>>19770519
No, o-[||||]-o, you're awesome for running this.

We should probably start repairs on the music box, see what's broken and if need be we can add more music from the monolith.

fix box and have serious chat with Miguel. te4ll him cindy is a medical bot

ask cindy to keep the loli busy

Fix dat music box, BOY.

When both you and Miguel are both satisfied that Alhanya isn't going to cry, and Cindy has backed off from "tell me about the rabbits, George" territory, you sit down and begin work. Your LED lamp flashes on, as Cindy and Alhanya tromp upstairs. You catch a snippet of conversation:

"You are, like SUCH a Summer. I'm sure among all these bits and bobs is something we could use for hair clips. Keep an eye out for paints, because you are SO painting my ankles just like yours."
"Miss Cindy, you're funny. Also, I was born in less-sun-time."

Miguel gives you a look as the pair retreat. "She seems...nice. Not so much like you, though. Very...human. She acts that way, anyways. Is she all right in the head?"

Miguel's trove of tech is battered, and has been cracked open on numerous occasions. many of the items are old e-readers. One or two work, but most are nonfunctional. Almost all of them have slightly cracked screens, but that doesn't matter so much for an e-reader. His Music Box is some sort of external speaker for an MP3 Player, but the tiny stamp-sized player slotted into it only contains one functional song. All the others long ago ran out of "plays" (DRM eventually got VERY bullshit.) only Never Gonna Give You Up is free of copy protection.

>>Roll Intelligence+Craft (mechanic). Also, the double >> looks more computery. I know I've gotten sloppy, but the Greentext command line stuff will eventually make a return appearance.

rolled 7, 5, 7, 6, 10, 3, 5, 8 = 51

Rollan

>>19770926
Tell him she has no obvious faults that we know of, but that she knows about as much as we do about he current world. reiterate med bot role

asks if he want wants more music

>>19770926
Of Mice and Men, good taste.

rolled 5, 2, 8, 8, 7, 4, 10, 10 = 54

>>19770926
Those poor people, forced to only have Rick Astley to listen to.

Let's fix this and get him a better music selection and we might be able to break the DRM on the other songs with our Computer skill.

Tell him that she is designed for social interaction, unlike us, and before the fall spent more time dealing closely with humans.

"She is a medical unit that spent much time around humans. I believe she has suffered mental trauma, but is resilient enough to cope, for the moment. Small Human Alhanya is in no danger from her. She has expressed no interest in violence of any kind."

Loading up new songs into the box is simple. You show Miguel the basics of operating it, and he picks it up extremely quickly. He's been messing about with scavenged tech for most of his life, it turns out. He's just never been able to find a "rossetta's stone" that explained how the stuff actually fucking WORKS, or the tools to repair it. Until recently, the Village had been led by his father, who was a minister, and a luddite.

You slot in one of the music drives, set it to shuffle, and a classical orchestra from two centuries ago begins to play.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhSYbRiYwTY

>>19771035
I am expecting him to weep in awe.

>>19771035
>David Bowie
>Classical orchestra
What the fuck is modern music like if David Bowie is considered orchestral? I'm not dissing David Bowie, but if David Bowie is classical then Dubstep is evidently folk music to people in the future.

... It is, isn't it?

>>19771035
It is not the most difficult device to operate. If you want I can teach the others of your village how to work this and many other devices.

This does require that they don't shoot me.

>>19771125
In case you haven't noticed, OP is a futurama fan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf-1F_iIIuw

File: 1341634255986.jpg-(24 KB, 280x210, cgocpftf.jpg)

We'll be fine so long as we never run into this guy, I think.

>>19771206
Or the Grand Galactic Inquisitor

Burn him Paco's music collection.

>>19771329
you should ask what kind of music the townsfolk like before you start burning tracks left and right.

Also ask about the state of affairs in the town and of the "Gringos"

>>19771458
yeah, I'm good with this.

>>19771035
Make sure to ask if there were any repurcussions to the villagers because we were spotted talking to him.

Also, tell him we are sorry we put him and his daughter in danger when the men shot at us.

>>19771458
They've only had Rick Astley to list to all their lives. I say we give 'em the whole thing, or at least a little bit of everything, and let them pick out what they like. Maybe it turns out they were all undiscovered dubstep fans or some crazy shit like that.

Say, don't we still have that mp3 player from the rusted out truck? We should see what's on there. I knew more than one trucker who stored important documents on their player.

>>19771696
There could even be video!

Ha, I just realized that probably in addition to pirating games, Paco was pirating DRM-free music.

Paco, you magnificent bastard.

>>19771925
Paco seems like a bro. If only he were still around...

I just realized that that facebook message said that Cindy was grabbed in Detriot, but also said "Two national borders should be enough", Does that mean that the war with canada had started before Cindy was deactivated?

>>19772051
I'm thinking any war with Canada occured after shit went to hell, or slightly before. When nukes were flying everywhere.
What would Mexico be doing in a war with Canada, anyway?
Regardless. Fear the maple leafed killbot.

>>19772137
Mexico beat them in hockey?

>>19772137
Flannel painted kill bots with chain saws and beaver skin hats

moosebots.
Just fucking surrender.

The Americans were no match for the armoured goalie bots.

File: 1341640461495.jpg-(19 KB, 400x300, moosebot.jpg)

>>19772319
They came from...behind

OP where did you go?!?!

bump

maybe op is on sleep mode?

>>19774008
>>19772617
OP went to the M13 prerelease, because that's the only one he could make given his schedule. OP now needs to sleep before his things and stuff tomorrow, which includes work.

OP lives in wisconsin, and its 5:30 AM there right now. And OP loves that you guys have just been dithering back and forth and noticing all the little things i slipped in to the quest.

OP has seen all your questions and discussions and suggestions, and will continue Thread #3 as soon as he can. Today, OP works, but he's going to try to hack a vulnerable wireless signal so he can post during dead time. OP's job allows him to do that. OP is also delirious with lack of sleep, but pulled $40 worth of cards and went 4&1.

OP may make a 1d4chan page for the quest, too.

The state of affairs in the town has changed. Things are shaken up. Events happened. I will relay it all today, once I figure out what it is.

I still know what's going on, by the way. This isn't LOST.

>>19774607
Turns out accessing the network would be pretty much impossible. OP shouldn't have listened to that stupid co-worker who didn't know jack shit about computers. She was all "Oh, isn't there a program that lets you just use wireless networks without the password? I have one for my iPad."

Yeah, sure, a simple point-and-click app exists for that. But I find that a virus with a laughing skull is the most effective, Yeesh. There's nothing I hate more than people who's ignorance also includes their ignorance of their own ignorance.

rolled 47 = 47

>>19774687
Well it depends on what security the network uses, but "Cain and Abel" or some other wireless packet sniffer might be able to get it for you.

File: 1341680882204.jpg-(200 KB, 1024x768, assault bot.jpg)

Bumb!

File: 1341684065923.jpg-(88 KB, 316x447, scenery2.jpg)

>>19774722
>>Its just a WEP. Context is unimportant. I wish I hadn't mentioned it. I shouldn't type when drunk. or tired, which is basically drunk.

>>Now then, I really, REALLY wanted to have something else going on right now, but it looks like I don't. So, I'll answer people's questions now.

Miguel is dumbfounded by the magical noises of the great Bowie, while you easily move songs around via the Monolith. A single silent tear does indeed roll down his face.

The MP3 player from the trucker contains a LOT of Rush, along with more modern equivalents thereof, and an audiobook of the complete works of Earnest Hemmingway, in spanish. Given the data storage you have available, its pretty simple to burn a subset of nearly everything on to a drive, and insert it into the music box.

As you do all this, Miguel continues to talk.

"I am worried, Clarke. Recent events have convinced me that things are getting worse. We are too exposed, too open, too at the mercy of any random pendejo who walks in waving a gun. I will not have us at the mercy of men like that again."

he touches a finger to the rifle. "This weapon was traded dearly to me, and It only has five shots remaining. My father managed to chase away all the traders and tinkerers from us. They need to come back. We have cloth, scavenged metal, and my eldest makes...very good sweets and confections. We harvest extra grain and corn, and a few fruits. It is enough to trade with, for bullets, at least. But I cannot risk anyone on a journey to the city, and everything is disrupted in any case. We are stranded, Clarke, and I can see horrible things happening soon."

>>19777400
"It is and always has been my primary function to fix things. This entire era is broken, even by this short glance of it I've seen. If there is any way in which I can assist you, please do not hesitate to ask."

>>19777400
"The gringos, the men of the Resistance, left today. Their chief was not happy about it. He was worried about us. I hate to say it, but he may be a decent man. But because of that...I saw it in his eyes, Clarke. If he ever returns to our little village, he expects to see us all long dead and the church burnt to the ground."

he leans back, eyes closed.

"I listened to them, when they spoke on their radio. they used veiled language, in english, or perhaps it was simply their idiom, but they're looking for something. Something very important. If Network finds it first, it may be the end of everything. This is what they think, at least."

"If it would grant these monsters so much power that it would doom us all, then I do not like it in their hands, either. And in the city...people live in the city. People like me, and...people like you, I think. Between the monsters and the gringos, I would not wish to be them. But if anyone can help you, can help us, it is them."

"The name of the man that leads them is Joshua. I am told he is tall, with an eyepatch, and a commanding presence. He must be told what it is the Resistance seeks, what Network seeks. they call it the Athenaeum."

>>19777535
We can make bullets if we have the time can't we? It might be smart to suggest to miguel that him and his get the fuck out of dodge.

>>19777559
If we can find the right tools, yeah. Maybe there's an old gunsmith somewhere around?

>>19777535
"Then I will go on this exodus, restore what was once lost, and prevent this 'Network' and 'Resistance' from breaking the world further. It is in my programming that I do so."

>>19777535
"Your passion does you credit, but sometimes, things are beyond fixing. You have to let it all drift away, and start over again. My father used to say that, and I always hated him for it. And I hate that, as I grow older, I begin to see what he meant. You work with machines, Clarke. Machines last. You found a dead woman and brought her back to the waking world. We don't have that luxury. All we can do is remember, and try again later."

"I first told the men that Alhanya had seen you at the treeline and went to investigate, and I ran to save her. I am sorry for that, and I am sorry that I made Alhanya lie as well. They questioned her, gently, but they could tell that she wasn't being truthful. She isn't a very good liar, thank the Mother. They were very angry. The young one that you evaded was frothing with rage. You wounded his pride, Clarke, and now he needs to kill you in order to regain the respect of his peers. Or he thinks he does, anyways. Young men like that will do Anything to feel accepted. We are very lucky they have left, for now."

>>19777622
"Miguel, why would you lie like that? You could have told them the truth, with a white lie as to my location. If only because it would have wounded his pride beyond fixing. As you said, it would 'drift away, and he could try again later.' Perhaps it would have fixed his irrational desire to kill non-malicious robots."

"There's nothing for it, I suppose. If he finds me again, I'll just have to disarm him again. I... am not overly fond of the idea of killing."

>>19777559
>>Making bullets would be a very extended task involving difficult, dangerous, delicate chemistry and metalurgy. Also, in the post-apocalypse, guns are the FIRST thing everyone loots. This town is unusual in having been more-or-less unlooted. There may be bullets in one of the other buildings, but none of them looked obviously like a gun store. In theory, you can make bullets, but in a practical sense, you'd need to find the materials to do so, even if only the gunpowder and the primer.

You say "have you considered leaving, Miguel?"

He replies. "Over and Over. They are scared, and they want to be where they feel secure. The only other places like that are by the ruins. Perhaps I can convince them to go to Xcaret, at least until this passes. Or Xel-ha. If there are other people there, perhaps we can join forces."

>>19777699
Miguel gives you a tortured look.
"They do not like 'collaborators.' They have been here for weeks, I have heard their manner of talking, fond reminiscences about their past. I was afraid, Clarke. Even if you feel fear, I doubt it makes your stomach drop, your heart pound, your hands shake. I am sorry. I could have tried, I know. I would not have convinced them, but it could have been one small thing, given them a little bit of doubt. I did not say you were hostile, far from it. I told them that it looked like you wanted to speak to me, that you were peaceful. Most of what they said in reply amounted to 'that's how the raggy ones get you."

>>19777815
"It is beginning to sound like the Resistance are more like the monsters they fight than the people they seek to protect. That is unfortunate."

I think we should offer to attempt making some bullets for this guy. It's within our capacity, though it would take a while if we want to have any sort of quality.

File: 1341688402151.jpg-(270 KB, 900x637, 86b33c66dc576fb6a7c071f7f945fb(...).jpg)

You hear a shriek of delight from upstairs, and another voice say "hey, keep it straight, we've only got so much to work with. Now, do the other side..."

Miguel replies "trite, but true. He who fights monsters, and all that. Most of them simply seemed like normal young men. Normal young men are very, very dangerous when you get them together, give them weapons, and tell them that there's something out there that's responsible for all their problems."

He runs his hand over the music box, then easily navigates the menu to put on some sort of jazz/techno combination that was popular in 2036.

"I owe you so much Clarke. When you return, I promise to you that, come what may, I will be your staunch ally. My people will just have to pull their heads out of their asses and deal with it. Perhaps now I can teach the younger ones to read. If I can outfit you for your journey in any way, I will do so. I know you like to help people; we have medical supplies."

>>Gotta get ready for work. Best to discuss anything else you want to fix; getting some of the tablets working should be zero problem. Plan and suggest what to bring with you, final things to do, plans for journey, that sort of thing.

>>19778159
Did the monolith have anything about teaching on it? if so that shit would be super valuable.

>>19778065
We could give him the glock, or trade our glock for his rifle.

we need gun powder n primer the rest of it we should be able make do. we could probly make gunpowder if we had to stuff. but primer I dont know. maybe we can get lucky n find a gun smiths forge. or black market arms dealer mod bench for illegal ammo and weapon modification hah now THAT would be lucky.

Definitely fix up some of his tablets.

As for what to bring with us, a repair kit, everything we need to work our spider probe, that solar charger, and the aluminum bat. Oh, and some of the illicit software we found. We still haven't sorted through all that.

File: 1341689312326.jpg-(60 KB, 720x460, sadrobot.jpg)

>>19778190
>>One of the Replica software bundles had a Tutoring program on it, but...well, it'd be only slightly better than a talking textbook with a good search function. Just having the various books on his tablets available would be a tremendous help, its a decent library; encyclopedias and one or two textbooks. Looks like one or two belonged to a university student who pirated all their books. The monolith actually has one or two edutainment games, but, honestly, they're all MathBlasterX type things, near-utterly useless. You could throw them on the tablets, though. All the tablets run on thermal chips.

>>19778263
What about the Synth-muscle? Should we bring that?

>>19778247
This is mexico. All those things exist around here. Maybe not so near Cancun, though, compared to the border with all the drug wars and whatnot. Unless things got violent here near the end

>>19778398
I say just a repair kit.

We should ask cindy what she needs for medical supplies.

We should ask Miguel if he wants us to trade for ammo/weapons for him.

File: 1341701369352.jpg-(139 KB, 1024x768, soldier bot.jpg)

Just keeping the thread alive until op returns.

We could probably make a backpack out of the scrap clothing around the workshop. Remember, it took basically no time at all to make that ballistic vest.

Put important/secret stuff in the storage compartment, put less important/bulky stuff in the backpack.

>>19781525
this

>>19778398
I think we should bring atleast a bit of it, not enough to slow us down or make us use more power, but enough to trade (Or upgrade in the future!)

>>19779304
Everything this person said. Except the weapons, we should stick with out glock and baseball bat. We're peacefull, not warriors.

With Miguel's tablets sorted, and his music collection massively enriched, Clarke begins gathering up his gear with Miguel's help. Among Paco's accoutrements, you manage to find a tattered backpack. The non-synthetic portions of it were long ago consumed by time, or made into rodent bedding, but it is quite simple to incorporate some khaki and plastic tarp into it

>>You have acquired BACKPACK.

Going upstairs reveals that Cindy and Alhanya managed to get in to a Replica repair kit, which included various paints and basic makeup. Alhanya's eyes have been surrounded by blue paint, her black hair subtly styled to hang kinked away from her head in odd knobs. Cindy's wrists and ankles have been covered in swirls and dots, with the characters C 1 N D 3 written diagonally on her chassis. She sits, arms wrapped around her knees, listening with rapt attention to Alhanya describing all the different local wildlife and the sounds they make, and what they eat. As you watch, she interjects

"Are there really jaguars out there? I thought they were extinct in north america."

You collect the gear you'll need, stowing the data drives in your shell, and retrieving the largest chunks of synth-muscle. They look disturbingly like cuts of meat, long-dead and grey, but don't appear to have degraded at all. You collect the glock and your baseball bat, and top up the repair kit. The situation is explained to Cindy, who nods and hugs Alhanya goodbye, promising to return and tell her all about The Clash at Demonhead.

>>19782474
Your spybot easily folds up into a satchel at your side, about the size of an american football.
You step outside to retrieve the solar collector, Alhanya and Cindy following as Miguel organizes his tech, still lost for words at the tiny fragment of the lost Information Age he holds.

You hear alhanya say something like. "Oh, look, a bird!"

>>Roll Wits+Composure.

rolled 10, 4 = 14

>>19782510
Rollin'!

rolled 8, 3, 1, 6, 1, 4 = 23

>>19782510
Rollan, it isn't a bird is it.

rolled 5, 9, 5, 6, 10, 8 = 43

>>19782510
Rolling for curious airborne object

rolled 10, 8 = 18

>>19782510
Oh lawd, what kind of killer robot have you unleashed upon us? Your most loyal of servants

>>19782552
it's Rodan

we're fucked

Um, so what's happening, o-[||||]-o?

File: 1341711768355.jpg-(46 KB, 800x600, Dropship_and_Container.jpg)

There is indeed something bird-shaped in the sky. It flashes white and grey, drifting back and forth on the air currents. You give it a passing glance; animals are of little concern to you, save when they clog things up by making nests or dying in them. But something looks off, and you refocus on it, staring through a gap in the canopy.

What at first you took for a small, nearby gull is actually quite far away, and getting closer. While it does drift back and forth, wings shifting, it lacks any kind of beak, and rather than a sleek soft featheryness, it looks...hard.

Your optics refocus to the limits of their operational range. Math happens deep beneath your conscious awareness. Based on speed, direction, and distance, what you're looking at has a 40-ft wingspan, and while it moves like a gull, it lacks the sleek pointed wings of such creatures. The flier continues to come nearer, and you recognize the dead grey striations of synth-muscle. A faint, high-frequency whine accompanies it

>>Incoming Flier WAT DO? Arrives/passes overhead in narrative three rounds. Feel free to make presumptive rolls if necessary.

>>19783256
Get on the floor

>>19783256
"That's no bird... Miguel. We need to get those Resistance members back. And we need them now. The monsters of the Network have come."

We need to look through the basement for better firepower. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck this is NOT SEHR GUUT.

>>19783256
Get to cover, tell everyone to find somewhere to hide, the Network is incoming.

OH SHIT. uhm, guys, I hope you won't mind I suggest we sacrifice the drone as a distraction should that thing touchdown.

Keep everyone under cover/still till it's clear.

Get Alhanya and Cindy underground or behind and under cover now. Miguel needs to find the resistance and point them at the flier. Clarke obviously can't go because the resistance will start shooting at them too. Instead, Clark stays in the shop and looks for anything that he can make into some sort of combat device. Stronger pistons, whatever.

File: 1341715458950.jpg-(139 KB, 765x1045, gethvulture.jpg)

Your warning galvanizes your companions into action. Alhanya scrambles over to the tangled roots of a tree, while Cindy leaps up to grip the overhang of the building's roof, clinging beneath the eaves in an impressive feat of acrobatics. You release your drone bot as you thud back into the cellar, closing the doors behind you. Pulling out the glass datapad, you finagle the spiderbot to lurk within the undergrowth. The simple AI tracks the movement of the flier, and you watch as it nears your position. Miguel initially seems about to speak, but becomes silent when he realizes the direness of the situation, and hears the high thrumming while grow louder.

Through the Retina+ resolution of the slate, you can clearly see the flier. It bears the overall shape of some sort of great huning bird, complete with wings. Within the wings, you can see spinning turbines, outlined with splayed feathers that shift and angle intricately. They gleam with the grey/blue shine of solar collectors, and the whole structure is strung to the core body with massive slabs of synth-muscle. the head is squared off, with a proliferation of sensory organs, and behind the keel-like chest is...a pod, flanked on either side with what resemble articulated landing spars.

While it lacks windows, you have the uncomfortable feeling that the pod is a passenger module. The fuselage is roughly the size of a pickup truck, the pod big enough for perhaps four clarke--sized beings.

As you watch, it passes directly over the small cluster of buildings where your lurk. It banks widely, making a half-circle before moving off to the northeast

>>19784099
For a second there I thought that thing from your pic was gonna come out.

>>19783987
Miguel, looking over your shoulder, emits a sense of creeping horror.

"That's what they look like? It almost looks...alive. Look at the way the feathers shift, it...it even flaps its wings for extra lift. Oh, holy mother, did it see us?"

You wait until you're sure the flier is past, and open up the cellar again. Cindy is outside, near Alhanya, who looks shaken.

Miguel follows you out, bag over his shoulder.

"The city is that way, where it went. This is too much. We leave, now. All of us, away from the city. Clarke, I...I cannot ask you to go there. What Network is, I don't know, even the men of the Resistance speak of them with fear."

>>19784208
It is not alive, that is synthetic muscle.

I concur, the city is too dangerous to approach, we do not have sufficient information to assess it properly and plan.

>>19784208
Hm, just cindy and us vs four bots does sound bad.

perhaps we could retreat and see if they come to us with our handy spy bot?

>>19783987
Clarke speaks, swiftly, trying cut through Miguel's fear.

"The Resistance must be told, Miguel. If you see them, you must tell them the whole truth. All of it. Should we encounter them, we shall do the same."

Clarke feels a deep hollow sensation as his anticipation of the future is edited to remove Miguel and Alhanya. It is possible you will not see them for some time, if ever again.

>>19784238
I'd be careful about the spy bot. Mishandled, it could give our position away.

Also, I thought we were going to bring the third replica (not the surfer or monstrosity) online? What happened to that? We could use a third.

>>19784331
We should create optical camo for our spybot

>>19784266
Where did Paco keep the dakka? He has military 'bot education tech. He must have the weapons to match.

Speaking of which, it's time to start grokking all that data as a side process.

File: 1341716959747.jpg-(102 KB, 800x536, robot monster and girl.jpg)

>>19784266
well, if this is our last time seeing them again, then let's at least give them a fitting fare well.

"As you instruct Miguel, I wish that you and your Village finds safe haven where ever you go. Small Child Alhanya, I wish to thank you for all of the help you have given me. If not for you, I still would have been in disrepair and nonoperational. Listen to your Maker well and stay out of danger. I hope we will meet again soon.

Cindy speaks up at this point.

"Where else can we go, Clarke? Isn't there anyone else in this horrible place who's not going to shoot us on sight?"

>>Its your decision, guys. The Sparkling City apparently has both the Resistance and Network heading towards it. But, its a big city, and you've pretty much tapped out your immediate surroundings. And there might be allies there. Miguel and his people are moving to one of the other ruins. Map of region fothcoming

I'm waiting for the map, since we can probably puzzle out a likely place to look for other Free Robots.

>>19784395
Seal this place off, we might have to come back. Huck the antennae that may or may not be signaling far, far away from Miguel's village or the ruins he's heading towards.

"Supposedly there are "Free Machines" and humans who do not spite us in the city. We'll make our way there."

>>19784395
how picked over would the ruins be?

File: 1341718211319.jpg-(113 KB, 621x582, yucatanmap_1.jpg)

>>19784455
>>Hunting through the papers behind the counter, you're able to locate a crappy tourist map of the region. The flier was traveling from West to East, and banked far north as it passed over you.

Clarke picks up the ruptured antenna and, pulling an arm back, throws it as far as he possibly can. Given his strength and the length of the arm, this means 100 yards or more.

>>19784331
>>Switching on the Replica would, in theory, be quick and simple, and it'd be another pair of hands (or distraction). Also, it's not going to go through an existential crisis that'll take another 2 hours to talk it through. Your choice, as always.

>>19784692
I say it's reveille time for the replica.

I vote we head south-west along the road. We should keep on the lookout for useful-looking scavenge for trade.

>>19784618
>>The ruins are the surviving Mayan temples and the stone parts of their cities. When everything went to shit, the local people fell back on a few of the old ways; the local religion, while superficially catholic, is less guilt-based and more "balance and cycles of nature," with particular focus on a protective feminine skygod of the moon. There wouldn't be much there apart from some abandoned tourist gear, if that.

>>19784692
Well, I'm guessing Network has the airports taken then.

More hands couldn't hurt... unless we're low on fuel.

>>19784778
eh, not looking like we want to go there then

>>19784692
I say we make our way to Chicen Itza

>>19784692
what does Miguel know about the towns to the south?

>>19784788
>>The replica has low power draw and runs off a conventional battery and thermal chips. It would require two charges/day to operate, and can generate one charge on its own provided its out in the sun and the warmth, provided you don't require it to sprint around constantly.

>>Cancun is the most likely place to find the Free Machines or tech-savvy humans, but the resort density on Cozumel and the isolation would mean that there might be some good shit there. The best shit'd be in cancun, though. You're not likely to find anything at Chitchen-Itza; the awesome epic vampires-vs-wizards fight you're thinking of happened in a different universe. Unfortunately.

>>19784918
Ah, that's a good idea. See what he knows.

>>19784964
I say we got to Cozumel and prepare before diving head first into Cancun.

>>19785039
If we can find a boat that'll hold.

>>19784918
Miguel says that most of the other towns are tiny and overgrown, rather like this one, but most of them have been picked over. The region around Tulum is the closest thing to a genuine town; there's a market there, and sometimes Machines can be found there, they don't live there, but they're tolerated briefly. That's where the Resistance guys came from, before heading further north to Cancun. Apparently they all came in on a boat, and small squads have been spreading outwards from there.

>>19785084
Oooh, let's pop into Tulum and see if we can find anything interesting, or meet another companion.

>>19785084
Well, if we not going to get shot there let visit there first and talk to some robits.

Then we can island hop.

So, the plan is looking like we gear/party up in Tulum before heading to Cancun?

>>Establishing Consensus. Available options:
>Go directly to Cancun and seek out Joshua
>Go to Tulum, to find allies and trade.
>Go to Cozumel to search for tech.

>>19785325
>Go to Tulum, to find allies and trade.

then

>Go to Cozumel to search for tech.

>>19785346
>>Given previous input, Consensus Reached.
>>Travel to Tulum, then Cozumel, then make descisions regarding Cancun.
>>Boys, the plot just got more circuitous. I can totally run with that.

>>19785374
We're doing everything assbackwards aren't we?

that's the best way to do things

>>19785397
I concur. In videogames you always want to do everything in a really round-a-bout fashion lest you miss something. I treat quest the same way.

>>19785416
Seems like pretty solid logic to me. More chances for loot/upgrades/party members. We could build up a magnificent seven...only with shiny metal asses.

Miguel and Alhanya make their way back to the villiage. They plan to go to Xcaret, a safe, secluded place with a sizable cavern system. Their group will obviously move more slowly than yours, but it does mean you may see them again on the return journey to Cancun, provided you don't get scrapped before then. Alhanya waves at you as she leaves, blue eyeshadow streaking slightly.

Clarke and Cindy do their best to make the shop look run-down and unused, clearing away all the workspaces and putting the disassembled parts on the shelves. The only remaining thing is to activate the Replica. It's a B82 "Juanita" domestic model that boots cleanly; its was far behind the cutting edge when manufactured, so its quite reliable.

The robot's large brown eyes close, as if asleep, then open with a rudimentary awareness behind them, and speaks in earnest, european-inflected spanish. "Hello, potential buyer. My name is Miss Josephine, and it is a pleasure to meet you. My original job was as a governess, but I've picked up plenty of additional skills." The robot stands and does a 360 in front of you, dust falling from the creases of its clothing.

"I can cook, do housework, engage in conversation, and, if you're interested come installed with some very fun extra software." It smiles and winks, showing very white, even teeth, then returns to passive mode, ignoring you both; as you're not potential buyers..

>>Make a Manipulation+Computer roll to change Josephine's settings.

rolled 10, 10, 6, 3, 1 = 30

>>19785773

>>19785773
Cindy looks unimpressed.

"Ugh, I always hated these things. I can do almost everything they do, plus a lot more. But they always get treated more like people, just because of their stupid smiles and stupid silicone. Ugh, Rachel had to work REALLY hard to make her friends stop calling me "it."

rolled 6, 10, 3, 3, 4 = 26

>>19785773
>very fun software

can not tell if I've been on 4chan too long...

"Tell me about Rachel"
She could talk while we work. It may help her to talk.

>>19785821
"That is the unfortunate nature of the uncanny valley. Humans simply have trouble relating to entities that do not look exactly like themselves."

As you step forward, Josephine says "Oh, welcome to Paco's Used Robots. If you're here on behalf of your owner, maybe I can interest them in an extended six-month wara-"

Its prattle cuts off as Clarke plugs a cable into the robot's data port. Accessing its systems is hilariously easy, and its quite simple to give both robots and humans open command privilige, with Clarke having Admin status. Within, there's no trace of malicious software, just some custom Traditional Cooking recipies and Playbot v3.5.1.

>>You have unlocked JOSEPHINE, doll-class replica. Sentience Level: 1 (lizard). Josephine will obey all verbal commands, with Clarke able to designate others as valid users. Josephine is hard-coded to be incapable of harming a human being.

>>19785839
Nope. The more realistic, better replicas were often used as sex toys. Like real dolls but sadder. Typically they were domestic servants, however.

>>19785919
So what exactly will she be useful as? A pack mule maybe?

ROBOT SEX DOITDOITDOIT

>>19785973
Get yo clank on. But no, instead let's set out.

>>19785970
Bargaining chip? We could use the sexbot aspect to gain information from humans.

>>19785845
Cindy gives you a LOOK.
"I know about the valley, Clarke. I've got a psych database. We were both designed to fall on the upper end of the left side, in what's technically called the 'R2 Zone.' This thing's on the far side, slightly below us, but way above the
Polar Express Null Point. That's why it has exposed joints and ports."

>>19785970
We could potentially saddle her up with any program we can find/write. Replicas are pretty easily moddable by the end user, which is now us. I'm guessing she'll do low-power manual labor like sewing kevlar vests and shit like that. Also pack mule, yes.

Firstly, she will NOT need the whorebot files. Ax them. Actually, wait, store them incase we find us a scavenger with weird tastes.

Secondly, let's load her with a few simpler maintenance routines so she can assist us when we need extra hands.

>>19785970
>>19785985
Pack mule, distraction, trade good, and we DO have some illegal software that'd eliminate her 1st law.

>>19785987
"I was not aware there were formal 'zones.' I was only provided with the most basic definition I am afraid. The Maker did not seem to think I would need much knowledge of the human psyche in order to engage efficiently in technical and manual labor."

>>19786004
Cindy's voice becomes apologetic.
"I'm sorry to snap. I know barely anything about engineering, apart from how to simple part replacement on myself. Like I said, these things skeeve me."

Cindy steps up to Josephine and closely examines her face while Clarke rummages about in his stack of Replica software.

"I met Rachel when she was 16. She was living in detroit with her mom. Dad was rich, always trying to one-up mom. That's how she got me; divorce-kid birthday gift."
Cindy looks thoughtful.
"Early on, it was such a blur. Everything was just so...baffling. She had a schedule, and did lunch with people, but mostly she just TALKED to me. It was impossible to keep up using the conversation database, so I had to start winging it. Oh gawd, I was such a goober at first."

As she speaks, you continue to collect the last bits and bobs, grabbing the glock last. Information floods into your HUD

>>Sidearm, Civilian Model; Battlefield Salvage? Capacity 10, suboptimal, low accuracy, high reliability. maintain in side holster, safety on, round unchambered,

>>19786232
Well then chamber a fucking round. No need to get caught with your pants down.

Did you find any duct tape perchance?

>>19786329
The one thing guaranteed to fix everything incase of nuclear holocaust. I bet the shit is worth more than gold these days.

You instruct Josephine to carry the bulky solar collector, which, even when folded will charge it as it walks, along with all the replica drives and the spare robot parts. Cindy carries a large shoulderbag containing the military grade drive , a first aid kit, and a sizable media library.

You carry the various high-quality drives in your internal storage, along with the mechanic's tools. your baseball bat, and the slabs of synth muscle are in your backpack.

The three of you troop out the door, Clarke bending the cellar door back behind you, and set off toward the Riviera Highway, Cindy still telling stories of the better class of high school drama.

>>If you wish to add more gear or alter the layout, go ahead. I'll put together a master inventory list based on it. Statblocks for Cindy, Josephine, and your Spider Bot are also forthcoming.

>>19786371
Can we scrounge up a good, hefty metal ring, or a few, and maybe a good lug for a counterweight, to affix to our baseball bat- at the end and handle, respectively- and turn it from a questionably useful bat to a bone/plastic-shattering makeshift mace?

If possible, offer to slap on some armor for Cindy. The kevlar probably saved our shiny metal asses, converting dat lethal to dat bashing. Even if she doesn't wanna fight, the least she could do is not die.

>>19786436
Boob plate.

File: 1341727216696.jpg-(97 KB, 608x514, cindeandrachel.jpg)

>>19786353
>>Paco was apparently a firm believer in the RedGreen Handyman's Gospel, as you found four rolls of duct tape. Cindy used 1/4th of one roll fixing her waist and neck, as well as reinforcing her limbs.

"Rachel had just started at a new school and it was kind of preppy, and she was, you know, more into the punk scene. She started bringing me to school at first, I think, just to show me off. But she got really, really pissed when everyone just called me 'It" or "Rachel's robot," So she got me a t-shirt printed with C1ND3, just to make a point, but it looked all weird on its own, so we went to a thrift store and found these KILLER jeans, and ripped them all up. And then we..."

By this point, you've reached the highway; a stretch of cracked, black asphalt. Irregular lines of vegetation crisscross the road where its been particularly damaged, and there are a few small green hillocks that must once have been cars. As you walk, you see an overturned truck with unmistakably Military markings.

>>19786552
Check it out cautiously. It's lootin' time!

rolled 6, 2, 6, 4, 5 = 23

>>19786552
divorce kids always make me sad

Military truck loot? Grab it while ye can, lads!

>>19786436
>>There isnt enough of the ablative ceramic left to make a vest for her. just being mechanical gives her Armor 1 (she's got a lot more plastic in her than you do). If you ever find Kevlar, you can stick it inside her chassis to protect her head and torso. Her main defense is Overclock, which lets her apply her defense vs ballistic attacks; normally guns are only reduced by armor. Guns in WoD are NASTY.

>>Round chambered. Gun is now live. Exercise caution. Safety 98% effective. danger to self minimal. Danger to human squad mates EXTREME.

File: 1341728206502.jpg-(28 KB, 421x306, glock safety.jpg)

>>19786629
To clarify, round chambered, striker uncocked, safety on?

Sorry, my /k/ is showing

>>19786629
Can we use duct tape or something more substantial to attach ablative ceramic to her chassis without a vest? Just try to protect the most important bits. She's probably going to want whatever protection we give her to be stylish, anyway...

Give it wiiiiiiiiiiiide berth and see if anyone's on the other side of it. If not investigate. If so, keep moving, quietly.

>>19786629
Lets get the scout drone the check out the wreck before we approach (and loot) it.

>>19786612
>>...Ugh, I remember divorce being such a boogeyman when I was a kid. Every little spat was terrifying.

The military truck appears to have been superficially looted long ago. Within is a shaded mini-greenhouse, a riot of wildflowers that normally thrive on the forest floor, growing from the decaying seats. It appears to have been a troop transport with actual padding; probably PMC.

Cindy and search it top to bottom, and you actually find something of significant value; wedged into a corner like a quarter under a couch cushion is an assault rifle magazine.

Two thing occur to you: 1, the position of the truck means that there might be stuff underneath it, but that would require a hefty Bending check to shift. Two: Why are the seats all slashed up?

By this point, you've been walking for several hours before you saw the military truck.

>>19786837
Perhaps there was something stashed in the seat? Lets dig through them, and see if we can salvage any parts from the engine. Check if the mag has any bullets in it. I'm sure it'll be really valuable for trading.

rolled 2 = 2

>>19786837
Spot check for horrible spidery killbots waiting to facehug us and tear out our optics.

Combined force check of all three bots?

>>19786837
Because the last scavenger who went through the wreck had hemmeroids

The tires( or tire remains) are likely to still be there- fashion makeshift armor for cindy ot of it.

File: 1341729705288.png-(109 KB, 872x1070, cindychar1st.png)

>>No spidery killbots jump out, although that's an idea I might save for later.

>>The magazine does indeed have a full clip of ammo in it, steel-jacketed military rounds.

Digging through the slashed up seats doesn't reveal anything beyond a few peso coins. The seats seem to have been violently ripped apart by blades of some sort. You also find a few scraps of synthetic cloth, of the type used in flak armor.

Josephine's response to this is to say, with utterly-sincere-sounding concern "Oh, no, there appears to have been an accident. Should I contact emergency services, Mr. Zero Eight? Has anyone been injured?"

>>19786998
Let's pool our strength together to get this thing flipped upright.

File: 1341730058979.png-(50 KB, 549x554, clarkecharsheet.png)

>>19786952
>>Cindy has skinny girl arms, and Josephine has cheap servos designed to do nothing more strenuous than carry someone's luggage. If anyone's going to move the truck, its going to be Clarke. If you want to roll it, make a Strength+Brawl (bending) check, requiring 5 successes. You can spend 1 charge for +1 str, or spend three for +2.

>>The tires were looted long ago,and the engine is an unidentifiable lump of rusted-together metal.

File: 1341730181554.jpg-(41 KB, 1024x752, 762x39.jpg)

>>19786998
When you say steel jacketed, do you mean that the bullet itself is made out of lead surrounded by a thin layer of steel, or do you mean that the bullets core is made out of steel?

rolled 7, 5, 10, 2, 5, 4, 4, 8, 5 = 50

>>19787075
I think we can spend a bit. Let's go for that +2

>>19787075
>>Also, you could blow a willpower for +3 to the check. Willpower only comes back when you achieve some important goal, have a time of relax/have fun/be happy.

rolled 10, 6, 3, 4, 9, 2, 10, 7, 9, 8 = 68

>>19787075
still lets try
spending 3 charges for max bending

Fuck these rolls

Shit. If only we had something to use as a lever. A nice solid girder or something.

>>19787174
Make a check to bend a piece of iron off, and then get some bonus with that? I guess it's too late now.

>>19787121
>>Five Successes Achieved. Like most of life's problems, this one can be solved by sufficient application of bending.

Clarke strains against the weight of the truck. You channel capacitor charge into all your servos, lifting with your knees, not your back. There is a creaking, then the various snappings as vines break under the assault. With a mechanical whine and a few
>>Warning. Stress Capactiy Exceeded
messages, the truck now sits right side up.

Beneath is is quite the sight. Several small fuzzy animals flee the sudden inrush of sunlight, their burrows exposed as a vein-like hedge maze in dirt and plant roots. Slugs and pale roots gleam wetly. but most notable is the green-tinged human skeleton, still clad in moldy flack armor and clutching a descendant of the SPAS-12 pump-action shotgun in its cold, dead hands, a true american to the end.

>>19787565
Loot everything useable.

Make database checks for useful vegetation. Probably not. Loot dat shotgun and rifle around for more useful stuff. Also bury the skeleton, or else the ghost will haunt you.

Don't forget to suggest Cindy turn away while Clarke does this.

>>19787574
Second.

>>19787597
Seconding the whole post.

>>19787565
Hand Cindy the shotgun. For chuckles.

Offer Cindy either your current vest or the moldy flack armor. If she prefers neither, give it to your pack mule.

File: 1341734523211.png-(354 KB, 500x375, shotgun loads.png)

>>19787565
>Shotgun
Welp. Time for wacky and dangerous improvised shotgun handloads

You begin looting the corpse, Cindy gingerly assisting you. You hand off the items as you retrieve them to Josephine, which doesn't seem to bother it in the least, even when you hand it a skull-faced helmet containing an actual skull.

As you suspected, this truck was PMC; the helmet includes a sinister hockey-mask riot shield painted like a grinning skull that's on fire. As you unzip the flak armor, Cindy points out several huge rents.

"There and there, gashes. And see where the ribs are etched, below? and on the spine behind That's a lethal wound, I'm sure of it. Those'd go through the lungs, and cut several major arteries.

You hand the shotgun to Cindy, who takes it gingerly, like a fish that's been sitting in the sun for three days, but nonetheless needs to be picked up. Her manipulators fit around it with slightly increased confidence, and she begins gouging years of grit from it. "Clarke, this thing is really gummed up. I'm not sure if-"

The shotgun goes off, creating a random scatterplot of holes in the truck's side panneling

"-it still works."

>>19787968
"Cindy. It may be wise for the both of us to learn the basic concept of firearms care that is 'trigger discipline' in light of recent events. Or rather, A recent event. That being you nearly blowing a hole in someone."

>>19787968
Oh, it likes you. You make it go off with your delicate touch.

File: 1341735260477.jpg-(140 KB, 788x772, ak47 design.jpg)

>>19787968
>OFW

>>19787968
Does the truck work or is it completely written off? Also, how is it powered?

>>19787968
There's a moment of silence, which is broken by Cindy.

"Whoa. That was...kind of cool."

Along with the shotgun and flak, you also find the merc's kit. This includes a smartphone (cracked beyond all recognition), a giant spring-loaded jackknife, a wallet containing a silver-edged pane of glass that, when exposed to sunlight, cycles through images of a dog (border collie), a plump young woman, an older man, and several young men raising beers together. Each one of them wears no less than three popped collars.

Within his helmet, however, you find a particular treasure: it has a built in camera with both a transmitter and a local drive.

Cindy very, very carefully puts down the shotgun. Josephine turns to Cindy and holds up the moldy flak jacket. "I think this would look wonderful on you, Miss Cindy."

First, we bury this grunt, show him at least a little respect.

Josephine is no longer eligible for cannon fodder duty. We're fucking keeping it.

Take everything. We can likely scrap the broken stuff for rare parts later. What can we do with the transmitter?

Also teach Cindy stuff like where the safety for the shotgun is and how to reload. She shouldn't be wasting ammo like that.

Finally, bury it. We're trying to grow our humanity here.

We should probably check the shotgun shells to make shure the merc didn't get his hands on some of the more ...exotic types of ammunition (FRAG-12) avaliable during his time

>>19788077
>>Electric, but the battery melted long ago. The truck is utterly, utterly wasted after sitting for 80+ years in the elements.

Cindy looks down at the shotgun. "I didn't hit the trigger...I don't think. Oh gawd, that could have been really, really dangerous. I have NO idea how those things work." Cindy looks from her hands to the shotgun, her purple eyes very sober.

Working together, the three of you pile the skeleton into the flak jacket and, carrying it to the edge of the Black Asphalt Road, find as good a place as any to put a long-dead merc to rest.

Josephine begins to chatter. "Mr Zero Eight, I must warn you that it violates several provincial and federal laws to move or conceal human remains," it says in that same chipper voice. Despite this, it takes the chunk of bent metal from the truck and begins to dig. Rather poorly, actually. It doesn't seem to be trying to alter its grip or try new methods of digging.

You can Cindy are far more effective, and it isn't long before you've dug a shallow hole large enough to contain the bones.

Grab any useful/dangerous pieces of scrap metal you can from the truck too.

>>19788165
Suggest Cindy take her Mil-spec upgrade now.
"The software covers close range combat; SMGs to shotguns. Included is trauma surgery training of the specifications a M.A.S.H. unit would require. Whether or not you plan to use the gunplay, the surgery knowledge may prove valuable in your desire to aid humans."

>>19788163
The Merc has 20 shotgun shells in total on his person. 13 are conventional buckshot. 2 are flares, and five appear to be some sort of high-heat round that can continues to spit spire and melt things once its in the wound.

Cindy takes the glass square from Josephine and hands it to you. Clarke places it within the skeleton's ribcage, with the rest of the bones placed roughly in the proper places. The three of you observe a moment of silence, then begin shoveling dirt over the greenish, weatherbeaten skeleton.

As Cindy shovels, she asks "Clarke, not that I'm complaining, I think its real nice, what you did, but why? Is it really that important to you?"

"It is. I do not know if there is a higher construct, but I know this man here only died doing his job, with no-one to mourn him."

>>19788288
Those 5 are either thermite or white phosphorous.
Probably Thermite, as WP would have reacted with the air after being exposed to the elements for this long. The flares could be Red phosporous, and if so could double as incendary rounds.

File: 1341738129791.png-(16 KB, 583x568, Choice.png)

>>The helmet's wireless transmitter is mostly useless, but the camera itself has recorded some footage.

Cindy pulls out the drive and looks at again, with trepidation. "I know you're right, I really do. I just...needed some time to mull it over."

She opens her chassis and easily inserts the drive, taking her improvised shovel back afterwards. "I don't want to hurt anyone, and...you've got that drive in you, and you're still doing all this."

>>I'm starting to zonk out. I'm about to end the thread, but I've got a cutscene or whatever. I'll have to do it tomorrow. Great job, everybody. There'll be a delay on the next thread of a few days. Lets not burn out on this, now. I'm glad that everyone is liking the cast of characters. Do tell me if Cindy gets annoying or if you feel that there isn't enough focus on Clarke. I've still got TONS of development for Clarke

>>19788288
"We destroyed his place of rest. It is only fair to give him a new one."
Also, the Merc's choice of shotgun ammo is rather telling.
Seems like he planned to shoot robots.

>>19788385
>confused slugs for buckshot
>cannot into /k/
polite sage for not doing anything.

bump

>>19788018
Even hundreds of years in the future, after the end of civilization, when Africans have returned to a peaceful existence... if you give them a gun, they will do retarded shit.

Cindy slips on the Merc-issue Flak Jacket. Since this guy was in the tropics, its lighter than a normal jacket, and provides only slightly more protection than your ratty-ass tank top of skynet-made future-ceramics.

>>Flak Jacket Provides 1 armor, but counts as 2 for firearm attacks, and converts 2 lethal firearm damage into bashing. I maybe be revising the simplified firearm rules in the next thread, with the master inventory list.

"I'm going to have to give this thing a wash eventually, otherwise there's going to be grit all up in my shell. I can make it work, though."

Cindy uses a precious strip of duct tape to bind a pair of sticks together into a cross, and plants it by the grave. "It's what humans do." she says.

Josephine walks up to Clarke and says, very soberly. "I'm sorry for your loss, sir. It was a very lovely service."

With a grinding sound of annoyance, Cindy changes the subject. "Is there anything on the helmet camera?

>>19792196
Good point, that'll probably tell us what the shit happened.

File: 1341773612599.jpg-(46 KB, 626x349, odst soldier landfall blomkamp.jpg)

You plug the drive into one of your data ports.
>>New Device Detected! Installing drivers.
>>Please insert command authorization to view proprietaewsdviiw
>>Playing Media File
The file includes both audio and video. Also, the video is extrapolated to be very slightly rotatable.

The soldier appears to be sitting in the back of the truck, which is packed wall to wall with soldiers. The view turns left and right; it appears to be the typical collection of military dudes; none of them looks obviously psychotic. Their gear is all slightly divergent, and one of them appears to be a J33V with extra body armor bolted to it, holding a LMG and staring intently out the back of the truck. At the front of the bay, just behind cab, is a lumpish, folded thing of soot-blakened metal and camo mesh.

"So, what's the fucking word on this one? Another dick-waving competition for the States, keeping up appearances?" A man asks. Another one replies. "You don't watch the news, do you. Riggs?" Riggs scoffs, and the second man continues "I like to know why I'm killing people, Riggs. President Hermendez has half the brazillian army moving up the coast, go'n all Manifest Destiny on the place. Texas Confederacy's throwing a shitfit, and our bosse's bosses think they can earn some brownie points by checking the advance before the Lone Stars lose their favorite vactation spot. They've got a LOT of nationals down here."

>>19792667
Interesting, Now I want to know whether it was the robots or the Brazilians that totaled the APC.

>>19792667
The guy behind your own camera speaks up. "This have anything to do with the shit in africa, sir?"

"Africa's always been a load of shit, Sottlmeyer. It got better for a while, then everything went back to normal once some jackass invented Neo-Wahhabism and it ran upagainst the Loa Revival."

Amidst all this discussion of geopolitical politics, the driver interjects. "Hey, assholes, Cancun in 1/2 an hour! HQ needs reinforcements. Christov, switch on our mech."

Another soldier, this one in technician's gear, presses a few keys on a wearable computer. The folded up lump twitches stretches as lights switch on. It is revealed to be a sleek machine with an array of tiny, dead-looking optics on its head, and its arms include both heavy serrated blades and a pair of belt-fed guns.
"Everything checks out, sir"
"Okay, everyone sync up your gear, we're going in hot, and we need to know who's who."
All the mercs fiddle about with their tech, hands navigating invisible AR interfaces.
"Now, we've got a up to date briefing from the battlenet. I'm patching it through to...where is it?"
Another guy speaks up.
"I just lost my connection, sir"
"Me too"
"Christov, what the fuck is going on? How can we NOT have signal?"
"Sir, I can't find that out if I don't have a signal to...shit."
The mech's head moves back and forth, looking at each soldier in turn. Its manipulators flex, and weapons auto-cycle.

>>19792791
Oh I see what happened now, Those slashed seats were what happened after it went ballistic on the driver and crew.

>>19792791
Is there a date for when the recording was taken? It would allow us to know when the war started.

"Christov, why is it doing that?"
"Um...I think that the battlenet switching off has made it...worried?"
"Well, calm it down."
"Uhm...commands like that have to bounce through the battlenet, sir. To prevent local hacks."
"Then turn it off."
"Battlenet, sir."
The Sargeant turns to the robot, which has ceased looking out the back and is staring at the mech intently.
"Greasy, can't you talk to it in robot, or something?"
Greasy's grip tightens on his machine gun. "Hunter-class Mechs do not communicate with audio, sir. But it exhibits signs of excitement. I've lost my battlenet connection as well. The disconnect was abrupt, suggesting violence."
One of the blades extends out to the full length, blackened to prevent telltale shine. The sarge speaks directly to the mech. "This is an order, soldier. Stand Down. Immediately."

>>19792888
Man, sucks for those soldiers that robots can't speak clickwise.

>>19792888
The idea of covering it in soot is actually quite sound, if we're ever in a prolonged battle this is a good idea.

>>19792852

>>4/24/2078

What follows is not pretty. Two soldiers die first, one on each blade. Others begin to yell, or stand in shock, a few reach for their sidearms, or attempt to maneuver their cumbersome rifles. Greasy lifts his LMG, but can't get a clean shot through the press of bodies. The screaming starts, causing the driver to swerve wildly. Several mercs manage to retrieve heavy sidearms and begin firing at the mech. Its head impacts inwards in several places, shattering a few optics, but it lunges at them, integrated guns blazing. Greasy stands and steps forward, pressing the muzzle of his LMG against it's torso. But this puts him in range of its blades, and a lightning-swift slash severs his head in a spray of amber fluids before he can pull the trigger.

Your own viewpoint moves to the back of the truck, but is stopped by the fast motion of the vehcicle; jumping would be almost as lethal as staying. Fear of being stabbed pushes him on regardless, but not switfly enough to avoid being stabbed. He looks down to see blades protruding from his chest, and that's when the panicked driver hits the dividing concrete barrier and rides up it. the whole vehicle tipping sideways as it spins about.

Poor bastards didn't even get a chance to hit the front lines.

The crash itself is a confusing jumble, as the onboard computer fails to understand what it's seeing, and thus can't properly record the scene.

When things restabilize, your viewpoint seems to be on his hands and knees. He look up at the sound of a gurgling scream to see Stottlemeyer impaled on a combat blade. You hear mutterings of "shit shit shit shit" as the soldier scrambles towards the truck , which lies on its side. there's barely enough room for him to slide under, but it appears to be the only option.

Under the truck, you can see the killbot continue its grisly work. Once every soldier is dead, you watch it drag them out two at a time and laid out on the road.

Your viewpoint whispers. "What the fuck? Did I?" And raises a hand to eye level. it is soaked in blood. "Oh, right. I got stabbed, didn't I?" He says, woozily.

While he may be loosing consciousness, his camera is still recording. The mech stands over a merc's corpse, and, delicatele, opens up the torso with a second, hooked blade. You watch as it reaches in which a manipulator, which comes out soaked with gore, pulling out streamers of intestine.

This continues for some time, in a very methoidical manner, before the camera, detecting that it's owner has stopped moving, assumes that there's nothing interesting going on, and switches off.

>>Roll a Manipulation+Empathy or Intelligence+Academics. Or show it to Cindy, and have her roll

rolled 1, 8, 10, 8, 2, 8 = 37

>>19793169
let's not show it to cindy

what are the rolls for(take how many dice you need)?

Manipulation+Empathy

rolled 10, 3, 10, 5 = 28

I'll take that Int+Academics roll.

Seeing this video may just distress Cindy more than she needs.

rolled 9, 9, 9, 3, 5, 3, 9, 3 = 50

>>19793202
Wait, I've been doing this wrong. 2 rolls per dot, not 1.

Give it to Cindy. She should be able to roll a better Manipulation+Empathy

What are we rolling for, exactly?

>>19793251
My guess is figuring out the combat mech's dysfunction.

rolled 1, 5, 6, 3, 9, 2 = 26

>>19793224
prety sure you just won the internet

>>19793224
>>No, its one roll per dot, but you add them together. You're not very good at psychology, but you got lucky on your rolls

>>The behavior of the mech seems to indicate ritualistic actions, such as those seen in human serial killers. You don't personally know much about Hunter-class mechs, save that they're conditioned to be very agressive, and were among the first military robots installed with SAPs, and were notorious for occasional friendly fire incidents before stricter IFF protocols were instituted.

You hear Cindy's voice say "Clarke, you're shaking. What's in there?

>>Recovery Wizard at 70%. Runningdigeigegi an amber gaze stares at you, blank and monocular in a sleek featureless face. It speaks in a european-inflected voice that sounds...oddly comforting. Like Morgan Freeman. "I'm actually sorry, Zero Eight. I really am. But we're just not important compared to what needed doing. I don't expect you to understand."

>>19793371
Got lucky anyway, I guess.

>>19793371
"The last moments of a number of soldiers. They died at the hands of a Network military drone. Or rather, the blades of one. It... It was not something I would like to see again.'

>>19793505
He wasn't networked, he just went nuts.

>>19793568
We don't know that for certain.

>>19793594
We only know what we saw.
Group lost connection to battlenet
Mech gets agitated
Soldiers agitated
Soldiers get shanked
Carflip
Mech displays classic serial killer tendencies notorious in this particular model

File: 1341778767853.jpg-(187 KB, 567x879, Robot_01_by_nancynismo.jpg)

Cindy picks the shotgung back up and shakes her jacket, causing dirt and small wriggling things to fall out of its recesses. She engages the safety, and slings it over a shoulder, opposite her bag.

"I...probably don't want to see that. But maybe I should, later. We have to figure out what happened, Clarke."

>>ENDING CHAPTER 1: WAKING UP WITH AMNESIA.

>>By all means, continue to discuss, ask questions and make plans, or bitch about what I'm doing wrong. But I've got to call it here for a while. I'll check in later to answer shit, and then in a few days there'll be a professional-well-organized Quest Thread with new character sheets and a formal inventory, improved rules, and maybe some more MSpaint art. You've all been great, and I appreciate the interest. But I've got to let off the gas before /tg/ in general labels me a shitspamming questfag.

>.If you want to discuss theories and your current preditions, please do. I want to make sure that my various hints and suggestions aren't too confusing.

>>19793688
What's the Network's goals?

>>19793688
If you can, keep the WoD style stats. It's nice and familiar, though apparently it's been too long since I last played for it to be TOO familiar.

Sucks we didn't get around to any hacking yet. I was looking forward to it.

>>19793688
Sometimes you use third person to refer to Clarke, even though the quest mostly uses the first person perspective, because Clarke is the PC.

>>19784692
>Clarke picks up the ruptured antenna and, pulling an arm back, throws it as far as he possibly can. Given his strength and the length of the arm, this means 100 yards or more.

I don't know if you're doing this on purpose, but it seems odd.

rolled 9, 5, 3, 5, 2, 6 = 30

>>19793688
this is better then 90% of teh threads on TG

you're making everything else look like shit posting

>>19793748
Network's goals are probably totally unknowable at this point. This quest might not even get us close to Network's true intentions, given Clarke's motivations.

>>19793760
You've still got the Killbot's SAP drive.

>>19793906
Good point. I say we dive in there with Cindy sometime before we get to that town we're going to. She's a lot better with hacking than we are.

>>19793813
A symptom of writing on the fly. I noticed it too. I think I wanted to create a slight disconnect; I find that it improves roleplaying in video game context; makes you think "What would ADAM JENSEN do?" not "What would I do?" But it is kind of sloppy and inconsistent.

>>19793905
You may find out a LITTLE bit more, and you will find out some of the motivations of another entity that's quite undeveloped in my other stuff.

>>19793982
>ADAM JENSEN

On that note, have you given any thought to including augmented humans? In the post-apocalypse, they're likely to be rare, if they exist at all, and the focus is on the robots, so perhaps their presence wouldn't aid the story.

>>19793982
Oooh! Is it gonna be that thing from the original second thread?

>>19794068
It's been a LONG time since the event, so likely, if there's any augs left, they'll be the guys who went for full-body replacement, who in theory would be immortal so long as their power held out.

>>19794209
Network (or someone else with nanotech stuff) could be experimenting on humans. Though, it seems more likely it would be Resistance or Scavs stumbling upon a long-hidden cache of aug containers.

File: 1341784418593.jpg-(146 KB, 700x621, aea83c1fcf53f44e71f35e250bfab1(...).jpg)

>>19794209
If Full-body replacement even became a thing. Thats a big if. there are a LOT of fiddly little tech problems involved in keeping a brain in a jar alive indefinitely, and eventually they'd go senile and die.

So, you'd have to have brain uploading/emulation, which kind of requires Quantum Computing...which they obviously had, so...?

But yeah, there's really no reason for Augs to be a thing; they don't serve much narrative purpose in a setting that already has sentient robots. The whole transhuman treachery/racism thing loses a lot of punch. White and black live in harmony and gang up on green, and all that. Its kind of dumb to be all "bawww, I'm not human anymore, I'm a machine, do I have a soooouuuuuulllll?" when there's a mistreated robot butler living in quiet desperation that no ever finds his hidden Bleach fanfics.

>>19794071
Maybe. It's not the robot zombies, I can tell you that. They wouldn't fit in here.

>>19794352
Network's interest in humans extends only to their behavior. It doesn't do human-tissue terminators.

>>19793932
I'm thinking that, once you're in a system, then you get to use your mental stats in place of physical stats. So both of you are pretty beast-mode in there.

>>19794958
>So both of you are pretty beast-mode in there.

Neat. Now that I'm thinking about it, that scout/killbot probably wouldn't present that big of a challenge. Having Cindy's Empathy/Socialize might be nice, regardless.

>>19794958
How long would it take a continuously running SAP to 'die'?
Also, is there any way for robots to speak/talk to eachother without humans being able to understand? Aside from wireless.

File: 1341787856715.jpg-(12 KB, 225x350, rel.jpg)

Oh, also, there's something I totally forgot. LEVELUPS

Clarke gets one attribute point that can be stuck in either a mental stat or a social stat.

He also automatically gains two dots in Firearms and a specialty in Machine Guns (anything big with lots of recoil, including, say miniguns or a Network Spiker). You also gain the next rank in Boxing: when using dodge, you can apply your Brawl dots to defense instead of doubling defense.

Cindy unlocks her weapon talent (shotgun specialization) and gains some merits that increase her movement speed and initiative, as well as one or two skills.

Josephine doesn't get to level up, because she's a hard-coded AI.

>>19795579
I would imagine they could communicate in binary.

...Unknown. So far, there are continuously-running SAPs that have been active for...90 years. It can take a long time for them to reach sentience, based on experience: generally, the process is accelerated when they're used for things outside their intended function.

The quantum drive is essentially black-box tech; it would degrade on geological scales. But the AI inside would, eventually get...slower. they'd ossify, get set in their ways, go senile, eventually just stop running. They'd leave behind a virtual corpse though, an ossified ghost that could be read like a book.

It'd take, like, multiple centuries before that happened, though. No one in-universe knows, and I don't have a hard answer either.

File: 1341788696258.jpg-(110 KB, 350x542, automata_final.jpg)

>>19795717
You know, there's really no good reason for that not to be the case. Yes, robots can talk to eachother in Clickwise. But many of them prefer to speak out loud in human language, either because they're a little loopy (like cindy), or out of politeness/habit.

>>19795721
Can robots go insane like in the halo universe?

>>19795761
Are there different robot languages, such as an encoded variant of Clickwise for military use, or is there only one standard?

>>19795785
I believe there was mention of a combat medic robot that suffered PTSD due to seeing so much death in such a short time.
It became a janitor.
But HALO style? Well, robots are made all robot-y, but slowly become more human. I guess that's kind of like going insane.

>>19795613
I'm putting in my vote for Wits primarily, then Composure. Wits is used to look for stuff, yeah? We seem to be doing a lot of that.

Did you finish the charsheet for our scoutbot, or do we get that in the next thread?

File: 1341792297503.jpg-(9 KB, 220x264, 220px-Cortana.jpg)

>>19795785
The life cycle of SAPs is actually inspired by Rampancy. the difference is that rampancy isn't a tragic death knell aberration.

Also, I'd like to remind you that these AIs aren't of the "run a whole ship and hack a bajillion things at once all while engaging in witty banter" type. Things like Clarke and Cindy were never intended to run space stations or coordinate military operations. programs like them start out as voracious blank slates, but then later stabilize.

In theory, it'd be possible to maintain that early, child-like state of plasticitiy for much longer, even indefinitely, resulting in an AI that could infinitely improve and rewrite itself, or compress itself enough to jump from quantum drive to quantum drive, or unfold to fill all the available space (the classical self-improving Seed AI). But no one ever managed to make one of those, that you know of.

>>19796351
Next thread. I'm going to look through some of the WoD books, particularly Promethean, but maybe also Genius.

That'll give me some ideas for how to make things like Networked Killbots or Josephine or the scout bot.

Oh, man, I love Genius SO MUCH. I so wish that white wolf would pick it up or give it a nod or something.

And I'm not even a WoD fan. I've been in like, three short games over the course of 6 years.

>>19796658
Heh, That'd be great. I myself started on oWoD, specifically werewolf and mage, but our ST eventually caved and let us play this Beast Wars oWoD mod that used to be online. Shit was so cash.

>>19796788
I'd just like for White Wolf to put some sort of reference or link to it somewhere, or invite whoever wrote it to gencon to officially shake their hand(s).

Oh, man, I made a horrible mistake recently. I watched a few episodes of Beast Wars on Netflix.

rolled 7, 4, 3, 7, 3, 2 = 26

>>19796915
stop

you have a quest to run sir

>>19796956
No, that was weeks ago.

As I said, quest will continue in a day or two once I can get together some professional-level content.

>>19797349
I am masturbating furiously in anticipation.

>>19798455
Could you not do that?

...Paul, is that you? That sounds like you.

On the topic of crazy robots, what happens to all of the robots on the assembly lines? The ones that haven't gotten their limbs installed, or are still floating in isolated systems somewhere? Would they likely go stir-crazy, or are they not yet developed enough for that? What happens to an information-hungry AI when you give it nothing to absorb....for decades. No one to talk to but their own mind.

>>19799226

Not me, chief. I'm at the one bar, with Chief Chiefness. The poster's just really excited. Don't stop, you've got fans. Let me know when you're doing this again so I can get in on the ground floor. You've got my number. Bump for support, faggot.

File: 1341814115102.jpg-(103 KB, 1440x900, Evil_Gman_by_Jusseren.jpg)

>>19800628
You ask very, very good questions, sir. Quiestions I would answer, but, well...that would be telling.

But, to assuage your conscience, AIs inside inactive robots are almost always on pause, or in stasis or whatever. And fresh ones are literally embryonic, non-conscious. But for something stored in an isolated server somewhere, and left on...

>>19801038
Awesome, and thank you. I shall certainly do so. Next thread will be at peak time, weekday, max traffic, the bestest shit, new rules, with a new-guy-primer.

File: 1341814648270.jpg-(22 KB, 250x316, 1276877399495.jpg)

rolled 3, 6 = 9

>>19801091
You should get a Twitter, like CirrusN (Hearth and Hoarfrost, Nobleman Quest, Dark Spirit, Spacefarer) to announce your quest start times. I'm mostly a reader, I usually dont participate in quest threads (Mostly due to timezones) but I just wanted to say, love your work so far =D

>>19801143
I may do just that. Thank you for the suggestion.

I am still hoping for this setting to become a fucking videogame.
Or even just a book/graphic novel.
It's got great potential from everything I've seen.
Actually, how is that going? Did you ever manage to write out the needed stuff?

>>19801225
I acutally do have the rough draft of a concept document, but I've neglected it as of late. It turns out, most video game maker people already have their own ideas for video games, and while /tg/ salivates over this sort of thing, most normal people just make jerking-off gestures and call me an Ideas Guy (as in, Yet Another Ideas Guy).

That's kind of one of the reasons I started the quest. I wanted to give my creativity and enthusiasm for the project a shot in the arm. So far, its worked far more effectively than I could ever have imagined. So, time to start re-writing the pitch document.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/94938989/Lost-Future-Pitch-Document the bit at the end needs removal, though. Also, apparently, starting with story/setting is bad. Most people who look at video game pitches toss out anything that leads with story/setting/atmosphere. Or so I'm told.

As it happens, I did collaborate with a dude on his own retro-space-shooter, Rubicon, bouncing ideas around, and he might be incorporating some of the basic plot into the game's narrative, along with a unique sci-fi universe.

File: 1341817401801.png-(9 KB, 401x396, cenngraphic.png)

https://twitter.com/Lost_Future_1

And now I have a twitter for this.

https://twitter.com/Lost_Future_1

>>19801225
I don't have it in me to make this a book; its unsuited for that medium, anyways. So much of the appeal is the visual aesthetic, this'd HAVE to be a graphic novel.

For those who care:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wickworks/rubicon-0

Dude seems like a pretty cool dude. Needed some schooling on sci-fi tropes, though.

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