"That should stop you from blabbering so much. It's not like you humans even deserve to speak in my presence anyway." Daniel would soon cough up blood, their queen looking even more disgusted. "Cleaner. Get rid of this filth." As a scientist quickly ran forward to undo the mess, their queen would return to her chair. "As I was about to say, I will pardon your failure for the time being. I expected them to resist my rule. I just wanted to know how many of them there were before I send some of my stronger warriors after them. Regardless, I want you to prepare yourself once more, and to try again in the near future. I MUST have that factory!" Megan, Flora and Gregor nodded, continuing to bow before carefully moving back and heading for the arms depot near their queen's chamber. But not before Gregor grabbed Daniel and carried him away.

After they left, the queen would look over her shoulder at a scientist who was working in a nearby chamber. "You, scientist, how is work going on the device I requested?!" The male scientist, Roger, would quickly step forward. "M-My lady, I-I have so far made... l-little progress on the device you requested! Ummm, i-it requires a lot of f-fine parts which aren't here." The queen groaned and got up to approach Roger. "Yes, you told me so already before. Are you sure you genuinely are putting your all into it?" Roger panicked as the queen approached, nodding quite fast. "O-Of course, your m-majesty! I-I... i-it's j-just very... ummm... d-difficult without k-knowledge on you. I-I did say, m-maybe you could... g-give me a s-sample of your n-nanites a-and-" The queen's eyes widened, her yelling in rage. "NOBODY WILL GET A SAMPLE OF MY NANITES! SUGGEST THAT AGAIN, AND I SHALL TAKE AWAY YOUR FREE WILL WITH THE SNAP OF A FINGER!" Roger trembled and walked backwards, stumbling before nodding. "Y-Y-YES M-MY LADY! I-I'M SORRY! I-I WON'T BRING IT UP AGAIN!"

The queen would thankfully calm down, clearing her throat before speaking more calmly. "You humans are so idiotic. Is there anything else my soldiers can do to assist you in this task?" Roger would think about his words carefully, before getting an idea. "Ummm, m-maybe you c-can... uhhh... s-some of y-your men c-can find... uhhhh, y-your files? P-Paper ones, i-if they e-even exist..." Roger was ready to be destroyed for the mere suggestion, only to see the queen thinking about it. She started smiling and nodding. "Yes... Yes, my files. My creator did keep paper files on me in his office. Finding them could indeed help. Not just in your mission, but also in keeping my abilities a secret!" She'd look back at some of the nearby soldiers, before speaking up. "You! The five of you! I have a most important mission for you!"

The five soldiers would immediately step forward, giving a salute and simultaneously yelling. "Yes, your majesty!" Albeit some being quite shaky and stuttering. The queen smirked, before putting her hands together.

"The five of you shall retrieve paper files on me. You're not allowed to look into them, and doing so will be punished with a slow and painful death! Do you understand?!" The queen yelled as she stood in front of the five guardsmen. "Yes, your majesty!" They once again yelled, at which point she gave a 'kind' smile. "Good! Servants, provide these soldiers with the finest map of the lower facility. The location you’ll be heading to? The office of my creator…”

-----------------------------------------------

This quest is mostly story focused, with no really deep mechanics aside from basic dice-rolling. The story is rather freeform in terms of what choices you can make and what direction you want to follow. What your goal is in this place and who you choose to trust is mostly up to you. Do you want to explore the place and figure out its mysteries? Or do you just want to shoot shit and cleanse this place of monster girls? No matter what you opt to do down here, I will always try to give options for what you can do. You can also always send in your own choices and suggestions on what to do. Either way, I hope to provide a fun and enjoyable experience for everyone. My writing ain't perfect, so I always do appreciate it when feedback is provided so I can improve further.

Shared docs:
You, your men and your allies:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_NoldE7zglICEuon-YZNhxjXcqvjszveOsz4u8jz-is/edit?usp=sharing
List of scientists and subjects, along with some minor details:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15Z64W31Eszz9CNi-ZWe-t38yqg6riZ9oUvinfd2-F9A/edit?usp=sharing
The monster girls sheets as provided by the government tablet:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sIrSAkYFN57njvPYKcWzpjnme2nMD6Bzgkl-j4wU3LE/edit?usp=sharing
Sheets of monster girls you've befriended:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CPSZp0MxftcNaUFSfBxzkRh7MfEiPnA7G6W

Previous threads:
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?searchall=Monster+Girl+Facility

Artist I commissioned for this thread's thumbnail: None, art by based local drawanon.

>Recap from the previous thread.
After defeating the rabbit, you and your men returned to the main base to show your kill and also get some medical aide. Whilst in the hospital, you caught up with Zaria, whilst also learning of some mysterious illnesses which are affecting soldiers like yourself. After you and Zaria were then expelled from the hospital (Alan and Evander being kept back for a few days), you’d meet up with a high-ranking government official and finally get your contract. Not to mention, incredible payments. After preparing a lot of fancy equipment, you returned to the green section one last time. There, you’d discover a mysterious office far below the green section, along with a giant snake subject called Viridian who was friendly despite being made by Elbrus. Afterwards, you headed westwards, finding yourself in a large factory sector. There you met Morgan, the sword-wielding lizard/demon subject. You’d quickly have her join your party, as you encountered some paranoid guardsmen who spoke of this ‘queen’ subject. And after interrogating three of them, you decide to ignore the paranoid facility staff’s base and continue your trek further into the bowels of the facility...

Continuing from the previous thread...

>Have Lydia move the drone further into the tunnel you wanted to go into. For all you knew, she’d end up fighting a blockage which was impossible to traverse, meaning going further down was futile anyway.
As the others approached the section of broken stairs, you told Lydia to already move her drone further into the tunnel. That way, she could get a good look at how much was damaged ahead of her. If the lower section of this place had collapsed, then chances were that the routes ahead may have also been destroyed. “On it.” Lydia said, as you saw the drone completely disappear in the darkness, the blinking light it had soon moving towards a wall before fading away altogether. Soon after, everyone would reach the stairs, with Thaddeus putting up his hand. “Be careful and do NOT step further. Yer gonna risk a real nasty fall if ya do.” The others would hold back. Well, all except for Chrys who would fly down before speaking up a bit worriedly. “So, how are you guys going to cross? Is Anofelis going to just carry everyone over?” Morgan would soon speak up quite proudly, suggesting something rather ridiculous. “I shall leap down and onto the stairs below. I need not be lifted over!”

Immediately, Laura would do the right thing and tell her not to do that. “Please don’t, Morgan. If you do, there is a good chance you’ll destroy more sections below and cause the entire thing to collapse.” Morgan would thankfully agree, after which you told everyone that you’d use some ropes to get down. Your men seemed fine with the suggestion, Lars already getting some from his backpack and getting ready to tie it on the railing. Though you told them to wait, as you wanted to see if it was even possible to go down. Fortunately, Lydia was quick to provide an update after a minute of waiting. “Okay, I moved forward quite a bit, and I’ve now gotten to a split in the path! I can head southwards, or continue further towards the green section.”

>Get some rope or wire to either make some sorta rope bridge, or to just have it go directly downwards to the stairwell further below. Chrys and Anofelis could help out if anyone struggled going down it.
With confirmation that it was safe to move downwards, you told everyone to start using the rope to go down. Chrys would also assist, flying beside whoever went down the ropes to make sure everything went right. Fortunately, there were no hiccups up with the rope. Zaria, Lars, Mike, Laura, Kamara and Oreas all managed to make it down safely. However, next came Morgan, at which point something did go wrong. She would start climbing down the rope, not being too bothered. However, shortly after moving down the rope, you heard a loud snap coming from the bit of railing the rope was attached to. “Shit.” Derek said as Thaddeus would speak down at the others. “Crap, part of the railing broke! I don’t think the rope can hold much longer!” The rope was still in place, but the part it was stuck on had just one connection point left. The rope was starting to slip, as Anofelis would already move forward. Chrys would also help, flying over and grabbing Morgan. “Oh god, careful!” Arty said as Anofelis would grab Morgan with her legs, Chrys meanwhile grabbing Morgan around the back. Soon after, there was a snap and you were pulled down slightly. The upper part of the rope fell down, Morgan still holding the part she had a hold of.

Fortunately, Anofelis and Chrys had just arrived in the nick of time, carefully descending with Morgan and placing her down. “That was close!” Oreas said, Morgan soon being placed down as Laura let out a breath of relief. “Yeah, thank god you guys grabbed her on time. If you hadn’t… well, she may have survived the fall, but the bit of stairs we’re standing on would have probably not.” Everyone below was quite relieved, though you soon heard Derek above you. “Do you guys still have the rope? We kinda still need to get down there as well!” Morgan would hand over the rope to Chrys, before calmly speaking up. “Here. Thank you two for saving me. I may be tough, but I would’ve not wanted to put that toughness to the test with such a fall!”

After the mildly backhanded compliment, Chrys rubbed the back of her head. “Ummm, you’re welcome? It was mostly just Anofelis’ doing, but… nevermind.” Chrys flew up with the bit of rope, it soon being attached to a more secure section of the walkway. And soon after, Lydia, Derek and lastly Thaddeus were able to get down. “Alright, guess we can get moving. Do we just keep the rope here though?” Anon asked, you stating you might as well since it’d be the only way back up. “Morgan’s going last, next time.” Zaria quickly said, much to Morgan’s amusement. And with that, you’d continue your travels forward. And eventually, you’d reach the hallway which the drone had gone through. It was a far darker corridor than the ones you had seen before. And more importantly, they appeared to be far more untouched, with some incredibly resilient metals making up the walls of this place. Though, somewhat concerning was the fact that you soon noticed some nearby turrets attached to the walls. Fortunately, they all looked to be deactivated. “Well, shall we move on then?” Thaddeus said, after Anofelis landed on her two feet and put you, Artyom and Anon down.

>What do you plan to do next?

Suggestions/Other options:
>Just head forward without a care in the world. This place seemed untouched and pristine, so chances nothing really had been here. Well, all aside from Viridian.
>Listen to Annie’s radio whilst you moved forward. Both to just kill the time and to listen to further updates. You weren’t at risk of attracting threats with the music, surely.
>Head further down the elevator shaft first. Lydia mentioned that there was a ton of rubble there, but maybe you were able to find something else of interest even further down?
>Ask Lydia about her drone. Maybe she had spotted something else of interest? If not, you could always tell her to head forward to ensure nothing was heading your way. That, or she could head south. (Write in what you want her to do with the drone.)
>Something else…

(And with that, a new thread has been made. This one had a particularly long cold open, focused on the queen you guys will hopefully not meet anytime soon. Anyway, let me know if anything is missing from the intro so far or if I made any errors anywhere.)

>>5987534
>Sheets of monster girls you've befriended:
>https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CPSZp0MxftcNaUFSfBxzkRh7MfEiPnA7G6W
Broken link

>>5987547
Ah, good thing you pointed that out. Got the wrong link for that one.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CPSZp0MxftcNaUFSfBxzkRh7MfEiPnA7G6Wzfm9dkSQ/edit?usp=sharing

This one should hopefully work.

>>5987542
>Just head forward without a care in the world. This place seemed untouched and pristine, so chances nothing really had been here. Well, all aside from Viridian.
This option always seems like schmuck bait every time it's presented, but I want to try and swipe the cheese for once.

>the queen you guys will hopefully not meet anytime soon
Oh, I hope we do. After we're done with the office saga, we're off to enforce some republicanism. By force. With force.

>>5987542
>>Ask Lydia about her drone. Maybe she had spotted something else of interest? If not, you could always tell her to head forward to ensure nothing was heading your way. That, or she could head south. (Write in what you want her to do with the drone.)
>Listen to Annie’s radio whilst you moved forward. Both to just kill the time and to listen to further updates. You weren’t at risk of attracting threats with the music, surely.
Make sure to note things down for later, we have a lot of shit to look at for when we retrace our steps.

I want to shoot the queen with a Plasma Railgun for daring to insult the glorious human race.

>>5987542
>Just head forward without a care in the world. This place seemed untouched and pristine, so chances nothing really had been here. Well, all aside from Viridian.
WITHOUT A CARE IN THE WORLD

also damn that queen is scary. seems to be like Morgan except with flesh instead of metal? hopefully she can't/won't craft some bio monstrosities to throw at us

>>5987542
>Just head forward without a care in the world. This place seemed untouched and pristine, so chances nothing really had been here. Well, all aside from Viridian.

What could go wrong?

>>5987643
>>5987664
Guys its best we are safe rather then sorry.
Every time we scouted ahead we found more shit that was fucked up.
We still have to go fight a whole ass queen after this, we can't let our guards down now.

>>5987750
Oh, I know it's not a safe idea, but at the same time why else would the option be there for?

>>5987848
OP just throws a few examples out there, we don't always have to take em. Remember shooting the Ox girl in the dick? It would've been better if we went for the head, but we all wanted to go for the meme.

>>5987750
We won't be able to relax while fighting the queen so we have to let our guards down now. Rest and recuperation are important too anon.

>>5988348
We can just take a break and then move forward, or reach the destination and rest up before continuing.
Going anywhere blind is unneeded when it costs us nothing to have a drone ahead of us scouting.

>>5988356
We do have a drone ahead of us scouting though
We voted to have Lydia do that at the end of last thread
Also it costs battery power and mental fatigue on Lydia's part

>>5988010
And I would've done it again, besides we cant be alert 24/7 that's how you stress yourself out. Or give in to paranoia

>Just head forward without a care in the world. This place seemed untouched and pristine, so chances nothing really had been here. Well, all aside from Viridian.
>Ask Lydia about her drone. Maybe she had spotted something else of interest? If not, you could always tell her to head forward to ensure nothing was heading your way. That, or she could head south.
With everyone here, you decided to just head forward. You didn't have a plan in mind, and didn't think there were any threats ahead. Besides, if there were any real threats, Lydia's drone was still ahead of you. So far, she hadn't spotted anything, but you told her to keep it in position to watch out for any incoming threats. "On it!" And with that, you'd start heading forward. The hallways were far cooler down here, and you could tell that the air was a bit more humid here. "Geez, it feels a lot harder to breathe here than above." Laura soon mumbled, to which Derek responded calmly. "Given that this is connected to parts of the flooded facility, I can imagine such. Hell, if we head past the office, we'll probably get there soon enough." Thankfully, the place wasn't flooded her yet. Though the air was indeed damp compared to before.

"Do you think we can encounter Viridian around here again?" Lars would eventually ask, to which Thaddeus shook his head. "I kinda doubt it. She probably already headed down this path, or went south from here." To this, Lydia shook her head. "I don't think Viridian came through here. I don't see any signs of her having come here. And even then, there's a giant mess down the elevator shaft which she would've probably not tried passing through, meaning she likely headed south or is further ahead." Given that it had been quite a few hours since you actually met Viridian, she probably had already moved way further forward from the office space. Still, the chance existed that you'd encounter her down here.

>Listen to Annie’s radio whilst you moved forward. Both to just kill the time and to listen to further updates. You weren’t at risk of attracting threats with the music, surely.
As you headed further forward, you felt that you might as well spend some time listening to Annie. You told Derek to turn on the radio which he promptly did. Though as you heard a rather lonely and simple guitar jingle play, Morgan seemed quite surprised and even a bit bewildered. "My, what is this music?" She mumbled, to which Derek scoffed. "Guess you never had access to the radio, huh? Annie is playing a station where she gives announcements and what not. We listen to it from time to time, both to enjoy some fun songs and to get intel on the place." Afterwards, Thaddeus calmly elaborated a bit further. "We've also communicated with her before. Hell, she even helped us when it came to talkin' with Viridian!" Morgan seemed a little confused, though she didn't question it, soon also enjoying the guitar which started fading away.

"You're listening to VRCMG Radio with Annie Marconi, the main reason you soldiers have so far achieved a kill-death-ratio of approximately one to 80! You just heard ‘RahMon’ by Peter McArthur, as requested by Henderson from Heroes. Please keep sending in more requests and remember to ignore the government. They are half the contributors to that disastrous kill-death-ratio, given their affection towards executioners!" You saw Morgan raising a bit of an eyebrow, though the rest of you just kept listening to hear further updates. "On the topic of executions, the government have just killed a Blackstar soldier who has attracted a mysterious 'disease', right after stumbling into a very secretive area containing information. I highly suggest being careful wi- ... vi- ... -a- ..." You heard static coming from the radio, as everyone froze up.

"Crap, did... did the government get her?!" Lydia asked worriedly, Thaddeus shaking his head. "Maybe they just took down her frequency or somethin'? Or someone else is jamming it?" Though soon the static faded and you heard a different voice, a far more soft-spoken one. "Thank you Annie, for finally stopping with hogging the radio. Now, welcome everyone, to my first ASMR stream." Your men all seemed a bit confused about what was going on, with Derek fiddling with the radio a bit. He changed the channels, before returning to the one Annie was supposed to be on. “Weird, it’s not a hijack of this radio. That means Annie must’ve gotten hijacked.” After returning to Annie’s station, you continued hearing that soft voice. “It’s a pleasure to finally get my voice heard. I know you soldiers have all been quite tired of that haughty fox girl and her silly radio show. You boys are far more interested in cute, soft-spoken and elegant girls, I imagine~” Laura was quick to speak up as she listened to the broadcast. “This sounds like an Elbrus subject.” Of course, the voice still continued her stream.

“I hope I will be able to entertain you boys. It is my first time doing a public ASMR stream, but I imagine I’ll be amazing. That is what my creator said to me many times, after all. Anyhow, let me play the girl of your dreams.” There was a pause, followed by a click as you heard her lips softly through the radio. “Hehe, it’s so nice to finally be in the spotlight… Ah, no need to be so flattering, you… Well, I’m glad to be with you too, hehe. I was so scared I’d spend all my time alone down here. But with you, I feel a lot more at ease… I’ll keep talking, if you love my voice that much…” You heard some of your men groaning, followed by Anofelis speaking up cluelessly. “What is the weird lady talking about? Can we go back to listening to Annie? I wanna hear her again…” Unfortunately, whoever was on the other end kept on talking, continuing this weird broadcast which… was not exactly what you were hoping to listen to.

You kept listening. Though it quickly became worse and worse, as you heard her breathing getting louder and louder. Your men looked more and more uncomfortable with every passing second, it not taking long for someone to speak up. “Mik, can I… can I shut this off?” Derek said, to which Morgan spoke up as well. “I do not know what kind of filth this is, but I do not wish to listen a second longer.” This was the first time your men really seemed to agree with Morgan. Though, there was some pushback. “I mean, should we really stop listening? What if this is some sort of cryptic clue?” Mike said, at which point Zaria spoke up. “Clues my ass, this is somebody’s fetish.” To this, Artyom spoke in a more amused tone. “So this is what you’re into, Mike?” In turn, your men, Laura, Chrys and Oreas started chuckling a little. Anofelis still seemed confused, Kamara appearing uncomfortable and Morgan remaining disgusted.

Though, Mike did bring up a somewhat decent point. Whoever this was, she had somehow taken over Annie’s radio channel. Either she was a genuine pervert and just wanted to get off on you hearing this crap, or she had an actual reason for taking over and playing her filth. Then again, it could also be something more malicious and dangerous to listen to.

>What do you do next?

Suggestions/options:
>Continue listening as you wandered. Don’t pause it at all. Just listen for as long as the broadcast last. Maybe Annie would take over again, or this was actually something she had done intentionally.
>Turn it off and turn it back on some time later. Maybe Annie would be back then and you could listen to some actually good songs and news.
>Listen for some time. Maybe until there was something particularly noteworthy… or something particularly crass and depraved you just didn’t want to hear. (Write in any specific point you want to stop listening.)
>Discuss with your men…
>Something else…

(Shorter update, but... a funny new character introduction nonetheless. Definitely going to be a fun one, this one.)

>>5988555
>Listen for some time. Maybe until there was something particularly noteworthy… or something particularly crass and depraved you just didn’t want to hear. (Write in any specific point you want to stop listening.)
If she starts moaning we turn it off.

>>5988555
>Turn it off and turn it back on some time later. Maybe Annie would be back then and you could listen to some actually good songs and news.
I will only support the ratings of our favourite fluffy-tailed DJ. Also, 1:80? Given we know of 3 dead subjects so far (two killed before us and Ms. Caerbannog), that works out to ~240 dead mercs. That's some substantial attrition but believable given the offhanded mentions of significant casualties we've heard and that the op has been going for weeks.

Must be another undocumented subject since none of the entries in the subject document - aka the MGE - seem like a match and it's only covered like half of those we've found thus far. The number of undocumented subjects in this facility is too goddamn high! I also wonder if she's fully taken over the frequency or if it's a local effect.

It seems like I have a revelation every time I look in the MGE. This time it's about why Anofelis despite being La Mosca does not drink blood - Toxorhynchites in real life is not a haematophage and drinks plant sap and fruit juice.

>>5988555
>Turn it off and turn it back on some time later. Maybe Annie would be back then and you could listen to some actually good songs and news.
Erebus Subject is kill
No words
Only Violence.
Also who knows what sort of shit they coded into her voice, maybe he's the singing subject or some shit.

>>5988555
Backing >>5988571
Maybe Annie needs help

>>5988651
240 isn't even 10%
Those are rookie numbers
We need to get those numbers up

>>5988555
>>Turn it off and turn it back on some time later. Maybe Annie would be back then and you could listen to some actually good songs and news.
No. Someone suddenly turned up and started to do some weird ASRM shit right when that queen talk started coming up... might suspicious I say. Perhaps I'm being a wee bit paranoid but I rather not risk it. Turn it down.

>>5988669
This really doesn't seem like TO-22 since she's not an Elbrus work, makes actual music and seems to mentally have a full deck of cards while being too nice for this.

>Turn it off and turn it back on sometime later. Maybe Annie would be back then and you could listen to some actually good songs and news.
Given that your men were disgusted and less than pleased with the audio, you decided to do the safe option for the time being and stop listening. You told Derek to shut it off, which he thankfully did right away. You told your men that you didn't just want to stop listening due to the expected pervy shit, but because you knew there was something suspicious about it. You had just learnt about a queen who could enamour anyone she was near, so this was quite a bad thing. Besides, it was clear this was an Elbrus subject, which you knew you couldn't trust at all. With that, the place soon fell silent again, Anofelis once again speaking up. "What's ay ess um are?" To this, Laura said the smartest thing for the time being. "Something Elbrus related, so let's just forget about it." And with that, Anofelis stopped asking questions about the thot subject.

You'd keep heading forward for the time being, the discussion about the ASMR subject continuing somewhat. "I do worry what happened to Annie. What if she's in trouble?" Lydia at one point said, to which Lars scoffed. "She managed to trick some of our forces into being killed and has access to a ton of government files, right? I am quite sure that she would find a way out of trouble." Artyom would also give his opinion, sounding a bit more amused. "I wonder if it was something she did intentionally. It could be some sort of new ploy. That, or there's some sort of hidden message in it." However, Anon would shake his head and seemingly disagree. "I wonder how far Annie would go with her secret messages, and if she'd be willing to do something this fucking disgusting for the entire world to hear." Mike would give a rather perplexed response. "I mean, it's gross but... I really wonder how dangerous listening to it would be?"

Before anyone could tell Mike that figuring that out was probably not worth it, Mike would turn to Derek with a pretty decent suggestion. "Derek, can you check any and all chats and news sources for other death squad soldiers? If there are people somehow being affected in any way by this audio, I can imagine there being plenty of announcements being spread around rather quickly." Derek nodded and would start looking through the tablet. Though soon after, you'd reach the first cross in the road. There was a hallway which would head south, the drone flying close-by as Lydia had kept it guarding this first split in the path. "If we go right here, we might encounter Viridian again. Though I imagine we'll keep heading forward to find that office space." You nodded, still wanting to find the office first and foremost. It was probably not too far from here at this point. And after ten minutes of walking and continuing to have some casual chats, you could see another some deactivated turrets guarding a large doorway.

Knowing you were almost there, Mike would ask for an update from Derek regarding news about the subject. "There are some people talking about the audio. And so far, I don't think anyone has been harmed by the audio. Well, there are plenty of people who are voicing their disgust and hatred. Oh, and a couple of comments sarcastically praising the new host. The government has given any response, so I think there is no real harm to listening in currently. Of course, it still is pretty disgusting." That last sentiment was something the rest of your men also agreed with. None of them wanted to hear more of the Elbrus subject doing perverse shit on the radio. Harmless or not, the last thing you wanted to hear was a disgusting moan from some subject 'indulging' in the attention.

Regardless, you'd soon reach the large doorway, passing the gun turrets before finding yourself in a far more modest office space. It wasn't like the large offices from before, where there were dozens upon dozens of rooms crammed into one. This one seemed far simpler, consisting of just one large hallway with a few side-rooms. Most of these rooms looked to be space for guardsmen, based on all the lockers and weapon storage spaces. Of the few rooms there, only a couple were really focused on subject creation, with there being two large and empty containment chambers nearby. The one thing that did strike you as worrisome was a single testing chamber, which looked more like a combat zone given the amount of meticulously placed cover and gunner positions. Whatever subjects were tested there weren't being tested for how well they could hug people, or if they could help around the house. This was clearly a place designed to test for more combat oriented subjects.

Though as you looked around, Lydia spoke up quite calmly. “This is where we met Viridian. I remember this exact space.” With this in mind, you’d heard a bit forward. And only a minute later, you saw the long and well-guarded hallway which you had explored with the drone, the office a short distance ahead of you. “Is this it? Are we here? If so, let’s go!” Laura said eagerly, seeming quite eager to have found the thing you were looking for. She’d already head a bit forward, before being stopped by Artyom. He put his hand on her shoulder and spoke calmly. “Hold on. Don’t just rush in like that. There are gun turrets there, as well as… god knows what else. Besides, there’s a lot to unpack here.” Artyom would look at you, clearly waiting for your orders. However, Lydia seemed a bit amused. “Geez, Arty, no need to be so worried. Viridian easily wandered through this place and was fine. Hell, our drone was perfectly fine going through this place. Besides, what could still be here that poses a danger to us?” Artyom seemed sceptical still, looking around a bit before calmly speaking his mind.

“I am just saying that this place is giving me something of a bad feeling. Whoever this office area belonged to, they weren’t making subjects like you girls.” He’d look over your subject friends, as your men all seemed unsure what to think. "The fact this place has so many spots for guardsmen, as well as a chamber clearly dedicated to combat, I feel whoever stayed in this place is... not a normal scientist who will act in reasonable ways to unauthorized personel." Your men did seem to agree that this place was not like the other offices you had found and that being careful was maybe warranted. Then again, it did seem like the place was quite safe so far. You weren’t met with any immediate danger, so maybe there wasn’t much to worry about?

>What do you do next?

Suggestions/options:
>Explore the rest of the office first. Maybe Artyom’s concerns were warranted and there was something dangerous lurking around. Besides, maybe you’d find something else of note?
>Just head for the main office first. You really, really wanted to know what the hell you’d find there and who it belonged to. Besides, how dangerous could it truly be?
>Send in someone to quickly check for any traps or anything else of note. Artyom could probably spot anything dangerous right away. Hell, Oreas could even phase through walls to quickly see what was awaiting you in the office itself. (Write in who you’ll send in and what they’ll do.)
>Explore a different part of this area first. The combat area, the spaces designed for guardsmen, the few sites with actual subject creation tools, maybe they could tell you more about what this space was all about? (Write in what you’ll explore first.)
>Discuss with your men…
>Something else…

>>5989135
>>Send in someone to quickly check for any traps or anything else of note. Artyom could probably spot anything dangerous right away. Hell, Oreas could even phase through walls to quickly see what was awaiting you in the office itself. (Write in who you’ll send in and what they’ll do.)
Send Artyom and Morgana, if any of those torrents are active tell her to get rid of them.

>>5989135
>Explore the rest of the office first. Maybe Artyom’s concerns were warranted and there was something dangerous lurking around. Besides, maybe you’d find something else of note?
Artyom's our Trap expert and I think he just rolled a perception check.
Sending him and Morgana do be the move.

>>5989135
Backing
>>5989180
>>5989177
But also send Oreas, she's got phasing, she mentioned wanting to help out more, and she has electric abilities which might let her see if anything is still active.

>>5989341
I think her abilities were more emp (radiation based).
meaning she can disable electornics idk about seeing em.
Worth it anyway since if she triggers something she can just phase her self to safety.
They both gotta listen to artyom tho since he's the trap expert.

>>5989135
>>5989177
>supporting

>>5988555
Finally back from family and I can now pay more attention to this aga- ANNIE NO! That's it, I'm on the kill all Elbrus subjects bandwagon now, they interrupted my favorite source of misinformation and for that they will die.

>>5989177
>>5989180
Supporting both.

>>5989530
Told yall
Spare the Erebus subjects of their lives

>Send in someone to quickly check for any traps or anything else of note. Artyom could probably spot anything dangerous right away. Hell, Oreas could even phase through walls to quickly see what was awaiting you in the office itself.
Given Artyom's concerns and knowledge of traps, you decided he could head forward to maybe check up for traps or if the guns were still somehow active. You also told Morgan to join him, which did seem to make Artyom a bit more relieved. "I was about to ask." He said, before Morgan spoke up proudly. "Very well! I shall lead the way and deal with any pathetic trap or gun turret!" She'd form a shield, as you told them to check the gun turrets first and foremost, as well as any spaces which were nearby. "Understood." Artyom said, as he would signal Morgan to go forward. She'd keep up her shield and slowly start walking. It wouldn't take long for you hear Artyom gasp. "What is it, Arty?!" Thaddeus immediately asked over comms. "There's... a lot of corpses here." Artyom would respond in turn, to which Lydia nodded and responded right away. "Yeah, there were a ton of them down there. Just be careful with where you're walking." Artyom gave a simple "Roger", before continuing in the distance.

He'd pass more and more corpses, Morgan soon speaking up loudly enough for you to hear through the comms device. "Whatever dreadful beast was here, their reign of terror must come to an end soon." Artyom softly responded in turn. "Don't worry. I think we dealt with her already." Aside from their short chats, nothing of note seemed to happen. They soon started speeding up as they got further and further away from you. "So far, I don't see any sort of traps. It's just the turrets in the distance, and a ton of corpses. Ah wait, there are some deactivated laser grids here. And a few sensors which are no longer working. Hell, I think nothing down here is active anymore." Artyom said over the comms, as he and Morgan got closer to the end of the hallway.

Besides Artyom's remarks, you'd keep watching intently alongside your men, the subjects also watching anxiously. Every step they took, you anticipated some sort of trap to finally activate. And the longer it went on, the more tense you and your men felt. They were soon getting close to the main entrance though, Artyom speaking up again. "Containment chamber is to my le- oh god, that's disgusting. It's full of rotten fucking fruit. God, I can see like hundreds of flies." You also heard Morgan starting to cough a bit, before speaking in disgust. "What a rancid sight! I can smell it, even though the bloody door to this chamber is shut! I cannot imagine someone living in such dire conditions!" The two would keep going, soon reaching the sliding metal door at the end. Artyom would try and push it open, struggling before letting out a groan. "That's... too heavy for me." Fortunately, Morgan was there, and she'd soon step forward. "I shall do this."

She'd soon grab the door, before pushing as hard as she could. You heard the noise of metal grinding against metal, as the door was opened up, Artyom carefully entering and looking around. "Alright, I'm in. And so far, it doesn't look like there are any traps around." With the place seeming safe, it was time to move forward. The smaller staff offices, reception area you were in and other testing chambers could be checked up afterwards as well. This was far more important than any of those spaces though. Thus, you and everyone else would head forward. Though as you carefully moved forward, it was clear that Laura and the subjects weren't all too pleased. You heard Chrysidus soon gagging, before speaking quite emotionally. "T-This place is... a-awful." She was clearly referring to the bodies which were littered all throughout the hallway. They couldn't see the bodies unless they looked down with their flashlights, but they could smell them all. With your helmet, you could also smell them quite well, and... it was pretty goddamn rancid.

Though whilst it was gross, Laura and the subjects were clearly more-so affected by the sheer carnage of it all. The bodies were of all sorts of people who used to work here, so it was obviously somewhat traumatizing to them. In fact, you saw that Oreas was refusing to look down, holding tightly onto Laura who was also visibly shell-shocked by the sight. Kamara was shivering and looked genuinely sickened, wrapping her arms around herself. Even Anofelis looked quite terrified, covering her eyes with two of her hands as she carefully crawled forward on all fours. You could tell your men were also puzzled and concerned by the sheer number of corpses, though they had seen far worse sights. At least this could help Laura and the subjects acclimate to some of the horrific sights you'd have to encounter during your work. Fortunately, you'd eventually reach Artyom and Morgan at the end of the long hallway. You'd pass by the chamber, smelling rotten fruit and vegetables in the clean and empty chamber to your left. At least you now knew where the rabbit had stayed at.

Regardless, you'd soon enter the main office, finally able to get a sense of the place now that you weren't looking through the drone. It was a pretty large room, the metal desk which was stationed further in the back being covered with paper. It had multiple computer screens on it, all surrounding a keyboard with all kinds of functions designed into it. The entire place was a mess, with paper scattered all over the floor, and cupboards and other pieces of the furniture lying on the floor. One thing which did get your attention was a large glass display near the wall. It contained all kinds of pictures, some containing scientists, others showing regular people. Though one guy who was in a lot of the pictures was a rather lanky and pale looking guy with curled black hair, a stubbled beard and a rather tired and dim look on his face.

"This definitely is an office for a high ranking staff member." Laura would say, after which she'd head to the cupboard with all the pictures. She gasped, before speaking in shock. "This is... that's Andrei!" Immediately, all the eyes went towards the glass display with the pictures. It seemed like you at least knew who this place belonged to. And to say this was a huge find was... well, it was an understatement. This might be the biggest find you could've made whilst looking for offices. The question now was, what would you do with your find?

>What do you do next?

Suggestions/options:
>Try and check the computers to see if they work, or if you could take out the hard drive and take it along.
>Check the pictures in the display and see if Laura had anything else to say about them. Maybe she could tell you something about the various people who were shown in the pictures.
>Check out the suspiciously closed and presumably locked cabinet. There was one which Lydia mentioned the last time she was here, right? Maybe you could open it somehow.
>Check through the papers which were strewn all around the place. Maybe you could check a few and find something of interest in them?
>Assign your men to do all kinds of jobs. Everyone could focus on one thing they'd have to do. Things like guarding the place, checking the papers strewn on the ground, or checking for anything dangerous in the room. (Write in who will do what.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

(Time for the real fun to begin. Also, I made a bit of an error in the previous few posts. Viridian wasn't on the same level as this space. She was actually a couple of floors above you. Oh well, it's a minor error. Nothing too serious... I hope, anyway.)

>>5989738
>>Assign your men to do all kinds of jobs. Everyone could focus on one thing they'd have to do. Things like guarding the place, checking the papers strewn on the ground, or checking for anything dangerous in the room. (Write in who will do what.)
Zaria lockpick the cabinet, Derek and Lydia check the comps and try to Crack and get anything possible, we, Laura and Mike check the papers for anything interesting or out of place, Morgana, Artyon, and Thadeus have guard duty, anyone else check the office for clues or anything interesting/out of place.

>>5989753
Sensible division of labour, but I don't want to activate ANY computer systems in this place. I don't think there's any power anyway, but if we do manage to boot something we have no way of knowing what nasty things it might be networked to or any digital booby traps set by Andrei's paranoid mind. Let's just swipe the drive and plug it in somewhere else later.

Someone find some file boxes, we're taking as much of this paperwork as we can carry, anyone idle can be on filing duty. Any important-looking bits we photograph in case we can't bring them with us.

Also, does anyone have the key we found on Ms. Caerbannog? It might fit into something in this room. The cabinet, perhaps?

>>5989738
>>5989753
Before we have Zaria lockpick the cabinet, why not try using the key the rabbit had?
>>5989795
Don't remember which squad member had it, but we didn't leave it with Evander so it should be with us.

>>5989738
Either a lot of people died due to the security system in the incident, the "security system" brought back a lot, or some other subject caused this.

>>5989753
This is the rabbit's home. Let's use the key we got from her corpse before we try lockpicking. Give Zaria the key and if it doesn't work she can get her to lockpicking. Supporting, provided we don't waste ten minutes trying to pick the lock without at least trying the key.

>>5989795
>>5989805
Doesn't matter who has it. Just that we have it.

>>5989738
>Assign your men to do all kinds of jobs. Everyone could focus on one thing they'd have to do. Things like guarding the place, checking the papers strewn on the ground, or checking for anything dangerous in the room. (Write in who will do what.)
Basically this but outlined below
>Try and check the computers to see if they work, or if you could take out the hard drive and take it along.
Have our techies look at it
>Check the pictures in the display and see if Laura had anything else to say about them. Maybe she could tell you something about the various people who were shown in the pictures.
We do this
>Check out the suspiciously closed and presumably locked cabinet. There was one which Lydia mentioned the last time she was here, right? Maybe you could open it somehow.
Get this locked picked via zaria
>Check through the papers which were strewn all around the place. Maybe you could check a few and find something of interest in them?
Have one of our men handle this, maybe lydia?
>Something else...
Have Artyom and the others start processing the bodies, Line them up and organizing them/tag them. This is both so we can collect the money but also so we can have Laura (ask if she is willing to do this). See if she recognizes any of them or what they specialize in.
Maybe this was a specific department in the facility, or maybe it was just anyone nearby. But its best we confirm.

>>5989815
Supporting using the key before trying to lockpick it, but I don't think it would work. Why would the rabbit be carrying the key to open it when it LEFT this location. The key, I believe, was for its destination. Something we find out more about here.

>>5990058
Because it's job was to guard this place. The key would be a lot safer on her than hidden around here.

>>5990085
Yknow that's fair

>Assign your men to do all kinds of jobs. Everyone could focus on one thing they'd have to do. Things like guarding the place, checking the papers strewn on the ground, or checking for anything dangerous in the room.
First and foremost was guard duties. You told Thaddeus and Morgan to get to the entrance and to watch out for anything which might approach it. "Very well then. I shall stand guard!" Morgan said, Thaddeus quietly sighing before mumbling. "Let's hope this is a job done quick and I don't need to listen to this knight too much." With that, the first of your men would leave the room. After this, you told Lydia and Derek to check the computers, maybe even with the help of Laura. Though you did warn them to be careful and avoid anything which seemed dangerous. After all, this Andrei guy was a sneaky and paranoid bastard, so he probably had put some traps in the computer to ensure nobody could just get the data. "We'll try our best." Lydia said, Derek speaking more confidently. "It's just a computer from a mad scientist. How dangerous could this be?"

Up next, you looked to Mike and Anon. You told them to grab some of the papers which were strewn about and to compile them so you could read through all of them. You even suggested to grab some nearby boxes, the two of them immediately grabbing a few cabinets and just taking the drawers out of them. "These will do for now, right?" Mike said, to which you nodded. And thus, they also went to work. Afterwards, you told Lars to also head outside and check-up some of the bodies. You wanted him to line them up so they could be documented for money, as well as maybe being identified by Laura. "Just me?" Lars said a bit concerned after which you turned to the subjects and told them they may wanted to help. Though you could tell that none of them were eager to help out with the bodies. In fact, you already saw Oreas quickly joining Anon and Mike with collecting papers.

You told him that Artyom could join him, something Arty seemed fine with. "Sure, why not." Though you'd next tell Zaria to get to work opening the locked cupboard with the lock picking tools. "On it!" She responded, before Artyom paused with leaving the room. "Hold on, wait!" He'd start walking over to Zaria before handing the key over he had nabbed from the rabbit. "Here, try if this one works." Zaria would look at the key, carefully analysing it before nodding. "Good idea. Thanks." She'd thus head to the cupboard, as you would head to the display.

>Check the pictures in the display and see if Laura had anything else to say about them. Maybe she could tell you something about the various people who were shown in the pictures.
With you having assigned everyone to a certain task, you'd opt to look through all the pictures on display. You wanted to see who or what Andrei was like based on the pictures, and if you could find anything of note. You were able to open the cabinet, getting a good look at the pictures.

Most of the pictures were just personal things. You saw a picture of Andrei on what was presumably one of the capital planets far from here, being given his degree in biochemistry. Another picture showed him with a man with brown skin, short black hair and small glasses, who was smiling brightly and shaking Andrei's hand. You'd ask Laura who the guy in the picture was, to which she responded calmly. "That's Tengri. You know, the big boss of this place." Most of the other pictures were quite random, showing him on wild planets, exploring rough looking places. One showed him on an ice planet, another showed him in a sweltering desert, and one more in a vicious looking jungle. Though one other picture of note was him shaking his hand with a general who clearly belonged to the government. He had all sorts of emblems and medals, and appeared to have his arms around Andrei's neck. Though, Andrei had a rather calm and somewhat distant smile on his face.

After looking through some papers, you heard a clicking noise followed by Zaria speaking up. "The key worked!" She said excitedly, as she'd get access to the cabinet and opened it up. "Huh, there's very little in here. Just a couple of documents… and a gun?" It wasn’t too surprising the guy kept a gun close to him. Though of course, you were far more interested in those documents. They were bound to have something interesting in them. And with the pictures in the display not telling you much else other than that the guy was an adventurer, you'd walk over and look at the files. And opening one up the first one you got, you would find some of the papers had details about government transactions regarding all kinds of monster girl projects made by the guy. The next few documents contained details about his employment, his payment as well as some other personal files. It wasn’t anything too groundbreaking. Though the next document would contain some text which would make your eyes widen.

"Projects.”

Opening up the folder, you found that it had 10 documents stored in there, each with a different codename. 5-GH, 51-LB, TIL-84, SD-1888, WW-10, WLS-90, AH-178, KR-75, SD-1902. Though the 10th codename was crossed out with a pen, making it impossible to be read. Whilst you looked at the various maps, Zaria would keep looking in the cupboard. “There’s something else in here. Some sort of… secret compartment. I can try and open it up with the gun, but… I don’t know what it is!” As she fiddled with this secret compartment, Lydia and Derek managed to get the hard-drive from the computer. “We got it!” Derek said, though Lydia seemed a little concerned. “There’s this… weird wire going into the floor. It’s not for the power supply, I think, since there’s a different wire for that already present.” Laura also seemed somewhat puzzled. “I don’t know what it is either. Maybe he has it connected to some sort of staff server directly?”

Derek also seemed unsure what to say about the strange wiring. But hey, at the very least, you had gotten the hard-drive of a secretive scientist. Not to mention, files about the subjects he worked on! As well as a 10th mystery one. The others meanwhile were all very much busy getting more papers from the ground, though Mike, Anon and the subjects hadn’t really mentioned anything about the papers. Either because they hadn’t read through the various papers, or the papers just didn’t reveal too many details of interest to them. Either way, you had a lot of interesting finds on your hand.

>What do you do next?

Suggestions/options:
>Read through some of the ‘project’ files. Maybe one codename stuck out specifically or you wanted to just find a specific subject in the list, like Annie, the queen or the rabbit. (Write in which you’ll try to read or what you’ll try and look for.)
>Get someone to help out with the secret compartment further inside the previously locked cabinet. If the cabinet itself contained files like this, imagine what a secret compartment would contain! (Write in who you’ll ask for help)
>Ask Laura and the subjects for their thoughts on the codenames. Maybe they recognised some or could point to ones which they heard about? (Write in what you’ll request of them specifically.)
>Pick a random file and just read it fully. There were too many to start, and they probably were all quite interesting.
>Discuss with your men…
>Something else…

(ID changed because our router was switched out, in case you're wondering. Anyway, I'm not sure if I'll be able to make updates for the next 2-3 days. Mostly because I'll have some exams on Wednesday and Thursday which I wanna really focus on. Though I'll get back to writing updates on thursday evening, most likely. Hell, maybe even earlier if I felt like I've prepared enough. And hey, there's at least plenty to discuss thanks to this update, right?)

>>5990318
>Read through some of the ‘project’ files. Maybe one codename stuck out specifically or you wanted to just find a specific subject in the list, like Annie, the queen or the rabbit. (Write in which you’ll try to read or what you’ll try and look for.)
Queen
Annie
Weird Subject that causes sickness.
>Get someone to help out with the secret compartment further inside the previously locked cabinet. If the cabinet itself contained files like this, imagine what a secret compartment would contain! (Write in who you’ll ask for help)
Artyom and Derek
1 to check if it leads to a trap or some shit
the other to find out what its actually connected to otherwise.
>Ask Laura and the subjects for their thoughts on the codenames. Maybe they recognised some or could point to ones which they heard about? (Write in what you’ll request of them specifically.)
Just if they recognize any specifically, if none of em do then we might be on some SECRET subjects not for facility staff to know.

>>5990318
Hmm. Since they paid him for making them, GalGov must have known about his creations yet didn't put any of them in the MGE. Most curious. Perhaps we should withhold that particular piece of intel when/if we turn this in later.
I wish we had Annie here with us for tracking that cable. Can we have Ano and Morgan start tearing up the floor to follow it?

>Get someone to help out with the secret compartment further inside the previously locked cabinet. If the cabinet itself contained files like this, imagine what a secret compartment would contain! (Write in who you’ll ask for help)
Is the compartment large enough for Oreas to stick her head through the side and have a peek inside? If not, Chrys or Mike can drip some acid on it to try and gently dissolve our way in. If not, Morgan can probably just rip the whole fucking cupboard in half.

>Read through some of the ‘project’ files. Maybe one codename stuck out specifically or you wanted to just find a specific subject in the list, like Annie, the queen or the rabbit. (Write in which you’ll try to read or what you’ll try and look for.)
Skimread descriptions and attached pictures for any undocumenteds that seem familiar, especially Ms. Caerbannog, Queenie or Plague Girl or any that jump out as particularly dangerous or recruitable. Photograph all of them in case we lose them and then pack them in someone's bag. An in-depth dive into the subject documents and other paperwork can wait until we're somewhere else, this place gives me the heebiejeebies and I don't want to hang around longer than we have to - reading this stuff by torchlight while surrounded by rotting corpses doesn't sound appealing.

In other matters, I know you're rolling for a variety of stuff behind the scenes, does this include encounter rolls for whether we run into anyone each update and who it is, do you introduce people on a story basis or is it a mix of both? And do "soft" actions we take (i.e. sentiments that just get incorporated into the text as flavour rather than "hard" actions that we specifically propose and vote for) affect the likelihood and type of these encounters or, indeed, other dice rolls too? Entirely out of meta curiosity here, no hard feelings if you think it would be spoilery.

Also heads up, your OP link to the MG allies sheet got truncated and broken. Full link here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CPSZp0MxftcNaUFSfBxzkRh7MfEiPnA7G6Wzfm9dkSQ/edit?usp=sharing

>>5990383
IIRC, I posted the fixed link to the doc just under the first few intro posts here >>5987551 after somebody else pointed it out. That link appears to work. Still, I appreciate you noticing and providing the correct link as well, in case other folk maybe didn't notice it yet.

Anyway, as for the rolls, it is sorta random when I roll for things? The Viridian encounter was the result of a dice roll, but things like the Anofelis encounter and guardsmen in the green section were planned. Same with Morgan and the guardsmen in the fabricator section. Other introductions have also been planned ahead, rather than rolled for, such as Moritz and the men who reminded you that he wanted to meet up, but those are also kinda integral to some of the storybeats.

As for soft actions, they do at times result in me doing a random roll. Either for one of the characters to maybe bring up something or make a correct guess about something. That, or just random little events which can maybe come back into the story later... such as the rope not being able to hold Morgan. I also sometimes do rolls for Annie to add some spice to her news.

Hope this explains things a little bit.

>>5990318
>Read through some of the ‘project’ files. Maybe one codename stuck out specifically or you wanted to just find a specific subject in the list, like Annie, the queen or the rabbit. (Write in which you’ll try to read or what you’ll try and look for.)
Queen
Annie
Plague spreader
Rabbit

>Get someone to help out with the secret compartment further inside the previously locked cabinet. If the cabinet itself contained files like this, imagine what a secret compartment would contain! (Write in who you’ll ask for help)
Arty for trap checking, then Morgan to metal control it open

>Something else…
Ask Oreas if she can track that mystery wire

>>5990399
Any chance we can start making our own rolls for actions we take?

Also best of luck on your exams!

>>5990437
I think the quest is better off if the rolls stay behind the curtain. I remember having this debate in YA40kAI - because this quest is narrative-based, having them hidden and used to guide it behind the scenes rather than being a layer of overt mechanics is better for the flow of the story and makes it much more immersive where the focus is on the narrative rather than quibbling over sets of OOC numbers. Introducing them now would be quite a jarring change.

>>5990446
yeah leaving the rolls in the background seems nicer.
Obviously we know there is rolling and can keep that in mind, but the narrative method flows better.

>>5990318
We have access to the files on nine subjects that no one else does and there just so happens to be a small secret compartment in the drawer with a wire leading to it. This feels too good to be true and like a trap. In fact, it probably is.

>>5990437
Supporting. Check the wire first. We don't know if it's a powered wire connected to a sensor or just a tripwire. I don't want to be blueballed here when we are so close to something big because we got cocky despite the absurd defensive measures for this office alone.

>>5990318
>>5990538
>support

>Get someone to help out with the secret compartment further inside the previously locked cabinet. If the cabinet itself contained files like this, imagine what a secret compartment would contain!
Given the secret compartment, you were concerned that the seemingly paranoid Andrei had something dangerous hidden. Thus, you'd ask for some help right away. You'd ask Artyom, Derek and Oreas to come over. Soon, you had the tree waiting around you to hear what you'd tell them to do. You told Oreas to check if she could look into the cabinet a bit to see what was inside the hidden compartment. "Umm, okay." She said, as Oreas would move over to the cabinet and soon pushed her head against the wall. You saw the top of her head managing to push through, her skin starting to light up somewhat. She'd soon pull her head free, before speaking calmly. "There's some weird device in there. I couldn't see it perfectly, sadly."

A weird device immediately gave you bad vibes, you asking Ano to come over to help out. She quickly did so. "What is it? How can I help?" She asked eagerly, you telling her to try and break apart the cabinet so you could check inside it. "Um, okay!" She said, before starting to claw at it and try and break it apart. Whilst she was ripping it apart, you told Derek and Oreas to check the wire to see where it led to. By now, it seemed likely it was connected to the cabinet, but... you did want to make sure. "Okay!" Oreas said, as she'd move over to Derek and help him out. You saw her pushing her hand against the floor, struggling a bit as she tried exerting as much force as possible. "Hngh, it's... ugh! It's impossible to go through. The floor is too thick for me to phase through. The wire must go pretty deep, or there's just too little space for me to squeeze myself through." Oreas said a bit saddened, to which Derek responded calmly. "Maybe you can try closer to where the wire goes into the ground?"

>Read through some of the ‘project’ files. Maybe one codename stuck out specifically or you wanted to just find a specific subject in the list, like Annie, the queen or the rabbit.
Whilst Oreas, Derek, Anofelis and Artyom worked to break into this compartment and figure the wires out, you decided to spend some time looking through Andrei's projects. You decided skimming through it would work well for now. You wanted to know more about the rabbit, the queen and the plague subject, as well as anyone who could be recruited in the near future. You'd even ask Lydia to come over and help take pictures of the pages. Just in case they were lost. Though as you skimmed through the pages, you'd find that some of the subjects had more details than others. Most importantly though, the documents didn't go too into depth in a lot of subject abilities, strengths, weaknesses or anything else you really wanted to know. Rather, most tended to discuss whether they were deemed 'successes' or 'failures' to Andrei.

You did however find a few subjects who you had wanted to know a ton about. Namely, there was a subject who was deemed a prototype with the ability to 'control others'. And you noticed a few words such as 'sadistic' and 'haughty' which did make you think of the queen subject. More importantly, there was one page which went over one subject, KR-75 or Caera Tomnadashan. She was described as a 'rousing success' and an incredibly effective combat subject. And with her described as a rabbit girl, it seemed like you finally knew the mystery of who this rabbit gal was. There was plenty more to read up about her later later though, as you wanted to see further details about the other subjects.

Unfortunately, before you could read through more subjects, or ask Laura about the subjects, you heard Anofelis speak curiously. "What's this thingie here?" She said, pointing at something inside the part of the cabinet which was hidden. Artyom looked inside it, before freezing up. "Everyone, out. NOW." He said, before grabbing Anofelis by one of her arms. "EVERYONE OUT! GET OUT OF HERE NOW! THIS PLACE IS FUCKING TRAPPED!" Given Artyom's one, your men would do as told without question. You didn't know how this room was trapped, but given that the room had already given you unpleasant feelings and the fact Andrei was clearly a paranoid motherfucker, you were inclined to trust Artyom. Thus, you grabbed the paper files and held onto them, you also seeing Mike and Anon grabbing the papers they had collected. And as you escaped the room along with everyone else, you'd sprint for your life through the hallway. "What the hell is going on!?" Thaddeus asked, Artyom responding under his breath. "That bastard put a fucking motion sensor in the safe... which led to a fucking remote detonator!"

Before you could ask further questions, you'd hear a mechanical sound. You saw the metal door leading to the office starting to move. Despite it having taken quite some effort for Morgan to push it open, the door would creak and grind as it slowly closed itself. Though before it could fully close, there was a short yet bright blast coming from the room. It was followed with an ear deafening bang and the entire place starting to shake. The bang reverberated through the hallway, as you started hearing a loud rumbling noise. Multiple smaller bangs soon after followed, trailing you down the hallway. Fortunately, you had already passed the halfway mark of the hallway, as the rumbling increased in volume. "FASTER! IT'S GONNA COLLAPSE IN ON US!" Zaria said as she sprinted ahead of you and the others. Everyone would speed up as much as possible, as you heard more bangs and booms behind you. You felt the air pushing you forward, as the roof of the office space collapsed in. And soon, the hallway would start collapsing as well. The corpses which you had told Lars to line up would be buried under rubble, as the collapse approached you faster and faster, the noise becoming louder and louder.

You soon saw Anon dropping the drawer he had grabbed to hold all of the papers, him starting to speed up as he was no longer weighted down. It was an unfortunate loss, but files were far less important than the lives of your men. More concerningly, the collapse was getting uncomfortably close. You saw Kamara getting a bit of the ceiling on her shoulder, her letting out a pained yelp before continuing to run. Anofelis would also let out a bit of an eek. “Something got in my eyes!” Fortunately, before the collapse could overtake you, you’d reach the reception area. The hallway completely collapsed behind you, the landslide thankfully not having overtaken you. Your men would all keep running for a bit though, Thaddeus tripping and landing on his right knee which made him let out a grunt. Fortunately, as the rumbling sound stopped, your men would also stop running, turning around as Artyom spoke up loudly. “Shit! Is everyone okay? Did everyone get out? We need to do a head count!” You and Arty looked around, fortunately seeing that everyone had escaped the collapse relatively unscathed. Anon had lost some of the materials you wanted to take along, Thaddeus was sitting and appeared to be somewhat in pain, Kamara was holding her shoulder and you saw Anofelis furiously rubbing her eyes. Everyone else seemed okay though.

>What do you do next?

Suggestions/options:
>Ask Artyom what the hell he saw. He saved your life by pointing out there was some sort of explosive device, but learning what kinda trap it was would be helpful now as well.
>Do a quick check-up on everyone and give help to whoever seemed like they needed it most. Maybe some of the men had been hurt and you just hadn’t noticed yet.
>Set up a small camp here. After this chaos, you and your men needed a bit of time to calm down. And given how long you had explored the place for, maybe getting some rest in now was ideal. That, and you could read the papers further. (Write in what you’ll do if you set up a camp here.)
>Leave the area ASAP. The last thing you wanted was to find even more traps. You could head back to where you came from, or head further eastwards. (Write in where to you’ll head to.)
>Discuss with your men…
>Something else…

(Surprise! I did a practice exam and read through all the material, so decided to get another update in today. It's a FUN one! Also, excuse my ID changing. I went back to my Uni town. Also somewhat related, but excuse the fact that the first and second part of this update came out 6 minutes apart. Totally doesn't have to do with the fact I tried to delete the first update after noticing a dumb typo (Tree instead of three) I wanted to fix and the site not allowing me to delete the fucking post for some reason. That totally isn't fucking annoying lol.)

(Anyway, dunno if I'll get an update in tomorrow. But I suppose we shall see.)

>>5991073
I thought "oh fug" as soon as I saw the words "weird device". Should have snipped those fucking wires man. So by the sounds of it we made it out with the subject files, Andrei's hard drive and Mike's pile of assorted papers? Honestly, I'd chalk that up as an overall success, even if we didn't get everything. Or maybe the box was a lie and it was just a trap in the end, who knows now?

>Do a quick check-up on everyone and give help to whoever seemed like they needed it most. Maybe some of the men had been hurt and you just hadn’t noticed yet.
>Leave the area ASAP. The last thing you wanted was to find even more traps. You could head back to where you came from, or head further eastwards. (Write in where to you’ll head to.)
Everyone have a quick once-over and patch up before we head back upstairs to find somewhere to set up camp, I've had enough of this shithole. I'd like to rest up and review what we grabbed somewhere with lights and a functioning computer. Also, that racket will have carried a long way in these tunnels and might have attracted attention we don't want.

>>5991072
>Caera
Now we know her name, but she will always be "that fucking rabbit" for me.

>>5991073
>Anofelis getting hurt again
No more... please OP

>>5991083
Supporting

>>5991083
Supporting, though after I would like to read up on everything we gained in greater detail. We only learned about a handful and if we check all the details we can maybe get a rough estimate of the rabbit's stats so we know for certain what to expect from future subjects with similar agility and durability stats. Plus the explosion was a rude interruption, even if I expected another trap.

>>5991095
Caera isn't a bad name. Caera, that motherfucking Rabbit is a good nickname.

>>5991073
>Do a quick check-up on everyone and give help to whoever seemed like they needed it most. Maybe some of the men had been hurt and you just hadn’t noticed yet.

>Ask Artyom what the hell he saw. He saved your life by pointing out there was some sort of explosive device, but learning what kinda trap it was would be helpful now as well.

damn we lost a massive payday with those corpses.

>Leave the area ASAP. The last thing you wanted was to find even more traps. You could head back to where you came from, or head further eastwards. (Write in where to you’ll head to.)
Find a new location, get our bearings, read the files. and determine if we look into all the areas that might be safe for the subjects that we passed by to get here or prioritize fighting queen

>>5991073
>Do a quick check-up on everyone and give help to whoever seemed like they needed it most. Maybe some of the men had been hurt and you just hadn’t noticed yet.
>Set up a small camp here. After this chaos, you and your men needed a bit of time to calm down. And given how long you had explored the place for, maybe getting some rest in now was ideal. That, and you could read the papers further. (Write in what you’ll do if you set up a camp here.)
Do the quick check up first
Take stock of what we didn't lose, look through files, see if Ano can dig through the rubble to recover anything we missed or had to drop.

Nice to know Caera was a rousing success, after how much trouble she was

>>5991073
>>5991144
>supporting

>Do a quick check-up on everyone and give help to whoever seemed like they needed it most. Maybe some of the men had been hurt and you just hadn’t noticed yet.
Having narrowly escaped being crushed by Andrei's little trap, you first wanted to make sure everyone was okay. There had already been a head count which had confirmed that everyone had escaped, but there still was a potential for injury. You'd ask around if anyone had been inured, as you heard Thaddeus speak up. "Yeah, I... I tripped. Injured my knee quite badly." You'd approach Thaddeus, finding him being seated and raising his right knee. He'd take off some of the armour covering his legs, allowing you to look at the injury. Lars also approached right away, checking out the injury to see how bad it was. "Does it hurt badly?" Lars said, Thaddeus not seeming sure. "It's a tad bit painful, but... I've had worse." Lars would check it up further, before looking to you with mild hesitance. "I don't think it's anything too bad? I can't say for sure. For all we know, he has a broken knee-cap, which would mean running is a bit tougher."

Thaddeus would try and get up, soon groaning as he put pressure on his right leg. Lars would get beside him and give him a hand, ensuring he didn't fall. "I can stand. Just dunno if I can walk fast." You'd watch for a bit, Thaddeus soon stepping forward and letting out a groan. "Okay, it's... painful. But, I can manage, I think. Just shouldn't run or do anything too harsh for a while, I think." Well, it could be worse. Thaddeus seemed chipper about his injury, and already started carefully walking. Though you did notice that he was limping a tiny bit. He'd also get Lars to put on the armour again, as you'd ask around for what further injuries there were. You'd quickly head over to Ano, given that you heard her panic about something in her eyes. Though as you approached to ask her if she was okay, you could tell she was mostly fine, aside from her eyes looking irritated.

"Got dust in my eyes. It itches and is annoying." Anofelis would respond, as she rubbed some of her fingers against her eyes. You'd ask one of your men to grab her a bit of water so she could maybe wash out her eyes, which Lydia was quick to help with. Lastly, you saw Kamara rubbing her shoulder, having a couple of tears in her eyes from actual pain. You asked her how she was doing, her sniffling and rubbing her shoulder. "I-It's... q-quite painful... U-Ummm, b-but... I-I'll be f-fine, I-I think." Laura was quick to approach as well, checking up on Kamara before turning to you. "Nothing a bit of food and rest can't fix." Given the sheer amount of damage only a short distance away from you, it was surprising that there had been so few injuries. Not to mention, with practically everything you had wanted to get from Andrei's office! Well, you did lose one box with papers, as well as the ability to take pictures of the various corpses for cash. But hey, a win was a win!

>Leave the area ASAP. The last thing you wanted was to find even more traps. You could head back to where you came from, or head further eastwards.
With everything accounted for, you told everyone to grab their things and get ready to head back to where you came from. You had already had enough of this dark, creepy place. You wanted somewhere with a bit more light and maybe a functional computer, hopefully allowing you to access Andrei's files. With that in mind, Anon spoke up. "You heard him. Grab everything, let's head out of here!" With that, your men would start moving forward. Lars would support Thaddeus, whilst Laura and Lydia focused on staying with Kamara and Anofelis to tend to them a little.

>Ask Artyom what the hell he saw. He saved your life by pointing out there was some sort of explosive device, but learning what kinda trap it was would be helpful now as well.
As you wandered forward though, you'd also quickly move up to Artyom to ask what the hell he had seen. Learning more about the types of traps Andrei had was useful, as it could help you figure out what sort of traps this place could have. Not to mention, it could be preparation in case you found any other information source he was related to. "Well, from what I saw, it looked to be some sort of movement sensor. My theory is that it connected to the computer, meaning you had to disable it with the computer somehow. And if you didn't... well, you saw what it did." Derek would quickly join in, speaking up in mild shock. "Such things do exist, yeah. But... why so many explosions? And what kind of paranoid bastard would use THAT many explosions?! Like, what if some friend of his opened the safe without turning off the sensor?!"

Mike joined into the conversation, wanting to speak his mind and give some thoughts on the matter. "Given that the key to that safe was attached to a fucking murderous subject, I feel like it checks out. That scientist fucker was a paranoid psychopath and probably didn't trust anyone around him and didn't want anyone breaking into that safe." In turn, your men grew somewhat curious. "Well, Mik, you did get everything that was in the safe with you, right?" Zaria asked quickly. You confirmed that you had taken all the files along, to which your men grew even more curious.

"So, what's in there?" Mike asked curiously, you explaining that you hadn't read through much yet, but that it did cover a number of subjects which were of interest. In fact, you'd quickly ask Laura to come over, since you had intended to ask her if she knew any of the subjects in that list. She quickly walked up to you, before looking at all the codenames. "Aside from SD-1902, I know of none of these. At least now I know who made SD-1902! And what a twist, one of the most dangerous subjects was made by the guy who put boobytraps in his office." At least she knew one of the subjects. And now, you could get far more details about this SD-1902 and what she entailed.

There was also WW-10 or Grise, who had been mentioned before by Wilhelm. Perhaps these files would state just how fucked in the head she was. Regardless, for the time being, you opted to just keep heading forward. Though as you walked back to where you came from, your men seemed quite eager to discuss what you had found. Though mostly, for profit reasons. “How much do you think we’d get if we shared the information found here?” Zaria asked, to which Mike scoffed amusedly. “Less than if we kept it to ourselves and hunted these subjects down on our own!” Lydia seemed a bit more confident. “Once we’ve checked through this hard-drive, I can imagine it fetching a solid amount too.” Of course, you were reluctant to hand any of these things over, given how there was a clear connection between the government and Andrei’s work.

Given what your men were discussing, maybe budding in and telling them your plans was a good choice. Besides, it wasn’t like you had much else to do for the next ten to twenty minutes of walking down this hall back to the elevator shaft you came from.

>What do you do next?

>Tell your men your plans with the material you had gotten. The papers, the subject files, the hard-drive, maybe letting them know your plan was a solid idea before you headed upstairs and potentially met other death squads who’d love the intel. (Write in…)
>Ask Chrys, Oreas, Kamara, Anofelis and Morgan their thoughts or opinions on the subjects which were named. Maybe, just maybe, they’d know some of them or could tell you a bit about them? (Write in if you have any specific questions for them, or for one of them specifically.)
>Check up to see if Annie was back on air again, or if that perverted ASMR streamer was still showing her lewdness live on air. (Write in if you have the balls to listen to more of her stream, if she’s still going…)
>Read up on some of the files yourself. You could share what you read about them with the rest as well. (Write in which you’ll specifically want to read through.)
>Discuss with your men…
>Something else…

(First exam went well today. I hope tomorrow's exam will go as smoothly as today's, but it's going to be a tough one. At least this little bit of writing has helped distract me from some of the stresses. It may not be too major an update in terms of upgrades, but might as well have you guys choose to do something whilst you make your way back.)

(Also, anon who is investigating the subject names, I am shocked you didn't make a remark about the rabbit name. T'is an obvious reference, but... it's still a funny one.)

>>5991847
I know you'll do fine, fren. I hope you didn't sink too much time into writing to avoid revising.
>Tell your men your plans with the material you had gotten. The papers, the subject files, the hard-drive, maybe letting them know your plan was a solid idea before you headed upstairs and potentially met other death squads who’d love the intel.
It's hard to say for sure right now until we have a good leaf through our intel. In general though -

>Subject files: Go through them and keep any for subjects that we'd rather other death squads not get any ideas about to ourselves. Turn the others in to GalGov and disseminate full copies of those we really don't like amongst the mercs instead of the abridged version that'll likely go up on the MGE.
>Assorted paperwork: No idea what's in here so can't say. Withhold or submit on a case by case basis as above.
>Hard drive: Now this is a hard one. I'm in two minds on this - we can try and crack it and subject it to the same protocol as above after we make a full copy of everything to keep to ourselves, but it's almost certain that there's going to be security protocols that could compromise the whole drive if we get unlucky and any data tampering may be more obvious to GalGov than the physical paperwork so we might want to hang on to it until we (hopefully) eventually meet DJ Foxy who might lend us a hand (paw?) with breaking in.
Either way, we don't need to reveal any of this to any other death squads we meet for now. The MG files and the drive we can keep safely tucked away out of sight and the assorted paperwork dismissed as just a stack of unsorted and probably uninteresting paperwork, which isn't even a lie.

>Read up on some of the files yourself. You could share what you read about them with the rest as well.
Queenie's file, since she seems to be the main hazard around these parts back topside. Don't walk into a wall in the gloom while we read.

For the record, I did notice the name correlation but didn't think that much of it since it wasn't as clear as the other subjects' names and Andrei didn't strike me as the sort of person to name his creations after what would be on-the-nose references to ancient pop culture jokes. I wonder what the grim darkness (or noble brightness) of the far (or near) future thinks of Monty Python or if it's even become lost media (the worst timeline). We don't know much about the galaxy beyond these walls after all.

>>5991847
>Read up on some of the files yourself. You could share what you read about them with the rest as well. (Write in which you’ll specifically want to read through.)
We can sitrep after we arrive there, our plans with the info are entirely dependent on what we actually find. We can't make plans with this stuff until we actually know what we have in our hands.

>Check up to see if Annie was back on air again, or if that perverted ASMR streamer was still showing her lewdness live on air. (Write in if you have the balls to listen to more of her stream, if she’s still going…)
If the ASMR girl is still on, mention that if annie can hear us to take back the comms for the love of god.
then turn it back off.
No quarter the erebus subjects but to be drawn and quartered.

>>5991847
>Check up to see if Annie was back on air again, or if that perverted ASMR streamer was still showing her lewdness live on air. (Write in if you have the balls to listen to more of her stream, if she’s still going…)
bro are you challenging me with that option wording
are you implying I'm not a man if I can't listen to that stream
I can listen
I HAVE THE BALLS
I'LL FUCKING LISTEN FOR 82 HOURS STRAIGHT

>Read up on some of the files yourself. You could share what you read about them with the rest as well. (Write in which you’ll specifically want to read through.)
Uh, SD-1902, WW-10, and KR-75. That last one because the government analysis claimed that she was extremely similar to Roraima subjects. So either Andrei pulled in help from Roraima which should be in the file, or GalGov lied to us which would confirm some suspicions about their relationship with Andrei.

Nice to hear about the exam OP! Good luck for tomorrow!

>>5991913
>>5991977
Supporting. However, I want to read up on all of the subjects. Especially any who are 'successful'. If that rabbit is considered a success, we should be wary of any others that actually meet his standards.

>>5991847
>>5991913
>supporting

>Tell your men your plans with the material you had gotten. The papers, the subject files, the hard-drive, maybe letting them know your plan was a solid idea before you headed upstairs and potentially met other death squads who’d love the intel.
Since your men were eagerly discussing what to do with the paper files and the hard-drive, you decided to bud in and explain what you had in mind for everything. You told them that you'd not hand anything over to the government yet. The reasoning you gave was that the subject files might contain some info which you wanted to keep to yourselves, rather than sharing with the other death squads. Your men seemed to accept the suggestion, not really questioning it. Laura and the subjects also seemed to agree, though for somewhat different reasons since they probably wanted to avoid harmless subjects being hunted down. As for the other paperwork, you were going to also withhold it until you figured out if it was of any value to you or the government. Given the sheer number of the stuff, you'd probably have to spend quite some time analysing it. Your men also seemed to understand, though you could tell some just wanted to hand it in to get a payment. It was a lot of material to sift through, after all.

This left you with the hard drive, which you were not sure about just yet. You mentioned how you were tempted to crack it, and to maybe even then make a copy of it. However, you also admitted that you worried there were some security measures in place. Not to mention, if you were going to break into the files on that drive, chances were it was going to be noticed by the government. "I am tempted to suggest just getting the pay check from handing it over to the government, not gonna lie..." Zaria remarked, which was something you saw a few of your men also seeming to agree with. At least it didn't seem to be something they really wanted or agreed with, meaning you could just hold onto it until you met Annie.

You also told your men that, regardless of what you did, you didn't intend to reveal this to whatever death squads you ended up meeting. It was something you intended to hide. And the few things you couldn't hide, you'd mask as something uninteresting. "Well, good thing we don't have to worry about encountering other death squads around here." Lydia remarked, to which Laura would make a more amused remark. "If you were to encounter a death squad here, I think a bigger concern is going to be explaining why you've got 5 subjects and a scientist walking alongside you."

>Check up to see if Annie was back on air again, or if that perverted ASMR streamer was still showing her lewdness live on air.
Having explained everything you wanted, you kept on heading forward. Though shortly after you went quiet and as your men kept chatting a bit, you turned to Derek. You asked him to turn on the radio, as you wanted to check up on Annie. Derek nodded, as your men all seemed to go quiet to listen along.

The radio soon turned on, and you'd fortunately hear music again. There was no ASMR shenanigans going on. Or well, so it seemed. You soon heard some static, followed by that voice again. "Oh please, Annie, your ancient songs will certainly not hold me off the air. Now, if you wi..." The music thankfully returned, this time a bit louder than before. Though as the song kept going, you did keep hearing some interference. Fortunately, it was only minimal. And once the song ended, you'd hear Annie's familiar voice again. Albeit, with a mildly infuriated tone.

"You're listening to VRCMG Radio with Annie Marconi, the only subject who seems to understand the concept of there existing MULTIPLE FREQUENCIES. I deeply apologize to my listeners for the continuing interruptions. Kimmy sadly does not wish to listen to my advice, despite the fact that plenty of other channels are available to her. Perhaps she is just really into public humiliation. Considering how she is an Elbrus subject, I do not see her being above such a thing. Now then, onto the more important going-ons in the facility. A gunfight has started in th-" The connection started faltering again, as you heard that awful ASMR subject returning again. "... Wanna use any other frequency, Annie? Everyone is listening in to your stupid show for further clues which don't exist. Anyhow, let's continue where we left off~"

You decided to just skip on listening in further. Hopefully, Annie could fix things later. For now, you simply spoke through the radio, reassuring Annie that you wished her luck with taking back the channel. Artyom even joined in by saying: "If you want us to help, we'd gladly hunt down this sick fuck for you!" Though given that she was currently busy trying to take her station back, you decided to turn the station off. Once Annie had full control again, maybe she'd be able to inform you or other men of this 'Kimmy' so she could be dealt with.

>Read up on some of the files yourself. You could share what you read about them with the rest as well.
With you unable to listen to Annie without having to listen to the ASMR subject as well, you opted to already read through some of the files. You first wanted to read up more about the queen, given how she seemed to be a troublemaker in this area. So, you skimmed over each subject which was noted down. Though, some of the subjects were certainly lacking in details. In fact, the paper seemed to mostly just be documentations from Andrei himself, where he went over each subject, the goal with their creation, who they were made with and how successful he was. And as you skimmed through these pages, it wouldn’t take long for you to find something which described the queen.’

“TIL-84, Feng Zetian.”
“A project I worked on with Jabal, Feng is my first attempt at a subject who can exert control over others using their nanites. Such a design was obviously a risky one, as nanites are a rather precious material, but I think the design I came up with is reasonable. Jabal’s inputs were also quite appreciated, as he ensured her strength, resilience and regeneration were up to snuff and even complemented her control abilities. It’s thanks to his input that Feng’s nanites can now be used for absorbing organic material from those she has injected nanites into.”

“Of course, Jabal’s inputs were not without issues. Later during development, he insisted on shifting away from her control ability towards more ‘ceremonial’ traits, which I highly disagree with. He also wanted to reduce her ‘sadistic’ tendencies and reduce her somewhat haughty personality. Given her potential future usage, I do not think these traits deserve to be removed. And fortunately, I have been able to work on Feng on my own and ensured she is perfect for her job. So far, her abilities are capable of controlling people and even smaller subjects. I hope to perform more tests in the near future to perfect the ability with larger and more resilient subjects. And if perfecting it is not possible, perhaps a new subject could further improve on the framework which has been developed so far. Feng could perhaps even serve as a prototype for subjects just like her.”

Yeah, it was safe to say that Feng Zetian was this queen subject. Unfortunately, the paper didn’t go into depth on her weaknesses. It just revealed that she was likely strong enough to protect herself even without puppets under her control. Still, there were other subjects to skim through, the next being KR-75.

“KR-75, Caera Tomnadashan.”
“Perhaps my greatest success so far, Caera was designed to be my personal bodyguard. I was inspired by the work of Tengri and Mona on subject SR-36, even designing Caera to be a rabbit girl just like SR-36. Of course, given my desires for an unquestioningly loyal, powerful and efficient killer, I begrudgingly asked Roraima for some inputs to ensure she is perfect for the job. I had promised myself never to work with that bastard again after his previous stint, but I believe he did a far greater job than previously. Mostly because I didn’t let him take control too often. The main abilities we gave her was a powerful jaw to allow her to easily kill anyone who gets close to her. Considering her incredible strength and speed, it means anyone caught by her is almost guaranteed to be killed. A suggestion Roraima gave me was to make it impossible for her to feel any pain, ensuring she never gets held back by injuries”

“Of course, to ensure that she didn’t end up killing herself as a result of not feeling pain, I taught her to always target people who do the most damage to her. This way, anyone who appears to damage her is quickly disposed of and leftover threats can swiftly be dealt with. I further trained her to be almost unable to lose her focus once she sees a target. It is not perfect, but the fact she can be shot at from multiple angles, and still focus on one particular target during tests is promising. Not only are these abilities great for combat, but they are also a great psychological tool. I hope that whoever she encounters, they are made to feel fear and leave her alone on her mission. Speaking of, I have currently given her one mission which she is following perfectly, that being to stay near my office and act as a guardian. Even without any mental stimulation, she continues doing her job perfectly and without a hitch. All in all, I view her as a rousing success and an excellent combat subject.”

At least now you knew why the government claimed that the rabbit was part Roraima subject. He worked on the rabbit too. And you also knew a bit more about what made her tick. Not that it mattered now, given that you had beaten her. Of course, there were two other subjects you wanted to know more about, two you had heard about in the past. And unfortunately, one of them had very few details on them.

“SD-1902, Anastasia Tarverdiyeva.”
“Anastasia is perhaps one of my greatest failures as a subject creator. Whilst I designed her to be a judge, jury and executioner all in one, Her defects and improper teaching have made it impossible for her to truly fulfil any of those roles. She is far too brutal and refuses to listen to any reason, even at times speaking up against myself and co-workers. Because of this, I have been left with no choice but to abandon research on her and to focus elsewhere. Perhaps in the future, I can revisit her and try and fix her in some way. Though given her complete disregard of any and all life, perhaps complete termination is a better choice...”

The idea of a subject being too brutal for Andrei was… highly concerning. Especially with the whole judge, jury and executioner part. Clearly, Andrei hadn’t prepared for his own shortcomings in teaching a subject to do something this violent.

Before you could finish reading up more about WW-10, you and your men would reach the elevator shaft again. There thankfully were no signs of further activity, as you and everyone else headed upwards. Of course, you’d eventually return to the rope which you had to climb up, Anofelis and Chrys deciding to help out. And after a tense ten minutes, everyone was back upstairs, including Morgan. Thus, you were back near the large factory floor, you heading back south as you did not want to head in the same direction as the bunker with the numerous guardsmen waiting for you there.

As you headed back down the long walkway, you’d read up on the final subject for now: WW-10. Unfortunately, the information on her was also lacking somewhat.

“WW-10, Grise Blutrün.”
“Grise was designed to be a hunter subject, specifically designed to assist with tracking injured men. My hope was that she could be used by military forces to track enemies who were retreating in hard-to-reach areas, or to find injured allies so they could be brought back for assistance. Unfortunately, my choice to work with Roraima was a grave mistake, as he decided to reduce her intelligence and go for a more ‘bestial’ approach. I tried to mend some of my work, but his influence has seeped too far. I have therefore opted to abandon Grise. Whatever happens to her now, is up to that bastard. One thing is for sure though, I will never work with Roraima again.”

Considering what you had just read up on with the rabbit, Andrei clearly wasn’t one to always stick to his words. More importantly though, it meant that the data about WW-10 was likely outdated. Or well, it depended on how long Grise was under the care of Roraima compared to Andrei. If she was Roraima’s subject for quite some time, chances were that this subject was quite the serious threat you’d have to deal with. Relatively speaking, anyway.

There still were plenty more subjects you could read up on. Though, you also wanted to focus on maybe finding a place to set up a base camp now. Your men were rather quiet, telling you that they probably needed somewhere to sit and relax again. At least the subjects all seemed quite chipper, Morgan leading the way now that you no longer needed the pocket torches anymore.

>What do you do next?

>Set up base camp somewhere nearby. You were just far away from the bunker that you were safe from any of the folk who might come from there, whilst also being close enough that you could go for an offensive in the morning.
>Head further back towards the office space. That place had tons of space as well as smaller hallways and corridors where you could set up shop relatively safely.
>Head even further back to the chemical waste storage site. It was a longer distance away, but it was also right where enemy forces, such as the queen’s forces, would come from.
>Discuss with your men…
>Something else…

(Exams have been wrapped up and they went quite well. I just hope I pass both things because I am not in the mood to do a fucking re-exam right before summer break starts about 8-9 weeks from now.)

(Anyway, a pretty decently sized update, with a lot of fun information and details. I hope that the reports on Andrei's subjects aren't lacking in details and that they at least tell you a few more things you didn't know. Also, I hope to start making 2 updates a day again for the next week and a half, since I got a short break from uni rn. Maybe I'll just do 1 update on some days, but I'll try my best to get back to doing more updates... Especially given that we'll have a different and amusing perspective change relatively soon.)

>>5992661
>Check with your men to see if they are tired. If they are, set up camp here.
>Read up on the other subjects.

It's best we set up shop here if we plan on doing so anywhere nearby really. I don't like the idea of sleeping near the green area with it and the nearby flooded zone sure to have a number of teams heading to them, even if the former is likely to do some scouting for a suitable FOB location. Because if they spot us and slink away, we are fucked. On a related note, the guys in the flooded area already found a new subject, checking the tablet.

>>5992661
>Head further back towards the office space. That place had tons of space as well as smaller hallways and corridors where you could set up shop relatively safely.
Plenty of nooks and crannies to hide out in in the offices and side rooms nobody would ever go in if they weren't actively searching, in which case we'd have bigger problems. Food is a concern though.

Okay, so, pertinent questions raised:
Is Feng literally a vampire queen, given that line about absorbing organic matter from injected victims?
Is the nanite infection (so to say) only spread by bite or some other means?
What abilities might she have to defend herself, and is it railgun-proof (probably not)?
How stale is this intel and did he ever manage to extend her control to larger subjects?
What might be the best approach to taking her down in light of all of the above?

Andrei seems to rank pretty up there amongst the long list of sociopaths this facility has to offer and deserves a 5.56 to the skull.

>>5992716
At the very least from what we seem to have found he has some standards. So long as he never made anything with Elbrus that he didn't immediately regret. We'll find out more about him as we read more. We only read through three files after all. I agree a vampire subject would make the most sense but, the Chinese name makes me think jiangshi or some kind of loong. Probably more likely jiangshi since they basically are chinese vampire zombies. The biggest concern I have though is the fact that he considered Feng a potential prototype.

>>5992661
>Head further back towards the office space. That place had tons of space as well as smaller hallways and corridors where you could set up shop relatively safely.
>Read up on the other subjects.

>>5992661
>Head further back towards the office space. That place had tons of space as well as smaller hallways and corridors where you could set up shop relatively safely.
>read through the rest of the files

>>5992716
It's also interesting how she can control some smaller subjects but not larger ones - probably because she doesn't have enough nanites for the larger bodies, but I do wonder if she could concentrate them in an area. Take over one of Titania's fingers? An eye? A critical area of her brain? Scary.

>>5992661
>Head further back towards the office space. That place had tons of space as well as smaller hallways and corridors where you could set up shop relatively safely.

>Head further back towards the office space. That place had tons of space as well as smaller hallways and corridors where you could set up shop relatively safely.
Despite your men being tired, you still felt it was a good idea to head further. The office space you had passed through and explored a bit was quite safe, and had plenty of space for you to stay in without being found. You'd ask your men how much food they had, to which Lars responded calmly. "Still got plenty. We may need to look at the food we got from the green section. I don't know how long that will last with us, so we might wanna eat it before the rations we got." Perhaps in the near future, you could head back to the main base to get some more rations. Though for the time being you planned to just stick around this area.

>Read up on the other subjects.
Given that you wanted to keep heading forward for some time, you decided now was the perfect time to read up on all the other subjects Andrei had documented. Not just so you could learn about all these threats, but also so you could get a better idea of what Andrei was like. The way he described his subjects and his interactions with Roraima pointed to him at least having some morals. Thus, you'd flip to the next page after reading up on Grise.

"SD-1888, Vinisha Magomedova."
"Poor Vinisha. Whilst errors can be expected with making subjects, I would have probably done things far differently had I known the errors which would plague her creation. It was a shame too, because unlike her older sister, she appears to be more than reasonable and fair. She would've been a truly fair judge, jury and executioner. Someone who could simultaneously incite fear into would-be crooks whilst helping humanity improve."

"As it stands currently though, she is sadly a failure, but one I truly wish to revisit in the future. Perhaps her regenerative skills could give her some other function in the battlefield? That, or I can use her regenerative abilities to enhance future projects. Focusing on her physical strength and agility is out of the question. Not to mention, finding a way to either undo her 'rotting' or work with it. Given that Mona has had a subject with similar conditions, perhaps I could ask her for advice with this..."

It was clear that Andrei was lamenting his failure quite a bit, yet it was also reassuring to hear that he wanted to give this 'failed' subject a function. Perhaps it indicated that this Vinisha girl was just like the subjects you were looking after. Though the same could not be said about the next subject you read up on...

"WSL-90, Nicola Leucoris."
"Even from the greatest failures, one can learn many things. And from this failure, I learnt one valuable thing: Never work with Elbrus ever again. Most ironic, considering that I was inspired by Elbrus' and Roraima's work on Vinella, specifically their work on seismic senses. And of course, credit goes to Anderson who gave me the idea of an arachnid subject."

"Of course, most of the work currently being done on poor Nicola is from Elbrus. He is presumably ruining my vision and turning Nicola into some sort of perverse charicature of her original design. And given how I designed her to be the perfect trapper subject, that does concern me somewhat. Still, one must accept defeat, and Elbrus has certainly defeated me here with his vicious push to influence her. She unfortunately fell to his pleasures and... well, I do not know nor care to think about where she is now. A part of me hopes that she has already been dropped by him as he grows bored of her. Though a part of me also feels sombre that such a fine subject was wasted. Perhaps in the future, I can revisit this subject and do it without Elbrus."

The good news was that Andrei seemed to have standards and refused to work on other subjects with Elbrus. The bad news was that this implied there was some sort of perverse spider trapper subject out there. And if Nicola truly was as great of a trapper as Andrei stated she was, that was one new target on your kill-list. Fortunately though, the next three subjects had none of Elbrus' influence, showing he didn't do like he did with Roraima and actually stayed away from Elbrus. Though, that didn't change the fact that the next subject had some concerning information to her.

"51-LB, Oana Mocanu."
"When I was asked by Roraima to assist him in the creation of a subject, I was initially quite reluctant. I am not the type to spend time on a subject that isn't exactly mine. Especially not on a subject which he described as a 'fruit-eating bat' subject. Though after he mentioned how he wanted my help after seeing the work I did with Jabal AND the fact that the subject would be looked at by the government, I decided to give him a hand."

"And I must say, I am very glad to have taken the opportunity, because Oana ended up as highly successful. Oana is designed to be uniquely obedient and eager to serve her superiors. Roraima hoped to make a soldier who would never get scared and is capable of inspiring others to obey commands without a hitch. The government was quite pleased with the results, meaning she might be one of the first subjects which gets properly exported. Roraima already got lucky with one subject who was used by government forces."

Given how the government wanted all subjects dead, it made you wonder how they'd react about a highly obedient subject. Hell, perhaps she was the reason the government kept Andrei alive. Then again, given that they wanted Roraima killed without question, maybe there was something else going on. Regardless, there were two more subjects you could read up on, with one of them having plenty of details noted down. The other document severely lacking in intel and seemed far more critical of the subject in question. Given how some of the negative subjects were described by Andrei, it made you somewhat curious what it was about.

“AH-178, Olorea Muruk.”
“Whilst it is more fair to call Olorea Tengri’s subject at this point, I still feel she should be documented due to the fact I originally created her. In fact, it was only when I asked Tengri to help out and he started budding in that I felt Olorea became a failure. I intended for her to be a highly effective harpy assassin subject. Someone who could use colour shifting, extremely effective perceptive abilities, high agility and silent movement to get in position to kill any target. Unfortunately, where things went wrong was with her training. She was far too soft and kind to do anything, and appeared reluctant to ever harm someone. I was doing well in training her to become a better killer, yet Tengri was insistent on reducing her training and giving her more social skills. I find this especially ridiculous given how often he has preached about how he has ‘perfected’ his subjects through rigorous training.”

“And with him pushing himself into the picture more and more, I decided it was not worth my time. Especially after Olorea mentioned preferring him over me. If she wants to be a pacifist subject, then so be it. She can be Tengri’s pacificist subject, and a failure in my book. At least I learnt that any subject I have a defined goal with, should be made by just myself and nobody else.”

Olorea generally sounded quite sweet and harmless, perhaps being more like some of the Roraima and Elbrus subjects who simply hated their creator. Though given how she was designed to be an assassin, it did raise the question of how she was faring in this place now. Hell, maybe some of that combat training had helped her defend herself. Regardless, there was still one subject in the list, and this one seemed far more positive.

“5-GH, Alexandra Wellesley.”
“To say that I am pleased with how Alexandra turned out would be an understatement. Logan and I truly excelled in creating not just a potent combatant, but a subject who I would gladly FOLLOW into combat. I originally intended for Alexandra to be an agile, tactical strike force subject, something which could be thrown at heavily fortified key positions. Though Logan felt that making her more of a tactician subject who could stay back and rapidly analyse battlefield situations was better. I cannot understate how good this change was, and it singlehandedly made me respect Logan that much more.”

“Anyhow, as I was saying, Alexandra was shifted from a physical combatant to a tactician. We have trained her to rapidly use her abilities to analyse combat situations to come up with ideal plans. Because of this, we have given her several abilities to complement this, such as night vision and infrared vision. Logan also had the idea to give her some fire-related abilities, given how she was inspired by the hellhounds of ancient religion. I am not entirely sure it’s truly necessary, but I suppose it doesn’t impede her mission too much.

With that, you had read all of the papers on the subjects. Or well, not all of them exactly. After all, there was that missing page in the back. It had clearly been ripped out in a hurry, not leaving any details on whatever was on the page. It did beg the question of when the page was ripped out and why. Andrei already had a bunch of secrets written down in here, so whatever it was that was on the last page, it must’ve been something intense.

Regardless, you’d soon reach the offices again, walking past your previous battlefield and quickly heading forward. Until finally, you felt like you were at a secure enough location. You told your men to unpack their stuff and to set up a base here, something they quickly did. As everyone started setting up tents in one of the more open spaces, you’d see Lars setting up some cooking appliances and getting ready to make some food. “Going to make some vegetable soup with what we got from the green section.” He’d say casually, as the rest of your men went to work setting up tents. Though soon after, Laura came over to you. “So, uhhh, what’s the plan now, Mik? Are we just going to stay here and then tomorrow fight with those guardsmen?” Your men didn’t seem to listen, either being too focused on their own things, or simply opting to wait until later to hear what the plan was.

>What do you do next?

Suggestions/options:
>Just relax for the time being. Enjoy a little fireside chat with your men, Laura and the subjects. Maybe you could discuss some casual topics with them. (Write in what you wanna talk about, if anything.)
>Discuss a plan for tomorrow with everyone. Better to figure out what everyone wanted to do right away so you could have a plan ready for tomorrow.
>Get some food and then head to sleep right away. The quicker you got this over with, the quicker you’d wake up and do whatever it was that you had in mind.
>Assign some folk to guard duties for the night. Even if you were in a relatively safe area, the fact that there were guardsmen nearby and maybe even Feng and her minions, having someone on watch was a safe idea. (Write in who will act as guard.)
>Something else…

(Was procrastinating a ton with this update, so I hope I will have enough time later to make a second update. Regardless, this one tells you a bit more about Andrei. And yes, he refuses to work with Elbrus, something I imagine you guys will be pleased to learn.)

>>5993397
>>Discuss a plan for tomorrow with everyone. Better to figure out what everyone wanted to do right away so you could have a plan ready for tomorrow.
Since we're gonna be here for a while and we got as much as we could from Andrei's office, we should focus on two things, look for a safe place for the girls and look for supplies or a place we're they/we can get food and water since those fruits probably won't last long.

>>Assign some folk to guard duties for the night. Even if you were in a relatively safe area, the fact that there were guardsmen nearby and maybe even Feng and her minions, having someone on watch was a safe idea.
I thinking of Morgana followed by us and last turn by Kamara since invisibilty is OP for a lookout.

>>5993397
Backing >>5993414
As for Laura's question why would we fight those guardsmen? They're just a group of scared survivors hiding from Feng, no big name scientists, subjects, or anyone important. It doesn't seem like we have anything to gain from rolling up on them. Plus with how many of them there are it's gonna be almost impossible to settle things bloodlessly.

>>5993397
Okay, Andrei gets a stay of execution. Most of the big shots were sociopaths to some degree, but Andrei seems to not be a sadist at least and seems to have a modicum of care, but still primarily results-driven over sentimentality. Also, this confirms what I thought earlier, that GalGov is fully aware of at least some of Andrei's creations but appears to have deliberately left them out of the MGE. Maybe turning this intel in won't be as good for our health as we might think. That tidbit about one of Roraima's subjects seeing active deployment is also interesting.

also support >>5993397 but I think we should have short watch shifts (like a couple of hours) to ensure everyone gets their rest properly. Volunteers first, then draw straws.

First impressions of the subjects:
>TIL-84, Feng Zetian aka The Queen
Form: Vampiric?
Threat: High. Mind control makes getting to her hard and poses risks beyond simple injury, definitely has aces up her sleeve in combat.
Temperament: Sadistic and cruel.
Verdict: Kill on sight. Takedown will be challenging, but not impossible.

>KR-75, Caera Tomnadashan aka The Rabbit or Ms. Caerbannog (DECEASED)
Form: Rabbitkin
Threat: High. Durable, agile and powerful personal combatant.
Temperament: Fanatically dedicated, emotionless and amoral. Will attack on sight.
Verdict: Good riddance, not sure if Andrei foresaw her acting like that.

>SD-1902, Anastasia Tarverdiyeva
Form: Unclear
Threat: Medium to high. Capabilities unclear, likely effective single combatant.
Temperament: Unclear what form "brutal" takes, whether sadistic or mindlessly violent. Hostile either way.
Verdict: KOS

>WW-10, Grise Blutrün
Form: Unclear
Threat: Medium to high. Roraima may have made her more a hunter-killer than a mere tracker.
Temperament: Instinctual and violent. May seek out combat specifically to hunt and kill.
Verdict: KOS. Be on guard for stalking. Intel likely stale.

>SD-1888, Vinisha Magomedova
Form: Zombie?
Threat: Medium. May be more effective against single targets.
Temperament: Unclear. Vigilante LARPer similar to Morgan?
Verdict: Possibly friendly, handle with caution.

>WSL-90, Nicola Leucoris
Form: Spiderkin
Threat: Unclear. Clearly another stalker, combat capability difficult to determine.
Temperament: Likely sadistic and rapey, courtesy of E*brus.
Verdict: KOS

>51-LB, Oana Mocanu
Form: Batkin
Threat: Medium? Likely effective combatant with Roraimic influence.
Temperament: Unclear. Capacity for independent thought is dubious, as is who she currently serves.
Verdict: Too info-deficient to judge.

>AH-178, Olorea Muruk
Form: Birdkin
Threat: Very Low. Dangerous assassin, but pacifistic.
Temperament: Friendly and peaceful.
Verdict: Recruit cinnamon bird scout for the harem.

>5-GH, Alexandra Wellesley
Form: Infernal dogkin?
Threat: Low-medium. Pyro thrower, but not designed for combat. Calculating and may have followers though.
Temperament: Unclear
Verdict: An enigma, this one.

also if anyone spots more name clues, do say

>>5993397
>Discuss a plan for tomorrow with everyone. Better to figure out what everyone wanted to do right away so you could have a plan ready for tomorrow.
Guys, we have a queen to kill.
No sparing this one, too dangerous. No matter how much of a waifu it looks like.
Discuss moving in the direction of the queen and killing her. The longer she lives the greater a force she can accumulate, we need to scout her. If she's within our means we should take her down, if she isn't we may need to consider other options.

>Assign some folk to guard duties for the night. Even if you were in a relatively safe area, the fact that there were guardsmen nearby and maybe even Feng and her minions, having someone on watch was a safe idea. (Write in who will act as guard.)
shifts between our lads watching for any thing going on.

I am surprised none of our cameras triggered anything.

>>5993466
Vinesha may not be safe given what was mentioned about her.

>>5993478
The description sounds like she would at least be civil, though whether we could stand having Judge Dredd in our party when Morgan already grates on our nerves is less certain and the two sound like they'd get along like a house on fire. If we meet her, I'd want to at least hold fire to try and talk though I doubt we'll know for sure unless we meet her or someone who has met her.

The way I read it is that she is all there mentally but suffered from physical defects that basically left her as a zombie (actually, her threat should probably be low in light of being unable to acceptably perform her physical roles). Andrei seems to have something of a soft spot for her.

>>5993490
The problem is she's skewed to the point where even the faculty consider her a failure. We are a DEATH SQUAD. if she's too unreasonable for her own creator, I doubt she's gonna be reasonable enough for us to work with. To me it was Andrei regretting what she became more then anything else.
she WOULD've been fair. she COULD'VE been helping peeps improve. We know she has regeneration, that's about it. We try speaking but it would only be with a safeguard set up to put her down should she come at us.

>>5993397
Well this is a lot to think about. Very much concerns me that Roraima actually has a subject accepted by the government. It's also very interesting he was dismissive of Roraima's idea until after he stated the subject they'd make would be looked at by the government. The file that's ripped out also has me worried, as it's either something horrifically dangerous or something terminated with no in-between. A pity he worked with Elbrus once as well, however he learned his lesson the hard way at least. Also I notice it says Roraima is wanted dead by the government, which is a surprise given the sheet says they want him alive. Maybe they just want him for interrogation to cull his subjects easier before putting him behind the shed?

>>5993466
This list sounds right. With what the QM said earlier, the Rabbit was the last defense for Andrei's room. Or more accurately second to last defense given the trap. And since she was made as a dedicated body guard obsessed with her mission I presume the only reason she ever left to go to the green area was to get food so she didn't starve to death. She did try taking some before dropping them to remove the impediment to her mission unless I'm recalling incorrectly.

>>5993490
Yeah, from the sounds of things he seems to actually feel bad for her. Perhaps something strange is responsible for this rot defect since there's already two subjects with it? Something to keep an eye on.

>>5993414
Supporting.

>>5993507
I don't see anything suggesting Vinisha was unreasonable - he outright calls her "reasonable and fair", only physically defective.

>Discuss a plan for tomorrow with everyone. Better to figure out what everyone wanted to do right away so you could have a plan ready for tomorrow.
Laura's question immediately made you think about what you wanted to do when you awoke. Right now, you didn't have too much of a plan, so thinking ahead for what to do tomorrow was a pretty good idea. Thus, you told her that you'd discuss some plans right now with the others. Though you also admitted that fighting the guardsmen didn't seem too enticing to you. They were just scared and trying their best to survive. Hell, the only thing you'd really gain was maybe some cash for killing them. "Understandable. I'd also rather not... well, see you guys essentially execute a bunch of my co-workers." She said uneasily, before you would approach your men and asked for their attention. You told them that you hoped to discuss some things for in the morning, after which you laid out your plan. You wanted to continue searching for a safe area for the subjects, as well as a space which had supplies such as food and water. The latter seemed to surprise some of your men a bit, with Derek quickly speaking up. "Food and water? Can't we just retrieve that from the green section? It's not like the government will be mad at us for taking stuff from there, right?"

He was technically wrong, given what the contract had stated about 'taking government property'. However, given that it'd just be food from a section they'd soon control, maybe they'd not really mind it. Though Mike did bring up a good point shortly after. "If this food is going to be for the subjects, then I can imagine the government and other death squads becoming somewhat suspicious of us. Think about it: we're a bunch of death squad soldiers who usually live off of rations who are now taking huge amounts of greens along for our travels. They'd probably want to know where all that food is going, or even just assume something is going on behind the scenes."

Keeping your operations out of view of the government was probably quite important. Besides, there had to be other sources of food. And it would be Anon who made a suggestion regarding that quite soon. "Isn't there a large section which has frozen food in it to the east of the flooded section? Maybe we can find a safe route through there and make a base there. The flooded section could act as a barrier between the subjects and the government forces." It wasn't the worst suggestion, though your men were a bit sceptical about one part. "I'd maybe agree with that, if it weren't for two facts, Anon. For one, the flooded section is currently pretty goddamn busy with activity right now, from what we've heard. And more importantly, how on earth will we find a safe route through the flooded section to begin with? We have no clue what's in there or how we'd go through it." Artyom would say, the rest of your men nodding along a little. It was not the most realistic option currently.

You told your men that finding those locations would be tomorrow's mission. You needed a safe zone to keep survivors anyway, so exploring this place for such a space along with searching for other targets was probably the best plan. Though, you also stated that you maybe wanted to go after this queen subject. She was too dangerous and she needed to be killed before she accumulated more forces. "Look, I am all for killing bad and dangerous folk, especially if it means getting paid... but given our last stint with a subject made by Andrei, maybe we should just leave this one to Heroes for now." Lars said, to which Thaddeus spoke up dismissively. "Hey, we've learnt from our encounter with that fuckin' rabbit. And given the weapons we got now, I think we do actually stand somethin' of a chance." He'd remark, the rest of your men also seeming eager. "You also got us!" Oreas soon after said as she walked up to you, Anofelis and Morgan also approaching. They clearly wanted to help out in such a fight as well, which was... well, rather sweet of them, albeit maybe a bit risky.

Still, you told everyone that the first thing you wanted to do was just find a safe area for everyone to stay. Especially in case you met more survivors who didn't want to kill you or mind control you. It was a simple and straightforward plan, one which could also lead to further encounters which would make you money anyway.

>Assign some folk to guard duties for the night. Even if you were in a relatively safe area, the fact that there were guardsmen nearby and maybe even Feng and her minions, having someone on watch was a safe idea.
With that, you felt that you had discussed everything for tomorrow. You had a pretty broad plan, meaning you could be flexible with it. Though one thing you did want to discuss still was guard duties for the night. The area was just too risky to not have someone stand guard for the time being. And your first choice was Morgan, something she'd respond quite confidently towards. "Why, I'd most certainly want to protect you people! You shall rest easy, knowing no threat shall come this way and harm you!" Obviously, you intended to have more than just her guard the place. You'd even say that she could keep guard for an hour, after which it could be you, and then others every hour or so. You had plenty of men, and you imagined there being some volunteers. And surely enough all your men stated they were willing to help out. Hell, even Oreas, Chrys and Anofelis wanted to help out. The only exception was Kamara, who seemed quite terrified at the prospect of acting as a guard. You did think her invisibility could help her keep watch without being spotted. Though admittedly, she wasn't exactly the most courageous of people in your group.

With everyone quickly and easily deciding upon a guard schedule, you went back to just helping out with unpacking and setting up camp. And within a short while, you and the others would get seated, waiting for dinner.

It wouldn’t take long before Anon had set up a fire, your men getting seated around it as Lars started handing out some plastic bowls and cutlery. “Alright, I made some vegetable soup with a bit of meat from some of the rations. Hope it’s to your liking.” Your men would all start eating quite happily from it, though you saw Laura and the subjects really enjoying it. “Holy fuck, I forgot how good warm food is…” Laura said extremely happily, Kamara also soon giving some compliments. “Mmmm, this is really good, yeah! You’re a great cook!” Lars would smile brightly in turn, clearly enjoying the compliments. You did see Anofelis showing her bowl to Laura and soon giving the bits of meat in her bowl to Laura. Clearly, Ano was not much of a fan of flesh, though she did seem to really enjoy the soup aside from that.

For the time being, everyone was just enjoying a peaceful evening. There wasn’t much to worry about now, and you could kind of enjoy a bit of relaxation now.

>What do you do next?

Suggestions/options:
>Listen in to some of the casual chats for a bit. Maybe there were some fun conversations going on between your men. (Write in if there’s anyone you wanna listen to in particular.)
>Ask your men some random questions about a topic that was on your mind. It didn’t have to be anything serious, or even have to do with your current mission here. Maybe there was something you were just curious about. (Write in who you wanna chat with.)
>Turn on the radio to listen to some tunes on Annie’s station, unless if that ASMR subject was still trying to hijack her frequency.
>Finish up the meal and head straight to bed. The earlier you were awake, the earlier you could start your search for a place where the subjects could safely stay.
>Something else…

(Wow, writing that went smoother than I thought. Anyway, it's a simpler update so it makes sense. The choices aren't anything too intense, but maybe there are some fun little chats you wanna have with your teammates. And if that isn't what you want, just heading to sleep works fine too...)

>>5993578
>Turn on the radio to listen to some tunes on Annie’s station, unless if that ASMR subject was still trying to hijack her frequency.

>>5993578
>Turn on the radio to listen to some tunes on Annie’s station, unless if that ASMR subject was still trying to hijack her frequency.
Good to know she wasn't physically threatened.

>Ask your men some random questions about a topic that was on your mind. It didn’t have to be anything serious, or even have to do with your current mission here. Maybe there was something you were just curious about. (Write in who you wanna chat with.)
Any uh political experts among our men? What kind of resources is GalGov working with? How big is their standing army and how quickly could they deploy it here if they needed to?

>>5993578
>Turn on the radio to listen to some tunes on Annie’s station, unless if that ASMR subject was still trying to hijack her frequency.

>>5993625
Supporting this.

>Turn on the radio to listen to some tunes on Annie’s station, unless if that ASMR subject was still trying to hijack her frequency.
As everyone was enjoying a peaceful evening, you'd soon get up and head over to Derek's radio. "What are you doing, Mik?" Lydia asked casually, you explaining how you wanted to listen a bit to Annie to see how she was doing, and if there were any new updates on her part. "Some music could be nice now, yeah." Thaddeus remarked afterwards, to which Artyom responded a bit more pessimistically. "So long as that Kimmy fuck isn't doing her perverse shit on the radio anymore." Thus, you'd turn on the radio to listen in. And thankfully, you'd soon hear some casual jazzy songs. It was actually kind of nice, especially since it wasn't anything really hyperactive and was far more relaxed. And once the song ended, you'd hear Annie speak up again.

"You're listening to VRCMG Radio with Annie Marconi, the subject you'll keep listening to, regardless of how much the government wants you not to. You just heard Man from the Third Rock by the Droogs, as requested by Helena from Heathens. As always, thank you so much for the requests, please do keep them coming. In other news, an explosion occurred somewhere below the flooded section. My sources have indicated this is the cause of several generators overheating and creating a steam explosion. We therefore highly recommend you stay away from said area. Unless if you are a death squad of course, in which case the explosion was most certainly caused by a subject!"

Your men seemed to listen somewhat amusedly, though there was also a bit of concern. "What if she's leading people to our area by telling this?" Lars remarked softly, to which your men seemed to think for a bit. "Maybe it'd lead them here? Though she did say it was underneath the flooded section, rather than the green section where we were." Derek said calmly, though you could tell your men were left a bit unsure what to think.

Still, there was probably not much to worry about right now. Annie had sounded somewhat vague, and her tone was helping in making it seem like nothing too serious anyway. With that in mind though, you did have a more serious thing on your mind.

>Ask your men some random questions about a topic that was on your mind. It didn’t have to be anything serious, or even have to do with your current mission here. Maybe there was something you were just curious about.
You'd soon ask your men if anyone had any ideas what resources the government was working with. Specifically in a military sense. After all, you wanted to know what kind of forces they could deploy to the planet if things went awry. Your men looked at each other in surprise, before Mike spoke up calmly. "Knowing the government, they probably got quite a few ships in orbit with... dunno, thousands of soldiers? If they got a bunch of capital ships, they can easily carry a few hundred thousand soldiers."

Derek nodded along, taking a sip of his soup before joining in. "It'd take a while to deploy them, but within a few hours, they could have the planet swarmed. Issue is the logistics and ensuring everything goes orderly. Besides, given how secretive the government is, I doubt they'd drop millions of soldiers down here. They'd probably just glass everything if it all went to shit." Chrys soon after spoke up quite concernedly. "Ummm, may I ask... how many soldiers does the government even have? You guys kinda seem like you oppose the government, so... ummm, y-yeah, I am just curious h-how many folk you'd have to f-fight against." To this, Artyom spoke rather amusedly. "Well, we aren't going to fight the government directly any time soon. They have several hundreds of millions of soldiers from what I recall, maybe even a couple of billions. Though, a huge number of those are just for maintaining peace and stability, as well as protecting the core government sectors, so I doubt we'll ever fight them directly. Let alone fighting them down here."

To this, Mike would join in as well, albeit in a more annoyed tone. "Lots of those crooks are also probably near more remote planets to 'maintain order' as they call it. In other words, exerting their tyranny on disconnected and independent systems." This actually got Laura somewhat curious. "From the way you speak, I got a feeling you got... uhhh, experience with those folk." Mike scoffed, eating a bit more soup before speaking with a mouthful of food. "Yeah, unfortunately. Those bastards came to my planet and immediately took control and started doing things their way. My family had been on that planet since the first conquests from Earth, and these bastards suddenly come in and force us to follow their laws and such." He'd swallow his food, letting out a sigh. "Forcing us to get rid of our culture and become another cog in their goddamn system. We had dozens of ancient Earthen customs which we were no longer allowed to follow! Hell, my family lineage was of ancient Earthen nobility, and they treat us like we're below them!"

Laura seemed to understand Mike's frustrations, though the subjects seemed a bit more curious about Earth and the other planets. "My, tell us about these customs, sir. I would love to know about the code of honour of your planet!" Morgan would say, at which point Mike went somewhat off the rails. At least you had gotten an answer about the government and their forces. They likely had quite a large number of troops waiting in orbit, which were ready to be deployed in case anything went wrong. Though given how secretive they were about everything, glassing the planet could very well be the main method the government had of solving any threat no weapons on the planet could solve. You just had to hope that the government wouldn't resort to that anytime soon. Given the discoveries regarding Andrei, you'd probably find out soon enough which threats would warrant such drastic measures...

Regardless, your men kept their casual chats going. They were talking about their home-planets, the customs from said planet and even why they joined your group. Most of your men seemed to speak proudly of Lodger, as well as your leadership. You could tell that the subjects were very much intrigued. Hell, even Kamara seemed eager to hear all about what made your men so eager to fight by your side. And of course, Annie was still playing her relaxing songs and giving news over the radio. Most of it was just about government forces once again retreating outwards, her warning the folk still out there that night would soon fall.

>What do you do next?

Suggestions/options:
>Ask your men another question about a topic that was on your mind. Perhaps they could tell you something fun you could listen to whilst you finished eating, or something a bit more serious. (Write in...)
>Have a little chat with the subjects. Oreas, Anofelis and Morgan clearly wanted to help you out with combat, so perhaps you could discuss some things with them now. (Write in who you'll chat with and what you wanna ask them.)
>Finish up the meal and tell your men you'd head to sleep. They'd probably join you soon after aside from Morgan, who'd act as guard for the time being.
>Something else...

>>5994000
Lighting a fire indoors is a little disconcerting, but I trust Anon knows what he's doing. Also, the notion of Morgan squeeing over meeting technical nobility is funny. Time loses meaning down here, so knowing it's night above is largely academic. All in all, a comfy evening.
>Have a little chat with the subjects. Oreas, Anofelis and Morgan clearly wanted to help you out with combat, so perhaps you could discuss some things with them now.
Other than that, I'd like to hear from them about how they could best help and apply their abilities to the operation and how we might slot them into plans we make. I also want to make it clear that it will involve violence and death (hopefully only of Feng) or worse and make sure they're okay with that, with only Morgan having been in actual two-sided combat before aside from the firefight with the guards.

Once we've got the brass tacks out of the way, we've heard about our stories, now it should be about theirs. I'd like to know some more about *their* life up until now and especially *their* future - *their* hopes and dreams, where *they'd* like to be when this saga is all over and what *truly* gets *them* up every day to keep putting one foot in front of the other now that their world has collapsed around their ears - we've heard bits and pieces over the preceding days but haven't sat down and had a real talk about it. If they have nothing, encourage them to give it a nice long and hard think after hearing our stories. Do they want to find someplace quiet to settle? Go on an adventure? Try and change things for the better? Dive into the hustle and bustle of galactic life? Stick with us, wherever we go next? Strike out on their own? Or just enjoy some real sun on their faces? I don't think any of them have ever really had the opportunity to ask themselves these questions or have even seen the sky their whole lives and that's just tragic (let's hope it hasn't made them too agoraphobic). Laura can join in too.

>>5994000
>>Ask your men another question about a topic that was on your mind. Perhaps they could tell you something fun you could listen to whilst you finished eating, or something a bit more serious. (Write in...)
Let's discuss about what to do with the info we got. Should we keep it or give to the gov? Considering how secretive Andrei was and how we got a bunch of unknown subjects we could get another payload.

>>Have a little chat with the subjects. Oreas, Anofelis and Morgan clearly wanted to help you out with combat, so perhaps you could discuss some things with them now. (Write in who you'll chat with and what you wanna ask them.)
Talk with Ano and Oreas, it seems a bit surprising for them especially Ano to take a more combative role also ask Ano how she's doing, her body might be tough but mental damage is another thing entirely.

>>5994000
>Have a little chat with the subjects. Oreas, Anofelis and Morgan clearly wanted to help you out with combat, so perhaps you could discuss some things with them now. (Write in who you'll chat with and what you wanna ask them.)
ask if they recognize any of the subjects. We never did get their input.
>>5994050
But anon, we don't even know if they will get a future with how this might shape up.
We shouldn't give them false hope.

>>5994090
Then we'd better make damn sure we give them one because this is going to come to a head in the finale, and they will make it out of here as free individuals or die trying. I want to give them the opportunity for some character development and become more complex people and provide more emotional torque for us because they are main characters now that we are already emotionally invested in and deserve it even if they aren't guaranteed to have a happy ending.

>>5994141
I wouldn't reccomend getting emotionally invested into those we might have to put down later.
But that's just the Death Squad part of us speaking.

>>5994000
>Have a little chat with the subjects. Oreas, Anofelis and Morgan clearly wanted to help you out with combat, so perhaps you could discuss some things with them now. (Write in who you'll chat with and what you wanna ask them.)
Morgan's already proven herself, but for Oreas and Ano ask what their capabilities are and how much experience they have.

>>5994235
Too late, we already are. Most players in this quest would move heaven and earth for them, especially Anofelis. Having to kill them all later would be a catastrophic bad end.

>>5994050
>>5994064
>>5994090
>>5994352
Supporting. Though I'd like to chat with Chrys as well. Despite being the first subject we found we really haven't done much with the poor moth.

>>5994235
We aren't. Even if we personally don't connect to them, it is clear that our soldiers are. Despite our bonuses, keeping them around us for so long will make our soldiers grow attached to them as they speak with them and get to know them as people. It's one thing to execute someone who you just met. It's another to execute someone who put their trust in you and who you've known for months. If we didn't plan to get attached we would have killed Chrys when we had the option. We chose to spare her and go down the route of discovering what's going on here rather than just gunning for big time payments.

>>5994562
The fireside chat is open to any of the subjects.

I'll admit I tried to propose grenading Chrys out her her hidey-hole so we could shoot her when we first met - voting to capture instead of kill was a watershed moment in the quest when it started to shift from "just do our job" to "damn our job, we have people to save". Now, many of our men would put their lives on the line for them. How times change.
Imagine how our attitude would have developed if our first encounter was a irredeemably nasty piece of work instead of a chibi beetle who surrendered and was too innocent to execute. Say QM, did you decide these encounters, or did we just bump into them through luck?

>Have a little chat with the subjects. Oreas, Anofelis and Morgan clearly wanted to help you out with combat, so perhaps you could discuss some things with them now.
Hearing your men talk about their lives, it actually made you wonder a bit about the subjects and their lives. You had adopted them quite eagerly, and they even now seemed willing to join you into lethal combat. Though before throwing them all into the potential meatgrinder that was combat, you wanted to hear more about them. They hadn't really told you much about their own lives and how things were before the disaster. Thus, after Thaddeus finished telling a bit about himself, you'd decide to ask the subjects one specific question: What were their life stories? They seemed surprised by the question, you elaborating that they also deserved a chance to talk about themselves. You'd even help them out by asking some more questions, such as where they wanted to take their lives, how they wanted to help the world out and if there were any goals they had in life. There was a bit of silence, as the subjects all looked at each other. Though the first to speak up was Chrys, who did so reluctantly.

"Well, I mean... life until now has been okay, I think? I know dozens of subjects were treated far worse than I was, so I think I've been doing fine for the most part. Aside from this whole disaster and the chaos it has caused." There was a bit of a pause, her clearly thinking about how she'd answer your questions. "I suppose something I'd want to do is... go outside and finally feel the sunlight." You saw that some of your men looked quite disheartened, with Thaddeus calmly speaking up. "I know some of ya gals didn't get out much. But... ya never even seen yer star before? Not even once? Didn't they ever take ya gals outside?" Chrys shook her head in turn, Oreas speaking up soon after as well. "Even those who fed on light were just given lamps akin to sunlight. But going outside was prohibited."

Chrys would let out a soft sigh, before speaking more disappointedly. "As for where I'd want to go with my life... I-I haven't really thought about it. I've actually never thought about it, aside from the things Anderson had in mind for me. He wanted me to help with the chemical industry, maybe even the medical industry given my scales. But, I don't really feel too sure about either option." There was another pause, which was only broken once Lydia spoke up reassuringly. "Well, what do you feel sure about?" Chrys pondered for a moment, before nodding more confidently. "I wanna find more subjects and people down here and help them out. I wanna help... you guys out as well. Maybe not in combat, since... I-I'm not the type for that either, but maybe in other ways." You could tell she felt a little uneasy saying no to joining you in a fight. Though you and your men really weren't too offended by it. At least she knew what direction she didn't want to take her life in.

"I also would love to find Anderson again. Maybe he could help me figure out what else I could do. Though, I do also worry he’ll be upset that… maybe I wouldn’t wanna do what he wanted me to do.” Chrys admitted afterwards, sounding somewhat anxious and hesitant. To this, Anon scoffed softly. “ You shouldn’t have to feel forced to do whatever he wants you to do. Just because he made you, doesn’t mean he determines your life.” Chrys nodded, though you could tell she was still uneasy about what to say. “Maybe I’ll figure out what I wanna do in the future… well, in the future. For now, I’m just content surviving with you guys. I suppose any day alive down here is a day where I can be happy.” It was a bit of a bittersweet sentiment to end on, but at least you could tell that you had given Chrys something important to think about. Though the next person to speak didn’t seem to struggle with figuring out her future.

“You know, it’s funny. I was also not too sure about my future before all of this happened.” Oreas mumbled as all eyes focused on her. “I just wanted to make Mona and Cerro happy and follow the path they thought I could take. Cerro specifically said he always imagined me as a great electrician subject, or uhhhh, someone who could help with complex machinery with my abilities and what not. But, I do think that has changed somewhat now, thanks to you guys… I wanna help other people survive through this mess. I want to make sure nobody I care for gets hurt, and that they can join us in the escape. And… I also want to learn to fight. Not just so I can protect myself, but protect other people. People like you, Laura, Cerro and Mona.” You saw Laura smiling brightly in turn, her responding immediately. “You know, you’ve already succeeded with that so far. You’ve already saved me several times before now.” Oreas nodded eagerly, before looking up a little. “And I hope to save many more people in the future! And once all of this is over, maybe I can stay with you guys and continue helping you do the right thing and saving other people?”

Oreas clearly was more than content joining you and your men. And whilst it may be tough to figure out a way to integrate her into Lodger, she’d certainly make a viable asset. Especially if you trained her in combat. In fact, Derek was quick to speak up somewhat optimistically. “Maybe we can train you a little bit for in the future? Or test out your abilities to find out ways you can fight against folk? You already mentioned having shocked people before, so maybe you can find a way to really go nuts with that.” You saw Oreas tail wagging a little bit, her nodding eagerly. “I’d like that!” And after she went quiet, Morgan would clear her throat. “I wish to do the same as Oreas, doing the right thing and bringing justice to crooks, criminals and other evildoers! That has always been my mission, and it shall remain my mission until my last breathe!”

After Morgan spoke, there was a short silence, followed by a bit of curiosity from some of your men. “Didn’t you want to… leave us like a little while ago to find that queen?” Zaria asked, the others also looking intrigued. “Why, I indeed wanted to do such, yes. I might still leave you people in the near future to go on my own. Not because I do not like you, or because I do not trust you, no! I simply think that our current goals do divulge somewhat. You have the noble goal of wanting to save people, to find a place where you can safely stay and protect innocent lives. My goal is also noble, yet far more proactive. I wish to find the evildoers of this place and put them to justice, to defeat them in combat and make them improve their ways! And once I have finished combing through these ruins and dealing with the many crooks it holds, I will rejoin you on further missions and continue bringing justice to other worlds!” Well, at least you knew that Morgan would join you just like Oreas. Though it did make Anofelis a little saddened. “So, are you going to leave us soon?” She asked quietly, Morgan thinking about it. “Perchance. I believe it may be in my interest to do such in the near future. But, do I shall stay with you a bit longer to assist further! Do not see it as me abandoning you, my fair mosquito friend, but rather as us parting ways and meeting again once the time is right!”

Some of your men didn’t seem too bothered by Morgan opting to maybe leave you in the near future. But you also could tell that some of your men were a bit disappointed. Sure, Morgan was a bit annoying with her stances on ‘honourable weaponry’, but she had also proven herself an incredibly valuable asset to your team. Besides, she was generally kind and caring, albeit a bit boisterous and talkative. Regardless, you’d soon look to Kamara and Anofelis, wanting to hear what they had to say. Kamara was a bit on edge, looking away and clearly trying to think of how to answer. Anofelis would look at you for some time, before speaking up. “Ummm, you wanna know more about me?” She asked, to which some of your men softly chuckled to her confusion. “Well, Mik did ask for such details, didn’t he?” Artyom said in an amused tone, as Anofelis thought for a moment before speaking softly. “Well, I was made by Jabal and Anderson, and… I don’t know what they wanted to do with me. They said I could do many things, but… well, I don’t know what they meant with that.” There was a pause, her thinking a bit more about what to say. And after some careful thinking on her part, she spoke up with a quaint little smile. “I do wanna help people out though! I wanna help you guys out most of all! I wanna stay with you guys for as long as possible, find Jabal and Anderson and help out others too! All except for the people who treated me badly and called me mean things. Unless if you guys wanna help those people out too.”

Anofelis’ adorable nature and eagerness to help clearly pleased your men. Thaddeus was quick to even respond: “Those who bullied ya in the past, we’ll only help ‘em out if they apologise to ya, alright?” This made Anofelis even more giddy, her speaking even more excitedly. “We can help them improve like what Morgan said! We can make them better people and then save them too! And then when we escape this place and escape the planet, I can keep helping you with whatever things you plan on doing next! I wanna keep doing that! I wanna keep being the best subject out there!” Anofelis’ excitement was clearly somewhat contagious, your men all seeming more optimistic thanks to her mood. Though after she finished, there was a silence where the eyes went over to Kamara. She had so far kept quiet, looking unsure what to even say. And now that she was at the centre of attention, you saw her clenching her legs and shrinking a little in fear. You told her that you wanted to know more about her as well, but that she had all the time to think about it. And after a bit of thinking, she’d respond quietly. “I-I really… d-don’t know. I-I just wanna… I just wanna s-survive and find M-Mona and C-Cerro.” There was a bit of a silence, Laura calmly trying to get her to say more. “And what do you wanna do when you find them again?”

There was another silence, her looking around before nodding a little. “W-Well, I wanna h-hug them first… a-and then, I’ll… t-take them s-somewhere safe. A p-planet far from h-here, w-where they can… l-live peacefully with m-me, a-and maybe other s-survivors.” It was clear that, unlike Ano, Oreas and Morgan, Kamara REALLY didn’t want to get into any more conflicts. Though even then, she did have quite a noble goal. “Hey, that’s still a pretty goal to set for yourself!” Lydia said, Kamara looking up at her. “I mean, if we’re gonna save more people from this hellhole, they’ll need to find a place where they could live afterwards too. Maybe you can help with finding such a place on a distant planet or somewhere else safe?” Lydia continued, Laura and the others nodding along. “Yeah, you can maybe even lead people in such a safe place!” Oreas said optimistically, which made Kamara smile nervously. “W-Well, l-leadership… i-isn’t my thing, hehehe, heh… ummm, y-yeah, b-but I appreciate the s-sentiment.”

After Kamara finished talking, you would speak up and state that you were quite pleased to hear what they wanted to do. Though, you also reminded them that, if they wanted to hep with the job, they had to know that things could get pretty violent. Death was part of the job, and you wanted them to be okay with that. Morgan didn’t seem to mind it too much, but you could tell that Anofelis and Oreas were a lot more conflicted. “Well, we can… always aim to incapacitate, right?” Oreas said softly, to which your men looked at each other a bit unsurely.

Though soon after, Anon spoke up calmly. “I’m afraid that, in the heat of battle, making that choice is a lot harder than you’d think. Especially when you don’t know who you’re facing, and what they may intend to do with you. Sometimes, you’re going to have to take a life.” Anofelis seemed quite pained by the thought, though you saw that Oreas actually nodded along. “I-I understand. I hope it won’t ever get to that.” It went a bit quiet, as you and your men knew that joining you in combat meant that killing was inevitable. To cheer them up a bit, you’d ask them how they wanted to help you in combat. Anofelis was far more eager to talk in that aspect, responding right away. “I can dig things! Maybe I can make tunnels for you to hide in. Or, I can pin enemies down and make sure they can’t fight back!” She showed her four hands, after which Oreas also spoke up a bit more confidently. “Maybe I can use my electricity to stun people so they can’t fight back? Or I can lure them into traps with my ability to walk through walls!” Given the numerous abilities the two of them had, they probably were quite easily slotted into your group. Hell, perhaps these abilities would help you in combating some of the more troublesome subjects, like the Andrei ones. Ano, Morgan and Oreas definitely could help you out, after all.

>Ask your men another question about a topic that was on your mind. Perhaps they could tell you something fun you could listen to whilst you finished eating, or something a bit more serious.
As you thought about Andrei’s subjects again, you actually got curious about something a little different. You stated that you had read up on all the subjects made by Andrei, which got everyone extremely curious. You asked them if the info should be handed over to the government or not, since Andrei was highly secretive and you got the feeling the government actually had something to do with his work. “I mean, I’d say go for it. I’d rather get paid for it and maybe also reduce the influence of that queen subject.” Zaria said casually, to which Mike shook his head. “If you really think the government worked with Andrei and has some sort of ulterior motive with him, I’d say we should keep it to ourselves.” Most of your men seemed to lean towards Mike, though Lars did give a decent alternative option. “We can always just wait and see what the government does in regards to these subjects. The queen, and presumably Andrei’s other subjects, are all out there and will likely be encountered sooner rather than later by other Death Squads. And once they have been reported on, we can see what the government says about them and maybe make a decision based upon their response. For all we know, the government will be transparent about them, or offer quite a lot of cash for information surrounding them.”

Your men seemed quite fine with that suggestion too. Either way, your men ironically didn’t seem to care much about the potential payment you could get from this intel. If anything, they seemed more suspicious and concerned about this. After all, Andrei wasn’t the only one who had so far been secretive about these subjects, given that the government had not revealed anything about him. Hell, they had even lied to you about the rabbit subject, claiming she was just made by Roraima. It was a major red flag, to say the least.

“So, uhhh, what are those other subjects about anyway, Mik?” Anon soon asked, the rest of your men also getting quite interested. Honestly, telling them a bit about them was a pretty good idea, especially since you could then also see what Chrys, Oreas, Ano, Morgan and Kamara knew of them, if anything.

>What do you do next?

Suggestions/options:
>Tell them about the subjects you read about. Maybe with some specific things which struck you as concerning or of note. (Write in…)
>Just hand them the paper files so they could read up on it themselves. In the meantime, you could discuss some other things, or just head off to bed. (Write in what else you wanna do…)
>Hand over the files to the subjects first, so you could hear what they had to say about Andrei’s subjects. Maybe they knew more about these subjects than what Andrei had shared.
>Something else…

(>>5994664 The first encounter with Chrys was a dice roll. It started with a really lucky roll which meant there'd be a subject encounter. I then decided to be kind and do a roll for a couple of subjects who weren't completely buttfuck insane and murderous. Some of those were definitely feisty, but none would've been rabbit tier. Mostly since I didn't want to instantly have a bunch of characters get badly mauled.)

(I do also wonder how things would've been differently had I opted for a more dangerous and evil subject. Perhaps this would've been far less wholesome of a story.)

>>5994664
I was originally on the "dont shoot" side bc I wanted information from the subject. I didn't know it'd become a god damn waifu war.
>>5994562
we can still discover everything and still be in a situation where the subjects have no hope of survival.
>>5994677
Oreas my beloved I pray we never have to put you down.
>>5994686
man this entire conversation is just a field of death flags. Wouldn't be surprised if Vinella burst through the wall in the next moment.

>Tell them about the subjects you read about. Maybe with some specific things which struck you as concerning or of note. (Write in…)
The subjects and asking our subjects if they know those subjects
>Just hand them the paper files so they could read up on it themselves. In the meantime, you could discuss some other things, or just head off to bed. (Write in what else you wanna do…)
so our lads can read while we hear the subject's input. then we hear theirs.
then sleep

>>5994761
Supporting. And if we are forced into that position I get the feeling it'll be far too late to do anything but go out swinging.

>>5994686
Okay, devil's advocate for a minute here presuming that Andrei may actually not have shared information about Caera with GalGov considering she was a personal project. Because Roraima had a major hand in her creation and she was so combat-effectice, his fingerprints would be all over her genetics so if they actually didn't know much about her, attributing her to Roraima based on the evidence available isn't unreasonable.

Oreas has been starting to step up lately after her chronic lack of screentime. I still struggle to take her seriously though since her portrait looks like a loli. Chrys finding Anderson might be hard considering he's in the fuckin' space slammer.

I did always wonder if Chrys was meant to be a starter subject of sorts, an encounter with Caera back then would have played out like one of the Horror Stories. Within the bounds of spoilers, who else might we have encountered in that room for curiosity's sake?

>Tell them about the subjects you read about. Maybe with some specific things which struck you as concerning or of note. (Write in…
Read off the files to all of them, see if the descriptions ring any bells. I think Morgan might be the most likely to have insights considering she's been around the block a bit but the others might know something as well.

>>5994761
I don't think I've seen a single expression of genuine romantic interest given all of the subjects we've seen have either been for lead not bed or hug not fug except Morgan, who is for slap not plap sometimes might have an interesting reaction to a hug though. - the only waifu war is the one we're fighting to protect them. I do wonder if we'll encounter a subject or staff member at some point that players take a romantic interest in.

>>5994686
>Just hand them the paper files so they could read up on it themselves. In the meantime, you could discuss some other things, or just head off to bed. (Write in what else you wanna do…)
Sleepytime

>>5994681
Ano is the purest cinnabon, I pray for her future.
>>5994761
>Supporting
Also there hasnt been any implications of romance, so I wonder what you mean by waifu wars?
Aside from the anons who have personal favorites I cant see what you mean.

Though I won't lie, romantic feelings becoming a thing would be quite a conflict that I'd be at least a little interested in seeing.

>>5994761
>I didn't know it'd become a god damn waifu war.
The hell you're talking about? Not a single poster here is pushing for a romance with them. There's a big difference between not wanting to kill people and keep them safe and wanting to fuck them.

>>5995170
>>5995023
>>5994893
Yknow thats fair, allow me to clarify.
I didn't mean it romantically. I meant just in terms of collecting.
As in a war to to acquire as many of them as possible.
We out here trying to play pokemon.

>>5995170
You can have a waifu without wanting to fuck them, you know. Jus as you also can have a romantic relationship without wanting to fuck or at least without having that urge at the forefront of your mind.

>>5995190
Anon we ain't simple playing pokemon here, we're trying to solve the mystery of what's going on here and why is the government keeping important info which could save our lives underwraps in case they decide to ditch us after our job is done. Saving subjects and personnel is the best way since they can give us valuable Intel and show we can talk first, shot only on self defense. Also we been quite lucky this far the most dangerous subject could wiped out our squad in the first run on this place, we killed in on our second run with better equipement and even then we needed support from the guards and some of our man have take some serious injuries. We need all the cards we can get if we are to survive anymore dangerous subjects like Vine, RapeCow, The Queen, etc and I say having our own entourage of subjects is one other way to tip the scales.

>Tell them about the subjects you read about. Maybe with some specific things which struck you as concerning or of note.
After Anon asked about the subjects on the list, you decided to just read them out again. Though before doing such, you'd ask the subjects and Laura to raise their hand if they knew of any of the subjects you'd mention. The girls all nodded, at which point you went in order of the files, starting with Olorea Muruk. The moment the codename was dropped, you saw Laura looking quite intrigued, though she simply kept quiet as you explained how she was an assassin subject turned pacifist. And after you finished, your men seemed somewhat pleased. "So, she's designed as an assassin but is friendly? Huh, perhaps we can find her and take her into our care as well then?" Lars said, to which Mike spoke up a bit apprehensively. "Let's... first see what she's like. I mean, she was trained by Andrei, so for all we know she's secretly a saboteur who will slip poison into our food when we aren't looking." Mike was clearly not in favour of having another subject join you. Your men were clearly more positive about Olorea than negative. Though the subjects didn't seem to know much about her, unfortunately.

However, Laura did seem to know a few things, as she responded softly. "I actually know a bit about Olorea. And, hearing that she isn't Tengri's subject... sorta makes a lot of sense now. From what I had heard from some co-workers who worked with her, she wasn't really like Tengri's other subjects. Some said she was kind of... protective over Tengri and quick to become aggressive. Others said she could be rather pleasant yet soft-spoken. I always was sort of puzzled by her, but now I get it!" You asked if there was anything else she knew about Olorea, which made Laura think for a second. "I just know that she was still trained by Tengri to be a killer. But, I can imagine her being far more reasonable, yeah."

At least you knew one potential ally for in the future. The same couldn't be said about the next subject, Nicola Leucoris. The moment Elbrus was mentioned, you saw everyone looking in a mixture of concern and disgust. Though when an arachnid subject was mentioned, you saw some of your men freezing up in genuine terror. Chrys and Kamara also looked deeply terrified, whilst Anofelis looked quite saddened. You explained that she was a trapper subject, one who he abandoned thanks to Elbrus influence. And once you finished talking, there was an awkward silence. You you saw Chrys looking around quite worriedly, during which Artyom was the first to break the silence. "Well, at least we can safely shoot this one." "Hey, at least it's good to know that Andrei had some standards, and didn't willingly work with that sick fuck Elbrus." Thaddeus responded soon after as well, which was a sentiment your men seemed relieved by. Even then, the thought of a lewd trapper spider had clearly made your men somewhat unnerved, to say the least.

You'd also ask the subjects what they thought and if they knew of Nicola, almost all of them shaking their heads. Laura also seemed unsure what to say. The only exception was Anofelis, who spoke curiously. "I think Anderson also cared for her... Ummm, before he made Haina, he said something about another spider subject. He only mentioned them in passing though... and maybe I am also wrong. I don't know." Given that Andrei made this monster based on Anderson's idea, there could very well be a link. Though asking for further details only seemed to make Anofelis doubt herself more and more, clearly starting to question her own memory on the matter. Regardless, there were more subjects to discuss, specifically Vinisha Magomedova.

You repeated how SD-1888 was described, your men seeming quite intrigued by this somewhat oddly described 'failure'. The mention of her being reasonable and fair did seem to reassure your men, though the description of her rot ability seemed to make your men visible appalled. Though the mention of Mona made Oreas and Kamara's eyes light up a little. Once you were done, Lydia was the first to speak. "I wonder if it would've been better if Andrei killed her once she was made. From the sound of things, she's in an unfortunate situation with that rotting ability where she can't do much." Anon would respond to Lydia right away, doing so far more positively. "Honestly, I can respect the clear regret he has about his failure and the fact he clearly wants to help her out in the future. Besides, he at least didn't abuse her for his own mistakes, or treat her poorly." You'd ask the subjects if they knew about further details, though they clearly didn't know anything else. Though Laura did make a pretty astute observation. "So, the files also tell a bit about SD-1902, right? Given the similar code-names, creator and... well, the fact Andrei said Vinisha had an older sister, I think this may have been an attempt to rectify his mistake with SD-1902." It was a solid theory. Though it also made your men curious about SD-1902, who you elected to discuss next.

Your men listened intently to how Anastasia was described as 'his greatest failure', something which Mike responded to softly. "I imagine this was before he let Elbrus control that spider subject of his." You kept going, mentioning the defects and improper teaching, with the comments on her being too brutal not sounding too pleasant to your men. "I sincerely hope that he did eventually terminate this subject." Zaria mumbled, to which Laura sighed. "I think I said this before, but even after maiming dozens of folk, she was kept around. Maybe Andrei was mad enough to think he could fix her later. Maybe Roraima started looking after her or something. Whatever the case is, she's still around and probably causing chaos here." It was strange that there were no reports about her so far. Though given Andrei and the government's relationship, maybe there was a reason for the lack of intel.

Regardless, the subjects knew little about Anastasia. Not even Morgan, who saw herself as the pinnacle of justice and righteousness didn't seem to know much about her. With that in mind, you went to the next subject, Oana Mocanu. You explained how 51-LB was made with the help of Roraima, and how she was an extremely obedient fruit-bat. Though the government involvement made some of your men raise their eyebrows, as this was clearly another pointer to how they couldn't exactly be trusted. Though her being potentially exported to the government and the fact Roraima had one subject used by the government did make some of your men curious. "Roraima had a subject who was used by the government?" Derek said, some eyes going towards Laura. She would think about it, before shaking her head. "I... don't know of any subject which the government stated they had used. Maybe they have done so? But, I really wouldn't know."

There was a moment of silence, as your men thought of what to even think about the government links. Though Mike soon did bring up a good point. "I kinda wonder why this subject was being seen as viable for export. Sure, she sounds extremely obedient, but... there has to be more to that, right?" In turn, Oreas would actually speak up and bring up a good point. "Well, it was mentined that she could motivate others, right? Maybe she's some sort of strategist, or uhhhh, she has some other mental ability?" Knowing that Andrei had worked on Feng, who's ability was controlling people in some horrific way, this did make some of your men quite concerned. How would this subject 'inspire' others, and who did the government want to 'inspire'?

Either way, there was one more subject you hadn't really brought up, that being Alexandra Wellesley. You saw Morgan starting to think, indicating she may know a bit about her. Still, you'd explain how Andrei was extremely pleased with 5-GH, and that Logan also helped out substantially with her creation. And once you explained how she was a hellhound, you saw Morgan's eyes widening. "Alexandr- Of course! How foolish of me! Now I remember!" Your men all seemed surprised, with Lydia quickly and excitedly asking: "Do you know her? Have you met her?" Unfortunately, Morgan shook her head, which was a bit of a disappointment. Though she did have more to say. "I never met her, but I know a decent amount about her from Illimani. She occasionally practiced in the combat section, playing wargames and practicing with all kinds of weaponry. I heard she was quite popular with guardsman and some combat subjects alike." Your men were quite intrigued, with Thaddeus asking: "So she's some sorta subject commander?" To this, Morgan nodded and spoke quite proudly. "Given how many folk supported her and trusted her, I can imagine her being a very effective force down here. She apparently valued the lives of her combatants quite a bit during wargames, so I imagine her being quite the just combatant."

>Just hand them the paper files so they could read up on it themselves. In the meantime, you could discuss some other things, or just head off to bed.
With that, you had told your men and the subjects all about Andrei's projects. Though you could tell they still wanted to hear more. So, you'd hand the paper files over to the person next to you, that being Lydia. You told your men they could read through it and see if there was anything of note still. Though as the papers were shared around, you stated that you were going to sleep. Your men didn't seem too surprised, but you could tell the subjects were a bit taken back. "But it's not even that late, I think..." Anofelis said softly, Chrys also seeming a bit taken back. "Are you okay, Mik?" You told them that you were fine, and that you just wanted to get some extra rest in before you'd go on guard duties after Morgan. Not to mention, that you wanted to wake up early so you could start early in the morning. "Oh, okay." Oreas responded, after which you'd get up and headed to the nearest tent.

>Wish everyone a good night and get some sleep in. You'd be waken up sooner or later, once Morgan finished up her turn as a guard. (Skips to the next day.)
>Wait, there is one final thing you have to do! (Write in if there's one final thing you want to do.)

(Hope this update tells you a bit more about Andrei's subjects. Or at the very least, gives you some different thoughts on them. Either way, the prompt here is a far simpler choice, rather than a couple of choices. Though if there's any little detail you still want to bring up, now is the time. Otherwise, I'll start the next side-story with the next update.)

(Other than that, lmk if there are any inconsistencies or errors you guys noticed.)

>>5995262
>Wish everyone a good night and get some sleep in. You'd be waken up sooner or later, once Morgan finished up her turn as a guard. (Skips to the next day.)

Nothing else really needs to be done or said I think. We got as much information on the subjects as we could I believe.

>>5995262
>Wish everyone a good night and get some sleep in. You'd be waken up sooner or later, once Morgan finished up her turn as a guard. (Skips to the next day.)
sleep time, tomorrow we kill queen.

>>5995262
>Wish everyone a good night and get some sleep in. You'd be waken up sooner or later, once Morgan finished up her turn as a guard. (Skips to the next day.)

Everyone's cooling on the Andrei hate train, I just want to bring this line back up:
>He also wanted to reduce her ‘sadistic’ tendencies and reduce her somewhat haughty personality. Given her potential future usage, I do not think these traits deserve to be removed.
Not sure what future uses he had in mind, but sadism being a benefit doesn't look good.

>>5995262
>Wish everyone a good night and get some sleep in. You'd be waken up sooner or later, once Morgan finished up her turn as a guard.
That should be all. Sleep while dreaming of regicide.

>>5995299
Oh, he's not a good guy and has a lot to answer for, he just seems to place on the outside of the event horizon of true evil. He appears to prioritise results to the detriment of the people involved without particular malice - deliberately making an evil subject as some form of sociopathic self-indulgence like some of the other big shots did doesn't seem like him based on the impression I get. I wonder what future uses he had in mind that he thought it would be "useful" for.

>>5995299
If she was meant to be a weapon meant to terrorise opposition on battlefields, I can understand it. It'd demolish enemies morale depending on how they did it.
There is a fine line before the degenercy of Erebus, and the weapon's manufacturing of Rorirama and Andrei.
At the very least I don't think even Rori slept with subjects like Erebus did.

>>5995537
Rori literally tortured his subjects, he's worse than Elbrus

>>5995537
Andrei 100% seems to be weapons focused with his subject designs, similarly to Roraima. I presume that the queen was meant to be either a combat subject or a warden of a forced labor camp or prison. Having your own soldiers mind controlled to fight against you, and being forced to put them down would be truly devastating for morale, as you stated. Meanwhile in a prison or labor camp it'd ensure order. After all, solitary confinement in your own body is probably worse than solitary confinement in a small concrete box.

>>5995564
Is rape really better than torture? I'd think they are both equally deserving of facing the wall, if not drawn and quartered.

>>5995572
Both of them are wanted alive by GalGov. If we catch one of them, there's going to be debate whether we actually hand them over or if they have a little accident in custody involving a clip's worth of shots to the back of the head. For all we know, GalGov wants to just recruit them again scot-free.

>Wish everyone a good night and get some sleep in. You'd be waken up sooner or later, once Morgan finished up her turn as a guard.
After you told everyone you were ready to sleep, you'd put your empty bowl to the side and got up. Though before heading for the nearest tent, you'd remind Morgan of how she could wake you up an hour after she started her guard duties. "I shall do such, Mikhail." She remarked, after which you turned to your men. Seeing them read through all the files, you'd remind them that Andrei was still someone who might be quite the bad guy. You'd point out how he trained two subjects to be crueller over being reasonable, which was an indicator he wasn't 100% a good guy. "Don't worry, Mik. We'll treat this guy as a baddie until we've found him and confirmed he's good." Mike remarked, to which some of your men nodded, others continuing to read up on the subject files.

With that settled, you'd wish your men a good night, reminding them to dream of regicide whilst they slept. This made some of your men chuckle, Arty casually saying: "Aye, gotta get prepared for that revolution." Afterwards, you'd head to your tent, you finding a sleeping bag which you quickly entered. You'd actually get a solid hour and a half of rest in, after which Morgan awoke you and you were able to go on guard. By then, everyone aside from Zaria had gone to sleep. She'd also act as guard, checking the other side of the hallway you were settled in. Nothing would happen fortunately, time passing by quick and you soon getting the next person to stand guard for the next hour. Though by then, you had already fallen into a pleasant and deep slumber...

>A little change of perspective... OB-6, Kiyohime Sakamoto.
How long had it been? You had been incredibly bored for the past few days of roaming the facility. Not to mention, being quite lonely and very thirsty. The last time you had had anything to drink had been when you ransacked that death squad outpost after you had beaten the living daylight out of 'em. The alcohol they had taken along wasn't the best you had ever tasted, but you certainly missed it now that you no longer had anything at all. Honestly, you'd kill to find some death squads right about now. Not just for the off-chance that they also smuggled some booze in, but because you also kind of missed the physical interaction with... anyone.

And sure, the death squad soldiers did on occasion get some good shots in on you which hurt you, hell you still had a pretty bad wound just above your thigh thanks to a shotgun shot. But at the very least, the fights you had with them were also just enjoyable and a great way to kill time. Not to mention, being able to interact with folk and actually talk, even if those talks just consisted of you mocking their pathetic attempts to kill you. You had been searching this place for some time now to find anything, though with little success so far unfortunately.

At least this place still had electricity and light, meaning you could easily see where you were. Hell, it also meant you could occasionally find a turret to have some fun with by pretending it was some sorta enemy you could beat the crap out of. Hopefully, Zephyr wouldn't mind the fact you were destroying the turrets, but that was something you couldn't really care about right now. Unfortunately, the place you were in right now had no turrets to destroy or things to explore. It was just a huge open space used for subjects to simulate real life combat situation. You were heading up north, after having heard that there were folk trying to enter the combat sector from there. Not to mention, being able to head over to the freezer sector which had to have SOME kind of alcohol in there for you to enjoy.

And after traversing the decently lit up faux battlefield, you'd finally see the exit to this huge space in the distance. At long last, you could head northwards and find some folk to beat the crap out o- hang on, what was that? You'd squint your eyes, before noticing something odd. There were these large metal structures surrounding the exit. They didn't look like any of the mock fortifications which the facility staff used in this place. It looked far more modern, sleek and recently set-up. You quickly remembered seeing something different before, at which point you realised what it was. It was one of those death squad forward operating bases! One of those places which had ten or so death squad soldiers watching for any and all threats which came their way. And given our previous encounters with such bases, you also knew there was a likely chance they'd have some booze for you to nick! And if not, maybe they had some alcohol in their medical kits which you could take. It wouldn't be good tasting at all, but at least it'd help with your irritating injuries.

>What do you do?

Suggestions/options
>Charge those morons! What the hell were they going to do?! Shoot you with those lousy toys of 'em?!
>Maybe it was better to just sneak over. Yeah, you could beat the ever living shit out of them probably, but given your injury, it was maybe better to just sneak in and pull a surprise ambush. (Write in how you'll ambush them.)
>Given your previous encounters with these forward operating bases, you probably could just waltz over and ask them for some alcohol. Your size, resilience and strength was probably enough to make them piss their pants and just hand over some booze. (Write in how you'll approach them and if you'll say anything specific.)
>Something else...

(Let's have some fun lads. Also, in case you're curious, Kiyohime is in the government sheets. So, feel free to use that for reference in regards to your abilities and strength. Maybe, just maybe, I'll also post the pic of hers later, if you guys really want that.)

>>5995597
>Maybe it was better to just sneak over. Yeah, you could beat the ever living shit out of them probably, but given your injury, it was maybe better to just sneak in and pull a surprise ambush.
Throw some shit at the wall, then scoot. Then come back and do it again. Then bash 'em when they come out looking for whoever's playing ding-dong-ditch! Brutally cunning. Or was it cunningly brutal?

>>5995597
>Given your previous encounters with these forward operating bases, you probably could just waltz over and ask them for some alcohol. Try and not be noticed until you are close if possible before politely but firmly asking. Your size, resilience and strength was probably enough to make them piss their pants and just hand over some booze, and if they did try fighting you easily could deal with their weaponry, or them.

I think this could be really funny. Besides, maybe we can have a side story that isn't all about a subject completely destroying a deathsquad and instead be one of a subject forcing them to break contract and interact with her outside of violence.

>>5995614
OB-6 from the description isn't an ork, but an oni. The red skin, horns, fondness for alcohol and Japanese name give it away.

>>5995621
I know she's not an ork, it's just amusing to me.

>>5995597
>Charge those morons! What the hell were they going to do?! Shoot you with those lousy toys of 'em?!
Party hard!

>>5995597
>>Charge those morons! What the hell were they going to do?! Shoot you with those lousy toys of 'em?!
Just lose it lmao.

>>5995597
>Maybe it was better to just sneak over. Yeah, you could beat the ever living shit out of them probably, but given your injury, it was maybe better to just sneak in and pull a surprise ambush. (Write in how you'll ambush them.)
Supporting the ding dong ditch idea from this >>5995614 anon,
It sounds hilarious

>>5995564
Who did he torture again?
can't really remember off the top of my head.
>>5995578
Yeah, im sure erebus is KoS. I think if we hand over one of the big scientist heads other then him first, they'd be less sus of us for letting the big paycheck escape.

>>5995597
>Charge those morons! What the hell were they going to do?! Shoot you with those lousy toys of 'em?!

>>5995621
I mean given a shotgun blast caused an injury, we shouldn't be too ballsy. We are strong, not immortal.

>>5996069
>Who did he torture
That’s like asking who did Elbrus rape
From what we heard earlier he used it as a tool to compel obedience

>>5996091
I mean he didn't torture the rabbit no?
also fair enough.

>Charge those morons! What the hell were they going to do?! Shoot you with those lousy toys of 'em?!
Seeing their pathetic little base in the distance, you would quickly think about what to do. Though after a short moment, you decided that you didn't really need a plan. How on earth would those dummies be able to take you down anyway? You had passed plenty of those fortifications before, and none of them were able to stop you. Well, they did occasionally hit you with a good shot, but that hadn't stopped you before! Thus, you'd start approaching right away. You didn't try and hide behind any cover or keep low. Hell, you didn't care if your whole 8 feet of height was visible from miles away, you'd start rushing them as fast as you could!

Granted, you weren't the fastest oni out there, but you could still go pretty fast! And as you got closer and closer to the fortifications, you started hearing gunfire flying past you. You didn't care though. You had heard the sound many times before, and had tanked plenty of it. And indeed, you felt several bullets just hitting you and bouncing off your skin. You did get hit in the head a few times, but all the gunfire which hit you only resulted in a scrape against your cheek which made you mroe upset than it did scared. Those bastards really had the guts to try and fight back, huh? Well, you were about to show them what you were capable of!

You'd get your Kanabo ready as you reached the first defensive layer of the fortified area. You'd also pass some wooden fortifications which the facility staff had placed, and you decided that you might as well have some fun by throwing things back at the idiotic soldiers. Thus, you'd rip a log of wood from the fortification as you kept walking forward, before throwing it over to the nearest guard post. You'd throw with all the power you had, the huge log twirling in the air before crashing into the nearest post.

The log of wood slammed into the metal outpost, the sheer force causing a bunch of dust to be kicked up whilst also heavily damaging the metal outpost. You'd quickly see two panicked soldiers running out of the outpost, as more and more fire was aimed in your direction. "Keep firing at that monster! Keep firing!" One of the soldiers said in the distance, as you would soon see something flying in your direction. It was some sort of arching projectile, which landed a short distance away from you, before causing a pretty substantial explosive. And soon, you saw another projectile coming your way and blowing up a nearby wooden outpost set up by the guardsmen. Clearly these guys had some bigger guns than the previous idiots you had encountered. Though even then, the guns they had were nothing to worry about for you really. You had already shown them that you could tank their bullets.

File: The Oni Offensive.png (88 KB, 1869x811)

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Regardless, you still had some ground to traverse before you were able to reach the enemy. You saw barbed wire surrounding some of the structures, which could be quite the nuisance to traverse. Not to mention, the guard towers in the distance which seemed to protect the path you wanted to take. Perhaps you could throw more crap at them to get them to stop? Or just keep rushing inwards and destroying each of their pathetic structures?

>What do you do next?

>Yell something at them. Intimidate them with your voice and let them know you weren't to be messed with. (Write in what you'll yell at them.)
>Keep the fun going and keep running towards them. You could smash their bases into rubble with ease, or maybe take a specific path. (Write in how you'll move forward.)
>You may have never played baseball before, but swinging your Kanabo at whatever projectiles they shot your way would be pretty funny. It wouldn't be that difficult, right?
>Keep throwing crap at them. Their dumb little outposts were no match for you throwing literal logs at them as if it was nothing!
>Something else...

(Relatively short update. But, what is there to be said really? You destroyed some shit, and they're pissing their pants. Besides, I got a nice little map of the battlefield to help you orient yourselves. As always, it's not exactly to scale. And if there are any details you'd like to ask about, do let me know.)

(Also, I may write out what Kiyohime says, if you guys opt to have her say something. Just for further context to how she talks and what not. But if you wanna add details to the text, you're free to do so.)

>>5996267
>You may have never played baseball before, but swinging your Kanabo at whatever projectiles they shot your way would be pretty funny. It wouldn't be that difficult, right?
lmao, aim for the guard towers

Also barbed wire gives us trouble? I'd have thought we'd be tough and strong enough to just walk through it.

>>5996267
>>You may have never played baseball before, but swinging your Kanabo at whatever projectiles they shot your way would be pretty funny. It wouldn't be that difficult, right?

>>5996318
It might not get us hurt buy it could get us stuck or make us trip or hurt or it could hit in our wound above the tights.

>>5996318
>>5996325
Supporting. Baseball is a Japanese favorite so this is sure to end well.

>>5996325
I see
I was worried there was some futuristic manufacturing technique that made it like anime thread weapons.

>>5996267
>Keep the fun going and keep running towards them. You could smash their bases into rubble with ease, or maybe take a specific path. (Write in how you'll move forward.)
>>5996318
That's why I said, we are tough but not immortal/invincible. We can still die as a subject.

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>You may have never played baseball before, but swinging your Kanabo at whatever projectiles they shot your way would be pretty funny. It wouldn't be that difficult, right?
Seeing the space you had to traverse and knowing you were continuing to get shot at anyway, you decided you might as well go for maximum intimidation. And what was more intimidating than hitting one of those projectiles back at those idiots and blowing them up? You'd thus step forward, before challenging the idiots a bit further. "Come on, throw another one of those things! I bet you it will do fuck-all!" You'd yell over at the soldiers, hoping they'd take the bait. And honestly, you didn't even need to yell at them to get them to aim at you. More gunshots came your way, you not caring as you waited for the right moment. And soon, you saw a small ovoid-shaped object flying your way. Seeing it fly right towards your direction, you prepared your Kanabo. And just as it was about to land beside you, you swung as hard as you could!

Your swing would manage to strike the grenade. You put tremendous force into the hit, only to realise that... oh fuck, you screwed up. The angle with which you hit the grenade and the fact you hit it mostly with the bottom of your club would result in it going straight down and forward. And it soon would land a few meters away from you. It was far closer than the previous projectile, so you immediately would try and dodge the blast. Unfortunately, you weren't a speed demon, and the moment you tried dashing away, it exploded. The explosion was extraordinarily loud. And despite your size and weight, it still knocked you backwards into a nearby dune. You felt several projectiles flying right into you, causing quite some pain as one unfortunately struck you straight into your wound. However, the others mostly bounced off of you with minimal hurt. Still, you'd soon find yourself lying on the floor, hearing nothing aside from a loud beep.

Once you got up, you groaned in pain a little, before looking around and seeing a bit of smoke and fire right in front of you. The gunfire at least stopped, as you'd quickly manage to get on your feet. You were definitely hurt by this blast, albeit the fact the pain wasn't the worst you had felt in your life was proof enough that you could probably take more of this. Obviously, it wasn't preferable to take these blasts from up close again, but you definitely weren't going to be taken out by some obnoxious explosion. One thing was for sure though, you were more pissed than ever. These bastards had guts for challenging you and thinking they could take you down, especially on your own turf! You'd soon hear the bastards yelling things, as the beeping in your ear started to quickly fade. "Hold your fire! Only do so if you see movement from behind there!" One of the soldiers yelled. Given that they couldn't see you, you did have some advantage. However, you could also not see them right now, which was quite the issue.

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For all you knew, those bastards were about to throw another one of those explosives at you, or something even worse! That, or they really were just going to wait and see what you did next before trying anything. Hopefully it was the latter, as it could give you some time to think about what to do. Hell, maybe you could even wait for them to come to you, giving you a chance to fight back instantly. Though obviously, you weren't going to be a pussy and pretend you were injured to them so they'd get close. Nah, if they were to approach you, you were going to show them what a proper combat subject was capable of!

>What do you do next?

>Wait for them to try and come close to you. At which point, you'll rush the moron who dared to get close to you and break his kneecaps. And maybe afterwards break the skulls of whatever dumbasses got close to you.
>Get back to rushing the idiots and destroying all their useless fortifications. Maybe avoid the barbed wire, since it could also maybe have electricity running through it. Whatever was closest though would be your next target!
>Set up some sorta plan of action. Maybe think of a proper strategy for your offense, rather than just blindly running in. Tengri did say that sometimes it was better to use brain over brawn, after all... (Write in an attack plan.)
>Yell "Is that all you useless fucks got?!" At them, or something along those lines. It would probably terrify them to see you survive such a blast. That, or it'd piss them off more. Though that would also be beneficial in some way as it could cause them to make mistakes. (Write in what you'll yell.)
>Something else...

(Look at me. I'm the artist now.)

(I decided to make this quick fun doodle based on this interaction. And yeah, that also means revealing what Kiyohime looks like. I might as well at this point, right? Obviously, the quick paint doodle is nowhere near as detailed as the original pic for her, but I still am proud how it turned out.)

(Also, before you ask, I drew the paint art before rolling the dice. Call me a fool for not planning ahead far enough to see you royally fucking up with the baseball play. Also, I might just make a sequel picture because of this kinda funny failure.)

(Also, on an semi-related note, drawanon, where are you. I need more of your funny images.)

>>5996563
>Get back to rushing the idiots and destroying all their useless fortifications. Maybe avoid the barbed wire, since it could also maybe have electricity running through it. Whatever was closest though would be your next target!

Draw anon is dead op, and you have killed him.

>>5996563
Nice art!

>Set up some sorta plan of action. Maybe think of a proper strategy for your offense, rather than just blindly running in. Tengri did say that sometimes it was better to use brain over brawn, after all... (Write in an attack plan.)
If we're no good as a batter, we can try out our pitching skills. We had a destroyed fortification near us, throw chunks of that at towers/through the barbed wire to clear a direct path.

>>5996563
You are the art anon now, QM. You need to make your own height chart now for all our waifu's and more memes and funny pictures with them.

>>5996644
Supporting.

>Set up some sorta plan of action. Maybe think of a proper strategy for your offense, rather than just blindly running in. Tengri did say that sometimes it was better to use brain over brawn, after all...
After having experienced a blast which knocked you to the ground, you realised you had somewhat failed your forefathers. But, you hadn't lost the battle yet. Far from it even! You were going to beat these bastards up and hopefully take whatever alcohol they had on 'em! Though, batting wasn't really something you were good at all. Fortunately, you had already proven to be a perfect pitcher, as you looked back at the fortification you had already broken apart. You'd grab another chunk from it, ripping it out of the ground before throwing it through the smokescreen their explosion had created. You wanted to destroy the two main guard towers or the first line of defence. Either were good in your mind. You'd swing it up in the air, before you saw it disappear in the smoke, aiming it at where you recalled the towers being. You heard more yells, followed by gunfire which went your direction. Most of the bullets missed you by quite a bit though, and the two shots which did hit you only really bounced off of you. In fact, you'd feel a bullet hit you in the face, which felt more like a gentle slap than anything, which only ticked you off further.

Thus, you kept throwing more bits of the destroyed fortification, aiming to throw as many of the large wood logs forward. Though you also tried to look past the smoke screen. Not just because you wanted to get a good visual of your targets, but also because you felt that hiding behind smoke was kind of a cowardly move. Standing out in the open was going to scare them far more! Obviously, it also meant the gunfire kept going, though you hardly cared as you threw more and more. Thankfully, the lack of smoke made it far easier for you to throw things. You heard more yells, some fearful and panicked, others commanding and confident.

And soon, you managed to land a few solid hits. The fourth fortified position was hit by a pretty large chunk of wood, you hearing a male voice panicking as you saw a soldier running away. You kept throwing though, aiming at some of the barbed wire in the hope of creating something of a path for yourself. And fortunately, one chunk of wood managed to pin down a bit of the wire, giving you an easy stepping board to move past the first line of defence. Of course, you were far from done throwing crap at them! You'd keep throwing bits of the structure until it was gone! And whilst a couple of your next throw didn't do much aside from kicking up sand, you did get one great hit in, throwing a log like a spear at one of the main watch towers. You'd get a direct hit in, you watching the metal support poles of the structure bending as the tower started slanting. The soldiers inside quickly jumped out in fear, as you were starting to turn the tide of battle.

Obviously, you weren't sure how many of the lousy soldiers there were, or how many you had injured. You maybe had hit one? Maybe two? You did destroy two positions, which could've held men inside them for all you knew. Regardless, you'd keep throwing things at them whilst easily tanking damage. Honestly, this was becoming quite fun! Though you did soon hear another blast near you, as it seemed whoever was throwing grenades had decided to make a comeback. Worse, you noticed that there really wasn't much left to throw from the fortifications. Most of it had already been thrown! But hey, no matter, there were still a dozen other wooden structures nearby you could rip apart and keep throwing! Hell, you probably were going to cover their little forward operating base with wooden scraps at this rate! Maybe they'd get it through their thick skulls soon that you weren't going to be taken down by their measly guns.

>What do you do next?

>Keep throwing chunks of nearby fortifications at them. What were they going to do, shoot you?! (Write in what you'll try to aim at.)
>Given that they were once again throwing explosives your way, try to make your forefathers proud again. It'd especially be fun if you could hit the second watch tower with it! (Write in what you'll try to aim at.)
>Yell at the idiots to stop shooting you. Their guns were ineffective and they were wasting ammo on you. Maybe you could just tell them you're here for a beer or something. (Write in what you'll yell at them.)
>Try and cross past the first line of defence and just smack the shit out of them. They'd probably no longer be able to use explosives in close range, so what else were they going to do to stop you?
>Something else...

(Oh god, I opened pandora's box by drawing the last work, haven't I? I am not sure if could ever continue drawanon's work with the height chart. I don't wanna touch his work, given how well he has done. Idk. Suppose I'll wait to see when he reappears and see what he thinks then.)

>>5997421
>Try and cross past the first line of defence and just smack the shit out of them. They'd probably no longer be able to use explosives in close range, so what else were they going to do to stop you?

>>5997421
The box you opened it, we came! Also, I didn't mean you using his height chart, I meant making your own version.

>Yell at the idiots to stop shooting you. Their guns were ineffective and they were wasting ammo on you. Maybe you could just tell them you're here for a beer or something. (Write in what you'll yell at them.)

And if they don't surrender and keep trying to fight back.

>Try and cross past the first line of defence and just smack the shit out of them. They'd probably no longer be able to use explosives in close range, so what else were they going to do to stop you?

>>5997421
I can back >>5997480

Gonna wait with the next update till tomorrow. It's kinda late rn and I also maybe wanna wait for some more responses. Hope you guys don't mind the small break for today.

>>5997654
no problemo

>>5997480
supportan. Look chaps, you're absolutely unloading at us and you are not doing shit except getting beaten up and your base trashed. Gib booze and you only get a few extra bruises instead of a lot. Or we can do it the hard way.

>if(soldiers == !stupid) {
>return beer;
>}
>else {
>return violence;
>}

Any guesses on who these fine gentlemen (and maybe ladies) are? Fairly lightly armed but not too so, definitely not hardasses, seems to have good support kit. Lodger perhaps? Also, earlier there was mention of a "Zephyr". Staff member? Turret manufacturing company? Internal organisation?

Kiyo sounds like she'd be fun to have around in the same way as Morgan - useful, aggravating and entertaining in equal measure. Don't think we have any ethanol-based substances on us though.

>>5997742
>if(soldiers == !stupid) {
>return beer;
>}
>else {
>return violence;
>}
bad pseudocode, would not hire

> Also, earlier there was mention of a "Zephyr".
I figured this was another subject, perhaps one like Annie with a knack for technology

>Don't think we have any ethanol-based substances on us though.
I remember a while ago at least one member of the squad was proficient in very makeshift brewing and had everything needed to produce some ultra low quality booze.

File: 1715150951951387.png (218 KB, 2000x2000)

218 KB PNG

GUYS ANO GOT DRAWN BY INDONESIAN GENTLEMAN IN THE WAIFU TOURNAMENT

>Yell at the idiots to stop shooting you. Their guns were ineffective and they were wasting ammo on you. Maybe you could just tell them you're here for a beer or something.
With these bastards still continuing to shoot at you, you decided to make your frustrations known loud and clear. "Aight, dumbasses, when are you gonna stop firing at me?!" You said sternly, before scoffing and speaking in a more amused yet still derisive tone. "You morons have done nothing except getting your asses handed to you! Your base has been trashed and your bullets have done fuck all to defeat me! If you idiots have any brains in your skulls, you'd stop firing at me and maybe help me out instead!" You'd pause, as the gunfire did seem to decrease a little bit. Though it still kept going from a few directions, you ignoring it as you really weren't afraid of them. "I just want some booze and nothing else! So, either you can do this easily and accept your bruises and give me something good to drink, or I can beat the crap out of you and take it by force!"

You hoped that the idiots would make the smart choice and stop firing. And for a moment, it seemed like things had calmed down. Only for you to watch another explosive being hurled your way, it landing a short distance away. You felt the blast blowing your hair to the side, the heat of the explosion not doing much to you either. Right away after, the gunfire would continue, you feeling more bullets hitting you in the chest, head and shoulders. You groaned, realising that these dumbasses weren't going to listen to your reasoning. And because of that, you had no other choice but to take drastic measures.

>Try and cross past the first line of defence and just smack the shit out of them. They'd probably no longer be able to use explosives in close range, so what else were they going to do to stop you?
You'd grab your Kanabo, before walking forward towards the first line of metal fortifications. You'd casually cross over the log which you had thrown onto the barbed wire. And with that, you were in the thick of the fight. "Subject has breached the first line! Everyone pull back!" You heard one man yell, as more gunfire came from all directions. You'd try and head west where there were two soldiers shooting at you, grabbing your Kanabo and getting ready to smack the idiots over their head. Though they swiftly lowered their guns before running away as you approached them. Though there was still one soldier behind you, one who approached you and tried to shoot you in the back.

You'd quickly turn around and tried to swing at him, only for him to duck to the ground as you heard the soldiers to your side screaming. "JONAH!" There was more gunfire in your side, but you didn't care. You'd swing your Kanabo at the guy, him rolling to the side just in time. Though his gun was quickly crushed by the smash. The guy quickly tried running away, as you saw more and more men getting behind the second layer of cover.

The good news was that you had gotten through the first line of defence with little issue. Better yet, these bastards were continuing to waste ammo on you! In fact, you realised that the gunfire was decreasing. The idiots were running out of ammo! Though, they probably had more ammo lying in the back, which probably meant you had to hurry up again. At least they couldn't throw anymore explosives at you. Regardless, the 9 or so soldiers were now all behind the next line of defence, some lying on their stomachs behind the barbed wire, whilst the others remained in the steel fortifications. You at least had another wooden fortification next to you now which you could hide behind... If you were a coward! To you, the wooden structure was just more ammo for you to throw at the nearby fortifications. And given the far shorter distance between you and the next line of defence, it'd be really easy to hit anyone.

Then again, just rushing forward and destroying the metal fortifications with your Kanabo was just as easy.

>What do you do next?

>Once again yell at them to stop being stupid. If they don't give you beer now, they were going to get their heads caved in by your Kanabo. (Write in what you'd yell at them...)
>Throw more crap at them. Their guns were not doing anything still, and you now had more ammo to throw at them. Hell, maybe you could throw their dinky metal fortifications back at them! (Write in what you'll throw at them and where you'll aim at.)
>Just hit the nearest of their dinky metal fortifications with your Kanabo. At this point, you were pissed off by their insistence to keep shooting.
>Just try and head forward. Maybe you could already reach some of their supplies and see if they had some alcohol with them?
>Something else...

(Not exactly the biggest and most exciting of updates. But at this point, it's becoming clear you're kinda just unable to be shot down. Maybe you guys can do something silly to showcase your strength.)

(Also, Ano art by Indonesian Gentleman is fantastic. Definitely gotta try and see if I can get some fun art in later for the waifu tournament.)

>>5998548
>>Throw more crap at them. Their guns were not doing anything still, and you now had more ammo to throw at them. Hell, maybe you could throw their dinky metal fortifications back at them! (Write in what you'll throw at them and where you'll aim at.)
Throw crap so we either knock em down or place enough crap that we can just use em to jump over.

>>5998548
>Just hit the nearest of their dinky metal fortifications with your Kanabo. At this point, you were pissed off by their insistence to keep shooting.

After

>Just try and head forward. Maybe you could already reach some of their supplies and see if they had some alcohol with them?

Second layer has no barbwire. Third does. This shows our strength and after we can maybe try and get these morons to give up.

>>5998650
These aren't wounded scientists and guards. These are death squads. The best kind of giving up we will get from them is a retreat.
That or we pin them down to the ground and they literally have no other choice, but then we can't grab alcohol.

>>5998548
>Just hit the nearest of their dinky metal fortifications with your Kanabo. At this point, you were pissed off by their insistence to keep shooting.
Grenades may be tough to hit, but a stationary building....our ancestors will cry if we manage to mess this up

>>5998663
Maybe they're one of the non psycho squads

>>5998669
With the lack of extremely high power weaponry, I doubt it is heroes. With the lack of flame throwers, shot guns, and close in weaponry and instead normal rifles and the like, I doubt it's diamond dogs. There's also a lack of flashbangs or stun grenades, with only normal one's being chucked at us implying that it isn't Heathen's. This leaves Blackstar and Lodger. Both of which are reasonable enough. Even if they were from Heathen they probably would be reasonable as well. If we can get a look to determine if they have power armor of some kind, we can either confirm or cross Blackstar off the list. At this moment in time, I'm inclined to believe it's a squad from Lodger, especially when setting up FOB's and logistics is their MO and they are the most numerous.

>>5998766
It is true that Lodger sent as many as every other group combined, so any merc we see without any other context has 50% chance of Lodger membership, give or take a bit after the casualties that have occurred.

>Just hit the nearest of their dinky metal fortifications with your Kanabo. At this point, you were pissed off by their insistence to keep shooting.
At this point, these bastards were just too annoying for you to deal with the previous way. Throwing random crap at them was too simple and random. So instead, you got your Kanabo and approached the nearest fortification. It wasn't going to move out of the way of your swing, and it most definitely wasn't going to avoid being crushed into oblivion! You swung furiously, your kanabo striking the metal structure as you easily dented the thing and made it crumple up partially. You saw one soldier retreating from the damaged structure, though a bit more gunfire came from the thing, so you decided to just cave it in from above. You swung down onto the roof, which easily caved in from the force. "SHIT, MAN DOWN!" You heard, as the poor mook who had stayed inside had seemingly been struck as well. You didn't care if he was dead or if your hit had just knocked him unconscious, you were done with this first little fortification and were ready to go further forward.

Though surprisingly, despite the fact you definitely had knocked out at least one person, the enemy forces were still continuing to fight back! If there was one thing you could say for sure, it was that these bastards had spirit and willpower! They didn't back down from a fight, or fled despite being outmatched! Too bad they didn't have the brains to just do as you told them and hand you some bloody alcohol. Hell, if they didn't have any alcohol, they could've maybe yelled that to you so you knew to just move forward without issue. Then again, none of these guys ever listened to you. It was to be expected, given that they were there to hunt your kind, but at least a bit of common decency would do, right?!

>Just try and head forward. Maybe you could already reach some of their supplies and see if they had some alcohol with them?
Speaking of which, you opted not to destroy the other metal fortifications. Not just because you didn't feel like walking to the nearby ones, but also because you felt it wasn't necessary. The soldiers inside the nearest fortifications were already heading backwards to some of the other spots. More importantly, there weren't any barbed wires for this layer of defence, meaning you could just easily waltz forward. All you had to do was smack some metal sheets and sandbags to the side, something which was easily doable. And thus, you'd rush forward with your Kanabo, before smacking the nearest wall of sandbags. Dust and metal flew all over the place, as the soldiers kept on firing. By now, they were back to their previous fire-rate, meaning they had gotten some more ammo for themselves. Not that it'd help them, really. You still were waltzing forward, reaching the final defensive line. Most of the soldiers had already fled behind this large wall of actual metal and concrete, you being shot at from above.

>Throw more crap at them. Their guns were not doing anything still, and you now had more ammo to throw at them. Hell, maybe you could throw their dinky metal fortifications back at them!
You'd look around, before grabbing a bit of the metal fortification you had just smacked into pieces. You'd rip a huge chunk from the structure with both hands, before throwing it at the guard tower which was still occupied. By now, you could hear yells from behind the main line of defence from some of the soldiers. "We have to retreat!" "No, we can't! She'll just keep going after us!" "Prepare the explosives! We can maybe block off the exit!" Of course, there were still plenty of soldiers who, from the sound of things, were still eager to keep on fighting. Though by now, the few folk who were still shooting at you were more-so doing it out of fear and the fact they had to do their job. Though as you kept throwing more at the last watch tower and bits of fortifications, it wouldn't take long for you to finally get some sense in them.

"STOP! WE'LL STOP SHOOTING IF YOU STOP ATTACKING US! WE'LL PROVIDE YOU WITH WHAT IT IS YOU WANT, OKAY?!" One of the soldiers yelled, the gunfire continuing for a few more seconds before stopping. "WE'VE GOT BEER, ALRIGHT?! JUST PROMISE US YOU'LL STOP FIGHTING AND HEAD THE OTHER WAY!" What?! Heading the other way?! As if! You came from there and knew there was nothing of interest back there. More importantly, you wanted to head north to the freezer section for the delicious beer they had stored over there! You weren't just going to waste time by going somewhere else. Besides, how likely was it that these bastards had beer even? Hell, if they handed you something now, chances were it'd be a poison or something! These soldiers had thrown everything at you, so they probably were sly enough to try a trick like that. Not that it'd matter much, cause you were resilient to poisons, but it was about the principle here. Maybe just bashing through their fortifications and heading forward was the better option. You could show them who really was the strong one here!

>What do you do next?

>Accept their truce and ask them to hand over the booze. Maybe give it a taste to see if it was actually good or if it was crap or laced with poison. And if it was good, you could discuss how you wanted to head forward.
>Keep smacking at their fortifications. The bastards probably knew you were not going to be stopped now anyway, so what were they going to do against you now?! Besides, you wanted to head north, so you were going to go north!
>Ask them why you couldn't head forward through here. What were they hiding behind these pathetic fortifications?
>Offer to have a little chat, maybe whilst sharing drinks together and getting to know each other. (Write in what you wanna chat about.)
>Something else...

>>5998852
>Accept their truce and ask them to hand over the booze. Maybe give it a taste to see if it was actually good or if it was crap or laced with poison. And if it was good, you could discuss how you wanted to head forward.
Better idea, have them drink some first

>Ask them why you couldn't head forward through here. What were they hiding behind these pathetic fortifications?

>>5998852
>Accept their truce and ask them to hand over the booze. Maybe give it a taste to see if it was actually good or if it was crap or laced with poison. And if it was good, you could discuss how you wanted to head forward.

If they hide booze we are coming over

>>5998858
Supporting. Why not hold a party to celebrate our little victory? Now we can force them to break contract and interact with us.

>>5998852
>>Accept their truce and ask them to hand over the booze. Maybe give it a taste to see if it was actually good or if it was crap or laced with poison. And if it was good, you could discuss how you wanted to head forward.

>Accept their truce and ask them to hand over the booze. Maybe give it a taste to see if it was actually good or if it was crap or laced with poison. And if it was good, you could discuss how you wanted to head forward.
Once the soldiers stopped firing at you and stated that they'd give you the beer they had, you'd think about it for a short moment. On the one hand, it could be a trick, or poison. On the other hand, they knew they couldn't beat you and probably wouldn't try to trick you, right? With that in mind, you'd speak more boisterously, accepting their offer and even suggesting you'd gladly celebrate with them. "C-Celebrate?!" One of the soldiers said, before you broke open the large metal door which lead to the hallway you wanted to take. "STOP BASHING THINGS! We'll open the bloody door for you!" One soldier said, at which point you already were able to just grab the broken and bent metal door, before throwing it to the side with little issue. You'd move forward, soon finding yourself surrounded by 9 soldiers, all of them keeping their guns raised at you. You told them to calm down and that they had already admitted defeat and that you weren't going to hurt them. Unless if they annoyed you further, which this definitely was doing.

Regardless, you'd look around and found that there were quite a few numbers of structures which had been set up. There were some small tents in the distance, which lined the walls of the hallway. There was a small section which looked to be a kitchen, with all kinds of compact cooking appliances, boxes with food and even some coolers. Furthermore, there was a decently sized arms depot to your right, though given the empty boxes of ammunition which lied about, you got a feeling you had drained them of quite a number of supplies. You'd look around a bit further, trying to see if they had anything which could be used to harm you. Though aside from some explosive weaponry, they had nothing to really work with.

With that in mind, you'd ask them where the booze was, as one of the soldiers would approach with a bottle. He'd approach carefully, shivering before raising it up for you to grab. "Ummm, h-hope you like it..." He mumbled, after which you grabbed the bottle and looked at it. However, you'd smirk before telling him to take a sip first. The soldiers all seemed surprised, the guy who handed the bottle over to you looking at the others before sighing. He'd take a sip of the stuff, swallowing it clearly before letting out a sigh. "I-It's safe... d-don't worry." With the guy seeming just fine, you decided to take a sip. If it was somehow poisonous to you, you'd probably taste it. And even then, you'd probably not even be affected by the stuff. Thus, you sipped down the stuff, it tasting... okay. It wasn't ice cold or too warm, though the taste was pretty mild and a little bland. At least it was proper alcohol, and not some random drink masquerading as booze. And hey, it wasn't poisonous!

With that, you'd start chugging down the drink before throwing the bottle to the side. You'd tell them you were satisfied, but definitely could have more. And with that, you'd take a seat on the floor, crossing your legs in a lotus pose before telling them you wanted to have a feast for both you and the others! The soldiers became more and more confused, though one female soldier was quick to speak up. "Fuck it, sure. You can help us figure out more about this place." This was met with a more upset tone from one of the others. "Stella, w-we can't just let her stay with us! We'll probably get kicked off planet for doing this... or worse!" Stella scoffed and took off her helmet, allowing you to see her short red hair and rather sweet face. "We're already going to get punished for talking with her in the first place. Might as well just make the best out of this and co-operate. Besides, I got a feeling she isn't going to cause us further harm." You would boisterously remark. "You bet I won't!" In turn, some of the other soldiers would put their weapons down and also approach.

"This is... very odd." One of them responded, another speaking more curiously. "Hey, at least we're no longer wasting ammo." Though some of the soldiers still seemed a bit upset and distrusting. "Say, you do know you knocked out one of our men, right?! You going to apologise for that?!" One responded, to which you shrugged and said they shot you first. The soldiers clearly did not have any way to retort, as another soon brought you another bottle of beer. Though he soon also took of his helmet, revealing a brown-haired and rather pale looking guy. "Never thought I'd drink together with a genetically modified oni gal. But, here we are. Just try not to drink too much. It's a pain in the ass to get this stuff on planet, even with the help of Lodger!" One of the more upset soldiers would soon after mumble in turn. "Yeah, because that is what we have to worry about here, Dennis. Losing some of our illegal drinks. Not the fact she's interacting with us... and probably is going to move further ahead now!"

>Ask them why you couldn't head forward through here. What were they hiding behind these pathetic fortifications?
The mention of the pathway forward did make you curious. You wanted to know why the hell you weren't allowed to go forward, to which Dennis responded casually. "Containment. They don't want any subjects travelling around places they've secured. And yeah, if you head up north, you'll find a few more sections which we have taken under control." Given that you wanted to head north for more booze, you asked if the frozen section was also blocked off, which made Dennis scoff. "Naaah, that section is too tough to reach, let alone set up a base at this point. Lotsa traffic and combat going on around there. Plenty of folk dying too. Maybe you'd survive there though!" After Dennis spoke, you saw some of the soldiers who hated your guts starting to mumble to themselves...

Regardless, Stella soon also got beside you, also having a bottle of beer which she drank from. "So, uhhh, what's your name anyway? And what are you doing down here? You know anything about what caused this gigantic mess? And uhhh, what do you know about Roraima?" She was quite eager to learn all about this place from you. Of course, some details weren't exactly easy to answer. You had no clue what caused everything to blow up, aside from the fact that a subject had escaped. You also knew little about Roraima except for the fact he was generally a bit of a sadistic asshole. But at least you were quite happy to tell more about yourself and what you were doing down here: looking for booze and beating up any moron who dared oppose you!

>What do you do next?

>Answer their questions. You could probably tell them some funny lies to fuck with them, or you could be honest with them and explain what you knew. (Write in how you’ll answer.)
>Ask them some questions, now that they were actually being somewhat hospitable to you. Maybe you had something on your mind they could tell you? (Write in what you’ll ask them.)
>Tell the sceptics in the group to stop being secretive little twats and join in on the fun. What were they even mumbling about anyway!? (Write in what you'll yell at them.)
>Introduce yourself a little. Maybe afterwards, they'd be inclined to also introduce themselves so you could learn more about them. (Write in how you'll introduce yourself.)
>Something else…

>>5999564
>Introduce yourself a little. Maybe afterwards, they'd be inclined to also introduce themselves so you could learn more about them. (Write in how you'll introduce yourself.)

"First, I want to properly introduce myself. I'm Kiyohime Sakamoto. You probably only got my code name, OB-06 though, if even that. As you might have guessed I have a bit of a temper at times. This place is painfully boring now, and there's hardly any alcohol, so it's done absolute wonders for my temper let me tell ya. If you know anything about red oni compared to blue ones you should get a rough idea of how I am like. Hope that guy I clobbered is mostly fine, by the way."

>After they introduce themselves a bit, answer their questions. You could probably tell them some funny lies to fuck with them, or you could be honest with them and explain what you knew. (Write in how you’ll answer.)

"I hope ya know Roraima isn't my creator, right? He's a bastard, but I've fortunately not had to deal with his bad side too much despite being made for fighting, or much at all really. Probably 'cause his boss was my creator and was wise enough to not let us near each other. I'd probably strangle him if he tried anything half as bad I've heard he's done. As for this mess, tried to help stop it with Tengri and some other subjects. Don't know too much of the details as to who caused it but someone big making a mess of the place was at least indirectly responsible, unless they were a massive ticking timebomb. There's no way they did it on their own. As for what I'm doing down here? Nothing much, unfortunately. Not till I spotted you guys anyway. Mostly just lookin for things to do, like fighting any bozo who tried attacking me. Also booze, which is why I wanted to pass on through. Think the freezer areas have some."

>Ask them some questions, now that they were actually being somewhat hospitable to you. Maybe you had something on your mind they could tell you? (Write in what you’ll ask them.)

"So, what's with the whole worry about getting kicked off world and illegal booze? You can't be telling me you aren't allowed to drink! How's things going for you guys anyway? All I've heard and seen from ya is failure after failure to do much down here other than get yer ass kicked."

I think this is a few decent things to say to them. We know some of the answers to our questions OOCly, but not ICly. Plus it'll be interesting to see how they talk about our squads success, given we are the only ones to really do much so far. If the skeptics don't loosen up after this, we can try and get them to join in but for now I don't think we should press them.

>>5999564
>Ask them some questions, now that they were actually being somewhat hospitable to you. Maybe you had something on your mind they could tell you? (Write in what you’ll ask them.)
What's the deal with them? How come they're all shoot first ask questions only under duress?

>>5999564
>Introduce yourself a little. Maybe afterwards, they'd be inclined to also introduce themselves so you could learn more about them. (Write in how you'll introduce yourself.)
The booze demon, she who drinks, the greatest batter of human history, the great oni.

>Answer their questions. You could probably tell them some funny lies to fuck with them, or you could be honest with them and explain what you knew. (Write in how you’ll answer.)
Just answer honestly.

>Ask them some questions, now that they were actually being somewhat hospitable to you. Maybe you had something on your mind they could tell you? (Write in what you’ll ask them.)
why are these guys here, why are they being bad mean people, and where else is there booze.
Also if they don't want to be clobbered they shouldn't have shot first and introduced themselves...with booze in hand.

Hmmm, I think I'll finish the update tomorrow, rather than posting it tonight. For one, I kinda wanna see if maybe there's a bit more input, given what everyone has written so far. Secondly, I'm also pretty exhausted today, so I don't really think I can wrap up everything right now so easily.

Hope you guys aren't too bothered by the mild faltering over the last few days. Hopefully, I'll be able to pick up the pace tomorrow and over the weekend.

>>5999953
Don't burn yourself out.
Better voters wait then the QM burns out.
One is unfortunate, the other is a quest killer.

Finished catching up. Anofelis is adorable, Rape Cow is not. My boy Ravel deserved better. Kill all Diamond Mutts.

>>5999940
Supporting.

>Introduce yourself a little. Maybe afterwards, they'd be inclined to also introduce themselves so you could learn more about them.
Immediatley, Stella would ask you quite a few questions. You didn't hesitate to answer, introducing yourself with both your actual name and the code name you were given. You called yourself the greatest batter of human history and a booze demon, the former comment amusing some of the soldiers. "Best batter? I highly doubt it." One would mumble, you glancing at your kanabo hoping it'd get him to shut up. You even mentioned your temper, and how this place was boring and lacking in your favourite drinks. Hopefully it'd get the idea across that you were not to be messed with. You'd even bring up red and blue onis, something Tengri had told you about in the past. Though from the look of things, they really didn't seem to know what this entailed. "Yeah, uhhh, we know fuck all about that." One of the soldiers remarked. Lastly, you'd mention the guy you clobbered, as one of the soldiers with their helmet on responded calmly. "It seems he was just knocked out. Still, be a bit more careful next time." It was a bit of a silly request. You didn't have an off switch, especially when you were lacking alcohol!

>Answer their questions. You could probably tell them some funny lies to fuck with them, or you could be honest with them and explain what you knew.
Regardless, they had a ton of questions for you regarding your creator, what you were doing, what caused this mess and about Roraima. Given that they had handed you proper beer, you opted to go for real
Just answer honestly. First, you mentioned that Roraima wasn't your creator and that you would've beaten the shit out of, which made some of the soldiers seem quite amused, with one responding: "Good to hear that our suspicions are... well founded. We've been hunting him down since most of the subjects he has made are noted down as major threats to our operations."

Afterwards, you calmly continued explaining that you knew nothing about the whole disaster. You stated you and some other subjects helped out, at which point Stella asked. "What subjects?" Of course, you just knew it were a few combat subjects, both good and bad ones. But you couldn't say much else about them. Though you did state your suspicion that you felt the subject wasn't the only one to cause this disaster. "How so?" You heard one of the soldiers ask you, to which you casually explained that such a blast could not be caused by just one subject. Not even Titania could cause this big a blast. "Titania... that's one of the subjects we read some files on, right?" Dennis asked the rest of the men, at which point another soldier nodded along. Afterwards, you explained that you weren't really doing much here. You just wanted to do things, to fight idiots and find booze. You pointed out how the freezer area might have some, at which point one of the more sceptical soldiers approached.

"Well, I'm afraid we won't let you go to the freezer area. It'll get us in deep shit if that happens. Not to mention, tarnishing the name of our death squad." The soldier said, to which Stella sighed. "Oscar, we're already probably in deep shit for talking with her. Besides, how on earth are we going to stop her from going through?" The soldier, Oscar, would shake his head and speak in annoyance. "I-I don't know! But letting her through is... just not an option! We can at least hide the fact we are doing this. Letting her go through now will just fuck us over!" Afterwards Dennis handed you another beer. "Maybe we cna figure something out together, huh? Hell, at least we now know what she wants and can provide it to her." You'd grab the extra beer bottle, gulping it down without a worry in the world.

>Ask them some questions, now that they were actually being somewhat hospitable to you. Maybe you had something on your mind they could tell you?
After taking a delicious sip, you decided to ask them why they were so worried about getting kicked off the planet. Not to mention, how ridiculous it was that they couldn't even drink. "We were told it'd interfere with our job. Though seeing as you're drinking it, I think it was more-so designed to prevent subjects like you from having something to use for sustenance." One of the other soldiers said, to which Stella scoffed. "Yeah, right. The government bans alcohol, but not literally anything else these creatures can feed on? As if. They probably just banned it to prevent us from getting rowdy. That, and the government just hates fun." You decided to ask where you could find more booze then, given that they had it. "Well, you can try and raid the main Lodger base, since we do have some illegal stashes. But, I doubt that's a good idea. You can tank a lot, but I HIGHLY doubt you can tank more powerful equipment from all the different death squads."

Even you had to concede to that point. You had peeked into the crater before from a tiny side-tunnel, and you had seen just how well defended that base of theirs was. Though this did make you wonder something, you asking them what their deal was anyway? You wanted to know why they always shot first and then asked questions later. Stella was the first to answer, doing so smugly. "Well, we're here to kill you, that's why!" This made one of the other soldiers hush her. "Dude, don't... tell her that!" Of course, you were more amused that these losers were sent in to try and kill you. They hadn't even dented you! How did they ever expect to take you down?! Regardless, you wanted to know if that was all the reason for why they were here specifically, another soldier sighing and responding. "You mean here as in 'this location' or why here in this place in general? We already answered the latter, but in case you wanna know the former... well, we're stationed here to ensure nobody goes up north, like we said before."

You scoffed, given that you had so far beaten every gang like them before. In fact, you had heard that there hadn't even been any kills so far! You let that be known, at which point one soldier spoke more angrily. "Hey, some other squad from Lodger got a kill in not too long ago! Hell, there have been... three, maybe four subjects killed so far!" This still was a pretty pathetic number to you. Especially given that you yourself had dealt with three groups of death squads now, each one being defeated easily. Though after bringing that up, Oscar sighed and spoke up a bit more angrily. "Well, that might just be because... you encountered different death squads? Did you encounter slower ones with armour? They aren't from Lodger. If you encountered morons with flamethrowers and sonic cannons, they're also not from Lodger. R-Regardless, Lodger is so far the only one to have killed an unknown subject!" You hadn't heard of this kill before, which was definitely interesting. Perhaps the death squads were starting to actually get some success in?

>What do you do next?

>Tell these morons you'll be heading forward regardless of what they wanted. They could figure something out on their own. Either way, you were getting your booze!
>Suggest a plan so you can go past them and they don't get kicked off the planet by whoever their employers were. That way, you could get alcohol and they would be fine. (Write in your plan.)
>Ask them about the subject who was killed. Maybe you knew the subject in question, in which case you knew what group of Lodgerites you could go after next. (Write in your questions.)
>Ask them about their employers. Did they have any clue about why they were here to kill them? After all, you were made by humans so you could help out in combat, so why would humans want to kill you? (Write in your questions.)
>Ask them about the other death squads. What did they know of them and what were they generally like? (Write in your questions.)
>Something else...

>>6000701
>Suggest a plan so you can go past them and they don't get kicked off the planet by whoever their employers were. That way, you could get alcohol and they would be fine. (Write in your plan.)

Okay we have an idea, but we need a little more context first

>Ask them about the subject who was killed. Maybe you knew the subject in question, in which case you knew what group of Lodgerites you could go after next. (Write in your questions.)
Who was the subject, who did they kill, how and where?

>Ask them about their employers. Did they have any clue about why they were here to kill them? After all, you were made by humans so you could help out in combat, so why would humans want to kill you? (Write in your questions.)
Is this place not part of the government? if it is why are they getting rid of their own stuff. that's stupid.

>Ask them about the other death squads. What did they know of them and what were they generally like? (Write in your questions.)
Spill the tea on the gossip. Which squad blow the hardest.

We cause a distraction that would give them an excuse for not holding up the barrier properly, and then we walk through after and get beer.
Then we hear their thoughts on how to do this bc thinking's not our best strength.

>>6000701
>Suggest a plan so you can go past them and they don't get kicked off the planet by whoever their employers were. That way, you could get alcohol and they would be fine. (Write in your plan.)

"Can't ya just lie and say ya ran or just leave out the bit where ya gave up? You aren't recording all of this, are ya? After all, even if you lot didn't surrender I don't think you'd manage to stop me from sauntering on past this little base. I think given yer performance and mine it's kinda obvious how futile trying to stop me would be."

>Ask them about the subject who was killed. Maybe you knew the subject in question, in which case you knew what group of Lodgerites you could go after next. (Write in your questions.)

"Who'd yer friends get, who are they, and where and how'd they do it? Might be fun to meet them later if they actually will pose a challenge. You mentioned they were unknown too, what did they look like? Learn anything about 'em after you killed them or no? How many subjects do you guys know about anyway? There's roughly a hundred of them I think. Or so Tengri said. So, at the rate you are going yer gonna be here for a year almost, and that's being generous."

>>6000707
Was going to write more but this covers everything else I planned on doing in a TLDR format so I'll support it as well.

>>6000701
>Suggest a plan so you can go past them and they don't get kicked off the planet by whoever their employers were. That way, you could get alcohol and they would be fine. (Write in your plan.)
If they know any alternate paths to the freezer area that aren't too much of a detour we'll take those.

>Ask them about their employers. Did they have any clue about why they were here to kill them? After all, you were made by humans so you could help out in combat, so why would humans want to kill you? (Write in your questions.)
Pretty much just the question as written. They've mentioned they're working for GalGov, and we seem to know where the funding for this facility came from, so why are they destroying what they paid for?

>Ask them about the other death squads. What did they know of them and what were they generally like? (Write in your questions.)
Which ones have the scary weapons that can hurt us, and how to take them down without getting killed.

>Ask them about the subject who was killed. Maybe you knew the subject in question, in which case you knew what group of Lodgerites you could go after next.
Given that these guys were quite eager to mention that their co-workers had killed a subject, you immediately asked a bunch of questions. You wanted to know who was killed, who did it and how. You even suggested meeting up with them later, which made the soldiers look at each other. You'd even ask about the number of subjects here, even mentioning they'd take their time to get things done here. "Hey, it hasn't been that long since we got kills in. Besides, it's more like 60 subjects... I think. There are plenty of unknowns in there." One of the soldiers would say in a mildly disheartened tone. Even then, you'd ignore that as you just wanted to hear more about this killed subject. "Suppose I can answer your burning questions, Kiyo. Um, it's okay if I call you that, right?" Stella said, before letting out a slightly awkward chuckle. "Anyway, uhhhh, it was some sorta rabbit subject made by Roraima, from what we've been told. She was killed in the green section and they mostly just did it by burning her with a flamethrower." You couldn't help but feel amused. After all, you were quite resilient to high temperatures. Their flamethrower probably wouldn't do much against you! Afterwards, you once again repeated your desire for intel about the rabbit and her killer.

"Why do you wanna even know about these things?!" One of the soldiers said, Stella hushing him before casually answer. "Well, she was particularly charred, but she was apparently just some decently tall rabbit gal who could deliver nasty bites. Though details are sadly somewhat sparse. We can definitely tell you about the guys responsible though! Some Lodger group ran by this... Mikhail guy. We don't know much about him, but from what we've heard he is a pretty decent guy." Though this was met with more dismissive scoffs from a few nearby soldiers.

"He's a lucky bastard, that's what he is. We got here early and did some solid defensive work, at which point the government asked us to stay here and continue doing work at this base. Meanwhile, he and his men can just go around pillaging the place." There were a few soldiers who appeared quite annoyed as well. Though you could tell most soldiers were still somewhat proud. "Hey, he did a good job. Besides, their victory is a victory for Lodger. That means we get more benefits and help from the government as a whole. Not to mention, whatever intel they may gain out of the kill. Who knows what they figure out about this subject." Even then, some of the more sceptical soldiers were still not convinced about this kill having helped them much. Then again, you could tell it might just be a bit of envy on their part. "They better share some of the profits of the kill with Lodger." One soldier soon remarked which most of the other men clearly did not take seriously.

>Ask them about the other death squads. What did they know of them and what were they generally like?
Given the mention of other death squads, you wanted to know a bit more about them as well. You hoped to hear of which ones were the scariest and could deal with you. There was a moment of silence where the soldiers were taking in the question. Though not much later, Dennis spoke up amusedly. "Heroes is probably your biggest threat. They got some serious weaponry. Sniper rifles, cannons, railguns, plasma rifles, all sorts of heavy equipment. We could get similar weaponry, but we aren't exactly trained for them. Those guys are trained to use them and to take down big threats. Maybe if you continue kicking ass, you'll eventually find them?" It did sound fun to encounter such a lethal group. You could even beat them up and maybe get other groups to leave you alone out of sheer terror! Though, that would require knowing how to avoid getting killed by them. Which you asked about right away.

"Simple. You avoid getting on their radar." One soldier said, which was a bit of an odd remark. You wanted to take them down, not avoid them. Though soon after, the soldier continued. "They only go after high threat level subjects. And if you aren't one, they may avoid you if what we've heard about them is correct. Honestly, you could just avoid them and maybe then try and ambush them. Though if they are after you, it might be a bit more troublesome. Especially since they'll try and be prepared for you." Well, this did make you curious about that 'threat level' of yours and if it was high enough. Thus, you'd ask what the number was, Stella looking to two soldiers in particular. "Petrus, Lyndon, what does the tablet say?" They'd look at these funny little tablets they got, before one of them spoke up somewhat hesitantly. "Ummm, she's a 7 out of 10 now." You asked if this was enough to be targetted by Heroes, to which the soldiers didn't seem too sure. "Well, they mostly go after threat level 9 and 10 ones. Maybe threat level 8. Then again, this is only based on what we've heard. Maybe they also go after some lower threat level subjects." Oscar remarked, which did fill you with hope. Maybe some challengers would come out to play with you?

You also wanted to know a bit more about the other squads, asking them all for opinions. They quickly mentioned all the various squads, along with what they thought. “Diamond Dogs are all cunts. If you find a bunch of edgelords making loud noises, it probably is them.” One soldier remarked, after which Stella smugly said. “Do please go after them if you see them. It’d be really funny.” Given how they sounded and were probably quite disliked, it would definitely be a fun little challenge. Their acid guns did sound somewhat nasty, but nothing a metal plate couldn’t deal with. Maybe these guys also had tons of beer on them, given how they sounded like drunken idiots looking to get into fights.

The other death squads seemed to be viewed more positively though. “So, you encountered these well-armoured soldiers, right? They’re from Blackstar and they’re pretty alright. They tend to act as scouts and have co-operated with us quite well. In fact, a group of them often passes through here before they explore the combat section.” One of the soldiers said, though Oscar was quick to mumble a bit. “Apparently they’re trying to find out why the hell this sector is still working, despite everything else being without electricity. Hopefully, they’ll figure it out soon enough.” This did once again sound like Zephyr, but you couldn’t be all too sure still. Maybe it was some other scientist who was working around in the bowels to keep everything online. Hell, it could even be Annie or Kimmy pulling some strings.

“Heathens is also exceptionally friendly for the most part. They help set up traps in areas which we can’t easily protect. In fact, you may wanna be careful not to run into any of their traps if you do choose to head up north.” Stella said, after which another soldier spoke up more mockingly. “Hey, another reason for you to piss off and go somewhere else! You wouldn’t wanna end up in a trap, huh?” You simply scoffed at the pathetic remark, taking another sip of beer before listening to more discussions. Most of it was about Heathens and Blackstar being reasonable, Heroes being pretty serious and Diamond Dogs being assholes. Though they did also mention something else. “Say, wasn’t the government trying to get Scary Monsters down here as well?” “Naaah, I doubt it. They’re already really secretive about this operation, so they probably don’t want even more folk here.” “Given the lack of success from Heroes against big subjects like Vinella, I can see them calling in Scary Monsters.” You soon asked who these ‘Scary Monsters’ were, Oscar responding. “Scary Monsters is a death squad focused on using large exoskeletons and mechs. They tend to either focus on defensive missions, missions in very inhospitable places or which require a ton of heavy lifting. I imagine they’ll probably get a few in to match Vinella in terms of size.” Given how tall Vinella was, it definitely sounded like something you’d love to encounter. Taking down a giant mech sounded awesome in your mind, and would definitely be a fun way to spend your time down here.

>Ask them about their employers. Did they have any clue about why they were here to kill them? After all, you were made by humans so you could help out in combat, so why would humans want to kill you?
This did make you curious about their employers. You knew this place was partially funded by the government, so you wanted to know why the hell that same government now wanted to kill everything. You even said it sounded kind of dumb, which made Stella scoff. “It is stupid. But, we get paid well and are told not to question it, so… we kinda just do it.”

You asked them if they weren’t sceptical about everything that was going on, to which Oscar nodded. “Oh, absolutely. 100%. But, well… we were told we’d get paid well and that the government may even become more co-operative towards us. Our jobs aren’t exactly government sanctioned, and what better way than to maybe create an actual alliance here?” It still very much confused you, as this didn’t explain why the government wanted everything brought down. In turn, one of the distrusting soldiers spoke up. “Okay, hear me out on this one… the government probably caused this disaster and want us to help cover it up. Think about it, the government has plenty of military forces to do this. However, they probably don’t want to have harm happen to their own men AND likely don’t want their own soldiers questioning things. After all, they can just execute any of us who ‘do a poor job’.” Based on the way the soldiers looked, you could tell that some of them were uneasy. And after the soldier finished, Oscar spoke up quite reluctantly. “Let’s… just hope that isn’t the case. I mean, they’ve built these facilities for us and are willing to pay us. If they really want to get rid of all of us alongside this place, they’d just glass it from orbit with us on it. I think there’s more going on, but we can’t say for sure. Hell, you probably know more than we do, Kiyohime.” Based on his town, you could tell he was uneasy about what the future may hold. And given the fact you had already made them anxious about going northwards, you decided to throw them a bone.

>Suggest a plan so you can go past them and they don't get kicked off the planet by whoever their employers were. That way, you could get alcohol and they would be fine.
You reaffirmed that you wanted to head north, but that you also didn’t want them to get in trouble. Thus, you stated that maybe you could work together so they could keep their jobs and you could get more booze. The soldiers all went quiet, intently listening to what you had to say. You suggested lying to the government by mentioning that they got overwhelmed and you passed through. They wouldn’t need to admit they actually surrendered, and they had a good reason to give up given how strong you clearly were. This made Oscar sigh and shake his head. “Well, we could… but then we also have to contact headquarters and let them know you’re coming. And at that point, you’d have to face even more enemy forces. Perhaps enough to… well, you know.” You thought about it, before asking for some alternate paths to the freezer area. To this, either Petrus or Lyndon spoke up. “Well, you could head west to the staff section. It is mostly destroyed, and it is currently not being guarded too much. You just need to be careful, since a large chunk of the staff section is exposed due to the crater.” It wasn’t the worst suggestion, though it definitely was a bit of a detour.

Though a different thought did come to your mind. You suggested then that, if warning the people further down this hall was their duty, maybe you could think of a way to avoid doing that. “Riiiiight, avoid doing the thing we were told to do. What are we going to tell them? ‘ah sorry, the giant oni subject just sorta… slipped on by, sorry!’? That isn’t gonna work.” You angrily told the guy that your suggestion needed a bit of refinement. It was just an idea you had after all, one which would help both of you. You suggested it could’ve been caused by some kind of distraction. Though soon after, Stella would think out loud a bit. “Well, you’ve already harmed and destroyed some of our stuff. I don’t think the distraction play could work. Though, I do have a different idea. You tried to bat our grenades or something, right? Maybe… we can say you succeeded and hit the main communication line we have? Only issue is that we still have our tablets, but we can maybe destroy them as well and pretend that was your doing as well.”

The latter didn’t seem to go very right with the other soldiers, with one of them speaking back quite angrily. “Destroying them?! What about all the notes and pictures we’ve taken? We’ve got tons of info for this place on them which we said we really don’t want to lose!” Some of the soldiers nodded along, Oscar bringing up another issue. “There are two other issues with that plan. For one, it’d look kind of suspicious if you managed to just blow those things up, as well as only harming one guy. Furthermore, you… aren’t the fastest, right? The people further to the north of here would probably question why we didn’t chase you around to stop you from heading further down this hallway.”

It seemed that the plan was potentially doable, but that it required a bit more thought before it could really be pulled off. Surely, you could push your brain to actually think of something useful. You weren’t the brightest, but you certainly weren’t stupid!

>What do you do next?

>Make a suggestion to alter the plan so that it’d work. Either by ironing out some of the flaws, or changing some bits to make it more logical. (Write in what you’d change.)
>Suggest a different plan altogether. Maybe you could think of something truly brilliant which could help you get through here without issue? (Write in your new plan.)
>Ask for some further context to the situation. Based on that, you could maybe make some edits to the current plan or think of something else. (Write in what you’ll ask for.)
>Just accept that you’d have to take the other route through the staff area. It was not nearly as fast, but maybe it’d lead to more fun people to beat the crap out of?
>Something else…

File: Spoiler Image (1.79 MB, 2008x3071)

1.79 MB PNG

(>>6000796 I cannot wait for the good ending, where Mikhail smuggles a bunch of monster girls off planet and trains them for combat.)

(On a related note, might as well just share this artwork at this point, given that I comm'd it some time ago and intended it to be this thread's thumbnail before drawanon popped up and shared his beautiful art. This one's made by Avsmomedina on ArtistsnClients, in case anyone is wondering.)

>>6000854
YOOO
Gentlemen we need to kill another rabbit, I want to get a mecha.

>>6000859
Yeah that's too sketchy to make sense. They need a better cover story
>Ask for some further context to the situation. Based on that, you could maybe make some edits to the current plan or think of something else. (Write in what you’ll ask for.)
Do they have things that would make it hard to see anything, or is there any nearby side passages/large vents or something.

>>6000859
>Ask for some further context to the situation. Based on that, you could maybe make some edits to the current plan or think of something else. (Write in what you’ll ask for.)
Is there some way to disable the communication capabilities of the tablets? Something that plausibly could have occurred during the fight?

If not
>Just accept that you’d have to take the other route through the staff area. It was not nearly as fast, but maybe it’d lead to more fun people to beat the crap out of?
We can handle a bit of a detour, and destroying everyone's tablets without injuring them is hard to explain away.

>>6000861
What fantastic art. Oreas needs a heavy gun NOW.

>>6000867
Large vent or not we already did a number on this place. It's going to be hard for these poor bastards to explain why their guard post has been trashed without them admitting we smashed most of it. The mechs are interesting, and concerning. I really do not want to fight a threat level 10 now.

>>6000870
Supporting. It's the best we got really. Maybe we can let them report us after we leave and are a bit away so they can explain the destruction we caused.

>>6000859
>>6000870
>supporting
>>6000861
Amazing art qm, I can already taste the war crimes we could commit.

>Ask for some further context to the situation. Based on that, you could maybe make some edits to the current plan or think of something else.
Considering the flaws in the plan and the fact the men clearly weren't too sure about it, you opted to ask a few important questions. For one, you wondered if there were any sort of large passage-ways, vents or other objects which could've allowed you to sneak past. "I'm afraid not. This hallway is the only way through here. As for things in the way, the base was designed to give us a full view of the battlefield. In other words, if we didn't see you sneaking up on us, it would be considered our fault still." One of the soldiers responded, which certainly threw another wrench in the plan. Though Dennis did have something to say which could maybe help out. "We do have explosives. And given the smoke and dust they created, we could maybe find a way to use them if we do decided to lie about this." It was certainly an option, but if it would be effective was a major if.

There was still the communications which could be knocked out as well. It was the best option in your mind, you asking if there was some sort of way for them to be knocked out. "Plausible during the fight? Well, unless if you have some sort of ability to fry electronics, then sure. Maybe we could argue that it had to do with whatever is keeping the electricity on in here." One soldier responded, after which Oscar took a more curious tone. "Do you know what is keeping the electricity on in this place actually? It is something of a mystery as to why this place still has electricity, especially since it means the turrets are still active." You do remember running into some pretty powerful turrets around this place, most of which you had fortunately easily destroyed or avoided so far. You once again thought that this could be Zephyr's doing, but whether or not you should tell them that was debatable. Even you knew the thunderbird was a dangerous gal to go after.

There was another option though, one which Stella brought up. "Maybe we could argue that it was a disturbance caused by Annie? She has interfered electronically before, so we could maybe use that as an excuse." Though this made Petrus speak up reluctantly. "Issue is, that we will need to create such an attack on our electronics. Otherwise, the government will see that there was no interference at all and will know we're lying through our teeth." However, Lyndon seemed more optimistic. "Hmmm, I do think we can create such an interference. If I can tap into the power of this place, I can maybe create a local EMP strong enough to knock out our systems in a way that makes it look like we got attacked. Only issue is that... well for one, I need some materials." Afterwards, one of the other soldiers spoke up as well. "There's also the issue of Annie needing to be accounted for. After all, the government is tracking her every action quite a bit, from what I recall."

You knew of Annie and her shenanigans, though you did wonder what this soldier meant by what he said. And after asking for elaboration, he sighed a little. "Annie is currently on a bit of a warpath against the government and their services. She often edits things or causes outages. Because of that, the government is keeping track of each outage. If she's attacking one place right as we disrupt our own equipment, it'd probably be quite suspicious to the government." It was definitely an issue, but not an insurmountable one. They probably could figure something out, or wait for a moment where it seemed Annie wasn't attacking anyone else. Hell, maybe they could find a way to communicate with Annie, given she was adept enough to use all kinds of electrical appliances, especially radios.

Thus, you'd ask what sort of equipment they'd need and what else would be necessary. "Well, aside from equipment, we also need to make the battle seem believable. If you just escape northwards without harming us too much, we'd still be mandated to chase after you to stop you. Maybe if you also break some things and create a large barrier whilst you leave, we could have an excuse." This latter suggestion was definitely not one which was liked by the other soldiers, with one even responding quite demandingly. "We are not going to destroy things and obstruct our own way out! We'd end up stuck down here for god knows how long then! We have food for a week at most, and we have no clue how long it'll take for reinforcements to arrive here, let alone how long it'd take them to free us!" Yeah, causing a collapse here would make it easy for you to pass through, but it'd definitely be extremely risky for them, if not borderline suicidal.

"Look, we can figure something out. Maybe she could've 'injured' us to make it hard to escape? Or she destroyed all our weaponry and left us without tools to defend ourselves? Hell, we could even just say that she held back for some odd reason." Dennis argued, the latter suggestion maybe being a possibility. But then again, when did you ever hold back your attacks?! Sure, you missed from time to time, but your hits were NEVER weak or held back. Perhaps they could figure something else out, especially since they also had those fortifications to work with. Hell, maybe even creating a barrier with them under the pretence that 'you threw them' could work somewhat.

Either way, you still were more than happy to help them out with gathering materials. You'd even ask Lyndon what you'd need, him giving a list of items which... didn't honestly seem too hard to acquire. In fact, some of the parts and electronics could probably be found in this very place on turrets or other communication devices! Circuitry and antennae for the device he wanted were also not too difficult to find, from what you recalled. And once you brought that up, he'd speak a lot more hopefully. "Are you sure? If so, could you get us some of those materials? Or tell us where they are?"

You could tell that some of the men were still reluctant about the plan. Creating a way to make it look like their electronics were disabled was easy enough, but the whole chasing you part was still a major issue. Not to mention, you were totally find just making it easier and taking another route. These guys had already been chill enough to give you some booze after realising they couldn't beat you. Not to mention, being reasonable with you and actually taking the time to listen to you and answer some questions.

>What do you do next?

>Just tell them that you’d have to take the other route through the staff area. You could handle a bit of a detour, and causing them further harm was not really something you wanted.
>Let them know where some of the materials were which they wanted. They could send some soldiers out to acquire the material, whilst you stayed here and drank more booze.
>Go back yourself to grab the things they needed. Those cute lil soldiers were probably not going to do well traversing this place for longer periods of time. Though maybe a few could come with you for moral support. (Write in if you want anyone to join you.)
>Suggest something to alter their plan a bit. Maybe there was one way you could make this entire plan fool proof and successful? (Write in your suggestion.)
>Something else...

>>6001236
>Go back yourself to get the stuff, anyone who wants to come along can
As long as it seems faster than the detour
If it’s slower take the detour
Also why would they be expected to chase us? We laughed off their bullets and grenades and all other weapons they had. What would pursuit accomplish other than getting them injured or killed?

>>6001236
I really don't think anything barring us wounding them or them calling others in would be believable to the government. I have my doubts unless we can pin this on Annie or Zephyr somehow. I'm conflicted on if we should bring her up or not though.

>>6001306
Supporting for now.

>>6000861
I love this little booger.

>>6001236
>Just tell them that you’d have to take the other route through the staff area. You could handle a bit of a detour, and causing them further harm was not really something you wanted.
Thank them for the booze and head off. Searching for the materials could end up taking longer than if we just took the detour.

>>6001603
Yeah this seems like the best course of action that won't fuck them over. I'll support it, though I think it'd be in character and nice to stick around with them a bit longer.

>>6001236
>>6001603
>supporting
We a big girl we can handle it.

>Just tell them that you’d have to take the other route through the staff area. You could handle a bit of a detour, and causing them further harm was not really something you wanted.
Hearing all the trouble the men would have to go through and the fact they provided you booze, you opted to just take a different route. You were a strong gal, and you could handle taking the longer route. After you stated such, you saw some of the soldiers looking relieved, whilst others seemed more understanding and relaxed. "Well, that simplifies things." Dennis said, Stella also speaking up soon after. "I mean, if you're fine with taking the other route. Hell, I'd still be fine joining you with getting the materials." You waved the thought away, telling them that going all the way back to find those materials could very well take far more time than just going the other route. Besides, it'd be far simpler than creating some sort of diversion to try and make it seem like you had escaped. One of the soldiers who agreed would quickly speak up. "See, even she knows it's all a stupid idea! Now she can just... leave us the fuck alone and we can pretend this never happened."

You were tempted to tease the coward a bit further, but you were fine just leaving them to their own devices. Thus, you'd finish your bottle of beer, before thanking them and telling them you'd go your own way. However, as you finished, Oscar spoke up. "Well hey, you don't have to go right away, right? I mean... I'd not mind chatting a bit more with you. I'm sure we can learn a ton from each other here." You were curious what they could 'teach' you. Probably something related to the various threats, or maybe it'd help you figure out whatever it was the government was doing in this place to begin with. Thus, you decided to stay a bit longer. Dennis would even grab another bottle of beer for you and himself, taking a sip before saying. "Hell yeah, let's have some fun!"

"Hey, don't give her all the booze, dude. We snuck that stuff in for all of us, not so we could appease her." One of the soldiers said angrily, as it was clear they weren't all too happy with you taking all that beer. Still, what they were going to do, shoot you? This was your stash now. Maybe you could share it with Stella, Dennis or maybe even Oscar. The others would have to show a bit more respect before you'd hand over the spoils of your victory. Though after a sip, you'd grow curious and asked why the hell they were told to chase after you in case you somehow broke through their fortifications. "Well, we already told you, right? The government insists we track any and all major threats to the operation." Of course, you quickly and brashly asked them why the government wanted this. After all, it was clear you could not just be shot down and that chasing you would just lead to them getting injured further. One of the soldiers spoke a bit more annoyedly. "They want us to keep on fighting till our last breath. That's why."

It wasn't exactly the best reasoning. After all, they were far better off alive so they could manage different threats. Either way, it didn't matter much now anyway, especially as you now had decided you'd just head through a different path. A few seconds later though, Dennis would speak up again, having taken a few more sips of his booze. "You know, I did not expect I'd ever be sharing a beer with an oni before. Say, do you just drink the stuff because you enjoy it? Or is this your feeding method? Given that I've heard some subjects grow from pervy shit, I can totally see beer also acting as a way you'd grow and heal." You nodded boisterously, stating you were more used to sake which Tengri provided, but that any alcohol was still nice. "Well, hope this stuff is of high enough quality. It was a bitch to smuggle in." One of the other soldiers said, who by now also took off his helmet to reveal a guy with an orange beard and orange hair. He'd turn to Dennis. "Can you throw me one as well?" Dennis nodded, grabbing another bottle from the cooler before throwing it over. "Here you go, Lorenzo."

Shortly after, Petrus would remark he'd get to work checking out the damages and seeing what would need fixing. Some of the other soldiers would soon after just opt to do something else away from you, it being clear that they were not at all comfortable being around you and seeing you as a sort of ally. Still, that left you with Dennis, Stella, Lyndon, Oscar and Lorenzo. "I have to say, I did not expect this was how we'd spend our night. Given how aggressive and uncompromising some of the guardsmen were, I imagined that the subjects would be the more reasonable ones. At least, reasonable as in 'not instantly trying to fucking kill us'." Lyndon said, which made Oscar smirk a bit. "Hey, Kiyohime put in a good effort to take us down, right? If we were dumbasses like Diamond Dogs, we probably would've been killed."

This did make Stella curious about one thing though, as she turned to you and spoke with a more cautious yet intrigued tone. "Have you, uhhh, actually hurt anyone before? Not just soldiers, but also scientists and what not." You did remember beating up that one soldier who mocked you and called you a bunch of shitty things because you broke something. As well as the scientist who was quite insistent you ate toxic material to test your poison resistance. And of course, Elbrus, who tried to enter your chamber with some kind of aphrodisiac. Had it not been for Tengri interfering, you would've beaten the living daylight out of him. There was also that time where a janitor got mad at the mess you made in your chamber... or that time when another scientist tried taking some of your beer away. But you hadn't hurt anyone seriously! You hadn't killed anyone or scarred them. You had... just put them in the hospital wing a couple of times. And only when it was justified to beat the shit out of them. You were reasonable like that!

Still, you could maybe spend a bit more time with these guys drinking beers, along with telling them about your life in this place. And in turn, you could learn about their time down here and the crap they had encountered. Maybe they had some fun stories for you as well?

>What do you do next?

>Tell them some fun story about this place. Clearly, they knew fuck all about it, so maybe you had some fun anecdotes which would tell them more about this place. (Write in...)
>Just answer their question about who you had beaten up. Maybe they didn't know of Elbrus, meaning you could warn them of his disgusting acts.
>Ask them for more details about the detour, such as who is stationed around there, what kind of traps there were or if there were any other fortifications. (Write in what you'll ask about the detour.)
>Ask them which subjects, scientists or other folk they had encountered already, if any. Maybe there were some there who you remembered? (Write in who you'd ask for, or if there is anything specific.)
>Offer them some help with fixing up the damage you had caused. Before taking the sideroute, maybe you could help them clean up the place.
>Something else...

>>6001774
>Just answer their question about who you had beaten up. Maybe they didn't know of Elbrus, meaning you could warn them of his disgusting acts.

>Ask them which subjects, scientists or other folk they had encountered already, if any. Maybe there were some there who you remembered? (Write in who you'd ask for, or if there is anything specific.)
Zephyr, I guess, since we keep thinking of her.

>Offer them some help with fixing up the damage you had caused. Before taking the sideroute, maybe you could help them clean up the place.

>>6001774
>>Just answer their question about who you had beaten up. Maybe they didn't know of Elbrus, meaning you could warn them of his disgusting acts.
>Ask them for more details about the detour, such as who is stationed around there, what kind of traps there were or if there were any other fortifications. (Write in what you'll ask about the detour.)
>Ask them which subjects, scientists or other folk they had encountered already, if any. Maybe there were some there who you remembered? (Write in who you'd ask for, or if there is anything specific.)

>>6001794
Supporting.
Zephyr could be working together with Annie. while she keeps the lights on in the combat section, Annie keeps the Death squads away with the turrets and whatever else they used to test the subjects.

>>6001794
>>6002255
Supporting both of these.

>>6002518
I think it's clear Zephyr is some sort of maintenance subject keeping the place running and either utilizing the turrets herself or has Annie use them for her given what we have learned so far. We might learn a bit more before this side story is over, but it's something to think about certainly.

>>6002546
Pretty sure it was mentioned she was a thunderbird type, so she might be the one supplying power to this section.

>>6002548
Still makes her a maintenance subject. I'd guess this place has a large set of emergency generators and batteries set up and she charges the latter with her powers if the former failed. If she wasn't fixing any of the turrets I doubt there would be that many left at this point given it'd assume taking down this area would be on the high priority list since it'd be a perfect spot for Annie.

>Just answer their question about who you had beaten up. Maybe they didn't know of Elbrus, meaning you could warn them of his disgusting acts.
Being asked about your previous 'victims', you opted to be honest. Thus you told them about the fights you had gotten in previously. You started with the story of the one soldier who kept calling you a bimbo and other rude things. All because he thought you were just a 'primitive chimp' in his eyes. You mentioned how you proved him wrong by grabbing his gun and whacking him over the head with it, after which he was transferred to another subject. "Geez, that sounds awfully aggressive." Lyndon said, you saying it was justified because the guy was a prick nobody liked anyway. "What subject was he transferred to? Also, did you get punished for it?" Oscar asked right away, the former making you shrug whilst the latter made you laugh. You explained that Tengri was tempted to fire the guy for treating you so poorly, but that your little act was seen as enough of a punishment in the end.

Afterwards, you brought up Elbrus and his vile attempt to make you sleep with him. The moment you mentioned him, you saw all of the soldiers becoming both intrigued and disgusted. "We've heard a lot about the subjects he made. Was he the local rapist or sex-addict or something along those lines?" Stella asked, to which you nodded. You explained how you had wanted to beat the shit out of him, but that you knew that harming someone in his position would get you in trouble. "What kind of ridiculous logic is that?! Because he was an important scientist, he was allowed to pull shit like that?!" You mentioned that it was unfortunately the case that he had something of a privilege, due to the subjects he had made. And because of that, you couldn't hurt him. Of course, he also couldn't hurt you, but him bringing in aphrodisiacs was his pathetic attempt to get you to... indulge in carnal pleasure with him.

"So, what happened then? Did you rebuke him or resist him? Or did someone else show up?" Oscar asked in bewilderment. You nodded when the last question was brought up, explaining how you did push him away in a manner that didn't harm him, and that Tengri then intervened and gave him a stern warning. "Just that? A stern warning?!" Dennis said in disgust, you stating that there wasn't much that could be done, considering the governments interest in continuing to keep Elbrus around. "What would the government want out of a disgusting fuck like him?!" Stella asked, Oscar turning to Lyndon. "Guess we should really intensify our hunt and focus on this bastard, Huh? I already knew he needed a bullet through the head, but this just confirms that we'd probably only get benefits out of executing him." You mentioned how even some of Elbrus' subjects despised him, though that many were conditioned or traumatised by him. Even if they knew what he did was wrong, they'd still protect him or claim they do love him...

>Offer them some help with fixing up the damage you had caused. Before taking the sideroute, maybe you could help them clean up the place.
After you finished your little chat regarding Elbrus, you took another sip of your bottle of beer, gulping it all down with ease before throwing it to the side. You brought up the possibility of helping them out with cleaning up the mess you made. The last thing you wanted was for them to be weakened and unable to repel an attack from some actual psycho subject. "It'd be appreciated. But, don't worry too much about it. It's our job to maintain this place and ensure it can fend off against threats. Though given how easily you bashed your way through, maybe we ought to use some more powerful traps. Might even ask some folk from Heathens to come over and help trap the place." Oscar would say, you stating that you wouldn't mind helping out. You were strong and could clean up the mess you had made with ease.

Dennis would finish his drink as well, before quickly getting up. "Well, since we don't have anything better to do now besides chatting, we might as well do something at this point, right? Besides, we can keep talking whilst fixing everything up." The others seemed to agree with what Dennis said. They didn't sound motivated or excited, but it was clear there wasn't much else they could do. Thus, the rest of the soldiers got up as well, heading as Oscar started assigning men. "Lyndon, assess the damage to the fortifications and barbed wire. Stella, Dennis, clean up some of the wood shrapnel and other litter. Lorenzo, you and Kiyohime can maybe check out the guard tower and see if it should be torn down or if it can be fixed and reinforced. I'll go get some materials for fixing the damage and maybe see if we should ask for materials from the government." With that, everyone got to work. You would help Lorenzo with the guard tower, going up a set of steps before looking at the damage you did. "Can you maybe ensure that nothing falls on top of me? Maybe just hold up the bit you damaged." Lorenzo asked, as you did as told.

>Ask them for more details about the detour, such as who is stationed around there, what kind of traps there were or if there were any other fortifications.
With everyone still in earshot and you not having much else to do, you asked for further details about the detour You wanted to know what you may encounter there in terms of traps, death squads and fortifications. "Well from what I’ve heard, there isn’t much there. Maybe some Lodgerites trying to set up shop. That, or some Blackstar folks trying to explore the place. I doubt it’d be anything you couldn’t deal with.” Lorenzo would answer calmly. Even then, you still wanted to be sure so you asked if there were any other bases nearby. “Probably. They’ve got plenty of corridors closed off there. Though given that I recall Vinella being around there, maybe some of the fortifications there have been abandoned or destroyed.”

Given what you knew of Vinella and her psychotic ways, you were a bit concerned to go there. Then again, if anyone could beat the shit out of her, it was you! No acid or huge claws were going to take you down! Though this did make you curious about something else.

>Ask them which subjects, scientists or other folk they had encountered already, if any. Maybe there were some there who you remembered?
You’d ask them what people they had met here, specifically scientists or subjects. Stella was the first to give a response. “Subjects? Well, we have seen one of them which quickly hid back into the combat sector. Some kind of dog subject who quickly whipped up a sandstorm. Do you know of them?” You knew nothing of a subject who could do such a thing. Tengri hadn’t made such a subject though, which you did tell them. Afterwards, Oscar spoke up a bit disappointedly. “So far, we’ve just encountered a group of facility staff. We found them whilst we made our way over to this location some time ago. They weren’t well equipped, so we did purge them.” You were a little bit upset that these guys killed some facility staff. Though for now, you brushed that aside. Hell, these guys seemed reasonable enough, so maybe they only killed them in self-defence? Or maybe the staff were real dickheads like Elbrus? Though soon after, you decided to ask them if they knew of Zephyr, which made them seem curious. “Zephyr? Who’s that?” Lyndon asked before grabbing the tablet.

In turn, you decided to tell them about Zephyr. You explained that they were a thunderbird made by Tengri and Jabal, who was designed with electricity-based powers. You knew she was designed as a battery and that she was somewhere deep in the combat sector. You also remembered that she was placed there to act as a continuous power source, being the main power source for this place due to how much electricity it needed. Come to think of it, it didn’t seem exactly like a nice thing to be done to her, but you also knew that she was a fan of combat stuff. And Tengri did make good choices most of the time, so he probably also made sure she wasn’t bored out of her mind down here. Hell, it was her who kept all the guns on here, so surely that wouldn’t be a problem! The moment you revealed this, everyone froze and looked at you in shock. After a moment, Oscar spoke up in a somewhat desperate tone. “This… Lyndon, is Zephyr in the tablet?!” Lyndon shook his head, after which Oscar spoke up. “Oh my god, this… if this is true, it’s a huge discovery! We… we need to share this with the government! They need to know of this!” He said, to which Dennis spoke up more sceptically. “Well hold on! We shouldn’t just tell them this without thinking about it first.”

Lorenzo seemed a bit more optimistic, responding quite happily. “Why not? I bet the government would give us quite the raise for figuring this out!” Stella spoke up a bit more uneasily. “I don’t know. How will we explain to them that we discovered this? It’s not like we’re rummaging through offices with this intel.” Dennis nodded along, before continuing. “Yeah! There’s no way we can reveal this to the government without being questioned! And what do we say then? ‘Oh, some subject told us!’.” Of course, they were ignoring one other key detail: the fact you didn’t know if this info should be allowed to go out there. This tablet thingie seemed to tell them all about subjects. And if the government knew of Zephyr, that probably meant her name was put in the tablet, and that it’d make her a target. And that wasn’t something you really wanted, given that Zephyr was also made by Tengri.

>What do you do next?

>Just keep quietly listening to what they had to say about this. Maybe they’d come to their own reasonable conclusion?
>Tell them not to share it. You had confided this to them in the hopes they’d not abuse the knowledge. Or well, in the hopes that it wouldn’t get Zephyr hunted down.
>Zephyr loved a fight, and she was strong enough. Might as well let her join in on the fun of beating up these squishy, pathetic humans!
>Mention further details about her. Maybe at a certain cost for them, such as more booze or further help which they may not be willing to give otherwise. (Write in if you’ll tell more about her and what you’d want in exchange from the soldiers…)
>Something else…

(This will unfortunately be my only update for today. And speaking of which, I'll probably switch to just 1 update a day again the coming few weeks. University is probably going to keep me somewhat busy again. Maybe I'll push out an extra update here and there. I'll certainly try my best to, but I can't guarantee anything.)

(Aside from that though, today's update is a fun one. A big reveal which I hope does make some sense. I do know it's kinda ironic that you're playing as Kiyohime and that you know nothing about Zephyr, so hopefully this entire update still makes some sense in that regard.)

>>6002682
>Tell them not to share it. You had confided this to them in the hopes they’d not abuse the knowledge. Or well, in the hopes that it wouldn’t get Zephyr hunted down.
Whoops, didn't think we'd dish out all that info. Oh well.

>>6002782
Supporting. Also point out the fact that unless they find official files on her, they really should keep it to themselves if they would get in trouble for so much as talking with us.

>>6002682
>Tell them not to share it. You had confided this to them in the hopes they’d not abuse the knowledge. Or well, in the hopes that it wouldn’t get Zephyr hunted down.
The government doesn't want any of their own down here living for knowing more then they should according to you guys. I wonder how they would feel about all of you knowing more then you should and doing things you shouldn't.

File: Now this is just cruel.png (40 KB, 500x900)

40 KB PNG

Not sure if I'll get an update out. Been distracted, and also did some drawfaggotry due to the kings and queens contest where Ano is currently being voted on. Totally not a rallying call from me to go over there and vote for her.

You guys don't wanna make her sad, right?

>>6003775
Understandable! I already voted for the beeg bug, though that pic sure isn't helping Ano beat the sack race disadvantage allegations.

God damnit, hasn't lady knight quest been on hiatus for months? How does it still have so much support?

>>6003792
I mean, it's not about winning for Ano. It's about having fun, right? Though, Ano isn't going to have fun when her sack keeps ripping apart from her strength...

I'm sure in the future, she will face other opponents in simpler tasks and come out on top!

>Tell them not to share it. You had confided this to them in the hopes they’d not abuse the knowledge. Or well, in the hopes that it wouldn’t get Zephyr hunted down.
Hearing them discuss these things, you realised that maybe you should've been a bit less open with all the info you had on Zephyr. And as they kept discussing and mentioned the logistical issues, you sternly told them that you didn't even want them to share this info around. Lorenzo and Oscar would quickly calm down a bit, Dennis meanwhile speaking more confidently. "See? Kiyohime agrees too! We need to think carefully about this! We shouldn't just share this without thinking through our actions!" You crossed your arms, stating that you didn't want them sharing it period. You had maybe spilled a bit too much on her, not having expected them to react this wildly and instantly focus her down. Whatever idiotic force compelled you to reveal these things was beyond you, but you weren't going to let them continue with their mission! You sternly told them off. "I mean, we can still maybe share it with the rest of Lodger. Hell, maybe we can find some trustworthy folks over at Blackstar and have them search for her?" Lorenzo suggested, Stella and Dennis shaking their head whilst Lyndon kept checking the tablet.

Afterwards, you told them that they'd probably need to find files about them, regardless of who they sent out to find Zephyr. After all, the government would question whoever discovered Zephyr's existence, and it would all eventually lead back to these guys. And given how insistent the government probably was, they'd probably keep asking until it was revealed they got this info from you. Hell, you even told them that the government was quite paranoid, at least based on the things you had seen them do. And given that they had sent in death squads on this secretive mission rather than their own forces, you also mentioned that the government would react poorly to them knowing about things they shouldn't.

Hell, once it became clear that they interacted with you, the government would probably be REALLY upset at them. Perhaps even resulting in a fate far worse than being killed by a subject. After some careful consideration, Oscar seemed to relent. "I suppose you're right. However, I do think that we can pretend like we got this from a scientist, especially if more of them happen to pass us and end up getting killed by us." Lorenzo and Lyndon seemed to agree, though you could tell that Stella and Dennis were still sceptical. You mentioned that you didn't want them trying to send anyone after Zephyr to kill her, which made Oscar speak up quite sternly. "Look, what if there were innocent lives out here? What if they were at risk because of the turret system this thunderbird seems to be handling? What if Tengri was somewhere here and was at risk of being shot?" You did heavily dislike the somewhat manipulative remark Oscar made.

Though you also did wonder if Tengri was maybe here. After the mystery subject escaped, you didn't know where he went to. He did say something about getting the big guns, whatever that meant. And given the powerful tools in this place, maybe he did go here to get something and got stuck here. Still, you didn't want to believe such a thing, so told Oscar angrily that you'd prefer he didn't say such idiotic things. It was quite rude of him to imply such things, especially as a way to try and convince you of sending a bunch of death squads over to one of Tengri's other subjects! And after saying such, Oscar relented. "We'll try and avoid bringing her up. Though do understand that I would really appreciate being able to share these details. It'd make it far easier to know what we're dealing with and how we could then deactivate all the turrets in this area. Which would mean more of our men surviving." You scoffed, just going back to helping Lorenzo with the tower. Maybe later, you could give Oscar a piece of your mind!

For some time, you'd help out with fixing some of the damage you did. Unfucking the main guard tower was a bit of a chore, but given your strength and a bit of tinkering from Lorenzo, it seemed the thing was stable enough to walk in. "I think we still ought to request for a new one to set up. Just to be sure." It was a bit annoying to hear that your work might just be for nothing, but you wouldn't complain. With that fixed, you were asked if you could maybe fix some of the dents you made in the other fortifications, you accepting and just fixing your mess. Though, you had to admit that 'fixing' things wasn't your thing. You were more of a person who broke things instead. And as you tried to smack some of the fortifications back into place, you'd hear Oscar speaking a bit smugly. "Maybe be a bit less harsh, Kiyohime." You were honestly a bit unsure how to feel. Cleaning up the place was a chore, and these bastards weren't exactly thankful. You didn't have to help them. You could've just headed to the other route now if you so wanted! They couldn't stop you! You were doing them a favour! Yes, you broke their crap, but they did shoot you first as well!

It was honestly actually putting you in something of a sour mood. Yeah, these guys had gotten you some beer and were generally chill, but the fact they wanted to hunt down Zephyr still and the fact they were just making fun of your genuine attempt to help... it did put a bad taste in your mouth which you weren't pleased with. Then again, maybe you were just being a tad bit dramatic. These guys probably weren't too used to interacting with subjects, and they were admittedly pretty reasonable all things considered. Still, a bit more respect would go a long way...

>What do you do next?

>Try and calm your mind by thinking of something else right now. Maybe there were some things worth pondering. Maybe about Zephyr or Tengri or any of your other friends down here... (Write in what you'll think about whilst working.)
>Return the 'favour' so to speak and give a little retort to that stupid remark from Oscar. (Write in a jab for the guy.)
>Talk to Lorenzo or some of the other guys there. Maybe you wanted to ask them for some other details which were on your mind. (Write in who you wanna talk to and about what.)
>Just quietly try and do your job. The faster you got this over with, the faster you could head back to finding more booze.
>Walk out. Oscar clearly didn't appreciate your help, given his dickish tone. So why not just leave him be? He needed your help more than you did his.
>Something else...

(Not the most elaborate of updates, and maybe not the most exciting of choices. But I think it fits with Kiyohime's personality. Regardless, hope it will still be good. Also, hope the cute little Ano doodle compensates for the lack of a second update. I definitely ought to try and get more drawings out for the other monster girls in the future...)