Next we visited Nurse in her makeshift clinic; she bought our controller head for a small sum and shooed us out after making rather crass implications concerning Damsel. From there, we decided to go with a plan we'd formulated in approaching the second site. Bird and Damsel, as the most unusual members of our group, would stay outside and keep our rather distinct new artifact detector, killing time by looking for an artifact. Twitch and Bosse would head in and attempt to find Spaz, or at least his trail. A visit to one of the local merchants was interesting; we passed on a customized L85A1 but bought a beretta to replace Twitch's makarov. After doing business with the merchant, he readily enough gave us a tip on Spaz; we followed that to the bar and the bar to the common barracks, where we literally ran face-first into Spaz. Several hours in the bar later saw us speak and drink with the already-sloshed stalker. Things were going well until an old foe - Fox, the bandit who fancied himself a toll road operator. We managed to politely get him to fuck off, but by then Spaz had resolved to stop dicking around at the agroprom and rejoin his friends; he'd wanted R&R and they had not.

We followed Spaz out of the agroprom and fashioned and ambush on him thanks to a distracting shot by Bird. However, we ourselves were ambushed - Fox and his associate, Ivan, had followed us and attempted to rob all four (five, counting Spaz) of us. We did exactly what he didn't expect: fought back at point-blank range. A brief exchange of fire later saw Ivan dead and Fox wounded; we delivered a second shot to the pompous bandit and turned our attention to Bird, who had been shot. Luckily for us and him in particular, the round had hit one of the few hard plates in his light stalker suit and stopped entirely. We were forced to bolt without a thorough shakedown of the bandits for two reason - one, our captive was fleeing, and two, we heard alarmed voices moving our way. Not wanting to complicate things further, we grabbed one of the weapons and moved off, recapturing Spaz. Now we're running afield - ahead is a tumbledown shed, well-secluded in the weeds...

Equipment:
-cold weather clothes
-hooded jacket
-moldy Red Army officer's cap
-mercenary ballistic vest
-lead-lined backpack
-flashlight
-utility knife
-night vision goggles
-basic gas mask
-Soviet scope (shared)
-trail rations
-PDA x1 (ours)
-anomaly detector
-compass
-no bandages (+4 in group)
-no first aid kit (+3 in group)
-m1911
-Skorpion machine pistol
-Mossberg 88
-AKS-74
-advanced detector
-1 grenade (+6 in group)
-jellyfish artifact
-24 shells, 24 slugs, 21 .45, 4 30-round 5.45 magazines (one with 25 rounds)
-3486 RU

Sage for yet another shitty railroad quest.

>>12089670
Alright, have Bird and Damsel check out the shed, while Twitch keeps his gun on Spaz.

What weapon were we able to grab?

Team Equipment
Bird
-AKS-74 w/ scope
-makarov PM
-2 grenades

Alexander/Twitch
-AKS-74
-MP-5
-beretta
-2 grenades

Damsel
-AKS-74
-Skorpion machine pistol
-Fort-12
-2 grenades

I thought we shot spaz? Did we.. i can't remember

>>12089733
You grabbed the RPK-74. Note that you guys also have Spaz's full-length pump-action and Fort-12. You and Twitch rented some black rain jackets as a pseudo-disguise for 200 ru that you'll get back on returning them.

Spotting the tumbledown shack leaning drunkenly in the weedy ground, you tell Damsel and Bird to check it while you and Twitch watch Spaz. The shack turns out to be little more than an empty utility shed with a cracked concrete floor reduced to something like gravel - the only problem are the thin walls, but then, you're not sure you'll find any good hiding holes on hand, either.

>>12089748
Nah, though you hit him with your shotgun.

Recettear and Stalker Quest - the two ingredients of a perfect night.

If we don't hear the voices, I suggest we head into that shed. Carefully, of course.

Cocking an ear for the voices you heard earlier, you find that you hear nothing now; well, not nothing, but not sounds of alarm or pursuit, either. Then again, considering that you're technically holding a man hostage at gunpoint, you can't exactly afford to be traipsing about openly and decide to take the shed while you can. With the five of you inside, it becomes a cramped space very quickly; Spaz gets shoved onto a pile of garbage at gunpoint, and the recovered guns get leaned in a corner. The captured stalker looks at you in a mixture of fear, confusion, and anger; he's still drunk, even if he is a fast recoverer.

"What the fuck is this shit?"

Considering the way he's talking with guns in his face, you can see where he got the name.

>>12089892

Why'd you kill the Dutyers?

Lets take a minute and look at his pda.

You decide to start off with a basic enough question; interrogation isn't something you've done but once with some loser bandit, but you figure you sound convincing, "Why'd you kill the Dutyers?"

Spaz sneers at you, but stays put, "You're headfucked, the only one killing anyone around here is you assholes."

From behind you, Bird produces his PDA, loaded with the video of the shooting. He plays it for Spaz. Then he does it again. And again. And again. The man's almost cocky snarl drops off by measures, and you pose the question again.

"Why did you murder those men?"

This time, he answers you only with sullen silence.

>>12089892

"You're in a shed. In the middle of the Zone. NOBODY'S coming to save your ass. And we're asking the questions here, ding-a-ling." (Backhand his ass).

Also, wasn't the heavy gun held by Ivan a SAW? Could be mistaken though.

Have bird sort through the pda and find the meeting place and/or a way to track down Spaz's friends.

>>12089942
Even as you're questioning the stalker, Damsel has taken his PDA and is examining it. When Spaz lapses into silence, you give her a questioning look. She simply shakes her head at your implied question, "the thing's empty as far as I can tell. Nothing in here but porn and an e-copy of Crime and Punishment."

Twitch, not believing this irony, looks over her shoulder to confirm. To his credit, he keeps his composure.

Spaz, for his part, leans back, regaining some of his smugness, "there's nothing on there that's worth shit to you."

Damsel ignores him, looking further in its apparently barren file system anyway.

Have bird go outside and keep watch.

>>12089974
The RPK-74 is a SAW, albiet a Soviet one.

>>12089989

Bitch slap him. And ask the question why he killed those scientists. If he refuses, bitch slap him again and ask again. Repeat.

>>12089952

" I remember, back at the bar. You cared a lot about your friends, yeah? If we don't get what we want from you, they're as good as dead. If you just tell us why you did it and who you work for, we'll let you go. Tell Duty you all got killed by a Controller, maybe.


We don't want to have to kill fellow Stalkers; especially not ones as pragmatic as you and your friends. But we have a feeling there's more to your story than we know."

>>12090028

You forgot the manhandling.

>>12090052

We'll have Bird or Damsel do that. We'll play the good cop.

>>12090079

Vote for Damsel to do it. She seems to like getting a bit rough... (cue laughtrack)

Have someone tie him up so he can't resist then put a gag in his mouth so his screams won't echo across the entire zone.

I don't believe in the whole idea of slowly upping the torture till you get your answer. Best to shock the subject by going to something extremely painful first. I would vote after he is gagged we shot him in the leg.

>>12090156

He might go into shock and die. Vote for no shooting. Just... pimpsmack his ass. Repeatedly.

>>12090156

I'd like to keep some part of our moral compass, thank you very much. We'll resort to torture only if talking and light browbeating doesn't work.

>>12090182

So can we go with my suggestions of bitch slapping him between questions?

You decide to wipe the smug look off of Spaz's face; a subtle look to Damsel brings her forward, Bird taking over the PDA. Spaz clearly knew this was coming - you can see him tense even as you glance to Damsel - but getting whacked in the face by a five-foot-eleven Ukranian woman with the physique of a mountain climber, even open-handed, is nothing to take lightly. You keep your voice calm, to emphasize that you're in control, "Why did you kill those scientists?"

Spaz ignores Damsel, addressing you, "Jump on my dick, faggot."

Damsel hits him again, harder, but only marginally so. "Why did you kill those scientists?" you repeat. Twitch looks on with discomfort. You see Spaz consider an answer, then pause.

"Because they were easy marks," you're not sure if it's his drunkenness or the beatings, but this sounds too hesitant to be true; Damsel obviously agrees. The third smack is the hardest yet, and Spaz gives an involuntary painful grunt.

"Let's just kill him," she says, "and skip the foreplay."

You hold up a hand, as if to forestall Damsel, "If you lie to me, Spaz, we'll do what we have to do. Back at the bar, you mentioned that you had friends - you were pretty defensive of them, yes?"

"You can't do shit to them, asshole!"

"We bagged you easily enough," Bird says laconically, "Either your friends pity retards or they're just like you. We'll find them."

"Fuck you!" Spaz snarls.

You resume, "Anyway, if we don't find them, they're as good as dead. Something's going on here that I don't understand, and you need to let us in on it - I'd rather not kill any of you if I can. The Dutyers won't be so forgiving when they find you."

Spaz doesn't seem to believe you, "You're full of shit! There's no such thing as a humanitarian bounty hunter!"

Send twitch outside to stand guard. Last thing we need is someone interrupting us.

>>12090253

"... You're right." (Obtain large heavy rock, return and remove Spaz's shoe. Drop said rock on foot/toes.)

"But I don't like killing people, and today, I'm feeling pretty creative..."

>>12090253

"Ah, and there, you're mistaken; This is more personal than you know. The main reason we're so curious - we were attacked by mercs, looking for a bag of artifacts. We believe that they may be related in some way to your actions.

We'll not tell you any more about the mercenaries that attacked us, unless you give us some information, though. Fair trade, eh?"

>>12090298

Remember what happened when we took the heavy handed approach to dealing with the Stalker antagonizing the military? Obviously, at least one of our group is uncomfortable with torture and killing. We don't need to foster resentment among ourselves, here. Like I said before, we'll only resort to torture if he's completely unresponsive.

>>12090350

Well, we ARE supposed to kill him. Part of the bounty, you know?

Also ask out loud, "hey, how are we supposed to prove we got our marks anyway? Bring back a head or something? Because decapitation does not sound very fun."

>>12090372

Never said I wouldn't have him killed at the end, did I?

Besides, he may be of more use to us alive than dead, depending on how much he knows.

Wait, Bird still has some cigarettes, right? I suggest we use them to make a cigarette burn happy face on the guy's stomach. Just for shits and giggles, if he doesn't cooperate.

Aw. I have a feeling the "torture him" route is gonna win out, here.

(Killing =! torture, for what that's worth. Also, technically, you can bring the four back and turn them over to the arena for a bonus on each.)

You decide to send Twitch outside, you're not certain that you plan to torture Spaz - you'd really rather not - but you also don't want to upset one of your comrades in a delicate situation, "Twitch, go stand watch, will you?"

He hesitates, then complies. Spaz speaks up again, "gonna hit me yourself now, or are you gonna rely on the lady to do all the work?"

You ignore him, "This isn't just a bounty hunting job, this is about murder. If you don't have anything to give us to change our perspective, you may as well tell us and we'll shoot you now."

"You're nothing but a bunch of Duty wh-"

Damsel boots the man in the groin, though not as hard as you expect she might be able to. She looks at you innocently enough, "Hey, he doesn't think a lady can hit, I can always change his mind."

Spaz is too busy gasping for air to retort.

>>12090475

see
>>12090316

>>12090475

... Ow. Just. Ow. I'm guessing Bird also silently cringed when she did that. Along with every male member here.

Yeah, so while he's gasping and sputtering on the ground, let's just calmly question him further.

>>12090504
I'm not totally sure what you're getting at - do you think maybe these guys are related to the theft of the artifacts? I ask because it'll shape the dialog.

>>12090504
Nah, thats a bad move. Why would the man care if we were attacked by mercenaries?

If this guy doesn't start talking after some more pressure, I vote we take him back to Duty's base. Cash in on the bonus from the arena, and the prospect of facing Duty alone might get him talking.

In terms of getting him there: don't tie his arms or legs, and give him an unloaded gun. No reason to draw attention unnecessarily to our prisoner.

>>12090566

He can use that unloaded gun as a weapon. I say we tie his feet and hands to a sturdy branch and carry him that way. Kind of like how they carry dead animals after a hunt.

You wait for Spaz to recover, than wait a while longer in silence; by inches, he returns to glaring at the three of you. Bird doesn't bother to acknowledge him, still working with the PDA; you see him dart a gaze quickly at the experienced stalker, but say nothing.

A few moments more see your patience wear thin, and you try something new, "Alright, let's just haul him back to Duty and they can torture it out of him. We get credit for bringing in murdering scum and they get to find their crooks. This stuff of his'll make for some pay, I'm sure."

"Works for me," Damsel says, grabbing Spaz by the lapels of his jacket and hauling him to his feet, "you heard the boss, march!" she gives him a kick in the ass towards the door to set him along his path. Now his composure seems to be breaking.

(Give him a last push or two.)

>>12090737

Tell him, "oh yeah, if we meet any mutants, guess who gets to play 'bait?'"

>>12090737
We have to make this clear that he can stop this, any time he wants.
I don't trust handing him over to duty- we ned to get the information out of him now.

>>12090842

Seconded.

>>12090737

" I understand what you're trying to do; I'd do the same, to protect my comrades. But, listen - it's going to be much worse for them if we're forced to hunt them down. And let's not try to think about what will happen if Duty's forced to find them, themselves."

>>12090608
An unloaded gun against 4 armed people watching him? I like those odds.

I just don't want a reversal of what happened when we rescued the captured stalker. Anything that draws attention to us is bad news, especially when two of us are dressed like bandits.

>>12090905

Well, we're going to return the suits. Maybe not the masks though, for when the Zone gets fuckishly cold.

"You can stop this whenever you want," you call out from behind him, "if you'll just tell us the truth. Or you can tell it to a Dutyer with a hard-on and a pair of pliers he stuck in a fire for a couple of hours."

"I won't give you my friends!" he snarls defiantly.

"Then what will you give us? I understand you want to protect your friends - you don't get many in the Zone - but if you don't cooperate, you better hope it's us that has to deal with them and not Duty."

He hesitates, and for a moment you think his resolve has resolidified. Then Twitch pops his head in innocently enough, as if to ask if you were ready.

Now Spaz breaks, "I'm Freedom, okay? It was a Freedom op, not a murder. Just give me my shit back and leave me be - you don't want in on this shit."

Bird actually looks up from the PDA, his face a mixture of surprise and contempt; it's brief before he returns to poking in the PDA, now more detetrminedly than before. Damsel pulls Spaz back and sits him back down.

"Here's something," Bird says, showing you and Damsel the screen of Spaz's PDA. It appears to be an e-version of a pornographic magazine called "Babes of" something, the last word has been blotted out.

"When he said Freedom, I thought of an old place they used to stick sensitive files on PDAs, didn't think anyone used it any more."

Damsel gives an appreciative whistle, "those don't look fake."

>>12091040
"You an expert in that area Damsel?"
>Invoke the Tsundereness!
Also, what's Freedom?

>>12091093

Freedom is one of the factions in the STALKER universe. They are directly opposed to the Duty faction. Freedom is more liberal, and are for the Zone to be "protected" and studied and whatnot. Duty are more paramilitary and want the Zone obliterated. You can think of it as Freedom = hippies and Duty = self-appointed police. They can't be "the man," since that's the military.

Anyway, let's have Bird check this info and confirm he's really a Freedomer. Let's also ask him what this shit is anyway.

>>12091040

They killed Ecologists too, right?

>>12091040
Well shit. Ask him to tell you about the op.

>>12091177

Technically, they were Duty scientists. Only bandits, mercs, and the occasional loner stalker generally kill ecologists.

>>12091190

Oh. See, if they were Ecologists, we could blackmail Freedom with the information; threaten to turn him AND the information over to Duty, or just give them the guy and keep it a secret.

>>12091040
Get confirmation from Bird that Spaz really is Freedom.

Okay, so, do we want to continue gaining Duty rep, or get Freedom rep?
I mean, we were beginning to set up a cache and a base back in Rostok, and the money would be nice, but getting on the shitlist for any of the factions is going to be a pain.

>>12091311

We could just set him loose and tell Barkeep that the idiot ran into a minefield. But we hand over the PDA, at least. In exchange for original bounty.

"So he's a Freedomer, then, Bird?" you ask.

Bird shuts off the PDA, "Well, the porn's all that's there, but the censoring and the spot he stuck it say yes. Plus some of the, ah, clothing they were wearing was in Freedom colors."

"Not much clothing I saw," Damsel comments dryly.

Bird ignores her, "This is out there, even for faction wars. Scientists and civilian dependents are usually off-limits, or used to be."

You turn to Spaz, "Tell us about this op."

He seems about to refuse, but then, he's already given up the big enchilada to protect either his friends, his balls, or both, "Some Freedom brass thought that the Dutyers might be onto something. Our job was to kill them and take the data. Since predictive anomaly shit is considered a bit of a lost cause, Duty'd probably stick their copies in a corner and forget about it."

The three of you exchange a glance.

>>12091333
True...we get the money, and Spaz gets to fake his death in order to warn the others that they should do the same.

Reminder: Barkeep wanted photographs of the men dead in order to disburse pay.

Well, do we want to try to stage a fake death, kill him now, or let him go?
I'm leaning towards kill him now, but that's just because I never had a use for Freedom.

Besides, the thought that went into this op of theirs is just plain stupid.

>>12091371

*Pump shotgun* Anything else that may be of interest?

After he spills any more info, we take his gun and ammo, leave it in the shed, tell him to go walk a certain direction until he's reasonably far away, then leave him. We'll tell the guy who sent us after him that we believe he's dead, considering he ran into a minefield and we decided it wasn't worth chasing him in it. That way, if they realize he's alive, we can say that we reasonably thought he wasn't, since he ran into a minefield. Or something of a similar dangerous nature.

And before I forget, let's ask him about the Durandal mercenary group. And the information they got.

>>12091394
Nothing's easy is it?
Alright.
Hrm- find a corpse (this is the zone, corpses should be able to be easy to come by) and throw it into a minefield (see above).
Take picture of exploded corpse- this, coupled with PDA should convince the guy we killed him.

>>12091466

If only we dragged Fox's corpse along with us...

Man, last thread people couldn't wait to kill this guy. Now we're faking his death.

My vote still stands as taking him back to Duty's base. Freedom or no Freedom, this guy killed unarmed men he was hired to protect in the middle of a swamp.

I'm not big on doing this, but some things to consider:
-Dead men tell no tales. If you kill all four, there's nothing to say they WEREN'T just murderers rather than Freedomers sent to capture data and kill researchers incognito.
-If you let Spaz go, then he knows at least 4 people know his secret, which may be worth considering.
-Barkeep is likely to be suspicious about mine-maimed bodies for the reason that he's already been double-crossed. Yeah, you have Spaz's PDA, but there's no real information on it save Freedom porno hidden in the file system.

If anyone cares, Spaz's "full-length pump action" shotgun is something like this. Not necessarily a remington, but you get the idea.

>>12091577

Well, let's see if we can get any more info out of him. Afterward, we shoot him. Be merciful and give him a clean death. Or we can just let him go, as detailed in the plans earlier, and tell Barkeep we weren't able to get a body. Just sell him the PDA and info in exchange for the bounty. General consensus is for us not to get between Duty and Freedom. And who knows? Maybe Spaz might repay the kindness later. Just make sure he knows we're doing a job, just like he was, and it isn't personal. Again, don't forget to ask about Durandal.

>lying back in my seat
>STALKER QUEST
>catapult forward with a grin on my face

Let's cart Spaz back to the Bar, and to Duty.

Quickly, with him bound and gagged sitting papoose-style on the back of one of our guys. If anyone asks, he's wounded and we're carting him back to the Bar for serious medical treatment.

I vote for taking him to Duty. This guy murdered a bunch of unarmed scientists that he was supposed to be protecting. Why exactly do we want to protect him?

>>12091683

cause then freedom will be mad and come after us

If we let Spaz go, then what's to keep Freedom from coming to find us and make sure that we don't talk to Duty about their little indiscretion about not murdering civilian dependents?

I think it's safer to turn him over to Duty. Yeah, it'll get us in trouble with Freedom, but they should have known better than to off civilian scientists, even if they were working for Duty. And not sanitizing the area and missing a PDA recording your every move is just plain unprofessional. I would kill Spaz just for that alone.

>>12091689
Well, they can go to Hell. Also we have only his word that it was a sanctioned Freedom op. From the way Bird reacted, it could be that the higher ups in Freedom did not authorize this. Really it wouldn't make sense for them to do it.

>>12091703

You speak reason. Casting my vote for offing the guy after we get everything we can from him instead of chucking him into a minefield (although we can do that, with a video of him 'sploding).

We could just say fuck it, kill spaz, leave his pda on him and be done with it.

>>12091758

No, we should at least keep the PDA. Could have some encrypted info on it. Plus, it has porn.

But we made a promise-

Aye, a promise to scum sucking murderer, but still....

>>12091811

Since when? We made a "promise" to off the guy (in accepting a contract), but when did we promise to not kill him?

>>12091811
What promise? I don't remember making any promises.

>>12091845
>>12091842
>>12091811
I disagree. There's probably a bonus for bringing him back alive, and so far we've been lucky. We could use the extra cash.

>>12091900

Oh yeah, you're right. I believe there was a bonus for bringing them in alive (for the Arena). So let's go back to our original plan of dragging the poor sob back to Rostok.

>>12091900
That's what you're talking about? Alright then. I think if we're going to do that, we need to make sure to gag Spaz and bind his hands.

>>12091988
Still think its a terrible idea to bind him in a visible way. His friends are somewhere around. He was going to go meet them. We don't want to be seen with a prisoner.

>>12092032
So put one of the raincoats on him along with one of the gas masks. Make him look like a bandit that we captured.

"What else can you tell us?" you ask calmly. Spaz is a lot more compliant now, even eager.

"There's nothing besides what I told you. I won't give up my friends."

"Do you know anything about a mercenary company named Durendal?"

Spaz blinks at this change of subject, but replies anyway, "Not much more than anyone else. Mostly ex-military guys, lot of westerners. They're supposed to be heavily involved in artifact retrieval. I'd avoid them, I've heard they're, ah, brutal," Spaz seems to realize how absurd this sounds in the context of this conversation and shuts up.

"Right then, stand up," you say; Spaz willingly obeys. You look to Damsel, "Gag him."

Spaz beginning to protest when the gag muffles him; Bird takes initiative and creates a pair of rope shackles for his ankles so that he can only move at a shuffle. You address him face-to-face, "You said it was a 'Freedom op,' as if that made what you did any less of a murder. Tell you what: we'll hand you over to the people whose folks you killed and let them decide if 'I was following orders' is an excuse in the Zone."

Spaz is screaming at you through the mask, but a smack from the neck of Damsel's rifle shuts him up and gets him walking, probably in part out of pure disbelief. Twitch falls in as soon as you exit; he could apparently hear through the walls.

You're most of the way back to the "outer" agroprom when Spaz collapses; at first, you think he's tripped, but it becomes clear that he's intentionally resisting being marched to Rostok.

Damsel spits on him, "I say we just shoot him here. We have his confession recorded."

"That will leave the others at large," Bird responds, "and as little love as I have for Duty, they'll probably be able to...convince...this bastard to give up his so-called friends. Fewer murderers in the Zone," he sounds quite incensed, more than even Damsel, but he's keeping it in check.

(You can assume that you dressed Spaz up as a bandit - your borrowed coats to cover his bindings, your gasmask to hide the gag; it's a good idea.)

>>12092078

Good idea, let's do that.

If he's not willing to walk, we drag him. Tie a rope to his feet, and drag him by it. Until he decides to walk. That or we tie his hands and feet to a stick, and carry him like some trophy kill.

>>12092155
I want to go with the trophy kill; it's faster, we can drop him as bait if a mutant attacks, and it's more demeaning.

>>12092176
and if he is all costumed up then no one will know who he is hopefully.

>>12092155
Again, see >>12091663. If we just bind him up so it looks like he's being carted back for treatment, we'll be fine.

If we're asked about the wound, "You ever break a bone? We don't want him screaming when he gets jarred wrong. Being eaten by dogs SUCKS."

"You just couldn't do this like a man, could you?
"Couldn't take some light roughing up, couldn't eat a bullet, and now you can't even walk like a man to your death.
"Well, if you can't walk as a man, then you'll be carried like a dog."

>>12092226
Er. About the gag. Derp.

You're not about to let Spaz simply refuse to face what's coming to him. Pausing to think for a moment, you come up with an idea readily enough, "Twitch," you say, "Go find a decent branch, little longer than man length." Twitch cottons to your intent readily enough, and you move to slide the branch between Spaz's leg and arm ties. An attempt to lash out simply gets him a savage kick in the head from Damsel, and before long you and she are hoisting the partially-conscious stalker on your shoulders.

"I could take that," Bird says awkwardly.

"Chivalrous of you, Bird, but I'm bigger than you," you snort in amusement; she's technically correct, though only by an inch or two. Bird doesn't rise to Damsel's teasing and before long you're off again.

Your arrival back at the agroprom is surprisingly quiet - what few folks you see have their curiousity satisfied when Bird plays a portion of the recorded confession, where Spaz falsely claims to have killed the scientists because "they were a good mark;" no need to trumpet to everyone that you're toting a murderous Freedomer.

Twitch emerges from the "bar" after returning the coat you no longer has useful, looking somewhat apprehensive, "there's a squad of Petrov's men in there," he says, "they seem to be arguing with Zombie and a few other stalkers."

>>12092238
Consider this canon.

>>12092306

Well, let's first drop of our catch to the proper authority figure. Then we go check out Petrov's men and what they're doing so far from their base. Also, who is Zombie again?

>>12092357
Zombie is the local barkeeper, so named for his monotone, disheveled appearance, and constantly-dazed appearance.

>>12092382

Oh yeah. We're not at Rostok yet. Forgot that Bar =/= Rostok's Bar.

Anyway, let's go see what they're up to.

>>12092357
Don't think there is a proper authority figure around. Leave him tied up, with Twitch watching him. Check out the argument.

We don't get paid until we get this dude back to 100rads right?

>>12092443

I think so. Anyway, let's drop this guy (perhaps literally) and check our what's going on. Maybe have Damsel and Bird watch him, as they're more inclined to hurt Spaz.

Go see Petrov's men. See what they're up to.

>>12092443
Right, but after this, I'll allow for a fast forward (if you guys want).

You and Damsel unceremoniously drop Spaz to the ground, "Keep an eye on him, Twitch. If he tries to run...beat him until he can't or shoot him."

"I'll stick with the shitbag too," Bird volunteers.

You and Damsel move into the bar and the hostility becomes immediately obvious. A group of seven men in the uniform you recognize to belong to Petrov's soldiers are standing off to one side, face unreadable. Zombie has come out from behind his bar and is nose to nose with the eighth red-banded trooper, the man you assume to be the commander.

"-don't need 'protection' around here, we told Duty and Freedom the same thing!" Zombie sounds actually incensed.

"First you say no one is in charge," the red-bander retorts, "then you act as if you're being drafted when we bring up a protective posting. Don't be daft, this area is full of mutants and you must see the bandits coming through. You're going to need us, not the other way around."

Stick back and see what's happening before you do anything else.

lets not even try to get involved in this soon-to-be cluster fuck

>>12092569
Anyone pointing guns anywhere they shouldn't be pointing them?

go back out with Spaz, Bird, and Twitch and let Zombie argue with Petrov's soldiers. We dont need to get involved

>>12092707
No.

>>12092569
Seems Petrov's guys are trying to take over security at this place... this could be good or bad. Lets observe for a while and step in if violence breaks out.

whats wrong with Petrov's dudes occupying the area?

You decide to stand back; you don't know what's going on here and you know better than to stick your dick in strange places.

The red-bander seems to take a moment to calm himself, stepping back from Zombie and crossing his hands behind his back as if at parade rest. He seems to be looking down at Zombie despite being the shorter of the pair.

"If you won't stand up for the protection of this camp, we'll simply step in for you. I've presented you with evidence of your little 'western problem.' You - and others here - admit that the crowd has gotten shiftier and the region more dangerous. Yet you refuse to organize on some vague idea of 'freedom?' Inaction is action by omission."

Zombie is angry enough to be sputtering, "Step in for me? You think you can just come in here, sieze my stuff, and appoint yourselves some sort of militia government?"

"We don't want your goods," the red-bander says, "and we'd be little better than bandits if we took them, for that matter."

"You can't just walk in here and turn this into an armed camp! Guys!" he turns to the various stalkers standing about for support, but even the incensed ones avert their gaze or remain silent, looking to see how this will develop, who will back down first; no one wants to stick their oar in between the pair. Even Bulldog is simply staring at the exchange from his corner, though his brother looks upset at all of the yelling.

>>12092770
Indeed, what? It's up to you to decide how you feel.

if the red dudes take over then its only a matter of time before they go to war with the bandits. shit ain't worth the time getting in the middle of a war.

Is there still enough time in the day to make it to 100rads before night sets in?

ask petrov why he is here and why he is trying to take over?

>>12092886
No, but I'll fast forward to 100 Rads if you guys want to wrap that quest up and move onto new stuff.

>>12092905
It's not Petrov himself.

Waiting a bit for any other comments re: the second post, otherwise I'm probably going to go with neutrality, since that seemed to be the initial gut feeling.

i say stay out of it and continue with the present mission of turning our bounty in

>>12092926

If it gets to fisticuffs, then we step in, but only on the neutral side.

Yes, we may like Petrov (Putin), but I don't think it's in his best interest to set up a camp here. He's probably going to get a good deal of his men killed if he does. But that's my opinion. In any case, just because we like Petrov, doesn't mean we should automatically jump to his side. Besides, I don't think he really needs it.

also check what we have and what we need: ammo, supplies, food.

stay neutral i say

You decide to stay out of it, slipping out of the bar along with Damsel before anyone can notice you. You actually know the troop commander's face - you saw him once or twice back in the hangar - but not his name; obviously, you don't want to be called out and dragged in.

Getting back with Bird and Twitch, you explain what you saw. Bird explains readily enough, "Well, from a strictly cynical view, this place being more organized provides a buffer between the garbage and the agroprom. You'll recall that the garbage is centrally located between the dark valley and the agroprom region. With those guys in the other facility apparently buying anything no-questions-asked, it's going to cause some serious bandit movement."

"Or we could not be cynical," Twitch suggests, "and assume that Petrov actually cares about the loners here."

You change the subject - it's an uncomfortable one, Petrov's been good to you - to supplies. You believe you have enough, and Bird confirms it with a nod, "Actually, we have more crap than we need. These extra guns are weighing us down - though I'll take the shotgun and Fort-12 with some modifications, if none of you mind."

>>12093105

Sure, go ahead.

"Yeah, Petrov may actually care about the Loners here. But personally, I think his boys can handle themselves. Mostly. They may be in over their heads, but I assume Petrov knows what he's doing."

Where'd we get the modified Fort-12?

>>12093132

Timeskip.

Also, I'd assume the RPK functions much like an AK does. They all look alike, and it generally doesn't take too long to figure out how guns work.

>>12093188

Not before we drop the extra guns, though. Durr. Forgot about that.

For that, we can either look around Agroprom to trade, or head off to the Hanger and pawn our stuff off there.

>>12093132
The RPK-74 is, like the RPK before it, basically a beefed-up assault rifle with a bigger magazine (45 rounds) for light suppressive fire duties. Yeah, any of you could use it, but you'll want to consider its bulk.

>>12093134
The Fort-12 isn't modified, and it came off of Spaz. Bird wants to modify the shotgun.

>>12093211

Oh. In that case, let him. Shotguns are always useful - especially sawn-offs. Is it possible for us to trade at Agroprom at the moment?

>>12093211
He's welcome to the guns. Lets timeskip to the 100 Rads bar.

sell some of the extra guns before we leave. We may need that RPK when it comes down to hairy situations.

Let's make off back to the bar.

Also, Abakan with Scope in STALKER SHOC is joygun.

>>12093228
You could, but the outer agroprom doesn't have any real merchants; I can work the weapons sales into a timeskip as occurring at the hangar if you guys want. I assume you'll be selling the RPK?

Dont sell the RPK, supporting fire is paramount!

>>12093250
Someone wants to keep the RPK. I don't think it's worth keeping unless we can get some accessories so that it's easier to use, like a bipod and shoulder sling.

trade a AK-74 for some first aid and medical supplies

>>12093296
make a shoulder sling out of extra cloting or a belt

>>12093296
It's got those.

Keep in mind that you guys'll wanna find somewhere to stash it. As of now, each of you is carrying a rifle, a secondary weapon, and a pistol (Damsel has the smallest secondary weapon, the Skorpion, while Bird has the largest - until he modifies it).

Who's the usual frontman when we go treking around the Zone? Give him the RPK in place of a rifle.

Just sell the RPK. I think we and Bird are the only ones big enough to actually use the damned thing effectively. Or we can trade it to Bulldog for our Flame back.

>>12093332
Well, if people want to keep the RPK, we could sell our own AKS-74. Maybe get some more ammo, or another med kit.

>>12093374
Ooh, this bears thinking on. The Flame-Jellyfish combo, while somewhat dangerous, can be used as a healing enhancer. It might be worth it to see if Bulldog is interested in a trade. But we should wait for Petrov's men to leave before going back into the bar.

>>12093373
That'd be between you, Damsel, and Twitch. Players have generally shown a preference for their mossberg. Bird, for his part, is your designated marksman. Recall that Twitch is also quite shrimpy - 5'5" or 5'6".

>>12093374
Twitch is probably a little small, but Damsel's a good 5'11" and athletically built.

Forgot about the Flame. Screw the RPK then, see if we can trade it to Bulldog for our Flame.

>>12093373

That would be us, I think. In any case, I think the RPK is rather unnecessary for us. Four people, all have automatic weapons, and two of us have shotguns.

We can ask if Damsel is interested, seeing as some of us are interested, and well, tactical preparedness is always nice.

>>12093413
Give it to her, though warn her that we don't know if she can handle such a large "piece"

>though warn her that we don't know if she can handle such a large "piece"

you guys make it sound like the RPK is a hundred pounds, its more like 15 pounds.

>>12093456

Recoil, buddy. If an AK is rather inaccurate, and an RPK is essentially a built up AK, then what kind of recoil will it have?

Give damsel RPK.
Sell her AKS-74.
Profit.

Nothing inbetween.

>>12093505
We're not using it to try and take out a target from 80 to 100 yards. Think if we get pinned down, we can use it as suppressive fire and then flank around.

>>12093513
If we do that, then we should distribute out her load to the rest of the group to make up for the increased weight she'll have to carry, not just with the RPK but also because she'll need to carry more ammo for it.

>>12093537
>>12093535

Why don't we just ASK her if she can/wants to use the thing?

"Damsel, would you like to upgrade to the RPK and man the big guns for us?"

>>12093551
I was assuming that went unsaid.

Ask group if anyone wants the RPK and their opinion if we should keep it. Stay tactical.

>>12093455
Hey bad puns are almost 65% of all relationships with members of the opposite sex!

>>12093505
The AK-74 is a competently-accurate rifle notable for extremely low recoil, actually.

You contemplate how to arrange your gear - one way or another, some stuff is probably going to have to go. You ask Damsel, "Say, how about we give you the RPK? The fire support could come in handy."

"I can't tell if you're trying to be sweet or lazy," Damsel quips, then hefts the SAW experimentally, "I can handle it, though we'll probably have to ditch or stash my rifle." You appreciate the frankness. She adds, "I've always liked a bigger boom."

That settles it. You head on, you and Bird shouldering Spaz now. The journey is mercifully uneventful - even Spaz is sullenly cooperative as you accomodate his needs to eat, drink, and void waste. He may be a condemned man, but he's going to be condemned and alive. Arrival at the Hangar brings you to Fix-It's realm and you're left with some purchasing decisions to make. Of course, you're selling Bird's makarov, but what of Damsel's rifle?

Bird himself moves off to modify his shotgun while you make supply choices at the closest place you have to a friendly spot in the Zone.

>>12093632
What's the local traders inventory look like?

>>12093632
Hock Damsel's 74. Enjoy rubles. What ammunition does the RPK take?

As a confirmation, we've got ourselves:

Us:
AKS-74
Mossberg 88
Skorpion Machine Pistol
M1911


Bird
-AKS-74 w/ scope
-Fort-12
-makarov PM
-2 grenades

Alexander/Twitch
-AKS-74
-MP-5
-beretta
-2 grenades

Damsel
-RK-74
-Skorpion machine pistol
-Fort-12
-2 grenades

That about right, gents?

I say we stash the AK. What other supplies are we heavy on now?

>>12093632

Trade rifle for ammo belts. And some money. Just to say we did it.

>>12093698
RPK's take the same 7.62x59 ammo if i'm not mistaken.

>>12093698
The RPK takes 5.45. It'll even accept magazines right from the AK-74. Your inventory is slightly wrong - only Damsel has a Skorpion and we have 1 grenade to our person.

>>12093692
AKS-74s, AKS-74Us, makarovs, fort-12s, the RPK you guys sold them before, and an RPG-7. Oh, and nades.

>>12093721
This is an RPK-74, not the earlier model.

>>12093741
Get rid of the 74, buy at least 3 grenades.

>>12093741
While I would love to have the RPG-7, I think more grenades are a better investment. Maybe 5 more?

arent SKS's the rifles?

>>12093775
>SKS is a Soviet semi-automatic carbine chambered for the 7.62x39mm round
Yes, but we're talking about AKS-74's and RPK-74's. What's your point?

Sell the AK we do need grenades. Lots of them.

>>12093823

We need more grenades. Also see if we can't get more armor plates for Bird's suit.

>>12093820
I just thought there was a mix up. Thats all.

Shopping done? Let's get to plot! Can't wait to see what the Duty boys do to the civvie-murdering bastard from Freedom, personally.

>>12093834
You were the first person to mention SKS's at all.

To be relevant, yes to more grenades, and any armor plates that are available. Maybe an additional med kit, since we used one after the Controller fight.

What does our sale total come to with the 74, makarov gone? Bird will need more plates.

"Is everyone ready to move out to Duty and complete our bounty?"

You ultimately sell Damsel's rifle with the makarov and purchase 5 grenades - 2 for you and one for everyone else. A replacement plate for Bird's damaged armor costs you further, but you're all willing to pay for it after his brush with death. You ultimately come out 400 roubles ahead of the game when you bid Fix-It farewell. Preparing to saddle up and leave the hangar, you're met personally by Petrov, who gives you a friendly-enough greeting then asks the obvious question.

"Who's the poor bastard on the stick?"

>>12093917
"Business as usual. Whats with your guys at the outer Agroprom?"

>>12093917
"Ah, him? One of the civvie murdering bastards we were looking for."
Move in closer so that we can whisper to Petrov:
"He claims the hit was a Freedom-sanctioned job, but we've got our doubts. Freedom's a little loopy, but they're not that stupid to just waste some civilian dependents who probably weren't gonna find anything anyway. Besides, why kill them before they even have a chance to see if their theories are right?"

>>12093917
Show him the recording of the murder.

On an equipment note, give Damsel the extra grenades. She's good with those.

>>12093917

"Hey Petrov, business as usual; just a drunken idiot who may find himself fighting pseudodogs in the Arena. Saw some of your boys down in Agropromm, saying something about security. What was that about?"

Lets not go bragging about WHO we captured. Last thing we need is a trail to lead people back to us.

>>12093992

Ditto. Just be rather vague about it. Also mention that the guys running the Arena pays for bandits, apparently.

"More murdering bandits for the ashpile," you say, "only this one was stupid enough to kill important peoples' friends up in Rostok," you punctuate this with the recording of the ambush. With that out of the way, you decide to pose a question of your own, "What about your boys in the agroprom?"

Petrov seems unphased by your question, "Oh so you met them then?"

"Not exactly," Damsel said, "more like saw them arguing with the locals."

"Yes, I received report of that," Petrov said, "Apparently they'd rather lay down like whores and let the bandit element do as they will. It was much the same here not too long ago - nothing but transients, no central authority to depend on, open attacks mixed with impudent mingling. We put a stop to that," he pauses, "It's the same basic scenario in the agroprom, what with the rising bandit tides and our newfound knowledge of the western agroprom's dirty dealings. We provide security and stability while not stepping on too many toes for the aid of the locals in return. It also lets us keep an eye on any threats from that direction and respond to them if they come calling," you're not too surprised by this answer, "Unfortunately, some stalkers are less apt to see reason than others. We can begin stabilizing the camp now, however, and things will get better when we can spare more men for the task."

"Well Petrov once we get this trash back to Rostok we might make our way back here and see if you need any help then. Its always fun thinning out the Bandit populace."

>>12094035
"Good luck, though I'd watch out for whoever's backing the western Agroprom group. They might not appreciate the scrutiny.
"If we hear anything, we'll let you know."

Decline his offer in a nice way. Want to keep the friend status but there is no real profit in a STALKER war.

>>12094078
>>12094061
And with that said, to 100rads!

>>hisming successful

Ah- to a good payoff, friends!

>>12094078
>>12094100

Seconded. Also tell him about the burnt down house we, umm, "made." Maybe we can ask him about the SEVA suit stalker.

"Lets head out guys. Gotta get back to 100rads soon."

"Well, good luck with it," you say, "Though I'd watch out for those westerners - combination of thuggery and professionalism going on there, and I doubt they'll take kindly to scrutiny."

"I appreciate you sharing that," Petrov says, "For now, we're biding our time."

You bid the captain and his crew farewell, and beat feet once again for Rostok, to rid yourself of the burden you're carrying, quite literally.

"It's about expanding influence," Damsel opines; the three of you turn to her as you walk, "Right now, it's just a squad. But they'll beat off some mutants and shoot up some bandits - probably help an injured stalker pro bono - and that squad'll get recruits. One becomes two. Two becomes more."

"Christ you're gloomy," Twitch complains.

The four of you lapse into a mix of more typical talk and silence for the rest of the way. Arrival at Rostok occurs without incident; on a bit of inspiration, you drop Spaz to the ground, rotating your aching shoulder. Since your pseudo-doublecross, he's refused to speak, and the four of you have been content with that. Now you address him, "Don't you at least want to die like a man? On your feet?" It seems at first that he's ignoring you, but he slowly rises; you decide to remove the gag - surprisingly, he speaks.

"I may die, but my friends will return the favor."

"They'll have to evade a Duty death squad first," Bird says dryly.

Passing the posted guard is a mere matter of showing him the recording and your contract from Barkeep. You pas through the warehouse, ignoring the Dutyer's snarled "get out of here stalker," and move into Rostok proper to find the Barkeep waiting for you - apparently the perimeter guard radioed him and he came up to meet you.

"What, just one? And alive?"

"The others cut and ran, got one of my guys too. Well this is what you wanted where is the payment? Also whats the news around here?"

>>12094214
One word.
"Freedom."

>>12094279

Ditto. Then we show him the PDA. Preferably with the Freedom porn displayed. Awkward, much?

>>12094285
>>12094279
I don't know if we want to get into that can of worms.

Though I do agree with "His friends cut and run on him, he was all we got. He might be able to tell you more."

>>12094311

We can get more pay that way, but yeah, maybe going that route might be bad... However, it might help us from getting ganked by Freedom squads later.

You suggest that you speak somewhere more privately, and Barkeep agrees, taking you back to 100 Rads and away from prying ears.

The bouncer looks up, "I sai- oh, hello boss. That was quick." Barkeep grunts by way of communication and shuffles down the stairs, immediately making for the door leading behind the counter; you can see Snitch, in another corner, eying you all curiously. You attempt to move behind the counter as well, but Garik, the other bouncer, intercedes.

"You can't go there!"

Barkeep, from a back room, yells up, "Let 'em through, special exception!" You pass through without further incident to a much quieter room, an office of some kind.

"So what's so damn sensitive," Barkeep asks. First, you toss him Spaz's PDA, with the porn open. He looks, flips a couple of pages, then looks up, "You know we've got no problem with porn here in the Zone. Lord knows there aren't enough women to go around." Without replying, you play the tape of the interrogation and confession. Barkeep asks to listen again, once, twice. Then he gives you a tremendous slap on the shoulder with the most enthusiasm you've seen out of him.

"Freedom! That makes it all make sense. And, even better, it clears away all this nastiness from my name - I'll give you the full agreed-upon price for the team, 2000 roubles. I'm sure Duty can get this guy to sing, and this information is simply too valuable. Damn but these faction wars get worse and worse."

Spaz, to his credit, says nothing, even when Barkeep calls in two Duty soldiers to lead you away.

"From now on," Barkeep says, "you're on my good list. And Duty's, too, if you want to use that."

Note: I handled the pissing-off-freedom thing by giving you all an option to play cozier with Duty. Naturally, there's a chance that Freedom will find out about this and be displeased, but Spaz is a dead man walking and his comrades probably are, too. Duty isn't going to go parading you as patriots of the cause "without permission."

well thats good that we're not in someones shitpile. what do we do from here? look for other work in the area?

>>12094368

"So long as it doesn't mean Freedom guys will be crawling up my ass. I don't really want to get too caught up with this faction war, y'know? But before I forget."
*Turn to Spaz.*
"Well Spaz, it was nice talking to you. And drinking with you. Nothing personal, really, but I doubt you care for it. But seriously, it really was nice drinking with you. Who knows? If you survive, maybe we can put this behind us with a couple of bottles of vodka. Well..."
*Pat Spaz on the back a few times.*
"Good luck out there, Stalker. If I ever see your buddies, I'll tell them how well you thought of them."

>>12094389
Appearing neutral is how I'd like it played.
As in, we might get some help from Duty if we're in private, but out in public we're just another bunch of stalkers to them.

>>12094456

Seconded, if being neutral wasn't apparent from my lengthy post.

>>12094430
If you want, sure. You guys may wanna catch up on the local news. We could also do character development dialog or whatever for a brief interlude.

>>12094478
>character development
do want.

>>12094478

Local news! :D With the Zone version of Conan O'brien?

One thing before I make further posts - CAN'T GO THERE man can't be Garik as of this time, since Garik was in CoP as a trail guide...nonetheless, you still can't go there (talk to barkeep). Post forthcoming.

>>12094368
Cha-ching.

lets see what char develop there is and we need to check on the news, maybe relax and have a drink at the bar.

Getting back out into the bar proper seems to calm the bouncer considerably, and you take the opportunity to ask Barkeep about the news since you left, "It's been mostly quiet here," he begins, "though not the good kind. You remember the blowout before last? Yeah, the Red Forest expedition survivors have mostly died off at this point or become zombies. I doubt there'll be any sort of joint Freedom/Duty/Loner venture any time soon...especially not once recent news gets around. Not enough liberal members left in either group, I expect," he tapers off a bit before resuming, "On the other hand, Duty's openly recruiting troops again. Handing out jobs, too - mutant-hunting in the Dark Valley. That was given to Rooster and his crew (I think you met them), but Rooster died and Duty has been suspicious of strangers lately," Barkeep lets his speech taper off again as he inspects a semi-cleaned glass, "I also heard through an old friend in Duty that the military lost another Hind," Bird snorts when he hears this, though it means nothing to you, "you think that they'd learn their damn lesson."

Setting the glass down, he inspects the four of you with some cross between a smile and his customary frown - it's uncomfortable to describe and more uncomfortable to behold, unnatural as it is.

"You four shouldn't be traipsing about dressed like that - you, Bird, you're fine, but you three? Civvie clothes and flak jackets? You're either lucky or crazy. I know a good Zone craftsman, folks call him Russkie, who lives out in the Zone and constructs stalker suits. Crazy in the coconut like all of those sort, but good. I can give you directions, seems like a good bonus to the money."

>>12094700

Our own Stalker suits? With our names embroidered with gold thread? Oh-ehm-gee, must have. No seriously, must have.

>>12094700
"Thanks. It's about time we got some new clothes.
"Speaking of blowouts, and stalker suits..."
Tell Barkeep about the ghoul we encountered right before the last blowout, and if he's heard anything about that.

(Note - unless you guys wanna follow up and ask him stuff, I'll move on to char interaction. I'll probably be wrapping up soon (uni schedule) either way.)

Finally we can get some clothes that will show off damsels more feminine features..

But the barkeep is right, we seriously need some better protection from the zone.

"if no one is doing anything about the Red Forest zombies who's gonna take care of that?"

You take up Barkeep's offer and bid him farewell - night is swiftly coming on and while the four of you would like to share a drink, you'd prefer to do it in relative privacy. You pick out a likely bonfire and crowd around it, passing around a bottle of vodka and exchanging crass jokes for a bit before digging into some food; conversation dies off as you eat and is not resurrected until Twitch speaks up, "I wonder how long they'll torture that guy," he says, troubled.

"He should've thought about that before he started murdering civvies," Damsel says dryly. This does nothing to comfort Twitch.

"Likely not at all," Bird says, and you all look to him - he was the one who suggested Duty's torture methods were particularly effective, "don't get me wrong, Duty uses torture, but they'd rather use fear or build up a relationship with the guy. More effective tactics, I've read anyway."

"They'll still kill them, though," Twitch says, and Bird merely shrugs.

"Murderers get put down. There are no prisons in the Zone."

"It's just easier to shoot someone with a rifle than to drink with them, travel with them for days, and then consign them to death, I guess," Twitch says. Fair enough, you can see what he means.

The conversation briefly lapses.

(Note - you can steer it, or I have a course that I'll follow if you prefer autopilot.)

>>12094869
You misunderstand - the zombies were stalkers from an expedition who were partially exposed to a blowout but survived; some of these stalkers became zombies in medical custody, most died/are dying rapidly; a small number'll live.

autopilot plz

>>12094900

"Don't worry Twitch, if I'm ever going to shoot you, it would be for two reasons. The first would be if you became a zombie or some terrible Zone mutant. The other would be if you've actually been a woman this entire time! I'd be using my 'gun' to 'shoot' you, youknowwhatImean?" *Cue laughter and likely physical violence on Damsel's part.*
After that little conversation's died down a bit, we inquire Bird about... stuff.
"So Bird, where'd you get your Stalker suit from?"

>>12094975

I agree with finding out where bird got his suite from. I bet the old dog has some good stories.

>>12094991

After that story, we ask him how far he's been in the Zone.

>>12094975
indeed ask Bird about the suit and how he knows what Duty does for interrogation techniques

It's Damsel that picks things up this time, "How do you know so much about this faction shit, anyway?" For a long while, Bird doesn't look as if he's going to answer. Even Damsel looks uncharacteristically uncomfortable, as if she'd prodded to hard for once. Eventually, Bird speaks up.

"I told you about my friend who was killed by the military? Well, being a stalker alone in the Zone is generally pretty lethal. At one point I ended up out of ammunition, out of food, and lost. A scout from some Freedom band found me and pulled me in, gave me a break. I'd seen the factions before - figured it was a weird gang thing - but I ended up educated. Freedom believes that the Zone is a gift to man, or at least a frontier to be explored. They're willing to defend it against would-be destroyers, against people who kill Zone explorers. With my own feelings on the issue and what happened to my friend, it all appealed to me. I hung around with Freedom for a while. Then I joined."

Bird stops speaking again, and the pause drags out. You're beginning to think he's done speaking when he resumes, "It took a while to get through my stupid head, but it eventually came to me that I was doing the nasty side of the Zone's job for it: killing folks. I gave it up around the time the Brain Scorcher went down. Here was this golden opportunity to see a real unexplored frontier, a place where only madmen and messiahs had been, and what did we do? Murder each other trying to squeeze into a whole damn city. I still can't abide by the military, but I'll be damned if I'm going to get back into killing over shirt colors again. This recent shit just reinforces that."

>>12095082
It was, perhaps, more than you'd expected to hear, but it explains a lot You shift the subject a bit, hoping to change the mood, "So what about the suit? How'd you get it?"

Bird gives a laugh, "That's a bit of a tale. Before I'd formally joined Freedom, I was looking for a decent suit to protect me in the Zone. Now, suit craftsmen are always flaky as hell, but the one I met who actually agreed to work with me was a true nut. His terms were that I wear various suits and configurations while he shot at me. With a rifle," Bird takes a sip of vodka, "I agreed."

The three of you simply look at him, dumbfounded.

"I was a stupid man."

(Feel free to ask other questions of , otherwise I'm probably going to wrap - like I said, uni. Thursday is a likely date for next session.)

Whats Twitch's story? Why is he so passive and caring about our recent prisoner?

>>12095094

"... yes, yes you were. But you're one lucky sonnavabitch, you know that Bird? I mean, seriously. You got shot earlier. No wounds, nothing. Maybe a bruise, at most. You're pretty damn lucky, Bird. Damn lucky."
*Drink more vodka, pull out old red army(?) hat we found.*
"Now if you excuse me, I do believe it's time I make a general fool of myself. Would any of you care to join me? Twitch? Damsel? Bird?"

>>12095094
was Bird also so down in the dumps that he wanted to die? Also what happened to that suit crafter?

>>12095117

Oh yeah, maybe we should ask him that too. But barring that, we can expound on our stuff a bit.

"Just so you guys know, and probably figured out, I'm not completely unfamiliar with torture. You know how I used to be in the Swedish Armed Forces? Yeah, one of the things they trained us for was torture resistance. Had something to do with some guys from the CIA being loaned to us; I'm not too sure. Anyway, they subjected us to a whole range of torture. And through experiencing it, well, we got a first-hand understanding of how it works. And how it doesn't. If you guys think some of the things I do are rough... you should've seen some of the things they made us undergo. A lot worse than a simple bullet."

"So what happened to that suit crafter?" you ask after a while.

"Engineer, we used to call him, on account of his education. Anyway, he died trying to craft a stalker suit for his tame pseudodog. Turns out the pseudodog wasn't tame and decided to pseudo-eat him," Bird shakes his head, smiling sadly, "No one was too surprised, but frankly, I thought he'd end up shooting himself to test out a new armor configuration. Maybe that's bias of personal experience, though."

Damsel still hasn't moved past Bird's earlier story, however, "How'd you cope with having to reinvent yourself like that? Finding out you'd walked off a cliff?"

Bird gives it consideration, "For a while, I didn't try to cope at all. I got it into my head that I could've just as easily killed my friend for the same reason the military killed him; wrong clothes in the wrong place," he takes another swig of vodka, mood darkening again but not as severely, "I didn't really cope, I just threw myself into new things. Tossed out all the Freedom stuff. Focused on mutant hunting. Started giving out advice to new stalkers. It...didn't fix things, but it made them better. That's had to be enough."

You take a turn to talk - briefly - about your experiences in the Swedish military, giving Bird a break. Not wanting the mood to collapse any further, you strike an idea - you fish out the moldy Red Army hat, grab the vodka, and stand, "Now I'm going to go make a fool of myself for the rest of the night. Any of you want to join me?"

"I'm going to take that stupid hat from you," Damsel scowls. The others, for their part, join in more willingly.

(Wrapping for the night, thanks guys - will be here for a short bit for Q&A, concrit, whatever.)

>>12095117
Twitch simply isn't into extreme violence, especially when it's too personal as with Spaz. His story, thus far that we know, is that he was a college student with a gambling problem who got into breaking and entering before fleeing to the Zone. This'll be expanded upon as appropriate (and as I decide facts...).

>>12095247

Good job. Your writing's getting better. And faster. Noted a distinct lack of dice rolls this round; was it that we didn't run into anything requiring rolls or something else?

>>12095275
Well, this was mostly a fluffier round, so less need.

You guys played the interrogation effectively enough that I didn't think there'd be a need for chance (like, say, rolling a d20 for fainting under extreme torture or whatever), so I let the sinister dicebot sit off to the side.

>>12095319

Ah, okay then.

So next Thursday's the next section of the quest then? All right, I'll try to be on at that time.

Has anyone archived this thread yet?

This is awesome, my first time running across something like this and participating in it. I was the one asking about SKS's and the RPK, everyone thinks the RPK is too heavy, but it will help out when faced against zombies, psuedodogs, bandits and other unfriendly stalkers. shoot and scoot my friends.

how do you archive a thread?

>>12095333
Not as far as I know - not on sup/tg/, anyway.

>>12095344
Glad you're enjoying it. You have a point, too; players earlier were in a situation where they decided to lay down covering fire and then flank while the enemy was pinned, and in a situation like that, a SAW would be quite useful.

>>12095344

Have you read the other threads? A good portion of them are archived, so you can get an idea of how things play out. Somewhat.

Here's the main page for the archives, fyi: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html

>>12095365
also i havent played STALKER and after getting down on this I must play it. Then I'll have a better idea to rap my head around.

>>12095365

Archived. Was the Dimujha Ninja one archived as well?

sweet its archived :) #13