>Last time on Freelance Ghost Quest: You stopped Murphy from working on your wraith and flew towards Omega Primus’ battlecruiser, where you used to live. Your plans of disabling the reactor were thwarted by lots of locked doors and no air vents or maintenance shafts, and after a brief talk with Primus through one of the crew, you attacked. After a short battle, Primus teleported away and sicced Sextus and Quartus on you.

“Quartus! Sextus!”

The single moment of distraction as you look at the two ghosts at the wall is enough for Primus. You feel another flash of energy, and he’s gone. Not behind you this time, but deeper into the ship. You can feel the residual energy of his flash step linger for a moment.

You’ve got bigger worries now though, as it seems Quartus and Sextus are beginning to move.

You drop down into cover quickly and try to formulate a plan when you suddenly hear a grunt and sound of a struggle. Carefully peering over the edge of the workstation you are hiding behind shows Quartus having dropped his sniper and holding Sextus tightly by the wrists.

“What are you waiting for? Unlock those doors and go after him! He’s heading to the psi amp chamber. I’m not sure if I can keep Sextus like this for long.”

>Psi points: 3/6


>1. Ask him where the psi amp chamber is.
>2. Run after Primus as fast as you can. You should be able to track him with your psionics, though he’ll be aware of you too.
>3. Ask Quartus something else.
>4. Write in.

>If you run after Primus, keep cloak active or not? Enough time will pass to fully regen psi points.
>Y/N

>>31911731
>1 where is it?!
If the answer takes to long, just run for it
Y

>>31911731
>>1. Ask him where the psi amp chamber is.
so were are we going?

>>31911766
>>31911871
Writing.

“Where is it?” You ask Quartus.

“Our old training room. The door we never got to go through.” You remember the door he’s talking about. You had always wondered about it. It was the only other exit in the training hall you performed your physical training in, but they looked like blast doors and were off limits. “Now hurry!”

Hearing the strain in Quartus’ voice, you quickly look around until you find what you were looking for. The main security terminal. You disable the lockdown and head out the door of the bridge. When you leave, you hear Quartus screaming from the effort it takes to hold back sextus, and you’re glad you didn’t stay any longer. You vaguely keep track of Primus psionically, and find he’s indeed heading to the centre of the ship where the Omega project was housed.

Navigating the corridors, you find the adrenaline rush of the fight lessening, and a throbbing pain comes through from your left shoulder. You quickly check on it and find it badly burnt by Primus’ psi blades. If you hadn’t had your psi shield there you might have had serious and permanent damage, maybe even lost the arm. Now, you just feel numb in your whole arm, it flopping around a bit next to your body. The rest of you is fine though, and Primus was roughed up a lot more than you were.

When you arrive at the Omega project housing, you suddenly feel a strange wrongness pressuring your mind. After some initial confusion you realise it’s coming from the psionic amplification chamber Primus is in now, and hurry towards it.

You pass the main hall and run into the training room, when all of a sudden you’re barraged by both your own memories of the place, and Primus using those as leverage to attack your mind.

>Roll me a d20 for mental defence.

Rolled 4

>>31912248

Hmm, this is quiet.

Rolled 17

>>31912248
>>31912540
Pretty quiet yeah.

Rolled 4

>>31912248
best defense is a good offense crush him with our mind

>>31912303
>>31912674
>>31912803
Success, writing.

A single memory slips by your defence. It was Primus, standing over you while you lay on the ground, taunting you. In his confidence, he turned away to draw attention to himself, and you surged upwards, training knife in hand. You have him a scar on his throat that day, and if he hadn’t tried dodging, you might have given him a funeral. You draw strength from it, and all the psionic pressure slips off of you, like water from a rock. For a moment you try to push back, but the moment you reach outside of your own mind, the pressure is overwhelming. It feels like Primus’ power has more than doubled, and is still growing.

You continue your way, and you see the blast doors snap shut right in front of you. The locking mechanism is still whirling into life, and you have some time to stop it. You see the large metal bars starting to slide across the door, and the middle mechanism turning to keep Primus locked away from you.

>Psi points 5/6

>1. Try to damage the door with a Kinetic wave 3 so the locking mechanisms won’t work.
>2. Try to to block the metal bars with something. There’s plenty of dumbbells and other work-out equipment lying around.
>3. Try to hack the door with your adjutant through the terminal to the side.
>4. Write in.

>>31912885
>You have him a scar on his throat that day
You GAVE him a scar. Oh well.

>>31912885
We're not hackers, I suggest >2

>>31913010
While shouting:
"You're a coward, Primus! not worthy of your title"

>>31912885
I'd say >2

>>31912885
>2
We may have to kinectic blast or hack our way back out though

>>31913096
>>31913086
>>31913010
Writing.

>>31913026
>While shouting:
>"You're a coward, Primus! not worthy of your title"

He doesn't have a title?

>>31913218

presumably "Primus" serves as title.

>>31912885

Go with 2 I guess.

>>31913218
I was going to write "not worthy of your name" first, but I'd like to try and remind him that we consider ourselves different, that we consider it a name no longer

>>31913265
If anything, it'd be a codename.

You move as fast as you can and grab a metal bar lying around and position it between the two large beams sliding across the door. They connect with a loud metal CLANG, and and the beams come to a halt. For a moment, you think it will hold, but then the bar starts bending. It still gave you enough time to grab another two bars, one of them still having weights attached, and you quickly slam them into place. You’re already looking for a fourth to use when you hear a whizzing sound from behind the walls next to the door, and a sudden loud bang.

The locking mechanism in the middle stopped turning too, and you’re standing in front of a closed but not locked blast door. You feel the pressure on your mind starting to build again, but you can still hold on for a bit longer, drawing strength from the memory still lingering in your head.

>Psi points 6/6

>1. Use Kinetic wave 3 creatively. Instead of pushing, try to pull the doors open.
>2. Hack the terminal with the Adjutant. With the locking protocol shut down it should be easy to get it open.
>3. Try to get leverage on the doors and pry it open with one of the metal bars. They’re very big doors though.
>4. Write in.

>>31913026
>>31913218
>>31913265
>>31913301
>>31913413
Primus is simply a designation, just like secundus, tertius, quartus, etc. is. You were de-humanised as much as possible, with everyone around you calling you "it".

As far as you know you were named in no particular order. It was just luck that the most powerful one got the "first" name, though you do think it helped boost his ego.

>>31913437
If we was to hack how long woukd it take?

>>31913547
Not too long. It's merely getting into the system and giving the right command now, instead of earlier where it would have been trying to override the lockdown.

>>31913437
>1
Guess we'l have to spend some psi points
>4
Are we going to shout or not? would really like to get some psychological warfare going, kick Primus a bit of balance

>>31913437

Hack the door open with Adjutant.

>>31913618
Then we should hack save our points for the mind battle we might have with primus

>>31913627
>>31913684
>>31913748
Writing.

“Dammit Primus you coward! Stop hiding!” You shout towards the door. You quickly tug on the small cable at your sleeve and insert it into the port on the terminal and order your adjutant to open the door. “So you run away when you meet someone stronger than yourself?”

-“No I don’t. I merely pull back so I can use all of my assets.”-

Primus’ ghostly voice resonates in your head. His psionic attack is renewed, and the force behind it more than doubled. It presses into you. Into the rock that is your mind. It finds weak spots. It penetrates. It exploits. A power as you have never before felt is hammering at your mind.

Roll me some more d20’s for mental defence.

Rolled 4

>>31913926
Dice pls

Rolled 13

>>31913926

Rolled 2

>>31913926
To hell with those assets

>>31913982
>>31913985
>>31914013
Failure, writing.

Rolled 1

>>31913926

Mary had a hydralisk...

>>31914130

lel, good thing I'm so slow.

>>31914130
and the first 1 today... has no effect
>>31914151
Saved by the bell

Your defence goes down under the strain. You’re vaguely aware of your adjutant telling you the door is opening, and of the groaning sound of the doors slowly opening, but all your attention is focussed on keeping Primus’ mental tendrils away from the most important parts of your mind.

It’s hard, and for a while, you just cannot cope. While you’re down, Primus takes the opportunity to look around your mind. He’s curious. Looking for something. It gives you the time to recover though, and you have the initiative.

>1. Try to flood him with unimportant memories, drown him in useless information and push him out.
>2. Send him memories with strong emotions, try to bring him off balance and use it to lash back at him.
>3. Go toe to toe with him and try to brute-force him out of your mind.
>4. Write in.

>>31914241
>1 Why not send him the mermory of you blasting his face off on a loop? keep pressing him nose first on the failure of his actions?

>>31914241

Show him som hydralisk gore.

Of course that will hardly put him off, but maybe he'll get distracted.

>>31914342
referring to the kinetic blast in the initial fight

>>31914342
>>31914360
Ok, roll me a d20.

Rolled 4

>>31914573
come on, magic hydralisk faceblast combination!

Rolled 13

>>31914573

Rolled 14

>>31914573

Welcome to the kopruluchan/b/, brother...

Rolled 6

>>31914632
Come on guys, I don't want to be the only one rolling above 10.

>>31914622
>>31914632
>>31914666
Success.

You send Primus images of your missions. Hydralisk corpses, splattered across the concrete, zerglings ripping into marines and being blown apart by tank fire. Primus mentally turns to you.

-“Ha, what are you trying? I’ve seen my share of gore too. Painted the ship’s corridors in a very nice shade of red in fact.”-

You see the opening and you go for it. In talking to you, he stopped his other activities for a moment and attuned to your mind a bit more. You send him just a short memory over and over again. You releasing your energy, and his body flying into the ceiling. The satisfaction you felt at that moment, and his fear you could almost smell when he scrambled to escape afterwards.

It’s enough to unbalance him, and a short mental blast later, you close your defences again and your consciousness returns to your physical body. It seems you fell down, and when you climb back up you see what’s behind the blast doors.

Primus is strapped to a chair inside a set of rapidly spinning concentric circles, the largest one being roughly four metres in diameter. Short arcs of lightning climb across the whole thing, and you can physically feel the energy generated by it. It’s all being pumped into Primus, as you see several needles sticking into his head. One at each of his temples, another one on his forehead, and from what you see you suspect there is another one at the back of his neck.

A milky white fluid is being pumped into his veins at his arms from several tubes, and Primus’ eyes are rolling into the back of his head. The sight is disturbing, but you know you don’t have much time. The room doesn’t hold much more than the device, but there is also a small control panel to the side. You suspect its electronic security is very strong though.

>1. Kinetic wave 3. Destroy the damn thing.
>2. Unload the rest of your hand cannon clip (7/12 remaining).
>3. Try to hack the device to shut it down.
>4. Write in.

>>31914959
>1
We'll still have enough psi points to unload another one in his face... again

>>31914959
>2. Unload the rest of your hand cannon clip, right into his fucking face

I sorta want to preserve the machine but ask that protoss guy if we should use it nect time we dream walk with him

>>31915042
Good you remind me.

>Used 1 psi point to refresh Cloak.
>Psi points 5/6

>>31914959

>1

What can possibly go wrong, right?

(Follow up with a shot though just to be sure.)

>>31915042
>>31915092
What are the Chances the gathering energy explodes?

>>31915141

As far as I'm concerned that would make a mission accomplished. I'm more worried he might absorb it or reflect it.

>>31915141
Honestly? you have no idea. You've never seen this before, so you're not certain. It's a possibility, but it might also just dissipate. The energy is all being pumped into Primus though, so the odds are that if something bad happens with the energy, it gets thrown into him.

>>31915042
>>31915071
>>31915092
Writing.

This is it. You gather up your energy, and just as you’re about to release it, you feel time slowing down to a crawl. You struggle, but your hands stop moving forward. The energy stops gathering in front of them. The Circles around Primus slow down until the spinning almost stops.

-“NOOOOOOOOOO!”-

A massive pressure attacks your mind again, and you need all your focus to try and deflect it. It feels desperate though. Despite the incredible power behind it, you feel the fear emanating from Primus, and something else. Strain. His power is almost quintupled by the machine, but you can feel he’s losing grip on it. It’s not so much running wild as it is tearing his mind apart. You have no hope of defeating this onslaught, but you think you just have to hold out until he’s mentally ripped himself to shreds.

Roll me some more d20’s

Rolled 2

>>31915416
psionic overload, what a way to go

Rolled 8

>>31915416
Foll should have constructed additional pylons

Rolled 13

>>31915416
This is going well thus far.

>>31915445
>>31915459
>>31915540
Failure.

Writing

These are gonna be some of the highest DC's in the quest so far, though for this part I'm using dual DC's.

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Rolled 14

>>31915582

[happening intensifies]

You struggle as much as you can, but a veritable hurricane of mental energy slams into your mind, and your defences start to crumble. There’s no way to play it smart here. This is simply power against power, and while yours is strong already, you’re but an ant compared to Primus while he’s in that thing.

The storm rages on, and while it’s losing much of its momentum, your mental barriers are being ripped to shreds. It won’t be much longer and it’s through. It’s all around you, and the psionic gale is bombarding your mind. You notice something is off about the storm though. Your mind’s eye can see the lines of the wind that’s tearing at you, and it’s not just pure psionic power. It’s fuelled by something else.

Then you see it. They’re memories. The memories are being ripped from Primus’ mind and burned up and used to assault you. Every moment he continues, he becomes a little bit less of himself. If you weather this he’ll be reduced to a human vegetable.

Roll some moar.

>>31915798
I apologise for the constant rolling and lack of player input, but that'll improve once Primus breaks through your defence.

Rolled 17

>>31915798
More dice!

Rolled 9

>>31915798
By the power of GREYSKUUUUUULLLLL

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Rolled 16

>>31915827

You make it sound like that's going to happen no matter what. You shouldn't do that.

Anyway, push that fucker out of yer mind!

>>31915866
>>31915874
>>31915877
Lower dc met. Writing.

>>31915877
And yes. Glad you noticed that. Only a crit success could have stopped it from happening.

Your courage redoubles, and you throw everything you have at him. It’s not nearly as much as Primus’ power, but you notice the momentum decreasing even more. It’s not enough to save your defences though, and you feel the storm crashing through the gate of your mental fortress.

It’s a wild, mindless maelstrom though, and a fully conscious mind could have directed it to where it would deal the most damage. Primus can’t anymore though, and the energy rages through every part of your mind equally. It assaults your memories, your motor control, your psionic powers, it even lashes out at the remnants of the fortress around your Ghost conditioning. You’re defending where the pressure becomes the strongest, but you quickly find that the harder you defend, the more power the storm puts into attacking that area.

You can slowly feel Primus’ mind weakening though, even if the storm doesn’t yet. He’s entered your mind, but the battle has only begun. And it’s being waged on a battlefield you control.

>Write-ins can drastically reduce DC’s here if you come up with some good things.
>1. Try to redirect the storm to non-vital parts. Earlier and perhaps painful memories, things like that. You might permanently lose them, though.
>2. Continue brute-forcing. Defend everything you can and pour in all of your strength.
>3. Write in.

Rolled 5

>>31916151
Try to trick it into attacking the Ghost conditioning.

>>31916217
He has ghost conditioning too, he probably recognizes this
>>31916151
I was thinking about showing him the memory of tertius's psionic overload and an idea of this happening to him right now

>>31916279
or maybe combine the two?

>>31916279

This seems sensible.

Additionally we could try Mittens. If we have recollections of our exchange with him, we could conjure up image of a few psionic kittens to aid us in defence.

>>31916217
>>31916325
Im guessing it would be like we raise a huge defense to bait him to the conditioning as well as sending him the overload image disorienting him and then we gtfo?

>>31916217
>>31916279
>>31916325
>>31916392
>>31916421
Ok, roll me some d20's.

Rolled 6

>>31916492

Rolled 8

>>31916421
gtfo sounds great
>>31916492

Rolled 1

>>31916492
Psychic Cats HOOOOOOO

>>31916510
trying to figure out why my dice are cursed

>>31916535
>>31916510
>>31916505
Critfail. Writing.

>>31916543
Also, the good plan does mitigate some of what the critfail does though.

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Rolled 19

>>31916535
Rolling to see if we can get a fate point

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Rolled 13

>>31916535
>>31916565
>>31916559
>tfw these are my rolls

>>31916565
fate point achieved?

You come up with a plan. You slowly weaken your defences everywhere and start pushing back at your ghost conditioning. You can feel the storm following your movements and concentrating on your new defensive effort. You keep pushing, but you misjudged just how much more powerful the storm is. It breaks through a lot sooner than you expected, and it thrashes through and onto the ghost conditioning. It flows over it harmlessly though, doing no more than flattening the defences on it that you already disabled.

You’re thrown off balance, but you try to salvage what you can and continue with the second part of your plan. You gather up the memories of Tertius dying in the bed next to you, the psionic overload wrecking his brain, and you project them forward. The storm noticed your focus though and also compensated. The images and feelings you tried sending through the storm are caught by the winds and obliterated.

You lost a lot of ground, but you finally feel the psionic fury pushing against you weakening. It won’t be long now before it dissipates. Primus’ mind is starting to feel more empty by the metaphorical second. Just a bit longer and it’ll be as big a void as Sextus’, and you get the feeling it won’t stop there.

>1. Try again to send Tertius’ death again. With the storm weakened and if you’re a bit more covert about it it might work this time.
>2. Brute force it. The storm’s still a lot more powerful than you are, but you only need to endure for a little longer.
>3. Write in.

>>31916601
>>31916565
I'm not really sure about adding fate points into the quest. I can see a justifiable reason in-game to get them soon-ish if I do though, but I'd have to see how exactly to implement them though.

>>31916755
> 1
Best case scenario we scare him and then psionically snipe his shit

Worst case the machine ate that memory and he thinks it was all a ruse

>>31916793
Just joing around, supervisor
>>31916755
>1

>>31916829
joking, I meant joking!

>>31916793
You don't need to add fate points, no reason to further diminish the chance of any serious failure.

>>31916883
To be honest, I had been thinking about it before, but I already decided against it due to various reasons.

>>31916827
>>31916829
Ok, roll me some moar. d20's

Rolled 6

>>31916947
And then he said roll some more
We rolled and everything died

Rolled 4

>>31916947

Rolled 12

>>31916947

I too shall be brought low by death. But until then let me win glory.

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>>31917005
>>31917042
If you keep going like that? Yeah, perhaps.

>>31917071
>>31917042
>>31917005
Ah, lower dc met!

>>31917005
>>31917042
>>31917071
Quick dreamwalk ask the protoss for help!

>>31917112
and ask him to change my dice while you're at it?

You gather up the memories again, but this time you empower your defences at several other areas as well to distract the maelstrom. As you release them towards the remnants of Primus’ mind, you see it worked, and by the time the storm reacts to it, your psionic attack is through. You see what little remains of Primus’ mind react, and it flails its limbs around, trying to get away from them, and another memory is violently ripped out of him to combat the one you sent.

The storm has almost died down now. It’s roughly equal to you in power now, and it’s direction-less. It thrashes about uselessly in your mind as you push it back slowly. One more push and this battle is over.

>DICE FOR THE DICE GODS! CRITS FOR THE CRIT THRONE!
>Ahem. I meant, last roll of the day now, for a coup de grace.

Rolled 13

>>31917247
I can feel the rolls overtaking me....

>>31917141
He said and I quote
>Git Gud

Rolled 8

>>31917247

Let's end this the way it was meant to be ended.

>inb4 1

Rolled 19

>>31917247
please let this be my first roll of the session above 10

>>31917400

Well done sir.

>>31917400
>>31917354
>>31917284
Alright! Upper dc met, writing.

>>31917406
I will cherish this moment

Your defences reassemble themselves as you push the storm back. What little memories and semblance of a mind Primus had left give in now, and you strike out with full force. Primus’ mind shatters, and suddenly you’re aware of your body again. Time resumes, and you release the most powerful kinetic wave you can. The Psionic Amplifier’s rings are dislodged from their position and thrown against the back wall. They bend backwards and Primus’ form, already bleeding from your earlier attacks, is crushed by both the metal beams and your psionic attack.

The immense psychic power the machine had granted Primus moments before now turns on its previous wielder, and a second after the machine impacts against the wall, it violently explodes. You barely have the time to duck and dodge the scrap flying around, and you’re showered in gore, but you did it.

You killed Primus. The nightmare’s over.

You let your body slump down from its already crouched stance, and a sense of relief washes over you. The adrenaline fades and your left shoulder starts burning again. Other bruises and scratches you received earlier register too now, but most of all you’re burdened by a massive headache from the psionic battle you just won.

“Secundus? You did it! I can barely believe it! You did it!” Quartus voice blares over the intercom, filled with more emotion than you have ever heard from him before. He continues talking, but you can’t understand it anymore. You’re slowly drifting into a pleasantly dark void of unconsciousness.

>End of Freelance Ghost Quest #19!
>Thanks for sticking around! I’ve got a bunch of stuff to get ready for next thread and some other obligations tomorrow, so I’ll probably run again tuesday at the usual 8pm CET.

>>31917665
Thread is archived!
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Freelance%20Ghost

I'm sticking around for a bit longer for any questions.

>>31917665

Awesome! Cheers for the thread, OP. Been fun!

>>31917665
cheers, supervisor
>>31917141
>>31917284
>>31917400
The protoss enhanced dice did the trick!

Rolled 19

>>31917665
Thanks for the thread sup
>inb4 we dream of protoss

>inb4 we dream of the overmind

>inb4 we get no sweet protoss psi blad loot

>inb4 we wake up to find out we warped to new system

>>31917779
You know, you should probably stop giving me ideas that end badly for you.

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>>31917840

>>31917875
Well, I can safely say you wouldn't have gotten the psi blades anyway. There's not much left of Primus or his equipment.

>>31917779

Fuck psi blades, I want to take that battlecruiser and go on HIGH ADVENTURE!

(after letting mindraped crew out and recruiting volunteers from planetside)

wonder how useful that psichamber will be, and how its tech relates to psiemitters

>>31917977
This.

We need to get the (possibly soon to be our, Primus may have access to Dominion expense accounts...) mechanic in on this ship.