>>1035505
“Dark travelers- those with strange souls.” The ‘chieftain’ is doing some explanation as two of his tribe members dance along near the fire. “They seek this plane’s utter demise for their own purposes. They have already ruined the Northern Wulu tribe’s great tradition. We have seen their strength, and know they yet hide more. Such is the way of Umbra.” He fixes you with a searching stare- at least, you think so. You can’t quite tell beyond the masks. “Your strength is similar. As is your soul. The ones proclaimed saviors have fallen, and we must look to other ways to preserve this land. We are willing to part with some, to save all from the encroaching darkness of Umbra.”

“Come again?” Gilda asks. She’d just been watching the dancing half-heartedly, as had Mark, who at least seemed reasonably entertained. Jin had resumed ignoring things, but Baxter was typing down notes, it seemed.

“I think he means to say that since their initial prophecy didn’t come to pass, they’re willing to find other avenues to prevent the frontier’s perceived destruction.” Baxter doesn’t look up once as he’s typing and scrolling through notes. “Despite the fact that they expect us to demand a high price for our aid, they believe we and they have a similar strength level and overall inner philosophy. Trying to fight fire with fire, in other words.”

...Wait. “Waaaaaait. You want us to kill this ‘Umbra’ in exchange fooooor…” you let the question trail off.

“Name your desire. The Wulu have knowledge of many things. Riches unmarked by the sun for ages. Ancient stones imbued with power overwhelming.” The way the chief moves his fingers is fluid and creepy. “Secrets of nature the new men do not know.”

>You’re interested.
>Not interested.
>What’s this prophecy, anyway?
>Other.

>>1035508
>What’s this prophecy, anyway?

>>1035508
>What’s this prophecy, anyway?
Haha, as soon as we realize they're talking about the D-list scrubs, we should shut them down.
Because the reputation of our entire company is on the line, held hostage by those fags.

>>1035508
>What’s this prophecy, anyway?
U wot m8?

>Miranda soloed a monster while these scrubs took an entire team to do the same thing
>calling her a d-list

>>1035508
Prophecies always almost never go how they really should.

Writing!

>>1035508
You lean back a bit- he can try to sweeten the bargain all he wants, but he’s getting nowhere without giving a bit more detail about this prophecy thing- if nothing else, it might be good for a laugh. “Alright, so, what’s going on here about this Umbra character and all? What’s the prophecy say specifically?”

“THE DARKNESS!” The Chief yells- much to the slight surprise of everyone, and you can see your crew instinctively start for weapons, before they notice that he was just being loud. “Our tablets tell legend that unusual souls would come in the guise of new men. Like a shadow they would move, and enwrap all they come across into their service. In the service of devastation, they would cast down the guardians, rend the land weak and worthless. Destroying new and old alike, untill all is flat and dead, only for soulless creatures to walk the land forevermore under a sunless sky.”

“Neat story.” Gilda comments. “Kinda vague, though.”

The chieftain continues. “The tales told of this darkness sweeping the land, and gave it a name- the Umbra. And that it would not work alone. Umbra brings Chaos, which works in darkness’s stead.” And here his voice goes soft. “The legend told of two who had the potential to banish the darkness with bright souls...but we fear that has been lost to us. And yet we CANNOT give up!” The chieftain slams his staff down in determination. “We seek only to save our people, and give the chance the foolish new men to learn. For destroying our hope, and our ways, we desire vengeance!” He sniffs. “And hopefully, through vengeance, justice.”

Something didn’t quite mesh here...but was it really your concern?

>I’ve got no time for this.
>Fine, fine.
>Other

>>1035850
>I’ve got no time for this.

>>1035850
>>Fine, fine.

>>1035850
>>I’ve got no time for this.
We already have a contract we have to finish.

>>1035850
Yeah no.

Writing!

>>1035850
>>Fine, fine

We should totally do this. Just think, we can send these scrubs to ambush Miranda which fucks up their contract and giving us more stuff to blackmail Flashpoint over later.

>>1035850
>I’ve got no time for this.

>>1035850
You look around at the others. Jin is silently looking back at you. Mark’s just grinning like a loon for reasons you’re unsure of. Gilda’s just shaking her head a bit, and Baxter’s looking at you intensely like he wants this bad. Well, sorry Bax.

“Look, appreciate you coming for me, but we’ve got no real time for this, even with any rewards. We’re not here because we want to be- we’re here specifically because we’re trying to wrap something up sooner rather than later. Having another problem like this on our plate is just going to complicate things even further.” Baxter looks mildly disappointed, Gilda just shrugs with a wry grin on her face, Mike claps his hands like that’s the end of it, and Jin gives a silent nod.

The Wulu...aren’t quite as understanding. “You would deny us this?” the chieftain waggles his spear at you, to which you show no reaction. “Your souls are truly as turbulent as the others...we’ll not war with you on this day, then. We know your power well. But know this! We will fight to the last to preserve our homelands! Be forewarned!”

With that, the Wulu present all start warbling- some strange, undulating sound that makes the air itself ripple, you swear. For a half second, your eyes swim- and they fade back into the darkness, never once taking their eyes off you.

“Strange stuff…” Jin muses. “That felt vaguely familiar…”

“Felt like I was underwater for a second…” Gilda grouses.

“Likely some sort of gestalt phenomenon,” Baxter opines. “The way they all did it in unison tells me it was intentional and necessary.”

“Well, we’ll deal with them if they decide to stick their noses into anything. For now, Gilda, is the-”

“They’re half-burnt. Gonna need to start over.” Gilda growls.

You look over at one of the steak pieces and cut into it. “It looks about medium well.”

“Yeah, like I said, half-burnt.”

Oy. Welp. Next few days are gonna be interesting.

---------------

I'll continue later tonight, sorry about the shortness.

>>1036381
Seems like the primitives may be behind Flashpoint's failures in this universe.

What happened to Jeanette after she was fired? Was she able to find another job, or was she ejected?

Man, I wish Miranda had been told this by Sal, so that we could have told crazy girl that it's her fault that her savior was punished and potentially executed by the beings she so wanted to meet.

>>1036696
1. It wasn't crazy lady's fault, it was Jeanette's 2. Why validate her delusions? It serves no purpose but to give her information about us.

>>1036955
Because her delusions and ego need to be crushed as brutally as possible.
That all of her dreams of meeting the great beings who travel between universes need to be shattered with the violently applied knowledge that she is not welcome among the planes. That all of her efforts will be rebuffed with disgust.

>>1037094
But she currently doesn't know we are an alien just some bitch who stole her shiny. If we tell her these things then she will realise that she is meeting one of us right now and that she can get our attention by doing crazy shit. I can see how that would encourage her. If you are actually worried about her getting to the intersection (yay for her, I guess) we can just kill her.

>>1037135
>But she currently doesn't know we are an alien
Yes she does, she already figured it out when we first met and that's why we told her to not do something stupid like open a dimensional rift when we first left her.

>>1037152
Oh

I was kind of hoping we'd go with the "seeking retribution" or whatever so we could put Miranda over.

I hope she could take these guys anyways, they all seem like gimmicky dweebs compared to her

Anyone around? Can post intermittently.

>>1039466
Same here.
I'm here, but I can only post intermittently.

>>1039466
here.

>>1039466
here

Neato. Writing!

A day later, you’ve reached Walleye, and it’s a...curious sight. Markedly different from the what you’d seen already, Walleye is very clearly industrial in nature, and arguably more technologically advanced- there are some paved streets and streetlights, the stonework is clearly more refined in buildings, and on the whole it seems like things just had a lot more tubes and stones.

The biggest thing, however, was the factory that seems to be the core of the town. With a couple of high smokestacks pumping out...well, smoke, you’re not sure what it’s for, but it seems to be busy- you notice a good number of people headed in or from that direction. You’d decided to come into town in order to pick up a few extra supplies, mostly. You like the elemental stones this place has. Judgement wouldn’t be able to fire them, but you had other stuff that could if their properties kept back home.

You’d already gotten your supplies- mostly just extra ammo (at least this place had regular bullets), food, couple other things. The others were still somewhere around probably looking for what they wanted- or in Baxter’s case, probably nerding out over the difference in technology. Then again, he was relatively new- probably hadn’t seen a division like that befo-

Suddenly, there’s a rumble from some distance away, and you look towards the factory. There’s silence for about three seconds...and then you see a large group of panicked people start running away from that area. Huh. Wonder what’s going-

“Uhhhhhh...hey, guys?” Suddenly Baxter sounds over your com. “So something happened, and it ACTUALLY wasn’t my fault, but, uh...as the phrase goes.. ‘requesting immediate extraction from active zone’!

...Yup. Interesting. At least he sounded relatively calm about it, if hurried. Sigh. “Where are you, Bax?”

“North end of the factory- something lost containment and had an explosive reaction, is my guess! I’m not hurt, but the normal way out is cut off, I’m hearing sounds of combat in the distance and I’d rather REALLY have someone get me sooner than later!”

Ugh. Fair enough. “Alright, then, I’m-”

>”-Coming in myself.”
>”-Sending in Gilda.” (Switch to)
>”-Sending in Jin.” (Switch to)
>”-Sending in Mark.” (Switch to)
>Other

>>1039864
>”-Coming in myself.”

>>1039864
>>”-Coming in myself.”

>>1039864
>”-Sending in Gilda.” (Switch to)
She's the one with the motorcycle. She'd probably get there faster.

>>1039864
Seconding >>1039929.

>>1039864
>”-Sending in Gilda.” (Switch to)

>>1039929
Going with this

Gilda it is. Back and writing!

>>1039864

“Sending Gilda,” you hear Carly say over the mic. “You cool with that, Gil?”

You just rev your cycle- which is translated to any other ears as a horse whinny. “Sure thing, Carly. Was thinking of tryin’ to find something for my ride, but eh. Nothin’ I can find. You said you were ‘round the north side?” You’re already heading off.

“Yeah, I was just looking around, seeing how their industrial processes worked, next thing I know I hear some metallic screeching and suddenly an explosion, everything starts going nuts, and I’m trapped in some kind of I think meeting room that’s got the door blocked! I’m hearing gunshots, yells, and general panic. And lots of steel on steel, if my ears don’t deceive me.” You’d be lying if his words didn’t excite you more than a bit.

That’s why you let out a whoop of excitement as you scream down the main road. “Sounds like a real party! Don’t worry, I’ll be there before ya know it!” Speed and you were best friends. That sheer rush, the danger...

And here you thought just finally being a doctor would be exciting.

You can see a ton of workers evacuating the building as you approach, and they seem to gawk at the pace you’re approaching. You always loved that. There’s smoke coming out the building in places it shouldn’t, but the whole place didn’t seem to be on fire at least. That...that would merit a bit more haste.

>Straight on through the front door- no time to stop.
>Brake briefly, ask what’s going on in there. Couldn’t hurt.
>Other

>>1042703
>Brake briefly, ask what’s going on in there. Couldn’t hurt.
Gotta know if there are any toxins to worry about, or anything not to do.

>>1042703
> straight on through
PROFESSIONAL COMING THROUGH, MAKE WAY YOU GORMLESS PROLES

Is this a robot factory?

>>1042703
>Straight on through the front door- no time to stop.

Fast, we must go it.

>>1042703
>>Straight on through the front door- no time to stop.

>>1042703
>Straight on through the front door- no time to stop.
Move!

>>1042703
Well, haste is what you do best! No time for talk- time for SPEED.

Faster than likely anyone else on this planet has seen, you barrel clear past the throng of workers and straight through the doors- you’re pretty sure they got blown off their hinges. At least, you hope so. That would been cool. But! That doesn’t help anything. You need to get around to Baxter!

It’s a big floor, thank goodness- seems like stuff was very assembly line here, complete with places for workers to stand and toil. Judging from the various tools and half finished pieces here...may have been constructing some kind of androids? At least, that’s the first thing your mind jumps to. Whatever- keep it moving! He said north end of the factory, so you’ve got a ways to go. You burn past the assembly lines, blast through several sets of doors as you head further back, and soon you’re hearing some of the sounds that Baxter described as you get further in- some strange metallic sounds as well as shouting.

The next set of double doors you get through leads into a larger, open room- you think it’s some kind of meeting room or presentation room or the sort. That’s not the problem, though.

The problem here’s a bunch of robots. Both humanoid and others less so- some resemble domes on wheels, and other more mobile varieties. There’s dozens, you can see. Most of them are carrying people in one way or another, unyielding and unceasing as their quarry continues flailing and yelling for help. Some are not, and it’s those that look towards you, almost as one. Then they the ones with people continue moving, as their captives beg you to either rescue them or run away. The others...begin moving TOWARDS you, and at a pretty quick clip. Fun.

>Find another way around. You’re not dealing with ANY of this right now. Focus on Baxter.
>Alright, time to mash some metal. Trash anything that comes near you, and try to keep going.
>Try and get those workers free. Dunno what the bots are doing with them, but you doubt it’s good.
>Other

>>1044542
>Find another way around. You’re not dealing with ANY of this right now. Focus on Baxter.

>>1044542
>>Find another way around. You’re not dealing with ANY of this right now. Focus on Baxter.

>>1044542
>>Find another way around. You’re not dealing with ANY of this right now. Focus on Baxter.

>>1044542
>Alright, time to mash some metal. Trash anything that comes near you, and try to keep going.

>>1044542
>Find another way around. You’re not dealing with ANY of this right now. Focus on Baxter.

>>1044542
Writing- using speed to escape a situation is a valid option.

>>1044542
Nope. Nah, no. One on hand, you might could take all these things, become a whirling dervish of chain and power, laying waste to all these soulless automatons.

On the other hand, screw that, it’s not even a likelyhood. You immediately turn a full one-eighty degrees and jet out there. You can let someone else clean up that mess if need be. But as for you! You just laugh as you give a quick glance backwards as the mechanical creatures try to pursue you. As if.

The next few seconds are a blur- just as you like it. You careen down hallways and jet past the occasional empty automaton, as well as signs of combat, however. You can see scorch marks and dents and other such things. The fact that this is happening the closer you get to the north end of the building only makes things more nervous for you. “Bax, how close did you say you were to the combat?”

It’s a second before his voice responds with a bit of a start. “Uh, I’d estimate fairly close since I was within audible range of a person. It’s since moved on, now, so I couldn’t tell you where the trouble is. I’m just hearing clanging now.”

“Think you can give me some directions? I’m in, uhh…” you quickly look for the nearest sign, and fortunately find one. “Northeast Hall 3.”

“Sure thing- from what I remember, if you’re in Northeast Hall three, then you’re on the relative right direction. There should be a T-split at the end of the hall, go left…”

Ahh. Now this was more like it. You had a target, directions, and your bike. Just like normal. Which usually means…

>Roll 1d100, best of 3.

Rolled 79 (1d100)

>>1045490

Rolled 4 (1d100)

>>1045490

Rolled 26 (1d100)

>>1045490

Rolled 92 (1d100)

>>1045490

Rolled 13 (1d100)

>>1045490

>>1045535
Nice and on time.

>>1045490
You’d be running into something trying to block your way sooner or later. What it was varied wildly, but you’re not afraid. You can outrun quite a bit.

And then a strange shudder runs through your body. Familiar, yet not. This was kinda new. “Hey, Bax?”

“Yeah?” You can hear his confusion. “You almost here?”

“I think I am, but that’s only part of what I’m talking about. You get that sense of someone else?”

It takes him a second to realize. “Huh... yeah, now that you mention it...someone else from outside’s around here, too. Think it’s ‘those guys’?” The way he said ‘those guys’ left it obvious what he meant.

“Probably. Finally can at least have someone to yell at.” You actually weren’t too fussed about getting called here; really, you were kinda bored anyway, and it was something to do. Carly didn’t seem all that enthused, though, so you would be annoyed on her behalf if need be. “Seems like they’re up ahead. Maybe I can get them to...” and you have to stop there at what you see.

“Whoa! What was that sound, Gilda? Something up?” Oh yeah. Something very up.

You look up at the giant, giant tank-like device that’s currently aimed well away from you, and what has just fired a massive hole into one of the wall. “Hey, did you hear anything about a goddamn TANK while you were at it?”

“Uhh...no.” He sounds entirely confused. “Last I checked, this was some sort of appliance factory, wasn’t it?”

The thing swivels again, and fires, letting out a massive clap of sound that forces even you to cover your ears. “Well, if you call a tank the size of a cruise ship an appliance!”

It takes you a bit to see what it’s shooting at- the source of the Outgoer vibe that pinged just now. It’s hard to detect, but there’s a flash of black as gunshots ring out. You can see an dark-haired Outgoer clad in black and a pretty cool hat firing away at the giant thing’s joints. She looks over at you fairly almost immediately, her eyes widening under her coke-bottle glasses. She doesn’t say anything, but she just grins, and quickly turns to dodge the giant tank trying to run her over.

She’s agile, you’ll give her that much. And more than likely one of the ones holding your team here. She quickly points upwards, to a second story balcony, towards a door barred by a mass of metal. “Up there!”

You quickly get going, jumping off your bike and using your chain as a whip to grab the railing- it bends and lifts unnaturally, hauling you up in no time flat, and it takes equally as long to clear the debris from the exit. When you open the door, you find a hallway beyond that- and you can quickly see another blocked door. THAT one is cleared, and you’re grateful to see Baxter sitting there, calmly drinking a glass of water from a dispenser. “Hey! Phew, glad you made it around!”

“How did you NOT hear the fight going on like, three doors down?” You ask.

“It just started!” He complains. So it did.

>Actions?

>>1048965
>Grab Baxter
>Leave
>Switch to (miranda?) whoever's fighting the tank

I'm kinda meh feeling today, but it's a day off, so run is happening.

Rolled 57 (1d100)

>>1048965
This, >>1049098, is good.

Fair enough. Writing.

>>1048965
You give the briefest of glances back as you here another bang, then turn back to him. “Screw it, let’s get out of here. It’s not looking our way right now, so we don’t have to worry about it.” He quickly nods his agreement, and you both quickly race out of the hallway- hopefully your bike hadn’t fallen over or been trashed or anything like that in the few minutes you were here.

Fortunately, it’s not- and the girl in question seems to be still targeting the mech- she fires off from her pistol, and you can see a small explosion go off underneath a vent grill. The thing shudders and groans a bit, but continues moving. Well, hopefully she had it handled. “Yo, Carly, got him!”

“Great, get outta there! We still got things to do!” You can hear her mutter about ‘unpaid things’ as you just chuckle- right before you here a bunch of wheels. Small wheels. You look through the door you came from as those domed, treadmill mechs come through. Looks like they followed you.

You just rev your bike. “Hold on, Baxter!”

“Already doing it!” His grip couldn’t be tighter.

cont.

>>1049578
-----------

You are Lorelei again, and boy, this has been one hell of a week for you. Killing giant monsters, playing double agent, helping break out your best friend from prison…it's been a BLAST. You’d barely managed to send Cain a missive about the intended assault on his property, and he’d seen to setting up a little something to make it look good. As far as you knew, none of the workers had been hurt, nor had his more important a facilities been damaged, barring one small boiler and a couple older assembly lines. Still, a worthy investment to make it look like proper sabotage. How Mark and Charlie knew about this prototype thing, you weren’t sure, but you weren’t going to ask just yet.

For now...well, you were supposed to plant a little something on it- they’d called it a Siphon Stone. Just holding it made you feel a bit weaker, but it’d been put in a case afterwards, and the feeling went away. You’d managed to meet with Cain a day ago, and he’d slipped you a little sabotage for the sabotage- a harmless stone that nonetheless had a very similar waxy glow to it. The plan, according to Mark and Charlie, was to draw it out, fight it, plant it, and leave. According to them, as long as it was in contact with the device, it’d work. When Mark and Charlie’s boss made their move, he’d send the device out, and it wouldn’t work. The plan according to Cain, as it happens, was quite the same, only to surprise them when it DID work. He’d agreed that you’d need to fight it properly, however, if only to make it look convincing...and he apparently wanted to test it out. You'd wondered about the PR angle, but he assured he had it under control.

That shot just now was pinpoint, but didn’t appear to do much more than stun it briefly, strangely enough. Another volley of scorching energy in retaliation causes you to dive out of the way as it impacts the far wall. So far, the thing tracked you decently well, even if it had slight lag time. As you watch the girl ride off with her friend in tow, you look back towards the tank. You’re gonna need to think on this one a bit…

>Try to disable its treads further.
>Trash that gun barrel, maybe? Hey, it sounds cool!
>Which one of those pipes leads to the engine…?
>Other


I need to worry less about writing giant entries.

>>1049583
>Try to disable its treads further.

>>1049583
>>Which one of those pipes leads to the engine…?

This sounds nice and flashy, Good for making a show.

Also I didn't know Lorelei also had dark/tan skin, Not sure we've seen a picture of her so far I guess the hat should have been a tip off

>>1049583
>Try to disable its treads further.
Sounds like we don't want to do too much damage.

>>1049583
>>Which one of those pipes leads to the engine…?

File: Lorelei.jpg (23 KB, 300x300)

23 KB JPG

>>1049611
She's not. Looks vaguely like this. Also will decide in 10 more minutes.

>>1049611
Dunno about that. I just read she had dark hair.

>>1049583
>Which one of those pipes leads to the engine…?


So she broke someone out of jail? Who?

>>1049841
Miranda, I'm assuming.

>>1049820
Oh shoot, read the description wrong.

Time to commit honourable sudoku

Doing some impromptu engine work, then! Writing!

>>1049583
Alright, easy way to do it- you think. You just need to find an opening, and maybe get one of those pipes through. That’d do some solid damage without wrecking TOO much, you think. Shutting down the engine of the thing would get this done with quick, and you could touch base with Miranda later...hopefully.

There’s another blast as you dodge out of the way, and are forced to start running. The thing pivots smoothly, and continues its repeated blasting attempts- thank goodness it doesn’t seem to have anything resembling a sophisticated targeting system. Every time the blasts seem to miss by feet, but that’s still too close for your tastes.

A quick juke to the left, to the right, and you can see an opening - it tries to move forward slightly and hitches. You quickly dart forward, even though you’re forced to veer off slightly when it begins turning your way yet again. The barrel lights up, and on sheer reaction you jump, the shockwave from the explosion carrying you a solid distance in and of itself.

You end up landing almost behind it- which works well for you. By the time it’s nearly turned around, you’re already clambering up on its back, and quickly fire a trio of shots down one of the exhaust pipes.

You can hear some shuddering from inside..and then a few pops...and then a groaning.

...Yeah, no, time to leave.

The explosion is muffled, fortunately, but there WAS a lot of smoke coming from beyond the door that you’d slammed closed and ran past. You risk taking a peek in...and thank goodness, it’s not entirely in pieces- but it is smoking badly. All in all, it seems to be done.

“Phew...alrighty, then.” That wasn’t TOO hard. Just a bit sweaty...and okay, you might’ve taken a scratch here and there, but by and large, not too shabby.

Well, then, all things considered, you’d call that a success. Even that Outgoer that had gotten in here had been rescued! For a second you’d been worried that someone else had messed up, but if what Sal told you was entirely accurate, the two you sensed are part of the team that’s helping you, and free help is the BEST kind of help, in your opinion.

Actually, you haven’t talked to them before...maybe you should introduce yourself! Couldn’t hurt to make a positive personal first impression, right? Then again, you might be better off just letting them do their thing and getting back to ‘base’.

>Find and say hi to the newcomers!
>Head back to touch base with Mark and Charlie.
>Other

>>1050156
> say hi
They will probably just disrespect us but we need to make sure they know who the factions here are so they don't end up fighting robots or something.

>>1050156
>Find and say hi to the newcomers!
This is Lorelei, after all.

>>1050156
>Find and say hi to the newcomers!

>>1050156
>Find and say hi to the newcomers!

Not gonna lie, I kinda fell asleep. Writing!

>>1050156
>Find and say hi to the newcomers!
Friends c: <3

>>1050156
Eeeh, couldn’t hurt much to say hi, now could it? At the very least make absolutely sure they’re up to speed on who’s doing what with who. Wouldn’t want them turned on you by accident! It’s fortunately rather easy to sneak out of the factory amidst all the concern and chaos, and you take a long back way out into the small city proper.

Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to take too long to find them out- you can still faintly feel their ‘vibe’, at least. You’re not sure if your ‘benefactors’ have eyes out here- they’d said you’d be getting in where they failed, so you weren’t sure- but you’re careful to not just beeline straight for them. You walk calmly, look around, peruse the area, etc etc. For all the world cares, you’re just taking a stroll.

It leads you to at least the two you saw earlier. Tall lady, really well built, next to a more gangly guy that wouldn’t be out of place behind a library desk or the like. They’re both milling around what seems to be a metalworker’s shop. Seems like they’ve kinda locked onto you as soon as you rounded the corner, though.

The guy simply nods to you, while the girl smirks a bit, but turns her head briefly- you can see her lips move, saying something under her breath. Welp, as good an invitation as any!

It’s a quick walk over, and a casual sidle up next to them. “Hey there!” You make sure to put on the ol’ winning smile and charm. “Pleasure to make your acquaintance. I’m-”

“One of the folks that got us on a leash, huh?” The way she says it under her breath isn’t actually all that malicious, but her all-too casual posture makes you wonder if she’s just a good actor. “Cool. O.N. Angel Hair. Sup?”

The smaller guy just stares between you and Angel Hair- a bit. “Uhh...O.N Litwick.” He gives a small smile as he tips his imaginary hat. “Likewise.”

You blink a bit. O.N? What was...ohhhhh. Operation Name. Wow, you’re kinda surprised you remembered that quick. Although you also remembered that it was kind of rude to not give your actual name to another Outgoer…usually meant something along the lines of they didn’t trust you to not want them dead, or rat them out, or something like that.

>Just give your Operation Name, Grace.
>Give your real name, Lorelei.
>Convince them you’re not that kinda girl.
>Other

>>1051206
>Just give your Operation Name, Grace.
>Give your real name, Lorelei.
Hi, I'm Lorelei. People 'round here know me as Grace.

I was gonna ge with ON Grace but you can call me Lorelei but I'm pretty sure even Miranda calls us Grace on this mission, at least out loud.

yeah, I'm gonna wrap up here. Run should continue tomorrow, keep an eye on Twitter.

>>1051391
Night night, don't let the bedbugs bite.

>>1051206
>Just give your Operation Name, Grace.

>Just give your Operation Name, Grace.

>>1051206
>Just give your Operation Name, Grace.

>>1051263
Oh yes this will irritate them nicely. Seconding

>>1051206
>as he tips his imaginary hat

What did he mean by this?

>>1051206
>Just give your Operation Name, Grace.

>>1051206
Supporting >>1051263.

>>1051206
“Well, then, just call me Grace.” They nod, and you can see Baxter looking uneasily at the both of you now.

“Was told there were two of you.” Angel Hair asks. You can see her give a quick look around without turning her head even slightly.

“Quite, but she’s currently handling our...primary business, alongside yourselves. Mind givin’ me a bit of an earful?” You give her the sparkling eyes- to which she just laughs politely at, before relaying the most recent events. It’s good to hear they took down one of the Big Seven for you already- that means there’s only a couple more to go, by your recollection.

“Yeah, we’re gonna get going soon anyway...but you mind telling us what was going on in there?” Angel Hair asks. You quickly mention how you’ve found ‘temporarily alternative employment’, and with a wink and a nod, they seem to get you, fortunately. “Have you ever done theatre, either of you?” is what really causes their faces to dawn with comprehension. Before you can say much more, however, Angel Hair suddenly gets a faraway look on her face. It only lasts for a few moments before she quickly turns to you. “Sorry, gotta go. Something’s come up, but we’re headed towards the lizard, so you should catch up with your friend. Leave us be, and we'll get things done.” She quickly looks at Litwick as she clambers on her horse- which you can sense isn’t actually a horse- and Litwick follows, and you have just enough time to wave as they leave.

Well, that’s all well and good, but…you have a meeting to get to.


(cont.)

>>1054286
...so it’s done?” You’re currently in a very fine room, a bit west of Walleye, close to the river, and nestled in a small canyon pass. It’s an actual building built into the canyon itself, surprisingly big- at least three stories tall, and rather wide- and lavishly furnished. It’s here that you’ve integrated yourself a bit more with Mark and Charlie- and you’re currently sharing tea with them in what seems to be an expansive sitting room.

“Done and dusted,” you assure. “The thing’s not completely totaled, but they’ll likely be so eager to repair it once you’re done, they won’t notice something sticking to a place that’s got nothing actually WRONG with it.” You're lying through your teeth, but it flows easy as water. “Just need you to pull the trigger.”

“Oh, rest assured, we will. In due time.” Charlie stirs her tea gently as Mark reads some book. “However, I’ll admit I’m rather eager to see the fruits of your labor. You’re quite the speedy worker!”

“I do my best,” you preen.

“You do! Which is why we’re giving you a choice of assignment next.” She opens up a letter, here. Our operations are twofold. Firstly, we’ll be...expanding personnel shortly, thanks to an unfortunate issue in Motley. We need someone to make certain that Last Light is...isolated, as it’s one of the three reliable methods in and out of the frontier lands. We’d rather not have much interference for a while- the goal there would be to destroy the train tracks leading through the valley to Last Light. Failing that, at the very least see to it that the train is robbed or destroyed. It IS guarded, so keep that in mind. The second operation is making certain that our OWN supplies from Basil reach back to Redrock- I have little doubt that Cain will be quite livid after this, and should he decide on vengeance...well, we’ll not have that.”

“Honestly, they’ll both be a bit of a challenge,” Mark comments. “There’s little in the way of backup available here and now, so either job will mostly be just you.”

>Knock over the train at Last Light.
>Escort the caravan to Redrock.
>Other

>>1054291
>Escort the caravan to Redrock.

>>1054291
>Knock over the train at Last Light.
Cain can send in a shipment of half real, half junk, and a second train running with lights off with the real shipment behind the first.

Hm. 5 more minutes, then I roll for it.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

Welp. Here goes.

>>1054291
>>Knock over the train at last light
We don't want them sending someone else to do this, the point is for cain to not be down at all when the expect him to be.

>>1054291
>Knock over the train at Last Light.
As >>1054355 wrote, destroy the decoy

The caravan to Redrock might be a loyalty test. we could have it robbed by regular bandits + Miranda waiting in the distance or something

>>1054291
>Knock over the train at Last Light.

>>1054291
You end up mentally flipping a coin (in a manner of speaking) and the results come up. “I’ll be taking the train, then.”

They both nod simultaneously. “Fair enough, then. Allow us to give you the details…”

What it comes down to is that in the next 24 hours, the train will be pulling in for a morning delivery. It’ll be guarded by at least a dozen armed people, and the train depot will have a number of guards as well. They’re unsure how many. Beyond that is Sunlight Valley- the long valley through the mountain range that separates the new frontier from the ‘settled’ lands. Your speed allows them to move up the timetable of this operation- it was originally intended to be a theft on the way to Walleye, but a complete shutdown of their supply train is more than welcome.

“How you solve the problem is up to you- but we WANT it solved, and solved cleanly, understand?” Charlie fixes you with a serious stare. “Since you’ll be working on this, we’ll be assigning all of our people to the escort between Basil and Redrock, as we prepare our efforts to come to a head. As soon as you’re done, report back here, and we’ll proceed onto the final phase to truly make the frontier ours.”

“It’s not the best scenario for us,” Mark drawls. “But it’ll have to do. Motlay’s decimation really didn’t do us any favors…”

“Oh, I’m sure Cain pulled SOMETHING out of his hat,” Charlie scoffs as she stands up. “Not that it’ll matter for much longer. This will go swimmingly, and he'll have nowhere to run.”

“Didn’t mother tell you to never say that?” Charlie looks at him sharply, to his complete non-reaction.

She holds his gaze for a few seconds longer before sighing and turning to you. “Forget you heard that. Just...get along now, hm? Time is of the essence. Unless you have any last questions…?”

>Any questions?
>Nope. Time to get going. You've got to meet with Miranda.

>>1056164
>Nope. Time to get going. You've got to meet with Miranda.
Sounds straight forward. Good to know we won't have to actually shut the railway down for long if they are going to spring their trap shortly after this mission.

>>1056164
>Nope. Time to get going. You've got to meet with Miranda.

>>1056164
>Nope. Time to get going. You've got to meet with Miranda.

>>1056164
>Nope. Time to get going. You've got to meet with Miranda.

>>1056349
Lets hope we can get more info out of them next time.

>>1056164
You shake your head. “All sounds good to me!”

She clasps her hands, her smile both bright and sinister at the same time. It’s an impressive feat of facial expression, you have to admit. “Excellent. We’ll have to see you off, then, but certainly don’t be a stranger! We’d love to have you back in time for the, ah...festivities.”

“So long as you keep careful, anyway.” Mark’s strangely a lot less affable-sounding when in the privacy of his own domain. “Cain’s a blowhard, but he’s not one to mess with openly. He catches you, we’ll probably have to...I believe the phrase is ‘disavow any knowledge of your existence.”

Not like that wasn’t your normal MO. “Fair enough. Where’s my horse?”

-------

“So that’s their plan?” Miranda’s looking at you with a half-raised eyebrow. You’d Copycatted a young lady in a light, floral print dress and wide-brimmed sunhat, looking every inch the innocent belle. You’d managed to catch her before she’d made a proper attempt at Ol’ Cackles, having apparently been waylaid by an entire tribe of natives.

They hadn’t lasted too long, although Miranda had complained of a strong headache. She didn’t show any inch of injury or discomfort on her face, however, as you both sat in the back corner of Last Light’s dive of a saloon, the Setting Sun. It was more ramshackle than other places, really, as Last Light was more of a trade town than anything else, meaning all the good stuff was nearer to the main streets, and you’d needed privacy, even at this time of day. You'd really had to haul buns to get out there. “So, what’s your approach? I’ll relay it ASAP, and we'll see what we can do from there.”

>I’ll just trash the train tracks. That should be enough of a delay.
>I’ll try to board the train and fake a robbery. That should make ‘em happy.
>I think I’ve got enough in me to wreck the train entirely, if you really wanna sell it.
>Other.

>>1057904
>>I’ll just trash the train tracks. That should be enough of a delay.

>>1057904
>I’ll try to board the train and fake a robbery. That should make ‘em happy.

>>1057904
>I’ll try to board the train and fake a robbery. That should make ‘em happy.
That way they can still send another train with the actual supplies.

>>1057904
> I'll just trash the tracks
This train won't be equipped to fix the tracks so they will have to head back and it will look like we did our job well. But as long as we don't make a big crater or something they should be able to send the next train out with some maintenance people, or robots, and lay some new track in short order

Closing vote in 5 minutes.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

Rolling for it, then.

1: Trash tracks.
2:Fake a robbery.

>>1057904
>I’ll try to board the train and fake a robbery. That should make ‘em happy.

>>1057904
“I’ll board the train and fake a robbery,” you decide. “That should make them happy if they believe all the supplies are entirely gone instead of just delayed, n’ the train itself can still operate if need be. Make it just look like unfortunate timing.” There! That solved that little problem nicely. “Think you can get that to him?”

Miranda nods calmly. “Yup. I’ll have to get Cain to send a second train, but that should be beyond their ability to interfere with. Thanks for the heads up.” She gets up and looks to leave. You’ll delay for a while before heading out yourself.

“No problem. Just be careful out there dealing with that monster.” Thinking about it, a question comes to your head. “Isn’t it the last one we have to deal with?”

“To my knowledge, if those others cleared out Bloodhawk and succeed with Black Tongue. I got confirmation that the beast we killed at the farm was Nighthowler.” She looks fairly satisfied with that.

You let out a small cheer. “Cool, so the contract’s done once we wrap that up, huh? Better get this done qui-”

“No.” You’re stopped mid-sentence as she looks back at you. “His request was to tame the frontier. Considering what’s coming up as far as you’ve said, this frontier would be anything but tamed.”

>...If you say so. Technically your job, not mine.
>Don’t you think that’s a bit of an open request?
>Hey, as long as he pays! Not our fault if he can’t hold onto it after we’re out.
>Other

>>1058165
>Hey, as long as he pays! Not our fault if he can’t hold onto it after we’re out.

>>1058165
>>...If you say so. Technically your job, not mine.

>>1058165
>...If you say so. Technically your job, not mine.
>Other: Oh! Does that mean more time for side-jobs? Sounds to me like that sounds like time for more side-jobs!

>>1058165
>>Don’t you think that’s a bit of an open request?

Vote ending in 5 minutes.

>>1058165
>>...If you say so. Technically your job, not mine.

>>1058165
You just shrug. “If you say so. This really is your job, not mine.” You sigh and lean back- then sit back up as something clicks to you. “Wait, so does this mean can I get more side jobs after this?”

“Probably not,” she answers. “I anticipate that issue taking the majority of our time.”

Blah. That aside, you wave her off as she leaves.

A few minutes later, you leave as well, after getting a decent drink. For a dive, this place wasn’t actually too bad on the service front.

Heading out, you can see the sun beginning to set, and the populace of Last Light turning in. You can also see a few night watchmen starting to walk out and about- makes sense, considering this is an entry point for near half of the supplies from the coast to the frontier. You’re already taking stock of locations, uniformed people, and possible escape routes as you meander on down to the railway station.

You need to get a bit of information before the big heist, after all. The railway station would be the best place for it- and you needed to think about exactly how you wanted this to go down.


--------

That'll be it for tonight, late entry though it was. Will resume tomorrow.

>>1058998
Goodnight boss

Rolled 83 (1d100)

>>1058998
Thanks for running!

>You need to get a bit of information before the big heist, after all. The railway station would be the best place for it
rolling for seduction

>>1059101
That's a valid option if you REALLY want to go for it. I was basically going to open with a 'what do' tomorrow.

>>1058998
Thanks for running boss!

>>1059101
Haha, sure, let's do this

>>1059101
>>1060475
no

>>1058998
Heading out, you can see the sun beginning to set, and the populace of Last Light turning in. You can also see a few night watchmen starting to walk out and about- makes sense, considering this is an entry point for near half of the supplies from the coast to the frontier. You’re already taking stock of locations, uniformed people, and possible escape routes as you meander on down to the railway station.

You need to get a bit of information before the big heist, after all. The railway station would be the best place for it- and you needed to think about exactly how you wanted this to go down.

It doesn’t take you too long before you arrive- the sun’s just about set, and you can see the station’s outline in the distance as you take care to avoid the tall streetlights. Soon, you slide up against a wall perpendicular to the road, a ways before the street opens up. There’s a couple of night guards milling about, but they don’t seem to notice you just yet from your position.

It’s a fairly sizeable place, easily two stories at least. You can see there’s two doors around the front- one off to the side in what seems to be a smaller room, and one to the main building. Guards are patrolling around both. There are a few windows high up that you can see, as well. You can’t see what’s around the back, but you can see light fading in and out around the back, so it’s likely someone is present.

You just need to find a method of getting inside…

>Any ideas?

(Reminder: http://pastebin.com/Tf2604L5)

Dropped my trip.

>>1061653
>Any ideas?
Given the tech level I think they'd be least likely to pay attention to the sky and any intruders it might bring, so we could strengthen our body and jump onto the roof and get in that way.

Or, if there's a lone guard at the back, we could simply distract him and enter that way, although it wouldn't be quite as stealthy.

>>1061653
What's our mana like? IIRC we used a bunch up against the wolf pack and then again against the giant robot.

> look for any open windows in the second floor we can climb to
Otherwise we will have to take out one of the guards.

>>1061768
Or go for one of the windows like >>1061772 suggested, there doesn't seem to be any guards on the sides of the building, so that would be the ideal entry point.

Gotcha. Writing.

>>1061772
Your mana is currently at 4500/7500.

You end up looking upwards for your way in- the windows are all shut tight, but the roof may still be a viable option- especially looking at the various ridges and outcroppings that, although made in the name of style, would serve well as foot and handholds.

You quickly tense your legs, making a leap up to near the rooftop of the nearest building. Fortunately, although there’s no flat roof, there’s enough space and an exposed pipe for you to stand and hold onto. You carefully make your way around the building, and you check around the corner before revealing yourself on the street side of the building.

Just a matter of timing, and one...two...three...and you’re across the street, over the watchmen’s heads, and onto the second floor of the train station. You quickly clamber up and over onto the rooftop, and this one’s far more suited to walking on- so much so you can see what’s clearly some kind of access hatch in the near center of it. Bonus!

You have little difficulty opening the hatch and entering- as you take a look down you notice you’re on a catwalk now, going in two directions- one leads down some steps to a second floor balcony, and you can see some sort of office at the end of it. You can actually see someone inside, as well! They don’t seem to be moving, however- likely asleep..The other leads to a side access that goes down to the ground floor, where you can see the lights of the various watchmen outside the windows, and some smaller rooms that could be for anything.

You can also see the actual train tracks here- split up into three bays for the trains to get into. They all lead outside in a relatively straight line, and you can see a light flashing back and forth as a patrolman sweeps the nearby outside. You suddenly hear a yowl, and the light flashes away as you hear the man grumble mildly and try to shoo whatever errant stray that was.

>Where to investigate first?

>>1062137
Is the train here right now, more than one train?
> go to the office so we can look at the schedule
If the guy wakes up, um, knock him out? And then lay him in the ground like he fell off his chair and bumped his head. Hopefully he'll think it was a dream.

>>1062137
2nd floor office.
Also cast Feather foot.

>>1062277
There are no trains present.

>>1062279
Not sure that is necessary here, the guards aren't even on alert.

>>1062137
Knock knock. Writing.

>>1062137
You decide it’s best to try the second floor first. If the man wakes up, you can deal with him. There’s a window into his room, and you can see him a bit better the closer you get- the big guy’s conked out nicely, it seems, in the midst of doing paperwork.

The door opens quietly, thank goodness, and you take a quick look around the room. There’s a large, backed desk in the back of the room that the man’s slumped over, snoring on a stack of papers. Off in the corner is what looks to be some sort of locker or closet, as well as a coat rack near the door. There’s a small light in the room you notice-a lamp in miniature, barely a nightlight next to his desk.

You take a quick look at the papers; seems like he was in the middle of signing off on some cargo notices. You take check a few of the other ones lying around loosely, but none of them are anything of importance- none of the trains or cargo are noted as belonging to Cain. You do see that there’s a steel shipment coming in, however. That, and there’s also a request for increased security for the following weeks starting tomorrow. Guess the recent goings-on might’ve spooked him? Or maybe it’s another reason…

Soon, however, you hear a steel clanking, and you can see light outside- damnit, someone’s coming this way!

>Hide under the desk
>Prepare to ambush
>Hide in the locker
>Other

>>1062648
> hide in the locker
I hope we get another opportunity to draw a dick on that guys face.

Oh it says it's a morning delivery. Well if we are going to do this stupid "plan" of robbing the guarded train (how are we even going to transport the cargo?), instead of doing the five minute bust the tracks job, we can either follow the tracks and catch the train before it his town it wait for it to pull in. If we wait we might as well kill everyone here now else they'll just get in the way when the fighting starts.

>>1062648
>Hide in the locker

>>1062648
>Hide in the locker

>>1062648
>>Hide in the locker

>>1062648
>Hide in the locker