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
