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As you think of how to move your REPAIR MODULE from here to Burel's home, you pause a sudden thought comes to your mind.

'How was I able to take out my BATPOON...?' You thought to yourself, this question racked your brain. 'How did I manage to pull out a bat harpoon that is almost, if not, larger than me out of thin air..??' You rock the REPAIR MODULE gently in thought, hearing something tumble inside it. You look at your module curiously and open it, reaching for the unknown item. As you see the item, you immediately remember how was it possible to draw out your BATPOON. By using your MATTER MANIPULATION UNIT. You behold at the sight of it, as if it was radiating some kind of holy light. The MATTER MANIPULATION UNIT or the M.M. Unit for short acts like a temporary storage for water and other items via pocket dimensions, a must have for someone like you.
Taking the M.M Unit, you casually store the REPAIR MODULE. You quietly thank your people for creating the M.M. Units as it is extremely convenient. You decide to take a look at what else is inside your unit aside from your REPAIR MODULE and BATPOON, that being:

>Two Portholes
>A Life Extender
>5 Spatial Sample Vials
>A Bestiary
>The Compression Cistern
>The Cyclone Cistern
>Slip Shells
>A Cable Kit

"Damn, that's a lot of stuff..." You mutter to yourself as you look at your inventory. "Wonder if I'll even be able to use all this?"

"Oy comrade Vapor!" Burel calls out from the dead GIANT SANDWORM he's skinning. "I'm almost done, are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, I'm ready!" You call back at Burel. You stay where you are, waiting for him to finish.

>Ask questions to Burel (Write in)
>Examine items (Write in)
>Other

>>335245
Ask what it is like to live out here, and how you are able to stay hydrated.

If this is vaporquest...

Why our robot isn't always playing some chill vaporwave beats?

>>335245
Check bestiary for sandworm entry.

Also, what do the cisterns do?

>>336261
They're items straight outta Waterworks.

>Cyclone Cistern
Allows user to spin rapidly like Zangief's lariat

>Compression Cistern
It shoots water

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You decide to take this time to open up your BESTIARY, flipping through the pages until you open the page of the KHEPRITE GIANT SANDWORM. As you open the page, a pop-out picture of the worm springs up. You get awfully disturbed by the picture, as it looked so lifelike. You immediately close your BESTIARY, not reading the KHEPRITE GIANT SANDWORM's entry. Breathing a sigh of relief, you stash your BESTIARY and look at Burel.

"Hey... Burel?"

"Da?" He responds, still busy looting the dead sandworm.

"How's it like?" You tilt your head slightly. "Living in a desert filled with sandworms and bandits?"

"Oy blin..." He sighs sadly before looking at you, looking discouraged as his right hand is holding a bag that possibly contains worm meat. "We wake up early to hunt for food, either by hunting sandworms, dune crawlers or rockshells. As if hunting them wasn't enough, we also have to defend ourselves from others who also need to hunt. And then there are bandits who will take everything you own unless you fight them off. And don't even get me started on the heat, blin. In the end, you need perseverance, smarts and luck to survive this desert." He then pauses,looking at Lora who is on the distance, being the lookout. "Along with people you can safely trust and care for you." He smiles gently.

You couldn't help but feel intimidated from Burel's words. You down at the sand, feeling anger and frustration well up inside you. 'Why would they assign me to a hellhole like this?!' You think to yourself 'This planet most likely has more monsters than water!!' You clutch your helmet in frustration before taking a few deep breaths to recompose yourself before you begrudgingly sigh. 'Ugh, might as well do my mission to the best that I can before calling it quits.

You look back at Burel again. "Wait, don't you guys ever deal with thirst?"

"Eh? Of course we do!"

"So how do you guys get water? Or anything to drink, for that matter?"

"Well..." Burel lifts up his bag. "Giant sandworm blood is a good substitute. It may taste like oil and, well, blood. But it actually more thinner than actual blood and feels more like water. There are no effects to drinking this so far, so it'll have to do. Aside from that, well, my home as an air well on the top. The thing is, desert climate is not really good for air wells so we end up with only a bottle's worth of water each day. But hey! Every bottle counts! There are also some fruits that grow on the desert that we can turn into juice, but there is only small chance of seeing them."

You look down again in thought, mentally cursing yourself from the vast limitation of options you have. Burel just proved that there is very little supply of water and getting your mission accomplished is way easier said than done.

"Anyways" Burel continued "I'm done with the worm, are you ready to go?"

>Ask more Questions (write in)
>Inspect (write in)
>Tell Burel that you're ready to depart to his home.
>Other

>>338439
H2O is one of the most abundant molecules in the universe. This planet has plenty of hydrogen and oxygen, so we can probably find condensed liquid water somewhere consistently cooler with a higher pressure - underground. Sandworms likely drink a lot of water given their size and propensity towards rapid movement, in addition to the thinness of their blood.
So...basically...to find water, go underground. Check for a hole where the sandworm came out? Maybe ask if there's a reliable way to go deep underground.

>>338439
Inquire if he or some others have ever tried searching for underground wells of sater.

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>>338579
Unfortunately, any tunnels that the GIANT SANDWORM made has been quickly filled by the sand.

>>339301
"Wait, Burel." You pipe up. "Have you ever thought of digging underground for water?"

"Dig??" Burel scoffs "Through more than 20 tons of sand? Blin, I would probably die from old age before I even reach water!"

"Well, not by yourself. But with the help of others?"

"Nyet, tovarishch." Burel responds, shaking his head. "Nowadays, we don't want to help eachother find another underground body of water in this dangerous desert. And even if we do, we do not have the tools and resources for it. I mean, why try finding another water well in a vast desert when there's already a settlement that already has one?"

"Which is...?"

"The CITADEL!" Burel replies happily.

"Well, why aren't you in that CITADEL?" You flatly ask, folding your arms sternly.

Burel hesitates before looking away sheepishly and muttering "Because they do not have enough room for me and my family..."

"Do... Do you see the problem with this??" You ask as you frustratingly slump your shoulders, staring at Burel in amazement of his logic.

"O-oy! Who knows? Maybe the next time I'll be there, they might accept my family!" Burel replies, feebly trying to defend himself.

"Seriously?!" You raise your voice in frustration to Burel's stubbornness.

"Opa, please calm down, Vapor." Burel gently says as he gestures you to relax. "You must be feeling tired and cranky from fighting giant sandworm. How about we just go home for now, da? My wife make good sandworm kotlet!"

You feel so riled up about the unwillingness of the locals to help eachother find an underground source of water because of this so called CITADEL. But you do admit to yourself that you are exhausted from the events that had happened ever since your arrival.

>Press Burel more about the CITADEL
>Ask Burel more questions
>Agree to come home with him and hopefully cool your head off
>other

>>340758
>Agree to come home with him and hopefully cool your head off
Come on, gotta focus on other things, like water and spacebabes.

>>340758
Point out, in plain english, the flaw in logic there.
Citadel only has so much water to take from the acquifer it draws from, thus it cannot support everyone.
Thus, everyone else should work together to establish more settlements by finding and tapping into the largest aquifers.
More wells = more water = more settlements = less banditry, more space to live, and greater protection for everyone from natural threats, in addition to a safer environment providing room for technological advances and pursuits of knowledge over having to struggle to survive.

Uh, of course, it's kind of our job to rob this planet of what water it does have...

>>340758
>Agree to come home with him and hopefully cool your head off
Also ask what is sandworm kotlet.

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You sigh and slump your shoulders, refusing to argue any further. "Fine... Let's just go. Sorry for blowing up on you Burel, it's just that you guys wouldn't be having this problem of lack of water if you stopped relying on one day entering this Citadel place and worked together to find more water wells."

"Oy, no hard feelings." Burel replies, smiling patiently and patting your shoulder. "Sometimes, Burel also wishes others could stop murdering eachother and find water so everyone will be happy! But hey with no tools and resources to do so, who would even do such thing?"

You and Burel walk down the dune to where Lora waits, standing beside what seems to be a vehicle of some sort. She looks at the both of you and faces Burel.

"Papa, what took you so long?" She asked, her concern evident from her tone.

"Ah nothing, milyy." Burel happily replied, waving his hand dismissively. "Sandworm was just a bit hard to carve."

Lora looks at you questioningly before shrugging and entering the car's passenger seat. Burel walks and places his sack of sandworm meat and grenade launcher at the back before motioning you to it. "Here, ride in back." You nod and climb onto the back of the vehicle, sitting down. A question pops into your mind.

"Hey Burel, what's this sandworm cot...cotlyet you said your wife makes?" You ask, trying to match the last word with Burel's accent and failing.

Burel perks up, giving you a wide smile "Oh, sandworm kotlet?? Why, it is love in form of food! It is minced sandworm meat, mixed with spices, eggs, milk and sliced kul mixed together, rolled in muka tree powder and then fried!" Burel dreamily sighs and smacks his lips hungrily, imagining the dish. "My wife, she always cooks it when there is special occasion." Lora nods with him in agreement, happy at the description.

You nod, not sure what the other ingredients he mentioned were. Burel enters the driver's seat and starts up his vehicle. The vehicle lets out a powerful whirring sound as it steadily lifts itself off the air. This startle you a bit as you look down and see the vehicle a foot above the air. Burel sees your reaction from the side mirror and smirks proudly before calling out "Hang on!" to you before starting to drive.

The hovertruck moves in a moderate cruising speed and you find yourself relaxing at the peaceful drive. You let out a sigh of comfort as you stare at the sky, reflecting on what happened so far.

'It's been a wild ride...' You think to yourself. 'But at least it's over. I hope it's just smooth sailing from here...'

A while later, you start to hear a faint rumbling in the distance. you look and see a large cloud of dust approaching you in the distance behind the truck. You can't quite make out what it is before waiting for it to come nearer and think it is just a strong gust of sand, but you get the feeling that you should tell Burel about this.

>Tell Burel about the cloud
>Wait for the cloud to come closer
>Other

>>343754
>>Other
Use your suit's optics to zoom in, scat heat signatures, x-rays, or at least detect -something-.

>>343758
I meant "scan"

>>343754
>Tell Burel about the cloud

>>343754
>Tell Burel about the cloud

He's been here a lot longer than us, he would probably know what it is and what to do about it.

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>>344078
>>345074

"Hey Burel..." You call out worriedly. "There's a big dust cloud coming behind us."

"Dust cloud?" Burel asks back before looking at his side mirror, seeing the cloud. Burel seems to pale as he knows what that cloud means. "Cyka... Raiders...!" He focuses back on the road, making his hovertruck go faster.

>>343758
"Raiders?" You ask to yourself, turning your helmet visor into recon mode. Recon mode you zoom in and identify possible threats. However, it seems that there is something different with your recon mode as it displays a palette of blues and pinks and the ground has a grid. 'Is this a new software version or something?; You ask yourself. It still does its job, though, and you decide to shrug it off. As you zoom in more to the three threats your helmet has identified, you see three different vehicles. One vehicle seems to be on wheels, large ones at that. The other is a hovertruck similar to Burel's and the last is a truck with a cannon behind it. The artillery truck fires a shell at you and you immediately identify it. You quickly turn off recon mode as you shout out "BUREL! INCOMING FIRE!" as you watch the incoming shell in horror. Burel hears you and moves out of the way just in time, missing it by a couple of feet. The shockwave of the blast dazes you and almost knocks you off your feet, your ears ring from the explosion. You can faintly here Burel call your name and you shake your head, snapping out of your stunned state.

"Oy, Vapor!! You alright?" Burel calls out, keeping his eyes on the road and Lora cocking her pistol on the passenger seat.

"Y-yeah... Yeah, I am!" You call back.

"Remember when I said I only lend you gun when I need to? Now is time!"

You look at the two firearms Burel has. One is the grenade launcher he saved you with, the other seems to be a rifle of some sort. Burel describes his guns.

"The grenade launcher is pump action. You fire and pump fore-end to shoot again. Normally,it holds six grenades but it is only loaded with three at the moment. More grenades are at the ammo box beside you. Be careful as reloading take long time! The rifle shoots high pressured plasma and it recharges by itself after 4 shots. It's much easier to reload and it is more accurate than grenade launcher. But you can only hit one person at time."

You look between the two firearms, unsure which one to take.

>Grenade launcher
>Plasma Nagant
>Other

>>345857
>Plasma Nagant
You can always use your helmet's aimbot

>>345857
Plasma nagant, aim for each driver's head.

>>345857
Go for those sick engine explosion shots with the rifle.

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>>345941
>>345990
>>346409
As the RAIDER HOVERTRUCK approaches Burel's hovertruck from behind, you take Burel's LASER NAGANT and take aim before firing at it. However, being on a moving vehicle reduces your overall accuracy as you hit the RAIDER HOVERTRUCK's front shield and miss another shot completely. You did manage to hit the RAIDER HOVERTRUCK's windshield with the third shot, making a huge crack on it. You safely assume the next shot would pierce through the windshield and hit the RAIDER HOVERTRUCK DRIVER.

A RAIDER GUNNER emerges from the RAIDER HOVERTRUCK's passenger window, taking out a submachine gun and firing at you in bursts. Due to your high DAMAGE RESISTANCE, the bullets bounce off you harmlessly. Unfortunately, the bullets that hit your head make you flinch and lose your aim.

"Gah, Dammit..!" You say in frustration as your aim keeps getting thrown off. The RAIDER GUNNER keeps firing, trying to headshot you as much as he can to keep your from shooting.

You turn your head and see a RAIDER BUGGY speeding past you, nearing the passenger side of Burel's hovertruck. You notice the RAIDER BUGGY DRIVER has a handgun drawn, alarming you.

'Lora...!' You think to yourself, remembering who's at Burel's passenger seat. 'Damn! Can't get a good shot while under fire' You curse at yourself as you know you are getting pinned by the RIDER GUNNER. You look at your LASER NAGANT, only having one shot left before needing to recharge. You think erratically, panicking at who to fire at with your last shot.

>The RAIDER GUNNER who is supressing you
>The RAIDER HOVERTRUCK DRIVER so you can hit two birds with one stone
>The RAIDER BUGGY DRIVER before he hurts Lora and/or Burel

>>348196
Forgot

>Other

>>348196
>The RAIDER BUGGY DRIVER before he hurts Lora and/or Burel
Hop aboard and crash the buggy onto the other vehicles.

>>348283
This

Sorry guys for the lack of update. Procrastination kicked in hard. New update is at >>355941