You wake up, the Protoss’ words still resonating in your head. You want to check the clock but find Sextus standing over you. He gestures to follow him and after quickly putting on your suit you do. In passing, you see it’s 19:00. Huh, you only slept half an hour? Sextus sees your confusion, taps his wrist and makes a twisting motion. You gather he means it’s been fully synced up with frontier now. He seems to be a bit more… Present nowadays. Maybe it’s because Primus is gone, but he seems to be a bit more of his own person, even if he’s still mute.

He leads you to the hangar the ships are parked in. You see the marines sitting in Weissdammer’s old ship, wearing casual clothing, and Quartus is waiting for you in front of it.

“Ah, Secundus. You’re here, good. I was wondering what we’re going to do with that Weissdammer fellow in the long run. I mean, should I tell these guys to report back about a hunting accident or something? I think they’ll willingly go along. Had a bit of a chat with them, mostly resocced criminals, but kept in line by a few professional soldiers. They’re independents hired by Weiss’ corp so officially they answer to them. It might raise a bit of questions if they report back without their armour and weaponry though.”

You nod. You had been thinking about that too. If they go off reporting about you to that corporation you might get a lot more trouble, and they need a consistent story if they go about and lie.

“And the ship itself is Weiss’ private property, and only he can access it. Well, I’ve got the keys now, but it would still make sense they couldn’t use it themselves in any cover story we make up.”

>1. Go with the hunting accident. Might need a decent story on how they lost their gear (write in)
>2. Alternate story: Weissdammer all of a sudden just left after giving them some time off. Their gear’s still in his ship, and they haven’t got a clue where he went.
>3. Write in.

>>32939360
>2. Alternate story: Weissdammer all of a sudden just left after giving them some time off. Their gear’s still in his ship, and they haven’t got a clue where he went.
Maybe spin a tale of him slowly going insane and having nightmares after returning from hunting some Stalkers and he came across one of the temples they were seemingly protecting. Ever since he returned he would sleep walk, be constantly restless, jumping at shadows and having terrible dreams, then one day said he was going to 'fix' it all and up and vanished after giving the marines time off.

We could disguise his corpse to mask the signs of the fight and maybe have a passing ship 'bump' into his corpse and have his bosses drawn the conclusion that he went insane and spaces himself.

Also, unfortunately heading to bed now, its 4am here, hope the usual players turn up, good luck and goonight OP.

>>32939525
G'night anon. And seeing how consistently you turn up even if only for a single post I'd say you're a usual player too.

>>32939525
Right, another 5 minutes and if no one else objects I'm going with this.

>>32939525

>2. Alternate story

We're not killing him. We'd be no better than Primus if we did.

>>32939525
>>32939682
Ok, writing.

>>32939360

>2. Alternate Story

sounds good... our Archiologist friend could 'find traces of Weisserdammer' in the ruins, along with spent bullet casings and several pools of blood... maybe one where his 'body' had been dragged into the bowels of the ruins...

That way, we don't even need to kill him, only set up a aftermath scene.... maybe a few chunks of dead marines should do a sufficient job of being the mutilated remains of Weiss...

“It’s easier if we make him disappear all together.” You ponder. “Say, the hunting trip went bad, had a few casualties against stalkers or something, and afterwards Weissdammer started having nightmares. Muttering in his sleep, maybe sleepwalking. He’s restless, jumping at shadows and things like that. Then all of a sudden he gives the marines a day off, says he’ll ‘fix things’ and departs without telling them anything, and their gear still being on the ship.”

“Hmm, going mad on a hunting trip? And don’t you think getting casualties against the wildlife is a bit over the top? I mean, ripping through CMC?”

You shoot him a cynical look. If only he could look through your mask. “You haven’t been down there. Believe me, there’s plenty of things that can do there. From what I heard some of the most danger is from being stepped on by something too large to particularly care where it puts its foot down. And I’ve seen things that could probably manage CMC.”

“Ok, ok! You’re the expert here.” Quartus holds up his hands in defeat. “I’ll try to get the records of the shipyard to match the story then, and inform the marines. They should have plenty of time to properly rehearse it by the time anyone shows up for them.”

You nod, and Quartus enters the ship. You’re about to leave the hangar when you bump into Lisa and Murphy. “Oh, hey Artemis. We were about to leave, it’s getting late.”

“Any luck on the patients?” You ask.

“Not much, but I’ve examined some more people and I’m starting to get an idea of how it all works, you know. Their minds, what happend. That stuff.”

“Uhu.” You get the idea. “And what about you Murphy? Didn’t go tearing up the ship too much?”

She gives you a gleeful smile. She’s doing her best to make her voice sound overly sweet and innocent, and you think you might have to run for it before the cruiser collapses or something. “Oh no, not at all. Didn’t touch, only watch, that was the deal right?”

“I…” You’re not too sure to reply to that.

>Anything you want to ask them before they go off?
>1. Ask/say something (specify).
>2. Let them go, do something else (specify what).
>3. Write in.

>>32939970

"What happens to the planet now that Weisdammer is in our custody? Any opinions on what we should do with him?"

>>32939970
Offer that they can stay the night if its getting late

>>32940065
>>32940228
Sorry for the delay. Writing.

>>32939970
Thank murphy for not messing with the ship... and for Lisa: "now for real, are we still on for dinner?

“If it’s getting late, you can stay the night.”

“No sorry, I only hired this thing for a day.” Lisa points to the ship. “Plus, we haven’t really brought clean clothes with us.” She eyes you for a moment, and then mutters. “I do hope you have extra sets of suits, that’s just bad hygienics wearing the same one all the time.”

“But yeah,” Murphy pops in, “I promised Tom I’d be back in the evening. Plus, I think we both have jobs to return to tomorrow.”

You nod, and move on to a more serious topic. “Also, I was wondering, with Weissdammer here in custody, and the marines spouting a story after him mysteriously vanishing with his ship, what’ll happen to the planet?”

“I suppose the corporation will just take over. I’m not sure what direction that’ll take, but we do export the wood we cut here, so we are making a profit. I just hope they’ll look at that, think it’s well enough and leave us alone.”

“Very well. I won’t be keeping you any longer then. Murphy, thank you for not blowing up the ship, and Lisa, for real this time… Are we still up for that dinner?”

Lisa smirks, gives you a mysterious smile and walks past you. Murphy follows her, clearly making an effort to not laugh. Halfway to their shuttle she fails, and Lisa all but has to drag her along the rest of the way.

Women…

>What do you do now? Quartus has left with the marines already, and Lisa and Murphy are just departing.
>1. Offer to spar with Sextus, no armour, no weapons.
>2. Try to dig in some files to look for how you could get your hands on the files on ghost conditioning.
>3. Write in.

>>32940473

>2. let's go read some

>>32940473
blasted, I just remebered I wanted to check out that ship of Weisdammer, to see if that C10 rifle was still on board... any possibilities in that direction, supervisor?

>2
Our next objective is disabling the ghost conditioning.

>>32940554
Well, Quartus won't be gone for long now. You'll be able to look around later.

>>32940473

>2

>>32940505
>>32940554
>>32940652
Writing.

The ghost conditioning. You refocus. You want that thing out of your head. No knowing what kind of things they put into you, and you wouldn’t want to have some secret impulses built into you. You’ve heard rumours of that kind of things. Key words activating some behaviour inside of you. Well, that, and the protoss’ words.

An executor going after you. That’s really bad news, and probably way out of your league. You’ve faced protoss before on the battlefield. There wasn’t much choice from the confederate point of view after they glassed a few planets of theirs. Their “zealot” shock troops were about as powerful as you, psionically speaking, though they manifested it differently. that said, you did once see a high templar in action, and you were very, very glad that he was distracted with the troops while you snuck around to eliminate him. It wasn’t pretty. And seeing how an executor more or less equals a general or fleet commander or something, you have no doubt she’ll have a lot more of them.

You head to the bridge and ask some crew where to most likely find the information you need. You seat yourself at the terminal and start to dig. A lot of what you find is useless. Old research stations that you know have been destroyed or abandoned are still listed as active. The lists haven’t been updated anymore since the original zerg incursion and the protoss following. Which makes sense you guess, that’ll be about when Primus took over, give or take.

Roll me a d20.

Rolled 8

>>32940888
unfold the secrets of our existence!

>>32940924
You already know those. It's the more standard ghost stuff you need now.

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Rolled 10

>>32940888

Mind over matter, mind over matter!

Rolled 8

>>32940888
High or low?

>>32940924
>>32940956
>>32940982
High. And dc's will always be over 10 due to the system used. Failure, writing.

>>32941009

could we request the information from one of the crew?

It takes ages to sift through the files, and they’re too outdated for you to make much sense of. You know of some being taken down, by the confederacy or the aliens, whatever, but you hardly know all of them, especially not the top secret ones you’re looking for.

It’s almost 11 pm by the time you give up. You’ve compiled a list of over a hundred possible locations, none of which you’re sure would still be intact, or even if they actually hold what you need. The vague information in the files didn’t really help. That’s what you get with top secret information you guess.

Quartus enters when you’re reading over the list a final time, trying to eliminate some more. “Well, that went as smoothly as it could have. I joined the marines for a moment to make sure everything was in order, and listened in on their communications with their HQ. They’ll be stuck here for at least a week because zerg activity has been growing more rampant and they can’t really spare much. They went and offered their services to the loggers for now. What are you up to?”

You explain what you’re doing and that you’ve had little success with it so far, and he offers to help. “I think I might find some contacts that’ll have a more up to date list. I’ll listen around, see if there’s anything I can find.

>It’s getting late, though you’re still fit enough to do things.
>1. Go to bed again.
>2. Ask for a spar with Quartus or Sextus (pick which one), no armour, no weapons.
>3. Train on your own a bit.
>4. Write in.

>>32941052
I'll think I'll just go ahead and say you've tried that there, and they can't really help you with that. They can show you the information, but not much more.

Rolled 6

>>32941247
>2
Both of them.
Three way combat between us.

>>32941287
second this and after that
Go check for that C10
I think that guard mentioned a safe a few threads before?

>>32941287
For clarification that would be 1 vs 1 vs 1, not 2 vs 1.

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581 KB JPG

>>32941247

Maybe we should tell him about the Protoss?

>The warp storm is coming

>>32941341
I did think the same way, sounds cool

>>32941287
>>32941327
>>32941341
>>32941346
>>32941393
Writing.

>>32941393
Helps us physically and it's a workout for the brain too, as we have to read both of their actions and figure out a strategy hit the enemy while not getting hit ourselves.

“Hey, what would you say about a spar?” You ask him as the two of you start walking towards the exit of the bridge.

“Hmm, you an me? Sounds fine.”

“Actually, I was thinking of making it more interesting. You, me, and sextus. Free for all.” He stops walking.

“Involving Sextus? I’m not sure how good an idea that is. I mean, I’m not sure he’ll stop if one of us taps out.”

Quartus doesn’t have a clue does he? He’s gotten too used to seeing Sextus as a mindless slave that he’s not seeing what’s happening in front of him now. “Are you kidding? He’s gotten a lot better after Primus died.” He looks at you, but you continue before he can cut in. “Earlier, he gestured to me that the clocks synced up with Lahan II.”

“He… What? You’re serious?” He goes over to the nearest chair and sits down. It’s quiet for a moment, and you’re hesitant to break the silence. After a short while, he does.

“Damn. How couldn’t I see that? He… All those little gestures. Even when Primus was still around, but more so now that he’s gone. I… I need a moment. Get Sextus and go to the training room already. I’ll be there soon.”

You hadn’t expected that much of a breakdown, or you might have reconsidered telling him like that, but at least he might look at his friend a bit differently now. You find Sextus already in the training room, only wearing short sweatpants and working out. You don’t want to interrupt him while he’s pushing himself up with a single hand, so you already change in the time he takes to finish up. It doesn’t take long, and you quickly explain the plan to him, and he nods. His face doesn’t show any emotion, but you’re sure there’s still something more in there than it might seem.

You join him in some more exercises to warm up your muscles, and you can’t help but stare at his body. Well, your body. It’s been a long time since you’ve been with your brothers, and you’ve grown a bit more distinct from each other, it seems. He’s slightly shorter than you, but slightly wider with thick muscles, whereas you’re leaner. There’s also the scars. You wince slightly as you look over them. Most of them you recognise as Primus’ handiwork.

It doesn’t take too long until Quartus appears, and silently joins in with your routine. He has less scars. Some inflicted by the one you killed, but more of them from actual battle. After a few minutes you all nod to each other and spread out a bit.

The battleground is completely cleared out. No stray dumbbells or other things, only the mats and your opponents. Quartus takes a clearly defensive stance, probably hoping you two will duke it out until he can cut in and eliminate you both, or provide openings in your attacks if one of you goes for him. You can’t properly read Sextus’ stance. It seems to be a bit of an incisive one, but given the distance between you, about twenty feet, it can shift into anything he needs before you get close to each other.

>Battle plan?
>1. Go for Quartus to bait out Sextus and counter-attack.
>2. Take advantage of your speed and rush Sextus, hoping he can’t adapt fast enough.
>3. Try to position yourself so Quartus is in the middle and attack him.
>4. Write in.

>apologies for taking so long. It was a long post and I was being distracted.

>>32941956

>Come at me, bro
>let them take initiative and observe their moves

"Last man up gets to park the ship!"

>>32941956
>a bit of an incisive one
Indecisive, derp.

>>32941956
>3
sounds awesome, In a defensive stance, people might be inclined not to move that much.
We can really get an advantage here

>>32942005
Lets do this, and hope we're good at counter attacking.

>>32942167
>>32942059
>>32942005
Ok, writing. Give me a d20 already.

Rolled 18

>>32942183

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73 KB JPG

Rolled 9

>>32942183

Get up, get on up.

Well, one more... If there's no additional roll in the next 3 minutes, feel free to roll again.

Rolled 17

>>32942327

Rolled 3

>>32942327

a third roll

>>32942191
>>32942237
>>32942327
>Success!

You wait. Your stance is a patient one, a bit like Sextus, but a bit more defensive. You don’t want to be caught off guard, and missing an opportunity is better than taking a hit yourself.

It takes a while before any of the others start to move, but when it happens, it’s Sextus. He slowly makes his way to the middle of you and Quartus. It seems an odd position, but you realise what he’s doing. He’s baiting you both out. If you both go for it he’ll dodge and you and quartus will crash into each other. You’ll be stuck in melee with him and Sextus can easily nip in here and there without committing himself too much.

You see quartus starting to shift his stance, and you begin to move too, but you only feint. Sextus takes it, and moves out of the way, right where you expected him to go. Your first punch gets blocked, but he wasn’t ready and your momentum unbalances him, allowing your second strike to hit him in the stomach. It’s not a hard hit, but it knocks him back a bit.

Right into Quartus. He had fallen for it, but your reaction clued him in in time to change course. It’s an inelegant attack, and if he had read Sextus properly like you had it would have been much more devastating, but his shoulder slams into the other man’s upper spine.

You have to give Sextus credit. He falls, but drops into a roll away from the two of you, and while he’s now far away from you, Quartus is almost within arms reach. His own attack took some out of him as well while yours wasn’t as intense. All in all, you probably have the advantage. You half turn to the newest bigger threat, but make sure to keep an eye on Sextus too. He’s taken some hits but he’s still far from out of the match.

>1. Go full frontal on Quartus. Try to turn to keep his back to Sextus.
>2. Back off, play the waiting game once more.
>3. Feint and go after Sextus.
>4. Write in.

>>32942496
>1
But concentrate more on manoevring him with his back towards Sextus, then on really giving that final punch

Rolled 19

>>32942496

1. Double bluff and full frontal Quartus into Sextus...

>>32942559
>>32942600
Ok, writing. Should I be merciful and count that roll for the fight?

Nah, that's not how it goes. Gimme some d20s, best of first three.

Rolled 16

>>32942683

rolling 1

Rolled 8

>>32942683

rolling 2

Well, one last roll please.

Rolled 7

>>32942683

>>32942851
Just got out of my raid, was reading up on what happened. Maybe we can ask Quartus and Sextus (give him a list, look for a gesture) about the Conditioning.

>>32942701
>>32942716
>>32942852
Ok, lower DC met, post incoming soon.

You dash forward, but ever so slightly to the right. You try to make it seem unintentional, and it seems to work. Quartus turns on the spot intending on throwing you past him, but he mistook your true intention: giving Sextus an opening.

You dodge his blow as you pass him, throwing yourself down and rolling ahead. It seems Sextus is off worse than you thought though and he moves too sluggish to take full advantage of the opening you gave him. Quartus spun on the spot the moment he realised you dodged, and blocked most of Sextus’ attack. It also prevents you from going in again immediately like you had planned to finish Quartus off.

The manoeuvre wasn’t the knock-out move you thought it could have been, but it’s still put you in an advantageous position. They’re busy with each other now, and you take full advantage by rushing in quickly, striking at Quartus when you see an opening, and pull back before either of them can retaliate.

It continues like this for a moment, but after you move in a bit too slowly, Sextus counters and hits you in the chest. Dazed, you pull back and find that Sextus overextended, and Quartus kneed him in the side. He taps out, and now you’re facing Quartus. You have the advantage, but he’s not out just yet. He might have some dirty tricks left to put you down.

>Strategy?
>1. Wait and counter-attack.
>2. Full frontal assault
>3. Dance around, dodging. Stay on the defensive and tire him out.
>4. Write in.

>>32942960
>Btw, probably not gonna be enough time for another vote, roll and writing a post, so that's most likely the last post of the day.
>We'll still do the strategy and rolls for the start of the next thread though. Stupid I have to cut it off here, but oh well.
>Next thread is gonna be wednesday or thursday probably. Keep an eye on the twitter to be sure.

>>32942960
Let's go all-out on this one
>2

thx for the thread supervisor, good night!

>>32943064
I'm not going just yet. I still have to make you roll after the vote and cackle maniacally when you roll a nat 1.

>>32942960

>2

Lets end this sparing session in this last clash...

>>32943133
great, I feel much better now

>>32943064
>>32943135
Well, looks like this will be it.

Roll me some d20s for going berserk on his ass.

>>32942960
>2. Full frontal assault

Rolled 8

>>32943281

Rolled 20

>>32943281
going beserk on his ass? roger that!

Rolled 5

>>32943329

>you overdo it and break necks of both of them

Rolled 12

>>32943281

rolling 2

>>32943329
Looks like Quartus was NOT expecting that.

>>32943323
>>32943329
>>32943362
And that is a crit success.

At least my next thread will open in style.

Ok, good night people, thanks for sticking around.

>>32943362
I probably do, no hard feelings

>>32943407

Good night OP, cheers for the thread

>>32943407
Thanks for running, OP.

>>32943407
again, cheers for the thread OP

Shit, almost forgot to archive. Still managed to squeeze it in though.