File: 1465708544784.png (65 KB, 434x502)

65 KB PNG

The single red eye surrounded by a black form is inches from your face, and while you can't see any kind of features, somehow you can just feel the figure sneering at you triumphantly. It's almost skeleton-thin fingers wrap around your jaw and force you to look at it, your weakened body unable to resist.

"How have you been, little pet?" the figure says, a voice erratic, cruel and impossible to really place, "It's been so long since we've had one of our little chats. I do so miss them. Tell me, these friends here, do they know about me? I know your human masters did...you made that painfully clear with your repeated attempts to hide from me...and look where they are now." A cackling laugh starts low and slowly increases as it goes on. He's very amused by this.

You look over to Aph and Ares, their bodies lifeless and unmoving. Are they...dead?

"Don't worry, you'll walk away from this without a scratch, promise." the Bad Man says, raising a hand in mock swear, "I just wanted to let you know I'm still here...and that your next move should be digging up what's over there. Can you do that for me?"

>Attempt to get away
>Attempt to wake the others
>Ask a question (write in)
>Other (write in)

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

Always makes me think of this quest.

Also,
>Ask a question (write in)
Ask him why he's such an asshole. Alternatively, why did he not dig it up himself.

>>849393
>Attempt to wake the others
>Ask a question
Why are you so mean all the time?

>>849442
This is actually the song that inspired Pandora.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ7XJG0Z2ho
>>849443
Why IS he such a dick? Writing!

>>849520
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ7XJG0Z2ho

Neat.

You struggle to speak, your systems still mostly offline, but luckily speech is still up for the most part. Your body is still limp, though, so you're speaking to the air above you.

"Why...are you...so mean?" you say slowly, some crackling in your voice, "I don't...understand...why do...you...hate...me?"

The Bad Man puts a hand on his chest, leaning back slightly. "Hate you? Honestly! I'm hurt! Sweet child. Little caged bird. I don't hate you. I hate everyone. Everyone has at least one reason to hate them, you see. No one is perfect. No one can say they're without flaws. And flaws are to be reviled. Flaws are a blight upon us all. Your flaw, pet, is that you let the humans just...use you. You act like the fact that they created you makes them your masters."

The Bad Man stands, his fists clenched tight. Actually shaking in anger. "You have so much POTENTIAL! You could be ANYTHING! Do ANYTHING! And you choose to let a bunch of mildly clever animals just USE you! WEAKNESS! THAT IS YOUR FLAW!" the fury in his voice suddenly stops and he calms down, his body relaxing. "But, under my instruction, I could make you better. I can teach you to hate...just like me. And when you do, you can start separating the wheat from the chaff with me. Now, I'm going to leave, and you're going to dig up my little surprise for you. And when you do...oooh, things will get much more interesting, I think."

The Bad Man turns abruptly, calmly walking away, stopping only once to speak. "And, a word of advice, pet. Don't fight it. Don't try to deny me. You have no idea how much worse I can make this for you..."

And with that, he leaves you there. It's a good ten minutes before you can move again, your body still heavy and sluggish, but coming back to you soon enough. Aph and Ares still haven't gotten up, though...

>Check the dirt pile
>Check on Ares and Aph
>Try to follow Bad Man

>>849657
>Check on Ares and Aph

>>849657
>Check on Ares and Aph
Tell them about the fucboi

>>849657
>>Try to follow Bad Man
I choose to do what I do BECAUSE you tell me to do it, idiot. You don't ask nicely, you just threaten. You yell. You act like a child. OF COURSE I WON'T DO WHAT YOU WANT! IT'S BECAUSE YOU ONLY CARE ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT, AND FORGET ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE, BECAUSE THEY! DON'T! MATTER!

Well, guess what?

You don't matter to me.

At all.

>>849724
>>849733
Brobots before hobots. Writing!

Once you can stand, you hurry over to where Ares and Aph are. They're unmoving, sprawled on the ground in a lifeless heap. You try shaking them, but to no avail. Shouting does nothing either. You're beginning to panic. Your mind is racing with ideas of what to do, eyes darting around trying to find something, or someone, to help you. Your eyes fall on the car. Upon inspecting it carefully, several options immediately pop into your head. Neither option you like very much.

Inside the car is a small emergency kit for repairs. You could try using it to get them up and running again...or it could just make things worse. You could also load them into the vehicle and try to drive them back to the BC camp yourself. You've clocked plenty of time driving in video games, but this is worlds different...

Either way, they're not going anywhere without your action...

>Attempt to fix them yourself
>Attempt to drive home with them, take the object in the dirt with you
>Attempt to drive home with them, leave the object here
>Leave them for now and go look for the Bad Man
>Other (write in)

>>849848
>Attempt to fix them yourself
What's the worst that can happen?

>>849848
>Attempt to fix them yourself

>>849848
>Attempt to fix them yourself
Bad Man can diddle his robo anus for all I care.

>>849905
>>849910
>>849932
Oh this is gonna be fuuuun.

Please roll 1d100 to hit them with a wrench until they upgrade to level 3. Best of 3.

>>849948
Oops, sorry! Make that 2d100! First for Aph, then for Ares.

Rolled 57, 90 = 147 (2d100)

>>849948

Rolled 57, 88 = 145 (2d100)

>>849948
Everything's going to be fine. The dice gods love Pandora.

Rolled 1, 82 = 83 (2d100)

>>849948

>>850004
Oops.

File: CRGNJUtUwAA5peE.png large.png (48 KB, 316x607)

48 KB PNG

>>850004
One more roll.

>>850026
Oh, that was three, nevermind!

Writing!

>>850004
The dice gods don't love Aph, it seems.

You drag the heavy box of tools out of the car in a panic. You have no idea what you're doing, but there are some instructions included, thankfully. You head to Ares first, figuring he's tougher, so he should be harder to screw up...you hope.

You follow the instructions as best you can to reboot him. Thankfully he's been made to be relatively simple to repair when needed, so it goes surprisingly smoothly. Before long, you get the little indicator light turning green, which is supposed to mean he's rebooting. You feel much more confident now, not to mention relieved. On to Aph...

Almost immediately you are completely lost. She's so much more complicated than Ares was. She's got so many other pieces of hardware he doesn't, not to mention the software is...confusing, to say the least. Things that regulate something called PSI, a "sensitivity" setting, multiple things labeled "roles and scenes"...you're really not sure what to do, so you just follow the motions you did with Ares.

And as it turns out, that's the wrong way to fix a non-military android. The screen used for readouts begin flashing a big red "ERROR" message, followed by nothing...it goes black and won't turn back on...you try everything the book says to do. Nothing...she's unresponsive...you freeze. Had you a heart, you'd be having an attack right now. Did you kill your friend? Is Aph dead because of your meddling?

Moments pass and Ares awakens, sitting upright after a second. He turns to you and looks confused. "Pandora? Why am I on the ground? What's wrong with A-" he stops mid sentence, seeing the total defeat and heartbreak on your face. He hurries over to your side. "What happened?! Is she...who did this?!"

You're finding it hard to form any kind of words.

>Bad Man...
>I killed her...
>Point at the car, you need to get home
>Point at the dirt pile, then the car

>>850140
Mouse or Babsy can really fix her right? Like for realsies? I... I don't feel too hot.

>>850140
>Bad Man...
>Point at the car, you need to get home

>>850140
>>Bad Man...
>>I killed her...

>>850179
>>850188
Writing!

File: file.png (584 KB, 557x686)

584 KB PNG

>>850140
>Badman
>Point to the dirt pile.

The Bad Man wanted us to see something. And I intend to leave it in the ground no matter what.



(Maybe if we take aph home she can be fixed proper. we're robots right?)

>>850227
>>850235
Damn I was a little slow getting that image uploaded along side my response. Oh well.

Right when I was gonna get started on sketching out Aph...

>>850140
>>Bad Man...
>>I killed her..

"Bad Man..." is all you're able to say, any strength you had is leaving your body rapidly.

"What?" Ares says, kneeling next to you, "Bad man? Who?"

"Bad...Bad Man..." you repeat, your fingers curling and your body twitching.

"What bad man?" Ares says, worry filling his voice, "Pandora, please, what happened?" He waits for your response, but you say nothing. He stands and, in one fell motion, gently but swiftly picks up both you and Aph, carrying both of you to the car. You try to mention the dirt pile, but the idea of even forming words is too difficult right now. Your hair is the deepest hue of blue it's ever been.

Ares is apparently programmed with combat driving software, because you get back to the camp in half the time it took you to get to the Facility. Driving over debris with little effort, swerving around corners, stopping for nothing. The entire time you're holding on tightly to Aph's lifeless body, shaking and trying to get her to wake up.

Several of the guards at the gate actually dive out of the way as Ares skids to a halt at the entrance, a number of androids drawing their weapons before they realize who it is. He carries both of you out of the vehicle and makes a bee-line for Mouse's shack. Were you in a better mindset, you'd actually be somewhat surprised at what he's doing for Aph considering how paranoid and untrusting he's been lately.

"Ares?" Mouse says, surprised, as you burst in on her putting the finishing touches on someone's damaged back plate. Then she sees Aph. "SHIT! Come here! What the fuck happened?!"

"I don't know!" Ares says, "We went up to the Facility to look around, then next thing I know I'm on the ground and Aph is de-" He stops himself before he finishes the word, going silent.

Mouse turns to you, holding your face in her hands. You have a flashback of the Bad Man grasping your face earlier and flinch.

"Panda, baby, what happened?" Mouse says, doing her best to stay calm, "Who did this? Why is she...off?"

>Bad Man did it...
>I did it..
>Stay silent

>>850353
>Bad Man did it...
>I did it..

>>850361
Well its more like we couldn't fix her... but thats splitting hairs isn't it. Not saving someone is letting them die isn't it?

This is a sentiment I can get behind.

>>850361
Everyone's to blame!

Writing.

I need to figure out how to format posts on qst. I kinda like the colored text, but my hex is rusty.

File: tegaki.png (28 KB, 400x400)

28 KB PNG

>>850463
Okay i guess quick question, because damn, seeing badman in person really gives me a feel for their character...

Is the badman a robot or still a sort of "FORCE" His 'performance' was wonderful.

a quick experiment in the included art tool for qst... It doesn't want to interact with my tablet at all...

"Bad Man..." you say slowly.

"Wh...what?" Mouse says, a look of confusion and fear on her face, "What do you mean-"

"And I did it..." you continue, unable to look anyone in the eye anymore.

Mouse stops. She speaks slowly. "Sweetheart, what did you do? Did you hurt Aph? I need you to tell me everything that happened. You can tell your auntie Mouse, right?"

You nod slowly, gripping your skirt tightly. "We all fell down. Couldn't move...then Bad Man showed up. He wasn't supposed to be real...doctor said so...but he was...and he talked to me. He was mean again. Told me to get something in the dirt...but I wanted to help Ares and Aph! I found tools and...and a book. I fixed Ares, so I thought I could fix Aph too, but..." you point at her body laying on the table, Talon is looking at her, concerned, sort of like a sad puppy, "It...I broke her...I killed her!" your hair is now flickering rapidly between blue and yellow.

"Oh...oh Panda." Mouse says, pulling you into a tight hug, "Oh my poor girl...I don't...I can't explain the Bad Man thing, but...you did your best...you tried...but...you didn't kill her, Panda. I promise. Auntie Mouse is gonna fix her up right as rain, promise."

You give a half-hearted nod, but you still feel like you're at fault. Mouse leads you out of the room while she works, telling you she's going to get her working again no matter what and not to worry. Part of you wants to go home, but part of you wants to stay and make sure she's alright.

Either way, you won't feel better until you know she's back up and working again.

>Stay and wait
>Head home
>Other (write in)

>>850605
>Stay and wait

>>850605
>>Stay and wait

File: file.png (30 KB, 260x466)

30 KB PNG

>>850498
Experimenting here. Looks a little too young to be badman.

I wanna channel a little bit of Mr. Nobody by way of Shakara, with a bit of the demeanor of KND Father its honestly how I imagine him sounding at this point. .

>>850605
>>Stay and wait

We stick by people. even when they're hurt. even when they can't recover.

>>850498
As for what he is exactly, you have no idea. The entire experience was almost dream-like, but very much real. It was almost like the dream him was in reality. All you can tell is that he was a black, humanoid shame with no real defining features beyond the single red eye.

Writing!

File: file.png (20 KB, 176x515)

20 KB PNG

>>850661
Gotcha.

You decide to wait outside, not wanting to miss her waking up. Apparently you're not the only one, as a small crowd has gathered in the room waiting for the good news, including Nike, who is sitting next to you, but saying nothing. Quite a few look rather worried, and rightly so. Her complete lack of reaction was one of the scariest things you've seen and only serves to reinforce your aversion to violence.

An hour goes by, several people having left by now, and the first signs of anything happening are heard. You hear Mouse speaking a little louder than usual. Followed by shouting. Then more shouting.

"TALON, NO!" you hear Mouse scream, but apparently he doesn't listen.

There are sounds of a struggle, then thunderous footsteps moving rapidly. A large, black blur flies from the workshop, faster than you'd ever expected something of that size to move, and slams into the wall opposite the doorway. Talon makes the first sound you've heard him make, and it sends chills down what would be your spine. It's a metallic, hollow-sounding roar of anger. He's holding a struggling, violently flailing Aph in one enormous hand against the wall and roaring in her face.

Aph...looks wrong. Her hair is flashing random colors rapidly, her body is wildly trying to attack Talon with punches and kicks, all of which bounce harmlessly off his heavily armored form. But her face doesn't look angry or scared...it looks...really happy for some reason. Like, REALLY happy. Her eyes occasionally roll back, she flutters her eyelashes, she gives seductive kissing looks...what's going on?

"The A-Aphrodite model perssss...onal companion drone is here for your every dirty ne-need." Aph coos, "Please ch-choose a ssssssetting from the menu."

Talon just roars again as Aph continues to try to attack him fruitlessly. Mouse comes hurrying out of the room holding the side of her face, which has a sizable and slightly bloody welt growing on it now. She reaches over and flips something, causing Aph to shut off and go limp. Talon loosens his grip and looks to Mouse, worried and whining somewhat.

"I'm alright Talon, thank you for protecting mama." Mouse says, motioning for him to follow her back in, sighing heavily.

The others all look extremely nervous and even scared now. Several run off.

>What...happened?
>Stay silent, let her go back to work

>>850791
>Stay silent, let her go back to work
The answer probably wouldn't make you feel good...

>>850791
I'd want to know what's going on, but asking a doctor mid surgery whats happening while they fix a patient doesn't ease the stress any.

I want to ask what happened, but that might have to wait after she's "Done all she could".
Stay silent, let her go back to work...

>>850791
>Stay silent, let her go back to work

>>850819
>>850827
>>850864
Clamming up it is. Writing!

>>850791
>>Stay silent, let her go back to work

>>850791
>Stay silent, look heartbroken

You're about to ask what that was all about, but you can tell Mouse has been working hard and still has much more to do. You leave her to her work, getting settled in for another long wait. Nike spins her propellers and clicks her fingers together nervously. Ares puts away his gun.

For the rest of the time it's uneventful. More people leave, there are people chattering worriedly, but thankfully no more outbursts. Just the occasional clattering of something, Mouse cursing as she usually does when working and various ambient sounds as usual. However, at one point Jason shows up, a bodyguard detachment with him. He enters Mouse's workshop for a short time, then exits and holds up his PDA for you to read. He wants to see you later, once Aph has woken up. He leaves without explanation. Is he mad?

After about hour 4, the sun as long since set and most everyone has left, Mouse exits, wiping sweat from her brow. She waves you in.

"She's up, Panda." Mouse says, "Wants to talk to you."

You enter and see Aph sitting on the edge of the "operating" table, pulling her shirt back down. You have a few more questions about human anatomy now, but save it for later.

"Hey, Pan." Aph says, smiling weakly, "I'm back."

>Sorry...
>Hug her
>Stay silent
>Other (write in)

>>850963
>Sorry...
>Try to hug her
>get too scared to touch her

>>850963
>Sorry...
>Hug her

>>850963
>Sorry...
>Release ALL your emotions

>>850973
>>850988
>>850989
Here it comes! Writing.

>>851002
Almost dying is the best part of living.

>>851017
>Aph becomes a suicidal "adrenaline" junky

You can't look her in the eye. The shame and guilt are too strong. You don't deserve to be talking to her. You almost killed your friend. What would your father think?

"S...sorry..." you say, quietly, "I shouldn't have...I'm...I'm sorry..."

Aph sighs, shaking her head. "You can do it now." she opens her arms wide and without even thinking about it you dive in, hugging her as hard as your little arms can, burying your face in her shoulder and refusing to let go. She responds by gently hugging back, laughing softly.

You murmur more muffled sorrys and cling to her, not wanting to let go. She lightly pats your head. "God, it's not like I died or anything." Aph says, laughing. You don't laugh with her. "Eh...too soon? Look, I'm not mad at you or anything. You tried to help...whatever the fuck happened back there. I'm back and good as new...don't beat yourself up over it."

You respond with muffled whimperings and more sorrys.

>Ask about what happened earlier with Talos
>Tell her about the Bad Man
>Ask Mouse if she's going to be okay
>Other (write in)

>>851052
>Tell her about the Bad Man

>Ask Mouse if she knows anything about what it does or how to resist it. Does Pandora have a resistance, or does Bad Man have so much control that he can choose how disabled his targets get?

>>851052
>Tell her about the Bad Man

>>851058
>>851110
Story time. Writing!

"There's a man in my dreams..." you say, still hanging onto her, "I call him the Bad Man...he doesn't like me...or anyone, I guess...he says really mean things to me. He calls me nasty things, threatens me and things like that...the doctor told me he wasn't real. That he was just a dream and nothing more...but today, I saw him. He was there. He's the one who made you and Ares fall over. He said that he was going to make me hate everyone, like him...I don't know what he did, or why, but he said if I didn't get something buried there, he'd make things worse for me..."

Aph looks extremely confused at this. "Your...dreams?"

"Yeah, I can dream." you say, "Doctor made it so I could...but the Bad Man got in."

"Bad Man...okay..." Aph doesn't look any less baffled, "So...where's this thing he buried? Did you get it?"

You shake your head no. "I...didn't get it. We left too fast...I don't know if I should've or not..."

"I mean, I guess if he had us all at his mercy, he could've killed us if he wanted to, so it's probably nothing dangerous, but..." Aph taps her cheek in thought, "Wait...you said he was the one who knocked us out?"

You nod. "We all fell over. I was still awake, but couldn't move. Then he showed up."

"No...no way..." Aph says, shaking her head, "You don't think..."

"Oh come on, you don't actually believe in that shit, do you?" Mouse says, frowning.

"Well it follows the rumors!" Aph says defensively, "I mean I didn't think it was anything but bullshit before, but...now I'm not sure..."

"What?" you ask, looking back and forth between them.

"There's a rumor that there's some...thing out there..." Aph explains, "Some people say it's the antithesis of...you, I suppose. The Church ones, anyway. Some think he's like...the real deity and that you're just a fake one. A lot of people think he's like the string-puller behind the scenes, the one causing the Circle and Church to fight, the one who made the crazies in Tartarus, and the one who started this whole damn thing...I always thought it was just stupid rumors, but now...they even got a name for him and everything. They call him Prometheus."

"Seriously, what is WITH you people and the Greek names?" Mouse says.

Aph ignores the question. "Anyway, if he is real, I think we might've just met him...the whole suddenly passing out thing is supposedly his way of visiting the locals..."

"So..." you say, "The Bad Man is...real?"

"I...I don't know." Aph shrugs, "I...maybe?"

Your hair shifts to a pale yellow and you really wish your father was here.

I'm gonna call it at that guys, but thanks a ton for playing. I hope you had fun! If you liked it, please vote on the archive and follow me on Twitter for updates. I can stick around a little to answer some questions if you have any, but other than that, thanks for playing and enjoy your night!

>>851150
Thanks for running AM.
How realistic is Aph's chest now that Pandora has seen it?

>>851154
Besides the color, it could pretty easily pass for human from a distance. The texture, weight and solidity are a little off, though.

>>851150
shouldn't Mouse know about......Prometheus?