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MISSION OBJECTIVE

QUOTA: 11/10 COLD IRON, 8/10 DRY-10, 7/7 ROTWOOD. Fill up every QUOTA meter and head back to the train station you arrived from to complete the mission.
OPTIONAL OBJECTIVE #1: For every extra resource you bring back, obtain an extra $30/35/40 (Rotwood/Dry-10/Cold Iron). Total extra: $40
OPTIONAL OBJECTIVE #2: Bring back a Historical Relic. $333 per relic given over. Current Historic and Relic count: 7 + one mystery relic. You'll determine which ones, if any, you're willing to give up.

----

After recapping your mission, you take stock of your current situation.

You are currently with five allies:
Wendy (A W-Corp representative with very similar mental issues to you. Has limited telekinetic abilities.)
Lex (A hired thug who has recently awakened into a SHIFTer which manifests in the form of a leather jacket that blocks a LOT of damage)
Ashley (A tomboy punk rockstar with precognitive abilities. Hard to spook.)
Quentin (A Drone, a sapient centipede, who puppeteers corpses in order to interact with the world. Can also fly.)
Alexis (A corporate suit with fingers in a LOT of pies. Has unrivaled corporate influence. Lives in I-Corp, so you brought her for any I-Corp related tomfuckery you encountered.)

And what are you exactly doing? Well, you're waiting around a corner in the underground facility(?) that you found yourself in. The room right ahead has three armed goons who seem to be hunting down the people of WHITEROCK, the village built above the underground facility you're in. Bad news, they're on high alert due to the DRONE among them smelling out Quentin.

Well. Seems like you have to do something. You could go guns blazing and shoot them all down but that last fight with the Excisor and your doppelganger has tired out your allies a lot. You rather not immediately rush into another fight. That's when Ashley quickly makes up a plan for the rest of you to execute.

[SIXTH SENSE] "Okay." Ashley keeps a firm grip on the bloody hunting knife she's holding. "I got a plan. It should work BUT I'll need you guys to do something. And it's going to sound weird."
"Well, spit it out, they're getting closer." Alexis whisper-yells. She's not wrong. You can hear their footsteps getting closer.

"Quentin. Fly past them as quickly as possible. Buzz your wings really, REALLY loud. We'll go from there."
"that sounds like a stupid idea what are you-" Before you have time to question why THAT's the plan the clairvoyant picked, your group has to make a snap decision.

The three figures you saw before turn right around the corner you were hiding behind. They're immediately shocked to see six people waiting for them there.

Quentin quickly unfurls his wings and flies right past them. The sheer RACKET from his wings echoing between the cluttered together stone walls in such a way as to seemingly get louder and louder and louder and louder. You can already feel your ears developing tinnitus as a defense mechanism against that god damn buzzing.

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All three of the goons are immediately set off-balance by the noise. It doesn't actually do any damage to them but the man with tusks (and Lex as well) are hit the worst by it. Both of them drop to their knees with their hands clutched around their heads, gritting their teeth in pain.

You outnumber them 2.5 to 1 so it doesn't take long for the rest of you to deal with the stranglers. By that, you mean that you smash your knee into the Drone's stomach while everyone else moves to beat the everloving shit out of the disabled Half-Graverobber and the Bodysuit Woman with punches and kicks. You want them ALIVE after all, not dead.

>48!

It's over before it even started. The distraction paired with how quickly everyone sprung into action left all three of them in bloody heaps. Not enough to kill but all of them are knocked out; they're going to take a few minutes to wake up. After you wait for Lex to shake off that buzzing sound, you move the three of them back to the break room.

There's not much to tie them down with but Quentin finds some old musty tablecloths and, with Wendy's help, makes some makeshift ropes with them to tie the goons down onto some steel chairs. While you let your allies deal with all of that, you take a moment to use your WHISPERS OF THE CITY ABILITY to get a rough idea on the nearby environment.

>-1 RESTRAINT! 5/10 RESTRAINT LEFT!

The mental image shows you this:
-Heading down the north hallway heads to a barracks room where you're detecting a LOT of movement from. You can make out an elevator somewhere in there as well alongside a hidden passage to a secret room of some sorts.
-HAZARDOUS MATERIALS's airlock has a secondary opening mechanism hidden next to the keycard scanner, seemingly for emergencies. The room itself doesn't go anywhere, though, for obvious reasons.
-RESEARCH LAB is adjacent to a production facility you're detecting faint movement from.
-There's a hidden hatch in the middle of the Breakroom you're in. From what you're reading, it leads to some sort of hidden shelter. You can't tell if any movement is there.
-There's two floors to this facility and it seems the only way down to the second one is via elevator. The elevators by the entrance you came from only seem to go from the surface to the first floor. Something is blocking them from going down

It goes black from there.

By the time you snap out of this, the three goons are waking up. The restraints aren't that good but with their weapons taken and their bodies beaten black and blue...they're not going anywhere. The only one who seems like he could put up a fight is the Half Graverobber but Ashley keeps her hunting knife close to his neck to prevent any funny business.

"You fuckers! Why are you here? Let me guess, you're against the Revolutionary huh? Of course you would be you FUCKING SCUM!" The Half Graverobber snarls with a zealous fervor you were not expecting from him. Your group is understandably confused at this. Who the fuck...?

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[UNSTABLE RESOLVE] You faintly recall hearing the TV Man talking about a revolution attempt that would happen soon. It was about two, maybe three, weeks ago?
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] He claimed it would be within weeks or months as well. Odd timing considering some other major events happening soon.

"Revolutionary. Pft. We're not in communist Russia anymore." Wendy jabs her pointer finger into the man's chest. "We wont' humor your pathetic larp. Grow up."

"Wait, so-"
"Shut up!" The Bodysuit Woman hisses at the tusked thug before he can spit out anything else. "We're not supposed to say anything about him. Besides, our associates will be here soon."

"YEAH. THAT NOISE WAS LOUD. YOU DON'T THINK THEY HEARD?" The Drone matter-of-factly states. "PHI AND ALGIZ WILL BE HERE TO DEAL WITH YOU ANY MOMENT." Those are ETF Agent callsigns. Why are there trained agents here of all places?

"That doesn't matter-" Lex takes a moment to wipe some blood trickling from his ears. "I suggest you start talking before we leave your allies a 'present'. Do we understand each other?" He nods towards Ashley. She presses her knife right against the tusked man's neck.

"Ngh. Fine. We'll talk."

"You better." You take in a deep breath to collect your thoughts. "Answer honestly and we won't kill you horribly. That's all we're asking." Due to how weak they are, you imagine you could send two groups of two allies to explore the other nearby areas while you and Ashley talk to them.

You doubt you'll have time for too many questions. Pick four to ask them.
>'You said something about a revolutionary. Who is he? Why would you think we're attacking you because of that?"
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] "Are you with P-Corp? ETF agents and that one bit about extraction...I doubt I-Corp would be happy if they knew another corporation was messing with their turf."
>"This place was empty for a week. I don't get why you're returning here now of all times. Was it because of the Cleansers meeting here?"
>"Why are you attacking WHITEROCK of all places? I can't imagine they would be the only place with artifacts."
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] "Look, if your group is with a revolutionary, perhaps we have common ground. Do you know about STILLE DAG?" Enemy of my enemy is my friend, after all.
>"This place is weirdly out of place. Do you know why it's hidden under a village? Is it connected to the DARK FOREST or reactor?"
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] "Something about this operation is rubbing me the wrong way. We know there's twelve more highly armed people here; What could be so dangerous here that warrants that level of firepower?"
>"Is this the only location your group cares about? Or are there others? And for what reasons are you interested in THOSE locations?"
>Write in.

Choose two locations for your allies to investigate in the meantime.
>HIDDEN SHELTER. Who knows who might be there? Maybe some survivors hid there. You imagine there would be a lot of survival supplies as well you could sell to other villages.
>HAZARDOUS MATERIALS. If nothing else, you could get some nasty chemicals so some of your smarter allies can make chemical weapons with. Might be useful down the line against tougher foes.
>RESEARCH LAB. If this place has artifacts, you imagine a good chunk of them would be here.
>PRODUCTION FACILITY. Could be a lot of raw resources there and you imagine someone IS hiding there.
>BARRACKS. Might as well get a head count on who else is here, maybe eavesdrop on them and get an idea on how armed they are.

And anything specific you want your allies to find? Pick two for them to focus on.
>RESOURCES. The more, the merrier, and it's better to get more excess resources to sell so you don't have to worry about selling any relics you find. (You'll get 1d4 ROTWOOD, 1d4 DRY-10, and 1d6 COLD IRON)
>RELICS. Couldn't hurt to find some relics. Maybe it'll be useful for future missions, maybe it'll be just a neat trinket to sell off. (You'll roll 2d100 to determine the quality of the Relics.)
>INFORMATION. The more knowledge you have, the better. (You'll roll 4d100 to determine how much information you get and how relevant it is. At minimum, you'll get some immediately useful information on this facility to fill in the gaps of your mental map.)
>SURVIVORS. You want to make sure they're out of here, alive. (You'll get a LOT of goodwill from the neighboring villages and some I-Corp favor but no immediate reward.)

---

Long time no see. A hurricane really messed up with the plans I had and some other personal matters also muddied things. We should be back to regular operation now.

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Welcome back. Glad you didn't drown in the storm bro.

>>6134936
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] "Something about this operation is rubbing me the wrong way. We know there's twelve more highly armed people here; What could be so dangerous here that warrants that level of firepower?"

>'You said something about a revolutionary. Who is he? Why would you think we're attacking you because of that?"

>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] "Are you with P-Corp? ETF agents and that one bit about extraction...I doubt I-Corp would be happy if they knew another corporation was messing with their turf."


>"Why are you attacking WHITEROCK of all places? I can't imagine they would be the only place with artifacts."


>6134937

>BARRACKS. Might as well get a head count on who else is here, maybe eavesdrop on them and get an idea on how armed they are.

>HAZARDOUS MATERIALS. If nothing else, you could get some nasty chemicals so some of your smarter allies can make chemical weapons with. Might be useful down the line against tougher foes.


>RELICS. Couldn't hurt to find some relics. Maybe it'll be useful for future missions, maybe it'll be just a neat trinket to sell off. (You'll roll 2d100 to determine the quality of the Relics.)

>INFORMATION. The more knowledge you have, the better. (You'll roll 4d100 to determine how much information you get and how relevant it is. At minimum, you'll get some immediately useful information on this facility to fill in the gaps of your mental map.)

>>6134936
>>6134937
Welcome back QM

>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] "Something about this operation is rubbing me the wrong way. We know there's twelve more highly armed people here; What could be so dangerous here that warrants that level of firepower?"
I assume the BARRACKS has those other people here. Best steer clear until these 3 goons go tell their buddies to let us be
>"Why are you attacking WHITEROCK of all places? I can't imagine they would be the only place with artifacts."
I want to solve the loose end of the Cleanser couple and their mystery contact topside. 15 randos just waltz on in, kill the mystery contact, kill one of the Cleansers, KO the other, then swarm this underground facility? And all we know is the bodysuit woman here said this last thread:
>"Extraction said they were here and they would be hiding some valuable artifacts here. That's it."
Something doesn't add up...
>'You said something about a revolutionary. Who is he? Why would you think we're attacking you because of that?"
What is this about?
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] "Are you with P-Corp? ETF agents and that one bit about extraction...I doubt I-Corp would be happy if they knew another corporation was messing with their turf."
Threaten them with the corporate hammer coming down if they try to fuck with us
I don't wanna be enemies with these guys, there's more of them than there are of us and we're on different unrelated missions. No real need for any conflict especially after that superboss fight we survived

>HIDDEN SHELTER. Who knows who might be there? Maybe some survivors hid there. You imagine there would be a lot of survival supplies as well you could sell to other villages.
Did we not wanna come here to WHITEROCK because we heard there were survivors here? Is that not why we voted for going to this ruined town in the last thread, instead of going someplace with resources we want or is cooler than this dump?
>PRODUCTION FACILITY. Could be a lot of raw resources there and you imagine someone IS hiding there.
And we also decided to come here because of fulfilling our quota. Checking back the last thread, that drone in the MAP SHACK of LOVE TOWN marked this on our map:
>"WHITEROCK. ONE OF THE PREVIOUS VILLAGES WE TRADED WITH. WENT RADIO SILENT A WEEK AGO. PRESUMED DESTROYED AND DEAD, INVESTIGATE FOR SCRAPS? IT WAS FAR MORE PROPEROUS THAN US IN NATURAL RESOURCES."
We are 2 DRY-10 away from filling the quota. Let's get that handled first thing so we don't spend the blizzard night on this mission. And who is hiding in that PRODUCTION FACILITY?

>SURVIVORS.
Literally why we voted to go here, come on people!
>RELICS.
We need LOOT and this place has some!!!

>>6135028
Yo check it
>a hidden passage to a secret room of some sorts.
But the barracks has the other goons in there. We can't get to the DELICIOUS SECRET!!! while they're there and they might be hostile to us until these 3 chucklefucks get them to stand down

>>6134937
>>6134936
>"Why are you attacking WHITEROCK of all places?"
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND]
>[PERSON OF INTEREST]
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY]
We need a bigger picture of their operation and what kind of oversight they have.

>HIDDEN SHELTER
>PRODUCTION FACILITY
SECRETS PLACE. I will not allow any more secrets to be kept from me.

>SURVIVORS
>RELICS

ENTER, HANDLERQM. Welcome back!!!

>>6135132
+1
Welcome back HandlerQM. :D

>>6135272
Change
>>6134936
>"Why are you attacking WHITEROCK of all places?"
>'You said something about a revolutionary. Who is he?
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND]
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY]

>HIDDEN SHELTER.
>PRODUCTION FACILITY.

>SURVIVORS.
>INFORMATION.

>>6134936
Welcome back QM!

>'You said something about a revolutionary. Who is he? Why would you think we're attacking you because of that?"
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] "Are you with P-Corp? ETF agents and that one bit about extraction...I doubt I-Corp would be happy if they knew another corporation was messing with their turf."
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] "Something about this operation is rubbing me the wrong way. We know there's twelve more highly armed people here; What could be so dangerous here that warrants that level of firepower?"
>"Is this the only location your group cares about? Or are there others? And for what reasons are you interested in THOSE locations?"

>>6134937
>RESEARCH LAB. If this place has artifacts, you imagine a good chunk of them would be here.
>PRODUCTION FACILITY. Could be a lot of raw resources there and you imagine someone IS hiding there.

>INFORMATION. The more knowledge you have, the better. (You'll roll 4d100 to determine how much information you get and how relevant it is. At minimum, you'll get some immediately useful information on this facility to fill in the gaps of your mental map.)
>SURVIVORS. You want to make sure they're out of here, alive. (You'll get a LOT of goodwill from the neighboring villages and some I-Corp favor but no immediate reward.)

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QUESTIONS:
CAPTAIN'S COMMAND: AkJ, IaM, Zzt, dsV, f8y
REVOLUTIONARY: AkJ, IaM, dsV, f8y
WHY WHITEROCK?: AkJ, IaM, Zzz, dsV
SEEKER OF THE CITY: AkJ, IaM, Zzt, dsV, f8y
PERSON OF INTEREST: Zzt
ANY MORE LOCATIONS: f8y

LOCATIONS:
BARRACKS: AkJ
HAZARDOUS: AkJ
HIDDEN: M8h, Zzt, IaM
PRODUCTION: f8y, M8h, Zzt, IaM
RESEARCH: f8y

WHAT TO LOOK FOR?
RELICS: AkJ, IaM, Zzt
INFO: f8y, M8h, AkJ
SURVIVORS: Zzt, M8h, f8y, IaM

So, it seems like the questions + locations are pretty set in stone and I don't feel like delaying a vote for a tiebreak for a minor resource vote sooo. I'll let you search for relics + information but you'll only get a limited amount of info. I imagine you'd want L O O T more than anything.

Three anons, roll the following.
>2d100 (INFORMATION. HIGHER is BETTER.)
>2d100 (RELICS. HIGHER is BETTER.)
and
>1d100 (MYSTERY RELIC from a sidequest you did here. 1-45 = POWERFUL WEAPON, 46-75 = POWERFUL CONSUMABLE, 76-90 = ESOTERIC/MYSTERIOUS OBJECT, 91-100: ANOMALOUS PARADIGM)

>>6135017
>>6135132
>>6135153
>>6135272
>>6135399
Thanks for the warm welcome. I really wish I posted earlier but life gets in the way, you know? It may take a bit for me to get fully back into the swing so I apologize if the next few updates are bumpy.

Rolled 78, 31 = 109 (2d100)

>>6135456
INFORMATION

Rolled 36, 24 = 60 (2d100)

>>6135456
Relics

Rolled 9 (1d100)

>>6135456
Gun gun gun gun gun I want another gun

Glad to have you back QM. It’s been a hot minute, I thought this thing was abandoned for a while. Glad to hear that you’ve survived 2024’s hellish weather.

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>>6135548
Looks like you may have got your wish...

>>6135573
OH YES, OH YES WE BOTH REACHED FOR THE GUN THE GUN THE GUN THE GUN

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Before you do anything, you unwrap the bundle containing the mystery relic to find...
>NAGNAT M2005 (RELIC FIREARM. The last Russian revolver model before the Old World ended. Made out of silver. ATTACK ROLL: TALENT+WILLPOWER+2. Inflicts EXPOSED on hit, increasing RESTRAINT and FLESH damage taken by 2 for the rest of combat (can not stack). Uses REVOLVER AMMO.)
>You obtain 4 REVOLVER AMMO as well!

Your captives are rightfully concerned to see you pulling out a gun on them. "No, no, this isn't for you. We're collecting relics too. Look. I'd just have Lex beat the shit out of you if I wanted you dead."
Lex immediately fixes his posture like he's a dog hearing his own name. "Damn right. Seems you're shit out of luck since I'm leaving you with these two." He nods towards you and Ashley. "C'mon, guys. Let's go explore."

Wendy and Alexis split off to check the PRODUCTION FACILITY while Lex and Quentin pry off a tile that had a tiny yet distinct scratch on it, which leads directly to the HIDDEN SHELTER.

"OH ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING!" The Drone Goon hisses, the loose skin covering his featureless face vibrating with impotent rage. "WE WERE LOOKING EVERYWHERE FOR SOMETHING HIDDEN! YOU'RE WORKING FOR WHITEROCK HUH? HUH???"

"No. I just have my own methods. Now, Ashley, ask them something."

Ashley presses the knife harder into the Half-Graverobber's throat. "You said something interesting about a revolutionary. Who is he? You seemed so eager to talk about him mere moments before."
"Don't tell her a single thing, Pasternack, or I'LL GUT YOU MYSELF!" The Bodysuit Woman struggles fruitlessly in her restraints.

"...Don't got a choice, Liz." Pasternack looks up at the two of you with an odd glint of pride, of all things, in his eyes. "He's a man who has inspired all of us. Everyone here, in my group. We're...followers of him, I suppose?"
"I feel like that downplays what he does for us but that works." Liz reluctantly agrees. "He didn't send us on this if that's what you're asking. We've just paranoid about those who would want to stop him."

"Such as?" You try to prod for more answers.

"Corporate executives, his fellow associates who think he's too radical, the works. You don't get a lot of fans when you want to help your common man while outright rejecting the corporations."

This doesn't sound particularly relevant to your situation but you can't lie, if he really is just trying to help others, you don't have a problem with him on principle.

"You sure he would be proud about your group pillaging some poor village?" Ashley snidely remarks.
"WHAT HE DOESN'T KNOW WON'T HURT HIM. WE NEED TO GET RESOURCES. WE KNOW J-CORP AND B-CORP WOULD MAKE A STINK IF THEY KNEW. IF THEY KNEW!" The Drone Goon cryptically jabbers. You assume it's some sort of riot they plan on starting. Would make sense as to why they want relics; They are powerful.

"Next question. Why are you attacking WHITEROCK of all places? I can't imagine they would be the only place with artifacts."

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"Feh. They deserve it." Liz wryly chuckles. "We heard rumors about them hogging resources that other villages need. Graverobbers complaining about a lack of resources for rituals, humans complaining about survival..."
"And this fuckin' facility they're built above? Greed, greed. They already have shelter and resources. We're just adjusting the scales." There's a hint of outright disgust oozing from Pasternack's words.

"So. You wanted to play revolutionary hero." Ashley doesn't even pretend to humor their excuse. "I would think you would've tried talking to them instead of shooting to kill anyone you saw."

"THEY DESERVE IT. WHAT ELSE CAN WE SAY?" The Drone Goon is the only one to respond. You only have their words to work on. Best to press onto another question.

"Okay. Whatever. Something about this operation is rubbing me the wrong way." You can feel a faint reverberation of the Admiral in your bones. "We know there's twelve more highly armed people here; What could be so dangerous here that warrants that level of firepower?"

"SIMPLE. WE HAD DECENT INTEL THAT SOMEWHERE IN THIS FACILITY, THEY HAD ACCESS TO SEVERAL LOW-GRADE ANOMALIES. EASILY CONTAINED EVEN BY NOVICES BUT..."
"We wanted them back. For the cause. And we know how dangerous even a A1 Anomaly can be. Safer than sorry." Liz shrugs as best she can with the restraints.

You and Ashley share a look with each other. Both of you take a solid moment to see if they're just rambling schizophrenically or if their intel was right.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY + SIXTH SENSE] There is something off about the air. Both of you can feel it. It's hard to say what exactly is wrong with it, though.

"Fine. Makes sense. Still, I wouldn't think you would need to shoot anyone you saw- Or, well, crush people's heads in."
"I like doing it. Fuck you." Pasternack spits back. Well you found your culprit there. "Greedy fucks deserve it."

"Hey, Lex is probably feeling jealous you're talking to another half-bre-" "Shut it. Let's finish the questioning."

"Fine." You clap your hands, preparing for your last question before you have to deal with the rest of them. "You're clearly working for P-Corp. ETF agents and that one bit about extraction...I doubt I-Corp would be happy if they knew another corporation was messing with their turf."

"Pft. Like they would ever know-" Liz is about ready to dismiss your comment but you interrupt her.
"Does Alexis Morozov ring a bell?"

All three of the tied up 'revolutionaries' immediately freeze up once they hear that name. None of them is willing to pipe up after that.

"Good. Enough jokes. Talk." This time, Ashley presses her blade hard enough into Pasternack's throat to draw blood.

"W-we work with ETF A-a-agents. The Revolutionary r-really likes working with them, w-we don't know why, h-he doesn't like talking about himself but he just likes using them, okay?" Pasternack blabbers on on on. He's clearly worried he's going to be a headless stump soon.

"SOME SAY HE'S ONE HIMSELF."

"W-we're not officially with P-Corp but, yes, by association by having a lot of ETF Agents...w-we are sorta sponsored by them?" Liz shrugs. You have a somewhat clear picture now: You might actually be able to reason with these guys with the right pressures.

The grudge against WHITEROCK seems to be more out of personal politics than anything else; Their main goal here is to acquire the anomalies and artifacts here. The revolutionary himself seems interesting but you doubt you'll see him for a bit. Maybe you could even attempt a ceasefire for mutual benefit?

That's when your allies return from their investigations. For Lex and Quentin's part, they managed to find a whole family of survivors! One man, one woman, two young kids. All of them are clearly far too stressed to really process what's going on. Glassy gazes, raggedy hair, the faint stench of madness. They've been here a while.

The the coast is clear, they immediately rush for the elevators. "HEY, THERE'S A SNOWSTORM ABOVE, WAIT UNTIL WE CAN ESCORT YOU!" is fruitlessly shouted out by Quentin. You're not sure they heard him.
Pasternack desperately tries to break from his restraints to rush after them but you give him one firm kick to put him in his place. Fuck, he really seems to have it out for them.

Quentin quickly stuffs something your hand. You take a moment to scan over it.
>78, 31
You find yourself holding a book that seems to be an instructional manual about how to operate the emergency shelters. Skimming through it leads you to find a hand drawn map of the facility you're in.

There's three hidden bunkers, one of this floor and two on the second. Seems like the two on the second floor are in a section labeled "BRIEFING". Maybe it's where the former residents of this facility would get instructions before WHITEROCK took over? Who knows.

You also get some locations for the anomalies they were rambling about. It's all just numbers and letters so you can't get that good of an idea but you now know the passwords for CELL A2-T-PHYS, A1-T-MIXED, D2-M-PEND, and B3-M-MENTAL. Could be useful bargaining chips.

Alexis and Wendy on the other hand managed find two survivors and, funnily enough, they're androids. Both of them are in mechanic's uniforms and they seemed to be here to help repair/operate the machinery in PRODUCTION. Their exteriors are covered in dents and holes but they're otherwise okay. She silently stuffs two items into Alexis' arms before stumbling after the family.

"...Feh. You do realize who you just go, right?" Liz snarks at your group.
"I rather trust the people who went into hiding over the people playing hero. Be glad we're not here to fight." You snap back. You take stock on what your allies found in the rooms...

QUOTA RESOURCES OBTAINED!
>+4 COLD IRON, +2 ROTWOOD, +2 DRY-10!
>QUOTA COMPLETED! YOU MAY NOW LEAVE!

Kickass. There's nothing forcing you to stay in this snow-struck hell anymore...but let's see what else you found.

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SHELTER RESOURCES OBTAINED
>GRADE A RATION x4 (Highly nutritious and actually tasty! Soldiers would kill for this. Literally. Heals 1 FLESH
and RESTRAINT, adds +2d4 to the next three FLESH and/or TALENT rolls the user makes.)
>WATER PURIFICATION DEVICE + IODINE TABLET PACK x5 (Not useful to you at all but can be sold for a massive profit.)
>MATTER RECYCLER MARK v1 (A simple device meant to stretch out resources. While in your inventory, you have a small chance to earn AMMO back when firing your weapons.)

PRODUCTION FACILITY RELICS OBTAINED!
>HELIOS SEEKER MKv2 (MISC RELIC. An odd looking detonator painted blazing orange. Has no use...for now. You feel like this thing is VERY powerful if you figure out how to use it.)
>MASK OF SORROWFUL COUNTERNACE (MISC RELIC. A white porcelain mask that smells weird. Produces a slow stream of acidic black liquid that can be used to burn both flesh and metal.)

Before you have time to do anything else, you can hear the sounds of a bolt action firearm clicking into place. Your group immediately turns to see three armed ETF agents standing by the northern hallway. You can make out the faint impression of a half dozen or so more men behind them.

One is a young woman with a sparkle in her eyes and dirty blonde hair, the other is a scarred man with a missing arm and left eye, and the third one is so generic you can't even describe him. All three of them have an odd arm sash that's a messy pattern of various colors and patterns.

"W-wait! T-they're not h-here for the Revolutionary!" Liz screeches out, clearly not wanting to be in the crossfires of any fight when she's already bloodied and bruised.

The woman with dirty blonde hair takes one good long look at your group before she decides to go along with it. "Okay. You six: Talk. Now. I wanna know what you're here for. I think you're reasonable people. Otherwise you would've killed my friends."

"Who are you?" Alexis tilts her head as if the woman was familiar for some reason. "I swear my brother talked about someone like you."
"Oh! I'm Phi! ETF-Phi! Nice to meet you, sorry about the guns but uh...you know. WHITEROCK. Greedy bourgeoisie. The works."
Wendy narrows her eyes as if the woman just took a shit right in front of her face. "Don't you dare spit out communist drivel at us."

"Shush. We're here to talk to them. Look, we're not here to fight. Would you be willing to negotiate with us?" Alexis tries her best to prevent any further scuffle.

"Mmh. Depends. Depends what you want. Depends what you'll offer." Phi shrugs without any real interest in what's going on. You can tell the group behind here is squirming, gnashing, for an excuse to kill someone. You're not sure how much of their violence is actually for whatever cause they're for.

Not your place to judge, though.

What do you want to say to them? Pick as many as you're comfortable picking. You have $5577
>"Look. We know you want to hunt down some anomalies; We can help you. For a price." What's wrong with a little greed? (MEDIUM CHARM CHECK: 45, rolling 12d6 as a group. Succeed and they'll accept your offer, paying you a lump sum of cash and letting you take your fair share of anomalous goodies here.)
>"We have the password to the anomaly cells. We'll give them to you in exchange for you letting the survivors leave." (They'll be willing to help escort the survivors out for the passwords. They'll probably lose access to any unique anomalous goodies in this facility as payment unless you pick the CHARM CHECK option as well.)
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] "I'm curious about your revolutionary friend. We may have a common goal." Try to broker an alliance with them. (The spooks will probably learn about this and will be a bigger nuisance in the future but you imagine getting into contact with the revolutionary will help a lot in the future.)
>"We would like a non-aggression pact. Let's pretend this never happened." Both of you are ultimately here for different reasons. Some money might help. (-$400, You'll be allowed to explore the facility without any hassle, allowing you to scavenge in the SECRET ROOMS you know about to find whatever loot's left. You might make back more than you spent!)
>"You want relics? We got relics. Take these." Give them HELIOS and the MASK. They don't seem that useful... (You'll lose both relics but you'll be given $575 and a decent stockpile of ammo and medicine from the armed ETF agents.)
>[P-COMPANY FAVOR] "We're with P-Corp too. I even have an ETF friend. Here, he told me to give you this." (-1 P-CORP FAVOR, -2 C-EXTRACT, leaving you with 1 FAVOR and no regular C-EXTRACT. FRANK, an ally you didn't hire this mission, will gain an extra boon next time you hire him. In the next two missions you do, you'll have some passive support from various ETF agents as payment.)
>"We're willing to buy some relics off of you. We got money to spare." (-$900. Choose THREE out of SIX of the following categories: WEAPONARY, ARMOR, MISC, CONSUMABLE, ACCESSORY, AMMO. You'll get one relic from each category.)
>Write in. (Offer them something else instead of cash? Ask for another deal? Ask them some questions? Something else completely?)

>>6135548
>Glad to have you back QM. It’s been a hot minute, I thought this thing was abandoned for a while. Glad to hear that you’ve survived 2024’s hellish weather.
Oh trust me, I didn't want this to go the way of my last quest.

>>6135573
>>6135685
>>6135548
Yes, you indeed got a cool gun. You best cherish it like your own child. Like a dog willing to bite any attacker.
Or at least that's what Casey would say about her own gun.

>>6135696
God, how I hate people like these "revolutionaries". You'd think these depictions are a parody, but I've seen plenty of people like that online. I hate them so much.

>"Look. We know you want to hunt down some anomalies; We can help you. For a price." What's wrong with a little greed? (MEDIUM CHARM CHECK: 45, rolling 12d6 as a group. Succeed and they'll accept your offer, paying you a lump sum of cash and letting you take your fair share of anomalous goodies here.)
>"We have the password to the anomaly cells. We'll give them to you in exchange for you letting the survivors leave." (They'll be willing to help escort the survivors out for the passwords. They'll probably lose access to any unique anomalous goodies in this facility as payment unless you pick the CHARM CHECK option as well.)

>>6135709
>"Look. We know you want to hunt down some anomalies; We can help you. For a price." What's wrong with a little greed? (MEDIUM CHARM CHECK: 45, rolling 12d6 as a group. Succeed and they'll accept your offer, paying you a lump sum of cash and letting you take your fair share of anomalous goodies here.)

>"We have the password to the anomaly cells. We'll give them to you in exchange for you letting the survivors leave." (They'll be willing to help escort the survivors out for the passwords. They'll probably lose access to any unique anomalous goodies in this facility as payment unless you pick the CHARM CHECK option as well.)

>"We're willing to buy some relics off of you. We got money to spare." (-$900. Choose THREE out of SIX of the following categories: WEAPONARY, ARMOR, MISC, CONSUMABLE, ACCESSORY, AMMO. You'll get one relic from each category.)

WEAPONARY, CONSUMABLE, AMMO

No.6079075
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2024/6071053/

"What do you know about the City?"

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

"Do I know this man?"

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

>>6135709
>"Look. We know you want to hunt down some anomalies; We can help you. For a price." What's wrong with a little greed? (MEDIUM CHARM CHECK: 45, rolling 12d6 as a group. Succeed and they'll accept your offer, paying you a lump sum of cash and letting you take your fair share of anomalous goodies here.)
>"We have the password to the anomaly cells. We'll give them to you in exchange for you letting the survivors leave." (They'll be willing to help escort the survivors out for the passwords. They'll probably lose access to any unique anomalous goodies in this facility as payment unless you pick the CHARM CHECK option as well.)
>[PERSON OF INTEREST] "I'm curious about your revolutionary friend. We may have a common goal." Try to broker an alliance with them. (The spooks will probably learn about this and will be a bigger nuisance in the future but you imagine getting into contact with the revolutionary will help a lot in the future.)
Let’s pick this option because we are going to meet him or make an alliance with him anyway in the near future.
>"We would like a non-aggression pact. Let's pretend this never happened." Both of you are ultimately here for different reasons. Some money might help. (-$400, You'll be allowed to explore the facility without any hassle, allowing you to scavenge in the SECRET ROOMS you know about to find whatever loot's left. You might make back more than you spent!)


Use one DAMDAM PILL to add one surplus to the CHARM Roll for an increased chance.
https://dice.clockworkmod.com/

>>6135709
>"Look. We know you want to hunt down some anomalies; We can help you. For a price." What's wrong with a little greed? (MEDIUM CHARM CHECK: 45, rolling 12d6 as a group. Succeed and they'll accept your offer, paying you a lump sum of cash and letting you take your fair share of anomalous goodies here.)
>"We have the password to the anomaly cells. We'll give them to you in exchange for you letting the survivors leave." (They'll be willing to help escort the survivors out for the passwords. They'll probably lose access to any unique anomalous goodies in this facility as payment unless you pick the CHARM CHECK option as well.)
and fuck it
>[PERSON OF INTEREST]
Nicole is NOT anti-City. She is anti-glownigger. I'd rather she not deviate from that
>"We're willing to buy some relics off of you. We got money to spare." (-$900. Choose THREE out of SIX of the following categories: WEAPONARY, ARMOR, MISC, CONSUMABLE, ACCESSORY, AMMO. You'll get one relic from each category.)
ARMOR because we still need the good defenses
CONSUMABLE because I'm curious
AMMO because same
>"We would like a non-aggression pact. Let's pretend this never happened." Both of you are ultimately here for different reasons. Some money might help. (-$400, You'll be allowed to explore the facility without any hassle, allowing you to scavenge in the SECRET ROOMS you know about to find whatever loot's left. You might make back more than you spent!)
And I want those secret rooms!

>>6135969
Change
>>6136041
+1

Meant to close earlier but my internet shorted out for a good long while. First it was a storm then this. Let's see.

CHARM CHECK: ALL
PERSON OF INTEREST: IaM, kbk
BUY: AkJ, IaM, kbk
CEASEFIRE: Xky, IaM
PERSON OF INTEREST: IaM, Xky
LET SURVIVORS GO: ALL

I'll go with CHARM CHECK + LET PERSON GO + BUY (with the categories being ARMOR/CONSUMABLE/AMMO).
I need two anons to roll 6d6 for the CHARM check. If the total is 45 or higher, you win. We'll see what items if any you'll need to consume to pass after you roll.

Rolled 3, 4, 2, 2, 6, 2 = 19 (6d6)

>>6136327
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
first 6d6

>>6136339
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX-FMvt83fA

Rolled 1, 6, 5, 6, 2, 6 = 26 (6d6)

>>6136327
Second

>>6136339
>>6136363
45 exactly

File: zen.png (76 KB, 1000x1000)

76 KB PNG

>45 exactly
waow.
writing.

File: IMPORTANTPAPER.jpg (48 KB, 640x640)

48 KB JPG

You try your best to ignore the fact most of the ETFs in front of you have fully loaded shotguns and assault rifles. They would fucking kill you if you put up a fight. Best to be diplomatic.

"Look. We're not here to fight you; We're not even planning on stopping you from finding whatever anomalous nonsense you find here. BUT!" You clear your throat to make sure they hear you clearly. "On two conditions."

"You don't have any room to negotiate, deer bitch." The one armed ETF agent snarls. You can already feel him reaching for the revolver holstered around his waist.
"No, no, Algiz. Let her speak." Phi holds her hand up, interrupting her comrade. "Go on." <"I can sense something has latched onto her. Something STRONG. Rather not risk letting it out.">

[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] Heh.

"Lex."

Lex unfolds the paper slip he found and holds it up towards the group. "We have the passwords for the containment cells. We could save you a lot of time and effort if you work with us."

Phi breaks away from her group, hand gently resting on her service pistol, to check the list. Lex pulls away before she can get a solid look at it.
"Yeah, no." Alexis steps in to help negotiate. "We have two conditions."

"...Name them." Algiz is fiddling with the belts and patches on his tactical suit, clearly wanting this over with.
"One. You let any survivors in here out. In one piece." Ashley glances back at the hallway your group came from. "Look. They didn't have any weapons. They're hiding like rats: Do you really think killing them in cold blood will help your cause?"

Pasternack is about ready to start a spiel about how they deserve it when Phi and Algiz both concede, each solemnly nodding in approval.
"Yeah. I thought they were planning an ambush, frankly. We are in enemy territory."
"...The Revolutionary would kill us if he heard about this. We will be willing to do it for the pap-"

"Ah, ah!" Wendy finally butts in. "And we want to work with you. To ri-ri-ri-" She interrupts herself by clearing her throat with the wettest cough you have ever heard from a human being in your life. "...assist in your anomaly issue."

"Please explain why the fuck we would need YOUR assistance?" Generic ETF prods at her with clear distrust at the undiagnosed schizophrenic.

[HUNTER OF THE CITY] "The amount of money it would take for all fifteen of you, including these chucklefucks-" She slams her leg into the chair of one of the captives which nearly knocks them over. Liz yelps, barely managing to keep herself upright. "to be armed with anti-abnormality rounds would be far too costly."

"I HEARD OF A STORY FROM MY ASSOCIATE, ALEXIS." Quentin gestures towards the tired Russian woman in question. "SHE ONCE SAW AN ANOMALY BEING HIT WITH A ROAD ROLLER AT FULL FORCE AND SURVIVING. UNLESS THE ANOMALY IS VERY WEAK I DO BELIEVE THAT FOUR OF THEM WOULD BE TOO MUCH EVEN FOR YOUR GROUP."

"wait did you say four?" Now you got Phi's interest. "We were only expecting one, maybe two."

File: ANTIQUES.jpg (179 KB, 1440x708)

179 KB JPG

"Yep. Four. Now, granted, a half dozen ETF agents and some random goons? Maybe it's enough." Lex half-heartedly shrugs. "Maybe. I wouldn't bet on it."
"All we're asking is for us help you for a small payment for all six of us. We're not asking for much. I say..." You're not sure how much to ask. You gesture at the rest to spit out their offers.

"Not much of a fighter. $50." Alexis doesn't bother pretending she's any actual good in a fight. "I can try talking them down?"
"Killed an anomaly before. Know how to fight one. $100." Ashley holds up the hunting knife you gifted her. "Got this from said anomaly actually."
Lex shows off the barbed wire wrapped around his fist alongside the PARADIGM draped over his shoulders. "Killed a...what was it? X5? Yeah, something cool. $150 for me!"
"I CAN MAKE THEM HURT." Wendy tries her best to not look TOO crazy but her toothy smile isn't helping her. "$125."
"I KILLED ONE TOO. $75."

You pipe in with your own experience such as killing the Admiral and Dreary Night Murderer along with your encounters with the anomalous. After all is said and done, the Agents take a moment to stew on this information. You don't bother offering them a price for your services.

>45!

"We did hear something about an X5 being killed in the Infinite Sea. You do match the description of the supposed person who did it." Phi rubs her chin for a moment. She's clearly deep in thought. "Okay. How about this? We'll pay a lump sum of $400 for all of you. Drone and Office Lady seem like dead weight but the rest of you are fine. Especially the Deer Lady."

"I FIND THAT ASSESTMENT TO BE QUITE DISAPPOINTING." Quentin forces his shell to twist its mouth into a frown. Took a lot of effort considering how stiff his frozen body is. "FINE. NICOLE?"

You shrug. Hey, that's good enough for you. You plan on giving that money back to them anyways for some relics. "Sure. Actually, though, this is going to sound weird but I'd like to immediately spend that on some of the relics you have. I got the cash." You dig in to pull out $500. "We'll treat that $400 as a discount. $500 for three artifacts."

The agents mutter and argue amongst each other if it's worth it but they seem to decide that $500 for both your services AND pawning off some relics so they can focus on the anomalies is worth it. You quickly exchange cash with them to receive...

RELICS OBTAINED!
>MICROJET RIFLE CARTIDGES x6 (RELIC RIFLE AMMO. Specialty ammo that accelerates to speeds 3.5x faster than an average bullet while being nearly silent. Shots made will not be detectable by enemies and you deal an extra 4 FLESH damage with sneak attacks.)
>INFLIRATION BODYSUIT MODEL #0001 (RELIC ARMOR. A bulky suit made out of rubber and ballistic fibers that has a very rudimentary AI installed. Blocks 1 FLESH and RESTRAINT from all sources. Twice per mission, can turn the wearer semi invisible, granting 2d4 to a stealth check or removing 2 dice from an enemy's attack.)

File: SHELTERROOM.jpg (141 KB, 736x552)

141 KB JPG

>HEMATGON BAR x3 (RELIC CONSUMABLE. An old Russian classic made out of condensed blood, milk, syrup, and enough drugs to kill a horse. Heals 4 FLESH and replaces 1 CRIPPLING INJURY with a weaker version.)

>-$500! $5277 left!

"Fine. We concede. Let the three you tied up go WITH their weapons." Phi gestures towards the group you beat the shit out of.
You nod, glancing at Ashley and Lex. They promptly untie the three before reluctantly handing their weapons back to them.

"Pasternack. Liz. Qbert. Wait by the entrance with the survivors. Guard them. If we hear that you lay ONE hand on them, you'll be fed to whatever monsters are hidden in this facility."

They promptly get the hint. They scatter away from the group, heading back down the hallway you came on to guard the survivors. You just hope they can follow orders well enough to not stir shit. The ETFs and other goons promptly head down the northern hallway, not caring if you follow them or not.

"So. What's the plan now? Do we just work with them for the time being?" Alexis prods you with a question.
"I don't see why not. Look, we already secured the villagers, we're just here to get some extra cash at the end of the day." You shrug. That's really the only reason you're doing it.
"I respect the opportunist spirit! You don't get up in the corporate ladder without breaking a few eggs and mingling with the enemy!" You can't quite tell if Wendy was being sarcastic or not with that comment.

"Let's follow them before they decide to change their mind on the deal." Ashley urges the group to move on already. You do so, but not without getting a can from SHADOW something vending machine. You crack it open to see that the drink has already condensed into a sticky slurry that's basically inedible.

Good for ink at least- Oh Lex just snatched it out of your hand.

"Look. After that fucking bug stunt, I deserve this."
"ONE, RUDE. TWO, ASHLEY SAID IT AND WOULD YOU BLAME ASHLEY'S IMPECCABLE PLANS? DO YOU THINK I DID NOT NOTICE YOUR HEARTBEAT RAISING WHEN-"
"I could crush your head like a fucking watermelon, Quentin."
"AND I WOULD CRAWL UP YOUR ASS LIKE A BUTTWORM IN MY UNDYING ACT OF VENGNANCE, LEX. DO NOT TEST ME."

"Gay." Wendy and Alexis giggle in unison at the two play-bickering with each other. There's not much else to do since the hallway forward is a featureless stretch of stone. It's far too long for any reasonably cognizant architect to build; maybe they were drunk while making it? Who knows.

It takes a solid five minutes before you arrive at the barracks. As expected the room is a very simple and cramped series of bunkbeds smooshed together to save as much space as humanly possible. You count at least twenty or so bunkbeds and there's barely enough room for the six of you to stand a comfortable distance from each other.

That's when you hear a pair of footsteps from the only path forward: the eastern hallway (not counting the secret rooms you know are here.)

Phi shows up with an odd look on her face; You think she's embarrassed for some reason.

"Y-yeah. The elevator is taking a while to bring everyone down. Something's wrong with it, it's slower than we expected. M-mind if I wait here with you guys? I-I know we were on-"
"Hey, no harm no foul." Lex cuts her off before she can beat herself up anymore. "You okay though?"
"Y-yeah. Have to act tough around the guys, haha, the revolutionary wouldn't be proud to see me fraternizing with some random nobodies during a mission."

"RUDE. ANYWAYS, WHAT DO YOU ACTUALLY WANT?"

"Dunno. To wait with you guys...?"

Seems like you got time to burn. Choose four actions.
>Just take some time talking to Phi. She seems to be reasonable. Try to earn some favor with her. (Roll 1d100+15 to determine how much she's willing to open up to you. Higher is better.)
>Well, you're here, so you might as well check out the SECRET ROOM HERE! FOR LOOT! (Can spend up to two actions on this. For each action spend, roll 3d100 to determine what loot you get. Higher is better!)
>[QUENTIN ALLY] "LET ME CHECK SOMETHING." Have Quentin check out what's wrong with the elevator with his flight ability. (Saves you time in the future, earning you an extra action next update and slightly increasing the amount of loot you can obtain on the second floor)
>[LEX ALLY] You feel like you should apologize for the impromptu ear assault you gave Lex. Check up on him. (You'll earn +0.5 RAPPORT with LEX and boost his TORMENTED SPARK PROGRESS by 20%. If you pick the chat action and he's one of the two allies to get +0.5 RAPPORT, he'll also immediately gain his CAPSTONE/FINAL BOON.)
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND + ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You can't lie, after hearing her internal monologue, you are tempted to show off some of your powers. Try to impress her. (CHALLENGING WILLPOWER DC: 28, rolling 7d6 by yourself. Earn 1 P-Corp Favor and the Respect of the Revolutionaries on success, easing up any checks involving them in the future. Adds +10 to the TALK TO PHI vote on success.)
>[ALEXIS ALLY] There's an odd look on Alexis' face. Something about these Revolutionaries are bothering her. Try to see what's bothering her. (You'll earn +0.5 RAPPORT with Alexis. You imagine what she'll tell you will be useful in the near future.)
>[WENDY + ASHLEY ALLY] Take some time to discuss how they plan on handling the anomalies and try to offer some advice with Wendy's and Ashley's help. They know how best to deal with the anomalies. (Due to the time spent strategizing, you'll lower all DCs against the upcoming anomalies by 2 and you'll also have a better idea how to peacefully resolve any encounters with them.)
>Just take some time to chat with her and your allies. You'll probably get into some hot water soon; Best relax for now. (Heal 2 RESTRAINT, gain +0.5 RAPPORT with two random allies.)
>Write in.

I'll try to update quicker this time to make up for the time I lost via shitty internet.

>>6136516
>[QUENTIN ALLY]
This is definitely a must have. I got the feeling we are potentially going to have an escape sequence in this underground facility because we are chased out by powerful anomalies or the facility will self-destruct or something like that.
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND + ANOMALOUS ABILITIES]
>[ALEXIS ALLY]
>[WENDY + ASHLEY ALLY]
I prefer we don’t fight the anomalies entity in the underground facility that can potentially collapse if the fighting gets really destructive. Let’s try a peaceful path first.

>>6136546
Supporting

>>6136546
+1

>>6136546
+1

yeah I highly doubt a four vote unanimous majority is breaking and I did say I wanted a quicker update so fuck it! We ball!

Three anons, roll the following
>2d6
>2d6
>3d6
You can reroll two dice thanks to MANAGER'S FLESH.

Rolled 2, 2 = 4 (2d6)

>>6136674

Rolled 5, 3 = 8 (2d6)

>>6136674
2nd of the 2d6s...
Updates are fast! Yowza.

Rolled 3, 2, 1 = 6 (3d6)

>>6136674

Rolled 2, 2 = 4 (2d6)

>>6136693
Reroll 2 and 1

>19
Failure. However, you have a insane amount of surplus items, so let's use some of them. Pick up to two to use.

>DREAMY PINK MOSS (You have three of these. Short duration after use. Can be used to reroll 3 dice and boosts your WILLPOWER by 1 while active, adding 1d6 to this check and to future WILLPOWER checks.)
>MOONSTONE FRAGMENT (You have two of these. Can be used to reroll 3 dice.)
>SINNLÖSCHEN (You have two of these. Has a very long duration after use. Boosts your WILLPOWER by 2 and lowers FLESH damage taken by 1 while active. Adds 2d8 to this check. Future WILLPOWER rolls will have you rolling d8s instead of d6s as well. Drains your RESTRAINT while active.)
>LUCK INVERTER (You have two of these. Inverts the dice you roll, converting your dice to 5+5+2+3+3+5+5, or 28, giving you an automatic success. Offers no further benefit and these are typically better saved for combat.)

>>6136700
>DREAMY PINK MOSS (You have three of these. Short duration after use. Can be used to reroll 3 dice and boosts your WILLPOWER by 1 while active, adding 1d6 to this check and to future WILLPOWER checks.)
>MOONSTONE FRAGMENT (You have two of these. Can be used to reroll 3 dice.)

>>6136702
+1

Hour has passed, so I'm just going with DREAMY PINK MOSS + MOONSTONE FRAGMENT.
One anon, roll an additional 6d6. Your current dice are
2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 5
You'll reroll everything but the 5 (since it would be silly to reroll it) + gain an additional 1d6.

Rolled 4, 2, 5, 3, 4, 5, 3 = 26 (7d6)

>>6136716
6 rerolls+additional d6 is 7d6

>>6136722
4+2+5+3+4+5+3+5 = 31, or a pass (barely)
Writing now.

>>6136516
>[QUENTIN ALLY] "LET ME CHECK SOMETHING." Have Quentin check out what's wrong with the elevator with his flight ability. (Saves you time in the future, earning you an extra action next update and slightly increasing the amount of loot you can obtain on the second floor)


>[LEX ALLY] You feel like you should apologize for the impromptu ear assault you gave Lex. Check up on him. (You'll earn +0.5 RAPPORT with LEX and boost his TORMENTED SPARK PROGRESS by 20%. If you pick the chat action and he's one of the two allies to get +0.5 RAPPORT, he'll also immediately gain his CAPSTONE/FINAL BOON.)


>[ALEXIS ALLY] There's an odd look on Alexis' face. Something about these Revolutionaries are bothering her. Try to see what's bothering her. (You'll earn +0.5 RAPPORT with Alexis. You imagine what she'll tell you will be useful in the near future.)


>Just take some time to chat with her and your allies. You'll probably get into some hot water soon; Best relax for now. (Heal 2 RESTRAINT, gain +0.5 RAPPORT with two random allies.)

>>6136801
And I am a slowpoke. Fuck me.

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

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"Excuse me." You turn away from the group to promptly chomp down on some literal moss and a hunk of stone. Anything for an advantage.

"I-Is she doing what-"
"Yep!" Lex firmly smacks Phi on the back. "Don't question it. It's how she gets inspiration."
>-1 DREAMY MOSS AND MOONSTONE FRAGMENT.

You immediately spin back around and firmly plant your hands on Phi's shoulders. "Quentin, go check on the elevator. I have something to show her."
"OKAY. DON'T FRY HER BRAIN." Quentin almost unfurls his wings but after remembering what happened last time, he decides to just walk down the hallway instead.

"That's something you can do?" Phi can't decide whether to be worried or intrigued at the prospect. "I kinda wanna see it now."
You decide to go with PUPPETEERING since it's probably more immediately threatening than, say, Telekinesis. You want to shock and awe her after all.

You reach your hand out to shoot out dozens of translucent pink strings that only Lex and Ashley react to (given that it seems only anomalous humans can see this ability.) They latch onto her arms and legs, allowing you full control of her body.

>28!

At first Phi doesn't seem to notice what's going on but as she attempts to move, you keep her rooted where she's standing. She glances around, only her head still mobile, trying to process what exactly is going on.
You then promptly disarm her by telekinetically ripping out her service pistol from her holster.

You wonder how it's this easy. Even with a pair of gloves that makes using your powers easier, you should be burning RESTRAINT to puppeteer h-
[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] Consider it a one time favor. Keep going.

"W-what the...okay, wow, I. I think I've seen ONE anomaly that could freeze people but telekinesis as well-" She lets out a small yelp as all of a sudden, a patch on her left shoulder begins to smolder. FOCUSED TELEKINESIS is a hell of a power.

That's when you finally let her go. She stumbles to the floor now that your PUPPETEER strings have been dispelled. She pats out the smoldering part of her uniform before rearming herself. "...Father Above. You could've killed me if you wanted to, huh?"
"Probably! Though I would be immediately gunned down by your eleven comrades once you screamed. I'm not bulletproof." Well you can sometimes block them but you think you've done enough for now.

"Fair! Yeah, yeah, you'll be a good asset. The last time I ever worked with an anomaly was, I dunno, when Zeta-" She clears her throat. "Nevermind."
>+1 P-CORP FAVOR! +RESPECT WITH REVOLUTINARIES

"Maybe don't set her shit on fire next time, though." Alexis firmly smacks her hand onto your shoulder. "You do realize how bad they could've looked, right?"
[SIXTH SENSE] "Eh. I would've stopped her if it was going too far."
"Disgusting displays of power only barley tempered by the will of humanity." It's funny how much of a hypocrite Wendy is being.

"Yeah, yeah, hey. Wendy. Ashley. Go talk with Phi for a bit. I gotta talk with Alexis real quick."

File: PRIVATECONVERSATION.jpg (12 KB, 198x255)

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Ashley, Lex, Wendy and Phi all take the hint and head to the opposite side of the room to give you and Alexis some time to talk. You turn to her to see quite the odd expression on her face.

It's worry. Not for herself, no, you've seen her glancing around during combat or tense encounters in case shit hits the fan. It's for someone else. Someone close to her.

"It's about the REVOLUTINARIES, isn't it?" Seems like your guess was right on the money since she immediately begins spilling her guts out to you.
"I recognize them. I recognize those weird sashes." "Hm? The ones with the weird colors?" "Yeah, yeah, them."

"My...brothers have been talking to them. Felix, Jack, they've been mingling with them. I overheard some of the conversations they were having." She keeps glancing back at Phi to make sure she's not overhearing this. "Dangerous conversations. Overthrowing CEOs, going head to head with the Thumb and the Eye, radical shit."

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Eye is B-Corp, Thumb is J-Corp.

"They have no sense of self preservation. I guarantee you, 100%, most of them will be a liability down there and WILL stir shit if you don't tard wrangle them. They barely have enough self awareness to keep their mouths shut. Do NOT tell them anything you want to keep secret."

Probably a good idea you didn't mention the spooks then.
>REVOLUTINARY SIN (PRIDE) KNOWLEDGE x2 OBTAINED! (They believe themselves to be invulnerable and unstoppable under their Head Revolutionary's guidance. Can be spent to add 4d4 to CHARM, CONNECTIONS, WILLPOWER or RESTRAINT checks involving Revolutionaries.)

"...Thanks for the heads up. And, uh, look. I can't pretend I can do anything about your brothers but if I see them, I'll try talking to them. On your behalf."
Alexis is stunned to hear that out of you. "Huh?"

"Consider it a favor for tolerating all of the bullshit I've put you through the last few days. Back to back jobs, fighting the Excisor. That stuff." You try your best to put on a smile for her. "I can tell this is more about your family than any personal issue with them."

Alexis tries her best to keep up a consummate expression but there's the faintest hint of a smile on her face. "Thank you."
>+0.5 RAPPORT WITH ALEXIS!

The two of you rejoin with the others to get a rough overview of what your plan will be. Seems like they even got a map and everything. They quickly recap you on what your strategy will be.
Phi has informed you of a specific set of actions that ETF Agents used that they call "Anomaly Works". Supposedly these are what they use in P-Corp Containment Facilities to interact with them.

Each anomaly will like at least one and will be neutral to another. The temperament of the anomaly decides what works they like the most.

She gives a brief overview of each of them. Seems like there's five major ones they can do on the field; Nurture, Appease, Bond, Subdue, Observe.

File: WORKS.png (193 KB, 394x371)

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NURTURE: This work entails attempting to satisfy the physiological needs of an anomaly. Food, water, physical affection, etc. Anomalies that prefer this work tend to be animalistic or impulsive in nature.
BONDING: This work entails satisfying the social needs and desires of an anomaly and to encourage a relationship. Sentient anomalies or those who need attention or acknowledgement the most desire this work.
APPEASE: This work entails attempting to improve the living conditions of an anomaly or to enable what it represents, such as offering it items or cleaning its surroundings. Anomalies who like cleanliness or loathe being neglected like this work.
SUBDUE: This work entails repressing the anomaly's desires through physical or verbal means. Anomalies who love violence and those who need to be carefully watched to not hurt themselves like this work.
OBSERVE: This work simply entails watching and studying the anomaly to see what it does. Anomalies who love attention and those who are easily to spook like this work.

"The idea is that we'll try to negotiate with each of the anomalies by doing works on them. If we can properly wrangle them without having to fight them, we can get out of here in one piece." Phi explains.
"It loathes me to say this but most anomalies do not react well to being subdued. Though from what I've seen, those who love it will tend to be too pitiful for me to enjoy hurting..." Wendy chimes in.
"I've seen anomalies here or there and I know they're...sorta like robots? Operating like they're on a script. Like Bene-" Ashley clears her throat. "These five works will probably be better than interacting with them off the cuff. Doing the two works the anomaly likes most will most likely neutralize it as a threat."

You wonder why you didn't learn this in the P-Corp Facility mission but then you remember that the facility was long in disrepair; It probably wouldn't have helped much with the anomalies you did interact with.

>ANOMALY WORK KNOWLEDGE OBTAINED! (All DCs involving anomalies will be reduced by 2 for the foreseeable future. SEEKER will give you hints on which works are best used on anomalies.)

That's when Quentin comes back with about eight of the other ETF agents. All of them look pretty damned worried about something. You're pretty sure that there should be three more agents here. That's when Quentin drops a pretty big bombshell.

"ANOMALY WAS IN THE ELEVATOR SHAFT. WATCHING, WAITING. SPIDER WEBS WERE IN THE SHAFT." What the fuck? "WHEN IT SAW NO MORE WERE COMING, I SAW IT RUSHING AFTER THE THREE WHO ARRIVED. I TOOK TIME CLEARING THE WEBS SO WE CAN GET THERE SOON."

"Fuck. Physical description?"

"CREATURE WAS A MULTI LIMBED ARCHANID-LIKE CREATURE MADE OUT OF PORCELAIN AND CHINA. ITS LEGS WERE MADE OUT OF SMALLER DOLL LEGS SMASHED TOGETHER INTO A ROUGH APPROXMIATION OF A SPIDER LEG. HEAD WAS A HUNK OF WOOD WITH A FACE OF A 'BABUSHKA' PAINTED ON IT. NO MORE DETAILS WERE SPOTTED."

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Seems like either one of them already got out of their cell or there's five of them down there. You imagine the ETF aren't dead yet, they ARE trained for shit like this, but you need to get there now.

"Fuck. No time to waste. Let's move!" Lex gestures at everyone to fucking book it. There's no time. Your group and the rest of the REVOLUTINARIES make a break for the elevator. Thanks to Quentin clearing up the clog, both of your groups manage to get down the second floor remarkably quick.

You swore he even tinkered with the old hunk of shit directly to make it run better. It only takes four minutes for you to reach the second floor and what you see is...certainly something.

The room you find yourself in appears to be a very large cafeteria littered with long, dusty rectangular tables. Vending machines that have long since ran out of stock line every space of every wall. With how many tables and machines are here, you imagine this place could easily feed and hold 300 people without any issue. You assume there has to be a LOT more barracks than just the one on the first floor.

Though, the main thing that catches your eye is the vast amount of stringy white webbing scattered throughout the cafeteria. Dozens of feet worth of web reach up from the floor to the ceiling above. It's laid out in such a way that as you get closer to the enter of the cafeteria, it gets harder to avoid getting stuck in a web. Doesn't help that the tables have been moved to make traveling without tripping hard.

As for what's in the middle? Three ETF agents trying to retreat alongside...

https://youtu.be/ma3kLsKSbac - GRANDMA OF NESTS

You think Quentin undersold what the anomaly looked like. Hanging on a massive hunk of webbing is an anomaly that looks like it came straight out of a horror movie. Eight long, spindly legs made out of cracked porcelain that have punched their way out of a massive Matryoshka doll. The Matryoshka doll is oddly shaped, resembling that of a spider's body with the rear half being bulbous and fat compared to the skinnier top half.

The head and body of the Matryoshka doll have been partially separated, still connected by a thick string of webbing. You can just barely make out a glint of something shining inside of the gap.

"KHEHEH! KHEHEHE! KHEHEHEHEHE!!!!" The anomaly cackles with the voice of a crone straight out of some shitty fairytale. "AH! IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE MAMA HAS SEEN BABA, YAYA, OR PAPA! WHY ARE YOU LEAVING?"

"Shit! I can't get a clear shot. Have you cleared the web?"
"Trying! Gamma, help me!"
"TRYING!" The three ETF agents are trying their best to claw through the webbing but it's pretty damn thick and sticky so their progress is short. Oddly enough the anomaly isn't attacking them yet.

She- It skitters across the webbing to keep a watch over the retreating ETFs.

A thick yellow liquid dribbles out of the gap of the doll and onto the floor below, quickly congealing into something like a thick mucus. One of the ETFs steps into it and he has to rip his foot out of his boot in order to keep retreating.

That's when the anomaly finally notices your group.

"KEH? KEHEHE! KEHEHEH! COME ON! DON'T YOU WANT GRANDMA'S COOKIES?"

"I can't get a clear shot yet." Phi whispers to you. "Try to negotiate with it first."
"It seems friendly, actually." Ashley points out. "Too friendly. I think it could attack us if it wanted to but it isn't."
"...This is a game to it." An odd smirk crosses Wendy's face. "It thinks we're children."

You take a moment to let SEEKER give you a hint on how best to approach it...
[SEEKER] When did you last talk to your grandparents?
[SEEKER] It wanted out of that doll so bad. To be able to move again.
[SEEKER] The webs are meant to keep the ETFs in but she sure is taking her time. She didn't build this web to hunt.

Hm. That's all you got. How do you want to approach this? Due to Quentin's assistance, you can pick TWO works.
>[LEX ALLY + NURTURE] "Hey, granny! C'mon, chase me!" Try to get the anomaly to another part of the cafeteria to buy the agents some time...and to tire it out. (AVERAGE/VERY EASY FLESH DC: 14, rolling your 4d6 and Lex's 6d6. How much you tire her out depends on whether one or both of you succeeds.)
>[APPEASEMENT + QUENTIN ALLY] "Grandma, you're making a mess. We were trying to visit you but you gunked up the elevators." Try to convince the anomaly to let you and the ETFs tidy up the cafeteria with Quentin's help. (TALENT THRESHOLDS: 27/32/37, rolling 10d6 with Quentin's help. You'll clear out more and more of the webs for each threshold you pass, helping out the agents escape easier.)
>[BONDING + ALEXIS ALLY] "It's been a long time, hasn't it?" "...hey, babushka." Try to distract it with a friendly conversation. (MODERATE CHARM DC: 28, rolling 8d6 with Alexis' help. You'll learn more about the anomaly's mindset on a success. Might calm it down too?)
>[SUBDUE + WENDY ALLY] "Ah, damnit, you're making a mess!" "Come here. You hurt yourself, let us check." Order her to come closer so you can inspect the self-inflicted damage. (EASY VIOLENCE DC: 29, rolling 10d6 with Wendy's help. Succeed and you'll be able to inspect both the damage it did to itself and what the gleaming object inside the gap is. Might be important.)
>[OBSERVE + ASHLEY ALLY] "Oh, nice webs! Mind if we take a look?" "We want to learn from the best." Take some time to investigate the webbing. (MEDIUM COGNIZANCE DC: 25, rolling 8d6 with Ashley's help. Succeed and you'll be able to figure out what quirks, if any, her webbing has and how to best circumvent it, reducing the APPEASEMENT thresholds by 4.)
>Write in. (Modify a work order? Use an item? Offer the anomaly something?)

>>6136801
>>6136802
Eh, my fault for taking too long with this update as well but haha. Storm knocked out internet for a bit.

>>6136854

>[OBSERVE + ASHLEY ALLY] "Oh, nice webs! Mind if we take a look?" "We want to learn from the best." Take some time to investigate the webbing. (MEDIUM COGNIZANCE DC: 25, rolling 8d6 with Ashley's help. Succeed and you'll be able to figure out what quirks, if any, her webbing has and how to best circumvent it, reducing the APPEASEMENT thresholds by 4.)

>>6136858
+1
Ah yes, returning to the roots...

>>6136854
>>[BONDING + ALEXIS ALLY] "It's been a long time, hasn't it?" "...hey, babushka." Try to distract it with a friendly conversation. (MODERATE CHARM DC: 28, rolling 8d6 with Alexis' help. You'll learn more about the anomaly's mindset on a success. Might calm it down too?)
>[OBSERVE + ASHLEY ALLY] "Oh, nice webs! Mind if we take a look?" "We want to learn from the best." Take some time to investigate the webbing. (MEDIUM COGNIZANCE DC: 25, rolling 8d6 with Ashley's help. Succeed and you'll be able to figure out what quirks, if any, her webbing has and how to best circumvent it, reducing the APPEASEMENT thresholds by 4.)

>>6136858
>>6136854

Didn't see the 2.

Add:

>[APPEASEMENT + QUENTIN ALLY] "Grandma, you're making a mess. We were trying to visit you but you gunked up the elevators." Try to convince the anomaly to let you and the ETFs tidy up the cafeteria with Quentin's help. (TALENT THRESHOLDS: 27/32/37, rolling 10d6 with Quentin's help. You'll clear out more and more of the webs for each threshold you pass, helping out the agents escape easier.)

After Observe.

>>6136854
In addition to my vote in >>6136860 supporting
>[OBSERVE + ASHLEY ALLY]
I'll add my second part that I forgot
>[APPEASEMENT + QUENTIN ALLY]
so what >>6136868 said

>>6136969
+1

>>6136854
>[BONDING + ALEXIS ALLY] "It's been a long time, hasn't it?" "...hey, babushka." Try to distract it with a friendly conversation. (MODERATE CHARM DC: 28, rolling 8d6 with Alexis' help. You'll learn more about the anomaly's mindset on a success. Might calm it down too?)

OBSERVE: AkJ, k2D, IaM, nk9
BONDING: xuJ, k2D
APPEASEMENT: IaM, AKj, nk9

Welp, you know the drill. Need two anons to roll the following
>8d6 (OBSERVE)
>10d6 (APPEASEMENT)

Rolled 3, 6, 2, 6, 5, 2, 5, 4 = 33 (8d6)

>>6137269

Rolled 4, 1, 6, 2, 6, 1, 6, 6, 1, 6 = 39 (10d6)

>>6137269

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>>6137280
>>6137296

Very nice, gentlemen. Very nice indeed.

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Things look a lot more dangerous than they seem. You get the impression that OBSERVING what's going on will be a better idea than just rushing in. You approach the webs and begin to carefully inspect them. The webs themselves seem remarkably thick compared to the average spider webbing. It more has the texture of clumps of hair stuck in a shower drain than anything.

"Target moving!"
"Nicole!" You feel two hands grabbing onto your shoulders, pulling you back in the nick of time. Seems like the GRANDMA OF NESTS (SPIDER GRANNY, maybe?) managed to dart over to where you were at in mere seconds. She's way faster than you expected.

"KHEH? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Heaven Above, she fucking reeks as well. A thick haze of old person scent radiates around her entire body. You can now make out that the shimmering thing you saw earlier in the gap of her body was a pendant.

You think you saw a picture of an old man? You didn't get a good glimpse.

You turn to see that Ashley was the one who pulled you away. She's clearly wary of the anomaly now but she clears her throat, trying her best to distract it. "She wanted to learn from the best."
"Oh!" It clicks for you. "Yes, yes, I wanted to study your webbing. It's very interesting."

You can hear your other allies trying not to retch from the stench radiating from the anomaly; It doesn't help that thick sticky mucus is dribbling out of the gap of her 'neck' and FUCK. That smells like rotten eggs.
"...KEH! SURE, SURE, NOELLE. GRANNY DOESN'T MIND. IT'S GOOD TO LEARN FROM YOUR ELDERS!"" Sticking to the webs she laid out, she skitters right back to the ground of trapped ETF agents. Good, buys you time.

Ashley then lets go of your shoulders to investigate the webbing. "Don't know a lot about spider stuff but I heard something about spider webbing being better than Kevlar if it had the same weight."
"Yeah, S-Corp said something about wanting to use it for construction purposes." Alexis chitters out.
"Just cut it." Wendy scoffs, clearly impatient.
"I WOULDN'T RECOMMEND-"

Ashley cuts Quentin off by trying just that: Cutting it. Her hunting knife does manage to leave a massive cut in it but as soon as she pulls her knife back, the webbing begins to patch itself up. Self repairing, that's no good.

"Hm. It can be damaged but I doubt physical force can leave a serious impact. Try that mask you found a while ago. Fire is probably not a good idea considering..." She gestures at how much webbing there is; You're smart enough to know big fire + enclosed space = uh oh

You hold MASK OF SORROWFUL COUNTENANCE over the webbing, letting the blackened ooze dribble onto it, but nope! It slides right off. Odd. Cutting does nothing, fire is too risky, acid does nothing.

"Wait. it's an anomaly. Maybe it has some topsy turvy logic to it. Maybe we do the opposite of what's normal?" Ashley proposes.
"What, getting stuck in it?" Phi is a bit skeptical on Ashley's proposal...

File: DISGUSTING.png (376 KB, 500x392)

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You, however, go for it. You press your hand down on the webbing. It sinks in like it's made out of putty and it takes Ashley pulling on your arm for you to get unstuck.

>33!

That's when you notice something. The mass of webbing you pushed down on is now warped and twisted out of shape, opening a gap in the web.

Looking back at the ETFs, they seem to be making slow progress since every time they make any damage to the webbing, it heals back up...but the webbing they manage to warp and twist doesn't heal up.

Blunt force seems to be the way to go.

"We'll circle around to keep an eye out for any other anomalies who might think we're too distracted to notice them. Mind if I take over your squad?" Phi turns her attention to you. You give her the thumbs up, gesturing at everyone but Quentin to follow her.

"...MMH. IF I MAY SPIT OUT MY OWN OPINION, I THINK THERE'S A LOGIC TO PRESSURE BEING THE ANSWER."
You try to think on what it could possibly be. The anomaly clearly seems lonely, that much is certain- Wait. Lonely, pressure...a hug?

Quentin nods, seemingly already having picked up on that. "WEBBING IS MEANT TO CAPTURE FOOD FOR A SPIDER, AFTER ALL."
Hm. You feel an uncomfortable half-remembered memory wiggling in the back of your mind. Taut skin, sunken cheeks, liver spots on her hands. A barely living husk of a woman laying in a hospital bed right in front of you.

Your mother, not that young herself, brought you in to check up on her.

That scent radiating from her, like musty old beer. Disgusting. She forced you to hug her and-

"NICOLE?" Quentin is gently shaking your shoulder. You snap out of the weird haze you were putting yourself in.
"I'm fine. Let's hurry up before it loses interest in 'playing' with them. Both of you have to take turns pressing down on the webbing with whatever you two have on hand: An old baseball bat for Quentin, your own booted foot for yours truly.

>39! (6 over third threshold)!

You two make quick work of the webbing in your way. Due to you not wasting time trying to feebly cut through it, unlike the ETFs (and you can't blame them, they're in the belly of the beast and it's really counter intuitive), you make rapid progress to the sentence.

In fact, by the time you arrive, you think it's only been three or four minutes. In the center, you notice how the various tables scattered around now have oddly detailed lamps, knickknacks, and trinkets made out of webbing resting on them. Almost like someone was trying to make a home here.

The ETF agents (you do note their outfits look a bit cobbled together on closer examination) quickly take the opportunity to rush down the now opened pathway out of the center. The nesting doll spider immediately notices this and tries to skitter after them...but her attention is now focused on you and Quentin now.

"YOUNGINS ALWAYS LEAVE SO SOON WHEN THEY COME TO VISIT GRANDMA. IT'S QUITE SAD: I EVEN DECORATED MY HOUSE JUST FOR THEM. THEY DIDN'T SEEN LIKE THEY LIKED MY DECORATIONS."

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She skitters up the 'ceiling' of the maze of webbing. There's an almost visible air of sadness radiating from the spider that, if not for the stench radiating from her, would almost make you sad.

"WELL, WE ATTEMPTED TO PESERVE YOUR...DECORATIONS AS BEST AS WE COULD." Quentin gestures at how the two of you pushed your way here without damaging the webbing. "IT'S HARD FOR VISITORS TO COME IF THEY GET STUCK OUTSIDE, RIGHT?"

"I." SPIDER GRANNY takes a moment to investigate the path you two carved in and nods as best as she can given her lack of a real 'head'. "I SUPPOSE YOU ARE RIGHT. I..." She goes silent now. Without the presence of the ETF agents she deluded herself into believing were her visitors, a lot of the energy she has is gone.

[SEEKER] OBSERVE seemed to have a GOOD effect on her but APPEASEMENT seems to have been NEUTRAL. You need another work (or some other action the anomaly likes) to neutralize it.

"How long have you been here?" You try your best to hold back your disgust for the anomaly's stench.

"I DON'T REMEMBER. I JUST REMEMBER THEM PUTTING ME IN HERE AND TELLING ME THEY WOULD BE BACK." Ouch. You feel like you heard that phrase before...
"WELL. WE'RE HERE NOW, AREN'T WE?" Quentin tries his best to placate the anomaly. He doesn't get a response.

How do you want to deal with the anomaly now?
>[NURTURE] Hold your arms out. Offer her a hug. Try to ignore the smell. (-1 FLESH to you and Quentin, leaving you at 3/8 and Quentin at 3/4. CHALLENGING FLESH DC: 18, rolling 4d6 with Quentin's help. You imagine she'd react really well to a successful hug; You'll likely receive a gift.)
>[SUBDUE] "Grandma, they're busy people. I know you're lonely but you can't force them to stay here. Didn't you see how scared they were?" Try to point this out to the anomaly. (EASY VIOLENCE DC: 30, rolling 10d6. This will likely snap some sense back into her, for good or ill, on success.)
>[BONDING] "You've been here for a while. How about we talk?" Sit down on one of the sticky tables and just let her jabber your ear off. (Very likely to work but both you and Quentin need to roll 1d10 respectively. 6 or lower results in taking 2 RESTRAINT damage.)
>[QUENTIN ALLY] "...THEY ABANDONED YOU, LIKE A PEST. A NUISANCE." Quentin seems like he has something to say. "I. I KNOW HOW THAT FEELS." Let him talk to her. (CHALLENGING RESTRAINT DC: 18, rolling Quentin's 4d6. There's a high chance he gains a permanent upgrade if he passes this check.)
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Gently pry the pendant out of the gap of her neck. (MEDIUM WILLPOWER DC: 26, rolling 8d6. You'll get some insight on the anomaly and might even help it remember its humanity, if it ever had any.)
>Write in. (Use an item to boost your rolls? Try another work/action on the anomaly? Ask GRANNY or QUENTIN something?)

(You can modify the NURTURE roll by consuming up to two charges from your ADRENALINE IMPLANT. For each charge, you heal 2 FLESH and add 2d6 to your roll.)

>>6137447
>[NURTURE]
Use two Charge.
>[SUBDUE]
>[BONDING]
Use two JOYVEL PILL.
>[QUENTIN ALLY]
Give the Quentin a one RAW MOONSTONE CHUNK.
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES]
Having her as an allies will be nice.
Use one MOONSTONE FRAGMENT.

https://dice.clockworkmod.com/

>>6137447
>[QUENTIN ALLY] "...THEY ABANDONED YOU, LIKE A PEST. A NUISANCE." Quentin seems like he has something to say. "I. I KNOW HOW THAT FEELS." Let him talk to her. (CHALLENGING RESTRAINT DC: 18, rolling Quentin's 4d6. There's a high chance he gains a permanent upgrade if he passes this check.)

>>6137447
>>[SUBDUE] "Grandma, they're busy people. I know you're lonely but you can't force them to stay here. Didn't you see how scared they were?" Try to point this out to the anomaly. (EASY VIOLENCE DC: 30, rolling 10d6. This will likely snap some sense back into her, for good or ill, on success.)

>>6137447
>[QUENTIN ALLY]
Give him a RAW MOONSTONE CHUNK as >>6137659 said. I want my boy Quentin to feel better

>>6137447
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Gently pry the pendant out of the gap of her neck. (MEDIUM WILLPOWER DC: 26, rolling 8d6. You'll get some insight on the anomaly and might even help it remember its humanity, if it ever had any.)

>>6137659
Change
>>6137447
>[QUENTIN ALLY]
Give the Quentin a one RAW MOONSTONE CHUNK.

>>6137447
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Gently pry the pendant out of the gap of her neck. (MEDIUM WILLPOWER DC: 26, rolling 8d6. You'll get some insight on the anomaly and might even help it remember its humanity, if it ever had any.)

>>6137659
+1
Let's party.

>6137447
>6137659

Sure. Support!

File: ssdy.png (307 KB, 859x890)

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QUENTIN: JhS/+RV (thank you for changing because I would veto doing EVERY action. Probably should've remember to write 'pick one'), k2D, IaM, Zzt
ANOMALOUS: f8y, AkJ
SUBUDE: F20

Tell you what. I'll let you do ANOMALOUS ABILITIES as well since it isn't THAT time consuming. Three anons, roll the following

>4d6 (Quentin's default roll.)
>3d8 (RAW MOONSTONE CHUNK)
>8d6 (Your WILLPOWER roll.)

>>6137960
>>6137879
Also, checked your thread on a whim, found it incredibly funny we both did something spider related at the exact same time. Funny how that works out.

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

>>6137961
Rolling for Quentin.
QM has psychic abilities. It is known.

Rolled 3, 6, 2, 4, 6, 3, 5, 4 = 33 (8d6)

>>6137961

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Rolled 6, 6, 3 = 15 (3d8)

>>6137961
Thank you for giving it a look; spiders were something I decided on like 2 weeks ago. Can always use more people if you want to check it out. Kinda slow but it is picking up some pace, what with back to back fights and us finally getting to America and getting some of the main plot started.
>Moonstone

>>6137981
>QM has psychic abilities. It is known.
Considering the amount of times I have talked with my friend(s) and I accidently mindread them, you can call me Nicole with how often that happens.

Regardless
QUENTIN: 26 (hard carried by MOONSTONE CHUNK. Good thing we're burning through these.)
ANOMALOUS ABILITIES: 33 (success, no qualifications about it.)

Writing.

File: pendant.png (66 KB, 180x179)

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Almost against your will, something clicks in your head. Two bugs hidden away in shells stand before you. One is trapped in a doll while another is trapped inside a frostbitten corpse. It would be funny if you weren't mentally chastising yourself for comparing a friend to a random anomaly.

[UNSTABLE] ALL HUMANS WILL BE LIKE HIM SOON ENOUGH ANYWAYS. DEAD, FILLED WITH BUGS, EATEN FROM THE INSIDE OUT.

Quentin has picked up on this as well if his distant, aimless expression has anything to say. He digs into his pocket to pull out that old wallet he's had this whole mission. You have a feeling he's about to do something that'll mess with his mind hard so, as a precaution, you give him a RAW MOONSTONE CHUNK.

He takes a deep breath of the fumes radiating from it before tossing the now impotent rock to the ground. As he puts the wallet back into his pocket, SPIDER GRANNY slowly closes in. More of that foul smelling yellow mucus dribbles out of the crack of her shell.

Quentin tries not to retch as it soaks into his pants. "...THEY ABANDONED YOU, LIKE A PEST. A NUISANCE."

SPIDER GRANNY stops whatever she was planning. Her separated head and body are beginning to pull closer and closer together for some reason now; You have to make a move here. You focus on the pendant hanging inside of the nesting doll's body with your telekinesis.

It's pretty stuck in there; Your first attempt to pull it out does nothing. You try again and again, each time resulting in the same level of success: None. That's when...

>33!

You finally manage to dislodge it. You send it flying over to your hand and catch it with ease. You try to hold back your gagging as you realize it's coated in a watery, foul-smelling mucus.

The image inside of the pendant is of a husband and wife, both around their late 70s if the grey hair and wrinkled skin has anything to say. The wife's in a simple dress while the husband is in a tuxedo. An ancient, withered priest stands next to them with an old religious book in hand.

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] You faintly recognize it as the 'King James Bible', a very rare antique by today's standards. She's ancient if the woman in here is her.

"NO, NO, THAT CAN'T BE RIGHT. THEY'LL COME BACK." You turn your attention back to SPIDER GRANNY. She's staring down at Quentin and while you can't read any expression due to the nesting doll's frozen face, it's clear her attention is all on him now. "THEY. THEY PROMISED."

"I'm- I'm sorry." Quentin's voice immediately loses the flat monotone it normally has. If you didn't know any better, he almost sounds...human. "I. Look. I know how it FEELS. I RE-" He struggles to KEEP sounding human, though. "Relate. I was left alone too. For a long while."

"THEY'LL COME BACK. I PREPARED ALL OF THIS FOR THEM!" SPIDER GRANNY uses her many legs to gesture towards the massive net of webbing filling the cafeteria. "A HOME FOR. FOR ME AND THEM TO. TO PLAY WITH MY GRANDKIDS AND. FEED THEM COOKIES AND. WHAT ABOUT THOSE FINE YOUNG MEN?"

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"Those were soldiers, miss. They were scared of you." Quentin slowly places the baseball bat he used to clear the webbing on the ground. "I get it. No one likes me either." He holds out his hand and with a sickening tearing of skin and meat, his true self pops out of the palm of his hand.

A centipede.

"Haha, funny, isn't it. I feel a sense of kinship with you. I guess it's because we were both seen as pests."

"I DON'T." SPIDER GRANNY's 'head' slowly drifts to stare down at her spidery legs. "I. WHERE ARE THERE? I. I'M NOT A PEST, KYEH KYEH! THEY HAVE TO COME BACK! TO VISIT THEIR GRANDMA!" You can hear the cope dripping out of her words. Her desperate attempt to keep up her twisted viewpoint. "STAY! STAY! GRANDMA WILL MAKE YOUR BOOBOOS GO AWAY!"

"When's the last time someone has come down here?" The centipede sticking out of Quentin's palm skitters right back into the rotten body it's piloting. "When's the last time anyone has talked to you?"

The silence lingering in the air after his question says all.

>26

"...You're not alone any more." Quentin is trying his best to hold back something that he's clearly been holding back for a while. "I'm not alone either. You don't have to be alone anymore, I'm here for you."

In the blink of an eye, SPIDER GRANNY jumps off of the webbing and onto the ground. She skitters right up towards Quentin as if she's about to attack but she simply sits there. Staring at him.

He presses his hand against the nesting doll's head. "I get that it hurts. To be alone. To hear people chattering and enjoying their lives while you're left to rot here. Alone."
"I. THE RADIO'S STILL PLAYING. I TRIED TO CALL FOR MY NURSE BUT SHE. WHERE IS SHE?" The ecstatic, crazed energy once in her voice is beginning to fade. "Where's my son...? He should've been here."

"Do you know where you are?" Quentin continues to rub his hand against her face.
"I...IN A. Nursing...?" She sounds lost, scared, confused as if slowly waking from a dream.

"A place where humans leave their elders to rot. I'm sorry. They won't come back. But we can be here in lieu of them."

"...Grandson? What are you talking about?" Oh no. You recognize that lost, aimless tone of voice. The cleansing rains of Alzheimer's that slicks through the contents of your mind. "I. Can you turn the radio on, dear?" Her spider legs are shaking now as if under the effect of a neurodegenerative disease. All of that youth and energy is fading away.

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] An instinct. An impulse. She's asked for the radio many times.

"Why...why is no one ever around anymore. Nobody ever comes to visit me..."

[UNSTABLE] If anyone did visit her, they stopped coming a while ago. When it got real bad. Will your friends stick around when you become like her?

Quentin rests his face against the nestling doll's head, gently rubbing her 'cheek.' "It's okay. We're here now."

There's nothing anyone here can say. The silence is the only answer that anyone could give. The WORK RESULT was...

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SPECIAL BONDING: GOOD!

The nestling doll spider soon lowers herself onto the floor, laying completely flat on it. All of the energy is gone from her; For a brief moment, she's herself now. Being loved by someone.

"It's okay."
"I'm okay." Both of them mutter to each other with faint, comforting whispers.

That's when you move in. You hold the pendant you took and hold it right up towards SPIDER GRANNY. It is snatched from your hands almost instantly by a pair of spindly legs. She holds the pendant up to her face to stare down at the old yellowed picture.

My husband. It. It was all so quiet once he left.
I ran out of tears so, so long ago. So did my children.
They saw the writing on the wall. They left me here, to rot. To decay.
Like a bug in a corpse. I'm just a bug to them. I.

"..." The pendant drops to the ground. With a sickening crack, the nestling doll's neck opens up to reveal what's inside of the anomaly. Someone starts to crawl out of the now open doll and with a SPLAT, something hits the floor.

A woman in a faded green winter coat far, far older than anyone you have ever seen in your life lays in a puddle of dark yellow and orange mucus. Her body is ravaged with mutations; Her arms are sharpened spider legs from the elbow down. Thick layers of chitin cover the left side of her face while the right side of her face has four jet-black eyes scattered on it.

Four more spider legs poke out of her dress, resting loosely at her sides. What little hair she has left is not hair but thick, white webbing. It almost reminds you of Benedict; A half formed abomination of an anomaly and a human.

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] She's too far gone to become fully human again. Her mind is too ravaged by age and disease. She's doomed to become an anomaly again in a few days tops.

You can feel something budding in Quentin's soul as he sees the partially restored human before him. He's not awakening a PARADIGM or anything, no, but it's clear this has changed him. "Thank you." He mutters, both to you and towards the anomaly. Even if it's only short lived,

>QUENTIN gains +1 MAX RESTRAINT and CHARM!
>QUENTIN gains ESPRIT DES ABANDONNÉS!
>LYUBOV has temporarily joined your party! She won't be of much use right now.

[AIMER LES ABANDONNÉS] Even if you have never had true love, even if people abandon and forget you, the bugs will burrow into your heart. Quentin gains +1 to a random stat permanently for every 3 corpses he BIOJACKS. In addition, when first BIOJACKING a fresh corpse corpse, he'll temporarily gain a BOON from said enemy for the duration of said BIOJACKING.

Might be wise to get him a new body; The one he's in is barely holding together. You imagine the moment he leaves this frigid wasteland it'll melt into slop. At least he has some harvested organs from the SPOOKS to improve whatever body he hops into next.

That's when you hear a small army's worth of footsteps approaching your group.

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It's the rest of your party + the dozen or so ETF agents that you decided to follow. You notice how tense all of them are and how they all snap their gazes towards the two of you.

That tenseness fades when they see the now lifeless nesting doll-spider and the mutated old lady standing by you.

"She's the anomaly." You nod your head at her. "She's not really much of a threat anymore. Hell, she's probably going to revert back to one soon enough." LYUBOV doesn't seem to notice your comment. Hell, she doesn't notice much of anything.

"Ah." Phi gestures at her group to keep their firearms holstered for now. "We'll take her in later. Best to keep her someone safe once we're out of her. Can she defend hersel-" Phi has to dodge something being shot right at her: A thick strand of webbing.

Turning to see the source, Lyubov has her left spider arm-leg held up. A small crack at the tip of the leg seems to be where the web came from. "Grandma. Keep safe." As soon as she finishes speaking, she goes numb again.

"Noted. Just keep her in the back."
"There's a situation going on." Ashley cuts through the chatter. They DID come back to get you for a reason. "We didn't want to go further without you two- three."

"LEAD THE WAY." Quentin moves to rejoin the party alongside Lyubov. You stay behind for a moment to reclaim the pendant. Something tells you it's important.

>FORGOTTEN PENDANT obtained. (ODDITY ACCESSORY. When equipped, boosts the two lowest stats of the wearer by 2.)
>ODDITIES are a weird in-between a RELIC and an PARADIGM. They tend to have slightly weirder or more unique effects than normal relics but no true anomalous power.

You follow the ever-growing group towards whatever problem they now found themselves in. You doubt it's an anomaly since they probably would've dealt with it by now. None of them seem to be injured or dead yet at least.

Your group heads down a hallway leading northwest deeper into the facility. You have no idea where you're heading so you lean in to ask your allies.

"The machines down in some research lab here keep blaring some coded message." Alexis fills in on what's been going on. "It seems the anomaly you dealt with was the only one that broke out...for now. That we know of."
[HUNTER OF THE CITY] "The machine has a spook in it. There's an anomaly in there. Blabbering nonsensical codes from a dead world." You only now notice the torn up wires hanging in Wendy's hand. "Didn't even react when I did this!"

"Yeah. Real creepy shit in there." Algiz buds into your group's conversation. "We found two cells nearby; Those anomalies are still inside. We'll deal with those later." Good, good, one more anomaly to deal with. Maybe you can leave after that.

"Oh, right." You lean in to whisper to Algiz and Phi about the works you did with Lyubov and what she responded well to. The two nod, thanking you for the info whenever they do drag her to a containment cell. Soon enough, you arrive at the research lab in question.

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The actual lab itself is pretty barren. There's shelves that once held various chemicals and raw materials but those are (mostly) empty now. There's no equipment like microscopes or centrifuges or whatever you'd expect for a chemistry lab.

All that there is inside of this lab is...radio machinery. Lots and lots and lots of it. On every single counter, shelf, table or chair there's another random schizophrenic mess of wiring and cabling stuffed into old and bulky radios from the 1930s. Each of them are seemingly connected to each other, all of which leads to something in the center of the room.

A pile of radios piling ten feet up, hitting right against the roof of the lab itself, stands proudly in the center. Well, it's more than a pile. The radios that make up the pile have blended together and merged into an amalgamation of wood, wiring, and vacuum tubes. The dials are written in Russian but from what Alexis tells you, it's all just gibberish.

There's an odd electricity to the air. Suddenly, everyone (especially you and Wendy) begin to feel some sort of presence in the room now. The radio themselves didn't read as anomalous to you but as they turn on...

".-- -. .. -- .- -. .. ." An odd series of morse code blips begins to pour out of the radio. You faintly recall learning it during one of your more delusional episodes involving the spooks but that's just gibberish. It doesn't mean anything. ".-- .-. .- --. --.. .- -- . ---. . -. ...... .-- .-. .- --. --.. .- -- . ---. . -. ......!" You swear it almost sounds...taunting?

"It's been blaring that ever since we got here. Creepy shit." Lex shivers upon hearing the code start up again.

[LYUBOV ALLY] The mostly silent elder suddenly awakens from her stupor. "It doesn't want you here. My grandchildren, they...they would try talking to it but...that's why they stayed on the first floor and..." She goes silent now.

You doubt she's actually referring to her kids; Probably the people of WHITEROCK who have been using this facility. She's not wrong given the odd air in the room getting worse and worse and worse.

The ETF agents move to try to communicate with the anomaly through whatever means they can. LYUBOV slowly stumbles after them in an attempt to help in her dazed state. You turn to your group for any advice, you're not sure how to communicate with something that seems to be in the waves.

[SIXTH SENSE] "I don't think we should be here. There's two other anomalies, let's deal with them. Let the ETFs kill themselves here. If we must do something, we should alter the signal."
[HUNTER OF THE CITY] "It's clearly planning something. We should break it, weaken its connection. If that spider lady was right, it sees us as a THREAT."
[BIOJACKER] "THIS SHELL IS FAILING ME. I WANT TO TRY SOMETHING DUMB BEFORE LOSING IT: JAB ONE OF THE WIRES INTO ME. I AM INTERESTED TO SEE IF I COULD ATTEMPT TO COMMUNICATE."
[I-CORP RESIDENT] Alexis seems to figure something out. "I think I can translate it."

"That's not normal Morse Code, it's an I-Corp variant. Let me try to communicate with it WITHOUT jabbing random things into Quentin."
Lex doesn't seem to have much to say. "Maybe we can fix it somehow?"

From your perspective...

[SEEKER] It is attempting to communicate, that much is for certain. If it wanted you dead it would've attacked by now.
[SEEKER] However. These radios look weird. On closer examination these seem to be military radio equipment.
[SEEKER] You can hear the faintest bit of something else in the noise too. Screaming, loud banging, like gunshot being fired.
[SEEKER] The signal seems to weaken and calm down whenever you approach them. You're not sure why.

Hm. Which one do you go with? Pick up to three.
>[NURTURE/LEX ALLY] You do have an old toolbox. Fix up the mass of radios; Maybe it'll help with the signal too. (MODERATE COGNIZANCE DC 28, rolling 8d6 with Lex's help. Succeed and you'll fix the old radio's parts, presumably satisfying the anomaly and lowering the DC of BONDING by 4.)
>[APPEASEMENT/ASHLEY ALLY] Alter the signal, try to find a way to communicate with it WITHOUT Morse Code. (MODERATE TALENT DC: 35, rolling 10d6 with Ashley's help. Succeed and you'll be able to actually communicate with whoever's on the other side. You'll learn more information on the anomaly on future checks. Lowers DC of BONDING and SUBDUE by 3.)
>[BONDING/ALEXIS + LYUBOV ALLY] Let the two Russians communicate with the anomaly. (HARD CHARM DC: 34, rolling 7d6+1d4. Succeed and the two will establish communication with the anomaly, allowing your groups to discuss and bargain with each other.)
>[SUBDUE/WENDY ALLY] The air here feels wrong. Something about the signal is bothering you. Try to weaken the signal. (MODERATE VIOLENCE DC 38, rolling 11d6 with Wendy's help. Succeed and you'll guaranteed the anomaly will be unable to hurt your group. Any negotiation with the anomaly will be easier as well.)
>[OBSERVE/QUENTIN ALLY] Quentin's plan sounds fucking stupid. You're all for it. Jab some wires into him. (FLESH + RESTRAINT DC 15, rolling both Quentin's 4d6 and 5d6 separately. Pass the FLESH check and he won't take any FLESH damage. Pass the RESTRAINT check and he'll understand the anomalous radio and the signal a lot better, reducing the DC of SEEKER by 8, BONDING and SUBDUE by 2.)
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Try to figure out why the radio is calming down around you. (RISKY WILLPOWER DC: 36, rolling 8d6. Succeed and you'll be able to gain a PARADIGM From the anomaly!)
>Grab an ally and check somewhere on the second floor while the others work here. Maybe there's a missing piece here (LOCATIONS AVAILABLE: CONTAINMENT CELL D2-M-PEND, A1-T-MIXED, ARMORY, COMMUNICATION RELAY, MAJOR GENERAL OFFICE, BARRACKS. Pick which ally to bring.)
>Write in. (Give an ally an item? Modify a WORK ORDER action? Try something else? Use an item on the radios? Ask the ETFs something?)

Made the update longer as an apology for the delay, passed out mid-writing.

>>6138346
Did we use THE ADMIRAL'S MEDAL this mission?
If not,
>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Try to figure out why the radio is calming down around you. (RISKY WILLPOWER DC: 36, rolling 8d6. Succeed and you'll be able to gain a PARADIGM From the anomaly!)
This seems like an ideal heck to auto-pass

In any case,
>[APPEASEMENT/ASHLEY ALLY] Alter the signal, try to find a way to communicate with it WITHOUT Morse Code. (MODERATE TALENT DC: 35, rolling 10d6 with Ashley's help. Succeed and you'll be able to actually communicate with whoever's on the other side. You'll learn more information on the anomaly on future checks. Lowers DC of BONDING and SUBDUE by 3.)
>[BONDING/ALEXIS + LYUBOV ALLY] Let the two Russians communicate with the anomaly. (HARD CHARM DC: 34, rolling 7d6+1d4. Succeed and the two will establish communication with the anomaly, allowing your groups to discuss and bargain with each other.)

>>6138357
>Did we use THE ADMIRAL'S MEDAL this mission?
You have not.

>>6138357
+1 nice setup there

>>6138357
+1

>>6138357
+1

>>6138357

Yes. Go for it. Support +1

>>6138357
+1
RUSSIAN TO RUSSIAN COMMUNICATION GO

>>6138357
+1

Rolled 4 (1d4)

Waow. Completely unanimous. Welp, here we go. Three anons, roll the following. I'll roll the 1d4 for the CHARM/BONDING check.

>10d6 (APPEASEMENT)
>7d6 (BONDING)
>8d6 (SEEKER)

Rolled 3, 2, 5, 5, 6, 1, 4, 2, 3, 6 = 37 (10d6)

>>6138952

Rolled 6, 6, 4, 1, 6, 4, 4 = 31 (7d6)

>>6138952

Rolled 3, 1, 2, 2, 6, 1, 6, 1 = 22 (8d6)

>>6138952

Oof. That SEEKER one hurts a lot. Welp, pick an option to unfuck that horrid roll since I imagine you want the PARADIGM. First to three gets picked.
>USE ADMIRAL'S MEDAL (Autopasses, but you won't be able to use it for the rest of the mission.)
>POP A SINNLÖSCHEN and your HARVESTER'S NECKLACE (Leaves you with one pill for the future. +2 WILLPOWER, You'll reroll your check as a 10d8 and future WILLPOWER checks you roll will have d8s instead of d6s. Will drain your RESTRAINT while active.)

And if you pick the second one, which items do you use to negate the RESTRAINT drain? Pick as many as you want.
>JOYVEL ZETA PILL (Consumes the one you have, heals RESTRAINT to 9/10)
>You do have that old OATH TO CONTAIN shield... (Consumes two out of three charges on the PARADIGM. You won't take any passive RESTRAINT damage for a bit.)
>Take a NOLNOL pill (Leaves you with 2 NOLNOL pills left. Empowers your active but weak RESTRAINT regen, allowing you to outregen the RESTRAINT damage.)
>EMBRACE THE PAIN. (You do have weak RESTRAINT regen active. You have a decent chance to just block some nasty damage.)

>>6138966
>USE ADMIRAL'S MEDAL (Autopasses, but you won't be able to use it for the rest of the mission.)
Don't let it turn into 99 Elixirs. It's no guarantee we'll encounter another check worthy of using it (unless Handler lets spite control him). And if we do, then we can pop the SINNLÖSCHEN.

>>6138966
>>USE ADMIRAL'S MEDAL (Autopasses, but you won't be able to use it for the rest of the mission.)

>>6138966
>USE ADMIRAL'S MEDAL (Autopasses, but you won't be able to use it for the rest of the mission.)

>>6138973
>>6138975
>>6138993
Noted. Writing.
It's fitting how you're using the ADMIRAL'S MEDAL to autopass this check. You'll see.

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>>6139001
Fun!

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Okay. You are really curious why it seems to calm down around you but you rather focus on improving the signal before you do anything reckless. You let the ETFs fiddle with a majority of the radio equipment; You imagine they would have more experience in that department than you.

You decide to team up with Ashley to go along with her plan. Well, specifically her plan to fix the signal, you don't care to leave right now. Anomalies are cooler than random empty rooms.

The two of you approach one of the more maligned growths of random radio circuity and parts that makes up the 'vessel' of the anomaly. Ashley slams her foot against one of the loose panels to expose some REMARKABLY ugly looking wiring. Looks like what you'd put together during a maniac episode.

Pink, yellow, orange, red, cyan wires twist and tangle with each other. Some of the wires are even in colors that you don't have words to describe aside from 'Puce' and 'Anti-Purple'. You doubt you can do anything with this, really.

"Hm. Do you see, like, a transmitter or something? Maybe we can bend it back into shape." Ashley promptly puts the panel back on. The two of you scan across the tumorous mass of technology. Eventually, you look up at one of the taller towers of radio machinery to see something quite odd: A small pole with at least eighteen different antennae jutting out of it.

The pole is short and stubby since it has to fit within 10 feet due to the room's ceiling but you think you two can climb up and reach it.

"Think that'll help?"
"Probably. I can climb up, can you?"
"I climbed worse things. C'mon."

It's a struggle for the two of you due to how disjointed the structure itself is but it's not long before the two of you reach the antenna tower. You realize what the issue is; The antennae are gunked up to high hell and all of them are bent at incredibly awkward angles.

"I'm not much of a radio expert but I know this can't be good for the signal." Ashley tries to remember something and apparently she manages to remember some old radio factoids. "Wait. I think alcohol can help dissolve this. Didn't we get some vodka a while back?"

"Oh, yeah!" You pull out a bottle of POTATO VODKA. You crack it open and gently pour about a sixth of the liquor onto some of the antennae. The built up oil and grime washes off and...

"Я cкaзaл тeбe, чтo никтo нe бyдeт...Ich habe dir gesagt, Maria, ich liebe dich, aber ich kann nicht...生きたい!生きたい!" As soon as you heard legible words, it cuts right back off to the morse code. "... .-.. .- -... -.-- .--- ... .. --. -. .- .-..-"

You think you're on the right track.

"Hey! The signal's getting better!" You hear Lex yelling from somewhere below. You rather not look down since even if you're only 10 feet up, you're not the best with heights. Especially while on THIS type of structure.

"I think we have to bend the antennae back into shape. You think you can help me with that?" You ask Ashley.

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"Yes but please, be gentle when you do it.. I tried this with my brother's radio and fuck, I made the signal way worse."

You take the left side of the tower while Ashley takes the right. You each carefully bend and adjust the antennae in different directions, keeping a keen ear for the radios below to see if you're messing up with the signal or not. It's a long process to make sure you don't fuck up the signal...

>37!

"Hey! We got a signal, we got a signal!" You can hear Alexis almost beaming with joy; Which is odd given she normally is. You can't quite make out what's being said by the radios now from up here though.

"Woo. You know, I should probably start messing with radios as a hobby thing. They're still what most people listen to music on these days..." The two of you carefully move down the pile of radios. You're still hurting from your last fight and Ashley still has some lingering pain in her feet.

You approach Alexis and Lyubov to check up on them. Wendy is keeping guard by the doorway (and to not break anything else) alongside Lex, while Quentin is buzzing around to tweak various antennae all over the room.

"Oпepaтop? Oпepaтop?" Lyubov gibbers out. A headset with a small microphone is draped over her half-mutated head at an awkward angle. She seems oddly familiar with the radio set. "Oтвeтьтe, пoжaлyйcтa. Пpoвepкa cигнaлa."

"Пpивeдитe кoгo-нибyдь, ктo гoвopит пo-aнглийcки." Alexis joins in, chattering into her own headset microphone. At first you don't hear a response but Alexis. "Любoвь-"

>35!

Suddenly, you can hear something crackling to life over the radio. Lyubov and Alexis both pull off their headsets and as soon as they do, the most horrific noise screeches across the mass of radios. A sound you're oddly familiar with, since you were in a training simulator of one only a few weeks ago.

A warzone.

"Signal received! Signal received! It's a nightmare here, Operator Alexis and Operator Lyubov! Status? Status?" A young woman with a thick accent screeches over a volley of gunshots and distant explosions. "We need backup! Now! Now!"

"Location, Lieutenant Morozov?" The haze clouding Lyubov's decayed mind seems to be gone for now. "We need a location. We do not currently have access to your location and we have only recently received your signal."

"We're about 20 miles away from Volkivka My squad just got ambushed by a flank of German soldiers and we're on the retreat. Currently hiding behind some rubble; I hear a Panzer coming. We NEED backup."

"THEY TAUGHT US SOME BASIC HISTORY BACK IN Q-CORP. ISN'T THAT...OLD WORLD?" Quentin flutters over to you and Ashley to whisper while the others focus on chattering with the soldier. That's when you see Wendy approaching your group.
You can almost smell the shit-eating grin on Wendy's face with how smug and self assured she is.

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"Yep. German victory, it was. Something I-Corp is still sore about."
"Probably not wise to mention that." You point out to Wendy.

"Feh. I'll get some enjoyment out of this if I can't break it, okay? I'm trying here." And you gotta applaud her for holding back her tard rage.
"Fair, fair. And I respect that." You gently pat Wendy on the head, much to her annoyance.

"How the hell are we getting a signal that old?" Ashley mutters before realizing what your group is dealing with. "Well, okay, here's the issue."

"Can we even do anything to help them? It's, what, some battle in the past?" Ashley points out the issue on sending any 'backup' to the ancient soldiers. "We're just getting a signal."

All of you mutually shrug. You don't really see an opening to do anything and none of you are historians so it's not like you can give specific advice from the past.

"We are unable to send backup at the moment due to our position. Do you have any way we could possibly reach you?" Alexis tries her best to offer help to the soldiers. After all, if the anomaly is keeping this signal alive, there must be a reason for it.

"Not sure if I can, our boss only wants to establish a true connection to those we...W-wait, I-I...is someone with you? I sense something." The young soldier's voice changes, as if she was a mere echo of something bigger.
You hesitantly approach the anomaly, holding up your ADMIRAL'S MEDAL-

>AUTOPASS!

"F-fuck! FUCK! IT'S HIM! IT'S HIM! I KNEW IT WAS HIM!" A sudden rush of interference blares across the radio's speaker. The ETFs have to desperately finagle with the many dials and switches around them to keep the signal from shorting out completely. "H-he should still be on the Pacific Theater! How do you have HIM with you?"

"What?" Alexis and Lyubov are both confused as to what she means by that at first...but then Alexis remembers hearing about the Admiral last mission. "Oh fuck."
Ashley and Lex both immediately recognize that name, each putting on a tough expression to hide the fear still in their hearts. That mission was rough for them.

Wendy simply snorts, approaching the radio with a snide look on her face. "We have him, yeah. Got a problem?"

"I...t-tune your signature to 6.22.15.52 and adjust your frequency to 3625 kHz. W-we need to get into contact with an ally of ours you s-seem to have access to." Huh? You glance at the medal in your hands.

[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] War is all I cared about, Nicole. I changed my side a lot in the old wars depending on who was winning or losing. To keep things fun.
[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] False hope was more amusing than complete, boring domination.

"You hear the soldier, folks!" Alexis yells out to the ETFs. They swarm around the mass of radio equipment like ants on a tasty treat. You take a moment to analyze how good the two works you did are.

[SEEKER] Appeasement was GOOD. It needed a better connection, it wanted to reach out. Without a receiver, the signal can't transmit.

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[SEEKER] Something about BONDING wasn't good, though. It was NEUTRAL. Establishing a bond doesn't seem to matter to them. They don't want words, they want something more.

Once the ETFs are done adjusting what was asked of them, you can feel an electric buzz filling the air.

All of a sudden, reality itself seems to begin to rip apart like a fabric blanket being pulled apart and shredder by an industrial shredder. It seems to start near the end-most part of the pile of radios and soon enough, a hole is ripped through the room.

A rift has suddenly formed in the room your group is standing in now. It's about the same size as an average doorway in someone's house; big enough for a person to fit in through. What you see through the rift is...something.

A young woman who looks oddly similar to Alexis if not for her black hair and being far, far skinnier is hiding behind a trench dug into the blood-red dirt of whatever war-torn battlefield she's in The sky has also been tinted this awful crimson red hue. There's hardly any light shining down onto the war torn battlefield and what light you do see is tinted this awful red color.

Dust bellows out from the rift, scattering onto the floor of the lab you're in. In the distance you can make out the outlines of tanks skittering across a mostly barren battlefield. Far, far above in the sky you can even make out warplanes flying above head.

The soldier is bleeding really, really heavily from her stomach; You're not a doctor but you think the enemy got a lucky rifle shot off of her. She's clearly been bleeding for a bit since she seems woozy.

"W-where is he? W-whatever, don't have time to ask."

Signal established. Finally, someone can hear our voices even after all of this time.
So much time has passed we thought our stories would never be heard.
This is a recording of the day THEY have forgotten. For our story does not matter to history.
We shall bring you to a chaotic place—forgotten by many—that you must acknowledge. Acknowledge us.
PLEASE PLEASE I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR THIS PLEASE PLEASE WE'RE ESTABLISHING OUR CONNECTION-

A flurry of voices screeches in your ears. God, you occasionally hear these voices around anomalies but this is almost ear-piercing. You grit your teeth, trying to power through it.

"P-please. I-I need help."
Lyubov stumbles over towards the rift while the rest of the group, including your party, is keeping some healthy distance from it.

"..." She silently stares at the soldier before staring back at your group. As if silently asking for you to help her out like you helped her. You feel obligated to do something now...

"H-here. M-my...my mom gave this to me but...t-the Admiral will want this. H-he's with you, I can sense it." She tosses something through the rift. You move to collect it.

>BROKEN TRANMISSION OBTAINED! (PARADIGM ARMOR. A homemade military officer uniform, tattered with age. A red star is stitched onto the back of it. +1 to ALL stats to the wearer. Has a small chance to negate 2 FLESH damage from RANGED ATTACKS.)

Hot fucking damn. Okay, now you feel REALLY obligated to help with loot like this.
"The signal is getting weaker by the second." Phi calls out from one of the many switch and button panels. "That rift won't stay open for longer than 15, maybe 20, minutes. Tops."

You take a deep breath...
>+1 RESTRAINT from AZURE REGENERATION! 6/10 RESTRAINT LEFT!

Best to make your moves now. What do you want to give what you assume is an echo of a long, long dead soldier? Pick up to three non-WORK offers, one WORK offer and any amount of FREE ACTIONS.)

>[NURTURE] Rush in through the rift and patch her up with some of your supplies. Now. She needs to keep fighting. (-1 STANDARD ISSUE MEDKIT and 2 GAUZE ROLLS. +1 I-CORP and X-CORP FAVOR. She'll survive for now, that's for certain. Perhaps all she cares about is surviving.)
>[APPEASEMENT + ASHLEY ALLY] She might already be a lost cause. "...Knock her out. I'm not sure she'll make it." (You'll heal 3 RESTRAINT and FLESH. -4 POTATO LIQUORS and 1 TRANQUILIZER SYRINGE, leaving you with none. She'll be able to rest in peace. Perhaps that's what this lost signal needs the most.)
>[SUBDUE + WENDY AND LEX ALLY] You notice a group of soldiers approaching the trench she's hiding in. Let them indulge in some HYPERVIOLENCE. (VIOLENCE THRESHOLD: 38/43/47/51, rolling 13d6. For each threshold they pass, the less damage they'll take and the more old world WEAPONS, AMMO, and ARMOR they'll bring back. The only thing history remembers is who wins and who loses, right?)
>[OBSERVE + ALEXIS ALLY] "Tell us your story. We'll make sure you'll be remembered." Try to convince the soldier to talk about herself. (MODERATE CHARM DC: 25, rolling 7d6+1d4. Succeed and you'll get a detailed log of her lifestory, recording this forgotten battle down in history. Perhaps that's all she needs to rest.)
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] Something is drawing you to the battlefield. Step out and empty your mind. (HARD RESTRAINT DC: 26, rolling 6d6 by yourself. You're not sure what will happen on success aside from you being able to boost a stat of your choice by 1.)
>You don't see a weapon on her. Toss her some equipment so she can keep fighting (-1 SERVICE PISTOL, -BALLISTIC SHIELD, -5 PISTOL AMMO. In exchange, you'll get 1 random RELIC WEAPON and a good piece of RELIC ARMOR.)
>Give her some CONSUMABLES to improve her odds of getting out of there. (-RAW NOVASTONE CHUNK, -1 WHITE POWDER, -1 SYNDICAKE. In exchange, you'll get $500 in old world currency AND 4d100 random CONSUMABLES.)
(1/2)

>Toss her some useful EQUIPMENT to even the odds a bit. (-ECM JAMMER, -1 DYNAMITE BUNDLE, -1 MAKESHIFT NAPLAM MOLOTOV. In exchange, you'll get one RELIC EQUIPMENT and three pieces of good, regular EQUIPMENT.)
>[AIMER LES ABANDONNÉS] "I'M NOT LETTING HER DIE HERE." Shit, what is this idiot doing? Well, guess you have to help him now. (HARD WILLPOWER DC: 48, rolling 12d6 represent everyone's efforts. Succeed and you'll help Quentin rescue this poor, bleeding soldier from a warzone she might not survive in.)

>Try to ask for something else. (FREE ACTION. Feel free to ask her for whatever. You imagine she has a lot of RELICS, useful OLD WORLD INFORMATION, and potentially some ANOMALOUS ARTIFACTS due to her unique nature. You'll be told what she'll ask for in exchange.)
>Offer her something? (FREE ACTION. Write in what you want to give. Depending on how much or how valuable it is, she'll give better and better stuff in exchange.)
>Take an item to alter your odds of success? (FREE ACTION. What items and for what checks?)

>Write in.

(To clarify, NURTURE + APPEASEMENT + SUBDUE + OBSERVE are the 'work' offers, rest are the 'non-work' ones.)
(Meant to post earlier, got distracted. I apologize.)

>>6138973
>(unless Handler lets spite control him)
Nah, I don't let spite decide my actions. I'm not THAT petty. You did get something REALLY good for using the medal anyways so don't feel too ashamed.

>>6139200
>[AIMER LES ABANDONNÉS]
Alright lads, this is a new path that has opened up because of our choices. Let's mosey.

>>6139200
>[AIMER LES ABANDONNÉS] "I'M NOT LETTING HER DIE HERE." Shit, what is this idiot doing? Well, guess you have to help him now. (HARD WILLPOWER DC: 48, rolling 12d6 represent everyone's efforts. Succeed and you'll help Quentin rescue this poor, bleeding soldier from a warzone she might not survive in.)
Fuck. I love bug boy. He is a good noodle.

>>6139200
>[OBSERVE + ALEXIS ALLY]
Give the Alexis one AXAXAX PILL. This is the Alexis ancestor, it can be very valuable for the Morozov family.
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND]
Use one SILVER CIGARETTE PACK and one MOONSTONE FRAGMENT.
>Give her some CONSUMABLES to improve her odds of getting out of there.
>Toss her some useful EQUIPMENT to even the odds a bit.

>Try to ask for something else.
Can you tell us any things value about your family history and valuable information?
>Offer her something?
Give her 1 SERVICE PISTOL, BALLISTIC SHIELD, 5 PISTOL AMMO, 1 STANDARD ISSUE MEDKIT, 2 GAUZE ROLL, 2 GRADE A RATION, 1 IODINE TABLET PACK and 1 POTATO VODKA.
I wonder how this will affect the Morozov family history?
>Write in
Introduce ourself.

>>6139323
It will be great if we manage to establish strong connections to the Alexis (Morozov) family because of this.

>>6139294
>>6139321
Is this a good idea to bring someone from the past to the present? We don’t know how this will affect the Morozov family history if we do it and potential unknown consequences. Will some members of the Morozov family straight up disappear completely because of this action?

>>6139199
Is there no end to this russiabooism?
>[OBSERVE + ALEXIS ALLY] "Tell us your story. We'll make sure you'll be remembered." Try to convince the soldier to talk about herself. (MODERATE CHARM DC: 25, rolling 7d6+1d4. Succeed and you'll get a detailed log of her lifestory, recording this forgotten battle down in history. Perhaps that's all she needs to rest.)
>[AIMER LES ABANDONNÉS] "I'M NOT LETTING HER DIE HERE." Shit, what is this idiot doing? Well, guess you have to help him now. (HARD WILLPOWER DC: 48, rolling 12d6 represent everyone's efforts. Succeed and you'll help Quentin rescue this poor, bleeding soldier from a warzone she might not survive in.)
>[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] Something is drawing you to the battlefield. Step out and empty your mind. (HARD RESTRAINT DC: 26, rolling 6d6 by yourself. You're not sure what will happen on success aside from you being able to boost a stat of your choice by 1.)
>Use items:
"ÉTOILE" BLOOD REPLACEMENT VIAL - will give us +3 willpower and +2 restraint
PEP PILL ZETA - +4 to restraint roll
POTATO VODKA - roll additional die after rolling a 1
'OATH TO CONTAIN' - +1d12 to restraint roll
RAW MOONSTONE CHUNK - +3d8 to willpower roll

>>6139200
>>6139199
So many cool options... so much trouble...
BUT
backing >>6139323
EXCEPT we do these for the Captain's Command
>PEP PILL ZETA - +4 to restraint roll (USE ONE)
>POTATO VODKA - roll additional die after rolling a 1 (USE ONE)
>'OATH TO CONTAIN' - +1d12 to restraint roll (ONE charge of THREE)
>MANAGER'S FLESH - reroll ANY 3 dice at ANY time for ANY check we want
This should all be enough for us to hit 26

>>6139353
We still have 2 RAW MOONSTONE CHUNK left which could be great for other allies as we go, and I wanna clutch the blood replacement vials until the base assault

SsC7CRwz is me.
>>6139377
+1

>>6139200
Add to my vote in >>6139377
>[AIMER LES ABANDONNÉS]
I forgot to do that this morning

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Rolled 4 (1d4)

>>6139353
>Is there no end to this russiabooism?
You picked the mission in the Not!Russian district, it'll end as soon as the mission is over with. Given how you got all the resources you need, you can call off the mission at any time and just leave.
We'll probably vote for that after this whole Radio Encounter tomfuckery.

Anywho.

[AIMER LES ABANDONNÉS]: Zzt, AkJ, k2D, IaM, TTB
[OBSERVE + ALEXIS ALLY]: K2D, IaM, ScC
[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND]: k2D, SsC, IaM
Give her some CONSUMABLES to improve her odds of getting out of there: SsC, IaM
Toss her some useful EQUIPMENT to even the odds a bit: SsC: IaM

Seems like the main idea is to do AIMER + OBSERVE + CAPTAIN'S COMMAND. I'll decide that to show you what SsC's item giveaway write in would give and let you decide if it's worht taking.
IN EXCHANGE FOR 1 SERVICE PISTOL, 1 BALLISTIC SHIELD, 5 PISTOL AMMO, 1 STANDARD ISSUE MEDKIT, 2 GAUZE ROLL, 2 GRADE A RATIONS, 1 IODINE TABLET PACK, 1 POTATO VODKA, YOU WILL OBTAIN
-15 RIFLE AMMO ("I-I lost m-my gun but you can have this...")
-MOROZOV FAMILY HEIRLOOM (Alexis gets +1 to a stat of her choice.)
-2 DILUTED ICP VIALS (A bubbling neon blue liquid that is occasionally produced by anomalies under specific situations. Lets you add 35% progress to any SHIFTer ally's progress bar, speeding up how fast they gain new powers. You currently have four SHIFTers that can use this item.)

Do you accept? Vote as you roll.
>YES
>OFFER A BIT MORE (-1 extra GAUZE ROLL, WHITE POWDER, and ECM JAMMER. You'll get a random RELIC EQUIPMENT, WEAPON, or ARMOR.)
>NO

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

Aside from that, you know what time it is. Dice time. Four anons, roll the following.
>7d6 (OBSERVE, QM will roll 1d4.)
>6d6 (DEFAULT RESTRAINT ROLL)
>1d12 (CAPTAIN'S COMMAND)
>12d6 (WILLPOWER)

You'll be able to roll an extra dice upon rolling a 1 for the DEFAULT RESTRAINT and WILLPOWER rolls. We won't consume the BLOOD REPLACEMENT VIAL or RAW MOONSTONE chunk yet since 2/3 people who voted to use an item didn't want to use it. You may also reroll three dice on the WILLPOWER check due to your allies assisting you in it via Manager's FLESH (that and it is the harder of the two.)

>>6139321
>Fuck. I love bug boy. He is a good noodle.
pic related

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Rolled 5, 4, 3, 1, 1, 3, 2, 5, 4, 1, 1, 4 = 34 (12d6)

>>6139731

Will power

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>>6139750
Fuck me.

Rolled 6, 1, 4, 1, 1, 6, 3 = 22 (7d6)

>>6139731
>YES

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Rolled 4, 4, 4 = 12 (3d6)

>>6139750
I guess rerolling 3 of the ones.

>>6139731

>Yes

Rolled 4, 2, 2, 1, 5, 6 = 20 (6d6)

>>6139731
I will roll the default restraint roll

>>6139750
>>6139751
>>6139831
>You'll be able to roll an extra dice upon rolling a 1 for the DEFAULT RESTRAINT and WILLPOWER rolls.
You can still reroll that fourth 1

Rolled 10 (1d12)

>>6139731
>YES
We're going to need to use the consumables guys, don't be stingy.

Btw Handler, how does Potato Vodka interact with rerolls? Can we roll a 1, roll an additional die from the vodka, then reroll the 1?

>>6140020
And is it an extra die for every 1 rolled?

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>6140019
Wait no that's not a reroll but an extra die, my bad
Well I rolled a 1 so I'm rolling a 1d6?

>>6139731
>YES
that's good stuff from the items offered

>>6140019
>>6140023
Holy shit the rolls this time around are real bad. I wouldn't be averse to breaking out a cheap consumable or two for getting past these

Fell asleep while waiting for rolls, let's see.

>>6140020
>>6140023
For every 1 you roll, you flatout roll an extra dice.
This activates before rerolls.
So, I need an anon to roll 4d6 for me for the WILLPOWER check. You passed the other checks, no question about that

Rolled 3, 3, 5, 5 = 16 (4d6)

>>6140163

Cool. Checking.
WILLPOWER: 59 (Drunk Luck IS a good status. It's just that Potato Vodka isn't something you can get a lot of outside of I-Corp)
RESTRAINT: 30
OBSERVE: 26

And people seem to accept the proposed write in exchange so we're going with that. You'll be spending
-2 POTATO VODKA (you consumed one to get the DRUNK LUCK to begin with, after all.)
-2 GAUZE ROLLS
-2 GRADE A RATIONS
-1 SERVICE PISTOL
-1 BALLISTIC SHIELD
-5 PISTOL AMMO
and
-1 STANDARD ISSUE MEDKIT

Also, -1 charge on OATH TO CONTAIN, but you got two charges left and it recharges per mission who cares.

Writing.

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Best not to waste time.

You dig through your INVENTORY and for a moment, you wonder if it's wise to throw items from the future back into the past...before realizing most of the stuff you're giving her isn't that advanced. Not like you're giving her C-EXTRACT or a teleporter or something.

You show them off to her and after some quick and desperate negotiation from her end, she tosses three items through the rift. They clatter on the other side unharmed. You return the favor with your own items.
>+15 RIFLE AMMO, +DILUTED ICP VIAL x2, +MOROZOV FAMILY TIMEPIECE

She squints at the gun you gave her but she quickly figures out how to load it after a brief lookover of it. Alexis decides it's probably best to just point out the elephant in the room.

"Hello, yes, we don't have much time." Alexis gingerly picks up the timepiece. "I'm Alexis Kirovitch Morozov...the third?" <"Hate having to use my full name but she's possibly my ancestor, I have to clarify.>

Lieutenant Morozov is obviously confused upon hearing that name. "The third? No, no, the only Alexei in our family...my aunt just gave birth to him a few weeks ago-" She's promptly cut off by an ear-shattering explosion going off dangerously close to where she is. "M-mortar. M-make it quick."

She removes the belt from her uniform and bites down HARD on it before using your medical supplies to patch herself up.

"Look, we don't have much time. We want to..."
"Record. Your story." Lyubov chimes in but before you can hear whatever the two are about to say...

Your legs start moving all on their own. Step by step, you find yourself drifting ever closer to the rift. You're not sure why, you don't WANT to go into it-

[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] July 28th, 1944. You're going to experience a true battle. Not one of your mock training exercises.
[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] Go along with the ride. I won't let you die. Not yet.

"Nicole what the FUCK are you doing?"
"Get her away from it! Now!"
"Shit! Anomaly has mind-altering effects. All other units, back away!" A torrent of voices screech in an attempt to get your attention or to get others away from what they assume is the radio rift's meddling.

You have enough willpower in you to dig through your inventory for some POTATO VODKA and your OATH TO CONTAIN PARADIGM. You down the bottle of booze faster than you have in your life as all of a sudden, it all goes black.

>30!

It takes a moment for you to regain consciousness and once you do, you realize that you're in the middle of an active god damn warzone! The upside is that right now, you're not that far away from the rift. You can still see it and the trench the past Morozov is hiding in if you turn your head around.

You turn to look at what you feel in your hands. You instinctually tighten on whatever you're holding and oops! Bad call! You were holding the head of some random old world soldier. You're not even sure how you did that but you feel...powerful. Incredibly powerful.

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It's as if a series of electric wires were jabbed into every spare millimeter of flesh in your body.

You black out again.

When you next wake up, a mortar shell explosion knocks the wind out of your body. Pieces of shrapnel rip through your body but despite this normally being lethal, you just eat the damage like it's nothing.

You black out again.

When you wake up again, you find yourself hiding in a trench. The stench of spilled blood and rot surrounds you. The bodies of several German soldiers lay by your side, each torn to shreds by what can only be assumed to be anomalous means.

You hear someone gibbering in German. "Wo ist das Hirschmädchen?!"
A rush of thunderous footsteps is approaching your location. Shit-
You black out again.

You're running away from a tank that seemingly had a hole ripped right out of it with someone's bare hands. You look down to see that oh, yeah, you did that. You're not even sure how but it feels like plastic in your hands.

[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] Your body is such an interesting vessel. Strong by human standards, pathetically weak by mine.
[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] I never could handicap myself properly for my favorite game. I must thank you.
[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] Men are born for games. Nothing else. Every child knows that play is nobler than work...

That's when you finally regain control of your body. Purely off of instinct, you begin to rush over to the Rift. You have no fucking idea how long you've been out and you really, really don't want to get stuck back in the past.

Bullets graze mere inches away from your head. The smell of smog and what you assume is mustard gas by the foul sulfurous scent pierces your nose. Every inch of your body aches...but you finally return to the trench where the Rift was.

You feel something slamming you in the back; Feels too light to be a pistol shot but too heavy to be an explosive. Long distance sniper shot? Yet you easily push through it as if you weren't hit at all.

>26!

"...and that's why I thought I was going to die alone WAIT IT'S HER SHE'S BACK-" Before Lieutenant Morozov can say another thing, you jump down into the trench and roll right back into the present. Seems like they were able to convince her to talk while you were out on your bender.

As you collapse onto the floor, coughing up what you can assume is blood (though it's a bright orange and pink color instead of red), you oddly feel...revitalized. Even though you immediately collapse onto the floor from the sheer adrenaline crash of what you did.

>THE ADMIRAL'S GAME has flooded his energy through your body! You have fully healed FLESH and RESTRAINT!
>FLESH: 8/8, 10/10!
>You have gained 1 STAT POINT upgrade and an upgrade to CAPTAIN'S COMMAND! You'll vote on this later.

[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] Thank you for the entertainment, Nicole. I shall rest now.

Temporal distortion levels are critical. Please check your sensors for any errors.
It'd be a shame for nobody else to hear your last words.

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Regular people can't stop war. But perhaps, you can remember the people who have to fight it.

You look up to see a swarm of ETF agents looking down at you like you're a dead person walking. Lyubov and Alexis are busy scribbling something down; presumably the stories that the other Morozov were on about.

"What the FUCK was that?" Phi pulls you back onto your feet. "A-and how do you look BETTER than when you first went into there? Huh?"
"D-don't ask. We don't have time. L-listen to..." You mutter out, still reeling from what happened.

The rift is beginning to flicker and fade in and out of reality. The view of a far, far away past is being overwritten by a haze of static. Lieutenant Morozov is propping herself against the trench wall, flashing a faint smile towards your group.

"T-thanks for listening. I'm not sure why you're here but knowing m-my family will be safe is...good for my peace of mind. Even if I die, at least I'll be-"

"NOPE. NOPE, NOPE, NOPE."

Huh?

Quentin, who has seemingly been dead quiet during the last 20-30 minutes (going by the surface thoughts of everyone around you), finally speaks up. It's hard to make out his expression given how his shell's facial muscles have been frozen stiff but sheer indignant rage radiates through his body language.

"The fuck you mean no?" Wendy tries her best to read Quentin's frozen expression, to little avail. "She's just some poor wench. The least we can do is record her story before she dies-"

"I BELIEVE YOU ARE SORELY MISUNDERSTANDING THE SITUATION. NICOLE WENT THROUGH THE RIFT JUST FINE, RIGHT?"
Lex is the first to pick up on what Quentin is about to do. "I-I ain't smart but isn't this going to mess with timeline shit?" <...Quentin, if you're a real man, you would do it anyways. I know you have it in you.>

Alexis seems to pick up what Quentin is putting down but she's more confused than anything. "I. I don't remember a Dasha Morozov in my family tree?"
"Quentin, we have no idea if what you're doing is safe." Ashley tries to be the calming voice among your group as the ETFs are shouting at him to not do anything rash. "Maybe we already did enough-"

[AIMER LES ABANDONNÉS] "ONLY A COWARD WOULD LET SOMEONE DIE WHEN THERE'S EVEN THE SLIMMIEST CHANCE TO SAVE THEM." Before any of the ETF agents could grab him, he blitzes over to the rift with bug-like agility and reaches a hand through the closing rift.

"Shit!" The ETF agents decide that the only good option at this point is to delay the rift closer; It may be in desperate cope that your group would be able to pull him out in time. "Man the stations. Stabilize the connection!"

The rift stabilizes for a moment but it's clear that the frantic work of the ETF agents is only buying you seconds. Your group quickly moves in to do the only thing they can really think to do in this situation: Putting their own hands through the rift.

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Lyubov takes a moment to gingerly put the book she was scribbling in down before moving in to help as well. The signal is getting weaker by the second and all of you know that if something doesn't happen soon, you will all be losing an arm at best.

Dasha stares at the horde of arms offering her salvation. She hesitates, if only for a moment, when you only have seconds on the clock to spare. Deciding that it's now or never she reaches out to grab onto Quentin's hand.

A connection made throughout time, space, and species. A red string is being tied around your souls.

The most horrific sound is blaring throughout the lab your group is in. It's a mix of a cat being skinned alive in reverse, a klaxon having a panic attack, and a tornado siren. The electric buzz filling the air is almost enough to fry your group alive. All of you are so, so tempted to let go of her as you help Quentin pull her through the rift...

>59!

The whole lab is drenched in red for a brief moment before everything goes dark. A high pitch yelp is barely audible over the awful noise. Then, it all goes quiet.

For what feels like minutes, no one knows what's going on. Only the faint sound of breathing mixed in with heavy boots thumping around in darkness can be heard. When the lights come back on, though, you see something you never quite expected to see.

A soldier, presumably from the 1940s if ADMIRAL was correct, laying prone on the floor. Her short, black bob hairdo is slick with a thick paste of grime and sweat. Her body is oh, oh so thin; It's very obvious she hasn't eaten proper meals in weeks if not months. Her uniform isn't much better. Her olive green lieutenant, olive green pants, jet black boots and cap are all drenched in sweat, blood, grime or all of the above.

Her waist has been wrapped in a thick layer of gauze which is now soaked red with blood. It seems just enough to keep her standing up. But that's the thing. She's here. Alive. Right in front of you.

The rift's gone and from the sounds of it, the radio has gone quiet. You can still sense that whatever anomaly is inside of the radio equipment, it's still there. Alive in the system. But for now, that's not what matters.

"...W-where am I?" Dasha is, understandably, beyond bewildered at the surroundings she's in and the people she's looking at. The mundane stuff is clearly way out of her league of understanding right now, let alone the anomalous relics you have or the fact you have deer antlers or the fact a walking talking corpse is what dragged her into here. "I. I wanna lay down."

Everyone else collapses from the rush of whatever just happened, finding whatever sturdy table or chair is still left in the lab to sit down at.

Somehow you feel like this action won't change the past in any meaningful way. If you can trust what Alexis said and with the general implication of what was going to happen to her, she probably died before having kids.

As for what YOU did with the Admiral's inf-

[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] I only killed the ones that were destined to die.

...Right.

>DASHA MOROZOV has joined the party! You feel like this will have ripple effects throughout the whole City somehow. Oh well.
>DREAMY MOSS WEARS OFF!

"I wanna go home." Alexis weakly mutters.

Well. Do you want to go any further? Or do you want to end your mission while you're on a roll? You already did all you NEEDED to...
>Strong YES. No point stopping now when you're on a roll like this, baby! Keep exploring the facility!
>Weak YES. You might as well check out one more location in this facility before leaving. (Choose one to visit: CONTAINMENT CELL D2-M-PEND, A1-T-MIXED, ARMORY, COMMUNICATION RELAY, MAJOR GENERAL OFFICE, BARRACKS.)
>Weak NO. Tell the ETFs to help you find any survivors here before leaving. (You'll get to pick one more DISTRICT LOCATION to explore.)
>Strong NO. You want out of this district. Now. (ENDS MISSION.)

CHOOSE A STAT TO BOOST BY 1! YOUR STATS ARE AS FOLLOWED
FLESH: 8/8 (+2 from COMBAT BODYSUIT MARK ZETA)
RESTRAINT: 10/10 (+1 from ECLIPSE TALISMAN)
VIOLENCE: 8 (+1 from COMBAT BODYSUIT MARK ZETA, +1 from NEW YOU (LEX))
TALENT: 7 (+1 from SPOOK SHADES)
WILLPOWER: 7 (+1 from UPGRADED TALISMAN)
CHARM: 5 (+1 from ANTLER CHARMS)
CONNECTIONS: 6
COGNIZANCE: 7 (+1 FROM SPOOK SHADES)

>FLESH (+1 MAX FLESH)
>RESTRAINT (+1 MAX RESTRAINT)
>VIOLENCE (+1 VIOLENCE)
>TALENT (+1 TALENT)
>WILLPOWER (+1 WILLPOWER)
>CHARM (+1 CHARM)
>CONNECTIONS (+1 CONNECTIONS)
>COGNIZANCE (+1 COGNIZANCE)

Pick one CAPTAIN'S COMMAND UPGRADE!
>[CAPTAIN'S AUTHORITY] The mere presence of the Admiral inside you has given you an air of unwarranted respect. Those in positions of authority will generally treat you better and you'll occasionally unlock special skill checks when interacting with them.
>[CAPTAIN'S FOCUS] In the face of danger, you'll give them a toothy grin and a wild guffaw! When rolling RESTRAINT or WILLPOWER, you roll d7s instead of d6s.
>[CAPTAIN'S EXPERIENCE] Small fragmentary pieces of the Admiral's memories lingers in the back of your mind. When you start a mission, two of your stats will be raised by +1 for the duration of the mission. The stats picked will be whatever will be the most useful for said mission.

"Why?" Dasha meekly whispers. "W-why did you do that for me...?" It's as if she's confused at the mere fact she's still alive.

>"To save you. Does there need to be any other reason?"
>"Frankly? I was curious to see what would happen."
>"I trusted Quentin knew what he was doing."
>"How's your injury holding up?" Focus on the more important matter here.
>"I wanted to repay Alexis by helping her family out. You're her family so..."
>"Does it matter? You're alive. Enjoy that."
>"As payment for the cool loot you gave me. Felt I owed you one."
>Write in (Pick multiple responses? Say something else?)

Sorry for the delayed update. At least you got a lot to vote for here.

>>6140375
>Weak YES. You might as well check out one more location in this facility before leaving. (Choose one to visit: CONTAINMENT CELL D2-M-PEND, A1-T-MIXED, ARMORY, COMMUNICATION RELAY, MAJOR GENERAL OFFICE, BARRACKS.)
The SECRET ROOM!!! in the BARRACKS to sate the last urge to discover what is hidden, then we're fucking OUT of this frozen-over hellscape, okay people? Literally the only thing I want to do now after all this insanity. If we didn't have missions and reality keeping us anchored, we could literally go days solving mysteries and kicking ass and looting shit... but we don't have days. We have life and duties and friends and more.
>CHOOSE A STAT TO BOOST BY 1!
I have no fucking clue! Anybody have any ideas? Anything to boost for a specific weapon of ours or an ANOMALOUS POWER? Maybe FLESH just so Nicole is harder to kill now? Some other stat for whatever reason? I'm at a loss here
>[CAPTAIN'S FOCUS]
I feel this fits Nicole's character better, but I can easily change this if somebody else has a better idea or reasoning. Maybe picking AUTHORITY would be better because it's Admiral and not Nicole exactly? No idea either
>"Frankly? I was curious to see what would happen."
>"I trusted Quentin knew what he was doing."
>"I wanted to repay Alexis by helping her family out. You're her family so..."
I feel all 3 of these fits Nicole.

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>>6140375

Ah. Gonna need to eat and think about this some. I fucking love the Admiral, he is a homie.

>>6140181
>can’t get potato vodka outside of I-Corp
If only we knew someone who is massively connected to I-Corp… hmm…

Also, I think I stumbled across Nicole’s theme song on YT. Unfortunately no mentions of deer though.

https://youtu.be/DFonaNm2Oa0?si=BUQEY-A208Bmankh

>>6140375
>Weak NO. Tell the ETFs to help you find any survivors here before leaving. (You'll get to pick one more DISTRICT LOCATION to explore.)
We need to get the fuck out of here.

>WILLPOWER (+1 WILLPOWER)

>[CAPTAIN'S AUTHORITY] The mere presence of the Admiral inside you has given you an air of unwarranted respect. Those in positions of authority will generally treat you better and you'll occasionally unlock special skill checks when interacting with them.
No more getting treated like shit.

>Write-in
“It was all Quentin, the guy who looks like he’s about to fall over dead. I don’t know what’s come over him today but something earlier lit a fire in him. He’s moving with more purpose than I’ve ever seen. Maybe you should talk to him? His appearance is… interesting… but don’t let that put you off, he’s one of the most solid guys you’ll find these days.”

>>6140375
>Strong YES. No point stopping now when you're on a roll like this, baby! Keep exploring the facility!
Visit the A1-T-MIXED Cell.
Let’s check out these anomalies to see if they are friendly or not. I don’t want to leave the friendly anomalies to potential abandoned forever in here.

>WILLPOWER (+1 WILLPOWER)
>[CAPTAIN'S AUTHORITY]
This will be very helpful dealing with the corporate family or CEO.

>"To save you. Does there need to be any other reason?"
>"I wanted to repay Alexis by helping her family out. You're her family so..."
I still worry about the consequences of screwing with the time travel. When we leave this district, we need to call MARUYAMA (since he is knowledgeable in time stuff) to ask him if there are any consequences to what we did here.

>Write in
Ask Alexis, Do the heads have a rule on time traveling, and have we broken any the heads law with what we did?

https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2024/5982952/
No.6008030
"Okay, so facilities like this have four damage types. Physical and Mental, simple enough. Mixed is when the bastard does both and Esoteric is the shit that hurts what makes you YOU." Clover explains what he knows about the mostly abstract series of numbers and symbols.

"A-X is how hard it is to contain." Naomi fills in her own gaps. "A is that it never breaches or it refuses to for whatever reason., B is that it may breach sometimes but is otherwise cooperative. C is that it's hard to contain and X means it's basically impossible to. 0-5 is just scaling how much damage it can do."

>>6140375
>Weak YES. You might as well check out one more location in this facility before leaving. (Choose one to visit: CONTAINMENT CELL D2-M-PEND, A1-T-MIXED, ARMORY, COMMUNICATION RELAY, MAJOR GENERAL OFFICE, BARRACKS.)
Barracks

>CHARM (+1 CHARM)

>[CAPTAIN'S AUTHORITY] The mere presence of the Admiral inside you has given you an air of unwarranted respect. Those in positions of authority will generally treat you better and you'll occasionally unlock special skill checks when interacting with them.

>"To save you. Does there need to be any other reason?"
>"I wanted to repay Alexis by helping her family out. You're her family so..."
>"As payment for the cool loot you gave me. Felt I owed you one."

>>6140375
Changing my vote in >>6140377 to
>CHARM (+1 CHARM)
and
>[CAPTAIN'S AUTHORITY]
while the rest of it remains the same

>>6140640
Change
WILLPOWER (+1 WILLPOWER)
Switch to
>CHARM (+1 CHARM)

File: TUNEIN.jpg (847 KB, 1280x915)

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You decide to keep exploring for the time being or in other words, a Soft Yes. To be quite frank though, you're getting sick of this district already...which bodes well for your main non-monetary reward for this mission: Property in I-Corp's district.

At the very least it unlocks more options on what items and opportunities it has-

Something crackles in your pocket. You pull it out to reveal your FORGOTTEN SIGNAL PARADIGM, which has mostly been quiet since the start of the mission. The ETFs are slowly beginning to realize just how many PARADIGMs you have.

Some are whispering conspiratorially without any care of you hearing them to 'simply steal her stuff' but the rest really rather not start a fight for no good reason.

"...80 dead and 500 injured...Apartment Block #G-A1-SW-194-B is no longer operational..." That doesn't sound like a warning for your current mission.

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] That's your apartment block. The one you were living at a mere eight to ten hours ago.
[PERSON OF INTEREST] We all know who did it.
[CAPTAIN'S COMMAND] They knew you weren't there. It's a warning shot.

"...One of ancient time is in this facility. It seeks the anomalous to empower its tribe. Be wary, for it is hungry for power." And then it goes quiet. You can only assume it's referring to the Graverobbers. Your question is why one is down here; It doesn't make sense if they arrived the way you came from.

You'll worry about that later. You have a confused lady from the 1940s to talk to.

>"To save you. Does there need to be any other reason?"
"I-I suppose n-not? Y-you can't blame me for..." She makes a wide sweeping gesture towards EVERYTHING around her. You really can't. "I...aren't those soldiers?"

"Officially, we're more like hired contractors." One of the ETF Revs is about to go on a massive rant about ideology or something but you cut it off.

>"I wanted to repay Alexis by helping her family out. You're her family so..."
"Her and I do have a long work relationship, yes." Alexis is still reeling from everything that's going on but she's a consummate professional; Doing the work she does requires her to be able to control herself even in the weirdest situations. "

"O-oh! Yeah, uh, I have to ask you about how the family is. Once we're out of here that is." That seems to have calmed her down more than the previous explanation at the very least. It simply makes more sense to her.

"And...well." You're not sure how best to say this but you try, at least. "It was mostly Quentin. The guy who looks like a corpse." You don't have to point to him it's pretty obvious who you're referring to. Maybe you should talk to him? His appearance is… interesting… but don’t let that put you off, he’s one of the most solid guys you’ll find these days.”

She glances at Quentin. He looks back at her. You can visibly see her face twist into an expression of disgust yet, at the same time, gratitude.

File: RINGSONRINGS.jpg (86 KB, 1280x720)

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One last thing before you go anywhere that's been a real needle in the back of the brain though.

"So. I think all of us, even HER, realize the elephant in the room. Are we all going to get fucking arrested for this?"
"Eh?" Phi doesn't seem to understand what you're on about at first...before it clicks. "Oh."

"Yeah. Is T-Corp going to obliterate us for messing with time this much? Or, well, the Head?"
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] To your knowledge, most time travel in the City is very limited in how far back it can go. The most expensive commercial available Temporal Rewinder only rewinds time by a few seconds.

Alexis takes a moment to think over it before shrugging. "From what I know, one way forward time travel or stretching out time isn't something the Head cares about. Statis, jumping a day into the future, buying a few hours so you can do more in the moment? That's fine."
Wendy joins in given her role as a corporate representative, even if it's for another Company. "Backwards is VERY frowned upon in T-Corp and the City as a whole. Wouldn't be shocked if it was a taboo but if it is one, never heard seen it in writing."

[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Taboos are laws that, if broken, will result in the Head coming down to snap you in half like a piece of wood.
[SEEKER OF THE CITY] The most well known ones are "NO UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS OF SINGULARITY PATENTS BY THIRD PARTIES" and "PAY YOUR FUCKING TAXES OR DIE."

Maruyama might know more specifics but it's probably wise not to fucking mention this to anyone else. Ever. Besides Maruyama.

You take a deep breath before you go anywhere. You feel the faintest twitch in your eyes. Whatever's causing it is making all of your allies to back away from you. As soon as it starts though you feel...energized. As if there's some sort of power, aura, radiating through your system.

It quickly fades away from the rest of your body except for your eyes. Lex is the first one to speak up on what she sees.
"Your eyes have a ring in the middle now. Is that, uh, normal?"

You don't feel like answering.
>+1 CHARM! CAPTAIN'S COMMAND IS NOW CAPTAIN'S AUTHORITY.

You'll probably leave this place after you check out the barracks. Not to say you would mind going to check out a containment cell or two but...you're done here. You got enough relics and resources to empower a small armor.

You decide to leave the ETFs behind to do their own thing; You really have no further use for them and they have no further use for you. Most of them stick behind to fiddle with the radios while the rest scatter to investigate the rest of the floor. With some half hearted goodbyes your groups separate...though one slips you a piece of paper before letting your group leave.

You scan it to see it's an address somewhere in L-Corp's district. "MEET US LATER IF WANT" is scribbled underneath. Nice grammar. You'll keep the note though

Now, onto the Barracks! It's not actually that far away from the lab, thankfully, so you can search it real quick!

File: TUSK.jpg (124 KB, 770x1017)

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Your group arms itself just in case anything goes wrong, though. The only thing between you and whatever's inside the barracks is two cheap metal doors with no lock on them.

Guns and spidery limbs are raised in anticipation but as you push it open telekinetically, nothing happens at first.

You'd assume that FORGOTTEN SIGNAL was wrong about a GRAVEROBBER being here...if not for the growling you hear. The growl is deep and gravely, reverberating through the silent halls like an earthquake suddenly hit the facility/shelter you're in.

Your group slowly steps into the barracks regardless if only because you hope there's still some survivors in here.

The barracks themselves are MASSIVE in both size and how fucking intimidating it is just standing inside of them. Spartanic bunk beds with the thinnest sheets and pillows known to man are stacked up 20 feet up to the very top of the ceiling.

The bunk beds are separated into two distinctive clumps that are separated by the remnants of a wall going right down the middle. One side has bunk beds with pink sheets while the other has blue sheets; It's obvious what the wall is meant for but given the lack of locks and the sheer thinness of the walls, you imagine unsavory acts were done in these barracks.

Not like it matters since the wall has been torn to shreds by something, leaving the two halves of the barracks exposed to each other. Whatever torn the wall down did so without any effort and, as Lyubov taps it with her foot, you can tell it was just cheap plaster with no structure to it.

Where there was once the wall is an odd figure...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYeRtG_TSX8 - OCCUPIED BARRACKS

"INTRUDER. THIS IS MY DOMAIN NOW. LEAVE OR I WILL OBLITERATE YOUR VERY SOUL." The figure standing before you is certainly a Graverobber but something about him is off. He has the muscle and bulk expected of a pureblood Graverobber.

He stands at an impressive 15 feet and the sheer density and bulk of his arms, legs, and torso tells you that he's at the physical peak of his species. His tusks are long and yellowed, forcing his lower jaw to be permanently extended in an awkward overbite.

His skin looks exactly like that of a granite statue; Matte grey and covered in deep cracks that would be oozing blood if they were on a normal human's. The female Graverobber you saw also had matte grey and cracked skin. Seems like a genetic feature of them.

The oddest thing is what he's wearing. While the other Graverobber you met worn a simple fur coat, he's wearing an army uniform that shouldn't fit him at all but it somehow melds to his body just perfectly. Looks almost like Dasha's, even. Instead of the typical shovel welded by Graverobbers, he has a porcelain mace oozing a foul black substance from the various holes drilled into the macehead.

An old pendant made out of solid gold also hangs around his neck.

You can sense those are PARADIGMs or RELICs. Fuck.

File: OOZINGHATE.jpg (323 KB, 768x1024)

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"Sir!" Dasha snaps her attention towards the obviously hostile Graverobber. "Drop your weapon. Now."

"NO." For a moment you thought you heard a young child crying but it is silenced as quickly as you hear it. You thought you hear it somewhere in the back but you can't see anyone. There has to be a survivor pocket here. "MY STRENGTH, MY AUTHORITY, SHALL NOT BE DEFIED."

"What's your name, dear?" Lyubov tries her best to keep a calm, cool tone in her voice. "We just want to know."

"IGOR. IGOR DMITRIEVICH VOLKOV." Igor takes a long, deep sniff of the air before pointing his mace at you. "YOU HAVE WHAT I SEEK. GIVE UP YOUR RELICS AND I SHALL AND THE FAILURE LIVE."

Failure?

"WHAT A PATHETIC HALF BLOOD. YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO GROW." You can feel the contempt in the gaze he's giving Lex. "OUR BLOOD SHOULD STAY PURE. NOT TAINTED BY HUMAN WEAKNESS."

This is...quite different from the last Graverobber you met. You almost assume the PARADIGMs are overwritten his mind but you can't quite tell how much is the artifacts and how much it's...just him.

"We know there's survivors of this facility here. Please, let us-" Before Ashley can say more, Igor cuts her off with a low growl.
"AND LET THEM STEAL WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY MINE? DO NOT EVEN ATTEMPT TO HUMOR THAT NONSENSE AGAIN. THEY WILL DIE HERE; AS THEIR WRETCHED SOULS DESERVE."

"YOU HAVE 60 SECONDS TO LEAVE MY TERRITORY. OR ELSE." The grip on his mace tightens.

You turn to your group for some advice.

[TORMENTED SPARK] Lex leans in to whisper to you. "I don't know much about my, uh, 'old blood' but I feel it in my bones that something ain't right with him."
[HUNTER OF THE CITY] "I smell the whiff of a puppeteer playing with his mind. I think he's compromised." Wendy hisses with both disgust and fear in her voice. "I do not think we can talk him out of this. Violence is the only answer."
[INVOLVED] "This is all wrong. This feels like a set up, a distraction. Too convenient. A last minute threat? Now? Someone is pulling the strings." Alexis is obviously confused as to why he's here. You have your doubts on it too.
[LYUBOV ALLY] "He's still a scared little boy. Playing like he's a grown up. Dressing up in a uniform that doesn't belong to him. He's letting it get to his head, poor soul."
[ATHLETIC PHYSIQUE] "I can tell whatever he's wearing is fucking him up. I think I can steal one, maybe it'll clear his mind a bit." Ashley's offer would be a nice 2 for 1 deal.
[AIMER LES ABANDONNÉS] "WHATEVER IS HAPPENING TO HIM DOES NOT INVOLVE US. THIS IS NOT OUR PLACE TO FIGHT. SECURE THE SURVIVORS HE PLANS ON KILLING. THEN WE LEAVE HERE."
[DASHA ALLY] "That uniform is of a Kapitan. I-I'm not smart when it comes to whatever he is but...he put that on because he thinks it gives him more authority. He'd only listen to someone higher in the chain of command."

Lot of decisions, little time to make them.

How do you handle Igor? Pick up to three
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Try to find a way to snap him out of whatever's making him so aggressive. It can't just be the PARADIGMs, right? (MODERATE WILLPOWER DC: 25 , rolling 7d6. You'll be able to dispel part of whatever madness has taken him over, potentially opening up an actual conversation with him and learning what drove him to this place to begin with.)
>[WENDY ALLY] You don't want to fight him but Wendy's suggestion may still have weight. Let Wendy unleash her !VIOLENCE! upon him. (VIOLENCE THRESHOLD: 19/22/25, rolling 6d6. Every threshold passed, Wendy will put up more of a fight, impressing the Graverobber. He'll pay out in information and QUOTA RESOURCES depending on thresholds passed.)
>[CAPTAIN'S AUTHORITY + DASHA ALLY] "Do you think you have authority over me, wench?" Put him in his place with Dasha's help. (HARD VIOLENCE + CHARM DC: 54, rolling 13d6. You'll make a stir amongst the various Graverobber Villages upon making him kowtow on a success, earning you some help far down the line. Reduces the DCs of TORMENTED SPARK and LYUBOV/QUENTIN ALLY by 5 on success as well.)
>[TORMENTED SPARK/LEX ALLY] "Your blood is foul. These artifacts you have...they are tempting you." Lex is rambling on autopilot now. Back him up. (+0.5 LEX RAPPORT. MODERATE RESTRAINT DC 17, rolling Lex's 5d6. Succeed and he'll prove his worth towards the Graverobber, earning 35% of his TORMENTED SPARK progress. Reduces ASHLEY ALLY DC by 2 as well.)
>[ALEXIS ALLY] "Give me a moment. Something's not adding up. Why is he even here?" (EASY COGNIZANCE DC: 16, rolling Alexis' 6d6. She'll be able to piece together a reasonable explanation for what's going on and who you can blame this on.)
>[LYUBOV/QUENTIN ALLY] "THE SURVIVORS ARE ALL WE CARE ABOUT." "We do not seek your relics. We want the youngins to leave. Peacefully." (MEDIUM RESTRAINT DC: 24, rolling 7d6. Succeed and he'll concede and accept the request, allowing the few survivors here out without a fight.)
>[ASHLEY ALLY] Prime a distraction for Ashley. The less anomalous junk he has melting his mind, the better. (MODERATE TALENT DC: 22, rolling Ashley's 6d6. Succeed and she'll be able to steal one of his relics, weakening the fervor he's in AND giving you a phat piece of loot. Reduces ANOMALOUS ABILITIES DC by 3 on pass.)
>[HELPED OUT GRAVEROBBERS BEFORE] "I met Svet! I helped her out! Please, we're really not here for a fight." (You're certain knowing that you helped out a Graverobber will mess up his resolve. He'll be willing to escort your group and all of the survivors you rescued, improving the amount of I-CORP FAVOR and goodwill you receive later.)
>Let's leave him alone and just go, haha. (Can be picked any number of times.)
>Write in (Use an item? Try something else?)

>>6141163
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2024/6071053/
>>6078152
>"Those who DO live there are, well, I've heard rumors about 'Graverobbers' living down there Big, burly men and women with massive tusks that wear bizarre masks and wield massive shovels. Very territorial and ritualistic people. I've heard rumors they've been around since 1152. They might be willing to barter and bargain with you if you have the right obscure artifacts or powers."
>>6081421
>"...THE GRAVEROBBERS ARE VERY SUPERSTITIOUS. THEY FEAR WHAT THEY DO NOT UNDERSTAND. KEEP THEIR EXPOSURE TO ANOMALOUS ITEMS OR ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY TO A MINIMUM." It then goes quiet.
>>6083888
>"Was it a Graverobber that did it?" Ashley asks. "I've been hearing a lot about them. Something is telling me they're important for some reason."

>"Nah, nah." Don shakes his head. "They look big and scary but they're flighty creatures. Bear ripped it off when I tried to kill it for me."

He is partly or completely compromised by paradigms or by something. I'm not sure all this information will be useful if he is partly or completely controlled by something.

>>6141163
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES]
>[CAPTAIN'S AUTHORITY + DASHA ALLY]
Use one AXAXAX PILL.
>[ASHLEY ALLY]
Give Ashley one DAMDAM PILL.

>>6141163
>[CAPTAIN'S AUTHORITY + DASHA ALLY] "Do you think you have authority over me, wench?" Put him in his place with Dasha's help. (HARD VIOLENCE + CHARM DC: 54, rolling 13d6. You'll make a stir amongst the various Graverobber Villages upon making him kowtow on a success, earning you some help far down the line. Reduces the DCs of TORMENTED SPARK and LYUBOV/QUENTIN ALLY by 5 on success as well.)
Naval captain is around a colonel equivalent iirc
>[TORMENTED SPARK/LEX ALLY] "Your blood is foul. These artifacts you have...they are tempting you." Lex is rambling on autopilot now. Back him up. (+0.5 LEX RAPPORT. MODERATE RESTRAINT DC 17, rolling Lex's 5d6. Succeed and he'll prove his worth towards the Graverobber, earning 35% of his TORMENTED SPARK progress. Reduces ASHLEY ALLY DC by 2 as well.)
>[ALEXIS ALLY] "Give me a moment. Something's not adding up. Why is he even here?" (EASY COGNIZANCE DC: 16, rolling Alexis' 6d6. She'll be able to piece together a reasonable explanation for what's going on and who you can blame this on.)

>>6141186
Are you sure you want this graverobber left unchecked? The way he is acting is deeply concerning. He poses a potential high danger to locals, villagers, other graverobbers, and including himself if we don’t knock some sanity into him and try to find the cause of why he is acting like this. This is the reason why I pick [ASHLEY ALLY], [ANOMALOUS ABILITIES], and >[CAPTAIN'S AUTHORITY + DASHA ALLY].

>>6141186
Isn't Lex Ally option about knocking sense into him?

>>6141253
Lex Ally option only earns respect, not solve the root problem, and it is only a temporary solution. He will definitely go back to his highly unstable old way. We need to permanently get rid of his anomalies staff off him and dispel the anomalies fuckery effect on his mind. Secondly, even if we earn his respect or make him not hostile to us, then what about other people in the local area? Will he treat them with the same courtesy? The way he treats us in the beginning is literally firing off multiple red flags. I will not be surprised if he kills a lot of innocent or okay people in the local area for easily unintentionally angering him or getting in his way or having stuff he wants due to how highly unstable and short-tempered he is. He needs to be dealt with permanently, now, to prevent more innocent life loss.

>>6141163
backing >>6141171
I don't care why he's here
I don't care who he is
I care about him ceasing to be a threat so we can get the survivors out and fuck off out of not!Russia already... but Nicole's apartment is nuked so we need to go to the new place here in District 9

>>6141163
>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Try to find a way to snap him out of whatever's making him so aggressive. It can't just be the PARADIGMs, right? (MODERATE WILLPOWER DC: 25 , rolling 7d6. You'll be able to dispel part of whatever madness has taken him over, potentially opening up an actual conversation with him and learning what drove him to this place to begin with.)
>[CAPTAIN'S AUTHORITY + DASHA ALLY] "Do you think you have authority over me, wench?" Put him in his place with Dasha's help. (HARD VIOLENCE + CHARM DC: 54, rolling 13d6. You'll make a stir amongst the various Graverobber Villages upon making him kowtow on a success, earning you some help far down the line. Reduces the DCs of TORMENTED SPARK and LYUBOV/QUENTIN ALLY by 5 on success as well.)
>[HELPED OUT GRAVEROBBERS BEFORE] "I met Svet! I helped her out! Please, we're really not here for a fight." (You're certain knowing that you helped out a Graverobber will mess up his resolve. He'll be willing to escort your group and all of the survivors you rescued, improving the amount of I-CORP FAVOR and goodwill you receive later.)

>>6141163
>>6141171

Support.

Rolled 1, 3, 7 = 11 (3d8)

CAPTAIN'S AUTHORITY + DASHA ALLY: ALL
ANOMALOUS ABILITIES: b9H, IaM, f8y, AkJ
ASHLEY ALLY: b9H, IaM, AkJ
TORMENTED SPARK: wj4
ALEXIS ALLY: wj4
HELPED OUT GRAVEROBBERS, f8y

Seems pretty locked in what to do. Three anons, roll the following.
>8d6 (ASHLEY'S ALLY)
>13d6 (CAPTAIN'S AUTHORITY)
>7d6 (WILLPOWER)

You still have DRUNK LUCK ACTIVE, so you may roll an extra dice for every 1 you roll on ANOMALOUS ABILITIES or CAPTAIN'S AUTHORITY.

Rolling the 3d8 for the. I'd say DRUNK LUCK can't affect THAT even if it's boosted Captain's Authority, otherwise that would be really strong.

Rolled 4, 2, 3, 5, 3, 6, 6, 1, 1, 5, 1, 2, 2 = 41 (13d6)

>>6141580
>13d6 (CAPTAIN'S AUTHORITY)

Rolled 3, 4, 2 = 9 (3d6)

>>6141588
Reroll

Rolled 3, 6, 6, 2, 1, 4, 5, 3 = 30 (8d6)

>>6141580
>ASHLEY’S ALLY

Rollin’!

Rolled 6, 6, 6, 1, 2, 2, 5 = 28 (7d6)

>>6141580
>WILLPOWER

File: grem.gif (79 KB, 200x200)

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>>6141588
>>6141590
>>6141596
>>6141615
CAPTAIN'S AUTHORITY: 61
ASHLEY: 30
WILLPOWER: 28 (with a DC of 22)

Writing. Should be the last or second to last thing you'll do this mission since, look, you've done a lot. Most of your allies are probably tired at this point.
But hey. You got a FUCK TON of loot and some neat character powers + character moments so it all balances out.

>>6141617
QM
What happened to Casey pirate hat?
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2024/5982952/
No.5984785
>CASEY NOW HAS FANCY PIRATE HAT EQUIPPED (+???. Benefits of it will be revealed later.)

Also, you forgot to add/update this to the inventory, Allies and main character (FAVORS AND KNOWLEDGE) sheets:
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2024/5982952/
No.6000231
>+1 G-CORP (GLOBETROBBER) FAVOR!
>+AUTOMATIC GPS TRACKER (Automatically activates at the start of the mission. Points towards the most direct route to your MISSION GOAL.)
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2024/5982952/
No.6001389
>MAX: 3.5/8 Rapport

https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2024/6071053/
No.6071059
>+1 I-CORP and Z-CORP FAVOR due to Maruyama + Alexis's meddling!

>>6141629
>Pirate Hat
It's a joke item. It's just a pirate hat. It's not a magical PARADIGM or ODDITY, nor made out of something special.
>GPS + G-CORP
Noted, added. GPS wasn't really relevant for the last few missions you were in.

And before you ask, yes, I'll add in the loot you gotten from the last updates soon enough. And yes, I didn't forget the Alexis stat boost, you'll see it this update. And yes, I know the MAIN CHARACTER SHEET isn't updated with your new upgrade OR stat boosts or HP healing. I will fill those too.

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>>6141617

Going on that ship ride was one of the better choices we have made. Love the Admiral.

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"Woah, big guy. I don't think you should be swinging that around. I think I should have it."

"AND WHO ARE YOU TO ORDER ME AROUND, MANNISH WENCH? YOUR WOMB SMELLS BARE AND I CAN SMELL THE TAR IN YOUR LUNGS, YOU ARE WORTHLESS-" "LEX!"

Lex immediately closes the gap between the group and Igor. He puts all of his weight into smashing his shoulder right into Igor's torso. The Graverobber is barely affected by the attack and already has his mace primed to attack to smash in Lex's head like a grape. HOWEVER! "WENDY! NICOLE!" He's too distracted by Lex to notice anyone or anything else.

Both of you rush in to grab onto the Mace. You two are not going to be able to rip it out of his hands; He has a vice grip on it. That's not what matters though. You two are just strong enough to prevent him from attacking.

Lex moves in to help and his sheer gorilla strength is enough to pry it out of his hands. It hits the ground with a clatter but your group of three is shoved back HARD by Igor. You worry that he's about to rearm himself when...

He misses it by a few inches. When you check to see what moved it, you can see sweat dribbling down Wendy's face. Her hands are held out, palms exposed. She used her telekinesis for that. Good thing she's 'leeching it off you' or whatever cope excuse she used.

Igor snorts and moves in to grab at the mace again.

>30!

The telekinetic trick bought Ashley just enough time. Turns out the 'wench' he was making fun of was way faster than he was. Ashley snatches the mace off the ground and easily ducks away from Igor before he could try grabbing her. Your group breaks away from him to see how he'll react now that he doesn't have a weapon.

"YOU. YOU...yo-you...WHORE! DAUGHTER OF QALRI! VILE DEMON!"
"Turns out a 'boyish wench' was faster than you. Now, are we feeling better, big boy?"
"The only demon here is y-you. H-had to make ME use my powers. Feh, tastes awful to use."

"Uh, don't think we should be making fun of him. Smashed my shoulder in him and it was like hitting a stone wall."

Igor places a hand on his forehead. His eyes, which you note have the same shine as actual gold, are beginning to dull. Whatever spark of pure unfiltered POWER he had moments ago is flickering. "H-HOW DARE YOU DISRESPECT SOMEONE OF MY AUTHORITY...?"

"Authority? Sir, I do not know who you are or what army you stand for but you have a Kaptain outfit. We have an Admiral here."

"ADMIRAL? BULLSHIT. I DO NOT SEE-" You interrupt him before he even has any room to speak by first intentionally clearing your throat as loud as you possibly can.

[CAPTAIN'S AUTHORITY] "Do you think you have authority over me, wench?" A deep, silky voice that sounds nothing like your usual speaking voice comes out of your mouth. "I may not be THE Admiral but I imagine you can feel HIS presence, no? Even if you do not know his name."

Despite his knees shaking, Igor is putting up an air of flippant indifference. "NO. YOU SPEAK IN LIES."

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"Lies? I believe my allies can tell dozens of stories on the horrors I have dragged them through and the many, many foes FAR tougher than you that I have bested. But perhaps words mean nothing."

You dig into your pocket to hold out two medals: One from the ADMIRAL himself and one from your impressive training track record at X-Corp.

Dasha steps in to check the medals before letting out a small gasp, clearly playing it up to spook Igor. "Ooo? Zat's some medals of recommendation from the Admiral of the Fleet himself. Equivalent to that of the Army General...seven rungs above you."
"Indeed. And he would not be amused to hear a KAPTAIN talking like this."

"NO, NO, THIS. THIS IS A BLUFF. A TRICK-"
"Nope. That Admiral guy? Shit, man, he's way more powerful than you." Lex interjects. He would know, he DID help you beat him. "And she bested him in a fight."

>61!

While he's still trying to act indifferent, it's clear what you just said shook him to his core. The ADMIRAL's presence is radiating around your body now (his 'vessel' as he likes to call you) and even if you wanted to, you can't hide it now.

He takes one step back. Then another. Then he collapses against one of the many bunkbeds with an expression of indescribable terror as he realizes who he's actually talking to. He's barely able to control his breathing and if you focus well enough, you swear you can hear his heart beating from all the way over here.

"I-I." The odd echo in his voice is now gone. He simply sounds like a very deep, gravely voiced man. "GET AWAY FROM ME! BACK, BACK, BACK! I DON'T WANT TO FIGHT!"
"WE WON'T. JUST...STAY THERE." Quentin turns to look at you, as if expecting you to do something else. You feel like there's something missing here so you decide to use a power of yours you don't have that much of a practical use for.

SIGHTJACKING.

Almost immediately, your vision goes black as you can access to his point of view. What you see is, to be quite frank, worrying. He doesn't see barracks; He sees the battlefield you and Dasha were in mere minutes ago. Your group is nothing more but armed soldiers to him. Granted your group did come in armed but...

You see that in his eyes, you're not wearing your thick winter uniform but instead of a very flashy magenta Admiral's uniform that's decorated with dozens of medals and awards. In your hands is a massive harpoon gun that's ready to pierce right through him.

Hm.

His perception of reality is fucked. You gesture at your various allies to put their guns up before, at the same time, raising your hands up to show that you're not planning on attacking. As your group raises their hands in the air, you notice a distortion in his vision.

>28!

You keep SIGHTJACKING up enough to attempt a little trick with it. Focusing intensely on what you're seeing, you begin to try 'tuning' his vision by squinting your borrowed eyes. Everything begins to go blurry and then, with a small pop, your vision goes black.

You have to blink a few times upon returning to your perspective. You can see that the wild, scared look in the Graverobber's eyes is gone now. It seems that someone or something forced that 'perspective' of him being in a life or death war on him. There's a meekness to his posture now that wasn't there moments ago.

He's almost like a scared animal with how he's observing your group. "I. I JUST WANTED TO...PROTECT MY VILLAGE. I. DON'T HURT ME." He sounds a lot younger too. While before he sounded like a grizzled and experienced soldier, he now sounds like he's a Graverobber version of a confused 30 year old.

"We won't. All we want is for you to let the survivors go."
"AND FOR US TO KEEP THE RELIC OUR FRIEND TOO."

"YEAH. YEAH, SURE. I. I WAS ONLY HERE BECAUSE I HEARD RUMORS ABOUT THIS PLACE HAVING ARTIFACTS. ARTIFACTS THAT MY OTHERS IN BLOOD FEAR." Igor takes a moment to swallow the thick ball of spit building in his throat. "FELT IT WAS THE ONLY OPTION. I. I HEARD FROM A FRIEND IN A WEIRD UNIFORM. SO I TRUSTED HIM."

Alexis cocks an eyebrow at that. "Any reason why WHITEROCK specifically?"
"I DON'T KNOW. I ONLY TRUSTED HER ADVICE. THE RELICS WERE POWERFUL BUT MY HEAD, FUCK, MY HEAD..." Yeah, you're not getting much out of him. At least he's saying.

"Listen. Discard those relics and give them to the wretches in the next room over. Go back to your village and I shall arrange my connections with W-Corp to handle this."

Igor looks up at Wendy upon hearing her office and with a small nod, he gets off the ground and pushes past your group to get the hell out of this facility. Well, that went better than you thought. You suppose having a X5 class entity stuck in you does that.

"So, what cool loot did you steal?"
"I WOULD LIKE TO SEE."
"You youngins have fun. I did my part." Lyubov takes this time to depart the group. That's fine, she didn't do much anyways.

>LYUBOV LEFT THE PARTY.

"Well, check it out!" Ashley shows off the mace she stole from Igor. You take a moment to analyze its stats.
>+MACE OF ACERBITY (ODDITY WEAPON. A porcelain mace constantly oozing out a foul black tar. ATTACK ROLL: RESTRAINT*1.5, rounded up. Inflicts MELTED on hit, reducing MAX FLESH by 4 and lowering any attack dice the target rolls by 3.)

Neat! This should disable any fighter easily. The issue is who gets it...eh. You worry about that later.

Your group takes its time to find the survivors in the barracks but once you obtain them, your group heads off towards the surface. You order your allies to search for any secret rooms in both Barracks and while the one with the Graverobber had nothing of value, the first floor one had some okay loot.

You tally it up to see...

LOOT OBTAINED!
>$300
>RIFLE AMMO x4
>POTATO VODKA x2
>POTATO WHISKEY (A much stronger booze that has some equally potent downsides. Heals 3 RESTRAINT and 1 FLESH, applies a -2 debuff to COGNIZANCE and WILLPOWER for a long duration afterwards. Best used on allies who don't use those stats.)

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>SOVIET POCKETWATCH (While useless on its own, may be useful as a crafting component by your more tech savvy allies.)

With nothing in the way and nothing left for your group to say, it doesn't take long to arrive back above ground.

Once you do, you see that the fire raging above has burnt out, leaving behind only ashes and embers where there were once houses. Alongside the other villagers you helped recover from the first floor, you'd guess you have at least 12 or 14 survivors. Nice.

>+3 I-CORP FAVOR FROM RECOVERING SOME SURVIVORS!

Q-Bert, Pasternack, and Liz are waiting around in the now abandoned and ruined village as well. They're clearly waiting for their rev friends to return so they can escort the villages. Now that you found everything you needed to...

You collapse onto the floor. Exhausted.

-------

MISSION COMPLETED!

REWARD MONEY: $821
EXTRA RESOURCES MONEY: $260
ADDITIONAL REWARDS: YOU NOW HAVE ACCESS TO AN I-CORP APPARTMENT! GOOD, SINCE YOU JUST LOST YOUR PREVIOUS ONE! YOU ALSO GET ANOTHER +2 I-CORP FAVOR FOR DOING THE MISSION.
TOTAL CASH NOW: $6898

You look down upon your relics. You can sell a few of these for some extra cash, you know. You might as well decide what you're willing to sell and what you're keeping.

LIST OF RELICS YOU CAN SELL.
>GLOBUS MODEL 5-19-2 (RELIC TECH. A complex electromechanical analog computer that used an elaborate system of gears, cams, and differentials designed to help you in case you're lost. Will also give 3 I-CORP FAVOR (leaving you with 9) or G-CORP FAVOR (leaving you with 4))
>HELIOS SEEKER MKv2 (MISC RELIC. An odd looking detonator painted blazing orange. Has no use...for now. You feel like this thing is VERY powerful if you figure out how to use it.)
>MASK OF SORROWFUL COUNTENANCE (MISC RELIC. A white porcelain mask that smells weird. Produces a slow stream of acidic black liquid that can be used to burn both flesh and metal.)
>RADIO R-3-121-5 (RELIC EQUIPMENT. A very sturdy radio that, due to unusual design, produces untraceable signals. Allows for long distance communication without the Spooks or any other faction being able to know. Can also be used to contact allies you didn't hire for information.)
>INFLIRATION BODYSUIT MODEL #0001 (RELIC ARMOR. A bulky suit made out of rubber and ballistic fibers that has a very rudimentary AI installed. Blocks 1 FLESH and RESTRAINT from all sources. Twice per mission, can turn the wearer semi invisible, granting 2d4 to a stealth check or removing 2 dice from an enemy's attack.)
>MOSIN NAGNAT (RELIC WEAPON. Uses RIFLE AMMO. ATTACK ROLL: HIGHEST STAT OF USER+3. The gun of the gods.)
>NAGNAT M2005 (RELIC FIREARM. The last Russian revolver model before the Old World ended. Made out of silver. ATTACK ROLL: TALENT+WILLPOWER+2. Inflicts EXPOSED on hit, increasing RESTRAINT and FLESH damage taken by 2 for the rest of combat (can not stack). Uses REVOLVER AMMO.)

>MINDBREAKER REVOLVER BULLETS x6 + MINDBREAKER RIFLE AMMO x4 (RELIC AMMO. Attacks made using this ammo bypass all mental protection and will deal massive MENTAL damage on hit. Good for eliminating targets otherwise too hard to kill.)
>MICROJET RIFLE CARTIDGES x6 (RELIC RIFLE AMMO. Specialty ammo that accelerates to speeds 3.5x faster than an average bullet while being nearly silent. Shots made will not be detectable by enemies and you deal an extra 4 FLESH damage with sneak attacks.)
>HEMATGON BAR x3 (RELIC CONSUMABLE. An old Russian classic made out of condensed blood, milk, syrup, and enough drugs to kill a horse. Heals 4 FLESH and replaces 1 CRIPPLING INJURY with a weaker version.)

Which ones are you willing to give up, if any? (1 HEMATGON BAR = $133, 1 MINDBREAKER REVOLVER BULLET = $85, 1 MINDBREAKER RIFLE AMMO = $99, 1 MICROJET RIFLE CARTIDGE = $105, all else = $623. Sell prices have increased due to high (6, at the moment) I-CORP FAVOR)

>You'll give up...(Write in what. If you choose to sell GLOBUS, specify I or G-CORP.)
>While not a relic, you might as well sell these to I-Corp too. (-WATER PURIFICATION DEVICE + IODINE TABLET PACK x4, -ECM JAMMER. +1 I-CORP FAVOR and $775.)
>You'll keep all of them. You don't NEED to sell this.

This is just a small rewards wrap up. Probably won't be open that long, probably 12-14 hours tops depending on how slow votes are.
Meant to post earlier but I got dragged into dogsitting for a family member. Something about a funeral. Not really involved in who died but it sorta shook me up.
You'll get your choice on FREE TIME ACTIONS after this.

>>6141754
>You'll give up...(Write in what. If you choose to sell GLOBUS, specify I or G-CORP.)
>MASK OF SORROWFUL COUNTENANCE (MISC RELIC. A white porcelain mask that smells weird. Produces a slow stream of acidic black liquid that can be used to burn both flesh and metal.)
>NAGNAT M2005 (RELIC FIREARM. The last Russian revolver model before the Old World ended. Made out of silver. ATTACK ROLL: TALENT+WILLPOWER+2. Inflicts EXPOSED on hit, increasing RESTRAINT and FLESH damage taken by 2 for the rest of combat (can not stack). Uses REVOLVER AMMO.)

>>6141754
>You'll give up...(Write in what. If you choose to sell GLOBUS, specify I or G-CORP.)
>GLOBUS MODEL 5-19-2
Sell to G-Corp.
G-Corp is in a not okay position, and silver agents can use this to their advantage. So let’s sell it to G-Corp, so G-Corp is less desperate and much more hesitant to work with the silver agent.
>MASK OF SORROWFUL COUNTENANCE (MISC RELIC. A white porcelain mask that smells weird. Produces a slow stream of acidic black liquid that can be used to burn both flesh and metal.)

>>6141753
>HELIOS SEEKER MKv2
useful to blow up the silver agent base if needed.
>RADIO R-3-121-5
We are absolutely keeping this.
>INFLIRATION BODYSUIT MODEL #0001
We should give this to Kiara.
>MOSIN NAGNAT
Who should we give it to, Kiara, Clover, or Naomi?
>NAGNAT M2005
We should Give this to Casey.

>>6141793
Our three highest stat rolls are Benedict’s Violence (11), Lex’s Violence (10) and Alexis’ Connections (10).

Alexis’ current weapon is the Royal Blue Derringer, which rolls Connections +2. If we give her the Mosin she can 1) stay farther away from the fight and 2) roll an extra D6 in combat.

Not to mention… come on, are we seriously going to leave the iconic image of the Soviet woman sniper on the table here? It’s a fucking mosin nagant!

Then again… QM, do we know Dacha’s stats yet?

>>6141783

That sound big brain.

Support.

>>6141813

Lets keep it and hand it out as needed. Rifle ammo is hard to come by. Her keeping the derringer is good just for that reason.


The Mindbreaker ammo seems like it is going to be very useful if we need to kill another super-glowie or maybe a dopple at the base. The blood and syrup bars are a pretty great healing item for allies who won't just get pasted from a straight 4 flesh damage.

We are now honorary Ruskies from this mission.

>>6141783
+1

>>6141813
>QM, do we know Dasha’s stats yet?
They weren't super relevant towards this mission but sure, you can have it now since unlike Lyubov she might actually come back.

DASHA MOROZOV [???]
FLESH: 4
RESTRAINT: 6
VIOLENCE: 6
TALENT: 6
WILLPOWER: 2 (-4 from FISH OUT OF WATER)
CHARM: 2 (-4 from FISH OUT OF WATER)
CONNECTIONS: 0 (LOCKED, though you doubt it was that high of a stat anyways.)
COGNIZANCE: 5 (-2 from FISH OUT OF WATER)

BOONS:
[SOLDIER FROM ANOTHER WORLD] As a soldier from the Red Army, she's a very skilled combatant who managed to survive as long as she did for a reason. DASHA rolls d8s whenever she makes an attack roll and, once per mission, can convert every roll below a 3 on a VIOLENCE/TALENT/FLESH roll into 3s

[STEELY FOCUS] She has to keep a steel trap mind in order to not panic in a fight. Whenever Dasha isn't at full RESTRAINT, she gains +1d2 to all checks per missing RESTRAINT to represent her growing focus. At 3 or less RESTRAINT, she also gains +1 to FLESH, VIOLENCE, TALENT and WILLPOWER.

BANES:
[FISH OUTTA WATER] She's not meant to be here. At all. And it's very, VERY obvious from how she looks and acts. Dasha will have a high chance on taking RESTRAINT damage upon seeing something unfamiliar and she has a sizable stat penalty to most mental/social stats. Her CONNECTIONS are also permanently set to 0. This BOON will be weakened over time.

[BARELY HOLDING ON] Her body has been pushed to the limits thanks to the War and she's still recovering from a lack of food, stress, and other wear and tear from the war. Whenever she takes ANY FLESH damage, roll a 1d6 to determine if she gets a CRIPPLING INJURY. (1-2 = NONE, 3-4 = MINOR INJURY, 5-6 = CRIPPLING INJURY)

INVENTORY
-RED ARMY UNIFORM (Currently stained in blood and torn to shreds but it's still a decent enough piece of armor. Has a small chance to block 1 FLESH damage. +2 CHARM and VIOLENCE for checks against X, J, or R-Corp employees or representatives)
-SERVICE PISTOL
-5 PISTOL AMMO
-1 IODINE TABLET PACK
-1 POTATO VODKA
-1 STANDARD ISSUE MEDKIT (Has one charge left)
-1 GAUZE ROLL
-2 GRADE A RATIONS
-1 BALLISTIC SHIELD
-FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS (A memento to keep her sane. No other major use aside from keeping Dasha somewhat sane.)
-YOUNG RUSSIAN LADY PHOTOGRAPH (She's really cagey about this one and who's in the photo. You imagine it's just best not to ask.)

Voting is still open for another 4-5 hours.

>>6141753
SELL
>GLOBUS MODEL 5-19-2
TO G-CORP
>MASK OF SORROWFUL COUNTENANCE
THE REST ARE TOO GOOD TO SELL EVEN IF WE COULD REACH 5 DIGIT CASH IF WE DID SO
HOLY SHIT WE MADE BANK THIS MISSION, WE ARE AT 7K!!!!!!

>>6141973
I hope she didn’t ask Quentin too many questions. Even his longtime friends find his… quirks… a little unnerving.

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>>6141754

Fun fact about Gyro-Jet/Micro-jet ammo IRL. They continue to accelerate out of the barrel for a time as opposed to just normal bullets which begin slowing the second they are out the tip. For a Gyro-Jet, it is actually safer to be close if you are being shot because it hasn't had time to fully accelerate.

And yes, I know not a gun guy, and it doesn't really matter, but at 3.5x the velocity of a normal 7.62x54 round, those would be going almost 10,000 feet a second or almost 7,000 mph. They would break the sound barrier several times over and would be pretty loud doing so; that is half of why guns are loud. Suppressed rounds are intentionally constructed such that they are sub-sonic.

But these are just fun facts, I don't really care that these are quiet it is just a day off and I am enjoying a drink.

>>6142147
To be fair it's cooler for bullets that somehow travel at 7k MPH to be insanely silent than to actually be accurate with gryojets since of what you just mentioned because the only real 'use case' of a Gryojet in the moment is if we somehow ever go to space and start shooting people. There's a reason they never took off (well that and they costed an arm and a leg to make.)

As for how it actually works? Shooting it is so fucking loud that no one can hear anything ever again since their ear drums rupture. :)

Anywho, seems like you're selling the totally not SCP 035 mask and the Globus to G-Corp. Writing, should be very quick since I don't have a lot to write, probably posted in the next hour. Have this small little side update to make up for what will be a pretty small update

-----

"S-so. Should I ask...?"

Everyone looks over at Dasha. She hasn't really been speaking much aside from convincing the Graverobber that you had more authority over him. She's been keeping to herself and you can't blame her.

"Speak up. You're stuttering like a schoolgirl, it's embarrassing. You're in the FUTURE! Granted, by foul means, but I've forgiven worse things."
"...yeah, Dasha, what's wrong? If it's about our family then I can tell you for certain we're doing fine."

"No, no, uh. Should his eye be...hanging out like that?"

You have no idea what she's talking about until you look over at who she's pointing at. Oh. Quentin's body is looking REALLY bad, all things considered. The one functional eye his SILVER AGENT SHELL still has left has actually popped out of his eye socket. He's holding his hands out to catch something falling out of him and on closer examination, it's his teeth. His gums have rotten to a point where his teeth are beginning to fall out.

"Ah. He's a Drone. Quite the useful species, yes yes, but he hasn't had a new body in a while." Wendy brushes off the body horror happening right in front of the group. "We plan on getting him a new shell soon anyways."

Dasha doesn't even know how to respond to that. She blinks slowly, as if barely able to process the words she just heard. "Whuh?"
"Don't worry about it. I get it's kinda creepy but he's, uh." Ashley slings her arm over Dasha's soldier. "Look, I was horrified too when I first saw him doing this stuff but you get used to it."

"LEX. CAN YOU HELP ME?"
"Oh, yeah, bro. Just stand still."

Your group and the group of survivors both have to turn away as Lex begins impromptu dental and ocular surgery (read: stuffing the rotten parts back into place) on Quentin. Well, except for Wendy, who's waiting with rapt attention.

"It is impressive how he can keep a body functioning despite all of the damage and rot it has taken. I knew that Drones were hardy but..." If you didn't know any better you would think she's a bit TOO interested in the morbid sight unfolding. "Nicole, your associates are VERY interesting. I must thank you for showing me this."

"U-uh, yeah. Sure."