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Pre-reading for those interested:


http://simmonsqm.tumblr.com/post/137901754488/that-same-evening

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It’s another one of those mornings. You sit perfectly still as the van drives you to court. Did he want you to be there at 10 or does the case start at 10? Wait, were you supposed to see Lopez last night to talk about this?

Fuck.

>You’re hungover!
>-1 to STR/STA max
>-1 to Nerves max
>Lasts 3 hours

>New Traits!

>’Pede whisperer: Able to convey simple to moderate orders to your pet centipede.
>Arthropod empathy: You are now more likely to gain insight into insect activity through behavioral observation.
>Animal Trainer: +2 to charming or luring animals intelligent enough to be so charmed.
>Team player: Certain DCs are lowered when you work with a teammate
>Bullshit detector: Progress made towards next level
>Wheelman- +3 to driving rolls, upgrade from Racer
>Quickdraw: Progress towards next tier of pistol handling.
>Cocaine Addiction: Still mild. Lucky, eh?
>Expert Wrangler: +2 to rolls involving your wrangling stick
>More of an idea man than an engineer...: +1 to slapping shit together and having it work
>Imaginative: Desperation is the mother of intelligence. +1 Intelligence points

The ringing of the Illegal is as welcome as a knife to the head. Looks like Lopez is trying to get in touch with you.

>take the call
>try and alleviate your hangover by muting the call and ignoring him
>ignore him, pick up some “hair of the dog” (drink)
>ignore him, enjoy the “breakfast of champions” (do a line of cocaine)
>Write-in

>>44965084
>take the call

>>44965084
>take the call

>large bag of cocaine (running dangerously low)
Shit.

>>44965282
>>44965287
>>44965401


You hold the illegal to your head with one hand and rub your temples with the other.

“Vince! Are you on the way?”

“Yeah…”

You’d ask why he sounds so out of breath but your head hurts way too much for that right now.

“Great. Don’t worry too much about the case, we put together a little synopsis for you. Just focus on getting here in one piece.”

“Wait, what?”

“You know what I mean.”

The call terminates as the van approaches an intersection…

>roll 3d6+2 for awareness, boost up to three times with Nerves (currently 12/12)

Rolled 5, 3, 4 + 2 = 14 (3d6 + 2)

>>44965538

>>44965590

Bit slow on the rolls today. Perhaps all my anons lost internet in the snow?

>>44965747

I need two more rolls of 3d6+2 to proceed. I'll wait for them.

Rolled 3, 4, 6 + 2 = 15 (3d6 + 2)

>>44965538

Rolled 6, 6, 4 + 2 = 18 (3d6 + 2)

>>44965538

>>44966307
>>44965590
>>44966320
>full success

You realize the van isn't slowing at all and is going to blow the red light ahead of you.

Using the console, you attempt to switch over to manual. It's locked out. The brakes are no good either.

Thinking quickly, you hold down the ignition button for an override to shut down the engine. It takes a few painful seconds to do so but the van shuts down just as it reaches the cross-walk, startling an elderly woman but doing no real harm otherwise.

A cement truck careens through the intersection behind her. You put two and two together and figure someone just tried to kill you by hacking the van.

>get out, try and find an alternative mode of transportation
>Use the illegal to try and secure the van
>Just boot the van back up and shut down as many external connections as you can find
>write-in

>>44966524
>Use the illegal to try and secure the van
New intelligence pls

>>44966591

You don't have to look too hard to find an app which can link itself to your van's OS with a few GEC passcodes and control its various wireless transmitters.

Unfortunately, a few systems (like your breaks and the fuel intake) seem to have built in backdoors for your superiors which might require some system surgery...

>attempt to shut the damn doors (roll 3d6+1)
>leave them in place
>give up

Rolled 1, 3, 2 + 1 = 7 (3d6 + 1)

>>44966739
>attempt to shut the damn doors (roll 3d6+1)

>>44966923

I'll need two more rolls, which I'm find if you samefag since it's so slow on this... Saturday night.

Just exclude the greentext and respond to this post only so I don't confuse you for another voter.

>>44966988
>find

fine*

Rolled 2, 4, 6 + 1 = 13 (3d6 + 1)

>>44966739

Rolled 5, 1, 6 + 1 = 13 (3d6 + 1)

>>44966739

Rolled 1, 3, 1 + 1 = 6 (3d6 + 1)

>>44966988

>>44967074
>>44967031
>>44966923
>>44967079
>13,13,7
>success

You tinker with security settings and discover how to add an additional layer of required encryption to the receivers... This will effectively shut out all signals that aren't speaking "your" language... which will include official ones. Hopefully GEC doesn't notice.

In the process of securing the van, you've lost GPS and the AI has no cached maps to draw on to plan its route to your location because GEC cheaped out on the memory, apparently.

Mindful of the fact that invisible forces are trying to kill you, you decide to drive... defensively.

>I'll need three rolls of 3d6+3, boost up to three times with nerves.

Rolled 3, 6, 6 + 3 = 18 (3d6 + 3)

>>44967256

Rolled 5, 6, 2 + 3 = 16 (3d6 + 3)

>>44967256

Rolled 6, 3, 5 + 3 = 17 (3d6 + 3)

>>44967256

>>44967283
>>44967304
>>44967305
LIKE A SPARK

>>44967305
>>44967304
>>44967283
>18,16,17

You peel out in the van and move aggressively through traffic. As hungover as you are, everything feels nocuous and your blood runs hot when a car begins merely to keep pace behind you.

Another intersection approaches. Unwilling to give your would-be tracker the chance to catch up, you blow through it. AI controlled cars miss you by inches, tires screeching as they force themselves to a halt in the middle of traffic. In your rearview mirror you watch your would-be rival navigate through the stopped cars. You also notice a strange glowing pimple on your forehead.

You jerk the steering wheel and the rear wheels of the van immediately lose traction. The bullet pings twice as it punches through both sides of the cargo area, allowing a beam of sunlight to penetrate into the van.

You slam on the gas as a second bullet shoots past the windshield, invisible except for the sonic crack it leaves in its wake. You adjust course to take cover on a street flanked by tall buildings and continue towards the courthouse at full speed.

No other harm comes your way during the journey but you're rattled...

>Nerves: 10/12

The court is an impressive building, as imposing and angular as the law imagines itself to be. Enormous columns adorn the front and a vast set of marble stairs lead up to the front door. A long line of ticket bearers is lined up on it and you wisely opt to take the elevator up from the parking garage instead, declaring to the security guard that you're a witness in a case involving an Inspector Lopez?

"Oh, the Ko case! I'll be watching that!"

He waves you through.

Inside, a map of the complex reveals that is actually a bit more rounded than the outer facade would suggest. Each courtroom is a vast oval, with plenty of seating for paying spectators and the media. There are several such courtrooms on each floor and two small chambers on either of these would-be "arenas" house the defending and prosecuting teams.
[1/2]

>>44967846

You locate the "Ko case" by cross-referencing the map to a board listing "Current Events". Figuring you'll find Lopez keeping up with the prosecution, you head there.

You're almost there when you're accosted by an extremely overweight woman with reddened eyes. She claims to recognize you! The exterminator who found the skull!

>pretend to be a different exterminator
>find out what she wants
>try and ignore her, keep walking
>write-in

>>44967974
>write-in
I'm an exterminator, you're going to have to be more specific.

>>44967974
>find out what she wants

Walk and talk.

>>44968018
>>44968024

"I'm definitely *an* exterminator but I'm not sure I know anything about a skull..."

"No, you're Vincent Esperanza! I saw your picture on TV!"

You were on TV? No one notified you of this... You hope they used a good picture.

Since there's no point in denying it now, you may as well find out what she wants.

The woman introduces herself as being the girlfriend of one Chang Ko.

The same Chang Ko who is about to be on trial for molesting, mutilating, and murdering a bunch of little kids?

Yes, the very same. The so-called "MMM Killer". You know, the one with the meme on the internet where they take the picture of him eating a hamburger and replace it with-

No, you don't know actually.

"But you're listed as a star witness!"

She holds up a pamphlet with your name along with several others (most of whom have several dozen extraneous letters following their actual names) under the heading "Expert Witnesses". At the top of the pamphlet are the words "The People vs. Ko! The MMM Killer on trial!" overlayed on an image of... is that a child in a sandwich?

You're a bit confused honestly. Cannibalism has nothing to do with this as far as you know...

"Oh, *that* Chang Ko."

"Yes! And I need you to help me prove him innocent."

>Sure, if he is
>What's in it for me?
>He's guilty as sin, lady.
>You're his girlfriend. Why don't you testify that he's innocent?
>write-in

>>44967974
Sorry Ma'am no idea what you're talking about.

>>44968353
>Sure, if he is
I wonder how much The Remnant is willing to pay for extortion material against the Scyths.

>>44968539
>>44968495

>Sure, if he is

You express your willingness to hear out her side of the case.

Apparently, she's been dating Ko online for the last two years. Neither of them have ever met the other in person but she breathlessly explains that she's been saving up for the past year to finally visit him in person (which is how she was able to be here today).

Before then, the two of them have mainly interacted via expensive VR setups acting out their (and her jowls quiver as she explains this) their "mutual fetish". Unfortunately, Ko kept a large number of lewd and pornographic images on his home computer and the Scyth's are planning to use that as evidence (alongside the expert opinions of several pre-eminent psychologists) and your testimony that you found a missing child's skull deliberately secreted away in the ceiling of Ko's church to put him away for... well, the rest of his life.

>What makes you so certain he didn't commit these crimes?
>Yes, it does sound as though they're trying to frame him...
>I'm afraid I can't help you. We'll have to let a jury decide.
>Write-in

>>44968851
>What makes you so certain he didn't commit these crimes?
You've never REALLY met the guy.
I know we know it was probably our MILF boss but hey cashmonies and avoiding heatsplattering is good.

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>>44968953

You stall for time as you get near the prosecution's ready room.

"What makes you so sure he's innocent?"

That sets off a bunch of unintelligible wailing that lasts until you're finally close enough to the prosecution's office.

"I'm really sorry, ma'am, but I don't speak whale."

She shrieks as you bolt into the office and slam the door behind you. Lopez is sitting on the opposite side of the room from you, seated at a long table where he is flanked by lawyers and psychologists.

A vast weight hurls itself against the door behind you. Lopez smiles at you, weary but amused as he presses down the call button for security.

>End Thread

Apologies anons, but we got 4 posters tonight. I'll pick this up where we left off during the week on Monday or Wednesday. In the meantime, I think I'm better off relaxing and finishing that Lopez story in the best way possible.

I'll be here to take questions and such, I feel like you might be curious about Scyth court or Scyth structure and I'd like to have some opinions of the Lopez story so far (if you've read it).

We're archived by the way:

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?searchall=Exterminator+Quest

It's a short thread, I know but I will always chase you down in a courthouse hallway to get you to vote for me.