You are James Underwood the Younger, and you are about to kill a man. You've never done that before. Not that it would be difficult, said man is pinned to the ground and already dying. Courtesy of James Underwood the Elder, your father. A ninety-four year old man, who calmly had you drive him into Mendig's northern projects to linger in a dark alleyway and wait behind a rancid garbage bin for this man to draw near. At which point he simply got up, strode out into the open, and drove a knife into the man. Once, in the back, then once again into his front after he fell. Puncturing the lungs to prevent him screaming, you figure.Your father...Dad, was always an imposing figure in your life. A former soldier who never raised his voice and never needed to to get either his son or an entire room of suits to listen. You never got a full picture of what he did for Jefferson, even after the latter's fall, but there was a reason he did not oppose your wish to climb the company's ladder without his influence. Even then, he was trying to shield you. You were in your early twenties, but still a little boy to him. That hasn't changed, especially after Mom died. You sometimes compare yourself to those of his generation, who lived and fought in the war, knew the Rebuilding and golden years that followed. A tougher breed than yours, for sure. Dad never cared. You think he was just happy his only child would not know what he did. And now you are about to step into a war, a deadly game, though hopefully as a player and not an ignorant, unwitting pawn.Dad is scared. The idea fills you with unease. This man fears not pain nor death, and yet he is afraid now. Scared of what is to come, scared that he is not strong enough to protect you. Of course, how could he, he's a dying old man, the thought still echoes in your head. Well, truly that is where your troubles begin.A few months ago, Dad discovered something. He didn't tell you how, but he apparently found strange floating stones that no one else could see. They gave him power, unnatural abilities, a small part of his youth back, and the ability to get more. From what he knows, these stones are only found dormant in certain people who have taken another's life. Even fewer still may gain these stones, alongside the ability to use them, when killing the killer. You get the feeling Dad isn't telling you everything. But since he calls them blood stones, he figures that those of his blood may also be like him, able to use them.
>>6314784Dad is changed. Over the past few years, you saw him...not give up, but settle in somewhat. Accepting that his time was drawing near, being satisfied that you had built a life better than his in many regards. Abigail and the kids have been his sun as uch as they've been yours. And you had to watch a father you saw as invincible wither away under the vagueries of time. But now he is back, like you knew him as a child. He looks about the same outwardly, but the energy is undeniable. He's trying again, and only you know why.The stones did more than this. When he came clean to you about the stones, it was mere hours after a visit to the barber's turned into a horror story. You watched as your father ecposed the man as a killer, only to get his throat slit in front of you. And next thing you know he's standing up and helping fight off and ultimately kill the maniac. After giving you the rundown in the car, he triggered a stone. For the next minute, you were alone in that car. Even now, after he reappeared, you cannot reconcile him still being here with what you saw. You saw an empty seat, you felt around empty air. He was not there. And yet he was, not intangible, just imperceptible to you. That is how he brought down the fit young man in front of you. With an ability that defies reason and the limits of the human condition. You would have wanted in for all of these reasons alone. But there is your family to consider. Maybe waiting until Dad is powerful enough to protect you would work, maybe staying under the radar would keep you and yours safer, and yourself more helpful to him. But you know waiting for a better time is not always a good call.When Mom had her stroke, you rushed to see her with Dad, and the sight lingered in your mind. Even as she got better, you waited to return, unwilling to face even a shadow of what you saw that day. She didn't ask for you, and Dad didn't push. They understood. But then the second stroke happened, and she didn't wake up from this one. You blamed yourself for years, for not being there for her, for leaving her all alone in a sterile hospital bedroom, wondering if you visiting might have given her the strength to pull through. You were indecisive, a coward. And you decided then not to be a coward again.You will not back down. And if it comes down to it, you will stand by your father's side in defense of your family. You are no soldier. But you will not be cattle.You follow your father’s directions and stab the man in the heart.The stones look so beautiful.
>>6314786You are James Underwood Senior, and you haven't stalked and hunted anyone in years. Boy, this takes you back to simpler, if rougher times! Still, you do feel better about this. You idly fish the money the man got from the deal out of one of his pockets. Drugs, weapons, gang intel, doesn't matter now. You aren't here for an interrogation. But free money that isn't tied to you is always nice to have. You'll entrust it to James, he'll have an easier time keeping it hidden than you, even with four little ones at home. Not so little anymore for the older two, you realize. Of course, they'll always be kids to you, but you realize you didn't really see them grow up much. Thomas and little James at the start, sure, but Hamish and Mary not so much. They came to visit with their parents, at your house then at the retirement home, but you feel a pang of regret. You cannot change that, but you can still be around to see what kind of men and women they'll turn out to be. The stones have given you a second chance, one all the more valuable because it came with such grim tidings.You aren't that lucky. If you got the ability to extract stones, others did. You already know of one, a woman you ran into by sheer luck a few weeks ago. You stared at each other and walked away. You suspect another, a serial killer that just came back from a five year break. But that barber you killed had stacked a fair few bodies and was filled with dormant stones, so you won't be sure until you catch the man. Which may not be so difficult. You are fairly sure that anyone who gets at least one stone will see it slot itself into the Scan ability, as it was for you. Their way of propagating, you figure. Even the newer Bloodstone user as you've taken to calling them will feel all active and inactive stones in a five meter radius, more if other stones are given over to Scan.One may also choose to empty the stone to triple that radius, a common trait for almost all Stones you have access to. Stones to heal, stones to make people unable to perceive you, stones to make certain bits and pieces of you better, and more. The empty stone may perform worse, depending on what ability it is linked to. Refilling it takes blood, hence the name you figure. You didn't name them. They named themselves. You've kept that from James. He'll understand soon enough if he goes through with this and it works, anyway, and even with everything, you fear you'd come off as crazy trying to explain to him that you can somewhat talk to the invisible floating stones that give you comic book superpowers...
>>6314787You look at your son as he draws near, wondering what he'll choose. There's the family's safety to consider, of course, and maybe he would be more useful, and safer, without the stones. But it is his choice to make as a man. You wonder if some of that is the stones talking. Giving people power enough to rock the boat of the established order seems to be something they want. Or maybe you're reading into them too much. Still, sometimes it's hard not to wonder. They seem to answer your questions somewhat, by giving you entirely new knowledge that feels like your own. Is that really the extent of what they do, or can they weigh in on your decision making as well? For all you know they're the crystalized sins of the wicked or something, letting them steer you too much can't be good.In a way you're glad you don't have to pick for James.“So?”“I'm in.”“You'll have to be careful. If this works, you won't just be another face in the crowd for others like me, like us.”“I know, dad. But the times are changing. Unlike most, I have the opportunity to choose to matter. I know it is risky, but so is leaving our fate in the hands of whoever comes to rule over us, especially if something happens to you. At least this way I'll have options.”“All right then. Let's make this quick, he's bleeding out. Now, you're going to pull the knife, and quickly place it here between my fingers, and push straight down, between the ribs...”With your guidance, James makes it quick, cutting into the heart and moving the blade around inside before pulling it out. The man is unconscious in seconds. Then, it happens. The stones blink out from his body, but you don't see them rise towards you. You think you can feel something, then James lights up in your passive Scan perception, four stones lingering inside his torso. Soon enough, he figures out how to poke them. One moves a little left, must be Scan, and another to the right, to Body. The locations look close enough to what you saw in the other user you ran into a few weeks back, even if it's hard to tell with a single stone in only two of the three. James stays silent for a little bit, and you don't rush him. The alleyway is dark, and a single year isn't much at his age, so you can't tell, but he must be feeling it. The remaining pair of stones stays put for now. Like with you, the first two seem to slot in automatically. You wonder what they would do if someone had only one or two.“It's...a lot.”“It is.”“...we should get back to the car.”
>>6314788You end up being the one to help your much younger son stand up instead of the opposite for once, and the two of you walk to the car. Such a simple thing, yet perhaps one of the most striking consequences of the stones. Fifteen weeks ago you were ninety four. Currently, you are about five and a half years younger. Two stones in what you call Foundation, taking off a year each and letting you Heal in a pinch, and seven stones in Refinement, spread around different parts of your body, around six months each. On top of that, your new lease on life has helped you pick up physical therapy again. You walk with a cane only some of the time, while you had been down to getting wheeled around before, and not far off being bedbound.You would only have to kill a bearer or two more before you can pick up your younger grandchildren, you think idly as you climb into the car. Ten years younger a few corpses away. Changing times indeed.You both make it home safe that night. The retirement home's staff was warned you were out eating with your son, and James presumably avoided acting weird in front of Abigail and the kids. Your week resumes its slow pace, made even more glacial by how cold you feel the next day. Most likely, hiding behind a dumpster in a shoddy alleyway at night while nursing a small cold at your age was not a great idea health-wise. Your cold comes back with a vengeance, straining your aged body and its lackluster defenses. The new additions to Refinement include your immune system and bone marrow, so you aren't too worried, but it is still annoying and uncomfortable.Predictably, you do poorly in rehab, and the doc has you do very little this week given the state you're in. Your plans to craft a friendship with another of the nurses fall through as well. You do still convince Katie to take you on a stroll in the nearby woods, arguing it might be good for your health. Mostly it was to check if you had an easier time meditating compared to the retirement home's little garden or inside your room, but the results aren't very telling, nothing like that first time you meditated. At least your sleep goes well, though maybe the cold medication you're now taking is helping there. Between that and managing some meditation time during the afternoons, you finally get the hang of Auto-Trigger. The original nurses roll was a 3, which could have led to worse, but this was a mistake on my part since these have always been Bo2 from [Charismatic], sorry about that! >You have unlocked Auto-Trigger: You may set conditions for Bloodstone activation.>Currently set conditions:>Activate Heal if: >>Ongoing Bleeding Wound/ Damage to Brain, Heart or Lungs and Status= Unconscious>>Pain exceeding manageable threshold>>Critical Damage to Brain or Heart.
>>6314791>You may set more rules, edit or remove them at any time. This affects any stone you have, and conditions are whatever you can think of.>Examples: If foreign Scan detected, activate max power Scan. If [Stone 1] activated, wait X seconds, then activate [Stone 2]. If [Refinement: Nails] runs out of duration and adrenaline levels steady, refresh Nails at same level, repeat until no more stones/adrenaline levels descend. You don't have too many ways to play with this one yet, but it will be a handy tool to have.The week has one last surprise for you however. Being sick means you don’t get much contact with the new arrivals, but you do your best to stay nearby each new one over the days, and hit paydirt. A man in the low seventies, a bit young for being here. Three inactive stones. A good potential target, though you ought to be careful. This isn’t some gang member you can leave for dead in an alleyway. If a second person turns up dead near you after Dr Phillips, people are going to start drawing a link, from paranoia and superstition if nothing else. Nothing you couldn’t smooth over between your charisma and the nurses you’ve befriended, but leaving that sort of gossip trail behind strikes you as foolish. You worry a little about an eventual police investigation, and a lot more about an active bearer somehow using it to catch wind of you and track you, and your family down.Still, those are concerns for later. You have appearances to keep up, an infection to fight off, a target to investigate, and more.And what now feels like so and so much time.Right, welcome back everyone! It has been a while, longer than I would have hoped. For those who followed the end of last thread and my subsequent qtg posts, I ran into the common problem of the underprepared and overambitious QM, namely having no notes besides the actual thread and the 43 page document where I kept the update drafts. So I tried making a separate technical document, and eventually figured that Google Docs is a really nifty tool actually, so now I have fifteen pages of stuff, and so do you! Feel free to take a look to refresh your memory, or get a better handle on what any of this is.Do also feel free to make any sort of feedback about the doc, or any other aspect of the quest, it is very much a work in progress meant to be expanded.https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DQcl38vSNCqQS28_DA-am39Y7Ef2Fpvl7jOMCLTLHEc/edit?usp=sharing
>>6314792>I’m new, what is any of this?Hello, welcome to Bloodstones. People kill people, they get stones but don’t know and can’t use them. You kill them, you get the stones, they wake up, you give them blood and they /do stuff/. You are a murder grandpa, formerly murder not-grandpa. Your plan was being old and then being dead. You have a new plan now because of, and thanks to, the stones. Others will get stones. They are going to do terrible things with them. Society as it stands will likely not survive. You don’t give a shit. You have descendants, and you want to keep them safe. That is what you care about for now.>Former threads are over here:https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=riflesSo, this leaves us with the usual schedule vote (please don’t hesitate to check the full schedule and options in the GDoc), and a small optional question:>Your son now has his first four stones. You confirmed he got one in Spirit, for Scan, and one in Body, for Heal, which leaves him two. You briefly told him of what uses you’d discovered, and he should be able to use all of them in a week or two at most. Do you give him any particular directions for how to use his? Maybe have him research new uses? His brain is younger than yours after all, and maybe a bit more flexible?Set your schedule for week 17>Morning action: >Afternoon action 1 (Slow): >Afternoon action 2 :>Afternoon action 3 (Tired): >Nurse outing: >Family outing:New schedule options:>Investigate the new bearer with three stones in the retirement home.>Try to research and sign up for that new trip you’d heard about on week 20.And of course, as always, thank you for reading, voting, lurking, or just stopping by!
>Be me>Edit OP pic to show thread #>Don't check>Can't see it during upload>Look back>It's f*cking cropped to sh*t
>>6314800Well, at least that's that, better late than never I suppose...
>>6314793I'm no good at the schedule votes, but ai'l do my best.>Morning action: Physiotherapy>Afternoon action 1 (Slow): Meditate>Afternoon action 2 : Socialize with the new arrival>Afternoon action 3 (Tired): Research the new trip option>Nurse outing: Go to the babk tk withdraw some money>Family outing: Family meal, to get to know the younger grandkids As for James Junior:>Focus on maxing ScanIf he can spot and steer his family away from danger, maybe even develop a passive stone-sense or Scan-negating counter-pulse like how some moths can scramble bats' echolocation, he can be our scout AND keep our family safe.
>>6314793Welcome back QM was getting worried this quest wasn't coming back. but I'm glad i kept looking.>>6314881+1Except for the maximum scan. maybe 1 in scan and one in Skin? (or some other more defensive thing) but only having scan dosn't really help because if it pings another user it becomes a problem pretty sure? I might be wrong on that)but anyway i would add hunting but honestly with the sickness going on a hunt might be a bad idea so this is fine
>>6314881It's nice to see you try it out, then!If I may, what makes them difficult for you in their current form?>>6314881Could you specify how much money from the bank? No precise amount, just a ballpark of what you have in mind to be able to buy, or just what you want it for!>>6314941Welcome back! It's been a complicated few weeks for my writing recently for reason I've already gone into, but I'm hopeful things will be a little steadier from here on out!Thank you for sticking around!>but anyway i would add hunting but honestly with the sickness going on a hunt might be a bad idea so this is fineAh, yes. That. Looking back, despite noting down the new disease level, and remmebering it had gotten worse, it somehow did not occur to me that you could be barred from outings this week.I'll let the choices slide but may stack some debuffs, though the options so far would be fine!I will let the american peak hours pass tonight, and get the rolls out tomorrow, a few hours before now.
>>6314991>Could you specify how much money from the bank? No precise amount, just a ballpark of what you have in mind to be able to buy, or just what you want it for!Enough for the dinner, plus some spare cash (say, the setting-appropriate equivalent to a few hundred, maybe a thou?) for a bug-out bag.>If I may, what makes them difficult for you in their current form?I'm often posting on mobile which makes it a little annoying to copy and paste stuff in segments (and also explains my typos). The bigger factor is probably just that my mind blanks in what to add to our usual routine at this stage, as our work out/meditate/nap/socialize plan seems to be a generally good day-to-day, week-to-week routine except when there's a major shake-up.
>>6314992Ah, so you were thinking more a restaurant over a meal at their home, then?And enough spare cash to not be completely screwd if you have to bug out/emergency bribe money, got it!As for the chedule, yeah, that is a worry of mine. I had been toying with the idea of doing multiple weeks at once, but there is often at least one big thing going that I feel would be hurt by over automating, not to mention needing to juggle player agency!That reminds me, with Auto-Trigger done, you are free to research something else! As you saw, it was pretty chonky, so fair warning that improving a known ability like scan will be worse. You can try and push through, or circle back when you have more bonuses and time.James can do research, albeit separately. He'll have a system like yours, though one I may largely abstract, you have enough rolling to do as is and this is primarily Underwood Senior's tale. For now at least, who knows what the future holds!
I will leave this overnight again, partly because I'm hoping for a tiebreak on the stone distribution and partly because I ran out of time myself.I will try to post the rolls tomorrow as early as I can, apologies for the delay.>>6314941 if it pings another user it becomes a problem pretty sure?As far as you know the basic form of Scan you and your son have work like a sonar, meaning the recieving party will feel the pulse. Passive bearers may feel somehing off if hthey are perceptive, but active bearers will know they have been scanned.On the other hand, every stone in Scan is five meters to passive range, fifteen when active. If they counter-Scan, depending on how far into your range they are if they have less stones, they might not see you. Assuming their have no alternative methods, but so far Scan seems pretty universal. On a sample size of two people, from the same family. And the other two character options, but shhh! So votes are still open if anyone wants, I can redo the roll section if it comes down to it, and questions are always welcome!
>>6315389okay then I will switch to full scan. to break the tie ((but suggest maybe going for defensive body options later for him.)
>>6315393>>6314881We now have our majority vote! Shame we didn't gt anyone else back, but it has been over a month, so I can't expect too much, at least for now. Locking in, here are the rolls. Ii'm still a little rusty, so don't hesitate if something looks or feels off!>Roll 1d100-20 for physical rehabilitation, DC 50You aren't feeling well, and the therapist doesn’t want to push you much, so you likely won't be making much progress.>Roll 1d100+1 for meditation, higher is betterNo new project has been selected, so one will be picked at random!>Roll 2d100 to socialize with the new arrival, DC10 not to put him on guard, higher rolls means more numerous and useful details>Roll 1d100+5 to research the new trip+15 from nurses bonus, -10 from (Tired)Your outings won’t require rolls this week, but I will take a 1d4 for running into bearers downtown, and also ask for let’s say 30d100 for the restaurant patrons. Just in case you get lucky. Or unlucky! Please try to roll these 5 by 5, at least at first, so others can join in if they happen to glance this way!>Roll 1d100 for sleep, DC 50, 80
Rolled 51 - 20 (1d100 - 20)>>6315558Physical rehabNo worries qm. Its fine. Won't quit as long as ya don't. So atleast you know you have one player (who's stuck around since the beginning. )And maybe people just didnt wanna participate in the schedules. That was a frequent issue before
Rolled 2 + 1 (1d100 + 1)>>6315558meditation
Rolled 47, 5 = 52 (2d100)>>6315558Socialize with the new arrival
Rolled 4 + 5 (1d100 + 5)>>6315558Researching the trip...oof, these rolls
>>6315558First 5d100 for resteraunt patrons
Rolled 47, 26, 13, 15, 14 = 115 (5d100)>>6315648Oops
>>6315645honestly us being sick with terrible rolls makes sense. sidenote speaking of which . QM do you want us to do sick rolls too? it wasn't listed .
>>6315655also just for tracking purposes cause i know people sometimes miss rolls in these threads missing rolls areOne 1d4 *downtown bloodstones checkFive 5d100s *resteraunt bloodstone check an 1d100 *sleep
Rolled 40, 8, 23, 93, 33 = 197 (5d100)>>6315558another 5 for restaurant
Rolled 3 (1d4)>>6315558Downtown bloodstones check
Rolled 42, 39, 12, 3, 85 = 181 (5d100)>>6315558alright since people are rolling again. I am gonna toss in my own restaurant roll
>>6315655I knew there was no way I hadn't forgotten something important!Yes please.>Roll 1d100+30 for sickness progression, DC 60 every increment of 10 over or under is minus or plus one severity level, currently four.The staff have taken notice, so your immunocompromised self is getting some tailored prescriptions (+15), though even they can’t overcome everything (-20 from disrupted immune system, applied properly this time). You’re still automatically using the stone dedicated to your immune system, but now that the illness has spread, it has now become relevant to use your other Refinement stones, namely your Bone Marrow and Spleen. Both produce white cells, and the Spleen’s other functions like blood filtration will also help, granting full bonuses for both. You have two stones for each. Usually this would be a vote, but given your immune system issues and the comparatively high level, all will be used this time, granting you +6*5=+35. Unfortunately, this makes five stones total, so one stone will not be refilled at the start of next week.(You can find you current regen rate and the calculations for it in the Google doc, at the bottom of the character sheet section)Pick any one stone to be given lower priority.>Immune System>Bone Marrow>SpleenThis won’t have too much consequence unless you roll really badly on the illness, but it’s a good point to introduce this mechanic. All those long term issues mean that you are going to be strapped for now when it comes to natural regeneration. Keep it in mind going forward, or be caught out empty!>>6315589Thanks anon, glad to know you've been following and want to keep doing so! I hope this quest and I can live up to that dedication. And good to know I haven't lost all of the people from the early days!As a side note, it's nice to see new IDs rolling, even if these may just be other anons on their phones!>>6315690That makes 3, so let's call it a one in four chance of them being new. Please roll 3d4, fours mean new bearers, so 1d100 for them for Bloodstones! And of course 4d100 for intel value. If they aren't new, I'll reuse the setup from when we lost the bigshot last thread and see who gets the intel roll.If it helps, the google doc has the full explanation in Technical Things, then Detecting Bloodstones. If not I can answer questions and rewrite that section to be clearer hopefully.
Rolled 53, 68, 33, 95, 41 = 290 (5d100)>>6315712>>Spleenalso rolling another set of resteraunt rolls while casting my vote. since theres still a lot of rolls to go. (will do so every 2 hours now that some time has passed like i did in the prior thread to give others time but not slow things down)
Rolled 40 (1d100)>>6315558sleep
Rolled 82 + 30 (1d100 + 30)>>6315712Sickness progression>Spleen
Rolled 54, 1, 19, 91, 99 = 264 (5d100)>>63155582nd to last resteraunt roll
Rolled 59, 69, 69, 62, 81 = 340 (5d100)>>6315558restaurant roll
>>6315747>1Off to a great start aren't we
>>6315712for chance of downtown bloodstones being new>>6315761also good news . im pretty sure that ones don't matter on this particular check. (we were only searching to get a 100 to confirm someone in the resteraunt had one) i might be wrong here though.
Rolled 2, 3, 1 = 6 (3d4)>>6315762messed up my roll sorry
Rolled 10, 83, 68, 68 = 229 (4d100)>>6315764gonna just toss up the intel checks for these since no new bloodstones
>>6315765that should be every roll done. pretty sure unless something was missed
>>6315762Yup, these are only about hitting that high chance the active bearer roll only happens when rolling Bloodstones.So yes, overall, things go badly due to the sickness (despite me largely forgetting to make the rolls worse), but you do shrug it off entirely!I of course also forgot to account for the Suggestion stone for the socializing >>6315643 it won't alter much since it's not a clean DC, but I will facotr in the +2 passive for 49 total. The last few times I auto-popped the stone, but we've already had a vote about which stone doesn't regenerate this week, so I don't want to redo all that for such a small impact.But that does show your stone use can far outstrip your regen even on the weeks where you aren't murdering someone! Speaking off I should think of introducing the blood harvesting/external regen mechanics next time!
>>6316051Also, writing, hoping to have the next update out a little earlier than this tomorrow, but between work and a budding cold headache, I make no guarantees.
>>6316052Looking forward to it. Feel better soon, QM!
Rolled 7, 1, 5 = 13 (3d9)>>6315765Update is still on track for tonight, and mostly written out, just have to roll 3d9 for these to see who gets which roll. One roll per so it isn't wasted, and it wouldn't make much sense to see most of these twice on the same outing. If I do roll the same, second roll gets +1 until it lands on a free space.>>1 is Office Lady>>2 Is Busker>>3 is Uknown Man>>4 is Unknown Woman>>5 is Tim>>6 is the Clerk>>7 is the Shopper>>8 is the Contruction Worker>>9 is Tatoo GuyI will sadly be ignoring that second 68, as it wasn't needed.
>>6316324for the r ecord i was confused about the roll count but did the 4d100 because you called for i t in the post. (but fair if it was just an error
>>6316326Yep, sorry, mistake on my part, intel rolls are for all spotted bearers, not the maximum, but it's fine, I just drop the rightmost rolls until it fits!
>>6315558You have to admit that this week has been, to pick up a modern expression, rather shitty. The illness ended up being the best, and worst of it. Best, because your body did an admirable job fighting it off, the rejuvenation no doubt helping, while the antibiotics held the infection steady. There was something very satisfying in using so many stones at once, even though you spaced them out. A deeper variation of what you felt in those rare times your nose unclogged, but also warmer, letting you breathe in a little deeper.By the time the weekend rolled around you had the bugger on the ropes, and on the wrong side of them at that! Sadly, it already had time to do some damage.It was the worst part of your week because it stunted damn near everything else, that’s why!The physical therapist all but babied you and your clogged sinuses, and even if you got better and moved back to almost normal rhythm near the end of the week, it doesn't feel like you've done much but keep yourself steady. Which, yes, as the doc says is excellent for your age, but that is no longer going to be enough for you. Never.Your meditations are similarly affected. It is a lot harder to put the outside world and errant thoughts in the backseat when you can't breathe properly. By the time your cold gets better you decide to give it a rest for a few days. It just didn't…feel right. You aren't sure how to put it in any other way for now, you just hope it'll go away by next week.> Gained ???: Crit threshold for meditation increased from 1 to 5 for next week.You finally decide to follow up on that new trip you'd heard about. It doesn't go very well. Between you missing the last one due to your health, even if you have made progress since in both sleep quality and physical fitness (more than the staff suspects in the latter), and you currently being sick, you are essentially gently shooed away when you ask. You do glean it’s supposed to be a small thing compared to the last one, visiting some monuments in a larger town for a few days, but you have made no progress in getting a spot. It's already getting close, though, with it being a smaller affair, you may yet have a chance next week. But after that you can tell it would be too short notice, unless you got rather lucky…or made an accident happen, but really the whole aim of these is to do your harvesting someplace that won’t be traced back to you, so it would be self-defeating. Besides, it's getting to the latter end of summer soon, prime retiree holiday season. You hope there might be something bigger planned then, but have no actual clue yet.At least you don't mess up talking with your newest target. Well, you almost do, as you very nearly sneeze on him when you first “accidentally” run into him in the break room. Fortunately your body isn't as decrepit as it once was, and your well-honed charisma helps smooth over this rather disastrous first impression.
>>6316360He's called Franz, and he moved in here after a bad year, losing his wife and making a bad fall down the stairs. He and his children decided to sell the house, despite him wanting them to inherit, what with the state of real estate prices today, but staying there wasn't feasible, and they needed the money to afford him good care here.You're sympathetic, even while you idly wonder how this rather plain older man came to kill at least thrice in his life, while noting he never spoke of his job.While a fascinating account of the rising challenges of an aging society dealing with rising costs of living, it sadly doesn't tell you much about how you're going to murder this man. Quite unfortunate. But at least you built rapport, so further approach should be mildly easier, especially now that you know he stay in the east wing, which makes sense given it is home to the younger retirees. It does mean you have to be a little careful about striking up a friendship with the man, only for him to die mysteriously soon after. You have to say you haven’t been the most social these past few years. Still, there are enough common areas you could run into him, though you believe you might get the best results in the morning.>Socializing with Franz gains +10 if done in the morning This being a roll to socialize with him did let you use Bo2, but the type of information isn't the same compared to wandering halls looking for Phillips. Once you start feeling better, it's easy enough to organize both a small trip to the bank with Julia, and a restaurant lunch on Saturday.By going to the bank, you hope to bolster your little stash with enough liquidity to not be completely out on your ass should you need to disappear. You don’t think Menendez, the rather ticked off gangster currently taking over the capital's underworld after failing to die in a hit you had ordered, is onto you just yet, but you would rather be able to run off if you catch a whiff of his ilk. In part because, if he finds you, he would quickly find your family, and you are keenly aware of what he would do to them. Each of them. A lengthy list for each. You recall most of the entries from when his whole family was in the business.Part of why not many were sad to see those fuckers go. You still aren't sure how no one finished the job for you yet, but you'll have to see to that later.Getting a few hundreds prepared and laid out for you is easily done by calling ahead. It's a little early for end of year presents, but a global excuse of wanting to treat your family more and buy the kids some things for both summer break and the beginning of the school year that follows ensures no eyebrows are raised at the bank or with Julia.
>>6316362You debate giving the whole thing to James during your scheduled lunch, but reason this is your safety net for getting away. He already has the purchases you made in the black market, the knife, submachinegun and ammo, to take care of himself and his own, or to bring over if needed. You can now find a list of your assets at the bottom of your character sheet! On the way, you did luck into a few familiar faces. You get a glance at a familiar man shopping around downtown. From the hours you've seen him you wonder if he might not be a retiree, though he looks young for it.Much more interesting, you spot a certain office lady coming out of Financial Assurances’ offices downtown. Interesting that someone working at such a high-end place still takes public transportation. Still, this will be great for further observation.You manage to persuade Julia to extend the walk a little “to get some midly fresh air in your lungs”, and walk by Tim's usual work place. The young man is a target you've had in sight for a while, but your observations had borne little fruit. Today you notice him a short distance away from the café, tinkering on a small blue motorcycle, more of a moped really. Interesting. Sabotage could cause an accident, or leave him outside later than usual. You could maybe take advantage of that.Finally, Sunday morning rolls around. You picked a nice place you had spotted downtown with all your looking around there. With four kids and two adults, your son's family's car is closer to a minivan, but they do have a much smaller second car for inner city travel, and the flexibility of it. James takes the latter to drive you from the retirement home to the restaurant, while Abigail drove the kids in. Apparently everyone is coming today. You wonder if Abigail said it out loud that this might be their last opportunity to spend time with you, especially since she may have heard from James you'd fallen sick. Maybe not, especially to Hamish and Mary.You want to say you have a good relationship with your grandkids, but you are well aware they spend more time with their maternal grandparents, who are a little younger. And both still there. None of your grandkids got to meet her.No matter what she did or did not say, Abigail has it seems managed to convince everyone to dress up a little. It's plenty obvious Thomas and Stephen are emulating their father’s wardrobe, though you suspect they're trying to shape their own style on their own. Hamish has the same jacket from when he came to visit you. They grow up so fast, and both James and Abigail come from the sort of background where having extensive wardrobes is seen as rather wasteful, especially on growing children. That hasn't changed with their income level. Mary makes you smile when she does a slightly clumsy curtsy. Someone is having a princess phase.
>>6316363 Abigail isn't too amused from the stern look she's giving her, but you catch her eyes and shake your head, smiling.Still, as you exchange handshakes with your son, daughter in law and older grandchildren, followed hugs and headpats with the younger, you wonder if they are not, to some degree, scared of you. If, somewhere between James’ stories, their history lessons and their memories of when you were slightly younger, they haven't set in stone this idea of the inflexible family patriarch under whom all must watch themselves.Maybe you're being paranoid. Maybe you had been going downhill so badly that you did not notice these past few years.Still, you do your best to ensure the meal goes well. You already have experience using the Suggestion stone to get people to trust you, but here you try and curtail it to just helping them relax. At least that's the hope.An enjoyable meal is had by all, you dare say, though not an overly long one. You could grumble about kids these days being scattered and not being able to sit in place, while back in your day every family meal would be a four hour lunch and a small break before an even longer dinner. But the truth is, you never liked those. Or had been to that many for that matter.The children are eventually allowed to leave and go back to the car, as a group obviously, and you get to catch up with Abigail on how things are going, which is well. Thomas is got accepted in med school and will be starting shortly, Stephen is on his last year of highschool. Hamish and Mary are doing well, she'll be joining him in secondary school next year. No house or loan problems, no car problems, at least none that Abigail couldn't fix herself. She was a bit of a tomboy when she was younger, and picked up mechanics. It still comes in handy today.She excuses herself to go to the ladies’ room, partly as an excuse because she can feel you two want to talk. James is settling okay with the stones, and hasn't noticed anyone. You reassure him that if anyone had spotted him, he would have felt it. Well, actively at least. You think. His passive range is now bigger than yours, fifteen meters to your ten, as he followed your advice that giving himself and his family that safety net of distance was preferable for now. The black market purchases are still safe and home, and neither Abigail nor the kids have noticed anything. Though he blushingly admits that Abigail said he looked handsome the next morning, but she does that often. Half a year isn't that visible an effect, but the Heal that came with it probably helped nudge a few things the right way internally, though you do not know how much.
>>6316366Abigail comes back, you foot the bill, and walk with them to the parking lot to see off the children. Your new hearing aid catches Hamish leaning in and whispering to Mary that you look and walk better than last time, and she nods happily. She smiles at you as you get closer, a wide thing that shows a missing milk tooth premolar. She's a good kid.She’s whistling through the gap, you think. It's pretty audible, even from far away. It's getting louder in fa-“BRAAOOOMMM”The whistling turns into a scream as the world erupts, blowing you back as you get a faceful of dirt. You scramble upright, a droning thudding noise in your ears, trying to stay low and advance. You see Thomas, half his face gone. Stephen, pinned down by a uniformed man stabbing him over and over with a barber’s razor. Abigail is walking towards you, her body and hair on fire, cradling an infant in a bundle as if she could stop it burning. Mary is missing several teeth as she looks hungrily at a bar of chocolate, following two soldiers between an alleyway between the rows of cars. You turn back and you see a squadmate crawling forward, away from his own legs, with the face of your son. The machineguns scream in your ears and they just won't stop screaming theywon'tstopSCREAMINGMAKEITSTOP-“-AAAHHHHHHH!”You lunge forward, tangled in sweat-drenched bedsheets which you fight off in your darkened room, before you finally settle down, throat raw.You try and take deep breaths. Just a dream. Just a dream. You got back in the car with James, got driven back to the retirement home. This is your room. They're safe. Nothing happened. They're safe.You sip some water and lay back down. You don't go back to sleep for another hour and a half. Because you know they’ll be back there again. Staring. Screaming.Set your schedule for week 18>Morning action: >Afternoon action 1 (Slow): >Afternoon action 2 :>Afternoon action 3 (Tired): >Nurse outing: >Family outing:
>>6316367>>Morning action: Physical rehabilitation >>Afternoon action 1 (Slow): continued finding more info about franz>>Afternoon action 2 : >Meditate in your room>>Afternoon action 3 (Tired): chat with nurses (Information)>>Nurse outing: A stroll through Oldtown>>Family outing: Hunting I think now that we got a decent amount on tim. maybe go after him. sabotage of the motercycle might be nice. (if anyone else wants to plan a bit more on t his one go ahead
>>6316371I'll + this, but I also have an idea...Could we gather intel on Franz and use that to make him want to kill himself out of guilt or shame with some Suggestion, maybe? Would that count?
>>6316439see what qm says but if it is valid id be okay! with it. but like using suggestion is a great idea
>>6316371>>6316439I'm going to have to veto both hunting Tim and pushing Franz to suicide.For Tim, you don't actually have a plan, just inklings. You don't know where he lives, where he might go with the moped, or once he's without. That kind of vehicle means he lives somewhere in town, and it's all urban sprawl up to the projects. And the guy isn't going to waltz in a deserted park or anything.Also, only way to stay out this late is with your son covering for you. Are you willing to risk him getting second thoughts by getting him to help you murder some college kid as his second target? The drug peddler and part time gang member was one thing, but not everyone is a desensitized/unburdened as Underwood.Lastly, you have precious little technical know-how on what kind of moped he has and how to best mess with it in a subtle way. That would take some dedicated research first and foremostFor Franz, there is a reticence in Underwood to pushing someone to suicide, for reasons I'll get into probably next update as I'll still acknowledge this idea.For now, I'll just say he's a former soldier. Also, your Suggestion and natural charisma are good, but not that good. And there's the question of how to make sure you get the stones out of him, too.I'll let other votes come in for a bit. Also, you might want to specify whether the info gathering one Franz is closer to wandering the halls (1d100, technical details on schedule and locations, how to make an accident happen) or chatting him up like this week (2d100, personal info, leverage and clues on how to manipulate him).I don't like shooting down creative write-ins, as they're always lovely to see, but I do have to keep things somewhat balanced. If that woman from last thread had gotten the perfect target, with no defense against her abilities, allowing her to exert all her buffs in a combo, she'd have still needed a really high roll to even have a shot at getting the target to kill themselves willingly. That's how difficult it is. The human brain can be annoyingly good at self-preservation. Now, getting the man to book a sordid hotel room with you and the disposing of him, or dragging him in an alleyway for fun to do it, wayyy easier.
>>6316729alright if that's the case I would just spend the time continuing to do research on targets instead. keeping everything else the same on my schedule though(honestly then best thing to do is keep doing research untill we can have more freedom)
Rolled 3 (1d3)>>6316735I'll interpret the research bit as the moped thing for Tim.For Franz's action, since no one specified, we'll switch to the hall wandering variant.So, rolls!>Roll 1d100 to figure out more of Franz's whereabout, as well as more things about him, higher is better.+6 from auto-used Suggestion to help steer the conversation in the right way, +10 from nurses bonus, reduced from 15 since it's mostly about not arousing suspicion when asking or looking around, +5 from okay first roll. It's not a fully physical activity, so I'll spare you guys the debuff.>Roll 1d100+1 to meditate in your room.May be a +5 if it turns out to be a Mind project>Roll 2d100+5 for getting useful information out of the nurses>Roll 1d10 for finding bearers in Oldtown, with a pity +2 since it's your first time thereYou know the drill for those. Could be a small chance of a repeat bearer from another zone, but I won't bog us down with that for now.>Roll 1d100 for researching mopeds. What goes where, how to destroy the brakes, where to poke out the fuel tank, anything useful, though not really the kind of know-how that could help repair one, unless you get lucky and motivated here.>Also roll 1d3 for Bloodstones downtown.Same as last turn, intel d100 for all, and xd4 where x is the result of the d3, new bearer on 4.>Roll 1d100 for sleep, DC 50, 80.No sickness roll since you are officially sickness free! In fact, you rolled so well you barely have any after effects.Also, rolling 1d3 for new research project. 1 is Body, 2 is Mind, 3 is Spirit.Should be all for now, good rolling, and thanks for playing!
>>6317298to figure out franz's whereabouts
Rolled 23 + 21 (1d100 + 21)>>6317334oops
Rolled 5 + 1 (1d100 + 1)>>6317298>Roll 1d100+1 to meditate in your room.
>>6317335>>6317341
Rolled 68 (1d100)>>6317298Sleep
Rolled 43 + 5 (1d100 + 5)>>6317298getting info
Rolled 88 (1d100)>>6317298other info roll
>>6317407forgot to +5 do I need to reroll?
Rolled 8 + 2 (1d10 + 2)>>6317298Finding bearers in Oldtown.
>>6317407uh nah your good pretty sure also thanks for catching that for me I forgot to do the 2d100
Rolled 33, 32, 64, 31, 45, 12, 77, 44, 28, 29 = 395 (10d100)>>6317411anyway to make up for that blunder *bloodstone counts go*(this is probbably my last for the night ill check in again in the morning to see if anything else needs to be done. note these will need 10d100 intel rolls)
>>6317428wow only 2 of them. managed to be more than 1 bloodstone. sad whelp hopefully the intel rolls go better
Rolled 2 (1d3)>>6317298Bloodstones downtown.
Rolled 4, 2 = 6 (2d4)>>6317470New bearer.
Rolled 65 (1d100)>>6317298Researching moped
Rolled 76 (1d100)>>6317506rolling count for the new bearer
Rolled 52, 95 = 147 (2d100)>>6317506rolling intel
Checking in late, sorry. Another pretty crappy weekend sadly.>>6317409Yep, I'll take the 88 and add the modifier, it counts, no worries!>>6317428That is a lot.Congrats on that, and yep, the 10d100 should be all that's left. I will try and have all of this done for tomorrow, but given how the last two days have gone that's sadly not set in stone.Thanks for rolling, everyone!
Rolled 77, 38, 10, 96, 79, 16, 35, 99, 27, 39 = 516 (10d100)>>6317428Intel
Rolled 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1 = 14 (11d2)Small update, not dead, just dealing with some crap. Rolling 11d2 because I can, just to randomize the new NPCs before I start fillling them in at least a little. 1s are men and 2s are women.I am hoping for tomorrow by this hour, barring further misadventures.Thanks for holding in here everyone.
>>6317298You elect to forego your morning therapy for the week. Your early recovery from that worsening cold surprised the staff, and a small break would make more sense to them than getting right back to it. You roll it right over into pretending to be bored and chatting with Franz and the nurses. Franz doesn’t have a schedule like yours, or the one Phillips had, but he tends to spend time in his room in the east wing, the east wing common room, and sometimes the gardens. He also eats breakfast and lunches with others in his wing. You aren’t any closer to figuring out how this melancholic young retiree stacked three corpses in his wake either. He should have missed the war by a wide enough margin he couldn’t have realistically started before the ending years of the Reconstruction. You aren’t sure you care. Was it murder, self defense? Would knowing change anything? You are fairly certain in your assertion that violent murders are what generate stones, but is it the only way?It likely says something of you that your thoughts on the matter are less about ethics, and more about potentially farming the bloody rocks.Your ideas about farming Bloodstones and by extension people, may be in part due to how hard it has been to meditate recently. You can't seem to figure out why, but reaching that mental state has been all but impossible this week. At least you have been sleeping a little better. Less nightmares, not as bad either, at least on your personal scale for them, which is you suppose different from most people’s.You do make an effort to keep an ear on the nurse gossip train, and are successful. The Mendig Mangler made another splash, or maybe a copycat. From Oldtown to the northern projects. If this is the real deal, and not a cheap copy, it becomes more and more certain to you that they are like you, possibly have been for a while, and are back on the prowl for some reason. None of which is good. A regular serial killer wad almost beyond you. A superpowered one…it would come down to powers, and you are all but certain that he would have more than you, and be much more experienced with them…This does not change your outing plans, as you ask Julia to take you on a little tour Oldtown, just sightseeing. And the results are excellent. Ten meters of passive sight is a lot, and you identify no less than ten new bearers during your afternoon.
>>6320579You spot three men and a woman in two different construction sites as old buildings are given some care in the summer months, one stone per for all but one burly fellow, who has three. You are rather willing to believe this one has killed, he certainly has the posture for it. You learn how to tell.Sadly one never knows how long those public works can run over time for, or if they'll be present on any given day. Two different shops each have a male attendant with a single stone, one a place for mobile phones and the other a jewelry store. You spot another two people out shopping, a man with one and a woman with two. Regular people, out and about. You have to wonder if there are truly that many killers out there, or how far the stones can reach to you suppose will themselves into existence.But then, along comes opportunity’s sweet siren call, as you and Julia visit an old church and its linked monastery. You had been left to your own devices, and found yourself alone in a darkened, all but deserted corridor. Almost empty, but not quite, for what do you spot but two stones moving about further ahead. Two women seem to be occupied taking pictures in an otherwise peaceful garden. As you approach, they glance at you, only to make sure you don't cross into the shot. Holiday souvenirs, perhaps? Though given the outfits they wear, you're half convinced these photographs will be copied and sold to lonely young men. It is something that is done these days, you had heard. You look beyond into the garden, and see tombs, right as the woman currently having her picture taken sits coyly on one, legs crossed, dress hiking up…you could work with this, and there is a part of you who wants to. You don't necessarily care for respecting the dead, but this place had this old air of peace about it.Of course, you would hardly make it more peaceful with a double homicide right next to it, and you doubt the monks would approve. But it is a good opportunity indeed! You already see a plan taking form. You can take off your jacket and use it not to leave fingerprints. You spot a few flowerpots nearby. You have your Erasure stone. You're out of the field of vision of both women. Double back around, Erase yourself from the woman being photographed, grab two pots, smash one against the back of the photograph's head, wait for the model to rush in, take advantage of her being unable to see you and her focusing on her friend to pick up the other pot and smash it in her face. Pick up a ceramic shard and get to stabbing.You didn't see or hear anyone through the walls. There are enough corners in that corridor that you could drag the bodies, and use the dirt to cover the worst of the blood. There are dozens of visitors to this place every hour. Suspicion on an old lan could be rather slim.>Interruption>As a result of excellent intel rolls, you have the opportunity to forgo a plan and attempt to kill two bearers.>Do you make the attempt?
>>6320581The next day, you have James take you to the library. You are honest in that you have a new target in mind, but don’t say who. You aren’t sure how James would react to killing a random young man who's probably working at the café to pay his way through university. There's no way to know how he got that stone besides assumptions, and you can hardly get answers out of him and let him go. Kidnapping would be more difficult than it is worth. And frankly, you find you again don't much care about Tim dying to power you, only what James might think of it.You do get some good results reading up on moped maintenance, though you can't narrow down the exact model. You think you know enough to have options when it comes to sabotage, discrete or not. But all models are not the same, so if you have to work in a hurry it's not a guarantee you’ll reach your goal perfectly.On your way out, you spot a familiar face, and a strange situation, to your eyes at least. A woman with a single stone that you had spotted downtown a few weeks ago is nearby, flagging down a taxi in a hurry. As you pass by, you overhear her all but yelling her home address at the cabby. You know that street, it's basically the next neighborhood over from where James and Abigail leave.But the real strangeness of the encounter is the taxi driver himself. There’s something about him you can't place. Though that is perhaps due to the three stones in his chest. In the brief glances you can steal at the taxi as you pass by, you can't help but be reminded of the barber. Could be paranoia on your end, but perhaps you have a clue how this man got his stones, you think as James brings you back to the retirement home.That evening, you sit on your bed, brow furrowed.“Bah, it’s no use. One last try, and I'll call it quits” you mutter.One last time, you attempt to push past whatever malaise lingered from last week. You push, and push…and something tears. Not in a good way.
>>6320582WARNINGWARNINGCRITICAL ANOMALY DETECTEDWARNINGSTABILITY COMPROMISED“ARRGH!”You topple over onto your bed, clutching your midsection as you feel like someone drove a scythe into your gut and all the way to your sternum. A great tearing pain spreads as you frantically empty a Heal stone. The pain fails to subside. You lay there for a few moments that stretch on for minutes it feels, before you lift yourself back up, a hand running down your face as you get a handle on a whole new form of pain. You hadn't had to do that in a while, barring the barber’s greeting.You feel wetness, and your hand comes away bloody. You grab tissues and inch towards the bed until you face the room's tiny bathroom, not trusting yourself to walk without bracing yourself with your arms, especially now.The bleeding has mostly stopped by the time you make it to the bathroom's mirror. You seem to have bled out of about every orifice in your face. Nose, ears, mouth, both your gums and from somewhere deeper inside your body, and your eyes are bloodshot. What…what was THAT?!You all but heard the stones screaming at you. In an ironic twist, it's the closest you've felt to understanding them in weeks. But the message they had was somewhere between panicked screaming and portents of doom. Something must have gone very wrong with them and not with your body, but with the effects they've had, it makes sense the two are linked closer than you-“Ghh-uhrglk!”You cough, and cough and half-spit half-sneeze out a spray of blood on the mirror, and what looks like a mass of congealed blood, still hot to the touch. You use your second Heal, between reluctance and rising panic. It helps a little more, but you are left with a feeling of wrongness.What. Did. You. Do.>CAUTION>Due to a critical failure while under the effects of [???], you now suffer from [???]!While suffering from this condition, you cannot receive Insight progress from meditation, very good sleep, and most other ways.Attempting to use a Bloodstone will incur a 10% chance of backlash. As the Insight project was under the Spirit category, backlash chance for Spirit stones is double the base chance, at 20%.>Solving this condition can be achieved by meditating, acquiring more Bloodstones, and [???]>You lack sufficient information and experience to figure out other solutions. Meditating may help.You clean up as best you can, thankful no one heard or saw this. Becoming a medical curio is the last thing you need, not to mention you could forget getting outside until doctors can figure out what’s wrong with you, which you presume would be never. What are you going to do about all this…
>>6320583Set your schedule for week 19>Morning action: >Afternoon action 1 (Slow): >Afternoon action 2 :>Afternoon action 3 (Tired): >Nurse outing: >Family outing:Gentlemen, we're back!Two unplanned extra scenes later as I reviewed the rolls, eleven new bearers, and a fair bit of crap waded through on my end, and I've finally gotten the better of this update. And it’s still not the longest one I’ve made I think. As a warning, do expect me to be a bit less generous with new bearers going forward, coming up even with these vague descriptions stumped me for a bit until I gave up and mostly lumped them together.I've put in the schedule vote by habit, but if anons vote to try the interruption action we'll put it on hold.Looking back, I probably should have been a little more insistent about the meditation crit rate increase, sorry about that. I do recommend fixing this quickly though, I really do. And not just because it’s Spirit and as such even Scans are risky now, forgot I’d rolled the dice for it already.Thank you all so very much for bearing with me this week, and here's hoping my job and irl life do not conspire again to take a flowerpot to my muse's cranium this next one!Speaking of, don't forget to vote on that part as well!Also, please don’t hesitate to speak up if you think I forgot or bungled something, as the writing process for this one was very drawn out!
>>6320581>Do you make the attempt?Yes. Normally, I'd say no. Ye olde influences aren't necessarily awful enough to deserve death, and we don't know if their killings were justifiable. We need power, though, to protect our family. There are already superpowered serial killers roaming around and a gangster who wants us dead.>>6320583Especially with this. We can't dither or delay.>>6320586>Morning action: Light exercise.>Afternoon action 1 (Slow): Meditate.>Afternoon action 2 : Start socializing with new arrivals, try to insinuate into Franz's orbit>Afternoon action 3 (Tired): Nap>Nurse outing: The woods, to get our head straight and help meditation>Family outing: We're going to be sabotaging a certain someone's moped, maybe; let's go shopping for gifts for the grandkids near there, have James cover for us while we go do the deed to him or some other stone-holder
I will allow myself a bump just to try and get a few anons back, less for the schedule vote and moreso to confirm attempting the church action.By virtue of the high intel rolls, this is not designed to e a difficult action. As I made sure to separate the critfail from the actual meditation roll, you will not be under the backlash rule during this action, just in case I wasn't clear with that!I will keep votes open for the better part of tomorrow, hopefully release the extra scene tomorrow or the day after, and get working on the next update then.
>>6320968I'd consider dropping an update in the QTG, if you haven't yet.
>>6320994That's fair, I'll try doing that. Should have done it yesterday, just don't like spamming over there.For now your plan looks good, though if you're going for Tim in the afternoon, I'm guessing the plan is to cause an accident and hope you get the stone rather than trying to leave him stranded somewhere inconvenient?As a side note, the other high roll from the Unknown woman means you could ask James to just drop you off near her home so you can poke with Scan and see if there's an opportunity.Will put it in the options for next time if anons don't pick it this week!
>>6320659>>6320586+1 support I trust this anon. Keep at it RiflesQM!
Rolled 36, 91 = 127 (2d100)>>6321598Heh, thanks anon.Alright, time got away from me again, but we can hopefully get the rolls done and leave you some time to decide on what to do with your new stones if you do get them.So, rolling, simplified because it's a relatively easy job with your new abilities.Rolling 2d100, first is the murdering, DC 20, 80 for looting something nice. Second is suspicion, DCs 5, 30, 85.
>>6321860Oh my, that will be fun.Also, you are now the proud owner of two whole new Bloodstones!>Very good QM, but what do I do with them?Well I'm glad you asked! You can go check the infodump linked at the start of the thread, in the character sheet section. Bloodstone abilities will remind you of what you have and what everything does, while Known abilities lists things you have researched, but have yet to invest Bloodstones into! For now it's just poor old Dowsing, first research project that never really found its niche. Not too useful with the rolling revamp for dense urban environmnents. But nice to have for the future. Also:>Given current circumstances, you may elect to use on or both Bloodstones to help solve your current issue. This will DESTROY the Bloodstones, or at least reduce them into an unusable form, but should either alleviate the symptoms, or help solve the deeper issue. This is not required, you can still slot them normally right now. Well, mostly normally, but we'll get into that once I've written things out and solidified that part a little more.For now, thank you all for checking in, and I'm off for the day!
>>6321863Use both stones to resolve the issue
>>6321863>>6322577 +1, got ro solve our mystery ailment.
>>6320659>Roll 1d100 for light exercise, DC 10 for keeping your progress intact, and 80 for progressing as if you'd succeeded at a normal physical therapy action>Roll 1d100+1 to meditate>Roll 2d100+10 to socialize with Franks and the new arrivals+5 from Charismatic, +5 since the new arrivals naturally gravitated towards each other some, and Franz can introduce you to the group.No Suggestion stone used. Until this problem is solve, I will not be using Bloodstones unless absolutely necessary or if a majority of anons specify it in their plans, since I don't want to screw you over by accident.>Roll 1d100+10 to nap, DCs 30 and 60, both adding +5 to the week's sleep roll. 60 will also give you a small bonus to any events that might happen during the week or its outings.>Roll 1d100 to try and meditate in the woodsYou tried this once before and didn't feel a particular pull like you do in the retirement home's garden, but who knows, with the stones so off-kilter it could be worth trying again.>Roll 1d100 for moped sabotage, (and gift finding!). DC 5 for not getting spotted in the act, DC 20 for not being seen nearby at all, DC 40 for a small sabotage, 60 for a good one, 80 for a great one.If you get at least 40 it will trigger another roll on my end, with increasing chances of Tim suffering...unfortunate events.>Roll 1d100-5 for sleepThis stones trouble has your sleep out of whack. You can ignore it wel enough most of the time, but when lying alone in bed it creeps up on you, like a sputtering engine, the cracking and shifting of an iceberg about to collapse, this odd feeling that your spine, your nails, your teeth, your very self, are never quite fitting how they should. Some kind of dread, the kind you hadn't felt since you'd accepted your own mortality and coming sunset.Sorry about that, if I had known I would just have gotten this out yesterday, but I could not put a single word to the page today, or do much of anything. May have been pushing a little hard this week apparently.But the plan worked like a charm, you left without issues. Instead of finding out hours later, or the next day, the police found out almost right after you left. Which is good for you, because they came in after some other crazy person (not that you're a crazy person of course, absolutely not, you stab people with a purpose, not recreationally, or at least not just because of that) had come in and stabbed someone. Which lead to a full shakeup of the place, turning out two other dead bodies, and, well, the local cop are non too keen on believing a man who was found acively stabbing someone to death insisting he didn't kill those two. So that guy porbably has at last one stone, you figure, and he'll be in the local police precinct for at least a few days. One new likely bearer, and zero suspicion on you!I am also locking in using the two stones. I still need to pick between a couple options for this mechanic, but they will be a big help.Happy rolling!
Rolled 65 (1d100)>>6323502Light exercise.
Rolled 42 + 1 (1d100 + 1)>>6323502Meditation
Rolled 32, 88 + 10 = 130 (2d100 + 10)>>6323502Socialize
Rolled 26 + 10 (1d100 + 10)>>6323502Naptime.
Rolled 35 (1d100)>>6323502Meditate in the woods
Rolled 1 - 5 (1d100 - 5)>>6323502Sleep.
Rolled 21 (1d100)>>6323502Moped sabotage>>6324172Uh oh
Rolled 27 - 5 (1d100 - 5)>>6323502Sleeptime.
>>6324172Oh, wait, someone else already did this. Unfortunately
