Turn 13
"Yeah? And what's that got to do with me?"
"WELL, IT'S A GOOD SOURCE OF MORTALS THAT YOU CAN MURDER WITHOUT PEOPLE GENERALLY CARING TOO MUCH.
"BUT YOU SEEMS TO NOT BE MOTIVATED BY BLOODLUST FOR SOME REASON, SO I'LL SAY THAT YOU MIGHT BE COMPENSATED BY MONEYED PEOPLE FOR STOPPING THE ROBBERY. OR, AT LEAST, YOU COULD POSSIBLY STEAL SOMETHING AND GET AWAY WITH IT DURING THE CONFUSION.">Enter the dining car, and look for anything of interest. Also, make sure I have easy access to my briefcase if shit goes down.
You enter the diner car. This compartment would appear to the player to be a 1950s-style diner, though that is simply a coincidence, as it is actually decorated in the style of the Flaming Terrors Region during The Battle Age, which just happened to a very similar aesthetic.
At the bar, diner patrons are enjoying some milkshakes being served up the zombie squid waitress, and a couple of people are gathered around the jukebox, jiving to the latest dance craze, the Twiddlefitch.
There are a couple of booths around, including one that seems to be occupied by a bunch of teens on a double date, one that has a bunch of misfits who only have each other, and one that seems to be occupied by two people who were once lovers, but eventually realized they weren't a right fit for each other, but they still hang out together because, even though they know they don't work as a couple, when it comes down it to it, they're still good friends.
(Prudence V (88)=72% Success!)
You also notice, in one of the booths, there seems to be a couple of shady-looking characters, giving each other sharp glances and furtively looking around.
(Base Luck roll 10%=63% Failure)
You do not, however, see a map in this location.
Currently, behind you is the billiards room, and ahead of you is what looks like a bank.
Al will see if anyone on the train is interesting enough to talk to.
(Base Luck roll 10%=6%-(5d10 Location Bonus=24%)=-18% Critical Success!)
By luck, you happen to avoid getting dragged into a conversation with a professor of dullology (the study of very boring things) and manage to strike up a chat with a lynx person named Vondis Volune, who it turns out is actually an acid sea pirate.
They tell you about how they captain a platinum submarine and waylay glass-hulled merchant ships and do battle with reactional ghosts. Apparently they're currently on their way to the Mountain of Dusk to dig up the remains of a former crewmate, Breema Spellminder, who took the key to an important treasure to her grave.
(Don't remember where resistance should go so I put under skills as its kind of the same kind of thing.)
Keep eating the fire and only stop if I'm nearly dead or I win, also find out what the prize for winning is.
Name: Bubba Jobob
Class(es): Wagonmancer
Race(s): Zebra / Wagon kin
Equipped Weapon: MP40 (24/30)
Stats:
Strength: Slightly above average
Agility: Okay
Speed: Medium
Intelligence: High
Style: Fancy
Charisma: Not very
Perception: Great
Amount of stripes: Loads of them
Skills:
Wagon summoning: 43%
Wagon language: 14%
Brick throwing: 20%
Egg detection: 50%
Dodging: 05%
Firearm use: 24%
Small creature kicking: 30%
Fire resistance: 18%
Abilities:
Polymorph other into wagon
Raise wagon from dead
Friend to all wagons
Anything Else: Is an enemy of the state Road Island
Inventory:
MP40 (24/30)
Whispering Launcher (1/1)
Whispering Grenades 12
Crowbar X6
Currency:
Sea Copper 120
Perfect Farthings 16
(Fire Resistance 18%=10%-(2d10 Easiness Bonus=20%)=-10% Critical Success!)
The next challenge is swallowing an entire flaming torch, and you do so with great aplomb, so much so that (d10=5) five of the other contestants simply from sheer intimidation. The remaining six (Fire Resistance 21%>6d100=1 Success) mostly fail to resist the fire, and take (2d6=7) seven fire damage each, (-10 Resist) which isn't enough to hurt them yet.
Then you move on to eating a small cooking fire, which you (Fire Resistance 18%=47%-(d10 Easiness bonus=7%)=40%) don't handle as well, taking (3d6=5) five fire damage, bringing you up to a total of nine fire damage, which (-9 Resist) still isn't enough to affect you. The others (Resistance 21%>6d100=1 Success) most fail again, taking (3d6=10) ten fire damage, to a total of seventeen (I'm gonna say the one who succeeded last time did so again). Their resist (-10 Resist) means they have an effective seven fire damage, so (7 Fire damage>6d100=No Successes) all of the ones who took damage before are each consumed by a great conflagration, knocking them out of the competition by death.
You now have only one competitor, and you're at the point where, if you take more damage, there will start to be a chance you could be taken out. And you ask what the prize is, which is a prismatic spear that allows its user to locate whatever they desire once per day.
I just finished this turn and I thought the whole system was pointless, since it seems like going over your resist means you'll die on any roll, but then I realized I just did the whole thing backwards, but I'm not going to change anything at this point, so everything that happens stands, and I'll just do it properly next time.
Feel bad about controlling the hippies and let them go
You tell the hippies to be free, and think for themselves (hippies Free-Thinking skill 18%=50% Failure), but they don't really know how to do that, so they ask you how you want them to think for themselves.