Turn 4
Look innocent, then sucker-taser all of the remaining guards. If any of them live, charge into them before they can fire their tasers and pin them against the wall (getting hit with a taser penalizes your wrestling rolls, right?).
(This takes place chronologically before Archie's action)
[Combat: 17] You nail the next one in the skull. (Defense: 3) He slumps over, dead. Hey! You're getting the hang of this!
[Combat: 10] You nail a second one. (Defense: 9) He gets stunned, and falls to the floor. He might not be dead though. You hit him in the shoulder.
The third guard sees you firing, and shoots back in response.
(Combat + Guard Training: 10+2) He hits you! [Defense: 15] Your body mass absorbs the shock, even at max setting. You wonder how that happened. (You got a 20 in your queue)
[Combat: 16] You finish off the last one, (Defense: 1) Killing him as well. Well, that was a hell of a pushover.
The guard from the hallway is coming back, wielding his weapon, wading through prisoners though not yet firing. The guard at Archie's cell seems to be passed out.
(If you didn't notice, I inverted the accuracy profile for the pistol. I derped and thought that I was using the same system as my other game. I also nerfed its close-range slightly, but it doesn't effect you right now--the action would be the same regardless)
Dice queue (You have one 20, 3 free picks): [-] [-] [-] [-] [-] [-]Miniquests: Body Slam: Pin one guard such that his action modifiers are -20. (Reward: If you wrestle multiple people at once, you now use the lowest defense roll for all of them.)
Status Effects: none
Skills:[10]
Persuader: Bonus to persuasion checks.
[10]
Charisma: Helps improve opinions.
Traits:Oversized: -1 Received Accuracy Reduction, +1 Strength
Space Mushroom Physiology: -1 Strength for each day that passes without sleeping in soil.
Max -20 Strength. You get +3 Strength back each day of soil-sleep.
Emotion Spore: Can release AoE spores which incrementally apply Emotion effects
Artifacts:Sanguinem, the Altar of Enchantment[/color]
Demands Sacrifice: -10 / -10
Inventory: Prisoner tag (attached to arm/limb)
Food tray
Water bottle
zIF-22 Rancor (Accuracy: 10/8/10/14) (Power: 14/12/10/8) (Current Stun Setting: Medium)
Add my four to my sixteen, but do not use my free pick (which should have regenerated given that last turn I didn't use one) to choose the 20, instead just allow the 20 to be consumed without giving me a miniquest.
If I have to make a second roll apply my free pick to 'chose' the second 20 in my queue. I won't want two 20's to slip by without getting a single miniquest.
"Thank you sir!" Raioyris says with a warm smile to the guard that spotted him but let him through. The guards here sure are nice. I won't be stopping for food though, I must learn what those who have bee prodding and probing my flesh have learned.
Enter research room and plead for the research personnel to let me see the data (and any literature they have generated) they have collected about my artifact. This action could potentially interrupt Turaco's action, sparring him the consequences of that 4 at the front of his queue. ((If let me read the data could I hear about the mechanics my power will have?))
"Sirs, please. You must help me, I have for long slept and labored in near darkness listening to the whispers of a voice born out of, though not native to, my mind. Those years have left me with but a single question: What am I? What is this presence felt so strongly in my mind? I beg of you, answer please."
(Note: This happens chronologically AFTER inaluct's roll)
You enter a calm room with a studying scientist who's studying, a silent clerk being silent, and a hazardous man in a lab suit, handling something hazardous.
The scientist seems to be grinning subtly, as is the clerk.
The clerk stands up when she sees you.
Clerk: There's a jailbreak...
You: Sirs, please. You must help me, I have for long slept and labored in near darkness listening to the whispers of a voice born out of, though not native to, my mind. Those years have left me with but a single question: What am I? What is this presence felt so strongly in my mind? I beg of you, answer please.The man in the hazardsuit seems to sigh and just carries his stuff over to the lab, which is just ahead. There is another door to the right of this room, labelled OFFICES.
The scientist fturns.
Scientist: Show him. He's the one threatening us, anyway.Clerk: Threatening...? But he's unarmed.
Scientist: Check his file.She takes one look at the data they have on you, and then throws herself back on her office chair, rolling to the wall dumbfounded.
That leaves the computer open.
Raioyris' is the most interesting by far.
First are the pictures of his Knight, which frightened the clerk. There is a sketch by the late Dr. Ornsworth showing most of the details on the knight in frightening accuracy. It's almost like he's a manga artist.
There is a document detailing a theory about Raioyris' human artifact nature. It states that Raioyris is different from other human artifacts in tha he has a human physiology, whereas most "human artifacts" are merely a sort of artificial thinking matter embedded in a human-like shell.
One document brings up the ethical issues of keeping Raioyris imprisoned for something he can't actually control. It firmly rejects the ethical conundrum, stating that because he is an artifact, any dangers posed in the past by his knight were posed by him.
Then there are some strange pictures of purple nebulas. In one clip, a starscape fades away to a purple backdrop over about a minute, flickering into and out of the picture occasionally.
A huge object pans into view. It looks like the sun up close, but it's surrounded by a black void which blurs into the purple nebulascape. It looks kind of like a black hole with a star instead of an event horizon, in terms of the light-warping.
You think you see a floating island in the distance, passing by at a decent rate.
A severe biohazard, Archibald Zearsoul was the subject of heavy investigation during his stay. His oxygen supply, isolated from the rest of the atmosphere, is laced with a chemical known as a Nanobiologcal Immunosuppresant Agent. It allows physiological toxins to affect hosts that are otherwise immune by, through the use of artificial proteins, providing an alternate pathway for toxins to enter cells that they normally wouldn't be able to enter.
You find all sorts of specifications and classifications regarding the various parasitic lifeforms living in his body.
There is also a file detailing his artifact, some sort of anomalous spherical object.
Arthur is an above-average sized Space Mushroom, a species known for its psychoactive spores which it can vent into the air at will. These individuals are incredibly rare throughout society, having once been the target of a major genocide during the colonization of their homeworld.
They are immune to their own spores' acute effects, but the spores work on even alien animals, including humans.
Due to security issues, all guards have been injected with a retroviral treatment granting them immunity to Space Mushroom spores. The immunity agent works by blocking the spores' toxin delivery pathway into brain cells, thus allowing the toxin to be absorbed into the bloodstream without any symptoms ocurring.
You find a video clip of a man being chased into the hallway by an evil-looking gangster. The screen cuts to static, but you can still hear screaming and ripping sounds on the sound channel.
The towel is far more interesting than the person.
It seems they had a testing schedule planned out for the towel, but the date (Feb. 2nd, Skanderford Capital Time) has already passed. It was yesterday.
You see a bunch of images in the folder, most of them of an ordinary towel.
Dice queue (1 free picks): 20 2 11 1 15Miniquests: The Butchererer: Commit violent acts of justice three more times (Reward: You unlock the ability to use both hands in unarmed combat (you can attack twice))
Status Effects:
none
Skills:
[4] Dexterity: +Melee Received Accuracy Reduction
[2] Agility: +Mobility rolls
[3] Crit: +Target Defense Reduction
[3] Mind
[2] Charisma: Helps improve opinions
[1] Appearance: +First impressions
Traits:
Torso scar
Artifacts:
a ghastly knight of black armor
Violent: +3 / -6
[+0] True Steel: Affects the knight's physical attacks
[+0] Live Matter Absorption
[+0] Necro Matter Absorption
[+0] Artifact Synthesis
[+0] Bodily Restoration
Inventory:
Equipped: Padded Armor (+5 Defense, +5 extra vs. blunt impacts) (locks joints if hit by bullets)
Prisoner tag (attached to arm)
Food tray
4 12 10 20 20 10
Combine the 4 and 10 to form a 14.
Then follow Rayoris to the lab and observe the situation in the lab. If Turaco is in serious danger, then intervene on his behalf. If not, then sneak over through the other hallway.
Oh goodness, the slave is here too? And he's going to the lab? This could get ugly very quickly. Although it is a chance to finally see whether or not he's a true danger.
((Yeah, in the time between roll 1 and roll 2 where I was skipped, I had no chance to even check the site, much less post an action.))
Raioyris seems to have frightened the clerk, who let him use the computer.
The scientist seems to recognize you.
Scientist: Hey, you're that guy they framed...
He walks closer.
Scientist: What's going on, did you guys take over or something? Why are the guards striking if...
You also have access to the files below after Raioyris is done using them. If he doesn't finish using the computer, then you don't have access to these files.
Raioyris' is the most interesting by far.
First are the pictures of his Knight, which frightened the clerk. There is a sketch by the late Dr. Ornsworth showing most of the details on the knight in frightening accuracy. It's almost like he's a manga artist.
There is a document detailing a theory about Raioyris' human artifact nature. It states that Raioyris is different from other human artifacts in tha he has a human physiology, whereas most "human artifacts" are merely a sort of artificial thinking matter embedded in a human-like shell.
One document brings up the ethical issues of keeping Raioyris imprisoned for something he can't actually control. It firmly rejects the ethical conundrum, stating that because he is an artifact, any dangers posed in the past by his knight were posed by him.
Then there are some strange pictures of purple nebulas. In one clip, a starscape fades away to a purple backdrop over about a minute, flickering into and out of the picture occasionally.
A huge object pans into view. It looks like the sun up close, but it's surrounded by a black void which blurs into the purple nebulascape. It looks kind of like a black hole with a star instead of an event horizon, in terms of the light-warping.
You think you see a floating island in the distance, passing by at a decent rate.
A severe biohazard, Archibald Zearsoul was the subject of heavy investigation during his stay. His oxygen supply, isolated from the rest of the atmosphere, is laced with a chemical known as a Nanobiologcal Immunosuppresant Agent. It allows physiological toxins to affect hosts that are otherwise immune by, through the use of artificial proteins, providing an alternate pathway for toxins to enter cells that they normally wouldn't be able to enter.
You find all sorts of specifications and classifications regarding the various parasitic lifeforms living in his body.
There is also a file detailing his artifact, some sort of anomalous spherical object.
Arthur is an above-average sized Space Mushroom, a species known for its psychoactive spores which it can vent into the air at will. These individuals are incredibly rare throughout society, having once been the target of a major genocide during the colonization of their homeworld.
They are immune to their own spores' acute effects, but the spores work on even alien animals, including humans.
Due to security issues, all guards have been injected with a retroviral treatment granting them immunity to Space Mushroom spores. The immunity agent works by blocking the spores' toxin delivery pathway into brain cells, thus allowing the toxin to be absorbed into the bloodstream without any symptoms ocurring.
You find a video clip of a man being chased into the hallway by an evil-looking gangster. The screen cuts to static, but you can still hear screaming and ripping sounds on the sound channel.
The towel is far more interesting than the person.
It seems they had a testing schedule planned out for the towel, but the date (Feb. 2nd, Skanderford Capital Time) has already passed. It was yesterday.
You see a bunch of images in the folder, most of them of an ordinary towel.
Dice queue (1 free picks): 12 10 20 20 14Status Effects:
none
Skills:
[2] Ground Vehicles
[1] Positioning (x2 Cost): +Defense on criticals
[1] Non-Automatic Weapons: +Attack rolls
[1] Predator: +Stealth rolls
[1] Construction/Modification
[2] Politics: +Political campaigning
[2] Power Systems: +Science rolls
[1] Business: +Finding jobs/deals
[2] Intellect: +Solving mathematical problems
Traits:
Blamed by Military
Artifacts:
Ardenn
Marshal: +3 / -6 (Modifying objects for military purpose)
[+0] Scaling
[+0] Transmutation
[+0] Weaponization
[+0] Armoring
Inventory:
Prisoner tag (attached to arm)
Food tray
Violaceous Turaco pauses mid-dramatic pose to look around the room, assessing the tactical situation. Seeing the woman brandishing a fountain pen at him, he reaches out and arms himself from the materials available on her desk (4) and holds his new weapon (or new office supply, rather) up to the towel and attempts to bluff the occupants of the room, (11) relying on his natural charisma, flair for the dramatic, and dashing entry through the door.
"Step back! I have the towel! One step closer and I'll rip a hole in it and this entire ship will go down in flames! I'm warning you!"
If the people in the room are sufficiently concerned and do not take any action, Violaceous Turaco continues, his cape secretly hoping that some of these people watched his televised shootouts, (17)
"You can have the towel. I'll give it back to you. All I want in return is my cape, a week's worth of food and water, and a shuttle. You can look up my file. I'm Violaceous Turaco. I'm not dangerous. In fact, you'd be doing the world a favor by letting me out."
If the people in the room are not sufficiently concerned about Violaceous Turaco threatening to rip up what he claims is a magic towel and attempt to attack him or alert others, he disarms and incapacitates them in the flashiest non permanently damaging way he can think of. (17) Think standing arm bars and hip tosses into the camera, crushing it. Maybe throw something through the glass around the altar like object, if the opportunity presents itself.
[Close-Quarters-Combat + Infantry Combat: 4+4+1] You grab and equip yourself with one of the most feared implements of destruction in the whole office: An electric staper. Flinging it around like some sort of monstrous nunchuck, you perform several tricks with it before smacking yourself in the arm with it. [Constitution: 1]
...ouch.
[Charisma: 11+2] They believe it! Stepping back, with their hands up, the three occupants line up against the walls to their respective backs. It worked!
Scientist: The cape is in the hazardous materials storage. You can go get it. It's in the lockers to the right. They're all unlocked.
[Dramatic Situation: 17+3] You feel the tension in the air as you enter the storage room, filled with rows upon rows of toxic cylinders full of noxious poisons and volatile chemicals no man can breath and still live. Trapped on a starship alone, without comrades, in the pitch dark of space... and now you're just about to make your escape.
You find the locker. This is it. You feel the handle.
[Drama: 17+3] ...It's locked. Does that mean that the scientist was...
...a lying half-orc?
You hear a hissing sound. The air vents on the ceiling slam shut, and you notice bulkheads sealing rapidly over the door you came from.
Suddenly a powder fills the air. You know better than to inhale it, but you'll only be able to hold your breath for so long. You have to act fast.
There's a curtained-off area in the back corner of the room. Further back, there's a doorway to a utility closet and another doorway that leads to the "Atmospheric Lab." There are many tanks of chemicals and gases on the shelves in the room though. You'll probably be able to find something that can help.
Dice queue (1 free picks): 6 7 16 16 10Miniquests: Dramatic Entrance: Subdue all who have been alerted by your presence. Non-lethally. (Reward: You are now unable to kill people unintentionally, unless you roll a 20)
Status Effects:
Stapled Arm (Slight bleeding. Nothing too serious. -1 to combat.)
Skills:
[2] Charisma: Helps improve opinions.
[1] Contacts: +Finding criminal zones
[1] Constitution: +Chance to resist debuffs
[1] First Aid: +Debuff/bleed removal
[1] Horticulture: +Interacting with flora
[1] Camoflague: +Hiding things, removing tracks
[1] Infantry Combat
[4] Close-Quarters-Combat: +<=Mid range attack
[2] Crit: +Target Defense Reduction
[3] Automatic Weapons: +Attack rolls
Traits:
Dashing Good Looks
Artifacts:
Heroic Cowl
Noble (+3 / -6) (bonus against criminals)
Underdog (+3 / -6) (bonus when outmatched)
Dramatic (+3 / -6) (bonus in narratively dramatic situations)
[+0] Dexterity enhancement
[+0] Dodge saves: You can replace your Defense roll with this special power
[+0] Environment modification
Inventory:
Prisoner tag (attached to arm)
Food tray
Archibald would mumble an "Uh oh" and start righting himself in his suit. The seal had been compromised, meaning that even with the filter built into his suit, chances are the poor sod is infected with megaInfluenza. Either that, or there was a high enough dose of spores clogging the filter to mess the poor sod up. Either way, he needed to get them to a medical ward ASAP. If the guard would let him, he would quickly start assisting them in the direction of it, or at the very least the research station.
Unconfortable Guard: Just go on... without me... ugh...
The guard falls to the floor, trembling.
[Stealth: 20] Some of the other guards start acting the same way as the first one as you walk past them with the leaking oxygen tank. A most strange occurrence.
You find yourself in the infirmary, halfway down the hall to the cafeteria. Inside there is a nurse cowering in the corner with a knife. When you approach her, she points it at you, telling you to stay back.
Dice queue (2 free picks): 3 6 15 19 6 15 2Status Effects:
none
Skills:
[2] Medical
[2] First Aid: +Debuff/bleed removal
[1] Surgery: +Healing long-term damage
[2] Physician: +Medicines/poisons/antidotes
[3] Genetics: +Genemodding/genecrafting
[1] Conduct (Intimidation, Politeness, Elegance)
[2] Willpower: +Resistance to mind control
[2] Intellect: +Solving mathematical problems
[1] Persuader: Bonus to persuasion checks.
Traits:
Biohazard
Artifacts:
Orb of Mutagenesis
Perfection: (+3 / -6) (bonus to creating better creatures)
Transformative: (+3 / -6) (bonus to drastic, large-scale mutation)
[+0] Shapeshifting
[+0] Plaguecrafting
[+0] Extreme genetics
Inventory:
Biohazard Suit
Prisoner tag (attached to arm)
Food tray
Oxygen Tank
Electric Screwdriver
...Right.
Open the towel back up.
Remove dice. Put in a pocket.
Cover face.
You open the towel and the dice fall out.
Very. Carefully. You put them in your pocket. Wait, your prison jumpsuit doesn't have one. You don't remember it having one, at least...
[20] Somehow it does have a pocket. Huh, maybe you just didn't notice it before.
Suddenly you feel your new pocket burning. You remove the dice, almost searing your hand in the process, and realize that half the dice are now red. Not red-hot, just red. They apparently don't like being held in pockets.
Dice queue (3 free picks): [?]r [?] [?] [?]r [?] 10rStatus Effects: none
Skills:[5]
Persuader: Bonus to persuasion checks.[5]
Politeness: Avoids offending people.[5]
Mediator: +Conflict resolution[5]
Bartering: +HagglingTraits:Perfectly Normal
Artifacts:The one, the only, the egregious, magic space towelUnnormalcy (+3 / -6) (Strange things, strange coincidences)
Inventory: Magic Space Towel
Prisoner tag (attached to arm)
Food tray
Wait in the queue, I guess.
[20] You wait in line. Exceptionally.
In fact, the experience is so excruciatingly boring that you dislocate one of your shoulder joints while stretching idly.
Dice queue (3 free picks): 6 4 1 15 20 11Status Effects: Dislocated Shoulder (-2 to melee combat)
Skills:[6]
Spell Control (x1/2 Cost): -Spell overshoots[6]
Spell Proficiency (x1/2 Cost): +Spell fails[2]
Strength: +Melee Attack, utility[5]
Agility: +Mobility rolls[1]
Predator: +Stealth rolls[1]
Observation: +Reduced Enemy StealthTraits:Multiple ScarsArtifacts:Pendant of PainDestruction (+3 / -6)
Inventory: Prisoner tag (attached to arm)
Food tray