Thursday, April 22nd 2015, Week 0, Day 2
Ryoko:
You head on down to Fraggies intent on buying a bird-drone for yourself. When you arrive, however, you quickly learn that it usually sells for 1500 Dollars, which puts it out of your price range at the moment. Luckily for you, some of the other patrons have heard that people are after you, and feel sorry enough to chip in and buy you the spy bird. The creature resembles an ordinary pigeon when it is brought out.
Fraggie spends about 30 minutes setting up a secure server through which you can issue commands to the bird and download the data it picks up. He then takes the pigeon homoculus and hurls it out the window. It lands with a thud before activating, spreading its wings, and flying away. "It will roam the city behaving like a normal bird until you take direct control." Fraggie explains.
GM Forgot to set a price, so you get this one free!
+1 Remote Spy Bird! You may send it to do spying/observation forum actions in your place. It has a stealth rank of 4 and a body stat of 2. Since the pigeon can fly around, treat any action that uses it as if you have invested one more hour of time than you actually have, so 2 Hours Birdtime = 3 Hours Ryokotime.
Returning home, you pull out your new tablet and begin to research the true state of advanced computing, and to your mild surprise you find that you are far from unique. Quantum computers are stupidly common, although most have safeguards installed that prevent them from gaining true sentience, or at least keep them strictly focused on whatever purpose they were created for. Sentient and independent quantum beings such as Yggdrasil are abnormal but by no means unheard of.
More cunning and dangerous are grey matter processors, massive organic beings specifically created to serve as computers. Grey matter computing is risky, as a naturally occurring virus, tumor, or mutation could easily transmute a smooth-running and obedient machine into something far more sinister, but many organizations still depend on it as a common massed produced Grey Matter Machine has about 4x the processing power of the most powerful quantum computer hypothetically possible. It turns out Skynet from the terminator movies is based off the exploits a rouge Grey Matter Machine; It currently has a peace treaty with the ruling powers on earth, and makes a living by selling murderous time-traveling E-Series robots, such as Fraggie.
Last but not least are the Reality Drives, entire pocket universes captured and usurped into serving as computers. Reality Drives are rarely tampered with by humans and other such mortal beings, as a rouge reality drive is easily an apocalyptic threat to any universe that it shares a boundary with. Two reality drives are known to share a boundary with your home universe, and each is controlled by a group of powerful cosmic entities on a distant planet.
+New Opprotunity
Satisfied, but perhaps a bit unnerved, by what you have learned, you spend the rest of the day praticing both your singing and your coding, and make good progress with each skill.
+1 Rank Perform (Singing)
+1 Rank Craft (Coding)
Robert:
First thing in the morning, you track down Scizornails and ask him to help train you for battle. He agrees, and tells you to fetch your crowbar. You spend the next few hours chasing the Kobold around the common room, taking wild swings at him in vain; Scizorhands is just too nimble to land a hit on. Eventually, however, you manage to get a read on his movements, and by the end of the session, you have tagged him on several occasions.
+1 Rank of Mundane Combat!
The rest of the day passes fairly uneventfully, as you work out focusing on endurance and pain tolerance. By the time dinner rolls around, you manage to get yourself back to where you were before yesterday's events.
+1 Rank of Cardio
+1 Rank of Constitution
Albert:
You return to your room after breakfast, and spend a handful of hours practicing magical combat techniques with Charles. You don't have much room to work in there, but by the end of your session you find that it is much easier to blend your new cantrips in with your normal combat style.
+1 Rank of Magical Combat Skill
The rest of your day is spent on your new tablet, studding up on the other styles of magic in the world. By the time you are ready for bed you know, among other things, how to tell a Performance Mage from a Martial Mage, a Cultist from a Priest, and a Mystic from a Scribe.
+1 Rank of Education: Magical Frameworks
Jack:
You spend your morning giving each of your three borrowed books a closer read.
East Coast Gunners is the true story of four showmen who traveled up and down the Eastern United States in the 1920's and 1930's, competing against each other in magical marksmanship contests. Of the four friends/rivals, only the elf Sylvia Ren survived until the book's 1993 Publication. The humans Dickerson and Pete were killed (and allegedly converted) by Nazi Vampires they were hunting after WWII, and the dwarf Tartuffe was killed alongside his family during the mystic purge of the 70's and 80's. Ms. Ren, according to the book, lives in Atlanta as of 22 years ago.
+New Opprotunity
Earth's Most Well Armed Outlaws, 2013 Edition seems to be exactly what it says on the tin. After spending some time with the (rather large) tome you are able to cross-reference those who use guns with those who live reasonably close to Washington DC to make a short list of shady gun-slingers you might consider contacting someday.
+3 New Opportunities
When you start reading Hell Well Raised, it quickly becomes clear that you have struck the jackpot. The book turns out to be the (rather recently written) autobiography of Xeras, the father of the goblin who let the ambush of your group the other day. The elder Xeras lived his life as a hired gun, mostly for less than pleasant causes, and mentioned fighting a Kobold named Scizorhands on several occasions. Xeras, as it turns out, is also a merchant as well, and after earth became too hot for him, he split to work a Bazaar in Valhalla, a minor client universe bound to earth. This is the last information you remember before rather abruptly falling asleep.
---
You find yourself astral-projected into a well kept shop. The lights are off and it appears the place is closed. You hear somebody clear his or her throat behind you, and you turn to see the Goblin from the book you were just reading in his Pajamas.
He introduces himself as Xeras, and explains that he has enchanted every copy of his autobiography to summon nearby merchants in case of an emergency or special deal. He chats you up for a bit, feeling you out to see if you can be trusted, and during this discussion you slip up and accidentally reveal that you work with Scizorhands. You get a far more positive response than you expected.
"Ah! Old Sciz! I crossed swords with that Kobold far to many times! Tough as nails and a good fighter that one! Anybody he respects enough to work with is somebody I can trust... And I could use somebody I can trust about now. Some scumbag came in here and sold me a bitching gun, but it turns out he stole the damn thing from Odin himself! If I get found with the sucker, I'm going to be in huge trouble, so I'm looking for somebody to hold onto it off realm for me for a few years."
He scratches his nose. "I'll tell you what. I'll send you the gun and a cash advance, and assuming you get it back to me when I call for it down the road, I'll pay you the rest of your fee. I'll even put you in touch with my son Jr. as an extra favor. He still does Wetwork on earth, and could always use a good merchant. I'm sure you could benefit greatly from working with him. I'll send you his number, and let him know to expect to hear from you!"
Although you are not quite sure you plan on holding up your end of the bargin, you agree to the Goblin's terms and shake on the deal...
---
You wake up and look around to find several new objects in the room with you.
+The Rifle of the All-Father (Artifact Rifle. Range of 14. Inflicts Logos Damage. Increases the DB of Struggle Attacks by 3. Decreases the AC of Struggle Attacks by 1. Highly magic resistant and nearly indestructible)
+7000 USD
+Busniess Card of Xeras Jr: Fixer, Hit Goblin, and Runner
+New Opprotunity
After you shake off these shocking occurrences, you pull up your tablet and set about finding some work. Before long you come across a website that sets up skilled coders with quick and easy mundane projects.
+New Opprotunity
You select a project, complete it without much difficulty, and arrange to have payment transferred directly into one of your accounts. It is good money for three hours work, but peanuts compared to what Xeras just gave you...
+270 USD
Kyriol:
You head to the library with Kala, who has a card and can help you check out books. You find what you need quickly, get checked out, and return to base ahead of schedule.
+A Novice's Guide to the Elements of the Multiverse
The rest of your day is boring, but quite productive, as you curl up in the common room for a marathon reading session. You take only a few breaks to hit up the bathroom and grab some snacks, and by the end of the day you feel you have learned enough to go back and learn that ritual for badass manipulable cards.
+1 Rank of Education: Chemistry
Opprotunity Updated
Sebas:
You are out on the street as the sun comes up, trying to introduce yourself to the neighbors. Sadly it seems as if only your fellow weirdos are out and about at dawn. A huge hairy man named Chuck, who claims to be half troll, is eating out out of a dumpster. He ignores you after you inform him that you are not interested in sharing. A talking golden retriever yells at you for walking through its alley and waking it up; The dog is clearly hungover and rather sleep deprived. A middle aged woman comments how nice you would look as a shrunken head, and pulls a tape measure out of her pocket as she approaches you, and you decide that it would be a good time to bug out and get back inside.
You make the rookie mistake of eating a large breakfast before you morning workout, and end up getting bad stomach cramps that ruin your attempts to pump iron.
Skill Advancement Failed
Spotting and taking a large bowl of grapes in the company lobby on your way to the workshop, you decide to make some wine. Lacking the correct amount and variety of grapes, you are forced to get creative, pushing your skills to the limit and forcing them to improve. By the end of the day you have managed to produce a tiny novelty barrel of wine, which you should let age and ferment before drinking, of course.
+1 Novelty Mini-Barrel of Unaged Wine
+1 Rank of Craft: Liquor
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Topic: ᕙ(`▽´)ᕗ (BETA RPG) Magia Exquisitis: Blacklight IC Thread ᕙ(`▽´)ᕗ (Read 2725 times)