Depends on what you're asking. If were talking about abilities, then you get your first set for free, and everything else is under the aegis of a new point-buy system that Serious has partially tested for me. If we're talking about usage, then the costs are detailed on the wiki page. (Link is in the first post)
Now, SYNOPSIS! It's far from being a complete history of events, but I think it covers most of the bases.
Section 1,
Tarran Smith, a freedom fighter with serious target management problems; Trol Grane, a casino enforcer with a mostly broken psyche; Dominiqe Wakeman, a maintenance worker with anger management issues; and Taric Sizer, a hacker with no recognizable morals, were four people that, under normal circumstances, should have never crossed paths. Fate, however, is a funny thing.
Dominique was black bagged after coming home from a red shift, Tarran was ambushed and arrested by an arbiter while trying to meet with an illicit arms dealer, Trol was arrested on arranged murder charges (which he made very real), and Taric was gassed and taken after getting medical treatment for several metal spikes in his arm. (Courtesy of Tarran)
The four woke up on a shuttle, bound into their seats, guarded, and sealed safely away from pilot. Attempts to escape only served to catch the attention of said pilot, Nathaniel Hoke, who passed the time by engaging in amicably teasing conversation with the passengers. The shuttle was headed for the gate to Eridani, and Dom, Tarran, Taric, and Trol had all been labeled as Deviation 22s, a catch all designation with no particular meaning. They were to be dropped off at a prison, experimented on, and, if they were very lucky, eventually used as labor for a developing colony. Part of that plan was successful. The shuttle made it through the gate and made it close enough to the prison to request landing clearance before the prison’s anti-aircraft defenses zeroed in. With no reason given beyond a single cryptic statement, the prison fired, and the shuttle turned into so many tons of flaming metal plummeting to the ground.
The pilot was killed instantly, and the guards were crippled on impact with the ground, but, partially by virtue of being completely restrained, the four prisoners survived. With their bindings rendered into little more than bright cobwebs by the ship's death, the passengers explored their surroundings in an attempt to make some sense of their predicament. The result was the inadvertent activation of the shuttle’s self-destruct sequence, forcing a snap decision to run to the only recognizable structure: the same prison that had attempted to turn them into ash.
A vehicle from the facility met them halfway, and a team of Unchained rebels led by Officer Joseph Mary gave the former prisoners a polite but non-negotiable ride. After some cajoling by Tarran, Joseph sheds a little light on why they’re their, and why there sent to the prison as Deviation 22s. The prison was not just the usual processing house for dangerous deviants, it was a research facility designed to perform analysis, training, and destructive testing of psionic abilities in humans. Those that are sent to the prison are branded D22s, lost forever in paperwork, brainwashed into weapons, or, failing that, killed and tested further. The shuttle carrying the party was shot down because it requested clearance at the wrong time. Specifically, it requested it just after the Unchained had gained control of most of the facility. The call was made to ground the shuttle by any means necessary before it could escape or transmit.
Somewhat stunned by the revelation that the technocracy wants to test them for psionic potential, the group is led to meet with Matriarch Cassandra, the leader of this cell of Unchained. At Joseph’s request, Cassandra probes each of the party in turn, verifying that they are who they say they are, and that their intentions are, if not honest, then at least not actively harmful to the Unchained. Her final decision on the group is simple, they can each be passed through the same Technocrat device used to train and hone latent abilities and the survivors of the ordeal can join the Unchained, or they can be turned into walking vegetables. Everyone but Tarran immediately chooses the former, Tarran waffles a little before being pressed into conformity by the Matriarch’s will.
Tuck, a frighteningly enthusiastic Unchained scientist, leads them through the orientation process. Essentially they’re going to have their brains examined, their memories offloaded and overwritten with new information, and then stuffed back into their meat suits. The effect will be to give the group fifty years of sanity breaking psionic training in the space of eighteen minutes. The group, while lacking in Tuck’s enthusiasm, clambers one by one into the pods. Surprisingly, they all survive well enough to be guided into beds and left alone for the night.
Part 2,
For a little while, everyone is left to their own devices. Taric seeks out the Unchained tech-labs, making fast friends with several technicians thanks to his aptitude with technology. Dominique, Tarran, and Trol track down something to eat and then train with the rest of the Unchained. Aside from Tarran making enemies with the Unchained cell's Signifer and Dominque getting her ribs cracked, little of interest happens.
Their first mission from the Unchained is given shortly after things cool down. When the facility was captured, the prisoners split into two groups; the Unchained, and the independents that didn’t want to be under the thumb of either the Technocrats or the Unchained's own leaders. The independents took control of the armory and barricaded themselves into the eastern parts of the facility, turning every entrance into a one-way walk straight into a killbox. The mission is to drop from the Unchained comms tower, land on the independent controlled part of the prison, blow a hole in the roof, then infiltrate and attempt to seize control of the independent gun batteries that cover the main entrance.
Through blood, tears, and weaponized porn, the party succeeds in fighting its way to the gun battery. They manage to take control of it for long enough to let the Unchained make their push, and in the process, garner the attention of Hake, leader of the independents. Hake, quite mad and wearing an experimental bio-walker, comes very close to killing everyone who attempts to face him. Eventually, after a concerted effort from Tarran’s anti-armor rifle, Dom’s psionics, and the Unchained’s own abilities, the walker falls. Taric and Trol have to be carried out, but the battle is won, and while the independents are not eradicated, they are beaten. The group is celebrated for their efforts in securing the armory (and a supply of booze), and are rewarded with some downtime and a pair of additional soldiers for their squad; Jamie Teague and Ellen Saun
Taric, once again, spends most of his time either in the labs, inventing a new and larger gun, or having sex with Saun. Dominique gets in a few more training scrapes, making the acquaintance of Major Cain and generally having a good time. Trol and Tarran also spend the majority of their time training and relaxing, but all good things come to an end.
The Unchained are forced to evacuate the prison facility when the remaining Technocrats that have walled themselves into the western part of the facility manage to get an emergency distress beacon past the Unchained’s scramblers. The party is thrust once more into the breach as Matriarch Cassandra sends them to recover whatever new AI core the Technocrats are using to re-take control of the facility’s systems. The group, flush with their previous success, accepts and enters the Technocrat controlled section of the complex.
Fighting their way up to the reserve control tower, Trol’s already tenuous sanity begins to tear out at the seams, and the party is continually taunted and goaded by a Technocrat warpriest named Altris Shiren. Bloodied and running low on ammunition, the party makes it to the top of the tower, only to be met by Altris and his party of goons. Trol’s sanity breaks down entirely in the ensuing firefight, and he kills Ellen Saun as his madness spirals out of control. Shiren and his men manage to bring Trol’s insane rampage to a bloody end, and Teague, wracked with guilt for his earlier failings, exchanges consciousnesses with a dying Trol to save his life. The Technocrats come within a hair’s breadth of killing Dominique, but Tarran and Taric managed to put them down and secure the tower. Victory, however, is short lived and bitter.
The emergency beacon that the Technocrats sent out has succeeded in calling the attention of a military cruiser, and, instead of attempting to retake the facility, it simply opens fire from orbit. With the base’s shields failing, the party offloads the AI core, which, surprisingly, turns out to be another copy of Nathaniel Hoke, the pilot that brought them to the facility. Hoke, completely unaware of who the hell these new people are, but not really caring as long as he can be carried out of the exploding base, directs them to the ship that Altris was intending to escape with.
Thanks to Taric’s hacking abilities, the party steals the militarized luxury transport and blows their way out of the facility seconds before its shield's fail. Nathaniel is re-uploaded into the ship’s computer, and he once again takes up duty as pilot. With the cruiser still in orbit launching fighters and firing beams down into the facility, Nathaniel is forced to take evasive action, Tarran uses the ship’s point defense cannons to burn down incoming interceptors, Taric takes over the electronic warfare suite to redirect incoming missiles, and Dominique makes lunch. In the process of serving Salisbury steak to the team, Dominique discovers James Evan restrained into a surgical chair in the ship's medical bay. After a brief discussion, Dominique releases him to eat lunch and at least die with a full stomach.
Dying, however, fails to happen. The transport is able to make the cover of the moon’s massive and radiotrophic canopy forest, jumping off the cruiser’s sensors and losing its remaining interceptor tails in the woods. Finding themselves in one of the momentary lulls where nothing is trying to kill them, the party uses the time to plot a course to the settlement of New Hensfield, eat lunch, shower, change clothes, and sleep.
Cleaned, prepped, and ready to go, the party lands the transport far enough outside the settlement to avoid arousing suspicion. Unfortunately, they also land far enough outside the settlement to encounter a great deal of the sub-canopy wildlife. After deciding to shoot a set of strange mite like creatures, the group is forced to run for their lives from a swarm of extremely hostile ants. Trol in Teague’s body manifests his insanity constructively for the first time and manages to use a kinetic barrier to crush and delay the oncoming ants long enough for the party to reach Hensfield’s wall. As soon as a colonist comes to see what the commotion is, the party promptly arouses all the suspicion they had previously attempted to avoid by simultaneously telling the truth and lying through their teeth while Trol spouts insane one liners.
As a result, Trol get’s a few broken bones courtesy of Dominique, and the party is taken into Hensfield (farming colony of festively colored neck leeches) and promptly dumped in a holding tank usually reserved for drunks and malcontents. After some time, the party receives a visit from the leader of the Unchained that fled to Hensfield from the prison: Major Caine. Major Caine takes Tarran's report, being notably interested in exactly where in the middle of the woods they left the AI that was their primary objective. The party patches her through to talk to Hoke, but things do not go well. Nathaniel attempts to warn the party about something, but is cut out in the middle of his message. Somewhat dissatisfied with the progress of the group, Major Caine offers what help she can and leaves them to win the hearts and minds of the natives as best they see fit.
Shortly after Caine leaves, the party is brought to explain their story to the leaders of the colony; Misha and Curt Neira. Despite wearing tatters and being covered in filth, Tarran and Dominique are able to jointly lie enough to convince the two colonists that Dominique is an arbiter, and that all the rest is need to know. Somewhat desperate to get an arbiter out of their colony, the colonist leaders provide the party with all the supplies that they ask for and give them a lift back over the wall and into the wilderness.
The party marches through the woods for a time, encountering a giant flying snake and whole pack of mutated deadheads. Tarran tries the radio as the group attempts to fight off the 14 clones, and, surprisingly, gets a result. It isn’t Hoke, not by a long shot, but it is an answer. The party flees combatively from the deadheads, but mad Trol gets separated from the party and eventually dies in the forest. The Voice on the radio delivers an invitation, the tone of which alternates between threatening and gentle madness. The party, with little other choice, accepts, and follows the path that the Voice lays out. They don’t make it terribly far.
A ship, disguised as a meteorite, smashes through the canopy and impacts the ground within spitting distance of the party. The ship doesn’t stop at hitting the ground, and ends up punching through one of Mahdavi’s many giant ant colonies, penetrating into the chapel of an underground base. The crew of the disguised ship and the party exchange slow, cautious, and extremely confused greetings as soon as they're both sure that neither group is hostile. Ashley Fey leads the newcomers. Along with Harry Nakamuno and Jordan Grey, she has been sent to this facility for the express purpose of destroying the Voice, known by her as the Father.
The Father is, needless to say, not pleased by this. After ranting and raving at both groups over the radio, the Father threatens to kill them both and goes more or less silent for a time. The two parties explore the facility slowly, getting several cryptic and mostly unhelpful messages from an unknown source. The Father, meanwhile, attempts to make good on his promise to kill them all through several different encounters, most of which involve the use of his personal army of brainwashed bio-armored worshipers. This is compounded by James’ getting serious neurological issues as an after-effect of his mental imprisonment at the hands of the technocracy.
James lapses into a coma shortly after Dominique attempts to copy the effects of her orientation onto him, and, in a moment of poor planning, is very nearly kidnapped by the Immortals. The resulting leadership tensions between Ashley’s team and the others end up driving the two groups apart. Ashley Fey and her boys split off to descend deeper into the facility and continue their mission, while the others explore the top floor. Exploration continues slowly, and James eventually succeeds in his struggles against the multiple shadow personalities and psychic architecture that the Technocrats left in his brain. He learns that he’s still slowly dying from a genetically engineered fungus that is literally eating parts of his brain, but it’s under control for now.
James wakes moments before Taric makes the unfortunate decision to wander off alone to explore a Technocrat drone repair workshop. After Taric doesn't come back or answer when called, the remaining members of the party retrace his steps. They find his radio, and sitting atop the radio, one of his eyeballs. Things do not go well.
The Father contacts the party once again through the bloodied radio, mixing threat and derisive scorn with another invitation. Dominique, out for blood, takes him up on it, leading the party down the path the Father suggests. Nathaniel Hoke, however, interrupts them. Contacting them through a wall screen, he makes enough contact to let them know he’s alive and that he’s been helping them. Tarran, failing to understand some of Hokes veiled statements, blows the pilot's cover and forces Hoke to flee. Without the time to get better information from Nathaniel, Dominique continues to follow the Father’s directions. At the moment of truth, when the Father opens up the elevator that will take the party to their final destination, she enters the elevator and forces Tarran and James away at gunpoint. Wounded, tired, and alone, Dominique descends into whatever madness the Father has planned for her.
His original command entirely gone, Tarran leads James on a path to continue exploring the facility in the hopes of finding a better solution than either running or following Dom’s suicidal course. He finds little to service that ambition, but he does find, or rather, is found by, Aaron White. Aaron White along with his compatriots Paula Ria, Cale Levi, and Henry Myers, are part of a larger group of survivors that are the sole remaining personnel on the base that do not serve the Father.
Dominique, meanwhile, expecting to die in a brief battle of fire, light, lead, and iron, is instead whisked off into the depths of the facility. Taric, madder than ever, but quite alive, greets her upon arrival. He explains that, while the Father made the attempt to break his consciousness down and integrate it into the slurry of minds that makes up the Father, his psionic abilities lent him an unusual edge. The Father and Taric had fought, with Sizier attempting to copy his own personality onto the Father, and with the Father attempting to overwrite Sizier. Sizier won, but not without being altered by the Father in the process. He controls the facility and the Father’s legions of bio-armored soldiers, but the full price that his victory exacted from his sanity is still unknown. In exchange for giving safe passage out to both Tarran and James as well as allowing Dominique full access to search for any reference to her husband in the facility’s considerable database, he enlists her help to access the sealed portions of the facility.
United, Taric and Dominique unseal the facility’s secret labs, discovering a strange device of unknown effect, and, importantly, another orientation device. They use the new device together, and, as yet, Dominique still slumbers in one of the orientation pods.
True to his word, Immortals under Taric’s control track down Tarran and James, and, after a great deal of armed confusion and a near pitched battle from Aarons party, offer to escort the humans to the hangar where they will be allowed to leave. After being given assurance that Dominique is okay, Tarran grudgingly acquiesces and allows the Deadheads to lead them all through the facility, and (hopefully) to freedom.
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Topic: Deviation-22. The End of All Things. (Read 527343 times)