Tarran Smith"Jake, unless it's something that is vital to save our lives or save other's lives, you don't need to tell us immediately. Take your time."
Wait and talk with Jake. (unless there's something else I could do?)
[Diplomacy 4+1] You talk calmly to Jake, trying to put him at his ease while you fiddle with your armor. Taric may have started your relationship with Jake out bungled, though you sill have no idea how or why, but he's the only person here who has more than a 'that looks like something I saw once' knowledge of this place. For a wonder, Jake actually seems to respond well to the calming words. He nods slowly, relaxing visibly as he tries to puzzle something out in his head. He remains silent for a little while longer, but eventually he raises his eyes, trying to focus on where he last heard your voice.
"Sir," Jake begins finally, clearly unsure of how to address you, or how you'll take what he's about to say.
"Why are you here? You wear the uniforms, but I know you ain't 'Crats or priests, and I haven't been deaf... You all are rebels, Unchained, not that there's anything wrong with that, not saying there is, but," Jake pauses only to take in a long breath, wringing his hands together, seemingly unaware of the pistol he's white-knuckling.
"But there don't seem to be any more of you, and you don't even seem to know what you're looking for. The woman who found me, she seemed as spooked to see me as I was to see her, so I know you aren't here to save us... So... Why?" The speech, seemingly all of a piece except for that one breath, takes most of Jakes willpower. His voice, never loud, drops off towards the end, finally trailing off into a barely audible whisper.
[Mechanical 3] You sigh and look down at the patch you were trying to pull back into place. It doesn't seem any worse for the treatment, but at least it doesn't seem worse. Small comfort.
---
Dominique WakemanThere was nothing for it but to press on. "Taric, would you come here and do a psychic sweep of the area to see if there are any little bastards around that might be interested in a pride parade?" she shouted back to him as she continued to move forward.
Your call back to Taric echoes hollowly in the empty hallway, but no reply other than your own warped voice comes back to you. Maybe he can't hear you, though you doubt it considering the way these hallways carry sound. Whether he answers or not doesn't really matter though, his heads up might be useful, but you don't even know if he could find what tried to stop you. You take a deep breath and keep walking.
You cross the intervening distance at a quick walk, trying to keep alert for... whatever tried to confuse you. [P.Empathetics 3] You sense nothing, however, and your thoughts seem to remain your own even as you reach the door to power control. That, though, is not normal. The odd glow, like you saw on James, and on that door back in the primary staff quarters, is here too. It crisscrosses the door at odd angles, making your brain hurt and your stomach shift uncomfortably when you try to look at more than a small part of its structure. [P.Kinetics 4+1] It looks... tense. Like something under tremendous pressure, just waiting for an excuse to explode. The only good thing you can see is that the door appears to be unlocked.
---
Aaron White"Did they do any of those fancy scmancy bio-medpacks up here or what kind of engineering, anything useful, at all?,
And FYI, Im the stupid Reddie here remember, whats an ORS Mother?"
"...N?... Strangers, he mean someone is stupid enough to enter?.
Paula shifts uncomfortably as she reads the message, but she answers your first question while she considers.
"They might have some ORS in packs here, but most if it was stored in an active state and it doesn't keep more than a week if it's not made dormant. If the mother is still alive... The mother is like, like...." Paula frowns, her attempt to find a suitable comparison momentarily distracting her from contemplation of the wallscreen's message.
"It's like an automated factory, except that instead of making things, it makes other factories that make things, but the little factories can't make other factories." Cale stares at her blankly for a moment.
"Who the hell cares?! If there's supplies here, let's grab them, but I don't want an academy lecture about things that I don't understand and don't care to understand." Cale's outburst tapers off a little at the end, but he still looks almost irrationally defiant.
"This... message," he continues, flinging a hand at the wallscreen,
"feels like a trap. How do we know that upper maintenance isn't crawling with... things?" "We'd already be dead if it was a trap. The elevator would have flattened us, or we'd have been gunned done the instant the doors opened, or we could have just been held like a box of kittens until we starved to death," Henry says, his voice pained but emotionless.
"We're probably still dead, but that message doesn't make sense as a trap." Paula snorts as Cale's feet shift defensively.
"If the message can be trusted, the important part is certainly the strangers. If anyone else got in, it means we can get out. Maybe it's the maintenance hangar they got in through, maybe somewhere else, but what matters is that people could get in."---
James EvanJames beat at her with the butt of his shotgun. He had unpleasant plans for the shotgun butt and her head, and would rather like to avoid her plans.
James Evan: 50+0-0= 50
Blight: 42+5-0= 47
Shadow James: 71+0-0 = 71
Deranged Psionic Torturer and Acolyte of the Technocracy/Topless Tropical Waitress: 78+3-0 = 81
Sample 18: 88-85+0 = 3
The waitress grabs for your throat, [Acolyte Melee 5 Vs Melee 3+1] seizing you in a chokehold and trying to force you closer to the black pillar. [Acolyte str 1] Her attempt succeeds only in giving you an opportunity to break her hold, [Melee 4+1] which you do with alacrity.
Your shadow [Dex 3] splashes awkwardly down into the water, losing his chance to help you attack the woman in his sloppy advance.
You suffer no such delays yourself. [Melee 3+1 Vs dodge 2] Losing no time, you bludgeon the woman in the head repeatedly with the butt of your shotgun. [Brawl 4+1] (Acolyte shadow -30 HP and kill) The weapon connects solidly twice, but the third stroke reduces the woman to a drifting haze. The severed arm, however, does not dissolve. It drops out of the place where the woman's back used to be, plopping down into the surf.
[Blight Str 4+1, End 5+1, 4+1, Will 4, Luck 4. 60/50] A section of air, located roughly where you entered, slides open. Blight, looking like she'd just been beaten with a couple headless chickens, practically falls out. The fury in her eyes should have knocked a strong man dead at ten paces.
The frozen pillars seem to crack for a moment, swelling before the harden again. [Luck 4] The expansion is enough to make you roll away from the nearest pillar, but not enough to actually hurt you.
---
Turn RecapTarran is not a mechanic
Dominique seems fine for now
Aaron is having a nice chat
James has beaten a topless waitress to death
Relevant ItemsMemory Stick (Dom)
Security Card November (Dom)
Broken Pad (Taric)
Ident Badge -Pyotr Ivanov- (Taric)
Ident Badge -Kira Masse- (Tarran)
Ident Badge -Naomi Weiss- (Tarran)
Unpowered Pad (Tarran)
L1RF Key (Tarran)
Health: 75/85
Stamina: 85/85
Carried weight: 81/180
Attire:Red Maintenance Jumpsuit, Heavily Modified Red Maintenance Suit (46/115, 45 lbs).
Inv:
Phoenix pistol (2/3) (9 lbs)
CFG bars x2 (3)
Crowbar (8lbs)
Simple Knife (2lbs)
Bone Spike (1lbs)
Fifty feet of rope (10 lbs)
Homemade grappling hook (2 lbs)
D-Grade rations x4 (4 lbs)
Status: Floor 13
Paula Ria
Health: 39/55
Stamina: 36/55
Description: Short, brown haired. The years she spent as a researcher at Delphi added lines to her face, the year she spent as a prisoner here added a decade and stole what weight she had from her frail body.
Personality Complication: Soft. Despite her recent hellish ordeals, Ria was a born and raised Technocrat. She's gotten conditioned to hardship, but the pain and the cold decisions that need to be made in her new life still stun her.
Skills: Mechanical 3, Intuition 1, Dodging 1
Attributes,
Strength (Str): 1
Dexterity (Dex): 3
Endurance (End): 1
Charisma (Char): 4
Intelligence (Int): 9
Willpower: (Will): 3
Equipment: Light Body Armor 36/50, Stained Labcoat, Military grade night-vision goggles. Chimera Pistol 15/15, Diagnostic pad, energy cell x2, Light Plasma Torch (60/100), Basic Medical Kit (2/5), Fifty feet of rope, Homemade grappling hook, D-Grade rations x4.
Henry Myers
Health: 13/75
Stamina: 16/75 (Light Bleeding, -3 stamina per turn)
Description: An emaciated man of average height. He's mostly bald now, thanks both due to a receding hairline and to a chemical spill that permanently injured his scalp.
Personality Complication: Maudlin. Henry has a dark streak a mile wide, and he usually shares it at every available person. He's a good man, but the tendency to vent every depressing thought that runs through his head makes him a little irritating.
Skills: Soak 2, Marksman 2, Stamina 1
Attributes,
Strength (Str): 6
Dexterity (Dex): 6
Endurance (End): 3
Charisma (Char): 1
Intelligence (Int): 3
Willpower: (Will): 4
Equipment: Maintenance Jumpsuit, Heavily Modified Maintenance Suit (23/90). Kapre Light Rifle 9/15, .30 caliber clips (15) x2, Pack of Flares, Fifty feet of rope, Homemade grappling hook, D-Grade rations x4.
Cale Levi
Health: 104/105
Stamina: 105/105
Description: A tall young man, blond and brown eyed. He's in fairly decent shape, considering his recent lifestyle.
Personality Complication: Young, and kinda Stupid. Cale is a young man, and though time has aged him quickly, he still occasionally acts on wild impulse.
Skills: Mechanical 1, Melee 2, Dodge 1
Attributes,
Strength (Str): 3
Dexterity (Dex): 6
Endurance (End): 6
Charisma (Char): 4
Intelligence (Int): 3
Willpower: (Will): 1
Equipment: Maintenance Jumpsuit, Heavily Modified Maintenance Suit (78/90). Sleipnir SMG (5/30 | 35/60), .223 clips (30) x2, Energy cell x2, Crude Combat Blade, Neuroflash grenade x2, Fifty feet of rope, Homemade grappling hook, D-Grade rations x4.
Health: 62/70
Stamina: 70/70
Carried Weight: 138/140 (-25%)
Attire: Technocrat Commander Dress uniform [11lbs] Standard Body armor, 66/100. [35lbs]
Inv:
Energy Cell x6 (3 lbs)
Taric's Frankenstein Versatility Rifle (A30, E65, 31lbs, in hand,) (Can't use laser)
.220 gauss clip x3
Basilisk pulse rifle 4/5 (13 lbs)
Piru Gauss Rifle (4/5 4/5 16lbs)
.45 Gauss slugs x2 (5)
Disruptor Pistol (4/4 4lbs)
Saun's Helmet (Quarter full of ants, enclosed.) (3lbs)
Box of terrible scrap components (20lbs)
Short Range Radio, (Off)
Memory Foam centerfold
colonist rations x5 (5lbs)
Tripwire emitter
Status: ?
Health: 75/75
Stamina: 75/75
Carried Weight: 146/150 (-25%)
Attire: High-prelate Uniform [8lbs] Standard Body Armor 48/100. [35lbs]
Inv:
Tarran's Ichneumon Anti-Armor Rifle -Scope- (1/1, 20lbs, 1 rounds in speed loader)
1' sabot packs x1 (2)
Combat Knife (1lb)
Sleipnir SMG (A0, E25 9lbs,)
Sleipnir SMG (A0, E25 9lbs,)
Energy cells x4
8 .220 gauss clips (35)
Basic First Aid Kit 3/5 (5lbs)
1 .220 gauss clip (25)
Jormungandr Assault Rifle (A4, E39), 16lbs. In hand,
Artemis Railgun (E 3/3, A 3/3, 18lbs)
.50 Rail Clip (3)
Credit Chit (Unknown)
Status: Unknown Restaurant, back rooms.
Health: 113/135
Stamina: 115/115
Carried Weight: 135/210 (-25%)
Attire: Arbiter dress Uniform, pristine [10lbs] Standard Body Armor, 20/100. [35lbs]
Inv:
Dominique's Abassy Heavy pistol -laser sight- [6, 8lbs]
Stun club (50/50 11lbs)
Fuath Riot suppression carbine [6, 13lbs, Caustic load]
.50 caliber pistol clips x7 (7, 2lbs)
Full Bottle of Wine x1 (1lb, sealed)
Jormungandr Assault Rifle (A35, E70, 16lbs. In hand)
LR Jormungandr Battle Rifle (13/35 A, 8/15 E, Damaged, 17lbs)
Artemis Railgun (E 3/3, A 3/3, 18lbs)
.220 gauss slugs x1 (35)
.220 gauss slugs x1 (30)
Smoke Grenades x1 (neg)
Energy cells x3
Energy cell (90%) x1
.50 Rail Clip (3) x1
Field rations x1
Phoenix Pistol [2, 9lbs]
Basic medical kit (1/5) (5lbs)
Data storage drive [Romance novels]
Unknown Chemical Hypo x3 (Neg)
Partially sorted (1/3) stack of Technocrat stamped papers (Bad novel)
Status: Unknown Restaurant, back rooms.
Health: 32/75 (Dreamspace HP 78/200)
Stamina: 75/75
Carried weight: 105/240 (-25%)
Attire: Exarch Dress uniform [8lbs] James' Light Body armor 47/50 (50/50) [25lbs]
Inv:
(Dreamspace: Satyr Light pistol 9/18)
(Dreamspace: Eldjötnar shotgun (A 4/4 | E 12/12))
(Dreamspace: ORS 3/3)
Renfield SMG (10, 10lbs, in hand)
Riot shield (10lbs 30/30)
Piru Gauss Rifle (E5/5 A5/5 16lbs)
.45 Gauss slug clip (5)
Simone's Song (6lbs 4/7 -Frangible Rounds-)
.50 caliber Frangible pistol clips (7) x1
Dybbuk Flechette Canister Rifle (1/2 35 lbs)
20 mm flechette canisters (x2, 1 lb)
Status: Unknown Restaurant. Incredibly Smelly.
Author
Topic: Deviation-22. The End of All Things. (Read 526961 times)