((hi,are people still allowed to join in?))
Sure. What kind of special ability do you want?
Brian Hoss, Maximus
Enlarge my eyes over that thing.
You enlarge your eyes over the thing a bit, but not significantly so.
Kosak Durar:
Kosak probably won't notice the creature unless his teammates alert him to it. If they do, it's likely going to be punched to death.
You follow Svajoklis and stand ready to save his bacon via punching things really hard, should it be necessary. Or maybe even if it isn't.
<Svajoklis, Maximus medbay>
"I am this close to having two arms again, I refuse more delays"
Go closer to the closet with invisible foe, pointing shotgun at it. When the door opens, shoot it.
You make sure your shotgun is ready and carefully approach the indicated closet. Now that you know what to look for, you can see it clearly, hiding in the shadows. The creature's eye tracks you as you move closer to it. You can see its muscles tense. It looks like it can see your, even when looking through the dark vortex that is your teammate's eyes.
When you feel you're close enough you raise your shotgun and take careful aim. Good thing there's no gravity, even with one arm it's easy to keep the shotgun pointed towards it. You pull the trigger.
The slug hits the thing right in the center of its eye. It silently thrashes around, wildly hitting things close to it and bouncing from one side of the room to the other. You shoot it again but this time the shot just grazed it, bouncing off its hide.
And then Kosak slams into it and smashes it against a wall. The creature is merely reacting (its brain must have been damaged) but it's still a danger to him. Still, he manages to hold it in his grip long enough to squish its torso into a bloody mess. The lifeless body is left floating in the air while the team gathers the necessary supplies. Svajoklis notices there are electronics attached in the back of its torso. Hmm. Another difference compared to the black box recordings.
The team makes its way back to the automated treatment machines and inserts the necessary supplies into one of the machines. The machine happily accepts the vials and packets and begins healing the team. As it is working on attaching Svajoklis' shiny new prosthetic, there is a screech from the speakers above you that reverberates across the entire medical section.
: So, I see one of you rats has finally managed to steal from me. : comes the smug voice of an old man.
: I don't know who sent you or how you got past the Tactor but you can be certain that you won't be getting out of here. I thought you'd have learnt better by now. Surrender now or face the consequences. :He sounds weak but also quite certain of himself.
"A sort of trouble that I got myself into, for a good cause. And that I intend to get myself back out of. Hopefully that won't require a gun but... ah, to extend the metaphor I might have to get myself a little farther into the trouble before I have a chance to get back out. At least if I want to keep all my organs afterwards. Hehe."
Fe does not look even slightly amused.
"Um, sorry. That's a weird way to have said that. Basically I'm doing a job for someone that I probably shouldn't talk about, and I miiiiiight just need to pop a fool, or just have something vaguely threatening to wave around. I wasn't expecting this when I woke up today, but hey life's full of surprises isn't it?"
Please please tell me that's good enough pretty please? Because if it's not I might have to:
"Uh, I do also have some money."
((Hmm... Trying to convince someone... I think that qualifies as a charisma roll! *rolls* [2+1] Awww...))
He considers what you have to say. For a moment it looks like he's about to decline.
"Come on. Please? You know I wouldn't be don't this if I didn't really have to."
He sighs, reaches into his backpack and produces a tiny handgun. He holds it next to his head and shows it to you.
"100. Because you're a friend."
"Yes! Thank you!" you say and show him the money.
He takes the money (leaving you with 150) and inspects it for a few seconds before handing you the gun. Just as you are about to grab it, his intention changes and he pulls his hand back.
"You didn't get this from me. This doesn't get back to me. If they catch you you're on your own. I've got enough troubles surviving as it is"
"Yes, of course." you respond, still holding out your hand.
He doesn't hand you the gun.
"Seriously, I've got a good thing going on here. I don't need you pissing off the wrong sentient, sending them after me. You promise you won't do that?"
"I promise."
He looks at your for a few more seconds before he finally hands you the gun. He also gives you a few extra bullets and shows you the basics of its operation. Reload, unlock, point, click. Sounds simple enough. It won't do you any good against anything with proper armor but it should be intimidating enough.
You have the doll open the door and proceed through the dark corridor beyond. There is a similar door in the other side of the corridor, which you guess is your objective.
As you walk you notice there are doors with metal bars that remind you of prison cell doors. 4 of them in total. Jack pauses and approaches one of them to try to discern what's inside them. He quickly dodges backwards. A moment later a mouth full of teeth snaps closed where his head was.
"Damn thing!" he shouts at it angrily.
The 2 creatures in the cell growl and snap their teeth at him in response. Similar growls are echoed from the other cells. Now that you can see them somewhat better, this monster reminds you of a mix between a rat and a dog. Its body is more or less exactly like a giant rat's, including the long nearly hairless tail and hand-like paws. But its head, its body language and especially its teeth remind you that of a dog.
Jack looks at you and motions towards the cell.
"What do you say? Can you summon some dolls on the other side and have them deal with those things? I bet we're going to have to fight them sooner or later, so we might as well kill them when they can't fight back."
"Maybe. Or maybe she'll see us killing them and open the cell doors. Then we'll be stuck here, surrounded, with nowhere to run."
Jack shrugs.
"Hey man, your choice. I'm just making a suggestion. I ain't gonna waste what few cards I have left on them."
There are things coming out of the creatures, machines attached to their body with wires and red tubes leading away from them. You lean closer to the cage, tracing the wires and tubes to a machine attached to one of the walls.
"I wonder what they are doing here... Why have those things in a casino vault? What purpose..."
"I already told you man, this place is fake. There is no purpose to it beyond being here for us. It's just scenery made for this challenge."
"Even the scenery in a play must have some logic behind it."
♚The Doll Prince: Freaks of Nature Mad Science!♚
Napoleon rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Those red lines remind him of tubing used in hospitals for blood transfusions and dialysis and of the like. Also, those machines on their backs and the one attached to the wall seemed to be essential to their continued survival, otherwise they wouldn't be there. Lastly, the unholy fusion of the creatures' canine and rodent traits immediately eliminated them as being naturally occurring. Needless to say, Napoleon felt a deep sense of foreboding welling up inside of him.
"This is no ordinary casino," Napoleon breathed as he held the pistol tightly. "In fact, I'm quite sure that the Queen's Tower Casino is just a front for a secret laboratory. Why else would they build this massive structure underneath a casino just to house a vault? Merde, this changes everything."
Looking at the door before them, Napoleon took a deep breath. "Whatever that awaits us inside may be even more unnerving than brutish security personnel. First, then put these... things out of their misery. If we make sure the door is behind us, we can avoid getting completely surrounded."
Go to the door ahead of them. Before entering, put the rat-dog abominations out of their misery by shooting at the machine on the wall. If the machine's destruction doesn't cause the creatures to die, put each down with a bullet to the head. In case the gates open, summon a wall of tough dolls around Napoleon and Jack to hold off the creatures while he kill them. If Napoleon misses the machine after a few shots but the gates don't open, conserve ammo and enter through the door behind them.
You make your way towards the end of the corridor, the monsters growling and snapping their teeth at you as you walk through their cages. When you've reached the end of the corridor, you approach the closest cage and take careful aim at the machine in the wall.
You pull the trigger. There is a loud bang that echoes in the enclosed spaces of this corridor. The shot hits the machine, making a hole in it. It begins beeping and then explodes a few seconds later, spraying the red liquid everywhere. The creatures appear even more agitated, growling and slamming against the door of their cage, though you can't tell if it's due to the noise or because the machine is no longer pumping them full of that red stuff.
You take aim at the creature, trying to time your shot to when it is still. You miss the head and hit it in the upper torso instead. The creature is thrown back but a moment later it's back up again, charging towards the door. You're getting ready to shoot again when there's a buzzing noise from the cage door in front of you. Damn. You knew this was going to happen. And yet now you're frozen. You can't get out of the way, you're not fast enough. But your doll is.
The doll puts itself between you and the creature. The creature smashes through the door and into the doll. The two tumble to the floor. The other creature follows through the door, joining its friend in attacking the doll. But it's not very friendly, its frenzied attacks damaging the other creature as much as the doll.
You summon a couple of short dolls and put them between you and the monsters. Hopefully they'll slow them down a bit but they won't hold for long and will definitely crumble if the other cells open. You shoot again and this time manage to shoot the injured creature through the heart. It keeps attacking for another second as if it felt nothing but succumbs to its injuries a moment later, falling over the badly injured doll. Its former cellmate turns its attention towards you.
“Ohhh boxes!”
“Hey, what do these meds do again?”
open the boxes, pay the $50
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" the man says as he moves to block your path.
"The back area is staff-only."
“Ahem. I... am broke. What type of promotions would I be able to participate in?”
behind my back, take a few bottles and stuff.
The bottles are behind the counter, not behind your back. Stuff however are behind your back. So you can try to take stuff.
[3]
"Hey! Look! What's that?!" you say, pointing at one of the boxes.
As the man turns around to look, you swipe the big flashlight and hold it behind your back.
"What? What is it?" he says, turning back towards you after not seeing anything out of the ordinary.