[2/2]

Wendy raises her hand up in the air, causing your group and even several nearby Alchemicals to stop moving and pay attention to her. “Hear that? That’s heavy gunfire off in the distance along with several explosions. It isn’t just the military assigned to the campus that’s here, likely we’ve got a far larger division of them to deal with.”

“That’s literally impossible! There’s no way a large military force would be here this soon after our escape started!” Dexter protests as he looks back to Wendy.

“I concur with Wendy, but wish to add the addendum that the military forces here are not first responders, but based on current evidence there is a 71.135 percent chance that they were waiting for us before the first Alchemicals even managed to escape the elevator.” Osvald adds in a flat monotone voice.

“That goes from impossible to flat out paranoia! How on Earth would anyone predict something like that!?” Dexter yells out as he walks back towards your group.

You slowly begin to tune out the conversation as your eyes drift down the hall towards your left, the same hall that Dr. Daniel lead you down nearly a week ago. The path towards his office is still fresh in your mind...

“...Hibiki? What’s wrong?” Marina asks as she walks up next to you.

- “...I need to check up something, I won’t take long.” (Go to Dr. Daniel’s office and search before the entire university is levelled in this warfare)

- “...Marina, you said to me once that Dr. Daniel’s was your doctor here too right? Let’s pay his office a visit.” (Take Marina and head to Dr. Daniel’s office)

- “...Nothing, nothing’s wrong.” (Remain with the group)

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>What is this quest?

Alchemical Blade Prequel Quest, a quest set in the Modern version of Creation from the Exalted setting, focusing on how the robotic Alchemical Exalted came to be within the setting. If you enjoy cyberpunk, magic in said cyberpunk, espionage, conspiracies, and high octane action of slicing tanks apart with sharp pointy objects than this is the quest for you.

>Who are we?

The quest is mainly going to be played out in flashbacks, in which during the flashbacks we take control of the Moonsilver caste Alchemical Exalted Junpaku Hibiki, while in the current time you play as “Anonymous”. The game will take place within the city of Versino within the central continent of Creation Meruvia. Labelled as a dangerous and murderous science experiment gone rogue, you need to evade forces of the mightiest army within Creation sprinkled with the powerful Elemental supersoldiers known as the Dragonblooded, trying to find out who is responsible for what you’ve become and how to escape their clutches once and for all.

>Alchemical? Moonsilver? I don’t know anything about Exalted, much less Modern Exalted...

I’ve made this quest to be as friendly to newbies as possible, and I also see it as an introductory guide to the World of Modern Exalted. You can google “1d4chan Exalted” for information on the general vanilla setting, but what I’ll be using is the Modern Version of Exalted as shown in “Shards of the Exalted Dream” book, in where its Alchemicals are quite different than those of Vanilla Exalted. Feel free to ask any question about Exalted in the thread and I will do my best to answer it.

>Archive?

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Alchemical+Blade+Quest

>System?

Dicepool system. When performing an action, everyone rolls a number of d10’s based on what the action is (I will list the pools for most actions, but if you want to have a roll for an action, ask and I’ll make the dicepool for it). The first roll is the one that’ll be used, but if someone makes another roll for a different action and more people vote for that, I’ll be using that one instead.

>This seems hella complicated, is there any way you can boil things down for me?

http://pastebin.com/NexXpPC1

>XP?

Favored Attributes cost 4 XP per dot to increase (Underlined on stat sheet when released) while non-favored ones cost 5 XP. Abilities themselves cost 3 XP per dot to increase naturally. All charms cost 6 XP per purchase with Dedicated slots costing 4 XP each and General ones costing 6 XP each. At the end of every “mission” (In game objectives set by either me or some goal the audience desires) you will be presented with a possible acquisition list of charms. Experience can also be gained by developing the character, learning about the world, or just in general things people find interesting.

>Twitter?

@Sandact6

- “...Marina, you said to me once that Dr. Daniel’s was your doctor here too right? Let’s pay his office a visit.” (Take Marina and head to Dr. Daniel’s office)

“...Marina, you said to me once that Dr. Daniel’s was your doctor here too right?” you ask Marina.

“Y-Yea... He was the one who contacted me after I was diagnosed.” Marina replies.

“Let’s pay his office a visit.” you say walking down the hallway towards his office.

“Marina! Hibiki! Where do you think you’re going!?” Wendy calls out to the both of you.

“To find answers.” you yell back to them.

“W-We won’t be long promise! We’ll be in touch!” Marina also says to them before quickly turning around and catching back up to you.

“...This entire place is a disaster...” you mutter to yourself as you walk down the hallways, which were once pristine and world class appear to be nothing more than a barely stable and worn out shell more akin to what you’d see in warzone.

“All those poor soldiers...” Marina says as she walks next to you, her own eyes looking over the bodies of meruvian soldiers on the ground.

“Keep your eyes open. More of them could still be around, and the instant they see us they’ll open fire.” you warn Marina as you carefully peek around a corner before heading the corridor, your hand restlessly hovering over your blade in preparation for any sort of assault.

“...Oh yea I remember now. This is area is starting to get really familiar.” Marina says as she looks down the war torn hallway. “I barely recognized it due to all the bullet holes, explosion craters, and stuff.”

“It takes me a second to try and push past the battle damage myself.” you say as you carefully look at the doors before seeing Dr. Daniel’s nameplate. “Here.”

As you and Marina open the door to the office, you can see that the entire office appears to be relatively untouched compared to the rest of the building. A few bulletholes in the wall and scattered papers along the floors, but nothing like a grenade had be thrown into the office.

“...Where do we start?” Marina asks you.

[1/2]

“Check his desk, see if you can find our admission papers. I’m going to check the computer.” you say as you walk over to the computer, a small USB plug coming out from your finger as you plug it into his computer, breaking past the basic security and immediately starting to root through the computer. It appears the main university server was damaged in the assault, but you are able to find some local files on his computer, such as recent emails, audio logs, documents.

“Oh! Here! I found yours!” Marina says as she takes a piece of paper and places it on the desk. Aside from the glowing blue fingerprint place on the paper from Marina’s anima, this does appear to be the permission slip that you originally signed, alongside Marina’s and Father Marcellius’s.

“Good job, now we just need to see if this computer h-” you stop speaking yourself as you hear something from outside. Going over to the window in the back of Dr. Daniel’s office and slowly opening the shutters a crack, you can see what appears to be a large collection of several dozen soldiers, a mix of augmented cybernetic troops and standard soldiers several stories down below escorting what appears to be several scientists and doctors. As your eyes go over them, you can see Doctor Daniel’s down there himself plain as day.

“Daniel...” you mutter under your breath.

“...Eh!? He’s still here!?” Marina says as she opens the window a crack. “...They must not have had a chance to evacuate yet.”

- Crash through the Window and engage the troops below to ‘ask’ Dr. Daniel’s some questions himself. You may be low on power, but you and Marina should be able to handle what’s down there.

- Continue searching through the office and the computer. As much as you want to go after Dr. Daniels, it's too risky.

- Other (Note: Stealth is impossible due to anima, another several minutes is needed before stealth is possible once again)

>>691551
- Continue searching through the office and the computer. As much as you want to go after Dr. Daniels, it's too risky.

“Leave them. Regardless of our personal feelings we’re in no condition to take them on right now, especially when reinforcements can be only a call away.” you tell Marina. “Let’s just continue to search the office, see if we can find something.”

Marina seems to breathe a sigh of relief as she hears this. “G-Good... I’m not a big fan of fighting.”

Marina continues to search through the desk as you finish downloading the contents of Daniel’s computer. “I’m done with the computer. Did you find anything?”

“...I think so, come here.” Marina says as she holds open a small black pocketbook. Names and numbers are scribbled down inside of them, but your gaze stops at Marina’s finger. “Here, this person has the same last name as you.”

“Shouko? Why would she be here in this book?” you ask yourself aloud before shaking the thought from your head. She must’ve had a few other questions for Dr. Daniel that she didn’t want to ask you about. Nothing to be overly alarmed about.

“Marina! Hibiki!? Where are you!?” Mochire’s voice can be heard calling down the hall as he races down it, going past the office you’re in before immediately looking back at the both of you with a panicked expression in his face. “We need to go, now!”

“Did something happen?” you ask as you immediately begin to run out of the room after Mochire.

“Dexter and Father Marcellius tried to act as a diversion so the more injured or exhausted Alchemicals could have a chance to escape, but it backfired and Dexter got shot.” Mochire says as he continues to run down the hallway.

“Oh my god! Is he alright!?” Marina gasps.

“He’ll live if that’s what you mean.” Mochire says standing over what appears to be a large section of the wall completely blown open, the view of the entire campus in front of you being filled with the smoldering wrecks of various military vehicles before the sounds of gunfire can be heard in the city. “Osvald said he had a good idea where we could lay low for a while, but that depends on us getting there first!”

“I’ll help out at the front lines then.” you immediately tell Mochire.

[1/2]

[2/2]


“Wendy told me that both you and Marina are most likely running on fumes at this point, and that her answer to such things was no! I’m going to guide you to the meeting spot while there’s still a clear coast.” Mochire says as he gives a deep breath to himself, electricity sparking in between his hands as he appears to concentrate.

“And just leave the others here!?” you say to Mochire.

Marina’s oversized hand takes hold of yours, gently squeezing your entire hand while Marina’s own hand continues to shake. “Hibiki please... This... This is what Wendy wants. We don’t have to fight now, so let’s just take this chance to get away from this... horrible place.”

- “To hell with Wendy’s orders, things are going terribly for you and I’m not going to abandon anyone.” (Reinforce the others)

- “...Even if did arrive I’m not sure how much we could do.” (Head to the rendezvous point)

- Other

- “...Even if did arrive I’m not sure how much we could do.” (Head to the rendezvous point)

[1/3]

“...Even if we did arrive I’m not sure how much we could do.” you reply to Marina with a small defeated sigh.

“Yea see, nothing to worry about! We just need to trust Wendy and the others, they’ll pull through!” Marina says trying to cheer you up, but it sounds like she’s trying to convince herself more than anything.

“I’ve seen what they can do, they’ll be fine. If anything they’re concerned about the both of you being new, and that they were looking for Hibiki.” Mochire says as a miniature storm begins to crackle in between his hands.

“They’re looking for me? Why?” you ask. “I was the one who set up the escape, but since then there’s been innumerable other Alchemical’s who have done far more damage than I have.”

“No idea, just that they’re looking for ‘Shinobi’ and have orders to take her in, overheard that from the soldiers before I left.” Mochire says as he slowly widens his hands, a large dark cloud now forming in between his spread out hands. With a gentle push Mochire slowly puts it over the ruined edge of the building and walks onto the cloud, it seemingly being solid. “Come on Hibiki.”

You cautiously put your foot on the cloud then slowly shift your weight towards it. The cloud itself feels more like a fluffy pillow floating in midair. The balance is a bit tricky, but eventually you manage to slowly lay down in the cloud alongside Mochire to make it appear to be a normal cloud.

“Eh!? What about me!?” Marina immediately protests.

“You can fly now can’t you? Hibiki and I can’t.” Mochire replies as he begins to take off with the cloud, slowly soaring up in the air.

“Yea but... I always wanted to ride on a cloud...” Marina’s visor makes a crying expression of “;_;” as she pouts, the soft roaring of jets can be heard as she takes off directly behind you, flying directly overhead of the cloud itself.

As you fly through the city above all the skyscrapers in the city, you can see the carnage itself from a birds eye view. City streets themselves burn as conflict rages on down below, super elemental soldiers clashing against super cybernetic soldiers against a backdrop of tanks and gunfire all around.

“...Versino... I’ve... I’ve never seen it this bad before.” Marina comments as she continues to fly just above the cloud.

“I have to agree with Osvald here. This seems far too quick of a response for the military, especially involving this many armoured vehicles.” you reply.

[2/3]

“I’m not fond of Osvald, but he’s usually on the money when it comes to things like this.” Mochire says slowly lowering the cloud down on top of a nearby building. “He also told us that we’ll need to lay low in the meantime, so we can use this hotel building here. Most Alchemical’s are fighting it out in the streets so we just need to hunker down for the worst of it.”

“B-But what about escaping!? Getting away from this place!” Marina retorts.

“I felt bad enough about leaving the others behind at the University, but I’m not leaving them behind on the island.” you say to Marina as you cut open the lock to the door with a flick of your sword before heading inside.

“I don’t pretend to know what the hell Osvald or Wendy are thinking of at times, but all I know is that it's kept most of us alive all this time and that’s all that matters.” Mochire says as he holds up his hand, making a small orb of electricity to function as a makeshift lightbulb.

“O-Oh... Alright...” Marina says as she closes the door behind you, following you down the stairs and into the hotel proper.

The hotel is dark right now, the entire area being without power, the once luxurious and luminous hotel hallway now shrouded in a layer of darkness. No sounds can be heard from the floor you’re on, evacuations seeming to have taken place long ago with only rows of open doors now in front of you.

“Score! We can pick the suites!” Mochire says as he turns around the corner and enters into a room.

[3/3]

“Um... S-Shouldn’t we pay for something like this?” Marina asks.

“I’ll thank the hotel later by buying this entire building.” you reply as you enter the room after Mochire.

Mochire stops in his tracks as hears this. “Wait... You can do that?”

“My net worth was several million before I had billions of dollars of military hardware shoved into me.” you say walking over to the windows, a quick look down at the smoking streets below before you pull the shutters closed.

“Well... W-What do we do now?” Marina asks as she looks around the apartment itself.

“Kick back, relax...” Mochire says walking over to the mini-fridge, rooting around inside of it before pulling out a beer. “I myself am going to have the first beer I’ve had in nearly half a year.”

“...Is there anything else in there?” Marina inquires as she walks over to the mini fridge, her faceplate opening up as the glutton within her comes full face.

Immediately you hold your hand up in the air, hearing what appears to be footsteps from down the hall. You engage a hearing assist program to filter out the gunshots in the background, and the soft patting of shoes can be heard from down the hall. Only one pair, not the several that would be your comrades. “Hide.” you immediately say to the others as you all dash into corners of the room, you yourself ducking under the bed.

A few seconds later, the sound of footprints can be heard in virtually everyone in the room. You can hear someone walk past your suite, stopping for a few seconds before turning back around and heading back into your hotel room. A beam of light shoots through the room and shines near the back of it.

“Hello... Is anyone there?” a female voice rings out. “You don’t need to worry, I’m not military! I’m a civilian! For the press!”

- Walk out and greet the reporter yourself. A member of the press will certainly get your story out.

- Wait until you have a chance before throwing her down to the floor and ask questions at swordpoint. Everyone is going to be looking for you, so it's best to take no chances.

- Remain hidden

- Other

- Wait until you have a chance before throwing her down to the floor and ask questions at swordpoint. Everyone is going to be looking for you, so it's best to take no chances.

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Very suspicius. How the heck does she know we are here. Right now we need info. i Think we should catiusly play along with it (monitoring for any hidden comunications). Frankly if she is a normal person she would be almost no threat don't want to risk potentialy scarring someone who can give us info or at provide us good PR.

Good PR will make it harder for our enemy to harm us and can help us.

You didn’t come this far to make mistakes now. This woman could very well be an informant for someone from the military, and even if she is a civilian there’s no guarantee that she wouldn’t sell the information on you for a profit. Taking your blade in your hand, you slowly roll out from under the bed, getting ready to pounce at moments notice.

As the woman comes in, you can see her dressed in a pair of jeans with a single jean jacket and wearing a green t-shirt. A camera hangs around her neck, her face appearing to be that of a mid-20’s something woman with asian features, a short black haircut that seems slightly angled as it goes back around her head. “Hello... Are there any freaky robo-people here? I only want to ask a few qu-”

The very second the light washes over your location you immediately pounce towards here, a silver streak soaring across the room, tackling the woman to the ground, your blade now directly between the now surprised expression on her face as your blade hovers just between her eyes.

“...Woah hey if you wanna to be on top then I’m fine with that!” the woman jokes with a smile on her face.

“It is not wise to jest when someone has a blade pointed at their head.” you reply.

“I’m also just as happy with seafood as I am with sausages!” the woman’s smile creeps bigger upon hearing your voice.

(“Vulgar creature!”) you say in your native language as you put the blade closer to her head.

(“I didn’t hear a no...”) the woman replies in your own native tongue.

“Hibiki! Don’t kill her!” Marina says coming out from the bathroom, chocolate smears around her mouth.

“That depends on how much she wishes to share.” Mochire says as his own figure becomes illuminated by cracks of electricity appearing off of him, his eyes glowing a deep blue as as he points an open hand towards the woman’s head.

“Oh wow this is quickly turning into a threesome isn’t it!?” the woman says as she tilts her head to see Mochire.

“Nice try, don’t swing that way.” Mochire replies.

“Tch! Some people are always the hard sells!” the woman says below you. “But even if that’s the case, I think we can all come to a... relationship we can agree with! In the professional sense of course!”

- Who are you?

- Who do you work for?

- How did you find us?

- How can we trust you?

- Question of your choice

- Other

Uh. All of them, really.

- Who are you?

- Who do you work for?

- How did you find us?

- How can we trust you?

>>692962

I also admit it was to see if anyone had custom questions they wanted to ask as well.

>>692968
I can't really think of anything past the basics. but there is another poster here I guess.

The only thoughts that went through my mind were why there were two "other" choices in the choice list, and where exactly the asia that asian looks come from is in this setting... But I'm guessing you weren't looking for pedantry.

>>692977

Asian features come from the West.

I say 'asian' instead of 'western' though to make it easier to click for people reading the quest and most likely have no idea what various ethnicities live where in Creation exactly and what they match to IRL.

>>692984
Yeah, I figured it was something like that.

“Who are you?” you ask, keeping your blade trained on her head the entire time.

“Margaret Evensberg, freelance reporter!” the pinned woman immediately replies, still seemingly oblivious of the danger post in front of her. “You can call me Maggie for short!”

“Freelance, meaning you don’t even have a client you’re working for right now?” Mochire asks her.

“Client’s the highest bidder! Always has been always was!” Maggie replies to you. “Given that I speak Tengese, Coral, and Luthic my main client almost always ends up as one of the Western media outlets. Star Media usually hands out the biggest paychecks, but hell I ain’t picky!”

“So many!? Wow that’s impressive Maggie!” Marina gasps in amazement.

“Don’t compliment the captive!” Mochire barks back at her.

“Given the size of the story, there’ll be no question what Star Media will give you a blank cheque for this story, but I suppose the biggest question on my mind would be how you managed to find us.” you ask.

“Journalistic intuition!” Maggie replies, her face beaming. Her expression is cut short as you place the blade closer to her face. “OK! I saw your... glowy thingies through the cloud that landed on the roof. I figured this’d be a great chance to ask one of those robo-men or women for their own stories rather than getting fed the same old crap from the military outside! The only thing I did was guess you were going to go for something like the suites, and once I got up here I only had to check the carpet outside for heavy footprints indicative of heavy armour, lo and behold it led me to this room!”

Both you and Mochire look back at Marina out of the corner of your eyes, Marina only sheepishly standing in the corner as she presses her index fingers together with her head hung.

“OK, you proved that you have the skills to back up your career as a vulture. The only question remains is whenever or not we can trust you.” you ask.

[1/2]

[2/2]

“Why would I rat out my source!? My objective is to get to the bottom of this entire incident and find out all the juicy side story details! I want to write! Write until I get the Pulitzer prize then ram it down the throat of those who said my career would never amount to anything! Drama! Romance! Action! I want to see and report it all!” Maggie says below you, her own eyes practically filled with stars as her head races towards the clouds.

“So your reason is entirely greed?” you ask her.

“I’m not sure, but I am curious to what your motivation is.” Maggie says looking up at you with a sinister smile on her lips. “Hibiki Junpaku.”

“Wa-!?” Marina gasps behind you. “How did you know her name!?”

“MARINA!” you bark back at her, causing Marina to cower a bit.

“The next in line to inherit Coral’s biggest bank suddenly dies during an experimental procedure to save her own life, than someone in front of me is being called Hibiki? I just played on my own hunch, but I also did it to show that I have things to offer you in return.” Maggie says with a confident smirk on her face. “I am very, very good at knowing who’s who. I do my best to find out each and every major player on this island for the glossary I’m going to use in my book! But in the meantime we can do mutual trades. I give you personal profiles on nearly any major name on this island and you just give me a small interview... sounds fair right?”

- “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” (Lie)

- “I’m declared dead!? You lie!”

- Other

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"What questions did you have? I have a bunch of my own."

>>693050

Was that in response to >>693044 ?

I really like the response, but I'm wondering what other questions you'd like to ask her.

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>>693055

Yeah it was.

Basically asking her about what her questions are as that can also reveal information about her. was trying to go for the we answer her questions if she answers ours. however she seems to be very forthcoming so i think that is not needed.

however i am probably going to respond

" that figures considering this seems to be a full blow government coverup. How did the military get here so quickly they must have known in advance somehow."

>>693044
>- “I’m declared dead!? You lie!”

[1/2]

“I’m declared dead!? You lie!” you say moving your blade until it’s actually touching Maggie’s skin.

“Woahwoahwoah! Don’t kill the messenger!” Maggie says going wide eyed at the blade in between her eyes. “I can tell you that I was there at the press conference your sister had in the hotel! One of the reasons I remember it is because Star Media gave me a fat paycheck in exchange for getting an interview with Shouko Junpaku and translating it into all Western languages!”

You give a few heavy breaths while remaining on top of Maggie, your mind trying to form some sort of coherent thought for an explanation for any of this, but you’re unable to do so as you’re still reeling from shock.

You can feel a heavy hand being placed on your shoulder. “I’m... sorry this is happening to you Hibiki, but please don’t hurt Maggie. She hasn’t done anything wrong...”

You take several more breaths before taking the blade away from Maggie’s face and quickly putting it back its sheath without any sort of fancy flourishes that you usually do.

“If you don’t believe me, I can show you the story I have backed up on my phone.” Maggie says standing back up. “Finding anything else out may be difficult due to the media blackout they have placed out over the area the same time as the quarantine was declared, b-”

“Wait, media blackout?” Mochire asks.

“Quarantine!?” Marina the echo’s in shock.

“Yea, declared no more than a half hour ago. Nearly every intercom in the city was fired off as the government fired off a warning text to nearly every phone in the city. All three Quarantine acts were passed, Plant, Animal, and Human. Until ‘the emergency situation is handled’ no one is allowed on or off the Isle of Voices and Versino. Furthermore communications is severely hampered, while local internet connections work and we can still download things, uploading anything is impossible. Even with my press pass and calling my contacts at bigger media companies using a satellite phone it proved pointless, and it wasn’t very long before that satellite connection was cut as well.” Maggie replies to them both.

“...Osvald was right. This entire thing was not only a government cover up, but they knew right from the start when we’d be trying to escape.” you say as you thoughts slowly begin to return to you.

“Oh? In the mood for chatting again?” Maggie says with a grin as she looks towards you.

You open the visor on your helmet, showing Maggie the top half of your face. “What questions do you have? I already have a bunch of my own, including where my sister is.”

[2/2]

[2/2]

“Shouko? Hm... As far as I know she’s still on the island, as despite the tradegy she wanted to settle some business her in Versino before she left. Last place I interviewed her was in her hotel room, so she’s probably still there.” Maggie replies to you before the smirk comes across her face. “And what sort of questions do I have!? The answer to that: Yes! Not only who each and every one of you are, but what you are, what can you do, what happened down in the basement of the Heptagram University, why is this cover up happening on seemingly a global scale, whenever or not you still piss out of the same holes! I want to know every single privacy invading question I possibly can about each and every one of you Robo-men and women for when press lockdown is released!”

“For a second I was expecting something more noble from you.” Mochire replies with a deadpan tone of voice.

“You give the people exactly what they want to read before shattering their minds with the drama! Trust me, I learned that after lots of experience!” Maggie says with a wink towards Mochire.

“Do you... really know people in Versino?” Marina asks Maggie.

“Don’t underestimate the power of the press and the tenacity of a mid-20’s something with no self preservation trying to make a name for herself! I have my own contacts, and I can go to areas you can’t with my press pass! ...Where did it go...” Maggie pats herself down before pulling out her wallet, opening it up to show a press card inside of it. “While I may also seem like a nutcase, I’ll have you know I’ve had my articles featured in major news publications several times before, so you can be assured that you’ll get quality so long my name is Margaret Evensberg!”

- You can go ahead and ask Maggie any sort of question you want right now.

- Speed up time until the others come back (End scene with Maggie)

- Other

Well as I see it there's no problem with her getting some info out of this, but I can't think of that much we could be getting in return.

Shouko would definitely be a good target to inquire more about, figure out where she is to see if she's safe and all that. In return give Maggie her scoop on what happened down there from all three of the alchemicals present, on the condition that she gives us a copy of the interview right away. Oh, and if the other two want to ask her anything, obviously, they should get something out of it too.

>>693143
>- How long has it been since I had my operation?
>- Do you know what forces the government have brought to the island?
>- What can your press-badge do while the lockdown is still up?

[1/3]

“I have something to ask of you then. How much else do you know of Shouko?” you ask Maggie.

Maggie gives a small snort as she hears this. “I doubt I’m going to get anything that you don’t already know about. I know you two have a respectable relationship, but aside from her fling with that male idol RKB-078 a few months back I don’t know much.”

“She had a fling with a male idol? That certainly explained why she was so giddy and asking about guys during that time.” you reply. “But things like this! Tell me anything you recently know about her!”

“...What else can you tell us about Hibiki?” Marina then asks in a curious tone.

“Before our meeting here right now, nothing that you wouldn’t able to find with a few hours of crawling through tabloids and news articles.” Maggie replies to Marina. “Eldest daughter of J&P Banking, olympic tier athlete before an accident left her wheelchair bound, favorite food is crab, and that she’s a lesbian.”

“You’re a lesbian?” Mochire asks you upon hearing this.

You give a small sigh as you hear this, rubbing your forehead in disbelief. “You let your tongue slip once... I prefer women if that’s what you mean. I’d be willing to give men a try but haven’t found one that met my standards... besides why is this information important!?”

“It is when I get a hold of the tabloids!” Maggie says pointing both fingers towards you with a wink.

...Oh son of a bitch you walked right into that one.

“As much as enjoy hearing embarrassing little secrets about other people, I do have to question what you, a civilian, is going to know about people that is going to be useful to us.” Mochire adds in after, popping open the cap to his beer.

“To find out how they work of course! How a specific Dragonblooded fights! What sort of nasty habits a specific captain has! What sort of ‘gifts’ a specific crime boss loves! Information is power, and knowing such information can make the lives of everyone interacting with them a little easier... except for the person themselves that is!” Maggie replies.

“How long have I been declared dead?” you ask Maggie.

“Let’s see... That’d be about three days ago roughly. The news broke early in the morning.” Maggie replies.

“That means I was underground for pretty much a week.” you mutter to yourself.

[2/3]

“Still better than some of us who were down there for months.” Mochire says to you before taking a swing of his beer.

“Do you know what sorta force the military have brought to the island?” Marina asks.

“The whole shebang. A navy fleet of nearly 25 Destroyers, two supercarriers, unknown number of Nuclear submarines but at the very least five, 60 Piloted attack helicopters with an unconfirmed number en route for enforcements, four corps of footsoldiers which total around 125,000 troopers, two armoured Regiments so about 2,000 heavy vehicles ranging from land based combat drones, Urban Striders, and tanks, unknown number of UAV aircraft and drones, and lastly every single Dragonblooded not currently on active deployment, so about 250 of them.” Maggie recites off the top of her head. “I may be missing a few, but that’s the general jist.”

Mochire coughs on his drink as he hears this number. “So many!? How!?”

“From what I heard, the annual Meruivan War Games changed its location a few days ago to the Isle of Voices on the other side of Versino. I never paid it much heed as war games usually don’t net many readers outside of hardcore military nuts, and with them not doing it on a border close to another country it seemed dead to me.” Maggie replies.

“...A large scale war game suddenly changing its location mere days before it was scheduled to begin? No way, there’s absolutely no way that’s a coincidence.” you say aloud. “Our escape must’ve been planned!”

“...Or at the very least having back up in case we did escape. Remember that a few days ago is when you were kidnapped by Doctor Trine.” Mochire points out.

“But that makes no sense! Who could’ve possibly had the pull to authorize the deployment of so many soldiers in such a short amount of t-” your blood runs cold as your mind makes the connection. John Doe himself conducted himself as if he owned the entire facility, and the timing of the military switching their locations matches up with you being reprogrammed by Doctor Trine. John Doe could be the only person who’d not only have the foreseeable knowledge to switch the deployment of the war games but quite possibly have the capability and authority to do so. If that’s the case this John Doe has a *far* greater reach than you could’ve possibly imagined.

“Um... What can your press badge still do when the lockdown’s still up?” Marina asks.

[3/3]

“I may not be able to send out any stories to my publishers, but I know the law to a T and nothing is stopping me from investigating anything on this island so long as I meet the rules of martial law! At worst the can only arrest me for talking to the enemy while I have a pass to access nearly any company or military base I want for questioning!” Maggie says with a sense of pride in her voice.

“Assuming they don’t throw you out beforehand. Besides, how are you going to learn anything about anyone or anything if they’re not willing to talk.”

Maggie looks back at Mochire, a sharp grin growing along her face. “A good journalist never reveals her sources.”

You take several deep breaths to recover, trying to regain control of your emotions before turning back toward’s Maggie. “Use those sources to get everything you can about my sister. Do this, especially where she currently is right now, and I’ll give you every little detail on what happened down the Heptagram basement myself. Others may’ve had similar experience, but I guarantee you none of them will have had one like mine.”

“Ooohhh... Now you have my attention with this. Sure thing, I’ll see what your sister is doing right away!” Maggie replies.

- Anything else you wish to ask Maggie before the scene snaps forward?

Can't think of anything, just tell her to be careful since she seems to be relying on laws for protection and she might just get murdered before she gets arrested.

OK I'm going to cut it a bit early tonight as I'm still recovering from the ass end of a bad illness. We'll continue tomorrow at 7PM EST time!

Be there for the twists, turns, drama, and fattening desserts!

>>693211
>- Do you have plans in case they throw the law out the window? I mean, we've been kept in a secret location and were clearly not there of our own will. If they think that they can sweep something under the rug...

[1/2]

“Do you have plans in case they throw the law out the window? I mean, we've been kept in a secret location and were clearly not there of our own will. If they think that they can sweep something under the rug to us, I don’t think a single reporter who isn’t famous is going to amount to much.” you ask her.

“Na! I play things by ear! This isn’t the first time I’ve been in a warzone either! I’ve covered warzones all over Creation! Delzahn vs Harbourhead, Linowan vs Halta...” Maggie says listing off the areas.

Mochire takes a sip on his beer as Maggie does this, thoughts clearly racing across his face as he continues to drink his beer.

“But don’t worry about me! I have a habit of staying alive in warzones and I intend to keep this this way!” Maggie says pointing at you.

“...Hey do hear that?” Marina asks everyone.

Upon focusing your hearing you can hear footsteps rapidly climbing up the stairs, peering your head out around the door you can Wendy take a few steps up to the top level where you’re on now, her own coat filled with several holes as a tar like fluid slowly runs down her body. Behind her scowling face you can see Father Marcellius in his damaged power armour holding what appears to be Dexter with a pained expression on his face, all while Osvald walks next to him looking none the worse for wear.

“You made it!” you gasp out as you see them walk up the stairs.

“Barely! If it wasn’t for Osvald cracking into their comms to stop another strike team from being deployed I doubt we would’ve made it.” Wendy mutters as she twirls her massive revolver before putting on the outside of her hip, where a small compartment closes out around it.

“Oh your friends are here!?” Maggie says immediately running around the corner to see them.

“Who the hell is she?” Wendy growls, her voice sounding like a half threat as she points at Maggie.

“Margaret Evensberg, Freelance reporter!” Maggie says walking up to Wendy with outstretched arms. “I’m here to see i-”

“Oh hell no!” Wendy says as she walks up Maggie, immediately grabbing her arms and putting them behind her back like a police officer would. “Not now! Get out!”

[2/2]

“Oh come on~! Just one quote after you take care of your friend! I’ll get 50 bucks for that a-”

“No comment. Out.” Wendy says leading her to the stairs before giving Maggie a small shove towards them. “If I see you back in here again I’m going to start using the shock rounds.”

“Oh into the kinky stuff eh? I can see how a hardass like y- H-Hey where are you going!?” Maggie says to Wendy as she turns around walking back down the hall, pouting a bit before noticing you still looking down it. “Hey! My number is X-XXX-XXX-XXXX! Remember it!”

Committing the number to memory you turn around to see your comrades back in the room. Marina is currently gasping in the corner of the room, hands against her mouth while Dexter is laid out on the bed. The middle part of his tuxedo is currently bleeding what appears to be a dark tar like substance coming out from his midsection, gritting his teeth in pain as Father Marcellius lays him down on the bed.

“I calculate that you have an 92.246 percent chance of survival, but only if I operate immediately.” Osvald says as his own hand opens, things such as scalpels, small buzzsaws, and other things immediately coming out of it.

Dexter looks at Osvald’s hand for a second with widely growing eyes of fear, before then looking at Mochire’s beer his hands. “Father, I know you want to preach good morals but right now I want what Mochire is having and I don’t want it to stop coming.”

“You won’t remember anything in the morning.” Father Mercellius says as he gives Dexter a pat on the head before running over to the mini fridge.

- “Hey, I have a... multi-tool thing in my own hand. Is there anything I can do to help?”

- Ask the others just what exactly happened back at the university

- Other

(4chan things my post is spam when I post phone numbers)

>>694535
>- “Hey, I have a... multi-tool thing in my own hand. Is there anything I can do to help?”
>- Ask the others just what exactly happened back at the university
>-Explain the situation with John Doe & the forces arrayed on this island.

- “Hey, I have a... multi-tool thing in my own hand. Is there anything I can do to help?”

[1/3]

“Hey Osvald.” you say walking over to him. “I have my own multi-tool... thing in my hand, is there anything I can do to help?”

“Do you know anything about surgical procedures?” Osvald asks.

“No unfortunately.” you reply.

“Please next time just lie and say that you do to make me feel better...” Dexter says as he grabs a bottle of whiskey from Father Marcellius.

“Doesn’t matter, you can still be of use.” Osvald says cutting open Dexter’s tuxedo with a small pair of scissors ever so carefully until his stomach is exposed. It’s hard to see Dexter’s own stomach though with all of that tar like substance smeared all over and around it. Marina quickly darts out of the room upon seeing it.

“If you can Hibiki, please take out your suction tool, ID 4269 in your Multitool index, and start cleaning around this area. Don’t touch here, here, or here as those are where the bullet wounds are.” Osvald says as he points out several areas on Dexter’s stomach.

You access your multitool function on your HUD and select the tool that Osvald tells you of, it folding out of your index finger and appearing to look like a small sponge of some sort. “But won’t more... blood come out while I’m cleaning?”

“Yes, but do the best you can. Father Marcellius, vodka.” Osvald asks Father Marcellius who passes him a bottle of Hastlanti Premium Vodka.

“...Osvald you don’t drink, what are you doing with that...” Dexter’s own face goes even more pale as he sees Osvald open the drink.

Osvald sniffs the vodka for a second before pulling his face away. “Disinfectant. Please restrain him as well Father Marcellius.”

Father Marcellius tears a piece of the pillow covering off, stuffing it Dexter’s mouth before holding down his shoulders. “...Think of this as a trail my son.”

Dexter’s own panicked face goes down to his stomach, where you are just finishing cleaning up down there, his light blue skin smeared with a tar-like substance all over his stomach, his eyes on the bottle above his stomach.

“Commencing operation.” Osvald says as he pours the vodka directly onto Dexter’s wounds. Dexter himself screams as his body arcs up, held down only by Father Marcellius as Dexter pours at least a good third of the bottle on his wounds.

[2/3]

“Don’t you have any pain killers?” you ask Osvald.

“Only alcohol.” Osvald says as he puts the bottle down, his fingers opening up to form a very large pair of tweezers. “Please continue cleaning Hibiki, more motoplasm will come out after I remove each bullet.”

Osvald’s operation continues without a hitch for the most part, the blinding pain that assaulted Dexter earlier apparently only being a dull pain once Osvald’s steady hands slowly extract each bullet. The entire operation only takes about 15 minutes in total, and through a fairly gruesome method you learn a bit more about Alchemical biology.

After the operation you ask just what happened at the university. Apparently there were only mortals there, but a lot of them including a strike team of assault helicopters being brought in because they were part of ‘Shinobi’s’ group. This makes you a bit worried about how the military appears to be actively seeking you out, and will actually label you as a priority target when it comes to other engagements from now on.

The conversion then shifts over to Maggie and what she told all of you. You doubt she’s an enemy spy or that she’ll rat you out, but as you talk about the annual Meruvian War Games being shifted in location just a few days prior to your escape, the literal perfect timing it was for the military forces to be in Versino, and how John Doe could very well be behind this considering he knew when Doctor Trine’s stunt started and how he seemed to be the boss of Sub-basement Eight. However it's only when you list out the numbers of the army that the faces of everyone in the room just go pale.

“H-Hey... I-I didn’t hear that right, I must be drunk and still dizzy from the pain...” Dexter says laying on the bed.

Wendy herself gives a large sigh, nodding her head slowly as she hears this. “The entire army is here after us now... Great...”

“Actually this isn’t the entire army. Its on-”

“YOU KNOW DAMN WELL WHAT I MEANT OSVALD!” Wendy roars at him, making nearly the entire room go silent before she looks around it with a small sigh, turning around to leave the room. “I’m going to the bar.”

“...What are we going to do now?” you ask everyone in the room breaking the silence.

[3/3]

“Rest. The escape drained a lot of our resources, and until we can recharge and recover it is best to lay low. So long as we remain in the top floors the military is unlikely to check this location.” Osvald explains.

“It's only going to be a matter of time before the military checks this building.” Mochire tells Osvald.

“Yes, but right now the military’s command structure is still scattered chasing after innumerable Alchemicals. We still have nearly two weeks before search and destroy operations begin even if we say the military actions play out in the best possible fashion.” Osvald says to your group. “Take a room on this floor and get some rest for tomorrow. If you do explore the building, please stay away from the windows.”

Hm, looks like you have some free time to yourself.

Downtime! Select an NPC to talk to in order to increase your relationship value with them! Only one may be chosen at this time.

- Talk to Osvald

- Talk to Mochire

- Talk to Father Marcellius

- Talk to Marina

- Talk to Dexter (He appears to be a bit loopy, but relatively fine)

- Talk to Wendy

>>694790
>- Talk to Wendy
Unless anyone else has a better option, it might be a good time to get our leader oriented in the right direction.

Deciding to see what Wendy is up to, you leave the room and head down the flight of stairs, nearly 20 stories down before you reach the ground floor. A careful inspection shows that the front of the building has been collapsed in, so knowing this you simply walk over towards the bar without fear of being seen.

As you enter the bar, you can see a deluxe, high end bar completely abandoned. The round tables still have drinks on them while a jar of toppled peanuts can be seen. The only thing that appears to be out of the ordinary are several crashed chandeliers from the ceiling.

Wendy herself is behind the bartender counter, lining up several shot glasses and pouring them all with hard liquor. After she’s finished she takes out a few aspirin from a nearby first aid kit, putting them into her mouth and downing them with a single shot.

“I don’t think they’re supposed to be taken like that.” you reply to Wendy.

“It never killed me when I was a mortal, I sure as hell doubt it’ll kill me now.” Wendy grunts wiping her mouth as she moves over to the next shot.

“Are you sure that you should even be drinking when you’re that heavily wounded?” you ask Wendy as you sit down at the bar.

Wendy rolls her eyes as she opens up her trenchcoat, showing bloody clothing underneath but the bleeding wounds you saw previously appear to have been healed up completely. “My combat prowess is secondary compared to someone like you, but when it comes to taking a beating I’m still better than Marina at it.”

“So that explains why you seemed fine but Dexter was bleeding everywhere.” you reply.

Wendy takes a shot before looking back towards you. “That and Dexter cries like a baby anytime someone actually hits him.” Wendy begins pouring herself another shot from the bottle of liquor next to her. “What brings you down here? Nearly everyone else is upstairs.”

- “I came to check up on you after you stormed out of the room. I wanted to make the group leader was still in one piece.”

- “I’ve heard from the others you’ve been down in Sub-Basement Eight the longest, is that true?”

- “Making small talk is all.” (Insert questions to you want answered)

- Other

>>694969
>- "I came down to make sure you had someone else nearby. I don't think it's a good idea to not be in pairs right now."
>- "I know the situation seems bad, but if the troops were already here but not in our faces so-to-speak, that means either John Doe isn't a very precise psychic or something else is going on that we don't know about."
>- “I’ve heard from the others you’ve been down in Sub-Basement Eight the longest, is that true?”

"I came down to make sure you had someone else nearby. I don't think it's a good idea to not be in pairs right now." you tell her.

“They’re not going to be looking for us at the moment.” Wendy replies.

“Better safe than sorry.” you warn.

“Whatever you say.” Wendy says as she takes another shot.

You give a small sigh as you see Wendy take another shot. "I know the situation seems bad, but if the troops were already here but not in our faces so-to-speak, that means either John Doe isn't a very precise psychic or something else is going on that we don't know about."

“John Doe’s pull with the government is concerning, but he’s not what’s bothering me right now. To be honest he’s the furthest thing on my mind.” Wendy says as she takes another drink.

“Then what is?” you ask her.

“First is the overwhelming amount of military forces at Versino, yet to be deployed, or en route to Versino. When we first escaped I thought it was just the military forces at the local base, but when that ATP appeared through the wall of the building and began offloading troops, I immediately knew something was wrong. That split second laspe in concentration is what resulted in Dexter getting shot.” Wendy says downing another shot.

You’re somewhat impressed with her fortitude. She’s still showing almost no outside effects from the shots she’s taken. “So you feel bad that Dexter was shot?”

Wendy snorts. “Far from it. I feel bad that I messed up our plan this much. Originally we were only going to rest here for a few hours, enough time to treat minor wounds and recharge our reactors, then we’d be off to the harbour and find something, or... I dunno at least wing it from there.”

Wendy then looks at the bottle, a depressed look on her face as she looks at the bottle. “I feel like I failed because time is of the essence, and with Dexter hurt that badly I feel that the window we once had open is going to be snapped shut soon, and that it's my fault that I didn’t tell Dexter to escort you two instead of Mochire.”

- “A case of the ‘I should’ve’s’? Wendy I pegged you better for this.” (Chastise Wendy for feeling this way)

- “No plan survives contact with the enemy Wendy. There was no way any of us could’ve known what we’d be up against.” (Comfort Wendy)

- Make a Socialize roll to see what sort of answers Wendy would respond better to (roll 6d10, may add up to +3 dice)

- Other

- “A case of the ‘I should’ve’s’? Wendy I pegged you better for this.” (Chastise Wendy for feeling this way)
- “No plan survives contact with the enemy Wendy. There was no way any of us could’ve known what we’d be up against.” (Comfort Wendy)

>>695315

This is more of a mutually exclusive choice, so you have to pick one or the other in this case.

>>695332
It doesn't seem like it would be exclusive, chastisement and comforting come together all the time.

But alright then, only chastisement if you insist.

Rolled 10, 5, 7, 7, 2, 10, 10, 5, 1 = 57 (9d10)

>>695175
>- Make a Socialize roll to see what sort of answers Wendy would respond better to (roll 6d10, may add up to +3 dice)

[1/2]

A look into Wendy’s personality shows that her hard ass personality is because she’s jaded. Despite all the violence that she’s been subjected to in Sub Basement 8 and even now while keeping it all together, it shows that she’s capable of dishing out things just as well as she takes them. Someone like this often prefers a no nonsense approach to matters and how one should get directly to the point no matter how blunt it may be.

“A case of the ‘I should’ve’s’? Wendy I pegged you better for this.” you reply to her.

“Excuse me?” she immediately asks you.

“You heard me. I haven’t known you that long, but I know enough about your character to know someone beating themselves up does nothing to answer the overarching problem, which is what you’re doing right now.” you reply to her a firm tone of voice. “I also think that you’re looking for answers in that bottle, but the bottle itself never contains any answers that one seeks.”

Wendy waits for several seconds, looking at the bottle in her hands before putting it down on the counter. “The bottle isn’t what I’m drinking about.”

“Then what is it? The idea that after Dexter was shot, you went ‘no big deal, we can still recover our plan well enough before the majority of reinforcements arrive’ before then coming to the realization that those reinforcements weren’t on the way, but already here? You’re stressed out over a plan that died in the womb, not even Osvald predicted what could’ve happened since we left, and considering her practically does nothing but plan all day there is absolutely no shame in failing if we’re all alive.” you lecture her.

Wendy slowly nods her head as she looks down at the bottle on the counter. “Yea... its pretty much that.”

“Then stop beating yourself up over things that were outside of our control.” you tell her.

Wendy responds by reaching for another shot glass and downing another shot.

“I thought I told you to stop beating yourself up.” you repeat.

“That was the drink I had in order to escape that hellhole that was Sub basement Eight. I hadn’t had a drink in nearly a year and a half.” Wendy says as she gives her head a small shake before putting down the glass.

Your eyes go wide at hearing this. “A year and a half in that hellhole! I thought it was impressive when Marcellius said that he was there for several months!”

[2/2]

“The only other person who came close would be the last owner of Marina’s Exaltation core, and I’m pretty sure that was because he was getting too strong and rowdy for their liking. A year down there and I learned more than I ever did when I was on the force, and even then I barely knew enough on how to stay alive down there. My first few trips down there and I was bleeding just like Dexter. I even tried to punch Backdraft the first time I met him just like you.” Wendy says as she pours another shot, pushing it over towards your direction.

“Oh I apologize, I’m not old enough t-”

“Shut up and drink the fucking drink.” Wendy sternly tells you.

You take the shot in your hand and take a sip, the spicy flavor of the drink burning your throat before you finish even half of it, putting it down on the table with a small coughing fit. “How do you even drink that!?”

“Beer is what people who are depressed drink, Whiskey is for those who want to feel the slap in the face to show that they’re still living.” Wendy tells you as she pours another shot. “And for tonight, I think I want to happily see just how alive I am after leaving that hellhole.”

You’re starting to get pretty tired, so you wonder what else you can ask Wendy before going to bed.

- “Is there any advice you can give about not just getting stronger, but surviving?”

- “Now that you seem happy with your choices, is there any advice you can give on how one should make choices?”

- Other

>>695495
- “Is there any advice you can give about not just getting stronger, but surviving?”

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>>695495

You seemed to know that reporter. what do you know about her?

>>695675

never mind my mistake thought Wendy knew the reporter

[1/2]

“Is there any advice you can give about not just getting stronger, but surviving?” you ask Wendy.

“Augmentations based on survival help, but I have a feeling you don’t have many of those right now do you?” Wendy asks you.

“He who strikes first wins.” you reply.

“A real Coralese Samurai huh?” Wendy asks.

“My father is actually from a line of samurai.” you reply.

“That actually explains many questions I had about you, but no that’s not all of it. Tell me are you familiar with the Delzahn and their Tamas Khan scripture?” Wendy asks you.

“The same one that said a woman’s only honor is in her face?” you ask.

“The same one yes. There’s no question the Delzahn are very behind the times when it comes to equal rights between the genders, but Tamas himself said some very enlightening phrases that are worth considering by themselves. One of them being ‘The best armour one can have are friends’.” Wendy tells you. “It means no matter how strong you may be, the ultimate shield and sword one can have is from those he can trust their lives to. Mochire, Osvald, Marcellius, and I all know and do that for each other without speaking a word. I’m hoping you and Marina in time will come to realize the same thing.”

You look down at your drink before gulping down the rest of it, the burning sensation washing over your tongue and down your throat. “All cultures have their occasional pearls of wisdom it seems.”

“And there’s the Coralese superiority complex at work.” Wendy says pouring another shot for herself.

“While the rest of the world was busy killing itself off, Wavecrest and Coral were making strides in government, philosophy, warfare, and culture. It is only until we spread out from our lands that the rest of Creation slowly adapted.” You say with a tinge of pride in your voice.

“Naval warfare maybe, but An-Teng showed you had a lot left to be desired when it came to ground based warfare.” Wendy points out.

You give a small yawn as she says that. “True, and while I hate to cut our conversation short I’m nowhere near as durable as you. I’m going to sleep on the first real bed I’ve had in a week.”

“If there’s any problems I’ll head back upstairs, make no mistake at that.” Wendy says as she downs another shot. “You’re young, you need the sleep.”

[2/2]

“Yes, I usually wake up at 5 AM for morning meditation and exercises. So this is very late for me.” you tell Wendy.

“...You a literal walking stereotype aren’t you?” Wendy asks as you leave the bar, to which your only response is to give her the finger before walking off.

You head back upstairs, making the long climb back up to the top of the suites. You can hear some chatting going on the room, stopping in to ask Osvald a favor searching through Dr. Daniel’s data for anything about your sister before heading back out towards the hall. Taking out your multitool, you head over to a suite whose door wasn’t open and step into a spotless suite. You give a large stretch as you head to the shower, washing yourself off while your armour is still on before heading over to the bed. Happy that blissful sleep comes quickly for you as you drift off

******

Your eyes immediately shoot wide awake as you hear footsteps directly at the foot of your bed, and in a blur you immediately spin around, your blade only stopping an inch from Osvald’s neck.

“You ever hear of knocking?” you ask Osvald.

“I knocked 13 times on your door.” Osvald replies.

“Even so you should respect others privacy, you nearly managed to make me wet myself in fear.” you reply to Osvald. “I assume you found some information regarding my sister?”

“Yes, but I’m not sure I should share it with you.” Osvald replies to you.

- “What? Why? Is she dead?”

- “If you don’t tell me I’ll find out myself.”

- “...Wait I haven’t used the bathroom since I’ve become an Alchemical, how does that work?”

- Other

>>695688
>- “If you don’t tell me I’ll find out myself.”

>>695688
>-"If I hadn't been this drained, I'd already be checking on her."

“If you don’t tell me I’ll find out myself.” you warn Osvald.

“Your sister was the one who paid Dr. Daniel’s to dispose of you.” Osvald then states.

“WHAT!?” you yell out in shock.

“Their emails were coded, but I managed to decode them and accessed Dr. Daniel’s bank account. A transfer of nearly One million meruvian dollars from various corporations that J&P Bank control. This was shortly after Dr. Daniel’s mentioned that you have been ‘successfully treated’ and your sister promising the money shortly after. It was an hour later that your sister held the press conference about you being dead.” Osvald lays out the evidence in front of you.

“No... That’s... That’s impossible...” you mutter in disbelief. “Shouko and I... W-We love one another. Why would she try and get me killed?”

“I’m not sure, I am only giving logical conclusions based on current evidence. To my estimates there is a 77.641 percent chance that she orchestrated this fate for you and knew exactly what was going on beneath the Heptagram labs.” Osvald adds.

(Your motonic reservoir and willpower were refilled after a night’s rest!)

- “No, no this is literally impossible. I’m sure this is one large misunderstanding and if I talk to my sister it’ll all be cleared up.”

- “Shouko... You have a lot to answer for and you’re going to do it at the tip of my sword.”

- Other

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>>695756

Oh I forgot this.

>>695756
>- "Hope for the best, plan for the worst. If she did this, if she's connected to any of this, she might have information for us. We might also be able to get access to cash or my investments. Either way, I want to see how deeply she's involved in this."

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>>695796
agree. for all we know she could have been black mailed.or someone could have planted false evidence; however that is highly unlikely.

considering how may coincidences have been occurring we should investigate

[1/2]

It takes a few seconds for you to recover, halting your mind’s racing connections, anger, and shock before you calm yourself once more. “Hope for the best, plan for the worst. If she did this, if she's connected to any of this, she might have information for us. We might also be able to get access to cash or my investments. Either way, I want to see how deeply she's involved in this."

“A reasonable discourse of action.” Osvald replies to you.

“Still, I’m unsure how I feel about leaving her here. Even if we do manage to escape, I’d be leaving her to the predation of those Gremlin bastards...” you mutter to yourself.

“We’re not leaving.” Osvald replies to you.

“We’re not?” you ask.

“We’re not.” Osvald curtly replies.

“Care to share the reason why?” you ask.

“I have been in constant contact with several of my other fellows in this area, keeping track of any sort of Alchemical, Gremlin, or Apostate that has left Versino or is leaving it. Every single one of them have been terminated.” Osvald explains.

“Wait what? All of them? Even the stealth and undercover focused Alchemicals?” you ask Osvald.

“Including them. The military must’ve known exactly where they were when they left they left the island.” Osvald explains. “The safeguards were likely only the first security precaution for us. It is exceedingly likely that we have GPS transmitters in each and every one of us that constantly broadcast our location.”

“...Colin’s logs make more sense now. When I was listening to them I heard him talk about how the military seemed to always hound him everywhere he went. I assumed it was just a once off thing, but if that’s the case why haven’t we been the target of a drone strike? Even if they were chasing after other Alchemicals, sparing a single drone to launch an attack on several immobile Alchemicals.” you ask Osvald. “Or better yet, why do the military appear to be searching for Alchemicals in Versino when they can immediately track our position?”

“There is a 98.156 percent chance that some sort of jamming stations are being used across the city.” Osvald explains. “Bell and the other scientists must have had a plan once we managed to escape, but talking to them it's a pointless exercise in theroycrafting.” Osvald explains.

“Which they’re probably off the island...” you say with a small sigh.

“They’re still here.” Osvald explains.

File: communications.png (23 KB, 788x828)

23 KB PNG

[2/2]

“You’re going to need to provide and explanation to such things in the future rather than me needing to constantly ask you.” you reply to Osvald.

“Quarantine rules are still in effect. This applies to everyone and everything on the island, no exceptions. They’re most likely afraid someone like Doctor Trine will appear on the mainland or in another area which they cannot control.” Osvald explains.

“Have you told this to the others?” you ask Osvald.

“Most of them, I’m still waiting for Wendy to get up.” Osvald says as he then reaches into his pocket and pulls out something for you. “Here.”

“What’s this?” you ask looking at the device. “An earpiece?”

“Yes, it’s to keep in contact with each other. It's a mundane earpiece configured to run off your own anima field instead of electricity so it will never run out of power, once you connect it a new tab for communications should open up in your HUD.” Osvald explains. “I do my best to ensure the lines are secure, but in the end it's based off normal radio and bluetooth connections. It can survive an EMP, but unlike alchemical based communication technology it can be jammed or evesdropped.”

“Better than nothing I suppose.” you say putting it over your ear, and sure enough your HUD comes up displaying how it's installing new drivers for a new device. “So what are we going to do now?”

“We continue to wait here until Dexter is healed. With another treatment he should be fully healed by tomorrow.” Osvald states. “After that we begin searching for a new long term safehouse.”

You give a small nod to Osvald. “Thanks Osvald. If you don’t mind I need some time to myself.”

“Of course.” Osvald says as he walks out of the room, closing the door to your room and leaving you in darkness once more.

A quick activation of your anima and your own body begins to emit light like a lamp itself, allowing you to see in this room as electricity slowly arcs towards the bedpost and nearby lamps. You have your information, but now you wonder what to do. Osvald said the ideal task would be to stay here, but your sister is out there... you want to make sure she’s alright more than anything.

- I’m not going to lose my sister. I’m going to see her in the hotel.

- Osvald and Wendy are right... I can’t just blindly head out in the middle of a warzone no matter how cocky I am.

- Other

>>695967
>- I’m not going to lose my sister. I’m going to see her in the hotel.
>- If anyone is up to help me, I'll accept it.

[1/3]

You only have one sister, and you can’t possibly lose her in some freak apostate attack. No matter the risk, you need to head over and see her immediately.

Getting up from your bed, you grab some orange juice from the minifridge, chugging the entire thing down before walking over into the next room where everyone is. “I’m going to see my sister. If anyone wants to come with me, they’re welcome to help.”

“That is a horrible idea.” Osvald states to you.

“Hibiki, I know you want to see your sister but think about this for a second. There’s military all over the place out there. Not just soldiers, but soldiers alongside tanks, drones, helicopters, and even dragonblooded.” Mochire warns you.

“I wasn’t asking for whenever or not I should go.” you say as you turn around and head towards the exit. “Anyone who wants come with me is more than welcome to.”

Beginning your ascent to the roof, you twirl your arms around as you step out onto the rooftop. The morning light shining over Versino highlights the towers of glass and steel that soar from the ground as tall plumes of thick black smoke can be seen off in the distance. Several military helicopters can be spotted on patrol as they slowly fly on over the city, while with a simple glance below you can already see a squad of soldiers walking away from your block, trading jokes with a man in black jade armour.

You immediately call up Maggie on your communicator, seeing if phone numbers also work in this thing.

“...Hello?” a groggy voice on the other end picks up after about 10 rings.

“It’s Hibiki. Did you get news on my sister?” you ask Maggie as you watch the mercenaries down the street head into a nearby blasted shop.

“Hibiki... Oh right Hibiki! Yea just a sec!” some papers can be heard rustling in the background before the sound of a fumbling phone can be heard. “Yea Shouko is still at the Sea Father Hotel, presidential suite. She tried leaving the island but the military grounded the Junpaku family jet. From what I heard she called for personal protection from J&P Bank and probably is going hire a PMC for additional protection.”

“Smart girl. Thanks Maggie.” you say to her.

“So now that I did my end of the bargain, how about you answer a few question of m-” you cut Maggie off by closing the communication window.

[2/3]

“They probably have thermal vision, so I’m going to have to be a bit careful.” you say engaging you cloak as you hop off the hotel building and onto the next, landing several stories down and making a small crater in the pavement, before making a running start as you leap towards the next building, the wind soaring over your frame before making landing on the other end of the building. As you continue to run, you suddenly get a message from Wendy on your intercom.

“Hello Wendy.” you say as you grab onto a catwalk, rapidly making small leaps to scale the building you’re current climbing.

“Hibiki what the fuck are you doing!?” Wendy roars on the other end of the line.

“I’m doing fine thanks.” you say as you leap off another building, falling for what seems like minutes before you land on the next with a smooth roll and continue running.

“Don’t play dumb with me! The others told me you were going to see your sister! Are you stupid!? There’s military all over the place!” Wendy barks in the other end.

“I’m not leaving her to the whims of a random gremlin attack. If we’re going to be stuck on this island than I’m going to do my damnest to make sure that she’s safe.” you tell her as you continue to run on the rooftops.

“We had a plan Hibiki! We had a plan and you’re fucking it all up!” Wendy spits in the other end. “If they catch you out there than you’ll be all alone! This won’t be like the testing grounds where a random act of mercy from one of the staff can let you survive, it’ll be a straight up execution!”

“Than they won’t find me. I’m know what I’m doing Wendy and they won’t catch me. Over and out.” you say in the intercom.

“Hibiki don’t you dare h-” are Wendy’s last words before you close the communication line.

As you land on the next rooftop, you can see that only really the area around the Heptagram itself was heavily damaged. There are a few shops closed down below, but quite a few people are out in the street, including a few daredevils with their smartphones hoping to catch something big.

As you look off in the distance towards the Sea Father Hotel, you can see the large blue building soaring against the backdrop of the ocean, easily visible for being the tallest building near the oceanfront. As you do look down however you can see what appears to be the military having a small skirmish on the other end of the harbour itself, just before where it enters the city.

[3/3]

“Come on lady give me the purse!” another voice says down below you.

“No! Back off!” a woman cries out in response.

“I’m not going to ask again, give me the purse!” the man says again.

“W-W-What are you going to do with that!?” the woman then seems to sob in response.

“Never a dull moment it seems.” you reply as you survey your surroundings.

- Jump down and save the woman from the mugger

- Investigate what the military is fighting

- You don’t have time for this, head for the Sea Father Hotel immediately.

- Other

>>696214
>- Jump down and save the woman from the mugger
>- Stealth, hit him on the head from over the woman's shoulder, then duck behind anything nearby while our cloak re-engages.
>- Investigate what the military is fighting
We did say we wouldn't be seen on the way there.

[1/2]

“Honestly...” you mutter to yourself as you hop down below, landing on the ground in the allyway silently in the shadows. You cloak quickly activates as your entire body turns invisible.

“H-Here just take it!” the woman says to the mugger who had a knife pointed to his throat.

“Pleasure doing business wit ya!” the mugger says as he immediately starts to run down the alleyway towards your direction.

“HELP! THIEF!” the woman cries out towards the street.

In a fashion that seems almost entirely too easy, you wait until the thief is just within your reach before holding out your foot to trip him up. Just as he goes sailing through the air and his face turns sour, you take your blade while it’s still in the scabbard and smack him directly over the back of the head with it, knocking him out cold before he even hits the ground.

“Someone like me handling trash like this... Even when I was in my wheelchair you’d be a hundred years too early.” you mutter as you reattach your sword to your side.

“The robber! The robber is down... here?” The woman who was mugged earlier says with two good samaritans in tow next to her.

“...Huh, looks like he tripped.” one good samaritan says as he leans down over the body of the mugger.

“Talk about anti-climatic.” the other one says as he taps the side of the unconscious mugger with his boot.

Damnit, these people are making it difficult to leave right now. Scaling up the walls manually would be too fast and break your cloak, while there isn’t enough space in the alleyway to walk by them.

“I got my purse back, that’s all that matters!” the woman says snatching her purse from up off the ground. “So would I report this to the police or the military?”

“We’re under martial law right now so... military I guess?” the second good Samaritan says.

“Good! Maybe reporting this asshole to people with large weapons and under no-nonsense orders will scare some sense into him!” the woman says storming out of the alleyway. “Excuse me! Soldiers!”

[2/2]

You follow the woman out of the alleyway and into the middle of the street, just in time for the woman to get a few soldiers to come with her into the alleyway. As you slowly make your way back up to the rooftops once again, you can see that the action in the marina is all over for now, the sounds of gunfire now silent as only black smoke can be seen rising from the location while an attack helicopter swirls overhead.

“Too late for that now I suppose.” you mutter to yourself as you head towards the Sea Father Hotel. As you approach it you can see that several UAV drone are constantly patrolling the air around the hotel while a small army of private security goons in suits line the lobby down below with a herd of limos.

“It appears this entire building is a makeshift shelter for rich people. Either that or Shouko managed to get a massive loan from mom.” you say as you look around the area. “Those damn UAV’s can probably sense me in more than one spectrum, while the main lobby entrance itself may have a Dragonblooded down there. I can’t tell for certain if they have one from up here, but if they do things can get real ugly real fast.”

- The UAV’s are only simple machines, I can easily evade them while climbing the outside. (Climb the building to reach Shouko) (Roll 14d10, may add up to +6 die for 6m)

- I bested one of the best Dragonblooded with federal backing back at the Heptagram, I think I can handle a Dragonblooded who’s probably doing this as a side job or still in training himself. (Approach by the main entryway) (Roll 14d10, may add up to +6 die for 6m)

- Other

Rolled 4, 10, 6, 6, 9, 10, 6, 9, 3, 6, 2, 3, 9, 10, 4, 5, 4, 1, 5, 4 = 116 (20d10)

>>696291
>- Do a bit of reconnaissance to chart the drone's patrol path and try to spot anything obvious or not-so-obvious.
>- The UAV’s are only simple machines, I can easily evade them while climbing the outside. (Climb the building to reach Shouko) (Roll 14d10, may add up to +6 die for 6m)

You spend a few minutes watching the outside of the building, keeping track of the patrol routes of the guards down below but more importantly keeping track of the patrol routes the drones are taking. If they have proper sensors than your invisibility is going to be worthless, so you’ll need to proceed carefully up the side of the building.

“Alright... One layer goes clockwise and the other goes counterclockwise. There are statues I can hide on, but I’ll have to be quick in climbing up in order to make sure I can get to the next floor before the next drone comes by.” you mutter to yourself as you jump off the building you’re currently on top of, landing down in a nearby bush as you approach the building itself, weaving in between the herd of limos before approaching the side of the building, hiding behind a nearby limo before leaping up towards the first floor itself, scrambling up the ledge and ducking behind a statue just as as drone makes its sweep around the building.

You hear the soft buzz of the drone passing by you before you quickly turn around and make another leap and roll up the side of the building. You continue to climb up further and further before you eventually reach the top floor itself, ducking over the balcony plaza itself as another drone slowly buzzes past you.

(“24 hours!? Have you seen the news!? I’m probably going to be dead in 24 hours!”) Shouko can be heard yelling over the phone in the suite in Coralese. (“Get me those damn reinforcements now! I don’t care if you have to shortchange some of them so long as you get someone here immediately! The only thing I have going for me now are the private security guards for most of the other rich people in the city, and those guys may as well be cardboard cutouts for all the good it’ll do against those dam-”)

Shouko stops talking for a second, her footsteps slowly approaching your location on the outside.

“I know someone’s out there. Come out immediately and give me one good reason I shouldn’t call for the guards downstairs.” Shouko warns in a cold voice on the other end of the wall.

Shouko was able to notice you? How is that possible, you should be far beyond the range of sight or hearing...

- Open the door and decloak in front of her.

- “Sister it's me, Hibiki.” say from the other end of the wall while remaining cloaked.

- Other

>>696330
>- Test her senses, move around a bit, but keep something in-between her and you for a bit, try to see if it's 'sight' or sound-based.
>- “Sister it's me, Hibiki.” say from the other end of the wall while remaining cloaked.

Alright I need to head to bed now, but we'll continue tomorrow at 7 PM EST!

>>693074
fuck you

Shouko’s ability to notice you makes you wonder, and if she’s able to sense you than you want to test a bit more. You quickly sneak over to the other end of the balcony, ducking down over the edge just as a drone flies overhead. The wall of the building itself is in the way, but when you were looking at her expression before you lost sight, her head didn’t seem to track you.

It must be a fluke that she managed to see you, probably a part of you decloaked for a split second after climbing onto the balcony itself.

(“Sister it’s me, Hibiki.”) you say in your native tongue.

(“Hibiki!?”) Shouko gasps in amazement, immediately hanging up the call and opening the door to the balcony, stepping outside. (“Big sis! Where are you!? I know I wasn’t just hearing things!”)

(“It’s... a bit difficult to explain. Can we head inside?”) you ask her.

(“O-Oh yes sure! P-Please come on in... wherever you are. The University told me that you were dead!”) Shouko says as she looks around, a confused but happy face before rapidly turning into a frown. (“...Oh no you’re not a ghost are you!? Come back from the dead to haunt me!? What happened to you!?”)

- Decloak in front of her and open the faceplate of your armour. “Quite a few things.”

- Remain cloaked. “I’m... I’m not sure I’m still the sister you once knew...”

- Other

>>697311
>- "A lot has changed, Shouko. But I didn't die on that table."

>>697311
>>697442
Also, lets do an Insight check, make sure her reactions here are reasonable so far.

(“A lot has changed Shouko, I didn’t die on that table.”) you reply to her, carefully looking at her face to notice any subtle changes.

(“Y-You didn’t!? That’s great!”) Shouko says as she face lights up, closing the patio door before looking around the room in a sort of happy panic to see if she can find you.

(“...I... I don’t think you want to see me like this.”) you also add in after, carefully observing Shouko’s ecstatic face.

Shouko looks around the room in a hurry, head turning every which way as she continues to look for you. (“It doesn’t matter what you look like Bis sis! It doesn’t change the fact that we’re still family! You’re still going to be the same straight laced person you always were!”)

As you look onto Shouko’s face, you can see no evidence of her actually unusually. Having verified that this is the case, you deactivate your cloak and slowly begin to approach her. (“It goes a bit further than a cosmetic change.”)

Shouko turns around towards the sound of her voice before jumping back onto the bed in fright. (“S-Sis! Is that really you!?”)

You open the visor of your suit before slowly walking towards her, arms outstretched in an open stance to show that you mean no harm. (“In... one way or another yes.”)

Shouko slowly begins to approach you, looking carefully at the upper part of your face before immediately pulling you into a large hug, tears flowing down her face as she rubs her cheek against the mouthguard of your facemask. (“It doesn’t matter! All that matters is that my sister is alive and well! I know that you’re not an imposter! You’re really her!”) Shouko says peeling her face away from your shoulder and looking back up at you with teary eyes. (“W-What happened to you though? Why are you wearing that armour? Why do you have that red gem in your forehead?”)

- “You’ll probably be safer if you didn’t know about that...” Military has no grounds to hold or threaten Shouko so long as she actually knows nothing.

- “It's a long story...” Tell her everything about what happened, no need to hold back as basically everyone is going to know what Alchemicals are in a few days

- Other

>>697628
>- “You’ll probably be safer if you didn’t know about that...And I know you don't care, but if I think I can't say anything when we're alone...just trust me.” Military has no grounds to hold or threaten Shouko so long as she actually knows nothing.

(“You’ll probably be safer if you didn’t know about that... And I know you don't care, but if I think I can't say anything when we're alone, then I want you to just trust me.”) you tell her.

(“Don’t say such things!”) Shouko says shaking you back and forth a few times. (“Of course I care about you! I care about my sister whose had horrible things done to her! Why won’t you tell me what happened to you!?”)

You use a hand to reach down for Shouko’s cheek, wiping away the tears on her face as you lift her head up, making her wet eyes stare directly into yours. (“The military is doing their best to cover this entire event up, and I don’t think they’re going let anyone stand in their way.”)

Shouko tears her vision away from yours for a few seconds, before nodding in agreement with your words. (“Y-Yea... I guess I can see that being the case.”)

(“Above all I want to keep you safe Shouko, I don’t want you being harmed by either the military or one of those monsters out there, and as your senior I’m going to do my best to protect you no matter what happens.”) you tell her.

Shouko responds by immediately bringing you into a large hug. (“That may be the case, but I’m not going to just sit by here and let you do all the work! There has to be something, anything I can do to help!”)

You reach down to hug Shouko closer to yourself, about to open your mouth before a finger is placed over the area of your mouth on your facemask.

(“No excuses either! I know how prideful you are about accepting help, but right now you’re in one of those situations where you need my help!”) Shouko says, looking back up into your face, her own face butting heads with yours, seeking to break the stubborness deadlock between the both of you.

(“Honestly...”) you mutter to yourself as you look back at her.

- “Has my bank account been emptied yet? If not that extra money that was in it could prove very useful right about now.”

- “I accessed Dr. Daniel’s email accounts, I saw you emailing him about services rendered. Weren’t you a bit too early on rewarding him for a successful procedure?”

- “I heard you on the phone just before I came in, who were you talking to?”

- Other

>>697843
>- "How is the company doing?"
>- “Has my bank account been emptied yet? If not that extra money that was in it could prove very useful right about now.”
>- “I heard you on the phone just before I came in, who were you talking to?”
>- “I accessed Dr. Daniel’s email accounts, I saw you emailing him about services rendered. Weren’t you a bit too early on rewarding him for a successful procedure?”

“How’s the company doing?” you ask.

“Since the announcement of your death mom has been taking a bit bad, but otherwise than that stock prices only fell about a quarter of a percent.” Shouko replies.

“Mom will get that back with guilt trips.” you reply to Shouko. “Has my bank account been emptied yet? If not than that extra money that was in it could prove very useful about now.”

Shouko takes a second to think, wiping her eyes as she does so. “I... I don’t think so. It should still be intact as far as I know. Last I know the lawyers were discussing who would gain access to all the funds inside of it.”

“Please see if you can get a hold of the money inside of it. I’ll give you my information just before I leave.” you tell Shouko before getting a few tissues for her on the nearby table. “I heard you on the phone just before I came in, who were you talking to?”

“Oh just some PMC I was contacting for protection. Mom said she’ll be sending over some private guards, but with all that’s going on here I think I’ll be needing the extra protection.” Shouko replies as she takes your tissue.

“Don’t skimp out, get the best one you can possibly afford. You’re going to need it for what’s coming.” you warn Shouko. “By the way, I also managed to access Dr. Daniel’s email accounts. I saw you emailing him about services rendered. Weren’t you a bit too early on rewarding him for a successful procedure?”

Shouko nods as she hears that. “Yea... I’m sorry I didn’t clear this with you before the procedure. I was going to give Dr. Daniel’s research program a large grant when he told me the operation was successful, and originally he told me he’d contact me back once the procedure was successful.”

“You didn’t find it odd I was gone for a day?” you ask.

Shouko shakes her head. “They told me they were having a small complication and you’d be staying overnight, but nothing overly serious. The next day Dr. Daniel’s contacted me and said that your procedure was successful, before I got a call from the Heptagram about an hour later saying that you were actually dead.”

“So he was after the money.” you reply.

“Yea, the bastard was definitely at it. A million or so Mervuian dollars hurts, but once we’re done with this island I’ll be suing that bastard into oblivion.”

“Given what he has to answer for, I think people suing him is going to be the last thing on his mind.” you reply as you look around the area.

“Is there any place I try going to Big sis?” Shouko asks you.

- “Head to the J&P Banking building downtown. We practically own it and no one is going to bat an eyelash if you bring a small army in there to defend it.”

- “Stay here. Most of the heavy fighting is going to be in the middle of the city. With this hotel on the outskirts virtually no one has any reason to be here.”

- Other

>>698100
>- "I'd like to have a private way to communicate with you that's encrypted."
What's the difference between having her go to the Bank vs. staying here?

>>698100
>>698121
Also
>- Keep an eye on the drones outside, in case they change patterns while you're talking.

>>698121

Its more of what you think would be the best choice would be in the situation. A building which can hold down a siege better but be attacks more often vs an out of the way building which is unlikely to be attacked but is harder to defend if it is attacked.

>>698100
>>698143
In that case.
>- “Head to the J&P Banking building downtown. We practically own it and no one is going to bat an eyelash if you bring a small army in there to defend it.”

>>698162
This

>>698162
Seconding

File: Charactersheet1.png (30 KB, 787x721)

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“Head to the J&P Banking building downtown.” you tell Shouko as you look outside, noticing the drones are starting to fly away from the building. “We practically own it and no one is going to bat an eyelash if you bring a small army in there to defend it.”

“Got it. I’ll move out of here as soon as the PMC arrives. Until then this area should be safe enough.” Shouko tells you.

You hesitate for a few moments before replying. “Yes good idea, don’t go anywhere in the city without guards. You’re a high value target and we’re a long way from Coral.”

Shouko gives a small sigh she wipes her eyes with several tissues. “I just wish that I-”

A loud explosion outside rattles the entire building, glass shaking on the entire floor as the sounds of explosions continue from outside.

“Shouko stay there!” you warn her as your visor closes and you head on over to the balcony.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcaBW1NU3XE

As you gaze over the side of the building, you can see the small army of black suits quickly opening fire on a figure on the other end of the packing lot. A single humanoid dressed in blue power armour and currently wielding a spear, spinning it around to stab a nearby guard in the stomach. Bullets fired from the nearby suits seem to only slow considerably before even reaching the figure itself, the figure surrounded by a blackish shimmering aura that appears to be completely different from an anima banner, while the actual anima banner of the person appears to be sparkles that fly up in the air and oscillate back and forth as if appearing to be an ocean directly in the air.

“...Kuro no Umi...” you mutter aloud. “Why would an alchemical know the signature martial arts style of the Western Elemental Court of Water?”

- Attempt to stealthily approach the Alchemical attacker before launching a sneak attack (Roll 14d10, may add up to +6 die for 6m)

- Getting into position for a sneak attack will take too long and could put Shouko in danger. Jump down and meet the Alchemical head on.

- Other

>>698315

Oops, should be KoKai (黒海) not Kuro no Umi, I need to study my japanese again.

>>698315
>- Jump down and confront the Alchemical, see if you can't diffuse this or at least find out what's happening.

“Stay there!” you should out to Shouko as you vault over the side of the balcony, landing on the hood of a nearby limo with a loud crash of metal and glass. As you stand back up you can see that the Alchemical in front of you has taken notice of you.

The Blue Alchemical in front of you kicks a body that was impaled on his spear off, now looking directly towards with with glowing green eyes that can be seen through the dark swirling aura surrounding him. “Identify yourself.”

“You can call me Shinobi, and I’m wondering what someone like you is doing attacking a place like this.” you tell the Alchemical.

“I exist to drown the problems that plague this planet.” the blue armoured figure sternly replies, her voice as cold as the ocean’s depths.

“That’s hypocritical of you. If you’re looking for problems than you’re bound to find a few escaped gremlins in the city, cleaning those up sounds like a far better use of your time than attacking a hotel full of rich and influential people.” you reply.

“Alchemicals and gremlins are just a symptom of this diseased planet.” The Alchemical says pointing her spear towards the hotel behind you. “Those people behind you, they’re the ones who orchestrated this entire event. I’m here to punish those who are guilty.”

- “The law will deal with them accordingly, you have no right to be judge, jury, and executor for everyone in that hotel.”

- “Do you have a single fact to back up those claims? I doubt the investors on the Heptagram’s little project didn’t happen to know exactly what was going on with us.”

- In native language: (“You’re a user of the Black Tide, I can tell just by that aura behind you. You and your people get labelled terrorist group because you constantly attack innocent people like this.”)

- Other

>>698623
>- “Do you have a single fact to back up those claims? I doubt the investors on the Heptagram’s little project didn’t happen to know exactly what was going on with us.”
>- In native language: (“You’re a user of the Black Tide, I can tell just by that aura behind you. You and your people get labelled terrorist group because you constantly attack innocent people like this.”)
>- ("This is about hearts as well as minds. If you want to attack them, you must strike fear into those who would do something like this, along with stopping those who did this from doing it again. They will use this to your advantage unless you prepare carefully.")

>>698623
"They will use this to your advantage" should be "They will use this to their advantage" in my post >>698647

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“Do you have a single fact to back up those claims? I doubt the investors on the Heptagram’s little project didn’t happen to know exactly what was going on with us.” you ask the water Alchemical.

“There are a few who did within that building, and those are the people I am after. Now you can decide to either step aside or stand in my way and be washed out with the tide.” The ocean Alchemical warns you, pointing the bright blue tip of her spear directly at you.

(“Even without all the metaphorical language you’re using I can tell that you’re a user of the Black Tide just by the aura behind you. You’re with the Elementals aren’t you? You know that you people get labelled as a terrorist group because you constantly attack innocent people like this.”) you reply to her in your native tongue.

(“Our attacks are never unjustified. We merely seek to return the world to what it once was, free from the corruption that currently plagues society, those who twist it to ensure their own gain at the cost of their fellow man.”) The blue jade Alchemical says without missing a single beat.

("This is about hearts as well as minds. If you want to attack them, you must strike fear into those who would do something like this, along with stopping those who did this from doing it again. They will use this to your advantage unless you prepare carefully.") you warn her.

(“Which is exactly my plan. One of their servants are in there, and if I drown the entire lot of them and let their bodies wash up onto shore than that will provide just the sort of message I wish to send them.”) The blue jade Alchemical says getting into a fighting stance. “My name is Neptune and I’m here to right the wrongs this world has. Don’t think for a second that being an Alchemical means I will not fight you if it's for the good of the world. Now stand aside and let me past or draw your sword and let our blades do the talking.”

Damnit... A full on combat here is going to be risky. The military has almost certainly noticed what’s going on by now and they’re probably going to be here any second now. But if you don’t draw your weapon than Neptune is going to attack you with everything she’s got.

TURN ORDER
Neptune: 14i (Waiting for Hibiki to make her choice)
Hibiki: 9i

- Pow: Wither (Liquid Steel Flow, Shining Point Form, up to +6m to add +6 dice, 15m 1WP, 17d10) I’m going to give Neptune exactly what she wants, hope she has good reflexes.

- Eff: Wither (Liquid Steel Flow, Shining Point Form, 15m 1WP, 17d10) Take out your blade and wait for her approach, get to know her style better than vague rumors that you’ve heard before.

- Other: User Input

>>698806
>- ("You haven't revealed the identity of that person yet. You assume that I don't want to stop them as well?")

("You haven't revealed the identity of that person yet. You assume that I don't want to stop them as well?") you ask Neptune.

“Then are you willing to aid me in my quest?” Neptune asks.

“Not if it involves the wholesale slaughter of everyone inside of that building, including the innocents inside of there as well.” you tell her. “I’m against senseless loss of life, and attempting to kill everyone inside in order to get the one or several people who are actually guilty is a very senseless loss of life.”

“They are cowards in the way that they operate. Unlike you or I who are visible on sight, they hide amongst the throngs of the innocent. There is no way that you’ll be able to remove them without harming the surroundings.” Neptune tells you. “The fact that you even experienced their cruelty first hand and still let yourself be deceived by them is testament to your foolishness.”

“So you’re saying that you don’t even know who’s guilty in there? Kill them all and let the Underworld sort them out? Do you have any idea how backwards that is?” you ask her before heading towards your next point.

TURN ORDER
Neptune: 14i (Waiting for Hibiki to make her choice)
Hibiki: 9i

- “The military is going to be here any second now. Even if I wasn’t here, do you think they’d care if you were inside with a bunch of rich people? At best they’d level the hotel, at worst send a hit squad entirely made of Dragonblooded to kill you.”

- “If you’re with the elementals than they should tell you that human life is precious, that you yourself are fighting for humanity. If that’s the case, why are you condoning wholesale slaughter of innocent men and women along with the guilty?”

- Other

>>698971
>- ("Wait...harm everything...you mean that they can steal bodies?")
>- ("If you're trying to cut a snake apart by removing every scale it has, you need a more-powerful knife. Or help. If we can find a way to strike directly at whatever's causing this, that WILL send the more horrifying kind of message, that we can kill them anywhere without massive bloodshed, without destroying the environment. You wont even tell me the face of what is causing this! I know what the director called himself down there, is he in there?")

("Wait...harm everything...you mean that they can steal bodies?") you ask Neptune.

Neptune tilts her head a bit upon hearing what you said. (“From what I heard, stealing bodies and making new ones are only part of their powers, but aside from their strength I know very little.”)

("If you're trying to cut a snake apart by removing every scale it has, you need a more-powerful knife. Or help. If we can find a way to strike directly at whatever's causing this, that WILL send the more horrifying kind of message, that we can kill them anywhere without massive bloodshed, without destroying the environment. You won’t even tell me the face of what is causing this! I know what the director called himself down there, is he in there?") you ask pointing to the building behind you.

(“You truly know nothing. The director at Sub Basement Eight was only a mere finger of the ruling body. No, I’m after the boss of the director, as I know myself that one of them is in the building behind you right now.”) Neptune says pointing her spear towards the hotel.

(“Then tell me more about them, if we share information than we can bring them both to justice.”) you tell Neptune.

Neptune herself looks down at the ground for several seconds before she quickly turns around. Off in the distance several attack helicopters can be seen heading towards the hotel along with several APC’s on the roadside.

“Tch, took too long. Our conversation ends here. Survive long enough until our next encounter and I’ll tell you more.” Neptune says as she immediately begins running for the ocean water.

“Wait!” you call out to her just as she dives over the edge of water, before giving a small sigh as she and her bright glowing anima from the sky disappear from view. She’s gone now, and in her place are extremely trigger happy soldiers who are going to shoot first and let the underworld sort your body parts out. You need to make yourself scarce before arrive, and you have a handful of seconds to do so before you’re within their firing range.

- Head back into the hotel itself, knock out the suits who try to stop you and hide yourself in there. (Roll 13d10, add up to +6m for +6 dice)

- There’s too much of a risk trying to hide in the hotel, run back into the city as fast as you can before ducking into something like a dumpster to hide. (Roll 13d10, add up to +6m for +6 dice)

- Other

Rolled 5, 10, 5, 5, 10, 7, 2, 2, 3, 3, 10, 3, 6, 10, 4, 3, 1, 5, 3 = 97 (19d10)

>>699103
>- There’s too much of a risk trying to hide in the hotel, run back into the city as fast as you can before ducking into something like a dumpster to hide. (Roll 13d10, add up to +6m for +6 dice)

There’s too much of a risk trying to hide in the hotel, with how badly the military is trying to cover things up they may just try and level the entire building. Getting a head start on the military vehicles, you quickly vault over the limos in the front of the hotel, running as fast as you can onto the main road to get the attention of the military vehicles, leading them past the hotel down the block before quickly ducking into a nearby alleyway, engaging your cloak just as the APC’s roll on past you.

“Just in time...” you mutter as you casually walk down the alleyway, heading over to a nearby dumpster and opening the lid on it. “I am so thankful this suit is airtight and blocks smells.”

You leap into the dumpster itself, closing the lid just as you hear the military getting out on foot. You kick back your feet and relax right beside the bucket of fast food chicken, beginning the long wait you need to deal with before the military loses interest in you.

MISSION 4 COMPLETE!

+10 normal experience gained!

+10 Alchemical experience gained!

+1 Alchemical Experience for forging a relationship with Wendy!

+1 Alchemical Experience for meeting Maggie!

+1 Alchemical Experience for making a peaceful stopgap solution with Neptune!

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The next session begins the free roaming mode of this Quest! Your character is able to explore the city and handle a variety of missions/tasks in order to unravel the mysteries of the island while still attempting to escape in one piece. Missions generally do not have a time limit, but the longer you put them off the more difficult they become.

Vote for one mission down below!

- Locate the Missing Scientists! (Story mission) - Bell’s scientists were the ones who helped you out of the lab, but there are still many more questions left to be answered, questions which only they know. (Reward: Story progression)

- Who wants to be a Millionaire? - Shouko has some bad news about your bank account... (Reward: Gain access to personal Resources [AKA: Money])

- Our Father (Father Mercellius mission) - Father Mercellius wants you help for a certain task... (Reward: Increased relationship with Father Mercellius)

- Keep yer mitts off of me Lucky Charms! - Apparently before your Alchemical owner died, they apparently left a small stash of valuables somewhere in the city... (Reward: ???) (Minor side mission, can select another mission in addition to this) (RECOMMENDED)

- The Doctor is In - Reports of Gremlin activity are on the rise in Versino, and it's time to conduct ‘exploratory surgery’ in order to deal with them (Reward: New weapon and martial arts style, decreased gremlin activity)

- The Wyld Hunter - Meruvia is bringing in their A-game for dealing with Alchemicals, including a team of highly trained martial artists specialized in dealing with people like you. Sounds like a challenge Hibiki would enjoy. (Reward: New weapon and martial arts style, decreased military activity)

- Other - Want to do something else or in addition to the above? Drop a line and we’ll see what we can do!

Your current Normal XP values are:

Available/spent/Total = 16 / 44 / 60

Your current Alchemical XP values are:

Available/spent/Total = 13 / 36 / 49

(Haven't edit the XP on this sheet yet, text in the post is accurate)

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ADA recommendations:
Recommended Normal XP Purchases

- Accelerated Response System Submodule “Live Wire Writhing”: When Accelerated Response System is used and the enemy matches your defense, the attack misses. (Normally it would hit) (6 XP)

- Accelerated Response System Submodule “Parry Configuration”: Accelerated Response System and Celerity Enabling Module now works with parry in addition to dodge. Unlocks new charms to learn. (6 XP)

- Optical Shroud Submodule “Dynamic Cloaking Module”: Able to move at much faster speeds while cloaked, extending the range one can move while cloaked (Slow speed -> Normal Movement -> Running speed -> Any distance), in addition each additional purchase lowers the penalty of moving while cloaked by 1 (3 XP each)

- Optical Shroud submodule “Sense Countering Upgrades”: Firmware updates and layers of sound absorbing material make the sounds that come from normal operation produce far less sound overall. Upon purchasing this upgrade the Alchemical’s Optical Shroud also protects him against acute hearing or smell, pick one per purchase. If both are installed, a third installation will protect the Alchemical from any exotic sense type (Such as thermal vision/X-Ray/Touch). (4 XP per purchase, Essence 3 means it will need to go into a Overdrive slot)

- Omnitool Implant Submodule “Advanced Lockpicking Toolkit”: The Omnitool implant gains a series of tools that allow it to open nearly any sort of door. First an Alchemical never has to damage a door to open it. Mundane doors are automatically opened without need for a roll while against magical doors the Alchemical may always at least try. (6 XP)

- Charm “Impact Dispersion Module”: Gain (Essence or 3, whichever is higher) Additional soak against withering attack or four hardness against decisive attacks. Basically you gain a small toughness boost. (6 XP, 10 with slot)

- Charm “Stormwall Interrupter Circuits”: By paying 2WP, the Alchemical is able to completely shed his anima, allowing possible reuse of stealth. After the first time it is used in a scene this charm only costs 1WP

- Charm “Parabolic Leap Overcharger Device”: Able to make larger jumping distances trivially and without the need to roll, automatically parkour over hazardous terrain. (STRENGTH 3 REQUIRED) (10 XP including slot)

- Charm "Metaneural Uplink Node": Allows constant access to the internet without need for the computer. This connection cannot be hacked, and allows for far more secure transmissions amongst team members. (10 XP including slot)

Recommended Alchemical XP Purchases

- Strength Up (5 XP per dot, maximum 5)

- Perception/Wits Up (4 XP per dot, maximum 5)

- Presence (3 XP per dot, maximum 5)

- Athletics (3 XP per dot, maximum 5)

- Single Point Style “Void Slicing Wind” (8 XP): Automatically travel up to medium range in order to slash your enemy. If both Hibiki and her sword goes at once, a special version is used where she not only travels to smack an enemy, but attacks literally every single opponent in a line on the way there.

- Single Point Style “Six-Demon Scabbard Binding” (8 XP): Whenever you are subject to an attack which vector involves a total reality shift or that which warps the mind/body and send it back to the opponent. Additionally it can also cleave through hostile metaphysical environments, such as places of death, the Wyld, or effects caused by sorcery temporarily.

- Steel Devil Style “Triple Attack Technique” (8 XP): Upgrades Double Attack Technique, where if you gain enough successes over the opponent's defense the damage of your attack has the potential to greatly increase.

- Steel Devil Style “Dual Slaying Stance” (8 XP): Steel Devil’s style second stance, focused more on defense than offense. Increases your defense by +2 and whenever you are attacked, you may automatically counterattack with a decisive attack with a damage value equal to your current charge, and may add up to (Motonic Reservoir stage x2) additional initiative as bonus damage. Great for ripping apart tough opponents.

>>699206
My vote is for the Lucky Charms. Also, Story Progression would be interesting, but at the same time, I don't want to cut off access to anything else. All of these seem interested, although if Story Progression cuts things off, I'd go for Lucky Charms -> Wyld Hunter -> The Doctor is in, then the other side missions.

Figuring out whether out sister tried to kill is us another thing that we need to do, as is investigating if any other Alchemicals didn't immediately try to flee and get slaughtered.

>>699215
What's the stat used for trying to determine if someone is lying or not what they seem?

Beyond that, Six-Demon Scabbard Binding sounds incredibly useful.

>>699212
For Normal XP, Metaneural Uplink Node means telepathy, and telepathy is bullshit, thus we need it.

>>699229

Determining if a person is lying or not is done by Perception + Socialize.

There is a charm that lets you determine whenever someone is lying automatically, but it requires Perception 4

>>699218

You don't need to worry about these missions going away. Most of them are not time sensitive and will always be there, its just the longer you delay putting them off the more difficult they'll become down the line. If any missions are time sensitive I would definitely be making a note of it.

>>699230
Based on that, if we can use Normal XP to purchase Attributes or stats, I'd like to get Perception to 4. Otherwise, lets get another purchase of Sense-Countering Upgrades.

>>700341

Yea you can use normal XP to purchase anything.

>>701738
On Second thought, lets get the second level of Sense-Countering Upgrades, Perception 4 can be handled later.

>>696344
Suck my dick you little cunt.

>>703344

Just ignore him, he has like 1 post in the entire topic