>>20937226
Yes, an AT-Field would be best, since we're lacking on defenses for Cheryl.

Also, let's go up the stairway. I think that might be the one that's supposed to lead to the Monolith Control Room. If so, we might be able to pick up Shephard's trail.

>>20937226
We found a map of the NPP; can we tell where we are?

File: 1349050567630.jpg-(25 KB, 490x225, Silent-Hill-3D1-490x225.jpg)

>>20937499
Using the map, you've managed to make your way near the Sarcophagus, but for the last five minutes or so, the map seems to be... wrong. Rooms are where there should be halls. You keep stumbling past unmarked doors and corridors. Sometimes a locked door will bar your progress where the map claims there should be an open hallway.

>>20937663
These remodelings, do they look professional? Like part of the building's original structure?
Or do they look make-shift?

I'd like to know if the changed architecture is due to Monolith doing some remodeling, or if its the Silent Zone being a dick to us again.

And anything up that stairway? Make sure to have the Floating Clothes take point in case there are any ambushers.

>>20937700
Some of it seems professional, and some seems makeshift. There's no doubt in your mind that at least a third of it was Monolith remodeling. As for the rest, you are unsure.

Up the stairway seems to be a control or monitoring room of some kind overlooking the machines. A catwalk connects to the room and goes over the machines.

>>20937860
Be careful, especially when going over the catwalk. And let's get to those monitors. Maybe we can see Shephard in them.

>>20937900
Cheryl goes over to the monitors. They all seem to be powered down, with some being broken and shattered. One flickers to life for a brief second, showing a man with a briefcase going down a long hallway marked with "01". Then the feed sputters and dies.

The sound of gunfire and the dull thud of distant explosions drift through the air.

Go check it out, with your AT-field up.

>>20937980
Regina and Bruce have more tech training than Cheryl does, maybe we can turn some of these monitors on?
Or are we completely lacking power?

If we can't get the cameras up, then we'll have to follow those explosions; most likely its Shephard.

>>20937980

G-man sighting. We must either be on the right track, or we've mistaken an enigmatic and powerful entity for a every single lawyer/salaryman wearing a suit.

Have Cheryl do the passive psi-sensing thing. Can she get a rough location on any people in the area?

Rolled 58

>>20938030
Since no one else said anything, I guess we are going with the AT Field.

>Cheryl gains TK Field! After having been forced to use her telekinetic powers for defensive purposes many times during this mission, Cheryl is able to refine the power to her own version of an AT-Field. Though not quite as powerful as the true AT Fields generated by EVA-units or Angels, this psionic mimickry allows Cheryl to generate a shield of extreme strength around herself, capable of blocking most physical attacks. It can also be manipulated into a weapon. Cheryl's raw power allows her to maintain and regenerate the shield strength for long periods of time.

Cheryl raises her TK-field and walks back down the stairs, following the sounds of combat down the hall. Regina and Bruce fall in step after her.

>>20938187
There is nothing in passive range. Do you want to try an active scan?

>>20938211
>active scan
Fuck no, not this close to C-Con.

Just follow those explosions.

>>20938197
>>20938211
>>20938232

Keep trying to find a way to the explosions, Shephard must be there. Keep up the passive psi-sensing as well.

>>20938197
With enough power, she should be able to weather a nuclear blast point blank.

Any attack made by an AT field is going to be fun.

>>20938494
Well, the main weaknesses of the AT field is that other AT fields corrupt it, and higher wavelengths of energy can pass through it easily. Radiation or light for example.

A gigantic laser canon for another.

>>20938232
>>20938272
Cheryl and the others make their way through the hallway, following the sound of gunfire and explosions. A cold, creeping fog begins to creep up as the sounds grow closer. The hallway ends in a room just as a new round of sounds echo down the hall. Cheryl notes the slain bodies of several Combine soldiers on the ground, bullet holes through them. Following the sound leads you through a maze of stairs, service tunnels, and run-down rooms. Several times you come across slain Monolith or Combine, each time the bodies completely stripped of anything useful.

The creeping fog grows higher and higher the closer you get, until finally it is up to your waist, and you stand in a large concrete room, three hallways before you. Faded numerals are along each, and the sound of gunfire has ceased. Slumped against the wall is a slain Combine soldier, whom Bruce examines.

"This guy is fresh," he says. "No more than fifteen minutes, body's still warm."

"There's something strange about those corridors. Look over there, just under the mist," Regina points. Following her finger, you see a pair of odd machines along each corridor entryway, small dark boxes with alien writing on them.

File: 1349054868962.jpg-(18 KB, 388x383, Prefab_combine_shieldwall.jpg)

>>20938749
Cheryl, do the devices look like this?
And we'd better call out to Shephard to let him know we're here and to not shoot us; the crazy motherfucker is just as likely to shoot us for more bullets as listen to us before shooting us.

>>20938716
You have to remember, that the Angels were constantly adapting and changing. Ramiel was a glass cannon, he literally had no defense save a Point defense super cannon. Zeruel on the other hand shrugged them off like nothing. Adaptive evolution on the fast track.
>>20938749
Check the boxes.

>>20938778
They do indeed, though not exactly similar.

>>20938821
Cheryl can't read it, but she knows the alien script of the Combine enough to identify it. Looking closer, it seems there is another set of devices attached to the corners in the ceiling.

>>20938749

Waist-high mist. I'm guessing that's not from any fog machines that some enterprising Monolith employee installed to make the game more atmospheric.

Check the boxes and the bodies for wounds. Did they die from copious amounts of bullets or by something more sinister?

>>20938943
Find something inert, like a rock, pile of clothing, or a piece of concrete to through past the shield walls.
Normally, the shields are visible, but I'd rather not take the chance that they're using a more expensive version that's invisible, or that the Zone changed them somehow.

Cheryl, are you detecting anyone at this range?

>>20939030
I wonder if they could be TKed off the walls.

File: 1349055830467.jpg-(47 KB, 280x619, Combine_Camera.jpg)

>>20938943

Could be security cameras. Do the devices look like this, Cheryl?

>>20938978
The slain soldier appears to be dead from several gunshot wounds to the chest.

>>20939030
"No," she says, looking around. There isn't that much rubble in this chamber, but you can use the body if you want.

>>20939065
They do not.

>>20939086
Try tossing the body through.

>>20939086
Kind of icky, but, do it Cheryl.

I've got some choice words to say to Shephard when we meet him.
Things like "You stupid jarhead, we're on the same team!" and "What the fuck were you thinking, leaving those tripmines at the Ranger Station?! They would have been more useful here against the Combine, asshole!"

>>20939086
>>20939104
Loot the bodies first, then throw one through.

>>20939104
>>20939130
Which hall?

Rolled 3

>>20939166
um. . .

This one?

>>20939166
the one on the Left?

>>20939086

Hold up. Take cover before you toss the body through.

Those devices in the corners of the ceiling could be gun emplacements of some sort. Throwing the body through may cause a hostile reaction.

>>20939193
What he said. With the numbers faded and the sounds stopped, we've got nothing to go on except luck.
Take Hallway #3 (I think that's the far right one).

>>20939193
>>20939248
You toss the body though that hallway. A few sparks fly from its belt and a few pouches on its pants as it flies through, but it lands intact on the other side.

>>20939198
There is no cover to take in this room.

>>20939388
Can she pull one off the walls?

>>20939388
Electronics won't survive passing through the hall.

>>20939388
Ah dammit, it sounds like that weapon removing device from the Citadel.

Cheryl, can you put up your TK Field, and then TK pull one of the boxes off of the wall to bring the field down?

>>20939388
It seems like it destroys weapons.

>>20939388
Wait. TK a bullet through the field.

>>20939443
Cheryl narrows her eyes and focuses, the alien machinery on the far right wall giving off a shower of sparks and metal groans as it is wrenched out of place and hurled across the room. Cheryl grins.

"How much do you think Nimble would give me for one of those, huh?"

>>20939473
Yep.

Luckily, when all else fails, you've got the Gordian Knot solution.

>>20939490
A lot. Tell him he can have them. Then wrench the other one off.

>>20939490
"Probably a couple thousand rubles. I'm willing to sign off on a $10,000 bonus. Not like diamonds are scarce after our big DeBeers heist, after all.
"Anyway, let's disable the other one and go down the hall.

>>20939490
Well, if you want to drag one back to him to sell, we're not going to stop you.

I'd rather just hack you an unlimited credit card and bring you to a Mall-World.

Rolled 2

>>20939562
Cheryl wrenches the other devices off the far right hall and then proceeds down, Bruce and Regina right behind. As the trio passes a faded and peeling "03" stenciled onto the wall, the fog begins to surge around them, getting higher and higher until everything seems lost in the cold white save the walls of the hall to either side.

File: 1349057672515.jpg-(19 KB, 243x251, Why Do That.jpg)

>>20939629
>2
Goddammit!
Cheryl, get that TK Field up!

>>20939660
That's a 2 out of 2.
That could possibly be good.

File: 1349057711056.gif-(2.66 MB, 200x113, Fuck.gif.gif)

>>20939629
Get ready to fight.

>>20939673

>1

HORRIBLE PAINFUL RESULTS!

>2

¡¡¡HORRIBLE PAINFUL RESULTS x 2!!

>>20939690
Still, past experience has made us prepare for the worst.

>>20939629
>>20939660

Cheryl's TK-field shimmers to life as the ground underneath your feet softens. A few steps forward and you no longer hear the tap of boots on concrete, but rather the crunch of branches and undergrowth. The fog begins to recede a little as the buzzing of insects and singing of cicadas and birds fill the air.

Dark shapes loom from the mists and you recognize them as being trees, the walls of the hall lost behind you. A few steps more and you face a wall of extremely tall grass.

"Uhhh, guys?" Bruce says. "We... We seem to have misplaced our nuclear plant. Just saying."

>>20939953
Two things could have happened here:

1.) Either the Silent Zone has reacted with the extremely potent radiation/psionic energies in the plant (along with some Combine dark energy devices/emanations) to create some sort of portal to another world.

2.) Regina and us are about to go on a hardcore introspection trip with her fears and darkest secrets made flesh.

>>20939953
Son of a bitch.
"Cheryl, you'd better ask Bruce and Regina which one of their memories is being used to create the current environment. C-Con, or the psycho-reactive nature of the Zone, seems to be changing the area to fit one of their memories."

File: 1349059045100.jpg-(251 KB, 768x1024, regina.jpg)

>>20940029
"Ibis Island," Regina states, checking her shotgun. "I could be ninety and still remember."

>>20940085
"Any unresolved emotional trauma's? Psycho-reactive areas like this tend to work with deep-seated mental injuries and insecurities. Just so you know, to try to not let them get to you.
"And shit, there's going to be dinosaurs. Keep your TK Field up, Cheryl, this could get ugly.
"...Huh. They ever show Jurassic Park in your world?"

>>20937980
>>man with a briefcase

Hi G-Man!

>>20940029
>>20940153

Gonna guess that there's going to be plenty of velociraptors here, and not the normal variety. We're probably going to have to trudge through the tall grass, but it might be worth it to explore to see if we can bypass it or circumvent it. Perhaps Cheryl could create an AT field as a platform and use it to airlift all of us over the grassfield?

Cheryl, are you picking up anything on your passive psi-sense?

Gonna need a bigger gun for them dinos.

Also we are not doing that plasma trick again. Relying on dice not to blow up our gun is a ticking bomb.

>>20940323

Could set the grassfield ablaze. It probably has a high chance of backfiring, but it would be refreshing to bypass a horror game by burning everything to the ground.

>>20940283
"No... but everything is... prickly here, for lack of a better term," Cheryl says, wrinkling her nose. "It's messing up my senses."

>>20940153
Cheryl asks Regina about her insecurities and traumas and just receives a cold stare in response.

>>20940283
"Telekinetically lift everyone? Uh, I'm pretty sure I could manage that normally, but here... well, I can give it a try if you want."

>>20940349
"Well, that at least I know I could do. Want me to burn the field?"

>>20940387
I don't think it'd work. Pretty sure Silent Hill would just make us fight giant flaming zombie dinosaurs instead.

>>20940387

Or telekinetically bend the grass so that it's not tall grass and more of a carpet of bent reeds. No more high grass = less chance of being bushwhacked by velociraptors!

>>20940376
>fly
No, probably best not to.
If your passive psi senses are prickly, that could mean that there's an active psi effect here.

>Regina
"Oh don't give me that. A guy I was with in the last psycho-reactive field we faced had to re-experience the death of his daughter, with a bad copy of her blaming him for her death. Just giving you fair warning."

>>20940387
>fire
As much as I'd like that idea, I have the sneaking suspicion that the Silent Zone would turn it against us by making us fight zombie dinos that are on fire.
Silent Hill is a dick like that.

>>20940442
"I could try that too I guess. C'mon guys, which am I doing?"

>>20940447
Regina just looks at Cheryl again, then shakes her head.

>>20940496
Go with the flattening of the grass.
Less likely to backfire on us.

>>20940496

First off, let's test a single strand to see if there's any type of feedback for bending one with mind powers. If that works without negative consequences, we can move on to gradually bending the grass within our immediate field of vision.

Velociraptor ambushes are pretty bad, but bending the entire field may spur them on to attack all at once.

>>20940496
Flatten the grass.

And I was more worried about the Pyramid-Vicious.

File: 1349060959912.jpg-(15 KB, 360x480, 360px-NxC_Bruce.jpg)

>>20940560
Cheryl does as instructed and bends a sixty foot cone of the grass in front of the group, right out to where the mist blocks their vision. Nothing of ill consequence happens.

"OK. Proceed forward?" Bruce asks.

>>20940586

Might as well. Proceed carefully, keep TK field up.

Use biomancy to sharpen your hearing, Cheryl. If it's not too disorienting, you can probably hear beasties trudging through the grass before they enter psi-sensing range.

Rolled 51

>>20940619
"Good idea," Cheryl whispers. Bruce mistakes the reply for him and grins.

"Right then. I'll take point."

The three begin to trudge through the grass, weapons raised as the fog swirls around them...

>>20940668
Cheryl hears them before she senses or see them. Low pitched snarls, the slightest rustle of something moving through the long grass, the breathing of some large animal...

"Over there! And there! And there!" Cheryl calls out, pointing in three directions as Bruce and Regina turn. The warning is just in time as a trio of shadowy raptors burst from the edge of the tall grass onto Cheryl's perimeter. A hail of gunfire meets them, spinning one around and dropping it immediately as the remaining two charge. Cheryl and Bruce manage to tear apart another with Abakan and shotgun fire as the third leaps into the air at Regina. The female agent stands her ground, dropping her gun and unsheathing what looks like a sword that crackles with electricity from her side. As the dinosaur lands, Regina lets herself drop and brings the weapon up. The creature's belly is slashes open as its muscles convulse from the electric charge. It roars in pain, the sound disturbing alien and human at once before darting forward with the last of its strength. Powerful jaws clamp around Regina's shoulder, but her armor dulls the bite, and she jerks free as the monster dies.

All three bubble into pools of darkness that vanish soon after they are slain, leaving Regina with a painful bite to mark their passing.

>>20940792
Offer to heal it.

>>20940816
Seconded.

>>20940792
Well that was easy.
Offer to try to patch Regina up?

>>20940816
>>20940826
>>20940836
"Hey, want me to have a look at your wound?" Cheryl offers.

"You a medic?" Regina asks. She shakes her head.

"Nope. I just know... let's call it a magic trick," Cheryl says with a smile.

"I've been healed by magic before, just call it what it is," Regina states. "But thank you."

"It's not... well, it's LIKE magic..." Cheryl grumbles as she lays a hand on Regina's bite and focuses. The wound slowly begins to regenerate as Cheryl withdraws. Regina rubs the healing bite.

"Handy," Regina says. "No need for any of Bruce's spray, then."

"Aw, I thought you loved my spray, Reg!" Bruce replies with a chuckle. Regina shoots him a glare.

"I'd hit you if we weren't on a mission," she mutters. "Come on, let's keep going."

>>20940900
Don't worry Cheryl, it may not be magic, but depending on the universe, it's just as good or even better.

In your case, generally better.

>>20940900
Man, and I thought the Flash from Justice League Unlimited was mouthy.

Let's continue forward.

>>20940933
"I know, that's why I was grumbling. I'm not Sigfriend and Roy... Magic trick... pfah..."

The trio makes their way deeper into the grassfield, suffering a handful more raptor attacks along the way. However, with Cheryl's powers and Bruce and Regina's armaments, they make it through with barely a scratch from the strange, shadowy beasts. Finally, they come to a large clearing, a flare burning brightly on the ground in the center as a man and child, badly wounded huddle near it.

>>20941035
Well, didn't Sigfriend get mauled? His "tricks" weren't very good.

That looks like trauma. Wanna bet it has to do with Regina's problems?

>>20941035
Ask Regina if she recognizes the people there.

Cheryl, do the people near the fire detect as normal according to your psi senses?

>>20941124
"My senses just blacked out," Cheryl frowns. "I can't even read a mind."

"Dylan..." Regina whispers as she breaks out in a run towards the two.

>>20941197
Regina! They're not real!

>>20941197

REGINA! Hold up! They aren't really, uh, Dylan and whoever not-Dylan is! They're manifestations of this place meant to play on your deepest fears and regrets!

I'm tempted to have Cheryl trip her up before she gets there, but we're going to have to confront these things sooner or later. We just hope that it won't result in a mega-boss fight later on.

>>20941035
Identity confirmed: Dylan Morton.
And maybe his and Regina's daughter Paula?

>>20941209
>>20941237
Eh, they're real enough for her.
Like there's now way we're avoiding a boss battle I don't think.

File: 1349065394886.png-(212 KB, 367x756, Dylan.png)

>>20941209
>>20941237
"Regina! They're not real!" Cheryl shouts. Regina stops dead in her tracks, halfway there as Cheryl and Bruce catch up. "They're not real, they're just illusions."

Regina is silent. "Dylan" looks up.

"Thank God you're here, Regina," he breathes. "We knew you'd come back for us... Right, Paula?"

The man nudges the little girl held in his arms, but the girl stares lifelessly ahead, her chest crushed, shirt soaked with blood.

"A rescue chopper should be here any minute, but we can't signal it," he says, looking to the sky. "But now that you're here, all we have to do is wait just a little longer. You'll figure something out, I know it."

>>20941348

Aie Crumba, this is gonna end badly.

>>20941348
Hug her. She needs a hug, Its an illusion, a lie. Nothing is true,.

Pertinent Backstory located:
>Widespread time skewing was carried out in the future to study dinosaurs, with disastrous results. When it became clear dinosaurs and humans could not coexist, the military enacted the Noah's Ark Plan: they would transport the dinosaurs far into the future, before sending them back to the Cretaceous once the technology was perfected. When the gate overloaded and was destroyed, both dinosaurs and humans were stranded in the future. The helmeted attackers are children of the survivors that were brought to the safety of the Habitat Support Facility and placed in special life support chambers. These allowed for growth and learning; they taught the children how to survive among dinosaurs, losing the ability to speak. Because of the Noah's Ark Plan, they were also instructed to protect the dinosaurs. The hologram then reveals himself to be Colonel Dylan Morton, speaking in 2055. Dylan realizes that the blonde girl before him is his daughter, Paula. The hologram explains there is a basic gate they can use to go home, but it will work only once.

>The self destruct activates as Dylan is attacked by another helmeted figure. Their fight is interrupted by Giganotosaurus. After re-linking a series of satellites, Dylan triggers an orbiting laser cannon that blasts the giant dinosaur out of existence. Regina returns and they activate the gate, but a sudden earth tremor leaves Paula trapped by falling equipment. Unable to free her and with the building ready to explode, Dylan decides to stay. He begs Regina to go back alone and find a way to save them with the Third Energy data. Regina promises to return and dashes through the gate moments before the facility explodes.

...Yikes.

>>20941446
... We can help. Does Regina have a concrete end in her fate, or her family for that matter?

>>20941446

Then they're in the future where there are no rescue choppers.

Its not real... but god damn is this gonna hurt.

>>20941446
>>20941523

The wiki mentions that Paula and Dylan somehow survive this incident off-screen, although the details are murky as to how that happened. The wiki is not very detailed in that aspect, and I haven't played through the games to see how this comes to pass either.

>>20941523
Don't say that though. She doesn't work for us.

"Regina. This fog makes your traumas real. One of my allies fought a man who he had killed. Another had his dead daughter telling him it was his fault. Even an ANDROID had to face his traumas"

>>20941523
Not sure, I can't find much info for Namco x Capcom.
A hologram of Dylan appears as a guide for the protagonist of Dino Stalker, which is kind of a spinoff game?
Paula's there also.
And somehow they're able to teleport people across time and space?

>>20941599
"Then what do you think we should do," Regina asks, dully. The steady beat of a helicopter can be heard in the distance.

>>20941629
Keep moving. that heli ain't ours.

>>20941617
Here we are:
>Having finally escaped from the Tyrannosaurus, the Jeep crashes near a futuristic construct, which Paula seems drawn to. The "Trinity" ambushes the pair, however, and Mike is forced to take it out before proceeding. Within the construct, a holograph of Dylan Morton, the protagonist of Dino Crisis 2 and Paula's father, appears in the centre. He explains to Mike the bizarre things that have been going on - he is in "hyperspace", a nexus of temporally-displaced lifeforms and objects (from the Mesozoic dinosaurs to the modern-day Statue of Liberty) created by the malfunctioning MTHR computer system based within a nearby volcano. The computer system must be reconfigured manually before it causes a temporal-catastrophe. Dylan also explains why Mike was chosen for the mission; he didn't want to abduct someone who could die long before they should have - as Mike was destined to be killed by the fighter in 1943, it did not matter if he was killed fighting the dinosaurs.

...So it might be a paradoxical duplicate?
Like Dylan encountered a hologram of his future self in Dino Crisis 2.
...I got nothing.

>>20941629
Ideally reach some kind of emotional catharsis?
Some kind of confrontation might be necessary if we want to proceed.
Like I'd wager that the field will go on indefinitely unless we have a boss battle.

>>20941646
This might be the sort of thing where its us from the future. Add it to the TO-DO list.

>>20941629

>silent dino crisis wat do

Well... going by the SH games and Ebon Night's Horror-world... Data had to deal with the death of his daughter Lal and his own helplessness to prevent it, as well as the role he played in her death (lack of experience in designing sentient/sapient android brains).

Douglas had to deal with his inability to change his son's ways, which led to a lethal shootout with the cops.

Spike had to deal with the long shadow that Vicious cast over his life, and how it kept haunting him long after Spike left the Syndicate.

This trauma probably has something to do with Regina's inability to save Dylan and Paula, or her forced abandoning of them.

>>20941711
>cont.

Knowing how SH works, saving them will probably be impossible. For one, they're not real. The helicopter will either move on or never come down once we signal it, or it'll crash horribly and kill the illusory Dylan and Paula, causing further trauma. The thing here is that Regina is suffering from survivor's guilt, most likely.

A solution here may be to get Paula to accept that she had no choice but to leave Dylan and Paula behind, given the circumstances. Dylan DID implore her to go on through the portal and use the Third Energy data to engage in time shenanigans so that she could save them by casually kludging the timeline, or retrieve them from their doomed state by coming back later with more equipment.

>>20941711
As you try to figure out what to do, Bruce looks nervously around and the sound of the helicopter gets louder. The mist recedes enough that you can see the gray, overcast sky. A chill wind cuts through you as you sight the helicopter, now a speck in the distance.

>>20941629
>>20941841

Guess I'll give this the old college try.

>Wat do

Regina, I cannot presume to know what you are going through right now. You were left with a hellish choice when you were dealing with the consequences of the Noah's Ark plan. Though Dylan did entrust you with the Third Energy Data to find a way to save them, what you see before you is not reality; they are the shadows in your mind that torment you every time you think about what could have done differently to prevent this situation from occurring.

You could not have predicted that the self-destruct sequence would have pinned Paula, and that Dylan would stay behind to try to assist her. Maybe some things could have been done differently, but punishing yourself for surviving when they did not isn't going to bring them back.

>>20941841

>Bruce

Bruce, you've been partners with Regina for presumably a very long time. If there's anything that you can contribute here to comfort Regina or something, now would be a good time.

>Cheryl

You have your own experiences to draw upon as well. We're all up here in your mind, but you probably have more insight into these types of situations than all of us combined. Could you help us out here?

>>20941993

>more Regina stuff

Though you had the choice to stay behind and die with them, that wouldn't have solved anything. Perhaps they can still be saved with the Third Energy data that you were given, but not while we're trapped within the grip of this phantom Ibis Island.

>>20941993
Regina balls her fists. "More mysterious knowledge of us, huh? You're telling me stuff I haven't heard a million times before, stuff I've told myself. Just because you've read a file or had spies gather information, don't think you know me."

>>20942045
"I asked you what I should do. Not what I should think."

>>20942008
Bruce winces. "Yeah... well... Good luck getting her to listen to anything when she's like this."

"I'm not sure myself," Cheryl mentally replies. "I'm thinking, I'm thinking."

The helicopter grows closer as Dylan smiles.

"Soon..." he whispers. "Soon..."

>>20942152
Until we can actually prove that these aren't the real Dylan and Paula, makybe we should stop trying to use our Meta-knowledge, since it seems to be doing nothing but antagonizing Regina.

We won't be able to get anything done until the helicopter gets closer and lands, or crashes. So wait until then.

>>20942152
>>20942225

We could always ask her input on what to do. It's her introspective trauma-trip made flesh, after all.

>>20942225
Cheryl, can you use your telekinesis to drag the helicopter to the ground?
Like break the 'script' as it were?
Would that even work?

>>20942264
That sounds like a terrible idea.
That would be us shooting Fake-Lal before Data comes to the conclusion that she wasn't real, or us shooting Douglas' son instead of the Fake-SWAT.
It wouldn't help deal with the underlying trauma, and only make things worse.

>>20942264

Or send that flare they're huddled around, up.

>>20942152
>>20942346

Well, I'm stumped as what we should do to circumvent this nightmare. Let's signal for the helicopter using a flare gun or some mild pyrotechnics, and see what happens and go from there.

>>20942388
Honestly maybe Cheryl should just take some steps back and let this play out.
It's not like we were able to stop any of the other boss battles we've seen.

>>20942346
>>20942388
Cheryl TKs the flare up into the sky. The vehicle seems to notice and change course for the clearing. Dylan laughs with joy.

"Yes! Finally!" he says. "We're going to escape at last!"

The ground begins to shake gently with approaching impact tremors.

>>20942152

>Regina

What do you think we should do, given that this is likely a nightmare specifically conjured up to prey upon one's insecurities and regrets?

>>20942428
Not much we can do. The helicopter is going to crash on them and kill them in front of her eyes. Likely, in their last breaths, they'll blame Regina.

Hopefully, she'll realize what we said was true.

I wonder what Bruce's will be. Or if we get to leave this area, we should go town Hallway one, since we say G-man go that way. I didn't even notice that number in the background when we chose last time.

>>20942412
Well, seems like the T-Rex is going to appear.

So yeah, get ready to TK a grenade into a roaring dino's open mouth, Cheryl.

>>20942412

Velociraptor horde or the T-Rex. Alert the other to get ready to fight.

I suggest that we prep an AT-field around us and the phantoms. Perhaps shape it to ensure that there's a field between us and the phantoms.

>>20942464

A suggestion for the T-Rex fight:

Cheryl has biomancy, which greatly increases her influence over biological functions. This has proven to be effective in improving some of her direct TK attacks against living creatures. Against larger opponents, perhaps she can attempt to psionically manipulate their brain into releasing absurd amounts of neurotransmitters that signal for muscle contraction, causing them to seize up and eventually die due to all forms of muscles in their body contracting.

>>20942500
Would biomancy even work if the T-Rex will be essentially a psychic construct?

>>20942500
If we're messing with neurotransmitters, we can simply cause an imbalance in the salt ions to create a cascade failure in the brain's neural net.

I doubt that a psychic recreation is that easy to kill.
It'd be more likely to succeed if we simbly use pyrokinesis to burn them from the inside.

>>20942521

True. Better just try to burn it down (literally) and use AT fields to restrict it and/or attack it.

>other stuff

Cheryl, is one big thing approaching, or lots of little things?

Either way, prep an AT-field around us. Extend it to the phantoms, but make sure there's a tier between us and them.

Rolled 90

>>20942464
"Can do," Cheryl says, pulling a grenade out in preparation.

>>20942428
"I don't know, I've never dealt with anything like this!" Regina snaps, her temper breaking. "I had no choice... I KNOW that... So why isn't this stupid vision ending?!"

The pounding grows steadily louder as Paula seems to wake in Dylan's arms.

"Don't worry, they'll protect us," Dylan whispers to the girl.

Bursting through the mists is an all too familiar form... the mutated Allosaur that dogged you outside the NPP. Its head has been ruined by the missile Regina shot at it, and as you watch, the last pieces of its skull and head fall away, leaving a bloody throat hole that shudders and bursts forth with fleshy tentacles with grasping mouths.

"Great!" Bruce curses as he unslings his lightning gun. "Just... awesome!"

Cheryl is already launching her grenade as Regina fumbles for her launcher again.

The abomination charges....

>>20942559

Great time for a crit.

This dicebot is just laughing at the terror it is causing every thread.

File: 1349072414087.png-(188 KB, 215x414, 1332795055717.png)

>>20942559
Cheryl manages to launch the grenade precisely down the grotesque throat hole. The explosive goes off in the monster's belly, blowing up a huge hole there as a rocket and lightning burst rip into the creature's side. The monster's charge falters as it collapses to the ground, still 'alive' somehow, but struggling to get up again.

>>20942627

Biomancy please, Cheryl.

Enhance that decomposition. Melt that shit.

File: 1349072528303.jpg-(92 KB, 1024x869, 17.jpg)

>>20942627
Attempt to decompose it. Should that not work. Well. . . Do what you do best.

>>20942627
Keep at it.
TK another grenade into the thing's body via holes ripped open by Regina's rocket, then start some fires inside.
See if you can acclererate the decomposition, then craft your AT/TK Field into a blade and slice a leg off while it's down.

If we can restrict its mobility, we can make this fight easier.

Rolled 33

>>20942633
>>20942648
>>20942674
Cheryl doesn't reply, but instead focuses her powers on the monster in front of her as Bruce starts launching grenades at it and Regina fires another missile.

Rolled 37

>>20942699
The missile goes wide as the grenades detonate all around the monster. Cheryl's attempts to decompose the creature come to naught, when she attempts to manipulate its biology, she swiftly learns it is more ectoplasm than actual biomass, a construct of the Zone or of Silent Hill.

The creature rights itself with a roar, standing at last.

>>20942723
Compress your TK Field and slam the dinosaur back, trying to knock it off its feet again. That will give the others time to shoot it again.

>>20937226
>103
learn when to fucking stop

>>20942723
Slice off a leg. Also, prepare for Raptors. They'll probably attack when we least expect it.

>>20942723

AT Field.

Hold it in place for they to kill it.

>>20942723
Try to cut it with your AT-field.

>>20942723
Cheryl, compress your AT Field into a blade and cut off one of the thing's legs.

>>20942747
I'M QUESTING AS FAST AS I CAN, CAPTAIN! THE DILITHIUM CRYSTALS CAN'T TAKE MUCH MORE OF THIS!

Seriously though, there's a set end. Don't get your knickers in a bunch.

>>20942740
Cheryl attempts to telekinetically push the dino back, but only manages to delay his charge. The three are thrown aside as the monster rushes through them, though Regina and Bruce manage to get off another volley that tears up even more of the Dino. One more should put it down for good.

All three suffer bruises a few painful fractures as they are thrown asunder, but no truly terrible wounds. However, the beast has now closed to melee, and those tentacles have begun to reach for Regina.

Rolled 55

>>20942804
>>20942769
>>20942752
Cheryl attempts to slice through the creature with her TK-field...

>>20942823
The tentacles lash out at Regina, but just as they are about to wrap around the red-haired survivor, Cheryl's TK-field rips through the monster's right leg, causing it to let loose an inhuman howl and collapse, writhing in pain for a few seconds before going still. Bruce fires a few grenades into it, just to be sure.

"I had enough of this asshole back on the Balrog," Bruce grumbles. "THIS time he's staying dead."

Regina doesn't respond, looking over to the helicopter, which is hovering only a few feet over the flare.

The tall grass begins to rustle in all directions as Cheryl hears snarling and growling.

"Help us! You've got to help us into the helicopter," Dylan says, looking to Regina, Bruce, and Cheryl. "...but I don't think there will be room for everyone..."

>>20942857
We can't leave, we're still here at the G-Man's behest, so don't bother.

May as well get the two phantoms into the chopper, that's probably what the Zone wants.

And you know what, Cheryl, once they're in the air, you can cut loose and nuke this place. Fuck the Zone.

>>20942857

A boss encounter that ended... pretty well.

When was the last one like this?

Also, no getting into that chopper.

>>20942899
Sephy, once we stopped panicking like X-COM Rookies and actually planned.
I suppose you could also include the fight against the upgraded Metal Man.

Get Regina away from the chopper. Don't want to end up being rotor-chow.

>>20942961
Cheryl makes sure that Regina is no where near the rotors as the helicopter pauses.

"Hurry! You have to help us on!" Dylan repeats. "They'll be through the grass in no time!"

"There's only three seats..." Regina murmurs, looking into the chopper.

>>20943015
"Well, these are your regrets, Regina. Get them on the chopper and out of here, so that we can turn this place into a dino barbecue.
"Cheryl, you think you can turn this entire area of grass into a sea of flame?"

>>20943054
Cheryl, do you know what the best kind of walls are made out of?
...
The answer was fire. The best walls are walls of fire.

>>20943015

Just get the phantoms on the chopper.

Cheryl. Execute FIREWALL

>>20943069
No, best walls are walls of fire backed with a wall of TK force.

Cheryl, after you start the fire, put up your AT Field. Those dinos will likely try to charge through the fire.

File: 1349075843626.jpg-(5 KB, 278x181, dumdadadaaaadaaadumdadada(...).jpg)

>>20943054
>>20942874
>>20943080
>>20943069
"Come on, help me out here," Cheryl says as she grabs Paula and begins to carry her to the chopper. Regina pauses, then nods, helping Dylan board. Once they are secure, Dylan smiles and points to the last seat.

"Come on, Regina. Let's go home," he says.

"Home..." Regina whispers as she sits in the chair. The helicopter begins to lift off.

>>20943165
I'm thinking she just got a bad end.

"Regina. They're not real. I know you want to go with them, but you shouldn't."

>>20943165

"Going to do the same thing, again? Regina?

Will you be able to live with yourself if you choose that option, again?"

>>20943165
Regina, you have a home. But the way back to it is not with that chopper. You need to move on. Now let's go and finish what we came here for.

>>20943165
"Regina, are you sure? You've still got unfinished business here. The way home isn't with a chopper, but with a DT back to your world of origin."

>>20943179
>>20943210
>>20943216
"But I'm not doing the same thing. This time, I'm not leaving them behind..." Regina whispers.

"Don't leave!" Paula suddenly says, her first words. "You can't leave us again..."

"Uh, hey Cheryl?" Bruce asks, picking up speed as he runs for the chopper. "Partner leaving with ghost people perhaps bad idea, right? Right?!"

The helicopter is now a good four feet off the ground.

>>20943239
"Yes Bruce, it is a very bad thing. We need to convince her off of that chopper."

"Regina, come back. Think of all the people that need you now. Think of all the people who still need you back in your real home."

>>20943239
Regina. If you go with them, the Zone wins.

If you come with us, you can save your real family members.

We'll tell you everything we know, but they are still alive.

>>20943239
"Oh yeah. Usually a very bad idea.
"Regina, you've still a job here to do! If these really are Dylan and Paula, you'll see them back in the States! The Zone is trying to make you abandon your mission and create even more regrets by stranding us and Bruce here, creating another situation just like when Dylan made you go through the portal!
"Come on, you've already got them on a chopper, let's go and finish our jobs!"

Rolled 16

>>20943268
>>20943269
>>20943281
Bruce swears a blue streak and makes a running jump to grab onto the chopper.

Regina doesn't respond, her eyes are distant. A voice reverberates in the mist.

"Preeshlo vremja. Ya vizhu tvojo ghelanie."

>>20943239

"They'll be safe on the chopper now.

You're leaving US behind."

File: 1349077105249.png-(389 KB, 408x455, 1328163721707.png)

>>20943326

OHSHIIIIT

>>20943326

TK, hold the chopper down!

>>20943326
>Preeshlo vremja. Ya vizhu tvojo ghelanie
Fuck, it's the wish granter. DON'T LET HER LEAVE!

>>20943326
Oh shit, it's the Wish Granter!

FUCK!
"REGINA! Get out! You need to get out of there!"

>>20943349
Fuck with holding the chopper down, TK pull her and Bruce off of the chopper!

Rolled 65

>>20943326
>>20943349
Bruce grabs onto the edge of the helicopter's passenger entrance, but Dylan kicks off his fingers and the agents falls with a wail to the ground. He hits his head hard and does not move.

Cheryl narrows her eyes and attempts to hold the helicopter in place with her mind.

>>20943376

Bruce, its the wish granter.

SHOOT THE PILOT.

Cheryl can hold and lower the chopper.

>>20943376
Cheryl! While holding the helicopter in place, can you pull Regina out?
I don't think she can hear us right now; probably nothing short of a hard telepathic shout would work.

>>20943372
>>20943376
Cheryl manages to halt the chopper's ascent for a brief time, but on hearing the order, she instead plucks Regina from the chopper's inside. "Dylan" and "Paula" utter an inhuman wail as the machine speeds off into the fog without its only true human passenger.

Cheryl puts Regina down gently, but even so, she slumps to the ground, unresponsive. Her eyes are distant, though her breathing is steady.

>>20943392
>He hits his head hard and does not move.
Bruce can't hear us, dude.
It's all up to Cheryl, and us making the right decisions, now.

>>20943395
Try to heal Bruce. Hopefully, he doesn't have a concussion.

>>20943395
Cheryl, do a quick biomancy heal on Bruce, make sure that he doesn't have a concussion or is bleeding internally in his head.

Then you're going to need to try to get through to Regina. I think you're going to have to try to communicate with her telepathically.

Damn, she needed to get off on her own free will didn't she?

Cheryl, can you try and use your telepathic superpowers to make sure Regina's mind is still intact.

Rolled 88

>>20943415
"Right, I'll just have to-" Cheryl says, starting for Bruce. A pack of sleek, dark shapes burst from the grass.

She'd forgotten about the raptors.

>>20943435
Fuck this shit, we do NOT need this shit right now.

I have had it up to HERE with these motherfucking raptors!
Cheryl, use our hate and anger to fuel your powers and snap their fucking necks with your mind!

Rolled 96

>>20943447
>>20943435
Cheryl manages to snap up her new TK-field just in time for the full raptor pack to smack against it and bounce off.

"I like the way you think," Cheryl replies, shifting the TK-field to envelop and crush three of the monsters while setting to work on the rest with telekinesis.

File: 1349078292832.png-(258 KB, 421x500, 1328163717494.png)

>>20943476

>things going too well.

File: 1349078547574.png-(232 KB, 279x393, cookies.png)

Rolled 9

>>20943476
Cheryl snaps the next of the next two that leap at her with a glance. Then she gestures and a wall of fire bursts underneath the remaining raptors, immolating many and setting the rest to scatter as she picks the rest off one by one, shattering bones, pulling off heads with raw telekinetic power, spontaneously combusting a third... Drawing on all the frustration and pain her journey has given her, Cheryl practices each and every new lesson the Zone had taught her on the matter of using her powers to kill on the raptors.

Twenty minutes later, she stands alone in the middle of a burning waste that was once a field of tall grass, the corpses of thirty raptors surrounding her. Not a scratch is on her.

Breathing heavily, she surveys the smoking land, then runs a hand over her face.

"Right... Bruce..." she murmurs, staggering over to where the agent still lay.

>>20943517
Yeah, you're getting the next three days off in Elysium when we get back.

Alright, let's check on Bruce. Calm your mind, and let's get the big lug back on his feet.

>>20943517
>9
Biomancy Bonus +20 and NPP Bonus +10.
So a 39 to healing.

>>20943517
+20 to Biomancy and the +10 to being in the NPP.

Hopefully, a 39 is enough to wake him up.

File: 1349078872757.gif-(1.6 MB, 200x151, everythingwasgoingsowell.gif)

>>20943517
"Fuck," Cheryl swears as she checks Bruce over. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUUCCCCK!" Cheryl screams in anger as kicks the ground hard near Bruce's body. As powerful as her biomancy has grown, she cannot restore the dead to life, and Bruce has snapped his neck. She sends an angry mental shout at you. "You! You can fix this, right? Vitun can fix this, right?"

Cheryl grimaces. "Just... just have to carry the corpse around with us."

>>20943561
Yes, Vitun can fix this. Easily. We just have to get back to the ship.

Damn it. We need to get you a Bag of Holding, or a rez spell keyed to a tattoo.

Cheryl, what are your thoughts on magical tattoos?

File: 1349079018830.gif-(2.11 MB, 350x233, GOODDECISION.gif)

>>20943561
By the way, if you'd had torched the fields earlier, you'd be dealing with flaming zombie raptors and the clearing would've had a burnt alive Paula and Dylan, which would've made Regina autofail. Good call on avoiding that.

Putting them on the chopper, though...

>>20943561
Yeah, Vitun can fix this.
FUCK. G-Man better not shaft us on this.

Dammit. Can you telepathically get through to Regina?

>>20943575
>flaming raptors

CALLED IT!

>>20943575

Theres something about fulfilling desires and all that....

>>20943572
"OK... OK..." Cheryl murmurs, dragging Bruce's body out next to Regina. Cheryl is about to try and wake Regina, but the sight of Bruce's head hanging at an unnatural angle from his head does that for her. Regina's eyes widen and she blinks rapidly.

"What... what happened to... No... the fall from the chopper..." Regina murmurs, looking at her slain partner with horror.

>>20943575
>Putting them on the chopper, though...
So, what, we were supposed to just keep trying to talk Regina out of going with them while they were still on the ground?

>>20943607
Regina. Don't panic. We can fix this. I know people who can bring him back. We just need to get out of here.

>>20943607
"Yeah, this fucking sucks. But we've got a guy on our Task Force that can do resurrections. As long as we keep Bruce's body, and do it within 10 years, he'll be fine."

I say keep the body, because we don't know the exact date and time of his death; it'll be easier to do a True Resurrection if we have his body.

We are going to need to knock over another DeBeers diamond vault after this.

>>20943637
Well, we really only need a piece of his body. Or the ash left from his body which we can get from psychokinesis.

I'm not saying we should mutilate his corpse, just that doing so would greatly increase our ability to transport him.

>>20943637
Try 200 years, but still.

>>20943651
Maybe we should just get to the point of finding a god of diamonds and blowing him directly.

>>20943664

Can we just keep his head?

Or we could not mutilate his body and bring it with so we don't fuck with Regina's head even worse?

>>20943667
we have a looter team. maybe we should have them look for a para-elemental plane of diamonds?

>>20943612
Nope. There were three seats for the three of you. The best ending was to ignore the fakeDylan's pleas and board the chopper yourself, re-affirming Regina's choice back then. You've would've been dropped off at a helipad which would've lead out.

As you correctly guessed, letting Regina leave with the ghosts was a BAD END.

>>20943637
"You can even raise the dead. That only confirms my suspicion. You don't work for any United Nations," Regina murmurs. She takes out a pistol and loads it. "Where are we headed?"

>>20943575
>>20943612

Honestly, it was more that we were in silent hill mode rather than zone mind trickery. This is not Silent Hill in the sense that it is trying to make you face you fears with at least a slim chance of success. It was the siren song of the wish granter we were listening to in reality. It was a really stupid oversight that we just paid for in blood.

>>20943664
>>20943676
Yeah, we could, but Regina's psyche is on thin ice as it is. I'd rather not put more pressure on it.

>>20943706
Maybe we should just ask Regina first. If she says it's cool let's grab ourselves a few fingers or something.

>>20943700

I want to give cheryl the choice to come clean if she wishes to.

>>20943700
"Uh, no, we really do work for the United Nations, like we said. Just not, YOUR United Nations.
"United Nations Bureau of Interplanar Investigations, Transpace Guard Forces, Task Force 38. That's us."

>>20943700
We *Technically* DO work for the United Nations.

I work for Taskforce 38 of the Transpace Guard. We answer directly to the United Nations Security Council.

You'd be surprised what they're keeping quiet.

>>20943758

Then again, considering the Security Council rotates constantly, people will be sceptical of why there hasn't been a leak.

>>20943700

Uhh...getting on a ghost chopper in messed up zone mind land does not seem to be a good decision for anyone. I can kind of see where you are coming from, but there wasn't anything I saw that said getting on the chopper wasn't an instant bad end for everyone involved. That being said, we still goofed pretty badly and that is on us.

We still have to find Adrian Shephard.

Rolled 55

>>20943792
Yeah, I know. It wasn't supposed to be obvious, though I thought the fakeDylan's urgings might've been a tip off.

>>20943739
>>20943758
"I see," Regina says, cocking the weapon. "We can save the details for later."

"Right," Cheryl says as she looks around. "This mess... I'll write myself a note next time. 'Always do opposite of what evil ghosts say."

"Let's see if we can't find a different way out," Regina says, moving forward.

>>20943700
>where we heading
"We still need to track down Corporal Shephard. This doesn't seem like the right tunnel we came down; we need to find a way out.
"You know this island's geographic layout better; which is closer to us, the helipad or the place where the watercraft was located? Since the Wish Granter and the Zone are using your memories, those two places are the most likely to be exit points."

>>20943828
"Hey Cheryl, we should still be inside the NPP, even if this localised space has been warped.
"Are you still able to draw upon the ambient power of the NPP? If so, you can TK carry Bruce's body, and keep your AT Field up."

>>20943829
>>20943828
Using Regina's memories, Cheryl accompanies her on a painful, long, and dinosaur filled re-enactment of certain points of the Ibis Island incident. It is ten hours later and the pair are utterly exhausted when they stumble out of the third tunnel entrance with Bruce's body, back in the concrete chamber where all this started.

>Lost 24 12 gauge shells.
>Lost 3 Abakan magazines.
>Lost 2 grenades.
>Lost 2 Vinca.

>>20943841
"Good idea," Cheryl admits. Bruce's body now floats behind the group wherever they go.

>>20943859
Hallway 1 this time. We should have went that way the first time.

>Cheryl goes over to the monitors. They all seem to be powered down, with some being broken and shattered. One flickers to life for a brief second, showing a man with a briefcase going down a long hallway marked with "01". Then the feed sputters and dies.

>>20943856
"Alright Cheryl. Expand your AT Field to provide a bit of radiation protection, and you and Regina get some rest.
"We've gone back over the footage, and we think that the far left hallway, Hallway #1, might be better. Rip the shield units out of the walls when you're feeling ready, and we'll go down that hall."

>>20943883
>>20943866
Cheryl shakes her head, mentally responding. "Can't keep it up when I'm unconscious. But..."

Cheryl carefully lifts the pendant Bruce had been wearing and looks to Regina. "Think he'd mind?"

"He's not using it," Regina responds. "Bring him back, and I doubt he'd care you borrowed some gear."

Cheryl nods and slips the pendant on.

>Cheryl is now immune to radiation. Not that is matters with that roll earlier.

Regina and Cheryl eat what little food Cheryl brought, and Cheryl slips off into a quick nap. She is woken an hour later by Regina, who nods toward the hall. Still very tired, but no longer on the brink of exhaustion, Cheryl pulls apart the shield units on the wall and leads the way.

>>20943912
Okay, good work. It might be best to use a little bit of biomancy to clean out fatigue toxins and lactic acids from your body, Cheryl.

>>20943912
Regina and Cheryl pass the faded "01" of the first hallway. As before, the creeping fog begins to creep higher and higher. A voice reverberates in the fog.

"Tvoya tsel zdes. Eedi ko mne"

The end of the sentence is punctuated by gunfire as the sounds of a huge firefight echo from ahead, along with alien screams.

>>20943947
Cheryl, can you use your powers to "Bend the light". Try to make it hard to see you and Regina?

>>20943944
Cheryl does so with ease.

Rolled 74

>>20943959
"What, like optic camo? I can try."

>>20943969
Cheryl manages to bend the light around herself and Regina, creating an imperfect invisibility cloak. When they move, the air ripples, making them visible to an extremely trained and discerning eye. But the rank and file should never see them coming.

Gotta call it there, picking it up tomorrow.

>>20943947
>"Tvoya tsel zdes. Eedi ko mne"
Dammit, not again. It's that fucking Wish Granter.

How can we tell if this is the real Shephard, or one created by the Wish Granter?

>>20944012

If he talks and is generally friendly and not suspicious of us at all, he's probably an illusion. Shephard in reality is probably a silent efficient killer who's pissed off to no end about having to work for his kidnapper. If we get to a segment in which we cannot detect who is human and who is not, that should also be a hint that we may be encountering SH-esque illusions.

File: 1349115567138.gif-(132 KB, 460x600, 460px-JohnvonNeumann-LosAlamos.gif)

This is your post lunch bump, brought to you by John Von neumann. Self building robots are cool.

File: 1349127903678.jpg-(256 KB, 1100x900, 1316258568060.jpg)

>>20945440
Since the fog has rolled in, I think that we can assume that we are being pulled into another Silent Zone anomaly.
The only question will be if the Shephard we find is real and trapped, or if he's an illusion.
And since the Command Crew is in Cheryl's head, the Zone and Wish Granter could use our expectations of Shephard to actually make the fake respond as we expect.

Bump for his return.

>>20949397
Well the anomaly has only drawn from the fears of people who are physically there...so far.
And I am counting the G-man as being NOT physically there. Mostly because he is some sort of inter-dimensional cosmic talent agent. Or something.
As far as we know, whatever horrors reside in that man's mind have not been made manifest.

As for the command crew, no firemen have popped up and tried to kill everyone. Which is probably our greatest subconscious fear right now.

>>20949727
No, Our greatest fear is the destruction of the AUH, Oncoming storm, and MechaGodzilla.

File: 1349130942093.jpg-(50 KB, 495x361, planetoftheapesending.jpg)

>>20949930
And so far, none of that has happened in the zone.

Or at least we haven' found their destroyed wreckage.
>YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW IT UP! OH, DAMN YOU! GODDAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!

>>20950011
>Cheryl's foot strikes a weird metal ridge.
>Further investigation shows it to be MechaGodzillas head.
>His S2 engine sits off to the side.
>There is writing on it.
>THe writing says Roll 1d100
>Roll is a 1, a CRIT FAIL.
>S2 engine blows up, blowing a hole it the AUH.
>A fragment of the AUH slams through the Oncoming storms reactor.
>Worst end.

>>20949930

I thought our greatest fear was this quest ending abruptly with no resolution whatsoever.

But then again, that would be M. Night Shyamalan levels of meta.

>>20943982
The mist still hangs heavy around Regina and Cheryl, but it recedes enough that they see a large room filled with metal crates and barrels, some sort of storage chamber. A fierce gunfight between a group of soldiers in black, strange aliens with three arms, and a small squad of U.S. marines is tearing the chamber apart. The two squads of soldiers take cover behind makeshift barricades of barrels and crates while the alien faction stands exposed, and are getting torn up in the process. However, whenever their numbers seem low, the air bends, a green light flashes, and more teleport in.

One of the marines shouts "Grenade!" as a fireteam scatters away from one of the barricades a moment before an explosion rocks it. The marines seem to be carrying a mixture of M-16s and SPAS-12s, for the most part. A man marked with a red cross is armed only with a pistol, another with a fuel tank on his back has a desert eagle, and two are armed with M249 SAWs. The black clad soldiers are uniformed armed with silenced MP-5s.

>>20951236
Try to give the combine soldiers strokes. That or put a hole through an important artery via psychic powers.

>>20951236
Crush them like Zeruel.
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExyE8e6QLgA&feature=youtu.be&t=1m17s

>>20951236

Kill the Gaunts for now,, AT field up and extended, centered on us as an omni-directional field covering us and Regina, we'll move to hard cover as well, and see what the Marines and black-clad soldiers who I'm not sure are want.

File: 1349137370246.jpg-(161 KB, 1582x825, Foxtrot Uniform.jpg)

>>20951334
By Combine soldiers, do you mean the soldiers in black?

>>20951485

Ah, so those are blackops guys?

Are they firing on the HECU marines, or just on the Vortigaunts?

>>20951485
Are the Black Ops and Marines firing at each other?
This could be Pulled from Shephard's mind.

If so, we kill Black Ops and the aliens, and demand to know where Shephard is from the Marines.

>>20951557
Both. Each side is firing on the other two.

>>20951590

Alright, belay previous.

Kill everyone that isn't HECU, AT field as >>20951466

Pyro and sparse Abakan or SPAS fire as needed.

>>20951590
Eh, I suppose we should help the normal soldiers.

Rolled 76

>>20951647
>>20951582

Regina and Cheryl make for cover, then drop cloak and open fire as Cheryl focuses her powers on the enemy units.

>>20951912
Great pillars of fire erupt around the Vortigaunts, incinerating them in an instant as Regina manages to take down a pair of Black Ops with deadly accurate SPAS fire. The marines take advantage of this and press the attack on the black clad soldiers, mowing several down and forcing the rest to cover to regroup. It doesn't help as Cheryl summons a second firestorm to set the enemy aflame, killing most and forcing the rest out of cover where they are easy prey for the HECU guns. What pitiful counterattacks were made are easily deflected by Cheryl's TK field.

As the dust settles, the marines warily aim their guns at Regina and Cheryl, but do not fire.

"State your name, rank, and affiliation!" one shouts. "And objective!"

>>20952011
Cheryl Mason, United Nations, Civilian Contractor.

To find Adrian Shepard.

>>20952011

Cheryl, Civilian Contractor, UN TG, Task Force 38, we're looking for Corporal Shepard. We have a new tasking for him.

>>20952011
>Cheryl

I have the feeling that we already know the answer to this, but can you detect those marines as actual people? Or is your psi-sense blocked out like last time?

>Marines

Ask them to go first.

"Private contractor, assigned to finding and providing support to Corporal Adrian Shephard."

>>20952056
+1 to this. Regina can identify herself as well if she wants.

>>20952056
>>20952065
>>20952077
>>20952092
>>20952095
"Shepard, eh? Are you the evac team we were promised?" one asks. "What about the other?"

"Regina. U.S. S.O.R.T. member. Providing assistance to Task Force 38. All other information classified," Regina replies. The soldiers narrow their eyes at that, but say nothing.

"I can't get a reading off any of them," Cheryl replies. "But I can't get one off Regina either, so something here is blocking me?"

>>20952164

No, we our own tasking. We have no update on Evac and our insertion craft was damaged to heavily to exfil. You'd need to get through to higher to get more info on that.

As for Regina, I'm assuming she has anti-psychic defenses, and maybe G-Man gave Shepard some, too.

>>20952164
"Sorry guys, we're not here for evac, just to find Shephard and help in whatever way we can. And looking at things, the spooks over at the CIA got spooked and sent in a black ops team, looks like."

>>20952201
>>20952283
The grunts grumble and swear.

"Great. Just... well at least we've got another two guns. Shepard's back at his command post, he'll know what to do with you, I guess," one of the SAW gunners says, pointing to a hallway behind 'friendly' lines. "No funny moves or you're dead."

>>20952374

No shit, Marine, given the current situation.

Cheryl, keep the AT field up, just in case of hostile penetration, but head where indicated, weapons at low/ready.

>>20952374
"Yeah, yeah. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that, I'd be able to retire."

Cheryl, keep the AT Field up, and let's go find Shephard.

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>>20952425
Cheryl and Regina make their way down the hallway, through a small series of fortified rooms to a small workshop that has been made over into a makeshift war-room. Maps coat the walls and tables, and there is a large radio set up on on. A tall man in body armor and urban camo is adjusting it. A gas mask and helmet hide his face.

"Check. Check," he says, holding the radio's microphone up and talking into it. Audible static is all that comes back and the soldier curses and adjusts it some more.

>>20952536
Can we see his name tag? Make sure it's Shephard before saying this.
"Hey Shephard. Your employer sends his regards. And thanks for those souvenirs; had a real blast with'em."

>>20952536

This is either an illusory Shepard... or he's been ensnared by the Silent Zone Wish Granter thingamajigger.

>>20952536

(If Shepard is alone, say this)

Shepard, sounds like you need some help. You're a little lost, aren't you? Shouldn't you be at CNPP right now?

(If he isn't alone, say this)

Corporal Shepard, we have a new tasking for you and intel updates, your eyes only.

>>20952536
Check the nametag, yeah.

"That won't work, Shepard. The fog is fucking your comms up. Cheryl Mason, Task Force 38 of the TG. You and I need to have words about our mutual factor. You know? Blue suit, briefcase, has a nasty habit of 'employing' people?"

His radio is squealing. Keep weapons and psionics ready!

>>20952563
>>20952606
>>20952607
Cheryl does indeed see "Shepard" on the nametag.

"Hm?" Shepard says, looking up. "What are you talking about? What CNPP? Look, you'd better make this quick. I fully expect another attack in another hour or so, and I have preparations to make. All the other officers died in this fucked up op, so I'm the one that has to make sure everyone gets home."

>>20952676

If we go by the previous example...

Then this is Shepard's wish. To get his people home from Black Mesa...

Good man.