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The blistering heat. The stench of freshly spilled blood. It's making your head swim even more than it already was. SLUMBERING WISH might be the only part of you that's enjoying anything that's happening right now. Even then, your symbiotic flower has already begun to wilt.

You need to get something of value out of all of this. You can get some answers out of this 'Desert Harvester' (who knows if she has a name?) with a little bit of bribery.

You set aside about three pounds of meat and viscera for Ashton. The rest is carried over to the sheep carcass, right within arm's right of the Harvester.

"If you talk to us, you get to have all of that viscera!" Edward addresses the Harvester in a cutesy tone. "Yum-yum!" He pats his stomach for emphasis.

"De-eel. Yes. Questions. Questions!" Looks like you got an in! You go straight to the point then.

You point straight up at the sky. There's really only one thing you'd be pointing at, so you almost feel silly for asking the question. "There's something wrong with the sun here. Last I checked, the sun isn't supposed to mess with ARTIFACTS."

"What?" The primal lizardthinge cranes her head to get a better look at you. She does that horrible 'one eye at a time' blink again. "Bwuh?"

Ashton's face scrunches up like she bit into a lemon and found something crunchy inside it. She really doesn't want to say what she's about to say. "what my friend meant is he wanted to know more about the emperor of the hunt's trophies."

"specifically, why the sun tarnishes them."

"Ohhh!!!!" The Harvester taps her clawed fingers against the bleeding out sheep. "Very weird, yes, very weird. Been like that for a few years. Sun's been growing brighter and brighter every day. Thought it was good at first. Warmth is nice. Very nice."

"Saw humans snooping around. Not hunting. Had weird metal boxes with very weird symbols all over them." The Desert Harvester carved one such symbol into the sheep's flesh. Your posse might qualify for a world record with how quickly everyone's expression curdled.

It's a crooked circle with three arrows pointing out of it. You swear you've seen that before, and when you check one of your dossier folders, your suspicions are confirmed. That's ARC's symbol. What in the hell are they doing here of all places?

"Didn't understand what they were saying. Human gibberish. Think they talked about trophies too, but they called then Epiphanies?"

"ERROR: THAT IS NOT A TERM THAT ARC USES. CLARIFICATION REQUEST: WHAT ELSE DID THEY SAY?"

"ARC? Oh! That's their name! ARC...yes, yes, yes. They used that name." The Harvester points a bloodstained claw to the sky. "Not important. Important is their machines made sun big! Big! Made LOTS of noise, and lots of smoke. Smoke would rise up and blanket sky for whole day!

"Once smoke clears? Sun would shine even brighter! Brighter than ever before! Heard them said it 'kaa-tr-ize' the monsters here!"

She smacks the sheep carcass she's still sitting on top of. "Their weird machine worked. The sun hasn't set since then. Always staring down. Watching. Judging."

"Sometimes, I can even hear it hissin' at me. Sunshine wasn't ever that noisy before. Can't make disguise like I used to." She traces a clawed finger down her chest. "Sloughs right off. Don't quite mind it. Never liked human shell."

"Very annoying!" The Harvester locks her jaw shut. "Think that was part of it. They wanted us to be like this. Not that I mind. Pretending to be human? Stifling. Suffocating."

Ashton doesn't even want to look at her kin anymore. "agree to disagree."

"Wait, wait. Did they use any weird words when they were running their machines?" Edward asks. "Anything with, say, a lotta numbers?"

"Ohhhhh! Yes, yes, yes. 'SUNDOWNING', they used that a lot. Don't really remember numbers. Something with a 4 and 8?" The Harvester reaches down to grab a handful of giblets and gore from the bag you provided her. "Bored now. New question."

"Right. I don't think we ever established where we actually are."

"Desert," the Harvester says with a roll of the eyes.

"No, like, what is this place exactly?" You tap your shoe against the sandy ground. "We're not from around here, so you know. We'd want to know where, exactly, we are."

"From city, no? Shouldn't you know then?" She uses her tail like a second hand to dig through the gore bag. "This place is where humans put everything they don't want. Monsters. Trophies. Ruins. Undesirables. Trash."

"They call it something stupid. 'The ENDLESS WASTES'." She gags almost immediately after saying the name. "Dumb name! Stupid, dumb name! Not wrong!"

"Place used to be inhabited. Elders said that way back, WAY back, humans used to flourish out here! Bountiful forests! Beasts as far as the eye can see!" She closes her eyes as she imagines what it must've been like. Her tail flicks from side to side just like a dog's. "Then, things fell from the sky. Large metallic cylinders. Mizzle? Mizzle, yes!"

"BOOM!" She pretends to throw something. "Big, blinding light! Then another! Then another! Until all you could see was light! Light that melted everything it touched!"

"Happened ages ago! To purge something. Monsters, I think? Too many monsters for 'humans' to hunt. They should've called us to deal with them!"

SACA is the first to piece together what the Harvester is describing. "INQUIRY: DID YOUR ELDERS SAY ANYTHING ABOUT 'SICKNESSES' THAT CAME AFTER THE LIGHT?"

"Oh, yes, yes! Elders said the light made us very, VERY sick. They said we lost so much blood through vomiting, instead of hunting! That our bodies couldn't fight off even the simplest of illnesses!"

"Hahaha! Wow!" The agent's face almost tears itself in half as a rictus grin stretches across his face. "Of course that's how they'd deal with anomalies."

"Why bother containing them when they could nuke everything? Oh my god, they'd totally do that."

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"Haha! It's so funny you can almost cry!" He wipes a tear from the corner of his eye. "Lemme guess. Lemme guess. They called themselves 'ARC' too."

"Uhm. They called themselves 'THE GUIDING ARC', I think? Think that's when the City was first opened. I dunno." Yet again, the Harvester is already losing interest in conversing with you.

Well, at least you know what this place is. An alternative future where anomalies almost overtook the world. If it was serious enough to the point ARC had to turn the sun into a constantly active anti-anomaly weapon, then maybe glassing everything was the right decision.

"okay, we should probably get going. my friends aren't really made for, uhm, this."

"Why are you friends with food?" There's no malice in the Harvester's question. She genuinely sounds confused. "I like them because they got me food. But why are YOU friends with them?"

Ashton pretends like she didn't hear a thing. "we're worried about a certain noise back in our world. do you know of any noise that could, you know, make you do things you don't wanna do?"

Every alarm bell inside the lizardwoman's head fires off immediately. The sun looming above glows brighter now in a way that gives you the worst migraine you've dealt with in years.

"Few of them. Humans can't hear them. Lucky." She digs a grubby hand into the deepest part of the viscera-soaked bag. After she chews on some primo meat, she continues talking. "Wish I couldn't hear them. Warm. Suffocatingly warm. Smothers your insides in boiling heat."

"Can't even think when I hear them. Hissing, crackling, like lightning in my brain. Rah-dio 'waves'?" She snaps her fingers as she tries to remember something. "Rah-dio. Right! Smart hunting buddy knows rah-dios. He told me numbers that make rah-dio play that awful noise."

"442.372 mega-something." She shivers at the mere mention of the number, as if it's going to cause her scales to slough off. "Something in that 'range', he said. He used it before, on other Harvesters. Makes our heads go crazy."

You somewhat knew it was a broadcast beforehand, but actually having the number means you can study what it's playing. Maybe you can even inoculate Ashton to it before you have to hunt down the source of the noise.

"Well, great, we should get going! Now!" Edward is already backpedaling away from the Harvester. Ashton is not far behind and, you know what, good for them, they have basic self-preservation. You, though, felt particularly bold today. Who knows why you decided to say what you're about to say. Perhaps heatstroke got to you.

"Heyyy! We could use someone like you!" Your smile twists into something indescribably hideous. "We can give you as much flesh as you want, and all it'll take is you following us! Sure, you might not be able to return, but c'mon! Treats!"

You blink. Just one singular blink was enough. The Harvester is nowhere in sight.

"NO TRICKS! NO TRICKS!" Her voice is now coming from right behind you.

Damnit, she's too fast!

You try to spin around to get a look at her. A scaly fist slams into your jaw before you can fully turn around. Not a second later, another fist hits you right in the stomach.

Her fists were like a wedge of steel wrapped in scales. One of your teeth almost shatters into calcium-rich sand. The strike knocks your balance completely off. Your legs crumple as you try in vain to stay on your feet.

Suffocatingly warm sunshine reflects off of the Harvester's many, many teeth. Even the reflection of sunlight was warm enough to sear your skin. Briny sweat smothers your vision. All you want to do is to purge your stomach of everything it has.

Four sharp cracks ring out. One of them was far louder than the rest, like something popped a firecracker right in your ear.

Warm, sticky blood splatters onto your face. You know it's blood from the smell, and it's certainly not your blood. Too dark. This is immediately followed by a high-pitched screech.

It gives you enough time to wipe your eyes. The Harvester is clutching her side or, more accurately, what's left of it. A hole the width of a golf ball is punched right through her. She's already out of your sight by the time you blink again.

"HALT!" SACA tries to grab onto the fleeing Harvester. Really, it's more like she was trying to cave in the Harvester's head. Her claw-like hand managed to strike the Harvester in the shoulder, but all it did was briefly knock her off balance.

You blink again.

The Harvester was gone. The hateful sunshine only grows brighter. All you hear is ringing inside your ears now. No, wait, you can hear something else.

"Shit! We need to go, Vince! Now!" Neon red smoke is bellowing out of Edward's gun.
"l-lean against me! we need to move!" Your weight is pressed up against Ashton. She's warm.
"WAIT. WHAT ABOUT THE ARTIFACT WE WERE MEANT TO RECOVER?" Panic creeps into the robot's words.

Everything's moving too fast. The ground underneath your feet is wrong. The soles of your dress shoes almost melt into the floor. This was not your best decision, in hindsight. At least you're alive. That's good. Your head's still ringing. Your hand tightens around your gun.

If only you could've gotten a shot on her. Maybe you could've gotten her corpse, at least, for one of your sponsorships.

You blink yet again. Something's wrong.

>ARTIFACT OBTAINED? (You'll get details about this soon.)

The sun's gone. The desert too. What you now see is the familiar sight of grey steel. That, along with the comforting taste of recycled air, hits you just like one of the Harvester's punches.

Why the hell are you in a containment cell? You know for a fact you were being escorted by your friends not even a moment ago.

"vince???" A familiar voice calls out from right outside the cell. "oh god, where is he?"
"I'm checking the cameras! You two, check outside! Maybe he got displaced outside!"

https://youtu.be/kmQdyd4U7OQ - About time.

Oh. Of course, you ended up here.

>>6475556
>It's weird you ended up here of all places. Look for any clues as to why you arrived here. (May offer insight into the anomaly's powers.)
>Draw one of the STAR GLYPHS you saw carved into THE OTHER SIDE. Maybe the feline knows something about it. (+THE OTHER SIDE INFO!)
>Attach a STATIC PIN to the cat, with her permission. What might be inside her head? (Risky, but illuminating.)
>Light up ST. PARDE's CANDLE to 'heal' LMS' many, MANY hidden injuries (-ST. PARDE. You will get a unique item in return.)

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A certain feline is sitting her very chair, which is facing the opposite side of the room. "Tsk. It is rather bothersome to exist concurrently, for my essence to be split in such an undignified way."

"Is there not a beauty in it? For the form of an individual to be as malleable as warm taffy?" asks the feline's tumor, in its trademarked baritone voice.

"Men were born to play games." The feline cryptically answers. "The game being played here, one of phone receivers and corroding wires, is not one I am fond on in the slightest."

"Alas. Alack. I do not believe we have a choice one way or another. Shall we save this conversation for later? We do have a guest."

"Quite. You there. Must I give you a list of instructions down to the most minute of detail? Why else would you be in this cell? Please, do not waste any more of my already limited screen time."

Choose four actions, 'Vincent'

COMMUNICATION
>"Are you, or were, EL FELINO?" She did turn EL FELINO into a red mist when she 'appeared'.
>Recount your exciting tales of exploring a post apocalyptic desert dimension! That should surely entertain her!
>"Can you tell me anything about ARC's 'Mister' and 'Misses'?" She was interested in a former Miss of ARC. Maybe she knows more about them than she let on.
>"What, exactly, do you want from me specifically? Why must I work on you alone?" Most anomalies don't care who visits them.
>"May I ask your cancerous friend some questions?" Chit-chat with the cat's tumor. Why does this anomaly have two seemingly different minds?
>"I do apologize for my delay, but you must understand why I waited so long..." Play the role of the socialite. Get under the cat's skin. (DC 90, +26 to roll.)

EXAMINATION
>Take a look at her with MAD WORLD. What would a cat's 'aura' even look like? What secrets can you learn? (DC 85, +18 to roll)
>Attempt to harvest some flesh from the anomaly's tumor. More samples couldn't hurt. (DC 70, +8 to roll)
>Look for anything that's changed in LMS' cell. Every time you come in here, something changes, but so far you see nothing. (DC 100, +35 to roll)
>Ask Little Miss Sunshine if you can harvest some hair for future study. (DC 50.)
>It's weird you ended up here of all places. Look for any clues as to why you arrived here. (May offer insight into the anomaly's powers.)

STIMULI/MISC
>Draw one of the STAR GLYPHS you saw carved into THE OTHER SIDE. Maybe the feline knows something about it. (+THE OTHER SIDE INFO!)
>Attach a STATIC PIN to the cat, with her permission. What might be inside her head? (Risky, but illuminating.)
>Secretly record everything she says with the BLOODRED FLOWER. Maybe you can use her powers for your own purposes?
>Light up ST. PARDE's CANDLE to 'heal' LMS' many, MANY hidden injuries (-ST. PARDE. You will get a unique item in return.)
>Give her the last bits of cat food you have. Cat friendship is based on the next meal, not the last.

MISC
>Write in?

We're back!

>>6475550
An Ashtug and her beloved Vinny.

>>6475559
>It's weird you ended up here of all places. Look for any clues as to why you arrived here. (May offer insight into the anomaly's powers.)
>Draw one of the STAR GLYPHS you saw carved into THE OTHER SIDE. Maybe the feline knows something about it. (+THE OTHER SIDE INFO!)
>Attach a STATIC PIN to the cat, with her permission. What might be inside her head? (Risky, but illuminating.)
>Light up ST. PARDE's CANDLE to 'heal' LMS' many, MANY hidden injuries (-ST. PARDE. You will get a unique item in return.)

>>6475559
Guh, small error. Meant to write 'sitting very still in her chair'. Must've gotten garbled when I tried reposting it. I wish this site had a proper edit function sometimes.

Anyways, sorry for taking so long. I don't really have an excuse this time, I just got lazy.

>>6475559
>>"I do apologize for my delay, but you must understand why I waited so long..." Play the role of the socialite. Get under the cat's skin. (DC 90, +26 to roll.)
Man that 0 success roll really sucked, surely we rolled off vincents bad luck
>Recount your exciting tales of exploring a post apocalyptic desert dimension! That should surely entertain her!
Especially the Pummeling
>It's weird you ended up here of all places. Look for any clues as to why you arrived here. (May offer insight into the anomaly's powers.)
>Give her the last bits of cat food you have. Cat friendship is based on the next meal, not the last.
>>6475562
>I just got lazy.
Sometimes you gotta indulge that, we shouldn't be like Vincent after all.

>>6475559
>"I do apologize for my delay, but you must understand why I waited so long..." Play the role of the socialite. Get under the cat's skin. (DC 90, +26 to roll.)
>Give her the last bits of cat food you have. Cat friendship is based on the next meal, not the last.
>Draw one of the STAR GLYPHS you saw carved into THE OTHER SIDE. Maybe the feline knows something about it. (+THE OTHER SIDE INFO!)
>Light up ST. PARDE's CANDLE to 'heal' LMS' many, MANY hidden injuries (-ST. PARDE. You will get a unique item in return.)

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>>6475559
>"May I ask your cancerous friend some questions?" Chit-chat with the cat's tumor. Why does this anomaly have two seemingly different minds?
>Recount your exciting tales of exploring a post apocalyptic desert dimension! That should surely entertain her!
>Light up ST. PARDE's CANDLE to 'heal' LMS' many, MANY hidden injuries (-ST. PARDE. You will get a unique item in return.)
>Draw one of the STAR GLYPHS you saw carved into THE OTHER SIDE. Maybe the feline knows something about it. (+THE OTHER SIDE INFO!)

>>6475559
>"May I ask your cancerous friend some questions?" Chit-chat with the cat's tumor. Why does this anomaly have two seemingly different minds?
>"I do apologize for my delay, but you must understand why I waited so long..." Play the role of the socialite. Get under the cat's skin. (DC 90, +26 to roll.)

>It's weird you ended up here of all places. Look for any clues as to why you arrived here. (May offer insight into the anomaly's powers.)
>Draw one of the STAR GLYPHS you saw carved into THE OTHER SIDE. Maybe the feline knows something about it. (+THE OTHER SIDE INFO!)

>>6475559
>"I do apologize for my delay, but you must understand why I waited so long..." Play the role of the socialite. Get under the cat's skin. (DC 90, +26 to roll.)
>It's weird you ended up here of all places. Look for any clues as to why you arrived here. (May offer insight into the anomaly's powers.)
>Light up ST. PARDE's CANDLE to 'heal' LMS' many, MANY hidden injuries (-ST. PARDE. You will get a unique item in return.)
>Give her the last bits of cat food you have. Cat friendship is based on the next meal, not the last.
I wonder how a cross test between LIL and Eden would go.

>>6475559
>It's weird you ended up here of all places. Look for any clues as to why you arrived here. (May offer insight into the anomaly's powers.)
>Draw one of the STAR GLYPHS you saw carved into THE OTHER SIDE. Maybe the feline knows something about it. (+THE OTHER SIDE INFO!)
>Attach a STATIC PIN to the cat, with her permission. What might be inside her head? (Risky, but illuminating.)
>Light up ST. PARDE's CANDLE to 'heal' LMS' many, MANY hidden injuries (-ST. PARDE. You will get a unique item in return.)

>>6475559
>"I do apologize for my delay, but you must understand why I waited so long..." Play the role of the socialite. Get under the cat's skin. (DC 90, +26 to roll.)
>It's weird you ended up here of all places. Look for any clues as to why you arrived here. (May offer insight into the anomaly's powers.)
>Give her the last bits of cat food you have. Cat friendship is based on the next meal, not the last.
>Ask Little Miss Sunshine if you can harvest some hair for future study. (DC 50.)

>>6475555
What an illuminating and alarming conversation.
Man, we were not expecting to be sucker-punched like that, apparently; our beloved endurance failed us.

>>6475559
Welcome back!

>Choose four actions, 'Vincent'
uhh.
>Recount your exciting tales of exploring a post apocalyptic desert dimension! That should surely entertain her!
>Take a look at her with MAD WORLD. What would a cat's 'aura' even look like? What secrets can you learn? (DC 85, +18 to roll)
>It's weird you ended up here of all places. Look for any clues as to why you arrived here. (May offer insight into the anomaly's powers.)
>Draw one of the STAR GLYPHS you saw carved into THE OTHER SIDE. Maybe the feline knows something about it. (+THE OTHER SIDE INFO!)

HOW DID I GET HERE?: 8
STAR GLYPHS: 7
CANDLE: 6
SOCIALITE: 5
FEED HER: 4
STATIC: 3
RECOUNT: 3
TUMOR: 2
MAD WORLD: 1

So, in today's tale, we shall be questioning how Vincent arrived at a certain cat's cell. He will try to amuse said feline through art and candlework...Hm. A particular choice also won. Men were born to play games, and Vincent wishes to play a particularly amusing game. One that requires a series of dice. Three 'anons', please roll 1d100+26 for me.

PLAYING THE SOCIALITE (DC 90, +26 to roll)
0 SUCCESSES: Did you expect anything else, Vincent? (Ha ha. Hee hee. Hoo hoo.)
1 SUCCESS: There really wasn't a conversation. The two of you just traded passive aggressive remarks back and forth. (A total waste of time. Or perhaps not, it was certainly entertaining.)
2 SUCCESSES: The conversation was strangely pleasant. Neither you or the feline expected it to be 'pleasant' but here we are. (Actually having a half-way tolerable conversation with her is its own reward. +???)
3 SUCCESSES: ...Something you said finally got underneath her skin. The room goes quiet. No one moves. (A weakpoint was found in LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. A very, very interesting weakpoint.)

>>6475578
Beep boop. Boop beep.

Rolled 91 + 26 (1d100 + 26)

>>6475757

Rolled 56 (1d100)

>>6475757
Nothing personel kit

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Rolled 78 + 26 (1d100 + 26)

>>6475757

Khm. Well, I was honestly expecting you to roll worse after being beaten half to death, but you guys actually got a rebound! 2 SUCCESSES! Nice! You know how this goes, I'm gonna write the update now. Also, don't trust cats. Seriously.

>>6475551
>Heard them said it 'kaa-tr-ize' the monsters here!"
Is this supposed to be cauterize ?

>>6475791
It should yeah, considering the sun is a big burning object and the wordplay implies monsters are a infection of sorts.

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A shiver runs down your back. Something changed, you swear it did, but again! There's nothing! Maybe it's something subtle. Are the walls a darker shade of grey than they were a few moments ago? Guh! You know what? It doesn't matter! You'll chalk it up to your brain still rattling inside of your head.

What IS concerning is that ISOLA's transporter spat you out here. The cat's filthy little paws must've messed with it. That's the only explanation that makes sense. You scan the room, not even bothering to acknowledge the cat until you can piece together what she did.

You pace around the room, looking for any signs of feline interference.

The walls? Unless you happen to be an aficionado of the color grey, there's nothing to really say about them.
The floor? There's cat hair all over it, maybe you should clean the floor soon, but nothing's out of the ordinary there.
The ceiling? Ah.

The top of the cell has been cut open by a precise, almost surgical thin line. It stretches forward until it reaches the edge between the ceiling and the backmost wall. Bits of yellow and red sand trickle from the cut and onto the floor.

The feline snaps her fingers. The damaged ceiling begins to repair itself, sealing itself shut one inch at a time.

"Ma chère," she addresses you in a faux-sweet tone, like a mother coddling a bratty child. "Was your arrival here not already predestined? Must you assume that I summoned you with ill intentions?"

"Do not blame him, my hostess." The tumor purrs in a manner most befitting of an esteemed member of the Felidae family. "Do you not see the ghastly state he is in? Why, I now understand why humans say 'look what the cat dragged in'."

"Quite. The idiom has never sat well with me, personally. It is outdated. Tacky. Tired."

"Must we explain the precise mechanics of how we retrieved you in a manner suitable for your feeble mind?" The tumor slithers out of hiding. Its corpulent mass jiggles in a hypnotical manner. "Must we explain it in trite metaphors and confusing descriptions that only serve to confuse you?"

"What I wanted to know is why you couldn't have waited a little bit?" You ask with an exasperated smile. In the presence of your hostess, you must smile. It is simply a matter of fact. "Did you do this to show off your powers?"

"Simply put, I decreed that it must have happened this way." Little Miss Sunshine finally gets up from her throne. Your spot the outline of a fresh set of scabs and cuts along her leg. She saunters over to you without even looking in your direction, as if your presence was a nuisance she's ready to get rid of. "I plucked you out of the void like a tasty morsel. That is all there is to it."

"Quite tasty, yes." The tumor licks its teeth with a rust-orange tongue.

"Alas, alack. It is a marvel that the overgrown lizard you associate with has waited this long to sink her teeth into your flesh. Perhaps I should not be shocked. In general, her tastes are rather questionable."

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You are starting to regret even thinking about entering this room. Alas, alack, you're stuck here. "Well, I'd prefer to keep my body intact for this conversation. I would believe that spilling my blood across your floor would be a rather ghastly faux pas."

The feline's pinprick eyes finally lock onto you. She doesn't speak for a moment, but after a brief moment of consideration, she decides to humor you. She flicks her tail in a bored, languid manner. "So be it. Please, make yourself useful. Is it not rude for a host to ignore his guest for such an extended period of time?"

"I would have, of course, had I not been told otherwise."

Little Miss Sunshine cranes her head until it is at a crooked angle. "Pray tell, may you elaborate upon the word salad spilling from your mouth?"

"Who am I to deny your privacy?" You look towards the still-covered security camera. "I do apologize for my delay, but you must understand why I waited so long."

"Is it not within my right to have moments of privacy, to reflect on thoughts far beyond the scope of your limited preconceptions? Do not attempt to frame this as an insult."

"I truly understand." Faux-sweet words poured from your sneering lips. "I respected it, until you unceremoniously dragged me in here like a morsel of fish. I can not be blamed for that, can I?"

"He speaks honest and true, sire." The tumor chortles. Each laugh causes its fleshy mass to vibrate like jello. "Your signals are quite crossed. Should we ask him to open the door, merely so we can stare at it?"

"Silence." Little Miss Sunshine digs her claws into the top of the sapient tumor. That only gets another disgustingly grimy, wet chortle from the tumor. "Do not encourage this ill-conceived notice that he is in the right."

"May I ask how my statement contains any falsehoods? Why, I do believe you would know if I was lying." You mimic the crooked angle of Little Miss Sunshine's head. "I would be remiss if I implied your mind wasn't the sharpest of all the otherworldly entities I have contained."

"Though, if someone forced my words to come out in such a way that could imply that I thought their mental faculties were not up to par? Well." You intentionally leave your sentence unfinished. You shrug, as if the matter is of no concern to you.

Your body locks in place. The feline's eyes have locked onto you with a look normally reserved for observing the finest of delectable meals. Your smug grin is frozen on your face. You really wish you weren't smirking right now. The feline and its tumorous companion appraise you without saying a word for the longest time.

Then, the tumor slithers up to its hostess' ear. It whispers something you can't quite pick up on. The spindly feline whispers something back, equally inaudible. This continues for an agonizing minute (your lungs can't even draw air while you're like this.)

Then, your body is able to move again. You keep your composure by drawing a slow, staggered breath through your nose.

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"A word of wise advice: Mimicking my manner of speaking may be the sincerest form of flattery, but please, speak like your ilk is meant to speak." Is there a tinge of embarrassment in her voice? "It is deeply unsettling to hear you mimicking my infliction."

"Quite. Men of your status yearn to be a cog in a machine." The tumor sagely nods. "Though, some kernels of truth were found in your words. What we've got here is failure to communicate."

You decide against correcting the tumor's odd phrasing. "Indeed. I simply wished to speak to her on her level. Nothing more or less."

"To imply you could reach the lofty levels that I lounge at is a rather litigious linguistic lapse." The feline retreats back to her throne. She lazily sprawls across it, as a cat does. "The attempt was amusing. I shall grant you that much." While her words may still have bite, she doesn't seem like she wants you to actually leave.

"Thank you." You politely bow. You make your way to one of the tables that the cat summoned here ages ago. Bits of stale snacks and cups of old tea are scattered haphazardly across the clothed table. You hold your tongue. No point bringing them up to the cat.

You plant ST. PADRE'S CANDLE on the table. That actually gets Little Miss Sunshine to sit upright. She's keenly interested in what you're doing now. The tumor vibrates in a silent laugh, almost knowing where this is going.

You light up the candle. A violent torrent of black smoke pours from the smoldering wick. The lit light gives off a smudgy, distant light. One that neither you or the cat wants to look away from.

"Fascinating. One of the saint's candles, pried from the hands of Lux himself." The tumor would be scratching the underside of its maw, were it blessed with hands. Alas, it does not. "Which reality abstractor did you pry this little trinket out of?"

"...It appears our conversation gave my associate the desire to enact indiscretions." Was that genuine shame in the feline's words? "I do apologize, Vincent, for his disgusting divulge of secrets." It was as fleeting as winter snow. You will not hear shame in its voice again.

The smudgy light and ichor black smoke soon smother the room from floor to wall. This amount of smoke should've suffocated you by now, but you've never breathed better air in your life. It tastes like half-remembered memories and old butterscotch candy.

The feline closes her eyes. A low, self-satisfied purr rumbles from the deepest recesses of her throat. The tumor slithers behind her, attempting to shield itself from the smoke. The candle's effects soon make themself evident as, like a snake shedding its skin, clumps of scabs and fur fall off of the feline's body.

They slump onto the floor in wet, sticky piles. It is both amazing and disgusting to watch her body heal itself like that. Your own wounds, from not even a few minutes ago, are beginning to heal too! Lucky you!

Your jaw snaps back into place. The bruise on your chest vanishes.

Your headache quiets down until it's not even there. In only a few minutes, all of the wounds on your body have outright vanished.
>FULLY HEALED!

The smoke only lingers for a brief minute. It soon dissipates on its own, leaving nothing but a perfectly clean (and cat hair free) room in its place. There's not even any wax left from the candle. It completely burnt itself out of reality.

Little Miss Sunshine doesn't look any different at first. Same off-yellow fur, same unnaturally slender limbs. Even the tumor's still there, hidden behind her back. What is different is that the feline seems to be content for once. Her posture is completely and utterly free of stress. She doesn't even have the energy to sound snooty when she addresses you.

"An eye for an eye, a candle for a candle." She raises up a hand and snaps her fingers. Your arms lurch forward as you realize you're now carrying something. Huh. You look down to see what it is.

It's an eye-sized chunk of hardened wax. It faintly glows with a light you once saw through the leaves of trees, as a young child. The smell of fresh grass wafts up from it, with deeply fungal notes (like moldy bread) clinging to the sensory edges. "Thank...you?"

"Mmh. You are welcome. Your presence is tolerable, for the time being. Do make use of this good mood you placed me in, for I am not one to 'let myself go', as you humans might."

>+BALL OF FECUND WAX! (GIFT? If you leave this on your bedside table, your dreams would be that of rot-bound forests. Will have peculiar interactions with all of your samples.)

Your last order is short and to the point. You scribble down every STAR GLYPH you know of. The ones that don't set your papers on fire. You present your ragtag assortment of glyphs before the feline. She offers one lazy glance at them before she snaps her fingers again. All of the sigils you wrote are swiftly replaced with a whole host of brand new glyphs.

Each one has a short translation attached to it, and unlike the ones you've deciphered, these actually stretch onto three or four letter phrases! You'll actually need some time to digest it but damn! You're certain the cat would've given you a worse list, had you not spent your candle.

>+STAR GLYPH CHEAT SHEET (MASSIVELY reduces the DC of all STAR GLYPH checks. Unlocks brand new research actions involving THE OTHER SIDE.)

You politely excuse yourself. The feline does not stop you.

---
THE WORK RESULT WAS GOOD!
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE MOOD: 9/3! (An eye for an eye.)
NOTES
-She has a much stronger grip over reality than first thought. You're almost certain she could breach if she wanted to, but there has to be a reason why she hasn't.
-Bribing her with expensive gifts is a sure-fire way of getting rare, exclusive trinkets/goodies.
-She's in a remarkably good mood now. Your next work order on her will be far easier.
---

You are tackled the second you left the containment cell. Two strong arms squeeze the air out of you.

You soon recognize who tackled you. Hard not to, with all of that red hair. "vince! where the hell were you?" Ashton squeezes you even tighter. "i was worried sick about you! sick, i tell you!!!"

"Hey, hey, let him go. You're squeezing all the air from his lungs!" The agent warns. "He's turning blue, man."

She finally lets go of you. Now that you're able to breathe, you recount what happened to the best of your ability

"of course it was that dumb cat!" Ashton groans through clenched teeth. "ugh!"
"Was there catnip in that candle or what? Last time I saw the cat, it- You know what, nevermind."

"STATUS: NO INJURIES DETECTED. INTERESTING." SACA chimes. "SO, I BELIEVE THAT MEANS WE CAN CONTINUE WORKING."

"right after that clusterfuck back in the desert? and now, this? m-maybe we should take a break!"

"Vince, just tell me what we're workin' on." Edward is already walking to a nearby airlock. You inform him that you intend on working on STATIC ANGLERFISH, since you know that thing is a nuisance at the best of times. He goes over to its airlock to open it up.

The airlock opened. Edward's expression turns grim when he sees whatever is on the other side. "Vin? Do you normally keep the cell this dark?"

The hell is he on about? Ashton's the first to check to see what's going on. Then SACA. Both of them have the exact same reaction of mixed disbelief and worry. Okay, you need to know what's going on with these guys. You rush over to see what they're seeing.

That's the thing. You see nothing.

The airlock's open. There should be a containment cell there, on the other side, but all you see is a pitch black void. Like the cell popped out of reality.

"Well, there's your problem." Edward smacks the small passage connecting the two airlocks. "There's supposed to be an anomaly there."

You're not stepping in there. The anomaly is obviously messing with your perception through its weird cognitohazardous sludge. If you don't deal with it soon, you're certain this thing is going to breach.

How are you going to respond to the ANLGERFISH's trap?
>Retreat. Check the cameras. Review your notes. No point rushing in blind.
>You got a few old flashbangs from a catalog. Throw all of them inside the cell. Now. (Disables a countermeasure for DEERFOX SHADE.)
>Attune to ILLUM. Light up the dumb Anglerfish and its trap with the lightbulb's searing light. (DC 60, +25 to roll. This will melt your MENTAL HEALTH.)
>Wait. The fish is going to get impatient sooner than later. Strike when it reveals itself. (Will burn a random amount of TIME TOKENS. Effective.)
>You don't have time for this. Order your crew to fire every bullet they got into the cell. Light 'em up. (Expensive.)
>Let Edward handle it. He IS an agent trained to deal with anomalies. (DC 75, +20 to roll. Couldn't hurt to try.)
>Got a different plan? (Write in.)

>>6475791
Yep. The Harvester had a rudimentary grasp on English, so she sounded out an unfamiliar word.

>>6475835
>>Wait. The fish is going to get impatient sooner than later. Strike when it reveals itself. (Will burn a random amount of TIME TOKENS. Effective.)

>>6475835
>Attune to ILLUM. Light up the dumb Anglerfish and its trap with the lightbulb's searing light. (DC 60, +25 to roll. This will melt your MENTAL HEALTH.)
Put it in its place again.

>>6475835
>Got a different plan? (Write in.)
Use MAD World, if we can tell where it is, shoot it accurately so it knows this shit ain’t gonna fly with us.
If we can’t see it with mad world
>Attune to ILLUM. Light up the dumb Anglerfish and its trap with the lightbulb's searing light. (DC 60, +25 to roll. This will melt your MENTAL HEALTH.)

>>6475834
>The smoke only lingers for a brief minute. It soon dissipates on its own, leaving nothing but a perfectly clean (and cat hair free) room in its place. There's not even any wax left from the candle. It completely burnt itself out of reality.
We have got to get ourselves more candles from LUX.

>>6475835
+1
>>6475868

>>6475835
>Wait. The fish is going to get impatient sooner than later. Strike when it reveals itself. (Will burn a random amount of TIME TOKENS. Effective.)

We have the watches. We also have the time. Come at us you stupid shit.

>>6475835
>Wait. The fish is going to get impatient sooner than later. Strike when it reveals itself. (Will burn a random amount of TIME TOKENS. Effective.)

>>6475835
>>6475868
+1

>>6475835
>Wait. The fish is going to get impatient sooner than later. Strike when it reveals itself. (Will burn a random amount of TIME TOKENS. Effective.)

>>6475835
I believe this is the first time Ashton hugged Vincent unprompted, does this take away one hp? Or does it only count when Vincent does it?
>>6475868
Genious. Lets do this. Time is money and I dont want to waste it on this wannabe shark.

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>>6475868
+1

>>6475897
>We have got to get ourselves more candles from LUX.
You could say that their candles are a LUXury

>>6475835
>Attune to ILLUM. Light up the dumb Anglerfish and its trap with the lightbulb's searing light. (DC 60, +25 to roll. This will melt your MENTAL HEALTH.)
We can trade some mh for this

>Yep. The Harvester had a rudimentary grasp on English, so she sounded out an unfamiliar word.
I got it, it's just that this was the one word I was in doubt about

>>6475835
>try using MAD WORLD
otherwise
>Wait. The fish is going to get impatient sooner than later. Strike when it reveals itself. (Will burn a random amount of TIME TOKENS. Effective.)

WAIT: 4
ILLUM: 2
MAD WORLD + ILLUM: 6

I like the way you're thinking, anons. That's the creative spirit I was looking for. Of course, this is going to need a skill check since you are relying on an ARTIFACT and ARTIFACT GIFT. I'm going to ask for three anons to roll 1d100+20 for me.

SEE ALL (DC 65, +20 to roll [Slightly harder due to the mental strain of using multiple supernatural artifacts])
0 SUCCESSES: LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT. DARK. OBSCURE. CLARIFY. PERCEIVE- (Okay, looks like you're gonna have to wait this fish out! You can't see a damn thing, and your body is screaming at you. -1d2 TIME TOKENS.)
1 SUCCESS: Using the ARTIFACTS left a number on you, but you were able to push the fish back! (It's a stopgap at best though. You might've missed something too. The following WORK ORDER will be slightly harder.)
2 SUCCESSES: Ah, it set up a trap within a trap. Clever little bastard. (You disabled most of its traps AND you managed to land a crippling blow. The following WORK ORDER will be slightly easier.)
3 SUCCESSES: Oh? What's that? (Same as 2 SUCCESSES, but...?)

>>6475897
>>6476021
The candle you just spent was a LUXurious specimen, so don't expect to get one as strong as ST. PADRE without spending a lot of money. Though, you do have a fax machine that can call up Lux, if you're willing to negotiate with them.

>>6476008
I say that you don't lose a HUG POINT, if only because it'd be unfair to burn it on something you had no control over.

>>6476017
VENTI, I'M SORRY, BUT YOU DO NOT HAVE A RESERVATION. SO YOU MUST WAIT AT THE BACK OF THE LINE. FOREVER.
-D.O.G, the strongest anomaly in all of ARC

Rolled 42 + 25 (1d100 + 25)

>>6476233
Fried fish

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Rolled 35 + 20 (1d100 + 20)

>>6476233

Rolled 46 + 20 (1d100 + 20)

>>6476233
Rolling

>1 SUCCESS
Tell you what. You do have one item specifically made to help with anomalous illusions. It'd be silly not to offer it up as a choice. Wanna use your REDEYE DROPS (2 charges. Each charge = two dice rerolled.)

>YES. One charge. (Two of your dice will be rerolled.)
>YES. Use both charges. (You get 2 SUCCESSES, no fuss, no wuss, no RNG.)
>NO. Save them for another encounter with the fish. (You do have to work on it still.)

>>6476237
A doll and her lizard. What wacky hijinks might they get up to?

>>6476239
>YES. One charge. (Two of your dice will be rerolled.)

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>>6476239
>YES. One charge. (Two of your dice will be rerolled.)

Rolled 64, 16 + 20 = 100 (2d100 + 20)

Two hours without a vote, so I'm gonna roll real quick. Rerolling the 35 and 42. Whatever you get, you're stuck with.

See ya in an hour or two.

>>6476243
He will judge.
He will measure your neck, to determine what type of noose to use.

You hate this fish. You hate this fish. You can not describe the degree you hate this fish in any human language. Maybe in THE OTHER SIDE's glyphs, but even then!

"do we need the cell to stay intact?" You already don't like where she's going with this. "maybe we can craft some explosives and, you know, deal with the problem? just like that?"

Edward had to do a double take to process that statement. "I like the way you're thinking but jeez! It's a bog-standard KAPH-class. IEDs are beyond overkill for this situation."

"Yeah, no. I fought this thing off with a pocket knife. We are not blowing it up."

"aw." The redhead lets out a disappointed huff.

What you do have in mind is a lot more simple. Into the satchel your hand goes. Your hand sifts through the piles of refuse and biological aberrations you call 'samples'. You grimace when your fingers graze something moist and sticky. You really need to clean this thing out.

You finally fish out the two necessary ARTIFACTS: ILLUM and MAD WORLD. You apply some eyedrops in preparation for what you're about to do. As you slide on your glasses, you address your posse.

"Alright. I'm going to call out where it is. SACA, you'll go in first to distract it. You two, fire at will. Got it?"

"PLAN UNDERSTOOD." SACA gives her best attempt at a thumbs up. Hard to do it with only two fingers but hey, at least she's trying.
"Not like I have a better idea." Edward shrugs.
"it's the least i could do, for not killing that harvester back there." Ashton said with a sheepish grin.

Alright! You're glad everyone's on the same page. You tightly grip the base of the lightbulb to activate it. With a sharp crackle, ILLUM lights up. You peer into the void. O, loathsome fish, what secrets dost thou hide?

>2 SUCCESSES!

Ah, so that's why you couldn't see into the cell. A thin, translucent mesh of slurry was applied on the doorway. The light from ILLUM pierces through the veil, letting you see inside the cell properly.

Every single inch of its holding cell is crusted over with the slurry it produces from its scales. From wall to floor to ceiling. That's to be expected, but what catches your eye is the statue loitering around the cell. With the power of your two artifacts, you're able to see them for what they are: featureless mounds of slurry that only resemble humanoid forms if you squint.

One such statue is not like the others. Towards the corner of the room lies a statue of the STATIC ANGLERFISH itself, at least in terms of bulk and size. It's a rather convincing facade of the anomaly, even with you being able to see its 'true' appearance.

The statue is posed in a way where it looks like it's going to attack whoever comes in. It's practically begging to be the first thing anyone looks at.

There lies the trick, eh? It's merely a distraction. You can't quite see it from this angle, but you think you know where the fish actually is.

It reused an old trick.

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Hanging from the ceiling is a lightbulb that does not match the rest of the containment cell. A lightbulb that, if not for the monochromatic grayscale your glasses impose, would surely be a seething shade of red.

Oh ho! It thought you were stupid, huh? Or maybe it's too stupid to realize you wouldn't fall for that trick again!

"So, what's the verdict, boss?"

"I don't care what you see in there. The only thing I want to see you shooting is the ceiling. That's where the anomaly is-"

SACA moves before you have time to stop her. With all the grace of a malfunctioning forklift, she charges forward. Her sheer bulk effortlessly tears through the thin membrane blocking the doorway, letting searing red light shine through. Any statues in her way crumble into dust the moment she comes into contact with them.

Welp! Ain't no better time to move in than now!

You charge in right after SACA. Not a second later, you're joined by two gun-wielding guards who know exactly where to shoot. You shine ILLUM's light towards the ceiling, marking their target.

The broken statues tried to say something. Some yelled in garbled voices mimicking your own, to get Ashton to look away. Some coo out Edward's name in whispered, sultry moans. Neither of them looked away from the ceiling.

All is drowned out in a chorus of gunfire and red smoke.

Bullets pierce through the disguised STATIC ANGLERFISH. Static-laced blood erupts from holes punched into the false ceiling it created, splattering onto the ground. An animalistic snarl of pain is almost smothered by the clatter of spent casings.

Six golf ball sized holes, and over a dozen standard handgun entry wounds, speckle the STATIC ANGLERFISH' hide.

The STATIC ANGLERFISH begins to peel itself off of the ceiling. Its maw snaps open, sending fragments of dried slurry flying every which way. With a sickening, grimy POP, the ANGLERFISH frees itself from the ceiling. Even while being assaulted by gunfire, it still intends on feasting upon your flesh.

"SACA! DO SOMETHING!" Edward barked at the robot.

She springs into action without a second thought. The robot rips one of the still intact statues off the floor to wield as a weapon. With the strength only hundreds of pounds of metal and pneumatics can provide, she swings the statue like a bat.

The statue is pulverized into fine pink dust the second it makes contact with the fish. Two cracks, one of bone and one of glass, follow shortly after. The force knocks the fish off its intended course, sending it careening towards the floor.

It smashes against the thick layer of pink slurry, causing cracks to blossom out from the sight of impact. It's almost beautiful in a sick, disgusting sort of way. With what little energy it has left, the anglerfish slides backwards until it is pressed against one of the corners of the cell.

For the first time since you met it, you can see its eyes. They are full of fear.
>CONTAINMENT BREACH HALTED!

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Ashton struggles to maintain her composure. She shoots a hand up to cover her mouth, hiding her rictus grin. "you call that an ambush? i could've done something better than that in my sleep!"

"MY ATTACK HAS LEFT THREE SHARDS, EACH 8.5CM IN LENGTH, LODGED NEAR ITS GILS." SACA states matter-of-factly. "ITS ABILITY TO BREATH WILL BE HAMPERED FOR THE DURATION OF THE WORK ORDER."

"Ha. Gotta admit, that was almost clever." Edward grinds his boot against the 'skull' of one of the damaged statues. "Got any more tricks up your sleeve, asshole?"

The mass of static-blurred scales and fins obviously doesn't answer. The fluorescent tubes embedded in its back (which you can see thanks to MAD WORLD) are completely shattered. Deep gashes and pot marks are scattered along its body. It is in no position to do much of anything right now.

The room you're in is a disaster right now. The air is thick with soft pink dust, which is almost certainly not safe to breathe in. At least it's better than being mauled by an overgrown fish.

STATIC ANGLERFISH MOOD: 40/85
What do you want to do with the ANGLERFISH, now that it knows its place? Choose four.

COMMUNICATION
>"So, word of advice..." Feed it intentionally bad feedback about its failed ambush.
>"Statues, eh? Do you have any favorites?" Talk to the fish about its sculpture-making 'hobby'. Show it that you want to 'understand' it. (DC 75, +33 to roll.)
>"What was the plan here, smart guy?" It does realize you're not stupid, right? Is it compelled to attack you?
>"Ashton? Got any advice for it?" She is a HARVESTER. Maybe she can speak to it on its level. (DC 66, +12 to roll. You might learn more about Ashton?)

EXAMINATION
>Try to figure out the fish's bizarre, mangled anatomy. You need to know what its capabilities are. (May improve future SAMPLE gathering actions.)
>Harvest some loose scales from its body. (+STATIC SCALES. This creates the slurry it makes traps out of.)
>Draw some blood samples from the fish. (+STATIC BLOOD. Used to create cosmetics and stealth-based items)
>Look around for one of its lures, and harvest the BACTERIA from within. (+BIOLUMINESCENT BACTERIA! Very useful, when mixed with your mold.)
>Extract some tears from the fish' many eyes. (+??? SAMPLE. The more samples, the merrier.)

STIMULI/MISC
>Hold up the SAINT'S SKULL. This weird human skull can read anomalies. What will it say about the fish, you wonder? (DC 70, +30 to roll.)
>Put on the DVD and CD player. Entertain it with the marvels of TV shows and music! Maybe it'd stop acting out if you kept it entertained!
>Do a through deep clean of the containment cell. It's the least you can do after wrecking the place. (Thank god you have SACA here.)
>Feed it whatever flesh and gristle you have to spare. Even if it doesn't deserve it, you don't want it acting out again.
>Show off the MYCELIUM GLOVES you got yesterday. You're not the only one who can stick to walls. (DC 50, +5 to roll. This may impress both the anomaly and your friends.)

>WRITE IN

>>6476284
>Do a through deep clean of the containment cell. It's the least you can do after wrecking the place. (Thank god you have SACA here.)
>Try to figure out the fish's bizarre, mangled anatomy. You need to know what its capabilities are. (May improve future SAMPLE gathering actions.)
>Hold up the SAINT'S SKULL. This weird human skull can read anomalies. What will it say about the fish, you wonder? (DC 70, +30 to roll.)
>Extract some tears from the fish' many eyes. (+??? SAMPLE. The more samples, the merrier.)

Maybe we can try to request to buy some raw fish and a grill from the catalog and bring them in here to show it where fish go on the food chain.

>>6476284
>Do a through deep clean of the containment cell. It's the least you can do after wrecking the place. (Thank god you have SACA here.)
>Extract some tears from the fish' many eyes. (+??? SAMPLE. The more samples, the merrier.)
>"Statues, eh? Do you have any favorites?" Talk to the fish about its sculpture-making 'hobby'. Show it that you want to 'understand' it. (DC 75, +33 to roll.)
>Try to figure out the fish's bizarre, mangled anatomy. You need to know what its capabilities are. (May improve future SAMPLE gathering actions.)

>>6476284
>>Do a through deep clean of the containment cell. It's the least you can do after wrecking the place. (Thank god you have SACA here.)
>"Statues, eh? Do you have any favorites?" Talk to the fish about its sculpture-making 'hobby'. Show it that you want to 'understand' it. (DC 75, +33 to roll.)
>Hold up the SAINT'S SKULL. This weird human skull can read anomalies. What will it say about the fish, you wonder? (DC 70, +30 to roll.)
>Feed it whatever flesh and gristle you have to spare. Even if it doesn't deserve it, you don't want it acting out again.

>>6476284
That could have gone much worse. We have got to be better about cleaning this cell.

>"What was the plan here, smart guy?" It does realize you're not stupid, right? Is it compelled to attack you?
>Extract some tears from the fish' many eyes. (+??? SAMPLE. The more samples, the merrier.)
>Hold up the SAINT'S SKULL. This weird human skull can read anomalies. What will it say about the fish, you wonder? (DC 70, +30 to roll.)
Know thy enemy.
>Do a through deep clean of the containment cell. It's the least you can do after wrecking the place. (Thank god you have SACA here.)

>>6476284
>"So, word of advice..." Feed it intentionally bad feedback about its failed ambush.
Hold up the SAINT'S SKULL. This weird human skull can read anomalies. What will it say about the fish, you wonder? (DC 70, +30 to roll.)
>Try to figure out the fish's bizarre, mangled anatomy. You need to know what its capabilities are. (May improve future SAMPLE gathering actions.)
>Remember the advice you got about making statues yourself and well try to make some

>>6476284
>"Statues, eh? Do you have any favorites?" Talk to the fish about its sculpture-making 'hobby'. Show it that you want to 'understand' it. (DC 75, +33 to roll.)
>Extract some tears from the fish' many eyes. (+??? SAMPLE. The more samples, the merrier.)
>Do a through deep clean of the containment cell. It's the least you can do after wrecking the place. (Thank god you have SACA here.)
>Feed it whatever flesh and gristle you have to spare. Even if it doesn't deserve it, you don't want it acting out again.

>>6476284
>Try to figure out the fish's bizarre, mangled anatomy. You need to know what its capabilities are. (May improve future SAMPLE gathering actions.)
>Harvest some loose scales from its body. (+STATIC SCALES. This creates the slurry it makes traps out of.)
>Draw some blood samples from the fish. (+STATIC BLOOD. Used to create cosmetics and stealth-based items)
>Look around for one of its lures, and harvest the BACTERIA from within. (+BIOLUMINESCENT BACTERIA! Very useful, when mixed with your mold.)

>>6476284
>"So, word of advice..." Feed it intentionally bad feedback about its failed ambush.
>Try to figure out the fish's bizarre, mangled anatomy. You need to know what its capabilities are. (May improve future SAMPLE gathering actions.)
>Look around for one of its lures, and harvest the BACTERIA from within. (+BIOLUMINESCENT BACTERIA! Very useful, when mixed with your mold.)
>Do a through deep clean of the containment cell. It's the least you can do after wrecking the place. (Thank god you have SACA here.)

>>6476284
>"Statues, eh? Do you have any favorites?" Talk to the fish about its sculpture-making 'hobby'. Show it that you want to 'understand' it. (DC 75, +33 to roll.)
>"What was the plan here, smart guy?" It does realize you're not stupid, right? Is it compelled to attack you?

>Try to figure out the fish's bizarre, mangled anatomy. You need to know what its capabilities are. (May improve future SAMPLE gathering actions.)
>Harvest some loose scales from its body. (+STATIC SCALES. This creates the slurry it makes traps out of.)

>>6476390
>That could have gone much worse.
The power of creative write ins, am I right?

As for the work order itself

CLEAN IT UP, JANNY: 6
ANATOMY: 6
TEARS: 4
STATUES: 4
SAINT SKULL: 3
FEED IT: 2
WHY ATTACK: 2
ADVICE: 2
SCALES: 2
LURES: 2
MAKE STATUES: 1
BLOOD: 1

Pretty safe and basic work order, by the sounds of it. Can't exactly blame you after you had to shoot this thing off the ceiling.
-You're cleaning up its containment cell
-You'll harvest some tears from it
-You'll figure out how this thing is even still kicking
and
-You'll ask it about its statues

Speaking about that, that's a skill check. I need three anons to shoot out 1d100+33 for me. Table below. (No rerolls, what you get is what you get.)

STATUE DISCUSSION (DC 75, +33 to roll)
0 SUCCESSES?: LIGLITHL. SLHTLHWEH. LITHLHWUH!!! (You've never heard it 'speak' with such rage. You would've thought that shooting it would make it angry. Interesting insight, but not the insight you wanted.)
1 SUCCESS: Its eyes look without seeing. Its mouth opens without 'speaking'. (It's mimicking something. Is it trying to explain itself? Edward might parse a few bits but that's about it.)
2 SUCCESSES: The anglerfish gestures towards one of the statues. It seems REALLY eager to show this one in particular. (A decent glimpse into the Anglerfish' mindset, if a rather opaque 'glimpse'.)
3 SUCCESSES: Maybe it's out of fear, maybe it's out of respect, but it answers your question with a practical demonstration. (NEW RESEARCH ACTION UNLOCKED! These statues might actually be pretty valuable!)

Rolled 49 + 33 (1d100 + 33)

>>6476667

Rolled 3 + 33 (1d100 + 33)

>>6476667

Rolled 72 + 33 (1d100 + 33)

>>6476667

AND THE RESULTS ARE: 82, 36, and 105! 2 SUCCESSES ain't half bad, all things considered. Keep this up and this shift might not be all that bad.

Writing now. And remember, don't eat seafood.

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Maybe it was a mistake to get this fish. Even 199X eventually stopped trying to cave your head in after you filled him with a pound of lead. Though, you've barely worked on the thing. Maybe you can develop a """rapport""" with enough time.

Frankly, you'd have a more enjoyable time letting Ashton use your arm as a chew toy.

The STATIC ANGLERFISH has not moved from its little corner. Hardened, ceramic-like shards of its own biological excess are lodged deep into its side. Each deep, labored breath it takes seems to be harder than the last. It's not going to attack you for now.

"Alright, fun's over." You murmur under your breath. "We gotta clean up this place."

"CLEANING IS FUN. CLEANLINESS IS THE CLOSEST ANY ONE SOUL CAN REACH TO GODLINESS." And like that, there's already a broom in the robot's hand. "LET'S GET TO IT. CHOP CHOP."

"Oh, c'mon, don't tell me that Angel kid got to you." Edward does his best to lighten the mood after the showdown that happened less than five minutes ago. "Honestly? If there is a god, I imagine he stopped paying attention to us centuries ago."

"personally? i don't think it really matters either way." Ashton stomps her boot against the crust-coated floor. "we all have ways to cope. religion is pretty harmless compared to most other coping mechanisms."

Cleaning the cell is boring, monotonous work. One person always has to look at the fish in case it does something stupid while everyone else breaks their back. The only thing keeping morale up is the random half-formed conversations that fill the air.

Though the fish seems to be in no hurry to stop you, despite you resetting all of its progress. The ANGLERFISH watches your group with thinly veiled interest. Its maw moves in rhythm with the others like it's silently sounding out what everyone is saying. Sometimes, it even manages to sound out something that vaguely sounds like a vowel.

Nothing else seems to matter to the fish now. Its numerous injuries and the shame it should feel from its failed attack wash away like a sandcastle during high tide. It sees something in the inane, meaningless conversations that no one else is able to. Another deep, labored groan rumbles from deep inside its body, finally drawing attention to itself.

Well, it's certainly not the attention it wanted. Edward throws his broom to the side as he draws a bead on the fish. "Yeah? You want to try something? I got six bullets in the mag."

The fish doesn't speak. Of course, it can't. It can only look at Edward with unblinking, unthinking eyes with only the barest trace of awareness behind them. It croaks out another sound.

"CHohhhho. FnuNNNN." Its voice coos and burbles like bubbling snot. Each syllable quivers and pulsates as the fish strains to mimic what it has heard. "ClesnnnnINessssss. PErnsonllllyyyy."

Ashton keeps her eyes glued to the floor. Edward smirks with veiled disgust. SACA continues to chisel away at the seven layers of grime caking the western wall.

The STATIC ANGLERFISH finally 'blinks', or something resembling it, with six different membranes squirming and undulating across its eyeballs. Thick layers of fishy-smelling mucus ooze from its ocular cavities, moistening its eyeballs with a sea of purple sludge.

At least you can get a sample from that, right? Couldn't hurt to try. Maybe you can even get some of its tears if you try hard enough.

You put your mop to the side. You carefully approach the ANGLERFISH, making sure not to make any movements that might agitate it. A low growl rumbles from the animal, but it's in no state to attack. You slide on a special pair of sample-harvesting gloves made just for this occasion.

Ashton quickly joins your side. She silently gestures at which spots you should collect from first. You've taken samples from anomalies a million times, but you appreciate the help, at least.

Vials rapidly fill with a mixture of purple mucus and a thin, salty fluid that might be tears. The more samples, the merrier.
>SAMPLES OBTAINED: FETID MUCUS x4, STATIC TEARS x4

While Ashton keeps an eye on the fish, you take a quick gander at the state of the cell. You're absolutely not cleaning this cell in one go, there's simply too much TO clean in one session, but at least you can see the floor! Heck, the western wall (where the security camera is) is mostly clean!

Good enough for you. Now, you already have a rudimentary understanding of the fish's anatomy, but you need a more thorough understanding of it. Needlessly to say, that's something you'll leave to the two who actually know what they're doing. SACA soon takes your place by the fish's side.

"So," Edward jabs his shoulder into your side. "What's the plan? I doubt that grimy bottom feeder is going to let us loiter around here forever."

"It's about the statues it keeps making." It'd be a feat and a half to find a spot in the cell where there isn't one. Even after the shootout, there's still a good dozen of the damn things standing up. You do your best to ignore the gibbering voice coming from the remnants of a Hidaka statue.

"It's obsessed with these things. I respect it, kinda, but I still don't get why statues of all things."

"I read the dossier on this thing, man, I got the cliffnotes as to why." Edward answers with a scoff. "It uses them as distractions so we're too busy shooting goo-goo eyes at them to notice it charging head first at us."

"That's part of the reason, but you'd think it would stop making them after it realizes we wouldn't fall for them."

"Animals are animals. They're hardwired to do the same thing over and over again." The agent plants his boot on the Hidaka statue's disembodied head. "What, you think we should talk to it about its fine craftsmanship?"

"Could it hurt?"

"Eh. Probably?" Edward whistles at the fish like he's trying to call it over. "Yo!"

The ANGLERFISH shifts slightly to look at him, which gets an irate chirp and annoyed hiss from the two anatomical investigators.

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"hey! c'mon, sit still, i- ughhh!"
"I WAS STUDYING THAT!"

"Sorry for the wanton destruction of your little trinkets here." Edward lifts his boot up, freeing the severed statue head. "I admit, the craftsmanship is actually pretty solid."

Can a fish smirk? You're almost certain it lacks the facial muscles to emote as such, but that's the only term that fits for the facial spasms it made.

"About that statue you made of me yesterday," you follow up on Edward's opener. "I can't say I liked it. I do respect that you put time and effort into making it."

"Hell, maybe you should make one of me." Edward grinned widely enough to show off all of his teeth. He should really brush more, they're looking pretty rank. "I might just forgive you for trying to bite my head clean off if you do so."

"I wouldn't go that far." You verbally backtrack on his behalf. "I do want to understand why you make them. That's what friends do. We learn about each other. It's not fair if you only learn about us."

"Or, we can keep hurting you because you keep trying to hurt us. I don't think that's a particularly great way to spend an afternoon, but it's up to you!"

One of the lures limply hanging from the ANGLERFISH abruptly lights up. It squirms like a worm impaled on a hook. The movements don't seem to be random, it is trying to gesture at SOMETHING with this lure. Maybe it wants to stay still, so its body can be analyzed properly?

Strangely courteous given its behavior a few minutes ago, but you'll take what you can get.

Following the direction the lure is roughly gesturing at, you find a particularly queer-looking statue. Cracks have spread throughout its frame, leaving a lot to be desired when it comes to actually 'seeing' it. Without a solid form to keep up the illusion, you mostly see an inert lump of dried pink blood-sludge in the shape of a human.

But, if you squint your eyes like you're looking at a magic eye painting, the illusion slots back into place. The image of a tall, strapping man with olive skin flickers into place. Stained overalls hang loosely from his frame. You have never seen this man in your life.

All the other statues were people you met before, made to either lure you into a false sense of security or to do some weird mind games with you.

"Curtis. Do you ever wonder what it's like to be a fish?" The statue speaks to someone you can't hear. "Hey, don't be a jackass! It was a serious question!"

"No, I'm not going stir-crazy!" The fisherman groans with obvious annoyance. "It's a hypothetical! Bear with me here please. They spend their whole life down there, swimming around in the water, living in their own world. They don't even know there's whole other worlds outside of their ocean."

"What would they think if you told them about the world outside their ocean? Wh- That's not the point! It's just weird that there are whole other worlds out there that we'll never see, let alone understand."

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"Maybe you have a point there, Curtis. I'd be pretty damn lonely if I was a fish. I dunno. Maybe I'm not cut out for this job if I'm worried about how a fish feels."

"Still. Maybe there's a smart fish out there who wonders what I'm wondering. About the strange metal things floating above the water, and the weird fleshy people stomping around on them. I'd feel bad for that fish. It must be lonely down there."

Then, the statue goes quiet. That's all he wrote.

"A really roundabout way of sayin' what's on your mind." Edward snarked. "Isn't this what SACA was badgering on about during that interview? Qualia and such?"

"Kinda? I don't really think it's a matter of identity. I doubt the fish cares it's a fish per se." There's that theme of connection again. To 'understand' someone, even if they're radically different from you.

So it creates the statues in an attempt to understand humans. That makes sense if you ignore the contradiction between 'wanting to connect with people' and 'mauling them at a moment's notice'. There's a substantial gap between what it claims to represent and what it does.

It's still better than nothing. Your train of thought is cut short when a metallic claw taps your shoulder. A page hastily scrawled with notes is stuffed in your hands with all the ceremony of a dog yawning. You flip through the notes to see what they saw while you were distracted.

A lot of the notes recounted what you knew. Filter-feeding organs, mostly vestigial gills, the works. The new details they did record are the following:

-Its outer frame is covered in approximately five layers of scales of varying thickness. Only the outermost layer is safe for harvesting (the others are simply too thin and brittle.) The easiest section of the outermost layer to harvest is around its eyes, since they grow and shed the most.
-The ANGLERFISH's cardiovascular system is stuffed with redundant veins. When its body detects a serious injury, or a vein gets damaged, it will reroute blood away from the injury and into the nearest 'redundant' veins. Multiple incisions will be necessary to effectively harvest blood.
-Its gills, despite being mostly vestigial, are incredibly sensitive to any form of pressure. Stay clear of them while taking samples.

There's nothing left you can do here without having to risk another shootout. Out of the cell you and your pals go. You can always refine your understanding of its anatomy when it's not staring at you like you're a fresh cut of meat.

---
THE WORK RESULT ON STATIC ANGLERFISH WAS NEUTRAL!
MOOD: 55/85 (HUNGRY.)
---

Ashton stops you right in your tracks. "vince? did you order a cake?" What is she talking about?

Oh. You see it now. There is a chocolate cake (on a tray of course) resting on a chair right next to your lab's front door. A note written in neat, flowing cursive is placed on top of the cake. You needn't read the full thing to realize who sent it.

"FOR VINCEY <3 <3 <3 <3 <3"

You are not touching that cake with a thousand foot pole. Fuck that.

TIME TOKENS: 18

You still got a whole buncha time to burn. Choose four more actions.

ANOMALY (1d2-1 TIME TOKENS)
>Enter HARD TIMES' cell. WORK.
>Visit LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. I'll tolerate a repeat visit. For now.
>Hang out with LOST SINCE 199X. It's the least you can do.
>Check up on ROLY POLY OF EDEN. Why shouldn't you hang out with the cool bug?
>Bond with THE OTHER SIDE. You know its language now. Maybe you can get actual progress done on it.
>Enter WHAT NEVER WAS's cell. Maybe an in-person examination will actually get you some information. (You should probably work on it at least once.)

RESEARCH
>BEHOLD: THE BALL OF FECUND WAX! Mix and match it with all of the samples you got. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS.)
>Create some vision-boosting items with SUNSHINE YELLOW BLOOD + BIOLUMINESCENT BACTERIA! (-1 TIME TOKEN. Will provide an assortment of prototypes to refine.)
>Work on studying the various samples you got from LOST SINCE 199X. Might as well get this done while you still got the time. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS, DC 68, +17 to roll. Reveals data on up to three samples!)
>You got this HARVESTER IDOL last shift, and you still know nothing about it. Study it. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Ashton will be a great help here.)
>Study several of your ARTIFACT GIFTS. You still don't know a lot about that gear, gas mask or guitar you got. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 70, +15 to roll. Reveals data on several of your relatively new ARTIFACT GIFTS!)
>Examine all of those weird samples you got from LORD OF MOLD. The moldy, the better, as they say. (-1d2 TIME TOKENS. Offers you some insight into your CIGARETTE MOLD product.)
>Study the language THE OTHER SIDE 'speaks' in. If it's able to burn whatever it's written on, what else can it do? (No check needed!)
>Study the two samples from the ANGLERFISH before you forget about them.(-2 TIME TOKENS. You'll get all of the data you realistically figure out.)

BUSY WORK
>Fabricate some new lenses to slot over MAD WORLD. What kind of strange things could you see if you messed with the lenses? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 70, +24 to roll.)
>Grow something that ISN'T MOLD for once. More specifically, WIRE FLOWERS. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKEN, unlocks a RESEARCH action.)
>Cook some WINE-SOAKED SANDWICHES, OBSCURA GEL and BLOODRED STEW. You'll need as much healing as you can for later. (-2 TIME TOKENS.)
>You still want to create a copy of ACCUMULATED PAST. Now's the time. (-2 TIME TOKENS. DC 86, +22 to roll. Has a chance of creating a very potent time-based item.)
>MOLD. COOK UP MORE MOLD. (-1d2 TIME TOKENS. Does what it says on the tin.)
>Search up anything you can about THE OTHER SIDE's 'creator'. (-1d3-1 TIME TOKENS. Won't take a skill check, but it'll take some time.)
>Interview Ashton for the sake of finishing BLACKWELL's sponsorship. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)

MISC
>Contact a SPONSORSHIP COMPANY for some goodies. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Write in which company, and what supplies you want to barter for.)
>Write in?

>>6476817
>They spend their whole life down there, swimming around in the water, living in their own world. They don't even know there's whole other worlds outside of their ocean."
>"What would they think if you told them about the world outside their ocean? [...] It's just weird that there are whole other worlds out there that we'll never see, let alone understand."
Not the direction I expected that to go.
I smell similar themes with THE OTHER SIDE, though I'm not sure how cross-testing those two might work.

>"FOR VINCEY <3 <3 <3 <3 <3"
Ugh. This is what we get for leaving the main body of the lab unattended, I guess.
Where'd she even get the supplies to bake a cake down here?


>>6476819
>Enter WHAT NEVER WAS's cell. Maybe an in-person examination will actually get you some information. (You should probably work on it at least once.)
>BEHOLD: THE BALL OF FECUND WAX! Mix and match it with all of the samples you got. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS.)
>Study several of your ARTIFACT GIFTS. You still don't know a lot about that gear, gas mask or guitar you got. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 70, +15 to roll. Reveals data on several of your relatively new ARTIFACT GIFTS!)
>Study the two samples from the ANGLERFISH before you forget about them.(-2 TIME TOKENS. You'll get all of the data you realistically figure out.)
We have a bad habit of acquiring shinies, then almost never interacting with them again.

I wonder if we'll ever see the sun again. We're a dyed-in-the-wool wage slave, but everyone has their limits.

>>6476819
>BEHOLD: THE BALL OF FECUND WAX! Mix and match it with all of the samples you got. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS.)
>Work on studying the various samples you got from LOST SINCE 199X. Might as well get this done while you still got the time. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS, DC 68, +17 to roll. Reveals data on up to three samples!)
>Study the language THE OTHER SIDE 'speaks' in. If it's able to burn whatever it's written on, what else can it do? (No check needed!)
>Grow something that ISN'T MOLD for once. More specifically, WIRE FLOWERS. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKEN, unlocks a RESEARCH action.)

>>6476819
>Enter HARD TIMES' cell. WORK.
>Enter WHAT NEVER WAS's cell. Maybe an in-person examination will actually get you some information. (You should probably work on it at least once.)
>Study the two samples from the ANGLERFISH before you forget about them.(-2 TIME TOKENS. You'll get all of the data you realistically figure out.)
>Cook some WINE-SOAKED SANDWICHES, OBSCURA GEL and BLOODRED STEW. You'll need as much healing as you can for later. (-2 TIME TOKENS.)

>>6476830
>Where'd she even get the supplies to bake a cake down here?
I'm pretty sure it was mentioned that Venti was a level 4 researcher but got herself demoted to level 3 so she could stalk Vincent. She must be doing pretty well for herself if she got to level 4, so it's not too surprising she can get her hands on some ingredients for a cake. Or maybe she's an ARC nepo baby like Liz.

>>6476819
>Enter HARD TIMES' cell. WORK.
>Study the language THE OTHER SIDE 'speaks' in. If it's able to burn whatever it's written on, what else can it do? (No check needed!)
>Cook some WINE-SOAKED SANDWICHES, OBSCURA GEL and BLOODRED STEW. You'll need as much healing as you can for later. (-2 TIME TOKENS.)
>Grow something that ISN'T MOLD for once. More specifically, WIRE FLOWERS. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKEN, unlocks a RESEARCH action.)

>>6476819
>>Cook some WINE-SOAKED SANDWICHES, OBSCURA GEL and BLOODRED STEW. You'll need as much healing as you can for later. (-2 TIME TOKENS.)
>BEHOLD: THE BALL OF FECUND WAX! Mix and match it with all of the samples you got. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS.)
>Study several of your ARTIFACT GIFTS. You still don't know a lot about that gear, gas mask or guitar you got. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 70, +15 to roll. Reveals data on several of your relatively new ARTIFACT GIFTS!)
>Study the two samples from the ANGLERFISH before you forget about them.(-2 TIME TOKENS. You'll get all of the data you realistically figure out.)

>>6476819
>Enter HARD TIMES' cell. WORK.
>Enter WHAT NEVER WAS's cell. Maybe an in-person examination will actually get you some information. (You should probably work on it at least once.)

>BEHOLD: THE BALL OF FECUND WAX! Mix and match it with all of the samples you got. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS.)
>Work on studying the various samples you got from LOST SINCE 199X. Might as well get this done while you still got the time. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS, DC 68, +17 to roll. Reveals data on up to three samples!)

>>6476819
>BEHOLD: THE BALL OF FECUND WAX! Mix and match it with all of the samples you got. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS.)
>Work on studying the various samples you got from LOST SINCE 199X. Might as well get this done while you still got the time. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS, DC 68, +17 to roll. Reveals data on up to three samples!)
>Study the two samples from the ANGLERFISH before you forget about them.(-2 TIME TOKENS. You'll get all of the data you realistically figure out.)
>Grow something that ISN'T MOLD for once. More specifically, WIRE FLOWERS. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKEN, unlocks a RESEARCH action.)
Prep work honestly. We can cook up healing food and go check the new abno later

>>6476819
>>Work on studying the various samples you got from LOST SINCE 199X. Might as well get this done while you still got the time. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS, DC 68, +17 to roll. Reveals data on up to three samples!)
>Examine all of those weird samples you got from LORD OF MOLD. The moldy, the better, as they say. (-1d2 TIME TOKENS. Offers you some insight into your CIGARETTE MOLD product.)
>BEHOLD: THE BALL OF FECUND WAX! Mix and match it with all of the samples you got. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS.)
>You still want to create a copy of ACCUMULATED PAST. Now's the time. (-2 TIME TOKENS. DC 86, +22 to roll. Has a chance of creating a very potent time-based item.)

>>6476819
>You got this HARVESTER IDOL last shift, and you still know nothing about it. Study it. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Ashton will be a great help here.)
>Study several of your ARTIFACT GIFTS. You still don't know a lot about that gear, gas mask or guitar you got. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 70, +15 to roll. Reveals data on several of your relatively new ARTIFACT GIFTS!)
>Examine all of those weird samples you got from LORD OF MOLD. The moldy, the better, as they say. (-1d2 TIME TOKENS. Offers you some insight into your CIGARETTE MOLD product.)
>Interview Ashton for the sake of finishing BLACKWELL's sponsorship. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)

>>6476819
>Enter WHAT NEVER WAS's cell. Maybe an in-person examination will actually get you some information. (You should probably work on it at least once.)
>BEHOLD: THE BALL OF FECUND WAX! Mix and match it with all of the samples you got. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS.)
>Study several of your ARTIFACT GIFTS. You still don't know a lot about that gear, gas mask or guitar you got. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 70, +15 to roll. Reveals data on several of your relatively new ARTIFACT GIFTS!)
>Study the two samples from the ANGLERFISH before you forget about them.(-2 TIME TOKENS. You'll get all of the data you realistically figure out.)

>>6476819
>You got this HARVESTER IDOL last shift, and you still know nothing about it. Study it. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Ashton will be a great help here.)
>Cook some WINE-SOAKED SANDWICHES, OBSCURA GEL and BLOODRED STEW. You'll need as much healing as you can for later. (-2 TIME TOKENS.)
>Enter WHAT NEVER WAS's cell. Maybe an in-person examination will actually get you some information. (You should probably work on it at least once.)
>Study the language THE OTHER SIDE 'speaks' in. If it's able to burn whatever it's written on, what else can it do? (No check needed!)

>>6476819
>Cook some WINE-SOAKED SANDWICHES, OBSCURA GEL and BLOODRED STEW. You'll need as much healing as you can for later. (-2 TIME TOKENS.)
We need to prepare ourselves and 199X.

>Hang out with LOST SINCE 199X. It's the least you can do.
We need to make good on Edward’s advice and keep the kid busy. Also, I’m pretty sure we’re out of DENIM samples which might have a renewable lead, so we need to collect more of that ASAP.

>Examine all of those weird samples you got from LORD OF MOLD. The moldy, the better, as they say. (-1d2 TIME TOKENS. Offers you some insight into your CIGARETTE MOLD product.)
Anons will reeeee if we don’t get shinies done and dusted before collecting more, and best to get this done before the lord the myth the legend himself pays a visit.

>Work on studying the various samples you got from LOST SINCE 199X. Might as well get this done while you still got the time. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS, DC 68, +17 to roll. Reveals data on up to three samples!)
Same as above; hopefully *after* getting more DENIM. I smell profit from that self-repairing cloth film…

>Write-In Free(?) Action: Edward apparently bought stocks in Q&Q “before they made it big.” Um… how? That would imply that SPONSORSHIP COMPANIES are somehow open to public trade despite their occult underworld status; is there like… a *deep*-stock market or something? And if so, how feasible does he think it’d be to buy up a board-member’s share of KLEANE stocks at presumably rock-bottom prices before making deals with our products to help drag them out of that hole their last CEO dug for them? Would ARC recognize the hustle or is KLEANE’s putrid rep gonna fleck off on us no matter our intentions with it?

>>6476819
Oh, right, QM, do we still have the PERFECT MEAL SAMPLES from the MOTHER OF A THOUSAND LEGS encounter back in thread #4? It's a bit late for this segment, but if we have some left I would like to suggest a work order to get more samples of it next time around.

>>6477089
Fair enough. >>6477063
Switching
>Study the language THE OTHER SIDE 'speaks' in. If it's able to burn whatever it's written on, what else can it do? (No check needed!)
To
>Examine all of those weird samples you got from LORD OF MOLD. The moldy, the better, as they say. (-1d2 TIME TOKENS. Offers you some insight into your CIGARETTE MOLD product.)

Wonder if we can combine the self-repairing cloth with the Cherry mold to get a hemostasis bandage of some sort?

Rolled 1, 1, 2 + 1 = 5 (3d2 + 1)

>>6477089
>is there like… a *deep*-stock market or something?
While you'll get a more in depth answer later, I will clarify that the ETF AGENT position has a lot of perks compared to most positions in ARC. Mostly because you want to maintain the morale of the guys who spend all day hunting down and capturing anomalies. That kind of position opens up certain doors and opportunities, if you know what I'm saying.
(Working with you might as well be taking a day off compared to his routine duties)

>>6477090
You do. As for getting more? MOTHER OF A THOUSAND LEGS was a pseudo-anomaly you fought a few days ago, and not something you have ready access to, so you'd probably have to call around to get more samples.

>>6476830
>Where'd she even get the supplies to bake a cake down here?
Venti magic (read: buying them from a SPONSORSHIP COMPANY like FANTASTICAL FEASTS, or bribing an ETF AGENT to retrieve some supplies for her)

ANYWHO!

------

WHAT DO?

WAX: 7
WHAT NEVER WAS: 5
ANGLERFISH SAMPLES: 5
WINE SOAKED SANDWICHES: 5
LOST SINCE 199X SAMPLES: 5
ARTIFACT GIFTS: 4
LORD OF MOLD: 4
STAR GLYPH: 3
WIRE FLOWERS: 3
HARD TIME: 3
HARVESTER IDOL: 2
ACCUMULATED PAST: 1
ASHTON INTERVIEW: 1
LOST SINCE 199X: 1

I'm going to be nice and instead of leaving it up to a dice roll to see which fifth choice gets chopped off, I'm just going to let you do five actions in this bundle. If nothing else, it'll give you an excuse to research some of your non-mold based samples. You're going to
-Work on a brand new anomaly <spooky!> (1d2-1 TIME TOKENS)
-Mess around with the samples you got from LOST SINCE 199X and the STATIC ANGLERFISH (1d2-1 and 2 TIME TOKENS)
-Use that weird ball of wax LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE gave you to mess with your samples (1d2-1 TIME TOKENS)
and
-Cook up some food (yum yum) (2 TIME TOKENS)

That does mean I need three anons to roll 1d100+17 for a skill check. Line up, everyone, line up.

LOST SINCE 199X SAMPLES (DC 68, +17 to roll)
0 SUCCESSES: You swear there's more to these samples. There has to be more, right? (Your research mostly uncovers what you already know. You might get one or two loose leads at best.)
1 SUCCESS: Alright, this is at least something you can work with. (You learn about some interesting properties of the anomaly's flesh [GREY SKIN]. Not so much about the other samples.)
2 SUCCESSES: You always thought this sample was worthless, but... (Same as 1 SUCCESS, but you also uncover a lot of particular data about its hair [OILY BLACK HAIR]).
3 SUCCESSES: Who knew denim of all things could be so useful? (You learn all there is to know about its non-BLACK BILE related samples. Good for you!)

Rolled 29 + 17 (1d100 + 17)

>>6477129
Here goes nothin’

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>>6477131
Fuck.

Rolled 13 + 17 (1d100 + 17)

>>6477129
bored lurker roll go!

>>6477133
FUCK

Rolled 66 (1d100)

>>6477129
can we get a hat trick?

>>6477129
So, you're only spending 5 TIME TOKENs this block (only one of the 1d2-1 actions rolled a 2). Lucky you, you still got a bunch of time left this shift!

>>6477132
>>6477134
>>6477135
pls rember that when u fail roll never forget ttimes wen u rolled 3 successes
wen day is dark alway remember happy day
-Ashton, 2026

TOTAL ROLL: 46, 30, 83.
RESULT: 1 SUCCESS! [You get a lot of data about the anomaly's flesh. Maybe a little about its greasy hair. That's yer lot]

It is what it is. Sometimes you biff a roll. Be glad you didn't get your jaw caved in like you did an hour ago. Writing.

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>>6476830
>the sun
UPDOWNBELOWINBRACEOFTHESUNTHESUNTHESUNLOOKEDDOWNBELOWWHATFOULANDABNORMALTHESUNGLAZEDHATEDSOCALLEDMONSTERTHESUNTHESUNWILLSUNKTHEMABLAZEINGLORIOUSFLAME

Cough* Uhm. . I mean, look at Ashtong sunbathing in the THESUN light, instead.
Just ignore the dark shadower forest and factory filled with the brim with artifacts and the abnormals in the background

>THERE WILL BE LIGHT FOREVERMORE..

You're going to look on the bright side here. At least it was only Venti who broke in. You doubt she'd steal anything actually valuable from this place, plus you didn't have to interact with her. From now on, though, you'll keep at least one coworker in the main lab.

You want to start working immediately, but a question bubbling in your mind cuts you off. "Wait. Ed?"

"Yeah? What's up?" The agent answers, clearly only half-paying attention to you. He's busy stubbornly trying to scrub out a particularly nasty bloodstain off his shirt.

"How the hell did you buy Q&Q stock? You said something like that a few days ago, didn't you?" The exact details are blurry, but he said he bought them while he was 'still a normie'. That doesn't really track with what you know about them.

"Huh, when did I- Ohhhh!" With a sage expression, he began to ponder the question like you asked him about the meaning of life. "Yeah, they actually had a brief stint as a publicly traded company. It's stupidly easy to trick investors into giving you a disgusting amount of capital if you know what you're doing."

"Remember Juicero?"

The mere utterance of that name causes SACA to shudder like she got tased. Edward mutters a brief apology before continuing. "They went private after their reputation with ARC and the other SPONSORSHIP COMPANIES improved, but I still have financial ties to them. A few connections here, a few greased hands there."

"Right, so. Do other companies sell stock? Say, like KLEANE INDUSTRIES? Would it be possible to, I don't know, buy up their penny stocks before helping them out of the hole they're in?"

Ashton rests a hand on your shoulder. "maybe i'm being paranoid but i don't really think that's a good idea. like, i don't want your reputation getting smeared by association."

"It would be possible." Edward's grin grows a little more crooked. "Probably only because I'm around. I could call up Quincy and pull a few strings here or there on your behalf."

"Though, Ashtung is right to be concerned. KLEANE might be desperate enough to sell to anyone willing to pay up but it'd be a Sisyphean task to help their reputation."

"ashtung???" The Harvester balks at the pet name. She narrows her reptilian yellow eyes with thinly veiled disdain. She really does not like that name, huh?

"Hey, I thought it was cute." You murmur.

Ashton stammers when she realizes what you said. "well- okay, maybe it's not awful, then."

"But!" The agent begins to elaborate, before your hopes could be completely dashed. "I'd say you're notable enough to ARC that they're not going to shitcan you over this."

Good to know, good to know. Wow, okay, that was a long tangent! You lightly smack your face a few times to get yourself back in the proper headspace. You need to actually get back to work. First thing off the list: cooking up some OBSCURA SYRAH-based foods. With seven anomalies to corral, you probably need all of the healing you can get.

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Plus, there's that contract you have to do after your shift. Good news, most of the cooking can be handled by your trusty SACA unit! "SACA, do you mind setting up the-"

You didn't even have time to finish your sentence. By the time you would've, SACA has already finished preparing all the supplies needed for a proper cookout. With the tireless efficiency that only steel can provide, she begins battering slices of spam in a mixture of wine and bread crumbs.

"SOMETIMES, I WONDER WHAT IT IS LIKE TO EAT." SACA drops the battered meat onto the grill. Her red eye glows as she watches it beginning to cook. "TO HAVE TO FUEL YOURSELF BY GNASHING AND GRINDING FOOD BETWEEN YOUR TEETH. WHAT A DISGUSTING, YET FASCINATING, WAY TO GAIN ENERGY."

"Honestly, it's overrated." Edward digs out a flask from a pocket in his armor. He takes a swig of whatever foul contents are in there. "I'd be willing to go full chrome if I could still drink and smoke."

Ashton briefly looks at the bag of viscera you saved for her, far in the corner. She awkwardly clears her throat once she realizes she's been staring at it pretty intensely. "ha, sorry, what were we talking about?" Her laugh was strained.

"I DETECT AN ELEVATED HEARTRATE. ARE YOU OKAY?" SACA says with as much concern as her monotone voice permits.

You decide to change the subject. "Right, Ashton, mind helping me with the samples you harvested?"

"oh! shoot, yeah, sure!" She's more than happy to get her mind off of things with something relatively monotonous. She gestures at you to follow her to a table further away from the others. You won't say no to a bit of private time with her.

The table you stop by it is right next to the wine cellar you got installed today. Your train of thought derails slightly as you ponder about the logistics of storing an anomaly there. That derailment becomes a total locomotive disaster when Ashton rests her chin on your shoulder. She lowers her voice to a whisper.

"thanks for saving some for me, by the by." She sticks her tongue out. "i didn't want to mention it around the others. i don't like falling into the, you know, stereotype."

"No, no, I get it." You whisper back. "I don't even know if they know you're one, though."

"i'd be concerned if ed didn't know! he might act like a smarmy smartass but he's not dumb. saca? ehhh, 50/50, but..." She pulls her head away. "it's not something i want to advertise either way."

She places down almost a dozen vials filled with samples she harvested (heh) from the STATIC ANGLERFISH. Four are filled with royal purple mucus with the consistency of wet playdough. The other four contain a liquid that reminds you of TV static. (Angel used to call it 'snow'.)

When you shake the vial with the STATIC TEARS, the flickering static pattern speeds up like you're playing a tape in fast forward.

"pretty trippy." Ashton can't help but to stare at the shifting pattern. "this almost makes up for the fact the fish's an annoying little freak."

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You pour a few drops of STATIC TEARS onto a slide before placing it under the microscope. Ashton leans in with one eye to see what it looks like. She almost immediately pulls away with a lurch.

The eye that directly saw it has a faint, pulsing spiral. It fades a few seconds later, now that she's not looking at it. "okay! property noted: my head's all kinds of fuzzy."

You brace yourself as you check through the microscope. Your left eye is soon flooded with a sea of colors your mind can't even begin to process. Your mind's a lot more resilient to these kinds of mind-altering effects, so you're able to (mostly) power through it.

You describe the colors you see to the best of your (rather limited) ability. She sketches them down with a mixture of pencil and pen, while scribbling down what SHE saw in case it changes from person to person. Using the microscope seems like a dead end since your head is flooded with visual snow whenever you look at it.

So, you prepare a slide with the FETID MUCUS. Now this is a lot more coherent, visually. The mucus itself seems relatively mundane from a structural standpoint, but you do pick up that the sample contains an elevated level of white blood cells.

The white blood cells in question seem to be insanely aggressive as well. You expose a small bit of the sample to a solution of contaminated water and, almost immediately, the white blood cells mulched on and pulverized the contaminants until the water comes out purified.

In place of the contaminants, there are simply more white blood cells. Exposing them to a droplet of human blood shows another interesting reaction, or rather, a lack of one. You'd think a human's white blood cells would react rather aggressively to foreign cells, but nope, the two coexist with seemingly no adverse reaction.

Exposing the now modified blood sample to a contaminant and, in an impressive state of symbiosis, the two different cell types work together to mulch through the foreign material. Fascinating.

The only real downside is that the ANGLERFISH's cells do not seem to last long outside the FETID MUCUS. After a handful of minutes, all that's left in the blood vial are human cells. If you could extend their lifespan, it could be a very profitable antibiotic, antifungal, anti-whatever.

>FETID MUCUS PROPERTY: IMMUNITY (The mucus's only real property is it allows the long term storage of ANGLERFISH CELLS, a symbiotic type of effective, potent white blood cells.)

As for the STATIC TEARS, that one is a lot more difficult to get notes on. The colors you saw and the colors Ashton saw are, if Ashton's artistic depiction can be trusted, wildly different. The actual makeup of the STATIC TEARS sample has nothing to do with the tears an actual animal would make.

For one, you're certain tears aren't meant to create electrical currents. You figured that out when Ashton got burnt by a wayward spark that flew off the sample. "hhh! ow, ow, ow, ow!"

Without saying a word, you move to bandage her finger. It's not really necessary, she's taken worse beatings, but you hate seeing her hurt. She thanks you with a sheepish smile once you're done wrapping her finger up.

"battery acid in tear form is pretty gnarly. i wonder, what happens if we feed a current through it? or connect it to one."

"Let's see what happens!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCIkubIERIY - SCIENCE

You do not remember the last ten minutes. You remember saying 'what happens', and then there was a blinding light, but everything between those two points is completely gone from your memory. Ashton is slumped up against you, both eyes laced with spirals like she came straight from a cartoon.

The strangest thing is that you wrote notes during this mental blackout. They're in your handwriting, so they have to be yours? Probably?

*sample exposed to 9volt battery. created swirling pink lights. when ashton looked at it, she reported an inability to see color for half a minute. can confirm through personal experience.
*sample exposed to charged car battery (hard times). exposure resulted in several senses being nulled. i couldn't feel anything, and ashton reported extreme difficulties hearing me
*sample exposed to power core (taken from CONTRACT #1 robot)

The last one, obviously, got cut off.

STATIC BLOOD PROPERTIES REVEALED:
>COGNITO (Directly viewing it results in a low level, but longer lasting, mental fog than the fish's other samples. Looking at it for an extended period of time feels wrong. Could be mixed in with paint or dye to create obfuscating fabrics/paint?)
>AMNESTIC (Exposing the sample to enough electricity will result in a blinding light that permanently wipes out recent memories. Very potent. Could be useful against certain mind-altering anomalies.)

"Yo! I saw something flashing over there, y'all okay?" Edward yells from the other side of the room. "SACA finished cookin' up some grub!"

"oh, uh, little hiccup happened." Ashton finally snaps out of her daze. She leans in to whisper to you again. "maybe we should take a break from messing with samples."

"Ditto." You make your way back to the others, content to leave the two new samples behind. The smell hits you first: a warm, spicy aroma of something that's been shimmering for ages. The source of that smell is identified as a pot of bubbling meat stew. The pot is cooling on a paperwork-flooded table.

Loosely surrounding the pot are several plates of freshly cooked sandwiches, each filled with a blend of jam-coated meat and lightly pickled vegetables. There's even a few tiny cardboard boxes filled with deep-fried nuggets of meat, each smeared with a thin wine glaze.

Despite the dearth of high quality ingredients in your lab, SACA somehow managed to make better quality versions of these OBSCURA-based foods than you ever could.

"BONE APPLE TEETH." SACA might've winked. Hard to tell what's a wink or what's a blink with her mono-eye.

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"WHILE I AM UNABLE TO RELISH IN THE TASTE OF A WARM MEAL, I AM AWARE OF THE NUTRITIONAL AND CALORIC REQUIREMENTS OF HUMANS. PLEASE, ENJOY."

"Bah appah teef." Edward mumbles in between slurps of stew.

SACA COOKED UP:
>BLOODRED STEW DELUXE (A stew with enough servings to feed a small group + several anomalies. Heals an inordinately high amount of PHYSICAL HEALTH. Can only be used inside your lab.)
>JAM BITS x3 (Delicious but ultimately not filling. When used, it adds +5 to the final result of one dice.)
>WINE-SOAKED SANDWICH x5 (The healing item you relied on the longest. Made with premium MALKBUG meat. Heals a moderate amount of PHYSICAL HEALTH. Don't consume too many at once, lest you risk side effects)
>OBSCURA GEL x2 (Applies a strong but short-term PHYSICAL HEALTH regenerative effect.)

"hot damn!" The redheaded guard whistles. She quickly grabs a bowl to ladle some stew into. You would eat, but frankly, you'd rather wait until you deal with a certain anomaly you just got.

"Enjoy the meal, guys. I'm going to wait for you by the cell, Ash."
"aight!"

You head over to WHAT NEVER WAS' airlock to wait while the others enjoy their meal. You'll have time to eat later. You tap your foot as you try to mentally digest what you're going to do with this anomaly. It's a painting. There's not really much to do in terms of communicating with it, or examining it really.

Whatever. You'll figure something out. You always do.

Your dour mood lightens up when your favorite security guard rejoins your side. She's smiling with half-lidded eyes, still riding the hide of a fresh meat-heavy meal. Hey, if she's happy, you're happy.

"sooo," she hums while she waits for the airlock to open up. "what do we know about this anomaly?"

"Nothing, really, aside from what's in the dossier. Best guess is that the glyphs might be similar to THE OTHER SIDE's stuff?" You really don't have anything more illuminating. "Alright. Ready?"

"hey, i've dealt with weirder things. lead the way."

After a short, curt walk through the END OF THE WORLD lounge, you arrive at the *proper* cell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d00-EH6kt18 - WHAT NEVER WAS

The hair on your arms stands up on end the second your feet crossed through the doorway. Ashton's eyes narrow into tiny slits in anticipation for a fight. A subconscious, instinctual reaction. Your animal minds know something your conscious minds don't.

As expected, there's a painting being stored here. It is resting on an easel made out of a pitch black, almost festering oak. The easel groans and creaks at even the slightest movement made within the confines of the cell. A vicious, ink-like fluid oozes out of a crack in the wood, applying another thick layer of black to the oak.

The veil of pearly white silk clings to the surface of the painting like a lover, desperately attempting to shield it from your prying eyes. Or maybe, it's trying to protect you

Ashton's throat rumbles with a low, animalistic snarl.

It is almost immediately followed by a hasty apology. "this thing is getting under my damn skin. do you feel like there's bugs under your skin or? is that just me?"

Okay, now that she mentioned it, your skin is starting to itch like a motherfucker. Low, conspiratorial whispering in what might be Russian lingers in the back of your head. You are certain your skin wasn't itching until she brought it up. "Keep your guard up."

"don't gotta say that again." She draws her pocket knife, ready to rip into the painting if need be. A shiver, wriggling up your back like a loose cockroach, hits you. This painting better be worth it.

INSIGHT MODULE (+INANIMATE BONUS) INFORMATION:
>REACTS WELL TO CROSSTESTS WITH OTHER ANOMALIES.
>ANOMALY DEALS MIXED (MENTAL + PHYSICAL) AND ESOTERIC DAMAGE.
>POSITIVE/NEUTRAL STIMULI REVEALED: Destroying other paintings. Lighting and/or eating candles around it. Whispering secrets to it.

WHAT NEVER WAS STATE: SHADOWED
INSIGHT HINTS: ???/???/??? ("This is doggerel. Do you expect this to satisfy the Critic?" "Bring more candles. Wax, smooth as my lover's thigh.")

What do you want to do with the painting?
Choose up to five actions. The top four will be picked.

COMMUNICATION?
>"Willing to share a few secrets, Ash?" Divulge your most appealing secrets to the anomaly. (Stressful, for the both of you. Not so much for the anomaly.)
>"who are the ray drenched goners?" First it was L'CURE, then it was JOYTECHS. Maybe it also knows something about those organizations? (DC 70, +15 to roll.)
>Discuss your thoughts about art with your friend. Something light and casual to get your mind off things.
>Address the whispering. Who is it and what does it want? (DC 65, +15 to roll.)
>"Critic? Who's that?" Is that some high-ranking member? Maybe the title of its creator?

EXAMINATION?
>Go big or go home. Peel off the veil. Record what the painting actually looks like. (DC 105, +31 to roll. Behold. Yes, yes.)
>Waste not, want not. Scoop up as much of that black ink as you can. (+PUTRID INK SAMPLE!)
>Put on M.A.D WORLD to examine the veiled painting. These shades have been pretty useful. (DC 77, +25 to roll.)
>Check out the silk veil. Is there anything interesting about it in particular?

STIMULI?
>Set up your own easel. Paint whatever comes to mind. Make sure the anomaly can 'see' it.
>Bring in the paintings you made a few days ago. Destroy them. (A bit of a bummer, but needs must.)
>What is music if not another form of art? Start playing a tune with the GUITAR OF A SHADE.
>You got this cake you don't want. Offer it before the painting, just to see what happens.
>Tune your MODIFIED PORTABLE RADIO to a random news station. See what happens when it hears about the outside world.
>Kneel down and pray. It's clearly haunted. Maybe this will help to appease it? (DC 88, +25 to roll.)

MISC?
>WRITE IN

Would’ve posted days ago but 4chan was done. Really can’t blame me here.

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>>6477249
>Lighting and/or eating candles around it
...eating?

>>6477252
The INSIGHT MODULE hasn't lied so far!

>>6477249
>>"who are the ray drenched goners?" First it was L'CURE, then it was JOYTECHS. Maybe it also knows something about those organizations? (DC 70, +15 to roll.)
>Put on M.A.D WORLD to examine the veiled painting. These shades have been pretty useful. (DC 77, +25 to roll.)
>Check out the silk veil. Is there anything interesting about it in particular?
>Address the whispering. Who is it and what does it want? (DC 65, +15 to roll.)
>Waste not, want not. Scoop up as much of that black ink as you can. (+PUTRID INK SAMPLE!)

>>6477249
>"who are the ray drenched goners?" First it was L'CURE, then it was JOYTECHS. Maybe it also knows something about those organizations? (DC 70, +15 to roll.)
>Waste not, want not. Scoop up as much of that black ink as you can. (+PUTRID INK SAMPLE!)
>Put on M.A.D WORLD to examine the veiled painting. These shades have been pretty useful. (DC 77, +25 to roll.)
>Check out the silk veil. Is there anything interesting about it in particular?
>What is music if not another form of art? Start playing a tune with the GUITAR OF A SHADE.

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>>6477249
Awww.. Songbird thought the Vincent doll was free form the cage just for the day, guess not.

As Hard Times sent the doll back to work.

>>6477249
>"who are the ray drenched goners?" First it was L'CURE, then it was JOYTECHS. Maybe it also knows something about those organizations? (DC 70, +15 to roll.)
>Waste not, want not. Scoop up as much of that black ink as you can. (+PUTRID INK SAMPLE!)
>What is music if not another form of art? Start playing a tune with the GUITAR OF A SHADE.
>Check out the silk veil. Is there anything interesting about it in particular?
>Put on M.A.D WORLD to examine the veiled painting. These shades have been pretty useful. (DC 77, +25 to roll.)

>>6477249
>"who are the ray drenched goners?" First it was L'CURE, then it was JOYTECHS. Maybe it also knows something about those organizations? (DC 70, +15 to roll.)
>Address the whispering. Who is it and what does it want? (DC 65, +15 to roll.)
>Waste not, want not. Scoop up as much of that black ink as you can. (+PUTRID INK SAMPLE!)
>Set up your own easel. Paint whatever comes to mind. Make sure the anomaly can 'see' it.

The security certificate for this post can be identified by the number “4”.

>>6477249
>"Willing to share a few secrets, Ash?" Divulge your most appealing secrets to the anomaly. (Stressful, for the both of you. Not so much for the anomaly.)
>Waste not, want not. Scoop up as much of that black ink as you can. (+PUTRID INK SAMPLE!)
>Bring in the paintings you made a few days ago. Destroy them. (A bit of a bummer, but needs must.)
>Go big or go home. Peel off the veil. Record what the painting actually looks like. (DC 105, +31 to roll. Behold. Yes, yes.)

>>6477249
>"who are the ray drenched goners?" First it was L'CURE, then it was JOYTECHS. Maybe it also knows something about those organizations? (DC 70, +15 to roll.)
>Discuss your thoughts about art with your friend. Something light and casual to get your mind off things.

>Waste not, want not. Scoop up as much of that black ink as you can. (+PUTRID INK SAMPLE!)
>Put on M.A.D WORLD to examine the veiled painting. These shades have been pretty useful. (DC 77, +25 to roll.)

>>6477249
>Discuss your thoughts about art with your friend. Something light and casual to get your mind off things.
>Waste not, want not. Scoop up as much of that black ink as you can. (+PUTRID INK SAMPLE!)
>Put on M.A.D WORLD to examine the veiled painting. These shades have been pretty useful. (DC 77, +25 to roll.)
>Set up your own easel. Paint whatever comes to mind. Make sure the anomaly can 'see' it.
>What is music if not another form of art? Start playing a tune with the GUITAR OF A SHADE.

We will lift the veil sooner or later. Anons never can resist a mystery box. But it may be better to feel this thing out before diving in.

future cross-test idea: use the various fluid samples we have to write the runes from THE OTHER SIDE, including the new PUTRID INK.

>>6477249
>WRITE IN >Set up your own easel. Paint whatever comes to mind. Make sure the anomaly can 'see' it, then destroy your work.
>Put on M.A.D WORLD to examine the veiled painting. These shades have been pretty useful. (DC 77, +25 to roll.)
>Check out the silk veil. Is there anything interesting about it in particular?
>You got this cake you don't want. Offer it before the painting, just to see what happens.
>Check out the silk veil. Is there anything interesting about it in particular?

>>6477249
>"who are the ray drenched goners?" First it was L'CURE, then it was JOYTECHS. Maybe it also knows something about those organizations? (DC 70, +15 to roll.)
More background info, plus it might react to its creators
>Waste not, want not. Scoop up as much of that black ink as you can. (+PUTRID INK SAMPLE!)
Interesting specimen
>What is music if not another form of art? Start playing a tune with the GUITAR OF A SHADE.
Good practice too
>Put on M.A.D WORLD to examine the veiled painting. These shades have been pretty useful. (DC 77, +25 to roll.)
Aura assessment. Keep things neutral for now
>Check out the silk veil. Is there anything interesting about it in particular
Still basic, noninvasive, low risk

>>6477249
>Address the whispering. Who is it and what does it want? (DC 65, +15 to roll.)
>Waste not, want not. Scoop up as much of that black ink as you can. (+PUTRID INK SAMPLE!)
>Put on M.A.D WORLD to examine the veiled painting. These shades have been pretty useful. (DC 77, +25 to roll.)
>Check out the silk veil. Is there anything interesting about it in particular?

>>6477237
>"Willing to share a few secrets, Ash?" Divulge your most appealing secrets to the anomaly. (Stressful, for the both of you. Not so much for the anomaly.)
>"who are the ray drenched goners?" First it was L'CURE, then it was JOYTECHS. Maybe it also knows something about those organizations? (DC 70, +15 to roll.)
>Waste not, want not. Scoop up as much of that black ink as you can. (+PUTRID INK SAMPLE!)
>Put on M.A.D WORLD to examine the veiled painting. These shades have been pretty useful. (DC 77, +25 to roll.)
>You got this cake you don't want. Offer it before the painting, just to see what happens.

>>6477249
>Discuss your thoughts about art with your friend. Something light and casual to get your mind off things.
>Check out the silk veil. Is there anything interesting about it in particular?
>Waste not, want not. Scoop up as much of that black ink as you can. (+PUTRID INK SAMPLE!)
>Kneel down and pray. It's clearly haunted. Maybe this will help to appease it? (DC 88, +25 to roll.)

Suggestion: Maybe we could try to combine the CHERRY MOLD and FETID MUCUS? Hopefully we can get something that can quickly coagulate blood and prevent infection.

>>6477528
And while we're at it, try combining the undiluted CHERRY MOLD with STATIC TEARS. Could be the synaesthetic trip of the century.

>>6477221
H’okay. Glad this got humored. Judging by how KLEANE’s shit-canning has persisted through time even after an immediate change in management and how it involved public mockery, I assume it’s at least partly performative. At minimum, if we’re going to help them, it will need to involve a TOTAL REBRAND so the actual company body and mission can have a fresh start while ARC still has the old corp’s proverbial corpse to wave around as an object lesson to the other SPONSORS.

>>6477228
Hot damn! I was hoping to get at least one more KLEANE-compatible sample before we humored pulling the trigger on that idea I posited, but we already have our second bullet to load; obviously, the cells’ potential value to ZENITH is *immense,* but its uses as a far safer water purification tool than the DIGESTIVE ENZYME is can’t be discounted either, and might only require us to put the cells into stasis via freezedrying in order to start making tablets; like the MOLD, this could easily be a multi-product sample. If we can get a third sample that can help improve KLEANE’s product line-up, this might be something we can actually make happen.

>>6477231
The STATIC TEARS, meanwhile… Wonder what happens if we combine it with STATIC *POLLEN,* with and/or without applying an electric charge? Maybe a violent reaction, but also maybe something *far* more interesting.

>>6477237
Good, good. I confess much of my reason for this is because 199X might have more chronic issues related to malnutrition and general decrepitude (that isn’t accurately addressed by COMBAT HEALTH) that the BLOODRED STEW is conceptually suited to help address.

>>6477249
>Waste not, want not. Scoop up as much of that black ink as you can. (+PUTRID INK SAMPLE!)
>Check out the silk veil. Is there anything interesting about it in particular?
We got Ashton here, so let’s not completely neglect EXAMINATION. Still, I doubt it wants us doing too much of this category in one sitting, so let’s stick to the “relatively safe” bits on this front.

>You got this cake you don't want. Offer it before the painting, just to see what happens.
Cooking is an art, of course. Bonus points for the “artist” being of questionable sanity.

>What is music if not another form of art? Start playing a tune with the GUITAR OF A SHADE.
Might have some conceptual synergy here?

>"who are the ray drenched goners?" First it was L'CURE, then it was JOYTECHS. Maybe it also knows something about those organizations? (DC 70, +15 to roll.)
Any relation to the CIRCLE OF THE REFRACTED WORLD peeps we were warned about a while ago? Ed mentioned them being responsible for a lot of art-related anomalies a while back, IIRC.

>>6477568
We barely did anything with our older samples like the WIRE FLOWERS or the DIGESTIVE ENZYME. I get the strong feeling that outside of the MOLD MOLD MOLD MOLD MOLD we will need another cash crop staple... unless we really knuckle down and go through all our mold variants and pick a couple to focus on pushing?

>>6477249
>Discuss your thoughts about art with your friend. Something light and casual to get your mind off things.
>>What is music if not another form of art? Start playing a tune with the GUITAR OF A SHADE.
>>You got this cake you don't want. Offer it before the painting, just to see what happens.
>Check out the silk veil. Is there anything interesting about it in particular?
>>6477221
>Ashtung
I do not get the clever wordplay pls help qm.
>>6477573
>unless we really knuckle down and go through all our mold
UP AND COMING DIET MOLD, LOW-FAT MOLD, SKIM MOLD & MUCH MORE

>>6477573
Seconding that motion, as things are now, I'd prefer us to focus on our processed and perfected OG MOLD and maybe two or three marketable derivatives while keeping the special interest molds mostly to ARC and ourselves.

>>6477580
It's a stupid reference to U2's album, Achtung Baby. Achtung. Ashtung. Edward (and by proxy me) is not a clever man.

>>6477271
The Vinny will continue to work. His morale does not matter. Work itself shall be his reward.

-----

INK: 12
MAD WORLD: 9
VEIL: 9
RAY DRENCHED: 8
GUITAR: 6
CAKE: 4
THOUGHTS ABOUT ART: 4
WHISPERING: 3
PAINT: 2
SECRETS: 2
DESTROY: 1
LOOK AT PAINTING: 1
DESTROY + PAINT: 1
PRAY: 1

As said before, the top four will be picked, and we got a pretty solid line up of four choices.

-We'll be getting yet another sample (don't worry, you'll get a chance to study a whole buncha samples soon)
-MAD WORLD is going to get used yet again (it's impressive you got this for free!)
-You'll learn even MORE lore about the dark world of the anomalous underground
and
-You're going to study the veil covering the painting

We also got two choices with dice rolls, so I need four anons real quick. One anon will roll 3d100+25 for MAD WORLD, while three anons roll 1d100+15 for RAY DRENCHED GONERS. Table below. Sorry for closing later than usual

MAD WORLD (DC 77, +25 to roll.)
0 SUCCESSES?: I cannot let the audience witness such a degrading sight. (You got a glimpse into the anomaly's psyche! Just not in the way you wanted! HIGH ESOTERIC DAMAGE TAKEN!)
1 SUCCESS: Huh. So, the painting's still a mystery, but the veil? What a marvelous sight. (You learn a lot more about the veil when you study it. The painting itself is still a mystery. ??? DAMAGE TAKEN!)
2 SUCCESSES: Strange. Very strange. It almost reminds you of what you saw when you looked at the STATIC BLOOD (The colors you see are almost impossible to describe. Still, it's a clue into the anomaly's properties. NO DAMAGE TAKEN?)
3 SUCCESSES?: Yes. (Information. Healed.)

RAY DRENCHED GONERS (DC 70, +15 to roll.)
0 SUCCESSES: You are not cool yet. (...No reaction. Weird. Maybe you can glean something from the absence of a reaction.)
1 SUCCESS: Their name will be spoken only to be unspoken (There's some attempt at communication. Some kind of recognition. But if it's trying to communicate with you, you can't quite hear it.)
2 SUCCESSES: Scraps of paper, stained pitch black, fall from the ceiling. (A glimpse into the anomaly's powers, plus some actual information [if fragmented] about RDG!)
3 SUCCESSES: A trace of frost. A shifting of cloth. More papers, stained red with obsession. (A glimpse into the anomaly's creator, plus a lot of fragmented information into RDG as an organization.)

Rolled 94, 43, 48 + 25 = 210 (3d100 + 25)

>>6477756

Rolled 47 (1d100)

>>6477756
Boy do I not look forward to the rolls

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Rolled 91 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>6477756
Pop*

Rolled 98 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>6477756

Nevermind i suck cocks

RESULTS!
MAD WORLD: 2 SUCCESSES!
RAY DRENCHED GONERS: 3 SUCCESSES! WAOW!

In a strange turn of events, you didn't roll like absolute horsedick! Could it be the power of Ashton? Could it be that you're a secret Art Maestro? Or could it simply be dumb luck? This and more will be answered in today's episode of LOW RUNG RESEARCHER.

Writing.

>>6477768
Remember, love your Magician Girls. Lest they pull a mischief on you...

>>6477775
Thank you for coming out to us, Anon. That was very brave of you.

>>6477777
>MAD WORLD: 2 SUCCESSES!
>RAY DRENCHED GONERS: 3 SUCCESSES! WAOW!
uhh, i think you did your math wrong QM...
>43 + 25 = 68
>48 + 25 = 73
>47 + 15 = 62

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>>6477780
shhh

>>6477780
Oop, right you are, lad. Tell you what, though, since the post saying it has 77777, l'll let RDG stay at 3 SUCCESSES, but MAD WORLD is now at 1 SUCCESS. I'm a generous QM who makes no mistakes whatsoever!

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You've never been well versed when it comes to analyzing art. You know what's aesthetically pleasing. You know a few old artists. In general, though, it's not something you ever had time to get really invested in. Lucy did babble about her interest in art, so maybe she'd attune to this particular anomaly.

The whispering drills deeper into your head. It is incoherent. It is also coherent. The less you think on it, the better.

"You think the ink's worth harvesting?"

Ashton's nose twitches. Conflicting emotions cause her face to contort into something almost unrecognizable. Hunger. Disgust. Joy. Fear. "it is. i don't want to, but i know zenith would buy it up. maybe feasts too."

You raise an eyebrow at her strange reaction. "Okay, you're not telling me something. What's the deal with it?" You sluggishly approach the leaking gash on the easel.

"some artists use blood instead of paint or ink because they think it's 'cooler' or 'has more meaning behind it'." Each step closer to the painting requires more and more effort on Ashton's end. Her legs are practically shaking once she gets close enough to examine the ink. "these guys decided it'd be real funny to mix a certain kind of blood into their ink."

"black as pitch. dangerous to source, difficult to use, and it smothers any other colors." She presses her thumb against a globule of putrid-smelling ink. It stains her finger a shade of black darker than even pitch. Almost like it has eaten away at the concept of color itself. It almost reminds you of a certain non-existent anomaly.

"They hunted Harvesters for the sake of art?" You recoil with a sneer. "Wouldn't it be easier to get blood for literally anything else?"

"for most people? absolutely." She began to collect the putrid ink into a sample vial. "the average person couldn't hope to hurt a harvester. remember how fet left that one particular harvester, and how he was still alive?"

You shiver at the memory. Right. That only makes you question what the hell RDG's problem was. The foul-smelling ink spills out like pus from a popped blister. It congeals into a sickly mass of blackened paste inside the vial. The stench is enough to make Ashton gag, which is saying a lot considering what she is!

The process repeats a few more times until enough has been gathered to actually study. Ashton almost vomits as another wave of pus-like ink spills out of the easel.
>+4 SAMPLES OF PUTRID INK (A shade of non-existent black. Made from a base of refined HARVESTER blood.)

WHAT NEVER WAS shows no reaction to having its ink taken. The whispering continues with little regard for your presence. Some of it, though, is now in a language you can understand.

"What better way to add 'soul' than to incorporate the essence of life into your work?" Cackles a gruff older man.
"Nonsense." A squeaky-voiced woman retorts. "It is a gimmick for the sake of a gimmick! Proper craftsmanship is how you add value to your work!"

Your sneer grows wider. At least the voices don't really seem to be talking to you. It's more like the painting is playing recordings of what it heard. "Hello?" You wave your hand at the direction you thought you heard the voices.

Nada. Nothing. Maybe another time.

"Please tell me the veil isn't made out of human hair or skin or something like that." It's not an unfounded fear. If the ink was partially biological, why wouldn't the veil?

Ashton gingerly brushes a finger against the veil. Not enough to move it. Just enough to feel it. The veil ripples like disturbed water. It presses itself even harder against the painting, doing whatever it can to shield the painting. To protect its other half.

"it's not alive in any way i could sense. it's like saying carbonated water is alive because the bubbles move and make noise."

The veil wriggles aggressively, almost appalled at the comparison. It'd be screaming at her, if it had any way to make such a noise. The only noise it can make is the swish-swish of fabric against canvas.

When the guard moves to cut a section off, the veil doesn't move in the slightest. Any outside observer would be convinced it's a normal piece of silk. A few seconds pass where the veil has a hole cut out of it. Maybe you could've seen the painting if you were paying really close attention.

Tiny white filaments erupt from the veil. Like an invisible hand is guiding them, the filaments rapidly patch up the hole, crisscrossing this way and that. Soon, there's not even a trace that any damage was done. You cut another hole to see if the fact you didn't touch it matters.

The same result happens. A piece gets torn off, the veil heals itself, and now you're back at square one.

Ashton sniffs the piece she tore off. "bits of paint, some wood ash, a couple of notes of black mold. repulsive!" She exclaims with uncomfortably sincere mirth.

You squint at the piece you have. Etched into the silk, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, is a faint impression of a glyph. The dossier did say the painting itself had glyphs, so the silk veil must've had some accidently imprinted into them.

It very much resembles a STAR GLYPH, but it's too warped to get any coherent message or symbolism. It's like trying to read Dutch: it's in the shape of English, but it's not actually English. You assume the proper glyph would be on the painting itself, but that requires actually looking at it.

"Do you see anything like this?" You point at the smudge of a glyph on your piece of cloth.

Your friend does a double check of her fragment. She silently nods, confirming your suspicion. It's half of a lead, so that's better than nothing!
>+SILK VEIL FRAGMENTS (Useful when studying STAR GLYPHS. Not for much else...?)

"should we ask it something? can it even hear us?"

"Ehhhh, worst case scenario, we waste our time babbling at nothing. You got anything to ask it?"

Ashton drums her fingers against her thighs while she thinks of a question.

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"oh! what never was, i guess that's your name, i wanna know something. what's up with your creators?"

"the guys funding your creator? or creators? whatever, i'm asking about the 'ray drenched goners'." She offers the painting a soft smile. "even if i can't see what's behind the veil, i'm almost certain it's an impressive piece of art!"

"artists deserve credit, especially in this day and age where more and more people don't seem to credit the artists behind things."

"We can't really force you to speak either way. If you can even speak," You add on with a shrug, "but I heard that REFRACTED is getting up to no good, you know!" You vaguely remember a company with 'REFRACTED' in the name. Frankly, you're bluffing here to see if the painting reacts.

>3 SUCCESSES!

The whispering grows louder, until you can no longer call it 'whispering'. Traces of frost grow along the edges of the veil. The cloth squirms and thrashes with the fury of a restrained madman.

The ground underneath your feet begins to rumble and shake. Ashton instinctually bares her many, many sharp teeth as she scrambles to guard you from whatever is going on.

The rumbling only lasts for a few seconds before it stops, leaving just as quickly as it arrived. The voices return to whispering. The cloth stops shaking. For a second, you let your guard down.

This was a mistake.

THONK. You flinch as a solid object slams right against the top of your head. "OW!!!"

"vincent!" She immediately pins around to check on you. She cranes her head to the side when she spots something on your head. "uhm. huh."

She collects whatever hit you on the head. Strange, that's a whole pile of paper, probably about three hundred sheet's worth. They're stained in various shades of red and black, with some mixing together in a mixture that your brain thought as 'romantic', for some baffling reason.

The cell rumbles yet again. You manage to dodge another hit to the head from a thick stack of bundled paperwork. The two of you wait there, expecting something else to fall from the ceiling. When you realize that nothing is coming, you finally let yourself relax.

You begin to sort through all the paperwork you have got to see what, exactly, the anomaly is trying to communicate.

Ashton joins you not a second later, unfurling the first stack the two of you got. Most of the papers have been too stained by paint to be remotely legible, but there's enough legible paper to construct something of a picture.

You flip to the first coherent document: a recruitment pamphlet.

"What is art? Art is a nebulous term that, in truth, means nothing. It also means everything. It Is and Is Not a medium in which humanity expresses itself in a political, ideological, and metaphorical manner. Art holds infinite value. Art holds no value."

"Art is a way for the human mind to create imaginary worlds. Art is a way for the human mind to express and correct reality."

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"It is the foundational belief of the Ray-Drenched Goners that the incoherent, undefinable nature of Art is a key to enlightenment."

"That through artistic expression, and through striving to twist our minds and bodies in a way that may capture a fragment of what 'Art' is, we may tap into things beyond reality itself."

"We strive to create what has never been seen before. To use Art to twist the collective illusion of a unified 'reality' asunder. To access what Is Not, and to reach a greater understanding of existence. Through any means necessary. Through any perspective necessary."

Ashton squints once the pamphlet stops. "so we're dealing with anomalous art hippies. they've been trying to make anomalies for the sake of it, which i don't get the point!"

"For the sake of knowledge, I suppose." You flip to another paper. This one is, mercifully, shorter.

It has ARC's logo, so this might've been when RDG was still working with them. It's a shipment manifest, showing that ARC got an industrial quantity of paint and art supplies from RDG, in exchange for a bunch of anomalous samples.

Most of the samples have basic information about their properties noted. A common pattern is most of them are mind-altering substances or hallucinogens. Signed at the bottom is the following message:

"Here's a bonus from our 'petty cash fund'. Thank you for informing us about the new ISOLA and their tech. Their ability to create pocket dimensions will prove useful to our studies. -MADAM X"

That's the same name you saw in the dossier. You flip through more papers to see there's any more mentions of 'MADAM X'. A lot of them are fragments of fragments. Sometimes she talks about working with certain SPONSORSHIP COMPANIES (BLACKWELL and U.E.D pop up the most).

Other times, she's mentioned as an aside during the selling and purchasing of certain ARTIFACTS, seemingly interested on collecting ones that mess directly with human perception.

One instance, she even proclaimed her love to a particular anomaly, though which one it was has been severely redacted. All of these strange actions seem to have the tacit support of RDG.

A few snippets even show that RDG practically worships the mad artist as something bordering on a god figure. Someone who can define what reality is through the power of the anomalous. Then, abruptly, RDG stopped responding to any messages. The documents shift towards showing ARC, and other companies, trying desperately to get into contact with them.

The only response received during this era was a simple, curt sentence: "WE ARE MERELY CANDLES - RDG"

"i'm calling it," Ashton taps her finger against one of the documents. "she's the CEO. there's no reason for her name to show up this much unless she's the top dog. at the bare minimum, she has to be their version of an arc mister."

You could see her being equivalent to Mr. Yellow or Ms. White, in terms of power.

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You can't see her being the CEO, if only because you don't want to imagine someone this eccentric running the company. You must concede that she at least had a large section of the 'company' formed a cult of personality around her, given the language of the documents.

The thing that doesn't mentally gel with you is how she seemingly spent so much time and effort into creating what? One anomalous painting? Though you never really questioned how you would even start to artificially create a 'true' anomaly. Maybe it really does take that much effort to manifest one.

The silken veil tightens even harder around the painting. The air around the painting rapidly cools until the moisture in the air crystalizes. Tiny flakes of snow and ice hover in the air, defying gravity. Hm. Maybe you should leave soon.

You do one last thing before you call it quits. Your vine reaches into your bag. With a motion bordering on tossing, it forces MAD WORLD onto your face.

>1 SUCCESS!

Well, you immediately learn one interesting property about the veil! It completely blocks MAD WORLD! There's a gap in the rough shape of a veiled painting in place of the actual anomaly. You can't make out any details beyond the vague silhouette of the anomaly.

Something squirms against your head. A toxic, corrosive thought that wishes to enter your head like an unwelcome house guest. Your mind automatically suppresses whatever the thought is before you even register it. Thinking about what the thought could be would blacken your brain like smoldering paper.

You squint. You can make out the vaguest hint of the veil, and what might be hidden in it. A less corrosive thought hits your brain next: the veil is the source of this mind-searing effect, not the actual painting. It is doing everything in its power to block any glimpse of the painting, even through anomalous means.

A few glyphs are visible on the outline of the painting. Maybe they're the ones causing this particular effect? You mouth something, but the words refuse to leave your lips.

Ashton gets the hint and yanks the glasses off. You shiver like a bucket of cold water hit you.
>You took damage? Maybe? Best not to think about what got damaged.

"let's get out of here. now." Ashton is about ready to maul something. Whether it be you, the painting, the wall, or all of the above. Best to listen to her advice. She grabs your hand. You do not resist as she drags you like a sack of potatoes.

-----
THE WORK RESULT on WHAT NEVER WAS is GOOD?
STATE: SHADOWED --> APPEASED
NOTES
-You confirmed THE OTHER SIDE and WHAT NEVER WAS had similar, if not identical, glyphs. Researching your STAR GLYPHS will speed up progress on both anomalies.
-It might be wise to talk to LUX, BLACKWELL, and U.E.D about the company behind this anomaly. They seem to have the closest ties to RDG.
-----

You arrive back at the lab with little fanfare. Your brain is still swimming. What better way to cope than to go back to work?

"okay, let's take things easy now." Ashton lets you lean up against her for support. It feels nice. "please tell me we're not immediately working on another anomaly."

"Nah, nah." You mumble. "We're going to study some more samples. Hey! SACA! Grab the old 199X SAMPLES from storages, thank you!"

The robot hastily moves like you just lit a fire under her. Edward looks up from the WIRE FLOWER he's tending to see what the hubbub is about. He offers a brisk wave before returning to his self-appointed task.

Ashton helps you wobble over to a table that looks like it was straight out of a warzone. Yellow pollen, old bits of wine, specks of bile, and droplets of grey-hued paste cover every inch of the counter's surface. A truly 'well seasoned' piece of furniture.

With a resounding 'THUD', a smorgasbord of LOST SINCE 199X samples is dropped onto the counter. Surely nothing can go wrong!

>1 SUCCESS!

As it turns out, trying to study samples while your brain is on the fritz isn't a great idea. Even moreso when your assistant is distracted with the task of having to keep you upright. A lot of your experiments on 199X's samples sorta don't go anywhere. A few do show some kind of reaction, but usually it's such a minor reaction it's not worth noting down.

The bile refuses to vomit up any secrets. The shard you extracted from his stomach is opaque as ever. Combing through flecks of his greasy hair reveals nothing.

But aha! The true meat and potatoes, his GREY SKIN, actually reacts to the tests you throw at it! While it's only one sample, at least it's something you can work on.

Unlike its other samples, the GREY SKIN proves itself to be supernaturally resistant to most methods of damage besides cutting it with a knife. Digestive enzymes and acid simply slid off like water off a raincoat. Electricity refuses to flow through it. Only raw physical damage is able to put a dent on it.

You even checked it under a microscope. There's not a speck of anything on it. You exposed it to spores, mold, bacteria, you name it. Anything that could've contaminated it was used. Nothing stuck. The material is flimsy to all forms of wear and tear, so it might not be useful for armor, but for certain applications you can certainly see the use.

You wrapped a small bolus of plant matter with the skin, before repeating the same tests. Once you unwrap the skin-ball, you find that the plant was unharmed from the tests you threw at it. Completely safe.
>GREY SKIN SAMPLE PROPERTY: DEADENED (Outside of raw physical wear/tear, nothing can affect this sample. Useful for storing hazardous materials or negating anomalous biohazards!)

There's one more thing you have to do before you prepare another list of orders, but your brain lingers on a strange thought: there are a lot of samples you haven't really messed with. The various WINE variants. WIRE FLOWERS and STATIC POLLEN. GREY PASTE. So on and so forth.

Maybe Edward knows what to do with these samples?

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You stumble over to his station, while Ashton trails right behind you. The agent is busy coddling one of the flower, playing with it like it's a pet. It squirms with glee as Edward scratches its stem. He looks up now once he notices you actually paying attention to him.

"Sorry if I wasn't supposed to be messin' with 'em. I got bored, and I thought I might as well mess with this little guy."

"no, no, that's fine. actually, we were wondering if you could give us any leads on them? i doubt we can make mold forever." Somehow, you feel offended she even suggested that.

"It's pretty simple. I've been whispering some old memories and secrets to this guy, and he's been drinkin' them right up." Edward chuckles, his smile growing crooked. "Real nostalgic road trip."

You know, it couldn't hurt to go down memory lane. Or to at least whisper a few secrets to it. What are you willing to divulge to the flower?

Choose up to four memories/secrets to give the flower. The memories you give up will empower the WIRE FLOWER in strange and unusual ways.
>Talk about your time last night with Ashton. It was nice hanging out with her.
>Recount the tales of your CIGARETTE MOLD MEETING. You can indulge in a little showboating.
>Reminisce about your first anomaly, IN LIMBO. You hope Rolle is doing okay, wherever she went.
>Tell the tales of your trips to ISOLA'S ALTERNATE DIMENSIONS! Both to 199X's hometown, and to that god forsaken desert.
>Spook it with stories of the OCCULT. Like, say, a certain MADMAN who tried to summon an anomaly!
>Recall your childhood. The bits you're willing to remember. It wasn't all bad, there were some good moments.
>Remember your life before ARC. Back on the surface. It felt like eons ago.
>Feed it tales of violence. You've certainly fought a lot of things over the last two weeks.
>Make something up whole cloth! Can it really tell if you're lying? (DC 55, +13 to check.)
>"Ashton? Got any stories for it?" (+ASHTON RAPPORT!)
>Stay silent. You don't really want to say any of these.
>Write in!

Next update will be way shorter. And quicker.
I didn't want the update to stretch out to 10 posts or something, kek, it was taking long enough as is. Thought I might as well give you a chance to interact with an old sample.

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>>6477915
>Tell the tales of your trips to ISOLA'S ALTERNATE DIMENSIONS! Both to 199X's hometown, and to that god forsaken desert.
>Remember your life before ARC. Back on the surface. It felt like eons ago.
>Recall your childhood. The bits you're willing to remember. It wasn't all bad, there were some good moments.
>Reminisce about your first anomaly, IN LIMBO. You hope Rolle is doing okay, wherever she went.

>>6477915
>Spook it with stories of the OCCULT. Like, say, a certain MADMAN who tried to summon an anomaly!
>Make something up whole cloth! Can it really tell if you're lying? (DC 55, +13 to check.)
>"Ashton? Got any stories for it?" (+ASHTON RAPPORT!)
>Feed it tales of violence. You've certainly fought a lot of things over the last two weeks.

>>6477915
>Spook it with stories of the OCCULT. Like, say, a certain MADMAN who tried to summon an anomaly!
>>Make something up whole cloth! Can it really tell if you're lying? (DC 55, +13 to check.)
>>"Ashton? Got any stories for it?" (+ASHTON RAPPORT!)
>>Feed it tales of violence. You've certainly fought a lot of things over the last two weeks.
500 posts per update

>>6477939
+1

>>6477915
>Reminisce about your first anomaly, IN LIMBO. You hope Rolle is doing okay, wherever she went.
>Tell the tales of your trips to ISOLA'S ALTERNATE DIMENSIONS! Both to 199X's hometown, and to that god forsaken desert.
>Recall your childhood. The bits you're willing to remember. It wasn't all bad, there were some good moments.
>"Ashton? Got any stories for it?" (+ASHTON RAPPORT!)

>>6477915
>Talk about your time last night with Ashton. It was nice hanging out with her.
>Spook it with stories of the OCCULT. Like, say, a certain MADMAN who tried to summon an anomaly!
>Recall your childhood. The bits you're willing to remember. It wasn't all bad, there were some good moments.
>"Ashton? Got any stories for it?" (+ASHTON RAPPORT!)

>>6477915
>Remember your life before ARC. Back on the surface. It felt like eons ago.
>Reminisce about your first anomaly, IN LIMBO. You hope Rolle is doing okay, wherever she went.
>Tell the tales of your trips to ISOLA'S ALTERNATE DIMENSIONS! Both to 199X's hometown, and to that god forsaken desert.
>Spook it with stories of the OCCULT. Like, say, a certain MADMAN who tried to summon an anomaly!

>>6477915
>Make something up whole cloth! Can it really tell if you're lying? (DC 55, +13 to check.)
>"Ashton? Got any stories for it?" (+ASHTON RAPPORT!)
>Recall your childhood. The bits you're willing to remember. It wasn't all bad, there were some good moments.
>Remember your life before ARC. Back on the surface. It felt like eons ago.

>>6477915
>Talk about your time last night with Ashton. It was nice hanging out with her.
>Reminisce about your first anomaly, IN LIMBO. You hope Rolle is doing okay, wherever she went.
>Recall your childhood. The bits you're willing to remember. It wasn't all bad, there were some good moments.
>"Ashton? Got any stories for it?" (+ASHTON RAPPORT!)

>>6477912
>Something squirms against your head. A toxic, corrosive thought that wishes to enter your head like an unwelcome house guest. Your mind automatically suppresses whatever the thought is before you even register it. Thinking about what the thought could be would blacken your brain like smoldering paper.
It's the [] isn't it ?
>>6477915
>Reminisce about your first anomaly, IN LIMBO. You hope Rolle is doing okay, wherever she went.

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>>6478126
The []?

>>6477915
>Recount the tales of your CIGARETTE MOLD MEETING. You can indulge in a little showboating.
>Reminisce about your first anomaly, IN LIMBO. You hope Rolle is doing okay, wherever she went.
>"Ashton? Got any stories for it?" (+ASHTON RAPPORT!)

>Write in!
"How about some stories that aren't my own?" Recite whatever we can remember of some Bible verses/stories, its one of humanity's greatest works, even if we aren't particularly religious ourselves, and perhaps Angel would like whatever that does.

>>6478128
Yeah, the [].

>>6478126
The words of RDG indicate that they’re obsessed with “non-existence”, whatever that means. Since they’re too dumb to make a definition for “art” that somehow means that it’s not real.

So maybe they took “non-existence” so literally that they summoned it? Would explain the need for blackout ink.

>>6478174
Truly, the worst thing ARC has ever done (and this is including all their human rights abuses) is support these avant garde autists

Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>6478126
>>6478128
>>6478171
[DATA EXPUNGED]
[DATA EXPUNGED]
[DATA EXPUNGED]
[DATA EXPUNGED]
[DATA EXPUNGED]

>>6477939
We all love aggressively violent pieces of flesh.

>>6478174
>Since they’re too dumb to make a definition for “art” that somehow means that it’s not real.
These are the same kinds of people who hunted down flesh-eating lizardmen solely so they could use their blood as makeshift ink.
They're not playing with a full deck.

>>6478190
But anon, think about all of the tax evasion avant garde paintings would allow!
------

Alright, quick check.

ROLLE: 7
ASHTON, LORE?: 7
CHILDHOOD: 6
ISOLA: 4
LIFE BEFORE ARC: 4
OCCULT: 4
WHOLE CLOTH: 3
VIOLENCE: 2
LAST NIGHT: 2
MOLD MEETING: 1
WRITE IN: 1

Since this is meant to be a shorter and less serious update, I'm just going to roll a 1d3 to see what your fourth recounted memory is gonna be, and I'll call it a day. Writing. It won't take a whole day for me to get an update out this time! Probably! Maybe! I'll repost an Ashton or something if I'm wrong!

1 = ISOLA
2 = LIFE BEFORE ARC
3 = OCCULT

>>6477915
>"Ashton? Got any stories for it?" (+ASHTON RAPPORT!)
>Reminisce about your first anomaly, IN LIMBO. You hope Rolle is doing okay, wherever she went.
>Tell the tales of your trips to ISOLA'S ALTERNATE DIMENSIONS! Both to 199X's hometown, and to that god forsaken desert.
>Remember your life before ARC. Back on the surface. It felt like eons ago.

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Someone have knock a bookshelf in the library.

>>6478195
Call me old fashioned, but I preffer to commit my tax evasion by not reporting my income.

>>6478206
>>6478195
>tax evasion
Claws, execute this man

>>6478217
Oh yeah?! How are you going to pay him? With taxes?

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Venti's cake that was make for the wagie was bitten by the D.O.G.

A dog is a dog is a dog.

The D.O.G took Venti's poak bun as well. Nom* Delicious.

>Till the Last Shot has a laugh.

>>6478318
Venti's surname is Chen so she'd probably eat the little guy.

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Memories are a fickle thing. You're not sure where to start, or which ones are even worth anything. If anything, that deserves some autistic artist babbling about their fallibility and how they 'exists but somehow doesn't exist'. The longer you think about what RDG's whole 'mission statement', the less it makes sense.

Artists, man, you don't get why they do the things they do. The flower before you seems to register what you're thinking about, even though you haven't said anything. SLUMBERING WISH's vine curls around your wrist in an attempt to comfort you.

Might as well get your mind off things. Even if it's something stupid. The memories of your life before ARC (sans family drama) don't flood back as much as they trickle in, like apathetic partygoers.

"This might be shocking, little flower, but I had a really boring life before coming here!"

"I mostly dealt with tax and other financial forms. Some for small businesses, but the major bulk of my workload was for normal people. " You pretend to scribble something on a loose sheet of paper. "Rolling a boulder up a hill would've been a more engaging use of my time."

"Dealing with nonsensical anomalous artists and a zombified teenager? At least there are interesting stories behind that."

A half-fragmented memory bubbles to the forefront of your mind. "Well, there was this one client I remember. He was a butcher who hired me a bunch to help manage his business. Nice guy, really."

"He'd always stop by to give me free sandwiches after I helped him with some paperwork-"

"hold on hold on." Ashton interrupts your story with a strange smirk. "did he have yellow eyes? really yellow eyes?"

Your brain stutters. You strain to fill in your mental image of the guy and, oh god, he did. You always thought they were really weird but you thought he had, like, a weird kind of jaundice or something. "Y-yeah? Why?"

The harvester's smile only grows wider. "lemme tell you a real secret, vince. butcher? reptilian yellow eyes? well~! i know you're smart enough to piece things together!"

Oh no. She couldn't mean...no, that is absolutely what she's implying! Those sandwiches were one of the few meals you actually enjoyed eating! "No, no, no. I'm rejecting what you're trying to put down."

The agent next to you is shaking like a leaf in the wind. He's doing everything in his power to not make a sound. SACA is doing her best to blend in with a nearby wall. Wait, why are they acting like that? What's going on?

"well, good, because i was messin' with you!" She throws the softest punch in the world, barely grazing your shoulder. "he would've gotten arrested ages ago if he served human meat to other humans! no harvester's THAT dumb."

"I- Ashton, come on!" You groan like an old man on his deathbed. Ashton covers her mouth in a vain attempt to stifle her own giggles. "Ughhh. Why did you even say that? Now I can't get the image of eating human flesh sandwiches outta my head!"

"Relax, man, she's joshing around."

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"Your story was gettin' real borin' real fast." Edward taps the pot the WIRE FLOWER is stored in. "Someone had to spice it up."

"Oh screw you!" You try to sound annoyed. One end of your mouth is curled into a half-smile. "Ugh. Alright, if you think you're sooo interesting, you tell us a story! ASHTUNG."

Ashton blushes slightly at the stupid-sounding nickname. "well- you know what, i got some interesting stories!" She leans in, making sure the flower can hear her.

"i was fifteen, probably, when this happened? i was with some friends during a saturday night. apparently, one of them had the bright idea to get some 'edibles'."

"INQUIRY: WHAT KIND OF FOOD ARE YOU REFERRING TO?" SACA innocently asks. Edward stifles yet another laugh before muttering that it'll become obvious soon.

"whoever their dealer was, they scammed her. have you ever eaten orgeno-filled brownies before?" Ashton sticks her tongue out with a 'bleh!' "the interesting part happened after we all realized we got scammed."

"see, we wanted our money back, obviously. we went back to the dealer's apartment." She taps her fingers across the table. "guess what? they refused to open the door."

"so we might've done some breaking and entering." She pantomimes smashing a door in. "every spare inch of space in there was filled with random pieces of paraphernalia. lot of drug stuff, random road signs, and a buncha other junk. it reeked to high heaven in there."

"so apparently they had the stuff but they didn't sell it to a teenager. which is good and bad? well, turns out, the dealer wasn't human!"

She stretches up as tall as she can. "it was a massive centipede. a giant mass of chitin with way too many legs. couldn't see much of its body because it wore this really heavy-looking cloak."

"it had this plastic mask of a middle aged man on its head, and it asked us what we wanted in this really thick japanese accent." She snickers as she remembers what exactly happens next.

"we should've ran out screaming! i guess we were too wired up from breaking in, or the centipede freak messed with our brains, because we didn't. we just asked for a refund."

"And lemme guess, it didn't?" Edward asked rhetorically.

"nope. in fact, we somehow got conned into buying from it again. it told us about this expensive antique it had, and how we could pawn it off to cover for our last purchase."

She almost doesn't want to continue her story, but she forces herself to. "the 'antique' was a random stop sign written in chinese. we didn't even realize that's what it was until we were back home."

Wow. Her first interaction with an anomaly was being scammed by a talking bug. You almost envy that, compared to the first anomaly you met.

"Yeesh. Tough break there." Edward says with mock sympathy. "Hey, if you still got that sign, I'm willing to buy it from you."

Ashton can only sigh at the offer. "we threw that piece of junk into the first dump we saw. good waste of $100."

File: INLIMBO.jpg (4.71 MB, 2048x2917)

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While the two begin to bicker, your mind goes back to a certain anomaly of yours: IN LIMBO. The first anomaly you actually had to contain and study. Maybe you've neglected her samples for a bit too long, but they still hold a lot of potential.

Her ARTIFACT is potent and almost always useful when the situation comes to it. That's all you have of it now, though. Old samples. A single tattered ticket. A flower growing out of your body. Remnants of a person, but not the person themselves.

You can't say you knew Rolle. At most, you knew a corroded parody of her, based off of her fears of a wasted life and her squandered dreams. Yet, she was still a person. All of the anomalies you've gotten close to were people once. Rolle. Kiera. Whatever 199X's name actually is.

Even as anomalies, they still had traces of humanity to them. They weren't unthinking, unfeeling monsters. Maybe you shouldn't feel too bad for them, given they're not 'humans' anymore. That'd certainly make things easier. You at least want to try to help them. To offer them the peace that (you think) Rolle has.

Is Rolle happy, you wonder? Or at least at peace with herself? There's no proof an afterlife exists, even if anomalies do, so maybe she simply doesn't exist anymore. Is not existing peaceful? You suppose that's a dumb question.

Maybe it is, actually, in contrast to the struggle of having to exist. Of having to get up to do what you're obligated to.

Maybe you only wish she's somewhere better because it puts your mind at ease. That there's something worthwhile at the end of the road. A reward. A reprieve from the drudgery of life. A reason to get up in the morning.

Your mouth opens and closes without you realizing it. You must've been speaking out loud to the flower. You stop speaking when you start spotting the changes made to it. It has been feasting on the stories told so far.

Its petals are a luminous shade of yellow that's almost as warm as sunshine. It stands up tall, taller than any of the other wire flowers you've dealt with so far. Edward whistles a low, satisfied tune at the sight of the flower.

"Well, I don't know what you whispered to it, but keep talkin'! It's clearly working!"

"Oh, uh, it was just about some abno I had a while back." You hastily change the subject. You rather not dwell on the nature of life and death for too long. You fish out that strange ball of wax you got while you mull over how to start.

"How would you guys rate your childhood?"

"so so." Ashton curtly answers.
"It happened. My parents weren't really around." Edward shrugs. "Pretty lonely childhood, but it's better than being beaten."
"THE CLOSEST ANALOGUE WOULD BE THE FIRST YEAR OF SERVICE I PERFORMED. BY THIS METRIC, I HAD A GREAT CHILDHOOD AND EVERYONE LOVED ME."

"Right. I don't really remember much about my childhood. There's bits and pieces there, but..." You recount what little of your childhood you still keep in your memory. There were a few pleasant memories left.

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The times you explored flower-filled fields with your mother. The restless nights were Angel would bore you with bible passages. The countless hunting trips your father would drag you on. The massive family get-togethers you would go to.

There were moments where you enjoyed being with your family. Where you felt like they cared about you. Even though you left them behind for your own selfish reasons, you still care about them.

You leave out the more questionable bits, mostly for your sake than anything. No need to tell them about the mauling Angel got, or your mom's funeral, right?

The flower sucks up all the childhood stories you spilled into it. It grows even taller, its stem stretching further and further into the air. Plastic leaves sprout from its once bare stem, sucking up sunlight that isn't there. Your friends coo at the beautiful, towering flower.

A fascinating property. Not one that you could scale, but a single plant or two like that couldn't hurt.
>MEMORY-DRENCHED FLOWER OBTAINED! (A WIRE FLOWER you fed with 'pure' memories. Certain anomalies this shift will now cost 0 TIME TOKENS to work on!)

"I wonder which stories caused it to grow the most. I'm betting it's the weed brownie story." Edward says in a faux-deadpan tone. "Maybe it pities you after you had to eat an italian-laced edible."

"ah, bite me."

There's only one last thing you have to do. Your coworkers seem like they want to talk about the memories you spilled, but you still got work to do. No need to get TOO sentimental, right?

You do a quick test run of the BALL OF FECUND WAX. You know it has something to do with your samples, but you need to know which ones will actually get noteworthy reactions. You hover the waxen ball over sample after sample, with your coworkers recording any immediate reactions.

The noteworthy reactions are as followed
-WIRE FLOWER: Exposure results in the flower produces excessive amounts of STATIC POLLEN, practically creating a tidal wave of the stuff. This, perhaps unsurprisingly, drains the flower's vitality until it's a withered husk. (+STATIC POLLEN PRODUCTION!)
-CIGARETTE MOLD: It does not cause growth in THIS sample, however. Exposed samples don't change visually, but a taste test reveals their taste is far more palatable than usual (+MARKETABILITY/VALUE!)
-STATIC POLLEN: Exposure resulted in the pollen condensing into a loose pile of dried tablets. At least this improves their storability and shelf life? Perhaps it wants you to eat them? (+???.)
-FETID MUCUS: After a brief exposure to the wax, the ANGLERFISH CELLS managed to eek out for a whole half hour, instead of 10~ minutes! These more virile cells also proved to be faster at purifying contaminants.

You'll periodically expose more samples to it, until you have got a basic catalog of all the reactions. But that can be saved for later.

TIME TOKENS: 13
You still got time to burn and anomalies to research. What do you want to do now, Vincent? Choose four actions.

ANOMALY
>Enter HARD TIMES' cell. WORK. WORK. WORK. WORK. (-0 TIME TOKENS)
>Visit LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. Meow. Meow. Bark. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS)
>Hang out with LOST SINCE 199X. It's the least you can do. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS)
>Check up on ROLY POLY OF EDEN. Why shouldn't you hang out with the cool bug? (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS)
>Bond with THE OTHER SIDE. You know its language now. Maybe you can get actual progress done on it. (-0 TIME TOKENS)
>Deal with the STATIC ANGLERFISH. Make sure it knows its place. (-0 TIME TOKENS)

RESEARCH
>What the hell did RDG mean by 'non-existence'? Look into any literature you have relating to it to figure out what they could've meant. (+1 TIME TOKEN. This will also be a tremendous strain to your mind.)
>Cobble together prototype products out of your various samples. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Will provide an assortment of prototypes to refine.)
>What mysteries does the PUTRID INK have to offer, you wonder? (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS. No checks, thanks to Ashton.)
>You got this HARVESTER IDOL last shift, and you still know nothing about it. Study it. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Ashton will be a great help here.)
>Study several of your ARTIFACT GIFTS. You still don't know a lot about that gear, gas mask or guitar you got. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 70, +15 to roll. Reveals data on several of your relatively new ARTIFACT GIFTS!)
>Examine all of those weird samples you got from LORD OF MOLD. The moldy, the better, as they say. (-1d2 TIME TOKENS. Offers you some insight into your CIGARETTE MOLD product.)
>Study the language THE OTHER SIDE 'speaks' in. If it's able to burn whatever it's written on, what else can it do? (-1 TIME TOKEN. Grants progress to TWO anomalies!)

BUSY WORK
>Wrap up ISOLA's sponsorship with one last dimension hop. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Completes a sponsorship!)
>Fabricate some new lenses to slot over MAD WORLD. What kind of strange things could you see if you messed with the lenses? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 70, +24 to roll.)
>Grow something that ISN'T MOLD for once. More specifically, WIRE FLOWERS. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKEN, unlocks a RESEARCH action.)
>You still want to create a copy of ACCUMULATED PAST. Now's the time. (-2 TIME TOKENS. DC 86, +22 to roll. Has a chance of creating a very potent time-based item.)
>MOLD. COOK UP MORE MOLD. (-1d2 TIME TOKENS. Does what it says on the tin.)
>Search up anything you can about THE OTHER SIDE's 'creator'. (-1d3-1 TIME TOKENS. Won't take a skill check, but it'll take some time.)
>Interview Ashton, for the sake of finishing BLACKWELL's sponsorship. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Completes a sponsorship!)

MISC
>Contact LUX. RDG (and their anomaly) seems to be obsessed with candles. These guys could supply them. (-0 TIME TOKENS.)
>Contact KLEANE. You want to discuss ways about how you can bail them out. (+1 TIME TOKENS. Be careful about what you do if you pick this.)
>Contact U.E.D. They might got some insight into RDG's batshit crazy 'ideology. (-0 TIME TOKENS.)
>Write in?

Could've been worse!

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>>6478371
>Enter HARD TIMES' cell. WORK. WORK. WORK. WORK. (-0 TIME TOKENS)
>Deal with the STATIC ANGLERFISH. Make sure it knows its place. (-0 TIME TOKENS)
>Study the language THE OTHER SIDE 'speaks' in. If it's able to burn whatever it's written on, what else can it do? (-1 TIME TOKEN. Grants progress to TWO anomalies!)
>Grow something that ISN'T MOLD for once. More specifically, WIRE FLOWERS. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKEN, unlocks a RESEARCH action.)

It's good to get these little snippets of ours and other's lives. Helps us keep us grounded.

>>6478371
>Enter HARD TIMES' cell. WORK. WORK. WORK. WORK. (-0 TIME TOKENS)
>Hang out with LOST SINCE 199X. It's the least you can do. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS)
The end is neigh for him, one way or another. We should spend some time getting him (and ourselves) prepped for the final battle.
>What the hell did RDG mean by 'non-existence'? Look into any literature you have relating to it to figure out what they could've meant. (+1 TIME TOKEN. This will also be a tremendous strain to your mind.)
It's just a little pain and suffering. We can take it.
>Study several of your ARTIFACT GIFTS. You still don't know a lot about that gear, gas mask or guitar you got. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 70, +15 to roll. Reveals data on several of your relatively new ARTIFACT GIFTS!)
We know how powerful artifacts can be, but we don't know how to make use of these until we spend some time getting to understand them.

>>6478371
>Enter HARD TIMES' cell. WORK. WORK. WORK. WORK. (-0 TIME TOKENS)
>Hang out with LOST SINCE 199X. It's the least you can do. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS)
>Study several of your ARTIFACT GIFTS. You still don't know a lot about that gear, gas mask or guitar you got. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 70, +15 to roll. Reveals data on several of your relatively new ARTIFACT GIFTS!)
>Grow something that ISN'T MOLD for once. More specifically, WIRE FLOWERS. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKEN, unlocks a RESEARCH action.)

>>6478371
>Enter HARD TIMES' cell. WORK. WORK. WORK. WORK. (-0 TIME TOKENS)
>Wrap up ISOLA's sponsorship with one last dimension hop. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Completes a sponsorship!)
>What the hell did RDG mean by 'non-existence'? Look into any literature you have relating to it to figure out what they could've meant. (+1 TIME TOKEN. This will also be a tremendous strain to your mind.)
>Study several of your ARTIFACT GIFTS. You still don't know a lot about that gear, gas mask or guitar you got. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 70, +15 to roll. Reveals data on several of your relatively new ARTIFACT GIFTS!)

>>6478371
>>Enter HARD TIMES' cell. WORK. WORK. WORK. WORK. (-0 TIME TOKENS)
>What the hell did RDG mean by 'non-existence'? Look into any literature you have relating to it to figure out what they could've meant. (+1 TIME TOKEN. This will also be a tremendous strain to your mind.)
>You got this HARVESTER IDOL last shift, and you still know nothing about it. Study it. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Ashton will be a great help here.)
>Wrap up ISOLA's sponsorship with one last dimension hop. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Completes a sponsorship!)

>>6478371
>What the hell did RDG mean by 'non-existence'? Look into any literature you have relating to it to figure out what they could've meant. (+1 TIME TOKEN. This will also be a tremendous strain to your mind.)
>Contact LUX. RDG (and their anomaly) seems to be obsessed with candles. These guys could supply them. (-0 TIME TOKENS.)
>Contact KLEANE. You want to discuss ways about how you can bail them out. (+1 TIME TOKENS. Be careful about what you do if you pick this.)
>Contact U.E.D. They might got some insight into RDG's batshit crazy 'ideology. (-0 TIME TOKENS.)
Let’s get some extra time tokens.

>>6478383
Changed
>Deal with the STATIC ANGLERFISH. Make sure it knows its place. (-0 TIME TOKENS)

to

>Hang out with LOST SINCE 199X. It's the least you can do. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS)

>>6478371
>Hang out with LOST SINCE 199X. It's the least you can do. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS)
>Examine all of those weird samples you got from LORD OF MOLD. The moldy, the better, as they say. (-1d2 TIME TOKENS. Offers you some insight into your CIGARETTE MOLD product.)
>Cobble together prototype products out of your various samples. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Will provide an assortment of prototypes to refine.)
Suggestions: Grey paste + Oily black hair (polar opposites, something useful could be generated by the reaction?)
Mold + Grey paste (cleaning product?)
Mystery Spore sample + Mold
Also, did we try to combine the mold with obscura syrah? Surely we must have.
>Wrap up ISOLA's sponsorship with one last dimension hop. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Completes a sponsorship!)

>>6478371
>Enter HARD TIMES' cell. WORK. WORK. WORK. WORK. (-0 TIME TOKENS)
>Hang out with LOST SINCE 199X. It's the least you can do. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS)

>What the hell did RDG mean by 'non-existence'? Look into any literature you have relating to it to figure out what they could've meant. (+1 TIME TOKEN. This will also be a tremendous strain to your mind.)
>Cobble together prototype products out of your various samples. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Will provide an assortment of prototypes to refine.)

>>6478371
>Enter HARD TIMES' cell. WORK. WORK. WORK. WORK. (-0 TIME TOKENS)
>Hang out with LOST SINCE 199X. It's the least you can do. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS)
>What mysteries does the PUTRID INK have to offer, you wonder? (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS. No checks, thanks to Ashton.)
>You got this HARVESTER IDOL last shift, and you still know nothing about it. Study it. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Ashton will be a great help here.)

>>6478371
>Study the language THE OTHER SIDE 'speaks' in. If it's able to burn whatever it's written on, what else can it do? (-1 TIME TOKEN. Grants progress to TWO anomalies!)
>What mysteries does the PUTRID INK have to offer, you wonder? (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS. No checks, thanks to Ashton.)
>Examine all of those weird samples you got from LORD OF MOLD. The moldy, the better, as they say. (-1d2 TIME TOKENS. Offers you some insight into your CIGARETTE MOLD product.)
We are on a working with materials we got streak, let’s keep it rolling.
>Fabricate some new lenses to slot over MAD WORLD. What kind of strange things could you see if you messed with the lenses? (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 70, +24 to roll.)
One of our most useful items, let’s make it even more useful. Try out a series of lenses such as: submerged in static anglerfish blood, tears, obscura syrah, black bile, our own blood, blood red stew, Nicole’s wine if we have any left, dusted with static pollen, waxed with fecund wax, carved with star glyphs, scratched with rust from hard times, rubbed with oily hair, painted with black ink from what never was, and painted with rehydrated paint from the other side. Also ask Ashton, Edward, and SACA if they have any other ideas.

Rolled 2 - 1 (1d2 - 1)

HARD TIMES: 7 (-0 TIME TOKENS)
199X: 6 (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS)
RDG NONSENSE: 5 (+1 TIME TOKEN)
ARTIFACT GIFTS: 3 (-1 TIME TOKEN)
ISOLA: 3
WIRE FLOWERS: 2
HARVESTER IDOL: 2
COBBLE TOGETHER SAMPLE JUNK: 2
LORD OF MOLD: 2
PUTRID INK: 2
STAR LANGUAGE: 2
CONTACT LUX, KLEANE OR U.E.D: 1
MAD WORLD LENSES: 1
ANGLERFISH: 1

I'm going to put my fingers on the scale and just decide the ARTIFACT GIFTS vote wins as the fourth slot, since exploring ISOLA's pocket dimensions feels like it's a decision that should be made with more certainty than a simple RNG check. That means you'll be working on.

-Another two anomalies (SACA's probably going to get some time in the spotlight with HARD TIMES)
-Parsing the babbling nonsense RDG was on about
-and, lastly, the random ARTIFACT GIFTS you got.

So, you know what I want. Three anons, roll 1d100+15. Try not to die horribly, would you kindly?

ARTIFACT GIFT STUDY (DC 70, +15 to roll.)
0 SUCCESSES?: You figured out...something, involving all of them, but this was not a remotely pleasant experience for anyone involved. ('OWIE. I CAN HEAR SOUR.' Yeahhhh, you should check up on her.)
1 SUCCESS: While the other gifts wish to remain cryptic, a certain gear begins to spin. (+++INFORMATION on 88888888 CYCLE! Nothing on the other ARTIFACTS!)
2 SUCCESSES: Was testing the guitar an excuse to rock out? Yes. Did you learn something from it? Also yes. (++INFORMATION on 88888888 CYCLE and GUITAR OF A SHADE.)
3 SUCCESSES: Lo and behold, o' lord of arcane knowledge...you now know everything. (++INFORMATION on all three of the ARTIFACT GIFTS you tried to study! Good job!)

>>6478379
Repent, o' sinner. Repent, and the Lord may grant thee mercy.

>>6478203
What an adorable little creature. I'd highly recommend feeding it after midnight, exposing it to sunlight, AND getting it wet!

>>6478318
Venti, Venti, Venti. What a lovely girl mess of a girl. Will she ever win?
I hope not.

>>6478516
>Also, did we try to combine the mold with obscura syrah? Surely we must have.
Indeed you did. It resulted in CHERRY MOLD. Basically inedible in its raw state due to almost lethal amounts of nicotine and other byproducts, but it contained trace compounds that basically prevents people from bleeding.

>>6478371
>Hang out with LOST SINCE 199X. It's the least you can do. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS)
Same reason as last time: DENIM plus queueing up an assistant cross-test to keep him busy.

>Deal with the STATIC ANGLERFISH. Make sure it knows its place. (-0 TIME TOKENS)
And this is where it’ll be; “bring back from the brink of breaching” isn’t even close to “at Code Blue.” I’d say it’s Code Yellow at best. Let’s finish cleaning that shit.

>Enter HARD TIMES' cell. WORK. WORK. WORK. WORK. (-0 TIME TOKENS)
Best not neglect any of our abnos. This text is reading manic to me…

>Visit LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. Meow. Meow. Bark. (-1d2-1 TIME TOKENS)
Bark?! Methinks we can catch her erstwhile assailant in the act here! (Also, we haven’t actually received our task today. Given her reaction to 199X’s last foray, I suspect it’s something along the lines of “Take LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE with you to conduct X cross-test(s) with at least one other Anomaly.”)

Due to the 0-AP guarantee bonus, I feel we can get away with an oops-all-abno turn just to ensure we aren’t having to put out fires when either of our expected guests arrive.

>>6478683
Aw nuts, low-odds extra-unfortunate ninja.

Rolled 69 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>6478683

Rolled 76 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>6478683

Rolled 88 (1d100)