((Dangit, why are voices of reason trying to stop the kid from playing with dangerous space magic?))
"Well, I'm not really good with any weapons...and if I don't have any weapons, it seems like I'm going to be in a lot more danger than an amp or something is gonna put me in. Right?
"Do you have any other suggestions?"
Chat with Sensai.
((So...manipulators are the other main kind of space magic. The big downside I'm seeing is battery life--I'd need to constantly spend tokens to keep magicking. On the other hand, Grate's Intelligence is already pretty good. So: Fellow HMRC members, do you rhink manipulators would be better for Grate than amps?))
"You're not good with any kind of weapon? None of them? What about Auxiliary systems?"
"Ay-ay-ay-ay-what? What-what? What's going on?"
Make sure I'm still wearing the MK2. That shouldn't be very easy to tear off, should it?
In any case, waltz to calm myself. Caffeine rules only the weak.
Also, check dandruff. Is it metallic or just... well... dandruff?
[Will:5]
You put your suit back on.
The dandruff indeed metallic. But your skin doesn't seem to be metal...weird.
"So, do we have an understanding?" Gorat asks the... whatever Xan looks like right now (kind of lost track of that.)
Be ready to defend myself. If attacked, use the rifle if possible, the amp if necessary. Try to keep the head intact.
((So, who will do more damage to the three teams? The enemies, or the "enemies" within? So far, the latter is winning... as so often.))
Str 3; Dex 3; End 3; Cha 5; Int 4; Wil 12//Spe 0; Int 1; Han 0 (-1); Con 1; Unc 0; Exo 8; Aux 1 (+1); Med 0
Mk II Suit; Microwave PK Amp; laser rifle: normal cigarettes; blue smokes; datapad (with platformer shooter); nanoghosts; shock trigger (with Jack for this mission)
Appearance: 5'11'', 170 pounds in a rather unmuscular frame, shoulder-long brown hair, short goatee, brown eyes, a rather long chin that earned him his nickname. Age 32
Half a robot foot. Robot right arm.
You keep your rifle pointed at Xan's center of mass, ready to decline medical aid in the harshest possible terms.
But I POSSESS no PENIS, dELUded PERson!
Scurry off back to original place. Keep an eye out for anyone alone and/or vulnerable. Follow them if I see any.
[will:3+1]
You scurry back behind a container. Something here seems very off. You've always been a fan of murder, but this feels different. You're not the one controlling the murder! You're just a Voyeur! Which is fine and all, but you can't help but feel just a little bit cheated.
PW: why does the doc think this is a bad idea?
EDIT: upon further thought, the painkiller-fangs should probably be upped to induce sleep as well. harmless to someone wounded, but useful if I need to disable someone quietly.
He doesn't think it's a bad idea so much as you just went from "Don't change me" to "change me extensively and make me a catgirl."
He's just making sure he didn't accidentally dump bleach into your iv or something.
PW: why does the doc think this is a bad idea?
((I think it's more that Lyra is a recently un-deceased head hooked up to life support, and is asking for something fairly strange, leading to the mention of suspected, but unlikely, brain damage.
Not a "bad idea" per se, but a strange one, coming from a potentially compromised source.
Also, yes. Flesh is weak.
Though I guess a catgirl can still wear power armor. Would you like the tip of the tail to be a stinger or a scalpel?))
Ever seen that movie "Splice"?
"What idiot brings a knife to a firefight? And for fucks sake, can we not murder each other yet? Goddammit people, save your raging murderboners for the sods! Now, for some surprises. Anyone object to me buying some high explosives?"
Send message to assault team detailing updates to intel(will post in assault thread). Go grab some cases of beer, and set a few near Miyamoto's hole. Contine setting beer cases at strategic locations behind cover. Determine amount of mission budget left. Head back to armory, and ask about types of explosives for traps. Look for types that have a high explosive radius.
((No, I'm not crazy, or trying to get the sods drunk. It would be awesome if they did, but I want to use the beer cases to hide explosives, and condition the sods to avoid them. By exploding the ones they get near. Hopefully, they'll learn that beer=boom, and steer away from cover that contains a beer case. Or they'll charge for the cover, and we can still detonate. Such a pity to waste the booze, but it's for a good cause.))
Well, beer doesn't explode. It's alcohol content isn't high enough. Though HMRC standard would work. As per explosives and budgets, there are 18 tokens left in the budget and you can get relatively good explosives with long range detonators for pretty cheap. I mean, nukes are only a few tokens, standard explosives are gonna be about the same.
(That would be a first)
((Hmm....I wonder if he could turn someone into a bodysnatcher. Like just a head with tentacles for movement and it crawls up your back and attaches to your head and then you are enslaved.
That would be neat.))
((... That IS creative, and I think he could.))
(The only person who would probably want that is Xan, though. Right? Right...? >.>)
((My ultimate goal is far more horrifying.))
((Maybe he wants be a headcat! Just like a headcrab but faster, stealthier ad more adorable ))
Charles delivers another motivation speech.
He then radios his teammates. "Not much activity out here... How's our wounded ally?"
[speech:6+1+1-1]
"Attention various squadmates. I have forgotten your names. I know you are all extremely bored by our task of protecting the ship from attack. Fear not! I shall rouse your collective bile by repeatedly insulting your whore of a mother/sister/girlfriend/significant other. Then you can concentrate that boiling anger upon they hypothetical enemies and not on me! I'm sure this will all go swimmingly. Ahem.
Your momma so fat that when she eats cocks for money, she really eats cocks for money."
You continue this string of infuriatingly bad insults for a solid ten minutes before someone, you don't see who, cracks you over the head with the butt of their rifle and then drags you into the hanger and locks you in a tool box.
(camera coverage and ineffectual lasers is just fine with me.)
Get back into cover, away from the other guys, and go through the cameras looking for opposition, starting with the room the assault team vacated, and including the windows up high.
The only opposition around here seems to be from your own team. I mean, xan is trying to knife people, there's a beer bomb being made, nukes are being non-nonchalantly tossed around, box bases are being constructed and it's all caught on camera. From 50 different angles.
continue waiting flambe the brains of any sods
You continue to wait, trying not to pay too much mind to the crazy shit going on around you.
>Explosive Munitions
T. perks up. Something wonderful has just happened and he's not sure what.
However, hearing Morul rambling about explosives causes him to go check out the situation.
He makes some gestures towards the cradle and ship with a "Most explosives will cause damage to structures." hand wave. However, seeing the plan for beer bottles, he proffers his bandoliers.
"Frag.", he says with a "But we'll need to empty the bottles a little first" wink.
((Oh crap. I just realized AM gave me bottle rockets, and I thought all this time I had firecrackers. So unless they're a smaller, cooler future version of bottle rockets, I've been walking around with a double-bandolier of PET bottles filled with vinegar and bicarb.))
((Just in case turn ends before this conversation gets to the point.))
Got strange creep with knife around. Stay alert all around. Especially make sure he doesn't get the kids.
Attempt to coerce Xantalous into holstering the sexy, sexy knife... preferably at gunpoint.
"PUT DOWN THE KNIFE!"
You wave your rifle at xan, doing your best Detroit cop impression.
Head to the hangar casually after listening to what the nurse has to say, keep watch for said person with knife, and just order insulation of my boots before heading off.
...so not gonna grab Lyra's stuff and pawn it for her catgirl transformation?
Ah... Munitions-Explosive... of course.
Go grab 4 more drones, prepare to give them orders while watching our various spy-cams for movement.
Watch for any Xan-related trauma and render medical aid / corpse transport if necessary after fighting has ceased
Repeat ad nauseam
(( Why do I get the sneaking suspicion that I am underestimating the size of the drones... ))
The drones are about the size of a softball.
You grab 4 of them and stand ready to either use them for defense or to go provide medical aid. You wonder just how many people are going to die on this gangway BEFORE the sods show up.
((I always thought "bottle rockets" were the water-bottle "rockets", i.e. pressurized bottles of water. Anything else I usually call "fireworks".))
The defenses of the gangway bolstered, Anton turns his attention to more pressing matters. At the moment, those matters involve a surprising amount of building boredom.
"I know I'm going to regret saying this, but I kind of expected starting a revolution to involve a lot more action. Or maybe a bit more action? I mean... if the designer of the Sword had the presence of mind to install automated or remotely-controlled defense turrets in the hangar, and around the hull in places, we wouldn't even need to be here."
He motions to the chunky red smear on the floor behind him, oblivious to whether anyone's looking or listening. "That could have been avoided." He looks around, spotting the standoff between a knife-wielding guy and a rifle-wielding fellow. Their names escape his memory. Anton motions towards them regardless, continuing to voice his stream of thought. "That would likely not be happening, or at least would..." The situation finally registers with him. "What the hell is going on here, anyway? We spent a year cooped up on a murderous asteroid and made less attempts at killing one another than I've seen in the last day! Stand down, both of you!"
Holster Gauss Rifle, Red Hand safety off, taser mode. Get ready to tase the first person that attempts an attack against a teammate.
"Do not make me electrocute you until you soil yourself! Because the only thing stopping me from doing that for the sheer hilarity of it is a flimsy set of social mores that I can cast aside in the face of minor danger!"
You let arcs of electricity crackle between your fingers for added effect.
((I always thought "bottle rockets" were the water-bottle "rockets", i.e. pressurized bottles of water. Anything else I usually call "fireworks".))
((There's your flaw: Expecting names to make sense.))
"What the hell is going on here, anyway? We spent a year cooped up on a murderous asteroid and made less attempts at killing one another than I've seen in the last day!"
((Xan is what happened.))
Actually bottle rockets are called that because they have a stick and you're supposed to put that stick in a plastic bottle to use it as a launch platform of sorts.
"So, uh, when's the murderin' gonna start?"
"I for one am perfectly fine with there not being any murdering"
"Pussy"
Move to new cover where I can see the entire hallway, while being as much to the back of the defence as possible. Then look out for sods and if seen do the 360° head spin on them.
I don't know if you can see the whole gangway from anywhere on it, thanks to all the forts and walls and such that your teammates have built. I mean...there's a freaking tower made of boxes over there. What the heck.
You move to the middle and continue to wait to murder. Jesus Christ.