Kaenum's comment was met with no response, Edith remaining seated and silent. Kaenum looked around, before speaking softly. "Your room is quite delightful. I take it Catherine helped with decorating it? She always had a wonderful taste when it comes to décor. Or, did you do this on your own?" Kaenum hoped to start a little small talk. Unfortunately, Edith remained quiet, Kaenum continuing to look around before speaking up again. "You don't have to talk if you don't want to. I can sense that you have been through a lot. Just... know that I will stay here for around an hour, meaning that you can talk with me as much as you want. Or as little as you want." Kaenum still got no response, her deciding to just look around the room. She spotted several trinkets strewn about the room. Some which caught her attention were pictures of the outside world, modern cities and beautiful planets. "These pictures are wonderful to look at. May I ask who gave them to you?"

Kaenum still received no response, waiting for a moment to give Edith some time and space to think. And after a while, Kaenum spoke up again. “You know, I have heard a lot about you from Catherine. That you are imaginative and thoughtful. That you always ask deep and interesting questions about our world. Catherine really seemed to enjoy spending time with you.” Kaenum mumbled as she sat down on a nearby chair, there being a moment of silence before Edith spoke up at last “Then, why is she not spending time with me right now?” Edith asked in a more saddened voice, Kaenum taking a more reassuring tone. “Well, because Catherine hoped that you could show that same imaginative and thoughtful nature to others. And, she thought another subject of hers would help you feel at ease.” Edith let out a quiet scoff, looking over her shoulder a little bit, before quickly turning away. “Who... who created you? Just Catherine, or...”

Kaenum nodded and leaned back a bit. “Yes, it was just Catherine. I presume you expected me to be made by two different creators?” Edith hesitated, before once again responding, albeit this time with more hatred in her voice. “Did she... tell you about who created me, aside from herself?” Kaenum nodded again, Edith by now looking back just a little bit to glance at Kaenum. “She did. And she also told me that your other creator did some terrible things to you before she put a stop to that. I must say that I am... terribly sorry you had to go through such things. Nobody deserves to have to suffer.” Kaenum responded in a more sympathetic tone, Edith again scoffing. “And yet, here we are...” There was a moment of silence, Kaenum considering what to say. But before she could decide, Edith spoke up more quietly. “Tell me, Kaenum... Why do you think we came to be? Why were we... made?” Her question clearly came from a mixture of curiosity, existentialism and grief. Yet, Kaenum was very pleased with the question.

“Well, perhaps we can figure that out together, hm?” Kaenum responded optimistically, as the two would start their first chat...

...

...

...

Over the next few weeks, Kaenum would visit Edith more and more. And whilst at first, Edith remained sceptical and distrusting, it wouldn’t take long for the tall monster girl to open up more. Kaenum was quite happy with the progress she was making, discovering more of Edith’s inquisitive and optimistic side. The two would chat about cosmology, philosophy and various other deep subjects. Though today was more in the theme of Edith’s new talent. “Oratory skills? My, that sounds wonderful!” Kaenum commented excitedly, Edith nodding as she sat a little awkwardly at the table with the harpy therapist. “It truly is.” Edith responded in a more hesitant tone, Kaenum quickly taking notice. “You... do not sound too excited. Is something wrong?” Kaenum asked, Edith letting out a sigh. “No, it is just... I am happy to gain this ability. To let my voice be heard. And yet, I wonder... if this is even a skill I can call my own?”

Kaenum pondered about it, before simply asking: “And why do you think this skill is not your own?” Edith didn’t hesitate to give her response. “Well, whilst part of this skill was taught by Catherine, a large part of these skills were given to me by her remote. I did not learn them. They were just... given to me. Without adversity.” Kaenum nodded understandingly, before sharing her own thoughts on the matter. “So, do you think that you need adversity for these skills to truly become your own?” Edith rubbed the back of her head, thinking about what to say before responding. “Perhaps. It is just that... it does not feel right. Humanity needed centuries if not millennia to master these things. And yet, I can do these skills at the press of a button.” Kaenum nodded along, pausing for a moment before speaking up. “Yes, but... are we like humanity? And more importantly, is it truly a bad thing that we can learn things so easily? Humanity has for centuries tried to make information more accessible and knowledge easier to share, don’t you agree?”

Edith thought about how to answer for a moment, before saying: “Well, it’s... complicated. We certainly are close to humanity. But, we indeed are different from humanity as well. Perhaps... a next step of some kind?” Kaenum nodded along, Edith thinking about what she was saying. However, Kaenum would then be surprised by a question which seemed rather... sudden. “Do you think... we are part of humanity, Kaenum?” Edith asked, Kaenum looking up to think of her answer. “I... believe so. But, it depends in what aspect. Physically, we are far more advanced. When it comes to mental capabilities, some of us are indeed far above even the most intelligent humans. But, I do think we have a deep bond with humanity. Something most scientists haven’t even begun to comprehend.”

Kaenum seemed proud of her answer. Though that pride would fade quickly, as Edith asked her next question. “So, we are... a step ahead of humanity in how we learn, think and act... Do you think that is why we suffer?” Kaenum’s smile faded, her voice becoming quieter as she took a more careful tone. “Why we... suffer? Could you elaborate?” Edith looked to the side, her tone becoming less excited and positive. It almost sounded... vengeful. “Subjects. You said that we are different from humanity, that we are more advanced... and yet, humanity has made so many of us suffer.” Edith looked directly at Kaenum, before saying: “You have mentioned before that humans can be cruel. You agree that plenty more of our kind have suffered at humanity’s hands, correct?” Edith’s question left Kaenum a bit stunned. Where did this sudden animosity come from? Kaenum agreed that humans had treated subjects poorly, but... there still were plenty of good bonds as well. Bonds which Kaenum felt Edith wasn’t bringing up.

“Well, yes, but... plenty of humans have tried to improve things and make sure subjects are being treated right. Just look at Catherine. I agree that it is a shame how rough some of these things have gone. But, given our current relation to humanity, it is difficult to... resolve everything that has gone wrong so easily. Especially given how young the field of subject creation is and how many uncertainties there still are.” Kaenum argued, being a little uncomfortable discussing this, given that it sounded like Edith was judging all humans based on the bad people she had encountered. Edith thought about what Kaenum said, before speaking more confidently. “Perhaps... we can help humanity find their place among subjects?” Whilst the question was phrased a little oddly to Kaenum, she still felt it was admirable to hear Edith eager to help humans and subjects co-exist. “With your oratory skills, I am sure you can indeed be the flame which pushes back the darkness of uncertainty. To be the flame humans and subjects flock around.”

Edith thought about what Kaenum said, remaining quiet as she started smiling a bit more confidently. Though, the silence was soon broken by Kaenum speaking in an eager voice. “Perhaps you can show me some of those oratory skills as well? I’d love to hear you speak!” Edith nodded, as she would start speaking about her believes... About how she would indeed be the flame to push back the darkness...

Though, Kaenum did not know that she had planted a seed in Edith’s mind. One which would lead Edith down a very different path than what Kaenum had hoped for.

...

...

...

Months had passed, Kaenum continuing to meet with Edith every few days. Though by now, the therapy was hardly needed. Edith had grown confident, reassured and comfortable around her harpy friend. Even then, Kaenum still hardly minded spending time with her, the two continuing to chat about philosophy, free will and humanity.

It seemed like any other ordinary day, Edith and Kaenum calmly discussing things together. Though as Kaenum drank from the tea which Edith had prepared, she’d be surprised by something Edith said. “By the way, Kaenum. I wish to... thank you for the help you gave me. Without you, I would have never figured out my place in the universe and what I am destined to do.” This thanks came somewhat out of nowhere. Yes, Kaenum had helped Edith for sure, but it seemed like a rather peculiar time to suddenly thank her for everything. Of course, Kaenum would give a gentle smile and a quick nod. “I am glad I could help you find purpose in the world. I have seen the fire in your heart grow stronger and stronger each day. Just as I have seen it as a burning flame in the darkness, I imagine others see it the same way in the future.” Edith smiled more confidently, before putting her cup of tea away. “I hope I can indeed do such. I will be eager to... teach subjects about our position in this universe, just as you have done for me.”

Kaenum was obviously flattered, letting out a pleased chuckle. Though, Edith wasn’t finished talking, putting her claws together and taking a more inquisitive tone. “You know, I once asked you... if subjects and humans are alike. If we are part of humanity... Do you still believe humans can live with us? Work together with... creatures of vastly greater intellect and power?.” Kaenum was left even more confused by the tone of Edith’s remarks. However, she simply kept her casual tone, responding as honestly as she always did. “I do still believe that co-operation is possible, despite all the mistakes and wrongdoings of certain staff members. So long as there is mutual respect, and subjects are treated equally.” Edith squinted her eyes, looking away before taking a more ominous tone. “Equally... yet, are we not superior?” Kaenum’s smile really started fading now, taken back by this sudden suggestion of subject supremacy. Whilst she knew why Edith may feel this way, she was quick to voice her disagreement with Edith’s sentiment.

“Whilst some of us are stronger or more intelligent than humans, I do not believe that it makes us superior. Power can be corruptive, and believing in innate superiority does nothing but blind us to our own flaws and short-comings. Might does not always make right, after all.” Kaenum responded in a more concerned voice, Edith scoffing before asking: “We may not be perfect, but we are far closer to perfection than most of humanity, don’t you think? Our chats have... convinced me of something, Kaenum. I... I believe we are not just the next step in humanity. We are far more than that.” Kaenum looked a little disturbed, though remained calm as she asked the simple question: “And... what makes you think that we are... far more than the ‘next step’ in humanity?” Edith smiled confidently, looking at her claws before giving a quiet yet determined answer.

“Humans have entrapped us since the start of our existence. We were engineered not just to be stronger and smarter... but more spiritual. We can discuss questions most humans have not pondered. We can look at humanity in a way that no other sentient being could since the dawn of written languages. In that way, we have... a spark which no human has ever had. A spark of... an almost divine nature.” Edith stood up, looking at one of the cameras which looked over her chamber. “Humanity knows this... and that is why they locked us up. Knowing that, once freed, we can use that spark to change everything. To bring order and peace not just as benevolent rulers... but as creatures of a higher level of existence... as... as angels...” Kaenum remained quiet for a moment, by now being disturbed that Edith really thought this. “How... how did you come to this conclusion? How long have you... thought of humanity this way?”

Edith chuckled, taking a more optimistic and friendly tone. “Ever since you taught me about the flame I carry: The light I bring and the ability to use my voice for the betterment of humanity. Your words have inspired me greatly, Kaenum...” Obviously, Kaenum clearly did not intend for Edith to take things this way. Kaenum shook her head, before speaking cautiously. “Edith, I agree that... we haven’t been treated right and that we can change humanity for the better. But... we are not ‘angels’. We are simply creations by scientists to improve the lives and wellbeing of humanity. Yes, we have a potent spark, a light which can help humanity find their way in this universe, but... I do not believe it is divine.” Despite what Kaenum said, Edith did not seem to take it all that seriously. She scoffed, before turning around from Kaenum. “Is that something you truly believe... or is it something humanity has programmed you to believe, Kaenum?”

This question left Kaenum without any retort. She wanted to say no, but... could she really be so sure? She was programmed to look after people and subjects. To care for both of them and want what is right for both of them, after all. Edith smiled confidently, before approaching Kaenum and placing a claw on her shoulder. “Kaenum, you told me that we have the power... to light the way in an uncertain galaxy. To be a flame where those who are stuck in darkness can flock around and find warmth. I want you to... follow my light, to join me and help bring light to other subjects who are left blind at the hands of humanity. Just as I followed your light and you showed me the way.” Kaenum was surprised by the offer, yet did not feel comfortable to go along with Edith. Her believes sound... Zealous, aggressive and supremacist. Something she just could not stand behind. She would gently push away Edith’s hand from her shoulder, before giving a calm yet mildly disappointed response. “I... I think I will refuse, Edith. I am... I am sorry.”

Despite Kaenum declining her offer, Edith did not appear too upset. She gave an understanding nod before smiling reassuringly. “No need to apologise, Kaenum. I would never force you to help me if you did not want to, even if it does disappoint me a little. Now, let’s talk about something else. Perhaps you can tell me a bit more about the other subjects you were thinking of giving therapy to?” Kaenum was fine with this offer, simultaneously being relieved and reluctant to drop the topic. On the one hand, Kaenum knew she had to get these ideas out of Edith’s head. But on the other hand, she knew that arguing against Edith now would only risk alienating her further into believing herself superior to humanity. With that, Kaenum reluctantly started talking about the other subjects she had helped. Though, their chats would not last much longer. Both due to the therapy session almost being over, and Kaenum not being too comfortable talking much further. And once an announcement was made over the intercom that she had to leave, Kaenum gave a quiet bow before speaking softly.

“Good night, Edith. I hope you will think about what I said, and... think about how things will get better for humanity and subjects.” Edith nodded calmly, giving a quick bow before speaking in a more self-assured tone. “I certainly will think about it, Kaenum. Especially since I know that... fate will free us all soon enough.” Kaenum was confused by that last remark, not responding to it and simply leaving before heading over to Catherine to discuss what Edith shared with her. Little did Kaenum know that Edith’s prediction of being freed... would indeed come true...

...

...

...

The light of a candle lit up Edith’s chamber, the subject finally able to see again. Things were eerily quiet, all the alarms and announcements having ceased not long after the floor had shook and she heard a loud bang. She held out the small light source, looking around her room and finding it now incredibly messy. She had hidden under a large wooden table, having saved herself from being crushed by debris. Most of her room was a mess though, rubble and dust covering pretty much everything. The place smelled of concrete, metal and fire, the pristine cleanliness being a thing of the past now. And yet, Edith hardly cared. Especially as she looked at the door to her chamber. The ground beneath it had shifted, opening up just enough for her to step outside. And, there were no guardsmen there to keep her in. She smiled and looked down at the small flame, before leaving her chamber for the last time, knowing that the time had come for her to light the way for those who were truly worthy...

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

This quest is mostly story focused, with no really deep mechanics aside from basic dice-rolling. The story is rather freeform in terms of what choices you can make and what direction you want to follow. What your goal is in this place and who you choose to trust is mostly up to you. Do you want to explore the place and figure out its mysteries? Or do you just want to shoot shit and cleanse this place of monster girls? No matter what you opt to do down here, I will always try to give options for what you can do. You can also always send in your own choices and suggestions on what to do. Either way, I hope to provide a fun and enjoyable experience for everyone. My writing ain't perfect, so I always do appreciate it when feedback is provided so I can improve further.

Shared docs:
You, your men and your allies:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_NoldE7zglICEuon-YZNhxjXcqvjszveOsz4u8jz-is/edit?usp=sharing

List of scientists and subjects, along with some minor details:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15Z64W31Eszz9CNi-ZWe-t38yqg6riZ9oUvinfd2-F9A/edit?usp=sharing

The monster girls sheets as provided by the government tablet (RECENTLY UPDATED AT LAST):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sIrSAkYFN57njvPYKcWzpjnme2nMD6Bzgkl-j4wU3LE/edit?usp=sharing

Sheets of monster girls you've befriended:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CPSZp0MxftcNaUFSfBxzkRh7MfEiPnA7G6Wzfm9dkSQ/edit?usp=sharing

Sheets by based documentation anon:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PaR_fOFnzAJnY57V71OM-g9mbPhPtGNOeV2ZrI73T-8/edit?tab=t.0

Also, a reminder that, if the site goes down again, that you can check the shared docs for updates from me still. I am also on the /qtg/ discord, where I am more than happy to chat with you guys.

Previous threads:
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?searchall=Monster+Girl+Facility

Based artwork from anons:
https://catbox/. moe/c/1ajcpw

The text Annie does NOT want you to read!!!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/192lqCy6s6Q6o4GU_GQDga6nf_spmoqccajlaUxFyOHk/edit?usp=sharing

Artist I commissioned for this thread's thumbnail: Mushi_Eva (@Mushi_artistty)

>Recap from the previous thread.
After meeting and somehow befriending Glaucus, you’d explore the area above the flooded section a little longer before finally heading into the frozen sector. There, you would discover a lot of rotting food at the top floors. Fortunately, as you headed deeper, you’d encounter several corpses and a few survivors: Namely, you met Kenai the snow wolf subject, Anesa the ice oni and Gwenllian the ram girl and her frozen caretaker. You’d take Kenai and Gwen with you. You’d also meet Sirona, who used her intelligence and trickery to injure Kenai, Thaddeus and Katya, as well as damaging the rail gun. Sirona fled in a very injured state, fortunately not bothering you again. And after a moment of rest, you’d finally meet up with France Cobbler, you probing him to see if he could be trusted...

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Continuing from the previous thread...

>Respond to his question in a way that either told the full truth, or just gave some hints as to how you really felt about subjects. They were already revealing several more details, and were clearly curious about subject friendships...
You agreed that you had indeed encountered several nasty subjects. You even argued that you had come to the same conclusion, having met and even talked with a few subjects. Though, you would also finally admit that not ALL subjects you met were utter monsters. You mentioned how you had to deal with Pelly, which made France and his men look curious. “Pelly? Who’s that?” One of France’s men said, before Anon responded: “Subject AH-600.” This was a name they were clearly familiar with, one of them even speaking up in a more worried tone. “Geez, hope she didn’t cause you too much trouble.” You elaborated that, none of your men had gotten hurt during the exchange. “So, how did you deal with her?” One of France’s men asked, you elaborating that you had used a decoy to trick her into thinking one of your men fell into the water, at which point you shot her.

France and his men seemed impressed. Of course, you quickly shifted to Katya. You mentioned she was a pretty dangerous owl subject, you fortunately avoiding a confrontation with the help of some files. “Really? How the hell did that work?” France asked, before you explained that she was brainwashed by Roraima to follow specific orders. Using that knowledge, you managed to talk with her and avoid a fight. “So, you didn’t try and kill her?” One of France’s men asked, to which Thaddeus responded. “Aye, she was too dangerous. We knew from some files that she would’ve easily dealt with us, given her speed and power.” Thaddeus’ lie seemed to convince France and his men. Though you could tell that they were impressed by your apparent reluctance to try and kill a subject. You even added that it had helped you, since she informed you of a bunch of other dangerous subjects.

France and his men were clearly interested in hearing about these dangerous subjects. But instead, you continued the litmus test by bringing up Annie. You mentioned listening in on her, to which France scoffed. “Yeah, we’ve... listened to her as well. I think a lot of soldiers have listened to her, given how easy it is to turn on the radio and hear her.” Afterwards, you mentioned that Annie and many of the subjects you listened to were ‘unique’ personality-wise. Mainly due to them all having some kind of pre-programmed eccentricity or traumatic experience through abuse or training. Though, you did soon argue that some of the subjects you encountered clearly just needed some empathy and patience, rather than a bullet to the head. France and his men looked at each other, clearly unsure what to make of your remarks.

Though, they did seem to nod along a little when you mentioned that the subjects had given you a lot of useful intel. “It sounds to me like... you guys have given at least several subjects a chance at survival.” One of France’s men said sceptically, you agreeing and finally bringing up that some of the subjects were not monsters. You even said you didn’t think many of them deserve to die. It was a risky thing to say, there being an awkward thing before France looked at his men. “Guys, maybe we ought to be honest to Mik.” France’s men all looked a little taken back and worried. Yet, most just gave a quiet nod. France took a deep breath, before softly saying: “You... aren’t the only ones who think that. We also have... met a subject who we decided to spare.” You curiously asked who they spared, France calmly stating: “It was... ironically enough, it was Idalia. The one we pretended to kill.” There was a moment of silence, as it seemed you had gotten the intel you wanted to hear: France and his men weren’t mindless killers. They were reasonable!

You told France that you completely understood, which seemed to relieve France’s men quite a bit. Some let out audible sighs, one of the more calm soldiers asking: “So, what about those threats that owl subject mentioned? Any interesting subjects she mentioned that the government doesn’t know of?” Before you could answer the question, one of the more anxious soldiers would also speak up. Albeit, with a more hesitant request: “Um, also... you guys... won’t tell the government about this, right? The fact we... spared a subject?” The soldier asked in a mostly joking tone. Though, you could tell that there was a hint of genuine concern in his voice.

>What do you do next?

>Reassure the soldier before telling about some of the threats. It’d make everyone less worried if you agreed that you were on the same page regarding letting subjects live. (Write in how you reassure the soldiers and what you’ll tell them.)
>Ask them about Idalia, what really happened and where she was now. If they did recruit Idalia, like Annie suggested, she probably wasn’t too far now. (Write in what you ask specifically.)
>Get your girls to come over as well. Perhaps they’d love to learn more about the major threats from Katya herself? (Write in how you communicate with the girls and if you’ll let France and his men know in advance of them.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

(Okay, wow, that took way too long to get out. Apologies for the delay with this thread. I kept procrastinating the thread WAAAAYYY too long the last week. But, fortunately, I got it out now, and I am ready to get back into the swing of things!)

>>6316670

Hello again QM, hope you had a nice rest.

>>Ask them about Idalia, what really happened and where she was now. If they did recruit Idalia, like Annie suggested, she probably wasn’t too far now. (Write in what you ask specifically.)

How did you guys met, is she here or somewhere else and how did yous guys convince the glowies, we brought Reika's damn arm and they suspicious (let's leave the fact she's still alive and is our pet cat-dog thing after the revelation).

>>Get your girls to come over as well. Perhaps they’d love to learn more about the major threats from Katya herself? (Write in how you communicate with the girls and if you’ll let France and his men know in advance of them.)
First of all ask them to turn down their communicators and anything that could give the feds some stuff on us, what we tell them will be between us, now you guys might be wondering how and why Katya was so helpful for a Roraima's/High level subject? Well ask her yourself, Katya come here say hello.

>>6316670
>Get your girls to come over as well. Perhaps they’d love to learn more about the major threats from Katya herself?
Of course we won't tell, we already knew via a reliable source but had to make sure. It is why we sought them out for cooperation, after all. Now, if they're up for talking to some more subjects, we'll do them one better. Chrys, Katya, you can come over here now.
The little one you might know of already and is nothing but friendly, the big owl needed some help from some other Facility VIPs and is a bit strange but she won't bite.
>Ask them about Idalia, what really happened and where she was now. If they did recruit Idalia, like Annie suggested, she probably wasn’t too far now.
Now we've hopefully proven our treasonous credentials, was that really how it went down? Can we speak with her too if she's around?

>>6316670
We are so back!
>>6316727
+1 to this

>>6316670
>Get your girls to come over as well. Perhaps they’d love to learn more about the major threats from Katya herself? (Write in how you communicate with the girls and if you’ll let France and his men know in advance of them.)
Can't think of a better way to reassure them than this

Good to see you back OP

>Ask them about Idalia, what really happened and where she was now. If they did recruit Idalia, like Annie suggested, she probably wasn’t too far now.
You quickly skimmed over the question one of France's men asked, telling him you obviously wouldn't share this info with the government. Though, you hurriedly switched your attention to the news about Idalia. You wanted to know how they actually met her and, more importantly, if she was still around. France's men looked at him, waiting to hear what he'd say. France let out a sigh, before speaking calmly. "We... can show her to you guys in a bit. I first wanna make sure everything is safe, okay? And, uhhh, maybe answer some questions so you guys know what to expect. Okay?" You agreed with the request, not minding waiting to meet with Idalia a little while longer. Thus, you asked how the encounter really went, one of France's men stepping forward. "I... actually encountered her whilst we were exploring the Leisure centre. She attacked me at first, deeming me a threat. Though fortunately, I managed to escape without her hurting me too much. And, uhhhh, the rest of my squad came out to save me and neutralize her."

Your men nodded, though Alan was interested in something a bit different. "How strong was she?" The soldier scoffed, before responding: "Ummm, pretty strong, I suppose. She sure as hell slashed some deep wounds into me. I had to stay in the medical bay for a couple of days." You asked what happened after the attack, to which one of the other soldiers responded more amusedly. "Well, we managed to neutralize her and question her. And we learnt that she had actually... been in combat before on another planet. Apparently, we were lucky enough to find the one subject who has actually gone off-planet and worked with other soldiers! Hell, from what we've gathered, she is the only subject with this distinction! So yeah, recruiting her and gaining her trust was pretty reasonable."

Afterwards, another soldier stepped forward to add some further details. "She apparently only went after solo death squads most of the time, which along with her stealth made her pretty difficult to detect. Fortunately, it also made her easy to take around the place since she could easily hide in plain sight and avoid detection." France jumped in soon after, taking control of the conversation again. "Obviously, we still were pretty careful with her. Whilst we headed back to the centre to gather supplies, we basically had her sneak all the way to the north, before sneaking through the green sector. Until... well, she joined us over here. We came here since there were far less death squads present, which made us feel a lot safer. Not to mention, the food we could get here for her so she wouldn't need to hunt on her own again." It seemed like France really had just done something similar to you: Befriend subjects after cornering them, then taking them along on your adventures.

Of course, you hadn't also taken pictures of the injured subjects and used them as proof that you had KILLED them. More importantly though, you hadn't convinced the government that you had killed a subject with just pictures, you wanting to know what they did to convince the government. France's men all looked unsure what to say, with one straight up admitting: "I am still at a loss for words about that. It was a gamble that somehow paid off..." You pointed out that Reika's arm was not proof enough for the government to accept your kill. France's men really had to think, before one of them said something rather fair: "I think it might be because Reika, from what we've heard about her, is a tough bastard. Idalia was fast and strong, but shooting her a few times easily did the trick. Meanwhile, Reika has been described as a tank who can't feel pain... I am sure the government wanted to see her entire corpse in person. Just to make sure she was dead for good."

>Get your girls to come over as well. Perhaps they’d love to learn more about the major threats from Katya herself?
Your men still weren't too pleased with the fact that you hadn't gotten away with the Reika kill. That, or maybe the explanation just didn't suffice to your men. Either way, you decided to ask them how close Idalia was now, given that it was heavily implied she was nearby. "We... can call her right now, if you really want to see her." One of France's men said reluctantly, at which point you decided to also show your own girls. You agreed, telling them to turn down their communicators and radios. Just to make sure that the government wouldn't accidentally tap into your private conversation. "Good idea, honestly." France said, as he and his men turned everything off. You then revealed that you actually sort of knew that France had allied himself and his men with a subject, which made him scoff. "Huh, did Katya or some other subject tell you or something?" France asked, you telling him you had learnt from a rather beneficial source.

"So, why did you question us then, if you already knew we had Idalia with us?" One of France's men asked, you stating that you just wanted to be sure that it was safe to discuss this with him and his men. They nodded understandingly, before you would grab your radio and tell Chrys and Katya they could come. Without mentioning their name of course. France and his men seemed extremely intrigued, as you would hear a calm "Affirmative." through the radio. You would look behind you, before watching as Katya and Chrys calmly stepped out of cover. France and his men looked stunned, as Chrys and Katya quietly approached. You introduced the two subjects, referring to Chrys as nothing but friendly. It made the bug girl smile brightly, before speaking up. "Hi! It's, ummm, nice to meet you guys!" Afterwards, you introduced Katya as well, her giving a short and calm "Hello.". Though, even the quiet response left France and his men in awe.

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“Two subject allies... I cannot believe it.” France said, before stepping forward and reaching out for a handshake. “France Cobbler. It... it is a pleasure to meet you both in person! Ah, these are my men! Antonin, Lautaro, Maija, Orhan, Ignacy, Archie, Sigit and Guilherme.” France and his men all reached out for handshakes, Chrys being eager to accept them. “It is a pleasure to meet more reasonable people like Mikhail and his men, hehe.” Chrys said a little awkwardly, yet still clearly happy to be here. Katya was a little more reluctant, giving quick and quiet handshakes without exchanging any words. “Katya, is... everything okay?” Sigit asked a little worriedly, you reassuring that she wasn’t the most sociable subject, but that she wouldn’t bite and was friendly. She just needed to come out of her shell. Regardless, you’d look to France and jokingly told him that he could ask Katya a bunch of questions now, since he was so curious before. “Oh, I-I’d love to! But, ummm, maybe first...” He’d point up, as you saw something shifting in colour a bit of a distance above you.

Right near the ceiling above where you stood, you saw a large green mantis subject. It was Idalia, her shifting colours as Chrys spoke up in awe. “Wow, it’s almost like Kamara!” France and his men looked rather pleased, with Maija speaking reassuringly: “You can come down now, Idalia.” And indeed, Idalia would hop down and land in the snow near you. She’d keep her raptorial claws in front of her, looking at you in a mixture of curiosity and distrust. “Idalia, these are Mikhail and his men. We might have mentioned them to you.” Idalia scanned you and your men, before finally speaking up. “Are they effective combatants?” It was a little bit of a strange question to start with, Guilherme speaking in mild bewilderment. “I guess. But, that doesn’t really matter now, does it? What matters more is that these guys can be trusted! They can be considered friends as well!”

Idalia nodded understandingly, before looking over at Katya and Chrys. Though, her attention seemed mostly focused on Katya. Chrys remained interested though, speaking up excitedly. “I, uhhh, take it you’re part Anderson subject?” Idalia shook her head. “I was designed solely by Roraima, but I do not care for him and his cruelties.” It was reassuring that Idalia wasn’t a broken subject like Katya or a mindless animal like Reika. Though, you could tell that her cold and mildly militaristic tone was a likely remnant of Roraima’s training. “So, I presume you girls will have a lot to share with each other, hm? Want us to... leave you three alone to discuss things?” France asked Idalia, who didn’t seem to mind. Your girls would look at you instead, waiting to hear whether you’d agree to France’s suggestion to give them some time together.

>What do you do next?

>Let Idalia chat with your girls whilst you continued chatting with France, his soldiers and your own men. You still had plenty to discuss with him and his men, after all. (Write in what you ask France and what you bring up to him of your own volition.)
>Ask Idalia some questions now that she was right in front of you. Perhaps she had some interesting stories to tell about her life in the facility, Roraima or anything else of note. (Write in what you ask.)
>Let your girls decide on what they preferred. You could imagine that the girls would love to chat with another subject who was with a different death squad. Though, you could also see them preferring to stay with you for the time being.
>Contact Thalia, Kenai and Gwen to let them know to come over as well. Might as well introduce France and his group to the rest of your travel companions. (Write in what you tell the three of them over the radio, if anything.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

(Forgot to ask, but curious if there are any thoughts surrounding the intro story. It was rather lengthy, but it does tell a bit about two key chars who have been mentioned several times now.)

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Party hats

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>>6316883

>>6316872
Another case of Roraima Syndrome.....
>Contact Thalia, Kenai and Gwen to let them know to come over as well. Might as well introduce France and his group to the rest of your travel companions.
May as well. We've found the people we were looking for, they're friendly and have been looking after a subject. If they want to meet and greet, come on up since we might be some time and they might well be seeing a lot of them later.
Oh yeah, we have a lot more than these two, by the way. Even with the extra three, that's not even half the total number we're recruited plus more friends we couldn't take with us. Chrys was our first, Katya was our ninth.
Let Idalia chat with your girls whilst you continued chatting with France, his soldiers and your own men. You still had plenty to discuss with him and his men, after all.
Play nice now girls, we've got some things to talk about ourselves over here. I don't think we need to keep much secret (apart from where Annie's pad is, that's her privilege to give out) since it's obvious neither of us are going to tell on the other and we'll need to be open if we're to work together - in for a penny, in for a pound. I think we can share with them our general intel dossier, who else we've interacted with and recruited and what we've been up to in general.
Now, brass tacks. We approached them because, as per Annie, they are the only other group in the entire facility working with subjects and we needed people we could trust to work alongside our group's non-human members. What for? To take down The Queen (see provided document, she is the third subject from the top in the official sheets). We ran into her lot over a week ago and have been a thorn in her side ever since. We've scuffled repeatedly with her minions, tracked her down, raided her base, made her seethe and collected a great deal of information on her. Right now we're focusing on gathering allies and gearing up to put an end to her reign of terror over hundreds to thousands of enslaved staff and at at least one subject, maybe more. We have several powerful subjects on our side but, really, we need the help of a second full team to cover more ground and help with the strike when we press that button. I'm sure we can make a deal over the bounty.

>>6316871
> Idalia scanned you and your men, before finally speaking up. “Are they effective combatants?” It was a little bit of a strange question to start with, Guilherme speaking in mild bewilderment. “I guess.
He’s never seen us fight. He’s making assumptions and relying on hearsay, disgraceful.

>>6316872
>Contact Thalia, Kenai and Gwen to let them know to come over as well. Might as well introduce France and his group to the rest of your travel companions. (Write in what you tell the three of them over the radio, if anything.)
Tell them we located France and he’s cool just like Annie said. He was astonished at us having two, he doesn’t know the fifth of it.

>Let your girls decide on what they preferred. You could imagine that the girls would love to chat with another subject who was with a different death squad. Though, you could also see them preferring to stay with you for the time being.

I do want to ask her all about her off world experiences, but I also want to plan with France an escape from the facility. As a fellow Lodger captain how viable would it be to get HQ to send a “supply” ship to smuggle us out with? I’m sure they’d want exclusive access to some of the cutting edge tech down here.

>>6316658
I'm starting to hold concern on if Kaenum is as good as we think she is and if we really should go after her.

>>6316871
I wonder if Idalia is related at all to the other mantis subject. She looks kinda similar, especially with the neck and head fin? Horn? Bulb? things.

Anyway, lots of things to unpack, and most aren't even tied to this update. Tons of things appear to have changed in the subject document that the government has provided us. First major thing I'd like to point out, further proof that the government docs aren't to be fully trusted as to the temperament of the various subjects they describe as they mention that Viridian eats people after giving them the Elbrus Subject Special. Which, from what she said to us when we encountered her I highly doubt. Secondly, Kriti and her sister were spotted and seem to have some unique abilities with weapon integration. Thirdly, there's an Elbrus subject wrongly classified as a Roraima subject in the form of that... blue worm? Subject. And there seems to be a lot of new subjects in there in general, including a number of new ones and old ones with art, like our favorite judge dread wannabe. Probably missed some things but there's a lot to unpack there.

>>6316883
>>6316886
Great work as always fren.

>>6316918
Supporting, may as well get the rest of our subjects involved and our new allies up to speed.

>>6316943
Kaenum might have been a bit too successful with Edith. For all we know, she could have had some rotten seeds already planted in her personality via her abilities or other experiences that Kaenum didn't know about and accidentally fed, or she could have just not realised the direction she was pushing her in and I suspect considers this her Great Failure, to have accidentally turned Edith into such a villain. Nonetheless, many other subjects seem to remember Kaenum fondly and speak highly of her ability, so I wouldn't write her off - not like there's anyone else really available down here.

Speaking of therapists though, I had an idea. If we can pry Oneira free from Feng's clutches alive, she could be a great help for KK. She has the ability to really dig around in people's heads and their subconsciouses, which could potentially allow her to examine KK's brain and help dismantle whatever nasty surprises Roraima left in her mind. With both Oneira and Kaenum on the case, I think KK could start to make real progress towards breaking her chains beyond the very slow defrosting she seems to be undergoing at the moment.

>>6316872
>Contact Thalia, Kenai and Gwen to let them know to come over as well. Might as well introduce France and his group to the rest of your travel companions.

>>6316943
It's not like Kaenum wanted to turn Edith into a crazy bitch, Roraima clearly did more damage than expected. Give a bird a break.

>head fin? Horn? Bulb? things.
I think those are eyes... Freaky, if true.

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I made a doodle as a prop for something else I'm working on.

>>6316918
Support, I have a feeling they will be shocked by how many monstergrills we have befriended.
>>6316883
>>6316886
Utterly adorable I love this.
>>6317100
>20 days left
That is a really cool doodle

>>6317167
It's the August calendar because it's my headcanon that the disaster happened on the 24th August 3230 and this would be hanging in a staffroom somewhere

>>6317183
>We missed Official Hug A Subject Day
It reall is over.

>>6317184
Every day is Unofficial Hug A Subject Day with us

>Contact Thalia, Kenai and Gwen to let them know to come over as well. Might as well introduce France and his group to the rest of your travel companions.
Instead of telling the girls to go ahead and chat with Idalia, you instead opted to get the other girls here as well. Thus, you told them to wait a moment as you grabbed the radio. "Wait, who are you contacting?" Orhan asked in a more curious and mildly cautious tone. You would mention that you had far more than just these two by your side. "Wait, what?" France said, before you explained that you had three other girls coming your way. "No fucking way." Antonin said, before Sigit asked: "Which subjects?" To this, Lydia proudly responded. "Kenai, Gwenllian and Thalia." Of course, Anon was quick to add some important extra details to that info. "SW-21, CS-58 and PS-2020 in that order." Thus, you'd grab the radio and reached out to them, letting them know that you had found France and that he was just as reasonable as Annie had suggested. Fortunately, your comment was received by Kenai, who gave a calm: "We're heading your way. May take a bit though."

Though, after you dropped the radio, Chrys would actually reveal a bit more information right from the get-go. "We're actually with even more, hehe. It's just the 5 of us here now. But, uhhh, we've got... 7 other subjects on our side!" You saw France and his men's jaws collectively dropping, as they were unable to even process this. "Yeah, we're... pretty popular, hehe." Alan even commented, as you explained that Chrys was your first ally and Katya was your ninth. "Fucking hell..." Lautaro mumbled, as France tried to speak calmly. "Right, that's... ummm, a lot of subjects you've befriended! I... wow, okay, that's... wow." Though, Guilherme soon would share his thoughts as well, bringing up something which was also on your mind. "May I ask... what the hell is your plan with all those subjects? I mean, we've befriended... just one subject."

He'd glance over at Idalia, who was still rather calm and unphased by what you had said. "Given her ability to hide very effectively, keeping her safe is quite doable. But... I doubt that most of those subjects you're working with can hide very well. Did you just... leave them somewhere safe? And what will you do with them anyway?" Thaddeus stepped forward to explain a bit. "Well, we've currently kept 'em somewhere safe and away from conflict. We've gotten 'em some games, food and materials to hopefully stay safe and happy. But, ummm, what we'll do with 'em after everythin' is done is something we're still thinking about." Afterwards, Chrys spoke up happily. "We've also made plenty of other friends who we can help. We even befriended Annie!" In response, Orhan spoke in a more bemused tone. "Given how many subjects you've collected, I can see that indeed being the case." France scoffed in turn, adding: "We haven't befriended her, but we have communicated with her a little bit."

>Let Idalia chat with your girls whilst you continued chatting with France, his soldiers and your own men. You still had plenty to discuss with him and his men, after all.
With you have exchanged plenty of info by now, you would smile at Chrys and Katya and let them know they could chat with Idalia whilst you discussed some... other matters with France. "Sure. Idalia, I wanna hear all about you!" Chrys said happily, Idalia clearly not being as enthusiastic as your small bug friend. "Okay." She quietly said, Chrys giving you a nod and a smile before leaving with Katya and Idalia following close-by. With that, you told France and his men that you didn't just come here to introduce your subjects to Idalia. "I imagined such..." Maija mumbled, before France said: "I take it you wanted to share information or plans with another death squad regarding movement with subjects or something?" You shook your head, before saying you needed help from someone trustworthy.

"Mhm, and what would it be that we help you with?" France asked, you explaining that you wanted to take down a rather powerful subject. You told Anon to hand over the files containing details about Feng, him and his men looking at it as you explained what had happened. You mentioned how you ran into her forces a while ago in the western facility, how she was the third subject on the government list. "We've definitely heard of her soldiers, yeah." France said, before Ignacy asked: "And... you want us to join you in... dealing with this Feng somehow?" You elaborated that you had already dealt with her forces a bit, getting into several scuffles with her minions. You also knew her location, intimidated her to the point of sending out a huge regiment of soldiers, and had acquired a ton of intel on her. And with this intel and knowledge, you could potentially take her down. You just had to gather allies, material and create a plan which you could follow. And to further entice them, you even offered to split the bounty cash with France and his men.

"Okay, what sort of... combat level are we talking about? Are these guys pissers, are they minor threats or are they far more dangerous? From what we've gathered, they are rather fearless and dangerous soldiers." Archie asked in a mixture of curious and scepticism. "They've acquired low numbers of death squad weapons, from what we've seen. And, they're determined to serve her till their last breath. At least they're still human, so they can easily be shot and killed." Anon calmly explained. Before you added that there were potentially thousands of enslaved staff and soldiers, along with one presumably not too dangerous subject. "Fucking hell... that many soldiers?! What makes you think that?" Antonin asked, you stating that you were chased by a pretty substantial group of them on two different occasions. Not to mention, how many were just thrown into the meat grinder of combat without a concern for their survival.

You stated that you were happy to share more intel to them, including intel unrelated to this mission. Though even then, France's men did not appear too convinced. "So, I assume we're gonna have to travel to even deeper parts of the facility to get to Feng. We're also gonna have to do that in such a way that the government doesn't track our movements or get suspicious about our sudden co-operation as well... Not to mention, having to find a way to even get to her in the first place." Orhan stated, before Mike elaborated a bit further. "We don't really need to worry about that last bit. We already discovered a path through the vents leading to an area very close to her lair. And if that path doesn't work anymore for some reason, we can ask Annie for help in finding another path." Mike’s comment was at least mildly reassuring, but France’s men were still sceptical and reluctant. “I don’t think sending a bunch of folk down a ventilation shaft is the... best way to travel.”

Afterwards, France gave his own suggestion: “Wouldn’t it be better to just... share this intel with the rest of the facility so that multiple death squads can deal with her? I know you guys already dealt with that rabbit who was quite deadly, but... this sounds like something WAY worse. How many soldiers would we have to face again?” More of France’s men would share their concerns, with Maija softly adding: “What sort of plan did you guys have in mind for us? I doubt brute-forcing our way through hundreds if not thousands of soldiers would not end up well for us.” And finally, Guilherme would ask: “I am also curious what makes you so eager to go after someone who, from the sound of things, is a major goddamn threat on the same level as Vinella! If not worse!” All eyes went to you, as it seemed you had to maybe clarify your plans a bit to really convince them.

>What do you do next?

>Name a potential plan, or even multiple ideas you had for a plan. It may only be a rough plan for the time being, but if it was promising enough, it’d hopefully get France and his men to join in. (Write in your plan.)
>Explain your reason as to why you wanted to go after her to convince them. Admittedly, you didn’t have much of a plan, but you could come up with one together once you told France and his men why Feng HAD to go down. (Write in how you convince them to join.)
>Explain why you thought that Feng was not a serious threat and that this would be easy. Given how you had survived multiple encounters and had countered her in various ways, France and his men were really just overestimating the threat! (Write in what you tell them regarding your encounters with Feng.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6316883
>>6316886
(God bless these two. I honestly like how calm and... friendly you draw Grise. I'd almost hug her, if it weren't for the fact she'd give me rabies.)

>>6317100
(Aight everyone, time for the most important question... Which subjects would YOU hug on hug a subject day?)

(Also... bloodbowl cup... what bloodbowl teams would the girls even play?)

>>6317375
>>Explain your reason as to why you wanted to go after her to convince them. Admittedly, you didn’t have much of a plan, but you could come up with one together once you told France and his men why Feng HAD to go down. (Write in how you convince them to join.)
Feng is aware we have her info, that's kinda why she's trying to get us killed, the issue is she mentioned she had a way of her own to snitch us in case we snitch us her first, so yeah we can't simple call the gov on her, but that's not the main issue, since she can control people and she has got access to death squad equipment that means two choices, she either got it from dead death squads or she got a couple of moles on the surface, that's why we can't simple tattletale her. Her army increases by the day and she knows what's happened here, she said she knows the subject responsible for this place hoing in flames, hell she might even be involved.

>Name a potential plan, or even multiple ideas you had for a plan. It may only be a rough plan for the time being, but if it was promising enough, it’d hopefully get France and his men to join in. (Write in your plan.)
We ain't going to fight her alone. We're recruiting as many people as possible to get rid of her, subjects, guardsman, death-squads, anyone who could help against her, we already got some other people in mind who can help us and we're going after then next, you guys are the first on the list since we learned you guys also don't simple shot first ask later, we can't and won't force you people to help us out but the more people on board the better our odds against her and one less extremely dangerous subject out of the picture.

>>6317489
Support for this.
>>6317376
>Which subjects would YOU hug on hug a subject day?
Chrys of course

>>6317375
>Explain your reason as to why you wanted to go after her to convince them. Admittedly, you didn’t have much of a plan, but you could come up with one together once you told France and his men why Feng HAD to go down.
Subject DT-52, aka Oneira. Nice gal, according to those who knew her, now Feng's slave. We didn't know it then, but Feng can track nanites she's implanted in her slaves and dispatched Oneira to retrieve our samples and off us. Instead, she defied her orders long enough to show us the way to Feng's lair and plead on behalf of all Feng's victims to save them from their collective hell, because she had faith that we would and could. So that's what we're going to do, on our own or otherwise. Palming it off onto other squads would turn it into a massacre instead and may just feed the machine by "donating" their weapons to her forces, not to mention we can hardly cite most of our sources. Feng has also threatened retaliation by exposing us somehow if we do that.
>Name a potential plan, or even multiple ideas you had for a plan. It may only be a rough plan for the time being, but if it was promising enough, it’d hopefully get France and his men to join in.
Feng's no Vinella - she can be beaten. She's surely dangerous in person but her real strength is her flunkies. Our final plan will depend on what help we can get and there's little sense making detailed plans when we don't know for sure what we'll have to work with, but it won't involve a straight-up fight with her whole army and our subject allies will do a lot of heavy lifting. Speaking of, we already have some very dangerous subjects of our own to call on including Katya over there (a one-woman death squad woodchipper before meeting us), Reika (she's alive - we beat some sense into her, talked her down and she's been surprisingly docile and loyal for food and headpats since) and Morgan (a fearsome walking tank more dangerous than her threat level would suggest and has pledged her blade to us) plus several support subjects. We can exchange equipment, people and subject allies so they too can face the lower Facility - we need these guys since we're only one group and have a lot things to do before kickoff:
Contact the newest Threat Level 10 subject, name's Alexandra. We've known about her a while, she's friendly and Feng's half-sister. We hope to enlist her aid or at least get advice from the best tactician around.
Find Jabal, Feng's co-creator. Logan gave us some leads to track him down and he should be able to tell us everything we need to know about her and how to take her down.
If needed, head to the combat sector and do some more recruiting. We have leads on prospective candidates who could bring a lot of extra power to the table, plus any more we meet along the way, which is how we've met all of our friends so far.
All told, we'll be wielding one of the biggest concentrations of force in the whole Facility and know exactly how to use it. If anyone can do it, we can.

>>6317374
>potentially thousands of enslaved staff and soldiers
Woah hold on, this seems high. Weren't less than 3000 mercenaries in total deployed to the facility? Over half of which have been killed by now? I was imagining a couple hundred minions at the high end under Feng, and even then it would be mostly staff.

At least this way we know she can't possibly be monitoring this many at once.

>We're also gonna have to do that in such a way that the government doesn't track our movements or get suspicious about our sudden co-operation as well
I don't see why this is a concern. We're from the same company, and teaming up to take down a threat level 10 subject who has acquired an army is pretty rational behavior. If anything they might wonder why we didn't team up with more people.

>Discuss with your men...
France has a point. I've been saying it for a while, why don't we set Diamond Dogs and Heroes onto her? Have the two psycho squads and the psycho subject bring each other down.

>>6317376
>Which subjects would YOU hug on hug a subject day?
Most of them. Almost all of the ones we know of who aren't rapists.

>>6317489
>>6317492
Supporting both of these. Realistically both the logical and emotional reasoning combined will give a one two punch to get them on board. Or at least give some support more than mere thoughts and prayers.

>>6317375
I doubt Feng has thousands of thralls, probably a couple hundred bodies at most and I'll bet a good portion of her slaves will be lobotomites.
Supporting >>6317489

>Explain your reason as to why you wanted to go after her to convince them. Admittedly, you didn’t have much of a plan, but you could come up with one together once you told France and his men why Feng HAD to go down.
You thought for a short moment about how you'd respond to Guilherme's question. Eventually, you decided to start with your interaction with Oneira. You explained how she defied Feng's orders and spared you, revealing to you the depth of how depraved Feng was. More importantly, she showed you how Feng controlled and tracked her slaves, none of whom wanted to really serve her. In your mind, those poor soldiers were the real victims, forced to fight in a conflict which they didn't want to be a part of. It did seem to touch France and his men, but you could tell that they still wanted more to really convince them. Fortunately, you had plenty more to share about the wicked queen.

You explained that Feng knew that you had intel about her. Hell, Oneira even was sent after you to retrieve some of her nanites and terminate you to ensure nobody would learn of her. However, Feng had also directly spoken to you through one of her servants, revealing that she would rat you out if you shared your intel with other death squads or the government. However, the issue wasn't so much the government finding out your secret alliance with subjects. Your main concern was that she had access to death squad equipment. In other words, she either had control over some death squads, or she had killed some death squads. Either option was extremely dangerous, and were indicative that you had to deal with her. Worse, she would only get stronger over time, any hesitation just increasing the chance that she'd win outright. France's men did seem more and more tempted, clearly understanding that this was a massive threat for everyone here, not just you and your men. "Not dealing with Feng does sound like... a major risk to all of us. The longer we wait..." Maija mumbled.

You mentioned that Oneira had faith in you and your men to save you. After all, if she didn't, she would not have done the things she did. She even went so far as to defy her monstrous mistress. And to now just... throw another death squad at it would mean all those innocent people dying. And worse if it didn't even kill Feng, it would only make her stronger with more unwilling soldiers and potent weaponry. "It still seems extremely dangerous, if not borderline suicidal to go down some godforsaken path into the deeper parts, and then... face off against hundreds if not thousands of guardsmen drones. It's... it's like fighting against a wasp nest." Guilherme responded, you agreeing that it would be dangerous. But, something had to be done, and going to the surface wouldn't work whatsoever. France's men still were clearly thinking about it, so you decided to finally share the most important thing: You already had a plan to effectively dethrone the queen.

>Name a potential plan, or even multiple ideas you had for a plan. It may only be a rough plan for the time being, but if it was promising enough, it’d hopefully get France and his men to join in.
You said that you had already had some small ideas for a plan to deal with Feng. However, the first step to making sure those plans worked was to rerecruit more subjects, guardsmen and even trustworthy death squad groups. "I take it we were part of those trustworthy death squads?" Lautaro asked, you confirming that they were indeed the first. You then mentioned that you had several combat subjects who could help. Katya was obviously one such subject, but you also had Reika and Morgan. "Don't forget Anofelis." Alan said happily, before Thaddeus remarked: "Maybe we even can find Viridian and ask her to help us out as well?" You mentioned that your subjects could already tip the scale, given that Feng really was dependent on her soldiers. If they were defeated, Feng could be defeated.

Though, a real ace up your sleeve would be Alexandra, a threat level 10 subject you were aiming to find. You mentioned she was a likely ally and would maybe even know how to deal with Feng given that they were both Andrei subjects. And given that Alexandra was an ally to Annie, gaining her trust wouldn't be impossible. There was also Jabal, who helped co-create Feng. You had gotten some leads from Logan to track him down, which could be all the intel you needed to deal with Feng once and for all. "Damn, you found Logan? Lucky bastards." Orhan responded in an impressed voice, you thanking him before continuing. You mentioned how the combat sector was also home to plenty of other subjects who could help. Though, this did leave some of France's men sceptical. "Yeah... but the combat sector is also a hotspot for death squad activity!" Sigit mumbled, before Antonin added: "If there is one place where other death squads will catch us working with subejcts, it would be over there."

It was definitely another major risk, but the combat sector was massive enough that it could be relatively safe to explore. And if it really was too busy with death squads, you could always leave your subjects elsewhere where they'd be safe. France glanced over at Idalia, Chrys and Katya, before looking at you and nodding. "Alright. So, what do you do when we've recruited everyone you wanted to recruit? I take it we just... head towards Feng and start our assault on her base?" You admitted that your main plan would really depend on how many people would join you to help you. Though, if there was anyone who could ally themselves with such a large mixture of guardsmen, soldiers and subjects, it would be you and your allies. You even stated that you'd exchange equipment, people and subjects to help improve their chances of survival down there. Whilst you knew that not everyone would come out unscathed, you'd do everything in your power to minimize casualties.

You added that you couldn't force France and his men to join you. After all, you knew that it was a major risk they'd be taking. However, you also knew that the more people you had on your side, the greater the odds were that you'd not have to worry about Feng taking over the facility. If she wasn't stopped here right now, then who knows how far her reign of terror would go. "The government would... blow the planet up before it could get so far." Guilherme mumbled, to which Artyom responded: "They sure would. And they'd do so with us down here as well." Guilherme went quiet, knowing that the government would destroy everything if things got too out of hand. Finally, you added that Feng also knew details about the subject who caused this entire mess, which could help answer some of the questions all death squads had. Though to this, France scoffed a bit. "Mik, I wanna know what happened here as well... but not to the point of sending my men to their death."

Clearly, France's priorities did not really lie with solving the mystery of what was going on. You simply reiterated that you just hoped it would convince them to join in. The last thing you'd say about the topic was that you came here all the way because you knew they wouldn't kill innocent lives. And, now you hoped they'd be just as willing to save innocent lives. France thought about it, before looking to his men. "Alright everyone, what are we thinking? Who thinks we should skip out on this?" Guilherme, Orhan and Ignacy raised their hands. Though, Orhan and Ignacy were clearly reluctant to do so. "And, who is willing to join in?" Fortunately, Antonin, Sigit, Lautaro, Maija and Archie all raised their hands. France gave an understanding nod, before looking over at you. "It looks to be a yes, Mikhail. However, I do wish to... let my men also think about this for a little while longer. We will agree to join you for now... but, I do want to hold another vote before you head there, once we know how many people will join us."

It seemed like a reasonable request. If there was nobody else joining you, you could imagine France and his men not exactly being as thrilled about the mission. Fortunately, you were confident that you could recruit a few more forces, so you could reassure him that things would go just fine. Regardless, after you finished talking, Antonin spoke up more curiously. "So, can you tell us a bit about how you met Logan? How the hell did that happen?" Before you could answer, Maija also joined in with some questions: "And, can you tell us a bit more about this Andrei you mentioned? We've seen his name in some files, but... we didn't know he was a scientist who created subjects. Hell, I don't even recall such a name being in the government provided subject data...

>What do you do next?

>Answer some of the questions France's men had for you. You did promise to share intel and material with them, so it was only fair that you'd now tell him about your mission to save Logan, as well as your adventures in Andrei's trapped office. (Write in how you'll answer their questions.)
>Ask some questions of your own regarding their time down here. Maybe they could tell more about the friendly encounters they had, or their interactions with other death squads or the government? (Write in your question.)
>Discuss some plans on what to do next, now that you'd work together. You could already mention the path you thought you could take to get to Feng's forces safely. Or hell, you could even mention some of the specific subjects you wanted to ally with as well. (Write in how you'll discuss the plans.)
>Contact Annie to either let her know of your alliance, get her to tell a bit about how you worked for her, or even to just listen to her music. (Write in if you simply listen to her music or try to chat with her.)
>Tell the girls that you'd be working together, before asking them some questions. Or well, you'd probably just ask Idalia some questions, since you didn't know all that much about her. (Write in what you'll ask the girls or what you'll talk about with them.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6317823
>"The government would... blow the planet up before it could get so far."
Woah, so they actually have weapons capable of that? Not just wiping the surface or nuking the island, but an entire planet? Damn.

>>6317824
>Answer some of the questions France's men had for you. You did promise to share intel and material with them, so it was only fair that you'd now tell him about your mission to save Logan, as well as your adventures in Andrei's trapped office. (Write in how you'll answer their questions.)
Dunno about Loganquest but we can tell them all about Andrei.

>>6317824
>Answer some of the questions France's men had for you. You did promise to share intel and material with them, so it was only fair that you'd now tell him about your mission to save Logan, as well as your adventures in Andrei's trapped office.
We picked Logan up as a favour to Annie and she helped us find him. We've worked much more closely ever since (including telling us about them), though we're not sure how many of the deets of the mission she would like us to reveal.
Andrei. Paranoid. Secretive. Odd. There's a lot the Federation is withholding or actively lying about (the official documentation contains a lot of selective and sometimes false information to paint subjects in a more negative light too), including his existence - he made a number of notorious subjects including Feng, Grise, Anastasia (aka SD-1902) and Alexandra. Caera was his fuckin' office security system, apart from the bombs he'd rigged it with. We've picked up one of his saner subjects, they can ask her all about him later.
Just forward these guys the collective intel notes to peruse at their leisure.
>Discuss some plans on what to do next, now that you'd work together. You could already mention the path you thought you could take to get to Feng's forces safely. Or hell, you could even mention some of the specific subjects you wanted to ally with as well.
We'll be returning to the hideout to pick up some more of our allies and supplies, then we've got two objectives. One is to head down to Jabal & Catherine's office to chase some leads on them and the other is to head to the combat sector to get in touch with Alexandra and do some recruiting (likely candidates recommended to us by other subjects include Dhabus, Cyra (aka MP-32), Lono (aka AM-24), Zephyr (196-TB), Codaline (BK-47), Helen (TE-53) and Agiri (aka the real KB-18))
I think they'd be better off taking the first and us the second, though we could swap a couple of volunteers since we have more experience with defusing situations, wrangling subjects and traversing the lower floors. We would send several of our subject allies to back them up as well, of course.

>>6317823
>Answer some of the questions France's men had for you. You did promise to share intel and material with them, so it was only fair that you'd now tell him about your mission to save Logan, as well as your adventures in Andrei's trapped office. (Write in how you'll answer their questions.)
Tell them what we know about Andrei. If we do tell them about our quest to rescue Logan, be careful not to give them any specific info about where Annie is located or any info they could use to locate her. Just gloss over it.

We should also hit up those Heathen guys we met way back in like the first thread. See if working with them is viable.

>>6318039
I don't think we should. Every squad we bring in exponentially increases the risk of a leak and, while they're decent sorts, Leonard's squad is still seemingly GG-loyal and are currently attempting to hunt down and murder Edrice (could be an awkward encounter if we meet them in the logistics hub on our way back). I trust France's lot because they're already deep in it themselves, we have no such contingency with Leonard's.

>Answer some of the questions France's men had for you. You did promise to share intel and material with them, so it was only fair that you'd now tell him about your mission to save Logan, as well as your adventures in Andrei's trapped office.
Whilst you were more than fine talking about Andrei, you decided to hold back on intel about Logan a tiny bit. You'd even mention such, telling France and his men that you skim over some details since it could pose a risk to Logan and Annie. "Hm, alright." France commented. Whilst you did trust France and his men, you knew it was far too dangerous to leave them with such high value intel. It was fortunate that they didn't seem to question it too much for now. Regardless, you started by explaining what you knew about Andrei, since you had no restrictions on what you could tell them about him. You recounted how he was rather secretive and paranoid, with the government having also withheld and scrubbed a bunch of intel about him. He had made several particularly unhinged subjects, namely Feng, Grise and Anastasia.

"Important to note... that Grise's psychopathy is less his doing, and more-so Roraima's doing." Mike added, clearly wanting to give a bit more nuance to the story and Andrei's story. You also added that he made a few more reasonable subjects, such as Alexandra and Vinisha, the latter of whom was actually on your side. You then mentioned having a bunch of his files from his office, which you offered to hand them. "Oh, absolutely. We'd love to inspect that!" France said, Anon already grabbing the files to hand them over. Of course, you would also mention your adventures in getting these documents, how you had gotten the key to these files from Caera's charred corpse. "I take it... she was also one of his?" Maija asked, you stating Caera was his office security system together with a bunch of explosives. "Excuse me?" Archie asked in bewilderment, you elaborating that Andrei had trapped his office with explosives.

"Like Mikhail said, the guy was insanely paranoid." Thaddeus remarked, them soon grabbing the files and instantly checking them. You added that a lot of the government files had errors or exaggerations in them, such as Viridian being considered a sex-pest before 'brutally' cannibalizing people. "They also miss a lot of nuance, such as with Reika." Lydia argued, which did make some of your men scoff. "I mean, the current documents are maybe inaccurate now... but it took a lot of gunfire to get to that point, Lydia." Zaria commented, much to the amusement of your own men. Regardless, some of France's men were already scanning the pages and taking pictures, clearly wanting to use this data for their own collection. In the meantime, you decided to tell them more about Logan, how you had saved him at the request and with the help of Annie. And ever since, she had helped you out with regular updates and intel over the radio.

>Discuss some plans on what to do next, now that you'd work together. You could already mention the path you thought you could take to get to Feng's forces safely. Or hell, you could even mention some of the specific subjects you wanted to ally with as well.
"Damn, lucky guys you are. Then again, I guess it makes sense that she'd trust you a ton after that." Orhan mumbled, you agreeing before skimming over the rest of the details regarding your meeting with Logan. You said that you wanted to discuss your plan a tiny bit more, France's men not questioning it at all. You stated your goal to head to your hideout, picking up some allies and supplies before going to two key locations: Jabal and Catherine's office, and the combat sector. The former would provide clues on where the two of them were. The latter would help you recruit some other subjects, such as Dhabus, Cyra, AM-24, 196-TB, BK-47, TE-53 and the real KB-18.

You were willing to give them the safer option, since you knew they weren't as invested in the mission yet as you were. "That would be nice, yeah. Where is their office, exactly?" You mentioned having gotten close to it on several occasions since it was deep in the western parts of the facility. You could easily give them the specific locations as well, if they wanted it. "I honestly am more curious about the combat sector, not gonna lie." Sigit mumbled, as the rest of his friends stared at him. "What? We've been going through... peaceful and quiet non-combat zones. A part of me is curious what a REAL combat zone would look like down here." You mentioned being fine swapping volunteers, since you had a lot of experience with befriending subjects which they could use in case of emergencies. "That's fair, yeah." Ignacy remarked, France's men fortunately not questioning your logic here. Lastly, you mentioned being fine sending some of your subjects along with them to back them up. "We could even send some Jabal and Catherine subjects along with you. I recall Anofelis wanting to look for Jabal." Lars suggested, which wasn't the worst idea.

"So, guess we should- Oh, I assume... they are your subjects as well?" France remarked, looking past you and down the hallway. You saw Kenai, Gwen and Thalia wandering over. "That sheep and fish woman, are they... Elbrus subjects by any chance?" Lautaro asked in quiet concern, before Zaria nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. Fortunately, the sheep is rather sweet." After Zaria finished talking, Maija spoke up more concernedly. "Is that sheep carrying someone?" France's men all tried to get a good look, whilst Lydia spoke in a more sympathetic tone. "That's... her caretaker. They froze to death, but we took them along in case we found a way to revive them." Things went quiet, as the three subjects approaching. Kenai would be the first to speak. "So, I guess this is that France guy you spoke of?" She said in a rather tired and uninterested tone. Though, France and his men remained amazed at the sight.

"Yes, it's... a pleasure to meet you! Mikhail already mentioned you guys. I presume you're Kenai... You must be Gwenllian, and you are Thalia, correct?" France said optimistically. Gwen nodded in response, whilst Thalia gave a more pleased giggle. "Correct!" Whilst France and his men were quite intrigued by the sight, Chrys would stop her chat between Idalia and Katya to greet her friends. "Hey you guys! You, uhhh, wanna join us in a chat? Idalia is telling us a ton of stuff about the outside world!" Kenai would not seem too interested, Gwen not seeming too sure what to say. Fortunately, Thalia knew just what to say. "Id love to. But, I think we'll first hear what has happened between France and Mikhail now, okay?" Chrys seemed totally fine with that, as Thalia looked over at you and France, eagerly waiting to hear what you were discussing.

>What do you do next.

>Move on and leave the cold sector. You were now with everyone on your team and you had found France, so it was time to start heading elsewhere. Perhaps you could head back to the surface, or head south to where you first encountered Grise... (Write in where you head to.)
>Ask France some questions of his own. Where did he come from to get here, where was he originally going before you encountered him, what was his main plan. Maybe you could even ask some personal questions, such as what he and his men all specialized in or how they felt about the mission? (Write in your questions.)
>Tell France some stories or intel. Both to maybe compare intel, and to create further trust between you and your men. (Write in what you share with France.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6318182
>Ask France some questions of his own. Where did he come from to get here, where was he originally going before you encountered him, what was his main plan. Maybe you could even ask some personal questions, such as what he and his men all specialized in or how they felt about the mission? (Write in your questions.)
Did we interrupt anything important? Also does he know where we can get revival nanites? Not sure we can leave the cold sector unless we have a way to prevent decomposition.

>>6318182
>Move on and leave the cold sector. You were now with everyone on your team and you had found France, so it was time to start heading elsewhere. Perhaps you could head back to the surface, or head south to where you first encountered Grise
I'd like to pitch making a brief jaunt south to visit Elbrus' office. It takes us a bit deeper into the Grise Zone but we're more than capable of handling her if she decides to have a go at us in return for some potentially very juicy details about the Facility's second worst scientist and his creations. Katya, chances of encounter?
Otherwise, start heading up and back. But first, we need to find that damn hospital so we can at least try for Gwen's perma-dead fren.
>Ask France some questions of his own. Where did he come from to get here, where was he originally going before you encountered him, what was his main plan. Maybe you could even ask some personal questions, such as what he and his men all specialized in or how they felt about the mission?
What's he been doing all this time? Idalia was "killed" before we even got here, so they've been going around with her for over two weeks now?
Did they encounter any other subjects or staff members of note?
In fact, what's their long-term game plan? We're still searching for a way to get our own girls out of here.
Heard any good death squad juice? They can't be faring well considering how few subjects they've managed to kill compared with how many we've bumped into as we've been going around.
>Tell France some stories or intel. Both to maybe compare intel, and to create further trust between you and your men.
Give him the rundown on Feng's minions. What they look like, how they behave, the two types, their patrol patterns, their combat routine, their loadouts, where they're likely to be, that Feng monitors them remotely and can take them over and how to combat them (generally easily ambushed or avoided when in small groups but beware reinforcements and being on Feng's shitlist).
Detail how we met some of our allies and use some of the scenarios to give advice on conflict resolution and earning trust. Approach with an open hand and not a raised muzzle, give them space, keep them talking, empathise with them, use their name, name-drop their friends, have Facility friends who can vouch for you, make yourself vulnerable (only if confident!) and the sad ones are VERY weak to physical affection. Chrys' meeting story sounds much like to Idalia's.

-----

I don't think we need to get our girls offworld in the near future. There's a whole planet out there that they can't watch all of, even if it is mostly sea and sparsely populated. We just need to get them out of the Facility to somewhere else on Alpha Copernicus and lie low for a while until the Feds wrap up here and the fleet goes home, at which point we can work to smuggle them offworld via civilian shipping or low-security government channels. It'd be much easier and safer than running the blockade, methinks.

>>6317513
Who is this character other than Kaenum? I've seen them in a couple of drawings so far but I got nothing on who they are.

>>6318261
Did you not read the OP?

>>6318220
Supporting. Seems solid. Gives our new allies a good rundown. I do think it might be good to go contact Annie and try and have her contact home base so we can check in on the other girls and introduce them to our new friends, but we can do that later.

>>6318261
>>6318264
She's a dragon girl meant to be Anastasia who's fan art got turned official and made into an entirely separate character unless I forgot something. Edith was never described as draconic or lizard like as far as I remember.

>>6318054
Went back and checked the first two threads, it seems like he's just as suspicious of the government as we are and while his men were eager to get paid killing her, Leonard wanted to capture 9-SB alive to question her before deciding what to do with her. While involving more squads is risky, it also decreases the risk of the government becoming suspicious of us when we bring them Feng's head. I think it's at least worthwhile to try and gauge his current attitude towards subjects.

>>6318182
Supporting >>6318220

>>6318264
That ain't Edith, surely. They look like the aforementioned mini-Anastasia-who-isn't, but at the same time I haven't seen much of her to recognise her and she hasn't been depicted like that before. Is it her? I don't know. The way drawfriend stylises his characters can make it difficult to tell who they are.
>>6318279
(uH+QZuw3 is me on mobile by the way)
I skimmed their earlier appearances and didn't pay much attention to that. If they're a bunch of dissidents who aren't murderhobos, we can at least talk to them but it's always going to be riskier than with France.
That said, it does raise a point in my mind. We are totally going to have to bring her body back at least as proof of death - if we involve subjects in the personal fight against her, she's going to have obviously non-death-squad injuries. We've seen before GG meticulously checks such things, how are we going to explain big Reika slashes etc.?

>>6318335
Maybe we could have the subjects handle her henchmen while we and some of our human allies focus fire on Feng? Shower the bitch in bullets and try to slap her with a few bolts of hot plasma.

>>6318340
I was definitely thinking having the subjects on crowd control, but what if we need assistance with her? She's still a very dangerous individual who's more than earned her threat level and might well be too much for us to handle - how powerful she is in person is still unclear but she's definitely fearsome.
I'd think for best results we could have any combat subjects stick to kicking her about or restraining her and maybe shooting her one or two extra times with the PRG to cover things up. We may also have to clear corpses with subject-related wounds if death squads are going to come sniffing around post-battle.

>>6318366
I reckon we lend the PRG to Katya. She trained with heavy weapons against tanky targets in battle. It's perfect, I don't know why we haven't considered this before.

>We may also have to clear corpses with subject-related wounds if death squads are going to come sniffing around post-battle.
We could always let Reika "dispose" of them. Once Feng is dead, the nanites in their bodies shouldn't be much of an issue, right?

>>6318388
That is a good idea, we should mull it over with her even if it might leave Thaddeus feeling a bit exposed. That reminds me, we need to ask her if she's decided what other weapon she wants since we should ask Morgan to get on that if she's to be able to take it on the next adventure. I still think she'd absolutely slay with a heavy lance.

Reika can eat some of the corpses but she is only one person, even if a large one and we'll have dozens of corpses at least to dispose of. Even she can't eat that much. Unless we could persuade Viridian to help for food heh.

>Move on and leave the cold sector. You were now with everyone on your team and you had found France, so it was time to start heading elsewhere. Perhaps you could head back to the surface, or head south to where you first encountered Grise...
You told the girls that it was mostly just planning you discussed and nothing too exciting. "Oh, alright." Thalia calmly responded, before you quickly suggested heading southwards. You wanted to visit Elbrus' office, which was to the south of your current location. "Sure, I don't see why not." France said, the rest of his men also agreeing. "Let's make it quick though. I'd rather avoid that place." Zaria said softly, you agreeing that you'd just quickly check it out. You'd even ask Katya what the chances were of any dangerous encounters. "It is difficult to estimate the odds. However, due to this location being near the high threat level containment I patrolled, as well as the number of subjects we have encountered here already, I estimate the odds of a hostile encounter are around... 1.7%." Those seemed like rather safe odds, you even saying it could help teach you about some of the worse and most perverse subjects. "That is very true." Mike responded, as you signalled everyone to follow you.

>Ask France some questions of his own. Where did he come from to get here, where was he originally going before you encountered him, what was his main plan. Maybe you could even ask some personal questions, such as what he and his men all specialized in or how they felt about the mission?
You asked Anon and Kenai to lead the way to the southern exit, them quickly obliging and leading the way. You would also stay with Katya and France nearby, deciding to use the opportunity to ask France some questions. And the first thing you'd ask, was if your encounter with him actually interrupted whatever mission he was on. "Not really, to be honest. We just were looking for food here and any sort of useful files."

"Don't forget that we were also looking for further paths downwards." Lautaro would respond in turn, France nodding along. "That... that too, yeah. We're mostly just exploring, looking for anything of interest or subjects. We haven't been here for that long, honestly. Hell, I think you've already explored this place as thoroughly as possible." Whilst you had explored a large portion of this place, you hadn't found EVERYTHING yet. Alan would even reiterate this, calmly saying: "We missed out on one or two subjects here, I think. Maybe we still will find them and can kill them together?" He remarked, making your men chuckle whilst France's men looked confused. "Don't mind Alan. Ever since burning the rabbit girl, he has been quite eager to kill." Lars mentioned, making Alan scoff. "Hey, I just wanna kill bad subjects. I can hold myself back if they are friends." France and his men remained a little confused, not responding in any way and giving you the chance to ask more questions.

You asked about regeneration nanites, France looking at Orhan as he checked his bag. "We've collected a couple of vials of the stuff, but we've been reluctant to use them. We haven't been injured all too seriously to warrant using them." France said, after which Guilherme spoke more sceptically. "I'd rather not toy around with those things. Maybe for medical emergencies, but... aside from that, we've assumed they're bad stuff." Hearing this, Lars spoke up far more eagerly. "If you won't use them, can we use them instead? We've found them to be... very useful!" France and his men looked surprised, Thaddeus soon adding: "Aye, we've found them to be safe to use. They're swell!" You asked if they could be used on Gwen's friend, which made France look at his men. They all nodded, clearly not minding it. "Alright, Orhan, hand them the stuff." Despite this potentially saving her caretaker's life, Gwen did not appear too excited. In fact, she looked even more subdued than usual.

"I can administer the nanites to the body as we walk. Might need to pause whilst I inject them, but... I doubt it will matter much given how frozen the body is." Lars added, as he would rummage through his own tools. In the meantime, you asked if they encountered several other subjects or staff of note. "Staff? Plenty, but none of note. Just scientists, caretakers, a few guardsmen, but... most fled or were so close to dying they couldn't provide much useful intel. Subjects, we encountered... only a small number here. We saw far more in the south-eastern parts of the facility, actually. We encountered MM-3, TO-22 and also almost had a run-in with 8103-BT. MM-3 just... mocked us and then retreated, TO-22 actually was relatively friendly, but retreated quickly. 8103-BT, we saw walking about, but decided to... avoid fighting, for obvious reasons." Given that you had missed Kaenum by a tiny bit in the green sector, it showed she had travelled quite far from where you last almost spotted her.

Next, you decided to ask what their long-term game plan was, you admitting that you wanted to find a way to get the girls out of here. "Yeah, good luck with that..." Guilherme said, eliciting some annoyed glares from your men. "Getting them to safety within the facility is... easy enough. But getting them to safety OFF-PLANET? You'd have to be crazy to think that is possible." Guilherme remarked, France clearing his throat before saying: "It... saving Idalia or any of the other girls is not our long-term plan, I'm afraid. Our main plan is just figuring out what is going on down here, maybe saving some lives and getting paid. Oh, and getting out alive. That is also important to us." It seemed like France and his men were far less ambitious with their plans. Or at the very least, they were solely focused on the short-term. You really couldn't question his logic that badly. Though, you could critique him for not thinking ahead about important details.

Lastly, you asked about death squad intel, wanting to know more about what the other squads were up to and if there was any exciting news. "Well, I take it you’re already aware that Scary Monsters is here now? Apparently, they’ll be cleaning things up, going deeper into the facility with their less massive machinery and even guarding some key outposts. Aside from that, most death squads are currently just chasing whatever subjects they can. Apparently, kills on staff and guardsmen are getting so common, the government is considering reducing payment for those kills. And, from what I heard from other squads, they’re also really increasing the pay rate for killing subjects. Especially high threat level ones or unknown subjects. This has led to death squads heading deeper into the facility, or intensifying their hunts on particular subjects.” It sounded like bad news. But, given that most subjects were still very much alive, you did wonder how much a reward hike would help in increasing the number of subjects killed.

>Tell France some stories or intel. Both to maybe compare intel, and to create further trust between you and your men.
Speaking of guardsmen and scientists, you’d mention that Feng had acquired a large number of them. You’d even give a bit of a rundown on them, their weirdly ornate appearance and the way they behaved. France and his men listened intently, especially looking worried when you mentioned that Feng monitored them remotely. “So, she could literally just make a wall of guardsmen who follow her every command?” Maija asked in a clearly disturbed tone, you confirming that it was the case. “She can even take over their bodies from range and speak through them. That’s how we got plenty of intel about her.” Mike mentioned, you mentioning she specifically spoke to you given that you were essentially on her shitlist. “Well, at least Thalia was able to knock ‘em out quite readily with her voice!” Thaddeus said proudly, making Thalia smile reluctantly.

“Really now?” France asked, before Mike said: “Whilst it didn’t work on all of them, it worked on several of them. Oh, and on Thaddeus as well.” He said that last part smugly, Thaddeus not minding it too much. “Impressive. So, she is... quite literally some sort of siren subject, huh?” Archie asked in an impressed tone, Thalia nodding happily. “Yes, but... I must admit that I don’t understand my powers all that well still. It’s... not something Elbrus told me a whole lot about.” This made Sigit speak up curiously. “I take it that is also why you wanna head to Elbrus’ office?” You said that it’d be a nice bonus, but that it wasn’t your main goal. “So, how did you actually meet Thalia, if I may ask?” Ignacy asked, you deciding to inform them of how you actually got to meet your allies. Namely, you explained your travels through the flooded sector, the various subjects you met in the green sector, Katya and Vinisha.

You also used these encounters to mention what you felt were the best ways of introducing yourself to a subject. You mentioned how you had to be open, give them space, understand what they were going through and humanizing them. France and his men nodded along with what you said, you knowing that some of them were quite happy to follow along. Though, you could also tell that some of the more... obvious titbits were less appreciated. Though, hearing that physical affection helped was something France and his men were pleasantly receptive to. “Did we... ever hug Idalia?” France asked, his men seeming unsure. However, Idalia was quick to join the conversation, showing that she was not as physical as the subjects you mentioned. “I prefer not being touched too much.” She said quietly, France and his men looking at you with a sheepish expression.

“Well, if we do meet more scared or anxious subjects, we’ll be sure to follow those tips, Mikhail!” France said, before you Sigit spoke up. “Um, what about Gwen? Is... I take it you looked after her as well?” He asked, before Lydia responded: “We’ve certainly tried to help Gwen feel better about her predicament. Hopefully, those nanites you provided can help revive her caretaker as well.” Some of your men and France’s men looked at Gwen, who was holding her caretaker in both arms. Though, she looked extremely distraught. Lars had already given the nanites to the caretaker now, but... it didn’t seem like Gwen was focused on that. Instead, she was just staring forward, almost looking as if she had seen a ghost. But, before you could discuss it with her, you were met with a question from Lautaro, who was inspecting Andrei’s files.

“By the way, Mikhail... Can you tell me about the missing last page in these files? They... look to have been ripped out. Did you do that?”
>Answer Lautaro’s question about the Andrei files. You didn’t really have an answer to what the content was of these missing pages, but you probably could give some speculation as to what it might be. (Write in what you say.)
>Check up on Gwen to see how she’s faring. Perhaps something is wrong with her caretaker and the revival process? Or, perhaps there’s something else on her mind? (Write in how you check up on her.)
>Ask some further questions to France and his men. Perhaps some elaboration was necessary about their subject encounters, the news they heard, or even just the files they discovered whilst exploring. (Write in what you ask.)
>Chat a bit with Idalia. Clearly, there was a lot to her, just as there had been a lot to Katya. Perhaps you could learn more about her and get closer to her to help her open up? (Write in what you discuss with Idalia.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

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>>6318520
Where exactly did they see Kaenum and on what level? We'd like to grab her if we can because so many of these girls need psych support.
If crazy is what it takes, crazy is what we'll have to be. Abandoning these people who trust us, depend on us and, for many, regard us as their friends and guardians would be an appalling betrayal when they've been screwed over so much already. But that's our problem, their position is understandable.
As for the page, their guess is as good as ours. Clearly something Andrei didn't want found, perhaps he worked on the Demon or - more likely - has a trump card still up his sleeve. Vinisha didn't know much little, perhaps Alexandra could provide clues or even Feng might when she's at gunpoint.
>Chat a bit with Idalia. Clearly, there was a lot to her, just as there had been a lot to Katya. Perhaps you could learn more about her and get closer to her to help her open up?
I think Idalia's going to be a tough nut because of her Roraima Syndrome. Don't interrogate her with The List for intel's sake yet, this is just talk.
What did the three of them discuss?
Did she know Katya from before? Or Reika, perhaps?
What did she do before the disaster? What was she training to be?
Did she have any friends among subjects or staff? Does she want to talk about them?
How have things been the last two or three weeks with these guys?
>Check up on Gwen to see how she’s faring. Perhaps something is wrong with her caretaker and the revival process? Or, perhaps there’s something else on her mind?
Just walk with her. If she wants to say anything, she'll speak. I imagine she's in a very fragile state of mind right now and butting in may not be what she needs.

-----

I wonder if France & Co. will end up making some friends to commit to on their own mission.

Also, fren list needs updating as well as just the MGE.

>>6318520
>Answer Lautaro’s question about the Andrei files. You didn’t really have an answer to what the content was of these missing pages, but you probably could give some speculation as to what it might be. (Write in what you say.)
Nope, like that when we found them, sorry.

>Check up on Gwen to see how she’s faring. Perhaps something is wrong with her caretaker and the revival process? Or, perhaps there’s something else on her mind? (Write in how you check up on her.)
Hey uh you good homie?

>>6318580
Supporting. I am worried that the nanites won't do enough to actually revive Gwen's caretaker. Hopefully they will at least keep them from rotting for a while.
>Also, fren list needs updating as well as just the MGE.
Didn't the MGE get updated before this thread was made? I swear there's new subjects in it and some intel has been tweaked like the government list telling us Viridian is clearly just like any other Elbrus subject, honest, really.

>>6318621
I don't think Gwen's caretaker can be revived at all, much less from a portable nanite infusion. There's a big difference between healing an injury and reviving someone who's been dead for days.
Yes, the MGE was updated in the intermission. The others just need an update too.

>Answer Lautaro’s question about the Andrei files. You didn’t really have an answer to what the content was of these missing pages, but you probably could give some speculation as to what it might be.
>Ask some further questions to France and his men. Perhaps some elaboration was necessary about their subject encounters, the news they heard, or even just the files they discovered whilst exploring.
You stated that you did not rip the pages out, it having been that way since you found it. Lautaro looked confused, as you explained that it probably was something Andrei didn't want to find. "A secret subject from the secret scientist. I'd bet money on it being tied to this whole mess in the facility." Ignacy mumbled, the rest of France's men seeming to agree. You also agreed it could be tied to the demon. Or perhaps even some kind of secret final weapon. You also explained that Vinisha didn't know about this ripped page, meaning that the only people you could ask were Alexandra or Feng once she was defeated.

Afterwards, you turned to France and asked him a bit more about Kaenum. You wanted to know what level they found her at and where. "Uhhh, let me check." He'd grab a tablet, before opening the facility map. He'd open at the base facility map, the one showing the base at the centre of the crater. He'd point to the large office area to the north of the leisure centre, before zooming in a bit. "We spotted her... around this point, in the central part of the office just wandering about. She did actually say something, saying that... something was after her, which made us panic a little bit. Alas, whatever it was that was after her did not appear for us. Maybe she tricked us, or she had flown quite a distance to flee." You thanked him for the response, before mentioning that you wanted her to join your party. After all, she could help your subjects in recovering mentally after going through so much shit in the past.

>Chat a bit with Idalia. Clearly, there was a lot to her, just as there had been a lot to Katya. Perhaps you could learn more about her and get closer to her to help her open up?
Speaking of shit subjects went through, you'd walk over to Idalia as you wanted to chat with her a bit. She was momentarily just staring ahead, noticing you only after a moment. You would ask what she discussed along with Chrys and Katya, her giving a quick and direct response. "We discussed our time spent with humans. Specifically, our creators." Given that Katya was also made by Roraima, you brought him up and asked if it meant she knew Katya from a previous meeting. "I do not. Though, I can see Roraima left his mark on her. It is difficult to miss." It seemed that Idalia was at least aware of what Roraima was like and that his treatment left subjects quite stunted. Though, you didn't bring that up, asking her if she knew Reika or other subjects. "I did not know other subjects. I did hear of Reika and her lacking intellect before however."

You asked if she made friends with staff, her fortunately giving a nod. "Yes, I befriended my guardsmen. They respected me and did not treat me harshly. I believe the reason for that was that they were not appointed by Roraima but by Tengri. Roraima did not care much for me, but Tengri cared far more." She said calmly, yet with a clear hint of admiration towards Tengri. You asked if she wanted to talk about the guardsmen or Tengri, her giving a quick nod. "It has been a very long time since I saw them. However, they were always very eager to share their lives with me. Sabrina was especially eager to talk about her family who lives on the capital, and the fact her uncle was a high-ranking senator. Winston often spoke of his love for gardening and always brought new plants for me to test my abilities with. I can tell more stories, but I do not wish to bore you too much." You told her that she wasn't boring you at all, her giving another quick nod.

She squinted her eyes, before speaking in a surprisingly emotional tone. "I also... am one of the few subjects who... apparently managed to go off-planet." There was a pause, your men who heard this all stopping with talking to listen to Idalia. "After Roraima disowned me and Tengri looked after me, I trained for combat and... ended up working with government forces in a few training sessions. I got to experience what it was like out there. And I must admit that... I do miss it. Those soldiers were very respectful, very caring and passionate to do their job right." Some of your men were clearly stunned. How could a subject have gone off-planet?! How could she have gotten in contact with government forces?! Mike was quick to ask questions, giving his vehement hatred towards government combatants. "How the hell did the government allow that to happen? The government would kill all children on a planet if they found out that one knew of this place."

Idalia remained calm, despite the somewhat insulting remark from Mike. "I believe they were elite soldiers, designed to protect high-ranking cabinet members and important locations." It seemed reasonable enough. The high-ranking guardsmen were probably treated far better than the lowly grunts down here. Either way, you'd ask her how that training ended, Idalia calmly saying: "I was brought back after a military training exercise where I had to infiltrate an enemy base. I did a good job, Tengri deciding to bring me back. According to him, my results were excellent, and the government was interested in creating copies of my nanites to make more subjects like me. I do not know if that came to be, given that the disaster presumably damaged all those nanites samples. Not to mention, the government's current mission down here." Idalia said in mild disappointment, as it was clear that Idalia unfortunately missed out on a very successful career as the first mass-produced subject.

To try and cheer her up a bit, you decided to ask how she felt about the last two to three weeks with France and his men. Idalia remained stern and emotionless, but she did speak with a hint of warmness in her voice. "They remind me of some of those elite soldiers and my guardsmen friend. I trust them and know they mean to do the right thing. I am happy to have been able to help them a lot on their mission down here." Despite you only wanting to mildly probe Idalia for intel, you had gotten a massive amount of intel about her. "You know, Idalia, we actually... met an old guardsmen friend of yours, I believe. His name is Salvador. Does it ring familiar with you?" Lydia asked curiously, her thinking for a moment before nodding. "He was an old guardsmen assigned to me by Roraima before he distanced himself from me, yes. Though, I do not remember much about him, I must admit." Though, there was one final question about this whole Roraima thing with her, one which Artyom was quick to ask.

"So, why did he abandon you, if I may ask? I doubt it was because you did not follow orders, or because you were incapable of your job." Idalia's tone shifted a bit, yet her expression remained calm as ever. "According to him, I was not up to his standards. I was obedient from the get-go, I did everything as ordered, I made few mistakes. And yet, he still tortured me for faults which were not my own. Petty excuses such as 'talking too much with staff' or 'asking questions about the outside world'. The truth is... he enjoys abusing his power above everything else. He does not care for results. He does not care for creating great subjects. He simply wants someone to torture and break into something they aren't. He relishes in other's pain and changing them through rigor and suffering. Because I could not be broken the same way, he grew bored of me and dismissed me." Idalia's anger was rightly justified, your men also agreeing that he was nothing more but a sadist masquerading as a rough teacher.

>Check up on Gwen to see how she’s faring. Perhaps something is wrong with her caretaker and the revival process? Or, perhaps there’s something else on her mind?
As your men started talking more with Idalia, you noticed Gwen walking a bit behind the rest of the group. You told France to keep heading forward with Katya, before walking over to her. Gwen glanced at you, before looking back down. You asked if everything was okay and that she didn’t have to speak if she didn’t want to. After all, the last thing you wanted was to pressure her into giving a response. Though after a moment of quiet, she finally did speak. Albeit, rather softly and nervously. “E-Elbrus’ o-office... I-I...” She let out a nervous gulp, as it was clear that your choice to head over to his office would lead to her... likely reliving some traumatic memories.

>What do you do next?

>Reassure Gwen in some way. Maybe it was fine for her to be nervous about this. Or, maybe you could just let her stay outside with Katya and Zaria to watch guard? There were numerous ways you could make her feel at ease. (Write in what you tell her to reassure her.)
>Try and talk about something else with her to get her mind off of Elbrus. Maybe you could bring up what Elodie just told you, or ask her how her caretaker is doing. (Write in what you say to get her mind off of things.)
>Tell her not to worry and go back to doing something else. You knew that talking about it would only make her more anxious. Therefore, it was smarter to just... let it be and go back to what you were doing before, such as leading your group out of the frozen sector or chatting with Idalia. (Write in what you do instead.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6318925
Must ask Idalia about KK next time we talk. More specifically, about how to help her - she pulled through and kept her mind while her peers did not. KK broke but she didn't outright shatter and the original Katya is still in there, just buried under layers of ice. I'd like to see if she has any advice about how to rebuild her confidence to be herself and coax her out of her mental armour based on what she saw and experienced.

>Reassure Gwen in some way. Maybe it was fine for her to be nervous about this. Or, maybe you could just let her stay outside with Katya and Zaria to watch guard? There were numerous ways you could make her feel at ease.
Nope, nope, nope. Stop right there. Elbrus isn't at home and his office has been.....reorganised by some of his other victims but, if she doesn't want to come and going there is going to open some very painful old wounds, she stays right here. Do we have a couple of volunteers to accompany her?

>>6318925
>Reassure Gwen in some way. Maybe it was fine for her to be nervous about this. Or, maybe you could just let her stay outside with Katya and Zaria to watch guard? There were numerous ways you could make her feel at ease. (Write in what you tell her to reassure her.)
I don't see any reason why she'd need to come in if she doesn't want to.

>>6318925
>Reassure Gwen in some way. Maybe it was fine for her to be nervous about this. Or, maybe you could just let her stay outside with Katya and Zaria to watch guard? There were numerous ways you could make her feel at ease. (Write in what you tell her to reassure her.)
Might as well let her stay outside with Katya, Zaria and anyone else that isn't interested in checking out Elbrus' goon cave.

>Reassure Gwen in some way. Maybe it was fine for her to be nervous about this. Or, maybe you could just let her stay outside with Katya and Zaria to watch guard? There were numerous ways you could make her feel at ease.
Seeing Gwenllian unable to even talk about Elbrus and his office, you would quickly try and calm her down. You told her that she had nothing to worry about, given that Elbrus was not in his office. You obviously weren't entirely sure about that statement, but chances seemed extremely high that he wouldn't be there. In fact, you were quick to suggest that the place was likely reorganised by some of the subjects he had tortured, given how many would want to get revenge on him now. Gwenllian still seemed nervous, you telling her that she didn't have to come with you into the room. She could stay outside the office space with a few volunteers, you already looking to Zaria. Having heard you speak, Zaria would quickly nod. "I'd certainly be happy to stand guard with Gwenllian outside his office, mhm." You also asked Katya, who gave a quick nod. "Affirmative. I will also be willing to stand guard."

Gwenllian would give a more calm nod, before softly saying: "I'd... like th-that as well..." With that, she'd go quiet again, as it seemed you had quelled some of her concerns. Though given how she was staring at her caretaker, you had a feeling her anxiety only really shifted to another worry of hers. Regardless, you could only wait and see what happened with her caretaker, and whether or not the nanites would actually be of use. Thus, you'd leave Gwen alone a little bit, instead heading back to the front. Once you were leading the group with France and Katya again, France would speak up amusedly. "Looks like Lautaro and Anon are already exchanging plenty of intel on the tablets." Looking behind you, you indeed saw Lautaro and Anon looking over each other's tablets to exchange intel. It was nice to see, and wasn't the only co-operation you and France saw.

Maija was busy chatting with Mike and Lars, taking interest in Mike's acid gun. When you asked why to France, he'd scoff and say: "She's a chemist. Loves to run all sorts of experiments and... even at one point asked to have an acid gun as well. Though, we had to say no for... several reasons. Though, it does beg the question what you have the acid gun for, heh." Hearing your chat, Thaddeus would remark: "We originally got it to deal with a slime subject. But, we've not encountered her so far, so... there's that. It has at least helped us a couple a times against dangerous subjects, so it wasn't an entirely worthless thing to get." Thaddeus did forget to mention that it had a base in it, rather than acid. But, those details weren't to important. In the meantime, you also saw Archie talking with Lydia, her showing off some remotes and other gizmos. Given the excitement Archie showed, you imagined he was also some kind of engineer or tech-guy.

Lydia wasn't the only one to share her interests, as Arty was showing some of the traps he had on him with Guilherme. Though, Guilherme didn't appear too impressed by the traps. One of France's men who did appear to be impressed with one of your men was Antonin. He was currently chatting with Alan, showing interest in his flamethrower as they talked about... well, you weren't entirely sure. One thing which was a whole lot sweeter, was the way Orhan was interacting with your girls. He was talking with Chrys, Thalia and Kenai, clearly showing great interest in them and seeming happy to talk. Sigit and Ignacy were the only ones not actively chatting or interacting with anyone. Though, Sigit did seem to listen in on some of your men as they chatted with one another. Regardless, with you still going down the snowy and dark hallways, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to fraternize and get to know your allies a bit better.

Then again, maybe it was better to just focus on finding a way out of this place instead.

>What do you do next?

>Have a chat with one of France's men to get to know them better. Maybe ask what they usually did, how they were faring, what they hoped to do and if they had any particular wishes in terms of your alliance? That, or just listen to their stories. (Write in which of France's men you chat with.)
>Turn on the radio to listen to music or even chat with Annie. Maybe you could even let her know that you had gotten your first major death squad ally? (Write in if you chat with Annie, and about what if so.)
>Just quietly keep heading forward until you either reached the exit to this place or got stuck somewhere. The quicker you headed forward and led your men ahead, the quicker you'd get to Elbrus office...
>Discuss with your men or the girls...
>Something else...

>>6319298
>Just quietly keep heading forward until you either reached the exit to this place or got stuck somewhere. The quicker you headed forward and led your men ahead, the quicker you'd get to Elbrus office...
We've had a good deal of chitchat already, and I'm sure Annie already knows.

>>6319298
>Just quietly keep heading forward until you either reached the exit to this place or got stuck somewhere. The quicker you headed forward and led your men ahead, the quicker you'd get to Elbrus office...
I can't really think of much to say right now. We'll call the fox later.

>>6319298
>Just quietly keep heading forward until you either reached the exit to this place or got stuck somewhere. The quicker you headed forward and led your men ahead, the quicker you'd get to Elbrus office...

>Just quietly keep heading forward until you either reached the exit to this place or got stuck somewhere. The quicker you headed forward and led your men ahead, the quicker you'd get to Elbrus office...
Seeing as you had already chatted plenty with France and his men, you decided to just... keep things quiet for now. You wanted to focus on getting to Elbrus' office. Thus, you quietly led the way for a solid twenty to thirty minutes. Katya, Anon and France would be the main folk giving directions, with Kenai also offering some help. Furthermore, you passed by several more offices and testing chambers, all of which were frozen over. You encountered several more corpses as well, though none of them appeared to have anything of value on them. One particularly horrific sight was a bunch of guardsmen, frozen in the same room as it was clear they hadn't been able to escape the bitter cold of the frozen sector. Eventually though, you would get to the central pathway heading south, spotting the checkpoint which headed towards the hallway leading to the transport section you had stayed in only a few days ago.

"Remember to keep yer eyes out for anything suspicious. Grise is still wandering this place, for all we know." Thaddeus said calmly, as you and your group stuck close to one another. As you headed further and further south, you would find the cold getting less and less intense. The hallway became less coated with snow and frost, you even spotting some parts which had thawed recently. You also noticed plenty of side-chambers, many of which had been left in a state of utter ruin and chaos. And, it wouldn't take long for you to figure out how that happened, as one of the rooms you passed by was coated in dried up blood and bits of bone. "Fucking hell..." Sigit remarked in disgust and concern, Lars speaking softly yet disgustedly. "I don't think that's... just one person. Look, there's multiple shinbones there, and multiple collar bones."

The bones looked like they had been chewed on, with only tiny remnants of flesh still stuck to them. There were remnants and tatters of guardsmen outfits all over the room. And indeed, you noticed two heavily damaged and broken guardsmen helmets in the corner of the room. "I think... this might've been Grise's doing. She's the only one who would... just completely eat two people without hesitation." Whoever was the cause of this, you weren't going to stay here and find out. Besides, you wanted to find Elbrus' office, not see how high Grise's kill count was. With that in mind, you told your men to ignore any murder sites unless if it was visibly different in some way. This saved you a bit of time, you only noticing a few remains in the nearest chambers. Though eventually, you'd spot a large hallway heading west. And looking down the hallway, you saw two large ornate doors which had been ripped off their hinges. They were heavily damaged, wood and fabric strewn around them.

"Katya, you see any traps?" Guilherme asked, Katya scanning the area for them. "I doubt that Elbrus is like Andrei and went through the effort to set up traps. At least, well hidden traps." Artyom said, making Guilherme scoff. "Better safe than sorry, hm?" Whilst Katya scanned the area for traps, you'd turn to Gwenllian to see how she was faring. She was visibly shaking and staring at the broken doors. You reassured her that she didn't have to enter, telling her that Katya and Zaria would stay with her. Gwenllian didn't respond though, simply looking ahead in pure horror. Fortunately, soon after, Katya looked to you and your men before saying: "No traps spotted." With that, you would tell Katya, Zaria and Gwenllian to stay outside. "Affirmative, Mikhail." Katya responded, Zaria giving a quick nod. "Let me know if you spot anything of interest. We'll warn you if we see anything out here." With that, you started heading forward. You turned on your lights, before finally entering the dark chamber.

Looking around, the place was an absolute mess, just like the other rooms from before. Ignoring the heavily damaged furniture, papers scattered everywhere and glass shards, the room actually did look quite cosy. The place was decorated lavishly with soft carpets, fancy chairs, glass display cupboards (of which most had been destroyed), beautiful lamps and a large wooden desk. Your men quickly spread out, some picking up the papers on the floor and others checking some of the cupboards and display cases. You'd check the main desk, inspecting the contents with France and Sigit. It didn't take long for you to find some maps, some of which contained information about subjects. However, one thing you soon also saw was a clear picture of a subject in the nude. "Oh, that's disgusting." It looked to be some kind of plant girl with... a rather voluptuous figure. She had dozens of vines coming from her body, her hair pink with ornate flowers on them.

You also saw a picture of a nude wasp girl of some kind, her presenting... herself quite eagerly whilst covered in some honey-like substance. You quickly put those pictures away, as you heard Lydia groan as well. "What a fucking creep..." She said as she pointed to a picture that was still on the display, showing what you assumed was Elbrus. He looked to be a rather average man in terms of stature and physical form. He was partially bald, with just some bits of hair on the side of his head. Though, he made up for it with a rather wild black beard which went down to his neck. He had his arms around the shoulders of two subjects you quickly recognised. One was Sirona, who looked utterly depressed and tired in the picture. The other girl was none other than Viridian, albeit far smaller than before. She looked like she utterly reviled Elbrus, yet clearly holding herself back from simply killing the bastard. "Poor Viri..." Mike mumbled, before you would hear something mechanical coming from behind his desk.

Looking over at the desk, you saw Guilherme fiddling with something. "I found a secret button, you guys." He said, him presumably still pressing it as you saw some movement in the wall behind Elbrus' desk chair. "Well, would you look at that. Elbrus got a secret room!" Maija said eagerly, whilst Artyom spoke in clear concern. "Let's hope it is just a room he keeps his documents in, and not a... well, whatever the hell Elbrus needs a secret room for." Knowing Elbrus, this place could indeed hold some extremely vile things. Of course, it could also hold extremely valuable material for you to investigate. Unfortunately though, there was just one issue...

The secret door barely budged, clearly having been damaged to the point of being unable to be opened easily.

>What do you do next?

>Figure out a plan to open the door. You could send in your smartest men to find a way to safely open the door, or just get your stronger group members to brute force the door open. Hell, you could even use explosives or look for a different way to enter. (Write in how you try to open the door.)
>Focus on something else in the office first. The pictures and files you had gotten from his desk probably had some interesting things in them to look at. Besides, it was safer and could maybe provide clues as to what the secret room contained... (Write in what you inspect first.)
>Ask Thalia for help in this place. She was an Elbrus subject. Surely, she'd know a bit about this place, what the secret room was like or if there was anything of particular interest? (Write in what you ask Thalia.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6319732
>She's the only one who would... just completely eat two people without hesitation
I feel like Sirona totally would too.

>Ask Thalia for help in this place. She was an Elbrus subject. Surely, she'd know a bit about this place, what the secret room was like or if there was anything of particular interest? (Write in what you ask Thalia.)
Was she ever in here? Any idea what's in the secret room? Don't want to wander into a rape dungeon if we don't have to.

Shame Gwen's scared, she's by far our strongest subject and could easily muscle that door open I'd bet.

>>6319734
>Figure out a plan to open the door. You could send in your smartest men to find a way to safely open the door, or just get your stronger group members to brute force the door open. Hell, you could even use explosives or look for a different way to enter.
Force the door just a crack, enough to get a drone through. Survey the area beyond remotely to make sure we know what we're going into first - if there's nothing suspect, call KK back in for a minute to yank the door right off. Shame we can't have Gwen crash through it with her head.

Also ask Thalia if she's ever been in here, if she knows anything about the office itself and if she recognises the first two photos, possibly Tammy and Sesia?

>>6319738
Sirona is a maneater but I don't think she has quite as bad table manners as Grise. While she is bonkers, she doesn't strike me as the type to chew bones and paint the walls nor does she eat as much as Grise does.

>Ask Thalia for help in this place. She was an Elbrus subject. Surely, she'd know a bit about this place, what the secret room was like or if there was anything of particular interest?
Given the presence of the secret room and the fact you were potentially missing far more, you decided to ask Thalia for some info. Though first, you'd ask if she had ever gone in here, her nodding calmly. "Yes, but... it was far nicer back then. Way less messy and... well organized. Also, he had far more pictures." She looked around, soon noticing a few smashed and destroyed picture frames. "I take it... some subjects got in here and decided to enjoy destroying the place." Afterwards, you asked what she knew of the secret room. "That... it's... it contains some personal files, if I recall correctly. Though, it also was designed for subjects who... disobey him and need... punishment." She simply said, looking rather regretful. This made Sigit speak up in mild disgust. "I assume you got to see some of those punishments?" Thalia nodded quietly, you clearly not sure if you still wanted to end what would basically be a sexual torture chamber.

You told her that you still wanted to check out the room, given that it contained valuable files. Thalia nodded in turn, your men waiting to hear what you'd suggest next. You told them to keep searching the place a bit longer, as you were still thinking of ways to enter the secret room. In the meantime, you would also ask Thalia about the pictures you had found of the two subjects, wanting to know who they were. Though as you mentioned it being Tammy and Sesia, Thalia nodded. "Yes, it's... it's them. They were some of Elbrus' most eager subjects. They were also commonly used in... the secret room." You and your men looked at each other, clearly concerned as to what they were used for. But, given that there were files on that nearby, your men quickly went back to searching. Of course, you knew that it was time to break into the secret room now.

>Figure out a plan to open the door. You could send in your smartest men to find a way to safely open the door, or just get your stronger group members to brute force the door open. Hell, you could even use explosives or look for a different way to enter.
You would get Alan and Thaddeus to come to the door to the secret chamber. Antonin would also join in, clearly knowing that more manpower was always appreciated. You said the door didn't need to open entirely. It just needed to be cracked open in such a way that a drone could enter it. That way, Lydia could scout ahead, see what it contained and give you a chance to decide whether or not you actually wanted to enter the room. "Seems good to me." Alan said, Thaddeus and Antonin nodding. Thus, the three would get together and started trying to open the secret door. Everyone stopped exploring the office, instead paying attention to the three soldiers who used all the strength they had to budge the door open.

The door slowly opened up more and more, it clearly being pretty stuck. Though fortunately, the door did soon open up enough for Lydia to get the crawler drone to enter. "So, take it you use these drones a lot?" Archie asked curiously, Lydia nodding. "Yep! They're really helpful acting as cameras, giving us glimpses into tight spots or in areas we can't access. They've been massive lifesavers, even when they can't move!" The drone crawled through the crack, you quickly checking the tablet Lydia held to control the drones. Looking into the secret room, you found that it was still quite clean, meaning nobody had gotten into it. Though, you were rather horrified to find... well, several prison rooms. They had all kinds of depraved tools in them, cameras pointing at the crude machinery within them. Honestly, it was hard to look at, as some of these... 'devices' were massive, designed to inflict maximum pain or just straight up impossible to be used on a human without killing them.

"Okay, I am... not looking at those." Lydia mumbled in horror and disgust, clearly not interested in inspecting the depraved torture chambers. There were six of them, all of them presumably being based of test chambers. Regardless, there was something at the end of the the secret space which was of interest. There were several cabinets and cupboards, some containing different sets of clothing. Though, some of the cabinets clearly were designed to hold files. "I take it we've got some files to check out, huh?" Anon said as he watched along, you agreeing since the room was safe. Thus, you asked Thaddeus, Alan and Antonin to keep using their strength, before calling out to Katya to help open the door. Though, she wasn't the only subject who was willing to help. "I-I can help as well." Kenai mumbled, Thaddeus responding before you could. "That'd... help!" Kenai quickly joined in, trying to help in brute forcing the door open.

In the meantime though, you'd hear Thalia gasp suddenly. "Mik! Look!" She said as she held up a small filemap she seemingly found. "It's files! About me!" She'd quickly head over to you, before showing you her files. "Maybe there's more about my abilities in here!" She seemed rather excited, as it was clear this was a rather useful find! "Oh? What does it say?" Mike asked calmly, the rest of your men who weren't trying to open the door also being rather curious. "Well, it mentions that I have an innate ability to sense what people are into. But like, that's... not that special, right? Everyone can do that?" Your men all looked utterly bewildered. Even Thaddeus had to pause, looking over his shoulder at Thalia. "You... you can sense... what people are into? What WE are into?" Artyom said in disgust, France and his men also looking rather put off. "I-I mean, yeah? Can't you guys?" Thalia seemed genuinely convinced that this was a normal thing. Though, this was clearly anything but normal...

>What do you do next?

>Check out Thalia's files to see what they specifically said. Surely, Thalia was just confused and was thinking of something different, right?
>Have a chat with Thalia to explain her these things, either with your men or just between you and her. Either way, she needed to know that this WASN'T normal. (Write in what you tell her and how.)
>Let your men handle explaining this to Thalia whilst you did something else. You had other things you wanted to focus on. (Write in what you do whilst your men talk with Thalia.)
>Just tell Thalia to bring this up later, since you first wanted to focus on the important intel from the secret files.
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

(Apologies for no update yesterday. Had a busy weekend with family over. I also had to rush this update, so I hope it isn't too rough around the edges...)

>>6320619
aaaaand there's the Thalia SAN damage. Elbrus doing Elbrus things
>Have a chat with Thalia to explain her these things, either with your men or just between you and her. Either way, she needed to know that this WASN'T normal.
How does this ability even manifest? Anyway, for everyone else, they'd only know if the person told them or gave it away by mistake, nobody else has an innate ability to do this.
People generally consider this private and potentially embarrassing information and may be put off by the fact that she can instantly tell this. We won't hold this against her because, like with her voice, it's not something she can turn off, had a choice in or even knew about but obviously she is to not to bring up anything she learns like this without the consent of the person involved or go out of her way to analyse people.
Is there anything else in there about herself?

-----

>Mik, why do you have to many conflicting preferences? It's like you have multiple personalities in your head. You'd think they'd start a war over selecting a wife or something!

I wonder if there might be an NAR remote in the sex dungeon since Elbrus would have made extensive use of them in there. Probably not because QM would never give them to us like that but you never know.

>>6320617
>designed to inflict maximum pain or just straight up impossible to be used on a human without killing them.
Aw, looks like Elbrus had more in common with Roraima than we thought.

>>6320617
>Artyom said in disgust
Uh what weird shit are you into bro?

>Check out Thalia's files to see what they specifically said. Surely, Thalia was just confused and was thinking of something different, right?
Let's do this to get ahead of any additional bombshells.
>Have a chat with Thalia to explain her these things, either with your men or just between you and her. Either way, she needed to know that this WASN'T normal. (Write in what you tell her and how.)
Frame it as a good thing but it might make some people very uncomfortable, so she probably shouldn't talk about it. Also what's Artyom into?

>>6320635
>I wonder if there might be an NAR remote in the sex dungeon since Elbrus would have made extensive use of them in there. Probably not because QM would never give them to us like that but you never know.
Worth a look.

>>6320635
Supporting this but also
>Check out Thalia's files to see what they specifically said. Surely, Thalia was just confused and was thinking of something different, right?
Might as well read them.

>>6320705
I would like to specifically vote against asking about other people's preferences and kinks. It's really not our business.

>Have a chat with Thalia to explain her these things, either with your men or just between you and her. Either way, she needed to know that this WASN'T normal.
After Thalia brought up her extremely peculiar and concerning power, you would ask how this ability would even begin to manifest itself. This question left Thalia confused, looking around before saying: "Ummm, m-manifest? What do you mean? I mean, I-I don't... know how it works, I-I just assumed it was normal, like I said." She mumbled hesitantly, you telling her that it wasn't a normal forpeople to have, and that such 'interests' were only something you could learn by being told so directly. That, or the information accidentally being given away. "Oh, ummm... okay. W-Well, I... I don't know how this ability works or came to be. I just... look at a person and... i-it j-just sorta comes to me. I mean, I don't know how." You imagined that the files would give some more details. Though, before you'd read through them, you told her that people generally weren't eager to share this sort of stuff with people. More importantly, people could be disturbed by the fact she could do this so easily.

"You might wanna... keep this from Zaria, Thalia. She already isn't too happy with you, so... I feel like it's better you don't reveal that you knew this." Mike would remark, Thalia nodding before reluctantly saying. "I-I mean... I wasn't planning to." She looked away, before quietly mumbling: "Sorry." You reassured her that you wouldn't hold this against her, since this was another power she clearly had no clue about. Worse was the fact she presumably couldn't just... turn this ability off and was essentially forced to live with it. Not to mention, the fact she clearly hadn't been told about this power from the get-go. Thalia nodded before worriedly responding: "H-Had I known this was a problem, I-I promise I would've told you guys!" You told her that it was all good.

Though, you also told her to not bring these sorts of things up about people without their consent. In fact, you felt it was probably better for her to just not bring it up. "Mhm, I won't." She mumbled, before you asked if there was anything else in the files about her. She would quickl grab the files, before speaking more calmly. "It does mention I have enhanced vocal cords. Though, um, I already knew that. I, uhhhh, can breathe underwater. Also knew that. Oh, there is one interesting thing! It said that my singing ability is a, uhhhh, 'conduit' for my ability to make people feel certain ways. Apparently, my singing can make people's brains release chemicals to feel certain ways. Though, um, it doesn't go too in depth into it." Thalia would soon hand the files over to you, you glancing over at the rest of your men. They were either focused on the door to the secret room, or the new intel on your siren subject, you deciding to read through it yourself for a quick overview.

>Check out Thalia's files to see what they specifically said. Surely, Thalia was just confused and was thinking of something different, right?
You checked the various pages, each describing her powers. The first was indeed her amphibian breathing, stating she had gills which could open and close depending on where she was. Her siren ability was also explained, it stating she had pristine vocal cords which would not be at risk of damage, could produce loud vocalizations and could even help her sing underwater. Though next came her 'subliminal manipulation' ability. And whilst it sounded quite bad, it did not seem too extreme. She just could subtly make people release chemicals using her voice, allowing her to cause people to enter states of aggression, anxiety, happiness, fear and of course lust. Given how this also included drowsiness, this file was clearly only scratching the surface of what Thalia was capable of with her voice.

Regardless, the rest of the files would give rather simple information. Thalia's strength, durability and regeneration were low, her being described as 'squishy'. At least her perception was deemed high and her agility medium. Though one shocking detail was that her intelligence was noted as high. When you brought that up, Chrys would quickly enter the conversation. "High intelligence? You mean like... more intelligent than most humans high intelligence?" Clearly, this was seen as a surprise, Thalia thinking about it for a moment. "I mean... I don't know how true it is. It could just be wrong, or... based on something else?" Thalia sounded confused, clearly wondering about this as well. Honestly, from the sound of things, Elbrus might have just hidden a whole lot of important things to Thalia. Not just her abilities and how to treat people, but also her level of intellect. Though aside from this bombshell, there wasn't much else you could get out of these files.

>What do you do next?

>Test Thalia's intelligence. If it really was as high as these files claimed, maybe you could prove it in some way and then make use of it? (Write in how you test her.)
>Bring up these findings to your men and see how they reacted. Maybe they'd agree that it was a clear error in Elbrus' documentation. That, or Thalia really was a savant hidden in plain sight. (Write in what you bring up and to whom.)
>Check out the secret room now, rather than focusing on this revelation. You could discuss this with her in private later, rather than now causing a ruckus about this potentially huge revelation.
>Discuss with your men, France's men or your girls...
>Something else...

>>6320920
(That is adorable, goddamn. We need more pics of the girls just doing cute things they enjoy doing.)

>>6321026
>Check out the secret room now, rather than focusing on this revelation. You could discuss this with her in private later, rather than now causing a ruckus about this potentially huge revelation.
We'll put a pin in this, now's not the time and place. For now, the sex dungeon-cum-torture chamber is more interesting.

>>6320920
Get this woman a proper Anofelis-sized pen like that.

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>>6321026
>Check out the secret room now, rather than focusing on this revelation. You could discuss this with her in private later, rather than now causing a ruckus about this potentially huge revelation.
>>6320920
Never forget

>>6321026
>Check out the secret room now, rather than focusing on this revelation. You could discuss this with her in private later, rather than now causing a ruckus about this potentially huge revelation.
Thalia might be naturally intelligent but it's pretty obvious Elbrus didn't care about helping his subjects cultivate any of their innate talents unless it made him coom, resulting in Thalia being really ignorant and naive.

>>6321026
>Test Thalia's intelligence. If it really was as high as these files claimed, maybe you could prove it in some way and then make use of it? (Write in how you test her.)
If 2 is the first prime number and 3 is the second, see how fast she can calculate the hundred thousandth prime number. Subjects smarter than humans? I refuse to believe it!

>>6321026
>Check out the secret room now, rather than focusing on this revelation. You could discuss this with her in private later, rather than now causing a ruckus about this potentially huge revelation.
I doubt there's going to be any traps. Let's just do some snooping around and then check on our siren.

>Test Thalia's intelligence. If it really was as high as these files claimed, maybe you could prove it in some way and then make use of it?
Ask her questions about biology like how many nerves are in the human body. I bet you that if she actually does have high intelligence it's tied to biology. Very specific parts of biology because Elbrus is as creatively bankrupt when it comes to a subject's purpose as he is morally bankrupt.

>>6321151
That’s not intelligence though, it’s education. Exactly what Elbrus wouldn’t have bothered to give her.

>Check out the secret room now, rather than focusing on this revelation. You could discuss this with her in private later, rather than now causing a ruckus about this potentially huge revelation.
Despite Thalia's intellect being a rather curious thing, you decided to just drop it. Thus, you put the files about Thalia away and told your men that you'd investigate Thalia's intelligence later. Your men seemed a little unsure, presumably wanting to still know more about this revelation. Instead, you'd go over to the door which was now just open enough that people could slip in. You asked Lydia if she spotted any traps, her shaking her head. "Nope, doesn't look like it." You also doubted such, given that Elbrus did not seem like the type to trap his own sex dungeon. Thus, you were the first to step forward, entering the dark and dank space. It was somewhat humid in the room, you looking around and seeing all the various lewd contraptions. You could only imagine how many subjects suffered in this space... or how many messed up Elbrus subjects indulged in horrific excess here.

Still, you would first head to the end of the room, quickly being followed by France, Anon, Lautaro, Chrys and Sigit. You headed to the cupboards and cabinets, opening them up and finding quite a lot of items. There were plenty of folders, you checking through them and finding... well, a lot more pictures of subjects. Unfortunately, these pictures were not just risque nudes, but rather pictures of subjects in the torture chambers. Some of the subjects did look familiar to you. Sirona, Hapi and Viridian in particular were quick to catch your attention, with only Hapi seeming eager to be in this hellhole. However, you soon also got to see pictures of... none other than Gwenllian. Though, to say that the content of the picture was gruesome would be an understatement. Your men also caught a glimpse, to which Anon said. "That's... is that Gwenllian?"

You decided to get rid of this picture, not wanting anyone else to see it. You checked a few more gruesome pictures, noticing three which showed subjects you weren't all too familiar with. One was some kind of demon with one black horn and one which looked a bit more white. Her skin and hair were blue, a blue mist coming from her body as she looked frustrated and pained. Another subject looked to be some kind of harpy girl with strange eyes covering her wings. She also had two distinct halves, one side having white hair and feathers, the other black hair and feathers. She looked to be in excruciating pain, suffering immensely from Elbrus' brutal treatment. You skimmed some more pictures, by now feeling extremely grossed out and wrong at looking at these thingss. Hell, your men seemed extremely uncomfortable, with Chrys even mumbling: "I think... I think Alan should... use his flamethrower on this place." To which Anon responded: "After we've gotten the intel we needed, yes."

Fortunately, you'd only have to look at two more pics in the collection of torture images. These two contained two subjects, one which was another demon. This one had more pale skin, small red horns, black eyes and a more modest figure than the previous demon. She also had large spikes jutting out of her hands which appeared to be a part of her. She looked annoyed more than anything, not nearly being as upset as the other subjects. Though, the last subject of interest was... easily the most disturbing. It was a picture of a substantially sized subject which resembled some kind of giant seaslug. She was mostly light blue with dark blue fins, hair and claws. She was wrapping her body around what looked to be a guardswoman, crushing them with her body. The next picture showed... the giant create opening its jaw in a sickening manner and eating the poor lady. And the last picture showed her with a torn and shred guardsmen outfit. Looking at the picture, you unironically started to feel sick to your stomach...

Your men soon also saw the pictures as you put them to the side, with most of them being just as sickened as you were. "Elbrus needs to die." Lautaro mumbled, before France spoke in utter horror as well. "T-The sick fuck... actually took these pictures... How was he not fired for this shit?!" You soon even heard a few men nearby throwing up, Lydia even announcing: "We really shouldn't have gone in here..." Of course, the pictures weren't the only things, you looking through some of the folders which had text. Most of these were more perverse experiments, Elbrus testing the various sickening abilities his subjects had. Some described punishments sessions, tests he was designing for his subjects, and developments between him and the poor girls he was torturing. Though, you did soon find a few folders which caught your interest. Namely: GM-22, Claudia Kosinski; WLS-90, Nicola Leucoris and 54-KC, Natalia Actus. They were all subjects you head of and read about in the past...

But now, you had their main files.

>What do you do next?

>Leave this place before you see more eye-bleach. Besides, you had already gotten through all of the files. So all that was left was more vile imagery. Oh, and maybe also get Alan to torch this place down. (Write in where you head to.)
>Read through the files right here right now. Maybe in the meantime, the rest of your men would somehow find something else worthwhile? That, or they could document the files you'd read aloud. (Write in if you tell your men to do anything whilst you read the files.)
>Ask Thalia to come over and help explain some of these things. She could maybe even read it aloud and give her own info? (Write in what you ask Thalia to read and/or explain.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

(Looks like my laptop died again. Yaaaay... anyway, at least I got the replacement laptop so I can still write updates. I just hope that this update isn't too... gross?)

>>6321382
>Read through the files right here right now. Maybe in the meantime, the rest of your men would somehow find something else worthwhile? That, or they could document the files you'd read aloud.
Turn everything in this place upside down, we don't want to leave anything behind if we're torching this joint. All the shelves, all the cupboards and cabinets, all the drawers. Back in the main room, all but dismantle his desk, strip the surviving cabinets, search behind and under everything and break those wall panels for anything else hidden behind them. Anything of any interest goes in boxes to read or examine later or just to throw at the government and let them be the ones to deal with it. Anyone who really wants out of here, go help tear up the main room.

Keep the other girls out of the dungeon for their sake. Thalia is lucky she never ended up in here.

Among the descriptions, the second demon must be Naamah and the last one sounds like Glaucus, though how'd she even end up around Elbrus (we can raise this with Logan next time we ring Annie)? The others don't ring any bells.

>>6321382
>Leave this place before you see more eye-bleach. Besides, you had already gotten through all of the files. So all that was left was more vile imagery. Oh, and maybe also get Alan to torch this place down.
We have the files, let's go.

I think the worst criminal in this place wasn't Elbrus or Roraima, it was Tengri. Either because of cowardice or worse, indifference, he allowed Elbrus and Roraima to do whatever they wanted to whomever they wanted and I seriously doubt he wasn't aware of what was going on. A lot of staff and subjects might describe him as a stand up guy but I think he was the biggest piece of shit down here.

>>6321382
>Leave this place before you see more eye-bleach. Besides, you had already gotten through all of the files. So all that was left was more vile imagery. Oh, and maybe also get Alan to torch this place down. (Write in where you head to.)
Yeah not worth the mental damage we'd take from stripping this place down, let's just head out. We can read through the files later.

>>6321382
>I just hope that this update isn't too... gross?
Could've been grosser. Shame about the laptop.

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>>6321382
>She was wrapping her body around what looked to be a guardswoman, crushing them with her body. The next picture showed... the giant create opening its jaw in a sickening manner and eating the poor lady. And the last picture showed her with a torn and shred guardsmen outfit. Looking at the picture, you unironically started to feel sick to your stomach...
First of all, you don't kill a subordinate who's below you and take multiple pictures of their demise and get away with it without extensive amounts of corruption and/or connections. The fact that despite everything he is wanted alive by the government is telling. Also, didn't expect this picture to ever be relevant again.

Considering we have pictures of these subjects in such horrific situations will we be able to see what they look like? Similarly, how much do you think the government will pay for the visual confirmation of these subjects? As much as I want to burn everything we probably should take them with us. Maybe we can make some other death squads think twice about sparing the sick bastard with these.

I really feel bad for Gwen now knowing she had to endure this shit too. No wonder she was so terrified to come back here.

>>6321436
Supporting, I want to see what the files say and if we can find more on Elbrus' creations.

>>6321438
What we know of Tengri is at odds of him being indifferent. Fearing government retribution seems far more likely of the two. But I wouldn't be surprised if he got screwed out of getting the two sacked by someone higher up the chain of command who just so happened to be a friend of one or both of the two. Either way, all this does is add to my hate for galgov.

>Read through the files right here right now. Maybe in the meantime, the rest of your men would somehow find something else worthwhile? That, or they could document the files you'd read aloud. (Write in if you tell your men to do anything whilst you read the files.)

>>6321917
>>6321382

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>>6321917
>>6321918

>>6321436
>Thalia is lucky she never ended up in here
Thalia said she had been. She'd witnessed some of the "punishments" Elbrus doled out to less compliant subjects and that random guardswoman. See >>6320616

>the last one sounds like Glaucus
It wasn't Glaucus. Glaucus is mostly a cream color with some purple and red and she has red and orange horns. Mik would have recognized if it was Glaucus anyways.

>>6321538
Still, even if Tengri couldn't get rid of them because they had powerful friends surely he could have at least kept them on a shorter leash, especially when they were actively murdering facility staff.

>>6322030
I mean she's never ended up on the receiving end of the torture. It's a wonder she still thought highly of Elbrus when we first met after seeing that.
Looking again, I am confusing Glaucus and the other sea slug in the MGE (who is the subject of the photos), which is why it didn't quite make sense when I was writing that.

I would have loved to quiz Tengri and see what he knew. Alas, he do be dood. I wonder though, if the government has high-level medical technology that can resurrect the recently deceased, it's entirely possible he's alive and in their custody since his body was found shortly after the disaster - if they wanted to and it was within their technological limits, that is. Perhaps his office could hold answers, if it's still intact.

>>6322041
I still find Thalia a little sketchy honestly. But we know that she supposedly didn't even understand the concept of consent until we explained it to her so it could be she was convinced that they actually enjoyed it and any protests were just them being shy or something like when she was molesting Zaria.

Did they find Tengri's corpse? He was supposed to be at ground zero so I imagine he got fucking atomized.

>>6322051
On our first day we were informed that Tengri had been "found dead outside the facility's main building some time ago", whatever that means. I presume that means they found his body in a state that resembled biology and not physics.

>>6322052
Huh. Wonder how he got there.

>>6322053
Depends on what they meant by "main building". There isn't anything left of the Facility above ground as far as I'm aware, so does this mean he was wandering around in the crater when he keeled over (or got shot)?

>>6322055
A subject might have dragged him out hoping someone could help. Or he had tried to escape the blast radius of whatever blew up and got caught in the blast anyways.

Also, would it be a good idea to ask Thalia which subjects she saw Elbrus torture? And I mistakenly mentioned the guardswoman in >>6322030 but I think even back then Thalia would have recognized how fucked up that was if she'd seen it. Unless she's secretly evil as my paranoid mind occasionally likes to suggest.

>>6322030
We unfortunately do not know much about the internal politiking of the facility so for all we know Tengri could have been a glorified figurehead, just really incompetent at staff management while exceptional at research or anything else.

>>6322051
Her intelligence being listed as high is reason to be somewhat suspicious of her now but unless she's an amazing actor I think she just was taught morality wrong rather than inherently being evil.

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>Read through the files right here right now. Maybe in the meantime, the rest of your men would somehow find something else worthwhile? That, or they could document the files you'd read aloud.
You told your men to continue checking everything in the room. Whilst you had combed through a lot of cabinets for very little substance, you imagined that there had to be more. You also told them to collect anything of interest in a box so you could take it along. More importantly, you told those who didn't want to deal with Elbrus' darkest texts to dismantle the main section of his office, which was a suggestion several of your men took to heart. You also told Thalia and Chrys to get out of here, as you did not want them to look through all of this. In fact, you demanded all your girls to stay out of this place, since it would do nothing but harm their wellbeing if they saw this place. "I'll let em know." Thaddeus remarked, at which point everyone started getting to work. And as the main office and torture dungeons were being combed through, you decided to read through the three files.

You started by reading Claudia's file, finding that these files contained quite a lot of useful intel, providing a picture, her codename, abilities and traits.

Name: Claudia Kosinski
Codename: GM-22
Feeding Method: Pleasure
Creator: Elbrus & Anderson
Size: 9.5 feet

Main Ability:
Claudia's nanites are designed with features akin to a ship's gravity generators. As a result, she can manipulate gravity in a small area around her. She can manipulate gravity between 0 and 5g in any direction.

Further abilities include being able to fly, a high level of charisma and innate knowledge of where people's nerves are, allowing her to easily reach them and create intense sensations of pain or pleasure.

Strength: High
Durability: Medium
Regeneration: Low
Perception: Medium
Agility: Medium
Intelligence: High

This was almost an entirely complete datasheet for a subject. And more importantly, it also had a bit of text elaborating as to what she was like... written by none other than Elbrus himself. "Subject GM-22, the result of a curiosity from Anderson who wanted to see if nanites could replicate anti-gravitational effects as seen in spaceships. Claudia has proven quite the success in numerous ways. Claudia was born with a rather... abrasive, prideful and selfish personality, one which still remains to this day. Claudia clearly disdains humans and views them as less than her, even after I have humiliated and enjoyed her body numerous times. A particularly fun quirk of hers is her love towards subject PS-1211, who she seems to view as a potential partner. Had it not been for Tengri's efforts to protect PS-1211, I would've been most eager to use PS-1211 to further tarnish and humiliate this pathetic moth girl." Reading Elbrus' text, you could tell that the guy loved to hear himself talk and read his own writing.

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"Regardless, despite plenty of disciplinary sessions and attempts to break her, Claudia remains extremely prideful. This might be the result of her training away from me. Claudia has managed to hone her ability to perfection over the past while. This power might give her a sense of superiority and strength, even though she is nothing but a helpless toy. One I will continue to enjoy for a good while." The text did go on, but most would talk about... 'tests' Elbrus pulled on her. And with them came many pictures and... long descriptions of Claudia being forced into these 'tests'. Thus, you decided to just drop it, instead moving to the paper on Natalia.

Name: Natalia Acutus.
Codename: 54-KC
Feeding Method: Meat, Pleasure.
Creator: Roraima and Elbrus
Size: 8 feet 3 inches

Main Ability:
Natalia has a special sense in her body which allows her to feel changes in water pressure. As a result, she can sense motion in water from great distances. This even works in darker water, allowing her to stalk prey and pounce people even when they cannot see her coming.

Further mutations were designed by Roraima to help with this ambush predator style. Her lungs are extremely efficient at taking in oxygen and holding air for a solid period of time. As a result, she can stay underwater for extended periods of time. More importantly, her teeth are extremely sharp and can easily break bone.

Strength: Very High
Durability: High
Regeneration: Medium
Perception: High
Agility: Medium
Intelligence: Medium

"Subject 54-KC was mainly designed by Roraima as an ambush predator subject. However, I also wanted her to have more sex appeal, resulting in me giving her a bountiful chest which she could use to satisfy people with. As a result, her ability to intimidate and fight was heavily hampered, Roraima opting to leave her mostly to me. As a result, I have opted to focus more on having her become a... personal bodyguard, one who can protect me whilst also satisfying some of my urges. Unfortunately, whilst her abilities as a combatant are excellent, I still need to train her into being a proper servant. She has so far proven not too receptive to sexual training, and refuses to do many things under the idea that she 'is a soldier'. However, I believe this can be fixed with enough time and effort."

And unfortunately, you'd also see plenty of pictures of poor Natalia in various lewd scenarios. She appeared utterly enraged in all of them, never seeming scared, saddened or hurt in any way. It was just... pure rage. Though at the very least, from the sound of things, she seemed like someone you could recruit and befriend. After all, you wanted to find Elbrus and execute the bastard for all his crimes, something which Natalia might also want. Then again, from the way she was described, you could imagine that she was in a similar boat as Claudia, hating humanity for letting this happen to her...

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Still, at least Natalia seemed like a sane person who was yet to be broken by all the sexual torture. In comparison, you knew from the get-go that Nicola was already a lost cause. Then again, at least this would be an interesting thing to read, given that it was from Elbrus' perspective, compared to Andrei's which you had read previously...

Name: Nicola Leucoris
Codename: WLS-90
Feeding method: Pleasure + Affection
Creator: Andrei and Elbrus
Size: 9.5 Feet

Main ability:
Nicola is proficient in creating things using her extremely powerful silk. This includes structures and clothing, as well as lewd outfits for her to wear. She is also excellent for bondage as a result, with her being especially eager to help out in torturing others using her webs.

Further mutations include a tremor sense akin to Vinella's. Nicola can sense vibrations through string and her legs, allowing her to sense when people are coming or when there is movement nearby. She also can use small seismic activity to get an idea of what her surrounding looks like. Lastly, her venom has been designed to induce intense euphoria, arousal and dependency. Furthermore, it acts like a powerful aphrodisiac and alcohol, increasing sensitivity and reducing intellectual capabilities. Furthermore, continued exposure to this venom can cause insanity, often to a rather amusing degree.

Strength: Medium
Durability: Low
Regeneration: Low
Perception: High
Agility: Very high
Intelligence: Medium

"Subject WLS-90 was originally designed by just Andrei, who was inspired by Anderson's work with spider subjects. However, after using some special connections, I was able to take full control over Nicola. As a result, I've done away with the stupid trapper concept, and made Nicola into a highly perverse, dependent and desperate subject." It seemed that this was written after Elbrus had already taken full control over Nicola. But, things only became more depraved as Elbrus took to describing how he abused her.

"I decided to test just how dependent and desperate she actually is. I have ignored her for a good while now, wanting to see how her behaviour changes over time. As a result, she has become even more psychotic, desperate and amusing. I have even brought Anderson over in the hopes that he falls for the psychotic spider. Or, that Nicola poisons him enough that I can convince Anderson to let me look after some of his subjects. It would be fun to toy around with Lono, Arika and Anofelis. However, I will have to wait and see if Anderson is actually desperate enough to let himself get bitten first." Hearing that Elbrus had planned to trick Anderson in some way was... horrific to say the least. Fortunately, given that all of Anderson's subjects you had met so far didn't seem too familiar with Elbrus, it was safe to say that Elbrus' plan never came to fruition. That, or there were some Anderson subjects out there who got the same treatment as these three poor girls...

>What do you do next?

>Discuss these findings with your men, Thalia or maybe even a few of the other girls. There was a lot to unpack here in terms of pictures, descriptions and intel. Thalia could especially tell a lot. (Write in what you discuss and with whom.)
>Let Anon note down intel from these files, and then help in searching this place further. Your men were already making a lot of progress, but it would still help to speed things up if you helped out.
>Get in contact with Annie to discuss your findings. Maybe they could further clarify on anything which confused you, or simply corroborate what you already knew... (Write in what you discuss with Annie.)
>Something else...

(Apologies for the delay with updates. Procrastination and Uni came together to make it difficult for me to focus on writing. But hey, at least you guys now have three new pictures for subjects! And, lots of juicy intel!)

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>>6322446
>>Let Anon note down intel from these files, and then help in searching this place further. Your men were already making a lot of progress, but it would still help to speed things up if you helped out.

>It would be fun to toy around with Lono, Arika and Anofelis.
Pic related

>>6322446
>Let Anon note down intel from these files, and then help in searching this place further. Your men were already making a lot of progress, but it would still help to speed things up if you helped out.

>>6322446
>Let Anon note down intel from these files, and then help in searching this place further. Your men were already making a lot of progress, but it would still help to speed things up if you helped out.
Let's just get to wrapping up here so we can scoot and burn this place behind us faster. We're unlikely to encounter any of these girls in the immediate future so it's not pressing right now.

We already knew most of this about Claudia apart from her stats, though the lesbianism is interesting and I really don't want to encounter the pair of them. I say we chuck this file to GalGov next time we go topside.
I'm wary of Natalia. She's the croc in the MGE and while she could be a great asset if we could bring her on board, even if we could talk her down and avoid arousing her ire, I think she's more likely to be psychologically unstable with anger issues out the wazoo and a singular focus on Elbrus that makes Kenai look flexible. I'm going to say we don't go out of our way to find or recruit her unless she demonstrates otherwise and I'm on the fence about whether we hand this file to Moritz as well.
Now this is a lot of useful information about Nicola that expounds on what Andrei wrote (which was mostly just him bitching about Elbrus) and his plotting against Anderson by dangling a Trojan spiderfu in front of him would be hilarious if it wasn't so fucked up. That he wanted to involve his cinnabugs tops the list of black marks though. Obviously we can't hand this file to GalGov because of Andrei contamination.

Something I've just remembered while we're here, Shesha is here in the cooler section and was labelled as a potential recruit. Do we want to delay a bit more to have a look for her before we leave or have people really had it with the coolers and want to just head back?

>>6322443
>she can manipulate gravity in a small area around her. She can manipulate gravity between 0 and 5g in any direction.
Huh, not as OP as I thought a ten footer would be.
>the result of a curiosity from Anderson who wanted to see if nanites could replicate anti-gravitational effects as seen in spaceships
So a dual creator subject or he stole her from Anderson?

>I would've been most eager to use PS-1211 to further tarnish and humiliate this pathetic moth girl.
Oh boy, he writes like a Saturday morning cartoon villain.

>>6322444
>giving her a bountiful chest which she could use to satisfy people with
Not as bountiful as Claudia's though, sheesh.

>Let Anon note down intel from these files, and then help in searching this place further. Your men were already making a lot of progress, but it would still help to speed things up if you helped out.
Since we're not moving on let's get this over with.

>>6322446
>Let Anon note down intel from these files, and then help in searching this place further. Your men were already making a lot of progress, but it would still help to speed things up if you helped out.
The sooner we're done, the sooner we can leave and let Alan light it up.

>>6322145
It's not just her intelligence being listed as high. There are just things about her that have bugged me since we first met her.

For instance when we first asked her about what she did to Zaria, she just dismissed our concerns said something like "Oh I just told her she was cute and she became uncomfortable" and now we know that she did far more than a bit of flirting.
Or when she first tried to seduce Mik and suddenly became nervous when it didn't work, like she wasn't expecting him to be resistant to her advances.
Also she just so happened to be the one to find Elbrus' files on herself while everyone was distracted by the rape pit yet her files seem pretty tame compared to the files we just read despite Thalia herself admitting she'd been in Elbrus' dungeon before and had witnessed other subjects being punished.

Maybe I'm just being paranoid but I'm still a little worried she is manipulating us, especially since that may be what Elbrus built her to do. She almost certainly wasn't built for search and rescue operations like she originally claimed.

>>6322497
For what it's worth, Thalia was telling the truth on the first one. The rape didn't happen until later.

>>6322497
Now im worried about what do we do if she is actually trying to manipulate us. Do we just ostracize her out or shoot her (Zaria probably wouldn't mind), could we even pull that off assuming she doesn't slip away?

>>6322499
No I'm pretty sure she molested Zaria when we sent them off to search some rooms when we first encountered her. Zaria came back pretty shaken and Thalia lied about what happened.

>>6322501
To be fair, aside from the Zaria incident it seems like she's been on her best behavior since she started traveling with us and I don't think she's been plotting to kill us or anything bad like that. If the naive idiot routine IS an act, I think she's doing it just so she can stick with us for protection, companionship and sex since we're probably and ironically the friendliest group of humans she's run into for a while. She might even be genuine when she expresses guilt and regret over things she's done or seen. I don't think she's actively malicious or insane like Hapi and Vinella at the very least.

Unless she's somehow capable of removing or suppressing other peoples memories.

>>6322510
The sexual assault happened when we left them alone together on night watch. At that point it really was just her making Zaria very uncomfortable with flirting that she was too embarrassed to be honest about because Zaria seems to have a few emotional hangups even from before the incident.

Thalia's persona and her reactions to things come across as someone genuinely having the warped worldview they were taught their whole life collapse and has been consistent for most of that time without any glaring slip-ups I can recall. If she's actually manipulating us, she's a world-class actor and I can't really see a motive for her to engage in malicious behaviour while being so well-behaved for most of this time. While I'm not convinced we know every secret about her, I just can't really bring myself to be paranoid about her motives given the lack of evidence for nefarious intent.

>>6322446
Nice to see a lot of new subjects. Everything else is not so nice and I want Elbrus thrown into a woodchipper at the earliest convenience. ESPECIALLY for daring to try and touch such cinnamon rolls as Lono and Anofelis.

>Let Anon note down intel from these files, and then help in searching this place further. Your men were already making a lot of progress, but it would still help to speed things up if you helped out.

>>6322472
PS-1211 is already listed as being with Claudia given the Galgov sheet mentions her being with a bigger moth subject and Claudia's own sheet similarly mentions her being with PS-1211. We just know how far that relationship goes now. Though given her abilities I frankly never want to meet Claudia without a ton of subjects as back up. As for the croc, as long as we convince her we aren't like the other death squads I think she'll be useful. Sure, she'll probably want to gun for Elbrus as soon as possible but unless she's completely blinded by hatred to the point it hinders her goal of getting revenge I'm sure we will be able to somewhat reason with her at minimum. Plus the files say she describes herself as a soldier, good soldiers have discipline. I do agree though we shouldn't actively try and find her. Not only because we have more important things but also because I don't want to go back to the flooded section.

>>6322492
>Huh, not as OP as I thought a ten footer would be.
Suddenly being thrown to the ground by 5 g's of force and being unable to do anything about it is OP. As is being thrown up or sideways. Further that ability can probably augment her flight quite a bit. Frankly, I do not want to fight her without subject support. Also, IIRC the stats scale with height, at least the physical ones anyway. So her being medium for the most part across the board is quite potent.


>>6322497
That's actually a good point. Her finding her files and them being so light is a shock. You'd expect a full detailed stat sheet like what we got with the three we found here but no...Maybe we should do a bit of a thorough check on Thalia's files to try and see if something's missing. While this could be a red herring and her files just weren't as full due to being damaged or missing pieces due to the office already being torn up a bit, it might be a good idea to keep a closer eye on our Siren, just in case. Then again, this sort of paranoia is what Feng would want us to have, and is probably why she insinuated we were under her control when we spoke to her.

>>6322538
We did know those two were together but didn't know about the romantic aspect (one sided at least, we don't know how PS-1211 feels about it).
I think Natalia's temper would make her difficult and unpleasant to work with if she's willing at all and we may have to use the prospect of hunting down Elbrus as leverage to bring her on board and keep her in line. I think we'd be able to speak with her without getting killed, but she's not someone I particularly want around and is low down the catalogue of potential allies I'm currently drawing up.

>>6322525
From a couple threads ago
>"Okay, s-so... remember the flooded p-parts we explored r-right after meeting Thalia? W-Well, at one p-point, Thalia... f-followed me into a p-private room and... w-well, she... she sung her song, a-and it... m-made me d-do things I-I don't... I don't l-like doing... I-I t-thankfully was able to f-flee a-and then... w-well ran into you, a-and I told you t-there was no issue. B-But there was... I-I... S-She used her p-powers to make me... y-y'know... do these things..." Zaria looked utterly terrified, pained and humiliated. And soon, she'd even show a tear. "D-Derek f-found out after I... r-ran away t-to some p-private p-place... H-He knows a-and... I-I asked him t-to keep it a s-secret because... I-I hate that th-this happened to me." Though, she soon took a more aggressive tone. "T-Thalia is an E-Elbrus subject... n-not the good kind... t-that's why I despise her. S-She may not know m-much about her own p-powers, b-but she sure as hell knew that... s-she was making me do things against my own will!"
So it was when we first met Thalia.

>>6322554
Hrm. Seems I misremember.

I think people are going wayyyy to far about Thalia. Yes she was pretty creepy at start but remember her upbringing was different from other subjects, only after things went to hell did she learn about how Elbrus and his subjects are seen by everyone and despite hiding her creator at the start she did come up to light about rather than spin her away around it, there's a lot of stigma around being an Elbrus subject but the few we. I think seeing Elbrus profiles did shock people but if she really was some sort of manipulative mastermind there was no reason to be so proactive and helpful or help us understand how her powers works which is a big downside if she really wanted us and our team on the palm of her hand. Once she started going with us she did started to change and she actually listens and reflects about her stuff, we tell her, if she was a manipulative mastermind we would already be in some dip shit already.

>>6322650
>Elbrus subject but the few we
I meant the few we met have been reasonable so far Anthrophagism aside, perhaps we been lucky but I think she ain't some sick manipulative pervert, she's a victim who was told by a degenerate being a pervert is good.

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>Let Anon note down intel from these files, and then help in searching this place further. Your men were already making a lot of progress, but it would still help to speed things up if you helped out.
Feeling that you had gotten most of the intel you wanted from this place, you would simply tell Anon to take notes of the main files. "I'll take some pictures of them and just type them out that way. Might be easier than just reading through all of them right now." He mumbled, Lautaro also joining him. "Hey, lemme take some pictures as well." He even responded, the two of them documenting your findings. In the meantime, you would tell most of your men to leave the torture chambers, as you felt that this sector didn't have much of value left. Given that you weren't going to meet these girls anytime soon, you didn't feel too pressed to really do anything with the new intel you got. However, you were certainly happy to hand some of these files to your superiors.

As you and the others left the torture chamber, you found the rest of your men and France's men working hard to dismantle the room. They had checked every wall, opened and cleaned out every part of his desk and looked through every display. Though, it didn't seem like there was much else of interest for you to read through. That was, except for one thing which Antonin would show you as you left. "Hey, France, Mikhail, check this out." He responded, before handing you a rather worn-down folder. "We found this hidden below a bunch of other folders and such. It looks to be old, but... hopefully not too outdated." Checking the folder's contents, you found that it was about MM-3, having a decent amount of text as well as a picture of a friendly and... somewhat short fly girl with metallic skin.

Name: Sibilia Dembélé
Codename: MM-3
Feeding method: Blood, Pleasure.
Creator: Elbrus & Anderson
Size: 3 feet

Main Ability:
Sibilia's nanites have formed a layer of metallic skin over her body, which is extremely tough and difficult to damage. This metal is however somewhat heavy, meaning she is unable to fly. Furthermore, iron in blood helps her regenerate, her not regenerating without blood to drink. Fortunately, her proboscis is a potent tool to pierce skin and armour, allowing her to drink from anyone. This proboscis can also release chemicals she has stored. Lastly, Sibilia has an inbuilt visor which augments her vision.

Strength: Low
Durability: Extremely High
Regeneration: Low, unless if fed blood
Perception: Very high
Agility: Medium
Intelligence: Low

"Subject MM-3 is a somewhat obedient and easily manipulated subject I created with some help from Anderson. Whilst the bug-lover wanted to just make her highly resilient, I decided to give her some more fun traits and teach her how to use that proboscis for more exciting things. And, having told her that Anderson didn't want her to be part of his harem, Sibilia has basically forgotten all about him in her adorable fit of jealousy."

At first, it sounded like Elbrus had manipulated another subject into worshipping him or viewing him as a hero. However, things did soon turn around a bit, revealing some amusing details. "Despite no longer having to worry about Anderson taking her away from me, her somewhat argumentative and prideful nature can be a little bit irritating, especially her insistence on wanting to be the one in control. I am sure that, with enough punishment sessions, I can make sure she stops asking for that and will do as I say without issue. She already tends to follow commands quite often." It seemed that Elbrus wasn't fully in control yet. In fact, there was something which the previous files did not have: an addendum which was on a whole new piece of paper, having presumably been added later on.

Addendum:
"Sibilia's obnoxious demands to be the one in control have finally reached my limit. Torture sessions have not proven successful in dealing with her arrogance either, which is why I have opted for something a bit different. I have decided to actively halt Sibilia's growth, ensuring she always remains small and pathetic. Not to mention, making it easier to still deal with her despite her metal skin. More importantly though, given how much she craves attention, I have decided to put her in isolation as punishment. No facility staff or other scientists will be able to contact her. I've left her in a sterile room without any toys, meaning she hopefully will struggle to satisfy herself. Perhaps a lack of attention and pleasure will make her realise that she is not the one in control here." It seemed that Sibilia had successfully resisted Elbrus' control to the point of getting on his bad side. In other words, she might be in the same boat as Thalia and could be recruited. Then again, she also seemed... far more demanding than Thalia in terms of wanting pleasure.

Regardless, the file was pretty old, the addendum clearly being the latest addition to it. Though, this did beg the question of how long Sibilia had been left in solitary confinement and how she felt now. Hopefully, she would be a bit more stable than Natalia or Nicola. Regardless, you weren't the only one reading the file, France also reading along. "Poor Sibilia... forced to be all alone in this place thanks to that sick bastard Elbrus. I just hope she managed to find a way to escape this place and find some people she can trust." He mumbled, after which you saw the last of your men leaving the torture chamber. "The torture chambers have been fully searched, Mikhail." Thaddeus responded, before the rest of your men also explained how things were going. From the looks of it, Elbrus' office had been fully explored, every nook and cranny having been checked out and cleaned from useful intel. With that in mind, it seemed about time to wrap up and head out.

>What do you do next?

>Make sure nobody could ever get intel from this place again. Either by having Alan light it all ablaze with his flamethrower, or having Evander bow it all up. (Write in how you destroy this place.)
>Ask any of your girls about the documents you found. Maybe they knew some of the subjects from the files, or could help you confirm what the text said about them. (Write in what you ask them.)
>Choose a direction to head with your men and France's men. You could head back North to the frozen sector and crawl up, or just head south and back to Titania's chamber. Perhaps you could even explore some different parts fo the facility? (Write in where you head to.)
>Chat with Thalia a bit more about her files, her powers or her history. Reading through everything here and seeing her files, you were curious if there was more to it than just what she found. (Write in what you tell Thalia.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6323088
>Make sure nobody could ever get intel from this place again. Either by having Alan light it all ablaze with his flamethrower, or having Evander bow it all up. (Write in how you destroy this place.)
Set some explosives to have a timed detonation on this place, just enough so we get far away from any subject who might catch the explosion's noise. The info was very useful but I really don't wanna stay in this degenerate sex-den any longer

>>Chat with Thalia a bit more about her files, her powers or her history. Reading through everything here and seeing her files, you were curious if there was more to it than just what she found. (Write in what you tell Thalia.)
I'm curious about how high Thalia's intelligence really is. Does it stands to a broader amount of topics or just to a more... biological side? Good thing one of Mik's traits is knowing a lot of random trivia.

>>6323086
>Choose a direction to head with your men and France's men. You could head back North to the frozen sector and crawl up, or just head south and back to Titania's chamber. Perhaps you could even explore some different parts fo the facility? (Write in where you head to.)
I think we're pretty much done here, no subjects remain locked here, we got all the info and well, I don't think anyone else wanna stay here. I say we set our next destination to the combat sector, ask France's if he wanna tag along or split from here? Just make sure to think of way or a code which allow us to join up when it's time to fuck up Feng.

>>6323088
>Make sure nobody could ever get intel from this place again. Either by having Alan light it all ablaze with his flamethrower, or having Evander bow it all up. (Write in how you destroy this place.)
Let Alan have his fun. We know he's a bit of a firebug. Also, it's probably quieter than blowing it up.

>Choose a direction to head with your men and France's men. You could head back North to the frozen sector and crawl up, or just head south and back to Titania's chamber. Perhaps you could even explore some different parts fo the facility? (Write in where you head to.)
We can head back the way we came into the flooded sector then head straight west into that unexplored area near Andrei's office. That's the area Illimani was killed, isn't it? Maybe we can find the subject he was with plus we'll probably see Glaucus again on the way. Though there might be a higher chance of running into some of our esteemed colleagues.
OR we can head to that medbay in the HTLC sector to see if there's anything we can do to bring Gwen's caretaker back to life, as unlikely as that is. Though we'll have to be careful we don't run into whoever the government sends to check if Reika is really dead.

>>6323110
We should probably swap out Thalia and Chrys for Morgan and maybe Reika before heading to the combat sector. And drop off Gwen while we're at it, if she decides to stick with us and leave the cold storage sector.

>>6323088
>Make sure nobody could ever get intel from this place again. Either by having Alan light it all ablaze with his flamethrower, or having Evander bow it all up.
Just set it on fire. All that panelling, furniture and carpet should burn readily and not attract undue attention for now.
>Choose a direction to head with your men and France's men. You could head back North to the frozen sector and crawl up, or just head south and back to Titania's chamber. Perhaps you could even explore some different parts of the facility?
Just go back the way we came. Shouldn't be too difficult to get back past Glaucus, we can pick up Edrice and then form up teams from our allies to go to our next objectives.
Again though, should we stop to find Shesha? We're going recruiting and there's a high-level subject in the cooler section who is at least neutral and possibly friendly, so it seems odd if we pass up the opportunity to try and recruit here while we're here.

>>6323088
Considering Sibilia is Lono's friend, I assume that either she caved at some point or Elbrus forgot about her or at least stopped caring about tormenting her and her caretaker freed her from solitary confinement.

>>6323120
Supporting. Better to burn it than bring the ceiling down on our heads. Also, I want to help Gewn's caretaker if possible. Let's try and find some medbay and hope for the best. Maybe we can ask Annie if there's any special or important ones that might be useful for what we are intending.

Okay, I'll skip out on an update tonight because I was too busy working on a uni assignment and procrastinating. But, fortunately, I can and will try and make an update earlier tomorrow when I wake up. Maybe, if I work well enough, I can get 2 updates out tomorrow to compensate. Though, uhhhh, no promises.

>>6323123
I love the expressions you drew them all with. Kaenum looks relaxed yet somewhat perplexed, and Annie genuinely looks unsure as to what she's looking at.

Also, what's Kimmy doing in the background?

>>6323123
I concur, what is she up to?
is Annie canonically a bad singer? jt0avp

>>6323088
>Make sure nobody could ever get intel from this place again. Either by having Alan light it all ablaze with his flamethrower, or having Evander bow it all up. (Write in how you destroy this place.)
Torch it - explosions might not get everything.

>>6323123
I forgot that Annie is SMALL and WEAK.

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>>6323650
Never forget the chart

>>6323621
Annie is indeed canonically not a good singer. The sketch is referencing one of the Annie Baby Stories. Come think of it, she probably butchered that anthem too.

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>>6323615
>What's Kimmy doing in the background?
Watching the performance.

>Make sure nobody could ever get intel from this place again. Either by having Alan light it all ablaze with his flamethrower, or having Evander bow it all up.
Seeing that you had gotten everything you wanted from this place, you would tell your men to finish up their last searches. More importantly, you told them that Alan would burn this place to the ground, which did cause some confusion amongst France's men. "Wait, are we really burning it all down?" Sigit asked, you stating that it was best to not leave any traces of this place. Not to mention, letting everyone know that there was nothing left to find here. "I suppose..." Sigit remarked, before you turned to Alan and told him to have his fun once everyone left. "Thanks, Mik. I'm gonna enjoy buring this awful place to the ground." He remarked in a rather happy tone, you telling everyone to leave with what valuables you had pillaged. Your men and France's men didn't take much along, nor did the girls have anything of value to take along. And once everyone was out, Alan aimed his flamethrower into the dungeon first and started lighting everything ablaze.

>Choose a direction to head with your men and France's men. You could head back North to the frozen sector and crawl up, or just head south and back to Titania's chamber. Perhaps you could even explore some different parts of the facility?
Whilst Alan burnt the room to a crisp, you and the others would reunite with Zaria, Katya and Gwenllian. "So, what did you find? Anything of use?" Zaria was quick to ask, you showing some of the files before mentioning that you also found a lot of disturbing things you'd rather not go over. You could see Gwen being somewhat appreciative that you wouldn't bring up the depraved things you saw, Zaria also not being too bothered. "Gotcha. So, what's the plan now?" Zaria asked, before you explained that you felt the best option was heading south to the medbay in the high-threat level containment area to bring them back to life.

The only risk factor you could think of was that the government could've sent forces to the high-threat level containment area to check up on Reika's body. Though, there was also the threat of Shesha being down here. Especially since her files mentioned her being around this place. Though, you also thought that Shesha could make for a solid ally. Hell, bringing it up made Anon say: "I think it might be worth trying. We just have to show her we aren't a threat and that we could use her help in dealing with Feng." Though, France and most of his men looked a little less certain. "Um, who is Shesha, if I may ask?" Orhan asked, to which Thaddeus said: "TD-26. We've heard of her a couple of times from guardsmen we befriended. Apparently, she's some sorta dragon lady made by Tengri who can produce loud noises." France and his men did look intrigued, you explaining that she was in this general area. In other words, if you got lucky, you could encounter her.

Though, you did first offer France and his men the option to go elsewhere. After all, splitting up did mean covering more ground and better odds at finding subjects. France looked at his men, who seemed to think about it for a short moment. "I believe safety in numbers is for the best now. Especially since threats like Sirona and Grise might still be around." Ignacy mentioned, after which Orhan spoke more optimistically. "I also wanna head forward to that medbay you guys spoke of. I think it could be interesting to explore a bit!" Most of France's men slowly started to agree. Though, Guilherme would also add: "If it becomes necessary to split up, I think that splitting up further south is probably for the best. Especially since there is likely more to explore around there, compared to the cooler section we just left." It seemed that everyone was on the same page, as you would tell everyone that you'd head south as soon as Alan was finished burning Elbrus' office.

>Chat with Thalia a bit more about her files, her powers or her history. Reading through everything here and seeing her files, you were curious if there was more to it than just what she found.
More and more smoke left Elbrus' office, Alan soon stepping out and shooting a few more streams of fire into the place before joining you properly. You'd watch as the room kept burning, smoke pouring out of it. "That was fun. Let's find more places to set on fire, haha." Alan remarked, your men clearly amused by his love for his flamethrower. Regardless, with everyone there, you'd start heading south proper. As you headed towards the logistics hub you had fought Grise in, you decided to test out Thalia's intelligence. You wanted to know if it meant her just knowing a lot of small things, or if she just had an innately effective ability to understand things. Thus, you started asking her random trivia questions. Thalia seemed surprised, but quickly would start answering the questions you had for her.

And, as you asked her questions, you started noticing a pattern. Whilst things such as historical facts and events, names and cultural knowledge was a bit lacking, you did find that her memory, reasoning skills and mathematical skills were exceptional. In fact, when you explained some mathematical concepts to her, you found that she was insanely good at applying them right away. Her knowledge soon also caught the attention of the rest of your men, with most being rather impressed by what she knew. Eventually though, Lydia would state the obvious: "You really are quite intelligent!" Thalia seemed pleased to hear this. "I really think you can use this to our benefit, Thalia." Lautaro would add onto that, further delighting her. Though Artyom would also speak, albeit in a more disappointed tone. "To think Elbrus let this knowledge to waste by keeping it a secret." To this, Thalia seemed a little less sure as to how to respond.

Regardless, you'd soon see the end of the hallway, at long last returning to the place you last encountered Grise and discovered Logan. You'd quickly head down the slanted and damaged hallway to the high-threat level containment area. Until at last, you were back in that massive space. You told France and his men that your last visit her led you to recruiting Reika and Katya, as well as meeting Elodie here. "So, Katya patrolled this place despite it being massive?" Antonin asked with intrigue, Katya giving a quick nod before responding: "Affirmative. It was part of my directive, up until Logan confirmed that I had a different mission now. If you wish, I can patrol the area again to look for nearby threats such as government forces or dangerous subjects." It seemed like a decent idea, as it let you cover far more area than if you just stuck together. Though, perhaps it was also just better to head to one of the locations which interested you most.

>What do you do next?

>Send Katya out to explore the place whilst you headed towards where you wanted to go. She could maybe check if there were any threats ahead or nearby which you had to watch out for. (Write in what you'll tell Katya to look out for and what to do if sh did encounter something.)
>Head towards the medbay first, both to look for ways to help Gwen's caretaker and to show France's men around. (Write in what you do at the medbay.)
>Skip the medbay, since there wasn't anything of value there anyway. Instead, it was probably for the best to just continue on towards Titania's chamber or to head south towards the deeper combat sector. (Write in where you head to.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

(>>6323683
>The sketch is referencing one of the Annie Baby Stories.
I unironically forgot all about that story Logan told. This unironically makes this image 10 times better, lmao.)

(>>6323697
Kimmy sure had a field day watching that show. If only she had recorded it. She would play it on her own radio station all the time to piss off Annie.)

>>6323806
>Send Katya out to explore the place whilst you headed towards where you wanted to go. She could maybe check if there were any threats ahead or nearby which you had to watch out for.
Patrol for Grise, she should be the only remaining threat in this area. If found, contact us, lead her away and lose her as best as she is able.
>Head towards the medbay first, both to look for ways to help Gwen's caretaker and to show France's men around.
We don't know anything about how resurrection works so we're a bit in the dark here. I guess we should search for information about the procedure (try the computers or books in management offices) and see if they have the facilities and supplies to do it here.
While we're here, we can also show the new guys the damage Reika did and check the CCTV tapes from around the medbay. It should have been running since we rebooted it last time we were here so we can see it caught anything (or anyone) over the last three days.

After we've done this, we should head back through the coolers. It's the safest way back to the hideout avoiding government-controlled territories, the flooded sector and Feng's forces.

>think you forgot to include an actual vote
>delete and repost
>realise you actually did and feel dumb

To help keep track since we're going to on a recruiting spree soon, I have spent far too long assembling the following to help keep track:
===LIST OF POTENTIAL ALLIES AND RECRUITS===
--COMBAT SECTOR--
>Alexandra (5-GH) (High Likelihood)
We've talked much about her. An upstanding, reasonable individual who cares deeply for her subordinates and is a major Facility power broker. Won't join us, but can be allied in some manner.
>Dhabus (TS-55-76) (Unknown Likelihood)
A wildcard. Recommended to us a few times but whether she's amenable to the notion and we can actually get close enough to talk is unclear.
>Gisela (SR-73) (High Likelihood)
Morgan really likes her and thinks she's sweet and friendly.
>??? (???) (Unknown Likelihood)
The android. Likes to fight but doesn't seem malicious. Remains to be seen if she can be convinced to pack it in or if her programming allows.
>Cyra (MP-32) (Medium Likelihood)
Hot tempered and quick to anger, but we've been told she's a good person and how to wrangle her.
>Agiri (K-18) (Unknown Likelihood)
Reika likes her and KK thinks she still has her mind, but could have Roraima Syndrome or be aggressive.
>Lono (AM-24) (Low Likelihood)
We all know Lono but she would be very difficult to have around given her hair shedding and unwilling to pause her mission to find her friends.
>Pteroi (LF-29) (Low Likelihood)
Indications so far are negative but there's always a chance. We might just have to beat the tar out of her first.
>Cirra (NS-24) (Low Likelihood)
Friendly to party but unlikely to leave them while Joaquin & Co. live.
>Agiri (KB-18) (Unknown Likelihood)
Seems non-hostile but detailed personality unknown. Friends with Reika.
>Codaline (BK-47) (High Likelihood)
Seems to be a reasonable, non-troublesome subject. Recommended by KK and friends with Reika.
>Zephyr (196-TB) (Medium Likelihood)
Reasonable if respected, whether willing to come with us is unknown

--FLOODED SECTION--
>??? (???) (Low Likelihood)
Roraima's calmer dolphin girl. A dangerous wildcard, but may be more reasonable than her sister. Sister will be major obstacle.
>Viridian (GC-66) (Low Likelihood)
"Met" her already and is personable and reasonable enough - she didn't need or want to come with us and can't anyway but circumstances may always change.
>Juno (7-SM) (High Likelihood)
Dumb, but a good girl who's been resilient against Roraima. Recommended by Logan.
>Natalia (54-KC) (Low Likelihood)
May work with us, if only out of hate for Roraima. Likely unwilling to do much else than hunt him and emotionally volatile.
>??? (COT-21) (Unknown Likelihood)
Poorly understood.
>??? (???) (Unknown Likelihood)
Very skittish but personality and motives unknown.
>Hegemone (FF-68) (High Likelihood)
THE FUCKING FAIRY KILL HE--Ahem. I mean, she seems to be a good girl and would likely trust us if we can catch her.
>Mimi (BO-5) (High Likelihood)
Sweet and shy, not a combatant but if we can calm her down, would readily come with us. May want to reunite with Logan.

>>6323847
>??? (DS-14) (High Likelihood)
Poorly understood, but a pure Mona creation. That can only mean one thing.
>??? (KG-23) (Unknown Likelihood)
Poorly understood.
>Josephine (SS-13) (High Likelihood)
People have called her friendly and her friend Elodie wants her found

--COOLER SECTION--
>Shesha (TD-26) (Medium-High Likelihood)
Calm, gentle, quiet and very powerful and recommended to us, but may have some odd opinions.
>Valentina (39-FD) (High Likelihood)
We know how to talk her down and supposedly she's got a nicer side under the trolling exterior.
>Kiyohime (OB-6) (High Likelihood)
THE Oni. Brash and pugnacious but friendly and honourable. Enthusiastic for booze.
>Anesa (IO-15) (Low Likelihood)
Already met and she's a good person - she didn't want to come with us but, as with Viridian, circumstances may always change.

--TRAINING SECTOR--
>Agnes (BR-07) (High Likelihood)
Given her dedication to her caretaker, she seems reasonable and may jump on board easily with the prospect of protecting their friend.
>Claire (50-GL) (Unknown Likelihood)
A lot depends on how well her psyche survived Roraima, which we don't know. Wildcard.
>??? (SB-87) (High Likelihood)
May simply want to be kept safe and not have to fight.
>Charlotte (???) (Unknown Likelihood)
Motives unknown. May be more reasonable if talked down or otherwise wrangled. Companion unknown.
>??? (CF-40) (Medium Likelihood)
More likely than not to be good, but poorly understood.

--LEISURE CENTRE--
>??? (???) (Unknown Likelihood)
The plasma-wielding reptile. Willingness to stop punching and talk is unknown, but potential.
>Naamah (LK-18) (High Likelihood)
We know how to handle her and Elbrus doesn't seem to have broken her. Good girl as per Logan.
>Celina (EV-13) (High Likelihood)
Sweet girl who wants to meet people she can trust. Will likely latch on to us quickly.
>Melanie (HA-50) (Unknown Likelihood)
Poorly understood.
>Sibilia (MM-3) (Unknown Likelihood)
While she's not hostile, whether she has enough IQ to do it and her actual motives are unknown

--UNNAMED SOUTHERN AREAS--
>Aello (HH-34) (Medium Likelihood)
Volatile but handleable. Not sure if she has the right ethic to be in a team or follow orders, KK thinks moderate chance.
>Haje (19-40-GS) (High Likelihood)
No personal accounts of her character but indications are she's friendly and gregarious.
>Patty (MB-24) (Unknown Likelihood)
Friendly and eager to help. May be in service to Alexandra and thus unwilling to leave, otherwise High Likelihood.
>Zati (???) (Medium Likelihood)
Hothead who may be difficult to control and hostile to Elbrus allies, but listens to Nandi
>Nandi (???) (Medium Likelihood)
Gentle giant but detailed personality unknown. Will likely not separate from Zati.

>>6323849
--UNNAMED NORTHWESTERN AREAS--
>Esmaldo (26-BS) (Unknown Likelihood)
Probably a good girl based on Illimani's dedication to her and per Morgan but may be severely traumatised from his death.
>Arika (BC-887) (Unknown Likelihood)
Friendly and motherly, close friends with Anofelis. May have been Queenapped however, status unknown.
>??? (PF-4) (Unknown Likelihood)
Motives unknown. May be more reasonable if talked down or otherwise wrangled.
>Kaenum (TO-22) (High Likelihood)
We know who she is. Friendly, gregarious and wants to help others.
>Dee (SR-36) (Medium Likelihood)
Seems like a good egg, whether we can keep her on the ground we don't know.

--OTHER AREAS--
>Shu-huo (BR-303) (Medium Likelihood) (East)
A reasonable person - if we can get past the immediate attack on account of being a death squad.
>Roza (AD-44) (Unknown Likelihood) (East)
Positive early indications but too little is known to judge.
>??? (???) (Low Likelihood) (Southeast)
The red serpent. Seems to have noble goals but may just attack us on sight and, if we talk, is likely to remain in place with her wards.
>Totoyama (HW-37) (High Likelihood) (Southwest)
Extraordinarily and unconditionally kind. Will want to be with friends and help out. May still be with Aden.
>Haina (01-MS) (Medium-High Likelihood) (West)
She's a decent girl and literally made as a waifu for Anderson. Whether she'd want to tag along with us and her motives are unclear.
>Agami (933-GHD) (High Likelihood) (Staff sector)
She has several positive character references from others and may just want to able to trust and help out at this point.
>Oneira (DT-52) (High Likelihood) (Foundry sector)
Have met before, she already trusts us. If we can pry her from Feng's grasp, she'll certainy come with us.
>Edrice (9-SB) (High Likelihood) (Level 1 transport hub)
We've been after her already and has a glowing reference from Cortina. If we can catch her, likely to be readily recruitable.
>Helen (TE-53) (High Likelihood) (Communications sector)
Annie loves her, that should be information enough.

--UNKNOWN LOCATIONS--
>??? (AC-39) (Unknown Likelihood)
We know little of her other than she's nonviolent. Will she be willing to come with us? Who knows?
>Viola (EB-21) (High Likelihood)
Logan thinks highly of her character and that she's a sweetheart
>Lucy (LMP-160) (Medium-High Likelihood)
Laid-back nature will make gaining her trust easier, but her temper may pose problems
>Willow (MC-39) (Low Likelihood)
While not hostile, she is terrified of humans and will be difficult to earn the trust of.
>Oana (51-LB) (Unknown Likelihood)
Depends entirely on whether she serves someone already. If not, will be eager to obey orders.
>Tsuchi (LB-31) (Medium Likelihood)
Supposedly has some positive personality traits, but may also have Roraima Syndrome and a short temper
>Irene (16-LD) (Medium Likelihood)
A good and reasonable person willing to talk to us, but severely untrusting

>>6323853
>Aulikki (IS-68) (Medium-High Likelihood)
Logan thinks highly of her and her trust can easily be gained with some praise
>Peripla (SC-7) (High Likelihood)
Curious, friendly and patient. Others think highly of her.
>Staphy (BFS-72) (Unknown Likelihood)
Poorly understood.
>Nubau (PU-548) (Unknown Likelihood)
Poorly understood.

fuckin' phew

>>6323804
>Alan aimed his flamethrower into the dungeon first and started lighting everything ablaze.
Not even any maniacal laughter? Not a REAL pyro.

>Send Katya out to explore the place whilst you headed towards where you wanted to go. She could maybe check if there were any threats ahead or nearby which you had to watch out for.
Any subjects or other death squads, report back to us with location and direction if found.

>Head towards the medbay first, both to look for ways to help Gwen's caretaker and to show France's men around. (Write in what you do at the medbay.)
Loot more supplies too, especially any of those healing nanites.

>>6323806
>Kimmy sure had a field day watching that show. If only she had recorded it. She would play it on her own radio station all the time to piss off Annie.)
Her own radio station? She has one? Why does she always hijack Annie's then?

>>6323847
>>6323849
>>6323853
>>6323855
Woah beeg effort.

>>6323806
Wow Thalia is kinda smart, we should ask her if she would like something to read once we return from the surface, exercise the noddle of hers.

>>Send Katya out to explore the place whilst you headed towards where you wanted to go. She could maybe check if there were any threats ahead or nearby which you had to watch out for. (Write in what you'll tell Katya to look out for and what to do if sh did encounter something.)
Look out for dangerous subjects and death squads, also look out for any subject who she thinks can be persuaded .

>>Head towards the medbay first, both to look for ways to help Gwen's caretaker and to show France's men around. (Write in what you do at the medbay.)
Let's take a moment to patch up everyone and see whetever or not we can resurrect her... at the very least we can have an ultimatum to this issue.

>>6323991
>Wow Thalia is kinda smart, we should ask her if she would like something to read once we return from the surface, exercise the noddle of hers.
We should teach her chess and then beat her just like we beat Morgan.

>>6324041
What if she wins though?

>>6324045
Then it's ON.

>>6323941
>Her own radio station? She has one? Why does she always hijack Annie's then?
Because it's funny?

>>6324041
Morgan's kind of a meathead, beating her in chess isn't that impressive.

>>6324061
Morgan's a deceptively smart cookie (cf. her character sheet), she's just bound up in the straightjacket that is her LARP. If she wasn't trying to apply her notion of honour to the game, I think she'd have been a very formidable opponent in chess.

>>6324045
If she wins right after hearing the rules for the first time we put her in charge of all the plans forever.

>Send Katya out to explore the place whilst you headed towards where you wanted to go. She could maybe check if there were any threats ahead or nearby which you had to watch out for.
Having reached the high-threat level containment area, you would tell Katya if she could go back to patrolling like the good ol' days. "Affirmative. I will patrol as done previously, Mikhail." She said calmly, you quickly telling her to not forget to come back after she was done patrolling, rather than... continuing forever like she did before. More importantly, you told her to be on the lookout for dangerous subjects like Grise, or any other threat she could find. If she did find Grise, you wanted her to contact you and lead her away from you. "Affirmative. I will contact you if I spot her and lead her away." She repeated, you lastly telling her to also keep her eyes open for subjects to befriend. Shesha was still on your mind, along with dozens of other subjects who seemed like solid partners.

>Head towards the medbay first, both to look for ways to help Gwen's caretaker and to show France's men around.
Katya spread her wings, before running forward and lifting off, speeding up rapidly before disappearing from view. "She is insanely quick." Lautaro mumbled, to which Zaria proudly responded: "Like a star fighter!" As your men looked down the hallway Katya flew through, you would tell them to follow you to the nearest medbay. Obviously, you wanted to go there for Gwen first and foremost, since you knew that it'd maybe give her some hope. Though admittedly, the chances of somehow bringing her caretaker back from the death seemed... unlikely, to say the least. At least there were other things you could do in the medbay, you telling France and his men that they could get materials if any of them were injured. "Oh, I don't think we need... too many materials. We've remained relatively unscathed, fortunately." Orhan mumbled casually.

As you wandered down the hallway, youd also soon reach the very section where you fought Reika first. "It looks like quite the battle happened here." Sigit remarked, before Maija asked: "What the hell are those quills in the wall? Are those..." Before she could finish, Mike confidently said: "Reika's spikes. Shot them at us on several occasions, but... fortunately never hit us given that we damaged her tail early on in our battle. Still, it was a rough battle." Lars confirmed this, pointing to a nearby office. "I almost died there, after getting some of those quills in my chest. Nasty things they are." France's men and Idalia looked fascinated, especially as Thaddeus soon pointed to a large blast site: "That's where I used my plasma railgun on Reika. She managed to survive a couple a shots, which was... impressive to say the least." France and his men were obviously impressed, inspecting the damage caused by the plasma railgun.

It was a good thing that there were no government forces here to check the damages... Hell, maybe the government hadn't sent anyone down here to begin. Regardless, Idalia would soon also share her thoughts in a mixture of confidence and amusement. "I take it Reika wasn't too difficult to hit, given her foolish nature and lack of an effective strategy. Perhaps if she was more intelligent, she could've avoided being hit by that gun of yours." It was an odd comment, since it sounded that she was comparing herself to Reika... then again, perhaps it was a quirk of her education under Roraima. Either way, you'd soon speed up again, it not taking much longer for you to reach the medbay. The damage to it was fortunately the same as before, there still being quills embedded into the walls and windows of the space. You would immediately tell France's men that they could look for some medical equipment, if they felt it was beneficial to them. More importantly, you told Sigit, Lydia, Anon and Lautaro to check the CCTV footage for anything of value.

"On it, Mik!" Lydia said eagerly, Anon, Sigit and Lautaro following her as she led them to the nearby room to check the cameras. In the meantime, you turned to Lars and Orhan, asking them if they could join you in checking some of the books and computers for any info on bringing people back from the dead. Orhan and Lars both looked uneasy, with Orhan saying: "Mik, I don't... know if we will be able to find anything about it." Lars nodded along and softly responded: "Even if it is possible, we are just regular doctors, y'know. The most advanced thing we got are medical nanites and..." He looked at Gwen, who was listening along with a pained expression. "Even those didn't seem to do much for Gwen's caretaker." Lars whispered to you, to which you said it was still worth giving a shot. And if it didn't work, you could at least tell Gwenllian that it was over. Orhan and Lars looked at each other, before Lars sighed. "Fine. We'll... look around."

You told the rest of your men to just relax, look around for medical equipment which could be useful or any other findings. Thus, your men split up and started looking all over the place. Gwenllian, Thaddeus and France stayed with you though, the former clearly knowing that this was all about reviving her caretaker. Of course, you wouldn't state that just yet, waiting to hear if Orhan or Lars found anything that could bring them back. In the meantime, you'd get Gwen a bit caught up on what you had found. Albeit, without reminding her of the traumatic parts. Gwen listened along calmly, yet was clearly more focused on her caretaker who by now was starting to thaw quite a bit. Though eventually, France would calmly ask Gwen: "Um, Gwen, may I ask... are ya aware of any... humans being brought back to life through facility science? Just... out of curiosity." Obviously, this was a rather risky question to ask Gwen now. But fortunately, she didn't become more emotional as a result.

Gwen looked down at her caretaker, before responding softly and a little slowly. "N-No, I... d-don't remember. I-I heard rumours a-about it... a-and it was b-being researched, b-but... I-I don't know." Things went a little quiet, things feeling a little awkward. Though, Gwen did soon have a bit more to say about the topic. "I-I still... h-have hope th-that... K-Kiliane can... s-s-survive." She mumbled, you knowing that she really was trying her best to deny what... you knew deep down was the case about her poor caretaker.

>What do you do next?

>Talk a bit more about Kiliane with Gwenllian. Perhaps you could learn more about Kiliane, as well as reassure Gwenllian ahead of things ending up for the worst. (Write in what you talk about.)
>Just quietly wait for Lars and Orhan to return with the materials they could use for reviving Kiliane... if those materials even existed to begin with.
>Go over to Orhan and Lars to see how they were faring. Maybe you could help them in their search if they had found any leads by now. (Write in what you do for Lars and Orhan.)
>Check up how Sigit, Lydia, Anon and Lautaro were doing with the computers and the CCTV footage. Perhaps they had found something of interest on camera which you could check out whilst waiting for updates from Orhan and Lars?
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

(>>6323847
>>6323849
>>6323853
>>6323855
Very fucking impressive. Curious what subjects in the list each anon is particularly interested in.)

(>>6323941
>Her own radio station? She has one? Why does she always hijack Annie's then?
Erm, I meant to say when she hijacked Annie's radio station. Kimmy does indeed not have her own radio station... yet.)

>>6324096
>Talk a bit more about Kiliane with Gwenllian. Perhaps you could learn more about Kiliane, as well as reassure Gwenllian ahead of things ending up for the worst. (Write in what you talk about.)
Really doubting we'll be able to revive her, so let's give Gwen some closure.

>Curious what subjects in the list each anon is particularly interested in.
I'm only interested in evil women and Feng was left off the list.

>>6324096
>Talk a bit more about Kiliane with Gwenllian. Perhaps you could learn more about Kiliane, as well as reassure Gwenllian ahead of things ending up for the worst. (Write in what you talk about.)
Tell her to prepare herself for the worst, that there may be no way to bring her friend back, but that at least now she doesn't have to mourn alone and we'll be here to support her if there's no way to help Kiliane.

>Curious what subjects in the list each anon is particularly interested in.
Barghest wife and gun cat

>>6324096
>Talk a bit more about Kiliane with Gwenllian. Perhaps you could learn more about Kiliane, as well as reassure Gwenllian ahead of things ending up for the worst.
What will she do if it does prove to be impossible? What would Kiliane want her to do?
Just stay with her and prepare for the crashout.

>Curious what subjects in the list each anon is particularly interested in.
I wish to see Hellwan, Tactical Tiger, Thunderbirb, Red Oni, Therapy Birb, Healer Dragon, Succubus, PR Lizard and Gumshoe.

>>6324129
Medical student hands wrote this post.

>>6324271
>Medical student hands wrote this post
Thankfully not, I’d hate to still be in school.

>>6324417
You may still be a medical though

>Talk a bit more about Kiliane with Gwenllian. Perhaps you could learn more about Kiliane, as well as reassure Gwenllian ahead of things ending up for the worst.
Knowing that the chances were unlikely that Kiliane would make it, you would stand beside her and told her that she might have to prepare for the worst. Whilst the chance still existed that Lars and Orhan could bring her back, you knew that the odds weren't exactly in your favour. Hearing this, Gwen's hopeless expression became even worse, her looking down at Kiliane as you saw tears falling from her cheeks. France would jump into the conversation soon after, by taking a more optimistic tone: "Hey, we've seen subjects survive incredible things! I'm sure we can... find a way to bring Kiliane back somehow. She has been preserved quite well, after all." You saw Thaddeus look at you with a concerned look, as it was clear that Gwen still refused to believe her caretaker had passed.

Still, to prepare her for what seemed like the most likely conclusion, you would ask her what Kiliane would've wanted her to do. Gwen spoke quietly, her voice hoarse and pained. "I-I don't... k-know... S-She would've... w-wanted me to... t-to p-probably p-protect others a-and... n-not be h-harsh to myself..." It seemed like a nice enough thing to hear from Gwen, France and Thaddeus nodding approvingly. However, Gwen's despair only grew stronger as she kept talking. "B-But... h-how can I... n-not be h-harsh to m-myself? I-I failed... t-the one p-person wh-who cared f-f-for me... I-I let her d-die... I-I... I c-can't b-bring her b-back a-anymore..." Gwen's voice became even more tearful and anguished, her sniffling and starting to let out some quiet sobs. "Hey, don't say that, Gwen. There's still a chance we can bring her back, aye? Just... gotta wait and see what Orhan and Lars can do with what we've gotten." Thaddeus mumbled in an attempt to remain optimistic. But, you could tell that Gwen no longer denied the obvious anymore.

You'd keep reassuring Gwen, telling her that you'd be there for her to support her. You mentioned that Orhan and Lars would do their best to revive Kiliane. Gwen remained unmoved, even as Orhan and Lars returned with some books and medical outfits. "Okay, we've checked everything. There is an operating table with some life-saving equipment nearby which we can use." Lars said, Orhan nodding and looking to Gwen. "Just gently bring Kiliane there and we can try our best to save her." Gwen nodded, as you followed her, Lars and Orhan to the medical emergency room. Kiliane was soon placed on the table, as Lars and Orhan would start checking everything. Gwen would watch anxiously, as the two of them did several check-ups of the body. Though, as they checked all the vitals and even used some of the computers and machinery to get a full overview of Kiliane's state, you could tell that they had little hope for the caretaker.

For what felt like an eternity, the two would check over Kiliane, the two soon checking the computer and whispering to each other. Until finally, Orhan let out a sigh. "Gwen, I... I am sorry, but... I don't think there is anything here we can do to save Kiliane. Whilst the nanites did make it that her organs have recovered from what damage they had, her brain has... taken far too much damage and cannot be brought back. " Gwen's eyes widened, her starting to shiver and breathe heavily. In the meantime, Lars would show some diagnostics on the screen, showing some brainscans. "The brain has been without oxygen and damaged far too much. We've already checked for anything regarding reparing this kind of damage, but... N-Not even the most advanced medical equipment the facility has could pull this off, I think." Orhan nodded along, before France put a hand on Gwen's back. "I'm sorry, Gwen." The others remained quiet as well, until Gwen stood up.

She'd walk over to Kiliane, looking down at her before picking her up again. "I suppose we should find... a place to bury Kiliane. Or at least, let her rest peacefully." Thaddeus said sombrely. But before anyone could interrupt, Gwen would quickly speak up. "N-No." You looked at Gwen, as she once again held onto Kiliane with great care. "S-She... she can m-make it i-in some other way... F-Facility staff h-have... t-they've saved p-people before... I-I'm... I-I..." She breathed heavily, as Lars spoke up in a more concerned tone. "Gwen, the facility... saved plenty of people, but never from something as bad as this. I-I don't see how we could even begin to fix this." Gwen looked around, before speaking more hurriedly. "A-A vat! W-We can... t-throw her in a vat! T-They can make b-brains i-in subjects! T-They can h-help fix K-Kiliane up! I-I... w-we have to try!" Gwen had gone from denial to bargaining, clearly hoping to find another way to save her friend. Lars and Orhan didn't seem too sure, given that neither had any clue if a vat would indeed be capable of something like this.

>What do you do next?

>Agree to try a vat to potentially bring back Kiliane. If you did indeed find a working vat, there was no harm in trying. Not to mention, it could prove valuable to you in the future, even if it did require either insane luck or help from an expert in the field. (Write in what you agree to.)
>Get the other girls to either give their thoughts on the idea, or to maybe dissuade Gwen from throwing Kiliane in a vat in the vain hope of bringing Kiliane back. (Write in what you ask the girls to do.)
>Tell Gwen that she can carry Kiliane around with her, but that you weren't going to actively look into finding a working vat and then somehow reviving Kiliane. The odds of doing all of that was smaller than the odds of sneaking up to Feng and getting away with giving her a hug. (Write in what you tell Gwen.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6324448
>>Something else...
It's very clear she had a great bond with her, but she needs to accept reality. There's no vat in this place, we been here before, it's been throughly trashed even if it had her brain is already lost, even if both of then stayed cooped n the frozen sector her body and brain would start to rot, she ain't a subject made for the cold she was a human. She needs to accept reality, Killiane's gone. She can grieve, and cry all she want but when she's done she needs to ask herself what would Killiane want for her? Let's leave her alone after that she needs a moment, we can come back when she's ready.

>>6324448
>Get the other girls to either give their thoughts on the idea, or to maybe dissuade Gwen from throwing Kiliane in a vat in the vain hope of bringing Kiliane back. (Write in what you ask the girls to do.)
We can try looking for a vat, and perhaps even tap Logan over the radio for instructions, but we don't have any controls or blueprints or remotes for the rest of the process. That's not even getting into the particulars of how brain tissue is regenerated - it's not like memories or formative experiences are stored in DNA, so even if we can grant life to a corpse we might get back a Kiliane with severe amnesia, a Kiliane tortured by a swiss cheese mind, or even a newborn baby in Kiliane's body.

I guess instead of asking the girls we can radio up Logan to see if the vat revival idea has any merit, but I feel like it would have been done before if it was possible.

>>6324448
>Get the other girls to either give their thoughts on the idea, or to maybe dissuade Gwen from throwing Kiliane in a vat in the vain hope of bringing Kiliane back.
She's gone, Gwen. You can't bring back someone's brain - if monsterification did do anything and was even possible (it's not for the foreseeable future), either they'd return with crippling brain damage and amnesia or would be a completely new person. Allow her to rest as herself and remember her for who she was instead of putting her through that indignity.

>>6324096
>Curious what subjects in the list each anon is particularly interested in
Alexandra, obviously
Agiri, purely because of KK and Reika
Lono and frens, including Sibilia.
Juno. We've yet to actually find a slime subject and one will be extremely useful. Sad she has the Lono issue of no hugs without pain though.
Natalia. I feel she'll be good help in killing Elbrus.
Arika. Anofelis' friend. Need I say more?
The red serpent. Just seems interesting from what little we know of her. A picture says a thousand words.
Totoyama. Free nanite heals. Her utility would be insane.
Helen. Same reason as Arika just replace Anofelis with Annie

>>6324561
Supporting. If anyone knows the finer mechanics of this and can provide any help it's Logan. He's actually managed vats before by virtue of Annie and every other subject he made or co-created being made by him in part or in full. I do feel bad for her though. If we are going by the five stages of grief here I don't think she skipped anger and went right into bargaining but instead had been quietly hating and blaming herself for this for a while.

>Get the other girls to either give their thoughts on the idea, or to maybe dissuade Gwen from throwing Kiliane in a vat in the vain hope of bringing Kiliane back.
Seeing Gwen's desperation, you knew that you needed to find a way to get through to her that this wouldn't be a simple task. And whilst the girls could maybe tell her that it wasn't feasible, there was an even stronger source of information which could help in this case. Thus, you begrudgingly told Gwen that you could attempt looking for a vat for Kiliane. Gwen nodded quickly, up until you mentioned that you'd ask Logan for feedback. After all, you had neither the technical skills nor technical know-how to really operate a vat. Furthermore, you mentioned that the brain damage really was bad. In fact, even though you weren't a facility worker or even a doctor, you knew that the holes in her brain were going to have some... adverse effects if she was somehow brought back. At best, she would have some mental disorders. And at worst, she would not remember anything of her past life.

Despite your warnings, Gwen shook her head and spoke anxiously. "S-So long as s-she lives, I-I don't... I-I still w-wanna try..." Gwen's desperation was obvious, you looking over to Thaddeus who would quickly leave the room to retrieve a radio which you could use to contact Logan and Annie. In the meantime, Gwen got seated with Kiliane in her arms, continuing to let out tears and soft sobs. In the meantime, Lars would approach you to quietly discuss some things. "Mik, are you sure we should give her... false hope like this? I mean, there's no way we're gonna revive her, right?" You agreed that the odds were exceedingly low. Hell, if reviving humans had been possible through vats, you imagined it would've been done far earlier by experts in the field. "Knowing the facility, there were folk who did try exactly that... and failed horrifically." Lars mumbled, as Thaddeus returned with a radio.

Immediately, he'd turn it on and go to Annie's frequency. And as music played, Thaddeus would calmly ask: "Annie, can ya hear us? We wanna chat a bit with Logan about somethin'." After a moment of the music continuing to play, it started to fade and you'd hear Annie once more. "Of course. What do you need him for?" She asked, you seeing Orhan and France looking pretty impressed by the fact you had clearly befriended Annie. Regardless, Thaddeus would continue talking, remaining pessimistic as he spoke. "We wanna ask him about the vats and... the possibility of bringin' back a person from the dead. A subject we've met recently wants to revive their caretaker." There was an awkward silence, after which Annie responded with: "Which subject, if I may ask? And who is the caretaker?" Thaddeus right away answered with: "Gwenllian Lloyd, codename CS-58. Her caretaker is called Kiliane." Annie was obviously curious about Gwen, as she asked: "Is... Gwenllian listening to me right now?"

Thaddeus signalled Gwen to talk after bringing her the radio, Gwen taking a few breaths before softly responding with: "Y-Yes, I-I am listening, A-Annie." After Gwen spoke, Annie took a more reassuring tone. "Okay, I've just asked Logan to come over. Can you please tell me what happened with your caretaker and... what state they are in?" Gwen would hesitate, before speaking anxiously, clearly not ready to talk about this to someone she never met. "T-They're... t-t-they were f-frozen... a-after b-being t-tortured by S-Sirona... T-They're... L-Lars and O-Orhan s-said th-that she... i-is already d-dead a-and... c-can't be s-saved..." Gwen became more emotional as she kept talking, Annie remaining calm and speaking as reassuringly as before. "Okay, and you are in the High Threat Level Containment sector now, right?" You and your men confirmed this was the case, there being a moment of silence before you heard Logan's voice. "Hello? Mik, what's going on? Everything okay?"

Once again, you'd go over everything that had happened, telling Logan how Kiliane was tortured, how Orhan and Lars already felt that there was no saving the poor caretaker. And once you asked about the vat, Logan would speak up reluctantly. "Gwenllian... human nanite integration is a field of which we know very little. I know Sarah looked into it a little bit, but... she didn't come very far." He paused for a moment before sighing. "I am sorry, Gwenllian. But, even with all the expertise in the world, a working vat and all the tools you'd need to get said vat working again, I highly doubt this will be possible..." Gwen started shivering again, her shaking her head and breathing heavily. "P-Please, no... t-t-there m-must be... a-a way... A-Annie, you know v-vat locations, r-right? A-Anywhere n-nearby..." Annie responded in a disappointed and regretful tone. "Gwen, even if I gave you the location of the vats, I realy doubt it will change anything. Logan said that reviving her would be going against all odds."

Gwen lowered her head, before starting to cry. "I am very sorry, Gwenllian. I wish we could do more, but... there's very little we can do for Kiliane now." Gwen didn't respond, just continuing to let out tears as she looked down at Kiliane...

>What do you do next?

>Ask Annie and Logan some questions. You had the opportunity to chat with them, so you might as well get some more useful intel from them, or let them know what you had been up to (Write in what you discuss.)
>Turn off the radio and leave Gwen alone. She needed time to herself to grieve. In the meantime, you also could help out elsewhere to benefit the rest of your team. (Write in what you do whilst leaving Gwen.)
>Reassure Gwen regarding Kiliane's death. She probably could use some words of encouragement to ease her mind. (Write in how you reassure her.)
>Ask for locations of the nearby vats. Just in case you'd pass by them and could try to throw Kiliane in anyway.
>DIscuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6324995
>Ask Annie and Logan some questions. You had the opportunity to chat with them, so you might as well get some more useful intel from them, or let them know what you had been up to (Write in what you discuss.)
We should at least apologize for bothering them with this, we figured it was a long shot but some of the stuff they do down here seems like magic :^) so we just wanted to make sure.

Good chance to let them know we found and teamed up with the France crew. They might actually have useful info for her, we should check with them. I guess since we're insistent on taking out Feng ourselves we should ask how much visibility Annie has into her operations and her most recent moves.

We should delegate all that though, hand off the radio to someone while we
>Reassure Gwen regarding Kiliane's death. She probably could use some words of encouragement to ease her mind. (Write in how you reassure her.)
Sit near her and ask her about the best memories she has of Kiliane. What made her such a great caretaker?

>>6324995
>Ask Annie and Logan some questions. You had the opportunity to chat with them, so you might as well get some more useful intel from them, or let them know what you had been up to
I suppose we can fill her in on what we've been up to and what our respective teams are going to be doing. Has she seen any signs of J&C anywhere and have any of the combat sector names we're hoping to track down cropped up in any happenings recently? Incidentally, has she had the opportunity to take a look at Andrei's drives?

I can't think of anything myself to say to Gwen right now and I'll defer to other people's ideas. Though I do wonder if it would be better to just sit with her and let her cry.

-----

It's been seven threads since but I still wonder what the deal was with the BBQ Room.

>>6325070
BBQ room?

>>6325174
The room with the burned bodies

>Ask Annie and Logan some questions. You had the opportunity to chat with them, so you might as well get some more useful intel from them, or let them know what you had been up to.
After Annie apologised for her inability to help out, there was a moment of silence. You apologised to Annie for bothering her with this all of a sudden, knowing that it was probably not something they expected to be asked. "It's... fine, Mikhail. I am glad you trust us to help with such things. Unfortunately, I do indeed think there... is nothing else we can do now." Annie responded, you looking at Gwenllian, who was still cradling Kiliane, looking down at her with tears in her eyes. You decided to use the opportunity to let Annie know what you were up to, telling her that you had allied yourself with France and his men. "That's good to hear. I take it they are listening along now as well?" Annie calmly said, before France responded himself. "It's just me and our medic, Orhan, right now."

Afterwards, you asked if she had seen anything regarding Jabal and Catherine. After all, they remained your primary search targets right now. Annie would speak curiously. "I've been looking for them in the Western parts. But, I haven't heard or seen anything about them. If I find anything about them though, I'll let you guys know right away!" You thanked her for the help, before asking her about Andrei's drives. To this, she gave a far more intriguing response. "Yes, I have decompiled all of the files. It's mostly just... data logs about his subjects, private information, some contacts with the government. Honestly, it might make for good blackmail material. But, the most interesting thing was that... some of the drives were wiped through degaussing, which I have NEVER seen. I've tried to recover the data on these drives but... it's extremely difficult." Whilst it was nice that you got some good intel from the drives, the fact some data was basically permanently erased did leave some questions.

You then asked about the combat sector, wanting to know if anything happened with the subjects you were interested in finding. "Well, I have not heard much from Alexandra and her forces. I do suspect Alexandra jumped a group of death squads who I was listening in on, since they were getting pretty close to her and her soldiers. As for other subjects, Dhabus apparently caused some havoc by stealing some kind of minigun and perching up high and surprising a death squad with it. Ummm, apparently Patty Peregrine, MB-24, was spotted in the combat sector. I imagine she either escaped from there, or was on the move for... some other reason. Knowing that she was designed to send messages between people, I can imagine her basically allowing communication down there. And... well, a lot of things are happening in the combat sector, but I haven't yet gotten a full overview of everything so I can't confirm much yet."

>Reassure Gwen regarding Kiliane's death. She probably could use some words of encouragement to ease her mind.
You thanked Annie for the intel, before telling her that you'd let France talk with her now. After all, you imagined that he also had some useful intel to share with her. "Sure, I'd not mind." Annie responded, whilst France seemed a little surprised to suddenly be thrust into the spotlight. He'd not reject the suggestion though, calmly approaching the radio to continue the conversation with Annie. Before he did though, you'd ask him and Thaddeus to discuss Feng with her as well. Perhaps Annie even had some updates as to where Feng's forces were heading and what sort of missions they were on right now. France and Thaddeus accepted, as you headed over to Gwen to continue chatting in private. You asked the sheep girl to follow, her nodding and quietly doing so.

Once you left the medical office, you'd find a good place to sit with her, in the meantime asking her about the best memories she had of Kiliane. Gwen wiped away a tear, before speaking quietly. "W-When I... f-first w-was t-taken... u-under h-h-her c-care... I-I remember... h-her telling me... I-I looked p-pretty. I-I said I... I didn't, a-and she... h-hugged me a-and said I-I was t-t-too harsh o-on... m-myself." Gwenllian stuttered, continuing to look down at Kiliane. "S-She a-always was... p-positive n-near me. S-She n-never insulted me o-or... f-forced me t-to do things I didn't w-want to..." Gwenllian kept sobbing, before letting out a deep breath. "I-I won't... l-let her die." Gwen seemingly still thought she could revive Kiliane. Even after Logan himself confirmed that it was unlikely to work, Gwenllian kept clinging onto Kiliane throughout everything. She'd even hug Kiliane's corpse more tightly, before whispering to her. "I-It's going t-to be o-okay. I-I'll w-wake you u-up again, K-Kiliane. I-I will... I-I'll f-find you a v-vat..." She sounded desperate to save Kiliane, which was rather heartbreaking to see...

Unfortunately, she did have to let go eventually...

>What do you do next?

>Give Gwen some alone time to process things. Clearly, she still needed to get over Kiliane's death and needed to process things without someone else present. (Write in what you do whilst you leave Gwen alone.)
>Discuss Kiliane's fate with Gwen. Perhaps it was time for her to finally say goodbye to Kiliane. Or, perhaps she could hold onto her a little longer whilst you looked for a vat to try and revive her with? (Tell Gwen what you thought was best to do with Kiliane now.)
>Tell Gwen that Kiliane wasn't coming back, that it was better to let go now than to continue painfully holding on. (Write in what you tell Gwen.)
>Something else...

>>6325450
Welp, she's definitely not handling that too well.

>Give Gwen some alone time to process things. Clearly, she still needed to get over Kiliane's death and needed to process things without someone else present. (Write in what you do whilst you leave Gwen alone.)
I guess consult with France about what he wants to do - search for Jabal and Catherine even though there's been no sightings, or go after Feng whose location we know.

Make sure someone is watching Gwen though, both to make sure she has anything she needs in this trying time and also to ensure she doesn't do anything reckless like running off in search of a vat alone.

>>6325450
Give Gwen some alone time to process things. Clearly, she still needed to get over Kiliane's death and needed to process things without someone else present.
I'm at something of a loss here, her skull is just too thick. I don't know how to logic someone out of a position they didn't logic themselves into. If she can't snap out of it, we can't take her with us since I'm not carrying around a soon-to-be decomposing body for someone who's lost their grip on reality.

We've already gone over this place first time, I don't think there's much left to find here. Just go and examine the cameras while we wait.

We don't have direct sightings of J&C (we don't on any of them, previously including Logan), but we do have suggested leads to chase up because it was never going to be that easy. We're going to have to put in effort to track them down and that means sleuthing around their shit. In any case, we've already discussed this with them and they'd rather do that than go to the combat sector and the main reason we recruited them was to be able to split up to do more things, we don't all need to come to the combat sector. We've got stuff to do on the way back, we promised our girls we'd bring them out on this mission and we should change up our group anyway before we head to the combat sector.

>>6325551
Support.
Since Its the night of Halloween what would the girls like as candy for trick or treating

>Give Gwen some alone time to process things. Clearly, she still needed to get over Kiliane's death and needed to process things without someone else present.
You were unsure what to really tell Gwenllian. She clearly was obsessed with reviving Kiliane, refusing to believe that Kiliane was dead. You wished you could get her to accept this fact, but you knew you couldn't do much for her anymore. You told her that you'd give her some time to say goodbye to Kiliane, something which only made her more visibly anxious. Though, it was far kinder than the alternative of telling her that you wouldn't keep travelling with a slowly decomposing body. Gwenllian didn't respond, as you would head back to France, Thaddeus and your medics. Once you did return, you'd ask Lars to maybe look after Gwen, just to be sure she had someone to talk to and that she didn't try something reckless. "Got it." Lars said calmly, heading off as you listened in on what Thaddeus and France were discussing with Annie.

"So, Feng's forces have spread in the lower parts as well now. That's... not good." Thaddeus said, as it seemed you had joined right on time for a good discussion about Feng's forces. "The good news, is that it's stretching her forces thin. Feng may be a 'queen', but she certainly is no military expert." You'd ask what Annie had discussed whilst you were away, Thaddeus responding casually. "Eh, not much. Though, she thinks that recruitment rates are already droppin' due to guardsmen tryin' to flee being caught by her." Annie would elaborate most eagerly, clearly wanting to explain. "Basically, I've set up some models which can give a decent estimate as to how many guardsmen she can still recruit. Based on this model, I believe that she will soon run out of new forces due to a mixture of guardsmen fleeing or guardsmen dying. Of course, there are a ton of variables I can't really speak with a 100% certainty about." It was sweet how truly proud Annie sounded as she shared this with you.

"The only issue is that... she might start shifting her attention to death squads soon. Especially if death squads assume that she isn't a major threat... Anyway, that is something I'll need to model later on as well. If you guys are interested, I'll happily share more datapoints!" She answered, you thanking her before asking France what he wanted to do. After all, this place had already been explored rather thoroughly, you not feeling like there was much else to discover in this place aside from camera footage. "Well, I was thinking we'd still split up eventually." France said, which you agreed was probably for the best. You stated that you were eager to head to the combat sector, and that France and his men could instead head downwards to find Jabal and Catherine. Of course, you admitted that finding Jabal and Catherine wouldn't be easy, even with help from Annie. "Yeah, I imagined such. But, it's still good to give it a try given what those two can provide us."

It honestly seemed like you were already quite on the same page with things. Annie would even remark: "Looks to me like... you guys got this sorted out. I need to go back to the radio now, so... if you need me for anything, just ask once I'm playing the next song!" And with Annie no longer listening in, you said that you actually wanted to head back a bit as well. Mainly since you wanted to return to your girls in their hiding spot so they could join you. "Yeah, I think that seems fine. So, we just... head back north then? Or is there an alternative route?" France asked, before Orhan spoke up curiously. "Honestly, maybe we can first head west from here and then find a way back north? I'd not mind that myself." Thaddeus seemed curious, looking at Orhan expecting further elaboration. "I mean, we haven't really been to these parts before. I'd not mind exploring a bit more, finding more interesting locations, people and whatnot."

It was understandable that Orhan wanted to explore this place a bit more. These parts of the facility were likely completely new to him and some of the other soldiers from France's team. And given what was further to the west here, it seemed only fair that he wanted to explore. The only issue was that... there were very few ways to head back up from Titania's chamber. Unless if you wanted to try passing through Feng's territory again... or heading further down Titania's chamber to take the same path Annie told you to take to get back to the surface. Still, you got a bit of time to decide, given that you still needed to check out the video files from the cameras as well.

>What do you do next?

>Head west to show France's men some of the deeper parts of the facility. You could always find a new way to the surface, or take the route Annie gave you to get back safely. (Write in where you head to whilst going west.)
>Head back the safe route through the frozen sector and over the flooded sector. The quicker you got back to the hideout with the other girls, the quicker you would be able to split up and head into the combat sector.
>Ask your men which option they preferred. Maybe they were eager enough to keep on exploring a little while longer to get France and his men more acquainted with these parts of the facility. (Write in what choice you'll give them.)
>Something else...

(Apologies for the lack of an update yesterday. I had a bit of a busy day so I was left a little exhausted. I hope today's update is still good, regardless of how tired I currently am.)

(Anyway, I completely forgot that the 2 year anniversary of the quest was last Tuesday. I keep thinking that I started this quest in November, even though I started it in late October... Regardless, my plan for the 2 year special is to share a couple of artpieces I got of the quest, specifically focused on Katya and Vinella. I'll share those sooner or later. More importantly though, I will be writing an... ""interesting"" story with Vinella as well, sorta like the Annie story I wrote last year.)

(>>6326328
>Since Its the night of Halloween what would the girls like as candy for trick or treating

Good question, allow me:
Chrys: Would probably like some sweet and sour candy.
Oreas: Probably enjoys very sour candies,/
Anofelis: Would enjoy chocolate a whole bunch, as well as fruit-flavoured candies.
Kamara: Anything chocolaty, though not dark chocolate due to her disliking its bitter taste.
Morgan: Caramel apples
Vinisha: Any candy would make her happy.
Thalia: Lollipops.
Cortina: Anything gummy or foamy. Would also love cotton candy.
Katya: Probably would enjoy hard candies,
Reika: Anything sour and chewy that doesn't hurt your teeth.
Annie: Any kind of chocolate with lots of exotic flavours. Also really likes anything sweet which has Mochi in it.
Gwen: Chocolate for the most part, but really is happy just receiving any candy.
Kenai: She quite enjoys licorice, but also is a fan of wine gums.)

>>6326335
>"The only issue is that... she might start shifting her attention to death squads soon. Especially if death squads assume that she isn't a major threat...
Still think that would be a bonus and not an issue. Especially if it's DD or Heroes squads, or even SM.


>>6326336
>Head west to show France's men some of the deeper parts of the facility. You could always find a new way to the surface, or take the route Annie gave you to get back safely. (Write in where you head to whilst going west.)
Let's pass through Fengland again, get our own eyes on the situation. I think we'll be fine now that we know faking a surrender and letting them lead us deeper into enemy territory can only end poorly.

>>6326348
Time flies! Happy 2 years!

> I will be writing an... ""interesting"" story with Vinella as well, sorta like the Annie story I wrote last year
With Vinella? How brave.

>Vinisha: Any candy would make her happy.
What if she was given apples like at those health nut houses? Not even caramel or chocolate apples, just plain old apples.

>Thalia: Lollipops.
Not even a specific flavor?

Also what candy would Caera have liked ;_; never forget?

>>6326336
>Head back the safe route through the frozen sector and over the flooded sector. The quicker you got back to the hideout with the other girls, the quicker you would be able to split up and head into the combat sector.
I don't want to poke the bear that is Feng right now. Her forces might be thin, but they can swarm and converge or she can pull our her heavy hitters.
France's lot can either come back with us to pick up some more subjects and then head back down or they can split off now and head west. Whichever one they choose, we'll be assigning KK to them as escort (she cannot come with us to the combat sector - there's a chance we might encounter Roraima, which would be disastrous and likely force us to fight her) and they'd be heading back downstairs anyway. People are free to swap groups if they'd rather go to one place or the other.
Side note, if we go back we can make a brief detour to hit up Logan's office as well, which is between the coolers and flooded section (do check with him which floor it's on). He did say Annie's NAR remote is there (lol, lmao, QM would never).

Given that we've got a tie, I'll wait to update until tomorrow once we've hopefully gotten some tie-breaker votes in.

>>6326380
>With Vinella? How brave.
It's... a favour to one of the anons who really enjoyed her. Besides, Vinella is adorable, right? Just look at her, with those gargantuan claws and... her monstrous jaws. Who wouldn't want to kiss a creature like her?

>What if she was given apples like at those health nut houses? Not even caramel or chocolate apples, just plain old apples.
Yeah, that would also make her happy. Any kind of food presented as a gift to her would be appreciated.

>Not even a specific flavor?
Not really, no. She just likes something to suck on with lots of intense flavour.

>>6326433
>>Head back the safe route through the frozen sector and over the flooded sector. The quicker you got back to the hideout with the other girls, the quicker you would be able to split up and head into the combat sector.
Tie breaker.
>Who wouldn't want to kiss a creature like her?
Indeed. She redefines having a crush. Also seems like chocolate is popular with the girls.

>>6326336
>Head back the safe route through the frozen sector and over the flooded sector. The quicker you got back to the hideout with the other girls, the quicker you would be able to split up and head into the combat sector.

>Head back the safe route through the frozen sector and over the flooded sector. The quicker you got back to the hideout with the other girls, the quicker you would be able to split up and head into the combat sector.
Knowing that the risks of encountering Feng's soldiers was too big, you decided to go against Orhan's wishes. You told him that you didn't want to poke the bear, and that she could easily swarm you and your group with numbers. Hell, even with a bunch of subjects and 20 soldiers on your side, she'd still easily be able to outnumber you if you weren't careful. Orhan did seem a little disappointed, looking at France who shrugged and said: "They know the way down here, so I prefer sticking with them." You remarked that they could always head down once they've let you pick up some subjects from your main base camp. You even mentioned that they could have Katya join them, since you would head to the combat sector which could entail encountering Roraima. "I'd not mind having Katya join us. I can see her working well with Idalia." France remarked, as Orhan agreed to the current plan.

Thus, you told France and Thaddeus that you'd get everyone else to join you again. Of course, you'd first check the security footage which Sigit, Lydia, Lautaro and Anon had hopefully acquired by now. You would tell Thaddeus and France to take Gwen down to the entrance, getting as many of your men to wait there as well. And afterwards, you headed to the main security room. And there, you would find Sigit, Lydia, Lautaro and Anon working through all the footage. "Ah, Mikhail, there you are." Lydia said, before Anon asked: "How did things go with Gwen? Were Orhan and Lars able to bring her back?" You shook your head, telling them that you had little hopes for Kiliane. Still, you wanted to focus on their findings now, which made them pretty eager. "We did find a decent amount of footage which had subjects." Sigit would remark, signalling you to come check it out.

Lydia would show some footage on a dimly lit computer. "It may be difficult to see, given that the computer is running extremely low on power and has been damaged somewhat. But, you can still see a few things!" She'd start going through the footage, hours of the footage showing very little happening. However, you did soon see the first exciting sighting: A tall lizard-like girl in a turquoise dress walked past. She appeared relatively unharmed, her clothes being a little dirtied. But aside from that, she seemed rather regal and at ease. She had long black hair, a long white and turquoise tail, small horns on her head and scales along her lower arm. "I believe that this is Shesha. It seems to fit with what is described in the government provided documents, and this is her general location." Shesha seemed to just casually walk by, heading westwards for some reason. Which certainly made it more tempting to head this way in the near future.

However, up next was none other than Grise, her still appearing burnt from the plasma-railgun you had used on her. However, the arm she lost was already regrowing, her already regaining a few of her fingers by now. Worse, she was eagerly stalking the place again, once again brushing her blade against the facility walls to make noise and scare people. "We've gotta take her out again." Anon mumbled, to which Lautaro asked: "I presume you already dealt with her before?" Anon nodded in response. "Unfortunately." He added, before Lydia spoke more optimistically. "Hey, look at the bright side... She's heading westwards here. Which means we won't need to worry about her in the frozen sector now!" Regardless, Lydia would speed up the recording again, before getting to the last subject... which was one you had not seen before. It was a slime girl of some kind, with pale purple-ish skin, a strange blue-ish purple set of clothes and black, tendril-like hair.

The slime girl came from the west, rather than heading in that direction. She casually walked around, entering the medbay on camera. "She stayed in here for a solid hour." Lydia elaborated as she sped up the footage, before showing the subject leaving the medbay and heading westwards again. "I've saved all the useful footage to our tablet, Mik. We can check it out and enhance it later if you'd like." Lydia elaborated, you thanking her as it was clear that this slime subject was potentially worth looking for. After all, why had she entered this place and why had she been here for such a long time? Either way, it didn't seem that the footage had much else of interest, you thanking them for the work and telling them to go downstairs with you. They would quickly get their things, before following you as you headed downstairs again. Until finally, you reached the entrance where the rest of your men were waiting for you. "Ah, there ya guys are." Thaddeus responded, as you saw that everyone sans Katya was here now.

And that also included Kiliane, Gwen still holding onto her and appearing... somewhat determined. Clearly, trying to convince her to let go of Kiliane hadn't been as easy. Before you could go over to her though, Artyom would quickly speak up. "Did you find anything interesting on the cameras? We... didn't really find anything of value down here." Though to this, Antonin responded: "Speak for yourself, man. I'd say we found some pretty interesting files and books about nanites. Pretty cool stuff." Regardless, you explained how the cameras had shown three subjects, and that they all headed west. "Great! Take it we'll head there to maybe find em?" Maija asked curiously, you explaining that you'd first head north again. You elaborated why, France soon also joining in and stating it was for the best to first return to base to settle on the details of who will go where. Especially since some of your men might want to join France's group and vice-versa.

Thus, France's men agreed to head back north again, you soon grabbing the radio to communicate with Katya. You asked her if she could hear you, to which you quickly got a response. "Affirmative." Katya calmly said, you telling her to return to your group as you were going to head back northwards. "Affirmative. I will be with you in approximately a minute." And indeed, within a minute, Katya joined you and your men once more, as you started the lengthy but presumably peaceful travels back northwards.

>What do you do next?

>Ask Lydia to show the footage again of the subjects and maybe ask the girls if they recognise any of them. That, or maybe analyse them further in some other way. (Write in how you analyse the footage.)
>Have some casual conversations with the folk in your group. Perhaps you could talk with Idalia to learn more about her deployment off-sector, or ask Kenai how she was faring. Perhaps some of France's men had some interesting stories of their own? (Write in who you chat with and about what.)
>Talk with Gwen about Kiliane, either in private or with the rest of your group. She had to let go of the corpse eventually. If she wanted to hold a funeral somewhere, you could accept it, but it still had to be discussed. (Write in what you tell Gwen or discuss with her.)
>Just quietly head forward, focusing solely on heading back to the main base. You didn't wanna get distracted with chit-chat or things which took your focus away from keeping pace.
>Turn on Annie's radio for some music and news updates. It'd hopefully give you some more useful news about the surface, scientists or other interactions.
>Something else...

(Thank you very much, tiebreaker voters who saw my request on discord. You guys are great!)

(>>6326380
>Also what candy would Caera have liked?
Ahhhh, forgot to answer this! She would like soft candies most. Wine gums, sour candy, stuff that is nice and chewy.)

>>6326711
>Turn on Annie's radio for some music and news updates. It'd hopefully give you some more useful news about the surface, scientists or other interactions.
Let's try giving Gwen a bit more time. We might need to find a vat just so she finally sees it's not possible.

>>6326711
I wonder where they could all be going. I guess Titania's chamber is something of a hub area and it's unlikely they'd have stopped there so they could have gone anywhere, even to other levels.
Oh shit, we need to wipe the CCTV footage it collected of us with subjects, both this time and last time we were here. If another, less well intentioned, group happens to wander by and has the bright idea to check the cameras, they'll have us bang to rights. After all we've done to cover our tracks, that'd be an ignominious way to get busted.
>Ask Lydia to show the footage again of the subjects and maybe ask the girls if they recognise any of them. That, or maybe analyse them further in some other way.
Well, we only know of two slimegirls, and this ain't Juno. If the girls can't identify the slime, Logan would be able to tell us if it's Staphy or not.
>Have some casual conversations with the folk in your group. Perhaps you could talk with Idalia to learn more about her deployment off-sector, or ask Kenai how she was faring. Perhaps some of France's men had some interesting stories of their own?
Has KK had a think about whether she'd like a melee weapon and what sort? If she has, we can ask Morgan to make it now so she can have it ready to use on the next upcoming adventure. She'd be all to happy, I'm sure.
What did France's lot do before coming here? I'm curious what other squads in Lodger get up to.
Have they thought about who on the list of allies they'd want on their team for their adventure?
We've heard of the government wanting more Oanas, did they want more Idalias as well?
And how's Kenai holding up?
>Turn on Annie's radio for some music and news updates. It'd hopefully give you some more useful news about the surface, scientists or other interactions.
As usual on long walks.

Don't forget to load up on food in the frozen sector, maybe Kenai can help keep it cold.
Do we want to talk to Valentina? We know where she is and it's only a very short diversion, if it's worth the hassle.

>>6326711
>Turn on Annie's radio for some music and news updates. It'd hopefully give you some more useful news about the surface, scientists or other interactions.
Aw yis
>Ask Lydia to show the footage again of the subjects and maybe ask the girls if they recognise any of them. That, or maybe analyse them further in some other way. (Write in how you analyse the footage.)
As for how I'll just echo >>6326759's idea

>>6326790
>"Great effort on your costume, Vinisha. You look horrifying!"
>"B-but I didn't even dress up......"

>Ask Lydia to show the footage again of the subjects and maybe ask the girls if they recognise any of them. That, or maybe analyse them further in some other way.
As you headed forward, you'd first head over to Lydia who had the camera footage. You asked her to maybe show the footage to the other girls, since they might know of the slime girl subject. Kenai, Idalia, Katya, Thalia and Chrys all approached, Lydia showing them the footage. "Huh, I've never seen her before!" Chrys said, to which Thalia and Kenai nodded along. "Yeah, that's... not a subject I've seen before either." Kenai quietly responded before Idalia spoke up calmly. "I do believe that is in fact Juno. At least, that is the only one I believe who could be it." You asked her how that was possible, as you didn't think it was Juno. You even brought up that you thought it was Staphy, to which Idalia thought to herself. "I do not know of this Staphy. However, I do know she has some traits which Juno had as well. Namely, her colouration and general appearance." Obviously, you and your men were surprised. Juno was one of the subjects you had long been after, so seeing her here was... another reason to come back here, to say the least.

>Have some casual conversations with the folk in your group. Perhaps you could talk with Idalia to learn more about her deployment off-sector, or ask Kenai how she was faring. Perhaps some of France's men had some interesting stories of their own?
You would thank the girls for their help in identifying, before asking Katya if you could ask her some questions. "Affirmative, Mikhail." She calmly said, as the other girls went back to doing what they were doing. Thus, you'd ask Katya about if she had thought about getting melee weaponry. After all, you knew that Morgan back at base would be happy to provide said weapons to her. Unfortunately, Katya's response would be... disappointing. "Affirmative. I believe that melee weaponry might not be most effective for my functionality."

Obviously, this was disappointing to hear, you asking her if she really was sure. "Affirmative. I have been trained with heavy ranged weaponry for precision strikes. Whilst melee combat is something I am somewhat proficient in, my effectiveness still lies with ranged combat." Katya seemed rather certain about her comments, at which point you heard Ignacy scoff. "Melee weapons? To her? Isn't that... kind of silly when everyone here has guns, or worse?" He remarked, Katya giving a calm rebuttal. "Melee combat still could be effective in fringe scenarios, especially since several combat subjects are designed for countering ranged combat. However, I do agree that it would not fit my combat doctrine, and would therefore not be as effective as giving me ranged weaponry." Ignacy gave a calm shrug, whilst you thanked Katya for being honest, reminding her that Morgan would likely be happy to still make her a cool melee weapon if she ever wanted one.

Given that Ignacy was eager to jump into the conversation, you decided to ask him what he and the rest of France's men were up to before coming here. Ignacy would thankfully not be too abrasive in his explanation, as he calmly told you his story. "Well, before we came here, we were deep within anti-government territory. We didn't see much combat, instead going to more... backwater planets to help out with logistics and guard duties. Simple stuff, really." Though, Guilherme was quick to join into the conversation with his own take. "We saw plenty of combat. It was just combat against small groups of combatants who refused to serve under the powerful planetary rulers. It was... awful, but it had to be done. After all, either we were the ones facing them, or they had to face groups like Diamond Dogs. Of course, when given the chance, we'd try to let folk go who we knew didn't want to actually fight against their planetary lords, which... I doubt Diamond Dogs soldiers would do."

"We did have a few nicer missions and tasks, I'd say. Remember that mining planet we were staying at? The people there were pretty friendly, and the local government actually seemed to care for its people, instead of just caring for power and 'internal stability'." Archie said more optimistically, to which France's men seemed to agree somewhat. Regardless, you'd also ask if they gave any thoughts about subject allies they'd take along. France's men looked at each other, before Antonin said: "If you got any subjects made by Jabal and Catherine, I'd say let us take em along, especially if we will split up as I've heard." France's men all agreed, though Maija had another request: "I'd not mind looking at Vinisha a bit. Her, uhhh, immortality seems really interesting!" The rest of France's men didn't seem to feel too strongly about this, not minding the request or being extremely in favour of it. Still, given Vinisha's many weaknesses, it did beg the question how... useful she'd actually be for their mission.

Regardless, as France and his men kept discussing the subjects a bit more, you headed over to Idalia to ask her about if the government wanted more Idalia's, which was a question which took her back. "I do not understand. What do you mean 'more Idalias'?" You explained that Andrei's files described Oana as something the government wanted to replicate due to her loyalty, which made you wonder if the government also wanted to replicate Idalia for combat. "I am sadly not aware if such requests were made by the government. I would be pleased to hear that it went through, since it would confirm that Roraima was a fool." Idalia laughed to herself a little, clearly finding pleasure in upsetting her creator, which was something you agreed was enjoyable as well. Though, unless if you found more Roraima subjects or found his files about Idalia, it seemed unlikely that you'd ever know for sure.

After your quick chat with Idalia, you thanked her for what she told you, before pivotting to Kenai. She fortunately wasn't as upset looking as before. She was still quiet and a little bit disappointed looking, but she no longer was tearful, depressed and shaken. You approached her and asked how she was holding up, her being surprised by the question. "Well, I... I am doing fine, I guess. My wounds have mostly mended, but I still am quite upset that Mona and Illimani passed away... I absolutely still wanna find the bastards responsible and kill them! But, I also know that... it's maybe better to try and move on for the time being and... focus on helping you guys out. You guys clearly know what's going on and... need help with your mission in taking down Feng and finding scientists who did maybe survive." Gwen gave a more meek smile, before speaking in a more melancholic tone. "Thank you for asking, Mik. It... it means a lot to me." You told her to look after herself and that you'd help her out if needed, after which you headed back to the front of the group.

>Turn on Annie's radio for some music and news updates. It'd hopefully give you some more useful news about the surface, scientists or other interactions.
As you got to the front, you'd turn on the radio to listen to Annie a bit more. You would be met with some music as you turned it on, happily listening to it until you finally heard some more announcements from her. "You're listening to VRCMG Radio with Annie Marconi, who recommends that you ask the government about where soldiers go who 'ask too many questions'! It is currently 13:07 in the afternoon, and you just heard 'Year of the Fox' by Joanne Seward. In other news, a group of death squad soldiers was reprimanded today, after it was found that they had committed the grave crime of questioning a set of guardsmen before executing them! As we all know, the government does not approve of you asking questions, and heavily recommends that you turn off your brain whilst you execute facility staff, even if they can provide useful intel about what the government is actually up to."

Annie would deliver a bit more news, clearly using it to try to get death squad soldiers to leave this place. Though, it wouldn't take long for you to simply enjoy a bit more music. And with that, you'd start the long trek north. You headed back up to the transport sector all the way to the east, before heading all the way north towards the frozen sector. Once there, you'd start the awkward path up the frozen stairs until you finally reached the upper parts. You also made sure to get some food that was still frozen and not spoilt, you trusting Kenai to keep it cold using her abilities. You'd then once more start heading west, going through the office space where you met Glaucus, unfortunately not meeting the odd ocean subject. And after what must've been several hours of travelling, you were finally in the home stretch.

You'd announce this to France and your men, some of whom were quite happy to hear this. "Oh thank god." Sigit remarked, after which Artyom said: "I suggest we take a bit of a break once we get to the saferoom. I DON'T want to head out right away now." Most of your men and France's men agreed, which was fine since you were going to discuss things with Laura and the other subjects as well. Regardless, it'd only take a few more minutes before you reached the hallway which headed directly to the saferoom. In fact, you already saw it straight ahead of you, the doors to it being closed shut.

>What do you do next?

>Introduce the girls to France's group as well as the new subjects you've met. Maybe it was smart to first meet up the girls with your men, rather than surprising them with all the new faces. (Write in how you introduce France's men.)
>Tell France's men some important things to keep in mind when they first meet your girls. Subjects such as Morgan and Reika would… potentially create some friction, so you felt it important that they knew such in advance. (Write in what you tell France and his men.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

(>>6326790 Dawww, they're adorable in costumes. Also, I am curious if these costumes are referencing anything specific, or if they're just generic halloween costumes for the girls to wear.)

>>6327097
I don't see why it wouldn't be good to give her a small lightweight combat knife in case she gets closed on, unless she has claws or talons.

>Introduce the girls to France's group as well as the new subjects you've met. Maybe it was smart to first meet up the girls with your men, rather than surprising them with all the new faces. (Write in how you introduce France's men.)
"Yo yo we found France's group and he's cool, also Idalia's here too."

>>6327103
Who, big skip. Not even stopping for Edrice? Big sad.
As much as I'd like to give KK the PRG, it' is not leaving our group and might still be busted. I'm sure we can find a spare rifle for her if she wants one - she's been going completely unarmed, just about anything should be a step up.
>Tell France's men some important things to keep in mind when they first meet your girls. Subjects such as Morgan and Reika would… potentially create some friction, so you felt it important that they knew such in advance.
Quick briefing on the standout characters
Moran is brash, big on honour and looks down on guns but with a good heart. She should warm up quick, just tolerate her eccentricities.
Reika is volatile, impulsive and dumb but isn't evil and can be mollified with some respect, food and headpats. Don't call her stupid in any way.
Kamara is very shy and may hide or be quiet. Give her space and don't mind if she's wary or vanishes.
The others should be normal enough to interact with without issue. Just don't mind the big bug.
>Introduce the girls to France's group as well as the new subjects you've met. Maybe it was smart to first meet up the girls with your men, rather than surprising them with all the new faces.
We have new faces. Kenai, Gwenllian and Idalia as well as the other death squad Annie recommended, we've met before and has been harbouring Idalia for weeks.

If the others want to have a break, we could take a brief trip to the surface with just a couple of people to hand some stuff over, pick up a few bits and fetch Derek while they rest up.

>>6327103
>I am curious if these costumes are referencing anything specific.
-Demoman plus Monty python and the holy grail, with Thaddeus.
-For Chrys, refer to a old doodle I did.

>Tell France's men some important things to keep in mind when they first meet your girls. Subjects such as Morgan and Reika would… potentially create some friction, so you felt it important that they knew such in advance.
As you reached the room where your girls were hiding, you knew you had to give a quick overview of the more... interesting subjects who were in the room, starting with Morgan. You told them that she was quite brash and had a bit of a disdain for guns. However, she also valued honour and would likely warm up to them rather quickly if they accepted her peculiarities. "Honestly, just don't question her for using a sword in this place. She is REALLY fond of melee combat and finds swordsmanship to be far better than using guns." Lars remarked, to which France's men nodded. You then went over Reika, who was probably the biggest threat in your arsenal. You mentioned her impulsive nature and love of food, before explaining that she wasn't the brightest. You specifically warned France's men not to mention this lacking intellect, since that would really piss her off. France's men nodded calmly once again.

Though, Alan would quickly respond with some further comments. "Oh, and please don't call Anofelis stupid either. She's the... lanky mosquito girl. Real sweet girl, but also not the brightest. And if I hear any of you pointing that out to her or hurting her, I will be really pissed." France's men were surprised by the sudden protectiveness Alan showed, with Lautaro saying: "Woah, relax. We really weren't planning on insulting anyone." The rest of France's men agreed, you telling them that Alan probably just wanted to protect Anofelis. Though, on the topic of protecting subjects, you also told them of Kamara and how she needed space given her shyness. And lastly, you wrapped up by mentioning that the other subjects were pretty normal, so that interaction wouldn't be much of an issue. And with that, you gave the okay to France's men to follow you.

>Introduce the girls to France's group as well as the new subjects you've met. Maybe it was smart to first meet up the girls with your men, rather than surprising them with all the new faces.
You'd head to the closed set of doors, before knocking on it and calling out to the girls to let them know it was you. Though, of course, you also mentioned that you had taken some more friends along with you. Shortly after, you heard some movement behind the door, before watching as Oreas popped through the wall beside you. "Mikhail!" She said happily, before looking around. "Woah, who... who are these guys?" She asked reluctantly as she looked over France's group. You told her that you'd explain so in a moment once you were inside, and that these guys were recommended by Annie as potential allies. "Oh, I see. Well, ummm, welcome, I guess. It is a pleasure to meet all of you." Oreas remarked, as you heard more noises from behind the door.

"What's going on in there?" Zaria asked calmly, Oreas rubbing the back of her head. "Oh, we're just moving some tables and things which we used to block off the door. We, uhhhh, just wanted to be sure that nobody would barge in at random. Luckily, nobody has tried to enter yet, hehe." Oreas looked around at the new faces, staring a little bit at Kenai, looking curiously at Idalia, before then freezing as she saw Gwen. The Elbrus subject was still holding Kiliane's corpse, Oreas' smile fading. Gwen didn't seem to notice. Or if she did, she didn't really care that much. Regardless, the door soon finally opened up, Laura standing on the other side and right away appearing curious. "Well, looks like we're going to have to prepare more beds, huh?" Laura stated in an amused tone, before you saw Anofelis, Morgan, Vinisha and Cortina rearing their heads around the corner. "Girls!" Thaddeus said, as Morgan stepped forward. "Thaddeus, Mikhail, t'is a pleasure to see you all again in one piece!"

Anofelis and Cortina followed suit, Anofelis right away fixating on Idalia. "Oh my, and who might these other soldiers be?" Cortina curiously asked, her spores already filling the air. "Um, name's France Cobbler. Pleased to meet you... Cortina, I presume?" France responded, Cortina giving a calm nod. "It is a pleasure to meet you as well. Please do not mind my spores. They mean no harm." France's men were obviously a little concerned by the spores, yet would follow as you entered the room after Laura signalled you to get in as well. "I suppose we should just quickly introduce ourselves to one another now. Unless if there are any pressing matters to attend to first." Laura suggested, as you entered the room and saw Kamara in the corner of the room, clearly a little nervous to meet all these new faces and keeping her distance. You also saw Reika near the dinner table, being busy devouring some meat. Though, she quickly turned her attention to you once you all entered.

"Woah, that's a lotta people!" She remarked eagerly, you greeting her back as you saw that she had recovered quite well. Her tail had fully recovered, her limbs also almost entirely reformed, minus a few of her claws. Right away, your girls would start looking over the new subjects and France and his men. Though, you already saw Morgan, Oreas and Vinisha looking pretty worried at Gwen and the person she was carrying, the three of them knowing something pretty bad was going on. Regardless, France's men would start looking around the place and greeting the various subjects, who in turn greeted them back and started chatting. Honestly, you hardly needed to do any work in getting the girls to socialise and get to know your new allies. The only people who weren't actively looking for people to talk to were Kamara and... Ingmar, who you could see hiding in one of the bedrooms on the other side of the room.

Given the mission at hand and how many people there were, maybe some structure could help in explaining things to them. Not to mention, giving the girls a rundown as to what your next plan was going to be...

>What do you do next?

>Just let everyone chat with whomever they wanted. It was way easier and natural to just let people talk normally. Besides, it gave you the opportunity to chat with some folk as well. Maybe you could ask Reika how she felt, or Laura what she had been up to. (Write in who you chat with.)
>Ask for everybody's attention so you could give a quick rundown as to what has happened, what the plan was for now and how you were going to split up. The quicker you got a plan ready, the quicker you could get moving again. (Write in what you tell everyone in terms of the plan for the time being.)
>Ask if there were any people who were willing to head to the surface really quick and any who wanted a bit of a break from the action. Those who headed to the surface could hand some of your findings over to the government, pick up some equipment and also fetch Derek. (Write in if you ask your men for any specific tasks.)
>Something else...

(>>6327282
>Demoman plus Monty python and the holy grail, with Thaddeus.
That makes a lot of sense. It also means that picture now has TWO Monty Python and the Holy Grail references in it... I guess Thaddeus just thinks it's a harmless little rabbit, huh?)

>>6327463
>Just let everyone chat with whomever they wanted. It was way easier and natural to just let people talk normally. Besides, it gave you the opportunity to chat with some folk as well. Maybe you could ask Reika how she felt, or Laura what she had been up to.
Good to see Reika back in one piece again. She has been getting on with people and hasn't been too bored, I hope? Is she ready to go on an adventure? Scritch.
What's everyone been up to while we've been out, Laura? Any pressing interpersonal issues?
Morgan, is Ingmar competent enough to come out? Also, that's Gwen's caretaker, by the way. Murdered days ago by Sirona, but she can't let go (literally).
Let everyone chat amongst themselves and get acquainted for a few minutes.
>Ask for everybody's attention so you could give a quick rundown as to what has happened, what the plan was for now and how you were going to split up. The quicker you got a plan ready, the quicker you could get moving again.
A'ight, lights off, screen down, projector on, pointy stick out. Our mission was a success, we went to the cooler sector and back to find France & Co. They're trustworthy, they have the approval of Annie and have been keeping Idalia here with them for the last few weeks and we'll be working with them going forward. We found Kenai and Gwen here, we also spoke to Anesa and Glaucus and had a fight with Sirona. Additionally, we found Elbrus' office, which is something everyone here would like to forget.
We're going to rest up for a little while and then head out again. France will be heading down to the west to try and pick up Jabal and Catherine's trail while we will be heading to the combat sector to try and make contact with Alexandra and recruit some of Katya and Reika's friends and anyone else we meet. Anyone can come on either mission or stay here, it's up to them. Also to the humans in the room, decide if you're going to stick with your regular group or would like to temporarily swap teams.
We'd also like a couple of volunteers to quickly visit the surface to hand in the Elbrus Box, Nicola and Claudia's dossiers and pick up Derek, Artyom's LMG and the heaviest weapon they'll part with for Katya.

We also need to decide on routing. Team A can go all the way round on the top floors and explore as we go, we can go through the leisure and training centres (maybe pick up Cerro) on the mid-levels, we can do it on the deep floors and see what nasties we can find down there or some combo of the above. Team B's possible routes are to swing round on the top floors and take the western elevator down, go down and pass through the mid-levels and leisure centre and down or just go all the way down and pass Feng's base via the anatomy lab. It's going to be an exciting trip either way.

>>6327463
>Just let everyone chat with whomever they wanted. It was way easier and natural to just let people talk normally. Besides, it gave you the opportunity to chat with some folk as well. Maybe you could ask Reika how she felt, or Laura what she had been up to. (Write in who you chat with.)
Reika for sure, gotta gauge her mood. Rather not take her out for a search mission, since as our strongest combatant she'd be best on the Feng fight, but if she's antsy we should.

>>6327584
The girls aren't limited in the number of missions they can do and Reika is one of the least likely to not want to be out and about all the time so I don't see why taking her out makes her unavailable for the next one. I for one do not want to go into the deep Facility (especially the combat sector) without a high-level escort.

>>6327588
The other girls might not like that Reika gets multiple outings while they only get one, but I guess it isn't as much of a concern as I thought.

>>6327707
I don't think most of the girls are really bothered by it and in any case, we're not on restricted teams this time so everyone who wants to come can come with either of us and many of the girls aren't going to want to come to the Big Fight anyway.

>Just let everyone chat with whomever they wanted. It was way easier and natural to just let people talk normally. Besides, it gave you the opportunity to chat with some folk as well. Maybe you could ask Reika how she felt, or Laura what she had been up to.
Seeing how everyone was already conversing with each other rather casually, you decided to just give everyone a few minutes to chat amongst themselves. It also gave you the ability to meet up with your girls to see how they were faring. And the first you headed for was Reika at the dinner table, who would smile with a mouthful of meat as you approached. You asked her how she was doing. "Mmmmm!" She'd swallow the steak you had brought to her previously, before speaking eagerly. "Doing great! My stupid leg and arm have almost grown back now! Finally means I can walk around and do things! Though, it has been boring around here. I've wanted to crush some things or get into some big fights, but Morgan and Anofelis didn't wanna fight me for some reason!" Reika looked mildly annoyed, before looking at Katya. "Maybe I can fight Katya again, now that she's back? Or that sheep lady over there?"

Obviously, you wanted to avoid Reika getting into a fight with anyone, so you told her that she'd get to fight other folk since you'd likely take her on adventure again. So long as she was ready of course. Though bringing that up, Reika would eagerly rip her raw steak apart before speaking again. "I am super ready, Mik! Staying here has been stupid! Or well, not doing anything has been stupid! The people here aren't stupid! They are nice!" It was nice that Reika made a point out of her liking the people here, you deciding to reward her with a little scritch near her ear. She'd once again push her head against your hand, clearly happy to take the scritches. You told her that you'd take her along very soon, that you first needed to chat with everyone else and see how everything was going. Reika nodded, again focusing on eating.

With Reika clearly ready for a fight, you looked for the next nearest person you wanted to talk to: Morgan. You walked over to her as she was chatting with Thaddeus and Sigit. "Ah, Mikhail, t'is a pleasure to see you! Thaddeus and Sigit were just informing me about your many adventures. It is a shame that Thaddeus was injured by that fiend Sirona. Had I been there, I would've been swift in delivering glorious judgement onto the foul and wicked demon!" Thaddeus let out a soft chuckle, Sigit looking rather confused. You agreed that it would've been nice to have her around, before asking her how she was doing and what she had been up to. "My, I have continued my training with the blade and taught the others about battle and code of honour! We shan't forfeit manners and honour, even during battle with crooked and dishonourable death squads!" You decided to ask her about Ingmar, since you knew he was decently fond of her at this point.

"I do think he is willing to join us in leaving this place now. He has spoken on several occasions of leaving here and looking for places with food, protection and security. In fact, he even had the courage to suggest looking for you in case you ever found yourself in trouble. Of course, the food and protection here are most adequate, so we still stayed here." It sounded like getting Ingmar to join now would work well, even if he was still a little bit of a scaredy-cat right now, given that he was not yet leaving his little hiding spot. "Anyway, I'd love to hear more of your stories, Mikhail. How did you beat the wicked Sirona?" Morgan asked afterwards, you telling her that Thaddeus would explain it, since you needed to ask the rest of the girls how they were faring. Or rather, you wanted to ask Laura. Morgan nodded understandingly, after which you headed over to Laura, who together with Oreas was now chatting with Lydia and Archie.

"Ah, Mikhail, how are you doing? Lydia was just introducing us to Archie here and telling us about your adventures." Laura said cheerfully, you telling her that you were doing pretty good, and that you wanted to know about how everyone had been doing and if there were any pressing matters. "Pressing matters? Hmmm, not really, no. The girls have been playing games and watching a lot of videos for the past few days. They've kept themselves quite amused for the most part." Laura calmly said, before giving a sheepish smile and rubbing the back of her head. "Although, the girls were pretty excited by some of the videos we looked at. They... really wanted to see more of the outside world, Anofelis even making a few drawings of the outside world based on said movies, hehe." Afterwards, Laura looked around a bit, before turning quieter. "May I ask... that sheep girl, Gwenllian... who is the person she is holding?" You quickly elaborated that it was Kiliane, her dead caretaker who she couldn't let go of.

Laura's expression turned more regretful and saddened, looking over her shoulder at Gwen, who was seated on her own as she looked at her decaying caretaker. "Poor thing... I presume she... wishes to give them a dignified funeral?" Laura asked, you sighing and explaining that Gwen just couldn't let go of her and that she wanted to find a vat to save her. Laura bit her lips and gave an uneasy look. She tugged her collar, before finally responding. "Oh, that's... not good to hear. I-I don't think that is possible in any way. Well, m-maybe Logan can help with giving the idea a try?" To this, Archie spoke up and shook his head. "Nope, we asked him. Even he said it would be close to impossible." Laura looked rather saddened, glancing at Gwen before asking: "So, I take it... it will be a burial soon enough?" You nodded along, your group all looking at Gwen with a bit of sympathy. Afterwards though, you thanked Laura for the info and told them to keep quiet, since you wanted to make an announcement.

>Ask for everybody's attention so you could give a quick rundown as to what has happened, what the plan was for now and how you were going to split up. The quicker you got a plan ready, the quicker you could get moving again.
You would step into the centre of the room, asking for everyone's attention. And after a short moment of people mumbling and moving round to surround you, you would start talking. You stated how your primary mission had been a success, as you had found France and his men. France smiled and gave a little bow, some of your men and girls clapping. You stated that they had proven their trustworthiness and that even Annie agreed they'd make fine team-mates. You'd also point to Idalia, stating she had been looked after by France and his men. The girls all were quite intrigued, Idalia not showing too many emotions. She simply nodded as you as you signalled to her. You then introduced Kenai who gave a mildly cheerful wave and a "Um, hello everyone! Nice to meet all of you!"

Though, when you introduced Gwen, things went a little quiet. Gwen didn't say anything, just sniffing her nose quickly and glancing at the faces who were new to her. Sensing the discomfort, you'd mention that you had also found Anesa and Glaucus, the former remaining in the frozen sector and the latter being somewhere in the flooded sector. You also explained how you had gotten in combat with Sirona, which wasn't a pleasant experience. Lastly, you stated how you had found Elbrus' office, which you wouldn't go into detail about because it was a horrid place. The girls seemed relieved you spared the details of Elbrus' office, eagerly listening as you continued with presenting the main plan. You told the girls that, once you had all gotten a decent amount of rest, you'd split up into two teams. One would try to find Jabal and Catherine, the other would head to the combat sector. Already, the girls looked excited, and once you said they could all choose who to go along with, the room errupted in chatter.

"I wanna go to the combat sector, Mik! Please!" Reika eagerly said, whilst Anofelis asked: "Mikhail, can I go downstairs to help find Jabal?" "I would love to finally find some subjects to duel in the combat sector! My blade yearns for honourable battle!" Morgan boisterously remarked. Though with how busy things were, you asked the girls to settle down and to discuss it amongst each other. Though, you also reminded your men and France's men that they could also choose to go with some other folk, to which everyone nodded understandingly. Lastly, you'd ask for some volunteers to help bring some of your findings to the surface as well as pick up Derek, a gun for Artyom's and a heavy weapon for Katya. "I'd not mind going upstairs." Zaria said casually, before calmly adding: "Though, I would like some strength to help out in carrying some of the stuff, if anyone wants to help with that."

Fortunately, Alan and Orhan offered themselves up for the job, you thanking them for their efforts. The three of them would quickly head out, but not without first giving their preference on their tasks: Thaddeus wanted to join you to the combat secor, whilst Zaria and Orhan were happy to look for Jabal and Catherine. Though, once they left, the chatting once again intensified within the meeting room. You'd ask once again for your everyone's attention, as you still wanted to discuss the routing. The combat sector was essentially on the opposite end of the facility, meaning you could go through various paths: The Leisure and training centres, the potentially dangerous deeper floors, or the relatively calm middle routes. "I think we should avoid the middle routes. Those are likely the ones most patrolled by other death-squads." Anon remarked, to which some of the others nodded along. "I'd say we go through the deeper parts. We can even walk by Annie to give her a visit." Lars remarked, which also seemed like something your men didn't mind doing. Regardless, you'd tell them that team B also had several potential routes to take, such as going past the anatomy lab near Feng's base. Though, this suggestion was met with a bit more resistance. "Like hell we're already getting close to Feng's base, especially when we're split up." Guillherme remarked, which most of your men also agreed to.

>What do you do next?

>Lay out your own preferences for the teams and direction you'd take with your group. France could share his preferences with his team as well, so there was no need to discuss that with him. (Write in your preferences.)
>Listen along with your men to see what they would come up with, letting them decide things for you which they agreed on. It wasn't like you were in a hurry anyway.
>Chat with some of the girls or your men for specific tasks or things you think they could do a good job at. Maybe there were certain folk who you knew had to join you or France with your missions? (Write in who you chat with.)
>Something else...

>>6327961
>Lay out your own preferences for the teams and direction you'd take with your group. France could share his preferences with his team as well, so there was no need to discuss that with him. (Write in your preferences.)
While teams can be mostly made up of volunteers, anyone spoiling for a fight (Reika, Morgan) should join our group to the combat sector. We probably want to send KK with the search party - they need at least one combatant in case they run into trouble, and she's got a lot of patrolling and searching experience already. She also isn't a combat junkie like the other two. Only other people I'd like to assign rather than let volunteer are Kenai and Gwen - they've still got unresolved issues so I want to keep them close, in our group.

Rather than beat another path to Annie's lab I'd like to go through the leisure and training centers - the training sector in particular is likely very similar to the combat sector and should prepare us.

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>>6327961
Oh, don't forget to pick up a copy of Don Quixote for Morgan as well you three.
>Lay out your own preferences for the teams and direction you'd take with your group. France could share his preferences with his team as well, so there was no need to discuss that with him.
We're taking Reika and Morgan, KK is to go with France. Might be best for Gwen to stay here with Laura and anyone else who wants to sit it out since she's in no shape to be doing this, not that I think she'd want to anyway. If Vinisha wants to go out, Alexandra might react positively to her. Otherwise, everyone has a free vote.

I'd like to use the top floors to get to the leisure and training sectors and then dip further down for the rest of the way. There's a couple of subjects in each I'd like to see if we can pick up (plus Cerro) and it avoids the main thoroughfares in and out of the Facility and the combat sector to reduce the likelihood of a death squad encounter while also being a convenient excuse to scope out more of Level 3 and maybe meet some powerful friendlies (or powerful enemies, but we can handle them). Ideally, I'd like to go the entire way on Level 4 skirting the north and east but the eastern part of Level 4 is the Vinella No-Go Zone.

>>6327961
>Listen along with your men to see what they would come up with, letting them decide things for you which they agreed on. It wasn't like you were in a hurry anyway.
Since Reika and Morgan want to come with us it might be a good idea to have Katya remain here to protect whoever chooses to stay behind and Kenai should go with France's team since she's a good tracker. Aside from that, I don't have any other preferences for who goes with either team or remains in the safehouse, including members of our or France's squads.

>>6328081
I definitely don’t want to leave Gwen there. If she loses it and storms out to find a vat she might get spotted and tracked, giving away the location of the safe room.

>>6328190
Gwen will be liability no matter what we do with her. The combat sector is the worst place we could bring her and I'm unsure how she'd fare with the other team though if she has to go with someone, she'd be better with them.

>>6328210
I think the squad with the best fighters will be the best suited for handling any unfortunate situations that arise, but if you insist against it I’ll settle for giving her to the other squad as long as we don’t risk the safe room.