You are Nicole Smith. You are a SHIFTer, a person capable of using anomalous abilities to alter the world around you. You are a Cleaner, a deniable asset used by massive mega-corporations called the Alphabet Companies and anyone else willing to pay you. Most of your jobs are from your Handler, a member of a powerful family who asks you to check up on things or 'clean' up messes for him.All of this is taking place in the City, a massive megacomplex spanning across hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions of square miles. Being a Cleaner is one of the most efficient ways to make money in this continental sized megacomplex if you know what you're doing.You get the drill.As for how that job is going? Not half bad!You teamed up with a group of revolutionaries down at an abandoned underground facility and dealt with a handful of anomalies down there. In the process of working with them, you brought a soviet soldier from WW2 back into the future through anomalous time travel means. You proceeded to head to a rave to unwind, got a new body for a body possessing ally to control and started to prepare for your next mission. This was hampered a bit by your apartment complex and the surrounding block turning into rubble thanks to the Spooks trying to mess with G-Corp.You carried on regardless and started your latest mission: Checking up on your Handler's extended family to see how they're holding up. You have to travel all across the City to do so but the first stop at Q-Corp was quick and easy. You had to kill a sniper and deal with an android trying to defame you but you easily secured the first Foxtrot. That's when you moved to D-Corp for the second one.D-Corp has been hell. Your allies have been slowly losing more and more of their sanity as you travel the district. You entered up at a spore infested facility in pursuit of the second Foxtrot. You dealt with a Spook there and entered a unsteady alliance with her before finding Seath Foxtrot.It took setting the anomaly controlling him ablaze to snap him out of the anomalous trance he was in. He's with you now, though!You're now busy dealing with a side quest about a missing dog that was kidnapped by a gang. You're on the way to the warehouse the gang is taking nest in order to rescue said dog. You can't wait to get out of D-Corp, man.ARCHIVE: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=CleanerPASTEBINS:MAIN CHARACTER SHEET (Your stats/abilities/perks are written here): https://pastebin.com/3y638TfKALLIES (contains their stats, abilities, recruitment costs, and RAPPORT): https://pastebin.com/8gdVZBPeMECHANICS: https://pastebin.com/A9nLYWP6PARTY (Who's with you currently): https://pastebin.com/NeYKiyEDINVENTORY (contains your items, consumables, weapons, etc.): https://pastebin.com/n0MH6M17CITY INFO (General information about the Alphabet Companies and other notable entities): https://pastebin.com/ZP2JN7mT
Okay. No need to rush in willy nilly. You're on a bit of a time crunch since you have two (maybe three if you want to deal with Fang) Foxtrots to rescue after this but you still have time to be methodical about it. Right?You pocket the SHRIMP VISION BIOMOD Benjamin throws your way. >SHRIMP VISION MODULE obtained!"No need to rush. We're not J-Corp, we don't plan on shooting the dog by accident or something." You're still a bit hesitant on letting BUGARM LADY help you out but fuck, Benjamin already got her. "We'll have Ms. Bugarm help us get in once we find an entrance. Sounds cool?"Everyone but Clover murmurs in agreement.Clover is obviously disappointed he can't go rootin' tootin' shootin immediately but seven people (your five allies + Seath + Bugarm Lady) outvoting him is hard for him to argue against. "Fine.""Cool. Let's-" "Hark! I request time to change my attire! For it is unbefitting of a lady such as myself to not look as presentable as possible!"You're about to tell Casey off but you think better of it once Kiara starts talking, "The clothes she, uh, stole from someone have some pretty decent specs to them. Just let the poor girl change into a new outfit.""Ah, fine, fine." "Thankie, Nicky~!" Kiara dims one of her LED eyes in an imitation of a wink. Best to find somewhere somewhat private to do this at.You stop by one of the many abandoned buildings on your way towards the warehouse. Luckily, it's one of the few buildings in this part of the slums without a lock on it. You usher in Casey (with Clover and Kiara as her bodyguards just in case) inside so she can change.There wasn't anyone inside thankfully so the two are back out in only a few minutes. The outfit Casey stole actually looks pretty good on her. A starry black musketeer's uniform with sparkling dots all over it tightly clings to her body as if it was made just for her. The mask hides away Casey's face completely, with the only thing visible on the mask being similar sparkling dots.The intimidating impact it might've had is lessened because 1.) you know it's Casey and 2.) she still has to wear her rags over it to keep up some pretense of a disguise."Delicious." Casey giggles like a young schoolgirl. Kiara, meanwhile, doesn't look distinctly different but it's clear she upgraded herself somehow. Her metallic chassis has a slightly shinier sheen to it.>CASEY has equipped MASK OF ONYX DARKNESS, STARSKY MUSKETEER UNIFORM, and MOONLIGHT RAPIER! She now has 3/4 FLESH, 2/6 RESTRAINT, 8 TALENT, and 7 CHARM! She is no longer in KNIGHTHOOD S-CORP REINFORCED CERMAIC BODYARMOR!>KIARA has consumed the two remaining WATERLOGGED SILVER WALKIE TALKIES to gain +1 MAX RESTRAINT! She now has 5 RESTRAINT and now has HUX-A7-OVERDRIVE MODULE installed!That RESTRAINT she has is pretty low. Even if that mask will protect her from the passive mental strain this place inflicts, it's not like that's the only way to lose your sanity. Hm. More and more things to worry about.
The eight of you start the trek over to the warehouse. No one's really in much of a mood to talk because to be quite frank, everyone wants out of here. If it wasn't for the money, favor, and PARADIGM you were expected to get as a reward...Well. Clover probably would've wanted to do it anyways because it was !JUST!. That's the least of your worries though. Something's off right now and everyone in your group can feel it. "Is it just me or are the roads and buildings...shifting?""Nope. I see it too, partner.""Yeah, me too. Can't get a solid reading as to why, though."You check your MAKESHIFT POCKETWATCH just to be sure. The small display on it reads "STRUCTUAL ANOMALY DETECTED: MANMADE CONSTRUCTIONS CONSTANTLY CHANGE AND SHIFT AROUND A 3 BLOCK RADIUS OF AN UNIDENTIFIED SPOT NORTH OF HERE."The layout of the slums is shifting around your group. It's incredibly minute and subtle at first, almost dismissed by you as just shoddy construction, but everything is starting to warp in on itself. It becomes a LOT more notable the further you head towards the warehouse you're after.The upper half of buildings slowly bend forward until they're at a 90 degree angle, making them look like backwards 7s. Pillars of concrete rise out of the sidewalks and road. There's small pockets of the road where there's a complete lack of oxygen in the air (you quickly learn to hold your breath when you pass one of those). The windows on most buildings shine a minty green light that seems to literally burn away at anything it comes into contact with.Your group learnt that the hard way when a small bit of Max's greyish-blue hair was set ablaze. Benjamin quickly put it out, of course, but it's clear something anomalous is happening here. You suppose that's why the SEAL OF BRAM'VESH have a base here."I've seen minor structural anomalies across a majority of the buildings in this sub-district but this is something else." Seath is awestruck by what he's seeing. You suppose it makes sense he never went down to the slums.[UNDYING CURIOSITY + OPEN MINDED] Max and Benjamin are silently taking in everything around them like young children seeing fireworks for the first time. They really do share the same braincell.[KIARA SEEKER] "Gotta say, this is the type of abnormality I like." Kiara is also pretty intrigued by reality seemingly twisting in on itself around here.Clover, Casey, and BUGARM LADY don't bother to say anything. It's clear none of them care or like reality twisting on itself and they just want the job done. Casey seems too exhausted to offer her usual upbeat motivational nonsense.Thankfully your group arrives at the edges of the SEAL OF BRAM'VESH base. As the man you 'dealt' with said, it's some sort of factory/warehouse that used to produce and store pizzas before it was promptly abandoned. While most of the warehouse has entered into disrepair, an old sign with a cartoonish mascot of a pizza slice with legs still hangs above the factory entrance.
It's otherwise a massive, MASSIVE featureless block of concrete and steel that looks remarkably out of place compared to all of the warped buildings around it. It's almost like it was intentionally left normal.You have a guttural feeling the anomalous alteration of the area around the factory is because of this gang. "I think these guys may be more of a danger than I thought." You murmur to Benjamin and Kiara, who are probably the most experienced with anomalous stuff out of the group. "The structural and architecture anomalies avoiding this one specific building? That doesn't track.""You're right. Either they found a way to protect it or, as the source of the anomalous influence..." Benjamin hums. "It wouldn't affect its own structure. This may be more serious than I thought.""I highly doubt there's an anomaly there. Benny, you don't sense one, right? Max said you-" "Nope. Don't sense any manifested anomalies here."Okay. So if it's not a proper Anomaly itself, you imagine it's some sort of SHIFTer influence or an excess of anomalous energy; could it be possible they're storing or producing A-Energy? Hm. More to think of.There's a handful of guards keeping guard of the main entrance. You have to guess there's about five of them but it's hard to see through the haze (and getting closer doesn't sound like a swell idea). All of them are missing one of their arms but in their place, twisting and squirming tendrils made out of raw muscle fibers hang limply by their side. None of them seem to have weapons beyond those tendrils, though.They look pretty beefy, fighting in that way would draw a lot of attention. Would be quick, though, you DO have the firepower and range advantage. You can faintly hear them murmuring about 'the ritual not being worth it'. Seems they're loosed lipped, might be worth it to eavesdrop.All of the security is focused on the front entrance however. BUGARM LADY points towards the side of the building closest to your group (which you'd guess is 'east' from the perspective of the factory). It's flooded with so much blackened smog that makes seeing through it damn near impossible but you catch a glimpse of a side entrance."Door locked most times." The BUGARM LADY chitters. "But it leads directly to food storage. Seal keeps most goodies there. Takes time but we could break in. There's ladder that leads to roof, roof entrance can let us watch more." So that's a possible entrance. Could lead right towards your objective or at least keep your profile low."Hey." Kiara draws your attention over to an odd sight. Towards the western side of the factory, you can barely make out a trio of SEAL OF BRAM'VESH goons and a delivery truck they're unloading stuff out of. The thing that draws your attention is what they're unloading: Coffins? "If they're kidnapping folks, wouldn't coffins be a decent way of holding them?"Okay, that's something you would've missed if you went guns a-blazing.
You have to think about how you want to proceed from here. First off, do you give Casey anything for her shoddy mental health?>GIVE HER JOYVEL ZETA (-the only JOYVEL ZETA pill, heals her to 6/6 RESTRAINT)>GIVE HER BOTTLE OF SUMMERSET 1752 (-1 BOTTLE, leaves you with two. Heals her to 6/6 RESTRAINT)>GIVE HER HOLY TEARS (-1 charge, leaves you with one. Grants her strong RESTRAINT regeneration.)>LEAVE IT BE. SHE'S FINE.How do you want to approach the WAREHOUSE? You have eight people in this group so it might be wise to split up. The more ground you can cover, the better.Choose up to three. You may pick less.>[CASEY ALLY + SUGAR RUSH] You know. You've never properly use SUGAR WAND X. Tell Casey to use it as a distraction, lure the gang's attention elsewhere. (-1 out of 6 CHARGES on SUGAR WAND X. Should buy you a lot of time but may draw unwarranted attention later.)>[CLOVER ALLY] Go guns a-blazing. These guys are clearly a threat. (-2 REVOLVER ROUNDS from Clover, -2 PISTOL ROUNDS from Max, -3 PISTOL ROUNDS from your inventory. Should be enough to kill the guards, saves you time.)>[SPENT TIME SCOUTING OUT] Have someone investigate the delivery truck and the coffins before you do anything. Something's clearly shady about that. (Choose two people to investigate: BENJAMIN, YOURSELF, MAX, SEATH)>[BUGARM LADY IN PARTY] Send BUGARM LADY, CASEY and KIARA to sneak in through the side entrance. You trust they can be stealthy enough. (Helps to keep a low profile.)>Eavesdrop on the guards. See what information you can gleam out of them. (Autopass with Kiara's help. Should gleam some useful information.)>Send someone up to investigate the roof entrance and where it leads. (Choose two people to investigate: BENJAMIN, YOURSELF, MAX, SEATH.)>Write in (Write in specifically who investigates what? Alter a vote within reason? Use an item? Something else?)Welcome back. Sorry for two day delay, something came up. Let's get back into it.Will update with Kiara and Casey's new equipment tomorrow, was just worried about getting this out since I'm already a bit late.)
