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You are L2S Trollslayer Fiona Jarnafeldt, and you have a very simple job today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czUaNaDjK9k

Unless you have surprise assignments to suppress escaped monsters that are researched for their exotic physiology, scour the wilds in search of illegal tunnels into the stormdrains underneath the rainy city of Helsinki where thousands of excess humans gather to survive, or test esoteric technologies that are powered by your own biological processes created at the behest of the director of the Stormwatch, you have a very simple day ahead of you.

As Winter comes, so does the march of Helsinki’s Stormwatch against the underground city of squatters that lurk underneath the pristine, clean, and self-sufficient city. And while the nation of Helsinki is well equipped to commit a total pogrom with advanced weaponry, regulations on gas emissions by the global environmental regulating body, Mother Nature’s Providence, enforce that the city be taken by boots on the ground with bladed weapons in hand made from entirely recyclable materials.

And you have been assured this is the biggest opportunity you have to earn an L3 position. With L3 comes the rights that those in the past used to enjoy; the right to start a family, mainly. You are, haha, incredibly lonely. You see things, sometimes. A child of yours, yet to be.

To make this attack possible, a great understanding of the city’s current layout, population, and demographics have to be taken. Rather than rely on vision from easily sabotaged cameras, this strange thing called “WiFi” can be used to detect people through walls with comparable quality to thermal imaging. This can be used to scan the current physical layout of the Undercity, and establish its current capacity of fighting-age adults and any trained - or even consciously cooperative - aberrations.
>>
>>6101725
>Suptg archive
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Solarpunk%20Cleanup%20Agent%20Quest
>Quest doc including characters, equipment, mechanics, etc.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jhZljN9y7A8w6qFcD8wX_xYaKZP65ZH8EGrmgKQ-nIU
Hello! Join Agent Jarnafeldt as she fights criminals and monsters to earn the right to start a family as the long arm of the ecofascist dictatorship that the world has fallen under, and uncover the mysteries of the world that have returned since the fall of the old one - be they mutated horror, or something else entirely.
____________________________________


So today, you’re going to help one of many teams of engineers set up one of these devices and a whole nest of tiny drones that will form a massive network. And by help, you mean protect from anybody that might stumble on by.

With you, you have the assistance of your fellow agent who has been through a lot with you; L2S Manhunter Saemus Fahy. While you signed onto the section of Noita and the people who work with them in study and mastery of what they deem the Arcane, L2S Fahy took up an offer from the Stormwatch Director Katriina Jousten to perform routine testing on her esoteric inventions. It just so happens he is using a new version of one of her latest passions, biofueled exosuits. The first one was a muscle suit powered entirely by the wearer’s metabolism, (which was powerful… and far from pleasant) but this one is a bulkier armor fit with a reservoir for material that the suit’s power generator can “digest” and use to keep the wearer from exhaustion.
>>
>>6101730
The engineers, who you and Fahy have caught up with after a short while of going through the clerical process of getting the mission underway, have told you that after a short walk to the site of installation, you will have to stand watch while they scale the wall and ceiling to set up the device in a place that makes it hard to destroy but easy for the drones to return to when needed.

Heavy rains the past few days have caused large pools of knee-deep or even higher rushing water to flush through the stormdrain’s recessed areas, creating islands of walkable terrain that surround the support pillars.

On this mission, Fahy plans to continue using this suit to give it a test run, and will bring his standard issue Volt Machetes.

You haven’t quite figured out what you want to bring. But you got time.

For this equipment vote, you have two polls, where you must place two votes in the worn equipment poll and three votes on the weapons poll for separate items. The first vote you cast for each poll will be listed as your primary vote, and the subsequent votes will be tallied as a regular vote. In case of a tie, whichever option had more primary votes wins. "No Sidearm" is an option included to allow voters to leave a single weapon slot empty for the sake of speed. Notably, not having a sidearm increases movement speed and helps with positioning, especially through heavy water.
Please refer to the equipment list in the Google Doc to see the properties of each weapon and rules involving equipment:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jhZljN9y7A8w6qFcD8wX_xYaKZP65ZH8EGrmgKQ-nIU/edit#bookmark=id.46hbiickh1ed

Pick up to two Worn Equipment:
>Stormwatch Fatigues
>Lignum Vitae Breastplate
>Lignum Vitae Kit
>Turnout Gear
>HAZMAT Gear
>Undercroft E1 Bodysuit (Fully tested; see doc for actual rules)

You have two weapon slots. The top two will be taken.
Pick three Weapons:
>No Sidearm
>Pneumatic Handaxe
>Volt Machete
>Searing Knife
>Kimmo Blade
>Stormwatch Pilebunker
>Undercroft Pilebunker
>Jarngreipr
>Pneumatic Battleaxe
>Volt Bardiche
>Stormwatch Flamberge
>Pneumatic Maul
>Stormwatch Crossbow
>Stormwatch Longbow
>>
>>6101725
Nice music pick, QM!

>>6101746
>Lignum Vitae Kit
>Lignum Vitae Breastplate

>Jarngreipr
>Pneumatic Handaxe
>Stormwatch Crossbow
>>
>>6101746
>Lignum Vitae Kit
>Turnout Gear

>Pneumatic Battleaxe
>Stormwatch Crossbow
>Searing Knife
>>
>>6101746
>>Turnout Gear
We are in dirty sewers, who knows what kind of disgusting stuff is there. Turnout gear bare minimum. Escort mission may not be the best time to use E1 bodysuit, and we may need more mobility to protect the engineers than hazmat can provide.

>Stormwatch Crossbow
>Kimmo Blade
>Pneumatic Handaxe
>>
>>6101903
+1
>>
>>6101903
+1
>>
>>6101903
Support
>>
>i wrote "pick up to two" again instead of "pick two"
god fucking damn it
>>
Either way, what is voted for has a strong majority.
>Turnout Gear
>Stormwatch Crossbow
>Pneumatic Handaxe
Writing!
>>
>>6101758
>>6101862
>>6101903
>>6101914
>>6101920
>>6101996
If the engineers are going to be climbing up walls in the massive, 40-50 foot tall storm drain chambers, you would want to defend them against things that can climb up walls, or people with weapons that could reach all the way up there. Between that and the rain (that’s generally filtered numerous times over, but this is suspected to be dangerously close to the undercity, sooo…), it’ll be hard to get toward enemies to really whack them, so a crossbow is a great choice. But in case they do get close, you got your axe.

After having picked up an operator for your mission-Sumika, as usual-and grabbing radios for the two engineers, you head on out through Helsinki. Realizing the majority of the walking from headquarters to the objective location will be in public view, Fahy takes off his helmet and walks around with the suit, which looks like some plain, featureless black jumpsuit.

On the way over, you ask Fahy if the suit is safe to use with the Volt Machetes, if there’s any metal parts, or places where water might pool up. Things that might be a problem if he lets loose that hyperconductive copper spray.

He shrugs.

Well, he is giving it a test run. You’ll do your best to make sure he doesn’t fry himself.
>>
>>6102444
The engineers themselves are local Finns, and aren’t Stormwatch operatives. You were worried about chatter coming from them, but the average Finn is an asocial creature. Or at least very timid. They don’t bother you, and chat among each other. One of them is talking about a vacation with his family, to “avoid the birds this year”. You don’t know if they’re aware that there’s more than the usual number… but he’s already making the right choice, there’s no need to tell him any more.

Arriving at a station where the water of the stormdrains gushed out from large pipes, flashing your ID cards was enough to get the workers there to unlock the doors to lead you within. Crossing a catwalk through an airlock-style bay much like the one where you fought your first Hiisi, you find yourself looking over the stormdrain in its full function.

The oftentimes stagnant waters of the stormdrain have been plowed over by feet of rain pooling in the valleys between pillars, rushing down the slightest of inclines across a complex web. There is a main flow to the outlet, and tributary flows join each other in a way to reach the outlet. Much like a real river, you fondly note.

The water seems… mostly clean. Nothing is visibly wrong with it. Keeping your turnout gas mask off to get a good sense of scent, it doesn’t smell bad either. If anything, it’s eroding the concrete.

“Commence mission,” L4 Operator Nonoka Sumika chimes in on your earpiece. “Straight ahead, less than a kilometer away is the installation point for the device. As per the document, I recommend heading straight ahead.”

When you hop down the ladder and step by the main torrent, you can see the place the mission document mentioned before. A grassy, bushy knoll, underground; the “Lehto” as it’s called, a supposed sanctuary for any who stay there. Including the squatters…

Come to think of it, isn’t there a bar named after that kind of thing?

As your operator tells you what to do, as the engineers step wade through the waters with great care in each of their steps… you can’t help but need to see with your own eyes and ears. Especially since right now, it all feels so very... clear.
Roll for
Attunement. As a student of the Arcane, you receive a +2d6 bonus. Two anons, roll 4d6.
>>
Rolled 2, 4, 5, 4 = 15 (4d6)

>>6102445
Senses on max power rn
>>
Rolled 3, 4, 1, 4 = 12 (4d6)

>>6102450
+1
I think the Lehto link is false. The bar is a sanctuary for anybody wanting a drink like how the real Lehto are sanctuaries underground
>>
>>6102450
>>6102468
Try as you might, the sound of rain clashing against the streets, running down the grates, funneling into spouts that spill the water from on high down to the ground below is overbearing. Countless waterfalls, accompanied by clouds of mist block vision, making you unable to see if there’s someone already lounging in that hidden little grove. And trying to close your eyes and feel for a moment, there’s no thing that you can detect.

But there is something more primeval you can feel. A sense of nothing being right.

Not that you’re being watched or there’s something vile lurking about.

There’s just this crushing atmosphere. This sense of depression that is not yours, but you are a passenger to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbqbIXy1AgQ

The heart of the world beats with agony and sorrow.
>>
>>6102943
“See anything?” Fahy questions, walking up to you. You shake your head. He seems unphased by the anguish in the air that you could cut with a knife. Putting on the helmet to his Undercroft prototype suit, he resumes looking like an unfeeling machine. “Let’s get rolling. You guys know the drill?”

The engineers finally realize they’ve been talked to, and looked at you with concern. One was small and thin with black hair and blue eyes, covered in what was clearly climbing gear. The other was a fairly burly older gentleman carrying lots of tools and the necessary equipment, functioning as a mule. The lighter of the two rubbed his arm and spoke in a constant monotone. “Are you sure about going through that patch of grass? You trust whatever’s there to leave us be? Can’t we go a little bit south of it?”

“Aye, yeah,” chimed his elder. “I’m sure there might be a pinch of truth in the tales, but not for you. And while they’re at it, none for us.”

Sumika blips into your ear with a comment. “I highly recommend it.”

Fahy is taking post ahead, looking back at you, knowing that the worst choice you can do is hesitate on wherever it is you’re going.

>The mission says to go straight ahead through that lehto, so you're all doing it. If there's any problems, you'll deal with it.
>You don't want to crack the whip at the engineers just yet, so you'll be fine with going around, closer to the secured south side.
>>
>>6102945
>The mission says to go straight ahead through that lehto, so you're all doing it. If there's any problems, you'll deal with it.
Be aggressively cheerful and reassuring about it, though.
>>
>>6102945
>>The mission says to go straight ahead through that lehto, so you're all doing it. If there's any problems, you'll deal with it.
>>
>>6102962
+1
Channel the Don spirit
>>
>>6102945
>>You don't want to crack the whip at the engineers just yet, so you'll be fine with going around, closer to the secured south side.
>>
>>6102945
>The mission says to go straight ahead through that lehto, so you're all doing it. If there's any problems, you'll deal with it.
please no ambush
>>
>>6102945
>The mission says to go straight ahead through that lehto, so you're all doing it. If there's any problems, you'll deal with it.
>>
>>6102962
>>6103059
>>6103119
>>6103230
>>6103265
The gloominess is getting at you. You want to fight back against it a little. “Yes, I trust them!” You loudly reply as you march through the water, raising your legs up and over to not fight the mass. “I’ll have you know they’re very good at what they do! If they knew it wasn’t safe, they wouldn’t suggest a mission like this to go through this place to begin with, or there would have been a larger force given for the task. But no, the papers said two agents was enough, they said the lehto is safe, and they said this is the quickest route, too. If there is trouble, I’ll smell it coming, and we’ll be out of here before you know it!”

The workers pass odd looks at each other as you slip on your gas mask and lead the way. Pensively, they follow you.

What would have been a few minutes walk on a sunny day turns into a fifteen minute endeavor, with knee-deep rain water pushing and pulling at your legs as you move forward. A detour would have been a terrible idea, if only because it would take that much longer to get anywhere if not moving in the most direct way you can.
>>
>>6103636
As you approach the Lehto, you stop the others so that you could take a better look at it.

The Lehto is situated in a hallway of some sort, its front and back set with a barrier to prevent the flow of water from the rest of the drain. Its ceiling covered in what could be mistaken for a web of silos; they are in fact a series of water wheels, spinning off the rainwater as it descends into the stormdrain. Across all of Helsinki, thousands of inconspicuous grates tucked away out of sight on the surface funnel water down into these tiny yet potent hydroelectric centers. Most are well maintained, but these are dripping, and spewing mist onto the grassy field beneath it.

A large glass prism is situated underneath one of these, emanating a pale light not too different from the color of the cloudy sky. Instead of using electric UV light to grow, it seems they use a network of special lenses to redirect sunlight into a laser they send from wherever it’s coming from into the prism.

The wall reads in a strong but fading text “SECTION XVIII” between the vines that grow up along it. Bushes linger at the sides of the hall, adorned with local Finnish berries. Grass is a bit sparse, not for a lack of resources, but from being well-trod. Aside from outcrops of foliage, there’s nothing large enough for something big to be standing behind, so you nod to the others and urge them to follow.

Moving with caution, you find that the lehto is fairly deserted. There are some signs of life; some choice sticks lying around, well worn from being handled and battered against each other. The mask hides your warm smile, as you think of the kids that might play here.

For the sanctuary that this place is, you feel like there is something missing. And as you approached the center of the lehto, you begin to see an large space where something was, seemingly recently, removed.

The thin layer of earth is only a foot or two deep, but there is a large, sprawling, squid-shaped trench with its center in the middle of the hall but stretching from nearly wall to wall. Water tinged with dirt pooled in the hole in the ground, and some of the trenches have broken walls, suggesting a direction of removal.

After a moment of pause, you put a finger to your ear to turn on the radio. “Sumika… is this the imprint of a tree?” Fahy, who moved on after acknowledging the hole’s existence, suddenly got interested.

There’s a large pause before Sumika finds the words. “Yes, I think it is. There was a tree here before,” she comments with a puzzled tone, followed by another pause. “Might have had to use it for fortifications. They know what’s coming.”

“Oh, no, I bet it could have just stood up and walked away,” Fahy mused, moving on once again.

You can’t help but slip out a laugh. Shaking your head, you realize it’s not terribly relevant, and with a hop over the ravines, you keep going.
>>
>>6103638
The lehto was a great choice, because while its ground was sopping and wet, you cleared so much distance through it without trudging through water. By the time you reached the site, you were worried for the integrity of the equipment.

The base of operations for installing the Wifi drone hub was in a corner upon heightened ramp with a flat platform at its top. The south wall curves into the ceiling, while the east wall extends northward for maybe fifty feet. North of you is a long wall that serves as the exterior for another hydropower hall. East of you are pillars that stretch on into the dark mist.

On that dry footing, the engineers set down their bags and began pulling out hammers and pitons.

They’re going to be climbing up to the ceiling to install this like a mountain climber. It makes a lot more sense why they chose the very thin, waifish Finn for the job.

Noise of work began to ring out as they began drilling into the wall to start his ascent. The stormdrain’s peculiar shape and structure warped its acoustics, but the sounds of the hammer meeting metal echoed through the chamber. Your earpiece blipped as Sumika moved you from the channel the engineers could hear so they could talk to each other in peace.

“So how are we doing this?” Fahy whispered onto the radio. “Where do you want me?”

Pick one.
>Keep watch with your crossbow on the ramp while Fahy stays on the ground level right beside the engineers. It’s the best way to use your advantages and keep any attackers away.
>Post up a distance away from them. It’s better that whatever action happens doesn’t happen near them.
>Defer to Sumika’s order, whatever that is.
>>
>>6103639
>Keep watch with your crossbow on the ramp while Fahy stays on the ground level right beside the engineers. It’s the best way to use your advantages and keep any attackers away.
Deny attackers the dry ground. Keep em wet so they can be zapped safely with the Volt Machetes. THEY have to come to US if they want the workers dead
>>
>>6103807
Plus can't the crossbow bolt serve as a lightning rod? It'd be a great combo of Fiona tagging an enemy and then Fahy wrecks them when they get almost out of the water
>>
>>6103639
>Keep watch with your crossbow on the ramp while Fahy stays on the ground level right beside the engineers. It’s the best way to use your advantages and keep any attackers away.

>>6103808
Love me combo attacks.
>>
>>6103639
>Keep watch with your crossbow on the ramp while Fahy stays on the ground level right beside the engineers. It’s the best way to use your advantages and keep any attackers away.

They are the target if any action starts, so yes we stay by them
>>
>>6103639
>>Keep watch with your crossbow on the ramp while Fahy stays on the ground level right beside the engineers. It’s the best way to use your advantages and keep any attackers away.
>>
>>6103808
Unfortunately, the crossbow bolts are made from plywood shoots coated in hard resin with artificial bone broadheads (the process of making arrowheads from real bones of human overpopulation is too exhaustive a process) (metal is too expensive to waste on projectiles made to kill humans unless you're a Chicago Red Dog or MNP Deathsquad Agent) (even then Deathsquad might use projectiles that melt, disintegrate or evaporate for many hits in order to obscure the cause of death)
>>
>>6103639
>>Keep watch with your crossbow on the ramp while Fahy stays on the ground level right beside the engineers. It’s the best way to use your advantages and keep any attackers away.
>>
>>6103639
>Keep watch with your crossbow on the ramp while Fahy stays on the ground level right beside the engineers. It’s the best way to use your advantages and keep any attackers away.
>>
>>6104003
A sad day for combo enthusiasts everywhere.
>>
>>6103639
>Keep watch with your crossbow on the ramp while Fahy stays on the ground level right beside the engineers. It’s the best way to use your advantages and keep any attackers away.
>>
my body is an crumbling temple
I am trying to write an update for tonight but my sleep has been really shit today
>>
>>6105464
Get well soon, QM. Get some rest.
>>
update;
what felt like simple dehydration when waking up has been plaguging me all week no matter how much water I drink
tooth infection seems to be the culprit, and I have to wait for it to subside to have a decent night's rest; i've been sleeping three hours two times a day and can't focus for the past 4-5 days
>>
>>6107095
Brutal. Had it looked at?
>>
>>6107095
>tooth infection
Dentist
get that shit checked out, top of your list. That crap can be horrid
Recover well QM
>>
>>6107099
>>6107108
I did, I have antibiotics. Gonna have to have a root canal sooner or later too. I managed to dodge that while I was a kid, and all that did for me was set me up to get one as an adult. Either fuck up early or not at all, no halfsies.
>>
>>6107110
yeah def that root canal, its worth it.
Its not something to avoid. Dental pain does NOT go away, it will come back worse.
I hope you go to a dentist that will numb you up properly, I had a root canal for an infection and the nerves were very inflamed so it was not a painless process for me.
The other dentist I went to for it numbed me to hell and back and I felt okay during it.
>>
>>6107110
I'm glad you're on top of it. Get well soon, QM.
>>
>>6103807
>>6103812
>>6103854
>>6103889
>>6104069
>>6104592
>>6104944
You sling the crossbow down from your back to help sell your plan. “Fahy, I need you on the ground, around this corner pillar here. I’ll stay up here. If there’s someone suspicious, I’ll take the first shots. If they run they run, but if they try to scale the wall, you can flank them. There’s plenty of space for me to move around and get a clear shot, so you won’t be in the crossfire.”

You imagine the Irish boy smirking. “Sounds good. This suit ain’t exactly fast, so a knife in the back is not gonna happen… but splitting their attention is good enough to do them in, I’m sure.”

As the engineers got to work and Fahy slid on down to dredge through water to his ambushing spot, all you had to do was wait and be ready. The engineers said that it could take one or two hours, depending on how good the concrete actually is at supporting their weight with the methods they’re using. If one fails, then they might have to use another more time consuming one.

And as everyone is busy working that out, you’re just very bored. Operators can’t afford to keep the air busy with casual chatter unfortunately, so you will have to sit and wait.

And wait.

And wai-

BSSCCHT SSCCCHT

Ow!

Your ears sting from a sudden outburst of radio static, and your turnout gear stops you from simply yanking out the earpiece. You look around to bitch about it with someone else, but curiously, you’re the only one reacting to the sudden cacophony.
>>
>>6107723
A voice begins to tune in from beyond the channels. It is a man’s voice, low and snappy, but warm, like a meek campfire. “Talk, talk, talk. Who can hear me? I know you can hear me. I need words. Talk. Talk. Talk.”

Incited from pure annoyance into speaking before your Operator can get a word in, you speak eager to get him out of your ear. “Who is this? Sumi-err, Operator, did you invite someone?”

The voice lets out some bored humming for a moment, and without addressing you in particular, begins reading something aloud. “L2S… Trollslayer, Fiona Jarnafeldt… Wildbad, Calw Landkries...”

… Where the fuck did he find your hometown-

“Wait. Jarnafeldt?” The mysterious speaker lets out a curious utterance before being momentarily lost in memory. “Ah. The Prodigal Daughter. Come to follow in your mother’s footsteps, in one way or another.”

You’re very much not liking how Sumika is not cutting in. “Who is this? Why is nobody else talking?”

The low voice was uplifted, though you could hear the eyebags on his face. This second wind comes with both elation and delirium. He doesn’t sound terribly old, so you chalk up his frenetic tone to overwork. “Greetings. I am called Zephyr. Chief Architect and Hydraulic Filtration Engineer of the Helsinki Stormdrain System… it’s maintenance, that is. The one they call Leshy is an… acquaintance of mine.”

The information that an Old Oak is talking to you should be reassuring, but there’s something amiss, you sense.
>>
>>6107747
"Do you know how Stormwatch agents get promoted to L3?” He asks. He speaks as if gasping for air from deep water. You can’t tell if that’s the radio being dysfunctional or not. You don't reply immediately, and he quickly presses further before you fully digest the question. “Would you like to?”

Choose one. Or write in.
>Yes, you'd like to be told.
>No, you don’t want to know.
>You think you already know how.
>Take off the earpiece and tell Fahy it's acting up.
>>
>>6107751
>You think you already know how.
>>
>>6107751
>You think you already know how.
...
>>
>>6107751
>>No, you don’t want to know.
We'll go what we have to do to get what we want. Anything is irrelevant.
>>
>>6107751
>>Yes, you'd like to be told.
>>
>>6107751
>>Yes, you'd like to be told.
I don't know if my vote went through or if my IP changed but just in case
>>6107117
im this anon
>>
>>6107772
>>6107795
>>6107952
>>6108020
The name “Zephyr” is familiar. Sumika had referred to him in confidence to you as you explained how you met Leshy in the forests above Helsinki. “Overworked, but a bleeding heart,” she described him.

You have a feeling it’s actually him, and not some trick. Squatters knowing how to hijack Stormwatch channels would have been done for months now if they could.

As for his question…

… You think you already know.

You have this creeping feeling in the back of our heart and at the furthest reaches of your fingertips. They sting both the same. It burns like a vat of acid that can burn through even steel resolve.

But you don’t want to rely on this feeling. There is someone willing to tell you.

Even that comes with a level of difficulty. “Go on,” you reply.

And the world suddenly becomes heavier.
>>
>>6108540
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPvNk9t36WM

Since time immemorial, every living, breathing, thinking thing has had to kill to define its place in the world. There are no exceptions. From the meager krill, to the most sage human. Every act of sustaining oneself comes at a cost of blood and malice. Even in a theoretical world where mankind no longer needs to eat, where man is immortal; something would require they abuse each other to exist.

All of existence is abuse and subjugation of others, or being subjugated. And for all of man’s wisdom, power, and opportunity, there is no exception.

Could there ever be an exception? Could one even exist in this world, escaping this dichotomy?

I had read accounts of the old world, preserved in literature. In one such account, I had read that invading soldiers had approached a mother and played with her child, made funny faces, made it laugh, and let it touch the pistol that had been pressed against its forehead with curiosity and wonder before pulling the trigger.

Horror such as this was common. It is still common. It will continue to be common.

When this world was rightly burned in nuclear flame, humanity had a chance to create something new from its ashes. Instead, it incentives this behavior. Instead, it enforces this behavior. Instead, it wishes to make you worse.

There are one hundred and eighty-two thousand souls living down here, in squalor, but alive. They too are subject to the cycle of abuse and abuser in order to survive, they kill and be killed, but everyone is. Of those souls, forty four percent are children. And they, too, are overpopulation, Fiona.

In fact, in truth, nothing else matters. Everything you have killed up to this point has been an irrelevant obstacle. Trolls, assassins, jotunn, even rogue Stormwatch agents. Kill as many as you like. The cost for admission to this life you seek can never be paid with a mountain of bodies. The only accepted currency is your soul.

To achieve L3, you have to kill one child of the undercity. There is no other requirement. Just one.


There it is. That swelling in your fingertips. That knife in your heart.
>>
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>>6108545
Everyone around you and before you has crossed this Rubicon of the soul. Your leaders. Your peers. Your forebears.

Even… Papa?
Mama?

And to bring life into this world is to subject them to the same fate as you. To damn other souls to yet another abuser. To perform a nine month long signature selling the soul of your firstborn to the devil which corrupted you. To doom an innocent child who will one day grow old and face the choice you, and many others, and many more, will face. To create not just a monster of yourself, but of your children as well.

And we endorse this. This is our vision of a better world. We refuse to do anything else.

Would you look at your child the same, knowing they will stand over the mangled corpse of the innocent? Would they be able to survive the guilt of telling their parent that they had done that awful sin? Would you be able to withstand telling yours? Will I, one day, look upon how many milliliters of hemoglobin have been filtered from the water of this section of the Stormdrain and be able to tell how many must have died for the sake of you, your child, your child's child, and all who follow?

Or would you like to break this cycle of suffering and debasement?

>Yes, you could never hurt a child.
>No, you will find a way to move on despite this.
>Throw the earpiece away. He speaks sedition, and whether or not he is testing your loyalty or if he is a sincere traitor to MNP, you have heard enough out of him.
>>
>>6108548
>>No, you will find a way to move on despite this.
>>
>>6108548
>>Throw the earpiece away. He speaks sedition, and whether or not he is testing your loyalty or if he is a sincere traitor to MNP, you have heard enough out of him.
Enough of this, we can ask the others if its true.
>>
>>6108548
>No, you will find a way to move on despite this.
There's many people out there who also go throughout their entire lives without ever having killed somebody, but our fact of living and existence requires us to be aware of life and death even if we don't like it.
I really don't know how to refute what Z is saying other than "if we hate it so much, we might as well all kill ourselves and leave this planet to the people we don't like, who will keep doing the same things we hate regardless"
>>
>>6108548
>Throw the earpiece away. He speaks sedition, and whether or not he is testing your loyalty or if he is a sincere traitor to MNP, you have heard enough out of him.
I dunno why
>>
>>6108548
>>No, you will find a way to move on despite this.
We're a big girl who's work is killing. We'll get over it.
>>
>>6108548
>Throw the earpiece away. He speaks sedition, and whether or not he is testing your loyalty or if he is a sincere traitor to MNP, you have heard enough out of him.
NOT LISTENING NOT LISTENING LALALALALALA
>>
>>6108861
Killing a child isn't that easy of a decision to come too.
Nor do we have any evidence to assume this is truly the only ONLY way.
either way. He doesn't deserve our answer, and who knows what our answer might be until we are actually before an innocent child.
>>
>>6108548
>Throw the earpiece away. He speaks sedition, and whether or not he is testing your loyalty or if he is a sincere traitor to MNP, you have heard enough out of him
>>
>>6108548
>>Throw the earpiece away. He speaks sedition, and whether or not he is testing your loyalty or if he is a sincere traitor to MNP, you have heard enough out of him.
>>
>>6108548
>No, you will find a way to move on despite this.
>>
Sorry for no update yesterday; I'm feeling much better now.
Writing.
>>
>>6109442
I'm glad to hear it. Welcome back QM!
>>
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Nein. Nein nein nein nein nein, you want none of this. Null, keine, nein. Whatever he is putting down, you are not picking up; you are flipping the table over and walking away.

You rip off the gas mask and take off the headphones too. Taking deep breaths and shaking your head, you wipe your face from sweat and let the cool stormdrain air rush against it.

The sound of rain smashing and flushing through the stormdrain systems are drowned out by the sounds of drills digging into concrete behind you. This alone would make for poor ambiance, but there is one saving grace. Here, the smell isn’t too bad. Petrichor is better up above, but the water rushing along the ground is filtered a dozen times over. Its scent is clean. There are times where you hate how clean this city can be. This, this you will permit. For this moment.

In this moment, you’re glad it’s not filthy.

… You don’t have an answer to what he said.

You don’t plan to have one, either. Such bold proclamations of if you could do something or could not fall apart when it comes time to put it to practice.

No plan survives first contact with the enemy, after all.

At least, for something like this, you would say that. For something that’s much easier to be proud of, you could gladly say you are up for the challenge, to take on the odds. This isn’t something you could brag about. Something you shouldn't be confident about.

It’d explain why everyone keeps so quiet about it. Shame stops them from bragging, but they always compel you.

Maybe there will be a situation where it could be easy. But there just as might not. It could take years. It could happen today.

And did he just say there were one hundred eighty thousand people living underground?! How!? That’s ridiculous! How can they possibly manage to upkeep a population like that? That’s, that’s about 20% of the entirety of Helsinki! One in six people who live in Helsinki would be living down here if that was anywhere near accurate. That’s absurd. Completely, wildly absurd. There's no way…
>>
>>6109723
“Oy, Fiona!”

L2S Fahy makes his way over toward you, as to a void yelling so loudly. “Something wrong with your mic? Operator been trying to talk to you.” In response, you tell him you’ve been hearing static from your headphones, so you took it off to hear what’s going on around you better instead. He relays this to L4 Sumika, and after a minute, he says, “You’re going to have to put it back on to see if she’s got it right, right?”

To your displeasure, you put the headphones back on.

-ow old to become a monster. Of this, you have my promi-
BSSCCHT SSCCCHT
Ow.

Through the static, a voice you trust far better comes in. “Hello? Fiona? Can you hear me now?”

“I can now!” You reply, relieved to be past… whatever the hell that was.

Sumika seems very annoyed - not at you, you can tell from the tone of her voice she’s very angry at the computer. “Can you describe what happened? I suddenly noticed your connection dropped.”

>Lie and say that you got some interference or something. Just a whole bunch of static - don't worry about it.
>Say that someone intercepted your signals and started raving at you. Not far enough from the truth to be a lie...
>Admit someone hijacked the line and somehow knew all about you. If you’re in trouble, you’d like Sumika to have your back.
>>
>>6109725
>>Lie and say that you got some interference or something. Just a whole bunch of static - don't worry about it.
>>
>>6109725
>Lie and say that you got some interference or something. Just a whole bunch of static - don't worry about it.
>>
>>6109725
>Say that someone intercepted your signals and started raving at you. Not far enough from the truth to be a lie...
>>
>>6109725
>>Say that someone intercepted your signals and started raving at you. Not far enough from the truth to be a lie...
>>
>>6109824
>>6109831
>>6109895
>>6109915
You don’t really know a good answer so you’re going to sound confused. “Sounded like someone tried interfering with my radio in particular. Some direct jam, or something. I might have heard something? I hope you understand, I didn't want to listen to close to such harsh static.”

Sumika’s mind trails off with her voice, her timid voice crumbling as she goes on. “Direct interference… Only people who could try something like that on us would be military, or…” You can hear her shake her head in frustration. “Must have pawned some tech to the highest bidder before getting dealt with. Don’t worry about it.”

Don’t worry about it, she tells you, as crunchy digitized voices begin to murmur in the office background. Your operator takes off her headset to hear what’s going on. You can’t hear anything, but whatever it is, it sounds fairly important. Before long, Nonoka is back on the microphone.

“We have a situation here,” the Nipponese operator says coldly, sternly, collected. Whatever uncertainty it was that had been plaguging her mind, it has been thoroughly cleaned up. “I have to depart to help perform an interview. Someone’s on their way to pick up after me, but hold on for now.”

Fahy throws his arms up as he begins to walk back into position. “Can’t it wait a bit?”

Sumika for a moment considers precisely how much shit she would be getting into for elaborating. “It absolutely cannot,” she answers. “I must go now - good luck.”

"Take care!" You tell her. You might need that luck she offered you.

Roll for Savvy. Two anons, roll 3d6.
Making Fahy’s 8d6 roll after yours have been rolled.
>>
Rolled 4, 3, 2 = 9 (3d6)

>>6110417
>>
Rolled 5, 3, 6 = 14 (3d6)

>>6110417
>>
Rolled 3, 5, 4, 2, 3, 4, 6, 5 = 32 (8d6)

>>6110420
>>6110553
Time for Fahy's Savvy roll. Posted forward and an expert on manhunting, he has a great set of eyes and ears to let you know when a bad batch are about to come rolling up.
>>
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The worker that was scaling the wall struggled with his next bolt. He was halfway up and now close to directly over you. Several hooks connected him to pitons he had set previously. The worker has to be careful about how much he is drilling; once he’s done he has to fill up the holes he’s drilled to make it unable to be accessed. You also overheard that he was given a budget of ten minutes of drilling power to work with, but you have no idea if that’s supposed to be not a lot of time or plenty.

As the worker above fumbled for the next piton, Fahy comes in on the radio.

“Three. Two are wearing some heavy gear. Might be more of that pilebunker junk, but there’s something else. A metallic clank in their footsteps. I can’t look, they’d see me.”

Laying down just at the corner of the ramp’s peak with your crossbow trained forward, you empty your lungs, roll up your sleeve, and press your bare wrist into the concrete. You try to feel for vibrations. If you feel it from where you are, it’d be some really heavy gear they’re using.

A piton strikes the ground next to you. The pulse of the metal striking the concrete was as sharp as its ringing sound.

And with that as a reference, you start to hear it.

Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.

Almost like horse shoes. Deep metal clattering, going against the floor. They’re wearing something on their legs.

You line up a shot ahead of time.
>>
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>>6111548
From around the corner, three men step forward, brandishing wooden clubs.

Two are wearing this heavy metal brace around their legs that extends all the way up to their torso, just the lower back. From the front you can only tell that the metal parts in the front serve to bind the thing to their legs, and that the bulk of the machine sits behind the heel and rises up to the knee. Their shoes seem to have been modified, but they’re quite the ways away. The distance is too great.

“Hoooo,” remarks one of the scrappy underdwellers in their weird undercity accent as he steps forward, looking up at the engineer on the ceiling. “What’s all this?”

You can tell he hasn’t immediately recognized you as a person. He sees you, but at this distance, with this lighting, atop the ramp and behind the sights of a crossbow, you might just look like some tool and a bag. Not sure how long that’s going to keep up, especially if you have to adjust your aim.

Anything more wild than adjusting this lung shot for distance would give you away.

>Shoot them as soon as you line up a good shot (Engage: 7d6t1)
>Wait until he draws closer so Fahy flanks them
>>
>>6111569
>>Shoot them as soon as you line up a good shot (Engage: 7d6t1)
It takes time for us to reload, its best for us to fire now so we can reload and fire again sooner.
If they come charging in we got Fahy.
>>
>>6111569
>Wait until he draws closer so Fahy flanks them
The patient hunter, like Papa.



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