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You have to get into this restaurant no matter what but who's to say you can't indulge in a bit of small talk on your way in?

You dig into your pockets and lo and behold, you find what you're looking for. A XISXIS pill and a GALAXYSTONE CHUNK. This is really the best you can do since you doubt the S-Corp guys spread their story THAT fast yet and well. You hired these two for a reason.

[PERSON OF INTEREST] It would also be REALLY shady if all seven of you suddenly swarmed around someone's table.
[PERSON OF INTEREST] That would draw too much attention and would VERY likely cause a scene.

You toss the items over before nodding along to Maruyama's plan. "Go ahead. We'll wait by the back entrance. Alexis, help him out, you can probably smooth over any issues he has. I know how fucked up rich people can be."

"nicole i literally helped you deal with a bunch of them two days ago." Alexis can't even attempt to hide her amusement at your comment. "Just go ahead. We'll meet up later." Yeah, fair. You'd probably look shady watching them chatter with the others. Best to keep a low profile.

Maruyama squints at the rock you gave him but he assumes there must be SOME use for it so with a shrug, he and Alexis split away from the party to deal with the rich folks. The two immediately draw the attention of several of the augmented diners-

[CORPORATE INSIDER] But all it takes is Alexis flashing the dozen corporate icons pinned to her chest to immediately smooth over any issues.

"Ooo, a B-Corp badge?" A man with a frog's head jabbers on.
"No, no, look at that I-Corp badge. I think that's more interesting, dear." A woman with an eye growing out of her forehead jabs a finger at Alexis' chest.

Seems like they'll have an easy time getting the info they want.

Good. You'll leave them to it. The rest of you go ahead with the agreed upon plan of sneaking in through the back entrance. Or as well as you CAN sneak given how the whole building seems to be all glass. As your group breaks away to head around to the back of the building, you note how the glass becomes more and more opaque. Seems like they DO keep some privacy for the kitchen section at least.

Soon you find yourself at the back entrance of the steakhouse. Aside from some rusty, about ready to fall apart dumpsters littering around outside and the back entrance itself, there's not a lot to really say about where you're at.

Frank steps up to the door and violently knocks on it while, for whatever reason, Benedict is fiddling around with one of the rusted dumpsters. The door opens immediately as if someone was waiting for you to arrive.

Two girls immediately poke their heads around the doorways. To be quite frank, they look like shit. The one on the left has sunken in eyes and splotchy greyish skin that might've once been tanned if not for her body obviously failing. The other girl's pale face is caked in scratches and bruises. They're in high class, but clearly not well taken care of, waitress outfits.

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It's clear what they want. You're not going to hold out on them. The Handler digs into your pockets to obtain the painkillers in question. The two waitresses snatch the bottles like they were bottles of ambrosia.

They disappear into the busy kitchen without saying a single word to you. Any hint of their footsteps is washed away by the constant movement and chatter of the kitchen. You would ask why they didn't give you uniforms or anything but...probably wouldn't make a difference.

"Let's go before the bitch spots us out here. Keep the door propped open so the other two can sneak in." Frank nods his head towards your group.
Benedict slowly turns his head away from the dumpster. His armblade is pressed up against it, emitting a faint white light. As he pulls it away, you note something odd. All of the rust around the area he was pressing his armblade against is gone now. Intriguing.

[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You can thank me for that. Gave him one little push, just like Maruyama.

>BENEDICT NEW PARADIGM ASPECT REVEALED: REFINE
>Benedict passively 'perfects' any item or object he comes into contact with, increasing the stat bonus provided/damage dealt/protection offered/etc of said item
>This includes equipment he uses. Benedict can also spend 1 RESTRAINT to immediately REFINE an object on short notice.

No point dwelling on it too long though. You have somewhere to be. The five of you enter the kitchen.

https://youtu.be/z5QtLyL5NI8 - SUNSET KITCHEN

It's a complete clusterfuck back here. It's oddly familiar despite it being weeks since you last did something like this. People in bright white chef uniforms and toques are rushing past rocket hot stoves, boiling pots of rich-smelling stew, and cluttered tables. It's clear that this place, while 'high end', has a case of too many cooks in the kitchen.

You can hardly even hear yourself think over the constant chattering of the chefs. Too many voices and too many minds makes getting any information, MIND READ or normal eavesdropping, impossible.

"Weird. Isn't there supposed to be a head chef- HEY!" The Handler tries to point something out but a pair of young female chefs rushes past him and your group. There has to be at least ten or twelve more chefs in here than there should be. Counting you, there has to be at least 70 people here.

[ADVANCED INTUTION] Ah. This must be because of Katherine. They are panicked because she is arriving soon. She must've ordered something extravagant.

Adam and Benedict immediately pick up on this too by seeing how hectic and messy it is too. So they do what they know best.

CLAP! That simple, single clap Adam performed immediately catches the attention of all of the other chefs. Dozens of beady, stressed eyes are staring at your group now. Or more specifically, him. Even Benedict is looking at him like a well trained puppy waiting for a treat.

"This is a fucking mess." Adam can't help but to laugh at what he's seeing.

"Where's your chef de cuisine? Actually, no, ignore that." Adam snaps his attention to one of the boiling pots of stew. He grabs a nearby ladle and without waiting for it to cool down, he takes a sip of it.

Before immediately spitting out. Not because it's too hot but out of sheer disgust at it. "Way too much onion and garlic. Fond was clearly burnt as well, that got infused in the sauce. Tastes like a smoker's ash tray. Get rid of this, get a new one."

Three of the chefs move in to replace the pot with a new one. The kitchen immediately begins to pick back up as Adam almost falls into an almost instinctual position for him.

Benedict leaps in to replace the inedible stew by helping the other chefs. Turns out there's a benefit for having a massive armblade, you get to chop through meat and vegetables REAL fucking quick.

[HARD WORKER] "The hell are you trying to cook here? It looks like an aborted elephant fetus!" "Are you TRYING to poison your clientele? That's dangerously raw!" "This tomato sauce tastes like JAM! JAM!!!" Adam is rushing around the kitchen, too offended at the idea of letting this operation fail to remember the fact he's supposed to be on a mission.
[YESTERDAY'S PROMISE] There's complete serenity in Benedict's expression as he prepares another pot of stew with his assistants. He's in his happy place now. You almost don't want to break him out of it later but you know you'll have to.

The other chefs seem not only to accept the presence of the two new chefs but the previously hectic kitchen is oddly...organized now? It doesn't take much to figure out whoever runs this place must've been running on fumes if two randos are operating it this well.

"Mmh. Think we could try winning over the main chef?" The Handler glances over at you expectantly. The gaze he's giving you can only be described as that of a man who has his full trust in you. "Not hard to piece together who probably caused this. Not the first time she'd do a last minute reservation."

"We're already interfering enough as is." Frank dismisses the idea. "We can let the chefs play pretend in some fancy place they'll never actually work at after tonight but we're here to ambush a target. I say we just poison her meal and get on with it."

Before you have time to comment on that, your earpiece crackles to life. Alexis' voice immediately catches your attention over it.

"So, here's what we got from our side. We have confirmation that Katherine is coming over soon and, in fact, most of the people here found out she was coming here one way or another. We're not the only ones expecting her arrival."
"Worse," Maruyama's voice crackles over the line. "A lot of them flatout told us they expected a bloodbath here. They even paid extra to arrive here. This is a GAME to them."

"Shit. Any useful intel about Katherine?"

"Mmh. Apparently she's bringing two heavily armed Combat Android models. Something about 'them being in vogue' now." Shit.

"We also managed to piece together that, somehow, she has anomalous abilities as well. Most of the others seem to believe them to be just that: rumors but here's what they said. She has the ability to alter her human physiology. She can shift her vital organs, flesh, and bones around to make injuring her in any meaningful way nearly impossible."

"Shit, we gotta go. We have to talk to a I-Corp and Z-Corp rep. We'll tell them about you." The line goes dead afterwards. You feel a shift in the corporate world happening from beyond the veil.
>+1 I-CORP and Z-CORP FAVOR due to Maruyama + Alexis's meddling!

You turn to quickly tell the Handler and Frank about Katherine's supposed power. (Adam + Benedict are too busy helping the chefs). The Handler seems outright confused at the new info while Frank simply nods. Frank begins to pace back and forth as if trying to devise how best to counter it.

Weird. So the power must be a new thing.

The last thing you have to work with is your FORGOTTEN SIGNAL crackling to life.
"...BLOOD WILL BE SPILLED...U-CORP LOATHES SUCH BLOODLETTING ON THEIR TERRITORY...YOU ONLY NEED TO BUY TIME...BEFORE U-CORP ARRIVES. TO CLEAN...UP THE MESS. FIND A DISTRACTION."
That's all you're getting.

You now have some cover with your group being inside the restaurant now and you know she'll be here any moment. The formerly hectic chefs seem too grateful about your help to rat you out.

How to proceed from here?
>[FRANK ALLY] If nothing else, it can't hurt to try. Ask the chefs which meal she's likely to eat and spike it with your CYANIDE pills. Can't shift poison away, right...? (-ALL CYANIDE PILLS. Gives you some excellent insight on her abilities and, if you're lucky, should make getting the briefcase easier.)
>Perhaps you can negotiate your way out of this. Wait for her to arrive, prime all of the information you have about her, and use every bit of leverage you have to get an audience with her. Perhaps no one needs to die.
>[OTTO ALLY] Go along with Otto's suggestion of finding the Head Chef. The more people, the better, and you feel like he deserves to know what'll happen to his restaurant. You still have some time until she arrives.
>[UNSTABLE] Cause a 'distraction' with some of your equipment when she arrives. Let's have some fun. (-2 A-ENERGY SIPHONS and 1 EMP GRENADE, leaving you with neither. At worst, Katherine and her goons are weakened. Best case, the restaurant will be thrown int chaos and it'll be a prime 'distraction' to draw U-Corp's attention or to steal her briefcase.)
>[ADAM + BENEDICT ALLY] While your chef allies help, use the other chefs as an early warning system. Have them watch Katherine on your behalf. (Should buy you some more time to see if there's anything else about Katherine you should know about, like if she's meeting someone.)
>Write in.

Apologies for delaying the update 3 days longer than it should've been. New computer, redownloading stuff, massive pain. We should be back to normal now.

>>6071059
>[OTTO ALLY] Go along with Otto's suggestion of finding the Head Chef. The more people, the better, and you feel like he deserves to know what'll happen to his restaurant. You still have some time until she arrives.

https://boards.4chan.org/qst/thread/6028147#bottom
No.6057225
"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!"

Oh shit we're back boys

>>6071055
>REALLY shady
Dividing the group just works well for pacing and progression. Both are important for the quest's integrity and QM/player sanity
>squints at the rock
I like how even with the City filled with so much insane shit, there's enough normalcy that a magic rock can still cause a reaction like this. Or maybe it's just Maruyama being himself
>opaque
I had this question last time but I didn't post it, thanks for answering it

>>6071056
>snatch the bottles
Weren't using those anyway, not many FLESH checks lately
>REFINE
I love how this can synergize with Adam's LICENSED MECHANIC. The idea he could have chosen that power himself not only for his perfection autism but to help his bro out is a powerful gesture. Imagine him refining the CHAINSAW or FEDKILLER or anything else. It needs setup and 1 RESTRAINT, but this can be huge during the base assault
>at least 70
Are there that many incoming orders to merit this much manpower? I figure the joint has a steady and controlled flow of diners with the line outside
>extravagant
Nice immediate answer. I don't think Katherine is even planning to eat all this, that bitch

>>6071058
>oddly...organized
This is a nice segment. I think both of them needed this. The pair getting literally lost in the sauce here can help us win the Head Chef over
>running on fumes
The Head Chef must have the worst of it because he knows if he fucks up then he'll be all chef but no head
>Not the first time
The bitch does not deserve the Handler
>poison her
What if she orders a lackey to taste-test first, or has anti-poison augments to her digestive system? It might not be enough
>bloodbath
We stopped one at the strip club, now this? Who'll even be the ones dying here, the chefs or the rich themselves?
>paid extra
>GAME
I wonder if there's any rich bastard here who is the complete opposite, and is here because he doesn't want his favorite joint to be destroyed?
>'them being in vogue'
Smells like the X/E/Q-Corp cooperation bearing fruit. Still worth it but this sucks

>>6071059
>shift her vital organs, flesh, and bones around
An interesting way to fatally counter that could be to bait her into shifting vital structures to her arms or legs, and then dismembering her
>+1 I-CORP and Z-CORP FAVOR
We're finally getting I-CORP FAVOR after so much work with Alexis. That Z-Corp rep might hear about Benjamin too...
>confused
I wonder what happened in the weeks since her breakup to get her that specific sort of power?
>LOATHES SUCH BLOODLETTING ON THEIR TERRITORY
Some of these rich assholes might also fall under U-Corp's hateful gaze for enabling this, but I doubt U-Corp will find out or care as much as they will about Katherine here
>CLEAN...UP THE MESS
Implying there will be a mess to clean up if we play our cards right

Congrats on the new computer. How's it handling? Specs?

>>6071067
>>6071068
What's your logic there? How will getting the Head Chef's help save the people here? Why do we need to even do this? Back in the nightclub we did it because that club owner would have tried it again if we left him alone, and we primarily wanted to save the corpos and gangsters because they had leads on the case. Here it's mostly the rich disgusting cretins eager for violence but they'll be the ones most likely to die, won't they? Or are the innocent chefs the sacrifice? Rescuing the chefs is nice for Adam and Benedict and any few rich people that care about this place, but so what? All we need is that case. I'm more inclined to the FRANK ALLY option as things stand. Everything about Katherine that we've been told puts me off from wanting to negotiate with her. We do have a lot of hard evidence, but she can simply order us to be killed or worse and then seizes the evidence from us, can't she? It feels like we're in a precarious position here

>>6071116
You think head chef is going to be completely useless or something? I mean, he is the owner of the restaurant, there must be something he knows or a plan he has that can help us. And I want connection favor with the head chef.

>>6071138
Ok lets roll with that then, see how it goes

>>6071059
Backing >>6071068

>>6071059
>[ADAM + BENEDICT ALLY] While your chef allies help, use the other chefs as an early warning system. Have them watch Katherine on your behalf. (Should buy you some more time to see if there's anything else about Katherine you should know about, like if she's meeting someone.)
If things get messy, remember that we have Beyond Love and Hate for Restraint damage and the Fedkiller for both Flesh and Restraint

>>6071059
>[ADAM + BENEDICT ALLY] While your chef allies help, use the other chefs as an early warning system. Have them watch Katherine on your behalf. (Should buy you some more time to see if there's anything else about Katherine you should know about, like if she's meeting someone.)

>>6071059
>[ADAM + BENEDICT ALLY] While your chef allies help, use the other chefs as an early warning system. Have them watch Katherine on your behalf. (Should buy you some more time to see if there's anything else about Katherine you should know about, like if she's meeting someone.)

Probably smart to make sure she doesn't have a trick or two up her sleeves, given we just found out she has powers too and they are annoying AF. So right now we know she has a couple of likely high end implants and can alter her body and likely that of people she touches. Might even be able to do it remotely.

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While meeting the Head Chef would be neat, if he isn't too busy to even watch the kitchen in case five random chucklefucks burst in, you doubt he'll be much use right now. Though you can probably get the other chefs to bend to your will. Turns out, offering overworked service workers that does wonder for earning connections.

You grab the shoulder of one of the many chefs rushing past you. Or well, you thought it was a chef, but it was that scarred waitress from earlier. She's carrying a tray filled to the brim with disgustingly decadent slices of cake and freshly baked cookies.

"S-sorry. I-I have to get this, to uh, a special guest soon. She'll be here any moment and I-" She's crunching on something as she talks to you. Poor girl, probably the painkillers you gave her.

You pat her on the shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. "Look. I know you're being overworked here. Last minute reservation and all of that. Me and my broth-" You shake yourself out of that NEW YOU induced false memory. "I know what it's like."

"If you do a small favor for me, I'll make sure to deal with your special guest."

This immediately catches her attention. Her eyes widen and she's about ready to cry at the mere idea of getting ANY break from this.

"Deliver that, then get the other chefs and waitresses to tell us when your special guest arrives and what exactly she's doing. Tell us EVERYTHING you see her do out there. Okay?"

She's nodding her head with such ferocity, you swear she was a bobblehead. She quickly relays this message towards the other chefs (and by proxy Benedict and Adam) before exiting the kitchen. The two chefs under your payrolls proceed to take a break from the whole 'reorganizing the hectic kitchen' to reconvene.

Seems like the kitchen is operational enough now for them to do so. Time to get to brass tacks. You give them a quick rundown of what you heard from your various sources mere moments ago.

"She's a corporate administrator. She has implants and an anomalous ability, why the hell does she need two armed goons?" Adam can immediately smell something fishy off about what you told him. "Does she expect some sort of confrontation against someone on her level?"

"If anything, she probably expects her former fuckboy to be hunting her down." Frank jabs his elbow into the Handler's side. The bronze haired man narrows his eyes at the ETF Agent but he holds his tongue for now.

"Maybe, considering a certain person's reputation ballooning REAL quick." He side-eyes you as if he's trying to be coy about what he said. Despite the fact you're the only one he could be talking about.

"ALL OF THIS FOOD. IT IS MEANT TO FEED AT LEAST 5 PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOT EATEN IN DAYS. EvEN assuming anomalously induced metabolism, she has to be meeting three other people." Mrh. More names, more faces, it seems like everyone wants in on this.

"Anything you could gleam about them from the last minute order?"

"THERE WAS HUMAN MEAT INSIDE THE STEW."

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"Yeah. And I know he didn't introduce it himself. Not the...first time he's tried that." Adam sheepishly adds on. "Harvesters, then, are likely targets. F-Corpers. Not really sure why they would care about U-Corp stuff."

The Handler knits his eyebrows as he tries to piece together what's going on. "Wouldn't be shocked if she was trying to kill two birds with one stone. A massive last minute reservation that drew the attention of a bunch of rich people? She's trying to do a purge of anyone who could stop her."

Before you have time to add in your own speculation, the two waitresses from earlier rush to your group of five and grab you by the shoulders. They promptly begin to drag you out of the kitchen and into the actual main part of the building. Hm. You don't resist, knowing that they're trying to show you something.

A few other chefs follow after your group while your allies begin to help and talk to the other chefs.

The actual dining interior of the restaurant is what you expected from a high class steakhouse. A massive, expansive rectangular space filled with dozens of tables and booths completely surrounds you. In any direction you look, all you can see is booths and tables. The only thing separating one part of the dining area from another is who's sitting where.

An apron is hastily thrown over your already existing outfit. It looks very clumsy and baggy on you but it helps you blend in with the other chefs at least. You wonder where they're dragging you at but your question is answered before you can even ask it.

You're promptly shoved behind a nearby empty booth. Seems like the chefs and waitresses are trying to hide you from the person in question. Good, good, time to see what's going on here.

https://youtu.be/pGKNsCgdqbw - KATHERINE FEAST

In this section of the building, there's a table that stretches down the length of at least eight of the restaurant's booths. Piles on piles of meats, stews, cakes, cookies, and other decadent fillings are scattered throughout the table haphazardly with no real consideration of their placement.

Two bulky, rectangular androids with army green chassis stand by a woman casually eating a freshly baked piece of cake. Across the table from here are four (two men and two women) Harvesters. You can tell by their razor sharp teeth and, for one of the men, the fact he has black blood.

How do you know this?

Well, his head has been caved in and his limp lifeless body is laying on the table. The other three Harvesters are trying their best not to piss themselves from the fact one of their comrades is fucking dead.

A chef of a way higher status than the others is standing by the woman as well. While the other chefs and waitresses are wearing all white, his apron is a matte black with gold stitching across it. His toque also has three small silver stars stitched onto it. His face is drenched in nervous sweat, obviously expecting to be met with the same fate as the Harvester.

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"Mmh. Mr. Morelli, your meal is adequate. Too adequate, it tastes like someone not of your staff made this."

Katherine herself is, to your shock, very...bland looking? A lot less out there than the other corpos you've seen. If you didn't know she was a Corporate Administrator you'd never guess she was one. Aside from her yolk yellow chic cocktail dress and heels, there's nothing that really screams 'high class' to her.

Her long yolk yellow hair and bright purple eyes are a bit more disconcerting but that's about it. Her face looks average, her body type looks average, there's nothing else identifying about her beyond that. It's as if you took a picture of 500 women and ran them through an AI algorithm.

"W-whatever could you mean?" The Head Chef's nervous sweating is only getting worse upon hearing that.

"I have a very refined palette, Mr. Morelli. This tastes...fresh. Not cooked with fear or the will to survive, no. Obsession of the craft. An obsession..." She leans back in her chair to stare the Head Chef right in the eye. "That I know you do not have. That I did not come here to taste. It is good that I did smell any, say, cyanide though. Else I would've sliced your head clean off."

Good thing you didn't go with Frank's plan then.

"I-I, well, y-you have been keeping me out here f-for a while and-"

"Shh. Lest you anger them, Mr. Morelli." She points to her two android bodyguards. Neither of them are moving but you know the moment she orders it, they could crush his skull like a god damn grape. "Leave. So you may...dispose of any intruders in your kitchen. I'll check in fifteen minutes and I know you will not stop me when I check myself."

Mr. Morelli is fucking GONE by the moment she finishes speaking.

Katherine leans forward to stare down at the three dead-quiet Harvesters. "Now. I demand your own briefcases. I wish to see them for myself before the rabble decide to do their little game of cat and mouse to hunt me down. Not like they'll succeed." You notice one odd thing about her arms.

Massive scars runs down the length of it, from her shoulder to her wrist. Yet you can't quite tell what could've possibly made it aside from it being something being pulled out from the inside.

You decide it's probably best to leave the chefs and waitresses to relay any information they can from here on out. Luckily, you're sneaky AND fast enough to get back to the kitchen without anyone noticing and before Morelli can return.

Entering back in the kitchen with the rest of your allies, you quickly tell them what you found before asking them for their own thoughts or what they heard.

ADAM: "She was the one distracting the Head Chef. If I didn't know any better, she wanted someone to sneak in and to try to make an attack on her. This is a game to her."
BENEDICT: "Much like an anomaly, she seems empowered by the emotions of others. Fear is the mind killer around her. Fear, hunger, and suffering can not be shown."

WAITRESS #1: "She killed the Harvester about two minutes before we dragged you there. Only thing I caught is that he 'spoiled the fun' by 'not being entertaining enough'. If you're going to talk to her, I dunno, make it flashy? Don't bore her."
WAITRESS #2: "She keeps chewing on these weird white pills. I think they're calcium pills or something by what the bottle said. Could've sworn I heard her say something about 'needing to produce bones for later'."
THE HANDLER: "Generic? That's not how I remember her looking like. If she can fully reconstruct her appearance, who's to say she couldn't try disguising as someone else? She could sneak away if we don't capture her on the first try."
FRANK: "The hell? You can't 'smell' cyanide, especially when dissolved into a stew. Add in that comment she said about intruders and I bet she has someone working for her inside of the kitchen. She already knows we are here."

With all of that information gathered and the fact Katherine is approaching, you know the time to act is drawing closer and closer. You gotta make a move NOW.

What do?
>[FRANK ALLY] No further room for discussion. Grab Maruyama and Alexis, bumrush the HELL out of this woman. (You'll get the first strike before she can even attempt anything. Might be the best option given what you know about her.)
>[OTTO ALLY] "I'm sick of her games. We're talking to her right now and we're not stooping to her fucking level." It's time to enter a negotiation. (Due to previous actions during the mission, you have some special dialogue choices unlocked if you go down this path
>[UNSTABLE] Let's 'entertain' her, then. Grab the SUITCASE BOMB, activate it, throw it at the direction of her table. FUCK IT! (-SUITCASE BOMB. Will almost certainly draw outside attention and will immediately send the place into chaos. If she survives, you'll likely earn something pretty valuable from gaining her respect.)
>[ADAM ALLY] Well, if she's already coming to check, you might as well get the other chefs to get the hell out of dodge. Spend your limited time convincing the Head Chef and others to LEAVE. (CHARM AUTOPASS, due to Benedict assisting the chefs. Will save dozens of innocent lives but you won't have time to do anything else before Katherine decides to 'talk' to you.)
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] Why bother dignifying her with an introduction? Have your allies and chef friends work as a distraction while they're showing off briefcases and steal them telekinetically. Make a fucking break for it after. (You WILL be chased down if you do this but if you manage to outpace her, you'll get the briefcases from her and the harvesters without any direct confrontation from her or the steakhouse customers)
>[BENEDICT ALLY] Time to test his new ability. Hand him something to REFINE (FREE ACTION, -1 BENEDICT RESTRAINT. Select a category of item (WEAPON/DRUG/ARMOR/MISC) from your inventory for him to REFINE. You may also write in a specific item if you have one in mind.)
>Write in.

>>6071861
>Let Benedict refine the bomb, then use it.
Can't dodge full body barotrauma.
>Be ready to either finish her off, steal the briefcase telekinetically, or both.
>While Beneditc is working, use telepathy to find the rat in the kitchen and prevent them from alerting Katherine

>>6071861
>[ADAM ALLY] Well, if she's already coming to check, you might as well get the other chefs to get the hell out of dodge. Spend your limited time convincing the Head Chef and others to LEAVE. (CHARM AUTOPASS, due to Benedict assisting the chefs. Will save dozens of innocent lives but you won't have time to do anything else before Katherine decides to 'talk' to you.)
>[BENEDICT ALLY] Time to test his new ability. Hand him something to REFINE (FREE ACTION, -1 BENEDICT RESTRAINT. Select a category of item (WEAPON/DRUG/ARMOR/MISC) from your inventory for him to REFINE. You may also write in a specific item if you have one in mind.)
SUITCASE BOMB

>>6071923
>use telepathy to find the rat in the kitchen and prevent them from alerting Katherine
Add

>>6071961
>>6071923
+1
I feel no qualms about cheating our way to suitcase bomb to nuke her in the face. We lose it for the glowie base assault, but this singular bitch is such a threat on purpose right now

>>6071861
>>6071923
Sure. Fuck it. Lets do recall she has super speed, of course.

>>6071847
>Fear is the mind killer around her. Fear, hunger, and suffering can not be shown.

Can we get a quick snack in, hand out some drugs? Might help somewhat since she is anomalous. And if worse comes to worst we do have out time stop button to give us options as well as Maruyama's time sword, possibly. Killing her would probably give us major rep in good and bad ways, but I suppose we can see what happens. Might want to pop one of the kanji blood things we got to pump our stats, hand out some glownigger last resort teeth drugs to the gang too, just in case.

>>6071961
>et's 'entertain' her, then. Grab the SUITCASE BOMB, activate it, throw it at the direction of her table. FUCK IT! (-SUITCASE BOMB. Will almost certainly draw outside attention and will immediately send the place into chaos. If she survives, you'll likely earn something pretty valuable from gaining her respect.)
Supporting this and>>6071923

>>6071923
Add
>WHITE POWDER x4 (Boost VIOLENCE and TALENT by 2 for a short duration and heals 1 RESTRAINT, deals 1 FLESH damage on use.)
>Z-CORP AMPULE x2 (A metal syringe filled with a dull grey liquid. Heals 2 FLESH and RESTRAINT, no questions asked.)

>Give Benedict two WHITE POWDER and one Z-CORP AMPULE.

>>6072392
That's too much spent needlessly. REFINE costs 1 RESTRAINT and his stats are ok right now

>>6072420
I want to give him WHITE POWDER and Z-CORP AMPULE for a potential fight with Katherine.

>>6072435
We can always have them back from him, you're right. Good idea because Benedict is our heaviest hitter alongside Handler and Nicole and arguably Frank

>>6071847
So she's anomalous and high-senses enough to tell Benedict's obsession from his cooking alone. And can detect cyanide? So I'm glad I changed my mind to not do that option.
>sliced your head clean off
Head Chef but without the head
>something being pulled out from the inside
Bones removed?
>Fear, hunger, and suffering can not be shown
Her pressure on the entire cooking staff was deliberate based on her line about tasting the fear and survival instinct

>>6071861
>'spoiled the fun' by 'not being entertaining enough'
I hope she counts being blown up by a bomb to be entertaining
>'needing to produce bones for later'.
So I was right about the deboning too. Is she shifting vitals to her arms while armoring her body from the inside?
>capture her on the first try.
Or we kill her right here
>someone working for her inside of the kitchen
Is it one of the painkiller girls?

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First things first, you toss over a Z-Corp Ampule and some White Powder to Benedict. No to refine but simply in case this turns into a real nasty fight. He takes them without any real question since, well, he's still cognizant enough to realize he'll probably need them.

Worst case scenario, he'll just give them back to you.

As for your actual plan? You do really want to throw the suitcase bomb at her since you imagine that even with her powers? If she survived, it'd probably take ages for her to fully recover. But the issue is not being blown up in the process since, well, you don't want the chefs working here caught in the cross fire. Or your allies, even.

Rich people? Who cares, if they're not augmented enough to survive a bomb fuck 'em. But if you plan on getting the chefs out, you probably couldn't use the bomb safely without disabling Katherine and getting everyone out.

Hm. You slide over the SUITCASE BOMB over to Benedict. "REFINE this." He doesn't question you, simply deciding to press his armblade against the SUITCASE. A bright white light slowly surrounds the briefcase before, as if it simply popped into existence, a brand new suitcase is there in its place.

The formerly bland, non-descript briefcase is now a bright velvet red. The cheap faux-leather it was once made out of is now the real article now; There's no artificial uniformity to it. Real, honest to god leather.
>SUITCASE BOMB PLUS obtained! (An incredibly dangerous explosive. Deals 20 FLESH damage to everything inside of a large sized room and inflicts 3 CRIPPLING INJURIES to anything that survives. Even anomalies would be worried about being hit by this.)
>BENEDICT RESTRAINT: 4/6

While most of the chefs are confused as to why you have a random briefcase sitting around, you do notice one of them is oddly stressed out. The young woman in question is in a bright white uniform that's a size or two too big for her and unlike most of the other chefs, it is spotless.

<"Okay, okay, that can't be a normal suitcase. Probably something meant for Katherine. I need to tell her NOT to come over here.">

Your eyes narrow. Son of a bitch.

Adam immediately picks up on what the issue is. He snaps his fingers towards the fake Chef. "Sam, was it? Come over here. I need to tell you something."

Too afraid to break the illusion now, the young woman approaches Adam despite the fact you KNOW she's not a real chef. Seems like Adam has gotten some sort of authority over everyone in here; Probably just because of how-

[STEADY HANDS + PRACTICING SURGEON] In Adam's hand now is his Chef's Knife. In one clean cut, he sliced cleanly through the fatty flesh of the fake Chef's neck. Blood is gushing down the woman's neck, staining her once white uniform a bright crimson red. He must've sliced right through an artery.

She's down on the ground before anyone realized what he did. "A rotten ingredient spoils the batch."

This, rightfully so, sends the whole fucking kitchen into chaos.

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Most of the chefs are backing away from your group, afraid that they'll be purged next.

[OVERCORRECTION] Adam quickly realizes that, yeah, maybe he shouldn't have killed someone without any justification.

The Handler decides its time for him to step in. "HEY! LISTEN! SHE WAS A TRAITOR AND SHE WAS GOING TO GET YOU KILLED IF WE DIDN'T DO SOMETHING!"

This is enough to stop them from running and to prevent them from screaming. For now, at least. The Head Chef finally steps into the kitchen and upon seeing the dead body, he's about ready to panic right as Adam clears his throat.

"U-uh, yeah. Our boss knows when certain people are...not trustworthy." Adam is still processing the fact he robotically sliced through someone's neck. "Look, Katherine is going to be here any second and she'll probably kill anyone who's still here. Let alone the rich patrons who will raid this kitchen soon enough."

"Yeah. You need to get out of here. Now." Frank jabs his thumb towards the back entrance. "That suitcase we have? It's a bomb. A bomb meant to kill her. Do you WANT to be here when a bomb goes off?"

"Look, I'll pay for all of the damages out of pocket for whatever happens. I'll even refer some of you to U-Corp for helping us out." The Handler pulls out his wallet and, after flipping through it, he tosses a dozen random credit cards on the floor.

"You guys can keep these. Go. Each of them has a five hundred buck limit on them. Go spend it."

The promise of free money, keeping their lives, AND not losing their jobs after this is too much for them to ignore. The chefs quickly scramble to grab a card before they pile out of the back entrance in droves. Your group stands by, keeping an eye on the entrance to the kitchen for whenever Katherine shows off.

The Head Chef glances back at your group. This man looks about ready to pass out the moment he leaves this place. With that, the kitchen is soon emptied out of everyone besides the five of you and the corpse of the Rat.

Well, make that seven. Maruyama and Alexis pile back into the kitchen through the back entrance as well. Probably because they saw the massive walkout.

Your group gives them a quick summary on what's going on but right as you're finishing doing so, you hear Frank yelling out something. You can't quite make it out. All of the noises he's making are incoherent angry squawks-

Something whizzes right past your head. Your eyes are barely able to process that it's something long, white, and rock hard. A bone.

You weren't target it was after. Right behind you is the Handler. He tries to swerve away from it but he's only fast enough to make sure it would hit his shoulder, not his neck.
If not for Benedict.

With a blitz of speed you did not expect from the robotic chef, he throws himself in front of the Handler. The bone tears right into the metallic half of his chest and damn near pierces right through it. The sound of twisting and tearing metal echoes throughout the empty kitchen.

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>-3 (reduced from 4) BENEDICT FLESH! 6/10 FLESH LEFT!
>-1 BENEDICT RESTRAINT! 3/6!

Benedict slams his ARMBLADE onto the bone stuck in his chest, shattering a good chunk of it into tiny fragments. After leaning forward to let the now loosened bone fall right out of the hole in his chest, he slams the Z-CORP AMPULE into his arm. The hole in his chest begins to patch itself back up.

>BENEDICT FLESH AND RESTRAINT: 8/10, 5/6

You turn your attention to your attacker.

Katherine is standing at the entrance with her two robotic bodyguards. Her left arm limply dangles by her side; A massive hole that's already patching itself back up is torn across the length of her forearm. In about twenty seconds, her arm is already patched back up. Another ten seconds from there, her arm regains structure presumably from her bone regrowing.

In her hand is the Briefcase.

"Shame. I didn't quite expect one of my kind- Hm, no, I smell more. I didn't expect THREE SHIFTers to be working with that BASTARD." She points towards the Handler with a contempt filled sneer plastered on her face.

"I didn't expect you to need two robot dicks to be satisfied but we learn something new every fuckin day, don't we, Kate?" The Handler sneers right back at his former lover. "I know you want to bone me still but this is a bit much though, eh?" <"She feeds off fear, huh? Well, can't be scared if the others are embarrassed beyond belief.">

The second hand embarrassment your group is experiencing is overshadowing any sort of negative emotions they could be feeling. Well, Frank is trying his best not to bust a gut, but everyone else just feels pity and embarrassment. Especially Maruyama.

"Did I really get dragged into a glorified lover's spat." There's no energy left in his voice. It's like he has to tell his paralyzed daughter she'll never be able to dance again.
"Tell me about it." Alexis is on the verge of turning around and leaving this place.

Katherine takes a moment to process what the Handler said. "Oh, no, you're not fucking doing this." She seems to have picked up on his plan. "You know what- Gamma. Zeta. Let's take out the trash, shall we?"

The two combat androids promptly step in front of Katherine. In each of their hands is something that's making your mouth water as much as it scares the shit out of you: Shotguns. Fresh, juicy shotgun ammo.

Your allies quickly begin to arm themselves too. Maruyama and the chefs draws their respective blades, while your other three allies draw their respective guns. You outnumber them 7:3 but...hm. You quickly check your opponent's stats with MINDREAD.

ZETA AND GAMMA
FLESH: 15/15
RESTRAINT: 7/7
VIOLENCE: 13
TALENT: 13
OTHER STATS: 0
PASSIVE: Takes 2 less FLESH damage from most sources.
ATTACK ROLL: 27d6 (VIOLENCE+TALENT+3)

KATHERINE BEATRIX, CORPORATE ADMINISTRATOR.
FLESH: 30/30
RESTRAINT: 30/30
VIOLENCE: 6
TALENT: 20
WILLPOWER: 15
CHARM: 15
CONNECTIONS: 15
COGNIZANCE: 10
ATTACK ROLL: 35d6 (WILLPOWER+TALENT)

>>6072879
Benedict heals 1 more from all healing items, QM

KATHERINE PASSIVES: Regenerates 5 FLESH and 2 RESTRAINT per turn. Can reroll all TALENT dice once per turn. Twice per combat, she may gain +1 to all stats.

No way you're fighting them fairly. You need to kill them before combat can even become a thing. You toss FRANK, ADAM, ALEXIS and MARUYAMA some SILVER AGENT TEETH just in case.

How do you want to turn the tables?
>[WATERLOGGED POCKETWATCH] Throw an EMP grenade to weaken her robots and her implants before stopping time. With Maruyama's help, use what limited time you have to rip through Katherine and her guards. (-EMP GRENADE. MEDIUM VIOLENCE DC: 28, rolling 8d6+1d3 with Maruyama's help. Succeed and the damage the two of you do will be enough to cripple your enemies before time restarts or they can reboot their electronics. You can clean up what's left from there.)
>Load your FEDKILLER, take some drugs, Time to kill her with style. (-1 속도 vial, -POLISHED VOIDSTONE, -1 charge on normal implants, -PROTOTYPE ANTI-ABNO SHOTGUN SLUGS. HARD TALENT DC: 64, rolling 14d6+2d8. Succeed and you'll be able to blitz over and land a devasting sneak attack on Katherine. The sheer raw damage should be enough to kill her outright. The COOLNESS of it will boost your max RESTRAINT and CHARM by 1 permanently.)
>[UNSTABLE] You're FUCKING RUNNING. Prime every explosive you have, throw them at Katherine. AND RUN! (-SUITCASE BOMB PLUS, -2 DYNAMITE BUNDLES, -1 FRAG GRENADE. The building will be reduced to rubble and this will draw an insane amount of attention but these three will be deader than dead. No way they're surviving this.)
>[BENEDICT + ADAM ALLY] "There's a gas stove nearby." "Buy us some time, we got a plan." Buy the two chefs as much time as you can. (-1 FLESH to everyone but Adam and Benedict, a random ally will get a CRIPPLING INJURY. The gas explosion will be enough to collapse the kitchen, trapping the three. You should be able to find the briefcase easily afterwards.)
>[FRANK ALLY] "Wait, the floor they're standing on. It's hollow. I'll blow it up, you grab the briefcase with your telekinesis, WE RUN." Follow with his plan. (-FRANK'S EXPLOSIVE SHOTGUN ROUNDS. You'll be able to get the Briefcase without much struggle or attention drawn to your group but you imagine this won't be the last time you see Katherine.)
>[ALEXIS ALLY] Alexis has her special corporate radio in her hand, ready to turn it on. "Let me talk to a friend real quick. He'll be REAL interested if he heard about what his underling was doing." Let Alexis do her magic. (MEDIUM CONNECTIONS DC: 33, rolling Alexis' 10d6 only. Succeed and the threat of bringing in someone far higher than her will make Katherine cave. You'll be able to negotiate from there.)
>[OTTO ALLY] "I almost feel bad for you, Katherine." Let him talk to her. (???. You're not sure what'll happen but at minimum, you'll permanently unlock the Handler as an ally.)
>Write in.

Sorry for delay.
>>6072883
Good catch. FLESH is 9/10, RESTRAINT is full for Benedict.

>>6072886
So many cool options, I... I...
There's no way I can't take this one.
>[OTTO ALLY] "I almost feel bad for you, Katherine." Let him talk to her. (???. You're not sure what'll happen but at minimum, you'll permanently unlock the Handler as an ally.)
We set up the godly suitcase bomb and did all this shit... but ultimately this is between him and her. If they hadn't fucked things up, she wouldn't have stolen the briefcase to fuck him over.

>>6072886
>[WATERLOGGED POCKETWATCH + UNSTABLE] Stop time, swipe the briefcase (cut off her hand if necessary), then enact the EXPLODE EVERYTHING plan

>>6072886
>>[OTTO ALLY] "I almost feel bad for you, Katherine." Let him talk to her. (???. You're not sure what'll happen but at minimum, you'll permanently unlock the Handler as an ally.)

>>6072886
>>[OTTO ALLY] "I almost feel bad for you, Katherine." Let him talk to her. (???. You're not sure what'll happen but at minimum, you'll permanently unlock the Handler as an ally.)

>Prepare for either combat or GTFO if negotiations fail

Otto has great stats and is rich and well-connected. The stat boost option and the auto wins are tempting, but we have been working to boost his respect, so might as well go whole hog. This might be a trap option with good bait, but I suppose we will see. If a better plan pops up I will go with that.

>>6072886
>[OTTO ALLY] "I almost feel bad for you, Katherine." Let him talk to her. (???. You're not sure what'll happen but at minimum, you'll permanently unlock the Handler as an ally.)

>>6072886
>[OTTO ALLY] "I almost feel bad for you, Katherine." Let him talk to her. (???. You're not sure what'll happen but at minimum, you'll permanently unlock the Handler as an ally.)

>>6072886
>[OTTO ALLY] "I almost feel bad for you, Katherine." Let him talk to her. (???. You're not sure what'll happen but at minimum, you'll permanently unlock the Handler as an ally.)

Use the distraction to start setting up our explosives. Tell Frank to load his explosive shells and prepare to fire.

Don’t do anything until Otto is done talking.

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The air is thick with tension. One wrong move and you'd imagine the only one who'll be alive is Katherine. You can almost smell the violence in the air. Or maybe that's the A-Energy of four SHIFTers...

Well, no, your A-Energy detector is barely making any noise. You imagine only Benedict is making any notable energy due to his condition.

That's besides the point, though. You need a backup plan for the very, VERY uncertain path you plan on picking. You have to wait until she's distracted (her two robots barely seem sentient so you don't have to worry about them) with the conversation to plan some explosives.

Just in case.

"I'm not being paid enough for this. You handle it, Otto." You don't like using his name on the job but this situation warrants you, you think. "Th-"

Two near-ear shattering gunshots ring out through the air. Your automatically throw up your arms in a faint attempt to protect yourself...but only a few stray buckshot rounds graze past your cheek and neck. It hurts like a bitch and you're bleeding now but you're otherwise fine. Huh?
>-2 FLESH! 4/6 LEFT!

Lowering your arms, you now notice that a vast majority of the buckshot that was fired at you is suspended about a foot away from you. They then drop to the ground once your telekinetic focus wanes. You forgot you trained that ability, to be honest.

The two robot guards lower their shotguns in confusion. Katherine simply sneers upon seeing her attack failing. "I'm sorry, you don't get to call him by that name. You don't get to call that pathetic piece of shit anything other than that STUPID FUCKING TITLE he picked for himself."

"THE OTTO I FUCKING KNEW DIED WHEN HE PICKED THIS STUPID TARD WRANGLING JOB! LOOK AT ALL OF THE GOD DAMN FILTH HE IS ASSOCIATING HIMSELF WITH!" Her face begins to literally twist and mangle in on itself. It's nearly impossible to read what expression she has now, it's all just blurred flesh. Her body is damn near bubbling with rage now.

>"YOUR NAME USED TO MEAN SOMETHING OTTO. WHY DO YOU DEBASE YOURSELF WITH THEM? WHY COULDN'T YOU STAY WITH ME?<

"Filth?" Contempt oozes out of every word Alexis says. "I know your boss' boss. I could pull my connections to get the god damn HEAD to obliterate you. YOU don't get to call ME-"

"I almost feel bad for you, Katherine." The Handl- Otto interrupts any potential bickering between Alexis and Katherine could begin. "I really do. It didn't have to come down to this."

"Oh, you don't get to pull the fucking pity card. You don't get to look down at me. You're the one who crawled up to me, BEGGED me for MY family's power, only to realize YOU couldn't handle the FUCKING HEAT!"

"That's exactly why I feel sorry. You're right. This could've been all avoided. I know you did this to spite me over and, hey, you got your attention." Any amount of bite normally in Otto's voice is gone now. There is only complete, sincere pity and worry in its place. "I feel sorry for you."

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Katherine's face morphs back into an actual, non-generic face. She has to be in her late 40s with how wrinkled and tired her eyes look. Heavy, exhausted bags loosely hang from her eyes.

She immediately shifts her face again to something more akin to a 20 year old.. Young, still filled with life. Is she afraid of losing her beauty? Could that be why she has the power?

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Beauty is only one part. She's doing this to get attention. To stay relevant.

"What?" Her and her robot goons have their full attention on you and Otto. Your allies promptly take this time to start setting up explosives around the kitchen in case this goes wrong. "No, no, you don't get to feel sorry. That's now how this works."

"I genuinely am. There's no trick to this. I'm sorry you felt you had to steal my briefcase to get my attention. I'm sorry that you can't see why I associate myself with these people." He turns his head to look back at you and your crew. All of you are staying dead quiet but Maruyama offers a supportive nod towards Otto.

"I can fully accept that I fucked up with you in the past. I genuinely do."

"W-what kind of mind trick is this?" Katherine raises her arm up, aiming right at Otto. He doesn't even attempt to dodge or protect himself. In fact, he spreads his arms as wide as possible, letting her have a clean shot at him if need be.

"I know you won't do it. Because the only reason you even did this was to get my attention. What point would any of this serve if you didn't see me squirm?"

Katherine begins to back away. Her hand is trembling and for a moment, you swear the flesh on her palm and fingers are beginning to bubble and slosh off. "Shut up. Shut up, shut up, shut up!" A torrent of finger and arm bones are violently fired out of the palm of her hand, ripping her arm to shreds.

Maruyama and Benedict (who stayed behind while the rest prepared the back up explosives) immediately move to slice through the bones. Maruyama's katana and Benedict's armblade manage to slice cleanly through most of the bones. However, one of the larger ones manage to hit Otto right in the stomach.

>-4 (REDUCED FROM 5) FLESH! OTTO HAS 4/8 FLESH LEFT!
>INTERNAL BLEEDING CRIPPLING INJURY (Random chance to lose 1 FLESH or to gain a random penalty to a physical stat while active) obtained!

Your other allies are about ready to activate the explosives upon seeing that but Otto takes the long bone sticking out of his stomach like a champ. "N-no need. I-I got this." He turns his attention back to Katherine.

"You're literally tearing yourself apart to get me to submit. You couldn't write a more on the nose metaphor if you...tried, yo-you fucking..." His knees shake and buckle before he collapses onto them. Blood is gushing out from the wound like a busted pipe.

"Y-you know wh-why I associate myself with them? B-because unlike you, t-they give a shit. T-they were willing to shoot you, e-even if it meant entering a fight they would not win."

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"That means they're retarded! That's why I can only trust these two VERY expensive models, mind you, to do their job. I'm not going to let my trust be betrayed by another person again!"

"D-do you have actually have anyone who cares about YOU, Katherine? Anyone you haven't burnt bridges with? I-Is this just projection?"

The room goes deathly quiet after he said that. No one is willing to move or say a single word now. Despite the fate that Otto is on his knees, mere moments away from bleeding out if another attack from Katherine hits him, she doesn't make a move.

"Y-you! You think you're better than me! Y-you think you'll achieve anything by doing this high and mighty shit?" Katherine is fucking fuming now but that's all she does. Her boneless arm hangs loosely by her side as she seethes impotently. "What do you think you're achieving?"

"What...are you achieving by not killing me? That's what this is all about, huh?"

Katherine doesn't respond at first but for the briefest of moments, you see a flicker of something in his eyes. <"You still got your other arm. And you got your guards. Why AREN'T you moving?"> <"No, no, don't let your heart beat like that, don't you DARE!">

"C'mon. You have a clean shot. Do it."

Katherine still doesn't move.

"It's...it's beneath me." Katherine immediately throws the suitcase down onto the floor with sheer disgust plastered on her face. "I don't even want this stupid briefcase anymore. T-this isn't fun anymore. I already read through all of it anyways."

Otto can only smile upon seeing the goal in front of him. He says something that you didn't quite expect him to say. Neither does anyone else, especially Katherine. "That's fine, dear. I know you won't do anything."

"Love you too, dear. See you later." That's the last thing he says before he collapses onto the floor.

Katherine immediately scrambles to get the hell out of here, same with her guards. For the briefest of seconds, you know you could activate your WATERLOGGED POCKETWATCH and use your time to blow a dozen holes in the back of her skull. You could kill her still.

But all you worry about now is getting your boss out of here. Frank immediately secures the briefcase before the rest of your party scrambles to get the explosives AND Otto out of here. It takes no longer than two minutes for the seven of you to be running out of the steak house's back entrance, Katherine and her goons are gone.

Even the rich patrons are gone. Some of them can be seen running after Katherine in a desperate attempt for amusement but most of them are just...gone. The steak house is completely and utterly abandoned. The setting sun is casting the empty streets in a bright orange haze. There's nothing left here for anyone.

The only people you can see or detect is your own group. You won.

>MISSION COMPLETED!
>REWARDS: $744, +1 U-CORP FAVOR, U-Company will offer you and the Handler some unique, rare anomalous PARADIGMs for use in future missions.

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>Katherine lived and was humiliated by Otto. She'll absolutely remember this and will probably be a pain in the ass in the future...

Otto is propped up on one of the outside patio seats. Adam, Frank, and Benedict are busy doing their best to patch up the gaping wound in his chest. Meanwhile, you don't need any major healing so with a simple sigh, you pump an ADRENALINE IMPLANT charge through your body. You'll regain one next mission anyways.

>YOU ARE FULLY HEALED!

It doesn't take long for Otto to get back up on his feet, even though the process is INCREDIBLY painful from how little anesthetic was used.

With a combination of some supplies from Frank, an anomalous power from Benedict, and Adam being able to perform rough surgery, he's back on his feet.
>-1 GAUZE ROLL and 1 TRAUMA KIT CHARGE FROM FRANK, -2 RESTRAINT TO BENEDICT.
>BENEDICT IS AT 4/6 RESTRAINT, FRANK has 4 TRAUMA KIT CHARGES and 1 GAUZE ROLL left.
>OTTO is now at 7/8 FLESH and has his crippling injury removed!

"Fuck, man, I didn't expect you to do that. I'm not even sure we could've helped you if she really did pull the trigger." Adam tries to laugh off what he saw but it's clear how dicey this plan actually was.

"It was retarded. The only reason I even went along with it is we had the explosives to blow her ass to pieces." Frank spits on the ground. Sweat is dribbling down from his face, adrenaline still pumping through his system.

"...GOOD JOB."

"Thanks." Otto is still woozy from the surgery, especially due to how rushed it was but he'll probably able to recover more fully once he goes to an actual hospital. He does have the cash to do so, after all. He turns his gaze over to you and with a smirk, he holds his hand out to you. "Thanks for letting me do that, by the way."

You grab onto his hand and shake it. "Hey. It was your problem to deal with, not mine. I only came to help you."

"Fair." Otto lets go of your hand. "...I think I can trust you enough to throw my weight around. With you. I'm a busy man so don't expect me to do it that often."

>OTTO FOXTROT has been unlocked as an ally! His true sheet shall be revealed below!

OTTO FOXTROT [SPECIAL]
RAPPORT: 8.5/14 (You've shown your worth to him time and time and time again. Next time you hire him, you'll be able to upgrade his abilities.)
COST TO HIRE: 35% reduction to your Mission Payout.
FLESH: 7/8
RESTRAINT: 8
VIOLENCE: 8
TALENT: 8
WILLPOWER: 8
CHARM: 8
CONNECTIONS: 16
COGNIZANCE: 8

BOONS
[UNENDING CAPITAL] With his sheer wealth and his family name, you doubt they'll be any place he can't get into. As long as he's in your party, you'll have a far easier time interacting and learning from Corporate Administrators or other highly powerful corporate executives.

[UNYIELDING CONFIDENCE] This mission has reawakened his confidence and by god, nothing is going to stop him now. Otto takes -2 less RESTRAINT damage from all sources and thrice per mission, he may reroll all dice he rolls in a check he is part of.

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BANES
[HIGH VALUE ALLY] He's your fucking boss. If he dies, you're out of a job until you can find a new one. Keep him alive at ALL costs. Enemies will be able to tell how valuable he is so, you might get some unwarranted attention as well.

[PERSON OF INTEREST] The spooks are after him as well, sadly. Stacks with your own PERSON OF INTEREST bane, drawing even more SPOOK attention towards you.

INVENTORY
FOXTROT BRANDED REVOLVER (Only usable by Otto. ROLL: TALENT*2.5, rounding up. Has a high chance to restore 2 RESTRAINT when fired.)
PILE OF REVOLVER AMMO x3 (Totals up to 91 ammo.)
NOUVEAU SUIT AND TIE (ARMOR. Blocks 1 FLESH and RESTRAINT damage from all sources. Blocks an additional 1 FLESH and RESTRAINT from MOST ranged attacks.)
BRIBE MONEY x15 (He can bribe his way out of any situation. You may also ask for one bundle for an extra $150 upon a successful CHARM check.)

Maruyama looks at Otto for a moment and you swear you see a flash of some kind of emotion across his face. Happiness, anger, pity. Something in between. It eventually cools down into a small smile.

"I wish I could move on from her like you did with Katherine."
"Who said I moved on? You think what I pulled back there was a bit?"
"...Fair." Maruyama can't help but to keep smiling upon hearing that. "It feels nice knowing I'm not the only one."

The last thing you notice before you make your plans is an odd package at the front of the steakhouse. Kicking it open reveals a small reward from an "Alan", given the note on it.
>YUE FAMILY PHONE NUMBER obtained! ("Handler told me you were looking into this. Have fun - ALAN". Gets you closer to solving an old mystery you haven't had a chance to follow for a while.)

What to do now, Nicole? Your mission is done here. You got the briefcase. You saved the day.

Pick four.
>It's tradition at this point. The Steakhouse probably has a bar so go inside and drink yourself retarded. (+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 get a good meal as well.)
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Take a walk around District 21 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 U-Corp's district.)
>[ALEXIS + MARUYAMA + ADAM ALLY] You remember you had some old space age tech you still have no idea what it's about and something tells you these three might now. Discuss this old mystery with them. (Gets you ever closer a permanent +1 COGNIZANCE, +1 RESTRAINT boost. Might be useful if you need to fight the spooks later.)
>[FRANK ALLY] You can tell Frank is disappointed he couldn't get into any actual fight. "Hey. Let's train, shall we?" Let him let some steam off. (+1 RAPPORT with FRANK. -SECOND CHARGE on your ADRELANINE implant, leaving you with only one next mission. You'll be able to boost a PHYSICAL STAT of your choice for both you and Frank.)
(1/2)

>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You want to help your anomalous allies to use their powers more effective. Set aside some time to train Maruyama and Benedict. (WILLPOWER THRESHOLD DC: 10/14/18/22, rolling 6d6 for Maruyama and Benedict with you assisting them equally. For every threshold you roll, both will be able to refine and use their respective powers more effective.)
>[OTTO ALLY] You want to talk to the Handler about this new...relationship you find yourself in. You want to figure out what this means for the both of you going forward, business wise. (You want to set some boundaries before you go forward with this new arrangement. Might even get to know a bit more about him as well.)
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] There's a lot of random possessions left behind by the rich patrons who left. Call it paranoia or not but you want to grab some of them for later. (You'll roll 5d100 to determine what kind of info or rare rich person goodies you'll get. They won't miss them, right?)
>[UNSTABLE] You feel cheated out of a massive explosion. Find somewhere nearby to blow up with some of your less useful explosives. Why not? (Choose whether to use SUITCASE BOMB PLUS, a DYNAMITE BUNDLE, or 2 FRAGMENTATION GRENADES. You'll be able to pick four members of your party, including you, to permanently boost the max RESTRAINT of by 1.)
>Write in

(Sorry for the massive wall of text. Just a lot to write.)

>>6073997
>It's tradition at this point. The Steakhouse probably has a bar so go inside and drink yourself retarded. (+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 get a good meal as well.)
Not the one with human meat please
>[ALEXIS + MARUYAMA + ADAM ALLY] You remember you had some old space age tech you still have no idea what it's about and something tells you these three might now. Discuss this old mystery with them. (Gets you ever closer a permanent +1 COGNIZANCE, +1 RESTRAINT boost. Might be useful if you need to fight the spooks later.)
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] There's a lot of random possessions left behind by the rich patrons who left. Call it paranoia or not but you want to grab some of them for later. (You'll roll 5d100 to determine what kind of info or rare rich person goodies you'll get. They won't miss them, right?)
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You want to help your anomalous allies to use their powers more effective. Set aside some time to train Maruyama and Benedict. (WILLPOWER THRESHOLD DC: 10/14/18/22, rolling 6d6 for Maruyama and Benedict with you assisting them equally. For every threshold you roll, both will be able to refine and use their respective powers more effective.)

>>6073998
>It's tradition at this point. The Steakhouse probably has a bar so go inside and drink yourself retarded. (+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 get a good meal as well.)
>[ALEXIS + MARUYAMA + ADAM ALLY] You remember you had some old space age tech you still have no idea what it's about and something tells you these three might now. Discuss this old mystery with them. (Gets you ever closer a permanent +1 COGNIZANCE, +1 RESTRAINT boost. Might be useful if you need to fight the spooks later.)
>[FRANK ALLY] You can tell Frank is disappointed he couldn't get into any actual fight. "Hey. Let's train, shall we?" Let him let some steam off. (+1 RAPPORT with FRANK. -SECOND CHARGE on your ADRELANINE implant, leaving you with only one next mission. You'll be able to boost a PHYSICAL STAT of your choice for both you and Frank.)
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You want to help your anomalous allies to use their powers more effective. Set aside some time to train Maruyama and Benedict. (WILLPOWER THRESHOLD DC: 10/14/18/22, rolling 6d6 for Maruyama and Benedict with you assisting them equally. For every threshold you roll, both will be able to refine and use their respective powers more effective.)

>>6073997
>>6074032
Support.

That was fun. Otto will be good, and I think we actually have the highest total rapport with him at this point, which is fun. And we still have the super suitcase bomb for our raid on the glowies! Yay! Wonder if we could get a couple more things Refined as a free action by Benedict too, like the Fed Killer, since that will be important when we hit the base. We would need to feed him drugs but, eh.

I suppose we need to gear up for that thing next. Wonder if he is down for it, given he is being targeted by them as well.

>>6073997
>>6073998
>STEAKHOUSE BAR
Tradition
>ALEXIS + MARUYAMA + ADAM
The satellite mystery...
>FRANK
I want to let him get some action already
>OTTO
For setting boundaries. It's important for when your fucking boss decides to fight alongside you

>>6074106
+1
Let’s make some of Benedict’s training a refinement of Fedkiller.

I’m not saying that we *should* do this… but what happens if we refine that assault rifle?

>>6072842
>some White Powder
Honestly I'm almost tempted to let him keep it. He can make good use of the VIOLENCE boost and RESTRAINT heal on a later mission
>Rich people? Who cares
Based. If any gave a shit they'd be making plays already the moment Katherine arrived
>SUITCASE BOMB PLUS
We're saving this for the base assault now that we didn't use it
>A rotten ingredient
I gotta say this Adam moment was godlike

>>6072844
>Head Chef glances back
Does that mean Adam isn't going to be invited to the next cocktail party?
>bone
So I was right about the arm bone removal. This bitch has the HELLO? railgun bones, goddamn
>throws himself in front
Handler will never forget this. I bet he's looking back at that fast food mission in a new light now

>>6072879
>-3 (reduced from 4)
This is why we still need to invest in more defensive gear for allies. Anybody else could have been instacrit by HELLO?
>slams the Z-CORP AMPULE
Basically fullhealed in one go from that. Sure 6/10 3/6 ain't that bad in damage but it was both a perfect use of the item and it carried on-screen cool factor. We better clutch that other last ampule for dire emergency
>seconds
We don't have the kind of money or influence to have healing factor to that degree; this is a taste of what a Company Admin can do...
>embarrassment
Hey I thought it was a good line and well-planned on the spot by Handler to counter Katherine's power source. "Competent" is what he is
>juicy shotgun ammo
We couldn't score it, but that's okay
>OTHER STATS: 0
I imagine we could have exploited the hell out of this
>KATHERINE BEATRIX
The only ways I can think of to stop her with those stats, that aren't what the QM gave in the vote options, are to nuke her COGNIZANCE completely or turn her SHIFTER power against her or make her rely just on VIOLENCE stat somehow.

>>6072886
>PASSIVES
No way. This is the silver agents on heroin. That must be the VIE implant the same as what Gregory has
>toss some SILVER AGENT TEETH
Honestly I also don't mind them keeping those. +1 to all stats and d7s for the next 3 rolls? That's something anybody can use no matter what they're specialized in

>>6073983
>detector is barely making any noise
So much for the battle tension huh?
>-2 FLESH! 4/6 LEFT!
I'm starting to think investing in training time + Sukane's service to make temp stats permanent is what we need to make Nicole harder to kill
>forgot you trained that
So did I. Glownigs will be thrown the most off-guard by the first time, naturally. I can imagine Nicole might have taken more damage there if we didn't have that subability
>picked for himself
What, "Handler" or "Freakshit"?
>STAY WITH ME
I like this brief TARNISHED GOLD NECKLACE text popup here
>The Handl- Otto
The narration reflecting Nicole's thought is also great

>>6073985
>late 40s
With Handler being somewhere in his 30s if I'm remembering right, it might be he prefers older women
>supportive nod
Girl trouble man to girl trouble man connection
>-4 (REDUCED FROM 5)
I REALLY do not want to fight this lady ever

>>6073987
>they're retarded!
Well she's not wrong
>anyone who cares about YOU
Powerful question to anybody in the City
>heart beat
She still can't escape the love
>Love you too
He's got his tsundere ex hooked and he knows it, what a madman
>MISSION COMPLETED!
We're not taking this to Faustian Bargain?

>>6073991
>humiliated
Is she secretly into this deep down?
>pain in the ass
We can srill make good on Alexis' threat then if we need to
>now at 7/8 FLESH
Not much was spent, well done
>RAPPORT: 8.5/14
This says a lot
>35% reduction to your Mission Payout
Combined with Alexis that's a huge pay cut but it makes sense. It incentivises going for side objectives and loot more than usual to offset the payout loss

>>6073997
>[HIGH VALUE ALLY]
Finally a game where the escort VIP fights on your side
>Stacks with your own PERSON OF INTEREST bane
I hope the Head meeting suppresses this for the base assault
>TALENT*2.5
Wonder how he'd match with Clover
>moved on?
They need to drink and talk about their exes together
>YUE FAMILY PHONE NUMBER
Y-CORP
PROJECT THORN
OVERTHROWING THE HEAD

File: 1721878332656167.jpg (26 KB, 557x680)

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TRADITION: ALL
SATELLITE: ALL
PERSON OF INTEREST: yg4
FRANK: Yjd, 3kt, cQf, fcG
ANOMALOUS: yg4, fcg, cQF
OTTO ALLY: 3kt

So, bad news. Due to a massive storm that passed by, my power has been cut completely. I have no idea when it is coming back but worst case scenario, the update will be delayed for a few days. I don't like it either but even best case scenario you're gonna have to wait a few extra hours.

So, I need two anons to roll the following
>6d6 (BENEDICT)
>6d6 (MARUYAMA. You may roll an additional 2d6 due to him having a lingering charge of his ENDURING MINDSET boon)
Do write which one you're rolling for. In addition, you got some excess RESTRAINT healing items so...wanna REFINE some tools? Pick up to four to refine. If you pick two or three, you'll lose a Joyvel pill
If you pick four, you'll lose an ARCADY DUST (a powerful but situational restraint healing item) instead The least valuable ones

>FEDKILLER. KILL MORE FEDNIGGERS
>COMBAT BODYSUIT MARK ZETA. I DONT WANNA DIE BROS.
>ECLIPSE TALISMAN. FOR TRUE SCHIZO ANOMALOUS POWERS
>ASSAULT RIFLE. IMAGINE THE DAMAGE THIS COULD DO.
>'속도' BLOOD REPLACEMENT VIAL. IMAGINE HOW MUCH MORE POTENT THE ALL STAT BOOST IS.
>Z-CORP AMPULE. IN CASE OF ABSOLUTE MEDICAL EMERGENCIES
>X-CORP ACHIVEMENT MEDAL. FOR MORE PRESTIGE AND BETTER DISCOUNTS FROM X-CORP SHOPS.
>REPROGRAMMED 視力 IMPLANT. FOR WHEN YOU FIND THE RIGHT PERSON TK INSTALL IT INTO
>Write in (Choose any number of non-PARADIGM or SUITCASE BOMB PLUS weapon, item, or drugs.)

I'll leave this open until my power fucking comes back on. It sucks but this is the best I can do on short notice.

Rolled 6, 2, 4, 5, 4, 1 = 22 (6d6)

>>6074827

Rolled 4, 6, 5, 6, 5, 2 = 28 (6d6)

>>6074827
Rolling Benedict

As for REFINE
>REPROGRAMMED 視力 IMPLANT
Permabuffing the implant further permabuffs anybody we implant
>FEDKILLER
Nicole's signature weapon now
>"WE MAKE BETTER GAS FUCK YOU K-CORP' GAS CANISTER
The suitcase bomb is not enough.

Rolled 5, 6 = 11 (2d6)

>>6074851
MARUYAMA

>>6074827
>FEDKILLER.
>REPROGRAMMED 視力 IMPLANT.
>'속도' BLOOD REPLACEMENT VIAL.

>>6074827
>FEDKILLER. KILL MORE FEDNIGGERS

>'속도' BLOOD REPLACEMENT VIAL. IMAGINE HOW MUCH MORE POTENT THE ALL STAT BOOST IS.

>REPROGRAMMED 視力 IMPLANT. FOR WHEN YOU FIND THE RIGHT PERSON TK INSTALL IT INTO

>>6074827
>FEDKILLER
I want one of Frank’s ETF shotguns.
>COMBAT BODYSUIT MARK ZETA
Nicole is far too squishy.
>REPROGRAMMED 視力 IMPLANT
Who knows what the fuck this is gonna do?

>>6074852
In the event of my combat bodysuit vote failing, I’ll choose to back this guy instead.

>>6074827
>FEDKILLER.
>COMBAT BODYSUIT MARK ZETA
>ECLIPSE TALISMAN
>Z-CORP AMPULE

>>6074827
Changing my vote in >>6074852 from
>"WE MAKE BETTER GAS FUCK YOU K-CORP' GAS CANISTER
To
>COMBAT BODYSUIT MARK ZETA

File: FUCKYOU.jpg (6 KB, 208x242)

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My power is finally back on. Fuck me.
QM curse really is a thing, ain't it?

Closing vote now.
FEDKILLER: ALL.
REPROGRAMMED IMPLANT: 3kt, Yjd, cQf
BLOOD REPLACEMENT: Yjd, cQf, yg4
BODYSUIT: zx1, 3kt, yg4
Z-CORP AMPULE: yg4
ECLIPSE TALISMAN: yg4

So, since three items all have the same amount of votes, I'll just make it so you're refining all four. Seems fair enough.
So you're getting a FEDKILLER, REPROGRAMMED IMPLANT, BLOOD REPLACEMENT, and BODYSUIT upgrade in exchange for your only Arcady Dust. Writing.

>>6075348
We can always buy more Arcady Dust later or get it somewhere else. It's good because a big RESTRAINT heal helps Nicole and other high-RESTRAINT allies to recover if they seriously need it

File: FROMADIFFERENTTIME.jpg (30 KB, 640x524)

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"Wait, my mental alert said the mission's done. Aren't we supposed to, like, go to the Faustian Bargain building or whatever?"

"Nicole I will be perfectly frank with you. Dealing with this properly with the Faustian Bargain is going to take two weeks of paperwork minimum. Do you REALLY want to be part of that?" Otto gives you a polite yet firm pat on the shoulder.

"no not really."
"Atta girl."
"please don't do that again ANYWAYS!"

"So. We're going to use this place as our bar spot this time around. It's abandoned, so the food and drinks are free, and we do have two chefs here so..." You messily gesture towards Adam and Benedict.

"The last thing I want to do is cook," Adam wipes away some quickly drying blood off of his knife. "But I imagine Benedict would like it. Sure. I'm fine with it."
"MAYBE IF I HAD THAT WHORE-" Benedict's eye twitches for a moment before the sugar pill kicks in again. "So be it."

The party patently ignores Benedict's outburst but it definitely added an awkward air to the conversation that didn't need to be there.

"Welp! Adam, Maru, Alexis? Mind if we talk for a sec? The rest of you can do whatever the fuck, just don't get too drunk. I plan on training you guys in case we have to deal with her again. We got off LUCKY this time around."

Your party promptly scatters. Otto, Frank, and Benedict make their way into the abandoned steakhouse while the three allies you called for stay outside with you. They seem confused why you picked them specifically but they are the closest to tech savvy allies you have on short notice.

You dig through your inventory (which seems to shift and twist whenever you don't look at it) for the space age computer tech and tiles found a few days ago. You give them a quick rundown on where you got them from and the little scraps of info you do have about it.

Adam is fucking enthralled at the mere sight of the chip you gave him. "Okay, look, I'm not an expert on astronautical tech but this thing is beyond illegal. A lot of the tech has to operate by specific laws to be kosher with the Head."

"There's no identifying marks or logos, there's no additional shady stuff stapled onto it to allow for easy backdooring or monitoring...aside from doing its function, I could not tell you a single thing about it." Adam hands you the chip back. "It's clear that whoever made it wanted NO chance of them being traced back to it."

"Mmh. Yeah, no company does space travel anymore so this shouldn't exist to begin with." Maruyama knocks his fist against one of the tiles you gave him. "I recognize this material though. Alexis, still have that Pausium detector?"

Alexis is staring blankly at the chips and tiles you pulled out as if something is on her mind. She snaps out of it once she hears her name. She pulls out the metal director as directed and once the tile is put up to it...it starts beeping.

"Weird reading...ah, I see. It also says it has trace amounts of moon dust on them."

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"Specifically moon dust? How the hell would THAT thing know?" Adam rightfully points out.
"It didn't but considering the trace amounts of Silicon Dioxide and what the tile was on, it's a decent educated guess."

"Doesn't that mean it had contact with the Moon itself?" Maruyama stares up at the dark orange sky. If you squint just right, you can faintly make out the moon from all of the way down here. "Wait but how the hell does it even any dust at all? You don't just get moon dust by being in space."

"...There has to be someone up there." Alexis whispers through clenched teeth. "Bringing over and landing satellites to maintain old ones and shoot up new ones. 1957 was nearly 300 years ago so you would need someone to constantly maintain them..." <"My father once told me that a long since forgotten part of our family were the first people to walk on the moon..."

Adam taps his knife against one of the tiles, clearly deep in thought. "The average satellite lasts 15 years so they had to burn through, my guess, 19 to 20 of them? That needs a LOT of resources one person can't do by themselves."

"You said something about a signal being broadcasted through the satellite. At least five of them, right?" Maruyama chirps out. "One person couldn't maintain a satellite for 300 years. You need, what, 50 people minimum? Probably more to prevent genetic issues?"

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Five signals. Five crews of at least 50 people. 250+ people. Up there. In the cosmos.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] They escaped the City or, at least, as far as you can escape.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] They still have contact with the City, you imagine, for those who couldn't escape. For those trapped here.

"That would make sense. A lot of the tech I see here is discordant with the usual regulations, norms, and even materials I've seen in other City Tech." Adam nods approvingly at Maruyama's theory. "...Then why the hell are they hiding up there?"

[PERSON OF INTEREST] "That's the only place they can't reach them." You mutter to yourself. The only thing that would be shipped up there is maybe some new materials or food but even then, it might be fully self sufficient up there. "Y-Corp has something to do with this."

"Y-Corp?" Adam cocks an eyebrow. "The teleportation company? The hell would they invest in space travel?"
"In case things go cock up down here." Maruyama seems to piece something together. "This is a backup plan. 300 years in the making."
"...I envy them. At least up there, there's nothing to worry about but your-" Alexis interrupts herself. "I'm going inside."

>SPACE AGE SATELLITE info revealed! (A backup program meant to keep a subsection of Y-Corp and possibly I-Corp residents safely tucked away in the cosmos. You know the Yue family see it as the only thing not 'corrupted' in the world. The only question left is why the satellite was shot down.)

Adam and Alexis promptly head back inside of the steakhouse while Maruyama stays outside with you.

File: PERFECTION.jpg (341 KB, 1200x1590)

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Huh, you didn't even- "I already know. I'm still new with my power and I know you're far more experienced. You want to do it sooner than later."

"Well. Mind getting Benedict then?"

He nods. Even without using his power, it doesn't take long for him to return with Benedict. The robotic chef, while annoyed at being interrupted from his craft, is intrigued as to what you plan on doing for the makeshift anomalous power training session.

"So, Benedict, you can REFINE stuff now." You squat down, ready to teach these two novices how to properly use their powers. "That's good. However, practice makes perfect. You've used your ability to make unique foods but you need to use this new power as much as you can. Break it in."

You place three items onto the ground: Your FEDKILLER, your REPROGRAMMED IMPLANT, and one of the many blood replacement vials you have. You can't exactly take off your suit but he can just press his blade against it, no?

"You'll refine these three and my bodysuit, which I assume you can refine it like you did with the dumpster. And for Maru, I just need you to get more used to using your sword period. While it's cool to pull it out for special occasions, you need to TRUST your power. Oh, and-" You toss over the bag of ARCADY DUST in front of Benedict. "Take this afterwards to keep your mind intact."

"Now, am I the best source on how to best train your anomalous powers? No but I'm your only one so...this is what we'll do."

The two look at each other and deciding that they really don't have any better option, Benedict is the first one to move. He begins to rub and press his blade against the various items you gave him, as if he's trying to feel the texture of material of each object through his cold and unyielding metal blade.

"Good, good. Study each imperfection. Every flaw unique to each object."
"So I may slice them out." Benedict finishes what you were about to say. He makes several small scratches and incisions across the glass and metal of the first three objects before moving to rub his blade against your bodysuit.

He doesn't slice through it for self evident reasons but he does do the same rubbing and pressing motions he did with the other items. The cold metal feels oddly nice on your skin. Maybe it's just your body being sore after a long day's work.

He pulls his armblade back and with one clean slice, he slices right through the three objects on the floor before slicing right across your bodysuit. Maruyama watches on with worry but you have a gut feeling this will work out just fine.

Just as you expected, none of the items are actually damaged by the slice he made. All four of the items he touch begin to glow with a brilliant white hue before each of them is completely refined into something brand new. The blood replacement vial now has a dark fuchsia hue to it, your pink bodysuit feels a LOT more comfortable and more...

Well it was already pretty skin tight but the thing feels like it's literally a part of you now.

File: YOURCOLOR.png (697 KB, 1024x1280)

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Every movement you make feels like you're not even wearing anything underneath. As you rub your hand across your stomach, you can even feel the fur from one of your previous mutations as if nothing was blocking it. It's like your suit is your actual second skin. You might be able to remove it but a part of you almost doesn't want to.

The implant doesn't seem to have changed at all. Maybe the changes are too minute for the naked eye to see. Most you can say is it looks less bloody (given you ripped it out of a dead person.)

Now your shotgun? It looks completely different from before. While it was obstinately a normal double barreled shotgun in appearance before, the one before you is a garishly bright pink. The barrel is made out of an unknown light pink metal, same with the trigger. The metal grip, butt, and forearm of the shotgun are now replaced with carved bone.

An odd dark pink-like rust coats everything metallic on the gun. Weird, why is an imperfection added?

"Say, what's with the rust?"

"It...when I sliced through that one in particular, I could hear a voice inside of it. I could not slice away the imperfection of a human idea. You can perfect physical objects but ideas...no. I refuse to." Huh? Wait, does he mean-

[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] It is a part of you.
[UNSTABLE] THE PART THAT DEMANDS VIOLENCE.
[PERSON OF INTEREST] The part that refuses to run.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] A part of you that will live long after you die.

ITEMS REFINED!
>NICOLE'S FEDKILLER (Your PARADIGM. ATTACK ROLL: WILLPOWER+VIOLENCE+3. Deals equal measures of FLESH and RESTRAINT damage to enemies. Attacks made by it deal lingering MIXED damage and will partially negate any regeneration on the enemy. Nothing will survive this.)
>REPROGRAMMED 面纱 IMPLANT x1 (When installed into someone, it permanently boosts their RESTRAINT/WILLPOWER/TALENT/FLESH by 1. Grants the user a moderate resistance to all forms of anomalous phenomenon)
>'공습' BLOOD REPLACEMENT VIAL (When consumed, boosts all stats by 3 temporarily. When used by a SILVER IMPLANT user, boosts all stats by 4 temporarily and converts all dices the user rolls to d8s until it wears off.)
>COMBAT BODYSUIT MARK THETA (+2 MAX FLESH and +1 VIOLENCE while worn. Has a high chance of blocking attacks and reduces FLESH damage taken by 1. Once per mission, your suit may block 3 damage instead of 1.)

Benedict begins to huff away at the ARCADY DUST to regain his senses. After doing so, he promptly turns around and heads back into the steakhouse. The last thing he says before leaving you with Maruyama tells you he got something out of it.

"...Perfection is only as good as the perceiver can make of it. Without a perfected lens, any image will be distorted. I am that distortion, am I?" And with that, he's gone.
>-ARCADY DUST

Maruyama is staring at the ground, almost as if he's humiliated by what Benedict is able to do all of that so easily.

"Hey. It's okay, Maruyama. Think about it like this."

File: TRUSTYBLADE.jpg (40 KB, 512x512)

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"Benedict...had to get his powers through unethical experiments done on him. I constantly mutate whenever I train my powers in any meaningful way. You woke up your powers with no side effects to yourself."

"I suppose so. I still feel a bit emasculated when I compare myself to you two." Maruyama is fiddling with his sheathed katana. "All I got is a sword."

"Hey! It saved our bacon when we had to deal with the club owner and it saved us time this mission. It's a cool sword. Nice engravings too, even if they offer no tactical-"

Maruyama squints at you as if you are speaking in tongues.

You clap your hands. "Okay, seriously, you need confidence in your abilities. It's a negative feedback loop otherwise. I'm not asking you to just 'get over it' but let me help, okay? Draw your blade."

Maruyama sighs but he goes through with it. With shaky hands, he draws his bronze katana for you to see. It's clear that even holding this thing takes an intense level of concentration and focus. Sweat is beading across his forehead.

"Tell me. Why are you scared to hold it?"

"...It feels wrong. Like I'm not supposed to show it." His hand is beginning to shake even worse as he talks. "Like it's supposed to stay sheathed."

Hm. If it's a manifestation of his perspective, what he stands for, it's not a stretch to imagine he still feels repressed about who he truly is.

"No one is going to see it but me and you. You trust me, don't you?"

His shaking begins to subdue a bit but he doesn't answer at first. He simply stares at you as if he's waiting to see what else you have to say.

"That's good. I know it's scary to show your heart like this. Lord, I probably only get away with using my powers so freely because I have to use them every day to survive." You can't help but to laugh at yourself. "And violent impulses but still. Now, what do you care about most?"

"...Time. I know it sounds silly and obvious but-"
"No, no, I'm not judging you. Just say whatever comes to your mind. it's a mental thing."

"Right." Maruyama's grip almost loosens for a second but he keeps holding onto his blade. "I'm afraid that I already wasted all of my life. Every day of work, every day I remember her face, I wonder if I could've spent that time better. if I wasted all of my good years with nothing to show for it."

"I don't want others to feel like that. I want them to have the time that I don't. To be able to live a fulfilled life. And maybe then, I could feel like the time I spent on this earth was worth living."

"You didn't waste your life, Maru. Hell, you're only in your 30s, right? You still have your whole life ahead of you."

"It doesn't feel like that. It feels like it's all slipping away." He's almost about ready to hide his sword away but you decide to give him a bit of a helping hand.

"Is that so? So you're saying everything you did was a waste? NOTHING you did and NOBODY you talked to was worth spending your time on? That nothing you did really mattered?"

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Maruyama furrows his eyebrows upon hearing what you said. "That's what that voice said. When I first found this blade."
"But that would be the wrong way to view it. You have me. You have Kiara. You have the respect of my other allies for pulling your weight. Would you say that time was worthless?"

Maruyama is now firmly gripping his blade with a resolve not there mere moments ago. "Of course not. Even if I was given the option to go back, I wouldn't if it meant erasing the time I did spend."

"Then you didn't waste any time. Every second you spent was worth it if it meant arriving to where you're at. It's all about the journey..."
"...not the destination. If I only worry about the destination, all the time I could be spending..."
"...would be wasted." You finish for him.

Maruyama takes a moment to process everything he heard but with some quick, if sloppy swings, he begins to weld his sword as if it was a more natural part of him. "That was...really nice to hear. Thank you."
>BLADE OF A SORROWFUL MEMORY stats revealed! (ATTACK ROLL: WILLPOWER+COGNIZANCE+1. Has the ability of TIME ACCELERATION, allowing him to rapidly age anything his blade touches or to save time when traveling during missions.)
>+1 WILLPOWER to MARUYAMA permanently! MARUYAMA will not lose any RESTRAINT when using his sword!

"I'm glad I could help." You offer him a comforting smile.

"I'm...going to talk to the others if that's okay. I don't want to wallow in my self pity and waste what time I have." "Go ahead. I have someone I need to talk to."

With that, Maruyama is gone. You turn your gaze to the front entrance of the steakhouse to see Frank standing there with his shotgun in hand. It's clear what he wants to do. The first thing you hear him say is... (Choose 1)

>"Cool gun. Let's teach you how to use it, huh?" (+1 TALENT to you and Frank. Both of you will passively deal more damage with your firearms and will have a slight chance to not use ammo when firing them.)
>"No point having cool powers if you'll just die. I need to toughen you up. It's Friday night, let's DANCE." (Both of you will gain +1 FLESH and a minor chance to not receive CRIPPLING INJURES when you would otherwise get one.)
>"Fists only. Let's fight like men, you weird deer freak." (+1 VIOLENCE to you and Frank. He'll be able to teach you some minor martial arts techniques to make you a competent fighter even if you're disarmed.)
>"C'mon, let's do some stretches. Don't want you to get fat, fatty." (+1 TALENT to you and Frank Both of you will have a small chance to automatically dodge melee attacks from hereon out.)
>"Do you want to know what real pain looks like? Let me show you." (+1 FLESH and VIOLENCE to you and Frank. Both of you will be pretty roughed up after this.)

HEY SO GUESS WHAT MY POWER WENT OUT A SECOND TIMETHAT'S SO FUCKING FUNNY. It came back on shortly but FUCK, man, really?
You'll get Benedict's improvement details next update, next one should be shorter and quicker.

>>6075678
>"Do you want to know what real pain looks like? Let me show you." (+1 FLESH and VIOLENCE to you and Frank. Both of you will be pretty roughed up after this.)

>>6075741
+1
Drinks will dull the pain soon. Right now we ROCK

>>6075678
>"Cool gun. Let's teach you how to use it, huh?" (+1 TALENT to you and Frank. Both of you will passively deal more damage with your firearms and will have a slight chance to not use ammo when firing them.)

>>6075678
>"Cool gun. Let's teach you how to use it, huh?" (+1 TALENT to you and Frank. Both of you will passively deal more damage with your firearms and will have a slight chance to not use ammo when firing them.)

Nicole is a TALENT kinda gal. Let’s make Fedkiller as broken as possible.

>>6075678
>"Cool gun. Let's teach you how to use it, huh?" (+1 TALENT to you and Frank. Both of you will passively deal more damage with your firearms and will have a slight chance to not use ammo when firing them.)
Fedkiller doesn't use Talent, but it does use ammo.

>>6075905
I am terrible at reading comprehension, so in the same spirit of improving Fedkiller, I’d like to change my vote to:
>"Do you want to know what real pain looks like? Let me show you." (+1 FLESH and VIOLENCE to you and Frank. Both of you will be pretty roughed up after this.)

>>6076021
Likewise I am dumb. Fuck.

>>6075868
Change to:
>"Do you want to know what real pain looks like? Let me show you." (+1 FLESH and VIOLENCE to you and Frank. Both of you will be pretty roughed up after this.)

>>6075678
>"Cool gun. Let's teach you how to use it, huh?" (+1 TALENT to you and Frank. Both of you will passively deal more damage with your firearms and will have a slight chance to not use ammo when firing them.)

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"Do you want to know what real pain looks like? Let me show you." He places his shotgun back on the holster on his back. He unsheathes the knife hanging off of his belt before gesturing at you to pull out your own weapon. It's clear he won't take no for an answer.

From what you know of his stats, using this knife is actively throwing...but you don't want to kill him after all. You draw an old weapon you bought a while ago: BEYOND LOVE AND HATE. The small dagger in your hand is made out of flimsy, weak paper that couldn't even scratch a fly. It's your backup weapon in case you fight anything that is immune to physical damage.

Frank scoffs at the knife you pulled out but he's smart enough to know what it actually is. "So be it."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHyf8fHloow - FRANK BATTLE THEME

Before you have time to even say anything back, he rushes at you at a breakneck sprint. He closes the ten foot gap between the two of you in less than half a second. Shit, he's fast.

He doesn't even wait for you to process what's going on before he starts swinging. You try to deflect with your dagger and shockingly, the paper dagger does manage to hold its own against his ETF KNIFE. He's relentless with his assault, though, and it doesn't take him long before he manages to disarm you. Your knife is sent fluttering to the floor.

"Sloppy!" He slams his knife into your now exposed wrist. The durable rubber-like material of your MARK THETA suit prevents him from ripping your arm to shreds but FUCK, the impact of it still hurts like a motherfucker.

You try to get some distance between the two of you by slamming your foot into his stomach, given how reckless he was with his assault. You manage to send him stumbling back a foot or two but it's only enough to buy you a few seconds at most. Just long enough for you to pull your dagger back to you via telekinesis.

However you forgot that you're facing a 19 year old hopped up on adrenaline and sheer spite. He throws himself at you, slamming all of his bodyweight against you. You grind your heels into the ground but fuck, that knocked the wind right out of you. He doesn't give you a moment to recover. He slams his boot down on your foot before grinding HARD onto it.

You can feel the bones in your foot beginning to crack and dislocate. Shit, this kid's relentless.

[ADVANCED INTUTION] His guard is lowered. Use your antlers, he won't be able to react.

Welp, time to use them like god intended. You reel your head back, struggling through the pain, before slamming one of your antlers right down onto his head. CRACK!

"FUCK!" Frank cries out in pain. He stumbles back away, clutching his forehead. Blood is oozing down his face like a roaring storm was raining down on him. "I THOUGHT THOSE WERE HOLLOW OR SOMETHING WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY'RE REAL ANTLERS."

"WHO'S LEARNING WHAT REAL PAIN NOW, ASSHOLE!" You trot back a few feet away while he's still recovering from the concussion you gave him.

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You charge RIGHT at him, antlers pointed right at his stomach. It hurts to run right now but you have to try-

"NICE TRY!" Your charge is grinded to a halt. You try to move your head but it refuses to budge more than a few inches. You can barely make out his hands gripping down HARD on your antlers.

[ADVANCED INTUTION] Brace for it. He has enough strength to crack them.

The warning is enough to make sure you don't immediately pass out from the pain but your head is now SEETHING in complete, utter agony. Light pink liquid pours out of the cracks forming in your antlers, splattering down your face and onto the street below.

[ADVANCED INTUTION] He won't be able to break them. Not for a while. Brace through the pain, he'll lower his guard.

You grind your teeth in a desperate attempt to prevent yourself from screaming. Every neuron in your head is frying under the intense, migraine-like headache spreading throughout your head. You swear you hear Frank laughing like a fucking retard at the sight of your suffering.

His grip weakens for the briefest of moments. You take this moment to throw all of your bodyweight forward when he least expects it. Unfortunately, it's not enough to get his hands off your damn antlers but it does send both of you falling onto the hard concrete street.

When both of you slam down HARD onto the floor, it's enough to get him to lose his grip. The two of you are laying prone on the floor, struggling to recover from the throbbing headaches both of you have. Your ADRENALINE IMPLANT activates, letting you get back onto your feet before he can.

You slam your foot down onto his stomach. HARD. Any wind he was recovering was knocked right out of him from that simple impact. You slam it again. And again. And again. Every stomp causes the ETF agent to squeal and hiss in pain.

[ADVANCED INTUTION] He'll stab your leg. Hard. Don't dodge.

You feel something ripping into your leg right as the voice said so. Every inch of your leg is seething in agony at the sharp knife now deeply embedded into your leg. You almost feel a tooth shattering from how hard you're biting down to suppress a scream.

Yet that was his only weapon. Now he's fucked. You raise your leg up one last time before slamming your foot as hard as you can onto his stomach.

It's still not enough to keep him down. His hands grab onto your foot and with all of the strength he has left, he pulls you back down with him. Your back slams HARD against the floor and for a moment you felt something dislocate.

[ADVANCED INTUTION] Rest easily. He's tuckered out. The fight is over. Accept his handshake, it won't be a trick.

As soon as your vision stops swimming, you see that Frank is now sitting back on with nausea washing over his face. He nearly vomits but he holds it back long enough to flash a smile. "Didn't expect a girl to be on par with me. Good work."

You have to admit, if you didn't have this combat bodysuit on, he probably would've overpowered you. That was close.

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Both of you are pretty mangled but the two of you COULD keep going if you really wanted to.

You dig the knife out of your leg. You notice how the material that makes your combat bodysuit is immediately filling up the wound punched in by the knife. Huh, cool. It doesn't HEAL your injury but you feel like it'll help you to heal it off quicker. It still hurts to move anything but you definitely feel tougher after all of that.

>-3 FLESH (reduced from 4) to Frank, -2 FLESH (reduced from 5) to you!
>+1 max FLESH and VIOLENCE to you and FRANK!
>FRANK's MAX FLESH is 8, your MAX FLESH is 7. Both of your VIOLENCE stats are now 7. FLESH for both of you is now 4/8 and 4/7 respectively.
>+1 RAPPORT WITH FRANK! 2/8 NOW!

He holds out his hand. You accept it, grabbing onto his hand. The both of you shake on a fight well done.

"Tired now. Wanna get drunk?"
"What do I look like, a basic bitch?" You snort. "Let's go inside."

The two of you get onto your feet. Due to one of your feet definitely being shattered or at least dislocated, Frank offers a bit of kindness by letting you lean on his shoulder as you two to the steak house. He immediately pulls away once you reach the front door with a snort.

"Last one to the table is a dumb looking doe bitch." He immediately breaks into a sprint, way faster than you can run in your tired state.

Prick. That's more than you expected from him at least. You spend the next few minutes waddling through the abandoned, opulent steakhouse. You already got a good look inside and aside from the glass exterior, it looks like any other steakhouse. Maybe it's the migraine preventing you from making any meaningful observations.

You soon find that all of your allies are sitting around a large round table, with Frank + Otto + Alexis sitting at the west end while Maruyama + Adam + Benedict sit at the east end. There's one chair planted at the 'front' or north end of the table, clearly meant for you.

A king's feast worth of food and drink is scattered across the table. Waygu beef, steaming hot lobsters, bisques and soups, smoked salmon, piles of biscuits caked in garlic butter, scallops...all with high class wines and whiskey. Your stomach grows upon seeing all of this fresh, delicious food in front of you.

Your group looks up at you and for a moment, worry and panic washes over their faces...before they put two and two together and realize that Frank probably had something to do with it. You dismiss any worries with one simple statement.

"I threw a fucking road roller at someone, if I wanted to actually fight him I would've. It was a sparring match." With that, you sit down at the table. "So, no one is gonna notice we're eating all of this food for free, yeah?"

"Considering no one is here but us AND the chefs owe us?" Otto, with his bare hands, is chewing down on a prime hunk of ribeye. "Don't think they care that much."

"fair." As you prep a plate of biscuits and salmon, you take a moment to think on what to say to everyone.

You don't have a lot of time before they get ass drunk. You probably can't ask all six of your allies individual questions but you can probably ask each side of the table something.

Choose three questions to ask each side.

WEST SIDE
>"Okay so you have a contact with the HEAD? The fucking GOVERNMENT on the City? HOW?" You have to ask Alexis how the FUCK she managed to achieve that in about two weeks.
>"You seemed kinda out of it when we were talking about the moon. Mind talking about it?" She seems to have a personal connection with that mystery.
>"So, how do you feel about my crew?" You do wonder how Otto sees you and the people you work with now that he worked with them personally.
>"I feel like we're owed this for getting the briefcase back, Otto. What is even inside it? I don't want it to just be a mysterious macguffin." Knowledge is power.
>"You know, how the hell are you an ETF agent when you're this young?" You are a bit worried about this kid, given how he seems to be overcompensating hard with all this.
>"Say, do you know anything about a Bennett Huxley?" You've dealt with Huxleys before and you did hear something about Frank working with him before. You want to know just in case you have to deal with him later.
>Write in.

EAST SIDE
>"How's Kiara been treating you, Maru?" You can't help but to be curious at how they know each other and you do want to keep an eye on your fellow SEEKER.
>"I saw you drink a fuck ton when I first met you. Wanna do a drinking challenge, Maru?" You want to have some FUN, damnit, and you want him to loosen up after that funk he got in.
>"Just a little mental check up. Your head feeling fine, Benedict?" Given his...fragile mental state, you do want to make sure he won't corrode into an anomaly any time soon.
>"I gotta point out, that new power you have is cute. You picked that because of Adam, huh?" It works too well to not be an intentional decision. You want to tease him a little bit, lighten the mood, you know?
>"I imagine your name is gonna spread once this incident. You think you're going to be ready for the extra attention, Adam?" You are worried about how this is going to impact his business down the line.
>"Gotta admit, you had balls when you dealt with that anomaly. First time refuting one?" You are curious how well versed with the anomalous he is. Maybe he can warn you about other anomalies?
>Write in.

>Write in (Do something else with your allies? Offer your allies some equipment? Something else completely?)

>>6076372
>"You seemed kinda out of it when we were talking about the moon. Mind talking about it?" She seems to have a personal connection with that mystery.
>"I feel like we're owed this for getting the briefcase back, Otto. What is even inside it? I don't want it to just be a mysterious macguffin." Knowledge is power.
>"You know, how the hell are you an ETF agent when you're this young?" You are a bit worried about this kid, given how he seems to be overcompensating hard with all this.

>"I saw you drink a fuck ton when I first met you. Wanna do a drinking challenge, Maru?" You want to have some FUN, damnit, and you want him to loosen up after that funk he got in.
>"Just a little mental check up. Your head feeling fine, Benedict?" Given his...fragile mental state, you do want to make sure he won't corrode into an anomaly any time soon.
>"I imagine your name is gonna spread once this incident. You think you're going to be ready for the extra attention, Adam?" You are worried about how this is going to impact his business down the line.

>>6076372
>"Okay so you have a contact with the HEAD? The fucking GOVERNMENT on the City? HOW?" You have to ask Alexis how the FUCK she managed to achieve that in about two weeks.
>"You seemed kinda out of it when we were talking about the moon. Mind talking about it?" She seems to have a personal connection with that mystery.
>"Say, do you know anything about a Bennett Huxley?" You've dealt with Huxleys before and you did hear something about Frank working with him before. You want to know just in case you have to deal with him later.
>"How's Kiara been treating you, Maru?" You can't help but to be curious at how they know each other and you do want to keep an eye on your fellow SEEKER.
>"I gotta point out, that new power you have is cute. You picked that because of Adam, huh?" It works too well to not be an intentional decision. You want to tease him a little bit, lighten the mood, you know?
>"Gotta admit, you had balls when you dealt with that anomaly. First time refuting one?" You are curious how well versed with the anomalous he is. Maybe he can warn you about other anomalies?

>>6076372
>"You seemed kinda out of it when we were talking about the moon. Mind talking about it?" She seems to have a personal connection with that mystery.
Y-Corp's ultimate plan to abandon the City and the shitty planet to live on the moon, and to rebuild humanity without the trappings and corruption of the City repeating history...
"Project Moon"
It really is that simple. But how do the old Russian space operations fit into this with I-Corp? Space = cold, but is that all?
>"I feel like we're owed this for getting the briefcase back, Otto. What is even inside it? I don't want it to just be a mysterious macguffin." Knowledge is power.
Better not be photos of the RED Spy fucking Nicole's mom. It's probably files on that one anomalous project or about SHIFTERS. He might get real interested if we pass him the S-CORP LEDGER the Admiral gave us, since it talked about that big PARADIGM REFRACTION PROJECT or whatever it was called
>"You know, how the hell are you an ETF agent when you're this young?" You are a bit worried about this kid, given how he seems to be overcompensating hard with all this.
I'm curious about this bratty upstart. I don't think it's that surprising for a setting like this where despite lethality and inhumane chaos people can and do still live to old age in the City

>"How's Kiara been treating you, Maru?" You can't help but to be curious at how they know each other and you do want to keep an eye on your fellow SEEKER.
I have no idea if they'll end up a couple, but Kiara sounds hell of a lot better as a person than his ex so he'll be able to recover with time
>"I gotta point out, that new power you have is cute. You picked that because of Adam, huh?" It works too well to not be an intentional decision. You want to tease him a little bit, lighten the mood, you know?
His mental state has been decent enough this mission compared to other times. Only real act-outs were with the Cleaner trio that had the suitcase bomb
>"I imagine your name is gonna spread once this incident. You think you're going to be ready for the extra attention, Adam?" You are worried about how this is going to impact his business down the line.
Handler is backing him up so they'll be okay, but I still want to ask

>>6076403
Change
>>6076516
+1

>>6076372
West:
>"Okay so you have a contact with the HEAD? The fucking GOVERNMENT on the City? HOW?" You have to ask Alexis how the FUCK she managed to achieve that in about two weeks.
>"So, how do you feel about my crew?" You do wonder how Otto sees you and the people you work with now that he worked with them personally.
>"Say, do you know anything about a Bennett Huxley?" You've dealt with Huxleys before and you did hear something about Frank working with him before. You want to know just in case you have to deal with him later.

East:
>"I saw you drink a fuck ton when I first met you. Wanna do a drinking challenge, Maru?" You want to have some FUN, damnit, and you want him to loosen up after that funk he got in.
>"Just a little mental check up. Your head feeling fine, Benedict?" Given his...fragile mental state, you do want to make sure he won't corrode into an anomaly any time soon.
>"I imagine your name is gonna spread once this incident. You think you're going to be ready for the extra attention, Adam?" You are worried about how this is going to impact his business down the line.

QM, I could swear I’ve read an absolute fever dream of a QST about a year ago called Two Idiots Commit Murder, starring a certain Frank (I don’t know his last name) and Bennet Huxley. Is there any relation to that other quest?

>>6076682
That's real and it was by the MANAGER, HELP! guy who is running DISFORTUNA now

>>6076700
Sounds funny. Can't find it on suptg for some reason.

>>6076705
https://archived.moe/qst/thread/5876026/

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>>6076819
Nifty. Thank you.

Rolled 2 (1d3)

WEST SIDE
OUT OF IT: yg4, gDz, pDv
HEAD: yg4
BENNETT: yg4, PLN
YOUNG: gDu, pDv
CREW: PLN
SUITCASE: gDu, pDv

EAST SIDE:
KIARA: gDu, pDv, yg4
NEW POWER: gDu, pDv, yg4
INCIDENT: gDu, PdV
GOT BALLS: yg4
DRINKING: PLN
YOU OKAY?: PLN

So, OUT OF IT and a three way tie for West, KIARA + NEW POWER + INCIDENT for East. I'll just roll a 1d3 to decide which two questions you'll ask for West since it's not THAT big enough of a deal for a tie break.

1: BENNETT + YOUNG
2: BENNETT + SUITCASE
3: YOUNG + SUITCASE

>>6076682
Me and the QM who ran it are friends. I reference his works sometimes since I like his stuff. It's no more deeper than that.

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You dab away at the light pink fluid leaking out of your antlers with some napkins. You can only hope that heals later. You decide to focus on the WEST SIDE first if only because you have a question for all three of them.

"So. What the hell is even in the briefcase?"

Everyone begins to murmur and mutter, realizing that they really don't know any specifics beyond 'important singularity stuff', which clarifies jack and shit. Otto glances around the room like he's expecting someone to break in at any moment.

"Look. I respect you but this shit is classified beyond all measures. I'm probably in hot water even though I recovered this. Especially if what Katherine said about reading it-"
Alexis interrupts him with a firm cough. "She wouldn't rat out SHIT. She would be killed by a Judicator if she said ANYTHING about what she saw."

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] One of the highest positions in the City. A Judicator is a high ranking member of the Head who is tasked with maintaining and enforcing most, if not all, of the laws in the City.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Keeping an eye on patents is one such thing they keep track of.
[PERSON OF INTEREST] Wait, doesn't the suitcase need his biometrics?
[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You do realize she had incredible control over her body and she DATED him, for heaven's sake. She probably has the ability to mimic them.

"Fair enough. I can't really say much since even I don't understand a lot of it myself." Otto plants the briefcase onto the table. "PARADIGM REFRACTION is the phrase used a lot during it. I'm not that well versed in anomalous shit but after I've seen the shit YOU'VE done, Nicky? I wanted to get in on it."

"Apparently U-Corp's singularity, from what little they told me, can help to 'refine' them. A lot of it went over my head but from what I got, they're working with L and P-Company a while back to create the 'most fundamental PARADIGM that could exist.' Some sort of super weapon I think?"

"So I just assume they want to make some super powerful anomalous human to 'prove' something. That's another phrase they used a lot. To 'prove' some theorem about humanity. To make a 'better' humanity. It's a lot of weird esoteric shit that I can't explain."

Hm. That's slightly worrisome. A lot of your allies clearly feel the same way, especially Benedict and Maruyama. Those two are starting to drink and refill their whiskey glasses pretty damn quick...

Best to change the subject.

"So, Alexis? You seemed a bit out of it when we were talking about the moon earlier. Y-Corp's involvement, yeah, simple enough. But you seemed...oddly finnicky when we talked about it."

Alexis' whole body tenses up the moment you ask her the question. Riiight, probably not the best topic swerve but you hope it's not that big of a deal.

"Nothing good will come out of it." Alexis cryptically responds. "They may be the first ones in the modern day to arrive there. There will always be someone to ruin it, though."

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"First, it was the Americans claiming that they won the race. Now, I imagine the moment any outside entity finds out about this, they'll come rushing over to ruin it." If you didn't know any better, it's almost like Alexis was talking from experience.

You doubt she literally experienced what she's talking about but it's reminding her of something.

"I-Corp has to know. They produce a lot of insulation material, they would absolutely be supplying Y-Corp with it for suits and ships and...A-All it would take is something to leak-"

[CORPORATE INSIDER + INVOLVED] Sweat is dripping down her face. "And you said X-Corp has the satellite now and oh god if it was shot down by the Head they would know too and they don't approve of it and I-Corp would be implicated and god what if they dig into my family's past and-"

"Hey! It's going to be fine! If it's been active for this long, surely the Head would've done something already, right?" Maruyama tries his best to dissuade Alexis' worries but it's clear she's already riling herself up.

No wonder she's worried. You're not sure how the Head would feel about a whole Company disappearing from the City, let alone another company helping them. If I-Corp knows about Y-Corp's true intentions, you wonder...it might be a good idea to associate with it.. Maybe they hate the spooks too?

Yeah. No more hard hitting questions. As you chew on one of the pipping hot biscuits, you try again to swerve the topic.

"So! Frank!" Your voice cracks for the briefest moments. "Who the hell is Bennet Huxley?" That immediately snaps Alexis out of her funk and Maruyama? Maruyama's face twists into an annoyed frown. "I heard some pretty-"

"He's a cunt, he's a liar, he's a backstabber." Frank's mouth twists into a mockery of a smile. "He's a clown. He's my shadow. He's my brother from another mother." Despite his voice oozing with contempt and rage, there's a hint of love in his words. Like he's insulting a person he's known since he was a tiny kid.

"Without me around, I don't even know what that prick does with his free time. For all I know that fucker is probably up in space with the other assholes you were talking about." Frank stabs his steak knife deep into the prime New York Strip (whatever the fuck a New York is). "You want to know who he is?"

"ETF-Phi. One of the top rank ETF agents in M and H-Corp. All he cares about is money so if you piss off some corpo, he'll probably be after ya. Constantly wears a dyed red bunny mask, only uses a baton. Just bribe him if you come across him, that's the only language he understands."

"Yeah, sounds like him." Alexis sneers. "Not like you're any better."
"Fuck you too, ruskie." Frank bites back with his own snark.
"I'm not working with that bastard if you somehow make him your ally." Maruyama firmly states his mind.

Well, sounds like he's a simple man with a simple worldview. Honestly refreshing compared to the complex plots and mysteries.

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Well at least that swinged the mood away from dread. While half of your allies begin jabbing and insulting each other in what you can only hope is in a friendly jesting way, you turn your attention to Adam and Benedict.

"You know, Benedict, I gotta point out that new power you have is cute."

"HUH. WHAT DO YOU MEAN. I DO not see how REFINMENET is all that adorable." Benedict tilts his head like a confused bird seeing a shiny new toy.

"C'mon. He's a mechanic, you can refine stuff, it's obvious. You picked it to help him, huh? Aren't you charming."

Benedict blinks a few times as if he's trying to process your words. A neon red blush immediately coats the human half of his face. "Shut up shut up it's not like that SHUT UP." He immediately focuses all of his attention and energy on stuffing a massive hunk of lamb down his throat.

"Hey, hey, calm down." Adam tries his best to calm down his friend with gentle pats on the back. "Chew." He snaps his gaze over to you with a sneer.

"Hey, it was just a joke! After everything that I said before, I thought it was warranted."

"Yeah, yeah, just be careful next time. You know how sensitive his mood can be." Once Benedict isn't trying to choke on a pile of meat, Adam (and soon Benedict) do crack their own smiles. "It is nice, though, Benedict."
"thank you." Benedict manages to choke down the lamb leg he was eating. "I do not wish to be a burden. That is the reason I picked it."

[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] How heartburning. Imagine letting another one influence who you are.
[UNSTABLE] SHUT UP YOU'RE LITERALLY TRAPPED IN OUR HEAD, KEK.
[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] Trapped is a bit of an exaggeration.

"C'mon. You're not a burden. No one here is." Adam comforts his friend.

"Oh, right, while I got your attention Adam. I imagine your name is gonna spread once this incident. You think you're going to be ready for the extra attention?"

"Of course I am." He responds with no hesitation in his voice. "And I imagine a certain SOMEONE is more than willing to HELP, RIGHT?" He's staring down Otto like he owes him something.

Otto is too busy chugging down a bottle of whiskey to hear what Adam said.

"I said. I IMAGINE. A CERTAIN BRONZE HAIRED MAN. WOULD BE WILLING TO HELP."

It takes until Otto finishes the whole damn bottle to even say anything. "Help with what? We're-"
"WITH MY NAME BEING ASSOCIATED WITH THE INCIDENT THAT HAPPENED HERE!!!" For a moment you swear Adam's hair was about to ignite on fire from sheer fucking annoyance.

"oh yeah sure uhhhh i'll think of something...later." Otto grabs another bottle of whiskey, cracks it open, and begins to chug straight from it. Adam sighs at the sight of this but he shrugs it off. "Yeah, we'll figure something out, it'll be fine. I've dealt with worse."

"FUCK YOU!" "FUCK YOU!" Ah, Maruyama and Frank are having some 'fun'. Best to break it up.

"Hey, Maru."
"FUCK Y- Oh, hey, Nicole! What's up?" Frank, seeing that he can't yell at Maru anymore, turns his attention back to his food.

File: MARUYAMA.jpg (27 KB, 360x360)

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"How's Kiara been treating you?"

"Oh, very well!" The smile now on his face could light up the god damn City for seven days straight. "I haven't really had someone text me as often as she has. hell, I expect her to be calling me the moment I leave this place."

"Damn, really? Didn't know you were into robots." You snark. You hope it doesn't rub him the wrong way due to his past.

"Pft! Isn't she into girls or something?" Maruyama waves his hand. "Considering how invested she is in you. I wouldn't want to impose anything.
"Pretty sure she swings both ways, dude. She never said anything about being only into girls."

This causes Maruyama to pause for a moment. That's when a blush crosses his face. "Huh. Okay, well, uh. Yeah, I don't expect to enter a relationship but she has been very nice."

"Robofucker." Otto puts down his third bottle of whiskey down onto the table. "Robofucker."
"Shut up! It's not like you have room to talk! You still love a eldritch horror shape shifter!" Maruyama jabs the steak knife he's using in Otto's direction.
"Fair! Got me there." Otto relents.

"Hey. I don't blame him. Robots are ho-"
"SHUT UP NO ONE NEEDS TO KNOW." Alexis immediately interrupts Frank before he can say anything.
"Am I hot?" Benedict points at himself. "I am a robot too."
"I'M NOT A FAGGOT I WOULDN'T KNOW!!!!"

Pft. You, Maru, and Adam can't help but to laugh at what's going on with those three goobers.

"But yeah! She mostly checks up on me to make sure I'm safe and, uh, I haven't told her about the sword yet since I'm worried she'll..."
"Tell her, man. She'll probably be ecstatic."
"But what if she gets the wrong idea? I mean, it's literally me. Manifested. Right?"

You simply shrug. "I have anomalous powers and me using my telekinesis on you wouldn't mean I wanna fuck you. Just show her it, she's your friend."

"...Yeah, yeah, you're right. But yeah, she's been really nice to me and fuck, can't really remember the last time I felt, I dunno. Happy? It's nice."

Well, that's good. You don't really know what's going to happen with those two but whatever does happen, you imagine it'll probably work out. Now that you have nothing left to ask, it's time to gorge and drink yourself retarded. You grab a bottle of wine that was laying on the table and crack it open.

Time begins to blur together as you begin to eat and drink the seemingly endless amount of food and booze before you. Your allies begin to ramble on about bizarre, non-sensical stuff...or maybe that's the migraine and booze making it hard to process anything.

Adam is the first one to pass out. Then it's Frank. Alexis passes out after stuffing too much potatoes down her gullet. The only ones who are left cognizant and aren't in some kind of food coma are now you, Benedict, Maruyama and Otto.

Otto stumbles up from his table, swaying back and forth with his briefcase in hand. He stumbles away, ready to deliver the documents despite being ass drunk. He leaves some odd strips of paper behind...?

File: HELPINGYOUBACKHOME.jpg (69 KB, 1175x636)

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Benedict and Maruyama are pretty sober despite the piles of empty booze bottles around them.

Benedict helps Adam and Frank up to their feet, dragging the two of them away. Now, it's just you, Alexis, and Maruyama.

Your head is swimming. Your lips are latched around yet another bottle of whiskey. It burns GOOD going down and before you know it, the bottle clatters onto the table. Your stomach is full from all of the biscuits, salmon, and steak you stuffed down your gullet. The table is nearly empty of all of the freshly cooked food. There's maybe a few biscuits left but that's about it."

"Mmh." Maruyama takes another sip from his fifteen glass of wine. His face isn't even remotely flustered. "Recite the alphabet, Nicole."

"A...F...uh." You try your best but your brain is too fried to even attempt this task.

"Yeah, taking the two of you home. C'mon. Otto left a ticket for us."
"ogey." You stumble up to your feet. Maruyama grabs the odd slip of paper before moving to grab both you and Alexis. Holding the two of you upright by letting you two lean on his shoulders, he begins to escort you out of the building.

The pitch black streets are only illuminated by the faint moonlight above. Maruyama leads you and Alexis down the streets with barely any strain despite holding up the two of you. hehe. sstrong...fuck.

You regain a bit of awareness when he leads the three of you onto a train. The same slick, futuristic one from T-Corp. You close your eyes for a few moments, god they're so heavy.

...
...
...

When you next open up your eyes, you're sprawled out across your bed. The only thing on you is your combat bodysuit. Everything else has been left on a nearby chair. Most of them are coated in booze and drool stains. Huh.

You notice a figure moving around in your room, readjusting things and dusting the floor with a broom. A sword sheath hangs off their belt and you think their suit is purple or lilac but that's all you can make out of them.

Your head is throbbing too much to question who they are. They notice you're awake but they don't say anything. They place a glass of water by the desk nearby your bed before patting you on the head.

"Get some sleep." The mysterious figure whispers to you. You swear that voice is familiar.

You close your eyes again.

>+0.5 RAPPORT with OTTO, FRANK, MARUYAMA, BENEDICT, ADAM, and ALEXIS!

When you open them this time, you can already feel your head SEETHING. You smack your hand around on the nearby desk for the glass of water left behind. You down the thing in one gulp before sitting up. Feh. Another mission done with, another night of poor sleep.

TWO DAYS UNTIL YOU'RE DRAGGED TO THE HEAD MEETING.
>1 RESTRAINT and 1 FLESH RESTORED! MAX RESTRAINT RESET TO NORMAL. STATS ARE NOW: 5/7 FLESH, 9/9 RESTRAINT
>NEW YOU (ASHLEY) REMOVED! ADVANCED INTUTION REMOVED! WILLPOWER SET TO 7!
>ONE CHARGE REGAINED ON YOUR ADREALINE IMPLANT, LEAVING YOU WITH ONE CHARGE!

Welp. You got some free time now.

File: HOMEISWHATPEOPLECALLIT.jpg (529 KB, 1431x1600)

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MONEY: $4089

What do you want to do, Nicole? You have four actions to spend. For every $450 you spend, you can get another one. For every $550 you spend, you may make a temporary boost to one stat permanent.

TRAINING
>Rest up and meditate. Your body's too sore and you want to prepare your mind for later. (Costs two actions. Heals you by 1 FLESH, boosts your MAX FLESH and RESTRAINT by 1 for the duration of your next mission.)
>Train your mind and body. (Costs two actions. Choose one PHYSICAL (FLESH/TALENT/VIOLENCE) and MENTAL (CHARM/COGNIZANCE/WILLPOWER) stat to train. It'll be boosted by 1 for the duration of your next mission.)
>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.)
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Test out some more of your anomalous powers. Try to find new ways to use them. (WILLPOWER DC: ???, rolling 7d6 by yourself. The higher you roll, the more weird quirks and uses you'll find for your powers.)

RESUPPLY
>Shopping time, baby! Head to a nearby shop. (Write in how much money you're willing to spend and what shop to go to. NEAL has general supplies, ANOMALOUS STORE has rare specialty items, and BONES AND BLADES has unique consumables and ways to improve your passive healing.)
>Shopping time! Crack open a catalog. (Write in how much money you're willing to spend and what catalog to use. W-Corp has stat boosting consumables and anti-anomaly weapons, J-Corp has a variety of weapons and ammo, and V-Corp has VERY cheap if shoddy consumables/ammo/items.)
>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.)

PERSONAL
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Take some time to wander 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.)
>[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.
>Call up an ally. Check up on them, just in case, you know? (Write in two allies to check up on. You'll gain +0.5 RAPPORT with them and a general idea on their status.)
>Call up a corporate contact. (Costs no free time actions. Write which corporate rep to talk to: D-Corp, G-Corp, J-Corp, V-Corp, or W-Corp. You might be able to make a bargain with them.)
>Call up a corporate family you're allied with. (Costs no free time actions. Write in which corporate family to talk to: Anjaros for Wastes and Spook lore, Krakatoa to check up on Gregory and Max, Wiltshire to learn about the City, or Alex to check up on X-Corp's operations.)
>Write in.

Sorry for delay.

>>6077127
>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.)
We need to check the PULSATING GEAR because the I-Corp mission may potentially have us go into some kind of facility to check for resources.
>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.)
Winter equipment and stuff. And a torch gun to melt ice.
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Take some time to wander 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.)
Refinery shop.
>[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.
>Call up a corporate family you're allied with. (Costs no free time actions. Write in which corporate family to talk to: Anjaros for Wastes and Spook lore, Krakatoa to check up on Gregory and Max, Wiltshire to learn about the City, or Alex to check up on X-Corp's operations.)
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.

>>6077194
Should we train and then use Sukane to permanent the training gains? That's $500 last I checked

>>6077198
No, we are doing well so far.

>>6077202
You're aiming for the I-Corp mission then? Should we call Anjaro and bring up base assault or too high risk on the phone? I'm curious about how Alex feels about Latecomer's Blossom at X Corp

>>6077206
Yes, I want to do the I-Corp to get a free apartment to hide in when we finish destroying the silver agent base in the G-Corp district. Sure, let’s call Anjaro for help.

>>6077213
Okay

>>6077194
+1 and add
>Call ANJARO about the base assault but be careful about the silver eavesdropping if there's any

>>6077194
>>6077218
Supporting this

>>6077218
Support

>>6077194
I-CORP Mission Plan 4.0
>"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, 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. Adam is a mechanic if we encounter a facility. 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.
Alexis, Ashley, and Adam are the only ones who are not resistant to the cold and need fur-lined uniforms.

Any opinions on my plan?

>>6077224
Can we bring Adam and Alexis 2 missions in a row?

>>6077233
Yeah but we do have a 5 ally limit now, and I'm hesitant on causing Adam and Alexis to be tired and unavailable for the base assault because we got them twice in a row before the big day

>>6077224
Consider replacing Adam and Benedict with Lex and either Wendy or Kiara?

>>6077248
Lex for strength, Kiara for utility, I think. And somebody to replace Alexis too.

>>6077268
I'm considering keeping Alexis because it's her home District, but... maybe Casey or Wendy? Either way there's 2 days left to Head meeting. I dunno if we should do something easy on the last day, like go to Freddy Fazbear's for that C-Corp job.

>>6077278
Casey or Wendy seem like decent replacements. And if it is Casey, she can punch above her weight class a few times with the magical girl wand.

>>6077224
I’m pretty sure we’re not allowed to take Allie’s two missions in a row anymore.

It’s why Kiara and Naomi got spirited away at the beginning of the last one. I would, however, like to file for an exception since I-Corp is Alexis’s home district.

Maybe we can buy her some rest time or something.

>>6077278
We can swap out Benedict for Lex. We’ll need another fur coat, but he’s strong enough to carry stuff around for us.

>>6075666
>my mental alert said
Nice job making that canon
>two weeks of paperwork minimum
Wonder how that'll change once shit hits the fan with the Head Meeting and the base assault?
>MAYBE IF I HAD THAT WHORE-
Which one is he talking about?
>your inventory (which seems to shift and twist
It's some weird protagonist hammerspace shit, I'm not even bothering to question it
>NO chance of them being traced
Pretty significant by itself since everything in the City is marked or branded or coded or otherwise traceable to various extents

>>6075669
>forgotten part of our family
The space race... but in this setting the moon landing wasn't faked?
>250+ people. Up there
The Space Colony ARK?!
>why the satellite was shot down
The silver agents did this? Some other company or group they have their teeth sunk into? Mr. Anjaro would know

>>6075671
>literally a part of you
Still no way to "plug" into Nicole in "that" way

>>6075672
>doesn't want to
We still need to clean it even if it's self-repairing magic bullshit material
>imperfection of a human idea
Benedict's obsession that turned him into this is itself the imperfection of a human idea. Even if he fully transforms into a cooking perfection machine, he'd still be imperfect no matter the coping mechanism he would have physically and symbolically embodied
>partially negate any regeneration
The exact tool we need to blast those pesky silverfish!
>permanently boosts
Still no idea who gets this, but it needs to be somebody who uses all those stats and especially TALENT. I don't want to implantmax on the same person either due to spreading the buffs around well, so I'm against it being Naomi because she already has the other EVIGT. There is that one mystery implant we have that we still don't know what it does. Who could figure it out for us?
>'공습' BLOOD REPLACEMENT VIAL
This is either for Naomi, Nicole, or whoever we give the other silver implant to, and ONLY in a desperation fight
>MARK THETA
We got the good defense on Nicole now. That leaves helping other allies on that front
>I am that distortion, am I?
I hope this means he can return to human one day on this path of his

>>6075673
>feel a bit emasculated
Man his wife really fucked him up
>they offer no tactical-
PARADIGMs don't need tactical advantage, Delirious Deer!

>>6075678
>this entire Maruyama talk
Time will die and slip us whether we spend it or not, however we spend it or not. That's all
>That's what that voice said
FUCK OFF CARMEN FUCK OFF CARMEN FUCK OFF CARMEN
>the journey
>the destination
The process and the results, as they said in Library of Ruina
>WILLPOWER+COGNIZANCE+1.
That's 3+4+1 right now. That fucking blows. We really need to get those status up on him soon

>>6076367
>real pain looks like? Let me show you
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPp2UhJU-_s
>backup weapon
We should go to the ANOMALOUS STORE after next mission to buy more like this one for our high WILLPOWER allies
>[ADVANCED INTUTION]
Damn Carmen for spooking Ashley from anomalous stuff in her backstory. Ashley could have been a punk clairvoyant otherwise
>You trot back
Hehehe

>>6076369
>charge RIGHT at him
OK that's too much being a deer, Noelle
>Light pink liquid
I love that Nicole is anomalous enough on top of the EVIGT implant replacing her blood that she basically has bright magenta Danganronpa blood instead of the blue/cyan that the spooks do
>break them
I like how he was considerate enough to not damage the ANTLER ORNAMENTS. We'll need them to stay festive on the I-Corp mission
>intense, migraine-like headache
Real R-Corp Reindeer hours
>would've overpowered you
>-2 FLESH (reduced from 5)
Frank is a BEAST. I'm glad he's on our side and we brought him on this mission to find out

>>6076371
>meaningful observations
I've been in enough steakhouses QM, you're OK
>delicious food
This is a nice way to close the mission off. All the rich people and cooks left the place and didn't come back, so we might as well loot the food with our stomachs

>>6077114
>Judicator
So that's the Arbiter of this setting, cool
>PARADIGM REFRACTION
I CALLED IT
>'better' humanity
Better by City standards? Whose?

>>6077115
>the Americans
I'm surprised she said that since I thought she didn't know an "America" existed. That's Old World info uncommon in the City. Might have got it from her family growing up
>any outside entity
The silver agents?
>[CORPORATE INSIDER + INVOLVED]
What the fuck, I think this is the first time in the entire quest that INVOLVED has procced on Alexis. I don't think Alexis has ever become this unsettled in the entire quest either
>how the Head would feel
Same way as they probably do about any Company falling and being replaced with how bent on preservation of humanity they are. They're probably okay with the secession as long as some new group replaces Y-Corp in THEIR City status quo
>knows about Y-Corp's true intentions
But we don't know if I-Corp are anti-silver, that's the thing
>hint of love
FAGGOT
Wait so Frank is best bros with Bennett but hates his brother Robbert? Or am I misremembering and he's blood brothers with both?
>whatever the fuck a New York is
Love this bit
>M and H-Corp
Huxley's are tied to H-Corp plenty, but this is the first Huxley we know who's linked to M-Corp of all groups. Wonder if Max and Gregory would know more about Bennett Huxley through that?
>somehow make him your ally
With how we worked with Robbert Huxley before and we're working with Frank properly now, we just might. Best to keep him and Maruyama separate at that time
>simple man
Robbert is the VIOLENCE
Bennett is the CASH
I see now

>>6077117
>a sneer
Italians...
>Imagine letting another one influence who you are
Man who turned into anomaly really saying "imagine listening to Carmen, couldn't be me"
>sheer fucking annoyance.
Italians...
>'fun'
That's a lot more friction than Quentin and Kiara had together. I think it's pretty refreshing to see some characters actually disagree and come into conflict like this due to their different natures. Really makes Nicole being the tardwrangler of this group much more impactful in both a story and quest gameplay sense

>>6077119
>light up the god damn City for seven days
Somewhere a lone P-Corp executive smiles to himself...
>swings both ways
I too thought what Maruyama did
>laugh
Yeah this is good funny banter writing
>the wrong idea
No way. I can easily imagine Kiara making a "drawing the sword = whipping your dick out" analogy to Maruyama to tease him about it
>literally me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG2utZB3zCk

>>6077120
>sober
I'm surprised Maruyama is sober
>readjusting things and dusting
Other than Ashley, Maruyama is the only other ally we've had in Nicole's apartment. He even takes the time to clean up the place, amazing
>TWO DAYS
I thought the base assault would happen on the same day as the Head Meeting is set, right? We do the base assault and then go to the Head Meeting as a group, ideally

>>6077622
>I'm surprised Maruyama is sober

He is a Japanese salaryman. They have livers of steel.

Also, was it said how many people we can bring to the base assault? I know more than our new limit but, what, like everyone?

>>6077127
>Rest up and meditate. Your body's too sore and you want to prepare your mind for later. (Costs two actions. Heals you by 1 FLESH, boosts your MAX FLESH and RESTRAINT by 1 for the duration of your next mission.)

Spend 1100 to make them perm.

>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.)

>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.)


>[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.


Maybe we should spend the cash for an extra action too, idk. But perma boosting stats is pretty good for 550.

>>6077733
Fuck, misread that resting takes 2 actions.

Will add, buy an additional action so it all fits.

File: DOYOUHAVEADREAM.jpg (105 KB, 497x818)

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So it seems like everyone's basically going for pDv's vote so here we go. I need three anons to roll for the following
>3d100 (half of the CACHE)
>2d100 (second half of CACHE)
>5d100 (SEEKER)

CACHE TABLE (You are 100% certain to get SUPPORTIVE. If you fail to roll SUPPORTIVE 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.)
21-40: Defensive (Armor, pepper spray, tasers, cloaking devices, anything meant to protect you.)
41-55: Offensive (Explosives, ammo, new kinds of guns or melee weapons, etc. Something meant to hurt people.)
56-91: Supportive (Counterfeit IDs, tools, advanced cameras, etc etc. Something to help you out in the field.)
92-95: 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.)

SEEKER TABLE (Same as the Cache. Fail to find a SHOP on your d100s, lowest number will be converted into finding it)
1-9: The sea of people passing by you are chattering about what's going on in the City... (You'll learn more about what's going on in the City that the TV MAN might not know.. May be useful down the line.)
10-55: Oh, that's an interesting looking building! (You'll gain a new place to visit during your SETUP and FREE TIME phases, like a Shop.)
56-66: "Hey, miss! Come over here!" (You encounter a potential ALLY.)
67-77: A crowd of Cleaners pass by you, muttering and yelling about something. You keep an open ear. (You'll learn some advice that'll be useful for later missions.)
78-88: There's something weird about the alleyway you walked past. You decide to take another check. (You'll learn a useful secret about the City.)
89-93: Something just doesn't seem right. The details don't fit together. That store wasn't there yesterday. That man was supposed to be dead. What's going on? (You uncover a MYSTERY. Once you manage to solve whatever's going on, you'll gain a stat boost and a glimpse into the wider machinations of the CITY.)
94-99: The air grows thick and heavy. Your legs move on their own. You can sense something ANOMALOUS nearby. (ANOMALY ENCOUNTER)
100: The air grows thick and heavy. You swear the streets were crowded moments before. What's going on? (???)

>>6077733
>Also, was it said how many people we can bring to the base assault? I know more than our new limit but, what, like everyone?
I'll probably rule that you can bring everyone who's willing to go on the mission (and that you're willing to shell out cash for) but you will only be personally able to lead 5 of them.
They'd probably be split into teams since that's just easier and makes more sense than everyone rushing in as one solid unit.

Rolled 5, 42, 49 = 96 (3d100)

>>6077811

Rolled 44, 42 = 86 (2d100)

>>6077811

Rollin’ for the cache…

>>6077248
>>6077268
>>6077278
>>6077281
Okay, I will replace Benedict and Adam with Lex and Wendy.

>>6077811
Woke up
Rolling SEEKER

>>6077819
This sounds good

>>6077733
Maybe next time we can use Sukane's training time

Rolled 32, 21, 54, 100, 25 = 232 (5d100)

>>6077811
An inauspicious picture, all considered.

Seeker roll

Rolled 56, 45, 27, 90, 37 = 255 (5d100)

>>6077811
>>6077839
I ENTERED IT RIGHT FUCK YOU

>>6077840
Holy shit nat 100 on a SEEKER and City explore roll finally the big mystery box I am glad my roll didn't take the first post

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RESULTS
CACHE: Offensive x4, Supportive x1 (Consumable roll was converted into Supportive)
SEEKER: SHOP/PLACE TO VISIT LATER x3, MYSTERY, ???.

I'm bending the rules a bit but since the two rolls came only 30 seconds apart and to offer a tiny bit more variety, I replaced a shop roll with another MYSTERY (since you're almost done with the space age one)
I hope you enjoy what you get from ???.
It might be more than you expected.

Writing.

>>6077857
I'm fine with this, let's rock

File: MANINTHETV.gif (1.43 MB, 498x368)

1.43 MB GIF

Feh. You peel off the bodysuit to check up on your wounds. It takes a bit of effort and you swear it's sticking to you but hey, you can't wear it 24/7.

Poking around the area of your now bare leg, the wound has been coated and filled in with a bright pink latex-like material. A good chunk of it has adapted the color of the rest of your skin, as if it was trying to merge with it.

Neat.

You crawl out of bed, straining to put any pressure on your leg now that the booze induced numbness is gone. The cold air of your room bites your bare skin like a bitch but eh, fuck it.

You kneel down in front of your TV, fiddling with the knobs to get some sort of signal working, before immediately collapsing onto the bed. You really need to furnish this place with all of the money you're getting. You cross your legs, ready to learn in to watch the TV.

The screen crackles to life. A man with a far too toothy and wide smile is fitting by a roaring fireplace. A glass of whiskey in one hand, a pipe in the other. His sky blue uniform tells you that he's the man you always rely on for information.

"Home is where the heart is, is it not? Perhaps you'll lose your heart soon, my deer Nicole. That hunk of twisting, spiraling magenta flesh."

"I'm not scared. Tell me the facts. Straight."

The TV MAN's smile only gets wider. "So be it. Same deal as usual, you'll get your three facts and you'll decide how to handle it. Let's start with some corporate news." The TV MAN pauses to take a swing from his drink.

"Mmh. Delicious. Your name's spreading fast. Real damn fast. When polled by an associate of mine from a pool of 5000 corporate employees with a title of General Manager or higher, 1256 of them recognize the name 'Nicole Smith' if paired with a description of her having antlers. At least two Corporate CEOs has also vaguely heard of you."

Oh. Fucking hell, it hasn't even been a day and that little stunt with the S-Corpers is already spreading like wildfire. "What's the downside? I know there has to be a downside."

"The spooks are scared now and they want you dead at any cost. They're likely to send something even above an elite to hunt you down, alongside Her. The fake you. Expect any mission that you pick today to be a struggle." Shit. Well, nothing you can do about that now.

"Second fact. Z-Company has recently appointed a new Department Manager. Benjamin Aaron really is climbing up the ranks of corporate power. Due to this, a few other corporate families have been working with him and he's been given some remarkable privileges. Due to your association with him as well, Z-Corp will welcome you with open arms."

You blink in an attempt to process this information. "Huh?"

"Simply put, any mission inside Z-Corp or their associate companies' districts will be a lot more forgiving. Such associates are C, O, Q, and V-Corp. So, District 3, 15, 17, 22 and 26 are pretty safe to go for the next three days."

File: VOICEONTHEPHONE.jpg (60 KB, 615x461)

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Okay, that's some good news! Even if a part of you might already have a different district you want to travel to.

"Third and lastly, a weather report. Due to the recent introduction of A-Energy fumes into the weather system, weather lately has been fucky wucky to put it very lightly all over the City. Lightning storms, blizzards, and floods have been sighted a lot more frequently lately." You can feel your heart dropping upon hearing this.

"None of it is to the point of being lethal or destructive, mind you. But odd weather patterns have been located across I-Corp, H-Corp, D-Corp, and R-Corp districts. Or 4, 8, 9, and 18. The most common oddity is electric interference that will mess with all forms of radio or digital communication. They will still be usable but..."

"You might be able to learn secrets you otherwise might not be privy to should you try to use said equipment in those districts. Secrets that they might KILL YOU to hide." After he takes one last swing from his glass of whiskey, the television immediately turns off.

Hm. Straight and to the point except for that last bit.

You spend the next few minutes taking a cold shower before putting the bodysuit right back on, alongside a big fluffy coat and some boots to deal with the winter weather that seems to permanently linger around in this part of G-Corp.

You dial a few of your corporate friends, just in case. First off is Ms. Wiltshire.

The line connects real quick. Her calm, gentle voice calms your soul the moment you hear it. "Hello dear. What seems to be the matter?"

"Just in case I go there, I need a map of a particular section of I-Corp. I think it's..." You snap your fingers, trying to remember it over his schizophrenic ramblings. He does ramble about multiple missions at once when he calls you. "NU-7? And the general conditions of the environment and people there."

"Hm. Interesting. That part of I-Corp is sparsely populated, basically uninhabited. It's only a part of I-Corp since no one else wanted it. Average annual temperature is 32.9°F but at this time of year, it's -4°F. Only about 1-2 people per square mile there."

"Those who DO live there are, well, I've heard rumors about 'Graverobbers' living down there Big, burly men and women with massive tusks that wear bizarre masks and wield massive shovels. Very territorial and ritualistic people. I've heard rumors they've been around since 1152. They might be willing to barter and bargain with you if you have the right obscure artifacts or powers."

"As for the map, I'll send it over to your boss. Even if you don't go there, he'll keep it for later."

She disconnects after that.

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] 'Graverobbers' is a term you've heard about before but you've never encountered one. They're very uncommon and most don't even believe they exist.

Hm. You dial up Mr. Anjaro as your hand wraps around the doorknob to your apartment's door.

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"Do the dogs bark at sun up?" Mr. Anjaro's harsh, low whisper crackles through your receiver.

"You never gave me a password for that, what?" Honestly this sounds like the type of trick you'd do if you were called by an unknown number.

"Good, good. Make it quick." Right. He's not one to fuck around.

"Look. I plan on doing a base assault on a nearby 'glow in the dark' individuals." You keep your eyes peeled to make sure nobody is nearby. You even do a quick mind radar and as far as you know, nobody should be listening. "I plan on doing it sometime around the Head meeting. The location is at-"

You proceed to rattle off where.

"Hm. I'll send some of my boys. Keep up the good fight. I'll ask you to bring me any tech you find there. I'll pay you handsomely." The line cuts off then.

Good. That should make things easier. You put your phone up and after a few moments struggling with your still healing leg, you exit your apartment building and onto the streets below.

https://youtu.be/iLhkMAkFWbg - SOMETHING IS WRONG

It's oddly empty outside. The snow covered streets and the buildings are the same as always but there's nobody outside. Huh. Odd, even this late and you normally have SOMEONE out here doing something. You already feel like something's off but...you'll worry about that later.

You half-stumble-half-walk through the empty streets of your district. The only sound echoing throughout the snow-coated streets is your own footsteps and breathing. None of the buildings have their lights on as you walk past them. Hell, even the streetlights aren't on.

Luckily, the moonlight above seems to be enough to let you wander freely without bumping into something or using your nightvision but it's still weird. Even weirder as you trip over a discarded satchel on the sidewalk. It's empty but that doesn't soothe your nerves either.

[UNSTABLE] THEY'RE GONE FOR A REASON. THEY'RE NOT DEAD, WE WOULD'VE SEEN BODIES.
[PERSON OF INTEREST] Can't be the spooks. They would've tried killing you, not a bunch of random people.

You eventually find yourself out of a seemingly abandoned, even before what happened to the rest of this part of your sub-district, apartment building. A stick figure hand with seven fingers is carved by the frame of the door. A faint memory of this symbol tells you that you had to carve this...but for what reason?

Entering the apartment building, there's nothing in the lobby but frost-bitten couches and a front desk with nobody sitting behind it. There is something that tells you that the cache is in this room. You head over to the desk and notice that there's an oddly colored patch on the wall right behind the front desk's chair.

Slamming your non injured foot into it, it crumbles immediately, revealing what you're looking for.

CACHE REVEALED!
>TORCH GUN x6 (ATTACK ROLL: COGNIZANCE. Not really meant as a weapon. Each has enough fuel for 4 uses. Can be used to melt through ice, glass, wood, or to weaken metal.

File: THEENTITY.png (427 KB, 857x1200)

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>H-CORP WARMING UNIT Z-5 AND WINTER CLOTHING x2 (A bulky metal box with mesh grates all over it. Produces a constant level of heat around itself. Can be used to cook food or to keep people warm. Seemingly needs no power source to stay active. Winter clothing is what it says on the tin.
>MAKESHIFT NAPLAM MOLOTOV x4 (A glass bottle filled to the brim with Styrofoam and gasoline mixed together into a slurry. Adds +3d12 to any attack roll when used and does insane fire damage to anything it hits.)
>DRAGONFIRE SHOTGUN BUCKSHOT x8 (Adds +4d2 when used and inflicts a minor amount of lingering fire damage to anything it hits. Also cooks any animal it hits basically instantly.)
>ICE PICK x6 (ATTACK ROLL: VIOLENCE+2. Causes bleeding on hit, draining FLESH over time. Allows the user to climb up otherwise impossible to traverse terrain.)

Neat. With the winter clothing found in here as well, this should be enough for you and five allies to travel anywhere in I-Corp, you imagine. As you pack all of this up, you feel a cold chill running down your back. It's not the chill of winter weather, no, it's more the chill of something WRONG. Something warning you to watch out.

Your FORGOTTEN SIGNAL crackles to life. "RUN. RUN. RUN. RUN. IT SHOULDN'T EXIST YET. IT SHOULDN'T BE HERE YET. RUN. RUN."

You turn around and poke your head outside of the abandoned apartment building.

https://youtu.be/QRCvyptGodw - ???

What is that? What the FUCK is that?
>-3 RESTRAINT! 6/9 LEFT!

Standing outside of the building is something your mind can not properly wrap your head around. It's not that the entity is beyond description, no, it has a definitive shape and appearance. You can put words to it. It's just that your mind refuses to accept what you're seeing.

The entity standing before you is a quadrupedal that towers far, far above you in terms of height (if you had to guess, about 30 feet tall). It is covered in a thin pink-orange fur and its legs end in deer-like hooves. Its torso has patches of exposed skin where fur has been ripped out, exposing bloody muscle underneath. Instead of regular red blood, there's thin and watery magenta pink fluid oozing out.

Bizarre occult symbols have been carved into said muscle. The ones you're able to make out is an eye, three circles each crossed out with an X, and an arrow with two dots poked around the side of the arrow head.

Two long silver blades have been stabbed into the sides of the entity, embedding themselves deep into its flesh. A carving of an eye can be seen on the hilts of each sword.

As for the head of the entity, the neck of it is long and slender like a deer's but its head has been covered by a mangled mess of pinkish-orange hair that's long enough to run down to the street below. A pair of massive antlers that are at least ten feet long sprouts from the entity's head. Even more bizarre occult symbols have been carved into them, too many for you to even attempt to make out any.

File: WHATIISTHAT.jpg (181 KB, 770x1419)

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The oddest thing of all about it is that...there's an Eclipse Talisman hanging off the entity's neck.

The entity slowly shifts its head around to look at you. Or at least you think it is, you can't really make out its face.

[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] No, no, we have to run. That shouldn't be here. THAT SHOULDN'T BE HERE! You two can't exist at the same time!
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] That's an anomaly. You know that's an anomaly. But it's not an anomaly that should exist yet because it's-

It slowly shifts its head, as if trying to get a better look at you, before it finally speaks. The voice that comes out of it is immediately recognizable. It's your voice.

"Hello." The City's Archivist acknowledges your existence. "What are you doing out here? It's not safe out here, not with them around. I don't want anyone I love to be hurt by them."

What do you even say back to it? Pick as many options as you want.
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] "What do you know?" (-1 RESTRAINT. Choose two of the following to learn about: ALPHABET COMPANIES, THE CITY, THE FUTURE, THE PAST, OUTSIDE THE CITY, YOUR ALLIES, or YOURSELF.)
>[UNSTABLE] "Is this what I'm fated to become if I lose control? A beast?" You need to know why THIS is the anomaly form of you. (OVERWHELMING WILLPOWER DC: 34, rolling 7d6 by yourself. If you pass, you'll find out something deeply fundamental about yourself.)
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] "Not safe? Is it the same group that hurt you?" There's nobody out here but you have to understand what this THING is talking about.
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] "What's with the occult symbols? Is there a purpose to them?" You doubt they're just meaningless scribbles. (-3 RESTRAINT, you'll get some very unique knowledge on the anomalous and occult to use in the future.)
>"Here, let me help you." (-1 UVX #58, MUSHROOM SAUCE, and UVX MODEL #222. You imagine it will repay you handsomely for your attempt to heal it.)
>Try to think of a reason as to why or how this thing could even exist at the same time as you. (OVERWHELMING COGNIZANCE DC: 27, rolling 6d6 by yourself. You'll be able to piece together why this mockery of you exists on success.)
>"No. You don't exist. I refuse to believe you exist. You shouldn't be here." Refute this thing's existence. It's a cruel mockery of you and it should not be. (??? RESTRAINT DC: ??/??/??/??, rolling 6d6 by yourself. The higher you roll, the better you'll be able to proper refute it. Hopefully it'll stop existing if you refute it hard enough.)
>Hug it. (-1 RESTRAINT, -1 FLESH. This will hurt you and you're not sure what benefit, if any, you'll gain for it. Maybe it's the right thing to do, though.)
>"Was all of it worth it in the end?" You're not sure why you're asking this but you have to know.
>Y-you have a mission to do. You're tired, you're seeing things. Walk away. (Heals 2 RESTRAINT. You can only pick two other options with this.)
>Write in (Use an item? Ask it something else? Do something else?)

>>6078191
>"Here, let me help you." (-1 UVX #58, MUSHROOM SAUCE, and UVX MODEL #222. You imagine it will repay you handsomely for your attempt to heal it.)
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] "What do you know?" (-1 RESTRAINT. Choose two of the following to learn about: ALPHABET COMPANIES, THE CITY, THE FUTURE, THE PAST, OUTSIDE THE CITY, YOUR ALLIES, or YOURSELF.)
THE CITY
YOURSELF
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] "What's with the occult symbols? Is there a purpose to them?" You doubt they're just meaningless scribbles. (-3 RESTRAINT, you'll get some very unique knowledge on the anomalous and occult to use in the future.)
>[UNSTABLE] "Is this what I'm fated to become if I lose control? A beast?" You need to know why THIS is the anomaly form of you. (OVERWHELMING WILLPOWER DC: 34, rolling 7d6 by yourself. If you pass, you'll find out something deeply fundamental about yourself.)
>"Was all of it worth it in the end?" You're not sure why you're asking this but you have to know.
>Hug it. (-1 RESTRAINT, -1 FLESH. This will hurt you and you're not sure what benefit, if any, you'll gain for it. Maybe it's the right thing to do, though.)
Use that voice manifest power to temporarily manifest ALL the voices EXCEPT CAP for a powerful group hug. Also pet her on the fucking head, she needs and deserves it
>WRITE IN: Feed it something to help it. (-1 RUSTED SILVER BERRIES, -1 MINT GREEN CHERRIES, -1 SINFUL ROSE)
Then that's that, wave goodbye and say an "I love you, me" and carry on with the present

I'm very tempted to offer the ANTLER ORNAMENTS Alexis gave us to this postgame Nicole, but I dunno if that's going overboard on top of all this

>>6078191
I hope the UNSTABLE option gives us insight into how this Nicole turned anomalous like this

>>6078191
>"Was all of it worth it in the end?" You're not sure why you're asking this but you have to know.


>"Here, let me help you." (-1 UVX #58, MUSHROOM SAUCE, and UVX MODEL #222. You imagine it will repay you handsomely for your attempt to heal it.)

>Hug it. (-1 RESTRAINT, -1 FLESH. This will hurt you and you're not sure what benefit, if any, you'll gain for it. Maybe it's the right thing to do, though.)

>[UNSTABLE] "Is this what I'm fated to become if I lose control? A beast?" You need to know why THIS is the anomaly form of you. (OVERWHELMING WILLPOWER DC: 34, rolling 7d6 by yourself. If you pass, you'll find out something deeply fundamental about yourself.)

>>6078206
Supporting this, except not hugging

>>6078191
>[UNSTABLE] "Is this what I'm fated to become if I lose control? A beast?" You need to know why THIS is the anomaly form of you. (OVERWHELMING WILLPOWER DC: 34, rolling 7d6 by yourself. If you pass, you'll find out something deeply fundamental about yourself.)
>"No. You don't exist. I refuse to believe you exist. You shouldn't be here." Refute this thing's existence. It's a cruel mockery of you and it should not be. (??? RESTRAINT DC: ??/??/??/??, rolling 6d6 by yourself. The higher you roll, the better you'll be able to proper refute it. Hopefully it'll stop existing if you refute it hard enough.)

Is welcoming a mockery healthy? Self-love without limits is just a different name for narcissism.

>>6078274
Is it a real mockery or a time warp or slip that let this future Nicole from another timeline show up briefly? I might change my vote in >>6078206 to be less generous then

>>6078191
>"Here, let me help you." (-1 UVX #58, MUSHROOM SAUCE, and UVX MODEL #222. You imagine it will repay you handsomely for your attempt to heal it.)
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] "What do you know?" (-1 RESTRAINT. Choose two of the following to learn about: ALPHABET COMPANIES, THE CITY, THE FUTURE, THE PAST, OUTSIDE THE CITY, YOUR ALLIES, or YOURSELF.)
THE CITY and YOURSELF.
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] "What's with the occult symbols? Is there a purpose to them?" You doubt they're just meaningless scribbles. (-3 RESTRAINT, you'll get some very unique knowledge on the anomalous and occult to use in the future.)
>[UNSTABLE] "Is this what I'm fated to become if I lose control? A beast?" You need to know why THIS is the anomaly form of you. (OVERWHELMING WILLPOWER DC: 34, rolling 7d6 by yourself. If you pass, you'll find out something deeply fundamental about yourself.)
>"Was all of it worth it in the end?" You're not sure why you're asking this but you have to know.
>Hug it. (-1 RESTRAINT, -1 FLESH. This will hurt you and you're not sure what benefit, if any, you'll gain for it. Maybe it's the right thing to do, though.)

>>6078489
Add
>AZURE BLUE CANDY (Made from SINFUL ROSE. Heals 1 RESTRAINT and enables RESTRAINT REGENERATION for a mission.)
use
We need to use RESTRAINT regene.

>>6078494
+1 to Nicole using the AZURE BLUE CANDY on herself

File: NICOLEMOMENT.jpg (301 KB, 2195x2148)

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HEAL HER: 3kt, cQf, yg4, dn7
SEEKER: 3kt, dn7, yg4
ANOMALOUS: 3kt, yg4, dn7
UNSTABLE: ALL
WAS IT WORTH IT: All but umG
HUG IT: 3kt, cQf, dn7
FEED IT: 3kt, yg4
REJECT IT: umG

So it seems like HEAL + SEEKER (asking about CITY and YOURSELF) + ANOMALOUS + UNSTABLE + HUG IT wins out. I will veto the 'summon all of your voices to hug it too' since your RESTRAINT, even with the regen, would be too low. And would probably risk your already seething mind collapsing in on itself.

Considering you're nuking your RESTRAINT by 5, I'll take the AZURE BLUE CANDY consumption despite the fact only two people voted for it...for obvious reasons.

Two anons, roll the following
>4d6 (first half of the WILLPOWER CHECK)
>3d6 (second half of the WILLPOWER check.)

Items usable to improve the check
>PEP PILL+ (If you roll a 30-33, you may pass at the cost of spending this.)
>SYNDICAKE (You have two of them. You may consume one to reroll two dice of your choice. When rerolling thanks to this item, you roll d8s instead.)
>ECLIPSE TALISMAN (Can reroll 3 WILLPOWER dice.)
>HARVESTER TEETH NECKLACE (Can reroll ALL Dice.)

Have this art of how Nicole is handling this situation right now (she's not)

Rolled 3, 2, 2, 4 = 11 (4d6)

>>6078749

Oh, right, one more item you can use
>SUNSTONE (Has two charges. You may spend one charge to roll another 2d8, two to roll 4d8.)

And while I'm posting this, I'll say one thing about the upgraded implant. It's not really relevant now since you can't use it right now but here's the actual description of it and I only realized now I forgot to add one stat it boosted.
>REPROGRAMMED 面纱 IMPLANT x1 (When installed into someone, it permanently boosts their RESTRAINT, WILLPOWER, TALENT, FLESH and COGNIZANCE by 1. Grants the user a moderate resistance to all forms of anomalous phenomenon)

Rolled 5, 1, 4 = 10 (3d6)

>>6078749

Rolled 5, 4, 2 = 11 (3d6)

>>6078749
>veto the 'summon all of your voices to hug it too' since your RESTRAINT, even with the regen, would be too low
It was worth an ask, no complaints from me QM
>nuking your RESTRAINT by 5
Is this the absolute lowest Nicole's RESTRAINT has been the entire quest? Even during the Ace Strikers mission it wasn't this low. We'll be at 1/9 total since encountering this thing was 3 RESTRAINT loss and now there's 5 more on top of that

Rolling the 3d6

>>6078763
COGNIZANCE is the most forgettable stat, but it counts whenever it comes up

>>6078749
Looks like we are going to be needing those rerolls

>>6078775
Starting with SYNDIECAKE to target that 1 and one of the 2s sounds like a good reroll opener over using ECLIPSE TALISMAN first

>capcha GAY XD

Rolled 7, 5 = 12 (2d8)

>>6078754
>>6078772
TOTAL SO FAR: 21.
Rerolling a 1 and 2 with the d8s with a Syndicake, let's see

>>6078789
And that's a 30.
Consuming your PEP PILL+ and SYNDICAKE to pass the check. Consuming a lot of items here but I'll promise you that it'll be worth it. After all, you did roll a 100 to get this encounter.
Writing. Might take a bit.

>>6078790
PEP PILLS might be the most used drug for Nicole by now. They just work

>>6078842
Tweaker Nicole. Hawt.

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This thing shouldn't exist. It's you, it's literally you. Not a copycat, not a doppelganger, it's YOU.
But that doesn't make sense. You're still here. You would know if your mind cracked, right?

The City's Archivist doesn't seem to notice or acknowledge this discrepancy. "Nicole?" It even knows your NAME? No, no, it has to be stress getting to you. "Did you leave? I can't let them hurt you, you know." It can't see you- Oh god you lost your eyes somehow FUCK-

"I-I'm here, uh...Archivist." It's better to think of this thing as separate from you.

"That's not my true name, you know." The entity lowers its head down to stare at you. Its face is still hidden underneath its hair.

"Wait. You. You remember your name?"

"I have to remember everything. Every mission, every scar, every death, every mistake. A latticework of numbers and names." The long hair covering the entity's face moves on its own, as if pulled by some telekinetic force. The only thing left of its head is a melted mass and formless keratin with half-formed antlers growing out of it.

Each of them has a different symbol carved into them. Your brain SEETHES at the mere sight of them.

"What's with the occult symbols? Is there a purpose to them?" You feel like you have to know. You doubt they're just meaningless scribbles.

"The voices got too loud, so I had to carve them out of me. To condense my true self into one, unified ideal. I am a perfected Seeker, after all." You suddenly feel an intense heat building up in your antlers. "You won't survive in this world without power. Without knowledge. Submit, my former self."

Your body immediately seizes up. You immediately slam into the ground below like gravity was increased a thousand fold.
The only part of your body you can move is your jaw. You clench it shut as the intense burning only gets worse and worse and worse.

"I'm sorry. Any help I can offer will only hurt you in the future. Any association with me will only bring pain and their attention. Yet I still love you."

[PERSON OF INTEREST] Yet, don't they deserve to know about them too? To know that they could be at risk too? It was never you.

Every inch of your skin is coated in a thin layer of sweat. Tears pour down your face. Blood trickles from your lip as you desperately try to hold back your screams. Every neuron and atom in your body is on FUCKING FIRE. Seconds blur into hours, which blur into days. Time means nothing at the constant and unyielding pain seething throughout your system.

>-3 RESTRAINT!

"If you hate me after this, that's fine. I wouldn't blame you."

Soon, you regain control over your body. You can wiggle your fingers and toes now and with some concentrated effort, you can move your head around but FUCK. THIS. Your antlers feel like a million tiny needles are still being stabbed into them.

"W-why." That's all you can ask this false you.

"I carved in some symbols. People need symbols, icons, to look up to. To hide behind. To rationalize the world with."

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The entity lowers its head down to 'stare' at you. "You are one now, Nicole. You doomed yourself to that fate."

"W-what?" You try to move your body but the echoes of your body feeling like it was lit on fire stops you from doing jack or shit.

"You grew too bright. Those outside of the ones who glow know about you. People's feelings, people's attention, melding into a gestalt that funnels around YOU." The entity steps a bit closer until it is towering over you, blocking any faint moonlight that is illuminating the empty streets. "Rituals need a catalyst. You were that one."

"And when the City loves you, what else can you but it's guardian? The people of the City need someone to hate, to love, to revere, to follow, to bend to. You were just the unlucky one to be picked. And you cracked. We exist to give meaning to otherwise meaningless ideas, Nicole."

Something inside you shifts.

>A light now shines deep inside your soul. A fundamental part of you will be awaken...eventually.
>SEEKER has been upgraded! You'll have a far easier time understanding the functions of a PARADIGM and you'll get exact numbers on how much development a SPARK ally has left.
>Another aspect of this upgrade will be unlocked in the future.

You slowly get back up onto your feet. You stare down at the entity with hate in your eyes. "Is this what I'm fated to become if I lose control? A beast? Why a deer of all things? Why do I even have these powers? I-" You stumble over your words.

You just woke up one day in this district, presumably with a family and a life before this Cleaner business. You have a past but...you realize how little it matters. And do YOU even matter, frankly? Or is it just the actions you do?

"Why am I like this?" You scramble to stuff something into your system to regain some fragment of control. Blue syrup, a syndicake. Something to let your mind THINK.

"Because you're scared."

"Scared? Scared of WHAT?!" Your patience is already being tested by this fucking mockery of yourself. "Mind clarifying, Nicole? Are you going to be vague and mysterious about it? My fucking existence is already nothing but that, GIVE ME AN ANSWER!"

"That's exactly it. Will there be anything of you left? Will anyone even remember you once all is said and done? Will the bonds you make matter? Will the people you kill be mourned? Or will it all wash away?" Archivist slowly bends its legs down until it is sitting on the empty street, curled up in a remarkably comfy position for the situation.

>34!

It clicks for you. It's not a thought you're comfortable admitting to yourself but the only real reason you're doing any of this beyond your own self preservation...is because you had to.

Your whole life up to this point has been following the orders of a boss to make ends meet. Or fighting spooks who desperately want to snub you out of existence for the power you have. A lot of the decisions you've made and allies you've met only exist because of these influences.

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Fuck, you're even becoming a legend across the City because of what you did. But you only did that because you were forced onto a ship because someone paid you to do so. You had no real personal reason to kill the Admiral. You simply did it. For worthless cash.

Is there even a person underneath all of that? Or are you just a scared animal who's clinging to whatever she's given in an attempt to survive in a City where more and more shit is thrown your way? Or maybe-

[???] You were an anomaly since the day you were born. It's arguable if you were ever an actual human at all.
[???] You look like a human. You talk like one. You 'think' like one.
[???] Yet you only exist to be nothing more than an icon. To be feared. To be loved. To be commanded. To command.
[???] A vessel.
[???] 'Nicole Smith' is a meaningless name assigned to a meaningless person. Your only goal is survival and to eventually have a family or make a founded one.
[???] That's because you don't have anything else to your existence. You just finally realized this when you looked in the mirror.

No. Maybe that's how you feel but you know you're a human. Even if your existence is flimsy, even if you don't know what to do with your life, you can make something out of it. But you do understand where you got these powers from. WHY you are an anomaly.

Maruyama had a goal when he manifested his power. Benedict had a goal, even if it was forced out. Your only thought for the longest time was to survive. No wonder why your powers are disconnected. They were the desperate flailing of a wild animal after it pissed off a group far more powerful than it.

Which only made things worse.

Somehow that brings you comfort. You know what's wrong with you and you can try to fix you, you hope.

Your legs stumble over to the anomaly and, with hesitation, you collapse against it and hug the deer. Your body rejects this the mere moment the two of you make contact and even the deer seems confused as to why you're doing it. You feel lacerations blossoming across your skin as you rest your body up against the deer.

Digging into your inventory, you pull out some old UVX jars and the mushroom sauce Benedict made. You slide the sauce over towards the deer's head before slathering some of the cream across the deer's tattered, torn body. You can already feel the already fragile state of your mind cracking at this...paradoxical interaction occurring but FUCK IT AT THIS POINT!

"Why?" The Archivist levitates up the mushroom sauce and slams it into its head. The liquid is immediately absorbed into the mass of keratin that was once its face.

"I don't know. This probably doesn't change anything but I'm too tired to care anymore. Your existence deeply frustrates me and I want to feel good about myself for a moment, okay?"

"A fair desire." After slathering the two jars of UVX onto the deer's wounds, all you can really do at this point is to rest your head against it despite your body desperately trying to reject it.

File: TALKOFTHECITY.png (3.9 MB, 1980x1400)

3.9 MB PNG

Your vision begins to blink in and out of focus.
>3/9 RESTRAINT LEFT, thanks to AZURE BLUE SYRUP. You're starting to freak the fuck out...

"What do you know about us?"

"You already figured most of it out. We operate off fear, paranoia, mild bloodlust and a desire for achievement. There's no in depth reason for your existence. No god created you. No destiny is assigned to you. You were just a woman at the wrong place, wrong time."

"There's simply not much to say about you. You are what you do, nothing more and nothing less. And you're a simple scapegoat for those in the City."

...

>2/9 RESTRAINT LEFT!

"What do you know about the City?"

"Within the next month, something horrible will happen. Something that will reshape how the City operates. Something that, sadly, you will probably not be able to stop. It is done by another man who, from my perspective, is already dead. A revolutionary damned by his own ego."

"Do I know this man?"

"No. But you will soon. You've already met an associate of his. The Man on the Phone will know if you ask him."

"Is the City all there is?"

"You will never be able to leave it for long. Not without breaking some fundamental aspects of yourself. You were born here. It's your only home."

"Is there any place better than the City?"

"Yes. This is only one of a few remaining governments in the world. However, it is by far the biggest and most hospitable to your mindset. Leaving here will destroy you, Cityslicker."

"Is the Head good or bad?"

"Their intentions are good but the Companies have ruined it. Getting an in with them may be a good option in the future."

That's all you think you can ask before our brain turns into mush.

"...Was it all worth it in the end?"

"Yes. Even if you turn into me, I'd say it was worth it. The journey is what matters, not the destination. You'll do good things. Things I failed to achieve. Be better, Seeker."

The last fragments of your willpower vanish. You close your eyes, ready to drift into oblivion after having to face...whatever you spent the last hour talking to. The cold winter air swirls around your body like the City itself is wrapping you up in a blanket.

You swear you can hear someone whispering in your ear after everything you saw. A warm, comforting voice.

...

When you open your eyes, you notice two things immediately. One: The anomaly is gone.

The only thing left in its place is two bizarre items and a pile of mangled cloth that you think might've once been cash.

Two: Holy shit what the fuck happened in the brief moment you were knocked out.

Your head is throbbing as you scan your eyes around the destroyed streets. While the streetlights are now powered on, most of them have been completely obliterated by what you can assume is intense levels of heat. Piles of molten slag and glass is all that's left of about 90% of them.

Three foot deep potholes have been punched all throughout the streets like a bored child was using a holepuncher on some paper.

File: MODERNBLACKSMITH.jpg (62 KB, 786x1050)

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And, uh.

One of the nearby buildings has a car just imbedded into it now. A car was just smashed into it as if someone tossed it. The building still seems to be intact and by the fact no one seems to be out in the streets, it must still be empty from whatever emptied out the district but what the fuck.

Your head hurts. You have a feeling you did this for some reason.
>FLESH: 4/7. RESTRAINT: 3/9. RESTRAINT REGENERATION IS ACTIVE.

Well. Self introspection from an anomaly version of you aside, you should probably get moving. Lingering around here feels like a bad idea. You pick up the tattered trinkets the anomaly left behind before you do so.

REWARDS OBTAINED FROM MYSTERY BOX ENCOUNTER!
>A HOLLOW REVVING (PARADIGM ARMOR. A bulky suit of armor made out of steel, rubber, and polymers. Painted in the colors of a crash test dummy. Blocks 3 FLESH damage from all sources and boosts VIOLENCE and TALENT by 3 at the cost of reducing max RESTRAINT by 3 while worn.)
>LOST IN TIME (PARADIGM WEAPON. An automatic crossbow drenched in black, thick tar. Oozes with the memories of what is forever forgotten. ATTACK ROLL: COGNIZANCE+WILLPOWER+1. Deals ESOTERIC damage. Consumes 1 BOLT per attack.)
>3 STEEL BOLTS (Usable by LOST IN TIME or any other automatic crossbow.)
>$333 and 3 PINK FRAGMENTS (A bizarre pink gemstone that you don't recognize. When used, can add 3 to the final tally of ANY roll.)

You crawl back up to your feet with your new items in hand. Time to find a REFINERY SHOP, then mark any other shops you find, then go home to mess around with trinkets and to get your fucking mission. Better than thinking on the metaphysical situation you were in.

So, you let your feet wander. The snowy, empty streets of this part of G-District offers you no comfort after everything. You don't even bother processing your scenarios, only focused on your feet and the sidewalk you're moving on.

Your legs eventually stop when you find a small, tucked away shop in between two other far bigger buildings. If it wasn't for you specifically looking for a place like it, you probably would've overlooked it. The building is made out of cheap and shoddy sheet metal that's crudely held together by wood boards and rope. A metal sign with "IPPO REFINERY" painted on it hangs over the doorless doorway into the shop.

A bright orange light shines through said doorway.

Fuck it. You don't care anymore. You head over to the building and walk inside.

https://youtu.be/_OpUos9qBQs - IPPO REFINERY

The inside of the building is as cramped and claustrophobic as you expect from a shop barely held together by the spiteful hope of the shopkeeper. Shelves lined with hunks of rusted metals and other various raw materials take up 85% of the space inside of the shop, leaving only enough room for you to breath and squeeze your way closer to the front desk.

A bizarre, eerie song blares through an old AM radio that hangs on a shelf behind said front counter.

The man behind the shelf is a man in his late 80s who's wearing nothing more than an oil-stained apron and a t-shirt underneath. A latticework of scratches, scars, and burns covers his exposed and muscular forearms and the sheer amount of calluses on his hands tells you he's been working here for a while.

His eyes are permanently shut closed and his face is twisted into a permanent frown. He shifts as if he's getting a good look at you before letting out a low grunt. "I refine things. You give me stuff, I make stuff. What you want?"

>IPPO'S REFINERY serves as a shop that upgrades existing items and creates new ones from random scrap you have.
>You may also buy raw materials from him that your more mechanically skilled allies (Benedict, Benjamin, and Adam) can create items out of.

MONEY: $4422

"Well? Make your purchase, soldier." (10% discount active!)
>"Make something useful from these." (-ECM JAMMER, REMOTE CONTROLLED AERIAL DRONE, and RAW MOONSTONE GAS DETECTOR. Pick whether you want him to make a WEAPON, ACCESSORY, ARMOR, EQUIPMENT, or AMMO out of it.)
>"Can you make some better ammo out of these?" (-$270. 6 SHOTGUN SLUGS, 7 REVOLVER BULLETS, and 4 PISTOL AMMO in your inventory will be converted into random specialty ammo.)
>"Hey. Just in case, make this thing REAL fucking cool." (-$456, CHAINSAW OF ULTRAVIOLENCE will be upgraded to deal more FLESH damage and to have a slightly improved attack roll.)
>"Can you make these uniforms more protective?" (-RED CLOTH FRAGMENT, -$225. Your 6 FUR LINED UNIFORMS and 2 WINTER UNIFORMS will gain a slight boost to their ability to protect against the cold and will gain minor physical protection.)
>"What do you think you can make out of this?" (-$333, -1 SPACE AGE TILE, -1 SPACE AGE CHIP. You imagine you'll get something suitably out of this world. Write in whether you want AMMO, EQUIPMENT, ARMOR, ACCESSORY or AMMO made from these. You may pick this up to three times.)
>"Hey, mind handing me some of your equipment?" (-$450 per bundle of tools. You'll be able to upgrade ADAM'S, BENEDICT'S, or BENJAMIN's boons with said tools.)
>"Crank these up a dozen notches." (-$150. You'll upgrade all six TORCH GUNS you acquired to be FAR more potent and powerful.)
>"Make a bomb that will make God Cry." (-$750, -2 DYNAMITE BUNDLES and 2 FRAGMENTATION GRENADES. You'll get an explosive likely able to punch holes even in heavily armored vehicles.)
>Offer him something to upgrade (Write in what item(s) to upgrade. EQUIPMENT will cost $150, WEAPONS will cost $450, ARMOR will cost $300, AMMO will cost $16 per round, MISC items will cost $350. PARADIGMs can't be upgraded.)
>Look around the shelves for some raw materials...(Write in what you want to look for and how much money you're willing to spend.)
>"What can you make from this?" (Write in up to three items from your inventory for him to convert into another item and what category you want it to be.)
>Write in.

Took longer than I expect. Next update should be quicker.

>>6079078
>"Can you make these uniforms more protective?" (-RED CLOTH FRAGMENT, -$225. Your 6 FUR LINED UNIFORMS and 2 WINTER UNIFORMS will gain a slight boost to their ability to protect against the cold and will gain minor physical protection.)
FINALLY use that fabric from Gregory
>"What do you think you can make out of this?" (-$333, -1 SPACE AGE TILE, -1 SPACE AGE CHIP. You imagine you'll get something suitably out of this world. Write in whether you want AMMO, EQUIPMENT, ARMOR, ACCESSORY or AMMO made from these. You may pick this up to three times.)
ARMOR because big defense
Keep the rest for later or for in case we meet a Yue or somebody relevant
>Offer him something to upgrade (Write in what item(s) to upgrade. EQUIPMENT will cost $150, WEAPONS will cost $450, ARMOR will cost $300, AMMO will cost $16 per round, MISC items will cost $350. PARADIGMs can't be upgraded.)
EMP Grenade, I want a clutch to fuck up the implants of whoever is that "stronger than elite" the glowies will be sending
>"What can you make from this?" (Write in up to three items from your inventory for him to convert into another item and what category you want it to be.)
RAW NOVASTONE CHUNK X 1
FLASHBANG X 1
CRYO GRENADE X 1
Make it something very fucking annoying for any group we use it against

I would love to do more but we're already down 1K from this and we need the money to hire all our allies on the base assault

>>6077811
Splitting into teams just works because we have the 3 earpieces and Nicole's got FOCUSED MINDREAD. We coukd ask Alexis for a fourth one of those earpieces and that'd make things much easier. This way 1 ally in every group becomes the contact out

>>6079078
>"Can you make these uniforms more protective?" (-RED CLOTH FRAGMENT, -$225. Your 6 FUR LINED UNIFORMS and 2 WINTER UNIFORMS will gain a slight boost to their ability to protect against the cold and will gain minor physical protection.)
>"Hey, mind handing me some of your equipment?" (-$450 per bundle of tools. You'll be able to upgrade ADAM'S, BENEDICT'S, or BENJAMIN's boons with said tools.)
For Adam.
>"Crank these up a dozen notches." (-$150. You'll upgrade all six TORCH GUNS you acquired to be FAR more potent and powerful.)
Just in case we encounter an ice monster or strong ice block.
>Offer him something to upgrade (Write in what item(s) to upgrade. EQUIPMENT will cost $150, WEAPONS will cost $450, ARMOR will cost $300, AMMO will cost $16 per round, MISC items will cost $350. PARADIGMs can't be upgraded.)
EMP Grenade
>"What can you make from this?" (Write in up to three items from your inventory for him to convert into another item and what category you want it to be.)
RAW NOVASTONE CHUNK X 1
FLASHBANG X 1
CRYO GRENADE X 1

>>6079078
>>6079327

This is fine I suppose.

Should we upgrade a few rounds of ammo as well, for emergencies? It is relatively cheap and some booster and abno rounds or explosive shells might be useful.

>>6079078
Fuck it changing my vote from >>6079220 to backing >>6079327 and >>6079335
We need money after this and we need to save money after next mission to burn on hiring the whole gang to assault the base

>>6079335
Okay
>>6079327
Add
>"Can you make some better ammo out of these?" (-$270. 6 SHOTGUN SLUGS, 7 REVOLVER BULLETS, and 4 PISTOL AMMO in your inventory will be converted into random specialty ammo.)

>>6079078
>>6079335
>>6079339

Supporting adding this.

Hopefully we do good on the ammo lottery

One final thing. Are we going to slot in our improved implant before the next mission? The stat boosts are pretty nice.

>>6079526
Is that for Nicole or an ally? Also we still have that unknown implant

>>6079528
I assumed it was going to be used by Nicole. And that is true. Never did get around to figuring out what it does other than being beneficial.

>>6079529
The implants are potent investments for specific allies, and the blood replacement vials are the strongest when used by those. Right now that's just Nicole and Naomi.

>>6079534
Naomi, for sure in regard to the blood replacements, since her power tats let her get perm. Benefits. The improved implant might be better going to a useful ally with kinda shit stats like Casey, maybe.

>>6079539
It gives 1 to every stat EXCEPT VIOLENCE, CHARM, and CONNECTIONS. So somebody that uses everything but those the most.
>Alexis
VIOLENCE is her weakest stat, but that's understandable. CHARM and CONNECTIONS are also highest. She's one of the best that could get this stat-wise
>Lex
His COGNIZANCE is still gonna be very low and he doesn't use TALENT. Not good with this implant
>Quentin
His base stats are ass, but the upgrade from the implant could help him immensely for that
>Benjamin
The thing is is that I don't know how an implant that gives resistance to anomalous phenomena will do when planted into an already anomalous person. Benjamin hasn't really fought properly in the quest yet, and all the implant will do for him is give him 3 FLESH and there's other better ways for that. In fact he doesn't even have a proper weapon of any kind, we should fix that next time we see him
>Kiara
Makes what Kiara is already good at better, that's about it. She isn't lacking for any of those stats the implant gives and her lacking stats are the precise ones the implant doesn't give.
>Maruyama
See Benjamin. This gets his WILLPOWER up to 3, but there's gotta be other ways of doing that than implanting with something this powerful
>Adam
See Maruyama
>Ashley
See Benjamin. Even though she isn't anomalous YET. Not a gun user for that TALENT either
>Max
See Benjamin. Could be good if only because she's so fucking fragile even now and we haven't buffed or upgraded her much in that regard at all
>Frank
Does he even need this? He's turbo-badass enough
>Naomi
I want to spread the silver implants around, so not her
>Casey
See Benjamin. You're right she could use all these stat boosts. Another good candidate for this implant but the anomalous question is up in the air
>Clover
See Kiara
>Benedict
No
>Wendy
Doesn't need it as much as somebody else might, but she can still benefit well

I'm stuck between
>Alexis
>Quentin
>Wendy
But what do you think?

>>6079554
I think Wendy would appreciate it the most, due to the anomalous power resistance. Quentin can probably upgrade by getting some better parts and we do have a super spook supposed to be after us. Alexis is middle of the road for me.

If the thing can work with people who are "different" I will vote fore Casey, if we don't use it ourselves, or maybe Wendy.

Wendy definitely should have of 面纱 IMPLANT. It is perfect for her to have it because of anomalous power resistance.

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"Alright. Can you do fabric work?" You place your six FUR LINED UNIFORMS and two WINTER OUTFITS onto the counter, alongside the RED CLOTH FRAGMENT (which, to clarify, is made out of an incredibly pricy material that's bullet and stab resistant.)

"Mmh. Not great at it but I'll try." He slides the pile of fabric to the side. "Next?"

"Do you have any, say, wrenches and screwdrivers and other tools a mechanic would use that I can buy?"

"Mmh. Mama's mama made this for me. Heard they were made once by an ancient company called 'Home Depot'. I care not for them." The old man digs around underneath the counter before slamming an ancient looking, rusted over toolbox onto said counter. He fiddles with a few latches to show that, yes, it still opens and yes: There are tools inside. "Next?"

"Crank these up a few notches, upgrade these, and make something cool out of these." You pour a bunch of random junk onto the table that you have in your 'who knows how it works' inventory system. You then slap down the required money onto the table. Given how an EMP Grenade probably takes less to upgrade than an assault rifle or something, you only put $150 for it.

He takes the money and the rest of the items so, yeah, seems like $150 is enough to upgrade it. "I'd exit the shop for a bit if I was you. It'll take a bit for me to finish and your eyes are creeping me the fuck out."
>-$1245. $3117 left!

He turns his back around and with the fury of a creator god trying his best to make the universe in seven days, he begins his work. A blinding light slowly begins to fill the room and the most foul, acrid scent humanity could ever smell hits your noise. It's like a combination of wet dog, rotten eggs, and smog.

You take his advice and step outside of his small hut. Might as well spend this time to tinker around with your PARADIGMs, he's too busy in his sauce to notice or care. That and nobody is out here to notice your foul occult tinkering.

First up is the WATERLOGGED POCKETWATCH. It's a very cool emergency backup tool but you do wonder how much you can get out of it outside of that. Pressing down on one of its dials and buttons, the world is awashed in a monochromatic grey hue. Everything has grinded to a halt.

You keep your thumb firmly pressed down on the dial you just pressed. One, two, three, four. Your whole body begins to tingle with an odd feeling as you keep your thumb pressed down. Six, seven, eight. You feel like you shouldn't be doing this.

Ten...and time is still stopped. As you begin to move your body through the still stopped time, you feel the muscles in your arms and legs beginning to burn up with some unknown heat. Your breathing quickly turns shallow as the air around you begins to disappear. 11, 12, 13., 14 Hundreds of pounds can be felt on your back with every single step you try taking.

15. You immediately let go of the crown of the pocket watch. Time immediately resumes as if nothing happened at all. Huh, interesting, you can prolong it.

File: THEPAST.jpg (194 KB, 860x687)

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Next up is your PULSATING GEAR. It interferes with electronics, right? So what if...
You dig into your phone and after a bit of finnicky, you update its password with some random string of characters. bYFG sounds fine enough.

You then turn it off before turning it back on to show your phone's password screen. Holding up the gear to the screen...it doesn't take longer than two seconds for it to automatically unlock on its own through some unseen force. You repeat this a few times with longer and longer strings of characters.

It eventually stops being able to automatically solve it once 12 characters were introduced but it still filled in 80% of the password when that happened. Neat, that'll be useful if you find anything locked later.

Last one you personally check for now is MEMORIES OF A FORGOTTEN ERA (though you'll still check on the others while travelling to wherever you plan on going for this mission). The horrid sepia filter it always has bothers you like no other and you WANT TO SMASH THIS THING TO PIECES AND-

>+1 RESTRAINT from REGEN! 4/9 NOW!

Cough.

Anyways, you point it towards the empty streets. As you expected, the formerly empty streets are now filled to the brim with random people from about a week ago. Men, women, robots, you name it. A nameless horde of Cityslickers. A group that deserves her prot- No, no, shut up, that deer isn't here.

God your mind's still racing.

You can hear their inane chattering about where they want to eat out or that they have to take their dog to the vet or what their job is like over the camcorder. You wonder if it could be two way. After all, you are seeing the past.

"Hello?" You whisper into the camcorder.

A few random people stop, glancing around as if they heard something.

"If you can hear me, raise your hand."

About five or six people in the crowd do so.

"What time is it?"

One of the random specters simply states "12 PM? What?"

You then put up the camera. Interesting. That might help if you have to figure out something in the future like another Briefcase Scandal.

>When using your pocket watch, you can stop time for 15 seconds, at the cost of FLESH and RESTRAINT. The extra five seconds bought will allow you to roll +2d4 to any check you make during stopped time and any related DCs are lowered by 2.)
>PULSATING GEAR, thrice per mission, may add +2d6 to any COGNIZANCE check and you'll have a chance to automatically unlock any digital device you come across.
>You may now attempt to communicate with those in the past when the situation calls for it. They may be able to offer information you may otherwise not be able to figure out on your own.

"HEY! YOUR STUFF'S DONE. COME AND GET IT." Welp, enough tinkering for now. Time to grab your stuff.

ITEMS OBTAINED
>TORCH GUN+ x6 (ATTACK ROLL: COGNIZANCE+1. Due to burning fuel more efficiently, each can be used 6 times. They can now burn things 50% quicker than normal torch guns, saving you time in stressful situations.)

File: WALKINGTHROUGHSNOWYSTREETS.jpg (152 KB, 900x696)

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>EMP GRENADE+ (Targets multiple enemies. Severely weakens or damages any electronic or implant not owned by you or an ally on use. When used against a mechanical enemy or anomaly, you roll an extra 4d8 when attacking them and you deal extra MIXED damage to them.)
>FREEZING LIGHT GRENADE (A makeshift grenade with a potent, freezing light bubbling inside it. Enemies who fail a DC 25 FLESH check against it are immediately frozen and stunned for three rounds while all other enemies permanently lose 4 dice. Adds +6d6 to your next attack as well.)
>6 IMPROVED FURLINE UNIFORMS And 2 IMPROVED WINTER OUTFITS (Reduces all FLESH damage taken from extreme cold by 2 and from intense heat by 1 [can reduce to 0]. Has a small chance to negate 1 FLESH damage from other sources. Can be worn over most armors.)
>7 EXPLOSIVE SHOTGUN SHELLS, 4 ARMOR PIERCING PISTOL AMMO, 6 HEAVY REVOLVER ROUNDS (Built for KILL someone STONE DEAD. Attacks made with this ammo will always inflict CRIPPLING INJURIES and will deal 2 extra FLESH damage to targets. Has a rare chance to stun.)
>ANCIENT TOOLBOX (Upgrades ADAM's LINCENSED MECHANIC boon!)

>-RAW NOVASTONE CHUNK, FLASHBANG, CRYO GRENADE, RED CLOTH FRAGMENT, EQUAL AMOUNTS OF REGULAR AMMO.

Nice. After pocketing all of it, you exit the store. You'll do a quick sweep of any other shops you can find before going back home. As you do so, you do notice that the streets are full of people again. It's as if they were always here instead of being gone for god knows how long. Interesting.

Time to do some quick rounds.

>21

The first place you walk past on your way back home is a small, quaint coffee shop. The dark brown paint slathered all over the building makes it stand out like a sore thumb when everything around you is drenched in white or grey. A bright, cozy light pours out of its windows, almost tempting you to go inside right now.

The inside of the building from what you can see only has three people in it. A young student with black hair, an older man with a goatee, and a young girl with orange hair. The three of them seem to be working to set up the cafe, which only has a few old seats scattered around.

You faintly remember getting a coupon from this place. Maybe you can visit it later.
>CALORE NERO found! You may visit here to get temporary stat boosts or boons/abilities. You may also bring an ally here to boost their RAPPORT.

>32

The second place you come across is, well, to put it politely? You don't want anything to do with this place. There's an unmarked building in front of you that's been painted to blend in exactly with the rest of the buildings. If you didn't know any better, you'd assume it was just abandoned or under construction.

But with the boarded up windows and the odd tattoo'd standing outside, you can tell there's something more to it. And the odd noises that sound like...someone hitting a pile of meat with a hammer.

The tattoo'd man narrows his eyes at you, as if he recognizes something about you.

File: PARK.jpg (200 KB, 900x630)

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"Come back when you want supplies, Nicole. We got everything the City doesn't want you to see." He tosses you a business card. You quickly make distance from the shop.
>UNMARKED SHOP unlocked! You imagine you can buy all manners of illegal shit here that no other shop can offer. However, it might not be a good idea to go there regularly.

>25

The last place you find is, oddly enough, not a shop but something a lot more quaint. There's a small abandoned park in the middle of your district that's placed in the middle of a bunch of other buildings. There's not really much to it aside from a few benches and old play equipment but it's a place to rest your feet.

You sit down on one of the benches before looking up at the morning sky. You take in a deep breath before letting it out. There's nothing here to bother or distract you. It's just the cold air nipping at your toes and ears and your own thoughts.

You feel like you could meditate here a lot more peacefully than you could, even at your own apartment.
>PARK UNLOCKED! (Allows you to meditate and train your powers in a more open environment, letting you boost your RESTRAINT and master your abilities quicker.)

>???

You notice you're not alone, though.

An oddly dressed man approaches the bench you're sitting on and sits right next to you despite a few other benches being around. You have never seen this man in your life but you can already tell you recognize him from somewhere. Mostly because of how he dresses.

Compared to everyone in this district wearing generic winter clothing or work uniforms, he's in a bright orange suit with a navy blue tie. His dress shoes are also the same navy blue as his tie. As for the man himself, he's an older gentleman who has to be in his late 50s from how his face droops and the specks of grey forming in his hair.

He leans forward to look at you. "...Hm. Are you Nicole Smith?"

"Yes?" You cautiously respond. You keep your hand by your side, ready to dig for your revolver or pistol or any sort of weapon to defend yourself against him.

"Good. I wanted to see you for myself. I've heard some of the rumors." The Orange Suit nods approvingly once he realizes he found the right target. "I can't introduce myself for the time being. Too much at stake for the both of us."

You can feel the TARNISHED GOLD NECKLACE in your pocket activating...

>"After all, I have to prepare for the meeting with my fellow...rivals in 2 days. Can't leave my Alphabet Company alone for too long either."<

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] His company. HIS company. Your blood goes cold. It's not hard to connect that this man isn't just an employee of a company.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] This is a Corporate CEO, Nicole. One of the 26 CEOs that run the massive megacorporation that operates this City.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] This man has a country's worth amount of land and people under his command. Don't FUCK WITH HIM

"W-what? Wait, why the hell are you here then? How did you find me?"

File: HANDLERCALLING.jpg (9 KB, 600x338)

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"I have my ways." The Unknown CEO cryptically responds. "I've heard stories of you and I'm fascinated, frankly. I want you to find me later. Somewhere more private. If you can find me, I know you're smart enough to help me with a plan I have later."

"F-for what reason? I-I can't really do much-"

"Why, we have a common enemy." He digs into his pocket and leaves something on the bench. "Goodbye. Do not follow me." He gets up from the bench before casually strolling away. You can't even read his stats or his mind when he walks away, it's a complete blank spot.

You pick up what he left behind. It's a simple business card with one small phrase written on it: "DO NOT TRUST K-CORP. FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY."

>MYSTERY OBTAINED: THE UNKNOWN CEO (Which company does he operate? Why should you not trust K-Corp? Why is he interested in you specifically? If he's against the spooks, who else is against them? Or, god forbid, working with them? Is there an ulterior motive to why he contacted you? WHEN SOLVED: +2 CONNECTIONS.)

You don't feel safe out here anymore. You make a mad dash back to your apartment. You think you need some time to think about all of the information that has been smashing against you lately. It doesn't really take that long for you to find your apartment building and to rush up back to your bedroom.

Right as you do so, your phone starts buzzing. Picking it up, you can hear The Handler (can't call him Otto right now) trying to talk to you before immediately being interrupted by someone. You can barely make out what the argument is about but 'put the phone away' and 'yeah you recovered it but the risk of' tells you he's probably still busy doing paperwork.

"I'm talking to the person who helped RECOVERED IT, THANKS! NOW GET OFF MY ASS UNLESS YOU WANT TO LOSE ACCESS TO HER TOO, COCKSUCKER!"

This shuts up whoever he's talking to but you feel like you shouldn't even be listening into this.

"S-should I call back? You seem rather busy."

"Nah, nah, again. Just dealing with paperwork. You know how it is. So, I got some missions for you, Nicky Wicky Dicky Micky-"
"otto foxtrot."
"Yeah, yeah, don't call me that unless I'm working with ya. Listen up well. Pick one so you can make some more MONEY, BITCH."

Well, you heard the man.

"Oh, right, I'll deliver you a relevant PARADIGM depending on what mission you pick. Still got that deal in the bag."

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: $1425, +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
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>[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: $1500, +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: $1025, +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: $977, +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: $2850, 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: $625, improved relationships with C-Company, +1 MAX RESTRAINT to you and all allies who join you this mission. RISK LEVEL: LOW-MEDIUM
>[WARNING] [ANOMALOUS?] "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: $5000, 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. E, X, and H-Corp have done their best but they still haven't figured a solution out. Go in there, help them, FIX IT." REWARD: $1222, 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

>[WARNING] [ANOMALOUS?] "I hope you like the sun because you're going to the WASTES. Your task is to find an old artifact somewhere in that fucked up desert. Bring it back here. Intact." REWARD: $2666, 4 C-Extract, you're likely to find various rare and unique items out in there. RISK LEVEL: OVERWHELMING
>[BONUS MISSION] "This is going to sound incredibly pathetic but I need you to do this for me. I haven't had contact with my family in a while and I need you to find where they're at and how they're doing. I'm worried, okay?" REWARD: $1000, +1 RAPPORT with your Handler, +1 CONNECTIONS to you and two allies of your choice upon completion, and you'll become a honorary Foxtrot (which will help you interact with corporate families easier). RISK LEVEL: MEDIUM

WHO TO HIRE? CHOOSE UP TO FIVE ALLIES TO BRING. CERTAIN ALLIES HAVE BEEN REMOVED DUE TO WORKING LAST MISSION
CURRENT MONEY: $3117
>[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. (Only pickable with the I-Corp mission. Will ask for a 16% cut of the reward money if you do so.)
>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 $27 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)
>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. Has vastly improved cognizant abilities and can react quicker than most humans. Prone to making rash decisions. (Free if you pick a mission tagged [ANOMALOUS] or [ANOMALOUS?]. $75 otherwise.)
>[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] ASHLEY. Living on the streets has instilled a powerful intuition. Has an athletic frame, with all of its benefits that brings. Desensitized and numb to violence and bloodshed. ($82)
>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. Slowly regaining her SILVER AGENT skills. 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)
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>[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] 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.)
>NO ONE (GOING ALONE)

-------------------------------

Otto won't be available this mission since he did work with you all of last mission but here's his description for future reference.

"[UPG] OTTO. Your fucking boss. Has an insane amount of capital to his name and will make interacting with those in high positions of power super easy. Has unshakeable confidence that can't be easily broken. VERY FUCKING IMPORANT TO KEEP ALIVE and is a PERSON OF INTEREST. (Costs 35% of your mission payout.)"

And to answer a question about the implant, it won't interfere with the powers of the person installed into it. Otherwise a good chunk of your allies couldn't use it without getting the SHIFTer version of cancer or, I dunno, sexual impotence?

Meant to post earlier but I passed out. It is what it is.

>>6079822
>[BONUS MISSION] "This is going to sound incredibly pathetic but I need you to do this for me. I haven't had contact with my family in a while and I need you to find where they're at and how they're doing. I'm worried, okay?" REWARD: $1000, +1 RAPPORT with your Handler, +1 CONNECTIONS to you and two allies of your choice upon completion, and you'll become a honorary Foxtrot (which will help you interact with corporate families easier). RISK LEVEL: MEDIUM
Let's clean an easier one to be ready for the big one.

>[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.)
>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] CASEY. Optimistic spirit lightens the mood of everyone she interacts with, very experienced at convincing people. Has a queen bee-like mindset. Emotional. ($60)