>Important note: I’m going planning on ending the quest after this arc. I don’t think I will revisit it, but maybe I will run another quest one day. If so, not very soon anyway.

>Threads will be every tuesday from now on, unless something goes terribly wrong.

>Last time on Freelance Ghost Quest: Ur’athan told you your training was finished, then duelled you, which ended in a close tie. After the battle, he explained a cerebrate was attacking Executor Elthai and you agreed to help her in exchange for her no longer hunting you. You went back to the Omega and told your friends about your training and the coming battle. Quartus and Sextus immediately volunteered to help, but Lisa is still thinking things over.

You spend most of the day talking to Quartus and Sextus about your training after giving the necessary orders to the crew. They listen with interest, and you even demonstrate your new skills a bit. After dinner, Lisa comes to you asking to be brought back to the planet, and you start heading towards the hangar.

“You can come pick me up again tomorrow morning.” She says.

>1. Have you thought about whether you’re coming along to the battle?
>2. Just acknowledge her request and leave it at that.
>3. Write in.

>>35066891
>3
Hug her.
"Whatever you do, I'll support it."

>>35066891

seconding >>35066938
We have already made her life considerably more complicated/interesting. It is up to her if she wants to follow us down the rabbit hole...

>>35066938
>>35067013
Writing.

“Hey.” You say, and stop moving for a while. She looks at you. "Whatever you do, I'll support it.”

She knows well enough what it’s about. You hug her. “I’ve made your life a lot more complicated already, and I don’t want to pressure you into anything.”

She hugs you back. “Thanks. I think I need a bit more time. I’m starting to get an idea of what I want, but… I’ll be able to tell you tomorrow for certain.”

You stay there hugging for a moment, then continue to the hangar. She grabs ahold of your hand. Apparently that’s what people do in situations like these.

Once inside the wraith, conversation pops up again on a different subject. “So I’ve managed to get most of them to speak again, as you might have noticed, as I’ve said before, but you remember the one I had my first breakthrough with? I managed to find his name again. It’s Edmund. He’s more or less become my assistant while I’m here, and the more I interact with him in a mundane way, the more human he becomes again. I think. I do still have regular therapy with him and occasionally probe his mind with Quartus’ help…”

She goes on and on about her work, back to the self-certain Lisa you know, who simply overflows with enthusiasm for her job. It’s a pleasure to listen to. Once you arrive on the planet, you quickly hug and say goodbye. The flight back is… Lonely? It’s a strange feeling.

You arrive back at the Omega without a hitch. You notice the crew is already more active with preparations. The ones in the hanger mostly seem to be securing everything that’s just lying around so it won’t get thrown around during combat.

>You still have an evening and an entire day. The morning after that, you’re expected at the rendez-vous.
>1. Talk to Quartus and Sextus about something (specify what)
>2. Warn Ur’athan about coming with the Omega.
>3. As per 2, but add Quartus and Sextus into the ‘call’.
>4. Write in.

>>35067535
>2. Warn Ur’athan about coming with the Omega.
Ask if he wants to talk to Quartus and Sextus

>>35067535

seconding >>35067561

maybe after we could 'spar' with them. test out how our new training compares to our old...

>>35067535

>[x] 3. introduce the Templar to our bros and ship.
>1. Should we fall in battle, take the ship to safety so Sara can finish healing the crew.
>1. Perhaps we should rename the ship? How does "Severance" sound to you guys?
>1. Hey, have you met Ed? This is Ed. Ed, these are my brothers.

By the way, have we introduced Ed to everyone?

File: ed-e.jpg (383 KB, 1280x720)

383 KB JPG

>>35067626
>>35067627
>EDmind

>>35067561
>>35067615
>>35067626
>>35067627
>>35067687
Writing. I had actually lost track of Ed for a moment.

You head for the bridge, and ask Quartus and Sextus to join you. Once there, you explain that you’ll be contacting the High Templar and that it might be handy to introduce them. They agree.

You start meditating and head to your own personal red mental plane. Once there, you search for Ur’athan. It doesn’t take long, and once you give a small tug on his mind, he sends a message to wait a moment while he wraps things up.

A few minutes later, he contacts you again and you bring him into your plane. “Hello again Artemis. I had not expected to hear back from you so soon.”

“Well, my brothers immediately agreed to help us. How does the assistance of two powerful ghosts and an extra large battlecruiser sound?” You ask him.

His face brightens up considerably. “That is good news indeed, and more than I had expected. We will need all the help we can get. I’ll inform the tacticians to factor them in.”

“Would you like to meet them? I think they’re better able to gauge in what ways they can best help. I haven’t fought alongside them for a long time, one small skirmish aside. Most I know is that Quartus is a sniper and Sextus is mostly geared towards support.” You tell the High Templar.

He agrees, and a moment later you pulled in both Quartus and Sextus. Ur’athan formally greets them. Quartus greets him back, Sextus just nods.

They start talking about what each of them can do, Quartus mostly ‘translating’ for Sextus. They seem to have grown closer the last few weeks, and Quartus seems to mostly understand what Sextus wants to convey.

A few moments later, Quartus explained most of their combat roles to the protoss, and he in turn suggested several approaches to add them to the protoss forces in optimal ways. After a while it was decided that they would mostly cover your approach to the Cerebrate. Quartus from afar and Sextus alongside you together with a small squad of elite Zealots and one of Ur’athan’s colleague High Templar. The battlecruiser meanwhile will be one of the main means of direct air-to-ground fire support, as most of the protoss armada will be busy keeping the enemy flyers at bay. Of course, specifics could still be rearranged once arrived at the planet.

Once everything is agreed upon, you bid farewell to the High Templar, and you all return to your own bodies.

>It’s getting late on the cruiser. Time for one more thing before going on to the next day.
>1. Introduce Quartus and Sextus to Ed.
>2. Offer to spar with both of them to gauge your new strength.
>3. Spend the rest of the evening talking to your brothers and consider changing the name of the ship.
>4. Write in.

>>35068050
>1. Introduce Quartus and Sextus to Ed

renaming the ship can wait until we have recruited Lisa and the mechanic whose name escapes me...

>>35068050

>1. This is Ed. Ed's not dead.

>>35068164

Murphy has family life down planetside though.

>>35068164
>>35068174
Writing.

You suddenly realise you’ve been forgetting about Ed. He was fine with you stuffing him in your luggage for underway, but you haven’t released him yet and is still in your room. “Right, Quartus, Sextus, I almost forgot, there’s someone I’d like you to meed.”

You lead them to your room and open the bag Ed is in. He slowly hovers out, taking in your brothers. “Are he a copy of you?” He asks, gesturing towards Quartus.

You cringe. Your reaction gets you an odd look from Quartus, and you realise he can’t read they protoss runes. After you’re finished translating, he lets out a laugh. “Can the little metal ball understand me?”

“Yes, they can,” You tell him, “And their name is Ed.”

“Very well then Ed, no, I’m not a copy of Artemis. We’re brothers.” Quartus tells Ed.

“Hmm, are brothers all so identical?” You translate for Quartus and Sextus, but immediately respond yourself. “No, they’re not. We’re twins. We’re biologically largely identical.”

“Interesting…” Ed replies. “I would like to research this phenomena of ‘brothers’,” they say, “it sounds like an intriguing concept.”

After translation, you clarify that Ed doesn’t really know anything about humans yet.

>A. Steer the discussion in a certain direction (specify).
>B. Go to bed.

If B, choose what to do next morning:
>1. Ask Quartus and Sextus to spar.
>2. Pick up Lisa first.
>3. Write in.

>>35068440

Can ED interact with terran tech in any manner? Perhaps giving him an encyclopedia or something would be more convenient than explaining things. Just data downloaded from ship's databanks, I'd rather not link him up with Koprulu equivalent of 4chan quite yet.

>>35068508
He can't interface with terran tech. He's probably even got trouble with handling a computer due to the fact he doesn't have arms or anything else to interact with objects.

>>35068598

Well, in that case tell him what little we know of terran society. For instance that not all brothers are vat-grown killers and that it is customary to give flowers to ladies but apparently tomato plant is not suitable one.

>>35068508
>>35068660
Writing.

You proceed to educate Ed a bit about humans, with some input from Quartus. Of course, you yourselves aren’t too socially adept, so you inform them that a lot of it is a hit-or-miss kind of thing. For instance, not all brothers are vat-grown killers and that it is customary to give flowers to ladies but apparently tomato plant is not suitable one.

Quartus knew the thing about not giving tomato plants apparently, and he looks at you incredulously when you mention that. “You actually… Gave her a tomato plant?”

“No, I didn’t,” you respond,”Murphy told me not to so I went and bought her flowers instead and kept the tomato plant. I should probably pick it up from the planet at one point.”

You continue for a while, and as it gets late, you decide to go to bed. Quartus gets the brilliant idea of asking the crew to keep Ed entertained and help him with his quest for knowledge as long as it’s nothing top secret. Of course, you also immediately mention that there is something seriously wrong with the crew and that they’re not a representation of humanity as a whole.

You wake up at 6 am, well rested.

>1. Ask Quartus and Sextus to spar.
>2. Pick up Lisa.
>3. Look for Ed, see what he’s learned so far.
>4. Write in.

>>35068891

>3. Look for Ed, see how he's enjoying himself in the alien environment.

>>35068972
Writing.

>>35068891
>2. Pick up Lisa.

You head towards the bridge, where you find Ed hovering next to a monitor with one of the crew standing beside it, occasionally pressing a button on Ed’s command.

They surprise you by greeting you in terran writing. “Good morning Artemis. How are you?”

“Hmm, learnt Terran, have you?” you ask.

“Indeed I have. I believed it would be the easiest to communicate with other humans I may come into contact with. I am currently reading through ‘Mr Eglamore’s complete guide to the galaxy’, but the author seems to have made some serious errors in some parts. I have compiled a list of 357 inaccuracies and 139 actual errors so far, many of them concerning non-terran intelligent life, and I have only read through approximately 32% of the book yet. I am concerned that the author did not properly research the subjects he writes about.”

You can’t help but laugh. You had never heard of the book, you suppose it’s an encyclopedia of sorts, but you can imagine that if it’s any older than a few months, any Terran book concerning intelligent life in the universe is going to be very wrong about a lot of things.

“I think you should probably start with Koprulupedia, they’re pretty neutral and factual about things, though I hope Mengsk hasn’t put his propaganda claws in it yet.”

You leave Ed be and head to the hangar. A quick flight to the planet and you collect Lisa. On the way back, she starts talking.

“I’ve been thinking, you know, about the whole joining you guys. And I’ve decided I’ll stay here on the planet. The battlefield is no place for me, though I would appreciate it if you kept the sensor and camera data from the cruiser for me to study once it’s over.”

“Sure thing,” you say, “I’ll sort it out once we’re back.”

“And you know, I’ll still do my best with the crew. I guess I can help you guys with that at least.” She smiles weakly.”

“You can. You’re doing a lot more than I thought possible at first.”

The rest of the ride is quiet. She’s wrapped her arms around you from the back, but she leaves enough room for you to properly control the ship.

Once you arrive, Lisa gives you another quick hug and heads to the infirmary. “I’ll go do everything I can for today! Wish me luck!” She winks at you.

>1. Ask Sextus and Quartus to spar.
>2. Go talk to Sextus and Quartus (specify about what).
>3. Continue talking to Ed.
>4. Write in.

>>35069518

Talk with the bros about fighting the Zerg. Reminisce about the few assignments we might have had involving Zerg, tell them what we've learned during our training with the protoss, perhaps also have Ed with us in case he has any knowledge worth sharing on the topic.

By the way, Ed doesn't have observer's cloak field, does he? Meaning he'll have to stay on ship during actual fighting.

>>35069674
Ed indeed doesn't have a cloaking field.

>>35069518
>1. Ask Sextus and Quartus to spar.

>>35069674
>>35069728
So, tie. Rolling tie breaker in 3 minutes if there's no new vote.

>>35069813
>1. Ask Sextus and Quartus to spar.

Let's try and teach them some tricks

>>35069728
>>35069836
Writing.

You psionically ask Quartus and Sextus to spar, and they agree. When you arrive at the training room you find Sextus already removing his armour, and Quartus joins you not much later. You do some warming up exercises together for a few minutes until you all get the feeling you won’t tear a muscle when you’ll spar.

“So, how are we doing this, free for all again?” Quartus asks.

“Actually, I was thinking of you two versus me.” You reply with a smile. Quartus looks dumbstruck for a moment, and Sextus comes close to actually laughing.

“Wait… You’re serious? I mean, you might have had fancy protoss training, but we haven’t been sitting on our asses either. We’ve been working to fight in tandem with each other even, so I think you might be biting off more than you can chew.” Quartus looks a bit worried that you’re overconfident.

Sextus lays a hand on his shoulder and shakes his head, almost grinning. You notice something going back and forth between your two brothers, but you’re not too sure what. It wasn’t psychic, you think. After their little contact, Quartus turns back to you. “Oh well, we’re fine with it, but don’t come crying to us if we beat you then. Sextus is looking forward to kicking your ass for last time.”

>1. Go ahead with the 1v2.
>2. Go for a FFA after all.

>>35069992
>1. Go ahead with the 1v2.

>>35069992

>1. Go ahead and make it some semblance of a fair fight

>>35069992
>1. Go ahead with the 1v2.
I wonder what a threesome with three two would be like

>>35070151
Gay.
Also kind of incest.

>>35070151
>A threesome with two brothers
>Threesome with two fit, psionic brothers
Sounds really, really hot.

>>35069992
>1. Go ahead with the 1v2.

We can take em

>Inb4 dice gods are dicks

>>35070187
I thought Artemis was a girl's name.

File: Dicegods.jpg (37 KB, 752x375)

37 KB JPG

>>35070192
Nah, these guys are chill.

>>35070091
>>35070120
>>35070151

Anyway, writing.

>>35070251
It can be both.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you two then. It won’t be my ass getting kicked.” You grin. “Let’s do this.”

You take position on the mat, Quartus and Sextus standing in front of you. Sextus immediately tries to circle around to get into a blind spot, while Quartus moves along with you to keep you in between them, and making light probes at your defence. They’re easily blocked, but they prevent you from stopping Sextus getting behind you. You have to keep checking back and forth to keep an eye on both of them.

>Strategy?
>1. Back up into a corner. You’ll have no place to back off to if you want to get away, but at least they’ll both be in front of you.
>2. Attack Quartus while trying to get past him so Sextus can’t hit you in the back.
>3. Stay on the defensive. Your enhanced reflexes will help with the back-and-forth, but not enough to offset their positioning.

>>35070251
The MC is male. Anons chose the name at the start of the quest. Not my fault for ambiguous gendered name.

>>35070396
Feint doing 2, but actually perform 1.
By the way Probably due to my laziness of not combing the archives before joining the quest, but who exactly is Artemis? I understand they're a ghost, and whatnot, but I haven't really seem a description or anything like it.

>>35070396
>2. Attack Quartus while trying to get past him so Sextus can’t hit you in the back.

Attack is the best form of defense!

>>35070458
Artemis was part of the Omega series of "artificial humans". Basically a program to make super-ghosts. Artemis, actually "omega secundus" was a failure though not as badly as some other omegas who died during their youth. He was pretty much average ghost material so they shipped him off to the regular ghost academy after mindwiping him.

At the fall of tarsonis, he saw his chance to get away and wiped his files and ran. Omega Primus, madman of the Omega ghosts tracked him down but got killed in a duel, so that's how you got the cruiser.

Along the way he got an upgrade from a xel'naga temple, and after all that he managed to get his hands on the ghost conditioning program so he could break through.

A protoss high templar contacted him saying he was being hunted by an executor, he went train with the high templar, and is now gearing up to save the executor from a diversion that got out of hand, namely a freaking entire zerg brood lead by a cerebrate. The high templar speculates that Artemis holds the power to destroy the cerebrate permanently.

>>35070396
>2. Attack Quartus while trying to get past him so Sextus can’t hit you in the back.

>>35070626
>I haven't really seem a description or anything like it.
He meant physical description, not a history lesson

>>35070666
Woops, I misread that.

Physically, I've all left it pretty open to imagination. Well muscled, lean build, average height and short hair is pretty much it.

>>35070458
>>35070487
>>35070642
Ok, roll me some d20's for attacking. Best of first three as usual.

Rolled 6 (1d20)

>>35070722
Dice gods have mercy, please?

Rolled 3 (1d20)

>>35070722
ROLLAN OUT

Rolled 4 (1d20)

>>35070722

>>35070744
>>35070767
>>35070778
Failure. Writing.

File: THE DICE GODS HAVE ABANDO(...).jpg (77 KB, 500x468)

77 KB JPG

>>35070744
>>35070767
>>35070778
>>35070825
I WARNED YOU BRO!

>>35070744
>>35070767
>>35070778

Oh well, better get ass kicked now than in the zerg hive

>implying guys in >>35070256 can't do both

You dash for Quartus, but he sees you coming. Your punch is blocked by a quick backhanded slap, and the follow-up kick gets elbowed away before you hit. You’re brought out of balance, and Sextus pounces you from behind. You dive sideways and he misses, but Quartus gets in a right hook to your side as you spin away.

That hurt. You might have underestimated Quartus a bit. He indeed has improved since last time. At least now you’re in a more favourable position, with both of them in front of you. Whether it was worth taking the punch is up to how you act now…

>1. Feint towards one of them, make a quick attack on the other and get out again.
>2. Stay on the defensive. If you back up now you’re in a corner but they can’t surround you anymore.
>3. Write in.

>>35070943
>1. Feint towards one of them, make a quick attack on the other and get out again.

Fortune favors the bold! Right? Right guys?

>>35070943

>1

Strategy was sound, execution less so. Let that be a lesson to us.

>>35070943
>3
Send mixed signals, attempt to appear as if we're performing other actions, they work in tandem through sharing information, if we can disrupt that by having them believe we're doing different things, we'll win.

>>35070978
Whoops, forgot to state that we should perform 1 as well.

>>35070951
>>35070961
>>35070978
>>35070994
Ok, roll me some more dice.

Rolled 15 (1d20)

>>35071122
HAHA TIME FOR FAILURES

Rolled 18 (1d20)

>>35071122
we're going to fail.......

Rolled 19 (1d20)

>>35071127
>>35071137
Two descent rolls

>>35071122
>Inb4 Nat1

>>35071127
>>35071137
>>35071153
Now that's the attitude! Upper DC met. Writing.

>>35071176
We have to keep a defeatist attitude to do well?
Dammit, the dice gods have odd specifications

You know how to do this. They can’t be certain which one you’re going to try and hit, so they have to be ready to both defend and to attack. The longer you keep your motives hidden, the better this will go.

You dash forward, seemingly straight for Quartus again, but as Sextus starts moving you slow down and move to the side a bit, as if trying to flank him. He immediately backs off again, ending on the other side of Quartus from where he started, but you move in again. You keep making quick movements in one direction as to confuse them, and you manage to get them where you wanted them.

A final feint in the direction of Quartus from really close by makes Sextus go for your back again. You change your movement abruptly and twist your body around, delivering the full momentum of your body in a downward kick onto Sextus.

Quartus reacts, but a second too late. As he tries to hit you in the back, you throw yourself towards him, elbow first, and hit him straight in the chest. Sextus has recovered by now though, and he’s moving towards you to make a pincer movement with Quartus, who didn’t take much more than having the wind blown out of him for a moment.

>1. Keep playing ping pong with them. Counter Sextus and block Quartus’ inevitable follow-up.
>2. Get out of there. You’re in between them again, which is generally not a very good place to be if they’re both up and running.
>3. Write in.

>>35071335
>1. Keep playing ping pong with them. Counter Sextus and block Quartus’ inevitable follow-up.

Keep the momentum going

>>35071368
Ok, since no one else seems to feel strongly about this we'll go with that.

Roll me some more d20's

Rolled 10, 13, 10 = 33 (3d20)

>>35071621

>>35071669
Well, that's a failure. Writing while hoping the other anons come back. I was hoping to finish the spar tonight but I think if we're down to one person I'm gong to leave it at that.

Oh well, we'll see at the next post.

>>35071703
Second anon back

Sextus recovered faster from that blow than you’d have expected. You move to counter his attack but see he’s too close already and have to settle on just blocking it. His tackle is diverted to the side and he has to roll past you to avoid any blows from you.

You spin around, getting ready for Quartus’ follow-up, but end up getting a punch in the stomach for your troubles. They really have been training a lot, they can take blows a lot better than they used to, and are back into the fight faster than previous time.

You block Quartus’ next few attacks while backing off. Quartus lets you take your rest as he regroups with Sextus. You use the opportunity to check out their condition.

Quartus seems mostly fine. The blow from earlier didn’t do much other than stun him for a moment, and it doesn’t seem like much lasting damage was done. Sextus on the other hand is a lot worse for wear. Your kick really hurt him, and you can see a slight slouch in his posture as he tries to not put too much pressure on the left shoulder where you hit him.

They’re spreading out a bit as they close in on you again, but they’re still not too far out of arms reach of each other so they can assist the other if need be.

>1. Try the feinting again. They might be a bit more wary this time but if you play it smart it should work.
>2. Go for a straight aggressive dash towards Sextus, they won’t see it coming after your previous shenanigans.
>3. Write in.

>>35071830

>2.
Feint the feinting.

>>35071830
> 2
This isn't working, lets mix it up a little.

>>35071888
This

>>35071830
> 3 Actually faint

>>35071888
>>35071896
>>35071904
>>35071949
Writing.

>>35072040
Dammit I keep doing this. I mean, roll me some d20's.

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>35072076

Rolled 11 (1d20)

>>35072076
I'm back

>>35072118
Hah, nat 20 first roll, and it only cost me my first born!

Rolled 13 (1d20)

>>35072076

>>35072142
a small price to pay

>>35072179
>>35072124
>>35072118
Well, critical success, writing.

You run straight for Sextus now. You can see they’re wary of you now, and don’t immediately adapt according to your movements. By the time they realise you’re not feinting, it’s too late for them. Sextus tries to bring up a defence, but you easily overwhelm him and deliver a strong uppercut to his solar plexus, physically lifting him up for a moment.

Quartus tries to help his buddy, but after your punch you drop to the ground and sweep his legs from under him. He falls to the ground and you jump him. He blocks, but you use your weight on him to pressure him. After a brief struggle, he manages to throw you off long enough to escape, but you’ve dealt considerable damage.

Sextus meanwhile, has been trying to get back up, and eventually succeeds, but he lowers his head in surrender.

“Yeah, I suppose we’re done for eh, Sextus?” Quartus says, then he turns to you. “Very well, you’ve defeated us.” He starts walking to the side. He’s still in pretty good shape, but he realised he didn’t stand a chance against you one on one with you in your current condition.

“Damn man,” he continues, ”those were some moves. I guess you weren’t kidding when you said you could take on your average Zealot in hand-to hand. I guess I’ll just stick to sniping. eh?” He winks.

Sextus smirks at that comment. Then groans and presses his hand to his chest. When Quartus takes a worried look at him, he shakes his head and gestures dismissively.

“Well, if you say so.” Quartus tells him. He directs himself back to you while you don your armour again. “He says he’ll be ok again for the battle. I’ll ask Lisa to look at him later, just to be sure.”

You nod.

>It’s noon.
>1. Timeskip to evening with Lisa.
>2. Go talk to Ed some more, perhaps show him the rest of the ship.
>3. Discuss something with Quartus (and Sextus) (specify).
>4. Write in.

>That’s it for today, votes will be taken into account for the start of next thread.
>I’ve got school again, so I’m trying to stick to a regular schedule. I should be able to manage a thread every tuesday evening.
>Reminder, Quest will end after this arc. I’ll try to keep a few notes on the side on what to implement in the epilogue, suggestions for this are welcome throughout the threads.

>>35072514

Cheers for the thread, OP!

>2. Tour de ship with Eddie

>>35072529
>2
Ed is our bro

Thanks for running

>>35072529
>2
>1
Thanks for the thread OP, shame I missed most of it

>>35072529
>1.
>4. Have one of the crew members show Ed the ship, with his explicit promise that he'll look but not touch
Thanks for running Supervisor. Wasn't around for the past two threads but I'll hopefully be around for the next one.

>>35072529
>>1. Timeskip to evening with Lisa.
>>2. Go talk to Ed some more, perhaps show him the rest of the ship.

Timezoneanon here, just woke up and got caught up, thanks for the thread