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File: CLEANER.jpg (77 KB, 762x762)
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Despite everyone living in the massive megacomplex called the City saying it's a very bad idea, you are still Nicole Smith. You still have your anomalous powers and you still have the voices screaming in your head.

You're still a Cleaner, a a deniable asset used by massive mega-corporations called the Alphabet Companies and anyone else willing to pay you. Most of your jobs are from your Handler a member of a powerful family who asks you to check up on things or 'clean' up messes for him.

Over the last few days, you've had a lot on your plate. You explored an old, nearly abandoned W-Corp mine in search of a missing girl from the prestigious Vanni family while trying to avoid the other corpos who were trying to find the missing girl as well. On the way down, you managed to find out how corrupt the mayor of the town was and that the missing girl came down there under false pretenses.

You then worked together with the corpos to let the mayor die while they clean up the mess left behind. You managed to find out what W-Corp's singularity was in the meantime and after everything settled down, you gave two of your allies (Max and Benjamin) an injection of ICP Energy to awaken an anomalous Spark in them. Who knows what will develop of this? Hopefully the couple is happy with the decision they made.

After a series of tense dinner discussions and corporate negotiations, you found an odd satellite in the middle of your district and the question on who owns it and why it exists lingers in the back of your mind. Before you can think any further on it, you then prepared to investigate a series of mysterious tunnels that were propping up all over J-Corp's district to find out what the hell is going on.

Now that you're exploring with six of your allies, including a weird cowboy and a schizophrenic mess of a woman from W-Corp, you found out that it's from an old P-Corp facility trying to unseal itself after decades underground. If you don't stop it, you worry that the intense amount of A-Energy leaking into the air will destroy the surface. It's already raining a lot and from what you know, the rain is caused by the A-Energy being let out.

So be it. Anything to wash out those god damn Silver Agents hunting you. You'll make sure they'll drown down there.

ARCHIVE: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Cleaner
PASTEBINS:
MAIN CHARACTER SHEET (has your stats + perks + abilities): https://pastebin.com/3y638TfK
ALLIES (contains their stats, abilities, recruitment costs, and RAPPORT): https://pastebin.com/8gdVZBPe
MECHANICS (contains the explanation of stats, how stat checks work, and some other minor rules): https://pastebin.com/A9nLYWP6
INVENTORY (contains your items, consumables, weapons, etc.): https://pastebin.com/n0MH6M17
CITY INFO (General information about the Alphabet Companies and other notable entities): https://pastebin.com/ZP2JN7mT
>>
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If it wasn't for Clover staring you down, you would be tempted to leave the ETF agent behind. The safety of you and your allies is your foremost priority but...something about helping her sounds right. Who knows, you're not really the type to dwell on morality or what's just but you can't leave her behind without SOMETHING.

You dig through your pockets for something helpful but not too useful for your group. An old bottle of painkillers and a LEYLEY pill. It's not the best but it'll be enough to hopefully get her back on her feet after a while. You toss them over to the ETF agent who promptly catches them. She's confused at why you offered her help but she shrugs, downing the pills given to her.
>-1 PAINKILLER BOTTLE! -1 LEYLEY PILL!

"Thanks." She faintly murmurs, trying her best to not be noticed by whatever might be roaming around here. "I'll repay you. Trust me." She then closes her eyes, ready to play dead for the time being. Hopefully that'll be enough for now. Clover pats you on the back with a proud, almost fatherly smirk. You feel a bit patronized but you don't really have time to tell him off for that.

"JUSTICE IS S-" Casey is about to yell out at the top of her lungs but Quentin and Naomi promptly move in to shut her up, covering her mouth to make sure she doesn't make a scene. As they wrestle with her, Kiara nods her head towards the hallway the ETF pointed towards.

"We should probably deal with the Security Head. Highest priority target...and to be quite honest? Something feels off about the air over there. Something that I wanna see for myself."

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] She's right. You sense something foul in that hallway. A sickly sweet rot.
[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] The air around there FEELS wrong. On a fundamental level. You know something anomalous is down there.

Wendy grunts upon hearing Kiara's suggestion. "Best hope it's something we can actually fight." She takes a moment to adjust her grip on the riot shield and agent baton she has in her hands.

"It's probably best we deal with him." You offer your group a half hearted shrug, trying your best to put your hesitation in the back of your mind. You wait for your allies to get Casey to calm down before you gesture towards the east hallway. "Let's get moving, crew. We got a Security Head to deal with."

"Might not be the best idea. If he slaughtered them with ease-" Naomi gestures towards the piles of dead ETF, K-Corp units, and gang members. "-I don't think we would do well in a fight against him."
"Counterpoint: Doesn't she have a lot more equipment and powers than these guys? All of these guys just had chems and guns and stuff." Kiara offers her counter argument but the two are promptly silenced by Clover.

"Who the hell said we're gonna fight him? We can talk to him first, yeah? Obviously we're more rational and level headed than some corporate goons." Clover then pauses, dwelling on what he actually said. "Though shooting first and asking questions-"
>>
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"Less talking. More moving." Quentin chirps out, still rubbing the torn up neck of the elite spook he's puppeteering. "Let's go."

Without any further interruptions or questioning from your party, your group heads past the piles of half dead gang members and other soldiers scattered throughout the star-shaped hub room of Floor 3. There's an odd tension in the air as you finally step into the left hallway. There's nothing that's inherently different about it from the rest of the facility's hallways.

Same steel floors and walls with layers of orange and blue paint peeling off of them. Same bright red emergency lights hanging above your head. Yet as your group travels down it, it takes more and more effort to travel down the hallway. Like the tension and dread that seems to flood every corner of this hallway is a thick, physical material.

You can feel the hairs on your arms and the fur on your stomach, hidden underneath your clothes, standing on their ends. Given the slick sweat and tense frowns on your allies, they seem to be feeling the same thing.

Your MAKESHIFT POCKETWATCH is going apeshit now. "WARNING: TWO ACTIVE ANOMALIES DETECTED. WARNING: INCREDIBLY HIGH A-ENERGY DETECTED IN AIR. PLEASE PUT ON GAS MASKS BEFORE TRAVELING FURTHER, LEST SEVERE MENTAL CONTAMINATION OCCURS."

Your group promptly gets the memo. With Kiara (being an android) exempt, you and your other allies put on your gas masks so you don't end losing every bit of RESTRAINT you have. Each of your allies seem to feel the physical tension in the air and has to struggle to push past in. As if something is trying to ward you away from getting any closer.

Goosebumps rise across your party's skin. Small sparks begin to fly off of Kiara's body.

You realize you probably should've taken this warning as a hint to fuck off once you arrive at the end of the hallway.

https://youtu.be/Wmo5bdQBb3Y - SECURITY HEAD

The sight before you is hard to process at first. A wizened old man, probably about 100 years at this point, stands in the hallway, his back turned away from your group. Every part of his body from the neck below is completely covered in a suit of armor made out of sheet paper. No, wait, armor is the wrong word.

it clings too tightly to his withered and emaciated frame. It's a part of him at this point. Quentin seems to recognize what the various layers of sheet paper clinging to his body actually is.

"THAT'S CHITIN. LIKE ME. YOU CAN'T REMOVE THAT WITHOUT RIPPING IT OFF."

That's not the weirdest part about him. His legs and arms are segmented like a bug's now and their digits on his feet and hands have been simplified, with only two pincer-like digits on his hands and tiny needle-like points for feet.

Four arms sprout out from his torso, two on his sides and two on the lower half of his torso. Each pair of arms is holding onto a normally double-handed long sword, each of which bleeds an oozing black substance from their tips.
>>
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All of his attention is focused onto the anomaly before him. A sprawling system of roots and branches is crawling up the floors and walls. It's clearly originating from a pried open containment cell at the far end of the hallway. Tiny little red and blue flowers are blooming from the branches, filling the air with a sickly sweet scent.

The roots have eyes growing on them and all of them are staring at your group, not at all interested in the Security Head.

A guttural roar erupts from the Security Head upon seeing the anomaly attempting to breach and, not just that, ignoring him. He rapidly taps his needlepoint feet in place before in the blink of an eye, his arms are moving at a speed your eyes can't even begin to process.

[ANALYZER MODEL + DEADEYE SHOT] Kiara and Clover are able to keep their eyes on the Security Head's arms long enough to get a visual on them. "Reaching speeds of 425 feet per second!" "Damn things are like a fly buzzing around. I think even he doesn't know where he's swinging. Pure instinct" "He seems to be tiring out! Expends a LOT of energy!"

Kiara's comment quickly rings true. As the Security Head swings wildly at the anomaly, slicing roots and branches into tiny little chunks, the wizened old man eventually exhausts himself and has to stop to take a deep breath. His job is done though. Every root and branch that was growing on the walls and ceiling has been destroyed. All that's left is tiny hunks of wood and pulped flower petals.

He stumbles over to the containment cell door and drops one of his blades. He promptly grabs onto the pried open cell and forces it closed, sealing the anomaly inside for now.

He immediately picks it back up and snaps his gaze over at your group's direction. His face seems relatively unaffected by whatever's happening to him. Only his cheeks have any of the paper-looking chitin clinging to them. Deep, exhausted bags are underneath his cracked and weathered skin. His red eyes are dull and glossy. Most of the hair on his head has fallen out completely.

Yet he stands, blades in hand. This man has clearly been fighting for a long, long time. Decades of nonstop slaughter.

[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] He's barely human anymore. Only you are similar to him and even then, you're nowhere near this bad.
[UNSTABLE] HE DIDN'T SUCCUMB TO HIS INNER SINS. OR THE INNATE CRACKS IN HIS MIND.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] He's using several PARADIGMs. For far longer than you ever have. Your mind began to crack only after a week of wearing ONE.
[PERSON OF INTEREST] Wait. The clock said two anomalies were here. Yet only one was out. Is it counting him as one?

"WHO ARE YOU?" Any and all exhaustion disappears from his face upon seeing your group. He raises his many arms into position, ready to start swinging if need be. "I'LL RIP YOU TO SHREDS, OUTSIDERS. THE BARBARIANS AND WHORES YOU SENT HERE? YOU ALREADY SAW WHAT I DID!"

"THIS IS MY REALM! MY KINGDOM! I WON'T LOSE UNTIL THIS FACILITY CRUMBLES TO DUST!!!"
>>
Despite his weathered appearance, he doesn't sound a day over 25. Every word he shouts out is laced with a youthful, almost intoxicated joy to it. You don't think he was being metaphorical with that realm comment.

You take a moment to listen to your allies.
KIARA: "Wait. You found that weird shield. Give it to him, maybe he'll like it."
NAOMI: "You have that old medal. Use it. He won't understand anything else."
CLOVER: "I say we should try to talk him down. Like you did with me back at the casino."
CASEY: "Ooo! Ooo! What if we tell him about our exploits? Surely he would understand how great our feats are!"
WENDY: "This freak clearly wants a fight. Let's give him a fight. Satisfy his 'desire' or whatever."
QUENTIN: "LET ME TALK TO HIM. BUG TO BUG."

How do you deal with the SECURITY HEAD?
>[QUENTIN ALLY] If he's truly a bug now, maybe your centipede friend can find a way in with him that you can't quite see. (-1 RESTRAINT to PARTY. However, you imagine Quentin will be able to get some valuable information and his card out of him.)
>[FOUND OATH TO PROTECT] A warrior needs a shield, no? Offer him the PARADIGM you found (-OATH TO PROTECT, this might push him over the edge mentally and physically but he'll absolutely repay you MASSIVELY for giving him the PARADIGM.)
>[CLOVER ALLY + FLOOD INFO] "Sir. This place is already crumbling. It's over." Let Clover be the bearer of bad news. "I swear my heart on it. Please. We don't have to fight." (WILLPOWER DC: 20 (-2 from SUGAR RUSH), rolling only Clover's 5d6. Succeed and Clover will be able to get through to him, causing him to retreat for now. You imagine he'll help you during the rest of your facility exploration.)
>[CASEY ALLY] "Woah, woah, hey! We're actually on your side! We just stopped a buncha intruders who want to steal your REFINEMENT machine!" Try to talk him down. (CHARM DC: 13 (-4 from SUGAR RUSH and CASEY'S BOON), rolling only Casey's 5d6. Succeed and the Security Head will relent for now, allowing you the chance to talk and negotiate with him further.)
>[WENDY ALLY] Fuck it, we ball. Let's fight this son of a bitch. (+1 RAPPORT with Wendy, COMBAT ENCOUNTER STARTS! You'll get an impressive amount of loot + his ID card, alongside removing a possible threat down the line, if you pick this.)
>[X-CORP MEDAL] Hold up your medal to him. "I'm from X-Corp. I'm a soldier just like you. Please, stand down and LISTEN." (FREE ACTION, VIOLENCE DC: 31 (-2 from CASEY), rolling 10d6+1d3 with Naomi's help. Succeed and you'll earn his respect. Whatever choice you pick alongside this will have its reward boosted significantly.)
>[SEEPING PARANOIA INFO] Something about this is shady. The fact he's enjoying the fighting. The fact he asked for it to be sealed. "Why? Why did you do all of this?" Get to the heart of it. (No check needed. This should make him regain his lucidity immediately, for better and worse. You'll get a simple and honest answer from him.)
>Write in.

Welcome back. Back to work.
>>
>>6028147
>what will develop of this?
A happy marriage with at least 2 kids and where Max won't be eaten by a piano?

>>6028148
>dwell on morality
This is a world where morality is mostly up to the whims of the individual. We saved this ETF because she happened to be alive and was the closest one to where we're standing, and we have the resources to spare, and maybe having one alive to vouch for us is good later. Or maybe because Clover is a gun to our heads?
>JUSTICE
Discount Don's
>pauses
Funny moment of awareness

>>6028152
>physical tension
This fucker's got a serious aura over 60 years
>should've taken this warning
No way. If we avoided him, we'd still risk running into him when we come back here later to protect REFINEMENT from silvers plus retrieve the Manager out for big money. Better to rip the bandaid off now and not delay it
>CAN'T REMOVE THAT
I bet we could if we had to
>segmented
I think at this point removing the PARADIGM will kill him from how it's warped his structure

>>6028154
>425 feet per second!
We CANNOT fight this guy
>DIDN'T SUCCUMB TO HIS INNER SINS. OR THE INNATE CRACKS IN HIS MIND.
Or to the voices in the PARADIGMS either?
>counting him
I wonder if the watch can detect SHIFTERS later with enough power built up in them?

>>6028161
>don't think he was being metaphorical with that realm comment
Interesting detail there

Welcome back OP
>>
>>6028161
>[X-CORP MEDAL] Hold up your medal to him. "I'm from X-Corp. I'm a soldier just like you. Please, stand down and LISTEN." (FREE ACTION, VIOLENCE DC: 31 (-2 from CASEY), rolling 10d6+1d3 with Naomi's help. Succeed and you'll earn his respect. Whatever choice you pick alongside this will have its reward boosted significantly.)
No reason not to pick this. We are NEVER giving this medal up EVER
>[CASEY ALLY] "Woah, woah, hey! We're actually on your side! We just stopped a buncha intruders who want to steal your REFINEMENT machine!" Try to talk him down. (CHARM DC: 13 (-4 from SUGAR RUSH and CASEY'S BOON), rolling only Casey's 5d6. Succeed and the Security Head will relent for now, allowing you the chance to talk and negotiate with him further.)
"Talk and negotiate further" sounds good. It also gets him thinking about the REFINEMENT being in danger, which primes him for us to use later against the glowies. Plus the REFINEMENT is in danger due to the flooding too, so he would want the unseal to stop once he finds out.

>Quentin
I am not spending RESTRAINT this early, sorry
>Oath to Protect
Not giving up a PARADIGM
>Clover+Flood
This should be the very last thing we tell him
>Wendy
Bitch we'll get you an anomaly to beat up later. There's no way you can last 5 seconds from him shoving all 6 acid swords up your ass
>Seeping Paranoia
I really want this one, but solving this mystery isn't that important right now is it?
>>
>>6028161
>[X-CORP MEDAL] Hold up your medal to him. "I'm from X-Corp. I'm a soldier just like you. Please, stand down and LISTEN." (FREE ACTION, VIOLENCE DC: 31 (-2 from CASEY), rolling 10d6+1d3 with Naomi's help. Succeed and you'll earn his respect. Whatever choice you pick alongside this will have its reward boosted significantly.)

>[FOUND OATH TO PROTECT] A warrior needs a shield, no? Offer him the PARADIGM you found (-OATH TO PROTECT, this might push him over the edge mentally and physically but he'll absolutely repay you MASSIVELY for giving him the PARADIGM.)

The last thing we need is more mind-melting gear. We use this stuff too much and we’ll end up like the bug man here.

If we drive him nuts but keep him friendly to us, I’m hoping he will just massacre all of the glowies for us while we carry on our mission.
>>
>>6028161
Glad to have you back QM.
We have a city to burn.
>>
>>6028198
+1
>>6028225
>The last thing we need is more mind-melting gear. We use this stuff too much and we’ll end up like the bug man here.
We can give our allies and friends a PARADIGM.
>>
>>6028294
I like the idea of lending a PARADIGM to a non-SHIFTER ally
>>
>>6028161
>[CLOVER ALLY + FLOOD INFO] "Sir. This place is already crumbling. It's over." Let Clover be the bearer of bad news. "I swear my heart on it. Please. We don't have to fight." (WILLPOWER DC: 20 (-2 from SUGAR RUSH), rolling only Clover's 5d6. Succeed and Clover will be able to get through to him, causing him to retreat for now. You imagine he'll help you during the rest of your facility exploration
>[X-CORP MEDAL] Hold up your medal to him. "I'm from X-Corp. I'm a soldier just like you. Please, stand down and LISTEN." (FREE ACTION, VIOLENCE DC: 31 (-2 from CASEY), rolling 10d6+1d3 with Naomi's help. Succeed and you'll earn his respect. Whatever choice you pick alongside this will have its reward boosted significantly.)
>>
>>6028231
What if the city freezes over instead?
>>
No votes for a while, closing, seems like Casey Ally + X-Corp Medal wins solely because Casey is the only non-free action with more than one vote.

You know the drill. Three anons, roll the following
>10d6 (main VIOLENCE check)
>1d3 (CAPTAIN'S COMMAND helping out with VIOLENCE)
>5d6 (Casey!!!)

We'll see what resources, if any, we need to consume.
>>
Rolled 6, 4, 3, 6, 4, 6, 6, 3, 6, 4 = 48 (10d6)

>>6029023
VIOLENCE
>>
Rolled 3, 4, 1, 1, 5 = 14 (5d6)

>>6029023
Bee
>>
>>6029077
>>6029144
No need to roll the 1d3 due to, well, look at that VIOLENCE ROLL.

RESULTS
VIOLENCE: OVERWHELMING
CASEY: JUST BARELY PASSES

Writing.
>>
>>6029077
We're back?

>>6029146
We're back.
>>
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Best to go with something this man will understand. Like that old X-Corp medal you have. You reach into your pock-

Wait what's that WHY IS IT RAPIDLY APPROACHING YOUR HEAD-

[SUICIDAL LOYALTY] You're quickly shoved out of the way by Quentin just in the nick of time. One of the six longhanded swords has been embedded right into his head, cutting into his flesh like a hot knife through butter. Your other allies are about to spring in but...

On closer examination, the blade barely made an indent on his forehead. The area of impact is mangled and torn into a fine pulp and you swear you can see his exposed skull. If the attack wasn't blocked, his head absolutely would've been torn to shreds. The blade promptly drops to the floor with a soft rustling that's completely discordant with how much damage that would've done.

[UNNERVING] Quentin twists his neck at such a steep angle, it's clear he's about to snap his shell's neck cleanly in half. "Don'T. Do THat."
You can hear Clover trying his best to not vomit as he mutters out a 'good job, Quinny'

>-1 RESTRAINT to CLOVER! 4/5 RESTRAINT LEFT!
>QUENTIN TAKES 1 (REDUCED FROM 4) FLESH DAMAGE! 3/4 FLESH LEFT!
>-1 DRIFTWOOD IDOL CHARGE! 2 LEFT!

"DAMNIT! THAT'S A CHEAP TRICK!" Exhaustion sets in across the Security Head's body. His arms are heavy and limp, barely able to hold onto his swords now. It's clear he's long since past his prime. He's exhausting himself by putting way too much force behind his attacks. "NOW STAND STILL, I'M NOT LETTING YOU DRAW A WEAPON ON ME-"

"She was pulling out her fucking medal!" Naomi promptly interrupts the Security Head. "STAND DOWN OR YOU WILL ENGAGE IN COMBAT WITH A X-CORP CERTIFIED SOLDIER!" The voice and volume she put behind that bark is clearly straining her weathered vocal cords. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND, MAGGOT?"

The Security Head's mouth twists into a confused snarl, not at all sure how to react. It's just long enough for you to actually pull out the dinky little medal from your inventory. You stretch your arm out as far as you can so the geriatric piece of garbage can see it.

"I did the training courses necessary to become a X-Corp soldier! I'm a soldier just like you. Please, stand down and LISTEN. I am here to exchange intel with you."
Naomi nods approvingly. "Indeed. I am from X-Corp too. We're here to investigate the status of the facility due to various impromptu breaches across the surface. Ones that led down here."

The Security Head narrows his eyes into tiny little slits. He's clearly judging the two of you to make sure you're not bullshitting him.
>VIOLENCE: OVERWHELMING! SUCCESS!

"Antlered woman: Notable muscle on abdomen and legs from exercise. Minor amount in arms from carrying heavy weaponry." He begins to rattle off with cold and distant precision as he scans your body with your gaze. "Healthy organs, healthy form, clearly active. Stinks of blood." He lowers his many arms for a brief moment before his gaze snaps over to Naomi.
>>
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"Bandage woman: Lack of muscle, can be excused due to old age. Coated in combat-related scars. Reeks of blood. Familiar shades, familiar glare in her eyes." He keeps mumbling to himself. "Paper tiger? No, no, no."

"What the fuck is he rambling about?" Confusion washes over Clover's face.
"Probably some old habit he used to have before turning into that?" Kiara halfheartedly shrugs. "He's a Security Head. He would have to keep an eye on the status of his employees."
Wendy's eyes widen for a moment before she nods her head. "He's trying to make sure you're the real attire. That you didn't just steal it."

"Alright." The Security Head slowly lowers his arms to the ground. He lets go of the five blades he still has a grip on, letting them hit the floor with a wimpy rustling sound. "An ally of P-Corp is an ally of mine. What do you want, filth?" he seems to be believing you for now but you know this fucker is willing to spring out and attack you if you're not careful.

Now that he's disarmed and willing to listen, it's time for Casey to make her move. Casey takes a few cautious steps towards the anomalous Security Head with her ballistic shield raised up just in case. "We're actually on your side! I know we got off on the wrong foot-"
"casey he tried to impale a fucking longsword through my skull." You mutter to yourself.

"-and I know you're a bit scared and all but we're here to help!" She completely ignores your little comment as she rambles towards the Security Head. "See! We know that the REFINEMENT machine here is VERY important to your operation! 3 E-Energy for 1 PRO- I mean, 3 A-Energy for one C-Extract! Correct? Well, some intruders are trying to get it!"

"They're WHAT?!" The paper-like chitin all across the man's body quickly begins to flutter and twitch. Quentin makes a few clicks with his tongue and that, for now, seems to be enough to calm him down. "Nngh."

"In fact, we killed one of these intruders. Our friend here? Well, he's a centipede piloting the corpse of one!!! Very efficient use of corporate resources but nevertheless! We're ultimately on the same side: We're both trying to stop things from getting any worse." Casey makes an odd buzz in the back of her throat as she continues to ramble. "If you help us out, we'll make sure no foul corporate outsiders will infringe your NDA ever again! Please, just talk to us."

The man before you clicks his tongue a few times in obnoxious annoyance but he eventually offers your group a curt nod. "Name's Audie MacArthur." Audie? Odd name. Better to have one than just "Security Head". "Need to keep containing. Need to keep this facility in CHECK." His eyes dart around, as if he's expecting something to come out of the walls. "I'm willing to offer my services to you. Outsiders."

<"I need to keep fighting. I need to earn my proper place in P-Corp. Can't stop now.">

>MEDAL BONUS: Some options have their skillchecks removed! You'll automatically succeed if you pick them!
>>
Something is rubbing you the wrong way. Isn't the Security Head supposed to have Redd in his last name? If he can't even remember his last name properly, who knows how bad the other Heads are? Or the Manager?

How do you want to negotiate and talk with him about while he's somewhat cognizant, though? Pick four.
>[NAOMI ALLY] "We need intel on the threats here. We managed to get away mostly scot free but you KNOW of the anomalies here. Tell us the most dangerous ones." (CHECK BYPASS! He'll offer as much information about the anomalies throughout Floor 4 through 7 as he can.)
>[CASEY ALLY] "Well as an esteemed worker of this glorious facility, surely you would know more about the other floors, correct?" (CHECK BYPASS. He'll explain as much about the various layouts of the other facilities as he can.)
>[CLOVER ALLY + FLOOD INFO] "Look. You know this place is being unsealed. It is raining like cats and dogs outside. You're smart enough to piece the dots together. Please." (WILLPOWER DC: 16 (-6 from MEDAL + SUGAR RUSH). You'll gain Audie as a temporarily ally if you succeed.)
>[WENDY ALLY] "Feh. Fire with fire. There's a beast down on the seventh floor. Do you have anything that can help us deal with it?" (CHECK BYPASS! You'll get a variety of useful supplies from the Security Head alongside some hints on how to deal with the Extraction Head specifically.)
>[KIARA ALLY] "You're...clearly not human anymore. Can you tell us how it is to be, well, you?" A lot of the other Heads are using PARADIGMs. Best to know what you're fighting. (WILLPOWER DC: ??, rolling 11d6+1d3 with the help of Kiara. Depending on how high you roll, you'll gain valuable information on how best to interact with the other corroded or fucked up Heads. You might even earn some insight on how to better regulate your own transformation.)
>[QUENTIN ALLY] "DO YOU KNOW OF ANY OTHER WAY TO STOP THIS PLACE FROM BEING UNSEALED? ANY WAYS TO DELY IT OR INTERFER WITH IT?" If nothing else, making sure there's no way for this facility to be unsealed again will help down the line.
>[UNSTABLE] PICK UP THE SWORD. IT IS OURS. (+LOST OLD GLORY, a powerful melee PARADIGM that might prove valuable for you down the line. You'll need to make a DC 29, rolling 8d6, RESTRAINT check to avoid mental corrosion.)
>[SEEPING PARANOIA INFO] Something about this is shady. The fact he's enjoying the fighting. The fact he asked for it to be sealed. "Why? Why did you do all of this?" Get to the heart of it. (Same as before.)
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] "These intruders, I know them. I can tell you about them. And I need you to hunt them down for me." (CHECK BYPASS! You imagine he'll be hunting those fuckers down and if he manages to get out of here alive, he may prove valuable when fighting the spooks later.)
>Write in.

For clarification, you told your allies about the unsealing procedure and your time limit in between the long elevator rides. No reason to hide it from them.
>>
>>6029285
>[SEEPING PARANOIA INFO]
Full lucidity let's go!
>[CLOVER ALLY + FLOOD INFO]
And with the full lucidity, the clarity that the past is past and it's time to wake up to the present. Asking him why to snap him back to reality is the best way to prep him for this one.
Temporary ally means we have a chance to tell him about the spooks later too, instead of right now. He doesn't need to know about spooks currently if he's going to relax and guard the REFINEMENT against anybody not us once we leave this floor. We can pick him up along with the Manager on the way up once we're done on Floor 7. Or maybe we can have him along to help us reach the Training Head safely?
>[QUENTIN ALLY]
An unseal is bad for everybody everytime. Our MAIN assignment is also to stop the tunnels from being made too, and this is the big one.
>[NAOMI ALLY]
We need this intel if we're going to proceed further safely, as well as decide which anomalies to extract from and beat up with Wendy on the way.

Casey Ally - floor layout info is good, but knowing floor layouts isn't enough when the anomalies on them are the worst threat
Wendy Ally - we're doing good on supplies right now, and I get the feeling we'll deal with Extraction Head just fine with Naomi's help anyway. One of the other heads on the way down can tell us about Floor 7, especially if we ever make it to Training Head bitch who'd love us wanting to put an end to the OMEGA down there
Kiara Ally - knowing about other heads is good, but one of the other heads could tell us that just as well. Regulating Nicole's transformation isn't worth using an option slot here for the knowledge when we can WE BALL it like we always do
Unstable - FUCK I REALLY WANT THIS SWORD BUT IT NOT BEING A FREE ACTION AND THAT HARD RESTRAINT CHECK IS A PAAAAAAAIN
POI - what I said above; there's time for spooks later. There's still like 5 of them somewhere in this facility, and I bet none of them are elites. Killing that first elite gives us an edge against any other surprise ones

I wonder if teaching the Security Head the silver sound info will be a good investment? If any of you guys have better ideas in regards to the options to pick here, please tell me instead of just +1ing me?
>>
>>6029285
>[NAOMI ALLY] "We need intel on the threats here. We managed to get away mostly scot free but you KNOW of the anomalies here. Tell us the most dangerous ones." (CHECK BYPASS! He'll offer as much information about the anomalies throughout Floor 4 through 7 as he can.)
>[CASEY ALLY] "Well as an esteemed worker of this glorious facility, surely you would know more about the other floors, correct?" (CHECK BYPASS. He'll explain as much about the various layouts of the other facilities as he can.)
>[CLOVER ALLY + FLOOD INFO] "Look. You know this place is being unsealed. It is raining like cats and dogs outside. You're smart enough to piece the dots together. Please." (WILLPOWER DC: 16 (-6 from MEDAL + SUGAR RUSH). You'll gain Audie as a temporarily ally if you succeed.)
>[WENDY ALLY] "Feh. Fire with fire. There's a beast down on the seventh floor. Do you have anything that can help us deal with it?" (CHECK BYPASS! You'll get a variety of useful supplies from the Security Head alongside some hints on how to deal with the Extraction Head specifically.)
>>
>>6029273
>[SUICIDAL LOYALTY]
I love Quentin and his bug reaction speed
>"Don'T. Do THat."
He's so cool
>-1 DRIFTWOOD IDOL CHARGE!
Fuck I hate we lost one this early. This thing's a total lifesaver we'll never give up
>1 (REDUCED FROM 4) FLESH DAMAGE
I'm glad we didn't fight him. I'd rather fight two elites than one of this 6-armed madman
>exhausting himself
Might have to account for that if he's going to back us up from here
>DRAW A WEAPON
I am stupid. Why did I not see this sort of reaction coming? He's trained for it and has every physical capability heightened drastically due to his PARADIGMS. He's basically a cop quickdrawing on us. It was obvious but I didn't think of it
>arms are heavy and limp
KNEES WEAK
ARMS ARE HEAVY
>did the training courses necessary
We wouldn't have this scene if we never took that mission, nice
>I'm a soldier
Our girl Nicole has come so far since the isolated schizo she used to be

>>6029275
>Familiar shades
>familiar glare
Like mother like daughter?
>ballistic shield raised
FLAME SHIELD UP
Not that it'll help her too much if he ever does lunge for her
>mutter to yourself
OP I wanna say I like this consistent writing detail of you writing in all lowercase when characters mutter or have those moments like that
>3 E-Energy for 1 PRO-
Without upgrades of course
>few clicks with his tongue
More bug to bug communication
>he's a centipede
He knows about drones, right? They existed 60 years ago, right? Or am I forgetting a lore detail?
>odd buzz
Imagine her doing that as she gives a blowjob, that's really hot
>expecting something to come out of the walls
We haven't seen a glowie do that yet, but I'm sure it'll be quite a shock when it does happen
>earn my proper place in P-Corp
????????????????

>>6029285
>can't even remember his last name properly
Anomalous alzheimer's is a horrible thing. I wonder how bad the other heads here have it
>>
>>6029308
Anon, what's your take on this current situation? Thoughts on this sec head based on his state so far, plus the info we got from the other sources? He might have had a direct responsible hand in sealing this place and keeping it that way for all this time, right? Do you think P Corp will dispose of him after he's out of here, or that he can start living again after being so anomalous that the pocketwatch detects him as an anomaly himself?
>>
>>6029324
>odd buzz
Imagine her doing that as she gives a blowjob, that's really hot

You can't win against the bee. Bzzzzt, gluckgluck, bzzzt, sploog.

>>6029285
>[UNSTABLE] PICK UP THE SWORD. IT IS OURS. (+LOST OLD GLORY, a powerful melee PARADIGM that might prove valuable for you down the line. You'll need to make a DC 29, rolling 8d6, RESTRAINT check to avoid mental corrosion.)
>[NAOMI ALLY] "We need intel on the threats here. We managed to get away mostly scot free but you KNOW of the anomalies here. Tell us the most dangerous ones." (CHECK BYPASS! He'll offer as much information about the anomalies throughout Floor 4 through 7 as he can.)
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] "These intruders, I know them. I can tell you about them. And I need you to hunt them down for me." (CHECK BYPASS! You imagine he'll be hunting those fuckers down and if he manages to get out of here alive, he may prove valuable when fighting the spooks later.)
>[WENDY ALLY] "Feh. Fire with fire. There's a beast down on the seventh floor. Do you have anything that can help us deal with it?" (CHECK BYPASS! You'll get a variety of useful supplies from the Security Head alongside some hints on how to deal with the Extraction Head specifically.)
>>
>>6029299
+1
>>
>>6029353
Original Casey is still with Thirteen back in their setting. This Casey is not the same as that one anymore, and still has a long way to go. Maybe she could get with a Harvester guy offscreen, or maybe she'll avoid them because of the memories? Who knows.
>>
>>6029386
Never read anything else by HandlerQM. Maybe I'll check it out after I finish doing shit this afternoon.

I just thought this Casey sounded cute and was kinda pathetic and wanted to protect her smile.
>>
>>6029285
>[NAOMI ALLY] "We need intel on the threats here. We managed to get away mostly scot free but you KNOW of the anomalies here. Tell us the most dangerous ones." (CHECK BYPASS! He'll offer as much information about the anomalies throughout Floor 4 through 7 as he can.)
>[CLOVER ALLY + FLOOD INFO] "Look. You know this place is being unsealed. It is raining like cats and dogs outside. You're smart enough to piece the dots together. Please." (WILLPOWER DC: 16 (-6 from MEDAL + SUGAR RUSH). You'll gain Audie as a temporarily ally if you succeed.)
>[WENDY ALLY] "Feh. Fire with fire. There's a beast down on the seventh floor. Do you have anything that can help us deal with it?" (CHECK BYPASS! You'll get a variety of useful supplies from the Security Head alongside some hints on how to deal with the Extraction Head specifically.)
>[UNSTABLE] PICK UP THE SWORD. IT IS OURS. (+LOST OLD GLORY, a powerful melee PARADIGM that might prove valuable for you down the line. You'll need to make a DC 29, rolling 8d6, RESTRAINT check to avoid mental corrosion.)
>>
>>6029491
Casey is from MANAGER, HELP! which is by HeartQM, and was the main impetus for HandlerQM back then to make HELP WANTED!, which as he said earlier kinda-sorta comes after Cleaner Quest. Or maybe Cleaner Quest is an alternate timeline to HELP WANTED! events, whatever
>>
SEEPING PARANOIA: 00b, iD4
CLOVER ALLY + FLOOD INFO: 00b, iD4, I5e, 32V
QUENTIN ALLY: 00b, iD4
NAOMI ALLY: 00b, iD4, I5E, IZa, 32V
CASEY ALLY: I5e
WENDY ALLY: I5e, IZa, 32V
UNSTABLE: IZa, 32V
PERSON OF INTEREST: IZa

So, asking him to come with + asking him for anomaly info + getting supplies from him all win out, there's just a three way tie between THE SWORD, QUENTIN ALLY, or SEEPING PARANOIA

I need one anon to roll the following
>5d6 (for Clover's roll)
For rerolls, you may consume a Moonstone Fragment to reroll three of his dice.

I also need another anon to vote below to break the tie. Pick one.
>ASK WHAT HIS GOAL IS. HE'S REAL FUCKING SHADY. (SEEPING PARANOIA)
>ASK HOW TO MAKE OUR JOB EASIER SO WE CAN GO HOME (QUENTIN ALLY)
>GET THE FUCKING MAGICAL SWORD!!! (UNSTABLE. Will call for another check.)

If I don't get a tie break in, say, 4 hours? I'll just 1d3 it so we're not stuck forever.

>>6029491
While she is a reference to another quest and despite how willing 00b is to sperg about her, this quest has basically little to no connection to the previous one. You don't need to read it and any backstory she had in it is sorta null and void here.
>>
Rolled 5, 4, 3, 2, 5 = 19 (5d6)

>>6030150
>ASK WHAT HIS GOAL IS. HE'S REAL FUCKING SHADY. (SEEPING PARANOIA)
>>
>>6030168
Success AND a tiebreak, coolio. Writing now since no additional checks need to be done.
>>6029324
>He knows about drones, right? They existed 60 years ago, right? Or am I forgetting a lore detail?
Drones don't have faces due to the shells they normally have being, well, made for them.
Quentin is puppeteering regular human corpses with faces. So at first blush, especially to a paranoid mess like Audie, he wouldn't know that immediately.
>>
>>6030150
>despite how willing 00b is to sperg about her
Excuse me???

>>6030169
I see. I forgot about Quentin doing that. Then he's absolutely right to react the way he did
>>
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Alright. You don't have a lot of time to sit around and chit chat with him. The facility being unsealed, said facility being flooded because of said unsealing, Audie himself probably not having a lot of patience for chitchat...Best to get to the point.

[UNSTABLE] POINT? LIKE SWORD? C'MON, GRAB IT GRAB IT GRAB IT-

You smack the side of your head in an attempt to dispel UNSTABLE's incessant whining for the funny magical sword. You nod your head at Naomi to signal her that she can talk to him. The corners of her mouth curl into a smile for the briefest of moments as if she's amused at the idea of having to wait for your approval.

<"Cute."> Her attention promptly shifts to Audie. "We need intel on the threats here. We've gotten lucky with the ones above but I highly doubt our blind luck would last forever. You know of the anomalies here. Tell us of the most dangerous ones and..." Naomi rambles off the cell letters you told her in between the elevator rides.

"Dangerous? Feh, nothing in this fac-"

"Dangerous for us, Mr. Six Arms." Kiara interrupts with a sharp, annoyed electric chirp. "No need to rub it in."

Audie bends down into a somewhat unstable squatting position with his two legs bending at weird, sharp thanks to their segmented nature. "Hm. None of the beasts out on this floor are a concern to you. Three out of four are abstractions. Non-physical, unable to interact with reality directly." So only the tree thing he contained was a threat. Noted.

"Floor 4, M and N. Sin of Her Flesh and the Hateful Smiles of the City. Sin of Her Flesh is simple: Don't let the men look at her. Hateful Smiles of the City? Group of ten, very weak individually but they're a hivemind. Shares information seamlessly. Best to divide and conqeor them to hamper their communication with each other."

"Floor 5...mmh. Not good, not good, not good. I'd just avoid exploring that floor if at all possible. All of those anomalies are C4 or higher. Too dangerous. Even for me. If you MUST explore, stay QUIET. Whispers of a Uncertain Yesterday can hear our voices throughout the whole facility. It WILL hunt you if you make too much noise in the adjacent floors." So be quiet while you're on Floor 4 and 6. Noted.

He then skips over Floor 6 due to all of them being contained. "Floor 7. The Latecomer's Blossom and Dreary Night Murderer are down there."

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Wait. Dreary Night Murderer. A murderer who sticks to the shadows. Someone who doesn't want to get caught. Figured out. If you're too rational, too investigative-
[UNSTABLE] HE SMELLS US ALREADY.

While your allies have been listening along to make sure they survive exploring this facility, Naomi flinches upon hearing the first anomaly's name. Weird, she shouldn't know anything about this facility. Audie seems to pick this up but you simply nod at him to continue.

"Can't talk about the Murderer. He knows my scent, you're probably next. Too late to stop it now."
>>
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With an impressive burst of speed, he skitters over to you and Wendy, whispering to the both of you. "He's weak. Weak like actual paper." He pulls on the paper-like chitin covering his torso. "Can't let the others hear this tip. They won't GET IT."

Wendy tries her best to lean away from Audie but he promptly grabs onto her shoulder, keeping her in place. "He can hear the thoughts in your head. SILENCE THEM when he approaches." He then leans away, turning his attention back to the rest of your confused allies.

"Other one? Has probably overtaken whole floor, yes yes, with flesh and flowers. A parasitic organism that DEMANDS to spread. To be REMEMBERED. There will be a core somewhere on the floor. Destroy it and the anomaly will return to a dormant state. Do NOT let any of your flesh or blood spill, it WILL drink it up." And then he goes silent. He's rubbing his throat now, clearly exhausted by his rambling.

"W-well." Wendy doesn't even remotely know how to respond. Her mouth is twisted in an expression that's filled with equal parts confusion and seething hatred. "You're. Something. Well, since there's two beasts on the seventh floor, d-do you..." She's really trying her best not to just fucking attack him. "Do you have anything that can help us deal with it."

Audie immediately vomits something out onto the floor. Then another item. Then another. THEN ANOTHER. He only stops once five items are scattered onto the floor. You're not even sure how he managed to shallow all of this.
LOOT OBTAINED!
>FRAGMENTATION GRENADE x2 (Adds +3d6 to your next attack and deals extra FLESH damage against humans. You can make a DC 18 TALENT check to add +4d8 to your attack instead.)
>Z-CORP AMPULE x2 (A metal syringe filled with a dull grey liquid. Heals 2 FLESH and RESTRAINT, no questions asked.)
>UV CLEANSING LAMP (A small handlamp that produces potent levels of UV radiation when activated. Has five charges. May consume a charge to add +3d3 to a COGNIZANCE check, reveal otherwise invisible entities, or to damage organic matter in a wide radius around the user.)

Drool is dribbling out of his mouth now and every breath he takes is deep and labored now.

"What in tarnation?" "DISGUSTING!!!" "Don't get that on my boots." Clover, Naomi, and Wendy quickly make their distance from the vomitted up supplies.
"Ooo!" "VERY INTERESTING." "Never knew a human could regurgitate like that!!!" Casey, Quentin and Kiara meanwhile are swarming around Audie with awe at his feat of regurgitation.

"Wischard. Down there. Probably wants to be consumed. She wants to forget. I pity her." Audie takes a deep, shuddering breath before continuing. "She needs a reason to live. Something to do. Like I do. I fight."

You and Naomi share a look with each other. You already have a good idea on what sort of reason you can give her. A rather silvery reason. Now that that horror show is handled, best to address the main thing bothering you.

"Why, Audie?"
>>
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Audie gives you an inscrutable look after he manages to recover from his sudden vomiting. "Why what? Don't you get it?" He promptly stands back up, gesturing around the red-tinted hallway with all six of his arms. "This is my realm! My domain! This is how I'm supposed to exist! This is my kingdom!"

"Now, now! I know you may have forgotten that because of how helpful I've been but this is MY kingdom! I am the Knight that protects this P-Corp facility!" All of his exhaustion has been purged. With every syllable, he's riling himself up. Reinforcing what fragile perspective he seems to have. "In here, I'm the hero! I'm the one who keeps everyone SAFE!"

Your allies quickly begin to back away from him, ready for a fight if it has to come down to it.

"Without me, this facility would've been destroyed in the war! I'm the only reason anyone here managed to survive down here! It's only when that damned Manager began to unseal this place, yes, YES! THAT'S WHEN THINGS WENT WRONG!"

"It's been 56 years. The war's been over for ages, Audie."

"No, no! If the war was over, P-Corp would've rewarded me for my service already! They would be singing my name as the best Security Head throughout all of P-Corp's facilities! I would've been-"

"FIFTY SIX FUCKING YEARS!" Wendy immediately loses her patience and throws her agent baton to the floor. "DON'T YOU FUCKING GET IT? LOOK AT YOURSELF, YOU GOD DAMN COCKROACH! NO! EVEN A COCKROACH WOULD HAVE A PURPOSE!"
Audie immediately rushes over to grab his swords but before he can, Clover lets out a sharp whistle to get his attention.

[DOGMATIC MINDSET + DEADEYE SHOT] Clover already has his revolver trained at Audie's head. "We know what ya did. Even if you try slicing us up like a fuckin' coward, we know ya prodded that damn Manager to seal this place. Ya didn't fucking save anyone, HELL! YA PROBABLY KILLED DOZENS OR HUNDREDS BECAUSE OF IT!"

"And for fuckin' what? Why? Why did ya do it, partner?"

The air is tense. No one wants to move or say anything. Clover and Audie are staring each other down. Audie has his many arms ready to grab at his swords while Clover is ready to pull the trigger. A standoff between a knight and a cowboy.

And Audie loses. Not because he got shot but because he simply stops trying. He steps away from his swords and with a hesitant sigh, all of the energy he riled himself up with is gone. That intoxicated, youthful joy he had is replaced with a deep exhaustion.

An exhaustion he's been suppressing for decades.

"I really did just want to keep people safe. This was the only way I could keep them safe. We had infinite energy, we had enough space to hold hundreds down here, this was the safest place in the world." Audie wraps his many arms around himself in an attempt to comfort himself. "We could live here forever. We didn't have to live in a war torn City anymore. We had a perfect Kingdom here."

"Even if an anomaly breached, I could fight it. I just had to wear my armor and use my blades."
>>
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"I could've kept this place safe forever. I'm the only one who CAN guard this facility. I'm the KNIGHT OF THIS FACILITY-"

"Look at yourself. You're not even a human anymore. You're a bug. A monster. You wanted to kill us the moment you saw us." Wendy hisses out as Clover keeps his gun trained on the security head.
"Every person we met down here was a deranged lunatic or someone you tried to killed." Naomi states with a cold matter-of-fact tone. "No one was kept safe by your actions, Audie."
"Are those even your own thoughts?" Casey chirps out.
"Are you EVEN wearing your OWN SHELL?" Quentin can't even look Audie in the eye. "Humans don't have CHITIN and SEGMENTED LIMBS."
"Do you even remember your own name, Redd?" Kiara points out the fact he didn't even remember his own name.

There's that silence again.

"...Redd? Who's that?" Audie blankly stares at your group for a moment before it suddenly clicks for him. "Wait. Wait. Redd, Redd...Redd? Audie Redd. Who's...?" The old man is glancing around the hallway he's in with abject confusion. "Where am I? This isn't the facility I remembered."

None of your allies want to say anything so you decide to speak up. "It's 2255, Redd. I know you're smart enough to realize what's going on."

"I." He stares down at his many arms, at the chitin covering his body. At the many segments and joints on his arms and legs. "What am I? I felt so powerful until..." Seems like whatever perspective forced onto him has weakened to the point where he's snapped out of his high. "Wait. Why does this place smell like blood?"

Again, no one wants to say anything but no one needs to. He's clearly piecing the dots together. "No, no, wait. It's supposed to be 2198. I only wanted to use this armor to deal with the few anomalies that got out-" It's as the person you were talking to mere moments ago was replaced by someone else completely.

"Oh god. A PARADIGM restructuring. W-what did I do?" When he's answered with silence, all Audie can let out is a disappointed chuckle. "I knew those voices, that feeling, w-was too good to be true."

>WILLPOWER CHECK: PASS!

Clover lowers his gun, suppressing his urge to be his judge and executioner. "Ya weren't in control of yer actions. I can't fully blame ya for what ya did after the facility was sealed." Clover lets out an annoyed click from the back of his throat.

"Look. Ya know this place is being unsealed. It is raining like cats and dogs outside. Yer smart enough to piece the dots together. Please. Just." Clover holsters his revolver. "I don't want to kill ya if I don't gotta. We have a common goal now. To stop this place from being unsealed."

"Really...?"

"Ya. I don't get it much myself but this place is a pressure cooker now. If it unseals anymore, pop!"
"The energy already let out has caused notable ecology damage. A full unseal would drown the whole subdistrict we're in." Kiara nods along.

"...I really did just want to keep this place safe. Not to...cause damage like that."
>>
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"Help us rectify your mistake, Audie." Naomi holds her hand out towards the Security Head.

He simply stares at the hand offered and with one of his many hands, he shakes Naomi's hand. He promptly picks up only one of the swords on the ground, leaving the others behind. "I. I'll follow. I need to. Rectify what I did. D-don't feel comfortable holding the others."

>AUDIE HAS JOINED THE PARTY!
>Due to his lucidity and him only wielding one LOST OLD GLORY, his stats have been reduced severely from his previous form. However, he's actually cognizant of his actions now!
>The following stats are written without Naomi's boost. He still gets the +1 to RESTRAINT, VIOLENCE, TALENT, and WILLPOWER.

AUDIE REDD [TEMP]
FLESH: 12
RESTRAINT: 5
VIOLENCE: 10
TALENT: 10
WILLPOWER: 5
CHARM: 3
CONNECTIONS: 5
COGNIZANCE: 3

BOONS
[CHITINOUS EXTERIOR] A remnant of his PARADIGM restructuring. Audie takes 2 less FLESH damage from all sources and has a small chance to reflect an attack back at an enemy.

[HEAD ACCESS] While he's in your party, you have far greater access to the facility than normal and you have access to his keycard as well. Exploring the facility should be a lot easier now.

NEUTRAL TRAIT
[UNCERTAIN PERSPECTIVE] He's not the man he used to be and that's obvious. His stats have been massively drained from his previous version...but he does have full lucidity and control over himself.

BANE
[EXHAUSTION] His old age has finally caught up to him. All attacks he makes in combat has a high chance of draining his FLESH and he passively loses FLESH over time. He also takes longer to recover from negative status effects.

INVENTORY: HEAD OF SECURITY KEYCARD, CRUMPLED LOST OLD GLORY (Drained from decades of overuse. ATTACK ROLL: TALENT+VIOLENCE+4. Attacks made with this weapon deal split MIXED and MENTAL damage and will always inflict a CRIPPLING INJURY on hit).

Your allies let out a sigh of relief when he snaps back to his senses. While Kiara eyes the various PARADIGMs on the ground with a greedy glint in her gaze, she's too hesitant to pick them up after what they did to him. No one else, including you, feels particularly comfortable picking them up either.

Maybe later. Maybe not at all. You don't want to melt your mind over time. Now that you have him somewhat cognizant of where he is and what your group's plan is, you have to proceed from here. You got two out of the three keycards necessary so you're probably getting close to finishing this mission.

Which location do you want to visit next, Nicole?
>MANAGER'S OFFICE. You need to confront this bastard on why he unsealed this place and if he even understands the fucking ramifications of what he did.
>SECRET HATCH #1. One of the two hatches at the southeast branch. Your WHISPERS OF THE CITY smells an odd sense of ennui down this one. Welfare?
>WESTERN CONTAINMENT CELLS. If most of them are abstractions that can't hurt anyone, maybe you can try bringing one back for an easy paycheck.
(1/2)
>>
>BACK TO ELEVATOR. Head to the sixth floor. You DO have the code for it still and you still need another keycard.
>[AUDIE ALLY] "I recall the seventh floor code. We can visit there right now if need be." Rush right down to the seventh floor. Deal with the Extraction Head and whoever else is down there.
>REFINEMENT ROOM. You need to secure it and to make sure no one has compromised it.
>SECRET HATCH #2. Not to go down there, fuck no, but to lock it shut so nothing ends up sneaking up on you later.

>>6030382
>Excuse me???
Sorry, could've phrased it better. I just wanted to clarify that despite me referencing previous quests, none of them have to be read in order for this quest to make sense aside from understanding some minor references better.
Don't want to throw anyone into pages on pages of archive binging solely so one character's appearance is slightly funnier.
>>
>>6030421
OK, fair enough OP. Thanks for clarifying.

>>6030418
>>6030421
We still have plenty of time saved, so I'm going to vote in something smarter
>WRITE IN: SPLIT UP!
>Audie + Naomi + Clover + Kiara = SECURE THE REFINEMENT
>Nicole + Casey + Wendy + Quentin = CONFRONT THE MANAGER
Even though it'd be better to have Audie to confront the Manager with, the Head of Security will know exactly what to do to secure the REFINEMENT room whereas the rest of us will not. I want Naomi and Kiara with him because they're experienced in the silver agents by now and can provide assistance. Clover is for overwatch and lookout.
As for the Manager, Nicole because Nicole. Casey and Quentin are the corporate sycophant dynamic duo. Wendy because she's also got corporate power on her side and she's got schizo resonance with Nicole, and probably has had to deal with P Corp higher-ups before too given how W Corp shares interest in the anomalous with them (but in a negative "WE HATE ANOMALIES" way).
>>
>>6030449
+1
>>
So before I do an analysis autism post, I want to ask you guys here. When and where do we secure an anomaly? We have only 1 CONTAINMENT CUBE. We could still get anomalies out by ourselves with them uncontained; for example those with a degree of reasoning and awareness like the DELICIOUS GIRL or INFORMANT can be convinced to walk out with us at the expense of Wendy wanting to murder them from prolonged proximity alone. If we can manage all that, we might be able to retrieve multiple anomalies out safely with us. We have plenty to choose from to recover, but we also need to fight and possibly kill one during this mission, as well as extracting anomalous LOOT MATERIAL from some.
>>
>>6030150
>While she is a reference to another quest and despite how willing 00b is to sperg about her, this quest has basically little to no connection to the previous one. You don't need to read it and any backstory she had in it is sorta null and void here.

Fair enough. Have checked out like half the other one and it is good, even if facility management isnt normally my cup of tea.

>>6030421
>>6030449
Sure this will work.

Should we decide on how to split up consumables or something?
>>
Also here's a floor recap

RH = Research Head
MG = Magical Girl
AC = Armory Computer
SH = Security Head

>Floor 1
>N/A
"A: A THOUSAND LONELY. C1, MENTAL, COGNITOHAZARD. DON'T TALK TO IT. PLEASE. JUST CLEAN THE MESS IT MAKES."
"B: PEARLS FOR SWINE. B3, MENTAL, COGNITOHAZARD. DON'T TAKE IT TOO PERSONALLY, IT TRIES TO FUCK WITH YOU."
"C: COLD BLOODED INFORMANT. B3, MIXED, CAN BE REASONED WITH. LOVES TO BARTER."
"D: TOADHOLE. A5. MIXED/ESOTERIC. COGNITOHAZARD. MANAGER WON'T LISTEN TO US ABOUT HOW DANGEROUS IT IS. CAN'T SEE IT LIKE HOW WE SEE IT."

>Floor 2
>Research
"E: MUSHROOM DREAMS. B0. NOTHING TO NOTE, APPROVED FOR ALL EMPLOYEES TO INTERACT WITH. LOW ENERGY EITHER WAY. USE WHEN YOU NEED A BREAK."
"F: DELICIOUS GIRL R! ??. NEW ANOMALY. NEED TIME TO INVESTIGATE. SENTIENT?"
"G: DOG. X0. ESOTERIC. Dog. Dog. Dog. Dog. Dog. Dog. Dog. Dog. Dog. Dog. Dog."
"H: KNIGHT OF PEN AND PAPER. C4. VERY AGGRESSIVE. BUG-LIKE. PLEASE, DON'T BOTHER HIM TOO MUCH."

>Floor 3
>Security
RH - "Security's halls is a deadzone. Traps everywhere. Mr. Redd likes to keep them up to date. Please be careful when exploring there."
MG - "Mr. Manager? He stayed locked up in his room all day! I don't really know much about him besides he wants to 'leave'? I'm not sure how, though!"
AC - "FACILITY 3 CELLS: I, J, K, L. I AND J BREACHED, K BEING RECONTAINED, L IN CONTAINMENT."
SH - "None of the beasts out on this floor are a concern to you. Three out of four are abstractions. Non-physical, unable to interact with reality directly."

>The following we have not been to yet

>Floor 4
>Welfare
RH - "Welfare? Welfare was always the safest. All of the low risk anomalies were kept there. Might be able to find a friend there."
RH - "Mr. Linton hasn't talked to me in a while. Never been the same since we were sealed. Steal his card, he won't need it. Or notice."
MG - "Mr. Safety doesn't like talking to people. He has this thick, buggy armor on with a lot of gross arms on it. Keeps talking about how he's nothing but a worthless bug? But he's a human. It doesn't make sense."
AC - "FACILITY 4 CELLS: M, N, O, P, Q, R. M AND N ARE BREACHED. REST ARE CONTAINED."
SH - "Floor 4, M and N. Sin of Her Flesh and the Hateful Smiles of the City. Sin of Her Flesh is simple: Don't let the men look at her. Hateful Smiles of the City? Group of ten, very weak individually but they're a hivemind. Shares information seamlessly. Best to divide and conquer them to hamper their communication with each other."
(BE QUIET HERE!!!)
>>
>>6030483
Floor Recap Part 2

>Floor 5
>Training
RH - "Ms. Smith went crazy, crazy. Constantly wanted more anomalies to fight. To beat them. To consume them. To become them. I don't think she'll listen to anyone normal. No, no, she needs someone like my papers suggested might exist one day. A SHIFTer."
MG - "Ms. Teacher...I don't like Ms. Teacher. She keep screaming at us and saying how much we hurt people. How she hates us. How she only uses this big, BIG wand I gave her to protect herself. I don't remember hurting anyone! Lest you count evil super villains~!"
AC - "FACILITY 5 CELLS: S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, GG, BB, LL, PP. ALL BREACHED."
SH - "Floor 5...mmh. Not good, not good, not good. I'd just avoid exploring that floor if at all possible. All of those anomalies are C4 or higher. Too dangerous. Even for me. If you MUST explore, stay QUIET. Whispers of a Uncertain Yesterday can hear our voices throughout the whole facility. It WILL hunt you if you make too much noise in the adjacent floors."
(BE QUIET HERE!!!)

>Floor 6
>Accounting
>"10-56-4048"
RH - "Mr. Benowitz has all of our excess supplies hidden away in his floor. He keeps an eye on it all the time. He'll know if you arrive there. Do not hide your intentions. He's...strange."
MG - "Mr. Money...Mr. Money only liked to talk to my bug friend upstairs. He only cared about 'money' and 'prestige' and junk. Feh! How selfish!!!"
AC - "FACILITY 6 CELLS: ALPHA, BETA, GAMMA, DELTA, EPSILON, ZETA. ALL CONTAINED."
SH - He then skips over Floor 6 due to all of them being contained.
(BE QUIET HERE!!!)

>Floor 7
>Extraction
RH - "Ms. Wischard- -has given up. Reach her and she'll do what you want. Extraction was always the least maintained."
MG - "Ms. Extract? She stays in her own room down, down, down at the bottom! Where all the really nasty villains are at. I don't think she likes leaving her room too much. Something about 'not wanting to bother anymore'?"
AC - "FACILITY 7: KETER, WAW, OMEGA. OMEGA BREACHED, WAW CONTAINTED, KETER ???."
Armory Corpse Note - "Floor 7, Anomaly OMEGA. A4 class entity. Can only be harmed by those without rationality. Those with too much rationality will be hunted down. Told them to exterminate it. I know it wants my head. If someone finds my corpse and read this: Please, kill it. Kill it to free all of us. We'll pay you later."
SH - "Floor 7. The Latecomer's Blossom and Dreary Night Murderer are down there."
A murderer who sticks to the shadows. Someone who doesn't want to get caught. Figured out. If you're too rational, too investigative-
"He's weak. Weak like actual paper."
"He can hear the thoughts in your head. SILENCE THEM when he approaches."
"Other one? Has probably overtaken whole floor, yes yes, with flesh and flowers. A parasitic organism that DEMANDS to spread. To be REMEMBERED. There will be a core somewhere on the floor. Destroy it and the anomaly will return to a dormant state. Do NOT let any of your flesh or blood spill, it WILL drink it up."
>>
>>6030467
Well, Dreary Night Murderer is probably already coming for us, so he would be a simple choice to stick in the box I suppose.
>>
>>6030479
>split up consumables or something?
I doubt there's any enemies over at the REFINEMENT room. We got told by INFORMANT that there's a total of 8 here. 6 below surface, 2 above surface. We killed 1 of the below surface ones, who was an elite agent. Now there are a total of 5 in this facility somewhere. I hope the 2 outside did not fuck with the Research Head we left in the warehouse. That'd suck

>>6030485
Could be interesting if we do have to capture him. It'd be very insane if we actually convince him to walk out with us without any hostility under the pretense of helping him "avoid capture".
>>
>>6030494
>I hope the 2 outside did not fuck with the Research Head we left in the warehouse. That'd suck

Stop giving QM ideas!

I was just thinking anything we had that might just help with general checks, IDK. Do we need to try and heal up some before heading on our way? I think everyone is basically good.

>>6030494
>Hey dreary, want to come to our van? We have classic rock CDs and beer?
>>
>>6030604
We're all doing fine on FLESH and RESTRAINT. I'm worried about that
>lock it shut so nothing ends up sneaking up on you later.
snippet from that option. Why would something from Floor 5 Training sneak up to here? We're not on Floor 4 Welfare for Whispers of an Uncertain Yesterday to seek us out. Sure it can hear all the voices in the entire facility, but we're nowhere close to it and that's good enough to keep it from bothering us. I highly doubt there's a silver agent or two on Floor 5 with how hazardous it is, but I don't want them backcapping us when it comes to REFINEMENT or the Manager or anything else on this floor. Decisions decisions.

I think once we handle Manager and REFINEMENT, we need to go straight for Floor 4 Welfare. Welfare guy sounds like a free keycard to me. Clover, Quentin, and Audie and maybe one of the other girls as backup can handle Hateful Smiles of the City because they're the only men of the group, and everybody else beats up Sin of Her Flesh which will cheer up Wendy. This way we contain both and get a potential chance of extracting from either of them, maybe consider one as a CUBE AND RESCUE candidate? I wonder if Hateful Smiles would want us to rescue them. With a name like that it might be risky, and there's fucking 10 of these guys in a hivemind - can they all fit in the elevator with us? I think eventually we'll need multiple trips to get everybody topside. Other than that, I think we should just completely leave Floor 5 alone and let it all rot in there. Not fucking worth it or is it?

Once we finish the unsealing, we'll be much freer when it comes to time. The facility will still flood and the A-Energy will still leak from the tunnel openings that are already made, but at least it won't be AS BAD? Or will the unseal abort cause all the tunnels to seal up? Does that mean we'll all be trapped down here, or is it possible to keep one tunnel open or have one primary egress route available for everybody to get in and out from? Anyway, then the only problem becomes the glowie menace in the facility and if they decide to swarm the place like INFORMANT warned us about.
>>
Closing vote. Writing, we're going with the write in. (Mostly because that's the only thing people voted for. No point waiting for fifty hours for another person to add a +1)
>>
Hmm, I'm wondering if we can get the manager to quit being insane and return to his sane self. And talk the other head as well. It would be nice if we could get all of the heads to quit being crazy. We already have the research head and security head, who are sane now due to us.
>>
>>6030397
>GRAB IT
I too want the paper sword but too many things to do
><"Cute.">
She was like that too once upon a time
>squatting
I like this detail with his fucked physiology
>flinches
Naomi? Something you're not telling us?

>>6030400
>two beasts
Where's the third one?!
>trying her best
I hope the future beatdowns cheer her up. I kinda feel sad for her... almost.
>FRAGMENTATION GRENADE x2
More AoE for the base assault? Thank you
>Z-CORP AMPULE x2
Uber valuable
>UV CLEANSING LAMP
Sounds like a Kiara tool to me

>>6030402
>Reinforcing what fragile perspective
Interesting description detail
>immediately loses her patience
Wendy's going through a lot on this first mission with Nicole
>COCKROACH WOULD HAVE A PURPOSE!
Casey would comment if the situation wasn't so tense
>standoff
Clover keeps hitting the right notes this entire mission
>the safest place in the world
No shelter remains safe forever

>>6030407
>can't even look Audie in the eye
Damn what a line from Quentin. He's fully aware of it too
>perspective forced onto him
What 60 years of constant PARADIGM exposure does to a human's sense of being
>replaced by someone else completely
Wrong. Not replaced. Repealed. And the old original person returned.
>PARADIGM restructuring
We know the term for this now
>suppressing his urge
Also a nice touch

>>6030418
>AUDIE HAS JOINED
Godlike stats and traits but still less compared to Robbert Huxley's glimpse
>CRUMPLED LOST OLD GLORY
Amazing weapon, but corrosion chances make it a desperation pick
>Maybe later. Maybe not at all.
It's cool and all, but will we have time to grab one before we need to ditch this place?
>probably getting close to finishing this mission.
Not if we overachiever this! We need that bonus pay and loot
>>
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"Clover, Kiara, Naomi, Audie. Deal with Refinement. Quentin, Casey, Wendy? Come with me. We'll talk to the Manager." Might as well use your comically oversized party to do multiple things at once, yeah?

Audie's pupils narrow down into tiny little pinpricks the moment he hears your plan. "I don't think you should do that. Mr. Manager hasn't left that room in decades. He's rather...unsightly."

"i'm fucking sorry you're a fucking bug man how could he be any weirder." An incredulous sneer spreads across your face.

"RUDE." Quentin crosses his arms with a very obvious pout.
"I don't think you have any room to talk with the antlers." Kiara nudges you with her shoulder.
Clover whistles out a low tune. "At least his head's normal. God bless Kana but her foxhead surgery was...something."

"YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT YOU-" You hold your tongue back for now. Not now. Best to just let Audie answer.

"You'll see it when you see it. He's one with the office now." Despite how vague that answer is, you already have an idea on what that could mean. With that cryptic warning given, Audie and the three allies you ordered to follow him disappear down into the hub area, heading to wherever the REFINEMENT MACHINE is.

>Audie, Clover, Kiara, and Naomi have temporarily left your party. You and your other allies have temporarily lost the RESTRAINT, TALENT, WILLPOWER, and VIOLENCE boosts given by Naomi.

"Thank you." An oddly sugary sweet, almost cartoonish joy oozes out of Wendy's words. "Thank you for getting that freak away from me. Enemy of my enemy and all but FUCK."
A deep, almost hungry buzz vibrates throughout Casey's throat. Eugh. "Ooo! Did you want to break his spine and rip him in half like you're eating a crawfish? I'm not sure you would have the physical strength to do that!"
"Oh ho!" Wendy snaps her fingers. "I was more in the taste of snapping his arms like a lobster but that's good too!"

You and Quentin share a look with each other. He curtly nods with a solemn, almost mournful frown. <"I apologize for whatever these two may do.">
You nod back. "It's okay." You clap your hands to get the attention of the two hungry little sociopaths. "Okay, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. Let's move. We got a manager to talk to."

"Feh. Fine, fine." Wendy mumbles out some dismissive sounding grunts and groans as she picks her AGENT BATON back up.
"Thank yOU." Quentin nods approvingly. "Casey?"
"Oh! Yes!" She promptly falls back into a rear position while Quentin joins Wendy at the front. The four of you promptly head back to the star-shape hub area.

Your group tries its best not to look at the mangled and barely alive survivors of Audie's previous attack. Aside from the ETF you treated, most of them are already too far gone. Damn shame but hey, at least you helped him regain his sanity so this won't happen again. It is what it is in this line of work.

Your group proceeds north from the center of the hub. Time to deal with the manager.
>>
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The hallway towards the Manager's Office is a lot shorter of a trip than you expected. After only traveling about thirty or forty feet, your group is standing in front of a heavily reinforced steel airlock. The walls around the airlock are plastered in old wartime posters that have basically melted away in pure sludge at this point. The only one remotely liable is one about how 'IF YOU WIN THE WAR FOR US, YOU'LL GET A 5% DISCOUNT ON A TEN YEAR NEST PERMIT!!!"

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Approximately a $5000 discount for a ten year permit to live at the most upper-class section of a District. If we're using today's prices that is. Still would've at least 95k.

There's a keycard scanner next to the door. No keypad or anything, it just needs the right card. You'd guess that it probably only accepts a keycard from the Manager himself or one of the Heads. Lo and behold, you have Judie's (the Research Head's) card.

You swipe it and bam! The airlock lets out an awful sounding hiss as it begins to slowly unseal and- FUCKING HELL WHAT IS THAT SMELL. An awful, pungent smell that's clearly been sealed inside that room for a while hits your nose like a freight train. Even with your gas mask still on, you can still smell it.

The musty, pungent and spicy odor of decades of body odor and caked human filth. If it wasn't for you smelling worse and having an iron stomach at this point, you would be gagging by now. Wendy and Quentin immediately pull Casey away from it after the smell

"JU..DY? WHA..T'S THE OCCASION?" That's not a human's voice. It's not an anomaly's either but you can't even attempt to describe it as a human. Gurgling, wet noises that are an approximation of a human's voice echo out of the now opened airlock. "DID YO..U COME TO YOU...R SENSES AND...UNDERSTOOD MY PLAN?"

"We're on behalf of Judy, sir! He gave us our keycard!" Casey yells out towards the Manager(?), still at a safe enough distance to not immediately retch.
Wendy adjusts her gas mask to make sure the seal isn't compromised. "We're here to discuss a business proposal, Mr. Manager." Her mildly manic voice is immediately suppressed with a cold, clearly practiced neutral tone. "If you may approve our entrance, that is?"
"SMells like the INside of my shell. But worse." You're not sure if centipedes are able to gag or vomit but Quentin is on the verge of it.

"Mm...H. SURE. COME." The low, rumbling tone of the manager quickly goes silent after he offers his half-hearted approval. Best to bite the bullet and get it over with. The opened airlock only shows a room in pitch darkness. All you can sense in there is the smells and that god damn blubbering voice the Manager(?) speaks in.

As the lead, you go in first. Your other allies properly follow after you only after they realized you weren't immediately impaled for stepping inside.

https://youtu.be/_ZZK-qxkki0 - MANAGER

What in the actual fuck? You're not even sure how to describe what you're seeing.
>>
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The office, if you can even call it on, is a very cramped space with only enough space for the four of you to stand inside if you stand shoulder to shoulder. There's barely any room for your group to move around.

That's mainly because a good half of the room has been completely consumed by a mass of filthy, half-rotten pallid white flesh and fat that might've one been a man. It crawls up the walls and floor like vines crawling up an abandoned building or, perhaps more aptly here, electric cabling connecting to a machine. The only places that aren't covered by this spreading mass are two old CCTV screens and an overly complex panel at the back of the room.

A vaguely humanoid shape sits behind a desk that separates your group from the meat cluster. Its arms and legs have fully melded into the chair as if it was always a part of it. The only part recognizable as 100% human is the man's face. Soft, almost child-like cheeks and baby-blue eyes stares at your group. A twisted smirk is carved (literally. There's blood pouring out of the gash) into the soft and pallid flesh of the Manager.

"WEL...COME TO MY. OFFICE. PLEASE. TAKE A SEAT."

Your group promptly sits down at the four chairs- Wait, you didn't see any chairs before. Your MAKESHIFT POCKETWATCH is going apeshit again. Checking it to see what it reads.

"ELEVATED LEVELS OF C-EXTRACT IN AREA. REALITY DISTORTIONS MAY OCCUR." Oh great.

"NOW. WHAT DO YOU WANT...TO TALK ABOUT?"

"Why do you look like this, sir?" Casey chirps out with an innocent curiosity in her voice. "It's quite unusual for a Manager of such an esteemed facility to look like this!"

"I'VE BEEN UNDER THE WEA...THER." The Manager gurgles. "I'LL GET BETTER SOON. I APOLOGIZE IF I SMELL. BE...EN A WHILE SINCE I GO..T A SHOWER PROPERLY RUNNING IN HERE."

"I don't think that's what she meant, siR." Quentin is fiddling with this thumbs in a desperate attempt to ignore the mass of sentient flesh blabbering at him. "WhatEVER the case, we wish to ask some questions about RECENT going-ons in this facility."

"AH. I APOLOGIZE FOR THE UNCOUTH RECEPTION MY FRIENDS MAY HAVE GIVEN." The Manager gurgles yet again, though his speech is a lot clearer now. "YES, YES. I BELIEVE A 50 YEAR HIATUS IS ENOUGH. IT IS TIME TO GO BACK TO WORK, YOU SEE."

"You do understand that your recent business venture has caused some unintentional damage to the surface, correct? Digging up hundreds of tons of soil that's built up over that long is not an easy nor safe thing to do haphazardly." The Wendy you knew before is gone. Every word she says is calm, collected, and cordial. Hell, you think her smile is genuine enough. "I would know, of course."

"YES. YES. W-CORP AND THEIR SILLY MINES. FEH. I BELIEVE YOU ARE OVERESTIMATING THE ACTUAL EFFECTS OF THE UNSEALING PROCESS, MISS." Well, the ball's in the court now. You have an audience with the Manager. If you can even attempt to call him that with how he looks now.
>>
You have some time to burn while your other allies investigate the REFINEMENT MACHINE so you don't have to roll any checks.

What direction do you want to take this conversation in? Pick three topics to focus on.
>[QUENTIN ALLY] "I simply don't get it. How does no one here know the war is over? Shouldn't you still be in contact with your mother company?" They should've been in contact with P-Corp after unsealing, right? What happened?
>[CASEY ALLY] "Why, good sir, I have to say your facility has been quite active over these many years! Though the question is why it took so long for you to reopen business!" Why now? It seems weird for him to only do it after so many years, right?
>[WENDY ALLY] "I don't think you understand. Your facility is going to flood in a matter of hours, maybe a day tops. Do you even understand what you're doing?" You'll need to get this bulbous fuck to understand the consequences of his actions.
>[UNSTABLE] "You're disgusting. You're a sickening pile of flesh and rot. How the hell did you even do this to yourself? Why is every single survivor here a FREAK?" It's sickening how delusional and how much in denial every survivor you met has been.
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] "So. An old research of yours wanted to find out if SHIFTers existed, huh?" Tell him about all of the changes that happened above ground. Show off some of your powers. That'll win him over onto your side.
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] "What was it like? Before this facility was sealed?" A bit of history couldn't hurt. You do have to get at least one other Department Head card, so anything to help resonate with them would be nice.
>There's no harm in asking him some minor questions, right? (FREE ACTION. Write in what you want to ask him.)
>Write in.
>>
>>6031411
>[QUENTIN ALLY] "I simply don't get it. How does no one here know the war is over? Shouldn't you still be in contact with your mother company?" They should've been in contact with P-Corp after unsealing, right? What happened?
>>
>>6031489
Anon we pick 3 total. You have 2 left
>>
>>6031411
>[QUENTIN ALLY] "I simply don't get it. How does no one here know the war is over? Shouldn't you still be in contact with your mother company?" They should've been in contact with P-Corp after unsealing, right? What happened?
>[WENDY ALLY] "I don't think you understand. Your facility is going to flood in a matter of hours, maybe a day tops. Do you even understand what you're doing?" You'll need to get this bulbous fuck to understand the consequences of his actions.
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] "What was it like? Before this facility was sealed?" A bit of history couldn't hurt. You do have to get at least one other Department Head card, so anything to help resonate with them would be nice.
>>
>>6031818
+1
Do we have any ideas for minor questions to ask him? Fuck it I'll do something to maybe lighten the tension slightly
>[UNSTABLE] "Damn bitch, you live like this?" slips your lips involuntarily. You're glad your living arrangements, dismal as they are to your soul, are still better compared to this.
>>
>>6031403
>you're a fucking bug man how could he be any weirder
This isn't a random UNSTABLE response triggered? This is Nicole? I guess reflex and old habits die hard
>pout
Sorry Quint
>something
Yeah you like that huh Clover?
>sugary sweet, almost cartoonish joy
Wendy you gotta remind yourself that these are still humans on the inside. In fact despite his body being warped by those PARADIGMS for 59 years, we helped him recover his humanity in his head. You should be glad he's less anomalous and more human now. Easier to tolerate now
>hungry buzz
Does Welfare have any plants or food? Might have to check if/when we stop by next
>share a look
He's literally the first ally we ever met, isn't he? He's got a special place in Nicole's history for that
>I apologize
He knows we can mindread? Or did he figure it out on his own? Or is that just a mutual understanding moment where the mindread proc just enhances it?
>the ETF you treated
Must be still there playing dead. Wise
>It is what it is
Their fault for trying to fight him en masse, and their fault for not running away the moment they saw they were all outmatched together

>>6031405
>5% DISCOUNT
>at least 95k
Can't have shit in this City, I swear...
>accepts a keycard
1 of 3. 2 of 3 once we get Audie's from him
>you smelling worse
What? Nicole doesn't smell that bad right now. I checked.
>JU..DY?
He can just tell, can't he? Do any of the systems in there still work for identification?
>clearly practiced neutral
"Finally," Wendy must be thinking. "Something I know I can deal with."
>not sure if centipedes are able to gag or vomit
The internet says they can do both, apparently. Mostly the latter?
>after they realized you weren't immediately impaled
Well after the first open near-impalement it's only prudent they do this from here on out

>>6031406
> completely consumed by a mass
The first time I read this bit I thought he actually became one with the office like those horror art of Garfield having ate the world and become one with the surroundings, or that Dogworld stuff.
>fully melded into the chair
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lar0fNuBA1U
>face
It's always the face that's intact with everybody here
>face
>soft, almost child-like
>pallid flesh
All this shit here about him and this room reminds me of joy mutants
>ELEVATED LEVELS OF C-EXTRACT
This is beyond any regular anomaly or the rest of the facility.
>fiddling with this thumbs
Must be especially stressful for a drone with how they are hardwired
>a lot clearer
I wonder if interacting with him is helping him gradually recover?
>A 50 YEAR HIATUS IS ENOUGH
I sure hope my favorite quests and series don't take one like that!
>>
>>6031818
+1
>>
>>6032032
Add
>There's no harm in asking him some minor questions, right? (FREE ACTION. Write in what you want to ask him.)
If you somehow manage to get out of the facility, what will you do next? And do you have a personal goal aside from getting out of the facility?
>>
>>6032245
Now this is good, let's ask this too
>>
>>6032245
Supporting
>>
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God, the Manager reeks. If it wasn't for your line of work desensitizing you to these smells, you would be throwing up now. You got some questions to milk out of him though. Best to start off small so he doesn't freak out or anything; You rather not anger a dude who's body is coating every single inch of his fucking office.

[UNSTABLE] "Damn, bitch, you live-"
[CORPORATE DOUBLESPEAK] Casey immediately covers your mouth with her hand. "I apologize on my friend's behalf! Due to your inhuman nature, you shocked her! She was expecting a manager who didn't...look like an anomalous entity. Please forgive her!"

You squint at Casey but you suppose you should thank her for that. You're not wrong, though, you're glad you're not living like this slob.

"IT'S FINE." The mass of flesh gurgles. "I KNOW I HAVE LEFT MYSELF GAIN A BIT MORE WEIGHT THAN I SHOULD HAVE. IT IS WHAT IT IS."
[UNSTABLE] THAT'S NOT REALLY YOUR ISSUE HERE, YOU FUCKING LARDBALL.

Quentin is the first to actually speak up. He nervously glances towards the Manager. He's clearly trying his best not to succumb to some innate Drone instinct. <"He's not your boss. She's your boss. She's YOUR friend. Stop getting nervous."> "I don't get it, sir."

"GET WHAT? IS IT THAT UNREASONABLE I WOULD GAIN SOME WEIGHT? FEH. I'M OFFENDED, BUGMAN." Huh, so he can tell Quentin is a Drone. Interesting.

"No, nO. HoW doES no one here know tHE WAR is over? SHOULDn't you still be in CONTACT with your mother company?" He's struggling to keep his natural monotone infliction in check. "WEREn't you suppose to be contacted by them it was time to unseal?"

The main humanoid mass of flesh sitting on the chair across from you shifts forward ever so slightly. It's hard to tell what emotion is on his face because his mouth is constantly forced into a twisted sneer. "WHAT ARE YOU ON ABOUT? IF THE WAR IS OVER, P-CORP MUST'VE BEEN DESTROYED SINCE I HAVEN'T HEARD A THING FROM THEM IN AGES!"

"god i wish." Wendy giggles under her breath. "No, no, sir. We've been in contact with them for a while now. They're still very much active. The last time District 16 was operated by a different Company was way, way before your time.

"NO. THAT'S A LIE. I KNOW YOU'RE-" Wendy promptly cuts him off with a loud, firm cough from the back of her throat.

[CORPORATE NIGHTMARE] "Mr. Manager, I have talked to dozens on dozens of P-Company managers and administrators over the last few years. Each of them has been a slob who runs off coffee, cigarettes, and cheap shitty food. Nothing has changed, Mr. Manager, and it will never change." Wendy leans in a little bit closer to the Manager. "Get that through your head."

"OH." Tick-tock. Your pocketwatch is starting to alert you of something but before you can check it, it stops. "OH. WELL THEN. I. SUPPOSE I SHOULD'VE DONE THIS EARLIER THEN. WE LOST CONTACT MANY YEARS AGO SO- OH." Seems like the Manager is cognizant enough to immediately pick up on what's going on. "THIS IS AN ISSUE."
>>
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"...You do REALIZE that if your MOTHER COMPANY abandons you, they most likely FORGOT you EXISTED, correct?" There's a tinge of pity in Quentin's unnatural voice. "I can't imagine how that must feel."

"I JUST WANTED OUT. I WAITED UNTIL I HAD APPROVAL BUT I WANTED OUT ALREADY. I DIDN'T WANT TO DIE HERE, YOU KNOW?" The mass of flesh gurgles yet again. "IF THEY REALLY DID CUT COMMUNICATIONS...THAT PRESENTS AN ISSUE. OH WELL. WE'LL FACE IT WHEN WE GET THERE-"

"I-issue? ISSUE?" Wendy snarls at the Manager with barely repressed rage before she immediately snaps back to her professional persona. "Yes. There is an issue. Do you know the status above ground? Of course not. Otherwise you wouldn't be unsealing right now."

"I FAIL TO SEE THE ISSUE HERE. YOU SAID THE WAR WAS OVER. THAT MEANS IT SHOULD BE A-OKAY."

"Sir, it's raining above!" Casey chirps out with her usual sing-song tone. "Not a light shower either! It is very much enough to flood the streets and to make traversing through the District mighty hard! Now, you can be excused somewhat for this, but go ahead Wendy."

"Thank you." Wendy gives Casey a genuine smile before turning her attention back to the flesh pile. "You have about a day tops, probably way less than that, before everything here floods."
[SYNCHRONIZED MINDSETS] "And from what I saw in the Security System as well," You add onto Wendy's ramblings as if she's speaking through you. "Every anomaly will also breach. Almost 40 of them, sir. A few may be immobile tools or otherwise rooted to their spot but the rest?"
[SYNCHRONIZED MINDSETS] "They'll breach the surface. And the rain is also caused by your facility unsealing, if my boss's little pocketwatch is right. Everything within a twenty mile radius AT MINIMUM will be ravaged. Do you understand now?"

And for a moment, there's no sound. No noise. You're struggling to breath as the clock keeps on ticking. Your other allies struggle to breath as well, which makes you immediately realize that oh. There's no fucking air in here anymore. No wonder why you couldn't hear anything.

As soon as your group begins to suffocate, air immediately floods back into the Manager's office. Your group struggles to regain their breath. The whole room is now a chorus of heavy, gas mask filtered breathing until eventually your group is able to get that precious oxygen back in their system.

"FUCK. I DIDN'T QUITE ANCTIPITATE THAT. TO BE QUITE HONEST, I WAS HOLDING MY BREATH IN CASE THERE WAS SOME GOOD NEWS BUT WOW. HUH."

[BOTH UNSTABLES] "WOW MAYBE DON'T FUCKING CHOKE US WHEN YOU DO THAT THANKS." "I HAVE HALF THE MIND TO RIP YOUR FUCKING THROAT OUT AIE AIE AIE!!!" The both of you are only being held back by Quentin and Casey wrapping their arms around your shoulders, keeping you seated down.

"OH. DIDN'T KNOW I WAS DOING THAT."

The mass of flesh spread across all of the walls shrinks back ever so slightly. "OKAY UH. FUCK, UH. I DON'T. I DON'T REALLY KNOW HOW TO FIX THIS UNSEALING THING."
>>
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"I WAS NOT EXACTLY IN THE RIGHT STATE OF MIND WHEN I WAS DOING IT." That's not good. "I MAY HAVE ACCIDENTLY BROKEN A LOT OF THINGS ABOVE HERE." Oh that's really not good. "BUT I. FUCK. LOOK I'LL TRY MY BEST GIMME A MOMENT." Tendrils of half rotten meat begin to slither over the panel in the back of the room. They're desperately fiddling with the many buttons and switches on it.

Maybe it's just you but this is probably the most cognizant survivor you met down here. Everyone was some flavor of batshit crazy but aside from not noticing anything wrong with his physical form, he's pretty much all there. He didn't even really freak out when you told him the truth.

Casey is the next one to speak up after the Manager starts fiddling with the panel. "If you do manage to get out of the facility, what will you do next? Your current state seems rather unwieldy for any purpose aside from your excellent Manager job!"

The tapping and flicking of switches and buttons stops for a moment. "I RATHER DIE ABOVE THAN DOWN HERE. IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK?" He begins to tap away at the panel again. It's hard to really mindread him to see if he's telling the truth but he doesn't seem to be lying here. "I HAVE LIVED MY WHOLE LIFE HERE. IS IT SO WRONG TO WANT TO SEE THE SUN AGAIN?"

[QUEEN BEE MINDSET] "I can respect that. The best thing you can do now is look at the great blue sky before you die." An hollow buzz comes from the deepest, furthest part of Casey's throat. "Yet a damaged hive is something that cannot be tolerated. Is it worth it, sir? Damaging your own hive?"

The tapping stops for a brief moment before it picks up again. "IT WAS ALREADY DEAD WHEN WE SEALED OURSELVES DOWN HERE. WE WERE TOO COWARDLY TO FINISH THE JOB UNTIL NOW. IT CAN CRUMBLE TO THE GROUND FOR ALL I CARE BUT I DIDN'T WANT TO BURDEN THE SURFACE WITH THE BEASTS HERE. I APOLOGIZE FOR THAT." Well, that's probably all you're going to get out of this topic. Best to ask him one last thing.

"What was it like? Before this facility was sealed?" You can't help yourself. You have to know. If nothing else, it should help you down the line.

"BAD. REAL BAD. I TRIED MY BEST TO KEEP THINGS UNDER CONTROL BUT WELL, HERE'S THE ISSUE WITH KEEPING STAFF HAPPY AND SAFE IN A FACILITY LIKE THIS DURING WAR TIME. IT'S JUST." A warm, child-like gurgle oozes from the Manager. "IT'S NOT REALLY POSSIBLE. WE HAD OVER 300 PEOPLE ACROSS THE FACILITIES BUT THE EMPLOYEE TURNOVER RATE WAS 32.575% PER MONTH. IT WAS NOT SUBSTAINABLE."

"THEN WE STOPPED RECEIVING REPLACEMENT STAFF FROM P-CORP. THEY HAD TO PUT THEM IN OTHER HIGHER PRIORITY FACILITIES. EVENTUALLY THINGS BEGAN TO COLLAPSE AND SOON, I HAD TO SEAL THIS FACILITY SHUT UNTIL P-CORP WOULD SEND IN AN EXTRACTION SQUAD OR BACKUP. YOU CAN SEE HOW WELL THAT WENT."

"Don't you have a welfare HEAD?" Quentin nervously asks. "Isn't it their job to try to, uh, make people happy?"
"And accounting supposed to be in charge of keeping employee retention high?" Wendy raises an eyebrow.
>>
"MR. BENOWITZ WAS A DEFECTIVE REJECT OF A DRONE. I DON'T THINK HE CARED ABOUT ANYTHING OTHER THAN PROFITS. YOU COULDN'T GET THAT FUCKER TO PAY FOR A NEW PAIR OF SHOES FOR OUR EMPLOYEES, LET ALONE ANOTHER FIFTY. ALL THAT ASSHOLE CARES ABOUT IS A WAY TO GET MORE, MORE, MORE. AND FOR MR. LINTON?"

"HE WAS THE FIRST TO BREAK. HE TRIED TO USE A NOOSE BUT WE STOPPED HIM. I DON'T THINK HE'S EVEN MENTALLY THERE ANYMORE. I DUNNO. HE KEPT BLABBERING ABOUT WANTING SOMEONE TO CRY FOR HIM. TO LISTEN TO HIM." The Manager soon stops fiddling with the panel.

"OKAY. COULDN'T DO MUCH BUT I HAVE UPGRADED YOUR KEYCARD. YOU CAN NOW ACCESS EVERYTHING I CAN. THAT'S THE MOST I CAN DO." Oh, cool! "AND. HERE." The Manager spits out an odd looking earpiece onto the table. "THIS WILL. LET YOU TALK TO ME.
>RESEARCH HEAD IDupgraded! (Can unlock any door that isn't physically blocked.)
>FLESH-COVERED EARPIECE OBTAINED! (Allows for direct communication with the Manager.)

Well, that's all you can really get out of him. Before your group is about to leave, the Manager holds out a massive tendril to you.

"I HAVE A FAVOR TO ASK. I WANT YOU. TO GET ME OUT OF HERE ONCE YOU'RE DONE. I NEED YOU TO CUT THIS PIECE OF ME AND CARRY IT. I'M NOT SURE IF YOU WILL BE ABLE TO RETURN HERE ONCE THE RESEALING BEGINS. TAKE ME WITH YOU."

You stare down at the massive tendril. Some part of you is telling you that a chunk of his essence will be in this tendril. He will be able to sense and feel wherever it goes. Though some part is also telling you that so would the anomalies. You might get into a lot of hot water that you otherwise would be able to avoid if you accept.

Do you accept the Manager's flesh?
>YES. (+2 P-CORP FAVOR, +MANAGER'S FLESH PARADIGM, Your mission end reward will be increased by $555 as well. Risk level will be permanently bumped to VERY HIGH)
>REJECT THE OFFER.

Anything else you want to do with the Manager before leaving? Choose as many as you want.
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You feel like he deserves something. Use MEMORIES OF A FORGOTTEN ERA, your old PARADIGM, to try getting something pleasant from the past for him. (WILLPOWER DC: 18, rolling 7d6 by yourself. Pass and you imagine getting some old pleasant memories back will make the Manager far happier, improving his ability to help you down the line.)
>Try to use a A-ENERGY SIPHON on him to try helping him. (-1 A-ENERGY SIPHON. You're not sure of the consequences of this but it might be the only way to unfuck his body.)
>[HARVESTING KIT] Extract some FLESH from him that hopefully won't garner too much attention if you carry it. (TALENT DC: ???, rolling 12d6 with the help of your allies. The higher you roll, the more MEAT you get from the Manager. Might offer as useful bait or bargaining chips down the line.)
>No. Just leave and check up on your allies.

Passed out before updating earlier. Should be back to normal updating scheduling.
>>
>>6032947
Before I vote
>When we get out and this place reseals, do you think P Corp could extract everybody themselves if we call them in? There's an insane amount of A-Energy and anomalies in here along with all the Heads still alive. If J Corp lets them operate, couldn't they re-excavate a tunnel to get inside? There would be less A-Energy spilling out and ruining what's out there with only one way open.
Ask something to this effect. I'm curious that's all
>>
>>6032996
The Manager blinks before taking a moment to think on howhe should respond. "I...DON'T SEE WHY NOT. BUT IF THEY HAVEN'T BOTHERED CHECKING UP ON US FOR DECADES, I'M NOT SURE WHY THEY WOULD START HELPING US NOW."

[CORPORATE NIGHTMARE] "From my personal experience." Wendy chimes in. "They would probably want to sweep this under the rug. For better or worse. They might just collect the A-Energy and the anomalies but nothing else."

Quentin and Casey shrug. Neither of them really have any idea what would happen if you managed to get P-Corp down here. That's all you're getting from them.
>>
>>6032947
>>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You feel like he deserves something. Use MEMORIES OF A FORGOTTEN ERA, your old PARADIGM, to try getting something pleasant from the past for him. (WILLPOWER DC: 18, rolling 7d6 by yourself. Pass and you imagine getting some old pleasant memories back will make the Manager far happier, improving his ability to help you down the line.)

>Try to use a A-ENERGY SIPHON on him to try helping him. (-1 A-ENERGY SIPHON. You're not sure of the consequences of this but it might be the only way to unfuck his body.)

>Try to use a A-ENERGY SIPHON on him to try helping him. (-1 A-ENERGY SIPHON. You're not sure of the consequences of this but it might be the only way to unfuck his body.)
>>
>>6033002
Thank you. It seems getting them involved is worth it but only if we get the Heads and anomalies and PARADIGMS we care about out first. It can also be our chance to tell them the silver agents are after the REFINEMENT machines and that they are the ones behind the recent mass breaches and sabotage. We show them hard evidence of their existence and Handler backs us up, and we might gain a powerful ally or third party to be an enemy to the silver agents.

>>6032947
>YES.
I really feel for this guy. He's straightforward and has his sanity and he gives a shit. Truly a good Manager despite his flaws and fuckups. We need the extra money too, and despite the red text warning I get the strong feeling that the tendril will also unlock SPECIAL options or potential as we go through this place.

As much as I want to move onto Welfare, I STRONGLY suggest we go block that secret passage to Training. It'd be a nightmare if a bunch of breached anomalies all come up here just because they sense the Manager tendril on us. This is one mission that overachieving could end our lives on because that Training bitch's floor has TWELVE BREACHED ANOMALIES on it. C-X means hard to impossible to contain + 4-5 means high to insane damage. If it were only like a small handful of them maybe we could fight and extract from one or two? We cannot CANNOT handle a whole floor of loose WAWs and ALEPHs in Lobotomy Corp terms. Floor 5 Training is actual suicide

>Try to use a A-ENERGY SIPHON on him to try helping him. (-1 A-ENERGY SIPHON. You're not sure of the consequences of this but it might be the only way to unfuck his body.)
We have 3 of these so we can spare one. If what I suspect is correct, then this might actually give us C-Extract instead with how he's generating it and based on the pocketwatch warning.
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You feel like he deserves something. Use MEMORIES OF A FORGOTTEN ERA, your old PARADIGM, to try getting something pleasant from the past for him. (WILLPOWER DC: 18, rolling 7d6 by yourself. Pass and you imagine getting some old pleasant memories back will make the Manager far happier, improving his ability to help you down the line.)
I want to make the attempt whether we succeed or fail. It IS the thought that counts.

I don't want to spend time harvesting from him. We have 1 MEAT BAIT but we can always get more later. Always ALWAYS more MEAT!!! to go around... But anyway what do you guys think?
>>
>>6033020
>TWO?!
You think double A-SIPHON could get him down to our size so we don't need his tendril with us drawing aggro? Then we can simply have him walk (or office wheelchair) out with us like everybody else?
>>
>>6033023
+1

No.6011287
COLD BLOODED INFORMANT lifts its head up for a moment. "Hmmm. Bring meeee. The heads. Of four of the glowing ones. And bring me. The head of the Manager who sealed me down here. I know he's still here. Then I'll come."
>OPTIONAL OBJECTIVE OBTAINED: KILL FOUR SILVERS AND THE MANAGER. REWARD: +COLD BLOODED INFORMANT (CONTAINED. WORTH $1000 and a J-CORP FAVOR.)
https://boards.4chan.org/qst/thread/5982952#bottom
Hmmm, how will we convince him to not want manager heads?
Also, should we kill MR. BENOWITZ for having big hands in causing the facility conditions to get so bad that the manager has to seal the facility?
>>
>>6033059
You shouldn't +1 me yet. If the other guy's plan is to burn TWO A-Energy Siphons in the hope that it could return the Manager to normal, then I'm willing to do that.
As for INFORMANT yeah, I don't think we can kill the Manager now. Maybe the Manager himself could suggest something that could sate INFORMANT's desire for his head?
As for Benowitz, I think Quentin should tear him a new one for being a shit excuse for a drone and for a department head. Do you think recovering Benowitz alive is good enough to appease INFORMANT? If they're such good friends and similar by now?
>>
>>6033077
>You shouldn't +1 me yet. If the other guy's plan is to burn TWO A-Energy Siphons in the hope that it could return the Manager to normal, then I'm willing to do that.
I think we don’t need to inject him with another siphon. I worry about the consequences of injecting another siphon.
>As for INFORMANT yeah, I don't think we can kill the Manager now. Maybe the Manager himself could suggest something that could sate INFORMANT's desire for his head?
>As for Benowitz, I think Quentin should tear him a new one for being a shit excuse for a drone and for a department head. Do you think recovering Benowitz alive is good enough to appease INFORMANT? If they're such good friends and similar by now?
No.6019256
>"Mr. Benowitz has all of our excess supplies hidden away in his floor. He keeps an eye on it all the time. He'll know if you arrive there. Do not hide your intentions. He's...strange." Not much to say, seems simple enough.
https://boards.4chan.org/qst/thread/5982952#bottom
I am on board with killing Benowitz for making the facility get sealed because of his greed. Maybe we can find something valuable in the Benowitz stockpile that we can give to the INFORMANT so that he will not want manager heads?
>>
>>6033105
Even though INFORMANT is friends with him, does he know Benowitz was responsible for the sealing?
>>
>>6033281
>Even though INFORMANT is friends with him, does he know Benowitz was responsible for the sealing?
Maybe we somehow made him confess his crime, or we can get evidence that he indirectly caused the facility to be sealed. Or both
>>
>>6033281
Also, why does the INFORMANT want the manager head if he know Benowitz was indirectly responsible for causing the facility to be sealed?
>>
>>6033294
I'm sticking to my vote in >>6033023 then. 1 siphon and not 2

>>6033296
He said
>The head of the Manager who sealed me down here.
But the Manager wasn't the one. I still refuse to give Manager up. There's a reason he's the Manager and that P Corp always extracts the Manager as one of the first items.

Anyway what is the plan? My loose plan is
>regroup after Manager
>seal Training passage off and never go there
>take passage to Welfare
>beat up Sin and Hateful Smiles
>recover the depressed Welfare Head Linton
>take elevator with code to Floor 6 Accounting
>rush to Accounting Head Benowitz
>kill or subjugate Benowitz
>LOOT THE FLOOR
>elevator with Audie's code to Floor 7 Extraction
>destroy Latecomer Blossom core
>confront Dreary Night Murderer
>recover the hopeless Extraction Head Naomi's relative
>abort unseal procedure
>engage reseal procedure
>GET THE FUCK OUT
We still have lots of time before full unseal happens because we've been going FAST despite accomplishing a lot. The Research lab on Floor 2 is still not looted and there's a lot of PARADIGMS still sitting there contained. The Armory boxes sealed up after we looted 2, and our now ALL ACCESS KEYCARD can authorize them to open. That's another high-value loot target we can try to backtrack to if doable. Unseal stops our time limit from getting worse but the facility will still flood due to preexisting tunnels. Reseal means our objective becomes to rush out ASAP
>>
>>6033298
What about the training heads? Are we abandoning her? Will Clover get mad at us for abandoning her?

>[DOGMATIC MINDSET] Clover has a very simple view of the world, in no small part that he wants his simple worldview to become reality. While this is admirable in some situations, Clover is VERY stubborn and will be VERY vocal when any moral questions pop up.
>>
>>6032947
>REJECT THE OFFER.

>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You feel like he deserves something. Use MEMORIES OF A FORGOTTEN ERA, your old PARADIGM, to try getting something pleasant from the past for him. (WILLPOWER DC: 18, rolling 7d6 by yourself. Pass and you imagine getting some old pleasant memories back will make the Manager far happier, improving his ability to help you down the line.)
>Try to use a A-ENERGY SIPHON on him to try helping him. (-1 A-ENERGY SIPHON. You're not sure of the consequences of this but it might be the only way to unfuck his body.)
>[HARVESTING KIT] Extract some FLESH from him that hopefully won't garner too much attention if you carry it. (TALENT DC: ???, rolling 12d6 with the help of your allies. The higher you roll, the more MEAT you get from the Manager. Might offer as useful bait or bargaining chips down the line.)
>>
Also, when we finish all the side missions, I want to announce to all other people down in the facility that we are about to start the resealed procedure. I don’t want to trap ETFs and other people in the facility. Clover will definitely get mad if we don’t do this, and we will get a lot of people pissed at us for trapping them down here.

I wonderingly, will the facility automatically announce to the whole facility that the resealed procedures will start in next X hours? Hopefully.
>>
>>6033338
Shit you're right. How can we get the Training Head out of there willingly? Do we stealthmax and burn drone pheromones and whatever else?

>>6033383
If not, maybe the Manager can do it? We have the earpiece to him to let him know right before we do it. That would alert all living silver agents and aware anomalies too, and everybody will rush the elevators
>>
>>6033407
I have a potential stupid idea: what if we tame or carry the "G: DOG. X0. ESOTERIC. by Nicole or friends, allies, to hopefully effect and cause the anomalies to ignore us in order to stop thinking about the dogs while we search the training heads?
>>
There is definitely flex tape somewhere here, right?
>>
Casey has a sentient dog gun. (MBF Model 129.) We can use the Casey dog gun to communicate and make friends with the "G: DOG. X0. ESOTERIC. to help us.
>>
>>6033426
>>6033427
>>6033434
What if Casey can do this?
https://youtu.be/H8gaMmwaEM0
>>
>>6033426
My understanding of the dog is that anyone who makes contact (or even mentions) the dog Dog Dog Dog woof woof Dog Dog Dog wag wag woof bark Dog Dog Dog

So how do we know that Nicole won’t be affected by Dog Dog Dog Dog Dog woof woof wag bark wag bark Dog Dog Dog

I mean we could have something in our dragon hoard of consumables that would help. I haven’t checked the pastebin in a while.

DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG
>>
As much as the discussion is fun, the actual vote seems pretty cut and dry.

TENDRIL?
YES: 00b, dzp
DIDN'T VOTE: IZa
NO: 32V

WHAT DO WITH MANAJUH?
A-ENERGY SIPHON: IZa (wanted two), 00b, 32V
FORGOTTEN MEMORIES: ALL
HARVEST: 32V

Seems pretty cut and dry. I need two anons to roll for the following
>4d6 (first half of 7d6)
>3d6 (second half of 3d6)

>>6033786
[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] From your exposure to it, you know that it completely messes up with people's thoughts. making them only able to think of DOG.
[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Even you were getting your brain frazzled by the DOG.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] It's a DOG. You literally can not describe it as anything other than a DOG.
[UNSTABLE] DOG. Why DOES it want to only be referred to as a DOG?
>>
Rolled 6, 1, 6, 2 = 15 (4d6)

>>6033866
Rolling!!!
>>
Rolled 4, 6, 5 = 15 (3d6)

>>6033866
>>
>>6033902
>>6033879
TOTAL: 30
That beats the DC by a large margin, good job. Time to write.
>>
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The mass of undulating, rotten meat that is held in front of you fucking reeks and your head spins the longer and longer you have to look at it. Every part of you wants to fucking stab it and rip it apart and- God, you're sounding like Wendy.

Yet you want to grab it. Yet how will Wendy react if you do so?

[SYNCHORIZED MINDSET] "Just grab it. I know you already set your mind to it." Wendy tries his best to keep her cordial, polite business persona up. "Okay? I won't freak out." Seems like she's reading your mind right now. You wouldn't be shocked if she could hear you somehow.

Schizo to schizo communication aside, you hold your hand out. The rotten tendril promptly falls into your hand. It squirms around like a slug that was thrown into a giant pile of salt. You damn near throw up on the spot but you immediately feel a cooling sensation flooding through your neck.

Feh. You pocket the piece of meat.
>MANAGER'S FLESH OBTAINED! (A manager's command is absolute. Each turn, once per ally, an ally may reroll any three dice they roll for an attack or skill check they roll for. Has no other limits, may be used as often as possible. They smell it, you know?)
>RISK LEVEL SET TO VERY HIGH!

Well then. You got two things to do before you leave. You fiddle around with your inventory until you pull out the first PARADIGM you ever got: An old camcorder that's completely coated in soot and ash. The Manager immediately senses that it's not just an ordinary camera. He leans his main humanoid mass of flesh over to take a closer look at it.

"Just stand still like that." Kiara would help you with this but alas, you just have to rawdog this. You fiddle with a few buttons on the camera in an attempt to turn it on. It does have a mind of its own so you're not sure how well you can overpower it...

>30!

You barely have to fiddle with it for longer than a few seconds before it bends to your will. The camera crackles to life with an off-putting, distorted crackle. The footage being recorded is drenched in the same sepia tone it always records shit in. The Manager being recorded is no longer a massive pile of pallid flesh that has spread across the wall and ceiling of the containment cell.

Instead, there's a very chubby and rotund man in a simple patchwork suit and tie. His dark hair is a sweaty, slicked back mess that's soaked in some sort of thick grease. His big, puffy cheeks are the main dominating aspect of his face; The rest of his face is hard to make out thanks to how small his nose is and how sunken in his eyes are.

A few unidentified androids in secretary uniforms are roaming around the small (now cleaned) office to fiddle with filing cabins and piles of paperwork on the Manager's desk. One of them is even resting against the Manager's side, wrapping her arm around his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

You envy him. The fact he had someone to comfort him like that is- Feh. You can worry about that later.
>>
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You turn the camcorder around so that the Manager can see it for himself. You lean back in your chair while you wait to see how he reacts.

Another meaty tendril from the piles of meat all around the office moves over to pick it up. The mass of flesh stares at the footage being recorded by MEMORIES OF A FORGOTTEN ERA, trying his best to process what's going on. No one else in the room really wants to interrupt him as he watches the old memories being broadcasted.

"CATHY. ANGELICA. 2198. IT'S. IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE I THOUGHT OF THEM." The mass of flesh undulates and squirms for a moment before dropping the camera back into your hand. The flesh lining the walls and ceiling is slowly retreating back to the main body that's sitting across from you. "It's been so long since I remembered their names. IT'S SO EASIER TO USE LETTERS, NUMBERS, YOU KNOW."

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] You're not an expert on how humans that have transformed into anomalies work but it seems that their physical form is reliant on their own state of mind.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] This conversation. That memory. It appears that this PARADIGM you have is tailor made to reverse these specific kinds of anomalies.
[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] The man you obtained this PARADIGM from turned into an anomaly after he reached his lowest point. Perhaps he doesn't wish for others to share his fate.

"Oh! It is an efficient mean of categorizing employees, sir! See, 19344 was the number assigned to me!" Casey's smile wavers for a moment. "It's good you remember their names still."

"NICK." Quentin groans out for a moment before realizing that he just used a nickname for you. He makes an awkward noise in the back of his throat before he speaks up again. "UH. NICOLE. YOU HAVE one of those SIPHON thiNGs, right?" Ah! You snap your fingers before nodding approvingly at Quentin.

You pull the A-ENERGY SIPHON out of your pocket and slam it right down onto the desk. It's a small cylinder-shaped device made out of a simple red and black plastic. It has a small nozzle poking out the top of it that seems to be made to suck in air whenever it's on. You press the button on the top of it to see what happens.

The first thing you notice is how you feel an intense, almost painful tingling throughout your whole body as the device activates. Especially in your antlers, those things are starting to BURN now. You collapse in the back of your chair but you keep your eyes focused on the Manager.

Your allies promptly get out of their chairs, worried about your condition, but your attention isn't focused on them right now. The Manager is having a far worse reaction to it than you are. His whole body has gone limp and it almost immediately smashes into the table. Your allies back away as far from him as they can while still being close enough to keep an eye on you.

Flesh and bone shifts across his pallid form. The meat all over the office is violently slurped back up into his body with a disgusting, wet SLORP.
>>
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As soon as his body begins to change, it suddenly stops. The A-ENERGY SIPHON lets out a small little electronic chirp before frying under the strain of what it was trying to do.
>-1 A-ENERGY SIPHON

The Manager laying behind the table is now a lot more humanoid than he was before. The tall, hairless naked figure before you has a heavy layer of fat covering his whole frame. The twisted smile on his face has healed somewhat, revealing a pair of yellow and blooded teeth. His pallid skin has regained a bit of color but not nearly enough to be healthy.

Most of the mass that was spread around has condensed into his left arm and his gut. His arm is about as big and bulky as your whole body and his gut is pinning him to his chair. The sheer amount of weight means he's still not exiting the office anytime soon...

Yet he's clearly on the path of recovery now that all of his mass has been condensed into a single humanoid form instead of just being spread out literally everywhere like meat soup.

"HOO. I need some TIME to BREATH. PLEASE." His eyes are now actually visible underneath his pile of flesh. A set of bright orange irises peers through his sunken in eye sockets. "PLEASE." A deep, guttural groan echoes throughout the room as he struggles to regain his breath.

"Y-yeah, sure." Wendy's smile begins to waver. She moves to grab the A-ENERGY SIPHON before promptly rushing out of the office. The rest of your group scramble out of the office, leaving the partially recovered Manager behind."

Your group doesn't stop until they're back at the hub area on the third floor. Now, any survivors who were still around have stopped struggling. The chorus of moans, grunts, and cries of pain has been completely silenced. The only thing that's out of place amongst the corpses is the fact that the ETF you helped to heal is gone now.

[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] She's still in the facility for whatever reason. You know this to be certain.
[PERSON OF INTEREST] Smart. She waited until nobody alive was around until she moved. Just in case anyone was watching.

Time to check up on your other allies. You do have an upgraded keycard so there's no real reason to stay here unless you absolutely have to. You flick your head for a moment to try getting rid of the residue static flooding your antlers. Wendy promptly hands you over an odd canister that was inside the fried A-ENERGY SIPHON.

>+2 DEGRADED C-EXTRACT CANISTERS (The dull orange fluid is not like anything you've seen before. You might be able to sell it for a decent profit but not nearly as much as the real deal.)
>(When consumed, boosts WILLPOWER, COGNIZANCE, and RESTRAINT by a random amount between 0-2 for a limited time at the cost of taking 3 FLESH DAMAGE.)

Interesting. You pocket those for now.

As the four of you head down the westmost hallway, you swear you heard some sort of struggle going on but you're not sure what it could be. Your allies prepare their weapons just in case they need to fight.
>>
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Hopefully you don't have to. though. Fighting is a necessity, not something you actively look out for. The hallway you stumble into looks like any other but there's a small airlock at the very end of the hallway. Next to it is a dispenser that seems to dispense A-Energy boxes. The sign above it that has a simple diagram of an employee turning on the dispenser, grabbing a box that comes out, then entering the airlock.

The REFINEMENT AIRLOCK is open. Clover, Kiara, and Naomi are standing far away from it with a tense and...disgusted look on their faces. None of them seem to want to be anywhere near it. They don't even seem to notice your group either.
>-2 RESTRAINT TO CLOVER, KIARA, AND NAOMI!
>CLOVER: 2/5 RESTRAINT, NAOMI: 3/5 RESTRAINT, KIARA: 3/5 RESTRAINT

https://youtu.be/gBHeUYrPOO4 - REFINEMENT

W-what the fuck is that noise? You can't even begin to comprehend the noise coming out of the REFINEMENT ROOM. There's the grinding of gears, the chugging of some sort of engine, and the crunching of something hard but that's about all that you can analyze before it just becomes static in your mind. Every few moments, the gears screech to a halt before an ear-piercing alarm blares throughout the opened airlock.

Then, it starts up again to what you can only assume is it's natural 'operational procedure'. Grinding, crunching, chugging, screaming. Grinding, crunching, chugging, screaming. Every once in a while, you hear something bubbling like something blowing bubbles in a drink with a straw or a hiss of high pressure steam coming from inside there.

A figure steps out from the opened REFINEMENT airlock. It's Audie! His eyes have glazed over and all of the paper-like chitin on his body has flared up, as if he's ready for a fight, but he's otherwise perfectly fine.

"Hey." Kiara's electronic voice box buzzes with an unusually quiet and demure tone. "We secured it. Wasn't too hard to deal with the figures down there."
"I thought I was desensitized to seeing that kind of stuff but..." Naomi mutters under her breath.
"This facility disgusts me." Clover spits out. Whatever he saw there pulled on his JUSTICE-fueled heart but he doesn't seem like he's in the mood to talk about it. "And I thought I liked P-Corp."

[PERSON OF INTEREST] You know that whatever Singularity P-Corp has in that room, you probably shouldn't check it out for yourself.
[UNSTABLE + SEEKER OF THE CITY] Yet you want to know as well.

Audie has a head held in one of his many arms. Given that the neck stump is leaking a bright blue fluid and the fact it's wearing shades, you know it to be a SPOOK. He promptly tosses the head over to you.
>+SPOOK HEAD! (A memento.)

"We scared off the rest." Audie chitters through clenched teeth. "I subdued the machine for a bit. It'll sleep for now. It is of no use to anyone for the time being." Well, it seems that despite them being shaken by whatever happened down there, they've secured it for now at least.
>>
>Party has been reunited! All allies are now affected by Naomi's stat boosting BOON!
>OTHER ALLIES' RESTRAINT: AUDIE IS 5/5, CASEY IS 3/4, WENDY IS 5/5, QUENTIN IS 4/5

"Let's go. Please." Kiara tries her best to smile. It's anything but convincing.

Where do you go now, Nicole?
>[UNSTABLE] HEAD INTO THE REFINEMENT ROOM. YOU HAVE TO KNOW WHAT'S INSIDE THERE. (Who knows what's in there?)
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Go back to Floor 2. Try to obtain that DOG to hide your SCENT. It should be easy enough to contain.
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] Head straight to Floor 7. It would be better to do all of this extra stuff once you've made sure this place won't flood immediately.
>[QUENTIN ALLY] Go to Floor 6. You have a feeling he'll be able to get through with the HEAD down there. (Should be safe, given nothing is breached there.)
>[CLOVER ALLY] "We're going to Floor 5." Clover hisses through his clenched teeth. "I don't want to leave her behind." Agree. Go down there, despite your better judgement. (Will be VERY difficult but may provide a LOT of extra reward.)
>[CASEY ALLY] Go to Floor 4. Perhaps Casey's charm will be enough to help him get out of his rut? (Probably the easiest keycard to get.)
>Split up the party again. You'll cover more ground this way. (Write in. Pick two choices. You may specifically assign which allies go where or just let the QM decide who goes where.)
>Write in.

Do you want to do anything with your unnerved allies? Pick one.
>You have some time to kill. Talk to your allies for a moment. Try to calm down them. (Choose one ALLY to comfort. They'll heal 2 RESTRAINT and gain +1 MAX RESTRAINT for the rest of the mission.)
>Focus your attention on Clover. Get his mind focused elsewhere. (-1 charge on SEEKER OF JUSTICE. Clover heals to 6/6 RESTRAINT but he can't use SEEKER OF JUSTICE for a while.)
>"Hey, uh, Casey! Do the cute thing you normally do!" (CHARM DC: ??, rolling Casey's 5d6 charm by herself. For every 5 points she rolls, a random ally heals 1 RESTRAINT.)
>Give your allies some JOYVEL. That should be enough. (-2 JOYVEL PILLS, leaving you with none. Choose two allies to heal 1 RESTRAINT.)
>They can handle themselves for now. Casey's normal upbeat attitude should help them perk back up.
>Write in.

Should be the last repost. Nearly forgot to account for Quentin having both ELITE SPOOK and Naomi's boon active.
>>
>>6034188
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Go back to Floor 2. Try to obtain that DOG to hide your SCENT. It should be easy enough to contain.
We need Casey dogs gun with us.
>Floor 2
>Research
>"E: MUSHROOM DREAMS. B0. NOTHING TO NOTE, APPROVED FOR ALL EMPLOYEES TO INTERACT WITH. LOW ENERGY EITHER WAY. USE WHEN YOU NEED A BREAK."
Free Restraints heal for entire team?

>You have some time to kill. Talk to your allies for a moment. Try to calm down them. (Choose one ALLY to comfort. They'll heal 2 RESTRAINT and gain +1 MAX RESTRAINT for the rest of the mission.)
Clover
>>
>>6032928
>"Damn, bitch, you live-"
:^)
>innate Drone instinct
Still so much about drones we don't know
>tell Quentin is a Drone
Very interesting detail
>natural monotone inflection in check
Is that part of his bodyjacking that he can alter that? I assume he reverts to the drone monotone the more the bodies decay
>god i wish
Does she know?

>>6032933
>can't imagine
Are you sure about that, Quentin?
>genuine smile
Nice interaction between them on top of earlier
>[BOTH UNSTABLES]
SCHIZO AND SCHIZO INDIGNATION
>DIDN'T KNOW
Is he aware he's anomalous now?

>>6032938
>most cognizant survivor
Something in the Admin syringe P Corp supplies. Something that grants the anomalous perception that also confers high resistance
>mindread him
We can't mindread anomalies or too far gone anomalous people. Looks to be a hard rule of Nicole's power
>the deepest, furthest part of Casey's throat
A place only reached by consumables, doctors, emergency breathing tubes, and Manager cock
>DIDN'T WANT TO BURDEN THE SURFACE
This might be the most forthright and upstanding guy we've seen all quest

>>6032947
>DEFECTIVE REJECT
Sounds like a job for Quentin
>WANTING SOMEONE TO CRY FOR HIM
So That No One Will Cry...
>ID upgraded!
All access means we have the POWER
>FLESH-COVERED EARPIECE
I wonder if that'll remain after the mission?
>>
>>6034171
>reading your mind
Nah she's not anomalous. Just schizo understanding is all
>cooling sensation
What was that?
>MANAGER'S FLESH
GODLIKE EFFECT
>rawdog this
A photo right after Nicole took Manager's long meaty tentacle in his office? Hot. The thought of Kiara "helping" Nicole is even hotter.
>patchwork suit and tie
The P Corp classic
>jealous
>someone to comfort him
You'll get someone too, Nicole. Not yet but one day, maybe soon

>>6034172
>CATHY
Who?
>ANGELICA
...
>tailor made to reverse
Never giving this up, not with so many people becoming SHIFTERS lately
>19344
Same as in MANAGER HELP!
>used a nickname
CUTE

>>6034173
>still not exiting the office anytime soon
There goes the plan to wheel him out
>path of recovery
Who knows how this act will affect things?
>bright orange irises
Anomalous, maybe SHIFTER?
>ETF
Wonder if she'll find the one that left after the silver elite?
>+2 DEGRADED C-EXTRACT CANISTERS
Can we weaponize it and kill someone with that 3 FLESH damage? That'd be an interesting use

>>6034176
>a necessity
I love how Nicole has developed from thread 1
>simple diagram
Like the one in the Lobotomy Corp manual and artbook?
>REFINEMENT
They're never going to forget what they saw even after they die, but they can endure it. Also Wendy thought the "mystery survivor" from Floor 1 was hiding in there before. Guess she was part right, huh?
>+SPOOK HEAD
1 of 4 for INFORMANT. There are now 4 spooks left in the facility, plus 2 on surface.
>scared off the rest
Worth it. Those spooks had beelined to REFINEMENT offscreen. INFORMANT was right.
But the question now is how many were "scared off"? We didn't see any on the way here. Did they slip to one of the passages?
>>
>>6034265
I'm more interested in hitting Floor 7 and getting the unseal aborted to stop the flooding, then work our way back upward to handle the rest. Lower RESTRAINT on party thanks to the REFINEMENT mindfuck can help us take on Dreary Night Murderer safer with easier irrationality reached. We have RESEARCH ID and Audie's SECURITY ID. After we win over Naomi's relative that's the 3 IDs we need to abort unseal. I think triggering reseal is separate and needs authorization too, so as long as Manager is our ally to cockblock any attempts remotely and as long as we have the majority of IDs on us, nobody else not even glownigs can go behind our backs to trigger reseal. And that's if the agents can even reach Floor 7 on their own
>>
>>6034312
Okay
>>6034265
Change
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] Head straight to Floor 7. It would be better to do all of this extra stuff once you've made sure this place won't flood immediately.
>They can handle themselves for now. Casey's normal upbeat attitude should help them perk back up.
>>
>>6034367
+1
I hope I'm not making a mistake with this, but it feels like the best course of action. We won't have the "this place is flooding, you gotta help us and get out" leverage over the Heads anymore, but there's still enough danger and possibility of freedom that the Heads will still help us. For now REFINEMENT is ok, but we need to kill the silver agents to prevent them swarming the place later
>>
>>6034188
>>[CLOVER ALLY] "We're going to Floor 5." Clover hisses through his clenched teeth. "I don't want to leave her behind." Agree. Go down there, despite your better judgement. (Will be VERY difficult but may provide a LOT of extra reward.)
>>
>>6034188
This is a tough one. I think DOG might be a good investment but... hmmm. We also need to figure if we are going after Dreary right now, since lower restraint is needed to tackle him, apparently. Regardless, I think we need to save the JOYVAL for Nicky, just in case she has to push herself into the danger zone.

>>6034307
We killed that Elite Spook, right? Doesn't his head count, even if it is currently filled with Quentin?
>>
>>6034646
>Doesn't his head count
No, because it is occupied by Quentin
Also bear in mind DOG is on the same floor as the Armory (which we can loot the last 2 quality boxes in with the ALL ACCESS KEYCARD) and the Research Lab (which has LOTS OF PARADIGMS in the back that we did not loot).
>save the JOYVAL for Nicky
We have other ways to regenerate RESTRAINT. ARCADY DUST which we only have 1 of heals 3 RESTRAINT for example. I'm more worried about those 4 other spooks still loose in the facility. They can't go after REFINEMENT now that we had Audie "secure it" for us, and that was their primary goal here. With that cockblocked for the time being, who knows what they'll do next when we aren't looking?
>>
>>6034188
>[QUENTIN ALLY] Go to Floor 6. You have a feeling he'll be able to get through with the HEAD down there. (Should be safe, given nothing is breached there.)
>"Hey, uh, Casey! Do the cute thing you normally do!" (CHARM DC: ??, rolling Casey's 5d6 charm by herself. For every 5 points she rolls, a random ally heals 1 RESTRAINT.)
>>
>>6034188
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Go back to Floor 2. Try to obtain that DOG to hide your SCENT. It should be easy enough to contain.
DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG DOG

>You have some time to kill. Talk to your allies for a moment. Try to calm down them. (Choose one ALLY to comfort. They'll heal 2 RESTRAINT and gain +1 MAX RESTRAINT for the rest of the mission.)
Clover

>Give your allies some JOYVEL. That should be enough. (-2 JOYVEL PILLS, leaving you with none. Choose two allies to heal 1 RESTRAINT.)
Naomi and Kiara. Can Kiara even take pills?
>>
PERSON OF INTEREST: dzp, kFY
QUENTIN ALLY: I5e
ANOMALOUS ABILITIES: xAm
CLOVER: 32V

THEY CAN HANDLE THEMSELVES: kFY, dzp
CASEY: I5e,
TIME TO KILL: xAm
JOYVEL: xAm

Seems like PERSON OF INTEREST + THEY CAN HANDLE THEMSELVES barely wins out. We'll go with it. Writing.

>>6034724
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] You know that androids can drink and eat as a short term replacement for their usual fuel sources or as a supplement to their normal fuel sources. Though they vastly prefer electricity or more industrial fuel sources.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] That and the average android typically has enough charge to not need to refuel for a while.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Maybe Joyvel would work but you can't stitch metal back together or slather weird creams onto her to patch her up.
>>
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[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Their poor mental state will help with the murderer. Don't bother.
[UNSTABLE] Your legs begin to move on their own. Something that open airlock is luring you closer and closer to it.
[HIGH RESTRAINT] NO! You pull back away from it. No. You can't. You shake your head in an attempt to clear that weird impulse from your psyche

Fuck. The hell is inside that room? As you listen to it one last time before you start commanding your allies, you can't begin to describe what you hear. It's like someone recorded themselves skinning a cat alive and they reversed the sound before playing it back. And there shouldn't be anyone there. What could be making that sound?

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] You do want to learn about more Singularities, if only out of sheer curiosity, but you're fine skipping this one.

"We're moving. Now. We can't stay around here." You have two keycards, you can probably get the last one from Naomi's relative, you can LEAVE. The longer you're down here, the more risk you put yourself and your allies into. Especially after you accepted the Manager's FLESH.

A snarl crosses Clover's face. "Where? There's four floors we haven't checked, ya gotta actually SAY WHERE WE'RE FUCKING GOING-" Clover immediately goes quiet after realizing he was starting to yell at you. "Sorry."
Naomi and Kiara don't really get onto him. <"Can't blame him."> <"They were feeding someone into that damnable thing. It wasn't even fun to watch."

You rather not ask for any context. "It's fine. I know you had a rough time in there, let's just try to not think about that machine for a bit. Seventh floor. No point trying to save anyone else or loot the other floors if this place ends up like the Infinite Sea." What point is there to trying to do a dozen side missions if the main mission is made impossible, you know?

Naomi, Clover, Kiara and Audie nod and murmur with tentative agreement. Your other allies glance over at you, as if they're unsure if those four should come with. You rather not leave them here to stew in their own miserable thoughts so you simply nod, gesturing at your group to follow you.

You and your seven allies promptly heads back over to the elevator in the center of the third floor. It takes a solid moment to figure out how to get everyone inside of it. Clover solves the issue by putting Casey onto his back, adding just enough space for all eight of you to get inside. Sure, Kiara's face is being stuffed against your stomach and Wendy's elbow is jabbing into your side but fuck it, you're on a time limit here.

[PERSON OF INTEREST] That and you rather not have an ally get ambushed down there. This isn't a teleporter, it takes time to go up and down. Who knows what could happen in between those precious minutes?

The next couple of minutes are fucking agony and there's not even a bit of small talk to break the silence. You can only hope things get better before they get worse. Down, down, down you go.
>>
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The eight of you promptly spill out of the elevator. Your group is finally able to breath. Let's see where you found yourself at.

https://youtu.be/TTpm5BWQm9Q - EXTRACTION

Ah. This ain't good. The first thing that you notice how you're standing in a knee-deep pool of red and brown contaminated water that reeks of blood and dirt. And it's still rising. It's slow for now but you can tell this place will probably be the first to be fully flooded.

The second thing is the large root-like tendrils of raw meat crawling along the walls and ceiling of the hallway you're in. They remind you of the roots you'd see on big, bulky trees that you saw on old O-Corp advertisements. Whatever anomaly these things are coming from, it must be MASSIVE.

An odd smile crosses Naomi's face as she takes a deep, deep whiff of the scent in the air. "Reminds me of home. Smells like Grandmother."

"Wait, grandmother?" Audie is the first one to pick up on what Naomi said. "You're a Wischard too?"
"That doesn't make sense." Kiara chuckles with obvious skepticism. "A mom, sure, but you're like...70 something, right? How the hell could your GRANDMOTHER be alive?"
"No one here should still be alive to begin with." Wendy chitters out. "Their LIVES were prolonged, decaying in their own anomalous filth. She's much the same at this point."

"Shhh." Quentin and Casey raise their fingers up to their mouths in unison. "You'll-" "ALERT THE CREATURES-" "Down here~!"

There's only one way forward. Seems like this facility's elevator arrived at the end of a long, long, LONG hallway. Thankfully it's wide enough so your group doesn't have to go single file but it's cold comfort at this point. The water has already soaked DEEP into your pants and boots, you're absolutely going to need to lay out in the sun for a while after this. Not like your allies are handling this any better.

The sound of water sloshing around as your group moves around down here is ear piercingly loud given how quiet this floor is.

[PERSON OF INTEREST] It's not our fault, we arrived here as quickly as we could, but sneaking around here is going to be impossible. However, no one can sneak around us either.
[UNSTABLE] COLD FUCKING COMFORT.

...This hallway is a lot longer than you expected. You've been traveling around here for about ten minutes now and there seems to be no end in sight. And you swear that there should be more of those roots but no, they're gone now. Your allies quickly begin to pick up on this and immediately turn around to ask Audie about it.

Right before he can say anything, you hear someone approaching your group. Your MAKESHIFT POCKETWATCH goes apeshit and you move to check up on it.

"INSIDE OF ANOMALY DOMAIN. INFINITE SPATIAL LOOP. CAN ONLY CEASE UPON THE NEUTRALIZATION OF THE ANOMALY OR IF THE ANOMALY DISPELS IT."

"Shit, I think I know who that is." Audie's body is trembling in fear, causing his body to make a similar rustling sound like papers being flipped through.
>>
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"I always hated when I had to recontain this anomaly. He never breached that often but when he did..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgyt-kiVwG4 - DREARY NIGHT MURDERER

"Hello, sweethearts~!" A voice as cold as the water you're standing in echoes throughout the seemingly endless hallway. You turn around to see who's there. A man who's completely out of place of a facility like this stands before your group with a casual, carefree smile on his face.

A tall tophat is gently hanging off of his head. A long, jet black overcoat made out of the finest of silks hangs loosely over his buly, tall and imposing figure. His hands are hidden away under a pair of fine velvet gloves. The rest of his outfit is too obscured by the knee-high water and his long jetblack overcoat for you to be certain on what you saw but it's likely he has a dress shirt and pair of dress pants on.

He looks like any other ordinary man to you. There's no real identifying features to him aside from his outfit. He's not even holding anything in his hands-

[UNSTABLE] You fucking dumbass! He has a knife in his hand! How are you not noticing this?!

You blink a few times. You somehow missed the fact there is actually a long hunting knife being held in his left hand. DREARY MIDNIGHT MURDERER doesn't seem to notice that you noticed his knife as he's still chatting along with your allies. His mouth is now filled to the brim with razor sharp teeth that reminds you of a HARVESTER's.

All of them, except for Quentin and Casey, are visibly uncomfortable with the anomaly standing before them. Seems like your other allies have enough mental damage or issues done to them to bypass whatever perception filter he has around himself.

"So. I can see that you eight somehow got lost down here. Not sure how, there's really only two directions to go~!" He coos out in a sing-song tone. "Well, that's fine. You can call me by what the facility heads called me: DREARY NIGHT EXPLORER. I'm here to help you, you see~!" He takes a step closer to your group. His mouth is going ear to ear now, showing off all of his lovely teeth. "Just let me lead the way~!"

"Oh! Sure, sir. I do have to say, that name sounds oddly familiar! I thought someone mentioned another anomaly with a name like yours." Casey scratches at her chin. She should've remembered his actual name, it was told to her less than an hour ago.
"OH. WELL THAT WOULD BE SWELL. SEE, WE HAVE BEEN QUITE lost, sir." Quentin bows towards the anomaly.

"Excellent~! Now, how about you?" His gaze immediately shifts over to you. "You seem to be their boss. I suppose you simply...smell different, eheheh~!" A deep, guttural chuckle echoes throughout the walls of the hallway you're trapped in with him. Shit, must've been the Manager's Flesh that tipped him off.

Your other allies are waiting for your instructions. Even though Casey and Quentin are compromised, they can't really do anything too harmful right now.
>>
How do you want to handle the anomaly?
>Keep the voices in your head quiet, play along for now. Lure him into a false sense of security before pumping some anti-anomaly rounds into him.(WILLPOWER DC: 26, rolling 8d6 by yourself. Pass and you'll be able to trick him for long enough to incapicate him, letting your group explore further without further struggle.)
>[WENDY ALLY + DISASSOCIATION] Summon Sable. Tell Wendy it's time to party. You can always capture the dog later for an anomaly to sell back. (-2 RESTRAINT, +1 RAPPORT WITH WENDY, COMBAT ENCOUNTER WITH DREARY MIDNIGHT MURDERER STARTS! Casey and Quentin will snap out of it thanks to your power. Beat him and you'll be freed from the domain, allowing you to explore further.)
>[CLOVER ALLY + PERSON OF INTEREST] "Listen here, pal. P-Corp is coming here soon. J-Corp and some feds too. You're going to be ratted out." He's a murderer with a perception field, he should be spooked easily. (CHARM DC: 24 (-2 from SUGAR RUSH), rolling 6d6 with Clover's help. Pass and you'll convince him just enough to let him be captured in you, earning you a juicy reward down the line.)
>[KIARA ALLY + A-ENERGY SIPHONS] "Distract him." You whisper to Kiara. Turn on your last two A-Energy Siphons and hope to god it'll dispel the domain. (-2 A-ENERGY SIPHONS, TALENT DC: 34, rolling 10d6 with Kiara's distraction. Pass and you'll dispel the domain, scaring off the anomaly and weakening the other anomaly that you know is down here.)
>[NAOMI ALLY] Despite the fact she can see through his illusions, Naomi is smiling ear to ear. "You're an interesting fellow. Let's talk, killer to killer." (VIOLENCE DC: 18 (-2 from SPOOK SHADES), rolling 5d6 with you assisting Naomi. Succeed and the anomaly will be impressed enough to teach Naomi some tricks of his trade, improving her abilities down the line and causing the anomaly to back down.)
>[AUDIE ALLY] "You already know we know your trick. Why bother? Do you think you'll win this fight again?" Let Audie talk to an old foe of his. (WILLPOWER + RESTRAINT DC: ???, rolling 10d6 with Audie's RESTRAINT and WILLPOWER combined. For every 8 points you roll, the more the domain will weaken and the more the anomaly will hesitate to stick around. Roll high enough and you might earn some unique information and items from the anomaly.)
>Fuck it, shit is going to be rough down here. Take a REFINED ZANAL. (FREE ACTION, -1 REFINED ZANAL, leaving you with one. Vastly improves your odds, turning KIARA ALLY into a 11d8, PLAY ALONG into a 9d8, and CLOVER ALLY into a 7d8. REFINED ZANALs are pretty rare and you're not sure if you'll get any more soon.)
>Write in.
>>
>>6035208
>[HIGH RESTRAINT]
This rarely procs. That alone tells me we might have done good to dodge checking REFINEMENT
>LEAVE
But the loot, the big money... we've done extremely well so far!
>starting to yell
2 RESTRAINT sucks, but he needs to balance himself. We need him for what's next
>Casey onto his back
This is a cute moment in between the horrors
>isn't a teleporter
We can't stack 20 guys in one elevator ready to murder any anomaly that enters, or jump rope a death ray or giant appendages

>>6035209
>knee-deep
>still rising
Holy shit I was fucking right. Imagine if we couldn't even make it to the console to do anything because the entire floor is underwater. That'd be complete mission failure. Of course water always flows to the bottom
>red and brown
As long as we can see where we're walking, it's OK. Losing footing in here is bad news
>MASSIVE
A big core is a bigger target
>Shhh.
Their synergy together is one of the brightest parts of the entire mission
>LONG hallway
The upside is we have long-distance visibility of anything else too
>water has already soaked DEEP
We all need to dry off someplace after this. Maybe Welfare or Accounting might have a heat-generating anomaly or PARADIGM? Starting a fire down here is a bad idea with how enclosed everything is
>arrived here as quickly
Could have been much faster at the expense of other objectives or supplies, but everything we did was worth sidetracking to do
>ANOMALY DOMAIN
Interesting how despite Latecomer's Blossom also being an anomaly, Dreary can override the meat roots with his own will and anomalous power

>>6035210
>never breached that often
A4. "A" for never or very rarely breaching, extremely easy to contain. "4" for major damage potential.
>too obscured by the knee-high water
He's not powerful enough to warp the area to get rid of the water. He's also as affected by the water level as we are. We could use that against him
>not noticing this?!
Serious perception altering effect
>noticed his knife
Nicole is at high RESTRAINT and she still broke through the perception warp. Granted that's because of UNSTABLE
>reminds you of a HARVESTER's
Makes me wonder how he and Harvester employees got along back when this facility was booming
>All of them, except for Quentin and Casey
I'M RIGHT AGAIN!
Casey 3/4 and Quentin 4/5 still isn't enough for them, so they need to run support. Simply being affected by the filter means they cannot damage Dreary, based on the dead man's note. Or Dreary just suffers less from them?
>should've remembered
It goes further than mere perception, good to know
>you're trapped in with him
Wrong. HE'S trapped in with US
>>
>>6035216
>[WENDY ALLY + DISASSOCIATION] Summon Sable. Tell Wendy it's time to party. You can always capture the dog later for an anomaly to sell back. (-2 RESTRAINT, +1 RAPPORT WITH WENDY, COMBAT ENCOUNTER WITH DREARY MIDNIGHT MURDERER STARTS! Casey and Quentin will snap out of it thanks to your power. Beat him and you'll be freed from the domain, allowing you to explore further.)
Get Wendy RAPPORT up, sate her anti-anomaly bloodlust, AND we might find out about that "reward" the dead man hinted. As a reminder:
>"Floor 7, Anomaly OMEGA. A4 class entity. Can only be harmed by those without rationality. Those with too much rationality will be hunted down. Told them to exterminate it. I know it wants my head. If someone finds my corpse and read this: Please, kill it. Kill it to free all of us. We'll pay you later."
>"That's all she wrote. How the hell can you pay someone if you're dead?"
Though Clover+POI and Naomi options sound very delicious in the rewards there. But personally? Fuck this guy, I want to drown him in the contaminated water
>>
>>6035228
>Sable: +2 VIOLENCE and -1 MAX RESTRAINT. If sent to haunt someone, they lose all control over their actions and will begin attacking everything nearby.
We can handle the -1 MAX RESTRAINT for everyone until this fucker's dead in the gutter, but then soon after after we're absolutely sure he's dead we need to pass out the pills and prepare for anybody almost panicking.
>>
>>6035228 #
+1
>"kill it. Kill it to free all of us."
I think he has the power to keep someone's soul that he kills. or trapping the victim in his anomaly domain forever and can’t die. (Project Moon Love Train fate?) We absolutely definitely need to kill this anomalies entity to free the souls or victims he keeps.
>>
>>6035239
+1
>>
>>6035241
If this is true, then Clover WILL NEVER ALLOW him to keep the victims and souls in his possession. I extremely doubt we can convince Clover to not kill this guy without getting heavily negative rapport.

>[DOGMATIC MINDSET] Clover has a very simple view of the world, in no small part that he wants his simple worldview to become reality. While this is admirable in some situations, Clover is VERY stubborn and will be VERY vocal when any moral questions pop up.
>>
Also, we haven’t told Clover that we cheating (against other cheaters and against him in card games) the games in his casino. We must admit to Clover that we cheated the games when opportunities opened.
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2024/5893937/
>>
>>6035241
>power to keep someone's soul
>trapping the victim in his anomaly domain forever
I never thought of that. It's good that you noticed this
>anomalies entity
Hey ESL retard, I don't know where you're from or whatever but that is not one term, nor is it plural-singular like that

>>6035260
We still don't know if that's true or not, but I think Clover is aware Dreary is a horrific murderer. "Murderer" is not in his full anomaly name for nothing. If you mean the option to get Dreary to be paranoid and box himself to escape the law, then I assume it's because Clover is fine with him being contained if Dreary can't kill anybody then? If what you're saying is true and Dreary makes it clear that soul-taking is what he does to his victims, then Clover will JUSTICE his way through the post-REFINEMENT distress to help us fight.

>>6035268
That's best done later at higher RAPPORT. Maybe he'll begrudgingly forgive us once he knows his casino men were cheating first, and we played honestly until we found out?
>>
>>6035216
>>[WENDY ALLY + DISASSOCIATION] Summon Sable. Tell Wendy it's time to party. You can always capture the dog later for an anomaly to sell back. (-2 RESTRAINT, +1 RAPPORT WITH WENDY, COMBAT ENCOUNTER WITH DREARY MIDNIGHT MURDERER STARTS! Casey and Quentin will snap out of it thanks to your power. Beat him and you'll be freed from the domain, allowing you to explore further.)

>Fuck it, shit is going to be rough down here. Take a REFINED ZANAL. (FREE ACTION, -1 REFINED ZANAL, leaving you with one. Vastly improves your odds, turning KIARA ALLY into a 11d8, PLAY ALONG into a 9d8, and CLOVER ALLY into a 7d8. REFINED ZANALs are pretty rare and you're not sure if you'll get any more soon.)

Lets fucking gooooooo.
>>
>>6035317
+1

Let’s waste this prick. It wouldn’t be the first dangerous anomaly we’ve greased.
>>
>>6035216
>>[WENDY ALLY + DISASSOCIATION] Summon Sable. Tell Wendy it's time to party. You can always capture the dog later for an anomaly to sell back. (-2 RESTRAINT, +1 RAPPORT WITH WENDY, COMBAT ENCOUNTER WITH DREARY MIDNIGHT MURDERER STARTS! Casey and Quentin will snap out of it thanks to your power. Beat him and you'll be freed from the domain, allowing you to explore further.)
>>
>>6035228
>>6035241
>>6035317
>>6035416
>>6035441
Quentin could do a lot with his flight to harass over the water, and with all those VIOLENCE boosts and the baseball bat VIOLENCE reroll
Kiara shouldn't waste bullets, going in with her knife. She'll be fine unless Dreary does nonphysical damage
Naomi I do not want anywhere in melee range of this fucker, but if she wants to go get sadistic who am I to stop her?
Casey doesn't benefit from VIOLENCE, so all she can do is cheer us on and shoot the dog gun
Clover also doesn't benefit from VIOLENCE and the pocket knife is just a backup. 1 anti-anomaly round alone should be enough to deal very high damage to Dreary
Wendy batons Dreary with that stacked VIOLENCE and bonus 2d10, and he's gonna feel just like he did 60 years ago when all those employees dogpiled him into submission
Audie hits him once with that 13+11+4 or something, plus MIXED+MENTAL damage, combined with guaranteed CRIPPLING INJURY, and Dreary is going to fold immediately
>>
>>6035686
In other words unless Dreary pulls some really stupid shit against us and/or the dice want us to fail, we're about to see Jack get ripped apart
>>
>>6035688
>unless Dreary pulls some really stupid shit

Wouldn't put it passed him to have some BS. Not sure what but pride comes before the fall.
>>
Update should be out soon (just finishing it up, actually), was dealing with pastebin tomfuckery but I managed to access it now. Will be skipping REFINED ZANAL since only two people voted for it and I go with a "half of the voters must pick it for it to go through".

Time for bloodshed.
>>
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Fuck it. Reach heaven through violence. You pull out a knife out of your pocket with your telekinesis and immediately slash a very shallow gash across your forearm before anyone can do anything about it. The gash down the length of your arm begins to petrify and crack open until it's a massive, bloodless crack across the whole length of your arm.

>-2 RESTRAINT! 6/10 LEFT!

A bright reddish-pink gas floods out of the crack. It quickly condenses into a rough humanoid form from the torso up: It's you. Well, a different you. The reddish-pink specter has wild, crazed eyes and massive antlers that are growing and sprawling out like branches off of a tree. She snaps her gaze over to you with an ear-to-ear smirk.

"YOUR HEAD IS WAY FUCKING CRAMPED. TIME TO LET LOOSE." Sable 'cracks' her neck, as much as a gaseous manifestation of your subconscious can. She immediately snaps her gaze to your allies. "LET'S DO THIS. WE'RE JUST ANIMALS, YOU AND ME. SQUIRMING IN OUR OWN FILTH."

Your allies, sans Naomi and Kiara, have no fucking idea how to react to this physical manifestation of UNSTABLE but they don't really have time to question it. There's a palpable excitement, a palpable rage and HATRED, building up across your allies. Eyes twitching, mouths twisting into snarls, drool oozing out of the corners of their mouths. Sheer, unrelenting wrath.

>-1 MAX RESTRAINT AND +2 VIOLENCE TO PARTY!
>QUENTIN AND CASEY CAN NOW DAMAGE DREARY!

Weapons are drawn. Guns are loaded. Riot and ballistic shields are raised up in preparation for a battle to the death. Wendy and Audie are clearly the most affected by your power. The two of them are snarling and hissing at the anomaly like feral wolves spotting an outsider trespassing in their territory.

DREARY NIGHT MURDERER backs away from your group from the briefest of seconds. He clearly didn't expect this. Yet he doesn't try to flee despite the sheer number disadvantage he has. As he flicks his hunting knife, a snide chortle echoes from the deepest parts of his gut. "Ah. Jig's up. Seems like you saw through me."

"It's been a while since I've managed to fight some proper murderers. How many have you eight killed?" He takes a deep, long sniff in of the air around him. His gaze lingers on you, Naomi, and Audie. "Oh ho~! A gas attack? Slaughtering dozens of trained agents and gang members? An antiseptic war vet? This will be fun."

The whole hallway is suddenly plunged in pitch black darkness. When the light finally manages to return, the walls and floor of the hallway you're in has changed. Where there was once rusted over metal with paint peeling off of them, there's now grey and brown bricks that faintly remind you of those ancient cities that you saw in the Admiral's past.

The hallway is now lit with several old gas lamps hanging above the ceiling. A thick, heavy smog that reeks of industrial smoke and burning coal is hanging in the air now, covering everything below waist level. Your MAKESHIFT POCKET goes off again...
>>
File: WHOISWHO.png (751 KB, 745x745)
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"ANOMALY DOMAIN DEVELOPING. THE PREFERRED ENVIROMENT OF AN ANOMALY IS OVERRIDING NORMAL REALITY. FULL OVERRIDE MAY RESULT IN UNPLEASANT COGNITIVE ANNIHILATION TO NON-ANOMALIES."

Fuck. You gotta kill this fucker FAST.

The issue is that there's five of them now. All four of them are standing around in the fogged over, flooded hallway with ear to ear smirks. You can't even remotely begin to tell a single difference between them but some primordial part is telling you that most of them have to be fake. Your other allies are hesitant to make a move.

Your pocketwatch didn't go off upon seeing them so it's not a shift in reality. This has to be another perspective trick.

"One murderer against three proper murderers felt unfair. Especially with five other lackeys" One of the DREARY NIGHT MURDERERS cackles. "Let's dance."
"Let's see who will be the last one standing!"
"Let's taste your bloodwater~!"

A cooling sensation floods your neck again.
>+1 RESTRAINT HEALED FROM EVIGT IMPLANT!

COMBAT ENCOUNTER AGAINST DREARY NIGHT MURDERERS START!
COMBAT CONDITIONS: WHO'S WHO? (The real Dreary Night Murderer has a 80% chance of avoiding damage from single target attacks.)

DREARY NIGHT MURDERER A: 5/5 FLESH, 7/7 RESTRAINT, 16d6 VIOLENCE (+6 from HUNTING KNIFE. Attacks made by HUNTING KNIFE have a chance to inflict SEVERE BLEEDING, which rapidly drains FLESH over time. Can reroll four dice per turn.)
DREARY NIGHT MURDERER B: 5/5 FLESH, 7/7 RESTRAINT, 16d6 VIOLENCE (Same as above.)
DREARY NIGHT MURDERER C: 5/5 FLESH, 7/7 RESTRAINT, 16d6 VIOLENCE (Same as above.)
DREARY NIGHT MURDERER D: 5/5 FLESH, 7/7 RESTRAINT, 16d6 VIOLENCE (Same as above.)
DREARY NIGHT MURDERER E: 5/5 FLESH, 7/7 RESTRAINT, 16d6 VIOLENCE (Same as above.)

YOU: 5/5 FLESH, 7/10 RESTRAINT, 11d6 TALENT. WEAPON: ASSAULT RIFLE (You do FLESH damage to multiple enemies. AMMO LEFT: 30, consume 3 per attack.)
QUENTIN: 4/4 FLESH, 4/4 RESTRAINT, 6d6+2d8 VIOLENCE. WEAPON: BASEBALL BAT (+1 from BASEBALL BAT, +2 from SABLE. May reroll two VIOLENCE DICE per turn. Has small chance of automatically dodging an attack.)
CLOVER: 3/4 FLESH, 2/4 RESTRAINT, 15d6+2d8 TALENT. WEAPON: WILD REVOLVER. (+1 from SUGAR RUSH. Attacks made against EVILDOERS deals MIXED damage!!! Whenever Clover rolls a natural 6 on his attack rolls, he may roll an additional dice. Has an anti-abno round loaded.)
WENDY: 4/4 FLESH, 4/4 RESTRAINT, 15d6+2d8+2d10 VIOLENCE+FLESH (WEAPON: AGENT BATON, +2d6 from RIOT SHIELD, +3 from SABLE and IMPROVED GASMASK. Has a small chance to debuff an enemy's dice by 1 for the rest of combat.)
CASEY: 3/3 FLESH, 3/3 RESTRAINT, 9d6+2d8 TALENT (+1 from SUGAR RUSH. Attacks made against EVILDOERS deals MIXED damage!!! WEAPON: MBF Model 129. Infinite ammo.)
AUDIE: 12/12 FLESH, 4/4 RESTRAINT, 28d6+2d8 VIOLENCE+TALENT WEAPON: CRUMPLED LOST OLD GLORY. (Deals equal MIXED and MENTAL damage, dealing excessive RESTRAINT damage. Always inflict a CRIPPLING INJURY on hit.)
>>
NAOMI: 3/3 FLESH, 3/4 RESTRAINT, 5d6+2d8 VIOLENCE. WEAPON: POCKET KNIFE. (+1 from POCKET KNIFE, +2 from SABLE. "Time to indulge in mindless bloodlust. Saves ammo this way, same result.")
KIARA: 4/5 FLESH, 3/4 RESTRAINT, 7d6+2d8 VIOLENCE. WEAPON: POCKET KNIFE. (+1 from POCKET KNIFE, +2 from SABLE.)

Seems like this man is a glass cannon. All it takes is one or two good hits and he should go down fast. Still, this is a bit more evenly matched than you expected it to be. How do you want to overwhelm this entity? Pick one MAIN ACTION and as many FREE ACTIONS as you want.

>[QUENTIN ALLY] "Block incoming attacks, Quentin!" He's your meat shield, after all. (FREE ACTION. Quentin has a 40% chance to dodge, 20% chance to take 2 FLESH, 40% chance to get hit for 3 FLESH damage. One of the DREARY NIGHT MURDERERS will lose 5d6 dice.)
>[SYNCHRONIZED MINDSETS] Take a deep, deep huff of a RAW MOONSTONE CHUNK and FOCUS PUPPETEER WENDY. Let your minds meld as one. (FREE ACTION, -1 RAW MOONSTONE CHUNK. Wendy gains +4d6 VIOLENCE to her next attack.)
>[KIARA ALLY] "Kiara, try to mimic him. Confuse him." (MAIN ACTION, WILLPOWER DC: 21, rolling Kiara's 6d6 only. Pass and the anomaly will be radically confused, earning all allies +2d8 to their next attack.)
>[CLOVER ALLY] "Clover. You're a good shot. Focus and find the right one." (MAIN ACTION, COGNIZANCE DC: 8, rolling Clover's 2d6 only. Pass and he'll land a killing shot on the right target, ending the fight NOW.)
>[AUDIE ALLY] "Do what comes natural." He's the anomaly killing expert, right? Try to hype him up! (MAIN ACTION. CHARM DC: 10 (-4 from CASEY and HELPING HIM OUT), rolling your 4d6 only. Succeed and your motivation will earn him the ability to reroll six dice he rolled that rolled a 2 or below.)
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] If perception is the issue, summon Poi. Maybe that'll help. (MAIN ACTION, -2 RESTRAINT. All allies lose -2 VIOLENCE but they gain +1 TALENT. In addition, you and all allies wil have a 50% chance to hit the right target.)
>[RAW NOVASTONE CHUNK] Let there be light. It'll take some time for your group to recover but it'll do. (MAIN ACTION. -1 NOVASTONE CHUNK. +6d4 to your next attack, -2d6 to all enemies. Nothing much else to say.)
>[UNSTABLE] FUCK IT. DRINK YOUR LAST BROWN VIAL, GO TO TOWN. (FREE ACTION, -BROWN VIAL. You roll d8s this turn, VASTLY improving your odds.)
>['OATH TO CONTAIN'] Use a charge to boost your next attack. Time to murderize. (FREE ACTION, -1 CHARGE ON OATH TO CONTAIN THIS MISSION, leaving you with 2. Choose someone in your party to add +1d12 to.)
>Write in.

As a reminder for how COMBAT works, you need to roll more SUCCESSES than the opposing party. 1-2 = NO SUCCESSES, 3-4 = 0.5 SUCCESSES, 5-6 = 1 SUCCESSES, 7-8 = 2 SUCCESSES, 9-10 = 3 SUCCESSES, 11-12 = 4 SUCCESSES.)
To clarify, don't roll any dice yet.
>>
>>6035838
>['OATH TO CONTAIN'] Use a charge to boost your next attack. Time to murderize. (FREE ACTION, -1 CHARGE ON OATH TO CONTAIN THIS MISSION, leaving you with 2. Choose someone in your party to add +1d12 to.)
On Clover
>[CLOVER ALLY] "Clover. You're a good shot. Focus and find the right one." (MAIN ACTION, COGNIZANCE DC: 8, rolling Clover's 2d6 only. Pass and he'll land a killing shot on the right target, ending the fight NOW.)
Does this add the 1d12 to his 2d6?
Sure this is a waste of 2 RESTRAINT if we're not going to fight him normally, but the bastard has 16d6 and bleeding is BAD with Latecomer's Blossom nearby. This is still such bullshit.
>>
>>6035879
Wait we have Bloosom still on this floor. We can keep Sable up until we destroy the core. Sable's VIOLENCE can also help us kill Dreary for good if Clover's shot doesn't outright end him
>>
>>6035879
+1
>>
>>6035879
Oath to Protect only applies to RESTRAINT, VIOLENCE, and TALENT. So no.
>>
>>6035891
>>6035892
Well shit

>>6035838
Changing vote from >>6035879 to
>[AUDIE ALLY] "Do what comes natural." He's the anomaly killing expert, right? Try to hype him up! (MAIN ACTION. CHARM DC: 10 (-4 from CASEY and HELPING HIM OUT), rolling your 4d6 only. Succeed and your motivation will earn him the ability to reroll six dice he rolled that rolled a 2 or below.)
Because I HATE rolling 1s and 2s, and this guy is our strongest ally here. And he's done this to Dreary before at least once. He can end the fight faster.
>['OATH TO CONTAIN'] Use a charge to boost your next attack. Time to murderize. (FREE ACTION, -1 CHARGE ON OATH TO CONTAIN THIS MISSION, leaving you with 2. Choose someone in your party to add +1d12 to.)
Quentin. This counts as a VIOLENCE dice, which he can reroll with BASEBALL BAT if he has to

I don't want Quentin to take hits for us here when there's no dead bodies nearby, and Dreary can't be bodyjacked because he's an anomaly.
I wanna clutch the Wendy Puppeteer option to another fight
Kiara option sounds very good but what are the odds on 6d6 DC 21?
Clover option odds feel too daunting to go with here
Anomalous PoI sounds good but we lose Sable for Blossom and we NEED to keep VIOLENCE up to stack damage to kill the illusions. We have all that shiny new defensive gear on everyone and the SEVERE BLEEDING chance is a chance that's all. We could kill like 3 of them in one round before they can even get a single hit off
Novastone sounds kinda eh for a main action
I am NOT burning brown vial here
>>
>>6035891
Change
>>6035904
+1
>>
>>6035916
What do you think about this situation? We need to beat their successes to win but they all have a total of 80d6. Most of our d6s come from Nicole, Clover, Wendy, and Audie. The Dreary 5 all have more RESTRAINT than they do FLESH, so physical damage is better than mental, and mixed should be unaffected. If he's actually as frail as it's implied, then he might take more damage than the pirates did back on the ship mission. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part? I'm really fucking afraid of Naomi taking a bad hit based on how Quentin would take 3 FLESH damage if he fucked up his dodge, and Naomi has 3 FLESH right now. At worst she'll be put to critical state and be bleeding too, but at best she'll avoid getting hit.
>>
Adam waits for a waitress to refill his glass and to take another sip before responding. "Yeah. Take my advice with a grain of salt but those things aren't 'sentient' as we understand it. They have a very limited world view that only makes sense to them. You have to play along with it in order to get it to do what you want."

"Like the anomaly before cared about its appearance and blending in with others. That's all it could really think or talk about. If you refuted what it stands for, like saying that none of its outfits would appease anyone, it wouldn't know what to do and would mentally shut down." You do remember how the last anomaly you dealt with freaked out when you gave it mementos of the past. So, refuting what it stands for can be used to catch an anomaly off guard, huh?

>If you refuted what it stands for, like saying that none of its outfits would appease anyone, it wouldn't know what to do and would mentally shut down."
No.5916615
>>6035916
Add
>Write in.
Can you tell who you are when you are still humans or harvesters?
When did you become an anomaly, and why?
What is your personal goal?
Why are you so goddamn edgy?
Why do you choose to wear these clothes?
What happened to all your past victim?
Why do you talk like that? because it fun and it scares the victim or something?
Do you take the victim soul that you killed or something?
Do you like murdering people, and why? Because you want to seek public attention or because it's cool or something?
Did you literally copycat serial killer Jack the Ripper? Why because you lack creativity or are too lazy create something original, or because you are a fanboy weirdo who loves the past serial killers way too much that you copycat that serial killer style, or something else?
>>
Slow weekend, it seems. Let's go with Audie + Oath to Contain, then.

One anon, roll 4d6. No rerolls since Manager's Flesh only applies to other allies, not you. (Though this limitation is very moot since you got seven allies.)
>>
Rolled 6, 6, 2, 2 = 16 (4d6)

>>6036776
>>
Rolled 2, 3, 5, 6, 6, 1, 5, 3, 6, 6, 2, 2, 1, 6, 5, 5, 1, 4, 4, 2, 1, 2, 4, 4, 2 = 88 (25d6)

Coolio. You passed. Now time to roll for the MURDERERS (of course they roll high they're literally MURDERERS. At least they're d6s instead of the d8s that the Agent had.)
>>
Rolled 1, 6, 6, 4, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 1, 5, 3, 4, 3, 5, 2, 1, 5, 3, 5, 6, 1, 4, 2, 3 = 94 (25d6)

>>6036793
Ah, seems like there's a cap of 25. Second batch.
>>
Rolled 5, 2, 3, 5, 4, 1, 3, 4, 1, 4, 2, 4, 2, 4, 3, 2, 3, 4, 2, 3, 4, 1, 1, 5, 4 = 76 (25d6)

>>6036796
Third batch.
>>
Rolled 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 4, 4, 6, 1, 5, 1, 1, 3, 6, 1, 2, 4, 3, 1, 4, 2, 1, 6, 4 = 76 (25d6)

>>6036797
Last 5 + the 20 rerolls they have, rerolling the 1s and 2s first.
>>
Rolled 8 (1d12)

ORIGINAL RESULT
14 1s, 14 2s = NO SUCCESSES
13 3s, 16 4s = 14.5 SUCCESSES
10 5s, 10 6s = 20 SUCCESSES
TOTAL TO BEAT: 34.5 SUCCESSES

WITH REROLL
6 1s, 2 2s = NO SUCCESSES
15 3s, 22 4s = 18.5 SUCCESSES
11 5s, 14 6s = 25 SUCCESSES
TOTAL TO BEAT = 43.5 SUCCESSES

So, to avoid waiting for another day to deal with rolls, an anon may roll for five pairs of the dice below. I need anons to roll the following
>11d6 (YOU)
>6d6 (QUENTIN. Can reroll two of his dice per turn.)
>15d6 (CLOVER. Whenever he rolls a natural 6, he can roll another dice. There's no cap to this.)
>15d6 (WENDY)
>9d6 (CASEY)
>14d6 TWICE (AUDIE. Can reroll six of his dice. Due to the 25 limit, this is how we'll handle it.)
>5d6 (NAOMI)
>7d6 (KIARA)
>14d8 (The CAPTAIN'S COMMAND extra dice.)
>2d10 (Wendy's extra dice.)

I'll roll Quentin's 1d12 for you. You may reroll it as well if it ends up dogshit.
>>
Rolled 1, 6, 3, 3, 1, 3, 6, 6, 3, 3, 2 = 37 (11d6)

Nicole
>>
Rolled 5, 6, 2, 4, 5, 5 = 27 (6d6)

Quentin
>>
Rolled 5, 6, 5, 5, 2, 1, 3, 1, 3, 3, 5, 6, 4, 4, 1 = 54 (15d6)

Clover
>>
Rolled 1, 1 = 2 (2d6)

>>6036818
Clover
>>
Rolled 2, 4, 2, 6, 2, 5, 3, 6, 6, 1, 1, 6, 4, 6, 5 = 59 (15d6)

Wendy
>>
Rolled 6, 3, 1, 2, 2, 5, 2, 3, 2 = 26 (9d6)

Casey
>>
>>6036813
>>6036816
>>6036818
>>6036820
>>6036822
>>6036824
>>6036820
Keeping a tally

NICOLE:
1, 1, 2 = NO SUCCESSES
3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 2.5 SUCCESSES
6, 6, 6 = 3 SUCCESSES
5 TOTAL

QUENTIN
2 = NO SUCCESS
4 = 0.5 SUCCESSES
5, 5, 5, 6 = 4 SUCCESSES
8 = 2 SUCCESSES
6.5 TOTAL

CLOVER
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 = NO SUCCESSES
3, 3, 3, 4, 4 = 2.5 SUCCESSES
5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6 = 6 SUCCESSES
8.5 TOTAL

CASEY:
1, 2, 2, 2, 2 = NO SUCCESSES
3, 3 = 1 SUCCESS
5, 6 = 2 SUCCESSES
3 TOTAL

WENDY (NORMAL ATTACK)
1, 1, 2, 2, 2 = NO SUCCESSES
3, 4, 4 = 1.5 SUCCESSES
5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 = 7 SUCCESSES
8.5 TOTAL

TOTAL SO FAR: 31.5 SUCCESSES. 12 more to go.
>>
Rolled 4, 4, 5, 3, 2, 3, 6, 5, 4, 2, 5, 1, 6, 6 = 56 (14d6)

Audie's First 14d6
>>6036830
This is a lot of dice rolling. That's the system, but jeez it's cumbersome.
>>
Rolled 5, 3, 1, 5, 2, 2, 1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 2, 6, 2 = 46 (14d6)

Audie's second 14d6
>>
Rolled 5, 5, 1, 2, 1 = 14 (5d6)

Naomi
>>
Rolled 3, 1, 1, 1, 5, 2, 2 = 15 (7d6)

Kiara
>>
Rolled 3, 4, 6, 7, 6, 2, 8, 1, 7, 4, 1, 7, 2, 3 = 61 (14d8)

DER KOMMANDANT'S KAP
Captain's dice
Just Wendy and rerolls after this one
>>
>>6036840
>>6036844
Yeah, that's just sorta how the cookie crumbles when I have to deal with having eight people fighting. I'll probably alter the system to not require so much but I'm not particularly in the best state of mind to do it right now.

AUDIE
1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 = NADA
3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4 = 4 SUCCESSES
5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6 = 10 SUCCESSES
TOTAL: 14

NAOMI:
1, 1, 2 = NADA
5, 5 = TWO SUCCESSES
TOTAL: 2.

KIARA
1, 1, 1, 2, 2 = NADA
3 = 0.5
5 = 1
TOTAL: 1.5

CAPTAIN:
1, 1, 2, 2 = NADA
3, 3, 4, 4 = 2 SUCCESES
6, 6 = 2 SUCCESSES
7, 7, 7, 8 = 8 SUCCESSES
TOTAL: 10 SUCCESSES

TOTAL: 59 vs 43.5. At this point, just skip the rerolls, you're already outpowering him a LOT.
>>
Rolled 4, 5 = 9 (2d10)

>>6036806
>>
>>6036924
So, a grand total of 60.5 successes vs 43.5.
Yeah, this is going to be a bloodbath. Writing.
>>
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"Audie! Do what comes natural! You can beat this fucker, you've defeated HOW many anomalies down here?! This edgy Jack the Ripper fuckin' ripoff has nothing on you!"

The five DREARY NIGHT MURDERERS immediately lose their smirks. Seems like that got under their skin real quick. "What?" "Feh. You don't understand what it means to be in the spotlight, dear." "Edgy? You don't understand high fashion, sweetheart. It's 1888, sweetheart, this is what we wear."

"HIGH FUCKING FASHION?" Sable throws her head back, cackling at the idea of his dorky outfit being 'high fashion'. "Feh! You talk like a fucking idiot! What, you think that's scaring us?"

One of the MURDERERS snarls again, clearly getting heated over what you and your manifested psyche are saying. "YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A GOD DAMN FANBOY-" Sable, and by proxy you, are interrupted by a sharp pain in your head.

A hunting knife has now imbedded pretty deep into the base of one of your antlers. The metallic antler guard blocking it shatters, leaving your antlers completely exposed now.
>2 COMBAT PROSTHETIC BODYSUIT CHARGES! 2 FLESH DAMAGE NEGATED! NO CHARGES LEFT THIS MISSION!
>1 FLESH DAMAGE GOT THROUGH! 4/5 FLESH LEFT!
>SEVERE BLEEDING NEGATED! -ANTLER GUARDS!

Fuck, you let your guard down. DREARY NIGHT MURDERER B, the one who threw it, regains his smirk. "You'll be like the rest of them. Forgotten. Nothing but a statistic-" He promptly gets an arm and leg sliced clean off by a single stroke of Audie's blade. He doesn't seem to react to it for a moment before the whole surface of his body begins to crack.

He collapses to the flooded and mist-covered ground, fizzling in and out of existence. You can barely even see him thanks to the fog covering him up. Seems like he can't hold himself together now. His RESTRAINT is too low for him to act now. One down.

There's no more time for talking or egging the anomaly on. You try your best to regain your composure as the sheer, unyielding pain of having a god damn knife stuck in you floods your nervous system. Can't remove it yet, you're smart enough to know that's an easy way to get blood in your eyes.

Naomi, Kiara, and Wendy immediately charge in while everyone is still trying to adjust to what happened. Naomi and Kiara surround one of the MURDERERS in an attempt to corner him. Their swings are wild and reckless, trying their damn best to make him bleed. MURDERER D is able to deflect most of them but he is being distracted for the time being.

Not for long though.

Kiara promptly gets a hunting knife thrusted RIGHT into her metallic stomach. It slices through her with ease, mangling her chassis and her internals like a hot knife through butter. before Naomi gets sent to the floor by an elbow smashing directly into her nose. A sickening CRACK rings through the hallway. Both are promptly sent to the ground from the force of the MURDERER's impacts.

Huh. His elbow jab was a bit sloppy since Naomi is already getting back up.
>>
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>-2 (REDUCED FROM 3) FLESH TO KIARA! 2/5 LEFT! DISCHARGE LEAK INFLICTED!
>-1 FLESH TO NAOMI! 2/3 LEFT!

Wendy immediately bullrushes the distracted MURDERER D with her riot shield and agent baton. He tries to stab his knife into her side but she immediately blocks it with the riot shield. A decent size crack forms on it but now, his knife is stuck inside. Panic crosses the MURDERER's face but he doesn't have enough time to crack before her baton comes crashing down on his head.

CRACK!!! His head cracks open like a rotten watermelon being thrown at a wall. Blood and brain matter splatters across the walls. Dead on the spot. He does try to keep standing but Naomi grabs onto his shoulder and pulls both of them down in the water. Two down, three to go.

"EAT SHIT! I'LL SHOW YOU WHO A REAL MURDERER IS! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A GOD DAMN COPY!" Wendy snarls with an ear-to-ear smirk. She's having the time of her life.

"Bloody hell! This is getting on my nerves!" MURDERER A grits his teeth
"Tsk. Irritating little tricks." MURDERER C snarls.
"SLICE THEIR THROATS!!" Shit! The three remaining murderers immediately rush in in an attempt to overwhelm your group. You and Casey immediately raise your guns up in an attempt to slow them down.

Casey's suppressing fire doesn't do much to slow them down but the relentless peppering of meat and bone fragments is just enough to distract them. You raise your ASSAULT RIFLE, bracing yourself for the recoil, before letting it rip. You managed to adjust your aim enough to make sure that all three bullets manage to hit a target.

One bullet pierces through each MURDERER. MURDERER A and E stumble back from the input but C damn near falls to his knees from the impact. Seems like you managed to find the real MURDERER but before you can tell the others, the three MURDERERS shift their positions, making it hard to tell who is who now.

The knife stuck in your head is making you real woozy. Your knees buckle, sending you into the water below. One of the MURDERERS immediately shifts course and rushes in to strike you at your weakest moment but Quentin and Audie immediately step in to block him from getting any closer to you.

MURDERER A(?) and Audie quickly lock their blades together. The two struggle to overpower the other, pushing back against the other in a complete stalemate. MURDERER A slams his foot into Audie's stomach but his chitinous exterior completely blocks the attack.

It's impressive how a hunting knife is able to keep a god damn longsword away. Quentin immediately breaks this deadlock by smashing a baseball bat down HARD onto the MURDERER's head.

MURDERER A(?) loses his balance just long enough to Audie to impale him through the gut with his LOST OLD GLORY. He tries to throw his blade at Quentin but Quentin immediately opens his wings and dodges out of the way.

MURDERER A is sent to the floor as well, bleeding into the gutter water. Three down, two to go. You're on a roll.
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MURDERER C(?) is nearly close enough to Clover to slice his neck to tatters. Clover doesn't move until the MURDERER is right in front of him.

BANG.

A perfect, clean shot to the head.

The anti-anomaly round immediately causes green and purple cracks to form across the MURDERER's body until every inch of his surface is caked in them. His body crumbles into dust and smog mere seconds after the bullet pierced his skull.

Now there's only one MURDERER. He stumbles to a stop, his knife mere inches away from a scared Casey. A gunshot wound in his chest is leaking out a fresh stream of red blood. The one who actually felt pain from being shot. He suddenly realizes that he's outnumbered 8 to 1.

He immediately turns around, ready to fucking bolt it from there. "Feh. I'm not giving you the-" Audie immediately leaps in, stabbing the tip of his blade into the MURDERER's leg. The MURDERER rips his foot free, ready to flee despite his new handicap, yet...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdZJ4a6k56g - WENDY

[HUNTER OF THE CITY + SABLE ACTIVE] A wild, damn near savage Wendy launches towards him before he has any chance to leave. The two are sent to the floor in a violent, bloody struggle. He tries to kick her off but his injury plus the sheer unyielding RAGE Wendy is putting behind her attack is making that impossible.
>+2 FLESH AND VIOLENCE TO WENDY UNTIL FIGHT ENDS!

Wendy cries out in agony as the hunting knife is impaled into her gut but she doesn't get off. A torrent of blood pours out of her gut and onto the MURDERER. If he pushed a bit harder, he might've disemboweled her then and there.

>-1 FLESH (REDUCED FROM 3) TO WENDY! FLESH IS NOW 5/6! SEVERE BLEEDING INFLICTED! -1 CHARGE OFF DRIFTWOOD IDOL, 1 LEFT THIS MISSION!

"DIE! DIE! FUCKING DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!" Wendy raises her baton before smashing it down hard onto the MURDERER'S head. Blood and teeth are sent flying across the hallway from the sheer force of the impact. Your other allies can only watch on in shock and awe as Wendy keeps smashing her baton into the prone MURDERER's face over. And over. And over again.

DREARY NIGHT MURDERER's hands quickly wrap around her throat. He squeezes HARD, causing Wendy to hack and wheeze in a desperate attempt to catch her breath. Despite this, she keeps swinging her baton down onto the MURDERER's head. Even as her face begins to turn purple from a lack of oxygen, she keeps. On. Swinging.
>-1 FLESH! 4/6 LEFT!
>-1 FLESH! 3/6 LEFT!

His hands eventually let go, falling onto his sides. Only then does Wendy stumble back to her feet. Her brown dress is torn to shreds from the knife slicing into her stomach, exposing her sliced to bits stomach and the bruises underneath. Her neck has a ring of bruises that are quickly turning purple. Blood and gore is dripping down her dress and face, mixing with the already dirty water below. Her baton is slick with viscera and brain matter.

And she's smiling. Your MAKESHIFT POCKETWATCH goes off.
>>
"ANOMALY DOMAIN COLLAPSING. BRACE FOR IMPACT."

>YOU WIN!

Everything goes dark. The gravity of the hallway suddenly shifts, sending you and your allies falling down, down, down, down. You lose consciousness almost immediately afterwards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArzZ13bpsaU - EXTRACTION PROPER

When you next wake up, all of your allies are sprawled on the waterlogged floor but thankfully they're very much still alive. The dead body of DREARY NIGHT MURDERER is sprawled across the floor in a pool of his own blood and viscera- Well, you think he's dead. You can't ever really tell with anomalies.

[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] Feh. Murderers always play dead. He'll escape once you leave this facility but he'll come back. Not for a while, though.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Not if you contain him. Trap him. Keep him in this world.
Sable whispers into your ear. "KILL HIM."

...Do you?
>CONTAIN HIM. (-W-CORP CONTAINMENT CUBE, +1 J-CORP FAVOR. You'll get paid handsomely for bringing back a contained anomaly but it'll be difficult to bring him back to the surface.)
>HE DOESN'T DESERVE IT. DOUBLE TAP HIM TO BE SURE. (+1 W-CORP FAVOR for letting him die. Wendy will get you an in with W-Corp for not letting him escape.)

You feel an odd sense of relief in the air. As if something, or someone, was freed. You slowly get back up, pressing your hand against a flesh-covered wall. You notice there's something strapped to your chest. A bloodstained hunting knife and a small envelope. You rip it open to see a bundle of bills and a small letter.

"THANK YOU."
"YOUR PROPER REWARD WILL BE GIVEN SOON. TAKES TIME FOR US TO ORGANIZE."
"WE CAN FINALLY BREATHE FREELY NOW. TAKE THESE SLIPS OF PAPER AS PAYMENT."

>$500 OBTAINED! YOU NOW HAVE $863.
>BLOODSTAINED HUNTING KNIFE (ATTACK ROLL: VIOLENCE+5. Attacks made with it have a chance to inflict SEVERE BLEEDING, which rapidly drains FLESH over time. Can reroll three dice per turn.)

You'll worry about who to give it to later. You take a moment to look around at where you're at now.

You're in a large, circular room that is completely coated in the same fleshy roots that you saw before. Every inch of the wall, ceiling, and floor (or what you can see of it through the brown and red water) has some sort of fleshy root covering it. There's only two paths from here: The way you came and a hallway going straight north.

Shit, you and your allies are injured, what if-
You touch the base of your antler. Ah. Seems like your implant healed it off.
>FLESH IS NOW 5/5 FOR YOU!

Your other allies are trying their best to get back up after being thrown to the floor. Kiara is leaning against one of the flesh covered walls so she can patch up the massive tear in her chassis with her repair kit. Wendy has several layers of gauze wrapped around her fucked up stomach. Naomi also has some gauze around her nose to try setting it back into place. All and all, they're fine for now.

You slowly get back up on your feet.
>>
>-GAUZE ROLL from Kiara, -2 GAUZE ROLLS from your own inventory
>+1 FLESH TO NAOMI, +1 FLESH and -SEVERE BLEEDING FROM WENDY. WENDY FLESH IS NOW 3/4.
>+1 FLESH AND DISCHARGE LEAK REMOVED FROM KIARA! KIARA FLESH IS NOW 3/5
>RAPPORT WITH WENDY IS NOW 2/8!

>-3 RIFLE AMMO AND -1 ANTI-ANOMALY ROUND FROM YOU AND CLOVER

That's everything you spent in that fight. Better than you thought but wow, that could've went bad if you didn't have Audie to carry your ass.

Clover, Audie, Quentin and Casey are chitchatting while they're waiting for the others to patch themselves up.

There's clearly only one path forward so, you can take some time to readjust and communicate with your allies before you face the next anomaly or the EXTRACTION HEAD.

What do you want to do? Pick three.
>[SABLE ACTIVE] Naomi and Kiara know who this is but let her talk to the others. Get them used to UNSTABLE so they won't freak out in the future.
>[QUENTIN ALLY] Have him scout ahead with his bug wings so you have a better idea on what you're getting yourself into.
>Contact the Manager through your headpiece. Ask him if there's anything happening above while your group was busy.
>[NAOMI ALLY] "So. A relative is down here, huh? Is she your mother? Grandmother? Sister? What? Give me something." That connection might be useful with dealing with the extraction head. Ask her about it.
>Hold up your new fancy knife. "Hey. Which one of you freaks want this? I know I don't." Get rid of it. Let one of your allies have fun with it.
>[AUDIE ALLY] "Hey. Do you recognize this handwriting?" Show him the letter you woke up with. If some weird anomalous ghosts are going to reward you, you might as well know who they are.
>[CASEY ALLY] Frankly you think you just need to decompress after that. Go up to Casey and listen to her nonsense. She'll pick you back up. (Fully heals your RESTRAINT.)
>Take some time to talk to some of your allies. (Pick THREE to check up on. You currently have QUENTIN, KIARA, CASEY, CLOVER, WENDY, AUDIE, and NAOMI in your party.)
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] No time to waste. Proceed. (Can take up multiple actions. If you only want to do one or two things, pick this.)
>Write in.
>>
>>6036982
>HE DOESN'T DESERVE IT. DOUBLE TAP HIM TO BE SURE. (+1 W-CORP FAVOR for letting him die. Wendy will get you an in with W-Corp for not letting him escape.)
He dies NOW. No wasting ass rifle ammo though now that there's no enemy group. I can't believe we got off so good that fight. All that 3 FLESH damage reduced to 1 or 2 is huge. We definitely need more defensive and healing items later

>>6036983
>[SABLE ACTIVE] Naomi and Kiara know who this is but let her talk to the others. Get them used to UNSTABLE so they won't freak out in the future
Now is a GREAT time to do this
>[AUDIE ALLY] "Hey. Do you recognize this handwriting?" Show him the letter you woke up with. If some weird anomalous ghosts are going to reward you, you might as well know who they are
Bring up the dead man in Research Lab too, the one with the note. Handle this loose end for good
>Take some time to talk to some of your allies. (Pick THREE to check up on. You currently have QUENTIN, KIARA, CASEY, CLOVER, WENDY, AUDIE, and NAOMI in your party.)
Clover because he's having a rough time since REFINEMENT
Kiara because same deal plus faced MURDERER in melee
Naomi because same deal plus we're going to see her relative soon

Even though he also faced REFINEMENT, Audie doesn't need the pep talk or checkup. He's used to it by now. Quentin and Casey are fine. Wendy is on the adrenaline high plus anomaly murder release, no worries there.

Quentin option isn't that bad, but there's other appropriate options right now
Manager option is meh. It hasn't been that long since we left Floor 3 and the silvers got spooked away from REFINEMENT. I bet Manager is too strong to let himself die or be hurt by at most 4 agents. Let's get the Extraction Head dealt with first, then check with him
Naomi option for the family connection is interesting prep for the upcoming talk
Hunting Knife can be a good present for another ally we know, might as well keep it for now
Casey option is nice but we're still doing good on RESTRAINT at 6/10
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>>6036999
+1
>>
>>6036983
>>6036999
Support. Cool fight.
>>
>>6035835
>pull out a knife
This is why we should always keep at least 1 on us
>deep, long sniff
Cool ability
>gas attack
I hope him saying that out loud doesn't come back to bite us, haha...

>>6035836
>UNPLEASANT COGNITIVE ANNIHILATION
Do we simply become copies of him then, as his PARADIGM and symbolism and archetype override the human's?
>flooded
His Domain Expansion can't override that. Must be the London rivers or something
>cooling sensation
OK so that's EVIGT working
>80% chance
20% per clone
>from single target attacks
Now this is a detail I didn't notice. No wonder we used the ass rifle

>>6036974
>in the spotlight
Says the murderer who hates being caught
>1888
But can he party like it's 1999?
>you and your manifested psyche
If Nicole ever gets a love interest, he will need to handle 4-5 mental copies of her too
>NO CHARGES LEFT
One defense method down
>-ANTLER GUARDS!
Alexis' gift helped a ton
>RESTRAINT is too low
LOST OLD GLORY did at least 7 RESTRAINT to him in one cleave? Boy am I glad Audie is on our side. I want him to survive this mission to make it topside with his fellow Heads and Manager

>>6036975
>(REDUCED FROM 3)
I really don't like how much damage this bastard does. If this is how bad an anomaly with "4" on the damage scale inflicts, we need to be on our A-game on Floor 5
>decent size crack
He can hit hard enough to crack a riot shield. The anomalous strength is no joke. Getting the defensive gear earlier in this mission is already paying off because that would have gutted Wendy if we hadn't had these
>his knife is stuck inside. Panic
Either this doesn't happen enough for him to consider it a possibility, or he forgets too much because he's an anomaly (like Queen of Hatred)
>lock their blades
One is an actual anomaly, the other is an anomalous human. One is of unknown age and state, the other is in his 80s
>dodges
I know this is Quentin's wings trait kicking in, but I like the idea of it happening here because he saw the MURDERER copy throw his knife at Nicole at the start so he was prepared for it

>>6036976
>green and purple
Thanks doc
>rips his foot free
A real cornered animal instinct
>she's smiling
OK Wendy is cool now

>>6036982
>sprawled on the waterlogged floor
Please no infection or lasting damage. I know Cityslickers are tougher than normal humans from the setting and all, but c'mon
>play dead
Anomalies in this setting can be permakilled, and he knows it
>relief in the air
>freed
You were right >>6035241
>PROPER REWARD
Whoever these mystery souls are, they better be grateful once we permakill this guy
>BLOODSTAINED HUNTING KNIFE
This might be good for Ashley, straight up better than her bat
>bad if you didn't have Audie
I'd be up for surprise attacking Dreary in that case. Direct fight was still worth it. Maybe the victim ghost reward would be less if we had went the deception route?
>>
>>6036983
>[SABLE ACTIVE] Naomi and Kiara know who this is but let her talk to the others. Get them used to UNSTABLE so they won't freak out in the future.
>[NAOMI ALLY] "So. A relative is down here, huh? Is she your mother? Grandmother? Sister? What? Give me something." That connection might be useful with dealing with the extraction head. Ask her about it.
>Hold up your new fancy knife. "Hey. Which one of you freaks want this? I know I don't." Get rid of it. Let one of your allies have fun with it.
>[AUDIE ALLY] "Hey. Do you recognize this handwriting?" Show him the letter you woke up with. If some weird anomalous ghosts are going to reward you, you might as well know who they are.
>>
>>6036982
>HE DOESN'T DESERVE IT. DOUBLE TAP HIM TO BE SURE.
We can contain someone else

>>6036983
>[SABLE ACTIVE] Naomi and Kiara know who this is but let her talk to the others. Get them used to UNSTABLE so they won't freak out in the future.
>[NAOMI ALLY] "So. A relative is down here, huh? Is she your mother? Grandmother? Sister? What? Give me something." That connection might be useful with dealing with the extraction head. Ask her about it.
>Hold up your new fancy knife. "Hey. Which one of you freaks want this? I know I don't." Get rid of it. Let one of your allies have fun with it.
>>
Eh, you don't need to get rid of the knife yet. You take a moment to analyze which ally in the future would best use it. Adam, Ashley, and Maruyama have decent enough VIOLENCE to use it, if you recall correctly. The allies you have in the field right now are fine without another fancy toy.

First thing to worry about is a certain pest that almost gutted your allies alive. You reach into your waterlogged pants (eugh, everything you're wearing is soaked) to rummage around for a weapon you keep around for these situations. The HANDMADE GUN. You don't care about saving PISTOL AMMO since you have way better weapons at this point.

You load in five pistol rounds into the magazine before you slot it into your gun. Sable watches on curiously, seeing where exactly you're going with this. The two of you head over to the mangled, bloodied corpse of DREARY NIGHT MURDERER who is currently floating face up. Well, you assume he's face up.

His pulverized skull is barely connected to his neck by loose connective tissue. Whatever was left of the section of his spine connecting his head and neck is GONE now. If it wasn't for his clothes it would be completely impossible to tell who this man was.

You raise this pistol at his mostly uninjured torso (only having a rifle round entry wound visible) before emptying your magazine into it. Your allies immediately panic and move into position for another fight but once they realized you were just double tapping a corpse, they immediately calm down.
>-5 PISTOL ROUNDS! 1 LEFT!

Wisps of grey and black smoke slowly trickle out of the five new holes you punched into the anomaly. There's no other visible reaction to what you did given that, well, his head is like a crushed watermelon and you just dumped five bullets into him.

[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] His conceptual grasp to this reality has been fully destabilized.
"IN OTHER WORDS, HE'S FUCKING DEAD." Sable hisses out. "LET'S DO SOMETHING ELSE."
[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] That is a gross oversimplification, you whelp.
"I'M THE ONE IN REALITY, YOU'RE STUCK IN HER HEAD, FUCK YOU-"

You throw a punch towards the gaseous spirit leaking out of your arm. Given the fact she's, well, reddish-pink vapor and mist? Your punch simply phases through her. "Shut." But it's enough to interrupt and shut her up. Alright, good, time to deal with your other allies.

Sable is grumbling and muttering to herself after you interrupted her but given she's tethered to your arm, she can't really leave to sulk. "FEH."
"Hey, go bother the others. They should know about your existence." You gesture towards Quentin, Audie, Casey, and Wendy. You'll get her to bother Clover later once you're not in the middle of a conversation with him. Sable overdramatically rolls her eyes before she drifts about twelve or so feet away from you.

Coolio. Time to check on Clover, Naomi, and Kiara.

Clover is the first one to notice you and, god, he looks tired. His soggy, limp poncho and soaked scarf have clearly seen better days.
>>
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He's completely unharmed but his outfit is a complete mess. His bright brown hair is now more of a muddy brown and black mess now.
It's frankly a pretty pitiful sight. "Heyo." He halfheartedly waves at you. "Sure has been somethin', partner. Sure has been somethin'." <"I'm about ready to put a hole in every single person living in this god dang facility.>

Yeah, best to get him thinking about other things. "Yeah, it has. Sorry about, uh, you know." You prop one foot against one of the root covered walls so you can lean back. "REFINEMENT thing and everything else that's been going down here. I know it's been a lot."

"It's fine. It's just hard to get a grasp on what's real and what's not when yer down here. Walls twisting in on themselves, anomalies appearing everywhere, government agents, and now-" He points at SABLE. "There's THAT thing. It's a lot. I've worked with P-Corp before but I've never seen something THIS bad before."

"Yeah, uh, I keep awakening new powers and now SHE'S a thing." You shrug. "Long story."

"At least you're cute. Unlike the other monsters down there." Wait hold on what- Before you have time to question what he meant by that, he continues blabbering on. "Ya do this shit every day, though? Throwin' yerself into danger with all of this wild stuff?"

"Yeah. I'll be completely honest, the most normal mission I've had in a while was going to your place. That was a while ago, though."

"Hm. I respect it." A small smile crosses the cowboy's face. "I need a hard drink after all of this. We're going to my casino after all eight of us make it out alive. I'm paying for it."

"Fuck, can't say no to a free beer." Just imagining an ice cold bottle of low quality beer is enough to send your mind racing. "Say, Random question." You tap under one of your eyes. "What was up with that? When we fought the spook? Thought I saw your eyes glow."

Clover seems completely unaware of what you're talking about at first but he quickly pieces together what you mean. Shame, oddly enough, floods his expression. "Dunno. Just always had that ever since I wanted to be a cowboy as a tiny little kid. Never figured out what it meant." <"Hopefully she doesn't pry any further.">

[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You doubt it's anything actually anomalous. You don't sense anything like that in him.

It's probably just some weird genetic quirk he has then. Like how Max has weirdly blue-grey hair.

"Well, hey, better to focus on that than whatever else is going on down there, right?"
"Yeah. Hey, thanks for talking. It's nice to shoot the shit. Gets my mind off of everything that's been happening." He leans back against the wall next to you. "Wish I had a smoke."

"Mmh. I have some cigs but not the type you would wanna smoke willy nilly. Sorry."
"Awww, can't produce them with ya mind? What's the use of psychic power nonsense then?"
"Dunno. Maybe we can find some tobacco and wrap it up with your scarf."
"Touch it and I'll kill ya, ya bastard."
>>
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You snort. You flick your wrist and lo and behold, his scarf is telekinetically floating in the air now. Clover immediately tries to grab it again but you simply shift where it's at with your mind. "Not touching it." He tries grabbing it again. You move it. Grab. Move. Grab. Move.

You only stop when he grabs you by the shoulders and begins to violently shake you. You break out into a giggle fit upon seeing how fucking angry he is at this little stunt you pulled on him. You toss it back over to him and he immediately catches it.

He can't help but to smile as well.
>+1 RESTRAINT TO CLOVER! 3/4 NOW!

"Feh. Aight, you proved your point. Scram." He shoos you away as he wraps his damp scarf around his neck again. Time to check on Kiara then. Sable immediately rushes in to bother Clover once you're done talking to him.

As for Kiara? She's simply staring up at the root-covered ceiling. Her blue LED eyes are barely lighting up at this point but you're not sure if that's a power issue or something else. Bits of rust and gunk are clogging up her joints and her plastic hair is already starting to get discolored. She glances over at you with a small smile.

"Hey! Sorry, sorry, just a lot of stuff on my mind. Lotta interesting things I'm trying to catalogue, you know?" His voicebox crackles with obvious discomfort. Not at you, thankfully, but that's cold comfort. Can't exactly blame her after everything that's been going on.

"Fair. Probably not wise to leak too many details about what's going on down here. Maybe you can take a picture of him though?" You point over towards the completely mangled corpse of DREARY NIGHT MURDERER.
"Oh! Yeah, I should, actually!" She immediately makes a beeline over to shape some pictures of the completely mangled corpse. Wow you did not expect her to do that.

She doesn't take long to rush light back to your side. "It's been rough but it's nice being able to, well, see such interesting entities all close and personal! A time capsule of ideas, anomalies, and people...there's something nice about being able to catalogue all of that." She pulls out a photograph from her camera and hands it over to you.

"I mean, I can remember a LOT. Got dozens of little chips and drives that lets me do that. I don't really need pictures. It just doesn't seem tangible without it, you know?"

"I can get that. For me, my memories get...I dunno. Warped? Weeks feel like they were months ago, hours feel like weeks, yet sometimes days feel like nothing at all." You cross your arms as you try to process what Kiara was talking about. "I don't really mind that, though. Every moment is just-"

"Another thing to experience, yeah?"

"Yeah. Do you think they experience anything? Remember anything?" You glance back at the corpse you made SURE was dead. "Are they any different?" A small part of you is afraid that, if one day, you end becoming one of them...what would happen to you. When you're nothing more than a mindless beast. How human even are you?
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"Mmh. Well, if you can't remember anything before the transformation, isn't it just another form of death? And if it's just death, why worry about it?"

Kiara flashes a beaming smile as if the idea of death is not at all horrifying. "I think that prevents you from enjoying what you have. I got to fight an anomaly and stab it with a knife! If I was worried if I was going to die or not, I wouldn't be able to experience that." A dreamy sigh plays out of Kiara's voicebox. "It's all about those experiences for me. New stories, new fears..."

"Isn't that what makes you human? I guess Quentin would probably feel the same, ha."
>+1 RESTRAINT TO KIARA! 4/4 NOW!

"Mmh. Even whatever was down there? In REFINEMENT?"

"Aha! Yeah, yeah! I think it can hear us, even down here, let's not talk about it!" Kiara firmly pats you on the shoulder. What DOES SHE MEAN BY THAT- Feh. Okay. You can worry about that later.

"Well, at least you're doing okay. Try to keep that up, ya know? Wouldn't want our famed reporter to be down in the dumps for too long."
"Feh~! How could I be down in the dumps when I can see all of this cool stuff?" Kiara's smile grows as wide as it can possibly go. "Fuck him, though!" She jabs a finger towards the MURDERER. "I cost a lot to repair! I cost more than his kind would make in five lifetimes! AIE!"

"Woah, woah, he's dead, he's dead. Calm down." You pat Kiara on the shoulder. Well, you're glad she has some pep. Time to deal with Naomi, then Audie, then to explore further. You try your best to ignore the rambling and screeching Sable is throwing towards the allies you're not talking to.

Naomi is fiddling with her pocket knife while she's waiting for all of your other allies to get ready. A lot more of her face is exposed since her previous bandages, sans the fresh gauze on her nose, were ruined. It's now that you get a solid look at the face underneath it all, which you haven't had since you first met her.

Her patchy skin is caked in a latticework of burn scars and deep scratches, with only her left eye being mostly unfucked. Her right eye socket has been completely covered by a patch of dry, cracked skin that's threatening to tear at any second. A swirl of bizarre bright blue symbols and patterns that look like they would belong on some sort of old tribal warrior is painted all across her scarred face.

[PERSON OF INTEREST] Power tattoos. Similar to the ones you saw on the Pirates back in the Infinite Sea. Whatever fueled them is LONG exhausted.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] You imagine the serums you gotten from the spook might power them back up.
"LET HER REACH HEAVEN THROUGH VIOLENCE!" Sable yells out before she turns her attention back to Quentin, who's talking to her with awe in his eyes.

She glances over at you, flashing a toothless smile. Only a few of her front teeth are still hanging in there. "I apologize for my face being uncovered. What do you wish to discuss?" It's impressive how she's able to talk with how little teeth she has.
>>
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"We have time to kill, dear."

"I've seen worse at this point." You shrug off the fact she looks like a burnt piece of jerky. "You're going to be okay with, you know, her?" You nod your head in the only hallway forward.

Naomi's cloudy grey eye, which you only now notice, stares at you. Judging you. Her smile is gone now. "We will when we get there." She immediately regains her smile after she switches the target. "We simply have to carry on, dear."

Touchy subject. Best not to pressure her too much about it. "So. You said you thought you were desensitized when you were outside of REFINEMENT. Was it really that bad? Can't say I'm not curious after hearing that."

"It's something a human mind could not comprehend. Thankfully, I'm not much of a human after the things I've done and seen." Her words ooze with equal parts snide sarcasm and genial wisdom. "My former comrades were trying to fuel it with someone they kidnapped. Feet first. It was not pleasant to see. Especially when the machine started to vomit."

The mental image alone is nearly enough to make you puke. "...Well then. I'm glad you can keep? up your high spirits?"

"You learn to develop a sense of humor like this, dear. It's not wise to let emotions and fear seep into your heart when you deal with things outside of normal human perception." Naomi continues to fiddle around with the knife in her hand. "I will say. Your competency in this mission has been admirable."

"Hm?" You're curious what she meant by that.

"Keeping several high value targets alive, not letting any allies die, using resources to the best of your ability...even that foul meat I smell seems like it's from an important figure. I have to respect what you've done."
>+0.5 RAPPORT and +1 RESTRAINT to NAOMI! NOW AT 4/4 RESTRAINT AND 2.5/8 RAPPORT!

"Hey, I'm not being paid nearly 14 hundred dollars to be a bad worker, eh? We gotta do the things we gotta do in order to make it in this fuckin' industry." You really wish you could smoke right now but alas, the only cigarettes you have would obliterate your lungs beyond repair in a single toke. "I take pride in a good job done, you know?"

"Respectable. I suppose we're close to the end now. Anything more would simply be greedily taking more and more of this abandoned facility's treasures until our gullets are full. Like wild animals." Despite what she's saying, she seems oddly happy? "Good. There's nothing left but ghosts and regret here. Erase the past, take what is ours."

"I suppose it's time we should carry on, Nicole?"
"Sure, sure." You turn your attentions back to your other allies and what Sable has been doing to them.

"AND THAT'S WHEN WE TOLD THAT FUCKING SPOOK IF HE BELIEVED IN GOD AND HE WAS CRYING LIKE A LITTLE BITCH-" Sable is rambling on and on about your past achievements while your allies, still hesitant about dealing with an anomalous spirit, listen on with rapt gazes and awestruck smirks.

Naomi snaps her fingers. "Let's get going."
>>
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"Especially you, Sable." Huh, you don't think you told any of them her name. Guess she already knew because she talked to her before.
Sable deflates a bit but immediately bends towards Naomi's command. "FEH. ONLY BECAUSE WE HAD THAT TALK BACK AT THE BASE." She rushes back over to be right besides you.

Well, at least your other allies seem a bit more comfortable around Sable, and by proxy, your UNSTABLE self.
>All allies present is now used to UNSTABLE's presence. They take -1 RESTRAINT from any mental fits you may have.

One last thing. You toss the note over to Audie. "Hey. Do you recognize this handwriting? There was also another lab gal back in Research-" You toss THAT note to him as well. "Just want to know if you recognized them or anything."

Audie quickly skims over the two notes you handed him before he immediately stops mid-skim. He's staring at them in complete disbelief and awe. For a brief moment, you swear he was about to burst into tears but he's quickly able to recompose himself. "Haven't seen this handwriting in decades. Jane Macarthur and Simon Bell were the ones to write this. How did you get this one?" He holds up the note you woke up with.

You simply shrug. You have no fucking idea but at least you got some names to thank once you're on the surface. Only way to proceed now is FORWARDS. Your group promptly falls into line in their soggy, probably foul smelling glory. You can't wait to get somewhere warm after all of this but not until you stop this place from flooding because hoo, you can already feel the water getting higher and higher.

Your group proceeds down the only path forward. SABLE keeps some level of conversation up with your other allies but it's mostly just nonsensical ramblings so you learn to tune it out. Another long hallway to travel down. This is going to bite you in the ass when you have to go back to the surface.

The room your group finally stumbles into is MASSIVE. It was probably the main hub for all manner of activity on this floor before the facility fell apart and this place became a flooded garbage dump. The layout of the room is triangular, with four hallways branching off from the room you're in (discounting the one you came from). Two lead to containment cells, one labeled "DREARY NIGHT MURDERER" and the other labeled "TRAPPED BEHIND FOREVER". The first one was pried open ages ago while the second one firmly remains shut.

The hallways forward branch off into one brightly lit, almost blindingly white, path to the north and one that seems to lead into a room with SOMEONE waiting inside.

Boxes and crates filled with expired and leaking A-Energy and C-Extract line the walls, clearly meant to be stored down here for future use. A constant dribble of bright yellow, green, orange, pink, red, and other weirdly colored liquids in various states of decay mix into the water below. The ceiling stretches up pretty high up and you swear there's also another door up there with a small platform attached to it.
>>
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Perhaps while this facility was operational, there was a ladder to reach up there. Maybe Quentin can go up there. That's not what catches your attention.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoSNe09tJfI - ???

In the center of the room is a massive tree made out of connective tissue and flesh. With how high the ceiling is and how the tree nearly smashes against said ceiling, it must be at least two hundred feet tall. Its many roots are spiraling across the walls, floor, and ceiling of the room in desperate search of fresh nutrients.

Dozens of small flowers bloom across its many fleshy branches and the roots on the floor, seemingly mimicking ordinary flowers from the surface above. A field of flowers to color a man's heart. There's an odd silence around the tree that almost forces your allies to the ground but for now, you're able to resist its impulse. Even SABLE has gone quiet now.

We have always remained. We are a living memorial for those who have lost their lives on this field of battle.

At the base of the tree is a humanoid corpse. Millions of millions of roots are crawling in and out of his skin. Only his face and arms is fully visible underneath the mass of roots that has parasitized him. He's...smiling despite it all.

Ah, but it's still winter isn't it? It's a full bloom...

The corpse opens its eyes up for a moment. It reaches a hand out towards your group. Asking for something.

What do you do with LATECOMER'S BLOSSOM?
>[NAOMI ALLY + AUDIE ALLY] "Let's honor it." "To pay for its services." The two mutter with regret in their gazes. Pay a tribute to it. (-2 HIGH QUALITY WHISKEY BOTTLES, -1 GOLDEN DOUBLOON, -1 V-CORP CIGARETTE, -$50.)
>[WENDY ALLY] "It's clearly trying to lure us into a trap. Stay away from it." Proceed past it with her advice. You don't need to bother this thing and she's content enough not to fight it.
>[KIARA ALLY] "There's nobody to remember you here. Don't you want to be remembered elsewhere?" Try to convince the anomaly it's better to leave here. Peacefully. (CHARM DC: 15 (-6 from X-CORP MEDAL + CASEY), rolling 6d6 with Kiara's help. Pass and you should be able to convince to be contained, which will reward you greatly down the line.)
>[QUENTIN ALLY] "Hey, while we deal with this thing, check up there." Point towards the weird door far above the ceiling. (FREE ACTION. Quentin will temporarily leave the party to investigate.)
>[CLOVER ALLY] Clover places some ammo in its hands. "A soldier needs to fight, right?" (-3 REVOLVER AMMO, -2 SHOTGUN SLUGS, -3 ASSAULT RIFLE AMMO.)
>[CASEY ALLY] She's not talking to it nor offering it anything. Follow in her stead. Stand there and simply watch it in silence.
>[SABLE ACTIVE] "SOMETIMES IT IS BETTER NOT TO REMEMBER." Grab onto an old dust contaminated liquor, set it on fire, and throw it towards the anomaly. (Something tells you this won't start a fight. This may be better for everyone involved.)
>Write in.

Sorry for delay.
>>
>>6038190
>[QUENTIN ALLY] "Hey, while we deal with this thing, check up there." Point towards the weird door far above the ceiling. (FREE ACTION. Quentin will temporarily leave the party to investigate.)
We have GRAPPLING HOOK! We can go up there once Quentin scouts it
>[SABLE ACTIVE] "SOMETIMES IT IS BETTER NOT TO REMEMBER." Grab onto an old dust contaminated liquor, set it on fire, and throw it towards the anomaly. (Something tells you this won't start a fight. This may be better for everyone involved.)
Just because we won't remember doesn't mean nobody will. There's lots of memorials to wars and soldiers and every event or profession under the sun and under the ground. You don't need monuments or landmarks to remember things.

Naomi+Audie option spends resources I still want to keep for later
Wendy option leaves this unaccounted for and we still need to walk by this on the way out, and back again if we're going to do side objectives before we engage reseal and ESCAPE
Kiara option is nice and all and I bet an X Corp cemetary or huge memorial plaza would love this thing there, but we only have 1 containment cube with us. If we had more then maybe I'd be up for taking this? Could there be more spare containment cubes here in Extraction Floor?
Clover option wastes valuable ammo, no thank you
Casey option might also be good in a simple "Press F to pay respects" manner, no more no less
>>
>>6038190
>>[KIARA ALLY] "There's nobody to remember you here. Don't you want to be remembered elsewhere?" Try to convince the anomaly it's better to leave here. Peacefully. (CHARM DC: 15 (-6 from X-CORP MEDAL + CASEY), rolling 6d6 with Kiara's help. Pass and you should be able to convince to be contained, which will reward you greatly down the line.)
>>[QUENTIN ALLY] "Hey, while we deal with this thing, check up there." Point towards the weird door far above the ceiling. (FREE ACTION. Quentin will temporarily leave the party to investigate.)
>>
>>6038190
>>[KIARA ALLY] "There's nobody to remember you here. Don't you want to be remembered elsewhere?" Try to convince the anomaly it's better to leave here. Peacefully. (CHARM DC: 15 (-6 from X-CORP MEDAL + CASEY), rolling 6d6 with Kiara's help. Pass and you should be able to convince to be contained, which will reward you greatly down the line.)

>[QUENTIN ALLY] "Hey, while we deal with this thing, check up there." Point towards the weird door far above the ceiling. (FREE ACTION. Quentin will temporarily leave the party to investigate.)
>>
>>6038190
>[KIARA ALLY] "There's nobody to remember you here. Don't you want to be remembered elsewhere?" Try to convince the anomaly it's better to leave here. Peacefully. (CHARM DC: 15 (-6 from X-CORP MEDAL + CASEY), rolling 6d6 with Kiara's help. Pass and you should be able to convince to be contained, which will reward you greatly down the line.)
>[QUENTIN ALLY] "Hey, while we deal with this thing, check up there." Point towards the weird door far above the ceiling. (FREE ACTION. Quentin will temporarily leave the party to investigate.)
>>
>>6038190
>[KIARA ALLY] "There's nobody to remember you here. Don't you want to be remembered elsewhere?" Try to convince the anomaly it's better to leave here. Peacefully. (CHARM DC: 15 (-6 from X-CORP MEDAL + CASEY), rolling 6d6 with Kiara's help. Pass and you should be able to convince to be contained, which will reward you greatly down the line.)
>[QUENTIN ALLY] "Hey, while we deal with this thing, check up there." Point towards the weird door far above the ceiling. (FREE ACTION. Quentin will temporarily leave the party to investigate.)
>>
>>6038190
>[KIARA ALLY] "There's nobody to remember you here. Don't you want to be remembered elsewhere?" Try to convince the anomaly it's better to leave here. Peacefully. (CHARM DC: 15 (-6 from X-CORP MEDAL + CASEY), rolling 6d6 with Kiara's help. Pass and you should be able to convince to be contained, which will reward you greatly down the line.)
>[QUENTIN ALLY] "Hey, while we deal with this thing, check up there." Point towards the weird door far above the ceiling. (FREE ACTION. Quentin will temporarily leave the party to investigate.)
>>
Question. Should we Sight Jack Quentin when he goes to scout? Just in case something up there immediately fucks him? Incase something up there is a thing Nicky would know about but he might not even notice and report?

And at some point should we toss on A New You for some bonuses before we make it to the home stretch? We do still have glow niggers in play, so a bonus to some stat or another might be useful, especially if we want to try and get a jump on them.

Or can we only put A New You on at the start of a mission.
>>
>>6038190
>>[QUENTIN ALLY] "Hey, while we deal with this thing, check up there." Point towards the weird door far above the ceiling. (FREE ACTION. Quentin will temporarily leave the party to investigate.)
>>[CLOVER ALLY] Clover places some ammo in its hands. "A soldier needs to fight, right?" (-3 REVOLVER AMMO, -2 SHOTGUN SLUGS, -3 ASSAULT RIFLE AMMO.)
>>
>>6038672
Yes, I agree
Might be cool
>>
QUENTIN ALLY: All. Funny bug man.
KIARA ALLY: Au0, Iza, cWW, xAm, dzP
SABLE: Jki
CLOVER: I5e

Seems like the path forward is obvious. I need two anons to roll 3d6 for the Kiara skill check. Let's see how you handle it.

>>6038672
>>6038816
NEW YOU was disabled this mission because there was a risk of overexposure due to your boat mission having you wear it for a while due to its property of imposing other personality traits onto you.
Your other PARADIGMS influence you WAY less directly so you can use them forever.

As for SIGHTJACK, I'll do a quick follow up vote while we wait for rolls. You wanna sightjack Quentin? I count it as a free action.
>YES (-1 RESTRAINT, down to 6/10, but you'll get a chance to spot some things Quentin may miss.)
>NO. I TRUST BUGMAN. (No RESTRAINT spent but you have to just take Quentin on his word.)
>>
Rolled 2, 2, 1 = 5 (3d6)

>>6038957
>YES (-1 RESTRAINT, down to 6/10, but you'll get a chance to spot some things Quentin may miss.)
>>
Rolled 2, 4, 3 = 9 (3d6)

>>6038957
>YES (-1 RESTRAINT, down to 6/10, but you'll get a chance to spot some things Quentin may miss.)
>>
>>6038966
>>6038969
>off by 1
Haha... Think the FAKE ID will work on a flesh tree anomaly? It's that or a DAMDAM PILL. Or we take the loss. If the tree wants to stay a cool memorial down here, let it
>>
>>6038966
>>6038969
Ya know what, since you haven't really been on a mission that needs the FAKE ID and otherwise it would rot away in your inventory, wanna consume it?
>YES. WHY KEEP IT AROUND? (-FAKE ID FROM INVENTORY, PASS CHECK.)
>NO, TAKE DAMDAM PILL INSTEAD. (-1 DAMDAM PILL, PASS CHECK)
>TAKE THE LOSS. MAYBE GET THE DOG OR SOMETHING.
>>
>>6038975
>YES. WHY KEEP IT AROUND? (-FAKE ID FROM INVENTORY, PASS CHECK.)
>>
>>6038975
>YES. WHY KEEP IT AROUND? (-FAKE ID FROM INVENTORY, PASS CHECK.)
Trees are FOOLED by fake IDs. I hope there's chances to find more containment cubes here.
>>
>>6038975
>YES. WHY KEEP IT AROUND? (-FAKE ID FROM INVENTORY, PASS CHECK.)
>>
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Coolio. Seems like we're going for SIGHTJACK + BURNING THE ID TO TRICK A FLESH TREE (Out of context that sounds completely nonsensical.)
Entering my writing cage. Aie aie aie.
>>
>>6038995
Don’t worry.
It doesn’t make any sense in-context either.

I look forward to seeing how the tree reacts you our ID badge.
>>
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For the briefest of moments, you feel a gust of wind blowing past you. Despite the fact you're hundreds of feet underground. The flowers on the many roots and branches all shift over to point right at your group. It's like a thousand eyes are staring down at you, waiting to see what you'll do.

"WE SHOULD BURN IT." Sable whispers to the group. "IT'S BETTER TO FORGET. TO LET THE PAST FADE AWAY."
"Forget?" Audie stares at the specter with glazed over, watery eyes. "We can't forget. It's not right to forget."
"Do we even have the right to decide either way?" Quentin chirps with obvious unease in his voice. "It's not hurting US. It IS ONLY watching. Maybe WE SHOULD let it be?"

Your allies and disembodied specter begin to whisper-yell at each other in hushed whispers over what they should do. The flowers all shift to face your muttering group. You got a moment to do something without the anomaly noticing what you plan on doing next.

You pull out that old ID card you found back in the research lab and the fake ID you've been saving for a rainy day. With your telekinesis, you hold up your pocket knife to chisel away at the plastic around the agent's face. Once you chiseled it out enough to remove it, you do the same for your fake ID.

You then stick your face into the spot where the old agent's face would be with the help of some sticky secretions from MANAGER'S FLESH. You now have a very shoddily made fake Agent ID of yourself. It's probably enough to trick the anomaly if you keep your distance.

Kiara's LED eyes light up once she spots what you're doing. While your other allies are busy bickering, she steps up towards the anomaly with an awestruck look on her face. She still keeps her distance from it to be safe but she reaches a hand up towards the air before loudly beeping out a tone to get its attention.

All of your allies + Sable stop bickering once they realize that you and Kiara are actually doing something. It's just the two of you trying your best to handle this situation. You two ARE the only ones who have really dealt with anomalies regularly before.

"You wish to be remembered. The others WANT to remember you. A monument of flesh and bone made TO be recognized." Kiara takes careful steps towards the anomaly as she begins to rationalize what exactly the anomaly is supposed to be: Its PARADIGM. Its reason for existence.

"There's nobody to remember you here, though." You proceed to follow after Kiara with careful, slow steps. "The only survivors here barely even know what you're supposed to stand for. A monument without purpose."

All of the flowers continue to stare down at the two of you. That's all the anomaly is doing as you and Kiara approach it. Staring. Watching. You're talking to something that will never, ever talk back to you. A voice snuffed out so long ago. The air has gotten thicker with a mixture of opium poppy pollen and fumes from the energy-contaminated water below.

Your head spins.

"Don't you want to be remembered?"
>>
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"To be somewhere elsewhere? Where people will know what you stand for?" You whisper out through clenched teeth. It's hard to think as the two of you keep incher closer and closer to you.

"Maybe a X-Corp base? A memorial plaza? Maybe a cemetery?" Kiara tries to get some sort of positive reaction out of the anomaly but all that lingers in the air is the scent of poppies and the piercing 'gazes' of the flowers staring down at you.

Naomi and Audie click their tongues disapprovingly. "It won't talk back, you know." "The dead never do."

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] You need to show it a sign that you truly understand who it is. Even if it's a lie.

"..." You pull out the makeshift AGENT ID you made. You hold it up towards the anomaly. "I'm the only one who survived here. I want to make sure your message is spread. So a mistake isn't repeated."

The scent of poppies fades immediately after you hold up the card towards the anomaly. The corpse at the base of the tree begins to struggle and rip at the roots connecting it to the base. The mangled corpse soon disconnects from the tree and promptly stands up on its two legs.

A tangled mass of roots, bark, and flowers clings all over the corpse's body. It takes slow, calculated steps over to the two of you until it stands right in front of your group.

There will be a time where I bloom again.

[SEEKERS OF THE CITY] You and Kiara glance at each other. Both of you immediately recognize that the corpse isn't the anomaly. It's the plant mass clinging to it.
[SEEKERS OF THE CITY] "You think it'll regrow?" "As long as someone remembers it." The two of you nod at each other. This should be enough.

You throw down the CONTAINMENT CUBE from your pocket before tossing it onto the ground. The featureless black cube quickly expands until it's just big enough to house the anomaly inside. The side facing the anomaly promptly opens up, which the anomaly proceeds to crawl inside. The CONTAINMENT CUBE seals shut behind it and immediately shrinks back to the size of a moderately oversized rubix's cube.

>LATECOMER'S BLOSSOM CONTAINMENT CUBE OBTAINED! (Houses an anomaly that seeks to be remembered. Very valuable, will be cashed out at mission end.)
>-1 FAKE ID, -EMPTY CONTAINEMNT CUBE.

You pick up the cube up from the flooded water before stuffing it into your pocket. One anomaly contained, nice. You turn your attention over to your allies. Most of them would rather not dwell on what happened if only because they have nothing to say. Audie and Naomi nod approvingly but that's all you're going to get.

The tree behind you is still standing tall despite the main body being removed from it. Kiara takes some pictures to remember it before handing you one.
>+1 DREARY NIGHT MURDERER and LATECOMER'S BLOSSOM PHOTOGRAPH! (Mementos.)

You point up towards the platform at the very top of the room you're in. "Check that out real quick before we go anywhere, please." You prepare to SIGHTJACK him once he agrees...
>>
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Quentin gives you a thumbs up before he spreads his wings. With the same speed of a wasp buzzing towards a pile of sugar, he shoots up towards the platform at the very top of the room. You immediately activate SIGHTJACK to get an idea of what's up there before he comes back.

>6/10 RESTRAINT LEFT!

Your vision immediately shifts to his point of view. The first thing you notice is how his sight has hundreds of hundreds of tiny lenses in it that makes adjusting to his vision a bit hard. Quentin lands on the rusted metal platform with a bit of an unstable wobble. He glances around the platform, which has various brightly highlighted blood smears on the rails.

The door itself is a crumbling apart stainless steel door with a heavily worn away label slapped on front of it. "MAINT SHA" is all you can make out from it. He reels back his leg and slams his foot against the door a few dozen times until it eventually collapses from the stress of it, allowing Quentin entrance into the Maintenance Shaft(?).

The room, despite not having any active lights, is pretty lit up from Quentin's point of view. It's a very cramped and cozy room with a super low ceiling. Quentin has to squint down so he doesn't smash his shell's head against the ceiling.

There's a wooden table with some...fresh food? Freshly cooked given how steam is still rising up from the bowl of processed noodles. Must've been reheated by the microwave sitting at the corner of the room; There's also a small cabinet and minifridge next to it as well. With the pile of blankets resting on the floor as well: Someone has been living here and very recently.

There's also a spare CONTAINMENT CUBE up here. Empty and in its compact form, however. Nice! He picks it up before investigating further.
>+1 CONTAINMENT CUBE!

Quentin spots a trail of footsteps thanks to his bug vision and scents. It leads down a maintenance shaft that simply goes in a straight line for a while. Thankfully, due to his wings, he's able to buzz down the shaft pretty quickly despite how cramped everything is. Doesn't take long for him to stop in front of a small doorway that has a ladder leading straight up somewhere.

Quentin squints at what's written next to the doorway. "ACCOUNTING". There's also a spare compact ladder laying on the ground in front of the doorway but besides that, the rest of the shaft has been caved in from well, 60ish years of no actual maintenance?

Though there is a speck of blue blood at the base of the rubble blocking the shaft AND the ladder to accounting.

He grabs onto the ladder and after taking some time to waddle through the cramped shaft and living area, he pops back out and onto the platform. This is when you disconnect SIGHTJACK since you don't really need to see through his perspective anymore.

You shake your head a bit to regain your senses. Your other allies are standing around you by the fleshy tree, confused as hell as to why you were just staring into thin air for a while.
>>
Quentin, at the edge of the platform, attaches one end of the ladder to the platform thanks to a pair of hooks at the end of it.

Quentin promptly flies back to the bottom where the rest of your allies are. "Not much TO report. Someone was LIVING up there. Presumably a HEAD. Pathway to ACCOUNTING up there. Placed LADDER for easier access." Seems like he didn't notice the blue blood. Was a SPOOK trailing after your group? Did they try to attack whoever WAS living up there?

Worrisome. Well, at least you know what's up there and you even noticed a detail Quentin wouldn't have been able to report on. The question now is...what do you want to do now? You still have a bit more of EXTRACTION to explore. Though there's really only two paths to head down from what you're seeing actually worth investigating. You're not sure if you want to waste time trying to pry open a sealed shut anomaly cell and MURDERER...

Well. He's 'conceptually destabilized' so you don't care about him anymore.

How do you proceed from here?
>Blinding white, huh? Must mean that something is lit up there. Maybe like some very complex machinery you need to shut off? Head down there ASAP.
>Someone's clearly waiting for your group in the dark room. Head inside and talk to them.
>[SABLE ACTIVE] "HEY. HEAD UP TO THE PLATFORM. USE THE AERIAL DRONE WE HAVE AS A LURE FOR WHOEVER MIGHT BE IN THE WHITE HALLWAY." Huh. Smart idea. Use your GRAPPLING HOOK to get you and the others to the platform before preparing the lure. (-1 CHARGE TO AERIAL DRONE, may risk being destroyed. Should get you a good idea on what you're heading into.)
>Write in.

Do you tell the others about the blue blood you saw above?
>YES. THEY NEED TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR THE SPOOKS. WE KNOW THEY'RE TRAILING US NOW.
>NO. NOT YET, WHO KNOWS IF THERE ARE SPOOKS LISTENING RIGHT NOW?

And finally, before you get any closer to your main MISSION goal, do you want to give Naomi a SERUM to kickstart those old tattoos she has? Might be a while to get more serums.
>YES. Give her HÄLSA. (-1 HALSA SERUM. Should kickstart a mild form of regeneration that bypasses her BANE for the foreseeable future. Not as good as the implant you skimped out of but it's still something.)
>YES. Give her 속도. (-1 속도 SERUM. She gains +1 WILLPOWER, +1 TALENT, AND +1 to a random stat.)
>YES. Give her both. (Combines the two above.)
>NO. Not yet, anyways.

Anything else you wish to do?
>WRITE IN (Ask an ally something? Take some drugs? Ask SABLE something? Something else completely?)

Would've uploaded earlier but due to some dog related tomfuckery, had to clean a broken coffee mug and the resulting coffee spill. My hands and feet still reek of coffee.
>>
>>6039191
>Someone's clearly waiting for your group in the dark room. Head inside and talk to them.
>YES. THEY NEED TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR THE SPOOKS. WE KNOW THEY'RE TRAILING US NOW.
>YES. Give her HÄLSA. (-1 HALSA SERUM. Should kickstart a mild form of regeneration that bypasses her BANE for the foreseeable future. Not as good as the implant you skimped out of but it's still something.)
>>
>>6039193
+1
But in addition, make sure we nonverbally convey BLUE BLOOD OF SILVER UP IN MAINT somehow. Type it out on a phone note, show it to the party, then delete the note. Something simple.

Once we finish with Naomi's grandma and get her ID as the 3rd we need to abort unseal, we abort the unseal immediately to stop the flooding from getting worse then HUNT THE SILVERS and LOOT THE FLOORS. If the agents sabotage the console, we're all screwed. They might do it just to fuck us over if they can't get the REFINEMENT
>>
>>6039191
>[SABLE ACTIVE] "HEY. HEAD UP TO THE PLATFORM. USE THE AERIAL DRONE WE HAVE AS A LURE FOR WHOEVER MIGHT BE IN THE WHITE HALLWAY." Huh. Smart idea. Use your GRAPPLING HOOK to get you and the others to the platform before preparing the lure. (-1 CHARGE TO AERIAL DRONE, may risk being destroyed. Should get you a good idea on what you're heading into.)
>YES. Give her HÄLSA. (-1 HALSA SERUM. Should kickstart a mild form of regeneration that bypasses her BANE for the foreseeable future. Not as good as the implant you skimped out of but it's still something.)
>>
>>6039193
>>6039197
+1
>>
>>6039193
>>6039197
+1

QM, what’s gonna happen if Nicole is caught with that assault rifle above ground? Especially in a J-Corp district?
>>
>>6039324
>flashes X Corp Medal
>"Erm, apologies miss. You're all clear."
That's what
>>
>>6038174
>Adam, Ashley, and Maruyama
Ashley or Maruyama. Adam already has his special chef knife
>soaked
Where is that hot and dry place with the good heating in here?
>HANDMADE GUN
Yeah this shit sucks
>don't care about saving PISTOL AMMO
I agree
>1 LEFT!
Pass it to Quentin or Naomi or Kiara, roll a 1d3 for it, doesn't matter
>STUCK
Oh right CAP is the one voice Nicole can't manifest with her power. Probably a good thing

>>6038177
>put a hole
That's what 2 RESTRAINT does to a guy
>Walls twisting in
Was that in REFINEMENT? I don't remember that
>cute
This isn't the first time he's complimented someone in the flow
>casino after
Sounds like RESTRAINT heal and RAPPORT UP for everybody
>Shame
Wonder why? I still haven't gotten around to playing Yellow
>don't sense anything like that
Interesting. Very interesting. If he's no SHIFTER and that's not a optical combat aug, then what?
>weird genetic quirk
Weird SOUL quick more like
>produce them with ya mind
We passed on that power, didn't we?

>>6038179
>fucking angry
Surprising from him
>catalogue
If Kiara survives the events of this quest, I hope she can work with anybody else still alive and spread Nicole's story around complete with photos
>Weeks feel like they were months ago
It's the nature of running quests online and trying to control pacing. In 5 months, Cleaner Quest will hit 1 year!
>How human even are you?
What about us, irl?

>>6038180
>experiences
Life lessons and wisdom can be found anywhere
>it can hear us
Almost 2 dozen REFINEMENT brothers and sisters grinding in the darkness across the City's facilities...
>Power tattoos
Demifiend?
>awe in his eyes
He's having a great time

>>6038182
>time to kill
We just killed a Jack the Ripper ripoff, stop it with this timekilling niggering already
>human mind could not comprehend
But it was made. It was created somehow. Therefore a human might must be able to comprehend it even with accompanying sanity damage
>Feet first
Bastards
>vomit
That gives us more insight into the REFINEMENT machines. They have a will of their own to the point they can actively reject forceful attempts to feed them. But how did the 2-4 glowies endure being right next to the thing for that long?
>competency
This entire quest we've been hard at work gitting gud and staying gud
>make it in this fuckin' industry.
>pride in a good job done
Is it possible for Nicole to have the "family" she wants while still being a Cleaner? How is she going to leave the business if she's so good and she likes doing it so far? Hmmm
>greedily taking more
WE NEED THAT BONUS PAY, OLD HAG
>past achievements
Nice way to recap allies offscreen about all that shit we went through
>rapt gazes and awestruck smirks
They're taking it a lot better than I expected. This is a nice sequence
>>
>>6038185
>used to UNSTABLE
I bet Wendy feels better too. Truly not alone
>names to thank
Not important anymore, but still traces to follow? Maybe not
>soggy
I didn't say this in the previous post, but I love the descriptions there of how disheveled and grimy everybody here has become over the mission as well as this fight here in the flooded floor. At least we have spirits high from the steamroll we're on, right?
>stop this place from flooding
We still don't know how the unseal/reseal works. If unseal abort means it continues flooding due to the opened tunnels staying as they are, then we're still on a time limit. If reseal engage means we will be stuck here with ALL the tunnels closing up, then we're also on a time limit. Curses!
>bite you in the ass when you have to go back
It's a straight line, come on
>"TRAPPED BEHIND FOREVER"
What a name
>door up there with a small platform
This immediate setting and especially this description reminds me a lot of Portal and Portal 2, you get what I mean QM?

>>6039181
>sticky secretions from MANAGER'S FLESH
Oh my...
>PARADIGM
In Memoriam...
>opium poppy pollen
Not the day for head explosion time

>>6039182
>shrinks back
That makes taking anomalies out way more convenient, though we can still take easy ones like MAGICAL GIRL or DOG or others out uncontained if we have to? That means two trips or more, and that costs time without the cubes
>(Mementos.)
Also EVIDENCE

>>6039184
>speed of a wasp
I'm starting to love this upgrade for Quentin more and more. I kneel, wing voters from that thread
>tiny lenses
So we're perceiving through Quentin's insect eyes, as he also perceives through the puppetted corpse's eyes. Very trippy
>steam is still rising
We literally just missed this person?
>minifridge
Hey that's awfully familiar...
>+1 CONTAINMENT CUBE!
Jackpot
>"ACCOUNTING"
We haven't been to Floor 4, 5, and 6 yet. This is Floor 6. Makes sense it'd be connected to 7 here.
>speck of blue blood
So the spook that belongs to, did he enter or exit ACCOUNTING from here?
>rest of the shaft has been caved in
The spook might have entered and exit too. He wasn't out here in the shaft itself though.

>>6039191
>attaches one end of the ladder to the platform
So we have a way to go up into Floor 6 from the shaft now. Saves trouble of having to go all the way to the elevator, but it also means somebody can sabotage us by removing the ladder completely
>try to attack
Could Benowitz have fought back? He is likely wearing INFORMANT's PARADIGM set, based on his descriptions. If the silver agent fought him and lost but escaped, then where did he go? Was there another way he could have went? I doubt he went down here into Extraction, and Dreary did not give any indication that there was a spook here. Knowing Dreary and his archetype as an anomaly, he would absolutely be against all feds finding him out. Weird situation
>>
>>6039191
>>[SABLE ACTIVE] "HEY. HEAD UP TO THE PLATFORM. USE THE AERIAL DRONE WE HAVE AS A LURE FOR WHOEVER MIGHT BE IN THE WHITE HALLWAY." Huh. Smart idea. Use your GRAPPLING HOOK to get you and the others to the platform before preparing the lure. (-1 CHARGE TO AERIAL DRONE, may risk being destroyed. Should get you a good idea on what you're heading into.)

>YES. THEY NEED TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR THE SPOOKS. WE KNOW THEY'RE TRAILING US NOW.

Phone note or just a sticky note. Nonverbal.

>YES. Give her both. (Combines the two above.)
>>
"Mr. Money...Mr. Money only liked to talk to my bug friend upstairs. He only cared about 'money' and 'prestige' and junk. Feh! How selfish!!!" Welp! Bribery! Simple enough.
>He only cared about 'money' and 'prestige' and junk.
No.6015578
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2024/5982952/
I think there is a potential that Benowitz will want to work with the silver agent to gain something from them.
>>
>>6039660
I'm worried about the maintenance shafts. How did the agent or agents get to Accounting? And from where? I'm getting paranoid that while we've handled Research and Security Heads and are about to handle Extraction, the silver agents could have got to Welfare, Training, and Accounting behind our backs. If we have 3 IDs and they have 3 IDs, what then? Does Manager remotely tiebreak in our favor?
>>
>>6039193
+1
>>
DARK ROOM: cWW, 00b, dzp, xAm, I5e
SABLE: xhR, Iza

YES, INFOM THEM: EVERYONE

GIVE HER HALSA: All but Iza
BOTH SERUMS: za
No need to wait any longer. Pretty cut and dry, writing.

>>6039324
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] You can probably bullshit your way out of it, if any of them care enough to stop you, by showing your medal. X-Corp is respected by J-Corp.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Of course, the cops at the train station were swamped with a lot of other stuff so it's probably not even an issue for now. MIGHT be an issue if you ever need to return here.
[PERSON OF INTEREST] That does imply the cops are willing to respect your medal AND that they're not corrupt. So who knows?

>>6039403
>Oh right CAP is the one voice Nicole can't manifest with her power. Probably a good thing
Nope, you can summon him. Though that would be letting the ember of an old X5 anomaly out, even for a few moments, so you decide if that's worth it.
>>
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You toss over your spare PISTOL ROUND over to Naomi since frankly, she should probably stop letting her silver instincts kick in with all of this knife work nonsense. Even if it's impressive that she's even still physically active enough TO use a knife without crumpling into dust at the first sign of resistance.

She catches it after fumbling with it and puts it into her pocket. Perfect distraction to pull out the HÄLSA serum so you can hand it over to her. Naomi narrows her only eye for a moment upon seeing the serum before she immediately snatches it from your hand.

She pops the cap off the vial before chugging the contents inside in one smooth gulp. She puts the cap back, keeping the empty vial for later. The tattoos across her scarred, cracked skin light up for a brief moment after she drank the serum. The gauze around her nose falls off, revealing a burnt but otherwise perfectly repaired nose.

Guess it can't repair scars but it's a start. You do wonder what is inside of the serum specifically. Maybe you can show Benjamin it later to see what he can figure out about it.
>NAOMI now has full FLESH!
>NAOMI now has the boon HÄLSA REGENERATION! (Has four charges per mission. Can spend two to heal 1 FLESH or a CRIPPLING INJURY. Can spend one charge to regain 1 RESTRAINT. Bypasses LINGERING SCARS.)
>-1 HALSA SERUM, -1 PISTOL ROUND. +1 PISTOL ROUND TO NAOMI.

"Excellent." Naomi giggles with a dopey, silly looking smile. It disappears as quickly as it appeared once she realizes what she's doing. "Ignore that."

Wendy and Sable snort in unison. "DORKASS." "Dummy." Naomi can't even fight back with an actual argument and instead tries her best to ignore the two giggling at her expense.
"Shush." Audie snaps his fingers towards the giggling Company Rep and your own specter. "Where do we go from here, Nicole?"

You pull out your phone to quickly type out a simple note: "SPOOKS FOLLOWING. BE WARY. KEEP EYES OUT. DO NOT SAY A WORD, COULD BE LISTENING." You then hold it up to your allies. The seven of them crowd around to see what you wrote down.

Your allies mutter incoherently to each other before they quickly decide it's best not to ask any questions about how you know this for certain due to, well, being the only one besides Kiara and Naomi who even knew they existed more than a few hours ago.

"We're going to check out whoever's in that room." You jab a thumb in the direction of the dark room. "Brace for an ambush in case we need to fight again."

Wendy lets out a low, deeply satisfied whistle. You shudder a bit when you see how excited Wendy got at the idea of beating another person or anomaly to death. Naomi seems hesitant to enter that room specifically for some reason but Casey is already pushing you and Naomi over to the room.

Welp. No time to think or regret about your decision. Your other allies trail behind you as you are forcefully shoved into the dark room. Hopefully the person here isn't another wacko.
>>
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The room you are pushed into is pitch black. No, no, that's the wrong way to describe it. Even the darkest rooms aren't as black as the one you were shoved into. You can't see anything at all, not even Sable. Everything further than an inch away from you might as well not exist.

It's more apt to say there's a physical 'darkness' that is suffocating any light that passes through it. It is the kind of dark that can only be described as 'what you see before you're born'. Your other allies aren't saying anything either. Did something happen?

And then, the light returns.

You find yourself at what you assume to be the Extraction Head's office. It's pretty spacious actually since the eight of you don't have to press up against each other to fit in. It reminds you of various old shops you would see on the surface in between missions. The walls, floor, and ceiling are covered in a grey and yellow honeycomb pattern that's oddly well kept despite the fact this room is also flooding.

The walls are lined with cabinets that contain a variety of old products and supplies that have long since gone rotten. Logos of companies long since destroyed in the Antiseptic War are stamped all across the supplies. Most of them are old cereal boxes or other luxury goods from the Alphabet Companies above.

Probably some sort of reward shop for hard-working employees? A few small shelves are scattered across the floor of the room. Each of them is locked up with reinforced bullet-resistant glass that can only be opened by sliding the right keycard in. The supplies inside THOSE shelves seem far more interesting than the others. Wands out of a magical girl anime, bloodstained radios that radiate an ominous tune, a dog bone with a massive spike pointing out of one end,

Each of those shelves is labeled "FOR SUPPRESSION AGENTS ONLY". Must be PARADIGMs that were extracted here. At the back of the room is the EXTRACTION SHOP'S counter. There's someone sitting in the old, rotten chair that behind the counter. Someone who's been waiting for you eight to realize she's sitting there. She smiles upon realizing that you eight aren't here to kill her.

"Welcome to my humble abode."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQsZHn1mqLM - EXTRACTION HEAD

The woman behind the counter is beyond ancient even if you compare her to Audie and Naomi. You're pretty sure she's not even supposed to be alive anymore given how...there's no anomalous PARADIGMs or other obvious ways she could've extended her lifespan visible on her. A long grey-fur cap with yellow honeycomb patterns scattered all across its surface is draped over her skeletally thin frame.

Her sunken in eyes are cloudy grey and fogged over from what you can assume is cataracts. Her aging, liver-spotted skin is tightly taut around her skull and hands as if they were desperately trying to cling to her body at any cost. Her long, flowing grey hair is probably the only part of her that isn't falling apart.
>>
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The front half trails down from her head and all the way to the counter while the rest trails all the way down her back. Almost like watching a regal lion still clinging on to what power and authority it had.

Kiara stumbles back in shock after a quick analysis of the woman in front of her. "She's 142 years old. She shouldn't even be alive." Wait, 142- She was 86 before the facility was sealed. Naomi's in her 80s so she was 24 at minimum when this woman was alive...fuck.

"Welcome home, child." The Extraction Head turns her attention over to Naomi, not remotely giving a fuck about anyone else down here. "I never thought I would see you again."

"Mother." Naomi can't even look her in the eye when talking to her.

"I have no desire to fight." Ms. Wischard reaches into her coat and promptly places down an old ID card down onto the table. "I have no desire to do anything else but to let the water rush up this old, feeble body. I know what you're here to do." Her attention snaps over to the rest of your group. "Go ahead."

[DOGMATIC MINDSET] "What?" Clover is the first one to object to Ms. Wischard's hopeless request. "Why? The war's over. The surface is free. Ya clearly got all of yer screws in, why would you-"

Ms. Wischard shakes her head. "I see no such desire in my heart. I am not like Redd. I am not like the others. I am fine dying down here." She reaches down underneath the counter to pull out a freshly brew glass of tea. "I saved my last packet for a day like this. I am fine."

"I-I don't think ya understand. I'm not taking no for an answer." Clover starts to step closer to Ms. Wischard but she immediately cuts him off with a firm 'tsk' from the back of her throat. Clover's eye begin to twitch but he curtly nods, waiting for her answer.

"Pray tell, how? I am old. I can hardly leave the chair I am sitting in. Even if I were to stand, I have no ability to defend myself nor the physical constitution to run away from danger. I would simply be a hindrance to your group as you attempt to complete your goal."

"I- Mira, come on, don't you want to at least die on the surface above?" Audie tries his best to get through to his former coworker. "People are trying to help you. They helped ME. Don't you-"

"And even if I do get out, who's to say I wouldn't be snuffed out? I was told secrets from P-Corp I can not repeat, not even down here. I have seen things that none of you have the willpower to comprehend. Even if I were to leave...I would die just as quickly as down here." The way she's saying that is as if she's trying to convince herself that staying down here is the only option to her.

You don't think she actually wants to die. She just doesn't see any other way.

[QUEEN BEE MINDSET] Casey speaks up for the first time in a while. "Do you like lying to yourself? Do humans enjoy deluding themselves?"
[NAOMI ALLY] "...So what? Do you believe it is noble to die like a dog?"
[SABLE ACTIVE] "YOU DO REALIZE DROWNING IS BY FAR THE WORST WAY TO GO, YES?"
>>
Mira goes quiet. Seems like that's enough to get an in with her, even if only for a fleeting moment. How do you want to handle the EXTRACTION HEAD? She's already given up.

Regardless of what you pick, you'll probably head to the next hallway to stop this place from being unsealed. You still have to complete your mission after all.

>[Y-CORP TELEPORTER] "You don't want to be a burden? Here. Use this." Toss your emergency exit over to her. "It'll take you to a friend of mine. Go." (-Y-CORP TELEPORTER. While you remove a possible emergency button in the future, she'll be 100% safe and out of this facility.)
>[CASEY ALLY] "You might not care about what happens to you but don't you at least care about the other people here? Your friends? Your family? Anyone? Your daughter's right here." Let Casey try to get through to her. (CHARM DC: 15, rolling only Casey's 5d6. Succeed and you should be able to convince her to at least TRY to escape with you later.)
>[NAOMI ALLY] This really isn't a decision your group can make. Let Naomi deal with her mother. It's only right. (Naomi will be unavailable in the next section and you'll lose access to her stat boosting BOON. +0.5 RAPPORT with NAOMI. You feel it's the right thing to do.)
>[AUDIE ALLY] "Let me deal with this. I don't want anyone else dying down here." (AUDIE will leave the party. The two will safely return to the surface and Audie will have the free rein to try saving the others while you finish whatever's down here.)
>[CLOVER ALLY] "Maybe you're right. Maybe it would just be a waste of time. But isn't there a nobility in trying even if you fail?" (WILLPOWER DC: 19, rolling Clover's 5d6 only. Succeed and you'll motivate her enough to earn her assistance. She won't join your party but she'll offer some valuable information and equipment.)
>[WENDY + SABLE] "You're just a fucking coward. You don't even want to try, huh? Too afraid to face the music?" "DO YOU ACTUALLY BELIEVE WHAT YOU'RE SAYING?" (VIOLENCE DC: 23 (-2 from CASEY), rolling only Wendy's 7d6 VIOLENCE. Succeed and you'll tear down her facade. She'll directly assist you with stopping the facility's unsealing, easing up the process a LOT.)
>Leave. Grab the keycard, she's not your problem anymore. (Clover will probably have an issue with this but you don't have to risk or spend anything.)
>Write in.
>>
>>6039975
>[NAOMI ALLY] This really isn't a decision your group can make. Let Naomi deal with her mother. It's only right. (Naomi will be unavailable in the next section and you'll lose access to her stat boosting BOON. +0.5 RAPPORT with NAOMI. You feel it's the right thing to do.)
>>
>>6039975
>[NAOMI ALLY] This really isn't a decision your group can make. Let Naomi deal with her mother. It's only right. (Naomi will be unavailable in the next section and you'll lose access to her stat boosting BOON. +0.5 RAPPORT with NAOMI. You feel it's the right thing to do.)
The moment we get to the console and the coast is clear, we should radio the Manager on the earpiece.
>>
>>6039975
>>[WENDY + SABLE] "You're just a fucking coward. You don't even want to try, huh? Too afraid to face the music?" "DO YOU ACTUALLY BELIEVE WHAT YOU'RE SAYING?" (VIOLENCE DC: 23 (-2 from CASEY), rolling only Wendy's 7d6 VIOLENCE. Succeed and you'll tear down her facade. She'll directly assist you with stopping the facility's unsealing, easing up the process a LOT.)
>>
>>6039975
>>[NAOMI ALLY] This really isn't a decision your group can make. Let Naomi deal with her mother. It's only right. (Naomi will be unavailable in the next section and you'll lose access to her stat boosting BOON. +0.5 RAPPORT with NAOMI. You feel it's the right thing to do.)

Damn you QM I want to be a loot goblin and Clover it up, but this is probably the right thing to do.

Capcha is TND U2
>>
>>6039975
>>[NAOMI ALLY] This really isn't a decision your group can make. Let Naomi deal with her mother. It's only right. (Naomi will be unavailable in the next section and you'll lose access to her stat boosting BOON. +0.5 RAPPORT with NAOMI. You feel it's the right thing to do.)

Write-in:
>Give NAOMI the Y-Corp teleporter, tell her “You take care of your mom and everyone else that you can. At the first sign of trouble, use this. I’ll meet you on the surface.”
>>
>>6039975
>[WENDY + SABLE] "You're just a fucking coward. You don't even want to try, huh? Too afraid to face the music?" "DO YOU ACTUALLY BELIEVE WHAT YOU'RE SAYING?" (VIOLENCE DC: 23 (-2 from CASEY), rolling only Wendy's 7d6 VIOLENCE. Succeed and you'll tear down her facade. She'll directly assist you with stopping the facility's unsealing, easing up the process a LOT.)
>>
>>6040096
I think "in the next section" means what comes after we leave her and her mom, which us that blinding white room where presumably the unseal/reseal console lies. Naomi should come rejoin us after she's done with her mom.

Speaking of Y CORP TRANSPORTER, we could also use that to get the Manager topside if we wanted to. Or if he can regrow from his tentacle somehow, then it might be worth using it for Naomi's mom
>>
>>6039953
>knife work nonsense
Both times the opponent, silver elite and Dreary, landed a decent hit on her. We know you still got it after these years, you don't need to keep proving it or sating your bloodlust that way
>keeping the empty vial for later
Extremely wise move
>show Benjamin it later
Using the glowies' own glow-serums against them is delicious, but Benjamin investigating the substance might bring heat down from Z Corp? Who knows
>HÄLSA REGENERATION
Bypassing the scars is the main reason why we gave this to her, plus appropriate
>dopey, silly looking smile
She deserves the happy moment after all this
>knew they existed more than a few hours ago
What, Wendy too?

>>6039960
>physical 'darkness'
Is this why Dreary could never breach into this room? I wonder how he never bothered to go kill the Extraction Head, since he was breached who knows when
>grey and yellow honeycomb pattern
You gain brozouf
>sliding the right keycard
We do have all-access
>bloodstained radios
A record of the day we must never forget...
>dog bone with a massive spike
DOG's PARADIGM weapon? Could be great if it does esoteric damage
>no anomalous
I doubt that. There's energy packets and unknown substances leaking all over the place. I bet something was keeping her going for so long

>>6039968
>Mother
They need to hug after all this time, damnit
>water rush up
Not after we do our thing
>WORST WAY TO GO
Many such cases!
>>
>>6039975
>[NAOMI ALLY] This really isn't a decision your group can make. Let Naomi deal with her mother. It's only right. (Naomi will be unavailable in the next section and you'll lose access to her stat boosting BOON. +0.5 RAPPORT with NAOMI. You feel it's the right thing to do.)
>>
>>6039975
>[WENDY + SABLE] "You're just a fucking coward. You don't even want to try, huh? Too afraid to face the music?" "DO YOU ACTUALLY BELIEVE WHAT YOU'RE SAYING?" (VIOLENCE DC: 23 (-2 from CASEY), rolling only Wendy's 7d6 VIOLENCE. Succeed and you'll tear down her facade. She'll directly assist you with stopping the facility's unsealing, easing up the process a LOT.)
>>
NAOMI ALLY: cWW, D+n, Iza, ied, dzp
SABLE: 0K9, 32V, xhR

Seems like you're leaving Naomi to deal with it. I would close the vote and start writing BUT I have an important family even to attend so I'll be busy. So have this mini vote/update while you wait. I'll close it once I'm done with the event.

---

Your gaze trails back towards the locked up PARADIGMs. You did get all access from the Manager thanks to your little discussion so you could swipe some of them before you leave Naomi behind to handle this.

[PERSON OF INTEREST] You highly doubt you can scavenge every inch of this facility. Best case is that you stop the flooding but more people are sent here to investigate, looting everything you couldn't.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Worst case is that you stop the unsealing but this place floods anyways because water still pours in. You're not sure of the exact specifics of the facility unsealing.
Sable whispers into your ear, "WE'LL ALSO BE PAID EXTRA FOR BRINGING BACK MORE PARADIGMS."
[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] The only thing really holding you back is both time and the risk of the artifacts contaminating your psyche if you bring too many.

Pick three to bring with you.
>DOGBONE. Bone is Chew. (MELEE WEAPON. ATTACK ROLL: RESTRAINT+FLESH. Passively calms down animals you encounter. Deals equal measures MENTAL and ESOTERIC damage.)
>SUGAR WAND X! SUGAR BEAM BLAST~! (RANGED WEAPON. ATTACK ROLL: CHARM*2. Can fire five times before needing to recharge, which takes a while. The beams it fires easily melts through most materials.)
>FORGOTTEN SIGNAL. Something's wrong in the system. A spirit? A curse? Perhaps something even worse. (TOOL. At the start of a mission and randomly during one, it will foretell of specific events and a hint on how best to deal with them.)
>THE FLESH IS WILLING. A sickly smelling red dress. Is it immoral if you want it to happen? (ARMOR. +1 WILLPOWER, CHARM, and RESTRAINT while worn. Reduces non-BANE related RESTRAINT damage taken by 2.)
>HEAVENLY SMILE. A wooden mask with a rictus grin carved into it. Its eyes gleam with spiteful joy. (ACCESSORY. While worn, it temporarily upgrades a BOON of you or an ally. It upgrades the most fitting BOON for the scenario you're in. Drains RESTRAINT while worn.)
>PEACEFUL OBLIVION. A handkerchief filled with mushroom spores. Time to sleep. (ACESSORY. While equipped, it applies passive FLESH and RESTRAINT regeneration at the cost of -1 COGNIZANCE, TALENT, WILLPOWER and VIOLENCE.)
>TARNISHED GOLDEN NECKLACE. Some say that even the richest people are just as filthy as you and I. (TOOL. Unlocks unique dialogue choices when interacting with Corporate Families or high ranking Corporate Officials. You might able to learn some VERY valuable secrets this way.)
>COAT OF UNKNOWN COLOR. Ah God, that color, everything is eroding. There was no bottom at all. (ARMOR. +2 WILLPOWER, RESTRAINT, and +1 COGNIZANCE while worn. Reduces the cost of PSYCHIC POWERS by 1 RESTRAINT. Offers no protection.)
>>
>>6040589
>Take everything and distribute among our allies to carry to dilute the psychic damage
>>
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>>6040593
Har. I don't like vetoing a lot but I'll veto that. You've already gotten a lot of good stuff this mission. Don't be greedy.
>>
>>6040596
This is bullying.
>FORGOTTEN SIGNAL. Something's wrong in the system. A spirit? A curse? Perhaps something even worse. (TOOL. At the start of a mission and randomly during one, it will foretell of specific events and a hint on how best to deal with them.)
>PEACEFUL OBLIVION. A handkerchief filled with mushroom spores. Time to sleep. (ACESSORY. While equipped, it applies passive FLESH and RESTRAINT regeneration at the cost of -1 COGNIZANCE, TALENT, WILLPOWER and VIOLENCE.)
>TARNISHED GOLDEN NECKLACE. Some say that even the richest people are just as filthy as you and I. (TOOL. Unlocks unique dialogue choices when interacting with Corporate Families or high ranking Corporate Officials. You might able to learn some VERY valuable secrets this way.)
>>
>>6040589
>swipe
Bitch all this loot will either be lost when the facility reseals, lost if the place floods, and lost if more silver agents or other salvage teams adventure here somehow
>highly doubt you can scavenge every inch
We might have no choice but to abandon loot to prioritize other objectives
>more people are sent here to investigate
They can't if we full reseal, they can't if they don't know where this place is located, and they can't if they are unable to excavate in
>water still pours in
And the A-Energy still leaks out and fucks up the surface. The only ways to stop the 6 decades of power in the air are to use REFINEMENT to generate never before seen quantities of packets, or to reseal the place. Eventually with anomalies still breached, as long as there's living humans here to interact and "work" on them, the A-Energy will keep building until what? All of J-Corp's District including the Nest are awash in A-Energy and an anomalous wasteland occurs?
>exact specifics
I'm more worried about the reseal
>time and the risk
That's every Cleaner job

>SUGAR WAND X! SUGAR BEAM BLAST~! (RANGED WEAPON. ATTACK ROLL: CHARM*2. Can fire five times before needing to recharge, which takes a while. The beams it fires easily melts through most materials.)
It's a weapon Alexis and Max can use, wow!
>PEACEFUL OBLIVION. A handkerchief filled with mushroom spores. Time to sleep. (ACESSORY. While equipped, it applies passive FLESH and RESTRAINT regeneration at the cost of -1 COGNIZANCE, TALENT, WILLPOWER and VIOLENCE.)
Passive healing is great, as long as somebody trustworthy can help wake the user up
>COAT OF UNKNOWN COLOR. Ah God, that color, everything is eroding. There was no bottom at all. (ARMOR. +2 WILLPOWER, RESTRAINT, and +1 COGNIZANCE while worn. Reduces the cost of PSYCHIC POWERS by 1 RESTRAINT. Offers no protection.)
I want to use psychic powers way more with this. I want to finally bust out the FOCUSED powers. The flame nuke on FOCUSED TK? The huge object throw for 4+WILLPOWER+VIOLENCE? The FOCUSED PUPPETEER 3d6 to some talk rolls? The FOCUSED MINDREAD with godly range telepathy? The FOCUSED WHISPERS 4d8 to scan for hidden shit? Actual offensive TK use? And more? Sign me the fuck up, let's spice this quest up. We can give our old COMBAT PROSTHETIC BODYSUIT after we clean it to somebody else, like Ashley or Wendy.
>>
>>6040613
As for the others
>DOGBONE
Esoteric damage is HUGE and rare. But the only allies we have who can use this well are
>Nicole herself (5+10 now but varies, and we already have the knife for a melee option)
>Lex (6+4, but we'll be giving him the CHAINSAW for the silver base assault right?)
>Kiara (5+5 now with Naomi boon)
>Adam (5+5, but he has his special chef knife already)
>Benedict (8+6, but he's already part anomaly)
Speaking of Nicole's BEYOND LOVE AND HATE knife, that's WILLPOWER+2. Other than Nicole, the best people for that are
>Casey (6 with Naomi boon, not really a melee fighter)
>Kiara (same deal, but she can melee well with her being a robot)
>Naomi (5, but loves being up close to get sadistic)
So I guess the DOGBONE could be a good new melee for Nicole?
>FORGOTTEN SIGNAL
I don't feel this, man. We've been playing it good just by our own info so far
>FLESH IS WILLING
We haven't come across insane RESTRAINT nukes yet, but the -2 to sanity damage taken could be huge for people with already lower RESTRAINT like Alexis and Ashley who are both at 3. Max too but I'm hesitant to include her because of her SPARK. The 3 stats being +1 is also nice, especially CHARM. But understandably, a dress that's clearly from SIN OF HER FLESH and both carrying the unsavoury implications that they do, I do not want any of our girl allies to even get close to this horrible thing.
>HEAVENLY SMILE
Boon upgrades make me very intrigued, especially with the taste of it we got from Kiara's SEEKER overlaying on Nicole's SEEKER to get SCHOLAR thanks to NEW YOU (KIARA) being worn. The RESTRAINT drain sounds like a pain though; is it really worth it? Also I need to post this
https://youtu.be/e5mMtp7MpK4
>TARNISHED GOLDEN NECKLACE
With all the corpo messes we're getting into thanks to our competent track record, this could be a game-changer or levels the field in Nicole's favor. The words "unique dialogue choices" are very appealing... but what good are they if we decide to take ordinary choices or write-ins instead? It kind of reminds me of blue options in FTL, where they're always better than the regular options every time. But here in a quest, the unique option might not always be the "correct" or "wisest" one.

That's all I got. All of these PARADIGMS are still great no matter which options win out.
>>
>>6040589
>FORGOTTEN SIGNAL. Something's wrong in the system. A spirit? A curse? Perhaps something even worse. (TOOL. At the start of a mission and randomly during one, it will foretell of specific events and a hint on how best to deal with them.)
>THE FLESH IS WILLING. A sickly smelling red dress. Is it immoral if you want it to happen? (ARMOR. +1 WILLPOWER, CHARM, and RESTRAINT while worn. Reduces non-BANE related RESTRAINT damage taken by 2.)
>TARNISHED GOLDEN NECKLACE. Some say that even the richest people are just as filthy as you and I. (TOOL. Unlocks unique dialogue choices when interacting with Corporate Families or high ranking Corporate Officials. You might able to learn some VERY valuable secrets this way.)
>>
>>6040589
>SUGAR WAND X! SUGAR BEAM BLAST~! (RANGED WEAPON. ATTACK ROLL: CHARM*2. Can fire five times before needing to recharge, which takes a while. The beams it fires easily melts through most materials.)
>FORGOTTEN SIGNAL. Something's wrong in the system. A spirit? A curse? Perhaps something even worse. (TOOL. At the start of a mission and randomly during one, it will foretell of specific events and a hint on how best to deal with them.)
>TARNISHED GOLDEN NECKLACE. Some say that even the richest people are just as filthy as you and I. (TOOL. Unlocks unique dialogue choices when interacting with Corporate Families or high ranking Corporate Officials. You might able to learn some VERY valuable secrets this way.)
>>
Back from the event. The dinner was good. Let's see.

FORGOTTEN SIGNAL: cWW, 32V, dzp
SUGAR WAND: dzp, MXE
PEACEFUL OBLIVION: cWW, MXE
FLESH IS WILLING: 32V
TARNISHED GOLDEN NECKLACE: cWW, 32V, dzp
COAT OF UNKNOWN COLOR: MXE

FORGOTTEN SIGNAL and TARNISHED GOLD NECKLACE are being picked without question. I'll leave this open for an hour, an hour and a half tops, for a tiebreak and if I don't get any, I'll let the whims of fate pick it.

Choose one.
>SUGAR WAND (Magical girl blast!)
>PEACEFUL OBLIVION (Sleepy time.)
>>
>>6040589
>>FORGOTTEN SIGNAL. Something's wrong in the system. A spirit? A curse? Perhaps something even worse. (TOOL. At the start of a mission and randomly during one, it will foretell of specific events and a hint on how best to deal with them.)
>TARNISHED GOLDEN NECKLACE. Some say that even the richest people are just as filthy as you and I. (TOOL. Unlocks unique dialogue choices when interacting with Corporate Families or high ranking Corporate Officials. You might able to learn some VERY valuable secrets this way.)
>COAT OF UNKNOWN COLOR. Ah God, that color, everything is eroding. There was no bottom at all. (ARMOR. +2 WILLPOWER, RESTRAINT, and +1 COGNIZANCE while worn. Reduces the cost of PSYCHIC POWERS by 1 RESTRAINT. Offers no protection.)
>>
>>6040795
>SUGAR WAND (Magical girl blast!)
>>
Well, with cwS' last minute vote, COAT OF UNKNOWN COLOR would be another tie added amongst the other two so I'll go with cWW's tiebreaker of

FORGOTTEN SIGNAL
SUGAR WAND X
TARNISHED GOLDEN NECKLACE.

Don't worry too much about the other loot you left behind. You might be able to get them later (or something similar at least. It's not like this is the last time you'll EVER get a PARADIGM.)

Writing.
>>
>>6040593
>courier shoving six gorillion gold bars in elijahs decapitated head and levitating it out of the sierra madre
>>
>>6040878
Truly an amazing heist. I wonder if you can do that in the City with singularity tech or other tools?
>>
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You gesture your allies to huddle around you. They do so with little complain. "Hey." You keep your tone low and hushed while you tell them your plan. "This is really out of our depths. I don't really know the best way to handle her and to be frank, I feel like you deserve to handle this, Naomi."

Naomi's face scrunches up in obvious discomfort. <"It's been so long. I'm not sure how well I could even attempt to do this..."> "Are you sure? I know you can read me, so you must know-" She interrupts herself with a heavy, wheezy cough. "Feh."

Somehow you're not shocked she could figure you could read minds. "I'm sure. This is not a battle I can fight for you. Neither can any of my other allies. I trust you."

[AN ARBITER] She glances back at Mira, then back at you. She's running through what you can only imagine is every possible outcome of her leaving but she eventually decides it's worth it. She quickly nods. "Alright. I'll be fine." She turns away from the group and begins to approach Mira.

>NAOMI has temporarily left the party.

okay now let's loot this shit before anyone notices you wish you could do video game logic and stuff this into a severed head or something but fuck it MOVE MOVE MOVE

You quickly swipe your keycard across the keycard scanners to open them up. You promptly grab three trinkets from the shelf before promptly gesturing your group to follow you outside. You rather not waste any more time down here than you absolutely need to. That and you should give Naomi and Mira some privacy.
>+FORGOTTEN SIGNAL, TARNISHED GOLDEN NECKLACE and SUGAR WAND X!

With you and your six remaining allies now in the hub area, back where you encountered LATECOMER'S BLOSSOM, you take a quick glimpse over your loot.

First is FORGOTTEN SIGNAL. It's an old, handheld transistor radio that's WAY too out of date for the City you live in for any Company to still be using. Its case is made out of a polished platinum-like metal that's caked in dark, foul smelling stains you rather not know the origin of. It has a small circular dial on the front labeled in arcane symbols you can't even attempt to read. The speaker on the lower half of the radio crackles to life.

Several disjointed voices of several different men and women attempt to vye for control. To be heard over the speaker. "FOUR. AGENTS. AHEAD. WILL. SPOT YOU. QUICKLY. HIDE. BEHIND. COVER." Just as quickly as it crackles to life, it goes quiet. Well, at least you got an immediate return on investment.

The TARNISHED GOLDEN NECKLACE is what it says on the tin. It's a simple pearl necklace made with gold instead of, say, actual pearls. It's slick with petroleum oil and sulfur-reeking grime. It doesn't seem to have any immediate effects aside from being kinda gross to handle.

SUGAR WAND X? You feel REALLY silly holding onto it. It's a large orange plastic wand that's caked in glitter and lacey white ribbons. The head of the wand is a bright white star with an orange star in the center of it.
>>
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You swing it around a few times just for the hell of it and that just sends glitter- No wait, some of it got into your mouth and it tastes super sweet. It just sends bright orange sugar flying everywhere. This feels way too saccharine for you to ever use yourself.

However! No need to let it go to waste this mission. You immediately toss it over to Casey. "Here. You can have it until we're back on the surface. Then I need it back."
"hey i don't think that's a good idea-" Kiara tries her best to interject but it's too late. Casey has a god damn deathgrip on that magical wand now.

"IS SHE VIBRATING."
"Yer not seeing things."
"Vile. She should stop that."

True to what Quentin, Clover, and Wendy said, Casey is now vibrating with such intensity, you swear she's being fucking tased. Her eyes are sparkling with wild bright orange and yellow sparkles. You don't think she's even in this plane of existence with how excited she's in. Completely fucking zonked.

"LET'S, UH, MOVE." Sable laughs nervously, desperately trying to change the subject. You're noticing she's starting to flicker in and out of existence. "FUCK. SORRY, CAN'T STAY OUT HERE MUCH LONGER. MOVE."

"Look, stay quiet if that radio thing was correct." Audie rapts his segmented fist on Casey's head. This is enough to get her to stop vibrating for now. Okay. Time to finish this mission and to get the fuck out of here. Your group aims themselves before falling into position. There is only FORWARD. There is only PROGRESS.

You proceed down the blindingly white hallway. Your vision is immediately awashed in pure, radiant white light. You feel Clover's firm and weathered hand gripping onto your shoulders for support. You lead your allies down the hallway as best as you can. You can only hope that whatever you see in the other side is something you can handle.

https://youtu.be/QNgshZXMw60 - FACILITY SEVEN COMPUTER

The light eventually weakens just enough for the seven of you to get a glimpse of your surroundings. The ADMINSTRATIVE COMPUTER ROOM is oddly cramped and tiny for the second most valuable thing in this facility short of the REFINEMENT MACHINE.

Dozens of bright green fluorescent lights hang from the ceiling, casting the whole room in a sickly green hue that's
very reminiscent of ancient action moves back from the 2000s. You used to watch a few as a tiny kid with your dad but that's neither here nor there.

The walls and floor of the box-shaped room are made out of a bright green and yellow metal that's oddly well preserved despite the lack of maintenance over the years. Each wall is covered with dozens of dozens on monitors that are flicking through millions of little lines of code a second. The main floor you're on also has piles of old computers laying around on desks but the flood has completely destroyed them.

The room has a circular platform in the middle that has three rungs to it which reach higher and higher until the very top.
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At least they have in built stairs so getting to the top isn't an issue. At the top...is the main computer.

It's a massive pile of computer monitors, towers, and other ancient hardware that you doubt anyone, even the people working here, know how to properly use. It hogs up every inch of the top platform it's on and the wires connected to it spill all the way down the other platforms and into the flooded bottom floor.

At the top platform...is them. The ones who glow in the dark. The SILVER AGENTS. Four of them to be exact. Three of them have ditched their disguises completely, reverting back to the usual SILVER AGENT outfit of a bright silver suit and tie with a pair of shades on their static-covered faces.

The only one who hasn't is a thin, lanky woman in light weight tactical gear. You have to jog your memory for a moment since it's been a hot moment but holy shit, that's the one you saw above the surface. The one who disguised as an ETF agent. Given the lack of her two partners in crime? You doubt they survived.

Your allies quickly hide behind some abandoned computer cubicles thanks to the advice your radio friend told you. Good timing since they were JUST about to look over at your direction if you didn't get that clue.

"SO, WHAT'S THE IDEA? BREAK IT?" SILVER AGENT A is trying her best to fiddle with the ancient computer system. "LET J-PHI-1 THROUGH J-PHI-9 BE TORN TO SHREDS BY THE AFTERMATH?"
"No, no. Draws too much attention. J-Corp would be on high alert after it." SILVER AGENT B dissuades his comrade from the idea. "We should try finding any connection this place has to the other active facilities."
"The issue is trying to mess with this damn thing." SILVER AGENT C huffs with obvious annoyance as he attempts to access the other Agent with hacking into it. "System's locked up. We have two keycards so we got some way in but it's taking too much time.."

[PERSON OF INTEREST] Shit. They already took it from the other Heads. You can only hope they're still alive.
[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Suddenly, you feel the PULSATING GEAR in your pocket beginning to spin rapidly. The electronic displays and lights around the room begins to flicker and distort.

"FUCK!" SILVER AGENT C slams his fist into the computer. "Lost even more progress."
>PULSATING GEAR TRAIT REVEALED (Interferes with electronics and other machinery. Could help you with the ADMINSTRATIVE COMPUTER once the spooks are dealt with.)

DISGUSED AGENT rubs her side. When she turns around in the direction of your group, you see a familiar metal rod jammed into her side. Her innate regeneration seems to be stopping any major blood loss but it also seems to be hampering her ability to remove it. "Would've been easier if that ETF agent didn't interrupt us on the Accounting Floor." Dribbles of blue blood leaks out of the pipe like a leaky faucet.

Clover flashes a beaming smile. Even if you didn't have mindreading, it's not hard to see what's on his mind.
>>
<"Seems like she really saved our bacon, huh? I knew it was a good idea to save her.">

The issue is getting past them.

You're too far away to bumrush them but you also don't want to get into a fight. Fighting one elite silver agent was a task and you imagine that fighting four of them, WITH an ally missing, is too risky to do if even just one was an elite. You do notice that all of them have their SERVICE PISTOLS, so...

How do you want to deal with the SPOOKS?
>[SABLE ACTIVE] She's already going to demanifest. Send her out to HAUNT one of the agents. Watch the violence unfold. (VERY likely to cause a lot of collateral damage, including some nasty stray shots hitting your allies, but you imagine any survivors are too weak to fight back and it costs NOTHING.)
>[WATERLOGGED POCKETWATCH + CLOVER ALLY] Toss your time stopping watch to Clover. Hope he can land four perfect headshots in five seconds before they can regenerate. (-4 REVOLVER AMMO, WATERLOGGED POCKETWATCH is disabled for rest of mission. TALENT DC: 26, rolling Clover's 6d6 only. Succeed and the four agents should be dead before they realize what happened. Clover might even unlock something special if you pick this.)
>[WE MAKE BETTER GAS FUCK YOU K-CORP' GAS CANISTER] Your allies all have gas masks or are otherwise immune to gas so...pop it open. (-GAS CANISTER. You doubt they'll survive this but you're not sure when you'll get another one of these.)
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] PUPPETEER one of the agents. Time for some violence. (-2 RESTRAINT, WILLPOWER DC: 20, rolling only your 7d6. Succeed and you'll eliminate all but one, leaving them as someone to interrogate and question while you deal with the computer.)
>[AUDIE ALLY] "Let me handle this." He's probably the only one who can swiftly eliminate them. (VIOLENCE DC: 36, rolling Audie's 12d6 only. Succeed and he'll tear them to shreds at the cost of exhausting himself. You imagine him protecting his facility will grant him some peace of mind.)
>[KIARA ALLY] "Oh ho~!" Kiara slowly steps out of cover. Her face and outfit begins to shift, ready to mimic them. (RESTRAINT + CHARM DC: 27, rolling Kiara's 7d6 only. Succeed and Kiara will be able to trick them long enough for your allies to ambush them. You'll be able to save all of your resources this way without any collateral damage to ally or nearby computer systems.)
>[CASEY ALLY] Casey is VIBRATING at the chance of doing some HERO JUSTICE. Let her. (Heals 2 RESTRAINT to all allies, including yourself. You imagine that magic wand will do a LOT of damage to agent and machine alike.)
>Use OATH TO CONTAIN to boost an ally's roll. (FREE ACTION. Choose which TALENT, VIOLENCE, or RESTRAINT check to boost by 1d12.)
>Write in (Say FUCK IT and just fight them directly? Do something else?)

>>6041004
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Considering the CONTAINMENT CUBE you used is holding a LOT more than it should for the tiny size it's currently at? Absolutely.

Edited to clarify OATH OF CONTAIN's boost.
>>
>>6041009
>I know you can read me
I love this old grandma
>do video game logic and stuff this into a severed head
We have the severed head courtesy of Audie killing that one agent in REFINEMENT. That's half the heist right there
>FOUR. AGENTS
Must be all 4 left in the facility, excluding 2 on the outside. I'm glad we went for Naomi's mom first before going for the console
>immediate return on investment
I can't believe how this already started helping us the moment we got it. I was wrong to doubt it so much
>TARNISHED GOLDEN NECKLACE
No rich people or company higher-ups here besides Wendy, so no use for this now
>caked in glitter
I already hate this thing

>>6041014
>toss it over to Casey
She's the one with highest CHARM of us, good move
>vibrating
So fucking cute
So fucking hot
>eyes are sparkling
Is our bee becoming Don Quixote? This must be an effect of SUGAR RUSH + the PARADIGM itself
>flicker
She lasted a lot longer than I expected. That's a very good duration on the voice manifesting at the cost of the 2 RESTRAINT to summon one. We should use this more often
>finish this mission
We have 3 more floors... but still
>shoulders for support
Clover keeps being an MVP this mission
>FACILITY SEVEN COMPUTER
I highly approve of the Code Lyoko OST use
>bright green fluorescent lights
>sickly green hue
Not quite the Administrator's classic red lightbulbs
>ancient action moves back from the 2000s.
The Matrix?
>You used to watch a few as a tiny kid with your dad
CASUAL NICOLE LORE DROP!!!

>>6041016
>that's the one you saw above the surface
3 regular agents. 1 of the surface duo. This means there's 1 regular agent and 1 surface duo still around if they didn't get rekt offscreen
>lack of her two partners in crime
Those two ETFs are goners
>JUST about to look over at your direction
I fucking kneel, everybody else who voted on that dumb radio. I was totally wrong
>have two keycards
I don't know if this means the other floors are done for. Might mean going for Welfare, Training, and Accounting don't matter anymore. Could be worth checking regardless if we have time after these fuckers
>PULSATING GEAR TRAIT REVEALED
Thanks QM, we passed up on investigating this repeatedly so it's good we got this to proc here
>hampering her ability to remove it
That's the downside of their regen? Good to know in case EVIGT implant and/or Naomi's HALSA REGENERATION also end up hampering us the same way down the line. We can account for it then
>interrupt us on the Accounting Floor
The blue blood in the Maintenance shaft must have been from this agent bitch. So they did get down here from up there before we showed up, without needing the ladder. I wonder how they got past Dreary or ignored Mira's shop room?
>good idea to save her
They probably killed her anyway, but I could be wrong. She survived Audie, surely she could have survived these four?
>even just one was an elite
We cannot handle another ELITE AGENT fight in a cramped room with sensitive equipment
>>
>>6041025
>Use OATH TO CONTAIN to boost an ally's roll. (FREE ACTION. Choose which TALENT, VIOLENCE, or RESTRAINT check to boost by 1d12.)
CLOVER
TALENT
>[WATERLOGGED POCKETWATCH + CLOVER ALLY] Toss your time stopping watch to Clover. Hope he can land four perfect headshots in five seconds before they can regenerate. (-4 REVOLVER AMMO, WATERLOGGED POCKETWATCH is disabled for rest of mission. TALENT DC: 26, rolling Clover's 6d6 only. Succeed and the four agents should be dead before they realize what happened. Clover might even unlock something special if you pick this.)
Burn 1 of the 2 HOLLOWPOINT REVOLVER BULLET he has, if that can be allowed. Nicole has 4 already and we can pass him one to replace it afterward
>HOLLOWPOINT REVOLVER BULLET x2 (Allows the user to reroll four of their dice when fired. Offers no other benefit.)
Pass him the SUNSTONE and SUNSTONE FRAGMENT too, whether HOLLOWPOINT is allowed or not
>SUNSTONE (A refined SUNSTONE, made by W-Corp. Has three charges. You may spend a charge to add +2d8 to any dice roll you make.)
>SUNSTONE FRAGMENT (A fragment of a Sunstone. It crackles like a roaring fire. Allows you or an ally to reroll three VIOLENCE or TALENT dice when consumed.)
If the SUNSTONE FRAGMENT reroll can apply to OATH TO CONTAIN being a TALENT roll boost, then I want to use it here. He can pass us the regular SUNSTONE back after with 2 charges left on it if he has to use it.

I'm not fucking around to find out if any of these are elites. All 4 of them could be elites for all we know. There's 2 agents still unaccounted for somewhere, and I know they'll rear their ugly heads once the facility begins unseal abort or reseal procedure or even on our way out of here. These bastards DIE, right here and right now.
>>
>>6041050
He has his exploding dice 6s innately, so he might not even need to use any of those items if he scores his numbers right. I still want to pass them to him just to be sure. In this moment I do NOT want to take any chances. Giving him any more items like VOIDSTONE FRAGMENT or DAMDAM PILL would be absolute overkill. If somehow all of these items being used would still not be enough, then it means the dice gods deliberately wanted this to play out as a failure anyway.
>>
>>6041025
I'll still give my two cents on the other options because I enjoy doing that
>[SABLE ACTIVE]
I don't want to risk collateral damage ending up with us being unable to abort unseal or engage reseal. That's mission failure. I'd love to save the HAUNT effects of DISSOCIATION or whatever it's called to some other time
>[WE MAKE BETTER GAS FUCK YOU K-CORP' GAS CANISTER]
This is a rare enough item, and I want to save it for the silver base assault. Pull an Ace Strikers Part Deux on them there
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES]
This is the other option I wanted to take instead. Questioning one gives us a wealth of info, but we don't have Naomi here to help us work the survivor over. I remember back during the first silver agent kill, we chose to keep it short and kill him early without spending the full time questioning him. Same deal here no matter how deep we are underground. Somebody will pick up the phone somewhere
>[AUDIE ALLY]
Also another good option. It'll burn him out and that could fuck us if we choose to explore the other floors, or if we run into the last two agents on the way out
>[KIARA ALLY]
Look guys, I really want to give Kiara's cool new [MIMICRY MODULE] upgrade a spin, but the DC for it keeps being so damn high man, and the 7d6 feels so lacking to me to take it on. If this keeps up I'd rather just pass her a RESTRAINT and/or CHARM booster item, and have her pop it to pull this off during the silver base assault or elsewhere
>[CASEY ALLY]
No collateral damage, save it for the way out or other floors
>>
>>6041050
+1
Oh fuck yes. The power of John Marston and Arthur Morgan compels thee!
>>
>>6041050
+1
Hmmm, do we need to kill the ETF gasmask silver agents? Anon, do you think we can persuade her to turn against the Silver Organization or abandon it? Naomi can help with persuading her.
>>
>>6041109
I wonder if there is a medical machine somewhere in the facility that can remove implants, kill switches, trucking devices, etc. We can ask the manager about it.
>>
>>6041016
Oh shit, that ETF agent is probably dead now

>>6041050
+1 to ZA WARUDO!
>>
>>6041109
Not a chance

>>6041112
Welfare sounds like the most likely place if one exists in here
>>
>>6041050
+1
>>
No point waiting any longer. IT IS TIME. TO STOP. Consuming a SUNSTONE charge, a HOLLOWPOINT round, and a SUNSTONE fragment.

I need three anons to roll the following
>6d6 (Clover's innate roll)
>2d8 (SUNSTONE)
>1d12 (OATH TO CONTAIN)

You can reroll up to seven dice. Every time you roll a 6, you may roll another dice.

You better roll as high as you fucking can. The 26 is just the bare minimum.. Trust me when I say that you should try to overkill as much as you can.
>>
Rolled 8, 5 = 13 (2d8)

>>6041385
>you should try to overkill as much as you can.
Damn, I should have added DAMDAM PILL too. No sense in worry about it now

Rolling Sunstone
>>
>>6041415
Solid Sunstone numbers, no rerolling any of these.
>>
Rolled 4, 5, 2, 6, 6, 3 = 26 (6d6)

>>6041385
>>
Rolled 3, 6 = 9 (2d6)

>>6041425
>>
Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>6041428
>>
Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>6041430
>>
>>6041428
>>6041425
We have 7 rerolls still. Should we reroll the 2 3 and 3, or also the 4? Rerolling a 5 to hope/greed for a 6 but getting a 1 instead would be punishing to us
>>
>>6041434
Sure, let’s reroll the 2 and 3.
>>
>>6041441
It's your dice and your rolls, so you do it. I already did Sunstone and I'm satisfied by that. We still need a third guy to roll OATH TO CONTAIN 1d12 too, and that can also be rerolled if we feel the need then.
>the 2 and 3
You got a 2 and 3 in your first rolls there >>6041425, but you have a second 3 in >>6041428 which is what I meant. So you'd roll a 3d6 here
>>
Rolled 4, 1, 6 = 11 (3d6)

>>6041442
Okay
>>
Rolled 6, 3 = 9 (2d6)

>>6041443
Reroll 1
>>
Rolled 6, 6 = 12 (2d6)

>>6041445
Reroll 3
>>
Rolled 4, 6 = 10 (2d6)

>>6041446
>>
Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>6041448
>>
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j-jesus fucking christ clover.
>>
Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>6041449
Reroll 3
>>
>>6041443
3 rerolls spent

>>6041445
1 reroll spent

>>6041446
1 reroll spent

>>6041453
1 reroll spent

You wanna save the last one until we see OATH TO CONTAIN 1d12 result?
>>
Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>6041453
Reroll 4
>>
>>6041456
Question HandlerQM. can we use reroll on OATH TO CONTAIN?
>>
>>6041457
Welp, that's that

>>6041451
May I roll the 1d12 to finish this? Or leave it to another lucky guy?
>>
>>6041458
I-I'm not sure if you even need it at this point but there would be nothing stopping you. As long as the roll it adds onto it is the right category.
the 1d12 counts as a dice rolled for whatever skill check it is used on.

>>6041459
Leave it for some other guy.
>>
>>6041460
You got it boss. But do we even have any rerolls left now?
>>
>>6041462
No.
>>
>>6041463
Okay. If my math is right, Clover is sitting at 93 total.
>>
Rolled 9 (1d12)

>>6041385
I think we won.
>>
>>6041467
And with that that's 102
>>
>>6041466
Make that 102.
Almost four times the DC. 3.92 times, to be precise.

QM, I would like to request that the “bloody mess” perk from Fallout be enabled for this combat encounter.
>>
>>6041451
We clearly took your words to heart.
>>
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Well.
Clover, you certainly rolled a lot of sixes. A LOT of fucking sixes.
Writing. It's going to take a bit to show off how fucking insane Clover did.
>>
>>6041471
He's only spending 4 bullets.

>>6041474
Like this?
https://youtu.be/qGOQYg362-0
>>
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>>6041476
The mortal combat team had the chance to do the funniest shit ever and give the male and female characters different bone structures/features and that have squandered it.

>>6041474
Almost glad I passed out and didn't roll. Booster Clover slaps. Have a vapor wear saboted armor piercing bullet for your troubles.
>>
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There's no way you're beating them in a fair fight. ONE elite agent was able to hold his own against seven armed and somewhat competent fighters. Even if there's one elite agent and the others are normal, the chance of winning that fair fight is slim.

But who says you had to fight them fairly? They don't know you're here and if you can kill them before they can fight back, you'll be fine. They're still just humans. Just flesh and blood. Their regeneration has limits, even if it makes them incredibly hard to kill.

You only have this one chance to kill them. Fuck up and only the Father Above would know if anyone would survive. You might, Audie might, Quentin might. The rest is too uncertain.

You dig through your pockets for something to even the odds. A SUNSTONE. The WATERLOGGED POCKETWATCH. A SUNSTONE FRAGMENT. This should be enough. You immediately toss them over to Clover, who's hiding behind a cubical alongside Casey and Kiara.

He immediately catches them and for a moment he has no idea what to do with the POCKETWATCH. Yet, as if some instinctual, subconscious knowledge was immediately pumped into the brain, he immediately figures out what it does. He presses his thumb down HARD on the crown at the top of the pocketwatch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8WBV2klOIw

The clattering sound of gears grinding to a halt blares through the air before the world is washed over in a monochromatic filter. You feel your body suddenly locking up as time is halted completely. However you're still conscious. Hell, if you struggle hard enough, you can slightly move your hands. Maybe it's due to you being anomalous?

You can move your eyes just enough to check up on everyone else.

Quentin, Casey, Wendy and Kiara are completely locked up. No consciousness, no movement, statues of time. Audie is still aware of his surroundings and you can see he's able to move his legs and arms a bit more freely than you. Only enough to climb partially out of cover in preparation for a strike before he locks up again too.

Sable is able to freely move but she's already to demanifest. She floats over to you and gently pats you on the head. "SEE YOU BACK IN THERE. LOVE YA, ME." And then she pops out of existence.
[UNSTABLE] AH. COZIER IN HERE.

Clover slowly steps out of cover with his WILD REVOLVER firmly in hand. Crumbled reddish-orange dust from the sunstone fragment he used cakes his hands like it's sand from the Wastes. His breath swirls with reddish-orange fumes from the SUNSTONE you gave him. His dull yellow immediately begins to shimmer with a glowing yellow hue as he takes a deep, long breath.

8 SECONDS!

It's only now that you realize how much he towers over the rest of you. The 6'6" tall behemoth of a cowboy raises his revolver up towards the spooks. The two closest to the computer are completely frozen up like the others as you expected.

Yet the DISGUISED AGENT and AGENT B are staring right in Clover's direction. What the?
>>
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You can't quite see their expressions. The DISGUISED AGENT is wearing a torn up gas mask that, while it wouldn't block any gas from leaking it, does hide her face. SILVER AGENT B has the tell-tale static covering his face.

Yet you can sense that they're equally shocked and amused by what they see.
[PERSON OF INTEREST] SHIT! Those two are elites! You're not even sure if a single headshot with a revolver is even able to kill them.

They're not moving though. Whether that's an inability to or they want to save their limited movement for when he fires, you don't know. Clover seems to sense this as well since he hasn't fired yet. He stands in the middle of two computer cubicles, trying his best to analyze how best to approach this.

7 SECONDS!

https://youtu.be/M5VxGsSQNvM - CLOVER

"Showtime." Clover doesn't remotely hesitate as he quickly aims towards the two right by the ADMINSTRATIVE COMPUTER. With two quick squeezes, two bullets are quickly sent in their direction. Completely silent, you don't even hear his gun firing. The bullets freeze up once they travel half the distance between Clover and the Spooks.

Huh. You noticed he spent only one hollowpoint, and only towards one of the normal Silvers. Why?

The ELITES are still not moving yet. Clover's eyes begin to glow even brighter as he tries his best to analyze what's going on. Then it clicks for him. <"Can't aim at their head. Too obvious.">

He stares down at the two frozen ELITES. They stare right back at him. Both of them know that he only has one chance to put a hole in their head. You swear if you squinted, you could see the snide smirks etched onto the two ELITES.

5 SECONDS!

Clover begins to stroll closer and closer to the elites, as if he's trying to give them as little time to react as humanly possible. The ELITES still don't move. It takes a second or two for him to stand right at the bottom platform of the structure at the middle of the room.

3 SECONDS!

Clover aims his revolver up towards the two ELITES, aiming right at their heads. He's about to pull the trigger to seal their fates as well...but the two immediately move, swerving their heads to the side. They are immediately frozen in place after this split second jerk. If he had pulled the trigger, he would've missed.

But Clover didn't.

1.5 SECONDS!

The two ELITES are shocked he didn't fire. Confused even. They're not even sure what he's trying to achieve and neither are you. That's when you notice the thing that Clover is actually aiming at now. The metal pipe stuck in the ELITE AGENT's side.

[DEADEYE SHOT] "Didn't need to aim there. Y'all know about ricochet?" Clover spends his last few seconds squeezing the trigger after he aims his revolver at the metal pipe stuck in the agent. The two ELITE AGENTS can only stay there, frozen in time, watching on in disbelief at the-

"Finality." Clover croaks out.

-of the situation.
>>
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The two bullets he fired bounce right off of the pipe. A sign of the AGENT's-

"End times."

He fired at the pipe just right for them to ricochet in the direction of the heads of the two ELITE AGENTS. To prove Clover's aim was just and right. To offer him-

"Vindication."

They freeze just as they're about to hit their target. Ready to reach their new-

"Home."

[SUGAR RUSH + SEEKER OF JUSTICE] The two bullets are almost vibrating with a bright yellow light. As if being empowered by some outside force. An ideal. A powerful point of view. A sense of-

"Righteousness."

Ready to serve...

"JUSTICE."

TICK TOCK! TIME RESUMES!
>-1 CHARGE OFF SUNSTONE, -SUNSTONE FRAGMENT, -3 REGULAR AND 1 HOLLOWPOINT REVOLVER ROUND!

The moment time unfreezes, the bullets finally reach their targets. The two aimed at the regular agents hit true. With a violent POP, brain matter and blue blood splatters across the monitors of the ADMINSTRATIVE COMPUTER. Where? Well, from the hole in the back of AGENT A and B's heads.

AGENT A immediately drops to the floor while the other desperately tries to empty his magazine at the direction of their attacker.

Four of the bullets bounce off his WILD PONCHO, one is blocked by his helmet and shoulder pads, and the others just miss him by a country mile. AGENT C promptly collapses to the floor, twitching and foaming at the mouth as his head tries to patch it self together (with limited success.)

As for the elites? ELITE AGENT A promptly gets a glowing yellow bullet piercing through his jaw and into his skull. His body begins to shake and tremble before he eventually collapses to his knees. Foam and spittle leaks out of his mouth. The hole in his jaw and upper half of his brain are glowing with a bright yellow light.

ELITE AGENT B, the disguised bitch with a pipe stuck in her? The bullet pierces right through her throat before piercing the back of her skull. The recoil of the strike sends her stumbling back, sending her falling down the three rungs of the platform until she smashes into the hard and flooded ground below. With a sickening squelch, the metal rod stuck in her pierces even deeper into her side.

Clover blows away at the smoke leaking out of his revolver. He doesn't put it away yet until he's certain those four are dead.

From everyone but you, Audie, and the elites? All of this happened in the blink of the eye. Your other allies slowly step out of cover, shields and weapons raised in case the fight isn't over.

For a moment, all you can hear is the sound of the agents gurgling and choking on their own blood.

"FUCKER." Seems like one managed to survive long enough for one last stand. ELITE AGENT B is right back onto her feet with blood gushing out of her gaping head wound and the pipe now piercing through the whole length of her side. It's clear she's not going to survive this. She aims her gun towards Clover in an attempt to return the favor.

Your allies rush in in an attempt to stop her yet...
>>
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[OVERWHELMING TALENT ROLL] Clover simply does the same trick that she did. He swerves his body away out of sheer instinct. The four or five shots she tried to fire simply graze past his poncho.

ELITE AGENT B stands there in shock. Her head slowly shifts to look at you and for a moment, the static filter around her face disappears. A young woman with bright blue eyes is staring right at your soul.

"YOU REALLY ARE A REAL THREAT, HUH, NICOLE? WE WON'T. UNDERESTIMATE YOU NOW." Her body begins to flicker and vibrate, as if she's trying to activate her emergency drug...but it's too late for her.

That's the last thing she said before she crumples to the floor. Even if she could possibly regenerate from this, the fact she's now drowning in filthy water should be enough to finish her off.

>SILVER ELITES AND SILVER AGENTS HAVE BEEN DEFEATED!

Your other allies simply stand there in awe and utter bafflement as what just happened. Clover spins his revolver around before promptly putting it back on his holster. The bright yellow glow in his eyes are gone, leaving behind his regular old yellow eyes. He immediately throws your WATERLOGGED POCKETWATCH and SUNSTONE back at you. "Here. Let's get this computer shit dealt with."

Something has shifted in him but you're not quite sure what he learnt from this exchange.
>CLOVER has obtained an UNKNOWN BOON! It'll take time for it to reveal itself.

"Holy shit, what- Did he just stop time? Huh? What?" Kiara is glancing around in confusion but it's clear she picked up on what happened real fast.
Casey is simply vibrating in awe. "Wow! A true warrior of justice...I knew you had it in you, Clover!"
Wendy and Quentin share a look with each other. "What the-" "MORE MEAT FOR ME I GUESS."

Audie shakes his head in an attempt to regain his focus. "Computer. Yes. Let's do that before anything-"

Right as he was about to finish it, you notice that the water levels are starting to rise. FAST. It's already reaching up to your thighs at this point. Fuck, fuck, fuck. You got the spooks dealt with but you need to stop this unsealing process.

"UH, SHIT. CASEY, CLOVER, LOOT THE BODIES. REST OF YOU, HELP ME WITH THE COMPUTER. QUICK!" You immediately scramble to the platform in the middle of the room. Wendy and Clover move to loot the bodies before they wash away while you and your other allies move in to deal with the computer.

You shove the other bodies into the water to make room for actually dealing with the ADMINSTRATIVE COMPUTER while also saving Clover and Wendy some time when it comes to looting them. The only thing you have time to grab from them is the two keycards on their persons.
>+TRAINING and WELFARE ID CARDS obtained!

Your group crowds around the ancient machinery. The monitors are completely crowded with lines of nonsensical spaghetti code and long since outdated UI that makes navigating them a real bastard. Your PULSATING GEAR's presence causes the screens to shift and twist...
>>
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The lines of code and shitty UI slowly shifts into what you're after. A way to stop the unsealing process. However, what it says doesn't exactly bring you any comfort.

"5/3 CARDS DETECTED. AUTHORIZATION ALLOWED."

"DUE TO FLOODING DAMAGE AND LACK OF MAINTENANCE, UNSEALING PROTOCAL ALPHA-ZETA-FIVE IS COMPROMISED. FULL RESEAL HAS A VERY HIGH RISK OF COMPLETE DESTRUCTION OF THE FACILITY."
"PARTIAL RESEAL MAY BE POSSIBLE IF IT ACTIVATED IMMEDIATELY."

"OPTIONS ARE AS FOLLOWED. EACH TAKES ONE HOUR TO COMPLETE."
"ENERGY TRANSFER J-CORP'S WHOLE DISTRICT BEFORE PARTIAL RESEAL. DUE TO SURPLUS OF ENERGY, CONTAINMENT BROWN OUTS AND POWER BROWN OUTS ARE VERY PROBABLE. FACILITY AND ANOMALIES ARE LEFT INTACT. SUPRLUS WILL BE ABLE TO POWER J-CORP FOR YEARS. "
"PARTIAL RESEAL: TUNNELS ACCESSING FLOOR 4-7 WILL BE SEALED. FLOOR 1-3 WILL STOP CREATING NEW TUNNELS BUT WILL OTHERWISE STAY OPEN. STRUCTUAL INTERGITY INTACT, POTENTIAL A-ENERGY LEAKAGE LIMITED."
"FULL RESEAL: ALL TUNNELS WILL BE SEALED. STRUCTUAL INTERGITY IS LIKELY TO BE COMRPOMISED."
"FACILITY CLEANSE BEFORE HALTING UNSEAL: COMPLETE OBLITERATION OF A-ENERGY THROUGH EMERGENCY GAS. ANOMALIES WILL ENTER COMATOSE STATE. ALL OTHER LIFEFORMS WILL BE REMOVED. 100% CERTAIN. FACILITY WILL BE SAFE FOR RECLAIMING."
"ALERT BEACON: P-COMPANY WILL BE CONTACTED IMMEDIATELY. ETF SQUAD ALPHA-1 WILL BE SENT TO RECONTAIN ALL ANOMALIES."

"ONCE A PRODECURE HAS STARTED, FACILITY WILL BE ALERTED. FACILITY IS LIKELY TO LOSE POWER IN MOST NON-VITAL AREAS AND IN SOME VITAL AREAS. ELEVATORS WILL BE KEPT ON. RANDOM CELLS THROUGHOUT FACILITY MAY BE BREACHED."

"Shit. What should I do?" You turn to your allies for some advice.

Audie narrows his eyes for a moment before sighing. "If I had to pick? Just fully seal this place or call P-Company. I don't think anyone else should be burdened by the mistakes I made by starting this to begin with."
"PERHAPS it is best to WIPE AWAY the sins here." Quentin chitters out, rubbing his shell's hands together. "LET it be picked clean by the scavengers. Let the scavenges take without consequence."
"I'm partial to the partial reseal. If those SHIFTer papers that Judy wrote were anything to say, maybe letting a bit into the air wouldn't hurt." A sparkle is in Kiara's LED eyes. "Imagine if we could let people awaken those powers. To truly be themselves. Shouldn't people be able to express themselves freely? To not hide behind masks?"
"Energy transfer!" Casey chirps out. "We should help the people throughout J-Corp's sub districts. Shouldn't this energy be used to help them? Why let all of this hardwork go to waste, you know? Shouldn't their sacrifices be worth something?"
Wendy huffs with obnoxious annoyance at the others rambling above. "I hear you, you know? Seal it shut. Leave these place behind. It is no more use to us. That IS our goal, right?"
Clover doesn't speak for a moment but with a sigh, he speaks. "Call P-Corp. This is THEIR problem. It is THEIR responsibility to clean it up."
>>
The MANAGER'S VOICE crackles through your earpiece. "...I'm already exiting the facility with some of the others. Regained enough of my body to do so. I don't care what you do to this facility. I'm out. If the facility isn't destroyed, I give you full permission to take whatever's left."

What do you want to activate, Nicole? No matter what happens, you'll achieve your goal: Stopping any more tunnels from being made. You'll earn a paycheck at the end of this.

It's ultimately just up to how you want to achieve this.
>ENERGY TRANSFER (+1 J-CORP FAVOR, +0.5 CASEY RAPPORT. The massive power flux will cause a lot of chaos across J-Corp's districts, causing short term mayhem, but 60 years of excess power will likely improve the lives of the people here for the foreseeable future)
>PARTIAL RESEAL. (+1 U-CORP FAVOR, +0.5 KIARA RAPPORT. The flooding will stop and what damage is done by the other floors unsealing will be very limited. You imagine that the energy that still leaks out will cause some permanent changes to the people in J-Corp's subdistricts and other nearby districts. Perhaps this is good for the City.)
>FULL RESEAL. (+1 W-CORP FAVOR, +0.5 WENDY RAPPORT. Simple. Everything here is locked and everything dangerous, including the A-Energy, is trapped here. Forever. J-Corp and everyone else will be safe but this facility will be lost to time.)
>ALERT BEACON. (+2 P-COMPANY FAVOR, +0.5 CLOVER RAPPORT. P-Company will be able to reseal it and contain the facility way better than you can. This will almost certainly nudge the power of various Alphabet Companies, for good or ill.)
>FACILITY CLEANSE. (+1 K-CORP FAVOR, +0.5 QUENTIN RAPPORT. You imagine that even with gas masks, you couldn't explore this facility after time is up. However, the facility still being open and no active anomalies WILL allow the Handler and some associates of yours to investigate down here. You earn a WAY bigger paycheck.)

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] U-Company, for clarification, is a research oriented corporation tasked with understanding how the world works. They are very interested in anomalous phenomena and artifacts but they're also interested in other scientific fields.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Earning favor with them would offer you a way to understand yourself, SHIFTers, and the metaphysical nature of the world you're in. Could be useful.

Sorry for the walls of text. Good job for the massive Clover overkill.
>>
>>6041634
>fair fight
It's been reinforced time and time again the entire quest. Why bother fighting fairly when we can curbstomp or die?
>still just humans
Always good to remind yourself of your enemies' limits
>uncertain
There's only so much training and experience we can put all our allies through before the big events or fights happen. No matter what we do, somebody like Casey or Wendy will never be as bulky or surviving as Lex or Quentin are. That's just how it is. You gotta specialize to survive
>slightly move
This property is a great metric to gauge others
>locks up again too
60 fucking years of anomalousness and all it amounts to is him only being able to move briefly
>Sable
If manifested voices can act freely in stopped time, that's a massive plus in our favor. We can use them to help our allies while we're stopped, if anybody uses the watch like this again
>reddish-orange dust
>fumes
I always love these item use descriptions, such a cool detail every single time
>6'6"
He's not the kid he used to be in Yellow. Not on the outside, not as much. Also that's almost as huge as Lex isn't it?

>>6041637
>wouldn't block any gas
Good to know the gassing strategy would have worked
>Those two are elites!
AND THIS IS WHY I VOTED ON THIS OPTION BECAUSE I FUCKING KNEW THERE WOULDN'T BE JUST ONE
>analyze how best to approach
This is one of the best things timestop is for after all. I'm glad he's doing it
>freeze up once they travel half the distance
I love how this JoJo timestop effect actually has logic to it this way. It justifies the dramatic result of projectiles freezing mid-flight
>it clicks
MIND READ also works unimpeded in timestop, good to know
>shocked he didn't fire
He fucking baited their only available moves. The madman
>metal pipe stuck
The weight of our choices and decisions clashing head on with the danger ahead...

>>6041642
>An ideal
He's uttering what he thinks the ideal is...
>JUSTICE
I fucking kneel, CLOVER MVP
>blocked by his helmet and shoulder pads
Defensive gear working time and time again from the moment we chose them from the boxes
>twitching and foaming
Side effect of the SUGAR RUSH?
>sending her falling down
Hehehe
>pierces even deeper
Poetic justice to boot
>blows away at the smoke
Mandatory

>>6041645
>[OVERWHELMING TALENT ROLL]
This is the first time we've ever seen this proc
>drowning in filthy water
Good fucking riddance, bitch
>awe and utter bafflement
CLOVER MVP CLOVER MVP CLOVER MVP CLOVER MVP CLOVER MVP CLOVER MVP
>spins his revolver around
Mandatory
>UNKNOWN BOON
Godlike sequence of events
>MORE MEAT
I don't think ELITE A is worth bodyjacking with that yellow glowing wound
>starting to rise
We had a good run of this place
>shove the other bodies into the water
NOT RECOGNIZED
>+TRAINING and WELFARE ID CARDS
Accounting Head might still be alive then
>>
>>6041659
>TAKES ONE HOUR TO COMPLETE
A good enough time limit
>ENERGY TRANSFER J-CORP'S WHOLE DISTRICT BEFORE PARTIAL RESEAL
This sounds like a great option. J Corp will owe us BIG TIME for this once they hear the full story from us
>PARTIAL RESEAL
This sounds like the best option combined with energy transfer. The elevator can still be used and there's still the maintenance passages and other secret ones like on Floor 3 still accessible. We're not stuck and we can still navigate through this place and exit, and so can any other people like J and P Corp squads
>FULL RESEAL
Our main mission is "EXPLORE THE TUNNELS AND FIND WHOEVER'S BEEN UNSEALING THEM. STOP THEM." It says nothing about closing the tunnels back up. Also compromised structural integrity sounds like a BAD TIME for EVERYBODY both in here and outside
>FACILITY CLEANSE BEFORE HALTING UNSEAL
This is also a dubious good option. I imagine both J and P Corp would want the A-Energy staying in here if they can REFINE it themselves. Erasing the A-Energy means all that power and money is going to nothingness.
>ALERT BEACON
I wonder if we can do this and another option?
>LOSE POWER IN MOST NON-VITAL AREAS AND IN SOME VITAL AREAS
Vague and ominous but we can handle it can't we?
>ELEVATORS WILL BE KEPT ON
Small mercies
>RANDOM CELLS THROUGHOUT FACILITY MAY BE BREACHED
We knew this was coming, come on
>let people awaken those powers. To truly be themselves. Shouldn't people be able to express themselves freely?
Kiara stop spouting Carmen drivel, get a hold of yourself

>>6041666
>Regained enough of my body
The A-Energy Siphons worked. Amazing
>I give you full permission to take whatever's left.
WE GOT THE GREEN LIGHT TO LOOT

>Sorry for the walls of text.
This is such good shit, don't apologize man
>Good job for the massive Clover overkill.
And good job for writing it so well
>>
Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>6041666
I'm flipping a coin for this
>1 = ENERGY TRANSFER
>2 = PARTIAL RESEAL
FULL RESEAL and FACILITY CLEANSE are massive wastes. Fuck those options. ALERT BEACON feels good too with P-Corp handling it the best, but shifting the City balance of power in this way bothers me.
>>
Oh shit I just remembered there's 2 spooks still left in this place
Oh shit I just remembered REFINEMENT will remain in here
We should still call the Handler after we leave and have him call P-Corp in without using the ALERT BEACON on this console here. We CANNOT let those spooks get to REFINEMENT and Handler will agree
>>
>>6041666
>ENERGY TRANSFER (+1 J-CORP FAVOR, +0.5 CASEY RAPPORT. The massive power flux will cause a lot of chaos across J-Corp's districts, causing short term mayhem, but 60 years of excess power will likely improve the lives of the people here for the foreseeable future)

We have limited rapport with J-corp, right?
Hey QM, if we were to, say, in theory, inform the responding J-Corp officers of where the Silver Agents’ bodies are (and informing them of their role in this clusterfuck) as a way of getting them on our anti-glowie crusade… how well would that work?
>>
>>6041701
Let’s just call in J-Corp.
They’re right above us and are pretty damn well-armed themselves.
>>
>>6041711
You have one favor with them, which isn't a lot when it comes to companies. They know you exist and that's about it.
As for the SILVER AGENTS, you doubt they would believe you at the face of it but you could try to inform them. At the very least they would listen to you given the fact you stopped the excess energy from turning a decent chunk of J-Corp's land into a recreation of Noah's Ark.
>>
>>6041666
>PARTIAL RESEAL. (+1 U-CORP FAVOR, +0.5 KIARA RAPPORT. The flooding will stop and what damage is done by the other floors unsealing will be very limited. You imagine that the energy that still leaks out will cause some permanent changes to the people in J-Corp's subdistricts and other nearby districts. Perhaps this is good for the City.)

">Have Quentin haul one of the Elite's bodies back for Naomi to harvest bits and bobs from.

Holy shit. Clover solo'd 2 elites and 2 normal glow niggers. It cost resources but fuck. You all recall how bad of a fight it was to take down 1 when we fought fair.

Also, since he didn't fuck them up too badly in order to kill them... we might be looking at 2 of the same implants Nicky has for our crew, plus some extra serum and shit for Naomi. Kinda wish she was here to help loot... 4 service pistols. Ammo. Like 3 sets of cool shades for the gang. And Clover awakening something, a spark or IDK.

Oh and we have enough heads for INFORMANT now.
>>
>>6041733
He'll still hate us for not getting the Manager's head. If that guy in Accounting is alive, recovering him on the way out should help shut INFORMANT up in exchange. We have one more CONTAINMENT CUBE right now, so that's one more anomaly we can recover outta here. There's the lootboxes and the PARADIGMS cabinet in Floor 2 also. I don't know if we should check the other floors at all
>>
>>6041737
>hates us

Hate is a strong word.

I think we can probably try a charm check to make up for not killing the Manager. Maybe. Especially if we bring the heads of the other Glow niggers around. There should be a couple more, I think, right? If we can find the Accounting Head it might help, like you said. We could use our mind Radar to see if anyone is nearby, I suppose, if we get a decent idea as to where he might be.

I don't want to fuck around too, too long once we decide what we are doing with regard to sealing this place, but I think we will have a little time.

My big concern right this second is looting the Silver's of anything they have in their pockets and getting an Elite's body back to Naomi so she can harvest some implants for herself. Maybe keep one other body with us as a spare for big Q, just in case his current one has to get sacrificed.
>>
>>6041757
>charm check
Could pull it off
>couple more
Early in the mission when we went to talk to him, he said there were 6 silvers inside and 2 outside. 1 inside was the elite we faced. 1 inside was the one Audie killed in REFINEMENT. 3 inside and 1 outside were the ones Clover timestop killed here in the ADMIN COMPUTER room. 1 inside and 1 outside are still alive and unknown somewhere.
>Accounting Head
We don't know if he's alive. The ETF playing dead that we saved on Floor 3 Security when Audie was still insane, she went to Floor 6 Accounting and impaled the metal rod through that 1 outside agent, the masked elite bitch. That ETF woman is most likely dead by now, but the ETF guy that was with the first elite we killed is probably still alive somewhere because he had ran off.
We don't know if Welfare and Training Heads are alive either. I'm assuming dead because the glownigs had their ID cards here, but if the Training Head is as nuts as she is then hopefully she killed an agent offscreen? When we make our decision here with the ADMIN COMPUTER, that's gonna get announced on all the floors. If the last 3 Heads are alive, maybe they'll start to leave their floors and we run into them? Alternatively some self-aware anomalies decide it's go time and try to get out.
>mind radar
Good call. We can use FOCUSED WHISPERS OF THE CITY, which is the MENTAL RADAR ability if I remember right. It only works on our current area and nearby floors. We used it on Floor 1, and it scanned the immediate surface outside and Floor 2 and into Floor 3. Speaking of Floor 3, I checked back again and there's an escape hatch or some passage that goes straight up to the outside. We never checked it out, or any of the other passages on Floor 3 for that matter. And MENTAL RADAR doesn't work on nonliving anomalous objects like tool anomalies and such, seeing as it didn't pick up TOADHOLE despite it being in a containment cell on Floor 1.
>looting the Silver's
I agree
>Elite's body back to Naomi
I also agree
>spare for big Q
We shoved all the bodies into the water to make room for allies at the small computer platform. I doubt any of those waterlogged bodies are any good for Quentin especially with how bad and contaminated the water is. If we can kill the other two agents in the building on our way out, maybe Quentin can jack one of them in great condition? I assume his current elite body is still fine for the time being, since we made sure he didn't take that much damage. Audie still did a bit with his reflexive attack on Nicole that Quentin bodyblocked earlier.
>>
>>6041109
Crap, I originally thought the ETF gasmask silver agents that Clover just killed were the same woman that we saved back on floor 3. I misread the information.
>>
>>6041666
>PARTIAL RESEAL
>Loot implants for Naomi
>Convince Delicious Girl to get cubed for extra payoff
>>
>>6041666
>PARTIAL RESEAL. (+1 U-CORP FAVOR, +0.5 KIARA RAPPORT. The flooding will stop and what damage is done by the other floors unsealing will be very limited. You imagine that the energy that still leaks out will cause some permanent changes to the people in J-Corp's subdistricts and other nearby districts. Perhaps this is good for the City.)
>>
>>6041645
>+TRAINING and WELFARE ID CARDS obtained!
How the hell did all four silver agents not get heavily injured from getting TRAINING HEADS ID CARDS? All the floor 5 anomalies cells are breached. Is there a secret safe path that silver agents use to get to HEADS TRAINING unharmed?
>>
>>6041786
>I assume his current elite body is still fine for the time being,

Yeah, should be. It was just an idea, if we could salvage a back-up for a worst case scenario. We gave Quentin the Icy Blood thing, so his current shell should be good for a while... but that first elite didn't die a pretty death. One with just a bullet through the head might give better stats, if we can use it.

Also, when we see Naomi again we need to give her a vial of 속도 SERUM, especially if we can get her a Egvit Implant from a body. We have 3 속도 just from the first spook, and the Halsa gave her a permeate boost vs just its normal temp effects.

If we can get Granny enough implants, some better armor/bodysuit, and some serums, she will be scary AF. She was bragging but said she could have killed us all 5x over with the gear that 1st Elite glowie was packing.

Also remember to rip the Fed's teeth out to find the emergency refined ZANAL located in one of them, assuming they didn't pop it before we found them.

Pipe in the torso Spook probably had to burn some resources to not die, but the other glow nigger should still have goodies on him. And I do really want their shades for the gang.

If we get enough pairs, we can just roll down the block and basically say, "Yeah, we kill Fed's for fun." Intimidation bonus to anyone who knows what us having a dozen pairs of the sunglasses means.
>>
>>6042018
That... is a good point. If we decide to head to that floor we might try and see if there is something like that.

>>6041998
I would rather see if DGR wants to just leave. Maybe be able to use her for back up in the future if we can. Make her an honorary Justice Ranger or what ever we called ourselves. She likes beating up read, killing evildoers. Silvers are evil so... yeah.

With Casey's magic wand... maybe our little bee girl having it would show R that we are the good guys for real? Since Casey has the tool of a Magical Girl now?
>>
>>6032947
>You stare down at the massive tendril. Some part of you is telling you that a chunk of his essence will be in this tendril. He will be able to sense and feel wherever it goes. Though some part is also telling you that so would the anomalies. You might get into a lot of hot water that you otherwise would be able to avoid if you accept.
>>6034171
>MANAGER'S FLESH OBTAINED! (A manager's command is absolute. Each turn, once per ally, an ally may reroll any three dice they roll for an attack or skill check they roll for. Has no other limits, may be used as often as possible. They smell it, you know?)
>RISK LEVEL SET TO VERY HIGH!
>>6034188
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Go back to Floor 2. Try to obtain that DOG to hide your SCENT. It should be easy enough to contain.
>>6042047
I still want to get the DOGS to hide our SCENT because I worry the anomalies can smell us despite traveling on a safe path to TRAINING HEADS.
>>
>>6042046
>if we can use it
Clover's glowing bullet is the reason why I'm curious about that
>3 속도 just from the first spook
We got 1. Where'd you get 3?
>scary AF
I agree
>rip the Fed's teeth out to find the emergency refined ZANAL
Oh shit, I forgot about that. Great call
>what us having a dozen pairs of the sunglasses means
That we... stole a whole box from the glowies?

>>6042047
Simply letting DGR go will not sit well with Wendy. That's one of the reasons I'm starting to think we can't get anomalies out uncontained, outside of tools or inanimates
>>
>>6042111
>>>6015581

>'속도' BLOOD REPLACEMENT VIAL x3 (A bright blue vial that glows in the dark. Temporarily boosts all stats by 2 on use. When used on a EVIGT IMPLANT user, the duration is extended greatly.)

From prior thread.
>>
>>6042367
Hold on, you're right
We also have 2 HALSA remaining. Can't we give 1 to her too?
>>
>>6042407
She already got one Halsa which kinda counters her Lingering Scars. Not sure if giving her another would upgrade her Halsa Regen or just provide the immediate effect.

If giving her a second one would, I would be open to it, especially if she gets one of the Elite's Egvit implants. Help her not be so damn squishy.
>>
>>6042429
Shit, my bad. I meant giving her 1 of the SPEED(KR) one. All that regen won't matter if she's still low on FLESH, and the only way to increase her FLESH is not through the serums I think
>>
>>6042435
I am down with giving Naomi all sorts of drugs and implants. She is awesome and her ability is pretty good, especially when we have a large party.

We also have that unidentified implant we found which might be useful to her.

If we are able to loot the silvers, I would also suggest giving her a service pistol, a few extra rounds of Silver ammo. She is a bit squishy to go around knifing people. She might even get a bonus for a service pistol, since that would have been her normal weapon as a glownigger.
>>
>>6042565
>awesome
Yeah she's a solid character. Even though her overall traits and stats mean she needs to be protected for her HUGE team buff and kept out of harm's way, she still really loves getting in there and cutting people up out of sheer sadism.
>unidentified implant
Can we give that to her not to implant herself with, but to check whatever it might be about? I want to be sure we aren't putting some killswitch or trapped thing in her, or anything with a severe downside
>giving her a service pistol
She already has one
>few extra rounds of Silver ammo
Sounds good to me
>squishy to go around knifing people
She can always knife people to get sadistic, and then switch to the gun and silver ammo to help alongside HALSA REGEN to recover from any injury.
Speaking of knifing, I did bring up that she can also use our BEYOND LOVE AND HATE knife well with her 5 WILLPOWER stat. We could give that to somebody else as a better melee upgrade gift, assuming we start getting more use out of the psychic powers with Nicole. There's so many of them we still have never used yet, and because of this the silver agents never know they exist but Nicole also doesn't know how to best use them. I hoped with getting COAT OF UNKNOWN COLOR that we could finally do that, but we passed on it. The only other option we have to enable psychic power abuse are NOLNOL PILLS due to the cost reduction.
>bonus for a service pistol
Nope, it's still TALENT+3 with 2 rerolls same as anybody else using it. Granted that's the exact same effect that the Elite Silver Agent also had
>(+3 from SERVICE PISTOL, may reroll two dice each turn.)
So I don't mind her not getting a better bonus from it since the silver agents themselves don't.
>>
>>6042565
>>6042429
>>6042435
I just noticed
>'속도' BLOOD REPLACEMENT VIAL x3 (A bright blue vial that glows in the dark. Temporarily boosts all stats by 2 on use. When used on a EVIGT IMPLANT user, the duration is extended greatly.)
But here >>6039191 it says
>Give her 속도. (-1 속도 SERUM. She gains +1 WILLPOWER, +1 TALENT, AND +1 to a random stat.)
Dunno why, but that's an interesting inconsistency. Either way if her WILLPOWER is going to be really high and she still wants to be in melee sometimes, the mindbreak knife is than a regular bog-standard pocket knife
>>
Writing the update, just to make sure you didn't think I'm dead. The actual vote was one sided so no need to count it up.

>>6042597
To be fair, even with an EVIGT IMPLANT, it's temporary. Whatever her power tattoos has seems to be able to take the serums and offer a more permanent but weaker version of it.
Difference between overclocking a computer by 200% vs improving the performance all the time by 35%.
>>
>>6042605
>her power tattoos

I kinda forgot she is all inked up. Makes sense. And a consistent boost for the cost of 1 resource seems like a very good deal.
>>
>>6042605
Then I got no complaints, QM. This mission has been a ride even with the slower pace of exploring as we go. In spite of the severe enemies and MEDIUM-HIGH into VERY HIGH risk, we played very well. I won't fool myself and pretend there still isn't danger though, because we've yet to get topside nor finish exploring yet. Those last 2 agents and any number of escaped or exposed anomalies have not gone away either
>>
>PARTIAL RESEAL. (+1 U-CORP FAVOR, +0.5 KIARA RAPPORT. The flooding will stop and what damage is done by the other floors unsealing will be very limited. You imagine that the energy that still leaks out will cause some permanent changes to the people in J-Corp's subdistricts and other nearby districts. Perhaps this is good for the City.)
>+1 U-CORP FAVOR
and
>[BONUS MISSION] [ANOMALOUS?] "Listen, I trust you. I need YOU to join ME, personally, on a visit to U-Corp's District, District 21. There's a briefcase with VERY sensitive contents about U-Corp and myself in it. We need to get it, recover it, and return it to U-Corp." REWARD: $850, +FAVOR WITH U-COMPANY, improved relationship with the Handler, U-Company will offer you and the Handler some unique and rare anomalous PARADIGMs for use in future missions RISK LEVEL: HIGH.
AND
>DAMAGED MAP (Shows directions to an outpost in District 21. Some of the details were destroyed by your shotgun blasts but SEEKER can put the pieces back together if you ever happen to go to District 21. Stapled to it now is a base location in G-CORP'S district as well.)

It's all coming together... But if we do take on that outpost with Handler and allies, then the silver agents might be on higher alert for their G-District base. That'll heavily impede our desired assault, and we don't want that do we?
>>
>>6042626
>[BONUS MISSION]

Yeah, that should be a good one, if for no other reason than boosting our rep with Handler. We have seen that getting in his good graces helps, gives us better options for missions, some other boons like being able to call him in if SHTF. Access to new Paradigms is very good too...
>>
>>6042653
The one downside is, if I remember the timeline right, we don't have many more days before the HEAD MEETING happens. I want to get one easy mission in before then, if only for Nicole and allies to recuperate before the base assault. I don't know how it'll go or what missions we'll be presented with, so playing it by ear sounds better
>>
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Before you make your decision, there's one thing that's been bothering you. How the hell did they make it through Training if everything was breached there? The only injury they had was the disguised agent having a metal pipe stuck in here.

[PERSON OF INTEREST] Maybe they had time to recover and fully regenerate? If so, the implication they can shake off any non-fatal wound THAT quickly is horrifying.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Maybe it's a secret tunnel system through maintenance?
[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] If there is a secret tunnel, you could try another WHISPERS OF THE CITY to find out.
[UNSTABLE] AT LEAST THEIR REGENERATION HAMPERS THEIR ABILITY TO REMOVE IMBEDDED OBJECTS. COULD BE PRACTICAL TO PIN ONE TO THE GROUND WITH A SPEAR OR SOMETHING.

That's not important, though. What's important is actually figuring out how to handle the tunnels and the intense levels of A-Energy down here. You run over the options provided to you and you know you can't exactly hack into this thing to do something else, so.

Fuck it. You'll humor Kiara if only because this won't bite you in the ass directly. You quickly select the option to start a partial reseal. You can only hope that you have some time before everything powers off and everything goes to shit.

"PARTIAL RESEALING STARTING NOW. ESTIMATED TIME TIL SEAL: 59:59. THIS CAN NOT BE CEASED."

VERY HIGH RISK LEVEL ACTIVATED!

The neon-green lights above are already starting to flicker and dim. You doubt you have much time until this place loses all power. Shit, shit. You're not sure you want to be down there when that happens. "YOU GUYS DONE WITH THE BODIES?"

"TRYING!" "WEH!" Casey and Clover are doing their best to both loot what's remaining on the corpses AND to do super rudimentary surgery to get their implants out. You hear two pairs of footsteps entering the room right as the water begins to rise again.

Two wizened hags. One with massive burn scars across her face, one with long grey hair and a furcoat on. Mira and Naomi. Thank fuck she actually managed to convince her to get outta here- Wait why does she look scared what is she pointing at Clover and-

"NICE. TRY."

You immediately snap your attention over to Casey. Who is currently being strangled by the Disguised Agent who has stood back up, SOMEHOW STILL ALIVE. A massive hole has been punched in her throat and the back of her head, there's a god damn metal pipe right through her side, her face is blueish-purple from a lack of oxygen and there's even several stab wounds and incisions in her.

Yet she is. Still not. Dead. Casey is struggling for her life, thrashing and kicking at the Silver Elite who refused to fucking die.

The lights go out immediately upon once you and your other allies realize what's going on. Shit, shit! No one has a clean shot and you're not sure if you have enough time to put on your nightvision googles before she does irreparable damage to Casey-

BANG! BANG!
"NGH!!!"

You quickly equip your googles...
>>
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[ANALYZER MODEL + QUENTIN ALLY] Both Quentin and Kiara have their guns drawn, smoke oozing out of their muzzles. Quentin has his flintlock out while Kiara had her HANDMADE GUN. Seems like they were able to see in low light just fine enough to aim.
>-1 FLINTLOCK AMMO from QUENTIN, -1 PISTOL ROUND from KIARA!

The DISGUISED SILVER ELITE lets go of Casey and stumbles back from the recoil of two MORE bullets piercing her. One has slammed into her shoulder while the other pierced right through her thigh. Given the amount of blood pouring from it, it was a major artery

Yet she still refuses to give up. She takes a shaky step towards Casey, who's still hacking and wheezing from the strangulation attempt. The lights flicker on for one moment. Audie takes this moment to pierce his blade right into the DISGUISED ELITE's gut. This is FINALLY enough to put her down. Fucking hell, not even a gunshot was enough to keep her down for long.

No wonder why she survived Training.

Your allies quickly swarm to pick up the dead Silver Agents who, after Audie takes a moment to squeeze the hell out of the other elite's throat to be extra sure, are 100% dead. Audie is the one who's carrying them given his many arms and his anomalous strength. It's time to get the FUCK out of here.

You quickly rush back to the ladder leading you back to the Sixth Floor. You don't feel like staying down here any longer, especially when the water is rising faster and faster by the second. You, alongside Clover, quickly help up your other allies up the ladder so they can get to some level of safety.

It takes some time for everyone to get up, especially Mira, and you can already feel the water rising up to the upper half of your torso. Clover is the second to last person to go up, followed by you. You struggle to hold onto the slick ladder but if there's one thing that you learnt from being stuck out at sea for a week?

It's how to keep a solid grip even when you're about to be washed away into a roaring sea.

You eventually manage to climb back up to the platform with your, fuck, eight other allies? Your group promptly enters the maint shaft and up towards the sixth floor. Doesn't take nearly as long since you're not climbing hundreds of feet to get anywhere.

The nine of you promptly arrive at the sixth floor: Accounting. Good news, the nine of you are right by an elevator that's still powered on. The bad news?

Yeah. Everything on this floor is out. You're luckily close enough to the elevator to not immediately be pulverzed by the monsters down here but seeing a massive cannonball being shot right at your general direction, only for it to just barely miss anyone?

You know you're not welcome here. Everyone quickly scrambles into the now opened elevator. Huh, weird, no one pushed the button yet it still did it OKAY ANOTHER CANNONBALL IS BEING LOADED OUT OUT OUT OUT INTO THE ELEVATOR UP UP UP UP. The doors slam shut right as the cannonball is fired.
>>
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Luckily, your elevator moves just in time for the ball to pummel to god knows where. It's only now do you realize how cramped everyone is inside of this elevator but you really don't have any time to complain about it. Due to your all access card and all of the other hey cards you got, you can just travel to the first floor through this elevator.

And if the Manager was right about him dealing with the other Heads? The survivors should be on the surface too. No need to visit them while things are going as crazy as they are down there. You can worry about the other floors once you're SAFE!

Soon, the elevator arrives at the second floor...and immediately seems to lock up once you arrive there. The hell? The power should still be on. The nine of you stumble out onto the second floor to see what the issue is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXAP1kbjpjk - COLD BLOODED INFORMANT

In the middle of the square-shaped hub of the second floor is the man himself. COLD BLOODED INFORMANT. A fatty mass of of royal blue chitin and squirming legs about the size of three large men combined who is standing up as tall and firm as possible.

He still has his bright white jacket, long smoking pipe, and that odd looking mask of a fatty man with a smirk on his person but in addition to all of that? Several dozen tiny little pistols are held within the squirming mass of centipede legs all along him. He points towards the four bodies you're carrying.

Your group promptly throws them to the ground. He slowly skitters over to where the bodies were and with a huff, he quickly rips the heads off as if they were paper. He picks out a few teeth at randomly and throws them onto the ground without a care in the world.

"Fehhhhhh. That MANAGER BUDDYYYY brought back my favored headdddd. You're exempt frommmm my penalty feeeeee." He promptly throws the bodies back at your group alongside a bundle of cash. "I got betterrr places to be." He squeezes past your group and into the elevator. With some finagling with the elevator buttons, the elevator doors shut. He promptly disappears, slowly rising up to the first floor.

You doubt you'll see him on the surface. Seems like you missed the oppurnity to contain him due to your decision to keep the Manager alive. As for what he left behind and, now that you're somewhere safer, the spooks? You might as well take this time to see everything you looted.

COLD BLOODED INFORMANT LOOT!
>SILVER AGENT TEETH x4! (The REFINED ZANAL inside has been partially consumed but you can still extract the liquid inside. When consumed, adds +1 to all stats for the next three rolls and you roll d7s for said rolls. Wears off after the third roll.)
>$650
>J-CORP BADGE (An ancient J-Corp police commissioner badge. You may use it to automatically pass any non-combat related check against a J-Corp official.)

And as for the Silver Agents? Naomi and the others take some time to do some properly surgery on them...
>>
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SILVER AGENT LOOT!
>SERVICE PISTOL x4 (Can't be an agent without it. ATTACK ROLL: TALENT+3. You may reroll two dice every time you fire this weapon.)
>SILVER AMMO x9 (Usable on any gun. Heals 1 FLESH or RESTRAINT when fired, whichever is lowest.)
>SPOOK SHADES x4 (Takes up an ACCESSORY SLOT. +1 COGNIZANCE AND TALENT. Twice per mission, when making a STEALTH or COGNIZANCE check, you may reroll all dice.)
>"GEWALT" BLOOD REPLACEMENT VIAL (A bright crimson vial that reeks of rot. When consumed, boosts VIOLENCE and FLESH by 2 for a short duration. When consumed by a SILVER IMPLANT user, the duration is extended and TALENT is also boosted by 2.)
>"ÉTOILE" BLOOD REPLACEMENT VIAL (A bright purple vial that glows like the night sky. When consumed, raises WILLPOWER by 3 for a short duration. When consumed by a SILVER IMPLANT user, boosts RESTRAINT and COGNIZANCE by 2 as well for a short duration.)
>"RICRESCERE" BLOOD REPLACEMENT VIAL x2 (A bright green vial that glows in the dark. When consumed, immediately heals two CRIPPLING INJURIES and 2 FLESH. When used on a SILVER IMPLANT user, enables the ability to regenerate lost limbs as well.)
>WATERLOGGED SILVER WALKIE TALKIE x4 (Damaged beyond repair from the flood water.)

IMPLANTS RECOVERED!
>REPROGRAMMED EVIGT IMPLANT x1 (Naomi immediately snatches this. You won't stop her.)
>REPROGRAMMED 視力 IMPLANT x1 (+1 COGNIZANCE and RESTRAINT to whoever it is installed into. While installed, the user gains a passive and limited resistance to all forms of anomalous phenomena)

Quentin rips out the freshest, least contaminated organs from the four spooks before your group promptly calls back into the elevator. You see DELICIOUS GIRL R peering around the corner before she begins to chase right after your group upon seeing the Silver Agents you killed.

Your elevator shuts close before she can enter but you can see a bright orange light through the gaps of the elevator. Hm.

Soon, your group arrives at the first floor. You immediately make a beeline towards the break room, which has a tunnel to the surface. Your group crawls up the tunnel, up up and up, trying desperately to get the fuck out of here before anything worse happens to your group. You need time to breath. Time to think.

Eventually, you and your eight allies pile onto the empty warehouse floor. You're finally back at the surface. Staring out through the warehouse gate, you see that the raging storm outside is finally starting to subside. You collapse onto the floor alongside your other allies. Everyone is exhausted, beaten, and more than ready to put this whole ordeal well behind them.

>MISSION COMPLETED!
>REWARD: $1954, +2 P-CORP (POWER) FAVOR, +1 U-CORP (NEW FRONTIER) FAVOR, +0.5 KIARA RAPPORT.
>ANOMALY RECONTAINED: LATECOMER'S BLOSSOM. ADDITIONAL REWARD OF $750 and +1 X-CORP (TO ARMS) FAVOR

There's nowhere in or around the warehouse. Even Judy is gone. Seems like all of the other staff have left from greener pastures.
>>
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Good for them.

DELICIOUS GIRL R immediately reappears in front of you with a giddy smile across her face. You barely have the strength to talk to her. She simply sits down across your group, more than willing to accept the fact that your group is too exhausted to do anything.

Fuck.

Everyone except for Audie and Mira are too busy trying to recover from everything that just happened to move, think, or even say anything to anyone else. Audie and Mira promptly get back onto their feet. They stare back towards the magical girl, then at your group, before they decide to take their leave.

"Thank you for everything. It was...fun. Working with a group again." A bittersweet laugh escapes Audie.
"...I will see you soon, Naomi." Mira curtly nods. The two promptly leave your group, leaving you behind with only DELICIOUS GIRL R as company.
>AUDIE and MIRA have left the party.

Despite the storm having lightened up considerably, there's still the constant pitter-patter of rain outside. It's the only sound that breaks the silence aside from your group's hectic, exhausted breathing. The last few hours were a complete blur of violence, anomalous phenomena, and bizarre Antiseptic War history. You think you're more than content not doing anything for a long, long while.

"You're good people, you know." DELICIOUS GIRL R coos out with a sickly sweet tone. "I don't pretend to understand how you adults work but I know you're good people." She promptly stands back up. Wendy, if she wasn't recovering from everything, would be foaming at the mouth but even she can only nod in response.

DELICIOUS GIRL R's eyes glances over at Casey's wand. The magical girl nods in approval before she immediately vanishes into a beam of red and orange light.
>DELICIOUS GIRL R will appear again as long as you have her PARADIGM. You won't know when, though.

"i wanna get drunk and forget about this whole thing." Wendy tries her best to sit back up but it's clear that the adrenaline that was fueling her body has long since exhausted. "woo. been a while since i've done field work."
No one else seems particularly keen to talk or do anything. Even your arms and legs are struggling to move after everything.

Turns out fighting for your life against a powerful anomaly and a trained elite agent before trying your best to outrun a flood does that to a person. Your soaking wet clothes aren't helping you to feel any better. Hell, it makes you feel worse. You're more than ready for a long, warm bath after this.

Your two SILVER AGENT RADIOs, one normal and one weak, crackle to life.
"...TOO MUCH ATTENTION DRAWN TO FACILITY..."
"...FIVE MIA...PRESUMED DEAD."
"...ETF SPOTTED US AND FLED..."
"...LEAVE REFINEMENT BEHIND...TOO LITTLE PERSONNEL HERE."
"...COLLECTED 60 A-BOXES, 10 C-EXTRACT, 5 ICP, AND FIVE PARADIGMS..."
"...MISSION STATUS...PYRRIC SUCCESS."

Seems like you don't have to worry about the remaining spooks.

You got some free time to burn before you have to go home. What to do, though?
>>
Pick four.
>[CLOVER ALLY] It's tradition at this point. Travel to Clover's casino and get wasted. You all need it. (+1 RESTRAINT to you and all allies, you'll gain +0.5 RAPPORT with all allies. You'll also get a chance to talk and learn about your allies AND TO GAMBLE BABY!)
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Take a walk around District 10 with your allies to decompress after everything. (Heals 2 RESTRAINT to you. You're likely to stumble into an old cache, a new store, or some other interesting lore about J-Corp's district. Maybe even a trail on where the last spooks with?)
>Go back down to the facility. Take some time to recontain one of the anomalies and the caches back on Floor 2. (Choose one anomaly to recontain: KNIGHT OF PEN AND PAPER, DOG, MUSHROOM DREAMS, A THOUSAND LONELY, or TOADHOLE. You'll also get the remaining loot from FLOOR 2's ARMORY.)
>[WENDY ALLY + UNSTABLE] Both of you know about the other's instability. Take a moment to reflect on it. To truly understand each other. (+0.5 WENDY RAPPORT. This should help to rein in both of your voices and to help her adjust to her own instability. You feel obligated to help someone in a similar position you were once in.)
>[KIARA ALLY] "Thank god you're safe." Kiara immediately rushes over to hug you. "Please, just, mind if I just...ramble? I need it." Comfort her. (+0.5 KIARA RAPPORT. She'll offer you some useful tips about how to interact with others professionally and she'll slightly improve your SEEKER OF THE CITY boon as well.)
>[QUENTIN ALLY] "I WISH TO TALK. Alone, with you. For a bit." Offer Quentin an ear. You feel like he needs it after everything he's done for you. (+0.5 RAPPORT with Quentin. You'll be able to understand Quentin and Drones on a more personal and fundamental level. In addition, UNNERVING will never trigger on you again.)
>[CASEY ALLY + ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Even if you'll take it back later, try to help teach Casey the ways of using weird anomalous PARADIGMS. Starting with the wand. (+0.5 CASEY RAPPORT, WILLPOWER DC: ???, rolling 11d6 with Kiara's help. The higher you roll, the more skilled and knowledgeable Casey will become about PARADIGMs and other trinkets. This may impact future upgrades to her down the line as well.)
>[NAOMI ALLY] "Follow me." Naomi gestures over towards a secluded corner of the warehouse. Do so. (Due to her high RAPPORT, you'll get a chance to pick an ability for her and you'll get some one on one training time, slightly improving both of your stats.)
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] You need to know where those two agents went at any cost. Try to track down their trail. (COGNIZANCE DC: ???, rolling with the assistance of your whole party. The higher you roll, the more information you'll gathered and the more intel you'll have for later encounters with them.)
>Write in.

I'll update the pastebins with the shitton of loot you got later but I'm bone tired. Good job on the mission. 100 years of Nicole, Nicole and her voices 100 years.
>>
>>6042748
>How the hell did they make it through Training
Thanks for addressing stuff as always QM
>implication
So the best way is overwhelming sudden firepower, bypassing their regen via other means, or being careful where you aim
>try another WHISPERS
We should do that more, but sometimes it's nice to just take things as they are. Not every place is going to have secret passages
>PIN ONE
TK into impaling one with rods sounds cool. Imagine if they pop their drugs and use their strength to simply rip themselves off the wall while still being impaled. Horrifying
>won't bite you in the ass directly
If REFINEMENT still works, what's stopping P Corp from coming here and refining the A-Energy themselves once they clear out and contain enough of the floors?
>59:59
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6eoA1ajAi8
>Mira
Nice, Naomi did it
>refused to fucking die
We need to double-tap HARDER from now on

>>6042749
>[ANALYZER MODEL + QUENTIN ALLY]
ANDROID AND DRONE COOPERATION
>flintlock
We need somebody up for dualwielding, Quentin might as well be that one for our group with his meatshield status. Giving him all our LEAD AMMO and selling the second FLINTLOCK might be the best way to do it, but he needs a better melee weapon too
>major artery
That's a key weakness from what Alex said
>carrying them
Boy am I glad we still kept the old badass around
>ladder
Boy am I glad we had Quentin investigate the platform
>rising faster and faster
Things would be troublesome because the hallway to the elevator is LONG and that's a death sentence with water levels
>keep a solid grip
We have the...
>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.)
Wait we didn't put them on, oh well! Honestly these would be better for anybody else. I don't think we even use them before
>massive cannonball
We had enough of naval warfare from the ship mission, come on

>>6042751
>travel to the first
Thanks Manager
>visit them
Thanks for helping us skip all that shit QM
>Several dozen
>they were paper
>penalty fee
I'm glad we didn't fight him
>favored head
Benowitz lives, that bastard
>missed the opportunity to contain
That's fine, he's better off free
WAIT HE TOOK THE ONE AGENT HEAD AUDIE GAVE US, RIGHT? WHY DO WE STILL HAVE THIS?
>SILVER AGENT TEETH x4
Still worth it. +1 to all stats for 3 rolls and d7s is huge
>J-CORP BADGE
So this is how they even got here past J-Corp security
>>
>>6042752
>SERVICE PISTOL x4
1 to Kiara, we're gonna sell these HANDMADE GUNS at a shop later
1 to Alexis for COOL factor plus needs a weapon
1 to Benjamin because he needs a good weapon
1 to Adam because of his STEADY HANDS and he could do with a good ranged
>SILVER AMMO x9
Have to divide these wisely later. Everybody with any gun should have 2 probably
>SPOOK SHADES x4
1 on Nicole because she deserves it by now
1 to Kiara because she benefits from both stats
2 to Alexis, Benjamin, Maruyama, or Quentin for various reasons
>"GEWALT"
>"ÉTOILE"
>"RICRESCERE"
Should we spread vials around? Better if certain allies consume them at key moments for their immediate buff?
>WATERLOGGED SILVER WALKIE TALKIE x4
Free parts for Kiara and Benedict?
>REPROGRAMMED EVIGT IMPLANT x1
We don't get the +1 RAPPORT with her like we could have the first time doing this, but oh well
>REPROGRAMMED 視力 IMPLANT x1
Could throw it at Kiara for MAX VISION POWER? It's the most fitting one for her
>organs
Nice that Quentin can do that without abandoning his current shell. It means we don't have to keep getting him new bodies if he can fix his current one
>shuts close before she can enter
FUCK OFF WE'RE FULL
>ANOMALY RECONTAINED
B-But what about our second CONTAINMENT CUBE...?
>staff have left
I hope they all make it to a better place. Manager can tardwrangle them as he always does, but better now

>>6042755
>too exhausted
>recover from everything
Yes please let us dry out after the flooded section
>AUDIE and MIRA have left
This won't be the last of them
>rain outside
Honestly this is still a comfy moment. The whole group just laying on the abandoned warehouse floor trying to relax and dry up while the rain is going outside
>good people
I wonder if she'll still think that if she knew about the gang gassing or other unscrupulous things Nicole has done
>will appear again
Will she crash the party during the base assault, I wonder...
>soaking wet clothes
Every single person here needs a good shower and big BIG towel
>one normal and one weak
One normal and one ELITE
>FIVE MIA
Not 6?
>ETF SPOTTED US
How huge repercussions will this have, that the one escaped ETF knows the agents exist and they're AMONG US out there?
>LEAVE REFINEMENT BEHIND
WE WON
>COLLECTED
The PARADIGMS and ICP loss sucks but we did good progress making it to mission clear. If we detoured to other floors we might have been screwed
>PYRRHIC SUCCESS
They'll be feeling this loss of personnel and REFINEMENT
>remaining spooks
So the 2 missing ones are gone, cool

>>6042767
>spoiler
Thanks QM
>>
Rolled 3 (1d3)

>>6042767
>1 SERVICE PISTOL to Kiara, take her HANDMADE GUN
>1 SPOOK SHADES to Kiara
>Put the SPOOK SHADES on Nicole!
Just minor shit, no problem
>[WENDY ALLY + UNSTABLE] Both of you know about the other's instability. Take a moment to reflect on it. To truly understand each other. (+0.5 WENDY RAPPORT. This should help to rein in both of your voices and to help her adjust to her own instability. You feel obligated to help someone in a similar position you were once in.)
As ESPRIT DE CORPS would say: "She is your half-sister."
>Go back down to the facility. Take some time to recontain one of the anomalies and the caches back on Floor 2. (Choose one anomaly to recontain: KNIGHT OF PEN AND PAPER, DOG, MUSHROOM DREAMS, A THOUSAND LONELY, or TOADHOLE. You'll also get the remaining loot from FLOOR 2's ARMORY.)
FREE LOOT!!!
CONTAIN TOADHOLE
USE HARVESTING KIT TO EXTRACT FROM MUSHROOM DREAMS
PET THE DOG WITH CASEY
>[CLOVER ALLY] It's tradition at this point. Travel to Clover's casino and get wasted. You all need it. (+1 RESTRAINT to you and all allies, you'll gain +0.5 RAPPORT with all allies. You'll also get a chance to talk and learn about your allies AND TO GAMBLE BABY!)
We do this last of course

For the fourth, I'm going to roll
>1 = CASEY ALLY
>2 = QUENTIN ALLY
>3 = SEEKER
>>
>>6042767
>[CLOVER ALLY] It's tradition at this point. Travel to Clover's casino and get wasted. You all need it. (+1 RESTRAINT to you and all allies, you'll gain +0.5 RAPPORT with all allies. You'll also get a chance to talk and learn about your allies AND TO GAMBLE BABY!)
>Go back down to the facility. Take some time to recontain one of the anomalies and the caches back on Floor 2. (Choose one anomaly to recontain: KNIGHT OF PEN AND PAPER, DOG, MUSHROOM DREAMS, A THOUSAND LONELY, or TOADHOLE. You'll also get the remaining loot from FLOOR 2's ARMORY.)
Contain Toadhole.
Give Casey the DOGS.
Use harvesting kit mushroom dream.
>[WENDY ALLY + UNSTABLE] Both of you know about the other's instability. Take a moment to reflect on it. To truly understand each other. (+0.5 WENDY RAPPORT. This should help to rein in both of your voices and to help her adjust to her own instability. You feel obligated to help someone in a similar position you were once in.)
>[CASEY ALLY + ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Even if you'll take it back later, try to help teach Casey the ways of using weird anomalous PARADIGMS. Starting with the wand. (+0.5 CASEY RAPPORT, WILLPOWER DC: ???, rolling 11d6 with Kiara's help. The higher you roll, the more skilled and knowledgeable Casey will become about PARADIGMs and other trinkets. This may impact future upgrades to her down the line as well.)
>>
>>6042767
>[CLOVER ALLY] It's tradition at this point. Travel to Clover's casino and get wasted. You all need it. (+1 RESTRAINT to you and all allies, you'll gain +0.5 RAPPORT with all allies. You'll also get a chance to talk and learn about your allies AND TO GAMBLE BABY!)
As is tradition.
>[WENDY ALLY + UNSTABLE] Both of you know about the other's instability. Take a moment to reflect on it. To truly understand each other. (+0.5 WENDY RAPPORT. This should help to rein in both of your voices and to help her adjust to her own instability. You feel obligated to help someone in a similar position you were once in.)
Wendy needs to cool it if she wants to be on future missions. Can’t have her shwacking someone with a Billy club just because she’s mad.
>[CASEY ALLY + ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Even if you'll take it back later, try to help teach Casey the ways of using weird anomalous PARADIGMS. Starting with the wand. (+0.5 CASEY RAPPORT, WILLPOWER DC: ???, rolling 11d6 with Kiara's help. The higher you roll, the more skilled and knowledgeable Casey will become about PARADIGMs and other trinkets. This may impact future upgrades to her down the line as well.)
I’m curious about where this goes. Even though I really don’t want DELICIOUS GIRL R showing up randomly.
>[NAOMI ALLY] "Follow me." Naomi gestures over towards a secluded corner of the warehouse. Do so. (Due to her high RAPPORT, you'll get a chance to pick an ability for her and you'll get some one on one training time, slightly improving both of your stats.)
Upgrades are upgrades.
>>
>>6042767
>Go back down to the facility. Take some time to recontain one of the anomalies and the caches back on Floor 2. (Choose one anomaly to recontain: KNIGHT OF PEN AND PAPER, DOG, MUSHROOM DREAMS, A THOUSAND LONELY, or TOADHOLE. You'll also get the remaining loot from FLOOR 2's ARMORY.)
MUSHROOM DREAMS, it's the least trouble.
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] You need to know where those two agents went at any cost. Try to track down their trail. (COGNIZANCE DC: ???, rolling with the assistance of your whole party. The higher you roll, the more information you'll gathered and the more intel you'll have for later encounters with them.)
>[CLOVER ALLY] It's tradition at this point. Travel to Clover's casino and get wasted. You all need it. (+1 RESTRAINT to you and all allies, you'll gain +0.5 RAPPORT with all allies. You'll also get a chance to talk and learn about your allies AND TO GAMBLE BABY!)
>[WENDY ALLY + UNSTABLE] Both of you know about the other's instability. Take a moment to reflect on it. To truly understand each other. (+0.5 WENDY RAPPORT. This should help to rein in both of your voices and to help her adjust to her own instability. You feel obligated to help someone in a similar position you were once in.)
>>
>>6042767
I'll change my vote in >>6042817 from
>SEEKER (1d3 rolled 3)
to
>[CASEY ALLY + ANOMALOUS ABILITIES]
To break this tie
>>
>>6042755
Wooooo Delicious Girl R gett-o!

>>6042767
>>[CASEY ALLY + ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Even if you'll take it back later, try to help teach Casey the ways of using weird anomalous PARADIGMS. Starting with the wand. (+0.5 CASEY RAPPORT, WILLPOWER DC: ???, rolling 11d6 with Kiara's help. The higher you roll, the more skilled and knowledgeable Casey will become about PARADIGMs and other trinkets. This may impact future upgrades to her down the line as well.)

>[QUENTIN ALLY] "I WISH TO TALK. Alone, with you. For a bit." Offer Quentin an ear. You feel like he needs it after everything he's done for you. (+0.5 RAPPORT with Quentin. You'll be able to understand Quentin and Drones on a more personal and fundamental level. In addition, UNNERVING will never trigger on you again.)

>Go back down to the facility. Take some time to recontain one of the anomalies and the caches back on Floor 2. (Choose one anomaly to recontain: KNIGHT OF PEN AND PAPER, DOG, MUSHROOM DREAMS, A THOUSAND LONELY, or TOADHOLE. You'll also get the remaining loot from FLOOR 2's ARMORY.)

>Dog. Dog. Dog, dog, dog, dog!

>[CLOVER ALLY] It's tradition at this point. Travel to Clover's casino and get wasted. You all need it. (+1 RESTRAINT to you and all allies, you'll gain +0.5 RAPPORT with all allies. You'll also get a chance to talk and learn about your allies AND TO GAMBLE BABY!)

>>6042802
Nicole has spook shades from the one we blew the back out of when confronting Ashton.

Very nice work QM. It might be my inner loot goblin but this was one of my favorite jobs.
>>
>>6043077
>Nicole has spook shades from the one we blew the back out of when confronting Ashton.
Cool, I forgot about it because her main character sheet didn't have it under accessories equipped, sorry
>>
So, CLOVER ALLY, WENDY + UNSTABLE, CASEY + ANOMALOUS, and GO BACK TO FACILITY (with Toadhole being what's looted) is what wins. I'll also take the harvesting and dog petting into consideration. Three anons, roll the following dice.

>11d6 (CASEY HAS A CASEY MOMENT, threshold below.)
>5d100 (MEDICAL SUPPLIES, TABLE BELOW)
>6d100 (TOO RISKY FOR RESEARCH, TABLE BELOW)

----

CASEY THRESHOLDS:
For every 9 points Casey rolls, she passively reduces the DC necessary to activate a PARADIGM or to understand it by 1 as long as she's in the party.
For every 15 points, whenever she uses a PARADIGM or ANOMALOUS ITEM herself, the duration is extended and the potency is boosted depending on the item.
For every 30 points, she gains +1 WILLPOWER permanently.

MEDICAL SUPPLY LOOT TABLE (You get some TRAUMA KITS and GAUZE for free.)
1-15: UVX #1 x2 (The original. Boosts MAX FLESH and RESTRAINT by 1 for a short duration.)
16-37: WHITE POWDER x2 (Boost VIOLENCE and TALENT by 2 for a short duration and heals 1 RESTRAINT, deals 1 FLESH damage on use.)
38-69: JOYVEL BOTTLE (Contains five pills. Heals 1 RESTRAINT per pill.)
70-88: DAY TRIP BOTTLE (Contains three pills. Each pill boosts CHARM, CONNECTIONS, and COGNIZANCE by 1 for an extended duration.)
89-95: 'MENTAL RESET' VIAL x1 (Heals 5 RESTRAINT and grants a +2d8 bonus to resisting anomalous influences for an extended duration.)
96-99: X-CORP NANOBOT SERUM (Heals 5 FLESH and removes a CRIPPLING INJURY on use. No downside.)
100: ??? (MYSTERY BOX! Contains three random drugs.)

TOO RISKY FOR RESEARCH
1-19: A-ENERGY BOX (A highly valued trading commodity. Can be used in place of cash for most goods and may allow you access to items otherwise not possible to get.)
20-35: ROYAL BLUE DERRINGER (WEAPON. ATTACK ROLL: CONNECTIONS+2. Uses PISTOL AMMO and does MIXED damage. Has a 50% chance to not consume ammo.)
36-56: SWEET DREAMS (DRUG. Made from MUSHROOM DREAMS extract. Heals FLESH and RESTRAINT by 4 at the cost of reducing all stats by 1 for the rest of mission.)
57-80: GLOVES OF UNKNOWN COLOR (ACCESSORY. Drenched of the color of the forgotten corners of home. Reduces the cost of PSYCHIC POWERS by 1 for you and anomalous allies, reduces RESTRAINT damage by 1 for non-anomalous allies.)
81-90: GODKILLING ROUNDS x4 (AMMO. Works on ANY gun. Attacks made with it deal ESOTERIC DAMAGE, which bypasses most resistances and permanently reduces stats.)
91-95: COSMOGONE TUXEDO (ARMOR. Drenched in the warm colour of remembered suns, made out of the finest NOUVEAU fabric. +1 CONNECTIONS, CHARM, and COGNIZANCE while worn. Reduces FLESH and RESTRAINT damage taken by 1.)
96-99: ICP SYRINGE (May be injected to boost all stats by 2 for a short period, to permanently upgrade a power you have, or to induce an anomalous ability in someone.)
100: ??? (MYSTERY BOX!!! Contains two random items.)

To the anon who likes being a loot goblin, best enjoy this. You're going to need it sooner than later.
>>
>>6043102
>>6043077
[PERSON OF INTEREST] The shades you got from the first spook you killed were just normal shades, not spook shades.
[PERSON OF INTEREST] He also lacked SILVER AMMO and BLOOD REPALCMENT VIALS, so you assume he was a scout sent to observe what happened with you and Ashton. These guys were exploring a dangerous facility, in comparison.
[PERSON OF INTEREST] You have no real reason to keep track of THOSE shades since they're cosmetic at best, tacky at worst.
>>
Rolled 52, 57, 73, 15, 21, 9 = 227 (6d100)

>>6043472
Thank you for the explanation, that means we're ditching the old shades for the SPOOK SHADES (but we can give the old shades to another ally that can benefit from the COOL factor not Clover because he needs his eyes exposed instead for his COOL factor).

>>6043471
>loot goblin
Hi
>You're going to need it
Don't I know it

Rolling the 6d100 for TOO RISKY
>>
>>6043478
>2 A-Energy Box
Gonna be good to get us better gear
>1 ROYAL BLUE DERRINGER
This goes right on Alexis and stays on Alexis. We'll need pistol ammo for her so she can even use it, but she has 10 CONNECTIONS. That's even more than what Gregory has.
>1 GLOVES OF UNKNOWN COLOR
This goes on Nicole and stays on Nicole, and we begin to use more psychic powers because of it
>2 SWEET DREAMS
It took me until now to realize the mystery bag of shrooms back in HELP WANTED was from this thing. All stats down by 1 for the mission sucks, but we can account for it in some ways. This is basically a full heal for everybody we know. Well worth the cost if shit goes horribly wrong during the silver agent base assault
>>
Rolled 6, 1, 3, 6, 3, 4, 4, 4, 1, 5, 2 = 39 (11d6)

>>6043471
>>
Rolled 16, 24, 79, 5, 5 = 129 (5d100)

>>6043471
Medical supplies
>>
Would've closed earlier, passed out, now writing. Here's a list of what you got.

CASEY:
-4 DC to using PARADIGMs
Durations of anomalous items and PARADIGMs used on her are increased considerably and for potency?
If it adds dice to her: She gains an additional +2d6.
If it heals her: She heals 1 more FLESH and/or RESTRAINT. If it offers regeneration, it triggers way more often.
If it's a weapon: She deals an unconditional 1 FLESH and RESTRAINT damage with it as long as she rolls 4 or more successes.
If it's none of the above: Case by case basis depending on the item.
+1 WILLPOWER permanently.

MEDICIAL SUPPLY:
5, 5: UVX x4
16, 24: WHITE POWDER x4
79: DAY TRIP BOTTLE

TOO RISKY FOR RESEARCH
9, 15: A-ENERGY BOX x2
21: ROYAL BLUE DERRINGER
52: SWEET DREAMS
57, 73: GLOVES OF UNKNOWN COLOR x2

Writing. Should be out soon enough.
>>
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It takes a solid thirty minutes for you to even consider doing anything. The only solace after the hours of looting, fighting, and exploring is the constant pitter-patter of rain outside of the warehouse. You look over at your GORILLA GRIP GLOVES on your hands-

Huh. You have these on? Must've subconsciously put them on while climbing that ladder. Probably the actual reason you didn't slip back then. You peel them off and throw them back into your inventory.

[UNNERVING] Your eyes glance over towards Quentin. You flinch a bit when you see the massive hole he sliced into his own body. With the practiced experience of an actual surgeon, he's replacing old organs with the new organs he acquired. Urgh.
[OPTIMISTIC SPIRIT] Casey immediately gets your attention by sliding right next to where you're laying her. Her off yellow hair, eyes, and beaming smile is a nice distraction from what you just saw.
>RESTRAINT DAMAGE NEGATED

"Hey!" She pats you on the shoulder. "You did a good job, you know! We all did a good job. It's...it was a lot but I'm glad we all did our part, right?"

A small smile forces itself onto your face. "Yeah. Thanks." You slowly sit back up, shaking away the gruesome image you saw mere moments ago. "Hey. You know that wand I gave you? We didn't use it since we did that really cool timestop shit but I think I can train you to use it. Kiara, dear?"

Kiara immediately perks up once you say her name. "Yeah, yeah, yeah?" Woah, she's really excited for some reason. "What's going on? Where we going to next? Maybe that cool Casino I think I heard you guys talking about?"

"We're going to train Casey for a bit while the others try to uncrumple their bones, souls, etc etc. Mind helping me out?"

Kiara promptly gets up, dusting off the actual dust clinging to her bomber jacket. "Sure. I think they deserve that. Might as well wait until the rain dies down as well: I don't feel like getting even MORE water in my internals."
"hehe robot girl getting wet." Wendy snorts.
"Shut it!" Kiara hisses towards Wendy with obvious embarrassment crackling from her voicebox. "I- Father Above, why did you hire her again?"

You shrug. "She's a good fighter, she's good at corporate negotiations, and she's literally me? C'mon." You gesture at Casey and Kiara to follow you to a secluded part of the warehouse. The two girls promptly trail behind you.
"wait what do you mean by that-" Wendy picks up on what you said but by the time she's asking, you're too far away for her to hear her.

Your small group of three is now tucked away in the corner of the warehouse, hiding behind a few of the empty shelves. Casey has the sugar and ribbon-covered SUGAR WAND X firmly grasped in her hands. You can already hear UNSTABLE trying to make a joke but you intentionally block her out this time.

"So!" Kiara claps her hands. "Here's the thing with PARADIGMs. They tend to have a will of their own and you sorta need to coerce them. Gently, of course, but the point stands."
>>
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Casey slowly blinks each eye individually. She didn't get that at all. "Weh?"

You decide to explain it in terms Casey probably understands better. "You need to treat it like a stubborn costumer. Butter it up, try to work with it, push it if need be."

"Oh! Oh, yeah, yeah! I can do that." Casey, thankfully, points the wand somewhere AWAY from everyone else. She takes a deep breath before she begins to mutter to the wand. "I am a hero of justice. I am here to help my friends. I need YOUR power to do this. I am a hero of justice..."

She begins to mutter this mantra over and over and over again. Kiara nods approvingly once you two notice the wand starting to shimmer with an orange glow.

"Each one is unique but you have to work with it. Treat it as more than an object..." Kiara pauses for a moment. <"I suppose like me, huh?"> "I think in some way, they're alive. Treat them as such."
"Their own will. Their own desires." You feel your eyes glazing over. As if you're not talking but something more primodal is. "...Their own perspectives."

>39

A massive beam of bright orange light fires out of the tip of Casey's wand. It immediately melts through a handful of nearby shelves like a hot knife through butter. The beam only stops once it hits one of the concrete walls of the warehouse but even then, a watermelon sized chunk of the wall is melted away.

Casey's off-yellow eyes glimmer orange for the briefest moment before she puts down her wand. She tosses the wand back over to you, alongside her NOUVEAU SCARF. "...Hm." There's a look of contemplation washing over her face. As if something has clicked in her head. "So that's what it's like. I think I get what you're talking about."

"I hear it talking to me for a moment. It was subtle but...it was like I could've had a conversation with it."

Kiara nods. "I've handled a few PARADIGMs too and there's always that subtle voice once you start using them. It's interesting how even a simple object can have a sense of awareness and purpose. I envy them, really."
Casey looks up at Kiara with a cocked eyebrow. "Is it because you see yourself in them?"

Kiara doesn't immediately respond but she simply nods again. <"Perhaps if even a simple object can have human thoughts, maybe I'm a human too in my own way, huh?">

Casey takes a moment to process all of this but she immediately puts on her happy-go-lucky smile. Seems like she's learnt something through your little discussion. "Hey. 'Humanity' is just a label people throw around. Remember that."
>PARADIGM PERSAUDER BOON obtained! Will be added to her sheet shortly.

Naomi is the first to call your group over, interrupting whatever metaphysical discussion Casey was going to start. "Hey. We got some time until the rain clears. Let's do one last search to recover what valuables we can."

Your party, still exhausted from everything, slowly travel back down the tunnel in the warehouse. The trip is long but soon, you're back on the first floor.
>>
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The lights above here still seem to be on, same with the ones on the second floor, but they're quickly flickering on and off like they're about to power off at any moment. Best to hurry before they power off as well. The anomalies here will probably breach after you leave. Oh well, J-Corp can handle them.

First stop: TOADHOLE.

The seven of you promptly head into CONTAINMENT CELL D, shields and anti-anomaly rounds loaded in case you need to kill it, until you actually see what's inside of the containment cell.

It's a random toad.
No bells, no whistles, it's a really large (about as tall as Casey, so about five foot something?) but otherwise not out of the ordinary brown toad.

You and your allies balk at how fucking ordinary it looks. Aside from the fact it has survived down here with no food, water, and with stale air for 56ish years? You wouldn't even know that it was an anomaly. The weirdest part about it is that it's not moving. At all.

You shift your head around but its position doesn't change at all. Weird. You would expect that if you turned your head sidewise, the frog would look sideways too but no. Weird perception anomaly but otherwise not super out of the ordinary. No matter where you look, it's always in the same pose: Sitting upright, facing forward, staring at you. No matter how you shift your head or where you stand in the room.

Yet it never 'moves'. It's as if the image of a toad is superimposed over your eyes.

[NICOLE SEEKER] It's not a Toad. It looks like a Toad but it isn't one. What you're looking at is only the illusion of a toad.
[KIARA SEEKER] "Fuck, my processor is going insane just looking at this thing. It's like I'm trying to analyze 150 terabytes worth of data." Kiara has to keep her eyes away from the toad. "A toad shouldn't be doing that."
[HUNTER OF THE CITY] "Isn't there supposed to be a Toad here? Where is it?" Wendy glances at you and Kiara with confusion. "I just see a hole there."

Your other allies are deeply uncomfortable with what they're seeing as well. TOADHOLE isn't doing anything so you decide to slide the CONTAINMENT CUBE over to where you think it should be. It promptly seals shut around it and shrinks back down, containing the anomaly.
>TOADHOLE CONTAINMENT CUBE OBTAINED! (Will be sold after you arrive back home. Worth $600 and a U-CORP + B-CORP FAVOR.)

You quickly pocket it. Even now, the image of a Toad still lingers in your eye. You blink a few times and eventually, it goes away. Okay, wow, you'll try to forget that ever happened. Time to head to the second floor.

Your first stop is MUSHROOM DREAMS. You and your allies promptly put on their gas masks as the seven of you step into the room. The whole containment cell is flush with mushrooms, mold, moss, and a dozen other plants and fungi in every shade of color possible in nature (and even a few unrecognizable colors.) With your harvesting kit, you begin to pluck away at some of the more interesting piles of fungi.
>>
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Your allies help a bit as well but most of them are, rightfully so, a bit too nervous to touch a pile of anomalous mushrooms to help that much.

MUSHROOM DREAMS HARVESTING COMPLETE!
>NIGHTMARE RED SHROOMS x3 (When consumed raw, +1 VIOLENCE and TALENT for a short duration. When used as an ingredient by Benjamin, it can be made into a VIOLENCE, TALENT, and melee/unarmed attack boosting drug.)
>DREARY BLUE MOLD x3 (When consumed raw, heals 2 RESTRAINT and deals 1 FLESH damage. When used as an ingredient by Benjamin, can be used to make a RESTRAINT regenerating drug.)
>ENERGIZED YELLOW MOSS x3 (When consumed raw, +1 CHARM and COGNIZANCE for a short duration. Benjamin can use this as an ingredient for a CHARM, CONNECTIONS, and COGNIZANCE boosting drug.)
>PEARLY WHITE MUSHROOM x3 (When consumed raw, +2 MAX FLESH for a short duration. When used as an ingredient by Benjamin, can be made into a MAX FLESH boosting and FLESH healing drug.)
>DREAMY PINK MOSS x3 (Reminds you of yourself. When consumed war, +1 WILLPOWER for a short duration and allows the user to reroll three WILLPOWER dice for one check. When used as an ingredient by Benjamin, can be made into a WILLPOWER and MAX RESTRAINT boosting drug.)

Your harvesting session is interrupted by a loud BORK. Your group immediately turns around to see a small brown dog. A small brown dog. A brown dog is a dog is a dog is a-

Casey immediately snaps your group out of the trance the dog was putting you in with a high pitch "SQUEEEE!" She immediately rushes over to pet the dog like it's the only thing in life that matters to him. Seems like this is all the dog wants since you no longer have those weird impulses to think about it all the time.

You and Kiara share a look with each other. No wonder why it was labeled a '0' on damage, it's just a fucking dog.

"Hey. Kiara, Clover, the rest of you...watch Casey to make sure that thing doesn't do anything too bad. Wendy, follow me." You might as well take her somewhere private to have a small little chat with her. Your other allies surround the dog to make sure Casey isn't harmed by it as the two of you head over to the ARMORY.

Opening up the formerly sealed contents were quick enough, no need to dwell on them.
>UXV x4, WHITE POWDER x4, DAY TRIP BOTTLE, A-ENERGY BOX x2, GLOVES OF UNKNOWN COLOR x2, ROYAL BLUE DERRINGER, SWEET DREAMS obtained!

Wendy quickly realizes you only brought her back here so the two of you can have a private conversation. Her bright yellow eyes are piercing at you with equal measures contempt, envy, and confusion. "How do you do it?" You have a solid guess on what she means.

You rest yourself against one of the nearby walls of the ARMORY. "I just learned that it's better to work with her than against her. She's me, after all-"

"No, no, it's...it's not that. I wish it was that simple but- How?"

"I'm sorry, I'm a bit confused, what do you mean?"

Wendy tries her best to put her scattered thoughts into words that you can understand.
>>
She eventually gives up and just begins to ramble incoherently.

"I- It's the harmony I see in your head. All of the voices know their place. Even that one weird captain sounding guy. They know when to speak, when to know their place." She places her hands against the sides of her head.

"You can act normal. That's the thing that confuses me. Every moment back at my job, I have to put on a mask. Smile and wave, Wendy, you can't ever let it slip! Even when you're DEALING WITH FUCKING FILTH!" She immediately slams her foot against one of the rusted armory shelves. "Every single day, do you know much I just want to strangle someone? To make a NOVASTONE bomb and to ship it to P-Corp or U-Corp?"

"Even now! In a facility filled with disgusting anomalies, you...you were kind to most of them. You tried your best to rationalize with them. To understand them. I-I don't get it. They could've ripped us to shreds at any moment." You decide it's best to let her get everything out before interrupting.

"People like you. They treat you like some great leader or friend but- How? When you have those same voices in your head? When I know, deep down, you want to lash out? To let the voices take control?" <"If someone like her can do it, what does that make me?">

[UNSTABLE] I can't say she's wrong. Even when we work together, I know that I can never truly be a 100% positive influence on you.
[UNSTABLE] I'm always a part of you. You can never get rid of those urges, Nicole.

What do you say to her? Pick as many as you want.
>"I can't say it's easy for me to do it either, you know? I'll never be free from that impulse either, not completely. But you have to start SOMEWHERE."
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] "Where do you think my powers came from? Do you think I have them because I have excellent self control either? I'm a freak just like everything else in this facility. Why don't you hate ME, then?"
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] "I've seen many things in my time as a Cleaner. Sometimes I just want to do a little good. Why cause more suffering if I don't have to?"
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] "If I let my self control slip, who knows what kind of attention I draw to myself? The kind of enemies I would make? Putting my friends at risk? You have the excuse of being a corporate rep, I don't!"
>[UNSTABLE RESOLVE] "Sometimes, I do want to lash out. And I can't say I'm always successful at ignoring that urge. You have to realize that the voices aren't an excuse. They're you. And you are liable for the actions they cause."
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] "If I were to succumb to my urges on a mission, would my allies even be able to trust me as a leader? You're a corporate rep, you have to understand how important it is for your underlings to trust you as a leader."
>"Simple. I have friends to help me. You're a friend too, even if you freak out sometimes. Aren't friends supposed to help each other, Wendy?"
>Write in.

I'll deal with loot management with allies next update.
>>
>>6043834
>"I can't say it's easy for me to do it either, you know? I'll never be free from that impulse either, not completely. But you have to start SOMEWHERE."
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] "Where do you think my powers came from? Do you think I have them because I have excellent self control either? I'm a freak just like everything else in this facility. Why don't you hate ME, then?"
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] "I've seen many things in my time as a Cleaner. Sometimes I just want to do a little good. Why cause more suffering if I don't have to?"
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] "If I let my self control slip, who knows what kind of attention I draw to myself? The kind of enemies I would make? Putting my friends at risk? You have the excuse of being a corporate rep, I don't!"
>[UNSTABLE RESOLVE] "Sometimes, I do want to lash out. And I can't say I'm always successful at ignoring that urge. You have to realize that the voices aren't an excuse. They're you. And you are liable for the actions they cause."
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] "If I were to succumb to my urges on a mission, would my allies even be able to trust me as a leader? You're a corporate rep, you have to understand how important it is for your underlings to trust you as a leader."
>"Simple. I have friends to help me. You're a friend too, even if you freak out sometimes. Aren't friends supposed to help each other, Wendy?"
>>
>>6043834
>"I can't say it's easy for me to do it either, you know? I'll never be free from that impulse either, not completely. But you have to start SOMEWHERE."
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] "Where do you think my powers came from? Do you think I have them because I have excellent self control either? I'm a freak just like everything else in this facility. Why don't you hate ME, then?"
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] "If I were to succumb to my urges on a mission, would my allies even be able to trust me as a leader? You're a corporate rep, you have to understand how important it is for your underlings to trust you as a leader."
>>
>>6043831
>TOADHOLE CONTAINMENT CUBE OBTAINED! (Will be sold after you arrive back home. Worth $600 and a U-CORP + B-CORP FAVOR.)
B-CORP have antimemetic and perception manipulation capabilities?
>>
>>6043834
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES]
Exploding body incidents show what will happen if we lose control.
No.5858576
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2024/5850165
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY]
List the good we have done:
1: We saved Benjamin from kidnapping.
2: We help stop BENEDICT from turning fully into hostile anomalies. And Adam is grateful to us for this.
3: We help an anomaly entity (Phillip Smith) move on with his life.
4: We save Clover and his friends Casino from potential bankruptcy.
5: We save Valentina Vanni from turning into a crystal.
6: etc
The city is a hellhole, but that does not mean we have to be assholes and evil. The world is not grimderp. We can do good things, even if they are small, and there are more generally good people out there despite the city conditions.
>[PERSON OF INTEREST]
Obviously, we will get hunted down by Corp. and Silver Agent if we lose complete control of our power. And our friends will get hurt and in trouble from this.
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND]
This is absolutely right, Naomi, Alexis, Ashley, Max, Clover, Maruyama, and Kiara won’t trust us if we act on impulse nonstop.
>>
>>6043834
>"I can't say it's easy for me to do it either, you know? I'll never be free from that impulse either, not completely. But you have to start SOMEWHERE."
Acknowledge starting point. Remember how Nicole was thread 1, and even before...
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES]
Acknowledge powers and the cognitive dissonance with Wendy. Remember we had these powers for a long, long time...
>[UNSTABLE RESOLVE]
Acknowledge the self that the shards are a part of, and the consequences. Remember the lesson we learned from UNSTABLE back at X Corp.
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND]
Acknowledge the jobs we have in this City and how crucial trust is to both. Remember how Ashley got ever since Nicole blew that gangster up.

>>6043884
SEEKER is wrong. There have been plenty of cases where Nicole has done bad but not really evil things. The Ace Strikers gassing and the decision to damn the mining town mayor to his end are the two main (or only?) examples of this. Gassing was a whole lot of suffering, and we could have chosen differently with the mayor. We did not. We do some good still, but we've never been all good.
I'm against the friend option because this is the first mission we've ever been on with Wendy. I do not want to be friends this quickly even with all the shared everything going on. We weren't friends with people the first time either, throughout the quest. We grew into it instability or not. But though not quite friends yet, Wendy is a distant half-sister to Nicole via related backgrounds and situations and more. She totally needs a hug, but maybe it'd be better or more respectful to Wendy to offer one than do it outright?
>>
>>6043834
Add to my vote in >>6043891
>[PERSON OF INTEREST]
Acknowledge mutual enemies and precarious positions. Remember the silver agents and the corpos...
>>
>>6043862
Well they are the "Beholders" and the "Eye" of the Head. It's their job to bypass any perception manipulation and no-sell memetics, isn't it?
>>
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>>6043830
I love Casey. I love our weird bee like magical girl wannabe.

>>6043471
>You're going to need it sooner than later.

Don't threaten me with a good time. Picrel.
>>6043832
Nice loot get. the fact Benny can use some of our shrooms to make drugs to boost max stats is fantastic. The royal blue derringer would be a nice weapon for one of our less combat capable allies, like Max of Alexis. Also we got 2 sets of the cool gloves which is great since we have a few allies who have had their Spark awakened. Wish we rolled high enough for some Godkiller rounds or the Tux but oh well.

After talking with Wendy, wonder if we have time to equip our new bodysuit?

>>6043834
>Wendy... we all have these voices in us. Some are more insistant than others but here is the thing: they are just you. Different parts of you but in the end they all want the same thing, want what you want. May have different idead about how to do things but that is all. I mean, fuck, there are days I feel like mailingh out some bombs too... but I just realize that as nice as it might me feel, I can do a lot more to fuck with my enemies by doing things differently. And... we all wear masks. Have to. I act a bit different with you vs another friend like Benjamine, or Clover, or Lex. There isn't anything wrong with that. Because those masks are just another part of you. Can't make something from nothing after all. But, if things get bad, if you feel like you are losing control of those voice, slipping to far into a mask? You can call me. We can talk. Maybe go out and murder a couple of glowniggers if you need. I'm you friend, alright?
>>
>>6043828
>subconsciously put them on
Yeah, how convenient
>didn't slip
Disarm attempts are rare as it is
>[UNNERVING]
Sorry about not picking your option, Quentin. We'll get that talk one day
>really cool timestop shit
One of the coolest moments in a quest filled with cool moments
>dear?
Taking a page from Naomi, are we?
>robot girl getting wet
Wendy doesn't know how true she is :^)
>literally me
QM... how did Wendy get this picture of Nicole...?
>UNSTABLE trying to make a joke
Yeah that's still kinda hot

>>6043830
>perspectives
[UNSTABLE] Their own EGO.
[UNSTABLE] WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT'S COPYRIGHTED?!
>alongside her NOUVEAU SCARF
We'll be needing this for the next mission
>see yourself in them
The QUEEN BEE MINDSET giving Casey lots of piercing questions
>I'm a human too
Kiara you're more human than most humans, don't beat yourself up
>'Humanity' is just a label
Better not say that in ProjectMoon City...
>PARADIGM PERSAUDER
Great bonuses but prolonged use is always bad

>>6043831
>breach after
They can handle THOUSAND LONELY and the DOG. KNIGHT just needs to be unbothered. Rest are fine
>five foot something
That's fucking HUGE
>superimposed
W
What is the toad hiding behind it? Inside it?
>a hole
The true anomaly in that hole (floating in the air? On the ground?) is the real threat. It wants others to see the illusion toad and never itself. Why? And the more anomalous somebody is the stronger the illusion is to them?
>uncomfortable
That's the cognitohazard part
>image of a Toad still lingers
That's the MIXED damage part. Affects both mental and physical vision. I bet the real one inside the hole is the ESOTERIC damage

>>6043832
>too nervous
You're not breathing it in, jeez
>HARVESTING COMPLETE
Ben you're not gonna believe all these shrooms
>weird impulses
Occupying it suppresses the cognitohazard effect? So that's something it actively does
>contempt, envy, and confusion
Same way Nicole looked at everybody else

>>6043834
>captain sounding guy
Yeah he's new
>never truly be a 100% positive influence
But what are we without that?
>>
>>6043856
Change
>>6043891
+1
>>
>>6044047
Add
>Write in.
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] "I've seen many things in my time as a Cleaner. Sometimes I just want to do a little good.
>>
Hmm, I wonder, will we get a mission about solving a power vacuum in H-Corp district that we caused by gas bombing the ace strikers?
>>
>>6044049
I like dropping that last sentence yeah.

>>6043834
Adding that to my vote in >>6043891 >>6043894
>>
>>6043834
>"I can't say it's easy for me to do it either, you know? I'll never be free from that impulse either, not completely. But you have to start SOMEWHERE."
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] "If I were to succumb to my urges on a mission, would my allies even be able to trust me as a leader? You're a corporate rep, you have to understand how important it is for your underlings to trust you as a leader."
>"Simple. I have friends to help me. You're a friend too, even if you freak out sometimes. Aren't friends supposed to help each other, Wendy?"
>>
>>6043884
The single largest act of good was putting down the Admiral and opening the waters for sea travel.

The City’s merchant navy can actually sail to the rest of the world now. I’m surprised that it hasn’t been brought up since, because this was a feat straight from Arthurian legend.
>>
>>6044062
Whatever the next mission is, we should bring Ben and Max along.
I wanna see how that ICP juice is doing.

Presuming it hasn’t killed them yet.
>>
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Fuck. You're not really a good therapist or shoulder to cry on. Your emotions are muted when they should be more expressive, crazed when you should be more muted, sometimes you just stare blankly as UNSTABLE or SEEKER blabbers in your head.

You have to say something though. You doubt any of the others understand what she's going through.

"You think it's easy for me to hold back either? A few weeks ago, I would be in your shoes. Right now. Jabbering and thrashing around because of those thoughts. Wanna know what I did, though? I STARTED somewhere."

"I had to thrash around and strangle the thoughts in my head until they FELL in line. If I let my restraint lower for the briefest of seconds, who knows what could happen? I have to keep that mental guard up at all times."

A laugh that's more comparable to an engine sputtering to life comes out of Wendy. "Then why bother then? I only have to do it at work because I am OBLIGATED to. No one would've stopped you down here."

"Do you not understand this IS my job?" Your eye twitches for the briefest of moments. "This might seem like a fun violent diversion for you but this is the only way I pay the god damn bills."

Wendy blinks in apparent confusion. Did she seriously not realize you were a Cleaner? Or forget, even? Once the information sinks, another bitter laugh comes out of her. "That's sad." <"...and relatable. I had to start somewhere too a couple years ago.">

Huh. She was a Cleaner too before becoming a corporate rep. Interesting, perhaps you can play with that. "Maybe you worked alone as a Cleaner so you could get away with acting like this but me? I have the responsibility of SIX PEOPLE'S LIVES in my hand when I told them to come here. INCLUDING YOU." You jab a finger into her chest. "If I were to succumb to my urges on a mission, would my allies even be able to trust me as a leader?"

"I-" You cut off Wendy.

"You're a corporate rep, you have to understand how important it is for your underlings to trust you as a leader."

This seems to hit Wendy pretty hard if her tense expression is anything to say. Her yellow eyes sparkle and shimmer with an almost seething hatred in them. Yet in that hatred, you see something that reminds you all too much of yourself. Envy. Longing. A desire for something more than her current position and you KNOW it isn't money or fame.

It takes a while for Wendy to break the silence. "Everything I do is just a mask to make them happy. To make sure they don't quit their jobs." Her face immediately to spout a genial, corporate-friendly smile. Her voice rises up several octaves until she's almost as high pitched as Casey. "Wow, you're doing SUCH a good job! Your mining exports from the new mining town has raised 80%!"

The smile immediately disappears and her voice drops back to its slightly raspy tone. "I understand the merits of keeping up a strong face for your employees. But don't they see through it?"

"Does it matter if they do?"
>>
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"People appreciate it when they try. When you're not gibbering like a god damn animal."

Wendy glances up at your antlers, then back at you, then your antlers. You suddenly realize that 'animal' probably wasn't the best term. "Oh. Yeah. Animal, huh?"

You're starting to lose your patience here. "Yes. I'm a fucking animal. I have antlers. I have fur growing in weird places under here. I have anomalous powers that let me throw shit with my mind and SUMMON GHOST THINGS, WENDY." You try your best to not grab her throat, instead placing your hands on her shoulder. "Where do you think my powers came from? Do you think I have them because I have excellent self control either?"

"I'm a freak just like the rest of the things in the facility. Why don't you hate me, then?"

"Because you're me, even if it's just one voice. Because we share a similar past. Because if I were to hate you, wouldn't I be hating myself then?" A bitter, tired laugh oozes out of Wendy with every sentence she says. "With the others, they're monsters. Twisted parodies of humans. Magical girls, giant centipedes, flesh trees, comically evil murderers."

"You should hate the monsters in the night." Her voice gets quieter by the second. "And if you were one, and I somehow felt a connection, what does that mean for everything else I've thought and done against them? What excuse do I have?"

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Anomalies may have come from human thought in some way but they are not humans. They will never be.
[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Yet you think even she knows, on a subconscious level, where anomalies came from.

You let go of her shoulders. "I won't judge you for that. Perhaps it is a good idea to fear them. I just want you to realize the dissonance in between liking ME and hating THEM, you know?" Wendy doesn't respond to what you said but you keep on going. "And you should realize why I can't remove my mask when MY outbursts have the potential to do so much worse."

"I." Wendy tries to start a sentence but she immediately loses her train of thought. It's clear she's never really had someone directly confront her about all of this.

"You might see a mask but ultimately, when don't we wear masks? I talk to you differently to Naomi, or Kiara, or Casey. Or to my other friends. These voices in my head, these masks I wear, they're all still me. And all of your impulses aren't some discordant, evil voice either."

"It's you. It's always been you. It's never been anything but you."

"It's just me, huh?" <[HUNTER OF THE CITY] She speaks the truth, sire.> "Maybe you're right. It's just hard to remember that." She kneels down on the floor. You do the same.

"I get that. I do. Look, I won't pretend this conversation has fixed either of us. This is something we're stuck with for the rest of our lives. But while we're on this earth, we can at least try to be better."

"I've seen many things in this line of work. Sometimes I want to do a little good. Like making a friend."
>>
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"...I would like a friend." Wendy whispers to nobody in particular. She's hiding her face by keeping her gaze at the ground, as if admitting this is somehow shameful to her.

"Look." You pull out your phone. "If things get bad, if you feel like you are losing control of those voice, slipping to far into a mask? You can call me. We can talk. I'll help you. Maybe we're not friends right now but I'd like you to be one."

You can see a tiny smile on her face now. She looks up for a moment before nodding. You got through to her somewhat, at least.
>+0.5 RAPPORT with WENDY! WENDY's hiring price has also been discounted on top of the normal RAPPORT discount.
>You heal 1 RESTRAINT! RESTRAINT is now 8/10!

"HEY! THE DOG FUCKED OFF, LET'S GO!" Clover yells from the other side of the floor the two of you are on. You nod at Wendy to go ahead, you need some privacy for what you're about to do.

"Just remember, it's only you. There's no one to blame for your actions but you."

Wendy nods before exiting the armory. Woo. That was something. Now that you have some privacy, you decide it's time to change into that way better armor you got. With some quick telekinesis, you peel off your whole outfit and bodysuit before swapping to the COMBAT BODYSUIT MARK ZETA.

The latex-like material that makes up the light pink bodysuit (hey, your favorite color) takes a WHILE to comfortably put on but soon enough, you put it and the rest of your clothes back on. After putting on a pair of velvet wrist gloves that are in a color your eyes can't describe as anything as "Purple but somehow not purple", there's no sign you even have the bodysuit on.
>COMBAT PROSTHETIC BODYSUIT removed! (You need to wash this at home before giving it to anyone. Reeks of blood, sweat, and mud.)
>COMBAT BODYSUIT MARK ZETA and GLOVES OF UNKNOWN COLOR equipped.

You throw away your old shades and promptly put on the a pair of SPOOK SHADES. While they look like normal shades to you while you wear them, you feel a LOT more...competent wearing them? It's hard to describe. It just makes you FEEL cool.
>SPOOK SHADES EQUIPPED! +1 COGNIZANCE AND TALENT!

Now that all of that is done, you step out of the armory. Your other allies are gone from the second floor, presumably waiting for you to arrive back at the surface. No harm, no foul. It only takes you about ten minutes of slow elevator rides and climbing up a random tunnel in a breakroom to get back to the surface.

Your allies are all waiting at the exit of the warehouse. Kiara turns around, spotting you first. "Yo! Nice shades." She tries to snap her fingers but due to being metal, it's more like two metal beams smashing into each other.

This immediately alerts everyone to your presence. Thanks, Kiara.

You immediately toss a SERVICE PISTOL (unloaded of course) and a pair of SPOOK SHADES to Kiara before yanking her HANDMADE GUN out of her pocket telepathically.
>>
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She promptly catches the shades and gun, putting the shades on while holstering her new gun.
>-1 SPOOK SHADE AND SERVICE PISTOL, +1 SPOOK SHADES AND SERVICE PISTOL TO KIARA. +1 HANDMADE GUN.

Cool.

"Clover, lead the way to the LAND OF GAMBLING!!!!" "WOO I FUCKING LOVE GAMBLING!!!" You and Wendy immediately start to gibber about gambling. Even your other allies seem excited at the prospect of it.

"Aight, aight, calm down." Clover starts leading your group back to the train station. The streets around you are still packed to the brim with super blocky and cramped together buildings, like boxes in a shipping crate. Yet the streets are empty. Abandoned cars are littered throughout the road, left behind by their owners.

The sky is crystal clear now. The dark orange hue coloring it tells you that it must be sunset, even if you can't see the sun from where you're at. It's still raining but it's died down a LOT since you last checked out here. At most, it's 'morning shower' levels instead of 'THIS PLACE IS GOING TO FUCKING FLOOD."

Three squads of armed personnel immediately rush past your group without a word. A group of seven J-Corp police officers in bright orange police uniforms and J-Corp pins on their chest, five H-Corp Cleansers in their telltale bulky dark brown rubber protective suits and gas masks, and three ETF agents with honest-to-god assault rifles. They're heading RIGHT in the direction of the warehouse you left.

And for a moment, you thought you saw a glint of someone with pink hair and a tanned man with a massive scar down his eye heading towards the warehouse as well. Two 521 Association members? The hell are they doing there?

Seems like they finally heard something about what was going on down there. More power to them.

It doesn't take long to get back to the train station given how those were the only people you saw in this part of J-Corp's district. Guess they all evacuated due to the risk of a flood. At least you don't have to explain why you have an assault rifle and other illegal firearms.

The only people at the train station now is a familiar ETF agent, two nurses in bright white uniforms patching her up, and an Android waiting for you to board the train parked for your group.

The stout, thickly built ETF agent is clearly missing an arm and has bullet holes peppered across her chest but she's still alive. She flashes a smile towards your group. "Gonna cost me a fuck ton of my paycheck but I'll get a prosthetic later. Felt it was only fair to help y'all out after you helped me."

Clover, Naomi, and Kiara solemnly bow towards the ETF agent who helped out in the end. Casey, Quentin, and Wendy simply flash a thumbs up

"Someone told me to give you this." She throws over a waterlogged envelope before nodding in the direction of your train. Your group promptly boards the train, ready to go GAMBLING!!!

You crack open the letter to see what's inside. Okay that's a lot of cash.
>>
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"FOR KILLING OUR MURDERER, YOU DESERVE THIS."

GHOSTS OF P-CORP REWARD
>$600
>2 C-EXTRACT SYRINGES
>"P-CORP LETTER OF RECOMMNDATION" (A letter made to show P-Corp you are someone to trust. P-Corp officials will passively offer you and your associates more lenience. Occasionally, you may even receive small bribes and rewards from P-Corp officials.)

You flip through all of the money you have. Not counting TOADHOLE since you have to wait a bit to sell him, you now have...$4272. Fuck, you don't think you ever had this much money at any given time. Your group promptly boards the empty train. Your group starts its journey over to District 16 -- P-Corp's district. The one where Clover's casino is in.

Your allies begin to discuss and mingle with each other as you take this moment to start out at the train window to decompress after everything. The blocky and packed together streets of J-Corp disappear in mere moments. It takes about thirty minutes before you see anything that isn't some part of J-Corp.

Your train passes by I-Corp's district. While your train is moving too fast to get the glimpse of the whole district (Districts are MASSIVE, after all), you do get a glimpse at one particular subdistrict of I-Corp. It's a frigid wasteland that puts your hometown of G-ALPHA-1 to shame. The streets are blanketed with snow. Towering grey bloc apartment blocks with no distinct features are peppered all throughout the place,

It's fucking depressing to look at. No wonder why Alexis turned out the way she did.

Your train then passes through a section of H-Corp's district. It's just like how you last saw it. Massive clouds of smog covers the sky, drenching the streets in a bright orange haze. Factories, steel mills, and power plants spill out into the streets like a cancer. Most of the buildings are either a purely utilitarian grey block, a smoke spewing factory, or both.

Tall, unpainted blocks of stone and steel with blinding orange and white lights pouring out of the windows which you can only assume to be some sort of apartment block are also peppered throughout the place. The people roaming around the streets are all wearing face masks and industrial uniforms (welders, construction workers, etc). Even the children.

Then, your group finally arrives at District 16. It's oddly similar to I-Corp in terms of construction and weather but with a less 'bloc' style to it. The streets are peppered with towers that stretch on for dozens on dozens of stories. They're taller than most of the buildings in all of the districts you've seen aside from corporate headquarters, pepper the landscape like monoliths. An icon of a broken lightbulb is stamped on the sides of all of the Towers.

P-Corp's facilities. Most of them are built above ground, not below it, like the only you visited.

The buildings that aren't toweringly tall look like any other normal building but you do notice they have green, white, and red Christmas lights plastered all over them.
>>
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Your train eventually stops at the train station in this part of P-Corp's district. You promptly head out of the station after Clover flashes his P-Corp Business Pass (since he owns a casino here).

The snowy streets are, compared to the district you left, packed to the brim with people. Most of them are just wandering around and enjoying the snowy weather while a few tired business workers are piled at old faux-wood benches, staring up at the now night sky.

Clover leads your group over to his casino.

Compared to everything else in the city, it's still very quaint. It's a mostly unremarkable square building with a bright neon sign above the front door reading "CLOVER SUITE" hanging in front of the door. Another neon sign that displays a cowboy is placed right next to it. The only changes from when you last came here is that there's a few paper cutouts of the 'star performers' hanging outside.

There's one of Clover, Casey, a fox-headed (literally) woman (Kana), a blue haired woman in a blue-grey sleeveless shirt (Marla), and a few other faces you don't quite recognize. You glance over at Clover.

He shrugs. "We do performances here. Bite me."

The line outside of the casino is MASSIVE, even moreso than last time. Two armed bouncers with shotguns and obvious cybernetics pouring out of them stay by the door to make sure no one tries anything funny. Once they spot Clover, they gesture at your group to head in ahead of the line.

Your group does so. The line begins to complain but when they notice Clover and Casey, the sounds of them whining and complaining is quickly drowned out with cries of adoration. Seems like Clover made himself into a small celebrity in P-Corp, huh?

The building interior has been renovated COMPLETELY. While there's still five floors with industrial catwalks towering above you, the ground floor has been polished up a LOT. The once peeling red and yellow wallpaper has been replaced, the slot machines and roulette tables have been replaced completely with new ones, almost opulent decorations like massive chandlers and L-Corp candles that are lit with multi-colored flames scattered all through the place...it's something.

Detailed illustrations of Clover and his crew doing cowboy-esque tomfuckery are plastered on the walls and ceiling as well.

The guests here aren't nearly as soulless and lifeless as when you last checked here. They actually seem to be having a blast and aren't completely braindead from gambling all day, every day.

"We had a bit of a cash injection from a...Krakatoa something? Don't really recall who." Clover waves his hand. Ah. Max had something to do with this, you DID bring her here.
"Yep! We even installed a brand new bar and some skill based games! C'mon!" Casey begins to drag your group to the back of the ground floor.

The first thing you spot is a bar that's lined to the BRIM with every kind of booze you could possibly name of. Fucking jackpot. You know what you're hitting later.
>>
There's also a variety of new machines and attractions for your group to mess around with. You take a moment to look over at all of them...

TOTAL MONEY: $4272

Choose up to three games to play here with your new found wealth.
>SLOTS! (-$200. Complete random chance if you get anything. 35% chance you lose your money, 25% to break even, 25% to earn a small amount, 10% to earn a large amount, 5% to win a $1200 JACKPOT!)
>POKER! (-$350, CHARM DC: 19, rolling 5d6. Succeed and you should be able to win double your money back without any issue by bluffing your way through it.)
>ROULETTE! (-$300. Choose whether to play FAIRLY or CHEAT. FAIRLY, 50% to earn nothing and 50% to triple it. Cheating, DC: 26 RESTRAINT check to hide the fact you're cheating but you 100% triple your money.)
>SHOOTING RANGE! (-$250. TALENT DC: ???, rolling 8d6 by yourself. For every 6 points you roll, you earn back $50. For every 12 points, you earn some PISTOL or REVOLVER ammo. You'll be provided with a gun so you won't lose any ammo.)
>DRINKING CONTEST! (-75$, FLESH DC: 18, rolling 5d6 by yourself. Pass and you'll earn double the money you spent AND impress the spectators, earning you some WORKING CLASS FAVOR.)
>BOXING! (No money needed! VIOLENCE DC: 24, rolling 7d6 by yourself. No ally can assist this. Win and while you'll probably take some nasty licks, you'll be able to increase a physical stat of your choice after this.)
>MAHJONG (-$400. An overtly complex game from T-Corp. COGNIZANCE DC: 22, rolling 6d6 by yourself. Pass and you'll earn 2.5x of your money back AND improve your COGNIZANCE.)
>You don't feel like gambling too much. Don't bother.

You assume your other allies also want to hang around, drink, and burn money so you can't exactly sit and talk to each one individually. Choose three ALLIES to talk to while you gamble. You'll learn some more about them and get a moment to just hang out with them.

>CASEY
>QUENTIN
>WENDY
>CLOVER
>KIARA
>NAOMI

Anything else to do while you're here? Choose two.
>"Wait, you do performances? Can I see one, Clover?" Fuck it, you might as well while you're here. What's the harm?
>You need to call up Max. Check up on how she's doing and to ask her how she managed to invest in Clover's casino.
>Call up the Handler. Tell him about your mission and all of the resources you recovered. You can't wait to see how he reacts to your job well done.
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Well, if the ghosts are still watching you, offer them a prayer before you do anything. It's only right. (Might not do anything but it'll soothe your conscience.)
>Write in.
>>
>>6044744
Yay, she's alive!

>>6044760
SHOOTING RANGE! (-$250. TALENT DC: ???, rolling 8d6 by yourself. For every 6 points you roll, you earn back $50. For every 12 points, you earn some PISTOL or REVOLVER ammo. You'll be provided with a gun so you won't lose any ammo.)
>BOXING! (No money needed! VIOLENCE DC: 24, rolling 7d6 by yourself. No ally can assist this. Win and while you'll probably take some nasty licks, you'll be able to increase a physical stat of your choice after this.)
>MAHJONG (-$400. An overtly complex game from T-Corp. COGNIZANCE DC: 22, rolling 6d6 by yourself. Pass and you'll earn 2.5x of your money back AND improve your COGNIZANCE.)

>CLOVER
It's his first mission, we have to check up.
>NAOMI
>KIARA

>"Wait, you do performances? Can I see one, Clover?" Fuck it, you might as well while you're here. What's the harm?
>Call up the Handler. Tell him about your mission and all of the resources you recovered. You can't wait to see how he reacts to your job well done.
>>
>>6044760
>SHOOTING RANGE!
The prospect of MORE AMMO
>BOXING!
Stat ups needed
>MAHJONG!
Stat up plus Maruyama is gonna love this

>CLOVER
First mission, what >>6044786 said. He no longer sees P Corp the same after witnessing REFINEMENT and he still operates here in District 16. Plus he had that time stop glory moment at the end, and the DELICIOUS GIRL R talk before all that. He also knows the silver agents are REAL now, and how much of a force to be reckoned with they are.
>NAOMI
How'd the talk with her mom go? How does Naomi feel about the mission and the spook blowouts? She's regained a shred of her former glory more than before on this adventure. I take it she also EVIGT implanted herself offscreen with the one she took at the end. How's she holding up?
>QUENTIN
Bug bro I'm sorry we didn't pick your option. How is he after that mission? How's his shell doing? Thoughts on the others?

>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Well, if the ghosts are still watching you, offer them a prayer before you do anything. It's only right. (Might not do anything but it'll soothe your conscience.)
Hey they paid us from beyond the grave, who are we to not be grateful?
>Call up the Handler. Tell him about your mission and all of the resources you recovered. You can't wait to see how he reacts to your job well done.
Hey boss, those glowy bastards tried to take REFINEMENT and failed. We took out 6 of them including 3 elites. We scored all this loot and got most of the Heads out alive, plus the facility's intact and only Floor 7 is mostly flooded. That's a grade A clear.

Oh right, I just remembered. From last thread
>"Ah. Already found some. After you're done with your next mission, I'll tell our associate to transport you over to my safehouse. So you can interview some of these fucks we got. See ya." Click.
>Seems like Alex is really trying his best to curve the Silver Agent situation down in the subsection of X-Corp's district he's in.
Naomi will going to want to stick around for this. Wendy and Kiara too. Clover and Casey don't have much personal beef with the silver agents outside of Nicole being their enemy too. Quentin might tag along in case he end up with a better shell, but if his current shell is good enough it won't be worth it yet.
We still have the MANAGER'S TENDRIL and FLESH-COVERED EARPIECE, don't we? I wonder if that'll ever come into play again eventually...
>>
>>6044760
>SHOOTING RANGE! (-$250. TALENT DC: ???, rolling 8d6 by yourself. For every 6 points you roll, you earn back $50. For every 12 points, you earn some PISTOL or REVOLVER ammo. You'll be provided with a gun so you won't lose any ammo.)

>BOXING! (No money needed! VIOLENCE DC: 24, rolling 7d6 by yourself. No ally can assist this. Win and while you'll probably take some nasty licks, you'll be able to increase a physical stat of your choice after this.)

>DRINKING CONTEST! (-75$, FLESH DC: 18, rolling 5d6 by yourself. Pass and you'll earn double the money you spent AND impress the spectators, earning you some WORKING CLASS FAVOR.)

>QUENTIN

>NAOMI

>CLOVER


>"Wait, you do performances? Can I see one, Clover?" Fuck it, you might as well while you're here. What's the harm?

>Call up the Handler. Tell him about your mission and all of the resources you recovered. You can't wait to see how he reacts to your job well done.
>>
>>6044738
>let my restraint lower
That sure happened a few times early on
>eye twitches
I like this occasional detail to Nicole
>couple years ago
I wonder what this means for Nicole's goal of "family", that Wendy was a Cleaner some years ago and is a corporate rep now, but she's still doing this shit and is still struggling. If even years later this half-sister (in insanity) of hers is at this point, how long will Nicole take to get to where she wants? Sooner? Or much later?
>PEOPLE'S LIVES
Let's not forget any of them could have died if we fucked up too hard both on dice and on choices
>isn't money or fame
Look, if Nicole ever somehow gets to a point of literal family, then Wendy can be the aunt
>corporate-friendly smile
[CORPORATE NIGHTMARE] As practiced.

>>6044740
>animal
Nicole (Deer) - Unstable Mind
Obtained by achieving a high score in Silver Isn't Gold. - The game gets a pink filter. Kills enemies when throwing weapons at them.
>similar past
How similar is it, really?
>They will never be
Does he know?
>directly confront
People are simply afraid to confront the unstable bitch. It happened with Nicole before
>masks
You have to have them to live in society and be a person
>sire
Quite dramatic, yes

>>6044742
>shameful
It might be with her upbringing or with her experiences with W Corp, for all we know
>tiny smile
This is the first person Nicole has ever met who is anything like her. Of course it'll be like this
>SPOOK SHADES
We are properly on the path to TOTAL GLOWIE DESTRUCTION
>two metal beams smashing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Euq7uTeYCP0

>>6044744
>sunset
I'm glad the mission didn't take 16 hours
>squads
They're gonna need more specialized gear to dig down to the lower floors, but that's their problem now
>521
That's Fake Nicole and Vincent Cruz
>don't have to explain
We could have used the ETFs carrying them as an excuse if we had to
>familiar ETF
The positive consequences of our actions. We didn't have to save her, but saving her paid us back. We didn't see any of the first ETF who ran from the elite agent during the fight, but now he's alive out there somewhere...

>>6044745
>2 C-EXTRACT
I still want to hold onto the Admiral ones because of how SPECIAL they are, but these are still a powerful trade item
>P-CORP LETTER
On top of the 2 P-CORP FAVOR we got from the Manager, very nice
>$4272
We need to save most of this to hire all our allies to the silver base assault, but otherwise BIG MONEY
>Alexis turned out
The Russian depression even in the far future
>towers
The description reminds me of Dark Souls' Ash Lake

>>6044750
>Business Pass
I wonder if he got any FAVOR from this mission too, since he's affiliated
>old faux-wood benches
A quiet night...
>bouncers
Hey it's those same guys from back then
>adoration
He deserves it after all that
>Max
Even now, losing to Nicole once led her to this
>skill based games
He took that end-of-duel advice to heart
>>
>>6044825
+1
>>
GAMBLING
SHOOT RAINGE: ALL
BOXING: ALL
MAHJONG: cWW, Gte, dzp
DRINKING: Iza

TALK TO
CLOVER: ALL
KIARA: cWW
NAOMI: ALL
QUENTIN: Gte, Iza, dzp

MISC:
CALL HANDLER: ALL
ANOMALOUS ABILITIES: Gte, dzp
PERFORMER: Gte, cWW
Eh. I don't think it's worth calling a tiebreak over this. I'll just take both.

So, three anons, do your thing. Roll the following
>7d6 (VIOLENCE, DC 24)
>6d6 (COGNIZANCE, DC 22)
>8d6 (TALENT, every 6 points = $50, every 12 points = 4 Pistol Ammo or 2 Revolver Bullets)

ITEMS YOU CAN USE TO ALTER YOUR ODDS
SPOOK SHADES (Allows you a full reroll of all COGNIZANCE dice.)
ADRENALINE IMPLANT (Has two charges, can spend 1 to add +2d8 extra to VIOLENCE or TALENT)
HARVESTER TEETH NECKLACE (One charge per mission, offer a full reroll.)
>>
Rolled 4, 1, 5, 3, 6, 5 = 24 (6d6)

>>6045527
Rolling COGNIZANCE
>>
Rolled 4, 4, 3, 4, 2, 4, 3 = 24 (7d6)

>>6045527
Violence
>>
Rolled 6, 6, 5, 5, 5, 6, 3, 6 = 42 (8d6)

>>6045527
Talent
>>
Rolled 1, 2, 2 = 5 (3d2)

>>6045558
SUCCESS
>>6045572
BARELY PASSES, that'll be fun to write.
>>6045587
fucking hell Nicole that's a 0.10% chance.

RESULTS:
NICOLE WINS THE FIGHT
NICOLE EARNS $1000 FROM MAJHONG (WHICH IS PROBABLY A T-CORP PSYOP)
NICOLE EARNS $100 BACK (due to earning $350 but spending $250 to enter) FROM SHOOTING RANGE PLUS 3 INSTANCES OF AMMO GAIN.
1 = 4 Pistol Ammo, 2 = 2 Revolver Bullets. Whatever you get, I'm writing.
>>
>>6045591
The revolver chambers spin ever onwards...
>>
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>>6045591
Damn, Nicky stop with that kind of shooting. Clover's penis can only get so hard!
>>
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"Clover."
"Yes?"
"What the fuck is that."

In a mostly empty section of the first floor, right where those intentionally broken slot machines that you know hides the surveillance room, there's a hexagonal boxing ring with sturdy chain fencing around the edges of it. A few dozen basic chairs are scattered around to let an audience watch. Two men are currently beating each other half to death while a crowd of half drunk gamblers are cheering on.

A few waitresses in comically overblown cowboy outfits (hats included) are serving drinks to said drunk gamblers.

"Boxing? It's a way for folks to settle disagreements without gettin' kicked out. We also sell drinks to folks who want to watch it. Win win, ya know?"

"Huh. Smart." You can't really complain about that. You'll save that for last. A few other things that catch your eye is a small table at the farthest corner of the room. Four T-Corp residents are playing with weird looking tiles with symbols all over them. Another is a very cute and quaint shooting range with pop-up targets you have to shoot at.

"Mmh. Come with me, I wanna talk with you." You start heading your way over to the shooting range. Clover trails right after you, trying his best not to draw too much attention to himself due to you know. His status here.

The shooting range doesn't really have much to say about it aside from there being a cardboard cutout of Clover next to the range's counter. His hand is outstretched and a speech bubble with the words "$250 TO ENTER. $50 PER 6 TARGETS, AMMO PER 12 TARGETS. AMMO NOT TAXED."

"Let's just say I had to bargain with P-Corp to allow this." He spits out 'P-Corp' like it's a racial epithet. Can't exactly blame him after what he saw. You place $250 into the hands of the Clover cutout which quickly get sucked in through a small gap in his hands.

A revolver then rises out of a small compartment on the table in front of you. It's clearly a fake one that shoots pellets but the detailing on it could convince you it was real at a distance.

You pick it up. The moment you do, several shoddy cardboard cut outs of bandits and other outlaws pop up out of the ground. You let your body move on its own to fire away at the targets while you talk to Clover.

"So, sorry about your first mission being all of...that." You offer him a nervous laugh. He hesitantly returns his own low chuckle. "I can't promise any other mission I'd bring you on is gonna be any better."
"Nah, nah. I knew what I was signin' up for. Sure, this casino business is good and all but I wanna help people, ya know?"

Your hand keeps moving, shooting at targets with finely tuned muscle memory. "I get that. At least you did that whole cool timestop thing."

"Probably the only major highlight of that mission for me." Clover tries his best to keep up a jovial smile but it's clear his experiences back there are still weighing down him. You nod at him, telling him it's fine to talk about it.
>>
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"...I work in the same district at a company that uses THAT thing. Those things are probably EVERYWHERE around here and I can't do anythin' about it." Clover mutters. You don't think he even remembers he was in a conversation with you. "I worked in FACILITIES with that thing."

You decide to interject. "To my knowledge, every Company has a fucked up Singularity or a Singularity that can enable fucked up shit. I can't say specifics in case, you know, a spook or something is listening but...I doubt you can find anything better."

This snaps Clover out of it. "I suppose not. Maybe it was all of that magical girl talk ringin' in my head. It's not like I don't know this but, I dunno, felt like I was turning into that Wendy gal."

"Pft. What, no? You're not foaming at the mouth-" You're interrupted by a series of alarms and whistles blaring from the Shooting Range. You glance up at the point counter at the back of the range- Wait, 42 points? The cardboard cutout promptly spits out $350 and a handful of ammo. Nice, profit of $100.
>+$100, +4 REVOLVER AND PISTOL ROUNDS

Clover lets out a low whistle. "Nice! I actually set the max to around 60? That's the highest I ever got but most don't even get past 20!"

You place the pellet revolver back onto the table. It quickly disappears, leaving you only with your rewards. "Didn't know I had that in me. Just did it automatically. Anyways, look, Clover. I know what you saw in there must've been bad but..."

"I know. I can't exactly get up and leave this district. I guess it's just another source of motivation for me now; To make the folks stuck here with me happy, ya know?" He hands over your rewards, which you quickly pocket.

The two of you begin to walk over to the Mahjong table. Mostly because he's following after you

"I respect that. Maybe that's the only thing you can do, you know?"
"I know. Just sucks that every day that passes, I see a bit more wrong with the world. REFINEMENT, those spooks...I guess I just have to step up and be the hero everyone needs."
"Sadly, you can't stop time at a whim. Else you would probably be a Color or something."
"Pft. Yah, that's fair. I gotta do bother some other folks but thanks for the talk. Helped to clear my mind."

He takes his leave, leaving you to approach the Mahjong table by yourself. The table, which had four players before, now only has three. Seems like they're waiting for someone to play their bizarre fucking game.

You promptly sit down. Before the three T-Corp residents, each of which is a tattoo-coated gangster with overly stylish white business suits on, can start the game you notice someone approaching. Quentin.

He looks a lot better than he was a mere hour ago. Most of the damage you've done to his shell has been patched up, even including a new eye in place of the one you blew out. The only sign that he's not what he appears to be is how tattered up his ETF uniform is and some stitches all over his body. Seems like those new organs are working well.
>>
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He grabs a nearby chair, ready to sit down and watch your game of Mahjong. The three T-Corpers are clearly not too happy about this but when they see you placing down your $400, they immediately shut up.

"Hey, Quinny. Feel free to watch." You try your absolute best to put up an air of confidence despite the fact you have never played this game before.
Quentin immediately smells through your disguise. "Would've been better if I was the one playing." His voice is fluid and natural now, unlike the usual monotone he has.

"Ahah~! You see, I'm an expert, watch!" You pause. "Wait you've played this before?"
"In my spare time. When I'm not scavenging for new parts."

Everyone begins to push their tiles into the center of the table, including you. Seems like the table here has an automatic shuffler or sorter to dispense tiles. A few piles of tiles are placed up and you're given 13 tiles. You flip it over and...you have no idea what any of these symbols mean. Or how to play.

One of the players draws a tile and discards one. Another does the same. That tile seems to cause another player to shout 'PON!', which causes him to discard two tiles. Each of them have the same symbol on them.

Hm. You just have to intuit what's going on. You discard a tile at random. One of the other players furrows his brow in annoyance. <'If it was only a 2 Pin.'> You turn your attention over to Quentin while you wait for your turn to go around.

"So. How's the new body?"

Quentin leans back in his chair, kicking his feet as he watches the game proceed. "It's been doing good. FAR beTTEr than the other shells I use. I think I might keep this one."

"Well hey, that's good! It does look nice on you, you know? Even if it's one of them." You discard another tile as soon as your turn comes up.

"Indeed. Good hand." He whispers to you. If only you knew what he meant. "I almost feel human. It hurts. A lot." He flexes his worn and bruised fingers. "Is this what you feel all the time, Nicole?"

"Well, if you mean I'm constantly hurting, well, sometimes? But only after doing a lot of strenuous physical activity."

"Ah. That makes sense- Don't discard that yet, call Riichi."

You have no idea what that means but you do so. The other players furrow their brows in annoyance but they play their tiles again. You then draw one more tile...
>24!

Wait. This matches up pretty well with all of the other tiles you have. You think you won this. You promptly reveal your hand to the group. "T-Tsumo?" You think you heard one of them say that word before arriving here. The others stare at your hand in absolute bafflement.

You don't understand a lick of what they're saying but 'Tsumo Baiman' sounds like a pretty impressive hand. The three promptly stand up from the table and leave it behind, muttering and hissing with thinly veiled hate. All that's left is your reward: $1000.

>$600 in profit earnt!

"Didn't know you played Mahjong. Nice hand."
"I don't! What the fuck did I even do???"
>>
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"Don't worry about it. I wouldn't play that again, it's intentionally designed to RATTLE human minds."

You squint at Quentin but you'll take your profit without question. "Wait, you're actually feeling pain inside your shell? Isn't it a corpse normally?"

Quentin rubs his hand over his stomach. "Oddly, yes. It is a very odd sensation. Usually, such tactical sensations are very muted or non-existent. Perhaps it is due to this former agent's innate regeneration and hardiness? Or..." <"Perhaps I can be more than a Drone."> "I do feel a lot of sensations in this body I normally do not experience after I installed some new organs."

[UNSTABLE] HEY TELL HIM ABOUT THE PLEASURES OF MAS-
You smack the side of your head to shut her up. "Well, hey, that's nice!" You get up from the Mahjong table. As you begin your trip over to the boxing ring, you might as well ask him a bit more about himself.

"How do you feel about the others? I don't think you ever worked with any of them before."

"Casey's cute." He admits without any shame or hesitation. "Very cute. Clover and Naomi are...tolerable, though I hold no attachment to them."
"I don't blame you with what Naomi's whole knife trick but why don't you care about Clover?"

"He's wearing as much of a shell as me but he refuses to acknowledge it. I know what I am." Doesn't take a genius to realize he's talking about his whole cowboy gimmick.
"C'mon. He really is trying his best. You shouldn't be so hard on him."

"I know. It is simply a bit distressing seeing it from the other side. Wendy is...interesting? Reminds me of you." The two of you are standing only a few feet away from the cage now. Blood from one of the contestants splatters across Quentin's face but he doesn't remotely react. "Kiara is. Kiara is." His eye twitches for a moment.

"She likes you. She wants to help you. So I am willing to work with her. Simple as." Seems like he's still trying his best to repress his Drone instincts involving Androids but you respect the effort. "It was nice seeing and meeting other people. It is a way for me to...understand your kind more."

You dab away at the blood with a piece of old jacket cloth. "Well hey, if you keep being as helpful as you were this mission, maybe we can make that happen."
Quentin can't help but to smile at that. "I do want you to bring me on more missions. It's nice seeing more of the world. Experiencing it. Talking to others."

"Well, if you only have the lifespan of a centipede, enjoy every moment you have while you got it. I suppose I should live by that motto as well."

Quentin nods. "Thank you for bringing me on today's mission. It was nice seeing a world far, far beyond my time and creatures far, far beyond my understanding. Every little bit that brings me closer to becoming like you."

"One last word of advice. The weakest part of the human torso is their liver. Punch it hard." That's all you're getting out of Quentin. You turn your head around to check on the crow- Huh.
>>
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Naomi is watching the bloodsports going on. Somehow you're not shocked at this. She's rubbing at a sore, reddened spot on her neck; You assume that's where she installed her implant.

"So, Naomi, how'd the talk with your mom go?" It's a bit of a rough opening but you are curious.

"It was a long talk. There were some grievances we had with other. Stories about what I used to do, what she used to do." She takes a moment to recompose herself before talking. "The exact details don't matter but we both knew we were going to die soon. What use is there dying with unresolved grievances?"

"Considering how long it took for you two to reunite, I imagine it couldn't have been pretty."

"It was not. I...thank you for leaving while you did." An uncharacteristically pathetic sounding laugh comes out of Naomi. "Felt like a little girl being yelled at again. It was rather undignified."

"I assume that was over your past as a Silver?"

"Indeed. Though, I suppose it's not my past anymore." She lowers her hand to reveal the mangled spot on her neck she sliced open to put the implant in. It's taking a while for it to seal shut, presumably due to her old age.

"Guess this must've been a good mission for you then, huh? Being able to regain your old glory and all of that."

A sadistic smirk crosses Naomi's face. "Indeed. I feel younger than I've ever felt in my whole life. I have to admit, you were a gamble to work with on first but you've certainly proven yourself to be a worthwhile ally."

"Calm down with the smile, you look like a supervillain."
Naomi's smirk immediately deflates. "Feh."
"I'm glad you're regaining some of that lost glory without, you know, being a threat to me."

"Betraying you would not be worth it. My former allies would still hate me, I would have more threats against me, and you're FAR more useful than my old allies anyways." She glances back up at the ring. "Seems like it's your time to shine. Prove me right."

The boxing ring is now empty. The first one to step into the ring is a man that's a mountain of muscle and tattoos. He looks like he's a gang leader or something and given all of the scars covering his chest, he's seen a few too many fights over his life.

You gulp. Even with all of your cybernetics and training, you're not exactly the best hand-to-hand fighter. You pull out your phone to make a quick phone call before entering. The Handler immediately picks up.

"Heyo. Done with the mission?"

You promptly ramble into the speaker about everything you've done over the last, what, eight or so hours down there in that godless facility?

The only response you get at first is a single low whistle over the phone. It takes a moment for him to process everything. "Hm. Hot. Gotta say, Nicky, all of this shit you keep pulling is gonna send your name to the stratosphere. Shit, I heard some dudes over at fuckin' B-Corp talking about you."

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Wait- B-Corp? Part of the Head? That B-Corp?
>>
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"I'll talk to you later but man, I gotta introduce you to some old contacts who wanna talk to you." Click.

What the fuck are you getting yourself into?

Well, no time to dwell on that. You quickly pray towards whatever bizarre specters were keeping an eye after you in case they're still watching before you climb into the ring through a small ladder leading up to the only door in or out.

It promptly seals shut. The only way out is to beat this guy in a fight it seems. For a moment he seems to scoff at the idea of fighting you but he immediately loses his smirk. The crowd of drunk gamblers begins to ramble upon seeing you as well.

"Wait, didn't they say something about a girl with antlers opening up sea trade after killing a real nasty naval captain?"
"Yeah, yeah! Pink eyes, reddish-pink hair. I heard those stories too!"
"I heard something about how she can rip your soul out if she looks at you funny!"
"Didn't S-Corp made a press release about how trade is up 1500% over the last two weeks?"

[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] ...Hehehe.

The muttering continues on, growing more feverish and obsessed by the second. While they might not be sure if you're REALLY the one who did it, it seems like that tale has spread across the City over the last few weeks.

"Not risking it." The gangster immediately goes in for a killing uppercut. You dodge out of the way but he refuses to let up. The fight has barely even started but this man is throwing wild haymakers and jabs at you with enough force to shatter bones. How do you know this?

Whenever he misses a swing and smashes it against one of the chain walls, the wall bends and cracks on impact. Shit, you didn't expect the fight to get this serious.

You just keep dodging, dodging, dodging. Hoping that he'll eventually tire out. Every single punch he throws misses you by mere inches and he never gives you a moment to take a breath. Yet it's clear he's getting sloppier with his swings; He's getting tired.

But so are you. A rock-hard fist is jabbed right into your stomach, causing you to nearly vomit from the sheer impact of it.
>-1 FLESH (reduced from 2!)
Then again. You feel something cracking.
>-1 FLESH! (reduced from 2!)
Then again. Blood oozes underneath your bodysuit.
>-1 FLESH! (reduced from 2!) 2/5 FLESH LEFT!

The force of each punch was dampened, distributed throughout your whole body instead of one singular point.

If you didn't have that pink combat zeta whatever suit on, you probably would've crumpled to the floor immediately but you're still standing. You can feel your EVIGT IMPLANT kicking into overdrive as you stare up at the GANGSTER.

He's confused at why you didn't pass out from those three solid jabs. That gives you just enough time to throw your own punch at him. Taking Quentin's advice, you aim right for the liver.

>22!

It hits just right. While that punch doesn't do much in terms of actually hurting him, the sheer pain of a liver shot immediately sends him to his knees.
>>
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He collapses to the floor mere moments after. Fuck, no wonder why you mostly do ambushes or use guns. Fighting with your bare fists sucks.

The crowd goes wild upon seeing your victory. Most of the cries are incoherent drunk blabbering but you'll enjoy it for a moment. Okay yeah that's long enough.

You quickly stumble out of the cage once it opens, leaving the man to recover from your punch. You rub your stomach and for now, whatever damage he did is being slowly patched up by your natural regeneration. You'll sleep it off and hopefully you'll feel a bit better.
>+1 FLESH! 3/5 FLESH REMAINING.

You head back over to the massive bar at the far west side of the room. You prop yourself on one of the many stools. The bartender immediately slides you over a bottle of whiskey, free of charge. You take a deep swing of it while you wait for your other allies to join you.

After an hour, everyone is now sitting at the bar, drinking and having the time of their life...expect for Clover and Casey. You take a moment to see where he could possibly be at but Naomi points over at a small stage at the center of the floor.

You squint your eyes. Both of them are standing on the wooden stage alongside a cast of other employees. Marla, Kana, you recognize those two. A few other random faces you can't quite recognize are also scattered throughout the stage.

"ATTENTION, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" Clover yells out for the whole casino to hear.
"THE WILD ADVENTURES OF CLOVER EPISODE FIFTY IS STARTING NOW!!!" Casey screeches out just in case the fucking deaf didn't hear them.

The casino erupts in cheers throughout the five or so floors that make up this place. You take another swig of your whiskey, ready to see what's up with this.

...
...
...

The last thirty minutes was some of the cheesiest, clearly low budget nonsense you've seen but you have to admit, it had a charm to it. The performance was pretty simple at the end of the day. Clover, as the main character, goes around the Wild Wastes in an attempt to help out someone or hunt down a criminal.

Casey, as his sidekick, would usually be the one who would be put into danger. This time, she's tied to a train track with bundles of rope while Kana (the foxheaded woman) rubs her hands with a comically evil smirk.

"IF YOU'RE GOING TO CATCH ME, YOU'LL HAVE TO LEAVE HER BEHIND, SHERIFF CLOVER!"
"DAMNIT! WHAT A DASTERDLY TRICK, KANA!"
"AIE AIE HELP ME CLOVER"

It's very cliche but the sheer earnestness of it all is charming. It's clear he's really in his element when he's doing this. The show lasts about another fifteen minutes before it wraps up. Given the cheers and money being thrown at them, this seems to be a major attraction for this casino.

Gotta give props. He knows how to sell some cheap slop- Wait what's going on why are you suddenly falling you're not that drunk yet WAIT HOLD ON WHAT-

Everything goes dark. The last thing you see is your allies staring at your seat in abject confusion.
>>
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You wake up prone on the ground. The ceiling of the small room you're in has a shimmering grey-and-blue portal that is seemingly what brought you here. It doesn't take long for Quentin, Naomi, Kiara and Wendy to jump through as well.

You take a look around in the room you're in. There's two things of note about the grey stone room. One: The only way in or out aside from that portal is an airlock that's firmly sealed shut. There's a note attached to it reading "DO WHAT YOU WILL TO HIM. ASK HIM WHATEVER. KILL HIM WHEN YOU'RE DONE. WILL OPEN ANOTHER Y-CORP PORTAL BACK HOME WHEN YOU'RE DONE - ALEX"

"He must like you. A portal from P to X-Corp that transports up to five people? That costs 20k, minimum." Wendy whistles. Well, given he's another corporate rep, he can probably afford that. Probably pocket change to him.

Two: Tied to a chair in the middle of the room is a Silver Agent. Well, tied is the wrong word, her legs are pinned to the metal chair with two metal rods that are pierced right through her legs. Another metal rod is stuck right into her gut and into the floor behind her. She's not moving even if she wanted to. Her arms are locked behind her back thanks to a pair of handcuffs and rope.

A massive wound has been slashed into her neck: Even her implant is gone. Yet she's not bleeding out or anything despite the lack of an implant.

[PERSON OF INTEREST] They really don't want her escaping. Must've had a few failures before they captured her.

"Feh. We have millions in our service. They're wasting so many resources on little old me and for what?"
Naomi sniffs at the air for a moment before nodding. "Not an elite. Doesn't smell like one.
"Feh. Get it over with. I doubt I could tell you anything valuable if I wanted to."

"Pretty ballsy thing to say for someone who's a pin cushion." Kiara scoffs.
"We should kill her. Now." Wendy warns your group. She already has her baton ready in case the Agent tries doing anything.

Best to get the questioning done quick before she tries pulling another stunt. Even if she's stripped of everything but her outfit and she has more pins than a voodoo doll, she's still a threat. You learnt that lesson from the last silvers you fought.

What to ask her? Pick four. You'll MIND READ her so that you'll get some glimpse at what she knows no matter what.
>[WENDY ALLY] "You. We know you've been fucking around with REFINEMENT machines, collecting anomalous artifacts. For what purpose? What are you using them for?"
>[KIARA ALLY] "I've heard rumors about facilities collapsing because of containment failures. I assume that's you? For what purpose?"
>[QUENTIN ALLY] "Who is providing you with all of these serums? They are clearly improving the efficiency of your body's ability to heal but I doubt you are producing it in house."
>[NAOMI ALLY] "You're clearly overplaying your hand. More and more people know of your existence now. Are you scared? What's causing you to do all of these hectic actions?"
(1/2)
>>
>[UNSTABLE] Yank out those metal rods with your telekinesis. Even if she can heal, she can't heal immediately. "Why are you sending those 521 fucks after me? Too scared of me? Why does one of them look like me?"
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] Hold up one of the implants you looted from them. "Is E-Corp giving you these? Where are you getting these from? Who's selling you them?"
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] "You know as much as I do that the Head is going to have a meeting soon. What kind of stunt are you fucks going to pull during it?"
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] "I saw your group moving despite being frozen in place due to an anomalous effect. How and why?" That trick the ELITEs pilled during time stop is something you don't want to encounter again.
>Write in.

I promise that future updates won't be this massive or take this long to write. I just had a lot to write.
It is what it is.
>>
>>6045826
Sometimes we have a lot to say in our lives. I love meaty updates like any player would, but please don't burn yourself out like HELP WANTED!
>>
>>6045825
>[KIARA ALLY] "I've heard rumors about facilities collapsing because of containment failures. I assume that's you? For what purpose?"

>[NAOMI ALLY] "You're clearly overplaying your hand. More and more people know of your existence now. Are you scared? What's causing you to do all of these hectic actions?"

>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] "You know as much as I do that the Head is going to have a meeting soon. What kind of stunt are you fucks going to pull during it?"

>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] "I saw your group moving despite being frozen in place due to an anomalous effect. How and why?" That trick the ELITEs pilled during time stop is something you don't want to encounter again.
>>
>>6045816
>(hats included)
But of course
>racial epithet
Yup, he's never going to view his benefactors the same way again
>only major highlight
He did well against the silver elite, but yeah he was there as a literal hired gun

>>6045818
>EVERYWHERE
Calling out to fifteen REFINEMENT brothers and sisters...
>magical girl talk
>turning into that Wendy
At least now he can relate a bit more to Wendy's dislike of P Corp, right? I don't know if Wendy has ever seen a REFINEMENT though
>highest I ever got
I seriously doubt it with his exploding dice
>source of motivation
Clover being nonstop MVP of a character, the JUSTICE charm is too strong
>stop time at a whim
Gee I wonder what Clover unlocked during that fight

>>6045819
>fluid and natural
What fresh organs does to a bug
>spare time
Now I want to get Maruyama and Quentin in the same room
>keep this one
Do we pass him an ICE BLOOD VIAL before we part ways? We might as well keep the third last one just in case
>What the fuck did I even do?
I know nothing about Mahjong. Good job?

>>6045821
>RATTLE human minds
?
>more than a Drone
You're human to us, damnit!
>PLEASURES OF MAS-
There's better than that, but he doesn't need to know them right now
>Casey
I knew he'd get that way. I hope Casey feels the same about him
>Naomi
Definitely soured after the implant move
>Clover
Who's beneath the cowboy? We saw a bit of the true him during the poker duel, but...
>Wendy
Half-sister
>Kiara
He's been coping way better than I expected of him
>bring me on more missions
He's gonna love it when all our allies come together during the assault. That'll be the first time some of them even meet each other. Should be a spicy get-together
>becoming like you
Quentin has been a great character since thread 1, I want him to become immortal somehow
>liver
We should do that on the first spook we come across

>>6045822
>neck
EVIGT IS IN
NAOMI IS BACK
>being yelled at
Mooooooom I like being a super cool shiny glowy agent! Stop nagging me about it!!!
>the smile
"Old habits die hard" is in her SILVER INSTINCTS for a reason. I'm glad betraying Nicole doesn't fall under any of that
>all of your cybernetics
What, all 3 implants? Surely we can always have MORE
>eight or so hours
A lot better paced than the mining mission and that's because we weren't completely hauling ass from the moment we went in. Sure it was long like the ship mission, but there was less linearity to it and that was fun

>>6045823
>some old contacts
I trust the Handler. He's in the anti-silver shit with us and he knows it
>opening up sea trade
There you go >>6044185
>up 1500%
Finally, progress
>Hehehe
That's right old man, WE did that
>spread across the City
#1 DEER CITYWIDE
ALL THE COMPANIES AND THE HEAD WILL KNOW HER NAME
>(reduced from 2!)
>If you didn't have that pink combat zeta whatever suit on
THANK YOU ROLLING 99
>>
>>6045824
>ambushes or use guns
Nicole's not built for unarmed anyhow. Combat in the City requires lots of cheats
>+1 FLESH!
EVIGT might be one of the best things we ever got this entire quest
>EPISODE FIFTY
There has to be at least one person recording all of them for posterity and archival here
>sheer earnestness
I think part of Clover's charm (and SPAMTON's back in HELP WANTED!) must be whatever insane tumblr homestuck magic Toby Fox is using. It simply transmits through even in the characters during crossovers, but I won't deny it's the QM's writing also doing them JUSTICE here in this different setting

>>6045825
>20k, minimum
Remember X Corp are financed directly by the Head
>metal rods
Thanks to the new gloves we have lowering psychic power costs, we should totally experiment with more power use and FOCUSED power use too. TK to bodily impale agents is one of the first things we should try later
>>
>>6045825
>>6045826
>[WENDY ALLY]
This follows up the REFINEMENT tip we got from INFORMANT and was correct
>[UNSTABLE]
Finally address the 521 Association issue set up over many threads. We've dodged all of them except Ashton that one time
>[PERSON OF INTEREST]
Follows up what Handler said after we killed the first fed
"This shit is EXPENSIVE. A single 500ml vial takes a month of MY earnings to get. Whoever is funding these fucks is either the richest man in the world OR they got Z-Corp by the tits and are getting it for free. Not sure what's worse."
If it's Z-Corp, that might put Benjamin in danger since he works there. I'd prefer to know this and follow this lead over the serums themselves, but I'm fine with either
>Write-in.
>[DAMAGED MAP] "What do you fucks have over here at U-Corp?"
If we're going on the District 21 mission with Handler, it'd be great intel to pass to him

I could be completely wrong about all of these though. Every single questioning option here is an amazing pick
>>
>>6045899
I highly doubt she knows much about operations at U-Corp. Is the Silver Agent organization really bad at compartmentalizing information security?
>>
>>6045826
>[WENDY ALLY] "You. We know you've been fucking around with REFINEMENT machines, collecting anomalous artifacts. For what purpose? What are you using them for?"
>[UNSTABLE] Yank out those metal rods with your telekinesis. Even if she can heal, she can't heal immediately. "Why are you sending those 521 fucks after me? Too scared of me? Why does one of them look like me?"
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] "You know as much as I do that the Head is going to have a meeting soon. What kind of stunt are you fucks going to pull during it?"
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] "I saw your group moving despite being frozen in place due to an anomalous effect. How and why?" That trick the ELITEs pilled during time stop is something you don't want to encounter again.
>>
>>6045826
>[WENDY ALLY] "You. We know you've been fucking around with REFINEMENT machines, collecting anomalous artifacts. For what purpose? What are you using them for?"
>[UNSTABLE] Yank out those metal rods with your telekinesis. Even if she can heal, she can't heal immediately. "Why are you sending those 521 fucks after me? Too scared of me? Why does one of them look like me?"
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] Hold up one of the implants you looted from them. "Is E-Corp giving you these? Where are you getting these from? Who's selling you them?"
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] "You know as much as I do that the Head is going to have a meeting soon. What kind of stunt are you fucks going to pull during it?"
>>
>>6045986
I don't know, they might be? I figured I'd toss a write-in win or lose. I'm fine with whatever ends up winning this vote because all the info are good in their own right.
>>
>>6045826
>[WENDY ALLY] "You. We know you've been fucking around with REFINEMENT machines, collecting anomalous artifacts. For what purpose? What are you using them for?"
>[KIARA ALLY] "I've heard rumors about facilities collapsing because of containment failures. I assume that's you? For what purpose?"
>[UNSTABLE] Yank out those metal rods with your telekinesis. Even if she can heal, she can't heal immediately. "Why are you sending those 521 fucks after me? Too scared of me? Why does one of them look like me?"
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] "You know as much as I do that the Head is going to have a meeting soon. What kind of stunt are you fucks going to pull during it?"
>>
KIARA: Iza, wda
NAOMI: Iza
WENDY: 00b, cWW, dzp, wda
UNSTABLE: 00b, cWW, dzp, wda
PERSON OF INTEREST: 00b, cWW
SEEKER OF THE CITY: cWW, dzp, wda, Iza
ANOMALOUS ABILITIES: Iza, cWW
DAMAGED MAP: 00b.

So, WENDY + UNSTABLE + SEEKER + a three way tie between Kiara, Anomalous Abilities, and Person of Interest. I need someone to break the tie and if I don't get one in about an hour and a half, I'll just 1d3 it.

>PERSON OF INTEREST. If you can destroy their supply line somehow, you'll slit the neck of this silver beast.
>KIARA. What's the point of the mindless slaughter? You doubt it's just for sadism's sake. There has to be a point.
>ANOMALOUS ABILITIES. Your anomalous trinkets and powers are your main weapon. If the agents can counter them, you're fucked.

>>6045835
trust me i probably write one of these massive updates once, maybe twice, a thread.
>>
>>6046473
Anomalous
>>
>>6046486
coolio writing then.
>>
>>6046473
>ANOMALOUS ABILITIES. Your anomalous trinkets and powers are your main weapon. If the agents can counter them, you're fucked.
>>
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Best to stick with broad questions. You're not sure how much she knows and you don't want to waste time. Every second here counts.

You nod at Wendy to go ahead and start it. You have no doubt she'll be an excellent bad cop.

Wendy immediately smashes his baton into the Silver Agent's leg. While the Agent barely reacts to it at first, the tell-tale sound of a bone CRUNCHING and the leg suddenly bending in an angle it shouldn't is enough to get the Agent to let out a low hiss. You can't make out her face through the static covering it but you're certain she's not smiling anymore.

"We want quick, short answers. No tomfuckery. No long winded or vague statements." Wendy plants her foot right on the Agent's chair. "Are we clear?"
"Crystal."

"Good. We know you've been fucking around with REFINEMENT machines, collecting anomalous artifacts. For what purpose? What are you using them for?"

"They didn't tell us much. Higher ups don't tell grunts like me everything. From my understanding, the artifacts are to condition us into tolerating outside anomalous influences. Machines? Well, to refine A-Energy. Why pay for C-Extract when you can make it yourself?"

<"We need a lot of energy, after all, to create the resources necessary to train and supply us. Buying enough from P-Corp would bankrupt us.">

Huh. They're trying to become self sufficient.

"Does more than refine, that's for sure." Kiara hisses. "Your kind wasn't feeding it what it was supposed to be fed with."
"That is something I want to question." Naomi points out. "Why would someone try to forcefeed it human bodies?"

"I suppose it's an attempt to make ICP. From what I understand, it requires human neurological matter to properly create. So, they cut right to the point." Well, on one hand you're glad the Agent is being to the point with her responses but at the same time, that's revolting.

"Good. No more beatings for now, you get to live a bit longer. You're up next, Boss."

"Alright. Step back." After waiting for Wendy to get away from the agent, you take her place. You take a moment to clear your throat before you continue the questioning. "So. You know as much as I do that the Head is going to have a meeting soon. What kind of stunt are you fucks going to pull during it?

"Why would I tell you that? I wouldn't know."

"Bullshit. You somehow knew what the hell ICP was despite us never mentioning it. You know how REFINEMENT machines work even if it's surface level. You have to know something."

"Feh. Again, I only know what they tell me." <"Her antlers look familiar. Didn't my bosses warn me about her?"> "To my understanding, the Eye in the Sky will be closed that day. Everyone's eyes will be focused on the 26 CEOs. Too risky for us to engage with. I'd probably use the time to recognize where our bases are."
>>
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"It's likely one of our bases has its location compromised or has a mole. That and recent failures, such as me talking to you, that makes us realize we need to make sturdier stock. We'll just move, replan, and retrain."

"Hiding like bugs." Quentin can't help but to snort at the idea. "You're not so powerful after all, huh?"
"I doubt your retraining will go over well. Your stock is weak. Worthless." Naomi spits on the ground with obvious disappointment. "I'm sixty years your senior and I could beat you.

"No shit. I'm a pin cushion, you think I'm in a position to argue back? I'm just saying what's reasonable." The Silver Agent tries her best to wrangle out of her restraints. You swear you saw a crack forming in her handcuffs. "Get it over with. I know you're going to kill me regardless."

"Not yet. Third question." You take a moment to collect your thoughts. You DO have to kill her. These types aren't known for laying down and dying a dignified death. "I saw your group moving despite being frozen in place due to an anomalous effect. How and why?

"Training." The Silver Agent tries her best to shrug despite her body being pinned to the chair. "We're trained to deal with any threat. While the average scumbag can be killed in a second and labeled a 'suicide' afterwards, when dealing with situations or people who matter? We have to give a shit."

For a moment, you swear Naomi is reminiscing about something. "How many gunshots? 50 or 30?"
"Fifty. C'mon. It's not like J-Corp would question it."
"Of course not. It was always fun seeing how many we could use before they cared.
"Our record was 70. Regular ammo, of course."
"Wasteful. I capped out at 50 myself."

Quentin quickly interrupts the conversation with a quick cough. "I'm sorry, Naomi, you can fantasize about your old life another time."

"Feh, fair. No amount of training could explain anomalous resistances. That's only something sheer exposure or specialized tech could achieve"
The Silver Agent cranes her head to the side. "We have specific implants. Easier that way. Most of our implants self destruct unless a specific code and removal method is used, so they're useless to anyone else." So, you need Naomi in your party to acquire more.

A tense expression crosses Kiara's face as she realizes something. "Wait, no, that doesn't make sense. We only found one such implant in the two that moved."
"What can I say?" <"Well, if they're talking about time stops, T-Corp's Time Extension program is probably involved. We do have a trade agreement with them.">

That's all you're getting out of her. You focus your telekinesis around the three metal rods stuck in her and with one solid pull, you immediately yank them out of her body. The three rods clatter to the floor after they're torn right out of her body.

"FUCK!" The Agent violently squirms in her chair as red blood oozes out of the holes all over her body.
>>
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"If you answer our question, we can let you die quickly." Wendy snorts with thinly veiled hate in her eyes.
"You should be dead already. Also, don't your type normally bleed blue?" Kiara questions. Something about her bleeding red is a bit off putting but you don't have time to question it.

"Fine, fine! This fucking hurts! You happy, huh?"

"Your fault for losing." Naomi offers no sympathy towards one of her former comrades despite the cordial chat she had before.
"Go on. Quick." Quentin nods towards the Agent.

"Why are you sending those 521 fucks after me? Too scared of me? Why does one of them look like me?"

"What? You're the one who looks like her. And it's because it's less r-risky..." The Agent begins to twitch as the floor is quickly being drenched in her own blood. "I-If t-th-they get captured, t-they can't tell you anything important. W-we pay them to do dirty work for us, t-they do a good job, it's a good partnership.

"Wait. What the fuck do you mean 'I look like her'? I'm the original."

"Not like a-anyone e-else in the City would k-know. T-The City is big. I-It's easy for rumors to spread. A-Al-All it takes is a few bad things done by s-someone who looks like you to...ruin...your...name...""

The Agent's head slumps over. "T-They'll take your place. S-safer for everyone inv...olv..."

The Agent stops moving or talking. You doubt you could've gotten anything more out of her. You promptly levitate the three metal rods back up before throwing them into the Agent's liver just to spit on her grave.

A silver and blue portal opens at the corner of the room upon detecting that the Agent is killed.

Quentin immediately moves in to scavenge what meat and organs he can from the Agent while your other allies wave you goodbye. You don't really have much else to do or say so with a wave back, you hop right back through the portal.

It was nice hanging with them. Even if it involved murdering a Silver as the last thing you did. You feel the TOADHOLE CUBE slip out of your pocket as you enter the portal...
>+0.5 RAPPORT TO ALL ALLIES! YOU AND ALL ALLIES HEAL 1 RESTRAINT!

You soon arrive back at your shitty, cold apartment that's barely furnished, landing right on your bed. There's a note taped to the wall next to the bed. as if they were expecting you to see this first thing when you got back home.

"WE NEED TO REASSIGN TROOPS TO MORE IMPORTANT MATTERS. WE GUARDED YOUR PLACE LONG ENOUGH TO DETER NOTABLE THREATS. THIS WILL BE THE LAST NIGHT WE GUARD YOU FOR FREE. AT PEACE."

A week and some change worth of your apartment block being guarded is more than you could ever ask for. You spend the last few minutes you have before you pass out to peel off your bodysuit (and other clothes), take a shower, and to clean up your old bodysuit so another ally can use it.

Once all is said and done, you immediately collapse onto your bed and pass out. Sweet dream time.
>>
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Another dreamless sleep. You don't really have dreams anymore, it's just unconsciousness followed by consciousness. Hopefully it's just you being unable to remember them. You do notice a small bundle of cash on your bed, though.
>-TOADHOLE CUBE, +600 and 1 B-CORP (ALL EYES) and U-CORP FAVOR.
>HEALTH STATS: 4/5 FLESH, 9/9 RESTRAINT.

You squirm underneath the covers of your bed. Fuck, it's colder than usual, and you haven't had time to buy better furniture because most of your money's been spent on trying to survive. You do feel your body change a bit after your experiences last night.
>+1 COGNIZANCE! COGNIZANCE IS NOW 6!

CHOOSE ONE PHYSICAL STAT TO BOOST BY ONE PERMANENTLY!
>VIOLENCE
>TALENT
>FLESH

What do you want to do with your free time while you still have it? Choose four free time actions.
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] You need to clear your head. Take a long, long walk around the District. (You know your home district better. Pick between ANOMALOUS, SECRETS, INFORMATION, SHOP, CACHE, or MYSTERY when picking this. You're more likely to find something in that category when rolling the dice.)
>Check out one of your old caches nearby. See what stuff you have hidden away. (You'll roll 5d100 to see what loot you acquired. You may write in a general category of supply to search for to increase the odds of getting it.)
>Time to start shopping time! (Choose between NEAL'S REAL DEALS, WEIRD ANOMALOUS STORE, LILY'S BONES AND BLADES, W, J, or V-CORP's CATALOGS. NEAL has general supplies, ANOMALOUS has rare and specialized items, BONES AND BLADES has unique consumables and ways to improve your passive healing, and the corpo catalogs offer exclusive corporate items You may spend multiple actions to visit/use multiple of these.)
>Take some time to fiddle around with your PARADIGMS and other anomalous trinkets. (You'll get some nice insight into how all of your PARADIGMs and ANOMALOUS ARTIFACTS tick and you'll get to improve your usage with all of them.)
>Go back to bed. Sleep in more. (+1 MAX FLESH for the upcoming mission, heal 1 FLESH for free.)
>[UNSTABLE] The TV flickers with an unnatural hue. The TV MAN is always there to help you. To show you what the world truly means. Talk to him.
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] You're running out of time before the Spooks try making their move. Call your old contact: The Man on the Phone. Tell him they're onto him and what you've learnt from the other spooks.
>Take some time to exercise. A weak body is a liable in the field. (Pick a PHYSICAL STAT to train, FLESH/VIOLENCE/TALENT. You'll get +1 to that stat during the rest of the upcoming mission.)
>Take some time to study and focus your mind. You need to be smart in order to survive. (Pick a MENTAL STAT to train, COGNIZANCE/WILLPOWER/CHARM. You'll get +1 to that stat during the rest of the upcoming mission.)
(1/2)
>>
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Now that you have those new gloves, try to train some of your powers. You'll be using them a lot. (WILLPOWER DC: ???, rolling 7d6 by yourself. The higher you roll, the more weird quirks and uses you'll find for your powers.)
>Call up an ally and talk to them. No harm in doing that, right? They're your friends, after all. (Write in up to two ALLIES to contact. You'll get a chance to check up on them and earn +0.5 RAPPORT with them.)
>Call a contact you have. (FREE ACTION. Write in. Ms. Anjaro to learn about the Wastes? Ms. Wiltshire about the History of the City? The D, W, J, G, or V-Corp Rep? Alex to cache in some favors? Check up on Mr. Anjaro or Gregory? Someone else?)
>Call Sukane up to get some more TIME. There's always more room for TIME. (FREE ACTION. You may spend $450 to get an additional action or $550 to make a temporary stat boost permanent instead of only for the next mission. Write in how many actions to buy or stats you want to make permanent. You have $5427 to spend.)

>Write in.

100 years of Nicole, Nicole forever.
>>
>>6046624
>>6046625
>FLESH
We need HP badly

Action 1
>[PERSON OF INTEREST]
Help out our mystery contact before it is too late

Action 2
>[UNSTABLE]
Catch up with the TV man especially now that the Head Meeting is nearing

Action 3
>SHOPPING
J CORP CATALOG
We need more supplies after that and in preparation for the base assault. Maybe they have more defensive gear for our friends? We definitely need more of those

Action 4
>Check out one of your old caches nearby.
ARMOR
Survival is paramount for everybody. More prep for the base assault

Free action
>Call Sukane up to get some more TIME.
$450 for additional action
$550 for making a temporary boost permanent
QM can you please explain how this "make a temporary stat boost permanent" works? What does it apply to, so we know to choose properly?

Action 5
>Call up an ally and talk to them.
Ashley to check how that M-Corp thing went with her and her band
Adam to check how he and Benedict are doing; those glowies were still harassing them, are they OK?

Free action
>Call a contact you have.
G-Corp Rep. Are the silver agents putting pressure on her offscreen? What's been going on since the restaurant where we met her?
Gregory to see how he's been doing lately, tell him how we've spoken to his friend Mr. Anjaro at that restaurant about our mutual shining threats...

It's a lot but I think it'll go by quickly.
>capcha: MVPGG
Even the system knows
>>
>>6046656
>QM can you please explain how this "make a temporary stat boost permanent" works? What does it apply to, so we know to choose properly?
If you pick "Sleep in more, "Take some time to exercise", or "Take some time to study", you can spend $550 to make the stat boost you picked in those choices permanent (or just FLESH if it's sleep in).
You just write in which temporary stat boost from those three choices you want to make permanent. If you don't pick those, don't bother picking the $550 option
>>
>>6046656
+1
>>
>>6046624
>FLESH

>Go back to bed. Sleep in more. (+1 MAX FLESH for the upcoming mission, heal 1 FLESH for free.)
>Call Sukane up to get some more TIME. There's always more room for TIME. (FREE ACTION $550 to make a temporary stat boost permanent instead of only for the next mission.)
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Now that you have those new gloves, try to train some of your powers. You'll be using them a lot. (WILLPOWER DC: ???, rolling 7d6 by yourself. The higher you roll, the more weird quirks and uses you'll find for your powers.)
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] You're running out of time before the Spooks try making their move. Call your old contact: The Man on the Phone. Tell him they're onto him and what you've learnt from the other spooks.
>>
>>6046788
Sukane's is a free action that gives 1 more non-free action, anon

>>6046662
Then disregard that part of my votes in >>6046656 please. So no $550 spent
>>
>>6046719
Edit
>>6046656
>>6046889
+1
Add
>Call a contact you have. (FREE ACTION. Write in. Ms. Anjaro to learn about the Wastes? Ms. Wiltshire about the History of the City? The D, W, J, G, or V-Corp Rep? Alex to cache in some favors? Check up on Mr. Anjaro or Gregory? Someone else?)
Contact Ms. Wiltshire to get information and a map about the Part I-CORP district that Handler refers to. In the I-CORP mission summary.
>>
>>6046937
You feel like going on the I-Corp run and not U-Corp?
>>
>>6046939
I definitely want do the U-Corp Mission but I want to get information and map about I-CORP, just incase.
>>
>>6046945
They did offer that commieblock apartment there as a mission reward, didn't they? Speaking of missions, that manager tendril gives everybody with us permanent 3 free dice rerolls per turn for literally anything and with infinite use, but it draws anomaly attention and raises all mission difficulties permanently too. With that said, should we still take some time to go to C-Corp for 1 night at freddy's?
>>
I-CORP Mission Plan 2.0
>"I-Company has been struggling to find resources to operate their Singularity. No, I don't know what it is, but they've been badgering me to help out or they'll cut me off. I know of a part of their District that might still have some resources. Explore and recover any and all resources you can find." REWARD: $950, +FAVOR WITH I-COMPANY, I-Company will provide you with a free apartment in their District if you ever need a place to hide out at. RISK LEVE: MEDIUM.
Team setup idea: Kiara, Quentin, Benedict, Adam, Alexis, Frank,

Reason: Alexis will provide information about his home I-District and provide equipment. Kiara will assist us in exploring the I-District, and she has a strong resistance to cold since she is an Android. Quentin, because he might be resistant to cold too since he is bug-piloting a dead corpse. Benedict is super strong, will help carry a lot of stuff, fight off any hostile individuals, and might be resistant to cold since he is a part machine. Frank will be our guard and scare off any hostile individuals; Adam will assist Benedict.
Also, we are really good at handling the cold weather since we are half deer and we have six fur-lined uniforms in our inventory.
Frank, Alexis, and Adam are the only ones who are not resistant to the cold and need fur-lined uniforms.

Any opinions on my plan?

>>6046948
>With that said, should we still take some time to go to C-Corp for 1 night at freddy's?
No. Maybe next time.
>>
>>6046950
>I-Corp
Nicole can handle the cold after living in District 7, and Alexis being in the district is good. Exploration and recovery might be a good change of pace mission-wise
>Team setup
>Reason
I like all of that. Very solid plan you have there.
>fur lined uniforms
Great reminder on that
>Any opinions
Sounds great to me... but look at this first >>6004618 because relevant
It'd be nice to get a reminder of how far away the Head Meeting is, because I want the U-Corp mission with the Handler first over this I-Corp one. I suspect the Handler one is higher chance of combat over I-Corp's, and I do not want a combat heavy mission to happen right before the base assault.
>Maybe next time.
Time is limited. I'm starting to become convinced that the time for comfy slower-paced jobs is behind us because of the escalating silver threat plus Head Meeting deadline. Perhaps after that when heat is dying down (if it ever does (plus I-Corp being I-Corp, get it?)) we can get Handler to help us unwind with lesser intensity and importance work. A visit to Freddy Fuckboy's Pizzeria sounds like just the thing, and our friends and contacts can really use the free complimentary pizza
>>
>>6046624
>>Time to start shopping time! (Choose between NEAL'S REAL DEALS, WEIRD ANOMALOUS STORE, LILY'S BONES AND BLADES, W, J, or V-CORP's CATALOGS. NEAL has general supplies, ANOMALOUS has rare and specialized items, BONES AND BLADES has unique consumables and ways to improve your passive healing, and the corpo catalogs offer exclusive corporate items You may spend multiple actions to visit/use multiple of these.)
J CORP
>Take some time to fiddle around with your PARADIGMS and other anomalous trinkets. (You'll get some nice insight into how all of your PARADIGMs and ANOMALOUS ARTIFACTS tick and you'll get to improve your usage with all of them.)
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] You're running out of time before the Spooks try making their move. Call your old contact: The Man on the Phone. Tell him they're onto him and what you've learnt from the other spooks.
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Now that you have those new gloves, try to train some of your powers. You'll be using them a lot. (WILLPOWER DC: ???, rolling 7d6 by yourself. The higher you roll, the more weird quirks and uses you'll find for your powers.)
>[UNSTABLE] The TV flickers with an unnatural hue. The TV MAN is always there to help you. To show you what the world truly means. Talk to him.
>Take some time to exercise. A weak body is a liable in the field. (Pick a PHYSICAL STAT to train, FLESH/VIOLENCE/TALENT. You'll get +1 to that stat during the rest of the upcoming mission.)
Talent
>Call Sukane up to get some more TIME. There's always more room for TIME. (FREE ACTION. You may spend $450 to get an additional action or $550 to make a temporary stat boost permanent instead of only for the next mission. Write in how many actions to buy or stats you want to make permanent. You have $5427 to spend.)
TIME*2 and stat boost
>>
>>6046625
>>6046624
>>6046719
Changing part of my vote from
>action 5 = call allies
To
>action 5 = ANOMALOUS
>>
FLESH: ALL

PERSON OF INTEREST: ALL
ANOMALOUS ABILITIES: ALL
UNSTABLE: 00b, dzp, Lm8
SHOP (J-CORP): 00b, dzp, Lm8
EXERCISE: Lm8
FIDDLE WITH PARADIGMS: Lm8
CALL UP SUKANE: ALL (00b, dzp, and Lm8 for extra actions, cWW and Lm8 for stat boosts.)
CHECK OLD CACHE (ARMOR): 00b, dzp
CALL AN OLD CONTACT: 00b, dzp
GO TO SLEEP: cWW

So, given how 3/4 agreed to buy at least one action and no vote that would use a stat boost won, we'll go with
FLESH BOOST
PERSON OF INTEREST + ANOMALOUS ABILITIES + UNSTABLE + J-CORP SHOP + CACHE + OLD CONTACT (mostly because it was the only other vote that go more than one vote and was valid), spending 450 to get some extra time.

Here's the dice I need. Three anons, roll the following.

>7d6 (ANOMALOUS ABILITIES, DC: ???. You don't really have an idea what will happen aside from 'higher = better')
>2d100 (first half o CACHE)
>3d100 (second half of CACHE)

CACHE TABLE (You are 100% certain to get one piece of armor. If you fail to roll ARMOR on any of your d100s, the lowest number roll will be converted into an ARMOR result.)

1-20: Consumable (self explanatory. Drugs, ammo, one time gadgets, healing items, if you use it and it disappears it counts.)
21-68: Defensive (Armor, pepper spray, tasers, cloaking devices, anything meant to protect you.)
69-77: Offensive (Explosives, ammo, new kinds of guns or melee weapons, etc. Something meant to hurt people.)
78-89: Supportive (Counterfeit IDs, tools, advanced cameras, etc etc. Something to help you out in the field.)
90-95: Exclusive (Stolen company resources, company exclusive items, etc etc. Something that usually only highly connected people get.)
96-99: Anomalous (You're not quite sure what you'll get if you roll this.)
100: MYSTERY BOX! (Reroll an additional 3d100. You'll get a rare and unique item of that category.)

Apologize for the delay, was busy with something.

>>6046960
>It'd be nice to get a reminder of how far away the Head Meeting is
[PERSON OF INTEREST] You were told 'in five days from now' after you returned from the Admiral's mission.
[PERSON OF INTEREST] You proceeded to go into the Vanni Mine Mission, which went into the P-Corp Tunnel mission. Those took two days total. Each mission takes one day at minimum.
[PERSON OF INTEREST] Best case scenario, you have three days left. Worst case scenario, you get dragged on an extra long mission and only have two actual days to work with.
[PERSON OF INTEREST] Assume you have two to three missions left before you have to make a move involving the spooks unless stated otherwise.
[PERSON OF INTEREST] Probably better this way. Just fighting one Elite was a pain in the ass. Gives you time to connect and bond with allies, make them stronger, make YOU stronger.
>>
Rolled 25, 76 = 101 (2d100)

>>6047315
Rolling the 2d100
>>
Rolled 61, 25, 10 = 96 (3d100)

>>6047315
Roll the 3d100
>>
Rolled 6, 1, 4, 3, 4, 6, 6 = 30 (7d6)

>>6047315
>>
CACHE RESULTS
25, 25, 61 = DEFENSIVE/ARMOR x3
10 = CONSUMABLE
76 = OFFENSIVE

ANOMALOUS ABILITIES: 30. DECENT SUCCESS.

Writing.
>>
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Before you even dare get out of bed, you might as well make some quick phone calls. You would sleep in and hell, buying time from T-Corp to do so sounds amazing, but feh. Maybe another day.

First up, the G-Corp Rep.

Your call nearly goes to voicemail before it's picked up by a frantic sounding woman. "Hey, look, sorry I know you want to invest in L-Corp Warding Candles but I told you, I need the backing of P-Corp-"

"Woah, woah. It's me. Nicole. G-Corp resident. Antler girl?"

"oh. what's up."

"Seems like you're not doing so hot, huh?"

"no not at all. Last day or so has been really busy. Haven't really gotten anything that could push my Corp in the right direction." Well, you think you have something that could lead her in the right direction at least. "Like obviously we're big enough for the other 25 to respect us but..."

>"We've been tainted with a bad history. It's hard to fill Grave Corp's shoes, after all."<

Huh. That's new. The TARNISHED GOLDEN NECKLACE you looted glows ominously from the table you rested it on. Could've it had something to do with that voice you heard?

"Has anyone been bothering you?"

"Aside from a few representatives from Y and L-Corp, not particularly? There was like this one shady guy in a kinda gaudy outfit who came in a few hours ago but he was disappointed with what I could tell him so he just left." Hm. Seems like the Silvers aren't bothering her too much if they only pestered her during work.

"Well, you invest in transport, right? I would try building more ships for S-Corp. I heard a rumor that they'll need a lot of ships soon." Might as well help them on the right track. Even if you have to leave this district, there's no harm in helping them.

"Huh! Funny thing you mentioned that. One of my coworkers told me she wanted to take me out with a S-Corp rep. I was about to reject it because I'm busy but...you sure?"

"Mmhhmm. 1500% increase. Lotta ships there, dear."

You swear you could hear the poor rep drooling over the phone. "Holy shit, do you know how long I've been waiting for an actual solid trade deal with another corpo? This is going to be the first one I got in months and holy shit that'll bump my productivity score to an Outstanding at least I can pay off college with this-"

"Woah, woah. You gotta nail it first."

"Yeah! Yeah, yeah, uh! Thanks! Shit, yeah, this is going to make up for the last twenty hours of boring meetings! Thanks!"

You decide to hang up after giving her some generic platitudes and 'mmhhmm's. Seems like you're able to do some good for your own District, huh? You decide to get out of bed now and over towards the bathroom while you dial up your next contacts.

Sukane's next.

"Two hours. $450 available. Make it happen."
"Already prepared. Want to meet you later. Heard rumors."

You can feel time twisting in on itself. It's like every atom and fiber of your body and the room you're in is fraying at the seems.
>>
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Then, as if nothing happened at all, time resumes. Given how the morning sun is now gone, you bought enough time to do what you need to do.
>-$450. $4997 left.

"Wait, rumors?"
"Very interesting rumors indeed. From Otto Foxtrot and Clover Guan. Want to meet you later tonight. Whenever available."
"I'll call you once I'm done with my next mission then?"

That's where the call ends. Seems like you'll have a third wheel to your free time later today. So be it.

You step into the shower. At this point, you're used to the orange and pink fur on your stomach + chest. Most of your time in there is just because you have to clean off layers of gunk from all of the dirty water you were swimming in last mission.

Once you finish drying yourself, you prepare to head outside.

Pink bodysuit, baggy coat, winter boots, unknown color gloves. You're not bothering with anything more until you actually know what mission you're on and the bodysuit insulates you well enough. Out of your apartment and onto the streets below.

There's no more tents around your apartment building. The X-Corp soldiers are and truly gone now.

You pull out your phone as you begin to wander down the streets of G-Corp. There's no one else outside at this time of day so all you're left with is yourself and the snow-flooded streets around you. Best to call Gregory so your mind doesn't go into places you don't want it to.

He almost immediately picks up. The sounds of inane chattering and glasses tinging against each other is enough to tell you he's at some kind of party. "Hello! Long time no see. Perfect timing, actually, I was just leaving from one of my cousin's birthday parties! Quite boring as always but I imagine you already know!"

"Sir I only know your granddaughter in any way that actually matters. Maybe your son if you push it. I would not know."

"Ah! I do apologize. My memory gets a bit scattered these days. What seems to be the matter?"

The cold winter winds and the crunching of snow underneath your feet is the only other sound throughout the whole walk. It's a comforting sound at least. Comforting enough to let you think about what you want to say to him.

"Talked to an old acquaintance of yours. A Mr. Anjaro? His first name evades me but he said he knew you?"

"Ah. Haven't talked to him in a while. He's skittish. Usually only communicates to me through old letters and cryptic internet forum messages. He did talk about you. You've been hunted by them too, haven't you?"

[PERSON OF INTEREST] He knows. He fucking knows.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Is it that shocking? He's a member of a highly esteemed Corporate Family who has a member in every single corpo.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Though most of the ones you met mingle around with A and M-Corp.

"Correct."

"Mmh. Perhaps you are the perfect spark." Gregory seems to mutter as if he's not in the line with you. "Well, if you're worried, I haven't seen hide nor hair of them."
>>
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You let out a small sigh of relief. Good. "How's everything else been? Last time I saw you, you were kinda bleeding out in the middle of an abandoned part of A-Corp, aha." You find yourself heading down a random alleyway. You trust your body to know where to go when it comes to finding your caches.

"Feh! My VIE Implant kicked in after you patched me up. I'm more than fine. Thank you for worrying. As for what I've been doing? Reading reviews, brainstorming new movie ideas, pestering A-Corp to stop investing in superhero films. Quite a boring job to be frank."

"Hey, at least you make fifty times my daily salary per day or whatever without half the work." You step up towards the door of an abandoned convenience store you've never seen in your life. Perhaps a shard in your head placed a cache here?

"Fair. I suppose I have no right to complain. I'm actually going on a Citywide tour for some new inspiration. I might happen to bump onto you while you're on the job. Don't mind me if you see me, okay?"

"...Okay? That's kinda ominous." You push open the door, letting the winter air blow in. The shelves are picked clean, leaving only behind the empty shelves and counters of the once thriving store. The bitter cold has prevented any mold or rot from setting in so it's otherwise perfectly preserved.

A powered off TV sits on the counter, seemingly meant for the former cashier of this place. How dreadfully convenient. You'll talk to him once you're done shopping.

"No need to treat it as such. I think it kills two birds with one stone if I happen upon you. The shenanigans you pull that I keep hearing about are quite intriguing. I could probably make a whole movie about you. And perhaps I can assist if I so happen to find you."

Hm. An ally for free, huh? You kneel down to look at the tiles on the floor as you keep talking to Gregory. "I wouldn't oppose to that. Though are you sure that's safe?"

"You don't live as long as I do without a few tricks. Also, tell those two lovebirds to stop being so loud if you work with them again." He immediately hangs up after that.

You can't help but to retch. Fucking hell, have some tack, Greg. With your telekinesis, you rip away at the tiles on the floor until you find what you're looking for.

CACHE OBTAINED!
>BALLISTIC WEAVE (ARMOR. A thick layer of fabric meant to be worn underneath your shirt. Has five charges before it needs repairs to regain them. When hit by a ranged attack, lose 1 charge and reduce FLESH damage taken by 2.)
>SYNDICAKE x2 (CONSUMABLE. A box of drug-fueled snack cakes. Highly illegal in X, J, and R-Corp. In high demand with all other districts. When consumed, allows the user to reroll two dice they roll. Dice rerolled through this item are d8s.)
>ARMGUARDS (ACCESSORY. Made out of reinforced cotton padding. Blocks one CRIPPLING INJURY per mission.)
>BULLETPROOF VEST (ARMOR. Reduces all ranged attack damage by 1 and has a small chance to outright negate it.)
>>
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>MEDIUM QUALITY BODYARMOR (ARMOR. +1 MAX FLESH, has three charges before it needs repairs to regain them. When hit, consumes 1 charge to reduce FLESH damage taken by 1.)

Nice cache. After putting everything you found onto the nearby counter, you decide it's time to test out your powers. You mostly just wing it with them so it'll be a nice change of pace to actually try experimenting with them.

First things first, you make a small incision on your neck. Immediately, gas begins to leak out of it. The specter you summon is flimsy and half formed so all it has to it is a pair of eyes and the rough outline of a head. That's all you need. You're curious if this works. You focus your SIGHTJACKING on the DISASSOCIATION specter...

And it works! Your vision immediately shifts into the specter's point of view. While granted, this isn't much of a perspective shift given where it's located, the sheer fact you're able to do this at all opens up some options. After all, it's easy to slip in something gaseous through a gap in a wall or door.
>SIGHTJACK + DISASSOCIATION COMBO REVEALED! (You may use DISASSOCIATION's specters to investigate rooms you or other allies can't physically access in vivid detail or to spot people approaching from angles you couldn't see.)

Your vision shifts back once you stop focusing. You can't exactly use your powers willy nilly even with the gloves but even some light experimentation could offer you some insight. You pick up a random tile off the floor. It's cold, smooth, and made out of ceramic.

You begin to focus on it with all of your mental effort. Sparks of pink and purple light flicker out of your antlers. It takes a lot of effort to heat up the whole tile to an even temperature but when you focus on one specific spot, it heats up REAL quick. Almost quick enough to start warping the actual ceramic.

Hm. You hold up one of the many revolver bullets you have. You have an interesting idea. You begin to focus on the primer of the bullet to heat it while keeping it pointed towards a random shelf. It might take a lot of effort to control what you plan on doing next but you gotta try.

Soon, the gunpowder inside is heated enough to the point where the bullet is sent flying like it was fired out of a gun. It takes all of your focus but despite the fact the bullet went off, it's not going anywhere. You begin to slowly shift the angle at which the bullet will travel before letting go.

The bullet is promptly sent flying up into the ceiling the moment you let your focus slip. Hot damn. It took a lot to keep all of that energy under control but you can actually stop bullets in place. Even if only a bit.

>-1 REVOLVER BULLET
>TELEKINESIS SUBABILITY UNLOCKED! (You now have a small chance to automatically slow down bullets fired at you, reducing damage taken or flatout stopping them from hitting you. You may spend 2 RESTRAINT to fully reroll all dice of a RANGED attack you make by altering the trajectory of the bullet with your mind.)
>>
You feel your mind beginning to fizzle. That's enough experimenting for now. You plop down on the convenience store counter. You'll talk to the TV MAN and go back home after you do your shopping here.

You stretch your body, feeling how oddly tough it's getting after weeks of constant work.
>You now have MAX FLESH of 5 by default, 6 with BODYSUIT ON. TOTAL FLESH: 5/6.

You crack open your J-Corp catalog. Let's see what you can buy.

MONEY: $4997
BARTER SUPPLIES: A-ENERGY x4, C-EXTRACT x3, DEGRADED C-EXTRACT x2 (Counts as 2 A-ENERGY), FISH PILE (VERY RARE) x2 (Equal to 3 A-ENERGY), FISH (SPECIAL) x2 (Equal to 1 C-EXTRACT). They don't seem to care about anything else.

X-CORP MEDAL DISCOUNT ACTIVATED! -10% TO ALL PRICES!

AVAILABLE ITEMS
>HOLLOWPOINT PISTOL ROUNDS (3 per $112 or 6 per A-Energy. Allows the user to reroll four of their dice when fired. Offers no other benefit.)
>CRYO GRENADE (1 per $225. Deals lingering cold damage to enemies, reducing their max FLESH by 2 and their dice amount by 3 permanently. Extra effective against biologicals.)
>KRAV MAGA MANUAL (1 per $675 or 1 C-EXTRACT. When used on you or an ally, boosts their VIOLENCE by 1 permanently and their innate melee/unarmed attack roll by 1 side (d6 --> d7 --> d8, etc etc etc).)
>'OFFICER OF THE MONTH APPROVED" ID CARD ($360 or 1 A-ENERGY per. When consumed, your next CONNECTIONS or CHARM roll will d10s instead of d6s. Easy for getting your way in hairy situations.)
>ON HIRE J-CORP OFFICER (1 per $675 or 1 A-ENERGY + $50. If picked, an officer will passively assist you during the upcoming mission in the background. Has no morals or qualms about the job in question. Things will just seem to go a bit easier during your missions. The more hired, the better.)
>EMERGENCY HOTLINE RADIO (1 per C-EXTRACT or $669. When used, a pair of J-Corp officers will arrive to assist you and your allies as soon as possible. Very useful when a situation gets too dire.)
>HANDGUN AMMO (4 PISTOL AMMO PER $76, 3 REVOLVER AMMO PER $103, 6 PISTOL + 5 REVOLVER AMMO per 2 A-ENERGY.)
>TASER. (1 per $150. Comes with three charges. Spend a charge to roll an extra 2d8 when attacking a mechanical entity or to incapacitate an enemy for one round.)
>SHOTGUN SLUG (2 per $70, 6 per A-Energy. Shotgun go pew.)
>LAWBRINGER. The gun of the law. (1 per $1125 or 1 C-EXTRACT + 2 A-ENERGY or 3 A-ENERGY + $205. RANGED WEAPON. Consumes REVOLVER AMMO. ATTACK ROLL: TALENT+CHARM+2. Has no other innate bonuses aside from hitting like a god damn truck.)
>[H-CORP ID] TRAIL CLEANSING PROTOCAL ($675 or 2 A-Energy. After you complete your next mission, a group of J-Corp and H-Corp employees will take their time to wipe away any physical trace that you were ever in the general area you were in. Very good for distracting and confusing the spooks.)

What do you want to buy, if anything?
>Write in. (If an option has multiple purchase methods, write in which one(s) you use.)
>Close the catalog. Nothing in here is that interesting.
>>
>>6047467
>>LAWBRINGER. The gun of the law. (1 per $1125 or 1 C-EXTRACT + 2 A-ENERGY or 3 A-ENERGY + $205. RANGED WEAPON. Consumes REVOLVER AMMO. ATTACK ROLL: TALENT+CHARM+2. Has no other innate bonuses aside from hitting like a god damn truck.)

1 fish + 205

>CRYO GRENADE (1 per $225. Deals lingering cold damage to enemies, reducing their max FLESH by 2 and their dice amount by 3 permanently. Extra effective against biologicals.)

X3

>KRAV MAGA MANUAL (1 per $675 or 1 C-EXTRACT. When used on you or an ally, boosts their VIOLENCE by 1 permanently and their innate melee/unarmed attack roll by 1 side (d6 --> d7 --> d8, etc etc etc).)

C extract

>SHOTGUN SLUG (2 per $70, 6 per A-Energy. Shotgun go pew.)

6 slugs

>'OFFICER OF THE MONTH APPROVED" ID CARD ($360 or 1 A-ENERGY per. When consumed, your next CONNECTIONS or CHARM roll will d10s instead of d6s. Easy for getting your way in hairy situations.)

Money

>EMERGENCY HOTLINE RADIO (1 per C-EXTRACT or $669. When used, a pair of J-Corp officers will arrive to assist you and your allies as soon as possible. Very useful when a situation gets too dire.)

Money

When we assault the base I kinda want On Hire and Trail cleansing.
>>
>>6047462
Also, and it doesn't matter aside from my autism, a round going off isn't going to do much more than unseat the bullet from the case and maybe send it a foot or two if it is not shot from something with a barrel. The expanding gas isn't focused and just goes everywhere instead of being forced behind the bullet.
>>
>>6047483
Fair.
Counter argument, you set off the bullet by thinking at it really hard.
>>
I think we need to buy two TASERs because we don’t have a weapon to incapacitate the enemy with. We Only has two TRANQUIZLER SYRINGE and we don’t have a TRANQUIZLER gun. (But we can use our telekinesis power to throw it at enemies.)
>>
Just going to do my shop vote for the time being
Also by the way
>BARTER SUPPLIES
We have 2 regular C-Extract in addition to 3 of the Admiral C-Extract and the 2 DEGRADED C-Extract from the fleshy Manager we saved

>>6047467
>SHOTGUN SLUG
Buy 6 = 1 A
>'OFFICER OF THE MONTH APPROVED" ID CARD
Buy 1 = $360
>EMERGENCY HOTLINE RADIO
Buy 1 = 1 regular C
>KRAV MAGA MANUAL
Buy 1 = 1 regular C
>TASER
Buy 2 = $300
>CRYO GRENADE
Buy 3 = $675
>HOLLOWPOINT PISTOL ROUNDS
Buy 3 = $112
>HANDGUN AMMO
Buy 6 Pistol 5 Revolver = 2 A
>LAWBRINGER
Buy 1 = 1 VERY RARE FISH + $205

TOTAL SPENT:
2 regular C
3 A
1 VERY RARE FISH
$1652

Here's my logic:
>Shotgun Slugs
The only people who use a shotgun are Nicole and Kiara, and we just gave Kiara a SERVICE PISTOL plus the SPOOK SHADES to match. Nicole has TWO fucking shotties, and one of them is the FEDKILLER. Both scale differently too, so both are worth keeping as we saw in the ship mission against the pirates. We can share excess shotgun ammo with Kiara, plus Nicole still has the dank specialized ammos too. A good investment for the future if we have to burn ammo murdering spooks
>'OFFICER OF THE MONTH APPROVED" ID CARD
Nicole's still the lowest on CHARM not to mention this could be used by anybody we have. d10s are STRONG. This card is also nicely cheap
>EMERGENCY HOTLINE RADIO
If this is as good as I think it is, it's worth buying. The money cost is really high, so I'd rather spend a regular C on this instead
>KRAV MAGA MANUAL
I really wanted to buy 2 of these instead, but it's pricey and I want to save some money too. We could use this on anybody that relies on melee. I'm thinking Ashley because it feels like she's fallen behind and this plus Dreary's HUNTING KNIFE can help her catch up in power
>TASER
What >>6047498 said
>CRYO GRENADE
AoE against glowies in the base sounds great. Can pair up well with our other AoEs like RAW NOVASTONE CHUNK and whatever else. Fuck dice values up
>HOLLOWPOINT PISTOL ROUNDS
>HANDGUN AMMO
Our pistol users are Quentin (SERVICE PISTOL), Kiara (same), Naomi (same), and Max (DERRINGER). The new one will be Alexis once we give the ROYAL BLUE DERRINGER to her, so Nicole is probably not going to need any pistol or pistol ammo ever. We can pass all the pistol rounds including specialized ones to them when the time comes for the big fights
>LAWBRINGER
I originally didn't want this, but I do now because I remembered Benjamin has no weapon. The best ones for this are Clover (7 TALENT 4 CHARM, but he has his special revolver already), Casey (6 TALENT 5 CHARM, but she has her infinite ammo dog gun), Kiara (6 TALENT 4 CHARM, but she already has SERVICE PISTOL and no revolver anything) and Quentin (SERVICE PISTOL, but who knows how his stats will be next body). Once Alexis gets her ROYAL BLUE DERRINGER, that's that. So LAWBRINGER for Benjamin sounds good to me.
>>
>>6047648
+1
>>
Might as well go over costs too
>Lex
$90
>Alexis
13% of base reward money
>Quentin
$35 for every person not used to him (right now that's only Frank)
>Benjamin
$42
>Kiara
FREE if anomalous, $90 otherwise
>Maruyama
$85
>Adam
$85
>Ashley
$82
>Max
$80
>Frank
$270
>Naomi
$180
>Casey
$75
>Clover
$200
>Benedict
+$444 gained
>Wendy
$199 or +$366 if we spend 1 W-CORP FAVOR

If my math is right, the cost to hire ALL of our allies on the same mission totals to $1069+13% at most. If the base assault counts as ANOMALOUS for Kiara and we also burn a W-CORP FAVOR on Wendy hiring, that instead totals to $414+13%. We have 3 W-CORP FAVOR banked right now if you include the one from double-tapping Dreary, so it's doable if we want to. Turns out Wendy going from costing us $199 to PAYING US $366 to bring her reduces a massive chunk of the total expense. Bear in mind that all these numbers are without any potential cost reductions like whatever Wendy's will be after the talk in >>6044742.
>>
U-CORP Mission Plan 1.0
>[BONUS MISSION] [ANOMALOUS?] "Listen, I trust you. I need YOU to join ME, personally, on a visit to U-Corp's District, District 21. There's a briefcase with VERY sensitive contents about U-Corp and myself in it. We need to get it, recover it, and return it to U-Corp." REWARD: $850, +FAVOR WITH U-COMPANY, improved relationship with the Handler, U-Company will offer you and the Handler some unique and rare anomalous PARADIGMs for use in future missions RISK LEVEL: HIGH.
Team setup idea: Adam, Benedict, Frank, Naomi, Kiara, Alexis,
Reason: Benedict will be our hammer and shield. Kiara will be our scout. Adam and Frank will be our combat grunts. Alexis provides equipment and support from his radio operator (Boons: CORPORATE ELITE). Naomi will be our commander.
we will get $444 if we bring Benedict on this mission.
Cost: -$845.5
Gain if we don't get or complete any bonus rewards from the U-Corp mission: +$218.5 and unique PARADIGMs for us and handlers
Any opinions on my plan?
>>
>>6046605
>bankrupt us
It's good to know that even this big organization has its limits despite their mysterious backing. If they have all this money then that means they can lose it. There is a potential end goal there perhaps
>requires human neurological matter
Enkephalin?
>bosses warn me
Nicole quickly becoming glownig enemy #1
>the Eye in the Sky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56hqrlQxMMI
>recognize where
A prime time to intel gather on where they're located for future attacks?

>>6046608
>gunshots
Are they using the "if you get shot enough, you can become immune to bullets!" method? They're mentioning J-Corp questioning things and "how many we could use". The fuck is that about?
>self destruct
Unless we learn the code and removal method from Naomi or directly from glownig files
>Time Extension program
Maruyama or Sukane could tell us more
>trade agreement
Oh fuck, we definitely need to talk to those two. Handler would want to know this too because this is a lead on who's working with them

>>6046612
>bleeding red
Alex removed the implants so now her blood is not being replaced or cycled that way. She's still strong enough to crack the handcuffs as is
>the original
Is she? Are you? We know nothing concrete about Nicole's past except slivers
>rumors
Discrediting Nicole with a doppelganger is bullshit. They're trying to do it with Benjamin too. Did we already tell Max about that, or did I forget? We might have to damage control later if any of our allies or important contacts tries to turn on us after being fooled
>liver
Just like I said. Thanks QM
>TOADHOLE CUBE
How did B-Corp collect it mid-transit?

>>6046624
>barely furnished
>better furniture
Maybe once we have better digs, we can invest a couple hundred bucks on that? A girl needs a nice place
>>
>>6047459
>bad history
>Grave Corp
INFORMANT said a CEO from there wanting out and dying fighting out is what started the Antiseptic War. The damn shareholders began to fight and escalate. No wonder the other companies look down on current G-Corp
>Y and L-Corp
We haven't worked with either yet. Y-Corp might be the ones against the silver agents with that mystery satellite and PROJECT: THORN and Mr. Anjaro's likely link. L-Corp I'm still not sure on
>pay off college
An innocuous line very reminiscent of ProjectMoon's setting. Horrifying
>do some good
Even if Nicole wasn't born and raised here, this can come back to help us as leverage
>time twisting
Exposure to the WATERLOGGED POCKETWATCH is building timestop resistance, good

>>6047460
>Foxtrot
We told him Sukane's name before. Good that Handler contacted him offscreen
>Clover
Did Clover call Sukane offscreen too? Sometime overnight between Nicole leaving to the agent interrogation and waking up? First mission together and Clover's already doing this for Nicole, wow. From Thread 3, Clover was the one who gave Sukane's contact info and recommended Nicole to him in turn
>cryptic internet forum messages
Like on here? :^)
>perfect spark
The hope the City needs?

>>6047461
>VIE implant
Worth looking into later
>stop investing in superhero films
They won't! They're going to drive capeshit to the ground like they did with zombie movies!
>I keep hearing about
I wonder how much he truly knows. Perhaps everything?
>stop being so loud
I bet he's already looking forward to his great-grandkids
>BALLISTIC WEAVE
Somebody seriously vulnerable to ranged needs this. Could be anybody
>CACHE OBTAINED
Solid haul. These are all good and worth having on anybody without preexisting armor and who isn't Kiara and Benedict. I don't care to minmax them too hard

>>6047462
>SIGHTJACK + DISASSOCIATION COMBO
Huge stealth op potential
>TELEKINESIS SUBABILITY UNLOCKED
Powerful, not much else to say
>>
>>6047680
Drop Kiara for Maruyama? Maruyama also has his own briefcase, so we could do some shenanigans with swapping the contents or similar. Also we have yet to talk to him more about the S-CORP LEDGER we gave him back during the movie night. I was looking back and saw this too
>NEW MEMORIES OF A FORGOTTEN ERA ABILITY UNLOCKED! (At any time, you may make a WILLPOWER check to pull an item recorded from the past into the real world.)
This is something we've never used before either.
>>
>>6047490
Which is why I noted that I don't really care, since this is a setting with anomalies, androids, bug people, ect.
>>
>>6047723
How about adding Maruyama to the team?
Team setup idea: Adam, Benedict, Frank, Naomi, Kiara, Alexis, Maruyama,
Maruyama acts as a decoy or double body?
>>
Also, Maruyama has this boon.
>[DISARMING PRESENCE] He has learned how to weaponize his bland and generic appearance to his benefit. People and companies are far more willing to give up information to him. He also automatically passes most stealth checks due to blending in. Useful at gathering intel.
>>
Maruyama can act as our watchers up ahead of our group while we escort handlers.
>EARPIECE (Useless by its own, Alexis and Benjamin have the other ones and they're out of range.)
We should give our earpiece to Maruyama so he can report anything suspicious up ahead to Alexis, or make Alexis give his earpiece to Maruyama so he can report things to us.
The enemies will ignore Maruyama due to his boons.
>>
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You sign there, there, there, and there. You turn on the old CRT TV resting on the counter by fiddling with the various dials on it. You lazily swing your feet as you finish filling out the catalog. All that's left to do is to wait for the TV MAN to appear.

You'll probably get them delivered to your apartment. By the time you're back, it should already be there. G-Corp's main thing is transportation in every shape and form, after all. Shipping is their specialty.

>-$1652, 2 C-EXTRACT, 3 A-ENERGY, 1 VERY RARE FISH.
>3 C-EXTRACT (forgot about the 2 I gave you), 1 A-ENERGY, 1 VERY RARE FISH, and $3345 remains
>+SHOTGUN SLUG x6, KRAV MAGA MANUAL, TASER x2, LAWBRINGER, EMERGENCY HOTLINE RADIO, PISTOL AMMO x6, REVOLVER ROUNDS x5, CRYO GRENADE x3, HOLLOWPOINT PISTOL ROUNDS x3, 'OFFICER OF THE MONTH APPROVED" ID CARD!

The television crackles to life the moment you finish marking off the last item on your catalog. Perfect timing. The familiar sight of a man in a sky-blue suit and an ear-to-ear smile is now broadcasted on the television's screen. The warm crackle of a fire can be heard through the television from some unknown source off-camera.

"Three days. Three days until your reckoning. Until the 26 most powerful people in the City meet. The L-Corp King will rise from his throne at the sheer tedium of it. Remember that."

"Tell me something I don't know, TV MAN." You cross your legs, waiting for the vaguely disconcerting television entity to keep on talking. You have no idea what the king line is about. Probably just their version of a CEO.

The TV MAN's smile wanes ever so slightly but he continues on his rambling regardless. "TODAY'S BROADCAST WILL HAVE FOUR MESSAGES. HERE IS YOUR FIRST MESSAGE!" The TV MAN holds up one of his fingers.

"ONE: B-CORP and X-CORP have both received abnormalities. B-Corp intercepted one on behalf of a X-Corp rep's influence for experimentation on anti-reality phenomenon. It is very likely they will develop a breakthrough on how to fundamentally alter how people perceive reality. Perhaps the Head will pry into who sent them this anomaly. X-Corp is in a state of mourning."

[PERSON OF INTEREST] You're known by X-Corp and J-Corp, B-Corp is soon to notice you. The three major associates of the Head. You're worried about how much attention that'll bring to you.

"Who knows how or why but a large section of X-Corp has fallen into a state of peace and tranquility. A moment of silence for the lost. I heard from a friend of a friend that due to this, their hesitant relationship with E and Q-Corp has been solidified into something far healthier. It's very probable that you'll see the fruits of a E and Q-Corp collab on your next mission. Machine and bug..."

[UNSTABLE] Disgusting. Perhaps your association with their partner companies will spare you from that bug-machine's wrath.

"TWO! Remember that old P-Corp facility?"
>>
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"Due heavy but 'safe' levels of A-Energy entering the air, the neighboring district of I-Corp has been noticing some quite unusual behaviors developing in their people. I wouldn't be shocked if SHIFTers were found if you visit I-Corp's district. Though the whole City is likely to feel it, especially any allies you have with SPARKs. They likely developed something."

[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Maruyama, Benedict, Max, Benjamin, and MAYBE Clover. Those are the four to five affected.

"P-Corp and U-Corp have already noticed this and have quickly rushed in to investigate it. Recovering what's left from the others scavenging it will keep them complacent for a while. I wouldn't expect P-Corp to ask for you to work directly for their facility today and tomorrow."

You let out a sigh of relief. Good, maybe you'll get something new when the Handler badgers you with missions.

"THREE! M-Corp has decided to allow a starlet by the name of Ashley M. and her band "Strands of Silvers" to play at an upcoming event. Due to the proximity of this to the Meeting with the Head, it's very possible her and her associates will be invited to it. Given your association to her, the Krakatoas, Foxtrot, and other high ranking officials?"

"Don't be shocked if you're forcefully dragged to it right after or right before your base invasion. That is if you even attempt to invade it to begin with."

You can already feel a pit forming in your stomach. Oh god, oh fuck, you're not sure if you're remotely prepared to go to such an event. You wanted it as an excuse to mess with the spooks or to explore unimpeded. You doubt you can hide under the radar now so...that's something you have to account for.

"FOUR! The 521 Association are scared and horrified of you. They're scared that they're losing time, losing their ability to stop you. Losing their biggest sponsors."

"Keep an eye out. They're not going to stick to scouting and watching you from a distance for much longer. Especially with your X-Corp guards disappearing. Especially with the rumors being spread about you."

"You have a $35000 bounty on your head. Keep your head on straight."

The television's screen immediately shatters into a million tiny shards the moment he finishes that sentence. You take a moment to process that last warning. You weren't given an exact date or district to avoid but the fact he mentioned the association and not just Ashton? This problem is going to be all six of them. The doppelgangers, Ashton, Vincent, and Aster.

You can only hold you don't have to actually fight them. You're not good in an actual one on one fight and you don't want your allies being mauled either.

You pick your phone to dial a certain contact on your way back to your house. He almost immediately picks up.

"Explorer. State your purpose. Quick."

"'Interviewed' a 'Guest'. Spilled about knowing about someone amongst them. They know someone's snooping."
>>
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"Fuck. Not good. Was trying to meet up with another Zeta-Zero. Didn't know they figured out."

"They're more distracted by a 'Wild Deer' than anything. You got some time before they figure out it's you."

"ETA?"

"Three days. They'll take the Head Meeting to restructure. Heard that from our guest. You got until then to get as much as you can."

"Affirmative. Will shed current persona then. I need you to meet me at a bar in District 5, E-Corp, two days from now so I can exchange contact info."

"Bring Camera along. That's how I'll know you're real." Kiara, then? Noted.

"I'll remember that. Bring back whatever you can find then."

"Affirmative." The call then disconnects. At least you managed to warn him in time. That should make sure you don't lose out on a valuable contact against the spooks.

You soon find yourself back in your apartment. You take some time to bring back the things you ordered from the J-Corp Catalog back inside. Once you're back in, you immediately peel off all of your clothes except for the pink bodysuit before collapsing onto your old mattress.

Look, you're off the clock, you gotta wait for the Handler to give you a mission. You might as well get comfortable and warm yourself up on your bed. Even if you can't sleep yet. Can't a girl with weird physical mutations and who reeks of blood every day enjoy a moment of relaxation???

You kick your feet in the air while you begin dialing up the Handler's number. All you gotta do is wait.

You almost go to voicemail before the Handler actually manages to pick up. The chattering, screaming, crying and laughter over the line is not coming from him but you can't tell where the fuck he could be at. The only thing that clues you in is disconnected phrases like "BUY MORE" and "GOD DAMNIT S-CORP IS UP 1000% BUY MORE STOCK."

"Hey. Having a harder time finding a good stock to invest in since the fuckin' Great Depression. I was thinking about investing in Spacecoin. Do you think I should?" The Handler yawns, mumbling blasé pleasantries towards random people in the background.

"I wouldn't kn-"

"Thanks, yeah, was finding an excuse not to. This one hag calling herself 'Catherine Yue' or something keeps telling me to invest in her cryptocoin. Something about it going to the moon." Thank god you don't have deer ears because they would've perked up at that.

That name's familiar. You saw that on Gregory's ancient phone. You would question him about it but he immediately interrupts.

"Let's get to the point. You want a job, I want shit that's bugging me dealt with, we're both exploiting each other. You're very useful but I rather not get too attached. Last time I had a rising starlet..." The line goes cold for the briefest moment.

>"Can't make the same mistake again. Not with another woman. Keep it professional, Otto."<

Seems like your TARNISHED GOLDEN NECKLACE works on him as well. How useful.
>>
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You're not shocked he had someone before but you doubt it's just a former Cleaner + Handler relationship given how hesitant and cagey he got over it. Perhaps an old flame?

"So, let's cut to the chase. Pick one." Whatever the case, you doubt you'll learn today. Probably not wise to prod at the man who pays your bills.

CHOOSE YOUR MISSION!
>[ANOMALOUS] "To put it shortly, a highly important corporate figure died while being transported through a Y-Corp portal. Here's the big issue though: That shouldn't be possible. Portal travel is near instant and there's no visible wounds on them. Head to Y-Corp and figure out how and why that happened." REWARD: $1375, +FAVOR WITH Y-CORP, you'll be granted limited access to very potent portal tech to help you and your allies in the future. RISK LEVEL: CHALLENGING
>[ANOMALOUS] "We got reports of a certain anomaly that's been terrorizing District 14. Some sort of big crash test dummy thing called APEX PREDATOR? Whatever it is, it's been killing a lot of people. Recontain or weaken it enough for the ETF to get." REWARD: $1452, +FAVOR WITH P-CORP, 6 A-ENERGY PACKETS AND 1 C-EXTRACT. RISK LEVEL: HIGH. Regardless of who you pick, Benjamin and Max will offer you intel to help you on this mission.
>"You're staying in your district this time around. Someone, or something, has been ravaging the highways throughout G-Corp's district and a lot of truckers are going missing too. Find out who did it and stop them. Now." REWARD: $1000, +2 FAVORS with G-CORP and the WORKING CLASS, you'll be given an unmarked truck for personal use to make future exploration/travel easier. RISK LEVEL: MODERATE
>"I-Company has been struggling to find resources to operate their Singularity. No, I don't know what it is, but they've been badgering me to help out or they'll cut me off. I know of a part of their District that might still have some resources. Explore and recover any and all resources you can find." REWARD: $950, +FAVOR WITH I-COMPANY, I-Company will provide you with a free apartment in their District if you ever need a place to hide out at. RISK LEVEL: MEDIUM-HIGH
>"Want to commit incredible levels of hyperviolence? I know you do, you sick bitch! You sick fucking bastard! I got a corporate elite I want you to hunt down and do unspeakable things to! DO WHAT COMES NATURAL!!!" REWARD: $2750, improved relationship with your Handler and the Huxleys, +1 max VIOLENCE and TALENT to all allies who go on this mission. RISK LEVEL: VERY HIGH.
>"Things have been hectic and it's been hard to get a calm mission but you might need it. Might not pay well but look, man, shit's been rough. C-Company needs a guard for one of their establishments. Keep an eye on everything, it'll be fine. May or may not be haunted!" REWARD: $600, improved relationships with C-Company, +1 MAX RESTRAINT to you and all allies who join you this mission. RISK LEVEL: LOW-MEDIUM
(1/3)
>>
>[WARNING] "V-Company called. I'm not sure how or WHY you managed to impress them but they want to drag your ass out to do a favor for them. Something about an old building that was ran by the Company that came before the Company that V-Corp took over. Explore it, grab what you can find, and escape. Alive." REWARD: $4250, vastly improved relationship with V-Corp, V-Corp will personally offer you a role in their company in the future, you'll learn more about the world before the City. RISK LEVEL: Good luck. :)
>"Q-Company is having an issue with producing the latest lines of Drones. While E, X, and H-Corp have been helping as much as they can, perhaps a more feminine touch could help? I dunno, just figure out why the drones aren't coming out right and fix it." REWARD: $1000, improved relationship with Q-Corp, you'll get a chance to upgrade yourself or your allies with biological upgrades from Q-Corp. RISK LEVEL: MEDIUM
>[BONUS MISSION] [ANOMALOUS?] "Listen, I trust you. I need YOU to join ME, personally, on a visit to U-Corp's District, District 21. There's a briefcase with VERY sensitive contents about U-Corp and myself in it. We need to get it, recover it, and return it to U-Corp." REWARD: $855, +FAVOR WITH U-COMPANY, improved relationship with the Handler, U-Company will offer you and the Handler some unique and rare anomalous PARADIGMs for use in future missions. RISK LEVEL: HIGH.

WHO TO HIRE? CHOOSE AS MANY AS YOU WANT AND CAN AFFORD. CURRENT MONEY: $3345
>[UPG] LEX. Your easily pleased anomalously empowered muscle who has a bloodlust you need to sate. ($90)
>ALEXIS. A supplier of equipment and connections. Somewhat flaky and liable to draw attention. (Will ask for a 13% cut of the reward money.)
>QUENTIN. Incredibly loyal ally who has a hard time staying dead. Poor stats, freaks others out. Has the ability to fly and dodge attacks. (Free, except Frank will cost $35 more to hire.)
>BENJAMIN. Fully licensed as a pharmacist, Open Minded to the supernatural. Has a crimson spark that needs a push to ignite. Delusional, credulous, and naive. ($42)
>MARUYAMA. Resilient mindset, has a way with negotiations and blending in with crowds. Has a latent spark waiting to bloom. Emotionally and physically spent. ($85 to hire.)
>[UPG] KIARA. Fellow explorer of the City with a vast amount of knowledge. Artificial physiology lacks the same limits as flesh and bone. Can mimic other people. Prone to making rash decisions. (Free if you pick a mission tagged [ANOMALOUS] or [ANOMALOUS?]. $75 otherwise.)
>ADAM. A long career of working as a chef has instilled amazing levels of accuracy and technical precision. Practicing surgeon. Hard worker. Tends to overcorrect when situations get dicey. ($85)
>[UPG] MAX, an Aristocrat. High in demand with the Companies and has extensive access to corporate assets. Held in contempt by other Cleaners and the working class, very sheltered. Has a chaotic spark that longs to explore the world. ($80.)
(2/3)
>>
>[UPG] NAOMI. Well versed in all military matters and a great commander. Has old glowie habits she's trying to break out of. Has a knack for analyzing the quirks and potential of people around her. Old age and scars have ruined her body. ($155)
>FRANK. His main job as an ETF agent grants incredible combat and non-combat experience and far higher base stats. Has access to resources you could never hope to get by yourself. Incredibly blunt and crass, liable to piss other people off (including you). ($265)
>[UPG] CLOVER. A casino manager who larps as a cowboy, has the sharpshooting skills to back it up. Unshakeable morale and has a resolute will that's hard to break. VERY stubborn. Has a hidden ability. ($175)
>[UPG] CASEY. Optimistic spirit lightens the mood of everyone she interacts with, very experienced at convincing people. Has a queen bee-like mindset. Emotional. ($60)
>[UPG] BENEDICT. A chef partially transformed into an anomaly. Half-man-half-machine anatomy grants immense strength and physical resistances, has anomalous powers and abilities. Fractured mind that requires careful observation, UNSTABLE. (+$444 if you hire him. You get more money hiring him as you raise Adam and his own RAPPORT.)
>[UPG] WENDY. A W-Company rep. Has a similar mind as you, meshes well with you and follows your orders easily. Feared in the corporate world. Fucking LOATHES anomalies and will take any chance she can to rip them to shreds. UNSTABLE. ($143 or +$411 if you spend a W-CORP favor while hiring her. You have 2 FAVORS left. Write in whether you use a favor or not if you hire her.)

And lastly, do you want to bring MANAGER'S FLESH along? It will bump up the risk level of the mission you picked and at best, you can only the scent for limited periods of time.
>YES (NEXT MISSION IS MORE DANGEROUS, YOU GET TO ACCESS TO MANAGER'S FLESH MANY FREE REROLLS)
>NO (NO RISK INCREASE, NO FREE REROLLS)

Will update Pastebin after I wake up with your items and other minor things I should've added earlier. As for NEW YOU, you'll get it this mission but to avoid unnecessary vote bloat, I'll just pick the best form for it depending on the mission you vote for.
Better to automate certain things. Also, in case you forgot, [UPG] just means they have a RAPPORT UPGRADE available when you next hire them.
Anyways, time to buy some fish for my father's birthday. He's oddly obsessed with them. Can't blame him, fish are cute.
>>
>>6048537
>[BONUS MISSION] [ANOMALOUS?] "Listen, I trust you. I need YOU to join ME, personally, on a visit to U-Corp's District, District 21. There's a briefcase with VERY sensitive contents about U-Corp and myself in it. We need to get it, recover it, and return it to U-Corp." REWARD: $855, +FAVOR WITH U-COMPANY, improved relationship with the Handler, U-Company will offer you and the Handler some unique and rare anomalous PARADIGMs for use in future missions. RISK LEVEL: HIGH.
>ALEXIS.
>MARUYAMA.
>[UPG] KIARA.
>ADAM.
>[UPG] BENEDICT.
>[UPG] NAOMI.
>FRANK.
Reason: >>6047680, >>6048459, >>6048464, >>6048487,
>>
>>6048547
I support this
>>
>>6048547
Alexis = -$13% cut
Maruyama = -$85
Kiara = free because [ANOMALOUS?]
Adam = -$85
Benedict = +$444
Naomi = -$155
Frank = -$265

Cost: -$257 (Benedict +$444)
>>
>>6048547
Fuck +1 let's do this
>>
>>6048547
Add
>NO (NO RISK INCREASE, NO FREE REROLLS)
>>
>>6048547
>>6048537
>NO (NO RISK INCREASE, NO FREE REROLLS)
I want to save this for the base assault. We'll need all the benefits we can get. I hope the passive J-CORP COPS we hire then will help enough to offset the risk increase
>>
>>6048527
>experimentation on anti-reality phenomenon. It is very likely they will develop a breakthrough on how to fundamentally alter how people perceive reality.

TOADHOLE?

>X-Corp has fallen into a state of peace and tranquility. A moment of silence for the lost.

LATECOMER'S BLOSSOM?

>>6048535
>>[BONUS MISSION] [ANOMALOUS?] "Listen, I trust you. I need YOU to join ME, personally, on a visit to U-Corp's District, District 21. There's a briefcase with VERY sensitive contents about U-Corp and myself in it. We need to get it, recover it, and return it to U-Corp." REWARD: $855, +FAVOR WITH U-COMPANY, improved relationship with the Handler, U-Company will offer you and the Handler some unique and rare anomalous PARADIGMs for use in future missions. RISK LEVEL: HIGH.

>[UPG] LEX. Your easily pleased anomalously empowered muscle who has a bloodlust you need to sate. ($90)

>[UPG] BENEDICT. A chef partially transformed into an anomaly. Half-man-half-machine anatomy grants immense strength and physical resistances, has anomalous powers and abilities. Fractured mind that requires careful observation, UNSTABLE. (+$444 if you hire him. You get more money hiring him as you raise Adam and his own RAPPORT.)


>[UPG] CASEY. Optimistic spirit lightens the mood of everyone she interacts with, very experienced at convincing people. Has a queen bee-like mindset. Emotional. ($60)

>BENJAMIN. Fully licensed as a pharmacist, Open Minded to the supernatural. Has a crimson spark that needs a push to ignite. Delusional, credulous, and naive. ($42)

>[UPG] MAX, an Aristocrat. High in demand with the Companies and has extensive access to corporate assets. Held in contempt by other Cleaners and the working class, very sheltered. Has a chaotic spark that longs to explore the world. ($80.)

>FRANK. His main job as an ETF agent grants incredible combat and non-combat experience and far higher base stats. Has access to resources you could never hope to get by yourself. Incredibly blunt and crass, liable to piss other people off (including you). ($265)

>[UPG] NAOMI. Well versed in all military matters and a great commander. Has old glowie habits she's trying to break out of. Has a knack for analyzing the quirks and potential of people around her. Old age and scars have ruined her body. ($155)

>NO (NO RISK INCREASE, NO FREE REROLLS)
>>
>>6048699
Hmmm, why do you want to bring Lex, Casey, Benjamin, and Max on the U-CORP mission?
>>
>>6048527
>already be there
I'm gonna miss G-Corp once we leave
>L-Corp King will rise
They have that rivalry with P-Corp over anomalies. They also work with S-Corp and R-Corp too, and the S-CORP LEDGER we got from Admiral and gave to Maruyama should have more info. He and Alexis can work that out together, since we already told Alexis about it during the mine mission if I'm remembering right? There's so much shit in this quest I forget plot points and threads easily, sorry QM. But the quest is too fucking good, man.

SPEAKING OF
>Apparently L, P, and S-Corp were working on a project a few years back. Apparently U-Corp and R-Corp were signed on as potential investors but U-Corp backed out. A lot of it is redacted but they talk a lot about "PARADIGM REFRACTION", whatever that means."
>L-Corp talking a lot about the 'blossoming potential within the perspectives of humanity' or whatever
Sounds a lot like the SHIFTER phenomenon. We're also heading into U-Corp's District this mission, so this is definitely something to remember going in.

>intercepted one
That explains them yoinking TOADHOLE during the portal jump
>behalf of a X-Corp rep's influence
Alex? Somebody else?
>perceive reality
Will this come back to bite us?
>the Head will pry
The Eye will be upon us, but is that a bad thing here?
>mourning
>peace and tranquility
Latecomer's Blossom showed up late in this quest, but they're having a good impact already. I wonder if they simply let Blossom out uncontained in their biggest cemetery's dead center? I hope Alex is liking that gift of memorial tree to his corp
>far healthier
Yet another way Nicole's actions have benefited the City and its people. Less robot and bug conflict is good, but they'll still be racist to each other.
>bug-machine's wrath
What wrath? Quentin is the first ally we ever met, and Kiara is Nicole's bestie. They did fine together in the P-Corp facility job
>>
>>6048528
>I-Corp
We should ask Alexis about that when we meet up again. Is all that A-Energy going to help her become a SHIFTER too?
>rushed in to investigate
Will P-Corp make their own investigations into the silver agents, once reports of the agent corpses are received from those squads entering the place after we left? If they make the connection to their facilities being sabotaged recently in F G and Y Districts, one of them might remember the Handler asking them about it and reach out back to him.
>Recovering what's left
We might see some of those anomalies again eventually. It'll take time for the corpos to breach the lower layers
>forcefully dragged to it
Imagine if we do the base assault and succeed, then all of us immediately go to the Head Meeting to watch Ashley's concert there, broadcast LIVE to the entire City. Big BIG FAME awaits
>remotely prepared
We still have 2 HIGH CLASS JEWELRY. That plus getting some nice clothes and we'll be fine. So what if Nicole has 4 CHARM?
>scared and horrified
Ashton, your sister is a friend. Please fuck off
>rumors being spread
We still haven't heard what these rumors entail. Maybe Sukane and Handler can tell us
>$35000 bounty
I can't believe Nicole has reached 5-figure net worth already. We've come a long way from Thread 1
>association
Ashton Miller
Vincent Cruz
Amber Krakatoa
Aster Koizumi
Zane ?????
Nicole doppel
Benjamin doppel
Max doppel
Anybody else that is part of them that we don't know yet

>>6048529
>warn him in time
I wonder who our mystery contact is. At least we finally get to see District 5
>'Catherine Yue'
>going to the moon
They're part of Y-Corp. Involved against the spooks. Involved with the old satellites and space travel, PROJECT: THORN and other loose ends.

WAIT A FUCKING SECOND
>"Catherine Vue. She told me that, one day, she wished to reach the stars. I asked her why. She said that 'that's the only part that hasn't been corrupted'.
>"Reorganizing with Yados and Kilims. One day, we plan on making an alphabet company of our own. All we need is someone to put our plans into motion. Someone with the perfect spark. Someone who can do things we can not."
>"I think I may have found that spark today, if Otto Foxtort is correct. He said he found an interesting girl. We'll see. She's supposed to work with me today."
AND GREGORY JUST SAID
>"Mmh. Perhaps you are the perfect spark." Gregory seems to mutter as if he's not in the line with you.
Big things on the horizon, plots and wheels in motion...

>Not with another woman
>an old flame
I don't really want Nicole to be love interests with the Handler
>>
>>6048723
>Big things on the horizon, plots and wheels in motion..
Good job recalling it all anon. Big things indeed
>>
>>6048775
Most of the time I check previous threads for these things. Sometimes it's all in the same thread. I hope my lengthy posts like those are not detracting from the quest and anybody's enjoyment of this. I just like it, what can I say?
>>
>>6048707
My guess is Ben and Max are SHIFTERS, plus Max has corpo connections being a Krakatoa. Casey is a good corpo smooth-talker plus her recent PARADIGM PERSUADER boon can be of interest. She might also be able to help keep Benedict stable without Adam there. Lex is the muscle and he's had experience with Benedict on the boat mission, so he can be a balancing presence alongside Casey.
>>
>>6048789
Basically. A balanced load out, especially if bringing the manager's flesh gets support.

Ben especially b/c we got stuff from mushroom dreams that can be made into perm. Stat boost items.

Casey can also multi task a bit with social and as a glass cannon with the magical girl wand. Lex and Benedict are muscle/meat shields. Naomi has good passives and will get her upgrade. Also a chance to give her some of the other serum for 3 total stat points up. Frank b/c he can help round out our non melee options and we need to build some rapport with him. Since Casey is there and maybe Max, we can maybe mitigate his malus of making people pissed.
>>
>>6048975
Sounds like a good plan. Speaking of the serums, what do you think about those implants we have? Those with the implants benefit the most from the serums, but I assume having serum'd up doesn't prevent a character from getting the boosted effects if they get a glowie implant afterward?
>>
>>6049001
>doesn't prevent a character from getting the boosted effects if they get a glowie implant afterward

Sounds right. Also, we got the mystery implant from last mission and haven't researched/studied it to figure out what it does exactly. Wonder if we have time to do that? I had forgotten about it.
>>
>>6049072
Fuck it here's some random junk

>RED CLOTH FRAGMENT
>STRIP OF THE ADMIRAL'S OVERCOAT.
>CHECKERED FABRIC STRAPS x6.
What if we put all 3 on Nicole's antlers? Some Solid Snake headband move? It might not be good with how the former two are Nuovo Fabric and from an X5 anomaly, and the latter are a syndicate gang's old stuff.
>REPROGRAMMED 視力 IMPLANT x1
"A passive and limited resistance to all forms of anomalous phenomena" detail means it applies to Nicole's powers as well as other SHIFTERs too. I doubt it'll give an ally full MIND READ or SIGHTJACK resistance, but it's some food for thought
>BEYOND LOVE AND HATE
Checking the ANOMALOUS STORE again for more things like this would be nice. Naomi would do more with a mindbreak sadness knife than a regular knife with the way she is.
>HARPOON GUN x4
We never used these yet because we never had a really big or dangerous enemy for it. Imagine if Nicole could use her new TK power to make the harpoon impale somebody through the head
>EXPLOSIVE ROUNDS (When attacking, you roll an additional +2d10 (9-10 = 3 successes) and you deal extra splash damage to two random enemies.)
We have 3 of them for the ass rifle. Ass rifle already spends 3 ammo each shot to AoE. Combined, this could annihilate like half a dozen spooks or a dozen goons
>PROTOTYPE ANTI-ABNO ROUNDS
The biggest way these differ from regular anti-anom rounds are that these do esoteric damage which fucks the soul up. Whoever we use these on better be the worst and most bullshit anomaly we've ever faced
>D-CORP COFFEE COUPON
Should we save this to gift to a certain P-Corp Manager, or some other caffeine addict? The coffee from this could be useful regardless
>SELF CARE KIT
This is a permanent +1 CHARM for anybody. Nicole is at 4 CHARM right now
>FLARE GUN x2
>H-CORP BRANDED LIGHTER.
Two sources of fire
>RAW NOVASTONE CHUNK x3
>FLASHBANG x2
Two sources of the obvious
>CRYO GRENADE x3
>ICY BLOOD VIAL x2
Two sources of cold
>EMP GRENADE
>TASER x2
Two sources of fucking implants up
>>
>>6048535
>[BONUS MISSION] [ANOMALOUS?] "Listen, I trust you. I need YOU to join ME, personally, on a visit to U-Corp's District, District 21. There's a briefcase with VERY sensitive contents about U-Corp and myself in it. We need to get it, recover it, and return it to U-Corp." REWARD: $855, +FAVOR WITH U-COMPANY, improved relationship with the Handler, U-Company will offer you and the Handler some unique and rare anomalous PARADIGMs for use in future missions. RISK LEVEL: HIGH.

>[UPG] LEX. Your easily pleased anomalously empowered muscle who has a bloodlust you need to sate. ($90)
>BENJAMIN. Fully licensed as a pharmacist, Open Minded to the supernatural. Has a crimson spark that needs a push to ignite. Delusional, credulous, and naive. ($42)
>[UPG] MAX, an Aristocrat. High in demand with the Companies and has extensive access to corporate assets. Held in contempt by other Cleaners and the working class, very sheltered. Has a chaotic spark that longs to explore the world. ($80.)
>[UPG] NAOMI. Well versed in all military matters and a great commander. Has old glowie habits she's trying to break out of. Has a knack for analyzing the quirks and potential of people around her. Old age and scars have ruined her body. ($155)
>[UPG] CLOVER. A casino manager who larps as a cowboy, has the sharpshooting skills to back it up. Unshakeable morale and has a resolute will that's hard to break. VERY stubborn. Has a hidden ability. ($175)

>NO (NO RISK INCREASE, NO FREE REROLLS)

>>6048707
I wanna see how the C-Extract is doing. Plus, Max has experience with corpo shenanigans that can help us. And Benjamin is kinda one of the most generically useful party members we have with the pharmacy kit.

Lex and Clover can kill people good. We may need that.
>>
HANDLER AND FRIENDS: ALL

ALEXIS: dHt, cWW, 00b
MARUYAMA: dHT, cWW, 00b
KIARA: dHt, cWW, 00b
ADAM: dHt, cWW, 00b
BENEDICT: dHt, cWW, 00b
NAOMI: ALL
FRANK: dHt, cWW, 00b, Iza
CASEY: Iza
BENJAMIN: Iza, xAm
MAX: Iza, xAm
LEX: Iza, xAm
CLOVER: xAm

NO FLESH: ALL.

jesus every ally got at least one vote aside from Quentin and Wendy. and uh. wow you guys really are taking the "take as many as you want" to its logical extreme.
hey i'm not complaining at least Frank is finally being picked.
Your party is going to be Alexis, Maruyama, Kiara, Adam, Benedict, Naomi, and Frank. Your mission reward will be $744 and you spend a grand total of $146. Soon, you might even be able to afford a car! Or even, god forbid, a new fridge with all of this money you're saving.

Writing.
>>
>>6049460
>taking the "take as many as you want" to its logical extreme
I for one have got over my previous autism. Let the teamwork interactions and group asskicking roll. The glowies will fear the deer and co.
>>
You shiver a bit at what you overheard thanks to the necklace. Yeah. No. You hope he realizes you would never even think about him like that because 1: Not your type and 2: He's your fucking boss. Though, with what you hear him say about your next mission, you doubt that's anywhere on his mind.

"Listen. I trust you. You are shockingly competent even though you're also one of the craziest bitches I've met in a while. I need you to come with me, right now, to District 21. I've even mailed a T-Corp Express Ticket over so you can get here ASAP." There's an air of desperation and fear in his voice now. Whatever this is, it's clearly something very important to him.

"I'm not spending $55.5k or more to portal over you and all of your friends along but I need you here. Now."

"I at least need to know what the hell the mission is, sir." You don't want to comfort him since that's just not what your relationship is with him but you are a tiny bit worried about him. "I can't exactly help without some intel."

"Another Cleaner I hired to do a mission down in U-Corp went MIA. It's been two days and I haven't heard a thing from him. He was tasked with delivering a very confidential briefcase about a new discovery I had with U-Corp's singularity alongside some very confidential details on my other business prospects I wanted to send to U-Corp."

[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] He's been working with U-Corp? Interesting. Perhaps he overheard the rumors about SHIFTers and signed up a partnership with them?
[PERSON OF INTEREST] When you first signed up with him, he DID know of your anomalous powers. He most likely thought it WAS because of U-Corp.

"Could it be possible that he betrayed you and sold it to the highest bidder?"

"Doubtful. He's been a long time worker for me over the last seven months. I wouldn't have trusted him otherwise. As for the briefcase itself? It's resistant to most forms of damage due to the H-Corp Pausium it's made of. Only way to open it is to scan my biometrics into it."

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Pausium is a new alloy made out of titanium, gold, and a third element that H-Corp refuses to disclose. As light as aluminum but six times as durable as stainless steel.

"Do you have any idea where he could've disappeared to?"

"I narrowed it down to U-GAMMA-3, which is located very near to the center of the District. VERY close to where U-Corp's headquarters are. I assume he was intercepted right before he could arrive. I'll tell you more when I'll meet you there."

"Do you have any details about his appearance? What the suitcase looks like, even?"

"Short dyed blue hair, green eyes, tacky hoodie with band stickers all over it, missing his left index finger. Suitcase is bright silver and has 'C-52-59' scratched onto the side. Now get over here. NOW." He immediately disconnects the line.

No wonder he's panicking if it involves a corporate singularity and his involvement in it. You take a moment to remember U-Corp's weather conditions...
>>
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[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Pretty decent actually. Due to a large portion of the District bordering the sea, the temperature in the district overall stays at a moderate temperature with not that variance.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Sure, coastal storms are a thing, but you'll likely get some decent warning if one approaches.

You grab NEW YOU and it almost immediately transforms into Ashley's dark black leather jacket. Huh. Been a while since you've hired her, now that you think about it, but you're already bringing enough as is. You quickly slide it on before putting on a basic black t-shirt, some jeans and some sneakers. No need to be stylish today.
>NEW YOU (ASHLEY) ACQUIRED! (+1 WILLPOWER, ADAVANCED INTUTION ACTIVATED! You'll be warned of shit happening when you realistically shouldn't know about it.)

[ADVANCED INTUTION] Heads up. Naomi and Kiara will not be hirable next mission. This mission will exhaust them to their core.

Ah. You are doing this right after the facility mission. Noted.

You pull out your phone and quickly send out some texts towards the two. They respond back with hesitant yet optimistic 'okay!'s and 'sure's. You step out of your apartment as you prepare to call up some of the others as you make a beeline over to the train station.

"Hello?" Alexis is the first to pick up. There's nothing you hear over the line aside from some low, slow jazz.
"We're heading to U-Corp to collect some confidential files on behalf of Otto Fo-"
"COMING RIGHT NOW SEE YOU" And she hangs up. Wow that's all you needed to say to get her on your side. Huh.

The sound of a busy kitchen plays over the line when you call up Adam + Benedict. Several workers are trying their best to placate some enraged costumers "Hey." "HELlo...FRiend."
"Hey. Want to take a break?"
"YES." "Fuck yes, please, I don't want to cook another triple deep fried hamburger."

"Good, good. Meet me up at the same train station as always. We're heading to U-Corp to recover some files for my boss. Sounds good?"

"Not sure how much I can help but sure." "WilL...help for a FRIEND." That's all you need. You offer some polite pleasantries before going to the final two you're hiring. Maruyama and Frank.

When Maruyama picks up, you can almost hear how happy he is to hear back from you. "Hey, Nicole! It's been a while." That's not the voice you usually hear from Maruyama. It's as if a pep was put back in his step. "What's the mission this time?"

You give a basic explanation on what's going on.

"Hm. That's not good. Assuming no information was leaked, the only explanation I could think of is that an insider from U-Corp blew their brains out. That or the information WAS leaked and now some outside company or syndicate is trying to steal corporate secrets. Maybe a third option I'm missing. I don't any of them."

"I think I can help you out, even if it's getting through all of the red tapes. See you soon."

Lastly, Frank. It takes ages for the motherfucker to even answer your call.
>>
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When he finally picks up, the first thing you hear over the line is him lighting up a cigarette before taking a DEEP inhale of it. Neither of you speak for the longest time, as if this is some asinine challenge to see who breaks first.

The only sound you hear is the icy cold air blowing around you on your way over to the train station. You even managed to arrive at a mostly empty train station by the time he finally decides to speak.

"Feh. You win. What do you want, uh, Noelle? I think that's your name." He takes another deep huff of his cigarette. "I'm a bit busy."

"It's Nicole." Somehow, 'Noelle' sounds oddly fitting as a name for you. You wonder why. "It's simple. I need you to help me recover classified documents. That's it. We find where the guy went, save him if he's not dead, kill anyone who stops us."

The silence returns. Even as you sit down, Frank doesn't seem to be in any rush to respond.

"I'll pay you $265?"

"Ah. For one day? Hm. Simple enough then. I'll accept it if only because I doubt you could do it without me." Seems like the idea of a pay day is enough to win him over. "Tell me where to meet you at. Make it snappy."

You quickly give him which train station you're waiting at.

"G-Corp, huh? No wonder why you were like that. I'll see you there." He promptly hangs up. Well, isn't he a bundle of sunshine. Not. All you can do now is to rest on one of the iced over seats right by the train platform to wait for your seven chucklefucks to arrive.

God, you wish you had a cigarette to smoke. Or your guita- Wait, you don't have a guitar. Right, right, PARADIGM on.

It doesn't take long for the seven to arrive. If there's one benefit of living in G-Corp, travelling into and out of it is VERY quick. Your seven allies stumble out to show themselves off in all of their great glory.

Naomi and Kiara basically look the same as they did last mission. Not much else to say aside from the scar still on Naomi's neck and the fact they're no longer filthy. Naomi did manage to get some new face bandages back to cover her face up.
Adam is wearing a brand new red jacket with a gold star stamped on the back and on the left side of his chest. His beige dress pants and dark burgundy dress shoes are speckled with grease from a long day at work but he otherwise seems pretty happy. The red headed chief has an ear to ear smile. "Good to be off work."
Maruyama is the same geneirc looking T-Corper with a two piece purple business suit, black dress shoes, beige hat, and a briefcase in hand. The small purple highlight Kiara gave him is still there but...

The thing that catches your attention is the sword sheath tied to his belt and a headband poking out of gap of his not fully shut suitcase. He seems to notice this and sheepishly closes it shut.
>MARUYAMA has obtained two new items! They will be revealed next update.

Alexis is adorned in a stark white business suit she always does alongside some white heels and white gloves.
>>
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In her hand is a heavy briefcase, ready to be opened to offer extra supplies.

Benedict is still wearing an outfit meant to disguise his body but it's a lot less ramshackle this time. He still has two layers of bulky white jackets with long sleeves on him but his burgundy pants and singular glove were clearly purchased from a upper end clothing store. While his yellow-green hair and outfit are still caked in grease, he otherwise seems fine.

The android half of his face seems more refined as well, looking more convincingly human. He waves his regular arm at you with a small smile.

And the last one to get off the train is Frank. His whole body is covered in a jet-black tactical uniform that looks like it belongs in a sloppy first person shooter videogame than in real life. A thick vest with ammo vests on it, thick black gloves and combat boots, a bullet resistant helmet, essentially every part of his body is covered except for his face.

His messy brown hair spills out of his helmet. His dark brown eyes stare down at you and the rest of your allies with equal measures of contempt, curiosity, and intrigue. He scoffs at your other allies before he turns his attention back to you. "Let's get this over with."

>FRANK SMITH STAT SHEET REVEALED!
FRANK SMITH [SPECIAL] (Does not include Naomi's buffs but they will be applied to him still.)
RAPPORT: 0/8 (He holds everyone with contempt at first.)
FLESH: 7 (+1 from ETF UNIFORM)
RESTRAINT: 7 (+1 from ETF UNIFORM)
VIOLENCE: 6
TALENT: 6
WILLPOWER: 6
CHARM: 0
CONNECTIONS: 4
COGNIZANCE: 6

BOONS
[ETF TRAINING] Agents are trained to deal with everything thrown their way. Everything. In addition to having FAR higher than average stats for the normal person, he innately rolls d7s when attacking in combat or rolling by himself and he takes -2 RESTRAINT damage from all sources.

[ETF RESOURCES] ETFs are sponsored and funded by P-Corp and given they're backed by an Alphabet Company, they have a lot to their names. Frank automatically starts with very good weapons, armors, and other unique supplies and will get fresh supplies in between missions. He may also call in for more resources once per mission.

BANE
[EVERYTHING'S A NAIL] He's a prick. Simple as. He basically doesn't get along with anyone besides himself and he doesn't hide his all consuming contempt. Expect him to get into a LOT of arguments with you and your allies or to otherwise land your group in hot water. You may have to fight with him to listen to some of your orders.

INVENTORY
ETF UNIFORM (ARMOR. A full tactical uniform with an ammo vest, bullet resistant fabric over every inch, etc etc. +1 MAX FLESH AND RESTRAINT, reduces RESTRAINT and FLESH damage taken by 1.)
STANDARD ISSUE ETF SHOTGUN (ATTACK ROLL: VIOLENCE+TALENT+3. Deals extra FLESH damage due to being a shotgun. Only uses 1 SLUG per attack compared to your double barrels.)
SHOTGUN SLUGS x6
PISTOL AMMO x6
GAUZE ROLLS x3 (Can be used to heal 1 FLESH or to temporarily negate a CRIPPLING INJURY
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TRAUMA KIT (Has 5 charges. Heals 1 FLESH with 1 charge. Heals a crippling injury with 2 charges. Can heal an ally back to full when they hit CRITICAL STATE with 3 charges.)
SEDATIVE INJECTOR x2 (A small injector filled with a pale blue liquid. Heals 2 RESTRAINT on use and automatically unpanics allies.)
STANDARD ISSUE ETF SIDEARM (ATTACK ROLL: TALENT+3. Consumes PISTOL AMMO. Has a small chance to deal extra FLESH damage against an enemy.)
STANDARD ISSUE ETF KNIFE (ATTACK ROLL: VIOLENCE+2. Useful if he runs out of ammo.)

Alexis seems to be the only person to recognize him out of your group. She sneers at the man joining you but she doesn't outright start anything with him. "I see that someone I already supplied came here. No point to supply you more."

"Bite me. You're not the only contact I have, Alexis, and you know."

Naomi recognizes the outfit he's wearing and simply nods. "Kappa, was it?"
"Indeed. I heard rumors about you, NULL." Frank snidely scoffs at the old woman. "This will be interesting."

Alexis' eye twitches for a moment before she turns to your group and opens up. Kiara and Maruyama are busy catching up, same with Frank and Naomi, while Adam and Benedict are busy talking with each other. Seems like it's just you and her now to handle fresh supplies.

As you begin to hand out supplies, you take a look back at your allies to see how they've changed.

---

CHOOSE ONE CHARACTER UPGRADE FOR ADAM, BENEDICT, NAOMI, AND KIARA!

ADAM
>There's an aura of calm focus around Adam. As if he's reached some zenith in his mind. His mind and body have fully relaxed. (STEADY MIND. +1 WILLPOWER, RESTRAINT, TALENT. Upgrades STEADY HANDS. In addition to adding his RESTRAINT to any TALENT/ATTACK roll, he may add his RESTRAINT to any COGNIZANCE or WILLPOWER checks he makes.)
>There's flecks of blood all across his suit. He brushes off some of them with a genial smile. "I've learnt how to fix and break a lot of things." (LICENSED MECHANIC. +1 TALENT, COGNIZANCE, FLESH. Adam now has a great understanding on all things technological. He can passively repair BENEDICT and KIARA over time and he now has a wide array of knowledge to help explain how otherwise super obtuse technology across the City works.)
>There's nothing different with him but he overall seems a lot more confident now? It's hard to properly put into words. As if this is just his life now. (SEEN IT ALL. +1 RESTRAINT, CHARM, WILLPOWER, FLESH, +2 CONNECTIONS. A lot of people in power will recognize Adam and will trust you by association. Interacting with corpos will be made FAR easier while he's around.)

BENEDICT
>His body seems to be shifting. He's a bit less hunched back, his face looks more human. It's as if he's returning to normal. "My head feels. Clear." (PARADIGM SHIFTING. +1 COGNIZANCE, +1 WILLPOWER, +3 CHARM. Benedict's banes will trigger less frequently and his abilities will have a 50% chance to not cost any RESTRAINT to use.)
>>
>Benedict pulls his blade arm out from underneath his uniform. It is sparklingly clean and polished now. "I can sever. That which can not be sliced. I can cut the evil from this world." (TRIM THE FAT. +2 FLESH, +2 VIOLENCE. Benedict's blade arm now does minor amounts of ESOTERIC DAMAGE, bypassing all resistances and reducing stats permanently. Benedict is also able to see, sense, and target things that your other allies may not be able to attack or notice.)
>There's a calm determination in Benedict's eyes that is not usually there. "My strength is your strength." (SHIFTER MINDSET. +2 RESTRAINT, +2 WILLPOWER. At the cost of 2 RESTRAINT damage, he may boost an ally's stat by 3 for a moderate duration or to heal 2 of their CRIPPLING INJURIES. The stat boost scales with his WILLPOWER/2, rounded down.)

KIARA
>Kiara lifts up her arm and opens a port on the side of her chest. A yellowish-green fluid rushes through a plastic tube inside her. "Updated what I'm powered with. Neat, huh?" (BACKUP POWER SOURCE. +1 WILLPOWER, +1 RESTRAINT, +1 FLESH. Once per mission, whenever Kiara would enter a CRITICAL state, she instead reduces her MAX FLESH by 2 for the rest of the mission and heals to full FLESH.)
>Kiara spins one of the many guns she borrowed from you during the X-Corp mission with a cocky smirk. "Turns out, X-Corp offered me a useful upgrade. Call me Kalamity Kiara, thank you!" (COMBAT MODULE. +1 VIOLENCE, TALENT, FLESH. Kiara now has a chance to negate up to 2 FLESH damage taken in combat. Kiara will also offer useful tactical advice while you're in a fight or a threat, human or otherwise, approaches.)
>For a moment, Kiara's not there. The next, she's right behind you. Her body is vibrating and pulsating with an off-blue tint to it. "I got Maruyama to introduce me to some new T-Corp tech. How do I look?" (DREAMSPACE MODULE. +1 WILLPOWER, +1 TALENT, +1 COGNIZANCE. Due to the minor time dilation she experiences, Kiara has more time to think and react. She may reroll three TALENT or COGNIZANCE dice for free once per skill/attack. She also takes 1 less RESTRAINT damage from all sources due to having more time to process stress.)
>A small red glint is visible in Kiara's LED eyes. Is she recording you? "I know all. I see all." (SPY MODULE. +1 CHARM, +1 CONGIZANCE, +1 CONNECTIONS. Kiara passively records everything she sees and hears, allowing you access to information you may otherwise not have access to. Her MIMICRY MODULE is also upgraded to be far more convincing and easier to use.)

NAOMI
>A glint of sadistic glee flickers in her eyes now. Seems like the implant and new shades you gave her are reawakening some long dormant training. (OLD SILVER TRAINING. +1 RESTRAINT, WILLPOWER, VIOLENCE, TALENT, CHARM, COGNIZANCE. Naomi will naturally blend in to the world around her, vastly reducing how hard stealth and speech checks she personally attempts are. She'll be your own glowie.)
>>
>She clears her throat, as if she's about ready to say an inspiring speech to her group. (MILITARY COMMANDER. +1 COGNIZANCE, CHARM, and RESTRAINT. An upgrade to MILITARY EXPERIENCE, she now boosts COGNIZANCE and CHARM across the party by 1 while she's in the group.)
>Her face has softened a bit, as if she truly realizes how old she is. She seems to have reached some acceptance in that. "Memento mori, Nicole." (FEARS NO REAPER. +2 RESTRAINT and WILLPOWER. Naomi now takes -2 less RESTRAINT damage from all sources and thrice per mission, she can soothe an ally, healing them for 1 RESTRAINT.)

Lastly, while you'll talk to your allies, you do remember that Benedict can also make some items via his PARADIGM ability. Might as well give him some ingredients.

Choose three ingredients to give him. He'll make a food based off of that ingredient. You have 3 BERRIES, PINK/BLUE MOSS, AND WHITE MUSHROOMS. You have 5 ROSES and CHEERIES.
>RUSTED SILVER BERRIES. Something about them smells like INDUSTRY and PROGRESS! (Will create a CONNECTIONS, CHARM, and TALENT boosting food.)
>SINFUL ROSE. You recognize this in some old N-Corp literature. The bright blue roses feel weird to look at. (Will create a RESTRAINT regenerating food with no side effects.)
>MINT GREEN CHERRIES. Your hands feel weird and tingly when you touch them. (Will create a healing or damage reducing FOOD.)
>NIGHTMARE RED SHROOMS. Smells like anger. (Will make a VIOLENCE, TALENT, and melee/unarmed attack boosting food.)
>DREARY BLUE MOLD (Will create a RESTRAINT regenerating food that boosts WILLPOWER. May had side effects.)
>ENERGIZED YELLOW MOSS (Will add a CHARM, CONNECTIONS, and COGNIZANCE boosting drug.)
>PEARLY WHITE MUSHROOM (Will be made into a MAX FLESH boosting and FLESH healing food.)
>DREAMY PINK MOSS (Will be made into made into a WILLPOWER and MAX RESTRAINT boosting food.)

look I normally let you vote for Alexis supplies but I'm not fucking writing 32 items and you don't want to vote for that. This vote will be big enough as is.
You'll get a variety of useful goods regardless and I will take her boon to offer more items into account. I think that's better than making you guys wait for three more hours and reading five more posts.
>>
>>6049635
>spoiler
Understandable. Please don't burn yourself out, we still appreciate you
>>
>>6049625
ADAM
>LICENSED MECHANIC
I love the flavor of him learning tech to help his bro out. Statwise this balances him out except for his low WILLPOWER

BENEDICT
>TRIM THE FAT
Back in HELP WANTED! he returned to human. Here I want to diverge from that. Specialize him more into the cutting

KIARA
>DREAMSPACE MODULE
More specialization into what she's good at, plus culmination of her friendship with Maruyama since the movie mission

NAOMI
>OLD SILVER TRAINING
Enjoy life, grandma

>1 ROSE
>1 CHERRY
>1 SHROOM
Gimme the heals
>>
>>6049635
>There's flecks of blood all across his suit. He brushes off some of them with a genial smile. "I've learnt how to fix and break a lot of things." (LICENSED MECHANIC. +1 TALENT, COGNIZANCE, FLESH. Adam now has a great understanding on all things technological. He can passively repair BENEDICT and KIARA over time and he now has a wide array of knowledge to help explain how otherwise super obtuse technology across the City works.)
A capability no one else offers
>Benedict pulls his blade arm out from underneath his uniform. It is sparklingly clean and polished now. "I can sever. That which can not be sliced. I can cut the evil from this world." (TRIM THE FAT. +2 FLESH, +2 VIOLENCE. Benedict's blade arm now does minor amounts of ESOTERIC DAMAGE, bypassing all resistances and reducing stats permanently. Benedict is also able to see, sense, and target things that your other allies may not be able to attack or notice.)
We ain't afraid of no ghost
>A small red glint is visible in Kiara's LED eyes. Is she recording you? "I know all. I see all." (SPY MODULE. +1 CHARM, +1 CONGIZANCE, +1 CONNECTIONS. Kiara passively records everything she sees and hears, allowing you access to information you may otherwise not have access to. Her MIMICRY MODULE is also upgraded to be far more convincing and easier to use.)
Mimicry upgrade opens possibilities
>She clears her throat, as if she's about ready to say an inspiring speech to her group. (MILITARY COMMANDER. +1 COGNIZANCE, CHARM, and RESTRAINT. An upgrade to MILITARY EXPERIENCE, she now boosts COGNIZANCE and CHARM across the party by 1 while she's in the group.)
More buffs

>MINT GREEN CHERRIES. Your hands feel weird and tingly when you touch them. (Will create a healing or damage reducing FOOD.)
>NIGHTMARE RED SHROOMS. Smells like anger. (Will make a VIOLENCE, TALENT, and melee/unarmed attack boosting food.)
>RUSTED SILVER BERRIES. Something about them smells like INDUSTRY and PROGRESS! (Will create a CONNECTIONS, CHARM, and TALENT boosting food.)
>>
>>6049651
WHOOPS
I meant WHITE shroom not RED shroom
>>
>>6049635
>There's flecks of blood all across his suit. He brushes off some of them with a genial smile. "I've learnt how to fix and break a lot of things." (LICENSED MECHANIC. +1 TALENT, COGNIZANCE, FLESH. Adam now has a great understanding on all things technological. He can passively repair BENEDICT and KIARA over time and he now has a wide array of knowledge to help explain how otherwise super obtuse technology across the City works.)
>His body seems to be shifting. He's a bit less hunched back, his face looks more human. It's as if he's returning to normal. "My head feels. Clear." (PARADIGM SHIFTING. +1 COGNIZANCE, +1 WILLPOWER, +3 CHARM. Benedict's banes will trigger less frequently and his abilities will have a 50% chance to not cost any RESTRAINT to use.)
>For a moment, Kiara's not there. The next, she's right behind you. Her body is vibrating and pulsating with an off-blue tint to it. "I got Maruyama to introduce me to some new T-Corp tech. How do I look?" (DREAMSPACE MODULE. +1 WILLPOWER, +1 TALENT, +1 COGNIZANCE. Due to the minor time dilation she experiences, Kiara has more time to think and react. She may reroll three TALENT or COGNIZANCE dice for free once per skill/attack. She also takes 1 less RESTRAINT damage from all sources due to having more time to process stress.)
>A glint of sadistic glee flickers in her eyes now. Seems like the implant and new shades you gave her are reawakening some long dormant training. (OLD SILVER TRAINING. +1 RESTRAINT, WILLPOWER, VIOLENCE, TALENT, CHARM, COGNIZANCE. Naomi will naturally blend in to the world around her, vastly reducing how hard stealth and speech checks she personally attempts are. She'll be your own glowie.)

>WHITE MUSHROOMS
>CHEERIES
>ROSES
>>
>>6049612
>[ADVANCED INTUTION] Heads up. Naomi and Kiara will not be hirable next mission. This mission will exhaust them to their core.
I-CORP Mission Plan 3.0
>"I-Company has been struggling to find resources to operate their Singularity. No, I don't know what it is, but they've been badgering me to help out or they'll cut me off. I know of a part of their District that might still have some resources. Explore and recover any and all resources you can find." REWARD: $950, +FAVOR WITH I-COMPANY, I-Company will provide you with a free apartment in their District if you ever need a place to hide out at. RISK LEVE: MEDIUM.
Team setup idea: Quentin, Benedict, Adam, Alexis, Frank, Max, Benjamin, Ashley,

Reason: Alexis will provide information about his home I-District and provide equipment. Quentin, because he might be resistant to cold too since he is bug-piloting a dead corpse. Benedict is super strong, will help carry a lot of stuff, fight off any hostile individuals, and might be resistant to cold since he is a part machine. Frank will be our guard and scare off any hostile individuals. Adam will assist Benedict. Benjamin helps produce drugs, and Max has better resources and equipment now because of his dad. Ashley because his [deep intuition] can help in spotting and searching stuff.

Also, we are really good at handling the cold weather since we are half deer and we have six fur-lined uniforms in our inventory.
Frank, Alexis, Ashley, Benjamin, Max, and Adam are the only ones who are not resistant to the cold and need fur-lined uniforms.

Any opinions on my plan?
>>
>>6050001
I don't want to plan further until we see how this mission goes
>>
>>6050001
>>6050071
I say replace Adam Benedict and with Lex, no more. This is tentative though, because we don't know how this mission will go. I don't want to exhaust people like we did with Kiara and Naomi bringing them to the U-Corp mission. We need everyone okay for the base assault, and if that means taking one or two fewer allies along then I'm for it
>>
>>6049635
QM, I know the chat is going to skin me alive for saying this but I’m gonna be “that guy”.

You might want to consider limitations to hiring allies in the near future, if only to reduce the walls of green text that this mission briefing produced.

This level of detail cannot be sustainable for you to pull off. Especially with it already breaking Alexis’s primary ability.

Don’t go burning yourself out.
>>
>>6050134
I directly told him the exact same thing last night.
capcha: AAAAWS
more like AAAAAAAAAAAAAAWSOME
>>
Do we have any drugs or stuff that can suppress Benedict BANES?
>>
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>>6050134
yeah I'll be honest, I really don't want to write 7 (8 with the Handler) fucking allies every single time because of one dude going "HEY WE NEED FIFTY ALLIES TO DO A MISSION"
I really don't. I don't want to retcon the allies that did arrive but I think for everyone involved, it's just going to be a pain in the ass. All of my writing will be spread super duper thin, I'll have to write lines of text that will absolutely burn me out, it's just
Yeah. I fucked up for even allowing it.

So, as my ONE time doing QM Fiat, I'm removing Kiara and Naomi and I'll hardlock future ally votes to five allies TOTAL. I'll still keep the upgrade votes but yeah, no, we're not doing this.

The only exception will be the base assault IF you pick that and even then, I'll separate that into different teams. IF it's picked.

We fine with that?

>>6050211
he has some antipsychotics otherwise no.
>>
>>6050221
Sure.
>>
>>6050221
I am perfectly fine with this. It forces us to work with who we have and pressures us to think more creatively under limitation.

Capcha: VVV4AM
playing VVVVVV at 4 AM is not a good time with how that game is
>>
Sorry about the QM fiat thing. I don't like doing it but yeah. I think it's just better for everyone.

As for the upgrades, since no one has really voted in a while, closing now.
SILVER TRAINING + DREAMSPACE + TRIM THE FAT + LICENSED MECHANIC
For the food/drugs, ROSE + CHERRY + WHITE SHROOMS.
Writing.
>>
>>6050221
Seems good to me. I did vote for a pretty big group, even if mine wasn't chosen. And honestly, when there are that many things to go through and stuff, it makes me kind of not want to vote as much. Smart move. Also nice Cirno.
>>
>>6050221
I’m perfectly fine with that.

Squad stacking was poised to shred game balance and narrative cohesion just so we could farm XP.
>>
>>6050326
Here’s an idea.
By my count we have 15 total allies. You could apply the 5 ally limit, and bar them from being taken two missions in a row.

That way overlooked picks like Ashley and Frank can get a chance in the spotlight.
>>
>>6050394
>That way overlooked picks like Ashley and Frank can get a chance in the spotlight.
I'll probably start doing that. Course, I have to write this mission before we can adjust it.
Speaking about that, my computer went out for the briefest of seconds when I was writing it. Lost some of my progress. So don't be shocked if it takes a hot moment.
>>
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You feel time pulling at itself for the briefest of moments before it immediately stops. Looking around to see what changed-

Kiara and Naomi are gone. You check your phone to see that they responded to your texts with simple "too busy!" and "too tired.". Naomi said something about 'rediscovering some old training' while Kiara was talking about a 'T-Corp module'?
>$155 REFUNDED! YOU NOW ACTUALLY EARNT $9 TOTAL FROM HIRING THIS CREW! PARTY IS NOW: ALEXIS, FRANK, ADAM, BENEDICT, MARUYAMA
>+OLD SILVER TRAINING and DREAMSCAPE MODULE to Naomi and Kiara respectively.

Maruyama gives you a knowing look. <"I had to check out a considerable favor to get T-Corp to do that. Can't do it again but I saw how tired those two were."> "Who are you looking for?"

"Nothing." You take a look over at your five actual allies (most of which are men this time, you note, which is weird considering there's usually more women). Starting with Adam and Benedict since they're the only ones here that actually changed.

Adam's red jacket and dress shirt are caked in a mixture of oil and blood as he's working on Benedict. A satchel filled to the brim with various tools hangs loosely off of his dress pants. A panel on the back of Benedict's head has been pried open.
>+LICENSED MECHANIC to ADAM! +1 TALENT, COGNIZANCE, AND FLESH TO HIM!

He's currently tinkering with it with a variety of random tools as if he's trying to solve some complex puzzle. Screwdrivers, wrenches, bolt cutters, wirecutters, you name it. After a while, he closes the panel before patting Benedict on the shoulder. "Does that feel any better?"

"A...BIT, Yes." Benedict mumbles out. He runs the palm of his regular human hand down the dull length of his armblade. While at first it looks like the same giant blade that's as long as a human arm, it glimmers with an almost hateful light to it.

The air around the blade is twisting and curdling as if the air itself was being sliced by the blade being there. As soon as Benedict notices the light refracting in weird ways, he pulls his new armblade back under his many jackets. <"...slice...imperfections...from world.">
>+TRIM THE FAT to BENEDICT! +2 FLESH and VIOLENCE to him!

Alexis finishes handing out the supplies to you and your other allies. You checked to see what everyone got.

LOOT OBTAINED!
>ADAM has PLASMA CUTTER! (Has enough fuel for four uses. Can be used to break through otherwise impossible to open doors, seal doors behind you shut, or to heal a robotic ally by 3 FLESH.)
>NICOLE has ANTLER ORNAMENTS! (ACCESSORY. +1 CHARM while worn, easily damaged in combat. Allows for two CHARM/CONNECTION full reroll per mission.)
>FRANK has EXPLOSIVE SHOTGUN SLUG and PISTOL AMMO x2! (Adds 2d10 to an attack roll. Does extra splash damage to enemies.)
>MARUYAMA has T-CORP TIMEPIECE! (ACCESSORY. Allows the user to detect any unusual space-time activity and grants him minor immunity to time altering effects. Also stylish, +1 CHARM while equipped.)
>>
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>ALEXIS obtains METAL DETECTOR MARK 1.5 (Specifically tuned to detect Pausium. It's not hard to understand why she brought this. Can also detect other hidden items.)
>BENEDICT obtains BOTTLE OF SUGAR PILLS (Has three pills. Each pill offers a random buff depending on the situation Benedict finds himself in. Slightly reduces the chances his BANES activate.)

Your allies promptly put all of their equipment into their pockets or briefcases but for a moment, Maruyama accidently opens up his briefcase too much. You now see a solid look at the headband to see that it's simply some bandage wrap roughly tied into a headband. "勝利" is drawn onto the front of it in red marker.

He promptly shuts it close. "You didn't see that. Kiara told me to make it." Seems like he can't think of a proper excuse as to why he has it. He adjusts the sheath hanging off his belt in an attempt to distract himself.
>MARUYAMA now has HEADBAND OF VICTORY (ACCESSORY. +1 MAX RESTRAINT and VIOLENCE while worn.) and BLADE OF A SORROWFUL MEMORY (WEAPON. Can only be used by Maruyama. You can't read what stats it has but you can tell it's anomalous in some way.)

The train finally arrives after everything is said and done. It looks different from the usual trains you ride. It's a sleek silver bullet train that's fifty years too advanced for this part of G-Corp's district. T-Corp's icon, a bright gold clock, is stamped right on the side of it.

"Let's fucking go, cocksuckers." Frank smacks the side of the train before promptly entering it.

Your group promptly enters it. You notice how there's no windows or anything inside. Just sleek silver walls and plush white cushions. As you toss over some of your ingredients over to Benedict, you suddenly feel time being to tear at its seams again.

You, Maruyama, and Benedict are the only ones who aren't immediately frozen in place. The train is moving at a blitzingly high speed but everyone besides you three seems completely unaware of anything around them. Benedict is taking this time to blitz through the mushroom, cherry, and rose you gave him.

Everything is washed over in a bright white filter. Everything blurs together into a blob.

"What the fuck?"
"T-Corp Extension Program." Maruyama says like it's the most natural thing in the world. "They use it to transfer excess time to other places. It's very demanding from an energy perspective but this is how T-Corp gets a lot of their time."
"How long is this going to take?" Your body is moving like a blur but at the same time, it's like you're talking in slow motion.

"In objective time? Ten seconds. Hopefully we don't stay aware for too long." Maruyama fiddles with the handle of his sheathed blade. "Bad things happen if you do."

As soon as he finishes saying that, everything goes back to normal. The train suddenly screeches to a halt and time resumes as if nothing happened at all. That was at least five minutes from your perspective, you think? It's hard to remember.
>>
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"Hm. Ten second ride. I guess it's impressive." Frank rolls his eyes with a low, monotone voice coating his words.
"No wonder why the rich like using T-Corp trains." Adam is way more impressive on the contrary. "That was quick."
"Feh. We have a job to do. Let's get going." Alexis promptly gets up and heads over to the exit of the train.

Benedict hands you three small treats. A bright blue hard candy, a vial of green cherry syrup, and a bottle of white sauce.
>AZURE BLUE CANDY (Made from SINFUL ROSE. Heals 1 RESTRAINT and enables RESTRAINT REGENERATION for a mission.)
>GREEN CHERRY SYRUP (Made from MINT GREEN CHERRY. Reduces all damage taken by 1 for a mission.)
>WHITE MUSHROOM SAUCE. (Made from PEARLY WHITE MUSHROOM. Heals 1 FLESH and boosts FLESH by 1 for a mission.)

Neat! You step out of the train after everyone exits. You and Maruyama promptly equip the accessories that were handed out to you. Maruyama simply hooks his pocket watch onto his waist while you put on some pretty tacky but cute little ornaments onto your antlers. Most of them are just oversized and generically cute phone charms.

You feel silly wearing them but you'll take any advantage you can.

https://youtu.be/XEtRzDYYBuY - U-CORP

The train station your group arrives at is, to put it lightly, tacky beyond all measures. The actual layout of the train station is nothing to write home about: Aside from not being iced over and having a lot more random people in it, it's a 1:1 copy of your train station back at G-Corp.

Chairs for people to wait at, an open area where the trains come in and out of for people to board on, ticket booths to confirm you should be there, turnstiles next to the booth to stop you until said confirmation...

Layout wise, it is just a train station. It's the decorations that annoy the shit out of you. Every spare inch on the walls, ceiling, and even the floor are stuffed to the brim with tacky and bizarre looking inventions that you can't make heads or tails of. Calculators with lighters built into them, blades made out of ice, a robot made out of toothpicks and glass, a pile of loose slime made out of a grey metallic sludge.

All of them have bizarre names too like "TO BURN IRRATIONAL NUMBERS" and "CLEANING THROUGH LIFE".

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] U-Company's main shtick is that they want inventors to create, study, and inventive at any cost.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] They take pride in it. Even if the inventions or fields of study are nonsensical.

"Knowledge at any cost." Frank finishes what your mind is saying. "Don't talk to anyone who passes by. They'll try to shill their dogwater invention-"

A cold shiver runs across your leather jacket.
[ADVANCED INTUTION] He's approaching in T minus 30 seconds. Clean yourself up.

"Shut. My boss is arriving. Otto. Foxtrot. Get into position."

Benedict and Adam are confused by that name but everyone else immediately realizes who you're talking about. Even Frank seems hesitant upon hearing the name.
>>
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Even Frank seems to get the idea to not fuck around...at least for the introduction. Right as your group gets ready, HE finally steps over to your group.

https://youtu.be/sIVBt1BuGes - Your Handler

A man of average height and stature stands before you. His outfit is immediately familiar to you and your group. A burgundy red jacket with light pink swirls patterns creeping around its surface, long charcoal grey pants with bits of sparkling silver at the cuffs, and black shoes with silver soles.

His short bronze hair is slicked back, shining under the bright white light inside the U-Corp train station. Yet where there's normally a smug smirk is simply a tired and exhausted frown. It's clear he doesn't want to be here any longer than he has to.

His bright emerald eyes narrow as he takes a look at your group. He nods and makes a few indistinct murmurs before he points towards you. "We need to talk somewhere more private. Your group can pick." He holds out a small little brochure of various nearby locations your group can head to from the train station. "We need to talk about our mission. In private."

Your allies glance through the brochure with you. Where do you want to have the briefing at?
>[BENEDICT ALLY] "Fi...five star...F-Corp approved steakhouse." Benedict points towards one of the fancier restaurants. "Need to...see." (+0.5 RAPPORT with BENEDICT.)
>[MARUYAMA ALLY] "Oh, that could be nice. A small little bar to loosen our lips." The idea of a drink on the job is making Maruyama's mouth water. "And hey, some people might be loose lipped during it." (+0.5 RAPPORT with MARUYAMA, you'll get to pick an upgrade for him during it.)
>[ALEXIS ALLY] "Private? Let's go to this old office. I can tell the workers to leave." The Handler seems to smirk upon hearing that request. (+0.5 RAPPORT with Alexis and a minor boost to the Handler's respect.)
>[FRANK ALLY] "We're here because we're hunting someone down, yeah? Fuck being private, let's go somewhere shady." Frank shoos the brochure away. "Track down who might've had a reason to take out your man." Follow his lead. (+0.5 FRANK RAPPORT.)
>[ADAM ALLY] "I'm actually quite curious about this expo." Adam points towards a small inventor's conference happening soon. "If nothing else, they should be too busy to notice us talking." (+0.5 RAPPORT with ADAM.)
>[PERSON OF INTEREST + ADVANCED INTUITION] "We shouldn't use anything on this brochure. Follow me." Let your mind and body wander until you find somewhere better." (Should be way safer than the other options but no one will particularly care for this.)
>"Hey. We don't really care. How about you pick? You probably have a way better idea than any of us, right?" Hand the Brochure back. Try to comfort your boss if only to keep him focused. (You'd imagine the Handler will respect you more for this.)
>Ask your allies or the Handler something on your way over. (FREE ACTION. Write up to four questions to ask your Allies or the Handler.)
>>
>>6050444
FRANK ALLY
Ask Frank about the recent P-Corp events like the sabotage of facilities in F, G, and Y Districts or that buried facility from yesterday at District 10. How do the ETFs see all this? What's the sentiment among the ones he knows?
Ask Maruyama about a certain Mr. Golden Hour. How's his business going with Sukane?
Ask Adam how things have been going with him and Benedict lately. It's been several days since coming back from the sea. Are those bastards still harassing them or their business?
Nudge Handler and show him the DAMAGED MAP. "The one I killed that night had this on him. Figured you might care since we're in the District. I wouldn't count them out of the briefcase thing; they've been getting desperate lately."
>>
>>6050485
+1
>>
>>6050485
>>6050444
Will support the convo but choose:

>[ALEXIS ALLY] "Private? Let's go to this old office. I can tell the workers to leave." The Handler seems to smirk upon hearing that request. (+0.5 RAPPORT with Alexis and a minor boost to the Handler's respect.)

Chances to boost handler respect are somewhat rare, and I feel like telling him to pick is a trap option/will backfire.
>>
>>6050444
>>6050494
Yeah you know what, I'm starting to agree with >>6050499
changing my vote from >>6050485 to
>ALEXIS ALLY
but keeping the questions as is
We really need to get Frank's respect up too, but Handler matters because he's our boss and Frank isn't
>>
>>6050444
>[ALEXIS ALLY] "Private? Let's go to this old office. I can tell the workers to leave." The Handler seems to smirk upon hearing that request. (+0.5 RAPPORT with Alexis and a minor boost to the Handler's respect.)
>>
>>6050504
I mean, getting some decent rep with Fronk may be good, but I kinda think of this mission as his interview. Like are good stats and decent gear gonna be worth it if he is like a constant restraint drain or disobeys our orders. So personally I am okay just seeing how he does before investing too much in him. In theory, we should probably have chances to recruit new allies in the future, might find someone later with similar uses as him but are easier to work with.
>>
>>6050494
Change
>>6050504
+1
>>
>>6050444
>[PERSON OF INTEREST + ADVANCED INTUITION] "We shouldn't use anything on this brochure. Follow me." Let your mind and body wander until you find somewhere better." (Should be way safer than the other options but no one will particularly care for this.)
>>
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You considered going with Frank's plan but this is your first mission with him. You don't quite trust him and you need to see if he'll be a liability or not. You glance down towards the office Alexis pointed to on the map: Silver Savings Inc.

You stick up your nose at the mere mention of 'Silver' but you doubt they're THAT bold with naming stuff. "I suppose that works. Let's go with that."
Frank rolls his eyes at his idea being dismissed but he's not going to cause a hissy fit over it.

"Alright. Sounds like a good plan." The Handler cracks the briefest hint of a smile but it disappears before you got a good glimpse of his face. "Let's get moving."

"Lead the way, Alexis. You know where it is." While your knowledge about the City and its layout is great, you don't remember every minute detail of it. Alexis starts leading your group out of the train station upon hearing your order. With some quick paperwork done by her and the Handler, you're already back out onto the streets of U-GAMMA-3.

The first thing that hits you is the warm coastal air. It washes over your group like a warm blanket being tossed over you during a cold winter night. Even your dour Handler and Frank seem to relax a bit upon feeling it.

The layout of this part of U-Corp is oddly normal? No, no, a lot of the City has fucked up buildings or weird gimmicks to it. This place just looks like any regular coastal town you used to see on old TV shows. Small cozy wooden buildings painted with bright colors are plastered all throughout the streets. There's hardly any traffic congestion in the streets either.

The sky is a shining and pure blue with a bright yellow sun staring down at you. Can't even remember the last time you saw that back in G-Corp. It's usually frosty white and clouded over.

As your group walks down the well maintained sidewalk, you almost wondered if you entered a Nest or something. This seems far too fancy for normal people to live at. Your group even manages to pass by a beach filled to the brim with men and women in swimwear. Shimmering, bright blue water and yellow sand stretches out for miles, tempting you to step closer to it.

You can see Frank drooling over one of the bustier women down at the street while Adam and Benedict shyly look from the amount of skin being shown off. Alexis, Maruyama, and the Handler are patently ignoring it. They're focused on business first.

The people you pass by are also, for a lack of a better word, normal? There's no bizarre white only uniforms or fifty layers of winter clothing or bizarre fashion statements like some of the other subdistricts you visited. They're just in normal non-assuming clothes.

You almost wonder if you're still even in the City. Your group kinda stands out compared to everyone else here

"So, Frank." You decide to start up a conversation as your group keeps heading down the sidewalk. "I've heard some rumors about P-Corp facilities being sabotaged from an associate of mine. Know anything about that?"
>>
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Frank snaps out of his ogling to turn his gaze over to you. "I have. I would ask how the hell you know but that shit's been on the news, hasn't it?"
"Yeah." It's not really a lie. You ARE shown the news. It's just from the TV MAN, that's all.

"Shit. I'm not complaining too much about it personally. My job is based off commissions, I only get paid if I do stuff." He offers you a dismissive shrug. "More anomalies to contain or kill, more money. My partners don't feel the same."

"I mean I wouldn't be shocked. A sudden workload increase is probably going to tire them out if nothing else. Especially if something dangerous comes out."

"Yeah. It is weird timing, I gotta admit." Frank scratches at his chin as he contemplates something. "It's a lot of weird timing and some of my coworkers think it's a set up. Especially after some ancient facility was dug up in J-Corp. Lotta them are schizoing about 'federal agents' but I don't believe it."

"I think it's just P-Corp trying to artificially drum up demand or to make US look even better. Which I appreciate." Frank thumps his fist against his chest. "Not like I need it."

Alexis and Handler both turn their gazes back towards Frank for a brief moment. "Hasn't there been more anomalies?" "Maybe the fed thing isn't wrong, Frank."

"There has been- Hm." Frank squints his eyes to contemplate yet again before he offers another shrug. "All I personally know is that P-Corp is trying to keep it hush hush and is paying up a handsome sum to keep it on the downlow. I can't squeal much more."

"Alright. No need to." So at least you know the ETFs seem to be figuring out that all of the sabotage is coming from somewhere. That could be an in you have later. "So, Maruyama, how's business been with Sukane? When did you first meet him?"

For the briefest of moments, his dull lilac eyes flash purple before returning to their regular dull saturation. "He used to be a coworker of mine back when I was still at the top of my game. I recently reconnected with him after we got over some old personal grudges and, well, he's been a good partner."

"Shit!" The Handler firmly pats Maruyama on the back. "You know Haruki too? I thought you looked familiar but yeah, I saw you there once. Aren't you that Daido fella I heard him talking about?"

Maruyama sheepishly sinks his head down, as if he's trying to hide himself inside his suit like a turtle retreating to his shell. "I prefer calling him Sukane. And to be called Maruyama. We're not on a first name basis yet."

"Ah. Right. T-Corper." The Handler retracts his hand. "Sure, sure, rather not have you piss your panties over it, Maru."

"Thanks." Maruyama tries his best to sound appreciative but it's clear from how neon red his face is, this is clearly embarrassing him beyond all measures.
"Aww, c'mon, MaruMaru. No need to get all antsy." Frank snorts at the poor middle aged man's expense. "We're just trying to be friend-"

"Shut it." You snap your fingers at Frank. He shuts it for now.
>>
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"Has he been a good partner at least?"

"Oh!" Maruyama perks up after you got his two bullies to stop for now. "He has been. It took some meditating from Kiara to get us back onto speaking terms but business for both of us has been improving. If I keep it up, I can even buy a whole extra day to relax with."

"Wait, isn't a whole T-Corp extra day like...$25k?" Adam chimes in. "I know two hours is roughly $450 but it scales up REALLY badly."

"It does. But it'll be worth it." <"A day to decompress could do everyone in this City wonders."> "But yeah! We'll probably try pushing something to a bigger office branch later."

"Well, good!" You flash a thumbs up towards Maruyama. You're proud that he's managing to get somewhere in the corporate world, even if it's one step at a time. "And how about you, Adam? Benedict? After the whole Sea thing?"

"Same story as Maruyama, really. We've been trying to get back into business and we've been doing so successfully."
"NO...WEIRD MEN LAT...ELY." Benedict scratches at a sour spot on the side of his neck. Bits of skin easily flake off as he does so.

The Handler perks up the moment he hears Benedict's 'weird men' comment. He then snaps his fingers as if his synpases made the connection. "Ah. You two are those weirdos who get hunted by those weird guys, huh?"

Adam and Benedict share a look with each other before glancing back at The Handler. "Yes?" "SURE?"
"What the actual fuck are you talking about?" Frank half-laughs, half-sighs at this conversation that's quickly turning conspiratorial.
Alexis and Maruyama also share confused looks but Alexis seems SLIGHTLY more aware on what your group is on about.

"Nothing." You try to swerve the conversation. Best to not do this publicly, especially as your group stops in front of a quaint little office. It's what it sounds like when you heard the name. It's a small brick building that's drenched in glittery silver paint that frankly looks really tacky.

It's sandwiched in between two far more professional looking office buildings but maybe that's why she picked here: No one would expect you to pick here?

[ADVANCED INTUTION] The Boss will deny the request due to her pride. Frank will try to pull his gun out here. Stop him.

Ominous. You try to keep your mind off of that as you try to keep talking to Adam and Benedict. "So, business has been doing good, huh? How's he been readjusting towards everything?"

"It's been rough, admittedly, but we've been able to keep our little secret underwraps. Hell, I'd say business has been booming ever since he started being able to cook again." Pride oozes out of every word Adam says.
"IT IS...nice to let my mind drift. To focus on bETTER things." A chuckle distorted through electronic interference comes out of Benedict's fucked up throat. "The SHIP and the talks you gave to Me on it gave me a better perspective."

You can't help but to smile. It's glad to see that even after everything, the two are still doing well.
>>
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Welp. Time to deal with the office. You'll wait to show the damaged map once you know everyone in this office is gone. Your group promptly steps inside.

The inside of the office is cluttered to the brim with various dogshit inventions just like in the train station. Most of the walls are plastered with tacky advertisements for said inventions or with really lame 'inspirational' posters. The waiting room only has a few dusty chairs with magazines thrown on them for entertainment.

A few bored men, dressed in off-white suits coated in glitter, are sitting behind the counter. They're clearly burning time, waiting for their shift to be over.

"Hey." Alexis snaps her fingers at the office workers. "Alexis Morozov, associate of B, H, and I-Corp. I need this office. Out. Same with your other workers and bosses." She jabs her thumb towards the door.

"What? The hell are you on about?"
"Not unless we get our boss' approval. Boss!"

A very...rotund specimen that you think was once a human woman stumbles towards the counter. She's in the same off-white suit as everyone else. She squints at the Handler and Alexis and shakes her head. "Nope. Not with that attitude. You ain't the bo-"

Frank's eye twitches for a brief second.

Frank's hand immediately rushes towards his holster but you stop him in time. "Look, we're here on some official business from Alexis Morozov. We also have an associate of Haruki Sukane from the Golden Hour Office here. Please."

The Fat Boss narrows her eyes at your ragtag group but with a huff, she gestures at her workers to get out of here. Probably helps that she could tell Frank was about to lose his temper at her attitude. It only takes ten minutes for the office to be left as a ghost town.

Your group is now sitting around at an empty conference room deeper inside of the office, hopefully deep enough so no one overhears. It's time to actually do the briefing. You nod towards the Handler to get the ball rolling.

"Alright. Here's everything I personally know. My associate that we're trying to find is Alan Armstrong. To repeat my physical description to the rest of you-"
"Oh, I already told them." You explained what little he told you over to the phone when you contacted them, after all.
"Right."

"He was tasked with delivering a briefcase to an associate of mine down at an establishment called the Faustian Bargain." Your group moans and boos at how on the nose that name is. "This City has existed for fuckin' 250 years, you run out of ideas eventually. I can't pick what they name it."

"He was supposed to arrive there a few days ago but he hasn't. That's all I personally know about the situation."

"Well, first off, do we know of anyone who particularly hates you or him?" Frank is the first one to speak up, shockingly. "I know there's Singularity patents and other confidential shit. That shit would make a killing. Even if THEY can't use it, they can sure as hell stop you from using it for profit."
>>
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"That's the thing. Aside from the six of you, I haven't told anyone but him and U-Corp about it. Not intentionally, at least, though someone might've overheard."

Alexis immediately calls bullshit on this. "Okay, that doesn't make sense. It's clear that someone has to be out for him. I doubt someone just attacked him randomly."

"Well, I don't know of anyone who hates him. He's a relative nobody despite his name belonging to a former corporate family. For me? Maybe a Kilim or an Anjaro? But most of them aren't involved with U-Corp."

"Tracks. Anjaros are basically in hiding and Kilims are with M-Corp if nothing else."

"It could be that someone you pissed off in U-Corp wanted to harm your operations with him as collateral? Perhaps it's not the case itself that they cared about and moreso pissing YOU off." Adam offers another explanation.

"Possibly. I do know that there's a lot of various minor offices and gangs who would get rowdy upon hearing that someone associated with me is down here." The Handler nods along. "I know of a few locations we can go to."

You decide to put the DAMAGED MAP onto the table. "Could it be this outside group that I keep hearing about?" It's probably wise not to immediately screech about Silver Agents quite yet.

The rest of the group look at the map. The Handler, Adam, and Benedict take a moment to analyze if it's at all possible before they offer their own perspectives.

"He was sent by himself so this organization could've hunted him down. Yet I feel like even they wouldn't be able to crack it open. They would've wanted me too." The Handler points out. "I'm the only one who can open it. They probably would've made a move on me too, no?"
"AND I DOUBT A 'WASTE OF MEAT' WOULD BE LEFT ALIVE IF HE WAS CAPTURED." Benedict cryptically whispers. Given how he's not even still supposed to be a human, that tracks. "I IMAGINE WE WOULD'VE SEEN OR HEARD SOMETHING ABout an unidentified dead body."
"I didn't hear any of that on my way over. Did any of you? News, rumors, anything"

Everyone shakes their head. Silvers aren't known for being tactful with how they handle corpses if Naomi and the Female Agent's discussion on shooting a corpse 50 times for sadistic glee is anything to say. So either the Silvers aren't involved or he's still alive.

[PERSON OF INTEREST] Or the body isn't found yet. Who's to say they won't take this more seriously? This isn't some random briefcase after all.
[ADVANCED INTUTION] Two days isn't long enough for any solid conclusion on his status either way.

"Well, do you know about the places he usually goes to?" Maruyama asks the Handler after everyone else said their piece. "Any particular stops or regular places he visits? It's very possible he was intercepted there and we could track him from there."

"I know two. One: The Inventor's League Conference, about a few miles from here. Basically a parade of the top most inventions across U-Corp, trying to get U-Corp's attention."
>>
"A lot of minor offices like the Time Killers, Cleaners of U-Corp Association, and the 432 Organization work there. I don't have a great relationship with any of them."

"Two: Sugar Apple's Gentlemen Club. We usually organize our meetings there because it's remote and, to be frank, shady as hell. It could be very possible someone overheard us talking and are trying to wait for me to arrive back there."

Everyone but Frank scrunches their noses upon hearing the term 'gentleman's club'. "Hey! I'm a young man, I need some T&A sometimes! Fuck off!"
"Ew." "Cлишкoм чecтнo." "退化する." "Pervertito."

Well, you narrowed down a few locations you could go to from here. Which location do you want to head from here?
>[FRANK ALLY] "Well, let's go to the Conference. It's clear you got some sour fucking grapes working there, let's nip it in the bud. Maybe we'll even learn who has a proper motive to do it." Frankly (heh), not a bad idea. Go to the conference. It would at least be cool if nothing else.
>[ADAM ALLY] "I hate saying this but let's go to the Gentlemen's Club. Criminals would probably want to take the case if they heard something valuable was inside." Gentlemen's Club time it is.
>[MARUYAMA ALLY] "I agree with Frank but we shouldn't go to the Conference. I say we track down the Time Killers. Perhaps I can talk to them if they're from T-Corp?" It would be wise not to barge in dick first. Track them down to see if Maruyama can talk to them.
>[ALEXIS ALLY] "Maybe we should bother U-Corp about it? This SHOULD be something they care about. If nothing else, they would know of anyone particularly bad, right?" Even if the Handler wants to keep this underwraps, U-Corp would be worried about their briefcase being missing too. Head to the nearest U-Corp government building to inform them.
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] You're almost certain the Spooks are at least tangentially involved somehow. Scout out their nearby base and see what you can overhear from them.
>[BENEDICT ALLY] "W-We should try...finding him first. T-talk to the people around U-Corp. See if they've seen or heard him. Less likely for people to be suspicious." It's obvious your information is limited. Perhaps scouting out U-Corp and the people could offer you more insight.
>You need more data. Investigating other recent disappearances could offer you some data that could point to the most likely culprit. Try to investigate any other major disappearances in this part of U-Corp.
>Bother one of the other two offices directly. 432 sounds too much like the 521 and an office of Cleaners might be hired by one of the families that hates The Handler (Pick between CLEANERS OF U-CORP or 432 ORGANIZATION)
>Write in
>>
Holy shit I've been too busy and fucked up the past few days

>>6049609
>$55.5k
This tells us a lot about the amount of money Alex is working with, to do that exact thing just last night to get us to the silver agent
>partnership
I wonder how much of this is due to Nicole and the events of her quest. Would Handler have still bothered to invest in SHIFTers if Nicole was mediocre?
>because of U-Corp
I thought it was because of W-Corp due to Nicole's mental fragmentation, which has to do with their singularity. We're getting leads but not answers yet, which makes for a good mystery
>a third element that H-Corp refuses to disclose
Paus/Faust?
>appearance
This guy stands out, but anybody can look like anything in the City
>C-52-59
What could this mean?

>>6049612
>low, slow jazz
Exactly your type of music QM :^)
>enraged costumers
I would gloss over this as a typo, but I vaguely remember what Adam said. Something about crazy dressed people and gangs of clowns coming to his restaurant before? Might be ongoing
>triple deep fried
Such SS13 classics as "a deep fried deep fried deep fried deep fried deep fried deep fried donk pocket"

>>6049614
>oddly fitting
Nobody's put a ring on Nicole yet, and Nicole's powers don't extend to ice... But if we shove 3 CRYO GRENADES up someone's ass, pour the ICY BLOOD VIAL down their throats, and pop the nades at the same time, is that SNOWGRAVEing them? Meh, I-Corp would be able to do it better
>No wonder
Perhaps he knows about Grave Corp that came before, to react this way? Or maybe it's a stereotype in the City with current G-Corp in place
>guita-
I hope Ashley's doing OK on her end. We borrow DEEP INTUITION, and she borrows... SEEKER? POI? Kiara said she had borrowed UNSTABLE during the movie night. Is it always the same for anybody Nicole connects to via NEW YOU?
>gold star
You tried

>>6049617
>FRANK SMITH
He's the exact sort of muscle we need. No CHARM? No problem
>ETF SHOTGUN
I WANT IT

>>6050439
>EARNT $9
Is that even enough for a DISCOUNT DAN'S CREAM SODA?
>usually more women
Kiara's a bestie and people really wanted to keep bringing Naomi along for the buffs. Personally I miss Lex and Ashley. I'm glad Maruyama's here because I also missed him. Same for A&B
>complex puzzle
That's one way to describe wires and basic construction in SS13, or Roboticist
>PLASMA CUTTER
It's also good at delimbing necromorphs
>ANTLER ORNAMENTS
Melly Crimbus, Noelle Schmidt
>EXPLOSIVE AMMO
It fits him
>T-CORP TIMEPIECE
Wonder how he'd react to the WATERLOGGED and MAKESHIFT POCKETWATCH.
>>
>>6051220
>[ADAM ALLY] "I hate saying this but let's go to the Gentlemen's Club. Criminals would probably want to take the case if they heard something valuable was inside." Gentlemen's Club time it is.

>>6051280
>I'm glad Maruyama's here because I also missed him.

Agreed. I like professional Japanese salaryman, especially when they bring along mysterious katanas.
>>
>>6050440
>MARK 1.5
We ditched the old one in the P-Corp Facility only for a new one to make their appearance. Will we ever be rid of the metals in our worlds? That sounds a lot like an anomaly line, doesn't it QM?
>SUGAR PILLS
Le placebo effect. We have plenty of good ways to prevent his UNSTABLE reacting so far
>in red marker
>Kiara told me
I love these characters
>BLADE
Is that Maruyama's PARADIGM? The fabled NTR slayer?
>T-Corp Extension Program
The same thing the silver agents use to resist the WATERLOGGED STOPWATCH. We should bring this up to Maruyama later after he finally witnesses the glowies for the first time
>stay aware for too long
Congrats on creating the anti WARP Train QM

>>6050442
>treats
He's in a very sweet mood lately, or is that just his output? Anyway all these are nice to have. They last for the entire mission, which alone is MASSIVE. These will be great on the base assault
>cute phone charms
Why do I get the feeling Alexis personally picked some of these out? She'd vehemently deny it if we ever ask, but it would make for a funny scene later
>SMT IV OST
QM continuing to prove his godlike taste
>Calculators with lighters
How much would H-Corp Cleansers want one?
>robot
What is this, some middle school science project?
>grey metallic sludge
STAY THE FUCK AWAY
>confused
I like the detail that Adam doesn't know the name, even though he'd recognize Handler on sight because he was there back during the restaurant mission

>>6050444
>exhausted
The Evrart theme does fit his current state

>>6051209
>Silver Savings Inc.
Oh no no no...
>doubt they're THAT bold
Never underestimate the arrogance of an agent high on his own supply
>rolls his eyes
To his credit, I did want to go with his idea first. Not that he knows
>coastal air
Nothing like over at S-Corp. That place sucks
>beach
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac4GgQ9JF40
>normal
This sequence is surreal just from this shift alone. It reminds me of what TV MAN showed Nicole that one time, about a world where the City doesn't exist and all these horrors aren't real. Our world.

>>6051210
>on the news
It's been a full day since we got this from the TV MAN (right before the facility mission) and it's spread that fast
>federal agents
He's gonna FREAK his SHIT when he sees an agent in the flesh
>fed thing isn't wrong
I love that even in his phase of woe, the Handler is subtly backing Nicole up
>an in
I wonder if we can win Frank over with the promise of glory against the silver agents, when the time comes? The agents hate being known and evidence being spread of them. Frank's got the loudmouth asshole energy to do it too
>old personal grudges
Sukane wasn't the guy who cucked him, right? It was somebody else, wasn't it?
>first name basis
He's Japanese, duh
>embarrassing him
I didn't expect this, but at least now Handler has that connection made
>MaruMaru
Japs and their nicknaming
>>
>>6051211
>two bullies
Hey, Handler wasn't trying to bully him though?
>scales up
2 hours is $450
24 hours is $25000
That's fucking insane, as expected of the City
>back into business
Everybody's making steps forward, I like that
>made the connection
The Handler is warming up to the allies knowing about the agents. He might end up all for the base assault at this rate
>pull his gun
Already starting shit, thanks Filthy Frank
>better perspective
PARADIGM altering, recovering?

>>6051214
>glitter
God I hate this office
>H
Was that after we worked with Huxley on the mine mission?
>rotund
Dumb fat glitter bomb bitch, fuck off
>no one overhears
THEY BETTER NOT BE IN THE FUCKING WALLS I FUCKING SWEAR
>Alan Armstrong
Armstrongs and the Yados are with P-Corp now, according to Gregory phone's lore
>Faustian Bargain
Explains the Paus case
>patents
With how arrogant the Handler is and his high position, he would have at least some enemies out there. But who would know about this briefcase and his connection to it to be able to target this Cleaner he's using?

>>6051216
>haven't told anyone
Is the U-Corp insider option the real one?
>Kilims are with M-Corp
Boeks are part of them now too. Interesting bit that Gregory and the Krakatoas have collaborations with M-Corp often
>not to immediately screech about Silver Agents
[UNSTABLE] TELL THEM ABOUT THE GLOWNIGGERS, NICOLE! THE HANDLER AND ALEXIS ARE RIGHT HERE, THEY CAN VOUCH FOR US!
>any solid conclusion
Silvers are out. The mystery continues

>>6051220
>Time Killers
Those filthy timekiller niggers...
>need some T&A
Especially after his issues with his old girlfriend, given what the TARNISHED GOLD NECKLACE hinted
>Cлишкoм чecтнo
I like the Handler being honest
>退化する
Powerful
>>
>>6051220
OK my vote
backing >>6051293
Handler said "We usually organize our meetings there", so somebody against him might have enough foresight to get the place observed and catch wind of this briefcase.
>>
>>6051293
+1
>>
>>6051220
>[ADAM ALLY] "I hate saying this but let's go to the Gentlemen's Club. Criminals would probably want to take the case if they heard something valuable was inside." Gentlemen's Club time it is.
>>
>>6049614
"Feh. You win. What do you want, uh, Noelle? I think that's your name." He takes another deep huff of his cigarette. "I'm a bit busy."

"It's Nicole." Somehow, 'Noelle' sounds oddly fitting as a name for you. You wonder why.
>Noelle
Is that 521 Nicole doppelgänger name? And did Frank meet her?
>>
>>6051434
It's a pretty blatant DELTARUNE reference
>>
>>6051220
>[ADAM ALLY] "I hate saying this but let's go to the Gentlemen's Club. Criminals would probably want to take the case if they heard something valuable was inside." Gentlemen's Club time it is.
>>
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Adam, despite him making fun of the Handler mere moments ago for mentioning it as an option, is the first one to propose to go there.

"Look. You said you go there regularly and to be quite honest, that's a bad thing when you're dealing with sensitive documents, no?" Adam points out the obvious flaw in what the Handler has been doing.

The Handler tries to fight back but he immediately loses all of his bravado once he takes time to process what Adam said. "I suppose so. I always assumed people would be too distracted by the T&A to care about what I was doing."

"Sex does sell." Alexis shrugs with a mixture of disinterest and pity for the Handler. "But no one stands out more than two men NOT paying attention to the half naked women."
"Hey, Adam boy! I didn't know you had actual balls! Thought you F-Corp types were too busy wanting to fuck food instead of hot CHICKS!"

Adam squints at Frank. "I'm just doing it for the mission." <"At least they won't be covered in blood like the last woman I saw half naked."> "Though I suppose that too is a benefit." <"...I mean. Not like that last time was too bad.">

Eh, you're not going to get onto him about it. He stapled your body back together for free after all and on pretty short notice.

You and your two other allies really couldn't care less about the 'gentleman's club'. Benedict is too unstable to really care about anything but Adam and cooking, you're a woman, and Maruyama just doesn't seem into the idea period.

"Let's get going then. Got any advice that isn't boyish nonsense, Frank?"

Frank obnoxiously rolls his eyes at your comment. "Look out for anyone who isn't ogling at the tits. They're probably there for another reason. And I wouldn't look anyone in the eye, they're twitchy." Fair enough piece of advice you suppose.

With nothing else to really discuss here, your group exits the conference room before quickly exiting the office all together. You follow after the Handler since he knows where the club is. It doesn't take long for the idyllic beaches and well maintained buildings to quickly be awashed with crumbling abandoned offices and grimy, ash and oil-slick streets.

You're in the bad side of town and it's obvious none of you (except maybe Frank) belong here. The people you walk past are either gaunt and pasty wretches flicking away at needles, towering piles of muscles with tattoos covering their body, or women wearing only the most tacky and sexualized clothing you could imagine.

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] It's uncommon to see a low income area like this connected to a far higher income area. Usually they're a lot more segregated.

Your thoughts are interrupted by hearing gunshots faintly in the distance. Best to get moving before you get involved in gang shit again.

Your group finally arrives at the club you were looking for and, by god, it's fucking tacky. Every single inch of the entrance is covered in bright neon pink signs that are desperately clinging to life.
>>
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They're the only thing brightening up the otherwise super dreary windowless brick building that's threatening to crumble apart at any second. A sign reading "SUGAR APPLE" tells you this is the place.

Your group promptly judges the Handler for picking THIS place when he probably had better options. He simply shrugs. "A bit of lower class meat in your diet isn't that bad, is it?"

Father Fucking Above. Frank clears his throat with some wet, heavy coughs but otherwise, no one else responses. The Handler gets the hint and drops the topic real quick. "Look, let's just get this over with."

The line to the only door in and out of the club goes all the way down the street. Humans, Androids, even a Drone or two are piling up in anticipation for 'low class meat'. Three bodyguards with tribal, faintly glowing tattoos plastered all over their faces stand by the door. They slowly check and analyze every single person who wants in.

One of them immediately spots the Handler and his group. He holds his hand out as if expecting something. The Handler tosses over a small hunk of gemstone over to him. You immediately recognize it as a Sunstone Chunk given its bright orange hue.

He points a thumb at the door, gesturing him and your group inside. While the crowd of pent up men obviously whines at this they can't really do anything as you are led inside of the club. Let's hope you can get this over with already.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BwSklxLiCw - SUGAR APPLE

You already hate this place.

The whole club reeks of cigarette smoke, sweat, spoiled beer and vomit. Every inch of it is drenched in bright, flashing neon lights that's making it hard to make out anything in the club's layout or who's even here. An obnoxious high energy sound is blaring over the speakers on a constant, incessant loop and you swear the tone is getting higher and higher every second.

The main attraction is, as expected, several gaunt and sickly women in gaudy, revealing outfits having the time of their life (wait no they look fucking miserable) grinding up against metal poles installed onto the main stage at the center of the room.

Dozens of men who have to be in their late 40s at minimum are sitting around the stage in very uncomfortable looking chairs. Their eyes are glazed over from a combination of inebriation and what you can only assume is being hypnotized by the lights, music, and eye candy.

You can't even detect anything with them via MIND READ.

For the rest of the club? There's a small little bar tucked away in the corner with a bartender who looks like he's a bad day away from killing himself, a small lounge area for people to smoke and drink at, and a few 'private session' rooms that make you heave just thinking about it.

There's also, oddly enough, a restaurant in here? Well, that's giving it too much praise, it's really just a few plastic tables and chairs scattered around a counter where a greasy dude is selling cheap burgers and fries.
>>
Frank, the only one eager to come here, visibly deflates upon seeing what's actually inside. "This place fucking sucks." The Handler solemnly nods along.
Benedict eyes some of the women on the stage and scoffs. "Too LITTLE meat. Wouldn't fEED oNE person, let alone TWO. How can anyone enJOY this?"
Maruyama and Alexis are busy trying to keep their eyes low to the ground. You're too busy trying to ignore the hungry gazes being given by various of the weird men here. Eugh.
Adam jabs towards the small food stall. "Hey. Those guys look weird, don't they?"

While everything in here is supremely depressing and disappointing, you do notice that a few odd looking men who are WAY well too dressed for this 'fine establishment' are sitting by the 'restaurant'. Everyone else is in tattered rags or, at best, some really greasy and sleazy casual wear...

The three men there are in bright red suits that are more similar to the Handler's outfit than anything. They're busy chattering away while eating some sloppy joes. An odd briefcase (one that's jet black) sits in between the three of them. Weird, why would they be here?

Another point of interest that crosses your mind is, oddly enough, a young woman sitting by in the lounge area. She's fully dressed in streetwear and she stands out like a sore thumb compared to everyone else. She seems to be blasting her mind out in a mixture of White Powder and Joyvel. Sitting next to her is a man who's staring right towards the men in red suits.

The glint of a revolver hanging on his belt tells you what he's here for.

Hm. You should decide where to go from here QUICK.

What do you want to do from here, Nicole?
>[UNSTABLE] A DRUGGIE WOMAN? LET'S GO BOTHER HER, NICOLE, SHE'S OUR COUSIN FROM ANOTHER MOTHER. MAYHAPS WE CAN COMMUNICATE WITH HER ON YOUR LEVEL.
>[ALEXIS ALLY] "A place like this has a security system, no? Let's try to convince whoever owns this place we need to access it." The people who stole this case are probably long gone but if you have a face? You can work with that.
>Your Handler clears his throat. "Let's go bother the bartender. He likely hears a lot of gossip and rumors throughout this part of U-Corp." Go along with the Handler's plan.
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] No need to bother people directly. Sit down at the bar and use MIND READ to scout out the place. Go from there. (WILLPOWER DC: ???, rolling 8d6 by yourself. The higher you roll, the more information you can scout from the cognizant members of the club.)
>[MARUYAMA ALLY] "Wait, those suits look familiar. Let's go talk to them real quick." They DO stand out like a sore thumb. Maybe Maruyama could get you an in with them.
>[FRANK ALLY] "We should stake this place out. Could be that they could return to the scene of the crime." Find a comfortable place to hang out in this shitty place and wait. No need to rush. (Write in two allies to chat with. You'll gain +0.5 RAPPORT with them. You may also pick the Handler to chat to..)
>Write in.
>>
>>6051862
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] No need to bother people directly. Sit down at the bar and use MIND READ to scout out the place. Go from there. (WILLPOWER DC: ???, rolling 8d6 by yourself. The higher you roll, the more information you can scout from the cognizant members of the club.)
This place stinks. We haven't had a WILLPOWER check in ages, and I wanna put these gloves to use.

I don't wanna get UNSTABLE in this place
Security's gonna be real busy when the gunman starts to hit the suits
Bartender option will make the Handler feel a bit better, but he hired us to do this job with him, not himself
Maruyama option sounds good to me, but our group will be marked as potential enemies by the gunman and his allies for talking to the suits right before he starts his hit
Frank option is tempting for that RAPPORT up, but is there truly no rush? This case and the Cleaner kid have been missing for 2 days. A lot can happen in 2 days. Don't get me wrong, I like his option... but how much are we going to like it when bullets start flying real soon?
>>
>>6051879
Alternatively, we split? Frank and Handler distract gunman after we point him out to the team, Maruyama and Alexis and Nicole go talk to the suits while gunman is delayed, abd Adam and Benedict hang tight to prepare to help if shit starts to go down.
>>
>>6051862
>[FRANK ALLY] "We should stake this place out. Could be that they could return to the scene of the crime." Find a comfortable place to hang out in this shitty place and wait. No need to rush. (Write in two allies to chat with. You'll gain +0.5 RAPPORT with them. You may also pick the Handler to chat.

Frank and the Handler. Consider this the job interview.

He’s the only one of our allies that doesn’t sit right with me. We need to get to the bottom of this guy before we get into a gunfight together.
>>
>>6051862
Fuck it, changing my vote from >>6051879 or >>6051885, to backing >>6051933

>>6051933
We better not fail the mission for doing this, but I'll back it because I'm curious about Frank too
>>
>>6051933
+1
>>
>>6051885
QM, could we do the stakeout while sending other allies to do other tasks? If we do the stakeout we’re going to have four people sitting around with their thumbs up their asses.
>>
>>6052124
I hope we can do this. So it'd be
>Nicole + Frank + Handler
They have a nice chat
>Maruyama + Alexis
They handle the suited trio, but do we need to if we're staking out?
>Adam + Benedict
They keep eyes and ears open. Adam watches the doors, Benedict watches the bar and restaurant areas?
>>
>>6052137
That sounds rock solid. We need to break the ice, and Adam and Benedict could spot any weirdness in the restaurant staff given their experience. Do we put a finger on the staring guy or just let them sort it out?
>>
>>6052137
I’ll +1 that, provided QM allows it.
>>
>>6052086
Change
>>6052137
+1
>>
>>6051860
>loses all of his bravado
This is quite the humbling time for him. He should have had his fair share of them on his climb up to where he is now, but what should I know?
>more segregated
This entire District is surreal for any City dweller

>>6051861
>SUGAR APPLE
Damn Handler, you go to (freak)shit places like THIS?
>Sunstone Chunk
Thanks to our efforts at W Corp, I presume. He probably gains his own offscreen pay and loot from Nicole completing her missions
>obnoxious high energy sound
That's only like 3 or 4 of the Cruelty Squad songs, isn't it?

>>6051862
>visibly deflates
It's slow now, but Frank has yet to experience the REAL SHIT Nicole's missions devolve into nowadays. That comes later
>hungry gazes
When a schizo girl who's more attractive than the actual stripper girls enters the building. I bet with all her blatant corpo iconography on public display, none of these poor guys are daring to take a look at Alexis for more than a few seconds at a time
>blasting her mind out
There's going to be a lot of that soon enough, and not just for this random girl here

>>6052149
>>6052185
>>6052221
>no one stands out more than two men NOT paying attention to the half naked women
>I wouldn't look anyone in the eye, they're twitchy
>>
Seems like Frank Ally is the one that's winning and, yeah, I have no fault with the group splitting up. That's the main benefit of bringing multiple allies after all.
I'll count >>6052137 as a write in to the FRANK ALLY prompt.
For MARUYAMA and ALEXIS, no need to do anything, their overwhelming CHARM and CONNECTIONS are enough to handle it with no rolls.
As for Adam and Benedict, I need two anons to roll the following

>4d6 (ADAM'S COGNIZANCE, DC: 9/13/15/18. The more thresholds he beats, the more he's able to piece together and relay back to you.)
>4d6 (BENEDICT'S WILLPOWER, DC: 11/14/16. He's detecting something off about this place but he doesn't know what. For each threshold he passes, he'll be able to piece together more through the haze of his own mind AND the fucked up casino.)

AVAILABLE ITEMS TO CONSUME:
MOONSTONE FRAGMENT (can reroll three WILLPOWER DICE for Benedict.)
XISXIS PILL (Allows Adam to roll an additional 3d4.)
PEP PILL+ (Can add a flat 4 to WILLPOWER or CONGNIZANCE)
>>
Rolled 4, 2, 3, 3 = 12 (4d6)

>>6052524
Rolling Adam
Eat an XISXIS pill, we have 4 of them and COGNIZANCE rolls are rarely come by
>>
Rolled 1, 3, 1 = 5 (3d4)

>>6052524
>>6052541
Rolling the 3d4 of the XISXIS PILL
>>
>>6052542
>totals 17
>off by 1 from the 18 maximum
Eh, I'll take 3 out of 4 thresholds over sticking with >>6052541 and only having 1 threshold instead. We can easily live with this
>>
Rolled 6, 4, 4, 5 = 19 (4d6)

>>6052524
Rolling for Benidict
>>
RESULTS
ADAM: 3/4. GOOD SUCCESS
BENEDICT: 3/3. GREAT SUCCESS
ITEMS CONSUMED: ONE XISXIS PILL
Writing.
>>
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"Maruyama, Alexis, you go bother the men in suits. Adam, keep an eye on the front door. Benedict, check the bar and kitchen. The rest of us will be waiting out in the longue." Sounds like the best allocation of resources so nobody is left sitting around with their dick in their hands- Okay not the best time or place to think of that.

Maruyama gives a thumbs up at the plan. "Can do. Shouldn't be too hard." A faint smile crosses the exhausted salaryman's face. Alexis nods approvingly, patting Maruyama on the back. "C'mon. We can strike up a GREAT deal with them." If you didn't know any better, she almost sounds encouraging.

Maruyama's smile only widens as he adjusts the sheath hanging off his belt. You're still curious what could possibly be in there but you'd imagine you'll see it eventually. The two of them head their way over to the men in suits while Adam and Benedict head to their own spots.

Adam does so quickly, standing by the side of the doorway without much issue.

Benedict, given his unnatural anatomy, takes a while to shamble over to the bar and sloppy joe restaurant. No one is really paying attention to him due to the 'meat' all around the place and the suits will be too busy talking to the others, so it's not a big issue. Well, except for the Gunman. He's watching him and the rest of your group suspiciously.

<"Hm. That bronze haired man looks familiar. Best not to do anything."> He promptly sinks back into the shitty lounge chair, hand gently resting against his holstered gun just in case. He looks odd now that you look at him closer.

His red eyes have an unnatural sheen to them and his skin, for a lack of a better word, looks fake. It's glossy and shiny in a way skin shouldn't be and you swear he's only breathing every ten or so seconds.

You decide not to look at him any longer. Frank did warn you about not staring at anyone who looks like they're here for another reason. The three of you stand around in the longue while the others fall into their positions.

"So." You lean against the wall of the lounge, propping yourself up on one leg. "Frank. I might as well do an on-the-job interview while we wait for the others. We got all of our bases covered, no?"

Frank's eyes glance around the room, straining to make out anything through the neon lights, before nodding. "I suppose so. What do you want to know, freakshit?"
The Handler simply snorts upon hearing that phrase coming out of anyone else but him.

"You're weird. That's the thing, I just don't get you." Maybe it's the fact you JUST met him but something about this man is rubbing you the wrong way. "Why are you...you?"

Frank's beady little brown eyes are staring down at you as if you said the most retarded thing he has ever heard. "Listen, sugar, I'm me because I'm the best in my field. ETF-Kappa, after all." He smacks his fist against his chest. "There's nothing else to me. If you're not the best, who are you?"
>>
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You did see how insane his abilities were by a simple mind read so you can't say he's wrong. "You do realize you can't handle the world though all by yourself, right? Even if you are an Agent?"

[EVERYTHING'S A NAIL] His eye twitches for a brief moment. "I know you're technically my boss, sure. I get that." It's clear chipping away at his ego isn't the best way to handle him. "But I'm not like the other chumps. I can handle myself if I need to. Don't underestimate me."

The Handler scoffs at this but he seems cognizant enough to realize what you realized too. "She didn't. That's why she hired you to begin with. I guess she wants to know if she can trust you to not shoot her brains out. She IS my most valuable asset. Nine missions and counting."

[ETF TRAINING + EVERYTHING'S A NAIL] "What?" He seems offended at the idea of it. "Ah, I see the game you're playing." A contemptuous sneer spreads across his mouth. "I see, I see. No, no. At this point that means she'll win."

"Win?" You can't get a read on what this guy is feeling at any moment. It's clear he has a massive ego, though. That might be the best way to handle him. "Win, huh? Is that so? Then prove it to me, then. Prove that you can win."

[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Maybe it is just that simple. Perhaps you only need to focus his contemptuous gaze in the right direction. A hammer against the world.

Frank firmly pats you on the shoulder. "Oh, you're on. I contained over fifty anomalies in my service and completed over twenty expeditions in my year of service!" Wait, year? You never really had a solid look at him until now but his face is shockingly soft and boyish. Hardly any scars or age to him.

This man can't be any older than 18, maybe 19. No wonder why he is the way he is.

The Handler seems to pick up on this two and for a moment, a flash of pity rushes through his expression. "I suppose it's no different when I was your age." The Handler rubs at some of the sore spots on his sides. He's at least in his early 40s compared to the young man, even if his outfit and demeanor hides a LOT of it. "I was a Cleaner at first. Even did a short stint in ETF training. Didn't pan out."

For a moment, an emotion besides arrogance or contempt flashes across Frank's face. It's not respect but it's certainly interest. "Really now? You? This pretty boy in front of me?"

You keep glancing around in case anything is going on or your allies need any help but with nothing distinctly threatening in your eyes, you turn your attention back to the conversation.

"Mmh." The Handler half-heartedly shrugs. "Didn't work out, as I said. Saw one anomaly and I chickened out. I stuck to the corporate world for the most part; This is frankly the first time I've been in the field like this in years."

"So why are you bothering now?" Oddly, you and Frank ask the same question.
"Why the hell did you force this schizo bimbo along with ya" He nods over in your direction. Rude! Hell, your tits aren't even that-
>>
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"I got cocky and I got myself into this situation. And I dunno, I don't trust myself to fix it by myself. So I need help." Out of morbid curiosity, you MIND READ him to check his abilities...

OTTO FOXTROT [???]
FLESH: 8
RESTRAINT: 8
VIOLENCE: 8
TALENT: 8
WILLPOWER: 8
CHARM: 8
CONNECTIONS: 16
COGNIZANCE: 8

BOONS/BANES: ???

Those are probably some of the best stats you've seen outside of Robbert Huxley but you can't get a read on him past it.

[ADVANCED INTUTION] He knows his limits. He knows he needs you as much as you need him for this.

Frank, for a moment, softens upon hearing that. "I get it. Not everyone can be the best...and your best years have gone past you." A brief flash of fear? worry? rushes through Frank. As if he's worried that could happen to him. "Enjoy your time while you have it, old fuck." Was that meant to be supportive?

The Handler breaks out into a tiny laughing fit at the young man's suggestion. "Sure I will, sure I will."

"Pft. If I didn't know any better, it's like you're looking at a mirror of yourself, O- Handler."
"Shut up." The Handler slugs you in the shoulder with a smirk on his face. Lightly but he does have the muscles to make it mildly hurt. "You don't get to call me that."
"Or what, Otto? Fuck you, I can call you what I want." You gently slug him back. The three of you can't help but to laugh at the silliness going on.
>+0.5 RAPPORT WITH FRANK! +RESPECT WITH THE HANDLER!

You hear something crackling in your pocket. Fishing it out with telekinesis, it's your old earpiece. You put it on to see what Alexis has to say.

"We're doing well over here. These three are actually pretty cordial? Maruyama recognized that these are S-Corp goons, must've overheard some Singularity patent nonsense is going on."

Maruyama's voice then crackles over the speaker. "They apparently got into contact with a nearby gang who's supposedly working on behalf of another client to bring their own case in exchange for information on another? I think we're getting into some pretty complex inside trading politics here."

Hrm. That's not good at all. Two days was enough to play fucking hot potato with the Handler's case by the sounds of it. Looks like you'll need to break a few heads to find out who has it.

Adam is the next one to come up to your group. He's glancing around the whole club with obvious worry on his face. He grabs onto your jacket and pulls you a bit too close for comfort. "Listen, listen to me. Okay. We can't talk here. Move, move."

The three of you are dragged into a more secluded part of the longue where the only one remotely in earshot is a man so drugged out of his mind, he reeks of his own piss and shit. Feh. You wish you could smash his head in with your baseball bat- Fuck, you're not Ashley.

Once the four of you are in this secluded part of the longue, Adam drops a bombshell on you.

"This place is going to be a bloodbath in 30 minutes. Tops."
>>
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"Clarify?" You try to get him to stop panicking so much. His mind is too much of a mess to mind read. "Look, look, we need to know what we're dealing with."

"Okay, okay." Adam takes a few deep breaths in an attempt to center himself. "Three men came in about ten minutes ago. All of them are wearing big thick jackets and they were covered in scars; they've seen some stuff. One of them even flashed his gun at me when he saw I was watching. They had a briefcase too."

"I heard them blabbering about 'doing a trade' and 'hunting down a signal'. Then another group came in, three girls. They were watching you until you were talking to talk to him." He points back to the gunman. You notice a swarm of young women who with similar wild eyes to the druggie woman next to him.

All of them have the same artificial, glossy skin that rubs you the wrong way. It technically looks like flesh but they clearly aren't regular humans.

"I think those three are in a different group to the men. Last one I saw was a really shady man in a trench coat and fedora.He had a fucking assault rifle, I know I saw it with my own eyes." What the fuck? You only got one from an abandoned P-Corp facility, how did a rando have one. "This is a corporate battlefield ready to happen. I think I saw, like a flaming gear on his coat?"

Alexis seems to hear Adam's rambling over your ear piece. "That's H-Corp." Shit. No wonder why he has one if he's a corpo.

You, Frank, and the Handler all share looks with each other. Shit. News has spread REAL fucking fast, hasn't it?

Benedict is the next to join your group. There's a single minded focus in his eyes that tells you he figured one thing and one thing only. Yet you can tell this one factoid is important. "ANOTHER onE of my KIND is here. Not ANOMALY, more HALF FORMED. MorE like Me and MARUYAMA."

[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] A SHIFTer, then. That complicates things even more.

"He is. Above." He points to a small staircase that has a "EMPLOYEE'S ONLY" sign hammered next to it. A bodyguard is standing by it as well. "He is. The BIG CHEESE." So the owner himself has anomalous abilities.

"Air is WEIRD. Lights too BRIGHT. Eyes too GLOSSY. He BENEFITS from their ABSENTMINDNESS. And from THE BLOOD that will be SPILLED."

You take a sniff of the air. It's faintly sickly sweet underneath the scent of vomit, piss, cigarette smoke, and all of the other foul smells. A-Energy. There's no anomalies here but it's being produced somehow anyways. Perhaps from all of the absentminded, hollow husks and the raw emotions being created here.

[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Probably the best place to make it without an anomaly. Lust, anger, fear, loneliness, excitement.

Maruyama and Alexis quickly join back with your group after their chat with the three men in suits.

"Look. I overhear from her ear piece." Maruyama has a hand on the hilt of his sword. "Everyone here seems to have the same goal as us. That damn briefcase."
>>
"I don't think anyone here is going to win if a fight breaks out."
"Agreed. We need to find a way to stop this from getting any worse." Alexis nods along.

Your eyes check up on your surroundings. The gunman and his four associates are sitting at the main part of the lounge, the three burly men Adam described are approaching the men in suits with their own briefcase, and the H-Corp Agent is standing only a few feet away from the front entrance. As if he's trying to block it.

You have a few leads you can address now. More information to work with. The men in red suits wanted to trade for information on the case, the gunmen and his four associates want to kill them for it, the burly goons are ready to trade for that info, and the H-Corp Agent...is probably going to burn everyone to the ground once the trade happens.

"The only other thing they knew about the gang is that they're working for an Office. I think it would be wise if we moved in, talked to them, and got out." Alexis gives you the last bit of info involving the Men in Red Suits.
Maruyama is fidgeting with his sheathed sword. He's clearly ready to use it if need be.

How do you want to handle this?
>The H-Corp Agent is the clearest threat. Stop time and kick his ass out NOW, you can handle shit later. (FREE ACTION. -WATERLOGGED POCKETWATCH for the rest of the mission. This should buy you enough time to do two actions.)
>[ALEXIS ALLY] Rush over to the gangsters and the men in red suits. If you convince them to leave and talk with you outside of here, you could get a lead to where the case is!
>[BENEDICT ALLY] If you can convince the anomalous owner to work with you, perhaps his powers can help calm things down. Maybe you can even still access the Security Cams.
>[FRANK ALLY] "Look. I'll go steal their briefcases" He nods towards the Men in Suits and the Gangsters. "We need to get outta here. Now." Flee after getting them before anyone realizes what happened. (TALENT DC: 25, rolling only Frank's 6d7. Succeed and you'll get the two briefcases without any struggle, granting you access to the valuable information inside.)
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Unload the H-Corp Agent's assault rifle with your telekinesis before interrogating him personally with your group. What does HE want? (WILLPOWER DC: 27, rolling only your 8d6. You'll get some rare assault rifle ammo in addition to rendering his weapon impotent. You should be able to talk to him after.)
>[MARUYAMA ALLY] You're real fucking curious what his sword can do. "Maruyama. Go ahead and pull it out." (+0.5 RAPPORT with MARUYAMA. You can imagine this will help you out of this situation and reveal its abilities but that's all you know.)
>[OTTO ALLY] "I say we try to make the enemy of our enemy our friends." Try to win over the ones hunting after the Men in Suits. There's no point stealing the briefcase if they won't survive afterwards, right?
>Write in (Use an item on yourself or an ally? Something else?)

Sorry for delay.
>>
>>6052746
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES]
It's a bit of a gamble with this guy, but if he knows enough to start shooting, then he knows where the case is.
>>
Can't vote right now, but I wanted to lay some stuff out.

Factions involved here
>Nicole and co.
It's us. Goal is to secure the intelligence, make it to the Faustian Bargain with it, and not die.
>Trio in Red Suits
S-Corp. They are willing to trade for info on the Handler's case. They have their own briefcase. We might be able to dismiss them by telling them it belongs to the Handler and we're here on damage control, in addition to clout with Admiral photos and the recent S-Corp sea trade prosperity. They might give up and ditch this place since there's nothing in it for them anymore?
>burly goon trio
This must be the "nearby gang" that Alexis said, who are working for a mystery client who might be an Office here in U-Corp. They also have their own briefcase. These might be for or against the Handler depending on their mystery client. They want to trade with the S-Corp red suit trio for info on Handler's case.
>wild eye girl trio + gunman + drugged-out girl
All 5 are the same fake skin and dubious human faction. The gunman almost recognized the Handler. These might be the worst enemy here
>mystery client
The unknown Office behind the goon trio. After the Handler's case, but why?
>SUGAR APPLE owner
A SHIFTER. He's making A-Energy off his club being so shitty. He benefits from the shooting and bloodshed about to happen. He also has security access to the cameras.
>H-Corp Agent
He's gonna unload after the first round of death is dealt. As for dealing with him... Alexis is associated with H-Corp. Nicole has her H-CORP BUSINESS CARD from the Ace Strikers mission. We have 1 H-CORP FAVOR banked from Robbert Huxley himself. We don't know who this H-Corp guy is working for. He might be an easy flip or he might be a hard bargain if possible.

>>6052759
Think we can't just walk right up and flash the H-CORP CARD to make him relax? Or too high risk without TKing the rifle magazine out first? Funfact: taking the magazine out of a gun does not remove the ammo already held in the gun's chamber. If you take the magazine out of a loaded pistol for example, there's already going to be 1 bullet still in there ready to fire. And it'll stay that way until you manually eject it from the chamber or you fire the gun.
>>
>>6052761
>>6052746
Fuck it

>Nicole + Benedict + Handler
Go talk to the fake skin trio, maybe win them over? Nicole because UNSTABLE, Benedict because also not quite human and skin is fucked, Handler because it's his option and the gunman was this close to recognizing him.
>Alexis + Adam
Go talk to the H-Corp Agent. Alexis because H-Corp symbols on her and CORPO POWER. Adam because he's got visible motor oil and workshop stains on him (a comforting sight to an H-Corp guy?), and passing him the H-CORP BUSINESS CARD to show the agent can further cement his cooperation. Alexis has 6 CHARM to help with Adam's OVERCORRECTION just in case
>Maruyama + Frank
Talk the S-Corp red suit trio + the gang trio to get them out of the building to talk there and AWAY from the other factions. Maruyama for the S-Corp trio he's good with, Frank for the gang trio he's also probably good with. A nice balance between the two to address both factions on their level

Sound good? This way we address all 4 factions and make good use of all our party members. If they wanna fight, they can do it after we got what we need from them and we're outta here
>>
>>6052766
+1
Will the Sugar Apple owner intervene to stop us or use some anomalies power to cause a shootout if he notices what we are doing?
>>
>>6052783
I have no idea, but I'm willing to go for it
>>
>>6052737
>dick in their hands
This isn't ProjectMoon's City setting where sex never happens due to South Korean law making it illegal
>almost sounds encouraging
Character development means it might be 10% real from Alexis.
>smile only widens
Maru's MAKING IT
>fake
Are they something like Kiara's MIMICRY MODULE but more advanced? That's the first thing I thought of when I was reading the update
>snorts
I knew Handler would like this guy

>>6052738
>[EVERYTHING'S A NAIL]
Is a hammer all Frank really has? All Frank really is?
>most valuable asset
Handler's the COOLEST
>win
>massive ego
Interesting. He's going for glory but not an out-and-out glory hound type. The "winning" mention and his character almost reminds me of that V-Corp rep we spoke to
>the right direction
It makes me wonder why this guy became an ETF to begin with. What made him decide being one was the "right direction" for him?
>18, maybe 19
Is he the youngest ally we have? Is Casey older than him?
>early 40s
Handler is a lot older than I thought. I imagine he was mid to late 30s
>chickened out
But he's starting to work with anomalous people like Nicole. He's starting to work with U-Corp. Is the SHIFTER phenomena starting to help him overcome his own issues with anomalies, whatever they may be?
>tits aren't even that-
Nicole's probably A or B cup, but nothing wrong with that

>>6052739
>I don't trust myself to fix it by myself
That's some extreme humility and self-awareness from him. I would have never expected the Handler to be reduced to this state
>best stats
That 16 CONNECTIONS lines up with his "stuck to the corporate world" comment
>knows his limits
I'm starting to like the Handler more as a character now than I did as a Handler for Nicole's missions
>your best years have gone past you
No one told you when to run...
You've missed the starting gun...
>fear? worry?
>that could happen to him
Maybe he is that simple. He is just a kid trying to get by and be a badass while he can. Despite the City being such a lethal and nonsensical and bullshit dystopia setting to be born and grow up in, people do still end up making it to their 60s and up here. There is still hope for the City slickers, right?
>mirror of yourself
I get the feeling this mission is helping both Frank and Handler
>old earpiece
We only have 3 of these. If we had more we could use them better in the base assault. I suppose FOCUSED MINDREAD is what we will need to use to bridge the gap then
>hot potato
I'm glad the mission has become interesting

>>6052743
>single minded focus
TRIM THE FAT's enhanced awareness is already working wonders

>>6052746
>block it
He needs people to stay in when the club becomes an oven
>an Office
>>6052743
Time Killers, Cleaners of U-Corp Association, and the 432 Organization. Or a completely unmentioned and unrelated group caught wind of this briefcase and wanted in on it.
>>
>>6052746
>>[MARUYAMA ALLY] You're real fucking curious what his sword can do. "Maruyama. Go ahead and pull it out." (+0.5 RAPPORT with MARUYAMA. You can imagine this will help you out of this situation and reveal its abilities but that's all you know.)

I must know.
>>
Sorry for closing it late, writing with 00b's since it's the only one with more than one vote. Not bothering with any rolls.
>>6052761
>spoiler
While an interesting gun fact, it feels a bit pedantic to mention because an automatic weapon meant to fire a lotta bullets only having one bullet is rendering it pretty impotent all things considered. Especially when you don't expect it.
>>
>>6053505
Yeah fair enough, ignore that then. I don't even know how full auto guns work, that's just what I learned about pistols
>>
>>6053535
As a tidbit, guns aren't usually carried with a round in the chamber, unless the carrier is absolutely paranoid about having to gunfight at any second. It's unsafe.
>>
>>6053535
Automatic rifles work by a similar concept as automatic pistols with the reciprocating bolt and self-resetting hammer. The biggest difference is that the bolt is internal, and a tube in the barrel feeds gas into a cylinder to move the bolt.

The mag feeds are almost identical in concept. To my knowledge, most detachable magazines are.

Automatic is very similar to semi automatic. You can actually make a gun automatic by machining off the blocking bar set in the bolt. For legal reasons I will now tell you that UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU EVER DO THAT.
>>
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Time to split up again, you suppose. "Alexis, Adam, H-Corp. Maruyama, Frank, go bother the suits. Me, Benedict, Handler-" You don't feel comfortable calling him Otto despite that being his name. Respect, maybe? "We'll talk to the fake looking ones. Move."

Frank grumbles a bit upon being ordered but having a gunman ready to blow everyone's brains out if he doesn't move IS decent motivation to not argue too long. "Probably better if we just shot the H-Corp guy but hey, your funeral."
Your other allies are already booking it by the time you finish your order. Frank soon trials after Maruyama just in case he needs the protection.

The remaining three in your party don't waste any more time. You immediately close the distance between your group and their group which, in retrospect, is probably REAL fucking shady but you feel like it's a bad idea staying here any longer than you have to.

The five of them snap their gazes over at your group once the three are you are only a few feet away from them. The druggie, who oddly enough doesn't have the unnatural sheen to her skin, seems confused as to why you're either bothering them.

The other four are immediately on edge. You swear there's making chittering and clicking sounds whenever any of you so much as move. It's only then do you notice what's off about everyone but the druggie in this group. They're not actually human.

The artificial neon glow of the club does a lot to hide their imperfections but there's cracks in the illusions. For a moment one of their faces flickers in and out of existence, leaving only behind smooth flesh; It immediately flickers back on as if nothing has happened.

That's a MIMICRY MODULE. Android parts, smooth featureless faces underneath the illusion...the Wild Eyed Girls and the Revolver Gunman are drones with android parts stapled in them? Is this what the TV MAN was warning you about?

"What the fuck do you want?" The Revolver Gunman has already drawn his gun, pointing it right at you. Benedict promptly shields your torso with his arm blade, which promptly causes the four Augmented Drones (name pending, these are VERY new to you) to mutter and hiss with worry. Every single motion he makes causes his joints to make audible, metallic CLICK to them.

Best to calm them down before this gets any worse.

"YOU ARE NOT HUMANS." Benedict decides to drop all pretenses. "IS THat CORRECT?"

The Revolver Drone lowers his gun for the briefest of moments. His fake eyes narrow upon realizing your group figured out his trick. "Damnit. The Mother of a Thousand Legs said this should've been enough to be convincing."
The Druggie reaches over to pat him on the shoulder. "It's fine, Al. Doc said this was a test run, yeah?"

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Mother of a Thousand Legs. You heard Quentin mention that name before. With a title like that, that has to be their CEO.

"Listen." The Handler clears his throat. "I think we know what you're here for."
>>
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Al immediately snaps his gun over to the Handler. "You. Yes, yes, I recognize you. You're the fuck who kept coming here with that faggot twink, huh?"
"Faggot? He was kinda cute!" "You got real low standards, sis!" "Aren't twinks supposed to be skinny? He really wasn't..." The Wild Eyed Trio mutters amongst each other.

Your eyes glance over at your other allies. Alexis and Adam are doing well with the H-Corp Agent. From what you can overhear, the pin of H-Corp's icon on Alexis's chest and Adam's overall grime seems to have convinced him they're here to work with him.

Maruyama and Frank are having a pretty tense discussion with the men in suits and the gangsters. Your two allies are obviously not working the best together but they seem to be getting the two groups to listen.

"To discuss business. Over a briefcase, yes." The Handler's eyes twitch with obvious annoyance at what Al was trying to imply. "And I know you're looking for it too. Why?"

The Druggie is finally bothering to pay attention to this discussion now. "Simple. Who doesn't want it? Every single person who wants any bit of power wants to grab that thing and sell it to the highest bidder."
"You would do the same in our shoes." Al slowly lowers his gun before holstering it again.
"To save you time-" "We're just in it for ourselves-" "No corpo sponsors!" The Trio chimes in.

"I can't deny that but you gotta realize, this shit is probably out of your depth." You try your best to explain the situation to them. "There's a H-Corp agent about fifty feet away from us, ready to burn us to the ground. A buncha parties are getting involved that was probably way more armed than you."

Even a lot of the zombified husks leaving the club seem to notice how oddly weird it is for a corpo agent like him to be here. Some of the body guards are getting antsy, as if they're expecting him to do something already.

[UNSTABLE INTUTION] HE'S A CORPORATE PLANT! THE CLUB OWNER KNOWS HE'S HERE YET HE'S NOT DOING A THING! HE DOESN"T LIKE WHAT YOU'RE DOING!

"They...WOULD COOK YOU like a PIG AT A LUAU." Benedict can't help but to drool over the idea of it. "You would not survive. Your shells would be nothing but cinder. Not even the foul metal inside you would remain."

"So what?" Al shrugs. "We have a gun. That's enough."
"Yeah!" "We got weapons!" "We can handle it!"

The Handler decides to prove his point on how armed you are by digging through your pockets. It doesn't take him long to pull out several different handguns and types of explosives, ala the frag grenade

The five try to convince you that's nothing but as they dig through their own pockets, all you see is various switchblades and brass knuckles. The only ranged weapon they got is one Augmented Drone's revolver. The reality of the situation begins to kick in.

The person who the suitcase belongs to is investigating it, they're armed to the teeth, other groups are equally as armed, and they're relatively chump change in the grand scheme.
>>
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The five immediately lose whatever bravado and confidence they had in their plan upon seeing it.
"Damnit. I don't intend on dying today, we can't beat this."
"Shit. There goes my Joyvel money."
"Aw." "Damn!" "Shuckaroonies!"

"Yeah. Look, I can at least pay you to fuck off. Maybe you can even tell me something important since you clearly have been watching me." The Handler digs into his pockets and immediately tosses a wad of ten $20 over to the Druggie.

She flips through them and with a nod, she speaks up. "There's this one lady who's been watching this place too. From the 'Cleaners of U-Corp'. Bright red hair, has way too many teeth, think she's a Harvester? She normally roams around the streets around these parts." Finally, a solid lead connecting one of the Offices to this place.

"I think she was following that weird blue haired dude you were working with? She's weird."

"Not like she's the only one." Al mutters as he gets up alongside his four associates. "That one weird giant blue centipede dude is also something to look out for. He kept pestering us about being bugs and shit. Wears a mask all the time." Oh no, oh no no, it's only been a DAY. How the FUCK IS HE HERE??

Benedict immediately seems to pick up something on a deep, subconscious level. "An anomaly. Concept of bargaining and trade. Wants an in with the corporations. This would be his way in." Seems like letting him out without capturing him has added another wrinkle to your plan. "He knows you're here too."

The four Augmented Drones and the Druggie don't know what the fuck he's on about and with a shrug, they promptly begin to exit the club. The distracted H-Corp agent doesn't even remotely attempt to stop them.

Now that the longue is mostly empty, your allies promptly reconvene to discuss what they figured out and got out of the others. You already see the gangsters and men in suits discussing on how to get past the H-Corp agent while said agent is busy looking around the club with equal measures of confusion and concern?

Weird. Wasn't he going to shoot this place to oblivion earlier?

Maruyama and Frank are the first to arrive. Maruyama keeps fiddling with the hilt of his sheath sword in an attempt to calm down his flustered emotions. "So, apparently neither of them recognized the office the other was working for."

"Yeah. It was real fucking weird. YamaYama-" Maruyama flinches upon hearing Frank's nickname for him. "-tried to ask them why they were working with S-Corp but they said they were looking for a T-Corp trio instead."

"The S-Corp suits didn't even recognized the gangsters. All they knew is that their contacts told them to meet up here. It's like they were both told a different story on who to expect here. The weird thing is both were told to bring some briefcases provided by their office?"

Frank seems to be trying to piece something together. "Neither of them opened the case or even knew what was inside."
>>
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"There probably is actual information but it's real shady how they don't even know why they're here." You highly doubt his plan to steal them would've been a dud. "It's like the actual info didn't matter to their offices. They still want to keep the briefcases, though, since they wanna bail outta here and to talk to us somewhere more private."

"We already told them to meet up back at the conference room we met at later."

"Did you get an Office name?" The Handler prods at them.

"S-Corp was supposedly working for Time Killers while the gangsters told us they didn't know, they only knew the letters they kept getting." Maruyama can obviously sense something is super shady about all of this.

Alexis and Adam join back with your group to offer their own information.

"Apparently he was told to come here to interfere with a shady trade deal he was warned about with a H-Corp singularity patent. However, when we asked him where he got that info from," Alexis brushes off some grime clinging to her otherwise pearly white suit. You take this time to hand her the ROYAL BLUE DERRINGER and 6 PISTOL AMMO, which she gladly takes. "he said it was from an anonymous tip."
>-ROYAL BLUE DERRINGER and 6 PISTOL AMMO from you, Alexis now has a weapon!

"Which is weird. We told him we had no awareness of any H-Corp singularity patent and we even asked him if he heard about any other patents. He didn't." Adam taps his foot on the ground. "He's not even sure why he's here if H-Corp's singularity isn't at risk."

"THE AIR. IS NOT WHAT HE WANTED IT TO BE." Benedict cryptically states. You see a few of the bodyguards chattering fervently with each other as if whatever's going on is a plan gone horribly wrong. It's only then do you realize what's going on here. They seem to get even more panicked as the gangsters and S-Corpers are beginning to head to the entrance.

This is a set up. The club owner lied to the H-Corp guy. The others were only brought here TO be purged by him without it being directly tied back to him. The others are just chump change, he's the one you should be worried about now.

Your other allies quickly come to this conclusion as well. "FUCK!" Frank begins to grind his teeth as he realizes this has been a dupe for everyone involved.
Alexis and the Handler, while nervous, are laughing hysterically at how the plot has shifted. "Oh my god. This is the corporate world I am familiar with." "How much money do you wanna bet he's the 'mysterious office' that brought the gangsters over?"
Adam and Benedict shared worried glances while Maruyama is about ready to finally pull his blade out.

"Look. I say we got 10 minutes before the boss figures out we did something and moves in." Maruyama's eyes dart around the neon-lit club. "We can't split up again. We need to make a decision and do it now." This has gotten a lot more interesting. Tricks, deception, and a son of a bitch you were content with ignoring has decided to capture your attention.
>>
You got the two briefcases about ready to leave and the H-Corp Agent hesitant enough to not fire. The question now is if you should do anything about the boss...

How do you want to proceed from here? There's really not a lot of time until the boss figures out you've the one who ruined his plan.
>[FRANK ALLY] "I say we go in there and deal with him. He has to be working with something to get both cases." Frank is ready to draw his gun at a moment's notice. Make a mad dash to the Club Owner's office before anything happens. This fucker is a threat and he's better off dead.
>[OTTO ALLY] "Look, this isn't our issue anymore. Let's get the two briefcases out and while they head to the office we bought out, we hunt down the Harvester." You rather not risk getting into a confrontation with a SHIFTer. Start following after the lead given by the Druggie.
>[BENEDICT ALLY] "WE NEED TO. Hunt down the ANOMAly. Get him on our SIDE to. Untangle this web of complex corporate trickery." Try to find COLD BLOODED INFORMANT. You bet that motherfucker will pop up the moment you want to bargain with him.
>[ADAM ALLY] "I pity the H-Corp guy. I say we should get him out of here and get him to work with us alongside the two briefcase gangs. If he's a corpo, surely he would have some interesting info, no?" Go along with Adam's plan.
>[ALEXIS ALLY] "I say we leave. Now. Meet back up immediately with the owners of the two briefcases. This club holds nothing of value and we shouldn't stick our noses in it anymore." Get outta here, talk with the gangsters and the men in suits back at the office you were at a while ago.
>[MARUYAMA ALLY] "If the club owner wants blood, I imagine he'll find a way with the people still here. We need them out NOW." Help Maruyama to get everyone's attention and to get them out. You'll save some people and you'll force the SHIFTer to play his hand with way less bargaining power than otherwise.
>Write in.

Turns out my computer vomited all over the place and deleted a good chunk of the update before I could save it. Yippie. I'm taking some sleeping pills so I can hopefully wake up and update faster next time.
stomach also feels like shit. Hopefully it clears up tomorrow.
Interesting gun facts, though, I'll take those into consideration later. Even if I mostly go for RULE OF COOL.
>>
>>6053842
>[FRANK ALLY] "I say we go in there and deal with him. He has to be working with something to get both cases." Frank is ready to draw his gun at a moment's notice. Make a mad dash to the Club Owner's office before anything happens. This fucker is a threat and he's better off dead.
>>
>>6053842
>[ADAM ALLY] "I pity the H-Corp guy. I say we should get him out of here and get him to work with us alongside the two briefcase gangs. If he's a corpo, surely he would have some interesting info, no?" Go along with Adam's plan.

We’ll have a hell of a lot of highly capable manpower to work with if we play our cards right.

And it doesn’t actually seem like these guys are onto the same target we are. They probably just want this situation resolved so it doesn’t almost get them killed again.
>>
>>6053846
+1, he tried to pull this shit now after harvesting A-Energy from people who knows how long, and you bet he'll try pulling this shit again eventually. This bastard dies here and now. If we go Maruyama option, his bodyguards will engage us too. With their boss dead before they can even do anything, they'll just give up and fuck off.
AND IF THE HANDLER HAS USED THIS PLACE REGULARLY FOR HIS OWN SHADY DEALS IN THE PAST
THEN MAYBE THIS ISN'T THE FIRST TIME THE CLUB BOSS HAS TRIED TO FUCK WITH THE HANDLER'S BUSINESS, HUH?

Let's not forget we have known ways to identify and fuck with enemy SHIFTERs.
>"They can't hide it well. Their eyes ALWAYS look fucked up. If you see someone wearing shades constantly or their eyes are WAY too colorful, BEWARE. Kill them before they can kill you."
>Only other thing is that most of their powers are fickle and easily disrupted by anything that breaks their focus. Intense visual and auditory sensations should be enough to hamper them.
>"It might take more than a simple flashbang but yeah, mess with their focus hard enough and they'll demanifest their PARADIGM."
>"Or just mess with them emotionally. Riling them up will probably make their PARADIGMs stronger but far, far more unstable. More liable to bite them in the ass than actually help them."
Thanks for the help Flowers and Tears Office
>>
>>6053824
>calling him Otto
A time and place for names in this job
>not actually human
It took this long to figure that out?
>MIMICRY MODULE
I CALLED IT
>drones with android parts
This is the first time we're seeing any of this. I wonder how the drones feel about it with their innate racism against robots? Maybe it's OK because they're not really becoming androids, just co-opting what androids use
>TV MAN was warning you
Are these the G-01 Defective Drones that the TV MAN told us about right at the beginning of thread 1? So it wasn't Quentin?
>audible, metallic CLICK
I love how unsettling Benedict is specifically to these drones
>Doc
That must be whoever these drones work for
>their CEO
Must be quite the MILF with a title like that.
REMEMBER THE RULE:
Thousand Legs = 999 vaginas? Maybe more...
I M A G I N E

>>6053829
>Trio mutters
I always like seeing this sort of peanut gallery commentary where appropriate, but that's just me
>to listen
That's the idea. Even if Maruyama and Frank don't really mesh well with each other yet, if they ever do, the plan was always to individually handle the group that they do mesh well with
>No corpo
This is a tangled web already. Good that there's no more past these drones
>getting antsy
With the reveal later in the update that this is all a setup by the club owner, I get the impression the bodyguards are in on it
>[UNSTABLE INTUTION]
First time we ever had trait blending like this from NEW YOU. I wonder how Ashley must feel over on her end. Is the Nicole connection helping her come up with new inspiration perhaps?
>digging through your pockets
It's a rare moment in any media when a party member or other character actually dives into the main character's inventory like this
>chump change
Back in the early threads, we were exactly like them

>>6053833
>"Shuckaroonies!"
I'm glad that faggot Watson is no longer translating for ProjectMoon. He was a mistake since Ruina days and official Lobotomy translation; good fucking riddance he's gone
>pay you to fuck off
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv7GT9HsJZc
>Cleaners of U-Corp
The side-offices are coming up again
>kept pestering us
I have to say I love the idea that INFORMANT deliberately bugs (lol) drones wherever he goes about how they are, but with his own self-cope and projection due to being an anomaly. He takes time out of his days to be an annoying old man to them
>in with the corporations
We have Alexis, Maruyama, and the Handler with us. That's enough corpo will to maybe get something good for him, and therefore for us?
>fiddling with the hilt
If that's really his PARADIGM, then of course it'd be like a sort of security blanket. It's a positive part of himself
>YamaYama
I love this running gag
>>
>>6053834
>a dud
So the Frank option would have been beneficial anyway, good to know
>working for Time Killers
Party 2. Where's 432 Association? Could they even be involved? Might be a red herring or wholly unrelated to the briefcase mission
>Alexis now has a weapon!
GIRLBOSS
>without it being directly tied back to him
If we can get evidence of all this back to the S-Corp and gangster trios, they could reward us for not only saving their lives but revealing the setup to them. They're both definitely involved with the briefcase mission, so they'll owe us big time. I think the H-Corp guy is just like the Augmented Drones, they're all just randoms falling for the ploy. I say we let those go. The H-Corp guy has better places to be and he doesn't even belong here either
>hesitant enough
But he's still not leaving yet. That's something.
>>
>>6053846
>>6053855
It occured to me as I was typing up my analysis autism post that we could drag the H-Corp guy with us to the boss' office to help us with the literal bossfight. Or we have him cover our backs and stop the bodyguard trio at the door. Checking back >>6051861, there's 3 of them and they have tattoo augmentations.
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>>6053561
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>>6053561
My nigger... modern firearms are always carried with one in the chamber. Israeli carry is a meme because of how dumb it is. I can assure you, I can fucking guarantee you are not going to be able to rack the slide if shit goes down, you stupid piece of shit.
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>>6053846
+1
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>>6053863
Break focus. Extreme visual and auditory stimuli. Emotional fuckery to force PARADIGM instability.
>Poi: If sent to haunt someone, paranoid delusions will cause them to betray their allies, temporarily joining you as an ally.
>Ker: If sent to haunt someone, she'll distract them for a prolonged period of time, easing up on most stealth checks or speech checks.
>Sable: If sent to haunt someone, they lose all control over their actions and will begin attacking everything nearby.
>Anom: If sent to haunt someone, they passively lose RESTRAINT over time.
Which one do we go with on this club boss? I want to show off a little, plus test out the effectiveness of these on other people, plus see how great the gloves help Nicole with power costs
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>>6053927
>>6053944
>Thinking the US is the whole world
Classic.
Also see the bit about being absolutely paranoid about having to gunfight at any second.
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>>6053863
>Only other thing is that most of their powers are fickle and easily disrupted by anything that breaks their focus. Intense visual and auditory sensations should be enough to hamper them.

Which are all direct by-products of simply shooting the target in the face.
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>>6054282
Yeah you're right but I want to give one of these >>6054058 a spin for the hell of it. It costs us less too due to the gloves. Handler is right here to show off to, so why not take this chance?
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>>6054285
Here’s an idea.

QM, do we still have that assault rifle?
We could just send the AR with Otto and have him and Frank kick open the manager’s door. They’ll roll so many fucking dice that he’ll be dead before he can even react.
>>
Forgot to say but writing the update, we're going with GLORIOUS HYPERVIOLENCE. (3 for FRANK, 1 for ADAM, so FRANK wins)
Might be a bit slow due to dog-related nonsense but it should be out soon enough.
>>6054500
Oh, you do, but I'd wait for the update to see why that might not be immediately possible.
>>
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"Hey, Frank. Ready for some unnecessary hyperviolence?" You might as well indulge in the Frank's plan. It's still weird to have a teen in your group. Even Casey, Benjamin, and Max were in their early 20s. "I think that's the only option we have here."

It's like you told the young man he was getting a million dollars with how wide his smirk just got. "Fuck yeah. Thought you were a lame chick but I guess you actually got some balls, eh?"

"well it's more of a pragmatic decision than anything but sure."

"If that's the case, we should move." Adam hisses out through clenched teeth. Before your group has any time to say anything else, the neon lights that were basically making it impossible to tell that those Augmented Drones weren't human are beginning to flicker on and off.

The flickering soon turns into a full out light blitz. Every single inch of the club is being assaulted with constantly flashing on and off neon lights that flicker in a variety of pinks, reds, and oranges. The overworked and spindly 'entertainers' are picking up their movements as well. The already brain dead strip club patrons don't even seem to know what plane of existence they're on.

The music's getting louder too. It's a complete assault on your senses.

Your allies quickly begin to feel that something is off about all of this. Alexis's and Adam's eyes are glossing over as if their brains are shutting off while your other allies can tell that's not JUST because of the sensory assault going on.

Benedict and Maruyama violently shove Adam and Alexis respectively. This seems to be enough to snap them out for now. "What the-" "Huh? Where are we?"

https://youtu.be/FdQUUBOWzOo?si=d0NPVC60VESRnzpj - KILLING TIME

The bodyguards seem to notice the fact that the seven of you seems to know what's going on or, at the bare minimum, aren't going braindead like everyone else. The one standing by the EMPLOYEE ONLY staircase promptly stands in front of it while the four or five (hard to track through the sensory assault) scattered throughout the club begin to move into their position.

The three bodyguards that were formerly guarding the front entrance have now entered through the front entry. The H-Corp Gunman manages to slip past them while they're adjusting to the sensory assault. It's clear he realizes this is not a place he should be at.

[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] "MOVE!!!" That one single command is enough to get all six of your allies to fucking book it towards the club owner's office. As if they were being whipped by an unseen force, the six of them are moving at almost inhuman speeds.

Everyone except for Maruyama immediately draws their weapons. You with your .357 Revolver, Adam and Benedict with their respective blades, The Handler with his own .357 Revolver, and Alexis with her ROYAL BLUE DERRINGER. Frank nearly pulls out his shotgun but you toss over your assault rifle at him.

"BLOW HIS BRAINS OUT THE MOMENT YOU SEE HIM!"
"YOU DON'T GOT TO TELL ME TWICE!"
>>
"WAIT HOW THE FUCK DID YOU-" "HUH???" "NICOLE WHAT THE FUCK" Your other allies are beyond bewildered at the fact you had THAT in your inventory.

The guard standing by the staircase immediately yields. Shockingly so, he doesn't even attempt to fight back. He even gestures at your group to head up like it's what he wants. Your group doesn't have enough time to process why. By the time you do, you're already at the front door of the office.

Or what you assume used to be the front door.

A sickening wall of flesh and sinew has completely blocked the only entrance towards his office. The neon lights are still flashing even up here, coating the flesh in unnatural orange and pink lighting. It pulsates with a smug, contempt glee to it. As if it expected you to be here.

"Shit!" Frank immediately points his assault rifle towards the path you just came up from in case anyone tries to sneak up. "Try to break that open! I don't care how!"
"Shit, uh, Benedict was it?" The Handler nods towards the door. "Trim some fat, why wouldn't ya?"

"AT IT. BOSSMAN." Benedict reels back his armblade and immediately attempts to slash through the meat wall. Shockingly, he only manages to make a one inch incision before his blade gets stuck. He yanks it out and tries to slash it again.

While his razor sharp blade is doing some real serious damage to it and the areas he slices seem to flicker and turn black from the anomalous property of it, it's too thick for him to cut alone.
Adam tries his best to chip in with his own chef's knife but he's doing even less to it. It's helping, sure, but it'll take ages to get through it.

Alexis, The Handler, and Frank immediately take position as rear guards while the rest of you stand by the meat wall. You realize that shooting the wall wouldn't do jack shit so you pull out your BLOODSTAINED HUNTING KNIFE to help chop through it too.

It's clear you're not making any real progress. Every time you think you might've gotten through some of it, there just seems to be more meat.

Maruyama is standing in between the group chiseling away the wall and the ones guarding you with intense worry and fear in his eyes. You don't think it's because of the situation itself though that's certainly a factor. His hand is firmly gripping the hilt of his sword while his other hand is opening up his briefcase.

[STEADFAST RESOLVE + LATENT SPARK] Grabbing the headband from his briefcase, he ties it around his head. His fingers are trembling. Afraid to pull the blade out of the sheath. But he knows it's the only option.
>STEADFAST RESOLVE HAS TRIGGERED! +1 MAX FLESH AND RESTRAINT TO MARUYAMA THIS MISSION! HIS FLESH IS NOW 5/5, RESTRAINT 5/5

With all of his resolve, he draws his blade. The katana in his hand is not like any blade you've seen before. The blade is a bright bronze-gold that sparkles in the neon lights that floods the staircase you're in.
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Carvings of clock hands and gears are scratched all throughout the blade's surface, mudding what could've been a pristine blade.
A pocketwatch clockface is embedded right where the handle and blade would meat. You only now notice that it's making a ticking sound as well. As if deep inside of it, it's keeping track of time for whatever reason.

"I'm scared." No one seems to hear him whispering to himself but you. "I want to drop this already. I don't deserve this blade. B-but I have to do this. W-we don't have enough time for me to hesitate."

The meat wall is still holding firm despite the amount of damage being done. You get Maruyama's attempt with one simple sentence.

"You can do it."

His gaze snaps over to you and that's all it takes for him to finally move. He pushes past you and immediately thrusts his katana into one of the deeper incisions your group has made. His blade's no better at cutting it than Benedict's but once most of the blade has sunk into an incision on the wall...

https://youtu.be/VpFMwXjKmE0?si=XU-WCWSKIvWHUzcP - MARUYAMA'S PARADIGM

An incomprehensible mess of clock chimes and ticking blares throughout the whole staircase. The wall of meat in front of you begins to immediately slog and decay away as if it was left in the blazing hot sun for months, years, or even decades. Blackened sludge begins to pool at your group's shoes.

Just as quickly as it happens, it stops when he pulls his blade out and immediately sheaths it before he rips his headband off to stuff back into his suitcase. His hands are trembling from what he just did.
>-1 MAX RESTRAINT FROM HANDBAND REMOVAL!
>-1 RESTRAINT TO MARUYAMA! 3/4 LEFT!
>BLADE OF A SORROWFUL MEMORY ABILITY REVEALED: TIME ACCELERATION! (When used to attack something, it rapidly ages. Flesh slogs into blackened sludge, stone crumbles, metal rusts, etc. Naturally does extra FLESH damage.)

Those few seconds were enough to make the process of destroying the wall trivial for you and the two chefs. With one final chop from Benedict, the office's front entrance is now wide open. The allies guarding the rear turn back to notice you managed to destroy the wall THAT quickly without them noticing.

"The hell?" "Huh?" "Move! No time for questions!" All seven of you promptly flood into the office now that the way is revealed.

The office you find yourself in is coated in thick layers of flesh and sinew, covering up most of the furniture and decorations in the room. Two flesh covered couches and a flesh-covered coffee table sits in the middle of the room between you and the Owner. The only thing left uncorrupted is the desk at the end of the room where the Club Owner is sitting behind.

His bright neon pinkish-red eyes are wide with shock. He stands up from his office chair with obvious struggle due to how fucking obese this man in. He has to be at least 400 pounds if not more. His balding black hair is slicked back in a vain attempt to cover a bald spot.
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He is barely dressed at all, only wearing a wife beater and a pair of boxers. A blackened patch of flesh is visible on his left arm, slogging off by the second.

A skinny Drone wearing nothing more than a bra and panties is curled up at the corner, fear evident in her body language.
"How the hell did you get-"

[ETF TRAINING] Frank is the only one who isn't distracted by the repulsive sight to move. He immediately raises his assault rifle up and fires.

This clearly throws the Club Owner off guard but as if through some primal instinct, three pillars of flesh rise up to block the bullets. Unlike the meat wall that blocked the entrance, the bullets do tear through them pretty easily but it's enough to stop Frank's assault.
>-3 RIFLE AMMO! 24 LEFT!

Frank tosses the gun back to you with a huff. He doesn't want to waste any more ammo than you do. He reequips his shotgun. Better able to break through them, you assume.

"Feh. Nice try." The Club Owner gurgles from behind his barricade. "You can't kill me. You're just fresh, tantalizing meat for my business. Especially the one with Antlers, I could sell you for a pretty buck."

[ADVANCED INTUTION] DODGE!

You do so. A spike of bone rises up from the meat floor, aimed right at where your heart was mere moments ago.

Your allies promptly scatter backwards into the safety of the staircase. Yet you won't be safe for too long, you can already hear the bodyguards rushing up the staircase. Even with your own firepower, an anomalous club owner and several armed bodyguards is NOT a fight you want to do.

How do you want to deal with the Club Owner?
>Hand your allies some ANTI-ANOMALY ROUNDS and tell them to obliterate him before he has time to recover! (-4 ANTI ANOMALY HANDGUN ROUNDS AND 2 ANTI-ABNO SHOTGUN SLUGS. Has no skill check necessary but costs some decent resources and you doubt he'll survive long enough for interrogation.)
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Summon Ker to distract him in order to weaken his ability, then use a Siphon to fully shut off his ability. (EASY CHECK. -1 RESTRAINT, -1 SIPHON, WILLPOWER DC: 24, rolling only your 8d6. Succeed and you should be able to neuteur his abilities completely, leaving him incapable of fighting back. You can safely interrogate him without any chance of him fighting back.)
>[BENEDICT ALLY] "Trim some fat, Benedict." Have everyone else try to deter the bodyguards while Benedict face tanks everything thrown his way. (THRESHOLD CHECK VIOLENCE DC: 35/38/41/44, rolling Benedict's 11d6 only. For every threshold he passes, he'll take less FLESH damage and will tear through the office quicker, lowering the risk of your group being injured. If he passes 3 or more, he'll unlock more aspects of his own PARADIGM.)
>[FRANK ALLY + UNSTABLE] "FUCK IT." "Let's bumrush him." He can't stop all seven of you. Tear into him. (-2 FLESH to all allies except Benedict, -1 FLESH to BENEDICT. It'll hurt like a bastard but make it through it and you should have him by the balls.)
(1/2)
>>
>[FRANK ALLY + UNSTABLE] "FUCK IT." "Let's bumrush him." He can't stop all seven of you. Tear into him. (-2 FLESH to most allies, -1 FLESH to BENEDICT and FRANK, Alexis will use up your SUNSTONE CHUNK to avoid damage. Moderate chance for allies to gain CRIPPLING INJURIES. The sheer fear you instilled will cause him to surrender on the spot.)
>[MARUYAMA ALLY] "Use your blade again!" Try to motivate Maruyama into using his cool time sword! (CHALLENING CHECK. WILLPOWER + RESTRAINT DC: 24, rolling Maruyama's 6d6 [thanks to headband]. Succeed and you should help Maruyama unlock more potential in his PARADIGM on top of ripping through the Club Owner's defenses.)
>[ALEXIS ALLY] "Listen here! I am a rep from H-Corp and I heard about you hiring an employee of mine under false pretenses! Explain yourself or I WILL inform H-Corp about this blatant case of fraud! I'LL SHUT DOWN YOUR BUSINESS JUST LIKE THAT! Hit him where it hurts. His wallet. Even if it's a half-truth. (HARD CHECK. CONNECTIONS DC: 41, rolling Alexis's 10d6. Succeed and he will be more than willing to surrender on the spot. He will be MORE than willing to tell you everything. You may spend Alexis's Certificate of Corporate Ownership to autopass at the cost of reducing her CONNECTIONS to 8 permanently.)
>[OTTO ALLY] "You've been fucking over my business, haven't you, huh? You're the reason why I'm even here, huh?" You think The Handler deserves this talk. Distract the guards while he handles the Club Owner. (+RESPECT with the Handler, decent chance for your allies to take FLESH damage while fighting back the guards. You should get some super valuable information as to who is backing him and why he targeted the Handler specifically.)
>Write in (Use a drug to help you or an ally? Propose another plan? Use another ability? Something else?)

DRUGS AVAIALBLE TO CONSUME BEFORE A SKILL CHECK.
XISXIS PILL (3 left. +3d4 to Alexis' CONNECTIONS check.)
RAW MOONSTONE CHUNK (3 left. Adds +3d8 to any WILLPOWER or RESTRAINT checks.)
NOLNOL PILL (3 left. Lets you do ANOMALOUS ABILITIES + SIPHON with no RESTRAINT payment and gives you RESTRAINT regen.)
SILVER AGENT TEETH (4 left. +1 to all stats, adding a +1d7 to any check, alongside converting all dice rolled into d7s. Massive improves the odds of any check.)
SINNLÖSCHEN (2 left. Converts all WILLPOWER dice into d8s, boosts WILLPOWER by 2 for an additional 2d8. Drains RESTRAINT while active.)
PEP PILL+ (1 left. Adds 4 to the final tally of a WILLPOWER or RESTRAINT check.)
WHITE POWDER (2 left. Boosts Benedict's VIOLENCE and TALENT by 2, allowing him to roll an additional 2d6. No FLESH cost due to his damage reduction.)
I know you have more in your inventory but this is more than enough options for stat boosting items. You can use as many as you want.
Added in a difficulty label for each check to make it easier to know how hard or easy one is at a glance without having to pull out a probability analyzer.
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>>6054603
>EMPLOYEE ONLY
Fuck I forgot about that one. Total 8-9 of these guys here. Their tattoo augs might be making them resistant to whatever's happening.
>adjusting to the sensory assault.
Okay nevermind it just takes getting used to. So is this the A-Energy farming system? Frank's got tolerance from ETF training and Handler has godlike stats. Maruyama's a SHIFTER, Nicole's Nicole, Benedict's Benedict. That leaves Alexis and Adam most vulnerable. Makes sense.
>slip past
He'll be fine, no need to worry about him
>his own .357
Regards to his shitty dead faggot brother

>>6054608
>beyond bewildered
I love this reminder to them that Nicole's still a schizo madwoman. It'd only be topped if we had pulled out a real deal X-Corp rocket launcher from the hammerspace inventory
>smug, contempt glee
This bastard works fast if he started setting up the meat wall the moment he realized the jig was up
>AT IT. BOSSMAN
Not even half a day together, and we have nice moments like this with Handler getting used to the crew
>more meat
We learned a big weakness to Benedict and even to Esoteric/Pale damage: being faced with raw quantity and resistance

>>6054612
>mudding
Engravings offer no tactical advantage whatsoever. But they don't need to
>could've been a pristine blade
I don't think going and slaying your princess wife that cucked you is a healthy idea, MaruMaru. I mean I'd be all for it, but...
>Blackened sludge
Better the shoes than any exposed flesh, yeah? Bright side, this is just an excuse for the allies to get new pairs
>TIME ACCELERATION!
I didn't expect Ball Breaker. Definitely a valuable power

>>6054641
>Club Owner
Real Marty Armstrong type description
>blackened patch of flesh is visible on his left arm
It's all extensions of him. Maybe that's the way to turn the tables?
>tear through
He didn't have time to strengthen them beforehand. Another weakness
>spike of bone
Seems the fatty does have some bone on his meats
>bodyguards rushing
We're pincered between them. NOT GOOD
>>
>>6054641
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES]
As much as I'm tempted by the Handler and Alexis options, those are tough sells to me. We have 2 of these siphons left and we can always buy more, and I want to show off the new power to the team and the Handler.
ECLIPSE TALISMAN gives us a reroll to 3 of the WILLPOWER dice, so we should be able to easily beat this check. If that fails because dice gods suck, we can pop a MOONSTONE FRAGMENT.
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>>6054647
>[OTTO ALLY] "You've been fucking over my business, haven't you, huh? You're the reason why I'm even here, huh?" You think The Handler deserves this talk. Distract the guards while he handles the Club Owner. (+RESPECT with the Handler, decent chance for your allies to take FLESH damage while fighting back the guards. You should get some super valuable information as to who is backing him and why he targeted the Handler specifically.)
>>
>>6054647
Fuck it, I give in
Changing vote from >>6054917 to
>[OTTO ALLY] "You've been fucking over my business, haven't you, huh? You're the reason why I'm even here, huh?" You think The Handler deserves this talk. Distract the guards while he handles the Club Owner. (+RESPECT with the Handler, decent chance for your allies to take FLESH damage while fighting back the guards. You should get some super valuable information as to who is backing him and why he targeted the Handler specifically.)
Alexis stays behind everybody because she is the squishiest. Everybody else can take a hit or two
>>
>>6054647
>[OTTO ALLY] "You've been fucking over my business, haven't you, huh? You're the reason why I'm even here, huh?" You think The Handler deserves this talk. Distract the guards while he handles the Club Owner. (+RESPECT with the Handler, decent chance for your allies to take FLESH damage while fighting back the guards. You should get some super valuable information as to who is backing him and why he targeted the Handler specifically.)
>>
>>6054647
>>[OTTO ALLY] "You've been fucking over my business, haven't you, huh? You're the reason why I'm even here, huh?" You think The Handler deserves this talk. Distract the guards while he handles the Club Owner. (+RESPECT with the Handler, decent chance for your allies to take FLESH damage while fighting back the guards. You should get some super valuable information as to who is backing him and why he targeted the Handler specifically.)
>>
>>6054641
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Summon Ker to distract him in order to weaken his ability, then use a Siphon to fully shut off his ability. (EASY CHECK. -1 RESTRAINT, -1 SIPHON, WILLPOWER DC: 24, rolling only your 8d6. Succeed and you should be able to neuteur his abilities completely, leaving him incapable of fighting back. You can safely interrogate him without any chance of him fighting back.)
Then
>[OTTO ALLY] "You've been fucking over my business, haven't you, huh? You're the reason why I'm even here, huh?" You think The Handler deserves this talk. Distract the guards while he handles the Club Owner. (+RESPECT with the Handler, decent chance for your allies to take FLESH damage while fighting back the guards. You should get some super valuable information as to who is backing him and why he targeted the Handler specifically.)
>>
>>6055092
Can we really do both?
>>
OTTO ALLY: ALL, with cWW having it as a an addon to ANOMALOUS ABILITIES.
ANOMALOUS ABILITIES: cWW
Seems pretty one note on what to do. Writing.
>>
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You really are tempted to use your powers on him and to some extent, you'll have to. But this is the Handler's issue. It is his briefcase you're looking out for.

With a flick of your hand, your other allies fall into position to guard the staircase behind you while you and the Handler approach. Alexis stands in between both of your groups, probably using them as cover due to how squishy she is. You silently toss her some MEDIUM QUALITY BODYARMOR and some ARMGUARDS so she doesn't implode in the upcoming violence.

[ADVANCED INTUTION] TELEKINESIS! NOW!

A meaty tendril with a bone tip immediately shoots out of the ground, aimed right towards the Handler. You immediately freeze it in place with your telekinesis. Adam immediately jumps past the two of you and with one stroke of his chef's blade, he slices the sharpened tip of bone clean off the meat tendril.

Seems like he needs time to make his constructs as durable as the meat blockade. Good.

The Club Owner hisses out a flurry of grunts and expletives from behind the meat walls he's hiding behind. "GOD DAMN! That was my favorite fingernail, you sonnabitch!!!"

"It'll be more than a finger nail," The Handler keeps his revolver trained on the meat walls, putting his complete trust in your group guarding him. "If you don't talk."

"Feh! So what? I'll survive and steal some flesh from somewhere else. All of this is all a temporary setback."

[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] The female entertainers are pretty gaunt looking...seems like that's the most reasonable source of it.

You can already hear gunshots ringing out from behind you. With a quick use of SIGHTJACKING (free thanks to your gloves) to check up on them, you look through Frank's eyes. He managed to send one of the guards whimpering away thanks to a shotgun blast to the shoulder. Before you disconnect to focus on guarding the Handler, Benedict thrusts and jabs his blade arm to scare another one back as well.

You manage to stop another tendril right as it tries to attack the Handler again. Adam prunes this one with a single slice of his chef's knife.

Seems like this is enough to get him to stop for now. "What the fuck do you want? You're trying to ruin my business? Feh! I did NOTHING to do this! This is patently unfair!" The female Drone hiding in the corner whimpers but a quick hiss from the hidden Club Owner is enough to silence her.

"Oh! Oh is that so? Messing with other people's businesses is unfair, huh?" Annoyance oozes out of every single word the Handler spits out. He blasts a hole through one of the walls the Club Owner is hiding behind. "You're the piece of shit who's been fucking over my own!"

The Club Owner doesn't respond for a moment but it's clear from the grunts and hisses of pain that it's not because he's hesitant. "Huh? Bud, I don't even know who you are. Some bronze hair lookin' piece of filth. Too gaunt for my tastes."

"You stole my god damn briefcase! Otto Foxtrot's fucking briefcase! Or ratted that info to someone else!"
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"Oh! You're the faggot with the faggot brother who died a couple weeks ago! So sorry about that! Hope he died gurgling on-"

"HA!" Another shot rings out from his revolver. A massive chunk of one of the meat walls splatters into pieces, leaving only two walls protecting him. "I'm the one who killed him, you FAT FUCKING RETARD! AND IF YOU DON'T WANT ANOTHER HOLE IN YOUR FREAKSHIT BODY, TELL ME. WHO YOU ARE WORKING FOR."

The Club Owner lets out another low hiss. "Fine. If you survive my guards, you'll know. Your antler bimbo is making it hard to kill you anyways." Seems like his powers are made to slow down and delay anyone killing him moreso than being great offense tools.

[UNSTABLE] I WANT TO CRUSH HIS HEAD UNDERNEATH OUR BOOT. FREAK WOULD PROBABLY BE INTO THAT.

You turn your gaze back to your allies through SIGHTJACKING, using Maruyama as your vessel. A gunshot wound has punched a hole in his stomach. Fresh red blood is oozing down his purple business suit. He forcefully kicks a bodyguard away with his foot, buying him enough time to get behind Benedict.

Frank and Benedict, while handling the assault pretty well, are covered in scratches and bruises from a few bodyguards who manage to close the distance when they weren't expecting it.

Alexis is doing fine thanks to the armor you gave her and if it wasn't for the bodyarmor, there would probably be a hole stuck in her chest. Thankfully there's only a hole in her white suit.

You flicker back towards the Handler, you, and Adam. The Handler has blasted another three holes into the meatwalls, causing one to crumble while the second one is about ready to crumble as well. It's clear the Owner is staring to panic and his third attack is so sloppy, Adam manages to deflect it without even trying that hard.

"Your walls are crumbling. I got ninety one more bullets after I fire this last one. You wanna fuckin' wait any longer or do you want to call them off?" To prove his point, he fires two last shots from his seven shooter. The second meat walls crumbles completely.

As soon as this happens, the lights in the office begin to flicker and pulse with the same hypnotic awe as you saw on the floor below...but it stops as soon as it starts. The pulsating gear in your inventory seems to be counteracting whatever electric system is making the lights and music blare. Seems like he's too weak to push past it.

With this, the Club Owner says the magical words necessary to stop any more carnage. "FINE! I'LL TALK! STOP IT! THIS REALLY FUCKING HURTS! GUARDS, STOP!"

The Handler lowers his now empty gun as soon as he hears those words. You can already hear the bodyguards scrambling back. Given the nine pairs of footsteps, none of them got killed but they were deterred long enough for this to happen.

"What's your name?" You ask. You rather not say Club Owner again if you have to.

"TERRENCE! TERRENCE PHILMORE! I-I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO THE DRONE SHE WAS-"

"Yeah we don't fucking care." The Handler interrupts him.
>>
"I need to know why you're shitting in my cereal and why you think you could get away with it." For a moment, he flashes a smile at you. He's thankful that you're letting him handle this.
>+RESPECT WITH HANDLER!

"Look! You were being sloppy!" Terrance is groaning in pain from what you can only assume is from the damage transferred over to him. He quickly summons two more meat walls that are grey, weak, and flimsy. Just enough to hide how fucked up he looks. "Talking about all that somewhere public? Well, most of the people here are zombies so I can't blame you too mu-"

"Shut up. And talk. Now. I can keep shooting until you can't make any more."

"You want someone to blame besides yourself? Fine! I overheard it and sold the info to a friend of mine from L-Corp! She told me to bring some chumps over here and to kill them to make sure no information about where it is could be leaked out!" Terrance panickily explains, trying his best to toughen his way through the pain. "She hired some Cleaner U-Corp office to do the actual snatching."

"What's her name? Tell me her name. Maybe I'll recognize it."

"KATHERINE BEATRIX! WORKS WITH THE 432 ORGANIZATION!"

Alexis, after recovering from the constant barrage of gunshots going off, immediately recognizes that name. So does the Handler. "Oh shit." "Isn't that a Corporate Administrator?" That title sends panic rushing through your own system.

You encountered three back in the W-Corp Mines mission and the one you scanned for had physical stats that made Benedict look like a weakling. You're not sure you want to fuck around with another one if you can get away with it.

"Look! It's nothing personal but she told me about you. Said something about how she fucking hates you, how she wishes you would choke on a cock, shit like that. Real mean ex shit. Considering the dame you threw away, I felt like I had to give her some kind of gift. That's where your briefcase came in." Terrance can't help but to laugh despite how backed to the wall he is.

"You fucked up, cocksucker."

The Handler's eyes begin to twitch violently upon realizing who's been behind this. "Shut up. She wouldn't associate with a fat lardo like you."

"Sure. Maybe I'm not a pretty boy like you. But I'm not a fucking idiot who NEEDS A WOMAN TO-" Alexis immediately interrupts him by shooting off her ROYAL BLUE DERRINGER at one of his grey meatwalls. "FUCK!"

"Got anything else to say or do we just have to shut you up the hard way?" Alexis hisses.

"Fuck. You want to bother her? She's heading over to do a meeting at some five star F-Corp steakhouse in six hours. Go bother her there. I'm fucking done with this."

Seems like Katherine was the one who stole it. You doubt she's the only one actually involved given how everyone is scrambling for information on the case but if anyone knows for certain, it's her.

Your party, now free to leave, stumbles to the bottom of the staircase to discuss things further.
>>
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"You too, huh?" Maruyama tries to offer the Handler a look of sympathy. He doesn't bother saying anything else, though the gunshot isn't helping.
>-1 CHARGE OFF DRIFTWOOD IDOL! USED TO BLOCK MARUYAMA DAMAGE! 2 LEFT.
>-1 FLESH TO MARUYAMA, FRANK AND BENEDICT! ALEXIS, ADAM, HANDLER AND YOU ARE UNINJURED!
>MARUYAMA FLESH: 3/5, FRANK FLESH: 6/7, BENEDICT FLESH: 9/10.

The Handler flatly ignores Maruyama's comment. "Well. At least we know who has it. This should be quicker than I expected, weird anomalous shit aside."
"Wait, didn't he mention a five star restaurant before?" Alexis jabs a thumb at Benedict. "That's weird. Maybe it was the same one on the brochure?"

"YES." Benedict tries his best to smile but due to how fucked up his face is (half robotic and all), it comes out looking pretty horrifying. "SAME ONE. SUNSET AUBRUM. STARTED IN F-CORP BY. DISTANT ACCQUINTANCE OF ADAM?"
"Well, that's overestimating our attachment. I met Mr. Schadewe once during a cocktail party." Adam can only offer a half hearted shrug. "That is a lucky break though. Me and Benedict could teach you how to blend in with the kitchen staff. We can ambush her from there."

Lucky break that you hired those two.

"That might be what we'll do eventually." Frank tosses a gauze roll half heartedly at Maruyama...
[FRACTURED MIND] Mostly because Benedict is staring at the freshly bleeding wound with an oddly hungry look in his eyes. He seems visibly disappointed when Maruyama patches himself up.
>-1 RESTRAINT TO BENEDICT! 5/6 LEFT!
>-1 GAUZE ROLL FROM FRANK, MARUYAMA IS NOW AT FULL HEALTH!

"But it might be a waste of time to use all that time to larp as fucking line cooks. Don't we have those chumps from S-Corp and those gangsters to bother?" Frank rightfully points out. Might be wise to use your free time to do other things.

"That information has clearly spread as well." Maruyama speaks up after he finishes wrapping up his gut. "Even some kind of anomaly is involved. And don't we have that lead from the Druggie? Maybe she works with Katherine. We need

"If I had a say?" The Handler taps his foot on the sticky club floor. "We should bother the 432 Organization. They are our closest link to her without immediately alerting her. If she works for them, perhaps we can find some dirt on her too."

There's a lot of options from here you can pick but you feel like you're already getting pretty close to the mission's end. Nothing too long this time. There is one massive issue before you can do anything, though. How to deal with Terrence. The female Drone you saw in his office runs past you right as you wonder this.

What do you do with Terrence?
>Send out Ker to haunt him. Use your two SIPHONS. Shoot him with an anti-anomaly round. Do everything in your power to disable his powers while keeping him alive. (-1 RESTRAINT and -2 ANTI-ANOMALY ROUNDS and SIPHONS from you. +1 RAPPORT with ADAM and BENEDICT, BENEDICT heals 1 RESTRAINT.)
(1/2)
>>
>[UNSTABLE] KILL HIM. STOMP HIS FACE IN. MAKE HIM KILL HIMSELF WITH PUPPETEER. BILLIONS OF CLUB OWNERS MUST DIE. (+0.5 RAPPORT with FRANK and ALEXIS, your RESTRAINT is boosted to 11/11 for rest of mission.)
>Leave him. He is beneath you and you will not sully yourself further with him. (+0.5 RAPPORT with Maruyama, Maruyama's RESTRAINT is boosted to 5/5, +RESPECT with Handler.)

Where do you want to proceed from here? No one wants to stay in the club any longer than they have to.
>[OTTO ALLY] Getting some more dirt on the person behind the briefcase snatching will help a LOT down the line. Go to the 432 Organization.
>[ADAM + BENEDICT ALLY] While this may backfire later if anyone else catches on to this info, staking out the restaurant is a good plan. Head to SUNSET AUBRUM and blend in with the staff there. You'll strike her when she least expects it.
>[FRANK ALLY] Head back to the office to talk to the Gangsters and S-Corpers. You faintly recall L and S-Corp working in the past. Maybe they can offer some useful knowledge about them alongside the intel they already have.
>[MARUYAMA ALLY] You need to hunt down the person who was staking the place out earlier. Maybe you can get her to rat out Katherine and the previous Cleaner she stole it from. The Handler might like it if he knew where his former employee went.
>[ALEXIS ALLY] "Hm. That anomaly Benedict mentioned. If he knows TWO corpos are involved, he should be more than willing to work with us. I say we hunt him down." Go along with Alexis' plan. Try to find the COLD BLOODED INFORMANT.
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Summon ANOM. If any more weird anomalous shit happens, you need to quicken up Maruyama and Benedict's spark progress. (FREE ACTION, -1 RESTRAINT. Your party will get a +2 WILLPOWER boost and you should help Maruyama and Benedict awaken more of their powers this mission.)
>Write in.
>>
>>6055630
>Leave him. He is beneath you and you will not sully yourself further with him. (+0.5 RAPPORT with Maruyama, Maruyama's RESTRAINT is boosted to 5/5, +RESPECT with Handler.)

>[ADAM + BENEDICT ALLY] While this may backfire later if anyone else catches on to this info, staking out the restaurant is a good plan. Head to SUNSET AUBRUM and blend in with the staff there. You'll strike her when she least expects it.

>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Summon ANOM. If any more weird anomalous shit happens, you need to quicken up Maruyama and Benedict's spark progress. (FREE ACTION, -1 RESTRAINT. Your party will get a +2 WILLPOWER boost and you should help Maruyama and Benedict awaken more of their powers this mission.)
>>
>>6055631
>[UNSTABLE] KILL HIM. STOMP HIS FACE IN. MAKE HIM KILL HIMSELF WITH PUPPETEER. BILLIONS OF CLUB OWNERS MUST DIE. (+0.5 RAPPORT with FRANK and ALEXIS, your RESTRAINT is boosted to 11/11 for rest of mission.)
This guy is planning on causing a bloodbath in the club with bystanders and innocents in the middle. He will definitely do it again. Let’s kill this guy.
>[MARUYAMA ALLY] You need to hunt down the person who was staking the place out earlier. Maybe you can get her to rat out Katherine and the previous Cleaner she stole it from. The Handler might like it if he knew where his former employee went.
We need to save the cleaners that the handler hired.
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Summon ANOM. If any more weird anomalous shit happens, you need to quicken up Maruyama and Benedict's spark progress. (FREE ACTION, -1 RESTRAINT. Your party will get a +2 WILLPOWER boost and you should help Maruyama and Benedict awaken more of their powers this mission.)
>>
>>6055631
>[UNSTABLE]
If anybody even starts to look like they are objecting, bring up what >>6055653 said
>[FRANK ALLY]
This started with them too, mind you. And I don't wanna leave these guys hanging after we told them to meet us there.
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES]
Finally we're doing this one

>>6055653
I fully agree with you wanting to secure the Cleaner that was also working for Handler, but I don't want to risk those S-Corp guys and gangsters teaming up against us thinking we swindled them or something.
>>
>>6055653
Change
>>6055667
+1
>>
>>6055621
>doesn't implode
She's one of the only seriously squishy allies we still have. That BODY ARMOR gives her +1 FLESH too, putting her at 3
>needs time
Called it, big weakness
>steal some flesh
>entertainers
I didn't make that connection at all. What a sick son of a bitch
>SIGHTJACKING (free
We're never taking these off
>Too gaunt
That's not how I would think of the Handler. The owner must be talking about for flesh-stealing

>>6055628
>antler bimbo
At least it's not schizo bimbo? That's twice on the same mission now
>gunshot wound
I completely forgot we have a BALLISTIC WEAVE and a BULLETPROOF VEST to spare. Oh well
>ninety one more bullets
3 REVOLVER AMMO is $103 from J-Corp Catalog. That's $9373 of bullets he has. He could be getting his for cheaper elsewhere, but it's definitely around 9K he has in just revolver ammo alone
>pulsating gear
I love our automatic tech sabotage tool

>>6055629
>friend of mine from L-Corp
L and U have some history
>Corporate Administrator
Why is an Admin working with a Cleaner office? This does mean she is a U-Corp Admin, so Maruyama's theory about a U-Corp insider being involved was correct. Fuck
>mean ex
We're doomed
>shooting off
Nice free ammo proc
>in six hours
We got time to handle the S-Corp and gangster groups, then do maybe 1 or 2 more things before showtime?

>>6055630
>You too
Save it for the bar
>Lucky break
I like that plan a lot. I hope we do it when the time comes because I missed A&B shenanigans
>already getting pretty close to the mission's end. Nothing too long this time
This mission is a welcome reprieve to me. We had 2 lengthy high-action jobs back to back, so some smooth time doing an investigation and walking around is great to relax. That glowie outpost is also something to consider post-briefcase
>>
>>6055631
>[UNSTABLE] KILL HIM. STOMP HIS FACE IN. MAKE HIM KILL HIMSELF WITH PUPPETEER. BILLIONS OF CLUB OWNERS MUST DIE. (+0.5 RAPPORT with FRANK and ALEXIS, your RESTRAINT is boosted to 11/11 for rest of mission.)
>[MARUYAMA ALLY] You need to hunt down the person who was staking the place out earlier. Maybe you can get her to rat out Katherine and the previous Cleaner she stole it from. The Handler might like it if he knew where his former employee went.
>>
>>6055631
>Leave him. He is beneath you and you will not sully yourself further with him. (+0.5 RAPPORT with Maruyama, Maruyama's RESTRAINT is boosted to 5/5, +RESPECT with Handler.)

>[ADAM + BENEDICT ALLY] While this may backfire later if anyone else catches on to this info, staking out the restaurant is a good plan. Head to SUNSET AUBRUM and blend in with the staff there. You'll strike her when she least expects it.
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Summon ANOM. If any more weird anomalous shit happens, you need to quicken up Maruyama and Benedict's spark progress. (FREE ACTION, -1 RESTRAINT. Your party will get a +2 WILLPOWER boost and you should help Maruyama and Benedict awaken more of their powers this mission.)
>>
>>6055631
>[UNSTABLE] KILL HIM. STOMP HIS FACE IN. MAKE HIM KILL HIMSELF WITH PUPPETEER. BILLIONS OF CLUB OWNERS MUST DIE. (+0.5 RAPPORT with FRANK and ALEXIS, your RESTRAINT is boosted to 11/11 for rest of mission.)
I love me some Handler respect, but this guy is genuinely way too dangerous to be left alive.
>[FRANK ALLY] Head back to the office to talk to the Gangsters and S-Corpers. You faintly recall L and S-Corp working in the past. Maybe they can offer some useful knowledge about them alongside the intel they already have.
They’re S-Corp. We can leverage the story of Nicole liberating the ocean and o gain some favor with them.
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Summon ANOM. If any more weird anomalous shit happens, you need to quicken up Maruyama and Benedict's spark progress. (FREE ACTION, -1 RESTRAINT. Your party will get a +2 WILLPOWER boost and you should help Maruyama and Benedict awaken more of their powers this mission.)
Yaaaay more schizo friends. I am moderately scared of why this is a free action, it feels like a trap.
>>
>>6055976
Speaking of S-Corp, I am very torn on whether we should show them the S-CORP LEDGER that Admiral gave us or not. They might snap at it being uber-confidential and secret, which leads them to fighting us to seize it from our hands. I don't want to risk that outcome.
>>
>>6055631
>[UNSTABLE] KILL HIM. STOMP HIS FACE IN. MAKE HIM KILL HIMSELF WITH PUPPETEER. BILLIONS OF CLUB OWNERS MUST DIE. (+0.5 RAPPORT with FRANK and ALEXIS, your RESTRAINT is boosted to 11/11 for rest of mission.)

>[MARUYAMA ALLY] You need to hunt down the person who was staking the place out earlier. Maybe you can get her to rat out Katherine and the previous Cleaner she stole it from. The Handler might like it if he knew where his former employee went.
>>
>>6056071
I don’t think we should let people know we have that. It’s liable to be a shit show on the scale of this briefcase situation if word gets out.
>>
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[PERSON OF INTEREST] We can not leave him alive. He knows we exist, we flatout assaulted him...it's very likely he would rat us out if we left.
[UNSTABLE] RIP HIS SPINE THROUGH HIS STOMACH.
[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Maybe if we did some FOCUSED TELEKINESIS but seems like a waste of our power.

"We need to kill him. Don't make any sounds-" You toss over some excess armor to Maruyama. A bulletproof vest should be enough for now, he's hearty. He squints upon realizing you somehow had this but you simply shrug. He easily accepts this silent apology. "No guns. Too loud. Adam, slice my arm. Shallow incision. Enough to draw blood."

You hold out your arm towards the chef. He does so easily, staining his blade with your bright red blood. He immediately wipes said blade clean before Benedict gets too many ideas. A purple-pink gas begins to leak out of your arm, ready to condense into a 'solid' form soon enough.

All of your allies squint and murmur upon seeing this but all of them have seen you do weirder shit at this point. All seven of you promptly sneak up the staircase to the best of your abilities. Frank, the chefs, and the Handler all have blades ready to swing. Maruyama has his briefcase ready. Alexis simply follows emptyhanded with a bored expression.

The rest of you hide outside of the office as Maruyama takes initiative and steps through the doorway.

[DISARMING PRESENCE] With a small cough, he gets Terrence's attention. "I do apologize for what my allies did earlier. We had reason to believe you would've attempted to kill us first. I do apologize." His voice sounds different. Meeker, more diplomatic.

Terrence slowly steps out from behind his last remaining solid meat wall. Scratches and bruises cover his bloated stomach. The blackened patch on his arm is even worse now with cracks of bright blue light pouring down it. "Feh. Because of some dipshit I hired? He was a retard. Didn't even know I was lying to him.

[DISARMING PRESENCE] "That's very true. I do question how you expected anyone to come back afterwards. Were you banking on Katherine to sweep it under the rug?"

Terrence begins to approach Maruyama with furrowed brows and an exhausted frown chiseled on his face. Every movement he makes, his stomach sloshes unnaturally and he sighs from exhaustion. "I need emotions. I need meat. I need more. That's all I care about. She would understand. You would too. You have that desire too." His eyes glance down at Maruyama's sword.

"Something I desire? Yes. I won't deny that. Even if I'm too afraid to admit it fully to myself."

"Fucking pussy." Terrence is now only a few feet away from Maruyama and by association, the doorway your group is hiding behind. "I should drain you like every other gaunt fuck you worked with. Or maybe I should start with you first."

"If only I was alone, sir."

You immediately hold your hand out through the doorway, sending pink translucent strings out to latch onto Terrance's body. Stupid sonnabitch.
>>
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They're brighter than normal. You assume this is from the massive gash in your arm leaking out foul pink-purple gas.

Terrence's body immediately locks up thanks to your PUPPETEER attack. He tries to scream out for his guards but it's too late. Frank wraps his arms around his neck to put him into a chokehold while Adam covers his mouth with his hands.

Benedict, doing what he's best at, immediately thrusts his blade arm into Terrence's bloated stomach. A stilted, muffled gurgle is the only sound he manages to make before Adam and Frank let go of him. With well-trained strikes, Frank and Adam jab their knives into his back and front respectively.

His eyes immediately gloss over as if his soul was sucked right out of him. As soon as you let go of PUPPETEER, he falls limply onto the floor below. You let your emotions get the better of you by reeling your boot back and immediately stomping it down on his head.

A sickening crunch tells you all you need to know.

"Fuck yeah." Drool pours out of Frank's mouth from the sight of this chubby fuck bleeding out onto the floor. "That was sick."
Alexis is giggling to herself upon seeing this pathetic mess die in front of her. You can't blame her.
>+0.5 RAPPORT with ALEXIS AND FRANK!
>RESTRAINT IS NOW 10/11, -1 from DISASSOCIATION. +2 WILLPOWER TO ALL ALLIES WHILE ANOM IS ACTIVE!

"We have to leave. Now." The Handler is not as pleased, if only from a pragmatic standpoint. "The moment they see this corpse, they'll know it's us.
"Yeah, yeah, Bronze Dome. Give us a moment to savor-"
"No, we have to leave now-"

[ETF TRAINING] "Fine, fine! If you want to be such a fucking bore. Help me." He begins to lift up the corpse. Your group promptly helps him to drag it back over to the chair at his desk. As soon as he's settled, he spins the chair around.

"There. That should buy us some time." Huh. Clever. They'd have to go all the way over here to check on him.

"movehumanspleasemove" A voice whispers out.

You glance down at your arm where that voice came from. A jumbled mess of features has condensed in the mist leaking out of your arm. ANOM is not human in the slightest. It is a gaseous mass of antler, hands, string, eyes, and brain matter in a roughly spherical form.

"hisfleshwillrotquicklyitwillsticktous."

The Handler can't even pretend to process what he's looking at, nor can most of your other allies. Alexis seems to be the only one remotely able to process what she's seeing. "How's Sable been?"
"loud."
"Tracks."

"Who the fuck is Sab-" "We gotta move." Before The Handler can pry further, Maruyama exits the room in a hurry. Your group promptly rushes out of the club before anyone can realize what you just did. Now that you're back out of the streets and making a LOT of distance from the club, it's clear where you have to go now.

The office you 'rented'.

It doesn't take long. Oddly so. It usually takes a while to go anywhere on the City on foot but you're there in the blink of an eye.
>>
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Maruyama stops fiddling with his sword when the seven (eight?) of you arrive.

Maruyama flashes a cheeky smirk for the briefest of seconds before he opens up the door. "Shaved some time. We need all we can." His katana is barely sticking out of its holster. It glints with bright lilac light.
>LATENT SPARK PROGRESS GAINED!
>TIME ACCELERATION UPGRADED! MARUAYAMA'S PRESENCE WILL SAVE MINOR AMOUNTS OF TIME DURING MISSIONS.

You won't look a gifted horse in the mouth. Your group makes its way over to the old conference room you had your briefing at about an hour and some change ago.

Six men are waiting inside. Three very similar looking scarred men in burly trench coats are at one side of the conference table while three men in bright red suits are waiting at the other end of it. Their two briefcases are situated at the middle of the table so neither of them can immediately reach for it.

A disarming tactic so neither can steal the other's case.

"HELLO. FRIENDS." Benedict smacks his armblade onto the table to get everyone's attention. "WE ARE HERE to DISCUSS BUSINESS. TO TRIM THE FAT OF CORPORATE NONSENSE TO COOK A DELICIOUS MEAL OF MUTUAL BENEFIT. I BELIEVE I, BENEDICT BAKER, CAN ATTEST TO-"
"You're trying too hard." Alexis can't help but to giggle at the anomalous chef trying his best to sound diplomatic and human.
"OH." Benedict visibly deflates upon hearing that.

"Hey, it's okay buddy. I'm impressed you even tried." Adam gently pats his friend on the back. "We are here to discuss our shared situation, though."

"I could gather that." Red Suit A can't hide how he wants to be anywhere BUT here with how annoyed he sounds.
"Hey. Be nice to them." Red Suit B snaps at his younger associate. "If it wasn't for them, we probably would've died."
"We'll probably be dead if we're associated with these freaks. One has a fucking gas leak in her arm and the other is...a weird chef thing?" Red Suit C gestures towards you and Adam.

The three Gangsters are silent but one of them seems to be staring at you and Benedict with an odd fascination in his eyes. Maybe it's just you but you swear his eyes flashed a bright orange for the briefest of moments.

"Fuck off. These two are trusted associates." The Handler sits down at one of the many empty seats at the conference table. You and your allies soon sit down next to him. The 13 (14? does ANOM count?) of you awkwardly sit around the conference table. It's clear no one wants to make the first move on spitting out any information so far.

"ithinkyoulookquitenice,uh,whatsyourname? ANOM gestures itself towards one of the Red Suits. He simply grimaces at the thing trying to talk to him. You're not going to unsummon it since it probably won't affect the talk that much.

"Look. Ask your questions, we'll answer them, then we'll give you some intel we have. I think that's simple enough, yeah?" Red Suit B leans back in his chair. "It's clear there's a lot of fingers in this singular pie. We need to help each other."
>>
The Orange Eyed Gangster snorts. "Your kind would've shot us for a packet of beef jerky from O-Corp. Let's not pretend this is only an alliance of convenience."

Best to swerve this conversation somewhere else before it gets any worse. What do you want to ask or tell the Red Suits and the Gangsters? Pick three main things to say/ask and any amount of additional free actions

GANGSTERS
>[ANOM ACTIVE] It's clear one of the Gangsters here is a SHIFTer. There's been an odd amount of them throughout here. "What's your goal?" (WILLPOWER CHECK AUTOPASS thanks to Anom. You'll get a glimpse into why there's so many SHIFTers and why they're involving themselves in this briefcase. Might even offer you a glimpse into U-Corp's singularity.)
>[FRANK ALLY] "I assume your kind keeps track of any gang activity going on. Do you know of any other outside parties we have to worry about? Anyone we can go to for supplies or assistance when we're recovering the case?"
>[BENEDICT ALLY] "WE NEED INTEL ON A SPECIFIC ANOMALY WE HEARD MAY BE INVOLVED IN THIS CASE TOO. COULD YOU PERHAPS TRACK HIM DOWN OR POSSIBLY DETER HIM FROM INTERFERRING IN OUR MISSION?"
>[ADAM ALLY] "We have to go to a specific restaurant to deal with a specific client later. Do you know anyone in the staff who can help us? Any secret backdoors? Anyone easily bribed over there?"
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] "Long shot but have any of you heard about a Cleaner going missing? We suspect the person behind the failed club ambush may be tied to it."
>[UNSTABLE] "A friend of mine said you were trying to find a signal. What for? What are you tracking?" That one comment you heard is a bit off putting in the grand scheme.
>Write in.

RED SUITS
>[OTTO ALLY] "What do you know about Katherine Beatrix? Apparently a U-Corp Administrator is involving herself in this case too." Might be prudent to know what she can do and any motives she might have.
>[ALEXIS ALLY] "What do you even seek to gain after you get this briefcase? This mysterious briefcase with patents involving U-Corp Singularity? Blackmail, simple money, what?" Try to understand their own motives. Could be as simple as money but who knows?
>[MARUYAMA ALLY] "You were working with the Time Killers, yeah? That's a T-Corp associated office. What are they doing here and should we worry about them trying to steal it if any of us manage to recover it?" That loose end needs to be tied up.
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] "Have you heard of the Admiral's Game being destroyed? That was me. I think you should realize the better opportunity here compared to the briefcase you're hunting." (MODERATE CHECK. CONNECTIONS DC: 20 (-5 from Benedict and Adam's testimonies), rolling 6d6 by yourself. Succeed and you'll likely make some powerful connections with S-Corp down the line and some more support from the Red Suits.)
(1/2)
>>
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] "How often do patent hunts like this happen? What WOULD happen if this briefcase was lost and the patent info was revealed? Do you have any prior experience with such events?"
>[S-CORP LEDGER] "Hey. Stole this from that club owner guy. Does any of this involve the briefcase you're looking for?" Fuck it. What's the worst that can happen? (FREE ACTION. May offer a lot of valuable information. May result in a sequel to this mission. Up to you!)
>"I say let's cut the bullshit and open the cases we have. Neither of you know what's inside, let's just get to it." Try to convince them to open both cases. (HARD CHECK. CHARM DC: 35, rolling 8d6+1d3 with Alexis' help. Pass and you'll get some very important corporate info. Might even has some blackmail on future groups you have to deal with or to handle other threats this mission.)
>Write in

MISC ACTIONS
>Use some CHARM or CONNECTIONS boosting drug. (FREE ACTION. Use a XISXIS PILL for +3d4 to a CONNECTIONS roll? AXAXAX PILL for +3d8 to a CHARM roll? SOMTOIN ZETA for +3d6 CHARM and a wide amount of stat boosts?)
>Offer your associates some good booze. To lighten things up. (FREE ACTION. -2 BOTTLES OF HIGH QUALITY WHISKEY or 1 HIGH QUALITY WHISKEY and 3 DUST CONTAIMATED LIQUORS. Lowers the DC of any CHARM/CONNECTIONS check you make by 4. Write in what to spend.)
>Write in.
>>
Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>6056385
>>6056388
>[PERSON OF INTEREST]
That missing Cleaner is a valuable asset to the Handler. Armstrongs have ties to P-Corp too. We'd do well to find him, though the briefcase comes first
>[ANOM ACTIVE]
I want this
>[UNSTABLE]
I'm just curious about that line.
I'm fine with whatever we end up going with for these gangsters, but POI matters to me the most due to that important loose end. I bet Handler will pay extra for us recovering that prettyboy fag, and maybe there's a P-CORP FAVOR (or ARMSTRONG FAVOR?) in it for us from his family or corpo ties.

>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND]
BIG FAME
>[OTTO ALLY]
Info on the bitch at the steakhouse, Handler's ex and the one who stole the case
>[ALEXIS ALLY] OR [MARUYAMA ALLY]
I'm fine with either, flipping a coin for it
1 Alexis
2 Maruyama
>[S-CORP LEDGER]
Fuck it, taking the shot

>Use some CHARM or CONNECTIONS boosting drug
1 XISXIS PILL
I wanna save the 4 HQ WHISKEY for celebrating after the base assault. DUST LIQUOR is for when we wanna burn something dead. It's a 1 RESTRAINT heal and CHARM boost, so that might come in handy if we need to talk some cognitohazard down
>>
>>6056393
+1
>>
>>6056358
>silent apology
It's all good
>too afraid to admit it
He'll make it through

>>6056359
>Bronze Dome
I love a good nicknamer character

>>6056360
>Shaved some time
Powerful mission speedrun tool
>visibly deflates
That was probably one of Benedict's best moments right there. The idea he's rationalizing events as cooking to operate better and more aware is brilliant. If he can do that then he might be recovering his mind faster
>These two
Touching how he's calling Benedict a trusted associate too
>ithinkyoulookquitenice
Never saw this coming
>>
>>6056385
Gangsters:
>[ANOM ACTIVE] It's clear one of the Gangsters here is a SHIFTer. There's been an odd amount of them throughout here. "What's your goal?" (WILLPOWER CHECK AUTOPASS thanks to Anom. You'll get a glimpse into why there's so many SHIFTers and why they're involving themselves in this briefcase. Might even offer you a glimpse into U-Corp's singularity.)
I’m curious.
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] "Long shot but have any of you heard about a Cleaner going missing? We suspect the person behind the failed club ambush may be tied to it."
We should try to rescue the poor kid if we can. Maybe even a new ally down the road? As if we really need more…
>[UNSTABLE] "A friend of mine said you were trying to find a signal. What for? What are you tracking?" That one comment you heard is a bit off putting in the grand scheme.
Honestly I have no idea what to make of this. I am curious though.

S-Corp:
>[OTTO ALLY] "What do you know about Katherine Beatrix? Apparently a U-Corp Administrator is involving herself in this case too." Might be prudent to know what she can do and any motives she might have.
It’s Otto’s op, let’s get him what he needs.
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] "Have you heard of the Admiral's Game being destroyed? That was me. I think you should realize the better opportunity here compared to the briefcase you're hunting." (MODERATE CHECK. CONNECTIONS DC: 20 (-5 from Benedict and Adam's testimonies), rolling 6d6 by yourself. Succeed and you'll likely make some powerful connections with S-Corp down the line and some more support from the Red Suits.)
I have been waiting so long to establish the legend of Nicole, Liberator of the Seas. This shit will get her to the big leagues.
>"I say let's cut the bullshit and open the cases we have. Neither of you know what's inside, let's just get to it." Try to convince them to open both cases. (HARD CHECK. CHARM DC: 35, rolling 8d6+1d3 with Alexis' help. Pass and you'll get some very important corporate info. Might even has some blackmail on future groups you have to deal with or to handle other threats this mission.)
I say we slap our dick on the table and go big. What’s the worst that can happen?

Free actions:
>[S-CORP LEDGER] "Hey. Stole this from that club owner guy. Does any of this involve the briefcase you're looking for?" Fuck it. What's the worst that can happen? (FREE ACTION. May offer a lot of valuable information. May result in a sequel to this mission. Up to you!)
This is so going to get us killed. But I’m a sucker for cool missions.

Misc actions:
Use 2 bottles of quality whiskey and one AXAXAX pill. That should get the dice in our favor.
>>
>>6056385
>[ANOM ACTIVE] It's clear one of the Gangsters here is a SHIFTer. There's been an odd amount of them throughout here. "What's your goal?" (WILLPOWER CHECK AUTOPASS thanks to Anom. You'll get a glimpse into why there's so many SHIFTers and why they're involving themselves in this briefcase. Might even offer you a glimpse into U-Corp's singularity.)
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] "Long shot but have any of you heard about a Cleaner going missing? We suspect the person behind the failed club ambush may be tied to it."
>[ADAM ALLY] "We have to go to a specific restaurant to deal with a specific client later. Do you know anyone in the staff who can help us? Any secret backdoors? Anyone easily bribed over there?"

>[OTTO ALLY] "What do you know about Katherine Beatrix? Apparently a U-Corp Administrator is involving herself in this case too." Might be prudent to know what she can do and any motives she might have
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] "Have you heard of the Admiral's Game being destroyed? That was me. I think you should realize the better opportunity here compared to the briefcase you're hunting." (MODERATE CHECK. CONNECTIONS DC: 20 (-5 from Benedict and Adam's testimonies), rolling 6d6 by yourself. Succeed and you'll likely make some powerful connections with S-Corp down the line and some more support from the Red Suits.)
>[S-CORP LEDGER] "Hey. Stole this from that club owner guy. Does any of this involve the briefcase you're looking for?" Fuck it. What's the worst that can happen? (FREE ACTION. May offer a lot of valuable information. May result in a sequel to this mission. Up to you!)
>"I say let's cut the bullshit and open the cases we have. Neither of you know what's inside, let's just get to it." Try to convince them to open both cases. (HARD CHECK. CHARM DC: 35, rolling 8d6+1d3 with Alexis' help. Pass and you'll get some very important corporate info. Might even has some blackmail on future groups you have to deal with or to handle other threats this mission.)

>Offer your associates some good booze. To lighten things up. 1 HIGH QUALITY WHISKEY and 3 DUST CONTAIMATED LIQUORS.
>Use some CHARM or CONNECTIONS boosting drug. AXAXAX PILL
This gets us a 90% success chance on both checks
>>
>>6056385
>>6056388
Fuck it
Changing my vote in >>6056393 from that to backing >>6056521
I want to save the 1 HQ WHISKEY so we have 3 remain and not 2. We can just get any cheap booze as a firestarter anywhere else. This way we get rid of the 3 DUST CONTAMINATED LIQUOR too
>>
>>6056419
Change
>>6056521
+1
>>
GANGSTERS
ANOM: ALL
PERSON: ALL
UNSTABLE: INY
ADAM: cWW, yec, p8U
S-CORP
OTTO: ALL
CAPTAIN: ALL
SUITCASE: ALL
S-CORP LEDGER: ALL

AXAXAX PILL + WHISKEY (1 good, 3 dust): ALL

Fuck it, we ball. It seems pretty certain what people want. You know the rules and so do I. Would've closed earlier but I got distracted by something. I need three anons to roll the following
>9d6 (CONNECTIONS. DC: 16. If you fail this, God has it out for you.)
>8d6 (MOST OF CHARM ROLL. DC: 31.)
>1d3 (CAPTAIN COMMAND BOOST for CHARM ROLL)
>>
Rolled 1, 4, 4, 6, 5, 1, 5, 5, 4 = 35 (9d6)

>>6056947
>>
>>6056947
>>6056953
Wait, feh, I had a brain fart. the AXAXAX pill was for CHARM. Not CONNECTIONS
Still waking up, apologies. but even with just the six valid dice, 21 passes easily.

I'll treat the 5, 5, 4 as for the CHARM roll boost from AXAXAX. So the DC needed to beat that is 17.
>>
Rolled 1, 5, 3, 5, 5 = 19 (5d6)

>>6056947
So with the 5 5 4, it means I roll 5d6 and not 8d6. Here goes
>>
>>6056956
I would say it's added ontop of the 8d6 already there but eh, you already passed. Asking for more dice would be bloat, this isn't a threshold check. If you pass, you pass.
Both skill checks pass. Writing. Going to be a big update so it might take a hot moment.
>>
Rolled 3 (1d3)

>>6056947
I will roll captains command just for funsies, see how my luck is for the day.
>>
Rolled 2, 6, 6 = 14 (3d6)

>>6056956
Rolling for the rest because I have nothing better to do.
>>
>>6056956
>>6057004
>>6057081

Total of 50. That’s pretty good!
Too bad it doesn’t mean Jack shit.
>>
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Best to lighten things up with some booze. With some minor telekinesis (compared to the eldritch looking gas creature leaking out of you, this is child's play), you spread around several old bottles of booze you have towards your awaiting guests.
>-1 HIGH QUALITY WHISKEY, -ALL DUST CONTAIMATED LIQUOR

"Here. Sorry for the low quality of most of it but I don't drink on the job. I don't really keep the good stuff, you know?" You only drink socially, really. Nothing against it personally but since you work all the time, being drunk can be an issue real quick.

"Fair." Gangster A pops a cap off of one of the ancient, dusty liquor bottles. "We have had worse. Most of the liquor we drink barely qualifies. Like that shit Thomas makes." He jabs a thumb towards the Orange Eyed Gangster. Thomas, huh?

The S-Corpers take their time sharing the actual high quality whiskey. Frank is obviously annoyed HE isn't getting any. It's probably best to start the convo before he snaps. "So. Thomas, right?" "whatsyourgoal" "It's clear you're different from the others."

The two other Gangsters immediately tense up when they realize you're singling him out. "Hey, fuck off! He's one of us." "What right do you have to judge him, you FUCKING FR-"

[OVERCORRECTION] "W-woah, woah! She's not implying anything bad, guys!" Adam immediately begins to panic. "I-I mean, it's not like you're the only one with a-" His eyes shift back between you, Benedict, and Maruyama. "Well, she didn't mean-" It's clear he's trying his best here.
[DISARMING PRESENCE] "She's just curious." Maruyama politely smiles. "No need to take it the wrong way. We're fine dropping it if need be."

The two Gangsters are clearly still tense and wound up but Thomas brushes his two friends off. The S-Corpers are too busy enjoying their drinks to really pay attention.

"To be remembered. I think that's what we all want at the end of the day." Thomas' voice is low, quiet, and smooth. There's no hesitation in his tone as he begins to explain himself. "I was only ever interested in that bronze haired suitcase because I might be remembered if we got it."

"Remembered?" The Handler can't help but to scoff at what he's hearing. "That's it? Not money? Not power? Not even some corporate prestige."

"My friends might." Thomas takes another swig of dust-ruined liquor. He grimaces as he desperately chokes down the poor quality booze. "I don't care much myself. I think that's why people like me are drawn to it too. We want a legacy."

"Everyone wants a legacy, dipshit. It's just another form of being afraid of death, no?" Frank comments derisively. "Just don't be afraid of dying. There. No legacy needed."

"That's a very simple minded way of viewing it." Thomas doesn't bite at Frank's obvious jab. It's weird to hear a gangster of all people speak so, for a lack of a better word, calm? Collected? "It's not like I'm the only one. U-Corp also wants to be remembered."

That catches the Handler's attention. "Go on?"
>>
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"What's the point of studying, understanding, creation...if no one remembers? Wouldn't it be better if those memories were condensed into something that will remain forevermore?" Thomas shakes his head the moment after he finishes talking about this. "Maybe I'm talking out of my ass."

Everyone aside from Alexis, Maruyama, and the Handler has no idea what he's talking about. "Condensed memories?" "Isn't that similar to a PARADIGM?" "I recall something like that those being mentioned when I was given my briefcase..."

Interesting. Condensed Memories in some form is what their Singularity is or can create. You'll not that for later. Could it be possible SHIFTers are trying to make sure their unique perspectives live on? In a far distant future, you do want your own flesh and blood to carry on your memories. Your legacy.

"Alright." You shift the topic to another point. "Long shot but have any of you heard about a Cleaner going missing? We suspect the person behind the failed club ambush may be tied to it. He's..." You give a rough physical description and name to them.

Gangster C's eyes widen upon hearing that name. "Oh! Yeah. We saw that kid get his ass fucking obliterated by some weird girl with a lot of teeth. He limped away after a struggle but he's around here. I think he's still recovering by some small orange painted motel nearby the club we left."

The Handler lets out a sigh of relief upon hearing this. "Oh thank god. That puts my mind at rest." Well, that's a simple enough question with a simple enough answer. Next question.

Adam leans forward in his chair, finally regaining his nerve after panicking not mere moments ago. "We have to go to a specific restaurant to deal with a specific client later. Do you know anyone amongst the SUNSET AUBRUM staff who can help us? Any secret backdoors? Anyone easily bribed over there?"

Gangster C scratches at his chin as if he's trying really hard to remember how to answer that. Thomas and Gangster A aren't doing much better but eventually, they manage to piece something together.

"We have two waitress friends working there." "Both of them are drug addicts. It's sad to say but it's how it is." "Give them some drugs and the two gals should let you in just fine into the employee only sections. I recommend painkillers."

"Names?" Adam clicks his tongue with obvious annoyance. Or maybe it's concern? It's clear he's not happy either way. <"I suppose I can't be shocked if they live in the same shithole these three do.">
"Tanya." "Talitha." Okay, you got some names. Good. That's all you gotta ask.

Your group turns over to the three S-Corpers. All of them are looking pretty sloshed from the whiskey they've been sharing. It's high quality, powerful stuff after all. That should get you an in.

"What do you know about Katherine Beatrix? Apparently a U-Corp Administrator is involving herself in this case too." The Handler can only hope they're sober enough to still answer questions.
>>
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Red Suit A cocks an eyebrow with obvious intrigue upon hearing that name. "Kathy? Fuck, man, I've heard real nasty rumors about that sick bitch. Real fuckin' nasty. Wh-why the hell is SHE involved?"

"I'd like to ask the same thing. A Corporate Administrator involving herself in such matters, especially with her own Singularity, is quite worrying." You can't quite tell if Alexis' expression is caked in fear or anger. "I rather not mess with them if I can, personally." If Alexis is worried, you can't help but to start worrying as well.

"Mmh mmh mmh!" Red Suit B taps his feet to some bizarre, off key tune. "She's spite incarnate. I heard soo many fuckin' horror stories about the million hostile takeovers and employees she fired. She's probably doin' this just for her own benefit...somehow."
"Not like we're much better! Ha! We were just gonna sell it to D-Corp!" Red Suit A kicks his feet with an ear to ear smile.
"Oh yeah! She has, uh." Red Suit C snaps his fingers a few times. "Some weird new implants on the market. VIE and 闪电战. One makes her regenerate a lot, one makes her stupid fast. Don't fight her if you have to. We ain't going anywhere near here and we got our own implants too!"

Spite? Your whole party doesn't take long to connect the dots on who she would be trying to spite here. In this weird web of corporate parties and offices, a simple motive like that is almost quaint. Something there's nothing else to it.

"wownowonderwhyyoutwobrokeit"
"Thanks, uh, weird horror ball thing." The Handler tries to laugh off the bizarre thing still leaking out of your arm.

"Alright. Enough talk. Let's open the cases we have. Neither of you know what's inside, let's just get to it." You pop a pill in your mouth to steady your nerves. You reach a hand out to grab one of them but you can already feel the dozens of piercing gazes from both the Red Suit S-Corpers and the Gangsters.

"The fuck you mean open them? We said all we had to say to you. You can LEAVE now." Red Suit A is already starting to sober up. "Don't act like you're owed this."
"Yeah. These are still very important bargaining chips. Without it, we got nothing." Gangster C nods along.

You pull your hand back. Hm. You gotta convince them you warrant having access to them. For a moment, a smile completely unfitting of you forces itself onto your face. You're not even sure of the words you're saying.

[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] "I killed the Admiral, you know. I think you should realize the better opportunity here compared to the briefcase you're hunting."

The room is dead quiet now. With the exception of Adam, Benedict and the Handler, all of them are staring at you with a flurry of confusion and obvious disbelief. The S-Corp Suits flatout don't believe you. The Gangsters are trying to dismiss the idea wholesell. Alexis and Maruyama aren't sure if this is a weird joke or you're serious.
>>
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Frank is simply staring at you with a neutral, flat expression. You can't tell a single thing going on in his mind aside from the one thought that slipped out. <"If she's not lying that's hot.">

"I'm sorry, what? Do you have proof-" You interrupt him by slapping down a tattered hunk of the Admiral's overcoat and a dozen pictures worth of the Admiral's ship and his bleeding, 'dead' corpse. At least, as far as killing something living inside your head still counts.

The six of them skim through the evidence in mutual silence. Benedict is the first to speak up as they do so, "I HELPED HER TO KILL HIM. SHE DID NOT DO IT ALONE BUT SHE WAS THE HEAD CHEF OF THAT OPERATION."
"Yeah. We had to some weird chess game in order to hurt him. We would've been dead meat otherwise." Adam tries to laugh at this but you won't deny that yeah, you only hurt him through the chess ritual.

"We had to give him enough cyanide to kill ten men to even wound him." Adam fiddles with his thumbs, not really sure how best to sell the fact this did happen. "Even then, we had to impale and stab him a million times to get him to stop squirming."

"HE IS NOT DEAD. WE ONLY DISABLED HIM FROM REMANIFESTING." How the hell does Benedict kn- Right, anomaly himself. "YET YOU HEARD THE RUMORS OF THE THOUSANDS OF CLEARED UP MILES IN THE INFINITE SEA. NO?"

"I still have the scars to show it. I would show you but, uh, Zeta bodysuit whatever. Covers whole body, hides the scars." You half heartedly shrug.

After they're done reviewing the undeniable evidence in front of them, the two groups can only look between each other and your own group. You feel like what you just did has chased a fundamental shift in how the City views you, ESPECIALLY once the S-Corpers spread that news.

>S-CORP'S BLESSING trait and +5 S-CORP (SOFT POWER) FAVOR obtained!
>You've gotten the attention of a lot of companies over the two plus weeks you've been working but S-Corp now has a VERY keen interest on you. You imagine other corporations will start paying a LOT of attention to you once the rumor spreads further, for better and worse.
>All CONNECTIONS DCs for checks you make are permanently reduced by 3!

They quickly shove the two briefcases over. None of them are willing to fuck with you anymore. You decide to humor them by sliding over your S-Corp Ledger for the two to skim through as your group cracks open the two briefcases.

The Gangster's briefcase is filled to the brim with odd little trinkets. Tattered pieces of a hoodie soaked in blood, a empty pistol with its barrel bent in half, and about a dozen polaroid photos. Your group begins to shift through these to see what's up with them.

Three of them are showing what you already figured out today. Alan (the previous Cleaner) got attacked, had his briefcase stole, before he limps away to a nearby hotel. The same toothy maw girl you keep hearing about was the one who did it.

It's not hard to tell who the hoodie chunk and pistol belong to.
>>
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The next three photos you looked through are more interesting. Three men in bright yellow and orange hazmat suits are cleansing the streets of any sign of the altercation going on. A diminutive woman in a two piece grey business suit is watching them on, ordering them around with a firm look on her face.

It's clear she hasn't been sleeping with how baggy her eyes are and how messy her bronze hair is. Combined with her pasty skin and it's obvious she's seen better days.

"K-Corp, huh? That's not good. That probably means they want the briefcase too" Alexis murmurs. "And that has to be Katherine-"
The Handler is covering his face with his hands in a childish attempt to not look at the photos. "Fuck, god, it's only been two weeks and..." You almost pity him if it wasn't so sad.

The next two photos are more of the same until the photographer has to run away from the scene to avoid getting got. The last four are interesting, though. In another part of this district, right outside of a rather fancy restaurant, an odd man in a silver suit is talking to Katherine.

While you can technically make out his face, it's blurred and smudged. The two are clearly discussing something but the deal goes awry. The Silver Agent dismisses her with a flick of his wrist. The two begin to call in their own troops. Katherine with her K-Corp Squad and the Silver with...a pair of police officers in bright orange uniforms.

That's the last picture in this briefcase but fuck, that's not good. J-Corp is either ignorant or supportive of what the spooks are doing. Though at least you know this is as far as their involvement with this goes, both Silver and J-Corp alike.

Opening up the second briefcase, there's mostly just paperwork in here. Let's see...

"FAUSTIAN BARGAIN IS STARTING UP THE LATEST ROUND OF HIRING TECHNOLOGICAL MASTERS AND ANOMALOUS ARTIFIACT EXPERTS. DOORS WILL BE OPENING AT 10:00 PM AND WILL CLOSE AT 2 AM. ANY TECH DELIVERED IS TREATED AS CONFIDENTAL AND STORED UNTIL FUTURE NOTICE. PRIME SPOT TO DISCARD EXCESS INTEL AND PATENTS WITH NO RISK TO YOURSELF."
"WE NOTICED SIGNALS OF ANOMALOUS ENERGY THROUGHOUT THIS PART OF U-CORP. SUGAR APPLE, FAUSTIAN BARGAN, SUNSET AUBRUM, AND INVENTOR'S LEAGUE CONFERENCE. WE TRIED TO CONTACT U-CORP ABOUT THIS BUT THEY BLACKMAILED US FOR EVEN MENTIONING IT. U-CORP IS EITHER BENEFITING OR OUTRIGHT TRYING TO MANIFEST THESE 'SHIFT'ERS. WE NEED ONE TO GET A PROPER IN WITH U-CORP."
"WE OVERHEARD THE CLEANERS OF U-CORP ORGANIZATION TALKING ABOUT HIDING A BOMB AS A DISTRACTION THROUGHOUT THIS SUBDISTRICT. PRESUMABLY TO DISRUPT ANY TRADE AND TO TAKE IT THEMSELVES. UNKNOWN LOCATION, LIKELY SOMEONE VERY POPULATED."
"L-CORP IS SEETHING LATELY. I THINK THEY HEARD SOME RUMOR ABOUT A U-CORP PATENT LEAK AND THEY WANT IN ON IT. NOW. ASSUME ANYONE ASSOCIATED WITH THEM IS STOCKED TO THE BRIM WITH GOOD LUCK CHARMS. ANYTHING GOOD THAT COULD HAPPEN WILL HAPPEN TO THEM."
>>
Interesting. Everything else in here is about boring patents that hold no interest to anyone. You begin to close the briefcase, ready to hand them back over.

After skimming through everything, you see your ledger being slid back across the table. Fear is evident in the three S-Corp Suits. None of them are willing to stop you from having this for the time being. A note saying "READ THIS ONCE DONE WITH MISSION: ADDED CLARIFICATION AND ADDENUMS" is pasted on the front of the ledger.

The three suits and gangsters are immediately scrambling away from the table. None of them want to fucking be here anymore after they know three people who were involved in killing an X5 came down here.

Before your group can even tell them to stay, they're gone. They don't even bother grabbing their suitcases. You can't say you're too shocked given what you told them. All that's left to do is to think about what you're going to do with all of this info-

The P-CORP ENERGY COUNTER you bought ages ago is going haywire now. The hell?

[ADVANCED INTUTION] We can't stay here any longer. You have about ten minutes before he finds you in here. Move. Now.

What do you do, Nicole? Time's a ticking.
>[OTTO ALLY] "Let's go to that hotel. We don't have to hire the kid again. I just want to make sure he's safe." Go check up on Alan Armstrong. (+RESPECT with the Handler.)
>[ALEXIS ALLY] "I say we head over to the Faustian Bargain building. Katherine will probably try using it to launder the briefcase's contents. We need to have a fail safe in case the restaurant plan goes wrong." Sounds reasonable. Go along with Alexis' plan.
>[MARUYAMA ALLY] "If U-Corp is looking for anomalous people, why not tell U-Corp about the three of us? Surely we can go to that Bargain building and do so?" You do have a unique advantage with three of your six allies being anomalous. Try to get into contact with U-Corp.
>[ADAM + BENEDICT ALLY] You have everything you need to handle Katherine and frankly, you don't need painkillers anyways. Head over to the restaurant
>[FRANK ALLY] "Yeah, no, I'm not letting a fucking bomb interfere in our mission. We need to find it." Explore throughout this part of U-Corp to find it. If nothing else, you rather have it in possession when you deal with Katherine later. (MODERATE CHECK. COGNIZANCE DC: 30 (-5 from ADVANCED INTUTION), rolling 9d6+1d3 with Frank's help. It's obvious what you'll find on a success.)
>[S-CORP BLESSING] You already know what anomaly is in here. Face him. You have the corporate power he desperately wants, no? Maybe you can make a pact with him. (This is risky but it might be worth it.)
>Write in.

Exhaustion does a thing to a man. This isn't because of my writing, I'm doing fine there.
>>
>>6057232
>>[OTTO ALLY] "Let's go to that hotel. We don't have to hire the kid again. I just want to make sure he's safe." Go check up on Alan Armstrong. (+RESPECT with the Handler.)
>>
>>6057223
>obviously annoyed
If we make it alive we're going to the bar anyway
>grimaces
How's that 1 FLESH damage eh? W Corp miners are more used to it than these gangsters any day
>afraid of death
More insight into Frank's character on top of the Handler chat at the strip club
>calm? Collected?
SHIFTER mindset on display

>>6057224
>Condensed Memories
Could it be related to the PARADIGM REFRACTION project? Or something similar but not quite linked?
>painkillers
2 more bottles left, easy

>>6057225
>bizarre, off key tune
Wonder if that's a reference to something?
>sell it to D-Corp
We still have that one rep contact plus 1 D-CORP FAVOR, if they come up
>VIE
Same implant Gregory has had since the movie mission
>Maruyama aren't sure
Come on Maru, you were there when we showed the photos to Kiara. You weren't paying attention because you were distracted by L-District and the upcoming movie, but it happened

>>6057226
>that's hot
He's thinking what I'm thinking
>overcoat
Finally an opportunity to show it off
>corpse
I hope the group photos were in there too. I know we took some with Nicole's team and Captain Abraham there. Adam and Benedict are in that shot
>Zeta bodysuit
Still fucking hot
>attention
When we arrive at the Head Meeting after the base assault for the Ashley concert...
>permanently reduced by 3!
Huge on top of the TARNISHED GOLD NECKLACE feeding us secrets
>barrel bent
The twink might find it funny if we pass it back to him

>>6057230
>K-Corp
We know their singularity from the Admiral, so we have a powerful blackmail ace if they try to fuck with us
>been two weeks
On top of dealing with the bad breakup he got into the glowie business with Nicole. Lots of stress going on in his life
>silver suit
WE FUCKING TOLD YOU, OTTO
This is yet more physical evidence of them existing, as well as colluding with Katherine Beatrix
>J-Corp is either ignorant or supportive
And J-Corp took credit for the Ace Strikers gassing. They KNOW Nicole was the one who did it, but they never told K-Corp... yet. K-Corp and J-Corp had a small war go on for a few days because of that shitshow, remember? If the silver agents force J-Corp's hand to go against us even with 1 J-CORP FAVOR on our end, they spill the information to K-Corp, and K-Corp makes the full connections clear - we might be in a sudden threatened state.
>>6047482 what do you think about the ON HIRE J-CORP OFFICER thing now, in the face of this reveal?
>10:00 PM
>CLOSE AT 2 AM
If timing is right we can go to this post-mission
>TRYING TO MANIFEST
They might like us if they find out about the A-Energy release in District 10
>A BOMB
These Cleaners of U-Corp are going all out, what can we do about this?
>L-CORP
We don't have anything against them nor any favor with them. This'll be tough if we have to face anybody from there

>>6057232
>Fear is evident
I wonder if they made the connection that the Admiral gave us this?
>haywire
I wondered when this would activate
>>
>>6057232
>[OTTO ALLY]
The Armstrong kid will give us more info on that Harverster bitch that assaulted him as well as whatever else he found out since he took this mission. I think once we secure this twink, we need to haul ass to the restaurant and yoink that briefcase back. Once we secure the intelligence, we go straight to Faustian Bargain and complete the job with the Handler.

As for the other options, I still like most of them but we're becoming more pressed for time as things go on. I want to dodge INFORMANT and keep him tantalized; he'll eat up our time to force us to deal with him if we stop to confront him, and we can't have that right now. I'm worried about that bomb, but maybe securing it could get Katherine to stop being such a bitch? Or we can tell her about the bomb and have her prioritize her own corp's District wellbeing over this stupid spite crusade against the Handler. A bomb blowing up and taking many lives and causing a lot of property damage, when an Administrator of the District's corp is right here in the vicinity? That's not a good look. It might heavily discredit her in the eyes of the rest of U-Corp, or it might not.
>>
>>6057232
>Write in.
>[OTTO ALLY] "Let's go to that hotel. We don't have to hire the kid again. I just want to make sure he's safe." Go check up on Alan Armstrong. (+RESPECT with the Handler.)
Alexis, Handler, Maru,
Give "UVX MODEL #221" to use on Alan.
>[FRANK ALLY] "Yeah, no, I'm not letting a fucking bomb interfere in our mission. We need to find it." Explore throughout this part of U-Corp to find it. If nothing else, you rather have it in possession when you deal with Katherine later. (MODERATE CHECK. COGNIZANCE DC: 30 (-5 from ADVANCED INTUTION), rolling 9d6+1d3 with Frank's help. It's obvious what you'll find on a success.)
Nicole, Adam, Benedict, Frank,
Use one XISXIS PILL
>>
>>6057276
But what if she is too spiteful to care about the bomb or her image?
>>6057225
>She's spite incarnate.
>>
>>6057379
Wait can we split up to do both? That'd be better thanks to the earpieces but where do we meet up?
>>
>>6057492
Faustian Bargain building
>>
>>6057500
Not the restaurant?
>>
>>6057501
>We need to have a fail safe in case the restaurant plan goes wrong.
>>
>>6057502
So we're skipping the restaurant entirely to meet Katherine at the Faustian Bargain?
>Katherine will probably try using it to launder the briefcase's contents
>>
>>6057379
+1
We should unload that Chekhov’s Gun before it has a chance to shoot us in the face.
>>
>>6057530
>So we're skipping the restaurant entirely to meet Katherine at the Faustian Bargain?
Get a failsafe in Faustian Bargain, then go to the restaurant.
>>
>>6057232
Fine, changing my vote from >>6057276 to backing >>6057379

>>6057537
>>6057545
>>6057500
I hope you guys are right
>>
So if I'm reading things right, you're splitting the group to handle two things at once, with said two things being OTTO and FRANK.
Fair's fair. You have seven people in your group. I need three anons to roll the following

>5d6 (first half of normal COGNIZANCE dice)
>4d6 (second half)
>1d3 (CAPTAIN'S COMMAND)

Let's see how you handle things.
>>
Rolled 3, 6, 2, 1 = 12 (4d6)

>>6057770
Rolling the 4d6
>>
Rolled 6, 4, 5, 3, 3 = 21 (5d6)

>>
Rolled 1 (1d3)

>>6057770
And here’s the D3
>>
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Hm. Too little time if you stay together, even with Maruyama. But maybe if you spread out again, you'll have enough time to do everything you need to.

You slide over the old jar of UVX #221 you have. You have two doses of a far better version and you can probably always just bother your X-Corp contact for more if you need to. "We're splitting up. I'm taking the chefs and Frank to investigate the bomb. The rest of you, go bother Alan. Use this on him."
>-UVX #221

"Alexis, you know of a back entrance? You probably have to lead us back there. An anomaly is huntin-"

Right on cue, you heard objects being thrown around at the front entrance of the office. Something heavy is scuttling around back there, throwing random objects around as if it's trying to find something. The sounds of glass shattering, wood cracking, and metal being twisted and torn to shreds is enough to tell you that you should NOT be seen by the anomaly.

"yeah i know of one hurry" She gestures at you to follow. The seven of you promptly make a fucking beeline out of the conference room. The only thing you do before leaving is sloppily hiding the briefcases under the conference room's table after you rip up some of the papers with your telekinesis.

Alexis leads you down a clearly not that maintained hallway of the office building given the thick layers of dust and grime on it. Your group passes by storage closet after storage closet before you eventually find the back entrance towards this office. Your group pours out of it, stumbling into the back alley right outside of the building. The only thing out here is a dumpster and a passage back out into U-Corp's streets.

Just in case it was following your trail, Frank and Benedict slowly but surely shove the dumpster to block the door you came out of.

"Okay. We'll meet you back at...the Faustian Bargain? Then we'll go to the restaurant, maybe?" You shrug.

Maruyama gives an approving thumbs up. "We'll keep on contact. Keep that earpiece in so Alexis can call you." He gently pulls on his sheathed katana, slightly unsheathing it. In mere moments him, the Handler, and Alexis are gone. A blink of the eye. Wow, that's surreal to watch when you're not being affected by it.

"populated?thatmeansresturantfaustianorconferenceright?" ANOM murmurs.

"Possibly." Frank is getting used to the bizarre eldritch horror while Adam and Benedict are already long since desensitized to your specific brand of anomalous bullshit. "That's only the targets we KNOW about. It could also mean a very popular strip club or a hotel even."

"WELL. TALKING IS A LUXURY WE DO NOT HAVE, THEN. VISIT EACH LOCATION WE KNOW. EXCISE THE TUMOR THAT WAY." Benedict is finicking with his armblade with twitchy, nervous energy. It's clear he's more than ready to get this job over with."

"I say we start with Faustian. It's our meeting spot so it's best if we make sure that place isn't armed, right?" Adam's proposal gets a flurry of nods from the group. It's a plan then.
>>
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The four of you promptly begin heading their way over to the building. The Handler scribbled down its location on your brochure in between your other walks across the District so that saves you some time in trying to find it.

By the time any doubts on this being the right location could set in, you're standing right outside of the building.

It's hard to miss given the sheer height of the building. It's a tall, twisting white spiral tower that stretches far into the sky above. You can't even see the top from here and for a moment, you wonder if it goes up forever.

A massive crowd of people is swarming around the plaza where the spiral is planted at. This would be an obvious place for a bomb. A lot of collateral damage, hundreds if not more dead...

[ADVANCED INTUTION + ETF TRAINING] "This isn't-" "-The place." It doesn't make sense though. This place is where dozens on highly confidential patents and high profile inventions are handled. It's probably armed to the teeth with security and surveillance.

Even if they could sneak one in, their faces would've been spotted and they would've been killed long before they could get the patents to anyone. You imagine they would be high on a corpo's shitlist for bombing a corpo building like this.

You also quickly begin to notice that the reason there's a massive crowd outside is that there's almost a small army's worth of guards and other security members waiting outside, not letting a single person in until it's opening time. This place is locked up tighter than a virgin O-Corp girl's cooch.

"Got any other ideas?" You turn your attention back to your allies.

"Hm. Restaurant, maybe? If they knew about Katherine heading over there, eliminating her?" Adam offers his own proposal while the four of you stand here. "Kill her, get the briefcase, everyone's too busy figuring out what's going on to do anything?"

"ISSUE. THAT IMPLIES 1.) THEY KNOW THAT'S WHERE SHE'S EATING AT, 2.) WHEN EXACTLY SHE USUALLY EATS THERE AND 3.) THEY KNOW WHERE TO PUT THE BOMB SO THEY DON'T DESTROY THE BRIEFCASE. THAT IMPLIES THEY KNOW WHERE SHE'LL SIT. TOO MANY VARIABLES."

"...Wait, hold on, hand me that brochure." Frank holds his hand out. You do so, wondering why exactly he's interested in it. He skims through the various locations written on it and the small map of the subdistrict. He then smacks his finger onto one specific location: The Inventor's Conference.

"Look here."

Your group crowds around the map he's pointing at. Huh. The Conference's area is only a few hundred feet away from the spiral tower you're standing in front of. If you had a car or some other transport, you could probably drive over here in about 10 minutes tops.

"They want a distraction and they want to steal tech, no? Wouldn't they bomb something nearby to distract the people in here," He jabs his thumb towards the spiral behind you. "It's a distraction. This is their main target. It's also where we want to deposit our own briefcase, no?"
>>
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>34!

"Wait. What time is it?" Something clicks for Adam.

You dig into your pocket to check your phone. 7:15 PM.

"This place isn't going to be open for a while. So it's very possible they're still planting it as we speak, right? Have we seen anyone suspicious out here?"

"YOU NEED TIME TO COOK A PROPER DISH. AND FOR A PROPER DISH, YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT INGREDIENTS WE'RE WORKING WITH. THEY'RE STAKING OUT TOO, NO?"

[ADVANCED INTUTION] Right as he said that, you notice a small group of workers in dull grey work uniforms chattering far away from the rest of the crowd. They're about as far away from the building as your group is, which is to say a sizable berth. It's clear neither of you care about going to the building itself.

One of them is even holding a briefcase. A very bulky briefcase.

[EFT TRAINING] "Grey man theory. They're trying to be as generic as possible. I barely even noticed them if it wasn't for...fuck. Those have to be them."

Bingo. Right as they're leaving, your group begins to follow after them. Your group keeps a wide enough berth to make sure they don't realize you're directly following them. The Faustian Bargain disappears behind you, replaced instead of winding alleyways and cramped streets that clearly haven't been used in months if not longer. The seven of you eventually all meet up at the same location: Right at the edge of the Inventor's Conference.

Despite the name, the Inventor's Conference is more like a festival than anything. Shoddily put together tents and booths are scattered all across a mostly barren plot of concrete. Each booth has their own inventor trying their best to shill some bizarre invention to some corpos in suits. About a hundred or so people are milling around between the booths in an attempt to find something interesting.

The three Cleaners are not worried about them. At the far edge of the plot of land you're on, they're hiding behind a booth that's long since been abandoned. Presumably whoever was supposed to show their inventor here got killed or cancelled it, doesn't matter much.

The four of you (plus Anom) are hiding behind an equally old pair of outhouses that were planted at the side of the plot. It reeks but you're not going to complain about it too much.

"That Katherine chick is supposed to be around here somewhere. You think she's going to scram when she hears this go off?"
"I'd hope so. She's a U-Corper. She'd probably want to cover this up. We'll take whatever she has in the chaos."
"Shh. Retards. Don't talk too much, someone might be overhearing us."

You quickly use SIGHTJACK to see what they're doing.

One of them is opening up the briefcase. Inside is a serious of incredible complex components and wiring that you can't begin to make heads or tails off but a timer reading "20:00" and quickly counting down tells you all you need to know.

Adam is probably able to disarm it but you need to deal with the Cleaners before you can do so. What shall you do, Nicole?
>>
>[FRANK ALLY] Frank's already loading his shotgun. You can tell what he wants to do. Let him engage in hyperviolence. (+0.5 FRANK RAPPORT, VERY EASY VIOLENCE DC: 24, rolling Frank's 7d7 only. Succeed and, well, what else does a man with a shotgun do? You'll probably raise a lot of attention due to the gunshots so you doubt you'll have any time to do more than to disable the bomb before scraming.)
>[ANOM ACTIVE] Use PUPPETEER to possess one of the three Cleaners. Let him rip his other allies to shreds. (-1 RESTRAINT, MODERATE WILLPOWER DC: 34, rolling 10d6 by yourself. Succeed and you'll leave only one heavily injured survivor to interrogate and boss around. He should even give you some tips on how to build bombs like the one they made in exchange for his life.)
>[ADAM ALLY] "I need someone to distract them. Nicole, drag the briefcase over. I'll disarm it then we run." Try to sneakily slide the suitcase over to you telepathically before making a break for it. (MEDIUM TALENT DC 29, rolling 8d6+1d3 with Adam's help. Succeed and in addition to disarming the bomb, you'll get to keep it to later use. May help you bargain with Katherine.)
>[BENEDICT ALLY] "WE JUST NEED TO DESTROY IT. I CAN DO SO. WATCH." Benedict leaps out of cover. Let him handle it. (CHALLENGING VIOLENCE DC: 41, rolling Benedict's 11d6 only. Succeed and the sheer anomalous might of the chef will scare the Cleaners shitless. All three of them will offer their services to help your group in exchange for their lives.)
>[UNSTABLE] FLASHBANG AND TASE THEM. DISABLE THE BOMB WHILE THEY'RE KNOCKED OUT. RUN. (-FLASHBANG, -1 TASER. This one two combo should be enough to leave them impotent long enough to deal with the bomb. You won't really gain anything extra, however.)
>[ECM JAMMER + PULSATING GEAR] Disable the bomb through some old tech and artifacts you have. Alert the authorities while they figure out how to fix the bomb. (+1 U-CORP FAVOR, -ECM JAMMER. With Adam's presence, AUTOPASS. The bomb will be disabled long enough for U-Corp authorities to handle the three. This will probably take the most time out of any option, however. Time that you may not have a lot of.)
>Write in.
>>
>>6058045
>NOT be seen
Seems INFORMANT is pissed he doesn't have enough new info
>hiding the briefcases
It's still enough for INFORMANT to calm down once he finds them
>surreal
Maruyama has come a long way since the movie mission
>getting used
He still hasn't seen the realest shit yet

>>6058046
>IMPLIES
This might be one of Benedict's best lines yet even if minor

>>6058078
>Grey man theory
I'm very very happy we have Frank with us on a mission after all this time
>>
>>6058080
>[ADAM ALLY] "I need someone to distract them. Nicole, drag the briefcase over. I'll disarm it then we run." Try to sneakily slide the suitcase over to you telepathically before making a break for it. (MEDIUM TALENT DC 29, rolling 8d6+1d3 with Adam's help. Succeed and in addition to disarming the bomb, you'll get to keep it to later use. May help you bargain with Katherine.)
I am very tempted to kill them all or turn them to U-corp authorities for planting a bomb to potentially kill and injure a lot of innocents and bystanders, to causing a distraction. But we need the bomb to bargain with Katherine.
>>
>>6058174
What if we keep the bomb to use on the base assault?
>>
>>6058184
Do we have to give the bomb to Katherine?
>>
>>6058197
Good question. It says "help you bargain with Katherine". Could it be blackmail material? Or us giving her the bomb in exchange for her fucking off from the Handler?
>>
>>6058080
>>[ADAM ALLY] "I need someone to distract them. Nicole, drag the briefcase over. I'll disarm it then we run." Try to sneakily slide the suitcase over to you telepathically before making a break for it. (MEDIUM TALENT DC 29, rolling 8d6+1d3 with Adam's help. Succeed and in addition to disarming the bomb, you'll get to keep it to later use. May help you bargain with Katherine.)
>>
>>6058080
Eh ok
>[ADAM ALLY]
>>
>>6058174
Add
>use DIGITAL CAMERA get a few photos of their standing near the bomb and faces.
>>
>>6058080
>>[ANOM ACTIVE] Use PUPPETEER to possess one of the three Cleaners. Let him rip his other allies to shreds. (-1 RESTRAINT, MODERATE WILLPOWER DC: 34, rolling 10d6 by yourself. Succeed and you'll leave only one heavily injured survivor to interrogate and boss around. He should even give you some tips on how to build bombs like the one they made in exchange for his life.)
>>
>>6058080
>[ADAM ALLY] "I need someone to distract them. Nicole, drag the briefcase over. I'll disarm it then we run." Try to sneakily slide the suitcase over to you telepathically before making a break for it. (MEDIUM TALENT DC 29, rolling 8d6+1d3 with Adam's help. Succeed and in addition to disarming the bomb, you'll get to keep it to later use. May help you bargain with Katherine.)

You can always find a use for a big bomb.
>>
>>6058280
+1 this too if possible
>>
ADAM: 5sQ, rjD, 00b, xAm
ANOM: Iza

Meant to close earlier but oh well, here we are.

I need two anons to roll the following
>8d6 (TALENT)
>1d3 (CAPTAIN)
You may reroll your 8d6 roll once, at the cost of consuming a charge on your Harvester Necklace (You had this item for a while but you haven't needed to use it due to using other items pretty efficiently)
>>
Rolled 1, 6, 6, 6, 5, 5, 6, 6 = 41 (8d6)

>>6058825
>>
Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>6058825
>>6058829
Clutch roll
>>
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Just to be safe, you take a few pictures of them nearby the bomb. Maybe that'll buy you something later.
>+4 U-CORP CLEANER BOMB PHOTOS

"Okay. I need one of you to distract them. Now which one here would be the most obviously distracting- Okay yeah Benedict it's your turn."

"BUH?"

"Look. I need to stay here to pull it over with my telekinesis, Adam needs time to disarm it, Frank is frankly (heh) too...outwardly tactical and armed to NOT cause a fight? So you're the only option."

"Fuck you." Frank is about ready to pull out his knife but he sees the logic in your words. "Feh. Chef boy, do your thing."

"I." Benedict obviously looks uncomfortable at the idea and really, you can't blame him, you're dealing with a bomb of all things. Yet with a small pat on the shoulder from Adam is enough to get this man moving. "OKAY. I'LL BE BACK." Benedict steps out from behind the outhouses your group is hiding behind.

He shambles over to the three Cleaners with deliberately slow, loud and clunky movements. This is more than enough to snap their attention over to him. They seem to panic for a moment but they don't pull out any weapons nor do they attempt to attack.

"The hell are you doing here?"
"Yeah, kid, we're a bit busy."
"Shoo. We're, uh, jerking off."
"THAT'S THE FUCKING EXCUSE YOU PICKED???"
"LOOK MAN-" They quickly begin to bicker and argue as Benedict simply stands there. There's not a single thought in that robotic chef's head.

"JERKING? LIKE, WHAT, BEEF JERKY? HUH?" The anomalous chef can't even begin to understand what they're on about. "WELL. CAN I JOIN THEN?"

What.

You have to hold yourself back from busting a gut upon seeing the three Cleaners immediately breaking into laughing fits at Benedict's offer. With delicate, smooth hand gestures, you begin to levitate the briefcase over to your group. You can only hop Benedict can keep it up.

"What are you, a fucking retard?" "C'mon. Don't bully him too much. He's clearly not all there."

"PERHAPS." Benedict snaps his neck at an awkward, bent right angle that a human neck should not be able to bend at. "ARE YOU TOO AFRAID OF THE QUALITY OF YOUR MEAT? PERHAPS IT IS WEATHERED AND SHRUNKENED? I DOUBT ANYONE WOULD LIKE IT TOO MUCH."

The (probably unintentional) jab at their 'meat' quickly enrages one of the Cleaners. "Hey! At least I have a dick unlike you, you fucking android!" The briefcase is about half way over to your outhouse now. C'mon, Benedict.

"PERHAPS." Benedict snaps his neck into an equally awkward left angle. He takes a moment to clear his throat. "I aM no robot. I'm more man than you could ever be, you fucking worthless pile of meat and sinew."

"Uh." One of the Cleaners raises his hand in mock surrender. "Woah. No need to get all aggressive. You're the one who was bothering us."
"This guy is weirding me out. That's not like any cybernetic I've seen." Another one begins to pick up on the unnatural nature of the person bothering them.
>>
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It's just enough for you to slide the briefcase over to the outhouse you're hiding behind. Adam scrambles to pull out his tools to start pecking away at the bomb. Going good so far.

The actual bomb is pretty simple looking even if you're completely illiterate when it comes to, well, how they work. You throw bombs, you don't make them. There's about five colored wires, a timer that now reads "15:28", and two large black cylinders made out of some kind of weird metal.

[LICENSED MECHANIC + ETF TRAINING] Adam and Frank silently work together in an attempt to defuse the bomb. While Adam is the one actually doing the cutting and finicking, Frank uses his intuition to help him avoid any traps or failsafes installed.

>43!

The two disarm it insanely fast. Way faster than you expected them to. The timer barely managed to reach "14:30". "How the hell?" You whisper to the two of them.

Adam begins to put the bomb back together in an attempt to 'reset' it so you can use it later by installing new wires and fiddling with the timer. "It was super shoddy. I think this thing had a 30% chance of being a dud."
"Yeah. A lot of the material were low quality. It's clearly not a fake, that's definitely C4 in those cylinders, but none of the failsafes were even functional." Frank adds on with his own knowledge. Huh. Good thing you brought these two.

Soon, Adam resets the bomb. Looking inside, a lot of the admittedly shoddy craftwork has been tweaked and altered to be a lot more impressive than it was mere moments ago. Wires are replaced with new ones, seals are welded shut to make sure nothing leaks out, it's impressive work.

There's no way this thing is a dud if it goes off. The timer is now set at "20:00" again, ready to be used again.
>SUITCASE BOMB ACQUIRED! (TA very potent explosive. Deals 15 extra FLESH damage to everything inside an average sized room. Can destroy basically anything non-anomalous.)

You turn your attention back to Benedict. The three Cleaners are slowly backing away from him as he raises up his armblade. It's clear that he's about ready to do something everyone will regret.

[UNSTABLE PSYCHE] "You're nothing but rotten, foul meat. You deserve to be pulverized into mince meat. I'll drink your blood and use your spleen as a pie filling." His mouth is twisted into a snarl. Blood is dribbling down from his face from how hard he's biting his lips. "I'll make PERFECTION WITH YOU."
[ANOM ACTIVE] His body is shimmering with a perfected, sparkling white light. Something is changing inside of him.

"H-Hey, hey, calm down!"
"I-I think this thing is an anomaly!"
"S-shit- Wait, WHERE'S THE BRIEFCASE!"

"BENEDICT, WE'LL GET YOU SOME INGREDIENTS ELSEWHERE! MOVE!!!" Adam yells to try getting Benedict's attention.

This is enough to snap Benedict out of his trance-like state. He fucking books it. The rest of you join him not long after. The Cleaners try their best to chase after you but the four of you are far too fast for them to keep up with.
>>
Their pitiful cries and screams for you to come back are the last thing you hear from them as your group disappears into the District proper.

Your group doesn't stop running until you're stumbling about a solid three hundred feet away from the Faustian Bargain building. You immediately scramble to check your phone after you realize your group is safe.

7:45 PM. That was quick. Good. "Hey, what time did we deal with that fuckin' Club Owner again? He said six hours but I sorta lost track of time."

"It was about 5:30? We spent a while cleaning up his body and talking with the S-Corpers and Gangsters." Adam chimes in. So, 11 PM is when she'll arrive, right or take. So she'll probably be over here at the Faustian Bargain at 12 AM once she's done with her dinner.

With Maruyama's new power, you should be able to squeeze an extra 30 minutes from the time you saved traveling around the District. That should hopefully be enough

Your earpiece crackles to life. Alexis speaks loud and clear through it. "We're done with Alan. He's in stable condition thanks to the medicine you gave us. While he doesn't want to do any more work, he wants to say that he's paying us back for what you gave him."

"That's vague and ominous. Do you know what?"

"No clue but it probably involves wherever we met Katherine at. We'll be there shortly." The line goes cold after that. While you wait, you glance back over at Benedict and Adam.

Adam is busy forcefeeding his friend the last dose of VIRITOXAP and a SUGAR PILL to keep him stable for the upcoming 'meeting' you have. You have to deal with Katherine sooner than later and a lot of your loose ends this mission have been tied. All you gotta do is wait.
>-VIRITOXAP, -SUGAR PILL. BENEDICT WILL NOW BE A LOT MORE STABLE FOR THE UPCOMING SEGMENT

In about 10 minutes, your other allies immediately appear by your side. Maruyama looks a bit exhausted all things considered but otherwise, your allies seem pretty stable. Alexis has the same neutral, professional look she always does while the Handler can't help but to smile like an idiot.

Now. You don't have too much time to dick around. With waiting for your other allies to rejoin and the time needed to go anywhere, you have less than three hours left.

Where do you want to go or wait at? There's not much left to do. You have a briefcase and photos to get onto the good side of the Faustian Bargain staff and Katherine. You already know who your target is. What do?
>RESTAURANT. You have intel on how to get in, it'll let Benedict and Adam shine, and you'll get a chance to deal with Katherine privately.
>FAUSTIAN BARGAIN. She might expect someone to intercept her at the Restaurant, you have a failsafe with the suitcase bomb and photos, and it'll give your group time to prepare and think of a plan.
>[ANOM ACTIVE] The sound of bug legs skittering around nearby catches your attention. Best to deal with this pest waiting at the FAUSTIAN BUILDING with you.
>>
Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>6058941
I'm rolling for my vote. I'm fine with all 3 outcomes and I'd rather somebody else decide which is the option we'd want here. Solid mission performance all around well within the timeframe, this was a good one.
1 = RESTAURANT
2 = FAUSTIAN
3 = INFORMANT
>>
>>6058941
>[ANOM ACTIVE] The sound of bug legs skittering around nearby catches your attention. Best to deal with this pest waiting at the FAUSTIAN BUILDING with you.
We need to deal with him now, he will become a future nuisance or threat if we don’t deal with him now.
>>
>>6058941
>[ANOM ACTIVE] The sound of bug legs skittering around nearby catches your attention. Best to deal with this pest waiting at the FAUSTIAN BUILDING with you.
>>
>>6059007
>>6059150
If he accuses Nicole of avoiding him and tries to be a bother or hostile, do we confirm it boldly, or do we use the bomb news as an excuse with the real disarmed bomb as evidence?
>>
>>6058941
>>RESTAURANT. You have intel on how to get in, it'll let Benedict and Adam shine, and you'll get a chance to deal with Katherine privately.
>>
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Skitter, skitter.
Skitter, skitter.
Skitter, skitter.

That fucking noise.

How long has this thing been following you? Has it done it since you left the facility? The moment you stepped into U-Corp? Did it find the briefcases? Is it calm enough to a rational discussion with?

"friends.wearebeingwatched.prepareforencounter." ANOM whispers out with a flurry of fractured, wispy voices. "maruyama,alexis,youarebestequippedforit."

"Huh?" Alexis narrows his eyes at the tiny eldritch smoke horror leaking out of you. "M-mind being a bit clearer, Anom? What's going on?"

"anomaly."

That singular word puts everyone on your party on edge. The Handler's gaze darts around through the busy streets filled to the brim with people. Frank already has his sidearm drawn, ready for a confrontation. Adam clears his throat to get everyone's attention.

"If an anomaly is following us, I don't want a single citizen to get hurt if we confront it. We need to move somewhere more private. I say we start heading to the restaurant. It should be less populated if it intercepts up."

[EVERYTHING'S A NAIL] "No. I'm not going to let us run like FUCKING COWARDS! WE'RE KILLING THIS THING! RIGHT HERE AND NOW!" Frank violently jabs his index finger into Adam's chest. Adam immediately shoves the ETF agent away.

"Are you fucking retarded? You're going to draw too much attention to us!" Adam clenches his teeth. Sweat oozes down his face as he tries to be rational with the ETF agent. "We need to ambush it at the bare minimum."
[DISARMING PRESENCE] "...Besides, it's more intimate when it's only us and the anomaly, no?" Maruyama warmly smiles at the bickering pair. "We're not cowards. We're, uh, doing a strategical withdrawal Frank."

Frank scoffs but for now, he's willing to concede the point. "Fine. Let's get moving before it attacks us."

"Thank you."
"Fuck you." The positivity is not reciprocated at all but Maruyama clearly isn't letting it get to him for now.

With that situated, the seven of you promptly make a break for it. There's no point trying to be sneaky when you know COLD BLOODED INFORMANT has your scent.

Skitter. Skitter.
Skitter. Skitter.

The crowds of people wandering through the streets yell and shout out as your group keeps pushing past them. You don't have any time to slow down. Every bit of distance you make, the anomaly immediately catches up. You quickly SIGHTJACK a nearby member of the crowd to see him without turning your head around.

He's gotten a tiny bit bigger since you last saw him but he's otherwise the same as last time. A giant, fatty royal blue centipede with a bright white jacket. A mask of a fatty man is draped loosely over his head. Four briefcases are tied to his chitinous back with belts.

The crowd is beginning to notice the anomaly passing by them. It's only in quick, blurry glimpses so you have to keep sightjacking to get a clear sight of him but they are beginning to pick up on it. And they're starting to panic.
>>
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Luckily for everyone involved, you manage to lure it somewhere far, FAR away from them. By the time your group eventually grows exhausted of running, your group stumbles to a halt in a mostly abandoned part of the subdistrict.

Well, maybe not abandoned. The road your group is now standing in is clearly undergoing construction. Massive hunks of the road are filled with still wet concrete. Piles on piles of barricades and signs are scattered around to deter any non-construction working from entering.

Piles of bricks, cement bags, and construction tools are littered loosely around the construction site.

A cement mixer lays dormant along the sidewalk while a road roller is packed on one of the far end of the half finished road. None of the crew are here. Maybe it's because it's late? You don't really have time to ask.

Your group eventually turns around to see what's been following them. While you managed to get a good look at him before, the rest of your group is (understandably) shocked to see the giant fucking centipede that's been chasing them.

"Yoouuuu run good. But not gooooood enough." COLD BLOODED INFORMANT scans his gaze across your group before immediately snapping his attention back to you. Your whole body shivers as he stares down upon you. "So many new bugs ssssquirming with you, huhhhhh? That's finnneeeee. You Ameri-" He interrupts himself.

"Hmm, no, most of you from former comrades. Italians, a Russian...even a fellow Japanese man." Half of those barely ring a bell in your head. "I missed that crazyyyyy German lass but...this is interesting." Wendy?

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Old world countries that have LONG since fallen. It's been over 200 years since any of them properly existed. Probably closer to 220 years.

"Still. You're only bugs. Standing in the way of my briefcas-"

"No! I'm not going to take that FROM FUCKING YOU!" Everyone's shocked to see Adam standing up to screech at the bug. He immediately closes the distance between you and the centipede to slam his fist into the bug. It barely does jack or shit to the bug but it's enough to shock him. "I'M NOT LISTENING TO A SINGLE COPING, PROJECTING FILLED WORD OUT OF YOUR GOD DAMN MOUTH!"

"WE'RE BUGS, HUH? FUCKING LOOK AT YOU! YOU'RE THE ONE HARRASSING US! YOU'RE THE ONE SKITTERING AROUND ALL OVER THE PLACE!" Words laced with pent up emotions are leaking out of Adam's mouth like a leaky faucet. "I KNOW YOUR FUCKING KIND. YOU DON'T GET TO FORCE YOUR DOGSHIT PERSPECTIVE ON US. THIS MELODRAMATIC, HAUGHTY NONSENSE! TELL US WHAT YOU WANT. FLATLY. NOW."

<"I've spent WEEKS trying to get him out of a shitty perspective, I'm not letting anyone else force a perspective onto the people I care about!"> Even Adam's mind is racing like crazy now. Seems like this really got under his skin.

The construction site you're standing in is dead quiet now aside from Adam's deep, shaking breathes.

"I. I apologize." The slightly more cognizant Benedict murmurs out. "On his behalf."
>>
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"Fucking hell, I didn't know he had the balls." Frank snorts. "Good for you."
The rest are too stunlocked to say anything, including COLD BLOODED INFORMANT himself.

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] He shifts uncomfortably where he's standing at. It's clear that simple rejection was enough to burrow under his chitin.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Anomalies are physical manifestations of perspectives. Refuting them messes them up severely.
[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] But he has something else to focus on. Something your group wants as well.

The Handler is the first one to actually break the awkward silence that built up. "Your suitcase? That's mine. It is my property."

This is enough to snap the anomaly out as well, though his chitin is now duller in color and his posture is a lot more sloppy than before. "Feh. Where is it, then? Whereeeee is your 'propertyyyy', American Pigdog?" COLD BLOODED INFORMANT leers its head down to stare down at the Handler. "I care nottt for you personallyyyy. You're simply myyyy in to kill the pigdog standing in the way of it."

"Wait." You finally snap out of the comfortable silent haze you found yourself in. "You want to kill Katherine?"
The Handler can't decide whether to be offended, thankful, or confused by what he just heard the anomaly say. So he simply tilts his head at the anomaly. "Huh?"

"It's simple. That briefcase holds everything I want. That I neeeedddd. So, lead me to her. So I can kill her and take it. I'll takeeee it from here."

"You do realize we can't do that, right?" Maruyama tries to laugh off what the anomaly is saying. "We're here to recover it for our boss here. We're not going to sit back and let you do that."

The anomaly tries to say something but it's clear that Adam's outburst has made a mess of his mental state. He takes a moment to recover his thoughts. "I need it." You're not even sure if he understands why he wants it himself. "Without it, all I'll be is just like everything else in this squirmingggg, wiggling City. It is my in. My in. My in."

"wouldyoubeopentonegotiationssir?" ANOM coos out. It's beginning to flicker in and out of existence but you probably got a solid bit until it vanishes.
Alexis snaps her fingers, using this moment as a springboard. "I think we could get a beneficial deal that could benefit us all if you're willing to discuss. I do have some in with some corporations."

[CORPORATE INSIDER + CORPORATE ELITE] Alexis scrounges through her briefcase to pull out a bunch of old corporate pins and that one radio you saw her carry during the Mining Mission. She holds both of them out to the anomaly to look down at.

The radio crackles to life. "KATHERINE, HUH?" The Man on the Radio crackles to life. "I know her. She's an underling of one of my underlings. I would listen to my associate." Then the radio goes silent.

This is more than enough to catch the anomaly's attention. "Hmmm. You have my attention. What do you propose, then?" If nothing else, he's distracted enough to lower his guard.
>>
How do you want to handle COLD BLOODED INFORMANT?
>[UNSTABLE + ANOM ACTIVE] You have enough psychic power to do this. Focus your telekinesis through your antlers. Throw a ROAD ROLLER at him. Steal his shit after. (-1 RESTRAINT, AUTOPASSES due to sheer overwhelming WILLPOWER+VIOLENCE. You'll incapicate the anomaly for the forseeable future this mission and you'll get to steal all of his briefcases for valuable loot/info! Win win!)
>[ALEXIS ALLY] "Look. I think it would be better if you simply worked with us to get it without trying to claim it for yourself. I could offer you some connections..." Try to win over the anomaly through CORPORATE POWER. (EASY CONNECTIONS DC: 40 (-3 from S-CORP BLESSING), rolling 13d6 by assisting Alexis. Succeed and you'll win the anomaly over, gaining a temporary ally when dealing with Katherine.)
>[MARUYAMA ALLY] "Perhaps we are bugs. I won't deny that. That's simply how it is, isn't it, in this world?" Let Maruyama try to empathize with the anomaly. (HARD WILLPOWER DC 18, rolling Maruyama's 4d6 only. Succeed and Maruyama will get a BOON from the anomaly alongside some very secretive information. Could be very useful down the line.)
>[ADAM + BENEDICT ALLY] It's clear Adam can get through to the anomaly. Let him and Benedict try to shake out some kind of arrangement. (+OPTIONAL OBJECTIVE for $1500 and some corporate favors. RESTRAINT DC: 30/35/40, rolling 11d6. For each threshold beaten, the objective will be more and more forgiving.)
>[FRANK ALLY] "Here's why we were 'squirming', faggot." Let him take the SUITCASE BOMB from your inventory to do some 'enhanced negotiations'. (MEDIUM VIOLENCE DC: 22, rolling Frank's 6d7. Succeed and the anomaly will quickly realize the shit you're getting into. He'll be scared off, leaving behind his briefcases to let YOU handle it.)
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] Let me handle this, Nicole. I need some fresh air anyways. (???. You imagine you'll get something valuable if you get this but you're not such what'll happen if you let the Admiral take control.)
>[OTTO ALLY] "I don't want Katherine killed but I do want to offer you a deal. If you help me out, I'll give you some of the contents of the briefcase later. Deal?" It is his briefcase. Let him negotiate. (CHALLENGING CHARM DC 40, rolling the Handler's 8d8 only. Succeed and you'll get one of the briefcases he has, a special anomalous item, and the bug as a temporary ally.)
>"Fuck off. Give me those briefcases." Bribe him. Get him to leave. (-$777 and one HIGH CLASS JEWELRY. This bribery should be enough to get the anomaly to give you two of his briefcases and some CORPORATE FAVORS. Very valuable for later or for dealing with other corpos.)
>Write in. (Give an ally a drug? Try to do something else with the anomaly? Something else?)
>>
>>6059842
>[UNSTABLE + ANOM ACTIVE] You have enough psychic power to do this. Focus your telekinesis through your antlers. Throw a ROAD ROLLER at him. Steal his shit after. (-1 RESTRAINT, AUTOPASSES due to sheer overwhelming WILLPOWER+VIOLENCE. You'll incapicate the anomaly for the forseeable future this mission and you'll get to steal all of his briefcases for valuable loot/info! Win win!)
WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
Sorry, the meme does not allow me to choose anything else
>>
>>6059864
Fuck it, +1
>>
>>6059842
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] Let me handle this, Nicole. I need some fresh air anyways. (???. You imagine you'll get something valuable if you get this but you're not such what'll happen if you let the Admiral take control.)
>>
>>6059842
>[UNSTABLE + ANOM ACTIVE] You have enough psychic power to do this. Focus your telekinesis through your antlers. Throw a ROAD ROLLER at him. Steal his shit after. (-1 RESTRAINT, AUTOPASSES due to sheer overwhelming WILLPOWER+VIOLENCE. You'll incapicate the anomaly for the forseeable future this mission and you'll get to steal all of his briefcases for valuable loot/info! Win win!)

Fucking kill it. Squish it like the bug it is.

Write-in:
>”Tell the Admiral I said hello.”
>>
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>>6059842
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] Let me handle this, Nicole. I need some fresh air anyways. (???. You imagine you'll get something valuable if you get this but you're not such what'll happen if you let the Admiral take control.)

Is this the best idea? No. Is it even a good idea? No. But it will be fun.
>>
>>6059842
>>[UNSTABLE + ANOM ACTIVE] You have enough psychic power to do this. Focus your telekinesis through your antlers. Throw a ROAD ROLLER at him. Steal his shit after. (-1 RESTRAINT, AUTOPASSES due to sheer overwhelming WILLPOWER+VIOLENCE. You'll incapicate the anomaly for the forseeable future this mission and you'll get to steal all of his briefcases for valuable loot/info! Win win!)
>>
>>6059842
>>[UNSTABLE + ANOM ACTIVE] You have enough psychic power to do this. Focus your telekinesis through your antlers. Throw a ROAD ROLLER at him. Steal his shit after. (-1 RESTRAINT, AUTOPASSES due to sheer overwhelming WILLPOWER+VIOLENCE. You'll incapacitate the anomaly for the foreseeable future this mission and you'll get to steal all of his briefcases for valuable loot/info! Win win!)
Flatten this bug
>>
>>6059842
I voted >>6059868 earlier today
As much as I feel for INFORMANT and all, this was bound to happen to him one day. We can't redeem or resolve every anomaly. We're no coffee-addicted Admin of P-Corp in a facility with a HELP WANTED! sign posted outside. Nicole's a girl getting by in the City and she has more freedom to pick the asshole options.
>>
>>6059842
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] Let me handle this, Nicole. I need some fresh air anyways. (???. You imagine you'll get something valuable if you get this but you're not such what'll happen if you let the Admiral take control.)

I love ???.
>>
ROAD ROLLAR: cWW, PQT, 8pw, Lm8, rjD
CAPTIAN'S COMMAND: /wb, IZa, Gn3

I did not expect hyperviolence to win but hey, we'll go with it. I will have to ask you to roll something.

I need one anon to roll
>6d6 (FLESH, DC 17.)
You are trying to move, at minimum, 2 tons of metal with your mind. Probably more like 3-4 tons. And then throwing it. You still have the ability to do it with FOCUS but yeah, it's going to exhaust you.
>>
Rolled 5, 3, 3, 4, 6, 6 = 27 (6d6)

>>6060601
>>
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>>6060608
Okay wow Jesus christ you really do want him dead.
Writing.
>>
Do we need to be hostile to him instead of negotiating with him?
>>
>>6060613
We negotiated with him already. We got him out of the facility scot-free. Then he comes and continues to bug Nicole for corpo handouts. Fuck that. I just wanted to go for it for the ROADA ROLLA DA meme as >>6059864 said. I don't think this'll kill him but it'll teach him to not see Nicole as beneath him anymore from here on out.
>>
>>6060613
Well five out of eight voters voted for violence so you're going with violence.
I never really force options unless there's literally no way for you to do said thing or Nicole would flatout just not do it (i.e giving up and letting the spook blackbag her for no reason, immediately murderboning her allies for no reason, or killing herself)
There's never a 'need' to do something. I just go with what the players vote as long as it's not pants-on-head retarded.
>>
>>6060618
>pants-on-head retarded

I now need a picture of Nicole with a pair of shorts on her head looking like a jester's cap because she had reason to think it would keep the glowniggers from reading her thoughts.

It probably does. The anomaly she got them from was just weird, kind of a dick, and thought it was funny, so yeah. Didn't just give her a ball cap. Nope, the anti-mind reading hat is a pair of blue jean shorts she has to put on her head.
>>
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"Look, man. I already gave you a lot. I let you out of a facility you were stuck in for sixty years. I let you leave scot-free. I'm not humoring this." You immediately shut the idea of further negotiations off.

The Handler's toothy grin tells you that he's more than willing to go along with what your upcoming plan is.
>+RESPECT from the Handler!

"Yeah. I don't know what your deal is, giant centipede thing, but I'm not negotiating something that needs MY briefcase that is MY property. Sorry." The Handler unholsters the revolver hanging off of his belt. He knows this would do little to the anomaly but it's clear he's just doing it to show he's not fucking around. "Fuck off."

You gesture at your allies to back up further into the construction site you're standing in. You rather not give this thing too much warning when you throw something at it. Your group begins to slowly back up upon seeing your hand gesture. The anomaly immediately begins to follow after your group.

Alexis draws his own ROYAL BLUE DERRINGER with clear fear in her eyes. She already knows this is going somewhere bad.

"Oh ho ho." COLD BLOODED INFORMANT stares down at the puny little derringer. You notice on closer examination that its barrel and grip are coated in the same type of chitin that covers the anomaly's body. "Cute little toy. I left that for a friend."

It rises up, exposing dozens of dozens of tiny little bug-like arms. All of them have their own royal blue derringers. "You're nothing, bug. You're no better than me. Ssssquirming for ccccorporate approval, Alexis Morozov." Alexis's eyes only widen further. Her hands are shaking now.

The anomaly leers over your group, its many arms aiming their guns at her. "If you won't help me, I'll crush you like you cccrrrushhhed-"

[ETF TRAINING] "Eat shit." Frank has drawn the shotgun hanging off his back way faster than anyone could react, including the anomaly. With quick practiced motions, he loads it up with three slugs, each one producing a satisfying click.

He immediately raises his shotgun at the anomaly's face. He slams his finger on the trigger. One shotgun slug slams into its target. Then another. Then another.

The three slugs are enough to shatter the anomaly's mask completely, revealing the oddly human face underneath it. The porcelain mask's shards rip through the anomaly's face while two of the slugs managed to hit it right in the forehead.

However, due to them being regular ammo, the slugs only manage to leave some nasty looking purple bruises on the anomaly's face before bouncing right off. All that ddoes is stun it for a few seconds. That's all you need.

Your antlers begin to crackle with unnatural light as you begin to focus all of your mental and physical energy on one of the abandoned road rollers. ANOM begins to flicker in and out of existence, clearly being used up as a conduit for your telekinesis on top of your antlers.

It gradually levitates off the ground a few inches at a time.
>>
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You can already feel the muscles throughout your body seething. The blood vessels in your head feel like they're about ready to pop at a moment's notice. It's now up a few feet off the ground. Then a dozen feet. Then twenty feet.

The sheer mental force of will needed to move this thing is even damaging the road roller. Chunks of it are crumbling off while its back wheels just flatout pop from the strain of it.

Your allies can only watch on absolute fucking horror at what you're doing. Even the two anomalous allies you have, as great as their powers are, can't exactly move a god damn 3 ton hunk of metal.

"MOVE. NOW."

Your allies promptly get the hint, scattering far away from COLD BLOODED INFORMANT. As soon as you do this, you send the road roller flying towards the anomaly at full force. You collapse onto your knees not long after in an attempt to catch your breath.

By the time the anomaly manages to recover from his stunned state, it's too late. The massive hunk of metal slams right into it at full force. The two are promptly sent flying throughout the abandoned half-finished street your group is standing in. Wet concrete flies throughout the air, splattering onto the nearly sidewalks and roads. The two eventually slide to a stop on the other side of the road, about 150 feet away.

The road roller falls right off of the anomaly. It's now nothing more than a mangled hunk of metal and glass that doesn't look like anything at all.

>FLESH ROLL: 27! NO FLESH DAMAGE TAKEN!

You manage to get back to your feet right real quick. Your body still feels woozy after all that. In the corner of your eye, you see ANOM rushing over to swarm Benedict before vanishing completely.
>ANOM has demanifested! -2 WILLPOWER TO ALL ALLIES!
>-1 RESTRAINT! 9/11 LEFT!

You snap your gaze back to the COLD BLOODED INFORMANT.

He's sprawled across the floor in a crumpled heap as well. His chitinous exterior has massive cracks running through it that are leaking fresh royal blue blood. His soft, squishy (in comparison) underside has deep lacerations and about four pairs of bug-like armleg things have snapped off completely.

His face is a mangled mess as well, like he came out of a ruthless boxing match. Nasty whelts and swelling has left it nearly unrecognizable. The four briefcases it had on its back are now laying on various patches of wet concrete, ready to be picked up.

Yet he's still moving. With a sickening crack, he immediately gets back onto his many bug-like legs as if he wasn't just slammed with 3 tons of metal. The cracks and lacerations across his body are beginning to slowly but surely seal back up on their own. You imagine it'll take days for them to be healed, though.

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] You can't ever get rid of shady informants.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Squash one, another will pop up. Squash a dozen, they just put on a new face. They're scum and they know it.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Yet you can certainly scare them off with enough violence.
>>
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Alexis's shaking begins to wane as she sees how mangled the anomaly is now.

"Heh. Heh." He picks up his shattered mask, now immediately fixed, before putting it back on.

"Aren't you interesting. I'll see you around." He immediately skitters into a nearby alley. He's gone now.

"D-did we really have to do that?" Alexis, to your shock, is still pretty shaken from what the anomaly said to her. "I-I'm sure we could've made an arrangement. We're better than it, w-we could've..."

"Maybe it's for the best." Maruyama tries his best to comfort his shaken coworker. "That thing was trying to get to us. Bargaining when it had no real sway. If nothing else, even if we are bugs, at least we're still trying."

"You're really letting what that thing said stick with you?" Adam seems equal parts offended and concerned about what Alexis and Maruyama are saying. "It's just an anomaly. I don't think he even understands what he's saying. They're narrow minded."

"I have to agree, sadly." Frank is clearly insulted by the idea of having to agree with Adam after the chew out minutes ago. "Don't put too much stock into it. They only understand what they represent. Half of my 'coworkers'," He shivers at the mere mention of his other ETFs. "think they're preprogrammed automatons."

As your group approaches the suitcases to see what's inside them, you can see a glint of something in Benedict's eyes. "No. It's just what makes us comfortable. That familiar mindset. To disassociate from the world." His words ooze out of his mouth with a trance-like zen to them. "It's all we want to know."

Frank cocks an eyebrow on this before remembering who he's looking at. "Is that so, huh? Not sure you count, you're some aborted reject or something, right?"
Adam clenches his fists but with reluctance, he nods. "He was stopped before he can fully convert."

"Perhaps." Benedict's eyes glaze over as with one solid chop, he breaks open the locks keeping the briefcases sealed shut. "yet I can still hear that calm, luxurious voice. Telling me to succumb to perfection. It's..." Before he can say anything more, he zones out completely.

[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] A few times over the last few weeks, you did hear a voice whispering to you while developing your powers. It hasn't bothered you in a while though.

Maruyama seems to get some rough idea of what he's on about. "I heard a voice too. I don't know what about but..." He shifts through the documents in the briefcases to give you a rough summary. "I just learnt it's better not to listen to her."

Before anyone can ask any uncomfortable questions, you bring the focus back on the briefcases.

BRIEFCASES ACQUIRED!
>D-CORP BRIEFCASE (Has research documents about various anomalies throughout the City and the location of the facilities they are currently staffed at. Can be consumed for 1 D-Corp favor. When owned, lowers the DC of all checks involving anomalies by 1 and will improve SEEKER OF THE CITY's ability to offer advice involving anomalies.)
>>
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>G-CORP BRIEFCASE (Has bizarre diagrams of prototype vehicles that Adam says should not be possible through any Singularity-based tech he knows about. Counts as 1 G-Corp favor. While owned, lowers COGNIZANCE and TALENT DCs involving vehicles by 1.)
>O-CORP BRIEFCASE (Most of the papers seem to be handwritten letters about wanting to 'go back to the past'. Maruyama notices they're doing a lot of transactions with T-Corp. The date 'December 31th 1999' keeps popping up. Counts as 1 O-Corp favor. While owned, lowers WILLPOWER and CHARM DCs when interacting with O-Corp by 1.)
>I-CORP BRIEFCASE (Alexis flinches upon seeing this one. Has a variety of chemical formulas that don't make a lick of sense to you but the terms 'Beyond Absolute Zero' and 'To Preserve The City' keep popping up. Counts as 1 I-Corp favor. While owned, improves Alexis' VIOLENCE + TALENT + FLESH by 1.)

Interesting.

Well, there's only one path forward from here. It's already late but it's not late enough where you can just wait outside of the Faustian Bargain building forever. You might as well head over to the restaurant.

Maruyama pulls on his sheathed blade and before you even know it, your group is standing out in front of it. Maruyama keels over the moment he sheathes his blade. Sweat drops down his face and it's clear he's about to fall over.
>-1 RESTRAINT! 2/4 RESTRAINT LEFT!

You're the only one able to move in time to keep him standing up. You sling his arm over your shoulder, letting him lean against you. He's dryheaving as you look up to see the restaurant you're now standing in front of.

It's a rectangular building with a hut-shape roof that really looks more like a shitty fast food joint than a five star steakhouse. The exterior is made almost exclusively out of glass, letting anyone see inside and outside of the resturant with remarkable ease.

There's a small patio area next to the main entrance which is packed to the brim with people that are clearly far more wealthy than the Handler. Bedazzled suits, heads completely replaced with fox or cat or dog heads for some sick fashion statement, neon dyed hair...style over function.

The actual main entrance is packed to the brim with a line of other bizarre corporate freak going down the line. Two remarkably normal looking employees are vetting every person who wants to be let in. Seems like this requires months of reservation or something. You turn to see if Adam, Benedict, or Alexis can confirm.

"THIS PLACe," Benedict rubs his sore throat. "Opens resERVations once per month. Random day every time. I-I could get us in through Adam's...association with the owner."

"Again, I met him at a cocktail party. I would only be let in since we're owners of the Bazaar and even then-"
"We're good enough." Benedict simply responds before Adam can even attempt to dismiss his work. "We are, my brother from another mother."
"...I could get us in real quick. I can pull some favors." Alexis half heartedly shrugs.
>>
"Or we can sneak in like our original plan. Up to you."

[ENDURING MINDSET + STEADFAST RESOLVE] Maruyama slowly stands back on his feet. Seems like he snapped out of his heaving fit. "Okay. I'm good. We're close to getting this mission done. I can handle it.
>-2 CHARGES off ENDURING MINDSET, 1 left! 2 RESTRAINT HEALED!
>MARUYAMA FLESH AND RESTRAINT IS NOW 6/6 FLESH, 5/5 RESTRAINT

How do you want to enter?
>[ADAM + BENEDICT ALLY] Go with the plan where you sneak in as restaurant employees. You imagine you can overhear some heavy gossip from the staff there (-2 PAINKILLER BOTTLES to be let in. The two chefs should be able to let you blend in REAL easily without any complications. Gives you the element of surprise.)
>[OTTO ALLY] "I say we play our cards openly. Let's the owner's attention and tell him why I'm here. He should surely work with us, right?" This is about a stolen briefcase from a rich man after all. No point sneaking around. (MISSION REWARD increased from $850 to $1234. RISK LEVEL increased to VERY HIGH. This will escalate things but it will also save a lot of time.)
>[ALEXIS ALLY] "No need for trickery. Let's go inside. I'll talk." (Autopass due to OVERWHELMING CONNECTIONS and CORPORATE INSIDER. You should be able to get in without any issue. You'll get a decent meal out of it, improving morale throughout your party.)
>[MARUYAMA ALLY] "Let me talk to the people at the patio before we sneak in." Sounds like a decent plan. A bit of info seeking can't hurt. (Same cost as sneaking in normally but with CHARM THRESHOLDS: 28/32/36/40, rolling 9d6 with Alexis assisting Maruyama. The more thresholds you beat, the more corporate connections you can get and the more you can gleam about Katherine through second hand sources. )
>[FRANK ALLY] "We don't need to go in. We know she's coming here. Blackbag her and handle her from there." Prepare for an ambush. (HARD COGNIZANCE DC: 34, rolling Frank's 7d7 only. Succeed and you'll be able to spot and ambush her before anyone can realize what's going on. Should swing your odds way in your favor.)
>Write in.

If it wasn't for having FRANK as an ally, you probably would've had to use your waterlogged pocketwatch to do that road roller trick.
Bugs are fast, nasty little fuckers. Especially anomalous bugs.
>>
I have been so busy

>>6058935
>+4 U-CORP CLEANER BOMB PHOTOS
More blackmail material or leverage
>BEEF JERKY?
I love this entire sequence, comedy gold

>>6058937
>[LICENSED MECHANIC + ETF TRAINING]
They have some friction, but Adam and Frank do work well together when Frank doesn't need to open his mouth
>Good thing you brought these two.
And that we picked LICENSED MECHANIC for Adam's upgrade. Just Adam as he was without it probably wouldn't have been enough
>SUITCASE BOMB
We still have the DYNAMITE from the mine. The glownigs cannot put themselves back together if we frag them apart
>perfected, sparkling white light
The fuck could this be?

>>6058941
>-VIRITOXAP, -SUGAR PILL
Might have to get more antipsychotics from Benjamin or somewhere else eventually. We have 2 SUGAR PILLS left for Benedict

>>6059830
>Anom?
I love how Alexis is rolling with the Nicole voice manifestations. She's definitely adapted well
>immediately shoves the ETF agent away
There's some serious friction between these two
>warmly smiles
Maruyama is fulfilling Casey's role in helping balance the team dynamics out, impressive

>>6059831
>former comrades
>fellow Japanese
He's a WWII guy?
>German lass
I forgot Wendy was German
>Adam standing up
That's some serious Subdue/Repression work he just did, holy fuck
>force a perspective
Having dealt with Benedict's current condition for so long has taught him exactly how to deal with anomalies on a meta level with what they represent. Fascinating
This "force a perspective" concept does remind me of what PARADIGM overuse does to a person... could it be what U-Corp and other factions might be trying to experiment with? That PARADIGM REFRACTION PROJECT those corps had with each other, or were going to have... that's not quite the same as this idea. It must be something entirely different

>>6059833
>physical manifestations of perspectives
The PARADIGM is the anomaly's concentrated perspective, removed and isolated in an object form. At least it feels that way to me by now. You can do a lot with that concept
>offended, thankful, or confused
The big bug wants to murder his bitchy ex. How else can a guy react to that?
>an underling of one of my underlings
So Alexis' mystery Man on the Radio is above whoever a Corporate Administrator directly works for. Is this mystery man one of the Wing Executives? A direct member of the Head itself?
>>
>>6060832
>+RESPECT from the Handler!
We've scored so many RESPECT+ with him on this mission. I wonder how high the RAPPORT is from just one day of him having to deal with Nicole
>don't know what your deal is
I think we should explain to our allies later the shit that went on in that facility mission in District 10. Maybe in the bar post-mission? Handler can back us up
>All of them have their own royal blue derringers
I didn't make that connection until now because it had zero anomalous property. The ROYAL BLUE DERRINGER is just one of the weapons he made for himself. I kinda like that for a change of pace
>clear fear
>eyes only widen further. Her hands are shaking
Alexis hasn't truly had to confront real deal anomalous shit yet. The last thing was Benedict, wasn't it? Or am I forgetting something she was there for since then?
>crush you like you cccrrrushhhed
Something to ask her about later
>"Eat shit."
I keep being floored by how on-point and BASED Frank has been over and over again

>>6060833
>watch on absolute fucking horror
They're never going to forget this, just like Ashley will never forget Nicole bursting a gangster apart. This isn't as traumatizing thankfully
>slams right into it at full force
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CamPXxfl7Lw
>rushing over to swarm Benedict
What was that about?

>>6060837
>shaking begins to wane
Alexis isn't used to anomalies actually taking damage or being killed. She knows we did it to Admiral, but she doesn't know about Dreary yet
>to your shock
To be fair I also forgot Alexis hasn't been used to it yet. We haven't exactly taken her on anomalous missions outside of Benedict
>tries his best to comfort
Maruyama's a fucking saint. He'd still probably murder people or support atrocities like any of our party members would if we had to, but he's a goddamn saint
>anomaly nature discussion
I fucking love this moment. Anomalies are a fact of life in the City so everybody is going to have an opinion on them or even a personal confrontation with one eventually. This discussion here is great for what it is and what it stands for
>shivers at the mere mention of his other ETFs
Interesting detail
>with reluctance, he nods
I think Adam should be glad his bro is an "aborted reject" when it comes to being an anomaly
>that calm, luxurious voice. Telling me to succumb
SHUT UP CARMEN SHUT UP CARMEN SHUT UP CARMEN

>>6060839
>D-CORP BRIEFCASE
Another D-Corp item. The SEEKER buff sounds useful
>G-CORP BRIEFCASE
Might be good for the rep
>O-CORP BRIEFCASE
>'go back to the past'
Foolish farmer! The Head's evil is LAW!
>December 31th 1999
WTF is this a YIIK reference??? No way
>I-CORP BRIEFCASE
Honestly I think Alexis should keep this. It feels right
>We're good enough
Defying the PERFECTION autism
>my brother
Benedict has a lot of great lines. I wonder if we can free him of his condition in this timeline
>>
>>6060842
>[MARUYAMA ALLY] "Let me talk to the people at the patio before we sneak in." Sounds like a decent plan. A bit of info seeking can't hurt. (Same cost as sneaking in normally but with CHARM THRESHOLDS: 28/32/36/40, rolling 9d6 with Alexis assisting Maruyama. The more thresholds you beat, the more corporate connections you can get and the more you can gleam about Katherine through second hand sources. )
>>
>>6060842
>[MARUYAMA ALLY] "Let me talk to the people at the patio before we sneak in." Sounds like a decent plan. A bit of info seeking can't hurt. (Same cost as sneaking in normally but with CHARM THRESHOLDS: 28/32/36/40, rolling 9d6 with Alexis assisting Maruyama. The more thresholds you beat, the more corporate connections you can get and the more you can gleam about Katherine through second hand sources. )
>give one XISXIS PILL and RAW GALAXYSTONE CHUNK to Maru
For boosting his chances of getting higher numbers.
(https://dice.clockworkmod.com/)
>>
>>6061102
+1
>>
>>6061102
+1
>>
Seems pretty simple what to do. Two anons, roll the following
>9d6 (base CHARM roll)
>3d4 (XISXIS)
With +5 being added to your final tally. I'll probably close the thread after this since I can feel my creative juices running and this thread has been open for 41 days. I'll probably take a week long break to recharge.

>>6060919
>Alexis hasn't truly had to confront real deal anomalous shit yet. The last thing was Benedict, wasn't it? Or am I forgetting something she was there for since then?
Benedict was the only one and even then, he's pretty tame in comparison to a giant royal blue bug. They're on completely different scales.
>>
Rolled 2, 2, 5, 3, 6, 2, 3, 4, 1 = 28 (9d6)

>>6061479
>>
Rolled 3, 4, 2 = 9 (3d4)

>>6061479
Rolling the XISXIS
>>
>>6061485
>>6061486
>28 + 5 + 9 = 42
Nice
>>
File: stellapat.gif (14 KB, 316x296)
14 KB
14 KB GIF
>>6061485
>>6061486
28+9+5 = 42. Two item consumed, you'll get the most info you can out of the weirdo rich people.
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2024/6028147/
Thread's archived. Taking my week long sabbatical to recharge. 729 posts is good enough for my ego.
See you guys around and thank you for playing.
>>
>>6061495
Thanks for the Run QM, finally caught up a little bit ago and hoping to make good on 50 million threads of Our Favorite Schizo.
>>
>>6061495
Good thread, thanks for running and take care of yourself
>>
>>6061495
Godspeed QM, have a good week.

My morning shit will not be the same without you.
>>
>>6061495
It's going strong and you're exercising control over the group pacing. Thanks for the thread and 100 years Nicole.



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