>Last time on Freelance Ghost Quest: You had a chat with Weissdammer, had dinner/went on a date with Lisa and let Weissdammer go on the planet.

>My internet curfew is lifted so I’ll be able to go on for longer periods of time again.

You wake up from a pleasant dream. You can’t really remember what it was, but you distinctly remember an army armed to the teeth with ladles, pots as helmets and food tray armour. You check your alarm.

> 10:23 am

Huh, it’s been a while since you’ve slept in that long. Best not make that a habit.

Anyway, perhaps it’s time for you to depart to Ur’athan’s planet. You briefly consider what’s left to do here. Lisa made an arrangement with Quartus to pick her up when she had time to work on the crew, so that’s not really an issue. Training now is pointless, seeing as you’re going to do a whole lot of that very soon for a long time. You think you’re all set to go now.

>1. Say goodbye to Quartus and Sextus and head towards the High Templar.
>2. Stay on the ship a bit longer and do something else (specify what).

>>34087640
>1
Can we also say goodbye to the others?
It's going to be a while

>>34087640

>1 Say goodbyes

Well, who else is there? Haverdam and Murphy, maybe...

>>34087721
Actually, just let Quartus and Sextus pass on a message... we might not want to linger around for to long.

>>34087844
Yeah, I meant them, Lisa and Holmes

>>34087721
>>34087844
>>34087847
>>34087865
Writing.

It’s time to go. You find Quartus and Sextus in the training room, working on their psionics. You say goodbye to them and head to the hangar where your wraith is parked and hop in. Everything is refuelled and restocked. Seems that the cruiser has sufficient missiles in storage to restock you for the foreseeable future. Well, you hope you won’t have to use any at all anymore.

You blast off from the battlecruiser Omega and enter the coordinates Ur’athan gave you. While the computer calculates the jump, you send messages down to Frontier to say goodbye, at least for now, to Haverdam, Murphy and Lisa. A short while later, the computer beeps and you make the jump.

What appears in front of you is not what you expected. There’s a sun alright, and a few planets circle it. Everything normal about that. What isn’t is the gigantic wreck of a space ship in orbit around one of the planets. It looks roughly a hundred times the size of the omega battlecruiser, and it shares a lot of aesthetics with the protoss, but there’s still a lot off on it. Some of it reminds you of the temple on Lahan II, really.

The location the High Templar gave you was on the planet below it. As you approach you see several small protoss spacecraft swarming over the large wreck. On your way down, you get a decent look at what they’re doing. Robotic arms lower strange beacons down onto the vessel, and as they hit the surface, they bury themselves slightly and start glowing. You’re not sure what exactly the purpose is, but the ships working there pay no attention to you at all.

File: Xelnaga ship.jpg (107 KB, 890x720)

107 KB JPG

When you reach the surface, you find yourself flying over a barren wasteland. Your wraith informs you that there is little to no atmosphere, and the planet is little more than a dead rock with some deserts here and there.

Your destination is a protoss base on one of the taller mountains in the area. A group of probes is gathering minerals nearby and bringing them back to a massive protoss pyramid you remember is called a Nexus. There’s several pylons, a large archway with a glowing ball of energy in the middle, and some other buildings you can’t really place. There’s some protoss here and there, but for a base this size, there seem to be fairly few.

You land your Wraith just outside the perimeter.

>1. Approach one of the Protoss and ask for the High Templar.
>2. Scout around the base a bit. See what you can find out.
>3. Write in.

>>34087933
If they weren't paying attention to our wraith, they are expecting us right, right?
>1

>>34087933

We're invited, might as well act the part.

1. >Approach one of the Protoss
temptation to say "take me to your leader" intensifies....
>Say hello and tell them you're looking for the High Templar

File: grey-aliens-1.jpg (77 KB, 800x586)

77 KB JPG

>>34088048
Wrong kind of aliens bud.

>>34088004
>>34088048
Writing.

>>34088120

I don't know, Protoss are kind of grayish, and they like to cut up certain species...

>>34087933
>1
Say hello!

You head into the base. From the ships’ reaction, or lack thereof, you deduced that they were expecting you. The nearest protoss is working on one of the buildings you can’t identify. One of the armour plates has been removed, and he seems to be working on the underlying circuitry.

“Hello, I’m looking for High Templar Ur’athan. Could you point me in his direction?”

The protoss turns, takes a moment to take you in, then gestures to the giant pyramid in the middle of the base. “He’s in the Nexus. You should ask one of his acolytes to accompany you though, the doors won’t open for you.”

His voices resonates through your head. It’s very different from in your dreams, where you experience it much like normal speech. In the flesh, protoss directly transmit their thoughts into your mind, probably because they lack a mouth to talk with. It’s similar to normal telepathic communication, but the protoss simply feel strange to you. Alien.

“How do I recognise his acolytes?”

“They’re the ones wearing robes instead of more practical clothing. They usually hang around the Nexus a bit more.” You think the protoss made a joke there, but you’re not sure because of his deadpan delivery.

You thank the man, or woman, you can’t really tell with protoss, and head over to the Nexus. On the way there, you see more protoss in either military equipment or more practical gear which you guess are civilian space suits, before you finally find one with a robe. You repeat your question to him, and he leads you to the front door of the Nexus.

A siege tank could probably fit through the door, so you decide to call it the main gate from now on. As the acolyte approaches it, you see some detection apparatus glow for a moment and then the gates open. he leads you to an elevator close by, presses a button and exits again.

“We are not allowed to disturb his meditation, but he will want to meet you as soon as possible, “ he clarifies. “Head straight on through when the elevator stops.”

The doors close, and the platform you’re standing on zooms up. A few seconds later it stops again, but you guess you’re near the top of the building now. Heading into the corridor you see a long path forward and two to each side. You take the middle and before long you reach a dome-shaped chamber, with the protoss from your dreams floating in the middle, giving off a faint teal glow.

>1. Disturb his meditation and draw attention to yourself.
>2. Wait for him to talk to you.
>3. Write in.

>>34088473

> Meditate yourself. Maybe we'll find him in that dreamscape place.

>>34088473
>2 Stay awhile and listen
Lets not interupt the psionic meditations that the fella is doing, never know if you might accidently an entire building because some guy was interupted during his Omn.

>>34088473
>>1. Disturb his meditation and draw attention to yourself.

>>34088512
May as well do this.

>>34088514

I don't think he would be doing this indoors if such a thing were possible.

>>34088514
>>34088622
He's meditating, not channeling excessive amounts of energy. It's pretty safe to say disturbing him isn't going to cause explosions, plus the acolyte pretty much told you to disturb him.

>>34088512
>>34088514
>>34088546
>>34088566
Writing for waiting with a side order of maybe finding him in dreamscape.

>>34088512
best plan

You decide to wait it out for now. You sit down against the wall of the room and meditate yourself. You try to feel the templar without disturbing him. Immediately you feel that he’s aware of your presence, but he continues meditating. You feel what amounts to a psychic respectful nod for leaving him be.

You try and get to the place you contacted him before, but doing so on purpose seems to be a lot more difficult than going there on accident while sleeping. After a while you give up on trying and simply enjoy the silence and calm.

A few minutes later, you feel the protoss stir. You open your eyes and see him stop glowing and float down to the ground. He still keeps hovering a few inches above it though. He opens his eyes and turns to you.

“Welcome. I believe you are called… Artemis?” You nod. You can’t help but feel a bit uncomfortable. The Protoss’ psychic communication is something you’ll have to get used to, and it might take a while.

“It is good you are here now. No doubt you have a lot of questions.

>1. What is that big wrecked ship?
>2. What are those beacon things you’re putting on the big wreck?
>3. For a protoss base there seem to be very few protoss actually here…
>4. Write in.

>>34088824

>What is that huge ship up there?
>This is some sort of archaeological settlement? It doesn't seem to be very populated...
>You will be teaching me?
>Any news of the executor that's out to get me?
>What's the deal with the Zerg anyway?

>>34088824
>>3. For a protoss base there seem to be very few protoss actually here…

>>34088956
>>34088979
Writing

“What’s that huge ship up there?” You ask.

“It’s the reason I’m here. It is a Xel’naga worldship, or at least what remains of it. I am here on an archaeological mission to stabilise it and study it once it is safe. It is also the perfect cover to be away from the Executor’s direct influence, as the crew is all loyal to me personally.”

“So, it’s a purely archaeological outpost? Doesn’t seem to be very populated.”

“Not entirely. I have my personal attache of warriors with me for protection, and while the planet is not of any strategic importance, it has a moderate amount of resources that can be useful. My shipping of those to the Executor also improves my independence of her fleet. Most of my men are simply working on the worldship.”

“Is there any news of the Executor and her hunt for me?”

You see a gleam appear in the High Templar’s eyes, and your gut tells you it’s from mischief. “My associates and I have meddled in that somewhat to buy us some more time, and hopefully convince her of the larger threat of the zerg. Suffice to say that she is occupied with the zerg for now.”

Well, that’s good news at least. “What’s the deal with the zerg anyway?”

“The… Deal? Explain?”

“Well, I get that they’re pretty bad, with the swarming over planets and all, but the protoss seem to be more than capable of handling them. Even if it is glassing planets when they land. What would you need me for?”

“We probably would be, yes. Only our race foolishly adheres to its blind ways, considering the zerg not to be a threat while they continue to grow. Our battle doctrines are inefficient against them, and while we would probably be easily able to destroy them if we adapt, the way things are now throws away lives with no gain.”

The protoss suddenly looks like a pained old man, talking about the subject matter. He continues though. “There is another thing. The zerg are controlled by the Overmind, and our expedition recently discovered that it distributes its swarm amongst so called cerebrates, each controlling a separate brood. We have attempted to slay the beast and were successful, but mere moments later the flesh we had incinerated simply reformed before our eyes, and the zerg that had gone feral regained their senses. We managed to escape, but it cost us dearly. It seems not even our psionic power could slay the creature permanently.” At this point he looks straight at you. “There is something strange about you though. Directly touched by the Xel’naga… So I am hoping that you might succeed where we failed.”

That’s… a lot of responsibility all of a sudden. You’re not sure you’re happy with that, but you don’t really have much choice but to go through with it for now. At least until the trigger-happy executor is off your back.

“So, you’ll teach me?”

“Yes. You are exceptionally powerful for a terran, and while it is nothing special compared to most of my kind, you terrans have a knack for learning fast. Shall we begin?”

>1. Start the training.
>2. Hold off on it, ask about a room to sleep in so you can get settled first.
>3. Gold off on it, first do or ask something else (specify).

>>34089556
>>1. Start the training.

>>34089556

>1. Very well, let's begin then.

>>34089556

start now

>>34089556
>1. Start the training.
HAHA, LETS DO IT

>>34089586
>>34089613
>>34089643
>>34089677
TRAINING MONTAGE GO!!!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGw8DWctAts

>I’ll be doing some parts in the quest and timeskip over some other periods

You nod. Let’s get started.

The first half hour or so, you simply show off what you can to him. The room was specifically built by him to redirect harmful psionic energy and withstand a lot of firepower, so you can even unleash your more destructive powers. After your show of force, he nods. “Impressive. You are more versatile than even most of my kind. Let us continue with something else. Attack my mind with all you have. Try to break in.”

You give him an unsure look, but he contorts his face reassuringly. On a human it would have been a smile, but the lack of mouth is still irksome to you. You focus on him, mentally and physically. You carefully feel the edges of his mind, and then you push.

>Roll me some d20’s.

Rolled 12 (1d20)

>>34089888

Teach me, o mouthless one.

Rolled 2 (1d20)

>>34089888
ROLAEN

Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>34089888
professor X guide my mind

>>34089954
>>34089998
>>34090037
Lower DC met.

And the upper DC, ladies and gentlemen, was the highest DC I've ever put on a roll before.

>>34090106

What would've happen? We wouldn't have blown his mind, would we?

You crash into Ur’athan’s mental defences. They’re strong. Stronger than you’ve ever encountered before. It feels like a solid metal wall, and your psionic power can’t get a grip at all. You consider the first assault a failure, but you’ve still got more than enough reserve to try again. You focus all your power in a single point, and when it impacts his defences you just keep pushing. A dent forms. It grows larger. Larger.

Suddenly you break through. You force your mind in, tearing the hole open further, but when you reach the other side of the wall, you find yourself facing more defences. This time they fight back. You’re pinned between the wall and the High templar’s array of defences nipping away at you, and despite your best attempts at a counter-attack, you’re forced to retreat back through the hole you made. Once you leave it quickly closes up again.

Exhausted, you fall to your knees. The high templar himself seems to be a little winded too though.

“Impressive. In all honesty I didn’t think you’d even manage to get through the first line. You rely on brute strength a bit too much, but that’s nothing we won’t be able to improve.”

It’s still fairly early in the afternoon, but your demonstration and the mental assault took a lot out of you. Ur’athan orders one of his acolytes to bring you to your room, where you unpack what you brought with you, which isn’t much. It seems your host did not fail to remember you need more sustenance than sunlight, unlike them, and had some food sent to you shortly afterwards. It’s very simple, seeing how protoss probably cook even worse than you, and mostly consists of vegetables. It’ll do.

>Timeskip to next event?
> Y/N

>>34090169
You'd have gotten through all of his defences, and he'd have been very impressed.

Rolled 15 (1d20)

>>34090342
>N

>>34090342

Well, what else is there to do? Maybe we could do a short sightseeing hike under guise of practicing our mundane muscles?

>>34090342
Y

>>34090582
That is very well an option. You could explore the base, bother protoss workers, scout the area a bit, etc.

>>34090620

What do Protoss do for fun anyway? Although I guess the templar will not allow much time for levity. Or any at all for that matter.

Go ahead with the training montage, I guess.

Rolled 11 (1d20)

>>34090342
N

>>34090387
>>34090603
>>34090699
>>34090674

So, if I'm reading this correctly we're at a tie. I'll wait a bit longer before calling tie-breaker.

>>34090674
Lets see what protoss do for fun, maybe tinker with a probe to see how they work.
>Xeno tech !FUN!

>>34090342

Y
though exploring the Protoss base a bit between training sounds like an idea; lets leave the exploring until we have been here a few days...

>>34090740

I think the >N votes are samefagged, but perhaps options of what to do without a timeskip would help clear things up?

>>34090752

Ok, IF we're not timeskipping, I'll second pestering a probe and trying to figure out whether it has a personality.

>>34090765
As I said here >>34090620 , you can pretty much explore, or ask people questions, and see where it leads. I'm kind of not sure myself but I can imagine people wanting to now, so that's why I gave the option and didn't just went ahead with the timeskip myself.

>>34090805

(to clarify, I'd rather not gut one. Although it probably wouldn't let us anyway)

Rolled 16 (1d20)

>>34090832
Well, lets do it.
We can continue practicing psionic abilities, and maybe pick up a few things from Zealots.

Ok, I think that means no timeskip.

So what do you do first:
>1. Go to a probe and try to discern whether it has a personality.
>2. Talk to some of the acolytes to find out more about Ur'athan himself.
>3. Talk to some zealots, exchange tricks and/or war stories.
>4. Write in.

>>34090926
>1
Probe the probe!

>>34090926
>>3. Talk to some zealots, exchange tricks and/or war stories.

>>34090926

>Let's be the autist and probe the probe

>>34091266
(although hanging out with Zealots sounds like fun, can we do that as well afterwards?)

Rolled 9 (1d20)

>>34090926
>3

>>34090945
>>34091036
>>34091266
>>34091317
Well, that's a tie. Rolling for it if there's no tiebreaker in 3 minutes.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>34091365
>1 = probes
>2. = zealots

Zealots it is then, writing.

After your meal you decide to go explore a bit. Ur’athan made it clear that your training would properly start tomorrow, and you’ve still got a lot of time to waste this evening. With some directions you manage to exit the Nexus, and it seems you’ve been added to its list of “people to open automatic doors for”, as the main gate opens without any trouble.

You head to the military quarters, and find several zealots talking to each other. They must be bored out of their skulls, you figure. They see you approach, and take on a wary stance.

“Hey, I’m Artemis.”

There’s some delay. It seems they’re a bit confused about something. finally, one of them speaks up. “Greetings. we have heard of you, but we were under the impression that you would not fall under our authority and spend all your time with the High Templar.”

“Oh, I will. I just finished the introduction and figured I’d explore a bit.”

They’re not really sure what to say to you it seems, and an uncomfortable silence hangs in the air.

>1. So, can I take a look at your psi-blades?
>2. Not much action around here huh?
>3. Write in.

>>34091586

>So... what do you guys do when you are not at work?

>>34091643

Actually, that doesn't seem right thing to say... it's not like Artemis spent an awful lot on leisure either.

Hmmm... how about
>How did you end up on this world?

Rolled 8 (1d20)

>>34091586
>3
"I've always admired the Protoss' Psiblades, especially the Zealot's skill with them, could I see a demonstration?"

>>34091729

How much did we actually know about protoss prior to reading up on them anyway? And Primus had psiblades, didn't he? What happened to them, anyway?

>>34091797
They were wrecked when you exploded the psi amplifier with him in it.

And what little you know about protoss is from facing them in combat once or twice, and from files from the confederacy, so not that much.

>>34091643
>>34091729
Writing.

Probably the last post for the day.

“So how did you end up on this world?”

“We are part of the High Templar’s guard. We go wherever he goes.” After that answer the zealot falls silent again. Well, so much for getting them to open up. Socialising with them might be even trickier than with humans, you figure.

"I've always admired the Protoss' Psi blades, especially the Zealot's skill with them, could I see a demonstration?"

At this, some of the zealots get enthusiastic. The beckon you to follow them and you are led to a small field which is obviously used for training. They talk amongst themselves for a moment, and then they go stand in a single straight line. They activate their psi blades, and all of a sudden the line is a whirlwind of movement.

They all strike, dodge, and weave around an invisible opponent in front of each of them, all so perfectly in sync that it has to be a basic practice regime of some kind. It’s impressive to see their coordination, but even more so their speed and accuracy. You figure these are veterans anyway, but still, primus had a long way to go before he’d get as good as these protoss.

After their demonstration, they’ve loosened up considerably. You compliment their skills, and they let you try on a spare set of psi blades. They’re a but clunky on your arms, obviously not made to fit on top of your armour, but you manage. Activating them is harder though. Their leader, who identifies himself as Siladus, instructs and guides you through the process, but it takes about fifteen minutes before you manage. You nearly slice off his hand when you do, but his fast reflexes and energy shield protect him.

File: Zealot_SC1_Art1.jpg (84 KB, 800x600)

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After a short and disastrous introduction in their dance-like training regimen, you get the rest of them talking, and you exchange war stories. Mostly against the zerg though, as you avoid mentioning the times you fought against their kind. One of the zealots, sporting a large scar over one of his eyes, boasts of having killed a siege tank singlehandedly after it gave him the scar. One of his compatriots laughs him off, saying he was dropped on top of it by a shuttle, so it was an easy kill. You mention escaping the zerg hive you went to the previous day.

It’s starting to get dark by the time you part ways, and you head to your room in the nexus to sleep, and prepare for the coming trials.

>That’s it folks. Fear not ye hearty probe-wranglers, we will be having an option to do that somewhere in between the training later.

>Next thread probably friday or saturday. Keep an eye on the twitter to be sure.

>>34092313

Cheers for the thread, OP!
Stay cool.

>>34092313
Maybe next time we could ask the templar for a bit of advice on how to approach his brethren... but it worked out this time.
Thanks Supervisor

>>34092313
Thanks for running, Supervisor. Even if I didn't get to contribute, it was a great read. Hope I'll be on at the right time next time!