Your name is Vincent Cruz. You work at a small accounting firm somewhere in the middle of nowhere, Texas. By accounts, you are a complete and total nobody.You've spent the last five years of your life doing the same monotonous routine day in and day out. Wake up. Catch a bus. Suffer the indignity of underfunded public transportation for an hour. Arrive at work.Get a cup of coffee. Go to your cubical. Work on financial and tax paperwork for eight hours.Go home. Watch TV. Get a restless six hours of sleep.30 GOTO 10.That's the way it's been up to this point. The job pays well enough and the other options weren't much better. Today begins as much as any other day. You step off the rolling hunk of steel which you could call a bus and into the looming shadow of your workplace, a grey steel and glass monolith that holds nothing but human misery inside. Just how you like it. Ha.Your body and mind prepare to go on autopilot to get through your routine. Your legs carry you forward automatically and your face is set into the daily mask of impassivity.You're stopped by the receptionist before you can even step foot into your office. "Mr. Cruz." The chipper receptionist offers her usual plastic smile. "Mr. Cantwell would like to speak to you."Oh. Great. Your manager wants to talk to you? You can already imagine the dragged out conversation he's going to put you through.You slump your shoulders. "Okay. Thank you." Your body swerves down the hallway opposite of where your office is. It doesn't take long to find yourself in front of his office door. Lucky bastard actually gets an office all to himself. You knock on the door. No answer.You check the doorknob and it's...unlocked? Huh. You open the door to reveal a room completely shrouded in darkness. You can't see a damn thing in here.You have half the mind to leave right now... but you might as well see this little jape all the way through. Why not? You step inside and the last thing you remember is two metal prongs being jabbed into your back and the accompanying surge of electricity flooding through your entire body.You wake up after God knows how long. You can't see anything and, as you try to get up, you realize your arms and legs are tied to something. There's a few whispers and footsteps then the bag gets removed from your head. It's still too dark to make out much of your surroundings, but you can make out what's immediately in front of you.There's a man sitting on the other side of the stainless steel table that you're forcefully sat at. He's an older gentleman wearing a simple white labcoat with a turtleneck sweater underneath, late 50s if you had to guess. He adjusts the desk lamp (the only source of light in this room) to get a better look at you."I apologize for the, erm, troublesome circumstances that surround our little introduction." He lets out a forced chuckle. "To keep it brief, you've been promoted!"
"Haha?" You awkwardly laugh at what you assume was a joke. "What for?""You have been promoted to a researcher for a brand new branch of the United States government - the Abnormality Regulation Coalition or A.R.C. for short." He pauses, quite obviously baiting for your reaction. "I think you misunderstand. I'm not a scientist." "Ah ha!" The fake smile he has is getting on your nerves. "You see, due to budgetary issues we have been forced to find researchers from, uhm, alternative sources. You understand, no?""I-""Great!" Several dossiers are abruptly dropped onto the table. "As a freshly assigned researcher, you have been assigned an anomaly to take care of. You'll be responsible for researching, interacting with, and containing the anomalies under your preview." He claps his hands together. "We'll explain more of your job responsibilities once you picked your first research subject."There's a mechanical click and your hands are freed from their bindings. Only your hands. You're not going anywhere anytime soon. You feel someone else close by but your instincts tell you not to look behind you."We have several anomalies for you to choose from. We made sure to saddle you with a very basic and safe anomaly for your first day. We wouldn't want our newest asset to die on us, right?"With no other option, you begin to flip through the dossiers. There's not a lot of information in them — the majority of the text is redacted to hell and back. All you got to go on are a few images and ominous-sounding phrases."I must apologize for any confusion, but you currently don't have the clearance to read most of what I handed you." There's a bit too much glee in the researcher's voice.This is already going to be a long day, isn't it?CHOOSE YOUR FIRST ANOMALY! ["As an early sign on bonus, you get to pick five! We'll limit future acquisitions to three anomalies."]>"Let's stop and watch the roses." (You're reasonably sure that that's what a GIRAFFE is supposed to look like.)>"Dreams are nothing more than wishes and a wish is just a dream you wish to come true." (A deep melancholy looms over the CORPSE.)>"Give me my beloved back, you imbecile!" (You never believed in haunted objects. Yet you know that this PAINTING is not of this world.)>"Wash all your dreams and worries away. In the end, there's only one other escape from your woes." (You never knew that an ANDROID could look so exhausted...)>"Please, have a seat. Watch my death with the reverence it deserves." (You swore the photo of the OLD MAN was staring right at YOU.)
>>6276147>"Please, have a seat. Watch my death with the reverence it deserves." (You swore the photo of the OLD MAN was staring right at YOU.)Fuck yeah. SCP quest.
>>6276147>"Please, have a seat. Watch my death with the reverence it deserves." (You swore the photo of the OLD MAN was staring right at YOU.)Let's say hi to grandpa
>>6276147>"Let's stop and watch the roses." (You're reasonably sure that that's what a GIRAFFE is supposed to look like.)
>>6276147>"Give me my beloved back, you imbecile!" (You never believed in haunted objects. Yet you know that this PAINTING is not of this world.)
>>6276147>"Please, have a seat. Watch my death with the reverence it deserves." (You swore the photo of the OLD MAN was staring right at YOU.)Welcome back, Manager
>>6276147>"Dreams are nothing more than wishes and a wish is just a dream you wish to come true." (A deep melancholy looms over the CORPSE.)
>>6276144>>"Dreams are nothing more than wishes and a wish is just a dream you wish to come true." (A deep melancholy looms over the CORPSE.)
>>6276147>"Dreams are nothing more than wishes and a wish is just a dream you wish to come true." (A deep melancholy looms over the CORPSE.)BASED QM
>>6276147>"Dreams are nothing more than wishes and a wish is just a dream you wish to come true." (A deep melancholy looms over the CORPSE.)We're so back.
>>6276147>CORPSEOh yeah, it's anomaly time
>>6276147>"Please, have a seat. Watch my death with the reverence it deserves." (You swore the photo of the OLD MAN was staring right at YOU.)
>>6276147>"Give me my beloved back, you imbecile!" (You never believed in haunted objects. Yet you know that this PAINTING is not of this world.)glad to see you back
>>6276147>CORPSEWelcome back HandlerQM.
CORPSE: tUc, csn, NMz, +u7, t4e, y4z (6)OLD MAN: KOO, 1w+, iFJ, T4x (4)PAINTING: GOu, SXG (2)GIRAFFE: CWx (1)Well, seems like the CORPSE anomaly has won out.Don't feel too bad, you'll likely see some of these anomalies pop up again in future choices. Writing.
Your hand lingers over the second dossier. You still can't get the grainy image you saw outta your head. You thought it was nothing at first. A bunch of flowers sprawled out on a floor that looked pretty but not 'anomalous' in any way.You barely saw it through the film grain but there has to be a dead body underneath there. You at least saw a limp, broken arm jutting out of the flowerbed. You can't make out anything else out of the poor quality photo.Something about how it was taken fills you with an overwhelming sense of melancholy. It washes over you as quickly as it arrived, bringing you back to your normal apathetic state.You doubt a corpse is going to do anything too bad to you, right? It's already dead."I'll pick this one."The researcher's false smile stretches even wider. His taut, plasticine skin is going to rip itself in half if he smiles any wider. "Excellent. We'll transfer ownership of In Limbo over to you now.""That's its name?""Yes sir. No more questions, bye bye, get to work." Another burlap bag is unceremoniously thrown over your head. You feebly struggle against the iron grip of whoever's behind you.Something sharp is jabbed into your neck. You don't remember remember falling unconscious, just that you felt so, so cold.---VINCENT CRUZHEALTH: DOING FINE.MENTAL HEALTH: DOING FINE.TRAIT: WAGEKEK (+5 to all rolls involving paperwork, menial labor or brown nosing superiors.)ROLLS: Whenever a skill check is called for, 3d100 will be rolled. How many thresholds are met (i.e if the DC is 60, rolling two 62s and one 7 passes two thresholds) determines the success of the check. This will change from check to check but usually, 0 successes = SOMETHING REAL BAD and 3 successes = SOMETHING REAL GOOD.Rolls will be done AFTER voting, not DURING it.---You wake up gasping for air. Your throat is drier than a desert. Your head is spinning around and around and around. A dull pain radiates across your back. They really don't care about treating their new asset well, do they?It takes a moment for you to take stock of the room you're in. Wow. Garbage dumps look better than this place.The room you find yourself is in horrid condition. The walls, floor and ceiling are caked in a faint brown crust that reeks of coffee and burnt cigarettes.The walls have begun to rot from the sheer lack of care. You can see right through them. Exposed, rusted pipping snakes up the inside of the rotten wall. Occasionally, a puff of boiling hot steam bursts out of a pipe. Great.A few random tables straight out of a highschool science lab are scattered haphazardly throughout the small, boxy room. There's also two shelves with old, moth-eaten academic books scattered around. Great. Is there anything in here that isn't corroded or rotten?That's when something catches your attention. A loud, electronic BEEP! Where the hell did that come from?
You quickly figure out the source of the noise. An ancient desktop is resting on a desk by the northern wall. Seems like it turned on by itself - Guess it wants you to look at it, huh? You wander over to it to get a better look at it.It's about as old as the researcher you met - This has to be a Macintosh from the 1980s. Its case is stained dark yellow from years of neglect and dust cakes every inch of the poor thing. It takes a solid six minutes after pushing the power button for it to turn on.There seems to be a text file left for you. You quickly skim it."This is your training file. Read it carefully.""Listen [LOW RUNG RESEARCHER], we're completely out of funding since the govt slashed our budgets in the last restructuring. We can excuse some of your mistakes in the scientific process for now. Just get us some of that sweet sweet DOSH.""You have TWO OBJECTIVES. RESEARCH THE ANOMALIES and MAKE US CASH.""How do you make cash? Simple - You find a way to make money off of the anomalies we give you.""There are three types of anomalies we care about - ENERGY, RESEARCH and ESOTERIC.""ENERGY anomalies produce some kind of energy source. Gasoline, coal, unique anomalous forms of energy, etc. We need to boil as much water as possible and these anomalies help.""RESEARCH anomalies produce some useful byproduct that could be transformed into a product.""ESOTERIC anomalies are anomalies that have no immediately obvious use. These ones are super weird - Be careful.""You may also receive sponsorships from foreign parties or other researchers like yourself. Accepting these sponsorships may help you acquire the CASH.""You will be given $2000 upfront to buy new equipment and to 'motivate' other staff to work with you. Good luck."…Huh.You check the room to see if there's anything else and that's when you find it. A fancy airlock straight out of a sci-fi book. You missed it at first from just how much grime was coating it but there it is. A small placard hanging next to the airlock reads "IN LIMBO. RISK LEVEL UNKNOWN." A keycard scanner is installed next to it. You dig through your pockets to find that you were, thankfully, given one. "VINCENT CRUZ - LEVEL 0 RESEARCHER". That's all that's on the cheap plastic card. It doesn't even have your face on it. Guess that's your anomaly. You should probably take a moment to think about how to proceed from here. They probably left the dossier around here somewhere, you'll just have to look for it first.DAY 1 of your NEW JOB has started!Due to there being no other staff but you and the horrid state of your 'lab', you have eight TIME TOKENS to use.Each action requires a certain amount of TIME TOKENS. When you're out of them, the day ends.You may pick up to two actions per turn, as long as you have the TIME TOKENS to spare.What do, Vincent?
>Check the dossier. You didn't really have time to read it until you got dumped here. (-1 TIME TOKEN, 3d100+5t55 to determine how much information you can get.)>Try to organize the lab to the best of your ability. Might as well make it easier to work here. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a pigstay. (-3 TIME TOKENS, 3d100+5t60 to determine how much you clean up. Good for your mental health.)>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. See what we're working with here. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)>You're probably not allowed to leave until the work day's over but step outside your lab for a moment. Where the hell are you? (-1 TIME TOKEN, you doubt you're alone here. Maybe you meet someone?)>Check through some of the academic books. Maybe they can help you with your job. (-1d3 TIME TOKENS, you barely know any science stuff so this might help you down the line.)>Write in.
>>6276455>DOSSIER>COMPUTERCleaning can happen later. What are we working with here?
>>6276455>The SCP foundation got DOGE'dUh oh.>DOSSIER>ORGANIZE
>>6276461+1We should do the cleaning in maybe the next turn. I doubt the "In Limbo" will like the CONTAINMENT CELL dirty.
>>6276467Hmm, I wonder, does ARC give anomalies here a psychologist/therapy/psychiatrist?
>>6276455>Check the dossier. >Check through some of the academic books
>>6276455>>Check the dossier.>Check out your computer.
>>6276454>Check the dossier. You didn't really have time to read it until you got dumped here. (-1 TIME TOKEN, 3d100+5t55 to determine how much information you can get.)>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a pigstay. (-3 TIME TOKENS, 3d100+5t60 to determine how much you clean up. Good for your mental health.)Welcome back Handler! Didn’t expect to see you this soon.
>>6276470We are the therapist, anon. And the medical doctor, and the security guard, and the nuclear physicist.
>>6276455>Check the dossier. You didn't really have time to read it until you got dumped here. (-1 TIME TOKEN, 3d100+5t55 to determine how much information you can get.)>Clean>>6276454>"Yea we have zero funding dude. Also here's 2k dollars to start with!"*Hmmmm*>>6276516And the theoretical physicist. And the- Yeah our job description is basically "anything we need to be whenever we need to be."
>>62765252K is peanuts compared to millions or billions of dollars on a typical government budge
>>6276461+1Computer and cleaning can wait a turn
>>6276455DossierOrganize
DOSSIER: EVERYONE (9)COMPUTER: t4e, Szu (2)ORGANIZE: U+R, 04z, y4z, csn (4)CLEAN: ggd, z8q (2)BOOKS: CWx (1)Seems like we're reading the file and organizing our shitlab. Fair's fair.Three anons, roll 1d100+5. You'll find SOMETHING as long as you pass one THRESHOLD. (More thresholds IS better, though.)Oh, also, to the anons excited to see me again - I'm excited to see you too. I don't like being idle, what can I say.
>>6276455>Check the dossier. You didn't really have time to read it until you got dumped here. (-1 TIME TOKEN, 3d100+5t55 to determine how much information you can get.)>You're probably not allowed to leave until the work day's over but step outside your lab for a moment. Where the hell are you? (-1 TIME TOKEN, you doubt you're alone here. Maybe you meet someone?)
Rolled 53 + 5 (1d100 + 5)>>6276588
Rolled 97 + 5 (1d100 + 5)>>6276588
Rolled 67 + 5 (1d100 + 5)>>6276588
>>6276525>"Yea we have zero funding dude. Also here's 2k dollars to start with!"To be fair, you don't exactly know how much 2k is worth in this facility or how far it can actually get you in terms of goods.>>6276590>>6276591>>6276595THRESHOLD COUNT: 3/3!HIGHEST ROLL: 102!The power of PAPERWORK shines through your soul. Seems like you're going to get some valuable information out of this after all. Writing.
There's no reason to rush around right now. You're in an unfamiliar place that's clearly holding you against their will (they kidnapped you, for Christ's sake!). You're going to take your sweet time here.You duck to avoid a stray blast of steam. God, you need to get that fixed sooner than later. Fixing this lab up so it's anywhere near usable is probably going to eat up most of your funds.Feh! You can worry about that later. You need to find that dossier. Someone had to bring this anomaly here so it's likely they already know SOMETHING about it.You find the dossier laying on one of the tables. It was partially underneath a pile of wet, almost digested paperwork that was left by your precursor. Eugh. You wipe off the gunk to the best of your ability. You crack open the still-stained dossier to see what you can make out.>102!It's pretty dry but it's actually pretty informative for what's that worth.TIME OF ACQUISITION: 14:16:22, 6/19/2026 (A week ago?)LOCATION OF ACQUISITION: ROOSEVELT MEADOWS THEATER, OAK HILL ST GA.EXTRACTION TASK FORCE AGENTS WHO RECOVERED IT: ROXXIE [REDACTED], LOXXIE [REDACTED], GERALD SMITH.INITIAL DISCOVERY REPORT: RESIDENTS OF AN APARTMENT BLOCK ON OAK HILL COMPLAINED TO LOCAL AUTHORITIES ABOUT EXCESSIVE, DAILY BLACKOUTS. NO OTHER BUILDINGS REPORTED ANY SUCH BLACKOUTSPOWER SOURCES THOSE THAT SHOULD BE UNAFFECTED BY POWER GRID OUTAGES (BATTERIES, GAS POWERED GENERATORS, SOLAR POWERED EQUIPMENT) WOULD SHUT DOWN ALONGSIDE THE POWERGRID.ROOSEVELT MEADOWS THEATHER [ABANDONED CIRCA 2020] WAS DEEMED A POINT OF INTEREST AFTER SEVERAL RESIDENTS SAID THEY HEARD 'WEIRD STATICKY SOUNDS' COMING INSIDE.TWO ELECTRICANS WERE SENT INTO THE THEATER WITH APPROVAL OF LOCAL AUTHORTIES. ELECTRIANS DESCRIBED A LARGE MASS OF FLOWERS LAYING IN ONE OF THE EMPTY THEATHER AUDITORIUMS. FURTHER EXAMINATION REVEALED THAT AN UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE CORPSE WAS ENTAGLED IN THE FLOWERBED.COMMUNICATION WAS ATTEMPTED. NO REACTION WAS RECORDED. ANOMALY WAS RECOVERED FROM THEATER WITH NO INCIDENT. INFORMATION ABOUT THE ANOMALY CAUGHT THE ATTENTION OF EMBEDDED ETF AGENTS INSIDE LOCAL POLICE PRECIENTETF AGENTS WERE SENT TO RECOVER AND TO SUPPRESS INFORMATION ABOUT IN LIMBO. COVER STORY #9-10-255, "SQUATTERS RIGHTS", WAS IMPLENTED.ETF ROXXIE STATES, FOR THE RECORD, 'It's bullshit! I took a lotta cool pictures of this thing but all of them look weird and grainy! Bleh!""That's all she wrote. You wish you had a bit more to work on but whatever this thing is but you got three useful pieces of information.-It interferes with or drains power from any nearby power sources. Has an area of effect(?)-It's either inert or incredibly passive.-You can't take good photographs of it for some reason. Intentional or a byproduct of its anomalous properties?Not much else you can learn from this. Maybe you could figure out a way to invert its power draining?
You'll need to study it more to figure out if that's possible.You close the dossier. You might as well organize this place if you're going to be working in here, right?You start by clearing off the tables. Pile after pile of liquified, rotten paperwork are discarded into a large trash can you found near the exit. Your hands are now stained with a slurry of sticky black, grey and brown liquid. Eugh. The tables themselves are nearly fused to the ground with how much gunk is caked onto their legs. You have to put all of your bodyweight into pushing them but you eventually manage to move them. You push all of the tables together into one compact table to save space. Just in case you buy any heavy equipment or machinery you need to put in this lab.You then organize the books scattered across the various bookshelves. You decide it's probably best if each shelf only has one category of book so you can easily find a specific category later. You rather not have to flip through ten chemistry textbooks to find a math textbook, right?As you're messing with the books, you find that some random small objects were left inside them. Either the last sob here used them as makeshift bookmarks of they were trying to hide them.ITEMS OBTAINED!>GRIMY FLOPPY DISK (A pink floppy disk with '1000 HOURS OF ENTERTAINMENT' scribbled on it with sharpie. A video game? A movie? Who knows.)>STAINED FOOD COUPON (A fast food coupon for '75% off any A.R.C BURGER meal!'. Not expired. Value uncertain.)>MYSTERY BAGGIE (Filled with an off-white substance. You are oddly compelled to taste it.)>TIME COST to STUDY ACADEMIC BOOKS is reduced to 1d3-1! Has a chance to cost no time!You take a quick walk around the lab to see if there's anything else you can organize. Your eyes glaze over the stained, muck-coated walls. The loose lightbulbs limply hanging from the ceiling barely keep this place illuminated so you nearly missed it but...You're pretty sure there's other airlocks in here. It'll take a while to clear the muck away and, well, who knows what could be inside them? You doubt anyone has bothered checking inside them for WEEKS. You're pretty sure they won't be any anomalies inside, thankfully.>NEW ACTION unlocked!You wonder how the hell the lab could've gotten into a state like this anyways. This doesn't seem to be just a case of neglect or budget cuts. It's almost like you're being laughed at. This isn't the first time you've had to deal with some sort of hazing ritual at a new job.Usually it's just being hit a few times or being dared to do something stupid. This is a bit excessive if it's a hazing ritual...or is it?Only God would know for sure.Your lab still looks like garbage but at the very least, it's easier to find what you need in here. It's a start at least.6 TIME TOKENS left. What do you do, Vincent?
>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a pigstay. (-3 TIME TOKENS, 3d100+5t60 to determine how much you clean up. Good for your mental health.)>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. You should check the anomaly out sooner than later. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)>You're probably not allowed to leave until the work day's over but step outside your lab for a moment. Where the hell even are you? (-1 TIME TOKEN, you doubt you're alone here. Maybe you meet someone?)>Check through some of the academic books. Maybe they can help you with your job. (-1d3-1 TIME TOKENS, you barely know any science stuff so this might help you down the line.)>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, 3d100t60 to determine what you find. Anything you don't have to buy is something good, right?)>Try to figure out what the fuck the gunk in here even IS. It's nothing you've ever seen before. (-1 TIME TOKENS, 3d100-2t62 to determine what the substance even is. You doubt this is the last time you'll see it in this place.)>Write in.
>>6276622>Try to figure out what the fuck the gunk in here even IS. It's nothing you've ever seen before.Knowing is half the battle!The other half is appropriate industrial cleaning solutions.>Check out your computerWe need some way to write down any observations, and I'm not confident we were provided a pen and paper.
>>6276631>I'm not confident we were provided a pen and paper.You were not. Aside from what you just found and the dossier, Vincent's inventory consists of...>WAGESLAVE UNIFORM (White dress shirt, black dress pants, black dress shoes, purple tie for contrast. Offers no bonuses.)>BREATHMINTS (A roll of 12 mints. Keeps your breath minty fresh, if the ads are right.)>WALLET (Emptied out. Merely just a faux-leather vessel to stuff things into later.)The bedside service of your employers isn't the best, as you can clearly tell.
>>6276636>You were notI fucking knew it. Cheapskate government glowie pricks!
>>6276622>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behindTry to figure out what the fuck the gunk in here even IS. It's nothing you've ever seen before.
>>6276622>Try to figure out what the fuck the gunk in here even IS. It's nothing you've ever seen before. (-1 TIME TOKENS, 3d100-2t62 to determine what the substance even is. You doubt this is the last time you'll see it in this place.)>You're probably not allowed to leave until the work day's over but step outside your lab for a moment. Where the hell even are you? (-1 TIME TOKEN, you doubt you're alone here. Maybe you meet someone?)
>>6276622WTF is a "t60"?>Try to figure out what the fuck the gunk in here even IS. It's nothing you've ever seen before. (-1 TIME TOKENS, 3d100-2t62 to determine what the substance even is. You doubt this is the last time you'll see it in this place.)>Check through some of the academic books. Maybe they can help you with your job. (-1d3-1 TIME TOKENS, you barely know any science stuff so this might help you down the line.)See if the books have anything to say about the gunk.
>>6276622>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, 3d100t60 to determine what you find. Anything you don't have to buy is something good, right?)>Try to figure out what the fuck the gunk in here even IS. It's nothing you've ever seen before. (-1 TIME TOKENS, 3d100-2t62 to determine what the substance even is. You doubt this is the last time you'll see it in this place.)
>>6276708If you go back and look earlier, it stands for "threshold". Dunno why QM isn't using DC but it still works fine
>>6276622>>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, 3d100t60 to determine what you find. Anything you don't have to buy is something good, right?)>>Try to figure out what the fuck the gunk in here even IS. It's nothing you've ever seen before. (-1 TIME TOKENS, 3d100-2t62 to determine what the substance even is. You doubt this is the last time you'll see it in this place.)
>>6276622>>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, 3d100t60 to determine what you find. Anything you don't have to buy is something good, right?)>Try to figure out what the fuck the gunk in here even IS. It's nothing you've ever seen before. (-1 TIME TOKENS, 3d100-2t62 to determine what the substance even is. You doubt this is the last time you'll see it in this place.)May as well. Maybe there's a gun in one of them or something.
>>6276622>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. >Try to figure out what the fuck the gunk in here even IS. It's nothing you've ever seen before.
>>6276708>WTF is a "t60"It's just the threshold you need to roll to get a success (outta 3). I'll probably just make it DC for future voting choices to make it easier to read. Anywho, WHAT IS GUNK?: EVERYONE (8)SCRAP GUNK!: Cwx, KOO, csn, T4x, y4z (5)COMPUTE: ggd (1)LEAVE: CWx, U+R (1)STUDY: 04z (1)Pretty solid majority. I need three anons to roll 2d100 this time since we got two skill checks.The first three rolled will be for WHAT IS GUNK???, the other half will be for SCRAP OFF GUNK!!!WHAT IS GUNK SUCCESS TABLE? DC: 600: You got no fucking clue. It stinks and it stains your hands. That's all you can gleam outta this.1: You got a rough approximation of an idea what it could be. You gain +2 to future checks involving the GUNK.2: You got a solid enough idea what it is. If you had the cleaning supplies, this could be easy to deal with! You gain +4 to future GUNK checks, 'CLEAN THIS PLACE" reduced to 2 TIME TOKENS.3: A half-remembered memory flickers in the back of your head. You think you've seen this somewhere...but where? You gain +5 to future checks involving the GUNK, 'CLEAN THIS PLACE' is reduced to 2 TIME TOKENS, and you get an idea of the origin of the GUNK.SCRAP GUNK SUCCESS TABLE. DC: 62.Crits enabled! 1s are for CRIT FAILS, 100 are for CRIT SUCCESSES. Typically reserved for luck-based or high-stakes tasks. This is the former.CRIT FAIL: You found something you were not supposed to.0: JACK AND SHIT. Waste of your time.1: You manage to find one additional airlock. It may or may not have something of value inside.2: You find one accessible airlock and one airlock you'll need time to repair/pry open. You'll also get some minor supplies that were left behind the one you have access to.3: You two two easily accessible airlocks with a lot of well-needed supplies hidden inside them. Lucky you!CRIT SUCCESS: Hoo boy! The last person here left you something REAL useful!
Rolled 75, 98 = 173 (2d100)>>6276892
Rolled 14, 35 = 49 (2d100)>>6276892
Rolled 28, 8 = 36 (2d100)>>6276892
Oops, mixed up the two DCs. WHAT IS GUNK is 62, SCRAP is 60. Not that it matters much since...WHAT IS GUNK?THRESHOLDS PASSED: 2/3HIGHEST ROLL: 96!You now understand the GUNK. The GUNK understands you. SCRAP GUNK OFF!THRESHOLDS PASSED: 0/3HIGHEST ROLL: 35.Yeah, no, you found nothing. You're pretty sure there IS something here, the gunk's just making it too hard for you to find it. You'll probably have to wait for tomorrow to try again.Writing. Update will be a bit slower, cooking myself some rice. Can't write on an empty stomach.
>>6276906>HIGHEST ROLL: 35.wdym, we got a 75 for it
>>6276934Oh, I should clarify. When I meant 'first three', I meant 'the first three d100s rolled" out of the 6d100 that were rolled. The first three dice were 75, 98 and 14. Those got assigned to WHAT IS GUNK. SCRAP GUNK got the other three, 35/28/8.Not that the first dice is for WHAT IS GUNK and the second was for SCRAP GUNK. Sorry for the confusion
>>6276934I think OP is taking them in order, not split. So it's 75-98-14 and 35-28-8.
>>6276936Beaten to it by 12 seconds...
Your hand lingers over one of the gunk-covered walls. What the hell even is this stuff? You ignored it in lieu of doing other tasks but it's like nothing you've seen before.Every single surface (except your old computer) has been caked in this dry yet sticky crust. It almost reminds you of the shit that caked the walls of your aunt's house. It's probably SOMETHING adjacent to a nicotine stain but your gut tells you it can't just be that.You scrap off some of the substance with your ID card. You rather not get this shit underneath your fingernails. It almost seems to liquify right in front of your eyes, turning into a sticky paste that clings to your plastic card.You raise the card up to get a better look at the substance.It's. It's moving.It wasn't noticeable at first but you can definitely see some slight movements from the brown, cigarette-smelling paste. It twitches and pulses with an odd, irregular rhythm. Almost like it's alive.The paste slowly spreads across your ID card like it's jam being spread on bread. You press your finger against it and almost immediately, the spreading stops. The gunk recedes away from your finger until there's an inch of distance between the two.When you lift it back up, it begins to spread again.Hm. You take your floppy disk and you press the corner of it against the gunk. It tries to spread onto the disk - Odd. What makes your finger different? You yank the disc away before it can get a solid grip on the disk.You glance back at the floor you took the gunk from. It's slowly spreading to fill up the hole you left behind. It's taking a lot of time to fill up the gap while, at this point, your ID card is already gunked up.You easily manage to peel off the still wet gunk from your card before it can corrode.You plant your foot on the ungunked part of the floor. The gunk's spread is not halted and you have to yank your foot back before it decides your shoe was a prime target to gunk up.Alright. So it's obvious this gunk is alive. With how it's moving, it most reminds you of slime mold. That weird, sticky shit you'd see clinging to tree bark. You think you might've seen something that'd fit this better but the memory evades you.It seems inert until it's damaged and for whatever reason, it's afraid of being directly touched while it's spreading. You're not sure why your finger caused a reaction and not your foot but this is the best you can get with what limited resources you got.It stinks like nicotine too so something that'd remove nicotine stains would also help to remove it.You think you heard that vinegar is pretty good at getting mold out of stuff. You do know there's also some cleaning supplies made specifically for getting smoke odors out of things - You'll have to see if you can buy that later.>You now understand how to clean the GUNK. +4 to all future GUNK checks.>CLEANING now only costs 2 TIME TOKENS!
Well, you might as well check around to see if there's any other airlocks in this junkheap.You walk around the perimeter of the lab. Every section of wall looks the same as the last. Brown, inert 'cigarette mold' (name pending) blurs everything into a gradient of light and dark browns. If there was anything underneath the mold, it's impossible to tell. The shoddy lighting in here doesn't help matters either.You randomly scrap at any oddly dark patches you spot but all you get as your reward is more cigarette mold. You doubt this idea is a complete bust but you just don't have the time to examine it any further. Feh. Maybe it'll be easier if you clean this place up.Before you think about what you want to do next, something else catches your attention.The old incandescent light bulbs hanging from the ceiling begin to flicker. You dismissed it at first as nothing out of the ordinary - This place likely has shoddy power given the state everything is in.That report you read a bit ago makes you second guess yourself. You only grow more suspicious as you hear the computer turning on and off without any pattern or reason. The flickering stops moments later. Power, for now, has gone back to normal. Is the anomaly waking up? Hm. That's worrying.What do you do, Vincent? You have four TIME TOKENS left!>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. Good for your mental health.)>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. You should check the anomaly out sooner than later. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)>You're probably not allowed to leave until the work day's over but step outside your lab for a moment. Where the hell even are you? (-1 TIME TOKEN, you doubt you're alone here. Maybe you meet someone?)>Check through some of the academic books. Maybe they can help you with your job. (-1d3-1 TIME TOKENS, you barely know any science stuff so this might help you down the line.)>Try to learn more about the GUNK. You know you're supposed to be studying an anomaly but this stuff is fascinating. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 57. You're supposed to be studying IN LIMBO but this FEELS like it's an anomaly too.)>Focus your attention on one task. (Pick alongside the task you want to focus on. Reduces Threshold DC by 3 if it's a skill check, reduces time TOKEN cost by 1 if it's above one.)>Write in. "Focus your attention" would make 'check the acdemic books' a 1d2-1, just to clarify.
>>6276955>Try to learn more about the GUNK. You know you're supposed to be studying an anomaly but this stuff is fascinating. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 57. You're supposed to be studying IN LIMBO but this FEELS like it's an anomaly too.)then>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. Good for your mental health.)
>>6276955>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL.Time for introductions. to its new home And we should find out what are "In Limbo" needed and other things. So that we note it down when TIME TOKEN finally runs out.>Try to find something to clean this place with.
>>6276955>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. Good for your mental health.)>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. You should check the anomaly out sooner than later. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>>6276955>>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. You should check the anomaly out sooner than later. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Try to learn more about the GUNK. You know you're supposed to be studying an anomaly but this stuff is fascinating. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 57. You're supposed to be studying IN LIMBO but this FEELS like it's an anomaly too.)Should probably deal with the assigned anomaly sooner rather than later if the power is starting to go.
>>6276955>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. Good for your mental health.)Let's just check for resources, no time to clean up today>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. You should check the anomaly out sooner than later. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)Confront our unit of interest
>>6276955>Check through some of the academic books. Maybe they can help you with your job. (-1d3-1 TIME TOKENS, you barely know any science stuff so this might help you down the line.)>Focus your attention on one task. (Pick alongside the task you want to focus on. Reduces Threshold DC by 3 if it's a skill check, reduces time TOKEN cost by 1 if it's above one.)
>>6276955>>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. Good for your mental health.)>>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)
>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. Good for your mental health.)>Try to learn more about the GUNK. You know you're supposed to be studying an anomaly but this stuff is fascinating. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 57. You're supposed to be studying IN LIMBO but this FEELS like it's an anomaly too.)>Check through some of the academic books. Maybe they can help you with your job. (-1d3-1 TIME TOKENS, you barely know any science stuff so this might help you down the line.)
>>6276955>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. You should check the anomaly out sooner than later. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>You're probably not allowed to leave until the work day's over but step outside your lab for a moment. Where the hell even are you? (-1 TIME TOKEN, you doubt you're alone here. Maybe you meet someone?)>Check through some of the academic books. Maybe they can help you with your job. (-1d3-1 TIME TOKENS, you barely know any science stuff so this might help you down the line.)
LEARN MORE ABOUT GUNK: 04z, T4x, NMz (3)CLEAN: 04z, y4z, CWx, tbi, olp, NMz (6)CONTAINMENT: y4z, CWx, T4x, tbi, SXG (5)STUDY: KOO (Who wants it as his only task), NMz, SXG (3)LEAVE: SXG (1)Seems like it's we have a solid majority here. Three anons, roll 1d100+9 (+5 from WAGESLAVE, +4 from GOO KNOWLEDGE)CLEANING TABLE - DC 600 SUCCESS: You only managed to stain your clothes brown and black from the CIGARETTE MOLD. Bad for your metal health.1-2 SUCCESSES: You get a solid headstart on cleaning the room with what limited tools you have. You can breath a bit easier now.3 SUCCESSES: Along with cleaning the place up, you manage to collect large samples of CIGARETTE MOLD to study later. Reduces LEARN MORE ABOUT GUNK'S DC by 4. You restore more MENTAL HEALTH this turn.
Rolled 15 + 9 (1d100 + 9)>>6277570
Rolled 88 + 9 (1d100 + 9)>>6277570
Rolled 74 + 9 (1d100 + 9)>>6277570
THRESHOLDS PASSED: 2/3HIGHEST ROLL: 97!You didn't manage to get any worthwhile samples but you sure did clean the FUCK out of the lab.Writing.
Yeah, no, you HAVE to clean this place up. You may not have many (or any) cleaning supplies to work with BUT! You have to do something. Get a head start. You pray that your lungs aren't already infested with spores.Wait - No, it's slime mold. Maybe it's different? Hm. Guess you'll have to study that later. You're an accountant, not a scientist, after all.You scan around the lab for anything that could be remotely useful for this task. You luckily managed to find a discarded broom resting against one of the book shelves. Nothing else - It's better than nothing. That's probably one of the few things this organization bothered to give you.You aggressively scrap at the floor with your broom. The slime mold is stubborn but friction's a powerful thing. The broom's bristles are rapidly caked in brown, sticky gunk. You shake off what you can into the trash can you found before starting over.Scrap, shake, scrap, shake. Your mouth forces itself into a grim smile. You get kidnapped by some shadowy governmental branch that apparently deals with the supernatural...And you're cleaning slime mold off. There isn't exactly any other choice here. You got no clue where you are, what the layout is, how much security it has, etc etc. You guess playing along is all you can do for now.Scrap, shake, scrap. You wonder why their budget got cut. If anomalies ARE real, wouldn't you want to invest money into counting them?Scrap, shake, scrap. Fuck. Are you even going to get paid beyond that lump sum of $2000? Are you going to have to do this shit for free?Scrap, shake, scrap. What a 'promotion' this is, huh? What a fucking scam. You were fine being a wageslave at an accounting firm.You finish up cleaning before your thoughts could linger too long on your current predicament. The broom is beyond gunked up, you might as well throw it away once you're off the clock. The good news is that the floor is now cleansed of any CIGARETTE MOLD! You even got some off the walls before the broom got too gunked up.The lab still looks like horse shit. You CAN say that you did the best you could. It was also a good way to relax, really. You hate how much you enjoyed the monotony but it's what you're used to. Day in and day out. That's just life.>MENTAL HEALTH is now CONTENT>It'll be easier to check for airlocks tomorrow!The lights rapidly flicker between on and off. The sharp, electrical fizzle of the light bulb filament struggling to stay on echoes through the lab. The old Macintosh desktop shuts off and, well, it doesn't turn back on. You expect the light bulbs to fucking explode with how much noise they're making but the flickering stops before they could.Okay. Yeah. You got to check the anomaly. The file said it messed with electronics. You're like 90% sure that's the source behind this nonsense.You discard your ruined broom into the trash can alongside with the slime mold. Time to see what's up with this anomaly.
You swipe your keycard in front of the scanner. A light on it turns green and it plays small, pleasant electric chirp."ACCESS GRANTED".The airlock door slowly rises from the ground, creaking and groaning with every small movement it makes. You wait until there's enough clearance before you duck into the containment cell.The airlock shuts behind you, sealing itself shut to make sure nothing can get out. Luckily there's another keycard scanner on the other side so you're not stuck here.You turn to face whatever's inside of the containment cell. The cell is a featureless steel grey cube that's big enough for three or four people to stand in comfortably. The walls, floor and ceiling are free of any slime mold (thankfully) but it is pretty damn dusty in here.The ceiling's overhead lighting keeps the room well lit. It's a nice reprieve from the dank, musty lab you had to work in for the last few hours.You glance down at the floor.https://youtu.be/FHtCVu3JYPM - ANOMALY WORK A large flower bed with flowers of every color you could think of seems to be growing out of the floor. Sunflowers, roses, tulips, pansies and some others you don't immediately recognize.The first thing that catches your eye is something you couldn't make out from the grainy photo. The stems of the flowers are made out of cabling instead of plant matter. The color seems to match with the color of the flower. Sunflowers get yellow cables, red roses get red cables, etc.Odd. You step closer to the flower bed and that's when the smell hits you. A sickly sweet rot that slams into your nose with the force of a baseball bat. It's strong enough where you can taste it on your tongue. It's a mixture of flowery fragrance and rotten, moldy meat.Guess you should've expected that. The photo did show a corpse. Several human limbs poke out of the edges of the flower bed. You do a quick count of how many it has. One, two, three, five, eight...ten, twelve...twenty?You gulp. You're not sure what kind of corpse has twenty arms but it certainly can't be a human one. You can't make out anything else about the corpse thanks to the flowers covering it.The ceiling light begins to flicker. You try to figure out how the anomaly is doing this because this is going to be a pain of the ass if it keeps happening.Several of its hands clench and unclench as if they're trying to grab onto something. Once the flickering stops, the hands stop as well. You swore you heard some kind of noise coming from within the flower bed. It was too quiet to really make out over the flickering but you don't think your gut is lying to you.Hm.ANOMALY WORK-Anomalies are all unique and vary from creature to creature but most anomalies share one thing in common. You need to watch their MOOD.
-MOOD determines the anomaly's current emotional state. Anomalies start at a baseline of 0/NEUTRAL that increases or decreases base on what you do to it. Letting their MOOD too high or too low will cause the anomaly to become unstable. Their mood changes depend on what types of work you do on it.-Anomalies may have unique work mechanics on top of this. Some dislike it if you work on them too often, some dislike it if you ignore them, some require specific rituals to keep appeased, some will interfere with other anomalies, etc. You'll learn these as you work on them.You didn't find any equipment in here so you're limited in what you can do.You try your best to ignore the faint, looming gloom you feel in your chest. It's nothing. Right?IN LIMBOMOOD: ???%What do you want to do with the anomaly, Vincent? Pick one or two works to do.>Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed to see what other unique anatomy it has.>Try to communicate with the anomaly. Ask it some questions. (Write in what you want to ask it.)>Examine the flowers. Weird biomechanical flowers could be a novelty to sell at least.>Hold one of its hands. It was trying to reach something, you think.>Pluck a flower from the corpse flowerbed to study later. Hopefully it doesn't hurt.>Just watch the anomaly. Figure out why it's making you feel all emotional.>Write in.You likely won't have much time to do anything after this. What do you want to do with your last hour of work? Pick one.>Focus on working with the anomaly. (Lets you study the anomaly more. This is what you're assigned to do, after all. Works done will offer more information.)>Cloak out early. Explore the facility you ended up at. (Gives you a head start on meeting your coworkers and finding out where the hell you are.)>Take some time to study your academic books. (Gets you a headstart on actually learning how to do this 'science' stuff. You're supposed to be a 'researcher' after all.)
>>6277609>Try to communicate with the anomaly. Ask it some questions.Are you okay with me taking some of your flowers so I can study them?Do you need water, sunlight or fertilizer?>Just watch the anomaly. Figure out why it's making you feel all emotional.>Take some time to study your academic books. (Gets you a headstart on actually learning how to do this 'science' stuff. You're supposed to be a 'researcher' after all.)
>write inGo back to the other room and get the broom from the bin, break off the handle. Return to the flower bed. When the hands start clutching, give them the broom handle to hold.
>>6277615Clever. I'll approve that if people wanna vote for it. (Not like the broom is useful for anything anymore)
>>6277609Sure I'll support >>6277615If this works we could maybe request stress balls to use later. I'm also kind of curious how In Limbo would respond to something limke a Rubik's Cube.>Examine corpse>Study academic books
>>6277611>>6277615+1
>>6277611>>6277615+1We can always buy better cleaning tools. And we should communicate with "In Limbo" first to get its consent first.
>>6277615+1
>>6276777+1This isn’t normal degradation. We need to know if this is a threat or not.
>>6277609>Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed to see what other unique anatomy it has.>Examine the flowers. Weird biomechanical flowers could be a novelty to sell at least.>Take some time to study your academic books. (Gets you a headstart on actually learning how to do this 'science' stuff. You're supposed to be a 'researcher' after all.)
>>6277609>Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed to see what other unique anatomy it has.>Examine the flowers. Weird biomechanical flowers could be a novelty to sell at least.>Cloak out early. Explore the facility you ended up at. (Gives you a head start on meeting your coworkers and finding out where the hell you are.)
>>6277615+1Batteries might also be an idea if it needs the energy to grow its flowers--and that's why it drains the grid--but I'm joining this vote a little too late to make it a thing now. Also: books
Rolled 2 (1d3)TALK TO ABNO: CWx, 8kG, y4zWATCH: CWx, 8kG, y4zEXAMINE CORPSE: ggd, KOO, SXGEXAMINE FLOWERS: KOO, SXGBROOM!!!: utV, 8KG, y4z, tbi, OoQLEAVE: SXGSTUDY BOOKS: Everyone else.I'll roll a 1d3 to see what you do alongside the broom then I'll get writing.1 = TALK2 = WATCH3 = CORPSE EXAMINATION
There's way too many options on what you can do with this thing and, frankly, not enough tools to do any of them well. They really left you in the deep end of the pool with no floaties or even a pool ring. You know this thing isn't going to instantly kill you. They would've shot you in the back of the head if they just wanted you dead. You also don't want to get TOO close to this thing.Doesn't really help that looking at it makes you feel really, really weird. Wait! An idea (how rare) manifests inside your grey matter. This might just work.You exit the containment cell in a hurry. You easily find where you left the bin and cigarette-mold infested broom. The mold has already started to climb up from the bristles up to the cheap plastic handle.The plastic it touches is already starting to weaken and corrode. It didn't do much to the steel walls and floor but it IS somewhat corrosive, huh? Noted.You snap the handle easily thanks to the cigarette mold's help. The handle you're left with is long enough that it fit in one, maybe two, of the anomaly's arms. Good enough for you.You re-enter the containment cell with little to no fanfare. The anomaly didn't notice you were gone at all. The lights begin to flicker yet again. The hands clasp and grasp futilely, desperately, for anything to grab onto. The light above is starting to make a lot of noises you don't like to hear! Sizzling, crackling, creaking...The ceiling light is slowly loosening from its frame. Okay, okay, you need to stop this NOW before the anomaly hurts itself.You gingerly lower it the handle towards one of the anomaly's hands. The hands, you note, aren't rotten in any way. They're slender, pale and pristine. Odd. You wonder where the rotten smell is coming from then.Two hands weakly grasp the handle.The other hands begin to slow down. Their grasping, flailing digits are now lifeless. The lights stop flickering and any weird noises you were hearing cease entirely. IN LIMBO tenderly runs its fingers along the broom handle you gave it. Other hands try to grasp at the broom but there's only so much room its hands can grasp onto.You count at least four hands all struggling to hold onto it at the same time before it stops trying to add more.You wonder how strong its grip is but you'll have to test that out later. If a broom handle is enough to keep it placated for now, you're not going to complain.You lean against one of the containment cell walls. You don't have anything to write with so you might as well commit this to memory. Time to observe the anomaly.Any movement it makes is slow and subtle. Its hands continue to rub the broom handle that could be described as 'lovingly' if not for. How frankly surreal the gesture is to you.Its flowers gently sway as if there was wind blowing past them. Without the flickering of dying lights, the containment cell is remarkably quiet. Quiet enough where you can hear your own breathing.It's peaceful in here.
There's nothing to worry about. No rush to get another form submitted. No rush to get coffee for some boss who doesn't care about you. They probably don't even remember your name.Wait. Why are you thinking about your old job all of a sudden?You shake your head in an attempt to clear it of those thoughts. You try to think about something else.You don't have to work at the popcorn stand again, the stench of butter flooding your nose. You can leave that stupid theater and become a film star.You shake your head again. You don't remember working with popcorn? But you could SMELL the artificial butter as if it were right here.Wouldn't it be nice to dream?You step away from IN LIMBO. Okay, you know those last two thoughts wasn't yours but you understand the emotions behind them.Your heart twists on itself. There's a heavy, gloomy weight tied to your soul. It's like a hand has wrapped around your heart and it's pulling down HARD.You take a deep, deep breath of the musty and sickly sweet air filling the cell.The weight vanishes almost as quickly as it arrived. Your head feels all sorts of funny now.>-MENTAL HEALTH! Another flower, a poppy with grey leaves, booms from the flower bed. The other flowers perk up at the brand new flower, welcoming another guest.Whatever just happened, it seems the anomaly's happy? That weird gloom you were feeling is gone now and the lights are no longer flickering like some cheap horror movie.The hands holding onto the broom handle cautiously lower it down onto the floor. It doesn't want its new toy(?) to be broken, you guess. The broom handle now rests by the flowerbed, still easily within grasp of the hands.You don't think you're getting anything else done with this anomaly today. Whatever its deal is, it messed with your memories somehow and you need time to pry that movie theater memory out of your head.You mutter out a goodbye to the anomaly before stepping out of the cell.The dingy, musty lab you were working in almost feels like a fresh breath of fresh air after that mindfuck. You think the best thing you can do right now is to study. Not like you can do anything else with what limited time you have.You pry a few random books you think might be relevant - MacOS for Dummies, Chemistry 101 and Anatomy 101. Those should be good enough for now. You certainly won't get any deep understanding of ANY of these subjects, though. >Added the three books to your inventory!The coding book might as well be gibberish to you. It's clearly meant for someone already well versed in coding and, well, you're tech literate but not so much that you understand much of this - if any at all. Doesn't help that this book is older than you are and for a system you never used before.You are starting to piece something together. Basic bits of code that, at least, could help you understand any bizarre error codes that might show up.
Your temple throbs like something stuffed a hot iron against it. Okay. Next book.The chemistry book is a lot more understandable, if drab, to you. It's mostly a refresher over basic high school chemistry. Acid and bases, different types of chemical bonding, types of chemical reactions. That kind of stuff.It was never your favorite subject but you hated others way, way more. The deeper into the book you go, the more obtuse and esoteric the information becomes. It's really only '101' for the first twenty or thirty pages. There's probably a lot more to this book than you first thought.It could help you out with having a basic idea on what properties anomalous chemicals have. Maybe if you study this one some more, you could figure out how to make specific mixtures to help you out later. You already know that bleach mixed with ammonia is a bad thing - but what else could you make?You close that before checking your final book - Anatomy 101.It's basic information about the human body. The types of muscles and bones you have, what your organs do, physical disorders and their symptoms, etc etc. Nothing too in depth but there's some easily readable diagrams that helps you understand the text better.It's very likely you're going to be dealing with humanoid anomalies. That OLD MAN anomaly you skipped over was one and IN LIMBO has SOME human anatomy to it. Even if their anatomy is twisted and warped, knowing how the human body works would give you a starting point to help them.Better than trying to treat any issues they might have blindly, right? You're not sure if there's any medical doctors here willing to work with you. Best to assume the worst.>You now have a surface level understanding of chemistry, human anatomy and the MAS OC. You gain +1 to all future checks involving those subjects!>These bonuses increase as you study these books.You close your books. Right as you do, you hear two sharp digital notes from outside your lab. Ah, guess you should've expected them to have an intercom system."Attention, uh, all researchers." A tired, feminine voice crackles over the line. You hear her shuffling through some papers. "The work day is over. Please head to the cafeteria."The two digital notes repeat before the intercom turns off.Food. God, you need food.You never fed yourself well back at home - It would be instant ramen and soda for you. The only reason you don't have a gut is because your metabolism is all kinds of weird. You haven't eaten all day either.You stumble out of your lab. The hallway you're in is made out of smooth, sleek metal - Looks like something out of a sci-fi set. The constant hum of the white fluorescent light is already getting on your nerves but it's also comforting. It really isn't that different from your office.The only splotch of color along the hallways is dull blue lines painted alongside the walls, one towards the bottom and two smaller up towards the top.
There's a few other doors in this hallway that seem to lead to other labs. You don't exactly want to stick your nose into them right now, might as well head to the cafeteria. Wherever that is.You pick a random direction that you think you heard some footsteps echoing from. You'll have to find a map of this place later so you don't have to wander like a chicken with his head cut off.The place is built like a maze. There's no landmarks aside from the random grey door with an almost illegible placard next to it. You take random turns for what feels like minutes.The distant sound of casual conversation and forks clattering against metal trays echoes through the hallway. You're close! You're about to head towards the cafeteria but you notice someone leaning against one of the walls.They're facing away from you so you can't make out much of their appearance. The white labcoat and black dress pants they're wearing are barely hanging on their gaunt, spindly body. Their blonde hair is a shaggy mess stained in a slurry of black and brown gunk.You swear their skin is about to slough right off their bones. Their skin hangs off their body in heavy, flabby flaps."It's fine," You can barely hear what they're saying. They're slurring their words together. "It's worth the price." Their teeth grind together with every word they speak.You. You're not sure what to do here. This is the first person you've seen here all day that wasn't that smug turtleneck wearing bastard and they look like...this?What do you do, Vincent?>Walk past them. You do not want to get ANYWHERE near them. (Soothes your mind.)>Try to figure out what's wrong with them. Maybe you can help treat it? (DC 60, +1 from SURFACE LEVEL ANATOMY)>Offer to escort them to the cafeteria, no questions asked. They clearly need food more than you do.>You think they're a researcher. Ask them where you're at and what the hell is going on here. (DC 40)>Hand them the MYSTERY BAGGIE. Might put some pep in their step. (-MYSTERY BAGGIE)>Write in.
>>6278203>Try to figure out what's wrong with them. Maybe you can help treat it? (DC 60, +1 from SURFACE LEVEL ANATOMY)
>>6278203>>Offer to escort them to the cafeteria, no questions asked. They clearly need food more than you do.
>>6278203>AVOID HIMMelting from Nuclear Throne. Most important is a piece of mind.
>>6278203>>Walk past them. You do not want to get ANYWHERE near them. (Soothes your mind.)>on IN LIMBO So the caressing seems to suggest we'll want huggable, pettable things to play with. Experimenting with textures of various objects might also be an idea. I'm also a bit curious about what it'd do with legos/linkin logs/those modern magnet toys. The random memories, the loss of mental health and the blooming of a new flower suggest it uses mental energy not anything from the grid; those fluctuations might be signs it's bored or hungry.
>>6278203>Offer to escort them to the cafeteria, no questions asked. They clearly need food more than you doTrying to help him unprompted on the first meeting is stupid. Let's meet him again later after we know him then figure it out
>>6278203>Offer to escort them to the cafeteria, no questions asked. They clearly need food more than you do.We are not professional doctors. Wait, do we need to pay to get doctor service here? Is that why he doesn't go to a medical room somewhere here because it's expensive?
>>6278203>Offer to escort them to the cafeteria, no questions asked. They clearly need food more than you do.It's only nice after all.
>>6278203>Offer to escort them to the cafeteria, no questions asked. They clearly need food more than you do.
>>6278203>You think they're a researcher. Ask them where you're at and what the hell is going on here. (DC 40)
>>6278203>Walk past them. You do not want to get ANYWHERE near them. (Soothes your mind.)
>>6278694Goddamn IP change uuuuughI'm >>6277617>>6276645>>6276631
WHAT'S WRONG?: 04z, T4x, +u7WALK PAST THEM: oCS, oGi, /JIASK IT QUESTIONS: SXGESCORT THEM: 8KG, tbi, xFS, JhX, jHo, KOOSeems like ESCORT THEM wins by a solid majority. Writing.
You keep your head low. Best to avoid whatever this THING is. All you got to do is walk past it. It's probably too slow and weak to attack you.A faint smile creeps onto your face. Yeah. That sounds like a good idea. The gaunt researcher doesn't even notice you walking past them. They continue to mutter nonsense, "Just one more day. One more day before I can afford it."You just have to take the turn around the hallway and you're gone.You're just about to turn around the corner but you stop mid-step. You turn your head ever-so-slightly to look back at the gaunt researcher.They're trying to get to the cafeteria. Trying being the keyword. They're sluggishly sliding their body forward with heavy, slow movements. It's going to take this at least an hour to get from where they're at to the end of the hallway.You peak around the corner. You can see the cafeteria right there. You could leave this reject behind.Ah, fuck it, fine.You turn around to check up on the researcher.You glance down at their legs and, oof, you didn't notice it when you were behind them but their flesh is sticking to the ground. Even a retard could figure out this guy shouldn't be alive.Or, well, girl you think. Her facial features are already beginning to droop a bit but you think you saw some lipstick on there? Maybe some softer cheeks?You're not sure if it particularly matters right now. You need to help her if only to appease your conscience. "Uh, look, do you wanna get something to eat?"She gurgles something. You think that's a yes.You drape her arm over your shoulder. The wet, sticky sensation of their flabby flesh reminds you of wet modeling clay. You keep your head low to make sure she can't see you grimacing. The two of you sluggishly head towards the cafeteria. It takes a lot longer than it would've if you just went by yourself but you should still be able to get some grub.https://youtu.be/u998cggd37M - CAFETERIAIt's about as pitiful as you could expect from a place that kidnaps random people.About twelve or thirteen bare metal benches are half-heartedly scattered throughout the small cafeteria. Two vending machines, low on stock (say for the occasional 'healthy' snack), rest at the western end of the room. The same blue lines you saw in the hallway are the only splashes of color you see through the whole cafeteria.Most of the tables are already full but you can spot a few empty seats that you could sit at later. You quickly notice that most of the people here look just as out as place as you do. A majority are still in their street clothes. A few are wearing what you'd expect of a government-based researcher, and you think you spotted a guard or two, but otherwise? You couldn't tell any of these people are meant to be actual employees hereYou spot where the line for the actual 'food' is. You grab a tray for you and your gaunt coworker (you have to help her to get a stable grip on it) before joining the line.
The gaunt researcher stays close to you as you sluggishly move through the line.The smell of the food cooking from the kitchen is, uh, bad. There's no better way to describe the pungent stench hitting your nose. It's probably better than starving at least.The two of you manage to make it to the end of the line. The cafeteria lady, a decrepit wrinkled hag who's probably more fat and lard than actual human flesh, points a laddie at the two of you. "Meat slop, rice slop or veggie slop?"You shrug, "Meat slop?""Atta boy. Melty?""ric." "Rice it is. ID?"You flash your ID card at her, so does the gaunt researcher."Ah, level 0s. Thought so but I had to make sure, ya know?"She spoons three scoops of slop onto your tray. Two of them vaguely look like some sort of beef stew if it was left out in the sun while the other is something adjacent to white chicken. It already looks predigested. The gaunt researcher, at least, gets something resembling food. It's piles on piles of white rice that's already gone sticky and gummy but it's at least FOOD.Even if both of them smell the exact same. Like mildew, old socks and fish. "Aight. Move, ya two.""Thanks." Your impassive mask works well enough here. The old lady grunts before gesturing at you and your friend to scram.You help the gaunt researcher to find a seat amongst the already packed cafeteria. She grabs onto your shoulder right as you're about to leave her be."thank you thank you thank you." She gurgles out, muttering the same phrase over and over again.Your mask tightens. It's hard to be genuine when she looks like she's a post apoc video game enemy. "No problem. Eat up, you clearly need it."She vigorously nods her head. It makes a sound similar to jiggling jello. Eugh. At least you made a friend today.Better to find a seat of your own. You might wanna take this chance to build some connections with your fellow staff. You scan around for anyone who catches your attention.Who do you want to talk to? Pick two.>A researcher with wild eyes is staring at you. This lady looks like a fucking nutcase. What's her deal?>A security guard with long red hair is pacing around the room. She seems to be worrying about something - Lend her an ear?>You might as well talk to your gaunt coworker. Figure out what's up with her and all of that.>Is that a robot? It struggles to move its clunky, robotic limbs to eat the food provided to it. They have robots here???>A man in tactical gear is wolfing down some high quality chow. Probably one of the 'ETF' agents you heard about on the dossiers. Could have some intel.>A beanie-wearing researcher is rhythmically tapping on the table with a spoon and fork. She seems to be fun, at least? Could be a fun conversation.>An old security guard watches the room. His face is more scar and burn tissue than anything else. He probably has some stories to tell about this place.>There's a man here. You can not make out anything else about his appearance.
>>6278770>There's a man here. You can not make out anything else about his appearance.oh no no notalk to the security guard about this man
>>6278770>A security guard with long red hair is pacing around the room. >A beanie-wearing researcher is rhythmically tapping on the table with a spoon and fork.Casey?>>6278776Do ARC maybe recruit anomalies as a employee?
>>6278770>An old security guard watches the room. His face is more scar and burn tissue than anything else. He probably has some stories to tell about this place.>A security guard with long red hair is pacing around the room. She seems to be worrying about something - Lend her an ear?
>>6278770>You might as well talk to your gaunt coworker. Figure out what's up with her and all of that.>You might as well talk to your gaunt coworker. Figure out what's up with her and all of that.Ask security about this guy. This can’t be anything good.
>>6278787The second vote should have been about ratting the “faceless man” out to security.
>>6278770>TALK TO THE OLD GUARD. >TALK TO THE FACELESS MAN. Old Hand and possibly a motherfuck anomaly, haha.
>>6278770>>An old security guard watches the room. His face is more scar and burn tissue than anything else. He probably has some stories to tell about this place.>>There's a man here. You can not make out anything else about his appearance.
I doubt the old security guard (probably a high-ranking veteran) and mystery man (anomalies personnel?) will be working with us so soon. They probably have a high standard, low expectation, low respect, distrust, or whatever for anyone that is new here (we are literally level 0 and just arrived here). The only things we'll probably gain from meeting both are probably some advice and simple stuff, but they're not going to be working in our room in the near future. I doubt HandlerQM will immediately hand out a high-quality ally/associate to us so soon. This includes ETF agents as well.We should talk to people here that are on our level or not too high a level. Like, a security guard with long red hair, crazy-looking researchers, beanie-wearing researchers, gaunt coworkers, and robots. Since they are most likely to help us directly or whatever in our lab when asked. Don't require high-level convincing, expensive pay, or whatever.
>>6278770>You might as well talk to your gaunt coworker. Figure out what's up with her and all of that.For now, stick to who we know>There's a man here. You can not make out anything else about his appearance.Have you seen this man?
>>6278770>There's a man here. You can not make out anything else about his appearance.
>>6278770>A researcher with wild eyes is staring at you. This lady looks like a fucking nutcase. What's her deal?>A beanie-wearing researcher is rhythmically tapping on the table with a spoon and fork. She seems to be fun, at least? Could be a fun conversation.
>>6278770>Is that a robot? It struggles to move its clunky, robotic limbs to eat the food provided to it. They have robots here???>A security guard with long red hair is pacing around the room. She seems to be worrying about something - Lend her an ear?
>>6278790 >>6278800 Anon, be practical, we need types of associates/allies that are not too expensive to hire and that don't require high persuasion to work with us or whatever else. Both seem to be potentially far above our pay grade to be working for us directly so soon.
>>6279214I don't want associates thougheverI want informationand hopefully to not be CONSUMED BY A MOTHERFUCKING ANOMALY DISGUISED AS A COWORKER
>>6278946I must’ve missed the part where we pick two.>A security guard with long red hair is pacing around the room. She seems to be worrying about something - Lend her an ear?
>>6278770Several of these choices aren't actually conducive to sitting down and eating. >>A beanie-wearing researcher is rhythmically tapping on the table with a spoon and fork. She seems to be fun, at least? Could be a fun conversation>An old security guard watches the room. His face is more scar and burn tissue than anything else. He probably has some stories to tell about this place.One for during mealtime one for after
After taking a look at everything, it seems that the MAN and the OLD GUARD win out (with REDHEAD in third place).You'll have a lot of opportunities to play office politics with these guys and coworkers you haven't seen yet later. I'll keep the interest in REDHEAD in mind.Writing.
There's a lot of people who catch your attention here. Even if only for a brief second, you wonder if it's worth talking to them.You quickly dismiss most of them as either not worth your time or someone you could talk to later.One of the guards is pacing around the cafeteria. She's muttering something under her breath, clearly worried about SOMETHING. Part of you wants to check up on her but...Something else catches your eye first. The redhead can wait.There's a man sitting at one of the tables. On closer examination, he is wearing a cherry red labcoat. That's all you can make out about his appearance. The rest of his body is an indistinct humanoid smear that your brain is having a hard time filling in.You look away. What were you talking about? Something about a man?Wait-You snap your gaze back to the table you were looking at. The man is still sitting there. You think he's eating something but you can't make out what's on his tray.The other researchers, security guards and random oddjob workers sitting at the table don't even acknowledge him. None of them are talking or looking at him. How is no one noticing this guy? There's one spot open next to him - guess that's where you're sitting if you wanna talk to him.Your first thought is: Is this thing an anomaly? Did it break out somehow? What is it going to do? You need to warn security about this.You tighten the grip on your tray. You hastily march over to the nearest security guard that would know how to deal with this thing.The first guard you find looks like he knows his shit. You can't make out his face but, unlike the man, it's not for any possibly anomalous reason. His face is a mangled, charred matrix of scar and burn tissue. Where was once a nose, there's only a caved in hole that he struggles to breath in and out of.The only parts spared from whatever horrors he has seen is his mouth and his left eye. Flesh has grown over the empty socket where his right eye used to be. Not like the rest of his body is any better. Liver spots and wrinkles cover his body from head to toe.His body is lightly armored with knee/shoulder pads and a Kevlar vest straight out of police surplus. A subnose revolver hangs on his holster - Okay!Okay, yeah, this guy can help you! He's clearly dealt with far worse, right?His one good eye narrows as you approach him. "What's the matter, boy?" A raspy, gravelly voice croaks through his ruined throat. "Lost? Ya sit at one of them there tables and ya eat. Ain't that hard to understand, boy."Your eye twitches. He did not just call you a 'boy'. Okay, whatever, this is more important. "No, I have something to report."Now this gets his attention. "Ah shit. Was hopin' I didn't have to do no work. What's the issue, boy?""Stop-" You hold your tongue. "I have reason to suspect that there's a threat in this cafeteria." You point to the table where you saw the man.
"Do you recognize that man?" The old guard squints at where you're pointing. Your hopes of him helping rapidly die as you see his confused expression. The gears in his head are turning in a vain attempt to process what you just said."I ain't seeing what ya pointing at."Fuck, fuck, fuck-"But. I ain't stupid either. I can tells ya think somethin' is there. Lemme give ya some advice here, boy.""It's Vincent.""Introductions, eh? Anthony here. Lemme finish what I was gonna say." "Fine.""This place probably been here for a good ol' century if the rumors are true. Hell, I've been workin' in this here place for 30 years, boy. One thing I learnt real quick is you learn to stop questionin' shit that happens here.""If it ain't hurtin' anyone, might be best to leave it be. Did the man do somethin'?"You check the man again. You think he's just eating whatever's on his tray. "Nothing the others aren't doing."Anthony nods. "Lots of creepy crawlers can slip through the gaps. Upper Management ain't particularly carin' about things like this unless it hurts their bottom line.""This probably ain't the first or last time you'll see somethin' like whatever you saw roaming around here. My advice? Better to make friends with them than to have enemies us security folks can't see."Hm. You suppose that's fair enough. Not like you really have any options."Also, ya new here?" Anthony places his hand on your shoulder. "I can tell by the stench around ya. The stench of not knowing how this place works.""Uh. Yeah. Got ki-" Anthony promptly cuts you off. "Yeah, yeah, heard the song and dance before.""Here's a word to the wise, kid." Anthony rapidly glances around with his one good eye. He leans in to whisper into your ear. "Be careful who ya associate in this place. Lotta of the people here are under the idea that if ya can climb their ranks high enough, they can get out."You gulp, trying your best not to flinch at his eye staring into your soul."Don't trust people til ya can get a good read on them. That's how I survived this long."You nod. He pulls back, acting like he didn't say nothing to you. This Anthony guy, despite sounding like he gargles gravel every time he opens his mouth, isn't the worst to talk to. He seems to have a level head, he's probably seen it all at this point. God knows how much he'd cost to hire, though."I'll talk to you later.""I ain't going nowhere. See ya soon."Your food is still piping hot but you're not sure if that's a good thing. You did talk to someone for what felt like a good ten, maybe fifteen, minutes. You should probably sit down and eat this before it turns into something inedible.You approach the table where the man is sitting at. You sit right down by the man. Even this close up, you can't make out anything about his appearance. You wonder why his labcoat is sticking out in your mind.
The man doesn't seem to acknowledge you. Well, at least the man is still here."Hey." You whisper to the man. "I can see you."The man, you think, smiled. He speaks but you can't make out the actual words he's saying. You mostly get what he intended to say.The man looks at your tray. He wishes you could have something better to eat."Yeah, me too."He asks why you haven't forgotten about him already. Most people already forgot about him, after all."Dunno."He asks why you want to talk to him. He says that not a lot of people bother to look at him these days.You try to say something but he cuts you off. He's just happy to have someone to talk to.He asks you what you want to ask him. He claims that it's only fair for the two of you to play a game of questions and answers.That's a weird way to describe a conversation, you think, but you'll go along with it.The man says he only has time for three questions. He promises to answer them to the best of his ability.What do you ask the man?>Is he an anomaly? If not, what IS he?>What do you know about the facility?>Does he know anything about the man in the turtleneck sweater? What was his deal?>Has he heard any useful rumors? Someone like him is probably a good eavesdropper.>Has anyone else been able to see him besides you?>Who's UPPER MANAGEMENT? Anthony acted like they're a big deal.>Would he be willing to work with you later? Couldn't hurt to make a new friend.>Anthony said you should be careful who you make friends with. Do he know anyone trustworthy you can meet?>You have something else to ask him (Write in.)
>>6279321>Is he an anomaly? If not, what IS he?Rapport buildup.>Would he be willing to work with you later? Couldn't hurt to make a new friend.Self-explanatory. Useful information providers.>Anthony said you should be careful who you make friends with. Do he know anyone trustworthy you can meet?Important.
>>6279324+1
>>6279321>Please excuse me if this sounds naive but how did you become so... forgettable? Seems like a useful trait to have in a place like this.
>Is he an anomaly? If not, what IS he>Would he be willing to work with you later? Couldn't hurt to make a new friend.>Please excuse me if this sounds naive but how did you become so... forgettable? Seems like a useful trait to have in a place like this.
>>6279354Oops, forgot to include >>6279321
>>6279321>>What do you know about the facility?Details or just a good story would do for now. >>Has he heard any useful rumors? Someone like him is probably a good eavesdropper.Every office wageslave knows to get a handle on the gossip around the office. That and if he's desperate for people to talk to giving him a low investment opportunity is only polite. >Write In: Ask if he has any advice for staying alive and in one piece
>>6279321>Is he an anomaly? If not, what IS he?>What do you know about the facility?>Has he heard any useful rumors? Someone like him is probably a good eavesdropper.
>>6279321>Has he heard any useful rumors? Someone like him is probably a good eavesdropper.>What do you know about the facility?>Who's UPPER MANAGEMENT? Anthony acted like they're a big deal.
ANOMALY?: y4z, tbi, 9fK, KOO, SXG, CWxWORK WITH ME?: y4z, tbi, 9fK, KOOTRUST?: y4z, tbi, 9fKWHY SO FORGETTABLE?: tXo, 9fK (I'll likely tie this into ANOMALY?, it's a similar enough question)HOW TO STAY ALIVE?: 5A5FACILITY?: SXG, 8KG, CWx, 5A5RUMORS?: 5A5, SXG, 8KG, CWxUPPER MANAGEMENT?: CWxAsking if it's an ANOMALY wins out but there's a three way tie between WORK, FACILITY and RUMORS.I'll be generous and say you can ask all four of them. Mostly because I think it's better in this instance than rolling some dice.Writing.
There's a lot of questions you want to ask him. He's clearly anomalous in some way and no one else but you can see him apparently! Who KNOWS what this guy has overheard.Best to keep your scope small, though. You're not even sure if you're going to remember what the man is going to say after this conversation.You begin to peck away at your slop meal. It tastes as good as it smelled. The only thing that'll help it get down your throat is glass after glass of water."So, are you an anomaly?" You pick the most prudent thing to ask right now. "Sorry if that's, like, a naive question or 'rude' but. C'mon. C'mon!"The Man laughs, shaking(?) his head. He tells you that the question is fine to ask. It's a fair one, he says.He says that he's not quite sure what he is. He knows that he's certainly not normal. He concedes that 'anomaly' is probably the best title that could be given to him.He claims that he's 'smarter' than the other anomalies. "Huh, so most anomalies aren't sapient, is that what you're trying to say?"In his own words, most anomalies have mindsets distinct from ones that humans typically have. In contrast, he clarifies, he's able to talk and think 'like a human'. He admits that he may have idiosyncrasies that anomalies have, though his memory is fuzzy on the specifics."Do you know how you became so forgettable?"He laughs. It's ironic, the man claims, that's the one thing he truly can't remember. How he became so forgettable. All he recalls is waking up on the floor somewhere in the facility. There were a lot of blaring sirens and a lot of people running around in a tizzy. He thought people were too worried for themselves to check on him. He trails off before he can say anything else."How long ago was that?" 2 years, he says. Might be useful to look up what incident he could be talking about.Right. You got a few more questions to ask. "Would you like to work for me later?"The Man's eyes lighten up - At least you think they did. He rests his hand on your own. You lose all sensation in your hand aside from a staticky tingling like your hand fell asleep.He would be more than glad to help. He doesn't know how useful he'll be, though. Someone forgettable like him can't really talk or interact with people/anomalies besides you. He won't be too much of an active help but he knows a lot of things from his time eavesdropping around the facility.He can be your information broker, he says, for a price. $165 per day. He still has to get money to buy from vending machines, he chuckles.Ah, right, he probably can't get food by asking the lunch lady. "That's fair, I'll think about it. Well, can I ask you somethin' to make sure I can trust you as a broker?"The Man nods. It's only fair."Right. What exactly IS this facility? What do you know about it?"First, he has some bad news about any escape attempts
The facility you're in is in the middle of an empty desert somewhere in New Mexico. He's been able to sneak to the surface once or twice but he saw nothing but sand for miles. Only way in or out is if you can steal a high-ranking researcher's or an ETF squad leader's vehicle.As for the facility itself? It's underground with seven layers, each layer getting than the last. An upside down cone with the sixth floor as the base. Correlates with the sixth ranks in the facility's hierarchy - 0 to 6.Oh. You're REALLY at the bottom, then. "Yeesh. So, what layer are we on?"The exact layout seems to shift every few years but for now, he says you're on Layer 2. And yes, most of them are as poorly maintained as your lab."Wait, how do you know how bad my lab was?"Hazing ritual, he chuckles under his breath. They pick a lab where someone died in and they throw Level 0s at it."I thought so. Wait, wait, Anthony said he was here for 30 years...and that this facility is 100 years old?"The A.R.C, the Man says, is just the newest name for this branch of the government. The exact details evade him but the US government has known about anomalies for a WHILE. This apparently used to be for a independently backed anomaly research group but they disappeared a while ago."Right. Any points you can give me about the layout? This place is built like a maze."The Man nods. He tells you he leaves maps and caches for himself around the facility. As a freebie, he tells you the location of one map and cache - There's a washroom down the leftmost hallway out of this cafeteria. Check the third stall in the men's bathroom."Last thing, what's up with the ranks?"He doesn't know the exact details but the basics are this: The higher you go, the more freedom you're given in terms of your job and what equipment you can get from the company catalogs. They raise your rank depending on your performance and how profitable your work is but don't expect any promotions any time soon.They also get better privileges. Like edible food. And decent living spaces. And actual salaries."Great. Can't imagine how good my prison cell of a bedroom is going to be."The Man's face softens. It's more like an army barracks situation for Level 0s. He apologizes for your inevitable poor sleep tonight.Damnit. Alright, alright, well. At least you got a rough idea of where you're at and how the facility is shaped."One last question. Do you got any useful rumors?"The Man hesitates to answer a fourth question but he's clearly having fun talking to someone who can hear him. He tells you two pieces of information he has heard over the grapevine.One: He's not the only one who has slipped through the gaps of Upper Management. The excessive amount of anomalous items and phenomena contained in the facility has created small gaps in reality that tend to pop up in abandoned, forgotten places across the Facility.
Some mentally unstable researchers, he claims, believe that there's loot, power and glory to be found in the gaps. He believes, though, this is simply cope.Two: There's rumors of several rats and snitches working with Upper Management amongst the staff here. They'll backstab anyone to get a higher rank. He heard a lot of names but two pop up a lot - Rex Hoffmann and Elizabeth Baker. Be careful around them.Hm. Both are good to know in advance. You thank the Man-Well, there was not a Man here.Guess you'll have to find him later. You dig into your slop meal, struggling to swallow down it. The amount of effort it takes to eat it probably negates any nutritional value the slop had.You finish right as everyone else was just finishing up. You make sure you put the tray somewhere where the kitchen staff can clean it. Guess it's time to go to your 'barracks'.You ask a guard where the Level 0 barracks are and he points you down the leftmost hallway. Lucky you, that's where the bathroom with the cache is as well. You'll probably check the cache out tomorrow when there's less people moving about. Time to head to your barracks.It's not a long walk, maybe like a minute tops, so at least you can get some sloppy breakfast first thing in the morning.You enter the Barracks alongside the rest of your Level 0 comrades - Oh.Rows of shoddily built beds with paper thin mattresses and pillows line the walls. You can already tell it's going to be like laying on cardboard. Each bed has a small box by the end of the bed where you suppose you can keep your belongings. Luckily for you, they gave each box a bike lock so you can make sure no one immediately steals your stuff.There's about enough beds in here to house 30 some people. You are immediately weirded out when you see a woman stumbling into the barracks. Oh no. It's mixed. You grit your teeth - That can't be good. That's like baby's first lesson when it comes to this kind of stuff. You don't let men and women sleep in the same room.Either this is a comedically huge oversight or they don't expect you to live long enough for this to be an issue.You keep your head low - You do not want to draw any attention to yourself. You look around to find your bed.You'd guess the box marked with 'VIC-CRU' on the metal box is yours. You remove the unlocked bike lock from the box to see what's inside. There's a bland grey magazine with 'A.R.C CORPORATE CATALOG - LEVEL 0' scribbled on the front of it. You guess this is how you're going to be spending that $2000 budget you were given.You sit down on your bed, flipping through it to see what you can buy for your lab.WEEKLY BUDGET: $2000THINGS TO SELL: MYSTERY BAGGIE ($100), STAINED COUPON ($50)Choose what you wish to purchase. The top four choices will be purchased, as long as you have enough funds to get said items, of course.
>[TOOLBOX AND SPARE PARTS] To keep your lab well maintained! ($100. Useful for repairing mechanical anomalies and to keep your lab in better shape.)>[INSIGHT MODULE] When first obtaining an anomaly, you'll be given hints about what works it might like alongside hints towards extracting anomalous equipment from entities. ($350.)>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE] - Keep things spotless! ($50. Contains some basic cleaning supplies and tools. Most anomalies like their cells being clean too.)>[HARVESTING HIT] To extract RAW VALUE from an anomaly! ($225. Contains a microscope, a chemical testing kit, beakers, a scalpel and some syringes. Helps you figure out any useful applications of an anomaly's biology.)>[PROTOTYPE RISK LEVEL SYSTEM] - When voting for an anomaly choice, you'll get a rough idea on its danger level and what kind of damage it can do to you and its surroundings. ($300.)>[BASIC MEDICIAL SUPPLIES] - To patch up booboos! ($100. Contains a basic first aid kit, some painkillers and some bandage wrap.)>[CIGARETTE PACK] - To keep you sane. ($30. Has ten cigarettes. Each one heals MENTAL HEALTH by a moderate amount but damages PHYSICAL HEALTH in return.)>[SPECIL (sic) REQUEST] - You may enter a keyword to obtain a custom anomaly instead of selecting a premade one. WARNING: The danger level and usefulness of said custom abnormality may vary wildly based on the keyword. ($325)>[DAILY FOOD BUNDLE] - Some anomalies need to be fed to, you know. ($75. Enough food to feed an anomaly for one day. Contains grains and low quality meat.)>[EXPANDED ROSTER] - When choosing what anomaly to obtain, you pick from 4 instead of 3. ($175.)>[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM] Heavy! Keep yourself fit! ($75. Good for your body.)>[9MM PISTOL] For emergencies. ($500. Comes with nine bullets. Adds +7 to combat attack rolls.)>[ENRICHMENT BUNDLE] Anomalies get bored too! ($250. Comes with some random toys, a CD player, some bundles of batteries and some CDs.)>SELL AN ITEM (FREE ACTION.)"$500 for a pistol?" You mutter as you mull over the options. "Are guns normally this pricey?"
>>6279709>[TOOLBOX AND SPARE PARTS] To keep your lab well maintained! ($100. Useful for repairing mechanical anomalies and to keep your lab in better shape.)Good for the lab. The flowers are sprouting from electric wires, so I suppose it might help there too.>[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM] Heavy! Keep yourself fit! ($75. Good for your body.)Maybe we can fit some reps in while the computer loads or tests run. >[INSIGHT MODULE] When first obtaining an anomaly, you'll be given hints about what works it might like alongside hints towards extracting anomalous equipment from entities. ($350.)>[HARVESTING HIT] To extract RAW VALUE from an anomaly! ($225. Contains a microscope, a chemical testing kit, beakers, a scalpel and some syringes. Helps you figure out any useful applications of an anomaly's biology.)$750 total.
>>6279709 >[DAILY FOOD BUNDLE]Buy 3.>[ENRICHMENT BUNDLE]>[TOOLBOX AND SPARE PARTS]>[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM]>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE]>[HARVESTING HIT]>[INSIGHT MODULE]Cost: 1275 total.We are currently dealing with "safe" anomalies, so there is no need to buy guns, medical supplies, risk-level equipment, etc. for now. (Also, just because sapient/sentient anomalies are "safe" does not mean that we can treat them like literal "slaves" or "labrats". this will come back to bite our ass if we do so, turning safe anomalies into hostile or harmful ones.).
>>6279709>>[INSIGHT MODULE] When first obtaining an anomaly, you'll be given hints about what works it might like alongside hints towards extracting anomalous equipment from entities. ($350.)>>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE] - Keep things spotless! ($50. Contains some basic cleaning supplies and tools. Most anomalies like their cells being clean too.)>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE] - Keep things spotless! ($50. Contains some basic cleaning supplies and tools. Most anomalies like their cells being clean too.)>[HARVESTING HIT] To extract RAW VALUE from an anomaly! ($225. Contains a microscope, a chemical testing kit, beakers, a scalpel and some syringes. Helps you figure out any useful applications of an anomaly's biology.) For a total of $675
>>6279710>>6279757Do you realize that our anomalies can disrupt/absorb electricity (including the INSIGHT MODULE)? It's kind of hard to work harvesting and examining the anomalies while the cell light is flickering (or maybe even off), and especially since we have no experience harvesting. Buy the ENRICHMENT BUNDLE and DAILY FOOD BUNDLE to keep our anomalies from flickering/absorbing light/electricity, calm, and distracted while we work on the anomalies.
>>6279709Let's get cracking.>TOOLBOX>CLEANING>BASIC MEDICAL SUPPLIES>CIGARETTES>DAILY FOOD BUNDLE100 + 50 + 100 + 30 + 75 = 355>INSIGHT MODULE>RISK LEVEL SYSTEM>ENRICHMENT BUNDLE350 + 300 + 250 = 900355 + 900 = 1255 < 2000Well within the budget. Basic facility and personal maintenance items + INFORMATION GATHERING TOOLS (VERY IMPORTANT SO I USE ALL CAPS)Let's have enough money left over for the GUN (that better be a really good 9mm) which we don't need just yet but probably will later.
>>6279709>[TOOLBOX AND SPARE PARTS]Standard tools>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE]Fuck up that cigarette mold!>[BASIC MEDICIAL SUPPLIES]In case we're hurt or somebody else important is>[DAILY FOOD BUNDLE]Alternatively for ourselves or paying the Man in food. Must beat vending machine junk, or match it>[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM]We can also use the weights to fight back against threats or as weapons in general>[INSIGHT MODULE]Just sounds mandatory honestly>[HARVESTING KIT]Enables us to get material to sell for money, doing our main job and pleasing the Upper Management so they don't fuck us over too hard. Without this, the job they brought us here for will be very difficult if not impossible, and then we're fucked>ENRICHMENT BUNDLEThis could be useful for IN LIMBO since it's very grabby and very power-drainy by nature. If not, we can always hold onto these as bartering goods or for a future anomalyI don't really think anything else is important right now
>>6279707Making a small correction to this snippet here"As for the facility itself? It's underground with seven layers, each layer getting bigger than the last. An upside down cone with the seventh floor as the base. Correlates with the seven ranks in the facility's hierarchy - 0 to 6."Was just waking up when I was writing, missed it. Carry on shoppin'.
>>6279709>[HARVESTING HIT] To extract RAW VALUE from an anomaly! ($225. Contains a microscope, a chemical testing kit, beakers, a scalpel and some syringes. Helps you figure out any useful applications of an anomaly's biology.)We could study the mold/slime thing with this.>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE] - Keep things spotless! ($50. Contains some basic cleaning supplies and tools. Most anomalies like their cells being clean too.)Definitely cleaning some more. Don't see a reason to buy everything else, considering how the anomaly isn't violent (for now) and the 2nd day will mostly be focused on studying Limbo or clean the lab even more. When in doubt, we can just buy more next time.
>>6279709All that, and we didn't even get an egg? Smh.>[ENRICHMENT BUNDLE] Anomalies get bored too! ($250. Comes with some random toys, a CD player, some bundles of batteries and some CDs.)>[BASIC MEDICIAL SUPPLIES] - To patch up booboos! ($100. Contains a basic first aid kit, some painkillers and some bandage wrap.)>[HARVESTING HIT] To extract RAW VALUE from an anomaly! ($225. Contains a microscope, a chemical testing kit, beakers, a scalpel and some syringes. Helps you figure out any useful applications of an anomaly's biology.)>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE] - Keep things spotless! ($50. Contains some basic cleaning supplies and tools. Most anomalies like their cells being clean too.)>[INSIGHT MODULE] When first obtaining an anomaly, you'll be given hints about what works it might like alongside hints towards extracting anomalous equipment from entities. ($350.)>[PROTOTYPE RISK LEVEL SYSTEM] - When voting for an anomaly choice, you'll get a rough idea on its danger level and what kind of damage it can do to you and its surroundings. ($300.)Three of:>[DAILY FOOD BUNDLE] - Some anomalies need to be fed to, you know. ($75. Enough food to feed an anomaly for one day. Contains grains and low quality meat.)
>>6279709>[TOOLBOX AND SPARE PARTS] To keep your lab well maintained! ($100. Useful for repairing mechanical anomalies and to keep your lab in better shape.)>[INSIGHT MODULE] When first obtaining an anomaly, you'll be given hints about what works it might like alongside hints towards extracting anomalous equipment from entities. ($350.)>[HARVESTING HIT] To extract RAW VALUE from an anomaly! ($225. Contains a microscope, a chemical testing kit, beakers, a scalpel and some syringes. Helps you figure out any useful applications of an anomaly's biology.)>[DAILY FOOD BUNDLE] - Some anomalies need to be fed to, you know. ($75. Enough food to feed an anomaly for one day. Contains grains and low quality meat.)>[ENRICHMENT BUNDLE] Anomalies get bored too! ($250. Comes with some random toys, a CD player, some bundles of batteries and some CDs.)That’s $1000.
>>6279709>Are guns normally this pricey?Actually yeah that’s pretty fair. I found a listing for a new G17 for exactly $500… pre-tax, that is.Our boy could grab a Hi Point YEET CANNON for $229 if he didn’t mind it being a monumental piece of shit.
>>6279709>[HARVESTING HIT] ($225)Since we've got a surplus of corpse sludge, might as well study it.May even be worth something, though storing it would be a problem. Better rob the facility of its trash cans, nobody will miss them anyways.>[ENRICHMENT BUNDLE] ($250)Entertainment to keep it, the thing, occupied, so we don't have our equipment fucked up.>[INSIGHT MODULE] ($350)I don't like the idea of our beloved Vincent becoming the last lab tech who didn't purchase the insight module.Poking an anomaly sounds like a death sentence, and if this (insight module) can tell us what the hell we're supposed to do with it (the anomaly) then we'll be smooth sailing, surely.>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE] ($50)I like free stuff. Do you like free stuff? There's rumour of free stuff behind the sludge-caked walls of our workspace, someone should do something about that.All this for a grand total of $875 buckaroos, monopoly money, or whatever scrip they have us working for.
>>6279709>>[TOOLBOX AND SPARE PARTS] - 100>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE] - 50>[INSIGHT MODULE] 350>>[HARVESTING HIT] (Kit?) 225>>[ENRICHMENT BUNDLE] 250>[PROTOTYPE RISK LEVEL SYSTEM] -300>[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM] - 75>[BASIC MEDICIAL SUPPLIES] - 100>[CIGARETTE PACK] - 30>[DAILY FOOD BUNDLE] - 75TOTAL: $1555In order of preference. I figure we use this week to get essentials sorted out to do our job (since we're getting another 2k next week) and survive here. Not sure our anomaly even needs to eat (seemed to need stimulation more than food but I suppose time will tell) hence why it's so far down the list. We'd want to cut that down quite a bit if we wanted to hire the shadow man. 165 x 7 = $1155. Though we could always start that working relationship next week when we get our next payment.
>>6279709>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE] - Keep things spotless! ($50. Contains some basic cleaning supplies and tools. Most anomalies like their cells being clean too.)>[HARVESTING HIT] To extract RAW VALUE from an anomaly! ($225. Contains a microscope, a chemical testing kit, beakers, a scalpel and some syringes. Helps you figure out any useful applications of an anomaly's biology.)>[ENRICHMENT BUNDLE] Anomalies get bored too! ($250. Comes with some random toys, a CD player, some bundles of batteries and some CDs.)>[9MM PISTOL] For emergencies. ($500. Comes with nine bullets. Adds +7 to combat attack rolls.)=1,025Honestly? Idaf about the actual practical use of any of this, I just want to see how our resident grabby girl grabs all of it. (On a more serious note however, it seems stimuli is a worthwhile lead to go with her, giving how she reacted to the broom and she first appeared in a theater of all places)
Alright, let's see.TOOLBOX: Szu, y4z, t4e, tbi, KOO, 5A5 (6)INSIGHT: Szu, y4z, CWx, t4e, tbi, 04z, KOO, SqX, 5a5 (9)CLEANING: y4z, CWx (wanted two), t4e, tbi, wEj, 04z, SqX, 5a5, xnm (9)HARVESTING 'HIT' (yes, HIT. Intentional typo like SPECIL.): Szu, y4z, CWx, tbi, wEJ, 04z, KOO, SqX, 5A5, xnm (10)MEDS: t4e, tbi, o4z, 5A5 (4)CIGS: t4e, 5A5 (2)FOOD: t4e, y4z (wanted 3), tbi, KOO, 5A5, 04z (wanted 3). (6)WEIGHTS: Szu, y4z, tbi, 5a5 (4)ENRICHMENT: y4z, t4e, tbi, 04z, KOO, SqX, 5a5, xnm (8)RISK LEVEL: t4e, 04z, 5A5 (3)GUN: xnmSo, tell you what, I'll let you get more than four this time around since there's a lot of things people wanted to get.I say the ones with a big enough majority (over half or at least 6 votes behind it) to be picked this time around is TOOLBOX, INSIGHT, CLEANING, HARVESTING, FOOD and ENRICHMENT.Or, in other words, you spent $1050 this time around, leaving you with $950 for future purchases or in case you need to bribe anymore. I think that's fair enough, no?Writing.
Your face contorts in disgust. This thing was not proofread in the slightest. Hell, you don't think a human ever looked at this.The kerning is all over the place, the font changes every other page (most of it is COMIC SANS) and most of the products have typos in their name. HARVESTING HIT? SPECIL? MEDICIAL? Most of the product images seem to be AI-generated as well. They couldn't afford to take a PICTURE of something?Oh and it's only bound together by cheap, shoddy staples you could easily rip out. Correction - One of them already fell out. This is what you're using?You know what? Whatever. It's not like you can use this money for much else besides hiring people and so far, you only met two or three people. You suppose the vending machines are an option, maybe you can check them out later.You flip through the pages. They provided you a pencil to mark down what you want. You're stealing this pencil, fuck them, you need SOMETHING to write with. It only takes a few minutes to decide what you want.>-$1050!Your low-ranked comrades are also scribbling down on their own catalogs. The barracks door suddenly opens up once everyone is finished scribbling something down on their catalog.A very rudimentary robot is standing in the doorway. It's a big bulky box rolling around on wheels. The only features on it is a slot on the front of its body. "PLEASE PLACE MARKED CATALOGS IN SLOT. NEW CATALOGS WILL BE DELIVERED TOMORROW EVENING."Everyone scrambles to throw their catalogs into the maw of the beast. You wait to make sure it's not some cruel joke (like there's a shredder) before you do the same.Well. You got nothing else to do but to sleep. Your stomach is still fighting for its life thanks to the slop you scarved down. You throw yourself onto the cheap bed you were 'graciously' provided. You decide it's best to try to get what little sleep you can get. The chittering, mindless noise of inane conversations from your 'coworkers' makes getting any sleep a nightmare in of itself. You can only pray that if you get to Level 1 or something, you can get your OWN FUCKING ROOM.It almost reminds you of home. Back when you were a kid. You never did have a room to yourself since you had a LOT of brothers and sisters. You don't remember how many, though. Six? Seven? It was a lot at least.It almost makes you smile but the memory fades as quickly as it appeared.The chittering and chattering of your fellow researchers is already becoming white noise to you. You'll dwell on your past some time later, you have other things to worry about.Like getting some sleep. You doubt you're going to get any good sleep either way so why bother getting comfortable? Not like you got any spare clothes to put on, better just wear what you already have on.There's one thing you can be happy about, at least. You're still alive. That's better than nothing. Your mind eventually drifts away into a half-awake half-asleep daze. No dreams tonight, just like any other night.
You don't remember the last time you had a dream or, hell, a nightmare even.Everything simply goes black.Dreams are nothing more than wishes, after all.What do you wish for, Vincent?>You gain a slight PHYSICAL + MENTAL health boost from sleeping.You wake up in an uncomfortable, sweaty haze. Couldn't get any real sleep. Your clothes are getting filthier by the second - First it was the cigarette mold, now it's your own cold sweat.You scan around the room to see if anyone else is awake. Seems like you're the only one awake right now.Well. You can't get any sleep so you might as well get up. You don't think there's a curfew at least.You get up out of your bed and you quietly move to the exit. Best to be quiet to give your coworkers some bare minimum respect of an extra hour of sleep.Who knows how these guys would act if you woke them up right now?You step out into the hallway. You don't hear any loud alarms and you're not being tackled to the ground so! Hey! No curfew! You think. Or maybe you're just being lucky.The constant hum of the fluorescent lighting above you is messing with your head - Like a set of drums pounding away at your skull. You scan the hallway to make sure you're in the clear. No one else seems to be awake besides you so at least you won't have to chitchat with everyone. You're clear for now.You sluggishly drag yourself down the hallway with sleep still clouding your thoughts. Before you can get to the end of the hallway, your posture freezes up. There's a security guard standing there. Shit IS there a curfew? You still don't know how this facility works all that well.Wait, you think you recognize this one. It's that one security guard with the super long red hair that goes all the way down her back. That one that was wandering around, lost in her own thoughts.She's wearing something similar to what Anthony was wearing. Shoulder pads, a cheap padded vest, and kneepads all lazily thrown on top of some surplus denim jeans and a white dress shirt. She's pretty stocky for a woman, she might actually put up a fight if the worst comes to it-Your thoughts are interrupted by her turning around and immediately seeing you. "hey.""you don't gotta sneak around." She grumbles out. Her voice is wispy and scratchy, every word taking effort for her to speak. "you can pass or whatever. level 0s and 1s aren't allowed to leave their barracks for another hour buuutt! i don't care." She turns away from you, mumbling to herself about something you can't make it. She seems lost in her own thoughts."Would, uh, the other guards-""probably, they probably would've shoved you back into your room by now." She shrugs. "but i get it. can't sleep?""Nope.""yeah, that's fair. there's a lost and found nearby, maybe you can find some new clothes to wear or somethin'."Huh. She's pretty casual for a security guard all things considered. You suppose you should use this free time you were graciously offered.
CHOOSE THREE!>She's right, your clothes are a mess. Go to LOST AND FOUND to see what you can find. (DC 45 to see what goodies you can get from the LOST AND FOUND.)>Hey, why not start your shift early? (Grants you two extra TIME TOKENS for your next shift.)>Go to the cache the MAN told you about. (Gives you a rough layout of the layer you're on, opens more places to explore during FREE TIME. Maybe you'll get some supplies too.)>Talk to the REDHEAD SECURITY GUARD. She seems chill, maybe you can make another friend?>Go to the cafeteria to study. No one's there yet, it'll be nice and quiet. (Choose a book to study: ANATOMY 101, MACOS FOR DUMMIES or CHEMISTRY 101. Buffs the bonus to rolls involving that subject from +1 to +2.)>Try to find the MAN. You wanna talk to him again. (DC 57, -4 PENALTY from FORGETTABLE)>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. A d100 will determine what category it ends up being.)>Arrange a meeting with one of your acquaintances. See if you can get them to work for you. (Choose between ANTHONY and GAUNT COWORKER.)>Write in.Also made a pastebin for VINCENT, just to make things easier to track.https://pastebin.com/XjFY90mq
>write in>Or maybe this could count as talk to the guard?Take out your mystery baggie and ask her what the powder is.then for the other two,>Go to lost and found>start your shift early
>>6280199>She's right, your clothes are a mess. Go to LOST AND FOUND to see what you can find. (DC 45 to see what goodies you can get from the LOST AND FOUND.)>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. A d100 will determine what category it ends up being.)>Hey, why not start your shift early? (Grants you two extra TIME TOKENS for your next shift.)
>>6280199>She's right, your clothes are a mess. Go to LOST AND FOUND to see what you can find. (DC 45 to see what goodies you can get from the LOST AND FOUND.)We need stuff this early>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. A d100 will determine what category it ends up being.)We need weirdness this early>Hey, why not start your shift early? (Grants you two extra TIME TOKENS for your next shift.)We need work this early
>>6279321>Is he an anomaly? If not, what IS he?>Has anyone else been able to see him besides you?>Would he be willing to work with you later? Couldn't hurt to make a new friend.
>>6280199>She's right, your clothes are a mess. Go to LOST AND FOUND to see what you can find. (DC 45 to see what goodies you can get from the LOST AND FOUND.)>Go to the cache the MAN told you about. (Gives you a rough layout of the layer you're on, opens more places to explore during FREE TIME. Maybe you'll get some supplies too.)>Hey, why not start your shift early? (Grants you two extra TIME TOKENS for your next shift.)Let's focus on the important stuff, don't exactly need to make friends yet.
>>6280220+1
>>6280199>She's right, your clothes are a mess. Go to LOST AND FOUND to see what you can find. (DC 45 to see what goodies you can get from the LOST AND FOUND.)>Go to the cache the MAN told you about. (Gives you a rough layout of the layer you're on, opens more places to explore during FREE TIME. Maybe you'll get some supplies too.)>Talk to the REDHEAD SECURITY GUARD. She seems chill, maybe you can make another friend?
>>6280199>She's right, your clothes are a mess. Go to LOST AND FOUND to see what you can find. (DC 45 to see what goodies you can get from the LOST AND FOUND.)>Go to the cache the MAN told you about. (Gives you a rough layout of the layer you're on, opens more places to explore during FREE TIME. Maybe you'll get some supplies too.)>Hey, why not start your shift early? (Grants you two extra TIME TOKENS for your next shift.)
>>6280199>>She's right, your clothes are a mess. Go to LOST AND FOUND to see what you can find. (DC 45 to see what goodies you can get from the LOST AND FOUND.)>>Go to the cache the MAN told you about. (Gives you a rough layout of the layer you're on, opens more places to explore during FREE TIME. Maybe you'll get some supplies too.)Also a chance to get clean depending on bathroom layout. As far as the third option I'm torn between chatting with the guard, the cafeteria (gotta grab something to eat), and starting our shift early.
>>6280199>>Talk to the REDHEAD SECURITY GUARD. She seems chill, maybe you can make another friend?>Hey, why not start your shift early? (Grants you two extra TIME TOKENS for your next shift.)>Go to the cache the MAN told you about. (Gives you a rough layout of the layer you're on, opens more places to explore during FREE TIME. Maybe you'll get some supplies too.)
>>6280199>She's right, your clothes are a mess. Go to LOST AND FOUND to see what you can find. (DC 45 to see what goodies you can get from the LOST AND FOUND.)>Go to the cache the MAN told you about. (Gives you a rough layout of the layer you're on, opens more places to explore during FREE TIME. Maybe you'll get some supplies too.)>Go to the cafeteria to study. No one's there yet, it'll be nice and quiet. (Choose a book to study: ANATOMY 101, MACOS FOR DUMMIES or CHEMISTRY 101. Buffs the bonus to rolls involving that subject from +1 to +2.)
>>6280199>Go to LOST AND FOUNDVincent only has one set of clothes, lets see if we can't get him another.I doubt anyone here loses anything they need, and I further doubt any of the characters we met would care to put anything lost in the lost and found. Redhead seems to agree, if telling us to take from it wasn't indication enough.Its existence in a place like this makes me believe its an anomaly itself, but who knows?>Talk to the REDHEADNot super important, we can always find everyone in the cafeteria afterwards. But since we're already talking I'd like to make the most of it. She probably has (or had) troubles. If she hadn't brought it up to anyone back then, then it seems like somebody needs a friend.And for us, we could use a friend who can tell us what makes security tick.>Hey, why not start your shift early?We have a lot to do today.I don't worry about the cache, we can always check it on the way back.
>>6280199>Go to the cache the MAN told you about. (Gives you a rough layout of the layer you're on, opens more places to explore during FREE TIME. Maybe you'll get some supplies too.)>She's right, your clothes are a mess. Go to LOST AND FOUND to see what you can find. (DC 45 to see what goodies you can get from the LOST AND FOUND.)>Talk to the REDHEAD SECURITY GUARD. She seems chill, maybe you can make another friend?
>>6280275Change>>6280443+1
LOST AND FOUND: 3hl, CXw, tbi, wEJ, KOO, 04z, 5A5, SXG, SqXSHIFT EARLY: 3hl, CWx, tbi, wEJ, 04z, 8KG, SqX, y4zSTUDY: SXGCACHE: wEJ, KOO, 04z, 5A5, 8KG, SXG, g99WANDER: CWx, tbiTALK TO GUARD: KOO, 8KG, SqX, g99, y4z, 3hL (I'll count asking about the drugs as a vote)Seems like LOST AND FOUND, SHIFT EARLY and CACHE won out, with talking to the guard in fourth place. 5A5 didn't vote for a third thing but since I don't want a tie, I'll just go with this.Three anons, roll 1d100. DC of 45. Success table below0 = It's mostly trash, gunk and broken scrap in here. You get some scrap to tinker with as a consolation prize1 = You find some replacement clothes and a labcoat. Now you can truly feel like a researcher!2 = Same as 1 but you find some personal hygiene products to keep your MENTAL HEALTH stable.3 = Same as 1 and 2 but you found something actually valuable inside LOST and FOUND! Lucky you!
Rolled 23 (1d100)>>6280593
Rolled 73 (1d100)>>6280593
Rolled 27 (1d100)>>6280593
Wow! Good thing your rolls sucked for a inconsequential check!Well, at the very least, you got some spare clothes. You got what you came for and nothing else. Writing.
You cautiously sniff at your shirt. Oof. Yeah, this is too rank even for you. You probably should head to lost and found. "Hey, uh, thanks. Didn't know we had a lost and found.""i know, right?!" The redhead throws her hands up in quiet frustration. "yeah they don't tell people anything in this place. shit, it took me a day to even get this uniform.""Really? Wait, did you also get talked at by some weird turtleneck wearing guy? After being, uh, 'promoted'?""oh, no, i got transferred here. was already working to guard some IRS place, just got hired here.""Neat. So, again, thank you. I gotta get going because, uh, you know. Work stuff. Anomalies." Your social skills are rapidly degenerating second by second. "Mystery. Men. Yeah."The redhead giggles at your floundering attempt at communication. "bro, it's okay. i get it, i get it. just go do your things, uh...whatsyourface?""Vincent." "ashton. keep it real." She gives you a peace sign. "alright, go."You stumble past her and to your first stop - the men's washroom. It's only about twenty feet past her so it's a good place to stop as any.It's actually pretty similar to a gym's bathroom. There's about six or seven cheap lockers lined against one side of the room and six or seven showers on the opposite side. The cheap, teal-colored tiling scattered haphazardly around the room is clearly growing some kind of mold. There's a small section towards the back where the actual toilets probably are.There's a mirror next to one of the lockers. Might as well take a good look at yourself.Eugh. You've seen better days. You know you're in your mid 20s but your face belongs to that of a fifty year old with how tired you look. The five o'clock shadow doesn't help. Your skin is a blotchy pale brown that almost looks grey in the right lighting. You're glad you keep your hair short, at least, one less thing to worry about.Your left eye is grey and unfocused. You can still see out of it but it's never been as good as your right eye. You don't remember how it ended up that way. You think-A throbbing pain rushes through your head. Best to think about it later. Might as well take a quick shower.There's no hot water so you have to deal with the indignity to a freezing cold hell shower.You feel clean after it at least. You throw your dirty clothes back on before heading to the third stall.There's a loose panel right behind the toilet. You yank it off to reveal the cache in question. There's a small cubbyhole with a piece of paper and a satchel hidden inside.The paper has a rough sketch of a map of the layer you're on. There's a lot of labs and barracks scattered around that aren't immediately useful but a few locations do catch your eye - MEDBAY, ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE ('LEVEL 2') and HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE.You're not sure how immediately useful those three might be but you have a gut feeling HR might have someone familiar waiting inside there.
As for the satchel?ITEMS OBTAINED!>LAYER 2 MAP! (Adds +4 to rolls that involve wandering around. Unlocks three locations to explore during FREETIME.)>POCKET KNIFE ("For safety." Useful for stabbing or cutting a variety of things. Adds +2 to combat rolls. Short and flimsy.)>ACTIVATED CHARCOAL PILLS (Contains 5 pills. Rapidly absorbs and expunges any toxins from your system, slightly healing PHYSICAL HEALTH in the process.)>$100 ("For a friend".)>PPE GLOVE PACK (Contains 8 disposable gloves. Good for keeping yourself clean and safe.)>EGG? (Hardboiled. Unknown purpose. ???.)It's not a lot but it's better than nothing. You keep the satchel just to make things easier to carry. You scan the map to see where the LOST AND FOUND is. Luckily it's along the path you have to take anyways to get to your lab.Passing by the empty cafeteria (there's no food being prepared yet) and down one of the many identical hallways, you eventually stumble upon the LOST AND FOUND.The door is unmarked and blends in easily with the grey metallic walls. No wonder you walked past it.You pry it open to see a REALLY small room. It's barely bigger than a broom closet inside here. There's a chute hanging from the ceiling and a large box that's filled to the brim with random junk right below it.You dig through it to see what, if any, useful stuff you can pry out of it.Most of it is beyond unusable. Somehow it's already moth-ridden despite this place being underground in the middle of the DESERT.You do manage to pry out some spare clothes in your size. You find a spare labcoat and three sets of shirts and pants that look just like your wageslave outfit (purple tie included!)You change into one of the clean wageslave outfts. You drape your labcoat over it to make yourself look more 'presentable'. This doesn't do anything beyond making you feel better but hey! The little victories matter.>LABCOAT and WAGESLAVE UNIFORM x3 obtained.Time to go to work, then.You exit the LOST AND FOUND and you immediately beeline it to your lab.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cWar-WMYqw - DAY 2You take in a deep breath of musty but somewhat cleaner air. The lab looks about as bad as it did last time. The cigarette mold still clinging to the walls and ceilings hasn't had enough time to spread to the floor yet.Everything is as organized as it has been.The lights are flickering but the moment you step through the entry, it stops. Odd. You check to see where they left your catalog supplies. Most of them were piled onto the tables you cleared out while you were cleaning up this joint.You take stock on what they actually delivered.CATALOG SUPPLIES OBTAINED!>INSIGHT MODULE INSTALLER (An injector with a set of instructions on how to use it. Grants you the powers of the INSIGHT MODULE.)>FOOD PACKAGE (Contains 15 cans of processed spam, 5 loaves of processed white bread and 10 bottles of water.)
>HARVESTING KIT! (Contains a microscope, a chemical testing kit with 10 tests worth of supplies, 7 beakers, a scalpel and 5 syringes.)>CLEANING SUPPLIES! (Contains a mop, a broom, a bucket, two gallons of bleach, three off-brand degreasers bottles and a gallon jug of water.)>TOOLBOX (Contains a screwdriver, wrench, wirecutters and hammer. Has enough scrap metal, wires, screws and bolts to make about 4-5 repairs.)>ENRICHMENT BUNDLE! (Toys include a rubix cube, five random stuffed animals and a box of off-brand legos. CD player has one soft jazz CD, one heavy metal CD and one white noise CD. Included with ten AA batteries.)Finally. You got stuff to work with when it comes to interacting with the anomaly.Time to start your DAY. DAY 2 starts!Due to starting your day early and cleaning your lab up beforehand, you have 11 TIME TOKENS!What do, Vincent? Pick two.>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +10 to roll from WAGESLAVE and ACTUAL CLEANING SUPPLIES. Good for your mental health.)>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)>Try to learn more about the GUNK. You know you're supposed to be studying an anomaly but this stuff is fascinating. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 57. +8 to roll from HARVESTING KIT supplies and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. This stuff FEELS like it's an anomaly too.)>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)>Check for any more academic books you could use. (-1d3-1 TIME TOKENS. Gives you some more books to study to improve SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC.)>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +4 to roll due to having TOOLS. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)>Make yourself something to eat from the FOOD BUNDLE. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Improves your PHYSICAL HEALTH slightly. Gives you some time to think and plan.)>Write in.---Apparently my pastebin account got purged. Not sure how but I'm just going to swap over to rentry.Here's the new sheet for VINCENT and his inventory. Just to clarify, INSIGHT MODULE won't give you any hints for what works IN LIMBO likes but it WILL offer you hints for any anomalous equipment you could get from it. INSIGHT MODULE will offer work hints for the rest of the anomalies you get this quest, though.https://rentry.co/VINCENTSHEET
>>6280669>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)>Try to learn more about the GUNK. You know you're supposed to be studying an anomaly but this stuff is fascinating. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 57. +8 to roll from HARVESTING KIT supplies and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. This stuff FEELS like it's an anomaly too.)
>>6280669>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +10 to roll from WAGESLAVE and ACTUAL CLEANING SUPPLIES. Good for your mental health.)Gentlemen, the cleaning will continue. Also, because the computer loads like crap, we could alternate between cleaning and letting the PC load whatever garbage it is processing.
>>6280695If we clean out all the gunk we might run out of samples to study
>>6280669backing >>6280675Learn our workstation, learn about the gunkThen we can enter the cell and start working>>6280695I personally think we should save the cleaning to when we're fucking dirty again. We just took a shower; don't you know cleaning stuff after one feels worse because then you need to clean yourself up again? It's better to do dirty things while still dirty so when you clean up once you clean up for a long while>>6280699Actually yeah we could just get one of the beakers and put some of the cigarette mold in it and seal it up, THEN clean up all the rest out. That way we still have one sample we can make more from if we ever need to
>>6280669>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>>6280669>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +10 to roll from WAGESLAVE and ACTUAL CLEANING SUPPLIES. Good for your mental health.)>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)
>>6280595>>6280603>>6280613I see we'll need a lot of buffs to start having 2 checks on these rolls>>6280669>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +10 to roll from WAGESLAVE and ACTUAL CLEANING SUPPLIES. Good for your mental health.)>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)>Try to learn more about the GUNK. You know you're supposed to be studying an anomaly but this stuff is fascinating. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 57. +8 to roll from HARVESTING KIT supplies and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. This stuff FEELS like it's an anomaly too.)>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)>Make yourself something to eat from the FOOD BUNDLE. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Improves your PHYSICAL HEALTH slightly. Gives you some time to think and plan.)
>>6280722Woah, partner, two actions per post here. I'm fine with people picking more if it's for a catalog shopping session or asking someone questions but we're not blitzing through the day in one single post.especially because I do not want to write 10 post updates like my first quest>>6280699I will say that you can collect some as you clean it up, there's no reason you couldn't (especially with the harvesting kit).You DO know it can spread when in contact with certain surfaces so it's possible to grow more as long as you have some samples
>>6280669>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Try to learn more about the GUNK. You know you're supposed to be studying an anomaly but this stuff is fascinating. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 57. +8 to roll from HARVESTING KIT supplies and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. This stuff FEELS like it's an anomaly too.)
>>6280669>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +10 to roll from WAGESLAVE and ACTUAL CLEANING SUPPLIES. Good for your mental health.)>Try to learn more about the GUNK. You know you're supposed to be studying an anomaly but this stuff is fascinating. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 57. +8 to roll from HARVESTING KIT supplies and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. This stuff FEELS like it's an anomaly too.)The cleaning of GUNK will continue until moral improves.
>>6280723>Woah, partner, two actions per post here. I'm fine with people picking more if it's for a catalog shopping session or asking someone questions but we're not blitzing through the day in one single post.sorry, didn't see it.>>6280669>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)
>>6280665>Your left eye is grey and unfocusedUhoh. Our anomaly did this to us didn't it (or whatever in our history made us look like the right fit for this place)?>>6280669>>Try to find something to clean this place with>>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab
>>6280772Vincent had the grey eye and green eye back in CLEANER QUEST too. I wonder if he'll develop an appreciation or passion for art and painting eventually?
>>6280669>Make yourself something to eat from the FOOD BUNDLE. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Improves your PHYSICAL HEALTH slightly. Gives you some time to think and plan.)>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>>6280675+1
>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)dont mind what else we do, but we really should check the computer sooner rather than later i think
CLEAN: wEJ, 04z, s90, kOZGUNK STUDY: g99, tbi, y4z, +u7, s90COMPUTER: g99, tbi, y4z, wEJ, 04z, SXG, ET+SCRAP: KOO, SXGCONTAIN: KOO, +u7, CWxREPAIR: kOZEAT: CWxCleaning until morale improves will be done at a different time.Three anons, roll 1d100+8, DC 57. Success table below.0 SUCCESSES: You don't learn anything new. You mostly just collect a lot of samples to study later.1-2 SUCCESSES: You have a better theory on what lifeform this mold actually is and what properties it has. 2 successes offers more info than 1 success.3 SUCCESSES: The stench of PROFIT overwhelms the stench of cigarettes and mildew. You find something profitable about the cigarette mold.
Rolled 96 + 8 (1d100 + 8)>>6281002Yes valued overseer, if you smoke this mold you can get high. Maybe even see the future.
Rolled 46 + 8 (1d100 + 8)>>6281002Rolling>>6281005What if that is true but nobody simply ever tried because mold inhalation is BAD? This ain't ergot or LSD
Rolled 33 + 8 (1d100 + 8)>>6281002
At least you didn't roll NO successes.You'll get a lot of samples and you figured out some basic facts on the slime mold. Writing.Being a wagekek doesn't offer much LUCK, huh?
That old hunk of garbage is FINALLY going to get some moment in the spotlight.You seat yourself by the old Macintosh. You know this thing is going to be a pain in the ass to boot so you'll turn it on while you do other stuff.You press the power button. The computer coughs and wheezes the moment it starts to power on. A dying man with Stage 4 lung cancer would have an easier time breathing than this computer. The most repugnant stench of burning plastic and dust slams into your nose like a fist.You hack and wheeze right along with the computer. FUCK. Oh, god, something blasted from one of the computer's air vents got into your mouth. EUGH.>-MENTAL and PHYSICAL HEALTH!>MENTAL is now DOING FINE!The stench dies down a little once the computer starts to actually boot up. You'll come back to this when it's fully powered on.You get up, ready to start your other project today - The CIGARETTE MOLD HARVESTING! One awful smelling thing to another. Your life's GREAT.Good thing is that harvesting it is pretty damn easy. You use the scalpel (far sharper than your pocket knife) to slice away thick, heavy layers of mold off. It reminds you of shaving matted fur off of a dog.You collect it into several of the beakers you have. You manage to fill up two beakers to the brim with cigarette mold. This is more than enough to study.You place the two beakers on one of the cleared out tables. You need to figure out how this stuff works. At the very least, what it actually eats. You slice off a small chunk of mold and you place it onto the table. It squirms around on the table, trying to root itself onto the new surface. Creepy. The mold doesn't seem to bother spreading when it's inside the glass beakers but it tries to spread on the table. Interesting.You grab some food from the daily food bundle you got. You use your pocket knife (to avoid contamination) to slice off small bits of bread and spam to see what the mold eats.You place the samples right by the cigarette mold to see what happens.The mold instantly latches onto the bread. It rapidly consumes the soft fluffy bread until there's nothing left.The spam, on the other hand, seems to actively repulse the mold. It goes out of its way to avoid going anywhere near it. You move the spam closer and it scrunches away from it like it's fire.You pull it away, it relaxes.You test one other food source. You drop a random lego from the toy bundle into the mold.It quickly spreads onto the plastic far faster than the surface of the table. You carefully slice away at small chunks of it to see how it's treating the plastic.The plastic is corroding underneath the mold. Slowly but it is dissolving thanks to the mold.Interesting. So, it doesn't eat meat (thank GOD) but it eats grains and it dissolves/eats plastic. It mostly seems to stain metal instead of actually spreading on it.The most interesting property is that it's actively REPULSED by meat.
It rejected the spam and it actively avoided your finger when you were first studying it.You do one other quick test on it. You hover the palm of your hand over the clump of cigarette mold you played on the table. You raise it up, ready to slam it on the table.The mold rapidly squirms away in an attempt to avoid your hand.Interesting. It didn't react when you were slicing at it with your scalpel.You walk up to one of the slime mold-covered walls and raise your hand, ready to smack it.There's a slight movement as if it was tensing up. You wouldn't have noticed if it you weren't looking, though.Size seems to be an important factor in its behavior. It's far more active when it's smaller, far hungrier as well. It wants to spread across non-flesh surfaces and it corrodes plastic. Hm.Could it be manmade, maybe? It was found in a lab and, well, making something that hungers for humans is obvious mad science bullshit.Interesting.You remove the cigarette mold from the table and you promptly return it to the beakers. You disinfect your scalpel with a bit of bleach so you can use it later.>+2 BEAKERS OF CIGARETTE MOLD! (Can be studied at a later time.)You mark your research on the (currently useless) dosseir with that pencil you stole. Keeps your research fresh.The old hunk of junk you call a computer boots up right as you finish.Lucky you.You seat yourself back at the old Macintosh to see what's on it.Wow. You didn't pay attention to it last time but this thing really is ancient. Everything is so clunky looking - You know the budget for this place is in the shitter but surely they could've gotten something better than THIS by now. You're impressed this thing is even still running.There's barely anything on this machine. There's two password locked folders with cryptic, garbled names on them - TALFLGGYHPFXBRLHAI and SWZVZEUXAWEUTKXSJK. It's like someone sneezed with typing those but it seems too deliberate to be purely garbage noise. Some type of cipher?All you know about ciphers is they usually have a keyphrase. Guessing what that is right now is a wild goosechase.Let's see what else is on here.There's an icon of a yellow bee. You click the icon and it presents you with a single blank bar on a white screen. You immediately type in GOOGLE.COMIt pops up an error message. 'INVALID DOMAIN'.Huh. .gov?'INVALID DOMAIN'. Ah. Probably no outside internet, you'd guess. You look around the desktop to see if there's any hint on what you can use this search engine for.You flip through one of the unlocked files and, inside, there's a text document with a few links scattered on it."ABNOWATCH.CIC.XYZ""FRIENDCHAT.CIC.XYZ"Weird. You never seen that type of domain before. Some internal facility internet domain? Something else?You type in the first link and, finally, you manage to get a website to load.ABNOWATCH pulls up an antique forum that looks as old as the computer you're using.
There's dozens of different boards and sub-boards on here, ranging from supernatural sightings to gaming discussion to scandalously lewd material you do NOT want to be caught looking at.The last thing you wanna do is to be seen as a pervert by the fucking government.This could be a GREAT timekiller when you have nothing else to do. Maybe it can supplement your shitty dosseir with actual information![ABNOWATCH LURKING option unlocked! You can use this website to look up information about your anomalies or future anomalies or you can shitpost on here to burn time and restore mental health.]You load up the other website - FRIENDCHAT.It brings up a small popup that asks you to sign up for the site. You decide to pick a random username from a hat...CHOOSE!>VINCENTCRUZ. To the point.>VC. Short and sweet.>ANOTHERDAYANOTHERDOLLAR. Ironic!>RESEARCH042. Only your title matters right now.>ANON0425. Better to stay anonymous.>Write in.A random password later and you're booted up into an IRC chatroom. There's currently no one online right now. Makes sense, you did start this shift early. You do spot some idle users on the sidebar. There's about seven or eight usernames. You check for any hints on what the chatroom is used for."COMMUNICATE TO SOLVE PROLEMS AND TO LEARN HOW TO MAXIMIZE YOUR PROFITS.""...that's what the bosses want. Free feel to shoot the shit here though!"Oh shit. You can actually ask for help with some of this researcher shit, huh?[FRIENDCHAT option unlocked! You can use this website to ask for advice from your fellow researchers and employees. You could share this link to people you wanna be friends with as well.]The lights flicker yet again. It's not getting bad yet but you know that this isn't just the faulty power grid. You think you still have some time before it gets REALLY bad, though.Hm. Well, at the very least, you should be able to boot up the computer faster for the forseeable future. You think whatever was inside the case that made that repulsive smell was causing it to boot as slowly as it did.Maybe you'll get more use out of it once you find more CIC.XYZ links but you'll make due with the two new options.What do you want to, Vincent? You got 7 TIME TOKENS left.
CHOOSE TWO>It is TIME to CLEAN. The cleaning will continue until morale does. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +14 to roll from WAGESLAVE, CLEANING SUPPLIES and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. Good for your mental health, reduces the DC for the airlock check.)>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Check around on ABNOWATCH for any useful information about your anomaly. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 67. It's a long short but it doesn't cost much time.)>Wait for someone to join FRIENDCHAT. You could do with some advice. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)>Keep studying the slime mold. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 55. +8 to roll from HARVESTING KIT supplies and GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)>Check for any more academic books you could use. (-1d3-1 TIME TOKENS. Gives you some more books to study to improve your SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC trait.)>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +4 to roll due to having TOOLS. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)>Make yourself something to eat from the FOOD BUNDLE. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Improves your PHYSICAL HEALTH slightly. Gives you some time to think and plan.)>Write in.
>>6281085>ANON0425. Better to stay anonymous.>>6281091>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)
>>6281079>Interesting. So, it doesn't eat meat (thank GOD) but it eats grains and it dissolves/eats plastic. It mostly seems to stain metal instead of actually spreading on it.I can see a use for the mold: Trash disposal. No more dumping plastic trash on the seas.
>>6281085>ANON0425We can do a namechange later I hope. Right now we need to be careful>>6281091>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)No need for new books yet, we'll be overwhelmed otherwise>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)Let's finally check on our flower corpse
>>6281091>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)No opinion on name.
>>6281085>>RESEARCH042. Only your title matters right now.>>6281091>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)
Just noticed that the pastebin seems to be expired or removed
>>6281221Yeah, pastebin is a bitch. I just swapped to rentry to save myself the headache.https://rentry.co/VINCENTSHEETThis is what we'll be using to monitor Vincent's inventory, traits and wellbeing.
>>6281085>RESEARCH042. Only your title matters right now.>>6281091>It is TIME to CLEAN. The cleaning will continue until morale does. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +14 to roll from WAGESLAVE, CLEANING SUPPLIES and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. Good for your mental health, reduces the DC for the airlock check.)>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)
>>6281085>ANON0425. Better to stay anonymous.>>6281091>It is TIME to CLEAN. The cleaning will continue until morale does. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +14 to roll from WAGESLAVE, CLEANING SUPPLIES and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. Good for your mental health, reduces the DC for the airlock check.)>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>>6281085>ANOTHERDAYANOTHERDOLLAR. Ironic!>>6281091>It is TIME to CLEAN. The cleaning will continue until morale does. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +14 to roll from WAGESLAVE, CLEANING SUPPLIES and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. Good for your mental health, reduces the DC for the airlock check.)>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>>6281085>ANOTHERDAYANOTHERDOLLAR. Ironic!>It is TIME to CLEAN. The cleaning will continue until morale does. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +14 to roll from WAGESLAVE, CLEANING SUPPLIES and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. Good for your mental health, reduces the DC for the airlock check.)>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)
>>6281085>>ANOTHERDAYANOTHERDOLLAR. Ironic!That or we make some kind of Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe reference with our researcher number.>>6281091>>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>>It is TIME to CLEANMight as well see whether our anomaly needs to eat or how effective the enrichment/insight package we got is. No need to put more strain on that computer by letting it get shut down forcefully. >>6281121True. There might be some issues though--given that average people aren't going to bother separating meat products from their trash and we aren't sure how it'll react to greens or dairy among other things... that and there might be enough money in waste disposal or government contracts meant to deal with it that would see the discovery suppressed--but there's no harm in offering it up. I'm certain the big wigs can figure it out for themselves.
>>6281091>ANON0425. Better to stay anonymous.>It is TIME to CLEAN. >Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL.
>>6281091>It is TIME to CLEAN. The cleaning will continue until morale does. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +14 to roll from WAGESLAVE, CLEANING SUPPLIES and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. Good for your mental health, reduces the DC for the airlock check.)>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>>6281085>ANON0425. Better to stay anonymous.
Alright, looks like ANON0425 wins out for the name and as for what you're doing?The cleaning continues until morale improves (then you visit the containment cell)Three anons, roll 1d100+140-1 SUCCESSES: You get some progress in but the cigarette mold is shockingly sturdy. Heals a little MENTAL HEALTH, -2 to AIRLOCK DC, -3 to STUDY MOLD DC.2 SUCCESSES: The walls are still stained brown and the stench of cigarettes is still in the air but otherwise? This room's pretty damn clean. -6 to AIRLOCK DC, you restore a hefty amount of MENTAL HEALTH.3 SUCCESSES: It is SPOTLESS. SPARKLING CLEAN. You have never cleaned a room so well until today. -10 to AIRLOCK DC, you restore a LOTTA MENTAL HEALTH.
Rolled 40 + 14 (1d100 + 14)>>6281559
Rolled 62 + 14 (1d100 + 14)>>6281559
Rolled 57 + 14 (1d100 + 14)>>6281559
Through the power of actual cleaning supplies, you managed to clean your room. You got two successes!Your mother would be very proud.Writing.
You glance back at the computer. You nod approvingly at your own username - ANON0425. It's best to keep everything close to your chest until you can find some people you can actually trust here. You only met three or four people here and you barely know their names.But for now?It is time. To clean. You smile for the first time today. Oh, this is something you actually want to do. Cleaning has always been therapeutic to you. You can't fathom how some people can live like slobs or how they can let their houses get all kinds of filthy.You pop a few batteries into the CD player. You might as well play some tunes to listen to.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv4DvovU9rc - JAZZAh. Yeah, that's the good stuff. Jazz soothes the soul, you know.You dig through the cleaning supplies to get everything you need to start tidying this place up. You mix up a simple bleach/water mixture to help deal with the mold. One cup for one gallon, that's what your mom would always say.Time to clean.>2 SUCCESSES!It's slow but honest work. This place hasn't been cleaned in ages so most of the stains you see are caked on HARD. You have to put in some real shoulder grease to scrap everything off the walls.Good thing about the bleach mixture! It rapidly kills the cigarette mold on contact. The mold rapidly desiccates and shrivels up into flaky, dry sheets that you can easily scrap off the walls.You scrub every surface you can reach. The walls, underneath your computer, moving the tables to make sure you can clean their underside, and what little you can reach of the ceiling.The mold growing on the ceiling is already starting to dry and peel off. Hm. Just to make sure the cigarette mold samples aren't getting damaged by bleach fumes, you seal their beakers tightly with some covers you found in the HARVESTING KIT bundle.You stop cleaning after you got all you could off the walls, floor and ceiling. You take a deep breath of that bleach-filled air. The lab has been cleaned to the best of your ability! You can still faintly make out the tell-tale stench of cigarettes and dark, deep brown stains still cling to the walls.BUT! You disinfected it of all of its mold AND it actually looks like a lab now. You can see everything in their full glory! Well, 'full' glory. The walls are still a rusty brown from sheer lack of maintenance. There's still large sections with exposed piping and steam blasting out from them at irregular intervals.It's clean at least. That's the best you can hope for, frankly. >++MENTAL HEALTH! MENTAL HEALTH is now at SATISFIED!You'll have to repair the damages to it at a later time. You turn off the CD player before you head to your next task today - Dealing with the anomaly.You decide this is the time to jab the INSIGHT MODULE INSTALLER into yourself. You follow its instructions and insert the injector into your arm.A sharp pain flares through you but it stops as quickly as it started.
>INSIGHT MODULE INSTALLED!>INSIGHT HINTS ENABLED! Whenever you are working on an anomaly, you will be given clues on how to obtain certain artifacts from a anomaly.>Most anomalies will have at least two artifacts you may be able to extract. Some exceptions may apply.>Whenever you obtain a new anomaly, you will get a hint on two stimuli it will react neutrally or positively to.You grab your dossier folder as a makeshift notepad before opening the airlock.https://youtu.be/FHtCVu3JYPM - ANOMALY WORKNothing's changed about the anomaly so far. It's still the same old corpse flowerbed. Only difference is the grey flower that grew yesterday.The broom handle lays at the side of the flowerbed. The anomaly doesn't seem particularly interested in it anymore. It was a stop-gap measure before you could get better supplies. Must've kept it entertained while you were gone, at least.Its hands are opening and closing but at a sluggish speed. You know that's tied to the power grid failure at least, so it's not going to freak out yet if you can get it to stop.The flowers are still moving as if a breeze was blowing past them. The sickly sweet stench of rot hits your nose but it's numbed a bit from all of the bleach you had to smell an hour ago.You swear you heard a noise from it again. Hm. Well, it's time to do some experiments on it. Choose two experiments or work orders you want to try on it, Vincent.IN LIMBO MOOD: ???% >Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed to see what other unique anatomy it has. (DC 45, +1 from SURFACE LEVEL ANATOMY) >Try to communicate with the anomaly. Ask it some questions. (Write in what you want to ask it, up to three questions.)>Examine the flowers. Weird biomechanical flowers could be a novelty to sell at least. How do they work? (DC 40, ???.)>Play some music from your CD player. See how it reacts to the stimuli. (Choose WHITE NOISE, HEAVY METAL or SOFT JAZZ.)>Harvest some flowers from the corpse flowerbed to study later. Your harvesting kit should make it painless.>Offer it some food, batteries and water. Figure out how it gets its energy.>The room's a bit dusty. Clean the cell with your broom. You think it might appreciate it. >Bring in some toys to see how it reacts to them. It liked playing with the broom, yeah?>Write in.
>>6281607>>Offer it some food, batteries and water. Figure out how it gets its energy.>>Examine the flowers. Weird biomechanical flowers could be a novelty to sell at least. How do they work? (DC 40, ???.)
>>6281607>Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed to see what other unique anatomy it has. (DC 45, +1 from SURFACE LEVEL ANATOMY)>Examine the flowers. Weird biomechanical flowers could be a novelty to sell at least. How do they work? (DC 40, ???.)
>>6281607>The room's a bit dusty. Clean the cell with your broom. You think it might appreciate it.>Examine the flowers. Weird biomechanical flowers could be a novelty to sell at least. How do they work? (DC 40, ???.)
>>6281669+1
>>6281607>Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed to see what other unique anatomy it has. (DC 45, +1 from SURFACE LEVEL ANATOMY)>Play some music from your CD player. See how it reacts to the stimuli. (HEAVY METAL)
>>6281607>>The room's a bit dusty. Clean the cell with your broom. You think it might appreciate it.>Examine the flowers. Weird biomechanical flowers could be a novelty to sell at least. How do they work? (DC 40, ???.)
>>6281607>Try to communicate with the anomaly. Ask it some questions. (Write in what you want to ask it, up to three questions.)When were you born?Describe yourself. (age is most important)Where are you?>Examine the flowers. Weird biomechanical flowers could be a novelty to sell at least. How do they work? (DC 40, ???.)My guess so far is that it appears to generate energy from nostalgia, and takes energy from the surrounding environment when it has a deficit. Best treat it like an alzheimers patient. If we can figure out how well it can remember things, we can optimize energy generation through introducing memes from before it became an anomaly, then cycle through according to this period. Best place to start is to confirm this theory, and although my questions aren't masterfully crafted for it, we ought to start somewhere.I'd also like to figure out who named it "IN LIMBO", they might know more than we do, considering the state of the anomaly.Also best be careful with any bad memories, one of those might've been what killed our predecessor. After all, someone had to name it, and this name wasn't for nothing. Likely knew more about it than us, but oversights and complacency are the #1 killers of lab techs who don't die on their first week. Must've thought he had a good thing going till he stepped on an emotional landmine. Or maybe he didn't die in here at all? Best not to be the one to figure out in any case, that's where we'll have to hire someone for a day to test something potentially dangerous for us, obfuscating the finer details of course.Unless we can get those files on the computer unlocked, get us a better clue about the anomaly's pitfalls & function, or lack thereof.Or maybe I'm talking out my ass? What do you anons think?
>>6281725+1
>>6281860Change>>6281607>The room's a bit dusty. Clean the cell with your broom.>Examine the flowers.
>>6281607>Examine the flowers. Weird biomechanical flowers could be a novelty to sell at least. How do they work? (DC 40, ???.)>Offer it some food, batteries and water. Figure out how it gets its energy.
>>6281607>The room's a bit dusty. Clean the cell with your broom. You think it might appreciate it.>Play some music from your CD player. See how it reacts to the stimuli. (Choose WHITE NOISE, HEAVY METAL or SOFT JAZZ.)Soft Jazz
Today's update is going to be a bit delayed on account of my internet being out for hours. Apparently some jackasses working for another internet company cut some cables or wires by accident. Probably not going to get it back for another 5-6 at minimum and I'm not writing an update on mobile. Did the count and we're examining the flowers and were cleaning the cell.Three anons, roll 1d100, DC 40. You can't really know what to expect out of this so you won't get a threshold table ala the other checks.
Rolled 19 (1d100)>>6282053
Rolled 79 (1d100)>>6282053WITNESS ME
Rolled 13 (1d100)>>6282053
>>6282057I certainly witnessed something from you but the others? Oof. One success. Will start writing and I'll post when I'm actually able to. Hopefully won't take too long but who knows. Sorry for the inconvenience.
>>6282056>>6282057>>6282059yup, we really need buffs
>>6282062Couldnt you write it on a word processor or at least notepad while you wait?
Okay! Internet's back up. Update should be out soon.>>6282102Yeah? Internet was down, not the power.>>6282079Pft. Not sure how much buffs would've helped you here, a 19 and a 14 are pretty bad luck. Don't worry, you'll still learn SOMETHING (it's not like you got 0 successes)
The air's thick with a haze of what assume is either pollen or dust. Your first instinct tells you it's probably not pollen. One, it doesn't smell like anything and two, you're not sneezing up a storm. Though you're not sure if you have a pollen allergy or not. You don't really know a lot about the state of your own body, to be frank, it was all put on the back burner during your job.Hell, you don't remember the last time you got a check up. Two? Three years ago?Ah, what the hell, you're stalling for time because you don't want to work. You need to study this thing and nothing about what weird pollen it may or may not have will deter you from that. It's just another obligation you have to deal with. No point drowning in self pity right now. You got a job to do.You apologize to the corpse flower bed thing that you'll be RIGHT back but you gotta get a broom. It doesn't respond. Whether it's unable to or it simply had nothing to say, you'll have to figure that out later.While you're grabbing the broom, you pause for a moment. There's a noise that you couldn't quite make out but it's not inside your lab. It's outside. Probably a few hallways away with how muffled it was. It sounded heavy and metallic, though. You return to the containment cell.Cleaning up the cell was far easier and far quicker than you expected. There's not much to clean up in the cell so you're treating this more of a stimuli test. Does the anomaly care if its room is clean or not?You keep an eye on the anomaly as you clean, clean, clean like the good janitor you are. About twenty minutes later and this place is sparkling clean.Its hands have long since gone dormant. It hasn't been grasping for anything ever since you started cleaning up. You wait for a moment and even after a few minutes, there's no sign of it getting impatient/hungry/lonely/whatever causes the electricity to short.You scribble it down on the papers you stole from the folder. 'Returned to a calm state when its cell was cleaned.'It made YOU feel better too. All upside here, baby.You move onto your next bit of research - Its flowers. You hesitated on whether to go with the corpse or the flowers first but you're not sure how it would react to its body being messed with. Probably best to stick with a safer test this time around.>1 SUCCESS!You gently wrap your fingers around one of the flowers. The stem feels like any old power cord cable you'd find for cheap at a Walmart. Its surface is rubbery and cold with not much give to it from all of the wiring inside the plastic shell. The flower, however, looks exactly like any old flower you'd find growing in a field. The base of the flower is merged seamlessly with the power cable with no hint that they were ever separate objects.The petals feel as soft and fragile as any other flower's petals. There is something odd about the petals, though. When you put ANY pressure on them, their texture changes.
They go from feeling like how a flower petal feels to something metallic and rubbery. You test to see if it's just a surface feel thing and, no, they develop the same property as rubber. You pull on one of the flower petals but it simply stretches and distorts instead of ripping.Once you let go, it snaps back into its default form without taking any damage from your tampering.Your fingers are coated in a thin yellow powder. Hm, so it does produce pollen. Or something similar to it.You brush some of it off onto one of your sheets of paper. You could certainly study this with your microscope later.>POLLEN SAMPLE obtained!You don't figure out much about the flowers from this little experiment. You'll probably have to harvest them to learn more about them.You feel a tingle in your nose, like you're about to sneeze. Ah, some of the pollen must've gotten into your nose.Instead of sneezing, though, something odd happens. A memory you don't remember flashes through your mind.You're out in the parking lot with one of your friends. You're holding a camcorder your dad got you as a birthday gift! It's some brand new tech that's like a film camera but portable!You load a brand new VHS tape into it. Okay, you're going to film your friend doing a sick stunt on her skateboard! This is going to be fun!What happened after you started filming wasn't pretty. She immediately ate shit the moment she tried doing a trick.She just laughed it off, though. She wanted a copy of her fuckup later - So she can laugh at it later.You didn't get why she wanted to remember this but you're more than happy to help her!As soon as the memory started, it is washed right out of your mind. Your head feels all sorts of fuzzy and foggy like you just woke up from a bad dream.>-MENTAL HEALTH. Still CONTENT.Another flower blooms on the corpse bed. A sunflower with bright green petals pops up right next to the grey poppy. The same colors as your left and right eye.Odd.You let go of the flower you were examining. It's clear there's some significance between these odd memories and the flowers but the exact details still evade you.You'll have to study this later once you force that odd memory out of your head.You promptly exit the room.[You've interacted with IN LIMBO enough to unlock its MOOD!][IN LIMBO MOOD: 85/100. HIGH!]You place the pollen sample on the same table you're keeping the cigarette mold. You try to plan on what you're going to do next but your thoughts are cut off.KRRK...KRRK...THUD. KRRRK...KRRRK...THUD.You hear heavy, thunderous footsteps echoing somewhere down the hallway outside your lab. Something metallic is being dragged against the floor, sparking and scratching the steel floor. You're not sure what the fuck that is.[Occasionally, throughout your shift, time-limited encounters may occur. These chances increase as the day goes on.][These encounters may be good, bad, weird or neutral.]
[You'll only have the description of whatever you hear outside to gauge what encounter it might be.][They'll vanish if you don't pick them the turn they show up.]...What do you do, Vincent? You got 4 TIME TOKENS left. Pick two.TIME LIMITED>Check what's outside. (-1d2-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS, ???. You don't hear any alarms outside at least.)RESEARCH>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)>Examine the pollen you have with your microscope. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Reduces the DC of future checks involving the anomaly's flowers, lets you learn about the anomaly.)>Keep studying the slime mold. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 55. +8 to roll from HARVESTING KIT supplies and GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)>Head back into the CONTAINMENT CELL. Your head's clear now. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)BUSY WORK/SLACKING>Check for any more academic books you could use. (-1d3-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS. Gives you some more books to study to improve your SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC trait.)>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +4 to roll due to having TOOLS. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)>Check around on ABNOWATCH for any useful information about your anomaly. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 66. It's a long short but it doesn't cost much time.)>There's some people on FRIENDCHAT now! Ask them for any useful advice they have. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Check out whatever the FUCK is on the GRIMY FLOPPY DISK. (No TIME TOKEN cost. DC 65 for ??? reasons.)>WRITE IN (What do you want to do?)-----I apologize for the delay. We should be back to our regularly schedule wageslaving.
>>6282164>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)>Check out whatever the FUCK is on the GRIMY FLOPPY DISK. (No TIME TOKEN cost. DC 65 for ??? reasons.)
>>6282164>Check what's outside. (-1d2-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS, ???. You don't hear any alarms outside at least.)>Check out whatever the FUCK is on the GRIMY FLOPPY DISK. (No TIME TOKEN cost. DC 65 for ??? reasons.)
>>6282164>Check what's outside. (-1d2-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS, ???. You don't hear any alarms outside at least.)>Examine the pollen you have with your microscope. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Reduces the DC of future checks involving the anomaly's flowers, lets you learn about the anomaly.)
>>6282180Actually, scratch that. Changing my vote to this.>>6282176
>>6282176+1
>>6282164>Check what's outside. (-1d2-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS, ???. You don't hear any alarms outside at least.)>Check for any more academic books you could use. (-1d3-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS. Gives you some more books to study to improve your SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC trait.)
>>6282164>>Check what's outside. (-1d2-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS, ???. You don't hear any alarms outside at least.)>Check out whatever the FUCK is on the GRIMY FLOPPY DISK. (No TIME TOKEN cost. DC 65 for ??? reasons.)
>>6282164>There's some people on FRIENDCHAT now! Ask them WTF is in the hallways. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>>6282164>>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)>>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +4 to roll due to having TOOLS. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)
>>6282164>Check what's outside. (-1d2-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS, ???. You don't hear any alarms outside at least.)Just ETF delivering an anomaly. Go say hi! I'm sure they'll give us another reason to hate the ARC.>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)
>>6282164>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)Botany texts. We need the proper context to analyze the pollen.>Examine the pollen you have with your microscope. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Reduces the DC of future checks involving the anomaly's flowers, lets you learn about the anomaly.)>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)
>>6282335Shit, I can only choose two. Drop the pollen analysis for now.
Rolled 1 - 1 (1d2 - 1)Aight, let's seeOUTSIDE: jHo, Szu, KOO, tbi, CWx, y4z, 8KG, SqXGRIMY DISK: jHo, Szu, KOO, tbi, y4z, 8KGACADEMIC BOOKS: CWx, PPHSCRAP GUNK: jHo, GHI, SqX, PPHPOLLEN: PPHREPAIR: GHISTUDY BOOKS: PPHFWIEND: SV3Alright. Seems pretty locked. Going to make this a quicker update to make up for the staggered update last time. Rolling to see how many time tokens CHECK OUTSIDE costs.Three anons, roll 1d100 for the DISK.0 SUCCESS: ???1 SUCCESS: ???2 SUCCESSES ???3 SUCCESSES: 10000 hours of entertainment!!! Don't you want it? Don't you want it?
Rolled 63 (1d100)>>6282431GET THAT FUKKEN DISKwait we already have it it's right here
Rolled 56 (1d100)>>6282431WITNESS ME
Rolled 94 (1d100)>>6282431finally I can roll
Wow, two close rolls but only one actual success.Vincent's luck ain't the greatest, huh? Writing.
>>6282449basically 90% of our rolls
If your MAC's clock is correct, it's already pretty late into the afternoon. You don't really have much of your shift left before you have to call it quits.You got some decent progress done at least. You got access to the computer now, your lab is super clean and you studied the two anomalies you have. (The cigarette mold is probably anomaly adjacent at least).You yank the GRIMMY FLOPPY DISC out of your spacious pocket. This is probably going to take a moment to load so might as well load it up first.You shove it into the floppy disc tray.>1 SUCCESS!The computer immediately freezes the moment it realized what you shoved into it.A sickening noise emanates from the computer's speaker. Fleshy, wet noises like raw hamburger meat being pushed through a ricer ooze out. Oh, this disc is fucking haunted, isn't it?You step away from the computer just in case this thing explodes. You really hope it doesn't - You wasted so much time booting this thing up.Then, as if nothing happened, the computer stops making that god-awful noise.A new program pops up on the homescreen. "CPPQUEST.EXE". You hesitantly click on what seems like the world's most obvious virus.The computer loads it up with little to no effort. A garbled 1bit pixel title screen pops up. A low, distorted beep that might've been the game's title music crackles out from your speaker."CONTANI PROTTECT PROTECT QUEST.""PRESS A TO START. 100000 HOURS OF FUN FUN"Whatever happened to this disc, it seems like it's been severely corrupted. You press A to see what pops up.It immediately loads into a heavily corrupted and pixelated mess that, if you squint, resembles a random storage room somewhere in a facility just like yours."U ARE SOMEWHERE ADKR. WHAT DO?"There's a portrait of your character but it, like everything else, is corrupted and garbled. The only identifying characteristics of whatever you're controlling is that it has clawed hands.You quickly turn off the game. You've read enough early internet horror stories to know that thing is probably haunted to hell and back. There's no way it isn't....But, you are assigned to study the supernatural and abnormal. Maybe there's some value in playing that game?>CPPQUEST unlocked!KRRHH...THUD. KRRHH...THUD.Curiosity kills the cat but but satisfaction brought it back. You have to know what's out there. You can always deal with your computer later, it's not like that obviously ominous program is going anywhere.You hesitate right as you're about to open the door. You're not sure if you should bother whatever is out there but, fuck it, satisfaction brought the cat back.You swing the door open.https://youtu.be/BglCWYL_1fw - RANDOM ENCOUNTERYour door opens right as whatever was making that noise was walking past. What in the actual fuck are you looking at, though?A vaguely humanoid mass of steel stands right before you.
It towers far above you with its head nearly grinding against the ceiling with how tall it is. Its body is made out of a complex mess that was clearly assembled by a schizophrenic. The parts of its body vary in quality from literal garbage to things that'd probably belong to military contract combat models.Carried in its two claw-like hands is a featureless black box made out of an unidentifiable type of stone that's about the size of a large 24 inch shipping box. A stone box that big is probably way heavier than you are so this robot is freakishly strong.It gently puts the stone box down with the same care as if it was made out of glass. "I APOLOGIZE FOR THE NOISE." A heavily compressed, bit-crushed recording of a woman's voice crackles out of the machine's mouth. "I AM TRANSPORTING. ANOMALY CONTAINER. FOR. ETF AGENT. VERY IMPORTANT, AS YOU SEE." It pats the top of the box with its claw-like hand. You're still not sure what that box is made out of. It's almost as dark as that vantablack stuff you saw online once. A shadow given physical mass."ANALYZING. YOU ARE LOW RUNG RESEARCHER 'VINCENT', CORRECT?""U-uh. Yes." You gulp, hoping you didn't do something wrong. You're still not too sure about the rules here and, well, you rather not piss off a giant robot. "Sorry, I just heard the noise and-""IT IS. NO ISSUE TO ME."It kneels down to get a better look at you. It has a single red lens where an eye might be on a human's face. It looks behind you to check on your lab. It beeps out something resembling a sigh."ANALYZING LAB. LOADING EMOTION OF: DISAPPOINTMENT AT: UPPER MANAGEMENT.""I AM. CARRYING AUTOMATION #821. I CAN. CARRY SOMETHING TO YOUR LAB. FOR FREE.""Wait, huh?" Free stuff? Offered by a robot made by this facility? This almost feels like a trick but..."WHAT DO YOU. WANT ME TO CARRY? CAN ONLY CARRY. A FEW THINGS. WITHOUT DETECTION."Well! You might as well take it (her?) up on this offer. What do you want it to deliver? Choose one.>Some weapons. A gun would be nice but anything that could protect you better than a flimsy knife.>Protective gear. A gas mask, a hazmat suit, anything to protect you from contamination. >Money and valuables. Anything to pay for future supplies or to keep Upper Management off your ass.>Botanical supplies. Watering cans, plant food, etc. You got a flower based anomaly after all.>Medical supplies. Bandages, pain killers, drugs, etc. You don't like your odds of dealing with the doctors that work here.>Ask it for its services tomorrow instead. A robot friend sounds cool. (DC 55.)>Some good luck charms. You've felt pretty unlucky today.>Write in.Do you ask it anything? >Write in. (You may ask it up to three questions.)
>>6282470HELLO NURSE!>Ask it for its services tomorrow instead. A robot friend sounds cool. (DC 55.)Honestly I want the botanical supplies more, and we probably won’t even really need her help at all tomorrow, but I really REALLY want to be bffs with a gigantic robot>So, *point to stone cube* any idea what’s in that?>Wait-if you’re number 821, does that mean there’s 821 of you here???>And pardon me for saying this, but are you…huh “up to factory standard?” As they say?The last one is basically seeing if she needs a hand getting better parts for herself AKA a better opportunity to become stronger allies with her.
>>6282486+1I want to associate this robot. It be beneficial in the long-term.
>>6282472>Botanical supplies. Watering cans, plant food, etc. You got a flower based anomaly after all.
>>6282486+1This guy can definitely break into those other airlocks.
>>6282486+1
>>6282472>Money and valuables. Anything to pay for future supplies or to keep Upper Management off your ass.
>>6282472>>Ask it for its services tomorrow instead. A robot friend sounds cool. (DC 55.)
>>6282472>Write in.A nice bed. I don't wanna sleep in the crowded military bunks.
>>6282163Hey uhThe flowers seem to contain memories.A flower based on vincent popped up after interacting.Did we, forget something? If it's some childhood memory it'll probably be really hard to tell we've lost anything but, I think this is definitely worth keeping in mind with future interaction.In a similar vein, if this thing can grow more flowers without them ever disappearing, that's its own potential future issue. This is the sort of fine detail that's not really necessary for making decisions but if you're willing to indulge QM, how many flowers are currently in the flowerbed, and how much room does it look like it has for more?
>>6282649I'll answer before I go to bed.1.) To your knowledge, you aren't forgetting anything. Nothing that you can readily remember anyways.2.) You don't have an exact count but there's about at least 70 flowers on the flower bed. There's enough volume and they're big enough to obscure all but the corpse's arms.3.) Not accounting for the arms, there is still enough room for flowers to grow. It had enough to grow two, after all.
>>6282472>>Botanical supplies. Watering cans, plant food, etc. You got a flower based anomaly after all.Although I wouldn't mind >>6282486
>>6282472>Ask it for its services tomorrow instead. A robot friend sounds cool. (DC 55.)
Aight. Seems like people are mostly going for Aqy's vote.Let's get going.Three anons, roll 1d100+3 (The robot pities you.) Table below.0 SUCCESSES: It doesn't accept the offer and it'll bring you some botanical supplies instead.1 SUCCESS: It hesitantly accepts and it'll cost a lot to hire it.2 SUCCESS: It accepts the offer and it won't cost an insane amount to hire.3 SUCCESSES: ???. You know it'll be good, at least!
Rolled 50 + 3 (1d100 + 3)>>6282792
Rolled 71 (1d100)>>6282792tfw three coin flips and its pitty is only worth 3>>6282793So close but so far
Rolled 89 (1d100)>>6282792nat 100
>>6282794Tell you what. I was hesitant to include another bonus since I didn't know if it applied but.This thing is probably slightly more respected than you are.You get +2 from a partial activation of WAGESLAVE. y4z is now 55, right on the money.
>>6282795>>6282794>>6282793And with that last second bonus, that means this is the first time ever you got three successes.You're certainly getting a new robot friend. I imagine Aqy is very happy at this development. Writing.
>>6282797WOOOOOOOOO
>>6282797It's way too early in this quest to be receiving the Pelvis Crusher
Your words fail you. A deep primordial instinct overwhelms the rational part of your brain. A mixture of hormones, opioids and other naturally generated chemicals floods through your bloodstream. There is only one thing on your mind. One thing that matters more than anything else.waow cool robot vvverrryyy cool.You immediately force that part of your brain back into statis. You're a professional. You're taking this job seriously, even if you don't want to do it, because it's your obligation to do so.But.Cool robot."Say, mind if you answer a few questions for me?""NO. ISSUE HERE." The automaton struggles to speak through its bitcrushed, poorly-maintained voicebox. "CARRYING AUTOMATION #821 IS. A FRIEND.""Automation? Not automaton?" "IS THAT DESIGNATION WRONG?" "Not important. Okay, first off, #821? There's 821 of you?""YES. TO OFFER A MORE. DETAILED NAME, I AM SUPERNATURAL ARTIFACT CARRYING AUTOMATION #821. SACA FOR SHORT. I USE." A small wisp of smoke leaks out of one of the doll-like joints in SACA's shoulder. "A [DATA EXPUNGED - RANK TOO LOW] MODEL LLM TO. UNDERSTAND ORDERS AND TO. RESPOND LIKE A HUMAN.""So, does that mean you're the latest one?""YES. HOWEVER, ABNORMALITY REGULATION COALATION HAS MADE. MANY OTHER ROBOTS LIKE ME TO. DO OTHER SPECIFIC TASKS. THERE IS MORE THAN 821 ROBOTS OF MY. 'INTELLIGENCE' IN THIS FACILITY.""Right. If you had to roughball how many robots there are with similar capabilities to you, how many would there be?""ROUGHLY. THREE THOUSAND. MOST OTHER AUTOMATION. PERSONNEL ARE NOT. MEANT TO TALK." Alright, so they apparently have enough of a budget to make robots powered with AI before it got slashed. You're still wondering why and how that budget got slashed to begin with since this job seems REALLY important to fund.Oh well. You can ask about that later."So." You point to the vantablack stone cube it was carrying. "Do you have any idea what's in that?"SACA snaps its head at an unnatural angle to look at the cube in question. "I AM NOT AUTHORIZED TO KNOW. I WAS TOLD TO CARRY. SO I DO.""Yeah, that tracks.""I KNOW ONE THING - HEARD FROM 'EXTRACTION TASK FORCE' ROXXIE. IT WAS A CENTIPEDE THAT COULD TALK. A CENTIPEDE THAT WANTED TO SELL THINGS TO YOU, FOR A PROFIT. THAT IS ALL I KNOW."Interesting. At least that confirms there are some anomalies that are sapient and/or have the capability for speech besides the mysterious MAN. You suppose you couldn't have expected any more detail from that kind of question. There's only one more on your mind before you shoot your shot."Sorry if this is offensive to, uh, robots or something?" You're winging this. You're not even sure if it has the capacity to be angry. "Are you up to 'factory standard'? As they say? I think?"SACA blankly stares at you with its singular, unblinking red eye. "I CARRY. I AM FUNCTIONING.""I guess that's true but do you feel like your ability to carry isn't, uh, up to par?" SACA continues to blankly stare at you.
Did you just stuck your foot in your mouth with that question? SACA leans down real, real low to be on eye level with you. You have to lean away to avoid getting blinded by how BRIGHT its eye is."YES. I DO NOT BELIEVE YOU HAVE THE EXPERTISE TO REPAIR ME, THOUGH.""Well, look, I got a toolbox and some spare parts. I could try." "YOU COULD." It bluntly responds. You wait for it to continue speaking but the conversation dies then and there. At least it didn't reject the proposal, at least?"Look." You decide to shoot your shot. "I would like to hire you for your services. You seem like a very capable robot and, uh." You try to find the best way to say what you're about to say. Your social skills are incredibly rusty outside of basic small talk."It's probably better that I work with people instead of working alone, right? So, uh, I think a impressive piece of machinery like you as a friend would be cool. Would you-">3 SUCCESSES!SACA promptly shushes you with a claw-like hand. "YOUR SITUATION IS. PITIFUL. I WAS DESIGNED TO. ASSIST HUMANS IN ANY TASK THEY. ASK OF ME.""AND. AS YOU SAID. 'TO BE FRANK'." It does its best to make air quotes with its two fingered claw hands. "YOU NEED. ASSISTANCE, NO?"You rapidly nod your head. "I WILL. BE WILLING TO HELP. THIS IS NOT AUTHORIZED BY UPPER MANAGEMENT SO I NEED. MONETARY PAYMENT TO KEEP THEM FROM QUESTIONING OUR ARRANGEMENT."Of course. It's all about money at the end of the day. You sigh, "How much?""$100. MY SUPERVISOR IS. EASY TO BRIBE." Okay! That's at least cheaper than hiring the MAN, at least. SACA shifts its head to look at your lab again. It lets out a noise that you think might've been a sigh of disappointment."NEED TO GO. HAVE TO CARRY THINGS. WILL DELIVER SOME GOODS TOMORROW. SEE YOU.""If they can be botanical, that'd be nice!""UNDERSTOOD.">Because you got 3 SUCCESSES, you're getting a small amount of botanical supplies as well. It won't be a lot but it's more than nothing.SACA picks up the vantablack stone box with as much effort as you'd put in to pick up a piece of paper. You mull over what value that robot could bring. It's probably not going to be useful for anything that isn't menial labor. Probably couldn't fit into a containment cell either. You're not even sure if it's sapient in the way you are.But that thing is freakishly strong. It'd probably be real good to help with larger scale manual labor products that would be too much for a human to do. Probably a decent fighter if an anomaly ever breaks out.Well. You can mull over that later. You promptly reenter your lab.What do you do, Vincent? You still got 4 TIME TOKENS. Choose two.RESEARCH>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)>Examine the pollen you have with your microscope. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Reduces the DC of future checks involving the anomaly's flowers, lets you learn about the anomaly.)(1/2)
>Keep studying the slime mold. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 55. +8 to roll from HARVESTING KIT supplies and GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)>Head back into the CONTAINMENT CELL. Your head's clear now. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this thing hold? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 25. Might not be the healthiest thing for your body or mind.)BUSY WORK/SLACKING>Check for any more academic books you could use. (-1d3-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS. Gives you some more books to study to improve your SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC trait.)>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +4 to roll due to having TOOLS. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)>Check around on ABNOWATCH for any useful information about your anomaly. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 66. It's a long short but it doesn't cost much time.)>There's some people on FRIENDCHAT now! Ask them for any useful advice they have. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>WRITE IN (What do you want to do?)
>>6282826>Examine the pollen you have with your microscope. >Keep studying the slime mold.
>>6282825>Examine the pollen you have with your microscope. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Reduces the DC of future checks involving the anomaly's flowers, lets you learn about the anomaly.)>Check for any more academic books you could use. (-1d3-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS. Gives you some more books to study to improve your SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC trait.)
>>6282826>Examine the pollen you have with your microscope.>Check for any more academic books you could use
>>6282852+1
>>6282826>>6282825>Check for any more academic books you could use. (-1d3-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS. Gives you some more books to study to improve your SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC trait.)>Examine the pollen you have with your microscope. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Reduces the DC of future checks involving the anomaly's flowers, lets you learn about the anomaly.)
>>6282845Change >>6282852+1
>>6282826>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this thing hold? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 25. Might not be the healthiest thing for your body or mind.)
>>6282826>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this thing hold? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 25. Might not be the healthiest thing for your body or mind.)>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)
Rolled 2 - 1 (1d3 - 1)Aight, normally I'd let the vote go on longer but uhPOLLEN: CWx, jHo, soe, tbi, KOO, y4z, SqXMORE BOOKS: CWx, jHo, soe, tbi, KOO, y4z, SqXSTUDY: SXG, XROCPPQUEST: SXG, XROThis is incredibly lopsided. There's no way 6 dudes pop out to vote for STUDY and CPPQUEST to swing the vote. That and I think I can crank out an update before bed.Two anons, roll 1d6 to see what you get while I roll the 1d3-1 to see how much time this eats up. If you roll the same number twice, the book you find is more indepth about the subject and it gives you +2 instead of +1 on your first read.1 = BOTANICAL (Grants you +1 to any plant-based knowledge check.)2 = ENGINEERING (Grants you +1 to repairing and understanding basic machinery.)3 = ZOOLOGY (Grants you +1 to checks involving animal behavior and anatomy.)4 = INDUSTRY (Grants you +1 to checks involving repairing your lab or constructing new equipment)5 = PHYSICAL EDUCATION (Grants you +1 to any check that involves training your body. Helps you to get those GAINS.)6 = BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE (Grants you +1 to figuring out the intentions of both people and anomalies. Speeds up how fast you figure out their MOOD as well.)
Rolled 4 (1d6)>>6283070ok
Rolled 5 (1d6)>>6283070
Industry and physical education it is.Entering my writing cage. Update shouldn't take too long.
You should probably study that pollen sample. There's something that's been nagging you about those flowers - Every time you get close to them...Those memories flash through your mind. Memories that are not your own. Well, two of them weren't, there was that vague memory about your job. Maybe you can figure out something with the new equipment you got.You try to clean the dust off your labcoat but it sticks to it like tar. You examine your hand and, hm, dust isn't normally yellow is it?Your head is starting to feel fuzzy again. You're cleaning this labcoat the MOMENT you're done examining the sample.You unwrap the perfectly packaged microscope that's sitting inside the HARVESTING KIT. It's an old model that you'd see in a public school science lab but it's still usable.You put some of the pollen you got onto one of its slides. It's not going to be the prettiest image but you're working with what you have here. You fiddle with the microscope's zoom so you can actually get a good look at the pollen.You narrow your one good eye to make sure you're seeing everything in as much detail as possible. The image begins to focus and focus until you see it! You thought it was pollen at first but hahaha! No! That's not what you're seeing underneath the microscope.On the slide, the yellow powder is revealed to be made out of staticky yellow balls that reminds you of TV static on an old CRT TV. Their shape shifts and stretches with little rhyme or reason. Sometimes they shift into long thin lines, other times they change into tiny yellow dots. You even catch them moving like waves for a brief moment before they return to their 'default' ball shape. You'd guess the anomaly's 'pollen' is trying its best to remain in a shape similar to what pollen would look like. Yet, it's as if the pollen itself can hardly remember what shape to stay in.There's one thing that catches your eye upon closer examination of the 'pollen'. You can make out very, VERY grainy images imprinted on their surfaces.It's nearly impossible to get a good look with how rapidly they shift but you can make out the imprints of faces and landscapes on the pollen itself. You think you even saw a glimpse of one of the memories you had forced in your head amongst the pollen sample.You lean away from the microscope after you processed what you just saw. So that's how it forced its memories into your head. The flowers produce pollen that seems to 'contain' the memories inside. You must've accidently inhaled some of it while you were examining the anomaly.It doesn't fully explain why or how the anomaly grows new flowers after you're done experiencing a memory. You don't understand the mechanics of its...'reproduction' cycle yet. It should be enough to reduce the risk of being mentally assaulted by foreign memories, at least.You give it the tentative name of "STATIC POLLEN" given its properties. Maybe the pollen itself could be an avenue for profit?
You're not sure how, though. You just have a gut feeling.You quickly wash your labcoat in some of the water you have left over from your CLEANING SUPPLIES bundle. You might as well do something while you wait for it to dry.You skim through your organized bookshelves for any books that might catch your eye. A lot of the books are clearly way, way too outdated to be of any use to you. A few of them are even from the 1900s. The only reason they haven't decayed into dust is that, for whatever reason, the cigarette mold didn't feel like eating them.You manage to find TWO that catch your interest. SWOLENESS: THE MEANING OF MASCULINITY and HOW TO SAVE MONEY: REPAIR YOUR OWN SHIT!They're clearly cheap, sloppy books bought from the internet. Their covers have poorly edited stock art with garish filters slapped on them. It's about the best you can expect from a facility that misspells stuff all the time in their catalogs and robots.You sit down by your old struggling PC. There's not a lot of time left in your shift, you'll probably have to clock out soon enough. Best to start reading.The first book is what you could expect out of a fitness book written by a internet jock. A lot of the advice is clearly nonsense that would do nothing aside from wasting your own time. A few of the lines in it do catch your attention. The actual dietary advice seems remarkably sound and well educated. The more simple, by the books exercises written in it are the type you could actually do while working.Hell, maybe you can do a few of these before going to bed to help you relax. It might actually help you to get some sleep.>+1 to future PHYSICAL STRENGTH checks!The second book is remarkably boring to read. A lot of it is very dry and to the point instructions on how to repair stuff. You were expecting something engagingly bad to read but nah. It's just a basic instruction manual on house repairs. There's only a few interesting tangents in it - Something about the flammability of certain gasses and how to best avoid any potential gas leaks.Heh. An old memory of you watching a TV show where a bad guy gets killed by a gas leak resurfaces. That would be cool if you could actually set it up if, say, an anomaly breaks out.You shake your head - No, no, it's probably better to NOT let something break out than to do some TV stunt to subdue them.>+1 to future repair checks and for creating new equipment!You check the clock on your Macintosh. 5 PM. Your shift is probably going to end in the next one hour or two. Best to think about what you wanna do. You could either use that time to do one time-intensive project so you don't have to worry about it tomorrow OR two smaller projects to wrap up the day.You have 2 TIME TOKENS. Choose either ONE 2 token action or TWO 1 token actions.
2 TIME TOKEN ACTIONS>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +5 to roll due to having TOOLS and some basic handyman knowledge. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)>Study the books you have. Knowledge is power. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1, improves the bonus to either PHYSICAL STRENGTH or HANDYMAN tasks by 1)>Keep studying the CIGARETTE MOLD and the STATIC POLLEN. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 55, +10 from GUNK KNOWLEDGE/HARVESTING KIT SUPPLIES.)>Try to make some makeshift armor out of the supplies you have. (-2 TIME TOKEN, DC 45, +1 from handyman knowledge. Should help to protect you from the anomaly's spores and from physical damage from any future anomalies.)1 TIME TOKEN ACTIONS>Do a surface level playthrough of CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this thing hold? (-1 TIME TOKENS, DC 35. Might not be the healthiest thing for your body or mind.)>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)>Check around on ABNOWATCH for any useful information about your anomaly. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 62. You have a better idea on what keywords to search after studying the POLLEN.)>There's some people on FRIENDCHAT now! Ask them for any useful advice they have. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Head back into the CONTAINMENT CELL. Best to get the anomaly in a good mood before you clock out (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Do some basic exercises. Get those tensed up muscles all nice and loose. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)MISC>Write in (What do you want to do?)
>>6283144>Keep studying the CIGARETTE MOLD and the STATIC POLLEN. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 55, +10 from GUNK KNOWLEDGE/HARVESTING KIT SUPPLIES.)DC 45 is pretty good.
>>6283144>Keep studying the CIGARETTE MOLD and the STATIC POLLEN. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 55, +10 from GUNK KNOWLEDGE/HARVESTING KIT SUPPLIES.)
>>6283144>Keep studying the CIGARETTE MOLD and the STATIC POLLEN.
>>6283144>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)>Check around on ABNOWATCH for any useful information about your anomaly. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 62. You have a better idea on what keywords to search after studying the POLLEN.)
>>6283144>>Keep studying the CIGARETTE MOLD and the STATIC POLLEN. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 55, +10 from GUNK KNOWLEDGE/HARVESTING KIT SUPPLIES.)
>>6283144>Do some basic exercises. Get those tensed up muscles all nice and loose. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)
>>6283144>Try to make some makeshift armor out of the supplies you have. (-2 TIME TOKEN, DC 45, +1 from handyman knowledge. Should help to protect you from the anomaly's spores and from physical damage from any future anomalies.)
>>6283144>Keep studying the CIGARETTE MOLD and the STATIC POLLEN. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 55, +10 from GUNK KNOWLEDGE/HARVESTING KIT SUPPLIES.)I’m ready to roll HIGH
>>6283144>Keep studying the CIGARETTE MOLD and the STATIC POLLEN. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 55, +10 from GUNK KNOWLEDGE/HARVESTING KIT SUPPLIES.)We're making good headway here. Once we can figure out how to make money from at least one thing, we'll be more secure in standing and they might not kill us for having nothing to show
>>6283140Hm. We probably want to get our hands on a respirator so we can safely study the pollen. In that vein... >>6283144>FRIENDCHATWe can ask for general advice but I'm mostly looking to find a respirator to keep the pollen out. >ABNOWATCHAnd once we've succeeded or failed we might as well see what we can find.
Aight, seems like studying the CIGARETTE MOLD and STATIC POLLEN won out.Let's get the ball rolling. Would've closed sooner but God sent a storm my way.Three anons, roll 1d100+10. Table below. 0 SUCCESSES: You learn a little bit more about both of them. That's it.1 SUCCESS: You learn a little bit about the POLLEN and you have a theory on what you could make out of the SLIME MOLD.2 SUCCESSES: You learn a decent amount about the POLLEN and you unlock an recipe to create something profitable with SLIME MOLD!3 SUCCESSES: Same as 2 SUCCESSES but you have a theory on what you might be able to make with the POLLEN.
Rolled 14 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>6283425ez
Rolled 88 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>6283425
Rolled 21 (1d100)>>6283425C'mon...
Ha. Sorry, sometimes luck just isn't on your side. Sucks to suck.On the upside, you'll still have an idea what you can craft with the SLIME MOLD later. It's not a total wash.Writing.
Fuck it - You need to make money off of the samples you have. That's the reason they kidnapped you after all. You don't have a set deadline yet but you have to at least pretend to play by their rules. Your obligation.Also, the catalog. You can't buy stuff without money, jackass. You can't just steal shit to make ends meet like your grandpappy used to do.You check the sample of pollen you still have underneath the microscope. It hasn't shown any new properties yet but you got some tests you wanna run on it. The anomaly this came from was able to interfere with the electrical grid. What if that property transferred over to the pollen?You place one of the batteries by the microscope. If the pollen could mess with electricity, this should be close enough to notice it. The effective range of the anomaly was enough to affect your whole lab after all.The pollen begins to react bizarrely to the close proximity of a source of electricity. The already unstable shapes twist and contort into smears of yellow static that are impossible to read. It reminds you of those videos of a dude pressing a magnet against a TV to mess with its display.The distortion weakens whenever you move the battery away from the pollen. You flinch as you move the battery away. It's ice cold now. You quickly test something by loading the battery into the CD player. It still works but the CD player immediately flashes a "LOW BATTERY" alert on its display. Odd, you were certain it was at full charge when you got it.You examine the pollen to see how it changed after the current was cut. There's suddenly a lot more staticky yellow orbs floating around in the slide. The images encrypted or 'etched' into them are also a lot clearer now. You can make out distinct faces and backgrounds where you otherwise could only see faint impressions.Most of the images seem to just be copies of ones you already saw. You somehow cloned the pollen just from having an available power source nearby.You wonder if this transfers over to the anomaly itself as well - Is THAT what it feeds off of? The lights were flickering whenever it wasn't being directly interacted with. It could've just been hungry. Noted.That's all you could figure out for now. You try a few other random things but no other object you bring close to the sample brings out any reaction.You remove the sample from the microscope. You place a new sample of the CIGARETTE MOLD onto a slide to see what it looks like underneath.At this zoom, the slime mold fades away into small little brown orbs that have sharp, jagged spikes surrounding their spores. Nothing unusual there but you want to see how its plastic dissolving abilities works at this level. You carefully introduce some plastic shavings onto the slide.The spores immediately swim over to the plastic. A thin liquid is spat out of the holes in front of the spores and onto the plastic itself.
The plastic shaving begins to dissolve into a mush that the spores is able to slurp up.Interesting. You egg it on to spit out some more liquid before promptly moving to collect the liquid coated plastic.You examine the liquid with your limited chemical testing supplies. Whatever it just spat out is filled to the brim with digestive enzymes. There's one that dissolves plastic, yes, but there's also enzymes that allow for the digestion of meat, fruits and leaves.Odd. It can digest meat but it refuses to be in direct contact with it. You carefully put some of the enzyme heavy fluid onto a small slice of spam you placed on another microscope slide. The fluid rapidly dissolves at the spam until there's nothing left but a heavily dissolved meat slurry. Huh! You don't really have a good way of producing, harvesting or even modifying this fluid to dissolve other things BUT this is honestly remarkable. An enzyme slurry that's able to digest microplastic alongside food waste?This could be something you could sell. The issue is finding out how to actually get enough of it to experiment with. You only managed to get a very small amount of it from your quick test - Not remotely enough to dissolve anything of value.You'll certainly keep that in mind whenever you come back here to do more science stuff.>END OF SHIFT has arrived!https://youtu.be/0aLYcW6qM-k - SHIFT COMPLETE!Two sharp digital notes crackle out from the speakers outside. The same tired woman from yesterday speaks up, "Attention, uh, all researchers." You can still hear her shuffling through some papers. "The work day is over. Please head to the cafeteria. Oh, quick announcement for our, uh, new Level 0 and Level 1 recruits.""Tomorrow, you will be getting your first sponsorships. For that sick cash money. Not all recruits will get one so, uh, lucky you if you find one. I guess. I dunno." The intercom crackles off.You re-equip your now dried labcoat. You quickly shut off your computer so it doesn't burn itself out from staying on too long and you spend a few minutes putting everything up. You make sure the CIGARETTE MOLD samples are nice and secure before you exit the lab.You do some basic stretches now that your shift is done and over with. God, you really do need to exercise. Your body feels like it belongs to an old man. Guess sitting around on your ass like a lazy sack of shit does not do a body good, does it?You mull over what you'll do now that you're off the clock. You could go directly to the cafeteria, sure, but there's a few locations of interest you could check out instead. You might also wanna use this free time to do personal projects or to, well, unwind. What do you do, Vincent? Pick the first thing you wanna do - You'll have time to do two, MAYBE three, things before being sent to your barracks to do catalog shopping.
>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. a d100+4 will be rolled to determine what you get.)>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to 'borrow' some medical supplies. They might also have some protective gear you can take.>Head down to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. You want to talk to some other researchers, maybe they can give some advice.>Head down to the HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE. You have a gut feeling a certain turtleneck wearing fucker is there. You got some questions to ask him.>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with your acquaintances.)>Head back to LOST AND FOUND. Let's see what goodies you can steal this time. (DC 43. You may write in a category of items to look for.)>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)
>>6283506>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with your acquaintances.)>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to 'borrow' some medical supplies. They might also have some protective gear you can take.
>>6283521I should clarify, you're doing the FIRST thing you're doing. So, you're only picking one thing this vote.
>>6283506>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with your acquaintances.)Get the grub before they're out!!1
>>6283506>Head back to LOST AND FOUNDI still want a respirator. >>6283497Hm. Seems like it does eat electricity but that we would rather not feed it too often before we get some PPE. I don't suppose any of the batteries included were car batteries were they?
>>6283579In reflection I'm gonna adjust my vote to MEDBAY.I didn't see it the first time I read the post (and they'll at least have surgical masks. Unless we can get N95 masks they won't be perfect for keeping the pollen out but it's better than nothing. Though if we score a full hazmat suit I'm gonna laugh). >>6283506>MEDBAY
>>6283506>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with your acquaintances.)I want to hit up the medbay after.
>>6283506>Head down to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. You want to talk to some other researchers, maybe they can give some advice.>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with your acquaintances.)
>>6283579>I don't suppose any of the batteries included were car batteries were they?Nope. Only AA batteries. You might be able to get stronger batteries if you're lucky with the catalog, via the lost and found or by asking other employees for supplies.A car battery would be overkill considering the only thing you need to power separately is a CD player.
>>6283506>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with your acquaintances.)
>>6283522My bad.>>6283521>>6283506>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to 'borrow' some medical supplies. They might also have some protective gear you can take.
>>6283506>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)
>>6283506>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with your acquaintances.)Consume the slop.
>>6283506>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yucky. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with your acquaintances.)
>>6283506>>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)
I think we should try to find out what happened to the guy in that lab who was there before us. Pretty likely they had some kind of connection to the fact its now covered in slime mold. Not sure where would be best to find out about that though.>Head down to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGEfor now
>>6283506>Head to the CAFETERIA.
The delicious allure of SLOP overrides your brain's higher functions. You didn't eat anything all day. Not that you couldn't but the food at the lab? You already had enough spam, white bread, ramen and ice soup for a life time.At least the congealed sludge they're serving at the cafeteria is better than nothing. You check your map to remind yourself where it is, hard to explore this maze of a place without it.The man said something about the layers getting bigger as you get closer to the bottom. If this layer is already big enough that you need a map...You shudder. Hopefully you don't need to head to any of the other layers any time soon.You focus on the map as you head down the hallway. A crowd of your fellow coworkers, all getting off their own shifts, brushes past you. All of them clearly have one thing in mind - The allure of the free and plentiful SLUDGE produced by the facility's lunch ladies.You glance up from your map to see how everyone else is handling themselves.Oh. They look hollow eyed and dead inside. Excellent, so like you. Eyes back on the map.You put up your map now that you're probably close enough to the cafeteria to find it on your own. Right as you do, you find yourself bumping int someone you didn't notice in the crowd."Sorry-"You immediately shut up when you see the barrel of a bolt action rifle pointed right at you.The tall, muscular man holding the rifle is fuming mad at the absolutely minor inconvenience of being bumped into. His wild, bloodshot eyes have narrowed into tiny little red pinpricks. His mouth is twisted into a snarling, seething sneer reminiscent more of a wild beast than a man. You raise your hands up in surrender.On closer examination, there's something weird about how the man is dressed.A tattered, ash-stained USA flag is draped over his white labcoat like a cape. His cape is stained in a thin layer of ash and gunpowder that reeks like hell itself. The weirdest part is how no one else notices what's happening between the two of you. As if this was completely normal."Don't ever do that again, freakshit. Nearly blew your head right off." He growls with a low, gravelly voice."I won't????" You stammer out a confused apology."Good. My bullets never miss, gotcha? " "Y-yes, sir?" You really don't want to disagree with the man with the gun.The rifle-wielding man turns around and continues on his merry way as if nothing just happened. Is there something in the water here??? Shouldn't security be doing something about this guy?Yet, as you stand there completely disoriented by what just happened, no one bothers to acknowledge what just happened.You. You better just get something to eat and forget all about this.The cafeteria is a lot more packed than it was last time. There's a couple new faces you haven't seen before. You mull over who to talk to as you wait in line.Choose one ACQUAINTANCE to check up with and two NEW FACES to talk to!
ACQUAINTANCES>Check up with the MAN. You bet he has some information to tell you.>Check up with your GAUNT COWORKER. She seems a bit healthier than the last time you saw her.>Check up with ASHTON. She was pretty nice when you met her for the first time. Might as well get to know her.>Check up with ANHTONY. See how he's doing and how much it'd cost to hire him. Maybe also ask him about the rifle-wielding man.Doesn't seem like SACA is here. That tracks, it was a giant shipping/cargo carrying robot. Not like it would be eating here.NEW FACES>WILD EYED RESEARCHER. She's still staring at you. This lady looks like a fucking nutcase. What's her deal?>MAN IN TACTICAL GEAR. He's wolfing down some high quality chow. Probably one of the 'ETF' agents you heard about on the dossiers. See what intel he has.>BEANIE-WEARING RESEARCH. She's waving at you. She's clearly trying to get your attention for some reason. Check up on her.>RIFLE-WIELDING MAN. He's still here, huh? Ignore your better judgement and try to figure out what's up with him.>A KID? He can't be any older than eight, maybe nine. Where are his parents?>A ROBOT? It's struggles to move its clunky, robotic limbs to eat the food provided to it. Another robot friend couldn't hurt.As you mull over who to talk to, you remember also have that FOOD COUPON you found at the lab. Wanna use it?>YES. FOR YOURSELF. (Massively increases how much PHYSICAL HEALTH you restore from your meal.)>YES. FOR YOUR ACQUAINTANCE. (Increases your rapport with them, lowering how much it'll cost to work with them in the future.)>YES. GIFT IT TO ONE OF THE NEW FACES. (Gives you a better first impression with them. Write in which one to give it to.)>NO. KEEP IT FOR LATER. (Self explanatory.) --- Would've closed earlier but I had to be in town for a while.After you chit chat, you'll get to pick your last two locations to check out before CATALOG TIME.
>>6284058>Check up with your GAUNT COWORKER. She seems a bit healthier than the last time you saw her.>BEANIE-WEARING RESEARCH. She's waving at you. She's clearly trying to get your attention for some reason. Check up on her.>A KID? He can't be any older than eight, maybe nine. Where are his parents?Damn, they'll hire anyone.>NO. KEEP IT FOR LATER. (Self explanatory.)
>>6284059>Check up with your GAUNT COWORKER. She seems a bit healthier than the last time you saw her.Hope they're better compared to collapsing into meat slurry in the hallway levels of "bad">BEANIE-WEARING RESEARCH. She's waving at you. She's clearly trying to get your attention for some reason. Check up on her.Take a short survey? Y/N>WILD EYED RESEARCHER. She's still staring at you. This lady looks like a fucking nutcase. What's her deal?Bad idea, but...>NO. KEEP IT FOR LATER. (Self explanatory.)This is extremely good as a bargaining chip. I wanna clutch cards close until we get a better measure of who we're around and what we're dealing with.
>>6284059>>Check up with ASHTON. She was pretty nice when you met her for the first time. Might as well get to know her.>BEANIE-WEARING RESEARCH. She's waving at you. She's clearly trying to get your attention for some reason. Check up on her.>RIFLE-WIELDING MAN. He's still here, huh? Ignore your better judgement and try to figure out what's up with him.>YES. FOR YOUR ACQUAINTANCE. (Increases your rapport with them, lowering how much it'll cost to work with them in the future.)
>>6284059>Check up with your GAUNT COWORKER. She seems a bit healthier than the last time you saw her.>WILD EYED RESEARCHER. She's still staring at you. This lady looks like a fucking nutcase. What's her deal?>BEANIE-WEARING RESEARCH. She's waving at you. She's clearly trying to get your attention for some reason. Check up on her.>NO. KEEP IT FOR LATER. (Self explanatory.)
>>6284059>Check up with the MAN. You bet he has some information to tell you.>BEANIE-WEARING RESEARCH. She's waving at you. She's clearly trying to get your attention for some reason. Check up on her.>MAN IN TACTICAL GEAR. He's wolfing down some high quality chow. Probably one of the 'ETF' agents you heard about on the dossiers. See what intel he has.>NO. KEEP IT FOR LATER. (Self explanatory.)Could be a bargaining chip.
>>6284059>Check up with your GAUNT COWORKER. She seems a bit healthier than the last time you saw her.>WILD EYED RESEARCHER. She's still staring at you. This lady looks like a fucking nutcase. What's her deal?>NO. KEEP IT FOR LATER. (Self explanatory.)
>>6284081+1
>>6284059>Check up with the MAN. You bet he has some information to tell you.I want to get his chat UN. Maybe he'd be easier to contact while not face-to-face.>A KID? He can't be any older than eight, maybe nine. Where are his parents?>BEANIE-WEARING RESEARCH. She's waving at you. She's clearly trying to get your attention for some reason. Check up on her.>NO. KEEP IT FOR LATER. (Self explanatory.)
>>6284059>MANJust to say hi and thank him for the map; guy needs social interaction and we're the only ones who can see him. Would also be cool with asking Anthony about crazy Captain America.>BEANIE-WEARING RESEARCH>A KID?>>NO. KEEP IT FOR LATER
>>6284059>Check up with the MAN. You bet he has some information to tell you.>WILD EYED RESEARCHER. She's still staring at you. This lady looks like a fucking nutcase. What's her deal?>BEANIE-WEARING RESEARCH. She's waving at you. She's clearly trying to get your attention for some reason. Check up on her.>NO. KEEP IT FOR LATER. (Self explanatory.)
>>6283497 > Fuck it - You need to make money off of the samples you have. That's the reason they kidnapped you after all. You don't have a set deadline yet but you have to at least pretend to play by their rules. Your obligation.I doubt they are going to kill us for failing a deadline or making profit because if they do kill people who fail deadlines/make profit, there will be a LOT of people cutting corners, making quick profit off poorly understood anomalies, aggressive and unethical experimentation/exploitation, mistreating the anomalies, telling lies/half-lies information to superiors, yes-man attitude/mentality, exaggerating success and downplaying potential consequences and active problems, etc. to avoid getting killed by ARC, which will result in a lot of unintentional consequences, containment breaches, problems, etc. I think ARC will rather "fire" people instead of killing them.
Rolled 2 (1d2)GAUNT COWORKER wins for the ACQUAINTANCE, BEANIE-RESEARCHER has a solid majority and no one wants to use the coupon.There's a tie between WILD EYED and the KID. Going to just roll a dice to break it.Rolling a 1d2 to break the tie then I'll get to writing.1 = KID2 = WILD EYED
A small part of you was tempted to use the coupon but, no, you need every advantage you can get. The people here are weird fucking freaks that, frankly, belong in an asylum. But you gotta work with them. Has there ever been a job where the coworkers you worked with were normal?You scan around the cafeteria to see who you should check up with. You spot the Man and you REALLY want to check up on him but...You could always just ask him for his FRIENDCHAT username. You'll probably do that before you explore around the place for loose change, junk and whatever else you can find.Maybe his anomalous memory-suppressing properties can be weakened or bypassed if you don't talk face to face? Food for thought.Speaking about food, you better find someone to talk to. There's a group of girls seated at one of the tables that catches your attention.You spot a few faces you've seen before over there. There's your GAUNT COWORKER and she's sitting with that weird WILD EYED RESEARCHER and BEANIE WEARING RESEARCHER you saw yesterday. Your GAUNT COWORKER looks better than the last time you saw her. Her face is too close to a Salvador Dalí painting for comfort but hey. Progress.The two other girls she's sitting with are both staring at you. Your body tenses up at this unexpected attention. One of them is staring right into your fuckin' soul with big, beady pink eyes. You haven't seen that bitch blink the whole time you've been waiting in line.The other one is just waving over at you. She seems more...normal than her partner in crime? She's waving you over like she wants to talk to you.Welp. This is probably some sort of humiliation ritual but you might as well bite the bullet. You collect your tray of warm slop before making your merry way over there.You sit right by your GAUNT- You should really ask for her name. "Hey. Never got your name.""Lucy." She gurgles out through her half-melted lips. She reaches up to push her sagging cheeks back into place. "T-thank you for y-yesterday. U-uh, my friends wanted to. T-talk to you.""Friends?" You turn to face her 'friends'.The wild-eyed researcher rubs you the wrong way almost immediately. Her posture is too straight. Her plasticine smile is wide enough to nearly split her face in half. Her labcoat and the pink dress shirt underneath look like they were freshly ironed not even five minutes ago. She constantly fiddles with her orange-pink hair to make sure not a single strand is out of line. Hoo, something ain't right with her."Hiiii!!!! Hi, hi, hi!" She speaks in a bubbly, saccharine voice you'd expect out of a HR employee. "You're new here, right? Right! You didn't even have a labcoat yesterday! He's new, right? Right?" Her eyes are staring through your soul. You don't want to make eye contact with her. "Nice to meet you! Yes, yes-""Nicole." The beanie-wearing researcher awkwardly interrupts with a forced laugh. "You're going to scare him if you keep staring at him like that, you know!"
"Thanks." You mutter out half-heartedly. Ms. Beanie seems to be an actual normal person at least, even if her clothing is a bit eccentric to put it nicely.The labcoat is the only thing that clues you in to her being a researcher. The rest of her outfit is a mis-matched mess of various alt and punk-clothing clearly taken from the lost and found. The band t-shirt and torn up denim jeans she's wearing are caked in stains you don't want to even think about.All of it hangs loosely off her beanpole thin body. The mirror opposite of her neat freak friend."So! I guess you got some questions, yeah?""Yeah. First off, uh, what do you want?" You bluntly ask. "Our mutual..." You gesture at Lucy. "Friend here said you wanted to talk to me.""Oh, that's simple. We just wanted to say thanks!" Ms. Beanie gives you a warm, genuine smile. "We, uh, kinda lost Lucy in the rush yesterday. Lots of people moving around and she's not the fastest, you know?""Mmh hmm, mmh hmm. We really did try to find her but the brutes that work here were absolutely unhelpful." Nicole(?) continues to fiddle with her hair. "We heard you found her, correct?""Oh, yeah. She was muttering and leaning against one of the walls.""H-he helped me to the. C-cafeteria.""I was just being nice. Even if she looked like that thing from The Blob." You shudder at the memory of how her melting flesh clung to your shirt."Ha! See, that's what I wanted to talk to you. Normally, people 'promoted' by the company aren't usually that nice." Ms. Beanie's smile wanes. "Budget cuts, right?""Wait, were you 'promoted' as well?""Oh! No!" Ms. Beanie shakes her head. "My dad got me a gig here. Good ol' nepotism, you know? Had to sign some really long, boring contracts and NDAs but hey! I'm here.""Lucy, our dearest friend here, is the only one in a similar position to you." Nicole(?) chimes in. "I suppose it was only natural for someone like you to help her out! A shining example that everyone else should be following!""Uh huh." You squint at the two. You turn to check up on Lucy. She's busy trying to eat her slop through her melted, congealed lips. You're just glad she's doing better. You don't really know her but you're not cruel enough to enjoy an innocent person's suffering. Especially if she's in your shoes."So, is that it? Did you just wanna say thanks?""No. We want to teach you the ropes! Coworkers have to help out coworkers, right, Elizabeth?" Nicole's smile somehow gets even wider. God, it's like looking at the Chesiree Cat."Just call me Liz." Ms. Bean- Liz's face turns beet red at the mention of her full name. "It's nothing too formal or fancy. We just wanna help you out like you helped out our friend.""Uh huh." You narrow your eyes. "What's the catch? Do you want money or somethin'? Does Nick over there want to drain my blood or whatever? Spit it out.""Nothin'?" Liz tilts her head at you like you're the weird one here. "I mean, nothing yet, we just wanted to talk. That's all."
This still feels weird to you but, hey, if they're offering. The MAN might be better at finding out secrets about this place but. You need to talk to more people than a weird mystery man who has weird mystery eggs in his supply caches.Choose two questions to ask each of your coworkers (six in total, split across the three)LIZ>Your dad got you a job here? Must be pretty high ranking, who is he?>You're here willingly? Why? What made you WANT to work here?>Got any advice on how to talk to the weirdos and freaks here?>Show her the MYSTERY BAGGIE. Ask what exactly you even have here.>What exactly caused the budget cuts here? You'd think containing anomalies would warrant the government paying you well.>Write in.LUCY>What exactly made you start to melt? Is it a disease or something?>Where did you come from? There has to be a pattern to who got blackbagged.>When you got blackbagged, did you see a weird smiling man? What's his deal?>She said something about a 'price' when you first met. Do you have to pay for medical help here or?>Oh, does she have a FRIENDCHAT username? What about her friends? You want to stay in touch.>Do you want to work with me? Could always use a helping hand. (DC 40, +17 from HELPING HER OUT. The more successes you roll, the less she'll ask in exchange for working with you. You'll get to decide whether you'll hire her after the fact.)>Write in.NICOLE>Know anything about who worked in my lab before I came? Their lab was a mess.>You're a researcher, right? Got any tips you're willing to share? You're still new to this whole shebang.>How do you exactly get promoted in this place? Being Level 0 fucking sucks.>What's UPPER MANAGEMENT, exactly? You've heard about them in passing before, they seem like a big deal.>Ask if she's willing to work with you. Try to brownnose a little bit, she's probably a higher level than you. (DC 55, +5 from WAGESLAVE.)>Write in.
Oh no, the horror of TALKING TO GIRLS. Three of them in a pack no less, all working together to pressure the guy in front of them.
>>6284588LIZ>Got any advice on how to talk to the weirdos and freaks here?>Show her the MYSTERY BAGGIE. Ask what exactly you even have here.LUCY>Oh, does she have a FRIENDCHAT username? What about her friends? You want to stay in touch.>Do you want to work with me? Could always use a helping hand. (DC 40, +17 from HELPING HER OUT. The more successes you roll, the less she'll ask in exchange for working with you. You'll get to decide whether you'll hire her after the fact.)NICOLE>How do you exactly get promoted in this place? Being Level 0 fucking sucks.>Ask if she's willing to work with you. Try to brownnose a little bit, she's probably a higher level than you. (DC 55, +5 from WAGESLAVE.)
>>6284588LIZ>You're here willingly? Why? What made you WANT to work here?>Got any advice on how to talk to the weirdos and freaks here?LUCY>What exactly made you start to melt? Is it a disease or something?>She said something about a 'price' when you first met. Do you have to pay for medical help here or?NICOLE>Know anything about who worked in my lab before I came? Their lab was a mess.>You're a researcher, right? Got any tips you're willing to share? You're still new to this whole shebang.Elizabeth Baker was one of the names the MAN gave us for dirty rats to be wary of. Best be careful with what we do and say around these three.
>>6284588>You're here willingly? Why? What made you WANT to work here?>What exactly caused the budget cuts here? You'd think containing anomalies would warrant the government paying you well.>What exactly made you start to melt? Is it a disease or something?>Oh, does she have a FRIENDCHAT username? What about her friends? You want to stay in touch.>Know anything about who worked in my lab before I came? Their lab was a mess.>You're a researcher, right? Got any tips you're willing to share? You're still new to this whole shebang.
>>6284636+1
>>6284618+1Remember what the MAN said
LIZ>You're here willingly? Why? What made you WANT to work here?>What exactly caused the budget cuts here? You'd think containing anomalies would warrant the government paying you well.LUCY>What exactly made you start to melt? Is it a disease or something?>When you got blackbagged, did you see a weird smiling man? What's his deal?NICOLE>Know anything about who worked in my lab before I came? Their lab was a mess.>You're a researcher, right? Got any tips you're willing to share? You're still new to this whole shebang.
>>6284588>Got any advice on how to talk to the weirdos and freaks here?>Show her the MYSTERY BAGGIE. Ask what exactly you even have here.What exactly made you start to melt? Is it a disease or something?>Do you want to work with me? Could always use a helping hand. (DC 40, +17 from HELPING HER OUT. The more successes you roll, the less she'll ask in exchange for working with you. You'll get to decide whether you'll hire her after the fact.)>You're a researcher, right? Got any tips you're willing to share? You're still new to this whole shebang.>How do you exactly get promoted in this place? Being Level 0 fucking sucks.
>>6284588ELIZABETH BAKER (SNITCH, BITCH)>Got any advice on how to talk to the weirdos and freaks here?>You're here willingly? Why? What made you WANT to work here?Every word to this fucker goes straight to her father or some associated figure.Do not mention the mystery baggie, it was hidden for a reason.Trust in the MAN, stick it to the man. Ask the MAN about it when we can, he probably knows best.LUCY>What exactly made you start to melt? Is it a disease or something?>Do you want to work with me? Could always use a helping hand. (DC 40, +17 from HELPING HER OUT. The more successes you roll, the less she'll ask in exchange for working with you. You'll get to decide whether you'll hire her after the fact.)NICOLE>Know anything about who worked in my lab before I came? Their lab was a mess.>How do you exactly get promoted in this place? Being Level 0 fucking sucks.
>>6284588Liz>>You're here willingly? Why? What made you WANT to work here?>What exactly caused the budget cuts here? You'd think containing anomalies would warrant the government paying you well.If she's connected with the higher ups this might be the kind of thing she wants to bitch about and therefore we might get more information.Lucy>>When you got blackbagged, did you see a weird smiling man? What's his deal?>>She said something about a 'price' when you first met. Do you have to pay for medical help here or?Nicole>You're a researcher, right? Got any tips you're willing to share? You're still new to this whole shebang.>How do you exactly get promoted in this place? Being Level 0 fucking sucks.Wouldn't be too opposed to asking her to work with us but I'm a bit wary of anyone too close to Liz at this point.
>>6284588>>What exactly caused the budget cuts here? You'd think containing anomalies would warrant the government paying you well.>You're here willingly? Why? What made you WANT to work here?>She said something about a 'price' when you first met. Do you have to pay for medical help here or?>Do you want to work with me? Could always use a helping hand. (DC 40, +17 from HELPING HER OUT. The more successes you roll, the less she'll ask in exchange for working with you. You'll get to decide whether you'll hire her after the fact.)>You're a researcher, right? Got any tips you're willing to share? You're still new to this whole shebang.>What's UPPER MANAGEMENT, exactly? You've heard about them in passing before, they seem like a big deal.
>>6284588LIZ>You're here willingly?>Got any advice on how to talk to the weirdos and freaks here?LUCY>Oh, does she have a FRIENDCHAT username?>Do you want to work with me? NICOLE>Know anything about who worked in my lab before I came?>You're a researcher, right?
LIZCOWORKER ADVICE: KOO, Dj2, awT, CWX, SqX, y4zBAGGIE: KOO, CWXWILLINGLY: Dj2, SXG, nT5, awT, 2tV, SqX, soe, 8KG, y4zBUDGET CUTS: SXG, nT5, 2tV, soe, 8KGLUCYFRIENDCHAT: KOO, SXG, nT5, y4zWORK WITH ME: KOO, CWx, SqX, y4zWHY MELT: Dj2, SXG, nT5, awT, 2TV, CWx, SQx, 8KGPRICE: Dj2, awT, soe, 8KGWEIRD SMILING MAN: 2Tv, soeNICOLEPROMOTION: KOO, CWx, SqX, soeWORK WITH ME: KOORESEARCHER TIPS: Dj2, SXG, nT5, awT, 2tV, CWx, soe, 8KG, y4zPREVIOUS GUY: Dj2, SXG, nT5, awT, 2tV, SqX, y4zUPPER MANAGEMENT: 8KGAlright, seems pretty settled. Prodding Liz about why she's here and some advice involving your coworkers, checking on Lucy's condition and asking if she wants to work, and asking Nicole for researcher tips and the last guy at your lab won out.You'll get Lucy's FRIENDCHAT since you're asking to work with her at least.Since you decide to ask Lucy to work with you, you get the obligatory TABLE!!! Three anons, roll 1d100+17. Table below.0 SUCCESS (I'd be shocked, frankly): Nicole is whispering to her about 'value regulation' and 'down payments'. That can't be good.1 SUCCESS: "S-supplies for my condition cost a lot. Sorry, I-I wish I could ask for less..."2 SUCCESSES: "Oh! Y-you want to work with me? S-sure! I won't ask for m-much!"3 SUCCESSES: "O-oh! D-don't worry about m-money. J-just, uh, gonna ask you for a favor later!"
Rolled 6 (1d100)>>6284926
>>6284927I swear these rolls are out to get this guy. Surely someone else will crit
>>6284927>first time asking a human woman for help>rolled a 6Vincent bros...?
Rolled 19 (1d100)>>6284926
>>6284936>>6284927What the fuck is in the water at this facility?
Rolled 13 + 17 (1d100 + 17)>>6284926>>6284927>>6284936wtf bros
>>6284945lmao and to think we only needed a 23. we're indeed a truecel.
Tell you what. I'm willing to offer you a deal.You can agree to take a heavy hit to your mental health (lowering it to DOING FINE) and losing your ACTIVATED CHARCOAL PILLS.In exchange, you get a +5 modifier, letting you get 1 success and avoiding the 0 SUCCESS punishment.Do we have a deal? I'll leave this open until I get 3 votes in either category.>YES. HELP US.>NO. ACCEPT THE PAIN.
>>6284948>YES. HELP US.
>>6284927>>6284936>>6284945>when a wagie is being pressured by THREE girls>a pinkhair schizo>a beanie snitch>a flesh-melting sickoYeah this does not surprise me at all, I'm just glad the dice are doing this because it is very funny>>6284948>YES. HELP US.Extremely funny despite being cringe
>>6284948>and losing your ACTIVATED CHARCOAL PILLS.I forgot we still had those.
>>6284948>YES. HELP USMENTAL HEALTH IS TEMPORARY. FRIENDSHIP IS FOREVER.
>>6284951Yeah, you can always check to see what you have in your inventory here:https://rentry.co/VINCENTSHEETI'll probably start posting a link to it here or there so people don't forget about it.>>6284949>>6284950>>6284951The contract is signed.You got one success. Maybe ask the MAN for advice on how to talk to cute girls next time.Writing. Once I'm done laughing at your expense.
>>6284955>Maybe ask the MAN for advice on how to talk to cute girls next time.Hey! We know how to talk to girls!Sacs is woman! And In Limbo is…at least from what we can see if feminine :/
>>6284955>cute girls>melting flesh blobOkay I had a laugh
>>6284955You should have let us suffer QM, for the memes.In the Gotham Beat Cop quest we rolled a 2/100 for riding a bike. So it was decided that the main character never learned to ride a bike, and he ate shit on the pavement.Good times.
Your head is already starting to throb with agony. Why did you stay around, why did you stay around, why did you-Okay. You can make it through this, Vincent.Elizabeth. Elizabeth. That name sounds familiar. Didn't the MAN warn you about an Elizabeth? Best to watch what you say then.You start to dig into the slop this facility has graciously provided for it. It tastes somehow worse this time. It sticks to the roof of your mouth like glue. Eugh."So, wait, hold on." You tap your spoon against a rock hard clump of 'rice'. "Liz. You're here. Willingly.""Mmh hmm! I got hired a few weeks ago.""Why.""Why what? You already know how I got the job, silly."Your headache gets worse. "No, why are you even here? I've been here for a grand total of TWO DAYS and I already feel like death itself.""Oh!" She rhythmically taps her spoon on the table. "Well, it's a government job. Even with the budget cuts," She shudders after mentioning them. Seems like a sore spot for her. "I don't think anyone got fired? Job security's pretty nice.""To be honest? The main reason is because of the anomalies. Weird monsters, mystical artifacts, phenomena you can't understand..." Her golden eyes glimmer with excitement. "I'm a sucker for it, really! It's a shame I can't tell anyone outside the facility about it though!""So you work at a dum-" You clear your throat. "At an...underfunded place like this? Just for the anomalies?""Mmh hmm. I'll admit this place has seen better days but I couldn't pass on the opportunity.""Right. Guess that makes sense." You dryly respond. "Uh. The people who work here are really, really weird.""I know, right?" Liz rolls her eyes. "It's like every other person is a freak.""Right?!" You throw your hands in the air. "I just had a gun pointed at me not even ten minutes ago!""I-I saw. S-sorry t-that happened." Lucy gurgles sympathetically."Woo, yeah, don't mess with Colt." Liz whispers as if she's worried he could hear her. "Ever since Red Blooded American got shipped to his lab, he's never been quite the same.""If it wasn't for him being a prime employee, I would've told HR to deal with him already." Nicole grumbles under her breath."Yeah. Got any advice on how I can talk to the weirdos here?"Liz hums a little ditty as she ponders the question. "Well, a lot are in the same boat as you. Aside from me and Nicky over here-" "Do not call me that." "-a lot of them got 'promoted' here from all over the country.""People here really only care about two things. Your skills and your resources. If they don't see you as someone valuable, they're going to boss you around like Colt did.""To put it in terms you understand," Nicole's smile widens even further. It almost reminds you of the turtleneck man's smile. "you have to get on that 'grindset'."oh god. hustle culture never dies huh."Is there any way to, uh, get them to like me?"
Liz nods. "If you can make them owe you something, that'd help. Ask around and you'll find someone who needs a favor done. They'll usually pay you back." Oh boy - Side quests. Fun.It's better than nothing. You mutter out a half-hearted thanks before you address Nicole. "You." "Oh! Hey, hey!" Her energy picks up now that your attention is on her. "I should properly introduce myself! Nicole Miller, Level 1 Researcher, nice to meet you!""You REALLY should be drinking more water. Your skin looks really blotchy and grey, ew, you should really get that taken care of!" The migraine gets WORSE."Uh huh. I'll do that, sure, uh." Wow. Nice conversational skills, Vincent. "Do you know the previous guy who worked at my lab?""Oh! Yes, yes, yes. He, well, he exited on his own terms. That's what the note he left behind said!" She chirps out with a beaming smile. "Something something saw something he shouldn't, something something felt like his head was melting! It was sad, really!"Okay! That's fucking bleak! You recoil a bit at how nonchalantly she's talking about a coworker's death. "Did you find his body anywhere or...?""Nuh uh! We found his lab all messed up and caked in his CIGARETTE MOLD project. Must've left it out to fester for a few days, haha!""W-we wanted to f-find his p-paperwork, at least, but he t-took everything." Lucy mutters. "Just the note.""UPPER MANAGEMENT deemed that we had to get a replacement for him so here you are!""Wait, so he might still be alive?" You hesitantly ask."Maybe!" Nicole shrugs. "His note said something about Layer 4 but no one's seen anything from him for days now!"Great. Well, at least you know the CIGARETTE MOLD was manmade. "Why DOES it smell like cigarettes anyways?""Oh! Simple," Nicole pecks away at her own low-quality slop. "Two for one. It eats what you don't want, you eat it to get a nicotine hit.""Huh." Wait. Oh, holy shit, you could make a KILLING off of that. "I gotta thank that guy later once I'm done researching that stuff.""You probably should!""Speakin' about researchers." You struggle to swallow another spoonful of slop. "Got any tips for a fellow researcher?""Oh! Well, first, there's a weekly quota you have to fill. They'll probably send you a letter tomorrow along with some sponsorships. Do NOT forget to meet your quota.""W-what if I don't fulfill it?""The first time, they'll forgive you. The second time? Let's say that HR knows a way to motivate employees who slack off."You gulp hard enough to actually swallow your slop. "Duly noted.""As for how to be a better researcher? Be creative with the stimuli you apply to your anomalies. Don't be afraid to rough them up a little or to argue with the more talkative ones.""They're not human." Her voice suddenly lowers several octaves. "It's fine. In fact, for ENERGY producing anomalies, pain can be used to encourage their energy production by a factor of 1.5x."
Her voice snaps back up to its usual high pitched, bubbly cadence. "Some might even like the pain! Don't hold back when it comes to researching an anomaly. Mortality is something reserved for humans like you and me!""Uh huh." You don't want to disagree with the marmalade homunculus. You suppose the advice is sound at least, you were already told most anomalies don't think like humans.Last but certainly not least, Lucy!She hasn't really talked much during all of this. Her eyes are focused on her pile of slop that barely looks any better than yours.Liz and Nicole are keeping an eye on her even as they shift their attention to each other. You feel like you should show a bit of concern for her given her...yeah."So. I'm sorry if this is blunt but.""I-It's about my c-condition, yeah?" She gurgles out."Mmh hmm." "M-my second a-anomaly d-did this to me." She stuffs a lump of 'meat' down her half-melted throat. "D-didn't have good PPE. C-chem-chemicals it produced built up in its containment cell. T-this happened.""Christ. Were the docs able to do anything?""A-a bit. L-Liz bribed o-one of them to do some exp-experimental treatments on me. K-keeps my body stable, at least.""Is it infectious- Wait. Sorry if that's, uh, offensive or something.""I-it's fine. N-not to my knowledge, at least." The skittish researcher awkwardly laughs. "I-I get why y-you'd be worried.""Yeah. Well, hey, uh." You snap your fingers as you try to think of a good way to phrase this."Would you like to be my partner?" >INITIAL 0 SUCCESS ROLL!Your brain fizzles. You immediately drop all of your spaghetti as you try to clarify what you meant by that. "Not like THAT kind of partner. I mean, not because of your melting- uh, soft appearance. You look better than you did last time. But as like. A lab partner. Yeah." "Didn't mean to. Imply anything else. Yeah."Lucy blankly stares at you. She awkwardly tilts her head as she tries to process what the hell made you sperg out like that. "Y-you okay, Vincent?"You feel two pairs of beady eyes, one gold and one pink, staring right through your soul. Like you're prey. You don't want to turn your head to face them. Nicole leans in to say something to Lucy...You immediately interrupt her by sliding over the ACTIVATED CHARCOL to Lucy. "Here. I know it's not good medicine but it, uh, might help. Yeah?"Lucy pockets the bottle of pills. "Oh! Thank you!" A heartwarming smile grows on her melting face. " Wwell, I-I wouldn't mind. B-but, uh, th-there's a problem.""S-see. The stuff I need to take is pretty expensive, so I'll. Probably have to a-ask you for a lot of money.""Oh, right, yeah. How much?""I-I can work for $132." Oof. That's almost as much as the MAN costs. "I'll think about it. It was nice meeting you and hey what's your FRIENDCHAT again we can talk later yeah.""LUCYROCKSTAR200!" She chirps out. "Didn't know y-you had FRIEND-""Welp! Look at the time!"
"See you later." You immediately shovel down your slop before quickly leaving the table.Liz calls something out to get your attention and you think she looked worried but-Nope, nope, you already made an ass of yourself. You're not sticking around. You'll talk to them tomorrow, it's fine, it's fine.You quickly stop by the MAN's table. He asks you if something's wrong but you cut him off by asking for his FRIENDCHAT code.He says it's DARKCANDYTREE. He asks again if you're doing okay. You tell him you're doing fine and that you'll talk to him later.You place your tray amongst the rest of the dirty trays before you promptly skedaddle out of there.Once you made sure no one is following you, you lean against one of the walls to collect yourself.Your migraine has developed into a full on cluster headache. Why did you act like that? Did the water make you act like a jackass or has it just been THAT long since you talked to anyone?You strain to remember the last time you had a prolonged social interaction. It comes up blank.Wow. Great job getting the rust off those social skills, Vincent.>MENTAL HEALTH set to DOING FINE!You need to get your mind off this.Choose two locations to visit during your FREE TIME! Once you're done with these, you'll head back to your barracks.>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. a d100+4 will be rolled to determine what you get.)>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to 'borrow' some medical supplies and protective gear. Maybe you can get something for Lucy as well?>Head down to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. You want to talk to some other researchers, maybe they can give some advice.>Head down to the HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE. You have a gut feeling a certain turtleneck wearing fucker is there. You got some questions to ask him.>Head back to LOST AND FOUND. Let's see what goodies you can steal this time. (DC 43. You may write in a category of items to look for.)>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)>>6285004Oh, you still suffered, as you can see from Vincent's Excellent Conversational Skills and your mental health being obliterated.There will be time for more suffering later.
>>6285004Oh no don’t get us wrong here, we def don’t know how to talk to women. It was only through the power of PILLS that we didn’t horrifically drop the spaghetti this time.
>>6285012>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to 'borrow' some medical supplies and protective gear. Maybe you can get something for Lucy as well?>Head down to the HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE. You have a gut feeling a certain turtleneck wearing fucker is there. You got some questions to ask him.
>>6285012>Head down to MEDBAY. Gasmask and stuff.>Head down to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE.Self-explanatory.The HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE option doesn’t seem practically useful for our current status. We will question the turtleneck-wearing man in the near future, when we are more settled here and stable.
>>6285012>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to 'borrow' some medical supplies and protective gear. Maybe you can get something for Lucy as well?
>>6285012>Head down to MEDBAY. >Head down to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE.
>>6285012>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to 'borrow' some medical supplies and protective gear. Maybe you can get something for Lucy as well?>Head back to LOST AND FOUND. Let's see what goodies you can steal this time. (DC 43. You may write in a category of items to look for.)
>Lucy's story Yeah, let's be anal about PPE from now on. >>6285012>Head down to MEDBAYFor PPE, something for our headache, and anything else that looks promising>ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGEAdvice and whatever other goodies we can score.
>>6285012>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to 'borrow' some medical supplies and protective gear.We needed a hazmat suit yesterday.>Head down to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. You want to talk to some other researchers, maybe they can give some advice.
>>6285012>>Head back to LOST AND FOUND. Let's see what goodies you can steal this time. (DC 43. You may write in a category of items to look for.)>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)
>>6285012Backing >>6285050
>>6285012>>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to 'borrow' some medical supplies and protective gear. Maybe you can get something for Lucy as well?Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)
>>6285012>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to 'borrow' some medical supplies and protective gear. Maybe you can get something for Lucy as well?>Head down to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. You want to talk to some other researchers, maybe they can give some advice.
You mull it over for a while. Thinking about this is better than the OTHER thing you could think on. You briefly humor going to LOST AND FOUND or HR but the last thing you wanna do is deal with HR. LOST AND FOUND can always be done when you sneak out during curfew.Ashton's chill, she'll probably let you get away with it again.No, you need to worry about your health. The slop is helping your body out->PHYSICAL HEALTH raised! Now at DOING GOOD-but you don't want to get infested by some weird anomalous gunk while on the clock. You saw what a lack of PPE did to Lucy and, god bless her, you don't wanna fuckin melt.You're going to the MEDBAY first. Should be quick and easy, you're just going to ask for some PPE.You slide your hands into your pockets. Best to get moving. You can already hear footsteps from people leaving the cafeteria.The MEDBAY wasn't that far away from the CAFETERIA, thankfully. You're easily able to dip into it before anyone from the CAFETERIA could see you.Before you can even process what the medbay looks like, a fetid stench hits you right in the nose. It's a horrific mixture of burnt meat, bleach and a sour blend of alcohol and vomit. It nearly forces you to upchuck the meal you just had."No, no, do that shit outside!" One of the three nurses yells at you before turning his attention back to his patient.You mutter out an apology before looking around to see the state of the medbay. The first thing you notice is that it's SMALL. REALLY small. You'd guess it's only a bit bigger than the breakroom back in your own office.The shelves scattered about the room are nearly out of supplies by the look of it. All sixteen of the cots, eight on either side of the room, are filled with patients that are horribly disfigured or maimed by whatever they were working on.Fleshy growths, broken limbs, dry peeling skin that almost looks like scales, missing extremities, you name it!The three nurses are trying their best to use what limited supplies they have to help their patients. They're decked in heavy hazmat suits to prevent any exposure to any anomalous diseases the patients might have.How the hell do they have hazmat suits but nothing to treat the patients with here?Your eyes are drawn to a box in the back. It's overflowing with face shields, gowns, respirators and all manners of PPE you'd see at a hospital. Admittedly, it looks like super shoddy quality PPE but they seem to have an excess of it."Hey. Can I borrow some of that?" You point towards the box filled to the brim with PPE. One of the nurses stops mid-inspection of a patient, ready to chew you out. They stop when they actually process your request."Oh thank god, someone who isn't sick. Yeah, yeah, take it. Some asshole from Layer 3 thought it'd be funny to ship over only PPE.""Get some and get out." They turn their attention back to their patient. You're not going to overstay your welcome. You move to collect enough PPE for about five to six people. Lucky!
>PPE OUTFIT x6 obtained! (A low quality arrangement of PPE, including a respirator, meant to protect your whole body from biological contamination. Will likely only be good for one or two uses before needing a replacement.)You thank the nurses for their time. You can't help but to feel a little bit sorry about their situation. That advice that Liz gave you flashed in your head. You could do these guys a favor. Even if it's just donating some supplies, they might appreciate it. You'll have to dwell on that later. You better not overstay your welcome. You duck out of the medbay now that you got what you needed.>OPTIONAL QUEST OBTAINED: Help out Medbay's supply issues. REWARD: ???There's no one in the hallway. You'd guess everyone must've already returned to their rooms. You still have one last place in mind. You're supposed to be a RESEARCHER yet you don't really understand a lot about the anomalies you're working with. You need to talk to some (ideally non-schizo) coworkers of yours.The walk there is quiet. Quiet enough to let you linger on your thoughts. You still don't understand why YOU were picked of all people. You get that they needed a replacement was because the previous guy went AWOL but why YOU? You're a nobody with no prior experience to any of this.And by how lucky (or rather how unlucky) you've been, it shows you're not supposed to be here. You doubt you can leave now but it's still something that doesn't quite add on.You guess you'll dwell on it later. You don't really have any clue and you doubt overthinking it is going to help you out.Lucky for you, it gave you enough of a distraction to arrive at your location without you realizing it. Unlucky for you, the door is sealed shut by a heavy metal airlock. There's a keycard scanner but your ID card doesn't work on it. Great. You're worried this was a complete waste of time.Someone puts their hand on your shoulder. You nearly jump right out of your skin as they address you."You're not supposed to be here. Please state your purpose. If you have authorization from a higher ranking employee to be allowed in this room, state the full name and title of that employee."You're forcefully turned around to face the man standing behind you. He's certainly way, way older than you are. His head barely has any hair on it except for a few specks of grey hair. His skin is wrinkled and flabby, almost as soft as the melting flesh on Lucy's body.He coldly stares at you with a pair of beady brown eyes. Every second you don't say something, the frown he has gets wider and wider."I-I'm a researcher. I was trying to figure out how, well, anomalies worked and I was hoping for some advice-" The ID card in your hand is promptly snatched by the old man.The frown on the old man's face softens as he reads your card. "Ah, ah, ah. I apologize. I thought you were someone else for a moment." He hands you back your card. "I'm sorry to say but you're still not allowed in here. But."
"But?"The old man glances between you and the door. "I'm willing to offer you some advice, if you're willing to listen. I could also get you something from in there. Something small, though, don't expect any high grade artifacts."You glance down at the ID card pinned to his suit. Rudolf Pierce, Level 4 Researcher." OH. This guy is WAY above you in terms of authority.You finally let yourself breath. Okay. It wouldn't hurt to talk to this guy, he's clearly been here way longer than you. Choose three things to ask RUDOLF.>What exactly are the 'artifacts' INSIGHT is supposed to help you get? How are they different from anomalies?>Tell him about IN LIMBO. Does he have any advice for how to deal with it?>Tell him about that weird CPPQUEST game you found. Has he dealt with haunted(?) video games before?>Ask him about ARC. What's their deal? You're supposed to be working with them after all.>Ask him about the FACILITY. From what little you know, this place is pretty damn weird.>Ask him about ANOMALIES in general. Your 'training' manual didn't offer a lot of information about how they work.>Write in.Choose what you want to convince him to get out of ABNORMALITY STORAGE. Choose up to two.>Something minor. A sample or two of flesh or plant matter from an anomaly. (DC 30, +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)>Ask for some basic samples and maybe some better equipment to help study it. (DC 38, +5 to roll. Same as 'Something Minor' but you'll get better equipment.)>Something moderate. Ask for some more esoteric samples you can study. (DC 45, +5 to roll from WAGE SLAVE.)>Something major. You want an ARTIFACT. To study and to use. (DC 65, +5 from WAGESLAVE.)>Bribe him, to make things a little easier. (-$150, leaving you with $950. Adds +10 to your roll.)>Ask for something else. Who knows what's in there? (Write in. You can ask for equipment, samples, supplies, etc.)
>>6285596>What exactly are the 'artifacts' INSIGHT is supposed to help you get? How are they different from anomalies?>Ask him about ARC. What's their deal? You're supposed to be working with them after all.>Ask him about the FACILITY. From what little you know, this place is pretty damn weird.>Something major. You want an ARTIFACT. To study and to use. (DC 65, +5 from WAGESLAVE.)>Bribe him, to make things a little easier. (-$150, leaving you with $950. Adds +10 to your roll.)
>>6285596>What exactly are the 'artifacts' INSIGHT is supposed to help you get? How are they different from anomalies?>Tell him about IN LIMBO. Does he have any advice for how to deal with it?>Ask him about ANOMALIES in general. Your 'training' manual didn't offer a lot of information about how they work>Ask for some basic samples and maybe some better equipment to help study it. (DC 38, +5 to roll. Same as 'Something Minor' but you'll get better equipment.)
>>6285596>Ask him about ANOMALIES in general. Your 'training' manual didn't offer a lot of information about how they work.>What exactly are the 'artifacts' INSIGHT is supposed to help you get? How are they different from anomalies?>Write in: any tips on remaining more or less sane and in one piece/not horribly disfigured>>Bribe him>looking for better equipment and whatever might be useful (sorry QM wasn't quite certain what option that'd be)
>>6285630>sorry QM wasn't quite certain what option that'd beI say it's a modification of the 'ask for basic sample and better equipment' voting option. You'll just trade getting the anomaly samples for getting more general supplies.The other write in (how do I stay sane and not get disfigured) is valid.
>>6285596>Ask him about the FACILITY. From what little you know, this place is pretty damn weird.>Ask him about ANOMALIES in general. Your 'training' manual didn't offer a lot of information about how they work.>Tell him about that weird CPPQUEST game you found. Has he dealt with haunted(?) video games before?>Ask for some basic samples and maybe some better equipment to help study it. (DC 38, +5 to roll. Same as 'Something Minor' but you'll get better equipment.)
>>6285596>What exactly are the 'artifacts' INSIGHT is supposed to help you get? How are they different from anomalies?>Ask him about the FACILITY. From what little you know, this place is pretty damn weird.>Ask him about ARC. What's their deal? You're supposed to be working with them after all.Basic groundwork information is the natural stuff to ask when we're faced with an actual sane higher-up two days after we got kidnapped>Ask for some basic samples and maybe some better equipment to help study it. (DC 38, +5 to roll. Same as 'Something Minor' but you'll get better equipment.)>Bribe him, to make things a little easier. (-$150, leaving you with $950. Adds +10 to your roll.)Giving him the money on the first occasion like this will still have some impact on him. He'll remember us, for good or ill
>>6284583
>>6285596>What exactly are the 'artifacts' INSIGHT is supposed to help you get? How are they different from anomalies?Tell him about that weird CPPQUEST game you found. Has he dealt with haunted(?) video games before?>Tell him about IN LIMBO. Does he have any advice for how to deal with it?>Something moderate. Ask for some more esoteric samples you can study. (DC 45, +5 to roll from WAGE SLAVE.)>Bribe him, to make things a little easier. (-$150, leaving you with $950. Adds +10 to your roll.)
>>6285863None of these waifus are good for Vincent>melty and potentially infected waifu>deranged schizo pinkhair waifu>beanie beanpole promotion-chaser snitch
>>6285596>What exactly are the 'artifacts' INSIGHT is supposed to help you get? How are they different from anomalies?>Tell him about IN LIMBO. Does he have any advice for how to deal with it?>Tell him about that weird CPPQUEST game you found. Has he dealt with haunted(?) video games before?>Ask for some basic samples and maybe some better equipment to help study it. (DC 38, +5 to roll. Same as 'Something Minor' but you'll get better equipment.)>>6285904not to mention they're all level zero (ew)surely there are better options in higher levels (e.g. people who have made it past the level zero funnel probably don't look like a surrealist painting)
>>6285596Rule of thumb, everybody: in 3d100 degrees of success, DCs 40 or below are easy (at least one success very likely). DCs 30 or below are very easy. Barring freakish bad luck (which we just had, but you know...), options 1 and 2 are locks, and 3 is pretty good. Something major is risky.>Tell him about that weird CPPQUEST game you found. Has he dealt with haunted(?) video games before?>Ask him about ANOMALIES in general. Your 'training' manual didn't offer a lot of information about how they work.>Write in: any tips on remaining more or less sane and in one piece/not horribly disfigured>Something moderate. Ask for some more esoteric samples you can study. (DC 45, +5 to roll from WAGE SLAVE.)>Ask for some basic samples and maybe some better equipment to help study it. (DC 38, +5 to roll. Same as 'Something Minor' but you'll get better equipment.)
>>6285596>>Tell him about IN LIMBO. Does he have any advice for how to deal with it?>Ask him about the FACILITY. From what little you know, this place is pretty damn weird.>What exactly are the 'artifacts' INSIGHT is supposed to help you get? How are they different from anomalies?>Ask for some basic samples and maybe some better equipment to help study it. (DC 38, +5 to roll. Same as 'Something Minor' but you'll get better equipment.)
>>6285596>What exactly are the 'artifacts' INSIGHT is supposed to help you get? How are they different from anomalies?>Tell him about IN LIMBO. Does he have any advice for how to deal with it?>Ask him about ANOMALIES in general. Your 'training' manual didn't offer a lot of information about how they work.>Ask for some basic samples and maybe some better equipment to help study it.
>>6285904Indeed, clearly the superiour choice is the chill guard lady who lets us off curfew
Aight. Let's see.ARTIFACTS: KOO, SXG, SOE, TBI, CWX, R6C, 8KG, Y4ZARC: KOO, TBIFACILITY: KOO, JHO, TBI, 8KGANOMALIES: SXG, SOE, JHO, QDT, Y4ZCPPQUEST: JHO, R6C, QDTIN LIMBO: SXG, CWX, R6C, 8KG, Y4ZHOW STAY ALIVE?: SOE, QDTMAJOR: KOOMODERATE: CWX, QDTBRIBE: KOO, TBI, CWXBASIC + BETTER EQUIPMENT: SXG, JHO, TBI, R6C, QDT, 8KG, Y4ZBETTER EQUIPMENT + WHATEVER ELSE YOU GOT: SOEAll in all? ARTIFACTS + ANOMALIES + IN LIMBO wins out. You'll also be BRIBING him into getting some BASIC SAMPLES + BETTER EQUIPMENT.Three anons, consult the TABLE. DC 38, rolling 1d100+15. Let's see how your odds are when talking to a man.0 SUCCESS: He gets you samples equal to the value of the bribe. Nothing more.1 SUCCESS: You get one new sample and one decent pieces of equipment. Could be worse.2 SUCCESSES: You get two new samples and two new pieces of equipment. Pretty good.3 SUCCESSES!: You get THREE new samples and THREE new pieces of equipment. Pretty swell!>>6285966I will correct one thing - Nicole did say she was Level 1....Which is only one rung above you. So.
Rolled 31 + 15 (1d100 + 15)>>6286221Surely we will get at least one success.
Rolled 38 + 15 (1d100 + 15)>>6286221
Rolled 12 + 15 (1d100 + 15)>>6286221
Two successes! Well, it could've been a lot worse. You'll still get your money's worth out of it at least.Writing.
An actual reasonable higher up? There might actually be a god in this metallic prison they call a 'facility'. You doubt you'll have time to ask him about everything, especially with how late it is. It can't hurt to ask some basic questions though!You adjust your tie while clearing your throat. Your face slips into a well-used mask. A polite yet professional smile. You straighten your posture to make sure you're not slouching. You want to be as presentable as you can. "If it wouldn't be too much of a bother for you, sir.""Oh, luv, you're trying too hard." He slips on a comically thick British accent. He clears his own throat quickly after. "I appreciate the gesture. Most of your ilk don't take this job seriously. What do you want to know?""I suppose I should start with something simple - What exactly ARE anomalies? All I know is three categories they fall into and that's about the start and end of it.""That's a tricky question to answer, son." Rudolf taps his foot on the ground while he thinks of a good way to answer it. "In the most literal sense, anything can be an anomaly. Even something simple as a pencil that can only be used to draw and nothing else. The anomalies ARC cares about?"There's a breathlessness in his voice as he's given an excuse to ramble about anomalies. "Anomalies are objects, entities or phenomena that disregard the laws of psychics as we know them. The only united link between any given anomaly is one factor: They have a will to persist, to continue existing.""So they're all sapient?" You ask for clarification."Not quite." Rudolf shakes his head with a light chuckle. "It's more that instead of following reality's rules, they follow their own internal logic. For a simple example?" Rudolf clicks his tongue. "An anomaly that manifests as a soldier will never be able to process our reality in a way outside of war, violence and the comradery it has with fellow soldiers."Your mind flashes back to Colt and that one anomaly he apparently works with - Red Blooded American. Maybe that explains his behavior to an extent? Maybe he has some artifacts from that particular anomaly?""In essence, anomalies take an idea or concept we humans believe in and they twist and corrupt them into their own personal realities. They are free to disregard reality if it would get in the way of their limited worldview. Even inanimate, non-sapient anomalies do this. We are tasked with finding value out of their blatant rejections of reality. To exploit their ideas and to make them our own.""My advice for dealing with them? Learn what idea they based their reality around and work around that. Even rejecting their ideology must be done under their own rules."So that's how they work. Something with a strong enough idea, a strong enough emotional 'core' behind it, can become an anomaly. That tracks with what little you still know about IN LIMBO. Its pollen induces nostalgia-laced memories, maybe that's a clue.
"So, what's the difference between anomalies and artifacts then?" You tap at the part of your arm where you installed the INSIGHT module. "I got this implant that's supposed to help me get them."Rudolf's eyes glimmer when you mention the INSIGHT module. "Ah ha! Did you know 50% of researchers didn't bother to get that on their first day?""...No but that's a pretty neat statistic.""I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just been a while since I've had anyone ask me these types of questions.""It's alright, sir. I'm not going to tell you to stop." That's your polite way of saying you couldn't tell him to shut up even if you wanted to."So, the difference is that artifacts do not have a will or a reason to exist. They are objects imbued with anomalous properties but they are not anomalies.""They never change, they never respond to stimuli, they never improve or degrade. They do their one or two intended functions and nothing else." He almost sounds disappointed or bored when talking about artifacts. It's clear where his interest lies in when it comes to the anomalies."A flashlight artifact may produce negative photons to generate darkness itself. A teapot artifact may produce a clear liquid that heals minor wounds. They can be useful but they are less interesting, scientifically, than anomalies."That makes some sort of sense. You politely nod as he finishes explaining. "So while an anomaly can have a LOT of properties and they can change depending on what we do to them, artifacts are just weird objects with one or two properties.""In a nutshell, yes. Consider them fragments of an anomaly."Duly noted. You nod again to show you're listening. "Would ARC pay me well if I got one from an anomaly?""Absolutely! Just because they're less scientifically interesting doesn't mean they are useless. The lowest I ever saw an artifact be sold for was $3000."Hot damn. Guess that'll be another way to deal with your impending quota. Guess that leaves only one thing to ask of him. You begin to explain what little you know about IN LIMBO to him. Its pollen, the weird memories it forced into your head, its flowers and the fact it drains electricity.He digs into his pocket to pull out a small notepad. He carefully notes down everything you say with the same precision as a police officer writing down a testimony. Once you're finished, he mulls over the notes you've gotten so far."Got any ideas how I should deal with it?""Hmmm." He taps his notepad with his pencil. "Memories seem important to it. Perhaps you should share your own memories, your own experiences, with it? Even if they seem boring to you, it may take interest in it.""I'd also recommend you try to investigate into its place of origin more. Perhaps the movie theater has some significance to the anomaly in question Maybe it'd respond better to stimuli associated with its place of origin."It's not a lot but it's better than nothing. You only have one thing left to ask.
You silently hand him $150. He looks down at the money with an expression that you can't quite read. It's a mixture of pity and understanding that makes you feel really uncomfortable.He silently takes the money. "So, what do you want from storage again?""Some samples and, if you could, some better equipment. The catalog I have been provided with isn't the best to be honest, sir.""I hope you'd be polite enough to do it for me but if I'm overstepping here, I apologize.">2 SUCCESSES!Rudolf chuckles at the obvious, heavy-handed brownnosing but it certainly seems to work on him. "Only because you asked so politely." He pats the pocket he stuffed the money into. "Stay right here."He slides his keycard to unlock the door before promptly ducking inside.It doesn't take long before he returns with an armful of random junk he dug out of storage. "If anyone asks why you have this, tell them I lent it to you."YOU OBTAIN>TABLETOP CENTRIFUGE (A machine meant to separate substances of different densities. Allows for the isolation of specific components from anomaly samples.)>HOT PLATE (Allows you to heat up substances to see how they respond to high temperature.)>NEON BLUE FLESH SAMPLE (A vacuum sealed bag filled with about half a pound of meat. It leaks a neon blue fluid that fizzles and pops like carbonated soda.)>'DIE TO SEXUALIZE' SAMPLE (A vacuum sealed bag filled to the brim with a thin, stringy fiber that reminds you of fabric. Has the consistency of playdough.)"Now, I have to go on my merry way. I assume you have somewhere to be too, young man."You rapidly nod your head. No point staying around here, you got places to be and catalogs to purchase. You say your goodbyes to Rudolf before you go your separate way.It was honestly nice talking to someone who was normal for once. He rambled a lot but you'd appreciate that more than whatever bullshit Nicole was on about. Or, if Liz is the Elizabeth you were warned about, dealing with a potential snitch.You return to your barracks not longer after dealing with Rudolf. It looks the same as it always does in here. The men and women you're forced to share a room with are clearly not 'prime' researcher (or whatever role they were assigned) material. Most of them aren't taking their job seriously from what little of their conversations you can hear. The rest? You make sure not to draw their attention since they seem ready for ANY excuse to rise through the ranks. Best to keep to yourself unless you're talking to potential allies. You don't know if any of these guys are going to live to the end of the week.You open your footlocker to find your trusty catalog. Flipping through it, you see that a few snippets have been cut out and replaced with new supplies. Let's see.MONEY: $950THINGS TO SELL: MYSTERY BAGGIE ($100), STAINED COUPON ($50), EGG? ($125), CIGARETTE MOLD x3 (Each beaker is filled with two samples worth. Some will be set aside to grow more of. $135, improves with more research)
CHANGE TO CATALOG VOTING: You may pick as many options as you want as long as you have the money to afford it. Only the options with a majority (50% or more voters picked it) will be selected, again, provided the money is available.What do you want to buy? Pick what you feel like purchasing.>[SPECIALITY PARTS] To make use of your existing tools! ($75. Includes piles of spare parts and scrap metal, including some harder to obtain parts. Helps out in constructing your own equipment.)>[FAX MACHINE] Allows communication with Upper Management or with Sponsorship companies with a small fee. Use the former in absolute emergencies. ($100)>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE] - Keep things spotless! ($35. Contains some more cleaning supplies and another two buckets of water.)>[ATTACHEMENT MODULE] - A training dummy used in a variety of settings, such as in mock surgery and therapy. Allows you to better train your skills. ($200)>[PROTOTYPE RISK LEVEL SYSTEM] - When voting for an anomaly choice, you'll get a rough idea on its danger level and what kind of damage it can do to you and its surroundings. ($300.)>[BASIC MEDICIAL SUPPLIES] - To patch up booboos! ($100. Contains a basic first aid kit, some painkillers and some bandage wrap.)>[CIGARETTE PACK] - To keep you sane. ($30. Has ten cigarettes. Each one heals MENTAL HEALTH by a moderate amount but damages PHYSICAL HEALTH in return.)>[SPECIL (sic) REQUEST] - You may enter a keyword to obtain a custom anomaly instead of selecting a premade one. WARNING: The danger level and usefulness of said custom abnormality may vary wildly based on the keyword. ($325)>[DAILY FOOD BUNDLE] - Some anomalies need to be fed to, you know. ($75. Enough food to feed an anomaly for one day. Contains grains and low quality meat.)>[EXPANDED ROSTER] - When choosing what anomaly to obtain, you pick from 4 instead of 3. ($175.)>[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM] Heavy! Keep yourself fit! ($75. Good for your body.)>[9MM PISTOL] For emergencies. ($500. Comes with nine bullets. Adds +7 to combat attack rolls.)>[ENRICHMENT BUNDLE ADDON] Anomalies get bored too! ($140. Comes with two new CDs and a DVD player with a random movie packaged with it.)>SELL SOME ITEM(S) (Write in what you want to sell.)To clarify, if you sell the CIGARETTE MOLD, it's $135 per sample you sell (up to $405).
Specialty partsBasic medical supplies X2 (some can be for Medbay)
>>6286332And cleaning supplies. To try watering the flowers
>>6286310>BUY[SPECIALITY PARTS][CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE][CIGARETTE PACK][DAILY FOOD BUNDLE][A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM][FAX MACHINE][BASIC MEDICIAL SUPPLIES]>SELLCIGARETTE MOLD x2By my calculations, this should leave us with $730, which I’d say is a good deal for how much we’d be buying.
>>6286310>[SPECIALITY PARTS] To make use of your existing tools! ($75. Includes piles of spare parts and scrap metal, including some harder to obtain parts. Helps out in constructing your own equipment.)I am praying these spare parts include less shit hardware for our crap PC, not that there are many things at our level which could need spare parts.>[ENRICHMENT BUNDLE ADDON] Anomalies get bored too! ($140. Comes with two new CDs and a DVD player with a random movie packaged with it.)Random movie, important!>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE] - Keep things spotless! ($35. Contains some more cleaning supplies and another two buckets of water.)BUCKETS! More storage for cigarette mold! Forget the water, the buckets are the real prize.>SELL CIGARETTE MOLD x3If the cigarette mold set aside doesn't include these three, may as well sell all we've got.Do we still have that mold living in our trash can?Need to figure out if the TABLETOP CENTRIFUGE can isolate the nicotine from the CIGARETTE MOLD, could make a killing off it. Will need trash for the mold to eat though.Keep the EGG and MYSTERY BAGGIE, might be useful to us if we can figure out what they do.I'm doubtful of the egg's usefulness, but only the MAN knows for sure what it does. The MAN knows everything. Could ask over FRIENDCHAT once we get there.
>>6286373>If the cigarette mold set aside doesn't include these three, may as well sell all we've got.It doesn't. You'll have half a beaker's worth of mold to study later if you decide to sell all three samples. Since you can grow more of it from a single sample, I just thought it'd make sense to let you keep it instead of accidently selling ALL of it and not being able to grow more of it.>Do we still have that mold living in our trash can?Probably? But it's hard to say how usable that particular sample is compared to the beaker samples. I say it's not enough to sell for money.
>>6286310>>[FAX MACHINE] Allows communication with Upper Management or with Sponsorship companies with a small fee. Use the former in absolute emergencies. ($100)>[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM] Heavy! Keep yourself fit! ($75. Good for your body.)>[ENRICHMENT BUNDLE ADDON] Anomalies get bored too! ($140. Comes with two new CDs and a DVD player with a random movie packaged with it.)>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE] - Keep things spotless! ($35. Contains some more cleaning supplies and another two buckets of water.)>[ATTACHEMENT MODULE] - A training dummy used in a variety of settings, such as in mock surgery and therapy. Allows you to better train your skills. ($200)>[PROTOTYPE RISK LEVEL SYSTEM] - When voting for an anomaly choice, you'll get a rough idea on its danger level and what kind of damage it can do to you and its surroundings. ($300.)>[BASIC MEDICIAL SUPPLIES] - To patch up booboos! ($100. Contains a basic first aid kit, some painkillers and some bandage wrap.)>[SPECIALITY PARTS] To make use of your existing tools! ($75. Includes piles of spare parts and scrap metal, including some harder to obtain parts. Helps out in constructing your own equipment.)Better sell the eg as well in case it spoils and becomes worthless, leaving us with 1100
>>6286310>[SPECIALITY PARTS] To make use of your existing tools! ($75. Includes piles of spare parts and scrap metal, including some harder to obtain parts. Helps out in constructing your own equipment.)>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE] - Keep things spotless! ($35. Contains some more cleaning supplies and another two buckets of water.)>[ATTACHEMENT MODULE] - A training dummy used in a variety of settings, such as in mock surgery and therapy. Allows you to better train your skills. ($200)>[PROTOTYPE RISK LEVEL SYSTEM] - When voting for an anomaly choice, you'll get a rough idea on its danger level and what kind of damage it can do to you and its surroundings. ($300.)>[BASIC MEDICIAL SUPPLIES] - To patch up booboos! ($100. Contains a basic first aid kit, some painkillers and some bandage wrap.)>[CIGARETTE PACK] - To keep you sane. ($30. Has ten cigarettes. Each one heals MENTAL HEALTH by a moderate amount but damages PHYSICAL HEALTH in return.)>[DAILY FOOD BUNDLE] - Some anomalies need to be fed to, you know. ($75. Enough food to feed an anomaly for one day. Contains grains and low quality meat.)
>>6286222>>6286231>>6286232This is freakish bad luck, again, but at least we had the bribery bonus. Jesus.>>6286310>>6286337+1
>>6286310BUY>[SPECIALITY PARTS]In case we can fix up the Mac somehow>[FAX MACHINE]"We're just clones... like copies from a fax machine...">[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE]MORE CLEANMORE GREEN>[BASIC MEDICIAL SUPPLIES]>[BASIC MEDICIAL SUPPLIES]One for us, one for medbay>[PROTOTYPE RISK LEVEL SYSTEM]A good future investment>[ENRICHMENT BUNDLE ADDON]Need that movie for IN LIMBO testing!SELL>3 CIGARETTE MOLD
>>6286310>[SPECIALITY PARTS] >[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE]>[BASIC MEDICIAL SUPPLIES]>[DAILY FOOD BUNDLE]>[ENRICHMENT BUNDLE ADDON]>[CIGARETTE PACK] Can be use as a bartering and rapport building.>SELL CIGARETTE MOLD x3
>>6286337I’ll actually add the third cigarette mold to sell, which would bring us up to $865.
After checking everything, this is what we haveSo, the ones with a solid majority are SPECIALITY PARTS, CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE, BASIC MEDICAL SUPPLIES and then the rest is a bunch with four voters. With the new rules, and since it has half of the voters (8 people voted), that leaves it to be-SPECIALITY PARTS-CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE-FAX MACHINE-BASIC MEDICAL SUPPLIES-CIGARETTE PACK-DAILY FOOD BUNDLE-ENRICHMENT BUNDLE ADDONAs the ones that had 4 or more people voting for them. A majority also voted to sell all of the cigarette mold as well.You spent $555 and you gain $405, leaving you with $800.I saw two votes to get double medical supplies. I'll decide, you know what, let's put that to a vote. Want to buy an extra bundle of medical supplies for medbay? Leaving open until one gets 3-4 votes.>YES (-$100, gives you another first aid kit, some painkillers and bandage wrap. Leaves you with $700)>NO (Leaves you with $800)
>>6286763YES
>>6286763>YESWhy not?
>>6286763>YES
>>6286768>>6286771>>6286775Cool, writing. This update should be pretty short since it's not like reading through a catalog takes that much text to describe, you know?
>>6286763>YES (-$100, gives you another first aid kit, some painkillers and bandage wrap. Leaves you with $700)
Check, check, and check. There's a lot of things on the catalog you wanted to get but you'll just get->-$250 and CIGARETTE MOLD SAMPLE x3!>Supplies obtained! LAB INVENTORY will be updated with specifics later.It's one of the few calming things about your new 'job'. Just sitting on a bed that belongs in a prison cell, reading a catalog to see what you'll get this time around. It's something you used to do during your breaks back at the office. Granted, you would be reading sports magazines about your favorite baseball teams instead of a corporate catalog. That doesn't really matter, only the ritual itself is what mattered.The chattering nonsense of your fellow coworkers drifts in and out of your ears. You flinch when you overhear one of them mentioning your little 'incident' at the cafeteria but they readily change the topic to something else. Some of them ramble about a certain 'Man' they keep seeing. One of them even shows an egg but they quickly forget they were even talking about anything.The egg is left idle on top of one of their footlockers. You might take that later, not like they'd remember losing it.The same robot from yesterday comes in, asking for your catalogs. The same routine of everyone rushing to give it their catalogs plays out. Just as quickly as it arrived, it vanishes down the hallway. You swore it lingered to stare in your direction but that couldn't be right. It didn't even have eyes.Whatever.You lay down on your cheap mattress. The lights in the barracks flicker off. Guess the facility's curfew starts now. Everyone rushes to their beds to get a good night sleep but your eyes are locked on the ceiling.The chattering white noise of your coworkers talking to each other even as they're supposed to be asleep does help. A little. You don't know why or how but it feels like tomorrow is going to be rough. Maybe it's the fact you'll be told about a QUOTA, maybe you worry about when (or if) you'll get a new anomaly. Maybe you're just being paranoid.Who knows.You find yourself dreaming for once as you drift into unconsciousness.Choose your dream tonight. You'll get a TRAIT depending on which one you pick.>Knee-deep in swamp muck. Your father barks orders at you. You have to find her. (You never did. If only you kept looking.)>A furious argument. You can't remember the details. Your vision turns RED. (Sticky, warm liquid coats your hands. He deserved it.)>A wrong turn. An abandoned building. Something out of this world. (You've seen an anomaly before, haven't you? You just forgot.)>A rainy night. No one's awake. It's now or never. (The obligation's too much for you to handle.)>A familiar game. One you played so, so long ago. Neither party wants it to end. (It was the only way to relive the good old days.)>Hunger. Unbearable hunger. Your stomach growls. (It was you or the dog. Survival at any cost.)>You dream of something else. (Write in.)SHEET: https://rentry.co/VINCENTSHEET
>>6286829>A familiar game. One you played so, so long ago. Neither party wants it to end. (It was the only way to relive the good old days.)
>>6286829>Knee-deep in swamp muck. Your father barks orders at you. You have to find her. (You never did. If only you kept looking.)
>A wrong turn. An abandoned building. Something out of this world. (You've seen an anomaly before, haven't you? You just forgot.)
>>6286829>A wrong turn. An abandoned building. Something out of this world. (You've seen an anomaly before, haven't you?
>>6286829>Hunger. Unbearable hunger. Your stomach growls. (It was you or the dog. Survival at any cost.)
>>6286829>A wrong turn. An abandoned building. Something out of this world. (You've seen an anomaly before, haven't you? You just forgot.)
And so, you begin to dream.Another day, another dollar. That's the motto you repeat to yourself over and over again. Another boring eight hour shift down the drain. At least being an accountant pays well enough. Better than being a burger flipper like a good chunk of your family.You exit the monolith of pain and suffering you call your 'workplace'. The sun bears down upon the earth with inhuman indifference at your suffering. The air in front of you shimmers and waves, wrapping under the heat. Your vision goes blurry for a moment.You wipe your eyes that are now stinging with salt water. Your brow is caked in a sticky layer of sweat that can't quite evaporate away due to how humid it is today. God, you wished you lived closer to a desert, those usually have drier heat.Your legs move on their own. You have to get to a bus stop. They usually have AC, even if it's weak and sucky and just plain back. The shimmering heat in the air, plus the fact you're only running on 4 hours of sleep today, makes it hard to see or think clearly.You take a turn down an alleyway you don't quite remember being there before. You take the same route every single day, you don't even know why you're heading down there.It provides a little shade from the oppressive sun but you still feel awful. Your suit clings to your tanned body like saran wrap and your briefcase's new found weight would put Sisyphus' stone to shame.Whatever. You'll find a bus stop on the other side and you'll get home. Doesn't matter.You barely notice the graffiti caking the walls of the alleyway. Piles on piles of discarded trash, including syringes, litter the floor. Every step you take makes an awful crunching sound as your dress shoe turns a syringe into dust.You quicken up the pace but you soon find it to be fruitless. You got yourself lost in a mess of interconnected alleyways. Great. Guess all you can do is go straight until you can find something.It's not long after you set foot on trying to find a way out before you find something odd. You find yourself in front of an abandoned warehouse that you think you heard about from one of your coworkers.Apparently it used to be operated by a company somehow out of Japan but for whatever reason, they stopped doing business here about a few days ago.Sweat oozes down the back of your neck. You could use some shade. Not like anyone would notice if you broke in, right?The side entrance isn't even locked. It takes a moment to slide the shutter up but soon enough, you're inside the warehouse itself.It's what you expected from something abandoned on short notice. The whole place is lined edge to edge with shelves that stretch all the way to their ceiling. Forgotten boxes filled with whatever products the company stole still line the shelves.It's still hot in here but it's slightly more tolerable than staying outside.
You lean against one of the shelves to catch your breath. Well, hopefully there's no cops assigned to keep an eye on this place or you're in some big trouble. You'll worry about that once you catch your breath-Thump thump. Thump thump.You nearly jump out of your own skin. Did you just hear...no, no, that can't be. It had to be your own heartbeat, right?Thump thump. Thump thump....Okay, you're pretty sure that wasn't your heart. A deep, rhythmic heartbeat echoes across the metal walls of the warehouse. Every other second, you hear two deep thumps echoing from somewhere deeper in the warehouse.Has to be heatstroke, right? Can't be anything else.But. What if it wasn't? You have to see what's making that sound, right? It. Maybe this is just a prank, right?You follow the sound of the heartbeat. It was a guessing game at first but you soon locate the direction it's coming from. Every step you take, the heartbeat gets louder and louder. Thump. Thump.You stop right around the corner of one of the many shelves inside the warehouse. The sound is pounding at your ears now but the shelf it's behind is filled to the brim with boxes. You can't see it quite yet but, hopefully, whatever it is can't see you.You take a deep breath before turning around the corner.That's when you see it. A heart-shaped object.The heart is suspended five feet off the floor. It has to be at least two and a half feet from top to bottom. Stringy, raggedy lengths of rope are tied around the heart in order to keep it suspended.Thick, rusted iron nails are impaled all over its surface. Fresh crimson fluid oozes out of its wounded flesh and onto the floor. There's enough blood and unidentified muck to reach up to your ankles. Every few seconds, the heart beats, spilling more crimson grime onto the shelves and floor.You crack a smile. This has to be a heart- heatstroke induced hallucination. As it beast yet again, a spray of thick crimson muck splatters across your shirt. It. It's too real to be a hallucination. The stench of crimson fills your nose. Your suit is stained red.You don't quite remember what happens next. What you do remember is running for your life and that you ended up face-first on a random sidewalk.Concerned strangers ask you if you're okay. Some of them ask if you're injured. You couldn't answer them, you were too busy trying to breath to answer their questions.A duo, one man and one woman, ask you some prodding questions. They looked like any random passerby you'd walk by on your way to work but their eyes. They were analyzing you as if you were a piece of a puzzle they were looking for.You babble out what happened to them. They thank you for your time before handing you some water.The water had a weird chemical aftertaste but you gulped it down with gusto. You needed it.
...And then, you went along your daily routine, completely having forgotten about what happened to you. All you remember was a hazy hallucination you had but, it was really hot yesterday and you didn't have enough sleep, that's it.But it couldn't have been, right?>You've dealt with anomalies before. You have a gut feeling you've interacted with anomalies even before finding that heart...>ANOMALY-TOUCHED TRAIT OBTAINED! (+5 to speech checks with anomalies, +3 to checks involving ARTIFACTS, +1 to research rolls involving anomaly samples.)DAY 3You hear someone shuffling around at the foot of your bed. You crack your eyes open to see who could be mucking about your personal space.Your head is still dizzy from that half-remembered dream you had. Ough, you don't miss your dreamless nights, that felt weird."gotta deliver this for him." You hear someone whispering. It's barely audible with how scratchy their voice is. "poor guy. can't blame him for being pressured back there, nicole is somethin' else."Your eyes open up just enough to see her. Ashton. At the foot of your bed.She just finished placing a folder filled with paper on your footlocker. She doesn't seem to notice you're awake."well, hope he's doing okay."She rises up from the foot of your bed. She gives you a warm smile before quietly exiting the dorms....Huh. That's...nice of her? You're not really sure how to feel about her sneaking in here but you suppose you should check what she delivered.You grab the dossier. You open it to find two sheets of paper that seem to be from Upper Management. Let's see what they decided to write to you today.SHEET 1 - QUOTA"You survived two whole days! Wow! Our recently promoted employees don't last that long! That means you are a good enough teamplayer to be given the honor of fulfilling your QUOTA!""We don't house and feed our employees for free without expecting SOME value out of you! Every week, we need you to prove your worth to our facility! By any means necessary, you need to find something profitable enough about your anomaly to sell OR to find other sources of revenue in the facility.""This proves that you're clever enough to be of worth to our facility! Your quota this week is $3000! Fulfill this quota at any cost, [LOW RUNG EMPLOYEE!]""Due to the samples of [CIGARETTE MOLD] you handed us, we'll count those towards your quota! You are now at 405/3000!"Three thousand dollars. Oof. Well, you're already almost a sixth of the way there at least. SHEET 2 - SPONSORSHIPS "If you find that getting value out of your anomalies is too hard, we have decided to supply you with three sponsorships!""Sponsorships are always optional and aren't needed for the quota. However, if you accept one and complete it, you'll get rewarded by the Sponsorship Company AND you get a reduction to your quota!""Failure to complete one by the deadline will result in harsh penalties."
"You may have three SPONSORSHIPs active at any time!"Hm. Well, you suppose you should start reading the sponsorships attached to the dossier there. There's something else in the dossier you nearly missed.A small form with familiar cryptic text and images attached to it. You're also getting another anomaly, huh?SPONSORSHIPSHAYDEN'S HYDROGEN AND HYDROGEN ACESSORIES - 'Nothing better than a clean, fast burn!""There's nothing worse than a day dragging out, right? Take your time getting ready. You'll only start with six time tokens today but that's fine, right?"DEADLINE: N/AREWARD: -$100 off quota, a 10 pound container of propane and a portable propane grill.WARDEN SECURITY SERVICES - 'We wish for the subjugation of all that is foul and abnormal'"The existence of anomalies is a disgusting slight to nature itself. We wish for you to do your part in making sure they know their place. Complete four work orders with an anomaly that involve hurting it."DEADLINE: TODAY.REWARD: -$235 off quota, $350 for yourself, a Level II stab and bullet resistant body armor vest.BLACKWELL - 'Deny. Restrict. Control.'"ALLOW FOR COMPLETE OBSERVATION OF YOU AND YOUR ANOMALIES FOR THE NEXT TWO WORK SHIFTS. OBSERVATION WILL BE LIMITED TO ON THE CLOCK INTERACTIONS. ALL INFORMATION GATHERED WILL BE KEPT FOR FUTURE USE."ACTIVE FOR: Two days. No deadline.REWARD: -$150 off quota, $150 for yourself at the end of each day, your cells will be upgraded with security cameras that you can access via your computer.Which do you want to take? Pick as many as you want.>HAYDEN.>WARDEN.>BLACKWELL.>ALL OF THE ABOVE.ANOMALY CHOICES. Choose one!>"Wash all your dreams and worries away. In the end, there's only one other escape from your woes." (You never knew that an ANDROID could look so exhausted...)>"Please, have a seat. Watch my death with the reverence it deserves." (You swore the photo of the OLD MAN was staring right at YOU.)>"Missing since 199X. The trail went cold. I went cold. I went cold-" (How is it still alive? It looks humanoid but...it looks so BROKEN.)(Big update today, take your time.)(To clarify what 'off quota' means, if you take HAYDEN, the Quota is reduced to 405/2900.)
>>6287318Sponsorships:>Blackwell>Hayden’sAnomaly:>"Please, have a seat. Watch my death with the reverence it deserves." (You swore the photo of the OLD MAN was staring right at YOU.)A photo could NEVER hurt us, right anons?
>>6287318>>BLACKWELL.>HAYDEN.>"Wash all your dreams and worries away. In the end, there's only one other escape from your woes." (You never knew that an ANDROID could look so exhausted...)
>>6287318Wait, so there was never any security cameras inside the containments? That's pretty odd for an anomaly related place.>BLACKWELL>"Wash all your dreams and worries away. In the end, there's only one other escape from your woes." (You never knew that an ANDROID could look so exhausted...)
>>6287318>BLACKWELL.>"Missing since 199X. The trail went cold. I went cold. I went cold-" (How is it still alive? It looks humanoid but...it looks so BROKEN.)
>>6287318If I'd realized we were getting our second anomaly already I'd have picked the risk assessment module. >"Wash all your dreams and worries away. In the end, there's only one other escape from your woes." (You never knew that an ANDROID could look so exhausted...)These sponsorships look so... unappealing. Let's go with the least intrusive: >Blackwell
>>6287318>HAYDEN.>"Please, have a seat. Watch my death with the reverence it deserves." (You swore the photo of the OLD MAN was staring right at YOU.)
>>6287318HAYDENBLACKWELLWe have no abno worth beating up for WARDEN so that's out>"Missing since 199X. The trail went cold. I went cold. I went cold-" (How is it still alive? It looks humanoid but...it looks so BROKEN.)YOU WERE USED UP
>>6287318>HAYDEN.>BLACKWELL.>"Missing since 199X. The trail went cold. I went cold. I went cold-" (How is it still alive? It looks humanoid but...it looks so BROKEN.)
>>6287318>HAYDEN.>BLACKWELL.>"Wash all your dreams and worries away. In the end, there's only one other escape from your woes."
>>6287318>HAYDEN.>BLACKWELL.>"Please, have a seat. Watch my death with the reverence it deserves." (You swore the photo of the OLD MAN was staring right at YOU.)
>>6287318>HAYDEN>BLACKWELL"Easier" than beating the shit out of the unknown. >ANDROIDBEEP BOOP MAGGOT
>>6287318Might be nothing, but Blackwell makes me suspicious honestly. Why pay us to film us? It's seemingly no downside, and that feels weird.
>>6287530For gathering information? To observe new researchers working on anomalies? To train their own personnel?
BLACKWELL: Yg7, 8KG, NvQ, SXG, 1x/, jHo, AbJ, KOO, y4z, CWx, t4eHAYDEN: Yg7, 8KG, etE, AbJ, KOO, y4z, CWx, t4eOLD MAN: Yg7, etE, CWxANDROID: 8KG, NvQ, 1x/, y4z, t4eBROKEN: SXG, jHo, AbJ, KOOSince more than a majority voted for both Hayden and Blackwell, you're picking both this shift.It was VERY close on what anomaly you'd get but you'll be obtaining the ANDROID this time around. Writing. (Thanks, t4e, would've been a tie otherwise)
There's no way you're picking WARDEN. The only anomaly you know anything about is too passive to warrant beating the shit out of. As for the one you're going to get?Who knows. Complete mystery. All you know is that you saw this as an option about three days ago. The picture attached to the form shows a sleek, slender figure made out of metal. It doesn't have any recognizable facial features but you can FEEL the exhaustion radiating from its posture.Welcome to the club, pal. You're hesitant to sign the form to let some shadowy mystery company watch your every move like a buncha voyeurs, especially since they're PAYING to watch you, buuut. Money's money. Combined with Hayden, that should be $250 off your quota after two days.They're not asking for a lot but you also don't see what benefit they get from paying you to do this. At least Hayden could be justified by saying they 'care' about you as a worker...but eh. You might be able to get around the time reduction by hiring some of your coworkers to split the labor you gotta do.You'll worry about that later.You sign and mark down everything you want before you skitter out of the barracks. You know Ashton's not going to rat you out for moving around like curfew's still active.Then it hits you. There's really no reason to leave early this time around. Your shift doesn't start until, like, 1 PM. You suppose you have more time to do stuff BEFORE your shift.CHOOSE FOUR THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOUR SHIFT STARTS! +1 Action from Hayden's sponsorship!Oh, before you forget. You take the EGG one of your coworkers left behind. >One extra EGG obtained.>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. A d100+4 will determine what category it ends up being.)>Head back to LOST AND FOUND. Let's see what goodies you can steal this time. (DC 43. You may write in a category of items to look for.)>Head back to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. You want to see if Rudolf's there, maybe he can give you some more advice.>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)>Look for Ashton. You wanna thank her for helping you out. She's oddly nice, all things considered.>Go back to SLEEP. (Heals your PHYSICAL and MENTAL health by a decent amount.)>Go to the cafeteria to study. No one's there yet, it'll be nice and quiet. (Increases the bonuses provided by SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)>Head down to the HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE. You have a gut feeling a certain turtleneck wearing fucker is there. You got some questions to ask him.>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to deliver the excess medical supplies you got from the catalog.>Try to arrange a meeting with some acquaintances. (Choose ANTHONY, NICOLE, or LIZ to talk to. Gives you some time to figure out how they tick.)>Write in.SHEET: https://rentry.co/VINCENTSHEET
>>6287788>One extra EGG obtained.dealtarune reference>Head back to LOST AND FOUND. Let's see what goodies you can steal this time. (DC 43. You may write in a category of items to look for.)>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)>Go to the cafeteria to study. No one's there yet, it'll be nice and quiet. (Increases the bonuses provided by SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to deliver the excess medical supplies you got from the catalog.
>>6287788>Head back to LOST AND FOUND. Let's see what goodies you can steal this time. (DC 43. You may write in a category of items to look for.)>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)>Go back to SLEEP. (Heals your PHYSICAL and MENTAL health by a decent amount.)>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to deliver the excess medical supplies you got from the catalog.
>>6287788>Go back to SLEEP.Being able to sleep in is a godsend our boy Vincent has never had once while being a wagie. This is his chance to taste nirvana!!!>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to deliver the excess medical supplies you got from the catalog.Doing what we said we'd do but immediately the next day>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place.Just casually walk around, stretch the legs, see what's where and what people are doing. If anybody bitches at us, we tell them the sponsorship and to shove it>Head back to LOST AND FOUND. Let's see what goodies you can steal this time.More loot, why not?
>>6287788>Head back to LOST AND FOUND. Let's see what goodies you can steal this time. (DC 43. You may write in a category of items to look for.)>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to deliver the excess medical supplies you got from the catalog.>Go to the cafeteria to study. No one's there yet, it'll be nice and quiet. (Increases the bonuses provided by SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)>Head back to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. You want to see if Rudolf's there, maybe he can give you some more advice.
>>6287788>>6287788>Go back to SLEEP. (Heals your PHYSICAL and MENTAL health by a decent amount.)>Go to the cafeteria to study. No one's there yet, it'll be nice and quiet. (Increases the bonuses provided by SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to deliver the excess medical supplies you got from the catalog.>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)
>>6287788>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to deliver the excess medical supplies you got from the catalog.>Head back to LOST AND FOUND. Let's see what goodies you can steal this time. (DC 43. You may write in a category of items to look for.)>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. A d100+4 will determine what category it ends up being.)>Go to the cafeteria to study. No one's there yet, it'll be nice and quiet. (Increases the bonuses provided by SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)
>>6287788What's with these eggs? What freak is leaving hard boiled eggs lying around? The MAN?>Go back to SLEEP. (Heals your PHYSICAL and MENTAL health by a decent amount.)>Go to the cafeteria to study. No one's there yet, it'll be nice and quiet. (Increases the bonuses provided by SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. A d100+4 will determine what category it ends up being.)>Head back to LOST AND FOUND. Let's see what goodies you can steal this time. (DC 43. You may write in a category of items to look for.)
>>6287895You know who.
>>6287788>Go back to SLEEP. (Heals your PHYSICAL and MENTAL health by a decent amount.)>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to deliver the excess medical supplies you got from the catalog.>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)>Head down to the HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE. You have a gut feeling a certain turtleneck wearing fucker is there. You got some questions to ask him.
>>6287788>Go back to SLEEP. (Heals your PHYSICAL and MENTAL health by a decent amount.)honk shoo>Go to the cafeteria to study. No one's there yet, it'll be nice and quiet. (Increases the bonuses provided by SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)Quiet until we find out that HAYDEN gave multiple sponsorships and they're here too. Or security.>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to deliver the excess medical supplies you got from the catalog.The meager supplies we can offer probably won't save the (dead) patients, but the gesture will stay with the staffers.>Head back to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. You want to see if Rudolf's there, maybe he can give you some more advice.Rudolf, help! I got assigned an anomaly and would like your insight on it!
LOST AND FOUND: SXG, jHo, tbi, KOO, 1x/, Dj2 (6)EXPLORE: SXG, jHo, tbi, 04z, CWx (5)CAFETERIA: SXG, KOO, 04z, 1x/, Dj2, SqX (6)MEDBAY: SXG, jHo, tbi, KOO, 04z, 1x/, SqX, CWx (8)SLEEP: jHo, tbi, 04z, Dj2, SqX, CWx (6)ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE: KOO, SqX (2)WANDER: 1x/, Dj2 (2)HUMAN RESOURCES: CWx (1)Would normally leave a vote open longer but this update was pretty short so I wanna give you a longer one this time around.Seems like CAFETERIA, MEDBAY, SLEEP and LOST AND FOUND won out. Oh well, there's always after your shift to wander around.Three anons, roll 1d100 (DC 45) to see what you find. We'll change things up this time around. For every success you get, you get it and the items in the categories below it. (e.g, if you get 2 successes, you get the items from 0 SUCCESSES + 1 SUCCESS + 2 SUCCESSES)0 SUCCESSES = You find two buckets. That's it, just some buckets. What else can you say?1 SUCCESS = You find some blankets and a pillow that isn't paper thin. Nice, you should sleep a lot better with this.2 SUCCESSES = You find some computer parts littered in here! They're old and grimy but they should upgrade your PC!3 SUCCESSES = ...Who left a gun here?
Rolled 32 (1d100)>>6288129
Rolled 90 (1d100)>>6288129
Rolled 94 (1d100)>>6288129G U N
Sadly, you don't get the gun. You do get everything else! (Also meant to say DC 43 but that doesn't matter against a 32)Writing. Feel free to conceptualize the eggs in your mind's eye while you wait.
You're really tempted to go back to bed. Your shift has been graciously delayed by your friends at HAYDEN after all. There's an ache in your bones that you haven't been able to sleep off in weeks now. But. You can sleep in later.The grind never stops. It didn't stop when you got your first part time job as a teenager and it certainly won't stop now. Maybe you'll find something useful for your sleeping situation in the Lost and Found as well. That's your excuse to exit the barracks and into the fluorescent light-flooded hallway.You begin your trek over to LOST and FOUND. The maze of hallways and lights is starting to become more and more familiar to you as the days pass by. The ear-pounding hum and the searing bright lights are being slowly filtered out as simple background noise to you.Haaa. It's great that you're getting used to your suffering.You pass by Ashton as you turn a corner. You share a polite 'good morning' with her but as you're about to leave, she stops you."hey, question. have you found an..." Her raspy voice suddenly lowers an octave. "EGG? just seems like you're the type of guy to find one of them.""Yeah?" You reveal one of your EGGs to her. "Don't ask me where they came from. I dunno.""could've guessed. only reason i asked is i swore i saw one in my room! but when i went to check? poof! vanished like it was never there." "Weird. Guess I'll keep an eye out for 'em." Ashton shrugs at your comment. "more power to you, man." She shifts her gaze to the floor as she begins to mumble to herself. "maybe i should look for one. kinda getting hungry now." That's all she says before leaving to go on patrol. You were tempted to catch up and offer her one of your EGGs but. Maybe later. You soon reach LOST and FOUND after that short detour. It's still as awful as it looked last time you were here but now there's MORE garbage to shift through. Great. Wonderful. You roll up your sleeves before donning some PPE gloves just in case something sticks ya in that garbage pile.Your hands already feel wet and slimy despite the thin protective rubber coating your hands. You suppress the urge to gag as you dig your hands in deeper.>2 SUCCESSES!You yank out a large cluster of junk that's relatively untainted by the filth and grime that festers inside the LOST AND FOUND pile. You have a large bucket in hand that's stuffed to the brim with random stuff. You take a moment to see what's worth keeping.There's actually a slightly smaller bucket inside it that's holding the rest of the junk. You'd say each bucket could probably hold 2 gallons worth of fluid so that's pretty useful.Inside that smaller bucket is a nest of tattered, raggedy blankets and pillows. They're stained and they don't smell the best BUT they would make sleep a lot better.You dig underneath the blankets to find your last two pieces of loot - An old Macintosh CPU and a stick of RAM compatible with a Macintosh. They look...bad! You don't have anything flowery to say.
They certainly seem like an improvement over what dogshit specs your computer has at least. Any improvement to its performance is a godsend in your eyes.>BUCKET x2, BLANKETS AND PILLOWS and MAC COMPUTER PARTS obtained!With that dealt with, you'll make a quick stop at your lab to get those extra medical supplies you got.You arrive at the entrance to the MEDBAY not long after your dumpster driving trip. You're a little hesitant to enter but you do have some supplies to drop off. You bought an extra bundle just for these guys. You put extra care into opening the door as quietly as you can just to be polite.The lights are off. Two of the nurses are dead asleep, sleeping upright on some old chairs that they likely found from LOST and FOUND. The one awake nurse is pacing around to check up on his patients to see how they're holding up. He stops immediately in his tracks when he realizes you're here.His bloodshot eyes lock onto you. His mouth twists into a venomous sneer as he points to the already overflowing backlog of patients he has. He's running on empty and nothing short of intravenous adrenaline is going to keep him awake much longer. You slowly hold up the medical supplies you bought from your catalog. His eyes narrow at the offering. He sluggishly staggers over to you to get a better look at them.It's not a lot. The medkit is a cheap hunk of junk you could buy at Walgreens for $20. It, combined with the extra two rolls of bandage wrap and two bottles of cheap aspirin, won't last long.The nurse graciously accepts the offering regardless. "Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you." The nurse whispers through parched lips and stained yellow teeth. When's the last time he's taken a break? "I-I can't offer much.""but." He wildly glances around in case someone's watching. He slips you a keycard from one of his dead patients - A level 1 Guard ID card for a 'Bert Johnson'. "Keep this. Not sure what it can open but it's better in your hands than his."You thank him for the gift. You exit the room to leave him be.>-1 of 2 MEDICAL SUPPLY BUNDLES>You obtained LEVEL 1 GUARD ID! (Allows you access to certain storage lockers across the facility meant for guards. Don't get caught with this)>QUEST UPDATED: Help with Medbay's supply issues. REWARD: Contraband taken from patients, dead or alive. The value of the contraband scales with the value or quality of the supplies given.The cafeteria's not too far away from the Medbay, thankfully. You find yourself seated in a completely empty and peacefully quiet Cafeteria. A place perfect for studying. One of the lunch ladies just finished cooking something so you even get some breakfast to chew on while you study. It's a simple bowl of oatmeal so you won't feel THAT much better but the gesture counts.You crack open your academic books to study. Your mind drifts as you read through the boring academic books - Your acquaintances. Three of them to be specific.
Lucy, the MAN and SACA.With the HAYDEN sponsorship cutting down on your worktime, it might be worth it to actually hire some help to get things done with what limited time you have. Those three are the only ones who'd readily work with you right now.You're certain they'd all buy you some extra TIME TOKENs this shift thanks to their assistance. How many, though, you'll learn after you hire them.You also won't know how useful they'll actually be until you work with them. You mull over the pros and cons you DO know about them.LUCY+Quiet and meek. Would help keep more unruly anomalies pacified.+She's a fellow researcher. A second brain to bounce ideas and notes off of would help speed up research.-Physically weak and fragile thanks to her condition. PRICE: $132SACA+STRONGE. Great at helping out with manual labor.+BIGGE METAL FISTS. A great security guard. -Too big and clumsy to do anything delicate. Can't fit inside CONTAINMENT CELLS.?Powered by AI. For better or worse.PRICE: $100THE MAN +Knows a lot about a lot of things. He could help you learn a LOT of things.+Likely knows how to use ABNOWATCH a lot better than you. Could be a useful source of information on your anomalies.-Can't interact with most people or anomalies in any meaningful way. ?Likely an anomaly. PRICE: $165.You continue to study as you mull over who to hire. You'll hire them after you're done studying and sleeping in. No point hiring them right now when two of them are still asleep and the other is doing god knows what.Who do you want to hire this shift? Pick as many as you feel comfortable hiring. TOTAL MONEY: $700>LUCY>SACA>THE MAN.>ALL THREE!!!>NONE.
>>6288231>THE MAN>LUCYDo we need manual labor right now?
>>6288233+1I don’t think so? SACA is only good for hard labor and heavy security. I don’t think our two new anomalies will be hostile.
>>6288231>>6288233+1
>>6288231+1 to this, I spose
>>6288233+1>>6288227>nothing short of intravenous adrenaline could keep him awakeAnons, I smell an opportunity for illicit gains.1: give the med staff cigarette mold to keep them alert2: receive contraband3: sell contraband for PROFITWe gotta figure out how to cultivate the mold first, though. Maybe we can put Lucy on it during this shift?
>>6288233+1
>>6286124Yes, and I'm also waiting for the robot girl to inevitably appearEverybody knows that robot girls are the superior choice
>>6288231>LUCY
It's settled. You'll hire the Man and Lucy this shift. SACA would probably be great helping you repair the lab since that's a LOT of work but...eh. There's always next shift. You realize you're starting to run low on cash. The allure of getting on that GRINDSET and milking value out of our anomalies is bubbling away in your mind's eye.>-$297! $403 left!With that little speedbump of a decision dealt with, it's time to study. You peck away at the bowl of warm oatmeal in between reading long, long paragraphs about ionic bonds and how the endocrine system works. The run on sentences of MacOS technical jargon is almost enough to put you right back to sleep.It's better to eat through the boredom and pain so you actually have a better idea on what to do. You close the books once you think you read enough to have learnt something new.>+1 to all SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC bonuses!If you had to guess, the MACOS/CHEMISTRY/ANATOMY books are probably only good for one or two more reads before you need to find some more indepth books on their respective topics. Oh well! Still better than nothing, right? You finish up the bowl of oatmeal right as you spot some employees stumbling into the cafeteria.The few that wander in are clearly way, way higher ranked than you are. The researchers are wearing sleek, flowing labcoats adorned with colorful stripes and tassels to mark their seniority. The security guards are adorned in heavy duty, futuristic combat armor straight out of a sci-fi film. Even the janitors and other random assorted staff are far more well dressed and well groomed than you are.You better not overstay your welcome. You scramble out of the room before they can notice that some random Level 0 shmuck is moving around outside of curfew.You sneak back into your barracks. Everyone else is still snoring away so no one even noticed you were gone. You take a moment to replace the paper thin sheets and equally thin pillow covering your mattress. It doesn't look that much better once you're done but any small quality of life improvement matters.You slide back into bed. To your amazement, your back doesn't immediately ache and crunch. The raggedy blanket is actually keeping you warm instead of feeling like you draped a sheet of paper over your body. It's not much, no, but it's night and day compared to your old bed.You soon fall unconscious without even realizing it. >PHYSICAL and MENTAL HEALTH set to WELL RESTEDSomeone is shaking your shoulder. You struggle to open up your eyes after sleeping on for once. It's one of your other Level 0 Coworkers. Some dyed blue hair lookin' asshole. "Hey, dude, It's almost 1 PM. Ashton told me to wake you up or something.""Mghh." You mumble through gritted teeth. You reluctantly drag yourself out of bed. Time to go to work. Can't sleep in forever.Your body feels so much better. You still have a mountain of sleep debt but an extra four hours of sleep does WONDERS, man.
You enter your lab, ready to call your allies over for another shift's worth of chores. Your eyes are drawn to all of the new 'decorations' your lab has. Eight security cameras that were not there moments ago are scattered across the walls and ceiling of your lab.All of them immediately lock onto you the moment you step in. Digital eyes staring right into your very soul. As soon as they register who you are, they go back to their default position. Okay! That's. That's going to be a nightmare to deal with. Sponsorships, sponsorships...The fax machine you bought is situated in the corner of the roomYou notice that one of the walls has been scrapped clean to reveal another airlock. Guess your other anomaly's here. You might've missed out on whatever loot was hidden away in there, sadly.>SCRAP FOR AIRLOCKS DC has been reduced! Chance of loot has also decreased!It doesn't take long for you to call over your acquaintances via FRIENDCHAT. It takes a bit to remember the MAN's username but you have an actual way to contact him now! You still can't remember the exact specifics of what he says, though. Weird.Right as you finish calling them over, you hear a knock outside your lab. Ah! SACA's here with those botanical supplies it promised. There's not a lot but it's better than nothing.>You obtain two bags of soil, three ceramic pots, a bag of fertilizer and a water can!Your two allies arrive after you finish dragging in everything. Lucy flashes a beaming smile to the best of her ability, "W-well! I-It's been a wh-while since I've worked with someone else. L-let's try to have a good shift!"You smile back, "I hope we can have a good shift too."The Man is about as forgettable and blurry as he always is. The only real difference this time around is that you can pick up a lot more happiness in your vague conversations with him. You greet him and he greets you back. Lucy tilts her head as she sees you talking to thin air."...W-who are you talking to?"Right, the Man says, don't worry. He says he'll try his best to not make you look insane in front of her.STATS REVEALED!LUCYPHYSICAL HEALTH: FRAGILE.MENTAL HEALTH: DOING FINETRAITS: [MEEK] - She won't make a fuss, for better or worse. (Her presence passively reduces how much MOOD anomalies lose, regardless of source. -6 penalty to speech checks while she's in your party.)[FELLOW RESEARCHER] - A second head to bounce ideas off of. (+5 to researching samples, artifacts or experimenting on anomalies.)[DISEASED] - She's not winning any Olympic medals any time soon. (-5 to any and all strength or agility based tests. PHYSICAL HEALTH is capped to BLUE.) THE MANPHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH: ???TRAITS:[JACK OF ALL TRADES] - He claims that there's nothing he hasn't tried at least once. (+2 to all skill checks, passively improves the bonuses you gain from studying BOOKS.)
[INFORMANT] - He's the closet thing to an investigator you got. He can teach you how to price informant out of people (-30 to ABNOWATCH'S DC while in your party. -6 DC to non-ABNOWATCH information gathering checks.)[FORGOTTEN] - Only you seem to remember him. (Can't interact directly with people or anomalies. Allies will think you're weird for talking to him.)[ANOMALY?] - ??? (???)Time to start another day! SHIFT 3 begins! With your two associates willing to work for you, you manage to squeeze out an extra 5 time tokens worth of labor (2 from LUCY, 3 from MAN). You now have 11 TIME TOKENS to work with!TIME TOKENS: 11What do you do, Vincent? Pick at least two and up to three.RESEARCH>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this thing hold? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 25. Might not be the healthiest thing for your body or mind.)>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You got some tests to run on it. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Enter your new anomaly's containment cell. Let's see what you're working with. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50, +12 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and having two assistants.)>Try to study the POLLEN some more. There has to something else to it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 40, +12 to the check.)>Try to study the CIGARETTE MOLD some more. How else can you profit off it? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 35, +16 to the check.)>Study the EGG(s). Ask the MAN for help, this seems tied to him somehow. (-1d3 TIME TOKENS, DC ???. Something about these eggs feels ominous to you.)BUSYWORK>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any other hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 36 to determine what you find. +6 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE and the MAN's help.)>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +7 to roll thanks to having tools and the MAN's help. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)>Check around on ABNOWATCH for any useful information about IN LIMBO. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 36. The MAN is helping you out a lot here.)>There's some people on FRIENDCHAT now! Ask them for any useful advice they have. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Upgrade your piece of shit computer. There were some spare parts in your SPECIALITY PARTS bundle. (-2 TIME TOKEN, DC 56, +4 from MAC KNOWLEDGE and the MAN'S help.)>Write in (Talk to an ally? Something else?)VINCENT SHEET: https://rentry.co/VINCENTSHEETALLY SHEET: https://rentry.co/ALLYSHEET
>>6288596>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any other hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 36 to determine what you find. +6 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE and the MAN's help.)>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50, +12 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and having two assistants.)>Study the EGG(s). Ask the MAN for help, this seems tied to him somehow. (-1d3 TIME TOKENS, DC ???. Something about these eggs feels ominous to you.)
>>6288596>Enter your new anomaly's containment cell. Let's see what you're working with. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Study the EGG(s). Ask the MAN for help, this seems tied to him somehow. (-1d3 TIME TOKENS, DC ???. Something about these eggs feels ominous to you.)>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any other hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 36 to determine what you find. +6 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE and the MAN's help.)
>>6288596>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You got some tests to run on it. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Enter your new anomaly's containment cell. Let's see what you're working with. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Try to study the CIGARETTE MOLD some more. How else can you profit off it? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 35, +16 to the check.)
>>6288596>Study the EGG(s). Ask the MAN for help, this seems tied to him somehow. (-1d3 TIME TOKENS, DC ???. Something about these eggs feels ominous to you.)>Try to study the CIGARETTE MOLD some more. How else can you profit off it? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 35, +16 to the check.)>Check around on ABNOWATCH for any useful information about IN LIMBO. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 36. The MAN is helping you out a lot here.)
>>6288596Guh, meant to say 'pry information' for the informant trait. Autocorrect's a bastard. Fixed it in the ALLY SHEET as well.I'll also add another option I think would be relevant under RESEARCH that I forgot about>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49 to determine how much information you get. +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)
>>6288596>Study the EGG(s). Ask the MAN for help, this seems tied to him somehow. (-1d3 TIME TOKENS, DC ???. Something about these eggs feels ominous to you.)>>6288646>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49 to determine how much information you get. +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)
>>6288596>Study the EGG(s). Ask the MAN for help, this seems tied to him somehow. (-1d3 TIME TOKENS, DC ???. Something about these eggs feels ominous to you.)>Try to study the CIGARETTE MOLD some more. How else can you profit off it? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 35, +16 to the check.)>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any other hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 36 to determine what you find. +6 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE and the MAN's help.)
>>6288596>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this thing hold? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 25. Might not be the healthiest thing for your body or mind.)>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You got some tests to run on it. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50, +12 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and having two assistants.)>Check around on ABNOWATCH for any useful information about IN LIMBO. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 36. The MAN is helping you out a lot here.)
>>6288596>Write-In: talk with alliesLet's explain what we know about IN LIMBO and see if they have any ideas about profits we can make off of it or tests we should be conducting on it. Maybe ask what their standard operating procedure is when getting a new anomaly >>Try to study the POLLEN some more. There has to something else to it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 40, +12 to the check.)>Check around on ABNOWATCH for any useful information about IN LIMBO. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 36. The MAN is helping you out a lot here.)Might as well take advantage of the bonus.
>>6288596>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any other hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. >Try to study the CIGARETTE MOLD some more. How else can you profit off it?>Study the EGG(s). Ask the MAN for help, this seems tied to him somehow.
Rolled 1 (1d3)AightGUNK: Dj2, jHo, SqX, y4zNEW SAMPLES: Dj2, SXGEGGS: Dj2, jHo, 04z, CWx, SqX, y4zNEW ANOMALY: jHo, KOOIN LIMBO: KOO, SXGCIGARETTE MOLD: KOO, 04z, SqX, y4zABNOWATCH: 04zDOSSIER: CWxCPPQUEST: SXGTALK TO ALLIES: xh8Lot of split votes but it seems like EGGS, GUNK and CIGARETTE MOLD won out. Rolling 1d3 to see how much the eggs consume, time wise.Three anons, roll 3d100. First 3 are for GUNK, second 3 are for EGGS, last 3 are for CIGARETTE MOLD.Table below.GUNK (DC 36, +6 to the roll)0 SUCCESSES: JACK AND SHIT!!!1 SUCCESS: You find one airlock but that's about it. No loot. Just an empty room.2 SUCCESSES: You find one airlock and it actually has some loot inside! Lucky you!3 SUCCESSES: You find every airlock there is to find in here! Yippie, no uncertainty! EGGS (DC ??, higher than 38 but lower than 63.)0 SUCCESS: You learn nothing. You learn nothing. You learn nothing.1-2 SUCCESSES: You learn a varying amount of things about the [DESIGNATION NOT FOUND]. There is profit to be had here. 3 SUCCESSES: Well, you know how the sausage is made now. Can't uncrack this egg.CIGARETTE MOLD (DC 35, +16 to the roll)0 SUCCESSES: Your research stagnates, sadly.1 SUCCESS: You found a better way to grow it but that's about it.2 SUCCESSES: You discover a new property of the MOLD that is SURE to increase its value! Yippie.3 SUCCESSES: You learn everything there is to learn about the MOLD! Good for you!
Rolled 90, 95, 13 = 198 (3d100)>>6288994EGG research
Rolled 31, 49, 19 + 6 = 105 (3d100 + 6)>>6288994Gunk
Rolled 53, 3, 1 + 16 = 73 (3d100 + 16)>>6288994Mold?
>>62890082 SUCCESSES>>62890102 SUCCESSES (but barely!)>>6289014...1 SUCCESS. Wow, okay, be glad I don't do critical failures for most rolls since that roll fucking sucked.Yeah, I can work with this. A mediocre start to your day but it could be worse.You could've sperged out in front of Lucy again. Writing.
>>6289016we got at at least 2 successes in the 1st one and 1 successes in the other 2, how's that mediocre ?
You're ready to start your day-"S-sorry." Even when interrupting your train of thought, Lucy can't help but to be polite. "A-about yesterday." You smile through gritted teeth. Your smile doesn't reach your eyes. "What are you talking about? Nothing happened." You're trying your hide your discomfort and you think it's...not working! That's enough for Lucy to drop the conversation. "U-uh, nothing, j-just wanted to say sorry. That's all.""S-so! W-what's your plan for t-today's shift, Vincent?"The Man concurs with Lucy. He's itching to do some actual work that he's being PAID for. You silently gesture at him to go ahead and enjoy some food from your two DAILY FOOD BUNDLES. He salivates at the idea of eating something besides potato chips and scraps. Now that he's busy eating, you decide to lay out your plan to Lucy."I got some samples I want to study. We'll knock two birds with one stone - There's still some cigarette mold mucking up the walls.""O-oh. W-well." She holds her floppy arms up. The skin hangs loosely from her bones. "I-I can't help with the. Peeling part.""You can just collect whatever I peel off. I think you can hold a bucket." "I-I can try!!!" Her voice squeaks like a rubber duck. Cute.You wait for the Man to finish eating so he can help you with the wall scrapping. He apologizes for taking so long but he's ready to help.You hand him a broom so he can scrap stuff off. Lucy struggles to hold the bucket with her flabby, gelatin-like arms but she's trying, god bless her."W-wait, why is that broom...wait, what broom?""Don't worry about it." "Oh. O-okay."With an extra set of arms helping you out, scrapping the walls is really quick. Lucy collects the cigarette mold shavings in your bucket while you and the Man scrap the walls clean. "So, quick question. What do you guys normally do when you get a new anomaly?""O-oh! I-I usually try to int-interview it first if i-it's not an inanimate object. It makes me feel better when I at least tried to talk to it." Lucy chirps out. "T-then, I t-try to make them feel welcome here. I-it's better that my anomalies see me as a f-friend instead of a warden."The Man says he directly goes for a stimuli test. He has a system he works off where he assigns works based on physical contact, socialization and the anomaly's environment. It works for him, he states.He says there's nothing wrong with Lucy's method but he prefers to keep a level of 'distance' from anomalies. "T-there's not really a, uh, specific operating procedure specified by the company outside of making sure they stay in their cells."The Man can attest to this. The facility director, he says, would rip someone limb for limb if an anomaly was left to wander freely."Huh. Neat, thank you." You give an actual genuine smile. It's nice to have people around instead of being by yourself. You finish scrapping the walls clean...>2 SUCCESSES!
...and you found another AIRLOCK! It only needs a Level 0 keycard to open so the three of you immediately rush in to see what's inside it. As to be expected, there's no anomaly forgotten or trapped in here. It is beyond filthy in here, you'll certainly have to clean this before you'd let an anomaly in here.The muck isn't anything valuable. It's a mixture of bodily waste, blood, ash and some unknown dark green fluid. It's a biohazard waiting to happen in here.Lucy nearly vomits on the spot. "S-sorry!" She scrambles out of the room to get some fresh air.The Man scrunches his nose(?) at the sight of it. You're about to leave but you spot something glimmering underneath the filth only about a foot away from you. "Hey, could you check that with your broom?He accepts your request. He pokes at the area of muck you pointed at. He lifts enough of the muck away to reveal...bullets?You put on some PPE gloves so you can reach over and grab them. You check them and, yeah, honest to god 9mm rounds. Is there a gun left in here too, you wonder? You can't tell from all of the muck but it might be worth cleaning this cell.>PISTOL AMMO obtained! (Enough for one combat encounter.)OOC: Don't worry about the exact number. Ammo tracking is too much bookkeeping.The two of you check up on Lucy. She's not doing so hot after being exposed to that containment cell. The Man leans in to comfort him to the best of his ability given his anomalous properties.You collect the bucket. There's about enough mold in here to fill up about a beaker. You pour it into one of your beakers so you can keep it nice and contained.Your two coworkers rejoin you after Lucy is done gagging at what she say. "S-so! W-what are w-we doing now?" "Well, I need to find a way to make this more profitable. My quota needs me to make $3000-""Uhm," Lucy interrupts you yet again. "That can't be right. T-that's the quota assigned on Week 2. Maybe Week 3. Y-you got that on your first week?""Yeah?" "O-oh...Uhm. Well, t-that's okay! S-someone higher up must've made a mistake, that's it!" The Man gives you a look of pity. He says that it probably wasn't a mistake. Great."Well, I know the basic properties of this stuff. I even know it produces some weird enzyme that melts everything short of metal. I just need to extract it.""W-we can try, at least!" We can try, the Man says alongside Lucy.You spend thirty minutes trying everything in your power to squeeze value out of the mold. You try to use your centrifuge to forcefully extract more of its enzyme. That didn't work. Lucy tests some stimuli on it to see if it reacts to music or differences in temperature. Neither causes the Mold to react in any meaningful way.The Man even tries to find out a way to make it eat metal since that seems to be the only thing it's incapable of eating. No matter what he coats some scrap metal with, the mold is unable to digest it.
It's almost like the mold itself seems resistant to any further study. The last test you think you have time for before you have to do something else is - what to feed it?"W-wait. Let me see if..." Lucy grabs one of the four buckets you have and pours a beaker's worth of mold into it. "Let's see if we can find a way to grow it faster."You nod, that sounds reasonable enough. You and the Man some random junk into it to see what'll make it grow more.It digests bread, water and lego plastic with ease. It does cause some growth but nothing that's particularly noteworthy. Lucy taps her foot as she tries to think of something that might be a curveball."Got anything sugary?" Lucy asks.Wait. Your breathmints. You ask the Man if those mints might count. He says that the breath mints you have contain a sugar-alcohol so it'd probably work.You throw three mints into the mixture. The mold eagerly devours it before, as if by magic, it begins to bubble and rapidly expand. Lucy leaps back with a yelp while you and the Man watch on in amazement.Soon, the whole bucket went from nearly empty to half way full. That's a FUCK ton of mold to sell. Very, very interesting.>You obtain 10 samples worth of Mold! You now have 10.5 samples to study and/or sell!"H-huh! T-that's a bit worrying, though!" Lucy tries her best to sound optimistic. "Uhm. That expanded way too quickly. What if it did that when it was used to clean something...?"Ah. You can imagine a pipe being stuffed to the brim with this gunk if it accidently got exposed to sugar. You'll need to find a way to regulate its growth if you're going to sell this as a plastic/garbage eating agent.The last experiment you have in mind?You don't remember doing anything. You remember purposing a plan involving an EGG. You remember the Man blushing and asking how you even found one of them. You remember Lucy being really confused as to why you had a hardboiled egg. Everything beyond that is a complete gap in your memory.The next thing you remember, the three of you are staring at something that's being covered by one of your old dress shirts. "Uh. What the hell just happened?""I-I dunno. I don't remember, I. I remember an EGG, that's about it, sorry!!!"The Man apologizes. This might've been a property of the EGG itself, he explains. It's 'something from the same cloth', he said, but he doesn't elaborate from there.You lift up the dress shirt. Where there might've been an EGG once, there are now two packs of cigarettes. They look the exact same to each other in every sense of the word. Lucy takes a cigarette from each of them and examines them under the microscope."I c-can't tell any meaningful difference between the two of them. T-they're the exact same!" Lucy's eyes sparkle at what she just uncovered. Your mind is already racing with ideas if what she's saying is true. Do these eggs copy things?
>EGG PROPERTIES discovered! Causes short term amnesia to those nearby. Under an unknown trigger, an EGG can transmute into an exact copy of another item.>You have one EGG left. You now have two packs of CIGARETTES."Uh. We should. Probably do something else, shouldn't we?""Yeah! T-that was weird and thinking about what happened hurts!" Ditto, says the Man.You now have 8 TIME TOKENS left.The lights are starting to flicker again.What do you do? Pick at least two, you may pick up to three.RESEARCH>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this thing hold? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 25. Might not be the healthiest thing for your body or mind.)>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You got some tests to run on it. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Enter your new anomaly's containment cell. Let's see what you're working with. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50, +12 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and having two assistants.)>Try to study the POLLEN some more. There has to something else to it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 40, +12 to the check.)>Just a little more time researching with the CIGARETTE MOLD. You think you can crack it. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Mess with the EGG you have left. What are the limits to its copying ability? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 50~60, +7 now that you know how it works. Might lower everyone's MENTAL HEALTH.)>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49 to determine how much information you get. +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)BUSY WORK>Clean the containment cell you discovered. That thing is fucking filthy. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 45, +15 from the MAN's help and your variety of cleaning supplies.)>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +8 to roll thanks to having tools and the MAN's help. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)>Check around on ABNOWATCH for any useful information about IN LIMBO. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 36. The MAN is helping you out a lot here.)>There's some people on FRIENDCHAT now! Ask them for any useful advice they have. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Upgrade your piece of shit computer. There were some spare parts in your SPECIALITY PARTS bundle. (-2 TIME TOKEN, DC 56, +5 from basic knowledge about your computer and the MAN'S help.)MISC>Talk with a coworker. (FREE ACTION, can pick alongside your work choices. Who do you talk to?)>Approach your FAX MACHINE. Risk the wrath of CORPORATE MIGHT. (FREE ACTION, can be picked alongside your work choices. -$25. Choose who to call: HAYDEN, BLACKWELL or UPPER MANAGEMENT.)>Write in.>>6289073I was moreso talking about the rolls than the success rate. Also, missed Dusty Anon's other two votes while counting, I apologize. POLLEN and ABNOWATCH were still a minority but I didn't want to seem like I was ignoring them.
>>6289096>Enter your new anomaly's containment cell. Let's see what you're working with. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Clean the containment cell you discovered. That thing is fucking filthy. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 45, +15 from the MAN's help and your variety of cleaning supplies.)
>Check around on ABNOWATCH for any useful information about IN LIMBO. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 36. The MAN is helping you out a lot here.)Super low DC while the MAN is here.>Just a little more time researching with the CIGARETTE MOLD. You think you can crack it. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)We have 10 samples. Might as well max our profits.>Clean the containment cell you discovered. That thing is fucking filthy. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 45, +15 from the MAN's help and your variety of cleaning supplies.)Low DC, needs to be done eventually.
>>6289096>Just a little more time researching with the CIGARETTE MOLD. You think you can crack it. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)I trust in the mold to make us the bread.>Check around on ABNOWATCH for any useful information about IN LIMBO. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 36. The MAN is helping you out a lot here.)Use the man's bonus while we can.>Clean the containment cell you discovered. That thing is fucking filthy. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 45, +15 from the MAN's help and your variety of cleaning supplies.)BLACKWELL must be very entertained.
>>6289096>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50, +12 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and having two assistants.)>Try to study the POLLEN some more. There has to something else to it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 40, +12 to the check.)>Just a little more time researching with the CIGARETTE MOLD. You think you can crack it. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>>6289116Actually, changing my vote to this.>>6289114
>>6289096That EGG ain't right.>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You got some tests to run on it. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Enter your new anomaly's containment cell. Let's see what you're working with. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Clean the containment cell you discovered. That thing is fucking filthy. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 45, +15 from the MAN's help and your variety of cleaning supplies.)
>>6289096>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You got some tests to run on it. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50, +12 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and having two assistants.)>Clean the containment cell you discovered. That thing is fucking filthy. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 45, +15 from the MAN's help and your variety of cleaning supplies.)
>>6289114+1
>>6289096>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this thing hold? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 25. Might not be the healthiest thing for your body or mind.)>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You got some tests to run on it. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50, +12 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and having two assistants.)>Clean the containment cell you discovered. That thing is fucking filthy. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 45, +15 from the MAN's help and your variety of cleaning supplies.)>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +8 to roll thanks to having tools and the MAN's help. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)>Check around on ABNOWATCH for any useful information about IN LIMBO. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 36. The MAN is helping you out a lot here.)
>>6289096>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this thing hold? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 25. Might not be the healthiest thing for your body or mind.)>Upgrade your piece of shit computer. There were some spare parts in your SPECIALITY PARTS bundle. (-2 TIME TOKEN, DC 56, +5 from basic knowledge about your computer and the MAN'S help.)Make use of the Man's help>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You got some tests to run on it. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)Get some help from Lucy etc, and it was flickering the lights>Approach your FAX MACHINE. Risk the wrath of CORPORATE MIGHT. (FREE ACTION, can be picked alongside your work choices. -$25. Choose who to call: HAYDEN, BLACKWELL or UPPER MANAGEMENT.)Specifically I'd like to ask Blackwell if they saw what just happened with the egg. Can they give us some information about what we did to copy the cigarettes? Presumably they can replay the video and tell us. This way we can learn about the egg without messing with the last egg we have.
>>6289114+1Add>Talk with a coworker. Ask Lucy about who her father is and how her work with her anomalies is going. How have people here been treating her here? Have others been attempting to befriend her because of her connection to her father? How did she meet and become friends with Nicole and Liz?>Approach your FAX MACHINE. Risk the wrath of CORPORATE MIGHT.Ask Blackwell if they saw what just happened with the egg. Can they give us some information about what we did to copy the cigarettes?
Aight, not going to bore you with a beancount this time around. ABNOWATCH, CIGARETTE MOLD and CLEAN UP THE CELL JANNIE won out. Limbo was the fourth most picked but hey, you'll still have 4 more time tokens to go.(You'll probably be limited to picking one or two actions the next two turns, then)Anywho! Three anons, roll 2d100. The first three d100s rolled will be assigned to JANNIE, the rest will be for ABNOWATCHCLEAN IT UP JANNIE (DC 45, +15 to roll)0 SUCCESSES: The Man is too sickened by the stench to help. Any progress you make is slow and arduous. 1 SUCCESS: The gunk is too foul and too grimy to fully clean up even with help. 2 SUCCESSES: You actually manage to clean it up. You want to throw up but it's clean now.3 SUCCESSES: You manage to clean it up AND you find a neat little trinket in the muck...or maybe something better than a trinket.ABNOWATCH (DC 36.)0 SUCCESSES: You and the Man waste some time by shitposting instead of actually finding anything.1 SUCCESS: You find a vague rumor about IN LIMBO. Not really worth much.2 SUCCESSES: You find a record of a testimony from one of the people who discovered IN LIMBO.3 SUCCESSES: Same as 2 but oh ho! Seems like you found some info A.R.C. should've scrubbed!
Rolled 93, 10 = 103 (2d100)>>6289430
Rolled 93, 50 + 15 = 158 (2d100 + 15)>>6289430
Rolled 30, 86 + 15 = 131 (2d100 + 15)>>6289430
Zamn is that a 3/3 and a 2/3?
CLEAN IT UP: 108, 25, 108. 2 SUCCESSES ABNOWATCH: 50, 30, 86. 2 SUCCESSESthe +15 was only for CLEAN IT UP JANNIE but you got exactly what you needed out of those two work orders. You'll get a little bit extra from CLEAN IT UP since you got two exact numbers that were both above 100.Writing.
"Man. I need your help for something." Your gaze locks onto the new containment cell that's PRIME for a good scrubbing. A sick smirk crosses your face.The Man's clothes are soaked in nervous sweat. He apologizes for the EGG incident but he's not that great at cleaning, he explains. He always left that up to other people and, he laughs, he really thinks it's better that you two do something else. He does his best to dissuade you but it's too late. You already made up your mind. One of your spare PPE OUTFITS now lays by his feet. He groans but he acquiesces rather quick. Lucy watches this unfold with a blank expression. "Uhm. What d-did you need help with again? I-I sorta zoned out, sorry!""Ah." Right. "I'm sure we're going to have a breakthrough with the mold soon, right?""O-oh! N-no doubt! I-I think I got a good enough idea on how it works. If we can just extract that digestive enzyme...""Then, that's what you're doing. I'm going to be busy cleaning but you can get a head start.""Oh! Oh, yeah, of course! T-take your time, though. That's a lot of st-stuff for one person to clean..."You share a look with the Man. His slumped, exhausted posture betrays how tired he is at being ignored. You're sure he's been in a situation like this way too many times to count. "Trust me. I'll have someone helping me later. Just start working on the mold.""Y-yes, sir!" She nods her head like a bobblehead. You and the Man carry a small horde of cleaning supplies into the room. You're going to burn through a lot of it to get all of this gunk off.He mutters under his breath about the stench lingering in the room. The musty, putrid stench is strong enough to taste even through your respirator. "Look, for your trouble, you can take another loaf of broad from the food stash."The Man's eyes glimmer as if you just offered him a pile of gold. Food that isn't scraps or vending machine slop, he laughs, what a world.With that, you two begin your long and arduous task of cleaning the cell. The grime is harder than rock so it's more like chiseling stone than cleaning, really. You have to apply a heavy layer of all-purpose cleaner and bleach-water to get it soft enough to even scrap."You know," You ask the Man "That Liz girl worries me. You did say something about a Elizabeth Baker, yeah?"The Man nods. Wears a beanie, grey-blue hair, golden eyes. That's all he remembers about her. Okay, so it's NOT just a case of the same first name."Yeah. Maybe I should talk to her later. Maybe I can talk shop about her anomalies or something."The Man bitterly laughs. She's a daddy girl first and foremost, he says, but it might be worth winning her over. She does have some connections.He warns you to not put too much hope in the 'Liz and I are friends' basket."Yeah. I've dealt with worse. The head of HR at my place was a 50 year old cat lady."
Touche, laughs the Man.>2 SUCCESSES!After what feels like an hour, the two of you finish scrapping the walls clean. The bucket of bleach water is filled to the brim with unspeakable filth and your tools need to be bleached clean. Hey, though, the cell's at least usable now.Wait, you got an idea. "You think the Cigarette Mold might be able to clean that?" You point to the filth-filled bucket.Couldn't hurt to try, states the ManThe two of you exit the cell with the grime bucket. The Man starts to clean the filth-caked mop and broom while you check on Lucy's progress.She's shaking a syringe filled with an off-white fluid that reminds you of pus. "What's that?""O-oh, well, I've been trying to extract the digestive enzyme. I've gotten THIS but the purity's...pretty subpar, sir. I don't know if I even got any in here."You place the grime bucket on the floor. "Well, throw some in here, let's see if it does anything."She squirts the contents of the syringe onto the surface of the grime bucket. You watch to see if it does anything and, slowly, the water begins to clear. The enzyme takes its sweet time but after about ten minutes, the dark brown water has lightened enough to be noticed by the naked eye.Lucy's eyes sparkle at the (mild) success of her research. "O-okay! That's a step in the r-right direction!""Good job. Keep at it, I gotta check something else." "S-sure!"You head over to your old MAC computer. You'll give the Man the privilege of sitting down at the computer.The Man cracks his fingers. If there's one thing he knows, he claims, it's how to explore the corporate intranet.He asks what you want to find. You hand him the (mostly useless) dossier you have about IN LIMBO along with a few notes you scribbled about it. "Try to find anything you can about this anomaly."Aye aye, the Man laughs under his breath. The computer struggles to load ABNOWATCH but it's not long before you two are scouring the forum to find whatever you can.The forum has an ancient, decrepit layout that would've taken you ages to figure out on your own. The Man breezes through its archaic UI without breaking a sweat, though. You help him to avoid what you think are dead ends or anomalies that are similar but not exactly what you're looking for.You glance back at Lucy to see how she's doing every once in a while. She actually seems to be enjoying work on the CIGARETTE MOLD project. Good for her.The Man clicks his tongue. He think he found something you might want to look at.>2 SUCCESSES!One of the users has posted a snippet from a website from a local news agency. It wasn't up for long, A.R.C quickly suppressed all public information about the anomaly, but it's still valuable. It's an interview from one of the electricians who discovered. The two of you skim over the snippet to see what value it has.So, you said you found a corpse?
'Not just any corpse, sir, the thing was something out of this word. Flowers, wires, growing out of its body...'That's not the weirdest thing though.What would that be, sir?I recognized its face. You know Rolle Ann? That lady who used to run the movie theater way back when? It had her face.Bullshit! You for real? Didn't she go missing, like, four years ago?I saw what I saw, man. I think she recognized me too. She was muttering about being able to 'keep living her dream' for once. I'm not even sure how a corpse like that could talk.There's not much about the actual properties of IN LIMBO but that name. That could be a lead. You ask the Man what information about Rolle Ann he could gleam from the forum.The public information about her on ABNOWATCH is pretty scarce. She operated the Roosevelt Meadow Theater between the years 1980 and 2020 and she was a popular local figure in the town she came from. There's a thread or two about her disappearance back in 2020 but no one knows why she disappeared.There are two notable snippets of information you can gleam. One, the movie theater was barely able to stay afloat after the late 2010s and she was struggling to run it in her old age. Two, she had a passionate interest in cultivating flowers. Hm. So this anomaly might believe it's Rolle Ann or, somehow, Rolle Ann got turned into an anomaly from some other means. That could open up a line of questioning, at least.That's about as much as you're going to discover for now. You and the Man spend the next half hour helping out Lucy with the research she's been doing.The three of you manage to discover a way to actually extract the digestive enzyme from the mold. The actual purity of it isn't the best but with what limited equipment you have? It's better than nothing. All it took was mixing a tiny amount of bleach and degreaser with a sample of mold to extract it. Chemical analyzer shows that the fluid you're able to create is about 65% enzyme and 35% waste product (dead mold, contaminated bleach/degreaser, etc). With the ratio given, you'd say that each sample of mold could extract about 0.5 samples worth of digestive enzyme.Tests with the enzyme show that, outside of being unable to consume the metal samples you have access to (stainless steel), it's able to digest basically anything else you pour on it. It's a lot slower than what the mold could do naturally but, from all of the tests you run on it, it digests things a LOT cleaner than the Mold does.A whole bucket of grimy water takes about two samples worth and an hour to purify. Lucy sighs as she examples the purified(?) water underneath a microscope."There's still trace elements of bleach and bio-biological contamination in it. W-we need to figure out a better ratio but w-we can sell it at least!">You figured out all of the ways you could profit off the CIGARETTE MOLD!
>Eating it for its nicotine, selling it as a raw material or grinding it down into digestive enzyme as a cleaning solution.>You have 8 samples of MOLD and 1 sample of DIGESTIVE ENZYME!>CIGARETTE MOLD sells for more now! DIGESTIVE ENZYME sells for $250 per sample but it's more labor intensive to procure.) You don't think you'll need to grow any mold for now. Maybe once you're starting to run out.You're about to thank the Man and Lucy for their help but everything suddenly goes black. Lucy squeals like a little school girl, 'NOIMNOTSCAREDOFTHEBOOGEYMANWHATDOYOUMEAN-"The power shoots back on only a few seconds later. Lucy stops squealing but her breathing is still heavy and labored from the sudden power outage."Aare you...?"He thinks she's scared of the dark, the Man laughs under his breath. You have a good idea what caused that power outage at least.You have 4 TIME TOKENS. Choose only TWO actions this turn.RESEARCH>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this thing hold? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 25. Might not be the healthiest thing for your body or mind.)>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You want to follow up on that lead you got from ABNOWATCH. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Enter your new anomaly's containment cell. Let's see what you're working with. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50, +12 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and having two assistants.)>Try to study the POLLEN some more. There has to something else to it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 40, +12 to the check.)>Mess with the EGG you have left. What are the limits to its copying ability? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 50~60, +7 now that you know how it works. Might lower everyone's MENTAL HEALTH.)>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49 to determine how much information you get. +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)BUSY WORK>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +8 to roll thanks to having tools and the MAN's help. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)>Take some time to process some MOLD into DIGESTIVE ENZYME. Try to figure out how to make the process more efficient. (No time token cost. DC 67, +15 to roll from everyone's help. The labor needed will slightly strain everyone's PHYSICAL HEALTH.)>Upgrade your piece of shit computer. There were some spare parts in your SPECIALITY PARTS bundle. (-2 TIME TOKEN, DC 56, +5 from basic knowledge about your computer and the MAN'S help.)MISC>Talk with a coworker. (FREE ACTION, can pick alongside your work choices. Who do you talk to?)>Approach your FAX MACHINE. Risk the wrath of CORPORATE MIGHT. (FREE ACTION, can be picked alongside your work choices. -$25. Choose who to call: HAYDEN, BLACKWELL or UPPER MANAGEMENT.)>Write in.Would've updated earlier. Long day. Passed out without realizing it.
>>6289598>Enter your new anomaly's containment cell. Let's see what you're working with. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Try to study the POLLEN some more. There has to something else to it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 40, +12 to the check.)
>>6289598>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You want to follow up on that lead you got from ABNOWATCH. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Enter your new anomaly's containment cell. Let's see what you're working with. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>>6289617+1
>>6289598>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50, +12 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and having two assistants.)>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49 to determine how much information you get. +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)
>>6289598>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You want to follow up on that lead you got from ABNOWATCH. >Enter your new anomaly's containment cell. Let's see what you're working with.
>>6289598>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this thing hold? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 25. Might not be the healthiest thing for your body or mind.)>>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You want to follow up on that lead you got from ABNOWATCH. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>>6289598>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You want to follow up on that lead you got from ABNOWATCH. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)Upgrade your piece of shit computer. There were some spare parts in your SPECIALITY PARTS bundle. (-2 TIME TOKEN, DC 56, +5 from basic knowledge about your computer and the MAN'S help.)
>>6289598>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You want to follow up on that lead you got from ABNOWATCH. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Take some time to process some MOLD into DIGESTIVE ENZYME. Try to figure out how to make the process more efficient. (No time token cost. DC 67, +15 to roll from everyone's help. The labor needed will slightly strain everyone's PHYSICAL HEALTH.)
>>6289598>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You want to follow up on that lead you got from ABNOWATCH. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)Can't ignore IN LIMBO or all the power will go out>Approach your FAX MACHINE. Risk the wrath of CORPORATE MIGHT. (FREE ACTION, can be picked alongside your work choices. -$25. Choose who to call: HAYDEN, BLACKWELL or UPPER MANAGEMENT.)gotta ask Blackwell about the egg
>>6289598>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You want to follow up on that lead you got from ABNOWATCH. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)satisfy anomale so we get our PC back>Approach your FAX MACHINE. Risk the wrath of CORPORATE MIGHT. (FREE ACTION, can be picked alongside your work choices. -$25. Call BLACKWELL. Request the recording(s) be sent to us by tomorrow if not by the end of the sponsorship deal.
>>6289658Add>Talk with a coworker.Ask Lucy about who her father is and how her work with her anomalies is going. How have people here been treating her here? Have others been attempting to befriend her because of her connection to her father? How did she meet and become friends with Nicole and Liz?>Approach your FAX MACHINE. Risk the wrath of CORPORATE MIGHT.Ask Blackwell if they saw what just happened with the egg. Can they give us some information about what we did to copy the cigarettes?
>>6289721Liz/Elizabeth is the one who got a job via daddy-backed nepotism. Lucy is just a sad, melted mess of a researcher who's friends with hers.Anywho, checked everything and it seems like interacting with our two anomalies won out massively. I do notice three anons wanting to fiddle with the FAX MACHINE though to ask about the EGG incident. Since you're going to be working on abnos for the next 2-3 updates, I might as well make an offer about this now. Wanna ask about the EGG? Gonna leave this open until a majority forms>YES (You're left with $378, DC range for 'Mess with the EGG' is lowered to 50-55, you'll get a hint on how to use the EGG.)>NO. LATER. (You'll get a minor rapport boost with the MAN for not prying into EGG-related matters.)
>>6289723Can we call them once the MAN is gone? Or will he know about us calling supernaturally even if he isn't in the room?
>>6289725You can call them later, yeah, the man isn't omniscient. You're probably safe to talk about them outside of his presence. He just seems really uncomfortable when the topic is brought up.
>>6289726Okay, yeah, since it's a FREE ACTION, let's delay it until he's outta here.
>>6289723I don't think we should tell bargain bin Duty or really ANYONE about the EGGs and their ability to duplicate shit.
>>6289723Oh, I thought Lucy was the beanie/nepotism girl. I misremembering.>>6289723>NO. LATER.
>>6289721ChangeAsk Lucy about how her work with her anomalies is going, and is there anything we can do to assist her personal work and stuff if we have time to do it later? And how did she manage to get "recruits" by ARC?
>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You want to follow up on that lead you got from ABNOWATCH. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Enter your new anomaly's containment cell. Let's see what you're working with. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)We arent seriously going to go the whole day ignoring our new anomaly, right? Thats just begging for trouble.
Didnt reload the page since earlier today. nevermind
>>6289723NO
Time to face the music. You need to deal with your anomalies sooner rather than later. Especially since IN LIMBO is having another shitfit again. "Alright, Lucy, you're coming with me. The power's not going to go out again.""ohthankgodpleaseplease." She whimpers and whines like a kicked puppy. It's still a little cute but this time, your face scrunches up at the pitiful sight in front of you. "I mean!!! Y-yeah! L-let's do it. W-which one is that again?" Keep your rude thoughts to yourself, Vincent.You mutter under your breath. "IN LIMBO. You can read this dossier. Wrote some notes in the margins." Granted, you don't have many notes since you only worked 3~ times on the anomaly but it's better than nothing."O-oh! Thank you!" She eagerly skims the dossier. While you wait for her to catch up to speed, you quickly talk to the Man about what he should do.You tell him to wait by the new anomaly's airlock. Even if he can't directly interact with the abno, he can still take notes.He's more than happy to take a break after what he had to clean up. He shudders at the memory. You briefly glance back at the FAX MACHINE. You are tempted to ask them about the EGG, now that you're thinking about it, but maybe it's better to wait until the Man is gone before you ask anything. The security cameras scattered across your room lock onto you. Hard to imagine they don't already know...>You'll ask about the EGG later, either at the end of this shift or the start of the next one."O-okay! I'm done, sir!" Lucy chirps out. "pleasecanwegetittocalmdown.""Aight." You keep your voice level and calm to hopefully keep Lucy from having another panic attack. You hand Lucy a PPE outfit so she doesn't get pollen'd by mistake. After she's done sliding it on, the two of you proceed to enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell to deal with its latest temper tantrum.The moment you pass the airlock's threshold, a mild but persistent itch lingers around your eyes and ears. Something manifests in your mind's eye. A clue?---INSIGHT ARTIFACT HINT: STAGNATION/??? (2 ARTIFACTS POSSIBLE)---https://youtu.be/Jw2yM-RoVDE - ANOMALY WORKThe flowerbed's many arms are wildly flailing around without any rhyme or reason. Their hands desperately claw for something to reach and grasp. The many flowers growing and covering its body snap to face your direction, almost reminding you of the security cameras installed in your lab.Some of the arms are desperately clinging onto the broken broom handle but it's not enough to appease the anomaly's temper tantrum. Not now, at least.Even through your respirator, the sickly-sweet stench of old flowers and rotten meat hits your nostrils like a fist. Lucy glances around as if she thought she heard something. "D-did you hear that? C-could've sworn I heard someone calling for me." You focus your hearing to see if you can pick up anything.
You pick up a quiet, breathless whisper that's barely audible over the anomaly's twitching, flailing movements.Do you wish to dream?Hm. What do you want to do, Vincent? With Lucy present, you can do a lot more research in one go.Pick three work orders. (You can pick multiple for any category, they're just organized like this for readability.)IN LIMBO MOOD: 38/100COMMUNICATION:>Try to communicate with the anomaly. Ask it some questions. (Write in what you want to ask it, up to three questions.)>Feign interest about its flowers. Ask how it takes care of them and which flowers are its favorites. (DC 55, +10 to roll from LUCY'S HELP + ANOMALY TOUCHED.)>Start talking about movies and movie theaters. Ask Lucy and the anomaly what kind of movies they're into.>Hold out your hand. Let its arms embrace it. (This will hurt you. You got PHYSICAL HEALTH to spare, though.)>"What do YOU dream about? What dreams are even worth dreaming about?" Prod at this weird fascination the anomaly has with dreams. (DC 50, +10 from LUCY'S HELP + ANOMALY TOUCHED.)EXAMINATION:>Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed to see what other unique anatomy it has. (DC 45, +7 from ANATOMY KNOWLEDGE + LUCY'S HELP)>Harvest some flowers from the corpse flowerbed to study later. Your harvesting kit should make it painless.>Harvest some pollen from the flowers. More samples to study couldn't hurt.>Some of the flowers seem wilted. Tend to the anomaly's flower with your botanical supplies. (DC 56, +5 from LUCY'S HELP.)STIMULI TEST>Play some music from your CD player. See how it reacts to the stimuli. (Choose WHITE NOISE, SOFT JAZZ, ELEVATOR MUSIC or HEAVY METAL.)>Turn on your DVD player. See how it reacts to the TV show.>Offer it some food, batteries, water and fertilizer. Figure out if it can get energy.>Bring in some toys to give to the anomaly's arms. You know it calms down when he has something busy to grab onto.>Write in.
>>6289817>"What do YOU dream about? What dreams are even worth dreaming about?" Prod at this weird fascination the anomaly has with dreams. (DC 50, +10 from LUCY'S HELP + ANOMALY TOUCHED.)>Some of the flowers seem wilted. Tend to the anomaly's flower with your botanical supplies. (DC 56, +5 from LUCY'S HELP.)>Offer it some food, batteries, water and fertilizer. Figure out if it can get energy.
>>6289817>Feign interest about its flowers. Ask how it takes care of them and which flowers are its favorites. (DC 55, +10 to roll from LUCY'S HELP + ANOMALY TOUCHED.)>Some of the flowers seem wilted. Tend to the anomaly's flower with your botanical supplies. (DC 56, +5 from LUCY'S HELP.)>Bring in some toys to give to the anomaly's arms. You know it calms down when he has something busy to grab onto.
>>6289817>Feign interest about its flowers. Ask how it takes care of them and which flowers are its favorites. (DC 55, +10 to roll from LUCY'S HELP + ANOMALY TOUCHED.)>Some of the flowers seem wilted. Tend to the anomaly's flower with your botanical supplies. (DC 56, +5 from LUCY'S HELP.)If we succeed on the first option the DC might be lowered or the bonus raised. >>Turn on your DVD player. See how it reacts to the TV show.
>>6289817>>Start talking about movies and movie theaters. Ask Lucy and the anomaly what kind of movies they're into.>Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed to see what other unique anatomy it has. (DC 45, +7 from ANATOMY KNOWLEDGE + LUCY'S HELP)>Offer it some food, batteries, water and fertilizer. Figure out if it can get energy.
>>6289817>"What do YOU dream about? What dreams are even worth dreaming about?" Prod at this weird fascination the anomaly has with dreams. (DC 50, +10 from LUCY'S HELP + ANOMALY TOUCHED.)>Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed to see what other unique anatomy it has. (DC 45, +7 from ANATOMY KNOWLEDGE + LUCY'S HELP)>Feign interest about its flowers. Ask how it takes care of them and which flowers are its favorites. (DC 55, +10 to roll from LUCY'S HELP + ANOMALY TOUCHED.)
>>6289817>Feign interest about its flowers. Ask how it takes care of them and which flowers are its favorites. (DC 55, +10 to roll from LUCY'S HELP + ANOMALY TOUCHED.)>Start talking about movies and movie theaters. Ask Lucy and the anomaly what kind of movies they're into.>Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed to see what other unique anatomy it has. (DC 45, +7 from ANATOMY KNOWLEDGE + LUCY'S HELP)>Harvest some flowers from the corpse flowerbed to study later. Your harvesting kit should make it painless.>Play some music from your CD player. See how it reacts to the stimuli. (SOFT JAZZ)>Turn on your DVD player. See how it reacts to the TV show.
>>6289817>"What do YOU dream about? What dreams are even worth dreaming about?" Prod at this weird fascination the anomaly has with dreams. (DC 50, +10 from LUCY'S HELP + ANOMALY TOUCHED.)>Some of the flowers seem wilted. Tend to the anomaly's flower with your botanical supplies. (DC 56, +5 from LUCY'S HELP.)>Turn on your DVD player. See how it reacts to the TV show.
(I'll just pick the first three SXG voted for, otherwise it would've made some ties)So, seems like DREAM + WILTED + FLOWER TALK won out. It's time for another NINE d100s to be rolled. You know the gist, anons. Three anons, roll 3d100 for me. Feel free to roll for whichever table you want.DREAMS? (DC 50, +10 to roll.)0-1 SUCCESS: ...No response?2 SUCCESSES: I can tell you don't have a dream yet, Vincent. I can help you. Let me give you one. (Reveals the other INSIGHT hint!) 3 SUCCESSES: Something's wrong. Lucy whispers under her breath, engrossed in a conversation with no one. (Reveals the other INSIGHT hint. You'll also get a vague explanation on what artifacts you can get from the anomaly.)WILTED (DC 56, +5 to roll)0 SUCCESSES: Uh oh. You might've done more harm than good here. (???)1-2 SUCCESSES: You and Lucy heal what flowers you can and surgically remove which ones are too wilted to recover. (You obtain a few flower samples. The anomaly receives a small MOOD boost.)3 SUCCESSES: The flowers have fully recovered! The anomaly's many arms reach out to give you something...(You obtain a GIFT from the anomaly!)FLOWER TALK (DC 55, +10 to roll)0 SUCCESSES: No response. Shucks. 1 SUCCESS: The flowers sway and gesture at you, as if they're trying to communicate with you. (-3 DC to WILTED, -2 DC to analyzing the POLLEN SAMPLE in your lab.)2 SUCCESSES: Something is whispering to you. You can't quite make out what it's saying but you think it's happy, at least. (The anomaly gets a heavy MOOD boost!)3 SUCCESSES: The floral scent suddenly gets a lot stronger, as if the anomaly wishes you'd just relax. You two spend the next hour chatting with the anomaly. (You get the rewards of 1 and 2 + Lucy gains a sizable MENTAL HEALTH heal.)
Rolled 65, 98, 17 = 180 (3d100)>>6290158FLOWER TALK
Rolled 58, 11, 24 = 93 (3d100)>>6290158Dream
Rolled 31, 27, 48 = 106 (3d100)>>6290158Wilted
RESULTSFLOWER: 2 WILTED: 0DREAM: 1Hm. Yeah, unlike the last 0 success roll, I'm not bailing you out this time around. Sometimes that's just how the dice crumbles.Writing.
>>6290163What about the DC reduction from flower talk?
>>6290164Oh, yeah, wait. I forget to account for that.That makes the DC 53 so the 48 is now 48+5...or 53.Holy shit with that, you just BARELY pass the WILTED check with 1 success. I can't tell if that's lucky or unlucky. Okay, so the new total if 1 SUCCESS for DREAM and WILTED, 2 for FLOWER TALK.Crazy how that works out.
You reckon it's best to follow Lucy's methodology for this session - Opening a line of communication with the anomaly. "So, got any ideas what topics we should discuss with this?" You make a vague gesture towards the anomaly.Lucy chews on the end of the pencil you graciously provided for her. That's your only one, c'mon. "I can think of one really obvious one, sir!" She points at the flowers that gently sway despite the lack of wind in here. "N-not sure how it v-views its flowers but it couldn't hurt." The flowers stop in place for a brief moment before they start swaying again.You can't think of a better one off the top of your head. "So. I wonder if it has any flowers it likes more than the others.""I-I'm a fan of the petunias myself!" Lucy kneels down by the flower bed. "O-oh! Weird..." She points at the two flowers that spawned from your previous works. "They're just like your eyes, huh?""Yeah, that's the reason we're wearing the PPE right now." You join Lucy by the flowerbed. "Otherwise the pollen it makes gets all up in your nose. Flowers grew after that.""Ah! I-I was wondering, haa. Y-you're lucky it only m-messed with your head." Her voice immediately deflates. Ah, best change the subject."Haha." You crack a weak smile. "I got lucky with this one. It's nice to just watch the flowers. If you can ignore the, uh, body underneath.""Mmh!" Lucy nods in agreement. "I wonder how it takes care of them." "I haven't been tending to them, at least.""Well, then we have a pretty good gardener here! Miss LIMBO, which flowers do you like the most?"The many squirming arms with grasping, yearning hands immediately lock up. Did it not expect to actually be addressed? It's aware of its own title if it knew Lucy was talking to it."And if you would be kind enough to answer," You also address the anomaly. "How do you take care of them? We were hoping to get into growing our own flowers.">2 SUCCESSES!A voice is just barely audible over the rustling of its many flowers. "With. With love. And dreams." A hoarse and feeble voice croaks out from underneath the flowers. Whoever is underneath that flowerbed hasn't spoken in years."With dreams, miss?" Lucy scribbles down what the anomaly said. It doesn't respond verbally but the flowers shift and twitch as if they're intimating a nod. "Interesting. That's yet another mention of dreams.""Can you point out which flowers are your favorite?" You ask the anomaly.Its hands shake and tremble as it follows your order. Three fingers point to three specific flowers. One is the grey poppy that grew from your first work order. The other two are a pair of wilted, desiccated white petunias. Its hands tremble as it continues to point at the wilted petunias over and over again."Aw, they're all floppy." "Hrm. Would you be okay with us tending to them?"The anomaly whispers something. You can't quite make out what it's saying but you think it's glad you offered to help.
Its grasping hands are starting to slow down now. So, those are tied to its MOOD, noted. You hand Lucy the watering can. "We're going to take care of it, miss LIMBO." You have an idea of what its actual name is but it's best to be cautious. You aren't 100% sure if it's Miss Rolle or not."I a-actually had a cactus at my old apartment. N-not the first time I've taken care of a plant, miss.""Oh, hopefully it's okay." "I-I rented with a friend, s-she can probably take care of it for me. N-not like she n-noticed I'm gone."Your expression softens. Best to change the topic before it gets too sad. "Well, you can practice on LIMBO here." You examine the wilted petunias growing out of it. There's some rotten petals that you'd probably have to cut off. Its hands point and gesture at the flowers in a vague attempt to guide you on how to tend to them.Lucy softly hums while she tends to the flowers. As the water splashes onto the various flowers, they eagerly perk up. Even the wilted flowers perk up a little bit before drooping again.You carefully start to trim the rotten parts off the petunias. You don't want to accidently hurt the anomaly by cutting too deeply.You nearly lose the grip on your pocket knife but you manage to avoid dropping it. You carefully trim off the rotten parts off. You move around the flower bed to gently slice what flowers are too rotten to be worth saving while Lucy waters the rest.Inside the cable-like stems are electric wires that have corroded from rot. Interesting.>1 SUCCESS!The flowerbed has been partially trimmed of some of the wilted flowers. There's still a few wilted or rotten ones clinging to its body but you'd be conversative on how much you trim at once.The flowers that Lucy watered are perking up quite nicely, actually. The floral scent is now overpowering the stench of rotten flesh. Maybe you should come in here and tend to it more often.>+3 WIRE FLOWERS! (Harvested from IN LIMBO. Can be studied later.)Lucy scribbles down a few more notes before turning to you, "A-anything else, Vincent?""One more thing. LIMBO? Can you hear us?"The anomaly's flowers shift in your general direction. You'd take that as a yes."What do YOU dream about? What dreams are even worth dreaming about?" "O-oh! A-and what are your favorite ones?" Lucy chimes in with her own question.>1 SUCCESSNothing. You and Lucy ask the question again but nope. No hands grasping, no whispering, the anomaly is completely inert."Aw. It's okay, we'll talk to you later!" Lucy waves goodbye to the flowerbed. One of its hands waves back but that's about it. Lucy exits the containment cell with no issue and you're about to leave too but your ears perk up."dreams are all i have left." A raspy voice croaks out. "all i have left..." As quickly as it spoke up, it shuts itself up. Dreams are all it has left, huh? Your mind lingers for a moment on what you learnt about Rolle Ann. Her movie theater was failing even before she disappeared.
You only managed to find two snippets about her life online. Maybe it was all she had. Her flowers and her theater. What WOULD she have after her theater went bust? You catch up with Lucy. Best to dwell on it later.>+42 MOOD! IN LIMBO MOOD is now 80/100!You toss the samples you obtained over to Lucy. She slowly staggers over to one of the tables you set aside solely to hold your various samples.You join up with the Man waiting outside the other occupied containment cell. He hopes you had a fun time dealing with IN LIMBO but he's ready to see what's in here.You agree. You open the airlock with your keycard, ready to face whatever terror is inside this cell.https://youtu.be/DssL4Mlm2_0 - NEW ANOMALYThe first thing that hits you is the immediate shift between the atmosphere in here and the one inside IN LIMBO's CELL. IN LIMBO's cell was quiet and, to be frank, depressing to be in at the best of times. The energy in here is completely different. The best way to put it is it's like stepping into an air conditioned room after being out in the Texas heat for hours.Your latest anomaly is waiting patiently in the middle of the room. You take a moment to process what it looks like.It's a lithe humanoid figure made out of a sleek, silver-like metal that glimmers softly under the buzzing fluorescent light. Its metallic body is covered in curvy, warped spirals and marks similar to that of Damascus steel. Its body glimmers strangely under the fluorescent lightIts left arm is an anatomically accurate model of a human arm but its right arm is replaced with a long nozzle that's connected to its shoulder. You'd assume it dispenses whatever is sloshing around inside of its chest. Its upper torso isn't made out of metal and is instead a large glass reservoir filled with a bright red liquid.It sloshes with every minor movement the anomaly makes. It watches you with its smooth, featureless face. You're not sure how it can see you without any eyes.It takes a cautious step towards you on its tiny nub-like feet."Good afternoon, sir." It politely addresses you. "I was wondering when I would be introduced to the owner of this establishment." It bows its head towards you in a servile manner. Its androgynous voice is laced with a formal cadence you'd usually only hear out of a waiter."Do you have any guests with you today?""Yes." You nod towards the Man. The anomaly leans in closer to see who you're gesturing to."I do apologize, sir, there appears to be an error with my facial recognition software. I only registered you and a John Doe. If he is your guest, he is more than welcome here."The Man is, understandably, shocked that anyone besides you even recognized him. Interesting, interesting. The INSIGHT MODULE in your head buzzes to life. Seems like it figured out some stimuli the anomaly likesNeutral or positive stimuli: 1.) Providing it with biological matter.
2.) Low light conditions."If I may be so bold, I wish to make a complaint. I do find the atmosphere inside here to be lacking. It lacks a certain 'Je ne sais quoi' that I am accustomed to. I can adjust to it, however, if it is too much of a hassle to change." The robot bows to you again.Since the anomaly seems able to recognize the Man, you also get to pick three work orders for this anomaly.??? MOOD: ???/???LIQUID POINTS: 100/100 (The amount of fluid inside of its reservoir.) How do you wish to interact with the android? Choose three.COMMUNICATION:>Ask it about its origin. Who created it and where was it built? (DC 65, +7 to roll from ANOMALY TOUCHED + the MAN's help.)>Question what function it was built for. It's a machine, after all.>Facial recognition? Why does it have it and, hell, how can it even see with no eyes?>Does it have any requests for you? Might as well make its stay here comfortable.>Ask about the liquid inside of it. Does it make it by itself? What exactly is it?EXAMINATION/STIMULI>Inspect its body. Try to figure out as much as you can about how its constructed and what its made of. (DC 65, +3 to roll. Helps you to know how to repair it in the future.)>Ask for some of the fluid inside of its reservoir. Can't have too many samples. (-25 LIQUID POINTS, gets you 1d3+1 samples.)>Play some music from your CD player. (Choose WHITE NOISE, SOFT JAZZ, ELEVATOR MUSIC or HEAVY METAL.)>You do have some metal polisher. Offer to clean the anomaly's body as a gesture of goodwill. >Turn on your DVD player. See how it reacts to the TV show.>Offer it some bread, meat and water from your DAILY FOOD BUNDLE. See what it does with it.>Try to find a way to dim the lights in here. Might as well make the anomaly comfortable. (DC 45, no modifiers.)>Write in.
>>6290198>Ask it about its origin. Who created it and where was it built? (DC 65, +7 to roll from ANOMALY TOUCHED + the MAN's help.)>Play some music from your CD player. SOFT JAZZ>Try to find a way to dim the lights in here. Might as well make the anomaly comfortable. (DC 45, no modifiers.)
>>6290198>Does it have any requests for you? Might as well make its stay here comfortable.>Offer it some bread, meat and water from your DAILY FOOD BUNDLE. See what it does with it.Especially the meat.>Try to find a way to dim the lights in here. Might as well make the anomaly comfortable. (DC 45, no modifiers.)
>>6290198>Ask it about its origin. Who created it and where was it built? (DC 65, +7 to roll from ANOMALY TOUCHED + the MAN's help.)>Ask about the liquid inside of it. Does it make it by itself? What exactly is it?>Try to find a way to dim the lights in here. Might as well make the anomaly comfortable. (DC 45, no modifiers.)
>>6290204+1
>>6290198We tried Lucy's methods we might as well try the Man's... even if this anomaly seems to be more communicative than IN LIMBO. >Does it have any requests for you? Might as well make its stay here comfortable.>>Play some music from your CD player. (Choose SOFT JAZZ)>>Ask for some of the fluid inside of its reservoir. Can't have too many samples. (-25 LIQUID POINTS, gets you 1d3+1 samples.)
>>6290198>Ask it about its origin. Who created it and where was it built? (DC 65, +7 to roll from ANOMALY TOUCHED + the MAN's help.)>Does it have any requests for you? Might as well make its stay here comfortable.>Try to find a way to dim the lights in here. Might as well make the anomaly comfortable. (DC 45, no modifiers.)
>>6290198>Ask it about its origin. Who created it and where was it built? (DC 65, +7 to roll from ANOMALY TOUCHED + the MAN's help.)>Question what function it was built for. It's a machine, after all.>Ask about the liquid inside of it. Does it make it by itself? What exactly is it?
>>6290198>Ask it about its origin. Who created it and where was it built? >Play some music from your CD player. SOFT JAZZ>Try to find a way to dim the lights in here. Might as well make the anomaly comfortable.
>>6290198>Ask it about its origin. Who created it and where was it built? (DC 65, +7 to roll from ANOMALY TOUCHED + the MAN's help.)>Question what function it was built for. It's a machine, after all.>Try to find a way to dim the lights in here. Might as well make the anomaly comfortable. (DC 45, no modifiers.)
>>6290198>Ask it about its origin. Who created it and where was it built? (DC 65, +7 to roll from ANOMALY TOUCHED + the MAN's help.)>Play some music from your CD player. SOFT JAZZ>Try to find a way to dim the lights in here. Might as well make the anomaly comfortable. (DC 45, no modifiers.)Dang that anomaly has got some hips. Hmm if the Insight Module is able to tell us about the low light conditions, can it help point us to the light controls? Although...>Write in.If that fails we get some spare bedsheets or something in abundance, hung to disperse or absorb some of the light. Some other materials that might cover or reflect the lights. A ladder to see how many anomalies it takes to unscrew a lightbulb lol.Well the more obvious way to make money here would be to try to sell the liquid while findings ways to balance quantity and quality. However, I have another suggestion. What if we actually just decked this place out like a real lounge, and then charged other members of ARC to relax here? Ban any crazies, hire a guard, entertainment and the anomaly's special drink. Premium cash and favors.
>>6290198>Try to find a way to dim the lights in here. Might as well make the anomaly comfortable. (DC 45, no modifiers.)Perhaps investing in curtains or mood lighting or similar lamp store items could help?>Does it have any requests for you? Might as well make its stay here comfortable.I want to ask origin later, not on first meeting>Play some music from your CD player. (Choose WHITE NOISE, SOFT JAZZ, ELEVATOR MUSIC or HEAVY METAL.)Soft jazz sounds good here
>"Wash all your dreams and worries away. In the end, there's only one other escape from your woes." (You never knew that an ANDROID could look so exhausted...)The theme to this one is probably ALCOHOL but a subtler way with its waiter speech and luxury restaurant vibe
>>6290198>Ask it about its origin. Who created it and where was it built? (DC 65, +7 to roll from ANOMALY TOUCHED + the MAN's help.)>Question what function it was built for. It's a machine, after all.>Ask for some of the fluid inside of its reservoir. Can't have too many samples. (-25 LIQUID POINTS, gets you 1d3+1 samples.)
TURN OFF THE LIGHTS: CWx, 04z, Dj2, PPH, SqX, KOO, Lc3, jHo, Szu, mk8WHAT FUNCTION: KOO, jHoSOFT JAZZ: CWx, 3zO, Lc3, Szu, mk8ORIGIN?: CWx, Dj2, SqX, Lc3, jHo, Szu, SXGFOOD: 04z, PPHANY REQUESTS: 04z, PPH, 3zO, SqX, mk8WHAT'S THAT LIQUID: Dj2, KOO, SXGGIMME FLUID: 3zO, SXGYou know what, I'm going to tie SOFT JAZZ and 'ANY REQUESTS' together since I don't wanna bother with a tie breaker.I'll keep the 'bedsheets' write-in in mind for later.We got two rolls to deal with. Three anons, roll 2d100. First three d100s rolled goes to TURN OFF THE LIGHTS, rest go to ORIGINTURN OFF THE LIGHTS (DC 45, no modifiers)0 SUCCESSES: What do you think, dummy?1 SUCCESS: The panel you find is in pretty poor quality. Probably won't let you dim the room too much...2 SUCCESSES: The panel you find is in pretty solid condition. It should be enough to appease the anomaly.3 SUCCESSES: Same as 2 but you now know where the panel would likely be in any given containment cell. Good for any anomalies that respond to light.ORIGINS? (DC 65, +7 to roll.)0-1 SUCCESSES: "I'm sorry, sir, but I'm not allowed to talk about personal matters on the job." The anomaly tells you little to nothing about itself.2 SUCCESSES: "I can certainly tell you my make and model, sir." The anomaly tells you some basic facts about itself and its construction.3 SUCCESSES: "If my service is not adequate enough, sir, you can always try to reach customer service." Same as 2 but it hands you an odd business card.
Rolled 42, 20 = 62 (2d100)>>6290678HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Rolled 21, 76 + 7 = 104 (2d100 + 7)>>6290678
Rolled 24, 21 = 45 (2d100)>>6290678
...0 for TURN OFF THE LIGHTS, 1 for ORIGIN.Waow. Something must be in the facility's water. Writing.
next time we interact with IN LIMBO we should play it a DVD and see how it likes watching movies.
It's weird actually being able to talk with an anomaly. Your known sample size is a grand total of three (and one was a giant heart) so maybe it's not actually that weird? Oh well, you might as well get some preliminary info on the anomaly.It eagerly waits for your command. "Sir?" It nervously taps one of its nub-like feet on the ground. "Do you wish to see our menu?""First, I'd like to ask you a question.""Of course, sir." The android bows its head. "What would you like to know, sir?""For the foreseeable future, you will be assigned to this room. Do you have any requests on how your stay here can be more comfortable?"The android reels back a bit at your question. Not because it's offended or anything, it just didn't expect it. "I am fine with my current arrangements. They are adequate." "If you had to ask for something, though, what would it be?" You have to keep some professional distance between yourself and your anomalies but it doesn't hurt to be accommodating.The android mulls over the question with a static-laced hum. "C'est- Oh, excuse me." It taps at the side of its neck. "Don't worry about that. It's not that big of a deal but if you insist.""Something to sit down on to rest my legs would be appreciated. It is also a bit too quiet in here for my own tastes." It hums a little melody that you swear you heard before. You can't put your finger on it. "The ambience is quite lacking compared to the previous location."It tilts its head up towards the ceiling. If it wasn't for the insight module, you wouldn't know why it's so fixated on that.We can try to dim the light, the Man says, if that would make you more comfortable.The android silently nods. Welp, time to get to work. The chair's easy, you drag one of the many chairs from your lab into the cell. The Man dusts it off before welcoming the anomaly to sit down.It does so. The joints on its legs bend and twist just like a human's despite being made of metal and some other unidentifiable elements. Interesting.You and the Man move around the perimeter of the cell. "So, got any clues why my module said it likes the dark?" The Man scratches his chin. He has a few ideas and most of them pertain to the liquid inside its body."Oh? What do you think it is?"If he had to guess? Some sort of spirit, wine or other alcohol-rich fluid. He overheard some of the haughtier researchers talking about wine before. A lot of it went over his head but apparently, too much light negatively affects the taste of alcohol.'course, he continues, there could be other reasons. Perhaps it just prefers a dark ambience. He's not a fan of the fluorescent lighting either. You chuckle under your breath, "Yeah. Me neither."The two of you search around the cell for any panels or doodads or whatever that could affect the lighting in here. It ends up as a complete waste of your time! Every wall segment blends together into a grey, indistinct blur.
The two of you return to the anomaly after failing to find a way to adjust the light."There's an issue with this room's lighting. We'll fix it as soon as we can."You think the anomaly would be smiling if it had a mouth. "It is no issue, Vincent." it sings in a sing-song cadence. It probably just appreciates the gesture more than anything- "Wait. How do you know my name?"The android tilts its head at you. "You're in my database, sir. That's how. I apologize. If you wish to be addressed simply as-""No, no, it's fine. It was just weird." "I understand, sir."The Man clears his throat. He wonders what type of music you two should play for the anomaly. You think about it but the choice seems obvious, "You think smooth jazz would work?"The Man chuckles. He can't really think of anything better than the elevator music or orchestral tracks. Orchestral might be a bit overblown for a simple stimuli test, he admits.You agree. You pop the CD into the player before resting it on the ground.https://youtu.be/c5QfXjsoNe4 - SMOOTH JAZZA smooth, easy to listen melody crackles out of its well-worn speakers. You can't quite understand the lyrics thanks to the language barrier but you doubt that matters.The anomaly leans back in the cheap chair you got for it. It hums along to the song, harmonizing perfectly with the melody. The two of you simply watch and observe, scribbling down notes on the old IN LIMBO dossier. After a minute or two, it stops humming along. "Ah. It reminds me of home. Thank you."You might as well ask it about its 'home'. The Man asks the anomaly where its home was? Where it might've been built? An android would consider its factory 'home', he mutters under his breath.The android sits up straight in its chair. "Why do you wish to know?" Its voice drips with obvious suspicion at this sudden topic shift. "We simply want to know more about you, that's all." You offer a polite laugh. "It would be weird to not know a little bit about you, would it?""I suppose not.""I doubt one person built you so, I suppose we were wondering who we should thank. We haven't ordered anything yet but you certainly have a can-do-attitude."A polite laugh crackles out of its voicebox. "I appreciate the flattery."It doesn't have to be much, the Man states. Just whatever it feels comfortable saying."If nothing else, why did the song remind you of home?"The anomaly hems and haws as it processes your questions. You can tell it's not really comfortable talking about itself like this.>1 SUCCESS!And even after trying to placate it, it doesn't tell you much."My creators instilled a certain palate in me when they were making me. A palate for the more 'refined' aspects of life. A similar palate to what they had, I suppose.""I had to deal with clientele like them so it was logical to do so. They would play songs like this all the time when they were working on me."
It sighs wistfully at the memory. "She would always voice her complaints about the same genre being played over and over again. I grew to appreciate it myself, at least.""And who would that be?""I'm sorry, sir, my purpose isn't to talk about myself." It stonewalls you as soon as it was getting somewhere interesting. "Would you like a menu?""No, that'll be all.""Okay. Have a good day, sirs."You doubt you can get anything else out of it right now. Best to leave while you're ahead.Once you're out of the containment cell, the Man finishes scribbling down all of the notes he has. Didn't it seem a little bit too polite, he asks?"I thought it was just trying to be formal."It was, he admits, but he can't help but to feel like it might've been trying a bit too hard. You suppose you get where he's coming from. It was laying it on pretty thick when it came to being a servant.He nods, nothing is ever free when it comes to anomalies. Especially when you still don't know a lot about it.Lucy finishes up organizing the samples, "H-hey! Uhm, the shift's almost over, w-we should probably wrap it up."She's right. You only have 2 TIME TOKENs left. Choose one 2 TIME TOKEN action OR two 1 TIME TOKEN actions. Regardless of what TIME TOKEN action(s) you take, pick two FREE ACTIONS as well.2 TIME TOKENS>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +8 to roll. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)>Take some time to grow and process as much MOLD + ENZYME as you can. Money money. (DC 65, +15 to roll from everyone's help. Will lightly strain your PHYSICAL HEALTH. Consumes all your BREATHMINTS and a decent amount of food.)>Upgrade your piece of shit computer. There were some spare parts in your SPECIALITY PARTS bundle. (-2 TIME TOKEN, DC 56, +5 to roll. Lowers future TIME TOKEN costs of actions done via your computer.)1 TIME TOKEN>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (DC 50, +12 to the check.)>Study the POLLEN and the WIRE FLOWER. They're from the same anomaly. Maybe they're connected. (DC 48, +12 to the check.)>Check the dossier about the android abno. See what you can gleam and how you can connect it to what little you know. (DC 46 to determine how much information you get. +5 to roll.)>Try to make some makeshift curtains or blinds with whatever you can find. Might as well keep it dark. (DC 50, +7 to roll.)>Enter IN LIMBO'S cell. Do a quick test, play it a movie on the DVD player, see how it reacts. (No rolls needed.)FREE ACTION>Talk to Lucy. Ask about her anomalies and if you can do anything to help her out with them later.>Ask Lucy how she got recruited. You wonder if there's a pattern to who got yoinked.>Ask the MAN on his thoughts about IN LIMBO'S INSIGHT HINT.>Ask UPPER MANAGEMENT about adding some lounge supplies to your next catalog. (-$25, ???.)>Write in. (Ask something else. Call up another company?)>Write in
>>6290734>Study the POLLEN and the WIRE FLOWER. They're from the same anomaly. Maybe they're connected. (DC 48, +12 to the check.)>Try to make some makeshift curtains or blinds with whatever you can find. Might as well keep it dark. (DC 50, +7 to roll.)>Ask UPPER MANAGEMENT about adding some lounge supplies to your next catalog. (-$25, ???.)>Ask the MAN on his thoughts about IN LIMBO'S INSIGHT HINT.
>>6290734>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +8 to roll. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)If management is gonna spring new anomalies on us out of nowhere, we need to be ready for anything.
>>6290734>>Check the dossier about the android abno. See what you can gleam and how you can connect it to what little you know. (DC 46 to determine how much information you get. +5 to roll.)>>Try to make some makeshift curtains or blinds with whatever you can find. Might as well keep it dark. (DC 50, +7 to roll.)>Talk to Lucy. Ask about her anomalies and if you can do anything to help her out with them later.>>Ask the MAN on his thoughts about IN LIMBO'S INSIGHT HINT.
>>6290817+1
>>6290734>>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +8 to roll. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)
>>6290734>Study the POLLEN and the WIRE FLOWER. They're from the same anomaly. Maybe they're connected. (DC 48, +12 to the check>Enter IN LIMBO'S cell. Do a quick test, play it a movie on the DVD player, see how it reacts. (No rolls needed.)>Talk to Lucy. Ask about her anomalies and if you can do anything to help her out with them later.>Ask the MAN on his thoughts about IN LIMBO'S INSIGHT HINT.
>>6290734>Study the POLLEN and the WIRE FLOWER. They're from the same anomaly. Maybe they're connected.>Try to make some makeshift curtains or blinds with whatever you can find. Might as well keep it dark.>Talk to Lucy. Ask about her anomalies and if you can do anything to help her out with them later.>Ask the MAN on his thoughts about IN LIMBO'S INSIGHT HINT.
>>6290734>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +8 to roll. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)>Ask Lucy how she got recruited. You wonder if there's a pattern to who got yoinked.>Ask the MAN on his thoughts about IN LIMBO'S INSIGHT HINT.
Seems like studying the pollen/wire flowers and making some makeshift curtains wins for the TIME TOKEN actions while you ask Lucy about her abnos and the MAN about the insight hit.Same as last time. Three anons, roll 2d100s, first three will be assigned to STUDY POLLEN/WIRE, rest will be assigned to MAKESHIFT CURTAINSSTUDY POLLEN/WIRE (DC 48)0 SUCCESS: You learn a tiny bit more about the POLLEN but nothing much otherwise1-2 SUCCESSES: You find a new property about both of your samples! 2 successes reveals more information than 1 success.3 SUCCESSES: You discover a new property of the POLLEN and T W O properties for the WIRE FLOWERS!MAKESHIFT CURTAINS (DC 50)0 SUCCESS: Yet another waste of time...? (Something about your luck here feels off. ???.)1 SUCCESS: You manage to make some shoddy curtains but it costs a lot of supplies from your inventory2-3 SUCCESSES: You make some decent curtains out of the supplies you have! Rolling 3 successes just means you make a LOT more of them.
Rolled 3, 64 = 67 (2d100)>>6291083
Rolled 26, 68 = 94 (2d100)>>6291083The rolls in this quest are painfully mediocre, but it kinda makes sense with how mediocre Vincent is as a protagonist compared to Nicole and Admin/Anderson. It's kind of refreshing, honestly. I don't mind it too much yet
Rolled 35, 5 = 40 (2d100)>>6291083
>>6291087Yeah, speaking about mediocre.>>6291084>>6291087STUDY POLLEN: 15, 76, 38. 1 SUCCESS>>6291087>>6291088MAKESHIFT CURTAINS: 75, 42, 12. 1 SUCCESSHonestly this isn't even the fault of the DCs. Your rolls just haven't been the best.Writing. At least you still got SOME progress done. Going to cook something first so it might be a bit staggered.
You might as well wrap things up. You'll deal with the fax machine later — You still wanna know what happened with the EGG after all. BLACKWELL probably already knows about it from all of the cameras scattered around the place.First things first, the samples.You assign yourself as the one examining the flowers while Lucy busies herself with the pollen. She slumps lifelessly against the counter, clearly ready for this to be over with. A random thought springs in your head. "Hey. So you work on anomalies too, yeah?"Lucy perks up at your question, "I-I do, y-yeah! T-they're a lot of work, haaa. Y-you know?""I get it. Hopefully you had someone to watch them while you're here." "L-Liz promised to watch them for me. S-she g-got really lucky with the anomaly s-she got...""Of course she did." You grumble under your breath. "Is there any way I might be able to help? Favors for favors and all."Lucy scratches her chin (or tries to, her fingers sink in more than anything). She stammers as she shoots an offer to you. "T-tell you what. W-we can trade anomalies with each other.""Pft, what, like we're trading pogs?" "I-I guess! W-whatever a pog is...""W-we could trade one abno for a-another. Research each other's abnos a-and trade whatever information and samples we get!""Or! I-I can pay you to study an abno for me. L-lightens my workload a lot, you know?""I-I'll make sure to hand over what research I have about them at least!You mull over the two offers. It would be nice for you to not worry about IN LIMBO for a little bit. Having another source of profit, though, that might be better.You'll think about it.>You can now trade or borrow anomalies from Lucy before you start a SHIFT. You'll only keep her anomalies for one day at a time>If you trade an anomaly, it's a 1:1 trade. She'll work on what anomaly you offer her and you can work on her anomaly.>If you borrow an anomaly, you get a small lump of cash and you'll be tasked with working on it a certain number of times. Her abnos may also be riskier than the ones you already have.With that settled, the two of you focus on researching the samples. You still haven't found a way to profit off it but maybe you just haven't found the right applications for its samples. Time passes...>1 SUCCESS!It wasn't a complete waste of time. For your sample (the WIRE FLOWER), you tested out to see if it had the same energy draining property as the pollen itself.The already low-charge battery you had from your previous test fully runs out of juice as you exposed the flower to it.The cut stem of the flower partially heals shut after being exposed to the energy source. The wilted petals suddenly begin to crackle with an odd, staticky sound. The sound soon solidifies into something you heard before."So, got any ideas what topics we should-"Ah! I-I was wondering, haa. Y-you're lucky it only m-me-"You JUST had that conversation only a hour or so ago.
You can already think on how to profit off this. Who'd suspect that a flower could be listening to your every word? Well, if you can find a way to make it record more than a few snippets. Two choppy, incomplete sentences isn't really that useful right now. Especially if you can't record something new on the flower.The pollen records memories and the flowers repeat what they hear. Whatever's up with this anomaly, it's obsessed with recording the past.On Lucy's end, she busies herself with trying to find a way to actually 'see' the memories without having to expose yourself to an anomalous contaminant. She pours some water into one of your larger beakers before pouring a small sample of pollen into the liquid."L-let's see. I-if it's like electricity, it should have a r-reaction to the water, right?"And to her credit, she is right. The liquid soon twists and refracts in odd, unusual angles as the pollen is introduced to it. Nothing clear, though, just indistinct shapes.She moves the beaker onto the hotplate and she cranks up the temperature. As the water begins to bubble and shimmer, the indistinct shapes begin to solidify into something understandable. There's no sounds being played so you have to go off the images you can make out.A young girl riding her first bike. A birthday cake being cut into. A tanned man, similar to you, offering the viewer a glass of wine. Random snippets of someone's life with no context or explanation.The heat doesn't seem to bother the pollen whatsoever. Once the heat is lowered, the images begin to play slower and slower until they grind to a halt.Interesting. You'll need to find a way to get audio out of it but this could be a cool party trick product, at least.You thank Lucy for her help. You mark down what you learnt in your notes.One last thing to do. The curtains. You ask the MAN to assist you in wrangling something together with whatever you can find. He agrees, helping you to construct something out of whatever you have one hand.You don't have a lot to work with so you have to mangle some of your spare outfits and some of the not used PPE outfits you have laying around. You wanted to stretch them out to the best of your ability but...>1 SUCCESS!You worked with what you had. >2 MAKESHIFT CURTAINS constructed! (Fully blocks any light source it covers.)>-2 WAGESLAVE and 1 PPE OUTFITYou decide to ask the Man something as you test to make sure the curtains can hold together. "So, do you know anything about the INSIGHT MODULE?"A little, he admits, but he never had a chance to purchase one himself. "I got this weird hint - Something about STAGNATION. Got any clue what that could mean?"He assumes the hint clues you on how you should interact with the anomaly. The anomaly, from what he saw in your notes, is obsessed with dreams and the past, correct?You nod your head, "Yeah. It even whispered about not knowing what it has left besides its dreams."
Well, if you spend time dreaming all day instead of doing anything, you'll just rot away. Perhaps it's as easy as that. Let it dream, dream, dream. Find a way to make its dreams better. It can't be that hard, can it?That's just his thoughts on it, he says."I suppose so." You can't help but to feel a bit uncomfortable if that's what the hint wants you to do. Leaving something to rot away...It's just an anomaly at the end of the day, he shrugs. Don't feel bad about doing whatever you want to it."Aren't YOU an anomaly?"Aren't we all, he chuckles.There was another hint hidden behind a bunch of question marks. You'll have to wait and see what that one might tie into.>SHIFT ENDS!Welp! You're done for today. Your two coworkers immediately collapse into some chairs scattered around the place now that the day's over with. Time to think about how you wanna use your free time.What do you want to do now, Vincent? Pick three. You won't do them all at once in one update, of course.>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. a d100+11 will be rolled to determine what you get.)>Head down to MEDBAY. You got some CIGARETTE MOLD you could sell to them to stay energized, you know! (-2 of 8 CIGARETTE MOLD samples. Improves your RAPPORT with the staff there.)>Head down to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. Check up on Rudolf, introduce him to your friends, maybe ask for some research advice.>Head down to the HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE. You have a gut feeling a certain turtleneck wearing fucker is there. You hope your friends can help you talk to them.>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with people you already met.)>Head back to LOST AND FOUND. Let's see what goodies you can steal this time. (DC 43. You may write in a category of items to look for.)>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)>"Hey, Lucy. Mind showing me your lab?" Might as well see how it's organized. (You'll get to meet her anomalies. Liz will likely be there, though.)Anything you wanna ask or say to your two coworkers?>Write in. ---Made a sheet for your RESEARCH NOTES, just to keep track of what you know about your anomalies and samples.https://rentry.co/RESEARCHNOTESJust easier than trusting that you remember every little detail.
>>6291173>Head down to MEDBAY. You got some CIGARETTE MOLD you could sell to them to stay energized, you know! (-2 of 8 CIGARETTE MOLD samples. Improves your RAPPORT with the staff there.)>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with people you already met.)>Head down to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. Check up on Rudolf, introduce him to your friends, maybe ask for some research advice.
>>6291173>Head down to MEDBAY. You got some CIGARETTE MOLD you could sell to them to stay energized, you know! (-2 of 8 CIGARETTE MOLD samples. Improves your RAPPORT with the staff there.)>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with people you already met.)>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. a d100+11 will be rolled to determine what you get.)
>>6291173>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)Head down to the HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE. You have a gut feeling a certain turtleneck wearing fucker is there. You hope your friends can help you talk to them.>Head down to MEDBAY. You got some CIGARETTE MOLD you could sell to them to stay energized, you know! (-2 of 8 CIGARETTE MOLD samples. Improves your RAPPORT with the staff there.)
>>6291173>Head down to MEDBAY. You got some CIGARETTE MOLD you could sell to them to stay energized, you know! (-2 of 8 CIGARETTE MOLD samples. Improves your RAPPORT with the staff there.)>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with people you already met.)>Head back to LOST AND FOUND. Let's see what goodies you can steal this time. (DC 43. You may write in a category of items to look for.)Construction tools or electrical equipment. We need to be able to tailor our cells to the anomalies’ desires.I don’t want to have to micromanage their moods all of the time.
>>6291172>A tanned man, similar to you, offering the viewer a glass of wine:^)>>6291173>Head down to MEDBAY. You got some CIGARETTE MOLD you could sell to them to stay energized, you know! (-2 of 8 CIGARETTE MOLD samples. Improves your RAPPORT with the staff there.)Help the medboys, they all need it>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with people you already met.)Never skip dinner>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. a d100+11 will be rolled to determine what you get.)Let's get some air, for what air is in this place
>>6291095>>6291173>Head down to MEDBAY. You got some CIGARETTE MOLD you could sell to them to stay energized, you know! (-2 of 8 CIGARETTE MOLD samples. Improves your RAPPORT with the staff there.)>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with people you already met.)>Head down to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. Check up on Rudolf, introduce him to your friends, maybe ask for some research advice.Maybe the Dice just fucking suck, but I'm glad anons went with my suggestion of the makeshift curtains. Next I'd get a sewing kit for Madam Liquor. I think embroidery to make the curtains all nice would be right up her alley. She only has one hand so I think a machine would be better. Imagine all the nice stuff she could make. If she was really good maybe we could even charge to fix other people's clothes.Next time we talk I wouldn't ask the questions so personally. As if it was an interview; work history, references, skills, etc. If that includes people she worked with maybe that includes a mechanic we could call or mail or w.e.
>>6291230+1
>>6291173>>Head down to MEDBAY. You got some CIGARETTE MOLD you could sell to them to stay energized, you know! (-2 of 8 CIGARETTE MOLD samples. ImprovOr trade for a new PPE outfit or three. >>Head back to LOST AND FOUND. Let's see what goodies you can steal this time. (DC 43. You may write in a category of items to look for.)More clothes and anything to improve the cells>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with people you already met.)
>>6291173>Head down to MEDBAY. You got some CIGARETTE MOLD you could sell to them to stay energized, you know! (-2 of 8 CIGARETTE MOLD samples. Improves your RAPPORT with the staff there.)>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with people you already met.)
>>6291173>>Head down to MEDBAY. You got some CIGARETTE MOLD you could sell to them to stay energized, you know! (-2 of 8 CIGARETTE MOLD samples. Improves your RAPPORT with the staff there.)>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with people you already met.)>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)
>>6291173>Head down to MEDBAY. You got some CIGARETTE MOLD you could sell to them to stay energized, you know! (-2 of 8 CIGARETTE MOLD samples. Improves your RAPPORT with the staff there.)>Head down to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. Check up on Rudolf, introduce him to your friends, maybe ask for some research advice.>Head down to the HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE. You have a gut feeling a certain turtleneck wearing fucker is there. You hope your friends can help you talk to them.
Rolled 3 (1d3)MEDBAY: KOO, Dj2, CWx, PPH, tbi, Szu, Ah9, gMM, jHo, dUo, SXGCAFETERIA: KOO, Dj2, PPH, tbi, Szu, Ah9, gMM, jHo, dUoMATERIALS STORAGE: KOO, Szu, SXGWANDER: Dj2, tbiEXPLORE: CWx, jHo, dUoHR: CWx, SXGLOST AND FOUND: PPH, Ah9, gMMAight, MEDBAY and CAFETERIA won out. Let's roll a 1d3 to break the tie.1 = MATERIALS (No roll needed, will write immediately)2 = EXPLORE (Roll might be needed.)3 = LOST AND FOUND (Roll will be needed)
Aight, lost and found it is.Three anons, roll 1d100. We'll be going with CELL IMPROVEMENT as the general category. Stuff that'll make the containment cell more habitable to the anomaly.DC 43, as always. Let's hope your luck changes for once.For every success you get, you get it and the items in the categories below it. (e.g, 2 successes gets you everything from 2, 1 and 0.) 0 SUCCESSES: There's some old rubber gloves and junk electronics in here. You might be able to cobble some custom lighting out of these parts, maybe?1 SUCCESS: A pile of broken AC parts lays scattered on the floor. Even anomalies have to like AC, right?2 SUCCESS: An old sewing machine caked in dust lays in a pile of loose cloth. Could be used for repairing or making new clothes.3 SUCCESSES: Oh shit, is that a CRT TV? You might have to fix it up a bit but still!
Rolled 7 (1d100)>>6291799
Rolled 25 (1d100)
Rolled 59 (1d100)>>6291799SURELY we will not completely fail a DC 45. SURELY.
Rolled 52 (1d100)>>6291799finally
Tell you what.You get 1 SUCCESS (broken AC parts + junk electronics and rubber gloves) but I'll throw in a little treat because of 04z and SXG rolling nearly at the exact same time.Nothing on the table but just a little something.Writing.
The three of you step out into the hallway, ready to get another day clocked and over with. The smooth, grey metallic walls that endlessly stretch on in every single direction are almost comforting at this point. Your brain is rewiring itself to associate them with your new norm. Your new 'place' in this world.It's pathetic, really. You know anyone else would've still been freaking out and they would've been running around, trying to find an exit. It would've been rational, reasonable, human. Not you. Not you.You feel your hand starting to tighten into a fist. No, no, don't think about it. Just go with the flow. That's what you're best at. Just another company to be a wageslave-The Man's indistinct hand 'rests' on your shoulder. He points out you've been staring the wall for a minute. "Oh, uh." You exhale. Your mind's stable enough that you're able to recompose yourself before your coworkers think you went mad. "Still getting used to everything, you know?" You were really tempted to tell him off but he's your coworker. You don't want to make enemies with him.Lucy responds, "I-It is p-pretty weird h-having to work here, huh? ARC's not t-the best place to work at but a-at least we get hot meals an-and a place to sleep, right?""I guess so. We're going to make a few quick stops before we get our meal, okay?"The Man shrugs, letting you lead the way. He's just glad to be hanging out with anyone."O-okay! W-where to first, sir?""Ah, you don't have to call me sir. We're the same rank, right?" "J-just being polite, heh.""Well! We're going to go junk diving first, medbay second and then we'll eat." "O-oh!" Lucy perks up. "I-I gotta get my medicine, haa. A-apparently they've been having supply issues, yeah?""Yeah. Been helping them out here or there." You open the satchel hanging off your shoulder to reveal the beaker full of CIGARETTE MOLD you have. "I'm going to help them out."Oh ho! The Man claps at the 'gift' you prepared for them. He asks you if that's safe for human consumpation."They already look dead in there. I doubt they really care." The Man concedes the point.First, though, you gotta dig up some J U N K. You tell the Man to help Lucy walk. He agrees, letting her rest her shoulder against him. Lucy's face contorts in confusion at the help she's being provided."I-it's usually harder to walk...huh.""Just imagine a friend's helping you out." You don't bother explaining what's actually going on. You doubt she'll even remember the Man even if you told her about him.First stop, LOST AND FOUND.You enter by yourself while the others wait outside. Or, well, you barely manage to enter it. The place is completely filled wall to wall with garbage and junk to the point where there's only a 3 foot space between you and the door.A note plastered on the mountain of garbage reads as follows,
"ACCIDENTAL TRANSPORT OF LAYER 1 AND 4 JUNK TO LAYER 2 LOST AND FOUND. WILL FIX TOMORROW."Yippie. You might as well find what you can in here. A swine digging in the muck in hopes of finding a truffle. >1 SUCCESS!You tire yourself out really quick. You only manage to pry through about a half foot into the pile of muck until your body just gives up. Even when you're in your prime, this is just too much for you.You did manage to find something valuable in the muck and grime. Some gloves, some electronic scrap and the creme la creme? A half broken AC of a brand and make you used back in your apartment. It's not a lot but if you cobble this together with some help? It'll certainly improve the quality of life for your anomalies.There's one thing resting by your foot that catches your attention. Another piece of junk, you think, until you lean down to examine it.Huh. You recognize that grey brick of plastic from anywhere. An original gameboy. It looks like it's been through hell but you know these things can survive being bombed.There's no batteries in this thing but you got AAs to spare. It even came with a game already plugged in. Tetris. You immediately pocket it — Any source of entertainment is worth its weight in gold here.YOU OBTAIN!>RUBBER GLOVES (Protects from electric shocks, increases your bonus to repair checks by 1.)>ELECTRONIC SCRAP x5 (Contains a variety of random electronic parts. Can be used to make makeshift electronics to improve the condition of containment cells.)>AC PARTS (Contains enough spare parts to make a single AC unit. Air condition is a blessing, after all.)>GAMEBOY (Added to your ENRICHEMENT BUNDLE surplus. Good for burning time and for entertaining your anomalies.)You crawl right back out of LOST AND FOUND with a thousand yard stare, "Trash mountain.""Trash mountain." Lucy nods as if this is just to be expected.Trash mountain, the Man nods along.Seems like you're all on the same page. Without saying another word, the three of you head on down to the MEDBAY. Time to give them a nicotine boost, eh?The three of you were about to enter but as you get closer and closer to the entrance, you overhear some muffled arguing coming from the other side. It's too muffled to make out most of the words but the snippets you hear aren't that reassuring."...rip him to shreds...""...pound of flesh, pound of blood..."Lucy immediately begins to sweat bullets, "M-maybe we should come back later."The Man points out that it might be worth it to hear them out. It's hard to make the doctors here made, he claims.The three of you enter the MEDBAY with some obvious hesitation.It looks just as bad as it always does here. A few new patients have replaced some patients that were too far gone but some of the other patients look a tiny bit better? That's not what your attention is focused on.The three nurses are all huddled around a table they dragged in from somewhere else.
They're about to continue arguing but they soon notice you and Lucy standing in the doorway.You silently open your satchel. You place the beaker of CIGARETTE MOLD onto the table, "Eat this. It has nicotine in it. Not sure of the exact dose but it's probably safe to eat."The three hazmat-decked nurses rapidly snatch the offering (alongside the beaker containing it). The tallest hazmat-decked nurses focuses his gaze right at you. His heavy, labored breathing is the only sound that echoes through the otherwise silent lab."We...appreciate this." He slides over something across the table.>+$250 and a ADRENALINE SYRINGE! (Adds 2 TIME TOKENS, grants a +10 bonus to the next three PHYSICAL checks you roll. Deals HEAVY mental damage. on use.)"We have a. Request. That we think you're suited for.""I-I don't like the sound of this, Vincent." Lucy awkwardly laughs. "B-but, we're willing to listen.""Ah, Lucy." The hazmat nurse's voice is cold as ice. There's a shimmering rage bubbling deep inside of him that he's trying his best to suppress. "We have your medicine ready. It'll be the last shipment we can give you."One of the other nurses smashes their fist against the table. Some of the patients stir but they're too out of it to notice. "We WISH we could keep giving you what you need but...""That fucker in Layer 3." The third one hisses through clenched teeth. "Day in. Day out. He keeps shipping us random garbage. Ah yes, another fifty pounds of PPE!""Or six 50 pound bags of concrete mix." The Man is confused at what they're saying. He acknowledges that shipment errors happen a lot but this sounds more than just an error."It's more than an error." The first one seems to respond to the Man by sheer happenstance. "We KNOW he has it out for us.""We wouldn't smuggle that bastard free drugs. Now he's doing THIS to us." The second one hisses again."Wait. You said you had a request, right?" You're a bit worried what they're about to propose."It's simple. Head down to Layer 3. Your Level 1 ID we 'gave' you should allow you access. Then, locate the SUPPLY SHIPMENT room and gut the manager operating it like the FUCKING PIG HE IS."Oh. You and your coworkers freeze up at the request."If you do it," One of the nurses laughs. "We'll pay you well."OPTIONAL UPDATE TO 'HELP OUT MEDBAY'S SUPPLY ISSUES'OBJECTIVE - MURDER THE SUPPLY MANAGER ON LAYER 3DEADLINE - 2 DAYSREWARD: $555 + a massive RAPPORT boost with the MEDBAY NURSES.What do you say, Vincent?>Accept their request but try to negotiate for a better deal. (DC ??, write in what you wanna ask of them.)>Hesitantly agree. He probably deserves it...?>Decline, you're not going to be murdering anyone. Stick to your current arrangement of getting them supplies.>Offer to get rid of him WITHOUT bloody murder. (DC 54, +3 to roll after accounting for Lucy's MEEK penalty.)>You'll think about their offer later. Try to, uh, leave. Now.>Write in.
>>6291839Murder someone? With rolls like ours? Lol. Lmao.
>>6291839>Hesitantly agree. He probably deserves it...?This will be beneficial for everyone here that needs medical help. But we are not going to do it right now, since we need preparation for the murder plan.
>>6291839 > "We wouldn't smuggle that bastard free drugs. Now he's doing THIS to us." The second one hisses again.What if we go get a secretly poisonous drug to kill him (or at least make him literally mentally damaged so much that the ARC will have to force him to leave his position due to mentally unfit) with it by poison or overdose? Since he likes drugs.
>>6291839>Hesitantly agree. He probably deserves it...?
>>6291839Trash Mountain.>Write in: Do they have anything that could... assist in this task, or do they just expect you to waltz in and stick him with a pen?I'm all for murder, but I get the sneaking suspicion this could be more than we bargained for if we don't prepare.
>>6291879But what if they find out and trace it back to Medbay here?
>>6291924Well, consider the way ARC runs things around here from what we see and hear from other co-workers. Will they really care that much and put resources into investigating it?
>>6291839>Accept their request but try to negotiate for a better deal. (DC ??, write in what you wanna ask of them.)What the other Anon suggested about asking for something to help us with this. Also, double the price if we can bring him to them alive.
>>6291839>You'll think about their offer later. Try to, uh, leave. NowProbably best to think about it, after all. +$555 is too small to kill someone, but if their supplies aren't sorted Lucy (and who knows how many other researchers) won't be getting her medicine anymore. That also means problems for us if we get in a bad way.It might be best to sic HR on the supply manager if he's going to single handedly exponentially increase the amount of turnover SCP's got going on. If that doesn't work out I'm not against poisoning him through the drugs or escorting him down to our medbay friends.
>>6291839Make a bomb and have our robot buddy deliver it
>>6291839>You'll think about their offer later. Try to, uh, leave. Now.I originally was going to agree and ask for a weapon, Layer 3 map, and the target description, until I realized that LUCY will have been standing right next to us, listening to us agree to kill somebody. You know, LUCY, the person who is ELIZABETH BAKER's "friend" and surely won't snitch on us.Sure, sure, she has an incentive to shut the fuck up because this will give her that life saving medication, but afterwards she's just a risk. I do not trust LUCY to stay quiet about this, and so we're going the clean way first.Inform ELIZABETH BAKER of the problem when we get to the cafeteria, let LUCY convince her.If she rejects (bitch) then we'll go to HR and ask them to deal with the problem. Immediately after cafeteria. Fuck curfew.If they tell us it's our problem, then we can discuss our options.
>>6291839>Offer to get rid of him WITHOUT bloody murder. (DC 54, +3 to roll after accounting for Lucy's MEEK penalty.)>You'll think about their offer later. Try to, uh, leave. Now."I'd have to think about it. Would...Putting him at the mercy of Upper Management be okay?"Could try to get him fired through Liz, after all Lucy will be without medicine if this goes on.
>>6292167>>6292120+1Try to not murder him and try NOT to be ratted out to the bitch weasel
>>6292120>>6292167>>6292185True this plan sounds more efficient: let's bitch about it with Liz (I imagine Lucy is going to be distraught enough they're going to ask) but it does mean Vincent has to talk to girls... again. And if Liz isn't moved we go directly to HR.
>>6291839>"It's simple. Head down to Layer 3. Your Level 1 ID we 'gave' you should allow you access. Then, locate the SUPPLY SHIPMENT room and gut the manager operating it like the FUCKING PIG HE IS."https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcPgeAiK70Y>Hesitantly agree. He probably deserves it...?
>>6292167Changing my vote >>6291886 to this
>>6291873Change>>6292120+1
So, the general idea I got from the votes is to get the fuck out of here to think about this (and to maybe get ELIZABETH/LIZ to deal with it) but you'll pitch the idea of dealing with him nonlethally to see how they'll react.Three anons, roll 1d100+8 (+5 from the write in). Table below. DC is the same. You're not sure how they'll react to the offer so the table's going to be partially obscured.0 SUCCESS: ???1 SUCCESSES: ???2 SUCCESSES: "Of course, of course. We were just joking, right?" (They suspect something's up but they'll agree to your request. For now.)3 SUCCESSES: "We'll leave it up to your discretion. Should you accept." (They concede without any pushback. No murder has to be done.)
Rolled 35 + 8 (1d100 + 8)>>6292509
Rolled 43 + 8 (1d100 + 8)>>6292510
Rolled 70 + 8 (1d100 + 8)>>6292510Surely we won't fail THIS roll.
So, one success, which means...which means...Wait, what do you mean the table doesn't show what happens? There should've been text there! What do you mean there's only an EGG there?Whatever. We'll roll with it. Writing.
You were already hesitant on accepting it since, look, you're some random joe shmoe. You do not have it in you to murder someone. Especially not for $555. You get that that's probably all of the money you have but-Wait. Wait, no, there's an even bigger reason why you don't want to accept it. Lucy anxiously wrings her gooey, molten hands. Her eyes are firmly locked on the ground. She's really trying her best to disassociate from what's going on. Ah. Right. Liz's friend. You have no guarantee she won't speak to Liz about this later. The Man is gesturing towards the exit. He admits that he has no moral reservations about this but the whole 'Lucy ratting you out' Risk™ isn't worth it.The three nurses are all staring right at you. Waiting with bated breath to hear your response. Their eyes are obscured through their heavy, thick hazmat visors but you know in your heart of hearts they're bloodshot red. Their exhausted minds are held together through spite and silly string."I'd have to think about it. Would...putting him at the mercy of Upper Management be okay?"They don't respond. You decide to keep talking."I don't know what you expect me to really do here? Do you expect me to waltz in and stick him with a pen? It's way too risky without knowing more about how he might fight back, the layer itself and who the target even is.""I sympathize, I really do, but I think if we can deal with him WITHOUT risking my neck? That'd be GREAT, you know.""Can I at least think about it for a while? Contemplation and all of that?""H-he's only b-being reasonable, guys." Lucy tries to lighten the mood inside the room. It fails horribly but you gotta praise her for trying. "T-there's no r-reason to do something drastic.""Drastic? DRASTIC?!" One of the nurses slams his hands down onto the table. Lucy flinches at the loud noise, scrambling behind you for cover. "We have been dealing with this CUNT for WEEKS. Do you know how many people he has killed because of so-some..." His hands begin to tremble and shake from the sheer amount of rage he's feeling."Lucy. We know how you feel," One of the more reasonable nurses speaks up. "You have to understand-">1 SUCCESS!"It was a joke." The third one speaks up. "It's just a joke. Forget we said anything.""Yeah. Even if we weren't, it's not like your option's any better. We haven't been able to get into contact with anyone from HR about this.""If you somehow had proof you can get HR to help, we MIGHT accept.""Might." One of them bitterly chuckles. Well, at least they didn't outright refuse the offer.The tense atmosphere is almost cold enough to freeze Lucy's melting body solid at this point. You can tell when you're not welcome.You promptly duck out of there before you overstay your welcome. The Man politely closes the door behind him.The Man asks you if you actually think you can deal with the supply manager.
"I don't want to get my hands dirty if I don't have to."Lucy's gaze is firmly locked on the ground. She's muttering something under her breath. Best to change the topic.>-MENTAL HEALTH to you and Lucy. Lucy is now DOING OKAY.The Man does the only thing he can do to comfort Lucy. He pulls something indescribable out of his pocket before stuffing it into her pocket."The fuck did you just-"He simply says it's something to help her in these trying times. Okay. You're not going to bother questioning that. You're just going to get something to eat.The cafeteria is as packed as it always is. Dozens on dozens of hungry, glazed-eyed researchers and guards trying their best to consume their daily portion of slop. You'll mull over who you'll talk to this time around. The atmosphere is a lot warmer than it was only a day ago. You'd imagine a lot of the people here probably took HAYDEN's sponsorship to basically take the day off. You can only hope they didn't neglect to keep their anomalies contained. You gotta admit, you do feel pretty good after taking that sponsorship.>You gain 1 SPEECH CHECK REROLL! Can be used to reroll a 1d100 during any speech check.Choose two options from ACQUAINTANCE and two options from NEW FACES (four in total)ACQUAINTANCES>Take some time to chat with LUCY and the MAN. They're already with you. (Develops your RAPPORT with them.)>Check up with ASHTON. She's been awfully nice to you. You wanna know what her deal is.>Check up with ANHTONY. See how much it'd cost to hire a seasoned facility employee like him. Maybe also ask him for help involving, uh, the crazy nurses.>Bite the bullet. Look for LIZ and NICOLE. Ask them for help involving the whole 'supply manager' thing. (Should help you with any future HR related tomfuckery.)NEW FACES>MAN IN TACTICAL GEAR. He's wolfing down some high quality chow. Probably one of the 'ETF' agents you heard about on the dossiers. See what intel he has.>COLT. He managed to get two artifacts out of his abnos. Ignore your better judgement and try to talk to him. Maybe ask him for some research help.>A KID? He can't be any older than eight, maybe nine. Where are his parents?>A ROBOT? It struggles to move its clunky, robotic limbs to eat the food provided to it. Another robot friend couldn't hurt.>JAPANESE SALARYWOMAN. She's wearing a very similar outfit to you. Probably a fellow accountant? She might understand what you're going through.>MASQUERADE MASK WOMAN. It doesn't match at all with the tactical gear she's wearing. Your coworkers are giving her a wide berth. What's her deal?>BIOMECHANICAL HUSK. Their body is better described as raw meat and machinery than 'human' at this point. They're patrolling around the room with the rest of the guards.Bit of a shorter update this time around, might make another update today depending on how votes shake out.
>>6292535>Take some time to chat with LUCY and the MAN. They're already with you. (Develops your RAPPORT with them.)>Bite the bullet. Look for LIZ and NICOLE. Ask them for help involving the whole 'supply manager' thing. (Should help you with any future HR related tomfuckery.)>JAPANESE SALARYWOMAN. She's wearing a very similar outfit to you. Probably a fellow accountant? She might understand what you're going through.>A KID? He can't be any older than eight, maybe nine. Where are his parents?
>>6292535>Bite the bullet. Look for LIZ and NICOLE. Ask them for help involving the whole 'supply manager' thing. (Should help you with any future HR related tomfuckery.)>Check up with ANHTONY. See how much it'd cost to hire a seasoned facility employee like him. Maybe also ask him for help involving, uh, the crazy nurses.>COLT. He managed to get two artifacts out of his abnos. Ignore your better judgement and try to talk to him. Maybe ask him for some research help.>A KID? He can't be any older than eight, maybe nine. Where are his parents?
>>6292540+1
>>6292535>Take some time to chat with LUCY and the MAN. They're already with you. (Develops your RAPPORT with them.)>Bite the bullet. Look for LIZ and NICOLE. Ask them for help involving the whole 'supply manager' thing. (Should help you with any future HR related tomfuckery.)>A KID? He can't be any older than eight, maybe nine. Where are his parents?>A ROBOT? It struggles to move its clunky, robotic limbs to eat the food provided to it. Another robot friend couldn't hurt.
>>6292535>>6292540+1
>>6292535>Lucy and the Man>Bite the bulletAnd>A kid?>Japanese salarywoman
Alright, yeah, no point stalling. BITE THE BULLET + HANG OUT WITH PALS wins for ACQUAINTANCE, SALARYWOMAN and KID wins for new faces. Writing.(also I can't believe I typo'd Anthony's name. Butterfingers, I suppose.)
You wait in line with your coworkers. You can't really call them friends yet, you don't really know anything about them. Maybe you should fix that. These two are the only people you interacted with beyond a random first meeting, after all.You ask for a double portion of whatever's on the menu. The slop provided for dinner changes from day to day but it's never any good. This time, you're given a pile of obviously microwaved sloppy joe mix stuffed into some Hawaiian rolls.Lucy gets a sad tray of corn, pudding and mushy peas straight out of a hospital kitchen.You toss the extra sloppy joes onto the Man's trade. He is incredibly thankful that he has you to get this stuff for him. It's not really much but you're glad you're making someone's day at least.The three of you search around for Liz and, uh, what's her name? Noelle? No, wait, it was Nicole. It's not hard to find the two, especially when Nicole is waving you over. You bite the bullet and suppress any memories of your sperg out only a day or so ago.Your group sits down at the table. You mimic what a normal human's face should look like. Your smile is beyond forced but it's better than acknowledging your fuck up.Nicole matches your forced smile with her own, "It's reassuring to see that the two of you are safe and sound! I even heard you completed your first sponsorship!!! A mutual ACQUAINTANCE of ours should deliver your hard-fought bounty soon enough!""How do you know-" You shake your head. "You know what, thank you!" "It is no problem, Vincent! See, it's nice to establish a connection between two parties in order to mutually benefit each other, is it not?" She speaks as if she said something coherent. "That's exactly why ARC probably likely hired you. Because of your impressive work ethic!" Her words stink of hollow, meaningless corporate fluff. "Nick." Liz awkwardly enters the conversation. If you didn't know any better, you thought she's worried about you. "Give him some space, okay?"Nicole blankly stares at her friend. She gets the hint and shuts up."Uh. Thanks." "Sorry, she's always like that, haa." Liz scratches at the back of her neck. "Just wanted to make sure you and Liz are okay.""O-oh! I-it wasn't half bad w-working for him. W-we did a lot of sample s-studying. N-nothing I couldn't handle."Liz lets out a sigh of relief. "Good, good. Glad you're treating her well, Vince.""Yeah." You mutter out. You force your smile back on. "We would like to talk about something I think you could help us with."The Man is too busy eating his food to add anything to the conversation (even if he wasn't invisible to everyone besides you.)"Oh, sure, what's up?" You can tell the smile's worrying her but you rather keep your guard up around these two."U-uh. It's about s-someone on Layer 3. T-the supply manager. He hasn't been doing a good job."Nicole's plastic smile rots away almost immediately. "That's the eleventh complaint this week."
"Hooooo." Liz slumps in her seat. Clearly not the first time they've heard about this. "Who got fucked in the ass this time? Layer 1's janitors? Layer 2's medbay?""U-uh. Layer 2. Medbay.""Wait, you know about this guy?""The weird thing is that he used to be a pretty decent guy!" Liz throws her hands in the air. "Like, I met the guy! He used to be chill!""His performance has been slacking considerably within the last week. My attempts to talk with my friends in HR have not resulted in a satisfactory outcome for all parties." Nicole drones out. "It is disheartening to say the least.""W-well! F-funny thing, w-we were hoping you could help us deal with him. For s-some friends who were being. S-screwed over by him." Lucy glances between you and her friends. She's obviously not going to speak about the 'tried to hire you for murder' thing since you're trying to do this the clean way."C-could you, uh, do it for us? Please?""It is unlikely that you will achieve a better result than we can.""Ah, screw it." Liz pokes at the slop on her tray. "Why not? That dude has been a pain in my rump for the last week.""Wait." You squint after you realize what Nicole just said. "What do you mean HR hasn't done anything?""HR has been remarkably resilient regarding August's employment. I am unsure as to WHY but any request I have involving him have been flatly ignored.""What she meant to say is that they don't want to talk about him for some reason." Liz shrugs. "I'll ask my dad to schedule a meeting between you and HR tonight, Vince."Huh. That was a bit too easy. This dude must be one prime jackass. "T-thanks?" You're not sure what to say. "You're basically doing a favor for us." Liz bitterly laughs. "Who knows. Just be careful when you head up there. The people there are...weird, to say the least."Nicole rolls her eyes. "They are not any weirder than you or I." "T-thank you." Lucy bows her head towards her two friends. "T-that'll be appreciated.""We should probably schedule the meeting now, should we not?""Ah, yeah, probably. See ya guys later!" Liz waves goodbye as she leaves the table with Nicole in tow. She glances back at you but, if she was going to say something, she holds her tongue for the time being.Huh. Guess it was a good thing you hired Lucy today, you doubt they would've been so eager to help you out otherwise.. And with that, it's just you, Lucy and the Man. Your two coworkers are chowing down on their slop with gusto while you haven't touched a single pile of slop on your tray.You should probably ask them some questions. Check up on them, figure out how they tick, all of that. You'll deal with whatever new faces catch your eyes after you chat with these two.Choose three topics to talk about with Lucy and the Man.
LUCY>How did she get recruited? There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason on who's hired.>Why is the condition of this place so poor? It's barely held together through silly string and prayers.>What the hell is up with her 'pal' Nicole? She's probably the weirdest person you've met here.>Ask her about Liz. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, after all.>Is she doing okay? You saw how worried she was back in MEDBAY, you wanna make sure she's holding herself together.>Is there any way you can help her with her condition?>This is a long shot but...try to get her to see the MAN. You want him to have someone else to talk to. (DC 62, +5 from ANOMALY TOUCHED. Counts as a SPEECH CHECK.)>Write in.THE MAN>What's the deal with UPPER MANAGEMENT? You don't really know anything about them.>Got any info about SPONSORSHIP companies and how they work? You're not sure what value they got out of sponsoring you.>He said something about a Rex Hoffmann when you first met him. Any details you should know besides his name?>Try to pry into the rules and limits of his weird anomalous properties. That weird android managed to recognize him, after all.>Why EGGs of all things? It's a touchy subject but you have to know. It's probably the weirdest part about him.>Ask about what his life was before ARC. Does he even remember anything?>What does he do to burn time when you're not talking to him? Got any hobbies?>Write in.
>>6292686Hm. Would've mentioned that medbay wouldn't be able to supply Lucy's medication anymore due to this supply manager and who knew how many other people would end up poorly because of it to light a fire under their asses. Lucy>>Is she doing okay? You saw how worried she was back in MEDBAY, you wanna make sure she's holding herself together.>>Is there any way you can help her with her condition?>Write-In: ask her about her life before; what kind of things she enjoyed doingMan>>Ask about what his life was before ARC. Does he even remember anything?>Got any info about SPONSORSHIP companies and how they work? You're not sure what value they got out of sponsoring you.>Write In: does he know anything about this supply manager August on the third level?
>>6292686Backing >>6292692
>>6292686LUCY>>6292692+1THE MAN>What does he do to burn time when you're not talking to him? Got any hobbies?>He said something about a Rex Hoffmann when you first met him. Any details you should know besides his name?>Got any info about SPONSORSHIP companies and how they work? You're not sure what value they got out of sponsoring you.
>>6292692+1
>>6292692>+1
>>6292686>Ask her about Liz. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, after all.>Is she doing okay? You saw how worried she was back in MEDBAY, you wanna make sure she's holding herself together.>This is a long shot but...try to get her to see the MAN. You want him to have someone else to talk to. (DC 62, +5 from ANOMALY TOUCHED. Counts as a SPEECH CHECK.)>What's the deal with UPPER MANAGEMENT? You don't really know anything about them.>Got any info about SPONSORSHIP companies and how they work? You're not sure what value they got out of sponsoring you.>Write In: does he know anything about this supply manager August on the third level?
"So." You struggle to find a good topic to start a conversation with. Normally you'd talk about the weather but that doesn't really work when you're trapped in an underground facility. You force one of the slop sandwiches down your throat before you steel enough courage to talk to her."Lucy." "H-hm?""What did you do before all of this?" You gesture at the facility around you. "What did you enjoy doing?""Uhm, t-this job is probably a lot more exciting t-than whatever I did." She fidgets with the spoon in her hand. "I worked as a fucking accountant. It can't be any worse than that.""oh i'm so sorry." Lucy sadly murmurs. She places a hand on yours as if she's comforting you for losing a loved one. You promptly yank your hand away from hers. "Uhm. I-I'm a painter, actually. I d-did art commissions to, uh, pay for rent. W-wasn't a lot but it was a living.""Wait, you're an artist? Like, digital or?" Lucy shakes her head. "Nuh-uh. R-real canvas and p-paint. I-it was something my grandfather did all the time. P-painting outside, watching the leaves blowing in the wind..." A wistful sigh escapes her. She stares into the distance, reminiscing on some long forgotten memories.You let her linger in it for a moment."U-uh, what was I saying?" She snaps out of her reminiscing. "Don't worry about it. Uh, so what did you draw? Your art style, I guess.""O-oh! I-I guess you'd label it under Futurism, if you know what that means." "I have no clue." "I-it's art that shows the speed of the modern world. Lots of d-dynamitic movements and energy."Huh. The start and end of your art knowledge ends at 'it looks pretty or it doesn't but that sounds neat. You nod along, "Well, I hope you can get some stuff from a catalog or somethin' to keep doing that. I'd like to see one of your paintings.""Haha...t-that'd be nice." She looks down at her hands. She struggles to get them to solidify enough to grab onto her spoon. "If only I could.""If only- Oh. Right."You keep talking just so an awkward silence. "Is there any way I can help with that? With the whole, well, medicine supply shortage...I wanna help until we can get that sorted out.""Haa. I d-dunno. T-the medicine they g-give me is, uh, I don't know what's in it. I-I k-know I have to take that AND eat a lot of food to keep this body from..." She pokes her arm with the flat handle of the spoon. It leaves a solid imprint that takes a long while to fade. "getting worse.""I. I don't want to rock the boat. I'll find a way t-to manage, Vince." She tries to laugh off your concern but her laugh rings hollow.You try to string together what little anatomy knowledge you have. "Is there anything you find yourself wanting to eat a lot?" Maybe you can figure out something to give her to help her body out?"M-meat. Lots and lots of meat. Eggs, gelatin." That does match with what's on her plate. There's a lot of gelatin and boiled fish on her tray. "I-it's never enough, though."Collagen. That's what she needs.
Whatever her anomaly did to her probably stopped her body from producing it. Her skin and muscles are completely shot but her bones haven't melted from what you've noticed.You DO have an anomalous meat sample in your inventory ('DIE TO SEXUALIZE'), maybe you should study that for her. You might be able to get meat samples from ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE to synthesize something maybe?"I just want to make sure you're doing okay. Especially after the whole, uh, medbay thing.""I-I just don't want them to get i-into trouble. I-I s-sympathize with them, I-I really do, I just." She vaguely gestures towards the other side of the table you're at. "know some people who wouldn't...condone employees murdering each other."You can't really disagree there. One's a fucking nutcase and the other is a snitch, even if she acts nice. "I was thrown between a rock and a hard place there too. Look, we'll get it handled WITHOUT anyone getting murdered. No one's getting into trouble.""Well." You clear your throat. "Except for August.""Y-yeah! That A-August guy sounded really mean..." "wait, shit, we probably should've told them about how bad the whole supply thing really was." "O-oh. I can do that, d-don't worry.""Woo, thank you. But yeah." You cautiously place a hand on her shoulder. "They're not going to get into trouble. It's going to be fine.""I-I hope you're right." She relaxes a little bit after you tried your best to comfort her.>+RAPPORT with Lucy!You'll leave her to enjoy her meal while you move onto your other friend - the Man. He has just finished eating the whole giant tray of slop you graciously gifted to him.He's ready to exchange questions and answers like any good human, he laughs. You can't get a read on this guy. At least Lucy's just some nervous wreck who looks like Clayface. All you know about him is that he exists.Your head feels weird every time you think about him. Your brain is trying its best to describe him in any other way than 'a Man. The attempt is like trying to force a square peg through a round hole.Okay. You take a deep breath. Empty your mind, just accept that he is a Man. "Right. Well, do you remember anything BEFORE coming here?"He asks for clarification."Before ARC. I know some incident here made you forgettable but you had a life before all of this, right?"The Man tries to say something but he stammers even worse than Lucy does. He shuts himself up to stop a tidal wave of word vomit from spilling onto the table. He admits he doesn't recall the last time he ever thought about his life before ARC.He only really remembers a few scattered snippets of his life. He had two brothers he was obligated to take care of. He worked in a lot of minimum wage, dead end jobs to support them. He does remember being arrested for assaulting someone and he fully believes they deserved it.
Wait, no, it might've been murder actually. The details get a bit blurry but he knows he avoided jail time by coming here."Oh." You should be more worried about the murder part but it doesn't even register in your mind. "Do you remember who offered the deal?"He says it was a weird smiling man that was wearing a turtleneck sweater. He wasn't the only one offered the deal. If the Man remembers correctly, one of the officers who arrested him also accepted the deal.Something about a 'better future for humanity' was part of the deal.Reed was his name, the Man clarifies. He doesn't remember much but he knows Reed's trustworthy. He says he had weird grey eyes and a massive scar across his left arm but any other details evade his memory.Not a lot to work off of but you suppose that's why he didn't care about the 'murder August' plot. Maybe you can try finding him later to hopefully obtain another ally? Oh, right, speaking about August."What do you know about August? The guy the nurses told us about."He's a right prick, the Man dryly notes. He deserves to have a knife stuck in his throat and to be bled like the pig he is. With how fat and blubbery he is everywhere else, he doubts stabbing him anywhere but the throat would do anything.He's been a real nasty piece of work that's been all over the facility. His job position has changed too many times for the Man to remember. This has to be his second transfer this month if he's counting right."And somehow, he hasn't been taken out back and...?" You don't know a lot about ARC but someone like he should've been eaten by an anomaly by now.Mystery of the century. From what he knows, August provides something to UPPER MANAGEMENT that makes his insufferable behavior tolerable enough to them. If he had to make a guess? Probably contraband. Probably drugs.And like any good drug peddler, he hired a personal bodyguard to keep watch over him. The only time he doesn't have a bodyguard is when he's sleeping in his private bedroom somewhere close to where he works.You could probably bribe the bodyguard to help deal with him. She's a chronic smoker and, well, he doesn't have to explain how you can bribe her, does he?"Is HE armed?" The Man assures you that the most he'll have is a knife to protect himself. Guns, and the ammo to use them, cost too much for most of the staff here.Right. That's better than nothing, at least. "Well, one last thing before I gotta dip. Do you know anything about the SPONSORSHIP companies?"He can confirm one thing about how they work. Their sponsorships are simply an excuse to force employees to do stupid shit as an experiment to see what happens. The data they get from you working with whatever restrictions they give you is all they care aboutARC gets paid a lump sum to send their bizarre sponsorships to a random selection of employees and to see what employees are willing to do to get paid."Oh."
He knows there's roughly 30 companies all working to gather information on the various researchers and anomalies here. Some have ideological reasons for doing what they do but the lack of logic behind their actions is half the point.They're similar to ARC in that way. Corporate machines grinding away with no rhyme or reason, just doing things because that's all they're made to do. He can give you advice on BLACKWELL and HAYDEN, at least, since you have a fax machine.HAYDEN cares about worker morale first and foremost, that's why they told you to take it easy today. You could probably sell them any 'recreational' samples you find for far more than whatever ARC is offering.BLACKWELL wants to catalog information simply for the sake of it. If you can tell them a secret or story, they'll tell you a secret or story back. The more embarrassing or incriminating, the better.You thank the Man-Well. There's not a Man here.>[ERROR] leaves the party.You should look for some new people to talk to, shouldn't you?You tell Lucy you'll see her later. "O-oh! See you! T-thank you for, uh, hiring me today. I-it was fun!">Lucy leaves the party!You scan around the cafeteria for anyone of interest to chat with. Something that immediately catches your attention is a kid in a red and green stripped shirt running around the place. No one seems to be paying any mind to him but. The little brat can't be any older than eight. He's the only kid around here, why the hell is he here?You grab onto his shirt mid-sprint to see what the hell's going on here. He doesn't even fight back as you hold him by the scruff of his neck. He blinks at you with his soft, doe-like green eyes. "Hello!!! You're new here, right? Nice to meetcha! I'm Kevin!""Uh huh. Where are your parents, Kevin?""Oh! They're working, uhh, down? I think?" He points at the floor. "They tell me to stay here if they're at work!""Okay, no, you're coming with me." You're not leaving this kid unsupervised. You easily carry the tiny brat with you as you search for someone else to talk to.He doesn't resist, "Okay, mister!" The fact he's not screaming or fighting back is even more concerning.You soon find an empty table with only one other person seated at you. You drop the kid at the table. He politely sits there without any question. You sit down right beside him before checking on who you decided to sit with.On first blush, you can immediately tell she worked in a similar type of firm to you. Her burnt-orange suit and tie is a bit weird, sure, but you've seen tackier outfits from your coworkers. Her eyes stay firmly shut but you still have a feeling she's staring at you. She clicks her tongue, "Hidaka. Last name?""Cruz." You answer. "Kid?" "Don't know last name. He said he's Kevin." "Hi!!!" He waves at the salarywoman."Noted. How many days have you worked here?" Her words rapidly fly out of her mouth. Her fingernails rapidly tap against the end of the table.
Does she have somewhere to be or is she just impatient?"Three.""Unlikely to be snitch. Conditional trust has been given. Speak. The kid can stay. Saw him before, trustworthy.""Thank you?" Kevin is more confused than anything by her 'compliment'. You guess you should get to the point with this lady.Choose two things to ask KEVIN and HIDAKA.HIDAKA>Get to the point. Ask her if she's willing to work with you. (DC 66, +15 to roll from WAGESLAVE CONNECTION.)>Why is she speaking like that? Is something bothering her? (DC 56, +15 to roll from WAGESLAVE CONNECTION.)>Where did she come from? What was she doing before ARC took her?>So, does she have any advice on who you should trust?>What's her job here? Security? Researcher? Something else? You want to see if there's any logic to the appointments they assign people.>Write in.KEVIN>Who are his parents? They don't seem super great if they left a kid alone to wander around.>Ask him how he spends time when he's not with his parents. God knows how long this kid's been left to his own devices.>You'd feel pretty bad if no one is going to watch this kid. Offer to babysit him when his parents are busy. (No skill check required. You're not sure how useful of a coworker he might be.)>Has he made any adult friends here? Maybe he can tell you which coworkers you should get buddy-buddy with.>Does he even know what this place is? He seems way too calm for a kid stuck in an anomaly-infested governmental facility.>Write in.Sorry for the big update.
>>6293043>Why is she speaking like that? Is something bothering her?A nice way to break the awkwardness, I guess? Definitely some unorthodox opener, but unorthodox might be what we need in a place like this>What's her job here? Security? Researcher? Something else? You want to see if there's any logic to the appointments they assign people.Try to gather more clues, if possible. Does it matter if there's a common thread between the people they hire or kidnap to work here? Maybe not. Does it sate Vincent's curiosity about others around him, especially himself? A real answer to the "why me?" question everybody alive has ever had? Yes.>So, does she have any advice on who you should trust?She brought up snitches and trust and days worked. I wonder if the longer people work here the less likely they are to be snitches? Or more if mounting pressure eventually forces workers at each other's throats to stay around? Anyway, I feel like this is a good question to conclude with.>Who are his parents? They don't seem super great if they left a kid alone to wander around.The big question everybody asks lost kids, supposedly?>Does he even know what this place is? He seems way too calm for a kid stuck in an anomaly-infested governmental facility.I'm very curious about this random red and green boy. He feels very Christmas in a place with no holidays or seasons>Has he made any adult friends here? Maybe he can tell you which coworkers you should get buddy-buddy with.I know Vincent is not the only grown-up here who's seen this random kid walking around doing nothing and wondered what the fuck is up with him existing in a place like this. Surely not.
>>6293043HIDAKA>So, does she have any advice on who you should trust?>Get to the point. Ask her if she's willing to work with you. (DC 66, +15 to roll from WAGESLAVE CONNECTION.)KEVIN>You'd feel pretty bad if no one is going to watch this kid. Offer to babysit him when his parents are busy. (No skill check required. You're not sure how useful of a coworker he might be.)>Has he made any adult friends here? Maybe he can tell you which coworkers you should get buddy-buddy with.
>>6293043HIDAKA>Get to the point. Ask her if she's willing to work with you. (DC 66, +15 to roll from WAGESLAVE CONNECTION.)>Why is she speaking like that? Is something bothering her? (DC 56, +15 to roll from WAGESLAVE CONNECTION.)KEVIN>Who are his parents? They don't seem super great if they left a kid alone to wander around.>Has he made any adult friends here? Maybe he can tell you which coworkers you should get buddy-buddy with.
>>6293043No problems QM, sometimes meatier updates are fun. Just worried they take a lot outta you. Hidaka>>So, does she have any advice on who you should trust?>Why is she speaking like that? Is something bothering her? (DC 56, +15 to roll from WAGESLAVE CONNECTION.)Kevin>>Who are his parents? They don't seem super great if they left a kid alone to wander around.>>You'd feel pretty bad if no one is going to watch this kid. Offer to babysit him when his parents are busy. (No skill check required. You're not sure how useful of a coworker he might be.)Maybe his parents will pay us
>>6293043>Why is she speaking like that? Is something bothering her? (DC 56, +15 to roll from WAGESLAVE CONNECTION.)>So, does she have any advice on who you should trust?>>6293043>Who are his parents? They don't seem super great if they left a kid alone to wander around.>Has he made any adult friends here? Maybe he can tell you which coworkers you should get buddy-buddy with.
>>6293049>two thingsWHOOPSDo>What's her job?>Why is she speaking like that?And>Who are his parents?>Does he even know what this place is?
>>6293043Hidaka>>Get to the point. Ask her if she's willing to work with you. (DC 66, +15 to roll from WAGESLAVE CONNECTION.)KEVIN>Who are his parents? They don't seem super great if they left a kid alone to wander around.>Has he made any adult friends here? Maybe he can tell you which coworkers you should get buddy-buddy with.Also an idea, could we get the MAN to kill the supply manager? him being practically invisible plus it seems he would not be against it. We could offer him half the payment as a starting offer.
>>6293043HIDAKA>Why is she speaking like that? Is something bothering her? (DC 56, +15 to roll from WAGESLAVE CONNECTION.)>What's her job here? Security? Researcher? Something else? You want to see if there's any logic to the appointments they assign people.KEVIN>Who are his parents? They don't seem super great if they left a kid alone to wander around.>You'd feel pretty bad if no one is going to watch this kid. Offer to babysit him when his parents are busy. (No skill check required. You're not sure how useful of a coworker he might be.)
>>6293043>Why is she speaking like that? Is something bothering her? (DC 56, +15 to roll from WAGESLAVE CONNECTION.)>So, does she have any advice on who you should trust?>Has he made any adult friends here? Maybe he can tell you which coworkers you should get buddy-buddy with.>Who are his parents? They don't seem super great if they left a kid alone to wander around.
>>6293043>Why is she speaking like that? Is something bothering her? >So, does she have any advice on who you should trust?>Who are his parents? They don't seem super great if they left a kid alone to wander around.>Has he made any adult friends here? Maybe he can tell you which coworkers you should get buddy-buddy
PRESENT THE BEANCOUNT CHARTWHATS YOUR JOB: tbi, Dj2WHY ARE YOU SPEAKING LIKE THAT: tbi, SqX, P0x, SXG, Dj2, CWx, g52TRUST ADVICE?: KOO, P0x, SXG, CWx, g52WANNA WORK: KOO, SqX, 3RVWHO ARE YOUR PARENTS: tbi, SqX, P0x, SXG, 3RV, Dj2, CWx, g52DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE???: tbiBABYSIT?: KOO, P0x, Dj2ANY ADULT FRIENDS: KOO, SqX, SXG, 3RV, CWx, g52Aight, looks like we're doing one roll. Three anons, roll 1d100+15, DC is 56. You have one reroll available but I'd say wait until all three dice are rolled before anyone decides to use it.TABLE BELOW0 SUCCESSES: "Not your business. Silence." (The rest of the conversation is super awkward.)1 SUCCESS: "Time is money, unsure of your value." (She clearly has some ulterior motive here but you can't read her.)2 SUCCESSES: ""Don't want to waste time, sir. Wanted to see, if it was you." (You think you've met her before, somewhere?)3 SUCCESSES: "Someone's listening, sir. Can't you see them?" (Same as 2 but she reveals some important information to you.)
Rolled 55 + 15 (1d100 + 15)>>6293453Trust in the heart of the dice, Yugi!
Rolled 57 + 15 (1d100 + 15)>>6293453
>>6293458>>6293477
Rolled 71 + 15 (1d100 + 15)>>6293453
>>6293458>>6293477>>6293480D-did...Did Vincent get actually good rolls? Did he actually manage to get 3 successes??? Inconceivable.I need to talk to UPPER MANAGENT to make sure I'm seeing things right.Writing.
The rhythmic tapping of her teal-painted nails is making it REALLY hard to focus. It's one of the few specks of color on her that isn't orange. It doesn't take a genius to realize she's stressed out of her mind. Especially with how short and choppy her words have been.You, as subtly as you can, look around to see if anyone is watching you. You're not the paranoid type but you can't ever be too safe in a place like this. You don't see anything out of the ordinary but you feel like you should make this conversation quick.You take a deep breath. "You're speaking like that for a reason, right? Mind telling me why?""None of your business." She continues to tap her nails on the table. "Don't like being out here too long. That's all you need to know.""Fair. Hard to trust people here. Already have to work around a snitch.""Which one?" "Elizabeth. Beanie." Hidaka stops tapping her fingers for a brief second. "Horrid luck. Apology offered." She continues to tap her fingers on the table."Apology accepted. But, look, listen.""We're in the same boat, Hidaka." You tug at the WAGESLAVE UNIFORM that might as well be your second skin. You don't remember the last time you wore something besides this. "I was taken from a firm just like you. Got tased, weird smiley guy, the works. You can tell me what's up.""Same story here. Clarify what firm you worked with?"It takes a moment for you to recall the name. "CANTWELL & COMPANY LLC. Why?""You look familiar. First name?" "Vincent."She cracks her eyes open just enough to get a better look at you. Her frosty-blue eyes scan you as if she's trying to remember something. You think you might recognize her as well.Didn't you see someone in this tacky outfit a few months ago? Wait, wait- You TRAINED this girl before. She was some transfer from another firm somewhere in Japan. You never did understand why she got transferred to begin with but..."Sir?" "Hidaka?"For a brief second you thought you saw her cracking a smirk. It fades as soon as it appeared. "Lucky, for both of us. Thought you looked familiar, sir.""What are the odds of that, huh?" You were wondering why you felt a connection there. You two aren't FRIENDS, per se, but you've worked with each other before. She disappeared a few weeks back but you were told she was just transferred again."Oh! Oh!" Kevin perks up the moment you two recognized each other. "Uhhh...oh! Did you guys date???""What?" "No?" You both stare at the kid for the random curveball question."Okay!" He goes back to playing with some spoons he took from your plate. Weird kid."So, seriously, what's going on? I need as much help as I can get here.""Eyes and ears are everywhere, Mr. Cruz." Hidaka gestures towards the tables surrounding you. "HE'S watching us right now. As we speak.""Mind being less cryptic?" "You know Mr. Cantwell?" You struggle to remember anything about him. You know he was your manager and that he always badgered you with weird requests.
That's as far as your mind lets you remember but there's a weird gap in your memory involving him. Weird."Don't know how or why. Somehow, he works here too. Almost certain he worked here longer than us.""Weird, I don't remember him going missing?" "All I know is a weird man with a weird smile is his 'liaison' in this facility.""Weird little smiling man has lots of friends. Lots of friends scattered throughout layers. Keeps an eye on us, makes sure we do our job. There's one watching us now."You turn your head again. You swear you saw someone looking at you but they swerve their head before you could get a good look at them.God, and you thought being watched by BLACKWELL was bad enough. "Who can I trust, then? You seem to know who's trustworthy.""Stick to the freaks. The unpopular. The unhinged. Sanity's not a good sign here." She pauses for a moment as she tries to think of any other advice. "Don't trust those who associate with the higher ups. Corporate ladder is stained with betrayal." She continues to tap her fingernails on the table. "Elizabeth seems different from the rest. Unsure if her heart is fully in it.""Other advice? Cards close to chest. Only reveal as much as they reveal to you. Gauge their reactions. See how much interest they have in you. Too much interest is bad sign."You suppose that's sound enough advice. "Thank you, Hidaka." The three people you're able to work with right now are a robot, a melting blob of a girl and a mystery man. You nod along before you move to check up on Kevin. For a kid he's been remarkably well-behaved. He hasn't really caused much of a fuss so far.Hidaka keeps a watch out for anyone suspicious as you chat. It helps your nerves at least."So. Uh. Kevin.""Yeah, mister?" The kid continues to fiddle with the spoons he took from your tray."Who are your parents exactly? They, uh, seem to let you do a lot on your own." You rather not say his parents suck ass at parenting right to his face. "Uhmmm. They're, uh. Eee-tee-fees?" He's trying his best to remember with that tiny little head of his. "They have cool guns and they shoot the monsters here!!! They're really cool!!! Are you one, mister?"Oh. No wonder why they leave him to his own devices. From what little you know about ETFs, they seem to do a LOT of field work. "I'm just a researcher." You point at your labcoat. "You sure they're fine with you running around here?""Uh-huh! The guards said they'd look after me! My mama said they'd 'pay dearly' if they don't! Money's important, right?"You smile at the kid, not wanting to tell him his mom probably threatened to castrate someone if her kid got harmed. "Sure. Do you see your parents a lot, kid?""Uhm. They're really busy. So I just make friends with the adults here! Not a lot of other kids so..." Kevin shrugs, not really recognizing how worrying this is to you. "Yeah!"Might as well get something useful out of him. "Who are you friends with?"
"Uhm! Colt's cool! He has a really big gun that has really cool bullets that zip and zoom here! And there!""Wait, like they teleport?" "Uh huh! He showed me and it was really cool! He's really nice too!""He wasn't exactly nice when I met him." You still remember the whole 'nearly getting your head' blown off thing."He just acts tough because he thinks its cool! He's really nice, mister! Oh!" He tries to snap his fingers with his soft, chubby little baby fingers. It's adorably pathetic. "Uh! There's two really cool adults with cool masks around here! One's white and one's black! They're really nice...but they're weird."You think you saw a woman in a white masquerade mask here. She apparently has someone working with her, huh? "What kind of weird?""They speak in big adult words that make my head hurt. They're really fun to play with, though! They pulled a prank on someone who was rude to me!""And?" "I dunno! Haven't seen them since!"Okay! That's incredibly worrying! You're about to ask him for more clarification but that's when you hear the intercom system crackling to life. Ah. You better head to that HR meeting. "See you two later." You get up from the table but before you leave, Hidaka slides you a business card.Scribbled on it is her FRIENDCHAT username. It'll be nice staying in contact with her, at least. You say your goodbyes before making your march over to HUMAN RESOURCES. Your gut twists and turns the closer you get to that god-forsaken room. The hair on your arms stands at their ends.The air itself gets colder and colder. You almost swear the lights in the hallway are getting dimmer by the second. Whatever's in that room, you don't want to be there and it's almost as if the facility itself wants you to stay away. You arrive at the door leading to whatever hell you agreed to subject yourself to. Whatever it takes to deal with August, you suppose.You open the door. You're soon whisked away to a side room before you even have a moment to process the layout of the HR OFFICE. You try your best to stay up right as whoever shoved you in here locks the door closed. Seems like you're not getting out of here without talking to whoever's in here.The room you're in is depressingly familiar. The walls are lined with motivational posters that were already out of date when they were first made 20 years ago. Kitschy decorations are neatly placed around the office in a feeble attempt to make the room warm and comforting.A bookshelf, filled with books you know the owner never reads, is positioned just close enough to the desk so you can see the titles. Each one is some pop philosophy or science book that is probably only useful as a door stopper. It disgusts you but it also reminds you of home.https://youtu.be/W2-osNJ7ATc - THE MEETINGThe middle aged man sitting at the desk in the middle is not human. You're certain of this. He may have the appearance of a human but you know nothing's inside that empty shell.
His outfit is too neat. His skin is sleek and flawless in a way only seen in highly edited ad photography.There's not a single notable 'imperfection' in his appearance.His smile doesn't reach his eyes. He holds his hand out as he addresses you, "Hello Vincent. Elizabet has just filled us in with some interesting information regarding a complaint of yours."You hesitantly shake his hand. It feels like plastic. "That would be correct. It's about August, the Supply Manager at Layer 3." He gestures at you to take a seat. You do so. Your back aches out in agony at how little support the cheap chair gives your back."We understand completely, Vincent. We value your contributions to this organization. We want to make sure you feel appreciated.""Now, may we ask about the specifics of your complaints, Vincent? We know it involves a 'Lucy Maxwell' and her medicine, at least."You should be careful about what you say here. How do you want to present your complaint? >CORPORATE. "I worry he's not pulling his own weight, sir. And we all have to pull our weight here, after all!">CONCERN. "I've heard a lot of nasty rumors about him. I just want to know if they're true or not.">SUSPICION. "Do you now? Some of my coworkers feel unappreciated after their complaints about him went unheard.">TO THE POINT. "He's been actively sabotaging the supply lines of various departments, 'sir'.">SYMPATHY. "Because of his actions, one of our employees isn't able to get her life-saving drugs, sir.">IMPARTIAL. "There have been various supply issues across the facility tied to his operations in Layer 3, sir.">Write in.
>>6293549>IMPARTIAL. "There have been various supply issues across the facility tied to his operations in Layer 3, sir.">Write in.I play Corporate Accountant in attack mode.Vincent doesn't care about a single medical shortage incident, though if this 'Lucy Maxwell' happens to fraternize with persons of good standing its not my concern. Theres also been complaints of cigarette and caffeine shortages (The desperate medbay staff). Other staff and machinery apparently reliant on mechanical parts supplies (The robots look like they haven't had an upgrade in decades). We've seen the Catalogues. Given these other issues we wonder if there could be a discrepancy in the supply side figures for a number of items. I would say Impartial is the way to go, we don't want to appear too attached to Lucy in case they try to use that connection as leverage later. I wouldn't mind if we mixed in CORPORATE as well because thats supposed to be Vincent's bread and butter.Although I have a slight tingle that HR could ask if we were making a fat joke, after the pig bit, or turn it around and ask how we are doing on our quota to try and divert. The others are just traps.If Lucy doesn't go from our ugly duckling into a beautiful swan I'd say Hidaka would be a nice love interest. Japanese salarywomen with pencil skirt. Miss Secretary Hidaka, appointment in the supply closet. Originally I was leaning for the Redhead guard, but that warning against seemingly sane people has me a little cautious.
>>6293549> You should be careful about what you say here. How do you want to present your complaint?>>6279318> Upper Management ain't particularly carin' about things like this unless it hurts their bottom line."Should we present our complaint from an amoral pragmatic perspective? "Sir, he is causing supply issues for medical staff here. Which impacts our productivity and working ability due to lacking supply, which impacts our profitability of the ARC, etc."
>>6293549>Write in.>AMORAL PRAGMATISM and EFFICIENT “Sir, this individual has been causing medical supply issues around here; this impacts our productivity and profitability of the ARC due to medical staff lacking medical supplies to fix employees up so they can go back to working again, be productive and produce profit. Is there anything that can be done about it, Sir?”
>>6293578 >>6293589 +1
>>6293589+1
>>6293549>Write in: DREADED CORPORATE WALL OF TEXT. "Our August is misappropriating Coalition resources with adverse affect to the productivity of Layer 3 MEDBAY staffers. All layer 3 employees; of which a "Lucy Maxwell" is included, depend on MEDBAY's operation; Lucy Maxwell being among (if not) the most dependent. Presently, the MEDBAY has completely run out of a drug Lucy has a life-threatening dependency on. This projected risk of death extends to my other co-workers; who regularly deal with an occupational hazard of injury; which MEDBAY presently lacks the resources to treat, increasing this risk's likelihood. The severity of this situation is such that MEDBAY is completely devoid of the resources it requires to operate. It is my understanding that the MEDBAY's existence evidences that UPPER MANAGEMENT prefers to keep this risk mitigated, but MEDBAY cannot operate without its associated resources. Given that this issue hasn't been dealt with for some time, I believe UPPER MANAGEMENT would like to have some eyes to inspect MEDBAY and the Layer 3 warehouse, make sure everything is in line with their reports. And with respect to August, I have heard he has received a great deal of complaints during his employment here; I can assure you these complaints, although they may be poorly articulated, have their merits just as well as mine does, and that affected ARC employees may create a 'turbulent' work environment should this issue not be resolved. So I request that August be removed from the position, if not transferred to another department. Sir."We know. We know he knows. He knows we know he knows. We know he knows we know he knows.Most of this is going to be completely ignored, since UPPER MANAGEMENT wants August to be in the position he is in. We'll have to remove him some other way, and the option of just killing him is starting to look very enticing.Hopefully my threat of employees fucking shit up at the end will have been buried enough by the formal text wall to be seen as an unintended implication and not a genuine threat, might let some supplies trickle into MEDBAY after his realization if he even cares.
>>6293549>IMPARTIAL. "There have been various supply issues across the facility tied to his operations in Layer 3, sir."
>>6293589+1We’re not gonna get through to him are we
>>6293603+1 to this one. Corporate, Impartial, and To the Point (as well as several other write ins) are good but this one is most in line with my thought process. The only thing I'd add is that HR would be forced to source more employees to replace those, many seasoned and profitable, who died as a result.
You breath deeply through your nose. You grip the shoddy armrests of the chair you're sitting on.You know. You know he knows. He knows you know he knows. That's the game when it comes to people like this. Both of you know exactly why the other person is here but you both have to pretend otherwise.Your mask of corporate impassivity rests comfortably on your face. You've dealt with fuckers like him before. Time to play the game. Don't reveal too much. Stay pragmatic, efficient and corporate. Pawn to E4."Sir, this individual has been causing medical supply issues around here; Not just in Layer 2 or Layer 3 mind you. I heard from a very trustworthy source this is not the first time he has done it."HR's Vessel politely nods. "Are you certain that this is tied to this specific individual? We here at ARC believe that it's never one person's fault. There are so many factors that can cause issues in a place such as this.""While there may be other people at fault, sir, a single faulty gear may be enough to hamper a whole operation." Your voice does not sound like your own. "This individual has impacted the productivity and profitability of this ARC facility. With medical staff lacking medical supplies to fix employees up so they can go back to working again, we are losing profitable assets at an unexpectable rate."HR's Vessel narrows its eyes at you. "While that might be true, this is not the first time that a supply issue has occured by accident. Assuming malice of our trusted employees breeds an atmosphere where you can't trust anyone." Its smile grows wider. "That's not an atmosphere we want, Vincent.""That may be true, sir. However, if it is an accident, that is even worse. Several employees with a life-threatening dependency to several medications have not been able to access them. Including Lucy Maxwell."You lean in closer, matching his smile with your own. "This projected risk of death extends to my other coworkers. One bad apple extends to the rest of the bunch, correct?"HR's Vessel continues to blankly smile at you. "Do you have any evidence it is tied to him?""While the complaints of my employees may be poorly articulated or, well, 'questionable'? The fact so many people have complained about him is evidence in of itself. Would you be this hesitant to act if I was accused of these things, sir?"The corner of the HR Vessel's eye twitches. It keeps its mouth shut but you can read right through this plasticine hunk of shit."Is there anything that can be done about it, Sir? If this keeps up, the profit margins of this facility might go into the reds.""We are unsure if we have jurisdiction to deal with this particular employee."Oh, you know exactly what they mean by that but you're going to play dumb. "How so? It is your job to manage the employees of this facility.""We-""I believe whoever has jurisdiction would realize that the cost of this employee keeping his position far outweighs whatever he provides."
HR's Vessel goes quiet. It's glancing around the room with an uncomfortable, glazed look in its eyes."Is this not under your jurisdiction? If it is, I'm unsure how UPPER MANAGEMENT would respond to you shirking your responsibilities.""So, I repeat sir, is there anything that can be done about it? Before he hurts our bottom line and our company's atmosphere?""We-" "You?"The Vessel slumps its shoulders. For a brief moment you thought you almost saw a glimmer of emotion behind its vacant eyes. "We will investigate this employee and the allegations thrown his way. If what you say is true, then the cost/risk of having him in that position is not worth it.""Thank you for listening, sir." You politely bow to HR's Vessel. "May I ask when I can expect to hear back from you.""After tomorrow's shift ends.""Understood, sir."You politely leave the room without any further fuss. If there's one thing you're good at when it comes to social situations, it's dealing with corporate nonsense like this. You feel oddly proud of yourself.>Due to your successful WRITE-IN(s), your WAGESLAVE aptitude has increased.>You'll get to pick an upgrade for it soon.Right outside the HR Office is a certain redhead security guard ready to escort to your dorms. In her hands are two Styrofoam cups that are topped with whipped cream."hey. long talk in there, huh?" Ashton holds out one of the cups to you. "want one?""Uh, sure." It takes a moment for you to shake off the corporate mask. You feel really tired all of a sudden. "What is it?""just some hot cocoa i stole for my breakroom. thought you might want one too.""Oh, thanks!" You snatch the cup from her hand. You take a long, greedy sip of the hot cocoa. It's not GOOD hot cocoa, it's the cheap stuff that barely tastes like chocolate but it's the thought that counts.The two of you have a quick chat as you're escorted back to the dorms."bet it sucked having to talk with that guy, yeah?""We have a fruitful conversation about the cost/risk analysis of a certain employee. Nothing more or less.""oh you fucking hate someone here, huh? spill the tea." Ashton snorts as she reads right through your corporate bullshit. "Ah, it's just someone bothering medbay, that's all. I just wanted to help in whatever way I can."Ashton cracks a smile, "didn't take you for the type. you kinda seem like the type to keep his head low.""I wish I could've but, you know, they DID ask me for help. Thought I might as well.""hey i ain't shaming you, man, just didn't expect it. how's it been hangin'?""Same ol', same ol'. Trying to keep my head above water, you know?" "word. have to deal with a containment breach on layer 4." She holds the palm of her hand out. It is stained completely black. "had to beat some tar guy half to death.""Oof. That sucks, man. I hope that washes off.""yeah, me too. black ain't really my color." "Yeah, yeah, it's red. How the hell do you even get dye in a place like this?"
"a girl never tell." A wispy chuckle exits her. "well, nice seein' that you're still kickin', dude.""Same to you. Though, uh, I guess...no one likes to see people die, right? I guess?" You stammer over your words. Your social battery has been completely drained after dealing with HR. "That's, uh, yeah. Sorry, I'm being dumb.""pft." She snorts as you continue to stammer over your words. Ashton warmly smiles at you. "man, you're cute when you do that. don't sweat it.""Whuh?" "here." She stuffs something in your hand. "catalog. you know what to do. see ya around, vince." Before you have time to question if you heard what she said right, she turns around and leaves you be.Welp! Time for catalog shopping, haha! You quickly rush into the barracks before you overthink what happened. You throw yourself onto your (slightly) better bed. You crack open the catalog to see...Huh. Your catalog looks really different this time around. Not in a bad way, though, might as well see what they have on offer.MONEY: $803THINGS AVAIABLE TO SELL: CIGARETTE MOLD x7 ($177), DIGESTIVE ENZYME ($250), EGG? ($300, might be better to keep?), MYSTERY BAGGIE ($100) What do you pick? Pick as much as you're willing to spend money on. ONE TIME PURCHASE>[SPECIL (sic) REQUEST] - You may enter a keyword to obtain a custom anomaly instead of selecting a premade one. WARNING: The danger level and usefulness of said custom abnormality may vary wildly based on the keyword. ($270)>[EXPANDED ROSTER] - When choosing what anomaly to obtain, you pick from 4 instead of 3. ($155)>[PROTOTYPE RISK LEVEL SYSTEM] - When voting for an anomaly choice, you'll get a rough idea on its danger level and what kind of damage it can do to you and its surroundings. ($280.)>[ATTACHMENT MODULE] - A training dummy used in a variety of settings, such as in mock surgery and therapy. Allows you to better train various skills. ($175)>[BEER VENDING MACHINE] - Really good at increasing the morale of everyone inside your lab. "Prost!" - N. ($333)>[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM] Heavy! Keep yourself fit! ($55. Good for your body.)CAN BE BOUGHT MULTIPLE TIMES>[9MM PISTOL] For emergencies. ($490. Comes with enough ammo for one combat encounter. Adds +7 to combat attack rolls.)>[PERSONAL TV SET] - Portable and contains tailor-made programming just for (You). The voice of the world, right by your side. ($150)>[LEPHI AND SILK FASHION BUNDLE] - "Proudly featuring the red hot fashion styles straight from the heart of Lephi and Silk!" Contains a variety of fashionable outfits for you and your anomalies to wear. ($63, contains three outfits.)>[POWER BUNDLE] - Contains a random assortment of batteries! Good for powering electronics or feeding IN LIMBO! ($100)(1/2)
>[CELL DECORATION BUNDLE] - Contains some basic furniture to decorate your cells with. Don't expect anything too fancy. ($75)>[CONTAINMENT ATMOSPHERE UPGRADE] - Allows you to adjust the lighting and temperature of a containment cell to suit an anomaly's need. ($125. Can be bought three times. First purchase will apply to the ANDROID's cell, second to IN LIMBO's, third to your empty cell.)>[WELDING SUPPLIES] - Comes with a welding torch and mask for help out with repairs! Additional purchases will add more fuel for your torch. ($55)Choose what to sell.>CIGARETTE MOLD (You have 7, write in how much)>DIGESTIVE ENZYME>EGG? >MYSTERY BAGGIE>NOTHINGDealing with your QUOTA will happen later. I don't want to bloat this with too much stuff and you can't pay it off unless you sell everything and give up ALL of your personal funds right now.I also did a little bit of yHQ's and SqX's write ins for this update since I thought both were pretty good. keep up the good work.
>>6294054>[CONTAINMENT ATMOSPHERE UPGRADE] - Allows you to adjust the lighting and temperature of a containment cell to suit an anomaly's need. ($125. Can be bought three times. First purchase will apply to the ANDROID's cell, second to IN LIMBO's, third to your empty cell.)Of fucking course this is a thing… but one for the android.>[WELDING SUPPLIES] - Comes with a welding torch and mask for help out with repairs! Additional purchases will add more fuel for your torch. ($55)Lab is in ruins. We need to start repairs at some point.>[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM] Heavy! Keep yourself fit! ($55. Good for your body.)Strength training. Also doubles as a weapon.Sell one CIGARETTE MOLD to fund it. We need to save money for the quota.
>>6294052>[ATTACHMENT MODULE] - A training dummy used in a variety of settings, such as in mock surgery and therapy. Allows you to better train various skills. ($175)>[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM] Heavy! Keep yourself fit! ($55. Good for your body.)>[CONTAINMENT ATMOSPHERE UPGRADE] - Allows you to adjust the lighting and temperature of a containment cell to suit an anomaly's need. ($125. Can be bought three times. First purchase will apply to the ANDROID's cell, second to IN LIMBO's, third to your empty cell.)Once.>[WELDING SUPPLIES] - Comes with a welding torch and mask for help out with repairs! Additional purchases will add more fuel for your torch. ($55)As for selling…>CIGARETTE MOLD (You have 7, write in how much)4.This should leave us with $1,101.
>>6294092this +>>[BEER VENDING MACHINE] - Really good at increasing the morale of everyone inside your lab. "Prost!" - N. ($333)It sounds too dope to pass up honestly
>>6294052>[WELDING SUPPLIES] - Comes with a welding torch and mask for help out with repairs! Additional purchases will add more fuel for your torch. ($55)Ever weld with an oxy torch, Vincent? No? Time to learn!>[CONTAINMENT ATMOSPHERE UPGRADE] - Allows you to adjust the lighting and temperature of a containment cell to suit an anomaly's need. ($125. Can be bought three times. First purchase will apply to the ANDROID's cell, second to IN LIMBO's, third to your empty cell.)1 purchase.>[CELL DECORATION BUNDLE] - Contains some basic furniture to decorate your cells with. Don't expect anything too fancy. ($75)For the needy alcohol generator.>[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM] Heavy! Keep yourself fit! ($55. Good for your body.)Do none of the other researchers want to buy this?Anyways, the barbell shaft(s) will make for an excellent melee weapon, albeit unfashionable. Might not kill someone like the pistol would, but maybe that's the point.>[ATTACHMENT MODULE] - A training dummy used in a variety of settings, such as in mock surgery and therapy. Allows you to better train various skills. ($175)Our punching bag. Is it durable? Lets find out!Yeah, all these are cool things we'll use eventually, but they're just distractions from our real purpose: cultivating mold. The anomalies are a side project, only have to keep them happy so they don't fuck us up. Mold is where the money is at, and in due time we'll have bountiful cheap nicotine flowing through the streets (halls) of this facility. We'll be a proper nicotine baron.FOR SALE:>DIGESTIVE ENZYMEWe presently have no personal use for this which I can think of, its just a mold byproduct.>CIGARETTE MOLD x5A lot of these options seem to be running at a discount from previous catalog prices.9MM PISTOL for $10 off? What a steal!In any case, we made an enemy today: August. If he hears our name, will surely send us a message if not outright dispose of us, especially since we may have angered an associate of his.
>>6294052>[EXPANDED ROSTER] - When choosing what anomaly to obtain, you pick from 4 instead of 3. ($155)>[PROTOTYPE RISK LEVEL SYSTEM] - When voting for an anomaly choice, you'll get a rough idea on its danger level and what kind of damage it can do to you and its surroundings. ($280.)>[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM] Heavy! Keep yourself fit! ($55. Good for your body.)>[9MM PISTOL] For emergencies. ($490. Comes with enough ammo for one combat encounter. Adds +7 to combat attack rolls.)>[POWER BUNDLE] - Contains a random assortment of batteries! Good for powering electronics or feeding IN LIMBO! ($100)>[CONTAINMENT ATMOSPHERE UPGRADE] - Allows you to adjust the lighting and temperature of a containment cell to suit an anomaly's need. ($125. Can be bought three times. First purchase will apply to the ANDROID's cell, second to IN LIMBO's, third to your empty cell.)>[WELDING SUPPLIES] - Comes with a welding torch and mask for help out with repairs! Additional purchases will add more fuel for your torch. ($55)>>6294054Choose what to sell.>CIGARETTE MOLDx3
>>6294052>>[PROTOTYPE RISK LEVEL SYSTEM] -$300They probably aren't dropping another anomaly on us just yet but I want to get this out of the way before they do.>>[ATTACHMENT MODULE] 175>[CELL DECORATION BUNDLE] - ($75)For Android unless they give us a projector screen. >>[CONTAINMENT ATMOSPHERE UPGRADE] - $125Just once.>[POWER BUNDLE] - $100>[WELDING SUPPLIES] - $55That's $830 in "necessities"... let's skip the bonuses this time around until we've dealt with our quota. Let's sell Cigarette Mold x6 for $1062, we'll feed it tomorrow and recoup losses. If we have enough sugar we can probably just use it to meet our quota this week. Lets offer egg to our sponsor too.803 + 1062 = 1865 - 830 = $1035
>>6294244Apparently I noticed the discount too late or plucked $300 outta nowhere. -20 to cost and +20 to our savings at the end. So 810 is cost and 1055 is what's left.
>>6294052>[BEER VENDING MACHINE] - Really good at increasing the morale of everyone inside your lab. "Prost!" - N. ($333)>[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM] Heavy! Keep yourself fit! ($55. Good for your body.)>[LEPHI AND SILK FASHION BUNDLE] - "Proudly featuring the red hot fashion styles straight from the heart of Lephi and Silk!" Contains a variety of fashionable outfits for you and your anomalies to wear. ($63, contains three outfits.)>[POWER BUNDLE] - Contains a random assortment of batteries! Good for powering electronics or feeding IN LIMBO! ($100)[CELL DECORATION BUNDLE] - Contains some basic furniture to decorate your cells with. Don't expect anything too fancy. ($75)>[CONTAINMENT ATMOSPHERE UPGRADE] - Allows you to adjust the lighting and temperature of a containment cell to suit an anomaly's need. ($125. Can be bought three times. First purchase will apply to the ANDROID's cell, second to IN LIMBO's, third to your empty cell.)x2>[WELDING SUPPLIES] - Comes with a welding torch and mask for help out with repairs! Additional purchases will add more fuel for your torch. ($55)>>6294054>CIGARETTE MOLD x4>DIGESTIVE ENZYME>EGG?We make 1058, spend 876 leaving 2182
>>6294054>>6294052BUY>[BEER VENDING MACHINE]>[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM]>[CONTAINMENT ATMOSPHERE UPGRADE]>[WELDING SUPPLIES]>[POWER BUNDLE]>[CELL DECORATION BUNDLE]SELL>CIGARETTE MOLD x5>DIGESTIVE ENZYME
>>6294054>[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM] >[POWER BUNDLE] >[CELL DECORATION BUNDLE] >[CONTAINMENT ATMOSPHERE UPGRADE]>[WELDING SUPPLIES]>CIGARETTE MOLDSell 4
Let's see.[CONTAINMENT ATMOSPHERE UPGRADE]: 4Xv. KOO, 3RN, KVB, SXG, l+P, CWx, tbi, shn[WELDING SUPPLIES]: 4Xv, KOO, 3RN, KVB, SXG, l+P, CWx, tbi, shn[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE]: 4Xv, KOO, 3RN, KVB, SXG, CWx, tbi, shn[ATTACHMENT MODULE]: KOO, 3RN, l+P[BEER VENDING MACHINE]: 3RN, CWx, tbi[CELL DECORATION BUNDLE]: KVB, l+P, CWx, tbi, shn[EXPANDED ROSTER]: SXG[PROTOTYPE RISK LEVEL SYSTEM]: SXG, l+P[POWER BUNDLE]: SXG, l+P, CWx, tbi, shn[9MM PISTOL]: SXG[LEPHI AND SILK FASHION BUNDLE: CWxSince we got 9 voters, the ones with a majority (5 or more) will be picked. That means you're getting ATMOSPHERE UPGRADE, WELDING SUPPLIES, WEIGHT SET, CELL DECORATION BUNDLE and POWER BUNDLE. That adds up to $410As for what to sell, only CIGARETTE MOLD got enough votes to warrant selling. Since everyone agreed to.CIGARETTE MOLD AMOUNT1: 4Xv3: SXG4: KOO, 3RN, CWX, shn5: KVB, tbi6: I+PSo all in all, you spend 410 and you earn $708, leaving you at a net positive of $1101. Turns out being a CIGARETTE MOLD peddler makes bank, huh? Writing, should be a shorter update.
You mull over what you should buy. You really wanted the BEER VENDING MACHINE, you really do, but you can't muster a good enough excuse to do so. You'll probably get your final anomaly (given you only have three cells) on Day 5 so there's no rush to get any anomaly stuff right now..You hope they'll give you a way to buy another containment cell next time they ship you a catalog.>+POWER BUNDLE, +WEIGHT SET, +CONTAINMENT ATMOSPHERE UPGRADE, +WELDING SUPPLIES, +CELL DECORATION BUNDLEYour best (and only) weapon right now is a shitty, flimsy pocket knife so having some better (if improvised) weaponry sounds pretty good to you. The weight set can blunder people to death and a welding torch, while short ranged, would scorch the hell out of flesh.Tomorrow's going to be a busy day. Another work shift, you'll probably have to deal with August somehow and god knows what else this facility is going to throw at you. You know what, though? Fuck it! You've survived three days! You can survive another one!You nurse on the hot cocoa Ashton gave you. You can't help but to wonder why she's being so nice to you. Hidaka DID warn about 'people who are too sane' but the security guard just seems to be genuinely helpful (compared to the rest of the facility that is). Oh well. You wait for the Catalog Collector robot to take your marked catalog before you throw yourself onto your bed.Another day, another dollar. Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, you shit on company time. That's the mantra you lived by when you were free and you're going to need to live by it if you're going to survive here.Sleep soon overtakes you. Distorted, half-remembered images flash through your mind as your consciousness fades...Right outside your accounting firm. It's there. Hanging from the entryway.Lub-dub, lub-dub. Lub-dub, lub-dub.The chained, pierced heart calls for you. Every heartbeat sprays more and more LOVE onto the floor. Weeping crimson oozes out of the many gashes caved into its surface.Lub-dub, lub-dub.The stench of crimson and rot floods your nose. Even when they made your mind forget, this smell always brought the memories back.Lub-dub, lub-dub.No one else around you can see it. Their hearts are closed off, unable to acknowledge the heart's call.Lub-dub.Vncent? Vincent? Vincent?I love you. I love you....DAY 4You wake up in a cold sweat. Your chest is struggling to contain the thumping, beating heart trying to break right through your ribcage. Your head is assaulted with a cluster headache that threatens to crush your fucking skull with how much it hurts.>+PHYSICAL HEALTH, --MENTAL HEALTH!>MENTAL HEALTH now at DOING GREAT? You need to get moving, to get your mind off the bizarre nightmare that flashed through your mind. You stumble out of your bed without a second thought. You hastily exit the BARRACKS, ready to distract yourself.
Something in your heart stirs.CHOOSE YOUR WAGESLAVE TRAIT UPGRADE! CURRENT BONUSES: +5 to all rolls involving paperwork, menial labor or brown nosing superiors.>THAT'S THAT, THIS IS THIS. (You gain a +7 bonus to checks involving keeping your composure or resisting mind-altering effects.)>EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK (Corporate entities and ARC higher ups will generally treat you better. Sponsorships will also offer better rewards in the future.)>HARD BUT HONEST WORK (Your bonus to menial labor rolls jumps to +7, you gain an extra +4 to repair skill checks and repairing things takes less time overall.)What do you want to do with your free time to, uh, forget whatever happened? Choose three.>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. A d100+4 will determine what category it ends up being.)>Start your SHIFT early. HAYDEN's sponsorship isn't holding you back anymore. (You gain 1d4 extra timetokens this shift.)>Head back to LOST AND FOUND. Let's see what goodies you can steal this time. (DC 43. You may write in a category of items to look for.)>Head back to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. You want to see if Rudolf's there, maybe he can give you some more advice.>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)>Look for Ashton. You wanna understand why she's being so nice to you. Or, at the very least, ask her if she's willing to work with you today.>Head down to the HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE. You want to make sure they held up their end of the bargain. Maybe you can also negotiate a better catalog out of them?>Head down to MEDBAY. Tell them the good news about your meeting with HR. You also wanna make sure they didn't do anything rash.>Try to arrange a meeting with some acquaintances. (You'll meet up with two random acquaintances to build up your RAPPORT with them or to see if they're willing to work with you.)>Head down to LAYER 3. You wanna see what AUGUST's deal actually is.
>>6294513>THAT'S THAT, THIS IS THIS. >Head down to LAYER 3. You wanna see what AUGUST's deal actually is.>Look for Ashton.>Head down to MEDBAY.>>6294503Well, this dream is concerning. Should we talk to someone about it? A potential anomalies fuckery?
>>6294513>THAT'S THAT, THIS IS THISLoland...>Head down to LAYER 3. You wanna see what AUGUST's deal actually is.Go someplace new>Head down to MEDBAY. Tell them the good news about your meeting with HR. You also wanna make sure they didn't do anything rash.Let medbay on the good news after>Wander around, see what you can stumble across.Just go for a walk I suppose
>>6294513>THAT'S THAT, THIS IS THIS. (You gain a +7 bonus to checks involving keeping your composure or resisting mind-altering effects.)I get the sneaking suspicion we're gonna need this one...>Head down to MEDBAY. Tell them the good news about your meeting with HR. You also wanna make sure they didn't do anything rash.>Look for Ashton. You wanna understand why she's being so nice to you. Or, at the very least, ask her if she's willing to work with you today.Maybe we can ask Medbay about weird dreams?
>>6294513>>6294526And fuck it, let's add>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. A d100+4 will determine what category it ends up being.)
>>6294513>HARD BUT HONEST WORK (Your bonus to menial labor rolls jumps to +7, you gain an extra +4 to repair skill checks and repairing things takes less time overall.)>Head down to the HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE. You want to make sure they held up their end of the bargain. Maybe you can also negotiate a better catalog out of them?>Head down to MEDBAY. Tell them the good news about your meeting with HR. You also wanna make sure they didn't do anything rash.>Head down to LAYER 3. You wanna see what AUGUST's deal actually is.
>>6294513>>HARD BUT HONEST WORK (Your bonus to menial labor rolls jumps to +7, you gain an extra +4 to repair skill checks and repairing things takes less time overall.)>Look for Ashton. You wanna understand why she's being so nice to you. Or, at the very least, ask her if she's willing to work with you today.Must be a conspiracy, why else would she be nice to us?>Head down to LAYER 3. You wanna see what AUGUST's deal actually is.>Head down to MEDBAY. Tell them the good news about your meeting with HR. You also wanna make sure they didn't do anything rash.
>>6294513>THAT'S THAT, THIS IS THIS. (You gain a +7 bonus to checks involving keeping your composure or resisting mind-altering effects.)Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner!>Head down to MEDBAY. Tell them the good news about your meeting with HR. You also wanna make sure they didn't do anything rash.let them know>Look for Ashton. You wanna understand why she's being so nice to you. Or, at the very least, ask her if she's willing to work with you today.Suspicious person. Who told you the time of our appointment to HR? Or that we even went? What connections do you have in order to purchase(smuggle) vanities such as dyes? I do not believe the security catalog would contain that. She's buddies with August, isn't she? What is she hoping to get out of giving us attention, huh?>Head down to LAYER 3. You wanna see what AUGUST's deal actually is.Fat controller.
>>6294503>THAT'S THAT, THIS IS THIS.>Wander around, see what you can stumble across.MYSTERY BOX>Look for Ashton.>Head down to MEDBAY.Oh I figured it out, Ashton isn't a corpo spy guard. Its all about THE HEART. Its the anomaly that Vincent encountered outside that made him anomaly touched. Its here in the facility somewhere, in someone's cell presumably.Ashton's red hair dye is derived from THE HEART's blood. It stains everything crimson, and some retarded researcher decided to sell it as Hair Dye to the locals. Maybe paint too and any number of funny stuff. Or maybe that researcher got influenced and began to spread it. Hard to say.The Blood Hair Dye seeps into Ashton's brain and mind while it also colors her hair. THE HEART's love for Vincent seeps in. To anyone else looking at this, it probably looks like a corpo trying to earn a researcher's trust for the typical corpo reasons. But typical isn't Vincent's world.Would you call it a partial possession? Or more like its sharing the feeling and perhaps memories of love for Vincent which are strong and enticing enough that Ashton genuinely wants to feel love as well. If Ashton is happy will THE HEART be happy living vicariously through whatever connection they have to feel close to Vincent? How fascinating.Redhead love? Redhead yandere love? Either way I do like redheads.
>>6294579Holy shit. I think You might be on to something. Or maybe overthinking it.
>>6294579Just because of this, I'm changing my vote away from seeing AUGUST's deal to wandering around. I'm convinced the Fat Controller August has no connections to us now.And Vincent should never touch any food or drink he is offered anymore. Who knows what his infatuated 'lover' put in that HOT COCOA after all? Vincent did immediately dream of THE HEART afterwards, so I'd say it is something not so good.Anyways, we'll have to just go direct to asking about the dye once we get there.>>6294503>>6294564Change>Head down to LAYER 3.to>Wander around, see what you can stumble across.
>>6294513>THAT'S THAT, THIS IS THIS. (You gain a +7 bonus to checks involving keeping your composure or resisting mind-altering effects.)>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. A d100+4 will determine what category it ends up being.)>Look for Ashton. You wanna understand why she's being so nice to you. Or, at the very least, ask her if she's willing to work with you today.>Head down to MEDBAY. Tell them the good news about your meeting with HR. You also wanna make sure they didn't do anything rash.
>>6294579That is a really long way to say she is into us. At the very least it sounds like it would be fun to moldmax with her.>>6294606To be fair he did dream of the heart previously before drinking to kool kokoa. Maybe the secret ingridient is love ?
>>6294513>EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK (Corporate entities and ARC higher ups will generally treat you better. Sponsorships will also offer better rewards in the future.)>Head down to the HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE. You want to make sure they held up their end of the bargain. Maybe you can also negotiate a better catalog out of them?Head down to LAYER 3. You wanna see what AUGUST's deal actually is.>Start your SHIFT early. HAYDEN's sponsorship isn't holding you back anymore. (You gain 1d4 extra timetokens this shift.)
>>6294652>To be fair he did dream of the heart previously before drinking to kool kokoaMEDBAY is going to tell us what the connection between us and the heart is outright. If its really this fucky with us while having had minimal contact, imagine the researcher who has to take care of it, he would have visited them already with his problems.Depending on what we hear, it may be a good idea to hold onto the cup, see for ourselves in case we ingested some trace of its samples.As long as we don't know, I'll say all manner paranoid theory is justified.Besides, never should accept things from strangers anyways.No, Vincent, she is not your qt3.14 redhead gf who you can always trust.
>>6294672>No, Vincent, she is not your qt3.14 redhead gf who you can always trust.Yet*
>>6294513>HARD BUT HONEST WORK (Your bonus to menial labor rolls jumps to +7, you gain an extra +4 to repair skill checks and repairing things takes less time overall.)>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. A d100+4 will determine what category it ends up being.)>Look for Ashton. You wanna understand why she's being so nice to you. Or, at the very least, ask her if she's willing to work with you today.>Head down to MEDBAY. Tell them the good news about your meeting with HR. You also wanna make sure they didn't do anything rash.
>>6294513>EMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK (Corporate entities and ARC higher ups will generally treat you better. Sponsorships will also offer better rewards in the future.)>Start your SHIFT early. HAYDEN's sponsorship isn't holding you back anymore. (You gain 1d4 extra timetokens this shift.)>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)>Head down to MEDBAY. Tell them the good news about your meeting with HR. You also wanna make sure they didn't do anything rash.
Right, let's seeTHAT'S THAT: shn, tbi, 1w+, KVB, Szu, Dj2HARD BUT HONEST WORK: KOO, 3RN, jhoEMPLOYEE OF THE WEEK: CWxLAYER 3: shn, tbi, KOO, 3RN, CWxASHTON: shn, 1w+, 3RN, KVB, Szu, Dj2, jHoMEDBAY: shn, tbi, 1w+, KOO, 3RN, KVB, Szu, Dj2, jHo, SXGWANDER: tbi, 1W+, KVB, Szu, Dj2, jHoHR: KOO, CWxEARLY SHIFT: CWx, SXGEXPLORE: SXGSo, I need only one anon to roll 1d100+4. Whatever our lucky anon rolls determines how 'good' the event is. Normally I do 3d100s for most rolls but, eh, it's funnier this way. NAT 1: UH OH6-37: BAD. You walked into an argument or a fight, you saw something you shouldn't, etc.38-73: NEUTRAL/WEIRD. You meet another freak, you encounter something anomalous, etc.74-104: GOOD. You meet someone helpful, you find something valuable, etc.NAT 100: LUCKY!!!
Rolled 8 + 4 (1d100 + 4)>>6294968
>>6294975Ha! Bad!Writing.
>>6294975I am reporting this to HR
>>6294975Sir, expect penalties to your rations in the next 2-3 business days
That's that and this is this. The motto of every down on his luck wageslave. A heavy yet shaky sigh rattles out of you. Hoo, okay, you need to get moving. You need to forget about that dream.Your eyes linger on the (mostly empty) cup of hot cocoa resting by the side of your bed. A brief, paranoid thought lingers in your head. No, couldn't be. That's ridiculous. Still, you pocket it for the time being.>HOT COCOA CUP obtained! (Trash, probably...?)You have places to be. You exit the barracks and- Wait, you reek. You'll make a quick stop to take a shower. Good thing about being able to sneak around when 'curfew' is still up is no one else is hogging up the hot water.One boiling hot shower later, NOW you're heading to MEDBAY. The buzzing fluorescent lights seem to crackle and fizzle with a seething, resentful energy that wasn't there yesterday. For a brief moment, you thought you saw their colors shift to green or blue before returning back to white.You're probably just seeing things from the weird dream you had. Nothing more, nothing less. You quickly duck into MEDBAY before you worry TOO much about how the lights are flickering.All three of the nurses are knocked out cold. Exhaustion has finally taken over them. Any semblance or trace of energy left in them have been beaten right out of them. The patients are either asleep or dead, hard to tell, so the room is completely silent. Not a single sound dares to make its presence known.You're afraid to break the silence. You try to speak but the words struggle to come out of your mouth. You briefly struggle to force yourself to speak. "Hey." You rest your hand on the shoulder of one of the nurses. You gently shake them awake. "I got some good news."They groan and hiss out a jumbled mess of words. They quickly pop their hazmat hood off before stuffing a handful of raw CIGARETTE MOLD into their mouth.They chew on it for a moment before swallowing it raw. That seems to be enough to wake them up."Yeah?" They stuff the hazmat hood back onto their suit."Good news. They're actually going to be investigating August's conduct. All it took was a bit of CRUZ CHARISMA™ to win them over.""You're joking." The nurse obviously doesn't believe you. "You? Somehow managed to get HR to bother looking into it?""I mean, whatever he's providing to UPPER MANAGEMENT, it's probably not profitable enough to warrant letting all of these people die." You broadly gesture towards the various patients. "Uh huh. When?" "They said they would personally tell me after my shift is done."The nurse narrows their eyes at you. It's clear they're too jaded to outright trust what you're saying about HR but their expression soon softens. "Alright. We'll check with HR later today. If you SOMEHOW managed to do something.""And I did.""We'll negotiate with you about what your reward should be."For a second, you thought you saw a glimmer of hope behind their exhausted eyes. "God, I hope you actually did something."
"Hey, you guys need all the help you can get.""I- Look, thanks man." The nurse decides to just accept what they can get. "See you around. We'll check with ya later."You nod, telling them to have the best day they can given their circumstance.>Due to managing to wrangle your way through HR, you'll get a choice on what reward to obtain from MEDBAY after your shift's done.With the good news delivered, you step out of MEDBAY. You take a moment to think on where you should go next. You want to talk to Ashton just to calm your nerves and to figure out what's up with her but, no, you have something else you wanna do first.You turn your brain off. You let your legs take you where they feel like going. Sometimes, after finishing your shift back at the firm, you'd do this instead of taking the bus. Just to get your mind off of everything. One schizophrenic homeless lady said you were 'letting the City guide you' but really?You just want to stumble across something that isn't some humdrum, routine thing you see day after day.The lights flicker and blur as you wander through the endless, shifting maze of grey walls and fluorescent lights. Night and day doesn't matter in a place like this. Who knows how long you're going to keep track of the days passing by? >12!BANG!You're immediately snapped out of your stupor. The gunshot echoes through the hallway until it blurs into an indistinct, ringing mess.BANG!Another thunderous crack echoes through the hallway. This time, you have a better idea on where it's coming from. The hallway you're in splits off into three paths and it seems to be coming straight ahead. You shouldn't be running over there but your curiosity overwhelms you.You rush down the hallway, pulling out your pocket knife just in case this gets serious. An indistinct voice gibbers out something resembling a yell to whatever they're shooting at. A low, heavy groan is all you hear in response.You swerve around one of the corners to see what's going on.https://youtu.be/nK2zF_LVcuY - WHAT IS THAT?Colt has his back pressed against the wall right by the corner you just turned around. His hand are trembling and shaking, barely able to hold onto the bolt action rifle in his hands. Acrid smoke leaks out of the freshly fired gun. A deep, indelible gash runs across the side of his chest. Deep crimson spills out of the wound and down his labcoat and shirt. It's almost enough to overwhelm the stench of ash and sweat lingering around him.You hesitantly turn around to see what he's aiming at.A humanoid figure stands only about ten feet away from the both of you. The only thing keeping its decency is a pair of tattered, gunk-stained boxers clinging to its skin. Its skin is a glimmering black that's like freshly spilled pen ink. Its left arm has been replaced with a large, jagged sharp claw that is dripping fresh crimson blood.You instinctually know that thing USED to be human.
Probably some poor researcher or security guard that got corrupted by an anomaly. They're too far gone to help at any rate.Two large holes have been punched right through their body. Black blood dribbles out of them and onto the floor, staining it black and mixing in with the blood Colt is leaking.Its glassy black eyes are blankly staring at the ceiling. Those two eyes are the only identifiable features of this...thing. The rest of it is smooth, inky black flesh.For the time being, it's reeling from being shot. You have no clue how long it'll take to recover or if those two shots are enough to slow it down in any meaningful way."F-fucker!" Colt hisses through clenched teeth. "G-gotta...gotta load my gun." You're not sure if Colt is going to make it if you don't get involved. "T-the fuck are you doing here? G-get out! I-I got it!" He tries to stand up straight but only a second or two later, he slumps right back against the wall. "I...I got it!""G-gotta kill this freakshit. One hit. T-that's all."...but do you even wanna help? That guy DID pull his gun out on you when you first met.What do you do, Vincent?>"Give me the gun." Keep your distance. One good hit with his gun is all you need. (DC 60, +3 from ANOMALY TOUCHED. Makes you feel REALLY cool.)>Quickly patch up Colt with whatever supplies you have and drag his ass out of here. (Burns most if not all of your medical supplies. Colt will owe you a favor.)>Fuck it. What do you have to lose? Stab it somewhere vital with your knife while it's distracted. (DC 55, +5 to attack roll from ANATOMY KNOWLEDGE. Earns Colt's RESPECT.)>Buy Colt some time. Distract the figure. Try NOT to get slashed in the process. (DC 45, +5 from ANOMALY TOUCHED.)>Leave Colt be, get security to deal with this. Fucker was a prick to you, after all.>Write in.
>>6295037>>Fuck it. What do you have to lose? Stab it somewhere vital with your knife while it's distracted. (DC 55, +5 to attack roll from ANATOMY KNOWLEDGE. Earns Colt's RESPECT.)Is it Monday? Because I'm starting to hate Mondays.
>>6295037>Fuck it. What do you have to lose? Stab it somewhere vital with your knife while it's distracted. (DC 55, +5 to attack roll from ANATOMY KNOWLEDGE. Earns Colt's RESPECT.)
>>6295037>>Fuck it. What do you have to lose? Stab it somewhere vital with your knife while it's distracted. (DC 55, +5 to attack roll from ANATOMY KNOWLEDGE. Earns Colt's RESPECT.)Surely we used up our bad dice right?>>6295038Starting?
>>6295096If we've got Garfield contained down here I'm gonna FREAK. OUT.
>>6295099 cannot contain him
>>6295037>Fuck it. What do you have to lose? Stab it somewhere vital with your knife while it's distracted.
>>6295037>Fuck it. What do you have to lose? Stab it somewhere vital with your knife while it's distracted. (DC 55, +5 to attack roll from ANATOMY KNOWLEDGE. Earns Colt's RESPECT.)Gut the abominable son of a whore
>>6295037>Fuck it. What do you have to lose? Stab it somewhere vital with your knife while it's distracted. (DC 55, +5 to attack roll from ANATOMY KNOWLEDGE. Earns Colt's RESPECT.)KILL!!!It probably won't do much, but its the thought that counts, right?
>>6295169We will look so cool though if we don't get our arms torn out of their sockets. Imagine the lunchtime gossip
>>6295171My spaguetti is already spilling
>>6295171Courage like this commands the respect required to open carry a barbell shaft, for use as a quarterstaff, while not looking like a jackass.Might not help with the carrying around 4(5?) buckets part though, unless Vincent's satchel is some Bag of Holding artifact.
It hasn't even be five hours and all of you have immediately resorted to violence with a shitty pocket knife.Okay.https://youtu.be/ju_Wm8mtBLg - VINCENT'S INTERNAL BATTLE MUSICLet's roll.Three anons, roll 1d100+5, DC 55. Table below.0 SUCCESSES: Oh no. (You fail to land a hit AND you take serious PHYSICAL damage.)1 SUCCESS: FUCK! (You manage to land a decent hit but you take some nasty PHYSICAL damage.)2 SUCCESSES: THERE! (You manage to disable the threat while only taking some moderate PHYSICAL damage.)3 SUCCESSES: CLEAN! (You manage to disable the threat while barely taking any damage.)CRIT SUCCESS: ??? (you're not getting this but who knows lmao)>>6295191I adjusted your personal inventory to rectify that. I don't bother with weight limits or anything since that's too clunky for both parties but he's not carrying those on his person. He would be carrying his medical supplies but not, like, 5 buckets.
Rolled 84 + 5 (1d100 + 5)>>6295201>I adjusted your personal inventory to rectify that. I don't bother with weight limits or anything since that's too clunky for both parties but he's not carrying those on his person. He would be carrying his medical supplies but not, like, 5 buckets.Agreed, I'm just having a laugh.
Rolled 20 + 5 (1d100 + 5)>>6295201
Rolled 83 + 5 (1d100 + 5)>>6295201rolling
AND THE RESULT IS2 SUCCESSES! VINCENT DIDN'T FUCKING DIE!Fun fact about Vincent Cruz: He is just as shocked as you are that he didn't die.Writing.
>>6295219LETS FUCKING GOOOO!!
>>6295219
>>6295036>>6295037ouch, thankfully we got 2 sucesses
>>6295219>He is just as shocked as you are that he didn't die.Never doubted him for a second, the unrivaled master of the pocket knife in this facility.A legend was born today, all will know the name Vincent Cruz.
A million options flash through your mind. Maybe you should call for help. Maybe you should distract it somehow. Maybe you should just get Colt out of dodge and patch him up.Your grip on the pocket knife tightens. No. It's too risky to let this thing wander around. You don't really care if this thing rips a HR employee's throat open but what if it attacks you again? What if it hurts someone you actually feel anything for?You're not a hero. This is just another obligation you have to fulfill. Part of your unwritten contract with the facility. Okay. You don't have long until this thing wakes out of its stupor. You need one clean stab. You scour your mind for anything that could help you kill this thing.Its inky black blood seems to act the same as Colt's blood. It'd probably die to the same things a human would die to.The quickest way to kill it you can think of is a stab to the neck. Bunch of important arteries there, it'll bleed out in a minute tops. You might even know where to stab to do the most damage. "T-the fuck are you doing? Get out, freakshit!" Colt yells at you as he struggles to load his artifact gun. He tries to load a rifle round in but his sticky fingers struggle to hold onto the bullet.You take one last deep breath. Do or die, Vincent.You charge right towards the threat with little regard for your own safety. The inky black abomination quickly snaps out of its stupor but it's too late. The distance is easily closed even with you being slightly out of shape. You raise your knife in the air.In one swift motion, you slam the knife down HARD into its inky black flesh. Its flesh strains and twists underneath the impact like rubber. You have to push with all of your might to finally pierce your knife into its knife.A torrential spray of black ichor splatters onto your labcoat and face. It reeks of wet paper and mildew but you can't linger in the stench for long. The monster gurgles out a wet, sickening cry from the new hole in its throat.It wildly swings its claw at you in an attempt to tear your flesh to ribbons. "FUCK!" You try your best to dodge but your reckless stab threw you off balance. Its claw tears right through your labcoat and into the soft flesh of your forearm before you could dodge.Having lost your footing, you slam face first into the floor pretty hard. Pain shoots up your nose and jaw but your the adrenaline pumping through your system numbs the worst of it.>PHYSICAL HEALTH lowers to COULD BE BETTERYou scramble back up to your feet in a mad, desperate attempt to not get torn to shreds.The monster swings its claw at you again but it only tears at your labcoat. You manage to get yourself back on your feet without falling over your feet again.Your pocket knife is stuck DEEP into the thing's neck. Black blood is spraying out of its neck like water from a pressure hose. Its wild, animalistic swings are quickly replaced with lost, disoriented swing at thin air.
Makes sense. Most of its blood is staining the walls and floor. It tries to charge at you but before it can close the gap, a small red sigil circle manifests right in front of you. It looks straight out of some occult textbook.A bullet zips right out of it and into the beast's leg. It doesn't do any serious damage but it's enough to knock the beast flat on its ass.It tries to crawl back onto its feet but its limbs refuse to listen to it. It squirms for a few seconds as the last drops of blood ooze out of its throat. It squeaks out a desperate, wet gurgle before going limp and lifeless.You wipe at the blood leaking out of your nose. You feel like garbage but...you killed it.You cautiously yank your knife out of the beast's neck. A little more blood dribbles out of the wound but there's no signs of life left in it.Holy shit.You snap your gaze over to Colt.His gun is raised where the beast once was. A half blue and white sigil circle flickers around the barrel of his gun. Red, white and blue. The American colors.The sigil fizzles out as he lowers his gun. A shit-eating grin spreads across the muscular man's face. "Well, I'll be damned, kid. Didn't think you had it in you.""What the FUCK was that?" You point at the now dead creature with your knife. "Fuck if I know, kid. Too many anomalies locked up in here to keep track of. I ain't got enough fucks to spare for every single one." He yanks the USA flag off his shoulder and promptly wraps it around the gash across his stomach. It seems to staunch the worst of the bleeding for now. "Hoo. Thanks.""Yeah. Yeah." Your nose is bleeding like a geyser right now. You'll have to patch that up later—and the gash on your arm—at a later time. "Felt like I had to.""Shit. Guess you got balls after all.""Hey. Wherever you're going, I'm following ya.""Huh?""Yeah. Most of the fags here woulda went 'MOMMY MOMMY PLEASE HELP ME THE MONSTER IS SOOOO SCARY'! Pft, pussy shit, yeah? You? You had the BALLS to do something.""I guess." You stammer out. The adrenaline in your system is already starting to fade. Your body feels like one raw nerve from the fall you just ate. "Wait, uh, you sure you-"Colt interrupts you before you can say anything else. "This ain't a discussion.">COLT forces his way into your party.COLT WESSONPHYSICAL HEALTH: VERY INJUREDMENTAL HEALTH: CONTENTTRAITS-PATROIC FERVOR (+5 to combat attack rolls and speech checks. Often gets TOO excited.)-MEATHEAD (-5 penalty to research skill checks while in the party.)INVENTORY-APPEAL TO HEAVEN (ARTIFACT. An old bolt action rifle. Bullets fired by it teleport right next to the nearest hostile target. Can never miss.)-STARS AND STRIPES (ARTIFACT. A ash-stained USA flag. Unknown properties.)-LOTS OF RIFLE AMMO (To feed his gun.)You're not going to argue with him. You'll decide if it's worth hiring him for real this shift later. You can only hope he spreads the good word about what you did.
The two of you limp away from the monster's corpse. You might as well look for Ashton. As the two of you head down the hallway, it doesn't take long to notice someone's checking out the noise.It's a random, no-name security guard. You ask him where Ashton might be and he points you in the direction of the cafeteria. He seems too worried about whatever containment breach happened to chide you about being out past curfew.You and your new 'friend' limp right over to the cafeteria. Ashton is busy chomping away at some slop one of the lunch ladies made for her. She doesn't seem to notice you until you weakly call out to her.Her eyes grow to the size of dinner plates when she sees the condition you're in. "oh no. colt! i told you, you can't roughhouse people for looking at you funny!""Wasn't my fault." Colt plants a firm hand on your shoulder. "This guy saved my life.""Yeah." You squawk out. The two of you quickly explain what happened only a few minutes ago. Ashton listens with rapt attention...and she promptly slaps you across the face. Ouch. "you're a fucking dumbass, man! you could've gotten yourself killed!" She angrily squawks out as best as she can with how wispy her voice is. You can tell it's anger born out of concern. "colt had his gun, he would've been just fine!""He was bleeding out. I had to do something.""The dude's a hero, Ashy. C'mon. You should be swooning over that kind of stuff.""a pocket knife though???" She throws her hands up in a huff. She huffs out a sigh, trying her best to hide her growing smile. "well, at least you're okay..."Well, you should probably start asking her some questions. Pick three.>"Why are you...so nice?" You don't know how to phrase that better. (DC ??, +6 from COLT and ???)>"Hey, you're a guard. Mind teaching me how to fight?">"Why have you been following me?" Seems like she's been all over the place.>She seems nice enough. Fuck it. "Wanna work with me today?" (No skill check needed.)>"Got any advice you're willing to share?" A guard has to know something, right?>"You're clearly smuggling stuff. Fill me in, man." Pry into her connections. You want in, baby. (DC 66, +8 from COLT and ASHTON LIKES YOU)>"Hey, that monster I killed was a researcher. Can I get dibs on his shit?" (DC 60, +10 from COLT and KILLED THE MONSTER.)>Ask something else. (Write in.)
>>6295329>"Hey, you're a guard. Mind teaching me how to fight?">"You're clearly smuggling stuff. Fill me in, man." Pry into her connections. You want in, baby. (DC 66, +8 from COLT and ASHTON LIKES YOU)>"Hey, that monster I killed was a researcher. Can I get dibs on his shit?" (DC 60, +10 from COLT and KILLED THE MONSTER.)
>>6295329>>"Why are you...so nice?" You don't know how to phrase that better. (DC ??, +6 from COLT and ???)>>"Hey, you're a guard. Mind teaching me how to fight?">She seems nice enough. Fuck it. "Wanna work with me today?" (No skill check needed.)
>>6295321>You have to push with all of your might to finally pierce your knife into its knife.Knife docking?>>6295329>"You're clearly smuggling stuff. Fill me in, man." Pry into her connections. You want in, baby. (DC 66, +8 from COLT and ASHTON LIKES YOU)>"Hey, that monster I killed was a researcher. Can I get dibs on his shit?" (DC 60, +10 from COLT and KILLED THE MONSTER.)>"Hey, you're a guard. Mind teaching me how to fight?"
>>6295376ah, meant to say throat there. Sorry. Was rushing against the clock to get this out, had some event I had to be atAnyways while I'm here, reposting the rentry sheets since your shift's going to start soon.https://rentry.co/VINCENTSHEET (Your sheet, contains stats and your inventory. Will be updated with the stuff you bought when you start your shift.)https://rentry.co/COWORKERLIST (The people you've worked with so far)https://rentry.co/RESEARCHNOTES (Details on the anomalies/samples you have.)
>>6295329>"Why are you...so nice?" You know how to phrase that better. (DC ??, +6 from COLT and ???)It would take an otherworldly force to get a woman interested in you, Vincent.We'll find out if its true soon enough, don't you worry.>"You're clearly smuggling stuff. Fill me in, man." Pry into her connections. You want in, baby. (DC 66, +8 from COLT and ASHTON LIKES YOU)You wouldn't happen to associate with one of our enemies, would you? It better be somebody else other than that supply manager.>"Hey, that monster I killed was a researcher. Can I get dibs on his shit?" (DC 60, +10 from COLT and KILLED THE MONSTER.)FREE SHIT! LETS GOOOOOOHere's hoping that Vincent isn't neck deep in shit creek right now.
>>6295329>"Hey, you're a guard. Mind teaching me how to fight?">"Hey, that monster I killed was a researcher. Can I get dibs on his shit?" (DC 60, +10 from COLT and KILLED THE MONSTER.)>She seems nice enough. Fuck it. "Wanna work with me today?" (No skill check needed.)
>>6295329>"Hey, that monster I killed was a researcher. Can I get dibs on his shit?" (DC 60, +10 from COLT and KILLED THE MONSTER.)>"Hey, you're a guard. Mind teaching me how to fight?">"Got any advice you're willing to share?" A guard has to know something, right?
>>6295329backing >>6295487
>>6295329>"Got any advice you're willing to share?" A guard has to know something, right?>"You're clearly smuggling stuff. Fill me in, man." Pry into her connections. You want in, baby. (DC 66, +8 from COLT and ASHTON LIKES YOU)>"Hey, that monster I killed was a researcher. Can I get dibs on his shit?" (DC 60, +10 from COLT and KILLED THE MONSTER.)
>>6295329>"Why are you...so nice?" You don't know how to phrase that better. (DC ??, +6 from COLT and ???)>>"Hey, you're a guard. Mind teaching me how to fight?">"Got any advice you're willing to share?" A guard has to know something, right?
>>6295329>"Why are you...so nice?" You don't know how to phrase that better.>"Hey, you're a guard. Mind teaching me how to fight?">"Got any advice you're willing to share?" A guard has to know something, right?
Rolled 1 (1d2)Aight, seems like there's a tie between WHY ARE YOU NICE and SMUGGLING. Doubt anyone's coming in to change that so. Flipping a coin. Let's see what we get.After I remember to actually flip the coin.1 = NICE?2 = SMUGGLING?
Aight, so the results are TRAIN ME (7 votes), FREE SHIT (7 votes) and WHY NICE (5) with a tiebreaker coin.Three anons, roll 2d100. The first three d100s rolled will go to FREE SHIT, second three will go to WHY NICE. FREE SHIT (DC 60, +10 added to roll)0 SUCCESS: "ah, i wish but i'd get my hand handed to me." (No free shit. She'll try to get you something later.)1-2 SUCCESS: "i'll see what i can do." (You'll get a handful of free shit from the researcher's lab. The quality of what you get is way better if you get 2 successes.)3 SUCCESSES: "you stabbed an anomaly with a knife. c'mon, you deserve it." (Lots of free shit, baby! You'll likely get the best of the best of what the researcher had.)WHY ARE YOU NICE? (DC ??, +6 from ???. You're going in blind here.)0 SUCCESSES?: ???1 SUCCESS?: "does there have to be a reason?" (???)2 SUCCESSES?: ???3 SUCCESSES?: ???
Rolled 43, 81 = 124 (2d100)>>6295721
Rolled 5, 26 = 31 (2d100)>>6295721oh no no no bros
>>6295721>>6295725So fucking over for vincent if he doesnt crit
Rolled 39, 27 = 66 (2d100)>>6295721Talking to a woman?!
>>6295721Meant to say 'head' for the 0 success text, whoops. Anywho.FREE SHIT: 1 SUCCESSWHY ARE YOU NICE: ???. I will reveal you did NOT get 0 successes on this.Well, you got one reroll for a SPEECH CHECK. What do you wanna use it for? Leaving this open until a majority manifests.>FREE SHIT. Let's try to get BETTER free stuff.>WHY ARE YOU NICE. Someone being nice to us unprompted? There has to be a catch.>SAVE IT.
>>6295738>WHY ARE YOU NICE. Someone being nice to us unprompted? There has to be a catch.Watch this nat1
>>6295738>I will reveal you did NOT get 0 successes on this.Oh shit. Given that our rolls were relatively close together, we might've actually gotten good here.Was worried Vincent spilled the spaghetti again. Or maybe he did, but Ashton found it endearing?
>>6295738>>6295742Forgot my vote.>SAVE IT.
>>6295738>SAVE IT.There can and will be shittier rolls than these
>>6295738SAVE IT
Saving it wins. Writing. Your heart twists.
Something about her is rubbing you the wrong way. You can't quite put your finger on it. It's like wherever you go, she's always there for you. Maybe you shouldn't look a grift horse in the mouth. Wait, no, that's not how the saying goes.That's beside the point. "So." You wipe your ichor-stained knife clean with your already stained black lab coat. "I have a favor to ask of you. Two, really, but one's more important.""yeah?""I stabbed some weird black-clawed monster thing to death. I'm 90% sure it was some poor researcher who got mutated.""lemme guess, you want his shit?"You scoff, "What? No. I wanted his autograph. Yeah, no shit that's what I want."Ashton shakes her head. "i'd have my head handed to me, sorry.""in the case of a researcher's death, their lab is assigned to a new hire, and THEY get whatever's left. that's how you got your lab, i heard.""Ash. Ash, Ash, Ashy Ashy." Colt firmly plants his hand on the guard's shoulder. "This spic saved my life. You gotta give him SOMETHIN', ya know? A REAL man like him deserves a reward for his honest work!""Whuh." "hm." You and Ashton blankly stare at the weird patriotic mess of a man. He does bring up a good point though.>1 SUCCESS!"ah, fuck it." Ashton croaks out. She really should get that voice of hers checked out. "yeah, alright, only because i like you. i can't promise much, but i'll see what i'll do.""Thank you." You give your best attempt at a smile. "The second favor I want to ask you is, can you teach me how to fight?""you should've asked me that before you ran headfirst at the first monster you saw." Ashton rolls her eyes. "jumped the gun there, huh?""Pft. Ya expect a WOMAN to teach you how to fight? C'mon." Colt pounds his fist against his chest. This only knocks the wind out of him. "G-guh. R-right, probably shouldn't be doing that right now.""take a seat, colt."Colt grumbles under his breath, 'yeah yeah'. He slumps onto one of the nearby cafeteria seats. You and Ashton head to the center of the cafeteria where there's a bit more room to move around at."alright. crash course here. don't expect anything too in depth." Ashton shifts her footing and posture until she's in a boxer's stance. "we're going to focus on your footwork.""My...footwork?""yeah, man, stabbing or punching or whatever's only part of a fight. good footwork helps you stay balanced and it helps you to keep distance."You try to mimic her stance. Your already bruised body is screaming at you to sit down already. Your forearm seethes in agony. You try to ignore it all. "Alright. Let's go." You grit your teeth to suppress any grunts of pain.Ashton lowers her fists down. "you know, we can save this for later." She tries but fails to hide the obvious concern in her voice. "you don't look so good...""I'm fine." You hiss through your teeth. "I'm fine.""no, you're not." Ashton lightly chastises. "we can do this later.""No. My shift's about to start, we have to do this now."
"look, the pain's clearly messing with your head. just sit down, man. we can always reschedule."Something bubbles inside you. A mixture of anger, suspicion and some third indescribable emotion you don't want to dwell on. Your heart twists. "Why are you like this?" "huh?""This." You gesture at her with your good arm. "Why are you so nice to me? Is this a trick?""i'm afraid i don't follow?""You keep following me around. You give me random gifts, you let me wander around past curfew, you even deliver my catalog that one time..." Suspicion oozes out of every word you say. "Is this some ploy? Some trick? What's your game here?" A super paranoid part of you worries if that bright red hair of hers is a sign of something but whatever's up with her?You just can't trust someone like this in a place like this. "Who put you up to this? UPPER MANAGEMENT? August? Someone else?""Can't blame him for being paranoid." Colt murmurs out as he wipes the blood off his gun. "Ain't none of my business but you're sendin' some weird signals there, Ash." He coos in a sing-song tone.The security guard doesn't know how to respond at first. "shut up!" Her cheeks turn red at Colt's jeering. She clears her throat as she tries to figure out what to say.>1 SUCCESS?"does there have to be a reason?" If she wasn't already concerned about your wellbeing before, she sure is now. "Everyone else keeps to themselves but you just. I. I don't get it.""look." Ashton rubs the bridge of her nose. "i'm just worried about you. that's all it is. genuinely." She slowly approaches you, careful to not make any sudden movements. She tries to rest her hand on your shoulder but you instinctually flinch. A worried frown flashes across her face but it disappears just as quickly as it appeared. She pulls her hand back. "i know you don't want to be here. i know working here sucks. the people are weird, management is all sorts of incompetent and you have to deal with weird monstrous things that defy reality.""hell. who knows when the next containment breach happens and you have to fight something worse than that.""i just..." She slumps her shoulders. "wanted to help in any way i can, that's all. i don't want you to neglect yourself."You keep your guard up. Maybe this is still some ploy or trick but you can't figure out what she's hiding, if anything. If she's hiding something, she has a damn good pokerface. "Can you blame me for being suspicious?" "not one bit. probably should've given you more space, huh?" Ashton wisps out a weak chuckle. "still wanna practice?""Sure." The next half hour is spent practicing your fighting skills with her. You were never a particularly fit or outgoing person. The last few years of your life were spent sitting behind a desk or carrying paperwork and your diet was, to put it bluntly, awful.Ashton easily runs circles around you during your training. If she wasn't holding back for your sake, she could've easily knocked you out.
Still, you do your best to keep up. You manage to dodge a few of her hits and with one wild swing, you manage to hit her in the chest. She shrugs off the blow, though.The guard's smile is positively glowing with pride. "could've been better but good progress so far. we'll train you some more when you heal up, okay?">You gain +1 to combat attack and defense rolls! You also unlock COMBAT TRAINING WITH ASHTON as a FREE TIME action!"Okay." You slump onto one of the many tables, trying your best to catch your breath. "Hey. Can you ask Lucy what anomalies she had?" You only now remember about the deal Lucy offered.Ashton nods, "sure." She promptly exits the cafeteria to get what you requested."Ya know, Vince, got a question. Need someone to teach ya a thing about how to talk to the ladies? I can be your wingman, bro."You don't bother dignifying him with a response. Ashton returns with a few dossiers in hand. You take them off her hands after thanking her for the help.You flip through them while you mull over who you should hire.DO YOU KEEP COLT FOR TODAY'S SHIFT?>YES. He's already with you, why not? >NO. He'll just distract you from your research.CHOOSE WHO TO HIRE! BUDGET: $1101.Choose one if you keep Colt, two otherwise.>LUCY (-$123, good at research and her presence keeps anomalies calm. Too meek for her own good, poor physical health. Gives 2 TIME TOKENS)>THE MAN (-$165, jack of all trades and great at gathering information. Anomalously forgettable. Gives 3 TIME TOKENS.)>SCAS. (-$100. STRONG and BIGGE, reduces the time taken for certain laborious tasks like repairing your lab. Too big to enter containment cells, unknown intelligence.)Lastly, choose what anomaly you want to borrow from Lucy this shift. Choose one or none. You'll probably have to work on them at least once during your shift.>"Its sympathy will cost you with every condolence it grants." (+$222. It looks a bit like a TOY you saw when you were younger. You already feel nostalgic looking at it.)>"We are dancing on the edge of life and death itself. Your turn." (+$300. There's visible bloodstains on the TABLE'S green felt. Your heart beats just looking at it.)>"Let's reset our watches, gentlemen." (+$85. Just look at the gold chain! The WATCH looks like it was plucked straight out of a rich man's wallet.)>Don't borrow one. Best to focus on the two you already have.You'll get your free stuff next update.By default, you start with 9 TIME TOKENS at the start of each shift.
>>6295955>YES. He's already with you, why not?Hey man come check out or memory flower corpse and this new wine waiter robot
>>6295962Ah right>>6295955>SCASWe got the WELDING SUPPLIES, it is time to FIX SHIT thanks to our big robo buddy and the fellow AMERICAN researcher. And perhaps we could see if IN LIMBO's pollen could affect SCAS in some way>Don't borrow one. Best to focus on the two you already have.Let's stick to solving the mystery behind the wine robot and finally figuring out IN LIMBO's deal. Tomorrow we can borrow an abno once we're healed up a bit more. Remember we are still hurt from that suppression earlier. Colt is also VERY INJURED so this can also give him a bit of time to heal up again. I assume we're still able enough to repair the lab despite the mutual injuries?
>>6295955Oh, adding two thing to the 'hiring' thing. A voting option>No one. Best to save your money.And some clarification. If you don't pick Colt, you can pick UP to two options (so you can just hire one person or nobody at all).>>6295966>I assume we're still able enough to repair the lab despite the mutual injuries?Ye. Colt might lag behind but you're still able enough to repair the lab. You do have some medical supplies back at the lab you can use to patch him up.
>>6295738>WHY ARE YOU NICE: ???. I will reveal you did NOT get 0 successes on this.I'm surprised>>6295955>YES. He's already with you, why not?>LUCY (-$123, good at research and her presence keeps anomalies calm. Too meek for her own good, poor physical health. Gives 2 TIME TOKENS)>THE MAN (-$165, jack of all trades and great at gathering information. Anomalously forgettable. Gives 3 TIME TOKENS.)>"Let's reset our watches, gentlemen." (+$85. Just look at the gold chain! The WATCH looks like it was plucked straight out of a rich man's wallet.)
>>6295955KEEP COLT?>YES.He will like the alcohol robot. Unless it has a catch, then maybe not so much.HIRE!>SCAS.We cannot take THE MAN if we want to ask BLACKWELL about the EGG.Besides, we have to fix this place up eventually.DEADLY ANOMALIES!?>nah
>>6295955>YES. He's already with you, why not?>SCAS. (-$100. STRONG and BIGGE, reduces the time taken for certain laborious tasks like repairing your lab. Too big to enter containment cells, unknown intelligence.)>Don't borrow one. Best to focus on the two you already have.
>>6295955>>6296029+1 to this. Figure we get a handle on our current subjects for now
>>6295955>YES. He's already with you, why not?>SCAS. (-$100. STRONG and BIGGE, reduces the time taken for certain laborious tasks like repairing your lab. Too big to enter containment cells, unknown intelligence.)>"We are dancing on the edge of life and death itself. Your turn." (+$300. There's visible bloodstains on the TABLE'S green felt. Your heart beats just looking at it.)
>>6295955I wanna bring Ashton....
>>6295955>YES. He's already with you, why not?>SCAS. (-$100. STRONG and BIGGE, reduces the time taken for certain laborious tasks like repairing your lab. Too big to enter containment cells, unknown intelligence.)"We are dancing on the edge of life and death itself. Your turn." (+$300. There's visible bloodstains on the TABLE'S green felt. Your heart beats just looking at it.)
>>6295955>YES. >SCAS.>Don't borrow one.
Everyone picked to keep ColtSCAS: tbi, KVB, jHo, KOO, 1w+, CWx, shnLUCY: SXGTHE MAN: SXGANOMALIES?NOPE: tbi, KVB, jHo, 1w+, shnLIFE AND DEATH: KOO, CWxRESET THE CLOCK: SXGAlright. Writing.>>6296057You didn't vote to ask her. You can always pester her about it after your shift's done.
Mmh. You skim over the dossiers handed to you but none really catch your eye. The table with the bloodstains on it is the only one remotely interesting to you. $300 to house it for a day, though, probably some real dangerous shit."Ah. Tell Lucy I'm sorry, I'm not going to take anything this time around.""no problem, man.""And, uh." You pause right as you were about to offer her to work with you. No, no, you can ask her about it later. Besides, you don't want too many cooks in the kitchen. Two coworkers helping out is your upper limit for the time being."Sorry. For the spergout." Wow, Vincent, some self reflection? Impressive stuff. "Hard to trust people here. Thought you were just trying to get something out of me."Ashton sits down right next to you. She plants a hand on your back and, this time, you don't flinch at her touch. "it's okay, man! no hard feelings here. again, your whole life got thrown out of wack and now you're stuck in this shithole? of course you're going to keep your guard up if someone's being nice.""i'd be scared if you weren't at least a little paranoid about the people here." She pats you on the back. "besides? i think it was kinda cute.""Whuh." Ashton tries and fails to stifle her laugh. "anyways. i hope your shift's not too bad." She gets up from her seat and heads on out.Colt snorts after watching that whole display. "Again, man, you sure you don't need help talking to chicks?""Shut up. We're getting another friend and we're doing some WORK today.""C'mon, freakshit, yank that stick out of your ass. Just havin' fun. Twobudstwopalshavingablast.ColtandVincenthavingadventuresfor400years." Colt slurs out his words too quickly for you to really understand him."Aight, aight," You put on your thickest Texan accent. "Calm down there, partner. Ya acting like a damn fool.""Pft. There we go." Colt stops jabbering like a southern auctioneer. Before your shift properly begins, you take some time hunting down SCAS (Wait, was it SACA? Robot names are hard to remember). "Hey, are the robots called SCAS or SACA?" "SCAS, right?"Turns out both of you were wrong, it was SACA. You find it slowly stepping out of a random lab not too far from the impromptu Glasgow welcome you gave to one of your former researchers. "THIS LAB IS NOT CURRENTLY ACCESSIBLE DUE TO ITS OWNER'S RECENT 'DEMOTION'.""SACA, it's me." "HELLO, VINCENT."You dig into your pocket for the $100 required to bribe its owner for a day. It calmly collects the money before ducking back into the lab. It comes back out only a few seconds later. "I AM NOW ASSIGNED TO YOU FOR THE DAY.""Cool. Ashton probably told you about some of the stuff I asked for." "SHE DID. ALREADY DELIVERED." "Sick.""Aight, let's move." Colt taps his foot impatiently. >SACA has now joined the party! SACA sheet below!SACA PHYSICAL HEALTH: IRONCLAD.MENTAL HEALTH: ???TIME TOKEN VALUE: 3
TRAITS-MADE OF STEEL (+15 to physical strength rolls, +8 to combat attack rolls, takes far less physical damage. Can be augmented with spare parts.)-EAGER WORKER (Repair skill checks take 1 less time token, min 1, while it is in the party.)-MACHINERY LIMITATIONS (Has limited higher thinking functions and can't fit into small rooms. Expect it to take commands very literally.)----The three of you soon arrive at your lab. You welcome you two coworkers inside to your place of work. Colt sneers as he takes a look at the state of your lab."You work in this pigstay? You poor fuck.""WAITING ON STANDBY, VINCENT."You take a look around to see what you got from the CELL DECORATION BUNDLE and POWER BUNDLE plus whatever junk Ashton managed to get for you. The furniture is loosely piled by one of your airlocks and consists of -A lounge chair-A desk -A cheap mattress (no frame)-and a bookshelf.For the power supplies, you got-Two packs of AA batteries-Two car batteries-and a hand cracked portable power station (for powering bigger stuff)They're all in iffy condition but for the price you paid for them, you guess you can't ask for much. As for the junk that ASHTON got?JUNK YOU GOT FROM THE DEAD DUDE'S LAB!>MINIFRIDGE (Still has two cold beers and some leftover pizza inside. Score.)>POLAROID CAMERA (Has enough film for about thirty pictures. Good for documenting your anomalies.)>SEWING MACHINE (Comes with enough cloth to make two or three outfits of.)Eh. Not the best haul but you guess you can't complain when it comes to free shit. You look up at the ceiling lights to see how IN LIMBO is doing.They are flickering like crazy right now. You should probably do something about it sooner than later. You excuse yourself for a moment. You rush over to the fax machine and you pay the fee needed to contact Blackwell. You scribble down a request for what happened while you, Lucy and the MAN were fiddling around with the egg.>-$25. $976.It seems like BLACKWELL is just as confused as you are but what they sent back is pretty interesting."UNNATURAL CAMERA DISTORTION OCCURED DURING THE AFOREMENTIONED PERIOD. ANONYMOUS ANALYSIS AI WAS UNABLE TO PROCESS THE FOOTAGE INTO A FORM WE COULD OBSERVE.""DISTORTION OCCURED IMMEDIATELY AFTER 'EGG' ENTITY WAS EXTRACTED FROM YOUR POCKET. DISTORTION WEAKENED WHEN YOU MOVED TO COVER THE EGG WITH SHEET.""CAMERA LOST SIGNAL FOR BRIEF PERIOD. AFTER PERIOD, DISTORTION CEASED AND YOU REMOVED THE SHEET. SECOND PACK WAS CREATED. THEORY - CLONING ABILITY CAN NOT OCCUR WHEN OBSERVED."Welp. Not much else you can do. Time to start your shift.SHIFT 4 STARTS NOW!TIME TOKENS FOR THE DAY: 14 (+3 from SCAS, +2 from COLT)Since you have an excess of TIME TOKENS and two people to help you out, you may pick THREE ACTIONS this update. What do you wanna do first, Vincent?
RESEARCH>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this thing hold? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 25. Might not be the healthiest thing for your body or mind.)>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. Probably best to appease it before it gets too pissy. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Enter your android's containment cell. Time to learn more about it. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50, -4 to roll from COLT's presence.)>Try to find a way to record new audio on the WIRE FLOWERS you have. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 45, -4 to roll from COLT)>Figure out a way to get audio and higher quality visuals out of the STATIC POLLEN. Selling memories COULD make a killing. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49, -4 to roll from COLT)>Mess with the EGG, now that you know a little bit more about it. What are the limits to its copying ability? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 58, +10 to roll with BLACKWELL'S HELP. Might lower everyone's MENTAL HEALTH.)>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49 to determine how much information you get. +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)BUSY WORK>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65, +25 to roll thanks to having tools and SACA's help. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)>Start growing some more mold, fucker. (-3 TIME TOKENS, no skill check required. Laborious and time consuming but it makes a LOT of mold.)>Upgrade your piece of shit computer. There were some spare parts in your SPECIALITY PARTS bundle. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 56, +6 from basic knowledge about your computer and COLT'S help.)>Try to make some useful stuff out of the AC PARTS and ELECTRONIC SCRAP you got. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60, +4 to roll with Colt's help.)>Take some time to patch yourself and Colt. (-1 TIME TOKEN, consumes a decent amount of your medical supplies, vastly improves how useful Colt will be as a worker today.)>Try to make some outfits with the sewing machine. Maybe the android would like it? (-2 TIME TOKENS, no check needed.)MISC>Approach your FAX MACHINE. Risk the wrath of CORPORATE MIGHT. (FREE ACTION, can be picked alongside your work choices. -$25. Choose who to call: HAYDEN, BLACKWELL or UPPER MANAGEMENT.)>Write inhttps://rentry.co/VINCENTSHEET (for lab inventory + your stats)https://rentry.co/RESEARCHNOTES (for notes about your samples and anomaly.)
>>6296296>Take some time to patch yourself and Colt.Having him in good shape before we do anything he can help us with would be ideal>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab.>Write in: Examine the "HOT" COCOA CUP, check it for samples.Something is up, something absolutely has to be up here.I don't like this cup, I don't like the way Ashton is.This is no place to hold personal affections, it is anomalous.
>>6296296>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65, +25 to roll thanks to having tools and SACA's help. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)>Take some time to patch yourself and Colt. (-1 TIME TOKEN, consumes a decent amount of your medical supplies, vastly improves how useful Colt will be as a worker today.)>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49 to determine how much information you get. +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)
>>6296296>Take some time to patch yourself and Colt. (-1 TIME TOKEN, consumes a decent amount of your medical supplies, vastly improves how useful Colt will be as a worker today.)>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65, +25 to roll thanks to having tools and SACA's help. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)Chat up colt about how messed up his place was during work >Write in: Take a picture of an egg with your new paraloid
>>6296331Apologies for doublepostingI was wondering if we can use the egg to mess with surveillance, could be useful for that too
>>6296296>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. Probably best to appease it before it gets too pissy. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)Dont ignore the warning and get it done>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65, +25 to roll thanks to having tools and SACA's help. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)Still need a mfin 40 god help me>Write inAsk Colt and SACA to help with EGGGod this is actually perfect. What if EGG could copy an Artifact and Colt has two. Hell, I'd even be happy with a pistol to copy if he has one. Now SACA on the other hand, is a big fucking robot and who knows what cool stuff they are made out of. High value parts we could copy, a part we could make a spare of, a part compatible with our computer or something else we have.
>>6296296>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49 to determine how much information you get. +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. Probably best to appease it before it gets too pissy. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65, +25 to roll thanks to having tools and SACA's help. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)
>>6296296So the EGGs fuck with cameras. That's good to know.>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. Probably best to appease it before it gets too pissy. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Enter your android's containment cell. Time to learn more about it. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65, +25 to roll thanks to having tools and SACA's help. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)
>>6296296>Take some time to patch yourself and Colt. (-1 TIME TOKEN, consumes a decent amount of your medical supplies, vastly improves how useful Colt will be as a worker today.)>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65, +25 to roll thanks to having tools and SACA's help. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. Probably best to appease it before it gets too pissy. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>>6296296>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49 to determine how much information you get. +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65, +25 to roll thanks to having tools and SACA's help. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)>Upgrade your piece of shit computer. There were some spare parts in your SPECIALITY PARTS bundle. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 56, +6 from basic knowledge about your computer and COLT'S help.)
>>6296360+1
>>6296296>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this thing hold? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 25. Might not be the healthiest thing for your body or mind.)>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. Probably best to appease it before it gets too pissy. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65, +25 to roll thanks to having tools and SACA's help. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)>Upgrade your piece of shit computer. There were some spare parts in your SPECIALITY PARTS bundle. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 56, +6 from basic knowledge about your computer and COLT'S help.)
>>6296360Support. Seems like the most rounded way to start the shift.
Rolled 39 + 3 (1d100 + 3)Consulting the vote.PATCH ME UP DOC: KVB, 1w+, jHo, nvt, 3RVREPAIR: KVB, 1w+, Szu. Cwx, Dj2, jHo, KOO, nvT, 3RV, SXGEXAMINE COCOA CUP: KVBDOSSIER: 1w+, CWx, KOOCOMPUTER: KOO, SXGIN LIMBO: Szu, Cwx, Dj2, jHo, nvt, 3RV, SXGANDROID: Dj2EGG: Szu, poxCPPQUEST: SXGYeah, seems pretty set.Tell you what, I'll let you take a photo of the egg as a FREE ACTION. If only because it's super quick to do compared to analyzing the cup.So that means you're patching up yourself and Colt, you'll repair your lab AND you'll deal with IN LIMBO's hissy fit.Only one roll today. Three anons, roll 1d100+25. Table below.REPAIR TABLE (DC 65)0 SUCCESSES: The damage is far worse than you initially thought. Progress is going to be slow.1 SUCCESS: Your repairs work for now but they're held by hopes and prayers. Anomalies have a slightly harder time breaching.2 SUCCESSES: With your better tools and SACA's help, the lab's now mostly repaired! Anomalies will now have a harder time breaching.3 SUCCESSES: Same as 2 but you find something !S E C R E T! while you're repairing the lab.I'll roll a 1d100+3 for the EGG PHOTO write in. For fun, don't worry about it :)
Rolled 53 + 25 (1d100 + 25)>>6296580Ah, mediocrity...
Rolled 13 + 25 (1d100 + 25)>>6296580let's do this
Rolled 88 + 25 (1d100 + 25)>>6296580
Annnd you got two successes. You repaired the lab. Nothing else to really say here, you did your job and you did it well.Writing.
Drip...drip.The stench hits you before you could prepare for it. The sickly sweet stench of infected flesh. Your eyes begin to water. You already know where that smell is coming from.Colt leans against a rusted wall right by IN LIMBO'S containment cell. He's clutching his stomach but he's trying his damnedest to keep face. He waves you off when he realizes you're looking at him. "Nah. Don't even t-think about it, freakshit. I'm fine."You silently watch as his knees begin to buckle. "T-totally fine." He puffs his chest out in a failed attempt to look 'macho'. You feel obligated to help him out. You raise your hand up, ready to snap your fingers to get SACA's attention.Colt gives up on attempting to keep the facade up, "F-fine. M-make it quick."You guide him over to one of the many chairs scattered around the lab. You unwrap the bloodstained flag from his stomach and, oof, that's rank. Whitish-green pus and black ichor oozes out of the infected claw mark sliced right into his stomach.Good news is that he didn't get disemboweled so you can actually treat this. Bad news is this is going to burn through your already meager medical supplies. Oh well.You give him your wallet to bite down after dosing him on a lot of painkillers, best you can do for him. You disinfect and clean the wound to the best of your ability. You have to slice off some of the really necrotic and rotten looking stuff with one of your scalpels.It's not pretty and, by god, does he scream a lot. You learn to quickly tune it out. You finish wrapping the wound with gauze before rewrapping the flag around his waist. You'll trust that the anomalous flag will do SOMETHING to help. >COLT is now at DOING FINE! He can now actually help around the lab!You take a moment to spray your injured shoulder with some disinfectant before wrapping it up with some gauze.>You are now at DOING FINE as well! You're down to a half-empty medkit, a mostly full bottle of pain killers and one roll of bandage wrap. Probably good enough to treat one more serious (like Colt) and moderate injury (like yours)."You, uh, can keep the wallet." You grimace at the mere thought of taking that drool-ridden thing. >-WALLETColt takes his sweet time getting up. "Oof. 5/10, awful bedside manners." He 'graciously' pockets your gift. "Feelin' a lil' better. Guts feel like a horse fucking ripped into them but at least I ain't dead.""That's the idea. Rest a sec, gotta do somethin' real quick." "You're the boss."You carefully place the EGG on one of the nearby tables. You fiddle with the polaroid camera in your hands. You never used one of these before but it's easy enough to figure out what buttons to press.SNAP!You examine the photo after the camera finishes spitting it out. Huh.>42!The photo shows the table just fine but there's a black smear about the size of your thumbprint burnt into the film, covering the area where you rested the egg.
You quickly cover the EGG with some random object before snapping another photo. This time, the photo comes out a little better but there's still some visible distortion where the covered egg is. Interesting, seems like you can't record the EGG via photographs OR recordings.You set the two photos aside. That's all you could really gleam from this little experiment. You'll have time to study the EGG later. "SACA. I'll need your help for this.""SPECIFY YOUR TASK, VINCENT." "We're going to repair as much of this place as we can. Spare parts are over there." "UNDERSTOOD."Colt offers to help but you tell him to rest. You'll have him help you out with IN LIMBO later.You don the ill-fitting and oversized welding mask that you got from the catalog. Time to get to work.>2 SUCCESSES!This would've taken you hours before but having a giant robot really does speed things up. SACA trails behind you with armfuls of spare parts as you do your best to repair the walls and floor of the lab. You wonder how it even got this bad since you know the cigarette mold doesn't mess with metal. Whatever.Your welding work is pretty clumsy but it gets the job done. SACA does its best to fiddle with the pipes that you're way too fucking afraid to mess with. Weld spatter is one thing but you dealt with plumbing one time and it still haunts your nightmares. "Hey, freak. What the HELL did ya do to this place?" Colt polishes his rifle as he nurses his wound. "Hey! Blame the last guy who worked here. He went AWOL for some reason and, hey, I got left to pick up the scraps.""Robot. Who worked here again?" Colt grunts."PREVIOUS OWNER: YOVANI DREMU. LAST KNOWN SIGHTING: LAYER 4. SECURITY HAS ISSUED TEN COUNTS OF PUBLIC INDECENCY AND FIVE COUNTS OF AGGRAVATED ASSAULT SINCE HE LEFT HIS POST.""Vince, ya ain't gonna end up like that freak, right? I swear, every weirdo they throw into this lab gets mauled to death within a week.""Well! I survived four days! Three more days and I'll be king of this lab! You'll see" You try your best to sound cool but..."Pft. That was cringeworthy.""Hey!" You click your tongue. "Treat the guy who patched you up with a little more respect." "Just sayin', man."You hate to admit it but yeah, he was right. You turn your focus back to repairing the lab. Your welding is pretty shotty but SACA helps to hammer in anything too out of place with its big, giant metal fist. You wait for it to replace any super damaged piping before welding some metal sheets onto the walls.Once all is said and done, your lab looks, well, not brand new but it's structurally sound. There's no massive gaps in the walls or floor anymore that anomalies could slip through and you replaced most of the rotten, corroded metal that's too damaged to salvage. You also managed to clean a lot of grease and grime off whatever was left behind. With the piping fixed, you don't hear any hisses of steam either. It all just works now. One less thing to worry about.
"Aight. SACA, you're on standby. Keep an eye out for anything weird." "UNDERSTOOD.""Colt. Follow me."Colt gets up and does some quick stretches before joining you. "Aight! Time to do some actual WORK! What freaks you got hidin' in here anyways?"You would give him a dossier but you know it'd go in one ear and out the other. "The one we're dealing with is a flowerbed with a corpse. Has a lot of arms, messes with the power." You point at the flickering lights. "We're going to calm it down.""Gotcha." Colt loads a round into his rifle. "We're not shooting it. Just follow me." "Lame. Aight, aight, let's go."The two of you quickly enter IN LIMBO'S CELL after donning some PPE equipment.Oh, yeah, this thing is having a hissy fit. Its many arms are desperately thrashing and clawing at the air. Its flowers are deathly still, no longer blowing in non-existent wind. The broom handle you left in its cell has been crushed to tiny little pieces. The sickly sweet stench of rot slams into your nose like a fist.Colt mutters something under his breath, "God. Feels like my damn heart's made out of lead. You feel that?" He stares at you with glossy eyes.There's a heavy weight in your chest you haven't felt since you first met the anomaly. The air's heavy with a thick, suffocating melancholy that's threatening to bring back some VERY unpleasant memories.IN LIMBO MOOD: 40/100Weird. The cell didn't feel like this before. It certainly wasn't acting like THIS at 38/100. What gives?Choose THREE WORK ORDERS to do with IN LIMBO.COMMUNICATION:>Try to communicate with the anomaly. Ask it some questions. (Write in what you want to ask it, up to three questions.)>Steer the conversation to focus on films. Ask Colt what movies he watches to see how the anomaly reacts.>Hold out your hand. Let its arms embrace it. (This will hurt you but it may establish a deeper communion with IN LIMBO.)>Something about this feels off. Talk to the anomaly, try to figure out what's bothering it. (DC 67, +10 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and COLT.)EXAMINATION:>Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed. Figure out what anatomy it has, what it looks like, etc. (DC 45, -3 from MEATHEAD.)>Tend to the flowers. Some aren't looking so hot. (DC 56, +7 with COLT'S HELP.)>Harvest some pollen from the flowers for a future test. You wonder if a robot can be affected by them.>Harvest some flowers for future study. You doubt it'll notice.STIMULI TEST>Play some music from your CD player. See how it reacts to the stimuli. (Choose WHITE NOISE, SOFT JAZZ, ELEVATOR MUSIC, ORCHESTRAL or HEAVY METAL.)>Turn on your DVD player. See how it reacts to the TV show.>Offer it some food, batteries, water and fertilizer. See what it gravitates towards when feeding.>Bring in some toys for the anomaly to play with. You know it calms down when it has something busy to grab onto.>'Hey, can it get drunk? We got some beers." ...Test out Colt's theory. Offer it some beers from the minifridge.>Write in.
>>6296644>Something about this feels off. Talk to the anomaly, try to figure out what's bothering it. (DC 67, +10 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and COLT.)>Tend to the flowers. Some aren't looking so hot. (DC 56, +7 with COLT'S HELP.)>Harvest some pollen from the flowers for a future test. You wonder if a robot can be affected by them.
>>6296644>Something about this feels off. Talk to the anomaly, try to figure out what's bothering it. (DC 67, +10 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and COLT.)>Tend to the flowers. Some aren't looking so hot. (DC 56, +7 with COLT'S HELP.)>'Hey, can it get drunk? We got some beers." ...Test out Colt's theory. Offer it some beers from the minifridge.
>>6296644>Something about this feels off. Talk to the anomaly, try to figure out what's bothering it. (DC 67, +10 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and COLT.)>Turn on your DVD player. See how it reacts to the TV show.>'Hey, can it get drunk? We got some beers." ...Test out Colt's theory. Offer it some beers from the minifridge.
>Something about this feels off. Talk to the anomaly, try to figure out what's bothering it. (DC 67, +10 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and COLT.)>Tend to the flowers. Some aren't looking so hot. (DC 56, +7 with COLT'S HELP.)>'Hey, can it get drunk? We got some beers." ...Test out Colt's theory. Offer it some beers from the minifridgeThese are pretty good options but sometimes i want to stop with the pussy shit, just go straight at it. Dump the visions of the HEART on to LIMBO, just chug the damn juice from the robot. These are probably the safest freaks we are ever gonna get. There won't be anymore chances to truly show the freakshits who's boss, without a massive chance of becoming a mystery for the next guy to solve of course.
>>6296644>>6296766+1 to this plan!
>>6296728+1
>>6296644>Something about this feels off. Talk to the anomaly, try to figure out what's bothering it. (DC 67, +10 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and COLT.)>Tend to the flowers. Some aren't looking so hot. (DC 56, +7 with COLT'S HELP.)>Steer the conversation to focus on films. Ask Colt what movies he watches to see how the anomaly reacts.
>>6296644>>Something about this feels off. Talk to the anomaly, try to figure out what's bothering it. (DC 67, +10 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and COLT.)>Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed. Figure out what anatomy it has, what it looks like, etc. (DC 45, -3 from MEATHEAD.)>Turn on your DVD player. See how it reacts to the TV show.
>>6296644>Something about this feels off. Talk to the anomaly, try to figure out what's bothering it. (DC 67, +10 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and COLT.)>Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed. Figure out what anatomy it has, what it looks like, etc. (DC 45, -3 from MEATHEAD.)>Play some music from your CD player. See how it reacts to the stimuli. (SOFT JAZZ)
IN LIMBO somehow managed to short MY power. Was going to close this like an hour ago. Not bothering to recount the votes like I normally do - SOMETHING'S OFF, TEND TO FLOWERS and CAN IT GET DRUNK obviously won.Three anons, roll 2d100. First three 1d100s will go to FLOWERS, rest to SOMETHING'S OFF.FLOWERS (DC 56, +7 to roll)0 SUCCESSES: You might've done more harm than good here...(???)1 SUCCESS: The two of you did your best with what supplies you had. (+IN LIMBO MOOD.)2 SUCCESSES: While tending to the flowers, you discover a neat property about them! (+IN LIMBO MOOD, you learn another property of the WIRE FLOWERS)3 SUCCESSES: The anomaly's many arms reach out to give you something...A reward for your hard work. (You obtain a GIFT from the anomaly!)SOMETHING'S OFF (DC 67, +10 to roll)0 SUCCESSES: No response. Your head begins to seethe. (You and Colt take some nasty MENTAL HEALTH damage.)1 SUCCESS: ifailedifailedifailedifailedifailed A disembodied voice pounds inside the walls of your skull. (You and Colt take some moderate MENTAL HEALTH damage but you get some cryptic, vague insight into the anomaly.)2 SUCCESSES: Canned laughter fills the air. itsjustlikethatnightmareihadwheniwasaradiohost. (Your and Colt's MENTAL HEALTH is affected in an unknown way, you unlock the other INSIGHT hint.)3 SUCCESSES: It's all a dream, remember? So make yourself at home. (???)
Rolled 30, 18 = 48 (2d100)>>6297002Here we GOOOOOOO
Rolled 21, 95 = 116 (2d100)>>6297002
Rolled 99, 59 = 158 (2d100)>>6297002
>>62970020 Success and a 3 Success, well I wonder how this will play out
Huh. Complete opposites in terms of your luck. FLOWERS: 0 SUCCESSESSOMETHING'S OFF: 3 SUCCESSES, with two of them rolling above 100 via the bonus.This is. A very interesting update to write. Writing.
"Alright. I got an idea.""No. We're not shooting it." Colt casually tosses his rifle onto the floor. The arms briefly flinch at the noise. "Alas, alack. No, no, I got something better." His mouth tightens into something between a grimace and a smirk."Okay. What's your proposal?""There's three things that make America the greatest country in the world. Guns, freedom and booze. I say we should offer it a nice, cold beer.""Whuh?" "Think about it. It got human hands so it probably has other human parts. Maybe it can get drunk like a human can, huh?" He mimes smashing a can against his head. "Maybe that's enough to get it to stop throwin' a tantrum."You briefly argue with yourself on whether you should listen to him. It WOULD offer you some valuable data on its anatomy. If it calms it down, that's another bonus. "Alright, alright, yeah. Let's do it.""Ha! Knew you'd be cool." Colt pumps his arm in the air. "I'll be right back."He tosses you an already cracked open can when he returns. You grimace as you notice how light it is. He already took a big gulp of it, didn't he? Oh well. Not like the anomaly would care. You move around to the left side of the anomaly. You slowly lower the can down, trying your best to safely deposit the can into one of its hands. You nearly lose a hand in the process but the can is now in the anomaly's possession. Its other arms slow down as it processes the icy cold can in its grasp. It runs several of its digits around the cold condensation forming on the can.It rapidly empties the contents of the can onto the flowers growing out of its body. The now useless can is shot putted HARD against the cell wall behind you.Several soft thuds echo through the room. Its many arms now lay limply on the floor. You carefully poke one of the arms with a broom handle. No reaction."Huh.""Woo! Black out drunk already! Even anomalies can be fuckin' light weights, huh?"A soft crackling catches both of your attention. You quickly identify the source to be the many flowers growing out of its body. Each one plays a mixture of indistinct human voices, background ambience and the distinctive crackle of film being played through a projector.You and Colt kneel down to check on the anomaly. You try to check the anomaly's pulse but, right, corpse. Colt presses down hard on the middle on one of the anomaly's many palms. Its hand twitches at the pain. "It's still kicking, it's just sleepin'."You breathe out a relieved sigh. Good, good, you didn't want a dead anomaly on your hands."Nearly had a heart attack there," You awkwardly laugh. "Okay. I was going to ask it something but...well. Guess we'll wait for it to wake up.""Aight. What now, smart guy?" "Ever taken care of a plant before?" "Only ever owned a cactus.""Well, we're going to trim off anything too rotten and we'll make sure the other flowers are doing fine." "That's fuckin' lame." Colt rolls his eyes but you did humor his beer plan. "Fine!"
You trim away at anything too rotten while Colt waters whatever you designate as 'good'. You make sure to take your time to make sure you don't hurt the anomaly by mistake.>0 SUCCESSES!As you move to trim a wilted flower, you quickly realize your mistake. You try to move your hand away but your grip slips. The pocket knife in your hand is sent falling. The blade stabs into whatever's underneath the flowers. You and Colt both freeze up at your fuck up. You try to yank the knife out of the anomaly but you stop before you can even touch it. An invisible electric current rushes up your arm and into your brain. Your body spasms and twists in unnatural angles. Your brain begins to flicker off.Colt luckily yanks you away from the pocket knife before you got fully fried. The knife clatters to the ground not long after. A small trail of light brown, pus-like fluid oozes out of the corpse's stab wound. It reeks of burnt plastic and stale onions.Ough. Your body's fine but your head is heavy like lead now. Colt tries to hide it but he has a lost, dazed look in his eyes.>-MENTAL HEALTH to you and Colt. >Your mental state is now DOING GOOD.The wound seems to heal rather quickly since the pus stops leaking after only a few seconds. Guess that's somethin'. Its hands begin to stir again, presumably waking up from the impromptu incision you gave it. You decide not to push your luck with its flower for this work session."Hey, it's up now. Be a man and apologize to it.""It was an accident!" "Uh huh. It doesn't know that."Right. "Hey, LIMBO. I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to, arm's still all sorts of fucked up after what I did to save Colt here. Oh, right." You point at Colt. "That's Colt.""Sup."The anomaly obviously doesn't respond."If you're listening, I want to ask you something. Is there something bothering you? Is it the cell?" You have to admit to yourself it is a pretty drab room. Nothing but grey steel walls and the buzzing white fluorescent ceiling light. "Are you worrying about something?"Colt glances around the cell you're in. He nervously taps his foot on the ground, ready to get out of here. "The air's rancid. Ain't a place for visitors right now.""It's normally not this bad. It's usually pretty passive, even when it's ignored.""Maybe it's warnin' us of somethin'. Maybe it's rememberin' some bad shit. I can read the room, Vince, we did our part."You knit your eyebrows. You chew at the bottom of your lip, "I get that but I don't want to let it fester in here. I want to make sure it's not going to breach, at least.""My bullets never miss, Vince. It'll be fine.""I don't want to do that if I don't have to."Colt scowls at you but that scowl fades rather quick. He nervously glances around as if he's expecting to be jumped. "Shut up. Listen." You strain your ears.>3 SUCCESSES!While you were distracted, you feel a pair of clammy hands wrapping around your wrist. The anomaly has a firm grip on you now.
Firm...yet yielding. You could easily break out if you wanted to.Colt moves to grab his gun but you quickly tell him to stand down. You're not being hurt by the anomaly, even if its grip is getting tighter by the second. You can tell it's agitated from the cut you accidently gave it.A voice croaks out of somewhere deep inside the flower bed. You 'hear' its words inside your head. You're always so busy aren't you, grandson?You try to correct it but you know this isn't the time. Working away, watching the clock tick by, not giving yourself a moment to rest. Do you ever stop to let yourself dream?All I can do is dream, for I am so, so tired. Why not make yourself at home? It's all a dream anyways. Wishes and dreams that may be fulfilled, allowed to bloom beautifully. Or, they may rot away, like flowers left untended.Before I abandon the words that form noise in my head, will you be so kind as to join me in dream-seeing?The longer it holds your arm in its grasp, the deeper your mind sinks. A heavy, gloomy weight builds up in your head. A sinking that is both unfamiliar and deeply, frighteningly familiar at the same time. Memories you rather wish to ignore start bubbling inside your mind. Yet, you feel like the anomaly's trying to help you. In its own twisted way. It's so lonely. Left with nothing but its own thoughts.A small, subconscious part of you feels like you're about to be given something by the anomaly.What do you say to the anomaly? What you say will influence what you'll get.>Break out its grasp. "I'm sorry. I can't.">RELUCTANT. "Only for a little bit. I can't stay for long." >PRODDING. "Those memories inside the flowers, why do you have them? Do you have any of mine in there?">SYMPATHY. "Did your wishes ever bloom? Did you ever achieve your dreams?">OBLIGATION. "Okay. If it'll make you happy.">PITY. "No one else wanted to dream with you, did they?">Write in.
>>6297083>PITY. "No one else wanted to dream with you, did they?">>6297011Flowers DC 49: 30, 21, 99 - One successWrong DC 57: 18, 95, 59 - Two successesDid I miss something?
>>6297083>SYMPATHY. "Did your wishes ever bloom? Did you ever achieve your dreams?"
>>6297091The first three as in 30, 18, 21. It bothered me too
>>6297091I take the order they are rolled in (30, 18, 21, 95, 99, 59) and I split it in half. So the first half would be 30/18/21 and the second is 95/99/59. I assigned the first half to FLOWERS and the second half to SOMETHING OFF.That's how I do it, anyways. Sorry for the confusion.
>>6297094>>6297098Makes sense, thanks
>>6297083Doesn't look like Vincent is a big dreamer.After all, what is there to dream of in a place like this, with a life like his?Poor lad, and even then all the life of him isn't his.>SYMPATHY. "Did your wishes ever bloom? Did you ever achieve your dreams?"It didn't dream of being an anomaly in a cell for sure.
>>6297083>WAGESLAVE/???. "Teach me to dream instead. I don't know if i ever knew how or forgotten it"There is no way this WAGESLAVE know what DREAMING means. All he knows get up, work, sleep, repeat. Maybe LIMBO can help us in a more esoteric way.
>>6297083>SYMPATHY. "Did your wishes ever bloom? Did you ever achieve your dreams?"Man had his dreams too, once...
>>6297083>PRODDING. "Those memories inside the flowers, why do you have them? Do you have any of mine in there?"
>>6297083>RELUCTANT. "Only for a little bit. I can't stay for long."
A dry laugh crackles from deep inside your throat. Dreams, dreams, dreams. You never got why people put so much stock into their dreams.After all, what is there to dream of in a place like this? With a life like yours? You kept getting up day after day because you were obligated to. 10 WAKE UP AND GO TO WORK 20 GO HOME AND SLEEP30 GOTO 10A temporal ouroboros devouring its own tail. The same day endlessly repeating over and over and over again. You can sum up the last five years of your life in that those three short lines. Where do you get off even humoring the idea of dreaming about, well, anything?"Did..." Words stumble out of your mouth without you really thinking too hard. "Did your wishes ever bloom?"Many, many arms wrap around your forearm. You couldn't escape now if you wanted to. Guess you gave that chance up when you responded to it. Some bloomed incorrectly. Some blossomed into gnarled things that reeked of rotten glass. One refused to bloom, after all this time."Did you ever achieve your dreams?" Whoever or whatever IN LIMBO is, you doubt it dreamed of being stuck here as a test subject. Regardless, you feel hollow after asking the question. Like you'd know what it means to achieve a dream....You think, at least. Something stirs in a forgotten, atrophied part of your brain. It hurts to think about. You push it back where it belongs - The deepest parts of your subconscious.One dream blossomed. It stood tall, drawing in thousands of people to it. The masses entertaining themselves with cheap popcorn and colorful images. Another dream festered.I begged to the audience. I prayed to the audience. I wanted to be on that screen. It never was, it was never, never was it."Do you still hold onto that dream?" Touch don't touch dial turning up the temperature as the lights shined down upon me and my performance wasn't enough and the screen of silver slipped from my grasp- The nerves inside your brain twist and distort as the voice vomits word after word into your mind. You can't make any sense of what it's trying to say to you anymore. I failed. failed, failed.Nothing but rotten memories and a wish I could've lived. Dreaming about what could've been.You don't know what to say. The anomaly's grip tightens around your wrist. You vaguely understood it failed a performance but that's all your brain registered."At least you tried." You give it a sympathetic smile despite your seething brain. "That's all you could've done. More than what I would've done, at least."The smell of rotten glass lingers. The atmosphere in the room shifts. Despite the cryptic, ominous statement it spat out at you, the heavy gloom hanging in the air has started to fade. You guess all it wanted was someone to listen to its woes.The many arms wrapped around you loosen their grip. Its mind seems to be drifting somewhere else now, already forgetting that it wanted you to join in its dreams.
Wait, your wrist...something's wrong. It's barely noticeable but there's a small green growth on your wrist."Uh, Colt? What's this?" You hold your wrist out to him. He slowly moves in now that the anomaly isn't holding you in a death grip.He prods at it with his finger. The growth squirms for a moment before it blooms. "Huh. It's some flower-like thing."On closer examination, it IS a flower. One with a few small grey petals, growing right out of your skin. It's no bigger than the tip of your pinky finger. You do a quick tug on it and, yeah, it's pretty loose. You could easily pull it off like a loose scab if you wanted to.Yet, something tells you to not remove it. Not now, at least. The small flower closes only a few seconds after blooming, leaving only a small green bulb growing from your wrist.Your INSIGHT MODULE cracks to life.>SLUMBERING WISH gift (A flower growing from your wrist. +???) obtained! >Certain stimuli or work orders may result in the anomaly offering you a gift. These gifts are small blessings that are far weaker than an ARTIFACT.>However, they typically hold some minor beneficial property. The average human can wield two GIFTs as a time.Colt nervously glances around the room. "We should leave. Now." He's clearly skeeved out by what happened. You won't deny, you don't wanna be back here for a bit either. The two of you quickly exit the room before anything weirder can happen.>IN LIMBO MOOD now at 71/100!SACA turns its attention away from the front door to your lab. It waves at the two of you. "WAS THE WORK ORDER SATISFACTORY?""It was something else." You mutter, staring at the weird flower growing out of you."Some weird freaky shit went on there. The spic's fine and so am I." Colt puts on a shit-eating grin for show but you know what happened is bugging him out something fierce. "Uh. Got any health analyzing shit in that noggin of yours?""NEGATIVE. I DETECT NO ISSUE IN EITHER OF YOU, HOWEVER, WITH WHAT SENSORS I HAVE." It beeps out in a monotone voice."A DELIVERY HAS ARRIVED." SACA points one of its claw-like fingers to the back of the room. A propane grill and a propane canister rest against the back wall. Oh, shit, you forgot HAYDEN was supposed to deliver those.Well. That was a weird work order but it went over well? You think? You got 11 TIME TOKENS left. What do you do, Vince? Pick three.RESEARCH>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this thing hold? (Costs no time tokens, DC 25?. Might not be the healthiest thing for your body or mind.)>Re-enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. Why the hell did it give you THIS thing? (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Enter your android's containment cell. Time to learn more about it. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50, -4 to roll from COLT's presence.)>Study the weird GIFT that IN LIMBO gave you. What does it even do? (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60, +5 to roll from ANOMALY TOUCHED.)(1/2)
>Mess with the EGG, now that you know a little bit more about it. What are the limits to its copying ability? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 58, +13 to roll. Might lower everyone's MENTAL HEALTH.)>Study the WIRE FLOWER and STATIC POLLEN'S ability to record stuff. Can you record new stuff on them? Can you improve the quality of the recordings? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 52, -4 to roll from COLT) >There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49 to determine how much information you get. +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)BUSY WORK>Start growing some more mold, fucker. (-3 TIME TOKENS, no skill check required with SACA'S help. Time consuming but it makes a LOT of mold to sell later.)>Upgrade your piece of shit computer. There were some spare parts in your SPECIALITY PARTS bundle. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 56, +6 from basic knowledge about your computer and COLT'S help.)>Try to make some useful stuff out of the AC PARTS and ELECTRONIC SCRAP you got. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60, +4 to roll with Colt's help.)>Cook some stuff on that new propane grill of yours. Maybe your anomalies would like cooked food better? (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Try to make some outfits with the sewing machine. Maybe the android would like it? (-2 TIME TOKENS, no check needed.)>Oh, right, you have a weight set. TIME TO GET SOME GAINS, BROTHER!!!!!! (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +8 to roll from your allies motivating you. Improves your physical strength.)MISC>Approach your FAX MACHINE. Risk the wrath of CORPORATE MIGHT. (FREE ACTION, can be picked alongside your three work choices. -$25. Choose who to call: HAYDEN, BLACKWELL or UPPER MANAGEMENT.)>Write in
>>6297487>Oh, right, you have a weight set. TIME TO GET SOME GAINS, BROTHER!!!!!! (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +8 to roll from your allies motivating you. Improves your physical strength.)>Cook some stuff on that new propane grill of yours. Maybe your anomalies would like cooked food better? (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this thing hold? (Costs no time tokens, DC 25?. Might not be the healthiest thing for your body or mind.)
>>6297487>>6297490>Start growing some more mold, fucker. (-3 TIME TOKENS, no skill check required with SACA'S help. Time consuming but it makes a LOT of mold to sell later.)>Upgrade your piece of shit computer. There were some spare parts in your SPECIALITY PARTS bundle. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 56, +6 from basic knowledge about your computer and COLT'S help.)>Oh, right, you have a weight set. TIME TO GET SOME GAINS, BROTHER!!!!!! (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +8 to roll from your allies motivating you. Improves your physical strength.)
>>6297487>>6297490>Start growing some more mold, fucker.We need that MONEY>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it.Read and learn>Enter your android's containment cell. Time to learn more about it.Hopefully we can get some of the anomalous wine-like liquid?The plan is to collect that wine juice now if we can, then next action picks or two, I wanna cook some food on that grill and have that with the wine juice. Maybe throw in the few remaining beers and have a real AMERICAN barbeque with Colt's help to both recover
>>6297487>Study the weird GIFT that IN LIMBO gave you. What does it even do? (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60, +5 to roll from ANOMALY TOUCHED.)>Upgrade your piece of shit computer. There were some spare parts in your SPECIALITY PARTS bundle. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 56, +6 from basic knowledge about your computer and COLT'S help.)>Oh, right, you have a weight set. TIME TO GET SOME GAINS, BROTHER!!!!!! (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +8 to roll from your allies motivating you. Improves your physical strength.)
>>6297490>>Start growing some more mold, fucker.>>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it.>>Enter your android's containment cell. Time to learn more about it.No skill check with SACA's help huh? Thats pretty sweet. >Write inI wonder if SACA could help figure out an automated process that could harvest the mold. I mean its just a process of feeding it without overfeeding it and harvesting it. We'd need some parts and equipment but I think its doable with SACA's help?Containment unit. Drip feed or timed food dispenser, more mechanical less electric to avoid IN LIMBO's tantrums fucking it up. It grows past a certain point, and some kind of guillotine blade or pressing and tearing action comes down and pulls off the mold thats grown past a certain point. Retracts and repeats until the mold isn't being harvested and has to wait. The mold falls into or slides into something big enough to hold our harvest.
>>6297490>Upgrade your piece of shit computer. There were some spare parts in your SPECIALITY PARTS bundle. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 56, +6 from basic knowledge about your computer and COLT'S help.)>Try to make some useful stuff out of the AC PARTS and ELECTRONIC SCRAP you got. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60, +4 to roll with Colt's help.)>Oh, right, you have a weight set. TIME TO GET SOME GAINS, BROTHER!!!!!! (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +8 to roll from your allies motivating you. Improves your physical strength.)
>>6297490>Start growing some more mold, fucker.Its time, the mold empire starts here.>Upgrade your piece of shit computer. There were some spare parts in your SPECIALITY PARTS bundle.Upgrades people, upgrades!>Oh, right, you have a weight set. TIME TO GET SOME GAINS, BROTHER!!!!!!Robot motivation.How tough is Vincent anyways?>Write in: Replace flimsy knife with barbell as a weapon while you're at the weight set.If there is more than one barbell then why not? Doubt Vincent is tough enough to damage a metal pipe, but still, what if?Okay, it could suck in the event its too heavy for him to swing, but I'd rather not have to jump on an enemy to fight it.Unless being no more than an arm's length away from an enemy (especially the one we just fought) is a good strategy?
>>6297487>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this thing hold? (Costs no time tokens, DC 25?. Might not be the healthiest thing for your body or mind.)>Enter your android's containment cell. Time to learn more about it. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>>6297490>Start growing some more mold, fucker. (-3 TIME TOKENS, no skill check required with SACA'S help. Time consuming but it makes a LOT of mold to sell later.)>Upgrade your piece of shit computer. There were some spare parts in your SPECIALITY PARTS bundle. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 56, +6 from basic knowledge about your computer and COLT'S help.)
>>6297497+1
>>6297487>Start growing some more mold, fucker. >Upgrade your piece of shit computer. >Oh, right, you have a weight set. TIME TO GET SOME GAINS, BROTHER!!!!!!
>>6297490>>Start growing some more mold, fucker. (-3 TIME TOKENS, no skill check required with SACA'S help. Time consuming but it makes a LOT of mold to sell later.)We will turn this laboratory into a Factory babee>Oh, right, you have a weight set. TIME TO GET SOME GAINS, BROTHER!!!!!! (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +8 to roll from your allies motivating you. Improves your physical strength.)>Enter your android's containment cell. Time to learn more about it. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
WEIGHT SET: jHo, Dj2, Cwx, KOO, KVB, PPH, shn, tygCOOK: jHoCPPQUEST: jHo, SXGUPGRADE COMPUTER: Dj2, Cwx, KOO, KVB, PPH, shnMOLD: Dj2, tbi, Szu, KVB, PPH, SXG, shn, tygDOSSIER: tbi, SzuANDROID: tbi, Szu, SXG, tygSTUDY GIFT: CWxMAKE SOME STUFF: KOOSeems like we're getting some heavy time token actions out of the way, huh? Aight. Three anons, roll 2d100, same rules as last time. Tables below.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6oAwVV8p9g - VINCENT TRAINING SESSIONTRAINING SESSION (DC 65, +8 to roll)0 SUCCESSES: everythinghurts Your wageslave body gives up on you. (-PHYSICAL HEALTH)1 SUCCESS: IT HURTS. BUT IT HURTS GOOD. (You make some slow but noticeable progress. Might take longer to get any stat bonuses.)2 SUCCESSES: WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER. (Your physical strength improves! You get a moderate bonus to your physical strength.)3 SUCCESSES: WORK HARDER, NOT SMARTER. (You make a LOT of progress in improving your physical strength. You get a pretty hefty bonus!)UPGRADING COMPUTER (DC 56, +6 to roll)0 SUCCESSES: You don't really know what you're doing, ha... (No progress made.)1 SUCCESS: You sure did replace some parts with new parts in a certain order. (Your computer is slightly upgraded.)2 SUCCESSES: It runs a lot better now! (Your computer has been upgraded! Most actions involving your computer in the future will only ever take 1 TIME TOKEN.)3 SUCCESSES: There's no more room for improvement here. (There's no room to improve your computer. CPPQUEST no longer requires a skill check, some actions on your computer now have a chance to be free.)
Rolled 17, 12 = 29 (2d100)>>6297824
Rolled 81, 11 = 92 (2d100)>>6297824FIGHT!!!
Rolled 46, 28 + 6 = 80 (2d100 + 6)>>6297824
...Tell you what. Let's just say you ended up getting one success in each.Why? Let's just say it involves the 3 SUCCESS result you got out of IN LIMBO. Writing.
You're still processing the fact that there's a flower is growing out of you. It doesn't hurt, really, it's just sorta there. You take in a deep breath through your nose.It's hard to describe how you're feeling. Your brain is still as heavy as lead after working with IN LIMBO but it's okay? Not the feeling but, you're just okay with it now. It doesn't bother you. That's that, this is this.In spite on how skeeved out he was mere moments ago, Colt relaxes his posture. The gloom washes off the two of you like water off a duck's back.>Due to gaining 3 SUCCESSES on the SOMETHING'S WRONG check...COLT's and VINCENT'S mental state are now both CONTENT."Welp!" You snap your fingers. "Question.""ANSWER." SACA hums. "ANYTHING ELSE?"You scrunch your nose at the robot's oddly snarky quip. Colt does his best to suppress a snort."Can you two spot me? I'm going to work out.""Hoo! This is going to be SOMETHING! Bet you haven't touched a weight in years, prettyboy." "EXECERISE IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR THOSE WITH A SEDITARY LIFESTYLE."Your two coworkers eagerly watch you as you check on the WEIGHTSET you got from the catalog. There's two barbells, a 20 pound dumbbell and a variety of random weights ranging from 5 to 50 lbs for the barbells. You humor about using one of the barbells as a weapon: Probably not practical to carry around a 7 foot metal pole around on your person. You do consider using it as a weapon while on the clock, just in case an anomaly or something else tries to break in/outAh, you're overthinking things. You need to work out first and foremost. You squat down to grab the barbell off the floor. You easily pick up the 40 lbs without too much issue, you're not that weight, but you can certainly feel it in your arms."Alright, freakshit! We're going to make you a MAN!"SACA scans you with its singular red eye. It's hard to read what it's thinking when that's the only facial feature it has. "ADEQUATE FORM. ADEQUATE STRENGTH FOR 24 YEAR OLD MALE. OUTPUT: YOU CAN DO THIS, VINCENT."IT'S TIME TO WORK OUT!!! Colt pops in the HEAVY METAL disc into your music player. A discordant, distorted guitar solo blares from the shoddy music player "LET'S DO THIS!!! WE'RE GOING TO MAKE YOU A MAN!!!">1 SUCCESS!You quickly remember you haven't worked out since you were a teenager. Your initial progress is strong, though, with you soon being able to curl about 65~ lbs without immediately collapsing from the strain. "CURRENT ANALYSIS: YOUR PERSONAL RECORD IS IN THE 'BEGINNER' CATAGORY. YOU CAN CERTAINLY IMPROVE FROM HERE.""C'mon, Vince! We're going to crank it up a notch!"More and more weight is thrown onto the barbell. Your arms scream at you to stop but you have to keep going. You can't look like a WIMP in front of these guys. "MOTIVATIONAL STATEMENT GENERATED: THE BURN IS GOOD! FOCUS ON THE BURN, ENJOY THE BURN!""More weight, SACA. We're not stopping until he passes out.""PASSING OUT IS NOT IDEAL. DO NOT DO THAT."
Your arms strain under the increasing weight. Even with taking short breaks, the weight quickly becomes too much for your unfit body to handle. You manage to pick up and curl it one more time when it's at 100 lbs before your arms give out on you.The barbell slams into the ground. You're barely able to prop yourself against the wall with how shaky your legs are. Hoo. Okay, you did way too much way too fast. You can feel it in your bones. SACA grabs onto your shoulders as gently as it can with its two-finger, claw-like hands. "GENERATING 'HOW TO BREATH' ADVICE." You didn't even notice you're breathing like crazy. "STEP FIVE: CONSUME ENOUGH WATER TO DROWN. STEP A: ROTATE AN APPLE IN YOUR MIND UNTIL YOU LOSE TRACK OF IT."It gibbers out some nonsensical bullshit but you focus so much on how little it makes sense, your breathing slows down. "What?""'CONFUSE HUMAN TO CALM THEM DOWN' HAS PROVEN EFFECTIVE. THANK YOU FOR CALMING DOWN.""Damn. We could've gotten more weight on there, man." Colt clicks his tongue disapprovingly. "Ah, whatever, ain't somethin' you can do in a day anyways." You feel a bit stronger but it's hard to quantify HOW much right now.You decide to take your mind on doing something else.--->1 SUCCESS!You have no idea what you're doing. You thought upgrading your computer would be easy but no, nothing's easy in this place. It's a tangled mess of archaic parts that no one has probably touched since you were born. Some of its internals are caked in burnt residue that reeks of cigarettes. There was probably CIGARETTE MOLD in here until it got burnt away by you turning this hunk of scrap on.Colt does his best to help despite this not remotely being in his field of expertise. You tried to ask SACA for help but..."MY KNOWLEDGE ON ITS INTERNALS IS COMPORABLE TO YOUR KNOWLEDGE ON THE INTERNALS OF A RABBIT."Needless to say, the most it can do is carry over parts from the messy piles you keep everything in. Colt grumbles under his breath the longer he works on this thing. "Fuckin', christmas light jumbled mess stupid wires awful awful bad bad."It seems like even removing the parts in here is a lost cause. You're about to give up right then and there. This is clearly going nowhere.Yet, you find yourself regaining your focus. A sweet, floral scent wafts from your wrist. The flower growing out of your wrist has grown ever-so-slightly. Maybe from the sweat your body was leaking out, if you had to guess? Whatever the case, the stench is enough to calm you down.Even Colt seems a bit more agreeable after smelling the flower's aroma. The two of you manage to replace some parts without causing any (noticeable) damage to the machine.Colt closes the computer's case, "Alright. Turn this hunk of junk on."SACA boops the power button with its hand. The computer crackles to life and it boots up WAY quicker than it did a few days ago.You do some quick tests to check its performance. The difference is...minimal, frankly.
It boots up some websites quicker and it doesn't chug as much whenever you open a new file but it's not going to do much for you, frankly.>Future DCs involving your COMPUTER have been slightly reduced. Tasks involving your COMPUTER can not take more than 2 TIME TOKENS.Oh well. One last thing before you have to check up on - The MOLD!---The progress of growing it isn't HARD, really, you just need a good amount of sugar-alcohol to make it grow. However, doing that without getting mold all over the place and safely containing it is another thing completely. This stuff grows like crazy if left unintended.That and, despite being able to grow fast, it still needs time to grow. It's not instant without spending an excessive and wasteful amount of sugar-alcohol on one batchSACA, luckily, was made for doing inane mind-numbing tasks with mechanical precision. You told it to mess around with the mold in in between your other tasks whenever it had time to do so. It lowers a bucket squirming with CIGARETTE MOLD down onto a table."EACH BUCKET WAS FILLED TO 90% CAPCITY TO AVOID OVERFLOW. MOST SUGAR ALCOHOL READILY AVAILABLE HAS BEEN CONSUMED." You and Colt check on the various buckets. Out of the four available buckets you had, two have been nearly filled to the top with MOLD. >-BREATHMINTS. You'll need to find a new fuel source."How much does this shit sell for, Vince?" Colt prods at one of the squirming, wet mass of ashy-smelling mold with a scalpel."$177 per sample. I think we have about 12 samples worth in here?">You now have 16 total samples of mold!"Christ. Wonder why you'd even bother with the anomalies at this point.""ANALYZING DOSSIERS LEFT BEHIND BY LEVEL 0 RESEARCHER VINCET: IN LIMBO WILL 'HAVE A STUPID HISSY FIT' IF LEFT FOR PROLONGED PERIODS OF TIME.""Yeah." You shrug. "That and this stuff takes time to grow. I can't spend all of my time growing it- Wait. SACA. Question, do you think we can automate this somehow?""PROPOSAL?""Some automated way to feed them so I don't have to baby the mold.""...SACA WILL ATTEMPT TO ANALYZE A WAY TO ACHIEVE THIS WITH THE COMPONTENTS WE HAVE.">New ACTION unlocked!You have 5 TIME TOKENS left. You may now only pick TWO actions. What do you do, Vincent?RESEARCH:>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this glitchy game hold? (Costs no time tokens, has no DC...? Might not be the healthiest thing for your body or mind.)>Re-enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. Why the hell did it give you THIS thing? (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Enter your android's containment cell. Time to learn more about it. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50, -4 to roll from COLT's presence.)>Study the weird GIFT that IN LIMBO gave you. What does it even do? (-1 TIME TOKENS, DC 60, +5 to roll.)
>Mess with the EGG, now that you know a little bit more about it. What are the limits to its copying ability? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 58, +13 to roll. Might lower everyone's MENTAL HEALTH.)>Study the WIRE FLOWER and STATIC POLLEN'S ability to record stuff. Can you record new stuff on them? Can you improve the quality of the recordings? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 52, -4 to roll from COLT)>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49 to determine how much information you get. +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)BUSY WORK>Make an automated feeding system for the MOLD. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Will consume 2 out of the 4 'repairs' worth of SPARE PARTS you have. Will slowly but passively generate CIGARETTE MOLD.)>Try to make some useful stuff out of the AC PARTS and ELECTRONIC SCRAP you got. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60, +4 to roll with Colt's help.)>Cook some stuff on that new propane grill of yours. Maybe your anomalies would like cooked food better? (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Try to make some outfits with the sewing machine. Maybe the android would like it? (-2 TIME TOKENS, no check needed.)MISC>Approach your FAX MACHINE. Risk the wrath of CORPORATE MIGHT. (FREE ACTION, can be picked alongside your two work choices. -$25. Choose who to call: HAYDEN, BLACKWELL or UPPER MANAGEMENT.)>Make a MAKESHIFT WEAPON with SACA's help. (FREE ACTION, consumes your POCKET KNIFE, 1 out of 4 'repairs' worth of SPARE PARTS and one of the barbells. Creates a far better weapon than your POCKET KNIFE.)>Write in>>6297548>How tough is Vincent anyways?About as tough as a desk jockey who doesn't really work out much can be? He'll not particularly strong, tough or fast. He's painfully average.As for the BARBELL idea...Fuck it. I'll give you the option to make a weapon out of it.
>>6297977>Make an automated feeding system for the MOLD. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Will consume 2 out of the 4 'repairs' worth of SPARE PARTS you have. Will slowly but passively generate CIGARETTE MOLD.)>Study the weird GIFT that IN LIMBO gave you. What does it even do? (-1 TIME TOKENS, DC 60, +5 to roll.)
>>6297977>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49 to determine how much information you get. +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)I wonder what would happen if we fed the android's magic wine to the mold>Make an automated feeding system for the MOLD. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Will consume 2 out of the 4 'repairs' worth of SPARE PARTS you have. Will slowly but passively generate CIGARETTE MOLD.)
>>6297977>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49 to determine how much information you get. +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)>Make an automated feeding system for the MOLD. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Will consume 2 out of the 4 'repairs' worth of SPARE PARTS you have. Will slowly but passively generate CIGARETTE MOLD.)>>6297984Could be very interesting. What if we fed the android magic wine to IN LIMBO lol. Or ourselves for that matter.
>>6297977>Make an automated feeding system for the MOLD. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Will consume 2 out of the 4 'repairs' worth of SPARE PARTS you have. Will slowly but passively generate CIGARETTE MOLD.)>Make a MAKESHIFT WEAPON with SACA's help. (FREE ACTION, consumes your POCKET KNIFE, 1 out of 4 'repairs' worth of SPARE PARTS and one of the barbells. Creates a far better weapon than your POCKET KNIFE.)
>>6297996I should clarify: You can pick two actions (the ones in BUSY WORK or RESEARCH) and any 'FREE ACTIONS'. So you can pick another action from BUSY WORK or RESEARCH>>6297984>>6297987There are dessert wines out there that are super, super sweet. If it's a sugary wine, the Mold would 100% love it. Jury's out on what it'll do to you or IN LIMBO, though.
>>6297977>Make an automated feeding system for the MOLD. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Will consume 2 out of the 4 'repairs' worth of SPARE PARTS you have. Will slowly but passively generate CIGARETTE MOLD.)>Try to make some useful stuff out of the AC PARTS and ELECTRONIC SCRAP you got. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60, +4 to roll with Colt's help.)
>>6297976>Enter your android's containment cell. Time to learn more about it. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>>6297977>Make an automated feeding system for the MOLD. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Will consume 2 out of the 4 'repairs' worth of SPARE PARTS you have. Will slowly but passively generate CIGARETTE MOLD.)
>>6297977>Make an automated feeding system for the MOLD. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Will consume 2 out of the 4 'repairs' worth of SPARE PARTS you have. Will slowly but passively generate CIGARETTE MOLD.)Look at them zeros, that's the way you do it.You grow the ciggies in the A.R.C.That ain't working, that's the way you do it.Mold for nothing, and your cheques for free.>Make a MAKESHIFT WEAPON with SACA's help. (FREE ACTION, consumes your POCKET KNIFE, 1 out of 4 'repairs' worth of SPARE PARTS and one of the barbells. Creates a far better weapon than your POCKET KNIFE.)Fitting the barbell to Vincent size, it was too big to be called a weapon.But is it worth losing the pocket knife and its surely boundless utility? Probably.
>>6298060>>6297977>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49 to determine how much information you get. +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)Forgetting my third choice!? I would never!
>>6297977>Make an automated feeding system for the MOLD.>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it.>Make a MAKESHIFT WEAPON with SACA's help.
>>6297977>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49 to determine how much information you get. +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)>Make an automated feeding system for the MOLD. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Will consume 2 out of the 4 'repairs' worth of SPARE PARTS you have. Will slowly but passively generate CIGARETTE MOLD.)>Make a MAKESHIFT WEAPON with SACA's help. (FREE ACTION, consumes your POCKET KNIFE, 1 out of 4 'repairs' worth of SPARE PARTS and one of the barbells. Creates a far better weapon than your POCKET KNIFE.)When are we gonna install that environmental module into the android’s cell?
>>6297977>>6297976>Enter your android's containment cell. Time to learn more about it. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)Let's check in on them at least once today come on>Make an automated feeding system for the MOLD. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Will consume 2 out of the 4 'repairs' worth of SPARE PARTS you have. Will slowly but passively generate CIGARETTE MOLD.)STEADY INCOME OP
>>6297977>>Make an automated feeding system for the MOLD. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Will consume 2 out of the 4 'repairs' worth of SPARE PARTS you have. Will slowly but passively generate CIGARETTE MOLD.)Passive income lets fucking go.>Enter your android's containment cell. Time to learn more about it. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)Hopefully this ones in a better mood than the other one
>>6297999In that case changing >>6297996 to>Make an automated feeding system for the MOLD. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Will consume 2 out of the 4 'repairs' worth of SPARE PARTS you have. Will slowly but passively generate CIGARETTE MOLD.)>Make a MAKESHIFT WEAPON with SACA's help. (FREE ACTION, consumes your POCKET KNIFE, 1 out of 4 'repairs' worth of SPARE PARTS and one of the barbells. Creates a far better weapon than your POCKET KNIFE.)>Study the weird GIFT that IN LIMBO gave you. What does it even do? (-1 TIME TOKENS, DC 60, +5 to roll.)
GIFT: jHo, CWxFEEDING: jHo, Szu, CWx, R6C, Dj2, R6C, KVB, shn, tbi, noQ, tygDOSSIER: Dj2, Szu, KVB, shnAC PARTS + SCRAP: R6CANDROID: SXG, tbi, noQ, tygMAKESHIFT WEAPON: CWx, KVB, noQ, shnYou know what, let's just say you're going to be reading the dossier as you enter the cell. I'm going to consneed on that. Everyone's basically checking up on the android anyways with the second action so, why not? No additional time token cost.And I'll just wave my hands and say, sure, you're making the MAKESHIFT WEAPON as well.Three anons, roll 1d100+5, DC 49. 0 SUCCESSES: Too much of the test is redacted, obfuscated and/or flatout removed. All you get is its TITLE (ala IN LIMBO being...IN LIMBO.)1 SUCCESS: You get some hints about what properties it might have.2 SUCCESSES: You get some solid information about the anomaly's behavior and some hints on what properties it might have.3 SUCCESSES: You are given some solid information about its behavior and properties alongside learning where it was extracted from. This should help out in future interactions with the anomaly.>>6298186>When are we gonna install that environmental module into the android’s cell?It was installed off-screen by whoever delivers your catalog junk. Don't worry about it.
Rolled 92 (1d100)>>6298311PLEASE SUCCESS
>>6298315
Rolled 69 + 5 (1d100 + 5)>>6298311
The power of PAPERWORK shines through your wagie soul. 3 SUCCESSES. Writing.
>>6298321>>6298327Blessed, I thought 4chins was glitching for a second
"I HAVE CONSTURCTED A PLAN FOR THE AUTOMATIC MOLD HARVESTING PROJECT." Okay, you thought you misheard it last time, but SACA is 'slurring' its words. You might need to repair it. "DO YOU WANT TO HEAR MY PREPOSAL?""Go on?""COLT. ASSISTNCE REQURED OF YOU, PLESE. WILL PLACE IN EMPTY CONTAIMENT CELL FTER CONSTRUCTIN.""We hired you to do this kind of work for us, clanker." Colt snorts derisively. "Wait, Vince. Why is it speaking like—"You firmly clear your throat. It's best to not point out SACA's deteriorating speech. "Alright. Let's see what you're cooking up." You'll probably get an anomaly tomorrow, so you'll have to move it later, but whatever. Getting the proof of concept down matters more than the exact location of it.You help Colt carry some spare parts over to the empty cell's entrance while SACA carries the heavy, mold-filled buckets. You also wheel in the empty trash can that you have no real other use for."ANALYING CURENT EQUPIMENT. GENERATING OPITAML CONSTRUCTION..." SACA's monotone voice is barely audible over the static blaring out of its voice box. "CONSTRUCTION PLN MADE. FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS."Its instructions are nearly inaudible over its static. You ask SACA to repeat itself several times to make sure you understood it. Colt is fighting the urge to load a round into his gun so he can blow SACA's head off. You can't say you blame him. Oh well, $100 is $100; it's been helpful so far. You and Colt step back after you're done listening to it babble out AI-generated nonsense. The equipment it told you to make looks pretty functional! It's nothing pretty; you had to make it out of scrap metal and whatever random junk you had, but it works!Attached to one of the buckets is a small grey box that can house solids and liquids. Every thirty or so minutes, it creaks to life and opens long enough to dispense a small amount of matter from the solid and liquid compartments. This is used to feed the mold.A second box with a sharp blade attached at the bottom is attached to the other end of the bucket. When a certain amount of weight is pressed down onto it, it alerts the feeding mechanism to stop through some shoddy wiring you cobbled. It then slices and scoops out a large sample of mold that it promptly chucks behind it. Obviously, that's where you place the second bucket.Once it is unable to slice anything, it sends a signal to the feeding mechanism to start up again. The wiring has a bunch of redundancies just in case IN LIMBO has a hissy fit.All you need to do now is to feed the feeding mechanism and to occasionally replace the harvesting bucket. >You will passively generate 1 SAMPLE per every 6 TIME TOKENS spent. You will also get 1 SAMPLE at the start of a SHIFT.>This will passively consume food and water from your lab inventoryIt's not fast or pretty, but it's free money."Feh. This looks like shit. You sure this is going to work?" Colt hesitantly responds."Better than babying this stuff."
Before you check on the ANDROID, you toss some random parts to SACA. "Hey, can you make something out of this?" You need a better weapon than a super short and flimsy pocket knife.SACA immediately moves to cobble something out of the various pieces of junk you got. Not even two minutes pass before it tosses something back to you.It's a small and compressed metal rod that's about the length of a baseball bat. It has some heft to it, but it's far lighter than the barbell. It's also portable enough for you to carry. "PRESS BUTTON ON SIDE FOR EXTRA LETHALITY," chirps out SACA.You press the button. A short blade pops out the end of the rod. Huh! Neat, it's a club AND a spear.>MAKESHIFT WEAPON obtained! (+5 to combat attack rolls. Can deal piercing or bludgeoning damage. Medium reach.)"Huh! Pretty neat, thanks.""NO PROBLEM."You press the button again to hide the blade before tossing it in your satchel. You and Colt quickly wheel in the automated MOLD FARM into the empty cell. Now that's stored away, you head to the bookshelf where you keep your dossiers."Colt, wait for me by that cell over there. I'll be over there in a jiffy." "Whatever you say, boss."You begin to flip through the dossier. Like always, most of it has been redacted because your 'clearance' isn't high enough. Why even bother giving this to you if they're going to let you read most of it? However, it's not your first time dealing with convoluted paperwork.>3 SUCCESSES!A weaker man would've given up by now but you? You glide through it as easily as a fish swims through water.ACQUISITION DATE: 18:30, 5/10/2026LOCATION OF ACQUISITION: L'CURE, FRANCE.ASSIGNED ETF AGENTS: MOXXIE [REDACTED], GERALD SMITH, BEN HUXDISCOVERY REPORT: ARC AGENTS EMBEDDED IN FRANCE'S HIGH DINING SCENE OVERHEARD THAT A NEW FINE DINING ESTABLISHMENT WOULD SOON BE OPEN.SUSPICION ROSE WHEN NO INFORMATION ABOUT ITS OWNERS OR EMPLOYEES COULD BE GLEANED. THE ONLY INFORMATION GLEANED WAS 'The staff of L'Cure deserve privacy just like the rest of us.' THIS EXACT STATEMENT WAS SAID BY OVER 75 SEPARATE PEOPLE. INFORMATION ON OWNERS MIGHT HAVE ANTIMEMETIC PROPERTIES?A THIRD-PARTY DETECTIVE WAS ASSIGNED TO GATHER ANY USEFUL INFORMATION. WAS FOUND 14 HOURS LATER, COMATOSE, IN A DITCH WITH A BLOOD ALCOHOL CONTENT OF 27% AND NO MEMORIES OF THE LAST 4 WEEKS. WAS NOT DEAD DESPITE BEYOND LETHAL BAC.AGENTS WERE SENT TO INVESTIGATE THE RESTAURANT UPON ITS OPENING. LOCATION WAS SHROUDED IN PITCH-BLACK DARKNESS. MOST CUSTOMERS WERE FOUND COMPLETELY INCAPACITATED AND COMATOSE, AND THOSE STILL AWAKE WERE TOO DRUNK TO RESPOND.THE ANOMALY WAS THE ONLY 'EMPLOYEE' WITHIN THE RESTAURANT. ANOMALY WILLINGLY ALLOWED ITSELF TO BE CAPTURED UPON REQUEST. IT IDENTIFIED ITSELF AS 'NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER.'[/B]CUSTOMERS RECOVERED FROM THE SCENE HAD BAC UP TO 35% AND REPORTED SEVERE MEMORY LOSS. ONE VICTIM FORGOT UP TO 3 MONTHS' WORTH OF MEMORIES.
EVERYONE EXTRACTED FROM THE SCENE SURVIVED. NO COVER STORY WAS NECESSARY DUE TO THEIR SEVERE MEMORY LOSS.ANOMALY WAS DISCOVERED TO HAVE AI FAR BEYOND WHAT SHOULD BE POSSIBLE WITH MODERN TECHNOLOGY. FULLY SAPIENT WITH AN IQ OF 119.WHEN QUESTIONED ABOUT ITS CUSTOMERS, IT SAID, "We all wish to escape from our past. Our sins. I simply gave them a way out. Do you wish to escape too, madam and sir?" DURING A ROUTINE CHECKUP PERFORMED AFTER THE ANOMALY WAS DELIVERED, AGENTS WERE DISCOVERED TO HAVE A BAC OF 0.06% DESPITE NONE CONSUMING ANY BOOZE WITHIN 72 HOURS.You're no doctor, but you know the highest BAC anyone has survived is, like, 1%. 27%? 35%? Those numbers are so absurd that it's hard to even imagine what that looks like. Whatever wine this anomaly serves is clearly anomalous if people can basically have their blood replaced by it.It almost sounds like the wine itself is what erased their memories. The anomaly probably knew about it, and...people seem to have drunk it willingly? You'll have to question the anomaly about this sooner or later.You rejoin Colt after you put up the dossier. Time to check up on NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER.The lights have been considerably dimmed since you were last here. With the makeshift curtains you made blocking the already dim light, the room is on the verge of being pitch black."Ack. I can't see dick in here." Colt flails his arm around in a vain attempt to find a way to turn the lights on.NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER is patiently seated in the chair you gave it yesterday. It perks up when it realizes it has guests to talk to. "Welcome, sirs. I can see you have adjusted my cell to be...more comfortable for me. I appreciate the gesture." "The panel is towards the entrance, Colt Wesson.""Oh, thanks." Colt doesn't question why the anomaly knows his name. It takes him a second, but soon, the room goes from 'pitch black' to 'gloomy' dark. "It has been a long day, hasn't it, sirs? Would you like a drink?""Vince!" Colt slugs you on the shoulder. "You had a whole booze-dispensing android just sitting here, and YOU didn't tell me???""This is exactly why I didn't tell you," you scoff. "Sorry about that."NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER giggles at Colt, who is vibrating with excitement. "It is no issue to me, sir. I am always willing to help out a customer wishing to escape his woes with a nice, cold drink. You've had a long day too, haven't you, Vincent?""Do you wish to take a break? I can offer you my seat."NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER MOOD: 75/100LIQUID POINTS: 100/100How do you wish to interact with the android? Choose three.
COMMUNICATION:>Question what function it was built for. You doubt it was made SOLELY to produce wine.>Facial recognition? Why does it have it and, hell, how can it even see with no eyes?>Try to be more subtle with your questioning. Ask about its work history and what skills it has. (DC 50, +10 to roll from COLT + ANOMALY TOUCHED.)>Ask about the liquid inside of it. Does it make it by itself? What kind of wine or liquor it is?>Ask about the 'NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER' title it gave itself. What does it mean? Why did it pick THAT name? (DC 70, +10 to roll from COLT and ANOMALY TOUCHED.)>You wonder why they'd make a robot that gives wine sapience. Ask the android how it perceives itself.EXAMINATION/STIMULI>Bring in the furniture you got from the CELL DECORATION BUNDLE to decorate its room. Might as well make its stay here comfortable.>Inspect its body. Try to figure out as much as you can about how its constructed and what its made of. (DC 65, +5 to roll. Helps you to know how to repair it in the future.)>Ask for some of the fluid inside of its reservoir. Can't have too many samples and, well, Colt clearly wants some. (-25 LIQUID POINTS, gets you 1d3+1 samples.)>Play some music from your CD player. (Choose WHITE NOISE, ELEVATOR MUSIC, HEAVY METAL or ORCHESTRAL. You already played SOFT JAZZ for it.)>Offer to clean and maintain the anomaly. There's a lot of dust covering its body.>Turn on your DVD player. See how it reacts to the TV show.>Offer it some bread, meat and water from your DAILY FOOD BUNDLE. See what it does with it.>WRITE IN
>>6298421>>Try to be more subtle with your questioning. Ask about its work history and what skills it has. (DC 50, +10 to roll from COLT + ANOMALY TOUCHED.)>Ask for some of the fluid inside of its reservoir. Can't have too many samples and, well, Colt clearly wants some. (-25 LIQUID POINTS, gets you 1d3+1 samples.)
>>6298421>Try to be more subtle with your questioning. Ask about its work history and what skills it has. (DC 50, +10 to roll from COLT + ANOMALY TOUCHED.)>Ask for some of the fluid inside of its reservoir. Can't have too many samples and, well, Colt clearly wants some. (-25 LIQUID POINTS, gets you 1d3+1 samples.)WRITE IN>Cross test. Sprinkle LIMBO pollen on NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER. Obsession with past dreams & robot programmed to help people forget? Cannot go tits up.
>>6298421>Try to be more subtle with your questioning. Ask about its work history and what skills it has. (DC 50, +10 to roll from COLT + ANOMALY TOUCHED.)>Ask about the 'NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER' title it gave itself. What does it mean? Why did it pick THAT name? (DC 70, +10 to roll from COLT and ANOMALY TOUCHED.)>Inspect its body. Try to figure out as much as you can about how its constructed and what its made of. (DC 65, +5 to roll. Helps you to know how to repair it in the future.)
>>6298462I’ll actually swap the third one for the write-in.>Cross test. Sprinkle IN LIMBO pollen on NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER.
>>6298421>Try to be more subtle with your questioning. Ask about its work history and what skills it has. (DC 50, +10 to roll from COLT + ANOMALY TOUCHED.)>Ask about the liquid inside of it. Does it make it by itself? What kind of wine or liquor it is?>Ask for some of the fluid inside of its reservoir. Can't have too many samples and, well, Colt clearly wants some. (-25 LIQUID POINTS, gets you 1d3+1 samples.)
>>6298421>Try to be more subtle with your questioning. Ask about its work history and what skills it has. (DC 50, +10 to roll from COLT + ANOMALY TOUCHED.)>Ask for some of the fluid inside of its reservoir. Can't have too many samples and, well, Colt clearly wants some. (-25 LIQUID POINTS, gets you 1d3+1 samples.)>Cross test. Sprinkle IN LIMBO pollen on NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER.
>>6298421>Try to be more subtle with your questioning. Ask about its work history and what skills it has. (DC 50, +10 to roll from COLT + ANOMALY TOUCHED.)>Ask about the 'NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER' title it gave itself. What does it mean? Why did it pick THAT name? (DC 70, +10 to roll from COLT and ANOMALY TOUCHED.)>Ask for some of the fluid inside of its reservoir. Can't have too many samples and, well, Colt clearly wants some. (-25 LIQUID POINTS, gets you 1d3+1 samples.)
>>6298421>Try to be more subtle with your questioning. Ask about its work history and what skills it has. >Ask for some of the fluid inside of its reservoir. Can't have too many samples and, well, Colt clearly wants some.>Cross test. Sprinkle IN LIMBO pollen on NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER.Actually, will sprinkle IN LIMBO pollen on literally robotic androids work at all?
Rolled 3 + 1 (1d3 + 1)QUESTIONING: 8KG, OLn. KOO, Dj2, tbi, CWx, jHo, shnFLUID: 8KG, OLn, Dj2, tbi, CWx, jHo, shnCROSSTEST: OLn, KOO, tbi, jHo, shnTITLE: KOO, CWxFLUID DETAILS: Dj2Alright. Cute little write in with the crosstest, that'll be...interesting to write. Three anons, roll 1d100+10 for the QUESTIONING check. Table below. I'll roll 1d3+1 to see how many samples you get.0 SUCCESSES: "I don't think that information is relevant, sir." No information gathered.1 SUCCESS: "There's not a lot to say, sir." It's clearly hiding something but it does spill SOME information about its skills.2 SUCCESSES: "The people at L'Cure treated me well." It offers information about its work history and its skillset.3 SUCCESSES: "Oh! If you wish to employ me, sir, you could've just asked!" It got the wrong idea but you're not correcting it. Unlocks another WORK ACTION, you learn information about its work history and skillset.
Rolled 12 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>6298847
Rolled 94 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>6298847Watch us get 3 fails so he stonewalls us again
>>6298851ayyy thats over a hundred, I think thats a little bonus
Rolled 61 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>6298847
Annnd you got two successes plus a small lil bonus since you got a 104. Writing. Weird how you're able to talk to anomalies just fine but god forbid you talk to a human woman.
>>6298861The only solution is an anomalous human woman. No, not Nicole. Not EITHER of the Nicoles we've seen
>>6298861He talked to Hidaka just fine, I think that was 3 successes too
>>6298868Can a fellow wageslave truly be considered human?
You recall an old memory of ours. One of your bosses had just returned from a vacation she was on. Apparently, she went to some fancy wine resort down in France. Every conversation she had that week involved wine in some way, shape, or form. You never understood why people were so obsessed over wine to begin with.Colt's smile stretches from ear to ear. It's the exact same stupid smirk your boss had. The offer of getting a rich, alcohol-heavy drink is too alluring for him to ignore."Vince. Vince." Colt pokes your shoulder with the tip of his rifle. "Vince. C'mon, Vince. We're pals now. Comrades. Buddy-bud-buds. Do me a solid, would ya?""Fine! SOMMELIER, we'll take some wine to go." You already have to get a sample of it for research purposes; you might as well!"Excellent! Our specialty, Obscura Syrah, pairs nicely with firm and hard cheeses. For those of a more carnivorous nature, lamb would be the best pairing with it.""Whatever you say, bot!" Colt is barely listening to the android. He continues nudging your shoulder with the tip of his rifle. "C'mon. C'mon!!!" "Do you have a vessel I can deliver the wine into?""Here." You hold up the bucket you brought in just for this occasion. The android slots its nozzle-like arm into the bucket. A thick red liquid gushes out of the nozzle, rapidly filling the bucket. The bucket's filled about a quarter of the way once the flow stops.>4 OBSCURA SYRAH SAMPLES (A rich, thick wine with a strong strawberry aroma) obtained! You cautiously hand off the bucket to Colt. He, thankfully, restrains himself from guzzling the wine then and there. "I would highly recommend consuming that as soon as possible. The subtle notes of vanilla and licorice fade if left at room temperature for too long." A mixture of irritation and worry laces the android's voice."Colt, mind turning the temperature down for a moment?" "At it, boss. No point lettin' the booze go to waste."The temperature rapidly lowers as Colt fiddles with the cell's atmosphere panel. If you had to hazard a guess, the room's temperature is hovering around 50 degrees now.The android happily taps its peg-like feet on the ground. You're pretty sure it'd be smiling if it had a mouth to smile with. "Ah, thank you. The cold feels good on my skin.""Ain't ya a robot? You don't have skin." Colt points out."Slip of the tongue." NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER hastily corrects itself. "Is there anything else I can help with, sirs?"You clear your throat as you prepare to speak. Your words take on a distant, professional cadence. "I would like to talk about your work experience as a SOMMELIER, as per your title.""Oh? Could you elaborate?""I can't speak for Vince here but something's been botherin' me." Colt buds into the conversation to speak for you. "If they'd just wanted a wine dispenser, they wouldn't have given it thighs.""Colt." You hiss through gritted teeth. You do NOT want him to ruin your attempt at gathering information.
"I'm just sayin', you gotta have other skills, right? Something to lure in customers." Oh! Okay, you can work with this."He does have a point, SOMMELIER. We simply wish to know more about what you provided to your previous employers and how they might've treated you." It would be nice to learn more about who made it, but this will do. "You are staying here for the foreseeable future. We might as well get to know more about you.""Yeah. We're, like, your new bosses now or somethin'. We gotta know what our employee is good and bad at.">2 SUCCESSES!The android doesn't respond at first. You're worried you flubbed yet another conversation, but your worries fade as the android starts talking."Well, the people at L'Cure treated me well. I worked there as a SOMMELIER for their company for the last two months, give or take." Company, huh? Noted. "I have worked at four of their locations around France. Without fail, I successfully lower how many complaints were received by 150%.""Customers under my care don't have anything to complain about after they enjoy my wine." Its words are cheery, but with what you learned from the dossier, you can't help but find them suspect."As for my skills? In addition to my ability to serve wine, I am proficient in waste management disposal and filing taxes. I was also created to guard any restaurant I was assigned to to stop any intruders from obtaining classified information.""Ya don't really look like a combat robot." Colt points out. He holds his rifle out to the android. "If you had a beaut like this, I could see it.""I do not need a gun, nor would I be able to effectively use one." It points at its nozzle arm with its regular arm. "I have my own ways of defending myself." It cryptically replies."My creators also taught me basic human psychology to better tend to my customers. Everyone likes a shoulder to cry on, especially when they have no one else to rely on." Its voice deepens for a moment. Its mind seems to linger on something, but it quickly snaps out of it."To help those in need is what I was programmed to do. If you ever wish to escape from your woes, I am always here to wash them away.""So, you were designed to be a therapist as well as a server?" You ask for clarification. "In a manner of speaking. The world moves too fast these days to linger on your woes and regrets. I was programmed to offer an escape. That is all.">104 BONUS!"If you or a friend needs to escape their woes, I am here to help. The first time is free.">You may get a one-time moderate MENTAL HEALTH heal from NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER. That's probably all you're getting out of this conversation. You have one last thing before you leave it be. You retrieve the STATIC POLLEN sample from your satchel. You shake the contents of it onto the android to see how it'll react.>-STATIC POLLEN SAMPLEAs soon as the pollen touches the anomaly's body, it vanishes into thin air. One second it's there, and the next it's already gone.
The android tilts its head at you. "Wh-" Its whole body begins to rapidly jitter and shake in place. It's almost like it's being tased. Colt keeps his gun aimed at the android just in case.After about thirty seconds, the android stops seizing. A faint gurgling emanates from the liquid reservoir in its chest. A thin layer of yellow wine collects on top of the existing red wine inside its reservoir. The two liquids stay completely separated, like water and oil."We have a brand new wine for you to try. Rêve Chardonnay, a floral dry white wine with hints of popcorn butter and lemongrass. It is...too indulgent for my tastes but I can see why some would enjoy it."Huh! That's not what you expected from this particular cross-test."What were we talking about?" "We were just gonna leave you be, ain't that right, Vince?" Colt nudges you with his shoulder. "Oh, yeah. Have a good day, SOMMELIER." You politely bow your head. "We'll see you soon.""Have a great day as well, Vincent! Please enjoy my wine at your earliest convivence." >NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER'S MOOD is now at 83/100! The shock it took slightly damaged its MOOD.>NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER'S LIQUID POINTS is now set to 85/100.Colt rushes to store the bucket in the minifridge to keep it nice and cold, as per the android's instructions. You're still a little skeeved out by what the android said. 'Waste Management Disposal', yeah right, what a blatantly obvious euphemism. You wonder what the anomaly's catch is - IN LIMBO has a hissy fit whenever you leave it alone for too long, after all.You turn your attention back to the lab. SACA is slumped against the wall right next to your lab's entrance. It jerks to life once it realizes you two are done working."DEFRAGMENTATION COMPLETED. I APOLOGIZE IF MY SPEECH WAS HARD TO UNDERSTAND.""It's no big deal.""IT IS NICE TO APOLOGIZE REGARDLESS."You have 3 TIME TOKENS left, Vincent. What do you do? Pick two ACTIONS from BUSY WORK or RESEARCH and any or no FREE ACTIONS.RESEARCH:>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this glitchy game hold? (No time token cost or DC...? May damage PHYSICAL and MENTAL health.)>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. It's best you tend to it before your shift ends. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50, -4 to roll from COLT's presence.)>Study the weird GIFT that IN LIMBO gave you. What does it even do? (-1 TIME TOKENS, DC 60, +5 to roll.)>Mess with the EGG, now that you know a little bit more about it. What are the limits to its copying ability? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 58, +13 to roll. Might lower everyone's MENTAL HEALTH.)>Study the WIRE FLOWER'S ability to record stuff. Can you record new stuff on them? Can you improve the quality of the recordings? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49, -4 to roll from COLT)>C'mon. You gotta study the wine you just got. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 55, +10 to roll. Colt REALLY wants to 'test' it.)
BUSY WORK>Look up any information about L'CURE on ABNOWATCH. This restaurant/company is really shady. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65.)>You don't got much time left this shift. Check up on your pals on FRIENDCHAT, maybe you get some advice (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Try to make some useful stuff out of the AC PARTS and ELECTRONIC SCRAP you got. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60, +4 to roll with Colt's help.)>Cook some stuff on that new propane grill of yours. Maybe your anomalies would like cooked food better? (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Try to make some outfits with the sewing machine. Maybe the android would like it? (-2 TIME TOKENS, no check needed.)MISC>Approach your FAX MACHINE. Risk the wrath of CORPORATE MIGHT. (FREE ACTION, can be picked alongside your two work choices. -$25. Choose who to call: HAYDEN, BLACKWELL or UPPER MANAGEMENT.)>Fill the mold autofeeder with some wine. You'll check the results later. (FREE ACTION, -2 SAMPLES of OBSCURA SYRAH. You have no idea what it might do to the mold.)>Write in.
>>6299043>Fill the mold autofeeder with some wine. You'll check the results later.LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOO!!! MAKE SOME DOUGH!>C'mon. You gotta study the wine you just got.Show our 2nd best buddy we 'care' by letting him sample a tiny bit of the sample.And study it, of course.>Study the weird GIFT that IN LIMBO gave you. What does it even do?
>>6299042>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this glitchy game hold? (No time token cost or DC...? May damage PHYSICAL and MENTAL health.)>Study the weird GIFT that IN LIMBO gave you. What does it even do? (-1 TIME TOKENS, DC 60, +5 to roll.)>C'mon. You gotta study the wine you just got. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 55, +10 to roll. Colt REALLY wants to 'test' it.)>>6299043>Fill the mold autofeeder with some wine. You'll check the results later. (FREE ACTION, -2 SAMPLES of OBSCURA SYRAH. You have no idea what it might do to the mold.)
>>6299043>>6299043>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this glitchy game hold? (No time token cost or DC...? May damage PHYSICAL and MENTAL health.)>Fill the mold autofeeder with some wine. You'll check the results later. (FREE ACTION, -2 SAMPLES of OBSCURA SYRAH. You have no idea what it might do to the mold.)WRITE IN>C'mon. You gotta study the wine you just got. AND you just got this grill... Can you cook anything with the wine within 3 time tokens? You are about to find that out as well.(-? TIME TOKEN, DC ??)COLT, WE GOT TO COOK COLT!
>"We have a brand new wine for you to try. Rêve Chardonnay, a floral dry white wine with hints of popcorn butter and lemongrass. It is...too indulgent for my tastes but I can see why some would enjoy it."Great work on the cross test anons, next shift we take this new wine and dump it on LIMBO's flower bed, harvest the left overs from the resulting spergout or freakgasm and test that with the robot ad infinitum until upper management sends us to HR for misuse of ARC property.
>>6299058+1
>>6299042>C'mon. You gotta study the wine you just got. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 55, +10 to roll. Colt REALLY wants to 'test' it.)>Mess with the EGG, now that you know a little bit more about it. What are the limits to its copying ability? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 58, +13 to roll. Might lower everyone's MENTAL HEALTH.)Use that +13 bonus to reveal more of the EGG's secrets>Fill the mold autofeeder with some wine. You'll check the results later. (FREE ACTION, -2 SAMPLES of OBSCURA SYRAH. You have no idea what it might do to the mold.)Mold is gold.
>>6299043>Study the weird GIFT that IN LIMBO gave you. What does it even do?>Fill the mold autofeeder with some wine. You'll check the results later. (FREE ACTION, -2 SAMPLES of OBSCURA SYRAH. You have no idea what it might do to the mold.)>C'mon. You gotta study the wine you just got. AND you just got this grill... Can you cook anything with the wine within 3 time tokens? You are about to find that out as well.(-? TIME TOKEN, DC ??)
>>6299042>C'mon. You gotta study the wine you just got. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 55, +10 to roll. Colt REALLY wants to 'test' it.)>Look up any information about L'CURE on ABNOWATCH. This restaurant/company is really shady. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65.)>Fill the mold autofeeder with some wine. You'll check the results later. (FREE ACTION, -2 SAMPLES of OBSCURA SYRAH. You have no idea what it might do to the mold.)
>>6299042>>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this glitchy game hold? (No time token cost or DC...? May damage PHYSICAL and MENTAL health.)>Study the weird GIFT that IN LIMBO gave you. What does it even do? (-1 TIME TOKENS, DC 60, +5 to roll.)
>>6299043>Fill the mold autofeeder with some wine. You'll check the results later.>C'mon. You gotta study the wine you just got. AND you just got this grill... Can you cook anything with the wine within 3 time tokens? You are about to find that out as well.(-? TIME TOKEN, DC ??)>Study the weird GIFT that IN LIMBO gave you. What does it even do?
>>6299042>>Look up any information about L'CURE on ABNOWATCH. This restaurant/company is really shady. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65.)>>C'mon. You gotta study the wine you just got. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 55, +10 to roll. Colt REALLY wants to 'test' it.)>>Cook some stuff on that new propane grill of yours. Maybe your anomalies would like cooked food better? (-1 TIME TOKEN.)And since it's a free action: >>Fill the mold autofeeder with some wine. You'll check the results later. (FREE ACTION, -2 SAMPLES of OBSCURA SYRAH. You have no idea what it might do to the mold.)We have clean samples set aside, yes? Just so we can start clean if it goes FUBAR.
WORK ACTIONSSTUDY WINE: KVB, KOO, Dj2, CWx, 6x6STUDY GIFT: KVB, KOO, jHo, 8KG, shnCOOK WITH WINE: OLn, x2u, jHo, shn, PPHSTUDY EGG: Dj2L'CURE RESEARCH: CWx, 6x6GRILL: 6x6FREE ACTIONSAUTOFEEDER: KVB, KOO, OLn, x2u, Dj2, jHo, CWx, shn, PPHSTUDY CPPQUEST: KOO, OLn, x2u, 8KG, PPHHm. Tell you what, since CPPQUEST is basically a free action with no time token cost or DC, I'll treat it as such. It's close enough to a majority for me to tack on.'STUDY WINE' and 'COOK WITH WINE TO STUDY IT' are basically the same thing, one just proposes a specific experiment for it. As such, I'll give it the same time token cost as STUDY WINE (being 1)So that means you're studying the wine and your new GIFT. For your free action, you'll do a quick check up on CPPQUEST and you'll do a quick experiment to see how the mold reacts to the WINE.I think this is fair, yeah? You'll be left with 1 TIME TOKEN after this.--------------Three anons, roll 2d100. Same as before, first three rolled will be assigned to the first table, rest will be assigned to the second.COOKING WITH WINE (DC 59, +8 to roll from ANOMALY TOUCHED + COLT REALLY WANTS TO GET DRUNK)0 SUCCESSES: You forgot you haven't cooked a proper meal in ages! (The meal you make is awful. No properties of the wine could be detected.)1 SUCCESS: You try your best to cook something with the wine. It's...something. (The meal you made was so so. You uncovered one property about the wine.)2 SUCCESSES: Huh! This is some pretty damn good cooking wine. (The meal you made was great! You uncovered two properties about the wine.)3 SUCCESSES: You can never go back to eating slop... (You learn as much about the wine as 2 SUCCESSES but the meal you made is transcendental.)STUDY GIFT (DC 60, +5 to roll from ANOMALY TOUCHED + you have a vague sense of what it does)0 SUCCESSES: It sure is a flower. (You don't really learn anything.)1 SUCCESS: You think it's meant to keep you safe? (You learn how many properties it has and you'll get hints on what they might be.)2 SUCCESSES: It squirms inside your wrist. Is it trying to tell you something? (You get direct conformation on what one of its properties is.)3 SUCCESSES: It feels like it was always meant to be a part of you. (You learn everything there is to know about the gift.)
Rolled 46, 96 = 142 (2d100)>>6299562
Rolled 79, 9 = 88 (2d100)>>6299562I'm something of a chef myself.
Rolled 39, 34 = 73 (2d100)>>6299562
So that's two successes for COOKING WITH WINE and...nothing for the gift. All I'll say is studying the gift won't be a complete waste of time. You'll learn at least something.Writing.
>>6299581We are gaining socratic wisdom with these rolls
You're trying your best. You really are. You're a hard worker. You put your best foot forward every time you start a shift. However, despite all of this, you're still a human, and as a result..."C'mon. We got a hot robot literally giving us booze, Vince. You're telling me we shouldn't drink it?"You're still susceptible to peer pressure. "You really want to drink the stuff?""Vince. We gotta test it, yeah? Gotta pay off daddy ARC so he doesn't take our guns, our FREEDOM, our LIBERTY!!!" Colt stomps his foot on the ground for emphasis. "We're obliged to do this, Vince. It is our God-given duty.""COLT IS CORRECT. THE MAIN GOAL FOR ALL RESEARCHERS IS TO GENERATE PROFIT. TESTING THE WINE WOULD GENERATE PROFIT.""Fine!" You throw your hands up. "Fine! We're doing it MY way. SACA, set up the grill. Colt, get the bread and spam.""Oh boy, a cookout too? You know how to party, Vince!" "ON IT."It's not long before everything's set up for the test. You've set aside four beakers filled with wine. You don't want to contaminate the rest of the samples with what you're about to do.Each one is a different mixture of wine and water. The first beaker is 100% wine, the second is 75% wine/25% water, the third is 50/50, and the last is 25/75. You've placed a slab of spam in each mixture to see how the different concentrations of wine would affect the meat."Vince." Colt grumbles at the experiment you set up. "Ain't there a brain between those ears? I want to DRINK it, not EAT it, you fucking freak.""Yeah, yeah. SACA, put the spam on the grill once they're done soaking.""UNDERSTOOD."You quickly duck into the empty containment cell, both to avoid Colt's wrath and to do yet another experiment. You're curious about how the MOLD would react to being fed the anomaly's wine. It basically eats everything short of meat and metal, but it's also something you sourced from an anomaly. Crosstests, crosstests. Maybe it's a perfect fuel source for the mold, or maybe it just kills the mold.You don't want to contaminate any major batches just in case it's the latter. You replaced the main bucket with one that only had a small amount of mold growing inside of it. You pour a decent amount of the wine into the autofeeder's liquid tank. You won't know the results until next shift, sadly.There's hardly any wine left in the bucket once you finish filling the autofeeder. There's only really one sample's worth of it left in here. Oh well, you'll just have to make another trip to NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER to get more. You duck out of the room since, well, you got a grill to tend to.>1 OBSCURA SYRAH SAMPLE left.Two strong aromas hang in the air. A savory, meaty aroma from the meat cooking on the grill and a fruity, strawberry one from the wine marinade. You can already tell something's off with the spam from the first beaker. You can't even say it's being cooked; it's just...melting on the grill. The three other pieces of spam are holding up just fine, though.
SACA scrapes the meat paste off the grill. "MAY I DISPOSE OF THIS INTO THE MOLD FEEDER?""Yeah, go ahead."You carefully tend to the three pieces of meat left. You're not really a good cook; the most you've ever done was boil eggs in plain water. The last time you cooked meat on a grill was when you still lived with your pa.Colt is looking over your shoulder, staring at the meat like a hawk. He whispers into your ear on how to best cook the meat. You'll just trust that he knows what he's talking about.>2 SUCCESSES!You take the meat off the grill once it's fully cooked. All three slabs have taken on the bright red hue of the wine you soaked them in. You grab a scalpel from a nearby table, and after cleaning it, you slice the spam into thin, sandwich-friendly slices.You toast some slices on the residual heat of the grill until they're golden brown so you can cobble some spam sandwiches together. Despite being made in a lab using weird anomalous wine, the sandwiches actually look pretty good. Certainly better than the slop you act.Colt snatches one of the prepared sandwiches. "This spam was soaked in the most booze, yeah?" You silently nod, watching to see what happens to him.He takes a giant bite out of the sandwich. He hardly bothers to chew before forcing it down his throat. He opens his mouth as if he's about to speak, but no words come out. He rips into the sandwich in big, greedy bites until there are only crumbs left on his shirt.He scratches the area of his stomach where he nearly got disemboweled. He peels off the bandages wrapped tightly around his stomach and...his wound's gone?You grab one of the sandwiches, and you bite into it. The meat immediately melts into your mouth. It tastes more like a meaty jam than spam at this point. It's one of the best sandwiches you've ever had. You easily devour the thing in one go.Your shoulder begins to itch. You unwrap the gauze covering it, and like magic, the wound has patched itself over. Holy shit. The skin looks pretty raw, though. Touching it sends a jolt of pain through your arm, but the actual wound's gone.You and Colt share a look with each other. Okay! Okay, this might've been worth succumbing to peer pressure.>PROPERTY DISCOVERED! Food cooked using OBSCURA SRAYAH is imbued with a moderate healing effect.>YOU and COLT are now DOING GREAT!Your head feels a bit weird after eating the sandwich. It's nothing serious for now, but you're a bit cautious about consuming too much food made with this wine."Ah, you earned it." You slide the 100% wine beaker over to Colt. He snatches the beaker and promptly pours the contents of it into his mouth."Ya know, I don't see why ya were so worr-" Colt freezes up mid-sentence. "Colt?" SACA quickly moves to catch Colt right as his legs give out. He's barely able to stand up straight and, without SACA holding onto him, he would've cracked his head open like a fucking egg.
"Hehfh. Bin's smoothh h like an omelette." >PROPERTY DISCOVERD. COLT's MENTAL HEALTH is now UNBREAKABLE. It can't be lowered by most means!"Hefkm." He tries his best to stand up, but he slumps right into SACA's arms. He is completely fucking sloshed. "Ya lokk funni.""I WILL LAY HIM DOWN ON THE LOUNGE CHAIR. CONTINUE YOUR WORK, VINCENT.>...COLT also has a massive -15 penalty to most skill checks while intoxicated.>5 WINE-SOAKED SANDWICHES OBTAINED! (Heals a moderate amount of PHYSICAL HEALTH, may have side effects if you eat more than one a day.)With COLT out of the picture and SACA assigning itself to tend to him, you're left to your own devices. You try to figure out what your GIFT does, but, to be honest?>0 SUCCESSES!You don't really learn much about it. The only real impression you got after you were given it is that it bloomed when you were working out, and it puffed a floral scent in the air when you were stressed out over the PC.You poke at your skin on your chest with your scalpel, and that makes the flower flinch, as if it felt the pain too. Whatever effects it may have, it seems tied to your wellbeing but you can't really get a solid reaction out of it.You don't really have time to do any more tests on it. You seat yourself down by the computer to check up on one little thing. You click the icon for CPPQUEST.EXE. It boots right back to where you last left off. The screen shows a heavily corrupted and pixelated mess that, if you squint, resembles a random storage room somewhere in a facility just like yours.Something's different this time around. There's music playing in the background. https://youtu.be/sA73U0fVAVk - CPPQUEST.EXEIt's just as garbled as the rest of the game. The song is complete garbage noise."U ARE SOMEWHERE ADKR. WHAT DO?" The distorted portrait of whatever claw-handed character your player flickers. For a moment you thought you saw something that could resemble a smile. "U R SOMEWHERE KARD. WHAT DO?" You type in 'TURN ON LIGHT."The text box at the bottom of the screen reads, "YOU TURN ON LITGH. U SEE A DOOR." The screen doesn't visibly change but it's so garbled, it's hard to tell. "BE4 U LEVE""WHT KND OF HUMN R YOU? IF PROBLEM COMES WHAT DO U DO?" So your character's meant to be human? You suppose it's asking what kind of class you want?What do you type in? Choose one path. You'd imagine your playthrough will change radically depending on what you pick.>"A cautious human." You'll avoid whatever problems the game throws at you.>"A violent human." It's a game. There's no harm in blowing off some steam, right?>"A lame human." Might as well self insert, right?>"A talkative human." Charisma is always busted in video games, right?>"A tough human." Being a tank sounds fun. Nothing will be able to stop you.>"A smart human." Seems like a safe choice. Intelligence is always strong in RPGs.>Write in.
>>6299741>"A smart human." Seems like a safe choice. Intelligence is always strong in RPGs.
>>6299741>"A cautious human."we're playing a CYOAplay it like a point and clickold school adventure
>>6299741>resembles a random storage room somewhere in a facility just like yours.Could test this to check if its an opportunity to look into the lives of other facility personnel, but the extent of its usefulness may be limited to the accuracy of this game. Will have to wait and see if this is just a replica of our facility, a similar layout, or just a lookalike.>Write in: "An ETF agent human." If anyone would be prepared for this facility, its the ETF.These are people who may be well versed in the environment this game may take place in, and the quality of being 'a kind of human' may extend further than we know. I propose we dip in a little, see if and how precisely we can describe ourselves before the game throws a fit.Hoping someone could find a better candidate for a suitable instance of humanity than I could though. I would not put it past there being someone better than an ETF agent for this job.It is very important who we pick, given that the game's prompts are so far entirely freeform.And judging from our choices, I've got a hunch these are all some profession of facility personnel already.I'd suggest a drink of robot juice before an input of something like "ARC Upper Management" or telling it we're anything but human though, assuming this works at all. Remember the PHYSICAL and MENTAL health warning.
>>6299741>"A cautious human." You'll avoid whatever problems the game throws at you.
>>6299741>>6299774+1Gotta support the WRITE IN agenda, i guess the argument is okay too, or whatever
>>6299741>The distorted portrait of whatever claw-handed character your player flickers>>6282470>There's a portrait of your character but it, like everything else, is corrupted and garbled. The only identifying characteristics of whatever you're controlling is that it has clawed hands.>>6295036>A humanoid figure stands only about ten feet away from the both of you. The only thing keeping its decency is a pair of tattered, gunk-stained boxers clinging to its skin. Its skin is a glimmering black that's like freshly spilled pen ink. Its left arm has been replaced with a large, jagged sharp claw that is dripping fresh crimson blood.>Its left arm has been replaced with a large, jagged sharp clawOh shit, could it be?
>>6299774+1
>>6299741>>6299774+1
>>6299741FUCK ITChanging vote from >>6299761 to backing >>6299774Write ins are the soul of /qst/s everywhere
>>6299774+1It would be useful to know if this app is associated with ARC or if it’s 3rd party.It’ll also let us know exactly how rigid the game’s structure is. Maybe we’ll just get pigeon-holed into its existing roles, maybe it’ll remake itself based on our inputs.
>>6299880I don’t love the implications here, but the only causal link we have so far is “clawed hands”.If we do find a causal link though, how do we handle it? Do we report this to upper management or try to find a way to use it?
You know what? You might as well experiment with this weird, glitched-out video game. You type 'An ETF agent human' into the text box. The game's environment appears to be based on an ARC facility, so it'd only make sense to pick an ETF agent. They'd know how to get around the facility.The game hiccups for a moment as it processes your request.'U R ETF HUMN! UR SPECIL TRAITS ARE 'KNOW PLACE' AND 'GOOD COMBAT.' U START WITH GUN + 8 BULLET" A distorted, corrupted stat screen pops up on the left side of the screen. All of your character's stats (STR/DEX/CON/INT/CHA) are set to 8/10, and your HP value is '55/55.' Pretty strong-looking build.The corrupted, pixelated screen clears up to show a detailed (but still pixelated) rendering of your character. Their face is a mangled and pulverized mess of flesh and bone with no structure to it, just raw ground meat. Their outfit is pretty accurate to the agent you saw at the cafeteria. Full tactical gear, including a protective vest and shoulder/kneepads, adorns your character's body.Their left hand is a poorly drawn claw but their right one is just a regular human arm. Everything about your character, besides their claw and face, looks 'human' enough.The character equips a mask with a generic 'tough dude' face painted on it to hide their mangled face."U R A GOOD SOLDIER> YOUR TSK IS TO MET WIH YOUR SQUAD."The quality of the game's graphics jumps up immediately after you select your character. The music still sounds like a dog being mauled in a washing machine, but it looks like an actual game! You can actually make out your surroundings! You decide to do a quick playthrough to see what the game's all about.It's a very, VERY clunky dungeon crawler. You have to input a written command with every single move you make and, half the time, the game spits out an error message because your wording wasn't EXACTLY like what the game was programmed to recognize. It takes about ten minutes to escape the room you're in.Your character finds themself in a lab that looks pretty similar to your own lab. There's a lot more equipment inside than yours but the basic layout is nearly 1:1. Everyone looks 'pristine', as far as you can tell from the pixelated graphics, but it's clear no one has been in this lab for a hot second.You pilot your character outside of the lab, and, lo and behold, it's your favorite part of working here. The facility's endless, tangled mess of hallways that look exactly the same. You decide to tell your character to return to the lab.You examine the lab's equipment but your character's descriptions of them are very, uh, unhelpful in figuring out what the equipment does."THE MACHINE THAT GRINDS THINGS.""THE MACHINE THAT BOILS THINGS.""THE MACHINE THAT FEEDS YOU""THE MACHINE THAT COMPUTES STUFF."It's like your character barely understands the world around it. You pilot your character outside of the lab and, without anything else to work with, you pick a random direction to go.
You spent a good five minutes wandering around without any apparent progress but something catches your eye. Your character passes by a door. A door! Something new! You take a step back to see what room it is."CAFE LOUNGE. LEVEL 2+ ONLY."Huh. You don't recognize seeing something like that. Someone exits the lounge right as you stopped by to check it.It's a highly pixelated depiction of someone you only saw briefly - Kevin, that little brat kit you met yesterday. It's hard to tell given the 1bit, monochrome artstyle but that's him.He's staring at you with that blank yet curious look every kid has when they see someone new. "KEVIN: Uhm. Hi, sir!" appears in the textbot. Your character automatically responds."ETF: Do know where we at?""KEVIN: Uhm. What's with your arm, sir?""ETF: ETF BUSINESss. Where we are?""KEVIN: Oh!!! That makes sense. My dad looks really weird when he comes home.""KEVIN: We're at Layer 3, mister. Do you need anything?""ETF: Know. Thank you. Send regards to your parents, KEVIN."Your character automatically ends the conversation. Weird. A small text box opens on the screen. "KNOW PLACE PASSIVE ACTIVE! LAYER 3: THE PRODUCTION AND MANUFACTURING LAYER OF THE ARC FACILITY. ALL MANNERS OF GOODS ARE PRODUCED HERE FOR THE GREATER GOOD OF THE FACILITY.""AS AN ETF HUMAN, YOU ARE ABLE TO GET MANY GOODS HERE!!! RUMORS OF A NASTY MONSTER RUNNING THIS PLACE HAVE CAUGHT YOUR HUMAN ATTENTION, THOUGH! SIDE QUEST OBTAINED???"You continue down the hallway just to see if the game's depiction of the facility is accurate. It's not long before you stumble across someone else.A thick, muscular man with a neck as thick as a log of wood is staring at your character with fear. He's wearing the same attire as the security guards at your your facility. You try to type something to communicate with the NPC but-"COMBAT ENCOUNTER! A MONSTER APPROACHES YOU. AS A HUMAN, WHAT DO YOU DO?"You're confused. That dude looks pretty human to you. You don't type anything but that's when..."MONSTER: Sir? I need some identification. Who are you?" You check your inventory for anything resembling identification but there's nothing. Just the gun you started with. You feel a cold pit in your stomach - You shouldn't use that gun, should you? You write in something in the text box."ETF: I am an ETF agent. Please let me through.""CHA HIGH ENOUGH PLUS U R QUALIFIED HUMAN. APSSSECD.FF.""MONSTER: Oh, sorry, didn't know it was official ARC business. Carry on.""MONSTER: I am NOT paid enough to ask what's up with your arm, sir."Your character is able to walk past the guard but, as soon as they do, the game begins to sputter and distort again. You duck your character into a randomly generated storage room and you barely manage to save the game before it closes on its own. Okay, there doesn't really seem to be much of an objective to this game but whatever this game is, it takes place in a replica of your facility.
The two characters you interacted with brushed off how weird your character was acting because it presented itself as an ETF agent. Picking an ETF AGENT was probably the best option you could've picked here. Your best guess is that the game registered it as you asking for an 'easy mode' character. You don't really mind that, though, considering how weird the game is.You need to ask Kevin if he saw anyone weird. You have no real 'proof' but something about this game is rubbing you the wrong way. That NPC had the same name and appearance as that kid, it can't be a coincidence, can it?You look back at the clock. Only 1 TIME TOKEN is left. What do you do before your shift ends, Vincent? Choose ONE action and any (including no) FREE ACTIONS.RESEARCH>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. It's best you tend to it before your shift ends. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50. No penalty, Colt is out COLD.)>Enter NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER'S containment cell. Getting more of its wine wouldn't be a bad idea. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Study the WIRE FLOWER'S ability to record stuff. Can you record new stuff on them? Can you improve the quality of the recordings? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49, no PENALTY due to Colt being out COLD.)>Wait for your computer to calm down before trying to boot up CPPQUEST again. There has to be more to the game. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Has a chance of inflicting PHYSICAL/MENTAL HEALTH damage.)>There's this random MYSTERY BAGGIE you've had in your inventory for days now. Figure out what's in it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, no stat check. You'll get to know what the item is.)BUSY WORK>Look up any information about L'CURE on ABNOWATCH. This restaurant/company is really shady. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65.)>You don't got much time left this shift. Check up on your pals on FRIENDCHAT, maybe you get some advice (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Cook some stuff on that new propane grill of yours. Might as well use the already spoiled WINE SAMPLES you have. (-1 TIME TOKEN, produces 1d3 healing items, consumes some food surplus.)>SACA isn't doing so great. Offer to repair/upgrade the robot to the best of your abilities. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 63, +2 to roll. Improves RAPPORT between you and SACA.)>Check on COLT's condition. You did let him drink a glass of anomalous wine, after all, might as well keep an eye on your test subject. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Lets you learn more about the WINE's effects on humans.)MISC>Approach your FAX MACHINE. Risk the wrath of CORPORATE MIGHT. (FREE ACTION, can be picked alongside your two work choices. -$25. Choose who to call: HAYDEN, BLACKWELL or UPPER MANAGEMENT.)>Write inI might update quicker this time around given you're only picking one action.
>>6300284>>SACA isn't doing so great. Offer to repair/upgrade the robot to the best of your abilities. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 63, +2 to roll. Improves RAPPORT between you and SACA.)
>>6300284>Check on COLT's condition. You did let him drink a glass of anomalous wine, after all, might as well keep an eye on your test subject. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Lets you learn more about the WINE's effects on humans.)
>>6300284>SACA isn't doing so great. Offer to repair/upgrade the robot to the best of your abilities. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 63, +2 to roll. Improves RAPPORT between you and SACA.)Help a clanka out
>>6300275>Their outfit is pretty accurate to the agent you saw at the cafeteria. Full tactical gear, including a protective vest and shoulder/kneepads, adorns your character's body.We will not see the MAN IN TACTICAL GEAR the next time we enter the cafeteria, as he has been absorbed in maints.No need to ask KEVIN, we'll already know what's up if he's not there.Unless you really want to be sure?Or unless he's still there?Either way, something is fucky. If the MAN IN TACTICAL GEAR is in cafeteria, we should totally talk to him. Nothing can go wrong, and we will prove once more that that Vincent is the champion of this facility.>>6300284Oof, this is a hard choice.>Check on COLT's condition. You did let him drink a glass of anomalous wine, after all, might as well keep an eye on your test subject. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Lets you learn more about the WINE's effects on humans.)As much as I would love to prove Vincent is an expert robotics technician, I'd like to know as much about the WINE as possible given that we know it heals us now. Could help us predict its effects, could help us manufacture a safer medicinal version of it, perhaps even a panacea depending on the extent of its healing ability. And money!Will have to feed a sandwich to LUCY later.
>>6300284>Check on COLT's condition. You did let him drink a glass of anomalous wine, after all, might as well keep an eye on your test subject.
>>6300284>Check on COLT's condition. You did let him drink a glass of anomalous wine, after all, might as well keep an eye on your test subject. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Lets you learn more about the WINE's effects on humans.)SACA has their own techs to fix them up. We humans only have each other
>>6300284>SACA isn't doing so great. Offer to repair/upgrade the robot to the best of your abilities. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 63, +2 to roll. Improves RAPPORT between you and SACA.)Improving rapport is our strongest move. That said, asking us to get passes on a DC of 61? get real. I'll still do it because I like our robots but I'm tellin ya like it is.Also the ETF agent was a really solid move. I think this is another option we could have used to kill that Level 3 fat troublemaking smuggler guy. Which would probably result in character death? Which is probably how the psychic damage comes into play? Then again maybe an ETF agent could do it and claim it was necessary lol.I wonder if we could use it to send loot to our lab somehow? Inventory? Mail? If we brought him to our lab could we give them some wine which it could force feed to an assassination target. Give it a sandwich so it can eat it mid combat as a heal item lol. Get his ETF badge for ourselves? Lots of ideas there.
>>6300284>>Check on COLT's condition. You did let him drink a glass of anomalous wine, after all, might as well keep an eye on your test subject. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Lets you learn more about the WINE's effects on humans.)
It's a no brainer - You really want to help SACA out but your knowledge on repairing stuff starts and ends with 'turning it on and off again'. Colt's a perfect source of data to you right now. How does the raw wine affect someone? Could it clue you on what a safe, medicinal dose might be? Could it reveal what other effects the wine might have?You make sure to put on some new PPE. Not because you think he's infectious but because you know what drunk people to do a LOT. You rather not have vomit on your suit and tie, you know?Colt's body has sunk as far as it can into the lounge chair. He's blankly staring at the ceiling with a dopey, thoughtless smile. "Vinnnnnnn...l-look, beakshit, w-we've been bals for 7 years now...""We've only been work partners for 9 hours, Colt." You let out an exasperated sigh."B-but, freakshot, I know it's been a l-long time." He's not listening to you. "I-if I-I don't bake it, I want. I." He cuts himself off before he can finish what he's saying. He's not slurring his words as much as before but he's not on the same mental plane as you are."Colt?""Who the fuck are you?" There's not even a hint of recognition behind his eyes. "Bah." He goes back to staring at the ceiling as if that's more worth his time.Asking him anything is going to be a waste of time. You snatch a syringe off a nearby table so you can take a blood sample from him. He doesn't even flinch when you sink the needle into his vein.The blood you extracted already looks wrong. It has darkened quite a lot and its viscosity has increased to really worrying levels. You do a quick chemical analysis on it with your testing kit and, uh, there's certainly an issue! You don't think blood PH should be 3.4. That's as acidic as wine or vinegar is supposed to be.Yet, despite how intoxicated he is and how his blood looks, Colt seems fine. His vitals are normal enough for someone who's drunk.You put some of the blood in the CENTRIFUGE before turning it on. Two distinct liquids separate after only a minute or so. Most of it is blood, probably about 98% of it, but there's something floating on the surface of the blood. A small but notable amount of wine has been separated from his blood.>NEW PROPERTY OBSERVED: After consumption, a small amount of the consumer's blood is replaced with wine. Source of immediate and prolonged intoxication? The wine has already taken on a far lighter hue that resembles human blood more than his actual blood right now.>NEW PROPERTY OBSERVED: The wine found in their blood has been noticeably altered. May offer unique properties?>You obtain 1 SAMPLE of BLOOD WINE (A small amount of light red wine extracted from Colt's blood. Unknown properties.)Hm. You return to Colt and you make a small cut on his arm with your scalpel. He doesn't even flinch at the cut you gave him. Thick blood pours out of the wound and, after only a few seconds, the blood has thickened and dried to the point where the bleeding has stopped.
You wouldn't really call it 'healing', you can still see the cut you made clear as day, but his body barely registered the injury. Interesting.>NEW PROPERTY OBSERVED: People intoxicated on raw OBSCURA SYRAH have a dulled sense of pain. Their blood also clots insanely fast when exposed to air. It's not nearly as useful for immediate healing as something refined (e.g the sandwiches) but you can already think of a good medical application of this. If someone is seriously injured and they're bleeding out, this stuff could buy them some much needed time.The intercom system outside crackles to life. Oh, guess that's all the time you have. "Despite how drunk he is," You address SACA. "He seems fine. Get him some food, he probably needs it.""UNDERSTOOD. I WILL SEE YOU. LATER." SACA helps Colt onto his feet. Colt waves you goodbye and you think he mutters your name out but you're not sure. He's promptly escorted out of your lab.That just leaves you by your lonesome. Oh well, you did a lot today, you're proud of yourself. You take some time to neatly organize your lab and the various samples you got scattered around. You guess you got some free time to explore around the place.You're stopped in your tracks right as you exit the lab.A man in a bright yellow suit stands before you. He sports a plasticine smile that threatens to split his face in half. "Good afternoon, Mr. Cruz. I have some very important information to tell you." You can already tell this guy is either from HR or Upper Management from how he presents himself. "Which is?" You hesitantly ask."One: August has been promptly reprimanded." Mr. Yellow Suit holds out a plastic baggy to you. Your eyes widen and you have to stop yourself from gagging when you see what's inside. Two severed human fingers. "We made sure he understood that he is a team player, just like everyone else here.""It is unbecoming of an organization to let a rusty gear clog up the rest of the machine. Am I right?"You put on your impassive corporate mask without even thinking about it. "Indeed. I assume my associates here at LAYER 2 will no longer be bothered by him?""Indeed. We gave him so many chances and, with YOUR encouraging words, we even convinced Upper Management that his services were not...required anymore. I believe this warning should finally get through to him.""I assume there's another reason why you came here in person, sir."Mr. Yellow Suit laughs hollowly. "Indeed. You only have three more shifts to supply your QUOTA, Mr. Cruz. I believe you know how important it is for you to carry your own weight. You wouldn't want to be reprimanded too, correct?"Your eyes dart to the plastic bag. "Of course not, sir.""Please." Mr. Yellow Suit's smile gets even wider. Despite how well groomed and painstakingly maintained the rest of his appearance is, his teeth are cracked and yellowed. "I prefer to be called Mr. Yellow. I'm your...liaison."
"Your receiver and transmitter, between you and Upper Management, to make sure you're doing what is required of you.""Mr. Yellow? Is that your last name?""It's my title, Mr. Cruz. Enough small talk. Let's talk business."MONEY: $1261 (+$150 obtained from BLACKWELL)QUOTA: 405/2750 (lowered thanks to finishing BLACKWELL'S sponsorship.)THINGS AVAILABLE TO SELL FOR QUOTA: CIGARETTE MOLD x15 ($177, you have 17 but 2 were set aside to grow via your AUTOFEEDER), MYSTERY BAGGIE ($100), OBSURA SYRAH SAMPLE ($200).>Anything you sell to Mr. Yellow will only be used to feed the all-mighty QUOTA, none will go to your personal budget.What do you offer Mr. Yellow?>Pay your QUOTA here and now. (-13 CIGARETTE MOLD SAMPLES, -$44. Quota will no longer be an issue this week.)>Pay off half of your QUOTA. (-6 CIGARETTE MOLD SAMPLES, QUOTA is now 1467/2750, Mr. Yellow will be appeased for the time being.)>Sell ALL of your CIGARETTE MOLD. (-15 CIGARETTE MOLD. Next week's QUOTA will be reduced due to you overpaying him. Mr. Yellow will offer you a small reward.)>Tell him to wait. You still got three days, right? (Mr. Yellow will be annoyed but he'll accept. For now.)>Ask him if there's anything you can do to lower the QUOTA. (Sidequest obtained!)>You decide to pay him with...(Write in how much you want to give him. Overpaying him will be rewarded with unique items.)While he's here, you might as well question him. Choose three things to ask MR. YELLOW.>"August doesn't know who complained, right?" You want to make sure you're not going to be hunted later.>"Say, how can I get promoted in this joint?" You don't want to be a LEVEL 0 RESEARCHER forever.>"Can UPPER MANAGEMENT offer me some less redacted dossiers next time?" A small favor like that couldn't hurt, right? (DC 57, +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)>"So, what is it like being a 'liaison' for Upper Management?" The info you have about UPPER MANAGEMENT is spotty at best. Might as well get to know your bosses.>"Do you know anything about a game called CPPQUEST?" Couldn't hurt to get more information about that weird game.>"How did you get a suit like that? I wish I had a suit like that." You know how vapid these types of people are. Talk to him on his level. (May improve RAPPORT with Mr. Yellow.)>"Weird request, can I have those fingers?" Having human flesh WOULD help you experiment with the wine's healing properties...>Write in.
>>6300766Before I vote>Pay your QUOTA here and now.>Sell ALL of your CIGARETTE MOLD.What's the difference here between these two options?
>>6300767The first one just pays off the quota. You don't have to worry about your QUOTA this week.The second one pays off this week's QUOTA and next week's quota will be reduced. You also get a small reward but the tradeoff is you can't sell any CIGARETTE MOLD for catalog purchases today.Which, I did say in the voting options.
>>6300772Ah okay thank you QM>>6300766>Sell ALL of your CIGARETTE MOLDDo the POWER MOVE. Best foot forward while we're early and fresh in Mr. Yellow's eyes>"August doesn't know who complained, right?"Assurances of safety, slim as it is in this place>"So, what is it like being a 'liaison' for Upper Management?">"Say, how can I get promoted in this joint?"Learn the hierarchy, show Mr. Yellow we're curious but not quite a promotion hound or bloodthirsty ambitious type... yet. Or if ever, but he doesn't know that.
>>6300766>You decide to pay him with...(Write in how much you want to give him. Overpaying him will be rewarded with unique items.)13 Mold for 2301, and then 354 dollars instead so we can keep the last 2 mold incase we don't like the Obsura Syrah soaked strand we have cooking in the autofeeder. Then get whatever small reward hes gonna give us.>"August doesn't know who complained, right?" You want to make sure you're not going to be hunted later.>"Say, how can I get promoted in this joint?" You don't want to be a LEVEL 0 RESEARCHER forever.>"So, what is it like being a 'liaison' for Upper Management?" The info you have about UPPER MANAGEMENT is spotty at best. Might as well get to know your bosses.
>>6300766>Sell ALL of your CIGARETTE MOLD. (-15 CIGARETTE MOLD. Next week's QUOTA will be reduced due to you overpaying him. Mr. Yellow will offer you a small reward.)God bless the MOLD.>"How did you get a suit like that? I wish I had a suit like that." You know how vapid these types of people are. Talk to him on his level. (May improve RAPPORT with Mr. Yellow.)>"Say, how can I get promoted in this joint?" You don't want to be a LEVEL 0 RESEARCHER forever.>Write in.>Why is our weekly quota higher than other researchers get for their first week?Lucy told us the first weekly quota is only meant to be a few hundred dollars, right?
>>6300766DEAL>You decide to pay him with... (-14 CIGARETTE MOLD SAMPLES, -$467. It's good to do well on first impressions.)We pay him $600 extra. That's $100 more than the non-discount 9MM PISTOL, the most expensive thing we could've bought.We are left with $794.Better give us something worth our time, Mr. Yellow.QUESTIONS>"Say, how can I get promoted in this joint?" You don't want to be a LEVEL 0 RESEARCHER forever.If he is impressed, he may decide we are a 'model employee' and consider recommending us for 'promotion.'>"August doesn't know who complained, right?" You want to make sure you're not going to be hunted later.Need to figure out if we need to get rid of the problem ourselves... Permanently.>"Weird request, can I have those fingers?" Having human flesh WOULD help you experiment with the wine's healing properties...The master of first impressions, our priorities are in order.
>Sell ALL of your CIGARETTE MOLD. (-15 CIGARETTE MOLD. Next week's QUOTA will be reduced due to you overpaying him. Mr. Yellow will offer you a small reward.)WRITE IN>"How about we talk over some dinner?"(Try to get him talking over dinner, offering him a sandwich and the wine sample, to help with other actions and to "show off" our work ??DC)>"Can UPPER MANAGEMENT offer me some less redacted dossiers next time?" A small favor like that couldn't hurt, right? (DC 57, +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)>"So, what is it like being a 'liaison' for Upper Management?" The info you have about UPPER MANAGEMENT is spotty at best. Might as well get to know your bosses.BORN TO SLAVE鬼神 WINE AND DINE EM ALL 202XI'M THE WAGESLAVE MAN410,757,864,530 SMOOTHTALKED SUPERIORS
>>6300766Swap out my second question >>6300797 for the write in on >>6300782I'll be in favour of killing August anyways.If he doesn't know we got his fingers chopped, he will soon enough.
>>6300766>Pay your QUOTA here and now. (-13 CIGARETTE MOLD SAMPLES, -$44. Quota will no longer be an issue this week.)fuggit>"August doesn't know who complained, right?" You want to make sure you're not going to be hunted later.>"Can UPPER MANAGEMENT offer me some less redacted dossiers next time?" A small favor like that couldn't hurt, right? (DC 57, +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)>"So, what is it like being a 'liaison' for Upper Management?" The info you have about UPPER MANAGEMENT is spotty at best. Might as well get to know your bosses.
>>6300766>Pay your QUOTA here and now. (-13 CIGARETTE MOLD SAMPLES, -$44. Quota will no longer be an issue this week.)I worry paying it all off so soon might have some unforeseen consequences, but we’re ballin in dough anyways.>"Say, how can I get promoted in this joint?" You don't want to be a LEVEL 0 RESEARCHER forever.>"Can UPPER MANAGEMENT offer me some less redacted dossiers next time?" A small favor like that couldn't hurt, right? (DC 57, +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)>"How did you get a suit like that? I wish I had a suit like that." You know how vapid these types of people are. Talk to him on his level. (May improve RAPPORT with Mr. Yellow.)
>>6300766>Sell ALL of your CIGARETTE MOLD. (-15 CIGARETTE MOLD. Next week's QUOTA will be reduced due to you overpaying him. Mr. Yellow will offer you a small reward.)Reward sounds good to me.>"Say, how can I get promoted in this joint?" You don't want to be a LEVEL 0 RESEARCHER forever.>"Can UPPER MANAGEMENT offer me some less redacted dossiers next time?" A small favor like that couldn't hurt, right? (DC 57, +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)>"Weird request, can I have those fingers?" Having human flesh WOULD help you experiment with the wine's healing properties...Treat it like a job interview. Show that we’re ambitious and willing to think outside the box. Then spin that into convincing Upper Management to give us enough info to do our (absolutely beloved) job better.
>>6300766>You decide to pay him with... (-14 CIGARETTE MOLD SAMPLES. It's good to do well on first impressions.)Overperform just a little. Autofeeder mold might be tainted by wine.>"Weird request, can I have those fingers?" Having human flesh WOULD help you experiment with the wine's healing properties...Show them to medbay staff first
>You decide to pay him with...14 mold samples and the OBSURA SYRAH SAMPLE>"August doesn't know who complained, right?" You want to make sure you're not going to be hunted later.>"Do you know anything about a game called CPPQUEST?" Couldn't hurt to get more information about that weird game.>"How did you get a suit like that? I wish I had a suit like that." You know how vapid these types of people are. Talk to him on his level. (May improve RAPPORT with Mr. Yellow.)
>>6300766>Sell ALL of your CIGARETTE MOLD.>"August doesn't know who complained, right?" >"Weird request, can I have those fingers?">"How did you get a suit like that? I wish I had a suit like that."
>>6300952Only one of the autofeeder molds has wine tested on it for later. We still have one pristine mold we literally can never sell off
>>6300766>>Pay your QUOTA here and now. (-13 CIGARETTE MOLD SAMPLES, -$44. Quota will no longer be an issue this week.)Anything extra would be showing off a bit too much for my tastes. Let's look like an efficient cog in the machine rather than an ambitious brown noser. >>"August doesn't know who complained, right?" You want to make sure you're not going to be hunted later.>>"Weird request, can I have those fingers?" Having human flesh WOULD help you experiment with the wine's healing properties...And it would be great to show to Medbay (and see what experiments they'd be on board with regarding the wine once we've determined whether or not it's a renewable resource). >>"Can UPPER MANAGEMENT offer me some less redacted dossiers next time?" A small favor like that couldn't hurt, right? (DC 57, +5 to roll from WAGESLAVE.)
>>6300766Wait a sec, we have instaheal spam sandwhiches. Why not pay with one of those?Adjusting >>6300952>Pay with 14 mold samples and one sandwhich>"Weird request, can I have those fingers?" Having human flesh WOULD help you experiment with the wine's healing properties...
Rolled 1 (1d2)>>6301199Mostly because you had 15 piles of mold to sell him plus you don't really know a lot about the possible 'side effects' of the sandwiches. Probably wouldn't sell as much as the mold.CheckingPAYING WITHALL MOLD: tbi, Dj2, OLn, PPH, shn MOLD AND MONEY: Szu, KVBJUST PAY QUOTA: SXG, KOO, bTEMOLD + SANDWICH: ph5MOLD PLUS OBSCURA SYRAH: CWxPaying with all MOLD wins out.ASKINGAUGUST: tbi, Szu, SXG, CWx, shn, bTE (6)CPPQUEST: CWx (1)LIAISON: tbi, Szu, OLn, SXG (4)PROMOTION: tbi, Szu, Dj2, KVB, KOO, PPH (6)VAPID: Dj2, KOO, CWx, shn (4)QUOTA TOO HIGH?: Dj2, KVB (2)FINGERS: KVB, PPH, ph5, shn, bTE (5)DINNER: OLn (1)DOSSIERS: OLn, SXG, KOO, PPH, bTE (5)So, you're going to ask about AUGUST and if you can get a PROMOTION. Rolling 1d2 to see if you ask about DOSSIERS or the FINGERS. DOSSIERS will require another dice roll. 1 = DOSSIER, 2 = FINGERS.
Alright, we're doing the dossier. Three anons, roll 1d100+5. DC 57.0 SUCCESSES: "That is not something I am authorized to do." (Stonewalled.)1 SUCCESS: "...Due to your 'contribution' to our organization, I'll think about it." (Future DOSSIER DCs will be reduced slightly.)2 SUCCESS: "...Of course, sir. You've earnt enough money to 'earn' this privilege." (Future DOSSIER checks will clue you in on what you can extract from an anomaly. Should help you profit off future anomalies.)3 SUCCESSES: Mr. Yellow simply smiles at you. (Same bonuses as 1 and 2 PLUS the DOSSIER table has been upgraded. Every threshold now offers more information in general. Even the worst possible roll still offers some useful information.)
Rolled 22 + 5 (1d100 + 5)>>6301278Stand back, everyone... I'll handle this
Rolled 77 + 5 (1d100 + 5)>>6301278
>>6301280Fuck
Rolled 50 + 5 (1d100 + 5)>>6301278
>>6301290OOF. Off by 2. Shucks.So, that would be ONE success. However, you do have one SPEECH CHECK reroll you got a while ago. This WOULD be a SPEECH check. Wanna use it? First to three wins.>YES (QM will roll the 1d100+5, replacing 1w+'s 27. Might let you get 2 SUCCESSES.)>NO (Saved for later. Whenever 'later' might be.)
>>6301292>NO (Saved for later. Whenever 'later' might be.)
>>6301292AGGGHHH FLOWER SAVE MEEEEE
>>6301292>yesGuys this is kind of important for later.
>>6301292>YESYea, why not.
Rolled 52 + 5 (1d100 + 5)I'm taking Szu's vote as a 'YES'. Alright. Rolling. PRAYING to the DICE GODS...and whatever happens, writing.
Dozens on dozens of different questions flash through your brain. He's a direct line of communication between you and the people who run this joint, there's SO much you could ask him. You have to hold yourself back so you don't vomit questions at him."I have enough to pay off my QUOTA. Follow me." You escort him over to the empty containment cell inside your lab. Piles of CIGARETTE MOLD are stored here, ready to be collected. Only two samples, one being experimented on with the OBSCURA SYRAH drip-feed and one 'pure' sample, have been set aside for later.The skin around Mr. Yellow's mouth is actually starting to tear from the strain of his smile. "Excellent. How much are you willing to give us?""Everything except for those two samples over there."Mr. Yellow nods, "Understood. I believe this payment to your quota overpays by $310. For your more than adequate offering, I have something I am authorized to give you."He reaches to grab something from his pocket. He grabs your hand and gently places two objects on the palm of your hand.One is a small slip of paper and the other is a...glass eye?REWARDS OBTAINED>'80% OFF' COUPON (Allows you to get anything from the CATALOG for 80% off. Only valid for one purchase.)>GLASS EYE (Something similar but distinct from an ARTIFACT. Vibrates with power. Adds a +15 bonus to a perception or research based roll. Good for one use.)While you feel a bit bad selling off most of your CIGARETTE MOLD, these two items are probably going to make up the difference."The transaction is now complete. I will leave you to your own devices now.""Wait. I have a few things I want to ask you."Mr. Yellow's smile droops. "I would recommend being quick with your questions, Mr. Cruz.""August doesn't know who complained, right?" The last thing YOU want is for someone thirsting for !REVENGE!. "My complaint was anonymous, right?""Ah! Of course." His expression softens into something you could vaguely consider 'comforting'. "We do not inform employees being 'reprimanded' on who reported them. It would only result in unnecessary conflict between employees. We do tolerate employees 'reprimanding' each other but only if we're not directly involved."You let out a sigh of relief. Okay, that's a weight lifted off your shoulders."If you wish to 'reprimand' him further? We will not stop you." You try your best to keep a polite smile on your face. You're not going to dwell on the offer he gave you. "Alright, next question. How exactly do you get promoted in this joint? I don't exactly want to be Level 0 forever."Mr. Yellow nods in agreement, "No one does. Going from Level 0 to 1 is automatic. Surviving seven days and paying off your first quota successfully automatically gives you the rank of Level 1. For any further levels, those are merit based.""We review your progress every four days to check your productivity and what achievements, whether work or personal, you have accomplished in the last four days."
"Of course, this only comes into effect once you get to Level 1. We have already taken note of your CIGARETTE MOLD farm for future reviews, however.""Once a certain amount of progress has been noted, we promote you to the next level. We'll inform you more of the nitty-gritty specifics once you're level 1."Alright. He's being shockingly open with these answers. You suppose that leaves one more thing to ask of him. "There's one thing I want to ask. Can UPPER MANAGEMENT offer me some less redacted dossiers next time? I don't get why you keep redacting them.""Hm? Isn't it obvious? You're Level 0. You simply do not have access. You can wait until you're Level 2 for-""Sir, please." You interrupt him. "It simply isn't good for business if you keep doing this.""Explain?" Mr. Yellow tilts his head at you like a wild animal trying to understand something it hasn't seen before."The time I was scouring around in a dossier that's heavily redacted to the point of being worthless can be put to better use. If the dossiers were easier for me to understand, it would benefit you more than me.""It would save me time, and it allows me to do more important work that could possibly make YOU money.""I would get to understand the anomalies better, I could get to work on extracting value from them faster, AND there's a lower chance of a productive employee being killed off." You gesture towards the CIGARETTE MOLD farm behind him. "I'm making you money, right?""A hard worker like me who clearly cares about the organization's well-being should be rewarded, no?" You are absolutely lying through your teeth here. You only care about the organization as much as it cares about you, which is close to nil.It's one of the few skills you have, though. Kissing up to those above you.>2 SUCCESSES!Mr. Yellow mulls over your request, really considering if he should listen to you. "You DID pay your QUOTA early, and you overpaid for it. You have also shown yourself to be a hard, diligent worker.""Indeed, sir. Wouldn't it make sense to give an employee like me some worker benefits?"Mr. Yellow concedes to your request. "Of course, sir. You have earned us enough money to 'earn' this privilege." He does his best to keep up a professional tone of voice. He furrows his eyebrows as he grants this small little concession. "You will be given Level 2 Access solely for accessing the dossiers of your anomalies.">Future DOSSIER checks have their DCs reduced by 4.>Future DOSSIER checks will also clue you on what EXTRACTS an anomaly may have."I shall leave you to your own devices, Mr. Cruz." With that, Mr. Yellow excuses himself. You suppose you have some FREE TIME to do whatever you want now. There are a LOT of things you can do right now. What do you want to do, Vincent?
Choose three.>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. A d100+4 will determine what category it ends up being.)>Head down to LAYER 3. You want to see more of the facility to see how accurate CPPQUEST is. Maybe you'll meet whatever you're controlling?>Head back to LOST AND FOUND. Let's see what goodies you can steal this time. (DC 43. You may write in a category of items to look for.)>Head back to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. You want to see if Rudolf's there, maybe he can give you some more advice.>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)>Look for ASHTON. You want to train with her. Get some muscles, train your fighting abilities, maybe even ask her if she's willing to work for you.>You vaguely recall a rumor the MAN told you about 'abandoned places' having 'loot, power and glory'. Head down to the ABANDONED LAB where that one mutated researcher used to work at. (???.)>Head down to MEDBAY. Tell them the good news about AUGUST. You also want to hear their thoughts on the healing sandwiches and blood-clotting wine you got.>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with people you already met.)>Write in.
>>6301388>Head down to LAYER 3. You want to see more of the facility to see how accurate CPPQUEST is. Maybe you'll meet whatever you're controlling?>Head back to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. You want to see if Rudolf's there, maybe he can give you some more advice.>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)
>>6301388>Head down to MEDBAY. Tell them the good news about AUGUST. You also want to hear their thoughts on the healing sandwiches and blood-clotting wine you got.>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)>Look for ASHTON. You want to train with her. Get some muscles, train your fighting abilities, maybe even ask her if she's willing to work for you.
>>6301388>Look for ASHTON. You want to train with her. Get some muscles, train your fighting abilities, maybe even ask her if she's willing to work for you.>You vaguely recall a rumor the MAN told you about 'abandoned places' having 'loot, power and glory'. Head down to the ABANDONED LAB where that one mutated researcher used to work at. (???.)>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)
>>6301388>Head down to MEDBAY. Tell them the good news about AUGUST. You also want to hear their thoughts on the healing sandwiches and blood-clotting wine you got.>Head down to LAYER 3. You want to see more of the facility to see how accurate CPPQUEST is. Maybe you'll meet whatever you're controlling?>You vaguely recall a rumor the MAN told you about 'abandoned places' having 'loot, power and glory'. Head down to the ABANDONED LAB where that one mutated researcher used to work at. (???.)
>>6301388>Head down to MEDBAY. Tell them the good news about AUGUST. You also want to hear their thoughts on the healing sandwiches and blood-clotting wine you got.Well we still need to figure them out and run more tests but from what we've seen this early? Rather promising>Head down to LAYER 3. You want to see more of the facility to see how accurate CPPQUEST is. Maybe you'll meet whatever you're controlling?EXPLORE EXPLORE EXPLORE>You vaguely recall a rumor the MAN told you about 'abandoned places' having 'loot, power and glory'. Head down to the ABANDONED LAB where that one mutated researcher used to work at. (???.)Follow the lead...
>>6301388>Head back to LOST AND FOUND. Let's see what goodies you can steal this time. (DC 43. You may write in a category of items to look for.)>Head down to LAYER 3. You want to see more of the facility to see how accurate CPPQUEST is. Maybe you'll meet whatever you're controlling?>Head down to MEDBAY. Tell them the good news about AUGUST. You also want to hear their thoughts on the healing sandwiches and blood-clotting wine you got.
>>6301388>You vaguely recall a rumor the MAN told you about 'abandoned places' having 'loot, power and glory'. Head down to the ABANDONED LAB where that one mutated researcher used to work at. (???.)Loot, power, and glory?! All things synonymous with Vincent! Let's go!>Head down to MEDBAY. Tell them the good news about AUGUST. You also want to hear their thoughts on the healing sandwiches and blood-clotting wine you got.Loot and glory.>Look for ASHTON. You want to train with her. Get some muscles, train your fighting abilities, maybe even ask her if she's willing to work for you.Power.
>>6301388>Look for ASHTON. You want to train with her. Get some muscles, train your fighting abilities, maybe even ask her if she's willing to work for you.>You vaguely recall a rumor the MAN told you about 'abandoned places' having 'loot, power and glory'. Head down to the ABANDONED LAB where that one mutated researcher used to work at. (???.)>Head down to MEDBAY. Tell them the good news about AUGUST. You also want to hear their thoughts on the healing sandwiches and blood-clotting wine you got.
>>6301388>>You vaguely recall a rumor the MAN told you about 'abandoned places' having 'loot, power and glory'. Head down to the ABANDONED LAB where that one mutated researcher used to work at. (???.)>>Head down to MEDBAY. Tell them the good news about AUGUST. You also want to hear their thoughts on the healing sandwiches and blood-clotting wine you got.>>Look for ASHTON. You want to train with her. Get some muscles, train your fighting abilities, maybe even ask her if she's willing to work for you.
>>6301388>Head down to MEDBAY. >Look for ASHTON. >You vaguely recall a rumor the MAN told you about 'abandoned places' having 'loot, power and glory'.
>>6301388>>6301565+1 to this. I fucking LOVE secrets
>>6301574Maybe its another EGG!
"Alright, think, think." You start planning on how you're going to use your limited free time. You were tempted to go to Layer 3 but you can always deal with August later. Exploring the place sounds fun as well but...You already have a location in mind you want to explore. That mutated researcher you had to kill, his lab is probably going to be abandoned until they can kidnap some other shmuck from the streets to fill the void. You faintly recall something the Man said to you nearly a week ago.Some mentally unstable researchers, he claims, believe that there's loot, power and glory to be found in abandoned parts of the facility.Worst case scenario, you can jack whatever shit he left behind. Best case scenario? Loot. Power. Glory. You're at the bottom of the totem pole here - You need whatever power you can get.First, though, you need to check up with MEDBAY. You did deal with August, even if you didn't outright murder them like they asked. You take a deep breath to ground yourself. Okay. Time to act like a normal human, Vincent. You make your way over to MEDBAY.You can already feel the difference in the air before you even step inside. You pop your head in to check up on the nurses. They're chittering and chattering with a fervorous energy you haven't seen in them before. The patients, who all looked like they were on death's door, are actually starting to recover.The pile of useless garbage that was piled at the back of the room is gone. You can't make out anything specific but the shelves seem to be actually filled with various bottles of medicine.Huh. There's five nurses in hazmat suits in here. You were pretty sure there were only three before. One of the nurses spots you standing in the doorway. "Hey. C'mere." You hesitantly approach the group of nurses. They're all waiting with bated breath to hear what they probably already know."I dealt with August. He's not dead but he shouldn't be an issue anymore." The image of his severed fingers being presented to you still linger in the back of your mind. "He was, uh, 'reprimanded' by HR.""Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you." One of the nurses mutters under her breath like she's praying to some god. "Holy shit, you don't understand how long he's been a pain in our ass.""It...wasn't what we agreed on," One of the other nurses can't help to hide his disappointment, "but you dealt with our issue. We believe you deserve a reward.""It won't be as much as we initially promised but here you go." Another nurse hands over a wad of cash over to you. You flip through it and, yeah, it's not as good as the initial offer but! It's still money!>You obtain $325 and a moderate RAPPORT boost with MEDBAY! TOTAL MONEY: $1568>SIDEQUEST complete! You might be able to get another reward if you actually murder August."We can't thank you enough.""Doubt you came here just for that. What's up?"Oh, right. You got something to show them.
You place a beaker of OBSCURA SYRAH and one of the healing sandwiches you made down on the table. "I want your thoughts on these.""Some wine and a sandwich? What about them?"You explain what you learned about them from your limited testing on them. How consuming the sandwich causes enhanced regeneration, how the wine improves blood clotting and completely numbs pain, etc."I was wondering how I could improve or refine them." You'd imagine the nurses would have a better idea on how they might affect the human body. Your knowledge on human anatomy is surface level, after all."While it's a good proof of concept," one of the nurses pokes at the sandwich. "The first issue I see is it's probably not viable for emergency healing. If the patient is unconscious or unable to chew, it might as well be useless.""The wine would be useful as an emergency anesthetic, but it might do some pretty nasty damage in the long term. Blood clots aren't something to play with." Another nurse points out a flaw with the wine. "Not to mention how much alcohol it pours into your blood.""The dose makes the poison." Another nurse points out. "I see the merit in both of them. For the sandwich, it is fine in its current form. It would be helpful for patients recovering from a procedure.""I would recommend doing a few more trials on it to see what side effects it has, but it's serviceable as is.""The wine, we have an issue with its raw form." A fourth nurse comments. "Try to extract and isolate whatever compound in it clots blood. We could use it to help patients with hemophilia and other similar disorders that interfere with clotting. That might be more valuable to ARC than the wine itself.""If you can extract it," the fifth nurse adds, "we're open to trade with you. We can get you some far better supplies than whatever your catalog gets in exchange for that compound."Okay, so it sounds like you're on the right track with the sandwiches. You'll keep their advice in mind whenever you start experimenting with them again. "Alright, thank you. I'll work on it. Before I head out, mind telling me where Ashton is?""Oh, she's probably at the GYM." The what now? You check your map to see what they're talking about, and huh, it's not too far from the abandoned lab you planned on going to anyways. You thank them for hearing you out before you head your way to the GYM. You're just glad that August isn't going to bother them anymore.Hell, they should be able to get that rare medicine Lucy needs to not literally liquify into mush. You do want to hand one of the healing sandwiches to her, just to see what it'll do. That's for later, though; you've got some training to do.You make your way to the GYM with the map's help. Good thing you found this in one of the MAN's caches, you would have gotten completely lost otherwise. Especially when the gym's entrance looks the exact same as every other room here. You enter the GYM, ready to work out.
https://youtu.be/8RfZfO3tq0c - THE GYMThe stench of cheap body spray and sweat hits your nose like a fist. That's in spite of the room being completely devoid of people. Racks of cheap, low-quality weights that look way worse than what you bought line the walls. Most of the machines in here clearly hasn't been maintained in a while.A good chunk of them have shoddily written messages taped on them warning to not use them until they can be repaired. The only pieces of equipment in here that you trust using are the workout benches.The floor is decorated with cheap plastic mats straight out of a high school gym's locker room. Your shoes are already sticking to them. Eugh.You look around for Ashton. You spot her by one of the few functioning treadmills, doing some light jogging on it. You swallow any doubts you have about her...everything for the time being. You might as well work out."Hey, Ashton." You call out her name. "I'm here to work out with you." She turns her head to see who's talking to her and the moment she spots you, she hops off the treadmill."oh! i honestly didn't expect you to come." She rubs the back of her neck. "thought i scared you away, ha." She sports a beaming, infectious smile. It almost makes you smile despite how awkward she makes you feel. "alright, you know your body better than anyone else.""what do you want to start with first? im here to help you and your body out. gotta stay healthy, am i right?"Choose one WORKOUT to do with Ashton's supervision. Each one offers a small bonus to a group of stat checks.>ENDURANCE TRAINING. You have the stamina of someone in their 40s, better fix that. (Improves your ability to heal and your physical durability.)>STRENGTH TRAINING. You need to get STRONGER. You need to get SWOLE. (Improves your physical strength and your ability to do strenuous labor.)>AGILITY/CARDIO TRAINING. Best way to survive a fight is to run away from one. (Improves your reflexes, speed and hand-eye coordination.)>COMBAT TRAINING. You need to be able to defend yourself. (Improves your competency with weapons and your awareness on what weaknesses an enemy might have.)>You want to work on...(Write in.)You might as well talk to her. Choose three topics.>Ask her if she's willing to work with you tomorrow. Getting to know her will dispel any worries you have.>Ask her to follow you to the ABANDONED LAB. You could use some backup. (DC 55, +3 from ASHTON LIKES YOU.)>"Any ETFs gone missing lately?" You're still a bit worried about whatever happened in that weird game you played.>Does she know anything about what mutated that poor researcher? Just in case, you know?>Anything exciting happened today? Ask her about her shift. (Improves your RAPPORT with her, might offer some useful information.)>You still wanna know how she's smuggling stuff in. You want in, baby. (DC 66, +7 from ASHTON LIKES YOU and DEALT WITH AUGUST)>Write in.
>>6301833>ENDURANCE TRAINING. You have the stamina of someone in their 40s, better fix that. (Improves your ability to heal and your physical durability.)first thing we need to deal with.>Ask her if she's willing to work with you tomorrow. Getting to know her will dispel any worries you have.>Ask her to follow you to the ABANDONED LAB. You could use some backup. (DC 55, +3 from ASHTON LIKES YOU.)>Does she know anything about what mutated that poor researcher? Just in case, you know?
>>6301833>STRENGTH TRAINING. You need to get STRONGER. You need to get SWOLE. (Improves your physical strength and your ability to do strenuous labor.)>Ask her if she's willing to work with you tomorrow. Getting to know her will dispel any worries you have.>Anything exciting happened today? Ask her about her shift. (Improves your RAPPORT with her, might offer some useful information.)>Ask her to follow you to the ABANDONED LAB. You could use some backup. (DC 55, +3 from ASHTON LIKES YOU.)
>>6301833>ENDURANCE TRAINING. You have the stamina of someone in their 40s, better fix that. (Improves your ability to heal and your physical durability.)>Ask her if she's willing to work with you tomorrow. Getting to know her will dispel any worries you have.>Anything exciting happened today? Ask her about her shift. (Improves your RAPPORT with her, might offer some useful information.)>Does she know anything about what mutated that poor researcher? Just in case, you know?
>>6301833>COMBAT TRAINING. You need to be able to defend yourself.You've never seen a weapon like mine, it's the only one of its kind. Custom made, robust, slightly used.I'm also very concerned we're about to fight something.>Ask her to follow you to the ABANDONED LAB. You could use some backup. (DC 55, +3 from ASHTON LIKES YOU.)Haha, it's not like you didn't do a good job clearing the place or anything! I mean, you did have to enter the lab to bring us some of his shit, right? It's safe, right?!>Anything exciting happened today? Ask her about her shift. (Improves your RAPPORT with her, might offer some useful information.)What manner of useful information?>Does she know anything about what mutated that poor researcher? Just in case, you know?Yeah, I'd like to not have whatever did this to the guy assigned to our place.And to know more about the deadly anomalies, of course.
>>6301833>ENDURANCE TRAINING. You have the stamina of someone in their 40s, better fix that. (Improves your ability to heal and your physical durability.)Nothing else matters without a strong baseline first>Anything exciting happened today? Ask her about her shift. (Improves your RAPPORT with her, might offer some useful information.)>Ask her to follow you to the ABANDONED LAB. You could use some backup. (DC 55, +3 from ASHTON LIKES YOU.)>Does she know anything about what mutated that poor researcher? Just in case, you know?Let's get this looting rolling
>>6301833>>ENDURANCE TRAINING. You have the stamina of someone in their 40s, better fix that. (Improves your ability to heal and your physical durability.)First combat skill should always be how to run away.>Ask her if she's willing to work with you tomorrow. Getting to know her will dispel any worries you have.>Ask her to follow you to the ABANDONED LAB. You could use some backup. (DC 55, +3 from ASHTON LIKES YOU.):D>Anything exciting happened today? Ask her about her shift. (Improves your RAPPORT with her, might offer some useful information.)
>>6301833>ENDURANCE TRAINING.>Ask her if she's willing to work with you tomorrow. >Ask her to follow you to the ABANDONED LAB.>Anything exciting happened today? Ask her about her shift.
>>6301833>ENDURANCE TRAINING. You have the stamina of someone in their 40s, better fix that. (Improves your ability to heal and your physical durability.)>Ask her to follow you to the ABANDONED LAB. You could use some backup. (DC 55, +3 from ASHTON LIKES YOU.)>"Any ETFs gone missing lately?" You're still a bit worried about whatever happened in that weird game you played.>Ask her if she's willing to work with you tomorrow. Getting to know her will dispel any worries you have.
>>6301833>COMBAT TRAINING. You need to be able to defend yourself. (Improves your competency with weapons and your awareness on what weaknesses an enemy might have.)>Ask her to follow you to the ABANDONED LAB. You could use some backup. (DC 55, +3 from ASHTON LIKES YOU.)>Anything exciting happened today? Ask her about her shift. (Improves your RAPPORT with her, might offer some useful information.)>You still wanna know how she's smuggling stuff in. You want in, baby. (DC 66, +7 from ASHTON LIKES YOU and DEALT WITH AUGUST)
>>6301833>ENDURANCE TRAINING. You have the stamina of someone in their 40s, better fix that. (Improves your ability to heal and your physical durability.)>Ask her if she's willing to work with you tomorrow. Getting to know her will dispel any worries you have.>Ask her to follow you to the ABANDONED LAB. You could use some backup. (DC 55, +3 from ASHTON LIKES YOU.)>Anything exciting happened today? Ask her about her shift. (Improves your RAPPORT with her, might offer some useful information.)
>>6301388>>Look for ASHTON. You want to train with her. Get some muscles, train your fighting abilities, maybe even ask her if she's willing to work for you.>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)>Head back to LOST AND FOUND. Let's see what goodies you can steal this time. (DC 43. You may write in a category of items to look for.)
TRAININGENDURANCE: WGu, Dj2, tbi, PaL, Qk0, CWx, e6lSTRENGTH: SzuCOMBAT: KVB, KOOQUESTIONSWANNA WORK: WGu, Szu, Dj2, PaL, Qk0, CWx, e6lWANNA EXPLORE: WGu, Szu, KVB, tbi, PaL, Qk0, CWx, KOO, e6lMUTATION: WGu, Dj2, KVB, tbiYOUR SHIFT: Szu, Dj2, KVB, tbi, PaL, Qk0, KOO, e6lETF: CWxSMUGGLE: KOOAlright. Seems pretty set. Three anons, roll 1d100+3 and consult THE TABLE. No rerolls, you spent that to get Mr. Yellow's approval.0 SUCCESSES: "haha. ha." (You get stonewalled, what do you expect?)1 SUCCESS: "oh, i'm actually a bit busy today but..." (She won't come with you BUT she'll offer you some intel about the lab you're going to.)2 SUCCESSES: "oh sure! you and me, ashton and vincent, a hundred years." (Ashton joins the party!)3 SUCCESSES: "oh, sure! lemme get some gear for you real quick." (Ashton joins the party AND she gets you some gear. For no reason, totally.)
Rolled 93 + 3 (1d100 + 3)>>6302250Don't worry guys, I'll handle this one
Rolled 39 + 3 (1d100 + 3)>>6302250
Rolled 34 + 3 (1d100 + 3)>>6302250
waow, 1w+ stole all of your luck.1 SUCCESS. At least you didn't get completely stonewalled. Writing.
>>6302255I'm ok with this. Vince needs to learn to operate solo too
>>6302255She will at least agree to work with us tomorrow... Right?
"Look, to be honest? I need to improve my stamina." You try to stretch, but your back struggles to bend even slightly. "Hfff. God. My body feels like garbage.""oh, trust me, i get it. long shifts absolutely kill my body." Ashton gives a sympathetic nod. "we'll start with something simple. get on." She gestures towards the treadmill she was just using. Once you get on the treadmill as per her instructions, she turns it back on. The speed quickly picks up until you have to do a brisk walk in order to stay on. It's not particularly taxing so you're able to keep up pretty easily."until i tell you to stop, just keep walkin'. that's the exercise." You don't really get how this is meant to improve your endurance, but hey, you'll go along with it. Might as well talk to her while you're here.Best to start with some basic small talk. "Alrighty then. How's your day been?"The smile she had immediately fades. "awful, man, just plain awful. i had to file some paperwork involving that little incident you were a part of. always the worst part of being a guard.""What paperwork?""who got injured, what assets were lost, reporting that a researcher died. all of that. it's a real headache.""Ah, I get that. Back at my old job? I had to fill, like, three forms just to get some staples."Ashton shakes her head with a solemn expression. "oh, if only it was three forms here most of the time. government red tape is something else, vincent."You shiver as you remember the piles of paperwork you had to do when your firm was being audited a year ago. "Oh, I could imagine. I had to jump through a thousand hoops just to get my dossiers unredacted.""oh, i imagine! heck, i gotta file paperwork to report something i saw today." Oh? That catches your interest. "Huh? I feel like I should know about this."Ashton's eyes widen as she realizes she said too much. She stumbles over her words before she just gives up. "ah. i'm not supposed to say this to anyone. don't rat me out, okay?""You never ratted me out for ignoring curfew." "touche."https://youtu.be/MGIdIp8KPiA - STORYAshton reaches over to press a button on the treadmill before she tells her story: "there's someone inside the facility's ventilation system.""i was doing my rounds around layer 4 when i saw something crawling right out of a random vent hanging from the ceiling." She shivers as she recounts the story. "it was a man or, well, what used to be one. his filthy, bloated body was way too big to fit into a vent but..." She shrugs, not really having any explanation for what she saw."he was completely naked except for, like, this gas mask that clung to his face and some random shreds of grey cloth stuck to him.""What the fuck?""he looked right at me, but he didn't say anything." Ashton fidgets with the baton hanging off her belt. "he gurgled something out but it wasn't speech. it was a wet, thick sound that makes me gag just thinking about it."
"he then jumped right back into the vent.""You said he was fat, right? How—""i don't know. his body somehow just managed to fit in there. i have no idea what i saw, but..." Ashton shudders. "oh, god, the stench hanging around him. it was awful. it was like vomit and burnt garlic mixed together."Well then! You're not sure what's worse; Either he's an anomaly that escaped, or a human managed to do all of that."T-thanks for the heads up." "sorry if the story was a bit much." Her shoulders droop; she's clearly not pleased about making you uncomfortable."No, no, it's probably better if I know about it. It's fine." Best to keep an eye on the vents then.You decide to change the topic. "Hey. Want to work for me tomorrow? I could always use some help."Ashton's eyes sparkle the moment you give her the offer, "oh! absolutely, man. patrolling this place fuckin' sucks. anything else would be better.""Trust me, being a researcher isn't much better.""true but, hey, you seem cool. why not?" Well, that was shockingly easy. "just give me $45 so i can get a good meal later." Wow, that's cheap. You wonder if there's a catch with how cheap hiring her is but, hey, you can worry about that later.>ASHTON can now be hired!You think of one more thing to ask her. "Well, I could give you some money right now if you'd follow me after we're done here.""oh, where?" She says with some slight hesitation. "i still got some reports to file so i'm a bit busy.""You know that lab that got abandoned? I was hoping to check that place out. I heard rumors about some weird shit happening in abandoned places."Ashton crosses her arms. "i don't know. maybe it's a good idea you stay away from there.""C'mon. With the two of us, it should be easy. You got a weapon, I got a weapon, we'll be fine.""you're sweating like a pig, vincent."You try to ignore how drenched in sweat you are. "I mean, I'm going there whether you're coming with or not, so. C'mon. Wanna join?">1 SUCCESS!"sorry, man, i got some other stuff i gotta work on. if you're deadset on goin' there, i should give you a heads up." "Yeah, what's up?""we did relocate all of his anomalies, but, well, the researcher who worked there wasn't all there. paranoid, you know?" She spins her finger around her ear. "one of my coworkers got his leg caught in a beartrap that was set in there. we tried clearin' it out, but there's probably still some traps in there.""so, uh, watch your step in there. we sorta left it be after we got the anomalies out. also, to be honest? i don't want to go back there. when me and my coworkers were clearing it out, the air just felt, i dunno, wrong? like we weren't welcome."Well, that's vague and potentially ominous. At least having some info is better than nothing. You turn your focus back to your endurance training. Every minute or two, Ashton cranks up the speed of the treadmill by a little bit.
It was tolerable at first but you soon have to actually run to stay on. Your lungs begin to burn. You've been on this treadmill for at least half a hour now and now that the speed picked up, you're struggling to keep up. Your body soon gives up after the machine reaches 9.5 MPH.You're barely able to get off the machine before you collapse onto the floor. You struggle to breath and your limbs refuse to listen to you.Ashton kneels down to check on you. "hey, dude, you okay?"You gasp something that might be confused for human speech. Ashton slowly helps you off the floor and back onto your feet."hey, the good news is you lasted 45 minutes on there! that's pretty good for a beginner." She hands you a water bottle. You guzzle it down like ambrosia from the gods. You empty the whole thing out before you gasp out something resembling speech."That fucking sucked, wow! You do this shit every day?""every day, it gets a little bit easier. just rest for a bit, man." She pats you on the shoulder. "once you're ready to go, maybe jog over to the lab? heart health is important, man.""Yeah, sure, whatever." You gurgle out.After taking a short break, the pain burning in your limbs feels...almost good? Not in a masochistic way, you just feel better. It's hard to explain. You recall your father saying that the 'burn' was good whenever he worked out. You're back on your feet before you know it.>Your ENDURANCE has improved!>You now heal more when you sleep or eat. >You gain +1 to any ENDURANCE-based physical check (e.g pushing through pain and working out)"Hoo. Thanks for the help, gotta go.""see ya!"You follow her advice and you decide to jog your way over to the lab. Your legs are still throbbing like crazy after being pushed to their limits earlier but in a place like this? You can't avoid to neglect your health. You reach the lab's front door before you even realize it.You pull your MAKESHIFT WEAPON out of your satchel, ready to defend yourself if need be. You carefully open the door just in case someone got here first.The lab is completely empty. That's not hyperbole, to be clear, there's basically nothing left inside the lab. No tables, no bookshelves, no equipment. Everything that would've once adorned this lab has been ripped out to be given to someone else. Faint imprints on the dust covered walls and floor clue you into what might've once been there.Only one singular light bulb illuminates the lab with dull red light. It's just barely strong enough to vaguely illuminate your surroundings. The only reason you can make out anything is the light shining from the open front door.The only things left in here at the four airlocks leading to the containment cell that once housed anomalies, two on either side of the lab. You step into the lab, checking around the entrance for traps just like Ashton warned you about. You step foot into the lab's main room once you're sure there's no traps near or at the front entrance.
Suddenly, you hear something slamming shut. You turn around to see that the door you just came in from has shut itself. You move to try opening it up the keypad that operates it refuses to work. The door, for the time being, is staying firmly shut.You should have the same access as this guy, you're pretty sure he was Level 0 as well. Why isn't the keypad working.You turn around now that your only immediate exit out of here has been closed. The air has shifted in a way that you're deeply familiar with. Something, or someone, is in here with you. Your ANOMALY TOUCHED subconscious instinctually knows that you're not alone in here. Whatever it is, it's probably what spooked Ashton away from here.Yet, you don't see anyone or anything in here with you. There's just empty grey walls and the four containment cells. You raise your weapon up, just in case whatever might be in here isn't that friendly.What do you do, Vincent? Choose two things to investigate.>Examine CONTAINMENT CELL #1. The placard reads 'TOADHOLE'.>Examine CONTAINMENT CELL #2. The placard next to it reads 'THE UNSEEN COLOUR'.>Examine CONTAINMENT CELL #3. The placard reads 'THE CITY'S ANARCHIST'.>Examine CONTAINMENT CELL #4. The placard is blank but a smiley face has been carved into the cell's airlock.>There's a door at the far end of the room. That wasn't there before, was it? (???)>Focus. Something's wrong. You need to figure out WHAT, though. (DC 51, +7 from THAT'S THAT.)>Check for whatever trap you sprung that closed the door. You need an exit in case shit goes south. (DC 50, no modifiers.)>Try to investigate something else. (Write in. There's not a lot else to investigate...)>Write in.>Look up. (???)
>>6302349>Examine CONTAINMENT CELL #3. The placard reads 'THE CITY'S ANARCHIST'.Anarchists do traps>Focus. Something's wrong. You need to figure out WHAT, though. (DC 51, +7 from THAT'S THAT.)
>>6302349>Focus. Something's wrong. You need to figure out WHAT, though. (DC 51, +7 from THAT'S THAT.)>Look up. (???)
>>6302349>Examine CONTAINMENT CELL #3. The placard reads 'THE CITY'S ANARCHIST'.>Focus. Something's wrong. You need to figure out WHAT, though. (DC 51, +7 from THAT'S THAT.)
>>6302349>Examine CONTAINMENT CELL #3. The placard reads 'THE CITY'S ANARCHIST'.Look who's on the other side of the anomaly work orders now, Mr. Anderson...>Focus. Something's wrong. You need to figure out WHAT, though. (DC 51, +7 from THAT'S THAT.)We literally just walked in here, stopping to assess the situation is standard
>>6302349>Focus. Something's wrong. You need to figure out WHAT, though. (DC 51, +7 from THAT'S THAT.)>Look up (???)You can’t just dangle that in front of me and expect me to not bite.
>>6302349>Focus. Something's wrong. You need to figure out WHAT, though. (DC 51, +7 from THAT'S THAT.)No problems here.>Look up. (???)There is nothing on the ceiling.
Whatever is in here can't harm us unless we interact with whatever fuckery it's doing. Likely trying to trap us in a pocket dimension or something.Wrong options- Smiley face room. There should be only 3 containment cells- Door at the end of the room. It just appeared out of nowhere.- Ceiling. Extra option in a separate category that appeared after the write in, which should be the last one. Ooo spooky meta fuckery.My point is that once Vince figures it out, he won't look up, so you guys are wasting an option here.
>>6302618This also explains why the guy was so paranoid. The anomaly living here kept giving him wrong options, so he had to doublecheck whatever he was interacting with. Eventually he slipped up and got turned in to the thing we killed.
Rolled 98 + 5 (1d100 + 5)CONTAINMENT CELL #3: ph5, WGu, tbiFOCUS: ph5, Dj2, WGu, CWx, tbi, z1w, KVB, jHoLOOK UP: Dj2, CWx, z1w, KVB, KOOAlright. Three anons, roll 1d100+7, DC 51. No rerolls. You don't really know WHAT you expect out of this check so no tables, you'll only know the general outcomes of your rolls.0 SUCCESSES = Failure1 SUCCESS = Partial Success2 SUCCESS = Success3 SUCCESSES = Success + Bonus Rolling my own dice. Don't worry about it.
Rolled 98 + 7 (1d100 + 7)>>6302747Spooky dice
Rolled 10 + 7 (1d100 + 7)>>6302747
Rolled 55 + 7 (1d100 + 7)>>6302747
>>6302747Ah, miscounted, it should be CELL #3: ph5, WGu, tbiFOCUS: ph5, Dj2, WGu, CWx, tbi, z1w, KVB, jHo, KOOUP: Dj2, CWx, z1w, KVB, jHo, KOONot that it matters. The vote was really lopsided, would've closed earlier if I wasn't sleeping.>>6302749>>6302750>>6302762FOCUS: 2 SUCCESSES. You succeeded at whatever you were doing.???: SUCCESS. (Whatever the 103 roll is for, it's good for you.)Writing.
>>6302764>???: SUCCESS. (Whatever the 103 roll is for, it's good for you.)nice
Deep breathes. You're here for three things: Loot, power and glory. You're not leaving until you get at least one of those things. You also don't want to die. You back up until your back is pressing against the jammed door.You can immediately tell that something's off about this room. The door at the back was NOT there until you were about to make a decision. In fact, it's already gone. Poof. It vanished into thin air just like that. You can NOT trust your senses here.You have to focus. You breath deeply through your nose as you begin to empty your mind. You need to act like your life is in danger here. Whatever is inside here with you, it's messing with your perception. If a door could vanish, what else in here is just another trick?Your vision twists and bends. It reminds you of when you were bored and you would go cross-eyed to see funny shapes and colors. Random, discordant sounds that have no place here echo inside the locked room. You can make out car horns, people talking to each other, birds chirping. It's as if you're back in the city instead of whatever facility you're stuck in. You know they have to be fake. Some trick of whatever's stuck inside this room with you. You close your eyes and as soon as you do, everything goes quiet.The air shifts. A weight that you weren't even aware of until now has been lifted off of your shoulders. You open your eyes to see that one of the containment cell doors has vanished into nothingness. You spot something off about the panel right by your side.No wonder why it wasn't working before. Something smashed it into pieces. Molten plastic and charred metal from the broken panel is scattered around your feet. The other containment cells have all of their airlocks pried open where, before, they were firmly sealed shut. You can't quite make it out from here but you can see some lost items scattered by the airlocks. Probably belongings from the security guards assigned with emptying this place out.Those items weren't there before. Your senses are compromised. Your hearing, sight and touch were all being affected by an anomaly. You can't trust anything in this fucking room.You can hear something whispering in your ear now. The words are garbled and distorted, your mind passively redacting everything that it is trying to say to you. For your own safety. LOOKUPLOOKUPLOOKYou feel an overwhelming urge to look up at the ceiling... >103!but you've grounded yourself enough to resist the urge.There's nothing up there except for that red light bulb. Wait, red? Even the dingy light bulb back at your lab, with barely any power to it, was glowing yellow. You carefully crane your head up, careful to only look at the light bulb and not the ceiling itself. You think that'll 'keep you safe' somehow.The light bulb isn't even attached to the ceiling. It's floating a few inches away from it, attached to something you can't quite see.
You swore it was attached to the ceiling before.Your subconscious warns you that the light bulb is hiding something. You need to make a move NOW.You tighten your grip on your MAKESHIFT WEAPON. You aim right at the red lightbulb and, with one fluid motion, you swing your weapon right at it.The bulb shatters into a million little pieces. The whole room immediately goes dark now that the only light source in here is gone. A low metallic creak groans out of whatever's hanging off the ceiling. Something slams down HARD onto the floor, making a wet THUD as it does so.https://youtu.be/m3CofUU8PhE - ???Somehow, you can see just fine despite the room being pitch black now. In the complete darkness, sizzling 'black' static lingers around the ceiling and the middle of the room. Something that can only be seen in the absence of light. Something that cannot and should not be visible in any visible light spectrum.The ceiling was a part, a limb, a subsection of the entity that took refuge inside the lab. It was trying to lure you to look up directly at it. Something to distract you. Maybe it would've made a move if you cluelessly explored the lab. Caution wins out, huh?Whatever fell to the floor coalesces and condenses into something less abstract. A twisted, mangled mass with rows on rows of teeth growing out of every orifice the entity has. A limp appendage, withe the shattered remains of the lightbulb stuck to it, hangs from the front end of the entity.The entity's round and corpulent body lays on the floor in a limp mass. Indistinct appendages that might be fins, horns or some other auxiliary limb grow randomly off of its surface, in between the rows of teeth jutting out of its flesh.This has to be an anomaly. Something that the guards left behind or, more likely, they didn't even know it was here.It doesn't seem to be moving. What do you do now, Vincent? Choose four.>Take some time to analyze the anomaly's appearance. Document what you see. (DC 64, +12 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and THAT'S THAT)>Examine the ceiling again. Figure out how the anomaly merged with its environment. (DC 70, +12 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and THAT'S THAT.)>Loot a CONTAINMENT CELL. (Can be picked multiple times. Write in which cell (#1-3) to check. Each one likely has some decent loot inside.)>Try to harvest something from the anomaly. You could sell them back to ARC. (You'll get various samples from the anomaly.)>Recover the belongings that the guards left behind. (Returning these will get you some RAPPORT with the various security guards.)>You're not taking any chances. Stab and whack the anomaly until you KNOW it won't make another move. (Physically taxing, guarantees safety.)>Try to establish communication with the anomaly. Is it even sapient? (You may write in up to two questions to ask it.)>Try to take a picture of the anomaly with your camera. If nothing else, you need to show this to ARC.>Write in.
>>6302822>Take some time to analyze the anomaly's appearance. Document what you see. (DC 64, +12 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and THAT'S THAT)>Examine the ceiling again. Figure out how the anomaly merged with its environment. (DC 70, +12 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and THAT'S THAT.)>Recover the belongings that the guards left behind. (Returning these will get you some RAPPORT with the various security guards.)>You're not taking any chances. Stab and whack the anomaly until you KNOW it won't make another move. (Physically taxing, guarantees safety.)
>>6302822>You're not taking any chances. Stab and whack the anomaly until you KNOW it won't make another move. (Physically taxing, guarantees safety.)Vincent Cruz, Anomaly Slayer.>Take some time to analyze the anomaly's appearance. Document what you see. (DC 64, +12 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and THAT'S THAT)>Try to harvest something from the anomaly. You could sell them back to ARC. (You'll get various samples from the anomaly.)>Recover the belongings that the guards left behind. (Returning these will get you some RAPPORT with the various security guards.)
>>6302822>>Try to harvest something from the anomaly. You could sell them back to ARC. (You'll get various samples from the anomaly.)>Recover the belongings that the guards left behind. (Returning these will get you some RAPPORT with the various security guards.)>Loot a CONTAINMENT CELL. (Can be picked multiple times. Write in which cell (#2)>You're not taking any chances. Stab and whack the anomaly until you KNOW it won't make another move. (Physically taxing, guarantees safety.)
>>6302822something that can only be seen in the dark, and it wanted us to look at it in the light... interesting.>Take some time to analyze the anomaly's appearance. Document what you see. (DC 64, +12 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and THAT'S THAT)>Examine the ceiling again. Figure out how the anomaly merged with its environment. (DC 70, +12 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and THAT'S THAT.)>Loot a CONTAINMENT CELL. (#1-3) >Recover the belongings that the guards left behind. (Returning these will get you some RAPPORT with the various security guards.)
>>6302822>You're not taking any chances. Stab and whack the anomaly until you KNOW it won't make another move. (Physically taxing, guarantees safety.)If it bleeds, we can kill it!>Loot a CONTAINMENT CELL. (#3 'THE CITY'S ANARCHIST')LOOT>Recover the belongings that the guards left behind. (Returning these will get you some RAPPORT with the various security guards.)GLORY>Examine the ceiling again. Figure out how the anomaly merged with its environment. (DC 70, +12 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and THAT'S THAT.)POWER
>>6302938+1
>>6302822>Take some time to analyze the anomaly's appearance. Document what you see. (DC 64, +12 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and THAT'S THAT)>Examine the ceiling again. Figure out how the anomaly merged with its environment. (DC 70, +12 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and THAT'S THAT.)ARC didn't even know this was here. This means knowledge is POWER and we can sell our info back to ARC>You're not taking any chances. Stab and whack the anomaly until you KNOW it won't make another move. (Physically taxing, guarantees safety.)This won't kill the weird anglerfish thing but it'll feel good for us and it'll make things safer for anybody else like the security>Try to harvest something from the anomaly. You could sell them back to ARC. (You'll get various samples from the anomaly.)More stuff to research and try to derive PROFIT fromHonestly I'm voting to go all in on this creepy anglerfish fucker. Wall merging is a sick power and perception fuckery is a valuable tool. If I wanted to disregard this thing, I'd vote>STAB>LOOT CELL>LOOT CELL/TAKE PHOTO>RECOVER BELONGINGSBut I don't
>>6302822>Take some time to analyze the anomaly's appearance. Document what you see.>Examine the ceiling again. Figure out how the anomaly merged with its environment.Recover the belongings that the guards left behind.>You're not taking any chances. Stab and whack the anomaly until you KNOW it won't make another move.
>>6302822>Take some time to analyze the anomaly's appearance. Document what you see. (DC 64, +12 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and THAT'S THAT)>Try to establish communication with the anomaly. Is it even sapient? (You may write in up to two questions to ask it.)>Try to take a picture of the anomaly with your camera. If nothing else, you need to show this to ARCFully document this thing and kick the info upwards later. Will look good on the record and will met a promotion/cash/equipment.>Recover the belongings that the guards left behind. (Returning these will get you some RAPPORT with the various security guards.)Make more friends.
>>6302822>Try to harvest something from the anomaly. You could sell them back to ARC. (You'll get various samples from the anomaly.)>Recover the belongings that the guards left behind. (Returning these will get you some RAPPORT with the various security guards.)>You're not taking any chances. Stab and whack the anomaly until you KNOW it won't make another move. (Physically taxing, guarantees safety.)>Try to take a picture of the anomaly with your camera. If nothing else, you need to show this to ARC.That “look up” roll is interesting. I wonder what would have happened if QM hadn’t rolled as good?Vincent is not the scrappy luck-fueled survivor that Nicole was, he feels squishy. I wonder what his real odds of survival are here?Because, despite surviving the last two hostile encounters, we have yet to be put in actual danger.
Rolled 1 (1d2)ANALYZE: KOO, DJ2, WGU, KPK, M5C, PH5CEILING: KOO, WGU, KVB, T7T, KPK, M5CBELONGINGS: KOO, DJ2, CWX, WGU, KVB, T7T, M5C, PH5, PPHKILL: KOO, DJ2, CWX, KVB, T7T, KPK, M5C, PPHHARVEST: DJ2, CWX, KPK, PPHCELL: CWX, WGU, KVB, T7TPICTURE: PH5, PPHTALK: PH5APPEARANCE + CEILING + GUARD BELONGINGS won out, flipping a coin to see if you HARVEST something or if you loot a CONTAINMENT CELL.1 = HARVEST, 2 = CHECKING CELL #3Three anons, roll 2d100. Tables below. Same rules as always, first three dice rolled are assigned to the first table.APPEARANCE (DC 64, +12 will be added to the rolls)0 SUCCESSES: Your brain hurts just looking at it. (You don't record anything and you take some heavy MENTAL HEALTH damage.)1 SUCCESS: It was being projected onto the mind. (You record some rough details and you take some moderate MENTAL HEALTH damage.)2 SUCCESSES: It's just a fish, isn't it? (You record a solid description of the anomaly and you barely take any MENTAL HEALTH damage.)3 SUCCESSES: The static is no issue to your mind. (You record everything you can and you don't take any MENTAL HEALTH damage.)CEILING (DC 70, +12 will be added to the rolls)0 SUCCESSES: Alas, you are but a shadow. (????)1 SUCCESS: Endless, twisting visual snow. (You have a vague awareness of how its perception power works.)2 SUCCESSES: It must shine. It must shine. Keep looking. (You have a rough idea how its power works. Your mind's better equipped to handle anomalies that alter your senses.)3 SUCCESSES: It makes and doesn't make sense. Somehow, this conforms you. (Same as 2 SUCCESSES but you heal a LOT of MENTAL HEALTH.)>>6303417>we have yet to be put in actual danger.filename related.
Rolled 19, 63 + 12 = 94 (2d100 + 12)>>6303469
Rolled 63, 47 = 110 (2d100)>>6303469
Rolled 98, 77 = 175 (2d100)>>6303469
And the RESULTS are...Both got 2 SUCCESSES! Guess dealing with an anomaly is easier than talking to people, I suppose. Writing.
You keep a firm grip on your weapon. There's a lot you want to do, but that felt TOO easy. One hit and it's knocked out? C'mon, you're not an idiot. With a simple flick, the hidden blade inside your weapon reveals itself.You carefully approach the anomaly, and in one jerky motion, you stab the blade into the anomaly. You immediately learn two things:1.) The anomaly is made out of tangible matter and 2.) IT IS VERY MUCH STILL ALIVE.https://youtu.be/C80TjrVZOAc - ALIVEThe beast thrashes in a desperate attempt to dislodge the blade you jammed into it. You barely manage to yank it out before the anomaly's thrashing could snap the blade. Seething static crackles out of the many orifices carved into the beast's hide.THERE ARE LIGHTS THAT CAN ONLY BE SEEN WHEN THERE'S NO OTHER LIGHT. ISN'T IT BEAUTIFUL?Your head seethes at the foreign voice being jammed into your skull. The faint floral aroma radiating from your flower is the only thing that keeps you steady.The beast charges at you with the same ferocity as a wild boar. You're barely able to dodge out of the way right as it was about to run you over. It charges right into the jammed front door. The metal walls and door are twisted and mangled from the impact of the strike.A small beam of light trickles through a now visible gap in the door. The light, combined with it slamming headfirst into a steel wall, has stunned it for a brief moment. You take this time to wail at the anomaly with all of your strength. You slice gash after gash into the beast's hide, and where the hide is hidden by teeth, you smash at those with the blunt end of your weapon. You quickly back away when the anomaly begins to stir again. It swiftly turns around to face you. You're exhausted after you tried your best to injure the beast; you're not sure if you're going to be able to dodge again.You throw yourself to the side right as it charges at you yet again. You're a bit sloppy this time, so your labcoat gets caught in one of the many teeth growing out of its body. You're able to tear yourself out, but you hit the ground HARD.Just as hard as the beast slams into one of the airlocks. You definitely heard something that sounded like bone cracking when it slammed into the airlock. You quickly get back up to your feet, and this time, you jab your knife as hard as you can into the beast's side. Over and over again, you rip into the anomaly's 'flesh'. An ozone-smelling fluid splatters onto your clothes with every gash you rip into the anomaly's side. You don't stop until your arms and legs feel like noodles. You try to keep up the assault, but your body gives up on you.You fall to your knees. Your weapon clatters to the ground as you lose your grip on it. You better hope that thing is dead or unconscious because you're not going to be able to fight back if it isn't.>You are now EXHAUSTEDMinutes pass. Neither you nor the anomaly is making a move.
The metallic, bitter stench of ozone lingers on your stained clothes. Your head is spinning, and you're trying your best to not throw up. The static that makes up its body still squirms and crackles with life, but...it's not getting back up any time soon.You climb back to your feet. Okay. Good. Fuck this thing. You kick it for good measure, but you doubt the anomaly even registered the kick. Alright, time to get to work.You slowly pace around the lab to collect the various belongings the guards left behind here. There's nothing really worth stealing amongst them; it's mostly just personal knickknacks. You do find some spare ammo that, eh, you might as well take.>PERSONAL BELONGINGS obtained! (To be returned at a later date.)>You now have 2 PISTOL AMMO (Good for two combat encounters. If you can find a gun.)You keep glancing back at the anomaly to make sure it's not moving. It's weird, though, how you can't really get a good look at its appearance. Its static is allowing you to see just fine in the dark, but the actual anomaly is a blur to you.No wonder why it was shining light in here. It's basically impossible to miss this thing in the dark. You need to focus so you can actually record a decent description of this thing.If looking at it directly doesn't get you anywhere, what if you messed with your own vision? It takes a bit of struggling, but your vision begins to blur and twist in on itself. As your pitch-black surroundings become even harder to parse, the anomaly's features slowly begin to become visible.>2 SUCCESSES!It's just an anglerfish. A really big, mutated one, but it's something you can comprehend. Jagged teeth jut out of its flesh, ripping and tearing through its hide. There's more than one lure hanging off of the fish's body, but they seem stunted or undeveloped. You assume it only has one active at a time to try to blend in with its environment more.The blood leaking out of it is a pitch black ichor that glimmers and shimmers in the darkness, like pen ink. It looks exactly like the gunk that was all over that mutated researcher's body.The scales covering its body seem to reflect and twist light (and darkness) in such a way that, if you don't distort your own vision just right, its body just looks like static to you. Two layers of camouflage, huh? It's almost impressive if this thing wasn't trying to kill you a few minutes ago.Its body spasms and twitches seemingly at random, and when it spasms, random parts of its body recede or grow. Unstable anatomy, probably why you thought it was a fluid mass of static at first.You scribble down everything you can make out of its 'true' form before keeping your eyes crossed hurts too much. Your mind feels 'fine,' but having to decode two layers of camouflage is making your brain all fuzzy.>MENTAL HEALTH is now DOING GREAT!That doesn't explain how it managed to alter its environment.
A predator hiding its body is nothing special, after all, but it had you for a moment with the two fake doors.You look up at the ceiling. It twists and squirms under your gaze. A severed part of the anomaly that got peeled off when it fell from the ceiling. You squint and cross your eyes, distorting your vision just enough to get a look at it.>2 SUCCESSES!The ceiling is caked in thick layers of baby pink spittle or pus or something along those lines. Your head spins just looking at it. You know it's just some bodily fluid produced by the anomaly, but the longer you stare at it, the more you feel compelled to...look at it.It must shine. It must shine. Keep looking.Despite how disgusting the stuff looks, your eyes are glued to the ceiling. You can't look away. The substance is a mesmerizing type of disgusting.You're not sure how long you're looking at it, but you only snap out when a sharp pain shoots up through your leg. You flinch at the pain, causing your eyes to close just long enough for the spell to break.You check your leg now that you're no longer transfixed on the ceiling. There's nothing wrong with it; your body is just aching after what you did to the anomaly.You scan around the room to see if any more of that spittle is around. Where the fake containment cell airlock and the fake door were, there are thick layers of that pink spittle coating them. So that's what its plan was; it was hoping you'd get close to the spittle.You would've been too distracted by the perception-altering spittle to notice it attacking you. Clever. You might've fallen for it if it had fine-tuned its traps a bit more.You test to see what would've happened if you touched the spittle by throwing some dirty PPE at it. The face shield you threw sticks to the spittle, and it rapidly begins to dissolve the face guard. Christ. You're not sure how it altered your senses (whether biologically or through strictly anomalous means), but it's good enough to make a report on.You'll keep a mental note to never directly touch anything that looks too suspicious in the future.No wonder why the guy living here turned into a crazy, mutated mess. He probably had to triple-check every single thing he touched to make sure it wasn't a trap made by this anomaly. Maybe he even tried attacking it, but he got...covered in...You look at your stained outfit. It's not a lot, but you should probably suit up A LOT before you go harvesting its tissue. You don some old PPE, not really caring if it gets ruined, before you get to work harvesting from the anomaly.You, luckily, have a beaker and a scalpel left in your satchel. You must've forgotten to leave them at the lab, but hey. You're not complaining. You manage to harvest some scale and blood samples from the anomaly. The flesh itself corrodes when exposed to fresh air, but the scales themselves can be harvested just fine.You remove the now black-stained PPE from your body.
You'll dispose of it and some other contaminated PPE once you leave this lab.>You are down to 4 PPE OUTFITs!>You have 3 STATIC BLOOD (Squirms and twists in the dark. Darker than darkness itself) and 3 STATIC SCALES (Twists and reflects both darkness and light) SAMPLES! You'll need to research them a bit more before you can sell them.>You obtain a ANOMALOUS ANGLERFISH REPORT! (Not even ARC knew this anomaly was in here. Can be traded for rare items if handed to RUDOLF or HR'S VESSEL.)You check the anomaly one more time to make sure it's not going to attack you. After you confirm it won't, you head to the front entrance. The door has been damaged enough that you can push it open with your exhausted body.You never thought you'd be happy to see fluorescent lighting. You begin the long march back to the barracks. You feel good despite how battered and exhausted your body is.>For exploring the ABANDONED LAB and incapacitating the anomaly within, your POWER increases. Your bonus to STRENGTH, ENDURANCE and COMBAT OFFENSE/DEFENSE rolls increase to +2! Dozens of eyes lock onto you when you step back into the barracks. You can't blame them, you must look like garbage right now. Your mind's too tired to process what they're saying to you as anything other than worthless garbage noise. You throw yourself onto your bed, ready to distract your mind with CATALOG JUNK.MONEY: $1568ITEMS AVAILABLE TO SELL: MYSTERY BAGGIE ($100), WINE-SOAKED SANDWICHES x5 ($125), OBSCURA SYRAH ($77), WIRE FLOWER ($50), EGG? ($333. Might be better to copy things with)COUPON AVAILABLE: 80% OFF x1 (Lowers an item's price to 20% of the original cost, rounded down.)What do you pick? Pick as much as you're willing to spend money on. It's likely you'll get an anomaly tomorrow.ONE TIME PURCHASE>[SPECIL (sic) REQUEST] - You may enter a keyword to obtain a custom anomaly instead of selecting a premade one. WARNING: The danger level and usefulness of said custom abnormality may vary wildly based on the keyword. ($270)>[EXPANDED ROSTER] - When choosing what anomaly to obtain, you pick from 5 instead of 3. ($166)>[PROTOTYPE RISK LEVEL SYSTEM] - When voting for an anomaly choice, you'll get a rough idea on its danger level and what kind of damage it can do to you and its surroundings. ($280)>[ATTACHMENT MODULE] - A training dummy used in a variety of settings, such as in mock surgery and therapy. Allows you to better train various skills. ($175)>[BEER VENDING MACHINE] - Really good at increasing the morale of everyone inside your lab. "Prost!" - N. ($333)>[SUIT OF WORKERS - ACE OF BATONS] - Automated robot that helps with sanitation. Very effective. Attaching knives onto this voids warranty. ($200)>[ARC R&D SERVICES] - If supplied with SAMPLES and relevant research, ARC scientists can synthesize very rudimentary anomalous equipment out of it. Guarantees at least 1 ITEM. ($500 + 1 SAMPLE. You can send OSCURA SYRAH or WIRE FLOWER.)(1/2)
CAN BE BOUGHT MULTIPLE TIMES>[CONTAINMENT CELL CONSTRUCTION] - Adds another containment cell to your lab, allowing you to host another profit-generating anomaly. ($600, you have space for two more cells.)>[9MM PISTOL] For emergencies. ($490. Comes with enough ammo for one combat encounter. Adds +7 to combat attack rolls.)>[PERSONAL TV SET] - Portable and contains tailor-made programming just for (You). The voice of the world, right by your side. ($150)>[MAN-MADE SALTS] - Accidentally developed during 'Argentina Salt Revolts' in 2019. Grants a short term immunity to biological and psychological contamination. ($75 per serving.)>[LEPHI AND SILK FASHION BUNDLE] - "Proudly featuring the red hot fashion styles straight from the heart of Lephi and Silk!" Contains a variety of fashionable outfits for you and your anomalies to wear. ($63, contains three outfits.)>[POWER BUNDLE] - Contains a random assortment of batteries! Good for powering electronics or feeding IN LIMBO! ($100)>[CELL DECORATION BUNDLE] - Contains some basic furniture to decorate your cells with. Don't expect anything too fancy. ($75)>[CONTAINMENT ATMOSPHERE UPGRADE] - Allows you to adjust the lighting and temperature of a containment cell to suit an anomaly's need. ($125. First purchase will apply to IN LIMBO's cell, second purchase will apply to your empty cell, any more will only apply if you build more containment cells.)>[WELDING SUPPLIES] - Comes with two tanks of welding fuel. ($44)>[FOOD BUNDLE] - More slop to feed your anomalies and your mold. ($100, contains some better quality chow.)Choose what to sell/use.>EGG?>MYSTERY BAGGIE>WINE-SOAKED SANDWICHES (How many?)>WIRE FLOWER>OBSCURA SYRAH>80% COUPON (On what?)>NOTHING.Sorry for the delay, update was pretty chunky this time.
>>6303560>[EXPANDED ROSTER] - When choosing what anomaly to obtain, you pick from 5 instead of 3. ($166)>[PERSONAL TV SET] - Portable and contains tailor-made programming just for (You). The voice of the world, right by your side. ($150)>[MAN-MADE SALTS] - Accidentally developed during 'Argentina Salt Revolts' in 2019. Grants a short term immunity to biological and psychological contamination. ($75 per serving.)>[LEPHI AND SILK FASHION BUNDLE] - "Proudly featuring the red hot fashion styles straight from the heart of Lephi and Silk!" Contains a variety of fashionable outfits for you and your anomalies to wear. ($63, contains three outfits.)>[CELL DECORATION BUNDLE] - Contains some basic furniture to decorate your cells with. Don't expect anything too fancy. ($75)>[CONTAINMENT ATMOSPHERE UPGRADE] - Allows you to adjust the lighting and temperature of a containment cell to suit an anomaly's need. ($125. First purchase will apply to IN LIMBO's cell, second purchase will apply to your empty cell, any more will only apply if you build more containment cells.)>[WELDING SUPPLIES] - Comes with two tanks of welding fuel. ($44)>[FOOD BUNDLE] - More slop to feed your anomalies and your mold. ($100, contains some better quality chow.)798I think I've got an idea to send the STATIC SCALES to R&D once we have the research, and get back a stealth cloak? I wonder if we could actually use that on Sommelier and ask her to be our Assassin/Waste Disposal Agent lol. With the coupon we knock that down to 100.
>>6303555>>6303556This thing is actually kinda cool despite being so horrific. Not only two layers of camo but two layers of baiting prey. Talk about being specialized. Fortunately just like a real non-anomalous anglerfish it doesn't have much smarts in killing it's prey... though not that it needs to with what it has. Did it spit on those places to make the fake airlock and fake door knowing they'd be a fake airlock or door for human prey, or did it spit there just because it was instinctually (without real knowledge or human cunning) marking surfaces to attract victims?
>>6303558>>[EXPANDED ROSTER] - When choosing what anomaly to obtain, you pick from 5 instead of 3. ($166)>[ATTACHMENT MODULE] - A training dummy used in a variety of settings, such as in mock surgery and therapy. Allows you to better train various skills. ($175)>[9MM PISTOL] For emergencies. ($490. Comes with enough ammo for one combat encounter. Adds +7 to combat attack rolls.)>[LEPHI AND SILK FASHION BUNDLE] - "Proudly featuring the red hot fashion styles straight from the heart of Lephi and Silk!" Contains a variety of fashionable outfits for you and your anomalies to wear. ($63, contains three outfits.)>[POWER BUNDLE] - Contains a random assortment of batteries! Good for powering electronics or feeding IN LIMBO! ($100)Leaving us with 574
>>6303558ONE TIME PURCHASE>[PROTOTYPE RISK LEVEL SYSTEM] - When voting for an anomaly choice, you'll get a rough idea on its danger level and what kind of damage it can do to you and its surroundings. ($56)>[ATTACHMENT MODULE] - A training dummy used in a variety of settings, such as in mock surgery and therapy. Allows you to better train various skills. ($175)>[SUIT OF WORKERS - ACE OF BATONS] - Automated robot that helps with sanitation. Very effective. Attaching knives onto this voids warranty. ($200)CAN BE BOUGHT MULTIPLE TIMES>[MAN-MADE SALTS] - Accidentally developed during 'Argentina Salt Revolts' in 2019. Grants a short term immunity to biological and psychological contamination. ($75 per serving.)>[CONTAINMENT ATMOSPHERE UPGRADE] - Allows you to adjust the lighting and temperature of a containment cell to suit an anomaly's need. ($125. First purchase will apply to IN LIMBO's cell, second purchase will apply to your empty cell, any more will only apply if you build more containment cells.)>[WELDING SUPPLIES] - Comes with two tanks of welding fuel. ($44)>[FOOD BUNDLE] - More slop to feed your anomalies and your mold. ($100, contains some better quality chow.)Choose what to sell/use.>WINE-SOAKED SANDWICHES (4)>80% COUPON (PROTOTYPE RISK LEVEL SYSTEM)Total cash: $1,293
>>6303558>[SPECIL (sic) REQUEST] - You may enter a keyword to obtain a custom anomaly instead of selecting a premade one. WARNING: The danger level and usefulness of said custom abnormality may vary wildly based on the keyword. ($270)We have cash to spare, why not just enter a random word? I choose SPECIL>[EXPANDED ROSTER] - When choosing what anomaly to obtain, you pick from 5 instead of 3. ($166)>[PROTOTYPE RISK LEVEL SYSTEM] - When voting for an anomaly choice, you'll get a rough idea on its danger level and what kind of damage it can do to you and its surroundings. ($280)>[MAN-MADE SALTS] - Accidentally developed during 'Argentina Salt Revolts' in 2019. Grants a short term immunity to biological and psychological contamination. ($75 per serving.)Buy two
>>6303555>Its body spasms and twitches seemingly at random, and when it spasms, random parts of its body recede or grow.We'll be seeing this thing again, won't we?Better let security know. If its corpse isn't in the lab still, they may do well to know the specifics of this threat. Could ask if they can grab us some samples if they even encounter it again.>>6303669>We have cash to spare, why not just enter a random word? I choose SPECILSomehow I doubt that's random.We're going to get a salesman who tries to rip us off from that keyword is my best guess.Pic related.>>6303558>[PROTOTYPE RISK LEVEL SYSTEM] - When voting for an anomaly choice, you'll get a rough idea on its danger level and what kind of damage it can do to you and its surroundings. ($280)We're getting anomalous soon.>[EXPANDED ROSTER] - When choosing what anomaly to obtain, you pick from 5 instead of 3. ($166)>[FOOD BUNDLE] - More slop to feed your anomalies and your mold. ($100, contains some better quality chow.)>[WELDING SUPPLIES] - Comes with two tanks of welding fuel. ($44)>[MAN-MADE SALTS] - Accidentally developed during 'Argentina Salt Revolts' in 2019. Grants a short term immunity to biological and psychological contamination. ($75 per serving.)SELLING>WINE-SOAKED SANDWICHES (3)As much as I'd like to keep them, these sandwiches will spoil eventually.Two is one and one is none, plus we only get into fights so often.
>>6303695Random as in I chose a random wordI just want to see if anything will happen, but maybe we can get one related to Sommelier if we write "L'Cure"
>>6303695Unless another quality of cooking it in wine is never going bad
>>6303695Id rather keep the sandwiches for now until we can study what value they have. Cuz im sure they wont sell for what they are actually worth
>>6303558>[EXPANDED ROSTER] - When choosing what anomaly to obtain, you pick from 5 instead of 3. ($166)>[PROTOTYPE RISK LEVEL SYSTEM] - When voting for an anomaly choice, you'll get a rough idea on its danger level and what kind of damage it can do to you and its surroundings. ($280)>[SUIT OF WORKERS - ACE OF BATONS] - Automated robot that helps with sanitation. Very effective. Attaching knives onto this voids warranty. ($200)>[ARC R&D SERVICES] - If supplied with SAMPLES and relevant research, ARC scientists can synthesize very rudimentary anomalous equipment out of it. Guarantees at least 1 ITEM. ($500 + 1 SAMPLE. You can send OSCURA SYRAH or WIRE FLOWER.) (80% discount)>>6303560>[PERSONAL TV SET] - Portable and contains tailor-made programming just for (You). The voice of the world, right by your side. ($150)>[POWER BUNDLE] - Contains a random assortment of batteries! Good for powering electronics or feeding IN LIMBO! ($100)>[WELDING SUPPLIES] - Comes with two tanks of welding fuel. ($44)>[FOOD BUNDLE] - More slop to feed your anomalies and your mold. ($100, contains some better quality chow.)
>>6303558>[EXPANDED ROSTER]>[PROTOTYPE RISK LEVEL SYSTEM]We're getting a third abno tomorrow, we need these now while it's viable>[SUIT OF WORKERS - ACE OF BATONS]The roomba>>6303560>[PERSONAL TV SET]Just nice to have a TV at all provided our lab also ends up as our very own mancave. I can see that as the endgame now...>[MAN-MADE SALTS]Buy one just to have one just in case>[WELDING SUPPLIES]MORE REPAIRS>[FOOD BUNDLE]MORE FOOD>[POWER BUNDLE]MOAR POWERTOTAL = 1115
Consulting.EXPANDED ROSTER: Szu, CWx, ph5, KVB, WGu, vuUPERSONAL TV: Szu, WGu, vuUMAN-MADE SALTS: Szu, KOO, ph5, KVB, vuUFASHION BUNDLE: Szu, CWxCELL DECORATION BUNDLE: SzuATMOSPHERE UPGRADE: Szu, KOOWELDING: Szu, KOO, KVB, WGU, vuUFOOD: Szu, KOO, KVB, WGu, vuUATTACHMENT: CWx, KOOPISTOL: CWxPOWER: CWx, WGU, vuURISK LEVEL SYSTEM: KOO, ph5, KVB, WGu, vuUACE OF BATONS: KOO, WGu, vuUSPECIL: ph5ARC R&D: WGuSo, looking through all of these, the ones with a solid majority are-EXPANDED ROSTER-MAN-MADE SALTS-WELDING BUNDLE-FOOD BUNDLE-RISK LEVEL SYSTEMBut there are a lot of options with 3 votes and we got 7 votes for the catalog, plus you have the money to spare sooo, eh, let's make the total purchase include-PERSONAL TV-POWER-ACE OF BATONSOnly two people wanted to sell things and the coupon didn't seem popular in terms of being used so you're left with $453. Next catalog should be trimmed down since you did buy 3 of the one time purchase items.Writing. Update should be out quick, not like it takes a lot of time to describe buying stuff.
Every bone in your body burns with a pain that you're 90% sure only 13rd century farmhands have felt in their lifetime. Fuck, you forgot how out of shape you were. Your hands ache just from scribbling down what you want from the catalog. You really need to work with Ashton more if you're going to last in a fight. You probably only survived that since the dumb fucking fish smashed headfirst into a wall. Twice. Your weapon's pretty good, sure, but you're not sure if it's going to help you against something actually SMART.Maybe you should get a gun? Colt's gun was pretty cool. Guns are a good equalizer. No matter how strong or weak you are, you can still use a gun. Ah, you're getting sidetracked. To the best of your ability, you fill out the CATALOG.>+EXPANDED ROSTER, MAN-MADE SALTS, WELDING BUNDLE, FOOD BUNDLE, RISK LEVEL SYSTEM, TV, POWER BUNDLE, ACE OF BATONS>$453 left!You get back on your feet, sluggishly dragging your body over to the robot who collects all the catalogs. You limply toss the catalog into its slot before throwing yourself back into your bed.You can see a good chunk of your coworkers staring at you from the corner of your eye. Their hushed whispers are laced with a mixture of paranoia and concern. Can't say you blame them considering what you look like. You check your weapon to make sure you didn't damage it - That's more important than the people talking about you behind your back.You flick the blade out and, huh, it's gone? You were pretty sure it wasn't broken when you left the lab.You reach your hand up to check the tip of the staff- OUCH! You pull your hand back to see that there's a small scratch on one of your fingertips.Weird. You tear off a loose piece of fabric from your labcoat. You drop it over the tip of your staff and it got caught in something. You yank the fabric off to reveal small splotches of metal floating around the tip of your staff.Wait. You push the button that retracts the blade. The metal splotches disappear. You push it again. The splotches reappear.Your blade was soaked on its blood and guts when you were ripping into it and now, in the light, it made part of your weapon invisible. Interesting.You toss your weapon back into your satchel. The moment you rest your head on your people, you're out like a light. A dream crackles at the edges of your mind...It's 2005. You're barely five years old and you're currently somewhere deep in the rural part of Texas. You, your parents and your various siblings all live close to the edge of a swampy marsh. It's not a pleasant place to live but it's what your parents had access to.It's late at night. You swore you saw something out there in the marsh. A monster, a boogeyman, something your young mind couldn't comprehend. You had to warn your family. They have to know that there's a monster out there. You rush back inside to tell your father."A monster?" Your father scoffs at you.
"Really? You still believe in boogeymen, Vincent?" Your father couldn't even pretend to take your concerns seriously. "Nothing's out there. Don't waste my time because you're jumping at shadows again."You try to explain that no, there is something out there. You think it was like a mannequin or something, one of those things you'd see when you went to a clothing store in the big city. A tall, faceless thing that was watching you when you were out there!Yet, he doesn't believe you. "Vince, I'm not going to tell you this again. Look at me." He places his callused, gnarled palm on your shoulder. You look up as he instructed. His face is covered in decades' worth of sunspots, calluses and scars. He would always said it's the price he had to pay to support his family.His emerald green eyes narrow at you. "Ain't nothing out here but animals. Filthy, filthy animals that'll snatch a kid like you up. That's what you should be scared of. Not some stupid mannequin or whatever you thought you saw out there.""Go sit. Ma's making frijoles for dinner."And so you had dinner. You try your best to put your mind off but every time you looked outside the window, you'd see it. That faceless mannequin, staring at you from the edge of the marsh.You know it's not your mind playing tricks on you. What even is that thing? And...why do you feel like this won't be the last time you'll see a monster like this?DAY 5!You crack your eyes open. Even with how exhausted your mind and body were, you can't seem to sleep longer than a few hours here. Maybe it's paranoia, maybe it's the dreams that seem to bother and harass you every single time you go to bed, maybe it's just that your bed's super uncomfortable.You feel better, though, after closing your eyes for a bit.>PHYSICAL HEALTH is now COULD BE WORSE>MENTAL HEALTH is now CONTENT!You spot a note resting on your footlocker. You drag yourself out of bed so you can grab the note in question. "HEAD TO CAFETERIA, WILL DELIVER SPONSORSHIPS + ANOMALY DOSSIERS THERE. -ASH"Cool. You sneak out of your barracks, ready to start your day by doing paperwork. Yay. Your fucking favorite. You wipe at the sleep building in the corners of your eyes as you try to adjust to the fluorescent lighting. At least you usually feel better when you're actually working.The cafeteria is completely devoid of people. It makes sense, most people usually aren't awake at...You glance at one of the clocks inside here. 6 AM.So, that gives you some time to check your paperwork in peace. One of the tables has some documents scattered on it so you assume that's meant to be for you.You sit down at the table and you begin to flip through the paperwork. Let's see what you're working with.Huh. There's a dossier reading 'ARC RISK LEVEL SYSTEM'. Better to read that first. Scribbled on the paper are five 'object classes', for lack of a better term.
They're not super in depth but they'll give you something to work with.---Daleth - Low aggression, low chance of injury. High chance of beneficial upside.Kaph - Low-medium aggression and chance of injury. Can be contained with some effort.Lamedh - Unpredictable. Hard to control or predict. Bet - Highly aggressive and hostile to staff. Can easily kill staff without extensive precautions being taken. Gimel - Little to no information about the anomaly has been gleamed or the anomaly doesn't fall into the other four classes. Often assigned to inanimate/tool-based anomalies.Scribbled at the bottom is 'HIGHER RISK LEVEL = MORE PROFIT. HIGHER RISK LEVEL ALSO = MORE METAPHYSICAL/ABSTRACT PROPERTIES."---Well, time to move onto your SPONSORSHIPS and your ANOMALIES, then.SPONSORSHIPSQUALITY AND QUANTITY INC - 'Quotas must be met. Demands must be fed. You must produce.'Analytic Data from BLACKWELL informed us of your best qualities: [ACCOUNTANT] and [FULFILLS WORK OBLIGATIONS]. We wish to [BORROW] your expertise. Please [UNTANGLE/REPAIR] our financial paperwork on our behalf. Our many [ARMS/LEGS] shall applause you.DEADLINE: 1 DAYREWARD: $277, next week's quota will be moderately reduced, +GOODWILL (QUOTA)ENTERTAINMENT ENTERPRISES - (You do not even DESERVE to know our MOTTO)And now, a word from your sponsor. A video recorder will be delivered to your lab. Record four people being beaten up, two people being killed, or a mixture of the two. The more violent the footage, the better our ratings will be!DEADLINE: 2 DAYS.REWARD: $450, a gaming console to go alongside your new TV, ++GOODWILL (SILVER SCREEN)ZENITH MEDICAL ACADEMY - "We can treat even the worst patients!"We wanted to test out an experimental drug of ours that's meant to make someone's skin tougher than steel. We need something to rival cybernetics. We'll provide you with samples of our drug. Perform 3 drug tests with them and record what happens. If you test the drug on yourself, we'll count that as 2 trials.DEADLINE: 1 DAYREWARD: $333, SACA will be upgraded to be able to assist in medical/chemistry based tasks, +GOODWILL (STERILE) Which one(s) do you want to take?>QUALITY>ENTERTAINMENT>ZENITH>ALL OF THEM>NONE OF THEMANOMALY CHOICES. Choose one!>"Let's stop and watch the roses." (You're reasonably sure that that's what a GIRAFFE is supposed to look like.) [DALETH]>"Please, have a seat. Watch my death with the reverence it deserves." (You swore the photo of the OLD MAN was staring right at YOU.) [GIMEL]>"Missing since 199X. The trail went cold. I went cold. I went cold-" (How is it still alive? It looks humanoid but...it looks so BROKEN.) [KAPH]>"Praise His tears, for they shall wash away the unholy things of this world." (The STATUE'S face will forever be stained by its tears.) [GIMEL]>"ALERT? THIS WAS A TEST? PLEASE LEAVE THE PREMISES?" (Its mechanical body is wrapped in bright yellow police tape. It's clearly a WARNING but for what?) [LAMEDH]
>>6303941>ZENITH>"Missing since 199X. The trail went cold. I went cold. I went cold-" (How is it still alive? It looks humanoid but...it looks so BROKEN.) [KAPH]
>>6303941>Daleth - Low aggression, low chance of injury. High chance of beneficial upside.>Kaph - Low-medium aggression and chance of injury. Can be contained with some effort.>Lamedh - Unpredictable. Hard to control or predict.>Bet - Highly aggressive and hostile to staff. Can easily kill staff without extensive precautions being taken.>Gimel - Little to no information about the anomaly has been gleamed or the anomaly doesn't fall into the other four classes. Often assigned to inanimate/tool-based anomalies.what did you base the names in ?>QUALITY>ZENITH>"Missing since 199X. The trail went cold. I went cold. I went cold-" (How is it still alive? It looks humanoid but...it looks so BROKEN.) [KAPH]
>>6303941>Q&Q>"Please, have a seat. Watch my death with the reverence it deserves." (You swore the photo of the OLD MAN was staring right at YOU.) [GIMEL]
>>6303941>QUALITY>ZENITH>"Praise His tears, for they shall wash away the unholy things of this world." (The STATUE'S face will forever be stained by its tears.) [GIMEL]
>>6303941>QUALITY>ZENITH>"Please, have a seat. Watch my death with the reverence it deserves." (You swore the photo of the OLD MAN was staring right at YOU.) [GIMEL]
>>6303941Q&QZENITH>"Missing since 199X. The trail went cold. I went cold. I went cold-" (How is it still alive? It looks humanoid but...it looks so BROKEN.) [KAPH]>>6303948They're a riff on Lobotomy Corp threat classifications, using the hebrew alphabet
>>6303941>Record four people being beaten up, two people being killed, or a mixture of the two. The more violent the footage, the better our ratings will be!But nobody (who took the sponsorship) will pick a fight with Vincent and his MAKESHIFT WEAPON, right? Especially after the rumour mill cooks up a storm about us being some badass anomaly slayer.I hope they try anyways, it will be a free video recorder unless we get shot.SPONSORSHITS>QUANTITY & QUANTITY INCWe are [ACCOUNTANT]. We are [FULFILLS WORK OBLIGATIONS].>ZENITHThis drug sounds like it will just paralyze us, permanently.I don't like the look of this, so I'd rather make a risk assessment from an epicutaneous test... Assuming it works anyways.The sponsorship stipulates only that the drug be tested, so before (or after) we get that +2 from testing it on ourselves, we could get some skin tissue and see how it works under a microscope. That's three with little risk.Pour anomalous wine on the tissue once we're done with that, see how it reacts.Also MEDBAY is going to be full of sclerosis(?) patients.Here's hoping I'm wrong though.ANOMALE>"Missing since 199X. The trail went cold. I went cold. I went cold-" (How is it still alive? It looks humanoid but...it looks so BROKEN.) [KAPH]
>>6303908>$453This thread hates having money.>>6303941>QUALITY>ZENITH>"Please, have a seat. Watch my death with the reverence it deserves." (You swore the photo of the OLD MAN was staring right at YOU.) [GIMEL]
>>6303941>QUALITY>ZENITH>"Missing since 199X. The trail went cold. I went cold. I went cold-"
>>6303941>>ZENITH>"Missing since 199X. The trail went cold. I went cold. I went cold-" (How is it still alive? It looks humanoid but...it looks so BROKEN.) [KAPH]
>>6303941>QUALITY>ZENITH>"Praise His tears, for they shall wash away the unholy things of this world." (The STATUE'S face will forever be stained by its tears.) [GIMEL]I am really curious about its tears
>>6303941>QUALITY>ZENITH>"ALERT? THIS WAS A TEST? PLEASE LEAVE THE PREMISES?" (Its mechanical body is wrapped in bright yellow police tape. It's clearly a WARNING but for what?) [LAMEDH]Man that entertainment one is fucked up. I guess if there was a fight club, or if Vincent was willing to start a fight club and make his own soap, it could be done....Would a fight that end in a draw because both got really beaten up count as two? Bit late to try and swing votes for that tho.I suppose the best way to test it would be volunteers maybe for cash, or patients in the infirmary that are already dying. I wonder if a skin hardening drug would help our buddy Lucy? Her skin is almost like liquid goop so a skin hardening might counter that? Might want to offer and leave it up to her, or test it first then offer it.199X 6 Have a seat 3Praise 1Kinda surprised no one wanted another robot with the ALERT? The most dangerous and the most chance for profit.199X sounds fun though. We could try to get the files on the cold case and figure out who killed him and see if that unlocks an artifact. Learn about some small town and its people. Low to moderate danger is higher than most of our choices.
You flip through the dossiers to see what sticks out to you. You briefly linger on the statue and the mechanical abomination but they don't interest you enough. The old man does interest you for a moment. His weathered, grey skin almost makes him look like he's been mummified.You swear he's staring right at you. It always creeps you out whenever his dossier gets dumped onto your table. But, no, your eyes are set on the 199X dossier. You snatch the photo off the dossier folder to get a closer look.You nearly wretch at what the photo shows, even with how low quality and grainy it is. Its broken arms twist and crack at unnatural angles. A thick, matted mess of black hair stained with something you can't quite make out obscures its face. You don't even want to imagine what it looks like in person but...you're going to pick it. You're not sure why.You wonder what's going to happen to the four other dossiers but you'd guess someone will collect them before the others wake up. As for the sponsorships?You immediately dismiss the ENTERTAINMENT ENTERPRISES one. There's only one person you'd tolerate killing in this facility and he's not much of a threat anymore. You suppose you could challenge people to a fight but you only won your two fights off dumb luck. Pass.The other two? One of them is written like a filled-in madlib. The way it's worded and phrased is kinda weird. 'Untangle/repair'? 'Many arms/legs'? You swear, it's like a broken LLM or someone who barely understood English wrote it. BUT! One of the few things you're naturally gifted at is dealing with !PAPERWORK!, so this should be a super easy sponsorship for you.You were a bit more hesitant on ZENITH. Random mystery drugs that 'harden' your skin? It doesn't take a genius to realize what the side effects of that could be. You think on it for a while and you decide, why not pick it? Their definition of 'drug trial' seems pretty vague. You imagine it has to be unique tests so you can't just pour all three samples into the same tissue sample. There is one test subject you have in mind that could benefit from this drug - Lucy. To be as polite as you can, her skin has the consistency of microwaved silly putty. It might be a way to help her condition. Of course, you'd have to convince her to take the drug, you're not going to forcefeed it to her. Maybe you could test it on some of your anomalies? IN LIMBO has some flesh, after all. You suppose you'll worry about that when you start your shift.You scribble your signature down on the dotted lines. You'll accept the Q&Q and ZENITH sponsorship.>SPONSORSHIPS OBTAINED!>199X (real name revealed later) OBTAINED!You suppose that just leaves you with a few hours to prepare for your shift. There's a lot you could do right now but you only have so much time. Story of your life you suppose. You get up from the table, ready to spend your precious FREE TIME!What do you do, Vincent? Choose three actions.
>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. A d100+4 will determine what category it ends up being.)>Head down to LAYER 3. You want to see more of the facility to see how accurate CPPQUEST is. Maybe you'll meet whatever you're controlling?>Head back to LOST AND FOUND. Let's see what goodies you can steal this time. (DC 43. You may write in a KEYWORD to alter what junk you might find.)>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)>Look for ASHTON. You want to keep up your training and, also, you should deliver the GUARD PERSONNEL BELONGINGS.>Head down to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. Meet up with RUDOLF, talk to him about the weird fish you fought and the weird computer game you played. (Can trade your ANOMALOUS ANGLERFISH REPORT here.)>Head down to the HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE. Warn them about the anomaly in the abandoned lab. Maybe you can ask for a reward for your hard work. (Can trade your ANOMALOUS ANGLERFISH REPORT here.)>Head down to MEDBAY. Ask them if they're willing to spare any patients for the ZENITH drug trial. >Start your shift early. Time is money here and you're broke! (Can be picked multiple times. Each time this is picked, you gain 2 extra TIME TOKENS at the start of your shift.)>Try to arrange a meeting with some acquaintances. (You'll meet up with two random acquaintances to build up your RAPPORT with them or to see if they're willing to work with you this shift.)>Write in.Sorry for the short update this time around.>>6304014Guess you just gotta start farming more CIGARETTE MOLD. You can probably make your money back just by researching your two (soon to be three) anomalies.
>>6304368>Head down to LAYER 3. You want to see more of the facility to see how accurate CPPQUEST is. Maybe you'll meet whatever you're controlling?Maybe the Skin Hardening would be a buff? We could check its status on the computer and see if its suffering from any other side effects in its status menu. Bam.>Try to arrange a meeting with some acquaintances. (You'll meet up with two random acquaintances to build up your RAPPORT with them or to see if they're willing to work with you this shift.)I think Hidaka would be very handy for whatever paperwork we will have to do. Lucy to tell her about the drug, what we figured out, and to come with us to meet Rudolf who might have some ideas. But if its random its fine.>Head down to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. Meet up with RUDOLF, talk to him about the weird fish you fought and the weird computer game you played. (Can trade your ANOMALOUS ANGLERFISH REPORT here.)Trade in our report to Rudolf, and ask him if he could take a quick look at this skin hardening drug because we wonder if it could help our friend Lucy.
>>6304368>Look for ASHTON. You want to keep up your training and, also, you should deliver the GUARD PERSONNEL BELONGINGS.>Head down to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. Meet up with RUDOLF, talk to him about the weird fish you fought and the weird computer game you played. (Can trade your ANOMALOUS ANGLERFISH REPORT here.)>Head down to LAYER 3. You want to see more of the facility to see how accurate CPPQUEST is. Maybe you'll meet whatever you're controlling?
>>6304387+1
>>6304368>Head down to LAYER 3. You want to see more of the facility to see how accurate CPPQUEST is. Maybe you'll meet whatever you're controlling?>Look for ASHTON. You want to keep up your training and, also, you should deliver the GUARD PERSONNEL BELONGINGS.>Head down to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. Meet up with RUDOLF, talk to him about the weird fish you fought and the weird computer game you played. (Can trade your ANOMALOUS ANGLERFISH REPORT here.)
>>6304368>>Head down to LAYER 3. You want to see more of the facility to see how accurate CPPQUEST is. Maybe you'll meet whatever you're controlling?>Look for ASHTON. You want to keep up your training and, also, you should deliver the GUARD PERSONNEL BELONGINGS.>Head down to the HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE. Warn them about the anomaly in the abandoned lab. Maybe you can ask for a reward for your hard work. (Can trade your ANOMALOUS ANGLERFISH REPORT here.)
>>6304368>Look for ASHTON. You want to keep up your training and, also, you should deliver the GUARD PERSONNEL BELONGINGS.>Head down to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. Meet up with RUDOLF, talk to him about the weird fish you fought and the weird computer game you played. (Can trade your ANOMALOUS ANGLERFISH REPORT here.)>Head down to MEDBAY. Ask them if they're willing to spare any patients for the ZENITH drug trial.
>>6304387>>6304387+1, but do we get the drug right now or when the shift starts? Cuz that might invalidate the first choiceI'd return the belongings after this shift
>>6304368>Head down to LAYER 3. You want to see more of the facility to see how accurate CPPQUEST is. Maybe you'll meet whatever you're controlling?>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)>Look for ASHTON. You want to keep up your training and, also, you should deliver the GUARD PERSONNEL BELONGINGS.
>>6304387+1I'm sure RUDOLF has some strong opinions about ZENITH.
Rolled 2 (1d2)LAYER 3: Szu, Dj2, RNr, kz0, M5C, CWx, ph5, WGU, KVBACQUAINTANCES: Szu, kz0, M5C, ph5, KVBABNORMALITY MATERIALS STROAGE: Szu, Dj2, RNr, kz0, M5C, KOO, ph5, KVBASHTON: Dj2, RNr, CWx, KOO, WGUMAP: WGUMEDBAY: KOOHR: CWxRolling 1d2. 1 = ASHTON, 2 = ACQUAINTANCES. Then I'll start writing. Don't worry too much on which one wins.
Before you can even think on what you're going to do with your free time, someone grabs your shoulder with their gnarled hand. Pain shoots up your shoulder from how tight their grip is. Your blood runs cold and an all too familiar sense of fear creeps into the back of your mind.Whoever is standing behind you, they were present during your 'interview' with that weird turtleneck sweater researcher. They lean in close, their musty breath reeking of cheap rotgut and the faintest whiff of cheap mouthwash."deLIveRY." The figure rasps out. The way he speaks is, to put it simply, wrong. He puts way too much focus on every other syllable, almost like he's singing every word he says. "for YOU, vinCENT." He lets go of your shoulder. It's still sore from how tight his grip on it was.You ignore your better judgement and you turn around to face him. However, there's no one there. There's simply a package on the floor. You hesitantly bend over to pick it up.Five small vials of medicine are found inside.>JAX-874 SERUM x5 OBTAINED! (An experimental medicine produced by ZENITH. A complex array of ingredients is scribbled on each vial.)You skim over the ingredients. Each one has a longer name than the last but you vaguely understand what they are thanks to you skimming those old text books. The two ingredients that stand out to you is the comical amounts of ferrous sulfate (common iron supplement) and pramipexole (a drug meant for Parkinson patients). Neither are at lethal doses (from your limited knowledge) but it's still a bit worrying what exactly they're trying to do with this drug.You reseal the package before stuffing the box into your satchel. You should probably get out of here. Best to get your mind off that really weird encounter. You argue with yourself on whether you should meet up with Ashton or not. A part of you argues that you can always deliver the belongings you found later. You find yourself agreeing, you should probably try talking to some other people.You don't really know where anyone else is at any given time so this will take some wandering. Might as well follow Ashton's advice and get some light jogging in. You jog out of the cafeteria, ready to wander around to find some of your acquaintances. The dull grey walls and insistent, droning buzz of fluorescent lighting keeps your mind growing as you wander through the maze-like hallways of LAYER 2.You stop jogging once you find yourself in front of a door that you were sure wasn't here last time you went down this hallway. You cautiously poke at the door with your MAKESHIFT WEAPON just in case it's a trap.Nope. Your weapon isn't dissolving. This is real, you guess you must've gotten lost. The placard next to the door reads 'BREAK ROOM', so you'd likely find someone you know in here. You jiggle the doorknob to see if it's locked and when you find it isn't, you yank the door open.The break room is as sad as you can expect in a place like this.
You grimace as your foot steps on the grimy, sticky carpet. Eugh. You take a look around your surroundings.A raggedy couch rests by the left side of the room. Two random vending machines (one of which vends coffee) and a fridge that clearly hasn't been touched in centuries rest by the right. Towards the back is an old plastic table with some random chairs scattered around it. The only thing that looks remotely taken care of is the pinball machine that's situated near the couch. That might be a fun time waster later. Two of your acquaintances are seated at the old plastic table. Hidaka, still dressed in the same burnt-orange suit you saw her in last time, seems to be playing some sort of game with Anthony. The old one-eyed security guard grits what few rotten teeth are inside his mouth.He wipes at the hole where his nose used to be. "Okay. Does the animal lay eggs?""Yes." Hidaka bluntly responds."Bullshit! What animal lays eggs and has venom BUT isn't a snake???" "A real animal." A flicker of a smile graces Hidaka's face. "Guess." "Fuck, one more question. Is it a mammal? "Yes.""PLATYPUS!" Anthony slams his hand against the table. The plastic cracks around his fist. "HA! I knew my grandson's stupid animal factoids would come in helpful one day!""Good job." Hidaka nods. She turns her head, and, despite her eyes being perpetually closed, she spots you. "Hello. Bored?"Anthony cranes his head to see who Hidaka's talking to. "Oh! Didn't expect you to still be kickin'.""Yeah. You know, farming some mold, paying off my quotas. Stuff like that.""Outfit stained. Story?" Hidaka asks with a hint of interest in her taciturn voice."Fish." You curtly respond. "Big one. Wanted to explore an abandoned lab; apparently an anomaly was left behind. Stabbed it a bunch. Either it's dead or incapacitated, I don't care."Your two acquaintances, understandably, either don't believe what you just said, or they're questioning how you're still alive. Anthony's jaw goes slack as he processes what you said."You? I'm sorry, but, uh, how are you not dead? Most anomalies I met are way stronger than a man like you.""It smashed its head into a wall. Twice." You give them the rundown of the fight you had with the ANOMALOUS ANGLERFISH.Anthony gave a low whistle as you recounted your fight with the anomaly. "I'll be damned. Hope you never fight an abno that's actually tryin'."Hidaka cracks a faint, polite smile. "Interesting. State of anomaly?""Dunno. I was going to give the report to some researcher named Rudolph—wait, enough about me. What are you two doing?" You sit down on the nearby grimy couch."Couldn't sleep." Hidaka shakes her head. "Room was better than barracks. Still not great. Loud noises from nearby rooms. Very unpleasant." "Ah. Yeah, it wasn't a pretty sight, Vincent." Anthony leans back in his chair. "She sleeps down in Layer 4, for context. There was a riot that was goin' on down there a few hours ago."
"Livin' here ain't really that pleasant, even if you're not some Level 0 nobody. People get stir crazy, and sometimes, they uh."They go coocoo." Anthony bitterly laughs. "Hope my boss can get some more ZENITH meds to keep them calm." Oh?"Indeed. He escorted me here. Waiting for it to die down.""Yeesh." You lean your head against the back of the couch. "Can't really say I blame them. I hardly get enough sleep as is.""Easy to imagine." Hidaka nods. "Wanted to get my mind off it. Came here. Played games with him.""Shit, she beat me in basically all of 'em. Good head on this girl here. Wish Ash had a head like hers."Aside from being unnaturally nice to you, you don't really get what he means by that. Ashton seems fine enough in your eyes. "Well, wanna follow me? I got some places to be, probably more interesting than whatever you two are doing here.""Similar background, similar exhausted soul, likely similar tastes." She cryptically analyzes you as if you were an investment instead of a person. "This is acceptable.""Fuck, sure. I ain't got nothing better to do. Been a while since I hung out with people outside my squad.">HIDAKA and ANTHONY will be temporary allies for the next couple of updates.>You'll slowly figure out their abilities as you work with them.Cool, cool. You peel yourself off of the couch (you realized too late that it, too, was also sticky.) Once you're back on your feet, you dig out the report you frantically scribbled. "We're making a quick spot to that material depot nearby. The one where they keep artifacts and stuff?"Hidaka snatches the paperwork out of your hands before you can even react. She begins to flip through it, rigorously scanning every word you scribbled down. Huh."Ah, the one Ruddy runs? Great guy, yeah. If you don't mind being noisy, mind if I ask why?"You point at the report that Hidaka snatched out of your hands. "I was hopin' to give that to him. He'd probably know how to handle the anomaly better than me.""Twenty typos, five run-on sentences, complete lack of semicolons when they would be applicable. Fixing." Hidaka is hyperfocused on the paper in her hand. She sits down on the couch, scribbling and rewriting sections of it. Well, you think you found a fellow paperwork junkie."Ah, you know how to get into a man's heart. No homo." Anthony snorts. "Ya, he'd like that. The poor bastard is probably awake right now. Haven't seen Rudy get a good night's sleep in twenty years."Ah, so you're in good company, huh?Hidaka tosses the report back to you. "Fixed. Let's get going." You skim through the report. Wow, okay, you didn't realize how fucked up your report was before she went around fixing it. You suppose you're not too shocked; you were writing it right after beating the shit out of the anomaly."Thank you."Hidaka politely nods, "No issue."With that settled, you head your way over to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE with your two acquaintances in tow.
Luckily, you didn't get lost this time around thanks to Anthony's helpful directions. He apparently knows this place like the back of your hand. He even showed you a short cut you didn't even know about. You're in front of the storage room before you even realize it. Having someone with a good lay of the land might be helpful in the future.Standing outside the storage room is a familiar old man...who is conked out. You're not sure how someone can be asleep while standing out but Rudolf somehow manages to.Anthony snaps his fingers to get the researcher's attention. He jolts awake but he quickly puts out an air of professionalism when he spots the three of you."Ah. What brings you here today?" Rudolf politely asks, trying to pretend he wasn't just asleep.You hand over the proofread report over to Rudolf. He flips through each page, scanning over every line you scribbled down in it. He cracks a bright, beaming smile as he finishes reading it. "Young man, I would like to offer you a trade. Alongside the free advice I usually give to upcoming researchers.""Aight, Vincent." Anthony pats you on the back. "Let's see what the old fart's going to offer you.""You're older than I am." Rudolf bluntly states. "Anyways, Vincent..."CHOOSE ONE REWARD FROM RUDOLF. Due to Hidaka editing your paperwork, your options are better than usual!>RESEARCH UPGRADE. You'll get some specialized harvesting equipment to make obtaining samples easier. He'll also throw in a machine that'll help you synthetize unique chemicals from anomalies. Safe and practical. >ARTIFACT DEPOSIT. He'll give you a powerful ARTIFACT to research. It won't be a top grade ARTIFACT but he'll make sure to get a good one for you. (You may add in a KEYWORD if you pick this. This will subtly alter the ARTIFACT you'll receive.)>!MYSTERY BOXES! "I got two old safes that's been back here for decades. Crack them open, you keep whatever's inside." >You want to see what HR'S VESSEL might offer. Keep it.>Bargain for something else. (Write in.)Choose three things to ask RUDOLF. You'll ask about CPPQUEST regardless of what you pick.>"Mind looking at this?" Show him the flower growing out of your wrist. Does he have any clues what the GIFT might do?>Tell him about NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER. Does he have any advice on how you should handle it?>Ask for more details about the ANOMALOUS ANGLERFISH. Are uncontained anomalies a common hazard in this facility?>Ask him about the FACILITY. This place feels like it was designed to be a deathtrap sometimes.>Ask him about ARC. What's their deal and why do the people who work for them act so...weird?>Any advice on how to keep your sanity? You don't want to go insane down here.>Show him the medicine you got from ZENITH. Does he have any clue what it might do?>...Tell him about the HEART anomaly you saw in your dreams. (DC 57. ???)>Let your coworkers ask him something. Maybe they'll ask something interesting.>Write in.
>>6304855>RESEARCH UPGRADE. You'll get some specialized harvesting equipment to make obtaining samples easier. He'll also throw in a machine that'll help you synthetize unique chemicals from anomalies. Safe and practical.Sounds like good money.Questions:>Ask for more details about the ANOMALOUS ANGLERFISH. Are uncontained anomalies a common hazard in this facility?>Ask him about ARC. What's their deal and why do the people who work for them act so...weird?>Show him the medicine you got from ZENITH. Does he have any clue what it might do?
>>6304855>RESEARCH UPGRADE.>Show him the medicine you got from ZENITH. Does he have any clue what it might do?>...Tell him about the HEART anomaly you saw in your dreams. (DC 57. ???)>Let your coworkers ask him something. Maybe they'll ask something interesting.
>>6304855>RESEARCH UPGRADE. You'll get some specialized harvesting equipment to make obtaining samples easier. He'll also throw in a machine that'll help you synthetize unique chemicals from anomalies. Safe and practical. and>Show him the medicine you got from ZENITH. Does he have any clue what it might do?>Ask for more details about the ANOMALOUS ANGLERFISH. Are uncontained anomalies a common hazard in this facility?>Let your coworkers ask him something. Maybe they'll ask something interesting.
>>6304855>!MYSTERY BOXES! "I got two old safes that's been back here for decades. Crack them open, you keep whatever's inside."Irresistible >Ask for more details about the ANOMALOUS ANGLERFISH. Are uncontained anomalies a common hazard in this facility?>Ask him about the FACILITY. This place feels like it was designed to be a deathtrap sometimes.>Ask him about ARC. What's their deal and why do the people who work for them act so...weird?
>>6304855>RESEARCH UPGRADE. You'll get some specialized harvesting equipment to make obtaining samples easier. He'll also throw in a machine that'll help you synthetize unique chemicals from anomalies. Safe and practical.>"Mind looking at this?" Show him the flower growing out of your wrist. Does he have any clues what the GIFT might do?>Any advice on how to keep your sanity? You don't want to go insane down here.>...Tell him about the HEART anomaly you saw in your dreams. (DC 57. ???)
>>6304855>RESEARCH UPGRADE.>Show him the medicine you got from ZENITH. Does he have any clue what it might do?>...Tell him about the HEART anomaly you saw in your dreams. (DC 57. ???)>Let your coworkers ask him something. Maybe they'll ask something interesting
>>6304855>ARTIFACT DEPOSIT. He'll give you a powerful ARTIFACT to research. It won't be a top grade ARTIFACT but he'll make sure to get a good one for you. (You may add in a KEYWORD if you pick this. This will subtly alter the ARTIFACT you'll receive.)Keyword: ArmorWe have a weapon, so we should go for armor now. It says subtly, so we might get a rusty iron helmet that heals or gives night vision. Still willing to try.>"Mind looking at this?" Show him the flower growing out of your wrist. Does he have any clues what the GIFT might do?>Tell him about NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER. Does he have any advice on how you should handle it?>Show him the medicine you got from ZENITH. Does he have any clue what it might do?
>>6304898Artifact armor does sound pretty sweet. Though Vincent isn't in very good shape to wear armor lol. I'll support that and change from Research upgrade.
>>6304855>RESEARCH UPGRADE. You'll get some specialized harvesting equipment to make obtaining samples easier. He'll also throw in a machine that'll help you synthetize unique chemicals from anomalies. Safe and practical.Finally.ASK>...Tell him about the HEART anomaly you saw in your dreams. (DC 57. ???)>Show him the medicine you got from ZENITH. Does he have any clue what it might do?>"Mind looking at this?" Show him the flower growing out of your wrist. Does he have any clues what the GIFT might do?Surprised if Rudolf knows, but here goes.
>>6304855>He apparently knows this place like the back of your hand.I wanna know how he knows our hand that well.>RESEARCH UPGRADE. You'll get some specialized harvesting equipment to make obtaining samples easier. He'll also throw in a machine that'll help you synthetize unique chemicals from anomalies. Safe and practical.>...Tell him about the HEART anomaly you saw in your dreams. (DC 57. ???)>Any advice on how to keep your sanity? You don't want to go insane down here.>"Mind looking at this?" Show him the flower growing out of your wrist. Does he have any clues what the GIFT might do?
>>6304933"See many a hand likes yours, Vince." Anthony randomly interrupts your contemplation. "Know it just like the back of my own hand."You offer him an odd look. What the hell is THAT supposed to mean?Rudolf shakes his head, "Don't mind him. Old age gets to the best of us. Sometimes words don't come out like we thought they would."
>>6304908Colt had a flag wrapped around him for armor. It's anomalous, so it can be a ring that makes Vince fireproof or a bulletproof T-shirt or a full set of knight armor that's actually a hazmat suit.Point is, he might casually wear it around the facility.
>>6304855>RESEARCH UPGRADE. >Show him the medicine you got from ZENITH.>Ask for more details about the ANOMALOUS ANGLERFISH. >Ask him about ARC. Hmm, it is good idea to tell him about HEART anomaly dream? I don’t fully trust him or ARC.
>>6304855>RESEARCH UPGRADE. You'll get some specialized harvesting equipment to make obtaining samples easier. He'll also throw in a machine that'll help you synthetize unique chemicals from anomalies. Safe and practical.>"Mind looking at this?" Show him the flower growing out of your wrist. Does he have any clues what the GIFT might do?>Ask for more details about the ANOMALOUS ANGLERFISH. Are uncontained anomalies a common hazard in this facility?>Ask him about the FACILITY. This place feels like it was designed to be a deathtrap sometimes.
>>6304977Change>Ask him about ARC.Switch to>"Mind looking at this?" Show him the flower growing out of your wrist.
Rolled 2 (1d2)RESEARCH UPDGRADE: All but INn, ph5 and SzuMYSTERY: INnARTIFACT: ph5, SzuANGLERFISH: RNr, vuU, INn, M5C, WGuARC: RNr, INnMEDICINE: Rnr, Dj2, vuU, Szu, ph5, KVB, M5CNOWHERE'S SOMMELIER: ph5HEART: Dj2, CWx, Szu, KVB, KOOCOWORKERS: Dj2. vuU, SzuFACILITY: INn, WGuFLOWER: CWx, ph5, KVB, KOO, M5c, WGuSANITY: CWx, KOOSorry for the delay, got sidetracked. Rolling to see if we need a roll. FLOWER and MEDICINE won out, we're just seeing if HEART or ANGLERFISH is the final one.1 = ANGLERFISH (No roll, start writing immediately)2 = HEART (Roll needed)
Alright. Three anons, roll 1d100. No modifiers. DC 57.0 SUCCESSES: ??? (+FERVENT)1 SUCCESS: "Odd..." (Rudolph tries his best to offer some advice but who knows how useful it'll be.)2 SUCCESSES: "Not the first time I've heard about this. Not about this specific anomaly but..." (Rudolf will give you some advice on how to handle anomaly induced dreams/visions in the future.)3 SUCCESSES: ???
Rolled 34 (1d100)>>6305292Heheheh... I'll only need 10% of my power to beat this roll...
Rolled 3 (1d100)>>6305292
Rolled 50 (1d100)>>6305292
>>6305294>>6305297>>6305302thump thumpWriting.
>>6305303>[Single Ally]>The selected librarian dies at the end of the third Scene after which this page was chosen.>Gain 4 Strength, Endurance, Haste, and Protection each Scene until death. All Stagger damage resistances change to "Ineffective".
After reeling from Anthony's bizarre statement, you return to your contemplation. You really do want to ask about that HEART anomaly haunting your dreams. A tiny, paranoid part of you worries it might be trying to track you down through whatever means an anomalous heart can.You hesitate, though, once you realize how insane that sounds. You're also not sure what ARC might do if they think you're compromised.You might as well start off with something simple BEFORE you talk about the heart. You hold your wrist out to Rudolf, exposing the flower growing out of it. It's gotten bigger since the last time you checked on it. The flower bulb has fully bloomed, exposing its grey petals to the world."I got this from an anomaly I was working on. Got any idea what it might do?"Rudolf gently holds your wrist as he leans in to get a closer look at it. "An ARTIFACT GIFT this early? You must be pretty lucky, young man." Huh?"Traces of an anomaly," he continues, "given to those that have appeased the anomaly in some way. Even I don't know a method to consistently get them.""Uh. That's good and all, but..." You awkwardly interrupt Rudolf's musings. "Do you have any idea what it might actually DO?""Hm. Give me something to work with. All I can guess right now is you got it from that LIMBO anomaly. What have you seen it do?""It's been growing whenever I sweat a lot. It also kept me calm when I was getting angry at some random computer bullshit." That's about the most you know about it, admittedly. "Well, son, it seems you've gotten a symbiotic gift. The anomaly probably gave this to you to protect you.""Protect me?" "Mmh hmm. It wants to stay alive, and by proxy, it'll keep YOU alive. 'course, it needs to grow to do anything." He firmly presses a finger down on your palm until it begins to hurt. The flower on your wrist squirms and thrashes, trying to get at Rudolf. It can't really do much right now."Probably won't protect much besides your arm right here. Don't lose it." Rudolf chuckles. "Might grow thorns if someone tries grabbin' or hittin' you, for example. Take care of it and it'll return the favor."Interesting. A little buddy that cares for you. Of course, it's just a flower, but you suppose you appreciate the gift IN LIMBO gave you."Didn't notice it." Hidaka leans in to get a look at the flower. "Odd. Grey? Unusual color for flower." You point at your left eye. You vaguely remember it getting injured during some past incident; it wasn't always like this. "Guessin' this is why." You murmur."Noted.""Hey! Guess that makes the four of us buddies, huh? Got a name for it?" Anthony points at the little grey flower."Uh. Anyways." You change the topic, not wanting to humor Anthony's suggestion. "There's been this heart in-">0 SUCCESSES!The words die in your mouth. A rhythmic thumping echoes inside your head. Thump thump. Thump thump. Hidaka shakes your shoulder, trying to snap you out of whatever daze you're in.
You quickly snap out of the trance you were just in. "Uh. Never mind. Sorry." You hastily spit out an apology for the impromptu sperg moment. Whatever just happened, you learned SOMETHING at least.The heart KNOWS if you're talking about it and it's none too pleased about what you were going to say.Thump, thump.Rudolf furrows his brows. He can clearly tell something's up, but he picks up that you can't openly talk about it. Anthony pats you on the back. "Whatever you were gonna say, ya can talk about it with Rudolf later."You and Rudolf share a nod, not wanting to anger the anomaly that somehow knew you were going to talk about it. You'll have to find a way to communicate about it without it eavesdropping. At least it's not inside your mind; it only reacted when you were speaking about it out loud.>??? gains FERVENT...Hidaka crosses her arms. She's tapping her foot, clearly getting impatient. Best to wrap this up.You hold out a vial of the medicine you're supposed to study. "Got any clues what this might be?"Anthony leans in to get a better look at the vial. "Wait, hold on, that's from ZENITH. They've been holding back their shipments for my squad. How the...?""It's for a sponsorship." You explain. "I don't question these things."Rudolf's face contorts with a mixture of disgust and worry once he skims through the ingredients on the vial. "This is just a random mishmash of active ingredients. I think I get what they're trying to do with it.""ZENITH's been tinkerin' with this kind of stuff for a while to take some of XATHIC INDUSTRIES' customers. This is too concentrated for a regular human, though." Rudolf sighs, tossing the vial back to you."Expect seizures, convulsions, and light paralysis as a side effect if you take this. I've worked with ZENITH, though; this stuff isn't snake oil.""It'll probably make you REALLY hard to kill. Maybe you should try findin' a way to refine it in somethin' usable, though."Duly noted. Maybe if you can find a way to refine it or alter it with the samples you have, you could get some extra cash from ZENITH. That's about all you can really ask him. You toss the REPORT back to him. "I'll take the equipment you're offering. Can you send it to my lab?""Absolutely." Rudolf gives a warm smile. He stuffs the report into a pocket inside his lab coat. "I'll have that shipped to you. Anthony, mind if you tell some of your boys to help out?""Finnneee. Only because I owe you a favor."Rudolf narrows his eyes at his old friend. "Oh, which favor are you finally paying off this time?""Aw, c'mon." Anthony slouches his shoulders. "Yeah, alright. I'll send some of my boys to help." He tries to wink, but with only one eye, it doesn't really work.>You'll get some upgraded research equipment once you start your shift.""Done here?" Hidaka clicks her tongue. "Assumption: Not the last stop?" She purses her lips, clearly uncomfortable. She glances between you and Rudolf.
You're not the best at reading her, but it's obvious Rudolf's making her uncomfortable. Maybe it's because he's a high-ranking official? Some past incident between the two? Rudolf doesn't seem to pay any mind to her, so you assume it's the former."Oh, right. We have to get going. See you around.""See you soon, Vincent." Rudolf briefly glances at Hidaka, only now noticing how uncomfortable she is. If he was going to say anything, he holds his tongue for now."Wait." You nearly forgot to ask him about the game. "There's this game, CPPQUEST. Do you know anything about it? I found it in my lab a while ago."Rudolf tenses as you mention the game's name. "I've heard about it, yes. That project got abandoned about forty years ago, though. It was supposed to train our employees here. A way to speed up employee training.""Ah, yeah, they added some haptic feedback stuff to it to make it more real." Anthony lazily adds on. Oh. So THAT'S why your gut told you it might hurt you."An experimental kind, yes. There shouldn't be any copies left; I don't know how you managed to find one or how you managed to make it work. Just...be careful if you're playing it."Cryptic, but it does tell you the game was probably based on a facility like the one you're in. Whatever the thing you were controlling is, it's probably in this facility with you."Alright. Thank you. We gotta get going.""Have a good day, you three.""You too." "Mmh." "See ya around, pal!"With that, the three of you leave him behind. "Question: Hesitated about a heart. Reason why?" "Can't talk about it." You answer truthfully. "I really wish I could."Hidaka offers an understanding nod. "Probably for best. Ears everywhere, eyes everywhere. Cards close to chest, best for everyone.""I agree and disagree." Anthony puts his hands behind his head as he lazily follows after you. "Ain't always a good idea to keep too many secrets. That stuff just eats you up sooner than later.""Not applicable here." Hidaka curtly points out. "Clearly beyond his control.""Look, we'll worry about that later. We're heading down to LAYER 3." "Huh?" Anthony tilts his head. "Any reason why?""It's tied to that game I was talking about. I just want to confirm it for myself.""Understandable. Knowledge is power. More knowledge, the better. Details on target?" Hidaka politely asks. "I don't know much about it but it should look vaguely like an ETF agent. Should have a mask on too. I think it's in one of the storage rooms."Anthony draws a snub-nosed revolver from his holster. "Aight. If that thing attacks us, though, I'm gonna shoot it."Hidaka tries her best to hold back her laughter. "Americans, always so trigger happy.""Hey," You can't help but snicker. "At least he's not like Colt.""The drunkard?" Hidaka squeaks, failing to hold in her laugh. "Have to tell you story about him later. Complete fool last night."You awkwardly laugh. Ah, right, you gave him that wine.
"Haaa. Hope he isn't mad at me.""He called you 'best bro ever'. Doubtful." Hidaka snickers as she remembers whatever happened last night. "Oh, fuck Colt. That man has been a pain in my ass. We're nothing alike! I have the decency NOT to point my gun at people.""Yeah. You're a lot more tolerable.""T-tolerable?" Anthony stammers out. "Ahhh, c'mon, I didn't survive 80 some years just to be called tolerable.""Enough." Hidaka cuts the two of you off once you manage to find an elevator. Your group steps inside the crammed metal box, heading your way down to LAYER 3.The door opens to reveal a hallway that looks exactly like the ones in LAYER 2. Excellent. "Okay, follow me, I think I know where it is." You retrace your steps through LAYER 3, trying to follow any familiar landmarks you saw in the game.You know you're on the right track when you pass by a room labeled 'CAFE LOUNGE'. It's only a short walk until you're outside a familiar looking storage room. It's locked with Level 2 access so you can't open it.Anthony digs around for his ID. He swipes it and, lo and behold, the door opens. Inside is a completely pitch black storage room. Hidaka quietly enters the storage room, searching for a light switch. The lights flicker on as she easily manages to locate it. You...almost wish she didn't.https://youtu.be/YkG7t_ySBSE - A HUMAN Standing behind one of the storage shelves is someone that, at first glance, looked like a human. He's a short, stocky man dressed head to toe in tactical black. A cheap plastic mask of a grizzled man with a gruff expression covers his face.A pistol hangs off a holster around his waist. The only immediately offputting thing about him is the jagged black claws that have replaced his hands. They're made of a stony material, reminding you of marble more than anything. The three of you stand there, not sure how to proceed from here.Hidaka scans the odd man and after some brief analysis, her posture relaxes. "Doubtful it's a threat. Hand nowhere near gun, won't attack. Likely curious about us.""Really?""Reading people is easy." Hidaka curtly nods. "Not hard, when you know what to look for. Not a threat."The masked man waves at the three of you. How do you want to interact with the Masked Man? Choose two actions.>Hand him one of the ZENITH vials. Tell him to use it, it'll make him stronger.>"Do you...know me?" Introduce yourself to the entity.>Tell Anthony to ask the man some questions. He should respond well to a fellow agent. (DC 60, +15 from AGENT AUTHORITY.)>Get closer to the man with Hidaka. Ask her what she can figure out about your 'fellow human' here. (DC 55, +7 from HIDAKA'S ANALYSIS)>Hand him some AMMO and some of your SANDWICHES. Might as well stock him up on supplies. (-1 of 2 PISTOL AMMO, -2 of 5 WINE-SOAKED SANDWICHES. Should make the game easier?)>Try to harvest some material from its claws for future research. (You'll obtain 1d3+1 samples.)>Write in.
>>6305393>Hand him one of the ZENITH vials. Tell him to use it, it'll make him stronger.>Write-in: "Want to be my lab assistant for today?"
>>6305398>Tell Anthony to ask the man some questions. He should respond well to a fellow agent. (DC 60, +15 from AGENT AUTHORITY.)>Write-in: "Want to be my lab assistant for today?"Have Tony ask it questions, we can do the experimenting at the lab if it comes with. We can only have 2 assistants, right? If this works we better take Colt or Anthony or Ashton - someone combat orientated. Just in case.
>>6305393By ARC standards, this guy comes off as human enough. Everything odd about him can be dismissed as a byproduct of occupational hazards.And he know place real good, and good combat. Model ETF agent, really.>Tell Anthony to ask the man some questions. He should respond well to a fellow agent. (DC 60, +15 from AGENT AUTHORITY.)agent to agent communication>Write in: Ask if he would like to work with us today.Nooothing can go wrong!We already have one (two?) anomaly friend(s), why not another?
>>6305393>Hand him one of the ZENITH vials. Tell him to use it, it'll make him stronger.Try to harvest some material from its claws for future research. (You'll obtain 1d3+1 samples.)
>>6305393>Tell Anthony to ask the man some questions. He should respond well to a fellow agent. (DC 60, +15 from AGENT AUTHORITY.)>Get closer to the man with Hidaka. Ask her what she can figure out about your 'fellow human' here. (DC 55, +7 from HIDAKA'S ANALYSIS)
>>6305393>Hand him one of the ZENITH vials. Tell him to use it, it'll make him stronger.>Get closer to the man with Hidaka. Ask her what she can figure out about your 'fellow human' here. (DC 55, +7 from HIDAKA'S ANALYSIS)
>>6305393>Hand him one of the ZENITH vials. Tell him to use it, it'll make him stronger.Yeah uhhhh a minor movement debuff in exchange for some high protection? It isn't that bad a consumable for the early game>Get closer to the man with Hidaka. Ask her what she can figure out about your 'fellow human' here. (DC 55, +7 from HIDAKA'S ANALYSIS)Hello fellow human, how are you doing?
>>6293578>If Lucy doesn't go from our ugly duckling into a beautiful swan I'd say Hidaka would be a nice love interest. Japanese salarywomen with pencil skirt. Miss Secretary Hidaka, appointment in the supply closet.With the strange easy-to-be-lost and easy-to-get-lost layout of the facility combined with>You are immediately weirded out when you see a woman stumbling into the barracks. Oh no. It's mixed. You grit your teeth - That can't be good. That's like baby's first lesson when it comes to this kind of stuff. You don't let men and women sleep in the same room.>Either this is a comedically huge oversight or they don't expect you to live long enough for this to be an issue.You bet at least several other people new or otherwise have engaged in clandestine activities that are not quite worksafe nor in favor of the kind of "production" that ARC wants of us, hint hint. Now whether Hidaka will be open to that eventually or whether Vincent will survive long enough to consider that sort of "employee interaction" remains to be seen
>>6305393>"Do you...know me?" Introduce yourself to the entity.>Get closer to the man with Hidaka. Ask her what she can figure out about your 'fellow human' here. (DC 55, +7 from HIDAKA'S ANALYSIS)Bro's just chilling
>>6305393>"Do you...know me?" Introduce yourself to the entity.>Tell Anthony to ask the man some questions. He should respond well to a fellow agent. (DC 60, +15 from AGENT AUTHORITY.)
>>6305520WeirdoControl yourself
>>6305520Bruh
>>6305393>Hand him one of the ZENITH vials.>Get closer to the man with Hidaka. Ask her what she can figure out about your 'fellow human' here.This seems safe.
>>6305520I’m sure there are plenty of sex quests active right now. This is not one of them.Go take a cold shower my guy.
ZENITH: ph5, CWx, RNr, vuU, M5CWORK WITH ME: ph5, KVBANTHONY, TALK TO IT: KVB, KOO, WGuHARVEST: CWxHIDAKA: KOO, RNr, vuU, Dj2, M5CDO YOU KNOW ME: Dj2, WGuAlright, seems like ZENITH and HIDAKA won out. You know the rules and so do I. Three anons, roll 1d100+7, DC 55. Table below.0 SUCCESSES: "Looking at me like I'm not a human..." (Trying to analysis the masked man only enrages it.)1 SUCCESS: "Odd. Quite odd." (HIDAKA only offers some vague insights.)2 SUCCESSES: "Could be useful?" (HIDAKA offers a decent insight into the man's psyche and if he could be useful down the line.)3 SUCCESSES: "From game you said, yes? Have an idea." (Same as 2 SUCCESSES but HIDAKA manages to get something special from the masked man.)also, just a reminder, you met Hidaka like two days ago. Rein in your expectations.
Rolled 12 (1d100)>>6305737But moooom, I want to take him hoooome!
Rolled 3 (1d100)
Rolled 76 + 7 (1d100 + 7)>>6305737Cursed dice
You got one success! Hoo, I was half-expecting to have to offer you another pity deal. Writing.>>6305738Of course you do. He's a human, just like you or me.
You question why your first interest was to HIRE this guy. You suppose you've hired weirder people; after all, you hired a certain mystery Man. It's probably best you wait until you learn more about him before you hire him, though."Hey?" You address the masked man. "Do you have a name?""My name is FET. I'm here doing official ETF business." He really just scrambled the letters in ETF, huh?The man's voice almost sounds normal. It is gruff, gravelly, and deep, like you'd expect out of a seasoned agent that fights anomalies on a regular basis. Yet, you can tell something's wrong with it.It crackles and fizzles as if it's being played on a faulty radio. It's subtle but present. "And," Anthony snickers, "Standin' around in some random storage room is ETF business to you, sir?""Indeed. Any reasonable human would understand what I'm doing here." FET scoffs at Anthony's "dumb" question. "You would understand. You too have the of scars fighting battles many fights."FET clears his throat. "I meant to say 'the scars from fighting many of your own battles.'" Excuse me. Twisted tongue, you understand, no?" FET nervously adjusts his mask."Uh-huh. Welp, me and my pals here are just here to talk to ya. We won't take up too much of yer time, sir.""Of course, of course. Talking to an ETF agent is an understandable human activity."Hidaka nudges you with her shoulder. She leans in to whisper once she's gotten your attention. "Not the weirdest I've seen. Could've easily been hired. ARC standards that low."You snicker. Yeah, they hired YOU of all people. Well, 'hired', but that's besides the point. "You think I should give him...?" You shake the vial of JAX-874 in your hand."Video game buff. Would be good for it. Might be an issue for you later." Hidaka offers a half-hearted shrug. "Your choice.""True, true." You mumble under your breath. Ideally, though, he shouldn't be hurting anyone you care about anyways. You walk up to FET and you present the vial to him.He tilts his head at the vial. "?""It's a gift." You shake the vial, causing the liquid inside to slosh around. "Drink it. I need to do some tests to see how it affects humans."FET's head perks up once he hears his explanation. His body shakes and trembles like a dog that just heard it was going to go on a walk. "Hand it to me! I shall be your test subject!""Knock yourself out." You toss the vial and, despite how clumsy his claws appear to be, FET easily catches it. He lifts up his mask, briefly revealing a mangled jaw filled with black, craggy teeth. He tosses the whole vial inside his 'mouth' before lowering his mask.The three of you stand by, watching to see what the serum might do to him. The skin on his neck, which looked human enough at first, rapidly begins to flake off in thick and heavy sheets. A thick layer of hardened, dry skin similar to what you see on a scab replaces the skin he lost. There doesn't seem to be any other obvious changes, though.
Of course, most of his skin is hidden underneath his tactical outfit. You politely ask him to roll up one of his pant legs.He does so after some initial resistance from his now stiff back, exposing the same dry and scab-like flesh that you saw on his neck. You equip your scalpel, trying to slice into his flesh.It takes a LOT of force to mark even a shallow scratch into his flesh. His skin might as well be made of stone. Interesting. You stow away your scalpel, satisfied with the test."Thank you.""Of course. Humans help humans." >Noted properties: Rock-hard skin around the neck and legs, resistant to cuts. Light stiffness around FET's back.>1/3 DRUG TESTS DONE. 4 VIALS LEFT."Our, uh, friend here will do a quick examination of you. Would you be fine with that?""Of course?" FET is skeptical, but he doesn't have a reason to outright refuse.Hidaka circles around the stocky man in tactical gear. She keeps her gaze locked on him, scanning every detail she can figure out about him. She quietly mutters to herself as she keeps circling around him."Uhm." FET isn't quite sure how to react."Hey," Anthony tries his best to distract his 'fellow human.' "Some humans are just weird like that, am I right? Ain't gonna be much longer.""Truer words have never been said." FET nods sagely. That's one."You're not wrong. This place is filled with freaks." You nod stoically. That's two.Anthony is nodding stoically too, arms crossed. That's three.Hidaka briefly stops examining FET to offer a curt nod. And that's four. She steps back, giving FET some much-needed personal space. Hidaka gestures at you to step away from FET so she can talk to you. You follow along until you're near the entrance of the storage room.>1 SUCCESS.She leans in to whisper to you, "Quite odd. Very odd man. Saw bulging all over his flesh. Not too visible; hard skin hid it even more, hard to notice."You grimace. "What, like something's inside him?"Hidaka quickly glances between you and FET. "Indeed. Likely took over someone's body, from inside out."She pokes at your stomach. "Bulging around here and the upper chest." She taps a finger against your neck right below your chin. "Signs of damage and bulging around here. Most likely scenario: Tore off head, stuffed body down his throat, pilots the body inside."You try your best to not linger on the mental imagery that conjures. You suppose the only upside here is that FET seems perfectly content to not hurt anyone else as long as you treat him as a human. "Anything else you could figure out?""Likely a symbiote, like flower. The body has not rotted; damage has mostly healed. Claws likely replaced missing limbs from attack. Biologically, most of FET is human.""Such is all I have to say."You can only hope that whoever FET took over, they were already dead when he found them. You're not sure if your choice in CPPQUEST altered who he took over or if it just altered what role he decided to LARP as.
FET is getting suspicious at the conversation the two of you are having. Anthony manages to deflect any concerns he has with some quick banter."Ah, how's your job anyways? Working hard or hardly working?""Like any good human, I always work hard. Work harder, not smarter; am I right?"Anthony offers a polite laugh. "Yeah, yeah. Say, we gotta go, we'll chat with ya later.""Of course. I have my own business to tend to." FET politely bows. "Thank you for. Gift."The three of you quickly scramble out of the room before he can ask any more questions. Okay. You didn't expect to talk to some weird body hijacker, but here we are. Hidaka whispers what she learned about FET to Anthony. He sighs, mulling over what he should do. "Ain't no use callin' him out. It's best to just let him stay there. We should probably warn the others not to bother him any.""For the best. Rather not agitate possible anomaly.""Yeah, I concur. He seems friendly enough. I wonder why he wants to be a human so badly, though?""Beats me." Anthony shrugs. "Hey, imagine if he tried to do paperwork with those big ol' claws."You and Hidaka both shiver at the idea. You could easily imagine piles of paperwork being torn to shreds by his big, stony claws."Pfft. Wage slaves and their paperwork. Aight, anywhere else we gotta be?""We'll just walk around here real quick. Need to check on something."You lead your group down the hallway you're in. You have one lab you're looking for—the one that FET somehow manifested in. It's hard to tell given how identical every hallway here looks, but you swear you've seen this particular one before. You find yourself in front of a lab that your gut tells you has to be the one.You open the door. Inside is a completely abandoned lab that is still filled to the brim with obscure and esoteric machinery. Large, twisting pipes snake across the ceiling, each one seemingly connected to a random machine. The lab is completely spotless despite the fact no one seems to be operating it.You scan for the cell you think he was in when you were connecting in. The placard next to it reads...MAW OF HUMAN KINDNESSHm. You close the door to the lab. "Alright, that's all I needed to check.""Phew. You always do this in your free time, Vince?" Anthony whistles out a low tune. "Ah, just a word of advice, Vince. Might be best to keep your head low when it comes to some of this stuff.""Indeed. Wouldn't want anyone getting the wrong idea.""Alright, alright. Hey, we can stick to doing some boring lab work. Would you two be interested?""Ah, sure, what the hell. I ain't got any tasks today." "My work place is currently unavailable. Rather not stay idle. I accept.""To hire me, I'll ask ya for-" "Cost to hire me is-"Okay! Time to decide who you're going to hire today, now that you've likely used up all of your FREE TIME. You think you have enough money to hire two people, but your funds are pretty limited right now. Decisions, decisions.
LUCY+A very good research assistant +Keeps anomalies calm with her presence.?Would be a good test subject for the WINE-SOAKED SANDWICHES and ZENITH's medicine-Super weak and physically fragile-Too meek for her own good.TIME TOKEN VALUE (how many extra time tokens they give): 2THE MAN+Jack of all trades+Very good at gathering information-Can't interact with most people or anomalies?Anomalous, for better and worse.TIME TOKEN VALUE: 3SACA+Physically strong and durable+Repair/manual labor skill checks take less time with its presence-Can't enter anomaly cells?Rudimentary AI, doesn't fully think like a humanTIME TOKEN VALUE: 3COLT+Has a certain way with words+Good fighter+Owns two ARTIFACTS, very well equipped-Interferes with research?Not liked by a lot of your fellow coworkers.?Probably hungover.TIME TOKEN VALUE: 2ASHTON+Cares about you. She'll do her best to help you out.+???+-???TIME TOKEN VALUE: 2HIDAKA+Analytic, can notice things other people miss.+Fellow wageslave. Great at handling paperwork, menial labor and sucking up to her superiors.-Doesn't trust people easily. Paranoid.TIME TOKEN VALUE: 2ANTHONY+Knows the facility like the back of his hand. Can help you find what you need here.+Managed to survive this long as a facility guard. Likely has a lot of skills under his belt.+Seems pretty chill. People seems to trust him.-WAY past his physical prime. VERY old.TIME TOKEN VALUE: 4With the amount of coworkers you've met so far, it's likely that in the future, your schedules might not line up with all of time. They might not always be available.Who do you want to hire? Pick up to two people. You have $453>LUCY (-$123)>THE MAN (-$165)>SACA (-$100)>COLT (-$50)>ASHTON (-$77)>HIDAKA (-$99)>ANTHONY (-$200)>NO ONE. SOLO SHIFT.Do you warn people about FET?>YES. You don't want anyone to freak out about him.>NO. He doesn't seem to be hurting anyone.>Write in?
>>6305893>LucyWe wanted her for tests earlier>HidakaWe wanted her for paperwork earlier, might grill Lucy though>Do you warn people about FET?>No?Warn how? I wouldn't tell on him to authorities, but I would tape a note saying "OFFICIAL ETF BUSINESS, DO NOT ENTER."
>>6305893>HIDAKA (-$99)We have the QUALITY sponsorship which will be PAPERWORK and I suspect some very odd or difficult paperwork, and we only have 1 day to solve it. Plus she should be handy to help with research since shes so good at noooticing. Probably good to take in to see our wine robot lady.>LUCY (-$123)We have research to do, and if we can refine the Zenith medicine maybe it would improve her condition quite a bit. Good at dealing with IN LIMBO.>Write in?Who is realistically going to bother this thing and start a fight if anyone? Colt. Maybe SACA if part of their programming is to try and restrain something they register as an anomaly in an open area? I figure as long as those two know not to fuck with it thats fine. If Vincent himself thinks someone else is in this category go ahead...Include the Nursing staff incase they use that closet and try to move him as a potential patient.
>>6305601>>6305610>>6305726I was drunk that Friday night, I swear. Also, what site do you think we're on?>>6305893Backing >>6305898
>>6305893>ANTHONY (-$200)>NO. He doesn't seem to be hurting anyone.
>>6305893>LUCY (-$123)>HIDAKA (-$99)>YES. You don't want anyone to freak out about him.
>>6305893>HIDAKA (-$99)PAPERWORK>LUCY (-$123)I hope you guys aren't hoping to put the ZENITH shit into LUCY. Anyways, I'm more interested in the sammiches.But like I said before, we might be able to get 2 from testing it on a sample of our own tissue. But if taking our own skin off ourselves for testing would count as 1, then we'll need another sample from LUCY preferably. And maybe don't give it directly to someone human after seeing what it did to FET.WARN>NO. He doesn't seem to be hurting anyone.And he actually seems to be passable as a human, if only by ARC standards.Buuut he did consider one security guard earlier to be a monster while KEVIN got a pass, which is slightly concerning. Maybe it's only certain people who are considered threats? Or the way someone acts around it? Or whether or not its met with a body which is suitable for occupation? Seems docile enough that so long as nobody it dislikes enters its room, nothing bad will happen.May be worth checking if it's possibly to query dialogue or event history in CPPQUEST later, may be important to know how the game identified us.Also FET's stats might've changed or he may have been granted a status effect. It can lend us a deeper understanding of how the ZENITH drug effects people.
>>6305893>LUCY (-$123)>THE MAN (-$165)>HIDAKA (-$99)>NO. He doesn't seem to be hurting anyone.
>>6305893>ANTHONY (-$200)>ASHTON (-$77)>YES. You don't want anyone to freak out about him.
>>6305893>LUCY>HIDAKA >NO.
>>6305893>Lucy>Hidaka>No. He doesn’t seem to be hurting anyone.
Yeah, it's pretty obvious who you should hire today. You do kinda want to help Lucy out with her condition, and the sandwiches might help, plus you got a new anomaly. As for your other choice, c'mon.You picked a sponsorship that involves paperwork. She's clearly a good choice there."Alright. Hidaka, you're coming with me. Anthony, I don't need you today BUT!" You offer him a quick finger gun and a wink. "If you hear me screaming, please check up on me.""Pft. Lemme guess, new abno?""Myup." "Aight. I'll tell Ashton about it. That girl's already keepin' an eye on ya."Hidaka has to do a double take at what she heard. Her head spins around, trying to catch a glimpse of anyone nearby. "Someone's watching you?"You can only offer a half-hearted shrug. You have your suspicions about her, but she seems well-meaning enough. "She's not like Liz; I'm pretty sure on that.""Pretty sure?" Hidaka repeats with apprehension in her voice."If it's any consolation, she's not working with us. I'm bringing Lucy along."That's enough to call Hidaka down. Her shoulders slump as she lets her body relax. "So be it.">HIDAKA has joined your party! For real! Her sheet will be revealed below.---HIDAKAPHYSICAL HEALTH: DOING FINE MENTAL HEALTH: TENSETRAITS[WAGESLAVE]: +5 to rolls involving paperwork and menial labor. +5 to speech checks to appease high-ranking officials. [KEEN EYE]: +7 to perception rolls. While she's in the party, you generally glean more information from analyzing your anomalies.[PARANOID]: Always worried that someone is watching her. Will have a hard time trusting her fellow coworkers.INVENTORYLOOSE PAPER & PEN (For marking down notes.)---As for FET? Well, he doesn't appear to be hostile. Even if he's some bodyjacking anomaly, as long as no one bothers him, it should be fine. "Hey, can we just like. Slap a note on the door?"Anthony snatches the paper from Hidaka's INVENTORY. He scribbles something down before slapping a note on the door. Written in crude but legible handwriting are the words "DON'T ENTER OFFICIAL ETF BUSINESS." "Good enough, eh?"You and Hidaka give a thumbs-up of approval. You doubt you need to do anything more."Welp. That's my job done for today. Don't do anything I wouldn't do, alright?" He says it with the cadence of a joke, but you're not sure what the joke is supposed to be.You politely laugh. "Of course. See you around.""Bye." Hidaka curtly responds. You and Hidaka retract your steps back to the elevator while Anthony goes his separate way. The walk back to the elevator is mostly uneventful aside from one little thing. That story that Ashton told you about that masked man lingers in the back of your mind.Are the bumps coming from the ceiling...him? They're pretty sporadic, maybe every 30 or 40 seconds or so. You could've easily just ignored it as background noise, but something about it rubs you the wrong way. Oh well, there's nothing you can do about it.
The elevator ride with Hidaka is long, boring, and quiet. It's a welcome reprieve from the insane, nonsensical bullshit that you've had to deal with for the last four days. It's the type of mundane, boring chore you've kind of missed, funnily enough.Just riding in an elevator, ready to start another shift. Hidaka faintly smiles during the whole ride, and, well, you can't help but smile too. You suppose neither of you HAS to say anything, right? Sometimes it's nice to just enjoy the silence.The door opens up after God knows how long. A horde of busy and anxious researchers, guards, janitors, and everything in between flows down the hallway like a torrent of water. You and Hidaka push your way into the crowd. The two of you are quickly swept along with the crowd.You grab Hidaka by her arm once you spot your lab amongst the seemingly identical metal doors. You duck inside with her before the crowd can pull the two of you back in.Your lab looks the same as it always does. Grimy, held together by spit and prayers, and faintly reeking of cigarette ash, but it's your lab. The automatic slime mold feeder has been placed against the rightmost wall of your cell to make room for your latest anomaly.Hidaka paces around the lab to see what she's working with but she nearly trips on something. "Ngh!" She's able to regain her balance, thankfully.A small Roomba-like robot is scrubbing away at the perpetually grimy floor. The only noticeable visual difference between it and a roomba is a small electronic screen on the top part of its body that doesn't seem to display anything. A bit-crushed cat meow chirps out of somewhere inside of the robot. Okay. You're not going to question it.A shoddy CRT TV is placed on top of one of your tables alongside your various other supplies. You check to see if there's anything super noteworthy amongst your new supplies. The 'better chow' turns out to be some bottles of orange juice, a few cans of soda, some premade salad mix, and a gallon of milk. It's more variety than spam and bread, you have to admit.There's also...huh. It seems they shipped you a personal generator alongside a variety of random batteries. A hastily scribbled note on it reads "WATER POWERED. EXPERIMENTAL, DON'T RUN FOR TOO LONG." You suppose that'll be useful down for powering your CRT TV."So. Where is Lucy?" Hidaka asks while you were busy taking stock."Oh, I'll call her real quick.You boot up your shoddy computer so you can shoot her a quick message. She quickly accepts your offer, saying that she'll be there ASAP. Okay. You're nearly broke but you got some help at least!>You now have $231!There's a new app on your computer that wasn't there before labeled "SECCAM". You click on it, and a small window pops up on your screen that has three cameras to flip through. You quickly realize that these cameras show the inside of each of your containment cells.
CELL #1 is IN LIMBO'S, CELL #2 is NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER and CELL #3 is your newest anomaly. You check each of them while you wait for Lucy.CELL #1 shows what you're used to at this point. The many arms growing from the flower bed are thrashing and clawing at the air, desperate for attention. Small dents have formed on the floor it's resting on and, while it's hard to make out, you swear you see bruises on the anomaly's hands.CELL #2 shows the android still seated at its chair, apparently sleeping. The upper half of its body has slumped over and, for the time being, it doesn't seem to be moving.CELL #3 shows you your first glimpse of your latest anomaly. The first thing you spot is how TALL they are. Too tall for a a regular human. Their head grazes against the top of the ceiling (which you have to guess is nearly 10 feet tall.) Their lanky limbs are twisted and broken like they just got hit by a car.A dirty plaid jacket and pair of torn blue jeans loosely hangs over their skeletally thin frame. Your eyes soon notice that the anomaly is holding something in its hand. A bent, rusted baseball bat loosely hangs in its grasp, coated in dark red stains.It's blankly staring at the airlock, waiting for something to come in.You turn your attention away from the cameras as you hear Lucy's voice, "H-hey! S-someone d-delivered a b-b-box here." In her hands is a plain old cardboard box. Hidaka snatches it from her hands and opens it. A grimace crosses her face as she sees what's inside. She promptly dumps the contents onto the floor.Piles of paperwork disgorge out of the box like water from a busted pipe. The pile on the floor grows taller and taller and taller until soon, it's about as tall as Lucy and Hidaka (both roughly 4'10' if you had to guess?)"Oh!" Hidaka exclaims with a mix of excitement and confusion. "This. is something else.""H-how did it even...?" Lucy tries her best to process how all of that paperwork managed to fit inside.---You quickly check for that equipment you asked RUDOLF to deliver. It's hard to find it amongst all of the garbage you have here but you soon find what you were looking for. You find a small machine that you can only really describe as a very futuristic looking food grinder.The manual that came with it has a lot of buzzwords in it but you get the general gist. If a sample is fed into here, it can mulch it to extract raw chemicals from it, which you can ideally mix together with other chems to create something useful.The other tool you're given is a sleek, futuristic glove. As you put it on, you find that a variety of tools can pop out at the tips of your fingers, each one suited to harvesting a specific type of material. The sleek blades and syringes shimmer under the faint light of your lab.A note provided with the glove reads "PAINLESS EXTRACTION 90% OF THE TIME!". It should hopefully give you a bit more wiggle room when harvesting.>CHEM EXTRACTOR and HARVESTING GLOVE obtained!
NOW you can start your shift!SHIFT 5 STARTS NOWTIME TOKENS FOR THE DAY: 13 (+4 from LUCY and HIDAKA)This day is going to take a while. Choose two ACTIONS and any (or no) FREE ACTIONS. RESEARCH>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You're worried that it's hurting itself. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Enter NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER'S containment cell. Getting some more wine to study wouldn't hurt. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Enter 199X's containment cell. Time to meet your new anomaly. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Study the WIRE FLOWER'S ability to record stuff. Can you record new stuff on them? Can you improve the quality of the recordings? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49, +5 from LUCY'S HELP)>There's this random MYSTERY BAGGIE you've had in your inventory for days now. Figure out what's in it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, no stat check. You'll get to know what the item is.)>Do some tests on the JAX/ZENITH serum you have. Harvest a skin sample from someone. (-1 TIME TOKEN, choose who: YOU, LUCY, HIDAKA. They'll take some PHYSICAL HEALTH damage.)>Try to find a way to improve the JAX serum. (-2 TIME TOKEN, DC 67, +14 from LUCY + HIDAKA's help. Will earn you some extra SPONSORSHIP money.)>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50, +6 from Lucy's help + ANOMALY TOUCHED)>Test out the WINE SOAKED SANDWICHES on Lucy and Hidaka. More data on them would be useful. (-1 TIME TOKEN, -2 of 5 WINE SOAKED SANDWICHES)>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44, +10 to roll from DOUBLE WAGESLAVE!)BUSY WORK>Look up any information about L'CURE on ABNOWATCH. This restaurant/company is really shady. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65, +7 to roll with HIDAKA'S help.)>Start the long, arduous process of dealing with the mountain of paperwork. (-1d3 TIME TOKENS, DC 77, +22 to roll from TWO HELPERS + DOUBLE WAGESLAVE. Will drain your will to live.)>Try to make some useful stuff out of the AC PARTS and ELECTRONIC SCRAP you got. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60, +1 to roll.)>Cook some stuff on that new propane grill of yours. Maybe your anomalies would like cooked food better? (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Try to make some outfits with the sewing machine. Maybe the android would like it? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, Hidaka and Lucy can offer some advice.)MISC>Approach your FAX MACHINE. Risk the wrath of CORPORATE MIGHT. Ask for some help/advice. (FREE ACTION. -$25. Choose who to call: HAYDEN, BLACKWELL, UPPER MANAGEMENT, ZENITH or Q&Q)>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. You want to review your interaction with FET and to see what the drug did to him. (FREE ACTION. Might damage your physical and mental health.)>Write in ----Reposting rentrybins since it's the start of a new shipVINCENT + INVENTORY: https://rentry.co/VINCENTSHEETANOMALY INFO: https://rentry.co/RESEARCHNOTESALLY DETAILS: https://rentry.co/coworkerlistYou'll get the details on what happened to the CIGARETTE MOLD next update, don't worry.
>>6306304>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. You want to review your interaction with FET and to see what the drug did to him. (FREE ACTION. Might damage your physical and mental health.)Free action so we do it first just to check the status he got from the drug as-is. Better to learn this now so we have a better grasp of it in prep for working on that sponsorship sidequest later today>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You're worried that it's hurting itself. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)Let's address this so it's calmed for a while, shouldn't be too bad>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44, +10 to roll from DOUBLE WAGESLAVE!)Fresh shift start, good time to get a rundown on the new guy before we decide anything. He seems to be watching the airlock waiting for us to enter... so we have some time to safely delay him>Start the long, arduous process of dealing with the mountain of paperwork. (-1d3 TIME TOKENS, DC 77, +22 to roll from TWO HELPERS + DOUBLE WAGESLAVE. Will drain your will to live.)WE DO IT NOW SO WE DON'T HAVE TO HAVE IT FUCK WITH US LATERBasic shift opener votes
>>6306304>Limbo>Dossier>CPPQUESTCan we read the old dossiers? They should have artefact extraction hints now. We've already properly examined them before, so it shouldn't be too hard to repeat it.New one is one time token, so maybe we can get both for one token also?
>>6306304>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You're worried that it's hurting itself. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)Best do it before she gets upset again, and shes hurt herself. Feed her a sandwich.>Start the long, arduous process of dealing with the mountain of paperwork. (-1d3 TIME TOKENS, DC 77, +22 to roll from TWO HELPERS + DOUBLE WAGESLAVE. Will drain your will to live.)Even with all that help its down to a damn coinflip againSo we have enough time tokens to hit every Research which adds up to 11. The paperwork might take 3 which sucks, but thats the only Busy Work we need to do.At least with the Zenith test we also have the sandwiches which would heal that right up. Vincent takes his own sample, eats a sandwich and heals infront of them bam all better. >Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. You want to review your interaction with FET and to see what the drug did to him. (FREE ACTION. Might damage your physical and mental health.)We gave the FET a dose of Zenith, now if we can access a Status Menu we might be able to understand what other side effects its caused him. Hmm you know now that I think of it, he could be extra security against our new abno freaking out?
>>6306304>>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You're worried that it's hurting itself. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Enter 199X's containment cell. Time to meet your new anomaly. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. You want to review your interaction with FET and to see what the drug did to him. (FREE ACTION. Might damage your physical and mental health.)
>>6306304>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You're worried that it's hurting itself. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)Do some tests on the JAX/ZENITH serum you have. Harvest a skin sample from someone. (-1 TIME TOKEN, choose who: YOU, LUCY, HIDAKA. They'll take some PHYSICAL HEALTH damage.) Lucy, we want to know if it can help her after allCheck out CPPQUEST.EXE. You want to review your interaction with FET and to see what the drug did to him. (FREE ACTION. Might damage your physical and mental health.)
>>6306304>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You're worried that it's hurting itself. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)Wouldn't want to have to do all that paperwork in the dark.>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44, +10 to roll from DOUBLE WAGESLAVE!)Deeply concerned. But Vincent could totally take him in a fight, no problem.>Start the long, arduous process of dealing with the mountain of paperwork. (-1d3 TIME TOKENS, DC 77, +22 to roll from TWO HELPERS + DOUBLE WAGESLAVE. Will drain your will to live.)I'd like to get this done early. What if we don't complete it on the first try?FREE ACTION>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. You want to review your interaction with FET and to see what the drug did to him. (FREE ACTION. Might damage your physical and mental health.)Need to know about the drug.
>>6306317>Can we read the old dossiers? I say you can and that'll just be something you'll passively do if you choose to work on IN LIMBO/NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER. No time tokens needed.
>>6306304>Study the WIRE FLOWER'S ability to record stuff. Can you record new stuff on them? Can you improve the quality of the recordings? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49, +5 from LUCY'S HELP)>Try to find a way to improve the JAX serum. (-2 TIME TOKEN, DC 67, +14 from LUCY + HIDAKA's help. Will earn you some extra SPONSORSHIP money.)>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. You want to review your interaction with FET and to see what the drug did to him. (FREE ACTION. Might damage your physical and mental health.)
>>6306304>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You're worried that it's hurting itself. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44, +10 to roll from DOUBLE WAGESLAVE!)>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. You want to review your interaction with FET and to see what the drug did to him. (FREE ACTION. Might damage your physical and mental health.)
>>6306304>Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You're worried that it's hurting itself. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Study the WIRE FLOWER'S ability to record stuff. Can you record new stuff on them? Can you improve the quality of the recordings? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49, +5 from LUCY'S HELP)>Look up any information about L'CURE on ABNOWATCH. This restaurant/company is really shady. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65, +7 to roll with HIDAKA'S help.)>Try to make some useful stuff out of the AC PARTS and ELECTRONIC SCRAP you got. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60, +1 to roll.)
>>6306304>Use our misc testing supplies on the Hot Cocoa Cup I don't mind what other anons do but...ANONS HAVE JUST FORGOTTEN ABOUT THE CUP, It's burning a hole in the back of my mind.
>>6306304>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. >Enter IN LIMBO'S containment cell. You're worried that it's hurting itself.>Start the long, arduous process of dealing with the mountain of paperwork.
>>6306603Agreed.I don't know what the other anons are thinking, but testing if ASHTON is an agent of an anomaly should be high priority, especially since we see her every other day.Right now meeting sponsorship deadlines takes immediate priority for me though.I'm just not gonna vote to work with her until we test the cup, not unless THE MAN or COLT have our back and know the deal.Maybe they think someone actually and ordinarily likes Vincent? Ha! As if that would ever happen.She is still not our redhead gf we can always trust.
I read this qst before going to bed and had a dream set here.Hidaka Looked kinda like the Butcher Vanity girl>Vincent and Hidaka experiment with the Sommelier and get shitfaced>Flash Forward to waking up the next day, Hidaka gains the butcher trait because apparently she ate/neutralized someone else's anomaly, but is now suffering from bad reputation with a few other researchers>Hidaka and Vince try to sort out the misunderstanding while Colt is Heckling the both, thinking Vince got laid
Everyone besides Cupschizo and WGU want to check on FET so I'm not going to count all of those, you're going to be doing thatIN LIMBO: Hi3, 92o, Szu, 71z, CWx, KVB, WGu, Dj2, JOf, M5CSERUM TESTS: CWxDOSSIER: Hi3, 92o, KVB, Dj2, JOfPAPERWORK: Hi3, Szu, KVB, M5CWIRE FLOWERS: KOO, WGuL'CURE: WGuCONSTRUCT SOMETHING: WGuIMPROVE SERUM: KOO199X: 71zSeems like IN LIMBO and the DOSSIER (since I said only two actions) are going to be your first tasks this shift. Would've closed earlier but I had to go get groceries for the week. You know how it is.Three anons, roll 1d100+10. Table below.0 SUCCESS: The report is still vague...(You learn what EXTRACTS it can produce and its title.)1 SUCCESS: Better than nothing. (Same as 0 but you learn where they located it.)2 SUCCESSES: You can certainly work with this. (You learn the same info as 0 + 1 alongside some outlines of its anomalous properties.)3 SUCCESSES: Most of this is actually unredacted, huh? (You get a solid debriefing about everything they figured out about the anomaly.)>>6306603>>6306702Vincentbros? Are we really THIS paranoid of any woman who's nice to you?>ACTION unlocked, regardless, after you work with IN LIMBO.>>6306733Hey. Don't steal my notes, anon, with your weird psychic dream powers. Shame on you!
Rolled 92 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>6306735>Vincentbros? Are we really THIS paranoid of any woman who's nice to you?Yeah. I'm thinking this is some sort of anomaly honeypot.If not? Good for Vincent!
Rolled 3 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>6306735We all know our true Waifu is SACA. Because she has been nothing but direct, honest, and Calming.
>>6306740VINCENT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD AT THIS, WHAT HAPPENED? DID YOU REMEMBER THE CAFETERIA SPERGOUT?
Rolled 58 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>6306735PLEASE 2 SUCCESES>>6306743he did...
>>6306740>>6306743Never would've happened if Vincent didn't have two women in the room with him.
>>6306744YES
>>6306744Wait, Hidaka's helping Vince with this. Clearly our boy bumped shoulders and that triggered his negative rizz
2 SUCCESSES it is. Hey, at the very least, you still get more information from this than usual. Mr. Yellow held his end of the bargain. Writing.>>6306747"...."
The mountain of paperwork lazily resting on the floor of your lab is an issue you have to solve...later. Not that you don't want to - Paperwork IS something you're well versed in. You just know you're not gonna want to do anything else for a while after you start.Lucy's shaking like a leaf in the wind. The mere sight of the Paperwork Mountain is horrific to her non-wageslave mind. "C-can w-we, uh, put that somewhere? F-for a bit?"Hidaka shakes her head. "Moving it would take too much time. Leave it." "Hey, Lucy." You try your best to comfort her. "You can check on the cigarette mold over there.""O-Okay!" She sluggishly moves over to the cigarette mold farm, eager to do anything else. Hidaka follows after her, leaving you alone for a little bit.Might as well check on FET. You sit down at your computer and you click on the CPPQUEST icon. It boots up to the familiar sight of the storage room you last saw FET in. You're not going to do a long playthrough, you're just checking a few things for !RESEARCH!."U R ETF AGENT. U ART WAITING FOR PERFECT TIME TO MOVE. WHAT DO?"You tap a few buttons on your keyboard until a status screen pops up. His stats look a bit different than last time. You read the garbled description of whatever status he's afflicted with"METAL SKIN: GINED FROM LPLAYERS' MEDICINE. +3 CON, +3 STR, -3 DEX, -1 INT.""RES TO SLASH/BLUNT/PIERCE, HEAL LESS AND LOWER NAT REGEN UNTIL WEAR OFF."So, your body's ability to heal is compromised when its in your system? Your best guess is 'nat regen' is healing from sleeping or eating while 'heal less' affects any outside source of healing (i.e your sandwiches). Reduced mobility is one thing but reduced intelligence? Odd.You review the conversation you had with him after you managed to find a dialogue log somewhere in the garbled UI. There's not a lot you can gleam from it that you couldn't already guess. FET was curious about you, he had a conversation with you, took the meds and let you leave.There was one odd line that caught your attention."OLDMEAT humaN? QUESTIable. SCARRED AND ONE EYED, SCARY. MIGHT DEAL WITH THREAT? LATER? But FRIENDS with PLAYER and GIRL..."There's not a lot else to gleam here without doing a longer play session and that can wait. He does recognize YOU as his 'player', though, for better or worse.You turn off your computer right as Lucy calls your name. You head over to see what the problem is. "T-the cigarette m-mold looks...f-funny."You check the mold that you fed with the OBSCURA SYRAH. The good news is that the wine didn't kill the mold. The weird news is that the mold has taken on a cherry red hue. If you didn't know it was slime mold, you could've easily confused it for some weird kind of cotton candy.It reeks of syrup. You also catch a whiff of what smells like almonds? It vaguely reminds you of those jars of cherries you'd get at the supermarket.>4 samples of CHERRY MOLD obtained! (Further research needed.)
Interesting. The wine you used to feed it already got used up, so you scoop out the CHERRY MOLD into a spare bucket before dumping the untainted sample inside. You restock the autofeeder with more water and bread to grow over the shift."Well, we'll worry about that later. Anything else I should know about?""N-nope. E-everything's good over here." "Indeed." "Right. Hidaka, follow me." You scour around for the dossier you usually get. You find it stuffed halfheartedly in your bookshelf, and as you grab it, you feel that it has a lot more heft to it."Hm. Decoding help?""Sorta. There's a lot of useless information in these, and it'd be nice to have a second pair of eyes.""Noted."The two of you begin to flip through the dossier to see what you can glean from it.>2 SUCCESSES!You'd thought having a second pair of eyes would've made this easier, but there's a weird nagging feeling in the back of your head. Hard to put into words.She does help you, though, as she points out some of the subtly off wording of this particular dossier. Someone different wrote this particular one compared to the previous two dossiers.RECOVERY LOCATION DETAILS: 4 PM, NEAR 'HOLIDAY TRAIL' HOTEL, SWEDENASSIGNED ETF OFFICERS: 'ANDRIK,' LEX IRON, EDWARD TRINDISCOVERY: FIRST INFORMED OF ANOMALOUS ACTIVITY AFTER EMERGENCY SERVICES WERE CALLED. A MAN, WOMAN, AND THEIR CHILD WERE ATTACKED DURING EXPLORATION OF A NEARBY FOREST.REPORTED 'TALL, HORNED FIGURE' AMBUSHING THEM DURING THEIR STROLL. ATTACKED WITH A BASEBALL BAT. MAN AND WOMAN ESCAPED WITH FRACTURED BONES AND INTENSE FROSTBITE; CHILD UNHARMED.LOCAL POLICE SENT TO APPREHEND SUBJECT. SUBJECT RESPONDED FAR MORE AGGRESSIVELY TO THE OFFICERS. TWO OFFICERS KILLED, TWO LEFT COMATOSE. THE ENTITY SHOWED LITTLE SIGN OF INJURY AFTER BEING SHOT. BLACK BILE LEAKED OUT INSTEAD OF BLOOD.FIGURE SCARED OFF AFTER REMAINING POLICE OFFICER SHINED THEIR FLASHLIGHT ON SUBJECT. ENTITY FLED BACK INTO WOODS. THE RECOVERED FLASHLIGHT WAS UNABLE TO PRODUCE LIGHT AFTERWARDS, EVEN WHEN POWERED.SURVIVING OFFICER CLAIMED SUBJECT REMINDED THEM OF A MISSING PERSON THAT DISAPPEARED DURING THE 90S. NO FURTHER DETAILS COULD BE GLEANED AT THIS TIME.ARC OFFICERS SENT TO RECOVER POSSIBLE ANOMALY. ANOMALY RECOVERED AFTER ANOTHER ENGAGEMENT WITH ARC OFFICERS.ATTEMPTED TO UNCOVER POINT OF ORIGIN OF ENTITY. OFFICERS GOT LOST IN WOODS AFTER COMPASS SPONTANEOUSLY FAILED AND MAP WAS FORCEFULLY REDACTED HAD TO BE EXTRACTED BY OTHER ARC OFFICERS. DESIGNATION OF "LOST SINCE 199X" ESTABLISHEDPOSSIBLE EXTRACTS: BILE, HAIR, DENIM/JACKET SCRAPS (CLOTHES REGENERATED AFTER BEING SHOT)You wish there was a little bit more to it. Can it communicate? Why exactly is it afraid of the light? 'Forcefully redacted'? What the hell does that mean?You grumble. Oh well, it's something to work with, at least!
You suppose you can keep calling it 199X at least."We're going to work on IN LIMBO, Lucy." You stuff the dossier back on the bookshelf. You'd imagine she'll be better at calming it down than HIDAKA, at least. "Hidaka, feel free to do whatever."Hidaka silently nods, turning to flip through the books and dossiers in your bookshelf. You and Lucy quickly rush over to IN LIMBO'S cell as the lights begin to flicker.Inside, it's the same story as you saw from your security cameras. Freshly spilled blood that hisses with a noise similar to TV static is spilling out of freshly opened gashes on its hands. Its flowers squirm and seethe with a mixture of frustration and, if you didn't know any better, yearning? Lucy flinches at the sight. "T-this is w-weird. I-it's never done this before, has it?""Not that I know of." It's weird. Even after leaving it alone, it's usually not THIS pissy. Something has to be bothering it.You need to do something to calm it down. Quick. Choose three tasks to perform involving IN LIMBO.IN LIMBO MOOD: 20/100 (WARNING!)COMMUNICATION:>Try to communicate with the anomaly. What's bothering it? Should you be worried? (DC 65, +10 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and LUCY'S HELP)>Talk about something the anomaly likes. It told you it likes films and movies, talk about that!>Mention the dream you had last night. Ask Lucy to tell it her own dreams.>Scrouge your mind for anything you used to wish for. Before you became a wageslave. Maybe telling it will calm the anomaly? (DC 75. No modifiers.)EXAMINATION:>Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed. Is there some underlying physical cause to this? (DC 45, +8 from ANOMALY TOUCHED, LUCY'S HELP and ANATOMY KNOWLEDGE)>Tend to the flowers. They're thrashing around like they're in pain. (DC 56, +6 with LUCY'S HELP.)>Harvest some pollen from the flowers for a future test. You know NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER can use it for something.>Harvest some flowers for future study. You doubt it'll notice.>Tend to its wounds. You got some medical supplies to spare. (DC 60, +7 from LUCY'S HELP and ANATOMY KNOWLEDGE)STIMULI TEST/MISC>Drag in the PERSONAL TV, power it on, face it towards the anomaly. Show it the wonders of TV.>Offer it some food, batteries, water and fertilizer. Maybe it's just hungry?>Bring in some toys for the anomaly to play with. You know it calms down when it has something busy to grab onto.>Turn on your DVD player. See how it reacts to it. >Pour the last bits of OBSCURA SYRAH you have onto it. Maybe wine will calm it down? It'll be a useful cross test, at least.>Fiddle with the CONTAINMENT ATMOSPHERE UPGRADE you installed in here. Try to find the right environment to soothe the anomaly's nerves. (DC 56, +10 to roll with LUCY'S HELP. "I-I know a thing or two about flowers...")>Write in.Sorry for the delayed update. Busy day. Tomorrow's update should be quicker.
>>6306832I want to say that I think pouring the forgetfulness wine on a memory based entity is a bad idea, Anons I wouldn't go for that.I'd like to go in this order>Fiddle with the CONTAINMENT ATMOSPHERE UPGRADE you installed in here. Try to find the right environment to soothe the anomaly's nerves. (DC 56, +10 to roll with LUCY'S HELP. "I-I know a thing or two about flowers...")>Try to communicate with the anomaly. What's bothering it? Should you be worried? (DC 65, +10 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and LUCY'S HELP)>Mention the dream you had last night. Ask Lucy to tell it her own dreams.I'd like to mix in Lucy's Dream with Anomaly communication if it fits
>>6306831I think it can mess with directional data (Possibly Personal Perception), is sensitive to bright lights and is moderately aggressive to grown humanoids, more so to Police Figures. "DISAPPEARED DURING THE 90S" For Info I'd want to take a look at the Intranet."Why exactly is it afraid of the light?", Personal theory: It was being searched for and was afraid of a literal spotlight catching itTest Ideas1. Introduce to Copies of Maps2. Dim it's lights3. Get Colt and a few disposable lights, double team it with running support for Colt by stunning it with lights>nagging feeling in the back of your headIt's clearly Colt reaching out to us in spirit, he senses the fumble
>>6306832>Try to communicate with the anomaly. What's bothering it? Should you be worried? (DC 65, +10 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and LUCY'S HELP)>Offer it some food, batteries, water and fertilizer. Maybe it's just hungry?>Fiddle with the CONTAINMENT ATMOSPHERE UPGRADE you installed in here. Try to find the right environment to soothe the anomaly's nerves. (DC 56, +10 to roll with LUCY'S HELP. "I-I know a thing or two about flowers...")
>>6306832>Try to communicate with the anomaly. What's bothering it? Should you be worried? (DC 65, +10 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and LUCY'S HELP)>Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed. Is there some underlying physical cause to this? (DC 45, +8 from ANOMALY TOUCHED, LUCY'S HELP and ANATOMY KNOWLEDGE)>Fiddle with the CONTAINMENT ATMOSPHERE UPGRADE you installed in here. Try to find the right environment to soothe the anomaly's nerves. (DC 56, +10 to roll with LUCY'S HELP. "I-I know a thing or two about flowers...")
>>6306832I've rather had enough of this flowerbed.>Try to communicate with the anomaly. What's bothering it? Should you be worried? (DC 65, +10 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and LUCY'S HELP)Yes yes, we should be very worried. Mhm.>Fiddle with the CONTAINMENT ATMOSPHERE UPGRADE you installed in here. Try to find the right environment to soothe the anomaly's nerves. (DC 56, +10 to roll with LUCY'S HELP. "I-I know a thing or two about flowers...")Its gonna need the mood boost.Because after all that...>Write in: IT'S TIME. Tell IN LIMBO that we need its help with a dream which is torturing us, so we want to commune with it directly like we did before. If it accepts or if its silent, start talking about the dream of THE HEART, make sure THE HEART takes offense. Let or otherwise forcefully make IN LIMBO embrace Vincent's arm. Consume MANMADE SALTS to avoid becoming a corpse while the two inevitably conflict.Fuck you, IN LIMBO. Always taking time away from our mold farm.Here's your chance to do something good for Vince and try to rid us of our 2nd most annoying anomaly.We can do the paperwork outside after it shits itself.
>>6306912+1, let's get crazy>inb4 Vincent gets a second flower on his other wrist but this one's bright green like his good eyeIt'd be cool and appropriate
>>6306832>Try to communicate with the anomaly. What's bothering it? Should you be worried? (DC 65, +10 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and LUCY'S HELP)>Tend to the flowers. They're thrashing around like they're in pain. (DC 56, +6 with LUCY'S HELP.)>Bring in some toys for the anomaly to play with. You know it calms down when it has something busy to grab onto.
>>6306832>Try to communicate with the anomaly. What's bothering it? Should you be worried? (DC 65, +10 from ANOMALY TOUCHED and LUCY'S HELP)>Tend to its wounds. You got some medical supplies to spare. (DC 60, +7 from LUCY'S HELP and ANATOMY KNOWLEDGE)>Turn on your DVD player. See how it reacts to it.I wonder if the man in the vents has something to do with this
>>6306832>Fiddle with the CONTAINMENT ATMOSPHERE UPGRADE you installed in here. >Try to communicate with the anomaly. >Mention the dream you had last night.
Consulting the resultsATMOSPHERE: pKR, Dj2, KOO, KVB, tbiCOMMUNICATE: pKR, Dj2, KOO, KVB, tbi, WGu, CWxDVD PLAYER: CWXWOUNDS: CWxDREAMS: pKR, M5CFEED: Dj2CORPSE: KOOHEART DREAM: KVB, tbiTOYS: WGUTEND TO FLOWERS: WGUSince I asked for three tasks and since four people are basically all talking about DREAMS, we'll go with KVB's modified version of it. No roll needed, let's just say you'll consume the MANMADE SALTS instead.The other two WILL need some rolls. Three anons, roll 2d100. You know the rules and so do I.ATMOSPHERE (DC 56)0-1 SUCCESSES: You're just blindly guessing here. (Minor MOOD boost. Nothing to write home about.)2 SUCCESSES: Hey, you think you found some good settings. (Moderate MOOD boost, you get some more data on the anomaly's preferences.)3 SUCCESSES: Lucky you. You actually found something that might keep it appeased.) (Considerable MOOD BOOST, you'll get a better result from DREAMS)COMMUNICATE (DC 65)0 SUCCESSES: ... (...)1 SUCCESS: theandroidtheandroidtheandroid (You get some cryptic information about NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER.)2 SUCCESSES: twistingdarknessbloodybat (You get some cryptic information on your latest abno, LOST SINCE 199X)3 SUCCESSES: ? (You get the information from 1 and 2 SUCCESSES plus something !SPECIAL!)
Rolled 18, 24 = 42 (2d100)>>6307110I am a professional at flicking light switches.
>>6307111OH FUCK ME IN THE ASS
>>6307110QM, I just wanna take a second to praise your handling of Vincent in this quest. So many protags are given plot armor and virtually never lose.Vincent is delightfully mediocre while making just the right amount of progress. It’s a nice change of pace.
Rolled 88, 88 = 176 (2d100)>>6307110Heh... watch and learn, kids
Rolled 4, 86 = 90 (2d100)>>6307110rolling
>>6307115>88>twice in a rowThat warrants a bonus. Let's say Atmosphere gets a 1.5 SUCCESS. What does that mean? Who knows!also, forgot to count M5C's votes for ATMOSPEHRE and COMMUNICATION but it's not like it matters, those two were winning by a landslide.>>6307111>>6307115>>6307118ATMOSPHERE: 1.5 SUCCESSES (because of the double 88)COMMUNICATION: 2.5 SUCCESSES (because of the double 88)You're glad I found the double 88 funny enough to give a bonus. writing.>>6307113>Vincent is delightfully mediocre He's a 24~ year old wageslave. Of course he's mediocre, man. It's not like he has psychic powers or something.
This thing has been a headache the whole time you've had it. Day in, day out, it throws tantrums that you need to deal with. At least the android has the common decency to stay quiet in its room. Jury's out on how annoying 199X might be.You scour around for the atmosphere control panel you got installed in here. You find it hidden under a fake segment of wall. It looks the same as the one in SOMMELIER's room. "Hey, uh, Lucy. You probably know more about flowers than I do.""I-I think s-so, yeah. W-why?""What temperatures do...flowers like?" "Uhm. D-depends. I think LIMBO's flowers l-like, uhm, moderate heat?"Seems like you'll just have to eyeball it. You start fiddling with the various light and temperature settings while Lucy keeps an eye on the anomaly. You tell her to warn you if whatever setting you set it to is bothering it. It's a lot of trial and error, but you think you've got something solid enough...>1.5 SUCCESSES!The air is thick and humid. The visor of your PPE suit (which you did remember to put on before entering, of course) is already fogged over from how muggy the air is. Lucy mumbles under her breath. Her skin, if you could believe it, sags even more as the heat increases. It reminds you of a hot summer day back in Florida, which you went to here or there while on business trips.You look at the flower growing out of your wrist. It seems to be enjoying the heat A LOT. It's grown quite a bit, and it's now about three inches wide. Hm.>SLUMBERING WISH has been upgraded! Its abilities will be revealed soon.The anomaly has calmed down somewhat now that the room is as hot and muggy as a humid summer day. It is no longer trying to injure itself, so that's good."We have to question it.""Y-yeah. I-I don't know wh-why it's so...riled up. I-It's not usually like this."Lucy kneels down next to the anomaly now that its arms are no longer flailing all over the place. "H-hey. It's m-me and, uh, V-vincent here. We're just he-here to do our daily check up.""I-is there something bothering you? D-do you need something? We saw that you were, uhm, hurting yourself an-and. That's bad.""Yeah. Look, LIMBO, we just want a cooperative relationship with you. One where we both benefit." You pace around the anomaly, trying to look for any sign of a reaction from its flowers or arms."Should we be worried about what's bothering you? If it's bothering you enough to do THIS to yourself..." You lift one of its arms up to examine the bruising on its hands. "I-It's i-important for us to know. A-anything you can tell us would help a LOT.">2.5 SUCCESSES!The room soon fills with indistinct murmuring. Your head's already feeling all sorts of wrong with how muggy it is in here and the whispering is just making things worse.Before you try decoding whatever it's saying, you reach into your satchel for THE SALT(™). You briefly remove your rebreather so you can swallow the package of salt in one go. Thank god it's in edible packaging.
Your throat becomes a desert as you struggle to force the salt down your gullet. Somehow, your body feels a lot better and your mind is suddenly sharper after you swallowed that bolus of salt. Odd. You wonder what was in it. Oh well.The whispering becomes more coherent. Lucy has already been writing down notes of what she can hear. You walk around the room as you try to parse what it is saying.had a nightmareandroid false love false happiness no thoughts inside pure black oblivion thinks its bettermimicry of thoughts and feeling lights on no one's home planning something don't know what yet waiting for YOUlost man lost soul doesn't remember home only remembers cold and violence scared never grew uponly knows how to hurt please forgive it don't want it to hurt you don't want it to hurt meif they hurt you they hurt me connected shared dreams shared wants one in the samethey never found it even now it's still not found like it has to be foundsomething's in the air something's coming to your door soon please be carefulYou recite what you heard to Lucy so she can transcribe the stream of consciousness style gibbering you overheard. You can't help but to wonder who could possibly be coming down to your lab. It can't be any of your coworkers if the anomaly is THIS scared of it.The flowerbed's many arms are no longer moving. It seems to have calm down after warning you of what it saw in its dreams. You suppose that's one merit of its obsession with dreams and memories. It can actually forewarn of things? You wonder why it only started warning you of things NOW, though. "Hey, Lucy. Wild thought, I'm going to tell it about a dream I had." The anomaly's many arms twitch as soon as you mention the word 'dream'."O-oh?""I'm going to need you to pull me back if it gets too rowdy. It's a dream about..." A sharp pain shoots in the back of your head. "Something. Something I can't talk about.""T-then why are y-you...?" "I was hoping it could help somehow. The anomaly is based on dreams and memories, right? It might work." "A-alright." Lucy gulps. "I-I'll try.""Thank you."You kneel down before the anomaly. You hold out one of your arms just in case it needs something to grab. One of its hands gently reaches for your wrist. It weakly grasps it, letting you easily escape if you have to. You lean in to whisper to the anomaly."Okay. I had a nightmare about a heart." A pain slowly builds in the back of your head. "A beating, red heart with nails embedded in its body. It keeps appearing in my dreams, thumping and beating constantly, trying to draw my attention."The pain builds more and more but, unlike when you were trying to tell Rudolf about it, it's being muffled by something. Whether it's the salt or IN LIMBO'S touch is anyone's guess but being able to just talk about this helps a lot."I'm not sure why it's been bothering me. I just need someone to know about this."
Your heartbeat becomes twisted as you whisper everything you can recall of the heart from your dreams.You can almost hear the beating of a distant heart whispering in your ears. You hear the blood rushing through your ears. It's not your heartbeat. It's not your blood. It's something that wants to be inside your veins. Something that wants to connect with you.It squirms inside your mind. It wants you and only you to know about it. The stench of something you can only describe as betrayal lingers in your nose. But it forgives you too. It loves you. It loves-But before your mind can linger on those thoughts, they vanish.IN LIMBO'S hand gently tightens around your wrist. It rubs your arm, trying its best to comfort you or to bring you back to reality. Hard to say. Lucy is busy talking to the anomaly, whispering about her own dream. You only catch small snippets here or there, something about her life before ARC?Once the two of you stop talking, the anomaly lets go of your arm. There's no extra flowers or anything but you feel...cleansed? Blessed? Something like that. Your chest feels lighter than it was before. There's still a lingering sense of something WRONG inside your heart but...It's going to be okay. You think you can talk about the HEART without it suppressing you. Whatever connection it had to you, it's been weakened somehow.sleeptightvincentA bright red rose and a pale purple lily bloom on the anomaly's body. The air's still thick with humidity but it seems that, for the time being, the anomaly's going to behave.>+50 MOOD POINTS! NOW AT 70/100!You escort Lucy out of the room to give the anomaly some time to dwell on the dreams you told it. You remove your PPE now that you're no longer at risk of being affected by its pollen.You harvest some from the suits you and Lucy were wearing.>+1.5 SAMPLES OF STATIC POLLEN!Lucy goes to check on Hidaka to see what she's doing while you head over to where you keep your dossiers. You skim through the slightly altered IN LIMBO dossier and, while it doesn't tell you much you don't already know, a new HINT bubbles in your mind>IN LIMBO ARTIFACT HINTS: STAGNATION/BLOSSOM (2 ARTIFACTS POSSIBLE)You take in a deep breath. Okay. That's one less thing to worry about this SHIFT. You can feel the flower growing out of your arm trying its best to comfort you, brushing its petals against your skin. You're still a bit wary about having a flower growing out of you but for now?You're going to be fine. 11 TIME TOKENS LEFT!Choose THREE actions and any FREE ACTIONS!RESEARCH>Enter NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER'S cell. Does IN LIMBO's warning have any merit? (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Enter LOST SINCE 199X's cell. Time to meet your new anomaly. Keep your guard up. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Study the WIRE FLOWER'S ability to record stuff. Can you record new stuff on them? Can you improve the quality of the recordings? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49, +5 from LUCY'S HELP)(1/2)
>Might as well break your CHEM EXTRACTOR in Throw in the HOT COCOA CUP and some CHERRY MOLD to see how the machine works. (-1 TIME TOKEN, -HOT COCOA CUP and 2 of 4 CHERRY MOLD. Reveals some useful information about the two items.)>Do some tests on the JAX/ZENITH serum you have. Harvest a skin sample from someone. (-1 TIME TOKEN, choose who: YOU, LUCY, HIDAKA. They'll take some PHYSICAL HEALTH damage.)>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50, +6 from Lucy's help + ANOMALY TOUCHED)>Test out the WINE SOAKED SANDWICHES on Lucy and Hidaka. More data on them would be useful. (-1 TIME TOKEN, -2 of 5 WINE SOAKED SANDWICHES)>Try to find a way to improve the JAX serum. (-2 TIME TOKEN, DC 67, +14 from LUCY + HIDAKA's help. Will earn you some extra SPONSORSHIP money.)BUSY WORK>Look up any information about L'CURE on ABNOWATCH. This restaurant/company is really shady. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65, +7 to roll with HIDAKA'S help.)>Start the long, arduous process of dealing with the mountain of paperwork. (-1d3 TIME TOKENS, DC 77, +22 to roll from TWO HELPERS + DOUBLE WAGESLAVE. Will drain your will to live.)>Try to make some useful stuff out of the AC PARTS and ELECTRONIC SCRAP you got. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60, +1 to roll.)>Cook some stuff on that new propane grill of yours. Maybe your anomalies would like cooked food better? (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Try to make some outfits with the sewing machine. Maybe the android would like it? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, Hidaka and Lucy can offer some advice.)MISC>Approach your FAX MACHINE. Risk the wrath of CORPORATE MIGHT. Ask for some help/advice. (FREE ACTION. -$25. Choose who to call: HAYDEN, BLACKWELL, UPPER MANAGEMENT, ZENITH or Q&Q)>...just in case, make a barricade to block your door this shift. Might as well trust IN LIMBO'S advice. (FREE ACTION, will cost some SCRAP METAL and TOOLBOX supplies.)>You'll need some energy this shift. Take the ADRENALINE SYRINGE. (FREE ACTION. +2 TIME TOKENS, physical strength rolls will be easier for a while, 55% chance of taking some heavy MENTAL DAMAGE.)>Write in
>>6307225>Study the WIRE FLOWER'S ability to record stuff. Can you record new stuff on them? Can you improve the quality of the recordings? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49, +5 from LUCY'S HELP)>>6307230>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50, +6 from Lucy's help + ANOMALY TOUCHED)>Try to find a way to improve the JAX serum. (-2 TIME TOKEN, DC 67, +14 from LUCY + HIDAKA's help. Will earn you some extra SPONSORSHIP money.)>...just in case, make a barricade to block your door this shift. Might as well trust IN LIMBO'S advice. (FREE ACTION, will cost some SCRAP METAL and TOOLBOX supplies.)
>>6307230>Might as well break your CHEM EXTRACTOR in Throw in the HOT COCOA CUP and some CHERRY MOLD to see how the machine works. (-1 TIME TOKEN, -HOT COCOA CUP and 2 of 4 CHERRY MOLD. Reveals some useful information about the two items.)Useful information about the (cold) HOT COCOA CUP?!>Do some tests on the JAX/ZENITH serum you have. Harvest a skin sample from someone. (-1 TIME TOKEN, choose who: YOU, LUCY, HIDAKA. They'll take some PHYSICAL HEALTH damage.)>Start the long, arduous process of dealing with the mountain of paperwork. (-1d3 TIME TOKENS, DC 77, +22 to roll from TWO HELPERS + DOUBLE WAGESLAVE. Will drain your will to live.)FREE(?)>...just in case, make a barricade to block your door this shift. Might as well trust IN LIMBO'S advice. (FREE ACTION, will cost some SCRAP METAL and TOOLBOX supplies.)>Write in: Summon FET to watch the door from the outside.Our CHAMPION!He does KNOW PLACE really good, right? And GOOD COMBAT.I hope that's not just fluff and he actually knows the way to our lab. I'd presume he could locate us based off the CPPQUEST disc alone.
>>6307230>Might as well break your CHEM EXTRACTOR in Throw in the HOT COCOA CUP and some CHERRY MOLD to see how the machine works. (-1 TIME TOKEN, -HOT COCOA CUP and 2 of 4 CHERRY MOLD. Reveals some useful information about the two items.)It'll process on it's own>Try to find a way to improve the JAX serum. (-2 TIME TOKEN, DC 67, +14 from LUCY + HIDAKA's help. Will earn you some extra SPONSORSHIP money.)We need that MONEY and the serum might save our skin if the threat breaks into the lab or if 199X tries to fight us>Start the long, arduous process of dealing with the mountain of paperwork. (-1d3 TIME TOKENS, DC 77, +22 to roll from TWO HELPERS + DOUBLE WAGESLAVE. Will drain your will to live.)NOWWWWWW!!!!>...just in case, make a barricade to block your door this shift. Might as well trust IN LIMBO'S advice. (FREE ACTION, will cost some SCRAP METAL and TOOLBOX supplies.)Defend while we can
>>6307243>Might as well break your CHEM EXTRACTOR in Throw in the HOT COCOA CUP and some CHERRY MOLD to see how the machine works. (-1 TIME TOKEN, -HOT COCOA CUP and 2 of 4 CHERRY MOLD. Reveals some useful information about the two items.)>Try to find a way to improve the JAX serum. (-2 TIME TOKEN, DC 67, +14 from LUCY + HIDAKA's help. Will earn you some extra SPONSORSHIP money.)Money, hopefully a really nice buff for combat once its refined, and possibly it really improve Lucy's condition.>Start the long, arduous process of dealing with the mountain of paperwork. (-1d3 TIME TOKENS, DC 77, +22 to roll from TWO HELPERS + DOUBLE WAGESLAVE. Will drain your will to live.)Well its got a time limit of a day so we may as well get on it. I imagine the other tests and refinements take some time.FREE(?)>...just in case, make a barricade to block your door this shift. Might as well trust IN LIMBO'S advice. (FREE ACTION, will cost some SCRAP METAL and TOOLBOX supplies.)>Write in: Summon FET to watch the door from the outside.I'll support my anon here its something I was thinking myself, we summon FET to guard the door. He recognizes us as the Player already.
>>6307265 +1The FET Idea is goated but considering that I think he's still hopped up on Jax serum I'd like to save the barricade supplies, or at least make something that isn't a one off use.A slightly above waist height divider would slow down most threats while not severely impeding CASUAL movement.Also moment of truth to see if Cupschizo is the right way
not sure about the door barricade, if the "thing" is in the air vents
>>6307284'something's in the air something's coming to your door soon'Possibly vents, I just want something that can be vaulted over for the door.
>>6307230IN LIMBO's a real one.>Study the WIRE FLOWER'S ability to record stuff. Can you record new stuff on them? Can you improve the quality of the recordings? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49, +5 from LUCY'S HELP)>Try to find a way to improve the JAX serum. (-2 TIME TOKEN, DC 67, +14 from LUCY + HIDAKA's help. Will earn you some extra SPONSORSHIP money.)>Might as well break your CHEM EXTRACTOR in Throw in the HOT COCOA CUP and some CHERRY MOLD to see how the machine works. (-1 TIME TOKEN, -HOT COCOA CUP and 2 of 4 CHERRY MOLD. Reveals some useful information about the two items.)Useful info about a cup? The cup of cocoa we got from Ashton after she spontaneously materialized outside of HR?
>>6307284IN LIMBO did specify that the threat would be coming to our door. Dunno if it's literal, but I sure hope so.But otherwise I'd hope the door barricade isn't static. Don't know what kind of barricade it is, but yeah, if it's up and shit happens in the lab, we're dead.I don't like depending on hopes though, so...>>6307243>>6307230If the door barricade is static, repeal my barricade vote.And also because Vincent oughta help our boy FET out if he needs it. Humans look after Humans.>>6307280I support the anomaly baby gate.
>>6307294>If the door barricade is static, repeal my barricade vote.You're not going to seal your only exit in, if that's what you're worried about. The barricade is just 'I need something I can move to block the door in case shit hits the fan'. You're not, like, welding your door shut or something. pKR's guess is probably close to what you'll be making.
>>6307225I had forgotten about the salt>Enter NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER'S cell. Does IN LIMBO's warning have any merit? (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Study the WIRE FLOWER'S ability to record stuff. Can you record new stuff on them? Can you improve the quality of the recordings? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49, +5 from LUCY'S HELP)>>6307230>Test out the WINE SOAKED SANDWICHES on Lucy and Hidaka. More data on them would be useful. (-1 TIME TOKEN, -2 of 5 WINE SOAKED SANDWICHES)>...just in case, make a barricade to block your door this shift. Might as well trust IN LIMBO'S advice. (FREE ACTION, will cost some SCRAP METAL and TOOLBOX supplies.)
>>6307225>>6307230>>Might as well break your CHEM EXTRACTOR in Throw in the HOT COCOA CUP and some CHERRY MOLD to see how the machine works. (-1 TIME TOKEN, -HOT COCOA CUP and 2 of 4 CHERRY MOLD. Reveals some useful information about the two items.)>Look up any information about L'CURE on ABNOWATCH. This restaurant/company is really shady. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65, +7 to roll with HIDAKA'S help.)>Start the long, arduous process of dealing with the mountain of paperwork. (-1d3 TIME TOKENS, DC 77, +22 to roll from TWO HELPERS + DOUBLE WAGESLAVE. Will drain your will to live.)>...just in case, make a barricade to block your door this shift. Might as well trust IN LIMBO'S advice. (FREE ACTION, will cost some SCRAP METAL and TOOLBOX supplies.)
I love that most of the schizo stuff came from a theory about Ashton hair dye
>>6307399I'm glad people liked it enough to play with it
>>6307230>Might as well break your CHEM EXTRACTOR in Throw in the HOT COCOA CUP and some CHERRY MOLD to see how the machine works.>Try to find a way to improve the JAX serum.>Start the long, arduous process of dealing with the mountain of paperwork. >...just in case, make a barricade to block your door this shift.
>>6307399So Ashton is already a redhead, yet one day Ashton shows up wearing red hair dye.It was obvious to Vincent that her hair was dyed, he just either only pointed it out on this day or otherwise Ashton wasn't wearing any before. She just decides after 3 days to use her smuggling connections to grab some red dye for herself. Why? Her hair was already red.And at the same time she gives us the cup! After teleporting to HR, where our appointment information wouldn't just be handed out to some level 1 security guard.I was already suspicious as fuck about Ashton, but holy shit. She had no way to tell we were there unless she specifically interrogated the snitch bitch, but why ask her for our whereabouts?The facility must have an internal market, like what we received as implication from our dealing with the blatantly corrupt August. I theorize that the 'smuggling' Ashton participates in is closer to facility personnel selling each other shit, mostly shit which is ordered from higher level catalogs before being sold at a premium to lower level staff. We know this from having received a bonus with Ashton from dealing with August, as it would harm this market if it exists, especially since requisitions through the catalog would have to go through him as evidenced by MEDBAY's accounts.This market wouldn't simply sell higher level catalog items, but also anomaly byproducts, among other internally produced items. I completely agree that some stupid asshole selling THE HEART's 'blood' as hair dye is a massive possibility, the same way we give CIGARETTE MOLD for consumption and people agree to it, someone could mislabel something and sell it on the black market for more dough than ARC would be willing to give. Classic snake oil. Someone could be selling 'hair dye that makes people love you' or some shit. And that THE HEART's ability to suggest would easily be able to slip some of that 'dye' into our drink. We did get a hint of THE HEART's influence when talking to Ashton in the cafeteria, when we asked why she likes Vincent. Unless Vincent's heart just ordinarily twists when talking to women he likes.Something is fucked up and it might be my head.Moment of truth. Is the theory shit?
>>6307514And we only had to touch THE HEART directly to get the ANOMALY TOUCHED trait, so even contact as seemingly minimal as hair dye seems plausible to me as a vector for THE HEART's influence.
Rolled 1 (1d3)Schizophrenic gibbering aside.WIRE FLOWER: KOO, Dj2, WGuNOWHERE'S SOMMELIER: WGuWINE SANDWICHES: WGuCHEM EXTRACTOR: KVB, M3N, Szu, pKR, Dj2, CWx, M5CL'CURE: CWxDO SOME TESTS: KVBPAPERWORK: KVB, M3N, Szu, pKR, CWx, M5CSAMPLES: KOOIMPROVE JAX: KOO, M3N, Szu, pKR, Dj2, M5CBARRICADE: KOO, M3N, KVB, Szu, pKRFET-SAMA, HELP: KVB, Szu, pKRWelp. Seem like CHEM EXTRACTOR + PAPERWORK + IMPROVE JAX wins out. Three anons, roll 2d100, you know how the song goes. PAPERWORK first, then JAX. Rolling time token cost of the PAPERWORK MOUNTAIN.PAPERWORK MOUNTAIN (DC 77, +22 to roll)0 SUCCESSES: everything burns. (You get minimum progress done and you'll likely have to work on it again to fulfill the sponsorship. Heavy MENTAL damage.)1 SUCCESS: okay this sucks ass. (You get a medium amount of the paperwork done, you'll have to work on it again. Medium MENTAL damage.)2 SUCCESSES: okay that's over. (You get most of the paperwork done, you doubt you have to work on it again. Medium MENTAL damage.)3 SUCCESSES: Anything is fun with friends! (You get all of the paperwork done and the activity was shockingly tolerable! No MENTAL damage!)JAX (DC 67, +14 to roll)0 SUCCESSES: You have no idea what you're doing. (No progress. Time token sink.)1-2 SUCCESSES: You manage to improve it somewhat through some trial and error. (You create some modified serum that'll earn you some extra money. 2 SUCCESSES makes a product that gets MORE MONEY!!!)3 SUCCESSES: Oh, you think you figured out a way to make a bootleg version of this. (You unlock the ability to produce the serum, given you find the right supplies to use.)
Rolled 70, 44 + 22 = 136 (2d100 + 22)>>6307606
Rolled 92, 69 = 161 (2d100)>>6307606The cup...
Rolled 79, 27 = 106 (2d100)>>6307606Ok so we need to roll 55 and 53 to WIN, Lets fucking get em.
>>6307606Oh, right, barricade and FET-SAMA should look like BARRICADE: KOO, M3N, KVB, Szu, pKR, WGU, CWx, M5CFET-SAMA, HELP: KVB, Szu, pKRAs funny as bringing FET-SAMA is, people don't seem super willing to do it, even if I would've probably allowed it. FET is going to be busy doing KNOW PLACE and GOOD COMBAT things on his own time, sadly.Barricade, though, you're absolutely doing that.>>6307608>>63076112 SUCCESSES on PAPERWORK (it's too strong even for wageslaves)>>6307611>>6307612annnd...another 2 successes on JAX. Yeah, you just did pretty solid work this time around. What's there to say? You just got solid results.Writing.
The Paperwork Mountain calls to thee. You are naught but a worm before its presence. A squirming mass of meat and bones that is unclean compared to its pristine, pearly white sheets. You are nothing before it-Hidaka smacks you on the back of the head. "Stop.""Whuh? I wasn't even doing anything." "Can sense stupid thoughts. Squirming in your head. Stop it." The corner of Hidaka's mouth curls up into a subtle smirk. "Pile later. Do something else."You roll your eyes. Yeah, yeah, alright. "You do know you can say more than four words at a time, right?""Yes. Prefer this."Right. First order of business is to set up something you'll check up on later. There's this tiny paranoid part of you that, for whatever reason, doesn't fully trust Ashton. Now? You have something that can prove if she's trustworthy.You stuff the HOT COCOA CUP into the CHEM EXTRACTOR. If there was anything in this cup that could've messed with you, you'll know about it. Though, you have to admit it would be wasteful JUST to test the cup. You stuff some of the weird CHERRY MOLD you grew in there just to see what's up with that.You press a random button on it, and the machine whirs to life. It's going to take some time for it to process all of that, so you move on to other busywork—like constructing a barricade. You call over Hidaka and Lucy to help out with the task."Alright, we need something mobile. Just in case a certain warning from a certain anomaly comes true.""Wheels. Any spare wheels?" "U-Uhm. I-I can take some from the garbage cans around here." "Get them."The three of you scramble to cobble something together out of whatever spare parts you have. You're the only one here with any real handyman knowledge, so you have to keep a close eye on your helpers. You don't want either of them to get hurt on your watch.Actually constructing a barricade isn't the hard part. Making one that won't immediately collapse if someone tries slamming is what you're struggling with, and, frankly, you can't put too much time into it. You hurriedly weld some metal together as a finishing touch before you examine what you've made.It's a waist-high barricade that's not all particularly sturdy, but it's tall and wide enough to slow any intruder down. You make sure that it's easy enough for you to climb over in case shit hits the fan. Realistically, two solid hits to this and you'll need to repair it, but it's good enough for now.You wheel the barricade in front of your door. Best case scenario, it's just there for your peace of mind."Any actual knowledge on intruder?" Hidaka clicks her tongue. "Could be false information. Waste of time."Lucy shakes her head with a weary smile. "I-In Limbo isn't like that, f-from what we know. S-she—uhm. It's nice. I think we can trust it.""Besides," you add on. "it's probably a good thing we have this around anyways." You knock your fist on the barricade. >You have 4 REPAIRS worth of material left!
"If you say so." Hidaka glances back at the Paperwork Mountain. For a brief moment, she actually opens her eyes. Her amber orange eyes glimmer with something in between affection and reverence. The mountain calls to her. "Vincent...it is time.""It is time." You solemnly reply, the gravity of the task weighing on your mind."I-it's time?" Lucy doesn't quite understand what's going on. "I-it's time!!!" She throws her fist in the air, not wanting to be left out.It is time to do the only thing you're skilled at: paperwork. The three of you sit before the Paperwork Mountain and, despite what your instincts tell you, you attempt to untangle the tax paperwork before you. >2 SUCCESSESThe next half hour is a complete blur in your mind. Your mind goes on autopilot as you shift through sheet after sheet, tax form after tax form. Each one blurs together into a slurry of buzzwords, addresses, deductibles, and payment plans.Each form you pull out seems to be longer than the last. The numbers simply don't make any sense. That's probably why they hired you to untangle it because, even with your mind going on pure instinct, you can tell a lot of the numbers here are bunk.Lucy struggles to keep up, but, god bless her heart, she's doing her best. She identifies the 'good' ones and sets them aside to form their own mountain.Hidaka scribbles down hasty corrections to fix the 'incorrect' sheets so the company isn't caught doing blatant tax evasion.You, meanwhile, document every piece of paperwork to make sure everything that has to be corrected gets corrected.The mountain refuses to shrink no matter how many pieces of paper you yank from its body.The three of you treat this task with the same somberness you'd expect of those planning someone's funeral. After what feels like days, the mountain of unfiled paperwork reluctantly shrinks into something you'd compare more to a molehill. Two mountains, one of corrected paperwork and one of paperwork that needed no corrections, have taken its place.Despite you knowing you don't have to touch those mountains, your soul withers at the sight of them. With your task seemingly done, your brain finally turns on. This has been regarded as a bad move by your body. You collapse onto the floor, with Lucy and Hidaka following right after.The three of you silently stare up at the ceiling. No words have to be exchanged. You're glad this is over.>You are DOING GOOD>HIDAKA + LUCY are both TIRED>Q&Q SPONSORSHIP finished!You're the first to get back up. You help Lucy and Hidaka back onto their feet. They clearly don't want to do anything else right now, but with some gentle prodding, you get their minds off of the paperwork they did. Right as the CHEM EXTRACTOR chirps to life. You rush over to examine what the machine extracted from the two samples you stuffed into it.The data you receive about the cup isn't really that interesting. It's mostly about the physical makeup of the cup.
It spits out a slurry of plastic and paper that used to make up said cup. A few drops of non-anomalous hot cocoa were also spat out with it.There was one thing that caught your eye. A single drop of off-colored liquid. The grinder spits out a printout, and you skim to see what the liquid would be."UNUSUAL SAMPLE FOUND IN CUP MATERIAL. CHEMICAL MAKEUP SIMILAR TO HUMAN SWEAT, BUT HEAVILY ELEVATED OXYTOCIN LEVELS DETECTED.""TRACE ELEMENT IN CUP FIBERS. NO TRACE WITHIN COCOA. UNUSUAL BUT NON-ANOMALOUS."That's all it says. You suppose you should be glad your drink wasn't spiked. You guess some sweat on Ashton's hands must've soaked into the cup.Elevated oxytocin levels, though, in her sweat? Hm. Well, you're not sure what that means. The cup itself doesn't reveal anything beyond that.As for the CHERRY MOLD? It spits out a thick red slurry that almost reminds you of a smoothie. You skim the paper it prints out."UNSAFE FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION AT CURRENT DOSE. MATERIAL, WHEN DIGESTED, IS CONVERTED INTO FLUID WITH 60% AVC AND NICOTINE AMOUNTS COMPARABLE TO 30 CIGARETTES.""CONTAINS MINOR TRACES OF THC."Woah. You'll definitely have to process the CHERRY MOLD if you want to sell it, but in terms of raw material you could gain from it; growing your mold with OBSCURA SRYAH could make a killing. If...you process it so it doesn't kill someone.>CHERRY MOLD information obtained! (Can't be consumed raw but it's far more valuable to ARC. If processed, could be used to make mental health healing items.)You'll probably stick to growing mold using NON-OBSCURA SRYAH food sources, though. There's one last thing you have in mind before you plan out the rest of your workday—the JAX serum.Currently, from what you know about it, it's useful, but it has too many downsides. It could be refined into something better if you can just put your mind to it.You ask Lucy and Hidaka for help and, frankly, they're just glad to get their mind off paperwork. "I-I'll try to f-find a way to, uhm, deal with the side effects.""Side effects are unimportant. Focus on the good. Stronger, tougher."To be frank, none of you are skilled chemists so anything you do to this vial is going to be throwing shit at a wall to see what sticks. Hidaka tries to find a way to use the CHERRY MOLD slurry to improve the serum's potency.Lucy, meanwhile, digs through the cleaning supplies to see if any of the chems in them could cause an interesting reaction with the serum.You crack open one of the vials and you get to work.>2 SUCCESSESThe first dozen tests are complete duds. The serum droplets get polluted or neutralized completely by whatever you throw at it. You quickly find out from Hidaka's testing that, at certain doses, ethanol and nicotine can cause the serum to react VIOLENTLY. The beaker holds the bubbling serum well enough but you drop in a piece of bread to see what happens. The bread dissolves into a slurry on contact. You should probably report that to ZENITH.
You do manage to find a mixture that ends up creating a stable product. The mixture consists of human blood, mixed with a tiny amount of bleach, that is heated up until the mixture is warm to the touch.The altered serum is then injected into a piece of spam for testing. The spam loses all saturation, changing it into an off-grey color. It has the same flexibility as it had before but when you try cutting into it? Your scalpel doesn't make a dent in it.Of course, who knows how it'll affect a human but if it can toughen up your skin WITHOUT making you as stiff as a board? That could actually make this serum quite useful.>ALTERED JAX SERUM obtained! (Offers the same physical protection but with no loss to mobility or flexibility. Can be sold to ZENITH for $333.)>1.5/3 DRUG TESTS to go! (Improving the serum counts for partial credit.)Right. Time to focus your attention on something else.8 TIME TOKENS LEFT!Choose THREE actions and any FREE ACTIONS!RESEARCH>Enter IN LIMBO'S cell. Might as well get some more samples of it to study. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Enter NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER'S cell. Does IN LIMBO's warning have any merit? (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Enter LOST SINCE 199X's cell. Time to meet your new anomaly. Keep your guard up. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Study the WIRE FLOWER'S ability to record stuff. Can you record new stuff on them? Can you improve the quality of the recordings? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49, +5 from LUCY'S HELP)>Do some tests with the unmodified and modified ZENITH serum you have. Time to pick a test subject. (-1 TIME TOKEN, choose who: YOU, LUCY, HIDAKA.)>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50, +6 from Lucy's help + ANOMALY TOUCHED)>Test out the WINE SOAKED SANDWICHES on Lucy and Hidaka. More data on them would be useful. (-1 TIME TOKEN, -2 of 5 WINE SOAKED SANDWICHES, improves morale.)>Study the STATIC SCALES and BLOOD you got from that anglerfish.(-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 55, +15 to roll from LUCY'S HELP + FOUGHT THE ANOMALY.)BUSY WORK>Look up any information about L'CURE on ABNOWATCH. This restaurant/company is really shady. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65, +7 to roll with HIDAKA'S help.)>Try to make some useful stuff out of the AC PARTS and ELECTRONIC SCRAP you got. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60, +1 to roll.)>Cook some stuff on that new propane grill of yours. Maybe your anomalies would like cooked food better? (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Try to make some outfits with the sewing machine. Maybe the android would like it? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, Hidaka and Lucy can offer some advice.)MISC>Approach your FAX MACHINE. Risk the wrath of CORPORATE MIGHT. Ask for some help/advice. (FREE ACTION. -$25. Choose who to call: HAYDEN, BLACKWELL, UPPER MANAGEMENT, ZENITH or Q&Q. Can be picked twice.)>Offer your coworkers some smokes. They deserve it. (FREE ACTION, -7 out of 20 CIGARETTES. Heals everyone's MENTAL HEALTH by a moderate amount.)>Write inSorry for delay.
>>6307399>>6307514Welp at least she didnt spike our drink, although her sweat is anomalously sexual.
>>6307731Here's a bit of knowledge about Oxytocin in sweatIntense activity for at least 25 min was required to produce sufficient sweat for OT analysis. Highest OT levels were found in axillary sweat compared to sweat from the forehead, upper-chest, and forearm. Salivary OT and TS increased after both solitary and social physical activity; however, higher sweat OT was found after solitary sports. Post-hoc preliminary findings indicate that highly extroverted individuals exercising in solitary environments showed the highest sweat OT levels.Unless Ashton was exercising minutes before dropping in with some cocoa, there is something very concerning going on with her body chemistry
>>6307732>>6307731Cupschizos are WINNING!If there was any doubt before that Ashton got touched by THE HEART, it's all gone now.And sure, our drink wasn't spiked that time, but what about the next one?>>6307724>Enter NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER'S cell. Does IN LIMBO's warning have any merit? (-1 TIME TOKEN.)I want to figure out if the warning is true, sure, but I'm curious about the wine tank.How much control does the SOMMELIER have over the wine tank?The tank does refill over time, but how?>Do some tests on the JAX/ZENITH serum you have. Harvest a skin sample from someone. (-1 TIME TOKEN, on Vincent. They'll take some PHYSICAL HEALTH damage.)Don't inject the JAX serum into anyone, please.>Test out the WINE SOAKED SANDWICHES on Lucy and Hidaka. More data on them would be useful. (-1 TIME TOKEN, -2 of 5 WINE SOAKED SANDWICHES, improves morale.)Especially interested in how Lucy responds to the sammiches.FREE ACTIONS!!!>Offer your coworkers some smokes.They need it.>Write in: Summon FET-SAMA to watch the door from the outside.Still actionable so long as whatever is coming is still on its way here.May be more appealing now that it's for sure a free action?So, how soon is the thing gonna come?Never thought about how IN LIMBO perceives time.
>>6307724>Enter NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER'S cell. Does IN LIMBO's warning have any merit? (-1 TIME TOKEN.)Only polite to do so now>Do some tests with the unmodified and modified ZENITH serum you have. Time to pick a test subject. (-1 TIME TOKEN, choose who: YOU, LUCY, HIDAKA.)Lucy. Get some of her skin's melty parts and see how the serums affect them. Beats injecting her directly. Get the sponsorship task out of the way>Study the STATIC SCALES and BLOOD you got from that anglerfish.(-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 55, +15 to roll from LUCY'S HELP + FOUGHT THE ANOMALY.)While we have enough of a roll bonus to do this of course. We need to be careful because unless we seek out the anglerfish again to try kicking it's ass to harvest more material from it this is all we have to work with to derive PROFIT from.>Offer your coworkers some smokes. They deserve it. (FREE ACTION, -7 out of 20 CIGARETTES. Heals everyone's MENTAL HEALTH by a moderate amount.)A nice smoke break after the papers, right?Next round of actions I want to go see 199X, give the girls the sandwiches, and maybe something else
>>6307732>>6307739Indeed, we need to invite her to our lab to experiment with.
>>6307739Actually, in hindsight, picking Vincent for the skin sample is stupid. I'm already voting to give Lucy and Hidaka the sandwiches, so...>>6307724>>6307739Switch the target of>Do some tests on the JAX/ZENITH serum you have. Harvest a skin sample from someone.to Lucy and Hidaka, regardless of whether or not we can do both right away. They'll heal anyways.
>>6307739 +1>The tank does refill over time, but how?I think a good experiment would be depriving the cell of moisture after gathering a sample. Could offer insight into how it's producedAlso feed the two the sammiches after the two girls have samples taken
>>6307743Flex the CRUZ CHARISMA>"Want to work up a sweat in my lab?">"I'm sorry, what?">"Oh nothing, just having a heavy HEART over some things"In all seriousness now that the censor is lifted I do want to yap to Anthony about the Ashton theories. >"Well Ashton has some odd body chemistry">Anthony cocks an eyebrow >" 'Body Chemistry' or Body Chemistry? too damn old to hear about your love life"
>>6307724So Ashton's down bad. Good to know?>Do some tests with the unmodified and modified ZENITH serum you have. Time to pick a test subject. (-1 TIME TOKEN, choose who: YOU.)>Test out the WINE SOAKED SANDWICHES on Lucy and Hidaka. More data on them would be useful. (-1 TIME TOKEN, -2 of 5 WINE SOAKED SANDWICHES, improves morale.)>Enter NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER'S cell. Does IN LIMBO's warning have any merit? (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Offer your coworkers some smokes. They deserve it. (FREE ACTION, -7 out of 20 CIGARETTES. Heals everyone's MENTAL HEALTH by a moderate amount.)>>6307731Mind control is clearly the only possible explanation for a woman being interested in Vincent.
>>6307739>>6307761+1 to this.>Mind controlThat or they're a mole trying to shake him down for some sweet, sweet company secrets
>>6306304>Do some tests on the JAX/ZENITH serum you have. Harvest a skin sample from Lucy. (-1 TIME TOKEN)We wanted to know if it could help her after all.>There's a dossier for your latest abno. See what you can gleam from it. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44, +10 to roll from DOUBLE WAGESLAVE!)Offer your coworkers some smokes. They deserve it. (FREE ACTION, -7 out of 20 CIGARETTES. Heals everyone's MENTAL HEALTH by a moderate amount.)
>>6307724>Enter NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER'S cell. Does IN LIMBO's warning have any merit? (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Study the WIRE FLOWER'S ability to record stuff. Can you record new stuff on them? Can you improve the quality of the recordings? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49, +5 from LUCY'S HELP)>Look up any information about L'CURE on ABNOWATCH. This restaurant/company is really shady. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65, +7 to roll with HIDAKA'S help.)>Offer your coworkers some smokes. They deserve it. (FREE ACTION, -7 out of 20 CIGARETTES. Heals everyone's MENTAL HEALTH by a moderate amount.)
>>6307724>Study the WIRE FLOWER'S ability to record stuff. Can you record new stuff on them? Can you improve the quality of the recordings? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49, +5 from LUCY'S HELP)>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50, +6 from Lucy's help + ANOMALY TOUCHED)>Study the STATIC SCALES and BLOOD you got from that anglerfish.(-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 55, +15 to roll from LUCY'S HELP + FOUGHT THE ANOMALY>Offer your coworkers some smokes. They deserve it. (FREE ACTION, -7 out of 20 CIGARETTES. Heals everyone's MENTAL HEALTH by a moderate amount
>>6307724>Enter NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER'S cell.>Do some tests on the JAX/ZENITH serum you have.Lucy and Hidaka>Test out the WINE SOAKED SANDWICHES on Lucy and Hidaka. >Offer your coworkers some smokes.
Consulting the chart.NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER: KVB, pKR, 1w+, M3N, DJ2, WBS, tl5JAX TEST: KVB, pKR, 1w+, M3N, Dj2, CWx, tl5SANDWICH: KVB, pKR, 1w+, Dj2, tl5STATIC SCALES/BLOOD: M3N, KOODOSSIER?: CWxWIRE FLOWER: WBS, KOOL'CURE: WBSRUDOLF SAMPLES: KOOSMOKE: KVB, pKR, 1w+, Dj2, M3N, CWx, WBS, KOO, tl5FET-SAMA: KVB, pKR, 1w+Seems like the general idea with the JAX TEST is to harvest some flesh and skin from HIDAKA/LUCY to study its effects, since you're healing them anyways, if I'm reading things right. Then you'll check on the funny robot.Also, no FET-SAMA, only three people voted for it and my rules are 'at least half the voters have to go for it" when it comes to free actions/write ins. But I might throw you a bone just to reward the creativity, at least.No actions with a roll were picked, we're just going to get to it then. Writing. Should be really quick since two of the actions can kinda just be paired together. If this takes another 4+ hours, you can bully me.I still find it funny how you guys can only rationalize Ashton being friendly with you if she's possessed by a beating heart that haunts your dreams.
>>6308034>spoilerIt's the only plausible explanation
>>6308034iIt's impossible for a woman to act interested in anon unless she has ulterior motives.t. knower.
>>6308034>I still find it funny how you guys can only rationalize Ashton being friendly with you if she's possessed by a beating heart that haunts your dreams.A woman being genuine with us? I didn’t know this quest did fan service.
>>6308034>spoilerBest case scenario she finds us sperging out cute again or worst case scenario WE WERE FUCKING RIGHT. Pretty solid plan until then.
>>6308034>spoilerGee QM, I didn't think it was that kind of quest. Still think Ashton is affected by THE HEART though.
You dig a pack of smokes out of your satchel. You wouldn't really consider yourself a smoker. Sure, you pretended to be one so you could take some extra breaks, but you just gave the smokes to the actual smokers.You bite down on a cigarette before holding the pack out to your two coworkers. "Hey. Take one. Y'all probably need it more than I do."Lucy awkwardly smiles, shaking her head at the offer. "Uh-uhm. I-I'm not sure if, uh, sm-smoking is a good idea. F-for me, at least."Hidaka snatches four cigarettes from your pack and tosses one into Lucy's half-melted hands. "Take it. Deserve it. Paperwork was something else.""U-uhm." Lucy holds up the cigarette, unsure what to do with it. "D-do you have a light, at least?"Oh, right, how are you- Ah. There's some matches hidden inside the pack. You spark one up and you use it to light everyone's cigarette.The taste of burnt paper and grass floods your mouth. It's awful, but you know you'll get used to it.Lucy nearly hacks up a lunch just from taking a single puff. "Bleh...t-this sucks." She keeps the cigarette in her mouth despite her better judgement.The three of you just stand around smoking. There's not really a lot to talk about but you feel like breaking the ice with something."So. Random question: what kind of music do you two like?" You don't really have a solid idea of what you like. You just listen to whatever's on the radio."U-uhm. D-don't laugh but...v-video game OSTs." Lucy turns her head away, too embarrassed to show her face. "LISA the PAINFUL has p-pretty good music? If you guys know what that. is.""Huh. Never heard of it." You shrug. "I mean, good music is good music wherever you find it."Hidaka scrunches her nose, not too pleased by Lucy's answer. "So many better options.""U-uhm. O-okay. I-I just think games have pretty good songs.""Got any recommendations, or are you just going to judge her?" You point out. You don't want Hidaka to just shit on Lucy's tastes.Hidaka takes another puff of her cigarette before answering. "Aphex Twin. Terumasa Hino's work also good. Might not be your type." She pauses. "Sorry, Lucy. Didn't mean to offend.""O-oh, it's fine! I-I can b-bring my MP3 over ne-next time we work together.""That'd be nice." "Would be open." You and Hidaka nod in mutual agreement.The conversation dies there. You spend the next few minutes enjoying your smoke break with them in tolerable silence.>YOU are now DOING GOOD>LUCY and HIDAKA are JUST FINEYou wait for everyone to finish their cigarettes. Once they're out, you clear your throat to get everyone's attention."Alright. We're going to do some more tests on the SERUM. I'll need both of you to hold our arms out for me."Lucy gulps but despite her reservations, she holds her arm out. "U-uh, i-is that stuff e-even safe to inject?" "FET didn't mind." Hidaka holds her arm out as well. "Though, he's not like us.""W-who's FET?" Lucy tilts her head. Right, she doesn't know.
"Don't worry about it. I'm not injecting anything into you."You yank the scalpel out of your satchel. "We're actually doing two tests. I recommend biting down on something."You first harvest a sample from Hidaka. She hardly makes any noise as you slice into her flesh. She grits her teeth as you extract a puzzle piece sized hunk of flesh from her arm. You gotta give her credit, she's pretty tough. Harvesting a sample from Lucy is, uh, its own struggle. Your scalpel sinks into her flabby, half-melted skin like it's made out of silly putty. It doesn't help that she's, understandably, not too pleased at being cut up.You manage to get a similarly sized piece of flesh from her after some struggle. The sample of flesh is twisted and warped in a way you can't quite put into words."Second test starts now." You put the two samples aside. You hold out two lukewarm, soggy WINE SOAKED SANDWICHES to your volunteers. "Eat them. They'll help."Hidaka is hesitant to eat the sandwich but Lucy is already chowing down on it before you even turned around."Oh. Uh. Okay." Hidaka watches the display with a mixture of disgust and fascination. She takes hesitant bites of her sandwich while giving you the side-eye.The wound on their arms start to heal as you expected. Raw, sensitive flesh rapidly grows around their injury, filling up the wound like foam filling up a crack on a wall. For Hidaka, the newly grown flesh soon loses its soft pink hue and after a minute, there's no trace of her injury remaining.Colt's wound still looked pretty raw long after he ate the sandwich. Seems like small wounds are healed seamlessly while larger wounds, like a massive gash across the stomach, are hastily patched up. As for Lucy? There's a subtle shift in her flabby, melted body. Her face twists and warps and while it seems to be pretty disorienting for Lucy, she's not in any obvious pain? She tries to say something but everything she says comes out garbled.You silently watch, marking down notes on her transformation. Her face soon solidifies into, well, a regular human face.She's rather plain looking, to be honest, with her only noteworthy feature being her rosy cheeks. She blinks a few times as she adjusts to the fact her eyes aren't constantly drooping. "W-woah!" Seems like she still has her stammer, though. "T-this is. Weird.""Quite." Hidaka bluntly agrees. "Especially with the...rest of your body."Yeah. It seems like only her face got patched up. The rest of her body is still a melty, saggy mess of loose skin.>WINE SOAKED SANDWICHES can partially revert anomalous mutations! You'll need a LOT to fully heal Lucy."I-I'm going to need a moment. T-this is. Wow." "Yeah, take your time." You offer a polite smile before turning your attention to the samples you harvested. Hidaka will probably keep an eye on her, it'll be fine.You fill two syringes, one with the modified serum and one with the 'pure' serum. Time to see how they actually affect human flesh.
You inject the pure serum into the sample you harvested from Lucy. The plasticine, liquified flesh soon toughens into something resembling low quality beef jerky. It's dry, flaky but it still has a bit of bend to it.You jab and poke at it with your scalpel. Her flesh was so soft, even after being injected with this skin-hardening serum, it only partially reverts her condition. You inject a dose of modified serum in and that seems to 'cure' her flesh. You inject the 'pure' serum into Hidaka's sample.Hidaka's sample reacts similarly enough to the spam you tested before but with one odd addition: the skin has taken on an off-grey hue that reminds you of your own blotchy skin. You examine both of them under a microscope to see what the serum actually did to them.Huh. on Hidaka's sample, there's a thin layer of metal that has merged with the surface of her flesh. Roots of metal have dug into the flesh underneath, binding the metal to her skin. That's how it works? The 'biometal', as you'll refer to it, is already starting to degrade due to the flesh it's connected to being a hunk of dying, severed flesh.For Lucy's sample, her sample has the biometal scattered throughout her flesh instead of taking on a solid layer. It's also not decaying as fast as Hidaka's, probably a side effect of Lucy's mutation?You inject a dose of 'modified' serum and what you see disproves your initial assumption. The layer of biometal melts into the Hidaka's sample, dispersing and scattering throughout her flesh. Interesting. Your modified serum still creates the 'biometal' but it's spread out more uniformly through the subject's body. You record some notes for ZENITH to study.>2.5/3 DRUG TESTS done. You'll need to do one last test on yourself OR modify the serum again to complete the sponsorship.Welp. Time to check up on that wine-producing android of yours. You briefly check on Lucy and, despite how disoreinted she is, she seems pretty healthy all things considered. "Hidaka, you're coming with me. Lucy, stay here and keep an eye on things. Tell me if anything happens.""Alright.""O-okay!" Lucy tries her best to give you a thumbs up. "I-I'll, uh, keep an eye on the roomba."You toss Hidaka the NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER dossier so she can get caught up to speed on what you're dealing with. She silently hands it back to you where you do a quick refresh on it.Your INSIGHT MODULE crackles to life.>NOWHERE SOMMELIER HINTS: ABYSS GAZE/?/? (3 ARTIFACTS)That's certainly a lot more cryptic than IN LIMBO'S hints but you'll worry about that later. You duck into the containment cell with Hidaka following right behind you.The room is just as shady and frigid as it was when you left it. The android's gaze is absentmindedly fixed on the floor, seemingly unaware of the world around it. Hidaka clears her throat to get the android's attention.It suddenly jolts upright, locking its eyes on the both of you. If it had a face, you sure it would be forcing a smile right now.
"Welcome, Vincent. I see you brought a new guest in. May I ask what kind of wine she's into? We have two excellent samples here on offer for you. A floral white wine-" It babbles and babbles, filling the air with words that both of you are already starting to tune out.Hidaka clicks her tongue, "Give me a moment. Need to think.""Oh!" The android stops babbling. "Of course. Take all the time you need."What do you want to do, Vincent? Choose three actions.NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER MOOD: 81/100 (slight decrease)LIQUID POINTS: 92/100 (slight increase from last time)COMMUNICATION:>Last time, it said it was also built to defend restaurants it was assigned to. Offer it to guard your door for a hour or so. (DC 66, +7 from HIDAKA'S HELP + ANOMALY TOUCHED)>Facial recognition? Why does it have it and, hell, how can it even see with no eyes? How does it perceive the world?>You're a bit wary after IN LIMBO's warning. Ask it what it thinks about when you're not in here. (DC 56, +3 from HIDAKA'S HELP.)>Ask about the wine. How does it make it? What's up with the titles it gives its wines?>Ask about the 'NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER' title it gave itself. What does it mean? Why did it pick THAT name? (DC 70, +5 to roll from ANOMALY TOUCHED.)>You wonder why they'd make a robot that gives wine sapience. Ask the android how it perceives itself. EXAMINATION/STIMULI>Bring in the furniture you got from the CELL DECORATION BUNDLE to decorate its room. Might as well make its stay here comfortable.>Inspect its body. Try to figure out as much as you can about how its constructed and what its made of. (DC 65, +5 to roll. Helps you to know how to repair it in the future.)>Ask for some of the fluid inside of its reservoir. Can't have too many samples. (-30 LIQUID POINTS, gets you 1d3+1 samples of OBSCURA and 1 sample of RÊVE CHARDONNAY)>Play some music from your CD player. (Choose WHITE NOISE, ELEVATOR MUSIC, HEAVY METAL or ORCHESTRAL)>Hand it the GAMEBOY you found. You don't want it going stir crazy in here, might as well let it entertain itself.>Alter the atmosphere of the room. You want to see if that affects its ability to produce wine.>Turn on your DVD player. See how it reacts to the crime drama.>Bring in the PERSONAL TV. Try to see what programming or shows it naturally gravitates to. >Offer it some food and drinks from your DAILY FOOD BUNDLE. You know it likes being provided with biological material.>WRITE INJust to clarify, I do like reading your theories and speculations. Not shaming you or anything, Also, >>6307731 cute meme, PaL.Sadly, Vincent is doomed to suffer through middling dice rolls and his social ineptitude. Even an anomalous heart can only do so much.
>>6308089>Ask about the 'NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER' title it gave itself. What does it mean? Why did it pick THAT name? (DC 70, +5 to roll from ANOMALY TOUCHED.)>Bring in the furniture you got from the CELL DECORATION BUNDLE to decorate its room. Might as well make its stay here comfortable.>Offer it some food and drinks from your DAILY FOOD BUNDLE. You know it likes being provided with biological material.
>>6308089>Ask about the wine. How does it make it? What's up with the titles it gives its wines?>Offer it some food and drinks from your DAILY FOOD BUNDLE. You know it likes being provided with biological material.>Bring in the furniture you got from the CELL DECORATION BUNDLE to decorate its room. Might as well make its stay here comfortable.
>>6308089>You're a bit wary after IN LIMBO's warning. Ask it what it thinks about when you're not in here. (DC 56, +3 from HIDAKA'S HELP.)Didn't think it could think.>Ask about the wine. How does it make it? What's up with the titles it gives its wines?Particularly interested in whether or not it's an autonomous process to make it.If it doesn't know or decides to withhold the information, I speculate then that the wine tank may actually be a separate anomaly: a Gimel class, a tool, and the SOMMELIER serves only as a sommelier and its protector. Otherwise I think it wouldn't have reacted as it did when we dusted it with STATIC POLLEN, it would've known what was done rather than simply read the tank's contents to us. We may not need the sommelier if it ever comes to it. Would the question strike fear into it? It would all be very telling.>Bring in the furniture you got from the CELL DECORATION BUNDLE to decorate its room. Might as well make its stay here comfortable.Testing if it draws from the humidity in the room can wait for later for me, I forgot we had to move that furniture in here.
>>6308089Phew, I finally caught up with you guys. This story is great! I'm at the edge of my seat here. Massive props, QM.Here's my votes.>Bring in the furniture you got from the CELL DECORATION BUNDLE to decorate its room. Might as well make its stay here comfortable.>Offer it some food and drinks from your DAILY FOOD BUNDLE. You know it likes being provided with biological material.Combine these to make our android a little mini restaurant! Maybe it will appreciate it?Maybe we can even sneak it some slop from the cafeteria at some point just to see what it will do with it!>Ask about the wine. How does it make it? What's up with the titles it gives its wines?Then ask about this after maximizing fancy restaurant vibes.Does any of our friends actually know something about wine? We should bring a wine connoisseur in here.
>>6308089>Last time, it said it was also built to defend restaurants it was assigned to. Offer it to guard your door for a hour or so. (DC 66, +7 from HIDAKA'S HELP + ANOMALY TOUCHED)>Inspect its body. Try to figure out as much as you can about how its constructed and what its made of. (DC 65, +5 to roll. Helps you to know how to repair it in the future.)>You're a bit wary after IN LIMBO's warning. Ask it what it thinks about when you're not in here. (DC 56, +3 from HIDAKA'S HELP.)
>>6308089>Facial recognition? Why does it have it and, hell, how can it even see with no eyes? How does it perceive the world?>You're a bit wary after IN LIMBO's warning. Ask it what it thinks about when you're not in here. (DC 56, +3 from HIDAKA'S HELP.)>Inspect its body. Try to figure out as much as you can about how its constructed and what its made of. (DC 65, +5 to roll. Helps you to know how to repair it in the future.)>Ask for some of the fluid inside of its reservoir. Can't have too many samples. (-30 LIQUID POINTS, gets you 1d3+1 samples of OBSCURA and 1 sample of RÊVE CHARDONNAY)
>>6308089>You're a bit wary after IN LIMBO's warning. Ask it what it thinks about when you're not in here. (DC 56, +3 from HIDAKA'S HELP.)Only fair to follow up on the new tip>Bring in the furniture you got from the CELL DECORATION BUNDLE to decorate its room. Might as well make its stay here comfortable.We did say we'd do this, right?>Facial recognition? Why does it have it and, hell, how can it even see with no eyes? How does it perceive the world?I'm just curious that's all
>>6308089>Last time, it said it was also built to defend restaurants it was assigned to. Offer it to guard your door for a hour or so. (DC 66, +7 from HIDAKA'S HELP + ANOMALY TOUCHED)>You're a bit wary after IN LIMBO's warning. Ask it what it thinks about when you're not in here. (DC 56, +3 from HIDAKA'S HELP.)>Offer it some food and drinks from your DAILY FOOD BUNDLE. You know it likes being provided with biological material.
>>6308084Guys... do we have to physically wine and dine Lucy to cure her of her skin-melting horror condition? Because that's what I'm getting from this revelation
>>6308230Nah the Wine by itself heals mental damage in exchange for getting sloshed.It'd more of a series of urban picnics
>>6308089 +1Might be able to glean some info about the floral wineNot voting for the Sommelier Guard>Last time, it said it was also built to defend restaurants it was assigned to. Offer it to guard your door for a hour or so. (DC 66, +7 from HIDAKA'S HELP + ANOMALY TOUCHED)Anons I'm against this, for one it's a hard roll and second that it's much more questionable than FET.If you want someone to guard the door call over our totally human friend later.
>>6308034You can add me for Fet-sama>>6308089>You're a bit wary after IN LIMBO's warning. Ask it what it thinks about when you're not in here. (DC 56, +3 from HIDAKA'S HELP.)>Facial recognition? Why does it have it and, hell, how can it even see with no eyes? How does it perceive the world?>Bring in the furniture you got from the CELL DECORATION BUNDLE to decorate its room. Might as well make its stay here comfortable.
>>6308089>Bring in the furniture you got from the CELL DECORATION BUNDLE to decorate its room.>You're a bit wary after IN LIMBO's warning.>Offer it some food and drinks from your DAILY FOOD BUNDLE.
>>6308243Uhm. Not sure what you're +1ing there, Anon. I'll just assume it's KVB's vote so I have something to tally up.>>6308281Duly noted. I am including something with FET-SAMA next update, don't worry. You may not like it but you'll certainly get some much needed FET SCREENTIME.>>6308230The food is what actually healed her but you can get her plastered if you want to and you're fine with her having a massive hangover tomorrow.>>6308121Glad you're enjoying it, anon.Tallying everythingTITLE: 1w+FURNITURE: 1w+, Dj2, KVB, vr0, tbi, Szu, VyN, pKRFOOD/DRINKS: 1w+, Dj2, vr0, CWx, VyNWINE DETAILS: Dj2, KVB, vr0, pKRCHECK ON WARNING: KVB, KOO, WBS, tbi, CWx, Szu, VyN, pKRINSPECT BODY: KOO, WBSSAMPLES: WBSDEFEND US SOMMELIER-CHAN: KOO, CWxFACIAL RECOGNITON?: WBS, tbi, SzuUnless 3 more anons were going to manifest in 3 hours to vote for WINE DETAILS, which I doubt, I think we got a pretty locked in vote. Seems like FURNITURE, FOOD/DRINKS and CHECK ON WARNING win out, with WINE DETAILS being a distant third.Three anons, roll 1d100+3. DC 56. Table below.0 SUCCESSES: O-O (You don't get a solid response from the anomaly. Something in the air feels wrong.) 1 SUCCESS: "It's nothing important. So, about the wine." (You get a vague, somewhat cryptic response. It's at least an answer.)2 SUCCESSES: "It's nothing." (You get some insight of the anomaly's thought processes and mental state.)3 SUCCESSES: The android nervously shifts in its seat. (Same as 2 but you get more information on the anomaly's mental state.)
Rolled 59 + 3 (1d100 + 3)>>6308388
Rolled 70 + 3 (1d100 + 3)>>6308388
Rolled 80 (1d100)>>6308388120 second captcha, hope noone rolls before I do
>>6308388Meant to say distant fourth. Though, with one vote difference, 'close fourth' is probably more fitting? Semantics.>>6308389>>6308390>>630840162, 73, 83.VINCENT has gotten: 3 SUCCESSES. Your questions punches right through SOMMELIER'S defenses. I suppose wageslaves relate more to anomalies than other human beings, huh?Writing.
>>6308402>relates better to anomalies than humansQM, are you implying that women are not anomalies?
>>6308468Even though I agree that women are weird, unfortunately most of them acting weird makes them non anomalous. There is one that is acting anomalous though...
"Right. Well. We'll bring in some furniture to liven this place up. This place does look a bit dingy, doesn't it?" You ask with a faint smile."I would say it is certainly lesser than previous locations I was assigned to." NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER gives you a noncommittal shrug. "However, I don't need anything besides this chair." It looks away from you, as if the offer made it uncomfortable. Odd. "Would you like some wine?" It asks in an obvious attempt to change the conversation."Nonsense." Hidaka shakes her head. "Besides. The others wouldn't...appreciate them. Like you would." "Yeah. Either you take it or it goes to waste." "So be it. I suppose I will accept." NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER slumps back in its chair, staring up at the ceiling.You and Hidaka hastily move to drag in the various pieces of furniture you bought for the catalog into the containment cell. You also carry some different foodstuffs with you for a future test.The bookshelf takes the most effort but, all in all, it only takes a few minutes to decorate the room. A mattress now rests at the corner of the room while the lounge chair, desk and bookshelf were just placed wherever there was room.The android doesn't seem particularly interested or impressed with its newly decorated room but it eagerly sits down in the lounge chair. It leans back, relaxing in a chair that is actually built to be comfortable instead of a spine killer. You can only imagine it tolerated the previous chair since it's a robot."Now, again, I must offer my wine to the both of you." The android sweetly coos with every word it speaks. "I overheard some rather colorful language about some paperwork you were working on. It must've been a real pain in the neck to deal with, wasn't it?" Hidaka tilts her head at the anomaly. "Explain: How did you hear us?""Oh. There's not a lot else I can do in here. I eavesdropped." The android answered as if the answer were obvious. "My wine would help to wash the taste of cigarettes out of your mouth. You should try some Robusto Maduros next time. My customers would always ask for them whenever I was serving them.""Well! We won't take a sample of your wine just yet BUT. Hidaka? Go ahead and show her.""Right. We have a simple experiment. In mind." She places a variety of various foodstuffs and drinks on the floor. A bag of bread, a bottle of orange juice, a can of Spam, and a bottle of water.The android cautiously picks up the can of Spam, eyeing it as if it were an alien artifact. It taps at the can with one of its fingers. "Quite unusual. May I inquire as to what this is, exactly?""Food, technically. Inside can." Hidaka tersely clarifies. "Open it."The android rips open the metal can, not even realizing it could just use the tab on the top. It discards the torn metal can like it's a banana peel before holding the spam up to its face.You and Hidaka stand by, scribbling down notes to see what happens. CAN this thing even eat and if so, how?
It pushes the cube of spam towards where a mouth would be on its face. As soon as the spam touches the android's face, it vanishes. One second it's there, and the next, it's gone.It then takes a bottle of orange juice and rips the cap off of it in a single jerky motion. It pours the contents of it over where its mouth would be and, lo and behold, it vanishes too. It soon discards the now empty bottle, seemingly content with what it ate."Mmh." Its voice takes on a low, monotone quality that reminds you of SACA's voice. "Converting. Converting. Processing sugars, protein, and fat. Please stand by. Please store excess biological matter somewhere else.""Interesting. Preprogrammed response. Must've been how it normally creates wine." Hidaka talks to herself as she scribbles down some more notes on a spare piece of paper. While she does that, you store the bread and water on a nearby bookshelf. Might as well leave it for the Android, right?You eye the container on the android's body. It rapidly fills with a thick, red liquid that looks a bit too chunky to be wine. It rapidly loosens and melts until all that's left is what you assume to be OBSCURA SYRAH. The android snaps out of the trance it was in. "There we go. Some more OBSCURA SYRAH for the both of you to enjoy. L'CURE's special. Now, would you like some?"So it has to be fed anomalous samples to create unique wine, ala the thin film of white-yellow wine that it created upon being exposed to the STATIC POLLEN."You've been pushy about it. The wine.""It's what I was made to 'push', Makiko Hidaka."Hidaka tenses up as if she were just struck by lightning. Her amber eyes shoot open, trembling with a mixture of fear and rage. "How did- No one knows my first-" Before you even have time to stop up, Hidaka charges at the android and grabs it by the throat.The android doesn't bother to fight back. If it had a face, you think it would be smirking.You scramble over to break the two up. It doesn't take much effort; Hidaka's not particularly strong. She stumbles back as you shove her away from the anomaly."You-" Hidaka can't help but let out a bitter laugh. "You did that on purpose, didn't you? You wanted to get a rise out of me." "Why would I do that? I wish to help you, Maki-""Don't." Hidaka tightens her fist."I could help you forget this, you know. One drink, and this memory of yours, this unpleasant feeling swimming in your brain meat, it'd go away.""I'm here to help." SOMMELIER tries its best to sound comforting but there's a tinge of desperation in its words. "I offended you. I can help you to forget about my social faux pas. Free of charge.""Did you-" Hidaka picks up on what's going on before you do. "Are you that desperate? To shill your wine?" She's not sure whether to pity the robot or not.The silence SOMMELIER gives is loud enough to be deafening. You awkwardly change the subject. "So. SOMMELIER. What do you think about on your free time?""I'm sorry?"
"What do you do when we're not here? When no one's interacting with you?""I don't. I don't understand why you're asking. I sit in here. I wait." The android blankly stares at you as if you asked if the sky was purple. "That's all.""That can't be it." Hidaka points at the anomaly with her pen. "You act just like a human. You have thoughts. You are intelligent, unlike SACA units. Should he repeat the question?""I understood the words he said and that it was a question." The android nervously shifts in its seat. It's clearly uncomfortable with this line of questioning. What is it hiding, you wonder?"I would get bored being stuck in a cell like this." You pace around the cell, examining the various decorations you put up. "Nothing to do except stew in my thoughts. I'd probably daydream about something stupid to pass the time. I'm just wondering what you like to think about.""Think? I. No, that's. Would you like some wine, sir? I know you've been using it to create some delectable meals." It abruptly changes the subject away from itself. "Who knows what the effects of that new wine I created could imbue into your meals?""We're not leaving. Until you answer." Hidaka scoffs at the anomaly's piss-poor attempt at deflection. "Look. We want to have a solid working relationship with you. That means we have to trust each other, SOMMELIER." You do your best to offer a warm smile. "All I want is an answer. I'll take some wine from you soon enough, trust me.""I just...need to confirm something. That's all.">3 SUCCESSES!It perks up when you tell it you'll talk about taking some wine from it. "I don't think about anything, sir." It answers truthfully. It simply shrugs as if the answer were obvious and you just somehow missed it."When you are not here, I do not feel the need to 'think' like you do. I am here to provide my wine and to offer relief to those who need it.""You work as an employee for this facility, day in and day out, doing what you're expected to do without any complaint." The android tries its best to relate with you in its own way. "I do the same. I do what is expected of me. And like you, I try not to think too hard about anything.""I'm happy with it, but I can tell neither of you are happy." Despite trying to put up a cheery front, there's a trace of something subtly odd with its tone, as if even talking about this feels weird to it."It's just an obligation." Hidaka dryly shares your sentiments when it comes to your job. "An obligation we're bound to. Being happy with that obligation is. Hard."NOWHERE'S SOMMELIER nods, trying its best to relate with you. "That's why I don't think. I simply focus on offering a way out. In the end, there's only one escape from your woes."A drop of wine leaks from its hose arm. "I can't fully understand why you aren't happy with your jobs. I'm happy with my job, and when I'm not doing it, why let inconsequential woes fill my mind? It doesn't matter, ultimately, does it?"
Its nihilistic words are laced with a cheeriness that's hard to call 'fake.' It's not putting up a front this time around."Unhealthy." That's all Hidaka has to say to the android's words."Healthy." The android chirps out. "People are happier when they forget their woes.""If you're not here to take some wine, I'll politely ask you to leave. May you find a way to escape your obligations somewhere else."The air in the room is frostier than it usually is. Best to leave while you're ahead. You excuse yourself before exiting with Hidaka in tow.>MOOD stays at 81/100 (Seems that conversation you got on its nerves.)>LIQUID POINTS at 100/100!Hidaka taps you on the shoulder to get your attention."Noticed something off about it. Don't think it was honest.""Hm?" You could tell the android was uncomfortable with your questioning but you don't think it was lying. "How so?""About not thinking. Decorating its room made it uncomfortable. Asking about its past made it uncomfortable."Hidaka grumbles under her breath. "It even said my name. To annoy me. To shill its wine. Constant deflection.""Trying to engage with it. As a person. It bothers it." Hidaka shrugs. "It acted more like a human wishing it was a mindless machine."As you think on it, she's not wrong. You wonder why it's so desperate to deflect any attempt at getting 'closer' to it on a personal level. Though, you won't lie, you can somewhat understand where it's coming from. Being a wage slave can easily make someone feel like a dehumanized husk. You could almost seem where it was coming from.Guess you're not too dissimilar, huh?>Another INSIGHT HINT will be revealed soon.A loud, shrill beeping erupts from your computer. You scramble to check to see what, exactly, is going on.CPPQUEST has booted up all on its own and a flurry of text boxes surrounds it. They're all written in broken, gibberish-adjacent english but you get the rough gist."SPOT MASKED MAN WITH BIG GUN BY ROOM HAED TO ELEVATRO THINK AFTER U WIL FOLLOW.""CAN'T RSPND TOO CEMMANDS BSY RUNNI">FET is heading towards your lab...and so is your threat.>An encounter with whatever threat is will likely happen NEXT UPDATE.5 TIME TOKENS LEFT!CHOOSE TWO ACTIONS and any FREE ACTIONSRESEARCH>Enter IN LIMBO'S cell. Might as well get some more samples of it to study. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Enter LOST SINCE 199X's cell. Time to meet your new anomaly. Keep your guard up. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Study the WIRE FLOWER'S ability to record stuff. Can you record new stuff on them? Can you improve the quality of the recordings? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49, +5 from LUCY'S HELP)>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50, +8 from TWO COWORKERS HELPING + ANOMALY TOUCHED)>Study the STATIC SCALES and BLOOD you got from that anglerfish.(-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 55, +15 to roll from LUCY'S HELP + FOUGHT THE ANOMALY.)(1/2)
>Do some tests on the CHERRY MOLD and BLOOD WINE. Try to figure out how the android's wine affected them. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 60, +10 to roll from ANOMALY TOUCHED + TWO COWORKERS HELPING)BUSY WORK>Look up any information about L'CURE on ABNOWATCH. This restaurant/company is really shady. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65, +10 to roll with HIDAKA'S help and from understanding the anomaly better.)>Try to make some useful stuff out of the AC PARTS and ELECTRONIC SCRAP you got. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60, +1 to roll.)>Cook some stuff on that new propane grill of yours. Maybe your anomalies would like cooked food better? (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Try to make some outfits with the sewing machine. Maybe the android would like it? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, Hidaka and Lucy can offer some advice.)>Tend to the flower on your arm. Water it, feed it, care for it. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Empowers its hidden abilities, which will be revealed next update.)MISC>Approach your FAX MACHINE. Risk the wrath of CORPORATE MIGHT. Ask for some help/advice. (FREE ACTION. -$25. Choose who to call: HAYDEN, BLACKWELL, UPPER MANAGEMENT, ZENITH or Q&Q. Can be picked twice.)>Inject some modified JAX SERUM into your system. You're going to be in a fight any minute now. (FREE ACTION, -MODIFIED JAX SERUM. May have minor side effects still, protects your body.)>You'll need some energy soon. Take the ADRENALINE SYRINGE. (FREE ACTION. +2 TIME TOKENS, physical strength rolls will be easier for a while, 55% chance of taking some heavy MENTAL DAMAGE.)>Write inWould've posted earlier, dealt with dog stuff, you know how it is.
>>6308498>Tend to the flower on your arm. Water it, feed it, care for it. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Empowers its hidden abilities, which will be revealed next update.)>Study the WIRE FLOWER'S ability to record stuff. Can you record new stuff on them? Can you improve the quality of the recordings? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49, +5 from LUCY'S HELP)>Inject some modified JAX SERUM into your system. You're going to be in a fight any minute now. (FREE ACTION, -MODIFIED JAX SERUM. May have minor side effects still, protects your body.)Did that fucker August hire someone to kill us?
>>6308499>Study the STATIC SCALES and BLOOD you got from that anglerfish.(-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 55, +15 to roll from LUCY'S HELP + FOUGHT THE ANOMALY.)>Tend to the flower on your arm. Water it, feed it, care for it. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Empowers its hidden abilities, which will be revealed next update.)SPEEDBALL THE STIMS VINCENT> "I AM SLIGHTLY UNDERWEIGHT, UNDER 40 AND I AM SPEEDBALLING JAX AND PURE ADRENALINE RIGHT NOW">>Inject some modified JAX SERUM into your system. You're going to be in a fight any minute now. (FREE ACTION, -MODIFIED JAX SERUM. May have minor side effects still, protects your body.)>>You'll need some energy soon. Take the ADRENALINE SYRINGE. (FREE ACTION. +2 TIME TOKENS, physical strength rolls will be easier for a while, 55% chance of taking some heavy MENTAL DAMAGE.)This also has the perk of filling our test quota for the JAX
>>6308511Fuck I should have drawn a flower onto the arm too
>>6308499CULTIVATE STRENGTH>Tend to the flower on your arm. Water it, feed it, care for it. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Empowers its hidden abilities, which will be revealed next update.)POWER>Write in: Walk outside the lab and scream at the top of your lungs, preferably before HE gets here. (SUMMON SECURITY: ASHTON, POSSIBLY ANTHONY)GLORYWe did tell Anthony to check up on us if he hears us screaming, and he said he would tell Ashton. Knowing Ashton, she probably took that to HEART.FREE SHIT>Inject some modified JAX SERUM into your system. You're going to be in a fight any minute now. (FREE ACTION, -MODIFIED JAX SERUM. May have minor side effects still, protects your body.)LOOTwe can possibly cure the terrible side effects with the sandwichesstill better than being dead>Write in: Give BARBELL to Hidaka. (FREE ACTION?)Hey Hidaka, an ARC goon is coming to kill ALL OF US!
>>6308521may have accidentally removed my vote for adrenaline before posting>You'll need some energy soon. Take the ADRENALINE SYRINGE. (FREE ACTION. +2 TIME TOKENS, physical strength rolls will be easier for a while, 55% chance of taking some heavy MENTAL DAMAGE.)Vincent is full of drugs.
>>6308521Hidaka's a small Japanese woman. I don't think she'll be much help in a fight.
>>6308498>Enter LOST SINCE 199X's cell. Time to meet your new anomaly. Keep your guard up. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Study the WIRE FLOWER'S ability to record stuff. Can you record new stuff on them? Can you improve the quality of the recordings? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49, +5 from LUCY'S HELP)time to meet the lanklet>>6308499>Look up any information about L'CURE on ABNOWATCH. This restaurant/company is really shady. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65, +10 to roll with HIDAKA'S help and from understanding the anomaly better.)>Try to make some outfits with the sewing machine. Maybe the android would like it? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, Hidaka and Lucy can offer some advice.)
>>6308525Yeah. Our hired help should just run, especially if we'll be fighting inside the lab. Or otherwise get in IN LIMBO's or SOMMELIER's cell, they're cool.Makes me feel safer if the numbers are stacked against the threat though, however little help they may be.
>>6308498>Study the WIRE FLOWER'S ability to record stuff. Can you record new stuff on them? Can you improve the quality of the recordings? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49, +5 from LUCY'S HELP)>>6308499>Look up any information about L'CURE on ABNOWATCH. This restaurant/company is really shady. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 65, +10 to roll with HIDAKA'S help and from understanding the anomaly better.)>Inject some modified JAX SERUM into your system. You're going to be in a fight any minute now. (FREE ACTION, -MODIFIED JAX SERUM. May have minor side effects still, protects your body.)
>>6308498>Examine the two samples you got from Rudolf. Could THEY make some money? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50, +8 from TWO COWORKERS HELPING + ANOMALY TOUCHED)>Do some tests on the CHERRY MOLD and BLOOD WINE. Try to figure out how the android's wine affected them. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 60, +10 to roll from ANOMALY TOUCHED + TWO COWORKERS HELPING)>Inject some modified JAX SERUM into your system. You're going to be in a fight any minute now. (FREE ACTION, -MODIFIED JAX SERUM. May have minor side effects still, protects your body.)
>>6308499Use the last sample of WINE in a bucket over the door. Assassin comes in and good chance to get wine in his eyes which should still work since it so potent.
>>6308498>>Enter LOST SINCE 199X's cell. Time to meet your new anomaly. Keep your guard up. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)>Study the STATIC SCALES and BLOOD you got from that anglerfish.(-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 55, +15 to roll from LUCY'S HELP + FOUGHT THE ANOMALY.)>You'll need some energy soon. Take the ADRENALINE SYRINGE. (FREE ACTION. +2 TIME TOKENS, physical strength rolls will be easier for a while, 55% chance of taking some heavy MENTAL DAMAGE.)
To Anons voting for >Look up any information about L'CURE on ABNOWATCH.)Consider, we do that NEXT shift after hiring THE MAN for his [INFORMANT] trait. The Man would make those checks pretty easyI'd like to have Colt/MAN next shift to scope out 199X next shift
>>6308499>Tend to the flower on your arm. Water it, feed it, care for it. >Study the WIRE FLOWER'S ability to record stuff.>Write in: Walk outside the lab and scream at the top of your lungs, preferably before HE gets here.>Inject some modified JAX SERUM into your system.
>>6308499>Tend to the flower on your arm. Water it, feed it, care for it. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Empowers its hidden abilities, which will be revealed next update.)prepare>Study the WIRE FLOWER'S ability to record stuff. Can you record new stuff on them? Can you improve the quality of the recordings? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 49, +5 from LUCY'S HELP)learn>Inject some modified JAX SERUM into your system. You're going to be in a fight any minute now. (FREE ACTION, -MODIFIED JAX SERUM. May have minor side effects still, protects your body.)prepare>You'll need some energy soon. Take the ADRENALINE SYRINGE. (FREE ACTION. +2 TIME TOKENS, physical strength rolls will be easier for a while, 55% chance of taking some heavy MENTAL DAMAGE.)prepareWe better hold up against the mystery feral greytider
