. You turn around to see two figures approaching the three of you. (Lex has just been sitting around, entertaining himself with kicking rocks.) You focus your eyes on them as they grab Ben.

[PERSON OF INTEREST] White suits and red ties. Latex gloves. Pins with a snake wrapping around a staff. Perfect pale skin and white hair. These are Z-Company goons. Born to be as sterile as possible.
[PERSON OF INTEREST] They hold no interest in you. Unlike the men in silver. Yet they observe you, trying to see how you TICK.

The two agents (one man, one woman) look at you and Lex. The woman is the one to speak. "Please leave the premises." It's a command. You rather not attract any spook attention so, with a quick wave to Ben, the two of you leave.

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"Well, hopefully he doesn't get his brain fucking scrambled by them." Lex kicks a stone while you two walk down the streets of District 14. So. Much. Fucking. Grey. Not even a bit of snow to add some white to the mix.

"Hopefully." You look down at your map before realizing...hm. One of your old supply caches is still here. You grab onto Lex's arm and pull him down a nearby alleyway. He follows without much resistance.

"Where are we going?" Lex glances around with a slight look of confusion. "I thought we were going back to the train station? To leave here?"

"We have something to check out first. Trust me, it's all fine!" You chirp out with an unusual amount of glee. It's always nice remembering where a cache was and looting it. You don't even remember what's in them half the time!

Probably because of the brain damage, frankly.

Eventually, the two of you stumble across a small hut in the middle of the maze of alleyways. There's occasionally some small houses built in these places for those who are beyond poor. You, however, know this one is empty.

You enter to find nothing inside except for a shoddy wooden floor and four walls around you. Good. No one has moved in. You point to a small part of the floor in the center for Lex to lift up. With some strain, he pries the loose floor board to receive a crate you left behind.

"Damn. You know, it would've been nice if you told me you had this before we did the mission, ya know?" You simply give him a blank look. He drops the subject real quick after that. He picks the crate up and puts it onto the floor of the hut.

You pry open the crate with some help from Lex. This proceeds to let several things spill out onto the crate and all across the floor. You hope to GOD you didn't store a drink in there or something.

>18
The first thing you pick up is a small pack of cigarettes. The package is a uniform red with small bits of white speckled about in the form of stars and swirls. "MARTLO CIGARETTES. FLAVOR SO SMOOTH, IT CURES POISON!" is written on the front.

"Yeah, right." Lex snorts. "Don't cigarettes rot your lungs? I'm not that dumb."

>24. QUINT BOOSTED
The second thing you find is something quite unusual. There's a small suit made out of a dark fabric that looks like it's thin enough to be worn under your regular outfit without anyone being able to notice. You don't recognize it at first but Lex's eyes light up when he spots it. "Damn, isn't this combat graded stuff? How did you manage to get that?"

>94
The last thing is a jar filled to the brim with a bright purple liquid. A grey "Q" is stamped on the side of it followed by "DRONE PHEROMONE MARK A12. APPLY TO SELF TO INDUCE FORGETFULNESS TO THOSE AROUND YOU." You slosh the fluid in the jar. If you had to guess, there's enough to apply to at least a few people before running out.

"Huh. I heard that costs a lot of money to get. Or, I dunno, working for P-Company and sending them...what was it. A-Energy? Some junk abnos make?"

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>Martlo Cigarettes (6 charges). Calms your nerves. Adds a +1d6 to a WILLPOWER or RESTRAINT roll per charge spent. Can spend 3 charges to gain minor RESTRAINT regeneration for a mission.
>Combat Bodysuit. Made specifically to be worn by those in high positions of power. Easy to hide under normal clothes. +1 MAX FLESH, prevents crippling wounds, and has a small chance of blocking attacks while worn. May need repairs if you take too much damage, however.
>Q-CORP DRONE PHERMONES (3 charges). A foul smelling purple liquid that messes with the heads of those nearby. You may spend a charge to make the next person you encounter completely forget you were ever there. Useful for stealth missions.

"Mind if I smoke those later?" He points at the cigarettes. You simply squint at him. "You can buy your own cigarettes. This is for mission stuff." You pack the supplies away for future storage. He simply shrugs. "Well, if we're done here, let's jet."

"Wanna get drunk?" Those words are all you need to say to get his attention. He grabs you by the shoulders and shakes you. His smile has the kind of glee of a kid being told he can go to the candy store.

"FUCK YEAH! LET'S GET GOING, THE HELL ARE WE SITTING AROUND HERE FOR?" He grabs your hand and begins to drag you over to the train station. Okay, wow, you didn't expect him to literally drag you by the hand. You're not quite sure how to feel about this!

[UNSTABLE] PLAY ALONG. HE COULD SMASH OUR HEADS IN LIKE A GOD DAMN PIECE OF CARDBOARD IF HE WANTED TO. THEN, WE CAN GET AWAY AND HIDE IN THE SAFETY OF OUR APARTMENT.
[UNSTABLE] HE PLAYED HIS BIT. NO NEED TO GET TOO CLOSE TO HIM, NICOLE.

Before you even know what's going on, the two of you have already boarded the train back to your home district of District 7. Only after sitting around for a few hours on the train trip home does he calm down at all.

You start heading over to Nicolas'. It's now late in the evening, given the time it takes to go to and from districts and the mission you were on. Not a lot of people are outside aside from various business men stumbling around on their way back home. A lot more snow covers the streets, threatening to turn you into a popsicle if you don't get somewhere safe.

Lex keeps a hand on your shoulder to keep you steady as you two stomp through the snow. You stand before the bar again after a few minutes of walking. A brick building with a simple neon sign labeled "NICOLAS". A bright orange light peers out from the frosted window. Seems like it's still open.

"Ladies first." Lex bows towards the door. You roll your eyes a bit before you eventually go through the door.

https://youtu.be/-9ODZfDAA1Q - NICOLAS' THEME.

It's a lot quieter in here now. The tables and booths around the place are mostly empty aside from what you can guess are a few regulars. Now that it's not a chaotic mess you can actually take in more details here. You slowly walk around to take in where you're at now.

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It's a small place with only about a dozen booths and a few tables scattered around the place. Sports memorabilia lines the walls of various teams across the Districts. The place is lit up by gas lamps and candles instead of anything electrical. The smell of cigarettes, cheap beer, and piss still lingers but it's far weaker now.

The bar counter has the same old man from before. He's a man in his 50s that stands at a solid six foot three. His outfit is a greasy shirt that used to be white that's covered by an equally greasy apron. He's busy polishing a glass.

You glance around at the few people in here before you head over to the counter. Lex sits down at one of the bar stools. You sit alongside him. The bartender glances over at the two of you before flashing a smile.

"Welcome to Nicolas'. I'm Nicolas. How may I help you together, you two?" He doesn't seem to recognize either of you. Can't blame him, it was hectic when you arrived last morning. Before you can ask for anything, Lex places a twenty dollar bill on the table.

"Two strong ones. One for me and one for her." He's already spending his money on booze. Great. Oh well, not your money.

"Of course." He turns around to grab a bottle from the massive pile he has behind him. While you wait for your drink, you take a look around to see who's here. Who do you try talking to in the bar, if anyone? Pick up to two.

>You see him again. That shambling man who barely breathes. Quentin. What's his deal?
>A woman in a leather jacket is strumming away at a guitar. The other patrons are listening intently with dumb smiles on their face. She seems to be having fun.
>An old man in a poncho is slumped over at a booth table. A revolver rests on the holster on his belt. He stares longingly at a picture in his hand.
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] The glint of stainless steel catches your eye. The android slumps at the table with a frown. Aside from her pilot jacket, you notice she has a film camera in her hands.
>A tired looking business man is busy downing shot after shot at his table. Despite his attempt at poisoning himself, he doesn't seem to be getting drunk.
>None of them. Let them be.
>Write in. (Feel free to describe the person you're looking for.)

And what do you want to do with Lex, now that you're here? Pick up to two.
>Try to learn a bit more about him. His backstory, his interests, anything. Something to build a better RAPPORT.
>Challenge him to a drinking contest. Something to celebrate a job well done! (DC 9 FLESH CHECK. Succeed and you'll impress him a LOT. Failure and you'll probably still entertain him but you'll be sick after.)
>Ask Nicholas about himself. Surely, this old man has some funny stories at his time at the bar.
>There's still some things that bother you. Try bouncing some things off Lex for a fresh perspective. (Write in you want to hear his opinion on.)
>Just enjoy the drinks and the atmosphere of the bar. Some peace and quiet can help calm your mind.
>Write in